• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Deputy Speaker Raymond Democrito Mendoza is pushing for the inclusion of representatives from sugar, ethanol and mill workers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, and consumer groups in the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Board through House Bill No. 8376.
“This legislative push seeks to empower the backbone of the sugar industry by ensuring their voices are heard in key decisions,” Mendoza said.
At present, the SRA Sugar Board is composed of the Secretary of Agriculture, SRA Administrator, and representatives from the planters and millers.
“This is a new dawn for the sugar industry. We are putting workers at the center of the table,” Mendoza said.
Roland de la Cruz, president of the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (NACUSIP-TUCP), said that sugarcane workers have been treated as invisible for too long.
“With this bill, we are putting them at the center of the table, where their sacrifices and struggles will shape the future of the industry,” he added.
NACUSIP-TUCP earlier demanded the removal of incumbent SRA Sugar Board members, including Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona, planters representative David Andrew Sanson, and millers representative Ma. Mitzi Mangwag, claiming their term is marked by record-low farmgate prices, disastrous importation policies, secrecy and absence of transparency in crafting sugar orders, and a blatant disregard for small planters and agrarian reform beneficiaries. | GB
