• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito is eyeing an investigation into the current sugar importation policies and its impact on the domestic industry as he raised alarm over what he described as overimportation of sugar.
This came after Ejercito separately met on Tuesday, April 14 with representatives of major sugar producers’ and millers’ groups, including the Confederation of Sugarcane Farmers of Negros Inc., Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers, Philippine Sugar Millers Association, National Federation of Sugarcane Planters, and United Sugar Producers’ Federation of the Philippines to better understand the challenges confronting the industry and explore possible amendments to the Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA).
Ejercito, one of the principal authors of the SIDA, said he wants to look into the overimportation of sugar, even during the harvest season, which is believed to have led to the drastic drop in millgate prices of sugar.
With this development, he stressed the need for a policy review through a Senate inquiry.
“We will look seriously into this, kung may false scarcity para mag-import kahit malinaw na nalulugi ang local industry. We will file the necessary resolutions to address this problem and protect the thousands of families who rely on the sugar industry as their primary source of livelihood,” Ejercito,
Seven years after the passage of the SIDA, the senator said the industry has not attained self-sufficiency despite the annual budget of P2 billion, which he noted to have not been maximized for use.
The lawmaker also expressed the possibility of revitalizing sugar mills to boost local production.
Negros Occidental produces more than 60 percent of the Philippines’ sugar supply.
The industry supports around 140,000 small-scale planters across Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, according to data from the Department of Agriculture-Negros Island Region. | GB
