Tag: Emilio Yulo III

Sugar industry leaders laud senators’ support vs. import liberalization

BACOLOD CITY — Sugar industry leaders lauded the move of the 10 senators to support their campaign against the proposed liberalization of sugar imports.

On Wednesday, the Senate passed a resolution urging the Executive Department not to pursue the plan to liberalize the sugar industry to  safeguard the economy and welfare of sugar farmers and workers in 28 provinces in the country, including Negros Occidental.

Sugar Regulatory Administration Board Member Emilio Yulo III, who represents the planters, expressed his thanks to the senators who closed ranks with them.

He said the support shows that the senators understand the plight of the sugar industry and its stakeholders, adding that the Senate has always been their ally when it comes to protecting the industry.


Sugar sold in retail at a supermarket in Bacolod City.
Photo by Nanette L. Guadalquiver

“We know that the battle is far from over but this Senate resolution gives us a glimmer of hope that not all is lost,” Yulo said.

The Confederation of Sugar Producers (Confed) also welcomed the development, saying the senators are right in stressing that the planned liberalization of the economic managers can lead to the demise of the sugar industry.

Confed spokesperson Raymond Montinola said in a statement the lawmakers righteously pointed out that the measure can result in a tumultuous peace and order situation.

Montinola said the senators who pushed for the resolution have been with the industry in the last three years from the time of the fight against the entry of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to the sugar taxation.

“Again, we are facing the threat of liberalization. That is also why we should always remember who our allies are and who has our backs,” he added.

Montinola also said the sugar industry will continue to be vigilant and seek the intervention of President Rodrigo Duterte to ensure that the plans of the economic managers will never be implemented.

The Senate resolution was introduced and adopted by 10 legislators, including Senators Juan Edgardo Angara, Nancy Binay, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, Richard Gordon, Loren Legarda, Aquilino Pimentel III, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar and Juan Miguel Zubiri.

The resolution cited reports that economic managers proposed the sugar import liberalization due to high prices of local sugar against those in the world market and that the same affects the competitiveness of sugar-containing food products for exports.

“The deregulated entry of subsidized sugar in the Philippine market will be disastrous to our sugar industry which contributes about PHP96 billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” the resolution stated.

It aded that the sugar industry comprises some 84,000 farmers, mostly small ones and agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), and 720,000 industry workers directly affecting almost a million families or five million individuals.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno had earlier said there is a need to “relax” the rules on importation that puts pressure on the domestic economy to compete with the rest of the world.*

NegOcc sugar planters ask PRRD to review liberalization plan

BACOLOD CITY — Sugar planters and producers in Negros Occidental are appealing to President Rodrigo R. Duterte to reconsider the government’s plan to liberalize or deregulate the import of sugar amid apprehensions it could cause social unrest.

Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Board Member Emilio Yulo III, in a press conference here Thursday, said they are opposed to the pronouncement of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to liberalize the sugar industry.


Sugar Regulatory Administration Board Member Emilio Yulo III in a press conference in Bacolod City on Thursday (Jan. 24, 2019)
Photo by Erwin P. Nicavera

Yulo, representing the planters, said any unabated open importation will result in the death of the sugar industry.

Recalling the time in the 1980s, when sugar prices decreased to a precarious level, he said deregulation would also affect the socio-political situation, especially in Negros Occidental whose lifeblood is the sugar industry.

“I am making this statement not as an SRA official but as representative of sugar planters and producers,” Yulo said, adding that the industry has yet to reach a level of being competitive in terms of production efficiency thus, “now is not the time to liberalize.”

Earlier, Diokno said sugar in the Philippines is very expensive compared to global prices, and the government plans to deregulate or relax the industry within the year.

“You have to relax the rules on importation — that puts pressure on the domestic economy to compete with the rest of the world,” the budget secretary added.

Amid the woes hounding the sugar industry, leaders have recognized the need for a long-term plan.

Yulo said they are now lobbying with other industry stakeholders, individuals and groups sympathetic to the industry, and concerned agencies, such as the SRA and the Department of Agriculture.

Sugar producers are set to express their concerns to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, also the chair of the Sugar Board, in a meeting on January 30.

“The government should hear out the industry before making any serious policy statement or proposing such a drastic measure,” Yulo said, adding that they suspect that industry users are also lobbying with policy makers for the realization of the liberalization plan.

As he dismissed claims that sugar importation is needed as prices of the commodity is high, the SRA official said it is not the farm gate or mill site prices of sugar that have remained high, but the retail prices of sugar.

In Negros Occidental, producers are selling their brown or raw sugar at PHP1,470 per 50-kg. bag.

Yulo said that in Metro Manila, refined sugar is sold at PHP60 to PHP62 per kg., which is equivalent to PHP3,000 per bag.

“So, who is making the killing?” he asked. (PNA)

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1060034