Stakeholders seek review of SIDA, PhilSuCor revival

MANILA — Sugar stakeholders ended their two-day summit Tuesday amid calls for a review as to how the Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA) funds were spent as well as for revival of the Philippine Sugar Corporation (PhilSuCor).

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol, at the sidelines of the summit, said the meeting was called to discuss critical issues among which was the proposal to liberalize the sugar industry, and if that happens, “we would like the industry to be prepared.”

Among the proposals that stakeholders submitted, he said, was to review the utilization of SIDA funds.

“The feeling of the stakeholders the distribution of the SIDA funds were not focused on the needs of the industry. So, they came out with a resolution asking for a review and possible amendment of SIDA,” he said.

The stakeholders also passed a resolution asking the President to revive the Philippine Sugar Corporation (PhilSuCor).

“They (stakeholders) said they have difficulty to get loans from the Land Bank of the Philippines given the nature of the bank that is just following the guidelines issued by the Central Bank of the Philippines,” he said.

“They feel that PhilSuCor was more responsive to their needs. The release of loans would also be faster thru the PhilSuCor,” he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the abolition of PhilSuCor, saying its function is no longer needed.

In his Memorandum Order No. 30 signed Oct. 25, the President said PhilSuCor is no longer needed as much of the financing needs of sugar mills are already being provided by private banking and financing institutions in addition to the lending facilities offered by the Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines.

PhilSuCor, a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC), was created on Nov. 14, 1983 primarily to provide financing in the acquisition, rehabilitation, and expansion of sugar mills, refineries, and other related facilities used in the manufacture, packing, storage, distribution, and shipment of sugar and its by-products and derivatives.

The stakeholders also submitted a position paper opposing the liberalization of the sugar industry, saying this will be detrimental to sugar farmers where 80 percent are land reform beneficiaries.

Confederation of Sugar Producers spokesman Raymond Montinola noted that unrestricted importation “will be disastrous for an industry that directly employs over 700,000 workers in 28 provinces, with another five million Filipinos dependent on it for their livelihood, as estimated by the Department of Agriculture and the Board of Investments.”

“Import liberalization will ruin the balance of domestic goods. Small farmers will be unable to make a decent living when prices dive below production cost. Sugar mills with billions of investments in the countryside will be bankrupted. Financial institutions will be unable to collect on loans, including the repayment of ARBs for distributed landholdings,” he said.

“The truth is these food processors/exporters are allowed to import sugar, subject of course to controls by the SRA. Last year, in fact, over 62,000 metric tons of sugar were allocated to that industry. Close monitoring by the SRA is crucial to prevent them from defrauding government of revenues as happened in the past when food processors leaked cheap imported sugar into the domestic market,” Montinola added.

Meanwhile, Piñol said the stakeholders also agreed that they should be competitive, that’s why they asked the government to have access to high yielding varieties.

The group also proposed that the solar irrigation project be extended to the sugar industry.

Sugar stakeholders also asked that summit be held at the DA on an annual basis or as the need arises, he added.

Piñol emphasized that the DA “would always be neutral in as far as decision is concerned.”

“We cannot take specific issues because we are part of the administration. Our role is to listen to them and relay whatever it is that they would like the President and the economic managers would like to listen to,” he said. (PNA)

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1061734

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 gets DA, DAR support amid sugar industry woes

BACOLOD CITY — The Department of Agriculture (DA) 6 (Western Visayas) has supported the bid of the Negros Occidental provincial government to diversify its agriculture sector to cushion the effects of the proposed sugar import liberalization and other industry woes.

DA-6 Director Remelyn Recoter, during the Negros First Transformative Agriculture Summit on Thursday, said their agency can assist in the implementation of a potential conversion through the provision of both soft and hard support.

Recoter said soft support includes seeds, planting materials, training and research, while hard support covers irrigation, farm mechanization, farm-to-market roads, and other farm infrastructure.

The Province of Negros Occidental conducted the Negros First Transformative Agriculture Summit in Talisay City on Thursday (Jan. 31, 2019) to craft a five-year agriculture development plan amid the woes faced by the sugar industry.
*Photo courtesy of Negros Occidental Capitol PIO*

“These are the areas where we can work on,” she added.

Diversification is one of the main components of the five-year agriculture development plan crafted during the summit held at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City.

The province plans to reduce by 30,000 hectares its total land area of about 189,000 hectares devoted to sugarcane, and diversify into other crops, such as yellow corn, rice, high-value crops (HVC), and tropical fruits.

Former governor Rafael Coscolluela, provincial consultant on investment promotions, export, and trade development, said the biggest area for diversification is intended for yellow corn at 15,000 hectares.

Yellow corn is needed for livestock and poultry sector of the province.

The remaining 15,000 hectares will be equally converted to rice, HVC with integrated poultry and livestock, and tropical fruits or 5,000 hectares for each crop.

Coscoluella said the conversion area of 30,000 hectares is just a target, and the provincial government can still be ambitious if there is a potential for other crops.

“Ultimately, the deciding factor is profitability so we will go where there is higher profit,” he said, adding that the major challenge is how to encourage planters and farmers to diversify.

Recoter said that diversification would not mean “forgetting” the sugar industry, considered as the lifeblood of the province, which is the country’s top sugar producer.

She said Negros Occidental will still be a sugar-producing province.

Western Visayas, mostly Negros Occidental, contributes 55 percent to the Philippines’ PHP96-billion sugar industry.

The DA official also said the Sugar Regulatory Administration has programs on increasing the yield despite the reduction of areas devoted to sugarcane.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-6 is also banking on the diversification plan to prepare the agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) on the possible adverse effects of the proposed sugar import liberalization.

DAR-6 Regional Director Stephen Leonidas said on the sidelines of the summit that under their agency’s effort alone, there are about 100 hectares of agrarian areas in the province utilized for organic farming, vegetable, rice and corn farming, and livestock growing.

Leonidas said the ARBs are gradually shifting to other crops so they will not be adversely affected.

“We are preparing for that whatever effects, negative or positive, to our ARBs,” he said.

Negros Occidental has larger ARB-covered areas compared to other provinces in the country.

Leonidas said the sugar import deregulation would impact both big planters and small farmers, including ARBs.

An open-market importation would result in competition among local and foreign products, he added.

“Given the lower price of local sugar, it would be difficult for ARBs to compete as they are not yet ready,” the DAR official said.

In Negros Occidental, the average area for ARBs is one to 1.5 hectares per farmer. There are about 74,000 ARBs in the southern part of the province alone. (PNA)

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1060734

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

NegOcc Provincial Board junks sugar industry liberalization

BACOLOD CITY — Negros Occidental’s Provincial Board has approved a resolution opposing the proposal to liberalize the sugar industry, as earlier announced by Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

The resolution, passed on Wednesday afternoon, stated that the move would open the floodgate to the unabated massive unregulated entry of sugar being dumped by Southeast Asian neighbors with surplus production.

“The proposal would spell the demise of the local sugar industry, which is the lifeblood of Negros Occidental,” stated the resolution that was sponsored by 3rd District Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko.

It also noted that liberalizing the sugar industry could lead to the economic dislocation of hundreds of thousands of stakeholders, particularly the agrarian reform beneficiaries, small farmers, and sugar farmworkers.

Such economic dislocation would in time foment widespread social unrest, putting to naught all social economic initiatives of the province, it added.

Negros Occidental is considered the Philippines’ sugar capital, producing about 60 percent of the country’s sugar output.

Ko said the exact gravity of the effects of the liberalization of sugar imports could not yet be determined, but they are sure it will have a bad impact on the industry and its people.

“Liberalizing the importation scheme is the same as liberalizing the entire sugar industry. We, Negrenses, should not allow this move,” he added.

Copies of the resolution will be submitted to concerned government agencies, particularly the Sugar Regulatory Administration and Department of Budget and Management.

Diokno had been reported as saying that sugar in the Philippines is very expensive compared to global prices. “We plan to deregulate or relax that industry,” he added.

The proposed deregulation of sugar importation is in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s Administrative Order No. 13 issued in September last year, when inflation was at a nine-year high of 6.7 percent.
However, Ko said that unlike rice and fuel, sugar is not inflationary. “So, no to liberalization of the sugar industry, not now,” he added.

The Provincial Board’s move came after Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said on Monday that the plan to deregulate government restrictions on imported sugar will be the death of the sugar industry. (PNA)

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1059916

NegOcc ARB leaders sign petition vs. sugar import liberalization

BACOLOD CITY — More than 170 leaders of agrarian reform cooperatives and organizations in southern Negros signed a petition opposing the liberalization of sugar importation.

The manifesto was circulated during a dialogue with the groups involved in sugar production facilitated by Pontevedra Mayor Jose Benito Alonso with Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Board Member Emilio Yulo III on Wednesday.

Copies were furnished by organizers to the local media in the afternoon.

The dialogue, held at the Pontevedra Gymnasium, came days after Yulo, who represents the planters, and Board Member Roland Beltran, representative of the millers, allayed concerns of industry stakeholders amid the reported plan of the government to liberalize sugar importation because of high sugar prices and restrictive import policy of the SRA.

“We farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) of Negros Occidental are one in calling to oppose the plan of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to allow unrestricted sugar importation,” part of the manifesto written in the local dialect read.

Among the first signatories is Pedro Ogatis, manager of Hacienda Malaga Cuenca Agrarian Reform Cooperative (Macarben) in La Castellana town, an organization which is implementing the sugar block farming program of the Department of Agrarian Reform.

The manifesto said sugar importation without ample protection for the local industry is a dangerous and wrong move and highly disadvantageous to small sugarcane farmers and poor land reform beneficiaries.

Unrestricted sugar importation will result in lower mill gate price and high cost of farm production, it added.

This would lead to a widespread crisis and deterioration of ordinary families, farmers and ARBs towards poverty and debt, it added.

The manifesto cited that 70 percent of the economy of Negros Island and 55 percent of the livelihood of Negrenses rely on the sugar industry, and more than 250,000 ARBs depend on the industry alone.

It said that the solution should be protection for the sugar industry through the provision of technical and financial subsidy for the farmers; implementation of agricultural modernization program from the farms to the sugar mills; abolition of excise tax on sugar; and implementation of the true meaning of land reform among farms. (PNA)

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1059866