Tuesday, October 02, 2007 Probe on sugar cartel sought
MILITANT lawmakers have asked for an inquiry into the existence of sugar cartels that are behind the manipulation of prices of sugar, which have already gone up from P38 to P40 per kilo.
Legislators led by Representatives Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis, Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna, and Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan of Gabriela said these sugar cartels along with their collaborators and protectors in government must be identified so that they can be meted with appropriate action and punishment for economic sabotage.
The lawmakers through House Resolution 94 sought a joint inquiry by the committees on agriculture and food and trade and industry on the existence of sugar cartels in order to determine how they manipulated the commodity’s prices.
They cited an earlier report by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) about the diminished supply of sugar in the market and the increase in sugar prices from P38 to P40 per kilo, although some KMP chapters said the prices reached as high as P42 per kilo in some areas.
The Department of Agriculture (DA), however, assured there is no sugar scarcity since the present production is twice as much as the consumption requirement of the country, according to the lawmakers.
On the part of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), it likewise assured an adequate supply of sugar and attributed the sudden increase in the prices to the handiwork of sugar cartels, which the DTI said cornered the bulk of purchases of the commodity and hoarded these from the market to artificially induce high prices.
The lawmakers said the government’s inability to effectively intervene in the sugar price increase may be due to its lack of effective price control mechanism and its commitment to supply the US market under the US sugar quota.
