PASAY CITY -- The Senate inquiry on the impact of the increasing importation of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to the sugar industry has prompted a possible settlement among the contending parties.
Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of Senate committee on agriculture, who led the joint committee hearing at the Senate building Tuesday, April 18, urged sugar leaders, agrarian reform beneficiaries, beverage firms, and concerned government agencies to talk together to find solutions.
Villar said the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), Department of Agriculture, along with sugar producers and beverage firms especially Coca-Cola which uses more HFCS, could work on setting the volume and price of sugar “acceptable” to both sectors.
“There will be no winners if we are just going to file cases against each other,” the senator said, adding that “we all see the needs of our sugarcane farmers, and as Filipinos we should help instead of convincing to fight each other.”
Villar said she also directed Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, who also present at the hearing, to assist the beverage firm in making adjustments in their HFCS import contract.
The hearing was also initiated by the Senate committee on trade, commerce and entrepreneurship chaired by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who said he is optimistic that both parties will reach certain negotiations that would bring an end to the current woes in the sugar industry.
Zubiri agreed that a composite price of P1,500 or P1,600 per 50-kilo bag is a good price.
“We cannot ask for the moon and the stars, we can only work on a figure that is acceptable to both sectors,” he added.
Both Zubiri and Villar also supported the measure of creating a sugar stakeholders consultative council that will tackle matters pertaining to the sugar industry.
The unabated entry of HFCS, which has been significantly dragging the prices of domestic sugar down, is believed to be killing the local industry.
From P1,800 per 50-kilo bag in September 2016, the price dropped to around P1,300 per 50-kilo bag as of March this year.
The figure spells opportunity losses amounting to about P25 billion, based on the data presented by SRA during the hearing.
The Sugar Alliance of the Philippines (SAP) welcomed the settlement idea being pushed by Villar.
Spokesperson Emilio Yulo, a former vice governor of Negros Occidental, said they are asking for a composite price of P1,500 per 50-kilo bag, P200 higher than the current price.
“It will give us small profit margin and ensure a steady price among consumers or end users,” Yulo said.
Coca-Cola initially manifested support to the proposed settlement, however, it has yet to issue an official statement.
Doubts
The SAP expressed optimism that the hearing has brought to national consciousness the issue that affects mainly, not only the big planters, but agrarian reform beneficiaries as well.
Despite getting the support they wanted, the group still has reservations.
“We should have a guarded approach since there was nothing clear about everything yet. There were no clear commitments made,” Yulo said.
Even SRA Chief Anna Rosario Paner said she still has little “doubts” whether the beverage firm could fulfill its commitments, including the purchase of more local sugar.
Withdraw boycott
For his part, Zubiri also asked the Sugar Alliance to call on Negrense officials and businessmen to withdraw the boycott of Coca-Cola products.
“They (Coke) are threatened thus, they are willing to negotiate,” Zubiri said, adding that withdrawal of the boycott call will strongly support the settlement message being pushed.
Yulo said: “Let Coke make the first move of withdrawing the case.”
Aside from about 40 food establishments, 14 local government units in the province have also signified support to the boycott of Coke products, he said.
Legal and Corporate Affairs of Coca-Cola Femsa Director Juan Lorenzo Tañada said they are willing to withdraw the injunction case filed against Sugar Order 3 “pending further clarifications in the policies and guidelines set by the latter.”
“The additional 10 percent purchase of local sugar for use in 2018 is over and above the 50 percent increase in sugar that we had bought this year. This puts to lie the assertion that we are unwilling to buy local sugar,” lawyer Adel Tamano, firm’s public affairs and communications director, said.
For his part, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, who presented his position at the hearing, said “HFCS is just a temporary problem of the sugar industry.”
During the hearing, Piñol accepted the apology offered by Yulo in behalf of Negrense stakeholders who declared him a persona non grata for supposedly siding with Coke.
He added that the long-term issues that need to be addressed include improving the local sugar farmers’ competitiveness and productivity.
“DA (Department pd Agriculture) already started implementing programs, including mechanization and modernization that will allow farmers to increase production and income,” Piñol said, adding that the HFCS issue should be resolved not by firing conflicts within the industry.
Also present during the hearing were Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Paolo Benigno Aquino and Negros Occidental Third District Representative Alfredo Benitez.
“All sectors have recognized Sugar Order 3 which will surely protect the local supply thus, this is a very good news which I hope will lead to resolution of the current industry woes,” Benitez said.