SUGAR industry stakeholders express strong opposition to the move of the government for the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to open the importation of sugar to direct users to moderate the cost of sugar to consumers.
The move is one of the solutions to the high inflation rate that is hurting the country now based on the initial meeting conducted on September 5 by the Economic Development Cluster that includes the Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture, and other agencies.
In a press conference on Tuesday, September 11, Jose Maria Montinola of Vicmico Planters Association claimed the big industrial users are the once agitating the economic managers of the president to come up with such proposal.
"Why include sugar when it is not included as a prime commodity by DTI?" Montinola asked.
He pointed out that there is no need to import sugar because there will be supply as the milling season has already started.
Labor leader Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of the General Alliance of Workers Associations (Gawa), said importing sugar is not the solution to the current inflation.
"It will instead lead to economic disaster with many small farmers and cooperatives will be forced to close down because of low sugar prices caused by sugar importation. It will mean that many workers will lose jobs," Sancho pointed out.
Jun de la Cruz of the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said the proposal was made "without consulting the workers."
For Enrique Tayo of the Negros Occidental Federation of Farmers Association, they were not consulted, too.
If it will materialize, Tayo said they will be forced to take their concerns to the streets all the way to MalacaƱang.