THE National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) stated that it is vehemently opposed to an additional importation of 300,000 tons of refined sugar supposedly to combat inflation and on the import of molasses being proposed by bioethanol companies.
Recently, bioethanol producers under the Center for Alcohol Research and Development (CARD) has requested the SRA to import more molasses as feedstock to meet the annual demand of 500 million liters of bioethanol as the country can only supply 60 percent of the product.
But data from the Philippine Statistics Authority revealed that the country has already increased its importation of molasses from 198,000 tons in 2015 to 484,000 tons in 2016.
According to John Milton (Butch) Lozande, secretary general of NFSW, such importations will further reduce the already slavelike wages of the 780,000 sugar workers, who may even lose their jobs. As this will lower the prices of local sugar and molasses, sugar planters will simply lower the wages of their workers or retrench them to cut costs. Sugarcane produces sugar and molasses.
At present, sugar workers in Negros who number 335,000 only earn an average monthly income of P1,500 to P2,000, which translates to just P30-P67 per day. As such, it is a common occurrence that sugarcane worker-families are forced to work together in many “haciendas,” making a family unit as the basic work force in many sugarcane plantations. On the other hand, sugar workers in Cagayan Valley, where, like in Negros sugar and molasses are produced, earn an average of P170 a day.
There is also a Tiempo Muerto, or dead season, from June to September, where there is hardly any work for sugarcane workers.
The already miserable lot of the sugarcane workers under the oppressive Hacienda system is further aggravated by the implementation of the Tax Reform Acceleration and Exclusion, or Train law, last January, which resulted to unending price hikes of basic commodities used daily by ordinary people, including sugar workers.
At the same time, small sugar planters owning up to 10 hectares of land each will also be affected by the importation of said sugar products as this will lower the price of the crop that they are producing. They number more than 70,000 and comprise more than 79 percent of the total number of sugar planters.
Only big landlords, millers, bioethanol manufacturers and traders who are advocating for said importations of sugar and molasses will benefit from this scheme.
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) had already approved the importation of 200,000 tons of sugar for Coca Cola and confectionery exporters. Importations will thus grow to 500,000 tons. - Unyon ng mga Manggagawa Sa Agrikultural Workers.