Sugar leaders say no to Train 2

SUGAR industry leaders are asking the government for a total suspension of the implementation of the second tranche of the excise tax on fuels under Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law until the people would fully recover from the effect of the first tranche.

“While we are happy with the recent decision of the Department of Finance to suspend the hike in oil excise tax, we hope that the suspension will be beyond the three-month reprieve but at least for six months to a year, or until the people fully recover from the effects of the implementation of Train 1,” Sugar Regulatory Administration Board Member Emilio Yulo III said in a statement.

Yulo also expressed gratitude that the economic managers of the President have heeded the call to suspend the increase in excise tax on fuel for three months starting January.

This will augur well for the industry that uses oil as a primary component in sugar production – from planting all the way to harvesting and transporting their canes to the mill, Yulo said.

The Confederation of Sugar Producers’ Associations Inc. (Confed) Negros-Panay chapter also expressed the same sentiment.

“We appeal to President Rodrigo Duterte to extend the suspension in behalf of the five million direct and indirect stakeholders of the sugar industry,” said Confed president Nicholas Ledesma in a statement.

"While we are certainly grateful for this move, we hope that the DOF will continue suspending, not just the excise tax on fuel but the implementation of the entire second phase of the Train Law. We are also joining the call to suspend, or at the very least, slash the excise tax on fuel and other commodities under Train 1 in the light of rising inflation," Ledesma said.

Fuel is a primary need of the sugar industry from start to finish and with mechanization at the forefront of our program to enhance our global competitiveness, the imposition of excise tax for fuel has greatly increased our production cost, Ledesma said.

“While the mechanization’s intent is to lower our production cost, the same has not been achieved because of the implementation of the Train Law,” the statement said.

“We fear that further implementing Train 2 which will raise again the levy on fuel by P2 after a three-month reprieve will lead to higher production cost, ergo huge losses to the sugar industry,” Ledesma pointed out.

Couple with that fact is the recent joint agreement by the SRA and our Economic Departments to cap a price on sugar, industry stakeholders which comprises mostly of small planters and agrarian reform beneficiaries, will have to bear the cost of rising fuel prices in the event that the national government will enforce the Train laws, the Confed official stated.

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