REELECTIONIST Senator Grace Poe assured Negrenses she will not support any move to liberalize the sugar industry.
The move needs congressional action before it will be signed by the President Rodrigo Duterte.
So far, there is no one at the Senate that has attempted to push for the proposal that came from the financial managers of the President.
Poe, who was in Bacolod City on Tuesday, March 12, for a campaign sortie, said she is against sugar liberalization because of several challenges that the sugar industry is facing right now.
“It had been three to four years since the Sugarcane Industry Development Act was passed, but up to this time, the sugar industry in the country is still way below compared to other sugar producing countries like Thailand,” Poe pointed out.
“Our agricultural technology is a great deal behind other countries. We should make our sugar industry competitive first. If we are going to diversify to other industries and products, we also need to improve our technology,” Poe said.
Poe lamented that the sugar industry has been facing various challenges like the entry of smuggled sugar and the entry of high-fructose corn syrup.
Poe, during her visit in Bacolod yesterday, met with the barangay officials of the city and held a dialogue with fisherfolks in Barangay Banago and ate with them in a boodle-fight meal.
Poe also visited the vendors of Burgos Public Market and paid a courtesy call on Talisay City Mayor Neil Lizares. She also went to the popular tourist stop, The Ruins.
Poe is the author of significant legislations such as the 10-year validity of the passports and the extension of the validity of the driver’s license to five years. (TDE)