REELECTIONIST Senator Cynthia Villar blames the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) for the underutilization of the P2 billion budget for the Sugar Industry Development Act (Sida).
Villar explained that the problem why the Sida budget for this year was reduced to P500 million was because of underspending.
The senator is also against the proposal to turn over the Sida budget to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.
The senator said the law provides for the annual budget of P2 billion, but due to underspending by the SRA, the fund was reduced.
It is better that the underspent budget will be allocated to other departments, so that it will be utilized, Villar stressed.
The lady senator said if that if only SRA knew how to utilize the fund, 50 percent of the budget of Sida is for infrastructure.
They can just ask the Department of Public Works and Highways to identify the project for farm-to-mill roads in order to utilize the fund.
She also said part of the fund is intended also for mechanization, for the block farm, the education of the farmers to modernize, and for the scholarship program of the children of the sugar farmers. (TDE)