PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. met with sugar industry stakeholders on Wednesday evening, August 17, 2022, to discuss the looming crisis on sweetener in the country.
In a statement, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said he led a delegation of stakeholders, including farmers, millers, sugar workers and refiners, and tackled with the President issues on importation and productivity.
He said they were elated by Marcos’ decision not to allow the importation of 300,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar.
Zubiri noted that while there is a need for the country to import sugar, it is not as much as 300,000 MT as recommended under the controversial Sugar Order 4 issued by the Sugar Regulatory Board (SRB).
“First of all, we thanked the President for not allowing too much importation of sugar to the country that would have affected hundreds of thousands of local farmers and farm workers all over the country,” he said.
“We, however, acknowledged the need to import a smaller amount for the industrial and household consumers, as the consensus using available data on the remaining demand was to import at only 150,000 MT,” he added.
Zubiri said there were other initiatives recommended to the President during the meeting to ease the increase of sugar prices.
He said he will let Marcos announce the recommendations in time.
“What is important is that all the stakeholders came together to propose concrete short term and long term solutions on the sugar situation. Looking for the ‘sweet spot’ between producers and consumers,” said Zubiri.
“Finally, we admired how the President truly wanted to bring down the cost of the commodity and at the same time keep the farmers happy with prices acceptable to all. It was truly a productive meeting with hopeful solutions for the sector,” he added.
Marcos earlier said he ordered the reorganization of the Sugar Regulatory Authority while he let the legislative bodies conduct investigation on the issuance of the SO 4 to identify the liabilities of officials involved.
He said what he is worried about is the possible loss of jobs amid the sugar crisis, which was brought about by the damage of sugarcane crops during the onslaught of Typhoon Odette in December 2021. (SunStar Philippines)