AMID the impending milling season in September, the sugar industry has sought the help of the Provincial Governments of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Antique to facilitate processing of "sacadas" or cane cutters in light of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) travel protocols.
Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Board Member Lawyer Emilio Yulo III, in a statement Monday, July 20, said there was already an agreement between Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao to facilitate the immediate processing of travel documents for the "sacadas" who are expected to start coming in by the first week of September.
Records show that there are about 3,000 migrant cane cutters from Antique who are listed with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
But Yulo said there are about 5,000 to 6,000 "sacadas" from Antique and many of them are undocumented.
"With this agreement between our local government units (LGUs), we can now legally document migrant sugarcane cutters as they will have to follow the 'No ID, No entry' policy that has been agreed upon," he added.
According to Juliana Cepe, provincial planning and development coordinator of Antique, a system will be created for the legal deployment of "sacadas" which will be processed by millers' representatives from July 15 to August 15.
Yulo, who represent the planters, said this will give ample time to Negros Occidental to prepare the certificates of acceptance for the workers.
The DOLE will also ask "contractors" to secure authority to hire permits before recruiting workers so they will not be accused of illegal recruitment.
Once the list has been prepared, this will be submitted to the respective municipalities in Antique so that each LGU will have their own data base through the Public Employment Service Office (Peso).
After the approval by the LGUs, the "sacadas" will now have to submit their birth certificates, mayor's permit, police clearance and medical certificates duly signed by a government or private physician before they can be given the authority to travel and a provincial ID signed by the governor.
Yulo said they are also coordinating with Governor Arthur Defensor of Iloilo and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia for a "provisional transit" permit for these workers also known as "tapaseros."
"This has allayed fears among sugar producers who were worried that travel restrictions may be a problem if sacadas will not be allowed to come to Negros," he said, adding that in the past couple of years, there has been scarcity of "sacadas" due to the construction boom and there were planters who would hire migrant workers from as far as Palawan.
The SRA official added that Antique has welcomed such agreement because of the economic value it provides to the province.
A "sacada" usually gets a P15,000 preliminary payment for their contract and "if we just based it on official records, 3,000 of them alone is equivalent to P45 million in initial payout."
"Sacadas" are paid depending on their capacity to cut canes which normally runs upto 1.5 tons per day per cane cutter, he said.
A similar agreement has been sent by Lacson to Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo for those coming from the other side of the island.
"We have a different setup for migrant workers from Oriental as they usually come in a package deal of truck with men," Yulo said, adding that these workers usually take the opportunity to earn more because "milling season there usually starts in December."