NEGROS Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. is against the move to open sugar importation to lower its price and address inflation in the country.
"We should not import sugar because we have sufficient supply and milling season has already started," the governor said.
He explained the high price of sugar in the market is only normal at this point when the milling season has just started but definitely the price would soon go down.
"Food processors should wait for the prices to go down.
I'm sure they already have stocks that they bought already.
They want to be imported because it is cheaper but at the expense of the farmers," Marañon added.
He also said the industry leaders are set to meet with the national government officials relative to the proposal to open sugar importation to address inflation as suggested by the economic managers of the president.
Meanwhile, former governor Rafael Coscolluela also said that industry leaders will be having a meeting to map out plans on how to convince the national government to adopt a more rational approach.
"Because the thinking now is that the sugar importation program that is not well studied would be ruinous at the same time, we also need to recognize that local end users do have problems with supply and price, so you need to balance these two elements which is role of Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA)," Coscolluela said.
Coscolluela, former SRA administrator, said the government needs to have a rational approach not to rush toward the sugar liberalized importation. "There are many arguments to raise about the sugar importation program but the question is, what does the government want to promote Philippine agriculture or cheaper commodities for consumers," he added.
The question is the balance, you cannot overly in favor farmers to the detriment of the consumers but at the same time, you cannot overly favor consumers and kill agriculture, Coscolluela further said.
"I have suggested that the national government examine very closely the contributions and the value of the sugar industry to the Philippine economy...Policy results in the decline of the sugar industry. That has to be studied carefully," Coscolluela added.
He said the government needs to face competition so they have to draw up a serious agriculture support program that will strengthen the sector and make it more competitive.
"We are facing problems on increased fuel prices which is also a challenge to Philippine agriculture that results to increase in prices of fertilizers, less availability of labor, increased labor cost. So the cost of production is going up and the government is talking instead of importing agricultural commodities to bring down inflation," he added.