Sugar industry pushes to bring back SIDA fund allocation in 2025

The sugar industry is pushing to bring back the P2 billion annual budget of the Sugarcane Industry Development Act for the 2025 National Budget,  Rep. Wilfredo Mark Enverga, Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture said, Thursday.

Enverga also said there is a push that the allocation would be increased from P2 billion to P5 billion in 2026.

Enverga's committee held a public hearing yesterday at Nature's Village Hotel in Talisay City on the proposed amendments to SIDA Law.  It was attended by the sugar industry stakeholders, mostly from Negros Occidental a sugar capital of the country.

The public hearing was initiated by Third District Rep. Jose Francisco "Kiko" Benitez whose brother former Third District Rep. And now Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo "Albee" Benitez was the main author of the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (SIDA).

Enverga was joined by Rep. Benitez,  Bacolod Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya, Fifth District Rep. Dino Yulo, and Sixth District Rep.Mercedes Alvarez.

"More importantly before the proposed amendments we would like to get a better understanding of what is the concern delaying or affecting the absorbing capacity of the SRA in terms of implementing a very good program.

We know very well some programs are fast-moving like the infrastructure component is easily implemented by the DPWH. We are very much concerned about the socialized credit of Landbank.

There is much traffic with Landbank which is a very big component of the SIDA program. There is a very good development that there is a move from Landbank to simplify the documents and guidelines old our farmers," Enverga said.

On the proposed Increase in SIDA budget to P5 billion, Enverga said at this moment it would be difficult to increase given the issues about the absorbed capacity. "I am hopeful that if we will be able to resolve in this public hearing as well as the proposed amendments in the law it will help us justify to DBM  the need to increase the allocation and appropriation in the SIDA Law," he added.

"We would like to understand where the DBM would be coming from if we could provide the solutions here during the public hearings. Probably not the P5 billion, it could be a little less. But the goal here is to push for a higher allocation and we would like these to be properly implemented," Enverga added.

There is a unanimous position that for 2025 the only option is to lobby for the budget cycle and bring it back to the P2 billion allocation, Enverga emphasized.

The SIDA fund has been underutilized since the law was implemented. (TDE)