SENATOR Juan Miguel Zubiri told sugar industry leaders on Sunday, December 10, that the fight against high fructose corn syrup is not yet.
Multi-national companies are planning to bring up to the World Trade Organization the disparity of the tax between cane sugar and other sugar substitutes, and HFCS, he said.
“I told the Sugar Alliance and the sugar industry leaders that the fight is not yet over because the Finance Secretary told me to advise the sugar industry leaders to prepare because some multi-national companies said that they will take it up with the WTO,” the senator said in a press conference at Nature’s Village Hotel in Talisay City yesterday.
Zubiri said: “The fight is still ongoing so I urge the industry that whatever savings they have to hire the best international world trade lawyers and utilize the health issue before the WTO.”
He added that the sugar industry won the fight for the passage of the tax reform package that will tax sugar and other sugar substitutes at P6 while HFCS will be taxed double at P12.
Zubiri said they are working out that by 2018, the sugar industry will get the full P2 billion fund under the Sugar Industry Development Act (Sida), which will help in terms of productivity of the sugar industry.
Sugar board member Emilio Yulo III said that since 2016, the Sida fund has been under utilized and that they are lobbying to the senators to get the full amount.
He also revealed that the prices of sugar have gone up in the last two weeks from P1,190 per 50-kilo bag to P1,380 for “B” or domestic sugar.