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BY MAE SINGUAY
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February 13, 2018
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BACOLOD City – The price of sugar must be lowered to make it “competitive” in the market, according to Sen. Cynthia Villar.
Villar was in Talisay City, Negros Occidental on Sunday to attend the Pasidungog Festival.
“It is very important to lower the price of our sugar in order to make it competitive,” said Villar. “Lalonangayonna mayliberalization ng ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), meronpotayongisangkalaban when it comes to sugar. It’s Thailand.
The price of sugar “B” decreased from last month’s P1,480 per 50-kilogram bag to this month’s P1,375 per 50-kilogram bag.
The Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA) allots P2 billion every year to ensure the sugar industry’s competitiveness despite reducing the price of locally-produced sugar, Villar said.
“Para kahitbumaba o tumaasangpresyo, hindikalugi,” she stressed.
SIDA provides that 50 percent of the fund will go to infrastructures needed in sugar production. The other 50 percent will be for the programs which aim to improve sugar farming as a livelihood, like scholarship trainings.
But this year, only P1.2 billion was allotted for SIDA despite the legislated P2-billion budget.
Villar explained that the budget reduction may be due to underspending last year.
“Maybe the Department of Budget and Management thought that it is not needed. Because of the underspending, they reduced the allocation for this year,” said Villar.
Some P300 million from the SIDA fund was not used last year. It was intended for loans of sugar farmers.
“It was never spent. Possibly, the beneficiaries were not able to avail [themselves] of it because they were unaware of the loan or maybe they do not want to avail [themselves] of it because of the procedure in acquiring the loan in the bank,” Villar said./PN
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