BY ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
IT’S APPALLING to note that some Negros planters and sugar advocates are seemingly politicizing anew the sugar industry for the upcoming 2022 elections.
Hogging the local headlines a week ago were news about UNIFED (United Sugar Producers Federation) urging Davao City’s Mayor Sara Duterte to run for president. In a statement, it stressed that the sugar industry is still facing a lot of problems – threat of sugar liberalization, sugar smuggling, and lack of support for modernization efforts, among others. Thus, it is pushing Sara whom they knew of having a “heart” for the sugar industry.
Is that so?
What if other sugar blocs in the country won’t support Sara? Will it be “kanya-kanya system” depending on the political interest of per planters’ group? Gosh! It’s a little “bit dangerous”. And it’s really, really bad for the sugar industry!
A blatant divisiveness among industry players (just) because of politics is, of course, detrimental to the sugar industry and to the millions of stake holders. Yes, Sara is currently leading in different presidential surveys. But what if there’s a major turn-around later? And what if she will not win next year? Will the sugar industry be compromised anew? Or will be subject of the ire of the new president?
Can’t UNIFED stay apolitical and wait ‘till elections are over? Then, that the time it’ll lay down to the new president all their concerns for the industry.
I do hope UNIFED leaders will think not just of their own interest but also the common interest of all the people dependent on the sugar industry.
‘TATAK KALAMAY’
Following UNIFED story was “Tatak Kalamay’s” pronouncement for possible endorsement of the pro-sugar senatorial bets.
“Tatak Kalamay”, an advocacy group led by Dino Yulo, is touting eight sugar mills in the province of Negros Occidental as it allies. It sounded off interest to support anew “senatoriables” who’ll be labeled as pro or known to be champions of the sugar industry.
In 2019 elections, “Tatak Kalamay” campaigned for eight senatoriables – Bong Go, JV Ejercito, Nancy Binay, Bato dela Rosa, Sonny Angara, Koko Pimentel, Cynthia Villar, and Francis Tolentino.
Only Ejercito lost.
During the “sangla-laway” portion of their campaigns in Bacolod and Negros, these “Tatak Kalamay” senators made “sweet promises” to the sugar industry. They vowed to improve the lives of hacienda workers, the plight of the “Dodos” (new term for sacadas), among other blah, blah, blah.
But where are they now? What have they done for the industry, especially for the sugar workers? Did they propose or pass any Senate bill for the sake of the sugar industry?
Records from the Senate revealed that from July 2019 to date, no single bill had been filed that particularly aimed at bettering the industry and advancing the welfare of the sugar workers.
So what happened to Go, Angara, Villar, Binay, Tolentino, Pimentel, and Dela Rosa? Do they still have “hearts” for the industry or sugar workers? Or will they be singing again Gary Valenciano’s “Sana’y maulit muli?” I doubt it!
These senators should take into consideration that pakyaw system still prevails in some of the haciendas in Negros. Such is blatantly “bastardizing” hacienda workers.
With the pakyaw system, hacienda workers have no choice but to succumb to slave-like treatment, earning a meager P50 to P100 in a day’s work.
How could an ordinary mamumugon sa kampo with five children decently raise his family with P500 income in a week?
Thus, the pakyaw system is deemed a direct insult to workers’ rights to earn P315/day as daily minimum wage rate as agricultural workers in Western Visayas per the Wage Order No. RBVI-25, which was in effect starting on Nov. 26, 2019.
Hence, no doubt the “pakyaw” system, which most of the sugar planters are practicing right now, is one of the “ugliest realisms” in the sugar industry nowadays. So, is “Tatak Kalamay” proud of this?
Where are the “Tatak Kalamay” senators who promised “heaven and earth” for the sugar workers? Do they still have the guts and stomach to campaign in Negros and cast anew another round of sweet promises?
In truth and in fact, politicizing again the sugar industry for 2022 polls is tantamount to snatching humanity among hacienda workers. It is like pawning hacienda workers’ dignity to some “ass-clown” politicos.
And people behind “Tatak Kalamay” should always take note that humanity ain’t negotiable. St. John Paul II stressed, “The future of humanity passes through family.”
People in the haciendas now can no longer be duped. Though most remain financially incapacitated, they’re now “maru” (wise) when it comes to election matters. And for those who have children who are already professionals, they’ll never allow themselves again to be “politically prostituted” by people with vested interest to “enrich” themselves in the upcoming elections.
Of course, gone are the days that majority of the farmworkers in Negros were “beholden” to their landlords. Some of the haciendas in Negros were already covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). So, some of the farms workers are now Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) or “little planters” who can’t be manipulated by their former landlords anymore.
Thus it’s better for “Tatak Kalamay” to slow down first and say tabi-tabi. Basi mausog sila and will end up a laughing stock among farm workers.
Hacienda people now are feeling “vindictive”. They’re itching to vote not because “Tatak Kalamay” or UNIFED says so. They’ll vote because of their fervent wish for ABS-CBN to go back on air. So their very criterion in choosing is: A presidentiable or senatoriables who can promise to give a new franchise to ABS-CBN.
Weird, but true! Let’s take note that hacienda people’s happiness is just simple but pure, and non-negotiable at this time. In the absence of cable and internet connectivity in most of the haciendas, they’re reliant on television as their major source of happiness, especially after a day’s work in the field. Watching television and seeing their “idol” Cardo Dalisay (actor Coco Martin) in “Ang Probinsyano” seems to be “heaven” for them.
Thus, daw gintakluban sila sang langi” when ABS-CBN was totally gone from their sight last year. And it was imprinted in their minds that politics was behind ABS-CBN’s “death” on free TV.
Those posturing to be pro-sugar, I am sure, will never catch their attention anymore. In fact, hacienda people now are eagerly waiting for Piolo Pascual, Daniel Padilla, Kathryn Bernardo, Kim Chiu, Gerald Anderson, Vice Ganda and, most of all, Coco Martin. And, whoever will be endorsed by these ABS-CBN talents, no doubt, will be the sure winner(s).
Others may marque this as “shallow thinking” or mababaw na kaligayahan” or buki. But “Tatak Kalamay” and UNIFED have no choice but to take cue from this eerie reality.
Kon sa inuma or hacienda nga halambalanon, “bisan itaga mo sa bato!”/PN
