BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Save the Sugar Industry Movement (SAVE-SIM) opposes the importation of 450,000 metric tons (MT) of refined sugar as part of the government’s plan to arrest the spike in sugar prices.
SAVE-SIM lead convenor and labor advocate Wennie Sancho said the unregulated entry of subsidized imported sugar would be disastrous to the local sugar industry as it could bring grave injustice and irreparable damage and losses to the local sugar industry.
Sancho said 90 percent of the sugar farmers are agrarian reform beneficiaries who have soldiered on planting sugar even without receiving support from the government.
“If imported sugar will flood the market, sugar farm workers will have their tiempo muerto not only for three months but for a lifetime,” he pointed out.
Sancho said the government should be more aggressive in pursuing unscrupulous sugar traders, hoarders and profiteers rather than importing sugar.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental’s Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson echoed the calls of other sugar groups and Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer that the importation of sugar should only be done during off-milling season.
Lacson said careful planning must be made as to how much sugar should be imported, as well as the timing of the entry of the imports to avoid smuggling, as well as to avoid jeopardizing local sugar producers./PN
