House sets to probe sugar prices
ROLEX ALVERO ELMIDO
BACOLOD CITY — A congressional inquiry is expected to start soon into complaints of sugar farmers against the unabated entry or smuggling of alternative sweeteners, also known as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which are driving down prices of locally produced sugar.
Representative Alfredo Benitez (3rd district, Negros Occidental), who authored the Sugarcane Industry Development Act, disclosed that he will file a resolution in the House of Representatives, calling for a congressional probe into the matter tomorrow, Monday.
Benitez said he wants to see “if market forces are at play,” or there are people who are taking advantage of the situation. Noting that the prices are now at almost a break-even for local sugar farmers, he said they will be on the losing end if this continues.
The Negros Farmworkers and-ARB Producers Federation, in a statement earlier, said a severe crisis will hit small agrarian reform beneficiaries if the downward trend of the price is not stopped.
A local workers organization also called on the government to further investigate the continued decrease in sugar prices, saying that this has caused the situation of sugar farmers and farm workers to worsen.
Partido Manggagawa-Negros provincial chair Benjamin Tundag also said that the sugar farmers, including the agrarian reform beneficiaries, are complaining that even if the sugar mill-gate price continues to decrease, the commodity price remains the same.
“We are asking concerned agencies to investigate this situation … there might be a group behind this,” Tundag said.
He also blamed the decline in price primarily due to the continuous importation of HFCS to the country and it cannot be stopped as it is stipulated in the free trade agreement signed by government officials.
“The price of sugar right now cannot fully cover the production expenses of the farmers and they cannot even get a profit from it,” Tundag said.
Sugar Regulatory Administration chief Hermenegildo Serafica said earlier that the SRA board has created a committee to investigate the cause of the decline in mill-gate sugar prices and, in the meantime, is holding in abeyance any further importation of sugar.