DA hit for ‘deafening silence’ on sugar liberalization plan

Lawmakers are pressing the Department of Agriculture to take a stand on the planned opening up of the sugar industry as the very agency mandated to protect farmers has yet to come up with a position on the matter.

During the Senate hearing on DA’s National Expenditure Program for 2020, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said there is “deafening silence” from the DA and the Sugar Regulatory Administration despite the plan of the country’s economic team to liberalize sugar importation.

“Everybody has spoken. The stakeholders have spoken. But we need a strong voice. You should go in the fields and show that the government is there and not create policy that will destroy them,” Zubiri said during the hearing on Wednesday.

“The DA should come out strongly against imports. I don’t think any senator here will agree to a collapse in any of our agriculture industries,” he added.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar has not given any statement since the Department of Finance issued an economic bulletin calling for the removal of quantitative restrictions on sugar imports.

“I already asked SRA to come up with a position to outline the pros and cons of the issue,” Dar said during the hearing.

“We will be coming out with a report, but I would like the farmers to be protected as well. This is a matter of policy and we will tackle this with the board,” SRA administrator Hermenegildo Serafica added.

As part of the board, it was only Dar and Serafica who did not say anything against the liberalization. Board members Emilio Yulo and Roland Beltran already made their stand.

“Those who are pushing for liberalization are driven by their greed to amass more wealth at the expense of the sugarcane farmers. This is very very wrong because the State is supposed to spread out the economic opportunity to everyone rich and poor alike,” Beltran said.

“We have seen it in the rice sector. The DOF parroted that as the answer to inflation, but the drop in palay prices is more than what they actually predicted. They should focus on solving that first,” Yulo added.

Further, Zubiri plans to set up a meeting with key economic officials including Finance chief Carlos Dominguez, National Economic and Development Authority director general Ernesto Pernia and Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez to discuss the matter.

Also part of the meeting would be Dar, Serafica, Sen. Cynthia Villar and even Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

“We need to put to the table a reformulated measure where we don’t need to liberalize sugar importation, but everyone will be happy. We need to protect farmers from starvation and uplift them from poverty. Importation is not the answer,” Zubiri said.

“We cannot be business as usual in our dealings. We have to reformulate and recalibrate now on our position. We will present to them an out-of-thebox solution that does not need unabated importation,” he said.

At least 24 lawmakers recently signed House Resolution 412 to express strong opposition to the planned liberalization of sugar importation. Zubiri also objected to the measure.

Even Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and food, already said she is not in favor of opening up the sugar industry. Villar was the sponsor and principal author of the Rice Tariffication Law.