• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
In response to criticisms from NACUSIP-TUCP that there is lack of transparency in the absence of a published Sugar Order that covers the export of 100,000 metric tons of sugar to the United States, the Sugar Regulatory Administration clarified that it is also waiting for its official release.
The National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines – Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (NACUSIP-TUCP) earlier urged the SRA to present clear, timely and comprehensive information on its intention to export 100,000MT of sugar to the US, which has yet to publish the sugar order that will govern its export.
Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona, in statement said that NACUSIP-TUCP, which has been working with the sugar industry for decades, knows full well that the official publication of any sugar order goes through a process from the time the Sugar Board approves the order, which is then forwarded to the University of the Philippines for recording, before its official release.
Thus, to claim that SRA lacks transparency is quite premature, and shows ignorance of industry processes that they’re supposed to already know, Azcona pointed out.
Azcona also urged NACUSIP-TUCP to consult with their allied sugar leaders to be clarified on how the decision to export has been arrived at, albeit late, to hopefully improve current sugar prices.
As early as when the mills closed last June 2025, we already announced that sugar production had increased to levels not seen in five years, but no one listened, he added.
Prior to that, as early as April 2025, SRA already saw a possible shortfall in refined sugar and indeed, when refineries closed in June 2025, they were only able to refine 618,388 metric tons of sugar which cannot cover for the annual demand of refined sugar at more than one million metric tons.
Nobody complained of the tradeoff of sugar buying at a premium price, in exchange of importation rights then, because everybody was happy with the prevailing sugar price at that time, Azcona noted.
What SRA was being criticized for was the importation order of refined sugar, which was needed because our refiners cannot comply with the country’s requirement of refined, but not raw sugar, he pointed out.
For this crop year, as early as mid-October, SRA already conducted a dialogue with sugar traders on low prices of sugar upon the opening of the milling season, and they blamed the confusing statements made by the sugar federations on a need to import again, which later was retracted.
A few days later, SRA had a meeting with CONFED on how best to prop-up sugar prices but market forces defied logic and sugar prices remained low.
Early December, SRA called on exporters to help bring out raw sugar, hoping this would balance out the supply as we know that last year’s huge raw production has been a factor in why prices of sugar remain low.
This move, along with the announcement that no importation will happen until December 2026 was communicated to sugar groups, including CONFED and the Philippine Sugar Millers, which was then re-echoed during the subsequent stakeholder’s meeting where PSMA and CONFED said they will “send their comments,” while NFSP and PanayFed were silent on the matter.
All other stakeholders agreed to the No Import announcement, Sugar Order 2 and the planned export of sugar to the US.
The same was echoed to the PSMA Chairman by Sec. Tiu-Laurel in a meeting held mid-December.
A few days later, CONFED cancelled their meeting with SRA, while PSMA disapproved SO2 to increase price.
However, in the effort to alleviate the suffering of our farmers, Agriculture Sec. Francisco Tiu-Laurel said that we will observe the effect of the “no import statement” and, if by January 8, there is still no movement in sugar prices, the Sugar Board will move to export sugar to the US. Thus, last January 9, the Sugar Order covering exporting 100,000 metric tons to the US was signed and was forwarded to UP on January 12.
Now it is officially published in the SRA Website, so the claims of lack of transparency are very premature and designed simply to attack government, Azcona said.
In response to Azcona’s statements, NACUSIP-TUCP disclosed that farmers, workers and agrarian reform beneficiaries across the Philippine sugar industry, demand to spotlight the chronic negligence and incompetence of SRA.
The SRA’s admitted continuous delays, lack of urgency, and absence of genuine communication – blatantly exposed by the excruciatingly slow process surrounding the Sugar Order for the export of 100,000 metric tons of sugar to the United States – have left sugar farmers, workers and agrarian reform beneficiaries and their families in a constant state of uncertainty and hardship, it added.
This bureaucratic apathy is not just an administrative flaw; it is a betrayal of the very people whose livelihoods depend on a well-run sugar sector, the labor group said.
While the SRA deflects criticism and attempts to cloak its failures, sugar farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries endure consistent decline in the prices of sugar and a system rigged in favor of the privileged few, it added.*
