• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The inclusion of representatives from sugar, ethanol and mill workers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, and consumer groups in the Sugar Regulatory Administration Board is being pushed by Deputy Speaker Raymond Democrito Mendoza in proposed House Bill No. 8376.
The legislative push seeks to empower the backbone of the sugar industry by ensuring their voices are heard in key decisions, Mendoza said in the proposed bill.
At present, the SRA Sugar Board is composed of the Secretary of the Agriculture Department, SRA administrator, and representatives from the planters and millers.
This is a new dawn for the sugar industry, declared Mendoza, stressing “we are putting workers at the center of the table.”
Noting that workers have been treated as invisible for too long, Roland de la Cruz, president of the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines -Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (NACUSIP-TUCP), said “with this bill, we are putting them at the center of the table, where their sacrifices and struggles will shape the future of the industry.”
“The sugar industry is built on the hard labor of its ARBs and workers. This victory is about justice, dignity, and power for the men and women who keep the industry alive,” de la Cruz further said, stressing that their voices will no longer be ignored.
NACUSIP-TUCP earlier demanded the removal of incumbent SRA Sugar Board members, including Pablo Luis Azcona, David Andrew Sanson, and Ma. Mitzi Mangwag, whose terms it alleged were marked by record-low farm gate prices, disastrous importation policies, secrecy and absence of transparency in crafting sugar orders, and a blatant disregard for small planters and agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).
By expanding the Sugar Board, de la Cruz said the measure promises real representation, transparency, and accountability, ensuring that policies will reflect not just the interests of big producers, but also the rights and welfare of the ARBs, farmers, workers and consumers who sustain the industry.*
