BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
The Sugar Order to import 300,000 metric tons of imported sugar that was invalidated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will save the consumers from the onslaught of excessive prices of table sugar and the sugar industry as a whole from destabilization, GAWA secretary general Wennie Sancho said yesterday.
It can be recalled that there had been massive rallies held a few years ago in protest against sugar import liberalization, Sancho said.
GAWA, NACUSIP, and other labor groups even declared then Agriculture secretary Manny Piñol as “persona non grata” to manifest their indignation against sugar import liberalization including artificial sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup. The rallies and protests were successful and Congress passed a resolution to stop sugar importation, he said.
Sancho said the winners in sugar import liberalization are the sugar traders, industrial users, sugar hoarders and smugglers that constitute the cartel in the industry. The losers are the sugar producers, marginal sugar farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and their families including the consumers.
“If our country will be flooded by imported sugar, the industry will be destabilized. Massive dislocation of sugar workers and their families who are dependent on the sugar industry will follow,” he said.
That is why sugar importation is a dangerous proposition because it will bring destruction to the lifeblood of the economy of Negros which is the sugar industry, Sancho said.
The law enforcers should go after unscrupulous sugar traders, profiteers, sugar smugglers and corrupt government officials who are behind the sugar importation scheme, he said.
Sancho said he believes that sugar is not a commodity to be traded in the marketplace like pork bellies, but is an essential commodity that must be controlled and regulated by government.*
