Negros labor group hits Marcos, says sugar imports push industry to ‘near death’

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Ten lawmakers from the Negros Island Region call on the SRA to release data on sugar importation, pest infestation, and the shift in market demand from local to imported sugar

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – The steep drop in sugar millgate prices this milling season stems from over-importation that worsened under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a labor group said on Wednesday, October 15.

Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of the General Alliance of Workers Associations (GAWA), pointed out that Marcos, who has been in office for only three years, has already approved four controversial sugar import orders.

Sugar Order No. 5, which allowed the importation of 300,000 metric tons in August 2022, became controversial when Marcos, also agriculture secretary, denied approving it, prompting the resignation of SRA Administrator Herminigildo Serafica and Board Member Roland Beltran.

SO6 in early 2023 sought to import 440,000 MT but was blocked by Senator Risa Hontiveros, who called it “government-sponsored smuggling.” SO7 authorized 150,000 MT but was later shelved to protect local producers.

Sancho said SO8, series of 2024-2025, allowed 425,000 MT of refined sugar that flooded the local market by mid-September, two weeks before the October 1 start of milling.

“It’s blatant. The present administration is fond of importing sugar, sending the industry to its near death,” he said.

The current sugar glut, estimated at 275,000 MT, has pushed prices down to about P2,200 per 50-kg bag, roughly P300 below the production cost of P2,500, Sancho added.

Sancho called for a sugar summit to address the crisis, saying stakeholders must assess the industry’s condition and find ways to keep it afloat.

Ten lawmakers from the Negros Island Region on Tuesday, October 14, called on the SRA to release data on sugar importation, pest infestation, and the shift in market demand from local to imported sugar.

The group included Negros Occidental representatives Julio Ledesma IV, Alfredo Marañon III, Javier Miguel Benitez, Jeffrey Ferrer, Emilio Bernardino Yulo III, Mercedes Alvarez-Lansang, and Bacolod City’s Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, along with Negros Oriental Representatives Emmanuel Iway, Maisa Sagarbarria, and Janice Degamo.

One of them, Javier Miguel Benitez, filed House Resolution No. 373, urging the House committees on agriculture, trade, and labor to investigate the sugar price problem.

Former SRA administrator Rafael Coscolluela, an ex-governor, said earlier “there is too much supply of sugar at the wrong time,” faulting the SRA for failing to balance supply and demand.

Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr., president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Incorporated (CONFED), also wrote an open letter to SRA Administrator Pablo Azcona questioning whether the implications of oversupply and artificial sweeteners were properly assessed before the latest imports.

CONFED asked the SRA for its plan to stabilize prices, control oversupply, and regulate sweeteners that are displacing locally produced sugar.

Azcona has said no additional sugar imports will be allowed until mid-2026. – Rappler.com