BACOLOD CITY -- The Sangguniang Panlungsod here has passed a resolution banning the sponsorship and sale of Coca-Cola products during the MassKara Festival from October 1 to 22 in support to the sugar industry’s protest to the beverage giant’s use of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
Councilor Cindy Rojas, who authored the resolution, on Wednesday said the move was unanimously approved during the regular session on Tuesday.
Bacolod is the latest local government unit in Negros Occidental to join the boycott after the Municipal Council of Toboso also passed a similar resolution last June appealing to the public to prohibit the sale of Coke products at the town plaza during the Sag-ahan Festival.
Negros Occidental province was the first to declare the Coke ban during the Panaad sa Negros Festival last April. The move was followed by Hinigaran, Isabela, La Carlota City, Pontevedra, E. B. Magalona, Bago City, Binalbagan and Hinoba-an during the celebration of their respective festivals.
Rojas said that early this year, sugar planters and workers protested against the Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines Inc.-Bottling Plant upon knowing it is using HFCS in their beverages instead of the locally-produced sugar.
She said sugar planters and workers raised their concerns in opposing the entry of the HFCS in the country since it would negatively affect the sugar industry.
Rojas added she already informed Bacolod Mayor EvelioLeonardia and MassKara Festival director Eli Francis Tajanlangit on the banning of Coca-Cola products.
“In sympathy to the cause and sentiments of our sugar planters and workers it is fitting for the City of Bacolod to also ban Coca-Cola during the celebration of MassKara Festival,” Rojas said.
She said to manifest the banning of the same, the organizers of the festival shall not include Coca-Cola in all promotional and advertising materials in all festival sites.
Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., who declared the Coke ban during the Panaad Festival, earlier said the provincial government is in solidarity with the sugar industry in its campaign against the unregulated importation of HFCS.
The governor cited a data presented by the Sugar Regulatory Administration, showing that the volume of HFCS inflow being consumed by soda and beverage companies is equivalent to more than five million 50-kilogram bags of sugar.
“Imagine the far-reaching effect of this importation to the economy and to the millions in the labor sector,” he said. (PNA)
