SUGAR IMPORTATION OPPOSED. Refined sugar for household consumption sold in a grocery store in Bacolod City in this undated photo. Sugar producers in Negros Occidental are leading the protest in the importation of 200,000 metric tons of refined sugar for industrial users provided in Sugar Order No. 3 of the Sugar Regulatory Administration. (PNA Bacolod file photo)
BACOLOD CITY – The country’s largest umbrella of sugar producers has thanked Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senator Imee Marcos for supporting their protest in the importation of 200,000 metric tons of refined sugar at the height of milling season.
In a statement on Wednesday, the United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) said the two senators called for an inquiry into moves to import agricultural products such as sugar.
“We are thankful for our champions in the Senate for their strong stance against the ill-planned sugar importation and for seeking an inquiry into the questionable importation program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA),” said UNIFED president Manual Lamata, who is based in Negros Occidental.
Zubiri has filed Senate Resolution 995 seeking to investigate SRA’s issuance of Sugar Order No. 3 that allows the importation of 200,000 metric tons of sugar “even at the height of the harvest and milling season, as well as importation programs of the DA on other agricultural products with the end view of crafting policy that will ensure support for farmers and food security instead of import dependency.”
Marcos questioned the DA’s importation program, particularly on fish produce, adding that Secretary William Dar “has done nothing but import rice, chicken, pork, fish, and now sugar”.
The refined sugar imports, intended for industrial users, are expected to start arriving on March 1, based on Sugar Order No. 3.
On Tuesday, the UNIFED announced the Regional Trial Court Branch 73 in Sagay City, Negros Occidental issued a 20-day temporary restraining order against the importation order after UNIFED’s member-association, the Rural Sugar Planters Association Inc., filed a civil case for injunction with prayer for the issuance of TRO against the SRA represented by Administrator Hermenigildo Serafica.
The court set the hearing on the motion for the writ of the preliminary injunction on February 24.
Similar cases were also filed by two planters’ associations in southern Negros before the RTC in Himamaylan City as shown in copies of the petitions furnished by UNIFED to reporters here on Wednesday.
Sugarcane farmer Enrique Tayo of Negros Occidental Federation of Farmers Association sought the issuance of TRO and writ of preliminary injunction while David John Thaddeus Alba, general manager of the Asociacion de Agricultores de La Carlota y Pontevedra Inc. and La Carlota Mill District Multi-Purpose Cooperative, lodged a motion for leave to file petition in intervention.
Meanwhile, the UNIFED also thanked the Provincial Board of Negros Occidental for passing a unanimous resolution on Tuesday, manifesting objection to the sugar importation while milling is at its peak.
“We are very thankful to our provincial officials for supporting our call. They clearly understand that sugar remains as our economic lifeline and anything that affects the industry will have a major impact in our lives here,” Lamata said. (PNA)
