NFSP welcomes colab with NACUSIP, other groups

“We welcome the collaboration between the Confederation of Sugar Planters’ Associations, Inc. (CONFED) and the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (NACUSIP) on vital issues affecting the sugar industry,” said Enrique D. Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP).

Rojas was reacting to the recent meeting between CONFED president Aurelio Valderrama, Jr. and NACUSIP president Roland de la Cruz, where they agreed to engage in issue-based collaboration on sugar industry-related issues.

NACUSIP is the largest federation of labor unions in the sugar industry, including agrarian reform beneficiaries.

NACUSIP president Roland de la Cruz was recently elected national president of an aggrupation of 61 multi-industry trade unions with collective bargaining agreements and 17 ARBs organizations nationwide.

According to Valderrama, both parties initially agreed to work jointly for “the revision of the SIDA (Sugar Industry Development Act of 2015) and the empowerment of industry stakeholders by pushing for more consultative policymaking by government, especially on sugar importation”.

“The NFSP has a long history of working with NACUSIP for harmony among the sugar farmers and their farm workers. At that time, NACUSIP was led by Roland’s father, Atty. Zoilo dela Cruz. Now that Roland is at the helm of NACUSIP, we are confident that we can continue working for harmonious and mutually beneficial arrangements between the farmers and the workers,” added Rojas.

“In behalf of the Sugar Council, I invite NACUSIP and other similarly minded groups to collaborate with our three planters’ federations, namely NFSP, CONFED and the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (PANAYFED) led by Dan A. Abelita, to jointly work for the welfare of sugar farmers and workers,” Rojas further said.

The NFSP president added that one of the most important issues that the Sugar Council, NACUSIP and other industry groups should work on is sugar importation. He admits that, while the country currently cannot produce enough sugar to satisfy domestic demand, any importation should undergo transparent and inclusive consultation with all affected stakeholders.

“Government should publicly disclose the figures used as basis for the computation of the volume of sugar to be imported and ensure that the timing of the imported sugar’s arrival will not affect mill gate sugar prices,” Rojas emphasized.

“Sugar farmers will appreciate government measures which can demonstrate its concern for the welfare of sugar farmers and workers. It is hardly comforting to read statements from the Sugar Regulatory Administration apparently favoring traders in this latest export-import scheme,” Rojas pointed out.

Rojas referred to the scheme wherein traders who previously purchased local sugar at a premium price of P2,700 per bag were granted the right to export sugar “at a loss” to the United States, in exchange for rights to import much cheaper sugar from the world market.

“Given that these traders (who participated in the US export trade) will also be given the chance to import refined sugar, the cost of money and other fees they incurred will probably give them just a little profit to recoup their expenses,” the statement from SRA said in news reports published yesterday.

The statement did not sit well with other industry stakeholders, considering that the supposedly “premium purchase price” of P2,700 per bag was lower than sugar prices last Crop Year 2022-2023.

The US export-import scheme is seen as a double whammy in favor of traders, because they were able to purchase local sugar at lower prices than last crop year and, at the same, these traders could profit more from the rights granted to them by SRA to import much cheaper sugar.*