VMC firm on ‘disengagement’ with planters association

The Victorias Milling Company (VMC), one of the biggest integrated sugar mills in the country, apparently is standing firm by its decision to stop doing business with one of the planters associations which mill their sugarcanes in VMC.

Last July 26, most sugarcane industry stakeholders were surprised to read an open letter, published as an advertisement in a Bacolod-based newspaper, from the VICMICO Planters’ Association lamenting the ending of its “decades of business relationship supposedly based on trust and partnership” with the mill.

The planters group stated that VMC accused them of actively campaigning to bring canes to other mills, but the association insisted that its individual members, “on their own, have been bringing canes to other mills, citing VMC’s poor milling efficiencies and onerous penalties.”

They claimed that VMC failed to address the planters’ questions on their incentives in Crop Year 2018-2019, and the issue of the planters’ participation or share in the electricity generated by the mill using the bagasse from the planters’ sugarcanes.

According to the association, VMC’s decision to stop doing business with the group spells the death of the association and the loss of jobs of its employees.

“What really died was the right of every planter to be boldly represented against the rulings of a mill that can turn dictatorial and oppressive. What really died was the voice of an association protecting the rights of its planter-members, as if sending a loud warning to other associations, to toe the line or suffer the same treatment that we experienced,” the planters group stated in the open letter.

On July 29, the Confederation of Sugarcane Planters’ Associations (Confed), the federation to which the VICMICO Planters’ Association belongs, published in a local newspaper its statement of support to its member-association.

Confed expressed its solidarity with the association, and committed “to extend any and all possible means to assist and support them for however long it takes.”

VMC

When asked for its side of the issue, VMC issued a brief statement, without elaborating on any of the concerns raised by the planters’ association.

“The management of VMC has conveyed to the VICMICO Planters’ Association Inc. (VICMICO) that VMC is open to any VICMICO member who may wish to affiliate with other planters’ associations and continue to mill with VMC. VMC affirms its commitment to the planters to accept their canes,” VMC stated.* (Butch Bacaoco)