BACOLOD CITY: Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson warned that the drop in the farm gate prices of sugar will badly affect the small farmers, mostly from the province.'If prices go down considerably, the small sugar planters will be affected the most. I hope that the volume and the timing of importing sugar will not lead to a considerable drop in sugar prices,' Lacson said.He warned that excessive sugar entering the country will drive down millgate prices and hurt the country's sugar industry already reeling from the high prices of fertilizer and fuel.'If the millgate prices go down considerably, the majority of our planters are small planters and they will be affected the most,' he said.Lacson said lower millgate prices will reduce farmers' fertilizer use that would lower sugar production, which has also lately been affected by the unfavorable weather.This could lead to lower sugar production next crop year, Lacson said.He urged the Senate to dig deeper into the issue of sugar smuggling in reaction to Sen. Ana Theresia 'Risa' Hontiveros' claim of 'government-sponsored smuggling.'Hontiveros said shipments of a large volume of imported sugar arrived in the country ahead of the issuance of Sugar Order (SO) 6 for the country's importation of 440,000 metric tons of refined sugar.She said that it was the Bureau of Customs that flagged the entry of the imported sugar from Thailand when the shipment arrived at the Port of Batangas on February 9, or six days before the SRA's issuance of SO 6.Lacson said that small planters are still coping with the high fuel prices.'So I just hope we can expect sugar prices to go down but I hope our leaders compute it so that it won't drastically go down further,' he added.'But the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has already decided and it remains to be seen if the decision is good,' Lacson said.Leaders of the sugar industry called on the House of Representatives and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to conduct a full investigation into the blatant 'smuggling' of sugar into the country.'We condemn in the strongest terms any acts of sugar smuggling, which constitute economic sabotage that wreak havoc on the livelihood of thousands of sugarcane farmers, 90 percent of whom are agrarian reform beneficiaries and marginal farmers who rely solely on sugar for their sustenance,' they said.The statement was signed by Enrique Rojas, National Federation of Sugarcane Planters president; Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr., Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc. president; Pablo Lobregat, Philippine Sugar Millers Association president; and Danilo Abelita, Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers president.'The public deserves to know who is responsible, and what concrete actions will be taken by the concerned government agencies to stop this nefarious practice,' they said.The sugar leaders said it is their position that the sugar import program must not only be carefully calibrated in terms of volume and timing, so as not to severely affect millgate prices, but it should also be open to all qualified traders and producers' groups through a process that is transparent, fair and equitable.
