THE House Committee on Agriculture and Food on Tuesday began deliberations on a package of measures seeking to strengthen the country’s sugar industry, with Committee Chairperson and Quezon 1st District Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga emphasizing the need for reforms that would better protect sugarcane farmers and ensure the sector’s long-term sustainability.
Opening the committee hearing, Enverga said lawmakers would tackle two key legislative priorities: proposed amendments to Executive Order No. 18, which created the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), and Republic Act No. 10659, or the Sugarcane Industry Development Act of 2015, as well as a separate measure establishing post-harvest facilities for rice farmers.
“First we will deliberate the House Bills numbered 3330, 5070, 8376, 9088, 9107, and 9192—all seeking to amend the Executive Order 18, the law creating the Sugar Regulatory Administration and Republic Act 10659 otherwise known as the Sugarcane Industry Development Act of 2015,” said the lawmaker.
Enverga noted that the committee’s deliberations build on consultations and hearings conducted earlier this year to address persistent challenges confronting the sugar industry, particularly the decline in mill site prices affecting sugarcane producers in Negros Occidental and Bukidnon.
He said these consultations produced several recommendations aimed at modernizing the industry’s regulatory framework and improving support for stakeholders.
Among the proposals are expanding the SRA’s regulatory authority to cover sugar substitutes; broadening the composition of its governing board to include small-scale farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, farm workers, and consumer groups; and institutionalizing consultative bodies to provide formal platforms for policy formulation.
The recommendations also include replacing the current voluntary purchase and import replenishment scheme with a government sugar buying program modeled after the National Food Authority’s palay procurement program; strengthening oversight of molasses imports, establishing clearer and more transparent importation guidelines for sugar and molasses; and studying proposals involving sin taxes, tariff adjustments, and a moratorium on the importation and use of artificial sweeteners.
“With the foregoing recommendations, may I request everyone’s active participation so that the committee may come up with substantive amendments beneficial to the marginalized sugarcane farmers and the entire sugarcane industry sector.”
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