An increase in the national government’s annual allocation to the sugar industry from P2 billion to P5 billion and measures to improve the Sugar Regulatory Administration’s capacity to spend the fund were tackled at a House Committee on Agriculture and Food technical working group meeting at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, today, February 4.
Rep. Francisco Benitez (Negros Occidental, 3rd District), who chaired the Committee’s Technical Working Group on measures strengthening the sugar industry meeting, said the majority of the stakeholders present felt the internal issues of the SRA are more important at this stage to make sure the Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA) fund is better implemented, so more funding can be sought.
The SIDA authored by former Rep. Alfredo Benitez requires the national government to allocate P2 billion annually for the improvement of sugar industry, but the SRA’s under spending has caused the Department of Budget and Management to reduce annual allocations.
Benitez said the TWG, which has been tasked to consolidate several proposals to amend the SIDA, will meet again once the stakeholders’ position papers have been submitted.
Physically present at the hearing aside from Benitez were representatives Greg Gasataya (Bacolod), Stephen Paduano (Abang Lingkod), and former Rep. Mercedes Alvarez for her father Rep. Genaro Alvarez (Neg. Occ., 6th District), while seven other legislators joined via Zoom.
Benitez said he asked that the meeting be brought to Negros to bring the discussion to stakeholders closer to the ground.
They tackled House Bill No. 997 authored by Rep. Michael Romero seeking to increase the mandatory appropriation for SIDA programs from P2 billion to P5 billion, and House Bill 2971 authored by Rep. Manuel Sagarbarria seeking greater powers for SRA to regulate sugar importation and to allocate SIDA funds proportionally to milling districts in terms of productivity.
The third measure tackled was House Resolution 225 that calls on the SRA to shape up and scale up its interventions to fulfill its mandate.
“We are not here to point fingers, we are not here to put the blame on anyone. We are here to find solutions”, Benitez told the industry stakeholders present.
“At a time when the sugar industry is threatened by liberalization, at a time when our economy is being radically transformed by pandemics and climate change, we must work together to save the industry,” he said.
Benitez stressed the need for them to devise solutions to make local sugarcane production sustainable, efficient, competitive, profitable and promote the welfare of small-scale sugarcane farmers and farm workers.
He said the SIDA that was passed in the fifth Congress was precisely for the purpose of increasing production efficiency of sugarcane farms and sugar mills through research and technological innovation, infrastructure and human resource development.
However, the implementation of SIDA programs, except for hard infrastructure programs, has been slow and with limited impact, Benitez said.
“We are looking at many factors in play why implementation has been slow,” he said.
He said while the SIDA mandates an annual appropriation of P2 billion, for 2021 the budget allocated to the SRA is only P712.26 million, he said.
The SIDA programs are supposed to benefit from the collection of excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages but none has been allocated, he also said.
The DBM has consistently pointed out the low absorptive capacity of the SRA does not motivate them to increase its budget, he said.
The TWG aims to address these problems, he said.
SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica outlined the programs implemented using the SIDA funds since 2017 and said certain accomplishments were achieved.
SRA proposes that amendments to the SIDA be based on a comprehensive impact assessment study done by an independent party after six years of implementation, Serafica said.*