Citing a crisis of transparency within the industry, sugar workers and small-scale farmers have formally petitioned the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to release the minutes of meetings involving controversial sugar orders.
The National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (NACUSIP-TUCP) and the NACUSIP Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Council in a letter Monday, Jan. 26, requested full disclosure from Department of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel and Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona of the minutes of Sugar Order No. 8 (Series of 2025), as well as Sugar Orders No. 2 and 3 (Series of 2026).
The request follows a public consultation held on January 23, where stakeholders presented a “Manifesto of Solidarity” to members of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The manifesto outlines an “urgent call for the survival” of the Philippine sugar industry, specifically highlighting how current policy decisions are impacting the livelihoods of those at the bottom of the supply chain, they said.
Stakeholders, including agrarian reform beneficiaries and mill workers, argue that millgate prices are being adversely affected by importation and the unchecked entry of alternative sweeteners.
They are demanding accountability on five key points regarding Sugar Order No. 8 (SO8):
· Grade Verification: The actual proportion of imports categorized as “bottler’s grade” refined sugar.
· Withdrawal Data: Verified volumes of sugar withdrawn by major beverage manufacturers.
· Inventory Comparison: How these imports compared to existing refined sugar stocks at the time of order.
· Export Program: The rationale behind the “Export Program with Import Replenishment.”
· Trader Transparency: Clear identification of the traders favored by the Sugar Board’s decisions.
“Access to these documents will greatly assist small-scale farmers and workers in understanding how policy decisions have impacted millgate prices,” the group stated in the letter.
NACUSIP emphasized that these minutes are public documents and has requested that the SRA provide copies within five days.
The group contends that the information is vital for the industry to understand the “harrowing challenges” currently faced by the workers and farmers who sustain the sector.*