The National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (NACUSIP)—the country’s largest national federation of sugarcane plantation workers and mill laborers—is demanding a full independent audit of the Sugar Regulatory Administration’s (SRA) ₱206.4-million campaign to contain the Red-Striped Soft-Scale Insect (RSSI) infestation, citing a “catastrophic institutional failure to manage the worsening pest outbreak”.
“The SRA’s response to containing the RSSI is not just a failure, it has become completely useless,” Roland de la Cruz, national president of NACUSIP-TUCP (Trade Union Congress of the Philippines), said in a press release Friday, June 26.
NACUSIP is calling for an urgent congressional inquiry into SRA’s “mismanagement of the worsening sugar industry crisis”, and is urging the Department of Agriculture and Malacañang to launch an immediate performance audit of the SRA leadership, enforce strict oversight, and safeguard the livelihoods of the nation’s sugar produce, dela Cruz said .
“Despite the SRA’s mobilization of hundreds of millions in public funds, no clear, measurable, or science-based results have been felt on the ground. The RSSI outbreak remains uncontained, farmers’ yields continue to plunge, and the SRA has failed to deploy a comprehensive program to mitigate the crisis,” de la Cruz said.
SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona earlier announced his agency’s mobilization of ₱206.4 million across the 2025 and 2026 fiscal cycles to combat the infestation—combining ₱177.5 million in SRA corporate funds and ₱28.9 million from the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (SIDA) Quick Response fund. Of the figure, the total specific itemized expenses (like fertilizers, sprayers, and food packs) amounted to ₱202.3 million as published in the SRA status reports.
De la Cruz lambasted the SRA for failing to release a transparent, line-item liquidation of the ₱206.4-million portfolio.
“Despite this report, small planters and workers have not received any concrete assistance, scientific intervention, or field‑level support. Farmers themselves asserted that not a single peso of the supposed intervention has reached them. So where did the ₱206.4 million go?” De la Cruz asked, on behalf of sugar workers and small planters.
He noted that the agency has failed to present any public reports, program documentation, or independent evaluations to justify the multi-million-peso expenditure.
Meanwhile, the RSSI problem has spread farther, affecting thousands of hectares and threatening the livelihood of tens of thousands of workers.
“RSSI infestation is a crisis expected to further cripple sugarcane production across major mill districts nationwide. The crisis is worsening, yet SRA claims the funds have already been spent,” he added.
INSTITUTIONAL FAILURE
The federation strongly condemned the SRA’s regulatory blindness and failure to anticipate the outbreak, despite repeated early warnings from planters’ groups and labor unions.
“This is an unmitigated institutional failure. The RSSI crisis demanded an aggressive, synchronized scientific counter-response, but the SRA delivered nothing but memos and meetings,” De la Cruz said.
The impact of this negligence falls squarely on the agricultural workforce, who face immediate joblessness as standing canes dry up and die.
“Farmers lose critical income every single harvest,” said Elisama Gregorio, chairman of the NACUSIP Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Council.
“Meanwhile, the Planters Representative to the Sugar Board is nowhere to be found. He should be replaced immediately! Resign if you can’t do your job, Mr. Sanson. For every centavo that you earn from your position comes from the blood, sweat and tears of sugar farmers and every Filipino worker”, Gregorio said.
CONGRESSIONAL PROBE
Given the severe economic threat and the questionable allocation of public funds, sugar workers and farmers are calling on both the House of Representatives and the Senate to launch an immediate, joint congressional inquiry.
The proposed legislative probe will demand a full-scale audit of the ₱206.4-million RSSI fund, investigate the absence of field-level interventions, hold SRA leadership accountable for failing to contain the crisis, scrutinize potential mismanagement or misuse of public funds, and enforce strict accountability among officials responsible for the program.
“Farmers are suffering. Workers are losing jobs. Yet the SRA cannot even show where the ₱206.4 million went. We demand accountability, transparency, and immediate congressional action,” De la Cruz added.
Stakeholders emphasized that the Philippine sugar industry—already crippled by low farmgate prices, soaring production costs, and severe climate-related droughts—cannot survive another governance failure. Transparency is non-negotiable when public funds, livelihoods and food security are at stake.*
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