About 1,000 farmers from 14 planters associations in Panay Island held a protest rally against low sugar and molasses prices in Passi City, Iloilo, on Thursday, Jan. 22, ahead of the congressional hearing on the plight of sugar industry on Friday.
Sugar leaders are hoping something good will come out of the joint Senate and House inquiry on the decline in millgate sugar at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
“I hope something good will come out from it that will help the sugar industry survive,” Enrique Rojas, National Federation of Sugarcane Planters president, said.
“For the record UNIFED hopes they will act on its request to pass a bill enforcing crop loans from all banks so that the farmers can hold on to their sugar and not sell when prices are low,” Manuel Lamata, United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines president, said.
The Panay protesters on Thursday demanded a halt to the over-importation of sugar and molasses, full transparency and consensus in importation decisions, and the institutionalization of clear rules and regulations in the importation decision-making process.
Jalasig president Hernando Y. Divinagracia Jr., Panay Iloilo Independent Sugar Planters Association president Tom Valera, Sangguniang Negosyante at Planters ng Panay vice president June Sargado, and 85-year-old marginal sugar farmer Andres Barbero, among others, expressed the dire plight the sugar farmers who have incurred massive losses due to over-importation.
Rep. Ferj Biron (Iloilo 4th District), represented by Lemuel Fernandez, Vice Governor Nathalie Ann Debuque, Board Member Mark Palabrica, and Bingawan Mayor Matt Palabrica also expressed their strong support for the call of the sugar farmers.*