To set the record straight, the Sugar Regulatory Administration was also waiting for the official release of the sugar order that covers the export of 100,000 metric tons of sugar to the United States, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona on Thursday, Jan. 15.
Azcona was responding to criticisms from the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (NACUSIP-TUCP) that there was lack of transparency in the absence of a published sugar order.
NACUSIP-TUCP has been working with the sugar industry for decades and knows full well that official publication of any sugar order goes through a process from the time the Sugar Board approves the order which is then forwarded to the University of the Philippines for recording before its official release, Azcona said in a press release.
Its claim that SRA lacks transparency is quite premature and shows ignorance of industry processes that they are supposed to already know, he added.
Azcona also urged NACUSIP-TUCP to consult with their allied sugar leaders to be clarified on how the decision to export has been arrived at, albeit late, to hopefully improve current sugar prices.
As early as the mills closed last June 2025, we already announced that sugar production has increased to levels not seen in five years but no one listened, he said.
Prior to that, as early as April 2025, SRA already saw a possible shortfall in refined sugar and indeed, when refineries closed in June 2025, they were only able to refine 618,388 metric tons of sugar which cannot cover for the annual demand of refined sugar at more than 1 million metric tons, he said.
Nobody complained of the tradeoff of sugar buying at a premium price in exchange of importation rights then because everybody was happy with the prevailing sugar price at that time, Azcona said.
What SRA was being criticized for was the importation order of refined sugar which was needed because the county’s refiners cannot comply with the country’s requirement of refined sugar, not raw, he added.
For this crop year, as early as mid-October, SRA already conducted a dialog with sugar traders on low prices of sugar upon the opening of the milling season, and they blamed the confusing statements made by the sugar federations on a need to import again, which later was retracted, Azcona said.
A few days later, SRA had a meeting with CONFED on how best to prop-up sugar prices but market forces defied logic and sugar prices remained low, he added.
Early December, SRA called on exporters to help bring out raw sugar hoping this would balance out the supply as we know that last year’s huge raw production has been a factor in why prices of sugar remain low, Azcona said.
This move, along with the announcement that no importation will happen until December 2026 was communicated to sugar groups including CONFED and the Philippine Sugar Millers, which was then re-echoed during the subsequent stakeholder’s meeting where PSMA and CONFED said they will “send their comments,” while NFSP and PanayFed were silent on the matter, Azcona said.
All other stakeholders agreed to the no import announcement, Sugar Order 2 and the planned export of sugar to the US, he said.
The same was echoed to the PSMA Chairman and Agriculture Sec. Francisco Tiu-Laurel Agriculture Secretary Laurel in a meeting held mid-December, he said.
A few days later, CONFED cancelled their meeting with SRA, while PSMA disapproved SO2 to increase price, he added.
However, in the effort to alleviate the suffering of our farmers, Tiu-Laurel said that we will observe the effect of the “no import statement” and, if by January 8, there is still no movement in sugar prices, the Sugar Board will move to export sugar to the US. Azcona said..
Thus, last January 9, the Sugar Order covering exporting 100,000 metric tons to the US was signed and was forwarded to UP last January 12, he said.
Now it is officially published in the SRA Website, so the claims of lack of transparency is very premature and designed simply to attack government, he added.
NACUSIP-TUCP in a statement issued Thursday in response of Azcona said farmers, workers and agrarian reform beneficiaries slammed the SRA for what it called “chronic negligence and incompetence”.
“The SRA’s admitted continuous delays, lack of urgency, and absence of genuine communication—blatantly exposed by the excruciatingly slow process surrounding the Sugar Order for the export of 100,000 metric tons of sugar to the United States—have left sugar farmers, workers and agrarian reform beneficiaries and their families in a constant state of uncertainty and hardship,” it said.
“This bureaucratic apathy is not just an administrative flaw; it is a betrayal of the very people whose livelihoods depend on a well-run sugar sector”, it said.
“Until the SRA dispels its entitled attitude and embraces its role as a steward for the people, the labor movement will not rest. The days of silence and submission are over; farmers, workers and agrarian reform beneficiaries are united in rage and determination to demand justice, accountability, and a complete overhaul of the system that has failed them for far too long,” the statement said.*