Which sugar bill?

This is a question needing an answer from our sugar industry leaders and those in government, like the Sugar Regulatory Administration. I am referring to the legislative measure that is reportedly to be filed before Congress next month by Rep. Albee Benitez. Aside from a congressman from Oriental Negros, only Benitez has taken the initiative for file this bill which was supposed to have been approved by the national organizations of sugarcane producers. Is this “final bill”?

Before Holy Week, however, I asked the leaders of the four major planters’ federations whether indeed they have expressed favor of the new Benitez bill which is now called Sugarcane Act. It was a great surprise to hear them say they have not endorsed the bill and one federation said they have not seen the proposed measure.

What happened after all the news that the Benitez bill is ready for finalization and would be filed in Congress this May when the legislature resumes session? Was all the news a spin to project a favorable image of Benitez, particularly in the sugar industry with its national constituency?

I am also confused as to which proposal has the endorsement of the national leadership in the sugar industry because we must reconcile these proposals for a unified presentation in Congress. The sugar producers and their political leaders should show that they are united.

Without this show of unity any proposal in Congress will find rough sailing, if now rejection. We are facing a national midterm election and those eyeing for the Senate must know what the needs of the industry are and which they can support to gain the producers support.

I am trying to make heads and tails of these claims and denials.

When I was invited last September to Thailand by the national Federation of Sugarcane Planters headed by its president Enrique Rojas, I thought it was just another tour of fabled Thailand but it turned out to be an educational one and for me who had been tracking the history of the Philippine sugar industry these last 35 years, the changes in Thailand are worth telling at the time when the Philippines was at a loss (meaning no plans) on how to address the impending zero tariff sugar import in 2015. The series was an opportunity to contribute to national awareness and debate.

Rep. Benitez took the cue and went to Thailand and he and SRA Administrator Regina Martin met briefly with sugar officials there.

By December Benitez had his proposed Sugar Act of 2012 and SRA had its road map which the federations heard but not read. SRA eventually convened representatives of the sugar industry and laid out three main topics for them to consider and come up with recommendations. These were then consolidated and the results I have discussed here at length.

The SRA-producers consolidated plans, however, differed from that of the original Benitez bill which the producers rejected and so a new came out, the Sugarcane Act which incorporated some of the SRA-producers ideas. However when the news came out, the producers disclaimed the Sugarcane Act as had been their consolidated ideas. This supposed unified bill came out in the press but they have not seen it.

The confusion arose because Benitez claimed this new version had the endorsement of the producers which, in truth, was not.

NFSP president Rojas, however, was reported by the community press to have endorsed the idea of a sugar economic zone, which is not new because this was already part of the consolidated SRA-producer ideas. It is also included in the new Benitez bill which has some divergent provisions. This agreement with the SRA plan is certainly not the endorsement of the Benitez bill which the producers have to study and categorically have to endorse.

The problem is that Benitez appears to be dealing with SRA but not with the producers so that so much time had been lost with comings and goings.

Why can’t they sit down together and come up with one bill all can work for passage in the Congress? They have one goal but they are taking different routes.

Benitez had said time and again he would consult with the producers but he had already lined up, he said, the members of Congress who are committed to help. That is a good step but should he not at first secure a common position on each and every item or even line by line of his proposed bill?

Benitez had been saying this all along since I met him late last year and he had been making public statements of producers support that are as often also debunked by industry leaders.

Something is amiss here and the longer this seemingly divergent road is resolved the longer and messier his bill will be.*

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