Sweet sugar

Sorry for this misspelling, Cong. Iggy Arroyo was deceased, not diseased, though he might have died of it.

Two important developments came out last week. The first is the assurance by the Sugar Regulatory Administration that the country’s production will be able to meet its target of 2.4 million tons.

The second is the quick approval by the House Committee on Agriculture and Food of the proposed measure by Congressman Alfredo Benitez, HB 6113 or the Sugar Industry Act.

Sugar is sweet song this time after apprehensions that the sugar future is bleak considering the time frame for the AFTA to take full effect in 2015 or a matter of three years.

How the song will end or progress is another matter, because the best laid plans can sometimes turn awry and, as Shakespeare in Hamlet says, “lose the name of action.”

The report of SRA Administrator Gina Martin is important not only for our domestic consumers, but also to the US. The US last month retained and even increased our quota to its prime-priced US market. The US always looks at the exporter’s capability to supply their market with sugar. The Philippines’ 2.4 million tons of sugar production assures our capability to meet our commitments.

When a country cannot meet its quota for one reason or another, the US allocates the shortfall to other suppliers.

Total production is easier to determine at this late date because of the daily milling report that allows the SRA to make a more credible projection.

This year at least, the estimate made at the start of the milling season was closer to actual production because I think there was field survey compared to before Martin took over, when there was only a table survey. That year created confusion but some people reportedly made money before the new administration took hold of the situation.

The reported speedy approval by the House committee of the Benitez proposal is good news but let us not sing praises as yet because this process is not something remarkable. Committees, unable to discuss the proposal seriously tend to just pass the task to another committee, like just getting rid of a difficult sore.

For one, I noticed that, except for new Congressman Bebot Mirasol and, I presume, Benitez of Occidental Negros, Congressmen Pryde Henry Teves and Jocelyn Limkaichong of Oriental Negros, there were no other congressmen from Negros and other sugar producing districts. The chairman, Jun Ebdane of Zambales and a party list representative of cooperatives are hardly expected to understand the nuances of the sugar industry and the implications of the provisions in the proposed law.

Teves is also the author of a corollary bill on sugar which means that the two have to be reconciled and this means a give and take.

This is the reason I think why the proposal went to the committee on style where many bills await rewriting for the proper legal style. A bill can even die there if not gather dust or like the song Mona Liza, many dreams just lie there and they die there.

This is not to dampen enthusiasm but to put things in perspective because some people are already talking as if the bill is as good as passed.

There is also another obstacle. The bill was sent to the committee on taxes because of the tax provisions – like putting certain taxes specifically for the industry. This can be contentious as other agricultural crops might also take advantage and push for a share or similar source.

A provision of the bill is the establishment of a Sugar Development Council. The composition of this new agency are representatives from the sugar industry, but one sector is missing – the labor representative.

Knowing how labor groups in the industry are sensitive to matters of representation, the bill can be scuttled by labor groups and militant agrarian reform beneficiaries unless they get a piece of the pie.

At present the representatives of producers form what is known as the Sugar Alliance which has the same composition as this council. Does this mean the Alliance will become superfluous or will it remain to become a balancing force within the industry to insure that the provisions of the proposed law, especially on matters of allocation of resources are followed?

The news report says that the Benitez bill has been fine-tuned by the industry stakeholders. This implies that all the sectors of the industry will support this bill, in which case nobody would get in the way.

In the event the bill goes to plenary, hopefully the sectors will come out united and the President, who, it is not reported to have certified this bill as urgent, will approve it.

Benitez is an LP and may not find it difficult to get the President to sign it.*

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