The law’s delay

In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet cited “the law’s delay” as among the fears of people and took to task the “insolence of office” that strikes at the heart of those who have gripes to air.

I was reminded of these lines by the headline in the Visayan DAILY STAR (2/11/13) where the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry was reported to have decried the “sugarcane law delay.”

NACUSIP, the largest organization of the workers in the sugar industry and one of the surviving unions among the several that were organized in the Philippine sugar industry, has much reason to be unhappy, to describe the least, of the fate of this bill.

The Sugarcane Act, authored by Occidental Negros 3rd District Congressman Alfredo Benitez is an attempt to prepare the sugar industry for the inevitable lifting of tariff duties on imported sugar from the present 18 per cent to 8 and then finally 5% in 2015.

The implication of this drastic reduction of tariff on foreign sugar is not lost to the sugar industry stakeholders. The sugarcane planters had already been doing a lot to help find ways to make the Philippine sugar competitive price-wise against any foreign sugar but that effort has been unproductive.

The result is our present unpreparedness for that eventuality.

The report says that NACUSIP “is saddened by the news last week that the passage of the Sugarcane Industry Development Act had dimmed.”

The report came from Benitez who had earlier expressed hope that considering the urgency of the bill the two houses of Congress would act on it before they begin their recess for the election campaign.

While the House has acted on it favorably and had even hurdled the difficult committee on ways and means, as Benitez worked over time to get it approved, the Senate failed to move fast enough. Congress will resume session in June but it would be on its last breath.

“We cannot afford to let the sugar industry weaken. This is not just about the planters, the millers nor the workers. This is about Negros – our identity, history and our culture,” NACUSIP said.

That is melodramatic, appealing to the higher concepts of people and culture, but it cannot be more rightly said.

Unfortunately, appealing to such emotional level does not work because it makes the issue “non-urgent.” That is a motherhood statement that hardly appeals to a wider market of ideas.

This kind of sentimentalism had caused many people take this bill lightly and not worked harder enough for its passage.

If we study the journey of the Benitez bill, one thing stands out – he is practically alone. Sure, there are many promises and thoughts flying here and there but let us take stock.

When have we heard NACUSIP speak out loudly and forcefully to help Benitez? Where are the other congressmen, not only from Negros but from other sugar producing regions? I know they have co-authored, but have we heard them?

Perhaps in their own silent way, they did but their “silent ways” do not create a bandwagon other than lip service to the cause to get the bill.

We acknowledge the fact that its passage in the House shows support but we have also to credit that among the congressmen in Negros, Benitez did the yeoman’s job. Whatever criticisms or disappointments we have with the bill, that fact cannot be denied.

The bill is not perfect. I have written several critical comments on various provisions. The original bill was junked. I wrote extensively on that bill’s defects, but this new one, the new version is much better and I think its passage has indicated that it is acceptable to the congressmen.

On the other hand, we have Chiz Escudero trying to reap the honor of pushing it in the Senate. The fact however is that the Senate failed to act on it. Did he push for it with greater vigor than what is needed?

The Sugar Regulatory Administration tried to get a consensus, defining and refining the bill’s provisions and taking its own steps within its powers.

Despite these series of consultations, there remain several misgivings and thus a lackluster effort to lobby for the passage of the bill. Truth to tell, have we heard of industry-wide activism to get that bill passed, particularly in the Senate?

We get assurances from senators eyeing for reelection, but words are cheap and after the publicity the bill crawled in the Senate and now into oblivion.

For all its perceived faults, the Benitez bill is the only concrete plan on the table. The SRA does not have enough room to address a complex problem.  

Let’s learn from this for the next Congress by making it better.*   

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