Members of the  Sugar Alliance of the Philippines   and congressmen from sugar-producing provinces met  recently with House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and Senate President Franklin Drilon as part of a stepped-up lobby for the  passage of the  Sugarcane Industry Development Act.

“Belmonte and Drilon assured us of their support and said they will tackle the bill when Congress resumes its sessions next month,” Enrique Rojas,  National Federation of Sugarcane Planters president, said yesterday.

The bill was passed by the Lower House on second reading before it adjourned and it is hoped that it will be approved on third  and final reading by August, its author Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said earlier.

The bill will then be sent to the Senate where a counterpart measure is also being crafted, with the aim for it to  become a law before the end of the year, he added.

Among those who joined the lobby group aside from Rojas were Rafael Coscolluela, Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations president, and Manuel Lamata,   United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines president.

They were accompanied by Representatives  Evelio Leonardia (Bacolod), Alejandro Mirasol (Neg. Occ.,5th District), Jerry Treñas (Iloilo City) and Lucy Torres Gomez – (Leyte, 4th District) in their meeting with Belmonte.

Rojas said they are lobbying for the passage of  the Sugarcane Industry Development Act authored by Benitez because when tariff on imported sugar is removed by 2015, the future of the sugarcane industry will be uncertain.

“We need the Sugarcane Act to speed up delivery of infrastructure and support services, provide funding for farm mechanization and mill modernization, and establish a framework to speed up investments for product diversification into ethanol and electric power, among others,” he  said.

 “We in the Sugar Alliance are working out that the benefits which the mills will enjoy from the passage of the Sugarcane Act, such as in ethanol and cogen (cogeneration of power), will also be shared directly with the planters,” he also said.

Coscolluela said they are lobbying for the passage of the sugarcane act because “More support is needed by the industry in order to gear up for competition through improvements in field and  factory.”

Industry efforts have been privately funded, it's time for government  to do its share, he said, adding that the  Sugarcane  Act will be critical.

Coscolluela said he  thinks Drilon and Belmonte are sympathetic to the cause of the sugarcane industry.

Lamata said they need the Sugarcane Act in preparation for 2015 in order to help the industry.

Francisco Varua, president of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association, said  infrastructure projects  such as irrigation and farm roads are needed to  raise the competitiveness of the sugarcane  industry in the face of steep competition from ASEAN neighbours  as a result of the drop in tariff to 5 percent next year.

“The Sugarcane Act proposes to share a percentage of revenues derived from Value Added Tax on the sale of refined sugar. The Act does not call for subsidies unlike the subsidies being extended by the government of our ASEAN neighbours,” he said.

The sugar leaders during their meetings with Drilon and Belmonte also discussed the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law that ends on June 30 and has not been extended by Congress.*CPG

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