Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) yesterday said the bicameral committee report of the proposed Sugarcane Industry Development Act of 2014 is targeted to be submitted to President Benigno Aquino III for signing into law in December.

The Senate and Lower House had earlier approved their respective  bills creating the Sugarcane Act, which had to be reconciled by a bicameral committee,  Benitez said.

Benitez was the author of the Lower House version.

The Sugarcane Industry Development Act  seeks to help sugar industry players become more competitive when imported sugar starts flooding the local market with the integration of the Association of South East Asian Nations Economic Community (AEC) next year, Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, had said earlier.

The bill requires the creation of a  Sugarcane Industry Development Fund, which will  receive 30 percent of the Value Added Tax on local and imported sugar, and tariff collected from the importation of sugar, Benitez said.*CPG

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