Sugarcane Act

The passage of the Sugarcane Development Act of 2015 is hailed and attacked which shows that despite all efforts to make it as acceptable as possible, sectors within the industry are divided on this issue. Of course one can argue that no law is acceptable to all. Whatever benefits one can get from the legislation can be a loss to others. The only justification of a divisive law is that it benefits more people and is the best that can be had given the circumstances in which it was drafted. In the end surely, the real test is that it attains the good it purported to achieve.

The greater good to the greatest number is the measure of its passage. The only problem is that often times the pie is sliced unequally. And so with this new law – who is to benefit the most? Who will get the bigger slice of the pie?

President Aquino signed the bill authored primarily by Cong. Alfredo Benitez and a signed copy was delivered to the Sugar Regulatory Administration on March 30. The law is to take effect on April 15. We have not yet seen this certified copy and I don't know whether SRA will release that to the public. Of course that can always be sourced in the internet. However, from the tidbits that have come out of the news, the final version is almost similar to the congressional bicameral committee. At least the good provisions are cited in the news.

A labor group was the first to fire the opening salvo of protest against the Sugarcane Act. While their opposition is general – it will not solve the problems of the sugar industry – it was more specific against the block farming system that is dear to the heart of SRA.

There is a fear, expressed even earlier that the block farming scheme will “pave the way for more people without land and re-confiscation of land due to block farming program.” The critics did not clarify how this will come about – the dispossession of the landowners. That is not impossible, however, because the block farm can fail and the members will be saddled with indebtedness. At present the SRA is pumping assistance to its block farms, but how long can it sustain the program without adversely affecting the over-all funds of the SRA?

Under the new law the SRA will certify the dismantling of the block farm that in its assessment failed to improve productivity. This is a dangerous provision and this is the point that the labor groups are wary about. What happens to the members when it is certified a failure? There is no provision answering this question because it seems that assumption is that the project will work. If one recalls, the existing block farms had been hailed by the SRA as a success, the reason it included this scheme in the law.

But there are two circumstances when failure is declared – the block farm failed to improve production and raise efficiency. Of course the two come together like the arrow to the bow as the Song of Hiawatha intones. The block farm is at least 30 hectares and in the case of agrarian reform beneficiaries, we are talking of about 20 ARBs.

We will not predict what will happen in a farm co-owned by 20 farmers. We must rely on Philippine experience from the rural cooperatives that the Americans introduced at the beginning of the last century to the ACFFA program of the 1950s to Marcos era Samahang Nayon. Of course there are differences, but the most fatal of all in all these programs for the farms is the sense of independence of the farmers and palakasan. We just hope that SRA has found the formula that worked in its pilot block farms to the universal implementation mandated by the new law.

There are provisions for construction of bio-ethanol distilleries which means that aside from sugar for our table, for cakes and pastries and drinks, part will be allocated for this type of motor fuel. As of now molasses is being used but the problem is that now SRA has the power to forcibly allocate molasses to this program. Presently molasses is traded freely but when it is allocated, the allocation system will dictate the price. This classification system is similar to sugar that restrains the planters from selling their products in a free market.

SRA and some industry sectors will formulate the implementing rules. Let's wait.*

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