Aklan, Iloilo seek scrapping of sugar quota to US market

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan passed a resolution supporting the call of Sangguniang Panlalawigan ng Iloilo to scrap the sugar allocation to the United States market.

Merlyn Montaño, Local Legislative Staff Officer III and Acting Secretary of Aklan SP, sent a copy of the resolution in a letter dated July 30, 2021 to Iloilo SP.

Resolution No. 2021-1325 is entitled “A Resolution Supporting Resolution No. 2021-294 of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the Province of Iloilo entitled: ‘Resolution Appealing to His Excellency President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to Immediately Stop the Further Exportation of Sugar to the United States’.”

Resolution No. 2021-294 was sponsored by 3rd District Board Member Matt Palabrica and co-sponsored by 3rd District BM Jason Gonzales and 2nd District BM Rolito Cajilig.

A copy of the Iloilo resolution was also sent to Secretary William D. Dar of the Department of Agriculture and Administrator Hermenegildo R. Serafica of the Sugar Regulatory Administration.

Iloilo has 160,000 hectares of agricultural land with around 15,000 hectares are planted with sugarcane by around 20,000 stakeholders.

In a press statement, Palabrica said the sugar milling season is about to start and SRA is due to issue a Sugar Order that would allocate sugar produce classified as “A” and “B”.

“A” sugar is for export to United States while “B” sugar is for domestic consumption.

“The price of ‘A’ sugar is P50 less than ‘B’ sugar,” Palabrica said.

In 2020, the country exported around 112,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar and farmers lost around P784 million.

“The exportation has no legal basis because no treaty or obligation that would support this program and the Philippines has no production that could surpass its local consumption,” Palabrica added.

Palabrica lamented that if the government continues to allocate sugar for US “even though we have a shortage of supply, the P784-million loss of sugar cane farmers will also continue.”

He is hopeful that sugar exports to the US will be terminated, the same way the SRA stopped export allocation in March 2021, thus retaining 100 percent sugar output in the domestic market.