NACUSIP council seeks reform of Sugar Board

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD CITY — Leaders of small farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, and allied sectors under the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Council expressed strong indignation over recent pronouncements by a Sugar Regulatory Administration official regarding increases in sugar mill gate prices.

In a press statement issued Tuesday, the NACUSIP ARB Council and its allied organizations criticized SRA official Dave Sanson, accusing him of attempting to justify a sugar export program that they said was implemented without consultation or transparency.

The statement was signed by NACUSIP ARB Council Secretary General Anthony John Demisana and NACUSIP–TUCP National President Roland de la Cruz.

The group claimed the export program resulted in manipulated price increases that excluded and exploited small farmers and sugar workers, whom they said were left out of the supposed gains.

According to the council, many farmers have already suffered significant losses this milling season after harvesting their sugarcane when mill gate prices were still low, despite recent claims by the SRA that prices have increased.

“We, the true backbone of the sugar industry, have not benefited from these so-called price gains,” the group said.

They added that Sanson has failed to engage with farming communities and agrarian reform beneficiaries, further widening what they described as a disconnect between regulators and those working directly in the fields.

The NACUSIP ARB Council demanded the immediate removal of Sanson from the Sugar Board, calling his continued stay “an affront to justice” and detrimental to the interests of laborers and small farmers in the sugar sector.

The group also appealed to the President to act decisively by appointing a genuine farmer and worker representative to the Sugar Board, which sets policy directions for the country’s sugar industry.

In addition, the council urged Congress to amend the SRA charter to guarantee board representation for small farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, sugar and ethanol workers, and consumer groups.

“The era of an elitist and exclusionary Sugar Regulatory Administration must end,” the statement read.

“We demand a truly inclusive and worker-driven institution that upholds justice, dignity, and genuine reform in the sugar industry,” the group added.