Negros sugar sector urges Marcos to halt imports, help farmers

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD CITY — Labor groups, farmers, and local officials in Negros Occidental are calling on President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to immediately withdraw a controversial sugar export-import proposal, warning that it could worsen the country’s deepening sugar crisis marked by falling prices, oversupply, and financial strain across the sector.

In a strongly worded letter dated Dec. 18, the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (NACUSIP) and allied labor organizations rejected the SRA’s proposed Domestic Sugar Buying Program with Export and subsequent Import Replenishment.

They criticized the agency for failing to consult the country’s largest organized sugar labor sector and argued that the proposal could flood the market with imports, further driving down already-depressed prices.

“By tying exports to import replenishment, the program guarantees future imports regardless of actual domestic need,” the groups said. “Even the expectation of future imports is already hurting us.”

They warned that the scheme encourages industrial buyers to hold off on local purchases in anticipation of cheaper imported sugar, exacerbating warehouse congestion and leaving many sugar workers’ families struggling to survive.

Calling the plan “unacceptable, unjust, anti-farmer, anti-worker and anti-Filipino,” the groups urged the SRA to withdraw the proposal and initiate genuine dialogue with affected sectors.

The letter was signed by NACUSIP National President Roland de la Cruz, CIO National General Secretary Atty. Joseph Brian Perez, PACIWU Senior Executive Vice President Benjie de la Cruz, and NACUSIP Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Council Chairman Elsama Gregorio.

On Dec. 19, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose V. Lacson and Cadiz City Mayor Salvador G. Escalante Jr., president of the Association of Chief Executives–Negros, elevated the crisis to President Marcos and the Sugar Board.

In a joint letter, they described the industry as under “acute stress” due to plunging millgate prices, oversupply, weak demand, high input costs, pest infestations, and natural calamities.

To stabilize the industry, the officials proposed several urgent measures, including an 18-month no-sugar-import policy unless stocks fall below a specific threshold. They recommended that, if necessary, imports be limited to raw sugar for domestic refining and subject to stakeholder consultation.

They also called on the SRA to fully utilize its classification authority under Executive Order No. 18 to better manage inventories and price levels. In addition, they urged the institutionalization of a Stakeholders’ Consultative Assembly and a Sugar Industry Development Council to support policy planning.

Other proposals included forming a Committee on Sugar Substitutes in coordination with the Department of Health to address market distortions and public health issues, and strengthening oversight of molasses importation via the National Biofuels Board to protect domestic supply and pricing.

“These measures are essential to rebalance supply and demand, arrest further price erosion, and provide predictability for industry stakeholders,” the letter said.

HOUSE PROBE

Negros Island, which produces the majority of the country’s sugar, is experiencing what many stakeholders describe as an unprecedented crisis.

Sugar prices opened the 2024–2025 crop year at about PHP 2,800 per bag (USD 50.00), before falling to PHP 2,350 (USD 41.96) in October and PHP 2,400 (USD 42.83) in November. By mid-December, millgate prices had plunged further to multi-year lows.

The situation has prompted the House Committee on Agriculture to schedule a public consultation in the third week of January, according to Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Javier Miguel “Javi” Benitez.

“This consultation is our moment. We’re not just fighting to save an industry — we’re fighting to bring back the prosperity that sugar has brought to Filipino families for decades. It’s time to act, and to act together,” Benitez said.

He emphasized that the hearing will provide a platform for planters, millers, traders, and workers to raise urgent concerns and press for immediate and long-term reforms.

Benitez is working with Governor Lacson and 5th District Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo to rally stakeholders behind a unified position ahead of the hearing, warning that internal divisions could undermine the industry’s efforts in Congress.

Yulo stressed that small sugar farmers—who make up around 80 percent of the industry—are now on the brink, struggling to cope with falling prices and rising costs.

“The problem facing the sugar industry is already very big. The question now is: what is the solution?” Yulo said. “Our small planters can no longer afford to wait — especially those who harvest only once every one or two weeks. They cannot play the average game.”

Unlike large planters who can recover losses later in the crop year, smallholders depend on weekly earnings, he added.

“They need money on a weekly basis. Whatever proceeds they get for the week, when they go home on Saturday, that already goes to payroll. If there is no bidder, there is no money to pay workers,” Yulo explained. “And for them to advance money is very difficult.”

He urged the SRA to take decisive action to protect small producers and ensure there are buyers for locally grown cane.

“Our call to the SRA is to do its job and protect the sugar industry. We will support them. What is important is that there is someone who will buy the cane and that our small farmers will survive,” he said.

However, Yulo said he does not expect new bidding to occur until January, as most government offices will be closed from Dec. 29 to Jan. 2 due to the holidays.

“What’s important for us is to see how the prices will turn out,” he said.

Yulo and Lacson both underscored the importance of unity across all sectors of the industry.

“We live and breathe sugar here in Negros — division will only break us,” Lacson said in a joint statement with all mayors of Negros Occidental. “We need to speak with one voice when we go to Congress. That’s the only way we’ll protect our farmers, our workers, and every community tied to this industry.”

Yulo echoed the sentiment: “It will not be to our advantage if we have different views. When there are too many cooks, the food gets delayed. What matters is that we are united and able to sustain those who depend on this industry.”

Earlier this year, United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) Chairman Manuel Lamata commended what he called the Marcos administration’s “strongest-ever” support for the sugar industry. But confidence has faded in recent months amid worsening conditions.

In response, the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters and the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers are calling on President Marcos to support two emergency measures: direct government purchase of surplus sugar to decongest warehouses and a credit support program to provide smallholders with accessible financing.

Stakeholders hope the upcoming congressional consultation will consolidate these proposals and prompt a national response to one of the country’s most critical agricultural sectors.