JV Ejercito blasts SRA for ignoring sugar farmers’ plight
August 30, 2022
Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Tuesday
slammed the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) for failing to respond to the
country’s impending sugar crisis..
During the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s
second hearing on the recent fiasco on sugar importation, Ejercito said the
SRA’s supposed efforts to implement the Sugarcane Industry Development Act were
not felt by local sugar planters and refiners.
“Masyado na ba tayong nawili sa kakaimport na
nakalimutan na natin ang intensyon ng Sugarcane Industry Development Act
(SIDA), which was really (intended) to mechanize the farming methods and
modernize the sugar mills and revitalize the sugar industry?”
He emphasized the original intention of the
SIDA, explaining that the SRA plays a crucial role in the implementation of the
said law.
“Our goal is not only to enhance
competitiveness of the sugar industry and maximize the utilization of sugarcane
resources but more importantly, to improve the income of farmers and farm
workers through improved productivity, product diversification, job generation,
and increased efficiency of the sugar mills and improved farming methods,”
Ejercito said.
Ejercito then grilled former SRA chief
Hermenegildo Serafica for being unprepared after being asked on the status of
the SIDA’s implementation.
The lawmaker also cited the SRA’s
non-utilization of its funds, which has resulted in budget cuts across the
years.
Serafica admitted that the budget cuts were
due to the agency’s underspending, the high interest rates being implemented
under its Social Credit Program, and the slow procurement of farm machines.
Citing recent raids on hoarded sugar, Ejercito
slammed the SRA’s failure to address the smuggling of sugar products in the
years following the enactment of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act.
“Nakakalungkot dito, ang ating lokal na
industriya, talagang di magdedevelop. Yung bigas, walang mag-iinvest. Yung
sugar industry, sa nangyayari ngayon. Hangga’t patuloy ang pagpasok ng mga
smuggled na agricultural products,” he said.
Both the SIDA and Anti-Agricultural Smuggling
Act were principally authored by Ejercito during his first term in the Senate.
Ejercito said the Senate Blue Ribbon
Committee’s investigations have shed light on the “sorry state” of the
country’s sugar industry.
“Hopefully, we can really get to the bottom of this
and we can achieve food sufficiency by stopping hoarding, smuggling altogether,
and regulating the importation of these agricultural products and supporting
the local agricultural industry,” he said.
