PUBLIC HEARING. Quezon 1st District Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga (3rd from left), chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food, with (from left) Negros Occidental 5th District Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo, Negros Oriental 2nd District Rep. Manuel Sagarbarria, and Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez, holds a public hearing at the Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City, Negros Occidental on Thursday (Aug. 8, 2024). During the hearing, stakeholders pushed for an inclusive and responsive Sugar Industry Development Act. (PNA photo by Nanette L. Guadalquiver)
TALISAY CITY, Negros Occidental – Stakeholders pushed for an inclusive and responsive Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA) during a public hearing on the proposed amendment of the nine-year-old law conducted by the House of Representatives at the Nature’s Village Resort here on Thursday.
“(We intend) to come up with a better SIDA law that is inclusive and beneficial to the sugarcane industry,” said Quezon 1st District Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food.
The public hearing deliberated on House Bill 835, which seeks to increase the mandatory appropriation for the SIDA implementation from PHP2 billion to PHP5 billion, introduced by 1-Pacman Party-list Rep. Michael Romero.
Also tackled was House Bill 2207, amending Sections 9 and 11 of Republic Act 10659, otherwise known as the SIDA of 2015, proposed by Negros Oriental 2nd District Rep. Manuel Sagarbarria.
Section 9 provides that the Bureau of Customs shall require importers and consignees to secure from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) an authorization to import and the classification of the imported sugar before its release.
Section 11 requires the SRA to conduct prior consultation with all concerned sectors in identifying and prioritizing specific programs and projects.
SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said stakeholders have been pushing to increase the annual budget to implement the SIDA.
“We (the sugar industry) contribute a big amount of money to the whole Philippines but only PHP2 billion is returned to us. We have very little assistance from the government,” Azcona said.
Under the law, the Department of Budget and Management is mandated to include, starting in 2016, an annual amount of PHP2 billion for the implementation of the SIDA, intended to increase production efficiency in sugarcane farms and sugar mills through research and technological innovation, infrastructure, and human resource development.
It comprises 50 percent for infrastructure support programs; 15 percent for research and development, capability building, and technology transfer activities; 15 percent for grants to block farms; 15 percent for socialized credit; and 5 percent for scholarship grants.
Based on the data presented by the SRA, total appropriations for the SIDA implementation from 2016 to 2024 only amounted to PHP8.645 billion, including only PHP1 billion each year in 2023 and 2024.
“We would like to get a better understanding of what are the concerns delaying or affecting the absorptive capacity of the SRA in terms of implementing a very good program,” Enverga said.
Sagarbarria noted that part of his proposed amendments is “to give more teeth and power” to the SRA.
“It’s about time because if we continue doing this, the SRA administrator will have a problem. His hands are always tied; he has to have the free hand to develop the industry with all of us stakeholders,” he added.
Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez urged the stakeholders from both the government and the private sector to find solutions to address the problems of the sugarcane industry, which has been and continues to be the backbone of Negros.
Representatives of various sectors, including the planters and producers’ federations, sugar millers’ associations, sugar worker groups, as well as the Land Bank of the Philippines, Bureau of Customs, and other concerned government agencies, also attended the public hearing. (PNA)
