By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Senator Cynthia Villar, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, yesterday said, during the senate hearing on the sugar industry, she is pushing for a settlement of the issues hounding the industry, with the committee agreeing to the creation of a sugar industry consultative committee.
“The industry wants P1,500 for the price of domestic sugar and beverage companies will help,” Villar said, adding beverage companies have agreed to recognize Sugar Order No.3, which was enacted by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to regulate the importation of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, meanwhile, said it will be a “new dawn for the sugar industry” if everything ends well.
For Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, he said he will push for mechanization and increase the productivity of the local sugar industry.
Piñol added he bears no ill feelings for the sugar industry stakeholders.
“I’m too old for that,” he said.
Piñol has previously referred to sugar stakeholders in Negros Occidental as “spoiled brats,” after various groups conducted a mass protest in front of the Coca-Cola FEMSA plant in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City.
However, Atty. Emilio Yulo of the Sugar Alliance said, while they welcome the decision of the committee, there is still no win-win solution.
Aside from Villar and Zubiri, Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Paolo Benigno Aquino III, and Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez also attended the hearing./WDJ