Yulo: DBM plan will ‘foment social unrest’

By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Sugar Regulatory Administration board members, Attys. Roland Beltran and Emilio ‘Dino’ Yulo, issued a joint statement yesterday expressing opposition to the proposal by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Benjamin Diokno to “liberalize” the importation of sugar.

In a statement forwarded to members of local media, Yulo said there are two sectors being “screwed” by high sugar prices, sugar farmers and consumers.

He said Diokno’s proposal will “spell the demise of the sugar industry” and “foment social unrest” in more than 20 provinces nationwide.

The SRA official said open-direct Importation is not the answer, pointing out, they have been calling for the Department of Trade and Industry to help monitor and curb sugar prices because of the “great disparity between the retail price of sugar from mill gate prices.”

“Who is benefitting from this?” Yulo asked. “Definitely, it’s not the sugar farmers that already went out of their way to do direct selling to consumers to show that sugar can still be bought at a reasonable price.”

He also urged sugar leaders, particularly small farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, and the hundreds of thousands of sugar workers, to not be complacent and let the national government hear their voices.

“Go after the greedy traders and retailers who are capitalizing on the situation at the expense of the sugar farmers and producers,” Yulo added./DGB, WDJ