By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Save the Sugar Industry Movement (SAVE-SIM) yesterday expressed opposition to the proposal by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Benjamin Diokno to liberalize the importation of sugar.

SAVE-SIM lead convenor and labor advocate Wennie Sancho called the proposal “very alarming for the workers in the sugar industry, particularly in Negros.”

He claimed plans to deregulate the importation of sugar will cause adverse economic impact on sugar workers and their families, along with threatening their employment.

Sancho also asserted, the DBM proposal will bring down “millsite prices” of sugar and would negatively impact hundreds of thousands of sugar workers.

Earlier, Sugar Regulatory Administration board members, Attys. Roland Beltran and Emilio ‘Dino’ Yulo, issued a joint statement opposing the DBM proposal, with Yulo stating 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.

“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.”

“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