Marañon believes some officials may be ‘misinformed’

By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Amid ongoing debate over the proposal by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Benjamin Diokno to deregulate sugar importation, Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon, Jr. yesterday insisted Department of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol is on the side of the domestic sugar industry.

He affirmed the agriculture secretary is aware “the sugar industry would die” under the DBM secretary’s proposal and said President Rodrigo Duterte needs to be made aware of such consequences, including the thousands of sugar workers who would be negatively affected.

According to a National Federation of Sugar Workers release put out last month, they estimated the livelihood of over five million would be affected with the proposed deregulation.

The governor called the sugar industry “one of the leading contributors to the country’s economy” and believes some officials may have been misinformed.

Earlier, Marañon echoed earlier statements made by Sugar Regulatory Administration board member, Atty. Emilio ‘Dino’ Yulo III, calling Duterte the “last resort” in stopping the proposal to deregulate the importation of sugar.

“If the sugar industry will be killed, how many thousands of workers will lose their jobs and how many families will suffer?” he asked. “In other countries [sugar] is being subsidized by the government, it is only here in the Philippines that the producers are not being subsidized.”/DGB, WDJ