By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Tatak Kalamay, a group comprised of planters association, agrarian reform groups, labor organizations, and sugar workers, is calling on President Rodrigo Duterte to listen to their concerns and oppose sugar liberalization, or the deregulation of sugar importation.
“The sugar industry is under siege again and we condemn, in the strongest terms, what we perceive as a sell-off of Philippine agriculture in general,” the group said in a statement.
They also called on local government units to oppose the move.
“This move is being influenced by industrial users who cannot control their corporate greed,” Tatak Kalamay claimed.
Earlier, Luzon sugar farmers expressed their opposition to the proposal and are pressuring the Department of Agriculture and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to protect the sugar industry.
Former SRA Board Member Lito Sandoval criticized current SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica, who earlier said he would seek guidance from Agriculture Secretary William Dar with regard to the matter.
“What ‘guidance’ does he need?” the former SRA official asked. “Isn’t it clear to him yet that any import liberalization program will be disastrous to the industry?”
“Is he now telling us that he actually does not know what he is doing?” he added.
Sandoval then stated, “Importation will kill us and destroy the lives of five million Filipinos.”/DGB, WDJ