By Mae Singuay

Local labor group Save The Sugar Industry Movement (SAVE-SIM) condemned the alleged corruption in the importation of 450,000 metric tons (MT) of refined sugar.

“We call on the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and other regulatory agencies of the government to investigate the alleged corruption, to prevent the pillage of the sugar industry by ruthless and unscrupulous traders in cahoots with corrupt government officials,” SAVE-SIM convenor Wennie Sancho said.

“The sugar importation program of the government should be inclusive. The major stakeholders should participate in the importation, rather than select a few, favoring a particular group of importers and traders to the prejudice of the sugar industry and the workers in general,” he added.

Sancho said sugar importation should be made available equitably to major stakeholders to benefit sari-sari stores, wet markets, groceries, and supermarkets.

“These are the vulnerable sectors of our society that are primarily affected by the rising prices of sugar,” he said.

Sancho said that the group was informed that some officials were allegedly receiving bribes from traders to facilitate the allocation of sugar.

He said that economic sabotage and plunder, if this is true, are being committed by people who regulate and protect the industry.

The government should look into farmers and workers in the sugar industry, the group leader said.

He also urged the SRA to act on these matters.

“We are hoping that they will act on it,” Sancho said.

The group also called on the SRA to be firm and consistent in the enforcement of its regulatory authority to protect the welfare of small farmers and producers, particularly on the approval of import permits, in the determination of how much can be imported, without any drastic effects on the stakeholders of the sugar industry.

Sancho said all interested stakeholders who want to trade should be given equal opportunity to import in the name of justice, fairness and equity./MS, WDJ