DAVAO CITY—Agriculture Secretary William Dar and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) head Hermenegildo Serafica should hearken to two previous court injunctions against the importation of sugar, saying that the new proposal to import sugar may turn the tables against them.
“Lest the SRA…be accused of this being a midnight deal bereft of propriety and due process, they should not allow this while our farmers are harvesting their crops during the harvest season,” Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said, over reports that government would import sugar again.
Zubiri said he was calling on the SRA to reconsider a new importation program “supposedly proposed by the administration, after already receiving two injunctions for Sugar Order No. 3 in February.”
“Our local sugar farmers are again approaching our office, deeply concerned over talks of a new SRA proposal that would green light the importation of 350,000 metric tons of sugar into the country,” he said.
“Our courts have already landed on the side of our sugar farmers last February, so it’s disheartening that we are having the same conversation about importation again.”
The Sagay City and Himamaylan City Regional Trial Courts issued separate preliminary injunctions in February against the importation of 200,000 metric tons of sugar under Sugar Order No. 3, he said.
“Sagay RTC Branch 73 Judge Reginald Fuentebella went so far as to say that the court recognizes the grave and irreparable injury [that] will result from the implementation of SRA Sugar No. 3,” Zubiri said, “I would hope that these injunctions have prompted the SRA to reconsider the harm that their importation programs would inflict on our local sugar farmers.
“I enjoin Secretary Dar and Administrator Serafica to take heed of the call of our local sugar sector, and also of our courts—let us be on the side of our farmers,” he said.
The proposed 350,000 MT importation deal would put sugar farmers at a gross disadvantage, and leave them completely unable to recover from the setbacks already imposed by the pandemic and the skyrocketing fertilizer prices, Zubiri said.
“Instead of this importation program, let us focus on delivering much-needed assistance to our farmers, and let us find ways to boost local production not just of crops, but of fertilizers as well.
“The SRA and the DA are here not to shepherd imported produce into the country, but to strengthen our own production and to ensure that our farmers are able to make a good living out of their labor. So I reiterate my call to the SRA and the DA to devote all their efforts to supporting our farmers, and I assure them that we in the Senate are always prepared to work with them on the legislation and budgetary allocations that we need to make for our farmers,” Zubiri said.