JUNE 6, 2012 DATE

NR # 2762B
REF. NO.

Creation of sugar cane industry development fund pushed

A lawmaker is strongly pushing for the creation of the sugar cane industry development fund in a move to revitalize and strengthen the countrys sugar cane industry. Rep. Alfredo Benitez (3rd District, Negros Occidental) authored House Bill 6113, which provides for a diversification, development and financial program to promote the interests of sugarcane farmers and planters, mills workers and consumers and contribute to governments food security efforts. The bill, to be known as the Sugar Cane Industry Development Act of 2012, mandates that the Sugar Fund shall be constituted and collected from the proceeds of 15% of the Value Added Tax on the sale and importation of refined sugar, and sugarcane by-products; and the total tariff collected on the importation of raw sugar, refined sugar and premix sugar. All the proceeds collected from the above sources shall be remitted in full by the Department of Finance to a separate trust fund maintained by the Philippine Sugar Corporation (PhilSuCor), created under P.D. 1890, on or before August 1 of every year, says the bill, which amends P.D. 1890. The Sugar Fund shall be utilized to finance the establishment of special economic zones, nuclear farms and agro-industrial districts; and provide financial assistance to sugar farmers, planters and mills for the purchase of seedlings, acquisition of machinery and construction of farm-to-market roads and irrigations. It shall also be used to conduct researches and related feasibility studies; train mill personnel on current technologies; finance socio-economic programs for sugar farmers and mill workers; and provide scholarships for deserving university/college students taking up courses related to the sugarcane industry. In pushing for the immediate approval of the proposed measure, Benitez lamented that while the government has been supporting the sugar industry because of the contribution of the sugar export industry to economic development, there is an apparent neglect of the development of sugar by-products, which aggravates uncertainty in the future of the sugarcane industry. This uncertainty, Benitez said, is further fanned by the impending lifting of the tariff on sugar by 2015. This scenario has spawned numerous reactions of uncertainty from the sugar planters, millers and consumers alike, Benitez stressed. It is incumbent upon our policy-makers to institute measures, both by legislation and executive implementation of specific programs and projects that will cushion if not counter the possible destabilization effects of the 2015 no-tariff provision of the sugarcane industry as a whole, Benitez said. These programs and projects that diversify sugarcane production involving not only raw and refined sugar but also its by-products namely bagasse, molasses and filter mud should be identified, developed, promoted and implemented starting 2013, Benitez added. (30) mrs