BACOLOD CITY — The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has increased import clearance fees for high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) from P1.50 to P30 per equivalent bag of sugar to curb the use of the artificial sweeteners. In early 2017, SRA charged companies that import sweeteners made from corn starch at P30 per bag but this was lowered a month later to P1.50 per bag. SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said the increase of import clearance fees for HFCS was unanimously passed by the Sugar Board last month and forms part of Sugar Order 4. The issue of artificial sweeteners was raised by United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) President Manuel Lamata, along with the other sugar leaders in Luzon and Mindanao, to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. in early August. "As a result of that meeting and upon orders from the DA (Department of Agriculture), the SRA immediately acted on the concern. Thus, while collection of data on the use of artificial sweeteners is ongoing, we discovered this and decided to immediately raise the SRA fees for HFCS," Azcona said. Another sugar order is being drafted based on the August 6 meeting between Tiu Laurel and other sugar stakeholders, millers, refiners, farmers, where Unifed, the country's largest independent sugar planters' group, raised the alarm on the entry of "other sugars." "This entails requiring importers of items under HS1702 to secure an import clearance from SRA and this has been under board discussion since August," Azcona said. He added that it has come to his attention that a similar letter addressed to Laurel was sent by a group called the Sugar Council and the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (Nacusip) this week, and "we welcome that more stakeholders are actually concerned about this issue and has decided to support the alarms initially raised by other sugar federations." In fact, the alleged volume of imports under HS1702 is estimated to be around 200,000 tons, much higher than what some federations say, and we continue to verify the data as we have seen that this has been happening as far back as 10 years. "This will give us an accurate view and determine whether these other sugars have caused the demand for sugar to decline in the past few years," Azcona added. "Nevertheless, it is a positive note that we are all together in supporting an issue that can be detrimental to the sugar industry as he encouraged united participation from all sectors to speed up resolution to any issues arising in the future." Earlier, in a letter to Tiu Laurel, who is the concurrent chairman of the Sugar Board, the Sugar Council and the Nacusip jointly raised their "serious concern over a matter of great consequence to the future of the sugarcane industry — the importation and use of artificial sweeteners." They pointed out that sucralose, aspartame and acesulfame potassium enjoy zero tariff under the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement, compromising the ability of locally produced sugar to compete in the market, especially in the face of rising production costs. At the labor front, the group is worried that displacement of locally produced sugar by artificial sweeteners could result to widespread displacement of sugarcane farmworkers, sugar mill workers and biofuel workers in the sugarcane industry, as well as the degradation of the livelihood of families of agrarian reform beneficiaries. They pointed out that the repercussions on industry workers and marginal farmers are staggering and beyond imagination, particularly the possible recurrence of insurgency in the countryside because of rural unemployment and poverty. The Sugar Council represents the Confederation of Sugar Producers' Associations Inc. headed by Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr., the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters headed by Enrique Rojas and the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers headed by Danilo Abelita. Headed by Roland de la Cruz, Nacusip is the largest group of labor unions and agrarian reform beneficiaries associations in the country.
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