Zubiri hails SRA chief for S.O. regulating HFCS importation

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Senator Miguel Zubiri lauded Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) head Anna Paner for maintaining her stand in the issuance of Sugar Order (S.O.) No. 3, which regulates the entry of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) into the country, despite Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol’s move to hold in abeyance its implementation.

Zubiri, who spoke at a Thursday event of the Negros Occidental Capitol employees in Bacolod City, said he was a witness when President Rodrigo Duterte met with sugar leaders and ordered Paner to “help the sugar industry, that is why Sugar Order No. 3 came out.”

“I salute her for not bucking down on SO No. 3,” Zubiri said, adding that “Paner has more balls than any officials in the DA.” Piñol however posted in his Facebook account that Zubiri has been misinformed on the HFCS issue.

The Senate committee on agriculture, chaired by Senator Cynthia Villar, had scheduled a Senate hearing on April 10 about the use and importation of HFCS by beverage companies, which being blamed by the sugar industry for the drop of domestic sugar prices in the market.

Zubiri said Piñol must attend the Senate hearing on the issue of HFCS, so that “he may inform me, what is the right information.”

During the Senate hearing, Zubiri said he will make a presentation “on the importance of protecting an (sugar) industry that employs close to five million people and those who are, directly or indirectly, affected by it.”

Zubiri said that “farmers from other countries benefited from HFCS, not the Filipino farmers.” A lot of farmers from Negros, Cebu, Bukidnon, Pampanga, Tarlac, and even from the province of Piñol himself “depend on the sugar industry,” he said.

“As a father of all farmers, Sec. Piñol should protect the farmers like his children,” said Zubiri, who however said he did not want to pick a fight with the secretary, who he sensed as having “mellowed down on his stance.”

“I have information that he is working on a win-win solution that would benefit the farmers. So I am giving him the benefit of the doubt,” Zubiri added.