Panayam kay SRA Admin. Pablo Luis Azcona ukol sa pagtaas ng import clearance fee
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NewsTranscript
00:00Pagtaas ng import clearance fee sa high fructose corn syrup, ating tatalakayan kasama si Pablo Luis Azcona,
00:08Administrator ng Sugar Regulatory Administration. Magandang tanghali po, sir.
00:14Yes, magandang tanghali po, Ma'am Nina, Ms. Nicolette. Yes.
00:17And welcome sa Bagong Pilipinas ngayon.
00:20Yes, salamat po.
00:21How do you say magandang tanghali or hapon sa ingay sa Negros?
00:24Maayong hapon.
00:25Maayong hapon.
00:26Or maayong ugto if it's noon time, yeah.
00:28Yes.
00:29Una po, sa Pampanga, gusto ko rin tanungin.
00:32Maya pa ugto kung noon, and then maya pagkat panapon kapag hapon.
00:37Ayun, sa amin naimbag ang malep.
00:39Okay, una po sa lahat, ano po yung kasulukuyang pagbabago sa release fee
00:46nitong high fructose corn syrup, at ano po ang dahilan ng pagtataas nito?
00:52Siguro po, ano ba yung high fructose corn syrup muna?
00:55Okay, yeah.
00:56Way back sometime 2016 or 17, the sugar industry noticed na there was a drop sa demand po sa sugar.
01:04And we noticed na yung dami yung gumagamit ng high fructose corn syrup.
01:08And it was deemed less healthier actually.
01:11And so, in 2017, February of 2017, pumasa yung SRA board na yung high fructose corn syrup
01:21will now be required to get an import clearance from SRA.
01:25And sinarge po sila ng 30 pesos per 50 kilo bag equivalent po, kasi liquid siya.
01:32And a month later, in March 2017, yung 30 pesos po, ginawang 1 peso and 50 cents.
01:41And this remained unnoticed until recently, nung August 6 po,
01:47in a meeting with Secretary Laurel and the sugar stakeholders,
01:51and dun yung farmers natin from Luzon, from Visayas, and from Mindanao,
01:56and dun din yung sugar millers and sugar refiners,
01:59nagreklamo po sila na they noticed an entry of other sugars, they called it.
02:06So, we were tasked immediately by Secretary Laurel to look into it.
02:11And while looking into it, we noticed na yung charges pala from 30, ginawang 150.
02:16So, immediately, the sugar board decided to put it back to 30 pesos as a start po.
02:23So, para mas malinaw po sa ating mga kababayan, sir,
02:27ang pagkakaiba po ng rates or fees ngayon kung ikukumpira ito sa nakaraan
02:33ay from 1 peso and 50 centavos to 30.
02:37Yes po.
02:38So, ano po yung reason kung bakit noon po ay nasa 30 pesos po talaga per kilo?
02:4430 pesos per 50 kilos yun per bag is the standard po.
02:50When you import sugar, it's also 30 pesos.
02:53So, we decided na since there's an equivalent of sugar naman po,
03:00there's a ratio for HFCS, ginawa din siyang 30 pesos.
03:04And we did not know why it was lowered to 1 peso and 50 cents.
03:09So, the sugar board and the DA and the SRA all agreed na,
03:13together with our producers, na it's just fair to put it back to 30 pesos.
03:19Para fair siya po sa all other sugars na pumapasok.
03:24So, napakalaki po, no, from 150 to 30 pesos, ano.
03:29Ataka pagtataka kung bakit nangyari ito noon.
03:32Yes po.
03:33Alam niyo po ba kung bakit gano'ng kababa at binaba ng gano'n?
03:37We've been looking through the minutes of the sugar board and everything,
03:41but we cannot find the reason.
03:43It's been 7 to 8 years back.
03:46So, we're going through a lot of paperwork.
03:50And we've also been hardworking on the fact na may nanotice pa tayong pumapasok
03:56na mga other sugars, yung tawag, na it's other substitutes for sugar,
04:02which actually chemically contain sugar also.
04:06So, yun pa po yung tinatrabaho natin at the moment.
04:08So, eventually, we will know talaga the reason po.
04:11Sa inyo pong assessment, Sir, ano naman pong naging reaksyon ng mga sugar stakeholders
04:16sa increase ng import clearance na ito, lalo na po sa Luzon at sa Mindanao?
04:22Of course, the farmers and the millers are all happy.
04:25Kasi po, if you notice, for the last five years or so,
04:30yung demand natin for sugar hindi umaakyat,
04:33which is unexplainable kasi po dumadami yung tao sa Pilipinas,
04:38dumadami yung consumers, but the demand does not increase.
04:42So, we are looking for the reason why it's not increasing.
04:45Ano ba yung nagsasubstitute po sa asukal?
04:49So, yun po yung trabaho namin.
04:51And of course, tuwang-tuwa po yung farmers and millers kasi government is helping them.
04:56Sir Pablo, pwera pa po dun sa mga nabanggit nyo na,
05:00ano pa po ba yung mga ibang magiging implications
05:03nitong rate increase sa paggamit ng artificial sweeteners at sugar industry sa bansa?
05:10Okay, yung 30 pesos po kasi na import clearance, this goes in the corporate fund of the SRA.
05:16And the SRA corporate fund comes from all these fees and liens,
05:22and dito po kinukuha yung lahat natin budget for all the tulong na binibigay natin sa farmers natin.
05:30We're hard at work with coming up with new and more productive sugarcane varieties.
05:36Locally produced po yan.
05:38We breed our own sugarcane varieties we don't import.
05:41We're also hard on improving the mechanization part of the industry.
05:47Bumagal kasi yung improvement natin or modernization.
05:51Nung lumiit yung farm sizes because of land reform.
05:54So if you are a sugar farmer and you are only 1 hectare or 2 hectares,
06:00ang problema po sa sugar, once a year lang po yung harvest.
06:03So probably a sugar farmer will earn about 4,000, 4,500 pesos a month.
06:10Yun lang po.
06:11So if you have a family of four, how can you afford to buy a tractor and modernize?
06:16Tapos hindi naman po efficient yung mga traktora sa ganung kamaliit na farm size.
06:22So all of the effort ng SRA ngayon, kukonsolidate natin sila,
06:27i-organize natin sila into co-ops, into associations, so they can be 30 hectares.
06:32Namimigay po tayo ng mga traktora, namimigay po tayo ng equipment.
06:37So yung pera na makukuha natin dito sa mga clearance, mas dadami po yung pwede natin itulong sa farmers natin.
06:45Kumusta naman po yung ganun, yung pagkakakonsolidate ninyo sa mga farmers na ito,
06:49pumapayag naman sila, wala na mga resistance,
06:52and ilan na po yung nanganag-consolidate or nag-turn into cooperatives?
06:57Yeah, so far we've consolidated about 260 black farms, tawag natin.
07:02So this amounts to about 10,600 hectares na po, and it involves 7,700 farmers, more or less.
07:11So when they become a black farm, they get about 5 million pesos of assistance.
07:18So meron silang, half of that is pera pang puhunan, startup capital, half of that is equipment.
07:26So masaya naman po.
07:28And then because of it, yung production po nila nag-increase ng 5 to 10 tons per hectare.
07:35So malaking increase po. It's a good 10 to 20 percent increase in production po.
07:41So from 4,400 a month, magkano na po ang kinikita nila pag ganyan?
07:46Yung nakita ako sa report kahapon, yung usual nilang kita a year is about 58,000 dati.
07:53So ngayon, umakyat sa mga 150 to 175,000 per hectare.
07:58So it's about threefold. So they earn maybe almost 12 to 15,000 a month na po.
08:04At least, no?
08:05As a group.
08:06As a group.
08:07Yes.
08:08Okay. 12 to 15,000 a month per farmer.
08:11Per member pa rin po.
08:12Yes, of course, as a group.
08:13Okay. So sir, paano po na-affectuhan yung demand ng domestic sugar sa importation ng high fructose corn syrup sa bansa?
08:21Way back 2016, malaki po yung effect.
08:24And then because pumasok yung train law, where high fructose corn syrup sweetened products were taxed double compared to sugar, bumaba po yung HFCS demand.
08:39So nag-improve ulit yung demand natin sa sugar po.
08:42If left uncontrolled, malaki po yung effect nito sa production natin.
08:47Sa demand po, sorry.
08:49Okay. Sir, yung explain lang po natin sa mga kababayan.
08:53Kasi baka iniisip ko pag ako unang sinabi alternative sugar, ito ba yung mga sugar-free.
08:58Iba kasi itong high fructose corn syrup. It's actually very bad for you.
09:03Yes. Okay. Yung other sugars na sinasabi, it's one group.
09:10Basically, those are chemically similar to sugar but in some other form.
09:17So that's HFCS, glucose.
09:19How does it look like?
09:20Yung HFCS is a syrup. Some of it is in powder form.
09:24Iba naman po yung totally yung tinatawag natin artificial sweetener.
09:29So yun yung aspartame, sukralose, and dun din sumasama yung mga organic like stevia.
09:38So those are totally non-sugars.
09:40So iba naman silang kategori.
09:42Pero mas marami po yung gumagamit nang similar to sugar but na mimislabel siya as an alternative.
09:48So like high fructose corn syrup is actually, sinasabi nila, it causes obesity.
09:54And it's still glucose. No, it's fructose, sorry.
09:58Then ang dami din gumagamit ng glucose kasi si sugar is sukralose.
10:02So it's a technicality that we're working on para mapaalam din natin sa mga mamamayan natin
10:10ito yung sinatawag talagang sugar substitute is hindi talaga sugar.
10:15Ito naman yung iba is just an other form of sugar.
10:19So other sugars yung tawag sa kanila.
10:21So nilalagay kasi namin yun sa pancake minsan ng mga anak mo.
10:24Pero sinabihan kami ng doktor na huwag yung corn syrup because masama nga.
10:28Hindi daw ma-metabolize, yun yung sinasabi nila.
10:31Kaya it causes obesity.
10:34So balikan ko lang po last na.
10:36Sir, you said na yung mga farmers po, ilang hectares po yung nag-consolidate?
10:40Yung nag-consolidate, 10,600 hectares po.
10:44So ilan po ba dapat yung mag-consolidate, ideally, kung pagsamahin mo lahat?
10:49Or yung hindi pa, yung hindi pa nag-consolidate?
10:52Yung hindi pa po, we're still, we are a 380,000 hectare industry.
10:57And yung dapat i-consolidate, mga 85 percent.
11:01So malaki-laki pa po.
11:03It's going to take us a long while with the current budget that we have.
11:09Sir Pablo, mensahe nyo na lang po sa ating mga kababayan tungkol dito.
11:14Sa mga kababayan natin, rest assured, SRA will always find ways to make sure and inform you
11:22kung ano yung tama na substitute sa sugar.
11:27And hindi, we will also be working hard to protect our farmers and our millers, the producers po.
11:35So that we can hopefully be self-sustained po sa sugar side.
11:40We will not rely on imports.
11:42At the moment, we only rely on imports po to feed the gap ng shortage po natin sa production.
11:50And for the consumers, alam ko ito po yung question parati.
11:55The sugar supply in the Philippines is actually stable and adequate.
12:00Yung sugar price po retail.
12:02Yung lahat po na farmers ng asukal is also a retail consumer.
12:06Yun yung isang misnomer po na hindi naiintindihan.
12:09Some people think na yung farmers natin have free sugar.
12:13Actually, hindi po.
12:15We send our sugarcane to the mills.
12:17Ginagawang sugar po ito.
12:19Hindi namin pwedeng i-withdraw kasi hindi kami lisensyado to do so.
12:22So we buy sugar po sa retail market.
12:25And the retail market has been stable the whole 2024.
12:29Yung retail price natin ng refined ay nasa 85 to 88 pesos.
12:34It has maintained there.
12:35It has dropped from a high of 136 in late 2022.
12:39I remember.
12:40Yes.
12:41So we are doing our job.
12:44We are making sure that the farmers will get what they deserve.
12:49And most importantly, also the consumers will get the price that they deserve as well.
12:54Is there a way na hindi nyo na kailangang bilhin?
12:57Hindi kayo, since yung farmers, can they have also the equipment na lang din?
13:01Sila na lang din?
13:03It is actually very expensive, yung milling process.
13:07So in order to withdraw your sugar, you should be a licensed sugar trader.
13:13So most of us, we basically say we just stick to what we know.
13:19I am a farmer myself.
13:21So doon na lang ako nagkoconcentrate sa farming.
13:23I will not try to do na lang po yung job ng trader and retailer.
13:27Kasi so many times we tried, we failed.
13:30Hindi kami marunong.
13:32Okay.
13:33Wow, thank you sa mga paglilinaw po ninyo.
13:35Sir, maraming salamat sa inyong oras.
13:38Thank you po.
13:39Sir Pablo Luis, Ascona Administrator ng Sugar Regulatory Administration or SRA.
13:44Thank you, sir.
13:45Thank you, ma'am.