President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said his administration is looking to revive the Philippine Sugar Corporation or PhilSuCor, a government-owned and controlled corporation that was ordered to be abolished by his predecessor, former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018.
In a video message following his meeting with sugar industry stakeholders in Malacañang Wednesday, Marcos Jr said the revival of PhilSuCor was among the suggestions raised to boost sugar production and strengthen the local sugar industry.
“One of the suggestions that came up during the meeting was to revitalize PhilSuCor. PhilSuCor is Philippine Sugar Corporation. It provides financing for farmers especially for cooperatives and farmers’ association, ‘yung mga tinatawag na block. Ngayon hindi sila masyadong nakakapagtrabaho dahil they tried to abolish the PhilSuCor,” Marcos said.
Created in 1983, PhilSuCor provides funds for the acquisition, rehabilitation, and/or expansion of sugar mills, refineries, and other related facilities. However, in 2018, the GOCC was ordered abolished by former President Rodrigo Duterte because its functions supposedly overlap with the Sugar Regulatory Commission.
“Ngunit hindi na-abolish, nandiyan pa sila kaya’t bubuhayin natin, at babaguhin natin. Titingnan natin kung ano ‘yung mga pagbabago para makapag-adjust tayo dito sa sitwasyon natin ngayon and they would continue their work in providing assistance sa ating mga farmers, sa ating mga farmer groups,” he continued.
Marcos also reported that the administration has agreed with the stakeholders on an importation schedule for sugar, and how the government will ‘open up importation to all traders.’
But he reiterated that the government’s priority is still locally manufactured sugar.
“In the end, we will still continue to favor in terms of buying local production over importation,” he continued.
Marcos made the announcement shortly after approving the importation of an additional 150,000 metric tons of sugar to stabilize the commodity’s price amid continued inflation.
“But baka kung maganda ang production natin baka hindi na kailangan lahat yun,” the President said in the video.
Marcos said he also discussed plans to categorize lands solely for sugar production.
“We have some discussions on the future and how to strengthen the industry and we talked about some of identified areas that we should now start categorizing as sugar land para dumami ang ating acreage ang ating ektarya na nakatanim ay asukal. yun na nga para dumami na rin ang ating production,” Marcos Jr said.
