Hard facts on sugar
It’s very easy to be a keyboard critic nowadays what with social media platforms teeming with “experts” on all subjects, depending on what’s trending, but most of these “commentators” don’t deal with hard facts but rather, opinions, which have no basis in fact.
Just listen to Twitter Spaces. It has become the medium of choice for preachers, converting more to the realm of idiocy, just because they’re too lazy to read and while they may traveled to another country in the region, they don’t even bother to go aroudn their own country.
Cielito Habito was the economic planning secretary during the Ramos administration. Tabako’s recent demise has seen an outpouring of praise for the former President. One of the best ever. And this comes from all sectors of society. Even the leftist-militant groups and their supremo himself, Joma Sison, showered Tabako with accolades for his “statesmanship.”
Ramos comes off a the Filipino MacArthur. But he refused to fade away. It was illness which removed Ramos from the limelight since the pandemic began. Up until 2016, he still played a role in getting Duterte to run for President.
The state of agriculure is bad. This is due to the more than three decade of neglect and the implementation of neoliberal policy of free trade. It’s also due to our political and social systems which continue to protect the oligarchs and their regulatory capture of industries.
This is the elephant in the room which none of the officials in previous administrations, like Habito, have addressed. What did they do when they were in power? Why didn’t they prevent it?
President Marcos is being praised for his resolution of the sugar “crisis.” This is more like a simple case of hoarding. Marcos has now revamped the SRA with the appointment of new board members. Most of them are from Negros Occidental and are likely the representatives of the members of the sugar cartel, composed of big-time millers and planters.
The evidence stares us in the face: our sugar prices have been much higher than in other sugar producers for decades, and now, are even much higher. The first could only happen because we continuously shielded our domestic market from the discipline of competition, the natural effect of which is complacency and neglect to keep pace with the world in productivity. This year’s even wider gap is evidence of a supply shortfall that continuing import restrictions can only heighten. The moral lesson: excessive trade protection stifles the impetus (of both producers and government) to invest in higher productivity—and this goes well beyond sugar. And that, my friends, is the continuing story of Philippine agriculture.
But the truth is while there is free trade policies in place, there are also tariffs which are given as protection by the government to the favored few. This is why we have been suffering and continue to suffer from the lack of real progress comparable to our ASEAN neighbors, which have been leaving us behind.
This early, it doesn’t look like Marcos has any intention of running after the oligarchs. The resolution of the “sugar crisis” was a meeting of the minds of the powers that be. Everyone gets to make money except the average Filipino who has to settle for the P70.00 per kg price of sugar.
Unfortunately, more suffering is going to be in store as there is no low hanging fruit in agriculture. It takes a lot of time for reforms to be carried out and well, bear fruit.
The fanatics are out in full force praising the current administration and this malady is exactly the reason why we will not become as progressive as our neighbors anytime soon.
We can’t afford another six years under such a system but it looks like this is going to be the norm so we might as well kiss whatever hopes we have goodbye.
I was born under a Marcos Presidency and I have seen him ousted, with his famiy. struggle to make a comeback and now, have the son as the President.
This isn’t how Apo Lakay dealt with his cronies before. And so I wonder what vision does BBM really have for the country?
Paano babangon kung hindi nasisita ang nagbabaon?
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