THE Kilusang Pagbabago-Negros Island Region (KP-NIR) has strongly protested the massive importation and use of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) by various industrial users and food processors.
Former Councilor Archie Baribar, spokesman of KP-NIR, said in a statement that HFCS “poses a clear and imminent danger in general to the Philippine sugar industry, and in particular, to the millions of small sugarcane growers and farm workers and their families in Negros island who depend on sugar for their survival.”
Softdrink makers are believed to have intensified their importation of HFCS during the previous administration, such that HFCS accounts for 80 percent of the sweeteners they use in their products.
“It is no exaggeration that the continued importation of huge volumes of HFCS will spell doom, disaster, and starvation to the marginal sugarcane farmers and their families,” Bariba said.
He added: “We also call on the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to assert its role in the protection of the sugar industry, the sugarcane growers, and the sugar farmworkers by using its powers to put an end to this massive importation and ensure the fair meeting of interests of various sugar producers and the sugar users and end consumers.”
“We likewise call on the leadership of the two provinces of Negros Island Region, including the different sugar industry federations and stakeholders, to take the immediate bold steps to avert this impending economic disaster,” Baribar further said. (TDE)