There were no rallies, no burning of effigies, no shouting and no angry words but in less than two hours, the controversy over the preferential use by beverage companies of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) over local sugar was addressed and settled yesterday.
In a meeting which I presided in the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) attended by the Sugar Regulatory Administration head, Board of Investments Governor, a miller representative, a sugar farmer, officials of Coca Cola Femsa Philippines, Pepsi Cola Phils. and two Undersecretaries of the DAF, the month-long controversy following the issuance of Sugar Order No. 3 which places a cap on how much HFCS could be brought into the country was resolved.
Among the agreements reached yesterday were:
1. Sugar Order No. 3 is a legal and valid document whose provisions, while subject to improvements and modifications, will be effective prospectively starting March 10, 2017;
2. Coca Cola Femsa Philippines agreed to increase its utilisation of local sugar by adjusting their HFCS to sugar utilisation ratio from 90% to 10% now to 80% to 20% starting 2018.
3. Coca Cola Femsa Philippines and Pepsi Cola Philippines committed to consider the advance purchase this year of their sugar requirements for 2018 to help ease the low sugar prices which affect the country’s sugar farmers;
4. The Sugar Regulatory Adminisration head, Anna Marie Paner, in response to an official communication from the beverage companies, will issue a classificatory letter stating that since SO 3 has a prospective application, HFCS shipments which arrived in the country before the March 10 effectivity of the order will not be covered by the new regulation;
5. As soon as the clarificatory letter is issued, Coca Cola Femsa Philippines will withdraw the suit filed before a Quezon City Court questioning SO 3 which named as respondents the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries as Chairman of the SRA Board and all board members;
6. The SRA Administrator agreed to study and consider the proposal of Coca Cola and other beverage companies to be given access to the lower-priced “D” Classification Sugar which they said would effectively allow them to be less dependent on HFCS;
7. A continuing dialogue among all stakeholders and consumers in the sugar industry was agreed upon and the organisation of the Sugar Industry Consultative Council to include representatives from all sectors was considered;
Before the meeting started yesterday, I emphasised to those present that in the many years that I have served government, I have learned that even in the worst crisis, a solution could be found if all those involved were willing to sit down in a negotiating table and talked calmly and diplomatically.
After the meeting, the group posed for a photo session and left the office of the DAF Secretary happy and relieved.
(Photos of yesterday’s dialogue taken by Ace Padua.)
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