Saturday, March 17, 2018
By Teresa D. Ellera

NEGROS Occidental Third District Representative Alfredo Benitez will ask the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for P3.6 billion allocation for the sugar industry in 2019.

The P3.6 billion includes the P1.6 billion unused funds from the P2 billion annual allocation of the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (Sida).

In 2016, only P1.9 billion was utilized, P1.9 billion in 2017 and P1 billion this year.

"We can assure DBM that the P1 billion allocation this year will be used up before the year ends so we will ask them the full P2 billion, plus the P1.6 billion that was underutilized,” Benitez said.

Senator Cynthia Villar assured Benitez of the Senate support.

She cautioned that the industry "should not commit the mistake of underspending because it would give the impression to the DBM that you were given the budget but you don't spend it.”

She added: “I always tell the stakeholders that if you have the budget, do not underspend it. Spend it well so that there will be no issue. The DBM may reduce the budget because you underspent it and they may think you don't need it.”

The senator explained that under Sida, 50 percent of the P2 billion fund will go to the farm and mill roads, 15 percent will go to the block farm, 15 percent for the socialized credit, 15 percent for research and development, and 5 percent for the scholarship.

Benitez explained that the underspending of Sida funds in the previous years is due to the bureaucratic process which delayed the implementation of the projects.

"The reason for that is the funds are downloaded to SRA (Sugar Regulatory Administration), but the implementing agency is DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highway) for infrastructure projects,” he explained.

He added: “The problem is the transfer of funds from SRA to DPWH that caused the delay so which is why the 2016 and 2017 projects only started last year because of the bureaucratic internal process which was not finished. That's why the DBM said the absorptive capacity of the SRA was the problem when it's actually the internal process that caused the delay."

For the P1 billion fund this year, SRA administrator Hermenegildo Serafica said the P750 million allocation for infrastructure projects is already up for release from the DBM and it would be implemented during the third quarter of this year.

Of the total amount, about 62 percent of the infrastructure projects will go to Negros Occidental, being the biggest sugar producer in the country.

The P250 million intended for the block farms were already downloaded. The fund includes the mechanization program of the SRA and the Socialized Credit Program.

Benitez and Villar graced the closing rites of the 1st Philippine Sugarcane Industry Mechanization Expo at the SRA compound in Bacolod City Friday.