History of the National Federation
of Sugarcane Planters
The
many problems faced by planters throughout the country have long
drawn them together. In the late 1920's, cane planters in certain
regions of Negros, Iloilo, Pampanga and other parts of Luzon had
already banded themselves into local associations, principally to
obtain better bargaining position towards the sugar mills in the
distribution of benefits.
The need for a
national organization through confederation of these entities, in
order to present a wider and more solid front in national affairs,
was apparent thus, in 1928, the Confederacion de Asociasiones y
Plantadores de Caña Dulce was founded with Amando Avaceña
of Iloilo and Negros as its president.
Other founders,
mostly in the Visayan region, were Salvador Benedicto (who succeeded
Avanceña in 1933), Pedro A. Regalado, Vicente Garcia, Vicente
Lopez, Jose Belzunce, Alfredo Bustamante, Oscar Ledesma (who became
the third president until 1940 when President Quezon appointed him
Mayor of Iloilo City), Carlos Rivilla, Carlos Dreyfus, Felix Yulo,
and Aguiedo Gonzaga.
The name of the
federation was originally in Spanish because, although all the organizers
were Filipinos, they spoke and expressed themselves better in the
language of the previous colonial regime. Eventually, after two
decades, the name of the association was changed to its English
equivalent: National Federation of Sugarcane Planters.
As organized in
December 1928 and revitalized in 1948, the federation had for its
main objectives the following:
- To assist in the attainment of a stable and progressive national
economy through the protection and promotion of the sugar industry.
- To preserve and promote harmonious relations among its members
and between members and their employees; to regulate the distribution
and recruitment of daily wage laborers, fix their salaries and
working hours for their improvement and better living conditions,
and avoid abuses on the part of one against the other.
- Improve the planting, cultivation, and production of sugarcane.
- Organize and maintain experimental cane stations.
- Develop markets for the products of its members, and assist
in obtaining capital and credit facilities.
The federation
supported whole-heartedly the campaign for independence, even though
it meant a curtailment of their sales of sugar to the United States,
the biggest consumer of this commodity in the world. Some members,
of course, took a pessimistic view of the loss of the American market
with Philippine independence and their views were reflected in articles
written by visiting American newspapermen in U.S. periodicals. But
the federation and the industry as a whole stood firmly on this
policy from the very beginning: National interest is paramount to
that of the sugar industry. Should there be any conflict between
them, the sugar industry is willing to subordinate its interest."
Thus, sugarmen
- planters as well as millers - contributed generously to the various
independence missions to the United States headed by President Manuel
L. Quezon and Speaker Sergio Osmeña. The attitude taken by
Mrs. Carmen Ayala de Roxas, widow of the owner of the Central Azucarera
de Don Pedro and the Ayala Distillery, and a big stockholder of
San Miguel Brewery was typical of the majority of sugarmen. When
apprised by President Quezon that the Volstead Act in United States
might mean the closure of the brewery and the distillery, she replied
that she did nor care of she lost all her riches if it would mean
the freedom of the county. When Quezon went on the next independence
mission she contributed P 100,000 from her own funds. "I never
saw a more unselfish woman patriot than her," remarked Antonio
de las Alas of Batangas who later became speaker of the lower chamber
of the legislature and longtime follower of Quezon.
For more than two
decades after its foundation in 1928, the Federation agitated for
a greater participation in the share of receipts from sugar centrals.
Some millers, realizing the justice of their demands, gave in; but
others refused. The federation made an exhaustive study of production
costs in mills and plantation in 1937 and with these facts agitated
for a more equitable distribution of receipts among all participants
in the industry. Planters felt that legislation would be necessary
to cure these inequities and in 1952 finally obtained the passage
of Republic Act 809, better known as the Philippine Sugar Act of
1952. The friction between planters and miller dissipated after
this.
Immediately after
World War II, the Federation helped its members in the effective
and speedy rehabilitation of their haciendas with a minimum of governmental
assistance and support. They made arrangements with foreign manufacturers,
suppliers of fertilizers, etc. and suggested where local financial
help could be obtained. In 1953, the sugarmen lobbied in Congress
and with the executive department for the complete decontrol of
foreign exchange because, since controls were instituted in 1949,
their peso receipts from dollar sales of sugar abroad had suffered
under the rates imposed by the Central Bank.
The federation
campaigned for the legislative creation of Agricultural Credit and
Cooperative Financing Administration R.A. 632, the Philippine Sugar
Institute under R.A. 632, and the Sugar Quota Board under R.A. 3017
to help stabilize the supply and price of domestic sugar. It also
supported the formulation of a government labor policy and on July
25, 1962, workers were given a P3 minimum daily wage in sugar farms,
50 centavos more than the level stipulated in the Minimum Wage Law.
In 1971, Alfredo
Montelibano, Sr., life-member of the Federation's executive committee
and president of the Chamber of Agriculture and Natural Resources,
agitated for a sizeable increase in the wages of sugar industry
workers; as a result, while farm hands in other industries receive
a daily minimum wage of P4.75, those in the sugar industry receive
P6 in Luzon, Panay, Eastern Visayas, and Mindanao; P7 in most of
Negros; and P8 in the towns of Silay, Talisay, and Magalona. Industrial
sugar workers receive a minimum of P11 compared to P8 for other
industries. The federation convinced the President to create a Sugar
Wage Board to regulate and supervise wages in the industry, and
worked for the establishment of a Bureau of Soil Conservation to
help agricultural landowners preserve and improve their holdings.
The federation
also created the Planters Insurance Agency in 1952 for the benefit
of laborers in the industry. In this way, mill hands and sacadas
in haciendas were given insurance coverage of injury or death suffered
in the course of their work, paying a minimum in premiums. The agency
operated through the FGU Insurance Group and the Universal Re-insurance
Co. and covered mainly the Western Visayan territory centered on
Bacolod City.
Among those who
contributed to the advancement of the aims of the federation were
Jose Mapa Gomez who, during his term as president helped in the
successful realization of the campaign for the lifting of exchange
controls and the increase of local sugar quotas in the U.S. market;
Dr. Trino Montinola who paved the way for the expansion program
of the industry with the establishment of the First Farmers Milling
Company; and Carlos Ledesma who induced a change in the pricing
policy of domestic sugar, the acceptance of a social amelioration
program to share the benefits of the industry regardless of whether
profits are earned or not, and the establishment of the Sugar Industry
Foundation, Inc.
When Carlos Ledesma
resigned in 19711, after his election as delegate to the Constitutional
Convention, Jaime C. Dacanay succeeded him as president of the federation.
Dacanay was succeeded by Gov. Alfredo Montelibano, Jr. of Negros
Occidental as president, but he continued to hold concurrently the
positions of director and general manager of Philsugin and the federation's
representative in the Sugar Quota-Board, Former Rep. Armando Gustilo
succeeded Governor Montelibano in 1973.
Worth noting is
the fact that former officials of the federation have found time
to advise the federation on how it can best achieve the objectives
for which it was organized more than four decades ago. At this juncture
it might be well to remember the prophetic words of Alfredo Montelibano,
Sr., life-member of executive committee, who said" "Modernization
will be the key word in the coming years for the industry…hand
in hand with modernization will be a new effort to bring the sugar
worker into a wider participation in the industry's program as well
as benefits. We hope to do even more for our workers. We hope, for
example, to be able to further raise minimum wages in sugar farms
in accordance with the demands made urgent in the face of the increase
in the cost of living. And we hope to solve the sacada problem which
is basically one of underemployment."
The story of the
federation will not be complete if no mention is made of the late
Dr. Jose J. Mirasol, a technologist who was the first executive
secretary. When he retired a dozen years ago, he was succeeded by
Ramon Nolan who was called to the government service by President
Marcos as sugar quota administrator in 1970 he was retained by the
industry as a special consultant.
The members of
the federation in 1972, together with their addresses and names
of their respective presidents, follow:
- Asturias Planters' Assn., San Juan, Dumalag, Capiz, Luis Escutin.
- Bacolod-Murcia Sugar Farmers Coop., Bacolod City, Jose Alunan.
- Bacolod Producers' Corporation, c/o SPCMA, Bacolod City, Ramon
de la Rama
- Barotac-Dumangas Planters Association, Inc., Barotac Nuevo,
Iloilo, Augusto Araneta.
- Binalbagan-Isabela Planters' Assn., Inc., Binalbagan, Negros
Occidental., Atty. Jose Montalvo, Jr.
- Bogo-Medellin Planters's Assn., Inc., Medellin, Cebu, Jose Moras.
- Asociacion de Agricultores Ca-Ba-Lag, Canlubang, Laguna, Dr.
Angel P. Liveste.
- Calinog-Lumbunao Sugarcane Planters's Assn., In.c, Calinog,
Iloilo, Jorge Laurea.
- Danao Sugar Planters'Assn., Inc., Toboso, Negros Occidental,
Fernando H. Jereza.
- First Farmers' Assn., Talisay, Negros Occidental, Dr. Trino
Montinola.
- Asociacion de Agricultores de La Carlota y Pontevedra, Inc.,
La Carlota City, Jaime Dacanay.
- Jalasig Sugarcane Planters' Assn., Inc., Passi, Iloilo, Alfonso
P. Palencia.
- Negros Oriental Planters' Assn., Inc. Sta. Cruz, Tanjay, Negros
Or., Jose del Prado.
- Norhtern Negros Planters' Assn., Inc., Sagay, Negros Occ., Gov.
Alfredo Montelibano, Jr.
- Ormoc Sugarcane Planters' Assn., Inc., Ormoc City, Francisco
Serafica, Tarlac, Jose Abellar.
- Paniqui Sugar Mills Planters' Assn., Inc., Ormoc City. Jose
Abellar.
- Pilar Sugar Planters' Assn., Inc., President Roxas Capiz, Timoteo
Consing, Jr.
- Planters' Committee, Inc., Victorias, Negros Occidental, Armando
Gustilo.
- Sagay-Escalante Planters' Assn., Inc., Fabrica, Negros Occ.,
Ernesto Uychiat.
- San Carlos Planters' Association, Inc., San Carlos City (Neg.
Occ.), Carlos Ledesma.
- Association de Hacenderos de Silay-Saravia, Inc., Silay City,
Ciro Locsin.
- Sonedo Planters' Assn., Inc., Bacolod City, Gov. Alfredo Montelibano.
- Association of Sugarcane Growers, Inc., P.O. Box 180, Bacolod
City, Enrique D. Rojas.
- Central Azucarera de Tarlac Planters' Assn., Inc., San Miguel,
Tarlac, Marcelino Aganon.
- Pasudeco Cooperative Mktg. Assn., Inc., San Fernando, Pampanga,
Aberlardo Miranda.
- B-M Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Assn., Inc., Bacolod
City, Oscar Coscolluela.
- New Frontier Sugarcane Planters' Assn., Inc., Passi, Iloilo,
Henry O. French.
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