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BY HERBERT VEGO
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Tuesday, October 17, 2017
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ON LEARNING that the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of Bacolod City had passed a resolution banning the sale of Coca-Cola products way ahead of the celebration of the MassKara Festival (Oct. 21-22), I wondered whether it was a logical move.
To recap what the resolution is all about, sale of all soft drinks produced by the Coca-Cola Company would not be sold in all MassKara-participating kiosks from Oct. 1 to 22 just because the soft-drink producer uses mostly imported high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) instead of local sugar. The private organization running the show – in behalf of the sugar planters – would want Coke to stop importing the sugar substitute and wholly patronize local sugar. Why “infect” the city council?
Councilor Cindy Rojas told Mayor Evelio Leonardia that her sponsored resolution was motivated by “sympathy to the cause and sentiments of our sugar planters and workers.”
Methinks the resolution is lopsided; there already exists half-way compliance of the company with the demand of sugar planters. Its Bacolod plant already combines locally-produced sugar and imported HFCS in all its soft drinks distributed in Visayas and Mindanao. According to columnist Toots Jimenez Jr. of the Bacolod-based Watchmen, a giant billboard along the city’s highway advertises Victorias Milling Company as a source of refined sugar for Bacolod-manufactured Coke.
Jimenez opined, “The resolution of the lawmakers will deal a big blow to their elective positions in government.”
The SP would like other Coke plants nationwide to also patronize the costlier local sugar instead of the imported but cheaper sugar substitute. From business’ standpoint, however, it does not make sense. Cost-cutting without sacrificing quality is always the most logical way to thrive amid cut-throat competition.
To go down memory lane, Coca-Cola – one of the top taxpayers in Bacolod – has supported and has been a part of MassKara for 37 years since 1980. Why ban it now because of a lobby group’s onerous demand?
Why allow other soft drink companies to sell in kiosks of MassKara concessionaires when their drinks are also laced with imported HCFS? The concessionaires stand to lose from such deal, since Coke drinkers would have to buy the drink outside of festival sites.
The Coke ban will not only disappoint Coke drinkers but also harm the MassKara Festival itself, considering that Coke has always been its biggest sponsor. No doubt, the company that spends millions of pesos for festival sponsorship stands to lose more than what it gains from product sales in the duration of the festival. Therefore it could not be cajoled into complying with a losing proposition. Why is that so?
Obviously and ironically, Coke finds it cheaper to import HFCS than buy local sugar. Since the company has already asked Bacolod sugar producers to equalize wholesale prices with those of foreign HFCS suppliers, only to be turned down, complying with their demand would result in price hike of its products, which in turn would diminish the number of soft drink consumers.
The biggest soft drink company is not likely to bow down. It’s the sugar planters and millers who consequently stand to lose more from the Coke ban, since the soft drink maker would then be buying lesser volume of sugar from them. As a Tagalog maxim goes, “Sa paghangad ng kagitna, isang salop ang nawala.”
It is unthinkable why a group of big-time sugar planters refuses to learn from past lessons. The provincial government of Negros Occidental, with no less than Governor Alfredo Marañon at the helm, first declared the Coke ban during the Panaad sa Negros Festival last April. The move was followed by Hinigaran, Isabela, La Carlota City, Pontevedra, E. B. Magalona, Bago City, Binalbagan, Toboso and Hinoba-an during the celebration of their respective festivals. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
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