By Mark L. Garcia Bacolod City--About 27 multi-sectoral organizations in Negros Occidental condemned government officials that support the move to liberalize sugar importation and warned them to immediately cease and desist or they will be tagged as persona-non-grata by their groups in the province. The leaders of the organizations expressed their statement of solidarity opposing the sugar import deregulation as they tore a placard that says “Proposed Sugar Import Liberalization” in a restaurant in Bacolod City yesterday. In a press conference led by Solidarity of Workers in the Sugar Industry (SWSI) and Save the Sugar Industry Movement (SAVE-SIM), convenor Wennie Sancho said that the government officials who are pushing the proposal should stop on what they are doing. “They should cease and desist any attempts to push through the sugar import liberalizations. If they will not stop, labor groups of Negros will declare them as persona-non-grata,” Sancho said. On Wednesday, 10 senators have signed a resolution to urge the executive department to not pursue the planned liberalization of sugar to safeguard the economy. However, Sancho said they are still vigilant. He said that it must be the executive branch that will assure that they will not pursue the plan, until then they will continue their call opposing the move. The statement of solidarity of the groups said that it is unfortunate that our economic managers in the government had a misconception as to the nature of what the real problems are in the sugar industry and who were causing them. “Any decision in favor of the sugar import liberalization would be a dreadful blow to the sugar industry and its stakeholders. A solution for this problem should be done, for the greatest good of the greatest number of people,” it said. It also said that unrestricted importation would mean that the worker’s hopes and dreams will die together with the sugar industry. “We should look upon this opposition as a crusade to defend the livelihood and continue the employment of the marginalized farmers-producers and workers including their families,” it said, adding “Whatever aspirations we may have to live a life with dignity and in frugal comfort will be lost, broken and blasted beyond recall.” Sancho said that they will bring this statement to Sugar Regulatory Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica during the sugar summit next week.