S.I.C.B. Chairman Responds to Accusation of Undue Influence from Minister of Agriculture

On the phone: Marcos Osorio

In our conversation with S.I.C.B. Chairman Marcos Osorio, we also asked him about S.I.C.B.’s decision to push the start date to the twenty-seventh of December, despite the fact that the mill was prepared to accept sugarcane on the nineteenth.  Osorio also responded to an allegation that the start date and the condition attached were primarily influenced by the Minister of Agriculture.  Here is Osorio’s response.

On the phone: Marcos Osorio, Executive Chairman, S.I.C.B.

“It was the responsibility of the board to ensure that the crop gets started, that each and every cane farmer has a right to deliver their production. The nineteenth of December was a date when more than sixty percent of the cane farmers, if that date would have been maintained and the crop would have started then it simply would have meant that over sixty percent of cane farmers would not have been able to start their delivery. And, in terms of responsibility of the board, we had to fulfill our responsibility in ensuring stability and the welfare of each and every farmer. That was the reason why we had said the crop would not be able to start.”

Paul Lopez

“How do you respond to the criticism that it is the minister himself, Minister Mai that is wielding the strings that guides your pen?”

Marcos Osorio

“Not so, I am guided by a board and the board is comprised of representation from the miller, representation from the farmers, and representation from the government. Any penning from my end, of any document, comes after consultation with the board.”