The Bacolod City Council has decided to ban the sale of all Coca-Cola products from the 2017 MassKara Festival.
THE Bacolod City Council approved a resolution expressing solidarity and sympathy with the sugar industry by supporting its call to ban the sponsorship and sale of Coca-Cola products during the MassKara Festival from October 1 to 22.
The resolution, authored by Councilor Cindy Rojas, was unanimously approved during the council’s regular session Tuesday, September 26.
Rojas said that early this year, sugar planters and workers protested against the Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines Inc. upon knowing they are using high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in their beverages instead of the locally-produced sugar.
She said sugar planters and workers raised their concerns in opposing the entry of the HFCS in the country since it would negatively affect the sugar industry.
Rojas added that she informed Mayor Evelio Leonardia and MassKara Festival director Eli Francis Tajanlangit on the banning of Coca-Cola products.
The councilor noted that the Province of Negros Occidental banned Coca-Cola products in the Panaad Festival earlier this year and several towns and cities in the province. These include Hinigaran, Isabela, La Carlota City, Pontevedra, E. B. Magalona, Bago City, Binalbagan, Hinoba-an, and Toboso.
“In sympathy to the cause and sentiments of our sugar planters and workers, it is fitting for the City of Bacolod to also ban Coca-Cola during the celebration of MassKara Festival,” Rojas said.
She added that to manifest the ban, the organizers of the festival shall not include Coca-Cola in all promotional and advertising materials paraphernalia in all festival sites.
Councillor Cindy Rojas? Where have I seen that name before? Oh yeah I remember!
She's got her name plastered on basketball backboards all throughout the region.
Earlier in the year there was a loud protest about Coca-Cola using imported high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener instead of locally produced sugar. Since sugar is the lifeblood of so many in Negros Occidental the entire industry launched a protest.
High fructose corn syrup is used to sweeten many food products these days. From juices to candies to sodas HFCS is in everything. Since HFCS is made from corn and costs much less than sugar it is no wonder the sugar industry would be alarmed at Coca-Cola switching to HFCS. And it is no wonder that the City Council would choose to stand in solidarity with the sugar industry and ban Coca-Cola from the MassKara festival. Naturally of course they chose rival Pepsi to replace Coca-Cola as a sponsor.
Oddly enough they also chose Hell Energy Drink to be a sponsor or partner for the 2017 MassKara Festival.
But if the City Council wishes to stand in solidarity with the sugar farmers why would they choose Pepsi to be a sponsor for the MassKara Festival when the sugar industry also protested Pepsi earlier this year for using HFCS in their products?
FOLLOWING the ban of Coca-Cola products in Negros Occidental, sugar leaders launched Monday, June 19, the call to boycott beverages sold by Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc.
In a press conference at Resorts Negrense in Bacolod City, industry leaders said the softdrinks manufacturer is the second biggest importer of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) next to rival Coke.
Perhaps the reason the City Council chose Pepsi is because Pepsi changed their HFCS ways and declared they are using 100% sugar in their products?
But Coca-Cola declared the same thing.
Coca-Cola even erected billboards around town to inform the public that they are using 100% locally produced sugar in their products and not HFCS.
Since both Coca-Cola and Pepsi were protested against for allegedly using HFCS and since both Coca-Cola and Pepsi insist they are using 100% sugar and not HFCS why would the City Council reject Coca-Cola's sponsorship and completely shut them out from the MassKara Festival?
The answer is undoubtedly money and politics. Blocking out Coca-Cola and standing in solidarity with the sugar industry looks good for all the members of the City Council even if it is 100% hypocritical and not based on the facts. Apparently the MassKara Festival is dependent upon government funds as well as private corporate sponsorship which means any silly decision the City Council makes will have to be abided by. It is essentially the politicisation of the MassKara Festival.
That the present MassKara management chooses a different track is its concern. But I had warned before of this eventuality: that dependence on the city government for funds carries serious risks of subservience and political intervention. The festival ought to rise above politics and partisan agenda of the moment. It is unfortunate that the city council has adopted the boycott for a festival of international stature in effect making it a political football.
San Miguel Corporation, Coca-Cola, and, in smaller way Pepsi Cola, were the main pillars of the festival that allowed it to continue for years. This support cannot be just set aside without considering their role I know enabled the festival to continue for over two decades without a centavo from the city. Whatever budget the city appropriated was for its own participation but not for the festival itself.
The reason for blocking off Coke is that it uses High Fructose Corn Syrup. If that be the case, then San Miguel beer, Pepsi Cola and a dozen other beverages should be blocked off as well because they also use HFCS. Should not the law be applied similarly where it is applicable? Why the discrimination?
Pepsi Cola claimed it is also using, for its Negros operation, 100 percent cane sugar and so the planters, and subsequently Bacolod SP, did not include this company in the boycott. Have they checked the veracity of Pepsi's claim or did the SP swallow what was was published by Pepsi or claimed by the planters? How about Coke? Did they check? The data of Pepsi's sugar purchases are interesting, but that's for another discussion.
Since Coke claims it uses 100 percent Negros sugar in its Bacolod operation and this has not been proven false, I assume it is true. Thus by boycotting the product that uses Negros sugar, the festival reduced the sale of Coke, consequently its consumption of Negros sugar. Who loses?
http://www.visayandailystar.com/2017/October/04/tightrope.htm
The whole situation stinks to high heaven and it is only further proof that corruption in the Philippines runs all the way from Malcañang Palace to the lowliest Barangay Captain.
