FORMER Sugar Regulatory Administrator Ma. Regina B. Martin was conferred the Don Carlos Locsin Award, the highest award in the sugar industry, in recognition of her outstanding achievements as former SRA chief and for working tirelessly and fearlessly for the protection and promotion of the sugarcane industry.
Martin made history as the first woman Administrator of the SRA from 2010 to 2016. She was thrust into the epicenter of the sugar industry during the years when the industry faced the Asean trade integration. In partnership with the Department of Agrarian Reform, she organized the lands of agrarian reform beneficiaries into block farms, which has been institutionalized with the necessary financial and technical support in the Sida. Under the law, block farms were entitled to 15 percent of the annual P2 billion Sida-mandated allocation.
In one of those trips in 2011, she candidly admitted to US Department of Labor officials that child labor exists in the Philippine sugar industry. Her candor paved the way for the US government to provide a US$15 million fund for programs to eradicate child labor in the sugarcane farms. She also headed the country’s delegation in the World Sugar Expo 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand, where foreign participants were impressed with the gains made by the Philippine sugar industry and expressed their interest to work with the Philippines.