Candidates seeking the gubernatorial post in Antique have agreed to provide alternative livelihood for sugar migrants (sacada) working in Negros Occidental should any of them get elected in the May 9 elections.
Neophyte candidate Vicente Fedelicio, who is challenging third and last termer Governor Rhodora Cadiao, said he would like to end the problem of sugar migrants.
“Never will I send a ‘sacada’ to Negros Occidental because of their deplorable situation,” he said during the candidates’ forum organized by the local media together with the Commission on Elections and the Antique Provincial Police Office on Thursday.
As a retired ship captain, his proposal to put up a shipyard in the province will provide an alternative livelihood for the sugar migrant workers and they no longer have to leave Antique and their families.
Cadiao, meanwhile, said opportunities will be available for the “sacadas” once Antique experiences an economic boom.
“Negros Occidental in the coming three to four years will already mechanize so they won’t be needing ‘sacadas’ anymore,” she said.
She said development in the province should continue to prepare jobs for them.
“If we have piers, the ‘sacadas’ could work as porters,” she said.
The provincial government is working with the Department of Labor Employment on the registration of “sacadas ” to access livelihood programs such as the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Displaced/Disadvantaged (TUPAD) workers, especially when they are in the province or during off milling season in Negros Occidental.
4,000 Ang sacada sa negros, usuallypumupunta Sila Sept to December during the milling season and even stay there for 6 months depende sa available na work
As of 2021, there are 4,000 documented “sacadas” in Antique, working in Negros from September to December during the milling season and some even stay for six months.
Source: Philippines News Agency