The Manila Times

Sugar board meeting faces probe

KRISTINA MARALIT, BELLA CARIASO AND BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO

MALACAÑANG has launched an investigation of the “unauthorized” meeting of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) where a resolution was approved to import 300,000 metric tons of sugar, a decision which was later rejected by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Press Secretary Rose Beatrix “Trixie” Cruz-Angeles said during a press briefing Thursday the SRA cannot be convened without the President, who also heads the Department of Agriculture (DA), making the resolution “illegal.”

The document in question, Sugar Order 4, appeared to have been signed for and on behalf of the President by Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, Cruz-Angeles said.

The other signatories were SRA Board Vice Chairperson Hermenegildo Serafica, millers’ representative to the board Roland Beltran, and Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr., acting board member and planters’ representative.

“An investigation is ongoing to determine whether any act that would cause the President to lose trust and confidence in his officials can be found, or if there is malice or negligence involved. In such a case, if such findings are made, then the only determination left will be how many heads are going to roll,” she said.

Cruz-Angeles said the President has not placed Sebastian or the other signatories of the resolution on preventive suspension and they will get the chance to explain their side.

Moments after news broke out regarding the move to import sugar to head off a shortage, Malacañang announced that

Marcos had “rejected” the proposal.

Cruz-Angeles also denied the President approved and signed the document.

What actually happened, according to her, was that Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez had pitched for a sugar importation plan to be shown to the President who will determine if such a move “is going to affect the incoming harvest” next month.

“It was a directive, actually. It was verbally issued so that the President can make a determination later on, whether or not the importation is actually warranted,” Cruz-Angeles said.

“Sugar is one such importation which we take great care with. It is a balancing act. The importation has to be carefully studied to protect the consumer against the rising prices of basic commodities while ensuring at the same time that we do not destroy the local industry,” she added.

The Manila Times tried to get the reaction of Agriculture Undersecretary Kristine Evangelista and SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica but they did not answer calls and text messages.

A statement issued by the DA Public Affairs Office quoted Evangelista as saying: “Just like Secretary Trixie Angeles said, the matter is under investigation.”

In an interview earlier with The Times, Serafica confirmed that the SRA board resolution was signed on August 9.

The order was uploaded at the SRA website the following day, but was taken down after Cruz-Angeles said the President did not approve the resolution.

The Office of the National Registrar, University of the Philippines Law Center in Diliman, Quezon City received the five-page resolution on the same day.

Hoarding

The United Sugar Producers Federation on Thursday urged Marcos to order the inspection of sugar warehouses, saying traders were hoarding stocks, causing the spike in the retail price of refined sugar.

In a radio interview, the group’s president, Manuel Lamata, also assured there is no sugar shortage.

After the price of refined sugar soared past P100 last week, a suggested retail price or SRP of P100 per kilo for the commodity was imposed. Lamata said the SRP “is unacceptable.” As early as last June, the federation had asked Serafica to look into the artificial shortage of sugar allegedly caused by hoarding, he said.

“Two months ago, we asked the SRA to inspect the warehouses of sugar, but nothing was done. If the SRA conducted a survey, we would determine the real stocks of sugar in the warehouses. There are many stocks in the storage,” Lamata said.

He said the traders were waiting for the arrival of the sugar shipment before releasing their stocks in the local market.

“The traders will be forced to release the sugar from the warehouses since they are anticipating that the importation will bring down the prices. That’s their technique, but since the President junked the importation, they will continue to hoard their stocks,” Lamata said.

He said local sugar producers “sold all their stocks to the traders and the sale of the sugar is now up to them.”

Local producers can also supply the requirements of industrial sugar users, he said.

“The industrial users also buy from us. They are always insisting on importing because it’s cheaper. They should buy local to make sure the local industry survives,” he said.

He said local sugar producers started their harvest a week ago, and new stocks will arrive in Metro Manila by the end of the month.

Lamata said the local producers hope to increase their production this year to 2 million metric tons (MMT) from the 1.8 million MMT last year.

Based on the DA’s market monitoring on Thursday, the retail price of refined sugar in Metro Manila markets ranged from P90 to P100.

A farmers’ group, the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura lauded the President’s decision to reject the sugar importation.

Sinag Executive Director Jayson Cainglet said the SRA and the DA should heed the marching orders of the President to support local production.

Sen. Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos urged the President to reshuffle the top officials of the DA to dismantle what she said was a criminal syndicate in the agency.

Senator Marcos slammed the alleged fraudulent use of the Office of the President to justify the importation of sugar as she lauded his “timely rejection” of the planned importation.

She said the unauthorized sugar importation was the “ultimate proof that thick-faced agricultural smugglers are lording it over at the Department of Agriculture.”

“Huwag niyong niloloko ang ading ko! (Stop trying to fool my little brother),” the senator said in a statement on Thursday.

She also called for an investigation of Sebastian and other agency officials allegedly involved in reversing an import ban on swine-based processed animal proteins (PAP) from Italy and other countries affected by African swine fever (ASF).

“Sebastian himself acknowledged the medium risk posed by the importation of PAP, in the August 5 memorandum he signed to lift the ban,” Marcos said.

She added that about 1,000 pigs were culled in Rome’s Lazio region in June to prevent the spread of ASF. She warned that allowing the entry of porcine PAP into the Philippines could spark a resurgence of ASF among local swine raisers who were still recovering from the animal disease.

The local aquaculture industry uses porcine PAP, made from the skin, blood, and bone of pigs, as cheaper feed to fatten fish and bring down market prices.

But the senator said that “turning a blind eye to the possible reentry of ASF favors one agricultural sector at the expense of another.”

Local sugar producers told her office that sugar prices rose to P100 per kilo because imports were being cornered by leading manufacturers of sugared products, in cahoots with DA officials, and “were, thus, not reaching ordinary consumers.”

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2022-08-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281556589603421

The Manila Times