AGRICULTURE Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban was charged before the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday in connection with the order to import 440,000 metric tons of refined sugar last February.

In their complaint, the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar IndustryAgrarian Reform Beneficiaries’ Council and the Alternatiba ng Masa Party-list accused Panganiban of usurpation of official functions and violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The complainants alleged that Panganiban “acted under the pretense of official

position when he used his position as the senior undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to direct three importers to import sugar without the necessary Sugar Order.”

They said that in issuing the order, he usurped the function of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) board.

Based on the complaint, the SRA on February 15 issued Sugar Order 6 authorizing three sugar importing firms, including All Asian Countertrade Inc., to bring in the shipment of refined sugar.

The complainants said, “There was no Sugar Order to warrant the importation of All Asian Countertrade Inc. of sugar that arrived in the Batangas Port on 9 February 2023, making the imported sugar a smuggled agricultural product.”

A February 2023 news release on the Presidential Communications Office’s website stated that Panganiban said he selected the three companies from a list of sugar importers whom he considered “the most capable importers that we have.”

“His justification that his 3 handpicked importers are the most capable is highly questionable,” the complaint stated. “This clearly shows his manifest partiality to these 3 importers.”

“On what basis did he think that these three were the most capable? What are the qualifications of these three importers?” the complainants said.

“Our appeal is: production, not importation. If we have to import, then do it right,” Roland de la Cruz of the Nacusip-ARB Council told The Manila Times in an interview Monday.

Elijah San Fernando, the partylist’s secretary-general, said the Ombudsman must hold accountable all those responsible for the smuggling of sugar into the country.

Testifying during a Senate hearing on the sugar importation last month, Panganiban said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had told him to hasten the importation of the commodity because the inflation rate could push sugar prices higher.