To help address soaring inflation, the Department of Agriculture (DA) confirmed on Wednesday it has “hastened” the importation process for sugar.
In a press conference in Malacañang, Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban said he authorized three “capable and accredited” firms to push through with their importation.
This, even if the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has yet to issue an official Sugar Order (SO) for the said procedures.
Last Tuesday, Senator Risa Hontiveros revealed DA allowed All Asian Countertrade, Sucden Philippines Inc., and Edison Lee Marketing Corp. to import 450,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar, supposedly upon the instruction of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. through an Executive Order signed byExecutive Secretary Lucas P Bersamin
The shipment of sweeteners from the said firms arrived on Feb. 9, 2023.
Hontiveros said the importation might be considered as “government-sponsored” smuggling since it did not go through the usual procedures.
Panganiban confirmed the details of the expose of Hontiveros, saying the said firms were allowed to do so on the condition they “reduce the prices of sugar, sell the commodity, and shoulder the cost of warehousing.”
“In response to the directive of the President to address inflation and create a buffer stock and given that sugar is one of the components of most of commodities that drives the consistently high inflation rate, I acted with haste and interpreted the memorandum issued by the Office of the Executive Secretary as an approval to proceed with the importation,” the agriculture official said.
“The directive was for them to bring it at a time that the sugar in the country is being harvested and that will be coming in February, March, and April,” he added.
He stressed the President, who is the chairman of the Sugar Regulatory Board (SRB), knew of the sugar importation
“Yes, he was aware. The sugar arrived on February 9. He was properly informed that the sugar has already arrived,” Panganiban said.
Last year, Marcos replaced the members of the SRB after it issued an SO without his permission, supposedly to address sugar shortages.