Department of Agriculture (DA) Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said the department followed recommendations sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. regarding sugar imports.
In a press briefing in Malacanang, Panganiban said the DA acted on the directive of the President to immediately address supply issues.
In a memorandum from the Office of the Executive Secretary dated January 13, 2023, the DA was ordered to implement its recommendations to President Marcos, who is also the Agriculture
Secretary, on the 2nd Sugar Importation Program for the Crop Year 2022-2023.
The memorandum, signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, said that around 100,00 metric tons of sugar “shall be automatically classified as ‘B’ or Domestic Sugar” while a total of 350 metric tons “shall be made available to the domestic market or otherwise designated” Panganiban said he selected from the list given to him three sugar importers, whom he considers “the most capable importers that we have”.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros earlier identified three companies in the shipment of 440,000 metric tons of imported sugar, which she branded as “smuggled” since the shipment was not covered by any sugar order.
The sugar imports arrived at the Batangas port on February 15, before Sugar Order (SO) No. 6 was signed, she said.
“It is clear that this importation was not covered by SO No. 6 and is not even covered by the past sugar orders,” she said, adding that the shipment of imported sugar is thus “muggled.”
Hontiveros named the companies as All Asian Countertrade, Sucden Philippines Inc. and Edison Lee Marketing Corporation. However, she did not name which among these sugar importers was flagged down earlier on another government sugar importation issue.
Hontiveros said that based on the information she got from producer organizations and independent sources, 260 20-foot containers imported by All-Asian Countertrade Inc. arrived in the country from Thailand on February 9.
According to Hontiveros, SO6 should have been signed first and once published, the award of allocation should be given to importers.
She said if the timeline will be followed, the imported sugar should arrive March 1, and that’s “not considering the transport time.”
The senator also showed a draft undated memorandum order which indicated that the
importers are to be given allocations even before the issuance of the said sugar order.
She also showed a letter signed by DA Usec. Domingo Panganiban upon the order of Executive Sec. Lucas Bersamin giving 240,000 metric tons allocation to All Asian Countertrade January 13.
She questioned if this letter was legitimate. “I hope it’s not because if this is true, this will be government-sponsored smuggling,” she said.
She also decried the indiscriminate importation of sugar, noting that the shipment of All Asian Countertrade entered the country through the Bureau of Custom’s VIP lane.
The use of the VIP lane ensures that papers can be processed within just two weeks.
