After a rather anti-climatic joint panel briefing on Monday, Aug. 15, the House of Representatives is planning to hold a motu proprio inquiry into the attempted unauthorized importation of 300,000 metric tons (MTs) of sugar, an issue that has hounded the newly-minted Marcos administration.
Holding the joint panel briefing--which lasted for 90 minutes--were the Committees on Good Governance and Public Accountability and on Agriculture and Food. Should they successively wade through some technical issues, this full-blown investigation on the sugar importation mess could take place as early as Thursday, Aug. 18.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/10/marcos-rejects-proposal-to-import-300000-mt-of-sugar/
https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/11/palace-probes-illegal-unauthorized-order-on-sugar-importation/
San Jose Del Monte City Rep. Florida Robes and Quezon 1st district Rep. Mark Enverga–chairpersons of the Good Governance and Public Accountability and the Agriculture and Food Committees, respectively–led the briefing on Monday morning.
However, despite the sensitivity of the issue, the resource persons summoned were neither held under oath by the House nor were they all physically present. This is because a panel briefing is more lax than a proper inquiry or investigation.
When the solons present realized that the briefing wasn't going to have any "teeth", they visibly began to lose interest and instead set their sights on Thursday.
Among those invited were Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) officials, Department of Agriculture (DA) officials, Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials, representatives from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), sugar cooperatives, unions, food exporters, and other business entities.
Cavite 4th district Rep. Elpidio Barzaga even pointed out that one of the invited resource persons–Administrator and Vice Chairman of the SRA Engineer Hermenegildo Serafica–had reported for work instead of attending the House joint briefing in person.
Robes manifested that, in future inquiries, all invited resource persons be directed to personally attend the hearings without proxies.
Other resource persons who were not present at the briefing in person were former DA Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, lawyer Ignacio Santillana, lawyer Guillermo Tejida, Cornelio Toreja, Pablo Lobregat, Rosendo So,
Toward the end of the briefing, Minority Leader 4PS Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan made a formal motio to launch a motu proprio, or voluntary, inquiry in aid of legislation into the sugar importation issue. Motu proprio is the panel's capacity to call for an inquiry, even if no House member filed a resolution for the purpose of a probe.
Through such a probe, resource persons summoned before by the House can be held under oath; thus, any manifestations made by them could be held against them.
However, Barzaga said that the joint panels might need to get guidance from the Committee on Rules first on whether or not the House can hold such inquiry amid the deficient membership of the panels.
Two hours after the Monday briefing, the House of Representatives' website already reflected the schedule for the Aug. 18 probe on the sugar mess.