The House of Representatives will do its own thing as far as its recommendations on the sugar importation mess is concerned.
This can be gleaned from the statement of Quezon 1st district Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food.
For the past month, his panel together with the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability has carried out a joint panel probe on the sugar importation fiasco. The good government panel is chaired by San Jose del Monte City lone district Rep. Florida Robes.
Over in the Senate, the Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Senator Francis Tolentino conducted a similar investigation and was able to issue its recommended actions on the case first.
Asked how the Senate's recommendations would impact that of the House on the sugar mess, Enverga said: "I would of course, most likely, everyone would get to read yung decision ng ating mga senators, the Blue Ribbon Committee sa Senate (the decision of our senators, the Blue Ribbon Committee of the Senate)."
"But again, we will always use as reference our own appreciation of the data given to us by yung testimonies of our resource persons," he added.
The investigations from the two chambers, which were only done in aid of legislation, stemmed from the attempt of sugar authorities to import 300,000 metric tons (MTs) of sugar into the country via Sugar Order (SO) No.4.
Malacañang would later tag the importation try as illegal and not cleared by the sitting Department of Agriculture (DA) chief, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
Earlier, the Blue Ribbon panel terminated its probe and recommended that administrative and criminal charges be filed against former DA Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, former Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief Hermenegildo Serafica, and former Sugar Board members Roland Beltran and Aurelio Valderrama Jr. in connecting with the botched release of the controversial SO No. 4.
One major difference between the House and Senate inquiries is that Senators managed to invite Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez to their probe.
YOU HAVE TO READ THIS:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/08/house-cant-make-up-mind-on-whether-or-not-to-make-rodriguez-attend-sugar-probe/
The question of whether or not the House members should invite Rodriguez to their own inquiry was a major talking point during the last joint panel hearing on the sugar mess last Thursday, Sept. 8.
Ultimately, the Enverga and Robes panels decided to just terminate or conclude their inquiry later that day.