Malacañang remains tight-lipped on calls for President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to designate a full-time Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary to focus on issues affecting the agriculture sector.

"We have no reaction to that," Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said on Tuesday, Aug. 23, when sought for a comment on the calls encouraging Marcos to appoint a new DA chief, which the President holds in a concurrent capacity.

Angeles said they will maintain silence over the issue until the legislative investigation on the aborted order to import 300,000 metric tons of sugar is completed.

"There are also other questions pertaining to supposedly the testimonies that are being given during the course of the legislative investigation, we will not comment on those as well because it is in the hands of the committee or the legislature which is conducting the investigation," she said.

"We will wait for it to complete the investigation," she added.

Meanwhile, the Press Secretary said the series of inspections on warehouses suspected of hoarding sugar continues.

She also revealed that the President has talked with new Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) officials about the government's course of action over the current sugar problem in the country.

The Palace official, however, did not disclose further details about the meeting.

"We will be making an announcement later on. He (Marcos) did discuss the ongoing crisis but that’s the extent that we can reveal the details. Remember that these officials just swore in, so immediately after that he convened the group to apprise them of the situation and get recommendations and plan course of action," she said.

The new officials took their oath of office on Monday, Aug. 22.