It was a "procedural mistake."
This was what President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said about the sugar importation mess involving several government officials, who were all absolved of any liability" over the incident last year.
Marcos said he will talk with Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian following the decision to absolve his group from the sugar importation mess, which was the first controversy Marcos faced since assuming the presidency.
"Whatever plans we have for Usec Sebastian, I think he should hear it first, not over the news. So pag-uusapan namin (So, we will talk about it)," Marcos said in an interview with the Philippine media delegation in Beijing on Thursday, Jan. 5.
"We are mindful of the decision. It was basically a mistake--a procedural mistake," he further said.
Among those absolved were former Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica of the Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA) board, and board members Roland Beltran and Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr.
An unauthorized sugar order allowing the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar was released in August last year without the President's approval.
Malacañang even tagged the order as "fake" and "illegal."
The incident led to a Senate probe and resulted in the resignation of several Sugar Regulatory Authority executives.