Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday, February 21 questioned the entry of 260 20-foot containers containing sugar shipment at the port of Batangas ahead of the official release of Sugar Order No. 6 by the Sugar Regulatory Administration last February 15, calling it “bewildering and highly disturbing.”
SO No. 6 allows the importation of 440,000 metric tons (MT) refined sugar to help tame the high prices of sugar in the local market.
Hontiveros noted that under SO No. 6, the SRA can only begin accepting applications for five calendar dates from the date of effectivity of the sugar order. The SO is effective after three days it is published in the UP Law Center. But if the date of publication is in February 15, the date of the effectivity of SO is February 18.
The senator said applicants can only submit an application by February 19, and another five days after February 23 to release the award. The earliest date to enter imported sugar in the Philippines would have been March 1, 2023, and that is only possible if the shipment has left the port in Thailand for the past two weeks, she said.
However, Hontiveros said she received information, coming from producer organizations and corroborated by independent sources “that a shipment of sugar in 260 20-foot containers” already arrived in the port of Batangas on February 9.
The importer, she said, was All-Asian Countertrade, Inc. The shipment, she said, appears to be confirmed in a letter to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) from the Department of Agriculture (DA) dated February 14, flagging shipments of sugar by All-Asian Countertrade Inc., aboard three vessels and using three shippers.
“Kung pagbabatayan natin itong (If we will cite this) draft undated memorandum order na ito, three importers were already identified to be given allocations, ahead of the Sugar Order. Ito ay ang (These are the) All Asian Countertrade, Sucden Philippines Inc. at (and) Edison Lee Marketing Corporation,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros also bared a letter by Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, giving All Asian Countertrade 240,000 MTs of sugar allocation.
“And this is, take note, per instruction of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, dated Jan. 13, 2023. Is this letter true? I hope its not. If it were genuine, top DA officials and Malacanang officials who are close to the President should explain this,” she said.
The deputy minority leader also questioned what was the legal basis of the authority to import and why Panganiban had to create such letter when it is only the SRA that can release a sugar order.
“Can a sugar order be retroactive to cover shipments that arrived before its effectivity date, and before the notice of award allocation? If the answer is no, then sugar shipments that arrived must be confiscated immediately as smuggled sugar and its importers blacklisted and criminally charged with violation of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act,” she said.
“Where is this brazenness coming from? Who is emboldening these companies?” she pointed out adding that she received additional information of an additional sugar shipment from All-Asian Countertrade has entered the country over the weekend.
All-Asian Countertrade, Inc. is purportedly owned by a certain Michael Escaler.
She also said the 260 containers of sugar were not only shipped without authority from the SRA. They were also brought in via the Super Green Lane system of the BOC.
“Is it really good policy to grant such broad powers to agencies to determine how much import allocations shall be given to eligible importers, sans any ceilings, formula and criteria? If the answer is no, then we really need to rethink how we do sugar importation in this country,” she pointed out.
SO No. 6 was signed by Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, acting SRA administrator David John Thaddeus Alba, acting SRA board member Ma. Mitzi Manguag, and acting board member Pablo Luis Azcona.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s name was also indicated in the document but it didn’t have his signature. Marcos is the current DA chief, and concurrent chairman of the SRA.
Panganiban and the three SRA officials took over from former DA secretary Leocadio Sebastian, ex-SRA chief Hermenegildo Serafica, board member Roland Beltran, who resigned in the wake of the controversial release of Sugar Order No. 4.
Hontiveros pointed out that under Section 14 of the sugar order, “any natural or juridical person that imports sugar but is not an eligible importer or does so without the approved allocation granted by the SRA (Sugar Regulatory Administration) shall be considered as engaged in sugar smuggling and will be prosecuted under Republic Act No. 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act.”
The senator has filed Senate Resolution No. 497 urging the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to look into the issue and look into the provisions of SO No. 6 that may be open to abuse, patronage and cartelization.