Senator Risa Hontiveros (Senate PRIB

Instead of selling seized sugar in Kadiwa stores, it could be more favorable to turn it over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for the benefit of the less fortunate and victims of calamities, Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Friday, April 21.

“Kaysa mabulok o ibenta para pagkakitaan pa, bakit hindi na lang ibigay ng libre sa mga kababayan nating nangangailangan at biktima ng kalamidad? (Instead of allowing the seized sugar to rot or selling it to Kadiwa stores, why not just give it to the needy and victims of calamities?) Maraming nagugutom ngayon at kinakapos dahil sa mataas na presyo ng bilihin (There are hungry citizens and in dire need due to high prices),’’ she said.

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) recently announced that it has revised existing regulations to authorize the sale of at least 4,000 metric tons (MT) of smuggled refined sugar in Kadiwa stores around the country.

The said sugar stocks, which were earlier confiscated in joint Bureau of Customs (BBC) and Department of Agriculture (DA) operations, will be sold to consumers at P70 per kilo.

Government should not profit from illegal goods, she pointed out.

Hontiveros said her office computed that a price of P65 per kilo of sugar from Thailand is just right.

‘’Pero bakit mataas pa rin ang presyo kung ibebenta? (But why is the price high when it will be sold?),” she she asked.

Instead of relying on smuggled sugar to supply Kadiwa stores, Hontiveros said that  the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) needs only to expand the list of traders and industries authorized to procure their own sugar supplies.

She emphasized that the right to import sugar should not be limited to three “favored” suppliers: All Asian Countertrade Inc, Edison Lee Marketing Corporation, and Sucden Philippines.

There should also be an expanded list of traders and industries that will be allowed to import the 450,000 metric tons that the SRA wants to bring into the country.

As in previous years, these  will then compete to offer the lowest price to the market, in contrast to the prospect of high cartel-dictated prices.

She likewise said that the DA and SRA could also expand their cooperation with stakeholders in the local sugar industry, so that production yields can be increased even during the ongoing milling season for sugar - in line with proposals by groups like the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG).