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Here's why Senate sugar smuggling probe won't push through

Philippines | National

Here's why Senate sugar smuggling probe won't push through

By Mario Casayuran

The Senate plenary hall (Senate PRIB)

The scheduled April 25 hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the alleged ‘’state-sponsored’’ smuggling of sugar will not push through. The reason, according to Senator Francis ‘’Tol’ Tolentino, committee chairman, is that Department of Agriculture (DA) Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban left, Monday, April 24, for an official trip to China. The overseas meeting will be attended by agriculture officials from different countries. His participation had been penciled earlier. Senator Risa Hontiveros had pointed to Panganiban as the one who issued the importation order of more than 400,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar last February without an order from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA). She also stated that it was Panganiban who selected the three ‘’choice’’ companies to import the sugar. Aside from Panganiban, the resource persons invited by Tolentino to appear were Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and officials of SRA, Bureau of Customs (BOC) and private companies that would import the sugar.

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