DA exec: Marcos approved award of sugar import to 3 firms

MANILA, Philippines — It was President Marcos himself who ordered the importation of sugar by selected importers to address inflationary pressures and keep the prices of the commodity in the market from rising further, Senior Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban told a Senate panel yesterday.

“He (President Marcos) said, ‘let’s import through selected importers of sugar,’” Panganiban told the Senate Blue Ribbon committee chaired by Sen. Francis Tolentino.

The committee was hearing allegations of government-sponsored sugar smuggling raised by Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

Panganiban was apparently referring to the importation of 440,000 metric tons of sugar without approval from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

He said Marcos issued the import instruction after a meeting with members of the inter-agency group created to monitor the movement of the supply and prices of food and commodities.

Panganiban said Marcos had acknowledged that domestic production of sugar would not be enough to meet local demand.

He also said the President based his instruction on a report of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) that the price of sugar was already causing inflationary pressures on other goods.

“The President called me and told me about the situation on inflation. The President said the inflation of sugar is too high at 8.7 percent, according to Balisacan,” he said, referring to NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.

“On that basis, the President recommended the importation immediately because of the high cost of sugar in the market and the inflation rate,” Panganiban said.

But he clarified that the President did not name the sugar importers.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin also said during the hearing that the importation of 440,000 MT of sugar early this year was legally covered by a presidential directive.

Bersamin, a former Chief Justice, said there are at least four ways of legally importing sugar, and a Sugar Order from the SRA is just one of them.

“Aside from a Sugar Order, we can also use the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) program, the provisions of the Price Act and a direct order from the President, which is the case in the 440,000 metric tons of sugar that started arriving last February,” the Executive Secretary said.

“Subsequently, the SRA issued Sugar Order No. 6 to cover this importation so that there will be proper documentation that would allow the Bureau of Customs and other concerned agencies to process and release the shipments,” he said.

Bersamin also denied rushing the importation or favoring certain traders. “We have always implemented complete staff work; we never make decisions that are rash,” he added.

“And if we find any error or mistake, we will look into the motivation or the instances under which that omission or errors might have been committed… We look also at the human side of things,” he pointed out.

He confirmed the President issued the sugar directive during a meeting with Department of Agriculture (DA) officials.