NEGROS Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said Sunday, August 14, that he is supporting suggestions to raid warehouses for possible hoarding of agricultural products so long as it is "based on unquestionable evidence."
Lacson was reacting to the suggestion of Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI), that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered an inspection of warehouses for possible hoarding.
The governor admitted, however, that he has no hard evidence to conclude that there is indeed hoarding of agricultural products including sugar that leads to the price increases in the market.
Asked if the lack of domestic production of agricultural products is driving prices up, Lacson said he cannot answer that because the Department of Agriculture (DA) is not even saying that.
For his part, Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed), said that as early as June 2022, they have asked Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) administrator Hermenegildo Serafica to look into the artificial shortage of sugar allegedly caused by the traders.
"Two months ago, we asked the SRA to inspect the warehouses of sugar, but nothing was done," Lamata said.
If the SRA conducted a survey, they would have determined the real stocks of sugar in the warehouses, he said, adding that there are many stocks [of sugar] in the storage facilities.
Lamata also said that the traders are waiting for the supposed arrival of the 300,000 metric tons of imported sugar before releasing the sugar supply they held in the local market.
"The traders will be forced to release the sugar from the warehouses since they are anticipating that the importation will bring down the prices. That's their technique but since the president junked the importation, they will continue to hoard their stocks," he said.