PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, that they are reorganizing the Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA) following the controversial issuance of an order allowing the importation of 300,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar.
In a press conference in Manila, Marcos said he will let the legislative bodies, such as the House of Representatives and the Senate, to investigate the matter, as he wanted to focus more on addressing the looming sugar shortage in the country.
“Ang iniintindi ko lang talaga is that hindi tayo tumagal na may shortage ng sugar lalo na sa industrial consumer, ‘yung mga gumagawa ng soda, ‘yung mga drinks at pagkain, ayaw natin maipit yon because right now, they are starting to cut down that days of the week na nagta-trabaho and we are very worried of course about jobs so ‘yun ang iniintindi ko talaga right now,” he said.
Marcos said he ordered the reorganization of the SRA and this should be done within the week.
He said they are coming up with an arrangement with the industrial consumers, planters, millers and suppliers of sugar to identify how much sugar is in the country that can be brought out to the market and to identify how much more of it the country needs to import.
“It is the same situation in agricultural commodities in the Philippines. Ayaw natin mag-import hanggang maaari ngunit ang problema hindi sapat production natin, kung minsan ang presyo napakataas. Kung hindi natin tutugunan ang mangyayari, pupunta sa Mercado, masyado mataas ang production cost,” he said.
At present, the prevailing retail price of sugar is P100 per kilo.
Marcos said he had already asked the traders, who offered to lower it down to P80 per kilo, if they can further lower it down to P70 per kilo.
“We are getting there,” he said.
The Sugar Regulatory Board earlier issued Sugar Order (SO) 4, allowing the importation of 300,000 MT of sugar.
The Malacañang tagged the order illegal as it was not approved by Marcos who served as chairman of the board as the concurrent secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Several officials who signed the order resigned following the controversy.
Marcos said there is no immediate need for the country to import sugar.
He said the country might need to import but only around 150,000 MT.
Meanwhile, at the House of Representative, House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan filed House Resolution 259 seeking the conduct of probe into the issuance of the SO 4.
"There is a need to conduct an in-depth investigation on this botched attempt to import sugar to identify all persons who connived with Undersecretary Sebastian for this unauthorized sugar importation order and for them to answer possible criminal charges," Libanan said in his resolution.
He was referring to Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, who signed the order without the permission from Marcos.
In the Senate, Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Senator Francis Tolentino said the investigation on the matter will be launched on August 23. (SunStar Philippines)