Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles (File photo)
MANILA – A resolution that supposedly approved the importation of 300,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar is “illegal”, Malacañang said Thursday.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the resolution uploaded on the website of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) but later deleted was not authorized by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who is also SRA chairperson.
“It appears that the resolution was signed for and on behalf of the President by [Department of Agriculture] Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian. He was not authorized to sign such a resolution because the President did not authorize the importation,” Cruz-Angeles said in a Palace press briefing.
She said importations, particularly agricultural importations, are a sensitive matter that needs to be “carefully studied.”
“Sugar is one such importation which we take great care with. It is a balancing act. The importation has to be carefully studied to protect both the consumer against the rising prices of basic commodities while ensuring at the same time that we do not destroy the local industry,” she said.
Cruz-Angeles said although Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez issued a verbal order to create an importation plan, the President did not express his approval or agreement.
“You don’t convene the Sugar Regulatory Board in the absence of the President and in the absence of any such approval on his part. He did not approve the convening. You can only convene the board with the explicit assent of the President and he did not make such an agreement,” she said.
She said the Palace is investigating the unauthorized signing of the resolution and will impose penalties if necessary.
“An investigation is ongoing to determine whether any acts that will cause the President to lose trust and confidence in his officials can be found, or if there is malice or negligence involved. In such a case, if such findings are made then the only determination left will be how many heads are going to roll,” she said.
No preventive suspensions have been issued, she added.
Harvest season approaching
Cruz-Angeles acknowledged that the Department of Agriculture has indicated critical levels of sugar, but noted that harvest season is approaching next month.
Because an importation of sugar could affect the harvest prices of local sugarcane growers, she said the resolution “should not have been issued with such haste.”
“We just imported last May. We have to determine if another importation supposedly to address the critical levels that are approaching at the end of the month will affect the harvest season which opens in September. So again, a study is necessary,” she said.
Retail prices of sugar are currently beyond PHP100 per kilogram in wet markets and grocery stores. Traditionally, the retail prices of sugar are only PHP50 per kilo.
DA Undersecretary Kristine Evangelista earlier attributed the rise in the prices of sugar to the tight sugar supply.
The country's sugar supply is expected to last until the third week of August, SRA chief Hermenegildo Serafica. (PNA)
