Marcos rejects sugar importation as harvest nears: press secretary
The government justified the rejection of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to import 300,000 MT of sugar, citing the call for a balancing act to be done as the harvest season will start next month.
"The Department of Agriculture has indicated the allegedly critical levels of sugar. However, we are also approaching harvest season, this is why the importation calls for a balancing act,'' Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said in a Palace briefing on Thursday.
''Will such importation affect the harvest and the prices of our local growers? In the absence of such a determination, the resolution should not have been issued with such haste as it appears to have been made," she added.
Cruz-Angeles said the Philippines just imported sugar last May.
"Now, we have to determine if an 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," she added.Cruz said a study for the importation of sugar is "necessarily called for."
"In fact, it was the Executive Secretary who issued the instruction for them to create an importation plan. In such an importation plan, a determination has to be made about how this is going to affect the incoming harvest," she said.
Marcos gave the directive, which '' was verbally issued so that the President can make a determination later on, whether or not the importation is actually warranted."
After Marcos rejected the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar, Cruz-Angeles assured that heads will roll as the Palace ordered an investigation on the unauthorized issuance of the sugar importation order by the Sugar Regulatory Administration.
"An investigation is ongoing to determine whether any act that would 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.
Cruz-Angeles noted that so far there is no preventive suspension issued against the officials of the SRA
Cruz reiterated that the Sugar Order no. 4 that was issued by the SRA was illegal as it was not authorized by Marcos.
"It appears that the Resolution was signed for and on behalf of the President by Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian. He was not authorized to sign such a resolution because the President did not authorize the importation," she said.
"Importations are a sensitive matter, particularly with regard to agricultural importations. 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 added.
According to the Sugar Order No. 4, the SRA estimates that by August 31, 2022 raw sugar balance will be around -35,231 metric tons and refined sugar balance will be around -20,748.65 metric tons, significantly lower than the 228,690 metric tons "B" raw sugar balance and 195,000 metric tons refined sugar balance from last crop year.
It also noted that "because of tightening supply the prevailing wholesale prices of sugar as of July 31, 2022 have gone up to P3,250.00 per LKg for raw and P4,400 per LKg for refined, with prevailing retail prices in public wet markets of P90 pesos per kilo for raw and P90 pesos for refined, both much higher than their respective suggested retail prices." Robina Asido/DMS
