Newly appointed Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) appearing Administrator and CEO Pablo Luis Azcona maintained that the controversial importation of 440,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar underwent the correct procedures.
Azcona made the comment Friday, only a few hours after the Presidential Communications Office introduced that he had been named by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. appearing administrator.
“All that [SRA] did was above board and practically following the procedures,” Azcona advised reporters in a Zoom interview.
Azcona made the comment as Senator Risa Hontiveros continues to query the legality of the importation because it was not lined by earlier sugar orders from the SRA.
“Hanggang ngayon, naninindigan ako, kasama ng industriya ng asukal: A Sugar Order (SO) is a requirement under the law,” Hontiveros stated in a press release.
(I proceed to face by these within the sugar trade who consider {that a} Sugar Order is a requirement beneath the legislation.)
“An SRA sugar order is our very imperfect instrument for balancing the welfare of farmers, planters and millers on the one hand and of consumers and food manufacturers, on the other hand, who must also rely on imports to augment the limited supply,” added Hontiveros.
In February, Hontiveros filed Senate Resolution 497 searching for a Blue Ribbon committee probe into the entries of round 440,000 metric tons of sugar in Philippine ports forward of the issuance of Sugar Order No. 6.
She earlier stated the February 9 shipments couldn’t have been lined by Sugar Order 6, because the allocation for this may solely begin on February 24. It was additionally not lined by earlier orders, because the earliest arrival date can be on March 1.
Hontiveros stated that Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, who represented Marcos within the Sugar Regulatory Administration Board, had a January 12 letter addressed to one of many alleged sugar importers of the questioned importation, saying the allocation was “per instruction of Executive Secretary [Lucas] Bersamin.”
Panganiban, nevertheless, stated that he interpreted the memorandum issued by the Office of the Executive Secretary as an approval to proceed with the importation as he instructed “three capable and accredited companies to proceed with the importation of sugar provided that they agree to reduce the prices of sugar.”
The Department of Agriculture, on March 2, gave its go-signal for the discharge of the imported sugar that was flagged by Hontiveros as not lined by earlier sugar orders.
The go-ahead sign was issued by Panganiban “considering that allocations under Sugar Order No. 6, Series of 2022-2023 had been duly awarded, and considering further the Memorandum from the Office of the Executive Secretary dated January 13, 2023, and the Memorandum from the Office of the Senior Undersecretary of the Department Agriculture on even date.”
Azcona, nevertheless, stated that the questioned importation had gone via a course of as “we get stakeholders’ inquiries.”
“There was a process to get consultation and we received a lot of suggestions merong 350,000, 450,000 merong raw at refined sugar,” stated Azcona.
“The figure was really narrowed down to 440,000… Everything was done properly, the schedules were done. We followed all the rules and we corrected all the issues brought about by the SO3 na all industrials and SO2 na 50-50 and come out with SO6,” he added
As to Hontiveros’ assertion, Azcona stated that the SRA has a crew tasked to face the Senate’s probe.
“I’ll depart it to them kasi ayon ung experience nila. Siguro sooner or later I can reply them pero sa ngayon po I used to be not privy as to what went on,” defined Azcona.
(I’ll depart it to them as a result of that is their experience. Maybe sooner or later I can reply them. But for now, I’m not aware of what went on.) —VAL, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
