President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Maros Jr. ordered the importation of 444,000 metric tons of sugar for selected importers in a bid to stabilize the sugar prices in the market, Department of Agriculture (DA) Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban revealed on Tuesday.
During the hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Panganiban said that Marcos called him for a meeting about sugar importation.
"He told me about the situation with the inflation. Ang sabi ng Presidente na masyadong mataas ang inflation ng sugar at 8.7 percent, according to Secretary Balisacan, and on that basis, the President recommended the importation immediately because of the high cost of sugar in the market at 'yung inflation rate," he said.
Panganiban added that Marcos also ordered the importation as he cited that the country will be needing 450,000 MT more of sugar.
"Ang sabi ng Presidente, 'let's do it ourselves' muna and so, two days after, he called again a meeting with several sugar importers and he told the same thing. He told us that we really need to import at this point dahil baka tumaas pa ang inflation at tataas pa ang presyo ng sugar sa market," he said.
Senator Francis 'Tol' Tolentino asked Panganiban to clarify if Marcos' statements meant to "import through the right process."
The DA Undersecretary responded, "No. He said let's import through selected importers of sugar."
Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros also asked the DA official if the President instructed the creation of a sugar order to formally authorize the importation. But Panganiban said Marcos did not mention it.
Meanwhile, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin asserted that the government did not "commit any irregularity" in the sugar order and there were "no violations" committed by any parties involved.
Hontiveros first questioned the government's plan to grant the 440,000 MT of sugar to three importers namely All Asian Countertrade Inc, Sucden Philippines, and Edison Lee Marketing Corp. last February.
She earlier pointed out that the planned importation has no prerequisite sugar order.
"The undeniable truth is that there was no Sugar Order establishing a sugar importation program between the period of October 20, 2022, and February 14, 2023," Hontiveros earlier said.
