Senate President Juan Miguel Zubri is convinced that Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez is not involved in the controversial signing of the order to import 300,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar into the country despite the lack of approval from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself.
"I absolutely do not believe that he is part of this plan of coming out with an illegal order to import sugar," Zubiri told reporters on Wednesday, a day after Rodriguez appeared before the Senate following the inquiry into the sugar importation mess.
"He was the one who took it to the president and told the president about this particular plan that they already signed an import order without the president’s approval," he added.
Zubiri was referring to Sugar Order (SO) No. 4, which resigned Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian signed on August 8 on behalf of Marcos, who chairs the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) as part of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
During the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing, Rodriguez admitted receiving the draft of SO 4 but ignored it following the order of Marcos. This comes a day after Serafica informed him of the supposed need to import the commodity.
Sebastian along with SRA board member Atty. Roland Beltran, and SRA administrator Hermenegildo Serafica have all tendered their resignation following the sugar importation issue.
"I hope this is a lesson learned by these government officials that there needs to be proper consultation of the stakeholders and that there are proper rules that have to be followed," Zubiri said.
