EXECUTIVE Secretary Lucas Bersamin yesterday said a sugar order is not necessary for the government to import sugar.
Bersamin spoke during a hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the alleged illegal entry of 440,000 metric tons of sugar ahead of Sugar Order No. 6.
Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, also at the hearing, said “there is no specific law, rule, or regulation outlining the procedure for the issuance of the sugar importation orders.”
“This is the reason why sugar orders issued by SRA (Sugar Regulatory Administration) differ in amount, scope, and conditions… Approving sugar importations is not exclusive to the SRA. In fact, SRA is not even expressly granted authority by any law to regulate imported sugar,” Panganiban said.
Bersamin said the sugar order can be used as basis for issuing clearances for sugar shipments that have arrived in the country.
“We were aware that the sugar order was not absolutely necessary for the… importation to be made. But in the end, if the importation of sugar came already into the country, that sugar order would still be essential as the basis for the issuance of clearances by the Sugar Regulatory Administration because the clearances would be required by the Bureau of Customs… That is the context that the sugar order and clearance should be differentiated,” he said.
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III questioned Panganiban’s statement. “Is that his thinking after 50 years of experience with the Department of Agriculture? That SRA rules and SRA administration orders are merely guidelines that they can just disregard and not follow?”
Pimentel said the country would be in trouble if decision-makers in government would have the same frame of mind as Panganiban’s.
“We want to improve the law but their frame of mind is that the law is just a guidance that they can disregard? Is that their frame of mind,” Pimentel said in Filipino.
Bersamin said since a sugar order is not a requisite for importing sugar, the executive department did not err in allowing the shipment of the 440,000 MT of sugar last February.
“Our opinion is that a sugar order is not required to be issued prior to an importation.
There are actually several ways of importing sugar — one of them is this sugar order, the other is the maximum access volume (MAV). There is also a relevant provision in the Price Act and the residual is when the President exercises his powers as the chief executive for when there is an urgent need for such experience,” Bersamin said.
Bersamin also pointed to the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act which states that, “In case of importation, submissions of requirements after the arrival of goods but prior to the release from customs custody shall be allowed but only in cases provided for by governing laws or regulations.”
LEGITIMATE
He said the importation of sugar ahead of Sugar Order No. 6, which is the subject of the Senate investigation, was “legitimate and fully authorized by the government” and was not in any way meant to create a cartel “nor was it about government smuggling of sugar.”
He said the importation was aimed at addressing the rising inflation and sugar prices by way of having a sugar buffer stock “as a measure to regulate price increases.”
“The importation was undertaken as a sincere move to check the rising inflation and food prices that were prejudicing the public in the months leading to January 2023. The administration, thereby, made sure that the importation would establish a buffer stock of sugar as a measure to regulate price increases in a large way that objective was realized
Bersamin said Executive Order No. 18, signed by President Corazon Aquino in 1986 and which created the SRA, was meant to regulate the sugar market since the country at that time was a net exporter of sugar and the “creation of the Sugar Regulatory (Administration) under this executive order had nothing to do with importation.”
He said the first instance sugar importation “came to the cognizance” of the SRA was in August 2022 through a joint memorandum which states “no imported sugar shall be released to the importer consignee without an SRA clearance.”
“So, to us in the Office of the President, we committed no irregularity when we issued that sugar order. Neither was there any violation committed by any of the parties who were involved in the questioned transaction,” Bersamin said, adding that the Senate should review the rules and introduce amendments to the law to make the policy on sugar importation “clearer.”
‘ORDER NEEDED’
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros said the importation of sugar ahead of a sugar order is against the law.
“Dahil sa plain understanding ko bilang mambabatas at hindi abogado… ayon sa batas, kailangan ng sugar order para payagan ang sugar importation (Because to my plain understanding being a lawmaker, and not a lawyer… according to the law, a sugar order is needed to allow the importation of sugar),” Hontiveros said.
“Otherwise, we blow the whole system thus far wide open,” she added.
She cited a portion of Section 117 of RA 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act which provides that “Goods which are subject to regulation shall be imported or exported only after securing the necessary goods declaration or export declaration, clearances, licenses, and other requirements prior to importation or exportation.”
Hontiveros, in February, exposed the importation of 440,000 metric tons of sugar from Thailand ahead of Sugar Order No. 6, and asked the Senate for a probe.
Hontiveros said the sugar importation which arrived on February 9 is illegal because sugar is a regulated commodity. Sugar Order No. 6 was issued on February 15.
She said the contract to supply the 440,000 MT of sugar were given to All Asian Counter Trade Inc., Sucden Philippines Inc., and Edison Lee Marketing Corp. without bidding.
Hontiveros cited Section 6 of Sugar Order No. 6 which states that SRA shall only accept applications to import sugar “five calendar dates from the date of the effectivity of the Sugar Order.”
In this case, she said Sugar Order No. 6 will take effect three days after it is published, adding that the applications to accept sugar importation should have happened from February 19 to 23 “and it will take another five days before the contracts will be awarded.”
Panganiban has said he acted on Bersamin’s order.
At the hearing yesterday, Panganiban also said President Marcos Jr ordered the importation of sugar “through selected importers.”
Pimentel asked if the importation will be done through the usual process.
Panganiban replied: “No, he said import through selected importers of sugar.”
Hontiveros butted in to ask if what she heard was right — that Marcos ordered the importation through selected importers.
Panganiban replied: “Oo, sinabi niya iyon (yes, he said that) …But the name of the importers were not mentioned by the President.”
