SRA officials should resign after ‘illegal sugar order’ – Zubiri

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri (File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — The officials of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) should resign for taking part in an unauthorized order to import sugar,  Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri in an interview on Saturday on AM radio DWIZ.

“I’m planning to give a privilege speech on Monday, asking those, of course, those who were participating in this illegal sugar order to resign from their post. They should resign,” Zubiri said.

He noted that Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian had already resigned for signing Sugar Order No. 4 without the authorization of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who is also the secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

“I was somewhat happy that Usec Sebastian resigned. But my question is: Why haven’t the other officials of the Sugar Regulatory Administration handed in their resignation letter?” Zubiri said, speaking in a mix of Filipino and English.

“Cases should be filed against them. Imagine, they got President Marcos in trouble by saying that they were importing on behalf of the president. Walang hiya sila [They are shameless],” Zubiri said.

“They should resign and they should be charged to teach them a lesson. That is not right,” he added.

Sugar Order No. 4, authorizing the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar, was uploaded to the website of the Sugar Regulatory Administration. The document shows Sebastian signing on behalf of the president.

Hours later, the Palace denied the said document, saying the president rejected the proposal.

Sebastian has apologized for the incident.

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