Hontiveros: Rodriguez’s no-show at Senate sugar import mess probe ‘regrettable’

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros expressed dismay on Tuesday over Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez’s failure to attend the continuation of the Senate blue ribbon’s probe on the alleged sugar importation fiasco.

As soon as the committee resumed its investigation, Hontiveros asked about Rodriguez’s absence when she made a motion to invite him again to the hearing.

But panel chairman Senator Francis Tolentino informed the body that the Executive Secretary could not attend the ongoing hearing because of a Cabinet meeting also scheduled at 9:00 a.m. this Tuesday.

Tolentino said the committee will issue another invitation to Rodriguez to attend the next hearing.

“Just for the record Mr. Chair, regrettable na yung Cabinet meeting na dahilan kung bakit pagkatapos ng presentation nila noong unang hearing ay umalis na agad si Executive Secretary, hindi na natin natanong ng ating mga tanong. Ngayon yun ulit ang dahilan kung bakit wala sila rito,” Hontiveros said.

“I’m really, really holding on to the assurance of the chair that he will be required to attend the next hearing…” she said.

During last week’s hearing, Hontiveros raised several questions about Rodriguez’s role in the issuance of the controversial Sugar Order No. 4 (SO4) supposedly authorizing the importation of 300,000 MT of sugar.

She asked in particular about a memorandum signed by the Executive Secretary that supposedly granted resigned Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian authority to sign the said SO4.

While he was present during last week’s proceeding, Rodriguez immediately left and could not entertain questions from senators.

In his opening statement, however, the Executive Secretary admitted that in one of their meetings on sugar importation, he had requested, among others, a draft order on the proposed importation of 300,000MT of sugar.

Malacañang later dubbed SO4 as illegal, saying it was not authorized by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. who concurrently sits as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

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