DA Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, who also chairs and Sugar Board, speaks during a press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. (Photo from a video by Radio Television Malacañang)
MANILA, Philippines — Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban on Wednesday said there was “nothing irregular” about the importation of sugar to the country even before the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) approved the importation of 440,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar.
At a Palace briefing, Panganiban said a Jan. 13 memorandum from Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, by authority of the President, allowed the importation of 450,000 MT of sugar.
On Jan. 12, Panganiban recommended to the President the importation of 100,000 MT to be classified as domestic sugar and 350,000 MT to be classified as reserves sugar.
In his memorandum to Panganiban, Bersamin said the Department of Agriculture (DA) is directed to implement the recommendations “to ensure adequate supply of sugar in domestic markets, reduce prices and manage inflation.”
“In response to the directive of the President to address the inflation and create buffer stock and given that sugar as one of the component of most commodities that drives the consistently high inflation rate, I acted with haste and interpreted the memorandum issued by the Office of the Executive Secretary as an approval to proceed with the importation,” Panganiban said.
“With the urgency of the situation, I instructed the capable and accredited companies to proceed with the importation of sugar, provided that they agree to reduce the prices of sugar, sell the commodity in a price that is commercially acceptable in the market and that they will shoulder the cost of warehousing,” he added.
“There is nothing irregular,” he told reporters after Sen. Risa Hontiveros hit the arrival of a shipment of sugar from Thailand ahead of the SRA order, calling it “government-sponsored smuggling.”
Asked by reporters if the memorandum to Panganiban was considered a sugar order, Undersecretary Roy Cervantes of the Office of the Executive Secretary said it was “a directive to implement the order of the President.”