Agri groups vs sugar import glut decry smuggling

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

BACOLOD CITY—Leaders of the sugar industry have called on the House of Representatives and the Senate to conduct a full-blown investigation into the alleged smuggling of sugar that was exposed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday.

In a joint statement released on Feb. 22, the officials of big sugar industry associations, all of which have long opposed the government’s importation plan, said the public deserves to know who were responsible, and what concrete actions would be taken by the concerned government agencies to address smuggling.

The statement was signed by Enrique Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters; Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr., head of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc.; Pablo Lobregat, president of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association, and Danilo Abelita, Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers president.

“We condemn in the strongest terms any and all acts of sugar smuggling, which constitute economic sabotage that wreak havoc on the livelihood of thousands of sugarcane farmers, 90 percent of whom are agrarian reform beneficiaries and marginal farmers who rely solely on sugar for their sustenance,” they said.

The joint statement was issued a day after Hontiveros called on the Senate blue ribbon committee to investigate the suspicious entry of Thai sugar into the country through the Port of Batangas.

Hontiveros had claimed in a media briefing that the shipment of sugar from Thailand arrived almost a week before the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) approved the importation of 440,000 metric tons (MT) of the agricultural commodity through Sugar Order (SO) No. 6.

The lawmaker said it was the Bureau of Customs (BOC) that flagged the entry of the imported sugar when the shipment arrived at the Port of Batangas on Feb. 9, or six days before the SRA’s SO 6.

“Since these are not covered by SO 6, there is no other conclusion but to say that these sugar shipments are smuggled,” the senator said. “What other conclusion can be drawn other than that this is government-sponsored smuggling?”

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Documents presented by Hontiveros showed that All Asian Countertrade Inc. was the registered consignee of the shipment, contained in 260 units of 20-foot shipping containers aboard three vessels.

Hontiveros said the arrival of the imported sugar was apparently connected with a draft and undated memorandum supposedly issued by Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban directing the SRA to present a sugar importation plan.

Panganiban also told the sugar board to “allocate” the importation to three importers—All Asian (250,000 MT), Sucden Philippines Inc. (100,000 MT) and Edison Lee Marketing Corp. (100,000 MT)—“upon the instructions” of President Marcos “thru” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.

In an earlier letter dated Jan. 13, Panganiban informed Michael Escaler, chief executive of All Asian, that his company was allowed to import 250,000 MT of sugar “per instructions from [Bersamin].”

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidental, the biggest sugar-producing province in the country, supported the call for an investigation, saying sugar smuggling would hurt the domestic sugar industry that is already reeling from high fertilizer and fuel prices.

The leaders of the four sugar groups said that for the past two weeks, different sources have reported the arrival of refined sugar from Thailand at the Batangas port.

More questions

“That shipment has thus been publicly questioned as being unauthorized and therefore considered smuggled,” the presidents of the four sugar associations said.

The BOC-Intelligence and Investigation Service has asked the district collector of the Port of Batangas to justify the release of the sugar by submitting copies of import clearances issued to the importer by the SRA.

The sugar leaders said they were deeply concerned and are calling for an open and transparent investigation that must be quickly undertaken to establish the facts.

“If an order was issued to the Collector of the Port of Batangas to release the sugar, where is this order and who issued it?” they asked.

“If, on the other hand, the sugar in question is not supported by a legitimate import authorization and release order from the SRA, that sugar should be seized by Customs, pursuant to existing laws,” they added.

The sugar leaders said the importers and officials involved in the entry and subsequent release of this shipment should also be investigated, and if determined to be liable, should be made to answer to the full extent of the law.

They argued that the sugar import program must not only be carefully calibrated in terms of volume and timing so as not to severely affect millgate prices, but should also be open to all qualified traders and producers’ groups through a process that is transparent, fair and equitable.

United Sugar Producers Federation president Manuel Lamata, in a separate statement, said that if there was smuggled sugar and those responsible are caught, the perpetrators should be brought to the court.

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