Hontiveros: Give smuggled sugar to poor

Sen. Risa Hontiveros —Senate PRIB

Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Friday questioned the decision of the Sugar Regulatory Administration to sell the 4,000 metric tons of sugar seized by the Bureau of Customs.

Instead, Hontiveros said the government should just give the smuggled sugar to poor families and calamity victims through the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“Why should [the government] profit from something illegal? … Tolerating smuggling is not the solution to address the high prices of sugar,” Hontiveros said in a statement. —Marlon Ramos

READ: Hontiveros blasts gov’t plan to sell seized smuggled sugar at Kadiwa stores