Bayan Muna representatives have filed a resolution urging the House Committee on Agriculture and Food to conduct an investigation into the plan of the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Sugar Regulatory Administration to import 200,000 metric tons of sugar at the height of the sugar harvest season.
“While the country is still in the midst of sugar harvests and milling season, the DA’s decision to import refined sugar impedes the interest of our the local sugar producers and poses a threat to our sugar industry,” Bayan Muna representatives Eufemia Cullamat, Carlos Isagani Zarate and Ferdinand Gaite said in House Resolution 2495.
They pointed out that on February 8 the SRA issued Sugar Order No. 3 allowing the importation of 200,000 MT of sugar because of an alleged shortage caused by Typhoon “Odette”.
However, on February 6 the SRA released a report indicating a 42 percent increase in production of refined sugar of 353,779.10 MT compared to the 249,515.8 MT produced during the previous year, they said.
The SRA also reported a 2.3 percent increase in raw sugar supply with six more months remaining in the sugar crop year, they added.
The Bayan Muna representatives also pointed out that two courts have already issued temporary restraining orders against the importation of sugar.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar on February 18 insisted that the decision to import refined sugar is supported by data from the Philippine Statistics Authority and defends its decision while reiterating that the order for importing was specifically for refined sugar only, they added.
The decision of the DA to import sugar is questionable because of the contrasting nature of the department’s own data, they said.*