Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday, March 21, said three sugar traders “handpicked” by Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban to import 440,000 metric tons of sugar into the country may “outrageously” rake in billions of pesos in “super profits”.
As this developed DIGICAST NEGROS sources said Administrator David John Thaddeus Alba of the Sugar Regulatory Administration submitted his resignation but President Ferdinand Marcos, concurrent agriculture secretary, has yet to act on it. Alba, who is from Negros Occidental, could not be reached for comment.
Hontiveros, at a press conference at the Senate in Pasay City on Tuesday, said “what we may be witnessing is the unfolding of a crime. Nothing less than large-scale agricultural smuggling. Nothing less than economic sabotage” involving billions of pesos.
The senator earlier filed a Senate resolution seeking a Blue Ribbon investigation into the entry of imported sugar into the country ahead of a valid sugar order.
On Tuesday she said for reasons still unclear to her Panganiban ordered that the importation of 440,000 metric tons of sugar be coursed through only three traders – All Asian Countertrade, Sucden Philippines Inc., and Edison Lee Marketing Corporation – whom he described as “most capable”.
Weeks ago at least one industrial user of sugar went to Panganiban and asked if it might be able to import sugar from Thailand just for its own use. The response of Panganiban was that there will be only three importers and the company will have to negotiate with the chosen three, she said.
“This company did as instructed and went to All Asian. All Asian, according to my sources, initially quoted a wholesale price of P85 per kilo,” which is appalling, Hontiveros said.
You can actually buy refined sugar wholesale for P25 per kilo in Thailand. If the importer sells the sugar at P61 a kilo he would already get a decent profit, she said.
“The P85 asking price of All Asian imposes an additional P24 super profit for a total of (P24 plus P8) P32 per kilo profit. Multiplied by 440,000 metric tons, the profit will be over P10.5 billion,” she claimed.
“Selling it at P85 is nothing short of outrageous,” she said.
She noted that the importers are said to have agreed to sell the sugar at below P80.
Hontiveros also cited a photo of the traders with Panaganiban and the president in Malacañang that is making the rounds online.
“I want to know, is it normal to host sugar importers in Malacañang? Is the President being manipulated by his underlings who handpicked the importers?” Hontiveros asked.
As the Bureau of Customs has confirmed, the first 20 containers for AllAsian have already arrived, she said.
“They arrived before a sugar order could even be signed. I have unconfirmed reports that further shipments have arrived in Subic and shipments arrived at the MICT as early as December,” Hontiveros said.
“No less than the office of the Executive Secretary expressed doubts about the legality of the DA’s actions of choosing importers and allocating quantities to be imported before a sugar order could be signed by the SRA,” she added.
“This is not just a state-sponsored formation of a cartel. It is not a state monopoly a la NASUTRA of old that purported to generate public revenues for those would then be plowed back in favor of the sugar industry. It is a cartel that generates super profits, none of which will go to the National Treasury,” Hontiveros claimed.
“Every day that we let this pass unhindered is a day of burden for our consumers suffering the highest prices of basic commodities we have seen in decades. Every day that we let this pass, I dare say, is a blemish on the record of the Senate,” she added.*