SEN. Francis “Tol” Tolentino assured fair, just and equitable proceedings as he presides over the Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the entry of sugar shipments in Philippine ports ahead of Sugar Order No. 6.

During the public hearing May 23, 2023, Tolentino enumerated several matters that he wanted to discuss such as the documents that the committee has regarding sugar importations; Senate Resolution No. 497 filed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, which aims to tackle the entries of sugar shipments in the country; and the testimonies and facts presented before the committee.

“The committee, based on the testimony presented here, as well as the documentary evidence in my possession and those to be accumulated later on, would be 497 coming out with a report conducive to what is known to be as fair play, what is equitable and what would be derivative in terms of remedial legislation. And this committee is doing this likewise because we are exercising our oversight function,” Tolentino said in his opening statement.

On March 8, 2023, Tolentino postponed the hearing because of the absence of key resource persons such as National Economic and Development Authority Sec. Arsenio Balisacan, former Sugar Regulatory Administration administrator David John Alba, Department of Trade and Industry Sec. Alfredo E. Pascual, and Department of Agriculture Usec. Domingo Panganiban.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Tuesday said the 440,000 metric tons of imported sugar that arrived in the country early this year is legally covered by a presidential directive and that it was part of government efforts to control inflation.

Testifying before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee which is looking into an alleged government-sponsored sugar smuggling, Bersamin said there are at least four ways of legally importing sugar, and a Sugar Order from the Sugar Regulatory Authority is just one of them.

“Aside from a Sugar Order, we can also use the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) program, the provisions of the Price Act, and a direct order from the President which is the case in the 440,000 metric tons of sugar that started arriving last February,” he said.

“Subsequently, the SRA issued Sugar Order No. 6 to cover this importation so that there will be proper documentation that would allow the Bureau of Customs and other concerned agencies to process and release the shipments,” the Executive Secretary said.

Bersamin, a former Supreme Court Chief Justice, said the President issued the directive to import sugar during a meeting with DA officials primarily to address inflation and high prices in the domestic market that has seriously harmed ordinary consumers.

He said that following the President’s directive, he issued a memorandum last January 13 ordering the DA to implement its recommendations to the President on the 2nd Sugar Importation Program for the Crop Year 2022-2023.

“The importation was not an effort at cartelization nor was it about government smuggling of sugar,” he told the committee hearing presided by Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Senator Tolentino.

He also said there were no irregularities in the said importation.

“Neither was there any violation committed by any of the parties who are involved in these questioned transactions, and that new policies are probably needed to avoid confusion in importation procedures.

“May I request this honorable Blue Ribbon Committee to look at the rules again and probably adopt some amendments, if you needed so, to make clearer this policy. But right now, as we said, the Department of Agriculture, the SRA, and the Bureau of Customs all acted in accordance with the law,” he said, reading a prepared statement.

He also denied rushing the importation or favoring certain traders.

“We have always implemented complete staff work; we never make decisions that are rash,” he added.

“And if we find any error or mistake, we will look into the motivation or the instances under which those omission or errors might have been committed. We look also at the human side of things.” he explained.

During the same hearing, sugar traders who were accused of carrying out the so-called government sponsored smuggling also explained that there was no irregularity in the importation because taxes and duties were paid for the imported sugar.

But Sen Hontiveros for her part bares additional details on the alleged illegal importation of 440,000 MT of sugar under Sugar Order No. 6 (SO6) by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

Hontiveros held that the timeline of events around the issuance of SO6 to the arrival of the imported sugar to the Philippines is implausible and has elements of either “advance thinking” or “premeditated crime”.

During the hearing, Hontiveros asserted that the ordering and loading of sugar to MV Nasico Eagle could have taken several weeks, adding that Sucden must have placed the order for sugar several weeks before the issuance of SO6 on February 15, 2023. “If we do not fight back on sugar smuggling, it’s as if we allow the smuggling of agricultural commodities and allow the neglect of our sugar farmers. Most of all, it’s as if we allow monopolies and cartels to dictate the sugar prices in the market,” Hontiveros said.