The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has again postponed another public inquiry on the alleged sugar smuggling in the country after the invited key officials were a “no show” at the hearing.
Senator Francis Tolentino, chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee, expressed disappointment after primary invitees, including National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, and former Sugar Regulatory administrator David John Alba did not appear at the Senate. Only Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin was present.
“I notice the absence of several invited resource persons, notably members of the Cabinet. They should have been (present to) provide critical information and testimony,” Tolentino said.
He then asked Bersamin why the others were a ”no show.”
Bersamin explained that Balisacan was on a prior scheduled trip to Vancouver, while Pascual was in Indonesia attending a ministerial level conference and the ASEAN summit, and both would be out of the country until 11 May. Panganiban, meanwhile, is in Washington until 13 May.
“All of these three, your honor, would be here if their schedule were different but it happens that their trips coincided with our meeting today,” Bersamin said.
While the committee welcomed the presence of Bersamin and sugar industry stakeholders, Tolentino said there would be no in-depth inquiry without the physical presence of the key government officials.
“They are vital to the investigation this committee will be undertaking. It may be difficult for us to continue without them,” he added.
Tolentino asked Bersamin if he could help the Senate ensure the attendance of the Cabinet members at the next scheduled hearing.
“We will exert all efforts to ensure the appearance of all the resource persons this committee will require us to invite or which the committee invites,” Bersamin told Tolentino.
The Senate panel members then agreed to postpone the investigation for the second time.
“The committee is inclined to proceed with a discontinuance pursuant to Sections 17 and 18 of the Senate rules governing investigations. The committee likewise is taking notice of Article 6, Section 5 of the Rules of the Blue Ribbon Committee wherein the absence of vital witnesses can lead to a postponement until further notice of an investigation,” Tolentino said.
To recall, Senator Risa Hontiveros previously alleged that “sugar cartels” comprising the three main “government-tapped” sugar importers were raking in as much as P4 billion from selling the commodity at an “outrageous” price.
Hontiveros said the “whole fracas” was about the government, through Panganiban, granting import allocations to All Asian Countertrade Inc., Sucden Philippines, and Edison Lee Marketing Corp., covering a total import volume of 440,000 metric tons of sugar.
“At this point, I wish to express my serious disappointment that Undersecretary Panganiban is not here. I wanted him to explain why they chose the three importers. I wanted him to tell us in front of the citizens why they allowed importation without a sugar order,” Hontiveros said.
Bothersome absence
Senator JV Ejercito described the absence of the primary witnesses, especially Panganiban, as “bothersome” and a “waste of so much time.”
He said the testimony of Panganiban was to be the highlight as “some memorandum orders came from him and he is the only one who can answer it.”
“This is the second time he did not show up. That’s why we support the decision of the chair for postponement,” he said. “Definitely, so much time is wasted. I’m hoping there will be no other postponement because this will cause doubt on the part of the people.”
Ejercito lamented that he authored the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law and the Sugar Industry Development Act to protect the agriculture industry.
“With this fiasco, we can see that we can’t strengthen the agricultural sector,” he said.
Current sugar prices
Carissa Guimba, a market vendor in Quezon City who was invited to the hearing, said sugar prices in the public markets had gone down slightly from the previous months.
Guimba said light brown sugar was now selling at P80 per kilo from P85 in December last year and dark sugar costs P95. Dark sugar is mainly used in sauces and is an ingredient in sago’t gulaman as well as other sweet delicacies.
However, washed sugar has remained at P85 since January, much lower than the P90-P95 in December last year, while white sugar is costly at P116.
Guimba explained that once white sugar reaches its peak price, it is converted to washed sugar which is sold at a lower price.
Tolentino asked Guimba if the market vendors would know if they were selling imported or local sugar. She replied that they preferred to sell local sugar, mostly from Negros Oriental.
“We are selling local products, we don’t sell imported. Those sugar sacks have labels whether they’re imported or not,” she said.
According to Guimba, the local sugar labels include Bais for washed sugar, La Carlota for brown sugar, and Cameco for dark sugar.