Senate probe into sugar fiasco: Questions of sugar shortage, authority to sign for president
MANILA, Philippines — The first half of Tuesday’s Senate panel hearing on the sugar supply fiasco circled back on an importation mess that saw the resignation of some officials. But senators also tried to find an answer to one question: Is the country really facing an actual sugar shortage?
Tension was felt on the Senate floor as the Blue Ribbon Committee attempted to get to the bottom of the controversy stemming from Sugar Order No. 4 (SO4), which would have authorized the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar into the country to bridge a deficit that has been pushing up the local prices of the sweetener.
The document was issued by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), which sits under the Department of Agriculture.
Answering questions from legislators, former Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian admitted that he signed the order on behalf of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who is serving as the agriculture chief for now. Marcos had denied signing the document while Malacañang said the importation order was “illegal” — a fiasco that triggered a slew of resignations in the SRA last week.
Sebastian was among the officials who quit their posts.
READ: Sugar administrator resigns following import mess
But beyond the importation mess, some senators also questioned the assessment of sugar regulators that there is an actual shortage of the commodity. Here are the highlights from the first segment of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing.
A question of authority
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri touched on Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez’s role in the botched importation plan. It was Rodriguez who was leading the raids on supposedly untapped stocks of sugar in and around the National Capital Region.
Calling SO4 an “underhanded and unauthorized” move, Zubiri asked: “Why was the president, the concurrent head of the Department of Agriculture, not informed?”
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, for her part, questioned why SO4 was not immediately brought to the attention of the president on the part of Rodriguez, pointing out that it was the executive secretary himself who signed a memo outlining Sebastian’s power as ex-officio chair or member of bodies where the DA secretary is a member.
Hontiveros’ office showed a copy of the memo dated July 15, 2022 that Rodriguez signed. The document designates Sebastian as undersecretary of operations of the DA.
The memo reads: “You are hereby authorized to serve the following functions: Sit as ex-officio chairman or member of all duly constituted committees, councils, boards, or bodies where the Secretary of the DA is a member.”
Sebastian had repeatedly referred to this memo which, he argued, outlines his authority to sign administrative issuances. Sebastian said he felt that signing SO4 on behalf of Marcos was a sound call after his briefing with the Palace and feedback from a meeting with the executive secretary.
Sebastian added that it was concluded that the national government needed to import 300,000 metric tons of sugar through a new Sugar Order following consultations with stakeholders, which include millers, planters and suppliers.
“This wasn’t decided in one day,” he said.
Simple miscommunication?
Rodriguez, who was invited to the same Senate hearing to recap the events leading up to the sugar order, said that Sebastian only assumed that he had the power to sign issuances on behalf of the president.
“I confronted Undersecretary Sebastian and asked him why he did such a thing behind the president's back, without the president's knowledge, and in an unfair and dishonorable way,” Rodriguez said.
In response, Sebastian said that he texted Rodriguez who, he claimed, never replied. But Hontiveros believed that “this was not about one man misinterpreting intent and acting outside powers.”
“Ultimately, this is the fallout of a messy, haphazard bureaucracy. Let’s not minimize the damage this caused,” she said in mixed Filipino and English.
“The executive secretary knew that a draft importation order was circulating and had received support from industry stakeholders. Did he mention this to his principal? Isn’t it that his job is to protect the president? This could have been a simple policy debate,” she added.
Shortage or not?
Meanwhile, Sebastian and Zubiri argued over whether or not there’s actually a shortage in sugar in the Philippines.
Zubiri cited data from the SRA that he acquired from insiders showing there was still a reserve of 127,000 tons of sugar in warehouses. The lawmaker argued that supply was still sufficient to fulfill the spike in demand.
“The data is very clear…that’s not made up. What is that? Are we pretending that this is being hoarded for price manipulation?” Zubiri said as he questioned the claims of a shortage.
Sebastian said “the instant answer” was that as far back as March, his department had already observed “the diminishing supply of domestic sugar.”
Sebastian said the current raw sugar deficit is already at 319,000 metric tons until December. Sugar Order No. 3 (SO3), he explained, “can only last for how many months” and sugar imported under this order cannot be sold to consumers, only to industrial users.
“I was very concerned that prices are going up and we in the department were being pressured to do something,” he said under oath. “The private sector was pushing for more supply of sugar.”
“There is hoarding but there is tight supply as well. There is smuggling, too,” he added.
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