Hontiveros seeks probe into ‘government-sponsored’ sugar smuggling
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros urged the Senate Blue Ribbon panel on Tuesday to investigate what she called a “government-sponsored” smuggling of 260 containers of sugar which she said arrived at the Batangas port around two weeks ago.
In a media briefing, Hontiveros said sugar producers and independent sources told her that on February 9, a shipment of sugar in 260 20-foot containers arrived at the port. Its importer is said to be All Asian Countertrade Inc, she said.
The 260 containers allegedly had in them smuggled sugar that were also supposedly brought in via the super green lane system of the Bureau of Customs, when agricultural imports cannot pass through these lanes.
The senator showed a letter from Agriculture Assistant Secretary James Layug addressed to newly-appointed customs chief Bienvenido Rubio flagging shipments of sugar by All Asian Countertrade as proof of this accusation.
In Layug’s February 13 letter, he raised to Rubio the sugar shipments aboard three vessels which he said were “allegedly non-compliant with importation requirements of agri-fishery commodities, particularly sugar, under the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.”
All Asian Countertrade, Sucden Philippines Inc. and Edison Lee Marketing Corp. were identified to be given allocations in an undated memorandum order from Sugar Board chairperson Domingo Panganiban, as shown by Hontiveros.
Panganiban supposedly instructed the allocation of 100,000 metric tons of sugar to Sucden Philippines, another 100,000 metric tons to Edison Lee Marketing and 250,000 metric tons to All Asian Countertrade.
Panganiban said in the undated memorandum that he was acting “upon the instructions” of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., concurrently agriculture chief, thru Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.
A January 13 letter from Panganiban to All Asian Countertrade CEO Michael Escaler that Hontiveros presented also showed that the company was being authorized to import 240,000 metric tons of sugar “per instructions from Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin.”
“It says here that the executive secretary, more than a month ago, provided some sort of authority to import that the [Sugar Regulatory Administration] has not,” Hontiveros said partly in Filipino, while raising questions about the letter’s authenticity.
“What do we make of the January 13 letter? What other conclusion can be drawn other than that this is government-sponsored smuggling? Who is responsible for this?” she said.
SRA order
The SRA issued last Wednesday Sugar Order No. 6 which allowed the importation of 440,000 metric tons of refined sugar. Hontiveros said that the earliest date for sugar imports to enter the country is March 1.
“It seems that there are people who are jumping the gun,” she said.
Hontiveros also raised other concerns with SO No. 6, mainly what she called the “broad discretion” of the DA over sugar importation and the virtual waiver of the performance bond for imported raw and refined sugar.
“Aren’t the Filipino people the losers here? Because if we allow cartels to enter the sugar industry, we will allow them to control its price. And if we won’t fight back, what other agricultural commodities can cartels enter?” she said.
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