MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros criticized Thursday Malacañang's appointment of Department of Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban as officer-in-charge of the Sugar Regulatory Administration, which she called the "epitome of impunity."
"Instead of demotions or criminal or administrative charges, Panganiban is being provided by Malacañang with a plum new post at the SRA," Hontiveros said in a statement. "What sort of message do we hope to send here to our fellow government employees, to our farmers, to our consumers by rewarding corruption instead of punishing it?"
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Panganiban replaced former SRA administrator David Alba, who resigned in March, citing health reasons.
Alba quit after Hontiveros alleged that 260 20-foot containers of sugar entered the country through what she called "government-sponsored" smuggling. Alba said his resignation was not related to what Hontiveros referred to as "Sugar Fiasco 2.0".
Citing sugar producers and independent sources, Hontiveros said a shipment of sugar said to be imported by All Asian Countertrade Inc. arrived at the Batangas port on February 9.
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.
Hontiveros 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 to support her accusation.
All Asian Countertrade, Sucden Philippines Inc. and Edison Lee Marketing Corp. were identified to be given allocations in an undated memorandum from Panganiban who said he was acting "upon the instructions" of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. through Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.
Panganiban asserted that his actions were aboveboard as he considered Bersamin’s January 13 memorandum to be a "sugar order" to proceed with the importation to address a supply crunch and prevent a spike in prices.
"I acted with haste and interpreted the memorandum issued by the Office of the Executive Secretary as an approval to proceed with the importation," Panganiban said in February.
A month later, Hontiveros alleged that the three sugar traders that Panganiban "favored" earned more than P10 billion in what she called "super profits" by charging industrial sugar users P85 per kilo.
Panganiban also supposedly told at least one industrial user of sugar that they have to negotiate with All Asian Countertrade, Sucden Philippines and Edison Lee Marketing, Hontiveros said.
The Senate Blue Ribbon committee is set to start on Tuesday its investigation into the deal.— Xave Gregorio