Sugar, spice and everything nice

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is on a “trailblazing” path. This was how Senator Francis “Tol” Tolentino described the latest innovations, adopted under his leadership, of the powerful Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. A lawyer also by profession, Sen. Tolentino vowed “to give real essence to due process” in the conduct of public hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee in adopting these drastic changes in its proceedings.

This is the mission set by Tolentino for the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations, or more popularly called for short as the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. Except the Senate president, the Blue Ribbon is the only committee composed of almost the entire 24 Senators.

For the first time in the 106 years of the Philippine Senate, Tolentino touted during our Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum last Wednesday, the Blue Ribbon has adopted “trailblazing” changes in its parliamentary inquiry procedures. Upon his assumption as its chairman, Tolentino cited as example the first Committee Report of the Blue Ribbon under his stewardship. Specifically, he referred to the Senate probe into the controversial Special Order (SO) No. 4 of the Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA) Board that allowed the import of some 300,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar.

However, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) subsequently rescinded SO No. 4 upon learning its issuance without his prior approval. As the concurrent Agriculture Secretary, the President sits as the presiding chairman of the SRA Board. In a privilege speech, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri condemned the issuance of SO No. 4 last Aug. 9 in the middle of the harvest season amid a reported shortage of sugar in domestic markets. The matter was immediately referred to the Blue Ribbon Committee for “inquiry in aid of legislation.”

After three hearings that started last Aug. 23, Tolentino produced the Blue Ribbon Committee Report of its findings and recommendations signed by 14 out of the 17 Senators. In this Committee Report, Tolentino recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against several former officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the SRA.

Likewise, Tolentino noted, as first time ever in the history of the Blue Ribbon Committee, having the dispositive portion of the 75-page report on SO No. 4 read out by the panel’s general counsel.

The Committee Report declared there was enough preliminary evidence indicating that former DA undersecretary and concurrent officer-in-charge (OIC) Leocadio Sebastian, former SRA administrator Hermenegildo Serafica, and board members Roland Beltran and Aurelio Valderrama Jr. have committed grave administrative offenses. The panel also recommended to the Office of the Ombudsman to file criminal cases against them for violations of Republic Act (RA) 3019, or the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act; one count of a violation on the provision of RA 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016; and one count of usurpation of functions defined and penalized under Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code.

Also in this Committee Report recommendations, Tolentino added, is a need for a clear mandate and definite limit to the tenure and powers of an OIC.

However, the same Committee Report effectively cleared Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez of any wrongdoing over the fiasco. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Sen. Risa Hontiveros refused to sign it and sought for more accountability from Rodriguez aside from the former DA and SRA officials implicated whom they fear might just be “fall guys.”

In the middle of these investigations, PBBM accepted the resignations of Sebastian and the entire SRA Board. The Chief Executive quickly appointed their respective replacements. It took Rodriguez until Sept. 17 to resign and later PBBM appointed retired Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin as his new Executive Secretary.

After so much hullaballoo, PBBM eventually approved on Sept. 14 the SRA recommendations to import 150,000 M/T of refined sugar under SRO No. 2 to augment crop year 2022-2023.

Less than two months after the Blue Ribbon Committee winded down its probe into the SO No. 4, the Bureau of Customs just last Monday foiled smuggling attempt of P228 million worth of refined sugar imported from Thailand. Seized from 76 containers, the shipment arrived on Sept. 24 and contained “mis-declared and undeclared” items. The sacks of sugar were seized after the consignee failed to present an import clearance from the SRA.

Obviously the smugglers were still undeterred, if not undaunted.

On the contrary, Tolentino argued, the Bureau of Customs detected and foiled the latest smuggling attempt. He would like to believe this was because they were able to unravel the smuggling schemes as brought out during the Blue Ribbon Committee public hearings on SO No. 4.

If that is so, is the sugar import scandal revolving around SO No. 4 now considered case closed? As the chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Tolentino expressed his readiness to reopen their probe if any Senators would file a new Resolution to look into this latest sugar smuggling attempt not covered under SO No. 4.

Anyway, before the sessions of the 19th Congress adjourned last Sept. 30, Tolentino cited, the majority report of the Blue Ribbon Committee on the SO No. 4 is still being debated at the floor. When both chambers go back to sessions on Nov. 7, the plenary debate on the Committee Report will resume at the Senate floor, he pointed out. Only after that, it will be voted upon by the plenary whether to adopt or reject the findings and recommendations of the Committee Report.

Yesterday, the SRA Board has allowed importation of refined sugar under SO No. 3 in the past crop year to come in until end of the month to further augment supply of the sweetener. SO3 was implemented last February, which called for a sugar importation program of 200,000 M/T of refined sugar.

So it is sugar, spice and everything nice from here on?