Planters group backs plan SRA mulls donating seized sugar to Japan

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — A group of sugar planters here is supporting the plan of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to donate the confiscated smuggled sugar to disaster-hit Japan.

The Binalbagan-Isabela Planters Association (BIPA) has declared its support to the SRA's move to donate the smuggled sugar, which is estimated to be worth P40 million, seized by the Bureau of Customs in Manila last week.

"We support the suggestion of SRA chief Gina Bautista-Martin to ship the sugar as humanitarian aid to Japan where it is needed most," BIPA president Enrique Montilla said.

The BoC seized 37 container vans with suspected smuggled sugar in Manila, and SRA administrator Ma. Regina Bautista Martin said she was mulling the possibility of donating the sugar to Japan, subject to President Aquino's approval.

Of the 37 container vans confiscated by the BoC at the Manila International Container Port, one contained rice and the rest contained sugar illegally brought into the country, Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines, said.

The 36 container vans contained 18,000 bags of refined sugar from Thailand, he said, adding that if the smuggled sugar remains within the Philippines, there is a very strong possibility that it may find its way into the domestic market, Montilla said.

"If the smuggled sugar is auctioned off as 'D' or world market sugar, the sugar might end up back into the hands of the same persons who smuggled it into the country in the first place," he said.

"They will then find ways to sell the sugar into the domestic market. This will depress domestic prices and it will be very disadvantageous to sugar producers," Lamata said.

Sugar smuggling has always been a big headache for the sugar industry, more so when world sugar prices were very low, he added.

Under existing laws, confiscated smuggled sugar are classified as 'D' sugar for export to the world market so that they will not add to the domestic supply and thus distort domestic prices, said Lamata.

However, smugglers working through fronts in connivance with corrupt officials often end up buying back the confiscated sugar at very low prices, thus smuggled sugar still finds its way into the domestic market, he said.

The recent confiscation of the 37 container vans of suspected smuggled sugar was a huge accomplishment for the industry's Sugar Anti-Smuggling Organization (SASO), Lamata said.

Due to this confiscation and the tight watch of the industry, the illicit supply of sugar is now being driven out of the market, Lamata added. (FREEMAN)