A shipment of sugar from Thailand arrived in the country a week before the SRA approved the importation of 440,000 MT of the agricultural commodity, Sen. Risa Hontiveros bared, describing that incident as “government-sponsored smuggling.”
During the briefing, Hontiveros said documents showed that All Asian Countertrade Inc. was the registered consignee of the shipment, contained in 260 units of 20-foot shipping containers aboard three vessels.
Hontiveros said the arrival of the imported sugar was apparently connected with a draft and undated memorandum supposedly issued by Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban directing the SRA to present a sugar importation plan. “Why am I belaboring these dates and timelines? Because it seems that there are people who are jumping the gun,” the senator said.
“Is the letter allegedly signed by Panganiban authentic? I hope not. If it were genuine, top officials of the DA and Malacañang, who are both the right-hand men of the President, should clarify many things,” she said. In December last year, President Marcos, who concurrently sits as Agriculture Secretary, ordered expediting the entry of 64,050 MT of refined sugar through the MAV to address high sugar prices.
He added: “This importer has the courage to bring in imported sugar even before Sugar Order No. 6 was released. The importer seems to have advance information on the signing of the sugar order, and this importer seems certain that he will receive an allocation from the importation under Sugar Order No. 6.”
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