By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. has appointed three new officials for the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the issuance of Sugar Order No. 4 (SO4).

Marcos appointed David John Thaddeus Alba as the SRA’s acting administrator over the weekend, replacing Hermenegildo Serafica who had earlier resigned.

Also appointed by Marcos as SRA board members were Pablo Luis Azcona, who will be representing sugar planters, and Ma. Mitzi Mangwag, who will be representing the millers.

The appointments took effect over the weekend.

Earlier, Serafica and several high-level members of the SRA resigned after they previously signed SO4 which would later be deemed by Malacañang as “illegal.”
Alba was previously the general manager of the Asociación de Agricultores de La Carlota y Pontevedra Inc., and the La Carlota Mill District Multi-Purpose Cooperative./DGB, WDJ