By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
The head of a labor group in Negros Occidental said that the former officials of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) should be reinstated to their posts after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. cleared them of any wrongdoings with regards to the issuance of Sugar Order No. 4 (SO4).
Wennie Sancho, General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA) secretary-general, said former SRA officials — administrator Hermenegildo Serafica, and board members Roland Beltran and Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama, Jr. — and former Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian should be reinstated to their previous posts.
Sancho pointed out that the matter should have been discussed thoroughly first before they were accused, pointing out that the controversy surrounding SO4 disgraced the four former officials.
Aside from GAWA, the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) and Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (Panayfed) also supported the four officials, especially Valderrama, saying that their actions were in “good faith and honesty.”
Justice has been served and it was proven that there was no bad faith, malice, misconduct, nor dishonesty committed by the four officials in the issuance of SO4, the two groups said.
On Friday, January 6, Valderrama told Watchmen Daily Journal in a statement that the dismissal of the charges against him and the others involved in SO4 is a “vindication that he has always prayed for and believed in.”
He also called on the SRA and the Department of Agriculture to take the lead in bringing the country’s sugar industry back to its rightful place.
Last year, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against the signatories of the controversial SO4.
The SO4 would have mandated the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar.
The order was later deemed “illegal” by Malacañang as it was not approved by Marcos.
Both Serafica and Beltran later resigned from their posts, with Beltran stating that his resignation was due to “health reasons.”/DGB, WDJ