By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) was urged by sugar planters groups to initiate seizure proceedings on the estimated 5,000 metric tons of refined sugar that arrived at Batangas Port prior to the issuance of the sugar order (SO).

Aurelio Valderrama, Jr. of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Association (CONFED), Enrique Rojas of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), and Danilo Abelita of the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (PanayFed) asked the SRA to hasten its action against the alleged illegal importation of sugar.

The Bureau of Customs flagged the sugar shipment for lack of issued import allocation from the SRA.

The importation must be monitored closely in accordance with existing regulations and laws, they said.

“This represents a clear threat to the sugar industry, because it opens the door to sugar imports, in violation of the procedures and guidelines,” they added.

The sugar groups said that if left uncorrected, it will encourage further abuse of discretion and the granting of undue advantage to favored individuals or businesses.

It constitutes “large-scale agricultural smuggling” and is equivalent to economic sabotage under Republic Act 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, they stated.

The shipment violates SO6, while its withdrawal or release violates the Sugarcane Industry Development Act, because it is not covered by allocations granted under either SO3 or SO6, according to the planters groups.

They also warned the SRA from issuing classification of imported refined sugar or to withdraw or recall the same.

The groups hope that the Lower House of Congress and Senate will conduct an appropriate investigation into the sugar importation issue, the same investigation exhibited last year on the aborted SO4./DGB, WDJ