(Eagle News) — Malacanang said that inspection of various warehouses in the country will continue as authorities investigate if there is hoarding of sugar supplies to create an “artificial sugar crisis.”
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said that authorities from the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) will continue the inspection of warehouses using the “exercise of visitorial powers.”
“Tuloy pa rin ang inspection sa mga warehouses ng asukal … para malaman ang tunay na estado at dami ng asukal sa merkado at sa mga warehouses tungo sa pag-resolba ng tila artipisyal na krisis sa asukal,” Angeles said.
The Palace spokesperson said that there were “simultaneous operations” being conducted on Friday in the following areas in the country: Deparo, Caloocan; Balut, Tondo and San Nicolas in Manila; Rosales, Pangasinan; San Fernando, Pampanga; Ibaan, Batangas; and Davao.
-Questionable documents presented by some warehouses-
Angeles said that there were some warehouses which presented questionable documents.
She said that the continuing inspections of warehouses is proof that the Marcos administration is serious in its campaign to clean the syndicate of hoarding and illegal importation of sugar in the country.
“So tuloy-tuloy pa rin ang mga operasyon natin at nagpapatunay ito, sabi ni Executive Secretary, na seryoso ang kampanya natin, para malinis sindikato ng hoarding at illegal importation ng asukal,” Angeles said.
A day before, on Thursday, August 18, joint operatives of the BOC, DTI, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the SRA inspected warehouses in Pampanga and Bulacan which were found to have some 44,000 sacks of imported sugar worth around P220 million.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., has vowed to address the various problems hounding not only the sugar industry, but the agriculture sector.
The Palace has described as “illegal” the issuance of the SRA Sugar Order No. 4 that directed the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar without the approval of Marcos Jr., who is serving also as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture.
Marcos maintained that there are enough sugar supplies from previous importation.
He is however amenable to importing 150,000 MT of sugar by October if supplies would not be enough by that time.
SRA officials who signed the controversial importation order have already resigned after Malacanang learned of its issuance through the SRA’s website. The post had since been taken down.
(Eagle News Service)
