BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) is being urged by sugar planters to initiate seizure proceedings on the 260 20-foot containers carrying approximately 5,000 metric tons (MT) of refined sugar that arrived at the Batangas Port a week before the SRA approved on Feb. 15 Sugar Order (SO) No. 6, which allowed the importation of 440,000 MT of the agricultural commodity.
The Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations (CONFED), headed by Aurelio Valderrama, Jr., the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), headed by Enrique Rojas, and the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (PanayFed), led by Danilo Abelita, urged the SRA to hasten its action against the illegal importation of sugar.
The Bureau of Customs in Batangas Port flagged the shipment for lack of SRA-issued import allocation, and, according to the three sugar groups, the sugar must be monitored closely and dealt with per existing laws and applicable regulations.
“This case of smuggled sugar represents a clear threat to the Philippine sugar industry because it opens the door for sugar imports in violation of established procedures and guidelines under existing laws, rules, regulations and regulatory issues,” they pointed out.
The groups said the shipment constitutes “large-scale agricultural smuggling” and is tantamount to economic sabotage under Republic Act (RA) 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
The said importation is not covered by allocations granted under either SO3 or the new SO6, and its withdrawal or release would violate the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (SIDA), the sugar groups added.
“It is incumbent upon SRA to file a criminal case for large-scale agricultural smuggling against the importer/s for violation of RA 10845 and confiscate or forfeit the illegally imported refined sugar, under applicable provisions of the Tariff and Customs Code, or intervene in seizure proceedings with the Bureau of Customs,” they stated.
They also cautioned SRA to refrain from issuing a classification on the said imported refined sugar or, if already issued without authority from the Sugar Board, to withdraw or recall the same.
They added that, if left uncorrected, it would encourage further abuse of discretion and the granting of undue advantage to favored individuals or businesses./PN
