Sugar arrivals between Nov. 16, 2022 and Feb. 28, 2023 are deemed smuggled – photo from DA Inspectorate & Enforcement
Malacañang would do well to retail the sugar brought into Batangas piers. Its Kadiwa rolling stores for poor consumers would be the best outlets. That will bring down sweetener prices.
Customs is holding 6,500 tons of Thai refined sugar unloaded from three ships last Feb. 9. The 130,000 50-kilo sacks are worth P650 million. Such volume and amount are enough to stabilize inflationary rates that worry President Marcos Jr.
The sugar can be sold through Kadiwa at P50 a kilo, half the prevailing market rate. Motoring daily into different poor communities, the stores can limit the sale to a kilo or two per buyer. Indigents will have ample stocks.
The processed sweetener is safe for home use and agricultural biosecurity. It’s not like raw seafood, chicken, pork, vegetables and fruits that may contain toxins, E. coli, pests and disease. Thailand usually supplies Philippine sugar shortfalls. Plant industry and health officials can check for sanitary/phytosanitary packaging, shipping and storage.
The sugar arrived Feb. 9 in 260 cargo containers without the usual Sugar Regulatory Administration permits. The last shipments under SRA Sugar Order No. 2, of Sep. 13, 2022, should have arrived by last Nov. 15. New arrivals under SRA Sugar Order No. 6, of Feb. 15, 2023, should start only Mar. 1.
Customs need not go through tedious auction procedures. Marcos Jr. has authority to quicken the process. If auctioned, traders would bid low then resell high for profit. By retailing direct to consumers at half the shipment value, government is assured of P325 million income.
The sugar landing at Port of Batangas was first broadcast Feb. 13 on Ted Failon’s top-rating radio-TV show. Entry was then being facilitated through Customs “super green lane” for long-time importers.
That same day Agriculture Asst. Sec. James Layug requested newly appointed Customs chief Bienvenido Rubio for an “alert order and joint 100-percent inspection.” A warrant of seizure and detention was issued, Customs Deputy Commissioner Vener Baquiran said. Shipment consignee is All Asian Countertrade Inc., of sugar trader Michael Escaler.
The following week Senator Risa Hontiveros denounced the landing as “government-sponsored smuggling.” Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban had authorized it as far back as Jan. 13, she revealed.
Malacañang would do well to retail the sugar brought into Batangas piers. Its Kadiwa rolling stores for poor consumers would be the best outlets. That will bring down sweetener prices.
Customs is holding 6,500 tons of Thai refined sugar unloaded from three ships last Feb. 9. The 130,000 50-kilo sacks are worth P650 million. Such volume and amount are enough to stabilize inflationary rates that worry President Marcos Jr.
The sugar can be sold through Kadiwa at P50 a kilo, half the prevailing market rate. Motoring daily into different poor communities, the stores can limit the sale to a kilo or two per buyer. Indigents will have ample stocks.
The processed sweetener is safe for home use and agricultural biosecurity. It’s not like raw seafood, chicken, pork, vegetables and fruits that may contain toxins, E. coli, pests and disease. Thailand usually supplies Philippine sugar shortfalls. Plant industry and health officials can check for sanitary/phytosanitary packaging, shipping and storage.
The sugar arrived Feb. 9 in 260 cargo containers without the usual Sugar Regulatory Administration permits. The last shipments under SRA Sugar Order No. 2, of Sep. 13, 2022, should have arrived by last Nov. 15. New arrivals under SRA Sugar Order No. 6, of Feb. 15, 2023, should start only Mar. 1.
Customs need not go through tedious auction procedures. Marcos Jr. has authority to quicken the process. If auctioned, traders would bid low then resell high for profit. By retailing direct to consumers at half the shipment value, government is assured of P325 million income.
The sugar landing at Port of Batangas was first broadcast Feb. 13 on Ted Failon’s top-rating radio-TV show. Entry was then being facilitated through Customs “super green lane” for long-time importers.
That same day Agriculture Asst. Sec. James Layug requested newly appointed Customs chief Bienvenido Rubio for an “alert order and joint 100-percent inspection.” A warrant of seizure and detention was issued, Customs Deputy Commissioner Vener Baquiran said. Shipment consignee is All Asian Countertrade Inc., of sugar trader Michael Escaler.
The following week Senator Risa Hontiveros denounced the landing as “government-sponsored smuggling.” Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban had authorized it as far back as Jan. 13, she revealed.
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