Memo from ES allowed me to sign SO 4 —Sebastian

A memorandum Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez issued on July 15 authorized then Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian to sign documents for the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the latter's functions as secretary of agriculture, the resigned executive told a House panel on Monday.

Sebastian was the executive who signed for Marcos the controversial Sugar Order No. 4 which provided for the importation of an additional 300,000 metric tons, an order which Malacañang promptly dismissed as "illegal."

House members questioned Sebastian why he was rather bold in signing SO 4 for the Marcos when he did not have an explicit approval from the Chief Executive who also sat as the chairman of the Sugar Regulatory Board.

"I signed for the Secretary of Agriculture based on the authority given to me in a July 15 memorandum by the Executive Secretary," Sebastian said during the inquiry conducted jointly by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, and Agriculture and Food.

"The Secretary is ex-officio chair of the SRA (Sugar Regulatory Administration) and I therefore participated in good faith in the board referenda of SRA. As a member of the SRA board, I signed it," he added.

Sebastian then said that the July 15 memorandum stated "that I will sit as ex officio chairman or member of all duly constituted administration, committees, councils, boards, bodies where the Secretary of Agriculture is a member."

Antipolo Representative Romeo Acop said, "I do not see it as an explicit authority given to you by the President."

GMA News Online has sought comment from Rodriguez but has yet to receive any as of posting time.

Sought for Malacañang's side, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said, "No comment or reaction."

Sebastian cited other provisions of the July 15 memo which supposedly provided that his actions were above board unless rebuffed by the President and outlined his other functions namely "signs contracts, memorandum of agreement, issuance, instruments, administrative and financial documents necessary to carry the department's objectives, policy, functions, plans, programs and projects for the efficient operation of the Department of Agriculture."

"There is another provision, Mr. Chair, that at the end, all my actions are considered valid unless reprobated or disapproved by the President," Sebastian said.

"That is why when the President disapproved of it, I gave my resignation as delicadeza and to spare the President of any issues that may arise because of SO 4," he added.

Misread feedback

Sebastian said that he might have "misread" the feedback he got from his meetings with Marcos, Rodriguez, and other sugar agency officials.

He added that the urgency of the need for sugar gave him the impression that Marcos favored SO 4.

"The urgency of the situation and my interaction with the President during the August 1 meeting... feedback from meeting with SRA administrator Serafica with the President, Executive Secretary, board member Valderrama on August 4 wherein they came out with a sugar importation program transmitted to the President, that gave me the inclination, the feeling that there is urgency in this matter, that we need to act as soon as possible," Sebastian said.

"I also expressed to my memo to the President on August 5 that the Sugar Board will meet as soon as possible to decide on that Sugar Order 4," he added. 

"That is why I said might have misread the intention of the President when I pushed through with deciding on the matter based on the authorization given to me last July 15, 2022," Sebastian said.

Ex-Sugar Regulatory Administration administrator Hermenegildo Serafica, who also resigned from his post after the Palace announced that Marcos did not authorize SO 4, said, "There are just 127,000 metric tons of sugar  imported under Sugar Order 3."

"We will be running out of sugar because the SO 3 were all for industrial companies, it cannot be sold to the domestic market," Serafica said.

"I consulted with Undersecretary Sebastian, [and] I was given instruction to proceed," he added.

Quezon Representative Jayjay Suarez, however, insisted that the sugar agency executives acted on their own.

"Kayo kayo lang ang nakakaalam, e (You are the only ones behind it)," Suarez said. —NB, GMA News