Millers group backs Sugar Order 4, says controversy may be due to 'misunderstanding'

The Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA) has thrown its support behind Sugar Order 4 (SO 4), which was supposed to allow importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar, saying its non-implementation could only be due to "ministerial misunderstanding."

PSMA President Pablo Lobregat said SO 4 was necessary, given that SO 3, which was issued in February and would have allowed the importation of 200,000 metric tons of sugar, was stopped by Negros Occidental courts.

"If Sugar Order number 3 was realized, the rise in sugar prices wouldn't be astronomic. But it was not to be. Sugar Order 4 should have provided compensation for that additional requirement," Lobregat said during a hearing on the SO 4 jointly conducted by the House Committee on Good Government and Accountability and the House Committee on Agriculture and Food.

"I don't think it is a matter of whether there is a lack of sugar but a matter of ministerial misunderstanding between the SRA (Sugar Regulatory Administration), the DA (Department of Agriculture) and the President [Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.]," he added.

Lobregat was responding to the query on what is PSMA's position on SO 4, which Malacañang called illegal as it was not signed and approved by Marcos, who as the current DA chief is also the SRA chairman.

Lobregat, however, maintained that the SO 4 would have been beneficial to both sugar producers and consumers.

"SO 4's inclusion [in our policy] will bring down prices to acceptable levels," he said. "We do not want high prices because it will encourage smuggling."

He noted that the "requirement for imported sugar is there, just look at the prices."

Latest data from the  DA show that prices of refined sugar were recorded at P100.00 per kilogram, washed sugar at P75.00 per kilogram, and brown sugar at P70.00 per kilogram in Metro Manila as of August 12, 2022.

During the House hearing, Lobregat said importation is not tantamount to a money-making scheme.

"Those insinuations that this (importation) will be used in making money, bribery, I do not think individuals and industries... will do that because these are well known companies whose corporate governance prohibits such [practices]," he said.

President Marcos earlier said that the country might import smaller amount of sugar by October.  —KBK, GMA News