Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) head David Alba on Tuesday said he would recommend to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to allow the sale of 4 million kilograms of seized refined sugar at Kadiwa stores.
Alba was referring to the 80,000 50-kilogram bags of smuggled sugar intercepted by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) at the Batangas port last week.
The shipment, ferried by MV Sunward from Thailand, had an estimated value of P261 million or about P65 per kilogram.
Alba said he would make a representation to Marcos, who is concurrently the agriculture secretary and chair of the SRA board, to have the seized sugar sold through Kadiwa so that the public “can enjoy refined sugar at a lower cost.”
The SRA administrator also thanked the BOC enforcement unit and its commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz for their “vigilance that led to the seizure of the smuggled sugar.”
Alba warned traders who are reportedly in cahoots with smugglers that “the full force of the law” will go after them.
Last week, the BOC announced the vessel containing the illegal sugar shipments arrived in the country’s “contiguous zone without a Notice of Arrival as prescribed by existing customs laws, rules, and regulations.”
The shipments did not also have the necessary import permit from the SRA.
BOC-Port of Batangas District Collector Ma. Rhea M. Gregorio issued a Warrant of Seizure and Detention in violation of Section 117 and Section 1113 (k), (f), and (l) of the CMTA in relation to the Department of Agriculture-Sugar Regulatory Administration and Bureau of Plant Industry rules and regulations and RA 10845, also known as the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 and Food Safety Act of 2013, according to BOC.
“The Port has remained on guard pursuant to the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and [Customs Commissioner] Yogi Filemon Ruiz to curb agricultural smuggling,” it said.
Under the existing rules and regulations between the BOC and SRA, all smuggled sugar is within the jurisdiction of the SRA. No smuggled sugar can be released to the market without prior clearance and food safety testing by the SRA.