By Gabriela Baron
Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday, March 22, urged the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to blacklist the importers of smuggled sugar in the country.
In a statement, Hontiveros said the importers should be blacklisted “so that the government will not be repeatedly forced to deal with the disposal of their illegal supplies.”
The senator’s statement came after Marcos allowed seized smuggled refined sugar to be handed over to the Department of Agriculture to be sold at Kadiwa Stores.
According to Hontiveros, the country’s annual consumption of sugar is at 2.2 million metric tons.
“If the sugar to be sold at Kadiwa stores are meant to be consumed by the poorest 30 percent of the population, then we need at least 300,000 metric tons of sugar to ensure that the supplies for sale will not just be for publicity purposes,” Hontiveros said.
She said the administration “should start with immediately confiscating the sugar stocks illegally imported into the country” by some importers.
Hontiveros also said the smuggled sugar supplies should be sold at regular profit rates of P61 per kilogram and not P70.
“The stocks are already smuggled, and yet these are to be sold at jacked up profits? Somebody is really intent on profiting from this situation,” the senator said. -ag
