Senator Imee Marcos: “Huwag niyong niloloko ang ading ko”
SENATOR IMEE MARCOS — The senator urged President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to reshuffle the top officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In a statement, the senator said that the “unauthorized and fraudulent” use of the Office of the President to justify the importation of sugar is proof that “smugglers are lording it over at the Department of Agriculture”.
She urged the President to reshuffle the top officials of the Department of Agriculture and to “dismantle criminal syndicates within the government”.
“An immediate reshuffle of the DA’s highest officials is urgent, pending an investigation, to dismantle criminal syndicates within the government,” the senator said in a statement.
GMA News Online reported that Senator Imee, citing information from local sugar producers, said that sugar prices have increased to more than PHP 100 per kilo because imports were being cornered by leading manufacturers of sugared products, in connivance with officials at the Department of Agriculture.
Based on the report, the senator said that local sugar producers also informed her office that sugar milling was being made 2 weeks ahead in order to make more locally-produced sugar available to retailers by the end of the month.
READ ALSO: Senator Imee Marcos Wants PBBM To Name Those Involved In Agri Smuggling During SONA 2022
The statement came after Malacanang said that an investigation is ongoing on the issuance of the Sugar Order No. 4, which supposedly ordered the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar on top of what had been imported in May 2022.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said that the authorization to import was “illegal”, adding that the order appeared to have been signed by Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian.
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