Sugar industry says import plan by SRA risks contempt of court

THE United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) said on Friday that it will seek to prosecute officials for contempt if they implement the proposed Sugar Order (SO) No. 4, which calls for the import of 350,000 metric tons (MT) of raw and refined sugar.

UNIFED President Manuel R. Lamata in a statement said that the group will as the courts to declare Sugar Regulatory Administrator Hermenegildo R. Serafica in contempt if he signs the order.

“The moment Administrator Serafica signs and makes that draft SO No. 4 official, we will haul him to court… for contempt and seek his arrest” for acting on a matter currently being decided by the Regional Trial Courts seeking a freeze on SO No. 3, Mr. Lamata said.

The draft SO No. 4 calls for imports of 250,000 MT of refined sugar, of which 150,000 MT is to be premium grade or bottlers’ grade refined sugar. The remaining 100,000 MT will consist of raw sugar.

Estimated raw sugar production for crop year 2021-2022 was projected to drop further to 1.98 million MT from 2.07 million MT, according to the SRA.

“Sugar milling is slowly winding down… mill site prices of raw sugar have also gone up,” according to the draft order.

Mr. Lamata called the draft order “similar and in a bigger volume than the previous order that caused the filing of our case against him and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) last February.”

In February, the Sagay City and Himamaylan City Regional Trial Courts issued separate preliminary injunctions against the import of 200,000 MT as called for by SO No. 3.

“I will personally bring sugar for Mr. Serafica’s coffee in his jail cell when that happens. This proposed SO No. 4 is a slap in the face of the two regional trial courts here that issued rulings to halt any import program pending a final resolution to the cases that have been deemed to cause damage to the sugar industry,” Mr. Lamata said.

“The order is tantamount to a midnight deal that will obviously greatly benefit the industrial users, particularly the bottling companies. This proposed import program is clearly favoring a particular sector and that is what we are against. Notwithstanding the pending cases in our courts, the draft proposal is a clear indication that Administrator Serafica will go to any lengths to defy court orders just to accommodate the bottling companies,” he added.

The SRA was asked to comment on the UNIFED statement but had not replied at the deadline. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson