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BY RANIE AZUE
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Saturday. September 30, 2017
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BACOLOD City – The newly-appointed head of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), Hermenegildo Serafica, assured all sugar industry stakeholders that he has no intention to water down or scrap Sugar Order No. 3.
Sugar Order No. 3 regulates the issuance of clearances to import High Fructose Corn Syrup, which caused a drop in domestic sugar prices.
Serafica, who was a member of the SRA policy-making body, stressed that he is “very supportive” of the order.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed Serafica’s appointment in the SRA on Sept. 26, the same day former SRA administrator Anna Rosario Paner broke her silence regarding the corruption issue that caused her alleged removal in the sugar agency.
Paner said she did not gain anything from hiring three consultants, which the SRA needed to create a Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan to help farmers and sugar industry workers during disasters.
Paner clarified that the President did not fire him, but that she resigned instead.
Duterte signed her resignation on Sept. 25.
Paner also said that the President was “misinformed” about what is going on in the SRA.
The former SRA head said that from the start, Agriculture secretary Emmanuel Piñol was rooting for Serafica to be the sugar agency’s administrator.
A day after Paner gave her statement, Piñol said she should just “shut up.”
Piñol said Paner must understand that presidential appointees “should just get out and keep quiet.”
Serafica, on the other hand, refused to comment on Paner’s allegations against him.
“We should all just move on,” Serafica said.
Serafica was with Piñol when the latter met with sugar industry stakeholders in the province this week./PN
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