Sugar millers admitted that the proposed 300,000 metric tons of sugar that were targeted for importation came from their proposal amid the allegations of complicity between them and the Sugar Regulatory Administration in drafting the illegal Sugar Order 4.

Philippine Sugar Millers Association Incorporated President Pablo Lobregat, on questioning of Senator Risa Hontiveros in a public hearing on Tuesday, recalled stakeholders were consulted by the SRA before the issuance of SO 4.

"I do not remember exactly or we do not know because of what the other consulted party said but I remember the PSMA did recommend 300,000 (metric tons) and I think I heard earlier that most stakeholders that were consulted more or less gave the same figure but not too far from there," according to the businessman.

A sugar planter said, "a fish is caught by its mouth". The possible collusion exists with big sugar users such as bottlers since what was sought is the importation of raw sugar.

"They import raw sugar at very cheap prices. When brown sugar is refined, millers again earn. When sugar is sold to bottlers, they generate income again," according to a planter.

Moreover, he termed hoarding and smuggling as "symptoms" of a supply deficit.

Lobregat, likewise, said in the recommendation for SO 4, the PSMA relied "on data that is coming from SRA."

"There is a production bulletin, we also consult our members for example, throughout the year, at the beginning of the year, in the middle of the year, for example, we ask our planters the number of 50 kilo bags that they can get in a hectare," Lobregat said.

He added that during typhoon "Odette," the rainfall in sugar planting provinces was unabated.

"These are things that go into our recommendation and you can actually foresee early on if you are really going to get a good crop or a better crop or a bad crop and we are hoping that the weather would dry up towards the end and we did not see any improvement" he added.

SO 4 delayed imports

The importation process has been delayed by the SO 4 scandal, according to the PSMA leader.