I hope everyone had a meaningful, simple yet sensible Christmas Day celebration in keeping with the President's message to the nation. I trust that your Noche Buena salo-salo and reunion with loved ones went well. So, I wish your New Year's Day to be as good or even better.
For a gourmet with a sweet tooth like me, Christmastime is synonymous with a generous serving of treats, regardless if these have become more expensive. After all, the retail price of white sugar remains elevated. It hovered between P95 and P110 per kilo in Metro Manila public markets in November, based on a Sugar Regulatory Authority's monitoring report. In supermarkets, the price went as low as P70 to a high of P115 a kilo.
The commodity's unstable price is questionable because the country is still at the peak of harvest and milling season. Even more confounding is the government's decision to import another 64,000 metric tons of sugar. Obviously, the imported 150,000 metric tons in October did not lead to price stabilization at all.
Minimum access volume
Local producers and farmers have appealed to President Marcos Jr., who also sits as agriculture secretary, to reconsider the memorandum order. They contend that given the current high sugar inventory coupled with lower 'millgate' prices, our country has an adequate supply of sugar. Thus, the importation through Minimum Access Volume or MAV is unwarranted.
What exactly is MAV? I sent a message to Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban requesting him to explain in layman's terms what the mechanism is all about. This is for the benefit of my Facebook and YouTube followers. He never got back to me.
Under the Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996, MAV refers to the volume of a specific agricultural product (ex. rice, sugar, pork, chicken meat, corn, live cattle) that may be imported with a lower tariff.
This is the country's commitment to the World Trade Organization.
The WTO, meanwhile, said importers of MAV products must secure a license for their volume allocation before importation. The MAV license is only valid for one year and is non-transferable. Those eligible for license application in the first year of MAV mechanism implementation are importers of regularly or significantly imported products, as well as users/sellers of irregularly or scarcely imported products. The agriculture department also prescribes subsequent year eligibility requirements for subscribed and undersubscribed products.
Bittersweet reality
I understand that the MAV administration on sugar should fall under SRA's jurisdiction. But is the importation order signed by Undersecretary Panganiban still subject to SRA's rules and regulations?
The previous administration, to my knowledge, only issued importation measures through a Sugar Order signed by the SRA administrator. Eligible importers were required to register as international sugar traders under SRA.
The bigger question is whether the importation would result in stable market pricing. The rationale for sugar importation is to protect the competing interests of both the producers and consumers.
However, it seems traders engaged in hoarding, profiteering, and smuggling stand to gain the most from it. From what I know, syndicates and cartels have been in cahoots with corrupt government officers for years. For instance, criminals can commit technical smuggling by transporting contraband into the country through fraudulent import permits or sugar orders. These economic saboteurs involved in large-scale agricultural smuggling should face charges of violating the Anti-Smuggling Act of 2016.
I pray that PBBM listens to the plea of our domestic producers and farmers. I also hope he can weed out the illegal traders, corrupt civil servants, and other criminal elements within his department.
For the time being, let us partake of goodies and confections in moderation during the holidays. But we must remember that unscrupulous elements have taken advantage of us, consumers, and other stakeholders for the longest time. May those with criminal intent get their just desserts soon.
