BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Four former officials of the Department of Agriculture and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) are in hot water, after the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommended the filing of charges before the Ombudsman, for their alleged involvement in the sugar importation fiasco.
Chaired by Senator Francis Tolentino, the committee said in its 75-page committee report that the preliminary evidence on record indicated that suspended Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, resigned SRA chief Hermenegildo Serafica, and former SRA board members Rolando Beltran and Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr. had committed administrative offenses of serious dishonesty, grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, and gross insubordination.
The committee recommended the filing of one count each of violation of Sec. 3A of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; one count each of violation of the provisions of Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act; and one count each of usurpation of official functions, against the four former officials.
The inquiry was triggered by the privilege speech of Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri regarding Sugar Order Number 4, which was described by Malacañang as illegal, as it was not approved by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the chair of the Sugar Board sitting as the DA Secretary.
S04 was supposed to authorize the entry of 300,000 MT of sugar into the country.
Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez, a resource person in the Blue Ribbon inquiry, thanked the panel members for their swift action on the unauthorized issuance of SO 4 and moving for the filing of charges against those responsible for the illegal act.
“We thank the Blue Ribbon Committee members for their swift investigation which left no stone unturned. Rest assured that the committee recommendations will be taken to heart by the concerned agencies under the DA,” Rodriguez said.
Tolentino terminated the proceedings on Tuesday after three hearings, as suggested by Zubiri.
The report was signed by 14 out of 17 members of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee with one dissenting opinion, according to Tolentino.* with PNA reports
