Sugar shortage ‘artificial’ due to hoarding: Palace claims

Malacañang claimed that the supposed sugar shortage in the country is “artificial” and merely caused by hoarding done by unscrupulous traders.

This after simultaneous operations were conducted by the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the Sugar Regulatory Administration, and the Department of Agriculture to inspect sugar warehouses in Deparo, Caloocan City; Balut in Tondo and San Nicolas in Manila; Rosales, Pangasinan; San Fernando, Pampanga; Ibaan, Batangas, and Davao.

“The huge volume of sugar discovered by Customs agents in the various warehouses in Luzon has led Malacañang to conclude that the sugar shortage is artificial, brought about by the hoarding of sugar traders who wanted to rake-in huge profits from the sudden spike in sugar prices,” the Office of the President (OP) said in a press statement on Monday, Aug. 22.

BOC operatives conducted a raid at a warehouse located at No. 306 Kabatuhan St. along Deparo Road in Caloocan City on Monday.

They also seized the repacking machines which were being used to repack imported rice and sugar to make it appear that these were locally procured by the warehouse owners.

The OP said BOC agents served a letter of authority (LOA) that prompted the raid.

They exercised their visitorial power by forcibly opening the warehouse after the owners and caretakers refused to cooperate with their team.

BOC operatives learned that the warehouse containing the contraband agricultural products is owned by Melissa Chua and Benito Chua. It was not immediately known how the two Chuas are related.

According to the OP, this latest raid is among the efforts of the Marcos administration to step up its campaign against hoarders and profiteers to bring down the price of sugar.

Last week, BOC agents also inspected several warehouses in Luzon following intelligence reports that smuggled sugar and other agricultural products were being kept.

Four warehouses in Guiguinto, Bulacan that were inspected by authorities on Sunday yielded at least 60,000 bags of suspected hoarded sugar.

BOC operatives also visited four warehouses of T12 Polo Land located at Ilang-Ilang St. in Barangay Tabang, Guiguinto, Bulacan on Saturday.

They found imported sugar from Thailand in the warehouses at 50 kilograms per sack. At least two of the warehouses were half-full while one warehouse have sacks of sugar neatly stacked up to the roof.

Previously, Subic Port customs personnel seized 140,000 bags of imported sugar from Thailand equivalent to 7,000 metric tons.