“These apparent crises of food supply and other issues are beginning to be an acid test for the President on how he will meet the challenges in his first 100 days of office.”
The botched importation of 300,000 metric tons of refined and brown sugar by the Sugar Regulatory Administration is rightfully called a mess.
Unless clarified by President Marcos and Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez, it is confusing, Santa Banana!
First of all, is there really a sugar shortage?
It would seem so because the prices of sugar in the market are increasing, and manufacturers of sweet beverages and confectionery are already complaining because of the reported lack of sugar.
Thus, it is very clear, my gulay, that there is a sugar shortage.
But, is there really a shortage of sugar? Warehouses in Bulacan have been raided and found to be hoarding imported sugar.
But, it would seem that despite those sacks of refined sugar found in the warehouses, as far as President Marcos is concerned, together with the shareholders of sugar, there is a shortage of sugar, which makes it all the more confusing, so much so that the President is concerned there is a need to import it.
My gulay, he has just authorized the importation of 150,000 metric tons of sugar.
All this confusion on whether there is a shortage of sugar or not, in my view, stresses the urgent need for the President and ES Rodriguez to clarify the real situation.
I have been asked by friends and readers of my column what is really the situation of sugar.
Is there a shortage or not? And more importantly, I have been asked what really happened to that botched importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar.
In the case of the SRA botched sugar importation, was it authorized to import that amount of 300,000 metric tons of sugar?
If not, how can the board members of the SRA, including resigned Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, be stupid to issue SRA 4 to import 300,000 metric tons of sugar?
If indeed the SRA is not authorized to import sugar, why did the President accept the resignations of Sebastian, who sat on the board in place of the President, and also other members of the SRA, including its administrator?
Santa Banana, it is not only confusing but a real mess. Now, the President wants to revamp the SRA. Why?
The apparent shortage of sugar must be clarified considering that it is already harvest time for sugar producers and farmers, and soon the milling season for millers.
That’s the reason why the President must be clear to the people about the real situation of sugar, whether there is or not a real shortage.
Or, are the middle men hoarding the sugar in warehouses? The distributors of sugar must know the real score.
If the middle men of sugar are hoarding they must be exposed and held accountable for the current shortage, if only to clear up the whole mess.
• • •
These apparent crises of food supply and other issues are beginning to be an acid test for the President on how he will meet the challenges in his first 100 days of office.
Certainly, BBM was well aware of them; foremost is his will to deal with the high prices of food.
But, President Marcos must also be aware of side issues like that one coming up in the House of Representatives in connection with the recent merger of tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan’s MediaQuest TV-5 and the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN.
Some partylist members of the House have raised questions about the merger where ABS-CBN bought 36 percent of shares from TV-5.
Following this merger, business groups have commended it as something good for the public in the wake of GMA-7’s dominance as the result of the failure of Congress in granting ABS-CBN a renewal of its franchise for another 25 years.
Some representatives have in fact proposed an investigation of the merger because it could be violative of the TV-5 network franchise.
In a privilege speech of Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, some members of the House raised questions on the Lopez-owned network that led to the non-renewal of the ABS-CBN network and whether or not there should be an investigation on the merger since there are questions about it.
Marcoleta, for instance, raised the question whether or not the merger would be in violation of the fact that the Lopez-owned network still owed, according to Marcoleta’s calculations, the government P1.5 trillion in unpaid taxes because of uncollected permits for digital broadcast, and illegally sold millions of pay-for-view devices with the National Telecommunications Commission’s approval.
ABS-CBN was also accused of encrypting its signal and contents without NTC approval.
Marcoleta also accused ABS-CBN network of violating its foreign-owned Philippine Deposit Receipts in violation of the Constitution requiring 100 percent Filipino mass media ownership and management.
Marcoleta said that these issues should be brought to the legislative franchise committee.
The fact that ABS-CBN no longer has a franchise has raised the question whether or not ABS-CBN can merge with TV-5.
All these questions raised by Marcoleta could be a big issue affecting the press.
• • •
It is well that the issue of whether or not the mandatory age of retirement of both the government and private sector has been raised.
In my opinion, the mandatory age of 60 to 65 is both unfair to senior citizens and impractical since senior citizen employees can still be very productive.
In fact, people at that age are more productive than in their younger years. There are now so many senior citizens going jobless.
Congress must take another look at this mandatory retirement age because it has raised the issue of so many jobless seniors.
• • •
During the height of the campaign before May 9, 2022 elections, when BBM continued to lead over all the presidential candidates and seen by all to be a runaway winner, I said that if he (Marcos) becomes President, he must realize the multi-fold challenges he will face, like high prices, the need for more jobs, low wages, the looming food crisis and the looming energy crisis insofar as the home front is concerned.
On the foreign front, I am certain that BBM must have realized the gravity of the frequent intrusion of China on the West Philippine Sea and the Exclusive Economic Zone and how he will have to deal with it.
Perhaps that was the reason why BBM emphasized that “I will not preside over any process that will abandon even one square inch of territory of the Republic of the Philippines to any foreign power.”
Well, Santa Banana, all these things are coming to pass and soon enough they will come. All I am saying is that the first 100 days of Marcos have been so far so good!