For the first time ever, raw sugar is being smuggled into the country.

Enrique D. Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), yesterday called the attention of the Bureau of Customs regarding the “proliferation of raw sugar in the domestic markets of Cebu”.

In a letter to Alexander M. Arevalo, Officer-in-Charge of the Bureau of Customs, Rojas said, “Mr. Jose Mari M. Miranda, president of the Cebu-based Bogo-Medellin Planters Association which is a member of our Federation, informed us that local sugar traders in Cebu are complaining to him that they can not sell their sugar because the local market is flooded with smuggled raw sugar.”

The Office of the President and of the Sugar Regulatory Administration were furnished a copy of the letter.

In the past, smuggled sugar came in bags in its refined form. Because apparently nothing has been done about the rampant sugar smuggling, the smugglers now have become so brazen as to bring in smuggled sugar in its raw form in container vans.

Sugar producers and even local sugar traders are gravely affected by the cheaper smuggled sugar. Domestically-produced sugar faces unfair competition from smuggled sugar which is sold at a “dump” price which is below its production cost.

“This drives down the price of domestic sugar, to the detriment of the sugar producers who are already suffering from high prices of fuel and farm inputs and the damage to crops from El Niño,” Rojas explained in his letter to Arevalo.

“Sugar smuggling, or any other form of smuggling for that matter, is economic sabotage. It deprives the government of much-needed revenues which can be used to deliver services to our people. It also deprives the farmers of the rightful fruits of their labor and investments,” he emphasized.

It can be recalled that the Sugar Regulatory Administration, in coordination with the Sugar Alliance of the Philippines, has formed the Sugar Anti-Smuggling Organization (SASO) and finances its operations from the sugar industry’s own funds.

However, SASO’s hands are tied because it has no police powers. The Bureau of Customs does not give the necessary mission orders for Customs personnel to accompany SASO personnel in apprehending smuggled sugar and the sugar smugglers, distributors and retailers.

Rojas stated that the very recent swearing in of President Noynoy Aquino brought a feeling of optimism to the sugar industry with the expectation that new president will act and provide solutions to problems facing the industry. He said that now is a very good opportunity for the new administration to show to the Filipinos that it is very serious in its drive to stamp out graft and corruption.

“Under the new administration, the Bureau of Customs, being the lead national agency in regulating the entry of foreign goods, should immediately address the problem of sugar smuggling so that it can show that the Bureau fully supports the anti-corruption drive of President Noynoy Aquino,” Rojas enjoined the Bureau’s OIC.

In response to the letter of Rojas, BoC Officer-in-Charge Arevalo issued yesterday a memorandum, copy furnished Rojas, addressed to the two Deputy Commissioners of the Bureau and to the District Collector of the Port of Cebu to “conduct an investigation, take appropriate action and submit a status report as soon as possible”.//Butch Bacaoco