(File photo) MANILA - The move to import around 450,000 metric tons of sugar by the Department of Agriculture (DA) is aimed at managing inflation and building a buffer stock that will adequately meet the country's sugar requirements, a senior Agriculture official said on Wednesday. In a press briefing at Malacanan Palace, DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said they acted on the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to immediately address inflation due to supply issues. "In response to the directive of the President to address inflation and create a buffer stock and given that sugar as one of the components of most commodities that drives the consistently high inflation rate, I acted with haste and interpreted the memorandum issued by the Office of the Executive Secretary as an approval to proceed with the importation," Panganiban told the members of the Malacanang Press Corps. "With the urgency of the situation, I instructed three capable and accre
There were no irregularities in the government’s importation of some 450,000 metric tons of sugar before the Sugar Regulatory Administration issued Sugar Order No. 6, Malacañang officials clarified yesterday.