MANILA - The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability and Committee on Agriculture and Food will conduct a joint motu proprio inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the unauthorized signing of a sugar importation order to import 300,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar. This development came after the panels approved House minority leader Marcelino Libanan's motion to convert the briefing into a full-blown congressional probe to determine culpability on the controversial issuance of the resolution without the approval of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. "I would like to file a motion that the committees act on this motu proprio so that we can continue investigation on this matter on Thursday, especially on this Sugar Order (SO) No. 4 and related testimonies and investigation to determine what really happened and who has culpability, if any, on this issue," Libanan said. Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano pointed out that members of the panels coul
MANILA - Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) board member Roland Beltran, one of the four signatories of the supposed resolution for the importation of 300,000 metric tons of additional sugar, resigned amid the investigation on the controversial Sugar Order (SO) No. 4. In his resignation letter to Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez, dated Aug. 14, 2022, Beltran said his move was "without prejudice to any investigation." "May I respectfully tender my resignation as a member of the Sugar Board of the Sugar Regulatory Administration, due to health reasons. This is without prejudice to any investigation that may be conducted in connection with the issuance of Sugar Order (SO) No. 4," he said. In the same letter, the millers' representative also expressed the withdrawal of his "conditional vote," considering what he called the "non-compliance" of the provisions of laws and regulations of the SRA, pertaining to SO 4. Beltran, however, clarified th
LAWMAKERS moved to transform the briefing on the unauthorized issuance of the Sugar Regulatory Board’s Resolution No. 4 to be turned into a full-blown investigation. In a motion during a briefing between the House of Representatives and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan asked the House Committee on…