Senate blue ribbon recommends charges vs. Agri official, 3 ex-SRA execs over sugar 'fiasco'

The Senate blue ribbon committee has recommended administrative and criminal charges against an Agriculture official and three former Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) officials over the controversial Sugar Order No. 4.

Those recommended to face charges before the Office of the Ombudsman were:

• suspended Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian
• former SRA administrator Hermenegildo Serafica
• former Sugar Board member Roland Beltran
• former Sugar Board member Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr.

The report said "preliminary evidence on record" indicate that the four — all signatories to SO 4 —  committed administrative offenses of serious dishonesty, grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, and gross insubordination.

The criminal charges, the committee report said, involve graft and corruption, agricultural smuggling, and usurpation of official functions.

The recommendations were included in the committee report prepared by the blue ribbon committee, the dispositive portion of which was read by General Counsel Gerard Mosquera during Thursday's hearing of the same committee on the alleged overpriced laptops procured by the Department of Education.

GMA News Online has reached out to Sebastian, Serafica and Beltran for their comments regarding the blue ribbon committee's recommendations against them, but they have yet to respond as of posting time.

Remedial legislation

Meanwhile, the committee likewise recommended the following "remedial legislation":

• Amendment of relevant legislation such as Executive Order No. 18 of RA 10659 and related laws to inject transparency and accountability in the process of issuing import permits and other critical issuances;
• Amendment of EO 18 to provide for the expansion of the SRA Board to eight members with the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture continuing to act as ex-officio chairman and the addition of sectors represented such as additional board members to represent the consumers both industrial and household, sugar industry workers, sugar transportation sector workers, and other stakeholders in the success of the sugar industry;
• Amendment of EO 18 to prohibit the delegation of the authority of the SRA Board to reclassify sugar;
• Review and rationalization of the sugar importation policy of the government;
• Full funding for Republic Act No. 10659 or An Act Promoting and Supporting the Competitiveness of the Sugarcane Industry;
• SRA to prepare a sugar importation plan with appropriate safeguards for review of higher authority

According to committee chairman Senator Francis Tolentino, 14 out of 17 members of the panel signed the report with one dissenting opinion.

"The committee secretary is directed to transmit the committee report to the appropriate government agencies for the filing of the proper cases relative to the committee report," Tolentino said.

The committee terminated its investigation on Tuesday after three hearings.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said the minority bloc will file a separate report.

"The minority manifests that we will be filing a separate report," he said.

Asked if Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez will be held liable, Pimentel advised the public to wait for the report.

Meanwhile, Tolentino said there was insufficient evidence to counter Rodriguez’s testimony.

He also urged the public to not speculate as the committee report was "a decision of the greater majority of the members.”

He added the committee report will be presented to the plenary on Monday.

SO 4

Sugar Order No. 4 mandated the importation of 300,000 tons of sugar, a move which Malacañang said was illegal as it did not have the approval and signature of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., who is currently the Agriculture secretary.

The Agriculture secretary is also the Sugar Board's chairperson. 

Sebastian said during the hearings that he signed SO 4 on behalf of Marcos since a July 15 memorandum issued by Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez authorized him to.

Sebastian told the panel that the  memorandum stated "that I will sit as ex-officio chairman or member of all duly constituted administration, committees, councils, boards, bodies where the Secretary of Agriculture is a member." — Joahna Lei Casilao/KBK/AOL, GMA News