The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has amended several rules to authorize the donation of confiscated smuggled sugar to Kadiwa stores and allow its sale to the general public.
SRA Board Member Pablo Azcona said the agency’s governing body, the SRA Board, held a regular meeting on Tuesday to discuss issues concerning the industry.
“Another thing that was urgently taken up was amendments to some of the memorandum circulars of the SRA that will involve the seized sugar. How to treat the seized sugar because, in the SRA, the treatment is either for sale through bidding or destruction,” Azcona told reporters in a Zoom interview on Wednesday.
“We now amended it to allow donations to Kadiwa as well as the sale of these by Kadiwa,” he said.
The SRA Board Member said that a total of 4,000 metric tons of seized smuggled refined sugar is ready to be released for sale at Kadiwa stores, where it will be sold for P70 per kilo.
In March, the Palace announced that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the sale of the 4,000 metric tons of confiscated sugar at Kadiwa stores.
The Department of Agriculture had planned to begin the sale of sequestered contraband sugar this month.
Azcona, however, said the sale of the confiscated sugar was “a bit delayed” as it has not yet undergone testing to determine if it is fit for human consumption.
However, he promised that the SRA and DA would speed up the process so that the sale could start.
The Kadiwa center is a program of the DA that aims to provide the public with affordable goods.
Apart from sugar, the DA is also considering selling other smuggled commodities like rice and vegetables at Kadiwa stores. —VBL, GMA Integrated News
