While the Marcos Jr. administration is scrambling for the supply of sugar and the price is skyrocketing because of the alleged shortfall in the local production of sugar, several tons of imported (or smuggled?) sugar or 60,000 bags of sugar were seized on Aug. 20, 2022 by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in a warehouse in Barangay Tabang, Guiguinto, Bulacan. These seized bags of sugar had been imported from Thailand.Meanwhile, the BOC blocked the entry of 7,021 metric tons of white refined sugar from Thailand that were loaded on mv Bangkaew at the Subic Port. The BOC also took custody of the ship and its 19 crew members; the agency uncovered that the import permit had been used for an earlier sugar shipment.It was revealed after the initial investigation by the BOC that the consignee of the allegedly smuggled sugar is Oro-Agritrade Inc. under the account of ARC Refreshments Corp. (Entry Nos. C-12513 and C-12521). Acting Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz said the 7,021 metric tons of Thailand white refined sugar is equivalent to 140,000 bags with total tax payment valued at P45,623,007.51.The three officials of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) have already resigned after the controversial issuance of Sugar Order (SO) 4 that according to Malacañang could have supported the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar. They are Leocadio Sebastian, Department of Agriculture undersecretary; lawyer Rolando Beltran, a miller’s representative; and Herminigildo Serafica, the last to tender his resignation.However, SRA board member Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr., President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s appointee, is keeping his post until the President would ask him to leave. Valderrama said the issuance of S0 4 was based on facts and proper consultations. He said the proposed sugar importation was based on SRA’s official data and supply/demand analysis and the prevailing high market prices, which established a clear basis for additional imports.Any imported goods that come into the country without the necessary import permit is technically smuggled. Hence, the BOC officials are not yet off the hook on the entry of these tons of refined sugar that allegedly used the “recycled import permits” issued in February per Order No. 3 after the President scrapped SO 4.Malacañang’s spokesperson Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said heads would roll at the BOC if evidence would show that any of the bureau’s port personnel were in cahoots with smugglers using the recycled sugar import permits. She added that at least one of the warehouses inspected in Bulacan and Pampanga was not registered with the SRA.A businessman in the know about sugar importation told me that the seizure of the ship that loaded the 7,021 metric tons or 140,000 bags of white refined sugar could only be a decoy to the law enforcement agencies, or the BOC. The biggest bulk of the shipment of imported sugar could have already been unloaded in the other port in the country.Malacañang described the shipment of imported sugar using recycled import permits as economic sabotage.Are we to understand that there is ample supply of sugar in the country and that the alleged shortfall of sugar supply is only artificial spread by the saboteurs so that the SRA could authorize the importation of sugar from other countries.On the other hand, the lawmakers have started the investigation for the alleged “disregard” of protocols in the issuance of the SO 4 by the former officials of the SRA. My wish is that this would not be another drama and at the end of the day, those involved in the smuggling of sugar would just go scot-free.