The noise coming from this controversy rocking the Marcos administration has been increasing for those concerned because they understand the conundrum of Marcos that he can’t afford to be embroiled in corruption scandals.
The opposition’s ace-in-the-hole card is always the corruption issues which hounded the first Marcos administration. The tense should probably be changed to hounding, because the same issues are being brought up to this day.
At the heart of this controversy is overlooked details such as who took it upon himself to post a copy of Sugar Order No. 4 on the SRA website? There is also the matter of news getting out that Marcos approved the importation of 300,000 mt of sugar, which was taken back the same day the leak was made. Mind you, the leak came from the Department of Agriculture itself.
Then came the sudden announcement of the resignation of Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, which was announced by the Press Secretary on Facebook Live at 9 pm. Isn’t it a bit strange that the mouthpiece of the Marcos administration, uses a non-conventional platform to announce such important news given that she previously stated in a Malacanan briefing that an investigation was being conducted as to who authorized Sebastian to sign Sugar Order No. 4, for and in behalf of the President, who is the Chairman of the SRA?
The most interesting twist in the controversy was the release of a memorandum dated July 15, 2022 from the Executive Secretary to Leocadio Sebastian detailing his duties and responsiblities as Undersecretary for Operations and Chief of Staff at the Department of Agriculture, which the President heads in a concurrent capacity.
Then there’s also the release of communication by email between Sebastian and the Office of the Executive Secretary forwarding the draft of Sugar Order No. 4 for the review of the ES and the President on August 5 and the accompanying recommendations of the SRA board, which is composed of the President, Sebastian, the SRA administrator and two other board members of the SRA, one of whom resigned yesterday for “health reasons.”
Given that the DA has been involved in several controversies during the last year of the Duterte administration about agricultural commodities smuggling, it doen’t do well for the President to be caught in controversy because of the probable inimical acts of officials in his inner circle.
There was already the issue of Christopher Pastrana as PPA Chairman prior to his inauguration. This was made worse by Pastrana taking his oath of office before the President, only for his appointment to be withdrawn later after the apppointment of Jaime Bautista as DOTr Secretary.
It doesn’t augur well for the administration to be seen by the public as being dazed and confused at a time when it has admitted that there is a crisis in the agricultural sector.
The sugar cartel is one of the oldest operating in the country. It’s composed mostly of the biggest landowners of plantations which are planted to sugarcane and the biggest millers. The cartel has been known to smuggle sugar illegally and re-bag them to make it appear that they are locally-produced refined sugar.
During my time in international trading, I used to buy black tiger prawns from Danaqua, Danish Aquatic Resources Corporation, a subsidiary of the Elizalde Group of Companies, which used to own Central Azucarera de Pilar in Roxas, Capiz. I dealt with their Vice-President for Marketing, who was also in-charge of sugar sales and he taught me a lot about the sugar trade.
I also often saw members of the sugar cartel having lunch at any of the restaurants in and around Greenbelt. They were often in the company of Joe Zubiri and his brother.
Based on the chronology of events, according to the dates of the documents which have been made public, it would appear that something went wrong and someone or a group, washed their hands off the mess they got themselves into.
But what needs to be explained is who instructed Sebastian to sign for and in behalf of the President? I don’t think Sebastian would take it upon himself even if he was covered by the July 15 memorandum from the Executive Secretary.
That is one of the things when you’re in government. Never do anything unless you have prior authorization from your immediate superior and you never sign for and in his or her behalf.
If it has been authorized, you place the digital signature and affix your initials at the end of the signature line to attest to its authenticity if you’re the Chief of Staff.
There is more than meets the eye in this controversy. Sabotage can’t be discounted. Marcos fanatics interpet questioning these actions as detrimental to Marcos but if they think that the opposition is done with Marcos, they’re dead wrong.
What this exposes is the weakness of Marcos’ inner circle at Malacanan.
Not to demean his qualifications, the resume of designated Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez comes up woefully short compared to his illustrious predecessors. Rodriguez was among the first Cabinet nominees named by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. following the latter’s victory during the May 9, 2022 elections.
Rodriguez was barangay captain of Sacred Heart in Quezon City for 10 years before becoming special assistant to the chief of the Business Permits and Licensing Office in 2002 under then-Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. He later became the officer-in-charge of the city’s Community Relations Office.
The profile of Rodriguez rose when he became one of the lawyers cum spokesperson of ex-Sen. Marcos. This was after the young Marcos ran in the May 2016 elections for Vice President but lost to then Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo. While Marcos contested the victory of Robredo before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), Rodriguez lost the Marcos protest to much brilliant election lawyer Romulo Macalintal. Marichu Villanueva Philippine Star
It doesn’t augur well for Marcos either if he has to handle his communications on his own. It’s good that Marcos has adjusted to vlogging since 2016, which helped a lot in his campaign for the Presidency. But he can’t do everything on his own because there are more pressing matters requiring his attention as President.
As I said in a previous piece, it’s not only about getting the best and the brightest but also those who are qualified on the basis of experience. In this case, the PCOO was abolished and replaced with Office of the Press Secretary, which has neither been here or there insofar as Presidential Communications is concerned. I was looking forward to an improvement in communications under the Marcos administration seeing as how it was screwed up under Andanar in the Duterte administration but it has gone from bad to worst.
The President should nip these issues in the bud as it only gives the opposition ammunition to use against him. Marcos is not Rodrigo Duterte and as he plans to attend the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on September and meet with President Biden, he needs to have an Executive Secretary who can run the show while he is away.
As far as communications goes, he needs a professional as a Press Secretary. Someone in the league of Rod Reyes or Dong Puno who understands what news arcs are and how they should be controlled.
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