Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief David John Thaddeus Alba has resigned because of health issues, Malacañang announced on Friday.
Alba’s resignation will take effect on April 15 to prepare the appointment of his successor, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said in a statement.
The PCO said Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin had tried to dissuade Alba from resigning during their meeting on Wednesday, March 22, but the SRA chief “reasoned his worsening health condition.”
SRA board member Pablo Luis Azcona said in a separate media interview that Alba is suffering from high blood pressure.
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Alba’s looming exit from the SRA comes amid questions surrounding the importation of 440,000 metric tons of refined sugar, which, according to opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros, would be delivered by three handpicked companies.
“This is not just a state-sponsored formation of a cartel. It is not a state monopoly a la NASUTRA (National Sugar Trading Corporation) of old that purported to generate public revenues, for those would then be plowed back in favor of the sugar industry. It is a cartel that generates super profits, none of which will go to the National Treasury,” Hontiveros said at a press conference on Tuesday, March 21.
Alba was chosen to lead the SRA last August after Hermenegildo Serafica resigned in the wake of the controversy surrounding Sugar Order 4, which was issued by the SRA without the express consent of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who serves as chairman of the sugar board and concurrent secretary of the Department of Agriculture.
