Court initiates ‘indirect contempt’ vs. SRA Administrator Serafica

A Himamaylan Regional Trial Court judge has initiated indirect contempt proceedings against Sugar Regulatory Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica for issuing a memorandum allowing the implementation of Sugar Order No. 3 despite an earlier injunction against it while a case is pending in court.

David John Thaddeus Alba, intervenor in the case and representing the Association de Agricoltores de la Carlota y Pontevedra, Inc. and the La Carlota Mill District Multi-Purpose Cooperative, expressed gratitude to the court for the move.

“We are thankful to the court for hearing the plea of our 13,000 sugar farmer members who have been greatly affected by the orders issued by Serafica without proper consultation. Serafica’s memo to continue implementing SO 3 outside of Region 6 despite our pending petition against it is a slap to our courts of law,” Alba said in a statement.

“His actions simply prove our point that he is bent to accommodate the industrial users, particularly the bottling industries, to the detriment of the entire sugar industry and even the general public. We continue to reiterate our call that while we are not against sugar importation per se, this decision must be done with proper consultation and must ensure that it will not only serve and benefit the few, but the entire country,” he added.*