Photos of subsidized sugar bearing label with president’s initials raises unsavory questions

The Department of Agriculture’s Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) recently began retailing sugar sold at lower-than-market prices, as it had earlier announced that it would, but the way the subsidized stable good is being released is raising a lot of questions. 

The sugar is currently being sold from the SRA office for PHP70 (US$1.19) a kilogram — significantly lower than the current market price of PHP100 (US$1.70). which have skyrocketed recently due to shortages that have led some vendors to stop selling the sweetener altogether. 

Photos of the sugar’s packaging showed that the bags bore the label ‘BBM Sugar’, which is of course a reference to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, leading some netizens to question whether the subsidized good was being used for the president’s political gain. 

“Is he still running for elections? I don’t understand,” one comment read.

“The elections are over. Why does the sugar need a label?” another said.

Other commenters resorted to snark.

“Congratulations on the new business, BBM,” one quipped.

“Is this a result of that ‘creative communications’ position?” another retorted, referring to director Paul Soriano’s recent appointment as a presidential adviser on creative communications.

Some users argued that the labels violated section 18 of the 2022 General Appropriations Act, which prohibits the attachment of the name, image, and likeness of public officials on government projects.

Other users had problems with the sugar’s PHP70 price, which some argued was still more expensive than the staple good’s price last year, which was around PHP40 to PHP50.

“I hope the price returns to the old one. Sugar used to cost just PHP40, now it’s hard to rise up as nothing is left of our wages. Everything has gotten more expensive, no matter how much we tighten our belts nothing works because expenses are higher than what we earn,” one commenter wrote.

“PHP70 is not cheap for me, I wish they would bring back the old price of PHP50 in our province for one kilo,” another wrote.