NEGROS Occidental 3rd District Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez has denied that the Congressional hearing on sugar prices triggered sugar price rollback, emphasizing that the decline was caused by excessive supply due to over-importation and policy decisions. Benitez held a high-level public consultation over the declining price of sugar in Talisay City last January, which was attended by other lawmakers, officials, and sugar industry groups. In a privilege speech on Wednesday, Benitez described the allegations as "baseless and irresponsible," noting that the accusations came from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA). “Rather than answer for the oversupply it authorized, the SRA would rather point the finger at the institution that chose to investigate it,” Benitez said. The neophyte lawmaker cited data showing that at the start of the 2025 milling season, the total physical sugar inventory reached 902,082 metric tons, or a 44-percent increase from the previous year, while carry-over stocks stood at 738,633 metric tons, nearly double the ideal buffer level. These conditions, Benitez said, reflected an excessive supply already in the market due to over-importation. He also cited SRA's Sugar Order No. 8, which authorized the importation of 424,000 metric tons of refined sugar scheduled to arrive between July and November 2025, coinciding with the opening of domestic milling. Benitez said that the timing and volume of imports contributed to the sharp drop in farm-gate prices, which fell to between P2,000 and P2,200 per 50-kilo bag by January 2026, below production costs. “All of this happened before any hearing was announced,” he said, adding that commodity prices respond to actual market conditions, not congressional inquiries. The neophyte lawmaker emphasized that traders stopped purchasing because warehouses were full, not because of new information during the hearing. He further said the hearings helped build the basis for the Department of Agriculture’s extension of the sugar import ban through December 2026, describing the moratorium as vital protection for local producers.