1С Битрикс - SQL напрямую к базе

$letter = [];

        $sQuery = '';
        $sQuery .= 'SELECT DISTINCT ';
        $sQuery .= 'UPPER(LEFT(LTRIM(NAME), 1)) AS LETTER ';
        //$sQuery .= 'UPPER(NAME) AS LETTER ';
        $sQuery .= 'FROM b_iblock_element BE ';
        $sQuery .= 'WHERE BE.IBLOCK_ID = '.CONTENT_BREND_IB_ID.' AND BE.ACTIVE = "Y" AND BE.WF_STATUS_ID = 1 AND BE.WF_PARENT_ELEMENT_ID IS NULL';
        $sQuery .= ' ORDER BY LETTER ASC ';
        $rsItems = $GLOBALS['DB']->Query($sQuery, false, __LINE__);
        while($arItem = $rsItems->GetNext(false, false)) {
            $letter[] = $arItem['LETTER'];
        }