Committee Report 25, which discusses the high price of onions, has been sponsored in the Senate plenary.
In his sponsorship speech, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform Chairman Senator Cynthia Villar said that in October 2022 the price of onions started to kick up and reached P750 per kilo in December.
The hearing also revealed that onions sold for P700 to P750 pesos per kilo were bought from farmers in Occidental Mindoro for P8 to P15 per kilo in April 2022.
While farmers in Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija said that their farmgate in December 2022 would be P200 to P250.
“The farmers of Occidental Mindoro said that the traders in Occidental Mindoro bought onions from farmers for only 8 to 15 pesos. Ang masakit dito, Mr. President, ang binili sa kanila ng otso hanggang kinse pesos ay inimbak ng mga traders sa cold storage, at saka inilabas nung nagkaroon na ng shortage at mataas na ang presyo. Kung maaalala nyo, Mr. President, noong March to April 2022, harvest season, nabalitaan natin na nabubulok na lang sa kalsada ang mga sibuyas dahil sa sobrang baba ng presyo sa farmgate. Pagdating ng December, biglang ang presyo ay 750 pesos na,” said Villar.
Senate sponsors probe on high onion prices
She also said in the hearing that traders use cold storage facilities.
“The investigation was presented with conflicting data, nothing definitive and nothing authoritative, not even from the PSA. This is not only unique to the onion industry but characteristic of the agricultural sector, which has paved the way for the unbridled importation of agricultural products, creating havoc on the agricultural sector. The absence of official data has allowed the free-wheeling extrapolation of figures, but not for the purpose of presenting the true picture of the agricultural sector but to justify the desired volume of importation and to intellectually provide basis for the overall discredited policy of liberalized importation of agricultural products,” added Villar.
The committee’s recommendations include the formation of an “Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Task Force” that will focus on the entire agricultural sector.
To support this, a Special Court or Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Court will be appointed to try economic sabotage cases, and there will also be a Special Team of Prosecutors.
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