SENATOR Imee Marcos, on Monday, January 16, 2023, expressed the belief that the soaring retail prices of onions in the country are a result of “poor planning” on the part of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

During the hybrid hearing of the Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform, Marcos pointed out that the shortage of onion supply in the country could have been averted if the DA had made a “timely and well-projected minimal importation.”

She also suspected there seemed to be “a level of treachery and manipulation” on the issue because the retail prices were “inexplicable.”

“The onion prices had taken us on this mad roller coaster ride during the last few months. It is apparent that there is an abject lack of planning on the part of the DA,” Marcos said.

Sen. Nancy Binay expressed the same belief as Marcos as she blamed the proper government agencies for “not considering ordinary farmers’ plight.”

Binay expressed dismay over the “vicious cycle” and problems that onion farmers have been experiencing yearly.

“It seems like we have been hearing the same story every year. We have been conducting several hearings these past few years, whether it’s about the onion, pork, or rice. It seems like the story is repeating itself. The bottom line is that we don’t have a plan for producing our agricultural products,” Binay said as she stressed the importance of cold storage facilities for the farmers to prevent post-harvest gains.

Sen. Raffy Tulfo, for his part, urged officials of DA to support the local onion farmers and to identify areas suitable for onion growing during the hybrid inquiry conducted by the Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform on the exorbitant prices of onion the market.

Tulfo said the DA should stop the importation of onions after local onion growers complained that an oversupply of onions in the market resulted in the loss of their livelihoods.

Tulfo also asked the DA official to identify local traders who hoarded onions and sold them at exorbitant prices during the Christmas season.

During the hearing, a representative from San Jose, Mindoro farmers’ group told senators they were forced to sell onions at a lower price due to the lack of cold storage in their area.

The farmers’ representative said local traders bought onions between P6 to P8 per kilo from them and sold the product at P350 per kilo in Metro Manila in November last year.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Koko Pimentel grilled the DA officials to explain why there was an unmet demand of almost 4,000 metric tons of onions in the country last year despite a reported surplus in 2021.

Pimentel wondered why the DA reported the shortage despite claiming that 11,000 MT of onion were sorted in cold storage facilities, which were part of a total of 53,000MT of supposed supply in 2021.

The DA, who claimed that they are still investigating the “deficiencies” in their 2022 report on onion supply and demand, asked the committee for a week to submit their explanations.

Pimentel said that if there were indeed a “surplus” of onions that year, how come the DA still supported the importation of 29,000 MT of onions in 2022?

Sen. Cynthia Villar said that based on the onion supply and demand data of the DA, there was “no shortage” that could cause a drastic increase in the prices of onions.

She said that even if there was a “deficiency” of more than 2,000 metric tons of onion in 2022, there was a surplus of 53,202 MT in 2021.

“So we could say that we really don’t have a shortage to cause an increase in prices; that is why we’re calling this hearing for the people to be able to explain what is happening. They have to explain to us what is happening in the DA and, of course, in the Bureau of Customs (BOC),” Villar said.

Sen. Grace Poe questioned why the DA could not prepare and come up with the necessary intervention before the prices of onions soared to an unjust cost.

Poe chided the DA during the hearing saying it was “surprising” that the agency suddenly readied a calibrated importation of onions when retail prices already soared to P700 per kilogram.