Marcos approves onion importation

by Bella Cariaso ManilaTimes.net

In

27, 2023.

"President Marcos and Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban already talked, and the President approved the importation of 21,060 metric tons," Estoperez said.

He said the volume of the importation was reduced because of concerns from farmers that the imported onions will flood the market.

The Chief Executive agreed on the allocation of the imported bulbs — 50 percent or 10,530 MT will go to Luzon and 25 percent or 5,265 MT each will be allocated to the Visayas and Mindanao.

"We will make sure to be more strict in the entry of the imported onions," Estoperez said.

Based on monitoring by the DA, he added, the farmgate prices of onions ranged from P280 to P300 per kilo.

A memorandum on the onion importation was signed on Jan. 6, 2023, but was only made public on Jan. 10, 2023.

In his memorandum, Panganiban defended the importation, saying it is necessary to stabilize retail prices in the market.

"Prices should be substantially lower than the SRP (suggested retail price) set by the DA after the arrival of the imported onions," he said.

Based on the memorandum, of the total 21,060 MT of onion import, 3,960 MT will be white onions and 17,100 MT will be red onions.

Panganiban said the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPIC) will only be until Friday, Jan. 13, 2023.

"The imported, fresh onions should only be stored in an accredited cold storage facility as indicated in the approved SPIC. No transfer to a new cold storage warehouse should be allowed," he added.

"Fresh yellow (white) onion and fresh red onion should be properly sorted in separate rooms," Panganiban said.

In an interview with The Manila Times on Monday, January 9, farmers group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura President Rosendo So opposed the government's decision to import onions, saying the DA should be blamed for the spike in prices after it did not approve a proposal of Sinag to import onions in November 2022, when traders would have been unable to take advantage of the bulb shortage.

So said only the traders will now benefit from the importation of onions.

"It is still the traders who will handle the importation. What they will do is to hoard their stocks at cold storage facilities. If the purpose of the DA is to bring down the farmgate prices, the losers here are the farmers," he added.

Based on DA monitoring on Tuesday, January 10, the retail prices of onions in the various markets in Metro Manila were between P420 and P600 per kilo.

The prices of the bulbs ranged from P420 to P500 per kilo at Muñoz Market in Quezon City, but were sold at as high as P600 per kilo at the New Las Piñas City Public Market in Las Piñas City.

Other prevailing prices of the bulbs were P500 to P550 per kilo at Guadalupe Public Market in Makati City, San Andres Market in Manila, Pasay City Market in Pasay City and Malabon Central Market in Malabon City.

At Pritil Market also in Manila, the prevailing price was P500 per kilo; Marikina Public Market in Marikina City, P500 to P600 per kilo; Pasig City Mega Market in Pasig City, P480 to P500 per kilo; Commonwealth Market in Quezon City, P480 to P580 per kilo; and Mega Q-Market also in Quezon City, P450 to P500 per kilo.

The President also on Tuesday

Marcos, who also sits as the country's Agriculture chief, issued the directive during his first Cabinet meeting this year in Malacañang.

"The problem with the onions we've been trying... since kasi ang dami nating nahahanap na smuggled onions, pinipilit kong ilabas diyan sa market (we find a lot of smuggled onions, I'm trying to get them out there in the market) [and] unfortunately, we do not know the source of these onions. So they all have to be inspected. Hindi puwedeng random (It can't be random)," he told his Cabinet officials.

The President raised the need to tap third-party inspectors to conduct the phytosanitary inspection to check for transboundary diseases.

Marcos said some of the confiscated onions were not fit for human consumption based on previous inspections, as he pointed out that the cost of inspection is 5,000 per kilo, which is much higher than the value of the onion.

"So 'yun lang ang quandary natin (that's our quandary). We are trying to negotiate with third parties to do the inspection. But right now we are still reviewing all of that," the President said.

In an earlier interview, Marcos said the government is finding ways to release the seized onions to the market so that the supply would increase and prices would go down.

"We will stick firmly to the recommended price. The DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) will continue to monitor," Marcos had said.

The price of the agricultural commodity skyrocketed to over P700 per kilo, with authorities blaming unscrupulous traders and hoarders for the high prices.

Setback Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel 3rd also on Tuesday said he is opposed to the importation of onions, adding it will mean a major setback to Filipino farmers.

"The move could negatively affect the income and business of local farmers who are about to harvest locally-produced onions," Pimentel also said in a statement.

The DA, he added, should no longer import onions.

"There is no need to import onions since it's harvest season already. There is always a time lag. If we authorize the importation now, the actual importation will happen maybe weeks or months later. That will coincide with the availability of locally produced onions," Pimentel noted.

"It looks like we allowed the hoarders, the illegal importers, and the price fixers to profit from the peak season of Christmas," he said.

"Now, we will bite into the trap and if we now agree with the importation of onions, we will now be affecting the local farmers."

Pimentel questioned why it took DA so long to decide to import when it could have done it during the off-season to manage the prices of onions.

The senator urged the government and the private sector to go after those behind hoarding and price-fixing.

"If we could boycott the purchase of these imported onions or minimize our consumption, let's do it," Pimentel said.

He urged the DA to go after hoarders and price fixers to prevent market manipulation of agricultural products.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian also on Tuesday called for the