"You are killing us!"
Romel Calingasan, a municipal agriculturist in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, made the emotional accusation at officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) for allowing the importation of onions while the harvest season for onions is underway.
Onions are left to rot on the fields or thrown at canals as farmers face financial ruin because their onions are being bought from P6 to P15 a kilos, a sure-fire way to ruin of their investments, Calingasan said during the hybrid hearing by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform chaired by Senator Cynthia A. Villar.
Senators also heard testimonies how traders and importers appear to act like a cartel in buying and storing farmers’ produce only to sell them at a high price during alleged shortages.
They also heard of suicides by some onion farmers in Pangasinan because of financial ruin.
Calingasan emphasized that he is hurt that onions being bought at a pittance in San Jose are now being sold from P500 to P700 per kilo in Metro Manila markets.
A price of P100 per kilo could have saved onion farmers of Occidental Mindoro from financial ruin, he stressed.
Calingasan pointed out that their province, along with other provinces, has the potential of stopping any DA plan to import onions through sufficient local production, he said in an emotion-packed narration of the fate of San Jose farmers.
Villar conceded that state-funded cold storages could have helped the Mindoro farmers.
She also expressed her belief that there is no real shortage of onions even as she led her colleagues in hearing the explanations of officials of the DA and other agencies on the soaring prices of local onions supposedly because of "supply shortage."
Villar said based on the onion supply and demand data of the Department of Agriculture (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 (MT) of onions in 2022, there was a surplus of 53,202 MT in 2021, citing data submitted by the DA itself.
“So we could say that we really don't have a shortage to cause an increase in price, 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,” Villar said.
On the other hand, Senator Nancy Binay blamed the lack of planning on the part of government that resulted in the price increase of onions every year.
Binay expressed dismay over the vicious cycle and problems that onion farmers have been experiencing every year.
“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, we don't have a plan when it comes to producing our agricultural products,” Binay said in Filipino.
Binay also stressed the importance of cold storage facilities for the farmers to prevent post-harvest losses and for efficient post-harvest gains.
Senator Robinhood Padilla, for his part, urged the Villar committee to invite suspected smugglers of onions and other agricultural products to its next hearing.
Padilla said these alleged smugglers have been causing problems to onion farmers in the country.
“I would like to ask, can we invite those names (smugglers) mentioned a while ago to the next hearing, along with the journalist who wrote the article about them, so that he can give a narrative on how he got the names (of the suspected smugglers)?” Padilla said in Filipino.
In response, Villar said the committee has been investigating this problem since the time of Senate President Vicente ‘’Tito’’ C. Sotto and that the same names popped out as early as 2014, when the Senate conducted a similar investigation on the matter.