It's the House of Representatives' turn to look into the controversial onion price surge on Wednesday, Jan. 25.
This, as the Committee on Agriculture and Food chaired by Quezon 1st district Rep. Mark Enverga will hold a briefing on the topic at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) are expected to attend the House briefing to give the solons an idea on the state of the country's onion industry.
The briefing was originally scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24. However, DA officials had to beg off Monday night after they were "called for an urgent meeting in Malacañang tomorrow (Tuesday)".
The other legislative chamber, the Senate, has already conducted discussions on high onion prices last week.
It should be noted that the Enverga panel will only conduct a "briefing" and not a full-blown inquiry on the matter.
But that doesn't mean congressmen haven't being intending to call for an investigation in aid of legislation on "onion-gate".
House Resolution (HR) No.673, filed by Makabayan bloc Reps. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Party-list), France Castro (ACT-Teachers Party-list), and Raoul Manuel (Kabataan Party-list), urges the agriculture and food panel to immediately conduct such probe on the potential overpricing and price manipulation of onions in the market.
A separate measure, HR No.681, filed Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo, directs the House Committees on Economic Affairs and on Trade and Industry to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the alleged anti-competitive practices and cartel in the onion industry and the sufficiency of the interventions of the Philippine Competition Commission on the matter.
Price of local onions began to surge last month, reaching as high as around P700 a kilo.
Congress (House and Senate) resumed its sessions on Monday, Jan. 23, ending its five-week holiday break.