An onion industry stakeholder revealed to congressmen Tuesday, Feb. 14 an alleged "modus" which allows the Department of Agriculture (DA) to arbitrarily issue import permits for onions, much to the detriment of Filipino farmers.
Bonena Multipurpose Cooperative Chairman Israel Reguyal made the revelation during the continuation of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food's inquiry on the reported hoarding of agricultural products in the country.
The main purpose of the House panel probe is to find out the chief reason for the skyrocketing of pricess of goods like onions and garlic.
"Ganito po ang nangyayari para po magkaintindi na rin tayo... ang isang modus po na mabigat dito, ganito...kapag panahon po ng bilihan sa storage , ang gagawin po niya, bibilhin niya po lahat ng laman ng nasa storage (So there we're all on the same page, here's what's happening...there's this big modus...when it's time to buy the contents of storage facilities, they will buy everything that inside the storages)," Reguyal said, referring to onions that are kept in storage.
At that time, Reguyal was being interpellated by House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan.
One such buyer of onions is Lilia "Leah" Cruz,, a self-professed agri-preneur who has been controversial in the hearings so far. Reguyal and Cruz attended the House panel inquiry as resource persons.
"Ano po ang dahilan nun, bakit niya po binibIli?...kapagkapo nabili niya na po yung mga sibuyas ng farmers...wala napong magrereklamo na--'Oh papaano, mag-iimport na tayo kasi wala nang sibuyas ang farmers (The reason why she's buying them? Once all the farmers' onions are bought, they will no longer complain--'Oh look, the farmers don't have onions anymore, we're going to import)," Reguyal claimed.
"Kasi wala na pong kikibo eh, kasi nga nabili na kaming lahat eh (Nobody will say a thing, since all of our onions have been bought)," he noted.
Reguyal continued: "Pag nabili na po ang lahat ng sibuyas, heto na po yung Department of Agriculture, magpapalabas na po ng import permit, doon po kami patay. Kaya po ito'y napakabigat sa amin (Once all onions have been bought, here comes the Department of Agriculture, they will release an import permit, which in turn kills us. That's why it's such a huge burden on us)."
He futhered claimed that the modus he shared to the solons was "common knowledge" in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro.
Realizing that something was amiss, Libanan asked Reguyal: "Pwede po bang sabihin kung sino ang kakuntsaba niya sa Department of Agriculture? (Can you identify who are the accomplices within the Department of Agriculture?)"
"Pwede naman po siguro (That could be done) your honor," the resource person replied. "Pero hihingi po ako ng executive session para po sana mapangalanan ko lahat, para magkaintindihan tayong lahat dito. Marami po akong alam na nangyayari (But I would need to ask for an executive session so that I can name them all, so that we're all on the same page. I know a lot of goings on)."
To this, Libanan said: "Mr. Chairman, I move that we conduct an executive session so that the wtness can tell this committee on what is really happening in the state of garlic and onion in our country. Napaka-importante po nito (This is very important)."
Panel chairman, Quezon 1st district Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga carried Libanan's motion shortly. The proceedings were continued under an executive session, which is closed to the public and media.
Before this, Reguyal accused Cruz of ripping him off on an onion deal some 10 years ago.
"Eh siya po yung lumugi sa akin ng malaki eh. Hindi niya po ako binayaran eh. Pero itinatanggi niya po iyon (She ripped me off with a huge amount. She didn't pay me. But she will deny that)," he said.
Reguyal admitted that Cruz had offered to buy his onions in 2012 at the higher price of P15 per kilo, as opposed to the normal price of P8 to 12 per kilo. He said their that year was "smooth sailing" as Cruz paid for all the onions he delivered.
But in 2013, Reguyal claimed that Cruz only paid for 15,000 out of 80,000 bags of onions that he gave her.