Quezon 1st district Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga (left) and Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo (Contributed photo)

Two ranking House members who had significant participation in the onion price surge inquiry want President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to continue holding the reins as concurrent Department of Agriculture (DA) chief.

This, after Quezon 1st district Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga and Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo saw the value of the Chief Executive's stewardship in tackling long-time problems of the agency.

"I would prefer still...the President, to stay as [DA] secretary," Enverga said in a press conference Thursday, May 18 when asked if he thought it was time for Marcos to appoint a full-time DA chief.

Enverga chairs the House Committee on Agriculture and Food, which for the past three months has been holding marathon hearing on the agricultural hoarding issues that's believed to be linked to the onion price spike in late 2022.

"Malaking bagay po kasi ngayon, these are problems na hindi lang naman lang ngayon nangyayari. Matagal naman na po itong mga problema. Ngayong lang natin nauungkat at nakikita yung mga weaknesses ng agency (That's an important factor because these problems aren't new. These are old problems. It is only now that we're uncovering them and seeing the weaknesses of the agency.)," he noted.

If anything, he said that the DA needs "step up their game" in updating Marcos with the proper data.

"With this issue, I think, because of the lack of data, nami-misinform at ating Pangulo dito (our President is being misinformed). We hope our people in DA will step up their game also na dapat proactive sila na ina-update ng tama ang ating Pangulo (they should be proactive in properly updating our President).

"So it’s just a matter of that. So if we put in the reforms, tatakbo tayo ng mas maganda (this will begin to run better)," Enverga said.

Quimbo, who was also at the Thursday presser, agreed with the panel chairman.

"Itong cartel na ito, alam naman natin na matagal na matagal na talaga itong problemang ito. At kung ngayon lang talaga natin finally, kahit paano nakita na natin yung tip of the ice berg (We know that this cartel has been around for a long, long time. And only now are we getting to finally see the tip of the ice berg)," she said.

"Ako feeling ko ngayong lang talaga natin nalagyan ng handle itong problem na ito. Hindi tayo aabot sa ganitong punto kung hindi dahil sa suporta ng President through Speaker Martin [Romualdez] (I feel that it's only now that we're able to get a handle on this problem. We wouldn't have reached this point if not for the support of the President through the Speaker Martin)," she said.

Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the Committee on Appropriations, narrated how insistent Romualdez was in reaching a resolution on the onion probe, which has resulted in nine individual hearings.

"It was really because of Speaker’s constant words of encouragement. Sa dami ng pinirmahan ni Speaker na subpoena, talagang he was always there to tell us to just keep on going (Through all the subpoenas that he signed, he was really always there to tell us to just keep on going)."

Last week, several House of Representatives members pleaded for Marcos to name a full-time DA secretary as a way to unburden himself from his many duties. This call coincided with the end of the one-year appointment ban on the May 2022 election candidates.

Enverga said they will submit their committee report within the next two weeks.

Laat February, Romualdez ordered the panel to conduct the inquiry in a bid to find out what caused onion prices to reach P700 a kilo late last year.