Rappler and Inquirer.net dig up the onion problem

CHEERS TO Inquirer.net and Rappler for their looking into reasons behind the high price of onions. The reports focused on what farmer groups have to say as they are the stakeholders most affected by the crisis.

For months, the skyrocketing price of onions has left families in tears. Two to three times higher than meat, the cost has marked the country for selling the most expensive onions in the world. As of January 10, red and white onions were selling from PHP 420 to PHP 600 per kilogram. In December last year, the suggested retail price (SRP) was set at PHP 250 per kilogram. 

The Department of Agriculture (DA) – headed by President Marcos – approved the importation of 21,060 metric tons of onions only last January 6, too late to be helpful according to most experts as well as farmers. 

On January 12, Rappler’s Lance Spencer Yu interviewed two sources involved in issues of agriculture. Raul Montemayor, national manager of Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives Incorporated (FFFCI) and Jayson Cainglet, Executive Director of Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG). 

“So why are onions so expensive?” Rappler answered its own question, highlighting Cainglet’s position that farmers are not to blame. “At its peak, farmgate price was only between PHP 250- P300/ kilo; hence retail prices should have not exceeded PHP 400/kilo at (any) point in time,” Cainglet told Rappler. 

Government could have anticipated the low level of onion production, given the series of typhoons. Government also failed to bolster the limited supply. With the growing scarcity of what is a staple in Philippine cooking, traders drove up prices to exorbitant levels. 

Both Montemayor and Cainglet pointed out that the importation order has come too late to do any good as prices would have gone down with the incoming onion harvest in February. Cainglet said his group called on the DA to import in October and November last year but the DA decided against it, taking no action through the rest of 2022. 

Another report supplied further clarification. The first part of the series by Inquirer.net’s Cristina Baclig on January 11 revisited statements by the DA, officials, and farmer groups since December 2022. The article referred to sources in the DA and senators who pointed to suspected onion cartels and crime syndicates that could have caused the problem. She also cited farmers and members of the House who pointed to shortage of supply and government’s failure to import early, factors that they flagged as early as August last year. 

The second part of the series on January 12 detailed the failure of the government to act in time. After official inaction, officials were driven to apply “band aid” solutions. Baclig pointed to the administration officials for changing statements on the issue “like they change their clothes.” 

Baclig recalled how the DA assured the public that it might soon set a lower SRP for onions, “which, as its name suggests, is simply a suggestion.” The article recalled how the DA also set the SRP last December, which was not followed. Lawmakers and farmer groups said setting a SRP is a band-aid solution and onion prices will “naturally go down” when the local harvests start to come in.

The report went further to detail a case of smuggling —  the millions of pesos worth of smuggled product onions seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in several shipping containers from China last December. She and graphic artist Ed Lustan presented a visual timeline of the smuggling and the discussion of whether the government should sell the said onions. Later on, the DA decided not to sell the onions, saying these were unsafe for consumption. 

In conclusion, Baclig quoted the President, who said he was looking for solutions. She ended with the more specific plan proposed by Montemayor – the creation of a task force to map out a plan, involving all stakeholders to “implement long-term solutions and not just stop-gap plans.”

The two reports did well to review and summarize the various layers of the onion problem. Both prescribe involving the basic sectors in finding solutions, especially when all the government can do is make promises. As they are the most affected, they know what will relieve them of their difficulties.

The impact of the onion scandal on consumers is diminished by the real tragedies experienced by the onion farmers and their families. Media reports on January 16 and 17 recounted the despair of onion farmers, driving five of them to take their own lives. Weighed down by losses and mounting debt, farmers were girding for more losses as imported onions will lessen the gains of their coming harvest. 

As an Inquirer article wrote: “This was the human element, the hard reality, behind the macroeconomic abstraction…” 

Indeed, government officials must realize that their ineptitude and failure to work on a problem can cause irreparable human pain.