AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has ordered the Bureau of Plant Industry to go around various cold storage facilities to check if they are keeping freshly harvested onions.
He said this is a precautionary measure against hoarding of onions.
“[Sinabihan kong] inspeksyunin kung meron bang new harvest na tinatago at hindi binebenta, kasi kung merong ganun, mali yon,” Tiu Laurel told reporters on Monday, February 24
“Kung magtatago ka ng onion is towards the middle or end of the harvest season eh, not sa umpisa eh. Doon pa lang, makikita natin kung merong manipulasyon,” he added.
Tiu Laurel said he is awaiting reports because it’s not easy to inspect cold storage facilities, which are mostly outside Manila. He said inspections may take four to seven days before concerned personnel could come up with reports.
This, after agricultural group SINAG proposed that onions must have a maximum SRP too “is worth considering, and that there is nothing wrong with it.”
However, Tiu Laurel noted that the prevailing price of onions has remained stable at P170/kilo.
“Kung sakaling tumaas pa, titirahin din natin ng ganon pero as of the moment, harvest is coming soon. Sakaling mag MSRP sa onion, that would be limited, two weeks lang yan,” he said. (ABS-CBN News)
