(Eagle News) — The Department of Agriculture will be suspending the importation of bulb onions, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol said on Friday, March 22.
According to Piñol, this was pending the results of the investigation of the Philippine Competition Commission and the National Bureau of Investigation into the reported operations of a cartel manipulating the buying price of onions produced locally.
It was the DA that asked for the probe following reports trading firms closed down four major cold storage facilities.
“(The suspension of the importation) would prevent the cartel from benefiting from their operations, where they forced the drop in the buying price of local onions by leasing and closing cold storage facilities to onion farmers,” Piñol said.
According to the agriculture secretary, the “traders are expected to consolidate the local production as they await for the time when they will be allowed to import.”
He said under an arrangement agreed upon by farmers groups and importers, “the importation of onions would only be done after the harvest of the local onions.”
He said the DA has “directed the Bureau of Plant and Industry to support the arrangement by scheduling the processing of Sanitary and Pytho-Sanitary permits until after the harvest season.”
“The moratorium on the issuance of SPS permits will be extended until such time the PCC and NBI have terminated their investigation,” he said.