By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
The year 2023 has come, and Filipinos are still trying to make sense of the soaring prices of onions.
Last Dec. 29, Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban issued an administrative order setting the suggested retail price (SRP) of red onions at P250 per kilo. It took effect the next day with a blah-blah explainer from the government about why the SRP had to be increased from the October issuance that pegged the spice’s SRP at P170 per kilo.
Other than the over-publicized and too few to mention Kadiwa stores, no supermarket, grocery, market stall, talipapa, or “sari-sari” sells any kind of onion at under P300 per kilo. In fact, on the day Panganiban’s SRP order took effect, a popular supermarket chain was selling red onions at a prohibitive P600 a kilo.
How does anyone make sense of that?
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Back in July, Rep. Mikaela Suansing of the country’s Onion Capital of Nueva Ecija filed a bill proposing the creation of the Philippine Onion Research Institute.
In its explainer, Suansing’s House Bill No.1379 acknowledged an underperforming onion industry and how she envisions her proposed facility would serve as a central experimentation station for extensive research in onion culture and production.
The goal is to make the Philippines self-sufficient and, perhaps, even produce a variety of onions more than enough to cater to the export market. Could this be the answer to avoiding the runaway prices of onions?
Well, we’ve had the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) headquartered in our country for over 60 years. While its work has done wonders for the rest of the world, the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) projects a need to import at least three million metric tons (MT) of rice this year due to apparent “low production” and “higher food utilization.”
It makes me wonder if Sen. Cynthia Villar — who at the start of the spike in onion prices last October said: “I can live without onions” — could form the words in her mouth: “I can live without rice.”
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Before the end of the year, Pitmaster Foundation Philippines made sure its acts of charity and community concern were splattered in the media.
The truth is, this is one way the profit guzzlers running big-time gambling operations justify the existence of eSabong. Never mind that it destroys the moral fiber of society.
To me, acts of kindness by their foundation are a smokescreen for their money-grabbing from poor eSabong patrons.
To my fond amusement, Bongbong Marcos has maintained the suspension of eSabong operations in the country.
A toast to the New Year, and here’s hoping we won’t see our President blinded or bending under pressure in the face of “all the good” that Pitmaster Foundation does for the community.
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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at https://www.thephilbiznews.com
