SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Thursday vowed to continue monitoring the prices of onions, rice and other agricultural products.
He made the promise as he commended the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for filing charges against those behind the unreasonable increase of onions of up to P700 a kilo in the latter part of 2022.
Suspecting hoarding and price manipulation, and in line with the desire of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to make agricultural products affordable, the Speaker immediately asked the committee on agriculture to inquire into the onion price spike.
He said the filing of criminal and administrative charges against those behind the increase “is a product in part of our extensive investigation.”
“We welcome this result and we expect prosecutors to make the charges stick. We will continue to monitor prices and we will not hesitate to exercise our power of oversight by conducting an investigation and prodding agencies so we can protect the public from high prices and inflation,” he said.
The House leader also commended the committee on agriculture, particularly its chairman Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga and its lead investigator Marikina City Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, for holding a successful inquiry.
The House committee concluded its four-month investigation after Rep. Quimbo succeeded in unmasking the personalities involved in the cartel, which has been responsible in the hoarding and price manipulation of onion.
The congressional hearings resulted in the drastic drop of onion prices from P700 to P160 per kilo.
Speaker Romualdez expressed dismay over the alleged involvement of officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in onion price manipulation.
“As public officers, we are expected to protect our people, not to make them suffer from abusive and illegal practices,” he said.
He urged the DoJ-NBI go run after other officials and private citizens suspected of participation in price manipulation and hoarding of onions, rice and other basic staples.
He also asked the concerned government agencies like the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to sanction complicit organizations under their supervision and their officers.
He noted that among those charged by the DoJ-NBI are officers of a cooperative.
In a news briefing on Wednesday, DoJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla announced that the NBI has filed charges against those they found involved in onion hoarding and price manipulation after a lengthy investigation.
Charged with violation of Republic Act (RA) No. 3019 (Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) were DA Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista, Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service officer in charge Junibert de Sagun and Bureau of Plant Industry Director Gerald Panganiban.
Administrative cases for insufficiency and incompetence of officials duties under the Revised Administrative Code were also lodged against them.
On the other hand, charges of charges of hoarding, falsification and profiteering were filed against Bonena Multipurpose Cooperative officials Israel Reguyal, Mary Ann dela Rosa and Victor dela Rosa Jimenez.
Remulla said they expect the courts to issue warrants of arrest.
