THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday filed hoarding and profiteering charges before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against six individuals, including government officials, in connection with the alleged price manipulation of onion sold in the local market that led to the spike in prices last year.
However, the NBI withheld the names of the respondents pending an evaluation and review of the DOJ.
In a press briefing, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the charges arose from the sale of 8,000 bags of onion in December 2022 to the Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) in Taguig.
Remulla said more cases will be filed by the NBI to ensure that smugglers and hoarders will be brought to the bar of justice.
“This is just the beginning of the cases to be filed. This is for hoarding and profiteering. Matatandaan na umabot ng P750 per kilo ang sibuyas. Ito na ngayon ang simula ng reklamo laban sa mga tao na kasabwat sa pagtataas ng presyo ng sibuyas (It will be recalled that the price of onion reached as high as P750 per kilo. This is just the start of the charges to be filed against conspirators),” Remulla said.
“Other cases will be filed up to the point of economic sabotage once we are all done with the facts and case build-up and data evaluation,” he told reporters in mixed Filipino and English.
Remulla said the NBI is still casting a wide net in its investigation to ensure that government officials who connived in the illegal activities will also be charged.
“Kasama ang mga opisyal ng gobyerno dito sapagkat sa tingin namin sila ay lumalabas na mayroong sala sa pagkakataong ito. Ito ay simula pa lang at marami pang kasong ihahain at tuloy tuloy ang imbestigasyon ng NBI (Eventually, this will include government officials. This is just a start and there are other cases that would be filed since our investigation is still continuing),” he said.
Remulla, who earlier created the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Task Force along with a special team of prosecutors to investigate the smuggling and price manipulation of agricultural products, said the NBI also made use of the information generated during the congressional hearings on the issue in their investigation.
In July this year, Remulla said there could be as many as 20 individuals involved in the smuggling of onion and garlic in the country but only three or four could be considered as main players.
He added that the smugglers operate a “sophisticated network” that controls everything from cornering the supply of onion and garlic in the local market to the operation of cold storage facilities and importation.
BASIS
Justice Assistant Secretary Geronimo Sy said the NBI recommended the prosecution of the six individuals, whom he said were behind the supply and procurement of more than 8,000 bags each of 25 kilos of onions worth P134 million in December 2022.
Sy said a private supplier offered the onions to the FTI at a very high price of P537 per kilo even if the prevailing farm gate prices was only P8 to P15.
“That is profiteering because the farm gate prices of onion or the cost of production was only from P8 to P15, but it was sold at P537,” Sy said.
He said the NBI probe showed an apparent collusion between some government officials and the private supplier. He did not elaborate.
Sy said three firms participated in the bidding for the supply of the onions to the FTI. However, he said two of the three firms were fictitious.
“It was very clear that the two supposed bidders were fictitious and there was only one effective bidder, and this (was) allowed by the Food Terminal Incorporated. The way they did it, the modus is, nag-submit ng tatlong bids kuno pero actually ‘yung tatlong bids isa lang talaga ang bidder. Ang dalawang bids were actually fictitious para manalo í½ung preferred bidder na nagkakaroon pa rin ng stocks (they submitted three bids but only one bidder was real, the other two bidders were fictitious. They made the fake bids to make sure that the preferred bidder wins),” he also said.
Sy said there was an actual delivery of onions and the government paid for it using funds from the Department of Agriculture.
No other details were made available to the media as of posting time.
