THE House Committee on Agriculture and Food yesterday cited in contempt an owner of a cold storage facility for refusal to attend its hearings on the overpricing and price manipulation of onions.
With 20 votes, the panel chaired by Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga ordered that Eric Pabilona, owner of Tian Long Corporation, be arrested and detained at the Batasang Pambansa for his “continuing defiance” of the lower chamber’s invitation.
Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (PL, Sagip) said Pabilona, who was earlier found to be a shareholder of PhilVieva Corporation which is an organization founded by Lilia Cruz, showed “an outright disrespect to the committee.”
Speaker Martin Romualdez first called for a congressional probe in December last year when prices of onion surged to over P700 a kilo to address the issue and protect consumers.
As a result, the agriculture panel was able to unmask key cartel personalities and allied firms.
Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, a senior vice chair of the panel, has alleged that some members of the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) were in cahoots with the onion cartel in the country led by trader Cruz who, according to her, remains the “undisputed Sibuyas Queen.”
According to Quimbo, the cartel which operates through a group of companies, was engaged in various activities in the supply chain such as farming, importation, local trading, warehousing, and logistics.
Quimbo has also said that Cruz operates the biggest onion cartel in the country through an SEC-registered corporation called Philippine VIEVA, which was established in 2013.
While PhilVieva is no longer directly involved in onion trading as it was blacklisted in 2018, Cruz’s trucking business works with companies involved in onion trading, she said.
The lawmaker has also said the committee was able to establish that the BPI granted onion import permits to Yom Trading, La Reina, at Vegefru Producing Store whose owners are connected to PhilVieva.
