SENATE minority leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III yesterday pushed for a Senate investigation into the operations and previous procurement contracts of the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) to determine regularity in its transactions following its questionable purchase of overpriced onions from a multipurpose cooperative.
Pimentel told reporters that “something smells fishy in onions” and said an examination of FTI’s books could “open a can of worms” similar to the shady deals of the Procurement Services of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), and the Philippine International Trading Center (PITC).
He added the investigation should not only look into the onion purchase but also the agency’s procurement of other agricultural and food products.
Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, on Monday slammed the FTI for buying the bulbs at P537 per kilo from the Bonena multi-purpose cooperative instead of buying the produce of local farmers, which were sold at a much lower price of P200 per kilo.
Villar said the transaction was impractical and questionable especially since these were sold in Kadiwa rolling stores at a cheap price of P170 per kilo.
The Office of the Ombudsman has already opened an investigation into the procurement of the P140 million worth of onions and is looking into allegations of a possible collusion or conspiracy between some officials of the Department of Agriculture and the private sector to manipulate the prices of onions.
Prices of onion have been hovering at P420 to 600 per kilo, way above the suggested retail price of P250 per kilo set by the Department of Trade and Industry in December last year.
The price peaked at P700 per kilo during the Christmas season.
LOCAL FARMERS
At the same time, Pimentel said the government should prioritize buying agricultural produce, like onions, from local farmers to boost the agriculture sector.
He likewise said local farmers and agriculture industry players should be given priority in the use of government-owned cold storage facilities.
“Local onion farmers are complaining that in each step of the trading process, imported or traders’ onions are prioritized, including the allocation of cold storage space. Hence, the decisions that our decision makers have been doing are all to the detriment of the Filipino onion farmers,” Pimentel said.
“Who can make such anti-Filipino decisions all the time? Only a foreigner can do that to Philippine farmers. Unfortunately, those decisions were made by fellow Filipinos but prioritizing the interests of traders, importers, and ultimately foreign farmers and their business representatives,” he added.
He said the government should give local onion farmers priority support so they can boost their production and subsequently, provide sufficient supply to the country’s markets and stabilize its prices.
“Our onion farmers have never been tested because they have never been fully supported in maximizing their output potential. We have to trust them and place our bets on them,” Pimentel said.
DATA KEEPING
Likewise, Pimentel said the government should improve its data keeping so it can monitor and resolve supply and demand difficulties and timely decide if there is a need to jack up retail costs.
“As usual, we have figures on agri products, but I personally do not and cannot automatically believe them. Hence, we have difficulty determining the ‘root causes’ because our research or data keeping is so unreliable,” he said.
