THE government is mulling the sale of confiscated smuggled white onions in Kadiwa rolling stories being operated by the Department of Agriculture.
Rex Estoperez, DA deputy spokesperson, said during the Laging Handa public briefing yesterday that they will first ensure the confiscated commodities are safe for human consumption before deciding if the plan will be pursued.
Estoperez said that P30 million worth of white onions brought into the country without permits may be involved under the plan.
“The order of the BOC (Bureau of Customs) and BPI (Bureau of Plant Industry) is to really destroy that since anything that is not permitted (for entry in the country) should really be destroyed. However, we said that this can undergo a phytosanitary inspection first,” Estoperez said.
Estoperez added that DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban wants the phytosanitary inspection to be conducted before deciding if they can be sold in Kadiwa stores at a price lower than prevailing retail prices.
The DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region yesterday showed that the average retail price of onion is P280 per kilo.
“If that is smuggled and if we will be allowed to sell that, it can be sold at lower prices…
That will be decided by our team, we also have a monitoring team who caught that shipment to decide carefully as some of the shipments are also reportedly starting to rot,” Estoperez said.
The DA also emphasized that all white onions available in the country today — from online portals, supermarkets and wet markets — are smuggled.
