Marcos says government had no choice but import onions to meet demand

ZURICH, Switzerland - As President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. embarks on his eighth foreign trip since assuming office, he left the Philippines amid the continuing problem of the high prices of some agricultural products such as onions and sugar in the market.

Marcos on Sunday defended the importation of onions from other countries, saying that “our government had no choice but to import,” given the gap between production and the demand for the product in the Philippines.

“Given the production and demand we have in the Philippines, it's impossible to avoid imports. We've tried to get products from smuggling, but the need was still not met. We had no choice but to import, so that’s what we’re doing,” Marcos, who also sits as Agriculture secretary, told reporters who were with him on the plane from Manila to Switzerland where he will attend the World Economic Forum.

However, the administration is looking for ways to increase the production of onions and other products in order to avoid importing them, the President said.

"We have to go back to the onion growers and help them para magkaroon tayo ng production, hindi na tayo kailangan mag-import. Diyan tayo naipit eh. Nasanay tayo masyado sa import. So import lang tayo nang import, hindi natin inaayos ‘yung production side," he said.

(We have to go back to the onion growers and help them so we can have [enough] production and we won't have to import. That's where we had a problem. We got used to importing. So we resorted to importation but did not address the production side.)

The President emphasized the importance of boosting production from local farmers, as opposed to simply relying on imports.

Sugar buffer stock

On the issue of sugar, Marcos announced that his administration will maintain a two-month buffer stock to ensure that there is no shortage of supply.

“We will maintain from now on, 'yung sugar, a two-month buffer stock para hindi na magkaroon ng masyadong speculation sa presyo ng sugar. So that people will know hindi tayo magkaka-shortage dahil lagi tayong merong two-month na buffer stock, which I will maintain,” Marcos said.

(We will maintain from now on a two-month buffer stock of sugar so that we will not have much speculation on the price of sugar. So that people will know that there won't be any shortage because we will always have a two-month buffer stock, which I will maintain.)

He is hopeful that the prices of basic commodities will go down in the coming weeks.

The President is also looking at strategies being employed by other countries and the use of modern technology to address the problem of smuggling agricultural products in the Philippines. 

“I think the digitalization of the Bureau of Customs is going to be an important, important part of it," Marcos said. —KG, GMA Integrated News