Quimbo grills DA officials on ‘mystery’ of onion shortage, demand

House appropriations panel senior vice chairperson Stella Quimbo on Wednesday called out Agriculture department officials after they failed to explain the exponential rise of onion demand in 2022.

Quimbo, citing the data submitted by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to the House food and agriculture committee, said the BPI should be able to explain why the demand for onions increased by 39% in 2022 when the annual increase recorded in the period from years 2011 to 2021 was only around 5%.

Based on the same BPI data, onion demand in 2022 reached 363,937 metric tons against the supply of 338,354 metric tons, resulting in a modest shortage.

“The demand from 2011 to 2021 is believable because of course, population growth. It is a modest increase annually which is around 5%. But for 2022, the demand increased to 39%. Ito ay bagong misteriyo [This is a new mystery],” Quimbo said.

Arnold Timoteo of the Department of Agriculture's High Value Crops Development Program responded by saying that the shortage “was due to wastage” but he was quickly interrupted by Quimbo, who was asking for reasons as to why the demand increased.

“Mr. Chair, this is their official submission. From 2011 to 2021, the annual demand increase is 5%. From 2022, it is at 39%. I am asking about this increase in demand. I am not asking about the production,” Quimbo, also an economics professor in UP Diliman before her election in Congress, pointed out.

“With [over] 363,000 metric tons of demand, there is an unmet need. Puede ipaliwanag niyo ito? This [39%] is [from] your own submission. Kung wala kayong paliwanag, iniimbento nito ‘yan at jinu-justify ninyo ang shortage,” Quimbo added.

(If you cannot explain this, this is contrived and you are justifying the shortage.)

Director Shereene Samala of BPI answered that they will “revisit the data so they can present it next Tuesday” or the day of the next hearing, but Quimbo was not having it.

“This is so alarming. Nasusunog na ang pabrika, hindi niyo po alam. Lahat kami nagtataka bakit mataas ang presyo ng sibuyas. The only thing telling the truth here is the high prices because there is a shortage. The question is, who produced these [Powerpoint] slides [on onion supply and demand]?” Quimbo said.

(The factory is already in on fire and you have no idea about it. Everybody is puzzled as to why the onion prices are so high.)

“Kung wala kayong ibang maibigay na rason, [walang ibang dahilan] kung hindi engineered niyo ang datos,” Quimbo added.

(If you cannot provide a reason, then the only reason is that you engineered the data.)

Quezon Representative Jayjay Suarez then moved to invite the agriculture officials who prepared the onion data submitted to the House panel, a motion seconded by Quimbo and the rest of the committee.

Quimbo also sought for the list of both licensed and non-licensed importers of onions from the BPI, to which the BPI agreed to.

During the same hearing, a certain Lilia Cruz who has been previously charged for garlic smuggling and smuggling of other agricultural products told the committee that she has nothing to do with onion smuggling or hoarding. 

“Time after time, my accusers have yet to prove their allegations. Instead of presenting evidence, they are feeding lies to people behind my back, so their statements must be taken with a grain of salt,” Cruz, a former importer of agricultural products but now works as a trader, said.

“I am willing to face these people,” Cruz added.

When lawmakers asked Cruz to name her accusers, Cruz said she is still verifying them and will disclose it during the next hearing. — BM, GMA Integrated News