Press Release
August 25, 2009

ROXAS SEEKS PROBE INTO UNABATED ONION SMUGGLING
PUSHES FOR PROTECTIVE MEASURES FOR 500,000 LOCAL ONION FARMERS

Alarmed over the deteriorating condition of the local onion industry, Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas today asked the Senate to investigate the unabated smuggling of onions under this administration.

Roxas, chairman of the Senate trade and commerce committee, said onion smuggling has apparently reached a point where it now endangers the livelihood of the entire onion growing industry that comprise close to half a million farmers, many of them in Central and Northern Luzon.

According to a report from a farmers' group, as much as 2.3 million bags of onions from China and India have been smuggled into the country since the start of this year alone.

"This illicit trade, if left unchecked and unabated, would result in the displacement and marginalization of 500,000 stakeholders in the industry, including 125,000 onion farmers, farm workers and their families," he warned in filing Senate Resolution No. 1313.

The onion growing industry has been thriving in nine provinces, mainly in Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac and Bulacan. It is recognized as an economic growth potential for the country with an annual gross production of about 100,000 metric tons valued at P5 billion.

The Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magsisibuyas sa Nueva Ecija, whose onion production accounts for 65% of the country's total production, said their farmers have delayed the sale of P824 million worth of 967,800 sacks of onions because of competition from the smuggled onions.

Kasamne board chairman Rodolfo Niones also cited reports from the Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Plant Industry, which claimed that around 2.3 million bags of smuggled onions from China and India had slipped through the Port of Manila since early May 2009 and are now being sold openly in various markets across the country.

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