Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Thursday vowed to continue monitoring the prices of onions, rice and other agricultural products.
Romualdez made the pledge as he commended the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for filing charges against those behind the unprecedented increases of onions prices, peaking at P700 a kilo in the latter part of 2022.
Suspecting hoarding and price manipulation, and in line with the desire of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to make agricultural products affordable, the Speaker asked the Committee on Agriculture to inquire into the runaway prices of onions.
He said the filing of criminal and administrative charges against those behind the increase “is a product in part of our extensive investigation.”
“We welcome this result and we expect prosecutors to make the charges stick. We will continue to monitor prices and we will not hesitate to exercise our power of oversight by conducting an investigation and prodding agencies so we can protect the public from high prices and inflation,” he said.
The Speaker also commended the Agriculture committee, particularly its chairman Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga and its lead investigator Marikina City Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, for conducting a successful inquiry.
The House committee concluded its four-month investigation after Quimbo succeeded in unmasking the personalities involved in the cartel, believed responsible for hoarding and price manipulation of onions.
The congressional hearings resulted in a drastic drop of onion prices from P700 to P160 per kilo.
Romualdez expressed dismay over the alleged involvement of officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the onion price manipulation.
“As public officers, we are expected to protect our people, not to make them suffer from abusive and illegal practices,” he said.
He urged the DOJ and the NBI to run after other officials and private citizens suspected of participation in price manipulation and hoarding of onions, rice and other basic staples.
He also asked concerned government agencies like the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to sanction complicit organizations under their supervision…
He noted that among those charged were officers of a cooperative.
In a news briefing on Wednesday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla announced that the NBI has filed charges against those they found involved in onion hoarding and price manipulation after a lengthy investigation.
Charged with violation of Republic Act (RA) 3019 (Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) were DA Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista, Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service officer-in-charge Junibert de Sagun, and Bureau of Plant Industry director Gerald Panganiban.
On the other hand, charges of hoarding, falsification and profiteering were filed against Bonena Multipurpose Cooperative officials Israel Reguyal, Mary Ann dela Rosa, and Victor dela Rosa Jimenez.
Remulla said they expect the courts to issue warrants of arrest soon.
He said Evangelista, De Sagun, and Panganiban will also be indicted for “inefficiency and incompetence in the performance of official duties under the Administrative Code of 1987.”
Evangelista and DA administrative officer V Eunice Biblanias, DA acting chief accountant Lolita Jamela, Food Terminal Inc. vice president for operations John Gabriel Benedict Trinidad III, and FTI budget division head Juanita Lualhati were ordered suspended by Ombudsman Samuel Martires in August this year amid an investigation into the onion supply mess that caused prices to shoot up last year.
They were allegedly involved in the onion shortage and price manipulation, as well as the questionable procurement of the agricultural produce.
Martires said the DFA had an agreement with the FTI for the Kadiwa Food Hub project of the government, while the latter had also a deal with Bonena Multi-Purpose Cooperative for the delivery of 8,845 bags of onions, with about 28 kilograms per bag, for Kadiwa.
In suspending the said officials, the Ombudsman said they allegedly violated procurement rules, made questionable advance payment of 50 percent of the contract price; non-compliance of the Memorandum of Agreement, partial implementation of the contract and doubtful deliveries by the cooperative.
For violation of RA 7581 for hoarding and Section 5, Paragraph 2 of RA 7581 for profiteering, the DOJ chief said officials of Bonina led by its chairperson Israel Reguyal, and Mary Ann dela Rosa and Victor dela Rosa Jimenez.
According to Remulla, they will also be charged for falsification of documents and use of falsified documents under Article 272 of the Revised Penal Code.
He said it is only a start as investigations are still on-going regarding the smuggling of onions and the connivance of some past and present agriculture officials.
“We will continue our investigation and the noose is tightening. We expect warrants of arrests to be issued once we file this in the courts,” he said, adding that with thousands of pages of testimonies and documentation coming from the congressional committees who conducted investigations on the issue, the DOJ “expected this to be properly acted upon by the courts once we filed.”
Remulla also hinted out that they may expand their investigation to include the liability of past and present officials of the Department of Agriculture and other offices.
He said the cases will be filed before the regional trial court and the Office of the Ombudsman.
Last month, Remulla warned government officials to cooperate in the on-going investigation on the smuggling of agricultural products into the country saying that the department will not hesitate to file charges against them before the Office of the Ombudsman if they refused or failed to do so.
“If they do not cooperate, we will bring them to the Ombudsman. That’s the order of the President. No one can refuse to help the DOJ,” the Justice Secretary said.
Earlier, Justice Assistant Secretary Geronimo Sy said the NBI recommended the prosecution of six individuals who the agency claimed were behind the supply and procurement of more than 8, 000 bags each of 25 kilos of onions worth P134 million in December 2022.
Sy said the onions were offered to the government at a very high price of P537 per kilo by a private supplier, despite the prevailing farm gate prices of onion at P8 to P15.
He said there was an apparent collusion between some government officials and the supplier as based on the NBI probe two of the three firms that participated in the bidding for the supply of onions were fictitious.