Philippine lawmaker Stella Quimbo told an agriculture committee hearing on Thursday that secret cartels could be responsible for the sky-high price of onions, which cost about 457 percent more than the global average in the Philippines. The Philippine Agriculture Department said in September that a criminal syndicate could be hoarding onions to drive prices up. Panganiban said that he could not confirm the existence of cartels but agreed that someone was manipulating the onion supply. The UK Guardian noted on Wednesday that at least one form of organized criminal activity has verifiably sprouted in the Philippines: onion smuggling. Instead, they pointed to how severely Marcos, Jr. has bungled agricultural policies since he named himself agriculture commissioner, resulting in shortages and high prices for other stables like eggs and sugar.

Source: The Guardian January 27, 2023 22:41 UTC