“ IMPACT OF COSTLY ONION PRICE TO THE LIFE OF JUAN DELA CRUZ"

- Chloe Maniti

         They say, "onions make you cry." 

For the majority of Filipino households, basic spices like onions are always present in
their kitchen—not until the switchback that had happened for the past few days, where we all
despaired the price of onions going way beyond, now reaching up to P720 per kilo. 

Isn't it alarming that the rate of inflation is so high? That even buying basic cooking
ingredients seems to be already out of reach for Juan, who is barely surviving and has just
enough?

And of course, affecting those who cannot even afford to eat three whole meals a day.

          Indeed. It is a sign of a broken and deeply ingrained marketing system in our society. Rex
Estoperez, a deputy spokesperson for the DA, stated during a press conference on Tuesday
that prices for the agricultural commodity have risen unusually since it is "off season" and there
is increased demand for the holiday season. Additionally, the DA recently declared that because
the supply is anticipated to grow, it would not import the product for the rest of the year. Senior
Undersecretary for Agriculture Domingo Panganiban had said that they had found evidence of
stockpiling by smugglers in warehouses.

It is utterly disgusting and gut-wrenching when large traders conspire to inflate a

shortage and manipulate prices. These dealers control the post-harvest and storage facilities for
commodities like bulb onions. And somehow it is unacceptable that the said solution is to settle
an SRP, which some retailers don't even follow, and help resolve the conflicts over the rising
prices of onions in the Philippines.

We failed to understand the realities on the ground, where traders and capitalists
control the market system. These are evident from Meryln Impas, one of the average
pungko-punko stall vendors on the streets of Zamora in Mandaue City, Cebu, who used
cucumber instead of onion to mix her sauce. A kilo of onion costs P600–700 while a kilo of
cucumber costs only P60, Impas claimed.

            You won't understand a situation unless you've experienced it firsthand. where even
buying only five pieces of onion would cost you 60 pesos.

"To be reasonable and practical, I know many will get angry at me; don't buy per kilo."
"You should buy what you can afford in the meantime," Estoperez said in a radio interview. This
is akin to defending the idea that if onions and other market goods are pricey, we should drop
the retail price to lessen the demand and, in turn, minimize awesome opportunistic or
manipulated profit. It is an outrageous joke to say that we should buy less.

          It pains the pockets of those who have less. and fattens the pockets of those few gods
who have far more.