Rookie lawmaker Erwin Tulfo wants a meager P1 budget for the "useless" Bureau of Plant Industry or BPI for failing to exercise its monitoring power over the supply of onions in the Philippine market, reportedly subject anew to hoarding and price manipulation.

"This BPI is so useless. Don't give this a budget. Just give it maybe five cents. You guys are not doing your job…. Might as well, we will give you a P1 budget," Tulfo said during the House Committee on Agriculture and Food probe into the possible hoarding of onion in the country.

The congressional probe, which had previously concluded in May, reopened anew following reports that the commodity's price is being manipulated through hoarding activities.

The probe was triggered by the agricultural produce shortage, primarily in onions, which saw prices reaching as high as P500 to P700 per kilo in the last quarter.