Members of the House of Representatives issued a stern warning on Thursday against the unscrupulous individuals involved in sabotaging the market prices of various prime commodities, which sparked a congressional probe.
House Assistant Majority Leader Jefferson Khonghun said the House will leave no stone unturned in the upcoming probe to determine the culprits behind the rising disparities between farmgate and retail prices of essential goods and warned of possible legal action against anyone engaged in the scheme.
"Please don't do it, not at the expense of our poor kababayans. Otherwise, we will be forced to implement the full force of the law. And if worse comes to worst, we can have them to court for economic sabotage, a non-bailable offense," said the Zambales lawmaker.
Speaker Martin Romualdez on Wednesday ordered the House committee on Agriculture and Food to launch and prioritize an investigation on the widening gap between farmgate and retail pricing of basic goods, which is preying on farmers and consumers, once sessions resume next week.
Romualdez issued the marching order following a meeting with grocery operators, retailers, and the manufacturing sector, during which they denied making any substantial price changes in prime commodities such as rice, poultry, pork, and onions, but the costs in the markets have been rising.
Farm gate prices refer to the prices farmers receive once their crops are sold at the farm's location.
Retail prices, on the other hand, are the prices that consumers pay for products, particularly in small quantities.
Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon said the House would conduct months of marathon hearings to look into the perennial problem if necessary.
"The House under the Romualdez leadership doesn't sit idle as middlemen make a killing to the detriment of agricultural workers and consumers," he said.
"We proved this in our exhaustive investigations on the onion price surge of the last quarter of 2022, and on the issue of agricultural smuggling in general. We unmasked a cartel and held its unscrupulous partners in government accountable," Bongalon recalled.
Deputy Majority Leader Margarita Nograles said the massive gap in farm gate and retail prices "smacks of abuse and utter disregard" for the welfare of the Filipinos.
"Our goal is to halt this apparent profiteering and to implement the laws where they apply," Norgales said.
In the last quarter of 2022, the country experienced an agricultural shortage, primarily in onions, which saw prices soar as high as P500 to P700 per kilo.
The House committee on Agriculture and Food held exhaustive marathon hearings last year, resulting in a drastic drop of onion prices, later discovered to be subject to cartel and price manipulation.
