President Bongbong Marcos admitted that he was clueless on the supply of sugar and onion in the market when he took over as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture.
“Because of the chaos that we saw…when it came to sugar and onions, we did not know how much of the commodity was
actually in the country,” said Marcos in a briefing Wednesday.
But Marcos assured “we are starting to get a hand on all it now.”
For sugar, Marcos said he has instructed the DA to maintain a two-month buffer stock to mitigate the speculation.
In the case of onions, Marcos said the country has no choice but to import to augment the shortage but he stressed timing was the key.
“The schedule of importation – both of sugar and onion, all of the other commodities – the schedule is very, very important. It’s not just a question of one lump importation at the beginning of the year. It has to come in at the proper time so you are not competing with local farmers,” said Marcos.
“That’s a very simple first step. ‘Pag maayos na ‘yan, that is one box that I will say I’ve been able to tick off, ” he added.
But he downplayed the price fluctuations as part and parcel of market dynamics.
“Alam mo normal ‘yan eh sa negosyante eh. ‘Pag alam nilang magkaka-shortage, eh they will keep it hanggang tumaas ‘yung presyo.
Maybe you can call that hoarding but it’s a business practice and that’s what we hope to avoid,” said Marcos.