CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Union of Growers and Traders of Onions of the Philippines (UGAT) lauded yesterday Pres. Aquino’s appointment of Proceso Alcala as secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
UGAT earlier appealed to Alcala against onion smuggling that has already allegedly already displaced some 500,000 families during the Arroyo administration.
UGAT founding president Magtanggol Alvarez said “we believe he (Alcala) will succeed where his predecessors failed, particularly in ending corruption and irregularities in the issuance of import permits by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) in collusion with people from the Bureau of Customs (BoC),” he said.
“Onion and vegetable farmers in Central and Northern Luzon are optimistic that Alcala will protect the interests of local farmers and adopt an iron-fist in dealing with big-time smugglers who have been blamed for destroying the livelihood of more than 500,000 onion farmers and their families nationwide,” he said in an interview.
Alvarez said his group as well as other vegetable farmers all over Luzon and the Ilocos region “are hopeful that Alcala will be our ally in fighting the well-entrenched smugglers and corrupt Customs officials.”
“These smugglers and Customs officials are incurable pests killing the onion industry,” said Alvarez who hails from Bonganbon, Nueva Ecija which is dubbed as the country’s onion basket.
Alvarez said that in the recent years, “thousands of metric tons of smuggled onions from China and India aboard 40-footer container vans were intercepted at the Manila International Container Port (MICP), South Harbor including the ports in Subic and Batangas but ultimately the onions found their way to Divisoria and other public markets in the country.”
“This unabated smuggling and dumping of sub-standard onions did not pass quarantine and phyto-sanitary inspection for their harmful pests residues and they are blamed by local farmers for the abnormally depressed price of onions that deprive them of profits from their hard labor,” he said.
“We don’t want to suffer the fate of farmers of garlic and ginger who have almost been totally wiped out by smuggled garlic and ginger from China. Otherwise, we probably be compelled to go to the mountains out of desperation,” he added.
Alvarez said UGAT and other members of farmers’ groups support the President in the appointment of Alcala whom they described as “a farmer himself and former governor of Quezon with a proven-track record of incorruptibility.”
“Alcala understands that the livelihood of farmers is the backbone of our economy,” he added.
“We believe Alcala will stop anomalies and selling of import permits at the BPI in collusion with corrupt officials of the Customs bureau. We think Alcala will be able to dismantle untouchable smugglers of onions, vegetables, garlic, ginder and other agricultural products,” he also said.
UGAT earlier appealed to Alcala against onion smuggling that has already allegedly already displaced some 500,000 families during the Arroyo administration.
UGAT founding president Magtanggol Alvarez said “we believe he (Alcala) will succeed where his predecessors failed, particularly in ending corruption and irregularities in the issuance of import permits by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) in collusion with people from the Bureau of Customs (BoC),” he said.
“Onion and vegetable farmers in Central and Northern Luzon are optimistic that Alcala will protect the interests of local farmers and adopt an iron-fist in dealing with big-time smugglers who have been blamed for destroying the livelihood of more than 500,000 onion farmers and their families nationwide,” he said in an interview.
Alvarez said his group as well as other vegetable farmers all over Luzon and the Ilocos region “are hopeful that Alcala will be our ally in fighting the well-entrenched smugglers and corrupt Customs officials.”
“These smugglers and Customs officials are incurable pests killing the onion industry,” said Alvarez who hails from Bonganbon, Nueva Ecija which is dubbed as the country’s onion basket.
Alvarez said that in the recent years, “thousands of metric tons of smuggled onions from China and India aboard 40-footer container vans were intercepted at the Manila International Container Port (MICP), South Harbor including the ports in Subic and Batangas but ultimately the onions found their way to Divisoria and other public markets in the country.”
“This unabated smuggling and dumping of sub-standard onions did not pass quarantine and phyto-sanitary inspection for their harmful pests residues and they are blamed by local farmers for the abnormally depressed price of onions that deprive them of profits from their hard labor,” he said.
“We don’t want to suffer the fate of farmers of garlic and ginger who have almost been totally wiped out by smuggled garlic and ginger from China. Otherwise, we probably be compelled to go to the mountains out of desperation,” he added.
Alvarez said UGAT and other members of farmers’ groups support the President in the appointment of Alcala whom they described as “a farmer himself and former governor of Quezon with a proven-track record of incorruptibility.”
“Alcala understands that the livelihood of farmers is the backbone of our economy,” he added.
“We believe Alcala will stop anomalies and selling of import permits at the BPI in collusion with corrupt officials of the Customs bureau. We think Alcala will be able to dismantle untouchable smugglers of onions, vegetables, garlic, ginder and other agricultural products,” he also said.
