Enrile laments dumping of cheap agri imports

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile urged the appropriate government agencies yesterday to review the tariff structure covering agricultural products to save the livelihood of thousands of Filipino farmers whose products are being undercut in the market by cheap and subsidized imports.

Enrile cited the case of the onion growers of Luzon whose products are rotting in warehouses because of the importation of cheap and subsidized onions from India and China. He also mentioned vegetable growers whose products are being forced out of the local market by cheap imports.

According to the Union of Growers and Traders of Onion in the Philippines (Ugat), about 27 million kilos of onions in four provinces remain dormant and are rotting in storage and may likely not be sold because of a deluge of cheap onion imports from other countries.

At P30 a kilogram for production cost and storage, these onions have a total value of P810 million or a minimum of P1.28 billion if sold in the market at P40.00 a kilogram. Most of the farmer affected are those in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya and Mindoro.

The trouble is, according to Magtanggol Alvarez, founding chairman of Ugat, the Bureau of Plant Industry has issued a permit for the importation of onions. We have found that more than two million bags of (at 20 kilos per bag) of onions have been imported since January," Alvarez said. "The permit for importation was issued even though our onion harvests have yet to enter the market."

In July alone, 77 permits were issued by the BPI mostly to Chinese traders, Alvarez disclosed. Each permit allows the holder to import 50,000 kilos of onions. At a landed cost of P300 per bag or P15 a kilo, they can be sold in the market at P18 to P20 a kilo.

Enrile said that the National Economic and Development Authority, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Finance and the Tariff Commission should get together and review the tariff structure for Philippine agricultural products, including onion, vegetable and rice, to enable Filipino farmers to get a fair price for their produce so they can survive and possibly prosper.

Enrile pointed out that with the recent collapse of the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, the Philippine government is no longer bound to reduce or dismantle its tariff protection for agricultural and other products to near zero level.

"If the United States, Europe, Canada and other countries should refuse to remove the subsidies to their farmers and dismantle tariff protection, why should the Philippines do so and put itself at the mercy of the developed countries on such a basic matter as food?" Enrile declared.