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MANILA, Philippines – To address the high cost of garlic, President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday said the government might as well sell smuggled garlic recently confiscated by the Bureau of Customs.
“One of the things that I had tasked the DA (Department of Agriculture) and DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) and (Bureau of) Customs actually to do is phytosanitary testing for the garlic that has been confiscated by Customs,” Aquino said during an ambush interview at Clark Air Base.
He said that once the batch passes the food safety and plant health test, the government “will unload (to the market) all of this confiscated garlic to again ease the pressure on prices.”
More than a week ago, Customs seized 100 metric tons or P30 million-worth of garlic smuggled from Hong Kong.
Prices of commodities often fluctuate based on the demand and supply. However, the government has maintained that the supply of garlic was adequate and should not push prices upward.
Authorities are now investigating the hoarding of agricultural products such as garlic.
“Is somebody manipulating the prices rather than the law of supply and demand taking such on an action?” Aquino rhetorically asked.
To address such problems, the President said the DTI has heightened its monitoring and enforcement of laws, “implementing strictly the suggested retail pricing on manufactured and processed goods.”
The DA has also come up with rolling stores to flood the market with lower-priced goods.
Aquino warned that those manipulating prices would be subjected to heavy fines and charged with criminal faces.
He said many have already been arrested in the past on such charges.
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