Villar slams lack of clear guidelines versus garlic cartel
MANILA — Even as she lauded the filing of charges against members of the garlic cartel, Senator Cynthia Villar also slammed the Bureau of Plant and Industry for lack of clear guidelines in the garlic importation resulting in monopoly.
In a statement, Villar on Saturday said that all those involved in the collusion to corner most of the garlic supply and manipulate prices should be held liable.
“They should be punished for burdening our people when the cost of garlic soared due to their illegal activities,” she said.
Villar said law enforcers, particularly the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation, should dig deeper to identify the other members of the cartel, and to determine the other agricultural products that being cartelized.
The 32-page report released by the DOJ Office for Competition established that no real competition is going on in the garlic industry particularly in the importation side as businesswoman Lilia M. Cruz aka Leah Cruz and three other individuals monopolize the market through the creation of dummy importers.
“This scheme stifled free competition among the legitimate and accredited garlic importers,” said the report.
No clear guidelines
“The lack of transparency and clear- cut guidelines in the Bureau of Plant Industry permit system abetted the establishment of a garlic cartel, possibly with the collusion of some BPI and Department of Agriculture officials,” Villar said.
In particular, Cruz cornered at least 75 percent of the total garlic importation in the country by virtue of such import permits.
As chairperson of the Senate Agriculture and Food committee, Villar conducted last July 3, 2014 a Senate hearing on the high prices of agricultural produce, particularly garlic.
The senate hearing branded “abusive” the 900percent profit margin on garlic that benefited only foreign garlic producers to the detriment of Filipino garlic farmers and consumers.
During the hearing, Villar particularly pointed out that the high prices of garlic are due to manipulation because traders buy the import privilege ( IP) from garlic cooperatives at a very low rate.
“We then urged all concerned government agencies to strike hard on garlic traders who are said to profit some P26 billion annually,” she said.
The senator said she i s happy her committee’s findings on t he i ssue of price manipulation jibe with those of the DOJ and the NBI.
She said her committee also plans to review the mandate of the National Garlic Action Team, which appears to be influenced by traders and cooperatives who are members of the organization.
NGAT is a multi-stakeholder body under the DA which was formed in 2012 to ensure stable garlic supply in the country. It said the NGAT had "failed to serve its primary purpose and to ensure a balanced representation from both government and private sectors.”