10 flight attendants got into trouble last week for bringing in from the Middle East about 40 kilos of agricultural products , including onions, to the Philippines.
The abovementioned unfortunate event seems kind of ironic to this paper. What we mean here, citizens of an agricultural country like the Philippines had to smuggle agricultural products to the country, how ironic is that?
What could possibly be the reason why they have done such an act?
One of the many possible reasons that undeniably each and every one of us could think of is the skyrocketing price of onions and many other agricultural products in the Philippines. It is beyond doubt that the high price of such product has already taken its toll. Consumers from different parts of the country have already cried for help in the matter. In fact, onions these days have a higher price than meat.
The crisis at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport may have passed, but the public will have to continue grappling with the sky-high prices of such products.
I’m not going to pin point any person, government agency, or the government per se upon writing this. What this paper just want to do, like many of our fellow countrymen have already been doing (as mentioned above), is to cry to our government for help, because even though they may not have been the reason of such anomaly, they are held to be responsible for dealing with such matter, as it is has become a national crisis.
What is important is to buckle down to work and come up with the right solution. Temporarily, however, It is urgently needed that a short-term solution to stabilize the price of onion and immediately address the cries of suffering consumers. Beyond this, a long-term policy must be crafted to keep the problem from recurring — steady onion supply, punitive measures against hoarders and even smugglers, support for local farmers, and other measures that will benefit the public.
Lastly, listen to the cries of consumers. (AJDB)
