The skyrocketing and uncontrollable price if onions and the sudden disappearance of white onions in the market today is just a reflection of leadership and capability of those who run the Department of Agriculture which unfortunately is being held by no less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Nobody as in not even one of those who voted for him could ever imagine the local siboyas bombay would reach a P350 per kilo mark and just when he announced an immediate price control that it will be pegged at P250 per kilo the prices soared to P650.00 a kilo.
Yet the agriculture department and President Marcos miserably failed to control the severe spike in the prices of onion. No one from among those retailers and suppliers of onions across the country listened or followed the order of the president.
He then added that those who will not follow the price control order he made would be prosecuted. To date, nobody has been prosecuted as there were literally no massive raids of warehouses that has been executed.
The non-compliance of his order and its failure to control the price of onions despite several pronouncements manifest only two things. One, Marcos is never in control and is a lame leader with no political will at all and second, Marcos or those people he has trusted are directly benefitting from the current price movements of onions.
One can only imagine how a leadership can survive and fare in a situation where nobody even dares follow simple orders.
While it is true that the current market price of onions is helping and benefitting the local farmers, the general consuming public including the food industry that has barely recovered from the pandemic and higher inflation last year are suffering.
Eventually, Marcos can only rely on the natural cycle of things where production will normalize and prices will eventually go back to normal. Meantime, he is merely a ministerial leader attempting to lead and successfully failing.
