MANILA -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday ordered the phytosanitary inspection of smuggled onions to ensure their safety before they are released to the market.

“The problem with the onions we’ve been trying… since kasi ang dami nating nahahanap na smuggled onions, pinipilit kong ilabas diyan sa market [and] unfortunately, we do not know the source of these onions. So they all have to be inspected. Hindi puwedeng random,” President Marcos said in a Cabinet meeting.

The chief executive raised the need to tap third-party inspectors to conduct phytosanitary inspections to check for transboundary diseases.

Some of the confiscated onions were not fit for human consumption based on the previous inspections, the President said, as he pointed out that the cost of inspection is 5,000 per kilo, which is much higher than the value of the onion.

“So ‘yun lang ang quandary natin. We are trying to negotiate with third parties to do the inspection. But right now we are still reviewing all of that,” Marcos said.

“They really have to be very safe kasi just one batch na makalusot, maraming magkakasakit talaga. So that’s the situation there,” the chief executive pointed out

The price of the agricultural commodity skyrocketed to over P700 per kilo, with authorities blaming unscrupulous traders and hoarders for the unreasonable price of onion in the country.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) earlier said it is eyeing to donate the remaining shipments of seized agricultural products, including onions, to Kadiwa stores.

BoC Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz, in a press conference on December 28, said more than 500 container vans of smuggled agricultural items are still at the ports where they were confiscated.

The Marcos administration has launched the Kadiwa program to allow the public to buy agricultural products at cheaper prices amid the rising costs of basic goods.

Under the “Kadiwa ng Pasko” program, farmers, fishermen and microentrepreneurs were allowed to sell their products directly to the public. (PCO)