Senator Loren Legarda has called urgent attention to the collapse of onion farm gate prices in Nueva Ecija and Occidental Mindoro, which plunged from ₱120–₱150 per kilogram in January 2026 to just ₱30–40 in February 2026, leaving farmers on the brink of economic loss while retail prices in Metro Manila remained disproportionately high.

Legarda emphasized that mistimed import arrivals, cold storage saturation, and anomalous shipments in Bulacan have compounded the crisis, exposing systemic failures in the supply chain.

On March 11, 2026, Legarda filed P.S. Resolution No. 344 directing the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform to investigate the adherence of the Department of Agriculture (DA), its attached agencies, and local governments to import calibration and cold storage guidelines. The resolution also seeks accountability for the proliferation of illegal imports and the recurring dominance of onion cartels.

“When farmers lose, the entire nation suffers. We cannot allow the sweat and sacrifice of our onion farmers to be wasted because of cartels and misguided policies,” Legarda said.

The resolution cites the steep decline in farm gate prices, the overlap of 4,000 metric tons of imports with peak harvest season, and the saturation of 82 percent of cold storage capacity, which denied farmers access to essential infrastructure. Despite DA’s earlier commitment to halt imports by January, Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) data confirmed Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearances (SPSICs) remained valid until February 15, 2026.

“Why allow importation at the height of harvest? The result is farm gate prices collapsing while market prices remain high. Traders profit, but farmers are left behind,” Legarda said.

Legarda’s resolution directs agencies to impose an immediate importation ban to prevent predatory pricing, audit the value chain to trace profit margins of cold storage operators and wholesalers, review storage capacity in Nueva Ecija and Occidental Mindoro, including the new Barangay Labangan facility, examine anomalous shipments in Bulacan, and assess other onion-producing areas nationwide for similar irregularities.

She also raised alarm over reports of illegally imported onions from China discovered in Bulacan, which created a “shadow supply” excluded from official BPI records. These illicit stocks, Legarda warned, artificially bloated market volume, suppressed farm gate prices, and highlighted lapses in border control and regulatory enforcement.

“If we do not dismantle the monopoly over cold storage and import permits, this crisis will repeat every year. Government must buy directly from farmers and build farmer-managed storage facilities so they can compete fairly,” Legarda said.

Legarda concluded that the resolution also calls for an automatic importation ban every December to prevent surplus during harvest, stricter enforcement against agricultural sabotage under RA 12022, direct government procurement of local harvests at a support price, the construction of farmer-managed cold storage facilities, and an investigation into the “prior booking” system that disadvantages farmers.