The Department of Agriculture (DA) intensified its crackdown on erring food retailers on Wednesday, issuing show-cause orders to a pork vendor and several onion sellers at Manila’s Obrero Market for charging prices above the Maximum Suggested Retail Price (MSRP).
A day earlier, a DA market monitoring team led by Assistant Secretary Genevieve Velicaria-Guevarra, head of Agribusiness, Marketing, and Consumer Affairs, together with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), served similar notices to two onion vendors at Mega Q Mart in Quezon City for the same violation.
The orders require vendors to explain why they are selling onions and pork above MSRP—a move the DA said is meant to curb profiteering and protect consumers.
“This is just the first of several show-cause orders we will issue in the coming days,” said Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr.
“We know the market prices of imported onions, and our MSRP provides fair returns to sellers. The same applies to pork—our price ceilings ensure that every player in the value chain earns a reasonable income.”
The DA has set the MSRP at P150 per kilo for red onions and P120 per kilo for yellow onions—prices it says balance the interests of importers, traders, and retailers while keeping a staple affordable for Filipino households.
Prior to the imposition of the MSRP, onion prices had spiked to as high as P300 per kilo.
DA price monitoring in coordination with the Philippine National Police showed that although some retailers continue to sell above the MSRP, red onion prices have eased significantly, falling from their peak levels to around P150 to P240 per kilo.
For pork, the MSRP is P370 per kilo for liempo and P330 per kilo for pigue or kasim.
The enforcement drive is not limited to retailers. Velicaria-Guevarra stressed that distributors are also under scrutiny to prevent price inflation caused by profiteering or anti-competitive practices such as cartelization.
Vendors who received show-cause orders have three days to respond, she added, noting that their explanations will guide the DA, the DTI, and other agencies in determining the appropriate next steps. “We will engage every player in the value chain to verify the information we have,” Velicaria-Guevarra said.
