SEN. Francis Pangilinan on Monday alerted concerned agencies against onion smuggling amid the upcoming harvest season in February. The senator called on the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Customs to intensify their anti-smuggling operations to protect local farmers. He issued the warning as onion harvest season is set to begin in February and ends in May. This is the period when illegal importers “time their illicit shipments to flood the market, causing prices to crash and hurting local producers,” he said. Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, said illegal importation of agricultural products undermines local farmers and distorts market prices. He said that the influx of smuggled onions during harvest periods “resulted in depressed farmgate prices, causing significant losses for Filipino onion growers.”