Opinion > Columns
The onion conundrum: Smuggling or hoarding?

NAKED THOUGHT

SOCIAL media has been tickled of late by a handful of vloggers afflicted with a messianic complex, this time linking first lady Liza Araneta Marcos, or LAM, to a Chinese firm alleged to be involved in the smuggling of onions.

Their basis for linking LAM was a letterhead supposedly used by the Chinese firm bearing the name of the directors of the former law firm of the first lady. Some of the vloggers even went so far as to deduce that the reported owner of the Chinese firm, a certain Michael Ma, is actually LAM's brother, the last name Ma standing for Martin Araneta. So fertile an imagination for these vloggers.

A vendor holds giant onions imported from an unknown location at the Marikina City Public Market in Jan. 23, 2023. PHOTO BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE