Manila: Dina Gakula Odo did not bring any branded Emirati chocolates or scented soaps as gifts when she visited her family in the Philippines last month; Instead, she came up with something that her fans now pretty much value as onions.

Odo, an office assistant at a Dubai hypermarket, has joined a large number of other Filipino expats in the UAE who are reinventing the pasalubong concept by packing their luggage full of the staple, which now costs $12 per Kilogram.

"It's really very expensive here. Because of its price, it's like gold now." It costs only 3 dirhams (or 80 cents) per kilogram in Dubai.

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The price of onions, often used in many local dishes, has more than quadrupled in the past four months, and the Philippine government has been issuing warnings about dwindling supplies since August.

After parliamentarians presented a resolution against the illegal onion trade, the government also launched an investigation into grower associations.

The purchase of more than 21,000 metric tons of the vegetable was authorized this week by President Ferdinand Marcos to immediately deal with the situation, and it is estimated to arrive in the Philippines by the end of January.

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But right now, 1kg of onions is still three times as expensive as 1kg of meat, and Filipinos living abroad are organizing to support their families.

According to April Manuel, who also works in Dubai, onions are "very handy and portable," and she suggests that everyone bring them when they move back home. He further said, 'Now the family will be happy with onion and not chocolate.

Some, like Mitzi Pangniban, a dental assistant who has lived in Dubai for the past 16 years, recently wished she could buy more onions when hosting her mother-in-law, and refrained from packing chocolate in her luggage for the first time.

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He said, "I packed 2 kilos of it to take home; it is about 6 dirhams." I should have made it 4 kilos.