CABERTE
FIVE government agencies will compose the core of the Cebu Provincial Price Coordinating Council (CPPCC) whose main task is to ensure that unscrupulous traders will not exploit the current high inflation rate to jack up the prices of their goods.
The council, which consists of several government agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the National Food Authority (NFA) among others, met yesterday to plot strategies on how to effectively monitor the prices of goods.
DTI-7 Regional Director Asteria Caberte talked about Republic Act 7581, also known as the Price Act as a way to deter price manipulators.
The Price Act mandates that the prices of basic necessities and prime commodities should be stabilized to protect consumers.
Basic necessities, according to the act, are goods vital to the needs of consumers for their sustenance and existence immediately after a calamity, while prime commodities are goods not necessarily considered vital but are still essential.
Basic necessities include, but are not limited to rice, corn, bread, fish and drugs classified as essential by the DOH.
Prime commodities are fresh fruits, school supplies, pesticides, electric supplies and drugs not classified as essential by the DOH.
Caberte said that the most important thing about the Act however, is that it protects consumers against undue price increases as well as against hoarding, profiteering and cartel.
Bone Helberth Obrero of the DOH suggested to the council to adopt the agency’s Electronic Drug Price Monitoring System (EDPMS) to combat overpricing.
The EDPMS is an electronic price monitoring software that allows the user to compare the prices of medical drugs within his immediate area.
Users would type in the generic name of the drug they want to purchase, and the system would show the stores that sell that drug as well as the suggested retail price.
Obrero said that through the system, they can monitor whether some drugstores are jacking up their prices.
Meanwhile, Elisa Ocampo, the DOE representative also shared that it is very important to monitor the prices of diesel products since these are subjected to several adjustments.
Since January she said, the DOE has recorded a total of 35 price movements, with 25 being increases, and only 10 being rollbacks.
“The net price adjustment for gasoline is P10.72, and P10.83 for diesel,” said Ocampo.
Meanwhile, Diocano Alojad, the assistant regional director of the NFA clarified in the meeting, that there is sufficient supply of rice in the region and that it is just the distribution of the staple that is the problem.