Cebu City eyes return of price control and monitoring council
Strings of chorizo de Cebu on display at the meat section of Carbon Public Market, Cebu City’s main public market. | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City government may bring back the local price control council to help monitor and control the price of retail products in the markets.
Irvin Cabales, Market Operations Division head, said in a press conference today, Feb. 4, that Councilor Renato Osmeña Jr. would want to revive the Local Price Control and Monitoring Council amid the rising prices of pork products.
Cabales said that Market Authority Council was concerned with the sudden rise of prices of pork products due to the African Swine Fever (ASF) threat in the country.
The decrease in supply of pork to Cebu City has ramped up the price to almost P300 a kilo with little fluctuations in the past days.
Read: Expect price fluctuations in pork products following ban — MOD
As of now, the city has no control over the pricing of the products in the market and only implements the price control set by the Department of Trade and Industries (DTI).
This little to no control on the pricing of the products have allowed the suppliers and vendors to set the price of the commodities on their own within the bounds of the DTI price freeze.
This should not be as MOD said the price must be aligned with the supply and demand.
Read: Increase in prices of pork due to ASF ban — DVMF
Cabales said that supplies could not be kept simply to rack up the price of a certain commodity.
The MOD also said that they do not have a foothold on the supply and demand in the major markets such as Carbon and Pasil as there is no agency monitoring the actual supply in these markets.
The local price control and monitoring council would not only constantly monitor the price points in the different markets, it will also recommend sanctions for vendors selling products that are overpriced.
“Macontrol nato ang presyo. Di ta magpataka og pasaka sa presyo sa mga gipamaligya,” said Cabales.
(We can control the price. We cannot just set any increase in price to our products.)
The return of this local price and monitoring council will need to be discussed by City Council prior to its formation. Councilor Osmeña is set to recommend its revival in the city council soon. /dbs
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