School supplies: DTI Cebu monitors prices as classes draw near

The DTI will closely monitor establishments selling school supplies, including those in the downtown area. (FILE PHOTO)

CEBU CITY, Philippines — With only a few days before the classes for the School Year 2024-2025 starts, the Department of Trade and Industry here has already been monitoring the prices of the school supplies.

Ines Cajegas, chief trade industry development specialist of the Consumer Protection Division of DTI Cebu Province, told CDN Digital that the agency started monitoring the ‘back to school’ necessities as early as the first week of July.

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Cajegas said that the DTI Central Office has issued the ‘Gabay sa Pamimili ng School Supplies’ which is a guide for the consumers when they buy school supplies.

She clarified that the guide is not the same as the suggested retail price (SRP) since SRP refers to the price they capped on certain items.

With over a hundred items listed on their price guide, the agency hopes that it would help the consumers when they purchase them.

Check these things when buying

Among the items that are included in their guide include notebooks, pencils, pad papers, ballpens, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, and crayons.

According to DTI, in buying pad papers, the consumers must check the total number of leaves or pages, type of paper, its brand name or trademark, name and address of the manufacturer, converter, or importer, and the country where the product was made.

In buying crayons, the consumers must check the brand name or trademark, total number of crayons inside the box, name and address of the manufacturer, and the word “non-toxic” which indicates that the product was tested for its toxicity level approved by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), and the country where the product was made.

Meanwhile, in buying pencils, the consumers must check if it has a brand name or trademark, hardness symbol (1, 2, 3), and the country where the product was made.

Lastly, in buying ballpens, the consumers must see if it has a brand name or trademark, tip classification (fine, medium, etc.), and the name and address of the manufacturer.

Stocks of school supplies in Cebu City

Cajegas said the school supplies stores in downtown Cebu City, sometimes dubbed as ‘go-to’ stores when buying school supplies, have abundance in stocks.

She also noted that some items have increased in prices, although she did not specify which items, she said the increase was not significant as it can be attributed to inflation. Some of these have increased by centavos.

“But ang kaning gibaligya karon diha sa atoang mga school supplies stores are selling it below sa katong gi-set sa Gabay,” Cajegas.

(But the ones sold now in our school supplies stores are selling it below the set guidelines.)

Moreover, Cajegas said they had not monitored stores that sell overpriced items during the span of their monitoring period earlier this month.

“We haven’t received any complaints (of overpricing),” she said.

Since the classes of public schools will begin next week, July 29, Cajegas said they observed that the number of buyers have not surged yet.

“Trend man gud nga modaghan ang buyer of school supplies, one week before and one week after the opening of classes because maghulat man na sila unsa’y ge-prescribe sa teacher, pila’y quantity, unsa’y description,” she said.

(It is the trend that there will be more buyers of school supplies, one week before and one week after the opening of classes because they will be waiting what the teacher will prescribe, how many and description.)

She added that some private schools might start their classes in August, hence the inflow of customers buying school supplies will vary.