PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
TUESDAY / JANUARY 28, 2020
IITI PRICE FREEZE
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By Maricar Cinco
@maricarcincolNQ
.ing to their homes, Maralo
The price freeze on basic com- said the DTI expected
modities remains in effect
despite a lower alert level on
Taal Volcano, the Department
of Tra{e and Industry (DTI)
said on Monday.
Noli Manalo of the DTI re-
gional price and monitoring
group reminded the public of
the pice freeze as the agency
expected a price surge in areas
in Batangas province placed
under an almost two week
lockdown.
The departmentwas close-
ly monitoring the supply and
price of canned goods, noo-
dles, bottled water and even
batteries-
Also covered by the
price freeze are zr8 basic
and essential medicines and
medical supplies, including
face masks, in areas affect-
ed by the eruption of Taal
Volcano.
As of Monday, the local
governments in Batangas had
lifted the lockdown order in
most of the r4 Taal lakeshore
towns and cities, except for
six villages in the towns of
Agoncillo and Laurel within
the 7-kilometer radius hazard
zone.
WWW.INQUIRER.NET
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tEUEt
Returning residents
return-
As tesidents began
house-
holds to have run out of food
it had been
and water sigrce
weeks since iibse to a million
people were evacuated.
The DTI also exPects a de-
mand for batteries since the
power suPPlY has Yet to be
fullv restored, while road fis-
sures and ash Piles could delaY
delivery trucks transporting
food items to these areas.
"we are to monitor next
the towns of Lemery, TaaI,
those Parts lof Batangas af-
fected'by the volcanic efup-
tion] where Price increases are
most likely to happen," Mana-.
lo said.
stores Profiteering
18
The DTI has so far
charged 18 retail stores with
profiteering from the sud-
den spike in demand for N95
masks.
It has tapped its Fair
Trade Enforcement Bureau
(FTEB) to monitor the Prices
and supply of N95 and surgi-
cal masks following the vol-
cano's eruption on Jan. 12, the
agency said in a statement on
Monday.
Twelve of the retail stores
are in Bambang, Santa cruz'
Manila, a go-to area fPr those
who want to buy qredical
suppli€s either in bulk' or Per
piece.
The DTI did not specify PenaltY
where the other six stores Lopez said erring estab-
were located- lishments would face an ad-
The figures, however, had ministrative penalty of uP to
not yet been updated as of P3oo,ooo, depending on the
press time to reflect the find-
ings, if
any, of the.agency's
gravity of the offense.
The government-imposed
surprise monitoring in Batan- price ceiling stays as long
gas on Monday. as Batangas and its adiacent
Trade secretary Ramon
Lopez was joined bv valenzue-
province, Cavite, are under a
state of calamity, according to
Manalo,
la City Rep. weslie Gatchalian
The same goes for emer-
in the "surprise" check ofbasic
and prime goods in Batangas
City, the province's capital.
gency medicines, like analge-
sics and antibiotics.
Over the past five days,
DTI teams have gone around
Notice ofviolation
The DTI said it had ear-
Santo Tomas City, Tanau-
lier given the retail stores a an city, Mataas na Kahoy,
notice of violation, demand-
Alitagtag, Cuenca, San Jose,
Ibaan, Balayan and Calaca-
ing an explanation within 48
hours.
mostly those outside the
Iocked down zones but
"Upon finding the explana-
tions to be not acceptable, the
housed thousands of evac-
to uees-and noticed an "in-
[notices] ripened lf]ormal crease by a few centavos" in
lc]harges against the erring es- the price of basic commodi-
tablishments lunder the Con-
ties, Manalo said.
sumer Act]," it said.
The stores were found vi-
Bulk buying
olating Article 52 of the Price
"During Days 1 to 4 lsince
Act, referring to unfair or un-
the Ian. 12 eruptionl, the sup-
conscionable sales act or prac-
ply lof basic goodsl also be-
tice.
came diffcult due to bulk buy-
A transaction canbe an un-
ing [of relief packs by donor
fair sale in a number of ways.
organirationsl within these
One of these, according to the
areas," Manalo said.
law, is when a business takes
The Department of Agri-
advantage of"the general con-
culture monitors the price of
ditions of the environment or
agricultural products like rice
surroundings"-a description
and pork in Batangas public
that perhaps fits perfectly to
markets. -wrs A REPoRT FRoM
the immediate reaction to the
eruption.
noY irepxer c. cltrtvgt tt're
The eruption, made worse o p\Ge -A*2"
by the fear of its consequenc-
es, had led to masks being
swept off the shelves of popu-
lar drugstores in a short time,
leaving consuners at the mer-
cy of retailers, who saw an
opportunity in the shortage to
overprice.
According to the DTI, the
FTEB reported that prices of
Ng5 masks iumped from Pso
to P18o per piece, as most es-
tablishments that were mon-
itored had claimed that the
products had already been
sold out.