Baguio mayor orders price watch

BAGUIO CITY: Mayor Mauricio Domogan ordered members of the Local Price Coordinating Council (LPCC) to strictly monitor prices of basic commodities in the Summer Capital to ensure that businessmen will not take advantage of the current crisis in the aftermath of Typhoon Ompong.

Domogan said that even without declaring a state of calamity in the city, the LPCC will intensify its monitoring activities to make sure that basic goods are sold at costs within the prescribed suggested retail price (SRP) posted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

He also requested the National Food Authority ( NFA) to cascade to the local governments their directives so the LGUs can compel rice retailers to sell regular and well milled rice at the prescribed prices.

The mayor said that If the retailers do not abide by the directives, like the other local chief executives, he would cancel outrightly their permits to do business until they comply with prevailing requirements. This is to make sure that people will have access to regular and well milled rice in the markets, he added.

“There is no reason for businessmen to claim that there is an unstable supply of basic commodities because most of the major roads have been opened to traffic right after the onslaught of Ompong. We appeal to our businessmen not to take advantage of the situation by unreasonably increasing the prices of basic goods so that our people, who are just beginning to recover from the calamity, will not be further affected,” Domogan said.

Earlier, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol assured Cordil- the volume of rice for delivery to the NFA outlets regionwide to guarantee availability of the staple in the egion.

If the daily allocation of NFA rice there is 2,000 bags daily, Piñol said that under existing rules, NFA is mandated to provide 10 percent of the said supply, thus, the increase in the allocation will help stabilize not only supply but also the pries of rice in the city.