PRICE monitoring operations of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Agriculture (DA) yesterday revealed many sellers in Farmers’ Market in Cubao, Quezon City are in violation of the price freeze, the DTI said in a statement.
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said the marked-up prices were due to the challenges faced during the first few days of implementation of checkpoints in different local government units (LGUs). But Lopez assured these challenges have been addressed in the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases meetings.
The DTI and the DA are working with LGUs to ensure the proper implementation of the price freeze on basic necessities and prime commodities.
“We are continuously coordinating at the local level, with the help of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, to ensure the harmonized implementation of the IATF guidelines on the unhampered movement of cargo. Improvements have been reported since Friday of last week and we expect the continuation of this for the following days,” Lopez said.
He added: “After talking to sellers and market masters, we have learned that there are suppliers who sell these goods at the current retail price. In effect, sellers are forced to increase the prices to still gain some profit. This is why we are calling on traders and suppliers to sell goods at a reasonable price in consideration to our local sellers.”
DA Secretary William Dar said farmgate prices of products such as chicken are already below the cost of production, so suppliers should not sell them at such high prices. To address this, DA coordinated with market masters to provide them a list of suppliers that are providing reasonable prices.
Dar urged city chiefs of public markets to implement the Local Price Coordinating Council mechanism, which allows local enforcement units to strictly ensure the price freeze in their respective areas.
During the inspection of nearby supermarkets, such as Wellcome Farmers Plaza and Puregold Araneta, Lopez observed these establishments were in compliance with the price freeze and had sufficient supply on their shelves.
Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2020-01 issued last March 18, 2020 provides that prices of all agricultural and manufactured basic goods, essential medicines and medical supplies, were frozen at their prevailing prices for 60 days from the declaration of the state of calamity on March 16, 2020, unless sooner lifted by the President
