The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) yesterday urged consumers to do early holiday shopping to avoid crowding in shopping malls, wet markets and grocery stores.
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said Filipinos will have to forgo the “holiday rush” traditions of years past.
The DTI has confirmed there will be no increases in the suggested retail prices (SRP) of processed food products during the holiday season.
The list of SRPs covers processed food products commonly used for Noche Buena and New Year’s Eve, such as ham, spaghetti pasta, tomato sauce, fruit cocktails, cheese products, mayonnaise, and Quezo de Bola.
Lopez added early shopping will ensure social distancing is observed in stores and lower the risk of exposure to the virus.”
Proponents of Ingat Angat Tayong Lahat campaign that include the country’s biggest companies and brands expressed optimism the holidays will help boost efforts to build consumer confidence to help restart the economy.
The consortium said he adoption of the StaySafe PH system (https://www.staysafe.ph/) by over 40,000 establishments and 120,000 private companies for employee and customer tracing is another welcome development. Establishments that have adopted StaySafe include SM, Ayala companies, Jollibee, and McDonald’s.
StaySafe PH is a community-driven contact tracing, health condition reporting and social distancing system donated to the Philippine government and intended to replace the manual method of filling up contact tracing forms.
The StaySafe PH system is the only contact-tracing platform that is linked to the Department of Health’s Covid-Kaya contract-tracing reporting system for use by epidemiology and surveillance officers, health care providers and laboratory-based users.
