DTI-Laguna intensifies price monitoring in partnership with DOLE-GIP

Victoria, Laguna – The Department of Trade and Industry – Laguna Provincial Office (DTI-Laguna), in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), conducted price and fair trade law (FTL) monitoring on January 4, 2023 in the first and second districts of Laguna with the support of DOLEs Government Internship Program (GIP).

Per DOLEs Department Order No. 204, Series of 2019, the GIP is a component of the KABATAAN: 2000 under Executive Order 139, Series of 1993, which gives chance to Filipino individuals aged 18 to 30 years old, at high school/senior high graduate or technical-vocational graduate, to immerse themselves in experiential learning and serve the general public through government projects and programs for three to six months.

DOLE-GIP also provides opportunity of employment to displaced individuals due to natural or man-made disasters and to unemployed due to laid-off or closure of establishment.

As part of DTI-Lagunas regular activities through its Consumer Protection Division (CPD), the monitoring initiatives aimed to ensure the prices of basic necessities and prime commodities under the jurisdiction of DTI are within the suggested retail prices (SRPs).

Eight newly hired GIP Price Monitors and two DTI-Laguna CPD Support Staff conducted monitoring in the following cities and municipalities in Laguna: Santa Rosa City, Calamba City, and Los Baños. At least 13 supermarkets, convenience stores, groceries, wet markets, and hardware were monitored and observed to be compliant with SRPs.

In addition to this, the price of red onion was also monitored in compliance with the order of His Excellency President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and the Memorandum from DTI’s Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual dated 30 December 2022.

One supermarket was found to be selling red onion at Php600.00 per kilo which is 140% higher than the SRP of Php250.00 per kilo set by the Department of Agriculture.

Moreover, as part of the FTL monitoring, one establishment that allegedly violated the Price Tag Law was warned and advised to attach price tags on items or put price tags on shelves and to arrange the items in accordance with their correct price tags. The establishments management immediately took corrective action for compliance.

Per Section 6-7 of the Republic Act (RA) 7851, otherwise known as the “Price Act”, the prices of the following basic necessities and prime commodities fall under the jurisdiction of DTI: canned fish and other marine products, processed milk, coffee, laundry soap, detergent, candles, bread, salt, potable water in bottles and containers, locally-manufactured instant noodles, flour, processed and canned pork, processed and canned beef and poultry meat, vinegar, fish sauce, soy sauce, toilet soap, paper, school supplies, cement, clinker, GI sheets, hollow blocks, construction supplies, batteries, electrical supplies, light bulbs, and steel wires (ALSLinga, DTI-Laguna).