MANILA – Reported violations of the Agriculture Department’s suggested retail prices (SRP) for agricultural products and a range of basic commodities could be due to bad weather in the past few days, a Trade official said over the weekend.
Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez told Super Radyo dzBB’s Francis Flores that the agency received reports that prices of some products specified within the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) SRP have gone way up.
Vegetable prices, particularly, have increased beyond the SRP, for instance the price of red onions soared to P120 from P95 a kilo.
But Lopez said days of widespread heavy rains from enhanced Habagat in the last three days may have impacted on the transport of agriculture products.
“Batay sa monitoring ng DTI, may ilang items na nagtataas ng presyo not within the SRP. Dahil sa sunod-sunod ang ulan sa nakaraang tatlong araw, nagkukulang ang supply … naiipit ang delivery kaya affected ang presyo,” Lopez said.
But he said DTI personnel will check on warehouses and depots to check on the level of supplies, and possibly the agency could suggest ways to facilitate the transport of the products from the farm to the markets.
Lopez also hinted at suggesting to the DA to designate government-initiated market outlets of products within the SRP.
Moreover, Lopez said that the DTI was supposed to launch a program to accredit public markets and big sari-sari stores that would carry agriculture products and basic commodities within the SRP list.
He reiterated his warning to market stores found violating the SRP, for selling at prices way beyond what is suggested, that fines could range from P5,000 to P1,000,000.
According to him, DTI is intensifying monitoring efforts from 400 to 600 visited outlets a day. (GMA News)
