MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker from Quezon City has filed a resolution urging the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to closely monitor the prices of noche buena and media noche goods.
In House Resolution 612, Quezon City Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas also asked manufacturers and sellers to observe the recommended price ceiling for basic commodities “for the benefit of the Filipino people during the holidays amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Two years have passed since the COVID-19 public health crisis began and the country is only beginning to slowly recover from its economic losses... as new fiscal and economic reforms and policies are being rolled out by the current administration,” he said.
But apart from the pandemic, the resolution showed that Filipinos also face the “challenges of rising prices of basic goods brought about by inflation.”
The resolution cited a DTI report on its Noche Buena Price Guide that 195 out of the 223 noche buena products have raised prices, with nearly half raising prices by more than 10 percent.
It also invoked the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, the Price Act and the DTI, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Health, which issued Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2020-01.
The circular imposes “price freeze under a State of Calamity throughout the Philippines due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019.”
Vargas added it is now “imperative” for the government to regulate these prices “under the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, to help Filipino consumers while also protecting the rights and income of manufacturers and sellers.”