The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), in collaboration with the Metro Manila Council and the Department of Trade and Industry, has started monitoring of retail prices of consumer goods in public markets within the National Capital Region to determine if they comply with government-suggested retail prices (SRP).
On Tuesday, the MMDA, together with local officials of San Juan City and DTI representatives visited the Agora public market.
The price monitoring team, headed by MMDA chairman Romando Artes, San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora and DTI assistant secretary for consumer protection Ann Claire Cabochan also looked at the vendors’ weighing scales.
Artes said the MMC, the governing board and the policy making body of the MMDA, will help ensure compliance with the SRP to protect consumers from unscrupulous retailers.
The MMC is composed of the 17 mayors in Metro Manila.
Mayor Zamora said he initiated the inspection in Agora market to assure consumers of protection from profiteering.
“I want to make sure that our constituents are not being sold overpriced commodities,” Zamora explained, adding that the city government has a Local Price Coordinating Council (LPCC) tasked to monitor the supply and prices of basic food items.
Based on the latest price monitoring, the SRP of imported red onions is ₱125 per kilogram, which covers medium and large-sized onions.
After the inspection, the authorities served two notices of violation against some of the retailers at Agora Public Market due to failure to comply with the SRP.
Agora is the only public market operating in San Juan.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that food prices in the Philippines increased by 10.7 percent year-on-year in January 2023, following a 10.2 percent gain in the previous month.
It was the highest food inflation since March 2009, due to higher prices of flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products and cereals (11.3 percent); fish and other seafood (6.7 percent); milk, dairy products sand eggs (11.3 percent); and fruits and nuts (9.8 percent).
