Villafuerte wants better law against profiteers, hoarders
As DTI sets price freeze in CamSur, other Kristine-hit areas.
AS the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) ordered a price freeze in at least two dozen areas placed under a state of calamity following last week’s onslaught of severe tropical storm Kristine, Camarines Sur Rep. and former Gov. LRay Villafuerte on Friday said he wants the 19th Congress to make it easier and quicker for the Marcos administration to prevent undue spikes in commodity prices during natural disasters such as last week’s typhoon that unleashed record rainfall leading to above-head or roof-level floods in Camarines Sur and other places.
Villafuerte, who is president of the National Unity Party (NUP), is pushing the congressional approval of House Bill (HB) No. 7977, which aims to empower the Price Coordinating Council (PCC) or any of its member-agencies to expand on their own the list of food and non-food items to be covered by a price freeze whenever any natural disaster or calamity calls for it.
A three-term governor of CamSur prior to his election as congressman of the province’s second legislative district, Villafuerte appealed to his fellow lawmakers to act on this proposed amendatory law to Republic Act (RA) No. 7581, or the “Price Act” of 1992, when both the House of Representatives and Senate reopen this month following the Sept. 28-Nov. 3 break of the 19th Congress.
Villafuerte said that, “HB 7977 seeks to empower the PCC to make motu propio (on its own) adjustments in the number of basic necessities and prime commodities (BNPC), provided such inclusions in or expansions of the BNPC list has prior approval of the President.”
“Such an amendatory law to RA 7581, to be known as the ‘Expanded Basic Necessities and Prime Commodities Act,’ will further protect consumers against hoarding, profiteering and other forms of price manipulation in the wake of super typhoons and other natural disasters or emergencies,” Villafuerte said.
Work in government offices and classes in all levels were suspended for three days in the National Capital Region (NCR) and the rest of Luzon as “Kristine” (international name: Trami) last week pummeled Metro Manila along with CamSur and over 50 more provinces across the country.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in a Facebook post last Oct. 25, reported that a price freeze on BNPCs had been imposed for two months in provinces, including CamSur, cities and municipalities that had all been placed under a state of calamity by their respective local government units (LGUs) following the devastation caused by Kristine.
In a press briefing, DTI Acting Secretary Cristina Aldeguer-Roque said the agency has been aggressively monitoring the pricing of goods as “a 60-day price freeze on all basic commodities” had been declared in the areas placed under a state of calamity.
As of Nov. 1, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on its website that a state of calamity had been declared in 220 cities and municipalities.
“The DTI under the Marcos administration is committed to protecting consumers during this challenging time … In close coordination with the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD), we are prepared to enforce the automatic price freeze that accompanies any state of calamity declaration. The DTI will take strong action against any violations, which may include administrative cases and fines,” Aldeguer-Roque said.
Once a state of calamity is declared in particular areas, Villafuerte explained that RA 7581, as amended, mandates a 60-day automatic price freeze in these places on products under its purview, such as locally manufactured instant noodles, canned fish, bottled water, bread, processed milk, coffee, salt, candles, detergent and laundry soap.
According to the DTI’s Consumer Protection and Advocacy Bureau (CPAB), other “Price Act” implementing agencies are responsible for ensuring price stability and sufficient supply within their respective areas of jurisdiction.
For example, said the DTI-CPAB, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is tasked to oversee the prices and supply of rice, corn, cooking oil, fresh, dried and other marine products, fresh eggs, fresh pork, beef and poultry meat, fresh milk, fresh vegetables, root crops, sugar, and fresh fruits; while the Department of Health (DOH) is in-charge of monitoring the prices of essential drugs.
The price freeze shall remain in effect for 60 days, unless lifted sooner by the President.
Early evacuation efforts were mounted by the CamSur provincial government in the areas prone to flooding, landslides and storm surges, but the effects of “Kristine” were worse than expected, said Villafuerte, as certain places where floodwaters used to reach knee-level only in the past 30 years last week experienced floods as high as above-head or roof levels.
Villafuerte explained that, “New legislation is necessary to authorize the PCC or any of its member-agencies to include or exclude by motu propio specific goods from the list of BNPCs subject to price control for the duration of any emergency or natural- or man-made calamity, such as typhoon Kristine, which unleashed the worst rainstorms and flashfloods in Bicol in decades.”
The DTI heads the PCC as provided under RA 7581, as amended by RA No. 10623 or an “Act providing Protection to Consumers by Stabilizing the Prices of BNPCs and by prescribing Measures against Undue Price Increases during Emergency Situations and like Occasions.”
For Villafuerte, “An easier-to-declare price freeze on BNPCs, as envisioned under HB 7977, will best ensure that basic goods will remain affordable and accessible to people in areas affected by natural disasters or other emergencies.”
He said that HB 7977 aims “to initially expand the list of commodities to be covered by price control by including these four goods by virtue of their mass and necessary usage: potable water, kerosene, liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and instant noodles.”
Considered as “prime commodities” under the “Price Act” are fresh fruits; flour; dried, processed or canned pork; beef and poultry meat; dairy products not falling under basic necessities; noodles; onions; garlic; vinegar; patis; soy sauce; toilet soap; fertilizer; pesticides; herbicides; poultry; swine and cattle feeds; veterinary products for poultry, swine, and cattle; paper; school supplies; nipa shingles; sawali; cement; clinker; GI sheets; hollow blocks; plywood; ply board; construction nails; batteries; electrical supplies; light bulbs; and steel wire.
Also included on the BNPC list are all medicines classified as essential drugs by the DOH.
Villafuerte explained that, “HB 7977 thus aims to expand the definition of BNPC through the inclusion of other goods deemed to be necessities under certain situations identified in the law.”
“This proposed amendatory law also provides a mechanism for greater flexibility in their respective coverage through administrative fiat, without the need for legislative enactment,” he said.
Villafuerte, who had authored this proposed amendatory law to the “Price Act” with Bicol Saro Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan, said this measure aims to reaffirm the State policy “to provide effective and sufficient protection to consumers against hoarding and profiteering in the sale and marketing of said goods, especially during calamities and emergencies.”
HB 7977 seeks to rewrite or replace Section 4 of RA 7581 with the following paragraph: “Upon petition of the concerned parties or by motu propio action of the concerned agency of the price coordinating council and after public hearing, the implementing agency, with the approval of the President, may include in the definition of basic necessities or of prime commodities types and brands of goods or may exclude from the coverage of this Act, types or brands of the goods included in the definition of necessities and prime commodities, which may be deemed as non-essential goods or luxury goods: Provided, that, any type or brand excluded may be reinstated by the implementing agency during occasions of acute shortage in the supply of the basic necessity or prime commodity to which the excluded type or brand used to belong or in times of an of the cases provided in Section 6 or 7 of this act.”
The Price Act of 1992 created a PCC composed of the Secretaries of the DTI, DOH, DA and Departments of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), of Transportation DOTr, of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and of Justice (DOJ); the Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA); and one representative each from the consumers’ sector, agricultural producers’ sector, trading sector, and manufacturers’ sector, to be appointed by the President for a term of one year.
