FILE PHOTO: People buy basic goods at a supermarket in Manila as the the Department of Trade, lead by Asec. Ann Claire Cabochan, lead an inspection to monitor prices of basic goods and commodities on Thursday. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
MANILA, Philippines — A group of manufacturers have assured the House of Representatives leadership that there would be no price increases for basic commodities, Deputy Majority Leader and ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo said.
Tulfo, in an ambush interview after he and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez met with grocery operators, retailers, and the manufacturing sector said that they got this assurance from farmers and producers like the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG).
READ: March inflation rate rose to 3.7% as rice price hikes hit 15-year high
According to Tulfo, he was instructed by Romualdez’s to meet with the sectors as the Speaker expressed concerns about the rise of basic commodities’ prices.
“Actually it was him asked who asked for this, to meet, when he was still in the US, he already called me up and said, ‘arrange a meeting with the producers, manufacturers, supermarket and retailers to see what the problem is,’ because he felt that because of the oil price increases, the cost of basic commodities would spike,” Tulfo said.
“And so far the assurance of our manufacturers to us was that they would not do price increases, it will be only at the level of retailers because of the added cost of transport and logistics,” he added.
When asked what products would not see price increases, Tulfo said basic commodities or products that are important to indigent consumers but not imported variants.
“Basic commodities. If you heard it, they were saying a while ago that the imported variants, those which are not really basic commodities, there will be increases. But insofar, if they can hold it off for the noodles, canned goods, there would be no price increase,” he said.
READ: Salceda reminds gov’t anew: Rice is key to battling inflation
Tulfo explained that price increases already occurred mainly because retailers complained that the added discounts for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens — which the House leadership pushed for — led to lower income.
“They already had a price increase, minor adjustment of one to two percent because of the fact that we gave way to the PWDs and our senior citizens who were asking for higher discounts so that they can cope with the inflation,” Tulfo said.
“They (manufacturers) did not give a timetable but I presume this depends on the manufacturers, (they said) they are not doing any adjustment. For supermarkets as far as I believe they can hold for a few more months — but as (Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association president) Stephen Cua said, for supermarkets, the price fluctuates like now that we have oil price rollbacks, they cannot implement price increases,” he added.
While headline inflation numbers have not been volatile in the past few months, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported in early April that inflation rose to 3.7 percent for March 2024. One of the major culprits for the slightly higher rates was rice prices — which saw a 15-year high.
According to House ways and means head and Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda, the government should be obsessed with rice as it will be key to battling inflation.