Gov’t asks supermarkets for emergency bulk purchasing centers

MANILA, Philippines — The government is asking supermarkets and distributors of consumer goods, especially food items, to put up bulk purchasing centers in times of calamity to cater to bulk buyers of relief goods and ensure adequate supplies are available to ordinary food shoppers, Trade Secretary Gregory Doming said Friday.

Domingo said price monitoring activities by his department on Thursday showed that ordinary buyers left with small or inadequate supplies in supermarkets and grocery stores were left with the impression that the establishments’ supplies had been wiped out by food hoarders and panic buyers when in fact the supplies were purchased for relief operations.

There will also be a Web site listing distributors and manufacturers’ information to aid buyers of relief goods in bulk, Domingo said.

Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said the Web site may be ready in two weeks and a command center will be set up in anticipation of future natural disasters.