With the holiday season inching closer, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles over the weekend assured the public that the government has continuing measures to prevent increases in the prices of basic commodities.
In an online forum, the Palace official revealed that the government recognizes the need to continuously monitor the prices of basic goods, particularly food items, especially with the country still grappling with the effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“We want to prevent price manipulation, make sure there is no hoarding, to avoid situations wherein unscrupulous individuals can take advantage of artificial shortages of goods.”
“The DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) is monitoring the prices of not just food, but all products. Prices were initially ordered frozen at the onset of the pandemic, but even with price controls lifted the government continues to be conscious of the need to keep an eye on the prices of goods in the market,” said Nograles.
“We want to prevent price manipulation, make sure there is no hoarding, to avoid situations wherein unscrupulous individuals can take advantage of artificial shortages of goods.”
Nograles, who also chairs the government’s Zero Hunger Task Force (ZHTF), said that aside from monitoring the prices of food staples like rice, the government was also taking steps to improve food production to ensure adequate food supplies during the holidays.
The former legislator pointed out that “making sure that food production is uninterrupted and supply chains are unimpeded are among our priorities to ensure adequate supplies and access to the market.”
“If these measures are in place, we can prevent price fluctuations that can hurt Filipino consumers.”
The Palace executive cited the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) e-Kadiwa program, a digital platform system that brings safe, healthy, and fresh farm produce direct from merchants to consumers in Metro Manila.
The government is also taking steps to improve food production to ensure adequate food supplies during the holidays.
Also mentioned by the Davao native was DELIVER-e, a program of the DA and DTI that aims to help Filipino farmers transport their produce to key markets.
The USAID-supported initiative is a digital platform that connects Luzon farmers to buyers through an innovative, end-to-end electronic market system that addresses supply chain gaps as a result of quarantine restrictions in the country.
According to the USAID website, since the program’s launch in early April, DELIVER-e “has enabled sales of more than 156,000 kilograms of fresh fruits and vegetables through its first two e-marketplaces, Gulay ng Bayan and City Farms Philippines, and facilitated the movement of fresh produce to institutional and individual buyers in Metro Manila.”
USAID worked closely with the DA, DTI, and the private sector, led by Philippine logistics technology startup Insight Supply Chain Solutions, to establish DELIVER-e.