Gas gone, food dwindling in Baguio City

Dwindling supplies have pushed prices of basic necessities in Baguio City sky-high, as main access roads to the city continue to be impassable to motorists. Meanwhile, as of 3 p.m. Sunday, all Petron gasoline stations in Baguio City had no more diesel, unleaded gas and kerosene products for sale. According to Feliz Perez, who has been preparing food for evacuees in the city and Benguet, food prices have been increasing every day since Naguilian Road, Marcos Highway and Kennon Road were closed by landslides at the height of typhoon "Pepeng." As of Sunday, cabbage has gone from P30 to P60, while wombok (Chinese pechay) went from P35 to P100 per kilo. “Carrots and broccoli are at about P100 per kilo and even higher. Button mushrooms were P200 a kilo yesterday," she said in an email, adding that they stopped buying the mushrooms the day before. Earlier, Baguio-based reporter Richard Buenaventura said that rice is already being sold at P60 per kilo. [See: Report: Rice at P60/kg, fuel stock runs low in Baguio City.] Going, going, gone Aside from rising prices, another local resident told GMANews.TV that other necessities are now running out. “Most of the meat sections are closed," the resident said, “at kakaunti rin ang nagtitinda ng isda (only a few are selling fish)." Local Petron supervisor Rene Azures said that their facilities have run out of fuel to sell after they had rationed it since Saturday. Azures also said that they did not increase the prices of their products at any time. But not doing so meant that supply was depleted even sooner. Since Friday, Kennon Road, Naguilian Road and Marcos Highway have been blocked by landslides triggered by Pepeng. The mountain resort city, a popular tourist destination, relies heavily on supplies from the outside, which has not been replenished since then. While Kennon Road was opened to motorists at 3 p.m. on Sunday, it is only open to light vehicles, and not to heavy supply trucks and gas tankers. - with reports from Arthur Allad-iw, GMANews.TV