Protesters vs high prices of goods hurl receipts at DTI office

Militant women protesting against the soaring prices of basic goods hurled receipts at the main office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Makati City on Monday. A report of radio dzBB's Denver Trinidad said members of the women's group Gabriela said the DTI should be taking steps to protect Filipino consumers from soaring prices. The report said the protesters also called on government to impose price control on basic goods. Gabriela spokeswoman Cynthia Felicia said the DTI should be known as the "Department of Taas ng Presyo, Inutil (a useless department against price hikes)." Earlier, the DTI said sugar prices should be going down this week as the milling season goes full blast, after reaching levels of as high as P72 per kilo last weekend. DTI Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya also said her department has started monitoring prices of coffee, sugar, milk and cooking oil – whose prices had recently gone up - to thwart profiteers. Maglaya said the high price of sugar was due to the late start of the milling season, no thanks to the dry spells brought by El Niño last year. However, she said they are still waiting for the SRA to provide figures on how much the suggested price of sugar should be. “Sabi naman ng SRA, itong linggo na ito ay makakakita tayo ng lalong pagbaba sa presyo (The Sugar Regulatory Administration already said we can expect prices to go down this week), she said. Meanwhile, Maglaya said the DTI has started closely monitoring prices of sugar, coffee and milk, after some manufacturers of these products raised their prices. She said some coffee makers had advised the DTI that they will raise the prices of their products starting March 1 by about four to five percent. This was due to the high prices of coffee beans in the international market, she said. Makers of cooking oil had increased prices due to the high prices of copra, Maglaya said. Some milk manufacturers also increased the prices of some products by as much as five percent. At least one maker of processed meat also hiked prices but said the price adjustment was less than five percent. “Binabantayan natin ang pagsasamantala. So far maayos, ang presyo malinaw, walang dahilan para mag-impose ng price control. Walang kakulangan din, talagang mataas lang ang presyo," Maglaya said. (We are keeping watch against profiteers. So far there has been no sign of profiteering. There is also no shortage of these basic goods. It is just that the prices of these items had gone up.) – VVP, GMA News