Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte pushed for the approval of a bill that will make it easier for the government to impose price control on basic commodities when disaster strikes.
Villafuerte said there is an urgent need for the measure to be passed to prevent undue price spirals of food and other basic commodities when strong typhoons or other natural disasters occur.
Villafuerte called on his fellow legislators to consider the passage on the current third and final session of the 19th Congress of a bill that empowers the Price Coordinating Council (PCC) or any of its member-agencies to expand on their own the list of food and non-food items to be covered by a price freeze whenever there are emergency or calamity situations.
Villafuerte appealed for the approval of House Bill 7977, which seeks to amend Republic Act 7581 or the Price Act of 1992, on the heels of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)’s imposition of a price freeze following the July 24 declaration of a state of calamity in Metro Manila, which, along with four other Luzon regions, had been through unusually heavier rains brought by the southwest monsoon that was enhanced by Tropical Cyclone Carina, which was later reclassified into a super typhoon as it left the Philippines on its way to Taiwan. Maricel V. Cruz
Considered as “prime commodities” under the Price Act are fresh fruits; flour; dried, processed or canned pork; beef and poultry meat; dairy products not falling under basic necessities; noodles; onions; garlic; vinegar; patis; soy sauce; toilet soap; fertilizer; pesticides; herbicides; poultry; swine and cattle feeds; veterinary products for poultry, swine, and cattle; paper; school supplies; nipa shingles; sawali; cement; clinker; GI sheets; hollow blocks; plywood; ply board; construction nails; batteries; electrical supplies; light bulbs; and steel wire.
