The Alliance of Concerned Consumers in Electricity and Social Services (ACCESS), led by its president Wennie Sancho, is urging the city and provincial government to activate the Price Monitoring Councils under RA 10623 which mandates the protection to consumers by stabilizing the prices of basic necessities and prime commodities and prescribing measures against undue price increases during emergency situations.
Sancho urged the need for immediate action. The city and provincial government officials must convene for an emergency meeting with the stakeholders to discuss price stabilization amid the unabated increases in the prices of basic goods and services that was exacerbated by the sudden increases in the prices of petroleum products. There should be a formation of a task force to monitor prices, supply chains, and the energy market.
As part of its public awareness campaign, the government should educate the citizens about its initiative and price stabilization efforts to protect the welfare of the people, he said in the press release.
Sancho claims that we are facing an economic downturn or crisis that affects the economic survival of the population. The continued deterioration of the workers purchasing power due to inflation had greatly reduced the real value of the peso.
If the purchasing power of the workers would collapse, we will be facing an economic depression that would wreak havoc on the lives of the people, particularly the marginalized sector, he said.
ACCESS strongly suggests that concrete measures in the form of economic relief should be implemented by the government.
Price control and regulation is necessary by establishing a price ceiling for essential commodities to prevent profiteering, Sancho added.*