• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Following the declaration of a state of calamity in Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental, the Department of Trade and Industry has approved its request to implement a price freeze on basic commodities.
Mayor Benjie Miranda requested the DTI to impose a price freeze in Kabankalan City to control the prices of commodities.
Under Republic Act 10121, the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, the DTI is mandated to impose a price freeze on basic commodities to prevent price skyrocketing and hoarding.
Miranda said the price freeze will ensure that business establishments in Kabankalan City will not take advantage of the crisis affecting the residents.
In her letter to the mayor, Lyna Joy Cardinal, DTI-Negros Occidental head, submitted a list of commodities covered by an Automatic Price Ceiling.
A report by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist shows Kabankalan City as the locality hardest hit by the drought, with P99,624,716.80 worth of damage to its rice land.
The drought also affected 20 barangays and 3,430 farmers, tilling 2,355.11 hectares of rice lands.
A price freeze on basic commodities has also taken effect in Negros Oriental, after the province was placed under a state of calamity due to the drought.*
