ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 2 Nov) – Mayor John Dalipe implemented on Wednesday a 60-day price freeze on basic commodities in the city following the devastation wrought by Typhoon “Paeng,” which displaced over 10,000 families and causing damage to infrastructure worth P121 million.
The mayor gave his nod on the price freeze during an emergency meeting of the Local Price Coordinating Council (LPCC), which he chairs, on All Souls’ Day.
“As local chief executive, I share the sentiments of my people. The aftermath brought by Typhoon ‘Paeng’ will go from one problem to another, this is why the resolution passed through the ZCLPCC is a step to ensure our people that the administration is proactive in assisting them in their recovery,” Dalipe told MindaNews.
The LPCC cited section 6 of Republic Act No. 7581, or The Price Act, as amended by R.A. No. 10623, which provides that “unless otherwise declared by the President, prices of basic commodities in an area shall automatically be frozen at their prevailing price or placed under automatic price control whenever, among others, the area is declared under a state of calamity or emergency.”
The Sangguniang Panlungsod passed on October 29 Resolution No. 1533, which placed the city in a state of calamity.
Basic necessities, according to the local office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), include rice, corn, root crops, processed milk, coffee, sugar, water in bottles and jars, bread, salt, fresh eggs, fresh vegetables and fruits, canned fish and other marine products, locally manufactured instant noodles, fresh and dried fish and other marine products, fresh pork, beef, poultry products, cooking oil, candles, laundry soap and detergents, firewood, charcoal, and drugs classified as essential by the Department of Health (DOH).
Dalipe stressed that business establishments that are non-compliant shall be charged under R.A. 7581 for profiteering. The same law punishes anyone for hoarding, especially of essential commodities.
The Price Act distinguishes essential necessities from basic commodities. The former include flour, dairy products not falling under basic necessities, onions, garlic, vinegar, patis, soy sauce, toilet soap, fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides, poultry, livestock and fishery feeds and veterinary products, paper, school supplies, nipa shingles, sawali, cement, clinker, GI sheets, hollow blocks, plywood, plyboard, construction nails, batteries, electrical supplies, light bulbs, steel wire, all drugs not classified as essential drugs by the Department of Health, and such other goods as may be included under the mechanism established by the Price Act.
Meanwhile, Dr. Elmeir Jade Apolinario, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said over 10,000 families, or about 60,000 individuals, from 50 barangays have been affected by the typhoon.
The hardest hit barangays, he said, are Ayala, Tulungatong, Tugbungan, Tumaga, and Putik.
“Home-based tagging is ongoing, and figures of affected families are expected to go up to 35,000, translating to 100,000 individuals,” Apolinario said. He pointed out that not all are in the 42 identified evacuation sites.
Typhoon Paeng’s damage to Zamboanga City so far totaled at P121 million pesos in infrastructure, P1.86 million in agricultural crops, 44.4 hectares of rice fields and vegetable farms. (Frencie L. Carreon / MindaNews)
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