DTI’s Diskwento Caravans visiting quake-hit Bohol areas

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) regional office will hold a series of Diskwento Caravans and will continue to monitor the prices of commodities in areas mostly affected by the Oct. 15 earthquake especially in Bohol.

“The aim is to bring prime commodities and basic necessities at discounted prices to consumers in Bohol, especially in areas most affected by the earthquake, said DTI regional director Asteria Caberte.

“This is to ensure that local consumers will have access to essential goods in the midst of the crisis they are facing,” Caberte added.

Last Thursday, the DTI’s Diskwento Caravan team visited Loon and yesterday in Antequera, Bohol. They are set to proceed to other areas like Maribojoc and Tubigon this week.

Caberte said that they are also closely coordinating with the Provincial Price Coordinating Council (PPCC) and the different local government units (LGUs) for the holding of the caravan.

“The caravan will be in Maribojoc on October 29 (Tuesday) and Tubigon on October 31 (Thursday),” she said.

Products that will be available in the Diskwento Caravans include food and personal care products like canned goods, coffee, milk, noodles, rice, biscuits, eggs, bread, dressed chicken, bottled water, bath soaps, shampoos and cleansing agents.

Caberte said they have also tapped local retailers for the caravan including the Alturas Group of Companies, Bohol Quality Corp., AH Shoppers’ Mart and Gardenia Bakeries Phils. Inc.

The National Food Authority (NFA) will also be there to sell NFA rice to consumers.

The Diskwento Caravan is a project of the DTI where basic necessities and prime commodities are sold at discounted prices to residents who don’t have easy access to these goods.

The project seeks to uphold the right of consumers to have access to basic goods, especially those belonging in marginalized communities.

Monitoring

Aside from that, DTI has also conducted a series of price monitoring to ensure that no one takes advantage of the current crisis.

Caberte said that as of October 21, the DTI’s price and supply monitoring teams have visited and checked 236 wet markets, supermarkets, and retail stores in the affected provinces and cities of Bohol and also in Cebu.

“Through the DTI’s Central Visayas regional office and provincial offices of Bohol and Cebu, several teams simultaneously monitored retail stores and establishments of basic necessities to ensure that there are adequate supplies of products and are available for sale to affected consumers,” said lawyer Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba, DTI-Consumer Welfare and Business Regulation Group (CWBRG) officer-in-charge.

The DTI also made sure that the retailers are selling these basic goods according to the list of prevailing prices that was released last Friday, Oct. 18.

Since the earthquake hit Bohol and Cebu, the DTI regional office in Central Visayas and its provincial offices were directed to closely monitor the price and supply of establishments distributing basic goods in affected areas.

“The DTI teams in Central Visayas have intensified their efforts in inspecting affected areas and in checking the wet markets, supermarkets, and other retailers that sell products that are commonly used by the public at this time,” said Caberte.

The DTI-Cebu teams monitored the establishments in the five cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Danao and Talisay; and in the six municipalities and a city of Cebu province namely Consolacion, Compostela, Liloan, Carmen, Catmon, Minglanilla, and Naga City.

In Bohol, their DTI teams also checked the retailers in Tagbilaran City and its 28 municipalities.

These are are Clarin, Cortes, Catigbian, Alburquerque, Ubay, San Miguel, Talibon, Sevilla, Batuan, Bilar; Carmen, Corella, Balilihan, Sikatuna, Dagohoy, Getafe, Trinidad, Loboc, Loon, Maribojoc, San Isidro, Calape, Buenavista, Inabanga, Tubigon, Baclayon, Sagbayan, and, Antequera.

Caberte said 30 retailers were caught selling basic goods past the dictated prices.

She said the retailers were given notices of violation and were told to explain why they were selling more than the prevailing price.