QC waives market rental fees of meat retailers affected by price cap

NO PORK HOLIDAY HERE Meat vendors in Commonwealth Market, Quezon City adhere to the price ceiling order of the government for pork products on Tuesday, February 9, 2021. INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City local government will waive the rental fees of meat retailers in public markets who are unable to sell pork products due to President Rodrigo Duterte’s price cap order amid the steep production cost of meat products, as well as transportation.

“We have decided to waive their rental fees to help them cope with the current crisis, and we enjoin our private markets to do the same,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said as she and representatives of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) inspected pork prices in Commonwealth Market and Mega Q Mart on Tuesday.

Belmonte said that she has instructed the city’s Market Development and Administration Department (MDAD) to coordinate with market vendors on other forms of assistance they could be given while waiting for the subsidized supply of pork from the DA.

At the same time, the mayor warned meat vendors against overpricing.

“We are making sure that meat retailers do not take advantage of our consumers and we will intensify our monitoring and enforcement in order to protect our consumers’ rights,” Belmonte said.

“Our local price coordinating council which was activated in December 2019, will be working closely with the Department of Agriculture to monitor the price and supply of basic goods and commodities. I-imbestigahan natin ang mga retailer na mag-o-overprice ng mga produktong ito at yung suppliers nila (We will investigate retailers and their suppliers who will overprice pork products),” she added.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier issued Executive Order No. 124 which set price ceilings of P270 for a kilo of “kasim or pigue,” P300 per kilo for “liempo,” and P160 per kilo for dressed chicken.

Saddled by high procurement costs amid dwindling supply and the pressure to keep the prices down, meat vendors on Monday staged a “pork holiday” in Metro Manila.

In a bid to convince meat retailers to continue selling pork, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the government would bring pork free of African swine fever (ASF) from Mindanao, the Visayas and parts of Luzon to Metro Manila, and would offer hog raisers transport subsidies to bring down farm-gate prices.

EDV