The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) revealed it has yet to receive reports of overpricing on goods ahead of the holiday season, but said it is monitoring costs with supermarkets.
"Sa ngayon, wala po kaming natatanggap na complaints … wala po tayong complaints ng overpricing or yung selling above the SRP [suggested retail price]," DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said in a public briefing.
(For now, we have not yet received complaints. … No complaints of overpricing or selling above the suggested retail price.)
According to Lopez, they have partnered with supermarkets in monitoring the price of goods, where supermarkets are tasked to remove items going above the SRP on their shelves.
"Sila mismo ang magtatanggal sa shelf kapag ang SRP ng isang produkto … pag ang SRP na nilagay ng kumpanya ay mas mataas sa SRP na na-approve ng DTI at yung naka-publish," he said.
(They are the ones removing items from the shelf if the product … if the SRP placed by a company is higher than the SRP approved and published by the DTI.)
Due to this, the compliance of companies on the suggested retail prices is at "100%," according to Lopez.
However, the secretary stressed that they are still monitoring the SRP of goods and urged the public to immediately report instances of products going above the SRP.
"Palagi po tayong naka-monitor diyan. In fact, naglabas na po kami ng advertisement kung saan inoutline natin kung anong brand, anong size ang mga produkto lalo na yung mga hindi nagtaas ng presyo para ito ay maging gabay ng consumer," he said.
(We are always monitoring it. In fact, we issued an advertisement where we outlined what brands, what sizes of products, especially the ones that did not raise prices, which can be used as guides by consumers.)
"At any variants, ibig sabihin hindi pagsundod dito ay pwede po kaagad ireport sa amin."
(And any variants, meaning non-compliance to it, could be reported to us.)
