A group representing small and medium-sized supermarkets nationwide said it would cooperate with an impending Congressional investigation into food price manipulation even as it appealed to lawmakers not to interfere with market forces.
This came in reaction to House Speaker Martin Romuladez’s warning to retailers that the government is poised to run after profiteers and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda’s statement that the supermarket sector would be summoned to appear before the Quinta Committee.
In an interview on Wednesday, Steven Cua, executive director of the Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association (PAGASA), said representatives of their group would gladly face the House super panel if invited because they “have nothing to hide.”
He explained that while there is no way to check if any store under the PAGASA banner is guilty of profiteering because its membership is spread out across the country, small and medium-sized supermarkets generally sell at lower prices than the “Big Three” supermarket chains.
“It’s a good thing they [lawmakers] issued a warning [against profiteering]. We will not protect unscrupulous retailers who seek to make excessive and abusive profits. But generally, pricing too high is very risky for retailers. They can price themselves out of the competition. That’s the risk they’re taking,” Cua told the Manila Standard.
Additionally, he assured that PAGASA’s membership played no role in the surge in retail prices of rice.
“Our members get it [rice] from different sources. But if we buy it cheaply, then we will sell it cheaply. Our profit margins do not change,” he emphasized.
The retail sector leader also called on solons to respect free enterprise and refrain from “choking the way people do business” because the “consumer is king” and the market has a natural way of weeding out sellers who overprice their goods.
“We are not concerned [about the probe on price manipulation]. Our members sell to the masses and we do a lot of wholesale… so I am 100 percent sure our prices are lower [relative to big supermarkets]. There is no need to overregulate us. We are serving the public,” Cua concluded.
