Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial bet and ACT-CIS Rep. Erwin Tulfo favors placing suggested retail prices or SRP on basic food items with prices that are always increasing to prevent businessmen from taking advantage of situations.
“Some business owners, such as middlemen or brokers, are abusing the prices of certain foods, causing them to skyrocket in the market or public markets,” Tulfo said in Tagalog in a statement.
“Because if you examine it closely, the selling price at the farmgate—or from the producers of rice, vegetables, eggs, and chicken and pork—is low, but when it reaches the market, it’s already at a gold price,” he noted.
The lawmaker recommended to the Department of Agriculture to place suggested retail prices (SRP) on basic food items with prices that are always rising such as rice, chicken, pork, fish, vegetables and other commodities.
“With the implementation of the SRP on certain foods, we can ensure that product prices cannot be manipulated,” Tulfo explained.
In the congressional hearings on the high prices of commodities that were held during the past few months, it was revealed that middlemen and those engaged in cartels are the ones dictating the prices of basic food items such as rice.
“The SRP will control the profits of middlemen, traders, or cartels, so that the products remain affordable when they reach the market,” Tulfo said.
The lawmaker added that once the prices of these commodities stabilize, the DA could already remove their SRPs.
