Consumer group asks DTI to ensure compliance to SRP with Christmas feast items

A CONSUMER rights advocacy group has asked the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to ensure compliance to the recently released suggested prices of items commonly used during the Christmas eve feast.

The department issued last Saturday the suggested retail prices (SRP) for Noche Buena goods this year, such as ham, cheese, pasta, tomato sauce, and all-purpose cream.

“With Filipinos scrimping their hard-earned money to enjoy the Holidays, Trade Secretary (Ramon M.) Lopez and the rest of the trade department must ensure these Noche Buena products’ SRPs… are strictly followed and closely monitored to protect Filipino consumers from profiteering producers,” Laban Konsyumer, Inc. (LKI) said in a news release on Wednesday.

The SRPs of these food products mostly decreased or remain unchanged, while the maximum price of ham went up to P204 (500 grams) and P1,120 (1 kilogram) from P189 and P1,025 last year, respectively.

In a statement last Friday, Mr. Lopez thanked manufacturers for “heeding the call not to increase prices demonstrating their sense of solidarity with our consumers this Christmas despite the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Nonetheless, LKI President Victorio A. Dimagiba expressed the group’s disappointment over a shorter list this year with 114 producers no longer included from the 206 last year.

“While it is great news that some producers are going through great lengths to keep their products affordable, however, it is also baffling that several products have been removed from the DTI’s monitoring list,” Mr. Dimagiba said.

Among the Noche Buena products with less producers monitored by DTI this year are ham brands to 17 from 33, Queso de Bola brands to seven from 12, five cheese brands from 15, tomato sauce to three from 16, and no fruit cocktail brands from 12 last year.

The DTI did not give a reason for the reduced list of manufacturers for monitoring this year. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago