Believe it or Not?

The Department of Trade and Industry announced recently that prices of basic goods, including school supplies, should remain unchanged even with successive oil price increases.

This is supposed to be good news to parents of pupils and students.

We hope it really is.

The cost of most school supplies remains unchanged compared to last year except for some brands, which increased this year by two percent to 13 percent, according to the DTI's list of suggested retail prices.

The DTI released the latest SRP for school supplies less than a month before classes begin on June 1. The list include prices of notebooks, pad papers and ballpens, among others.

But the department's advice to the public to buy school supplies in the bookstores rather than in the sidewalks—they claim that the bookstores have fixed prices—appears to be rather amiss.

What’s wrong with buying school supplies in, say, Divisoria or Baclaran, where prices are much, much less than in the established bookstores? 

Of course, you may have to deal with snatchers and pickpockets as you wend your way through the mass of sweaty humanity looking for bargains in the sidewalks, but you'll definitely save big money you can use for other necessities. 

The DTI informs us that not only will prices of basic goods remain unchanged, but that the price of at least one commodity—bread—will even go down.

In fact, the DTI expects a price reduction of bread, such as Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal, before the school opening as the Philippine Baking Industry Group said they are willing to reduce prices of bread as cheaper flour floods the market.

DTI says bakers are set to cut P0.50 from a pack of 10 pieces Pinoy Pandesal, which now costs P22.25. On the other hand, the current P36.50 price of Pinoy Tasty will be reduced by P0.50 to P1 per loaf.

Nevertheless, consumers are worried that prices will go up as oil companies continue to implement price hikes of their products with the increase in the prices of oil in the world market. But despite this, the DTI believes there is no reason for prices of basic goods to increase. Based on its  calculation, transport cost is just 3 percent of the total product cost.

Would the DTI go hammer and tongs after those who ignore its Suggested Retail Price (SRP) for basic products? That's its job. We can only hope that they are really up to the task.-end-

                                                               

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