Two-month price freeze imposed in calamity areas

MANILA, Philippines — A two-month price freeze is in effect in six provinces and one Metro Manila city heavily devastated by recent typhoons, particularly Typhoon Ulysses, Malacañang said yesterday, reminding the public of the law on automatic price control.

“The Department of Trade and Industry reminds the public that the prices of basic necessities in declared calamity areas are frozen for the next 60 days under automatic price control based on Republic Act 7581 or the Price Act,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said.

Roque gave the reminder during a briefing of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council where top government officials assessed the impact of the typhoon as well as ongoing rehabilitation efforts.

At the same briefing, Roque reiterated President Duterte’s directive that nobody would be left behind in rehabilitation and rebuilding efforts.

He also lauded the various government agencies for their prompt response to calls for help.

“Although we were targeting for zero casualties, I think we were able to bring it to the minimum because our agencies anticipated the typhoon. Nonetheless, we laud our people, our local government units, the police and the military because we lowered the number of casualties due to our bayanihan,” Roque said.

In his presentation, Roque noted that compared to the onslaught of Typhoon Ondoy in 2009, there were fewer casualties of Typhoon Ulysses – 12 fatalities, eight injuries and 14 missing as of press time. Ondoy claimed 464 lives. It also left 529 people injured and 37 missing.

“We see that the administration under President Duterte was prepared for it.  Under Duterte, we are always prepared,” Roque said.

While train operations have resumed, Roque said 17 ports remain closed as of 6:30 p.m. of Nov. 12, including the ports of Manila, Bataan, Aurora, Batangas and Mindoro.