Veggie prices shoot up twofold

MANILA, Philippines - Prices of vegetables have shot up to double its past levels, according to an inspection by city officials at Mega Q-Mart in Quezon City yesterday morning.

According to stall owner Leticia Villanueva, vegetables especially those from the northern part of the country have doubled their prices.

Villanueva said that even with the government’s price freeze, vendors like her cannot comply because if they did, they would go bankrupt.

She said carrots, priced at P50 per kilo before tropical storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng” ripped through the country, now sells at P100 per kilo.

Villanueva said the same was true with ampalaya, eggplant, cabbage, and pechay.

Cornelio de Guzman, operations manager of Q-mart, said it could be because of the cost of transport of these vegetables from provinces ravaged by the weather disturbances.

But Villanueva had a different explanation: “Our (product) sources from the provinces have incurred losses so they’re passing these on to us… If we abide by that price freeze, we’ll be the ones to incur the losses because of the high cost of buying these products from our suppliers.”

She also said if a customer goes around the entire market, they would find out that most vegetable vendors have had to increase their prices.

De Guzman, who is also president of the Association of Private Market and Slaughterhouse Operators of Quezon City, added that even in other markets in the city, the same was true with regard to the prices of vegetables.

“We can’t do anything if the prices in the provinces are now higher,” De Guzman said.

Quezon City Police District deputy director for operations Senior Superintendent Audie Arroyo said no one was apprehended at Mega Q-mart yesterday with all stall owners selling within the price range set by the Department of Trade and Industry.

Arroyo said that it was difficult to monitor the “fluctuating prices” of vegetables, adding that the DTI price list did not include vegetable products.                          – Reinir Padua