MAMBAJAO, Camiguin, April 16 (PIA) – To continue to protect the existing local consumers and thousands of potential Catholic pilgrims and tourists for the Panaad 2014, the Department of Trade and Industry, Camiguin Provincial Office spearheaded the conduct of Operation Timbangan last week in 91 stalls at the Mambajao Public Market and vicinity stores.
This activity was undertaken in cooperation with other government agencies that formed the enforcement team, such as the Mambajao Treasurer’s Office, Mambajao Police Station, a representative from DTI accredited consumer organization Hibok-hibok Emergency Assistance Radio Team (HEART) Kabalikat and official media partner 99.9 Magnum FM radio.
The teams grouped into three to monitor the vegetable section, the fish and meat sections and the grocery stores to conduct operation timbangan or inspection of weighing scales, monitoring of prices of goods, and inspection of price tags.
The teams were able to confiscate six defective weighing scales, and guide vendors to use legitimate ones, accurately checked the efficiency of the scales and also able to investigate retailers selling products higher than the suggested retail price (SRP).
Manufacturers or distributors found passing goods with prices higher than the SRP published by DTI will be issued summons to explain the increase and will be dealt with accordingly pursuant to Republic Act 7581 or the Price Act.
SRP is the price that manufacturers recommend that the retailer sell the product, a widely published price for each product so the consumer can tell he or she is not being ripped off by a ridiculous mark-up or profit margin.
DTI said that if there is a rise in the prices of goods because of production costs this must be explained to the department.
Vendors are likewise reminded to place price tags reflecting the SRPs. (Zita Maestrado-Abellare, DTI-Camiguin)
