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Saturday, February 04, 2006
Trade implements monitoring on e-VAT
By Marna H. Dagumboy
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Trade and Industry (DTI) local office here has put into action its monitoring and enforcement plan to help mitigate the impact of the imposition of an additional two percent increase in the expanded value-added ta (e-VAT) as part of government's vigorous stabilization efforts.
According to Ricardo S. Naguit, Jr., chief of the DTI Business Regulation and Consumer Protection Division, the DTI monitoring and enforcement plan serves as a check against stabilization efforts complimenting other initiatives done by government to keep prices on check.
The plan includes daily monitoring of selected wet markets and supermarkets, active enforcement of fair trade laws (FTLs) to prevent unscrupulous sectors from taking advantage of the situation, assignment of duty officers to answer complaints or questions on e-VAT, reactivation of consumer hotlines in the its provincial offices and its regional office, and posting of guide prices.
Mitigation related activities started on January in order to ensure that the mechanisms to address the issue on the additional two percent e-VAT put in place are working accordingly.
Naguit said the daily monitoring of selected markets keeps prices in check and encourages retailers to adhere to fair trade laws (FTLs) such as putting price tags and not jacking prices unreasonably.
"It is some sort of preemptive or proactive move to fight price manipulators and speculators," he said.
Monitoring activities were even conducted on weekends specifically in the latter part of the month as DTI Secretary Peter Favila ordered a more thorough and extensive checks on prices and supply of commodities in the markets.
Price reports are prepared regularly and submitted to the DTI Central Office for consolidated and use in informing the general public of current market conditions especially on prices of commodities.
In the region, prices remain very stable per monitoring done by the provincial offices, he added.
He also added that aside from daily market monitoring, duty officers of the DTI office are also available to assist clients and check on their grievances, if any, related to RVAT implementation. These duty officers are also the current consumer arbitration officers (CAOs) who resolved consumer complaints.
The DTI will also put up consumer hotlines to enable the public to report any cases of violation. Each DTI Provincial Office in Central Luzon has a hotline that consumers can contact to report anomalies or complaints.
For inquiries, concerned consumers or parties could contact (045) 890-4629. Government officials also made an appeal to consumers to exercise vigilance and thwart any attempts at unreasonably jacking prices or hoarding supplies.
(February 3, 2006 issue)
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