THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the Cordillera Administration Region noted an increase in the prices of suggested retail prices (SRPs) for basic school supplies.
Richard Limpin, DTI Baguio-Benguet Consumer Protection Division officer-in-charge, said SRPs as provided by the national office May 25 was distributed in Baguio City and Benguet.
“Looking at the data, tumaas po ang ating mga basic school supplies under DTI like notebooks, pad papers, ballpens for some brands,” said Limpin in a Kapihan forum on Thursday. “That was based on the negotiations of our head office from manufacturers, of the school supply is to get the reasonable adjustments in this prices based on cost movements.”
Data provided shows basic needs such as writing and composition notebooks range from P14 to P37.75, depending on the brand and the type of paper used.
Prices of spiral notebooks range from P14.40 to P27.75, while a set of six notebooks (spiral, writing, and composition) range from 19.75 to 164.75.
Pad papers for grades 1 to 4 range from P8 to P15.50 while set of threes are from P44 to 49.75 and intermediate pad papers range from P16.50 to P39.75.
Pencils range from P7.50 to P8.25, while XL pencils are priced P13.25.
Sets can be availed for three pieces ranging from P18 to P37.50 and P39.75 for XL. Ballpens range from P6 to P27 and sets of three can be availed from P12 to P32.75 while eight crayons are from P12 to P17.75.
For DTI, the Balik Diskwento Caravan also started early for Baguio and Benguet.
DTI-Benguet director Freda Gawisan in an earlier interview said DTI is continuously monitoring prices of school and office supplies.
In the caravan, distributors, selected retailers and manufacturers sell discounted prices of commodities to the consumers and students. (With a report from Aira Quiliza/University of Cordilleras intern)