WITH the prices of school supplies and uniforms going up, 39-year-old Marilyn Gemparo, a call center agent, has no choice but to wait for payday before buying for her two kids.
Gemparo, who has daughters in Grades 4 and 10, said the prices doubled compared to when she bought her children’s uniforms last year.
“Things are more expensive now. If I could buy two pairs of school blouses and skirts for only around P300 last year, this year I spent almost P500,” she told SunStar Cebu.
In some of the stalls in downtown Colon, Elizabeth Rondina, 46, a vendor who sells school uniforms, also lamented that prices of fabrics also went up.
“We can’t help but increase our prices because our profit will remain small if we don’t,” she said.
Rondina said she sold blouses and school pants for only P100 to P120 last year.
This year, these retail at P150 to P220 per pair.
“Even if a lot of customers would buy from us, our income remains low because we still have to pay for the fabric and the labor, which is also high since the opening of classes is near,” she said.
In an earlier interview, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7 observed a six percent spike in the prices of school supplies from last year.
Items include notebooks, writing pad papers, pencils and crayons.
In one of the department stores in Cebu City, ordinary notebook prices range from P18.50 to P39.75, depending on the brand and the number of leaves.
Spiral notebooks retail at P32.75, while those with yarn are at P18 to P19.50.
Writing pads with 80 leaves are priced at P16.50 to P18.75, while yellow pads cost P53.
Rolls of plastic covers are priced at P39 to P83, depending on the length.
Ballpens cost P7 to P31.
Divina Gabucan, 44, a teacher at the Babag Elementary School, also took advantage of the back-to-school sale of a department store.
“I bought new bags and school shoes for my three kids. I noticed that it was really pricey compared to before. The prices now really had a big difference on my budget compared to the money I alloted before and it was a good thing that prices were lower because of the sale,” she said.
Dinah Gladys Oro, DTI-Cebu senior development specialist, said they saw an increase of 25 centavos to P11 per item when compared with the 2018 prices of school supplies.
Their monitoring started on May 28, 2019.
The Department of Education (DepEd) 7 announced that classes would formally start on Monday, June 3, 2019, in all public elementary and secondary schools nationwide.
Private schools may deviate from this schedule, the DepEd said.