DEPARTMENT of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez advised consumers to do early holiday shopping to avoid crowding in shopping malls, wet markets and grocery stores.
“We encourage the public to buy their Noche Buena food items early to ensure social distancing is observed in stores and lower the risk of exposure to the virus,” he said.
Lopez added that Filipinos will have to forgo the “holiday rush” traditions of years past.
Despite this, there is still cause for celebration as DTI has confirmed that there will be no increases in the Suggested Retail Price (SRP) of processed food products during the holiday season.
The list of SRPs covers processed food products commonly used for Noche Buena and New Year’s Eve, such as ham, spaghetti pasta, tomato sauce, fruit cocktails, cheese products, mayonnaise, and Quezo de Bola.
“We thank manufacturers for agreeing not to increase SRPs of holiday fare. This is truly good news during a time when Filipino lives have been burdened by the pandemic and the typhoons that recently hit Luzon,” Lopez said.
“Tuloy pa rin ang Paskong Pinoy. We embrace the true Christmas spirit by
thinking of others,” said George Royeca, chief transport advocate of Angkas and lead proponent of the private sector-led Ingat Angat Tayong Lahat campaign.
A consortium of the country’s biggest companies and brands, the group is optimistic that the holidays will help boost efforts to build consumer confidence to help restart the economy.
“We’re happy to see customers planning their shopping trips ahead of time and strictly following health protocols when they visit their favorite retailers,” Royeca added.
Royeca said the adoption of the StaySafe PH system (https://www.staysafe.ph/) by over 40,000 outlets and thousands of private companies for employee and customer tracing is another welcome development. Establishments that have adopted StaySafe include SM, Ayala companies, Jollibee, and McDonald’s.
StaySafe PH is a community-driven contact tracing, health condition reporting and social distancing system donated to the Philippine government and intended to replace the manual method of filling up contact tracing forms.
StaySafe PH system is currently the only contact-tracing platform that is integrated with the Department of Health’s reporting system used by all Covid-19 laboratories nationwide. These data are used by medical professionals, epidemiologists and local government units. The system allows, in real time, the cross-referencing of all confirmed Covid-19 cases anywhere in the country. (PR)