The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Negros Occidental has approved the request of Kabankalan City to implement a price freeze on basic commodities after the city was placed under a state of calamity due to the ongoing drought brought by the El Niño phenomenon.
Mayor Benjie Miranda has requested the DTI to impose the price freeze in the city to control the prices of commodities in the city .
Miranda said the price freeze will ensure that business establishments in Kabankalan City will not take advantage of the crisis affecting the residents.
In her letter to the mayor, Lyna Joy Cardinal, DTI-Negros Occidental head, submitted a list of commodities that is covered by an Automatic Price Ceiling.
A report by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, Kabankalan City is the hardest hit locality by the drought with P99,624,716.80 worth of damages to its rice land.
The drought also affected 20 barangays and 3,430 farmers tilling 2,355.11 hectares of rice lands in the city. (PR)