(Juan Carlo de Vela/ MANILA BULLETIN)

AGRI Party-list Rep. Wilbert T. Lee is prodding the Department of Agriculture (DA) to intensify its price monitoring on basic commodities, as well as to set suggested retail prices (SRP) on such goods. 

This, after prices of fish and vegetables spiked with the onset of Holy Week. 

“While it is natural for the retail prices of vegetables and fish to go up during the Holy Week, dapat pa ring magpatupad nang mas mahigpit na pagbabantay ang DA at Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) sa presyo ng mga pangunahing bilihin lalo na sa linggong ito,” Lee said. 

(The DA and the DTI must still implement stricter monitoring on the prices of basic goods, especially this week.) 

Lee issued the call after the DA said it was expecting a 10 to 20 percent increase in the retail price of fish during the Holy Week even as the department assured there was still an ample supply of fish. 

“If there is ample supply of fish, then the price increases should not be so significant even though it is the Holy Week. Huwag naman po nating pabigatin pa ang pasanin ng marami nating kababayan,” he added. 

(Let's not add to the burden on a lot of our countrymen.) 

Based on March 22 monitoring of the DA in Metro Manila markets, the retail price of milkfish ranged from P150 and P220 per kilo; tilapia, from P120 and P160 per kilo; local round scad, from P180 to P300 per kilo, imported round scad, from P180 to P200 per kilo; and Indian mackerel, from P280 to P350 per kilo. 

Moreover, the neophyte lawmaker also urged the DA to replicate its price monitoring on a provincial or regional level.