The Republic Act 7581 otherwise known as the Price Act provides that it is the policy of the State to ensure the availability of basic necessities and prime commodities at reasonable prices at all times without denying legitimate business a fair return in investment. It is also a declared policy of the State to provide effective and sufficient protection to consumers against hoarding, profiteering and cartels with respect to the supply distribution, marketing and priceing of said goods, especially during periods of calamity, emergency, widespread illegal price manipulation and other similar situations.
METHODOLOGY
National Capital Region (NCR)
Each price monitor conducts weekly survey of prices of manufactured basic necessities and prime commodities including flour, cement and construction materials in at least five (5) stalls in his/her assigned area/wetmarket through inspection of price tags, interview of sales clerk and consumers, and observation.
The sampling frame comprises of major wetmarkets in all districts in NCR.
Price monitoring reports contain comparative price analyses of current prevailing prices vs. prevailing prices a week ago, a month ago, 3 months ago and a year ago.
The prevailing price or mode is the value that is observed most frequently among all stalls monitored such that when stalls reflect different prices, the space for the prevailing price is left blank.
Other Regions
The sampling frame comprises of key cities that were identified to be the trading center of the specific region. The following are the keycities in all regions covered:
CAR : Baguio City
Region I : San Fernando City
Region II : Tuguegarao City
Region III : Cabanatuan City
Region IV : Batangas City
Region V : Legaspi City
Region VI : Iloilo City
Region VII : Cebu City
Region VIII : Tacloban City
Region IX : Zamboanga City
Region X : Cagayan de Oro City
Region XI : Davao City
Region XII : Cotabato City
CARAGA : Butuan City
