A local business leader has urged local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental to activate their respective price monitoring and control councils amid rising prices of basic commodities driven by the continuing increase in fuel prices.
Frank Carbon, co-chairman of the Energy and Power Committee of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stressed the need for LGUs to take their own initiative as he noted their slow response.
“They should not wait for national agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Energy (DOE),” he said.
Carbon, who is also the executive officer of Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said having a price monitoring control council can help prevent excessive increases in the prices of goods.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he will confer with the DTI on the activation of such council, if there is a need of doing it.
“The concerned government agency may have already done it. I don’t think DTI is sleeping on their job. They have their own monitoring,” he said.
Meanwhile, Carbon said operators of fast crafts serving the Bacolod-Iloilo route and vice versa are likely to impose another fare increase after the Holy Week.
From P70 fare hike two weeks ago when diesel fuel prices reached P100 per liter, another increase of P20 to P30 could follow.
Carbon said to reduce fuel consumption, operators lessened the number of daily trips from four to three from Tuesday to Sunday while maintaining four trips on Mondays.
Carbon said travel time has also been adjusted, from the usual one hour trip to about one hour and 30 minutes, to conserve fuel.
“These measures have resulted in about 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption,” he added. | GB
