Koronadal City, South Cotabato – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region 12 conducted site visits to the flood-affect municipalities of Lebak and Kalamansig to check the status of the businesses as well as intensify monitoring of the price and supply of basic necessities and prime commodities (BNPCs).
DTI 12 OIC-Regional Director Flora Politud-Gabunales led the team of price monitors and enumerators in visiting Lebak and Kalamansig on Sunday, 30 October 2022.
Several residents of Kalamansig and Lebak were forced to evacuate due to the floods caused by Tropical Storm Paeng which brought non-stop rain on the night of Thursday.
Relief operations were also made through DTI Sultan Kudarat where more that 150 families in the evacuation camps of the two municipalities were given porridge/lugaw while relief goods were being prepared by other partner inatitutions.
Politud-Gabunales assured the public that prices of BNPCs are stable and there will be sufficient supplies that will last for 3 weeks.
Meanwhile, Politud-Gabunales ordered DTI Sultan Kudarat to expedite the profiling of micro-enterprises who were affected by the flood for possible assistance under the Pangkabuhayan sa Pagbango at Ginwaha (PPG) program.
PPG is a post-disaster response livelihood seeding and entrepreneurship development program of DTI which aims to assist individuals and families affected by fire incidents and other calamities, including health disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic, to recover and/or start their businesses.
Similarly, DTI in North Cotabato conducted also series of monitoring in the municipalities of Pigcawayan, Libungan and Midsayap. Aside from BNPCs, selected hardware and construction supplies, and wet market products like meat and poultry, vegetables, rice, sugar and cooking oil were also monitored.
Politud-Gabunales, however, clarified that while fresh agricultural products like meat and poultry were under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture, DTI took the initiative of including these products in the monitoring and the monitoring results will be forwarded to DA.
Courtesy visits were also made to the local chief executive of Lebak and Kalamansig, Mayor Frederick Celestial and Mayor Joaquin Concha, for future collaborations on business development and consumer empowerment. ♦
Date of Release: 2 November 2022