Survivors of typhoon Odette face not only homelessness and hunger but abusive traders who have taken advantage of the situation to raise costs of prime commodities, including construction materials.
WHILE super typhoon Odette (international name Rai) left thousands of Filipinos homeless this Christmas, senatorial aspirant Guillermo Lorenzo Tolentino Eleazar lamented how surviving families who are starting repairs and rebuild their homes without help from government are now being “stabbed in the back” by an exorbitant increase in the cost of construction materials.
Complaints are flooding social media from netizens in the Visayas and Mindanao who are trying to rise on their feet by fixing houses damaged by Category 5 winds when Odette made landfall nine times in the two regions, the worst to hit the Philippines in 2021, and the former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief reacted by urging local government officials in both areas to step up and go after businessmen who are taking advantage of the situation.
Said to be the strongest typhoon since Yolanda (international name Haiyan), the information service of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that Odette has affected over 1.8 million people—600,000 were displaced as over 28,000 homes were destroyed in Surigao del Norte, Dinagat Islands, Southern Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental and Palawan.
And reminiscent of what happened when typhoon Yolanda hit the archipelago in 2013, the cost of construction materials, which are desperately needed by the thousands of people whose homes were destroyed by Odette last week, needlessly skyrocketed, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Eleazar disclosed that the agency should now step in by enforcing the law, particularly Republic Act No. 7581 or the Price Act, which declares a 60-day price freeze on all basic necessities in Southwestern Tagalog Region, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Caraga Region in the aftermath of Odette.
“Our consumers should be protected by stabilizing the prices of basic necessities and prime commodities and by prescribing measures against undue price increases during emergency situations and like occasions,” the retired general pointed out.
He likewise added that aside from providing effective protection to consumers against illegal price spikes, it should be the policy of the government to make certain the availability of basic necessities and prime commodities at reasonable prices at all times without denying legitimate businesses a fair return of investment.
The DTI’s Central Visayas office revealed that construction materials like cement, galvanized iron (GI) sheets, hollow blocks, construction nails, batteries, electrical wires, light bulbs and steel wires are part of the necessities being monitored by them, but “some retailers have been reported to have taken advantage of the crisis and are defying or ignoring the law.”
Photo courtesy Rappler
