The Department of Trade and Industry-Negros Occidental has not monitored any unusual increase in the prices of basic commodities in local supermarkets until yesterday, the start of the implementation of the 12 percent Value Added Tax.

Vivian Gaston, trade and industry development specialist, told the DAILY STAR they have been monitoring prices daily since January 23 in preparation for the two percent increase in the VAT and this will continue until the second week of January.

In their price monitoring operations, they check the prices of canned goods like sardines, corned beef and luncheon meat and of coffee and milk, among others, she said.

Meanwhile, Bacolod City has also stepped up the price monitoring of prime commodities in the local markets, Secretary to the Mayor Roger Balo said in a press release yesterday. Ernie Pineda has been named head of the Price Monitoring Committee for the city's three major markets, Burgos, Libertad and Central Market.

Balo said that when he checked the markets yesterday morning, he observed that prices of basic commodities, except that of sugar, have remained stable. He said that part of their monitoring activities is the calibration of gasoline pumps of gas stations to ensure that the public get the exact amount of gas they pay for.

The "Timbangan ng Bayan" in the three markets will also be revived, he said, adding that defective weighing scales will be confiscated and those using them will be fined.

PROTESTS

Two groups in Bacolod City held rallies yesterday in separate venues to denounce the two percent increase in VAT.

Members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Negros, who gathered in front of the Bureau of Internal Revenue District Office in Rizal-Lacson streets, claimed that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is deceiving the public when she said that the Expanded Value Added Tax will have little effect on the prices of basic goods.

"In reality, consumers are now facing the problem on how to stretch their dwindling budget at home as prices of goods and services continue to skyrocket," BAYAN-Negros Secretary General Felipe Levy Gelle said.

Gelle added that "what is revolting in this situation, is that the tax burden is increased under the conditions of economic depression and widespread poverty."

The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-Negros, for its part, said the implementation of the 12 percent VAT will further shrink the purchasing power of the working class.

With the EVAT, farmworkers who are already destitute will all the more suffer from severe hunger and poverty, the BMP-Negros, whose members gathered in front of the City Hall Fountain of Justice, said.*NLG

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