A price freeze order on all basic necessities in markets has been implemented in Bohol effective today, said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

This is in accordance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s issuance of Proclamation No. 55, which declared the entire country under a state of national emergency on the account of a state of lawlessness.

According to Joe Hibaya, chief of the DTI Bohol’s Consumer Welfare and Business Regulation Division, the proclamation automatically called for the implementation of the price freeze as stipulated in the Price Act.

Hibaya issued a warning to businessmen, telling them that the DTI will be strictly implementing the price freeze through tight monitoring.

He noted that personnel of the department will be deployed to monitor prices of basic goods while the order is in effect.

Products affected by the prize freeze are only those assigned to the DTI through the Price Act.

These goods include canned fish and other canned marine products, processed milk, coffee, instant noodles, laundry soap, detergent and bottled water.

A prize freeze order is automatically issued if the nation or a specific place is declared under a state of national emergency.

The last prize freeze in Bohol was implemented when the province was put under a state of calamity earlier this year. (Allen Doydora)