The Department of Trade and Industry in Western Visayas (DTI 6) has been monitoring the prices of Noche Buena items in the markets, a few days before Christmas day.

The suggested retail prices (SRP) on Noche Buena items were released by the DTI on October 31 and will be effective until December 31 this year, DTI 6 assistant regional director Ermelinda Pollentes said in an interview .

“We did our monitoring just recently so the result is three items on Noche Buena products are way below the SRP,” she said.

These items include one brand of mayonnaise and two brands of spaghetti.

Pollentes said the drop in the prices of the items, even up to 95.08 percent decrease, was prompted by the competition in the market, as Christmas draws near.

Based on the department’s monitoring, Pollentes said other Noche Buena items like ham, cheese, and quezo de bola are within the SRP.

There were also marketing strategies that proliferate like the “buy-one-take-one promos” and other “price-drop” on Noche Buena items.

Pollentes reminded consumers to always check the expiry date of the products included in the promos or are attached as “freebies” to the main products purchased.

“There are some that when it nears the expiry date, they opt to sell in a buy ‘one-take-one’ for the products to move. We should be vigilant as consumers in purchasing especially in bundles or in buy-one-take-one promos,” she said.

She also assured that Noche Buena items in the region are sufficient, especially in Iloilo where warehouses in Panay are located.

Meanwhile, she noted that Christmas lights distributors and retailers are now compliant with the DTI.

“We have no confiscations (of substandard Christmas lights) so far,” she said.

She reiterated that standard Christmas lights must contain the Philippine Standard (PS) Quality and Safety Mark and Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) Sticker. (PNA)