Consumers warn of higher cement prices

The Consumers Union of the Philippines (CUP) warned yesterdy that prices of cement would shoot up to unmanageable levels if the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) approves the petition for a 50-percent increase in tariff on imported cement filed by local manufacturers.

The CUP, through its president Chino Marquinez, issued the warning even as it expressed apprehension that the grant of the petition "is the direction DTI is going in the light of a confluence of certain disturbing events."

According to Marquinez, among these "disturbing events" was a private meeting between Jose L. Saenz, president of CEMEX, a leading cement maufacturer, and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the latter’s state visit to Singapore last August.

That the President consented to meet with Saenz in the face of the fact that there are pending cases in courts where CEMEX is a party to, and the fact that the 50 percent tariff increase petition by CEMEX’s group is pending before the DTI send to the consumers group a dire signal, Marquinez said.

"Our doubts as to whether we can get a fair decision from DTI is reinforced by the fact that the law office representing the cement industry is Carpio and Villaraza, and Atty. Carpio has just been appointed by GMA as an associate justice of the Supreme Court," Marquinez added.

DTI made a pronouncement immediately after the Valenzuela court issued a TRO on the Safeguard Measure Law, saying that the TRO prevented it from imposing the 50 percent tariff increase on imported cement. This clearly shows that the DTI had already made up its mind even prior to the termination of the hearing petition, Marquinez said.