111 Quezon City market vendors flagged for overpricing

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 111 market vendors in Quezon City have so far received notices of violation this year for overpricing, a local official said yesterday.

Procopio Lipana, head of the city’s Market Development and Administration Department (MDAD), said they have continuously conducted monitoring activities against overpricing in Quezon City markets.

According to Lipana, most of the apprehended vendors cited the high prices from suppliers as the reason for overpricing.

The city official said they will endorse the matter to the Department of Agriculture (DA) for proper investigation, noting that they have no jurisdiction over the traders from whom market vendors get their goods.

Lipana said they forwarded the receipts of transactions between the market vendors and these traders to the DA as additional evidence.

Mayor Joy Belmonte earlier ordered the MDAD to conduct daily monitoring of prices in markets to ensure that vendors are not charging beyond the suggested retail prices (SRP) issued by the government.

“We want to make sure that the prices in our markets follow the SRP so as not to increase the burden of our residents who are already struggling with high commodity prices,” she added in Filipino.

Aside from the usual monitoring of prices, Lipana said MDAD also checks and confiscates unsealed or uncalibrated weighing scales.

Last year, MDAD confiscated 263 defective weighing scales and issued hundreds of notices of violation to vendors for overpricing or failing to put price tags on their goods.