Bacolod City – The city government partnered with the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), started selling refined sugar at a cheaper price of P70 per kilo, for household consumers.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, who led the launching of the initiative before city employees at the Bacolod City Government Center, said there is a need to address high inflation, which is caused mainly by price increases in food commodities, that is why the government must temper food prices.
“The intervention of the national government, by the President (Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.), is to ensure that we have cheap food products. It starts with sugar because the sugar mills are just nearby. Eventually, it will include rice and other food products,” Benitez said.
Brenda Burdeos, head of the City Cooperative and Livelihood Development Office (CCLDO), said the SRA initially provided 500 kilos of sugar for the launch, which was sold out within an hour.
“These are intended for households. Only two kilos per household is allowed,” Burdeos said.
The sugar was supplied by Victorias Milling Company (VMC), which is among the sugar mills that offered sugar to be sold by the government at P70 per kilo.
VMC refined sugar is currently sold at around P112 per kilo in the city’s supermarkets.
Burdeos said the CCLDO is coordinating with vendors’ groups to serve as the city’s partners in selling Kadiwa sugar in designated areas of the three major public markets.
Benitez wrote a letter to SRA acting Administrator Dave John Thaddeus Alba in February, expressing the intent of the city government to participate in the program that ensures the availability of affordable sugar to household consumers and Kadiwa outlets.
He said the CCLDO intends to avail of 1,000 kilos of sugar every week on a consignment basis.
“We will increase volume as needed,” Benitez added. (Chrysee Semillano via tvds, with report from PNA, phto by tvds)
