Bacolod: The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) - Negros Occidental is taking proactive measures to ensure that Negrense learners have access to fair and affordable school supplies ahead of the upcoming school opening on June 16.
According to Philippines News Agency, personnel from the Consumer Protection Unit, alongside Provincial Director Lynna Joy Cardinal, have already conducted inspections at six major mall-based retail stores in Bacolod City. These inspections focused on monitoring the prices of essential school supplies to ensure they align with the official price guide.
Cardinal confirmed in a statement that all checked school supplies, including notebooks, pad paper, intermediate pads, pencils, ballpens, crayons, erasers, sharpeners, and rulers, were priced within the recommended limits. During these inspections, DTI personnel also distributed copies of the 2025 'Gabay sa Pamimili ng School Supplies,' a price guide aimed at helping parents, guardians, and stakeholders make informed purchasing decisions.
The price guide, designed to support budget-friendly shopping, includes updated market prices for commonly purchased educational materials and outlines labeling requirements for items such as pad paper, crayons, and pencils. Covering 195 stock-keeping units across 12 product categories, the guide offers various options in notebooks, pad paper, pencils, ballpens, crayons, and other writing essentials.
During a press briefing, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire highlighted that based on the DTI price guide, prices for 29 school items have decreased compared to last year. Meanwhile, the prices for approximately 101 SKUs, or 52 percent of the 195 listed items, including ballpens, erasers, and sharpeners, have remained unchanged.
The price guide details the current costs: notebooks range from PHP15 to PHP52, pad papers from PHP15 to PHP48.75, pencils from PHP11 to PHP24, pens from PHP3 to PHP33, crayons from PHP12 to PHP114, erasers from PHP4.50 to PHP20, sharpeners from PHP15 to PHP69, and rulers from PHP16 to PHP39.
