Dumaguete: At least 12 major retailers in Negros Oriental will be connected to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) online through the agency's E-Presyo program, an official said on Wednesday. Krystle Jade Bato, DTI-Negros Oriental spokesperson, told the Philippine News Agency that the online system will allow the participating retailers to directly encode the prevailing prices of basic goods and other commodities sold at their outlets.

According to Philippines News Agency, this initiative would ease the job of DTI teams visiting these establishments for their regular weekly price monitoring and benefit the businesses as their operations are no longer interrupted. The E-Presyo is based on the "honesty is the best policy" adage, where retailers are urged to encode the current prices that will be beneficial to them.

Krystle Jade Bato highlighted that during a calamity, the imposition of a price freeze will be based on the prices encoded in the system, and if these are lower than the actual prices, the businesses will be shortchanged. They will also be charged with violations if discrepancies are found.

Developed by the DTI Region 7 information technology (IT) team, the system is also being introduced in the other Negros Island Region provinces. Launched on Monday, the establishments are now learning the system, which is expected to be fully functional by the middle of July.

Bato stated that the measure is voluntary, meaning establishments may opt not to be connected electronically to the DTI. The DTI will hold monthly price monitoring to determine if the prices encoded in the system are the same as the actual price tags in the establishment.

The major retailers, all in Dumaguete, include Cang's Inc., Lee Plaza, Robinsons supermarket, Savemore, Lucky Traders, Vanson's, Conchita, New Bian Yek, JB Marketing, YY Trading, Uymatiao Trading, and NBYC. Seven of them sell basic and prime commodities while the rest are hardware stores.