Clamp down on profiteers in typhoon-hit areas, Arroyo orders DTI

MANILA, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday ordered the Trade department to clamp down on profiteers in areas ravaged by typhoon "Frank," amid reports that prices of basic goods there had skyrocketed. Radio dzRH reported that President Arroyo also ordered the National Food Authority (NFA) to flood the markets there with subsidized rice to counter high prices of rice in those provinces. The order came amid reports that profiteers and price manipulators struck in typhoon-ravaged Western Visayas, driving up prices of basic goods such as rice and drinking water. Rice was reportedly being sold in Iloilo City and Aklan at prices as high as P60 per kilo, while one-gallon containers of drinking water sold at P100. Both commodities were sold at those prices in groceries and water purifying stations in the two provinces, the report said. Iloilo residents are in the middle of a shortage of drinking water in the wake of typhoon "Frank." - GMANews.TV