Administration lawmakers are batting for a price freeze in earthquake-hit Abra and a repeal of the 45-year-old National Building Code, which they called “obsolete.”
“The Department of Trade and Industry should ensure that there is an ample supply of basic goods in Abra and in other areas that were affected by the earthquake in Northern Luzon,” Pinuno party-list Rep. Howard Guintu said.
“They should also make sure that no one takes advantage of this tragedy,” the neophyte legislator said. Prices of essential goods in areas declared under a state of calamity in the wake of the magnitude 7 earthquake should remain low as a matter of policy,” he added.
The Price Act or Republic Act 7581 provides that prices of primary commodities or basic necessities shall be frozen at the prevailing rate for a maximum of 60 days in areas that have been declared a disaster area o under a state of calamity or emergency, he noted.
Bulacan Rep. Salvador Pleyto Sr. filed House Bill 1180 or the New Philippine Building Act to repeal the Marcos Sr.-era building edict, or Presidential Decree 1096 that incumbent President Marcos’ late father issued in 1977.
“This law (PD 1096) has to be repealed. We have been using this obsolete law,” he said.
“We have to make our buildings withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake,” he noted.
Buildings must be “resilient against earthquakes, fire, flood, landslide, storm, volcano, and multiple hazards, he stressed.
Guintu maintained that the public must “be vigilant in implementing the price freeze to avoid not adding to the burden of the quake victims.
“Let us work together to alleviate the suffering of our countrymen in the north who were struck by the quake. If needed, let us tap the police to help monitor the price freeze,” he said.