DTI in Negros freezes
prices of basic goods
VIOLATORS TO FACE SEVERE PENALTIES
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Department of Trade and Industry provincial director Rebecca Rascon Saturday announced the automatic freezing of prices of basic commodities in Negros Occidental, and warned that severe penalties will be imposed on violators.

Rascon said that, with the President's declaration of a state of national calamity, prices of basic commodities in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City should remain at the levels they were at on the third week of September.

Supermarkets, retailers and traders of basic commodities are mandated to keep prices at automatic price control levels or face severe penalties as stipulated the Price Act (Republic Act 7581), she said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Saturday thanked the mayors of Negros Occidental for leading the way in allocating funds to assist the typhoon-hit victims of Luzon , Manapla Mayor Manuel Escalante, president of the Negros Association of Chief Executives, said.

The Negros Ace Friday agreed to allocate P100,000 from its funds on top of the amounts committed by the town and city mayors, he said.

At their meeting Friday it was agreed that all towns in Negros Occidental will allocate not less than P50,000 each for the typhoon relief fund, he said.

A farmer's group leader affiliated with the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers was shot dead yesterday allegedly by members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade in Brgy. Bug-ang, Toboso, Negros Occidental, at about 5 a.m., Fred Caña, of the human rights group Karapatan-Negros, claimed.

The victim was identified as Reynaldo Bucaling, 39, chairman of the Paghidaet sa Kalambuan sa Kambayugo-NFSW.

PO3 Alex Taganile, Toboso police investigator, yesterday said Bucaling sustained four gunshot wounds in the breast, stomach and neck.