The Regional Development Council is scheduled to tackle the high price of fuel and liquified petroleum gas in Negros Oriental.
Department of Trade and Industry Regional Director Aster Caberte, who is also the acting provincial director of the DTI, said in a press conference last week that the issue of high fuel prices is an issue not just affecting Negros Oriental but also the other provinces in the Visayas.
“The governors of Cebu and Bohol have already raised this concern and this will be raised during the next regular meeting of the RDC,” Caberte said.
Prices of fuel are higher by about Php 4 compared to Cebu, which, in turn, are higher when compared to the prices in Manila and the rest of Luzon.
The press conference was held after the opening of the Diskwento Caravan and the Made in Negros Oriental Festival at the Robinson’s Place Dumaguete attended by DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo.
Both activities were the highlights during the celebration of SME week in Negros Oriental.
Domingo, for his part, lauded Negros Oriental producers for the quality of their products, specifically the stonecraft produced by the Negros Oriental Arts and Heritage and the e-bamboo, developed by the Buglas Bamboo Institute.
Domingo bought jewelry cases from Noah and he said he is giving them to his fellow ministers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations when they meet in Jakarta in October. “It’s a nice gift to my fellow ministers in Asean,” he said.
Domingo stressed the need for local producers to internationalize their taste. “You must know the taste of the foreign markets to be able to export the products. The ambition of the people here is to be able to export their products. We have 100 million people which is a sizeable market but the world has 6 billion people so we should target that market,” he said.