SENATE Majority Leader Francis N. Tolentino called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday to investigate the high cost of ginger, which he says makes the preparation of food like fish more expensive for Filipinos.
鈥淲hen you buy fish, it鈥檚 natural to buy ginger. Even if fish prices go down, the high cost of ginger offsets it,鈥 he said in a statement. 鈥淧320 [per kilo]? It was just P220 last week. That鈥檚 incredibly expensive.鈥
National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said last week the higher price of ginger was driven by the consumer price index picking up to 3.9% year on year in May from 3.8% a year earlier. It was the fastest inflation since 4.1% in November and 3.9% in December.
Last week, the DA鈥檚 price watch reported that the average ginger price in Metro Manila hit P280 per kilogram on May 31. 鈥 John Victor D. Ordo帽ez
