REPUBLIC ACT 7581 or the Price Act was signed into law on May

27, 1992. It took effect on June 7 of that year. The law provides consumer
protection by stabilizing the price and supply of basic necessities and prime
commodities and prescribing measures against undue price increases
especially during emergencies.
Basic necessities include rice, corn, bread, fresh, dried and canned
fish and other marine products, fresh pork, beef and poultry meat, fresh
eggs, fresh and processed milk, fresh vegetables, root crops, coffee, sugar,
cooking oil, salt, laundry soap, detergents, firewood, charcoal, candles and
drugs classified as essential by the Department of Health (DOH). Prime
commodities include fresh fruits, flour, dried, processed and canned pork,
beef and poultry meat, dairy products not falling under basic necessities,
noodles, onions, garlic, vinegar, patis, soy sauce, toilet soap, fertilizer,
pesticides, herbicides, poultry, swine and cattle feeds, veterinary products
for poultry, swine and cattle, paper, school supplies, nipa shingles, sawali,
cement, clinker, GI sheets, hollow blocks, plywood, plyboard, construction
nails, batteries, electrical supplies, light bulbs, steel wires, and all drugs not
classified as essential by the DOH.
Department of Trade and Industry with reference to canned fish and
other marine products, processed milk, coffee, laundry soap, detergent,
candles, bread, salt, flour, processed and canned pork, processed and
canned beef and poultry meat, noodles, vinegar, patis, soy sauce, toilet
soap, paper, school supplies, cement, clinker, GI sheets, hollow blocks,
construction nails, batteries, electrical supplies, light bulbs and steel wires.
Automatic Price Control (APC). Prices of basic necessities are
automatically placed under price control whenever the President declares
an area under a state of calamity, disaster, emergency, rebellion, war,
martial law, or when the writ of habeas corpus has been suspended.
Mandated Price Control (MPC). When there is threat, calamity or
emergency or any event that causes artificial or unreasonable increase in
prices, the Price Coordinating Council (PCC) can recommend the
imposition of a mandates price ceiling on any or all of the products listed as
basic necessity or prime commodity.