PAGASA's STC was interviewed on 13 July 2021 regarding price increases after the government-issued price freeze ended on 10 July. He said at least 20 suppliers increased prices even DURING the price freeze and this sowed confusion among the trading sector. He said businesses wanted to comply with directives and cooperate with government but most, if not all companies, are on survival mode and need to stay afloat. Country-level mismanagement not making businesses easier during this pandemic, he says. NOTE: There were definitely more media people than customers during this interview!

PAGASA took part in the longest NPCC Meeting on 5 July 2021 from 10:00am to 2:47pm without any lunch break! The Meeting was very informative & presentations/reports by the DA, PROPORK, PAMPI, UBRA, SRA, DTI, DOH, NFA, PAGASA the weather bureau, DENR, DOE and BSP were all very comprehensive. In behalf of PAGASA, STC reported that despite the order for a Price Freeze which is supposed to end on 10 July 2021, at least twenty manufacturers (both multi-nationals & SMEs alike) have so far increased their prices during the on-going 60-day period. This report was made so that the DTI knows that if some supermarket shelves reflect prices higher than those on their SRP List, they would not be surprised. DTI Usec. Castelo warned that the price freeze applies to all products and not just those on their SRP watch! BSP also introduced their round-off program where they want shops/stores to round off final transactions (after VAT, discounts to senior citizens/PWDs, etc.) to the nearest 25 centavos...so that the economy can do away with the 1- & 5-centavo coins.

In the afternoon of 30 June 2021, PAGASA was a member of the Technical Working Group of the Congressional Committee on Trade & Industry under Deputy House Speaker Valenzuela Rep. Wesley Gatchalian. The TWG was very ably chaired by Nueva Ecija Rep. Ria Vergara and Committee Secretary Valentin Palanca. The TWG tackled the Expanded Price Act of 2021 elaborating the role & function of the National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) of which PAGASA is a Council Member. PAGASA's STC commented on the unfairness by which DTI's SRP is administered on food retailers. Carling Cabochan of PCCTA mentions the same. We are requested to submit our Position Papers on our contention to this Body. PRA Chairman Atty. Paul Santos admonishes strongly that retailers remain as members of the NPCC as the latter will be fined heavily for violations of the Price Act. Consumers were actively represented by Jose Paredes Pepito of the Nationwide Association for Consumers, Inc. and Atty. Mario Victorio Dimagiba of the Laban Konsyumer, Inc.

PAGASA was invited to a Workshop on Food Loss/Wastage hosted by The Department of Agriculture via Cisco-WEBEX in the morning of 30 June 2021. Stakeholders focused on ways to gain collective effort among government agencies, NGOs, international agencies, the private sector and the academe. Hosted by DA PRS' Jomari Panaga, it was attended by former Usec. Roehlano Briones, UNIDO's Teddy Monroy, Melody Melo-Rijk of WWF-Ph, PhilRice's Marissa Romero, Jim Cano of the Youth Alliance for Zero Hunger, reps from UPLB and some other state universities as well as other concerned agencies. Data verification and research studies needed to address this concern properly. PAGASA specifically cited the willingness of some fastfood chains to donate excess food but renege upon finding out that handling inefficiencies of these donations often result in damaging negative repercussions to the reputation of donors.

PAGASA Pres. Steven T. Cua attended on the afternoon of 29 June 2021 the first physical business matching session (first face-to-face event) since March 2020 at the Dusit Thani Hotel. Organized by the Indonesian Embassy in the Philippines, they featured online via wide screen suppliers of products/serviceS w/o them having to travel/being quarantined on our shores.  The wide screens in front of and on the side of the ballroom were impressive. However, seamless connection was sorely lacking. This caused a lot of delays and did a lot of harm to the presentations as well as the Function.

STC guested on 1 June 2021 at the livestream program of Go Negosyo hosted by Betong Sumaya. It is under the initiative of Sec. Joey Concepcion. With PAGASA Pres. STC of Welcome Supermart are PRA Pres. Rose Bosch Ong of Wilcon Builders and Peachy Medina / Managing Dir. of Uratex Industries. Discussed was the dismal performance of the country's vaccination program & its langiushing effect on businesses.

On the hot afternoon of 17 May 2021, as Senate resumes its session, PAGASA joined forces with the PRA and KATAPAT, an NGO, to ran a Motorcade circling the offices of the Senate. This is to remind them that the proposed Amended Retail Liberalization Law which intends to lower the capex requirement of foreign retailers to $100,000 or P5M (from the original $2.5M or P125M) will slowly and surely kill local MSMEs in the retail trade and open up the economy to more smuggled goods. PAGASA's STC was interviewed there live over DZRJ Teleradyo. PAGASA was represented by JC Plaza, Welcome Supermart, Welcome Bac and the support of its 400+ member-stores.

In the afternoon of 10 May 2021, KME KATAPAT, an NGO invited PAGASA and the PRA to a short virtual Meet calling the attention of retailers regarding the thrust of the current Administration to push a more “progressive” retail liberalization law via legislators. The government wants to open up the retail trade Some more to foreigners by allowing them to own 100% of the business by simply investing $100,000.

Ahead of this year's May 1 celebration of Labor Day, DOLE together with the DTI, NEDA, DAP, ADB, WB and the ILO, embarked on a Pre-Summit Dialogue on 23 April 2021 with Industry Leaders & Associations in the fields of Manufacturing, IT, Wholesale/Retail, Transport & Logistics, Tourism, Banking & Finance, etc. to come up with a comprehensive solution to address the issues of growing unemployment & underemployment. PAGASA was invited to participate. Break-out sessions were held to draw up a unified presentation economy-wise come Labor Day.

On 21 April 2021, PAGASA Office welcomed a personal visit by Mr. Mohit Garg, an Indian national who chose to make the Philippines his home. His entrepreneurial spirit urged him to personally meet PAGASA President Steven T. Cua to explore the possibility of supermarkets giving out eco-bags for free to customers when they shop. Mr. Garg is optimistic but will have to push pencils, create designs, pull strings and synergize resources to fulfill his vision of a lucrative trade here resulting in a cleaner Philippines.