The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) – Negros Occidental is ensuring fair and affordable options in buying basic school supplies for Negrense learners ahead of the school opening on June 16.
As of Friday, personnel of the Consumer Protection Unit, together with Provincial Director Lynna Joy Cardinal, already covered six major mall-based retail stores in Bacolod City city in monitoring school supplies and their prices.
“All school supplies checked were within the prices indicated in the price guide,” Cardinal said in a statement.
The DTI personnel checked the prices of such items as notebooks, pad paper, intermediate pads, pencils, ballpens, crayons, erasers, sharpeners, and rulers.
During the inspection, they distributed to retailers copies of the 2025 “Gabay sa Pamimili ng School Supplies,” a price guide designed to help parents, guardians, and stakeholders make informed and budget-friendly choices for the back-to-school season.
It includes updated market prices of commonly purchased educational materials and labeling requirements for pad paper, crayons, and pencils.
The 2025 price guide covers 195 stock-keeping units (SKUs) across 12 product categories, including more variations in notebooks, pad paper, pencils, ballpens, crayons, and other writing essentials.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire said that based on the DTI price guide, the prices of 29 school items have decreased compared to the previous year.
The prices of about 101 SKUs, or 52 percent of the 195 listed items, such as ballpens, erasers, and sharpeners, remained the same from the previous year.
The price guide shows notebooks cost P15 to P52; pad papers, P15 to P48.75; pencils, P11 to P24; pens, P3 to P33; crayons, P12 to P114; erasers, P4.50 to P20; sharpeners, P15 to P69; and rulers, P16 to P39.*PNA