Floods jack up Metro food prices.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Christine Gaylican

BE THANKFUL if you see military trucks loaded with vegetables surging through the floods.

That means soldiers are now helping ferry farm products from the north of the country to Metro Manila in order to bring down food prices, which have shot up in the wake of the massive flooding that has swamped Central Luzon.

The retail price of vegetable produce, such as carrots, has risen from an average of P50 to P120 per kilo in Metro Manila markets the past few days, agriculture officials said yesterday.

The prices of agricultural produce transported from Baguio and other northern Luzon provinces have jumped by an average of P15 to P20 per kilo because the floods had made it difficult to bring the goods to the lowlands, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) said.

"We are asking the help of the military to transport the vegetables to Manila," Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap told reporters.