The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is ready to sue cement manufacturers and retailers for profiteering and to force cement firms them to open their books.

DTI Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya told reporters this is an option available to the DTI apart from the planned imposition of a price control on cement.

Meanwhile, Holcim Philippines Inc. has raised prices of cement by 3-5 percent translating to an additional P5 to P10 per 40-kilogram bag of cement in the country except for the National Capital Region and Central Luzon, which were hardest hit by the natural calamities last year. Holcim Philippines senior vice-president Eduardo A. Sahagun formally informed the Department of Trade and Industry in a letter dated January 5, 2010 addressed to Director Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba of the Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection.

“We are implementing a 3-5 percent adjustment in our SRPs only for North Luzon and Mindanao effective Friday, January 5, 2010. We wish to point out that this is our first price adjustment in 15 months," Sahagun said in a letter to Dimagiba.

Maglaya said the planned proliferation case against the cement industry players would include not only the cement manufacturers but down to the retailers.

Should the case materializes, this would be the first time for DTI to press charges against the cement manufacturers but this would be the second time that DTI would act as a complainant on behalf of the consumers the first time being when it filed a case against the Manila Electric Co. on power rates before the Energy Regulatory Board.