Malacanang welcomed on Wednesday the decrease in inflation in November, attributing it to President Rodrigo Duterte's "decisive action."

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo cited the government's intervention to lower inflation, which was at 6 percent in November.

"The Palace accepts this as good news. We attribute this to the President’s empathy to public clamor and his decisive action in response thereto," he said.

The measures include the issuance of Administrative Order No. 13 to streamline procedures on the importation of agricultural products, including rice, as well as Memorandum Order (MO) Nos. 26, 27, and 28 to stabilize the prices of agriculture and fishery products at reasonable levels and maintain their sufficient supply in our markets, said Panelo.

He said these have helped in the decline in food inflation from 9.4 percent in October to 8 percent in November.

"Prices of rice, corn, fish, meat, fruits, and vegetables have gone down," the official said.

He assured the public the government would continue to be vigilant and to monitor the prices of basic goods and commodities "to ensure that hunger incidence and food insecurity are eradicated."

The November inflation was lower than the 6.7 percent recorded a month ago but double than the 3 percent inflation a year ago. Celerina Monte/DMS