San juan: The San Juanico Bridge crisis has contributed to the 0.7 percent increase in the June 2025 inflation rate of Eastern Visayas due to higher costs of transporting products, officials said Thursday.

According to Philippines News Agency, all three provinces in Samar registered higher inflation last month, following the enforcement of a three-ton load limit on the 2.16-kilometer bridge that links Leyte to Samar Island. Northern Samar experienced the most significant increase, with the inflation rate rising to 2.8 percent from 0.5 percent in May. Eastern Samar's inflation rose to 1.9 percent from 0.6 percent in the previous month, while Samar province saw its rate of price increases jump to negative 0.1 percent from negative 0.8 percent in the past two months.

Philippine Statistics Authority regional director Wilma Perante explained that the regional inflation rate's uptrend in June 2025 was mainly driven by the food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group, which showed zero inflation in June 2025, compared to an annual price drop of 0.7 percent in May 2025.

Marilou Saporas, marketing specialist of the Department of Agriculture regional agribusiness and marketing assistance division, highlighted that higher food prices were linked to added costs in transporting meat products from Leyte and Mindanao to Samar. She mentioned that vegetables from Mindanao, with Tacloban City as their drop-off point, also contributed to the increased transportation expenses, as traders had to rent smaller vehicles to cross the San Juanico Bridge.

Meanwhile, the provinces of Leyte and Biliran recorded lower inflation rates and even deflation in June: Leyte decreased to 0.7 percent from the previous month's 1.1 percent, Southern Leyte went down to -1.3 percent from -0.6 percent, and Biliran dropped to one percent from 1.2 percent. The regional capital, Tacloban City, posted a lower inflation rate at 0.3 percent from 0.7 percent.

Perante clarified that low inflation does not necessarily indicate a decrease in commodity prices; rather, it means that prices continue to rise but at a slower rate.