By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto pushed anew the passage of the measure that would mandate the placement of Timbangan ng Bayan in all public and private markets, including supermarkets.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Recto has refiled his bill seeking to protect consumers and deter the proliferation of defective weights in markets.
The Senate leader stressed the need to provide a "standard instrument for setting and validating weights" as he noted that some merchants still resort to selling underweight products.
He said faulty weighing scales were also caused by the absence of a standard that will verify their reading.
In the Recto's proposal, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the local government shall be mandated to display "tamper-proof, heavy duty, constantly calibrated" weighing scales in public and private markets.
The market or supermarket manager shall then be responsible in supervising and maintaining the Timbangan ng Bayan.
"It will avoid those ‘tinimbang ka ngunit kulang’ moments for consumers who have been wittingly or unwittingly sold underweight goods," Recto said in a statement Monday.
The Timbangan ng Bayan will also be able to validate the claimed weight of products packed and canned in factories, he added.