No matter where we come from, what our jobs are, what status we reach in society, each of us is a consumer. Thus I am happy to be starting this new column for the Manila Bulletin where I hope to be able to communicate to more people the messages on consumer advocacy, empowerment and protection. I hope to be able to help my fellow Filipinos understand and be more aware of their rights and duties as consumers.
To start, I would like to pose this question to my readers: what are the rights of a consumer? The United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Protection (UNGCP) lists the following eleven ( 11 ) consumer rights : Right to satisfaction of basic needs, Right to safe and quality products, Right to be informed, Right to choose, Right to be heard, Right to seek redress, Right to consumer education, Right to a healthy environment, and the more recent , the Right to consumer protection on electronic commerce, the Right to privacy, and the Right to sustainable consumption.
This is the core of the advocacy - to empower the consumer by making sure that he knows the rights that he should be enjoying whenever and wherever he or she may be. He will find in my columns what his rights are and how he should assert them , what he can use so that he make his voice heard and gain confidence, and eventually, how he can help others like him so he can become an advocate himself.
I also wish to contribute to the ongoing conversation on fairness and equity between the consumer, the manufacturer of the goods he wishes to procure, and the regulators. To achieve this, I will offer in this column what our four years of advocacy in Laban Konsyumer Inc.has accomplished and how a proactive and informed consumer can further these accomplishments towards consumer welfare empowerment. Thus, an informed consumer who feels aggrieved in a business transaction will know that there are several channels where he can find redress or air his grievance.
Another arena where consumer advocacy works and which this column hopes to strengthen is in the crafting of policies relating to consumer welfare and protection. We shall inform you of our positions and recommendations in the deliberation of the various pending Bills in the 18th Congress on consumer welfare and protection.
Do you remember the Suggested Retail Price (SRP)? Do you remember the resistance to its enforcement and the many ways it was dodged? I remember how vigilant consumers helped by calling attention to the lapse. And I am glad that SRP is now an accepted part of our purchasing life especially amidst COVID 19. I believe that the SRP’s time has come even for personal protective equipment’s, gadgets and bicycles.
And now that we are in the pandemic, an important role that we consumers are called upon to play is to be even more vigilant. We must continue to be vigilant not only on the obvious violations of the Consumer Act and the Price Act , but we must also make sure that our economic leaders and regulators do not to allow the harsh times to take advantage of the consumers and to strictly enforce all rules against profiteering and hoarding.
For this new opportunity to speak to a bigger audience of consumers. I thank the Manila Bulletin, the Laban Konsyumer Inc. Board of Trustees and members for supporting consumer advocacy.
Vic Dimagiba is president of Laban Konsyumer Inc.
Email : [email protected]
Twitter : @labankonsyumer
Facebook: Laban Konsyumer Inc.
Website :www.labankonsyumer.com