Adding teeth to the Consumer Code

Amid the nonstop increase in prices comes a bit of good news for Filipino consumers, notes Vic Del Fierro Jr., president of the Coalition for Consumer Protection and Welfare.

He adds, "Our present breed of senators is now proactive and realizes the need to amend the toothless RA 7394, otherwise known as the Consumer Code of the Philippines."

The Committee on Trade chair Sen. Mar Roxas zealously gives priority to the amendments to RA 7394 and other suggestions/proposals for consumer protection and welfare. Among these "consumerist" senators are Nene Pimentel, Ralph Recto, Manny Villar, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, and Juan Flavier.

This consumerist makes the following recommendations:

Food and Consumer Products Labeling Act Of 2005

• We recommend the incorporation of the various labeling legislative measures into one comprehensive Food and Consumer Products Labeling Act of 2005 with all the senators as principal and co-authors, notably those with labeling bills.

Mandatory Labeling For All Food Products

• Nutritive vitamin and mineral contents should be mandatory in all food processed products, including meat, vegetables, packed bakery products, and those sold in major food chains like McDonald’s, Jollibee, Wendy’s.

GMO Information

• Food products that contain genetically engineered materials or GMOs should be labeled accordingly so that consumers have an informed choice since GMO studies are not yet that conclusive and the long-term impact of constant exposure may affect future generations.

Complete Verifiable Addresses and Phone Numbers

• The verifiable address and telephone numbers of the company should be part of product labels.

Consumer Labeling Regulatory Board

• We also propose a Consumer Labeling Regulatory Board to implement and monitor the strict implementation of the comprehensive food product labeling law. It should not be delegated to the over loaded existing bureaus of government. The composition of the board should have consumer representations to harmonize its function with consumer protection.

Stiff Penalties and Sanctions

>• We propose that the penalty for the violation of the new food product labeling law range from a minimum of P500,000 for false claims in the labeling package to P1 million with imprisonment for the top company officials from five to six years.

Oil Deregulation

>• The oil players, big and small, should bare their audited and certified transaction or the actual acquisition of imported crude oil or finished products.

Without full transparency, predator oil price increases will be here. Only through full disclosure of audited oil transaction purchases can we justify the never-ending price increases imposed by local oil players. There is an anti-trust law in the Philippines which prohibits cartels. It’s about time that consumers empowered themselves, if the government is too timid to assert the people’s rights.

Lastly, Del Fierro calls on all idealistic lawyers for the anti-cartel task force to be formed by the CCPW. They can e-mail at vicdelfire@yahoo.com.

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Calling all cell phone subscribers!

An urgent note was passed on to us via e-mail by Leo Martinez and now, we’re passing it on to you:

A housewife lost her cell phone when her handbag was stolen. The handbag contained not just her cell but also her ATM card and purse. Later, she told her husband about it. And her husband said, "I received a text from you asking about our PIN number. And I replied just a while ago." The couple rushed down to the bank and found out that all their money had been withdrawn. The cell phone thief used the stolen cell phone to text "hubby" and ask for the pin number. Within minutes, he was cleaning out the couple’s bank account.

Thus, let this serve as a ringing warning: In the contact list on your cell, avoid using names like home, honey, hubby, sweetheart, dad, mom, etc. And more, when sensitive info is being asked through SMS, confirm by calling up the sender of the text.

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Green is in

Over a wonderful lunch at Peking Garden in Glorietta, Makati last week, PR lady Susan Joven told us the secret of her now normal blood pressure (which in the past would shoot up to 160/90): Green juice. "Since I took this, my BP has remained normal," Susan swears.

So, what’s in the green juice?

Susan shares this recipe given to her by a Chinese doctor:

Ingredients

Green apple

Cucumber

Ampalaya

Green bell pepper

Celery

Osterize for one person (one glass of water): 1/2 green apple, one stalk celery, ampalaya, cucumber, bell pepper.

Enjoy your green juice!

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We’d love to hear from you. E-mail us at ching_alano@yahoo.com.