CONSUMER’S RIGHTS. Engineer Angelo Devero, consumer protection chief of the Department of Trade and Industry Misamis Oriental, explains how consumers can assert their rights in a media briefing, October 2, 2024, in Cagayan de Oro as lawyer Jose Edgardo Uy of the City Price Coordinating Council and DTI Misor Head Jesusa Abear listen. [DTI Misor Photo]
MindanaoToday.com | Empowered buyers can influence prices, quality
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – While customers do not set prices and the quality of goods they want to buy, they can influence manufacturers to observe standards and for distributors to sell these at fair prices, if they assert their rights.
This, in gist, was the shared message of the officials from the Department of Trade and Industry in Misamis Oriental (DTI Misor) and the City Price Coordinating Council (CPCC) on October 2 media briefing here to drumbeat the relevance of Consumer Welfare Month (CWM) observance.
Officer-in-Charge Jesusa Abear and Consumer Protection Division Chief Angelo Devero, both from DTI Misamis Oriental, discussed eight consumer rights which are encapsulated in this year’s CMC theme: Be Smart, Assert Your Consumer Rights!
This city, including the cities of El Salvador and Gingoog, are within DTI Misor’s turf.
As presented, consumers may exercise their right to basic needs, right to safety, right to information, right to choose, right to representation, right to redress, right to consumer education, and right to healthy environment. Pricing of goods, however, is not among them.
“The cost of production, including materials and labor, are taken into consideration,” said Abear, referring to the pricing of goods that are produced by manufacturers, particularly prime and basic commodities that their agency monitors.
Devero said they monitor the movement of prices of goods in Cagayan de Oro every week, particularly in groceries and in public markets, and in the province and component cities every month. These enable them to check if the suggested retail prices (SRP) from DTI to manufacturers are complied with.
Lawyer Jose Edgardo Uy, co-chairperson of Cagayan de Oro’s CPCC, said that while pricing of goods is not among the rights of consumers but this can be influenced once they exercise their rights to information, to choose, and right to redress.
Uy said customers, including those who had online deliveries, must demand that the parcel or package be opened in the presence of whoever delivered the item, to make sure he gets the product of desired specification and quality he ordered.
Senior citizens and persons with disabilities who have been granted discounts on food and medicines must check whether computations are properly done—deductions on food actually consumed by the SC and/or the PWD, not just on the cheapest item.
He said that once buyers would opt for cheaper products but of good quality and right quantity, hence sending signals to producers to lower prices but keep the standards. This, he said, is what free-enterprise economy is where prices are regulated but not controlled, allowing the market forces to move on their own.
Abear said prices are still determine by law of supply and demand where prices go up once the demand is high, yet the supply is low, hence other players in the industry come in offering alternatives to consumers.
Devero said for canned sardines and instant noodles, for instance, there are several brands that are in the list of items they regularly monitor. Prices of these commodities are not the same, hence buyers can choose.
DTI Misamis Oriental received 105 complaints from customers since January to September this year. It acted on 120 complaints last year, including those who ordered products online. (Uriel Quilinguing/MT)
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