NGO questions gin case delay

The largest consumer group in Northern Luzon recently said it is concerned over looming serious delays in the trial of the gin branding case, noting that the "slow progress prejudices the stake of the consumers in this raging controversy."

In a statement, the Isabela-based Timpuyong Mannalon Amianan said "our earlier call for a speedy resolution of the grin branding case now before the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court (RTC) seems to have fallen on deaf ears."

"The courts need to be sensitive to the fact that in cases like these, the real loser in any delay are the consumers," the group said.

According to leading consumer activist and Timpuyong spokesperson Melany Victoria, the delay "might constrain us to prematurely make our own conclusion on the issue. Our primary concern is the consuming public and their interest cannot wait while the Court of Appeals decides on mere incidents which do not address the ultimate merits of the case."

Victoria issued the statement in the wake of the recent issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) by the Court of Appeals (CA) against the Mandaluyong RTC judge hearing the P100-million suit filed by Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI) versus Tanduay Distillers Inc. (TDI) for alleged trademark infringement and unfair competition.

The TRO was issued upon the petition of TDI to stop the lower court from implementing a preliminary injunction issued against TDI.

GSMI earlier charged that the design and branding of TDI’s Ginebra Kapitan "has caused gin drinkers to mistakenly believe that it is a product of GSMI."

Victoria earlier dared both TDI and GSMI "to bare their respective market studies so consumers can make their own conclusions on the issue of whether or not the entry of new gin product Ginebra Kapitan is causing confusion among gin consumers."

She warned that her group is set to launch an aggressive information campaign to protect the interest of its members if they determine that "there is widespread confusion in the gin market caused by branding techniques and marketing ploys."

Victoria also said Northern Luzon is at present the country’s largest gin market, with farmers and countryside-based industry workers as the most significant market sub-sectors.

She said that the delay of the case due to legal technicalities "would deprive the market of an important truth that would guide them in purchase decision-marking."

She called on GSMI and TDI to "word hand in hand to bring the case to trial proper during which the public can weigh, together with the court, the merits of the research and studies on the market confusion issue."