DTI keeps price watch on school supplies

So, it’s back to school (back to books and teachers’ dirty looks?) for millions of students for the schoolyear 2004-2005. You know school opening is just around the proverbial corner when the bookstores are jammed with parents and their kids, buying textbooks and assorted school supplies. And you know it’s the school opening when the prices of pad papers, pencils, notebooks, etc. are suddenly higher than usual because naturally, as demand for these items increases, businessmen hoping to make a killing jack up prices.

Parents will be happy to know that DTI Secretary Cesar Purisima is doing his homework. Fact is, he recently met with bookstore owners and school supplies manufacturers to request them to keep their prices at reasonable levels. Through this appeal, DTI hopes to help relieve the financial burdens of parents who are sending a child – or two or more – to school this schoolyear. The sad news is that there are countless other kids who are not even going to school this year because of financial constraints.

DTI reports that it has been monitoring the markets since April to check on the prices of school supplies. DTI-NCR notes a 5-10 percent increase in school supplies compared with last year’s prices. DTI monitoring reports show the prevailing prices of some school items as follows: Pad papers, from P7.75 to P19; 90-leaf notebooks, from P10.50 to P16.75; pencils, from P1.50 to P5.50.

Purisima has promised to extend assistance to manufacturers in case they need help in keeping their prices at affordable levels. In return, the manufacturers and bookstore owners have assured DTI that their would be no further increases in the prices of school commodities. Parents, take note!

Meanwhile, the DTI is coming out with price advisories in newspapers to inform consumers of the suggested retail prices of school supplies. This also serves as a reminder of sorts to store owners and manufacturers not to unfairly price their items.

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Coffee, tea or a lemon?

Not to be taken for a ride, a broadcast journalist airs his complaint:

Dear Consumerline,

I am Gene Orejana of ABS-CBN. I write not as an employee of ABS-CBN but as a disgruntled consumer who bought a defective product and was denied efficient and prompt service. I write to relate my depressing, pitiful and regrettable experience with a Mitsubishi Pajero 4x2 Fieldmaster.

I bought a brand-new Pajero in December 2000 through a company car plan. That choice, however, left me with mental anguish, anxiety and anger for three years and five months while using that Pajero. Can you live through the idea of spending P1,390,000 for a lemon Pajero? I am not rich, that was blood money used in buying that SUV for me and my family.

I had a series of communication with the Mitsubishi people. In one of those letters, I enumerated the defects of the Pajero unit when it was turned over to me after supposed repairs last March 24, to wit:

• Smoke-belching after injection pump was replaced with a new one.

• Engine pull or acceleration not as powerful as before repair or adjustment was made prior to the last servicing of the unit.

• Steering wheel not aligned straight. It pulls to the right when braking or when vehicle starts to accelerate. For the unit to maintain a straight line moving forward, steering wheel must be held slightly to the right.

• Paint chips on the lower edge of driver’s door, lower side of rear right door; wide scratch on the side of stepboard at the rear right door.

• Scratch on the nickel surface of the right side mirror.

• Rough, garalgal engine sound when A/C compressor is on.

My last letter was addressed to MMPC president and CEO Kengo Takase.

In fairness, Mitsubishi entertained my complaints. It responded to my concerns. It tried to rectify them. However, it simply gave up – surrendered is the right word – in repairing the vehicle. They stopped accepting the unit for repairs because they said I could not be satisfied. Of course, I will not accept and drive around a defective SUV worth over a million pesos! I cannot be satisfied because they cannot repair the vehicle. And worst, Mitsubishi offered to assist me in selling the unit. Where can you find a car manufacturer who would take the easy way out by suggesting to sell the unit because the owner cannot accept a lemon? And because they cannot fix it. And because they would not admit that their product was defective.

I asked Mitsubishi to replace the unit with a better one. It turned down my request. I sought the assistance of DTI to this end. Sadly, nothing came out of it. Nothing!

Now, I write for relief and to bring my case to the consuming public.

More power!

– GENE OREJANA

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Loco over coco, too!

A coco nut writes:

Dear Consumerline,

I was fortunate enough to read your article in The Philippine STAR dated June 1, 2004 and am so glad that at last, we have a champion for our coconut oil. I wish to get hold of Dr. Fife’s book titled The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil just so I could justify the difficult defense I did for my thesis while taking my MBA.

Indeed, coconut oil is truly the king of all oils. It is also our major export and dollar earner. It had undergone all forms of scrutiny and downgrading. It was destroyed in the minds of consumers worldwide by those who were saying that coconut oil was unhealthy because it was saturated fat. This worldwide paninira has been perpetuated by soybean producers/traders, who are all millionaires to begin with and have access to media and propaganda. Because of their lies, many still believe that coconut oil is bad or can cause heart disease. The truth is, coconut oil is the cleanest, purest and has a lot of healing benefits, as Dr. Fife mentions.

– DADO MITRA

Dear Consumerline,

Your article on coconut oil is quite interesting. Would you know where we can buy a "ready-made" coconut oil or do we have to extract it the way our grandmothers did it before? I haven’t seen them in supermarkets.

Sincerely,

LIZEL

Meena Sehwani of Crisis Line comes to our rescue and tells us that interested parties can order virgin coconut oil (VCO, or coconut oil processed from fresh coconuts via an extraction method that results in oil that does not have aflatoxin, free fatty acids and caustic soda residues) by texting Robert Sehwani at 0920-4065667 or e-mailing rimco@info.com.ph.

"Or you may also course orders through me c/o In Touch, tel. nos. 893-1893 and 893-1892 or cell phone no. 0918-7428089," says Meena.

Available are Thera Oil at P125 for 200 ml bottle, P195 for 500 ml bottle and P250 for 500 ml cannister; Primo Cooking Oil at P425 for 1150 ml bottle; Fiber Dyn All Natural Coconut Dietary Fiber at P160 for 300 grm cannister.

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If there’s something bugging you and you think we can help, e-mail us at ching_alano@yahoo.com.