House OKs harsher penalties for vendors

MANILA, Philippines — Congress has ratified a measure that imposes stiffer penalties on fraudulent and abusive vendors in markets.

In the final session before going into election recess on Wednesday night, the House of Representatives approved the reconciled version of the bill, which seeks to give more teeth to Republic Act 7394 or the Consumer Act to better protect the buying public.

The House plenary ratified the bicameral conference committee report that reconciled the versions of the bill passed by the two chambers. The Senate has likewise ratified the same report.

This means the bill now be transmitted to the Palace for signature of President Duterte to become a law.

Deputy Speaker and Valenzuela City District 1 Rep. Wes Gatchalian, who earlier led the deliberations of the House on the bill when he was still chair of the committee on trade and industry, cited the significance of the measure.

“Right now, we are only relying on the accuracy of the weighing instruments of our local suki, and trusting that their instruments are working properly or that they have not tampered with the seals placed by the local treasurer. We have no way of personally measuring the weight of the items that we buy at the time of purchase,” he explained.

“There are many reports of vendors who cheat their customers by manipulating the scales. But with the establishment of a Timbangan ng Bayan in all public and private markets, all consumers now have the opportunity to immediately double-check the measurement of the goods they buy,” Gatchalian stressed.

Under RA 7394, the only protection to consumers is the testing and calibration of weighing instruments every six months by the local treasurer, designated as the official sealer.

Though penalties are provided for under the Consumer Act, these only range from P200 to P1,000.

The proposed amendment increases the penalty that may be imposed, pegging the minimum at P50,000 to a maximum of P300,000.

The penalty of imprisonment has also been increased from a minimum of one year to not more than five years.

The bill also proposes the establishment of Timbangan ng Bayan centers nationwide to confirm the accuracy of the quantity and measurement of the products bought in markets.

Under the law providing for the establishment of Timbangan ng Bayan Centers in all public and private wet markets, dry markets, tiangges and even grocery stores and supermarkets, the market supervisor shall be in charge of the safekeeping and routine maintenance of all timbangan ng bayan instruments.

The supervisor shall also record all products found to be deficient in quantity or is substandard in dimension, as well as the establishment where the same was bought.