Chiz / 'customer-cenary'

The big surprise a couple of weeks ago was the resignation of Sen. Francis Joseph “Chiz” Guevara Escudero from the Nationalist People’s Coalition. His move had the same impact as the announcement made earlier by Sen. Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party to give up his presidential ambition in favor of Sen. Noynoy Aquino. It was not clear why both senators arrived at their decisions. In the case of Chiz, until now, he has not decided on who his choice for running mate would be; what he said was that he was quitting from the NPC, but not from the presidential race.

Chiz, a former Sorsogon congressman, joined the NPC in 1998. Former Ambassador Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco is the founder and chief financier of the party. It had been bruited about that he was supporting Chiz’s bid for the presidency, and not that of his nephew, Defense Chief Gilberto Teodoro, who is the Arroyo administration’s presidential candidate. Now observers are clucking their tongues, saying blood being thicker than water, Danding is giving all-support to his nephew Gibo or to another relative, Noynoy.

Was Chiz hurt by his move?

Chiz’s campaign manager Lito Banayo said the senator’s move was “an affirmation of Chiz’s ideals. We want to deliver a political statement. He is a young man who wants a new brand of politics in this country. This is what we call people politics.”

Chiz might run as an independent, but, Banayo told the media, if he does join another party, he “will not join somebody or a group which does not personify good governance.”

We met Chiz at a lunch hosted by an admirer, and we asked if his decision hurt him. Hurt, yes, he said, “because all of them (party members) are my friends.”

He wasn’t telling if he was giving up his presidential ambition; “It’s the presidency for me, but not at all cost.”

This he amplified by talking about the difficulty in running under the “traditional” norm. First, one has to have plenty of resources. He didn’t say if there were enough guys to help finance his campaign. But did say that he is avoiding being “eaten up by the system.”

He made a very defining statement: “I left the party so I can be inclusive to people, not exclusive to the party.” One deduces many meanings to that statement. One will have to make compromises and pay up when the election has been won. Chiz said, “From day One, you owe your vote to every voter, and not to the party.”

One thing is clear: many of Chiz’s supporters, mostly young and many on college campuses, find in him the virtues so sadly lacking in “traditional” politicians: transparency, vision, honesty, a genuine desire to serve.

We wait with bated breath for Chiz’s next move. He might still run for the Senate, or for Congress (which he had served for three terms), or for the vice-presidency. There is no telling, and the decision will be from this young man who believes he can lead this country well.

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On another front, if our expectations as consumers are not met within the bounds of reason, the obvious recourse is to take our business elsewhere and never return. On the other hand, if the product or service falls so far beyond what was promised, there are other options. As is most commonly seen in cases involving health and safety issues, consumers can seek legal action if they feel that their experience falls into the realm of hazard or outright malice. It turns out that this is where the fine line is drawn between a genuine “customer,” versus what I learned very recently to be known as a “customer-cenary.”

A “customer-cenary” or “customer-cenaries,” in industry speak, are individuals who torment companies with trumped up complaints, hoping to get freebies - or in some cases - even money.

To my dismay, I learned that it is very easy to become a “customer-cenary” in the Philippines. “Everyone in the country loves the whole underdog versus the evil corporate machine theme,” explained a fastfood executive. “Even if the claims often border on the ridiculous, people buy it because it makes a good story - regardless of whether it has one bit of truth in it,” he emphasized.

It turns out, conventional industries still have something to be thankful for. “At least people understand a meat-and-potatoes business like food and beverages,” I was told. “In contrast, look at an industry like cosmetic surgery and enhancement. Now that’s a giant target because the everyday consumer doesn’t fully understand their procedures. Anyone can make a story out of that.” To illustrate, the recent cases filed against Dr. Vicki Belo were used as an example. “Some lady is suing Dr. Belo and demanding for the payment of P200 million because she claims that work done to her four years ago is causing her problems now. That’s like somebody suing our company because he or she got food poisoning in 2009, when they ate our food in 2005. Everyone can relate to that and dismiss it as absurd, but not so with a cosmetic procedure.”

My friend had a good point. I’m no doctor, but I’ve never heard of inflammation or swelling taking four years to happen after the infection occurred. So why was this being given attention? “First, because it’s Dr. Belo, so it’s sensationalized. Second, it’s because people can’t understand terms like ‘hydrogel’ — and even more so — ‘acrolein’ — which they are now claiming caused the infection,” the chemist said. He was right — I had no idea what in the world “acrolein” was.

“Acrolein is used as an intermediate in the synthesis of acrylic acid and as a biocide, so it’s bizarre how that ever got into that woman’s buttocks,” he said. “But the complainant and her lawyers themselves admitted that the implant used was pure hydrogel.”

“That’s like a person suing us because he used our toothpaste four years ago, and his mouth suddenly developed burns just this year. Upon analysis, they find traces of sulfuric acid in his mouth, so now he’s telling the world that this came from our toothpaste.”

It is truly a sad state of affairs when companies now have to devise ways to protect themselves from their own customers, in addition to attracting them. Indeed, if consumers have rights to shield them against the abusive practices of companies, the benefit should go both ways.

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