Lanao del Norte consumer orgs join Regional Consumer Organization Confab

Sunday 10th of June 2012

ILIGAN CITY, Lanao del Norte June 10 (PIA) --A total of 90 participants attended the recently concluded Regional Consumer Organizations’ Assembly held in Cagayan de Oro City.

The gathering consisted of key officers from the Local Price Coordinating Councils (LPCCs), the youth sector, and non-government groups in Northern Mindanao, of which 22 came from Lanao del Norte and two from the College of Law Advocates and Nobles (CLAN) in Iligan City.

Three legitimate consumer organizations (COs) namely the Maranding Women Investors Multi-Purpose Cooperative (MWIMPC), Rebe Multi-Purpose Cooperative (RMPC), and the Tubod People’s Cooperative (TUPECO), all of Lanao del Norte(LDN), have sent representations and actively joined the workshop sessions on drawing out the best practices, challenges and action plan.

Among the four best practices presented by the Lanao Norte COs were: Continuing consumer advocacy; Establishment of emission testing center in Tubod, LDN; Free calibration of weighing scales; and Creation of BOSS (Business One Stop Shop), which they believed could help in the transformation.

Moreover, these three accredited COs cited the conduct of calibration in weighing scales and petroleum dispenser, and the enduring education on consumer protection as their major tasks to be urgently addressed before the current year ends.

Provincial Director Ruel B. Paclipan of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Iligan City/Lanao del Norte Provincial Office said these organizations are considered and recognized as the voice for all the consumers in promoting its basic rights. They are tasked to demand that these rights are respected and protected, as well.

Further, the organization shall likewise protest, campaign and lobby concerning market abuses and social injustices which undermine them.

In a message delivered by Officer-in-Charge Linda O. Boniao, DTI 10, Cagayan de Oro City, which states that the vision of the Department of Trade and Industry is to make the Philippines a country where its people have access to sustainable and quality goods and services, asserting their rights as consumers and organizing as groups to make use of the power of their collective voices for the benefit of the Filipino consumers.

She said, “The DTI, with the help of the local consumer organizations, must take necessary steps in three possible areas of partnership, which are: information and education; monitoring and enforcement; and policy to transform this vision into reality.” (LVG/AADevero/DTI LDN/PIA 10-LDN)