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KALIBO, Aklan – Consumers don’t just have rights. In order to be protected, they also need to abide by their responsibilities.
Anchored with this year’s theme for the Consumer Welfare Month celebration, “Consumer Protection: A Shared Responsibility,” Ma. Carmen I. Ituralde, OIC-provincial director of DTI-Aklan, talked on the rights and responsibilities of consumers in a press conference recently held at Hernanis Mix and Match, Kalibo.
“As a consumer we have eight basic rights to protect us from the market abuses and social injustices,”Ituralde said.
The following are the eight basic rights, Ituralde enumerated.
Right to basic needs which guarantees survival, adequate food, clothing, shelter, health care, and sanitation;
Right to safety to protect consumer to marketing of goods or provision of services that are hazardous to health and life;
Right to information to be protected against dishonest or misleading advertising and labeling;
Right to choose products at competitive prices with an assurance of satisfactory quality;
Right to representation, so that consumers could express interests in making and executing government policies;
Right to redress, or the right of the consumer to be compensated for misrepresentation, shoddy goods or unsatisfactory services;
Right to consumer education to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to be an informed consumer; and
Right to a healthy environment or the right to live and work in an environment which is neither threatening or dangerous, and which permits a life of dignity and well-being
“With the given rights, we as consumers have also our duties to be more protected in trade,” Ituralde stressed, enumerating the five consumer responsibilities.
Critical awareness or the responsibility to be alert, and to inquire about the uses, prices and qualities of goods and services;
Action or the consumer responsibility to assert one’s self and act to ensure that a fair deal is reached;
Social concern, wherein consumers must be aware of the impact of their consumption on other citizens, especially disadvantaged or powerless groups, whether in the local, national or international community;
Environmental concern which direct consumers to understand the environmental consequences of consumption; and
Solidarity or the consumer responsibility to organize together as consumers to develop the strength and influence in order to promote and protect everyone’s interests.
Meanwhile, Ituralde appealed to the participants, especially the Aklan Media, during the press conference to help DTI disseminate the aforementioned consumer rights and responsibilities to make the public more well-informed and vigilant. (PIA)
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