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BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – Capitol officials were looking to expand its crackdown on fake commodities spreading in Negros Occidental.
A distributors’ representative told a public hearing the Sangguniang Panlalawigan held yesterday that the fake products included medicines.
“Our concern now is how to immediately stop the sale of fake commodities,” said Vice Gov. Eugenio Lacson, the presiding officer.
The Provincial Board launched the inquiry in light of complaints Board member Alain Gatuslao received from several retailers.
Gatuslao said the retailers worry they would lose to their competitors that sell fake products at a cost 50 to 60 percent less than the genuine ones.
Among the counterfeit products were soaps, shampoo, toothpastes, cigarettes, and noodles, the Board member said.
Medicines were also being faked, said Allyson Seballos, trade marketing manager for Macro-distributors, Inc. and MS Panay Distributors, Inc.
“According to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), may mga bulong man nga fake, mga anti-tetanus and antibiotics,” Seballos told the committee on laws, ordinances and good governance.
Macro-distributors, Inc. and MS Panay Distributors, Inc. were official distributors of Procter & Gamble Co. products in Panay and Negros islands.
“May ara man gina-fake nga mga blades, mga lighters, cigarettes,” Seballos further said, citing the Department of Trade and Industry.
While Seballos claimed they have incurred losses competing with fake products, she failed to disclose how much exactly.
At the public hearing, the business executive showed a sample of a counterfeit bath soap.
Compared to the genuine one, its packaging would be bigger, thicker and more difficult to open, she said.
The product logo would also be blurred, while the product itself would have a different smell if not odorless, said Seballos.
She said their head office was the one conducting tests to determine the effects of fake bath soaps on users. She appealed to consumers to buy only from legitimate outlets like registered stores and malls.
“[Isa sa mga] senyales nga na-establish kaina is kon ang product 50 to 40 percent cheaper, that is already a warning that it may not be genuine or authentic,” said the vice governor.
More extensive investigation in cooperation with concerned agencies would determine if food products were also being faked, he said.
“I’ll leave that to the committee chairman, Board member Gatuslao,” said Lacson. “He will direct us on what action to take.”
A National Bureau of Investigation representative said they cannot act on the matter immediately “as a matter of policy.”
There must be a complaint first, but they have received none in recent months, said Special Investigator III William De Arca Jr.
“We all know nga may mga fake products, but we are always waiting nga sila mismo (aggrieved persons) ang mag-file complaint,” said De Arca./PN
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