It is the time of the year when I normally take stock of what has been and what might be, assess little victories and learn lessons from defeats. It is also the time I accept what I cannot change and resolve to change what I can. As it is Christmas, bear with me.
My advocacy for greater awareness and action against climate change has been particularly gratifying. While the lives, homes and properties lost to typhoons and natural disasters around the globe in recent years can no longer be brought back, they served a purpose. They became ruthless calls to the leaders of the world that the wrath of fiercer storms and extreme weather conditions will continue to happen unless nations take action. That no less than Pope Francis himself has taken up the cause of protecting the planet from environmental destruction and that nations have finally reached an accord on climate change in Paris are giant leaps I did not ever imagine would happen in a decade.
I am just as excited too about how we, the environmental advocates in the municipality of Lobo, Batangas, with the indispensable help of ABS CBN Foundation, have been able to stop open-pit gold mining in Lobo that would have destroyed the Verde Island Passage—known the world over as the center of the center of the earth’s marine biodiversity. Reeling from the divisiveness brought upon the community by the grant of endorsement to allow mining in Lobo by the Sangguniang Bayan, the residents are now learning to value what nature has given them. They have started organic farming, food production from indigenous fruits and fish processing. Through this column in The Standard, like-minded advocates learned about the threat of mining in Lobo and joined the fight.
On what I have been writing on since 2012 to save the lives of motorists and pedestrians from death or injury—the sudden unintended acceleration of the Mitsubishi Montero Sport vehicle—a positive development has happened, at last. The Department of Trade announced last week that it would order a thorough car check-up by a third party laboratory at the government’s expense to determine if indeed there is a defect in the electronic throttle of the Montero sports which could be causing the phenomenon of sudden unintended acceleration. The Trade Department also announced that Mitsubishi is facing a separate administrative complaint with the Fair Trade and Enforcement Bureau filed by DTI, on behalf of the 24 complainants who came forward, for selling a defective product in violation of the Consumer Act of the Philippines. DTI also announced that there is likewise a possibility that criminal charges would be filed against officers of Mitsubishi if found to have committed substantial misrepresentations. In Japan, for instance, the officers of Mitsubishi were criminally charged and sentenced to imprisonment for having misrepresented facts concerning vehicles with various defects. DTI revealed that in the investigation hearings, they discovered that Mitsubishi did not disclose a critical information, that is, the engine computer software of the Montero was supplied by another maker, not Mitsubishi itself.
While this is a good development, the government should do more by inviting foreign experts who have been studying this phenomenon in many countries, namely, Dr. Antony Anderson and Dr. Ron Belt. Anderson and Belt are electrical engineers who have written published works on the subject of the sudden unintended acceleration of vehicles. Anderson has been called upon to testify as an expert witness in a case in New Zealand involving the sudden uninterrupted acceleration of the Mitsubishi Outlander, the counterpart of the Montero in the Philippines. Until the Mitsubishi Montero Sport vehicles are off the streets, or until they have been recalled for proper repair, all the victims of sudden unintended acceleration, all Montero owners and anyone who cares about being safe on the road should not stop watching how the government’s action will unfold.
On another advocacy I have embarked on, that is, exposing the unjustly high cost, but poor service we are getting from the telecommunications duopolies—PLDT/Smart and Globe—the government has yet to take action. It should either break up the duopoly by allowing other companies to come in for better service or by compelling these telcos to improve their service and lower the cost of their service.
Mitsubishi and these telecommunications duopolies are giants that have close ties in government. But, what I realized, is that change is possible when people help one another to reach it with relentless passion and hope. It is time the Filipino consumer learns to assert what he deserves.
May hope for change reign in our hearts this Christmas.
Email: [email protected]
Visit: www.jimenolaw.com.ph