The Senate committee on trade, commerce and entrepreneurship vowed to refile several bills, including amendments to the Consumer Act, when the 17th Congress opens on July 1.
“We’ve been busy trying to put together important laws on our legislative agenda. We weren’t able to finish the Consumer Act, the Corporation Code, and several more. Even though we did accomplished a lot in the 16th Congress, we feel that there’s still a long way to go,” Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino said.
Aquino said amendments to the Consumer Act would take into consideration higher penalties for scammers and more stringent policies on trading to better protect consumers.
“A stronger Consumer Act will be good to all Filipino consumers. The changes in the Consumer Act can really push to let our consumers know that at the end of the day if they bought products that are defective, the law is there to protect them,” he said.
Republic Act No. 7394 or the Consumer Act is a law promulgated in 1992 to protect the interest of the consumer, promote his general welfare and establish standards of conduct for business and industry.
Aquino also said he would push for creation of the Philippine Efficiency Office. He said the new office would take on the function of a permanent government agency that would constantly check and double check old or new laws considered detrimental to the Philippines.
“One of the functions is to provide guidance to legislators and even local government units to stop us from over-regulating. It will be tasked to check among the departments if there are contradictions on internal policies between government agencies,” said Aquino.
He mentioned a memorandum circular promulgated by the Philippine National Police that restricted the entry of controlled chemicals that might be used for the manufacture of explosives.
The MC affected shipments of manufacturing companies using regulated chemicals that compromised their production and export commitments.
“So, in the future, we should have a some kind of ‘referee’. That hopefully is the Philippine Efficiency Office. Hopefully that can really make a more efficient system for our businesses so as not to slow down the economy. We can’t afford a slowdown. The good economy should continue to accelerate for the next 6 to 10 years,”Aquino said.