PBA party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles is seeking a congressional inquiry into the reported piracy in the online shopping platform in a bid to safeguard consumers from substandard or inferior, defective and fake items.
In a television interview, Nograles said “I think Congress has to investigate in aid of legislation so the people would know who should really be in charge of online retailing.”
He said that there should be a government agency that should look into the complaints of the customers and the manufacturers against online sellers that ship products that would turn out to be fake.
He admitted that he himself was able to buy some products from online sellers.
He, however, said that he was concerned when a manufacturer complained that that their items were being pirated by other online sellers.
He said the victim sought the help of the Department of Trade and Industry which advised him to refer his complaint to the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
DICT, however, told the complainant to seek the DTI’s assistance.
“Basically there is such a thing as piracy of products. These pirates can only be found within the online selling portals. The question is, is there someone from the government effectively policing these pirated products? I do not see anyone,” Nograles said.
“What is the duty of the government? Isn’t it they should be the one to protect the public? If you talk to one government agency, it would just dribble you to another agency as to whoever should have be responsible to take actions,” he added.
He said the Consumer Act of the Philippines or Republic Act 7394 was passed at the time when there was still no online shopping.
“The Consumer Protection Act was created before naging sikat ang online retailing and online selling,” he said.
“How do you police an online settler if the online seller is not a Filipino even if there is this Consumer Protection Act? That is now the big question here,” he added.
According to Nograles, the House of Representatives will study the expansion coverage of the law to include online selling activity.