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Bill to penalize stores that will not give exact change to customers 

The Philippine coins. Photo courtesy of Ebay.com

MANILA, 29July2014 (PNA) — A lawmaker has filed a bill, imposing a penalty against erring business establishments that fail to give the exact amount of change to customers.

Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian (1st District, Valenzuela City) filed House Bill 4433 seeking to protect consumers from deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales act and practices.

Gatchalian said the bill seeks to stop the practice of many business establishments like supermarkets of giving candies instead of paying the exact amount of change to customers.

The bill seeks to amend Republic Act 7394, otherwise known as the “Consumer Act of the Philippines,” particularly the provision on unfair or unconscionable sales provision.

“RA 7394 is a government regulation that is aimed at protecting consumers’ rights and welfare. It has been in existence for 22 years with some minor amendments. In order to be responsive to the prevailing times, this measure intends to add another provision in Article 52 to further protect consumers,” Gatchalian said.

According to Gatchalian, Article 52 of RA 7394 provides that an unfair or unreasonable sales act or practice by a seller or supplier in connection with a consumer transaction violates Chapter I – Deceptive, Unfair and Unconscionable Sales Acts or Practices, whether it occurs before, during or after the consumer transaction.

Gatchalian said an act or practice shall be deemed unfair and unconscionable whenever the producer, manufacturer, distributor, supplier or seller, by taking advantage of the environment or surroundings, induces the consumer or gross one-side in favor of the producer, manufacturer, distributor, supplier or seller.

Gatchalian cited Article 48 of RA 7394, which provides that the State shall promote and encourage fair, honest and equitable relations among parties in consumer transactions and protect the consumer against deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales acts or practices.

Gatchalian proposed to amend Article 48 by providing additional circumstance by including that the consumer transaction was denied because of an alleged shortage of coins or change on the part of the seller, or that the consumer was shortchanged by the giving of candies or other items in lieu of money as change, or when due to lack of time, the consumer enters into the transaction even if it means waiving the change due.

Under the bill, violators face one-year imprisonment and a fine of not more than P10,000. (PNA)

  Get that exact change

Dear DTI Consumer Power,
What happens to those who do not give exact change to their customers? Is it really that grave if we do not get that peso or centavo as change? I usually just ignore it since it’s a very small amount.

Kris, Marikina

Dear Kris,
Shortchanging is a violation against the law, because businesses who commit this are giving consumers less of what is due to them. Needless to say, it is a form of cheating. The law that is being implemented to address this problem is called the “Exact Change Act” which seeks to “(a) prohibit the giving of insufficient change or no change at all to consumers; (b) prohibit the giving of change in any form other than money; (c) require the posting of signs reminding consumers to ask for their exact change; and (d) require the use of price tags, when appropriate, that will reflect the exact price per unit or service, already incorporating the applicable tax or taxes.”

Any person or business that violates the Exact Change Act shall be fined P500 for the first offense; P15,000 for the second offense and suspension for three months of their license to operate; and P25,000 for the fourth offense and their license to operate revoked.

In addition to the amount of fines mentioned, the total amount of change that the establishment failed or refused to give, as determined from the audit of the Department of Trade and Industry, shall be paid by the said establishment to the government, unless it can be determined with reasonable certainty that the change is due and payable to a particular person or persons.

Consumers tend to ignore it when a mere 10 centavos, 25 centavos, or P1 less of their change. What they don’t realize is the gravity and implications of committing shortchanging. Imagine a restaurant serving 500 customers a day and all of them get a change short of P1. If you do the math, the restaurant gets P500 a day, P2,000 a week, P8,000 a month and P96,000 a year. This amount could have bought their customers, whom they didn’t give exact change to, extra decent meals or other valuable products/services.

Shortchanging is a trade malpractice. When tolerated by consumers, makes it seem acceptable by the society when it should be stopped. This also defeats the purpose of putting laws and policies in place to give order to the community. Consumers must realize the importance of asserting their rights. This is one way of achieving a balance between doing business and protecting the welfare of the consuming public.

***

The Department of Trade and Industry welcomes all inquiries, complaints, comments and suggestions from consumers. Call DTI Direct at 751-3330 from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or visit the DTI website www.dti.gov.ph

TARANTADO KA PALA!

KUNG HINDI BA NAMAN KAYO NAGPABAYAD KAY AQUINO!

GAGO KA PALA BONG REVILLA! 

YOU SHOULD NOT BE ELECTED ANYMORE FOR PUBLIC OFFICE.

LIAR LIAR

The nerve of this buffoon to tell lies and evade answers on international television!

Talk about transparency!!!!

Case for the Undead : Journey into Evil

"I am very much convinced that if Mister Mar Roxas wins the 2016 elections, this country, all of us, may be turned into vampires. Even worst, we will become the undead."

"But Master, how can you be sure? Mister Mar Roxas seems like a good guy. He doesn't have fangs, I suppose?"

"Are you out of your mind Renfield?! Evil has existed for centuries. The Devil has many forms. Even the obnoxious Catholic Rome acknowledges that. In this country, where we are now, is presently beset by troubles. Crimes and bad politics are killing the country's spirit. But that is not why we are here for, my dear Renfield." 

"So what are we here for then?" Are we going to solve another one of their troubled histories, this miserable country?" 


"Our last Budapest caper was really a tight one. So what gives?"

"Let us first refresh ourselves my friend. If memory serves you, remember that a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI in the year 1493. This same papal bull granted to the Spanish Crown all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the islands of the Azores or theCape Verde islands..  ."



 
                     "Yes, and so . . . .?"







"The drafting of the Papal Bull was part of a bigger cover-up."

 "A conspiracy calculated to   
  deceive and ultimately
  conquer mankind if you will."



 
"Rome had already been infiltrated by the Devil. The 12th and 13th century crusades in the middle east did not only bring in the religion of the messiah to Europe, but also ushered in an ancient enemy. The one that had lived quietly among the gardens of the middle east, in the gardens of the Edens. 

The one that God called . . . .Lucifer.

"That's creepy. . . ."






"Now . . .it gets interesting. As I've said, Rome was already a haven for these dark spineless beings. In the guise of Popes and Priests, they sought to rule mankind through the portals of the Vatican. While many of them ruled, disguised as ordinary mortals, others thirsted for blood. They became horrible creatures that they truly were, killing of the living.

"Many fed on the weak, the women and children. Even sick people were not spared. There was evil scourge everywhere. "





 
"These creatures, undead as they're once called, hid after the first light. 

As provident acts of self-preservation, some took to the black forests in Germany, others in the great castles of England, and appeared therefore, as royalties."

"Strange plagues hit Europe at the time. Many blamed the rats. Others, blamed God."

"Those were the darkest of times, Renfield."

"But what has these got to do with 
  Mister Mar Roxas?"

"Could you rather wait Renfield?!"






As I've said, the world during the time was plunged into a dark  abyss. Men sought for answers. Intellectual savants like Leonardo da Vinci and Copernicus had to search their own selves, having been perplexed by the rashes of strange occurrences in their own centuries. Discovery of the sciences and astronomy were in truth, irrational offshoots to the secret inquiries on the nature of evil. Meaning, these men secretly knew, not only the existence of the Devil, but his works, his atrocities that he had physically sown in Europe. And these same men, had sought to prevent the global dissemination of the evil scourge. 

"At the risk of being indicted to Heresy."

"Hmmmm. . . it's rather strange . . ." 








"Not only that Renfield, you would be surprised that many of these so called "undead" are actually beasts, dressed as gentlemen. Europe, as in London you very well know, has a cold weather. One had to dress heavily to counter the effects of the somber winds. The same clothes like the top hat and the infamous trenchcoat worn by the Ripper, provided the perfect disguise."

"Did you just mention Jack the Ripper?"

"Good. 
You're catching up fast Renfield."

"The man. . . the beast that you knew as Jack the Ripper who was responsible for the serial murders at the Whitechapel District of London in 1888 was in reality, a vampire. Ancient names of these netherbeings were known in the Russian court as Strigoi, in the old Babylon as Lilith, in Japan as Kyuuketsuk, in Malaysia as the Pananngal."

"Jack the Ripper could not be captured. After every murder, he would suddenly disappear for periods of  weeks. And when he appears, almost as always, some woman ends up dead on the streets of London. Their bodies wildly mutilated, entrails savagely gone."

"Able men searched night and day for the malefactor. Every nook, cranny and dim street of London were watched."

"The Scotland Yard panicked.  They fielded covert men all throughout Europe."

"Even the great Sherlock 
 Holmes, who was consulted by the authorities, found the trail convincingly cold . ."





 

"Yes, even Mr. Sherlock couldn't deny it. The malefactor was always a step ahead of him.

"Ever wondered how the beast eluded them at every turn, my dear Renfield?"


 
 
                          
                                       "Yes? How?"

 

"He flew."

 

 "Wow, I'm impressed Professor Helsing.
   But, I really couldn't understand how the 
   Philippines or Mister Mar Roxas figures
   in the story."

"Be patient Renfield. We shall proceed thus further in the next
few days. Meanwhile, we could have a sip of your Chamomile tea. . . . .I suppose . . . ."




cont. . .

ANO ANG TUMATAKBO SA MGA UTAK NG HACENDERO?

                                     * * *

Aquino on Privatization: "Essentially, to have a better service, one must pay for more . . ."

PLUNDER CHARGE FOR NOYNOY COJUANGCO AQUINO

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES  WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A CONVICTION.

                WE ARE WATCHING YOU.

NOW WE KNOW, WHY NOYNOY WENT TO SOUTH KOREA

Aquino makes U-turn on nuke plant budget

By Christine F. Herrera | Posted 5 hours ago | 226 views
Manila Standard

Defyng his Cabinet officials’ advice, President Benigno Aquino III ordered the restoration of the P50-million budget to maintain the mothballed 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant shortly before his state visit to South Korea, which operates 23 nuclear plants.
The budget restoration was confirmed by Pangasinan Rep. Kimi Cojuangco, who was officially informed by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, who withdrew his order to the National Power Corp. to recall the personnel in charge of maintaining the facility.
Cojuangco said the removal of the maintenance budget would have paved the way for the permanent closure of the plant in 2014.
Cojuangco said Abad had told her that the President’s order was made while the President was in Zamboanga supervising the siege on Moro rebels there.
Lidy Nacpil, lead convenor of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice and vice president of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, and Francis dela Cruz of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, protested the budget restora-tion.
“We have been demanding that the BNPP be decommissioned a long time ago. We are only being saddled with a totally useless and dangerous nuclear plant,” Nacpil told the Manila Standard.
Nacpil said there was no technology that could ensure the safety of the plant, citing the recent Fukushima tragedy in Japan as a result of the tsunami that hit the country two years ago.
Cojuangco’s BNPP bill in the 15th Congress had already garnered the support of some 197 congressmen when the nuclear plant accident in Fukushima, Japan occurred.
“No one died from the Fukushima nuclear plant accident. We have learned a lot from it and we want to reassure the public that it will not happen to us in the Philippines,” Cojuangco’s husband and former
Pangasinan congressman Mark Cojuangco said.
In fact, he said, two of South Korea’s nuclear plants the Kory1 and Kory2 used a similar design but cost $6 billion.
The BNPP, he said, had been fully-paid in 2007 at a total cost of $2.12 billion.
The Cojuangcos said the BNPP, once rehabilitated and operating, would bring down the cost of electricity to as low as P2.50 per kilowatt hour, as against the prevailing P11 per kwh in Luzon because the coal or diesel fuel was expensive compared to the more efficient and cleaner technology of the BNPP.
“It is about time that we run the BNPP. It is unfair to the future generations if we throw away the $2.1-billion asset that the Filipinos now own and deprive our children of good future,” the congresswoman said.
But Nacpil was adamant.
“When then President Cory Aquino decided to honor the debt, it was like we had thrown good money after bad. Now that the son, President Noynoy Aquino decided to continue maintaining the plant, instead of de-commissioning it, we are being thrown from the frying pan into the fire,” she said.
She and Dela Cruz demanded an explanation from Mr. Aquino.
“The President ought to clarify why he favors the reinstatement of P50-million maintenance of the BNPP. Does it mean that this administration is considering the resurrection of this monument to man’s folly? We certainly hope not,” Dela Cruz said.
Before the President countermanded his order, Abad had reminded the National Power Corp. that no more maintenance funds would be released for the nuclear power plant.
The BNPP is manned by nuclear engineers and a staff of about 30 with 28 security guards protecting the entire 356-hectare complex and the nearby 44-hectare Nuclear Village.
During a budget hearing, Cojuangco invoked Executive Order 55 issued by the late President Corazon Aquino “assigning the National Power Corp. as caretaker of the BNPP until the national government shall have studied on what to do with it,” Cojuangco said.
“I don’t think that EO 55 was ever superseded or repealed,” she told the House committee on appropriations.

ITO ANG DAANG MATUWID!!!

                                             YES WE LOVE IT!!!

                                                        EEEEEHAA!!

                                                         MEEEOWW!!!

mga kababayan! BASAHIN!

PhilHealth officials, workers get P1.44B in bonuses despite huge shortfall — CoA

• Written by  Tribune
• Tuesday, 15 October 2013 00:00

Despite posting a P3.8 billion shortfall in its reserve fund requirement in 2012, officials and employees of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) took home fat paychecks with 22 different bonuses and allowances totaling P1.448 billion.
A report released by the Commission on Audit (CoA) last Oct. 10 stated this which also disallowed all the said bonuses “for lack of legal basis.”
The government auditors said in its report the PhilHealth management has ignored repeated warnings to stop paying its personnel unauthorized stipends based on mere resolutions passed by its Board of Directors.
According to CoA, they have issued notices of disallowance and denial of consolidated appeal of PhilHealth management by the cluster director of Corporate Government Sector (CGS-CoA), management continuously granted the benefits and allowances without obtaining the required approval of the Office of the President.
The fat pay checks of officials and employees included productivity incentive allowance/bonus worth P272.006 million; anniversary bonus, P33.4 million; rice benefit, P106.27 million; educational allowance, P278.89 million; Christmas package, P234.05 million; nominal gift, P10,000; shuttle service assistance, P134.53 million; labor management relation gratuity, P156.92 million; birthday gift, P39 million; medical and mission critical allowance, P23.33 million; corporate transition and achievement premium/grocery allowance, P104.4 million; representation expenses, P32.5 million; and rewards and other claims, P24.74 million.
Likewise, even contractors of the agency were granted “special events gift,” P743,500; project completion benefit, P1,705; gratuity/Christmas package P1.46 million; sustenance gift/rice allowance, P788,400; recognition gift P1.1 million; efficiency/productivity gift, P735,540; alleviation gift, P1.9 million; transportation assistance, P925,748; and medical and mission critical allowance, P68,681.
Not only the top level officials took home the perks because the same incentives were given the same although there was already a warning about the questionable nature of extra-compensation.
“Regional management commented that they extended the benefits by order of the PhilHealth Head Office …(and) that unless there is an order coming from the commission proper denying their appeal, they would continue to grant the same,” auditors said.
But even as PhilHealth personnel took home fat paychecks, CoA reported that the agency posted a whopping P3.68 billion shortfall in “retained earnings (RE)” for 2012, hitting only P115.08 billion against the reserve fund requirement of P118.76 billion.
The CoA warned the viability and sustainability of the National Health Insurance Program is at risk due to the further decline in the RE balance.
The drop was attributed to health cost claims that went up to P12.24 billion last year compared to members’ premium contributions which increased by only P10.57 billion.
Likewise, personnel services and maintenance and other operating expenses went up by P410 million.

MAG PEOPLE POWER ULI TAYO!

MAGSAMA-SAMA NA PO TAYO! ANOTHER ROUND OF PEOPLE POWER!

TREASON !

A PRESIDENT WHO DOES NOT CONVENE THE SECURITY COUNCIL AND LIKEWISE INDIFFERENT TO THE CHINESE ENCROACHMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE TERRITORY IS GUILTY OF TREASON!

THE PRESIDENT IS DOING NOTHING!

CHINESE MILITARY WARSHIPS ARE ALREADY INSIDE OUR TERRITORIAL WATERS!

THEY ARE POACHING ON OUR WATERS, OUR MARITIME FOOD SUPPLY, WITH IMPUNITY.

AND THIS CREEP IS DOING NOTHING!

THERE IS A WAY TO DEAL WITH A CROOKED AND A TREASONOUS PRESIDENT!

A FAMILY OF EXTORTIONISTS

 HYPOCRITES.....

 

HIGH-HANDED RIGHTEOUSNESS ( WALA NAMANG NAGAWA SA ECONOMY )

SORE LOSERS.......

CERTIFIED IDIOTS AND CRETINS...........

PRETENDERS TO THE THRONE OF GOD........