17/09/2026
Not many people are aware that the exercise and enforcement of our rights as consumers were significantly heightened and greatly respected during the time of President Rodrigo Duterte. His instruction to then Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez where I was Undersecretary was to make sure that our people do not unnecessarily suffer in the hands of unscrupulous business individuals.
We closely monitored prices of food and other basic goods every single day to make sure that they remain available and accessible to the less fortunate, for otherwise we will answer to the President.
DTI exerted all efforts to clear hardware stores of substandard or unlabelled construction materials and other critical products that can pose danger to the unknowing consumer.
In times of disaster, we were on the ground to ensure that food was available to the public at frozen prices when the areas were declared under a state of calamity, and that construction materials were provided for immediate recovery and reconstruction.
From Day 1 of the CoVid lockdown, food security was the topmost instruction to the DTI and DA, and thanks to the full cooperation of producers, manufacturers and retailers, our people had sufficient supply althroughout. Even responsibility for access to medicine and medical devices fell on our shoulders just to help the other agencies comply with the President’s directive.
Health and safety checks also became our task because PRRD was very much concerned of contamination. We needed to prevent the spread of the dreaded virus that we had to inspect business establishments’ compliance to health and safety protocols.
There are still countless other stories I can share on consumer protection instructed by that one man, our leader, whose heart belonged to the people he served. All he wanted was for all consumers to live a comfortable life. He wanted everyone to be spared from hardship so he took it upon himself, his government, and us, civil servants to make sure that we were all safe from harm.
This was the man who led us to a better consumer life, whose only agenda was to serve, to improve our country for the sake of our children’s children and to give us the best that we deserve, all because of his love for us and his beloved country, the Philippines 🇵🇭.
