Mabini Hall - Access to Justice

Hell, yeah. In this day and age, everyone is a consumer. The only way to not be a consumer is to be a hermit. But even a hermit uses a cell phone these days to get inspirational messages. Just by reading this article, you are either a subscriber to the Manila Times or to an internet service provider for its electronic version.

To bring the point closer to home and more hurting to the pocket, when you wake up to turn off the aircon or the fan, you are certainly a Meralco customer if residing anywhere in the metropolis or some other power company elsewhere. Let’s skip the things that you eat and do prior to getting ready for school or office. In commuting, you are now a consumer of oil and all its derivative products. Again, let us not talk about the widespread domino effect of high oil prices. Landline or mobile phone, the consumption continues at work or at play. The cycle goes on until you switch the light off at bedtime.

The message is clear: to you the consumer, there are costs that you simply cannot save or spend on since the products are commodities and utilities. Otherwise, you have no choice. You have to use them or life the way we know it cannot be possible.

In case of a monopoly when there is only a supplier, the consumer is literally at the mercy of the company. No problem if company officials are enlightened and have the welfare of the public at heart. If personal and corporate interests are prioritized, it becomes an abuse of the most vicious kind because there is nothing the consumer can do. He cannot choose not to use the product or to take his business to a competitor. He has to bear and grin through it.

Can he complain to customer service? For sure he can file a complaint and be put on hold or told to wait for his papers to be passed around. He is frustrated by the delay and the inaction. In many instances, common sense and logic does not prevail but the standard answer, “It is company policy.”

In the case of cartels, the simplest form is when several companies supplying the same product or service get together to fix prices or to restrict supply all in the name of more profits. Superficially, the consumer can shop around for the best deal in the market but will end up not any better because all the providers behave the same way.

What is evil about these schemes is that the individual consumer spends more time, money and effort to pursue a just and valid claim. Say half a day for a missing one peso load or a dropped call. The other evil is that the data is mostly not in his hands. Rather, he has to rely on his provider which of course has full control and discretion over the records.

The country has too many laws? Not on this score. We do not have in place a simple, working competition law that busts misbehaving monopolies and cartels and protects the man on the street working hard for his next pay check. That is why the fearless Senator Juan Ponce Enrile is working though the Senate Committee on Trade and Industry to push for an anti-trust law and to penalize violators. Big business needs to act responsibly and be held accountable for unfair trade practices.

Surely there are instances of natural monopolies or businesses which need to merge for efficiency and economies of scale. The challenge is to make sure they do not lose sight of their corporate mission and vision. If you are a consumer, you have no choice but to act. You are a consumer, you must act.