Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto prodded lawmakers Thursday to frontload passage of a remedial legislation mandating government-installed weighing scales in all private and public markets long awaited by consumers to check their purchases and ensure they get what they paid for.
In sponsoring the latest version of an improved Timbangan ng Bayan bill, Recto noted “the improved version of the bill I have been filing for two Congresses now mandates the conspicuous and accessible placement of a Timbangan ng Bayan in all public and private markets, dry and wet markets, including supermarkets.”
Recto assured that the “tamper-proof, heavy-duty, constantly-calibrated scale” would provide both buyers and sellers with “a standard instrument for setting and validating weights.”
“It sets not only the market-wide benchmark for weight, but also for honesty,” the veteran lawmaker said, noting, “Its presence alone will deter the proliferation of defective weights.”
The Senate President Pro Tempore projects the market buyers will be spared from going through what he called “tinimbang ka ngunit kulang” moments when they think they have been wittingly or unwittingly sold underweight goods but have no means to confirm or debunk their suspicion.
Moreover, Recto reminded market traders “it is a fair market practice that protects the brand of the place where they do business, because in commerce, nothing is more harmful than reputation destroyed.”
Wrapping up his sponsorship speech on the Timbangan bill, the Senate President pro tempore prodded Congress to “pass this bill so that when history and our constituents weigh us, they will not find us wanting.”
Reminding that inflation further corrodes the purchasing power of their reduced income, Recto added, however, that inflation has a “devious cousin” called “shrinkflation.”
He notes that it is “shrinkflation (that) is reducing the quantity or size of a product while retaining its price tag.”
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