Laban Konsyumer Inc.

21/08/2025

BABALA! HUWAG MANINIWALA SA FAKE NEWS!

MARAMI ANG NAGTATANONG AT NAGLALABAS NG HAKA-HAKA KUNG NAKAKAPAGDULOT DIUMANO NG PAGTAAS NG ELECTRIC BILL ANG MGA REFRIGERATOR MAGNETS?

ANO DAW?

DIUMANO BASE SA ILANG NETIZEN AT ILANG NAGLABAS NG GANITONG BABALA, TILA HINIHILA DIUMANO NG MGA MAGNET NA IKINAKABIT SA PINTUAN NG MGA REFRIGERATOR ANG KURYENTENG NAGPAPAGANA SA MGA REFRIGERATOR, FREEZER AT CHILLERS.

DIUMANO! DIUMANO!

MULA SA AMIN SA LABAN KONSYUMER, HINDI PO TOTOO ANG LAHAT NG ITO.

MULA SA MISMONG PAG AARAL DIN NG INTERNATIONAL CONSUMERS UNION, ANG PAGKAKABIT NG MGA REF MAGNETS AY HINDI NAKAKA APEKTO SA KONSUMO NG KURYENTE.

KUNG SOBRANG DAMI LAMANG ANG MGA MAGNET NA MAAARING MAGDULOT NG PAGBIGAT NG PINTUAN O PAGKASIRA NG PINTO NG REFRIGERATOR, MAAARING ITO ANG DAHILAN NG PAGTAAS NG KONSUMO HINDI DAHIL SA MGA REF MAGNETS KUNDI DAHIL SA PAGSINGAW NG COOLANT NA NAGPAPALAMIG SA REFRIGERATOR DAHILAN PARA GUMANA NG WALANG HUMPAY ANG COMPRESSOR NITO.

PERO HINDI PA RIN DAHIL SA MGA REF MAGNETS KUNDI DAHIL SA PAGKASIRA NG PINTO NG REF ANG SIGURADONG DAHILAN.

KAYA MULI, HUWAG MAGPAPANIWALA SA MGA SABI-SABI!

ENJOY MGA KA-KONSYUMER!

06/08/2025

LKI ON CHEAPER ELECTRICITY RATES

31/07/2025

IPINAGPAPASALAMAT NATIN ANG AGARANG PAGTATALAGA NG PANGULONG MARCOS JR NG MGA OPISYAL NA BUBUO SA ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION AT SA DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.

BAKIT?

SAPAGKA'T KAPAG PINATAGAL PA ANG PAGTATALAGA SA MGA ENERGY OFFICIALS PIHADONG TATAGAL DIN ANG PAGRERESOLBA SA MGA KASONG NAKABINBIN SA ERC AT PAGDE DEVELOP NG MGA MAHAHALAGANG IMPRASTRAKTURA NA NAGBIBIGAY NG KURYENTE SA PAMAMAGITAN NG DOE.

BAKA ANG MAGING RESULTA KAWAWA ANG MGA KONSYUMER.

AYAW NATIN ITO.

PERO PAGTITIYAK NG LABAN KONSYUMER, PATULOY TAYONG MAGBABANTAY SA MAGIGING PERFORMANCE NG MGA OPISYAL SA ENERHIYA AT MASIGURONG PRAYORIDAD NILA ANG KAPAKANAN NATING MGA KONSYUMER.

SALAMAT PO.

-LKI-

18/05/2025

READ:

LABAN KONSYUMER SUPPORTS 20-PESO PER KILO RICE PROGRAM BUT...

Laban Konsyumer Inc., welcomes the Marcos administration's 20-peso per kilo rice program.

While we understand that the program is heavily subsidized, we commend the government's effort to push for the realization of this 2022 campaign promise.

We hope that other sectors will support the program at least until the subsidy lasts.

If expanded well, LKI believes that the program benefits all sector and not just the poorest of the poor communities.

For LKI, we support the administration's rice subsidy program instead of 'pouring' these resources to 'questionable ayuda' programs.

Similarly, LKI continue to encourage the Marcos administration to invest more on the development of agriculture in the country and cutting taxes on fertilzers and fuels and other farm inputs while bringing more investment in agro-industrial enterprises, agricultural by-products, fisheries and forestry.

This is to keep the momentum and make the 20-peso per kilo rice a truly sustainable program.

JORGE BANDOLA
Trustee
OIC - President

17/03/2025

*LKI welcomes ERC decision on Meralco refund application; calls for timely action on rate reset of power distributors to maximize consumer benefits*

Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI) welcomes the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) decision that allowed MERALCO to proceed with its refund petition —a much-needed relief for millions of consumers.

“The P20-billion refund will be effective in the next three years, entitling residential customers with P0.20/kilowatt-hour reduction in electricity bills. This is a timely and positive development for the pockets of consumers already burdened by the rising costs of goods,” LKI Convenor Jorge Bandola said.

While we commend the ERC’s decision on this matter, we also urge the regulator to act swiftly on the long-overdue rate reset of MERALCO and other distribution utilities to maximize the benefits of timely regulatory reviews.

The years-long delays in the rate reset proceedings have hindered consumers from fully benefitting from the promised benefits of performance-based regulation, which is supposed to hold distribution utilities accountable for fair and reasonable power rates, as well as quality of service.

“In the interest of consumer welfare, we urge the ERC to conduct a review of electricity rates charged by other power distributors to ensure that all consumers—not just those being serviced by MERALCO—benefit from transparent and reasonable rates,” Bandola said.

“We will strictly monitor the rate reset proceedings and we expect the ERC to uphold consumer welfare by observing timeliness, fairness, and transparency in its regulatory actions,” he concluded. #

30/08/2024

STATEMENT

On the matter of Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 2024-001
Issued by the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB)

WE, Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI), thank the House Committee on Transportation chaired by Representative Romeo Acop for the opportunity to convey our views on JMC No. 2024-001.

While the twin objectives of the same JMC to: (1) provide uniform rules and regulations for the enforcement of contactless toll collection, in relation to Republic Act No. 2000, or the Limited Access Highway Act, and its regulations, restrictions and/or prohibitions for all vehicles entering and travelling on toll expressways; and (2) impose fines and violations thereof are laudable, LKI strongly asserts, however, that several issues must first be resolved before its eventual implementation.

Primarily, LKI has repeatedly received several complaints that installed and legitimate Easytrip and/or Autosweep Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips/ stickers, despite being fully loaded and/or with sufficient account balances, continue to malfunction.

Majority of these breakdowns can be traced to the inability or failure of scanner devices permanently installed at toll booths to read RFID chips/stickers.

These installed scanners are supposed to ensure the smooth flow of traffic as vehicles pass through toll booths.

Some scanner devices also do not reflect the remaining balance or are not functioning at all.

This will require each affected motorist to present his physical Easy trip and/or Auto sweep card for manual scanning or payment.

The daily logjams of vehicles at the expressway toll booths with defective RFID scanners clearly indicate the unreliability of the existing system.

If 91% of compliant motorists must line up in toll gates just for their respective RFID cards to be read, should the TRB blame such bottlenecks to the motorists, and not to the RFID or toll provider?

Likewise, the TRB has yet to come out with the result of its investigation into the number and actual causes of useless or defective RFID stickers.

Our gut feeling tells us that the said stickers are substandard.

Imagine the hassle and inconvenience this brings to us motorists when we need to re-apply for the re-installation of RFIDs, bring our car to the designated RFID sticker installation stations, and worse, wait for the transfer of our balance from the old RFID to the new one (if we even get lucky).

Our toll operators may be using outdated RFID technology.

The TRB should start looking into faulty RFID readers instead of penalizing compliant motorists.

Can the toll operators at least get a higher band width for their RFID readers to detect approaching motorists several meters away from the barrier?

Moreover, may we be enlightened as to where the ‘interests’ of hundreds of millions of cash being deposited to the RFID accounts go to?

While it may be true that the installation of RFIDs is free, motorists do not use the toll ways every day.

Do the interests on RFID loads/deposits or existing account balances go to the toll operator?

Furthermore, why is it hard for the toll operators to send a message informing the balance to the RFID account holder registered number?

This is appalling, considering that one of the toll operators is also one of the biggest telco providers in the country.

Easytrip and/or Autosweep should be required to inform the motorists by messaging him/her that his / her RFID account needs to be reloaded
Or at very least, they should make it easy for the motorist to inquire through short message service (SMS) the remaining balance of his / her RFID by texting NOT the whole 12 numbers of his/her RFID account, but by merely providing the plate number of his/her motor vehicle.

In this regard, LKI humbly submits the following recommendations:
Retain the existing cash lane, and add at least one or two more cash lanes in toll gates. This is preferred by those who do not use toll gates frequently.

Increase the band width of the RFID readers that can easily detect / scan the incoming motor vehicle.

Integrate SMS into the toll service by sending a message containing the balance of RFID account OR at least, make it easy for the motorist to inquire on his/her balance through the use of easy-to-remember numbers, such as texting his/her registered motor vehicle plate number.

Make reloading and purchase of RFID stickers more convenient and accessible by offering the same in more convenience stores, gas stations, and supermarkets, not just in few selected facilities or sites.

Thank you for your consideration.

We reaffirm our commitment to actively participate in the formulation of policies, new laws or amendments of existing consumer laws, for the benefit and welfare of the Filipino consumer.


LABAN KONSYUMER INC.


On behalf of Laban Konsyumer Inc.:

JORGE BANDOLA
Trustee

04/12/2023

*LABAN KONSYUMER ON MERALCO*

Laban Konsyumer, Inc. (LKI) find it absurd that some lawmakers and certain individuals are fixated on to MERALCO while consistently ignoring the clamor of other consumers for a better electricity service.

The said neglect Laban Konsyumer Inc. says includes at least 70% of residents in Nasugbu who actually signed a petition to be serviced by Meralco from Batelec l. A similar complaint was also aired by residents from the service area of Batelec ll.

In a report supported by Oxfam Pilipinas and was published in Maritime Fairtrade last March, around 2.4 million households or 11 million Filipinos still in dire need of efficient and sufficient supply of electricity.

This should be the major concern of our lawmakers above anything else.

Recently, overcharging claims are being thrown to MERALCO following the admission of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that they have yet to update the computation for the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC).

The WACC is a regulator-set mechanism that applies to the industry, not just to MERALCO, but to other distributors as well.

“The comparison being stated by Senator Risa Hontiveros regarding the WACC of other countries like Malaysia (7.5%), Thailand (7.2%) and Indonesia (2.3%) is like comparing an apple to an orange. These countries have enormous source of energy that mitigates the impact cost to its consumers while the Philippines is heavily reliant on cost of imported fuel and energy”, said Jorge Bandola, one of the Trustee of LKI.

LKI noted that for the Meralco to continue operating and offer better service than other power distributors, it relies on debts and domestic capitalization.

However, this did not deter Meralco from initiating a refund precisely because of the absence of a regulatory reset since 2015.

In fairness to MERALCO, it was the only private electricity distributor that filed for a refund and complied to the succeeding directives of the ERC when it ordered a 48 billion peso refund.

Moving forward, LKI appeal to the public to remain calm and not to be provoked by the noise and ‘politicking’ to the detriment of Meralco and other power sector players.

LKI hopes that ERC will come out with a win-win WACC rate for both the consumer and the investment sector disregarding any outside pressure especially from those who claim to have an enormous knowledge about electricity pricing.

22/11/2023

SENIOR CITIZENs and PWDs PLEASE KNOW!

YOU ARE ENTITLED to a 12% VAT exemption plus 20% PWD/SC discount in hotels whenever you are checked in.

This is in accordance with the RA 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizen Act and the RA 7394 or the Consumer Welfare Act.

If these hotels tell you that you are not entitled because the amount you are paying for was already a promo price, then you should ask for a DTI registration of the promotion. If they fail to provide you a copy, they are definitely defrauding you.

IPAGLABAN ANG ATING KARAPATAN!
IPAGLABAN ANG MGA KONSYUMER!

MANILA, Philippines — Commercial establishments cannot tell senior citizens and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) that they are not entitled to twenty percent discounts, just because the products

18/09/2023

LKI STATEMENT ON FOOD PRICES AND SUPPLY
We, *LABAN KONSYUMER INC. (LKI)* , the consumer organization nationally recognized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), conveys its strong stand amidst the soaring prices and unstable supply of food, especially the most staple commodity for every Filipino- rice.

We hope that the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. address the core problems that our country has been facing these days.

We cannot turn a blind eye on these issues, even as other countries have taken bold steps to avert global food inflation.

India, Thailand and Vietnam have recently implemented ‘food protectionism’, the very reason why we can no longer import rice from these countries anymore.

At best, importers are only getting a fraction of what they have been sourcing before this ‘food protectionism’ began.
Indonesia's ban on palm oil export as well as India’s limits on refined sugar export have contributed to this global food inflation.

While we commend our country’s latest option to buy rice from Argentina, how long should we rely on this importation scheme?

From our view deck, the Philippines and our government have the most limited tools in combating this huge problem of food shortage and inflation.

*WE CAN NO LONGER REMAIN SILENT AND LEAVE THINGS TO CHANCE*

We continue to push and fervently petition that the Philippine government to immediately implement the following:

1. Government MUST BUY all the rice from the farmers this harvest season to discourage cartelization and hoarding.

2. The buying functions of the NFA MUST BE REACTIVATED and make sure that all rice from the local farmers are to be sold to NFA alone and not to the private dealers. In this mechanism, the government can compete with the imported rice price which is seen to increase in the coming days due to ‘protectionism’.

3. Short-term programs such as the ‘ayuda’ to rice retailers and other affected sectors MUST BE STOPPED, as it will bring more burden to the otherwise already cash-strapped national coffers. Instead, funds for the ‘ayuda’ must be allocated to buy more rice from the local farmers.

4. Subsidies to local farmers MUST BE AUGMENTED to decrease the cost of rice inputs e.g., fertilizers, seed, mechanization, etc. Distribution of which should start immediately before the end of harvest season.

5. The fuel excise tax MUST BE TEMPORARILY LIFTED. The resulting 10 Peso per liter pump price decrease in diesel resulting from the suspension of the collection of excise tax will certainly provide a big cushion to our rice dealers to mitigate the impact of the rising cost of fuel.

6. Domestic food production MUST BE ENCOURAGED by way of investing in farmers’ capacity as well as strengthening legitimate farmers cooperatives rather than private rice dealerships.

7. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Philippine Central Bank) MUST IMPLEMENT stop-gap monetary measures to avert peso depreciation.

8. Finally, should the government decide to apply the zero-tariff on imported rice and other agricultural commodities, importation MUST BE CLOSELY MONITORED. Implementing a 10 – 0% tariff may bring in more rice, but if not accounted for, these will only equate to more hoarding and price manipulation.

These proposals may seem only temporary and short-term, but we see it fit that these be implemented now, more than ever.

Jorge Bandola
Trustee, LKI

12/09/2023

LABAN KONSYUMER OPPOSES ANY AND ALL PASSED-ON RATES TO CONSUMERS

LABAN KONSYUMER INC. objects to ALL passed-on cost to the consumers, be it residential or commercial and industrial end-users.

The simple reason being, while the commercial sector only pays half the cost of electricity as compared to the household users, chances are these added cost will definitely be passed on to their products and services.

Commercial and industrial end-users are usually contracted for 5 to 10 megawatts of electricity per month or more. While the amount of 0.02 cents per kilowatt hour is small, we just want to put this on record that all passed-on cost is another burden for the consumers.

While we fully-support the establishment of Philippine Nuclear Regulation Authority as one vital step towards the attainment of the 19-item process established by the International Atomic Energy Agency to fully-realize our nuclear power program, we call on the government not to put more burden to our electricity end-users.

Instead, we propose that since this august body has the mandate to enact budget for all government agencies, why not put it the General Appropriations Act instead of, again, passing it on to the consumers. Aside from GAA, other sources can be the Excise Tax being levied on oil and petroleum products.

This is our humble position.

JORGE BANDOLA
Trustee, LABAN KONSYUMER INC.