Regulation of packaging and labeling

IKNOW for a fact that manufacturers and distributors are supposed to place the countries of origin, the names of manufacturers and their company’s contact information in their retail packaging, but the compliance to these laws seem to be very low.

As an advocate of consumer rights, I believe that it is already a violation of our rights if these sets of information are not placed in the retail packaging.

Firstly, if the country of origin is not stated, how could we decide to buy the product or not? What if we want to boycott some countries of origin? And what if we do not trust products coming from some countries?

And what if we have a complaint about a product? Or what if we want to return a product? How can we do that if there is no contact information?

This is a simple function that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is supposed to be doing, but for some reason, there are hundreds of products, perhaps thousands that are in violation of the rules.

It is not just the packaging, it is also the labeling, especially in the case of food products where consumers would like to know the nutrition information and the allergy information, among others.

What if the consumers are allergic to nuts and MSG for instance? Do our local government units (LGUs) have the capability to accept and process consumer complaints?

I think that they have to do that already, now that the government is already talking about devolution. Could the LGUs look into this?

MORALITY AND DEMOCRACY

Could it be said that corruption in government is rampant because morality is not so prevalent among public officials?

But how can that be? Is it not that most if not all of these officials believe in God, regardless of what their religion is?

I do not know about the other religions, but I do know that morality is built in into Christianity. I often joke about it, that the Philippines is not a Christian country, because countries do not go to heaven.

Of course, what we mean by that is that since the majority of the people in this country are Christians, then we have the actual basis to claim that we are a Christian country. But are we really a Christian country?

I always say that if we are really a Christian country, then the flow of traffic in our metro cities would flow faster because everyone will be following the traffic rules. No one will be overtaking in the wrong places, and no one will be taking over the wrong lanes as if they own the roads.

If we are really a Christian country, there will be less corruption because very few will be offering bribes and very few will be extorting from those who need the services of government officials.

Could it be that many Christians live a double life with double standards? That they are only practicing morality when they are inside their churches?

How can democracy survive in a country where citizens have double standards? How can the churches help with this problem?/