PROFILE | about the organization

Consumer protection in the Philippines is nearly a myth for decades. The earliest consumerist included the late Polly Cayetano and a few other names.

The enactment of the Consumers Code of the Philippines in 1992 was the dawn of active consumerism in the country. The law is actually a toothless doctrine of consumer protection with hardly enough implementation guidelines. Nevertheless, that year marked the birth of the Coalition 349, otherwise known as Coalition for Consumer protection & Welfare, Inc.

Today, Coalition for Consumer Protection & Welfare is the Philippines' biggest dynamic consumer organizations and the only one recognized in the international consumers movement, which includes 115 countries in the UK based Consumers International (CI).

Founded, organized, and originally registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 349, the organization's original charter members came from the ranks of the victims of the Pepsi Number Fever of 1992 with members clustered in chapters nationwide from Ilocos to Zamboanga, Muslims, and Christians.

The Coalition, led by Vicente del Fierro, Jr., its president, is well equipped. Its leader has many decades of experience as a freelance journalist and newspaper columnist, advertising and marketing practitioner, a lobbyist in government and an advertising entrepreneur. It has its core of consultants in law and other fields as well.

He studied and finished journalism from the University of Santo Tomas and later studied public administration from the University of the Philippines, business at the Ateneo School of Business and law at San Sebastian College of Law. Del Fierro, for one, has passion with public issues advocacy, coupled with his years in the academe (De La Salle University where he thought marketing management), gives him in depth knowledge and a balance perspectives as a consumerist.

He is the servant leader of Jesus is the Way Catholic Prayer Community for 25 years. His deep Christian core values and principle leadership enable him to sustain the battle between the force of good and evil. Since 1995, with the growing number of consumer issues and complaints handled, they changed the corporate name to Coalition for Consumer Protection & Welfare.

Its principal officers come form the ranks of its members who pay their annual membership dues to sustain the many activities of the people's organization beyond that of the charter issue of consumer protection and justice from the 12-year Pepsi 349 case.

The Philippine Senate and Congress, through its various committees, have been inviting the Coalition to present as a resource person where it expresses its position in various legislative proposals and issues affecting Filipino consumers' interests like Pre-Need Insurance Industry where it presented a 15-point reform agenda which affected more than 5 million consumer policy holders in the industry.

It has also been involved in presenting its views on credit cards interests and policies and exposed the predatory appetites of these institutions to as high as 42% to 45% per annum inclusive of 39% annual rate of interest deemed to be predatory and other charges and fees amounting from 42% to 45% yearly. It would soon publish a book on the legal rate of interest to protect consumers from banks, financing and credit card companies.

Apart from this, the Coalition has actively participated in regional Asian Conference on Consumer Protection in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February 2003, and represented the Philippines in the 17th World Consumers Congress in Lisbon, Portugal. The Coalition was invited to participate in the Conference on Competition of Foreign Direct Investment sponsored by the UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and development) and INCSOC (International Network of Civil Society organization in Geneva Switzerland last January 26-30, 2004. The Coalition is affiliated with CI and INCSOC.

With its liaison and global alliance network with consumers, the Coalition has a wide array of references and research materials on various consumer issues for the World health Organization (WHO), the United Nations, and regular consumer periodicals from consumer organizations in Asia Pacific, North America, and the European Union.

It may be accessed through its website www.pepsi349.com. where other consumer issues may be viewed and read i.e. danger and health hazards of cell phones cell sites.

It is recently in the process of inviting a select group of consultant on various issues to serve in a technical addressing board to respond to various consumer issues.

TRACK RECORD | activities and accomplishments

• For the past seventeen (18) years of its existence, the Coalition for Consumer Protection & Welfare, Inc has always been invited in Senate & Congress Committee hearings where it actively participated in the deliberations to articulate the position of the consumers.
• The CCPW has continuously exerted earnest efforts to represent and seeks to uplift the marginalized and underrepresented sectors of the society, specifically the consumers.
• CCPW actively participated in the deliberations concerning the CAP educational pre-need controversy and submitted its study report to the committee for its consideration.
• Participated in the deliberations of the genetically modified common food investigation conducted by the Senate as well as in the deliberations of the LEMON AUTOMOTIVE Automotive Protection Bill in Congress and the Cheaper Medicines Bill.
• Participated in the Consumer Congress and Conference held in Portugal, Singapore, Malaysia and Switzerland sponsored by the United Nations Committee on Trade & Development (UNCTAD).