I'm Giancarlo Enrico S. Pozon, a Wushu instructor, investor and Barrister... That's right, Barrister; I graduated from law school and took the Bar Exams, now I'm waiting for the results. I created this blog to make Philippine Law easy to understand for the average person. It's all about free legal advice. There are many law blogs. But the problem is that many of them are written for lawyers and law students. They use words that can't be understood by ordinary people.
Many lawyers, judges and law students consider themselves as superior to most human beings because of their knowledge of the law. It bothers me since the law is supposed to serve society. Since the law is meant to serve society as a whole, it is important that is must be understood by everybody.
This does not mean that we should all become lawyers. It means that although law is a highly specialized profession, the first duty of everybody in this profession is to make the law understandable to all; that's why all these articles are free legal advice.
Like I said, this blog is about law -but it's for the ordinary people, not the lawyers. It's for the ordinary folk so they will know what is good and bad for them, and that making them aware of the law will help us all improve society as a whole. This is free legal advice for everybody!
Illegal Price Manipulation
Price manipulation is not illegal per se, but there are certain
forms of price manipulation that are expressly declared illegal because of the
economic damage that can result from their implementation. The penalty for
these forms of price manipulation are imprisonment for 5 to 15 years and a fine
of Php5,000.00 to 2,000,000.00 (sec. 15.)
Producers, distributors and sellers of basic necessities and prime
commodities are prohibited from performing the following acts of price manipulation:
1.) Hoarding
Prima facie evidence of
hoarding exists when somebody has stocks of any basic necessity or prime
commodity 50% higher than his normal inventory and unreasonably limits,
refuses or fails to sell them to the general public at the time the excess was
discovered. The determination of a person's usual inventory is reckoned from
the 3rd month immediately before the discovery of the excess or, if
the business has been operating for at least 3 months, it will be reckoned from
the time it opened.
The following are considered acts of hoarding:
a.) Undue accumulation of basic necessities/prime commodities above one's
normal inventory level
b.) Unreasonable limitation or refusal to sell/dispose of or distribute the
stocks of any basic necessity/prime commodity to the general public
c.) Unjustified taking of a basic necessity/prime commodity from the
channels of reproduction, trade and industry
2.) Profiteering
Selling/offering to sell a basic necessity/prime commodity at a price
grossly higher than its true worth.
Prima facie evidence of
profiteering happens in the following instances:
a.) No price tag
b.) Misrepresentation on the product's weight and measurement
c.) Adulteration/dilution
d.) The price is increased to more than 10% from that of the immediately
preceding month
3.) Cartel
This happens when 2 or more persons engaged in the production,
manufacture, distribution, processing, storage, supply, marketing, sale or
disposition of any basic necessity/prime commodity agree to artificially and
unreasonably increase or manipulate their products' prices. The result is a
monopoly.
Prima facie evidence of
a cartel/monopoly exists when 2 or more “competitors” perform uniform or
complimentary acts among themselves to cause an artificial and unreasonable
increase in the price or if they simultaneously and unreasonably increase the
prices of their competing products and thereby lessening competition among
themselves.
Violations of the Price Ceiling
A violation of the price ceiling is punishable by a prison term of 1 to
10 years and/or a fine of Php5,000.00 to 1,000,000.00 (sec. 16.)
If the violations are committed by juridical persons, the officers,
employees or agents in question will be held liable. Aliens, after serving
sentence for violations of the price act, will be deported without further
proceedings. Government officials or employees who, with or without
consideration, conspire in the commission of the violations or knowingly
conceal them will be held principally responsible and will also be permanently
disqualified from holding public office.
Administrative sanctions can also be imposed alongside the criminal
penalties for violations of the price act.
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