Thursday, June 05, 2008 Speak out: Theater tickets By Faith Ruth E. Villanueva, LLB Talamban, Cebu City
ON May 29, 2008, I went with my mom to the E-Mall to watch the film “Caregiver” starring Sharon Cuneta.
The price for a seat in the theater was P130 (with 20 percent discount for senior citizens, or P104 per ticket).
But the price reflected on the ticket was P90 for regular seats and P40 for senior citizens.
When I complained about the disparity, the woman at the ticketing counter merely said the tickets were old stocks.
She assured me, though, that they were reporting the correct and true value to the City Government for amusement tax computations.
Around February or early March, a close friend of mine complained to me about the same incident. He asked for my legal (and very limited) advice.
Half jokingly, I opined that it was unethical and illegal but to complain about it was futile because there were other concerns he should attend to, like world peace.
If we follow the reasoning of the theater management, then they must have printed many old tickets that until now they still have old stocks to dispose of.
But such reasoning is faulty because what is printed in the ticket will most probably be the one reported to the City Government for amusement tax purposes.
The practice also violates provisions of the Trust Receipts Law incorporated in RA No. 7394 (Consumer Act of the Philippines).
Furthermore, DTI DO No. 10, Section 3 (1) states that when a consumer pays in cash for goods and/or services, he shall only pay the price indicated in the price tag.
I hope lawyer Augusto Go, the mall’s owner who is not only a good businessman but is also a man of good repute, will look into this matter immediately even if the issue is a minor one.
