THE Bacolod City Legal Office (CLO)-Enforcement Team urged all the market vendors to calibrate their weighing scales to avoid complaints from the consumers.

Rey Demisana, head of CLO-Enforcement Team, said Friday, March 31, that three teams from the CLO, City Treasurer’s Office (CTO)-License Division, and market supervisors were deployed at Central Public Market on Thursday, March 30, to inspect and calibrate the weighing scales.

He said at least 10 defective or uncalibrated weighing scales were confiscated.

"I am appealing to them to calibrate their weighing scales to avoid penalties and violations," he added.

The confiscation of uncalibrated weighing scales is part of the city’s massive campaign for the implementation of City Ordinance No. 565, or the Revised Local Revenue Code of Bacolod.

Article 65 of the Consumers Act stated that any person who shall violate the provisions of paragraphs (a) to (f) and paragraph (I) of Article 64 or its implementing rules and regulations shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not less than P200, but not more than P1,000 or by imprisonment of not more than one year or both, at the discretion of the court.

"If they fail to cooperate with us, we will confiscate their weighing scales, and they will be turned over to the CTO," Demisana said.

He said most of the defective weighing scales are manual units, while some owners tried to hide their digital units.

Aside from the Central Public Market, he said they also intensified their operations at the Libertad and Burgos public markets.

He added that they had received several complaints from consumers about the rampant cases of inaccurate and tampered weighing scales in various public markets.*