A sad legacy we may have inherited from 400 years of Spanish colonization, American rule, Japanese occupation and the God-awful Marcos Martial Law is our inability to complain even when our consumer rights are trampled upon.

Slow to anger may be biblical but even Christ would condone righteous indignation for unfair practices against consumers.

Simply out, your right to swing your elbow ends where the nose of your neighbor begins. There are no two ways about that.

Betcha by golly, that's the reason why there are special smoking lounges and in public buildings and malls are No-Smoking zones. The right of Marlboro and Philip Morris to rake money and the right to relax by puffing cigarettes with nicotine ends when the right of your neighbor to defend himself from lung cancer and asthma begins.

In other countries, government padlocks supermarkets that are caught using defective weighing scales and drugstores with expired medicines. No debates, no questions. Just throw the book at violators.

Taxi operators with tampered meters get their franchises revoked with no appeal.

Restaurants who serve spoiled food pay for the hospital bills and loss of income of victims. Department and appliance stores who do not accept returned defective items are put on the block for legal sanctions.

The answer behind all these tightly guarded remedies is the presence of a strong and active Consumer Group - who hales abusive peddlers of goods and services to court - and lambasted in print and broadcast media, regardless of who the owners are.

Afterall, the capitalist system was not meant only to enrich the entrepreneur just to impoverish the buying public. It was never meant to work that way.

That's where well-meaning Boholanos should get together today and incorporate a legal, functioning Consumers Group made up of persons of integrity in the fields of science, engineering, accountancy, law, business and even religious persons. It should also be so well-funded enough as to give teeth to its advocacy for the protection of the greater interest of the consuming public.

Just ponder how the absence of this proposed Consumer Group has led the Boholano consumers to various roads but leading to one destination called: Perdition.

One, the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) approved an eye-popping 40% hike in the water rates to be charged in the city - despite the manifest objections of the city and provincial governments. There was no private sector Consumer Group to consolidate the people's views, objections and comments even if this atrocious hike will soon hit their pockets even before Santa Claus can say Merry Christmas.

It's like Boholanos had lost that rate game by default. Are we masochists?

It was only the deafening howl of protests of consumers over the radio airwaves that shook the LGUs out of stupor and the latter filed a TRO on the rate hike and beating the deadline by the whisker of Rudolf the Reindeer's nose.

Two, the Philippine Ports Authority, having been lionized for putting up great facilities at the city port area, suddenly imposed a staggering P9 increase on the P11 terminal fee which represents an almost 50% hike. By what justification does the consumer have to undergo this enormous increase?

Certainly he understands not that a cost of putting an x-ray machine and a walk-through detector can justify the enormity of such increase. Besides, if that is for the protection against terrorists, good governance demands that should not be shouldered by the consumer - good gracious he has already paid his taxes! Don't you think that is a task that government should ensure its people?

Third, it seems our investor-friendly policy especially on tourism - related outlets is abused by some overeager beavers, thinking they have the license to do what they want in the holy name of Tourism Propagation.

Certain Panglao Resort developers/owners seem to think they have been singled out by God Almighty to erect cottages and the like in that area enough for them to deny the public - decent, fair passage in their area of operations aside from reportedly violating certain environmental rules of the 20-meter salvage zone.

Complaining residents are reportedly told by these arrogant developers not to waste their time in airing their grievances because their group allegedly has strong clout with the powers-that-be. This high-handed attitude should embarrass both Gov. Erico Aumentado and First District Cong. Edgar Chatto - because we are sure they have not licensed anyone to drop their names to shut out consumer grievances.

Investor-friendly is a given. But that is not exchange for making Boholano residents second-class inhabitants in their own land and the protection of the sacred environment secondary to the greedy capitalist objectives of some arrogant investors.

As far as we know there is no special law, no special policy tailored fit for any investor to the prejudice of existing environmental laws and basic human rights of citizens to enjoy the sand and sea in Panglao. Prove us wrong, Mr. Investor.

If there was an active Consumer Group, there would have been pickets surrounding the gateway of this resort and the public issues ventilated for all to know if there are favored citizens in this land we claim to be free.

In any case, it is in the interest of government to note that exorbitant rate hikes affecting consumes also reflect back on government, no matter what. Consumers will always say that if the economy is as good as they say in Manila, why do I feel poorer and the cost of living, including terminal fees and water bills go up like a crazy 40-50% in a year when inflation, as NEDA claims, is only 6% in 2006. That's filter down for you.

As for environmental and consumer protection violations, good governance means to us government does not favor sacred cows in the private sector.

We end therefore by reiterating the urgent need to erect that fortress for consumer welfare - and make it impregnable against the assaults of bureaucratic arbitrariness and capitalist greed. Let's set up that Boholano Consumer Inc.

It is really about time, ladies and gentlemen.