The Department of Trade and Industry announced plans to launch its short messaging service 1384, a text blast facility to protect and educate consumers on advisories and notices, among others.

Trade undersecretary Ruth Castelo for Consumer Protection Group made the announcement on her radio program Saturday.

"It can be likened to what the NDRRMC is doing during calamities where subscribers can receive SMS alerts. And this time, the SMS will be coming from the DTI. It's a one-way SMS service where citizens are urged to subscribe. This is also one way of negating fake news," she said.

Castelo also clarified that the SMS service is not mandatory, with only subscribers who scanned the DTI QR Code would receive messages.

"Or they can also send SUBSCRIBE to 1-384 for Smart and Talk 'N Text users. The details will be posted on the DTI's Consumers should not fear providing their data, as the DTI is mindful of the restrictions under the Data Privacy Act," according to Castelo.

She said text messages to be received by its subscribers would contain all vital information beneficial for consumers, including consumer rights, suggested retail prices, and commodities, free of charge as the DTI-CPG has partnered with PLDT-Smart for the said project.

According to Castelo, a test run of the SMS service was already conducted in the previous days, but she did not disclose when the DTI text blast scheme would kick off.