MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) On top of the "generics only" provision, the House of Representatives is also considering giving up the drug price regulatory board contained in its original version of the proposed Cheaper Medicines bill, two administration lawmakers revealed on Thursday.

The board, composed of the Health Secretary, Trade Secretary, and representatives from drug regulatory agencies, consumers, and academe as stated in the House approved measure, was supposed to regulate the prices of medicines in the market.

But in a draft report being prepared by the House panel for the bicameral conference meeting on the bill, the regulatory board provision has been deleted.

The regulatory board was instead replaced by a provision that would give the President, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Department of Health, the power to "impose maximum retail price over any or all drugs and medicines."

This was strongly opposed by two principal authors of the measure, Iloilo Representatives Ferjenel Biron and Janette Garin, saying that the removal of the drug regulatory board provision will defeat the intention of the bill to provide cheaper medicines for the poor.

Biron said the removal of this provision was a “drastic weakening of the bill.”

“Itong draft ay nagsasabi na wala ng [This draft says that there is no more] regulatory board but instead, there will be a singular accountability in the hands of the Secretary of Health, who determines solely upon recommendation to the President kung kailan at anong gamot ang ireregulate [when and what medicine to regulate]. So makikita natin [we will see] that there is a drastic weakening of the bill,” he said at the regular forum “Usapang Balita” in Quezon City.

“So while I’m hoping that this bill will benefit the Filipino people, ang pwede kong sabihin [what I can say is that] this version is not as effective as the original bill,” he said.

If the regulatory board will be dropped from the proposed legislation, then Garin said the bicameral committee would end up adopting only the title of the bill from the House version.

“Well, what they probably adopted from the Lower House is only the title of the bill, yung [the] cheaper medicines bill. Yun lang, yun ang tinanggap [That’s it. That was the only one],” she said in the same forum.

Unlike the “generics only provision,” which will only provide for “extensive availability if generic medicines and branded generics,” Garin said the regulatory board would surely reduce the cost of medicines.

Biron and Garin said they were both surprised by the sudden change of position of the House but quickly dismissed any speculation that it was because of pressures from some lobby groups.

“It was more on the hard-stance attitude of the Senate na sa una pa lang wala na silang pakialam, e di kung ayaw niyo e di walang batas [which right from the start didn’t really care, that if that’s the case then let’s not have any law]. That’s the attitude that I noticed. Walang [They don’t have any] open-mindedness,” Garin lamented.

If the bill would be approved without the drug regulatory board provision, the lawmakers said they would still sign it but with reservation.

But if after a year of implementation and the cost of medicines will not go down, Biron said proper amendments to the measure should be introduced.

The bicameral committee has yet to convene to approve the bill before it would be sent back to the House and Senate for ratification.

After it is ratified, the measure will then be submitted to the President for signature.

Palawan Representative Antonio Alvarez, head of the House panel, confirmed that the draft bicameral committee report did not contain the price board provision, and that the bill was now being routed for signature.

But Alvarez defended the removal of the provision, allaying fears that this would not reduce the price of medicines.

He said they simply transferred the power of the board to the President to shorten the process of regulating the prices of drugs.

“Ang debate lang naman [Our debate] is why give the responsibility to the board or a group of people. Why not give it to the highest official of the land?” he said over the phone.

“If it is the board, there will still be a lot of meetings that would delay the process while if it will go directly to the President, all you have to say is, ‘Ma’am, the price of drugs is really high,’ and the President will act on the matter immediately,” Alvarez said in Filipino.

Unlike the President, Alvarez said the board could not also be threatened or pressured by anyone.

“E ang Presidente ba matatakot pa nila. Mako-corrupt ba nila ang Presidente [Can they frighten the President? Can they corrupt the President]?” the lawmaker asked.

Except for the price board and “generics only” provisions, Alvarez said that 90 percent of the draft report would come from the House version.

In a statement, Alvarez said the removal of the “generics only” provision was a “tactical retreat.

“Faced with an immovable Senate, it is better to go home with 90 percent of a loaf of bread than fight for the whole loaf but ending up with none,” he said.

The House’s move to end the deadlock, however, was not without conditions, the lawmaker said.

Alvarez said they agreed to delete the provision with an assurance from the Senate that this would be tackled in a separate bill.