MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Thursday branded as “nonsense” the claim of a locally-made beauty product line which was packaged by its foreign owner with an address in “Manila, Province of China.”
According to Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, the issue isn’t worthy of attention as he noted that no one would believe that the Philippines, Manila in particular, is a province of China.
“Sa akin, kalokohan po yan. Hindi po dapat pinapansin ‘yan dahil wala namang naniniwala na tayo’y probinsya ng Tsina,” Roque said in a televised Palace press briefing.
“Alam naman natin na lahat ng Pilipino ay nagmamahal sa bansa. We are proud to be Filipinos and we will never allow to be subjugated by any foreign body,” he added.
Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) Partylist Rep. Jericho Nograles has sought the blacklisting of the beauty product distributed by Elegant Fumes Beauty Products Inc., a Binondo-based company owned by a Chinese national.
In a photo shared by Nograles to reporters, the address on the beauty product’s packaging is listed as “1st Flr. 707 Ito Cristo St., San Nicolas, Manila Province, P.R. China.”
“It is hard to dismiss this insult as a simple error. The label clearly shows Manila, as a province of China,” Nograles said in a statement.
“This incident must be investigated at the very least, and the manufacturer and importer should be blacklisted, as soon as legally permitted,” the lawmaker added.
However, Roque said the blacklisting of the beauty product is up to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Sa tingin ko po ang FDA po ang magdedesisyon diyan dahil merong criteria for blacklisting. I think one of those is kung merong banta sa kalusugan ng mga gagamit nito. So let’s allow the FDA to exercise its exclusive jurisdiction pagdating sa bagay na ito,” the Palace official said.