MANILA, Philippines — Local manufacturers of personal protective equipment (PPE) would get priority in the government’s procurement of P3 billion worth of safety gears for health-care workers attending to COVID-19 patients, Sen. Sonny Angara said on Sunday.
Angara gave the assurance after the Confederation of Philippine Manufacturers of PPE (CPMP) complained about the unimpeded entry of imported hazard gears, many of which were found to be substandard.He said the ratified version of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, or Bayanihan 2, mandated the purchase of PPE and other medical safety equipment from local sources.
Prices should be acceptable
“There’s a provision [in the measure] that says local manufacturers should be prioritized if the government will purchase [PPE] and other equipment provided that the government will not be on the losing end [of the supply contracts],” Angara said in a radio interview.
“Their prices should be acceptable because the government will be shortchanged if we buy locally produced, but overpriced [PPE] … The [PPE] should be produced locally and priced reasonably,” he said.
Angara, who defended the measure as Senate finance committee chair, said the bill also provided incentives for local manufacturers to allow them to “quickly transition” to producing protective gears.
He noted that many garment factories have repurposed their factories to make PPE as the demand for such safety equipment continues to rise amid a resurgence of the new coronavirus.
Senators Francis Pangilinan and Panfilo Lacson had blasted “unscrupulous people” for allegedly undermining local companies producing PPE and were favoring imported gears.
The CPMP earlier asked lawmakers to let them “grow and be sustainable” by introducing fiscal policies protecting local PPE makers from foreign producers.
“We need to level the playing field in view of the influx of substandard PPE,” the group said.
Request from gov’t
Composed of five manufacturers of garments and electronics, CPMP complained that the government was favoring imports from China and other countries despite a prior request from the Department of Trade and Industry for its members to manufacture medical safety products.
Bayanihan 2 allocates P3 billion for the procurement of masks, face shields and other protective gears.
“The country will benefit many times over if we use those funds to procure internationally certified, locally produced PPE,” House Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante Jr. said on Sunday.
He said buying locally made PPE would not only guarantee the safety of Filipino health workers, but also aid local manufacturers who employed Filipino workers.
Send ‘clear signal’
“We will be able to save Filipino lives and support the livelihood of Filipinos,” Abante said.
The government, he said, should send a “clear and unequivocal signal that it supports local industries.”
“Now that Filipino manufacturers have done their part and invested millions of dollars to repurpose their factories, the government has to do its part and source our PPE from them,” Abante said. —WITH A REPORT FROM DJ YAP INQ