INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday assured that it is supportive of local manufacturers of personal protective equipment (PPE) and it has no preferences on which country to buy them.
DOH Undersecretary and spokesperson Ma. Rosario Vergeire made the assurance when sought for comment on local manufacturers expressing concern over the agency’s supposed reliance on imported PPE.
“We do not have a specific country that we get our PPEs from or procure our PPEs from. We base our procurement from the procurement act wherein the DOH prepares the technical specifications based on the WHO [World Health Organization] and other internationally recognized standards for PPEs,” Vergeire explained in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.
“There are no preferences as to country, we are very much supportive of our local suppliers,” she added.
The Confederation of Philippine Manufacturers of PPE (CPMP) earlier said it was a challenge to produce and sell their products with the lack of demand coming from the government.
“An immediate demand from the government helps us secure our capacity and our employment at least in the short and medium-term,” said CPMP President Lawrence De Los Santos.
Vergeire noted that under the ratified version of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2, local manufacturers of PPE would get priority in the government’s procurement.
READ: Bayanihan 2 mandates purchase of local PPE – Angara
“With this Bayanihan 2, we hope that local suppliers would be able to enter the field so that they can join the procurement process because in the Bayanihan 2, it already states there that there should be preference to local manufacturers so hopefully, with this law, we can already accommodate the production of our local suppliers,” Vergeire pointed out.