DTI says 2 manufacturers pledge to supply 4M surgical masks

MANILA , Philippines—Over  4 million face masks may soon be available in the  Philippines to address the problem of shortage triggered by the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) outbreak.

At the Senate hearing on Tuesday, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez has revealed that a local manufacturer has committed to allocate to the country  1.6 million of its 2.4 million surgical masks produced each month.

Lopez said the local manufacturer is selling the face masks to the Philippines at only P8 each.

“He’s (manufacturer)  losing  P15 million  a month,”  the official told the Senate committee on  government corporations.

Of the 1.6 million face masks,  Lopez said, about 1.2 million are provided to health workers while only 150, 000 are being sold in drug stores.

He said they would meet with the manufacturer to request a bigger allocation— from the current 1.6 million a month to 2 million at least over the next two months.

This way,  he said,  more  face masks may be made available  also  to drug stores.

Lopez said they have found another supplier from India that can supply more  2 million face masks to the Philippines.

“I think more than  two million yun, first order.  Pwedeng one month , pwedeng a month so 2.5  million if I  remember the quantity   right,”  he said.

The official noted there is now a high demand for face masks in the country that its  price has skyrocketed by more than 100 percent.

Edited by MUF