Senators to DTI's Lopez: You didn't protect local makers of face masks, PPEs

Senators on Wednesday told Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez that he failed to protect local manufacturers of face masks, face shields and other personal protective equipment.

In a Senate Committee on Finance hearing on the DTI's proposed P23.7 billion for 2022, Senator Franklin Drilon said the DTI allowed the alleged irregular transactions for PPEs to happen.

“We expected you, Mr. Secretary to stand for our local manufacturers and I must be candid with you, you did not. You allowed these crooks to have their way,” Drilon said.

“In this particular case, some stronger forces must have prevented you from fighting or making strong representations for our Filipino manufacturers resulting to this fiasco,” he added.

Drilon raised his concern on the apparent preference of the government to foreign suppliers than local manufacturers in the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPEs) in 2020.

He recalled that Lopez had encouraged various industries to “repurpose” their warehouses for the production of PPEs yet the government had opted to procure supplies from other countries.

Drilon cited the situation with EMS Group of Companies where millions of locally-produced PPEs and other pandemic-related supplies were stocked in their warehouses after the DBM-PS withheld their procurement and continued the importation of more supplies from China, through contracts with Pharmally and other foreign-based companies.

The minority leader was pointing this out as Lopez is a board member of the Government Procurement Policy Board.

“This is where I am disappointed, Mr. Secretary because the Filipino manufacturers were not given priority, e nalugi na, they were encouraged by your encouragement to repurpose their manufacturing, they shifted to face masks from electronics, like EMS electronics, [and] now they are holding millions of face masks dahil sa napuno na ang merkado ng supply galing sa (because the market was flooded with supplies from) China,” Drilon said.

“You know, this is deplorable, Mr. secretary and I hope you could tell me that you protected the manufacturers,” he added.

Senator Nancy Binay backed Drilon’s position, adding that there are more local manufacturers who face the same dilemma.

Binay likewise raised the “irony” that the DTI is now helping the local manufacturers in selling and exporting the locally-produced medical supplies when in fact the government has failed to procure it after it opted to buy imported goods.

In response, Lopez explained that they were not part of the procurement process when the government procured the imported medical supplies.

“I don’t know if it was discussed with the GPPB but I think it went through the bidding procedure during that time. I apologize, I’m not privy to what happened,” Lopez said.

He added that the DTI is doing its part in introducing local suppliers to procuring entities.

As a long term solution, Lopez suggested to legislate a measure that will compel the government to procure locally-produced goods if these products are results of government-sponsored programs.

“What I am suggesting moving forward, Mr. Chair, if we have government-sponsored program like repurposing…ang pwede lang mag-bid, local, (we should only allow local bidders). Talagang buy local,” Lopez  said.

Under the current procurement laws, Lopez said there was a provision which favored the bidders of imported goods if their offered price was cheaper than the local goods by more than 15 percent.

Drilon said the lawmakers could legislate a measure that will prioritize local goods.

Still, the minority leader urged Lopez to “raise his voice” in defense of the local manufacturers, noting the secretary's previous remarks which appeared to defend the DBM-PS' purchase of the alleged overpriced face masks.

“We expected you, Mr. Secretary to stand for our local manufacturers and I must be candid with you, you did not. You allowed these crooks to have their way,” Drilon said.

“In this particular case, some stronger forces must have prevented you from fighting or making strong representations for our Filipino manufacturers resulting to this fiasco,” he added.

Lopez said Drilon’s remarks, saying the DTI would have a “bigger push” for the local manufacturers.

At the end of the discussion, Senator Sonny Angara proposed to include a provision in the 2022 national budget that would require the government to prioritize procurement of locally-produced products.

Angara said they already included this provision under the 2021 General Appropriations Act, however, it was vetoed.

“Imagine how much the government purchases in one year,” Angara noted.

The DTI’s proposed P23.7-billion budget for 2022 was eventually approved by the subcommittee and was endorsed to the plenary. -NB, GMA News