Makabayan Bloc seeks probe on government's alleged importation preference of PPEs

The Makabayan Bloc is seeking an investigation into the alleged preference of the government in purchasing imported over locally-manufactured personal protective equipment (PPEs) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through House Resolution 1735, the progressive lawmakers urged the House committee on trade and industry to look into the government's alleged importation preference of PPEs.

The bloc said most PPEs were imported from China.

It pointed out that the importation preference "practically elbowed out local manufacturers that the government had asked to repurpose their factories for the anticipated increase demand for PPE during the pandemic."

"The local industry could not compete with foreign PPE manufacturers, which are now flooding the domestic with low-cost, albeit some were even reported to be substandard, PPEs from China," the bloc said.

The group cited the report of the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines, saying that the local garment industry had retrenched more or less 25,400 of its 120,000 workers from June to December 2020 due to the economic downturn.

It added that some 3,500 of these retrenched workers came from three firms that repurposed their factories for the local production of PPEs.

The bloc said the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management, which serves as the government's procurement arm for PPEs and other commodities, as well as the Department of Health should be made accountable for this "lopsided policy."—AOL, GMA News