PPE makers gripe over DOH reliance on imports. Inquirer Newsletter. August 22, 2020

No images? Click here   HOT SPOT   A fishing boat sails across the waters surrounding Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in this 2016 photo. The Chinese Coast Guard in May confiscated the equipment of Filipino fishermen in the area, but it took the Philippine government three months to file a diplomatic protest. —REM ZAMORA       News Only 25 takers of DOH job offers Health Secretary Francisco Duque III appealed to health-care workers unable to work abroad to avail themselves of the emergency hiring program of the Department of Health (DOH) that was launched in April. He said only 25 had applied out of a potential pool of about a thousand medical workers. “Let us help each other because in the end who will take care, look after or treat our fellow Filipino but us,” Duque said. —STORY BY JOVIC YEE Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   Regions Convicted US Marine has ‘accepted’ fate The American soldier found guilty of killing transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude has “accepted’’ the finality of his conviction. US Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton, who is currently held in Camp Crame, has withdrawn a petition he filed in the Supreme Court asking for a review of the decision in the 2014 murder case, according to a notice issued by the high tribunal. —STORY BY JOANNA ROSE AGLIBOT Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net/regions   Lifestyle From groceries to gourmet meals: Premium app for Filipinos by Filipinos Meet the app that is a gift to those still stuck at home and provides an easy and convenient way to order everything—from groceries, meals and kitchenware to gifts, baby needs and pet care. Read full story: lifestyle.inquirer.net/368944/from-groceries-to-gourmet-meals-premium-app-for-filipinos-by-filipinos   Lifestyle PH homes on baking marathon—black ‘kutchinta,’ ‘ddaligi satang,’ choco-quetas Bakers may have lost a lot of gigs because of the ban on big-crowd events. But their craft has found a new life in homes where people can enjoy their treats even during ordinary days. Read full story: lifestyle.inquirer.net/368950/ph-homes-on-baking-marathon-black-kutchinta-ddaligi-satang-choco-quetas   Newsletter / Join us Has this been forwarded by a friend? Subscribe now to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Newsletter and get your latest news and important updates on COVID-19 and the enhanced community quarantine. Subscribe   Start learning     Banner story PPE makers gripe over DOH reliance on imports By Roy Stephen C. Canivel Months into the pandemic, health-care workers are still getting infected with COVID-19, prompting a group of local manufacturers to inquire whether the government could have been importing cheaper but substandard personal protective equipment (PPE) from China and other countries. The Department of Health (DOH) continued to import its PPE, such as coveralls and face masks, even after local manufacturers had developed their capacity to make affordable medical-grade PPE that could meet the demands of health-care workers on the front line. It was the government that called for their help. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) asked manufacturers in March, at the onset of the pandemic, to repurpose their facilities in order to make medical-grade PPE. Since then, five manufacturers with decades of experience in electronics and garment manufacturing sailed into unchartered waters—producing PPE in the middle of a pandemic—and formed a new group called the Confederation of Philippine Manufacturers of PPE (CPMP). With 7,450 direct workers, the group is composed of Medtecs International Corp. Ltd., EMS Components Assembly Inc., Reliance Producers Cooperative, Luen Thai International Group Philippines Inc. and Tacca Industries Pty. Ltd. After responding to the pandemic, the group now feels it was the government that fell short, when the DOH—through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM)—continued to buy majority of its PPE requirements abroad. “What is being supplied to the market? We, as local manufacturers, are forced by requirements to fulfill the necessary tests, the necessary certifications, the necessary inspections, to make sure we are providing a safe product, and we are sure we are providing that,” CPMP president Lawrence de los Santos said in a Zoom press briefing on Friday. “Now my question is this. Is the product that is in the market, be it a coverall or a face mask, with some Chinese paper certification, safe? I don’t know. No one knows because no one has tested [the products],” he said. CPMP, on the other hand, had to get its products’ effectiveness tested abroad against COVID-19 by established international testing and certification companies since there is no local capacity for such tests. It also set up a “clean room” environment with an ultraviolet light chamber to sanitize its products. “We know this and we see it on the newspapers. There is a certain percentage, a high percentage of our [front-line] health-care workers [who] are getting sick of [COVID-19]. My question is, why? Are they being provided the right and the safe kind of PPEs that they deserve?” De Los Santos said. “We know we can provide that. Now what is being imported, or [with] what is being bought, are you sure or are we sure that these are safe? My point there is it’s a question mark,” he said. CPMP did not say that all these imports came from China alone. However, China was the world’s largest source of respirator and surgical masks, medical goggles and protective garments in 2018, according to Peterson Institute for International Economics , a US-based independent nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization. A New York Times report in July said China’s coronavirus response only added to that dominance as it increased production. The report also said that China exported 70.6 billion masks from March to May in 2020. But regardless of the source of the imported PPE, the main appeal aired by the CPMP during the press briefing is for the government to buy and support local products. Limited role In a statement, the DOH said that while it is thankful for the efforts of local manufacturers to ensure the country had enough supply of PPE for medical front-liners, its role is limited to providing technical specifications. “We would like to note that it is not DOH, but primarily PS-DBM that facilitates the procurement of PPEs and needed medical equipment,” it said. CPMP said it could support the government’s PPE needs. Its officers said they could readily invest another $36 million and add 4,000 workers to increase their production capacity. The irony, however, is the lack of local demand at a time when some hospitals still worry about running out of PPE. Although CPMP has been trying to cater to the private sector and export market instead, De Los Santos said the government was still potentially their biggest and therefore most important market. “The government is so big and can be predictable. It is something that allows us to scale up production whereas if we have to go to each individual hospital, they could be buying maybe 10,000 masks or 20,000 masks, [which would be too small] for us to amass a critical scale,” he said. “We need government demand to build the industry.” He said the manufacturers were new to this industry and it was a challenge for them to produce and sell their products for both domestic and foreign markets. “An immediate demand from the government will help us secure our capacity and our employment at least in the short and medium term,” said De Los Santos, who is also president of the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines, CPMP’s parent organization. He indicated that there was a disconnect in the group’s links to the government in that while it was in talks with the DTI, its main customer was supposed to be the DOH that makes purchases through the PS-DBM. “That’s where we’re having issues,” he said. Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Yao, who heads the procurement service, declined to comment. “We prefer facts based on documents than grandiose, baseless statements,” he said in a Viber message to the Inquirer, offering to show the documents pertaining to issues raised by CPMP. Production capacity The PPE producers did not have the capacities that they now have when they started months ago. After nearly P2 billion or $35 million in investments, CPMP can produce 57.6 million medical-grade KN95s and surgical masks monthly. According to CPMP vice chair Perry Ferrer, only around 10 million face masks a month are procured by the government from CPMP. However, the DOH’s demand hovers at a low of 30 million to as much as 80 million per month, he added. CPMP now has the capacity to make 3 million medical-grade coveralls and isolation gowns monthly, none of them being procured by the DOH. The group said it has been selling direct to the Philippine General Hospital and other hospitals instead. With the help of the DTI,  CPMP has been pushing to get DBM to procure locally through the proposed Bayanihan to Recover As One Act, or Bayanihan 2, which has mandated the DBM to prioritize local procurement for medical-grade PPE. It remains to be seen if the measure would be enough for the DTI to convince another government agency to buy local. Speaking at the same press briefing, Marjorie Ramos-Samaniego, governor of the DTI-attached agency Board of Investments, said she hoped that the Bayanihan 2 would be enough. Ferrer said “it would be sad” if after Bayanihan 2 the group would still not get any procurement or support to buy CPMP products. “All the cards are there—the best quality, Filipino. Everybody is saying buy local. There are all these slogans,” he said. Ferrer, who heads electronics company EMS Components, recalled that when the DTI approached them for help, it was a call for action to help fellow Filipinos. He said the company gave it a serious thought, because the government “hardly asks for help.” “It was an overwhelming yes on our part,” he said. —WITH A REPORT FROM JOVIC YEE   Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   Editorial The joke's on us While still under the shadows cast by the COVID-19 pandemic, we Filipinos can still find some comic relief from clowns in the public eye. There’s lawyer Larry Gadon, whose latest gimmick was wandering about while seemingly wearing a face mask and face shield, but with the mask taped onto the shield. He did this, Gadon said, because he believed face masks were unnecessary and face shields alone would provide enough protection. The government, he added, was "overreacting" to the risks posed by the coronavirus infection. Perhaps to prove his contention, Gadon should set an example and surrender to authorities. After all, what is that mantra again by administration partisans like him? The law is the law. Gadon in jail would send the message loud and clear: COVID-19 is a serious life-threatening matter and health measures should be followed by everyone. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, the President’s alter ego, meanwhile reacted to findings of the Social Weather Stations that almost half of all Filipino adults—45.5 percent or about 27.3 million—are jobless. Alarming and dismaying news, however one views it. But for Roque, the information seemed to be material for a comic sketch, sarcasm piled on top of arrogance. Asked for comment on the grim numbers, Roque replied: 'I am glad that not everyone lost their jobs because of the long lockdowns. I’m still surprised at our resilience, that only 45 percent have lost their jobs. It could have been worse because we are imposing complete lockdowns.' It sounds as if Roque would only have been moved by a 100-percent job loss.  Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net   Copyright © 2020 PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: P.O. Box 2353, Makati Central Post Office, 1263 Makati City, Philippines.   Share    Tweet    Share    Forward  Preferences  |  Unsubscribe