Government should set up a comprehensive stockpiling sourcing program for critically-needed medical grade personal protective equipment (PPE) where it will commit to exclusively source from local manufacturers, which would in turn guarantee delivery of international standard-compliant products.
The Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP) and the Coalition of Philippine Manufacturers of PPE (CPMP) in a joint statement noted the need for a National PPE Sourcing Plan as part of the Strategic National Stockpile Program where government can plan the required projections to address the bottlenecks in the PPE supply chain, ensuring self-sufficiency while sustaining the viability of this emerging manufacturing industry.
In turn, the CONWEP and CPMP said, the local industry shall present and guarantee to government a corresponding National PPE Supply and Delivery Plan to support domestic sourcing under an annual procurement plan.
The stockpiling plan would provide a gestational period for local manufacturers to source and stockpile on raw materials within a calendar year.
They said the procurement planning should take into account the imposition of stringent requirements, including passing of international testing which the country does not have.
The groups noted the advantage of sourcing the product locally, where the government can demand accountability.The groups said sourcing from unscrupulous foreign suppliers of PPE has “ heightened the vulnerability of flooding the local market with substandard products.”
The groups said imports are 36 percent cheaper than the normal value of a standard, medical grade face mask.
CONWEP and CPMP called for the passage of the Philippine Pandemic Protection Act and Stock Piling Bills pending in Congress which would institutionalize the procurement program to be led by the health and trade departments.
Local PPE manufacturers employ an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 workers and this could considerably increase once local sourcing is in place.
In the third quarter of 2020, the CPMP was ready to supply the country’s requirement of 720 million units of masks, 36 million units of medical grade coveralls and isolation gowns and 120 million units of PPE related accessory covers.
But by November, government procured only 27 percent of the suppliers’ monthly capacity for coveralls and gowns (815,000 units) and 69 percent of the monthly mask capacity or around 41.3 million units which were delivered by February this year.
