BY PETER TABINGO and VICTOR REYES
SENATOR and presidential candidate Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao yesterday tagged as senseless and anti-poor the move of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to stop “sari-sari” or small retail stores from selling over-the-counter (OTC) medicines.
The PROMDI standard bearer said in remote areas of the country, small retail stores serve to bridge the gap between the lack of health care facilities and the absence of licensed drug stores so that it would be impractical to require people to travel far to buy non-prescription medicines for ordinary ailments.
“We have to consider that there are areas without a drug store close by. In some places, going to a pharmacy might mean a 10 to 20 kilometers of travel, and these are not open 24 hours),” he said in Filipino.
While the DILG pointed out that the stores can secure a permit from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pacquiao said this would be an added burden to village store owners.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said justified the department’s decision to launch a crackdown on sari-sari stores illegally selling medicines.
“They should repeal the law, anyway they are lawmakers,” said Año, referring to Pacquiao and other legislators. “They’re the ones who made that, the Philippine Pharmacy Law. What they should do is to repeal or amend the law, then classify the sari-sari stores who can sell,” he said.
Under RA 10918 or the Philippine Pharmacy Act, Año said, only stores authorized by the FDA are supposed to sell medicines, including OTC medicines.
“As of now, the law is the law. You cannot break the law just to accommodate (the sari-sari stores). We can do nothing about it, its Congress who passed it (law),” Año said.
Pacquiao said sari-sari stores are delivering a necessary service by making OTC medicines readily accessible to the public, particularly the poor who seek treatment of common ailments and symptoms like fever, flu, dysmenorrhea, and body aches.
By stopping such sales, the former boxing champ said, poor people in rural areas may unnecessarily suffer and be deprived of immediate medical care.
“Hindi lahat may sasakyan para umalis patungong bayan to buy medicine sa gabi. Isa pa, karamihan tingi-tingi lang kung bumili kaya baka mas mahal pa yung pamasahe o gasolinang kinonsumo sa bibilhin nilang gamot (Many families do not have transportation to hunt down a pharmacy, more so at night. Besides, most of these purchases involve very small sums so that the cost of fare or fuel might be more expensive than the OTC medicine),” he said.
In the alternative, Pacquiao recommended that sari-sari store owners just be asked to submit a list of OTC medicines they are selling and entrust the monitoring to barangay officials.
On Thursday last week, Año directed the PNP to conduct operations to stop the sari-sari stores from selling medicines. He also asked local government units (LGUs) to pass ordinances banning the sale of medicines in all sari-sari stores.
“We are just a law enforcement (agency), we implement what the law says,” said Año.
“We only want the public to buy from authorized drug stores and outlets to discourage sari-sari stores (from selling medicines). The sari-sari stores have many other items to sell earn (money),” he also said.
Año said policemen will be lenient in the campaign against sari-sari stores selling medicines. “They will not be automatically arrested. They will be given the chance (to stop selling medicines),” he said.
Año said sari-sari stores may apply for a permit from the FDA if they want to sell medicines.
“What we do not want to happen is there will be no regulation (in selling medicines) and ordinary sari-sari stores are selling (medicines). We won’t know if what they’re selling are already expired or counterfeit. It’s important that we buy medicine only from authorized drug stores,” said Año.
Año also said it is important that the medicines that the public are buying are in good condition and are authentic. He said there are drugstores in barangays where people can buy these medicines.
“The LGUs also have ways how to make available these medicines, even in the far-flung areas. Even the DOH, they are dispensing these medicines to the barangay health centers,” Año also said.
RICE LAW
Another presidential candidate, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, pushed for the review of the Rice Tariffication Law due to its alleged “bad implementation.”
In a press conference before Lacson and his tam held a dialogue with farmers in Sto. Domingo in Nueva Ecija, Lacson said the Rice Tariffication Law should have brought down the price of rice at P7 per kilo at the lowest but due to poor implementation, the price of rice even went up.
“Kailangan review-hin kasi yung implementation ay masama. So, kailangan amendyahan, if not totally repeal, kasi may test period ito, kahit anong batas nagu-undergo ng test of time (The Rice Tariffication Law needs to be reviewed because of poor implementation. So, amendments are needed, if not totally repeal it. Because a new measure normally undergoes test of time),” Lacson said.
The Rice Tariffication Law which was passed in February 2019 removed the quantitative restrictions on rice imports and replaced these with a 35 percent import tariff. — With Raymond Africa
