DTI taps price control councils vs profiteers during SARS scare

Profiteering will not go unpunished in the time of SARS.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will crack down on unscrupulous traders jacking up the prices of medicines and tools used to combat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said his department has mobilized local price coordinating councils to field monitoring teams nationwide to check the prices of medical commodities and apprehend businessmen caught profiteering.

Reports said the price of an N-95 mask has jumped from P40 to P200 each. A check with a leading drug company showed the same mask was priced at P400.

The World Health Organization recommended the N-95 mask as a protective device against SARS because it is designed to block out 95 percent of contaminants.

"The DTI is coordinating with local government units (LGUs), especially city and municipal government, to ensure that access to anti-SARS medicines and tools are available to the public," Roxas said.

"The government will implement the full force of the law to prevent overpricing and hoarding of these medical commodities," he said.

Roxas asked drug stores and other retailers to be partners in the government’s campaign to fight SARS.

He said the government and private sector must be one in stopping the spread of the coronavirus that causes SARS.

The DTI will meet with representatives of drugstores and pharmaceutical companies today to check if the supply of medicines and medical tools is sufficient, even if there is a surge in demand.

Invited to the meeting were Association of Drug Industries of the Philippines (Adip) president Willy Fabroa, Chamber of Filipino Drug Manufacturers (CFDM) president Michael dela Cruz, Filipino Drug Association (FDA) president Edward Isaac; Generics Association (GA) president Edwin Santiago, Mercury Drug Stores Inc. president Vivian Azcona, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) president Eufe Tanphia, representatives of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) and representatives of retailers and supermarket associations.

Roxas also instructed the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) to explore potential sources of surgical masks for possible importation to augment the local supply.

PITC is the DTI’s implementing agency for the Presyong Tama, Gamot Pampamilya project that ensures that branded and affordable medicines are available in all accredited government hospitals.

This came after legislators from the House of Representatives called on the DTI and the Department of Health (DOH) to impose a ceiling on the prices of surgical masks.

The lawmakers made their call after receiving reports that some firms and drugstores are taking advantage of the SARS outbreak by jacking up their prices.

Manila Rep. Harry Angping, chairman of the House committee on trade and industry, Reps. Loretta Ann Rosales and Nereus Acosta, chairwoman and vice chairman, respectively, of the committee on civil, political and human rights, described the reported price increases as outright opportunism that capitalizes on people’s fear of SARS. "Authorities should padlock erring outlets or confiscate the highly-priced masks as part of the sanctions against violators," Angping said. "Or else the government will buy masks and provide these to health workers."

"Stores or outlets taking advantage of the situation should be penalized under a strong executive order," Rosales said.