Mrp = Mar Roxas President

The current buzzword in the political and public health arena is “MRP” or Maximum Retail Price. According to various sources, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will soon be signing an Executive Order that would effectively put into “law” a Maximum Retail Price on the Top 20 prescription drugs on the market.

These are the Top 20 Best in terms of quality, the most prescribed and probably the highest priced in their category or brand. If they were cars, they would be the luxury brands and models.

The decision to sign an Executive Order for the MRP is ultimately a political decision for all parties concerned. At the head of the mob is none other than Senator Mar Roxas who championed the Cheaper Medicines Act and has now been hammering the Department of Health to push for the Executive Order.

This behavior of Roxas has taken previous allies by surprise because Roxas has long been for “parallel imports but against “price controls”. As former Secretary of Trade, Roxas fully understands the long-term consequence of “price control”.

From the on-set, it is highly anti-trade, anti-business and has a long-term negative effect in terms of attracting foreign investments. Just to make the point, it is because of our confused, ever changing and politically motivated laws and policies that Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao has reportedly brought in more foreign currency into the country than any single foreign investor.

Of course MRP is undoubtedly a good tool if the ultimate result is for the good of all. Unfortunately those who are about to commit themselves to the act of issuing the EO may not fully appreciate the truth of the MRP on the Top 20 medicines.

Placing a Maximum Retail Price on the Top 20 medicines will be a populist or pa-pogi act that will only benefit the rich Filipinos who already buy or can afford any of the Top 20 medicines on the list. In other words the MRP is a populist order for the Elite.

A survey of the current users of the Top 20 medicines on the list for MRP are mostly A/B individuals who have 7 to 8 figures annual income and are considered to be in the top 20 bracket in the country. With a few exceptions they are not poor, needy or struggling.

To make matters worse, the MRP is essentially dishonest by portraying a market situation where government needs to step in for the benefit of consumers. For each product that Mar Roxas wants on the list of MRP, there are at least one to five generic variants that consumers can choose from and which our less privileged “kababayans” can buy.

Contrary to the original spirit of the law or Mar Roxas, MRP or Maximum Retail Price limits was suppose to be an option for controlling prices and supplies relative to a national medical emergency or public health crisis. No one ever mentioned that an Executive Order would be issued based on political opportunism or advantage.

If price remains to be the issue, then the public should realize that many of the companies who own the Top 20 products on the proposed MRP list have all made proposals to the government to cut their prices by as much as 40 to 50 percent. But because government officials want their way, they have called the proposed compromise as “tokenism”.

At least two major companies have expressed that those acts of “Tokenism” were intended to save several hundred jobs as well as firmly prove their willingness to cooperate with the government in implementing the Cheaper Medicines Act. If your relative happens to be in “Sales” in a Pharmaceutical company, be nice to them in the next two months because they may be one of the estimated 500 people in the industry who will be retrenched directly due to MRP.   

If Malacañang issued an EO for MRP on surgical or facemasks and hand sanitizer, they would be doing the right thing because there is an established public health crisis recognized by the World Health Organization and the Department of Health. But last I heard no such thing has happened. So why issue an EO-MRP for the Top 20 medicines that have no connection to A(H1N1) Influenza?

According to my sources Mar Roxas and Malacañang have separate but similar agendas.

Mar Roxas undoubtedly and without question deserves praise and credit for pushing for the Cheaper Medicines Act. However his current obsession to pressure the DOH to push for an EO-MRP is unlike him and contrary to his publicly stated positions. His uncompromising position to work with the industry is reminiscent of his past where he always bet on the advantageous and not on the good of all.

Senator Roxas, I am told is tickled by the acronym MRP because it can be used as a campaign item: MRP: Mar Roxas President.

The immediate and short-term benefits are undoubtedly tickling to an ambitious man aspiring to become President. But all to often “quickies” have no real impact and no real value. Mar Roxas should seriously consider the long term damage or injury that comes from betrayal, wishy-washy politics, and personal injury to working professionals and the industry.

The Presidency comes to a man who can be trusted and believed.

On the other hand, our current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo would be well advised concerning the real benefits of compromise versus an EO driven MRP. Sources tell me that the EO is intended partly to reduce the flak from Con-Ass and the issue of re-election.

Using the EO as a plaster may sound great in desperate times, but PGMA may be unwittingly giving a political tool, pogi points and bragging rights to Mar Roxas while she gets blamed for having signed the EO that will cause major damage to an industry already reeling from the Cheaper Medicines Act. 

Malacañang can only use this “material” for a few weeks and a few pages of advertising. Signing the EO will be equivalent to giving your enemy his weapon of choice that he can and will use against you.

Acronyms and Pogi points may be attractive, but we must all study the real costs. Will it be Macapagal Real President, Mar Realistic President, or do we settle for Maximum Retail Politics? We all pay the price.