Ilonggo solons lead push to bring drug prices down Christian V. Esguerra Inquirer
August 27, 2007
MANILA, Philippines -- Congress was deceivingly calm one evening during the 13th Congress when lawmakers tackled a bill that would bring down drug prices in the country.
Conspicuously absent were the sound and fury common during important deliberations at the House of Representatives. There was instead a gentle -- if not melodious -- character to the exchange.
“Hay sus Ginoo, mahapo dya ang lobby. Budlay guid ya. Ma-unungay guid kita kay basi madura tsansa na mabarato bulong (Oh my God, lobbying is tiresome. It is really hard. We have to unite because we might lose our chance for cheaper medicine),” Iloilo Representative Janette Garin exclaimed, denouncing the alleged lobbying by giant pharmaceutical companies.
In the congressional effort to reduce the prices of medicines in the Philippines, Ilonggo-speaking lawmakers are leading the way.
They have yet to agree on a common strategy. But, at the very least, the tenderness of their native tongue has kept discussions within the bounds of reason and decency.
In one corner is the advocacy led by Senator Mar Roxas, calling for an amendment to the Intellectual Property Code to reduce drug prices. With him is fellow Capiznon, Representative Antonio del Rosario who filed a version of the Roxas bill in the 14th Congress.
On the other is the group led by Representatives Ferjenel Biron and Janette Garin, both of nearby Iloilo. Their strategy is focused on putting up a drug price regulation system to dismantle the existing cartel of drug production and sale.
Also in the thick of the debate is South Cotabato Representative Arthur Pinggoy, himself an Ilonggo. His strategy hews closely with that of the Biron-Garin formula with the proposal for a drug price regulatory body.
So what’s with the so-called Ilonggo bloc in the Philippine Congress that it seemed bent on crafting a low-priced medicines law?
On Monday, Garin, while recognizing her colleagues’ sincerity in efforts to bring down drug prices, offered one other possibility behind Roxas’ active involvement.
“Maybe, he found a good campaign slogan in it for his presidential bid in 2010,” she told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “He looked for supporters and naturally found it among some members of the Ilonggo group.”
Garin said the advocacy in the House of Representatives began as part of “small discussions” with Biron. Later, she said the idea of a low-priced medicines bill included another former Iloilo congressman, Rolex Suplico, now the province’s vice governor.
Lawmakers failed to enact such a law in the last Congress, technically because of a lack of quorum in the House of Representatives. The Senate had done its side of the bargain by passing Roxas’ Senate Bill No. 2263.
In previous interviews, Garin and Biron said the matter was much more difficult than the problem with quorum. They said the supposedly tougher House version was not amenable to Roxas’ bill, which called for the parallel importation of patented drugs.
Roxas earlier criticized the House for failing the pass its version while some of its members pinned the blame on him.
Lately, Biron said the senator seemed to have become more open to the idea of drug price regulation.
“He’s just not openly talking about it, but I think he sees that need for drug price regulation,” he told the Inquirer in an overseas phone interview. “He knows that people are looking for a tangible system that would really bring down the price of medicines.”
Del Rosario, a key Roxas ally, on Sunday explained the discomfort over the establishment of a drug price regulatory board, saying the better strategy was to allow free market forces to dictate prices.
He was wary that such a board would be susceptible to bribery attempts.
