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Congress
has started public hearings on bills proposing measures
to make medicines affordable in the country. Sen. Mar
Roxas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade and
Commerce, and Rep. Antonio Alvarez, chairman of House
Committee on Trade and Commerce, are leading these
efforts.
It was
in the 13th Congress where a sense of urgency to address
the perennial problem of expensive medicines arose,
mainly due to then-Senate Bill 2139 (Roxas Bill)
proposing amendments to the Intellectual Property Code
(RA 8293). Senator Roxas’ advocacy was the catalyst that
mobilized a broad constituency that pushed for
legislation on affordable medicines.
Not that
Roxas was the first or only legislator who filed
legislative proposals for affordable medicines; others
have been filing these kinds of bills in past
Congresses. Neither did the cause for affordable
medicines begin with the Roxas bill; citizens and
civil-society advocates have been complaining about
expensive medicines for decades. But after many years of
advocacy, proponents of reforming the health-care system
have found a champion who could put the issue on top of
the national agenda.
What is
remarkable about the past two years is how a subject
still esoteric to most ordinary citizens—intellectual
property—became the catalyst that would spur action to
address a day-to-day “gut issue”—expensive medicines.
The Roxas bill brought to public consciousness the
importance of intellectual property rights, a subject
which, until recently, was often associated merely with
pirated DVDs and CDs.
Counterpart bills to amend the Intellectual Property
Code with other measures were also filed in the 13th
House by several representatives, among them Junie Cua,
Ferjenel G. Biron, Risa Baraquel (Akbayan) and Teodoro
Locsin Jr., and others also took the advocacy a step
forward. Now, in the 14th Congress, there are 23 bills
dealing with the Intellectual Property Code and other
measures to make medicines affordable.
After
its first public hearing, the Senate Committee on Trade
and Commerce, together with the Committee on Health
chaired by Sen. Pia Cayetano, are looking at a broader
package of legislative reforms that would address
comprehensively the problem of health care in the
country, of which affordable medicines is just one
component.
According to Roxas, the joint committees will look into
other measures aside from amending the Intellectual
Property Code, such as tightening loopholes in the
Generics Act, strengthening the Bureau of Food and
Drugs, reviewing the charter of the Philippine Health
Insurance Corp., amending the Pharmacy Law and ensuring
that the programs of government agencies are well
coordinated to achieve optimal impact.
Reforming the patent system to make it more responsive
to the social needs of Filipinos is definitely a major
piece of reform that has a strategic impact on the issue
of expensive medicines. But, like any other single
measure, the patent system is neither the main culprit
nor the panacea to the serious and complex problem of
inadequate health care. To everyone’s benefit, however,
the ongoing saga to craft legislation to make medicines
affordable and accessible educates us on the strategic
importance of intellectual property in society and how
it affects our daily lives.
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Wordlab
School Inc. is organizing an international conference
from October 25 to 27, 2007, at the
Crowne Plaza,
Ortigas Center. The theme of this Pan-Asian Conference
on Learning Disabilities is “Learning Difficulties: A
Closer Look at the Asian Child.” The conference aims to
inform our teachers (especially public-school teachers),
policymakers, parents and the public about dyslexia and
other learning disabilities. For more information and
inquiries on how you can participate, or if you want to
sponsor a teacher, call Wordlab at (632)724-3871 or
416-9285 (look for Che Diez) or send an e-mail to
panasian.LDsecretariat@gmail.com.
The author is the director general of the Intellectual
Property Office of the Philippines. Comments may be sent
to e-mail address: dg_asc@ipophil.gov.ph. |
