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THE
House of Representatives may defer ratification of the
bicameral conference committee report of the proposed
Cheaper Medicines Act until House leaders are fully
satisfied that the law will truly guarantee cheaper
medicines.
Speaker
Prospero Nograles said this days after several
legislators assailed the “drastic weakening” of the
measure with the removal by the Senate contingent of the
proposed drug-price regulatory board and the “generics
only” provisions.
“We have
to carefully balance the things that are at stake in
this proposed cheaper-medicines law. For one, we have to
get the full assurance that if this is passed into law,
it will really bring down the cost of medicines,” said
Nograles. “If we cannot get this assurance, I think that
it will be best to defer its ratification because I
don’t see the point of passing a law that will not
really serve its purpose.”
Nograles
said the two clashing schools of thought in relation to
the removal of the regulatory body that would enforce
the law both have their strong and weak points, but at
the end of the day, the only overriding concern that
will influence his position is whether or not the
reconciled bicameral report will actually result in
cheaper medicines.
While he
is committed to see the enactment of the Cheaper
Medicines Act before Labor Day, Nograles said he would
“rather accept a delayed law rather than a patently
flawed law.”
He
stressed Congress does not want “to give false hopes to
our people that the cheaper-medicines law will bring
down the cost of medicines. If there is enough basis
that the bicameral report has been watered down and
rendered inutile, I will endorse that we defer its
ratification and take the discussions back to the bicam
with the possibility that we may reassert our position
on the generics-only provision.”
Nograles
has set a meeting with the House bicameral panel;
members to discuss the issue, but this has to wait until
Tuesday or Wednesday because he has to be in Cebu Monday
to witness the signing of the new charter for the
University of the Philippines.
While in
Cebu, Nograles will confer with President Arroyo and
Senate President Manuel Villar to get their sense on the
controversies related to the proposed Cheaper Medicines
Act.
Earlier,
Lakas Rep. Fernejel Biron of Iloilo, principal author of
the House version of the bill, said he is not that
optimistic the price of medicines will go down even if
the bill is passed into law because of the removal of
the generics-only provision and the drug-price
regulatory board.
Biron
reported other legislators who fought hard to pass the
bill are contemplating not signing the draft report of
the House panel for the bicameral conference meeting. |
