Editorials:

Illustration by Jimbo Albano

Emasculated  

CHALK up another victory for the big pharmaceutical companies with the expected passage of a watered-down cheaper-medicines bill.

We can understand the frustration of Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron, the principal author of the House version of the bill. He laments what he calls the “drastic weakening” of his proposed measure with the removal of its two key provisions: that physicians shall prescribe only generic drugs to their patients, and that the government shall set up a drug-price regulatory board.

With these two vital provisions—the “heart and soul” of the bill, as Biron describes it—expunged, what remains, in fact, is just the title. 

In other words, the cheaper medicines bill will mean exactly the opposite—and the poor, in particular, will suffer the most because they will be denied access to affordable medicine.

So it’s absolutely correct that Biron and other legislators who support the idea of cheaper medicines are now contemplating not signing the draft report by the House panel before the bicameral committee meeting on the measure.

And if the Senate will insist on a final version that also excludes the generics-only provision and the price regulatory board, then we can very well jettison any hope that Filipinos can gain ready access to cheaper medicines.

This is truly unfortunate because other countries such as India have been able to go beyond the stranglehold of the multinational pharmaceutical companies and produce medicines for a wide variety of illnesses within the reach of their people.  

That raises the question: Which is more important, the health and well-being of the masses of our people, or the profit levels of the mostly foreign pharmaceutical companies operating in the country? 

Sen. Mar Roxas II, the main author of the cheaper-medicines bill in the Senate, should tell us exactly if we can expect cheaper medicines or not in the near future.

If not, that can only mean one thing: The huge pharmaceutical companies are certainly no pushovers in the lobbying game, and can get what they want from this government, at the expense of the poor and the sick. 

Bloated 

IF the cheaper-medicines bill that will finally be signed into law is an emasculated one that perpetuates the regime of high prices of lifesaving drugs, what is happening in the bureaucracy is just the opposite. It gets bigger and bigger, and its bloated character is nowhere more in evidence than in the Office of the President, where the operative principle seems to be: the more the merrier.

Result: A top-heavy structure that eats up scarce government resources.

A study conducted by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reveals that President Arroyo already has under her 27 Cabinet-rank secretaries, as well as the executive directors or heads of 38 other executive agencies, commissions and committees under the Office of the President. Apart from them, the President has an adviser, assistant or consultant for every region and super-region in the country, as well as for specific functions, such as jobs generation, strategic projects, revenue enhancement, new government centers, military affairs, police affairs, interior and local government matters, transnational crimes, culture and entertainment industry, among many others. There’s even a presidential consultant on Muslim royalty affairs.  

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita asserts that, except for one or two, the Arroyo advisers, assistants and consultants numbering more than 50 do not receive any compensation. But still, the offices and staff of these excess advisers, assistants and consultant ate up about P122 million of the government budget yearly, which, by every reckoning, is a big amount that can very well be put to better use.

One question that begs for answers is whether these officials are truly experts who provide valuable advice to the President in their field, or they’re there because of political expediency. Malacańang should tell the people exactly what have been the real accomplishments of these appointees.

Pending before Congress is the career executive system bill which gives the Civil Service Commission (CSC) the power to appoint people to rank, from which the President would choose whom to assign where. This would allow the CSC to check appointments. Under the proposed measure, Cabinet secretaries would be chosen by the directors of each agency, with the power to choose the undersecretary and assistant secretary left to the President. This is a step in the right direction, as it would ensure competence and fitness for public office. It’s about time key public officials serve on the basis of merit, and not on the “pleasure of the President.”

CHALK up another victory for the big pharmaceutical companies with the expected passage of a watered-down cheaper-medicines bill.

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The Entrepreneur: Let’s get our figures right!

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‘ENHANCE our claims, strengthen our baselines” is the proposed “win-win” solution envisioned by Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to break the impasse over the conflicting versions of a pending bill defining the country’s baselines.

Reflections from the Mirror: Con-Ass, NPAs and the Spratlys

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