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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
As the prices of basic commodities and oil
continue to go up, many are likely looking forward to some good
news—passage of a bill making medicines more affordable. But that
may take a while.
That’s because the House of Representatives
may defer the ratification of the bicameral conference committee
report on the proposed Cheaper Medicines Act.
Speaker Prospero Nograles said that first, he
must be “personally satisfied” that the law once passed will
fulfill its mandate before he moves for the bill’s passage.
“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,” he said.
“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,” he
added.
Nograles said during his meeting with the
members of the House contingent that the bicameral conference on the
cheaper medicines bill would have to wait until the middle of next
week as he will be in Cebu starting today to witness the signing of
the new charter for the University of the Philippines.
He said the event would give him the opportunity
to confer with President Gloria Arroyo and Senate President Manuel
Villar Jr. in Cebu on the controversies related to the Cheaper
Medicines Act.
The Senate and the Lower House have been
debating whether to remove the regulatory body that would enforce
the law. House has been pushing for the creation of a Drug Price
Regulation Board, while the Senate has been proposing to give the
job to the President or to the secretary of the Department of
Health.
“But if there’s really no difference
[between having] a board to regulate the price of medicines [and
delegating] this authority to the Health secretary or the President,
I don’t see any reason why we have to delay its ratification at
the soonest possible time,” Nograles said.
He said both proposals have strong and weak
points, emphasizing that the overriding concern that will influence
his position is whether the reconciled bicameral report will truly
deliver cheaper medicines.
He said he is committed to see the enactment of
the Cheaper Medicines Act before Labor Day—May 1—as he is
determined to make sure that it will actually bring down the cost of
medicines, but he would “rather accept a delayed law rather than a
patently flawed law.”
“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
bicameral committee with the possibility that we may reassert our
position on the generics-only provision,” Nograles said.
In the meantime, the members of the House
committee on Agriculture will conduct public hearings on various
legislations to boost rice production and promote food security.
The nationwide regional consultations were
conceived by Nograles and Palawan Rep. Abraham “Baham” Mitra,
agriculture committee chairman, to bring the House of
Representatives directly to the people. The first in the series will
kick off today in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija.
“This is part of the reforms that are now
taking place in the House of Representatives. We want to become a
true House of the People. We also want to go to them [people]
instead of them always going to us,” the House Speaker said.
Mitra said the consultations are expected to
continue even after the Fourteenth Congress adjourns on June 13 so
that his committee will already have a menu of legislations on rice
production and food security. Farmers and stakeholders crafted the
agenda in time for the opening of the second regular session of the
Fourteenth Congress.
Mitra said on top of the list of measures that
they intend to tackle in their public hearings are the proposed
amendment to the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act;
corporate farming and the increase in penalties against hoarding of
food commodities.
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