It was the eve of the first year of enactment of “The Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008,” or Republic Act 9502 more popularly known as the cheaper medicine law, one of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's centerpiece programs, which promised to bring prices of medicine down.
The protest aimed to deliver to Malacanang palace the people's verdict on the law. For Consumers' Action, RA 9502, enacted on June 6, 2008 failed because it does not have provisions that address the very reasons why the prices of medicine in the country are high.
Continuing monopoly
According to Dr. Julie Caguiat, one of the conveners of Consumers' Action, the law does not remove monopoly control of transnational corporations (TNCs) in the drug industry and neither does it contain provision for the development of a local drug industry.
Estimates put the share of TNCs in the Philippines from 68 to 72 percent in sales of medicines and pharmaceuticals alone. Last year, pharmaceutical sales in the country amounted to P116 billion.
Caguiat added that although between 80 and 90 percent of essential drugs being sold in the Philippines are no longer patented, the law did not provide for the development of a sound local drug industry that could have taken advantage of the fact that previously patented medicines can now be developed by local manufacturers.
Consumers' Action also criticized the policy of dependence being fostered by RA 9502, which gave particular focus on drug importation, including parallel importation. A parallel import is a non-counterfeit product imported from another country without securing the permission of the intellectual property owner. Parallel importation can eventually kill what remains of the local drug industry in the Philippines.
Moreover, Caguiat said that RA 9502 did not create a price regulatory board that could usher the democratic representation of consumers and other sectors in the market.
Eleanor Nolasco of the Health Action Information Network (HAIN) briefly presented the result of their study on the implementation of the law. Sadly, the study found no significant decrease on the prices of essential medicine in the country after one year.
Subservience to WTO
Under the WTO-Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (WTO-TRIPS), patent holders have the right to exclusively manufacture, use and dictate the selling price of a patented medicine. In the Philippine drug market, more than 70% of the manufacturers are TNCs.
Nisperos also pointed out Macapagal-Arroyo's regime as responsible for the worsening of the Philippine health situation, with her lack of genuine concern to the basic needs of the majority of the Filipinos.
On top of the government's subservience to WTO-influenced policies, it also failed to develop a self-reliant national drug industry that is responsive to the health needs of the people. There is also no government support for local drug manufacturers in terms of tax holidays and research and development subsidies.
Disappointed
Juanito Torres, a patient at the Tala Leprosarium in Manila and current president of Tala Hansenites Council, shared that leprosy patients including him, have experienced being given low-quality medicine for their ailments. Specifically, Torres pointed out that there was a time they were given antibiotics that was made of gaw-gaw, a local starch.
However, Torres said they did not have a choice because they could not afford to buy their own medicine because of its sky-rocketing prices. He added that they are disappointed with the cheaper medicine law because “isang taon na mula noong isabatas ang cheaper medicine law pero sobrang taas pa rin ang presyo ng mga gamot,” (a year have passed and prices of medicine remain very high). Torres spoke for thousands of patients who waited in vain for a substantive decrease in prices of life saving pills.
Creative protest
Amid rain showers, a dramatic presentation in a form of a street play in different frames was performed by the members of Kilos Bayan para sa Kalusugan (KBK / People's Action for Health).
The protest action was successfully and peacefully held.
Aside from HEAD, KBK, TALA Hansenites and HAIN, the Alliance for Health Workers (AHW), Community Medicine Development Foundation (COMMED), Health Alliance for Human Rights (HAHR), Health Students' Action (HSA), Bayan Muna Partylist and Council for Health and Development (CHD) joined the protest action.
Launched on February 20, 2009 the Consumers' Action also aims to monitor the prices, efficacy and quality of essential medicines in the market, launch educational discussions on the issue of high cost of medicines and push for the implementation of the Generics Law and National Drugs Policy.
For the group, access to essential medicines is part of a people’s inherent right to health. The need of Filipinos for efficacious and affordable medicines can only be met when a strong national health care system is in place and under a government whose policies are for the best interest of its people.#
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