Sen. Roxas to grace talk on food and other issues
A "Consultation on Food and Other National Issues" is scheduled Saturday, May 3, 2008 at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol to be attended by Ilonggo Sen. Mar Roxas.
The Iloilo provincial government has provided the venue for a multi-sectoral dialogue on the pressing concerns of rice supply and prices, cheaper medicines act, the proposed suspension of tax on oil products and, exemption from the payment of income tax for minimum wage earners, among others.
Roxas, chairman of the Senate committee on trade, is expected to elaborate on his proposed short-term and long-term solutions to the rice crisis. He will also explain the salient features of the cheaper medicines act.
Earlier, the Ilonggo senator from Capiz has called for the creation of a P1-billion Special Fund for the purchase of quality affordable medicines from foreign sources "as a way of jumpstarting the implementation of the Cheaper Medicines Act."
With the assured passage this week of the Cheaper medicines bill, Roxas said the government should increase funding for parallel importation of cheaper medicines to meet the health needs of millions of poor Filipinos.
"Parallel importation of life-saving medicines would benefit millions of ailing Filipinos. This is one way of giving back to the people what the government collects by way of taxes," Roxas said.
He cited the growing number of Filipinos suffering from hypertension and diabetes as examples of common ailments that require daily maintenance medicines.
"With the present condition of high prices, poor families are forced to choose between food and medicines. We need to push for the effective implementation of this law to enable families to save money and maintain good health by bringing in more affordable medicines," Sen. Roxas explained.