INTRODUCTION
By the enactment and signing of Republic Act No. 8203, an act prohibiting counterfeit drugs, providing penalties for violations and appropriating funds therefor, we respond vigorously to one of our basic needs — ensuring our people’s well-being — by removing a serious threat to their health.

This week has been remarkable for two other developments that fortify our confidence in a brighter future for all Filipinos. First, the surge of the gross national product (GNP) to a growth of 7.1% for the first semester of 1996, the highest rate posted for any half-year period since 1990.

And second, the signing of the final peace agreement between our government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that brought to a close almost 30 years of conflict in Mindanao and opened brighter potentials for the nation’s economic health and social cohesion.

Economic growth and political stability will surely redound to the benefit of our people. But these shall remain just lofty aspirations unless our citizens genuinely feel an improvement in the quality of their lives which translates, first and foremost, to the satisfaction of their basic needs. This is what health care and our Social Reform Agenda (SRA) are all about.
THE RIGHT TO HEALTH
Health care has always been a primary concern of nations, families and individuals. It is the duty of the state, enshrined firmly in our constitution, to protect and promote the right to health of the people and to instill health consciousness among them.

In the last five years, significant steps have been taken by government towards promoting the practice of maintenance of health and well-being and prevention of disease, and providing health care more equitably to the poorest of our people.

The delivery of health care services, however, is not yet, by any standard, fully satisfactory. Too many of our people are still unable to access even the minimum of what is termed primary care, let alone the services of our special and tertiary hospitals.

Poor Filipinos often defer seeing the doctor or going to a hospital by resorting to over-the-counter medicines which they believe can cure their illness. Already struggling to meet their day-to-day needs, they may have to spend, because of sickness, their hard-earned money on drugs that are of sub-standard potency or of inferior quality and have no curative or therapeutic value whatsoever.

It is also a declared policy of the state that, in order to safeguard the health of the people, the state shall provide for their protection against counterfeit drugs.

The traffic of fake drugs, particularly the so-called life-saving medicines, poses a serious danger to their users because the latter are not only cheated of their money but become victims of the irreversible effects of such counterfeit drugs — aggravated illness, prolonged suffering, even death.

Since there had been no adequate legal mechanisms that could effectively quell this activity, drug counterfeiting has evolved and become a highly profitable business. The patients may be the principal victims; however, along with them, we see the legitimate drug manufacturers suffering from the damaged reputation of their genuine products.

We see the patients losing their confidence in the health professionals who may have unwittingly prescribed the counterfeit drugs. We also see the credibility and effectiveness of government undermined for being unable to protect the health and safety of our people.
FEATURES OF THE LAW
It is, therefore, highly significant that the first bill that i should sign into law during this second session of the tenth congress is this long-awaited law to fight and penalize severely the manufacture and sale of counterfeit drugs.

This law not only defines and categorizes counterfeiting of drugs and medicines as an unlawful activity, but provides severe administrative and penal sanctions for it.

To ensure its effectiveness, the act strengthens the administrative capability of the Department of Health (DOH) to order the closure not only of establishments found guilty of counterfeiting drugs and medicines but also imposes stringent measures on drugstores, hospitals, pharmacies, dispensaries and all outlets where counterfeit drugs are found or sold.

Finally, the law provides for both administrative and criminal proceedings against violators which can be independently pursued.

Basically, it is plain greed and irresponsibility that moves the unscrupulous to victimize the innocent and trusting public. This law makes these offenders pay for their grave criminal acts.
CLOSING
I commend the principal authors of this important law — Senator Freddie Webb, Senator Leticia Shahani and Congressmen Mario ty and Jovito Claudio; Senate President Neptali Gonzales and House Speaker Jose de Venecia; the other authors, sponsors and supporters of both the Senate and House of Representatives of RA 8203; Health Secretary Carmencita Reodica; the Bureau of Food and Drugs of the DOH; and the leaders of pharmaceutical industry and all other health practitioners for successfully working together towards the enactment of this landmark health and consumer protection legislation.

Let us congratulate ourselves for this victory against a serious threat to the health and life of our people.

But our work does not end here. We must give life to this law in its implementation in order that Filipinos and the nation will enjoy better health.

Mabuhay!