The existing procurement law must be amended first in order to give local manufacturers of personal protective equipment (PPE) a fighting chance against its international competitors, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

Although local manufacturers were urged to pivot their business toward PPE production last year when the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) first emerged, their products still ended up getting sidelined in favor of internationally-made PPEs, DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said.

While the agency recognized what was going on, Castelo said they can only do so much to help local producers as Republic Act (RA) 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act doesn't specifically give preference to domestic production. Instead, it only gives certain rules for purchasing or procurement.

“We're happy that now we are able to produce our own PPEs but the hindrance lies in the bidding process. We have the RA 9184--our procurement law, it does not specify that our preference is domestic production,” Castelo said during a televised interview Thursday, April 29.

“We hope we prioritize the domestic purchase, especially now that we are pushing for the ‘Buy Local, Go Lokal,’ and the procurement law to be amended," she said, adding that the preference for local products over imported products must be made crystal clear in the law.

The undersecretary clarified, however, that they are not snubbing the local manufacturers’ products.

What they want, she said, is to empower the local manufacturers so they may at least keep up with their international counterparts in terms of specifications.