Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso on Friday, Jan. 21, ordered the Manila Police District (MPD) to arrest those behind the production of fake medicines in the city.
In a command conference, Domagoso ordered MPD Director Leo Francisco and the police commanders of the 11 city police stations to go after the people behind the manufacturing and selling of fake drugs in the city.
“Etong mga tolongges, etong mga talipandas na ito na ginagahasa ‘yung kahinaan ng sitwasyon na nagbebenta ng mga fake medicine (These good-for-nothing people, these corrupts who are taking advantage of the weakness of the situation, selling fake medicines)," he said during the command conference at the Manila City Hall on Friday.
Monique Gamboa was arrested by operatives of the Special Mayor’s Reaction Team (SMaRT) during a test-buy operation in Sta. Cruz, Manila for selling fake medicines that are supposedly manufactured by Unilab.
Around 18,000 tablets of Bioflu and a box of Neozep tablets amounting to P1.1 million were seized from Gamboa.
Domagoso then thanked the MPD officials for keeping the city of Manila safe from the illegal products.
"Through the effort of MPD nakuha natin ‘yung mga binebenta online (we seized those that were being sold online),” the Manila mayor said.
Domagoso, meanwhile, cautioned the public against buying medicines like paracetamol and analgesic from online sellers. He advised them to go to the official website of pharmaceutical companies.
“Nanawagan ako na huwag basta-basta bumibili ng mga online na Paracetamol kasi there was a time as you all know, about two weeks ago, nagka-ubusan ng Paracetamol at Vitamin C (I am appealing to all of you to not just buy Paracetamol online because there was a time as you all know, about two weeks ago, Paracetamol and Vitamin C were out of stock)," he said.
"Pag tinignan mo talaga halos hindi mo makikitang peke eh. Hindi natin alam kung ano ang laman nito. Nasampahan na ng kaso ‘yung suspect, nakalawit na nila Col. Ibay at nung team ng MPD (When you look at it, you can hardly see it's fake. We do not know what its contents are. The case has already been filed against the suspect, Ibay Jr. and the MPD team already took care of it),” Domagoso said.
The chief executive also ordered the MPD officials to be vigilant in their respective areas and build an intelligence dossier of suspected persons engaged in the selling of fake medicines.
“Pagmatyagan nyo ‘yung online baka meron sa area ninyo nagtitinda. Pigilan to, pagka-ganito try n’yo imbestigahan kagad pag naka-online. So, congratulations, that's 18,000. Imagine mo 18,000 na di ko rin maisip na papasukin ‘yung negosyo na sinusubo ng tao (Keep an eye out for online sellers in your area. Stop it, then try to investigate as soon as they're online. So, congratulations that’s 18,000. Imagine 18,000, I can't even imagine getting into the business that the people are consuming)".