Senator Raffy Tulfo criticized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its supposed negligence and inaction on the continued sale of unregistered products that pose health risks.

During the budget hearing of the Department of Health (DOH) and its attached agencies on Thursday, Oct. 2, Senator Tulfo expressed dismay over the ineffectiveness of FDA advisories.

While issuing warnings to consumers about products that pose health risks and lack FDA approval, the agency fails to undertake important follow-through actions, he said.

One example is the GlutaGenC Glow Gummies, which reportedly caused sickness among many buyers, including a child who became seriously ill. The incident even made primetime news.

Despite this, the same gummies are still being sold on online selling platforms like Shopee, and in various stores.

Tulfo said his researchers went around shops and found that these products are still for sale.

"Lahat po ng nilagay niyo sa inyong mga advisory na huwag bilhin dahil mapanganib nandun po, binebenta (Everything that you included in your advisories as dangerous and not to be purchased are there, for sale)," he said.

The FDA defended itself by saying it only has 890 plantilla employees, which limits its ability to monitor banned products.

Tulfo did not buy this argument and stated that if the FDA was really serious, they could assign people to monitor these cases and call major drugstores, shops, and online marketplaces to check if they are still selling banned products.

"Kung gusto maraming paraan, kung ayaw maraming dahilan (If you want to, there are many ways to do it; if you don't want to, you'll find many excuses)," he said.

Tulfo says that the list of unregistered products they found is now around 20, with some of the products being sold in leading health and beauty retail chains.

The senator later challenged FDA Director-General Paolo Teston, and said that if, by the next hearing, these banned products were still being sold in the market, he should resign from his post.

Tulfo even said it was likely some suppliers of these banned products were bribing FDA personnel. Thus, they choose to turn a blind eye to this problem.

According to Tulfo, the FDA is one of the most corrupt agencies in the country, and a lot of pharmaceutical companies can attest to it. He added that a lot of small companies are closing down since multinational companies are more favored.