This is the most advantageous option available.

The Provincial Board of Pangasinan is going the same way in collecting its P79 Million IRA differential.

What to do with P142 Million? Another reader has posted a comment. Please check the sidebar. He wants roads to be paved in his village.

6:03 a.m.

Update on Activities

Yesterday, I represented Mayor Rody Duterte at the opening of the new showroom of Canon Marketing (Philippines) at Bajada. The expanded sales and service center is proof of the imaging company's growth in this part of the country. An executive from the company flew in from Singapore to grace the occasion. In my brief remarks, I said the city government adheres too in Canon's philosophy - living and working together for the common good! Canon's Philippine CEO Ramon Arteficio was somewhat surprised to hear these words from me. I told him I read it in their website. Canon's Regional Head here is Nelson Perez. Visit them infront of the Davao City Water District.

Today, my office will host an orientation seminar on the Botika ng Barangay Project of the Department of Health. Last year, I partnered with DOH in helping 21 barangays set up their village pharmacies. The project does not only make affordable medicines available in communities but also help train BNB operators become entrepreneurs. DOH provides seed capital of P25,000 worth of medicines which the BNB must replenish with their sales. I am hoping another batch of beneficiary-barangays would be granted their BNB.

On Saturday, the National Coalition Against Child Labor in Commercial Agriculture will spearhead once again the marking of the World Day Against Child Labor in the city. I have been a permanent fixture in the activities of this coalition and so I was invited again to speak at its rally at the Almendras Gym. A march will precede the program from Rizal Park to the Gym.

7:26 a.m.

It is very obvious that the multi-national pharmaceutical companies, pricing are downright unreasonable. Let’s say that it is possible, due to different economic factors like dollar-peso exchange rate, taxes imposed on imported drugs, etc, that the prices of medicines in the Philippines will be higher than those being sold in India. That is possible but it is highly improbable that medicines in country will cost by 100 percent higher than those in India. These pharmaceutical companies are heartless and greedy. They want the whole world to respect the copyrights on their drugs but they are unwilling to peg the price of their medicines at reasonable price. It seems that their motto is: “Respect the copyrights but ignore the value of human lives” so that they could rake in as much money as possible.

Because of this alarming truth, I support the congress in initiating the Cheaper Medicines Bill so as to give the country a safety net from the greed of these pharmaceutical companies. The Cheaper Medicines Bill gives the Executive Branch the power to put a price ceiling on medicines. With power, I just hope that the president will have the political will to not to bend on the will of the pharmaceutical companies and use the bill for the benefit of the Filipino people.

Human welfare and human rights is higher than the copyright laws that the pharmaceutical companies hold very dearly, thus I wish that the government will help the local pharmaceutical companies in making drugs that is already present at the market, if the multi-national pharmaceutical companies do not agree to lower the price of their drugs.