Lopez: High prices of face mask, shield in 2020 due to short supply

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said in video aired on Saturday that scarce supply had driven up the prices of face masks and face shields at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020.

Lopez was responding to allegations of "overpricing" arising from the purchase of face masks and face shields by the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) for the Department of Health (DOH).

“Nagkaroon po talaga ng scarcity at ang presyo po talaga nagtaasan” (There was scarcity in supply and the prices soared), Lopez said during President Rodrigo Duterte’s pre-taped "Talk to the People" aired on Saturday morning.

“It was really uncontrollable simply because of scarcity,” he pointed out.

Now, the DOH and the PS-DBM are at the center of a controversy stemming from Commission on Audit's report that the two agencies procured 113.95 million pieces of surgical masks and 1.32 million pieces of face shields in April and May 2020 for P27 and P120 a piece, respectively.

Senators questioned the purchase, alleging it was “overpriced.”

Senator Richard Gordon, who is also the chairman of Philippine Red Cross, joined the chorus and said  that his organization was able to buy their face shields at P15 each, and their masks at below P5.

Lopez clarified that in March 2020 -- the peak of strict lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic -- the Department of Trade and Industry, DOH, and DBM tried to source supply from imports because there was no local supplier of the items then.

“Even other countries are not supplying us. Wala na ring makuha from imports (We can’t even get it from imports) during those times of March and April because they also need masks. Lumalala na ang COVID doon sa mga iba-ibang bansa," he said.

(There was worsening COVID situation in various countries so there was really a shortage of face masks.)

In March and April last year, Lopez said, the prices of face masks went from P5 to about P28 to P30 per piece.

Moreover, he said that despite government encouragement for local manufacturing of the items, there was also a shortage of materials to make face masks worldwide.

“Because of the huge demand worldwide, there's scarcity value, nagtaasan din ang presyo ng materyales (the prices of materials jumped),” Lopez pointed out.

To control the situation, the DOH -- together with DTI -- set a suggested retail price (SRP), he added.

“Around March [2020], we declared an SRP of P28 per piece because the prices are going up beyond P28,” Lopez said.

When face shields were required in August, the government set an SRP of P26 to P50 a piece.

DTI’s monitoring efforts found that the price range of an eye frame type of face shield was at P50 to P100, the Trade chief said.

“‘Yung may foam P30 to P80. Helmet type P200 to P250 per piece” (The ones with foam range from P30 to P80. The helmet type was about P200 to P250 per a piece.)

Eventually, he said, both local and global supply became abundant, thus the prices went down. —LBG, GMA News