Lawmakers want lobbyists banned from hearings

A note-passing incident during the plenary session at the House of Representatives late Tuesday prompted lawmakers to propose banning lobbyists from congressional hearings.

Two Iloilo congressmen aired the proposal after confusion in the passage of House Bill 6035, a proposal to reduce the prices of medicines by importing generic drugs.

What caught the ire of Iloilo congressmen Ferjenel Biron and Rolex Suplico was the supposed interference by representatives of big time drug companies opposing the passage of the bill.

"They’re all (lobbyists) shameless. Lobbying is a common thing, especially in the committee level. But they should not interfere in the affairs of Congress (in the plenary)," Biron, one of the authors of HB 6035, said.

Suplico, for his part, said the interference made by lobbyists "was a brazen attempt to stop congressional proceedings."

Suplico said he is studying filing criminal charges against the representatives of two pharmaceutical firms who wanted to stop the deliberations on HB 6035, which was later approved on second reading late Tuesday.

Suplico pointed out the two can be criminally liable in disrupting legislative proceedings under the Revised Penal Code.

He said they made an insidious attempt to stop the proceedings "to protect their interests," pointing out that lawmakers wanted to pass the bill in the effort to stave off the skyrocketing prices of medicines which has increased to as much as 6,000 percent.

According to Suplico, the group slipped a handwritten note to Makati Rep. Teodoro "Teddyboy" Locsin, which read: "We desperately need someone to question the quorum now. Can you do it? Please confirm with Leo Wassmer," along with cellular phone number written below in a one-fourth piece of bond paper.

But when Biron, a doctor by profession, confronted the lobbyists, they denied passing the note to Locsin, prompting Akbayan party-list Rep. Etta Rosales to verify the issue with the Makati lawmaker himself.

Locsin, for his part, admitted receiving the note, but later got angry after the lobbyists denied sending it.

Locsin then stood up and went to the gallery while shouting at the group to leave.

"Teddyboy became angry because he was made to look like a liar. He told them to leave," Biron said.

"Teddyboy is not an errand boy of the PHAP (Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines)," added Suplico.

As it turned out, Wassmer is the executive vice president and chief executive officer of PHAP, the foreign and local multinational pharmaceutical lobby group in the Philippines, according to Biron and Suplico.