MAKATI CITY (Updated) – Responding to the urgent need of the country’s health workers as the nation battles the covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Health (DOH), in collaboration with the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP) and other partners from the private sector, turned over the first batch of 10,000 pieces of locally-produced medical-grade personal protective equipment (PPE) coveralls to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

The ceremony was led by Trade and Industry Secretary and Board of Investments (BOI) Chairman Ramon M. Lopez and Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III. PGH Director Dr. Gerardo T. Legaspi accepted the PPEs on behalf of PGH. Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr., Chief Implementor of the National Task Force for COVID-19, and Ms. Maritess Jocson-Agoncillo, Executive Director of CONWEP, witnessed the turnover.

In his remarks, Secretary Lopez said, “This collaboration between the government and the private sector aims to develop our country’s capacity to produce medical-grade PPEs and meet our demand for these vital medical supplies throughout the pandemic and beyond.” He added that the “PPE Bayanihan Project” is part of the DTI and BOI’s initiative to repurpose economic activities for the manufacture of health and medical products to address the covid-19 pandemic.

Secretary Duque welcomed the local production of PPEs and stressed the need to provide support for our frontliners in the fight against the pandemic. He said, “Our health workers’ perseverance and unrelenting dedication have saved hundreds of lives from COVID19” and “[a]s they risk their lives every day to save other people, we must give them all the support in order to protect them as they fulfill their duties to the best of their capacity.”

The project has been made possible with the active cooperation of the private sector. CONWEP worked with the BOI, led by Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba, Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo, and BOI Governor Marjorie Ramos-Samaniego, in researching, designing, and prototyping the PPE coverall and ensuring that production meets international standards. Support for logistics and transport of raw materials from abroad and in-country were provided by UPS Foundation, Air21, and the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, while San Miguel Corporation has committed to procure the initial 10,000 pieces of PPEs for donation to the PGH and Steel Asia Manufacturing Corporation has also pledged similar support for the project. Also during the ceremony, MinebeaMitsumi Philippines donated 15,000 N95 masks for PGH.

CONWEP Executive Director Maritess Jocson-Agoncillo assured their commitment to the project. While the initial production capacity is at 10,000 per day, she said that they could increase this through multiple shifts and more equipment. “It will take a lot of re-engineering of our factories; it will take a lot of new investments coming in. We are buying the machines right at this very moment and we would like to produce not only the coveralls, but also the isolation gowns and some of the masks. There will also  be  four to six more additional factories that will source the required materials for the other variants,” remarked Ms. Agoncillo. 

In receiving the PPE donation, Dr. Gerardo D. Legaspi of PGH expressed gratitude and said, “This [cooperation] gives us more resolve to fight and serve our patients as people working in hospitals know that they are also being cared for.”  He added that “ we are happy be  part of this project, because our hospitals have finally found the materials [medical grade] to help augment the supplies of our PPEs, and we know that we are supplying them [medical workers] with the best equipment.”  

The PPE Bayanihan Project aims to manufacture 300,000 medical-grade PPE coveralls for DOH procurement and for use in high-risk situations such as in intensive care units (ICUs) and operating rooms.