Published April 30, 2021, 9:30 AM The government was able to buy only P660 million worth of medical grade personal protective equipment (PPEs) from local manufacturers, which are still suffering from excess capacity due to poor local demand as government procurement policy favors the cheapest price being offered by importers. Maritess Jocson Agoncillo, executive editor of Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP), said that members of the Confederation of Philippine Manufacturers of PPEs (CPMP) were able to supply the government for the period November-December last year. CONWEP is the parent organization of CPMP. “Because we were able to only join the government procurement process around end 2020 (Nov/Dec) period, from this only two members out of 5 generated contracts worth around P660 million. Apple to apple analysis, one of our repurposed firm on face mask was not able to ‘qualify’ or generate contract during the December/Nov bidding,” said Agoncillo.