He proposed that the agency would sell medicines at lower prices instead of the government importing tax-free medicines. The Philippines has one of the highest drug prices in the world. Medicines are beyond the reach of ordinary Filipinos. For instance, manufacturers spend only P1.49 to make one 500 mg capsule of Amoxicillin. But Amoxicillin is sold in the Philippines at P22 compared to P9.48 in Hong Kong, P6.35 in Taiwan, P4.96 in Pakistan and P3.18 in South Korea.
Drug companies reason out that their expenditures on marketing and promotion of medicine are high.
In addition, the 5 to 10 percent markup of distributors and retailers contribute to the jacking up of the retail price of medicines. Unfortunately, the burden of paying a high cost for medicines is being passed to consumers. Metro Manila Is Asia's 9th Most Polluted City Metro Manila has been ranked ninth place among Asia's worst polluted cities. He particularly blamed old, dilapidated buses whose emission levels are very high. Many of these buses, although banned from operation, are running at night to avoid traffic enforcers.