PPE manufacturers investing $36M more

Local manufacturers of personal protective equipment, face masks and medical-grade fabric plan to invest another $36 million to expand domestic capacity.

Confederation of Philippine Manufacturers of PPEs president Lawrence delos Santos said the investment would ramp up the production of face masks by another 30 million pieces monthly, 10 million/month of isolation gowns and coveralls and another 1,000 metric tons of medical fabrics. The new investments will also generate 4,000 jobs.

“We have already repurposed and initial capacities have been set up. To double that capacity is easier than starting but the key challenge is the demand. The biggest customer, at this time, for PPEs is the government. But we have concerns the way the government secures and procures PPEs,” delos Santos said during a virtual press briefing Friday.

He said the government was purchasing critical and essential products heavily from other countries, representing 90 percent to 98 percent of the local requirements.