Dealers of hope

Congressman Ferjenel Biron, a doctor, was speaker at the first  general assembly and launching of the Philippine Drug Importers Organization. 

He shared his story about his climb to success in the pharmaceutical business. He quoted Napoleon Bonaparte’s wisdom, who, according to his biographer Andrew Roberts, was the greatest military genius who became a general at age 24 and an enlightened intellectual and visionary leader. He said, “Leaders are dealers of hope.”

He told the assembly participants they are leaders in their communities – “leaders of hope, not prophets of doom.” He described himself as “a congenital optimist. I always find a silver lining behind the dark clouds. If there was no opportunity, I created one.”

The representative of Iloilo’s 4th District said when he started his business 28 years ago with a tiny drug store occupying a space of 20 sq.m, friends discouraged him because there were already established drug stores in Iloilo City.

“It would be financially suicidal,” he was told. “I would just be wasting the hard-earned retirement money of P35,000 of my dad who invested in my business.”

 Ferjenel  was undaunted. “I dreamed big. Some relatives advised me to go to the United States since I am a medical doctor and my wife is a United States citizen. But in my heart, I strongly believed that if I could mine gold in my backyard, why waste prospecting gold in foreign lands?”

He located his tiny drugstore in front of the West Visayas Regional Hospital which had no drugstore. He had  spent years of his  internship and residency in the same hospital.

He opened a 24-hour drugstore – the first to do it in Iloilo City in 1990. “Lo and behold, I captured the night market. In less than two years I had a chain of six drugstores all over the city of Iloilo, all strategically located close to hospitals.”

His drugstores generated sufficient funds to allow him  to go to Manila to start Philippine Pharmawealth Inc. Not content with importing drugs, he established a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical plant in San Pablo City. “To make the story short, in 28 years, the P35,000 tiny drugstore grew into a multi-billion business empire. Biron is one of the  billionaires in Congress.

He is currently  building eight  hospitals all over the country. The first one in Iloilo City – an eight-story building with helipad will be operational by February 2019. It is the most modern and high-tech hospital in Western Visayas comparable to St. Luke’s Hospital at Global City, Medical City, and Asian Medical Center. Equipped with helicopter to ferry patients in trauma cases with dispatch, the quick response can save lives. 

‘In all my life, as a businessman and a politician, I am a dealer of hope. I urge all of you to look at the sun – not the ominous cloud. In 2008, I fought hard for the passage of Republic Act 9502, otherwise known as the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008. As principal author, I shepherded the passage of the bill despite strong oppositions from multi-national  pharmaceutical giants. Their enormous lobby money didn’t work.”

To provide more teeth to the law, he filed in the 17th Congress House Bill 3252 which establishes a Drug Price Regulatory Board. The Board will strictly enforce the cheaper medicines law and make all types of drugs affordable to the poor. “I am optimistic of the passage of this amendatory bill because it was certified urgent by President Duterte.”

 “You in the pharmaceutical business may be asking: Why is Congressman Biron doing this when it is harmful to his pharma business? Well, my philosophy is simple: My desire for profit should take a backseat to the best interest of the poor in our country. We are here to fill a need, not to satiate our greed!”

Biron said, “We in  Congress are trying to rebuild the image of Congress badly ruined by the Napoles pork barrel scandal. Please know that many congressmen are honest and hard-working. The present Congress is very productive. It passed the BBL, the Bangsa Moro Basic Law which is now called BOL or Bangsa Moro Organic Law. It passed the Mental Health Law, RA 11036 and more importantly for all of us in business it passed a landmark legislation, RA 11032, otherwise known as “Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018) which was signed by President Duterte on May 28, 2018.

He was privileged to be present at the signing ceremony because he is chairman of the committee on trade and industry in the House of Representatives which recommended to the plenary session the passage of the bill. More significantly, he is chair of the House contingent in the bicameral conference with the Senate contingent chaired by Senator  Migs Zubiri. “We were tasked to iron out the kinks and harmonize the provisions of the Senate and the House versions. The finished product after we have fine-tuned the lengthy provisions gives us a remarkable legislation which will provide a big boost to the anti-corruption drive of President Duterte.”  

“For business persons, this is a welcome and long-awaited legislation. It frees businessmen from the oppressive treatment of the bureaucracy. Businessmen experienced in the past difficulty in obtaining licenses, clearances, permits, certifications, etc. Unless businessmen provided grease money, their papers would not move and only gathered dust to the detriment of their business.” 

Biron looks at this Act as a “systemic approach” to reducing graft and corruption in the government. “It will effectively curb the insatiable appetite for ill-gotten wealth of the thieves and the grafters in the government. Indeed, happy days of the corrupt at the expense of Filipino taxpayers are over. If properly implemented, this law will promote transparency, accountability, honesty and efficiency which are the essentials in good governance.”

According to the briefer published by the Department of Trade and Industry, “The Act is about streamlining and improving the current systems and procedures of government services. It aims to reduce processing time, cut bureaucratic red tape and eliminates corrupt practices.”

“I encourage you to read the law. I suggest that your companies widely disseminate the salient features of the Act to heighten public awareness in what Congress is doing for the welfare of business,” Biron said.

 “As businessmen and women engaged in the business of importing and distributing drugs, look at the future with hope and optimism because business environment is now favorable specially in your dealings with the government. It is now bribe-free as you apply for your import licenses and clearing your importations through the Bureau of Customs.”

 Biron expressed  one area of concern for his listeners. “In the management and operations of your companies, be ready to innovate your systems or practices to keep pace with the fast changing technology. 

“Present technology and digitalization have dramatically altered the global landscape in various fields of human endeavor. All areas of human efforts from the exploration of the deepest ocean beds to the colonization of Mars have been driven by science, technology and digitalization.”

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