SENATOR Raffy Tulfo on Monday accused the Food and Drug Administration of incompetence thereby enabling corruption and endangers public health.
For her part, Senator Risa Hontiveros pledged a Senate probe to strengthen enforcement against unregulated health products widely sold online.
Tulfo told the Senate that constitutional accountability requires integrity and efficiency in public service, stressing that the current flood control controversies overshadow how bureaucratic failure, particularly at the FDA, creates opportunities for corruption.
He cited the Department of Health budget hearing on Oct. 1 where he faulted the FDA for allowing banned and unregistered products to remain on the market despite repeated health advisories that lacked effective enforcement.
“The FDA defended itself by saying it has only 890 plantilla employees, which limits its ability to monitor banned products, but this is unacceptable. Where there is a will, there is a way; where there is none, there are many excuses,” said Tulfo.
“If the FDA is truly serious, it can assign people to monitor these cases by simply calling major drugstores, shops, and online marketplaces to check whether they are still selling banned products. It can also use artificial intelligence and develop a program that would make their work easier,” he suggested.
Earlier, the senator challenged FDA Director General Paolo Teston to resign if prohibited products remained available by the next hearing, noting the agency only wrote major e-commerce platforms more than a month later.
Tulfo warned that FDA lapses put lives at risk, citing products containing dangerous substances and others linked to severe heart, kidney, hormonal, and neurological complications including cancer risks.
Hontiveros supported Tulfo’s concerns, said she filed a resolution on unregulated supplements, and vowed that the Senate health committee would investigate to tighten regulation and better protect consumers.
“We have received reports that dialysis patients are getting younger due to the use of unregulated supplements they bought online, issuing warnings alone appears to be insufficient,” she said.
“Enforcement must be tightened and the capacity of our health and regulatory authorities must be strengthened,” she added.
