Safe and effective medicines are not necessarily expensive, Secretary Roberto M. Pagdanganan, president and chief executive officer of the Philippine International Trading Corp., said before the ASEAN Pharmaceutical Industry Club Congress held recently in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Pagdanganan said the Philippines is classified as among countries where less than 30 percent of population have regular access to essential medicines, prompting the government to intensify its campaign for parallel importation of essential medicines.

The size of the pharma market in the Philippines is R89 billion with an annual growth rate of drugstore sales at 14 percent.

Forty-five car-riding members of a Metro Manila-based civic club were fielded beginning last Tuesday to help lawmen ensure smooth and orderly vehicular and pedestrian traffic on the first day of classes in colleges and universities in the University Belt in Manila.

Johnny G. Yu, founding national chairman of the Tactical Emergency Assistance and Monitoring (TEAM) Network Inc., said each participating TEAM member was posted within the vicinity of schools.

Yu told Bulletin that TEAM fieldmen underwent a two-week crash course on road management to make them effective and efficient traffic enforcers.

Metro Manila police authorities harnessed the group involved in life-saving, crowd control, and rehabilitation efforts during calamities. (Sel A. Baysa)

Medical experts have issued a warning against influenza, a highly contagious respiratory illness which rises in incidence during the rainy season.

The National Center for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDPC) and the National Center for Health Promotion (NCHP) of the Department of Health (DoH) said "influenza is the fourth leading cause of morbidity or illness in the country and the most common cause of absenteeism in school and work for an average of three days a year. Even healthy individuals can get the flu via droplets from an infected person which are released through coughing, talking, sneezing, and through contact with objects contaminated with discharges of an infected person."

The NCDPC and NCHP, in an advisory, encouraged the public, particularly those classified under the high risk category, to receive the flu vaccine which is 70-90 percent effective. (Christina I. Hermoso)

BINANGONAN, Rizal — Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Rizal 1st Engineering District Assistant District Engineer Elmo C. Concina said yesterday that all public schoolbuildings in his district were inspected to ensure that these are ready for the opening of classes last June 5.

Concina disclosed that under the 2004 SEMP 2-DepEd Schoolbuilding Project, there were 15 newly constructed elementary and secondary schoolbuildings while three unfinished schoolbuildings had completion works.

"The schoolbuildings cost R50,750,618.83 to build while completion work amounted to R4,803,090.95. Pupils and students can now occupy them," Concina said.

Concina said these are located in Antipolo City, Cainta and Taytay, Rizal.

He also said that his district has complied with the instruction of DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. on the maintenance of national roads.

The Print Media Dealers Organization of the Philippines Inc. headed by chairman Danny Jose will hold the 2nd Newspaper and Magazine Dealers Convention from June 15-17 at the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) in Tagaytay City with the theme "Dyaristang Nagkakaisa."

Dealers from the provinces and Metro Manila are attending the convention for the unity of all dealers in promoting accredited publications, propagation of readership among the youth, and total elimination of smut tabloids.

The Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp., together with other member-publications, support the convention.