Philippines to take part in clinical trials for vaccines
Punishment for failing to file for bankruptcy
A debtor that has ceased to meet its mature and va lid obligations to pay debts of 5,000,000 riel or more shall f ile a petition to begin bankruptcy proceedings.
In case of a partnership or limited company, each individual director, partner, or manager as the case may be, shall ensure that the petition is filed in a timely fashion.
Any person who intentionally or negligently fails to file a petition shall be personally liable to the debtor’s creditor or creditors for damages that result directly from such failure.
If such duty falls on more than one person, all such persons shall be jointly and severally liable for such damages.
Despite such functions of the bankruptcy law, it has been little used by merchants, businesses, lawyers and other stakeholders in Cambodia.
So far, there have been less than a dozen bankruptcy cases filed in competent courts. The experience has shown limited success due to the inefficiency of the bankruptcy process, insufficient trust in the court process, and lack of knowledge of the bankruptcy law.
The bankruptcy law empowers the Minister of Justice to issue a number of regulations to implement it, including determining the qualifications, roles and powers of the administrator, setting the minimum obligations as grounds to begin insolvency proceedings, and fixing the rate of remuneration and expenses of the administrator etc.
Nevertheless, none of these regulations has been issued since 2007.
So far, there are a dozen administrators accredited by the Minister of Justice to undertake bankruptcy work.
To effectively implement the bankruptcy law, the ministries of Justice and Commerce should work closely to issue relevant regulations to ensure an efficient and simplified bankruptcy process and to raise more awareness among the public and business community.
Moreover, they should a lso speed up the operation of the Commercial Court at each court of f irst instance by putting in place expedited proceedings to resolve commercial conf lict.
In my experience, it is far more complicated and timeconsuming to liquidate and close businesses than to register one in Cambodia.
Some have chosen to remain silent and leave the business to die, rather than go through bankruptcy proceedings due to the complexity, uncertainty and inefficiency of the bankruptcy process.
Consequently, the bankruptcy law has not been suff icient ly used to ser ve its lega l, socia l and economic objectives. This urgently needs to change.
THE Philippine Presidential Palace is looking forward to having the country take part in the clinical trials for prospective vaccines against Covid-19 by the end of the year.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte had “expressed optimism” over developments that clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines were already in the works.
Roque said in a statement: “We expect involvement in the vaccine clinical trials by the last quarter of 2020, with the Department of Science and Technology [DoST] taking a lead role.
“The president wants to save the life of each and every Filipino, and thus places great interest to these clinical trials.”
He made the remarks a day after the Inter-Agency Task
Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved recommendations for the Philippines to join clinical trials for prospective vaccines.
IATF Resolution No 39 says the collaborating organisations developing Covid-19 vaccines are – Adimmune Corp and Academia Sinica (both based in Taiwan), the Chinese Academy of Science, Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, SinoPharm Group Co Ltd, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd and Beijing Institute (all based on the Chinese mainland).
SinoPharm is China’s biggest pharmaceutical company and it recently invited the Philippines to join its trial for the Covid-19 vaccine it was developing. Its clinical trial is in its second phase.
The four groups would be provided with the World Health Organisation’s ( WHO) requirements for Covid-19 vaccine target product profiles, the prequalification process for WHO approvals, and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) updated guidelines on clinical trials.
The FDA would facilitate the issuance of permits to conduct clinical trials in the Philippines.
Roque said the DoST was also tasked to identify sites for the clinical trials, as well as the local institutions and Filipino researchers who would collaborate in the clinical trials.
The DoST would also formalise the agreements and assist the local institutions in their proposals, budgets, applications for ethics board approvals, et cetera.
The Palace said the president would be also reviewing the DoST’s recommendations to reactivate the Pharmaceutical Development Center, and to create the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines.
The IATF supported the creation of the two centres in the same resolution, stressing the need to “initiate and strengthen local vaccine development towards the country’s vaccine self-reliance and self-sufficiency”, it said.
Roque said the DoST has included the establishment of the two research facilities in its 2021 budget proposal.
“If and once approved by the president, both can start in 2020, with the Pharmaceutical Group and the Virology Research Group evolving out of DoST’s Industrial Technology Development Institute,” he said.