Clamp on chemicals hits bags sector

Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises (MSMEs) in handicraft and bag industries are losing job orders due to the government clampdown on dangerous chemicals amid a climate of terror alerts.

The Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. ( Philexport) said yesterday MSMEs have sought the organization’s assistance in asking the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Philippine National Police (PNP) to deregulate the use of muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide, two substances commonly used in their industries.

Authorities consider the chemicals high-risk since these are also used in making explosives.

The MSMEs are appealing to the government to immediately remove from the list of regulated chemicals the two substances, noting that their business survival is at stake as these are the main substances they use in making their products, Philexport said.

The umbrella organization of exporters in the country explained that MSMEs have complained that with the government control over these chemicals, some retailers have simply stopped selling because “they do not care to apply for the PNP permit.”

As a result, small handicraft suppliers have had to turn down job orders involving these chemicals.

For some, however, they are forced to get their supply of hydrogen peroxide from the black market, which charges as much as 200 percent more, the MSME complainants reported.

Philexport said for the small handicraft industry, the deregulation is seen as an “oppression and sabotage against their small legal ways of earning a living.”

In June last year, the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) on controlled chemicals were signed by the PNP. The IRR, however, reduced the original list of regulated chemicals to 32 from 101 following PNP consultations with protesting MSMEs and other stakeholders. Philexport, however, said hydrogen peroxide was not delisted and remained among the high-risk, controlled chemicals.