(Delivered by IPO Director General Adrian S. Cristobal, Jr. during the opening ceremonies of the 1 st Philippine Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health Forum on October 20, 2005 at the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Intercontinental in Makati City. The Forum ends today, October 21, 2005) 

                                           Welcome Address 
                              By Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal, Jr. 
                         Director General,Intellectual Property Office 
                              of the Philippines (IP Philippines) 
         1st Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health Forum in the Philippines
                             Hotel Intercontinental Manila, Makati City 
                                         20-21 October 2005, 

…distinguished guests, colleagues in government, partners in the private sector and civil society…Mabuhay! Good morning to all. 



Like many developing countries, the Philippines is confronted by challenges in two important areas of public policy and governance. One is in the field of Intellectual Property Rights - how can we effectively use intellectual property for national development. The other is in the area of Public Health – how to make health care and medicines affordable and accessible to the poor.

For the first time, in this forum, the government and its stakeholders will be tackling these two areas of concern, their relationship to one another, and to explore creative ways to ensure that our people will not be denied their basic human right to health. 

Why IPR and Health? 

The intellectual property system, particularly patents, has been a mystery not just to the public, but to the very people who depend on them – inventors, artists, businesses, industries, and small and medium enterprises. 

By nature or design, or both, knowledge about the patent system was always the exclusive domain of big companies and their patent agents or lawyers, bureaucrats, and perhaps a handful of academics; and it remains so. Because of this lack of awareness and knowledge about the intellectual property system, our country has been unable to mobilize the creative genius of our people, encourage the growth of indigenous technology, and build our technological base – the prerequisites for sustained economic development. Moreover, this knowledge gap breeds misconceptions, misunderstanding about the IP system; thus, the sweeping generalizations – about its value to, and role in, a developing country like ours. 

There is also the social dimension of intellectual property. We know that a patent is a temporary monopoly given to the inventor by the state as incentive for her to continue inventing. With a monopoly she can recoup her investments, make a profit, and continue working. But, the ultimate aim of an IP system is to foster creativity and innovation to benefit humankind. That is a universal principle and our own Constitution recognizes that:

“The State shall protect and secure the exclusive rights of scientists, inventors, artists, and other gifted citizens to their intellectual property and creations, particularly when beneficial to the people, for such period as may be provided by law.” (Article XIV, Section 13) 

The same Constitution states:

“The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development which shall endeavor to make essential goods, health and other social services available to all the people at affordable costs. There shall be priority for the needs of the underprivileged sick, elderly, disabled, women, and children. The State shall endeavor to provide free medical care to paupers.” (Article XIII, Section 11) 

There lies the crux of the matter: how to ensure that the IP system’s incentive mechanism continues to encourage creativity and innovation and at the same time serves the public interest? In this forum, that public interest is public health, specifically the critical need for affordable medicines for all.

Significantly, the TRIPS Agreement, allows WTO Member-States ‘‘certain flexibilities’’ to address domestic concerns and emergencies. Thus, governments can determine the conditions for granting a compulsory license and/or the use by the Government of the patented article. Members-States are also allowed through their respective laws, to engage in parallel importation of patented products. Have developing countries really made use of these flexibilities? What were the results? We will learn more about these flexibilities in this two day forum.

By no stretch of the imagination are we here to solve all our problems in the public health sector. The IP system is but one component of a broader strategy to make medicines and health care affordable and accessible to all. The IP system, to be effective, must work together with a strong competition policy regime, anti-trust and unfair trade practices regulations, a vibrant generic industry, a socially responsible pharmaceutical industry and empowered consumers, among others.

But at least, today let’s take the first step. Let’s take this opportunity to learn from people who have studied deeply the relationship of intellectual property rights and public health, from our own stakeholders in the IP system and the public health sector. Equally important, no, more important let’s take this opportunity to talk to each other as stakeholders and as ordinary citizens whose common vision is the development of our country, a better life for our people. 

On our part, for IP Philippines, we simply wish to make a contribution to the path to development and prosperity. We believe in fostering a creative Philippines that values, nurtures, and uses IP as an effective tool for national development. We believe that an IP regime is important in a developing country, but it must be relevant to its people and it must serve the public good. 

If through this forum, we can all learn more about this complex field of IP and Public Health, identify the issues and options we can pursue and start crafting a national IP strategy for the Health sector then one half of our objective will have been met. The other half is executing the strategy with our partners in the months and years to come.

This forum with your sector is just the first of a series of fora or conferences of this nature. The IP Philippines will be having consultative forums with all sectors that use IP until we come up with a National Strategy for IP. This way, we do not get left behind again by our neighbors. This way, we secure our future.

We thank the Philippine Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc. (PCPI) and the Department of Health (DOH), for organizing this forum. We are grateful also to the World Health Organization (WHO) for its full support in making this event possible, and the World Intellectual Property Office for its assistance. Before we get carried away in the discussions and forget, Thank you to the Chairperson of the conference, IPO Philippines Deputy Director General Ireneo M. Galicia and co-chairperson Mike dela Cruz of PCPI, the Secretariat for their tireless efforts to bring us all together, the government, the pharmaceutical industry, the NGOs, players and stakeholders, the experts in the field, to engage in intellectual and meaningful discussion and debate. 

To all of you, welcome to the Philippines’ 1 st Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health Forum.