War vs drugs hits hard at furniture and handicraft industries.

Talk about collateral dam­age.

President Duterte’s war on drugs is having its effect felt not only among the drug traffickers and users but, unintentionally, also among micro, small, and medi­um-sized enterprises (MS­MEs), particularly those in the handicraft industry.

The small traders re­cently appealed to the gov­ernment to immediately remove from the list of reg­ulated chemicals two com­monly used substances in their industry – muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide. “Our business survival is at stake,” they said.

Floro Salinas, proprietor of FNDG Shells and Hand­icrafts based in Batangas, recently sought the help of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philex­port) in asking the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Philippine Na­tional Police (PNP) to de­regulate the use of muriatic acid.

He also urged the PNP to delist hydrogen peroxide, a substance not regulated by PDEA.

Both chemicals are among those regulated be cause they are components in the pro­duction of methamphetamine hydro­chloride, known locally as shabu; they are also being used components in the manufacture of improvised explosives. The clampdown on these dangerous chemicals actually started a few years ago, in the wake of increasing terrorist attacks and the intensified campaign against the narcotics trade.

“These two chemicals are most commonly used by our small handicraft business owners and should be avail­able at most convenient markets as it was before for them to continue their way of living and for the handicraft in­dustry to survive,” Salinas wrote Ms Ma. Flordeliza C. Leong, Philexport as­sistant vice president for advocacy and communications.

At the same time, Salinas said an added burden has come up with the new set of requirements for register­ing or renewing a business permit that is now imposed by local government units.

“[Small handicraft makers] are hav­ing too much problem with their pro­duction using hydrogen peroxide. Our suppliers informed us that to purchase even a liter of hydrogen peroxide re­quires PNP permit,” said Salinas.

He said that with government con­trol over these chemicals, some retail­ers have simply stopped selling be­cause “they do not care to apply for the PNP permit,’” perhaps knowing full well they trouble they have to go through. As a result, small handicraft suppliers have had to turn down job orders involving these chemicals, he added.

Salinas revealed he now has to stop his production of capiz (shell) products because of the supply problem. “This year, our product development does not include capiz and other bleached items using hydrogen peroxide,” he said.

With the current situation, Salinas said most handicraft suppliers are now forced to get their supply of hydrogen peroxide from the black market, which, he said, charges as much as 200 per­cent or more.

“For the small handicraft indus­try, this deregulation is oppression, a sabotage against our small legal ways of earning a living. We understand the problem that our PNP is facing but we are not convinced and cannot accept that we are part of the solution they [are thinking of in order] to solve their prob­lem,” Salinas said.

Another manufacturer of handi­crafts and bags is seeking clarification from the Department of Trade (DTI) on allowance limits for hydrogen peroxide and sulfur powder, which are also used as bleaching agents in handicrafts.

The export manager said that chemical supply stores that they used to buy these from have told them that their permits were “still pending.”

Beginning last June, pursuant to the government policy of reducing red tape, the implementing rules and reg­ulations (IRR) on controlled chemicals were signed only by the PNP chief; there used to be more signatories. The IRR also reduced from the original 101 to just 32 the list of regulated chemicals, after PNP consultations with protesting MSMEs and other stakeholders.

However, hydrogen peroxide, a chemical regularly used in manufactur­ing in the handicraft business, was not among those delisted, and is still con­sidered among the high-risk controlled chemicals.

On the new requirements of local government units, meanwhile, Salinas described the current business require­ment to get a clearance from the Lagu­na Lake Development Authority (LLDA) as “too hard to process” for small entre­preneurs.

Moreover, certificate of non-cover­age of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources can be done on­line, “but most small or starters do not have access/knowledge to online facili­ties,” Salinas said.

He added that, “the technical de­scription is too complicated for simple business owners to accomplish,” while the requirement for a blueprint of the floor plan of the facility to be signed by the city engineer was not “doable” as MSMEs do business in their backyards or makeshift workshops.

Salinas appealed to the govern­ment to simplify business requirements to support the development of MSMEs. “Doing business is one noble thing a citizen can do and I just feel the burden that our micro and small entrepreneurs have to pass before going into busi­ness,” Salinas said. LUIS LEONCIO