MARIVELES, Bataan — The Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan here on Tuesday said that Medtex Corp. has committed to supply the Department of Trade and industry with one million facemasks.
Eliza Calimag, AFAB corporate affairs department head, said that last February, DTI procured about 125,000 masks from the company that afterwards committed to manufacture 400,000 masks weekly.
Out of the 400,000 masks, she said that 200,000 went to the Department of Health, 100,000 to the Philippine Red Cross, and the rest to some drugstores.
Calimag said that there is big demand for facemasks because of Covid–19 and she was sure that the company increased its production capacity: “Sa ngayon ang alam ko, 200,000 facemasks daily ang production nila dahil bumili sila ng additional machines para sa pag-manufacture nito.”
The company used to produce 80,000 masks daily.
Asked if she knew of Medtex commitment to supply DTI with one million masks, she said: “Totoo yan. Mismong si Secretary Ramon Lopez ang nakipag-usap sa kanila.”
She said they were not informed if there was a time frame in the delivery of one million masks: “Sa pagkakaalam ko hindi sila titigil hangga’t hindi nasusuplayan ang kanilang commitment sa DTI.”
Medtex which is under the Medtechs Group of Companies is engaged in the manufacture of bandage, elastic plastic and facemasks
. It is one of the 141 multinational firms operating at AFAB, former Bataan Export Processing Zone-turned Bataan Economic Zone.
