MANILA - The Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Tuesday warned consumers against buying medicine and food supplements from online sellers that do not have physical stores and licenses from the government.

Several online shops without proper permits have been selling antibiotics, vitamins, and supplemental medicine that are in demand especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said in an online press conference.

"Sa FB (Facebook) Marketplace is medyo nandoon nagpro-proliferate 'yung mga unregistered sellers na fly by night, na hindi mo na mahanap later on [kapag nagkaroon ng problema]," she said.

(Facebook Marketplace is where unregistered sellers, who you cannot chase when something wrong happens, usually proliferate.)

"We communicate with the platform para tanggalin 'yung sellers... Thankfully online platforms naman cooperate," she said.

(We communicate with the platform to ask them to remove these sellers... Thankfully they cooperate.)

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Under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Circular No. 2020-010, virtual sellers offering medical devices and supplies must have the following permits before they can offer these goods online:

• License to Operate
• Certificate of Medical Device Notification
• Certificate of Medical Device/Product Registration

"Kailangan mayroon kang facility na tama 'yung conditions [to store medicine], and trained health personnel who can advise [patients]," said Dr. Melissa Guerrrero, DOH pharmaceutical division chief.

(You need to have the facility to properly store the medicine, and trained personnel who can advise patients.)

"Kung online drug store, walang pharmacist 'yan. May panganib din po 'yung maling pagbibigay ng gamot," she said.

(If it's an online drug store, they have no pharmacists. There is danger in selling medicine without proper prescriptions.)

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As of May 28, the DTI has received around 4,000 consumer complaints involving online transactions, including the sale of medicine on the internet, Castello said.

Online sellers who will be caught peddling medicine and food supplements without the necessary permits may be imprisoned between 5 and 15 years, and may also be fined between P5,000 and P2 million depending on the charges, the official said.

These penalties are on top of sanctions that will be imposed by the FDA, she said.

"There are criminal sanctions sa FDA... Lalo na kapag may nangyari sa pasyente, of course, you will be criminally liable," Guerrero said.

(There are criminal sanctions with the FDA... You will be criminally liable especially if something wrong happens to the patient.)

Since 2019, several bills have been filed in Congress to regulate online stores in the Philippines, where fake or smuggled goods are usually sold.

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The measures have yet to be signed into law.

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