22/11/2025
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The Food and Drug Administration - Cordillera Administrative Region (FDA-CAR) said that sari-sari stores are not allowed to sell medicines, as only licensed drugstores are permitted to do so.
FDA-CAR Regional Supervisor Saturnina Pandosen urged local government units, especially the barangays, to ensure that the sari-sari stores in their respective areas of jurisdiction are not selling over-the-counter medicines to avoid compromising the health condition of people purchasing their medicines from licensed establishments.
Earlier, the interior and local government department issued a memorandum to all local government units and barangays stating, among other things, that sari-sari stores are not authorized to sell medicines pursuant to existing laws, rules, and regulations.
The FDA-CAR official also called on the public to report to the relevant authorities any sari-sari stores in their areas that are selling medicines so that appropriate actions can be taken against their failure to adhere to the DILG memorandum.
According to her, the public should not buy over-the-counter or prescribed medicines anywhere because the medicines that they might be purchasing are counterfeit or substandard medicines that may adversely affect their health condition, instead of having a curative effect on those who are taking such medicines.
The FDA-CA will be celebrating the National Consciousness Week Against Counterfeit Medicines by the third week of November. That is why the agency is aggressively conducting information and education campaigns to advise the public on ways and means to detect whether or not the medicines they are buying are counterfeit or substandard.
Aside from sari-sari stores, Pandosen stipulated that medicines are not supposed to be sold online; that is why people must be wary about those medicines being sold on the different social media platforms, and that the best way to ensure the purchase of safe medicines is to buy them from the licensed drug stores in their places. By Dexter A. See
