MANILA – Mayor Isko Moreno ordered the closure of several establishments selling beauty products that tagged the Philippine capital as a province of China.
Swiftly acting on information first bared by PBA Party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles, the Manila City Hall shuttered two establishments in Binondo and another at a Divisoria mall.
Authorities found the two Binondo stores already closed at the time of the operation. They posted closure notices on the rollup steel doors of the two establishments.
“Wala pong Binondo sa China, ang Binondo sa Maynila. ‘Yan ay isang malaking insulto sa atin at hindi tayo papayag,” Manila bureau of permits director Levi Facundo said.
Nograles earlier identified one distributor as Elegant Fumes Beauty Products, which he said was owned by a Chinese national.
Malacañang, for its part, brushed off the mislabeling.
“Sa akin, kalokohan lang iyan. Hindi dapat pinapansin iyan dahil wala naman maniniwala na tayo ay probinsya ng Tsina,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual press conference.
Roque added that Nograles’ call to blacklist the Ashley Shine Keratin Treatment Deep Repair product should be addressed by the Food and Drug Administration.
“Let’s allow the FDA to exercise their exclusive jurisdiction pagdating sa bagay na iyan,” Roque said on the Chinese hair care product that is distributed by Binondo-based Elegant Fumes Beauty Products which is owned by a Chinese national.
The Philippines fostered warmer ties with economic superpower China since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office four years ago but Filipinos have previously called out incidents linking or identifying the Philippines as a province of China.
In 2018, “Welcome to the Philippines, Province of China” banners were displayed in parts of the capital. Just this year, netizens also called out the “Philippines province of China” geotag after it trended on social media. (With ABS-CBN News/PN)
