TROPICAL storm “Ondoy” devastated much of the famous shoemaking industry in Marikina City, leaving many hand-to-mouth shoemakers mired in muddy rainwater and unemployment. But even before Ondoy inundated Metro Manila, the multimillion-peso industry had been gasping for breath against another enemy in the form of a stinking liquid called mustard oil. Shoemakers in Marikina are up in arms over Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Resolution No. 6, which classifies any toluene-based contact cement (locally known as “rugby”) without at least five-percent mustard oil content as an illegal drug. Adding mustard oil to rugby is aimed at making all commercially available solvents repugnant to rugby addicts, especially street children.

“It’s really, really stupid,” said Roger S. Py, director general of the Philippine Footwear Federation Inc., a nationwide organization of shoemakers.

“While we’re not against the objective of protecting these rugby boys, putting mustard oil into rugby is going to be very bad to the industry, especially to small hand-to-mouth shoemakers,” he said.

Stench just too much

One morning in August, shoemaker Marlene Magbag saw off one of her workers to a taxi to deliver sample shoe pairs to a popular mall. But as the worker was about to load the boxes into the back seat, the driver stopped him.

“The stench was too much. The taxi driver refused the load,” Magbag said. The driver eventually agreed to take the shoe boxes, but only if they were safely tucked away in the trunk.

The stink in Magbag’s products came from the mustard-oil infused rugby that had been used to bind them.

For Py, this law that seeks to discourage rugby sniffing is seriously threatening the local shoe industry, exposing workers to health hazards and driving up production costs.

Reconsider position

Py’s organization, with a membership of 85 major shoe manufacturers in several cities, has been trying to convince the DDB to reconsider its position through strongly worded letters, but its efforts have so far been in vain.

“It’s so hard to get through to them. They talked only to the rugby manufacturers but not to the end users who will be using the rugby,” Py said.

Some of his complaints were detailed in a letter to Edgar C. Galvante, DDB executive director, in the form of questions:

Have you considered the additional cost?

Have you considered that mustard oil is carcinogenic and causes eye irritation that makes the shoemaker shed tears and unable to work?

Have you considered that the industry is still a cottage industry with 95 percent on hand-to-mouth basis, mostly not even registered?

How many end-user groups were really consulted?

Caught by surprise

In Marikina, one of the last bastions of local shoe manufacturing, the implementation of the order in July took almost everyone by surprise, said Lea Astrud Santiago, head of the Marikina Cultural, Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotions Office.

“Everyone was caught unawares. We only found out when the small shoemakers could no longer find any place that would sell them rugby. We were the first to find out about the law because the shoemakers were the first to feel its impact,” she said.

By the time the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency began fully implementing the law, segments of the industry had begun panicking.

“The shoe industry has enough troubles already from expensive materials to competition from China, and now this,” Santiago said.

City council resolution

The impact of the new regulation on the local shoemaking industry was such that the Marikina City Council was prompted to issue in July a resolution demanding outright the “immediate suspension” of DDB Regulation 6 (series of 2007) and DDB Regulation 2 (series of 2009), which contains the guidelines for the implementation of the former.

“Both DDB regulations are deemed detrimental and could wipe out our beloved shoe industry, killing small and medium enterprises and literally robbing the families of our craftsmen a decent way to earn a living,” the July 16 resolution said.

But Santiago said the DDB, although agreeing to continue studying the matter and the objections raised by trade sectors, refused to suspend the implementation of the law.

Effect of law

In an Aug. 26 letter to Santiago, Galvante noted that since the regulation had been passed by the board and had met all the requirements for its effectivity, it “attains the force and effect of a law.”

He added, however, that the DDB “remains open and has not ceased considering other avenues in its efforts to curb the problem of the abuse of contact cement products.”

Galvante added that the agency’s technical working group was also evaluating the possibility of reducing the mustard-oil-content requirement from five percent to three to four percent.

In the meantime, however, as the talks continue, small shoemakers like Magbag, whose small business employs 13 workers, are starting to feel the effects of the law.

Neighbors complain

Magbag said her workers had tried the mustard-oil-infused rugby for sampling but could not stand the smell.

“Your eyes will water and your chest will tighten. My house is above my shop and when I woke up, the smell was overpowering. Even the neighbors started to complain,” she said.

She eventually had to source her rugby from a local retailer with a license from the DDB. “For every purchase we need to show a barangay clearance,” she said.

Santiago said the regulation could kill an already dying industry.

She noted that the DDB could not even provide statistics of rugby sniffers to contrast with the number of people who would be affected negatively by the implementation of the regulation.

Number of rugby sniffers

Santiago said her office compiled the statistics on rugby sniffers from various agencies and found that based on figures from the National Capital Region Police Office, only 1,298 persons were apprehended for sniffing rugby from 2006 to 2009.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s number was even smaller: 385 juvenile delinquents caught sniffing rugby.

A separate survey of rugby apprehensions from the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Manila Police Districts showed that only 413 were caught for rugby addiction from 2006 to 2009, Santiago said.

300,000 workers

By contrast, there are “more than 2,100 firms producing footwear nationwide, with over 60,000 workers in their direct employ,” based on a study on Marikina’s shoemaking industry by management Prof. Eduardo A. Morato, Santiago said.

Py had his own rough estimate of the total labor force in the shoemaking industry: between 200,000 and 300,000.

Santiago said it was a shame that the DDB was so focused on the problem of rugby sniffing that it failed to see the bigger picture and did not consider the far-reaching consequences of the new regulation.

Furniture manufacturing

Outside the shoemaking industry, she said the effects would be just as huge in furniture manufacturing, construction and other similar industries that rely on rugby.

“Even a simple housewife whose shoe straps snapped will find it hard to find any rugby to fix it,” she said.

Magbag said her small business is starting anew after Ondoy wiped out nearly all their supplies and equipment. “We’re starting from scratch,” she said.

She knows the hardship won’t end soon. “Just recently, the store gave us a another sample of mustard-oil-infused rugby using a different formula. My workers wouldn’t touch it,” she said.