Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
House Bill No. _________ 
Introduced by REP. JOEY SARTE SALCEDA 
AN ACT 
AMENDING ACT NO. 3639; EXPANDING THE MANDATE OF THE 
BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY; CREATING THE NATIONAL BIOSAFETY 
FACILITY; MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR ITS ORGANIZATION 
AND OPERATION; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Biosafety has become one of the most serious threats to food security in the world. The 
Philippines, having a significant agriculture sector, is exposed to such threats. The most serious 
food security threat the Philippines is facing is the African Swine Fever (ASF), which has a 
case fatality rate of up to 100%.  
The damage caused by ASF has been extensive. Since the Department of Agriculture (DA) 
confirmed the first ASF outbreak started on July 2019, ASF outbreaks have been reported in 
Luzon, Mindanao, Leyte and Samar.  
On 29 March, ASF was confirmed for the first time in Samar Island, on backyard farms in Lope 
de Vega, Northern Samar Province, with a visitor having been suspected as the route of 
introduction into the farm. In March, DA reported that ASF spread to 12 regions, 40 provinces, 
466 cities and municipalities, and 2,425 communities in the Philippines to date, causing a loss 
of over 3 million pigs. 
The ASF situation is a drain on many small farms and farming households, as nearly 70% of 
swine heads produced in the country annually is from backyard farming.  
Even as the Department of Agriculture is taking aggressive steps to fight ASF, the current 
contagion and future biosafety risks will continue to threaten Philippine food security, 
especially as natural habitats carrying thus far undiscovered diseases become more exposed to 
interaction with farming communities.  
While the DA has primarily undertaken culling and containment measures, the country has not 
yet sufficiently invested in biosafety measures, either at the point of importation of animal 
products from abroad, or in farms and animal industry facilities.  
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The Committee on Ways and Means, in its hearings presided by this representation, also found 
that our ability to discover and prevent diseases, and develop vaccines and therapeutics for 
such diseases, is also limited, and we rely primarily on the research and due diligence of other 
countries. 
This representation also fears that repopulation programs are in danger of becoming failures 
by being exposed to the same biosafety threats that culled populations were afflicted with. 
Institutional measures to make the animal industry more biosecure are necessary.  
This bill addresses our lack of institutional capacity to fight biosafety threats to the country’s 
animal industry, and the wider agricultural sector, through the following: 
1. Expanding the mandate of the Bureau of Animal Industry to include countering
biosafety threats to the animal industry and working with other jurisdictions to control
and eradicate transboundary animal diseases;
2. Creating the Biosafety Program and the National Biosafety Facility as a research and
information unit of the BAI for the prevention and eradication of biosafety risks such
as the ASF;
3. Mandating the Secretary of Agriculture to equip animal industry facilities with
biosafety features; and
4. Directing that at least 10% of tariff revenues from imported meat (pork, beef, and
chicken) be used to fund the country’s agricultural biosafety program for the first year
of effectivity of the bill.
In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is urgently sought. 
JOEY SARTE SALCEDA 


Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
House Bill No. _________ 
Introduced by REP. JOEY SARTE SALCEDA 
AN ACT 
AMENDING ACT NO. 3639; EXPANDING THE MANDATE OF THE 
BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY; CREATING THE NATIONAL BIOSAFETY 
FACILITY; MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR ITS ORGANIZATION 
AND OPERATION; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. – This Act may be referred to as the “Protecting Philippine 
Animal Industry from Biological Threats Act.” 
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. – It is the policy of the State to promote industrialization 
and full employment based on sound agricultural development. Furthermore, it shall be the 
policy of the State to protect domestic agriculture from biological threats.  
Towards these ends, the State shall ensure that there are adequate measures to prepare 
the domestic agricultural industry for, and protect it from, the threat of biological agents, 
contagious diseases, and other biosafety risks.  
SEC. 3. Section 3 of Act No. 3639 is hereby amended to read as follows: 
SEC. 3. Functions of the Bureau of Animal Industry. – The Bureau of Animal 
Industry shall investigate, study and report upon the condition of the domestic 
animals in the PHILIPPINES [Philippine Islands], their improved methods of 
reproduction and care, inquire into and report the causes of dangerous 
communicable diseases among them, and the means for the prevention and cure 
of the same; and in general, to promote the development of the livestock 
industry of the country, as follows: 
1. By the introduction of improved or purebred domestic animals for breeding
purposes, and the improvement of the quality of the breeds or types of
domestic animals now found in the PHILIPPINES [Islands];
2. By DIRECTING RESEARCH AND TAKING MEASURES FOR the
control and eradication of dangerous communicable diseases of domestic
animals, AND BY COOPERATING WITH OTHER JURISDICTIONS
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TO CONTROL AND ERADICATE TRANSBOUNDARY ANIMAL 
DISEASES; 
3. By conducting a system of demonstration and extension work and 
encouraging fairs and exhibitions to promote the livestock industry; 
4. By the collection and compilation of statistics on domestic animals; 
5. By the dissemination of useful information on all essential matters 
regarding domestic animals through the publication and distribution of 
bulletins, circulars, and other printed matter, and through such other means 
or agencies as may be deemed effective; and 
6. By taking such steps, adopting such measures and promulgating such rules 
and regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act and subject 
to the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture [and Natural Resources], as 
may be deemed necessary to promote the livestock industry. 
 
SEC. 4. Section 4 of Act No. 3639 is hereby amended to read as follows: 
 
SEC. 4. Terms defined. – 
 
“Domestic animals,” as herein terms defined. used, includes horses, mules, 
asses, catties, carabaos, hogs, sheep, goats, dogs, deer, fowls, and circus animals 
or those intended to be used for show purposes. 
 
“Dangerous communicable diseases,” as herein used, includes glanders or 
farcy, surra, anthrax, rinderpest, hemorrhagic septicemia, hog cholera, foot-
and-mouth disease, contagious pleuro-pneumonia, hydrophobia, European fowl 
pest, fowl cholera, fowl typhoid, AFRICAN SWINE FEVER, or any other 
acute communicable disease which may cause a mortality of over five per 
centum in the period of one month, OR AS MAY BE DETERMINED BY 
THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE AS BEING OF HIGH-
CONSEQUENCE. 
 
“BIOSAFETY” AS HEREIN USED, REFERS TO THE APPLICATION 
OF KNOWLEDGE, TECHNIQUES AND EQUIPMENT TO PREVENT 
PERSONAL, LABORATORY AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE 
TO 
POTENTIALLY 
INFECTIOUS 
AGENTS, 
DISEASES, 
OR 
BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS 
 
“TRANSBOUNDARY ANIMAL DISEASE” OR “TRANSBOUNDARY 
DISEASE” AS HEREIN USED, REFERS TO AN EPIDEMIC DISEASE 
WHICH IS HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS OR TRANSMISSIBLE AND HAS 
THE POTENTIAL FOR VERY RAPID SPREAD, IRRESPECTIVE OF 
NATIONAL BORDERS, CAUSING SERIOUS SOCIO-ECONOMIC 
AND POSSIBLY PUBLIC HEALTH CONSEQUENCES. 
 
SEC. 5. Section 5 of Act No. 3639 is hereby amended to read as follows: 
 
SEC. 5. Animal quarantine, inspection and importation, rinderpest vaccine, 
BIOLOGICAL AND AGRO-SAFETY PROGRAM, powers and duties of 
the Director of Animal Industry. – 
 


A. TRANSFER OF POWERS. – The powers, functions, and duties vested in 
the Bureau of Agriculture by virtue of sections seventeen hundred and sixty-
two, "Bringing of animals imported from foreign countries into the 
Philippine Islands"; seventeen hundred and sixty-three, "Removal of 
diseased animal from province to province prohibited"; seventeen hundred 
and sixty-four, "Regulation concerning removal of diseased animals from 
infected localities"; seventeen hundred and sixty-five, "Powers of Director 
of Agriculture relative to animal quarantine, inspection, and sanitation"; 
seventeen hundred and sixty-six, "Delivery of diseased animal to place of 
quarantine"; seventeen hundred and sixty-seven, "Disposition of body of 
animal dying of rinderpest"; seventeen hundred and sixty-eight, "Unlawful 
disposition of parts of animal dying of rinderpest"; seventeen hundred and 
sixty-nine, "Marking of cattle afflicted with surra"; seventeen hundred and 
seventy, "Prohibition against bringing of animals from infected foreign 
countries," of the Revised Administrative Code of nineteen hundred and 
seventeen; by virtue of Acts Numbered Thirty-one hundred and one, 
entitled "An Act authorizing the Director of Agriculture, subject to the 
approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, to 
promulgate regulations for the preparation, sale, traffic in, shipment, and 
importation of viruses, serums, toxins, or analogous products used for the 
treatment of domestic animals," and Thirty-one hundred and sixty-six, 
entitled "An Act providing for the use of rinderpest vaccine in the control 
of rinderpest and other contagious and infectious cattle diseases, 
appropriates the sum of one hundred thousand pesos, and for other 
purposes," and of such other acts or parts of acts wherein the intervention 
of the Bureau of Agriculture is required expressly, or impliedly, in matters 
concerning domestic animals or their diseases, are hereby transferred to and 
vested in the Bureau of Animal Industry. 
 
B. BIOLOGICAL AND AGROSAFETY PROGRAM. THERE SHALL 
BE ESTABLISHED UNDER THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL 
INDUSTRY A NATIONAL BIOSAFETY FACILITY, WHICH 
SHALL BE A NATIONAL SECURITY LABORATORY ASSET TO 
PROVIDE INTEGRATED RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST 
AND EVALUATION INFRASTRUCTURE, AND RESPONSE 
CAPABILITIES FOR PROTECTING THE PHILIPPINES FROM 
BIOLOGICAL THREATS TO AGRICULTURE (AND POSSIBLY 
PUBLIC HEALTH, IN THE CASE OF ZOONOTIC DISEASES), BY 
 
a. INTEGRATING AGRICULTURAL, ZOONOTIC DISEASE, 
AND OTHER APPROPRIATE RESEARCH; 
 
b. ADDRESSING 
THREATS 
FROM 
HIGH-CONSEQUENCE 
ZOONOTIC DISEASE AGENTS, EMERGING FOREIGN 
ANIMAL DISEASES, AND ANIMAL TRANSBOUNDARY 
DISEASES; 
 
c. ADDRESSING BIOLOGICAL INCIDENCE THREATS; 
 


d. PROVIDING APPROPRIATE EDUCATION AND TRAINING 
TO ADDRESS BIO- AND AGRO-DEFENSE THREATS AND 
RESPONSES; 
 
e. SHARING DATA AND RELATED INFORMATION WITH 
APPROPRIATE 
GOVERNMENT 
AGENCIES 
AND 
INSTRUMENTALITIES, AS REQUESTED BY THE HEADS OF 
THOSE DEPARTMENTS OR AGENCIES, OR AS NECESSARY, 
AND WITH OTHER JURISDICTIONS, TO SUPPORT THE 
PRODUCTION OF BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL THREAT 
ASSESSMENTS; AND 
  
f. COORDINATING, PARTNERING, AND SHARING DATA AND 
RELATED INFORMATION TO ENHANCE THE CARRYING 
OUT OF THE DUTIES OF THE NATIONAL BIOSAFETY 
FACILITY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRIORITY 
ZOONOTIC ANIMAL DISEASE DIAGNOSTICS, VACCINES, 
DRUGS, AND OTHER COUNTERMEASURES. 
 
C. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ON BIOSAFETY THREATS. 
THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, WITH THE SUPPORT OF 
THE DIRECTOR OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY, AND THE HEADS OF 
OTHER 
APPROPRIATE 
GOVERNMENT 
AGENCIES 
AND 
INSTRUMENTALITIES SHALL CONTINUALLY ESTABLISH 
SHARED 
PRIORITIES 
FOR 
THE 
RESEARCH 
TO 
BE 
CONDUCTED IN THE NATIONAL BIOSAFETY FACILITY TO 
DEVELOP 
VETERINARY 
COUNTERMEASURES 
FOR 
EMERGING FOREIGN ANIMAL DISEASES AND ANIMAL 
TRANSBOUNDARY DISEASES; TO PROVIDE ADVANCED TEST, 
DIAGNOSTIC, AND EVALUATION CAPABILITY FOR THREAT 
DETECTION, 
VULNERABILITY 
ASSESSMENT, 
AND 
VETERINARY 
COUNTERMEASURE 
ASSESSMENT 
FOR 
ANIMAL 
AND 
ZOONOTIC 
DISEASES; 
TO 
ASSIST, 
AS 
APPROPRIATE, WITH THE DEVELOPMENT, AND ADDRESS 
VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTS, OF THE AGRICULTURE AND 
FOOD SECTORS; AND FOR SUCH OTHER PURPOSES AS THE 
SECRETARY 
OF 
AGRICULTURE 
DETERMINES 
TO 
BE 
APPROPRIATE. 
 
SEC. 6. Section 6 of Act No. 3639 is hereby amended to read as follows: 
 
SEC. 6. Stock farms, slaughterhouses, and breeding stations. – In such places 
in the PHILIPPINES [Philippine Islands] as may be considered suitable for 
the purpose, the Director of Animal Industry, with the approval of the Secretary 
of Agriculture [and Natural Resources], shall as funds become available 
therefor, establish, equip, maintain, and operate stock farms, slaughterhouses 
and breeding stations to produce and develop superior types of domestic 
animals adapted to local conditions and needs. THE SECRETARY OF 
AGRICULTURE, WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF 
ANIMAL INDUSTRY, SHALL FORMULATE PROGRAMS TO 


ENSURE THAT THE FACILITIES REFERRED TO IN THIS SECTION 
ARE EQUIPPED WITH THE NECESSARY BIOSAFETY FEATURES. 
 
SEC. 7. Appropriations. – The amount necessary to implement the expanded mandate 
of the Bureau of Animal Industry and the creation of the National Biosafety Facility under this 
Act shall be sourced from the following: 
(a) At least ten percent (10%) of tariff revenues from the importation of swine meat, 
meat of bovine animals, and chicken meat collected from the date of effectivity of 
this Act; 
(b) Existing funding of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI); and 
(c) Other sources of funding that the Secretary of Agriculture may determine to be 
appropriate, notwithstanding any law to the contrary. 
 
On the full fiscal year immediately succeeding the effectivity of this Act and thereafter, 
this Act shall be funded through the General Appropriations Act (GAA), and the earmarking 
of tariff revenues under paragraph (a) shall be deemed repealed.  
 
SEC. 8. Separability Clause. – If any provision or part hereof is held unconstitutional 
or invalid, the remainder of the law, or the provisions not otherwise affected shall remain valid 
and subsisting. 
 
SEC. 9. Repealing Clause. – Any provisions of Presidential Decree No. 1467, as 
amended, and all other laws, inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed or modified accordingly. 
 
SEC. 10. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete 
publication in at least two (2) newspaper of general circulation. 
 
Approved,