NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
) 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez 
House Bill No.  _____ 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
There is no law which prescribes a uniform system for determining noise impact at 
airports taking into account the characteristics of an area, including its proximity to an airport 
and its non-aircraft background noise.  This is important to protect the public against significant 
disturbances in human activities such as sleep and rest.  
This bill prescribes aviation noise limits, provides for its management and reduction 
especially in the surrounding residential areas, and provides for a staged plan which involves 
zoning, land use planning and relocation. 
Thus, immediate passage of this bill is earnestly sought. 
 RUFUS B. RODRIGUEZ 
January 11, 2023
6:18 pm
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NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
) 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez 
House Bill No.  _____ 
AN ACT 
PROVIDING FOR AVIATION NOISE MANAGEMENT AND REDUCTION IN RESIDENTIAL 
AREAS 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Aviation Noise Limit Act.” 
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy - The State shall protect public health by determining 
noise impact at residential areas near airports and by establishing programs for the 
management of noise levels.  The State shall also ensure the constitutionally protected right 
of quiet enjoyment of private property. 
SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. - For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions 
shall apply: 
(1) Airspace traffic change - a change in aircraft flight paths, operating procedures, nature
of aircraft, and quantity of aircraft traffic which is applicable in normal circumstances.
(2) Average sound level - the level in decibels of the mean square, A weighted sound
pressure during a specified period, with reference to the square of the standard
reference sound pressure of 20 micropascals.
(3) Background sound level - hourly average sound level in decibels, measured at a site
representative of a relatively quiet residential location within an area (with aircraft noise
contributions excluded).
(4) Day-night average sound level - hour average sound level in decibels, for the period
from midnight to midnight, obtained after the addition of 10 decibels to sound levels
during nighttime hours.
(5) Nighttime hours - periods between midnight and 7:00 a.m. and between 10:00 p.m.
and midnight local time.
(6) Normal circumstances - all circumstances other than unusually adverse weather and
emergency circumstances.
(7) Single event maximum sound level - the level in decibels, of the maximum A-weighted
sound pressure during an aircraft over flight obtained using a standard sound level
meter under a slow response setting.
(8) Vicinity of an airport - the geographic area surrounding an airport established before
the effectivity of this Act described nominally as follows:
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(a) 
The area extending in all directions a distance of 1.5 miles from each 
runway established before such date of effectivity. 
(b) 
The rectangular area defined by drawing a straight center line a 
distance of 4 miles from the end of each runway established before 
such date of the effectivity in the direction of heaviest traffic and 
extending 1.5 miles perpendicular from the center line on each side of 
such runway. 
 
SEC. 4. Aviation Noise Limits. - The Air Transportation Office of the Department of 
Transportation and Communications shall develop a medium-term plan to reduce by at least 
seventy-five percent (75%) the number of individuals residing in residential areas in the vicinity 
of an airport who are exposed to a yearly day-night average sound level of sixty (60) decibels 
or above.  In developing such plan, the Air Transportation Office shall consider various 
methods for aviation noise reduction, including soundproofing, relocation incentives, use of 
quieter aircraft, operations restrictions and revision of air routes.   
 
As part of the plan to be developed pursuant to the preceding paragraph, the Air 
Transportation Office shall make recommendations on actions and policy changes on the part 
of departments and agencies of the government which could assist in meeting the objective 
described in paragraph 1 of this section. 
 
SEC. 5. Management and Reduction of Aviation Noise in other Areas. - Beginning 
on the date of the effectivity of this Act, the Air Transportation Office may make an airspace 
traffic change only if the change will not result in an increase in aviation noise in violation of 
the next succeeding section. 
 
SEC 6. Requirements. -  Non-compliance with any of the following requirements, 
which apply only to residential areas that are not in the vicinity of an airport, shall be considered 
a violation of this Act: 
 
(a) Hourly Average Sound Level - The hourly average sound level, with combined 
aviation and non-aviation sources, over any one (1) hour period may not exceed six 
(6) decibels above the background sound level for such one (1) hour period.  
 
(b) Single Event Maximum Sound Level - Under normal circumstances, the single event 
maximum sound level –  
  
(i) 
May not exceed seventy (70) decibels; 
(ii) 
during nighttime hours, may not exceed fifty-five (55) decibels; and  
(iii) 
may not be more than twenty (20) decibels above the background sound 
level for the one (1) hour period in which the event occurs. 
 
The requirements of this paragraph shall be considered to have been met 
if there are no more than three (3) violations of the limits contained in this 
subparagraph in a 24-hour period. 
   
(c) Day-Night Average Sound Level - If the day-night average sound level, with combined 
aviation and non-aviation sources, exceeds forty-five (45) decibels, then aviation 
activity may not contribute more than three (3) decibels to such sound level. 
 
SEC. 7. Determination of Vicinity of Airport. – If the location of the airport is 
substantially different from the geographic areas as defined by this Act, an airport operator, 
may, on or before the 180th day following the effectivity of this Act, transmit to the Air 
Transportation Office for approval, alternative boundaries of the vicinity of the airport which 


conform to the ground noise distribution of the airport; except that the geographic area 
enclosed by such alternative boundaries may not include an area with a day-night average 
sound level of less than sixty (60) decibels for the one (1) year period ending on the date of 
the effectivity of this Act. 
 
In the event that an airspace traffic change or other action makes it unfeasible or 
impracticable to meet the sound level limits prescribed by this Act within a residential area, 
then such area may be added to the area considered to be in the vicinity of the airport upon 
acquisition of the property or by acquisition of easements of the property by the airport 
operator. 
 
Not later than one (1) year after the date of the effectivity of this Act, the Air Transportation 
Office through the Department of Transportation and Communications shall transmit to 
Congress a report containing the plan to be developed and a description of actions taken with 
respect to airspace changes together with recommendations for appropriate administrative 
and legislative actions. 
 
 
SEC. 8. Responsibility of the Secretary of Transportation and Communications. 
-  In complying with this Act, the Secretary of Department of Transportation and 
Communications shall assume responsibility for all non-military aviation activity, within and 
outside controlled airspace, and shall regulate such activity to ensure compliance with the 
requirements of this Act. 
 
SEC. 9. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof is held invalid or 
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain 
valid and subsisting. 
 
SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and 
regulations inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified 
accordingly. 
 
SEC. 11. Effectivity Clause, - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its 
complete publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
 
 
Approved,