Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Constitution Hills, Quezon City

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNO.__1405

Introduced by Representative Harlin Cast. Abayon

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to eliminate the waiting list for human organs and eradicate the lucrative
trade in organ trafficking. It will give a second life to terminally ill patients. This measure was
previously filed by Senator Manny Villar in the 15" Congress. Passage of this Bill is earnestly

sought now in the 16" Congress.

ivan CAST. BAYON

Representative
First District of Northern Samar


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Constitution Hills, Quezon City

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL 1405

Introduced by Representative Harlin Cast. Abayon

AN ACT
TO REGULATE ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS
THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 4. Title, - This Act shall be known as the “Human Organ Transplant
Act."

SEC, 2. Declaration of Polley. ~ It is the policy of the state to protect and
promote the health of the people

SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. - As used in the Act the following terms shall
mean:

(a) “Advertisement’ ~ includes every form of advertising, whether in a publication,
or by the display of any notice or signboard, or by means of any catalogue,
price list, letter (whether circulated or addressed to a particular person) or
other documents, or by words inscribed on ny article, or by the exhibition of a
photograph or a cinematograph film, or by way of sound recording, sound
broadcasting or television, or in any other way, and any reference to the issue
of an advertisement shall be construed accordingly

(b) “Authorized medical practitioner” — means a person who is registered, or
deemed to be registered, as a medical practitioner under the law and who has
been authorized to remove any organ pursuant to section 9 or to transplant
any such organ

(0) “Death” — the irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or
the irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain
stem. A person shall be medically and legally dead if either: (1) In the opinion
of the attending physiciai, based on the acceptable standards of medical
practice there is an abserice of natural respiratory and cardiac function and,
attempts resuscitation would not be successful in restoring those functions. In
this case, death shall be deemed to have occurred at the time when these
functions ceased ; or (2) {n the opinion of the consulting physician, concurred
din by the attending physician, that on the basis of acceptable standards of
medical practice, there is an irreversible cessation of all brain functions; and
considering the absence of such functions, furthers attempts at resuscitation
‘or continued supportive maintenance would not be successful in restoring


such natural functions. In this case, death shall be deemed to have occurred
at the time when these conditions first appeared.

(d) “Decedent” ~ a deceased individual, and includes a still born infant or fetus

(e) “Donor” — an individual authorized under this Act to donate all or part of the
body or decedent

(f) “Hospital” - a hospital licensed, accredited, or approved under the law, and
includes a hospital operated by the government

(g) “Investigating officer’ - means an officer duly appointed by law to conduct
investigation

(h) “Organ’ — for the purpose: of this act includes transplantable organs, tissues,
eyes, bones, arteries, blood, other fluids and other portions of the human
body

() ‘Person” — an individual, corporation, estate, trust, partnership, association,
the Government or any of its subdivision, agencies or instrumentalities,
including government owned or controlled corporations; or any other legal
entity ;

(j) “Reward” — means any description of financial or other material advantage

NATIONAL ORGAN DONATION AND TRANSPLANTATION CENTER

SEC. 4. Establishment. - There shall be established, under the supervision of
the Department of Health, The National Organ Donation and Transplantation Center,
herein referred to as NODTC.

This NODTC shall be administered by a Board of Trustees to be appointed by
the President of the Philippines upon the recommendation of the Department of Health.

SEC. 5. Functions, ~ The NODTC shall have the following powers and

functions:

(a) Review and approve policies in support of a rational, ethical, accessible and
equitable organ transplantation program in the country;

(b) Approve the issuances of the Certificate of Accreditation of transplant
facilities;

(0) Establish and maintain a register in which shall be entered the objection and
withdrawal of objection of all persons lodged n accordance with this Act;

(4) They may appoint a transplant ethics committee to be in charge of matters
relating to the selection of proposed recipients of any organ removed
pursuant to Section 17;

(e) Prescribe appointment, functions, responsibilities and procedures of
transplant ethics committees; and

() To perform such other functions as may be necessary to achieve the
objectives of this Act.

INFORMATION AND EDUCATION

SEC. 6. Responsibility. - The Government, through the NODTC, shall take
measures, including the design, development, and dissemination of information and


education materials, to promote, protect and support the dissent approach in cadaveric
‘organ donation.

{t shall also ensure that information materials produced by all government
agencies and private entities and persons are not inconsistent with the provisions of this
Act.

DEATH AND REMOVAL OF ORGAN AFTER DEATH

SEC. 7. When death occurs. ~ The death of the person shall be determined in
accordance with the acceptable standards of medical practice and shall be diagnosed
separately by the attending physician and another consulting physician, both of whom
must be appropriately qualified and suitably experienced in the care of such patients.
The death shall be recorded in the patient's medical record.

SEC. 8. Designated officers. ~ The NODTC may appoint, in writing, any
medical practitioner to be the designated officer of a hospital for the purposes of this
Act.

SEC. 9. Authorities may remove organ after death, — The designated officer
of a hospital may, subject to an in accordance with this section, authorize, in writing, the
removal of any organ from the body of a person who has died in the hospital for the
purpose of the transplantation of the organ to the body of a living person

No authority shail be given under the preceding paragraph for the removal of the
organ from the body of any deceased person:

(a) who has during his lifetime registered his objection with the NODTC to the
removal of the organ from his body after his death;

(b) who is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident of the Philippines;

(c) who is below 21 years of age unless the parent or guardian has consented to
such removal;

(d) who is above 60 years of age:

(e) whom the authorized medical practitioners, after making such inquiries as are
reasonable in the circumstances, has reason to believe was not of sound
mind, unless the parent or guardian has consented to such removal ; or

(f) immediate relatives at time of death object to organ transplant

SEC. 10. Investigating Officer's consent. - If the designated officer of the
hospital has reason to believe that the circumstances applicable to the death of the
person are such that the investigating officer has jurisdiction to hold an inquest into the
manner and cause of death of the person, the designated officer shall not authorize the
removal of any organ from the body of the deceased person unless the investigating
officer has given his consent to the removal.

The consent by the investigating officer under this section may be expressed to
be subject to such conditions as specified in the consent. The consent may be given
orally by the investigating officer, and if so given shall be confirmed in writing.

SEC. 11. Organ to be removed and transplanted by authorized medical
practitioners, — No person other thtan an authorized medical practitioner in a hospital
accredited by the NODTC shall remove any organ which is authorized to be removed
pursuant to Section 9 or transplant any such organ.


SEC. 12. Operation of other laws. — Nothing in this Part shall prevent the
removal of any organ from the bodies of deceased persons in accordance with the
provisions of any other written law.

RECIPIENT PROTECTION

SEC. 13. Recipient Protection. — Health and safety tests shall be conducted to
protect the person receiving an organ. People with infectious disease or severe
bacterial or fungal infections at the time of death may only donate their organs for lab
research or education but not a living recipient,

REGISTRATION OF OBJECTION

SEC. 14. Persons may register their objection. ~ Any person, upon reaching
the age of 18, who objects to the removal of any organ from his body after his death for
the purpose mentioned in Section 9 may register his objection in respect of that origin
with the NODTC in the prescribed form.

Upon receipt of the written objection of a person, the NODTC shall issue to that
person an acknowledgement in the prescribed form.

SEC. 15. NODTC to maintain register. ~ The NODTC shall establish and
maintain a register in which shall be entered the objection of all persons lodged in
accordance with the preceding section. The register herein referred to shall not be open
to inspection by the public.

SEC. 16. Persons may withdraw their objection. - Any person who has
registered his objection with the NODTC in respect of any organ may withdraw his
objection in the prescribed form. *

Upon receipt of the withdrawal under the preceding provision, the NODTC shall
issue to that person an acknowledgement in the prescribed form and shall remove the
objection from the register referred to in the preceding section.

SEC. 17. Proposed recipients orgal
of any organ removed pursuant to Section 9:

In the selection of a proposed recipient

(a) a person who has not registered any objection with the NODTC in respect of
that organ shall have priority over a person who has registered such
objection; and #

(b) a person who has registered his objection with the NODTC in respect of that
organ but who has withdrawn such objection shall have the same priority as a
person who has not registered any such objection, over a person whose
objection in respect of that organ is still registered with the NODTC, at the
expiration of 2 years from the date of receipt of the withdrawal by the NODTC
provided that he has not registered again any such objection since that date.

PROHIBITED ACTS

SEC. 18. Certain contracts or arrangements. — Subject to this section, a
contract or arrangement under which a person agrees, for valuable consideration,
whether given or to be given to himself or to another person, to the sale or supply of any
organ or blood from his body or from the body of another person, whether before or
after his death or the death of the other person, as the case may be, shall be void.


Any person is prohibited to enter into a contract or arrangement of the kind
referred to in the preceding subsection.

Any person either as vendor or supplier is prohibited to enter into a contract or
arrangement for the sale or supply of a product derived from any organ or blood that
has been subjected to processing or treatment.

The contract or arrangement referred to in the first paragraph of this section shall
not apply to or in relation to: .

(a) a contract or arrangement providing only for the reimbursement of any
expenses necessarily incurred by a person in relation to the removal of any
organ or blood in accordance with the provisions of any other written law; and

(b) any scheme introduced or approved by the Government granting medical
benefits or privileges to any organ or blood donor and any member of the
donor's family or any person nominated by the donor.

Nothing in this action shall rénder inoperative a consent or authority given or
purporting to have been given under this Act in relation to any organ or blood from the
body of a person or in relation to the body of a person if a person acting in pursuance of
the consent or authority did not know and had no reason to know that the organ or
blood or the body was the subject-matter of a contract or arrangement referred to in the
first paragraph of this section.

SEC. 19. Removal of organ. - No person shall remove any organ from the
body of a deceased person for the purpose referred to in Section 9 except in pursuance
of the authority therein given.

SEC. 20. Advertisements relating to buying or selling of organs or blood. ~
No person shall issue or cause to be issued any advertisement relating to the buying or
selling of any organ or blood or of the right to take any organ or blood from the body of a
person.

SEC. 21. Advertisements Organ trafficking. — Any person is prohibited to
perform acts which promote or facilitate organ trafficking which include but not limited to
recruiting, hiring, adopting, transporting or abducting a person, by means of threat or
use of force, fraud, deceit, violence, ‘coercion or intimidation for the purpose of removal
or sale of organs of said person.

SEC. 22. Destruction, Mutilation and Alteration in the Register. — No person
shall willfully destroy, mutilate or make any unauthorized alteration in the register
referred to in section 15.

SEC, 23. Disclosure of information. - Subject to this section, a person shall
not disclose or give to any other person any information or document whereby the
identity of a person:

(a) from whose any body ‘organ has been removed for the purpose of
transplantation; a

(b) with respect to whom or with respect to whose body a consent or authority
has been given under this Act; or

(0) into whose body any organ has been, is being, or may be, transplanted, may
become publicly known.

The preceding paragraph shall not apply to or in relation to any information disclosed:
(@) for the purpose of administering and enforcing this Act;


(b) for the purpose of referring any complaint or information concerning any
registered medical practitioner under related laws;

(0) in pursuance of an order of a Court or when otherwise required by law;

(d) for the purposes of hospital administration or bona fide medical research;

(e) with the consent of the person to whom the information relates; or

() when the circumstances in which the disclosure is made aré such that the
disclosure is or would be privileged.

PENALTIES

SEC. 24. Penalties. - Any person who contravenes provisions of this act shall
be guilty of an offense and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding
100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both.

"MISCELLANEOUS

SEC. 25. Act does not prevent specified removal of organ, etc. - Nothing in

this Act shall apply to or in relation to:

(a) the removal of any organ from the body of a living person in the course of a
procedure or operation cartied out, in the interests of the health of the person,
by a medical practitioner with the consent, express or implied, given by or on
behalf of the person or in circumstances necessary for the preservation of the
life of the person; nF

(b) the use of any organ so removed;

(0) the embalming of the body of a deceased person; or

(d) the preparation, including the restoration of any disfigurement or mutilation, of
the body of a deceased person for the purpose of interment or cremation,

SEC. 26. Repealing Clause. —- All laws, orders, issuances, and rules and
regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.

SEC. 27. Separability Clause. — The provisions of this Act are hereby deemed
distinct and separable from each other. if any provision hereof be declared invalid or
unconstitutional, such invalidity or unconstitutional, such invalidity or unconstitutionality
shall not affect the other provisions which shall remain in full force and effect.

SEC. 28. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect one hundred twenty (120) days
following its publication in at least two newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,