Republic of the Philippines 
House of Representatives 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL No. _______ 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Introduced by HONORABLE ERNESTO “ERNIX” M. DIONISIO, JR. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
AN ACT 
PROVIDING FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF MATERNAL AND CHILDBIRTH 
SERVICES BY ESTABLISHING BIRTHING CENTERS AND TRAINING 
TRADITIONAL BIRTH ATTENDANTS, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS 
THEREFOR 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
In 2020 in the Philippines, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, a total 
of 1,528,684 live births were registered. There is an average of 4,177 bases born daily 
or around 174 babies born per hour and approximately 3 babies born per minute. 
Further, it was recorded that there is a trend wherein more babies were born outside 
the usual residence of their mother. For example, in Luzon, births that occurred in 
NCR exceeded births to mothers residing in the region by 12,2091.  
It was also recorded that of the total number of births, around 94.5 percent were 
attended by health professionals such as physician, midwife, or nurse. The statistics 
provide that, majority of births were delivered by physicians at 65 percent, by midwives 
at 28.1 percent and 5.2 percent were delivered by a hilot or traditional birth attendant2. 
Given that there is a huge number of live births recorded in the Philippines, 
additional birthing centers and training given to traditional birth attendants and 
appropriate funding thereof would be greatly beneficial to a lot of Filipinos. It would 
safeguard and ensure the safe birthing process of mothers and would also beneficial 
to them with regard to financial expenses in connection to giving birth. 
In view of the foregoing, the immediate passage of this bill is necessary. 
1 Registered Live Births in the Philippines, 2020 available at https://psa.gov.ph/content/registered-live-
births-philippines-2020 (last accessed on October 6, 2022). 
2 Ibid. 
October 7, 2022
4:44 pm
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Republic of the Philippines 
House of Representatives 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL No. _______ 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Introduced by HONORABLE ERNESTO “ERNIX” M. DIONISIO, JR. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
AN ACT 
PROVIDING FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF MATERNAL AND CHILDBIRTH 
SERVICES BY ESTABLISHING BIRTHING CENTERS AND TRAINING 
TRADITIONAL BIRTH ATTENDANTS, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS 
THEREFOR 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Declaration of Policy. – It is the duty of the State to protect the 
life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception. Towards this end, the 
State shall endeavor to provide quality health interventions and appropriate facilities 
as well as services that shall address maternal and neonatal mortalities and ensure 
efficient strategies to lessen the risk that continuously occurs during pregnancy and 
childbirth, especially of the underprivileged. 
SEC. 2. Objective. – To emphasize the government's commitment to improving 
maternal and newborn health interventions, this Act shall undertake the following 
objectives: 
(a) Ensure that all women and newborns have skilled care during pregnancy,
childbirth, and the immediate post-natal period;
(b) Promote pre-natal health education and safe birthing practices;
(c) Improve the capacity of the local government units (LGUs) to deliver basic
health service delivery from antenatal to post-partum care;
(d) Upgrade health facilities, both in terms of additional human resources and
infrastructure facilities suitably equipped to address basic and emergency
services, when necessary;
(e) Introduce local strategies to improve mechanisms for demand to access or
seek care and health interventions in health clinics;
(f) Train health workers, including traditional birth attendants, to deliver quality
obstetric and newborn care services;
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(g) Develop incentives to entice and promote antenatal care in a Barangay 
Health Station (BHS), Rural Health Unit (RHU) and the District and 
Community Hospitals; 
(h) Establish an effective referral and monitoring system in barangays to 
monitor maternal and newborn care; and 
(i) Deploy birthing facilities equipped with trained obstetric and newborn care 
providers in areas where health facilities are unavailable. 
 
SEC. 3. Scope and Coverage. – This Act aims to improve maternal and 
newborn care by establishing birthing facilities as well as training traditional birth 
attendants to become part of the formal health system. It seeks the improvement of 
local health facilities towards services that can provide comprehensive care in order 
to encourage underserved or underprivileged women access to a safe maternal and 
newborn care delivery system. 
 
SEC. 4. Definition of Terms. –  As used in this Act, the following shall mean: 
a. Birthing Center – a health facility that provides maternity services on pre-
natal  
 
b. Neonatal Mortality – number of deaths within the first 28 days of life per 
1000 live births in a given period.  
 
c. Maternal Mortality – number of women who die from any cause related to 
or aggravated by pregnancy or its management during pregnancy and 
childbirth or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy. 
 
d. Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAS) – independent, non-formally trained 
community-based providers of care during pregnancy, childbirth, and 
postpartum period using conventional methods. 
 
e. Newborn – a child from the time of complete delivery to 30 days old. 
 
f. Health Care Practitioner – refers to a physician, nurse, midwife, nursing 
aide, and traditional birth attendant. 
 
g. Certification - a process and procedure of external assessment or 
examination by which an individual or facility is determined to possess a 
minimally acceptable body of knowledge and/or skills or the capacity to 
provide the standard of care with adequate resources. 
 
h. Local Health Board – its creation and composition are mandated under R.A. 
7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991. 
 
i. Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA) - refer to 
communities with marginalized populations physically and socio-
economically separated from the mainstream society and characterized by 
physical factors (distance, weather conditions, transportation difficulties) 
and socio-economic factors (high poverty incidence, recovering from 
situation of crisis or armed conflict). 
 


j. Department of Health Physical facility requirement for Birthing Home – 
Annex D, DOH Administrative Order No. 2012-0012 
 
SEC. 5. Role of the Local Government Unit. – The Local Health Board of 
every province, city, or municipality, in accordance with their mandate, shall make an 
inventory of its existing facilities and ensure that health clinics shall be compliant with 
DOH standards in terms of strategic location, infrastructure, and manpower. These 
facilities must be constructed in locations most accessible to women. It must upgrade 
existing infrastructures to accommodate improvements in facilities and equipment. 
 
With the support of the Department of Health, it shall provide technical 
assistance and advisory services in the continuous training of health workers or 
contract out skilled health practitioners for an integrated system that addresses the 
risks identified with maternal and childbirth mortality, in terms of the capability of health 
service providers. 
 
SEC. 6. Role of the Department of Health. – The DOH shall ensure that the 
LGU Rural Health Units, Barangay Health Stations, District Hospitals, and Birthing 
Centers are fully compliant with the amenities and infrastructure requirements set by 
the DOH. 
 
The DOH shall, within two (2) years after the effectivity of this Act, train the 
traditional birth attendants with the modern method of delivery, to properly equip them 
with the skill to provide care during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal periods in 
health clinics or birthing stations. The conduct of these trainings shall be made every 
two (2) years thereafter to facilitate the training of new ones upon the retirement of the 
other TBAs. A certification by the DOH of compliance with this requirement shall give 
the TBAs the authority to work alongside healthcare practitioners of the LGU. 
 
SEC. 7. Birthing Centers. – There shall be established birthing facilities that 
shall address obstetric care and delivery in Geographically Isolated and 
Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA), where distance and transportation make traveling to a 
health facility unsafe and poses greater risk and danger to the mother and her unborn 
child. These birthing facilities shall be required to operate twenty-four hours for seven 
days (24/7) or on an on-call or as-needed basis, depending on the pregnancy tracking. 
 
These centers shall be compliant with the Physical Facility requirements of the 
DOH with regard to the General Administrative and Clinical Services. The facility shall 
likewise be supported by competent health care practitioners including DOH-trained 
traditional birth attendants. 
 
Clinical services to be rendered in these centers shall include pre-natal and 
post-natal care, normal spontaneous delivery for low-risk pregnant women, care of 
newborns and other similarly related health care. 
 
There shall be barangay health workers formed into teams who shall regularly 
check on pregnant women in the community. They shall continuously advocate quality 
health care by accessing the maternal care delivery system established by the 
government and disseminate educational tools to facilitate the shift from basic societal 


dynamics of home deliveries to childbirth in these centers equipped with facilities and 
skilled personnel. 
 
These ante-natal check-ups must identify at-risk pregnancies or anticipate 
complications in deliveries, which should directly be referred to clinics or tertiary 
hospitals with well-equipped facilities to handle emergencies. 
 
SEC. 8. Lay-Away Program. – In order to make these birthing centers 
sustainable, expectant mothers shall, during prenatal visits, pay in portions the cost 
for their delivery. The scheme shall cover expenses for electricity and water bills, as 
well as payment for attending health workers. The cost shall be minimal and 
implementable through socialized user fees. 
 
Nothing in this Section shall however prevent the city, municipality, or barangay 
with the capacity to provide full subsidies to its constituents to forego user fees or seek 
for private partnerships, aid, or donations to cut costs or subsidize the expenses for 
the deliveries in birthing centers. 
 
SEC. 9. Home births. – In cases where greater risk and danger to the life of 
the mother and the unborn is imminent if transport to a health facility is made, midwives 
and trained traditional birth attendants shall attend to the childbirth to ensure maternal 
and neonatal safety. 
 
SEC. 10. Appropriations. – The primary source of funding for the operation, 
maintenance and improvement of the health facilities shall be the LGU. It shall likewise 
cover the salaries and other benefits of the local human resource including the 
incentives for the barangay health workers and other community volunteer workers. 
 
The capital outlay for the birthing centers, additional health clinics, 
improvements of existing health facilities in terms of equipment, and the amount to be 
expended for the training of the traditional birth attendants shall be included in the 
budget of the DOH in the year following the effectivity of this Act. 
 
SEC. 11. Implementing Rules and Regulations. – Within ninety (90) days 
from the approval of this Act, the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of the Interior 
and Local Government shall promulgate the necessary implementing rules and 
regulations (IRR) for the effective implementation of this Act.  
 
The DOH shall provide the manual for the minimum requirements in terms of 
facilities and human resource for an efficient health clinic or birthing center. 
 
SEC. 12. Separability Clause. – If any section or provision of this Act is held 
unconstitutional or invalid, the remaining sections or provisions not affected shall 
remain in full force and effect. 
 
SEC. 13. Repealing Clause. – AIl laws, presidential decrees, executive orders 
and rules and regulations, or parts thereof, inconsistent with the provisions of this Act 
are hereby repealed or modified accordingly. 
 


SEC. 14. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days from the date 
of its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved,