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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

Eighteenth Congress
Second Regular Session

House Bill No. _ 7366

Introduced by Representatives
ESTRELLITA B. SUANSING and HORACIO P. SUANSING, JR.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to create the Philippine Center for Disease Control and
Prevention which will be the country’s epidemiology and surveillance body.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already infected more than 110,000
Filipinos and more than 2,000 have died from the disease. Aside from the
COVID-19 pandemic, Filipinos are also still facing outbreaks of other
communicable diseases, namely polio, measles diphtheria and dengue, not to
mention noncommunicable diseases putting our people’s health at risk
everyday. There is a need to strengthen the current health units in place to
undertake the necessary research, as well as provide adequate facilities, to
prevent and control such diseases.

Under this bill, the Philippine Center for Disease Control is principally
tasked to identify, assess and communicate current and emerging threats to
human health posed by diseases of national and international importance and
other health risks that are of public concern. To prevent redundancy and
overlap of functions, the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau and the
Epidemiology Bureaus of the Department of Health and the Research Institute
for Tropical Medicine (RITM) shall be transferred to the CDC. The CDC is also
given powers and functions that are necessary to out its activities to prevent
and control the spread of communicable diseases.

To protect the Filipino people health threats, the passage of this bill is
earnestly sought.

f LLITA B. SUANSING REP. HORACIO P. SUANSING, JR.
1st District, Nueva Ecij 24M istrict, Sultan Kudarat



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

Eighteenth Congress
Second Regular Session

House Bill No, 7366

Introduced by Representatives
ESTRELLITA B. SUANSING and HORACIO P. SUANSING, JR.

AN ACT
CREATING THE PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND
PREVENTION, DEFINING ITS POWERS AND FUNCTIONS, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES

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

CHAPTER I
TITLE AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES

SECTION 1. Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Philippine Center for
Disease Control and Prevention Act.”

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is hereby declared the policy of the State:

(a) To protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill
health consciousness among them;

(b)To adopt, support, establish and maintain an effective health
mechanism responsive to the country’s health, needs, emergency and
other emerging health problems;

(c) To ensure the health and well-being of Filipinos and protect them from
infectious diseases, chronic diseases and other public health threats;

(d)To prevent the emergence and transmission of serious and
communicable diseases;

(c) To provide a framework for control and prevention of diseases in the
country; and

() To establish a health protection agency that will increase the health
security of the Filipinos and protect them from diseases and other
public health threats, domestically and internationally.


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In the implementation of the foregoing, the Government shall devote
significant material and institutional resources to provide for an effective
disease control and prevention program through a high-level public
institution imbued with the capacity, competence and authority to confront
global and local public health risks.

SEC. 3. Objectives. - The objectives of this Act is to:

(a) Protect the Filipino people from the impact of communicable and non-
communicable diseases of public health importance;

(b) Maintain the highest state alertness to detect and respond to disease
outbreaks, public health disasters, mass morbidity and mortality due
to pathogenic, chemical or biological agents;

(c) Develop and coordinate capabilities measures and activities to control
outbreaks and mitigate the health impact of public health disasters;

(4) Develop and coordinate an information network for the reporting
notification of communicable and chronic diseases;

(c) Develop and make accessible guidelines and standards for relevant
public health activities at all levels in the country;

() Communicate information to the public on the need to protect
themselves from public health threats as well as health professional on
the need to safely manage their patients and protect themselves; and

(g) Lead the country’s implementation of International Health Regulations
and coordinate its participation in international disease prevention and
control activities by establishing and maintain close communication
and collaboration with relevant international health organizations, as
well as other foreign States.

CHAPTER II
DEFINITION OF TERMS

SEC. 4. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act, the following terms shall
mean:

(a) Apprehension - the temporary taking into custody of an individual or
group for purposes of determining whether quarantine, isolation, or
conditional release is warranted.

(b) Communicable/ Infectious diseases ~ infectious diseases or illnesses
due to infectious agents or their toxic products, which may be
transmitted from a reservoir to a susceptible host either directly as

a


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(c)

(a)

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from an infected person or animal or indirectly through the agency of
an intermediate plant or animal host, vector, or the inanimate
environment.

Detention - the temporary holding of a person, ship, aircraft, or other
carrier, animal, or thing in such place and for such period of time as
may be determined by the Executive Director.

Disease ~ an illness due to a specific toxic substance, occupational
exposure, or infectious agent, which affects a susceptible individual,
either directly or indirectly, as from an infected animal or person, or
indirectly through an intermediate host, vector, or the environment.

Disease control - the reduction of disease incidence, prevalence,
morbidity or mortality to a locally acceptable level as a result of
deliberate efforts and continued intervention measures to maintain
the reduction.

Disease surveillance ~ the ongoing systematic collection, analysis,
interpretation, and dissemination of outcome-specific data for use in
the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health
practice. A disease surveillance system includes the functional
capacity for data analysis as well as the timely dissemination o f these
data to persons who can undertake effective prevention and control
activities.

Disinfection — the killing of infectious agents or inactivation of their
toxic products outside the body by direct exposure to chemical or
physical agents.

Disinfestation - any chemical or physical process serving to destroy or
remove undesired small animal forms, particularly arthropods or
rodents, present upon the person, the clothing, or the environment of
an individual, or upon animals and carriers.

Emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases — are diseases that have
recently appeared within a population or those whose incidence or
geographic range is rapidly increasing or threatens to increase in the
near future, that:

(1) have not occurred in humans before;

(2) have occurred previously but affected only small numbers of
people in isolated areas;

(3) are caused previously undetected or unknown infectious agents;

(4) are due to mutant or resistant strains of a causative organism or
bacteria; and


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(5) re-emergence of agents whose incidence of disease had
significantly declined in the past, but whose incidence of disease
has reappeared.

Epidemic/outbreak ~ an occurrence of disease in excess of normal
expectancy within a specific place or group of people over a given
period of time.

Epidemiological investigation ~ refers to an inquiry to the incidence,
prevalence, extent, source, mode of transmission, causation of, and
other information pertinent to a disease occurrence.

Epidemiology - the study of the distribution and determinants of
health-related states or events (including disease), and the application
of this study to the control of diseases and other health problems.

Executive Director — refers to the Executive Director of the CDC.

Isolation —the separation of an individual or group reasonably believed
to be infected with a quarantinable communicable disease from those
who are healthy to prevent the spread of the quarantinable
communicable disease.

Health event of public health concern/Public health event ~ refers to
either a public health emergency or a public health threat due to
biological, chemical, radio-nuclear and environmental agents;

Notifiable disease ~ a disease that, by legal requirements, must be
reported to the public health authorities.

Public health emergency - refers to an occurrence or imminent threat
of an illness or health condition that:

(1) Is caused by any of the following:
Bioterrorism;

Appearance of a novel or previously controlled or
eradicated infectious agent or biological toxin;

iii, A natural disaster;
iv. A chemical attack or accidental release;
v. Anuclear attach or accident; or

vi. An attack or accidental release of radioactive materials;
and

(2) Poses a high probability of any of the following:
i. A large number of deaths in the affected population;


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A large number of serious injuries or long-term disabilities
in the affected population;

iii. Widespread exposure to an infectious or toxic agent that
poses a significant risk of substantial harm to a large
number of people in the affected population;

iv. International exposure to an infectious or toxic agent that
poses a significant risk to the health of citizens of other
countries; or

v. Trade and travel restrictions.

(r) Port - means any place in the Philippines and any navigable river or
channer leading to such place under the Revised Charter of the
Philippine Ports Authority and includes an airport.

(s) Public health threat ~ any situation or factor that may represent a
danger to the health of the people due to biological, chemical, radio-
nuclear and environmental agents.

(t) Public health prevention measures — the assessment of an individual
through non-invasive procedures and other means, such as
observation, questioning, review of travel documents, records review,
and other non-invasive means, to determine the individual’s health
status and potential public health risk to others.

(u) Quarantine - the compulsory detention in isolation or separation of an
individual or group reasonably believed to have been exposed to a
quarantinable communicable disease, but who are not yet ill, from
others who have not been so exposed, to prevent the possible spread of
the quarantinable communicable disease.

(v) Response ~ refers to the implementation of specific activities to control
further spread of infection, outbreaks or epidemics and prevent re-
occurrence. It includes verification, contact tracing, rapid risk
assessment, case measures, treatment of patients, risk
communication, conduct of prevention activities, and rehabilitation.

CHAPTER IIL
CREATION AND FUNCTION OF A
NATIONAL CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

SEC. 5. Creation of the Philippine Center for Disease Control and
Prevention. - (a) There is hereby created an independent body to be known
as the Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, hereinafter
referred to as “CDC”.


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(b)

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The CDC shall be the country’s epidemiology and surveillance body
sufficiently funded and equipped with bio-safety level 2 to 4
laboratories.

The CDC shall be the principal agency tasked to identify, assess and
communicate current and emerging threats to human health posed
by diseases of national and international importance and other health
risks of public concern.

The CDC shall carry out activities for the prevention and control of
communicable diseases for promotion of public health.

The CDC shall be attached to the Department of Health for policy and
program coordination.

SEC. 6. Functions. - The CSC shall have the following functions:

a)

(b)

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Prevent, detect, monitor and control diseases of national and
international public health importance, including emerging and re-
emerging diseases;

Maintain active surveillance of diseases through epidemiologic and
laboratory investigations and data collection, analysis, and
distribution;

Develop, maintain and coordinate systems of and database for
epidemiological surveillance, in order to detect public health threats,
guide health interventions and set public health priorities;

Investigate disease outbreaks and other threats to public health;

Develop and maintain a network of reference and specialized
laboratories for pathogen detection, disease surveillance and outbreak
response;

Strengthen diagnostic capacity for and laboratory surveillance of
infectious diseases;

Develop and maintain guidelines and processes for specimen
collection and transportation to reference laboratories;

Conduct, collate, synthesize and disseminate public health research
to inform policy and guide on diseases of public health importance,
and put in place a national public health research agenda and
databases;

Maintain a Registry of Notifiable Diseases, which shall be published
and updated online;

Strengthen national health information systems to support prevention
and control measures of communicable diseases;

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(v)

Provide information to the public through multiple platforms on
diseases and public health events;

Coordinate operationalization of, and ongoing international health
regulations, including regional disease surveillance and control
activities and lead the collaboration with global health agencies;

Provide support and coordinate the control of national and
transborder responses to mass public health emergencies, such as
mass casualties, floods, nuclear, biological, and chemical terrorism,
disease outbreaks and heavy metal poisoning;

Develop and maintain a communication network with all public
health institutions, with roles in mitigating the impact of diseases;

Provide scientific guidelines for local production of vaccines and other
biological agents, such as diagnostic kits, sera and anti-sera, food
science and nutritional products, and other related substances useful
for health services, through locally developed technology or technology
transfer;

Provide support to the Department of Health for the development of
evidence-based guidelines and policies, as well as the implementation
of programs relating to disease prevention and control, in line with
international guidelines and recommendations;

Provide guidance, technical and logistic support to the Local
Governments preventing and managing the emergence and
transmission of communicable diseases;

Provide technical support to relevant government institutions on
environmental health activities, as it relates to disease prevention,
control and emergency disaster response;

Provide technical support for health disaster risk reduction and
management in collaboration with other major stockholders in the
country;

Implement relevant decisions and regulations of the Department of
Health as regards to disease control, prevention and disaster
management;

Recommend to the Secretary of Health the parameters for the
declaration of the existence of a pandemic;

Set the standards and the process for the establishment of
Epidemiology and Surveillance Units, as required under Section 8 of
Republic Act No. 11332, and assist DOH-retained hospitals, local
health facilities and private hospitals and laboratories in establishing
ESUs and assess their performance;


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(w) Lead the training of field epidemiologists through the Philippine Field
Epidemiology Training Programme; and

(x) Perform such functions as may be mandated by law or duly delegated
by relevant authorities, as well as those that may be necessary or
expedient for the performance of its functions under this Act.

The CDC shall submit an annual detailed costed work plans relating to

its functions to the Secretary of Health for approval.

SEC. 7. Powers. - The CDC shall have the following powers:

(a) Lead the response to disease outbreaks, public health emergencies
and disasters in order to minimize the impact on health;

(b) Obtain or require submission of information, data, clinical samples
and report on diseases of public health relevance and control of public
health events, including communicable diseases, emergencies and
disasters within the Philippines;

(c) Develop and enforce the use of standards, protocols and guidelines
for disease prevention and control, including diagnostics, disease
detection and reporting in compliance with international best
practices;

(a) Collaborate with the Ports and Airports Health Services Division of the
Department of Health to operate quarantine services, including
inspection, isolation, detection and management of quarantine
stations at points of entry into the Philippines to prevent the entry of
communicable diseases from foreign countries into and within the
Philippines;

(ce) Implement and coordinate disease detection, prevention and control
activities, including international health regulations, surveillance,
disease preparedness and response, capacity building for health
workers, research and ethical standards as it relates to disease of
public health importance;

(§ Coordinate relevant health sectors on the preparation and response
to public health emergencies and disasters in the country, including
networking and liaising with relevant establishments within and
outside the Philippines pursuant to the functions of the CDC;

(g) Accredit Epidemiology and Surveillance Unites based on the
standards set by the CDC; and

(h) Perform such acts as may be necessary for or incidental to discharge
its functions under this Act.


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CHAPTER IV
OPERATIONAL STRUCTURE,
MANAGEMENT AND STAFF OF THE CDC.

SEC. 8. Local Centers and Field Offices. ~The CDC shall have local centers
and field offices with concomitant laboratories with at least bio-safety levels
2, 3, and 4 (BSL 2, BSL 3 and BSL 4) geographically dispersed across the
Philippines.

SEC. 9. Operational Structure. - Subject to the determination of the
Secretary of Health, in consultation with public health experts, the
operational structure of CDC may comprise of:
(a) Office of the Executive Director;
(b) Divisions headed by Directors:
(1) Outbreak and Health Emergencies Preparedness and Response
(2) Epidemiology and Surveillance
(3) Planning, Research and Statistics
(4) Laboratory and Diagnostic Services
(5) Infectious Diseases
(6) Non-Infectious Diseases
(7) Finance and Accounts, and
(8) Human Resources and Administration
(c) Such other departments as may be required for the proper performance
and functions of the CDC.

SEC. 10. Transfer of Agencies. - (a) Functions and Properties. ~The following
offices and agencies are hereby abolished and their powers and functions,
applicable funds and appropriations, records, equipment and property are
transferred to the CDC:

(1) Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of the Department of
Health

(2) The Epidemiology Bureau of the Department of Health

(3) The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

(b) Personnel. - Employees of the abolished agencies or offices that
occupies non-technical positions shall be transferred to the CDC. Officers and
employees occupying technical positions must qualify and shall comply with
the eligibility requirement set forth in Section 13.

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SEC. 11. Executive Director. - (a) Appointment. -‘The CDC shall be headed
by an Executive Director, with the rank of Undersecretary, who shall be
appointed by the President, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of
Health, on the basis of technical expertise, academic background, and
appropriate work experience.

(b) Eligibility. - The Executive Director shall be a public health
professional with at least fifteen (15) years of post-graduate qualification
experience in relevant fields of medicine or public health. The Executive
Director shall also possess a master’s or doctorate degree in Epidemiology or
other allied sciences. No person shall be eligible for appointment as Executive
Director without satisfactorily passing the examination referred to in Section
13.

(©) Powers and functions. - The Executive Director shall perform the
following functions and powers:

(1) Manage and direct the activities of the CDC;

(2) Coordinate CDC response to health emergencies;

(3) Certify to the existence of a pandemic, which shall be treated as a
public health emergency;

(4) Recommend to the President the exercise of special powers in the
case of an epidemic;

(5) Coordinate international health activities relating to disease
prevention and control;

(6) Liaise with other government agencies, _ international
organizations, including the World Health Organization, learning
institutions and other outside groups; and

(7) Appoint employees of the CDC in accordance with civil service law,
rules and regulations and Section 13 of this Act.

(d) Tenure. -To ensure and uphold the independence of the CDC, the
Executive Director shall have security of tenure and shall not be removed from
office unless for cause.

(e) Removal. ~ Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 11 (d), the
Executive Director may be removed from office by the President of the
Philippines on the following grounds:

(1) Inefficiency and incompetence in the performance of official duties,
Provided, That the performance of the Executive Director shall be

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evaluated by a panel formed for that purpose, which shall be
composed of the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission and
public health experts; and

(2) Inability to discharge the duty of the office, whether arising from
the infirmity of the mind or body, grave misconduct or in the public
interests, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and
the Civil Service Commission.

SEC. 12. Staffing Pattern. - The Secretary of Health, in consultation with
the public health experts and the Department of Budget and Management
(DBM), shall determine the qualification standards, staffing pattern and
compensation of the newly created CDC, in accordance with existing laws,
rules and regulations.

SEC. 13. Examination for Appointment and Promotion. - (a) The DOH, in
consultation with the National Institute for Health-Center for Epidemiology
Unit (NIH-CEU) of the University of the Philippines-Manila, other academic
institutions and public health experts, is mandated to prescribe and conduct
a system of examination of:

(1) All persons applying for any position requiring technical expertise
and special skills to determine their fitness and aptitude to perform
the functions or duties of the position applied for; and

(2) All employees and officers to determine their fitness for promotion
to an officer-level position.

(b) The Executive Director, Deputy Directors, Officers and technical
employees shall only be appointed or promoted upon conferment of eligibility
by the Department of Health, which shall be granted after undergoing and
passing the examination referred to in subsection 13(a).

(c) No officer or employee who fails to pass the examination satisfactorily
and reported unfit for promotion shall be eligible for appointment or
promotion to a managerial /officer-level position.

CHAPTER V
LABORATORIES, EMERGENCY OPERATION CENTER AND
EARLY WARNING AND RESPONSE SYSTEM

SEC. 14. Biological Laboratories. - (a) Establishment. - There shall be
established High-Containment Laboratories or Bio-Safety Level 3 and 4 (BSL-
3 and BSL-4) laboratories that are accessible and concomitant to the CDC
national offices and local centers. The State shall endeavor to construct and
fund at least one (1) BSL-4 laboratory and at least five (5) BSL-3 laboratories

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within ten (10) years from the effectivity of this Act. The CDC shall also
construct, equip and maintain such number of Bio-Safety Level 2 (BSL-2)
laboratories as necessary. For this purpose, the CDC may partner with
academic institutions, private companies, non-profit institutions, foreign
states or international organizations.

(b) Funding. - Appropriations for the construction and maintenance of
biological laboratories referred to in subsection 15(a) of this Act shall be
provided in the General Appropriations Act.

(c) Oversight and regulatory functions. - The CDC shall exercise
supervisory and oversight functions over bio-safety level 2 laboratories in the
country. High-containment (BSLO-3 and BSL-4) laboratories must be
registered with and shall be regulated by the CDC.

SEC. 15. Emergency Operation Center. - There shall be established an
Emergency Operations Center (EOC), which is a central control tower to
respond to infectious disease emergencies.

SEC. 16. Early Warning and Response System. - The CDC shall operate
an Early Warning and Response System, which will ensure that the national
government and local government units are able to respond in a timely and
coordinated manner to emerging health threats in the country.

The CDC shall take action to ensure that the early warning and
response system is efficiently and effectively linked with other forms of
community alert systems.

CHAPTER VI
DISEASE MONITORING AND SURVEILLANCE

SEC. 17. Public Health Surveillance Programme. - (a) The Executive
Director may, from time to time, institute public health surveillance
programmes or undertake epidemiological investigations or surveys of people,
animals or vectors in order to determine the existence, prevalence or
incidence, or to determine the likelihood of a possible outbreak of -

(1) any infectious disease; or

(2) any other disease which the CDC or the Secretary of Health, by
notification in the Official Gazette and in the official website of the
CDC and the DOH, declared to be a disease which this section
applies.

(b) For the purpose of any public health surveillance programme,
epidemiological investigation or survey under subsection 17(a), the Executive

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Director may issue an order requiring any person to furnish CDC, within the
period stated therein, with —

(1) _ such information as he may require; and

(2) any sample of any substance or matter in the possession of that
person or control of that person, whether taken pursuant to this
Act or otherwise, as he may consider necessary or appropriate.

SEC. 18. Obligation of Local Government Units. - Local government units
must provide the CDC, in a timely manner, available health and technical
data relevant to the prevention and control of diseases.

SEC. 19. Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Disease and Health Events
of Public Health Concern. - (a) Transfer of functions. - The CDC shall
perform the functions and obligations of the Epidemiology Bureau and the
Department of Health under Sections 5 and 6 of Republic Act No. 11332,
otherwise known as the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and
Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.”

(b) Mandatory reporting. - All public and private physicians, allied
medical personnel, professional societies, hospitals, clinics, health facilities,
laboratories, institutions, workplaces, schools, prisons, ports, airports,
establishments, communities, other government agencies, and NGOs are
required to accurately and immediately report notifiable diseases and health
events of public health concern to the CDC.

CHAPTER VII
MEASURES FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

SEC. 20. Authority to Promulgate and Enforce Rules and Regulations
and Provide Penalties for Their Violations. - The Executive Director is
authorized to promulgate and enforce rules and regulations as are necessary
to control and prevent diseases within the country and to prevent the
introduction, transmission or spread of communicable diseases from foreign
countries into the Philippines or from one (1) domestic seaport/airport to
another. For purposes of implementing these regulations, the Executive
Director may provide public health preventive measures and intervention
strategies such as health education and advisories, apprehensions, detention,
isolation, quarantine, inspections, fumigation, disinfection, disinfestation,
pest extermination, vaccination for international travel, medical examination
of aliens/foreigners, and destruction of animals or articles found to be
infected or contaminated as to be sources of infection to human beings in
coordination with other concerned quarantine agencies such as veterinary
quarantine, plant quarantine, etc. and other measures as the Executive
Director’s judgment may find necessary.

13


509
510
S11
512
513,
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535,
536
537
538
539,
540
541
542
543
544
545,
S46,
547
548
549
550
551
552

SEC. 21. Measures in the event of inadequate local control of
communicable diseases. - Whenever the Executive Director determines that
the measures taken by the health authorities of the local government units
are insufficient to prevent the outbreak of an infectious disease or spread of
any of the communicable diseases, the Executive Director may take such
measures to prevent such spread of the diseases a he/she deems reasonably
necessary, including inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, pest
extermination, and destruction of animals or articles believed to be sources
of infection.

SEC. 22. Quarantine Stations. - The Executive Director, in coordination
with the Bureau of Quarantine, with the approval of the Secretary of Health,
may establish such additional quarantine stations, grounds and anchorages
if, in the Executive Director’s judgment, these are necessary to prevent the
introduction of diseases of international concern into the country. The Bureau
of Quarantine shall retain its jurisdiction and functions provided under
Republic Act No. 9271, otherwise known as the “Quarantine Act of 2004.”

SEC. 23. Special supervision over the Bureau of Quarantine. - During a
Public Health Emergency, in the interest of preventing a disease outbreak,
endemic or pandemic, the Bureau of Quarantine shall report directly to the
CDC. The CDC shall have full access to information in the possession of the
Bureau of Quarantine.

SEC. 24. Wakes and disposal of corpses. - (a) When any person has died
whilst being, or suspected of being, a case or carrier or contact of a
communicable disease, the Executive Director may impose such conditions
necessary for the conduct of the wake of the deceased, or the collection,
removal and disposal of the body of that person.

(b) Any health officer of the Department of Health or CDC may take such
steps as may be necessary to ensure that the order is complied with.

SEC. 25. Penalties. - Any person who violates any regulation prescribed or
order issued pursuant to this Chapter, or who enters or departs from the limit
of any quarantine station, ground, or anchorage in disregard of quarantine
rules and regulations or without permission of the quarantine officer-in-
charge shall be punished by fine of not more than Five Million Pesos
(P5,000,000.00) or by imprisonment for not more than two (2) years, or both.

CHAPTER VIII
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

14


553,
554
555
556
557
558
559
560

562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
875
576

SEC. 26. Annual Report. - The CDC shall submit to Congress an annual
evaluation of the current and emerging threats to health in the country and
recommend such measures and policies as may be necessary to prevent the
transmission of communicable diseases.

SEC. 27. Appropriations. - The amount needed for the initial
implementation of this Act shall be taken from the current fiscal year’s
appropriation of the offices and agencies herein absorbed by the CDC.
Thereafter, the amount needed for the operation and maintenance of the CDC
shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

SEC. 28. Separability Clause. -If any provision of this Act shall be declared
unconstitutional or invalid, the other provisions not otherwise affected shall
remain in full force and effect.

SEC. 29. Repealing Clause. - All laws, orders, rules and regulations, other
issuances, or parts thereof, inconsistent with any provision of this Act, are
hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 30. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days
following its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general

circulation.

Approved,