Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Congress of the Philippines 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
House Bill No. ---
Introduced by Rep. Mary Mitzi Cajayon-Uy 
AN ACT 
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE PHILIPPINE BLOOD CENTER AND REGIONAL BLOOD CENTERS AND 
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Blood is the body's life-sustaining fluid as it is indispensable to the transportation of oxygen 
and other nutrients to keep the human body alive and functioning. 
Republic Act No. 7719 or the National Blood Services Act of 1994 provides that blood centers 
shall be established in every province and city nationwide. Accordingly, the Philippine Blood 
Center (PBC) was established, a government blood bank under the National Voluntary Blood 
Services Program (NVBSP) of the Department of Health (DOH). 
This bill aims to institutionalize the PBC as the repository and administrator of the NVBSP. Its 
functions shall include such as but not limited to, overseeing the collection, testing, 
processing, storage, and distribution of blood and blood components. Moreover, this bill shall 
empower regional DOH offices to create, operate, and maintain their own Regional Blood 
Centers (RBC). 
In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is earnestly sought. 
REP.M!.l~ 
2nd District, Caloocan City ~ 
May 7, 2024
11:15 am
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Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Congress of the Philippines 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
House Bill No. ---
Introduced by Rep. Mary Mitzi L. Cajayon-Uy 
AN ACT 
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE PHILIPPINE BLOOD CENTER AND REGIONAL BLOOD CENTERS AND 
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Philippine Blood Center Act." 
Section. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is the policy of the State to protect and promote the right 
to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them. Towards this end, the 
State shall establish a Philippine Blood Center which will become the national and central hub 
of blood services in the country, which shall oversee the collection, testing, processing, 
storage, and distribution of blood and blood components. Regional blood centers shall 
likewise be established to bring the services closer to our people. 
Section 3. The Philippine Blood Center. - There shall be established a Philippine Blood Center 
under the direct control and supervision of the Department of Health (DOH). The Philippine 
Blood Center shall be the national blood center of the Philippines. 
Section 4. Purposes and Objectives. - The Philippine Blood Center, as the premier blood 
service facility of the Philippines, will have the capability to: 
a. Centrally recruit and screen blood donors and promote blood donation; 
b. Centrally collect, test for transfusion-transmissible infections, process, store, issue, 
and transport blood and blood components for transfusion; 
c. Perform special immunohematologic tests; 
d. Provide information, educate, and counsel on transfusion-transmissible infections; 
e. Create a database for blood donors in accordance with Republic Act No. 10173 or the 
Data Privacy Act of 2012; 
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f. Conduct quality assurance and surveillance; 
g. Establish a national hemovigilance system; 
h. Conduct training and research in blood banking and related technologies and fields as 
basis for national policy-making; 
i. Capacitate regional blood centers; 
j. Administer to the resource stratification for national blood services in collaboration with 
regional blood centers; and 
k. Other functions assigned by the DOH. 
Section 5. Regional Blood Centers. -A regional blood center shall be established in each region 
of the Philippines which shall be under the direct control and supervision of the Philippine 
Blood Center. The regional blood centers shall be the local region hub for regional blood 
services. 
Section 6. Organizational Structure and Staffing Pattern. -The DOH will craft staffing standards 
and create new positions as necessary to ensure the appropriate human resources for the 
operation of the Philippine Blood Center and Regional Blood Centers subject to the approval 
of the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Budget and Management. 
Section 7. Directors. - The Philippine Blood Center and the Regional Blood Centers shall be led 
by a Director appointed by the President of the Philippines, upon recommendation by the 
Secretary of Health. 
Section 8. Program for Indigents. - The DOH shall ensure that the Philippine Blood Center shall 
adopt and enforce a program for indigents needing blood and blood components in 
accordance with the implementing guidelines on the classification of patients and on availing 
of the Medical Social Services in Government Hospitals. 
Section 9. Tax Exemptions and other Privileges. - The provision of any general or special law 
to the contrary notwithstanding, all donations, grants, contributions, gifts or endowments 
received by the Philippine Blood Center and the Regional Blood Centers pursuant hereto, shall 
be exempt from income, gift and all other kinds of taxes, and shall be further considered as 
allowable deductions from the gross income of the donor, in accordance with the provisions 
of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended. 
Section 10. Establishment of a Trust Fund. - A trust fund shall be established out of the 
retained income of the PBC and RBC from collected blood service fees. The trust fund shall be 
used for the operations of the Philippine Blood Center and the Regional Blood Centers. 
Section 11. Annual Report. - The Philippine Blood Center shall submit an annual report to the 
President of the Philippines, the Department of Health, the Senate Committee on Health and 
Demography and the House Committee on Health, on its activities, accomplishments and 
recommendations to better address and improve the safe supply of blood in the Philippines. 


Section 12. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The Department of Health in coordination 
with the Department of Budget and Management, shall promulgate such rules and 
regulations necessary for the implementation of this Act within sixty (60) days from its 
effectivity. 
Section 13. Appropriations. - The amount needed for the initial implementation of this Act, 
including maintenance and other operating expenses of the Philippine Blood Center shall be 
charged against the current year's appropriations of the DOH. For the succeeding years, the 
amount allocated for the Philippine Blood Center in the DOH budget shall be based on its 
strategic plan, in coordination with other stakeholders. 
Section 14. Separability Clause - If any portion or provision of the Act is declared void or 
unconstitutional, the remaining portions or provisions hereof shall not be affected by such 
declaration. 
Section 15. Repealing Clause - All laws, acts, executive orders, administrative orders, rules and 
regulations inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly. 
Section 16. Effectivity - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in two 
(2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved,