I understand that DOH is unable to forcibly quarantine people (based on the attached

CNN live twitter feed of today’s hearing) probably because there is no declaration yet of
a Health Event of Public Health Concern.

Based on the DOH representative declaration in the Congressional hearing attended by

Rep. Biazon, there is no declaration (from context I believe "code alert" means an RA
11332 declaration) because there is no local transmission yet.

I have done a review of RA 11332, based on my reading as a lawyer (and not as a

public health practitioner), there is no requirement for local transmission for the
declaration.

I also checked if there is an IRR on the internet, esp DOH website and I did not find
any.

Below is the review I did. I hope you find it helpful.

According RA 11332, Section 3 (I)(1)(ii)and 3 (I)(2)(v)

A 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:

xxx xxx xxx

(ii) Appearance of a novel or previously controlled or eradicated infectious

agent or biological toxin;

xxx xxx xxx

(2) Poses a high probability of any of the following:

xxx xxx xxx

(v) Trade and travel restrictions;

According to RA 11332, Section 3 (g) Health event of public health concern refers to
either a public health emergency or a public health threat due to biological, chemical,
radio-nuclear and environmental agents;

Section 7. Declaration of Epidemic or Public Health Emergency. -The Secretary of

Health shall have the authority to declare epidemics of national and/or international
concerns except when the same threatens national security. In which case, the President
of the Republic of the Philippines shall declare a State of Public Health Emergency and
mobilize governmental and nongovernmental agencies to respond to the threat.

Section 6. Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public

Concern.


xxx xxx xxx

(e) To perform their disease surveillance and response functions, authorized

health personnel from the DOH and its local counterparts have the
statutory and regulatory authority to enforce the following:

xxx xxx xxx

(4) Rapid containment, quarantine and isolation, disease prevention and

control measures, and product recall;

Section 9. Prohibited Acts. -The following shall be prohibited under this Act:

xxx xxx xxx

(e) Non-cooperation of the person or entities identified as having the notifiable

disease, or affected by the health event of public concern.