QuestionsQuestions (PROCLAMATION NO. 501)
Proclamation No. 501 declares the third Wednesday of November of every year as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Awareness Day, to promote national awareness and urgency regarding the growing prevalence of lung diseases.
Proclamation No. 263 (dated September 23, 2002) is cited; it declared the month of October as COPD Awareness Month to initiate and carry on an intensified campaign against chronic lung diseases.
It is observed on the third Wednesday of November every year.
It states that the President acted “by virtue of the powers vested in me by law.” (The text itself does not specify a particular statute in the excerpt.)
The proclamation notes that the international celebration of “COPD Day” is every third Wednesday of November.
The Department of Health, the Philippine College of Chest Physicians and its allied organizations, other government agencies/instrumentalities, and concerned organizations—both in government and private.
Based on the text, it is mainly a policy/awareness declaration calling for support of programs and activities; it does not expressly create enforceable duties or penalties within the proclamation.
It emphasizes the continuing need for national awareness of the growing prevalence of lung diseases and the urgency of addressing them, noting that lung diseases are among the top ten causes of mortality in the country.
COPD Awareness Month (October) is part of an intensified campaign; COPD Awareness Day (third Wednesday of November) is a continuing national awareness initiative.
It is labeled PROCLAMATION NO. 501, with the issuance date stated as November 17, 2003; the header references OG No. 4, January 26, 2004 for publication.
It directs relevant agencies and organizations to extend full support to the programs and activities planned for the day, indicating coordination and mobilization for awareness efforts.
The Executive Secretary, Alberto G. Romulo, is shown as signing “By the president.”
It is an executive issuance in the form of a presidential proclamation, used to declare an annual observance and to call for participation and support.