Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 123)
The Bureau of Quarantine Service shall be renamed as the Bureau of Quarantine and shall have the category of a first-class bureau.
The Bureau of Quarantine functions under the Department of Health and Public Welfare.
The Director of Quarantine is appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.
The Bureau of Quarantine conducts the examination of incoming and outgoing vessels and aircraft at Philippine ports of entry and airports, oversees their sanitary conditions, cargoes, passengers, and crews, and issues quarantine certificates, bills of health, or equivalent documents. It has authority over incoming vessels (including military), their wharfage and anchorage, and over aircraft and airports to enforce this Act.
The Director may enforce inspections, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, pest extermination, destruction of infected animals or contaminated articles, and mandatory immunization for arriving persons at ports of entry.
The Director of Quarantine shall have the rank of a colonel or higher, and quarantine officers shall have ranks such as lieutenant colonels, majors, captains, and lieutenants. These officers are commissioned by the President upon recommendation and approval.
They can recommend to the President, through an executive order, the suspension of the right to introduce persons and properties from specific foreign countries where quarantinable diseases exist, wholly or partially, to protect public health.
Vessels and aircraft must obtain quarantine certificates and sanitary port statements, respectively, certifying compliance with quarantine laws and regulations. Certificates of quarantine discharge are required before discharging cargo or passengers and before Customs clearance.
Persons violating quarantine regulations may be fined up to two thousand pesos, sentenced to imprisonment of up to one year, or both, at the discretion of the court. Vessels or aircraft violating the Act's provisions may forfeit up to ten thousand pesos to the government, with the amount determined by the Collector of Customs and made a lien on the vessel.
Sections 1130 to 1136 of the Revised Administrative Code of 1917, and all acts, rules, and regulations on foreign and local quarantine inconsistent with Republic Act No. 123 were repealed.