Question & AnswerQ&A (PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 522)
The main purpose of Presidential Decree No. 522 is to prescribe sanitation requirements for the operation of establishments and facilities catering to the traveling public, ensuring their health, convenience, and protection, and projecting a favorable image of the country.
The Department of Health, through the Regional Sanitation Committee, is primarily responsible for the enforcement, inspection, investigation, and issuance or revocation of permits for rest areas, service stations, eating establishments, and other related facilities.
Regional Sanitation Committees are created in each Health Region under the Department of Health to supervise and regulate sanitation in public eating places and facilities serving travelers. They are composed of the Director of the Regional Office as Chairman, Supervising Sanitary Engineer as Vice-Chairman, and Provincial and City Health Officers as members.
They can require sanitation permits for establishments, mandate health certificates for employees, require public transport companies to provide rest areas, prohibit stopping outside designated rest areas, ensure adequacy of comfort rooms, classify or rate establishments, and order closures for non-compliance among others.
Establishments covered include rest areas, service stations, eating establishments, public transportation companies, hotels, tourist and travel agencies, lounges, motels, seaports, airports, picnic grounds, and other similar facilities serving the traveling public.
For the first offense, a violator faces a fine of not less than P2,000 nor more than P5,000 or imprisonment of not less than two years nor more than five years, or both. Subsequent offenses may include fines or imprisonment and cancellation of licenses or permits. Corporate officers and managers are also liable, and aliens may be deported.
Establishments catering to the traveling public are given ninety (90) days from the promulgation of the decree within which to comply with its provisions.
Yes, the Department of Health is authorized to enlist the support of the Philippine Constabulary or any other government office for enforcement and implementation.
Yes, the Regional Sanitation Committees can create a classification or rating system for establishments catering to travelers for tourists' guidance and to maintain sanitation standards.
The establishment may be temporarily or permanently closed for failing to meet the sanitation and health specifications promulgated by the Department of Health.