Coverage and covered entities
- The rules apply to all urban pest control operators, urban pest control applicators, and owners, operators, or administrators of relevant places and establishments.
- Covered places include land, places, buildings, residences, public places, public places establishments, food establishments, ports, airports, vessels, aircraft, and any other means of conveyances, and similar establishments.
- Urban pest control covers pest control activities in all habitable areas, but excludes agricultural pest control activities.
- Covered vermin control activities include implementation of a vermin abatement program.
- The rules regulate both service providers (operators/applicators) and establishments where vermin abatement must be maintained.
Core definitions under the rules
- Disinfestation means any measure taken to kill the vermin present in land, places, buildings, residences, conveyances, and establishments.
- Vermin means a group of insects or small animals such as flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, fleas, lice, bedbugs, mice, rats, and others which are vectors of diseases.
- Infestation means the presence within or around a building, place, or conveyance of any insect, rodent or other pests.
- Pest means any destructive or unwanted insect or other small animals (e.g., rats, mice) that causes annoyance, discomfort, nuisance or transmission of disease to humans and damage to structures.
- Urban pest control operator refers to establishments or entities engaged in the application of pesticides or any other methods or services for urban pest control or implementation of a vermin abatement program.
- Urban pest control applicator refers to any individual who uses or supervises the use of pesticides or any other methods or services for urban pest control or implementation of a vermin abatement program.
- Vermin abatement program means a series of preventive and control activities or procedures to eliminate or reduce the presence of vermin in covered areas and establishments.
- Local health authority is the governor for a province and the mayor for a city or municipality.
- Local health officer is the provincial, city or municipal health officer.
- Sanitary permit is the written certification of compliance issued by the city or municipal health officer (or, in his absence, the sanitation division/section/unit head), based on evaluation/inspection under Presidential Decree Nos. 522 and 856 and local ordinances.
- Health certificate is written certification in the prescribed form issued by the city/municipal health officer after required physical and medical examinations and immunizations.
Sanitary permit requirements and permit operation
- No urban pest control operator shall engage in urban pest control activities without a sanitary permit issued by the local health officer.
- The establishment must employ an accredited urban pest control applicator as a requirement for issuance of the sanitary permit.
- Any extension or additional construction in an establishment requires a sanitary permit before the establishment may be operated.
- Applications and renewals of sanitary permits must be filed with the city/municipal health office having jurisdiction over the establishment.
- A sanitary permit issues only upon compliance with at least a satisfactory rating using EHS Form No. 103-A (sanitary inspection form).
- Fees are paid upon application, renewal, and noting, and the amount is set through a city or municipal ordinance.
- Change of ownership requires the new owner to apply within 14 days to have the change noted in the records and permit certificate and to pay the corresponding noting fee.
- A sanitary permit is valid for 1 year, ending on the last day of December of each year, and is renewed at the beginning of each year thereafter.
- Upon recommendation of the local health officer to the local health authority, the sanitary permit is suspended or revoked for violations of the rules.
- The sanitary permit must be posted in a conspicuous place of the establishment, and must be available for inspection by health and other regulatory personnel.
- Each city/municipality must keep a record of all establishments issued sanitary permits and renewals, showing: (a) name and address of permit holder, (b) location of establishment, (c) nature/kind of business, (d) date first issued and renewal dates, (e) changes of ownership, (f) sanitary conditions under which permit was issued or renewed, and (g) revocation of the sanitary permit.
- The record must be available at reasonable times for inspections by authorized Department of Health or local government unit officers.
Health certificates and worker compliance
- No person shall be employed by an urban pest control operator unless a health certificate (EHS Form 102-B) is secured from the city/municipal health officer where the establishment is located.
- The health certificate must be visibly clipped in the upper left front portion of the uniform and bear the employee’s picture while working.
- Health certificates must be renewed at least every year.
- Health certificates are non-transferable.
Accreditation, licensing, and service supervision
- Establishments engaged in commercial application of pesticides for urban pest control must be licensed under the requirements of Presidential Decree No. 1144 (Creating the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority and Abolishing the Fertilizer Industry Authority), its implementing rules, and its specific guidelines and procedures.
- Such establishments must hire an accredited urban pest control applicator in every main office or branch as a requirement for issuance of sanitary permits for those main office and branch offices.
- Pesticide applicators in establishments engaged in urban pest control service must be accredited under the requirements of Presidential Decree No. 1144, its implementing rules, and its specific guidelines and procedures.
- An accredited urban pest control applicator must provide direct supervision over service technicians and workers, and the applicator’s actual presence is required during pesticide applications.
- Establishments with in-house urban pest control services, and national and local government agencies providing such services as part of functions, programs, or strategies, must have their designated staff accredited as required.
Health, safety, pesticide handling rules
- Urban pest control operators must provide:
- Annual medical check-ups for applicators, technicians, workers, and other personnel.
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) for personnel engaged in urban pest control services.
- First aid and pesticide safety training at the beginning of employment, followed by training programs at regular intervals.
- Advanced plans and procedures for handling or referral of accidents and casualties.
- An area for first aid procedures, emergency facilities, equipment, and supplies.
- Separate storage facilities for pesticides in all branches.
- Adequate water supply and washing facilities and sufficient lavatories and bathrooms for workers.
- No poison baits may be exposed in food processing, food manufacturing, food establishments, food storage, and other food-selling/serving/storing places (including hospitals, hotels, eateries, and similar places).
- Chemical or pesticide spraying must be done only on approved and defined sprayable surfaces or areas.
- The urban pest control applicator/s employed by the operator must provide technical supervision during pest control operations.
- Pesticides and their containers must be disposed through chemical alteration, burying, incineration, or wastewater treatment systems equipped to treat such wastes.
- Pesticides must not be flushed down to sanitary sewers.
- Every vehicle or conveyance transporting pesticide materials must carry:
- an emergency water supply for washing off corrosive and toxic materials,
- eyewash facilities (fixed or portable eyewash fountains),
- all purpose gas masks, goggles, and protective clothing (gloves, boots, coat, etc.),
- and wastewater disposal must follow Chapter XVII a “Sewage Collection and Disposal, Excreta Collection and Drainage” of P.D. 856.
- Every pesticide container must be appropriately, permanently, and legibly labeled at all times, and transfer from original containers to another is prohibited.
- If transfer is unavoidable, pesticide must be transferred to a small container with proper precautions and labeling.
Vermin abatement program requirements
- A local vermin abatement program must be community-wide and community participated.
- A local vermin abatement program must be technically coordinated.
- A local vermin abatement program must be continuing.
- A local vermin abatement program must be a partnership between the private and government sectors.
- A local vermin abatement program must preferably use indigenous technology and resources for self-reliance.
- A vermin abatement program must include any or a combination of: environmental sanitation control, naturalistic control, biological and genetic control, mechanical and physical control, chemical control, and integrated control.
- Owners, operators, or administrators must maintain vermin abatement programs in their establishments and places.
- If owners, operators, or administrators fail, neglect, or refuse to maintain a vermin abatement program, the local health authority will undertake the work at the owners’/operators’/administrators’ expense.
- Integrated control and/or alternative use of traditional pesticides must be developed and applied whenever feasible to reduce reliance on dangerous pesticides and toxic chemicals.
- It is unlawful to have, keep, maintain, cause, or permit any collection of standing water or flowing water, wastes, and other harborages in which vermin may be propagated.
- The procedure and frequency of vermin abatement programs must be determined by the local health officer using vermin density survey or disease surveillance data, among others, as basis.
- The National Quarantine Office has jurisdiction in international airports and ports of entry and implements national quarantine rules and the International Health Regulation of the World Health Organization.
- The local health office is responsible for sanitation of sub-ports, except for inspections and clearance of foreign vessels, which remain under the National Quarantine Office.
- A vermin abatement program under the supervision of the local health office must be maintained for public places operated by the local government unit.
- Use of pesticides in a vermin abatement program must be carried out only under the supervision of a licensed urban pest control operator/accredited urban pest control applicator.
- Community fogging or spraying must be done on a selective basis, including in circumstances such as epidemics/calamities, evacuation areas, and preparatory operations for holding massive public assemblies (e.g., jamboree, youth camps), and in high vermin density areas, among others.
- Vermin abatement program planning and execution must align with the required control methods and operational rules for each covered setting.
Control rules for public places
- Public places must use insect control measures including:
- larviciding and other biological control methods,
- improvement/removal/recycling/elimination/cleaning of potential harborages and breeding areas (including unsanitary toilets, animal manure, open garbage containers, garbage dumping places, open sewers, drainage, and decaying organic matters),
- destruction of adult insects through fogging, misting, residual spraying, dusting, poisoning, trapping, and swatting,
- warding off and repelling adult insects through botanical, electrical, and biological methods,
- maintenance of wastewater drains and storm water canals with regular declogging of sewers and waterways,
- screening/trapping of solid wastes, skimming floating debris, and removing underwater debris of tributary outlets,
- covering/screening (mosquito net gauge no. 16 wire mesh) or decanting (every seven (7) days) all water stock containers,
- changing water in flower vases every three (3) days,
- spraying drainage canal water, stagnant pools, or other running water with larvicides once every seven (7) days or as often as necessary to prevent mosquito propagation,
- filling or cleaning potential egg-laying areas (cracks and crevices),
- preventing water accumulation in containers such as tin cans, tin boxes, broken/empty bottles, old tires, and similar articles,
- providing insect egg traps for dark areas,
- covering exposed foods and food materials,
- maintaining general cleanliness of buildings and premises.
- Public places must use rodent control measures including:
- rat proofing of all buildings,
- eliminating harborages and breeding places, including access to food supplies, water, and nesting sites/materials,
- providing simple inexpensive traps such as egg traps, spring traps, or similar mechanical means,
- providing rat-proofed garbage containers for solid waste disposal,
- trimming tree branches likely to harbor rats,
- applying rodenticide with provisions for emergency instruction in the packaging,
- using natural predators such as cats, dogs, snakes, and birds of prey where applicable.
Requirements for public places establishments and food establishments
- Public places establishments must:
- keep a tight fitting screen for processed foods that attract insects,
- not keep any article or substance in premises that flies, rats, and roaches may breed in,
- use odor control methods to prevent attracting vermin.
- Food-handling, selling, and serving public places establishments must provide insect and fly-proofing facilities, including air curtain and gauge no. 16 wire mesh screen and other food display cabinets.
- Overflow pipes of elevated and ground-level water tanks must be covered with at least gauge no. 16 wire mesh screen.
- Septic tanks must be water tight, and clean outs must be fitted with screens.
- Effluent from septic tanks must not be discharged into curbs, open canals, or the storm drainage system.
- Discharging of sullage in curbs, open canals, or street gutters is prohibited.
- Kitchen waste must be provided with grease traps.
- Tree branches close to buildings must be trimmed/cut to prevent easy access of rodents.
- Biodegradable wastes must be stored and collected in rat-proofed containers with tight fitting lids and managed/segregated/disposed separately from non-biodegradable wastes.
- Food establishments and facilities must:
- maintain door and window screening or rat proofing to exclude vermin,
- protect all openings connecting to outer air with non-corrosive gauge no. 16 wire mesh or finer screen, or with air curtain,
- ensure door screens are tightfitting and self-closing.
- During deratting, fogging, spraying, and disinfecting operations, foodstuffs, utensils, food preparations, and cleaning equipment must be covered to protect against toxic chemical contamination.
- Separate storage facilities must be provided for pesticides, soaps, and chemicals, placed far from food and food utensils.
- Decaying vegetables and garbage must be disposed daily.
- Proper garbage disposal must be maintained with rat-proofed garbage containers for solid waste disposal.
- Residual spraying inside food establishments must be done only as the need arises.
- During emergencies, physical control measures such as electrical devices, miniflame throwers, and flooding of exclusive breeding grounds are allowed if they will not cause nuisance and danger to the public.
- Release of vermin and dissemination of pathogenic organisms must be undertaken only in controlled settings approved by concerned government agencies.
Requirements for buildings and residences
- New buildings and residences must:
- have the floor of the lower story constructed of concrete or other impervious material to render the building vermin-proofed,
- maintain premises in vermin-proofed condition,
- have vermin-proofing plans approved by the local health officer as recommended by the sanitary engineer,
- if the lower story floor is not concrete/impervious, elevate the structure so there is at least 50 cm clear unobstructed space between the bottom of joists and the highest point of ground underneath.
- Repair and maintenance rules require that:
- no occupant, owner, contractor, public utility, company, plumber, or any other person/entity may remove or fail to restore vermin-proofing or make new openings that are not properly closed/sealed against vermin entry.
- If a building or residence is infested, the owner or occupant must proceed and continue in good faith to eradicate vermin by poisoning, trapping, or other appropriate means, preferably supervised by the local health officer or his duly authorized representative.
- Roofs, attics, basements, cellars, courtyards, alleys, and open spaces attached to or adjacent to houses/buildings must be kept free from foodstuffs, garbage, forage, and other materials serving as food or harborage.
- Firewood, scrap lumber, and loose materials adjacent to or under buildings must be properly piled on platforms/stands with at least 50 cm clear space between platform floor and ground.
- Garbage, rubbish, or waste must not be placed, left, dumped, or permitted to accumulate in a way that provides food, harborage, or breeding places for vermin.
- Buildings and residences must be vermin-proofed as much as practicable using materials such as mortar, metal sheet, concrete, wire mesh, or other materials.
- Premises including vacant lots must be kept clean and free of accumulations of junk, debris, and stagnant water by the lot owner or caretaker.
- Tree branches close to houses/buildings must be trimmed/cut to prevent easy access of rodents.
Ports, airports, vessels, aircraft controls
- For ports and airports, the quarantine medical officer (or, in his absence, the local health officer for each port and airport) must take all practicable measures to help keep port and airport installations free of vermin.
- Every port of entry and the area within the perimeter of an airport must be kept free from vectors of diseases of epidemiological significance.
- Disinfection, disinfestation, deratting, and other sanitary operations must be done so that they:
- do not cause undue discomfort or injury to health,
- do not produce deleterious effects on ship/aircraft/vehicle structure or operating equipment,
- do not damage cargo, goods, baggage, or containers.
- Public and private docks and wharves must be constructed and protected to prevent rodents from gaining access thereto or under them at both high and low tide.
- Food stored in docks and wharves must be kept and stored to prevent rodents from gaining access or contacting it.
- For international port and airport, the WHO Guide to Hygiene and Sanitation on Aviation or the International Health Regulations related to vector and rodent control are adapted as part of the implementing rules.
- For vessels/watercraft, ocean-going vessels and domestic passenger and cargo vessels must undergo regular rat infestation inspections, fumigation, and other appropriate rat control measures.
- When required international certificates are expired, the following forms must be issued as follows:
- a Deratting certificate upon completion of fumigation,
- a Deratting exemption certificate if inspection shows rat life is negligible,
- a Deratting extension certificate if formal inspection and issuance will occur in the next port authorized to issue the certificate(s).
- For vessels/watercraft arriving from foreign ports:
- the vessel must be fended immediately upon docking and during the time it lies at a wharf using submerged fender or raft to keep it at least 1.80 meters away from the wharf/dock,
- connecting lines/cables must use circular rat guards 0.90 meter in diameter with a sleeve to keep them about 0.90 meter away from the vessel,
- gang planks and other access means must be well lighted and removed from shore at night and not replaced until sunrise (except during actual loading/unloading),
- cargo nets and similar devices between vessel and shore structure must be removed at night unless in actual use.
- Vessels or aircraft arriving from a plague-infested port, or suspected to carry plague-infected rodents or other dreadful communicable disease/s, must undergo appropriate quarantine measures determined and imposed by the Director of Quarantine.
- Watercraft based on sub-ports plying short distances must be subject to sanitation and rodent inspection by the concerned local health officer.
- Vegetables or farm products shipped in containers from areas with danger of rodent-borne and vector-borne diseases (as determined by the quarantine medical officer) must be boxed/crated and stored in rat-proofed structure prior to the shipment day.
- The owner, agent, master, or other officer in charge of any vessel/watercraft is responsible for compliance with the vessel/watercraft provisions.
- Public utility vehicles must be disinfected prior to departure by the owner/operator to prevent migration of vermin with epidemiological significance.
Inspections, ratings, orders, and permit actions
- The local health officer must cause inspection and evaluation of every urban pest control operator or establishment requiring a sanitary permit at least every three (3) months.
- Additional inspections and re-inspections must be conducted as necessary for enforcement.
- Inspection of the establishment must be conducted within seven (7) working days after payment of the inspection fee to the city/municipal treasurer.
- The National Quarantine Office conducts regular sanitation inspections for areas under its jurisdiction, including ports and airports, vessels and aircraft, and eating and catering establishments in those areas.
- Each sanitation inspection requires a mission order (EHS Form No. 112) issued by the city/municipal health officer or sanitation division/section/unit chief.
- The mission order must show date, mission order number and series, inspector name and ID number, business names and addresses, categories of establishments, and scheduled inspection dates.
- The mission order must be shown to the owner/operator before any inspection.
- Sanitary inspections conducted without a mission order are prohibited.
- The sanitation inspector must wear the prescribed uniform with proper identification card and carry specified inspection equipment and reference materials, including inspection forms and sanitation law/regulatory references.
- The establishment’s inspection must be recorded in EHS Form No. 103-B, and the original report must be furnished to the operator.
- The inspection form has 20 items; non-complying items are marked with an (X), each weighed with demerit of 5, and the rating is 100 minus (number of demerits × 5), expressed as a percentage (%) rating.
- Percentage ratings correspond to sanitation standards and color codes:
- 90–100% = Excellent (Luminous Green),
- 70–89% = Very satisfactory (Luminous Yellow),
- 50–69% = Satisfactory (Luminous Red).
- Establishments with a percentage rating below 50% must be recommended for suspension of operation until compliance.
- A Sanitation Standard Rating Sticker (SSRS, EHS Form No. 104-A/C) must be posted conspicuously, preferably at the door, for guidance of customers, and updated once every three (3) months unless revoked earlier.
- The local health officer/chief must evaluate the average sanitation standard of each operator/establishment at every year end to determine its improvement/maintenance rating.
- If inspection indicates non-complying items, the inspector must notify the operator of required corrections and provide a reasonable compliance period that includes Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.
- Within 48 hours after inspection or evaluation, the original inspection report (EHS Form No. 103-B) and the sanitary order must be furnished and acknowledged by the permit holder/operator through personal delivery or postal service with registered return card.
- If corrections are not effected after deadline re-inspection, the local health officer must report and recommend to the local health authority revocation of the sanitary permit.
- A copy of the inspection form and any notice served must be filed and kept by the local health office and be available for inspection by authorized officials.
Notices, hearings, revocation, and summary suspension
- When inspection/evaluation indicates non-complying items, the city/municipal health officer must serve a sanitary order requiring remedial action within the stated grace period.
- If the operator does not comply with the first sanitary order, the local health officer may serve a second notice.
- The owner may request an extension of grace period by written request filed prior to expiration of the sanitary order.
- The local health officer acts on the extension recommendation from the sanitation engineer/sanitation inspector.
- The local health officer must call the holder of the sanitary permit to show cause via Notice of Hearing (EHS Form No. 118) at a specified time and place for why the permit should not be revoked.
- After prior notices and hearing, if the local health officer is satisfied that two notices were not complied with or non-compliance is not excusable, the local health officer recommends to the local health authority revocation of the permit.
- After the second sanitary order on an extended grace period and re-inspection shows failure to comply, the local health officer must recommend revocation without delay and must inform other related agencies in the city/municipality of the revocation.
- If the operator complies with the notices, the local health officer may recommend lifting suspension.
- If dissatisfied with the local health officer’s action, the operator may file a motion for reconsideration with the local health authority.
- The local health authority may file court proceedings against any establishment continuously operating after revocation of its permit.
- Summary suspension: If the local health officer finds unsanitary or unhealthy conditions posing a substantial hazard to public health, the local health officer may recommend to the local health authority the immediate suspension of the sanitary permit.
- Any person receiving an order must be afforded a hearing within 48 hours after issuance of the summary suspension order.
- Appeals: The person or panel conducting the hearing may confirm, modify, or reverse the decision, and the resulting decision is final.
- The local health authority may conduct hearings regarding erring establishments, including appeals; the local health authority’s decision is deemed final and executory.
Entry powers and inspection conduct
- A sanitation inspector, sanitary engineer, or duly authorized Department of Health or provincial/city/municipal health officer may enter premises at all reasonable times upon presentation of proper credentials for inspection or other actions necessary for administration and enforcement.
- Sanitary inspections must be conducted under the mission order and procedures required for inspection of establishments.
- Sanitary inspections should be conducted preferably while the establishment is in operation.
Local health authority responsibilities
- The local health authority enforces the provisions of these rules and regulations.
- The local health authority directs the local health officer to conduct periodic sanitary inspections and to identify insect and rodent problem areas.
- For identified problem areas, the local health authority must prepare control programs and conduct public health campaigns involving the community, government agencies, and private sector.
- The local health authority must institute education and training programs on pest management for local personnel overseeing pest control operations of public health importance based on sound ecological principles.
- Vermin control in public places owned, operated, or managed by the local government unit is the responsibility of the local health authority with jurisdiction.
- The local health authority must approve vermin abatement program procedures and frequency based on existing local conditions.
- If owners/operators/administrators fail to maintain a vermin abatement program, the local health authority must undertake the work at the owners’/operators’/administrators’ expense.
Penalties for violations
- Any