R.A 8485 – THE PHILIPPINE ANIMAL WELFARE ACT

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” by Mahatma Gandhi (Indian Philosopher, Internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest, 1869-1948)

I came stumbling into this phrase a long, long time ago and it always made me realize that Gandhi was already ahead thrice or five  times a lifetime than most mortals like us.

Animals, though they come in second to the chain of life in earth, are no more different than us human beings.  They are as intelligent like us, with the chimpanzee, dolphins and orangutans sharing the top 3 positions of smartest animals.  They have their own social and family hierarchy, they celebrate the birth of their kind, look forward to their young entering the clan and they mourn the death of their love ones.  

As far as being rationale, these creatures live a simpler and less complicated life than us.  Food, shelter and survival are their main concern.  They don’t strive to be rich nor aim for power, but they do work hard to provide food for their young and prepare for the rainy reason.  Unlike humans who want to dominate every inch of land, they don’t destroy nature or their habitat. Instead they work and co-exist with the environment for  life. And they only kill for food not for money or for vengeance.  If the animal kingdom aims for sustenance, the human society thrives in complications – we devour lust and we go for dominance.

Thanks to freewill (God’s greatest gift to humanity) we human’s have the freedom to choose what to do, how to feel and how to act. But then again, we have abused that liberty. No wonder human values are loosely set making the family system crumble easily .  This explains why there is morale decay in the society … look at the juvenile delinquents, broken families, animal and environment abuses being committed left and right  …  

Thus it is easy to fathom why there is no such thing as a perfect society or world.  If there exist one, then we’d all want to be there. 

                                          TIARA & TENG-TENG

Here in the Philippines, there stands a law that protects all animals from cruelty and abuse.  It is called Republic 8485 or the Animal Rights Bill:  AN ACT TO PROMOTE ANIMAL WELFARE IN THE PHILIPPINES, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “THE ANIMAL WELFARE ACT OF 1998”.  


The bill holds several sections, but I am only attaching the most significant for me:

 SECTION 6: It shall be unlawful for any person to torture any animal, or to neglect to provide adequate care, sustenance or shelter, or maltreat any animal or to subject any dog or horse to dogfights or horsefights, kill or cause or produce to be tortured or deprived of adequate care sustenance or shelter, or maltreat or use the same in research or experiments not expressly authorized by the Committee on Animal Welfare.

The killing of any animal other than cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, poultry, rabbits, carabaos, horses, deer and crocodiles is likewise hereby declared unlawful except in the following instances:

1. When it is done as part of the religious rituals of an established religion or sect or a ritual by tribal or ethnic custom of indigenous cultural communities. However, leaders shall keep records in cooperation with the Committee on Animal Welfare;
2. When the pet animal is afflicted with an incurable communicable disease/s determined and certified by a duly licensed veterinarian;
3. When the killing is deemed necessary to put an end to the misery suffered by the animal as determined and certified by a duly licensed veterinarian;
4. When it is done to prevent an imminent danger to the life or limb of a human being;
5. When done for the purpose of animal population control;
6. When the animal is killed after it has been used in authorized research or experiments; and
7. Any other ground analogous to the foregoing as determined and certified by a licensed veterinarian.
8. In all the above mentioned cases, including those of cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, poultry, rabbits, carabaos, horses, deer and crocodiles, the killing of the animals shall be done through humane procedure at all times.

For this purpose, humane procedures shall mean the use of the most scientific methods available as may be determined and approved by the committee.

Only those procedures approved by the Committee shall be used in the killing of animals.

SECTION 7: It shall be the duty of every person to protect the natural habitat of the wildlife. The destruction of said habitat shall be considered as a form of cruelty to animals and its preservation is a way of protecting the animals.

SECTION 8: Any person who violates any of the provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction by final judgement, be punished by imprisonment of not less than six (6) months nor more than (2) years or a fine of not less than One Thousand Pesos (P1,000.00) or both at the discretion of the Court. If the violation is committed by a juridical person, the officer responsible thereof shall serve the imprisonment when imposed. If the violation is committed by an alien, he or she shall be immediately reported after the service of sentence without any further proceedings.

Now there are only a handful of organizations and foundations in the country today working and fighting tooth and nail to implement the animal welfare act.  They are PETA, AKF, Cara, Dolphin etc, and of course PAWS.  I am part of PAWS.  I am only one of the hundreds of volunteer who rescues animals from danger and abuse and documents our organizations different activities.

                                         JR. PAWS VOLUNTEER 

But since we are here in the Philippines, it takes a hundred times the effort to monitor all animal abuses and a million times the effort to prevent it from happening.   It gets even doubly harder because the Philippines is a third world country and there are as they say more pressing problems than preventing drunkards from butchering a dog or for a businessman not to put his bet on a dog fight or horse fight.

 I wish the law has more teeth and those seated in power more conscience to implement the law.

So for animal lovers like me, volunteer or not, we make do with what we have.  Every day is a race against time to save and rescue dogs and cats from getting hurt or abused.  Every day is a battle to enforce and implement the law to all.  And every day we don’t stop wishing for the wheels of justice to be served to all animal offenders. Because as our  modern day hero for me, PAWS director Ana Hashim Cabrera loves to say “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world” a quote from Margaret Mead, a US anthropologist & popularizer of anthropology (1901 - 1978). 

I look forward every day for change in the way society will treat the animals and wildlife.  Because if that day ever arrives, when men will treat animals with moral care and compassion, then that will be the day when MEN  finally learns how to act like a REAL HUMAN BEING . And if this day arrives, the greatness of the nation men has built can finally be measured …

                                                    BAWNY