ILOILO – Provincial Board members approved a proposed ordinance that makes preventing rabies central to responsible pet ownership.
Provincial Ordinance No. 2018-177, or the Responsible Pet Ownership Ordinance of the Province of Iloilo 2018, seeks a compulsory vaccination of all rabies-susceptible pets.
The measure punishes anyone keeping dogs and cats that have not been inoculated with a rabies vaccine as pets.
In promoting the “right to health of the people,” the ordinance introduces a system for the control, prevention and eradication of human and animal rabies.
Among the responsibilities of pet owners is ensuring that their pets do not cause any harm on other people, the ordinance stated.
Owners must provide their pets adequate health care and access to proper medical care, and must not abandon them when sick or dying, the measure added.
Meanwhile city/municipal veterinary offices and municipal agriculture offices must make sure all registered dogs and cats are inoculated with the rabies vaccine one year after the first vaccination or in accordance with the labels of the Bureau of Food and Drugs-licensed rabies vaccines, stated the ordinance.
Any pet owner opposing this prescribed period for revaccination will be penalized.
Punishments for violations of the ordinance are as follows:
* Any person, business, establishment, group, or organization liable under the ordinance shall be punished by admonition and a fine of P1,000 or imprisonment of not more than three days at the discretion of the court.
* A second conviction for any act punishable under the ordinance shall be penalized by a fine of P2,000 or imprisonment of not more than five days at the discretion of the court.
* A third and succeeding convictions shall be penalized by a fine of P3,000 or imprisonment of 10 days at the discretion of the court.
The amount that will be accumulated through the fines will be distributed as follows: 40 percent to the barangay, 40 percent to the municipal government, and 20 percent to the provincial government.
Capitol must provide a P200,000 seed funding for the first year of implementation of the ordinance under the Provincial Veterinary Office.
Half of the amount will be used for advocacy activities, the other half for the printing of citation tickets and other expenses.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan approved the proposed ordinance on third and final reading on Nov. 6. Board member Liecel Mondejar-Seville (2nd District), chairwoman of the committee on health and sanitation, sponsored the measure.
The ordinance takes effect after Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. approves it and it gets published in a newspaper of general circulation./PN
