Fears of the possible spread of swine flu to the Philippines has prompted a congressman to revive a measure that seeks to create a public health emergency council in the event of a pandemic.

Muntinlupa Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon on Monday urged President Arroyo to certify as urgent House Bill No. 72, which seeks to create the Public Health Emergency Council. He said the council will handle all public health emergencies such as infectious disease outbreaks or even biological, chemical or nuclear weapon attack..

"If passed into law, the PHEC is convened immediately after the President declares a State of Public Health Emergency. In order to address and contain the effects of such a threat to public health, the PHEC shall formulate the Public Health Emergency Plan which shall detect, prevent the spread, contain and manage public health emergencies resulting from an outbreak of highly contagious or infectious diseases, or even biological, chemical or nuclear attack," Biazon said in a statement.

He said the council, in coordination with other national and local government agencies, is empowered to take control of private medical facilities if government facilities are insufficient during the state of public health emergency. He said the council could also control pharmaceutical agents and medical supplies, implement quarantine of persons, facilities and materials, and even impose disposal measures for the remains of persons who died of highly infectious diseases.

Among the other powers of the council is the management of information to ensure that the public is adequately informed about the public health emergency while at the same time balance the information to prevent panic and misinformation.

Biazon said he first filed  HB 72 in 2003 at the onset of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak six years ago.

"While the Philippines successfully withstood the SARS pandemic six years ago, the country was not able to establish and institutionalize measures to counteract future infectious disease outbreaks and even biological attacks from terrorists. What the government did was only to implement reactionary measures specific to the SARS outbreak at that time," he said.

Fears of a global swine flu pandemic grew with new infections in the United States and Canada on Sunday, and millions of Mexicans hid indoors to avoid a virus that has already killed up to 81 people.

While the only deaths have been in Mexico, the flu is spreading with 20 cases in the United States and six in Canada, and possible cases as far afield as Europe, Israel and New Zealand.

The United States declared a public health emergency and a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, said she feared there would be deaths in the United States as the new strain of flu spreads.

The Mexican capital, one of the world's biggest cities, slowed to a snail's pace as millions of residents stayed at home, fearing infection. Many who ventured out wore masks.

The World Health Organization in Switzerland on Sunday said it is highly concerned about the outbreak of the new AH1N1I swine virus strain which combines genetic material from birds, swine and humans.

"We still  have lots of information that needs to be clarified in terms of transmissibility of the virus and exactly how many people are affected, and we are still waiting for our laboratory results for Mexico. But for several factors this is an unusual enough event for us to be very concerned," WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl said.

DA bans US, Mexico pork imports

The Department of Health (DOH) said it is preparing for the possible spread of the virus in Asia and the Philippines.

Dr. Eric Tayag of the National Epidemiology Center said the swine influenza can be transmitted through the air or through direct contact with an infected subject. He said transmission can be from pig-to-human and human-to-human.

“Swine flu is just like your seasonal flu, wherein patients will come down with high fever, sore throat, and they feel tired. You may also feel nauseous,” Tayag said.

The DOH said it has also alerted its hospitals and has prepared anti-viral medicines in case of an epidemic.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has ordered its concerned agencies to ban the importation of hogs from the US and Mexico. 

"As a precautionary measure I ordered BAI (Bureau of Animal Industry) to strengthen the monitoring of all the ports of entry to prevent the entry of any hogs/pork from Mexico and US,” Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said in a statement.

The DA will also augment quarantine checkpoints in provinces and will lift restrictions on the use of swine influenza vaccine in local hog farms.

"As of today there's no ongoing outbreak of swine flu in the Philippines. I've also ordered the BAI to lift the restriction in the use of SI vaccine and encourage hog farmers to regularly vaccinate their pigs (herd) against SI as the vaccine will be readily available," Yap said.