The Philippines has no clear system in place for the management of biological and chemical threats. The objective of this paper is to help shape public policy that will guide the country's public health system in dealing with this problem. To do this, the paper attempts to measure the level of awareness of biological and chemical threats to public health and safety in the Philippines; to assess the response capacity of the country; and to identify lessons from the experience of other countries that can be applied in the Philippine setting.
It is proposed that in the Philippines, the greater threat is the non-terrorist threats like disease outbreaks and accidental chemical release, including oil spills. The social and economic impacts of these threats are emphasized.
It is recommended that the Philippine government embark on several measures, viz, education of the public, and enhancement of the public health system's capacity to respond through the development of a national database. The need for preventive legislation to regulate materials that can be used in developing weapons and to enable government to monitor activities that may be intended for the dispersal of toxic materials is also stressed