IF THE proposed amendatory ordinance authored by City Councilor Joel Alangsab will be approved by the City Council all schools in the City of Baguio will soon issue identification cards that will reflect the blood type of the students, among the other pertinent data required to be contained in such IDs’.
In the explanatory note of his proposal Councilor Alangsab pointed out that the House of Representatives in Congress has unanimously approved on final reading House Bill No. 1530 otherwise known as the “Blood Type Identification Act”. As further explained in the proposed amendatory measure the said House Bill aims to facilitate medical treatment and ensure the safety of patients, especially in the transfusion of blood during medical emergencies.
However it was observed by Councilor Alangsab that the coverage of the said proposed national law is limited to government issued identification cards, particularly the following, to wit: "Section 4. Coverage. – The following government issued documents shall bear the blood type of an individual, to wit: (a) Identification card issued by the Social Security System (SSS), the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), passport by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and professional identification card by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC); (b) Birth Certificate issued by the Local Registrar’s Office or the National Statistics Office (NSO); (c) Driver’s license issued by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and Firearms license issued by the Philippine National Police (PNP); and (d) Such other certificates, licenses or identification documents that have yet to be issued by agencies to be created after the effectivity of this act."
The aldermen then noted that in 1994 the City Council approved Ordinance numbered 093 which required all schools in the City of Baguio to issue their students or pupils identification cards (IDs’) which shall bear among other data the birthdate, persons to contact in case of emergency, and city address of the student or pupil enrolled in their respective educational institutions. As correctly observed by Councilor Alangsab the said city ordinance did not require the inclusion of a blood type as one of the data that should be reflected in the ID issued to the student and that the said local measure specifically covered students only. He then cited the reason for the House Bill which observed, “that accidents and other medical emergency situations affect and happen to everyone, thus, in case of emergency which results in excessive blood loss, immediate matching of the correct blood type may be transfused in order to save the life of the victim. Knowledge of one’s blood type is important for both the recipient and the donor for the immediate transfusion of the appropriate blood.
Hence the proposed amendatory ordinance filed by Councilor Alangsab.
Under his proposed amendment, all schools in the City of Baguio will be required to issue IDs for their students and pupils that shall bear, among other data and information, the blood type of the student or pupil.