Secretary Mario Montejo (DOST), Secretary Enrique Ona (DOH), Chancellor Manuel Agulto (UP Manila) and Chair Patricia Licuanan (CHED) are set to sign the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the “Philippine National Health Research System Act of 2013” this September.

To fully implement the PNHRS Act of 2013, the IRR lay down the guidelines on institutionalizing the Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) including the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB) and regional health research system.

Prior to the signing, the IRR went through a series of public consultations with health research stakeholders in Davao, Iloilo, and Manila on June 25, 26, and 28, 2013. Participants came from the academe, medical institutions, government offices, non-government organizations, media, and international organizations. The Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD), Department of Health (DOH), Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and University of the Philippines Manila-National Institutes of Health (UPM-NIH), the PNHRS implementing institutions, spearheaded these consultations.

A web-based consultation was also held from July 9 to 11, 2013 to reach the online community and obtain important comments, suggestions, and recommendations on the IRR.

After the series of consultations, implementing agencies consolidated the comments of the stakeholders before the review of the legal officers on the final version of IRR.