LAW on

SALES
MIDTERM OUTPUT
SUBMITTED TO:
Atty. Vir Celito Raymundo
Law Professor

SUBMITTED BY:
Philippines Says No To Organ Trafficking

Bihag, Bryce T.
MANILA, Philippines.

Student
Six years after
it enacted the law against human organ trafficking, the Philippines can
now enforce it after the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (Iacat) finalized the
implementing rules and regulations.

The ban on trafficking of persons for the purpose of removal or sale of organs is contained in Section 3(a)
of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. However, the particular section of
the law has not been fully implemented due to lack of implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
The IRR was formulated by a technical working group chaired by the Department of Justice and
composed of Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Society of
Nephrology, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Society of Transplant Surgeons,
Philippine Urological Association, National Transplant Ethics Committee, and Kidney Foundation of the
Philippines.

It took effect June 21, 2009.

Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor said violators face up to 20 years imprisonment and a fine
between
P1
million
and
P2
million.
With the IRR already in place and enforceable, the duty and power of government to prosecute
unscrupulous middlemen and other individuals who take advantage of the poor has gained more teeth,
he said.
But he said that transplantation of human organs for medical purposes remains unhampered.
The IRR provides that anyone at least 18 years may donate organs by giving his written consent.
The donation is to be made without any valuable consideration given by the recipient to the donor.
However, reasonable expenses related to the organ donation such as medical and hospital bills, life and
medical insurance, lost wages incurred by the donor, travel, and housing expenses are allowed to be
reimbursed, it said.
An individual may become an organ recipient of a living related voluntary donor or living non-related
voluntary donor for the purpose of therapy. In case of a living non-related voluntary donor, a showing has
to be made that all other members of the immediate family of the recipient have been eliminated as
potential donors, it added.
However, Blancaflor said, a foreigner is prohibited from receiving organs from living non-related Filipino
donors. He said this will prevent rich foreigners from exploiting poor Filipinos.
The IRR requires all hospital administrators to submit to the DoH a monthly report on the
transplantation performed. Failure to do so shall be a basis for administrative sanctions.
The IRR also highlights the responsibility of the DoH to develop a comprehensive program for long-term
monitoring of donors and for further care of donors who may have developed any medical problems after
donation.
By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:26:00 06/24/2009
URL: goo.gl/HQQbz7

Relate the researched article to Law on Sales:

Art. 1459. The thing must be licit and the vendor must have a right to transfer the
ownership thereof at the time it is delivered.

The thing or the object of the contract of sale must be determinate or capable of being
determinate. It also needs to be licit or lawful, that is, it should not be contrary to law,
morals, good customs, public order, and public policy. Third, it should not be
impossible. The object of the contract must be within the commerce of men, which
means that it is legal and its ownership is transferable. Article 1459 of the Philippine
Civil Code requires that the object of the contract of sale must be licit or lawful. Illicit

things are therefore things that are unlawful or illegal. The thing may be illicit per se (of
its nature) or per accidens (because of some provisions of law declaring it illegal).
The preceding article on human trafficking refers to illicit per accidens because the law
declares organ trafficking as illegal. The ban on trafficking of persons for the purpose of
removal or sale of organs is contained in Section 3(a) of Republic Act 9208 or the AntiTrafficking in Persons Act of 2003. Any action against to this provision is considered
illegal.
Since the sale of organ is judged as illicit, it cannot be an object of a contract. Any
contract stipulating the sale of human organs is null and void because it does constitute
a valid object. According to the law, lack of one of the three requisites of a valid object
does not signify a valid object to a contract. With reference to the article, the sale of
human organs is illicit; therefore it is not a valid object. Absence of object does not
create a valid contract of sale since it lacks of one of the essential requisites of the
contract of sale namely: consent, object and the cause. In this case, the object is absent;
therefore, there is no valid contract of sale.