Cayetano made the proposal in her sponsorship speech of Senate Bill No. 2012 during the Senate plenary session where she called on the Department of Health (DoH) to adopt an awareness program to stem the rise in the number of liver cancer among Filipinos.

“Hepatitis-B is a silent killer, more infectious than AIDS. It has no recognizable signs or symptoms until severe damage has occurred,” she said.

“Antibiotics cannot cure hepatitisB infection. Even good eating habits and physical exercise cannot cure hepatitis-B. The only way to prevent hepatitis-B is to start from the beginning — that is implementing a universal infant immunization, the most effective way to fight the disease,” she added.

Cayetano said liver cancer is the fourth most common cancer among Filipinos — second most common in males and seventh in females.

The Philippine Cancer Society estimated that 7,477 Filipinos would die of liver cancer, second to lung cancer with estimated annual deaths of 15,881.

Cayetano said an estimated eight million Filipinos are carriers and would continue to infect more Filipinos unless government adopts more aggressive measures to address the dreaded disease.

She said prevention is the key to fight the high incidence of hepatitis-B and liver cancer and that immunization of babies ensures that they would be protected against the disease.

The Cayetano bill requires that infants born in their houses should be brought to the hospital, clinic, or health care facility for immunization within 24 hours after birth but not later than seven days.

“For only P45 per child, we can stop the spread of hepatitis-B which is the cause of 70 percent of liver cancer cases,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano said hepatitis-B could be prevented by three doses of immunization during infancy. Immunization ensures infants of 95 percent protection if three doses of the vaccine are administered.

The DoH said a person infected with hepatitis-B needs at least P400,000 for six months for injections.

A tablet, which costs P160 to P250, should be taken by a patient everyday for a minimum of one and a half years. Liver transplant costs a minimum of P3 million in Taiwan and more in other countries.

Cayetano also cited the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) seeking the integration of the hepatitis-B vaccine into the national immunization program of all countries.

“Only compulsory immunization, regardless of whether the mother is positive for HBV, can reduce the number of new infections and move us closer to achieving our national goal of a healthier Philippines,” she said.

Cayetano cited a WHO data which estimated that more than two billion of the global population have been infected and about 360 million people are chronic carriers of the hapatitis-B virus whose complications kill about 500,000 to 700,000 people a year.

This means that it is 100 times easier to transmit the hepatitis-B virus than AIDS.

Although most people are infected in infancy or childhood, most deaths from hepatitis-B are in adulthood, as a result of cirrhosis or liver cancer, both of which are strongly associated with the virus.

Cayetano said her own father, the late Sen. Renato Cayetano, fought a long battle with liver cancer.

“Having personally experienced how it is to live with the destruction wrought by hepatitis-B, I am fully aware of the pain and suffering caused to both the patient and his family. I thus urgently appeal and press for the passage of this measure to prevent hepatitis-B from claiming further lives,” she said.

WHO listed hepatitis-B as most severe in Southeast Asia and Western Pacific, having the highest incidence in the world. About 78 percent of chronic carriers are in Asia.

The lady senator cited studies which show that there is a 90 percent chance that pregnant women who are hepatitis-B carriers can pass the virus on to their newborns at delivery. Infants that acquired the virus from their mothers face a much higher risk of chronic infection (90 percent) and death (23 percent) than adults.

Cayetano said most East Asian and Southeast Asian countries like Taiwan which introduced mass vaccination programs during the late 1980s and mid-1990s have since experienced a drastic decline in the number of hepatitis-B virus carriers and the number of patients with liver cancer.

At present, some 500 million persons worldwide have been given the hepatitis-B vaccine.

“The objective is clear. Hepatitis-B vaccination saves lives. It certainly isn’t yet too late for us to save lives than our own. The Constitution mandates us to protect and promote the right to health and ensure the survival, protection and development of the present and future generations. Let us join hands in supporting the passage of this important legislation,” Cayetano said.