Representative Leah Paquiz of the ANG NARS partylist group, said her proposal  aims “to establish and maintain a system that integrates scientific progress and its practical applications into a comprehensive program that will reduce cancer morbidity and mortality in the Philippines.”

The ANG NARS   is a partylist ally of the National Unity Party (NUP) under the Coalition for Peace and Development.

"The Department of Health identifies cancer as the third leading cause of death in the country, afflicting 189 per 100,000 Filipinos. Cancer kills 103 Filipinos daily or four  die per hour, and one out of five is expected to acquire cancer up to the age of seventy-five," Paquiz said.

In her proposed law—House Bill 5321—the National Cancer Care, Research and Development Authority shall replace and absorb the National Cancer Institute of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) and the personnel and functions pertaining to the Department of Health.

Paquiz said the National Cancer Authority  is mandated to formulate, implement and  update a comprehensive cancer control program in the country.

The Authority shall also be the national referral and coordinating center for cancer patients and shall promote  “evidence-based, multidisciplinary early detection, screening, diagnosis and treatment of cancer,” Paquiz added.

"At present, there is a low cancer prevention and consciousness rate in the country and most cancer patients seek consultation only at advanced stages," Paquiz noted.

She noted a report by the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology in 2012 which revealed the Philippines at the center of the fight against breast cancer in Asia, with the highest incidence of breast cancer in the continent.

Paquiz also cited a DOH  study showing that top cancer diseases in the country include cancers of the lung/larynx, liver and colon/rectum/larynx.

“These are cancers whose major cases are known and where action can therefore be taken for primary prevention,” she pointed out.