PAWS Is Pushing for a National Standard to Give Chickens Better Lives in the Philippines

Every year, around 1.1 billion broiler chickens are eaten in the Philippines. Most spend their short lives in crowded sheds with little to do. PAWS launched The Better Chicken Option (TBCO) in 2020 to change that. It sets out seven standards: more space, litter flooring, enrichment, slower-growing breeds, adequate light, rest hours and welfare-friendly stocking densities.

Starting small: The UPLB pilot farm

PAWS ran a pilot farm with the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). In the experiment, they compared fast-growing and slower-growing broilers, each raised either in a conventional set-up or in a TBCO environment.

Regardless of strain, birds raised in TBCO systems showed significant benefits for gut health and welfare. In sensory tests, the meat looked, smelled, tasted and felt the same across both strains and both systems.

The researchers were also candid about the hurdles. Higher input costs and volatile prices for live chickens could squeeze farmers’ margins. They recommended larger trials in tunnel-ventilated houses, along with more research on feeding slower-growing birds.

Taking it to commercial farms

PAWS acted on that advice. It first tested platforms and pecking materials on three open-sided partner farms. It then extended the trial to a 40,000-bird tunnel-ventilated farm in Davao to see whether enrichment could work at scale.

Welfare assessments recorded strong scores for footpads, hocks, feathers and walking ability, and production efficiency stayed comparable between enriched and standard flocks. Farmers also gained hands-on experience of installing and maintaining enrichment, and learned practical lessons about durability, cleaning and stocking.

Building demand at the other end

Better farms need buyers. PAWS created its Pet Friendly Seal, which certifies businesses that genuinely welcome pets, with TBCO in mind. Talking with restaurants about dogs and cats opened the door to talking about where their chicken comes from. From there, PAWS mapped a pathway from awareness to a pledge, a sourcing plan, a pilot purchase, and finally full implementation.

Restaurant brands with nearly 250 branches between them have engaged with TBCO, including Figaro Coffee Company, Angel’s Pizza, Tien Ma’s and Binalot. Figaro now offers menu items that support the programme and is looking into higher-welfare chicken suppliers.

When one door closes, find another

PAWS first tried to write TBCO standards into the implementing rules of the Philippines’ Animal Welfare Act. That would have made higher welfare mandatory, but industry met it with strong resistance, and the route stalled.

Rather than keep pushing at a closed door, PAWS changed direction.  Instead, they proposed a voluntary Philippine National Standard (PNS) for higher-welfare broiler production. Farms could choose to adopt it, buyers could source against it, and consumers could one day recognise it on a label.

The proposal arrived with real weight behind it: evidence from the trials and growing interest from restaurants. The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) endorsed it, and the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS) accepted it. TBCO will enter the PNS development pipeline from 2028, and PAWS has been assured a seat on the Technical Working Group that will draft the standard. A voluntary standard also gives producers room to take part rather than push back.

What PAWS has learned

PAWS is clear that evidence alone does not change systems, and policy reform is slow even when a proposal is strong. Farmers and companies need to see business value alongside welfare value. That means talking in their terms: weight, feed conversion, mortality, labour and cost. The biggest barrier is still higher production costs, and farmers need confidence that consumers will pay for better chicken.

So PAWS keeps working at both ends at once, on the farms and at the restaurant counter, so that when the standard arrives, farmers and buyers are ready to use it.