Philippine Animal Welfare Society

Founded in 1954, PAWS is the Philippines' longest-running animal welfare organization, built on preventing cruelty through education, sheltering, and advocacy. What sets PAWS apart is its scale and institutional influence — it runs a full rehabilitation shelter housing hundreds of dogs and cats in Quezon City, operates a low-cost spay-neuter clinic for underserved communities, and was the driving force behind the Philippine Animal Welfare Act of 1998, the country's first national anti-cruelty law. Rather than focusing purely on rescue, PAWS blends grassroots shelter work with policy-level lobbying, giving it a lasting legislative footprint most smaller rescues don't have the resources to pursue.