The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, was created in 1992 to study and promote the carabao in the Philippines as a multi-purpose animal that can be raised for milk, meat, hide, and draft[1] [2] [3] [4]. It was sponsored as a bill by the then senator Joseph Estrada and eventually enacted as a law through Republic Act 7307 or the Philippine Carabao Act of 1992.[5]
The PCC had some success in reproductive biotechnology in 2004 when the first test-tube buffalo was born on April 5, also the birthday of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Incidentally, the test-tube buffalo is a female and was named as "Glory" after the President.
Late in 2007, according to Filipino scientists, the Center located in Nueva Ecija initiated a study to breed the super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 liters of milk/day using gene-based technology[5]. The majority of the funding came from the Department of Science and Technology. When this marker-assisted selection process is perfected it will allow the poor farmers to conserve their resources by raising only the best producers that are genetically selected soon after birth.