[2] It is currently headed by cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Avenilo L. Aventura, Jr.[7][8] The Philippine Heart Center was established through Presidential Decree No.

"[11] The hospital was built using 50% of the national health budget, according to Senator Jose W. Diokno, "while around the country, Filipinos were dying of curable illnesses like TB [tuberculosis], whooping cough, and dysentery.

[citation needed] Cardiovascular specialists including Christiaan Barnard, Denton Cooley, Donald Effler, and Charles Bailey practised there.

[13][14] The first Director of the PHC was Avenilo P. Aventura (1974-1986), a cardiovascular surgeon who performed many pioneering operations in the Philippines including the first successful renal transplantation in 1970, the first CABG in 1972, and developed and implanted the first ASEAN bioprosthesis, the PHCA porcine valve.

[7] The hospital building was designed by Filipino architect Jorge Ramos[17] in what has been described as a Brutalist style.