House OKs bill on measures to prevent HIV spread, discrimination

The House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading a measure which seeks to strengthen the existing policy aimed at preventing further spread of the HIV/AIDS in the country.

With a vote of 188 in the affirmative, zero negative and zero abstentions, the chamber approved House Bill 6617, or the proposed "Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act."

The measure seeks to beef up the Philippine Comprehensive Policy on HIV and AIDS, treatment, care and support for People Living with HIV and amend RA 8504, otherwise known as the "Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998."

The Senate version of the bill is pending second reading approval.

Aside from this, the measure reconstitutes and streamlines the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC), guaranteeing proper implementation of the country's response to HIV/AIDS.

The bill likewise forms a six-year National Multi-Sectoral HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan or an AIDS Medium-Term Plan (AMTP) to be updated periodically by the PNAC.

The AMTP spells out the country's targets and strategies to address HIV/AIDS. These include the prevention, treatment, care and support, and other components of response to the epidemic, and the six-year operationalization of the program, including identifying government agencies to implement the program, budgetary requirement and corollary investment plan.

The bill likewise aims to educate the public on the dangers of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections through an HIV/AIDS prevention program.

This will be participated or conducted in learning institutions, workplace settings, Filipinos going abroad, tourists and transients, communities, information on prophylactics and now, in key affected populations and vulnerable communities and prisons and other closed settings.

At the same time, the bill promotes the positive role of PLHIV, including their rights and welfare as well as that of affected children, young people, their families and partners.

Unlike in the old law where PLHIV is obliged to disclose his/her HIV status to his/her partner, the bill only strongly encourages disclosure of a person's health condition.

A PLHIV may also seek help from health professionals, peer educators or social workers for support in disclosing his/her health condition to his/her partner or spouse, provided that confidentiality is observed.

The Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority will be mandated to integrate basic and age-appropriate instruction on the causes, modes of transmission, and effects of HIV infection.

Furthermore, all public and private employers and employees, including the military and the police, will be provided regularly with standardized basic information and instruction on HIV/AIDS, primarily on confidentiality and reduction of stigma and discrimination.

Under the bill, discriminatory acts and practices against PLHIV will be prohibited:

•     discrimination in the workplace
•     discrimination in learning institutions
•     restriction on travel and habitation
•     restriction on shelter
•     inhibition from public services
•     exclusion from credit and insurance services
•     discrimination in hospitals and health institutions
•     denial of burial services
•     acts of bullying

In explaining her vote, Dinagat Islands Representative Kaka Bag-ao, one of the primary authors of the bill, highlighted the importance of passing the measure, given the alarming rate of increase of new HIV cases in the country.

"Kailangan lang bigyang diin na hindi natin tinatalakay ang panukalang ito ngayon dahil lamang sa World AIDS Day na naganap noong nakaraang linggo, kundi dahil linggo-linggong tumataas ang bilang ng mga kaso ng HIV sa bansa," she said.

"Dahil araw-araw na nakakaranas ng diskriminasyon at panghihina ng loob ang mga persons living with HIV o mga PLHIV; at dahil sa bawat araw na dumadaan na hindi tayo nagtatakda ng mas epektibong mga tugon sa isyung ito, araw-araw rin nating hinahayaan na mas lumaki nang lumaki ang suliraning kinahaharap natin," she added.

The Philippines has experienced the fastest growth in the number of new HIV cases in the Asia Pacific region, at 140 percent increase from 2010 to 2016, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

DOH data released in August this year showed that 46,985 people have tested positive for HIV since the first case was recorded in the country in 1984.

In 2022, the number of people living with HIV in the country may reach 142,000, which may double by 2030, at an estimated 313,000. —NB/RSJ, GMA News