AIDS Law no longer
responds to current sit – PLCPD
By PLCPD
March 25, 2014
QUEZON CITY – The
16-year old AIDS Law (Republic Act 8504 or the National AIDS
Prevention and Control Act of 1998) which contains provisions that no
longer respond to the current challenges of the concentrated HIV
epidemic in the Philippines must be amended, the legislators group,
PLCPD (Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and
Development), said in a press conference today in Quezon City.
When the first civil
society-initiated bill on comprehensive prevention, treatment, care
and support was filed in Congress in September 2011, the accumulated
HIV cases in the Philippines since 1984 were 7,684. After only two
years, the cumulative documented cases of HIV rose to 16,516 as shown
in the December 2013 AIDS Registry. It took the country almost ten
(10) years before it reached its ten thousandth mark - from 1990-2000;
now it took only two (2) years to achieve the same figure, 2011-2013.
“The Filipino people could
not wait any longer for a responsive and comprehensive law. The
urgency of the business at hand is palpable cause for the government
to enact a comprehensive law that will respond to the rapidly evolving
epidemic in the country,” said PLCPD Executive Director Rom Dongeto.
Aside from the rapid
increase in figures, Dongeto said the epidemic profile has also
dramatically changed over the years. The Philippine AIDS Registry
shows that from 1984 to 1990, 60% of HIV infections were among females
while seafarers were the most with HIV infections during the 1990s. In
the January 2014 AIDS Registry, however, 97% of the 448 cases were
among males, 85% of whom are Males having Sex with Males (MSMs)
belonging to the 20-24 age group.
This prompted some PLCPD
member-legislators to file amendments to the law seeking to provide
comprehensive prevention, treatment care and support. More
specifically, the amendments include the removal of barriers to minors
15 years old and above access to basic HIV prevention and treatment
services. This amendment is consistent with the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child which recognizes the evolving capacities of
children.
PLCPD members who have filed
similar amendments to the AIDS Law are Representatives Lani Mercado-Revilla,
Rodel Batocabe, Teddy Baguilat, Kaka Bag-ao, Gus Tambunting and
Senator Pia Cayetano.
Dongeto added that the
government must be able to scale-up and sustain a comprehensive and
responsive effort to address the fast and furious HIV incidence among
populations most at-risk to HIV infections.
While pursuing advocacy for
the bill's approval in Congress, PLCPD has also been organizing
community-based activities with the involvement of key affected
populations to raise awareness on HIV and AIDS. These activities
include a series of theater-forum issue orientations held in Quezon
City, Manila and Caloocan in partnership with Tanghalang Pilipino and
a series of competency building workshop on HIV and AIDS among young
key affected populations from high burden areas namely Quezon City,
Cebu City, Davao City and Pasay City. These activities are supported
by UNICEF under the project titled “Improving Awareness and Action
among Young Key Affected Populations.”