A few days ago, Miss Universe 2016 and advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness, Pia Wurtzbach, made a startling, yet outstanding statement on Instagram about the shameful and illegal nature of public outing of one’s HIV status that shook the online world. In her post, she addressed a recent drug bust by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that led to a public outing of one of the 11 supposedly gay men who were arrested for dealing drugs. Saying, “Being gay is not a crime! Living with HIV is not a punishment! Come on, Philippines. We are already taking small steps forward to improve acceptance, tolerance and understanding. We cannot take big steps back.”
Pia stresses how as an advocate, she is fighting hard to remove the stigma against HIV/AIDS and create a friendly environment for people to come out and get treated for the disease, but incidents like this worsen the situation. Instead, it perpetuates the stigma of how being gay, doing drugs, and having HIV is all connected even though in fact HIV is a disease that can be transmitted to anyone, regardless of sexual orientation or drug use.
In fact, according to the Department of Health (DOH), the Philippines ranks number one, as the country with the fastest growth of new HIV in Asia Pacific region, with 140% increase from 2010 to 2016. So far, 46,985 people have been tested positive for HIV since the first case was recorded in 1984. And, yet, we’re still behind when it comes to openess about it and accessibility for treatment.
That is, until yesterday.
Yesterday, Dec. 4, the “Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act” of House Bill 6617 passed 188 in affirmation, 0 in negation, and 0 in abstentions, in the House. A huge step forward. It’s safe to say that the House is truly in support for the bill that will strengthen the Philippine Comprehensive Policy on HIV and AIDS, treatment, care and support for people living with HIV, and so are we.
With the bill, different projects covering the country’s response to HIV/AIDS, to getting better prevention, treatment, care and support for the people infected, and to educating the public about the disease through HIV/AIDS prevention programs will all be taken into consideration. Now, the bill is yet to pass a series of readings through the Senate and signed by President Duterte to become a law, but we’re crossing our fingers.
By Jessa Marie Barbosa