By Camile A. Aguinaldo
THE Senate on Monday, May 21, approved on third and final reading the proposed measure strengthening the government’s response to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic in the country.
Senate Bill No. 1390 or the proposed HIV-AIDS Policy Act was approved with 14 affirmative votes, zero negative vote, and no abstention.
The bill seeks to repeal Republic Act No. 8504 or the Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998 and address the rising incidence of HIV/AIDS by adopting a “newer evidence-based, human rights-informed, and gender transformative strategies to prevent and treat the epidemic.”
Senate committee on health chair Joseph Victor G. Ejercito and Senator Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel sponsored the bill, which was also identified as a priority bill in the Senate’s May session.
Its counterpart measure at the House of Representatives has been approved on third and final reading last December.
“It is unfortunate that young people are at the losing end of the struggle versus HIV. With his measure, we will mainstream HIV prevention and treatment for the youth,” Ms. Baraquel said in a statement, citing figures which indicated that 80% of the 31 reported daily cases of HIV infection were from the 15 to 30 year-old bracket.
Under the proposed measure, the government is mandated to improve access to HIV services as well as ensure social and financial risk protection for those who need access to the services.
It would allocate more funds on HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment. It also would mandate to provide an “up-to-date” education about HIV and AIDS in schools, communities, workplaces and other vulnerable areas.
The bill also called on the private and public sectors to prevent acts of discrimination against persons living with HIV and provide procedures to address discrimination.
A human rights provision was also included in the bill mandating the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to develop redress mechanisms to protect the civil, political, economic and social rights of persons coping with HIV.
The bill also provided a penalty of imprisonment of six months to two years and a fine between P50,000 to P150,000 for disclosing HIV status.
A higher penalty of five to seven years of imprisonment and a fine between P350,000 to P500,000 would be imposed on health professionals, workers, employers, recruitment agencies, insurance companies, data encoders or any custodian of any medical record breaching the confidentiality of HIV status.
The Department of Health (DoH) said the number of HIV/AIDS cases has been on the rise, recording 11,103 cases in 2017. The United Nations also indicated the Philippines as having the highest HIV infection rate in the Asia-Pacific, registering a 140% increase.
