COMMENTARY: Why Our Laws are Not Working in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS
By BRUCE VILLAFUERTE RIVERA
My obsession with the HIV situation in the Philippines is the reason why even if I will lose the interest of my readers, I will not stop talking about it until statistics will change. It bothers me why this country with one of the highest literacy rate in the world, the highest exporters of allied medical professionals and the second most populous Catholic country in the world is one of the leading HIV/AIDS hotspots. We are sharing the accolade with African states where illiteracy is prevalent and clearly the rising HIV incidence is understandable.
Reading with myopic intent the contents of Republic Act No. 8504 or the Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998, I am perplexed at how outdated the law has become despite the fact that it is only 17 years old. Sadly, almost all our laws are outdated, thanks in turn to our prolific Congress. We have a penal code that still punishes crimes like duel or gambling games like pangingge and kara y cruz and the law is toothless against text scams and internet schemes. But that is another story.
Before I talk about the law, let me make this admonition to my friends in the gay community, particularly on the straight acting, closet, confused, tripper, MSM and even those who refuse to admit their homosexuality:
Let us call it at it is. While it is true that anyone can have HIV/AIDS, the reality in the Philippines is that majority of the HIV transmissions are due to men having sex with men or MSM and a small portion due to intravenous drug use.
Is it stereotyping? Hell, no. Statistics do not lie and ever since the alarming rise of transmission started, it has always been the trend. Furthermore, the manner the virus is transmitted is more conducive in homosexual coitus. The multiplicity of partners, the cruising attitude and “aura” are endemic gay practices and considered normal to most.
So let us not be too sensitive with the public perception that we are harbingers of the disease because it is true. What is black is black and pink should not be white. Being too defensive is the reason why the stigma persists.
Taking accountability, accepting it as a fact and working to change the statistics will yield better results than fighting all those insensitive and ignorant people who proudly showcase their handicap in social media.
However, our laws are sadly deficient to address the problem. RA 8504 needs to be amended and fast. Allow me to point some aspects that need to be legislated to give more teeth in the fight to control the disease.
First, there is a need to distinguish an HIV positive person from a full-blown AIDS patient. The present law gives an impression that both are the same conditions because of its silence on the matter. If the law spells out the difference, the institutions mandated to implement and create policies will be able to make more detailed and sensible actions.
Second, the law fails to highlight the ways by which the disease is transmitted. Worst, it gives the impression that HIV/AIDS is contagious. It fails to point out that the weakened immune system is the one that attracts opportunistic diseases which may be contagious. While implementing rules may be able to point that out, the reality is, somehow it is lost in translation in its implementation.
Third, the law gives much of the implementation to government agencies that lack the necessary technical exposure to validly quasi-legislate HIV prevention. Sadly, the government mandate given by the law focused more on the matter of post transmission, testing, confidentiality and counseling. Preventing the transmission of the disease by focusing on the high-risk groups needs to be legislated and given equal emphasis.
Regulate the operation of establishment of places (motels, bathhouses, gay bars, massage parlors, spas, movie houses and fitness centers) frequented by high-risk groups (MSM, IV drug users, etc.) to make sure condoms and IV needles are readily available or even, provided for free by the government as a condition for granting of permits.
The present law allows condoms to be distributed with the statement that abstinence and having one sexual partner is the best form of prevention. However, that is not reality-based and merely reinforces the guilt of being promiscuous that causes them to hide.
While religious groups will condemn the action as promoting sexual promiscuity or drug use; the cold, hard truth is that it happens despite the condemnation. Having condoms or needles around will give them the message that the problem is so severe that government will give it for free just to save lives.
Fourth, there is an urgent need to make HIV/AIDS education more pro-active and repetitive. While sex education is taught in basic education, there is a need to broaden the scope of sex education to include HIV prevention.
It must begin with recognizing the fact that sex education must not be homophobic. Teaching about sex should not be about how our faith sees it but should be reality-based, technical and honest. We should teach them that even though the penis enters the vagina most of the time during a sexual act thereby creating babies, it is not true all the time.
It is imperative to explain that there is a specific group of people who do not follow the conventional way of copulation and the ways to be protected from diseases like STD and HIV. Presently, a homosexual child is growing up confused and ignorant about sex. Proper sex education will create the attitude of responsibility and self-preservation and will minimize the trial and error attitude that gays resort to growing up. This is the disturbing reason why a substantial number of HIV+ patients are gays under 15 years old.
The Sexual Harassment Law mandates all companies and schools to have seminars on a yearly basis to regularly inform employees and students on the issue of sexual harassment or risk being prosecuted for harassment itself. That same amount of vigilance is required in cases of HIV information.
Lastly, and let me say this in the most diplomatic way I know how: HIV should not be romanticized and glamorized. It just sends the wrong message. Filipinos need to be shocked and jolted with fear to get the point. Beautiful people portraying HIV, their smooth skin, red lips and healthy pink smiles do not show us the urgency and seriousness of the HIV problem in the Philippines.
Because this is the reality of the HIV situation in the Philippines: There is no reason to smile. And the law is not helping anymore.
Bruce Villafuerte Rivera is a lawyer, law professor, and member of the LGBT community.