REACTION

HIV infection is definitely one of the leading immunodeficiency in the whole world. Not
only in USA but also here in the Philippines, if you can remember the story of the late “Sarah
Jane” which was put into bio-pic movie in 90’s Filipinos really did not learned from it.
According to the said journal above, HIV infection which leads to AIDS are easily passed to the
vulnerable fetuses inside their infected mothers, may it be placental transfer or blood
transfusion, definitely it will create a devastating condition both the fetus and his/her mother.

Here in the Philippines, which is known as a Catholic country, every time there’s a
person in our community that has HIV or may it be a simple STD, we all judge and criticize her
as an “immoral” or not, but the question is, “do we really know what’s HIV?” . Definitely, in
my part, proper education of all sectors in our society, especially, the youth sector must be
given the chance to be formally educated regarding this issue, because, we, are often engaging
in premarital sex may it be our girlfriend, or just a new person knew from the bar or drinking
place.

As our government’s project and programs regarding the “sex education”, is not yet
100% assured to be taught to all of us, I think, the proposed “Reproductive Health bill” in the
Congress is one of the best answers to decrease or lessen our country’s cases of HIV/AIDS
because of massive education of all topics regarding SEX. I’m not against the Catholic church,
because even if I’m a born again Christian, I’m still a Christian and used to believe in teachings
of the Lord and Jesus Christ, my question if I’ll have a chance to ask one of our CBCP leaders,
“what’s the main reason of not pushing the Reproductive Health bill, if it’s main purpose will
be the decrease of many problems in our society?” I know some catholic churches tries to reach
out people and pushes some projects, but are they really giving solutions to the dearly “sex”
problems in our country… I know the fact that in Jesus’ teaching not to commit adultery, but
the point is, how about reaching out the sex workers of our society who are so exposed to this
immunodeficiency, may it be a negative part that they sell their bodies for money, but still they
are HUMAN beings created in image and likeness of God, some may raise their eyebrows when
they hear that this girl is a prostitute, then creating a notion that they are not a daughter of God,
maybe the proper solution to it, is like this, yes we can be like Christ, but we can be Christly in
favor of the dignity of the human person, if we can still save her and her fetus inside her, even if
she’s a prostitute.

All of us are aware of how, liberal the American are regarding sex education, but still
they have risks of HIV and rising cases of it, but they are non-religious especially in judging the
persons, may she be a prostitute or just a “bitchy student” in the school, they are still allowed to
have proper information and RESPECT even if they acquire HIV, the problem is, our Filipino
history and culture that hinders us to protect and save the dignity of HIV patients. HIV cases in
our country can be easily eradicated if we are not judging them easily… due to the stigma that
we can acquire it easily, no one are trying to talk or even have a good conversation with them,
isn’t it? Therefore, the better solutions to these arising health problem, is SOCIAL
CONSCIOUSNESS and PROPER EDUCATION.

PHILIPPINE SETTING COMPARISON

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 Actually, DOH together with the UN reported last July 2009, that there is an increasing
rate in number of cases of HIV patients since 1984, it can be counted that there are almost 3,911
cases since then, 48% of it are the sex workers. Based on relevant data and facts of UNICEF-
Philippines, there are 33% of cases of mother-child transmission of HIV since 2003. Definitely,
cases of mother-child is rising due to the development of technology and early exposure to sex,
included in the mother-to-child transmission are the sex workers in Manila and the early
pregnancies and even cases of “gang rapes” or whatsoever. If we try to compare the severity of
the cases in USA and here in our country, there is still a great difference, even if we also have
sex workers exposed to HIV/AIDS conditions due to the way of their work.

We all know, there are still growing numbers of prostitutes in our country especially,
here in Metro Manila particularly, Manila, in the streets of Avenida and Recto, and even in
Quezon City, the home of the Quezon Memorial circle, wherein every night, there are present
“night ghosts” that sells their body and dignity in the pervert customers, may they be aged 15
below or above 15 years old. The story of “Sarah Jane” is the first worst case of HIV infection
here in our country back 10 years ago, it tackled about the story of a sex worker and its effect to
her customers and even her baby back then, maybe that movie is an eye opener for us, Filipinos
to be conscious regarding the issue of HIV/AIDS. But still, even if there’ s a massive programs
done by such organizations like UNICEF and DOH, there are still cases of HIV/AIDS in our
country one of those are the sex workers who transmitted their HIV to their newborn child
especially in normal delivery.

Last April 2008, before Reproductive Health Bill was created and was pushed, one solon
from Cebu City, a doctor in profession, Congw. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz aired her sentiment
regarding the increasing rates of HIV patients here in the Philippines. As she stated, "The
incidence of HIV and AIDS in the Philippines can no longer be regarded as low and slow but
rather, now it is hidden and growing... The alarming side of the story is the unreported and
undocumented cases, now escalating to an estimated 11,000 cases.” After stating that in an
interview, days passed and she proposed and made a bill that will ratify our current law
regarding HIV/AIDS concerns, R.A. 8504, "The Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of
1998.The bill aims to enhance the existing HIV and AIDS information and educational program
as well as its monitoring system in order to increase the Filipinos level of awareness of the
problem, and proposes appropriate measure to support the HIV and AIDS carriers and their
families by improving the existing support system.The bill also seeks to provide an
Augmentation Fund to increase the annual budget for the Philippine National Aids Council
(PNAC), to make it a more financially and administratively autonomous attached agency of the
Health Department.

Our country is a catholic country which is more conservative than the USA regarding
teaching of sex inside the house and being liberated so much regarding it, as if, that if you’re 14
years old you can have multiple sexual partners. We are so attached to the belief that if a person
has multiple partners, he/she is an immoral person and he/she is a shame for the whole family,
then we’ll ignore and avoid them instead to take care and help them live a newer life.

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