MANILA, Philippines – The number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who bring billions worth of remittances to the country every year may dwindle in the years to come because of the increasing threat from AIDS and Human Immunodeficiency Virus or the HIV virus, a lawmaker warned on Saturday.
Because of this, LPGMA party-list Rep. Arnel Ty urged the House of Representatives to ascertain whether existing policies and measures in AIDS Prevention and Control Law are sufficient to quell the HIV and AIDS epidemic and improve the conditions of OFWs and other Filipinos living with the disease.
“There is no question that HIV and AIDS is ravaging our OFWs (considering that) they are extremely susceptible to the disease owing to their high-risk sexual behavior when they are outside the country,” Ty said in a statement.
Ty said from January to February, around 12 percent or 36 out of the total 311 newly-reported HIV positive cases diagnosed in the country have been OFWs, bringing the number to 6,326 total cases listed in the National HIV and AIDS Registry.
He said a total of 1,558 OFWs, with the median age of 36 years, have been found either HIV positive or with full-blown Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) since the country began passive surveillance of the disease in 1984.
Filing House Resolution No. 724, Ty has been pushing for a review of the 12-year-old AIDS Prevention and Control Law to find ways to reinforce the fight against the highly infectious disease. He has also been appealing for increased public funding for preventive HIV and AIDS education. –RIO ROSE RIBAYA, Manila Bulletin
June 2025
Philippine Environment Month!
“Action for Nature, for the Future!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
1 Jun – World Day of Parents
5 Jun – World Environment Day
7 Jun – World Food Safety Day
8 Jun – World Oceans Day
12 Jun – World Day Against
Child Labour
15 Jun – World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
16 Jun – International Day of Family Remittances
17 Jun – World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
20 Jun – World Refugee Day
25 Jun – Day of the Seafarer
27 Jun – Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day
Daily Observances:
First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines
