DOJ backs bill protecting rights of HIV/AIDS victims

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has endorsed a bill in the House of Representatives that seeks to amend Republic Act 8504, otherwise known as the Philippines AIDS Prevention Control Act of 1998, to strengthen the country’s comprehensive policy on the prevention and control of the disease.

In a six-page position paper forwarded to Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Alfredo Maranon III of Negros Occidental, House Committee on Health chairman, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima stressed that the amendment of RA 8504 has become urgent in light of the worsening HIV and AIDS situation in the country.

De Lima noted that based on the 2010 Global AIDS report released by the UNAIDS, the country was one of the seven nations in the world which reported over 25 percent in new HIV infections between 2001 and 2009.

Records of the Department of Health (DOH), on the other hand, showed there are 8,576 HIV cases, including 975 patients with full-blown AIDS recorded from 1984 to January 2012.

While the country’s HIV and AIDS cases have been steadily increasing, de Lima said other countries have either stabilized or shown significant declines in the rate of new new infections.

“Among all countries in Asia, Philippines is one of two, the other being Bangladesh, that are now reporting increases in HIV cases, with others either stable or decreasing,” she said.

The justice department also made several suggestions on the bill such as the insertion of a provision that would provide for mechanisms that would provide infected persons easy access to legal remedies, particularly with regard to the protection of their human rights and civil liberties.  (Joel San Juan)