AS PART of its campaign to stem the spread of the HIV virus, the Health department is set to buy P50 million to P100 million worth of condoms next year.
At a press briefing Tuesday, Health Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo said the expenditure was part of the P1 billion allotted to address the problem of HIV and AIDS in 2017.
At present, Bayugo said the DoH has 10-million condoms ready for distribution in the pilot areas, particularly in the high-risk areas in Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon.
He said Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial is proposing the distribution of condoms in schools, since statistics show that HIV is increasing among those aged 15 to 24.
“Two of three infections are happening among 15 to 24 years old and we need [to take] some action on this,” Bayugo said.
A lack of knowledge and access to condoms and some legal hurdles have kept the young from using condoms, Bayugo said.
“But the secretary is convinced that this will help a lot in averting and even reversing the increasing trend of HIV,” Bayugo said.
“Let us equip the youth with the correct and consistent information against HIV and AIDS,” he added.
Bayugo said the distribution of condoms in schools will also address the high number of teenage pregnancies.
“The number of teenage pregnancy has doubled in the last 10 years. Teenage pregnancy is there, is becoming a big problem and pre-marital sex is happening and because of this, a lot of teenagers are getting HIV-AIDS,” he said.
Addressing the opposition of the Catholic Church, Bayugo said the program is not to control the population but to promote awareness about the danger of HIV and AIDS.
“We are very much willing to seek their assistance and help in promoting awareness about the morality of our children—the proper way that children need to behave sexually and the condom is just there as a stopgap,” Bayugo said.
From January 1984 to October 2016, a total of 38,114 cases of HIV were reported in the country.
“In 2016, roughly 26 new HIV infections every day are being reported or a total of 7,756 HIV cases alone for 2016,” he said.
“Compare this to 2008 where we have only one case a day or one infection per day being reported. Most were reported from January 2011onward or about 32,000 cases were reported from January 2011 up to October 2016,” he added.
Based on the current information, Bayugo said at least 1,912 Filipinos have died because of AIDS.
“The predominant mode of transmission from 1984 to 2007 was unprotected heterosexual, meaning boy and girl. After 2009, male to male unprotected sex became the predominant mode of transmission,” he said.
Bayugo said the DoH, in coordination with the Department of Education, is hoping to start the distribution of condoms in schools beginning next year.
In the same press briefing, Bayugo announced that President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to issue an executive order directing local governments to strictly implement the Reproductive Health Law, following lapses in the implementation of the law by LGUs themselves.
Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’s Permanent Committee on Public Affairs scored the government’s plan to distribute condoms to high school students, saying that the government should instead focus its efforts on educating people about the rise of HIV and AIDS in the country.
“Yes, we need to address the rising number of HIV cases in the country. But the government should invest more in educating people about the perils of sporadic sexual activity than procuring and distributing condoms,” Secillano said.
Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani Jr. said that the proposal would only create more problems because it would encourage the youth to engage in premarital or extramarital sex.
“It’s a wrong tactic. There will be more damage than before. Aside from being risky, it will also deliver the wrong message to that they will be safe from the AIDS virus with the use of condom. It is not safe because the virus can pass through even the smallest hole in a condom,” the prelate said in an interview with state run Radio Veritas.