8 gay men in Cotabato City test positive for HIV

COTABATO City, Philippines - Eight male homosexuals here have been tested positive for HIV or the human immunodeficiency virus, the city health officer announced Tuesday.

Physician Marlowe Niñal, however, declined to reveal their identities of the eight HIV patients.

“The tests that revealed they are positive for HIV were facilitated by a non-government organization engaged in providing services to HIV patients,” Niñal said.

Niñal, however, said they have yet to find out if the eight homosexuals already have full blown AIDS or the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

The tests were facilitated by the Alliance Against AIDS in Mindanao, which Niñal trusts owing to its respectable stature and active support to the government’s campaign against the dreaded sexually-transmitted disease.

“Our main concern now is how to trace the people these HIV positive individuals may have had sexual contacts with,” Niñal said.

He said the eight homosexuals were aged between 20 to 30 years.

Niñal said he has been receiving feedback from informants that the HIV patients had sexual contacts with young boys here in exchange for small amounts of money.