After the impeachment trial

As the 23 senator/judges were explaining why they were convicting or acquitting the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, I took note of three emotion-laden messages which sympathized with the respondent and knew how he felt. Sen. Jinggoy Estrada recalled the painful process his father, then President Joseph Estrada, went through as he was subjected to an impeachment process that never was. Sen. Manny Villar talked of the maligning of his character, the trumped up charges leveled against him during the presidential campaign period. The presiding judge of the Impeachment Court, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, said he himself went through painful personal experiences, the details of which he did not specify. Painful though their personal agonies had been, they voted to convict Corona for his failure to fully disclose his wealth in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) based on Article 2 of the impeachment charges signed by 188 members of the House of Representatives.

The impeachment trial is over, the journey to the transformation of a reformed society, the main concern of President Aquino, must now begin. Let us, all of us, who had differed in our views on the culpability of the Chief Justice, forget our differences, and cooperate in making this society that should benefit the poor and rich.

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A couple of hours after the adjournment of the impeachment trial, House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” R. Belmonte Jr. was at the Manila Hotel to speak at the monthly membership meeting of the prestigious Philippine Constitution Association (PHILCONSA). With the huge burden of monitoring the impeachment trial that had been triggered by its signing by 188 members of the House now off his shoulder, the Speaker, boyish and playful, said that while the impeachment proceedings were going on, Congress was at work, budgets had been approved, and programs planned. At the open forum he spoke of positive developments in Mindanao in relation to the conclusion of the peace process, and of social bills being discussed at the House, among them reproductive health and divorce, which, unfortunately, are not likely to be passed in the 15th Congress.

Speaker Belmonte was given the Philconsa’s “Great Parliamentarian Award” for his “outstanding performance in Congress where he ably demonstrated his remarkable finesse in parliamentary procedures and debates in his sponsorship or authorship of significant legislation; for his dynamic, pragmatic and catalytic leadership as Speaker of the House, exhorting his colleagues to work cohesively and constructively and to subordinate their partisan differences to the higher goals of national interest and public welfare.”

The award, handed him by former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, Philconsa president emeritus, former SC Justice Bernardo P. Pardo, Manuel M. Lazaro, Esq., chairman and CEO, and Congressman Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, president, cited his “steering the Lower House to unprecedented heights in two momentous impeachment proceedings, as leader of the prosecution panel and later, as its Speaker.” It also mentioned his dedicated and constructive service as a three-term mayor of Quezon City, “transforming it into a highly progressive city through the institution of better fiscal management, more effective strategies in local taxation, exemplary, efficiency and discipline among its personnel.”

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An alarming development is the rapidly-rising HIV epidemic in a low prevalence country. A UNAIDS Global Report, released to time with the commemoration of the 29th International AIDS Candlelight Memorial (IACM), reveals that while the overall growth of the global AIDS epidemic appears to have stabilized and that the annual number of new HIV infections has been steadily declining since the 1990s, the Philippines is one of the seven countries that do not fit this overall trend. In these seven countries, the HIV incidence has increased by more than 25 percent between 2001 and 2009. Out of the 63 countries reported, the Philippines is one of seven countries with increasing HIV incidence. The other six are Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

In the Philippines, the Global Report said, new HIV infections continue to rise at unprecedented rates, making the goal of universal access to treatment, care and support, as well as preventive services, becoming even more challenging. As of January 1984 to March 2012, there have been 9,163 reported HIV cases. It is estimated that there will be around 12,000 Filipinos living with HIV who will need anti-retroviral treatment by 2015. The cost of providing treatment for all those in need by 2015 will be P429.5 million.

A study by Genesis May J. Samonte, MD, PHSAE of the National HIV and STI Surveillance and Strategic Information Unit, National Epidemiology Center, DOH, says every three hours a Filipino becomes a patient for life. The increase in frequency shows that in 2000, there was a new case every three days. Seven years later, there was one new case a day; by 2010, four new cases a day. By  2011, seven new cases a day.

The Samonte study projects the number of people living with HIV in the Philippines to be 19,335 in 2011, and 36,910 by 2015.

Risky behavior is a primary reason for the rise in new HIV cases.

What puts a person at risk for HIV? Unprotected sex with one sexual partner, injecting drugs with used needles and syringes, being born to a mother with HIV, and transfusion of HIV infected blood or blood products.

The use of condom has been promoted as an HIV preventive measure. The latest figures show that among condom users, 64 per cent are female sex workers; 84 per cent are male sex workers; 36 per cent are men having sex with males; 14 per cent are male workers who inject drugs, and 24 per cent are female workers injecting drugs.

According to Samonte, only 36 per cent of men using men used a condom during their last anal sex. The reasons for non-use of condom are: condoms are not available (45 per cent), they don’t like to use condoms (27 per cent), a partner objects to using condoms (11 per cent), partners think that are not useful (11 per cent), forgot to use (3 per cent), don’t know how to use (3 per cent), and found them too expensive (1 per cent.)

These statistic were brought to light at a press conference held to commemorate the 29th International AIDS candlelight Memorial. The speakers are the authors of HB 5312 or the “National Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support Policy and Plan,’ which amends RA 8504 or the “Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act” which was passed in 1989, when the rate of infection was only one person every four days. The press con was organized by the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation, a non-government organization of lawmakers pushing for population and human development legislation in partnership with UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

Authors of the bill are Rep. Janette L. Garin (principal author), Angelo Palmones, Kaka Bag-Ao and Jorge Banal.  

Representative Palmones said the stigma and discrimination against persons living with HIV is very real. He said when two employees of a company were found to have HIV, one was asked to go on sick leave without pay, and the other was denied payment of insurance. “As legislators, we can only craft policies for the state on how to deal with the spread of the virus, but we need to seek the support of our citizens by showing compassion for people living with HIV and giving them inspiration to continue facing the challenges of everyday life,” Palmones said.

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My e-mail: [email protected].