A setback, but not back to square one

Sen. Pia Cayetano. RICHARD REYES

MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Pia Cayetano has thrown in the towel as far as the bill she proposed to strengthen the laws designed to prevent the spread in the country of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and HIV, the virus that causes it.

Cayetano, the chair of the Senate committee on health, conducted a public hearing on her Senate Bill No. 3398 on Thursday but doubted that it would reach the plenary with only three session days left before Congress goes into a long recess for the election campaign period.

But, as she will still be in the Senate in the next three years, she said she would just refile the measure in the next Congress after the 2013 elections.

“It may have been set back but for me it’s not [back to] square one,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano noted that the recently passed RH law already addresses many of the issues involving HIV/AIDS, particularly education and awareness of the disease.

According to the senator, 15 years after Republic Act No. 8504, or the Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998, became law, the HIV/AlDS problem in the Philippines has worsened contrary to the primary goal of the legislation which was to thwart the prevalence of the disease in the country.