Angeles City readies condoms for Apec meeting

ANGELES CITY—Of the many items that this city is preparing to make available when it hosts the meeting of senior officials of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) on Jan. 21 to Feb. 10, one is expected to stick out like a sore thumb—condoms.

Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan said condoms would be made available to guests when the Clark Freeport Zone hosts the Apec meeting.

The mayor said, though, that he was not promoting the use of condoms or prostitution, adding that the city health office has prepared stocks of condoms should delegates to the Apec meet, or other visitors, require these.

Police in the city, according to Supt. Joselito Imperial, deputy city police chief, received information that sex workers from Manila might temporarily move to Angeles City, lured by prospects of more clients during the international event.

The city, a former military base town when the US Air Force ran Clark until 1991, was the first local government in the country to pass an ordinance instituting programs to help prevent the spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Like Republic Act No. 10354, the reproductive health law, the city ordinance requires establishments to provide condoms to clients who would need these.

In 2014, the city health office monitored HIV cases among 17 women, two men and 19 men having sex with men.

For the Apec meeting here, Pamintuan said the city will deploy 2,500 policemen and 400 traffic management volunteers.

The Catholic Church continues to oppose the use of contraception either to control birth rates or prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Church leaders even assailed the passage of the RH Law, denouncing it as a birth control measure that would promote abortion. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon