Cayetano welcomes Pope's comments on condom use

The head of the Senate’s health and demography committee welcomed on Monday Pope Benedict XVI's statement on the acceptability of condom use in certain circumstances, saying this would have a significant impact on the government's campaign against HIV/AIDS. “It is with a huge sigh of relief that I welcome the statements of the Pope and his acknowledgment that condom use may be justified to help stop the spread of AIDS," Sen. Pia Cayetano said in a statement on Monday. In an Associated Press report on Sunday, the Pope was quoted as saying that while condoms are not a moral solution to halting the spread of AIDS, using the contraceptive could represent a "first step" in assuming moral responsibility "in the intention of reducing the risk of infection" in some cases such as for “male prostitutes." Cayetano cited figures from the National Epidemiology Center which said there were 153 new HIV positive cases documented from January to September this year, a 173 percent jump from figures registered for the same period last year. She also said that 9 of every 10 persons who tested positive for HIV contacted the virus through sexual contact. Of the 5,625 HIV positive cases from 1984 to 2010, 852 have been verified as AIDS cases, she said. Cayetano, however, said that the Pope's statement has "far-reaching" effects because it can prevent not only HIV/AIDS but also other sexually transmitted diseases. "These include the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus known to cause cervical cancer, and the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), which can also be transmitted through sexual contact," she said. About 7,000 Filipino women are diagnosed annually with cervical cancer, the second leading cause of death among women in the country, the solon noted. On the other hand, she said around 8 million Filipinos are estimated to be carriers of the HBV, which is known to cause various liver ailments, including liver cancer, she said. RH issue Cayetano had earlier spearheaded a hearing on Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago's Senate Bill No. 2387, which is supposed to guarantee universal access to reproductive health services, methods, devices, supplies and relevant information on the matter. The bill, known to be the Senate's version of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill, is pending with the Senate health committee. Earlier in the day, the Palace said the Catholic Church should be open to softening its stance on the RH bill because of the Pope's comment. Senators Francis Escudero and Gregorio Honasan, however, said that the Pope's words remain open to interpretation. "Let's wait until the Church clears the issue because even people inside the Church seem to be interpreting the Pope's words in different ways," said Escudero in an interview on Monday But Honasan said that whatever the Pope says, the country still needs a clear population policy. "We make the policy decision (if) we will spend money to train a productive workforce or leave it all up to nature," he said in a separate interview. - DM, GMANews.TV