The Baguio City Council has approved on second reading and for publication an ordinance strengthening the city’s response to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and acquired immunodeficiency syndromes (AIDS) through a proposed ordinance that reconstitutes the AIDS Watch Council (AWAC), expands prevention, testing, treatment, care, and support services, and establishes stronger measures to protect persons living with HIV from discrimination.
The proposed measure will repeal City Ordinance 16-2022 which is an older similar ordinance and establish an updated framework for the city’s STI, HIV, and AIDS response in accordance with Republic Act No. 11166, or the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act. It adopts a human-rights-based, gender-responsive, age-appropriate, evidence-based, and multisectoral approach, with the protection of human dignity, confidentiality, and freedom from stigma and discrimination as key principles.
A major provision is the reconstitution and strengthening of the City of Baguio AIDS Watch Council (AWAC) as the lead policy, oversight, advisory, coordinating, and monitoring and evaluation body for the city’s STI, HIV, and AIDS response. The City Mayor will serve as chairperson, with the City Health Officer as co-chairperson and the chairperson of the City Council’s Committee on Health and Sanitation, Ecology, and Environmental Protection as vice-chairperson.
The AWAC will include representatives from city government offices, national government agencies, health institutions, schools, civil society organizations, key populations, and persons living with HIV (PLHIV).
The AWAC will oversee the formulation and implementation of a comprehensive STI, HIV, and AIDS response plan and ensure its integration into the city’s Comprehensive Development Plan, Local Investment Plan for Health, and Annual Investment Plan.
It will also monitor programs, identify gaps in service delivery, develop partnerships, promote community participation, evaluate the city’s response, and recommend policy and program reforms. A Secretariat and Technical Working Group under the Reproductive Health and Wellness Center (RHWC) will provide technical, administrative, coordination, documentation, and reporting support to the council.
The ordinance designates the City Health Services Office (CHSO) as the lead implementing office and the RHWC as the city’s frontline service provider and primary facility for reproductive health and STI, HIV, and AIDS services. These include counseling, screening, testing, treatment, care, treatment adherence, case management, referral, and psychosocial support.
The RHWC will also lead programs for key populations and priority groups, supervise community-based organizations providing HIV screening and referral services, maintain relevant records, and provide data and reports on the city’s STI, HIV, and AIDS situation.
The proposed measure also recognizes the NAMNAMA Sundown Clinic at the Baguio Convention Center as a permanent extension of the RHWC. It will provide screening, testing, counseling, and referral services, with the city government providing funding for its manpower, operations, and logistical requirements.
The ordinance further provides for adequate personnel, facilities, medicines, equipment, and other resources for the RHWC and the NAMNAMA clinic.
On prevention, the ordinance mandates year-round STI, HIV, and AIDS awareness activities covering schools, workplaces, businesses, communities, tourists, overseas Filipino workers, out-of-school youth, entertainment establishments, prisons and other closed settings.
Information and education campaigns are to be age-appropriate, gender-responsive, culturally sensitive, evidence-based, and respectful of human rights. Schools and workplaces will be encouraged to integrate STI and HIV education, while priority establishments will be required to participate in periodic education activities and maintain records of compliance.
The measure also provides for HIV/AIDS safe spaces in entertainment establishments, bars, parlors, salons, and other identified institutions where trained peer educators can provide information and facilitate access to HIV testing, condoms, lubricants, and other services. It directs the city to make biomedical interventions such as condoms, water-based lubricants, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) available and accessible, particularly to populations identified as being at greater risk.
For entertainment establishments and other priority businesses, the proposed ordinance requires STI, HIV, and AIDS education and regular health screening for workers, with the RHWC tasked to maintain appropriate monitoring mechanisms. Establishments will also be required to coordinate with the RHWC on peer education and comply with applicable health and reporting requirements.
The ordinance maintains the principle of voluntary and confidential HIV testing. Written informed consent is required, with specific provisions for minors consistent with national law. It allows compulsory testing only in circumstances permitted by law, requires free pre-test and post-test counseling in government testing facilities, and ensures that pregnant women who decline HIV testing will not be denied prenatal or antenatal services.
It also establishes a broader system of treatment, psychosocial care, and support for PLHIV and affected families. The city will facilitate access to treatment and treatment adherence services and provide support for pregnant women, children, indigent PLHIV, overseas workers living with HIV, abused women and children, persons with disabilities, and affected families. Depending on identified needs and available resources, assistance may include medical, transportation, livelihood, educational, food, cash, and burial assistance.
The proposed ordinance further requires HIV treatment hubs, social hygiene clinics, and other health facilities handling STI cases to comply with accreditation, licensing, and reporting requirements. The city will establish surveillance, monitoring, research, and reporting mechanisms to track STI and HIV trends, evaluate the performance of treatment facilities, identify service gaps, and use evidence in planning and policymaking.
A significant portion of the measure is devoted to protecting PLHIV and other affected individuals from discrimination. It prohibits discrimination in employment, education, travel and habitation, housing, public office, credit and insurance, health facilities, burial services, and other areas, as well as bullying based on actual, perceived, or suspected HIV status.
The ordinance also establishes mechanisms for complaints, assistance, administrative action, and redress, including a “no wrong door” policy for receiving complaints.
Confidentiality is likewise strengthened. The disclosure of information identifying a person as living with HIV, having undergone HIV testing, or having HIV-related illness or exposure is prohibited except in circumstances allowed by law. The measure also specifically addresses media and social media disclosure of information that could identify a PLHIV without the person’s written consent.
The ordinance extends the city’s response to the barangay and youth levels. All barangays will be required to adopt their own STI, HIV, and AIDS ordinance and designate an HIV focal person, while barangays are encouraged to develop corresponding plans and budget allocations aligned with the city’s plan. The Liga ng mga Barangay will monitor compliance, while the Sangguniang Kabataan and SK Federation will undertake youth-oriented programs and assist in monitoring implementation.
The measure also institutionalizes partnerships with PLHIV organizations, civil society groups, key population organizations, community-based organizations, and other stakeholders. It provides for their participation in policy development, service delivery, research, monitoring, community activities, and other components of the city’s response.
For sustained public awareness, the ordinance provides for the annual commemoration of the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial in May and designates December 1 as HIV and AIDS Awareness Day and the entire month of December as HIV and AIDS Awareness Month. It also provides for HIV screening activities during Session Road in Bloom and calls for continuing education and advocacy throughout the year.
Violations of the ordinance will be subject to criminal and administrative penalties, without prejudice to penalties imposed under Republic Act No. 11166 and other applicable laws. Administrative sanctions may include orders to comply, participation in STI, HIV, AIDS and human rights seminars, fines, temporary cessation of business, withholding or suspension of business permits, revocation of permits, closure of establishments, and applicable sanctions against public officers.
The measure also provides for funding of the city’s STI, HIV, and AIDS programs through the Health Fund and/or General Fund, subject to the availability of funds and existing laws and regulations. Member offices of the AWAC will likewise be required to allocate funds within their respective budgets for programs and activities mandated under the ordinance.
The proposed ordinance builds on the city’s earlier efforts to institutionalize its HIV response. In 2022, the City Council enacted Ordinance 16- 2022 which reconstituted and strengthened the Baguio City AIDS Watch Council. At the time, the city cited increasing HIV cases, particularly among young and working-age populations, as well as the continuing need to address stigma and discrimination. The AWAC, a multisectoral organization founded in 1987 and recognized by the Department of Health as the first local AIDS Watch Council in the country, had already been working with the city government on advocacy, education, prevention, service delivery, monitoring, and assistance to PLHIV.
Following the enactment of the 2022 ordinance, the AWAC continued work on its implementation. In April 2023, its members reviewed and provided inputs on the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the ordinance, with representatives from government agencies, service providers, the Baguio Association of Bars and Entertainers, and civil society organizations participating in the review. The City Health Services Office also identified the need for the ordinance to further strengthen the RHWC.
The present proposal now seeks to repeal the 2022 ordinance and replace it with a broader and updated framework covering not only the AWAC’s structure and functions but the city’s entire STI, HIV, and AIDS.
The proposed ordinance will undergo public consultations and city council deliberations as the next legislative steps. – Baguio City – Sangguniang Panlungsod
