ABSTRACT
The Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines has an image of conservatism, particularly in issues of public morals and sexuality. In its stand regarding the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS (Acquired ImmuneDeficiency Syndrome), the Catholic Church enters the area of public health, and has therefore brought itself into an adversarial position against the Philippine government. The government has a number of agencies and institutions that are connected to and deal with the issues and problems of HIV/ AIDS, and therefore has an articulated and established policy regarding the disease, ranging from education and prevention to the care of those who have been infected. Although HIV/AIDS is regarded as a public health issue, the Catholic
Church has involved itself in a policy of debate, mainly because of the aspects of sexuality and public morals that are inherent in HIV/AIDS. This chapter examines the role of the Catholic Church in the Philippines in policy-making, and the status of its stand on HIV/AIDS. It also examines the possible direction of the Church in the near future, particularly the factors which could possibly lead to a change. The involvement of the Catholic Church in public debate is to be expected, given that the major mode of HIV/AIDS transmission is through sexual contact. The majority of Filipinos claim to be Catholics, and many still seek guidance from the Church on sexual matters. Other factors, however, magnify the influence of the Catholic Church on public issues. These include the personal influence exerted by the Church on political leaders such as the incumbent president, the legal courts and the legislature; the significant role of Catholic schools in the educational system; and the emergence of some Church officials as public personalities in the political field, and therefore in mass media. The involvement of the Church in public debate brings up social development
concerns that the government has to deal with. HIV has such a devastating effect on those people who are infected with HIV, as well as their families, because most of the people infected are in their most economically productive years or are raising young children. The huge economic cost of AIDS on a large scale, as has happened in some nations of Africa, includes lost human potential as well as expenditure for social services for affected individuals and
their families. Moreover, the large number of Filipino overseas migrant workers (over five million men and women in 2006) increases the statistical probability of transmitting the disease to their spouses back home. A third consideration is the government’s economic development programmes that have resulted in rapid urbanization of outlying regions, the greater mobility and migration of people, and the loosening of social restrictions on personal and sexual behaviour. The corollary to this is the prevailing poverty in both rural and urban areas and its concomitant social problems, such as prostitution. Thus, the Church itself has to consider these social, economic and political conditions even as it chooses to defend its moral stand on human sexuality. Some developments indicate that some of the doctrinal positions of the
Catholic Church might soon be in a state of flux. One such development is the stand of the Vatican and the new Pope on human sexuality in the real world. Current debates on Church theology reflect new ways of interpreting doctrine in a post-modern world. Another is the fact that the Catholic Church is not a monolithic institution, but shows flexibility in its interaction with the laity and with the state. A third is the emerging possibility of co-operation between the Church and the state, where this is possible, given the complexity of HIV/AIDS in clinical terms, and of the various issues involved. Thus, the Church-state debate on public health policy is shown as less a simplistic pro-con issue but more of an evolving dynamic interaction of state policy, religious morality and social reality. My interest in the issue of HIV and AIDS goes beyond ordinary academic
research. The involvement of friends and family members in public health work and the activities of the Catholic Church have enabled me to observe the process of interaction between the government and the Church through the years. The Church and government at various times have collaborated or been adversaries, and interest groups have allied with one side or the other in various permutations. This has been amply documented in recent political history writing (Abinales and Amoroso 2005), but less so in health issues (Shirley 2004; Moreno 2006). The emphasis on institutional history writing on the one hand and researches on the disease’s medical aspects on the other has often meant that the social dimensions of the Church-state controversy over HIV/AIDS have not been adequately explored. Technical and quantitative data on HIV/AIDS do not convey the debate it has aroused and strong opinions, particularly as expressed by editorial writers, tend to emphasize the conflictual aspect. This chapter hopes to be a more balanced presentation of the HIV/AIDS issue that considers how the Church and the state negotiate the historical perspective. In writing this chapter, I have used oral narratives as much as various per-
tinent documents. I have cited only two interviews as sources; these interviews were done in accordance with the methods of Western oral history investigation of specific questions and specific answers. However, underlying the interviews and documents cited is a matrix of information that can be accessed only through ‘information-seeking conversations’ with people involved in
HIV/AIDS work and in Catholic Church concerns. These conversations may appear to be casual, but one can obtain much information that otherwise will not arise or be revealed in a more structured interview. In the Philippine setting, the conversations are called ‘kuentuhan’ in Filipino (Tagalog) or story telling, and the topics, whether in a serious vein or not, are usually called ‘kuentong buhay’, stories of life. Such conversation is possible when one has established rapport with the
other party. Emotional closeness or long acquaintance is not necessary to establish rapport. Sensitivity to the other person’s feelings and alertness to the social nuances required by the topic at hand, as the kuentuhan goes along, is more important. In this manner, one can ask questions considered too personal or confidential in nature by Westerners, by being adept at this type of information-seeking conversation. Thus, this chapter contains much information, including the personal experiences and perceptions of many people, which cannot be attributed to specific individuals. Feelings of social shyness (hiya), feeling apprehensive about inadvertently causing trouble (manggulò) or fomenting intrigue, or in consideration of the feelings of other people or groups who may become angry (magalit) or feel hurt (masaktan), are reasons why some sources would rather not be cited in print. For Filipinos, the social interaction of kuentuhan always includes hearsay, gossip and jokes, so only verifiable and first-hand accounts have been included here.
