Philippine Catholics try to get secularist health minister sacked for trying to stop spread of AIDS

The “non-political” Catholic Church is agitating to get the Health Secretary of the Philippines, Esperanza Cabral, sacked because she authorised the distribution of condoms on Valentine’s Day in the fight against Aids.

Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said on the Church-run Radio Veritas: “It is immoral for a government official to support the distribution of condoms which we know do not really reduce or stop the spread of HIV-AIDS.”

Another bishop, Dinualdo Gutierrez, joined the attack when he said Cabral should not remain as health secretary. Gutierrez said Cabral was not a good Catholic — if she was one in the first place — if she backs the distribution of the prophylactics.

Ms Cabral responded by saying that the Catholic Church can be “vicious” at times, but she intended to continue defying it. “Of course, I am afraid of the Church. They are very powerful and they can sometimes be very vicious. I’m not exactly one who likes to live dangerously,” Cabral told a local TV station. However, she said that she’d rather live dangerously than do nothing against the very alarming rise in the number of HIV/AIDS cases in the Philippines.

Data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed a total of 4,424 HIV/AIDS cases from 1984 to December 2009. The highest number was recorded in 2009 with a total of 835 cases. “At the rate we are going, in 3 years, we are going to have more than 30,000 people with HIV/AIDS in the Philippines,” the health secretary said.

For her efforts, one of the bishops said she already had one foot in hell for “going against the teachings of the Church”. But Cabral said that the distribution of condoms is actually the DOH’s last resort to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. She commented: “We are not a religious state like Iran. We are a secular state where there is separation of Church and State. While it is very important for us to find out what the Catholic bishops think, to cooperate with them in areas where we can be cooperating, the government is the government and must do what it thinks is right for everybody.”

She added that “not everybody in the Philippines belongs to one church,” and that the DOH was “always willing to discuss and negotiate” the matter with Catholic Church officials.

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