by Mars Cavestany PhD-APA
The banner news about HIV-AIDS that spread like wildfire in the Philippines amidst and on top of the raging and wideranging issues for and against the COVID -19 vaccines is to this Editor , a matter of life and death .
Thus , I am availing of this special medium and space as a platform to ventilate my very own emotional , no-holdsbarred appeal The point is , being one of the longest surviving HIV patients in the whole wide world , my life has been an open book to all my public readers and audiences both as a writerjournalist and a theatre artist- crusader cum HIV advocate .
I happen to embody the problem about a life-threatening disease which the news we have screamingly headlined alarmingly slaps us about the reality of HIV-AIDS in our mother country virtually having endemically surged . My story being a casein-point ought to be so telling as to appeal to all concerned at the same time calling for immediate attention and demanding concrete action .
I was already in my mid-40 when I left the Philippines in 1994 to migrate to this beloved second country of ours , Australia , the land Down Under . At that time in the late 80 ’ s to early 90 ’ s , HIV- AIDS was not at all considered a problem in our country of birth / origin let alone in Metropolitan Manila - the seat of Congress and the Senate where the slightest indication of a searing problem is inadvertently if not seriously picked up by politicians , hugging headlines to raise the matter into a national scale that would literally have everyone ’ s tongue wagging and hearts- fluttering .
THE PHILIPPINE COMMUNITY HERALD NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL
HIV-AIDS RESURGENCE AMONGST YOUNG PEOPLE BACK HOME
Contrarily however , our strict conservative society and largely Christian upbringing , tinged with our Pinoy na Pinoy attitude ( some consider it false pride ) – all conspired to sweep the matter of HIV-AIDS under the rug .. The country was in whole denial . Well not until some enterprising movie producer cast bankable stars in the filmisation of the famous case of one Ma . Dolzura Cortez ( died 1992 ), who was the first Filipino AIDS victim who came out in the open to tell about her life and how she acquired the AIDS virus . Her life story was made into the Filipino film Dahil Mahal Kita (“ Because I Love You : The Dolzura Cortez Story ”), directed by Laurice Guillen , screenplay by Ricardo Lee , starring big box-office attractions like Vilma Santos ( in the title role ) with Christopher de Leon and veteran actress Charito Solis . The story revolves around Dolzura who after a long list of men in her life meets an AIDS researcher who encourages her to come out in public so she can dispel the social stigma that comes with the disease that she has unwittingly contracted . The smash hit movie made its impact in 1993 a few months before I left the Philippines permanently in early 1994 . I came back in 2007 ; It was such a dramatic return , coming home to come out , probably the first to put a brave face to HIV . Although there were offers to “ sell ” my story , I wasn ’ t about making a public market of my life . I am a theatre artist first and foremost so I would creatively explore the theatre as a back-to-back mirror to live screen as well as shield me from the first of-its-kind tell-all true confessions of a migrant artist coming home ala-Durrenmatt ’ s modern surrealist German tragicomedy , “ The Visit of The Old Lady ”. But mine had a double-edged purpose . Principally to stage my PEREGRINATIONS : MARS Cavestany Unbound , Unmasked , Unzipped !!! and serve as a template never to be emulated especially by young people . Since I was at the height of my elements I was also creative enough to convince the University of Sydney to use my performances as research study towards another PhD in Performance Studies . Needless to say , it was more than a personal triumph opening minds , demythologizing myths about HIV-AIDS , the most “ scary ” of which was the one secretly spread by uninformed teachers themselves warning students to stay away from me despite the given close encounters in my in the round staging techniques as my saliva whilst talkingsinging live might spill on them . Without mincing words , I felt like a popular actor mobbed by a huge crowd wanting to touch me and ask for my signature after each performance . That ’ s how mesmerizing theatre can be as the last bastion of purity of ideas , in this case , exemplifying the UN Developmental Goals which includes information dissemination on the most debilitating illnesses such as HIV- AIDS .
Almost 25 years after , that feat , I was perforced to stop or die after a series of near death experiences from heart attacks due to exhaustion whilst performing onstage in hardly ideal stage conditions especially during provincial tours all over the Philippines not to mention a South East Asian tour beginning with Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia whilst other Asian destinations were cancelled including an aborted tour of off-off Broadway , New York particularly at La Mama Theatre following the death of its founder-guru and one of my greatest endorsers , the legendary “ Mama ” Ellen Stewart .
I have not lost interest in the subject of HIV- AIDS and kept track of developments worldwide especially in the Philippines whilst living a quiet life working from home in my 3-bedroom flat with a huge garden space granted to me as part and parcel of my government scholarship as perhaps the only Filipino Asian Australian Postgraduate Awardee ( APA ) in the field of Arts .. I am now a full-pledged Pensioner but I used to earn my keeps working comfortably from home as an all-around Professional Interpreter ( highest Level 3 in the Filipino Language ) servicing our fellow kababayans enmeshed in some sociodomestic disputes tried out in the lowest to the highest courts , or those inveigled illegal aliens , undocumented workers , and / or overstaying noncitizens we generally lump up as TNT ” s .
Relating this to the issue at hand , the one nagging question that comes to mind amidst this “ new wave ” of HIV / AIDS cases spiralling wildly and spreading mostly among young people is : how did this come about since my time ? One reason for the resurgence of AIDS cases in the Philippines was that the Philippines “ took its eye off the ball ” and stopped concentrating on prevention programs especially in the most vulnerable population , according to . Paula Munderi , UNAIDS HIV Prevention team leader assigned to the Philippines .
The most affected segment consisted of “ young , marginalized people who are not easily reached by mainstream health services and programs ,” Munderi said .
I am not taking undue credit , but apparently , right after my “ peregrinations ” or journeying in the Philippines , government medical technologists conducted HIV screening tests on blood serum samples from clients at the social hygiene clinic of the Manila Health Department as early as November 28 , 2008 .
How AIDS-related deaths jumped by 450 percent despite the availability of free life-saving treatment for AIDS in 160 facilities across the country as presented by the UNAIDS HIV Prevention team leader is a more than enough reason to ring the alarm bells and do an extensive research study . My own theory is that along with the stupefying ecstasy of technological advances that made social media the everyday norm , and most recently the allinclusive , all-embracing popularity of Boys Love ( better known as BL ) series , young people tended to “ romanticize ” being HIV positive just as it is like in Sydney , Australia . I am determined to go back home to pick up where I left off – past COVID -19 international travel restrictions and what have you .
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