Rainbow gathering in Bulacan.
The LGBTQIA community in the province of Bulacan held its first-ever summit, eyeing to build the community by creating more accessible and affirming ways for its members to be accepted and recognized.
According to Bulacan Governor Daniel Fernando, the country is one of the most LGBTQIA-friendly nations in the world, ranking in top 10 out of 39 countries open to the LGBTQIA community.
But issues continue to plague the LGBTQIA community.
For one, Ron Chie Santos, nurse hub manager of the Luntiang Silong HIV Unit of the Bulacan Medical Center, noted that Bulacan is among the provinces in Central Luzon with the highest number of HIV cases. There are now 2,270 HIV cases in Bulacan (from 1984 to May 2019), with most of the cases coming from the cities of San Jose Del Monte (257), Meycauayan (123) and Malolos (115).
To date, to respond to the province’s HIV situation, the province has the Luntiang Silong HIV Unit of the Bulacan Medical Center, the mother hub facility in this province that conducts and offers HIV treatment and anti-retroviral therapy. It has seven facilities that offer HIV testing and therapy in the cities of Malolos, San Jose Del Monte, Meycauayan and towns of Guiguinto, Baliwag, Marilao and Sta. Maria.
The province still has no anti-discrimination ordinance to protect the human rights of LGBTQIA people; but in 2013, one of the barangays elected a transgender woman – Ms Jhane Dela Cruz – as the first transgender village chief of Barangay Iba in Hagonoy, Bulacan.
