Manila: A bill filed in the Senate seeks to close a gap in the country's HIV law by allowing diagnosed minors to move from testing to treatment without being blocked by unsafe consent requirements, confidentiality risks, or PhilHealth paperwork. Senator Risa Hontiveros said Tuesday she filed Senate Bill No. 2307 seeking to amend the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act by strengthening access of minors living with HIV to antiretroviral therapy and other treatment, care, and support services.
According to Philippines News Agency, under the measure, minors aged 15 to below 18 who are diagnosed with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) may give informed consent to HIV-related care, provided they undergo a documented capacity assessment by an authorized health professional. The bill points out that existing law already allows minors aged 15 to 17 to consent to HIV testing without parental or guardian consent, but remains unclear on whether the same minor, once diagnosed, may consent to antiretroviral therapy and other HIV-related treatment.
The proposal comes as the Philippines continues to face one of the fastest-growing HIV situations in the Asia-Pacific region. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization said in June 2025 that at least 57 Filipinos were learning they had HIV every day, while a third of newly diagnosed cases in the first quarter of 2025 were among young Filipinos aged 15 to 24.
The bill limits the proposed consent rule only to HIV-related treatment, care, and support services, making clear that it does not create a general authority for minors to consent to unrelated medical, surgical, or other health services. It also encourages the involvement of a parent, legal guardian, or trusted adult when safe, appropriate, consistent with the child's best interest, and with the minor's informed consent. However, refusal or inability to involve a parent, guardian, or trusted adult shall not be a ground to deny, delay, discontinue, or interrupt HIV-related treatment where the minor is authorized to give informed consent.
'No child should be abandoned by the law after diagnosis. No young person should be denied treatment because access depends on unsafe consent or unsafe paperwork,' Hontiveros said. The measure also strengthens confidentiality safeguards by protecting the HIV status, medical records, treatment information, and other sensitive personal information of minors from disclosure to parents, guardians, schools, employers, insurers, or other third parties without informed consent, except in cases allowed by law.
If an HIV service provider has reasonable grounds to believe that a minor is a victim of abuse, exploitation, trafficking, violence, neglect, coercion, or other harmful conditions, the provider must make the appropriate referral or report under child protection laws. Such a referral, however, should not delay or prevent the continuation of HIV care.
For minors below 15 who are diagnosed with HIV, the bill provides that they shall be managed under existing child protection laws and Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) guidelines. It does not allow minors below 15 to independently consent to HIV treatment, except when otherwise allowed by law.
The bill also addresses PhilHealth barriers by requiring confidential registration, verification, benefit availment, and claims processing for minors and persons aged 18 to below 21 living with HIV. Under the proposal, access to the outpatient HIV and AIDS treatment package or other applicable PhilHealth benefit packages shall not be denied or delayed solely due to lack of independent PhilHealth registration, dependent declaration, updated membership record, proof of membership, or parental authorization.
Minors and young adults below 21 who are not direct contributors and cannot safely or practically avail themselves of PhilHealth benefits as dependents shall be registered or tagged under the appropriate indirect contributor or subsidized coverage category. The measure directs the Philippine National AIDS Council, in coordination with DOH, DSWD, PhilHealth, the National Privacy Commission, the Council for the Welfare of Children, the Commission on Human Rights, the Department of Justice, Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Education, and civil society groups, to issue implementing rules within 90 days from the law's effectivity.
Pending the rules, DOH and PhilHealth must issue interim guidance within 30 days to ensure that no qualified minor or young adult living with HIV is denied clinically indicated care due to lack of parental consent, PhilHealth registration, dependent declaration, updated records, or claims documentation. Hontiveros said the response to the country's HIV situation must be urgent, practical, rights-based, and free from stigma, especially for young people who may face abuse, abandonment, discrimination, breach of confidentiality, or other harm if parental consent becomes an absolute barrier to care.
