AN OFFICIAL of Cebu City Jail Male Dormitory revealed Thursday, March 23, 2023, that there are Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) who tested positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) inside the facility.

According to Jail Officer 3 Blanche Bation Aliño, the jail’s information officer, that the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH 7) and the City Social Hygiene Clinic have reportedly assisted in providing medical care for the HIV-positive convicts.

The DOH 7 is holding an awareness program inside the facility every Friday to educate the PDLs on how to protect themselves from the disease.

The jail officer clarified that the PDLs acquired the disease from the outside.

“Ang atong mga PDL nga naa ani nga sakit gihatagan sila og insakto nga treatment sa atong facility as well as sa Department of Health,” Aliño explained.

(Our PDLs who have this disease are given proper treatment in our facility as well as in the Department of Health).

More than 10 of the 6,100 detainees in the Cebu City Jail Male Dormitory are HIV positive but not isolated.

According to Aliño, the HIV-positive inmates were mixed in with the other prisoners to avoid discrimination, but were advised, especially the gays, not to have sex with the same sex. (AYB, TPT)