Bureau of Immigration lifts blacklist on HIV+ director

MANILA, Philippines - Bureau of Immigration (BI) acting commissioner Ronald Ledesma said yesterday he removed from the agency’s blacklist the name of a Filipino-Australian actor and director, who was allegedly barred from entering the country for being HIV-positive.

“I had it lifted at 6 p.m. of Tuesday and I had it faxed to his hospital room as of lunchtime yesterday. So this means that he is free to come and go to the Philippines unless there would be other existing reasons” to stop him from entering the country,” he said.

Ledesma said he lifted the ban “because we are a party to the 1994 agreement in Paris wherein it guarantees the right to travel to those who are afflicted with HIV.”

Based on the information he received, it appeared that the National Commission on Culture and the Arts reportedly asked to have Cavestany placed in the BI blacklist in February last year. The BI commissioner at the time was Marcelino Libanan.

It was reported that Cavestany arrived from Darwin, Australia Sunday night. He was coming to the Philippines to make a movie and book on HIV.

Cavestany, a naturalized Australian citizen, was taken to the Parañaque Medical Center because he allegedly suffered from high blood pressure and a mild heart attack.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health said the blacklisting of Cavestany violates Republic Act 8504 or the Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998, which protects the rights of those with HIV infection or full-blown AIDS.

Dr. Gerard Belimac, program manager of the DOH’s National AIDS/Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention and Control Program, said they “still need to establish if that was really the reason why he was prevented (from entering the country). If that’s really the reason, it is an insult to the law,” he said.