BAGUIO CITY (PIA) — The City Government, through the Baguio AIDS Watch Council, in partnership with the Department of Health-Cordillera, the Baguio Association of Night Spots, and other reproductive health advocate groups, commemorated International AIDS Candlelight Memorial 2026 on May 12 in Baguio City with the call to show love and support for people living with HIV (PLHIV) and end the stigma against them.
During the commemoration highlighted by a lantern parade and a candle lighting ceremony, the advocates urged community action in erasing the stigma against PLHIV that leads to fear and depression that hinder them from coming out or reaching out for proper care and medication. They also called for remembering those who died due to HIV/AIDS.
In leading the lighting of the candles, Joseph Leo, a member of the LGBTQ+ community and who is a person living with HIV, appealed for a united front in erasing the stigma against PLHIV.
“So why are we still lighting candles for those we have lost? It is because while the medicine can fix a broken body, it cannot fix a broken heart or a judgmental spirit. Stigma is the thing that kills. In our culture, we value strength and traditions, but sometimes that tradition is used to silence those of us who do not fit.”
“Tonight, we do not just light wax and wick; we light a fire against the silence that has claimed many of our brothers and sisters. In a moment, the flame will touch your candle, and when it does, I want you to feel heat. Let it burn away the prejudice. Let it melt the indifference,” he stressed.
“I have stood in the coldest shadow of these mountains, fighting a war with the virus in my blood and the darkness in my mind. Yet I am still here. I am still standing. I am still breathing. I am still beautiful. As you raise your light, do it for the one that is too afraid to step [out into] the sun. Do it for the one that does not strive to forget,” Leo said.
Following a sustained Antiretroviral Therapy, Leo’s HIV viral load is now at an undetectable load, which also means he can no longer transmit the virus and can live a normal life.
“Science has outpaced the fear; HIV is no longer a life sentence, it is a manageable condition with the right medicine and the grace of proper care. We reached a state called undetectable; and in the world of medicine, undetectable equals untransmissible,” he said.
“When I am undetectable, the virus is suppressed, my health is protected and I cannot pass it on. I am a living proof that you can be vibrant, you can be healthy, and you can be legendary while living with HIV,” he added.
The City Health Service Office (HSO), in partnership with the DOH, continues promoting early detection and diagnosis of HIV to provide continuous Antiretroviral Therapy to PLHIV to achieve the Undetectable equals Untransmissible (U=U) status.
Since monitoring started in 1984, there have been 800 HIV cases recorded in Baguio, with 39 related deaths as of December 2025. **JDP/CCD-PIA CAR
