1 month ago
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MANILA, Philippines – At the height of the Christmas holiday season, a transmasculine college student walked into the TANGGAP Trans Hub in Pasig City, the first community center for transgender persons in the Philippines.
Facing physical and emotional abuse at home, the young transgender person told Matt Alea, founder of Transmasculine Philippines, that it was the first time in a long time that he experienced joy on Christmas day.
For the first time, he met other transgender people, and got to speak about his trauma. The volunteers at the center put him in touch with legal aid and mental health support. He lost no time in signing up as a volunteer.
But a month later, TANGGAP Trans Hub had to close its doors. Alea woke up one morning in late January to an email stating that US funding for the community center was suspended and that they had to stop spending even the money they were already given.
“It was really ‘stop, don’t spend the money.’ Full stop, immediate. It was everything, everything got taken away. There was an onset of panic, sadness,” Alea told Rappler.
SPACE SPACE. These are snapshots of the interior of TANGGAP Trans Hub, from Transmasculine Philippines’ websiteTransmasculine PH is one of many Philippine LGBTQ+ groups that have lost access to funding due to US President Donald Trump’s January 24 order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days or around three months, pending review. (READ: Impact of Trump’s freeze order on USAID in the Philippines, world)
Zamboanga-based Mujer LGBT+ Organization, LoveYourself, and PANTAY also received letters from US funders that aid for their programs will be put on hold.
Days after the Trump order, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued an exemption for PEPFAR, what the United Nations has called the world’s leading HIV initiative. The US-funded PEPFAR provides HIV treatment in 55 countries and has been credited with saving 26 million lives. So far, this exemption has not been expanded to other HIV-related programs in the Philippines.
The gaps filled by LGBTQ+ advocacy groups
In conservative Catholic Philippines where health services for transgender persons are hard to access and where HIV infections are on the rise, civil society groups like those who have lost funding had been filling the gaps.
TANGGAP Trans Hub, for instance, served as a physical safe space for transgender people where they were given access to resources on gender-affirming hormones, gender-affirming surgery, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.
The group also had to stop its monthly workshops and community-building events attended by up to 60 people.
A transgender health service provider, speaking in anonymity for fear of financial repercussions, has also paused its HIV testing program, which has benefited over 2,000 transgender persons, according to their tally.
Their community outreach events, public awareness raising activities, and partnerships with local governments, all focused on advocating for HIV prevention have been stopped, pending review.
Mujer LGBT+ Organization posted a notice of suspension it had received from the US State Department on January 24.
The letter stated that their funding is “immediately suspended” because it “no longer effectuates agency priorities in accordance with the US Department of State Terms and Conditions.”
It ordered Mujer to stop all work on their US-funded program, to not incur any new costs, and cancel outstanding obligations.
LoveYourself, another organization focusing on HIV prevention and care, said the US foreign aid freeze has affected some of its health programs, like free pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the provision of HIV self-testing kits, and awareness-raising campaigns. However, the group said their HIV testing and treatment programs will continue.
The pause in PrEP is particularly unfortunate since health experts have pointed to limited awareness and access to this medication as among the glaring gaps in the Philippines’ HIV response.
PrEP is a highly effective medication that can significantly reduce the risk of HIV infection. EpiMetrics researcher and team leader Carlo Emmanuel Yao writes in this Rappler explainer that PrEP is underutilized because of stigma and how difficult it is to access. Even if doctors prescribe PrEP, pharmacies do not stock these regularly.
Programs like LoveYourself’s, now paused because of the US order, had been filling such gaps.
“You only miss something when it’s gone. Life-saving programs will be affected. When I think of all the people who benefit from HIV counseling, HIV testing, it’s sad to think a lot of those programs will be stopped or significantly lessened,” said Alea.
A reality check
While nongovernment organizations typically maintain a variety of funding sources in order not to be too reliant on just one funder, it’s trickier for groups advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and HIV prevention in the Philippines where conservative religious groups hold sway.
“We don’t have that many options,” said Alea.
“I see a lot of comments, ‘Why are you depending on America?’ Americans saying, ‘Why are our taxpayers paying for programs in the Philippines.’ There are people celebrating that this is happening. There is not much support that local organizations have. We have no choice but to turn to these funding opportunities to be able to make these programs happen,” said Alea.
The Trump freeze order is a jarring reality check that SOGIE equality and HIV prevention groups have to find more dependable sources of support. For Transmasculine Philippines, that pivot could mean more community-building and convincing Filipinos that their cause is worth championing.
But groups are also calling on the Philippine government to do its part, because these groups are filling in gaps left by government anyway.
“To the Philippine government, this is your moment to step up and partner with civil society organizations,” said LoveYourself in a statement.
ACHIEVE, which provides services and support for people living with HIV and tuberculosis (TB), called on civil society, communities, and the Philippine government to “unite to assess the impact of the suspension and mobilize resources for essential TB and HIV programs and services.”
The Philippines has seen an alarming rise in HIV cases in the last decade, with health experts calling it a “silent epidemic.”
The number of newly diagnosed HIV cases every month has been increasing since 2021, according to the Department of Health. From 2021 to 2022, the monthly number rose by 21% (from 1,027 to 1,245). From 2022 to 2023, it rose by 15% (or 1,245 to 1,437).
There are around 215,400 People Living with HIV in the Philippines by end of 2024, estimated the agency.
To revive the TANGGAP Trans Hub operations, Alea and his team are planning to hold fundraising events and launch a crowdfunding campaign.
The silver lining in the US foreign aid freeze is that it can start conversations on domestic support for initiatives that help fellow Filipinos.
“It should be a talking point: why are we allowing these people contributing so much to the well-being of citizens to be abandoned during this time?” said Alea.
“The organizations do so much where, I’m sorry to say, governments have failed their people. We shouldn’t have to rely on international support.” – Rappler.com
![[PULITIKULTURA] Big picture, please](https://nowyouknowph.rappler.com/tachyon/sites/16/2022/09/PUlitikultura.jpg)
