Alma sent me a link to a story in New Zealand Papua, New Guinea (as corrected by Alma)about HIV-infected men who marry:
A MAN has infected 300 other people with the HIV virus in East Sepik, a United Nations Development Program-funded workshop was told.
In another instance, a wealthy Papua New Guinean man living with HIV/AIDS just recently married his 12th wife.These were among the shocking revelations at the UNDP-backed leadership development workshop in Port Moresby… [Post Courier]
It’s shocking. It’s irresponsible. I do not know what the pertinent laws in New Zealand address the issue. But the article made me take a second look at The Family Code of the Philippines. Sometimes, it takes an actual case to see the loopholes in the law.
Having an incurable sexually-transmissible disease is a ground for annullment. When either the man or the woman has a sexually-transmissible disease at the time of the marriage, whether incurable or not, and the fact is concealed from the other, there is fraud; fraud is also a ground for the annullment of the marriage.
However, the law does not require a disclosure prior to the marriage. Neither does the law require medical tests as a requirement for marriage.
There are only two essential requisites for marriage under Philippine law: 1) legal capacity and 2) consent, freely given. There are also two formal requirements: 1) authority of the solemnizing officer and 2) valid marriage license, except in certain cases. The information required to be given by both parties for the issuance of a marriage license does not include anything on sexually-transmissible diseases. Put another way, the information required are only those that are necessary to determine both parties’ legal capacity and consent.
Two things.
Pages: 1 2
Wow! I hope we can raise the awareness of the Filipinos about HIV and AIDS, I have just started my site about these and other things, hope you can also visit me thanksGot Cures!