Manila: Twelve prisoners in central Philippines tested positive for the human immunology virus (HIV which causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS), in the first quarter of this year, 60 per cent higher than the five cases found in a prison in Manila at the end of 2014, sources said, adding the Philippines is now one of eight countries with the highest and rising number of cases worldwide.

The 12 inmates in Cebu City have started taking antiretroviral drugs and training under the health department so they could campaign among the 2,430fellow inmates about avoiding HIV-AIDs in prison, a health official in Manila told Gulf News.

Investigation is also ongoing to find out if inmates rampantly use drugs through syringe needles, following reports that incarcerated drug lords continue illegal trade in prison, said a source from the police who requested anonymity.

Last year, jail wardens were chastised for having allegedly allowing prostitutes into the prison. Authorities expressed fear that this could spread HIV-AIDS in prisons.

The 12 new cases in Cebu are under close watch. “They were not isolated. Jail and health authorities observe a Philippine law which prohibits discrimination of people with HIV-AIDs,“ Cebu’s prison Superintendent Johnson Calub said.

Last December, five inmates of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), a state penitentiary in Metro Manila’s suburban Mandaluyong, tested positive for HIV.

Bureau of Corrections Director Franklin Bucayu insisted that the five inmates had HIV even before they were placed at NBP,

The findings came after the justice department and the National Bureau of Investigation isolated imprisoned drug lords who have allegedly turned the state penitentiary into a major hub for illegal drug trafficking.

Some 5,502 new HIV-AIDS cased were reported in 2014, raising to 22,018 the total number of cases since 1984. A total of 2,011 HIV cases have become full-blown AIDS since then, said the health department, adding the government started recording cases only from minor sectors.

HIV-AIDS cases have been rising to 16 a day in 2014 from 12 daily in 2013, said the health department. It added that the number of cases a day could further escalate by the end of 2015.

Apart from sexual contact and shared injections among drug users, mother-child transmission, blood transfusion, and infected needles were likewise blamed for the spread of HIV-AIDS.