FIGHTING THE STIGMA

Some are heard and some are not. Every story is never the same. In this article, Tatler delves into the journey of an HIV advocate and why accurate information is an integral part of the battle against the disease.

- Jove Moya

On his way home from the clinic, Wanggo Gallaga was too numb to entertain emotion. He was just struck with a diagnosis so tragic it would unsettle even the most composed. This was in the early 2000s, and he was just told that he had Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), then a social death sentence, a national scandal waiting to erupt.

"I was planning to disappear quietly. Nobody will know," the screenwriter, lecturer and son of the late Oro Plata Mata director Peque Gallaga tells Tatler: The days leading to his initial diagnosis were particularly confusing, as one after another, he contracted pneumonia, bronchitis and ear infection—all of which were conditions that felt out of place for someone who had always been relatively healthy.

"I used to have a 'very punishing' work schedule; I was working in TV three years prior and partied a lot, but I never got sick," Wanggo stresses. "I'd have a fever once every two years. That's how strong my immune system was. So when I started getting sick almost every other month, I began to wonder, 'What's going on?'"

Wanggo painted a clear picture of how HIV was treated at the time: information was scarce, there was little to no media coverage, and reliable literature was hard to find. So when he received the news that he was positive, he began preparing for death.

"My sister was there when I got home. She asked: 'How are you?' And I tried to find a way to answer the question without lying—I don't lie to my family," he says. "She looked at me because it took me forever to answer one question. I eventually told her the truth because I couldn't find a way to say I'm okay."