The Philippines registered 143 HIV diagnoses in January, its highest one-month total on record. In response, Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral said she will seek public funding for condoms, which would be distributed among high-risk groups. The request is politically contentious, threatening already shaky relations between the government and the Roman Catholic Church.

The government has stopped allocating money for condoms due to pressure from the Church, Cabral said. The Church was also instrumental recently in building congressional opposition to a reproductive health bill due to its promotion of sex education and contraception.

For most of 2009, HIV diagnoses averaged about 60 each month, according to the health department. However, in December the number shot up to 126 cases. Most of the January diagnoses were among men who have sex with men.

"We're alarmed over the sudden big increase of HIV infection cases since December 2009," Cabral said. "At the rate we are going, in three years we are going to have more than 30,000 people with HIV/AIDS in the Philippines."

"I will continue to distribute condoms as a tool to create awareness on HIV/AIDS prevention," Cabral said. The intent of the outreach is disease prevention, not birth control, she asserted.