Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Friday, December 18, 2015

Filipino Artists and Authors Unite to Spark HIV Awareness for World AIDS Month

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That well-known writing rule has taken on a different meaning for these established and budding Filipino authors and artists, as they proactively take on the fast-growing HIV epidemic with their words and images.

This year, the Philippines reported the highest number of HIV cases on a daily basis: 22 people testing positive–a huge jump from the 17 people in 2014. Since 1984 when the first HIV case was documented in the Philippines, the country has leapfrogged to 29,079 cases as of October 2015.

As a collaborative platform raising HIV and AIDS awareness via pop culture, pioneering HIV organization The Red Whistle has spearheaded various creative and productive collaborations to stop the rise of HIV here in the Philippines.

With its soon-to-be-launched folio, Red Letter Days, the organization brings together respected and up-and-coming voices in the art and literary scene to again bring discussions of HIV and AIDS, sex, and sexuality closer to young Filipinos.

“Through this folio, we were able to gather opinions and interpretations by respected voices from the art and literary community on HIV and AIDS, gender identity, sexual expression, and sexual health,” says Ronald Ramos, Red Letter Days folio editor, former president of the University of the Philippines’ Ugnayan ng Manunulat (UP Ugat), and fellow of the 1st Palihang Rogelio Sikat. “By bringing their thoughts together, we aspire to make discussions on HIV, sexual health and empowerment, as well as gender and equality, less taboo and more mainstream.”

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Recognizing the significance of promoting gender equality, the Department of Energy (DOE) presented in a Soft Launch the “Gender Toolkit for the Energy Sector” last December 10 in H20 Hotel in Manila.

Working together with the energy Gender and Development-Focal Point System (GAD-FPS) led by outgoing Energy Undersecretary Loreta G. Ayson, CESO I, the Philippine Commission on Women, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the DOE aims to provide a set of guides and reference materials to its internal units, attached agencies, and other offices and organizations in the sector on how to make their operations and programs more aware of, and responsive to the gender concerns of their clients.

Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada said in a message delivered by OIC-Asst. Secretary Patrick T. Aquino that “Balancing the gender fulcrum requires complementing initiatives from both genders,” emphasizing that the toolkit will bring both genders together and bridge the gap caused by gender disparity and difference in the energy sector.

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Recognizing the impact of technology in the education system, Globe Telecom through its information and communications technology (ICT) arm Globe Business, realizes that the integration of technology and innovative education solutions could answer issues confronting the Philippine education system. Working with the education sector, Globe Business targets the ubiquity of mobile access and its growing connected base, improving the service and answering the difficulties with innovative solutions.

Globe partnered with top companies such as Brightspace of D2L, Educube of Globals and Flipside to find innovative solutions to offer Philippine schools and students access to a global learning experience. Brightspace provides more than a simple course of management capabilities on a Learning Management System (LMS). It is the only accessible, intuitive and Integrated Learning Platform that provides an engaging learning experience and predictive data-driven analytics while empowering teachers to teach the way they prefer to and inspiring students to learn the way they want them to learn.

Educube, a school management system recognized worldwide, is a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for schools that help streamline and automate the school’s business processes.