Short+Sweet Theater Manila 2016: The Biggest Little Play Festival In The World

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Short+Sweet Theater is a festival of ten minute plays and theatre pieces. They are the most far-reaching brand of short form theatre in the world. Each year they showcase hundreds of bite-sized dramatic treats.

They handpicked over 400 ten minute plays, selected from thousands of scripts submitted, and present them in their Festivals. They utilise the talents of established and upcoming actors, directors, writers, and technical crew, to create some of the best short work theatre across the planet.

Beginning as a small festival of 10 minute plays in Sydney, Australia, they have grown into a global organisation. Short+Sweet has made a huge impact on the Australian theatre scene through developing new, original work with emerging artists and providing a platform for established artists to showcase their talents.

Their vision is simple – a more creative world 10 minutes at a time!

Short + Sweet Theatre Festival Manila 2016 marks the third season of the Festival. This year they collaborate with a brand new venue – Power Mac Center Spotlight at Circuit Makati. Featuring 30 Plays, 30 Directors and nearly 100 actors. These plays will be performed over the last two weekends of October and the first weekend of November. Tickets can be availed at the venue prior to the show.

IPC Teams Up with PIA to Keep Students “Off the Streets and Off to School”

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IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.), a pioneer in local cloud and data center services, is pleased to announce that it is now a partner of the Philippine International Aid (PIA), a U.S.-based charity that has been providing health and educational assistance to underprivileged youth.

One of the PIA’s core initiatives is the “Off the Streets-Off to School” scholarship, a program that helps parents and teachers to keep kids in school. Administered in partnership with the Phil-Asia Assistance Foundation, the Off the Streets–Off to School program provides scholarships annually to more than 1,000 children in Metro Manila.

Together with their partners, PIA helps students go through elementary and college. The student's academic progress is monitored throughout the academic year and they are also encouraged to correspond with their respective benefactors.

An all-volunteer organization, PIA was established in 1986 to provide assistance to disadvantaged youth in the Philippines and the United States. Their core programs provide educational assistance to more children in the Philippines than any other U.S.-based charity. In 2013, aid was provided to more than 2,400 students.

Reallocate Interest Payments for Illegitimate Debts to Philhealth, Harm Reduction Strategies

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Amid the national discourse regarding the country’s foreign aid, Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros today called for the suspension of interest payments for “illegitimate debts” in the proposed 2017 national government budget.

In the Senate’s hearing of the Department of Health’s (DOH) proposed 2017 budget, Hontiveros also called for the reallocation of the said funds to important health services, particularly to Philhealth to achieve universal healthcare coverage and harm reduction programs to address the country’s drug problem through a public health approach.

“Foreign aid or loans by themselves are not bad. They can be a tool for development or a symbol of solidarity between nation-states. I am however opposed to aid or loans with neoliberal economic prescriptions and other grossly unfair and unconscionable terms; as well as debts that were not used for the benefit of the people. These loans take a large part of the people’s money, which could have been allotted instead to important social services like health,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros, citing the study of the debt watchdog, Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), said that there are at least 13 debt contracts in the government budget with interest payments amounting to P 739.54 million. The amount does not include the debts’ principal amortization worth P 5.39 billion. The said debts are: Sixth Road (Tullahan) Project, Power Sector Development Program, Pampanga Development Flood Control, Bohol Irrigation Phase II, Angat Water Supply Optimization, Philippine Rural Development Project, Agrarian Reform Communities Project, Agrarian Reform Communities Project 2, Third Elementary Education Project, Small Water Impounding Management, Help for Catubig Agricultural Advancement, Global Maritime Safety and the Emergency Network Project. The FDC challenged the debts as “fraudulent.”


100 % healthcare coverage

Hontiveros, who is the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, said part of the fund originally allocated for the said debts can be reallocated to Philhealth to attain 100% healthcare coverage, over and above the allocation it receives from sin taxes.


Harm reduction programs

The senator also wants part of the fund diverted to the building of more rehabilitation centers, and community-based drop-in centers and outreach services, and other out-patient rehabilitation services to address the health needs of the country’s drug dependents.

“I ask the Duterte government to match its rhetoric against tied aid with concrete policy. The deliberations of the 2017 national government budget are a good opportunity to demonstrate this. The government must stop prioritizing payments to illegitimate debts at the expense of public health,” Hontiveros said.



Special provision in 2017 budget, debt audit

Hontiveros said that she will introduce a special provision in the proposed 2017 budget to put on hold interest payments for the said questionable loans. She said that she will also push for a comprehensive audit of the country’s outstanding debts.