LoveYourself and Partners Beef Up HIV Awareness After Anvil Win

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Advocating for greater HIV awareness, LoveYourself and its partner Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc., which is the corporate social responsibility arm of the Shell Philippines Exploration (SPEX), B.V., has continuously strengthened their HIV programs for businesses, students and the youth, and other vulnerable sectors.

LoveYourself Executive Director Ronivin G. Pagtakhan said, “We need to be aggressive and varied with our programs to curb HIV and AIDS, especially now that there are 27 Filipinos getting infected every day from only four (4) individuals in 2010.”

“Through our LoveYourself Caravan, our volunteers are sweeping through schools and private companies in key cities in the National Capital Region to educate the participants on correct and consistent condom use, timely testing and treatment, and safe and satisfying sex (TSC) as well as how companies can implement an HIV Policy in their respective offices,” Pagtakhan relayed.

Recently, LoveYourself Caravan’s Philippines Business Sector Response (PBSR) to HIV, which a SPEX-funded program and implemented largely by LoveYourself, has won a Silver Anvil Award last 10 March for helping address the key health issues of the country. 

Receiving the Silver Anvil Award on 10 March 2017 at the Makati Shangri-La are (L-R) PBSR Senior Officer Dr. Stella Flores (2nd from left), PSFI Project Manager Marvi Trudeau, PSFI Executive Director Edgar Veron Cruz, SPEX Managing Director Don Paulino, LoveYourself Executive Director Ronivin Pagtakhan, PBSR Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Julius Elorpe, LoveYourself Deputy for Strategic Communications Raybert Domingo and members of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines.

This is the first time that a LoveYourself-implemented program has been awarded an Anvil award, considered the most prestigious recognition for public relations campaigns in the country. The PBSR program won in the category of Public Relations Programs: Directed at Specific Stakeholders, External Consumers, Communities and Special Interest/Advocacy Groups.

The PBSR is a program dedicated to businesses or enterprises which entails HIV awareness, testing and facilitating the creation and implementation of an HIV Policy in the Workplace.

Apart from PBSR, LoveYourself also has a committed program for schools and universities providing HIV education and screening. The LoveYourself Caravan programs are in cooperation with the Department of Health-Philippine National AIDS Council (DOH-PNAC), the UNAIDS, and the PSFI.

“We’ve gone through various companies and academic institutions in the cities of Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong, Muntinlupa, Quezon Pasay, San Juan, Taguig and even Puerto Princesa in Palawan to support their needs towards HIV education and policy requirements,” informed Earl Patrick B. Penabella, LoveYourself PBSR and Caravan Program Officer.

LoveYourself Caravan and TestMNL.org provided HIV education, counseling and testing to the FEU Tamaraws in Manila last 08 March.

Penabella added that in 2016, the PBSR team conducted HIV related trainings to the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) member-participants in Metro Manila, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro.

Based on January 2017 DOH data, there were 844 new individuals diagnosed to have been infected with HIV, which is 5% higher compared to the same period last year and the highest reported cases since 1984.

Currently, LoveYourself Caravan is being boosted through the TestMNL (testMNL.org) campaign, which is an adaptation of the TestBKK in Bangkok, Thailand funded by the Elton John AIDS Foundation through the APCOM, a regional organization that promotes HIV issues that affect the lives of men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people, including rights, health and well-being.

On 24 March, LoveYourself Caravan and TestMNL will be conducting an alternative learning experience to the Pre-Medical Society of the University of the Philippines-Diliman in Quezon City concerning HIV and AIDS, which also includes HIV counseling and testing.

To answer queries on HIV and other sexual health inquiries, LoveYourself Volunteers set up booths during PUP’s celebration of LGBT Pride last 10 March.

In March alone, LoveYourself Caravan and TestMNL have conducted HIV education, counseling and testing at the Far Eastern University (08 March), Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Sta. Mesa (10 March), Philippine Normal University (11 March) and UP Los Baños (13 March).

For more details on other LoveYourself’s services, individuals may visit the group’s official website at www.loveyourself.ph or follow and like its social media channels: Facebook- @loveyourself.ph, Twitter- @loveyourselfph, and Instagram- @loveyourself.ph.

Kaye Morales: Designer, Lesbian Icon’s Quest for Equality

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The month of March celebrated the woman; her achievements, her independence, and her total empowerment. Our world today is not perfect and inequality continues to cast its shadow across the darkest corners of our day to day lives. In our world today, being a woman is not just a personal experience, but a political one as well.

Today’s women are motivated to defy convention with every step they take and there’s no other woman who embodies those forward-thinking ideas quite like fashion designer, Kaye Morales.

“With all the emerging talents in the fashion industry, being a woman in 2017 means pushing myself harder”, says Kaye Morales.

Progressive and fashion-forward, Kaye Morales has grown to become one of Manila’s youngest and hottest street-wear designers. Her latest collection, Identity, broke through the gender-binary with pieces that were adaptable to people of all genders and body types. Since its launch in December 2016, Identity has become a critical and commercial success.

“This is my revolution of self, my freedom”, Morales shares, as she looks at Identity’s success. “It is a spectrum of emotions and experiences that I want to express.”

Morales came out about her sexuality in 2015 and expressed a desire in making the fashion industry a welcoming place for people all genders and sexual orientations. As a part owner of LGBT nightclub, Nectar, Morales launched Girl Nation – an event she hosts every Tuesday night for lesbian and queer women alike. Her efforts have cemented her place as an icon in the local LGBT community.

“Ngayon lang n​a​gkaron ng ganito sa Manila ​and my main goal is to build relationships within the community ​para maging closer ​yung members ng ​LGBT”, says Morales. “That's my main goal.

Morales is currently hard at work, working on her next collection, Vomit. Away from the design studio, Morales is a dedicated triathlete and is training for her next triathlon. 

“I believe that to be able to cope up with the physical and mental requirements that my job requires, I need to stay fit and healthy”, shares Kaye Morales. “Being a woman in 2017 is being a woman who takes control of her life and future.”

If there’s anything that truly sets Kaye Morales apart from her peers, is her ability to embrace the experiences of all women and to channel that into all of the work she does. Whether, it’s in the design studio, on the track, on in a club, Kaye Morales’ work inspires people to be themselves in the face of a world on the cusp of acceptance.

Hit Reality Show “The Amazing Race” Returns for Season 29 on AXN

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Get ready for a race unlike any before when the worldwide hit reality television show, The Amazing Race, returns for its 29th edition on AXN.

Unlike in previous seasons, this season offers a fresh, new format in response to the clamor of The Amazing Race fans for years. When the race begins on March 31, all 22 contestants are complete strangers who meet for the first time on the starting line.

They compete in a challenge that will determine the order for choosing a teammate, based on nothing but first impressions. Then, these new teams engage in fierce competition as they complete a series of physical and mental challenges while racing around the world, spanning 17 cities in nine countries across five continents.

These odd couples of newfound partners, which include an army drill sergeant, a professional snowboarder, a Wall Street banker, an auctioneer, and a college drum major, among others, discover for themselves how they handle the pressure and cope with the tension of competing and traveling with someone they just met.

The first team to arrive at the final finish line will win the grand prize of US$1 million and crowned the winners of The Amazing Race.

New Zealand television personality Phil Keoghan returns as host in this latest installment of the competitive reality series.

The Amazing Race Season 29 premieres on March 31, every Friday at 8:50pm within 12 hours of the U.S. telecast. First & Exclusive on AXN.

AXN is available on SKYCable Channel 49, Destiny Cable Channel 61, Cignal Channel 121, Dream Satellite TV Channel 20, G Sat Channel 51, and Cablelink Channel 38. AXN HD is available on SKYCable Channel 247.