War on Gaza: When Death Becomes Just Another Headline

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Sixty thousand dead.

That’s the death toll in Gaza after more than a year and ten months of war. The number is so large that it becomes abstract — just a row of digits we skim past in the news feed before clicking on a funny TikTok skit. But imagine this: sixty thousand bodies. Imagine how many stadiums they could fill. Imagine the silence of that crowd if they were all gone.

This is no longer just about missiles. It is no longer just about hunger and malnutrition. The latest headline is starvation — the complete absence of food over a prolonged period until the body simply gives up. Can you picture dying that way? Slowly, painfully, the body devouring itself, while the world scrolls on?

Missiles have struck water distribution points where children were queuing. A Catholic church, the only one in Gaza, was hit. Journalists have died covering the war. Yet our collective reaction is a shrug: So what else is new?

Psychologists have a term for this — psychic numbing. The human mind cannot truly comprehend large-scale death. We can mourn for a neighbor, empathize with a single grieving family, feel compelled to help a handful of survivors. But when the body count runs into tens of thousands, followed by zero after zero, it becomes an incomprehensible statistic, especially when it’s happening somewhere far away.

It happened here too. Thirty thousand died in the Philippine war on drugs — and many Filipinos looked away. Now, double that number have died in Gaza. Out of sight, out of mind.

Compassion fatigue has numbed the global conscience. After nearly two years of relentless images of bombed buildings, lifeless children, and desperate civilians, our hearts have grown calloused. Gaza is just 365 square kilometers — roughly the size of Camanava and Eastern Manila District combined — with a pre-war population of 2.1 million, about the same as Manila’s 2020 census count. Two-thirds of Quezon City’s population, trapped, blockaded, and now starving.

Pope Leo’s appeal is clear: humanitarian relief must reach this exhausted civilian population. The blockade of food, water, and medicine must end. The international community must resist any attempt to turn Gaza into an occupied territory.

Here in the Philippines, we have our own battles — typhoons, floods, poverty, corruption, and government failure. We may feel like our compassion is already spent. But somewhere far away, children are dying not because of the climate or neglect, but because starvation has been weaponized.

Rediscovering compassion is not just about helping others — it’s about allowing ourselves to heal from our own collective trauma. When we start caring again, we reclaim part of our own humanity.

Because the real danger is not that 60,000 have died in Gaza.

The real danger is that the more they die, the less we care.

The Dangerous Illusion of “At No Cost to the People”

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

They say the most dangerous lies are the ones wrapped in the language of generosity. “At no cost to the people and the government,” they promise — as if salvation can be served for free, without hidden debts, without invisible strings. But when such words come from the mouth of a billionaire whose empire thrives on the very industries that birthed the crisis, the promise is no blessing. It is bait.

We are told not to point fingers. Yet, how can we ignore the obvious culprits? Who has been reclaiming coastlines and building over wetlands, despite repeated warnings from scientists and environmental institutions that these projects will worsen flooding? Who digs deep into the Sierra Madre for mining and quarrying, gutting the mountains that shield us from storms? Who intimidates and harasses indigenous peoples and local communities to bulldoze through questionable ventures?

These are not the actions of ordinary Filipinos struggling to make ends meet. These are the moves of corporations with unlimited resources, backed by political muscle, armed with permits that make the destructive look “legal.”

Each time another reclamation is approved, each time another forest is flattened for “development,” we are told it is for progress, for jobs, for the future. Yet the only future this ensures is one where the land is more fragile, the seas more aggressive, and the people more vulnerable. The phrase “at no cost” becomes a cruel joke — because the cost is paid not in pesos, but in lives, livelihoods, and the irreversible loss of our natural defenses.

This is not crab mentality. This is about stripping the mask off a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is about refusing to let polished rhetoric distract us from the bloody footprints it leaves behind. For as long as the projects that shape our nation are not rooted in the well-being of our communities and the preservation of our environment, every grand promise will remain a hollow performance — one we cannot afford to applaud.

FDCP x Meisner crash course empowers actors in Negros

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Actors in Bacolod City recently took part in an intensive crash course on the Meisner Acting Technique.

The Film Development Council of the Philippines organized the five-day training, through its FDCP Film School and Cinematheque Centre Negros, in collaboration with Meisner Studio Manila, The Negros Museum, and the Negros Cultural Foundation, Inc.

Headteacher Angeli Bayani facilitated the workshop with support from apprentice teachers Elora Españo and Ross Pesigan.

The program offered local talents a unique opportunity to explore the principles of modern acting through a series of dynamic lectures, hands-on exercises, and collaborative activities.

The initial two days focused on a brief history of modern acting and foundational repetition exercises.

Throughout the week, participants engaged in repetition exercises to build emotional awareness, improvisation drills to enhance spontaneity and authenticity, and scene work and pair acting to apply the techniques learned.

The workshop concluded with a final recital where participants showcased prepared scenes, followed by an awarding ceremony.

Participants shared positive feedback on their experience. Bacolodnon actor-director Kent Jerriane Caduhada said he learned three key things: understanding an actor’s objective, reacting authentically, and portraying a role with "realness".

Art educator and cultural worker Geli Tupas Arceño noted that the technique requires “so much rawness and honesty in acting.” Arceño emphasized the importance of being fully present to observe and react to a scene partner, stating, “To be able to be the most interesting person in the room, you have to be the most interested in your scene partner.”

Españo explained the core principle of the Meisner Technique, “The truth of who you are is the root of your acting.” She added that this approach leads to a more collaborative and empathetic creative process.

Nathan Jalbuena Sotto, an actor and acting coach from Iloilo, praised the sense of safety the technique provides. He contrasted it with a previous experience utilizing another method where he felt “damaged” after staying in character for weeks.

Bayani reinforced this, stressing that when actors feel safe, they feel free to explore and create.

Actors from the USLS Maskara Theatre Ensemble – Danielle Faye Magno, April Joy Baquilar Singson, and Richard Bermejo Tolosa, Jr. – expressed their gratitude for the course, noting how it deepened their connection to both their craft and each other.

Bacolod Film Festival 2024 actors, including Jing Torrecampo (“A Flower a Day” and “Laragway sa Karon”), Crystal Puying (“Glub”), and Tex Romero (“Manokan Country”), also took part in the workshop.

The event, which marked the first regional stop for the Meisner Crash Course, brought the type of professional training centered on this particular acting technique for the first time to the Visayas.