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HIV/AIDS and women in the Philippines

Medicine Cabinet — Reiner W. Gloor

IT IS ALARMING how quickly the numbers of HIV/AIDS cases have risen in just the past few years here in the Philippines. Despite being still officially tagged as a low-HIV prevalence country, with less than 0.1% of the adult population estimated to be HIV-positive, more new cases are being reported today than even two years ago. As of April 2015, the Department of Health (DoH) AIDS Registry reported 24,936 cumulative cases. In that same month, there were 560 new cases reported, showing a 42% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Within the years of 2001 to 2015, the number of cases diagnosed per year increased 37 times, from just 174 cases diagnosed in 2001 to 6,552 new cases within the first 10 months of 2015 alone.

From ninja to elder statesman: Japan techno king Ken Ishii

TOKYO — Japan’s techno trail-blazer Ken Ishii rocks huge crowds the world over and leads a glamorous, jet-set life — but the superstar DJ insists he’s a “bit of a nerd” at heart.

Economists are out of touch with climate change

By Noah Smith, Bloomberg View

IN THE DEBATE over climate change, there is one group you don’t hear much from: economists. The failure of climate economics to make a difference in the public discussion about climate policy should be a concern for the profession.

What to see this week

4 films to see on the week of Mar. 18-25, 2016

The guides of El Nido

LITTLE HAS CHANGED in Bacuit Bay, home of three of the four El Nido Resorts (ENR), in the last millennium. Its craggy limestone cliffs have been that way for the last 250 million years. All that might have changed in the 1960s and ’70s when commercial logging and fishing became the area’s main sources of revenues but because the bay was declared a turtle sanctuary and eventually a protected area, its biodiversity and natural balance has been maintained.

The Circle of Life: from Les Miz to Miss Saigon and back again

By Zsarlene B. Chua

Theater
Les Miserables’

The creative energy of Jollibee

Ads & Ends
Nanette Franco-Diyco

I WAS SCANNING the Internet, carefully noting down links to Lenten recollections, spiritual readings, and inspirational talks to recommend to my family for our Holy Week vacation, when I came across a most delightful 5-minute digital video that thoroughly made me declare an intermission from the very serious task I had assigned myself.

Which Asian country is the happiest? Hint: it’s not the Philippines

How do Asian countries rank in World Happiness?

Unemployment drops to 10-year low

THE number of jobless Filipinos last January dropped to a 10-year low. Based on the preliminary results of the latest quarterly Labor Force Survey (LFS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the unemployment rate fell to 5.8% from 6.6% in January of last year, thinning the ranks of the jobless to 2.469 million.

Read the full story here.

Foreign direct investments in the Philippines

Check out the performance of foreign direct investments in the Philippines for the whole year of 2015.

‘We’re not asking for it’

By Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman

He was holding it, caressing it. A man, a stranger, wearing short shorts, sunglasses, and cap, was masturbating in a jeepney I was riding in Manila. The other passengers were all women. Some were oblivious, but I, I was sitting in front of him and saw him doing it. As quick as I could, I hopped off. I didn’t call anyone for help, but only texted a friend to tell her the story. It was infuriating, at the same time frightening.

John Oliver is the voice of sanity for these troubled times

The Binge
Jessica Zafra

EVERY GENERATION has its voice of sanity.