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CCP launches digital museum

ONLINE exhibitions, archival material, discussions and lectures, and much more are now accessible at the new digital museum of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) called 21AM.

Run by the CCP’s Visual Arts and Museum Division, 21AM — short for 21st century contemporary art museum — is intended for critical inquiry and artmaking in the 21st century. It will present exhibitions intended to investigate how manipulation of truth is facilitated in cyberspace, and also how such manipulations can be understood and arrested.

The conceptualization of the digital museum started in 2018 as a key project of the 50th anniversary of the CCP by independent curator and cultural critic Marian Pastor Roces, who worked with the CCP’s Visual Arts and Museum Division, and CCP Artistic Director and Vice-President Chris B. Millado.

“It has been a rather long history already since 1986, the Cultural Center has become more closely aligned with the imperatives of contemporary art, which means that it has a critical nature,” Ms. Pastor Roces, the museum’s curator, said at the online launch on Feb. 25, livestreamed through Facebook. “The critical nature will always engage the state. It is the nature of contemporary art.”

IT IS NOW 21AM
The chief designer of 21AM, David Loughran, said that the digital museum was programmed with the following desires: to explore the promise of art in cyberspace, and to remember history.

“We wanted a museum that speaks to its audiences from a place of curiosity,” Mr. Loughran said.

The digital museum’s unique feature is its custom-built Accession Record System (ARS) that consolidates the CCP Collection. The design updates the museum’s database information about artworks, objects, and events.

The curatorship, museum and exhibition development company founded by Ms. Roces, TAOINC, designed the accession record system, and undertook preliminary conservation assessment of the CCP Collection.

The digital museum is divided into three main sections: The Collection, Current Exhibits, and Augmented Learning. The Collection (where the ARS is stored) houses the CCP’s holdings from 1969 to the present. All searches for artworks or art associated material are done through 21AM’s custom built accession record system. Augmented Learning is where 21AM’s memories combine with the CCP’s larger programming, it is where all engagements and discussions and support learning are stored. It will also link schedules for events and 21AM’s chatroom, as well as information on the CCPs new exhibits and retrospective reviews.
The online museum also operates with a 24/7 chat room, My Archive, and a Digital Human Rights Hub. My Archive houses all past exhibits, along with all their supplementary texts, as well as records and audio, video, or photography of all public engagements. The Digital Human Rights Hub is a space to host discussions on human rights in the digital universe. The chat room is where guests can attend scheduled discussions around curated topics. It is meant to be a democratic and informal space for people to share similar and contrary opinions.

The 21AM collection will house over 4,000 objects.

“Putting all that online will be a long and arduous process that will take time,” CCP Visual Arts Division Head Rica Estrada said. “What we have now are 50 pieces from the collection, and we will be growing this gradually so that people can get look at and engage.”

Soon to be accessible are the CCP Collection of modern, contemporary, ethnographic, and ethnomusicological art and cultural materials. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Inaugural exhibit of 21AM looks at Marcos hidden wealth

PHOTO BY MARIAN PASTOR ROCES

LONDON-based Filipino conceptual artist Pio Abad and his wife, the jewelry designer Frances Wadsworth Jones, present The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders: Restitution in AR as the inaugural exhibit of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ new digital musem, 21AM. Launched on the 36th anniversary of the People Power Revolution, it features digital replicas of Imelda Marcos’ contested jewelry collection which was seized by US Customs at the Honolulu airport when the Marcoses were exiled in Hawaii in 1986.

The exhibit references the false identities —  Jane Ryan and William Saunders —  which Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos used to amass and conceal their wealth in Switzerland.

Mr. Abad and Ms. Wadsworth Jones were assisted by curator Kenneth Paranada for the digital exhibit. The augmented reality exhibit examines the scale of excess of the Marcos couple during the Martial Law regime (1972-1981).

The artwork, 10 years in the making (Mr. Abad began the project in 2012), examines the political and cultural legacy of the Marcoses by remaking their collection of jewelry.

“The project at its heart is an elaborate resistance… Through excavating silence narratives, we’re making a collection of objects tainted by the regime’s corruption and inviting the public to interact,” Mr. Abad said.

“Jane Ryan and William Saunders were the false identities used by Imelda and Ferdinand to open their Swiss bank accounts in Zurich in March 1968. It was through this account and many others that follow that the couple were able to siphon off money from the National Congress, effectively bankrupting the Philippine Treasury,” Mr. Abad explained.

The Marcoses had an estimated wealth of $10 billion by the time they were ousted from office.

The jewelry collection was referred to as the “Hawaii Collection.” After the seizure, the collection was turned over to the Presidential Commission of Good Government (PCGG). Since the 1990s, it has languished in the vaults of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. In Feb. 2016, the PCGG announced that the pieces would be auctioned following the clearance of legal impediments, and planned a public exhibition.

“I was in initial discussions to find a way of collaborating with PCGG on presentation in early 2016. But the shifting political currents put a stop to these plans,” Mr. Abad said. “Not really knowing what to do with these images that were shared by the PCGG, and fully aware of the epic implications of showing photographs that were not mine, I then turned to my wife, Frances, who not only is an amazing jewelry designer, but also one who was incredibly adept at 3D modeling.”

The Filipino-British couple began their collaborative work in 2018. They have since exhibited together at Jameel Arts Center, Dubai; Kadist, San Francisco; Bellas Artes Projects, Manila; and the second Honolulu Biennial in Hawai’i.

Using the photographs as reference, Ms. Jones digitally sculpted 24 pieces of jewelry into 3D models, a process which took two years to complete.

“The process involves a certain level of creative speculation. My only point of reference was a single photograph from a single angle,” Ms. Jones said.

“It is completing a journey that returns the jewelry to the scene of the crime, so to speak. However, this time, they don’t return as luxurious accessories, but as spectral reconstructions,” she added.

Using 3D scanning and AR technologies, each model of the jewelry also shows the equivalent public projects that its value could have financed.

One of the replicas is of a 1890 Belle Epoque platinum and diamond tiara by Cartier which could fund treatment for 12,052 patients with tuberculosis until their full recovery.

Meanwhile, the exhibition’s “Restitution in AR” feature allows the models to be virtually mounted in public spaces.

“This does not only allow us to place the sculpture within the CCP but, more importantly, allows the public to take ownership by placing perceptual reconstructions in their own domestic spaces,” Ms. Jones said. “We see this as a way of reimagining possibilities of restitution that remain elusive.”

An online artist talk featuring Mr. Abad and Ms. Wadsworth Jones is scheduled on March 14, and an online curators’ conversation between Pastor Roces and John Kenneth Paranada is scheduled on March 21.

Interested parties can view and engage with the augmented reality feature of the exhibition using the hashtags #isauli and #digitalrestitution and tag @janeryan_williamsaunders and @ccpvamd on Instagram. To access the exhibition, visit https://21AM.culturalcenter.gov.ph. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ccpvamd. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Ancient erotic pottery teaches Peruvians to prevent prostate cancer

Museo Larco – Lima, Perú

LIMA — A Peruvian cancer prevention group has begun using erotic ceramics sculpted over a thousand years ago to teach men how to self test for early signs of prostate and testicular cancer.

In an event on Friday at Lima’s Larco museum, famous for its collection of pre-Columbian art, men were encouraged to touch genitals of the clay sculpture replicas to learn how to perform a cancer self-test on their testicles and penis. 

The sculptures created by the Moche culture that thrived in northern Peru 100 to 800 years after Christ are known as erotic huacos, a pre-Columbian term for handicrafts.

The exhibition, called Touch the Genitals of the Mochicas, was promoted by the private organization League against Cancer.  “Timely detection of cancer of the external genitalia in men, both of the penis and testicles, is very low,” said nurse Giselle Grillo from the League Against Cancer. “Many do not know how to explore their genitals, what palpation is. With this we give an early diagnosis.”

According to the organization, some 10,000 cases of prostate, penis and testicular cancer were diagnosed in Peru in 2021. Of that, 45% were in advanced stages with little chance of being cured.

“The aim is to bring closer the knowledge of our ancestors about the human body, expressed through these ceramic vessels that we call the Erotic Huacos,” said Larco Museum Director Ulla Holmquist.

In the museum, the hundreds of huacos, some with large male genitalia and others in varying sexual positions, were displayed in showcases while visitors timidly touched them. — Reuters

Robinsons Retail’s fourth-quarter income doubled to P1.8 billion

ROBINSONS Retail Holdings, Inc. (RRHI) doubled its profit in the fourth quarter as the company saw increased consumer spending during the holidays.

In a disclosure to the exchange on Tuesday, RRHI said it saw a 114% growth in net income attributable to parent to P1.77 billion from P825 million in the same quarter in 2020.

“The positive performance in the last quarter of 2021 shows how we came together as a company with unwavering dedication, amid the continued challenges of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) throughout the year,” RRHI President and Chief Executive Officer Robina Y. Gokongwei-Pe said.

RRHI’s net sales posted a 7% growth to P44.4 billion from P41.49 billion year on year. The company said its sales were “propelled” by the increased spending amid the holiday season on top of the easing of pandemic restrictions in Metro Manila.

The company said its e-commerce sales surged by three times compared with the fourth quarter in 2020. E-commerce sales made up for 3.9% of its total sales.

RRHI recorded a same-stores sales growth of 2.3%, boosted by the “strong performance” of its drugstore, department store, convenience store, and specialty store segments.

Its “strong” fourth-quarter performance also improved full-year results. The company’s net income attributable to parent climbed 39.2% for the year ending 2021, generating P4.48 billion from P3.22 billion the previous year.

RRHI’s net sales in 2021 also inched up 1.5% to P153.33 billion from P151.07 billion.

“We entered 2022 driven by our constant goal to remain focused on our customers’ needs,” Ms. Gokongwei-Pe said.

“We look forward to reinvigorated business activity as alert levels fall due to better responses to the pandemic, while the nation forges ahead with a clearer path towards a more open economy,” she added.

RRHI shares at the stock exchange declined 0.97% or 60 centavos to close at P61.10 per share. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

Russian conductor Gergiev shunned by La Scala, other venues

VALERY GERGIEV — VALERY-GERGIEV.RU

MILAN — Russian Valery Gergiev will not conduct at Milan’s La Scala this week after he failed to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and he is also set to be sidelined from roles in Munich and Rotterdam.

Mr. Gergiev — general director of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater and regarded as close to Russian President Vladimir Putin — conducted The Queen of Spades, an opera based on Alexander Pushkin’s novel, at La Scala on Feb. 23.

The show will run until March 15 and the next performance is scheduled for Saturday.

“I don’t think he will be there, I think at this point we can rule it out,” Giuseppe Sala, La Scala theater board chairman and mayor of Milan, told reporters on Monday.

“The maestro did not reply to us,” he added, referring to requests for Mr. Gergiev to comment on the Ukraine crisis.

The Mariinsky Theater did not respond to a request for comments.

According to a BBC report on March 1, Mr. Gergiev, has been forced to resign his position as honorary president of the Edinburgh International Festival. The festival said in a statement that his resignation was effective immediately.

Meanwhile, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra also said it was suspending its work with Mr. Gergiev, who is an honorary conductor in the Dutch city, and would cancel a Gergiev Festival planned for September unless he distances himself from Mr. Putin’s actions.

Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter last week gave Mr. Gergiev a deadline of Monday to speak out or be removed as principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Moscow-born Mr. Gergiev, 68, has performed in the most famous theaters around the world. In 2013, Mr. Putin awarded him the first title of Hero of Labor of Russia.

But those ties have rebounded on him as Western nations react to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the biggest assault on a European nation since World War II.

Mr. Gergiev had been due to conduct three concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall leading the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra from Feb. 25-27.

But the Russian conductor has been replaced by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, according to the theater’s website.

Separately, the Venice La Biennale art exhibition said the curator and artists of the Pavilion of the Russian Federation had pulled out of the event in protest at the war in Ukraine.

“La Biennale expresses its complete solidarity for this noble act of courage,” it said in a statement. — Reuters

Filipino adults still struggling with obesity and inactivity

UNSPLASH

THE Philippines has already surpassed a 2030 projection of diabetes incidence in the country, according to the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).

The FNRI pegged diabetes prevalence among adults 20 years old and above at 8.2% as of 2019, exceeding the 2030 projection of 7.8% among adults from 20 to 79 years old in the 2021 edition of the IDF Diabetes Atlas, and matching its projection for 2045.

Even as tobacco use has declined, risk factors such as obesity and physical inactivity continue to pose a challenge among Filipinos.

“More than half of adults are also obese based on their waist-hip ratio,” said endocrinologist Dr. Aurora G. Macaballug, citing 2003–2019 prevalence data from FNRI, at a Feb. 22 webinar organized by the Philippine College of Physicians.

From 2018 to 2019, the prevalence of high waist-hip ratios of adult males and females decreased slightly from 8.3% to 7.2%, and 63.7% to 63.0%, respectively. “It’s bad that it’s stable,” Dr. Macaballug said, noting that the problem still hasn’t been minimized even if it’s been identified.

Abdominal obesity, or too much fat around the waist, is defined as having a waist-hip ratio of more than 0.85 for females, and more than 0.9 for males. It is a marker of disease risk. According to Harvard T.H. Chan’s School of Public Health, abdominal fat releases agents and hormones that lead to high blood glucose and blood pressure.

6 DOUGHNUTS, 32 COOKIES
Breaking a sweat and maintaining one’s weight isn’t only about having a svelte figure, said Dr. Richard Henry P. Tiongco II, a cardiologist.

He recommends following the 52100 habit, which refers to consuming five servings of fruits and vegetables, limiting salt intake to two grams (or one teaspoon), getting one hour of exercise per day, zero tobacco use, and zero consumption of sugary drinks.

Consuming three cans of soda, said Dr. Tiongco, can be equal to six doughnuts, or about 32 cookies — and an hour of exercise won’t be nearly enough to burn the calories.

Obesity, he added, can also lead to other conditions such as fatty liver disease (characterized by extra fat buildup in the liver that can lead to liver damage) and metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions that increase the risk of heart disease and stroke).

Dr. Macaballug said parents should inculcate in their children the concept of an active and healthy lifestyle.

“We have to start them young. If we catch them as adults, they already have a concept of what their lifestyle is. Ang hirap na nila i-pull out doon [It would be hard to pull them out of that].” — Patricia B. Mirasol

Alliance Global to infuse nearly P8B to entertainment, hotel segment

ALLIANCE Global Group, Inc. (AGI) will infuse P7.8 billion in Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc.’s increase in paid-up capital.

“The infusion of fresh capital to augment the working capital of Travellers will afford AGI’s entertainment and hotel business the opportunity to keep current with its obligations and catch the window of business recovery with the easing of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) restrictions,” AGI told the exchange on Tuesday without discussing further.

Travellers is the developer and operator of Resorts World Manila.

For the third quarter in 2021, Travellers’ gross revenues climbed 36% year on year to P5 billion. It generated P4.9 billion in gross gaming revenues, while hotel revenues surged 77% after its occupancy rate hit 79% of pre-pandemic levels.

Travellers logged a P1.9-billion net income for the first nine months of 2021, reversing its P5.4-billion loss seen the previous year. Revenues climbed 28% to P14.8 billion.

AGI shares at the stock exchange went up 2.97% or 38 centavos on Tuesday, closing at P13.18 per share. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

Diverse voices on climate change

A FEW months before the Taal volcano eruption and the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020, a team of writers from around the world met to brainstorm about writing a book on climate change. Filipino anthropologist and writer Padmapani L. Perez, South African novelist and journalist Rehana Rossouw, Colombian poet and performer Alexandra Walter, and Filipino author Renato Redentor Constantino looked through images submitted by photographers from various countries. After selecting 30 photographs, their next step was to send these to writers in their respective regions to serve as inspiration.

The result was Harvest Moon: Poems and Stories from the Edge of the Climate Crisis, an anthology on climate change.

The book is a project of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities’ The Agam Agenda, a platform that brings together writers, artists, scientists, youth, and campaigners for creative, transdisciplinary collaboration for climate action through stories and art.

The book contains over 30 images and over 30 poems, stories, and essays by writers, photographers, and artists from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America. The contributions come from 24 countries and are written in 11 languages, including Turkish, Spanish, Kankanaey, French, Filipino, English, Chinese, and Bahasa Indonesia.

“The making of this book followed a creative process that we first tried out in Agam Filipino Narratives on Uncertainty and Climate Change (2014). We invited photographers in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America to send in black and white images that showed a place or space with people or traces of humanity in them. Out of over 80 submissions, we selected 30 plus of the best photographs,” Ms. Perez, Agam Agenda lead strategist and the book’s co-editor, said at the online book launch on Feb. 18.

In the selection of photographs, Ms. Perez added that the co-editors “veered away from typical imagery of the environment and disasters.” Every contributing writer received a randomly selected photograph. The writers were tasked to respond to photographs from outside their respective regions.

Ms. Perez further explained that the writers also received a list of 32 words and phrases that they were not allowed to use in their pieces, such as “climate change” and “global warming.” “The intention was to discourage the use of jargon and to steer away from tired ways of describing the state we’re in,” she said.

Contributors include internationally recognized writers Shirley Campbell Barr (Costa Rica), Marjorie Evasco (Philippines), Luisa A. Igloria (Philippines/USA), Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner (Marshall Islands), Fiston Mwanza Mujila (Democratic Republic of Congo), Leonardo Padura (Cuba), Malebo Sephodi (South Africa), photographer Vinai Dithajohn (Thailand), and renowned essayist Rebecca Solnit.

Filipino contributing writer Gawani Domogo Gaongen interprets a photo by South African photographer Masixole Feni showing a young goalkeeper in a soccer field. The resulting Kankanaey poem “Pangwani” (which also includes an English translation by the author) illustrates how moments on earth and the distance of places are measurements of time.

Since the project was interrupted in 2020, the book also includes poems and stories related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the Filipino contributing writers, Joey A. Tabula, a physician by profession, wrote the poem “Awit sa Dibdib ng Mamang may COVID (Song in the Chest of a Man with COVID).” He interpreted Vinai Dithajohn’s photograph of a half-naked man taking a bath in a lake.

“I was sent a number of images and then it was really hard to choose because all the images are rich [with] interpretation. But I chose the one that spoke to me,” Mr. Tabula said of the photo. “The loneness of the person and taking a bath kind of reminds me of patients in [ICU] getting the morning care of nurses and nursing assistants.”

He wrote the poem in the persona of a physician taking care of a patient.

Pieces from Harvest Moon were also featured in artistic collaborations to coincide with the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) international negotiations in Nov. 2021. Works were featured in light projections by artist Jenny Holzer throughout the city center of Glasgow, Scotland, and at the Tate Modern in London.

“Through Harvest Moon, we hope to show that art and literature have a role to play, not just in communicating climate change, but also in accompany us through the crisis, providing solace, companionship, and opening portals to new possibilities,” Ms. Perez said.

Harvest Moon (P599.60) is now available via Milflores Publishing on Shopee and Lazada, Fully Booked, the Ayala Museum Shop, Mt. Cloud Bookshop in Baguio City, and Solidaridad Bookstore in Manila. To order the book, visit http://agamagenda.com/harvest-moon. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Mitigating the risks of gestational diabetes

UNSPLASH

GESTATIONAL diabetes mellitus (GDM) poses health risks for pregnant Filipinas, many of whom were unable to seek usual prenatal care because of lockdown restrictions.

“During this COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, pregnant patients had restriction to mobility because of the lockdowns as well as access to healthy foods. These factors have seemingly contributed to the increased the number of pregnant women with GDM during this period,” said Theresa Marie V. Faller, endocrinologist at the World Citi Medical Center, in an e-mail to BusinessWorld.

GDM is defined as the presence of a glucose abnormality, usually elevated blood glucose levels, first recognized in the second or third trimester of pregnancy and caused by insulin resistance, or the state by which the body does not respond well to insulin.

Risks for the baby include growing too big, which increases their chances of obesity and diabetes during childhood, and pre-term birth, which can result in breathing difficulties.

As for the mother, GDM may increase risk of high blood pressure as well as preeclampsia (characterized by hypertension, proteins in the urine, and swelling of both legs) that can threaten the lives of both mother and baby, Dr. Faller added.

The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that diabetes mellitus was the fifth leading cause of death across the country, accounting for 6.3% of total deaths from January to November 2021, an increase of 22.4% from the same period a year before.

Though it’s unsure how many Filipino pregnant women suffer from GDM due to lack of local studies on the matter, past surveys by the Asian Federation of Endocrine Societies Study Group on Diabetes in Pregnancy in 1996 and University of Santo Tomas Hospital in 2009 have shown a prevalence of 14% and 7.5% respectively.

Unfortunately, the implications of GDM don’t get much attention since it only occurs for a small part of the population, said Dr. Faller.

HEALTH SOLUTIONS
For 25-year-old expectant mother Sherielou Flores, the tough part of having GDM was the need to change her diet and regularly monitor her blood sugar.

“I wanted to avoid unnecessary medical interventions while giving birth, so I worked towards controlling my condition so I would not need medications such as insulin,” she said via e-mail. Her doctor had said too much insulin would not be safe for childbirth.

Aside from frequent urination, fatigue, and weakness, Ms. Flores shared that her own child’s safety fueled much of the fear she felt during her complicated pregnancy.

Technology was what helped her manage her health and access necessary services.

“It positively impacted the way I addressed my condition, from tracking blood glucose levels, monitoring stress levels, to observing carbohydrate intake. Mobile health applications like the mySugr app helped me learn more about my condition,” she said.

Dr. Faller, who recently studied Asian pregnant women’s progress in blood glucose control after six months of their use of mobile health applications, found that data management is indeed key to personalized diabetes care.

“This enables GDM patients to share that information with the caregivers and physician for further consultation and adjust their treatment plan for a better and personalized diabetes care,” she explained.

Even after delivery of the baby upon which GDM is resolved, the patient may still suffer repercussions later on, like developing type 2 diabetes and other related conditions. This is why monitoring is essential in long-term treatment, according to Dr. Faller.

“Managing diabetes today is starting to get easier and that’s what we want for our patients,” she said. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

Globe: Mobile business’ return to pre-pandemic levels may take time

GLOBE Telecom, Inc. said it might take some time for its mobile business to return to pre-pandemic levels despite the easing of mobility restrictions, mainly due to changes in customer behavior.

“As broadband penetration increases, data usage and household spending will now be split between mobile and broadband, regardless of mobility restrictions,” Globe said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.

Darius Jose Delgado, head of Globe Consumer Mobile Business, said the company expects its mobile business to grow in step with total industry growth, which is now a “low single-digit growth.”

Globe’s consolidated service revenues for 2021 grew by 4% to P151.5 billion from the P146.4 billion reported in 2020.

The company attributed its growth to the “sustained outstanding performance of home broadband as well as corporate data.”

Broken down, mobile revenue for the year slightly increased to P104.4 billion from P103.7 billion in 2020, while home broadband revenue grew by 10% to P29.4 billion from P26.8 billion previously.

Corporate data revenue increased by 12% to P14.2 billion in 2021 from P12.6 billion in 2020, while revenue from fixed-line voice fell by 13% to P2.3 billion from P2.6 billion a year earlier.

“Total data revenues across mobile, broadband and corporate data accounted for 80% of total service revenues, up from 76% [previously],” Globe noted.

The company also said it expects better prepaid data uptake and mobile revenues this year as the government eases restrictions and the economy begins to open up.

“During the lockdowns, we see our prepaid top-ups decline. It’s because those who have broadband connections at home offload their usage to broadband, while those whose incomes are affected by the lockdowns control their spending,” Mr. Delgado said.

“But then we see recovery as soon as restrictions are lifted. So we expect improvements in the take-up of our prepaid data packs,” he added.

Globe shares closed 0.70% higher at P2,586 apiece on Tuesday. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Netflix will not add state-run channels to Russian service, defying regulation

THIBAULT PENIN-UNSPLASH

NETFLIX, Inc. said on Monday that in the current circumstances it has no plans to add state-run channels to its Russian service, despite a regulation that would require the streaming service to distribute state-backed channels.

“Given the current situation, we have no plans to add these channels to our service,” said a Netflix spokesman in a statement, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Politico first reported that Netflix, which launched its service in Russia in Oct. 2020, would fall under the new Russian regulations requiring compliance on March 1.

The regulations, overseen by Russia’s communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, require audiovisual services with more than 100,000 subscribers in that country to distribute 20 free-to-air news, sports, and entertainment channels.

The Netflix spokesman declined to comment on timing or whether the company has held conversations with Russian regulators. It is unclear how the service will be impacted by its decision.

Russia is one the 190 countries where Netflix is available. —  Reuters

Ramp up efforts to promote mental health among students, says DoST

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MIGUEL DE GUZMAN

THE Department of Science and Technology (DoST) recently acknowledged the importance of equipping the youth with the means to improve their overall health amid the uncertainties brought about by the pandemic, citing a three-month health and well-being program.

“There’s an urgent need for the government and education sectors to work together and ramp up efforts to create interventions, to promote general well-being and mental health of students during this time,” said Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña, at a webinar on Feb. 22.

Published in July 2021, the study on college students showed that guided promotion of positive habits like healthy eating, adequate sleeping, and management of depressive, anxious, and stressful thoughts can lead to improvement in overall health.

“Our aim is to provide students with an online community and an opportunity to feel connected with other students and introduce them to fundamental concepts of health and wellbeing, including the promotion of mental health,” said Dr. Resti Tito H. Villarino, one of the project’s researchers and a member of the National Research Council of the Philippines’ (NRCP) medical sciences division.

The program was designed to relieve stressors brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Its initial run was for 178 students from a private college and a state university in Cebu City.

A control group continued their usual routines while the test group used tools such as questionnaires and guides that promoted positive emotion, engagement, relationships, and meaning.

“These are developed in the West but we can adapt it here to the Philippine context,” said Mr. Villarino, who used questionnaires that were translated to Cebuano.

In post-test scores, students who used the tools showed some improvement in COVID-19 prevention attitudes, frequency of eating nutritious food, number of sleeping hours, and levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.

BUILDING PERMANENT HABITS
Globally, about 1 in 5 young people aged 15-24 said they often feel depressed or have little interest in doing things, according to a 2021 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

In the Philippines, projects by mental health groups and government have tried to address this through studies on growth mindsets and suicide prevention toolkits.

Though Mr. Villarino proposed the study’s results be used by the Commission on Higher Education and Department of Health in developing similar initiatives, he maintained that six months — the full duration of the NRCP-supported health and well-being program — is realistically not enough for a habit to become permanent.

“We have to figure out how to make it consistent to the individual based on his or her well-being practices,” he said, on recommendations for future efforts. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

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