Asianet Pakistan Private Limited

This coming holiday season, Globe AT HOME and Xiaomi are coming together to offer something truly meaningful: the gift of innovation and connectivity. In a season built on togetherness, the partnership brings warmth, joy, and digital access to Filipino families making every home feel closer, brighter, and more empowered.

From left to right: Hans Conti, Globe AT HOME Head of Channel Activations and Partnerships; Wil-R Saldua Globe AT HOME Head of Customer Field Services; Abigail Cardino, Globe AT HOME Head of Brand Management; Tomi Adrias Xiaomi Philippines Marketing Head; Brian Shaun, Xiaomi Philippines Head of Sales; and Robert Collantes Xiaomi Philippines Sales Manager for Operator Channel

Abigail Cardino, Head of Broadband Brand Management at Globe, expressed her enthusiasm during a media conference held on October 6, 2025, at The Globe Tower in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. She announced the continuation of Globe’s collaboration with Xiaomi, highlighting exclusive offers designed to elevate the digital experience of Filipino households.

‘Globe AT HOME and Xiaomi are bringing the gift of connectivity this holiday season,’ Cardino shared. ‘This partnership underscores our mutual passion in providing homes with heightened comfort and convenience, transforming the way we experience everyday life, blending reliable internet with cutting-edge devices so families can stay connected, entertained, and productive through the holidays and beyond.’

From September 19 to November 19, 2025, families who purchase any Xiaomi IoT device can enjoy GFiber Prepaid installation worth ?1,499 for just ?1, along with one-day free internet at speeds of up to 100 Mbps. Whether it’s the family watching their favorite holiday movie, a parent video-calling loved ones abroad, or siblings setting up new devices together, this offer ensures that the magic of connection begins the moment the box is opened.

Available in 35 authorized Xiaomi dealer stores nationwide, the program offers a 10% discount on select Xiaomi devices for qualified Globe AT HOME customers. Eligible subscribers can redeem their discount through the GlobeOne app and claim it during their next purchase at participating Xiaomi outlets.

‘We are creating a seamless network where our products, from your smartphone to your intelligent home devices, work together to simplify and enhance your life,’ said Tomi Adrias, Marketing Head at Xiaomi Philippines. ‘It’s about building a connected world where technology serves you effortlessly, whether you’re at home, on the road, or anywhere in between.’

This partnership is more than a promotion it’s a shared promise to uplift Filipino lives through technology that connects, empowers, and brings people closer. With Globe and Xiaomi, every Filipino home can celebrate the season with stronger bonds, joyful moments, and the comfort of knowing they’re never far from the ones they love.

Corruption scandals in the Philippines are sadly familiar. But when news broke of alleged anomalies in the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) flood control projects, the public mood felt different. The outrage that spilled into nationwide protests on Sept. 21, timed with the 53rd anniversary of martial law, was not only about stolen funds. It was about frustration with a system that seems stuck in a cycle of betrayal and a longing for leaders who can finally break it.

Filipinos have long endured stories of padded contracts, ghost projects, and officials enriching themselves at the expense of the public good. Each revelation chips away at trust, leaving citizens cynical about whether politics can ever be different. Yet this moment felt distinct because of how young people responded. Instead of quiet resignation, they chose to learn, to speak, and to act together.

In response to the public uproar, Phinma Education’s social involvement and transformation team launched a network-wide alternative class on corruption and good governance. Across all our schools, classes began with a special learning module that unpacked verified information about the DPWH issue, guided students through reflection on how corruption erodes trust and opportunity, and challenged them to connect these lessons to their voting decisions.

Despite typhoon disruptions, sessions continued in classrooms and online. Students debated the meaning of public accountability, wrote questions for policymakers, and discussed how corruption’s real victims are ordinary citizens who pay taxes, endure floods, and watch opportunities slip away. One student wrote, ‘We always say we are the future, but if we do not understand corruption now, then we inherit it later.’ Another shared, ‘Protest is not about anger alone. It is about refusing to be silent.’

Their reflections soon expanded beyond the classroom. Students built protest walls on their campuses collages of thoughts, frustrations, and hopes that drew attention from teachers, parents, and local officials. On Sept. 27, thousands joined an online protest, creating reels, essays, and posters under hashtags like #DPWH and #FloodControlProjects. Student councils across campuses released independent statements condemning corruption and demanding accountability. The digital space became a forum for creativity and conscience, a reminder that civic participation today looks different, but its heart remains the same: collective responsibility.

These actions reveal a crucial insight: when young people are given the facts, the space, and the tools to think critically, they can rise above partisanship. Many students recognized that corruption is not confined to one political camp but a system of patronage that cuts across party lines and continues to trap the country in a chronic leadership crisis. They saw that while scandals may dominate the headlines, the deeper issue is the culture that normalizes abuse of power.

They also recognized that protest alone cannot bring change. Transforming protest into common ground requires nurturing the harder skills of constructive dialogue and empathetic listening. We must teach them how to argue with respect, seek truth beyond slogans, and disagree without contempt. These are not only civic virtues; they are the foundations of leadership. The ability to listen with humility and speak with integrity is what will separate future leaders from the political figures who came before them.

For those of us in education, business, and civil society, the task is clear. We must provide platforms where the youth can safely and meaningfully test their voices. We must be mentors, not gatekeepers. And we must trust that when given the space, they will rise to the responsibility. Civic education cannot remain confined to textbooks and exams. It must be lived out in conversations, in projects, in community work, and in real encounters with the messy complexity of governance.

The recent protests proved that young Filipinos are not indifferent. They are angry, yes, but also hopeful, curious, and ready to do the work of citizenship. They want to inherit a country worth believing in, not one weighed down by recycled promises and endless scandals. It is now our turn to match their courage with trust: to give them space to lead us toward a better kind of politics, and, ultimately, a better country.

This one began with classrooms, conversations, and courage. It can continue with us choosing, day by day, to believe that our democracy deserves better and that our young citizens can lead the way toward it.

Christopher Tan is the country head of Phinma Education Philippines and a trustee of Philippine Business for Education.

Inbound rice shipments this year have declined as of early October amid the government’s temporary import ban.

Data from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) showed that rice imports reached 3.26 million metric tons (MT) as of Oct. 2.

This meant a 15.8-percent drop from 3.87 million MT of rice imported in the same period last year.

The total represents 67.9 percent of last year’s record-high import volume of 4.8 million MT.

Suppliers

Among the country’s major suppliers, Vietnam topped the list with 2.64 million MT in cargos in 2024. This volume represents a market share of more than 80 percent.

Myanmar was a distant second with 343,910.33 MT or 10.5 percent of total. Third was Thailand with 176,270.26 MT or 5.4 percent.

Other sources of rice imports in 2024 were Pakistan, India, South Korea, Cambodia, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Italy and Spain.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. announced the extension of the rice import ban until the end of this year during a hearing in Congress last Tuesday. This is intended to shield farmers against further losses due to lower palay (unmilled rice) prices.

Speaking before the House of Representatives’ agriculture committee, Tiu Laurel said palay prices remain under downward pressure. This was due to oversupply and poor grain quality caused by persistent rains.

The agriculture chief said the import restriction will be lifted for a month only, in January next year. The ban will be restored the following month, in February, to help stabilize prices in time for the dry harvest season.

Plan to restore 35% rice tariff

Tiu Laurel also told lawmakers that President Marcos was considering the restoration of the 35-percent tariff on imported rice.

‘If the tariff hike is approved, well and good,’ he said. ‘But if not, our fallback plan already supported by the President is to allow importation only in January, and suspend it again from February to April to protect the next harvest.’

Data from the Bureau of Customs showed the tariff cut resulted in an estimated P20 billion in foregone revenues over a 12-month period.

To recall, President Marcos signed Executive Order No. 62 in June last year. This reduced the import duty to 15 percent.

Stable supply

Further, Agriculture Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development Christopher Morales said the country is assured of stable supply to support a 60- to 120-day import suspension.

Morales said rice supply is estimated to range between 3.24 million MT and 4.06 million MT by year-end. That would be enough to meet 85 to 106 days of nationwide rice consumption.

The Department of Agriculture also estimated the domestic palay harvest to hit the range of 20.29 million MT to 20.51 million MT. Such volumes would surpass the 2023 record harvest of 20.06 million MT.

Two southwesterly windflows and localized thunderstorms are forecast to bring scattered showers and thunderstorms across much of the country, the state weather bureau said Thursday, Oct. 9.

In its 4 a.m. update, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) reported that Metro Manila, the Visayas, Mindanao, Mimaropa, Calabarzon, and the Bicol Region will experience cloudy skies with scattered rain and thunderstorms due to the southwesterly windflow a current blowing from the southwest.

The rest of Luzon will see partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated showers or thunderstorms.

Tropical Storm Nakri

Pagasa is still monitoring Tropical Storm Nakri, which is outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

Nakri is expected to enter PAR this Thursday afternoon or evening and be locally named as Quedan.

‘However, if it does, it will only pass through the northeastern boundary of the PAR and will not have any direct impact on any part of the country,’ reported Pagasa Weather Specialist Chenel Dominguez during the 5 a.m. weather report.

Nakri was last located 1,505 kilometers east of extreme Northern Luzon, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gusts of up to 80 kph while moving northwest at 25 kph.

Is corruption to be understood as part of the system and not the exception? Corruption is not simply the misconduct of individuals, but a necessary consequence of the logic of the decades-long tradition of family clans, interdependencies, and not least of capital, which seeks influence everywhere to secure profits.

When corrupt politicians or corporations circumvent environmental regulations, or politicians accept payments from the private sector, in my view, this is not just an ‘outlier,’ but Philippine ‘normality’ or, in scientific terms, inherent in the system.

Family interests and politics show how political power is intertwined with economic power. Corruption increases inequality: the rich buy influence, while the majority can barely assert their interests. Debates about ‘dynasties vs. democracy’ or about oligarchs can be analyzed well academically. Ideology and concealment go hand in hand.

The politicians in question say they are patriots and are doing everything for the people. This is of course, nonsense; they are doing it for their own pocketbooks. Who from abroad would want to invest in a country like this?

Corruption often remains hidden. Politicians try to conceal their true power interests with ideologies (‘we act in the name of progress,’ ‘free markets benefit everyone’). Political PR and lobbying often make power interests appear to be a ‘factual necessity’ precisely what political scientists have long warned against.

Lesson for today: Instead of viewing corruption only in moral terms (evil politicians), I encourage us to analyze the structural causes. In other words, to get to the roots and not just look at the surface. What economic conditions make corruption almost inevitable?

We need impetus for systemic reforms and innovations (e.g., transparency, limiting lobbying, democratization of economic power), not just for ‘more penalties.’ You have to change the system to change corruption. You have to pull out the roots and plant new seeds that’s how a new political generation grows.

This generation should learn from the mistakes of the older generation. Of course, we all make mistakes, and the new political generation will too, but remember, nobody is perfect. We’re only human.

‘Man will set himself the goal of becoming master of his own feelings, of raising his instincts to the height of consciousness, of making them transparent, of laying the wires of his will into the subliminal and subterranean, and thus of climbing to a new level of creating a higher social-biological type, a if you will superman. – Übermensch.’ (Friedrich Nietzsche)

Don’t be ashamed of being Filipino, just be ashamed of the corrupt politicians who call themselves Filipino.

Jrgen Schöfer, Ph.D.,

Sen. Loren Legarda opposed the inclusion of Antique in the list of places that are potential nuclear energy sites.

‘I’m not in favor and I am not alone. I will block it every step of the way. Whichever government agency is studying it, do not waste your money, your time and your resources. I will oppose your budget,’ she warned.

She made her stand known during Thursday’s hearing on the 2026 proposed budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and its attached agencies.

‘I am not in favor of that and I think the provincial government will not be in favor, and many, or most, if not all, of our kasimanwas (fellow citizens) will not be in favor,’ she added. ‘Of all places, why Antique? We’re experiencing floods. We have mountains. We have indigenous people.’

Legarda said she was shocked when she heard on the news that Antique was recommended as a nuclear energy site.

Environment Secretary Raphael Lotilla said he was not the one who recommended Antique.

He said there is a nuclear energy program interagency committee that’s chaired by the Department of Energy (DOE).

‘It has been conducting studies on siting. So, these are sites that were, first those which were identified when we first built our nuclear power plant in Bataan. Then, in addition, they’ve been looking at other areas as well,’ he said.

Lotilla said he was not updated on the announcement that includes Antique as a possible site.

‘But we have identified from the DENR standpoint is that if the government, and that’s through Congress, does move ahead with the nuclear power, that before such permits can be issued, there has to be an ECC (Environment Compliance Certificate) that has to be issued by the DENR,’ he said.

‘And to be able to conduct the ECC in accordance with international standards, then we will have to build up the capacity within our environmental management bureau to be able to respond to that challenge,’ he added.

The DENR secretary said one of the leading agencies that can identify suitable sites is the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

He said they will find out more about the details of the report that included Antique.

Legarda appealed to the DENR to take out the province from the list of potential sites for a nuclear facility, stressing that people will not allow it.

‘There’s no need to think about it. Do not study it. It will not fly. Do not waste money. No one was consulted about that. We need to be more safety-conscious,’ she said.

The Amlig Antique Alliance earlier opposed the inclusion of province as one of the new potential sites for a nuclear power plant in the country.

‘We strongly oppose and condemn the reported inclusion of the province of Antique particularly Semirara Island as a potential site for a nuclear power plant,’ the group said, warning that it might be a ‘disaster waiting to happen.’

For many Filipino households, purchasing maintenance medications for conditions like heart disease and diabetes takes up a large portion of their monthly income. This heartbreaking reality often forces low-income families to choose between their medications and a kilo of rice.

In many countries, their national health insurance provides automatic and on-the-spot discounts at pharmacies. Patients simply present their health card and receive their medicines at a reduced cost with no extra steps. During my educational visit to Taiwan last month, I came across a community pharmacy displaying the National Health Insurance signage outside of the pharmacy, much like the equivalent of PhilHealth signage that we see outside of accredited hospitals and other health facilities. This indicates that their NHI is integrated in the drugstore system, allowing patients to purchase medications with just a small co-payment. Unfortunately here in the Philippines, this level of convenience, automation, and accessibility at neighborhood pharmacies continues to be a challenge.

The government’s P20,000 yearly free medicine program through the eGov PH App was launched to fill this gap. As of this writing, it covers 75 essential medicines and aims to reduce out-of-pocket spending. On paper, it is a game changer. But in reality, it remains too inconvenient and complicated for most Filipinos to use. To access the benefit, one must register with the PhilHealth Yakap program, select an accredited hospital or health facility online, get a Yakap-accredited doctor to issue a prescription, then go to an accredited pharmacy or Gamot facility to claim the medicine.

Currently, only a limited number of pharmacies nationwide are participating. As of now, the only major drugstore chain in the list that I find well-known is Generika Drugstore. That means that most Filipinos still cannot simply walk into their neighborhood pharmacy and use their benefit. This is understandable since the program is still at its infancy, and the Philippine government has always been weak and slow when it comes to implementation.

Another problem is the long-term sustainability of the program. While pharmacies may want to participate, they see lower revenue from discounted medicines, especially when the list of reimbursable items is limited, restricting the volume of eligible sales. Worse, pharmacies may face delayed reimbursements, which is a problem already widespread in PhilHealth’s hospital system. Hospitals often wait months or years to be paid. If pharmacies go through the same, many small drugstores may not survive the cash flow hit, especially when they are already providing discounts up front. In the long run, this could discourage pharmacies from continuing their participation, eventually disrupting the program’s purpose.

PhilHealth must step up the game and prioritize serving the Filipino people rather than allowing corruption and the misuse of billions in public funds to persist. PhilHealth must adopt a real-time digital deduction and reimbursement system. PhilHealth could create a prepaid digital health wallet or QR code system that deducts the cost of medicines instantly and settle payments with pharmacies on a regular weekly or biweekly basis.

On the other hand, while there are over-the-counter medicines in the list of 75 medicines such as paracetamol, ibuprofen, and iron supplements, they still require a Yakap prescription from a doctor and must be claimed at an accredited Gamot facility. This makes accessibility more difficult than simply buying them at a nearby pharmacy. In reality, patients will simply use their personal money than go through these extra steps for items that should be readily available.

Additionally, there are medicines or health-care products that are not found in the current list that patients may need. This will lead to patients not fully using their P20,000 allocation.

This is why I propose that any unutilized or underutilized portion of the P20,000 allocation should be allowed to cover basic health and hygiene essentials such as multivitamins, soap, toothpaste, alcohol, wound care items, feminine products (especially sanitary napkin), and everyday relief preparations like Efficascent Oil, Vicks, or Katinko, which are all available in pharmacies. These are not luxuries, they are necessities that many low-income families still forgo due to cost.

The Universal Health Care Act (Republic Act No. 11223) already gives PhilHealth the mandate to improve access to medicines. But good policy must be backed by good systems.

Let us expand the Yakap program. Let’s simplify the availment process. Let us make deductions and reimbursements automatic and transparent.

Most importantly, let us bring this benefit closer to the people, starting with the community pharmacy just around the corner.

Teresa May Bandiola is an academic pharmacist, YA author, medical activitist, and podcast host. Her work bridges science, literature, and public discourse.

October is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s a tumultuous time, with ongoing investigations into corruption activities. Numerous disasters have also befallen us, with earthquakes, typhoons, and more floods. How does one grapple with mental health amidst all this? How can we bring about ginhawa for ourselves and for each other?

Ginhawa is an indigenous concept most analogous to Western notions of well-being. Interestingly, the etymology of the word comes from ginhaoa, meaning ‘stomach’ and is also connected to breath. Thus, ginhawa encompasses more than just subjective well-being but also pertains to a sense of wholeness in both body and spirit, in both physical and mental realms. Ginhawa, in this sense, is also seen as an essential component of ‘living’ or ‘being alive.’ Is it any wonder, then, that Filipinos express their love and care for one another through food? We would often joke that the Filipino translation of ‘I love you’ is ‘Kumain ka na ba?’

I bring in the concept of caring for others because it is also an integral part of ginhawa. A distinct aspect of ginhawa, as opposed to subjective well-being, is that the Filipino’s sense of ginhawa also hinges upon the ginhawa of their group or community. If our family is well, we are also well. If our neighborhood is thriving, we are also thriving. If our country is prospering, we are also prospering. Ginhawa goes beyond mere self-care or individual well-being. Ginhawa requires collective well-being as well. The pain of others becomes our pain. Our own sense of ginhawa is incomplete if others are suffering.

How would mental health policies and interventions centered on ginhawa look?

We must first recognize that individual interventions are not enough. As mental health providers, we need to care about what our clients care about. This may be their family, their standing in the community, the plight of their people, or even their concerns about global events like climate change and political unrest. We must understand how far their sense of ginhawa reaches. This gives us a scope of challenges that must be addressed.

You can imagine that this is a radical departure from focusing solely on individual symptoms and ailments. Kapwa psychology makes this all understandable. Kapwa is a central indigenous value in Sikolohiyang Pilipino, loosely translated as ‘shared being.’ Through the lens of kapwa, we can easily see that the client’s sense of being is shared with their family and community. Thus, our client’s well-being is very much rooted in the well-being of their family and community. And so, we find ourselves from time to time in situations where clients themselves seem to be doing okay, and yet they are languishing. They have a sense of heaviness and unease that they can’t make sense of. If we take a step back and see our client, not in isolation, but as connected to others, we are much more likely to see the root of their suffering. When we see our clients’ suffering as connected to the suffering of their loved ones, we see with clarity what we must do: we need to solve collective suffering to solve individual suffering.

As such, mental health rooted in ginhawa puts collective action and community interventions front and center. The fight against corruption, for instance, is a mental health intervention. Advocating and pursuing solutions toward food security, including combating food inflation, is an important mental health policy. Finding long-term solutions to climate change is a mental health priority.

Ginhawa is not necessarily a life without any hardship or adversity; one can experience ginhawa in the face of problems. There is an aspect of ginhawa, however, that pertains to freedom. When we feel stuck in our problems, that is not ginhawa. When we feel that we are free to choose the best solution for ourselves, then ginhawa is possible. Political actions that protect and increase our freedoms, then, are also mental health interventions.

Global definitions of mental health all ultimately point to one’s capacity to live one’s best life. This subsumes the capacity to love and care for oneself, the capacity to maintain fulfilling relationships with others, the capacity to feel productive, and the capacity to contribute to society. A ginhawa perspective shows us that these are not separate components but are deeply interconnected ones.

Providing ginhawa is not limited to individual interventions like therapy or medication. Nor is it limited to skills-building and other group interventions. It requires an understanding of the holistic self physical, mental, relational, spiritual as well as an understanding of their kapwa, their sharedness of being with others. When we take the time and effort to understand Filipinos in this way, only then can we come up with innovations in mental health that truly work for us.

The Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) community is set to stage a walkout on Friday, Oct. 10, to protest corruption in the country and demand a higher budget for the university.

According to a Facebook post by the PUP Office of the Students Regent (OSR) on Wednesday, the ‘largest university walkout in history’ is expected to involve 20,000 members.

‘In the face of widespread corruption, abuse, and government neglect of the education sector, the entire PUP community will not remain silent!’ PUP OSR said in Filipino.

The PUP OSR said decentralized programs will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., followed by the walkout protest at 12 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear black.

Universities across the country have staged walkouts to condemn corruption, particularly anomalies linked to flood-control projects involving government officials and lawmakers.

On Sept. 21, anti-corruption rallies were held nationwide, including joint demonstrations at Luneta Park in Manila and the People Power Monument in Quezon City, attended by thousands of Filipinos.

The PUP community is also calling for a higher budget for the university. In a separate post, the OSR condemned the planned P9.1-billion budget cut for PUP in 2026.

According to the Department of Budget and Management’s National Expenditure Program, the university is allotted P3.62 billion for next year.

‘We will not remain silent in our classrooms while [President Ferdinand] Marcos Jr. steals our future,’ the PUP OSR said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, PUP President Dr. Manuel Muhi expressed his support for the university’s call to end corruption.

‘PUP joins the call for transparency and accountability. As a united community, we stand to condemn and hold corrupt government officials accountable,’ he said in Filipino.

‘Funds sourced from taxpayers’ money and the sacrifices of the people must be used properly and honestly. They are not meant to fill anyone’s pockets,’ Muhi added.

Most of the factors that cause illnesses are ‘nonmedical,’ which is why different sectors of society need to come together and help improve a person’s living conditions if they want to ensure the well-being of a population.

Former Health Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Singh underlined this point at the Inquirer’s Corporate Responsibility in Community Health forum on Sept. 23, where she highlighted the role of the private sector and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in improving health care.

‘A child goes back to you every week, requiring anti-asthma medications. You give the child anti-asthma medications. but still the child goes back to you every week with those kinds of symptoms. Why?’ Singh asked.

‘Because they go back to that living condition where there is pollution, where there is poor sanitation, crowding inside the house, there is not enough ventilation,’ she said.

Shared responsibility

Citing international and local studies, Singh noted that 80 percent of the factors that cause health issues are nonmedical.

These include socioeconomic factors, such as a person’s education, job status and social support system; health behaviors, such as eating habits, as well as physical and sexual activities; and environmental factors, such as the school and workplace environment.

To address all of these factors, Singh emphasized the importance of ‘shared responsibility’ in which everyone, not just the government, plays their part in improving health care.

As an example, she shared how, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country only had one laboratory, but because private companies ‘willingly helped us, we were able to expand our laboratory network.’

Singh also cited the role of NGOs in improving health care and supporting government initiatives, citing how local governments have been partnering with NGOs to implement mental health programs in schools, given the prevalence of mental health concerns among the youth.

Improved access

In the same forum, Christian Edward Lim Nuevo, head of health innovation and impact at Ayala Healthcare Holdings Inc. (AC Health), pointed out that it was AC Health that first brought the drug Molnupiravir in the country, which was used to treat mild COVID during the pandemic.

Nuevo also shared how AC Health helps improve access to health care with its 220 corporate clinics, 16 multi-specialty clinics, six hospitals, as well as 760 drugstores nationwide.

AC Health also offers Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) benefits at its hospitals and clinics, including its Yaman ng Kalusugan Program (Yakap) and Guaranteed and Accessible Medications for Outpatient Treatment (Gamot) package, which helps support government initiatives.

Unhealthy behaviors

Similar to Singh’s observations, former University of the Philippines Chancellor Michael Tan pointed out during his presentation that culture can often encourage unhealthy behaviors in individuals, such as when the workplace environment pushes people to start drinking or smoking.

‘Who you are with determines or shapes what you would end up doing, including risk behavior. You end up drinking too much, or, being a good friend, you don’t drink as much. You smoke, you end up with drugs. but you can also be in good company,’ Tan said.

‘Mindful consumption’

For Aleli Arcilla, managing director of Mondelez Philippines, her company’s way of encouraging healthy behaviors as a snacks company is by promoting ‘mindful consumption,’ which means ‘eating with attention and intention.’

‘Food is a big part of our culture. Snacking is for sure one of the things that we mindlessly or mindfully do,’ she said, noting that based on a study by Mondelez, 98 percent of Filipinos consume a snack at least once a day.

Arcilla said that for companies such as Mondelez, knowing that fact means ‘we have to be responsible in terms of our communication.’

‘We do not market directly to children because they don’t have the cognitive ascendancy, for example, or the faculties to really judge whether a snack is healthy or not, or are they eating portion-controlled ones,’ she said, adding that Mondelez also offers ‘mindful portions’ of its products to encourage portion control.

Collaboration is key

For her part, Dr. Fatima Ignacio Gimenez, secretary of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines (PIDSP), said that NGOs, like her group, help provide training and support for health-care professionals through webinars, annual conventions, and talks.

The PDISP provides medical practitioners a ‘child immunization schedule’ containing vaccines included in the government’s National Immunization Program. It also works to advance health literacy in the country by creating infographics and utilizing social media to teach the public about various health concerns, including diseases such leptospirosis and mpox.

Gimenez batted for the importance of ‘collaboration,’ encouraging others to ‘put yourself out there. People [will] notice you because you might have the same advocacies.’