MMFF 2019 Hopeful CULION Shocks with JLC Appearance

I was waiting for this, the project alone had me excited and in some way I was already so happy with the cast, but last night's reveal had us all dumbfounded. They kept it a secret for a long time, I was even there before the shoot and I had no idea he was even in the movie. We got the shock of our lives when a familiar face appeared, it was John Lloyd Cruz and I could hear the gasps from people in the back during the first teaser reveal. 

The movie CULION is gunning for the last 4 slots in this year's Metro Manila Film Festival and the script from the legendary Ricky Lee, director Alvin Yapan and Producer Shandii Bacolod tells us about the life and love which happened in the leper colony in the 40's. Officially cured of it all in 2006, people had no grasp of how gorgeous CULION is. I have personally visited the place and it was just jaw dropping views, one after another, and the huge difference is its people whom the story will delve on. You will feel their welcoming vibe, much like any Filipino, they will talk about resilience, hope, of which they have shown the whole world they can do. Ms. Iza Calzado tells us how it all became so real for her, also for Jasmine Curtis Smith who plays the lead roles for the film. They got to connect with their characters and how they have shown their capacity to love despite of their condition. It showed the strength of their spirit, how they all have encompassed Hansen's disease and overcome adversities despite the stigma attached to the then incurable plight of people from around the country. There are a lot of stories which can be told, and are still being told now by residents in CULION. This should show you how they've all gone through that and become the proud people they are today. Here's part of the press conference and the reveal of the posters last night.

There will be a lot of things to watch out for especially iconic lines from characters in the film, take for example Ana (played by Ms Iza Calzado) who said "Sipingan mo ko, sipingan mo ko ng paulit ulit.." (which asks a man to make love to her again and again). 

I also had the chance to talk to Papang Lee O'Brian whom I had the pleasure of asking a question about his role before they went to CULION, and I was glad to see how he got immersed with the people there after spending several shooting days in the island. He saw what we saw, what the treasure was, it was Culion's people. Their warmth and hospitality, their triumph over adversities, it was what made them all so endearing to anyone who visited the place. You will discover that too, aside from the island's beauty, when it shows on December hopefully as part of MMFF.

Heto na ang unang pasilip sa "Culion". #CulionTeaser Watch till the end. Directed by Alvin Yapan Story and Screenplay...
Posted by Culion on Monday, September 30, 2019

Oh and yes, this is so much more than John Lloyd alone, but dang, he just shocked us all.

Let me leave also what Ricky Lee told us would be the cure for the stigma, when I asked him about not being a doctor and what he thinks about curing the stigma, he replied "I am a doctor (Honoris Causa recently, everyone laughed). I could say the cure for the stigma is knowing that they are human too." I felt that.

Can't wait to see it on theaters soon!

KUMAGCOW

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The 1st Philippine Rare Disease Symposium

Have you had your share of experience with rare diseases? I'm sure you've had several of it heard from the news, and most of it had no cure, no extensive study and a very bleak mortality rate at that. It actually affects a percentage of the population, although low, it still would be a matter of concern because it's lives we're talking about here. Moreover, most of the kids affected die before the age of 5 which is really scary. 

Dr. Carmencita Padilla says "With the infrastructure we have the numbers are more, but it's complicated and difficult with rare cases and we cannot afford to let a patient die but we have the numbers. The IRR is just being made but we're actually prioritizing the improvment of detection, improvement of laboratories, equipping pediatricians and initially we're looking at supporting medicines and supplies the mega hospitals across the countries so we have multiple specialties across the country. A portion of the president's 100 Billion fund for health, but if you factor that in we need about 200 Billion for indigent patients so this is just a drop in the bucket. We are connected with other countries and yesterday we have formalized the Asian Metabolic industry, the Philippines is one of the leaders and learning from the newborn screening method that we do, they are trying to have this in their respective countries and we are connected with them now. This infrastructure is existent and we just need to connect, we lack specialists and that needs focus training so we could address these patients. We just need to enhance it on the field, like the nutritionists and dieticians, when you look at a hospital's team the DOH nominates them. Disabilities from environmental factors are different, these are recessive diseases happen 1 in 4 times, if a person has it, it can happen to babies and the genetics clinic in PGH and connecting it to the network can get more genetic counsellors in the country. The goal is to have big hospitals to have one so they can refer people to the right doctors as a first step, one per million as the WHO suggests." 

DOH Secretary Paulyn Ubial adds "Let's get genetic counsellors for our provincial and regional hospitals. The biggest challenge is really the human resource, and since 1992 we don't have capital outlay, only in 2007 did we get one and we need 7,500 more beds to at least have that infrastructure in place and shows a lack of specialization per population. We need to have force multipliers to have counselling to screen and detect with general practitioners to address these lack of people. There are gaps, we need to identify them with genetic counsellors and see if this could at least address when they happen. We have to adjust."

It was so sweet to see some of the kids afflicted with rare diseases to actually perform for us that afternoon, I had to hold back taking photos as I want them to have their privacy. This should be something that the governments around the world should look into, provide the needed infrastructure and manpower so these kids won't have to suffer. Please make sure you support the RARE DISEASE ACT and call your congressmen to pass this. 

They should listen.

KUMAGCOW

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We'll find The Cure!

Cancer has been one of the deadliest diseases in the entire world. It has claimed the lives of quite a number of my relatives and it hasn't stopped yet. Most of them are suffering quite a lot but would want to keep quiet so as to not bother our other relatives. I've seen my own grandma go through this too and there are a lot of things I had to understand and why she had it. First is Environmental Causes. Things that you eat breathe and live in could cause immediate symptoms of Cancer. There are toxic substances like asbestos which can cause malignant lung disease of this kind and nobody knows why some countries still allow this kind of material used for different things like construction, manufacturing and building. The twin towers for example had its first forty floors smitten with it; and that caused intoxication of if not hundreds but thousands of people in New York when it collapsed. It is even said that they suffocated then some died later on because of its ill effects. If only there were mesothelioma cure available worldwide; it would immediately get this to stop... this place would be better.


I don't want to be a statistic and I'll try my best to eliminate the environmental possibilities of getting Cancer. If in case it would be the second cause which is genetics, if it starts playing this game I'd still try to contribute for research as much as I can. There are on line organizations that I can join that exactly does just that. If countries come together and fight this awful disease we would pretty soon have something that could cure us. This was the same case with cervical cancer a few years ago. Today we are optimistic that the vaccine for the virus can take care of the millions of women greatly affected by it. We can all beat cancer if we cooperate and share information with the rest of the world. We'll find the cure!