A United Front: Philippine National Cancer Summit 2024

Just got off the Philippine National Cancer Summit 2024 with this year's theme "Advancing Integrated Cancer Care System for the Filipino".

The event was hosted by veteran broadcaster Ms. Jing Castañeda and attended by Dr. Ida Marie Lim the Director of PCS Cancer Commission Foundation Chair of the PNCS Program Committee, Dr Manuel Francisco Roxas the Chairman of Philippine College of Surgeons Cancer Commission Foundation, QC Mayor Joy Belmonte, DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos, Doctors, Patients and stakeholders who provide care for them. In their goal for a unified front in cancer care, discussion heavily concentrated on forming working systems for it.

Dr. Manuel Francisco Roxas who worked in policies and programs in Colo-Rectal Cancer Care says "This is the 5th time that this summit is happening and in 2020, we lobbied with different groups, patients and sectors to pass the law and policies in cancer care. It was a small gathering, and we called the Cancer Commission to celebrate the law being passed, but knew there's so much work to be done in implementation. Last year we did another in a hotel, and knew we needed to pursue more work in collaboration and empowerment against cancer. The DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos, Ted Herbosa, Mayor Joy, we need a united front, not just hospitals, and it is challenging. We hope to continue to promote cancer care to fight against it. Thank you for your dedication, this is for the lives of our fellow Filipinos. Welcome to the summit!"

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte says  "Thank you for having me at this landmark event. I am impressed by the experience gathered in this room from different sectors and government agencies. Cancer management has so many impact in different places in society. There is remarkable advancement, but it still is alarming in statistics. Lung, Breast, Colon cancers bring so much financial burden to may families. LGU's have a crucial role in making it happen, we need a counterpart local versions of the national law. We are working to make it happen in the second quarter of this year. My Mom, my family needed it too. Our goal is to make scientific processes, policies, all of these to work with the specific needs in treatment, prevention in our existing cancer care. Early detection is needed in most of these which is why we do caravans every October during Women's month. We screen them, do mammogram, and go down to communities because it is the least of their priority. We had to be radical, invest in health for women in campaigns, we need timely care and interventions. Families suffer, and as your Mayor, we will be warriors to better support your loved ones. Our city is 100 percent behind your initiatives. You are 200 percent welcome to work with us, especially the poorest of the poor. Nothing is impossible in battling the big C, welcome to Quezon City!"

Dr. Ted Herbosa wasn't around but a representative was sent and gave his statement "There is an urgent need for collaboration, a public health challenge in the country. This is the third rising cause of death, in prevalent forms, knows no age, gender, and the DOH puts this in priority programs. We lobbied for National Integrated Cancer Control Commission, a network of organizations, fund assistance and treatment. It's end to end care for this, both disease and prevention. Early screening, checkups, are now available and accessible. Just ask primary health providers for it. Let us double our efforts, as it is a collective endeavor, every life is important."

DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos says "I join the different stakeholders to discuss the DILG efforts. The Mandanas ruling gave resources to LGU's, but not all local offices are wealthy. The inclusion of Cancer as a rare disease and disability is important, the local investment plans on health including "LAB for Health" that provide laboratory work, medical exams and support from the government is being promoted in communities. This goes for smoke free policies, renal health, PhilHealth Checkup, we need minimum standards to be done in local government units. In Metro Manila, this is easy, but we need to sit down and commit to other places. I am a cancer survivor myself, I asked what I will do tomorrow and worried about my children. I had early detection, and now am cancer free. We need enough nutrition for children, to prevent growth stunting, because that starts brain development and cognition. There are cheap solutions, a lot of things can be done to prevent cancer. We started with taking care of the pregnant women, house to house, when we did baby screening, worked with private hospitals and gave nutrition first, we now have number 1 in our schools. We want to do the same with cancer."

Learning that there are people working hard to make this better for patients and health industry stakeholders, the NICCA - National Integrated Cancer Control Act Universal Healthcare Act (UHC) and the Universal Healthcare Act (UHC) will be useful tools to make our efforts be felt by those who need it. I hope this is a good start, we all have families who have in one way or another have had cancer. We hope good news would come for all that need treatment for it after this.

SINOSIKAT's Kat Agarrado Releases New Single "Heart Calling"

Looks like the heavens are conspiring when it comes to Kat Agarrado as she attempts another shot with her music. This is still with Sinosikat, a rebuilding, a new start, stemmed by her love for music. She still never thinks about her looks (though she's quite blessed with it), and puts her efforts now in making more songs so a new generation would be able to listen to it. Sinosikat doesn't have permanent band members, it's her instincts that kick in and choose them to play with her, a different setup but works.

Kat says "My goal is to make people listen to timeless pieces, that even when we're old, there's substance, and they can still listen to it. Before I was doing rock elements, but now it's more polished, matured, the arrangements now will have horn sections. My dream is to make Sinosikat a wider audience, a younger one, to put our music in other countries. I want to do that especially when I get to network with bands and producers there, because they appreciate it but just lack exposure. Our music is world class, just like Filipinos." 

She adds "I hope to also join more international festivals, and become global. I think the youth now has lots of venues to listen to music, that's good and I would like to do collaborations with artists like Lola Amour, a indie artist named Isla, there's a ton that I see on YouTube. I'm sure they have a lot to offer, fresh ideas to contribute especially for the next singles."

Here's part of the interview we did with her during the launch

Kat continued to write songs about love, about family, a bit slow but she admits just doing it at her own pace. She also does standard songs and do Filipino versions so she wouldn't get rusty. She also writes about her friends, or things she experienced during the pandemic. Though this time, she finds it divine for everything that seemed to fall into place. From Pinoy Soul Records, to Warner Music Philippines, to her own studio, this is her way to help other artists too. This is a new beginning for her, her re-introduction of Sinosikat. 

PS Heard the single just now, and I like how groovy it sounded. It's like her being hungry to do more, I would liken it to the music of international girl group "All Saints", but it's only her on vocals. Amazing!

Go stream her new single "Heart Calling" on digital platforms and get smitten with Pinoy Soul all over again. Be part of her fresh start!

National Hog Festival 2024 Slated March 1st

When there's a party in the Philippines, there's nothing better than having the coveted LECHON on the table as it symbolizes wealth and abundance like no other. Filipinos have been so creative in the kitchen, and over the years have whipped up different dishes which are now staples in every home.

This year, the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc. is doing a National Pig Day Celebration.To make things extra special, they are going to attempt a Guinness World Record for the most number of pork dishes to be displayed and be served to attendees and guests afterwards. This is a tall order, but definitely possible. This will happen on March 1st, and this will start off the whole 5 day festival in both Cubao in Quezon City and in Markina Convention Center.

Activities will be done at Novetel Hotel and Gateway Mall (during the first 3 days), then will culminate at the Backyard Congress in Marikina Convention Center in March 4 and 5.

According to Vice Chairman Alfred Ng of the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc. wants to promote the efforts of the local agricultural sector in helping achieve the food security, safety and sovereignty goals of the country. They also want this to also help in boosting the tourism industry as they get to highlight some of the country's best dishes. They also want this to be the venue for both the hog raisers and different institutions to network with some of the largest hotels and restaurants to hopefully source it sustainably and not have imported pork for much of their supplies. Quezon City is certainly the perfect venue for this as the LGU's would also want to ensure that every creative dish made is all hygienic and follows strict protocols from start to end.

Make sure to be there when it happens on March 1-5, first in Novotel then to Marikina City's Marikina Convention Center. See you there! 

World's Thinnest Foldable HONOR Magic V2 5G Now in the Philippines

The world's thinnest foldable phone is now in the Philippines. At the Enderun Tent in Taguig, HONOR Philippines launched the Honor Magic V2 5G, a well designed smartphone with a 5000mAh battery, 23GB RAM + 512 ROM and 3 cameras at 50, 50 and 20 Megapixels. It's also light, has AI Motion Sensing for those nice moving shots. Together with this is the Honor X8b, a stylish photo centric phone with a 102MP main camera. Both are designed well, and available in different colorways.

The Honor Magic V2 is best for users that love the look of sophistication, and would be a conversation starter. This is why they made it this thin.

Denis Santos the Honor PR Supervisor adds "Designed for users that care about style and substance, this Honor X8b has magic capsule, making calls, text and alarms at one spot. It's extra slim, extra light, one of the thinnest but affordable smartphones in the market. It has 108MP main camera, 5MP Wide and 2MP macro camera. The phone also has a 2x portrait camera so you can capture more natural looking portraits, and can be used for longer times because of the Risk Free PWM Dimming. With it, you can use it for work, take sharp shots, watch better with a 93.7% screen to body ratio. It also has lots of storage at 512GB, no need to delete those music files or photos you wanna keep. You can pre order this for Php 12,999 til February 23 so you can get free earbuds til that date."

The HONOR Magic V2 on the other hand was discussed by HONOR Philippines Training Head Jaynard Lamarca through the shots we did during dinner. Brand Marketing Head Joepy Libo-on on the other hand arrived in style by riding a Porsche at the venue for the special edition Honor Magic V2 RSR 5G (Porsche Design). 

The price is Php 79,999 with freebies worth 28k that includes a Harman Kardon Aura Studio 4 and Honor Watch GS3 if you pre order from Feb 21 to March 1.