In the News

RAPPLER.COM – “Kung makuha ko ang virus, at walang pang-pagamot ang pamilya ko, eh ‘di patay ako,” shared an 81-year-old hypertensive woman I recently met at the market.

By now social media users know the double-edged reality of living lives on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the like. While the technology offers tremendous benefits that have changed the way we live—from connecting and keeping in touch with friends and loved ones to keeping ourselves updated about the world—the platform has also served to unleash unsavory, destructive forces peculiar to the instantaneous, viral character of the medium. The rise of fake news is one; the prevalence of cyberbullying is another.

Young Filipinos nowadays are driven to engage in early sex due to exposure to pornography and sex-related content on the internet, social media and other digital media, according to a recent study by the Commission on Population (Popcom).

Everywhere in Asia, the number of teen mothers has been decreasing, according to the 2015 report from the United Nations (UN). Our country, however, is an exception. Not only is teen pregnancy on the rise, but there is also an alarming number of Filipino girls in the tween stage who are becoming mothers.