Tania Arpa

This week, we talk about inspirational Filipino memes during times of crisis and the response of Filipinos to tragedies.

This was recorded on November 16, 2013 as part of our live all-day webshow to raise funds for Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) relief.

So former Bb. Pilipinas titlist Miriam Quiambao has been taking a lot of criticism from the pro-LGBT crowd for her anti-gay statements on a tv show and on her twitter. I regret that I too have tweeted some pretty angry messages about her regarding this issue. I should have taken my own advice about not tweeting when angry, because I now wish I could take back what I've written about wanting to take a shower after reading this Rappler article.

Yes, Ms. Q has shown herself to be a homophobe. But it's not her fault. Not really.

Thanks to the Department of Tourism's new campaign, people all over the world now know how much fun everything is in the Philippines. But beyond the wonderful marine life, historical sites, food and parades, our country has also become a shining beacon of freethinking and secularism. What better way of looking back at our struggle for reason, freedom and secularism than through a viral Internet meme?

PRESS RELEASE: Win Php25,000 in Mulat Pinoy’s “We Are RH” video contest Amateur filmmakers are invited to submit short films on reproductive health. Do you wish your videos were on TV instead of YouTube? Looking for extra cash to buy that nice phone? Hoping for your own cool video camera? Then this is what you’ve been waiting for. Join “We are Right Here. We are RH.”! This amateur video contest aims to bring into the limelight young people’s take on responsible parenthood, reproductive health, and population and development.

The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines hosted a dinner forum with LGBT advocacy groups on The Struggle for LGBT Equality in the U.S. on Friday, May 27, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. in the Botero Dali Room, Sulo Riviera Hotel, Quezon City. The speaker for the event was Ms. Christine Sun, former senior counsel, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation.

An undisputed national hero and distinguished gentleman representative from Sarangani, Manny Pacquiao was staunchly against the RH Bill. He quoted the Bible, and said, in effect, that any attempts to curb reproduction was against the will of his god. While we’re not sure how the personal religious beliefs of this pregnancy-challenged man have to do with us uterus-carrying citizens, people pointed out that his wife Jinkee has admitted to being on the pill. Now he’s bragging that he made his wife Jinkee stop taking pills and have more kids.

Carlos Celdran's trial is one of the highlights of the fight for the Reproductive Health Bill, which is encountering a ton of opposition from the Catholic Church and other Catholic organizations, even though the people themselves seem to be all for it.

Here's Ryan giving a Solidarity Statement from the Filipino Freethinkers at Gay Pride 2009.

If there's one thing I like about my industry is that the issue of gender hardly comes up. Sure, there was this disastrous "IT pageant" some people tried to organize a few years ago, but then the outraged reactions to it only serves to reinforce my point. I've never been referred to as a "lady programmer" or "lady IT consultant". If anyone were ever called that, our first reaction would probably be "Weird, I've never heard of the Lady programming language".