Bacolod’s young T-shirt designer loses battle with cancer

BACOLOD CITY — The young woman who devoted her time to designing hip t-shirts with messages about God, despite her long and often painful battle with cancer, passed away Wednesday.

Mia Angela Hulleza, 21, who developed lymphoma when she was 13, died at about 2 a.m. Wednesday at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City.

Mia was a member of the Suntown Camp, a foundation that brings joy to children with cancer and other serious illnesses, and helps them cope with the disease.

Read the full article on Inquirer.net.

Filipino schoolchildren are computer literate

Almost 74 percent of Filipino schoolchildren surveyed nationwide are computer literate with access to the Internet, 50 percent male and 50 percent female, 45 percent aged 13-15 years, 61 percent high school students, and  54 percent enrolled in private schools.

These were among the findings of the study, Survey on Internet Access and Use by Filipino Children, conducted by AIJC for UNICEF. 

The study also showed that 9 out of 10 schoolchildren in the Visayas and Metro Manila are Internet users, indicating that they have greater access to the Internet than their counterparts in the Cordilleras and Mindanao.

Read more of the article on the AIJC website.

Featured Social Institution: Real Life Foundation

Real LIFE Foundation is a christian non-profit, NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) that was incorporated in 2007 with the vision of seeing thousands of marginalized Filipino youth educated, gainfully employed and uplifting their communities.

Its four core values:

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: We value academic achievement and believe it is a key that will open doors for the future.

MOLDING CHARACTER: It is vital that we not only educate our scholars but also provide them with opportunities to build character and develop leadership skills.

IMPACTING FAMILIES: Our scholars can have a positive impact on their families by becoming gainfully employed.

TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES: There is power in numbers to transform communities and we encourage our scholars to “give back” through community service and leadership.

CJF revisits Headstrong

Makati, Philippines - Carolers from the Children’s Joy Foundation (CJF) visited Headstrong for the second year to serenade the employees with popular Christmas tunes. 

CJF aims to reach out to three million Filipino children.  They are halfway towards their goal with more than 1.5 million children under their care or assistance. 

Visit their website for more information on Children’s Joy Foundation.

Two rare ecological discoveries…and how they slipped off our hands

On December 2, National Geographic News released it’s Top Ten Discoveries of 2009 showing the most popular ecological discoveries of the year.  Ranking 10th and 4th on the list are rare finds that occurred in the Philippines: megamouth shark in the waters off Donsol, only the 41st ever found; and a species of quail, once known extinct, found on Luzon island early this year.

These two animals are listed as “data deficient” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature because of lack of information regarding the creatures.

Find out about the discovery of the megamouth and worcester buttonquail in the Philippines…and how they ironically escaped live captive observation.