Tambuling Batangas Publication July 18-24, 2018 Issue | Page 5
OPINYON
Hulyo 18-24, 2018
Palace to release EO on localized
peace negotiations
THE Duterte administration will
soon release an Executive Order
that will spell out the guiding
framework for the localized peace
engagement, the Palace confirmed
Thursday.
P r e s i d e n t i a l
Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr., in
a press briefing on July 12, said
Malacanang will give authority
to local government officials to
engage in localized peace talks
with the armed rebels.
This is in connection
with what was discussed during
the Special Cluster Meeting of
the Security, Justice and Peace
Cabinet Cluster held yesterday,
where the guiding framework
for the localized peace talks was
agreed upon.
In the event that
Communist
Party
of
the
Philippines’ (CCP) founder Joma
Sison does not agree with the
government’s condition to hold
the peace talks in the Philippines,
this guiding framework will aid
local government officials in their
engagement with communists,
Sec. Roque said.
“[K]ung ayaw ni Joma
Sison na dito sa Pilipinas na
makipagusap… ay bibigyan ng
kapangyarihan ang ating mga
local government officials para
mag-engage in localized peace
talks,” Roque added.
The Spokesperson cited
seven guiding frameworks for
localized engagement as agreed
upon in the meeting.
“First, it should be
nationally orchestrated, centrally
directed, and locally supervised
and implemented,” Roque said.
“The constitutional integrity
and sovereignty will not be
compromised.”
“Complete and genuine
resolution of the local armed
conflict. It shall cover the NPAs,
Organs of Political Power and
Militia ng Bayan,” he added. “If
there is ceasefire, the constitutional
mandate of the State to protect
public safety, civilian welfare,
critical infrastructure and private
properties and the guarantee of
rule of law and order will not be
compromised at all times.”
Sec. Roque mentioned,
“Government goodwill, full
amnesty package based on
disarmament,
demobilization,
rehabilitation and reintegration to
the mainstream society.”
The sixth guideline,
as read by the Palace official,
Game on for HIV/AIDS awareness
By
Gilbert
Contributor
Kim
Sancha,
IN 1985, during the peak of
the AIDS (acquired immune
deficiency syndrome) epidemic,
the
International
AIDS
Conference was convened. Since
then, the largest conference on any
global health issue in the world
continuously and consistently
serves as a unique forum for the
intersection of science, advocacy
and human rights.
The 22nd International
AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018)
— which will be held at RAI
Amsterdam Convention Centre
in Amsterdam, Netherlands,
from July 23 to 27, 2018, with
the theme, “Breaking Barriers,
Building Bridges” — is a
great opportunity to strengthen
policies and programs to ensure
an evidence-based response
to reach key populations in
Eastern Europe, Central Asia,
North Africa and Middle East.
Amsterdam once faced a great
challenge of working with
populations
other
countries
marginalized and stigmatized,
including the Philippines, when
HIV/AIDS became a public threat
in the 1980s.
AIDS 2018 aims to
promote human rights-based
and evidence-informed HIV
(human immunodeficiency virus)
infection responses that are
tailored to the needs of particularly
vulnerable
communities
—
including people living with HIV,
displaced populations, men who
have sex with men, people in
closed settings, people who use
drugs, sex workers, transgender
people, women and girls and
young people — and collaborate
in fighting the disease beyond
country borders.
App
for
better
understanding
Battle in the Blood, a
mobile HIV/AIDS advocacy
game application for HIV
prevention, will have a world
premiere at the 22nd International
AIDS Conference. As part of
the Global Village and Youth
Programme Activities of the
conference, the World Health
Organization (WHO) organizes
the global networking zone
event, “Building Bridges to HIV
Prevention and Testing.”
WHO, together with the
Joint United Nations Programme
on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World
Council of Churches Ecumenical
Advocacy Alliance (WCC-EAA),
UNITAID, PSI and SheDecides
will join forces to raise awareness
in order to make HIV testing
accessible to all.
WHO invited the HIV
GET Project team to present
and launch the mobile game
application, Battle in the Blood,
during the conference. Battle
in the Blood will have several
session activities at the Global
Village including a Battle in
the Blood Game Challenge
Conference, where participants,
mainly the youth, will be recruited
as contestants to play the game.
After the game challenge
activity, a panel discussion on the
use of mobile games as health
tools for HIV/AIDS awareness,
prevention,
education
and
advocacy will follow.
Dr. Emmanuel S. Baja,
DSc, a Department of Science
and Technology (DOST) “Balik
Scientist” and a Harvard School
of Public Health alumni, is part
of the faculty of the Institute of
Clinical Epidemiology, National
Institutes of Health, University
of the Philippines Manila, and
the principal investigator of the
Battle in the Blood HIV Gaming,
Engaging and Testing (HIV GET)
Project, which is a Newton-
Agham grantee funded by both
the Philippines (PCHRD, DOST)
and United Kingdom (MRC)
governments in collaboration
with the Liverpool School of
Tropical Medicine.
Cooperating agencies of
the project include the Department
of Health, the local governments
of Quezon City and Davao City,
Love Yourself Inc., Engaging
Tool for Communication in
Health (ETCH), and Extra Mile
Ltd.
The
HIV
Gaming,
Engaging and Testing (HIVGET)
Project developed a digital HIV
says that the necessary enabling
environment
set
by
the
President for the formal local
talks to proceed should have
the following: “[l]ocal venue,
no coalition government or
power sharing, no revolutionary
taxation/extortion/arson
and
violent activities, and the fighters
to remain in their pre-designated
encampment areas.”
Finally, the substantive
agenda should be based on
the medium-term Philippine
Development Plan 2022 and
Philippine Development Program
2040, said Sec. Roque.
In the same way, Sec.
Roque also confirmed that there
will be four types of localized
peace engagement, which include
localized peace talks, community
dialogue, local peace package,
and confidential dialogue.
The localized peace
talks, as cited by Sec. Roque,
will be between the local peace
channel and the local fighters’
leadership while the community
dialogue is an informal and open
communication line and liaising
network to facilitate peace
package.
For the local peace
package, it will be a direct
availment of the GRP peace incentive intended to provide
integration and mainstreaming
support without going through
the process of peace negotiation
while the confidential dialogue
will only be undertaken with a
fighter who decides to lie-low
with no documentation and will
not avail the peace package
program.
‘PH : a darling economy’
In the same press
briefing, Secretary Roque cited the
significant economic gains of the
current administration following
the recent pronouncement of
Vice President Leni Robredo that
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte
should focus on the economy.
“We are the second
fastest growing economy in the
world. Level of optimism is all-
time high. Manufacturing output
is all-time high,” he said, adding
that the government’s Build Build
Build infrastructure program will
be beneficial to the country’s
economy soon.
“All economies in the
world po will agree that we are
a darling economy… We will
continue with the tremendous
economic gains [by virtue of
the infrastructure program],” he
added. #PCO-Content
advocacy gaming application to
help address the barriers to HIV
testing and counselling (HTC) in
the Philippines.
Engaging the millenials
Battle in the Blood
(#BitB), the application, is a
unique puzzle and turn-based
combat mobile game. The
game aims to influence social
norms, knowledge and attitude
surrounding HIV-AIDs and to
challenge the belief that you can
no longer live a long and fulfilling
life after a positive diagnosis. The
application, designed specifically
with the Philippine context in
mind, is the first game to address
barriers to HTC services.
Battle in the Blood’s
main target are adolescents (aged
10 to 19) and young adults (aged
20 to 24). During the design and
development of the game, the
focus was to make certain that the
game will be acceptable, relevant
and engaging, specifically among
men who have sex with men and
transgender women, populations
known to beat high risk of HIV
in the Philippines. The HIVGET
team wants to ensure that MSM
and transgender women feel
comfortable and enjoy while
playing.
The app was officially
launched in Davao City on
December 1, 2017, in time for
the World AIDS Day Celebration.
The game can be downloaded
for free at Google Play and
Apple Store and can be played
offline. It took almost a year to
transform the design document of
the game to be released through
agile software development using
both internal and external testing
sessions. For four months, the
research team conducted series of
interviews with target users and
discussed with HIV testing and
counselling service providers its
objective. The team spent another three months to develop and
conceptualize the 40-page game
design document art.
Players will witness
eight short stories on their
journey across 90 levels battling
HIV and its army. Players can
create gender fluid avatar and can
choose a variety of hairstyles and
outfits from the selection list. The
story is told using a dynamic 2D
comic book inspired, manga-style
animation, a popular form in the
Philippines. The characters will
be seen demonstrating courage as
they overcome fears and barriers
to HIV testing and treatment.
To see how each story
ends, the player must complete
additional 10 levels, wherein the
player can choose on how to end
the story for the eighth character.
The screen is split into two: a
puzzle board where players must
connect icons to build avatar’s
attack and defense power, and
an animated combat scene where
players get to see the combat for
that round playout. The menu can
be accessed at any point during
the game, where they can check
the leader board and where they
can read different game icons and
get free access online information
on HIV services. Players can
revisit and replay all levels and
animations previously unlocked
to check current standings.
Players only need to answer a
simple question to gain an extra
life to beat the level unlike any
other games in the market that
require payment to continue.
Being the first gaming
application of its kind, Battle in
the Blood hopes to eventually
help increase the uptake of HIV
testing and treatment in the
Philippines. It is a very powerful
communication
medium
in
addressing the stigma of HIV
infection in the Philippines.