Last November 6, when I opened my facebook account, I was surprised to see a tagged picture of my ex-boyfriend with the caption, “You will be missed.” It got me curious, which lead me to opening his profile. There was a flood of messages from his friends, and I searched for answers. “Tinago nya sa family nya na may nararamdaman na pala syang sakit.” (He kept his sickness hidden from his family.) “Severe na pneumonia nya, and nagka-complications na din sa ibang internal organs nya.” (He had pneumonia, and there were complications to his other internal organs.) “Na-confine siya October 31. Magka-text pa kami November 3 pero wala syang sinasabi.” (He was confined October...

Los Angeles - US porn film producers vowed Wednesday to go to court to challenge a decision by Los Angeles County voters requiring actors in adult movies to wear condoms while performing on set. The Free Speech Coalition, which describes itself as "the adult product and entertainment industry's trade association," said forcing actors to wear condoms would make porn filmmaking "untenable." "Besides the obvious excessive costs of compliance, FSC and the industry have a number of concerns with the law itself," it said in a letter following a referendum measure approved by California voters Tuesday. "We believe that the law is not only unconstitutional on the grounds of forced...

Newly Diagnosed HIV Cases in the Philippines In September 2012, there were 316 newly HIV Ab sero-positive individuals confirmed by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory (SACCL) and reported to the HIV and AIDS Registry. This was 25% higher compared to the same period last year. Mos of the cases (96%) were males. The median age was 28 years (age range: 16-70 years). The 20-29 year (57%) age-group had the most number of cases. Fifty four percent (170) of the reported cases were from the National Capital Region. Reported mode of transmission were sexual contact (312) and needle sharing among injecting drug users (4). Males having sex with other males (82%) were the predominant...