ben (⁠ノ⁠^⁠_⁠^⁠)⁠ノ

quo vadis
一期一会
i love maps, cats, and strawberries

[ben (⁠ノ⁠^⁠_⁠^⁠)⁠ノ @benedict_bien]

I love you, my Beauty.

[Teombe Teombe @teombabes]

DO NOT FORGET THAT THIS IS RISA HONTIVEROS

[ben (⁠ノ⁠^⁠_⁠^⁠)⁠ノ @benedict_bien]

Lord, pagalingin niyo po si Beauty. She doesn't deserve suffering. I surrender her to you, Lord. 🥲 Sana i-guide siya ng baby niya, Noona (i miss uuu) 😿😿😿

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

A parasite that has been eating people for 3,500 years is about to be wiped off the planet. It infected 3.5 million people in 1986. Last year, it infected 10. And I have not seen it make a single front page.

It is called Guinea worm. You drink contaminated water from a pond in a poor village. A year later, a worm up to three feet long starts coming out of your leg through a burning blister. There is no pill that stops it and no surgery that works. You wrap the worm around a stick and pull it out slowly, over days or weeks, inch by inch. If you rush, the worm breaks inside you and causes a fresh infection.

Guinea worm is ancient. Preserved worms have been pulled out of Egyptian mummies from around 1000 BCE. The Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian medical scroll from 1550 BCE, describes pulling the worm out with a stick. For three and a half thousand years, that was the best humans could do.

Then in 1986, public health workers decided to kill the parasite off. They had no vaccine and no drug. What they had was cheap cloth water filters and a small army of volunteers willing to walk from village to village for decades.

The plan was simple. Give everyone who drinks from a pond a cloth filter to strain out the tiny water fleas that spread the parasite. Then send volunteers walking house to house, year after year, teaching people how to use the filters and keeping anyone with an emerging worm out of the water.

It worked. From 3.5 million cases a year to 10. Four were in Chad, four in Ethiopia, two in South Sudan. The other four countries where the worm used to be common, Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Mali, had zero human cases for the second year in a row. The World Health Organization has already certified 200 countries as Guinea worm free. Six are left.

The last hurdle is dogs. Cameroon had 445 infected animals last year and Chad had 147, so a lot of the remaining work is on animals, not humans. Strays get leashed, and crews treat ponds to kill any remaining worms. The campaign keeps watching until the number hits zero.

When Guinea worm hits zero, it becomes the second human disease ever erased from the planet. The first was smallpox. It will also be the first parasite humans have ever wiped out, and the first disease ever ended without a single dose of medicine. Volunteers walked village to village with cloth filters for 40 years. Now a plague from the age of the pharaohs is about to be gone.

[ben (⁠ノ⁠^⁠_⁠^⁠)⁠ノ @benedict_bien]

Also, PINUTOK NA YUNG BOUNTY FRESH NA MANOK SA MAY MAGALLANES???? HAHAHA

[ben (⁠ノ⁠^⁠_⁠^⁠)⁠ノ @benedict_bien]

To traverse the whole of EDSA for someone is a love language 😌

[🐣 @4klangie]

sassa: tomboyan?? LAFF 😭😭😭

[Film Updates @FilmUpdates]

A new deleted scene from ‘WICKED: FOR GOOD’ has been released online.

[𖤐 @MileyIsInspired]

forever obsessed with miley cyrus & ariana grande’s cover of “don’t dream it’s over”

[ben (⁠ノ⁠^⁠_⁠^⁠)⁠ノ @benedict_bien]

ugh

[Arianators HQ ꕤ @TeamArianaHQ]

This is so important

[ؘ @HitsAndCharts]

🚨 Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo singing ‘For Good’ live with special guests.

[Noreen Capili @noringai]

You can't say you stand against corruption and still support the Dutertes.

I am from a Davao. I supported Duterte in 2016 (Duterte-Leni ako). I was a Presidential appointee in 2017. I resigned from my position in 2020. Volunteered/Voted for Leni-Kiko in 2022.

Pwedeng magbago!

[Inquirer @inquirerdotnet]

“SERBISYO SA TAO, HUWAG GAWING NEGOSYO!”

WATCH: Groups are now marching towards Luneta Park in Manila to protest against government corruption.

The march is taking place along Taft Avenue—one of Manila’s main roads, which is notorious for quickly flooding during the rainy season. | @NAMercadoINQ

· Watch our special coverage here: https://t.co/o0iy2wdfHJ

· Follow our live updates at https://t.co/ZyDt0ug50H

[Restoring Your Faith in Humanity @HumanityChad]

Real Life Angel 😭❤️

[pilep @heyitspholop]

Student activists and youth orgs are leading the Luneta rally. Church leaders are leading the EDSA rally. The organizers of both rallies just had a joint press conference today.

Both rallies will carry the same calls and principles: to hold all corrupt officials accountabile.

[Tarantadong Kalbo @KevinKalbo]

September 21. Luneta ✊🏼🐊
Magdala ng payong (Rolls-Royce not included)

[Rep. Zaldy COrruption @ohitsmikov2]

Who is this katipuners doing god's work exposing shit the gvt is doing?? 200M for a Children's park, ano yan enchanted kingdom?

[Caldatelier @caldatelier]

Dear SEA brothers and sisters,
Philippines and Indonesia are joining to take action against the corruption! ✊🇮🇩🇵🇭✊

[Jesus Falcis 🇵🇭 @jesusfalcis]

Talking about nepo babies got me thinking about nepo wives.

While it’s quite disgusting when nepo babies of contractors flaunt their wealth on social media, I have to admit na at the end of the day mga anak sila who didn’t choose their parents - and all parents are generous or want to give the best to their kids.

But nepo wives are different - marrying a politician is a choice. And an elected official is definitely higher on the scales of moral, legal, and ethical culpability as to corruption.

I saw the debates on Twitter and Reddit and those defending Heart Evangelista - that she can finance her own lifestyle.

But that got me thinking and digging up my own memory - parang never ko naalala na Top Individual Taxpayer si Heart.

I double checked the cities where she resides and could be awarded as Top Taxpayer - from Quezon City to Pasig City to Makati City - and wala talaga.

Heart Evangelista has never been recognized as a top taxpayer - and thus it makes no sense how she can afford all of her branded luxury goods… unless of course she has a generous husband.

And there’s nothing wrong with being a generous husband except if you’re Chiz Escudero whose top campaign donor in his 2022 SOCE was a flood control contractor in the person of Lawrence Lubiano of Centerways Construction.

And don’t tell me X deals or brand endorsements lahat ng sinusuot or binibili ni Heart.

I checked that too. And it’s a no.

So I’m back to asking the question - bakit wala sa top taxpayers si Heart Evangelista given her decadent and luxurious lifestyle?

Nagtatanong lang po!

#HeartEvangelista
#ChizEscudero