‘Nurse Susie’ Road Show Launches This Women’s Month to Promote Toxics-Free Hospitals Campaign

Wazzup Pilipinas!? 

A new mascot is in town and her name is Nurse Susie.

Unveiled today during a Women’s Month Program at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center (QMMC) in Quezon City, Nurse Susie advocates waste minimization, responsible healthcare waste management, and sustainable practices in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Today's program also marks the kick off of the Nurse Susie Roadshow, a series of visits to hospitals across the country to bring her advocacy closer to healthcare workers and communities.

Nurse Susie represents the Toxics-Free Hospitals Campaign of the Philippine Healthcare and Mercury Wastes Management Project (HCWM Project) that is being implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) together with the Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR (DENR-EMB) and civil society organization BAN Toxics.

The Toxics-Free Hospitals Campaign is the HCWM Project's advocacy and awareness-raising initiative, promoting proper healthcare waste management as a way to reduce the release of toxic and hazardous chemicals — making hospitals safer for healthcare professionals, waste workers, patients, and communities.

"We chose Nurse Susie as the central character of our campaign because women represent more than 70% of the health profession worldwide. Women are at the frontlines and are always at risk of being exposed to the dangers of hazardous healthcare waste. Introducing her to the public this Women's Month also serves as recognition of the important role of women in protecting public health and the environment," said Jam Lorenzo, HCWM Project Manager and BAN Toxics Deputy Executive Director.

The program also featured a talk by clinical toxicologist Dr. TereAnthony Abella, who discussed the potential risks and impacts of hazardous chemicals from healthcare waste on women's health, tying the campaign's advocacy directly to the Women's Month theme.

Nurse Susie's reveal was accompanied by her very own theme song, whose lyrics capture her 4Cs slogan for achieving toxics-free hospitals: Change old habits, Cut plastics, Commit to reuse, and Champion sustainability. According to Lorenzo, the slogan encapsulates important issues in healthcare waste management that the project wants to address. These include insufficient awareness on proper waste segregation, high volume of waste generated driven by reliance on plastics, and limited access and awareness to environmentally sound treatment technologies that would ensure sustainability.

Last year, the HCWM Project conducted a waste audit across three of its partner hospitals, finding that plastics dominated waste composition — accounting for 77% at Cagayan Valley Medical Center (CVMC), 78% at Eastern Visayas Medical Center (EVMC), and 84% at QMMC. The bulk of this plastic waste stems from patient-care and daily-use disposables, with sanitary products, infectious materials such as cotton and gauze, and medical textiles including aprons, masks, and gloves making up over half of the total. Non-medical items such as foodware and bottles also contribute significantly, underscoring how hospital clients, visitors, and the general public play a role in the overall plastic waste burden within healthcare facilities.

According to Lorenzo, reducing plastic use is one of the ways to ease the burden of high waste volumes for hospitals, as well as reduce the potential release of hazardous chemicals. "Plastic waste is a potential source of toxic chemicals in the environment, and when burned, can emit unintentional persistent organic pollutants (UPOPs) such as dioxins and furans."

The findings of the waste audit, which was conducted with the help of Healthcare Without Harm Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA), recommend exploring alternative materials and reusable systems that maintain infection control standards while reducing waste volume, including the introduction of reusable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), washable medical textiles, and durable patient linens, which could significantly minimize hospitals' dependency on single-use plastics.

During the program, Nurse Susie distributed reusable water containers to attendees as a practical nudge toward moving away from single-use plastics. Information materials promoting the Toxics-Free Hospitals Campaign, including flyers, posters, and hand fans, were also handed out.

The Nurse Susie Roadshow continues on March 25 at EVMC, followed by a visit to CVMC in April.

About the project:

The Philippine Healthcare and Mercury Wastes Management Project aims to strengthen healthcare waste management nationwide, with a special focus on reducing emissions of hazardous substances such as dioxins and furans and ensuring the safe and proper disposal of mercury. The project is implemented by UNIDO and the DENR-EMB, with funding support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and BAN Toxics as the executing partner.


Why the Tongits App Is Gaining Attention Among Players

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Mobile gaming changed how people play tongits. No more organizing physical meetups. No more searching for available players locally.

Tongits app platforms brought the traditional Filipino card game to smartphones globally. Now, anyone with a phone can access competitive matches instantly.

Evolution of the Digital Card Game Experience

Card game platforms evolved significantly over the past decade.

Early digital card games simply replicated physical gameplay. Digital cards instead of paper cards. Everything else stayed the same. Basic functionality with limited features.

Modern platforms transformed the entire experience:

● Automated scoring eliminates disputes

● Instant matchmaking finds opponents within seconds

● Statistics tracking shows detailed performance metrics

● Graphics and animations improved dramatically

● Social features matured beyond basic chat

Tongits app development followed this trajectory. Early versions offered basic online play. Current versions provide comprehensive competitive gaming experiences with polish matching major gaming apps.

Why Players Choose to Download Tongits

Several factors drive players to download Tongits apps specifically.

Accessibility and Convenience: Download takes two minutes. Registration takes 30 seconds. Playing starts immediately. Zero barriers between deciding to play and actually playing.

No need for physical cards or players nearby. The app handles everything - shuffling, dealing, score tracking, and rule enforcement. Players just focus on strategy.

Flexible Playing Schedule: Play during lunch breaks. Quick game while commuting. Session before bed. The app fits into actual daily schedules rather than demanding dedicated time blocks.

Social Connection: Many users download Tongits to maintain connections with distant friends and family. Relatives in different cities or countries join the same games. Geography becomes irrelevant.

Free Access: Free-to-play models remove financial barriers. Download costs nothing. Basic gameplay costs nothing. Competitive access requires no upfront investment.

Competitive Play Inside the Tongits Hub App

Serious players gravitate toward Tongits hub app for structured competition.

Ranking and Tournament Systems:

Feature Benefit

Ranked Modes Clear progression and visible advancement

Daily Tournaments Quick competitive fixes

Weekly Championships Bigger levels   and prizes

Seasonal Leagues Long-term competition goals

Matchmaking algorithms pair players with similar skill levels. Fair matches improve experiences for everyone. New players avoid getting destroyed by veterans immediately.

Leaderboards create public recognition. Top players earn visibility and respect. Competitive spirits thrive on these public rankings.

Prize structures add real stakes:

● In-app currency rewards

● Special badges and titles

    

The Tongits hub app essentially created an ecosystem around a traditional card game. Professional-level competition accessible to anyone willing to develop their skills.

Strategic Depth of the Tongits Game

Tongits game complexity keeps experienced players engaged long-term.

Key Strategic Elements:

● Probability calculations provide mathematical advantages

● Opponent reading requires psychological awareness

● Risk management decisions happen every turn

● Timing judgment determines when to go out or force draws

● Adaptability beats rigid memorized strategies

Tracking visible cards and calculating odds of drawing needed cards give math-minded players an edge. Behavioral pattern recognition develops through hundreds of hands.

Risk assessment happens constantly. Hold high cards hoping to use them? Discard immediately to minimize potential penalties? These judgment calls separate winning from losing players.

Serious players spend months developing these skills. The Tongits game rewards study and practice with measurable improvement over time.

Why Mobile Platforms Strengthen Tongits

Tongits growth accelerated dramatically through mobile accessibility.

Global Impact: Physical tongits stayed regional. Digital Tongits reached worldwide audiences. Players from dozens of countries now compete regularly.

Larger player pools mean better matchmaking. Better matchmaking means fairer games. Fairer games mean better experiences for everyone.

24/7 Availability: No more waiting for weekly game nights. Play whenever motivation strikes. Immediate gratification replaces delayed scheduling.

Data-Driven Improvement: Statistics show strengths and weaknesses clearly. Players identify specific areas needing practice. Targeted improvement accelerates skill development.

Community Growth: Forums discuss strategy. Social media groups share tips. Content creators stream gameplay. Entire ecosystems grew around the digital version.

Play Tongits digitally, and you join a global community of competitive players. The Tongits app didn't just digitize a card game - it created an accessible, competitive platform that continues growing daily.

Mobile platforms transformed tongits from regional pastime into a globally accessible competitive gaming experience. Convenience, competition, and community combined explain why tongits app downloads keep increasing across demographics and regions.

Conclusion

Play Tongits digitally, and you join a global community of competitive players. The Tongits app didn't just digitize a card game - it created an accessible competitive platform combining convenience, structured competition, and strategic depth. Mobile platforms transformed tongits from regional pastime into a globally accessible gaming experience that continues growing across all demographics.

The Price of Truth: When a Correction Leads to a Prison Cell

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In the Philippines, there is a recurring, heartbreaking ghost in the machinery of progress: the "substandard" norm. We have grown accustomed to seeing public funds—the hard-earned money of the Filipino people—funnelled into projects that crumble upon delivery. But usually, these failures are made of concrete and steel. This time, the failure is made of paper, ink, and a devastating erasure of cultural identity.

At the heart of this storm is John Sherwin Felix, a man who spent years in the trenches of Philippine heritage. He had no government salary, no official title, and no institutional budget. He was fueled by a singular, quiet passion: documenting the soul of Filipino food.

When the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) launched Kayumanggi: A Kaleidoscope of Filipino Flavors and Food Traditions, it was supposed to be a triumph of the "Malikhaing Pinoy" (Creative Filipino) initiative. Instead, Felix found a book riddled with factual rot. He did what any researcher worth their salt would do—he corrected the record.

Now, for the "crime" of being right, John Sherwin Felix faces 12 years in prison for cyberlibel.

A Comedy of Errors, A Tragedy of Heritage

The book, authored by Jam Melchor and backed by the DTI, doesn’t just contain typos; it fundamentally misrepresents the culinary DNA of the regions it claims to celebrate. To the casual reader, these may seem like "foodie" squabbles. To the communities whose identities are tied to these pots and pans, it is a clinical erasure of their history.

The Anatomy of the Inaccuracies:

The Botany of Betrayal: The book identifies batwan as a "legume" that turns Ilonggo KBL dark. In reality, batwan is an endemic fruit. It is never sliced; it is added whole. The dark hue of the dish comes from purple kadios and charred meat. To miss this is to fail "Ilonggo 101."

The Endangered Truth: It describes the tawilis as a fish found in "lakes and rivers throughout the archipelago." This isn't just a mistake; it’s ecological misinformation. Tawilis is endemic only to Taal Lake and is currently classified as critically endangered.

The Ghost Ingredients: In the Tausug masterpiece Tiyula Itum, the book suggests adding coconut milk and reducing it like a thick stew. Real Tiyula Itum is a clear soup, similar to nilaga. Its signature black color comes from charred coconut meat—an ingredient the book’s recipe inexplicably omits.

The Erasure of the Carabao: For the people of Tuguegarao, Batil Patung is defined by carabeef. The book swaps this for pork and chicken and adds tomatoes—a practice local historians and the Cagayan Museum flatly deny. It even treats the essential batil (egg-drop soup) as an afterthought.

From mislabeling the Hokkien roots of Humba as "folk etymology" to stripping Piaparan a manok of its essential palapa, the book reads less like a scholarly work and more like a rushed assembly of half-truths.

The High Cost of "Pwede Na"

When government-funded publications are released, they carry the weight of authority. They become the "official" version of us. If an official book tells the world that Kare-kare gets its color from peanuts rather than atsuete, the truth begins to die.

The critical questions remain unanswered:

What was the budget for this project?

Was there a peer-review process, or was it a "pwede na" (good enough) production?

Why is the weight of the law being used to silence a whistleblower rather than to fix the errors?

Standing with the Truth

John Sherwin Felix didn’t attack a person; he defended a culture. He has the backing of the scholars, cultural workers, and the very communities the book misrepresented. When correcting a government-funded error becomes a path to a prison cell, the message to every researcher and advocate is clear: Be quiet, or be punished.

We cannot afford that silence. We deserve quality from our public funds, and we deserve a history that isn't rewritten by the highest bidder.

The charges against John Sherwin Felix must be dropped. Our heritage is not for sale, and the truth should never be a crime.

To: Sec. Cristina Aldeguer-Roque Department of Trade and Industry

Director Lilian Garcia Salonga Creative Industries Development Office

Subject: Formal Grievance and Technical Corrections Regarding the Publication Kayumanggi: A Kaleidoscope of Filipino Flavors and Food Traditions

Dear Secretary Aldeguer-Roque and Director Salonga,

I am writing to formally bring to your attention a series of critical factual inaccuracies and cultural misrepresentations present in the DTI-funded publication, Kayumanggi: A Kaleidoscope of Filipino Flavors and Food Traditions, authored by Jam Melchor.

As a work produced under the Malikhaing Pinoy initiative and funded by public taxpayer money, this book carries the weight of an official record. However, the current edition contains errors that do a profound disservice to the regional communities it purports to represent.

Summary of Critical Technical Errors:

Botanical & Culinary Misidentification (Iloilo): The book identifies batwan (Garcinia binucao) as a "legume." It is an endemic fruit. It further attributes the dark color of KBL to the batwan and instructs slicing it; traditionally, the color comes from purple kadios and grilled meat, and the fruit is added whole.

Ecological Misinformation (Batangas): The tawilis is described as being found in "lakes and rivers throughout the archipelago." This is scientifically incorrect. Sardinella tawilis is endemic only to Taal Lake and is currently classified as critically endangered by the IUCN.

Cultural Erasure of Culinary Techniques (Mindanao):

Tiyula Itum: The recipe erroneously includes coconut milk and suggests a thickened reduction. Authentic Tausug Tiyula Itum is a soup (similar to nilaga) that relies on charred coconut meat for its signature black hue—an ingredient omitted from the book’s process.

Piaparan a Manok: The recipe fails to include papar (grated coconut) and palapa (the soul of Meranaw cuisine), rendering the dish unrecognizable to its community of origin.

Historical Inaccuracy (Cagayan): The book substitutes carabeef—the defining protein of Batil Patung—with pork and chicken, and adds tomatoes, a practice rejected by the Cagayan Museum and local historians.

Request for Action:

Official publications must be held to a standard of excellence, not "substandard" convenience. When a researcher like John Sherwin Felix identifies these errors, the appropriate institutional response should be a commitment to accuracy and peer review, rather than the pursuit of punitive legal action like cyberlibel.

We respectfully request that the DTI:

Halt the distribution of the current edition of Kayumanggi until these errors are rectified.

Conduct a transparent audit of the research and proofreading process for this project.

Engage with local cultural workers and historians to ensure that future "Creative Pinoy" outputs accurately reflect the diverse heritage of the Philippines.

Our culture is our greatest asset. It deserves to be documented with the precision and respect that its complexity demands.

Sincerely,

WazzupPilipinas.com