#chermed

“The best man for the job is a woman.” - Leni Robredo

Maria Leonor Gerona Robredo, an alternative lawyer and public servant, is the 14th Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines. After years of working with the poor and the marginalized, teaching the less fortunate about their rights under the law, Leni, as she is popularly known, emerged into national consciousness following the loss of her husband, long-time Naga City Mayor and Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. Called upon to carry on his legacy of good governance, she stepped into the political arena in 2013, when she won as Representative of the Third District of Camarines Sur.

 Biography of Hayao Miyazaki

It is nice to reminisce about Saturday mornings watching Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, The Secret World of Arrietty, and many more with a cup of warm Milo on the side. The feeling of starting a new journey with every story brings nothing but peace, excitement, and satisfaction to our minds. Studio Ghibli has changed the childhoods of many people around the world with their magnificent and beautiful array of stories. Have you ever wondered how these colorful animations were made into reality and the man behind its curtains?

An Autobiography

Every protagonist has a story to tell that’s worth listening to. Either to get to know them or to get information about them, people listen to stories because they’re interesting and unique.

My story? It's neither of those.

Hi. I’m Jason Quiwa. You can call me “son” for short and this is my “not-so-interesting” life story.

I was born on the 7th of August, 2004 in Manila, Philippines to pure Filipino parents. My father’s name is Rodney Quiwa and my mother’s name is Cristine Quiwa. They’re both working parents with my father working as a Civil Engineer in Qatar while my mother is working as an Industrial Engineer here in our country. I am the youngest out of the 3 children my parents have and also definitely the cutest.

As a toddler, I am constantly surrounded by my relatives from both my mother’s and my father’s sides. My family and I live in my grandparents house here in Urduja Village, Caloocan City but by the age of 4 years old, we moved into the house just a few houses away from where we lived. This second house was my Uncle’s house that was supposed to be bought by my grandfather on my father’s side.

At that same age, I started my nursery school. The school was a small neighborhood school named Little hearts school and it was walking distance from our house. Kindergarten and Preparatory school came and I transferred to Shekinah Grace School of Caloocan. It’s another neighborhood school and it’s bigger than my previous school at the time.

Throughout my childhood, I was a street kid. I was the kid that went out at 4PM everyday knocking on all of my friend’s houses without shame and asking their parents if their kids could play with me. This made me well known by many adults that lived in our street.

By the time I hit 8 years old, me and my family moved back to my grandparents’ house where we previously lived. This was because conflict transcribed on my father’s side and we were affected by it. I also transferred schools yet again and this time, I transferred to Holy Redeemer School of Caloocan. A school that heavily implemented English as their mother tongue (and also the school I stayed in for 7 years!). At this time, I started learning the English language slowly. I watched movies that were in English and read books written in the same language.

When I reached 3rd grade, I was able to speak in English without any hiccups. Well of course there was room for improvement but nonetheless, it was considered as pretty impressive by many. That includes our principal at the time. I was often told stuff like “You’re a great speaker!” or “You’re a great example to students here in our school.” by many teachers which I appreciate a lot but looking back at it, man I don’t feel shame. Around the same time, I picked up dancing. I danced to a lot of songs and didn’t care if I looked gay doing it.

Speaking of the word “Gay”, that word was thrown a lot throughout my middle school years from 4th grade all the way up to 6th grade. Because of my “flamboyant nature” and being friends with girls more than boys, many schoolmates thought that I was gay and I often got teased for it. This led to me slowly questioning my sexuality but I never thought anything more than that at the time. I just thought everyone was being mean with their accusations. 

One scenario was back in 4th grade when our MAPEH teacher tasked us to group ourselves into two groups for a dance performance. Of course, the class separated into boys and girls and I was in the middle. I was asked by my teacher which group I would want to join and that made me think about which would be better. Despite me wanting to join the girls as they were my friends, I was peer pressured into joining the boys and I regret that a lot.

Anyway, back on track. Summer of 2017, I joined an English workshop with a friend which was a lot of fun! It gave me something fun to look forward to in the summer and every single day that I’ve spent in that workshop was always a great experience! Being able to commute and travel by myself under the bright sun was fun. 

By the middle of summer, the workshop ended and the school hosted a little ceremony celebrating the end of their first year of doing workshops. Us students from the English workshop got to perform a little speech choir performance and it was a great time.

7th grade came by and that was the year when I started to take my sexuality seriously. I was very conflicted about my own sexual orientation and through the process of figuring that out, I became pretty snarky. To shorten the long story, the pressure of finding oneself was too much and I will admit, I was hasty about finding myself and it didn’t do anything good but at least it gave me something to start with.

I transferred to St. Joseph College of Novaliches once I reached 8th Grade and after being stuck to the same environment for too long, it felt liberating to be introduced to another environment. It was scary of course as I didn’t know anyone and a full day of repeatedly introducing myself doesn’t help with the anxiety at all. But with all that anxiety, I was able to make an impact regardless.

Throughout my 8th grade life, I was constantly bombarded by invitations to clubs like speech choir, Cheer dance, and also to be the school’s representative for competitions. All of which I declined as I was new to the place and wanted to take my time and familiarize myself. One club I did join though was an English club where I met a friend that had this huge golden retriever-esque personality. His dorky personality made me fall for him but of course it didn’t work out.

As I continued my high school life with me moving on to 9th grade, I became more and more sociable and I started to gain more friends. 9th grade was my peak year because I met and befriended many people from different sections and grade levels. I also started venturing out to Cheer dance, speaking competitions like oratoricals, and hosting school awarding ceremonies. The same year, I finally came to terms with my sexual orientation and came out to my friends as gay but still kept it to my family. Overall, my last face-to-face school year was fun and it really made me feel like I’m living.

2020 came and I’m 16 years old at this time. Throughout the long summer, I met online friends, one of which was Persephone or Percy for short. She and I went to the same school but never crossed each other’s paths and even had a little “Your name”-eque situation. In the same summer, I picked up writing again and started to create original characters and short stories about them. This became a small hobby of mine as I wrote more and more.

Another year passed as 2021 came and this was the year when I came out to my parents about my sexuality. It was a hard fight between myself and my logical thinking but I did learn things about them that I never knew they had and this made me close with them. This was the year when I finally met Percy in real life for the first time! Our houses are near each other it’s quite shocking. As I started Grade 11, I came in with the goal of improving my skills and till this day, I am on that journey.

BIOGRAPHY : Think of a famous national person and write down the basic information about his life.

“In exchange for all the lives lost, we owe it to them to learn their story.” - Captain General Antonio Luna

“If, let’s say, you were to write a story with me as the main character, it would certainly be a tragedy. No. Everyone’s the same, in fact. All those that walk this earth. All steal and from all, something is stolen. We can’t help it. That’s who we are. 

Steal and be stolen. Imprison and be imprisoned. Follow and be followed. Do and be done unto. Affirm and negate, over and over. We fight ceaselessly to save ourselves from loss. And yet, the people and places we love will one day surely be lost. We all will surely be forgotten. Life is sad. Empty. But despite knowing we will one day disappear, we still strive in wretched ways. We still wish to be beautiful. 

And I consider, “Which one?”. I choose, “This one.” Forever choosing, forever being chosen. Nothing more, nothing less.” - 𝐓𝐨𝐤𝐲𝐨 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥:𝐫𝐞, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕𝟕

𝐇𝐢. 𝐒𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐦 𝐈?

‘Twas one well-weathered, average fourteenth of April in the year 2004 when I was brought upon this earth, particularly in the wind-swept desert of the country of Bahrain. After nine months curled snug inside the warmth of my mother’s womb, my being had finally experienced the sensation of coldness for the very first time. A foreign chill, blinding lights, a shrieking cry, and soft moans of happiness. Admittedly, I do not remember much of the past, but this, the very first memory of my existence, is one that I shall never forget. 

I’ll be frank, my existence was a result of an affair outside of wedlock. After my mother, the lovely Emelyn O. Cabuhal, had moved to Bahrain in order to find work, she had fallen into a forbidden love; Somehow, she had gotten caved in by my father, Rodrigo D. Gangan’s slick charms and handsome demeanour. A saleswoman falling for an engineer; It was the romance story of a lifetime. In the end despite all austerity, things had eventually worked out, and as a result was me being their happy little accident. 

My mother had originally named me after the Thessalian princess, Cyrene, from the lore of Ancient Greek mythology. However, I doubt that most are savvy of who she is. Although an inferior shadow amongst all the other renowned heroes of Greece, my mother had a deep affinity for this particular character due to her unrelenting courage and strength. Princess Cyrene was known to have been a fierce huntress, wrestling with even the most ferocious lions and slaying them bare-handedly all for the sake of protecting her homeland.

Bravery and strength, back in the day, especially that painted upon a woman were extremely unusual characteristics that were often looked down upon in the past. My mother did not heed this much attention, and had hoped that like Princess Cyrene, her precious baby would grow into resemblance as that of Princess Cyrene’s courageous and indestructible portrait.

Thankfully, I did. As I had interviewed my mother in preparation for writing this biography, her eyes shone up with pride as she foretold how as a baby, I was never one to cause trouble. I was, by her words, very well-behaved, silent, and almost too mature for my age. Every so often, shivers would run down my parent’s spine as my infant eyes would just merely watch them with something akin to defiant astuteness. It was no question to them that I would grow up to be someone remarkable; But, perhaps, in what ways?

In my younger years, I had been brought up with the luxury of a princess; Or at least, that was how it had felt for me. Left to right, I was heavily spoiled by my parents; Almost to the point where I had to never experience getting dirt on even the tips of my pale nails. Back then, my being became sublimely colored in pretty and posh pink - dolls, dresses, desserts. I can recall the sensation of my former desire for everything bright, feminine, and simmering.

My parents would frequent me to join Flores de Mayo, local fashion shows, singing competitions, and many more; Always too keen to have their child work and participate in so much and do so much in order to fill their childish desires that they were given no opportunity in partaking in the past. The line, “You’re lucky you got the chance to do this,” always stuck besides me like a burning birthmark, but I was too prideful to let it eat me away negatively. It’s alright; I’ll shoulder the burden and carry our dreams. 

Due to such persistent coddling, I was not as academically-driven as I am now; As I continued to pursue leisurely activities, I admittedly neglected my studies. Would you have believed me if I said that I had almost failed not one, not two, but almost four subjects in the span of my early elementary days? Unbelievable, right? Instead, most of my time was spent fondly hanging around peers or inside the church, partaking activities hosted by my local congregation. 

Looking back, it honestly leaves me awestruck how social and extroverted my younger proprium was, as it seems that now, my energy has decreased tenfold, and even the simple act of socializing left me flabbergasted and anxious of its impending interaction. I am certainly not the young, lively child as I was in the past. As I shift through the many photographs laying inside our albums to scavenge for materials for this self-indulgent writing, I would be lying if I said that these pictures of my youthful self appearing devoid of misery left a bitter tinge in my tongue. The me in the past certainly did not know what was coming around for her in the years to come. 

It was also during this time that I had come to love animals; How trivial may this piece of information be, but my passion for animals had strongly persisted up until today in the present times. Had it not been for the dog who have stuck to my side like glue during the precedented years, perhaps I would have not been as empathic as I am now.

However, as I look back into my life, I realized that even as a child, I was very superficial. Never had I ever really been a dreamer; I had no real ambition. I dreaded the question poised by adults regarding what I wanted to be in the future, because never could my mind wrack the courage to think far along the tracks. Perhaps it is because of my romantic self who had believed that I was already, currently living the dream, Blinded by the walls of utopia that were plastered by my parents, I did not know what more I could have asked for. 

I was abruptly awoken from this dream after I had lived past a decade into this world. In the beginning of the year 2015, my father and I had to repatriate ourselves back to the Philippines, leaving my mom behind in order to act as the breadwinner of the family. My father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, forcibly causing him to retire from his well-paying job as an elevator engineer. I began to miss not only the grainy particles of sand that constantly filled the desertic air of Bahrain, but my mother of all things. 

Indeed, the shift from the Middle Eastern metropolises to the green, overpopulated cities of the Philippines left me feeling alienated beyond my wildest imaginations; However what most impacted me was my separation with my mother. Words cannot put how was suffocating, so terribly suffocating was her absence in my life. Whoever quoted the famous saying, “Distance makes the heart fonder,” is no one to make short of. It’s unbelievably true, and perhaps even more heartwrenching than one thinks it is. 

A year later on July 9, 2016, my father passed away from a heart attack. I never got to see him in his final moments because prior to his passage, as his condition had begun to worsen, he, alone, had moved back with his first family in Isabela. Nights never pass without me wondering if before the last breath had escaped him had he ever thought back about me, even if just a fleeting thought. Admittedly, I was ever the daddy’s girl; And I doubt that up to this day, I have yet come to terms with his passage. There were many things that were unfortunately left unsaid, and many I regretted. 

From a dainty pink, my being was forced to soak itself into a deep, dark hue; And as I had struggled to come out, my skin was already marred in a hue of gloom. Because of the darkness, I could not even identify what were the things that I used to like or love. Everything was covered up with blotches of pressure, pain, and trauma. I had never realized how hard reality truly was nor had I understood what I had done that made me deserve such misery. When I was finally hit with the realization that the world was definitely not as kind as it had looked like inside the comfort of my parents’ embrace, the feeling was unwelcomely sudden. It was as if I was dethroned from my position as princess and was banished from my own kingdom for all of eternity.

Depression began to devour the entirety of my being, and just in a span of two years, I had lost more than 10 kilograms in weight, had forty-three self-inflicted battle scars, and committed several attempts of self-destruction; All but unsuccessful - fortunately and unfortunately. My entire self was thrown around, beaten up, and shattered in several fragments, and up until this day, even as almost a decade has passed, do I believe that I am completely healed.

To be completely honest, I do not remember much of my younger days. It had only struck me one afternoon as I was lying in bed that I could not seem to recall much in my childhood; Have you ever heard of Dissociative Amnesia?  Everything was a blank slate, exactly like the moment when you insert a CD in the DVD player, but all that appears on screen is a noisy, hurtful static. That’s why I am never one who’s fond of reminiscing the past, but for the sake of this activity, I have tried my hardest.

Sometimes, I wonder, if it had not been for my romanticism that had continued its pursuit throughout the years, what else could’ve supplied my hopes? Would I have still continued standing on the face of the earth up until this day? In the end, I chose to continue to walk, and at times when I could no longer walk, I crawled. Life felt so daunting and horrific, and if I had to relive it once again, I doubt that I’d make it through the second time. Once is always enough.

In order to pass time, I had committed to entertaining myself through various modus operandis. I sang; I danced; I read; I drew; I played video games; I joined social groups, virtual groups, and actively tried to participate in the realm of academia. I bet that every activity of leisure that could be found under the sun I had already partaken in one way or another. All of this I had done in order to fill the gaping emptiness within my heart, trying to find the solace that I was obsessively searching for. 

There were days where I talked from morning to night, with or without company; Perhaps afraid that if I let silence even a second of an opportunity to fill the space, my being would’ve been devoured entirely and I’d be stuck lingering inside it forever.

From all the things that I had done, my most favorite would have to be reading. 

If I had to choose between sketching a croquis of the person I loved most, or of a dessin of a preloved book, I would forever choose the latter with no hesitation. Admittedly, these slabs of paper have also been the primary pigment that had made the most profound color in my life. 

It was not until several years later into my late teenage life that I had stumbled upon a particular line from an old book. In the small paper read the lines, “That was the first fissure in the columns that had upheld my childhood, which every individual must destroy before he can become himself. Such fissures and rents grow together again, heal, and are forgotten, but in the most secret recesses they continue to live and bleed.” The fog in my mind had finally risen. These words were what had given my bleak canvas more color.

Apart from the wisdom adorned in the rigid pages of books, if it had not been for the peers who I had met along the way, most especially my one and only batch of my late elementary days prior to my arrival to the Philippines, as well as those in my high school period, the awning cloth would have had loosen and fallen from the wooden stretcher.

The foundation of what made me today laid in their hands; And I am glad, wholeheartedly filled with gratitude, that I have crossed paths with them for both the better and the worst.

Up until this day, I am still deciding on how to apply the various tones and variations to my canvas’ surface. Currently striving to survive my first year in senior high school; 

Whenever posed with the question of how my day was, I’d always reply, “So-so,” and it’s not pitiful but a fact. Compared to the remnants of my estranged bygone days, I am doing much better; Much healthier to both body and mind, and much convalescent to the many traumas that had used to pinned my being down. 

In the past, I have experienced the notion of being a “horrendous piece of art,” and no longer do I want to commit the same mistakes. In the first place, is there even such a thing as a “horrendous piece of art”? No, there definitely is not. Now, I delicately hold myself with love. 

Every small stroke of my life’s invisible brush I take with time and precision. Now, I allow my own colors to flow freely in any direction. With the emergence of brand-new experiences, sensations, and emotions, I have yet to create a piece that would conclude my most sincere feelings. 

As I continue to live on, I shall continue to ask myself, what am I painting? Is it a figure of Cyrene? Perhaps a palette of fuchsia, or a whirlpool of monochromatic shades? Always, I continue to answer: I am my own canvas. 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭-𝐬𝐨-𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐧𝐝.

𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚 𝐀𝐊𝐀 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲

Bretman Rock was born on 31st July 1998 in the Sanchez-Mira, Cagayan, Philippines, in an Ilocano family. Rock moved to Hawaii at the age of seven and played sports while growing up including baseball, soccer, cross-country, and volleyball. At Campbell High School, Rock was on the track team.

Rock began his social media career in 2011 by joining Twitter and launching his YouTube account. However, he just began making YouTube videos in 2015. Talia Joy, a fellow YouTuber who suffered through cancer, inspired him. He decided to start making films and began applying full-face makeup. Rock was first chastised for his looks, but this just served to encourage him.

Rock's main objective is to urge his audience to accept their uniqueness. He also started sharing videos on the famous app Vine. These little, 6-second movies perfectly captured Rock's sense of humor and endearing nature. He makes make-up lesson videos on YouTube, such as "How to Do Your Eyebrows" and "How to Contour." Rock presently has over 6 million Instagram followers and over a million YouTube subscribers.

Time magazine named him one of the 30 Most Influential Teens of 2017. In 2018, he was also included to Forbes' "30 Under 30 Asia – Media, Marketing, & Advertising" list.

In June 2019, Rock graced the cover of Gay Times during Pride Month. Rock attended his first New York Fashion Week in September 2019, when he teamed with stylist Andrew Gelwicks.

Rock played the role of "The Playboy" in the ten-episode fourth season of the YouTube Premium web series Escape the Night, released in July 2019. In December 2019, MTV announced that Rock would be the star of the next season of the YouTube show, No Filter.

Rock's beauty line, created in conjunction with Wet n Wild Cosmetics, will be released in early 2020. To promote the line, he held a press tour in Los Angeles in February 2020 with businesses such as Buzzfeed, Condé Nast, Hearst, and others.

Rock featured as a guest star on the third episode of James Charles' YouTube Originals series "Instant Influencer" on May 9, 2020. Rock will unveil his eyewear collection, primarily sunglasses, in November 2020 in conjunction with Dime Optics, a Los Angeles-based firm. He released six frames, four of which were only available at Dime Optics and two of which were only available at Revolve.

On May 14, 2021, Rock appeared with other online personalities in Bella Poarch's music video for her first track, "Build a Bitch." Rock was nominated for an MTV Movie and TV Award in the Breakthrough Social Star category in June 2021. On the day of the event, he was named as the winner.

Rock makes a surprise appearance in the music video for Sub Urban and Bella Poarch's song "INFERNO" in August 2021.. He also took part in a live webcast promoting the video.

Rock became the first openly homosexual guy to appear on the cover of Playboy magazine in October 2021.

by Eizelle Noquiz

A memorable line from Vincenzo that was stuck in my head after I watched the TV Series- It’s not just a series, It screams perfection! ✨

photo from Google

Vincenzo is a Dark Comedy Thriller Korean Drama released on Netflix. It is a perfect combination of humor, action, and awe-inspiring moments which keep the viewers on edge. Starring Song Joong-ki as Vincenzo alongside her leading lady Jeon Yeo-been with the two great actors Ok Taecyeon as Jang Jun Woo and Kwak Dong-Yeon as Jang Han Seo. Directed by Kim Hee-Won.

The first-broadcast ratings of this drama were 7.7% (AGB nationwide), ranking 4th in the first-broadcast ratings of tvN dramas. The series finale received a 14.6% rating making it one of the highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history. It also made the series the 6th highest-rated drama in tvN history.

A little preview in the drama, Vincenzo,

An eight-year-old child, Park Joo-Hyung, went to Italy after being adopted by an Italian family. Park Joo-Hyung was renamed Vincenzo Cassano and became an Italian lawyer, a consigliere for the mafia. In search of Gold, he sets out to his motherland, South Korea.

However, a real estate company under Babel Group has illegally taken ownership of the Geumga Plaza, and Vincenzo must use his skills to reclaim the building and recover his fortunes. Vincenzo then becomes involved with lawyer Hong Cha-young, the attorney. The latter will do anything to win a case but found her way back when her father was killed under a corrupt order lawyer under Babel Group's payroll.

Vincenzo is an excellent series no words can’t explain how exciting it is, each episode is breathtaking, and the fans of “Oh My Consigliere” are getting wild day by day we’re like a hungry shark, craving for more thrilling episode.

Whenever I am together with my friends, we always talk about the episodes of Vincenzo and its memorable moments, and it feels good to get kilig from ChaCenzo and sharing our thoughts together about the drama.

Kaya’t huwag ng magpatumpik-tumpik pa! Add Vincenzo to your binge-watch list and be part of the Cassano Family because Vincenzo is most definitely worth watching, proven, and tested by yours truly.