#slps

DUMAGUETE, NEGROS ORIENTAL -- Hours before the global cinematic release of Disney & Pixar's "Hoppers", and to honor the International Women's Month (IWM) for this mid-week today… The toxics watchdog group 'BAN Toxics' has issued a consumer alert on the illegal sale of prohibited beauty products abroad containing mercury, a highly poisonous heavy metallic minerals that has severe effects on their nervous, digestive and immune systems.

In due time, before the Hoppers movie at 1:30pm Wednesday afternoon (March 4th, 2026 -- Philippine standard time) at a local CityMall in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental; the Food and Drug Administration has partially banned its cosmetic skin lightening products, which include 'Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene', '88 Total White Underarm Cream', and numerous others available at a full-glass retail kiosk import, as well as through online shopping platforms in the country. For the moment, we are not disclosing the identity of the kiosk's owner.

Three (3) selected cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) sounded really off as the group tested the products (excluding Negros Oriental alone) and detected mercury at concentrations as high as almost 30,000 parts per million (ppm), far exceeding the 1 ppm limit set by the ASEAN Cosmetics Directive.

Accessing their health hazards, and their unlawfulness in most countries, and the ban on mercury-added SLPs by the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which has generally been in effect since the start of the Chinese global pandemic in 2021, BAN Toxics has long been investigating mercury-added skin lightening products (SLPs) through the Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG).

The group's continuous monitoring online showed the widespread marketing of banned skin lightening creams, including Goree Products, on e-commerce platforms in the Philippines, which put the public at risk and requires immediate action from the nation's regulatory agencies: "We call on both the FDA and the [Department of Trade and Industry] to expedite their regulatory and enforcement functions to prevent the further sale and use of prohibited skin lightening products, ensure consumer protection, and prevent exposure to toxic mercury", said the group. "We will continue to be vigilant in monitoring and documenting prohibited skin lightening products offered for sale in the market and push for stricter product standards and enhanced consumer safety and protection", the group concluded.

As a coalition of top supporters of safe cosmetics regulation in the country, BAN Toxics is encouraging national and regional legislators, including the provincial government of Negros Oriental, to enact a bill that will safeguard the health and the environment of the people against dangerous chemicals in cosmetic products. Not a single one is being sold in support of that illegal cosmetic import. Double Dragon Corporation (DDC), the owner of CityMall, has not taken any potential steps at the time of this report.

PHOTO COURTESY: BAN Toxics & OneNETnews Online via PR PHOTO BACKGROUND PROVIDED BY: TEGNA

I’ve kept quiet long enough. But I’m one of those educators who stayed, In a district they call broken. In buildings they’ve long forgotten. And I’m ready to say what so many of us have been carrying for years.

They say we should leave. Go where there’s more pay, better resources, and less struggle. But some of us don’t. Some of us stay, not because it’s easy, but because we know leaving would mean abandoning the very kids we were called to serve.

 “They not like us…” That line hits. Because they’re not. They don’t know what it’s like to teach through trauma. To walk into a room with broken lights, broken systems, and still shine.

I’ve taught with rats running down the halls and paint peeling from the walls. I’ve coached teachers through grief, hunger, eviction notices, and burnout. And I’ve stood in front of students with more diagnoses than support and still managed to teach them love.

“They not like us…” “Ask the homie why they ain't slide, and they still ain’t slid…” Because they don’t slide for us. Not the policymakers. Not the decision-makers. Not the folks who take photos in our schools but won’t stay for the meeting.

But I do. I stay. We stay. Even when the school board doesn’t listen. Even when the media villainizes us. Even when the system sets our kids up to fail and dares us to say something.

This ain’t about survival. It’s about resistance. Every day I stay, I am resisting the narrative that our kids are disposable. That our schools are hopeless. That our communities don’t matter.

“Every time you in the booth, it’s a lot of cappin’…” Let’s talk about that. Because I hear folks preaching equity from platforms they bought with privilege. But when it comes time to fund the fight? Silence.

But we’ve been loud in the classrooms. We’ve been loud in the hallways. Loud in the lesson plans, the IEP meetings, the late-night calls to parents. Loud with our presence. Even when nobody saw us.

So if you want to know why I stay, it’s simple: Because they need me. Because we need us. Because if everybody leaves, who will remain to fight?

I don’t teach for claps or cookies. I teach because I believe in our kids, even when the world doesn’t. And I walk through these doors every day like:  “This ain’t a gimmick…”

To the teachers who stay, I see you. To the coaches, paras, deans, and nurses holding it down, I honor you. And to the students we serve  you are not forgotten.

Where was she going? I heard "Hamptons." My lead teacher heard "Hilton."