There is courage that comes from a resolve to be seen and heard by everyone. Now more than ever, we need that heroism to ensure there is no more reason to hide our love. Since 1988, the world has commemorated the lives of people living with HIV and those who died from it through a global movement, and an observance day dedicated to raising awareness about the AIDS pandemic. On 1 December 2017, a coalition of HIV and AIDS advocacy groups, government agencies, private sectors, media agencies and societal groups partners have united and formed the Love Gala Secretariat and spearheaded the premier charity and awards event of its kind in Asia—the Love Gala. This year, Love Gala joins the annual International AIDS Candlelight Memorial ceremony to commemorate the lives taken by complications from HIV/AIDS. We also honor the contributions of individuals and organizations that have made a mark in the HIV/AIDS advocacy in the Philippines through the 2nd Ripple Awards. Tonight is a special night of exquisite music, worthwhile fundraising, and heartfelt recognition for all of us in the advocacy.
Ms. Pia Wurtzbach MISS UNIVERSE 2015 & LOVE GALA AMBASSADOR
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Choice pieces from top fashion designers: Francis Libiran, Cary Santiago, Nat Manilag, John Herrera, and Cheetah Rivera were showcased in the event.
Self-worth is a powerful determinant of one’s quality of life. It is the self-perception of one’s right to achieve happiness and be given respect, of one’s ability to understand and solve problems, and to triumph in the small and big challenges of life. LoveYourself believes that self-worth is key to building an empowered community. We exist to ignite in each one an active desire for a healthy and vibrant self-worth, especially among the youth and males who have sex with males (MSMs). Through awareness, education, counseling, fun social interactions, and activities that weave these elements into a unity, we take delight in spreading our message of the value of self-worth and the critical importance of loving oneself. WHO WE ARE LoveYourself is a community of volunteers that aim to reach out to others to propagate ideas, attitudes, and practices that encourage loving oneself—to DARE to be oneself, to CARE for oneself, and to SHARE oneself as a way to multiplying joy. WHAT WE DO HIV counseling, testing, treatment and life-coaching Through our six community centers—LoveYourself Anglo in Mandaluyong, LoveYourself Uni and Victoria by LoveYourself in Pasay, LoveYourself Welcome in Manila, Lily by LoveYourself x DIOSSA, and LoveYourself White House in Cebu—we provide HIV education, testing and counseling, and treatment and life coaching to prevent the spread of the epidemic and eradicate the stigma on HIV/AIDS among the youth and key affected populations. HIV awareness for Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) and Youth We conduct HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns and education seminars in schools, companies and regional communities. We take delight in promoting the value of self-worth and the critical importance of loving oneself as a core intervention against the spread of HIV/AIDS.
MESSAGE
My heartfelt greetings to all the supporters of Love Gala 2019. Together with our thousand strong volunteers, I am truly grateful that we are all gathered here to celebrate our strides for the HIV advocacy and our respective communities. As Asia’s premier charity and awards event, this year’s Love Gala: Courage Amplified signifies the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial ceremony. We join in commemoration the lives affected by the epidemic. We also stand stronger with the global community to further our response and initiatives for the HIV epidemic worldwide. Love Gala is a chance for the advocates to take a step back and recognize their accomplishments throughout the years. The gala is also an opportunity to inspire more people to rally for our unified cause. Let this event continually rouse our love and passion towards empowering more people to look after their sexual health. Today, we are also honoring the movers in the HIV advocacy through the Ripple Awards, recognizing five individuals, three organizations, and a project that have made substantial contributions in the advocacy. I could not be any more proud of the nominees and awardees for their tremendous efforts to normalize the discussions on HIV/AIDS, and innovate on related services to curb the epidemic. To the awardees, may you continue to create ripples of positive change in our community in the years ahead.
RONIVIN G. PAGTAKHAN Executive Director, The LoveYourself, Inc.
As we cherish the night with music and glamour, I hope tonight’s momentous event stays with you forever. Onward to a loving world!
MESSAGE
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), as the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on HIV and AIDS epidemic, congratulates The LoveYourself Inc. for organizing this year’s Love Gala. UNAIDS strongly supports this event which raises awareness about HIV prevention and zero discrimination. We all want to live in a world of inclusive and healthy societies. But, in reality, our world is struggling with growing inequalities and intolerance for diversity. Investment for the HIV response is shrinking, political commitment is weakening, and activism of civil society groups is being challenged by the lack of enabling environment. The limited funding, lack of political commitment and lack of action to remove, structural, social and legal barriers impact negatively on the health and well-being of people living with HIV. Stigma and discrimination continues to plague the key affected populations pushing them to hide and away from services. We need to stop this. We need to emphasize that the foundation of curbing HIV must be based on the protection of human rights; and it is urgent to remove human rights-related barriers to have an effective national HIV response that can actually end AIDS.
DR. LOUIE R. OCAMPO Country Director, UNAIDS Philippines
AIDS is not over yet in the Philippines. We have come far, but still have miles to go. More work still needs to be done. To move closer towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, we need to fast-track our HIV response by renewing commitment to sustain funding for and scaled-up implementation of HIV prevention programs. Ending the AIDS epidemic means that we must overcome complacency, close the gaps, break all access barriers, and right injustices. This cannot be done in isolation. We need the consolidated action of everyone; the political commitment and leadership of the government, the competency and compassion of health providers, the love and support of family and friends, the renewed and strong activism of the advocates and civil society groups, the sense of urgency to scale-up our response, and the ardent desire to leave no one behind. With all of these, the future is bright for the country. We can end the AIDS epidemic. There is still hope. But we need to act now.
MESSAGE
HIV is not an easy virus to defeat. Around the world, nearly a million people still die every year from the virus because they don’t know their HIV status and are not on treatment, or they started treatment too late. This is despite WHO guidelines in 2015 recommending that all people living with HIV should receive antiretroviral treatment as soon as possible after their diagnosis, regardless of their immune status and stage of infection. In 2017, 1.8 million people were newly infected with HIV. While the world has committed to ending AIDS by 2030, rates of new infections and deaths are not falling rapidly enough to meet that target. The HIV epidemic in the Philippines has been rapidly changing and expanding in the past ten years. From a low and slow to one of the fastest growing epidemic, the number of diagnosed HIV infections has increased dramatically from 2 cases a day in 2009 to 32 cases a day in 2018. Over the past decades, the response to the HIV epidemic has been as diverse and multisectoral as the epidemic itself. Different approaches have been shown to be effective in addressing the spread and effects of the disease. A key component of success has been the engagement of the communities involved. Community mobilization in addressing stigma and discrimination, coordination with local authorities and policymakers will enable an environment for effective interventions and most importantly, provide patient-centred services. Vulnerable and marginalized groups at high risk of HIV infection must be empowered to drive the design and implementation of prevention and services so that they are truly able to meet their needs. Community initiatives like the Love Gala help raise HIV awareness and education campaign, together with its partners. It continues the global movement by uniting individuals and organizations for people to learn more about what they can do to support the cause. I hope that this heartfelt recognition to those who have made immeasurable difference in the HIV-AIDS advocacy in the Philippines will inspire more individuals, organizations and communities to follow the same path and come up with their own innovative ideas. The World Health Organization Country Office in the Philippines will continue working hand in hand with the government, civil society organizations, affected communities, health care providers and international partners to advocate, design and implement new strategies so we can prevent the further spread of this preventable and treatable disease. Thank you very much.
DR. GUNDO WEILER
WHO Representative in the Philippines
MESSAGES
On behalf of the National HIV, AIDS and STI Prevention and Control Program (NASPCP) of the Department of Health, I would like to extend my sincere felicitations to The Love Yourself, Inc. on its 2nd year of the Love Gala—a truly innovative way of bringing esteemed people united in one meaningful cause: raising awareness on HIV prevention in the country. The Love Gala is timely as the tides of HIV epidemic keep on rising each day. Despite the alarming increase in the incidence of HIV, the government remains steadfast in its commitment to address the issue head-on. With the recent enactment of HIV and AIDS Policy Act of 2018 (R.A. 11166), all relevant government agencies are mandated to implement HIV education programs.
DR. JOSE GERARD BELIMAC Program Manager, National HIV, AIDS, and STI Prevention and Control Program (NASPCP), Department of Health
But the government cannot do this endeavor alone. By engaging and recognizing community leaders, we will reinforce the continuing call to finally put an end to an epidemic that remains to be a serious threat to the lives of the Filipino people. Let our actions be not just drops in the bucket but a true force that creates much desired ripples that significantly improve the health of the Filipino people. Let us all LHIVFree! Congratulations and Mabuhay! Our warmest congratulations to The LoveYourself, Inc. for this year’s Love Gala and Ripple Awards. LoveYourself, from its inception, has been a partner in sounding the alarm to halt the onward spread of HIV in the country, particularly among males who have sex with males (MSM). Year in and year out, they push the envelope in raising awareness around HIV and rallying more allies to be part of our HIV response. The Love Gala and the Ripple Awards are testaments to this. Much has been done since our HIV epidemic escalated over a decade ago. With the uphill battle that lies ahead, the Love Gala and the Ripple Awards remind us that we have a lot of heroes to thank. But more importantly, that there is room for many more. In behalf of the National HIV and STI Surveillance and Strategic Information Unit of the Epidemiology Bureau-Department of Health, I congratulate this year’s Ripple awardees. May you all continue to inspire others to join us in collectively ending AIDS in the country.
NOEL S. PALAYPAYON, RN, MGM-ESP HIV Unit Manager, National HIV and STI Surveillance and Strategic Information Unit, Epidemiology Bureau-Department of Health
MESSAGE
Save the Children, the world’s leading independent children’s organization, has been working in the Philippines for over three decades and is dedicated to helping children. As part of the Save the Children International network, we share a global vision and strategy aimed at creating better lives for children in the Philippines and across the world. An integral aspect of our work is empowering young people, especially adolescents, to be more educated and make better choices in terms of their own sexual and reproductive health. We support initiatives that raise awareness on how to prevent sexually transmitted infection, HIV and AIDS, and unintended pregnancies. At the same time, we are working with communities, individuals and organizations in fighting misinformation, stigma, and discrimination. Acknowledging the significant work of The LoveYourself, Inc. in the field of community-led and innovative responses to HV-AIDS, Save the Children, as the Principal Recipient of the Global Fund’s HIV Philippine Country Grant engaged LoveYourself as one of its Recipients in 2018. As an SR, LoveYourself was tasked to establish and support twelve community centers that provide HIV-AIDS related services in nine regions across the country in partnership with local organizations working with key affected populations. Eight of those community centers are already operational with more to follow. These are in addition to the five main community centers of LoveYourself in Metro Manila that were able to diagnose more than 30% of HIV cases in the Philippines last year.
ATTY. ALBERT MUYOT
Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children Philippines
In behalf of all the staff of Save the Children, I express my support to the tireless efforts of LoveYourself personnel and its volunteers in responding to the challenge of HIV-AIDS in the country. We look forward to success of this year’s Love Gala, Asia’s premier HIV charity and awards event, as another milestone in our collaborative efforts to promote HIV awareness and provide services especially to the young and vulnerable people in the Philippines.
MESSAGE
The Human Immunodefficiency Virus (HIV) poses a serious public health threat in our beloved country, the Philippines. According to UNAIDS, the Philippines is the country with the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the Asia and the Pacific region. As of February 2019, there is an average of 38 people newly diagnosed with HIV per day (compared to only 2 per day in 2009). The Republic Act 11166 (or the “Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act”) which was recently signed by the President hopes to expand the access to evidence-based HIV prevention strategies. But there are much to be done in this fight to curb the prevalence of HIV in our country. The Love Gala is an avenue to unite individuals and organizations and to instill awareness that the fight requires a multi-sectoral approach (i.e. other government units, civil society organizations and groups) as well as every Filipino to contribute and get involved. The Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc., as a social arm of the Shell Companies in the Philippines, continues to support this endeavor for the future of our country and the health of our children’s children.
MARVI REBUENO-TRUDEAU Program Manager, Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc
FEATURING
KATRINA VELARDE • ZEUS COLLINS • PAOLO BALLESTEROS • KALADKAREN LAARNI LOZADA • JEFFREY HIDALGO • RHAP SALAZAR • IYAH MINA HASHTAG CK • VIVOREE ESCLITO • ANA RAMSEY • LEAH PATRICIO BJ PASCUAL • DJ CHACHA • PHI PALMOS • SAMANTHA MAE BERNARDO ADDLIB DIVAS • HIRAYA
Ms. Martin Nievera CONCERT KING
An individual, organization or project’s contribution to the society anchored in love can truly start a ripple of positive change to save millions of people. The Ripple Awards is held once every two years, in which the entries collected came from the public’s nominations. On its pioneer year, the awards were conferred to ten individuals. Carefully chosen by a roster of judges, and were given on the first Love Gala in December 2017. Also, the awardees’ inspiring contributions are celebrated in unison with the World AIDS Day celebration. Similarly, the 2nd Ripple Awards was inspired by the ethos of courage and compassion in the face of tremendous odds. Now, it honors five (5) individuals, three (3) organizations, and a project that demonstrates the genuine ability to move other people towards uplifting the lives affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Beyond the glitz and glamor, the Ripple Awards celebrates the great human potential to drive change, inspire hope, and bring healing to others in need.