Health and Population Archives

Borgy Manotoc and Ornusa Cadness for PETA

(Text and photo courtesy of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

Manila — Posing in a jungle setting with their naked bodies covered only with painted-on tiger stripes next to the tagline “Even the Wildest Animals Don’t Belong in Zoos,” top Filipino models Ornusa Cadness and Borgy Manotoc appear together in the first of a series of three ads for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia-Pacific.

Local postcard advertising company YOCard has printed 10,000 postcards of the ad and is now offering them at various restaurants, bars, bookstores, and cultural areas around the metro free of charge. The couple also stars individually in print ads with the tagline “Keep Wild Animals Free–Boycott the Zoo.” The ads were shot by ace photographer and PETA volunteer Xander Angeles. Indie film luminary Dante Mendoza donated his services to create the amazing set, and Leo Posadas was behind the makeup for the shoot.

The Problem with Numbers

As the proposed 2-child policy heats up debates in the House of Representatives, health centers, which provide free training for family planning, are now threatened to lose their free and low-priced contraceptives. These contraceptives are being donated by international groups who out of their good will and advocacy provide us with free condoms. But without the government’s clear support on the family planning program, couples without means may have to content themselves with the calendar method or the more popular yet incorrect “withdrawal method.”

The National Statistics Office (NSO) projects our population to 82.7M this year. Filipinos are being sexually active at a younger age but the government seems to be blinded by the fact, tied down by the conservative faction more popularly known as the Catholic Church and several ignoramuses who still believe that sex is done only within the constraints of marriage.