Creation of TBPeople PH City Level Association

By Niño Magpusao

TBpeople Philippines, The City Associations

Early 2021 The StopTB Partnership announced the grant application opening for the CFCS (Change Facility for Civil Society) round 10, As per description,  Round 10 of the CFCS will support TB-affected community and civil society organizations to engage in country-level efforts towards advocating, networking and responding to the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the TB response and accelerate action to meet the United Nations Political Declaration on TB global targets on combating tuberculosis (TB) by the 2022 deadline.

The Stop TB Initiative was established following a meeting of the First Ad hoc Committee on the Tuberculosis Epidemic, held in London in March 1998. The meeting addressed rising global concern about a dramatic upsurge in the TB pandemic

The Stop TB Partnership, as it is now known, has evolved into a broad global partnership of over 2,000 partners drawn from TB communities, international and technical organizations, government programs, research and funding agencies, foundations, NGOs, society and community groups, and private sector companies, all committed to eliminating TB as a public health problem by 2030. (Who we are | Stop TB Partnership)

TB remains one of the world’s deadliest airborne infectious diseases, killing some 4,000 people every day, among them 700 children, and close to 15 million people in the last decade. The latest diagnostic tests can rapidly and accurately diagnose TB. New medicines can quickly cure TB. But, in 2020, people are still dying from a disease that should have been eliminated decades ago.

In a first for TB, and in complementarity with the Secretary-General’s report, TB-affected communities and civil society have produced “A Deadly Divide: TB Commitments vs TB Realities” a community-led accountability report that documents how, two years on from the UNHLM, there is a deadly divide between the targets and commitments made on TB and the realities experienced by people affected by TB. (A Deadly Divide: Advocacy & Media Toolkit  – STOPTB Partnership)

The Call to action is clear, we need to work with the TB affected communities and civil societies, to have a more strategic approach in managing TB responses in the affected community. TB People Philippines Organizations response to this is to establish presence in the community. By doing so we will be able to engage the society and communicate with the local government to get started with City dialogues.

TBpeople Philippines Organization Inc. has recently been granted for the StopTB Partnership CFCS Challenged Facility for Civil Society round 10. This is the first grant to be performed by the organization, that is on its 2nd year of legal registration. TBpeople Philippines aims to use this grant on the needed efforts for the sustainability of the TB program in each local government units. This is to provide capacity building and technical assistance on the creation of leaders in regions 3, 4a, and the National Capital Region. In addition, the organization will create a toolkit for the barriers faced by our 20% persons with disability, who has or can have the communicable disease Tuberculosis.

On December 15, 2021 in Pasay City, the CFCS was officially launched with its Board of Directors and core team for the CFCS round 10. With the support from Marcus Teng our ICT Director, Danica Duran our Admin Secretary, Rann Soriano our Digital Media Officer, Mimi Ortillana our Social Media Content Creator, Arnn Mabute our member, Alvin Ferry our Research Analyst, Nino Magpusao our Communication Head, AJ Tortosa one of our Board of Directors, Florence De Castro our External Communication Officer and Nekko Aracaba a close contact, and Mrs. Louie Zepeda Teng our Founder and President. This small assembly was performed exactly on the announcement of the easing of lockdown restrictions in the National Capital Region. The assembly provided a thorough discussion on what to expect in the​​ following 12 months, and the deliverables of each officer on both objectives of the project. This was the first face to face meeting of the organization after its registration.

On January 5, 2022 the team on ICT held a more detailed discussion on the needed online tools to be used for this project. This meeting was done exactly before the alert level of the pandemic increased its rates once more. The needed technology and to be used software are very important for the team to produce effective material and with no delays, more now that the Filipinos are all tuning in on online information. This was led by Marcus Teng our ICT Director, Rann Soriano our Digital Media Officer, Louie Teng our Founder and President, Ruzzeth Joy Alere our one of Regional Representatives and Mimi Ortillana our Social Media Content Creator who will be doing effective network creation on other media platforms.

TBpeople PH announces its City Association creation to its potential leaders of Region 3, Region 4-A and NCR members. The feedback from the organization followers on this project was immense, with Remelyn Omas-As of Antipolo City, Diane of Antipolo City, Joycel of Balanga City, Lhorz Ajero of Calamba City, Paul of Calamba City, Anthony Refresca of Calamba City, Grace Atienza of Calamba City, Sha of Caloocan City, Hermes of Caloocan City, Lalyn of Caloocan City, Aniresh of Caloocan City, Kay of Caloocan City, Shamae of Cavite City, Phoebe of Cavite City, Garry of Cavite City, Benedict of Cavite City, Niceue of Dasmariñas City, Marvin of Imus City, Vinz of Las Piñas City, Mary Grace of Makati City, Mimi Ortillana of Malabon City, Joyjoy of Mandaluyong City, John Mark of Mandaluyong City, Analyn of Mandaluyong City, Nino Magpusao of Manila City, Onin Villamil of Manila City, Have of Manila City, Danica Duran of Manila City, Karen Ortiz of Manila City, Jerome of Manila City, Mary Ann of Marikina City, Ansano of Muntinlupa City, Rose of Pasay City, Abby of Quezon City, Cristin of Quezon City, Maylene of Quezon City, Markiane of Quezon City, Irish of Quezon City, Venedic of Quezon City, Kristina Tay of Quezon City, Bong Quiambao of San Fernando City, Lizette of San Fernando City, Roxanne Rodriquez of San Fernando City, Angelica of San Jose Del Monte City, Sheila of San Jose Del Monte City, Azhlia of Santa Rosa City, Cherry of Tarlac City, Metchh of Tarlac City and Ruzzeth Alere of Valenzuela City. The agenda for the creation of leaders is to provide them with TB literacy training on the materials created with the help of the Lung Center Training team, for the effective advocacy of the survivors in their respective city or region.

Last January 27, 2022, the first batch of inspiring TB Advocates trained and successfully completed our TB Literacy Training to become equipped to do the advocacy effectively. They are Patricia of Laguna, Nino Magpusao of Manila, Maylene of Rizal, Rann Soriano of Malabon, RJ Soriao of Sorsogon, Anthony Refresca of Laguna, Analyn of Mandaluyong, Onin of Manila, Danica Duran of Manila, Agnes Ferrer of Pangasinan, Lorelyn Ajero of Laguna, Robert of United Kingdom, Rian of Butuan, Ruzzeth Alere of Valenzuela, Phoebe of Cavite, Roxanne Rodriquez of Pampanga, Joycel of Bataan, Reynan Baguio of Cagayan, Jennelyn of Bacolod, Mark Jerro of Pasay Joy of Mandaluyong, Lalyn of Caloocan City, Victor Tudtud of Davao, Mimi Ortillana of Malabon, Kristina Tay of Quezon City, Edilberto Casil of Davao, Alvin Ferry of Makati, Louie Teng of Las Pinas, Marcus Teng of Las Pinas, Bong Quiambao of Pampanga, Ezra of Sultan Kudarat, Sheila of Pampanga, Aj Tortosa of Cavite, Florence De Castro of Quezon City and Ignacio of Zamboanga.

TBpeople Philippines shall be introducing our city leaders in the 2nd quarter of 2022, and do activities for its successful association creation.

#EndTB #SaveLives

#TBFreePH #TBpeoplePH

#WorldTBDay #InvestToEndTB

#TibayNgBayanihangPinoy

References: 
https://www.stoptb.org/
A Deadly Divide: Advocacy & Media Toolkit (adobe.com)