UST Conservatory of Music stages ‘South Pacific’ at 80
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By Troi Santos
OUTH PACIFIC has never quite settled. Revived, revised and reconsidered across decades on Broadway, it has resisted the comfort of nostalgia. The musical endures not as a museum piece but as a work that remains unsettled, its achievements inseparable from its blind spots, its moral clarity entangled with the hierarchies it cannot fully see. It is remembered, argued with and returned to, often uneasily.
More than seven decades after its 1949 premiere at the Majestic Theatre, South Pacific still occupies a central place in the American musical theater canon. When the Conservatory of Music of the University of Santo Tomas stages the work on Feb. 21 and 22 at the Proscenium Theater in Rockwell, Makati, the production engages a musical long examined on New York stages and still not fully resolved. What changes here is not the text but the ground beneath it. Continued on A2
SOUTH Pacific cast features Ciara Sotto as Ensign Nellie Forbush, Jose Vera Perez, also billed as Jon Meer Vera Perez, as Emile De Becque, Sean Nolasco as Lt. Joseph Cable, Nenen Espina as Bloody Mary, and Erika Mae Salas as Liat. The production also includes additional cast and ensemble members from the UST Conservatory such as Rod Allen Samut, Sherwin Sozon, Raymond Yadao, Angelo Pineda, Jan Carla Faustino, and Ruzzel Clemeno. The creative team is led by director Paolo O’Hara, with Daniel Bartolome as musical director and the UST Symphony Orchestra providing live accompaniment. Prof. Pacis serves as vocal coach and lead nurse. The wider company includes Seane Maglalang, Paul David, Vincent Sumo, Jared Aquino, Gab Burguete, Jino Asas, John Joseph, Ruzzel Clemeno, Heizel Pablo, Carla Nagana, Andrea De Belen, Jave Pachejo, Alison Marco, Carmeli Cordero, Alexa Bacal, Paula Santos, Aiko Takagi, Jemaica Tabalbag, and Iris Mendoza. ARTWORK BY JIM MARPA
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CLOCK TICKING IN RACE TO ENSURE TIKTOK SAFETY Wildly popular platform sets stronger limits for minor accounts A
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By John Eiron R. Francisco
S concern mounted over the impact of social media on minors, TikTok on Thursday outlined strengthened teen safety measures in the Philippines, including age-based restrictions, default privacy settings, screen-time limits and parental supervision tools. Yves Gonzalez, Head of Public Policy for the Philippines at TikTok, said during the launch of the #ThinkTwice Troop in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, that the safeguards are designed to ensure teens’ experiences on the platform are “developmentally suitable,” while helping parents better guide their children’s online activity. “We believe that digital experiences, especially for teens, should offer joy, entertainment, connection and enrichment,” Gonzalez said. “Safety is a key ingredient for teens to thrive and continues to be our number one priority.” He said the platform has rolled out around 50 preset teen safety features. Among these, teen accounts under 16 are unable to send or receive direct messages, are not eligible to have their content recommended on the “For You” feed, and can only allow friends to comment on their videos. Accounts of users under 18, he added, are set to private by default, have a 60-minute daily screen-time limit activated automatically, and are not allowed to host livestreams. Gonzalez said TikTok is also strengthening parental supervision through its Family Pairing feature, which allows parents to view who their teens follow, who follows them, and which accounts have been blocked. The feature also enables parents to schedule “time away” from the app during school hours, meals and bedtime, and provides a report alert function that allows teens to notify a trusted adult when reporting harmful content.
He added that the platform has introduced enhanced controls for the “For You” feed, giving users more transparency and customization options. These include smart keyword filtering that allows users to block specific words, phrases, topics or hashtags, as well as content management tools that enable teens to adjust content preferences. Gonzalez also cited the rollout of “Time and Well-Being,” a dedicated space designed to help users build balanced digital habits. The feature includes an affirmation journal with more than 120 affirmation cards for setting daily intentions, a soothing sound generator offering rain, wave and white noise audio for relaxation, and guided breathing exercises aimed at promoting mindfulness. However, when asked by BusinessMirror about the reality of shared devices in many Filipino households, Gonzalez acknowledged that determining the actual user of an account can be complex. “In that scenario, the question is: who is the real user?” he said. Gonzalez explained that the platform does not rely solely on the age declared in an account. Instead, the platform uses internal signals, including viewing and content-creation patterns to assess whether an account may be operated by a minor. “If an account holder claims to be 18 but our systems determine otherwise, we impose the appropriate security safeguards,” he said. He added that if the platform determines that a user is below the minimum age requirement,
“Trust and authenticity” remain central to engagement, with followers responding more strongly to creators they perceive as relatable and credible rather than distant celebrities.
FROM left: Mona Magno-Veluz, digital historian and inclusion advocate; Hazel Bitaña, Deputy Regional Executive Director of Child Rights Coalition Asia (CRC Asia); Claire Laison, Director of the Child Rights Desk at the Ateneo Human Rights Centre (AHRC); Yves Gonzalez, TikTok Philippines’ Head of Public Policy; and Riyan Portuguez, psychologist and digital wellness advocate, during the launch of the #ThinkTwice Troop on Thursday in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. JOHN EIRON R. FRANCISCO
the account may be terminated for violating platform policy, although users may appeal if an account is wrongly flagged. Globally, from July to September 2025, the platform said it removed 22,226,542 accounts suspected of belonging to users under the age of 13. During the same period, the platform reported that 91 percent of content found to be in violation of its policies was detected and removed using automated technologies. It also said 99.3 percent of violating content was taken down proactively, or before being reported by users. In addition, TikTok reported that 94.8 percent of content that breached its rules was removed within 24 hours.
‘Low reporting, high online risk’
DATA from Unicef Philippines show that children are spending Continued on A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 57.9640 n JAPAN 0.3740 n UK 78.0717 n HK 7.4179 n CHINA 8.3965 n SINGAPORE 45.7201 n AUSTRALIA 40.9110 n EU 68.2526 n KOREA 0.0400 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.4546 Source: BSP (February 20, 2026)