VIRAL POST: Man who married single mom with two kids earns praises

In the Philippines, single moms often get judged for having a child out of wedlock or a failed relationship. Some men even hesitate to have a serious relationship or even marry them because of the stigma. Many fail to recognize the hardships and struggles that they face in single-handedly raising their children.

Kimark Futalan, a man who married a single mom with two kids, has decided to share their love story in order to break misconceptions about single moms. His inspiring Facebook post on Proud Bisaya has quickly gone viral and earned praises from netizens.

PHOTO CREDIT: Facebook/Proud Bisaya

Futalan, who recently tied the knot with Sofhia Angela “Angel” Tido Garcia, revealed they got to know each other through Facebook. Although Angel already have two kids with another man, Futalan said he truly accepts and loves Angel and her kids.

Initially, they were on a long-distance relationship for a year as Angel was working as an OFW in Saudi Arabia. Before he could personally meet Angel, Futalan already took the opportunity to get to know Angel’s family as well as her kids. He even promised Angel’s father that he will marry his daughter.

When Angel finally returned to the Philippines, they decided to live together until they finally got married.

In his post, Futalan urged men to love and fully accept single mothers.

“Nais kong sabihin sa inyo, pag nagmahal tayo matuto tayong tumanggap, kung ano at sino sya. Hindi rin porket single mother ay huhusgahan natin sila, Sila yung mga babaeng matatag, mga babaeng kahit nagkaruon ng hindi magandang nakaraan ay pilit na tinataguyod ang kanilang anak.”

Contrary to popular, Futalan said it’s not really difficult to love a child who isn’t yours. According to Futalan, these kids shouldn’t stop you from loving and marrying single moms.

“Sa aking karanasan, Napatunayan ko na hindi mahalaga kung kadugo mo yung bata, Hindi mahalaga yung pang huhusga ng ibang tao, basta malinis at totoo ang hangarin mo wala kang pakealam sa sasabihin ng iba. Ang mahalaga masaya kayo, nagkakaunawaan, nagdadamayan at nagrerespetuhan,” Futalan wrote.

-- Mini, The Summit Express

Magnitude 5.1 earthquake jolts Cagayan, Ilocos (August 30, 2017)

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that shook parts Northern Luzon on Wednesday morning, August 30, 2017.

The exact time of occurrence was recorded at 06:08:34 a.m. with epicenter at 19.13°N, 121.20°E - 033 km S 58° W of Calayan in Cagayan.

The earthquake that occurred has a tectonic origin with 13 km depth of focus.

The quake was felt at Intensity II in Laoag City.

Instrumental Intensity II was recorded in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte and Sinait, Ilocos Sur.

Phivolcs said there's no damage resulting from the quake, but said in its bulletin that aftershocks were expected.

Instagram posts can diagnose depression better than doctors

Your Instagram posts speaks a lot about you, including your mental health state.

That’s according to a study published in the journal EPJ Data Science. A pair of researchers from the University of Vermont and Harvard University discovered that an algorithm tagging a few signs of depression in users' Instagram post can diagnose depression better than doctors.

To arrive at this conclusion, Chris Danforth and Andrew Reece observed almost 44,000 images posted by 166 study participants. Of the 166 individuals, 71 had previously been diagnosed with depression.

Through markers such as the tendency of depressed people to show less evidence of social activity as well as preference for grayer and darker colors, the research team came up with a tool that analyzed the posts and identified depression.

Results showed that depressed people before and after diagnosis tend to post blue, gray or dark tones compared to healthy people. They also discovered that people with depression are actually more likely to post photos with faces contrary to previous assumptions by researchers. However, these images with faces have less people in it compared to posts by healthy people. It was not revealed whether depressed people post more selfies.

In terms of use of filter, people with depression were less likely to use filters in their posts. But when they choose to use one, they tend to pick Inkwell, a filter that turns photos into black and white. Interestingly, healthy people prefer the Valencia filter, which gives photos a sun-kissed look.

Compared to doctors who accurately identified depression only 42% of the time, the tool could accurately diagnose depression 70% of the time.

Researchers are hoping that their study would pave way in diagnosing mental conditions and spotting mental illnesses through artificial intelligence.

-- Mini, The Summit Express

LOOK: Missing boy bears resemblance with Maute child warrior

MANILA, Philippines - Seven years after losing her three-year-old son in Tondo, Manila, a mother is desperately pleading for help for fears that the local terror group Maute Group have turned him into a child warrior.

In July 4, 2010, Ram-ram Abdul Jabar Cabugatan, also referred to as “Azramie Mangondacan”, was kidnapped from his home. In a submitted affidavit, Rowhanisa Abdul Jabar alleged her helper Ula Arada of conniving with a former neighbor identified as Sittie Melva, whom she accused of masterminding the kidnapping.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pinoy Tambayan

Today, Ram-ram would be 10 years old, the same age as the Maute child soldier photographed. Although the child warrior bears resemblance with her son, she said she needs more information about him as she could no longer recognize her own son.

In her desperate plead on social media, Jabar wrote: “Siya na nga ba ‘yan. Kasi ako bilang isang ina, na nalayo nang almost 8 years and anak, hindi ko na po makilala, except sa sinasabi nila na lukso ng dugo.”

She added: "Sa murang edad niya, hindi dapat siya nagkakaganyan. Sana may magandang siyang kinakaharap sa ngayon, kung hindi siya nahiwalay sa akin.”

Jabar is still hoping to be reunited with her son in the future.

“Nahirapan pa kasi akong mag-move on kaya nanginginig ako at kinakabahan (nang makita ko ang picture,” she told Davao Today.

Based on a previous report by Rappler, the Maute terrorists had been recruiting child warriors to fight with them. A former child warrior revealed that child soldiers were trained in Butig, the hometown of Farhana Maute, the family’s matriarch.

Last May, the terrorist group started a siege that resulted to the destruction of Malawi City and displacement of about 600,000 residents of Lanao del Sur. The group is among the local terror groups that pledged allegiance to the international terror group Islamic State or ISIS with the hope of putting up an Islamic caliphate in the country.

-- Mini, The Summit Express