WE at ABS-CBN News, whether it be in Manila or here in the United States, follow the journalistic principles that the stories we cover and the issues that we follow and report on are news. It is never about us, the people that deliver the news. We are instruments of information dissemination to help our…
2015 marks the year when qualified undocumented immigrants are now given the privilege to have a state issued driver’s license and to drive freely in the Golden State, without any fear of being apprehended and deported just because of their immigration status. Such a liberating experience was owned by no less than the most known…
LESS than a week before Pope Francis’s visit to the Philippines, excitement and faithful anticipation have spread among Filipinos, not only in the Philippines but around the world. Grateful for the prayers the new leader of the Catholic Church has offered for Filipinos amid all the challenges and disasters our kababayans have faced especially in…
THE NEW YEAR may be the beginning of the end of so many sleepless nights and uncertainties for many undocumented immigrants. Many of our kababayans may be eligible to benefit from President Barack Obama’s executive order on immigration. This unilateral measure may give some 5 million undocumented immigrants temporary relief from deportation, and the legal…
The history behind the tradition BAGONG TAON for us Filipinos in America will always remind of of the deafening paputok of superlolo, machine guns, lucis, bawang, and the burning of old gulong that leaves black soot in our nostrils the next day. These are all believed to shoo away bad spirits and welcome the good…
MY husband and I almost always host a family reunion Christmas party at our home, especially this year when my Mother is celebrating her first Christmas in America after my Daddy’s passing last July. Like many other Filipino families in America, this is perhaps our own way of re-creating the big fun gatherings with our…
FOR many people, Christmas is “the happiest season of all,” and “the most wonderful time of the year.” It is a Christian holiday that honors the birth of Jesus Christ. Here in the United States, December 25 -– Christmas Day -– has been a federal holiday since 1870. For most of us Filipinos, Christmas is…
DESPITE all the crises and challenges our kababayans have experienced in 2014, the Filipino spirit in us continue to rise above them all and look for reasons and means to celebrate Christmas. Many hold on to Filipino Christmas tradition, a driving force that keeps our faith alive, sustaining us through the most difficult times. This…
READY or not, Christmas will be here in a week. Gifts. Christmas decorations. Holiday parties. Christmas carols. They all set the stage for another festive holiday celebration. One of the very popular Christmas carols that we have grown up to and still sing up to now as we countdown to Christmas is the song “The…
FOR several years now, Filipinos’ joyful anticipation of the Christmas season has been challenges by the wrath of Mother Nature that seemed to have been unleashed just before the holiday season. This year has not been different. After praying for and commiserating once again with our kababayans back home who had been victims of the…
RELIEF. Gratitude. Hope. These are what Filipinos in America feel in the aftermath of yet another super typhoon, just a year after the Philippines was devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda, which killed more than six thousand people in November of 2013. As the Weather Channel reported, Ruby (International name Hagupit) is now a tropical storm,…
THIS is the question The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast Balitang America asked its viewers, amid nationwide protests denouncing two separate grand jury decisions in Ferguson, Mo. and another in Staten Island, NY, not to prosecute two white police officers in the killing of two unarmed black men. Law enforcement officials and their supporters contend the police officers…
MORE than five million undocumented immigrants, including Filipinos who are in the United States without legal status, are expected to benefit from a series of executive actions announced by President Barack Obama on Nov. 20, 2014. Kababayans who have followed the rules and are now green card holders will also be accorded help to become…
THEY have been waiting for this for so long—perhaps for twenty years. Many kababayans living in the United States without legal status, those who entered the country unlawfully, or those who overstayed, may now be spared from deportation, at least temporarily, thanks to President Barack Obama’s executive order while waiting for Congress to pass a…
PRESIDENT Barack Obama finally delivered on his promise to fix America’s broken immigration system by using his executive authority to start the process. In a televised speech last Thursday, Obama laid out the biggest overhaul in immigration in two decades, which he said would keep the brightest in America while deporting criminals; send more resources…
A WHILE back, I wrote about the dilemma many Filipinos face as they raise their young children in America. Many of us who grew up in the Philippines shared the common experience of “tough love” — our parents used corporal punishment to discipline us, and help us respect authority and conform to the rules of…
SOONER than previously reported, President Barack Obama’s much anticipated unilateral measure to fix America’s broken immigration system will reportedly be announced this coming week, instead of mid-December. This is according to information leaked to Fox News. This is what Obama referred to as a “parallel track,” whereby his administration will be implementing an executive action….
WHEN will President Barack Obama fulfill his promise as a presidential candidate that he would reform America’s broken immigration system? This is the question many kababayans ask, along with the rest of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Many of them continue to be in hiding, fearful of being deported, hoping against…
The 2014 Midterm Elections are over and the balance of power has tilted in favor of the Republicans. The Grand Old Party (GOP) now controls both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Will a Republican-lead Congress be better for America in general, and the Filipino-American in particular? A majority — 63 percent — of…
ALL Saints’ and All Souls’ Days give us Christians the time to pause for a while, to be silent, and remember the people we love who have gone before us. This year included my beloved Daddy, who went back home to our Creator last July 27, 2014. In remembering my father’s life and legacy, I…
JUST one week heading to the November 4 midterm elections, a new CNN/ORC international poll revealed that 70 percent of Americans are angry with the country’s direction, and 53 percent disapprove of President Barack Obama’s job performance. Despite this, however, it seems many Americans, including kababayans eligible to vote, do not feel compelled to cast…
KABABAYANS from all over the world shared one common experience last Friday, October 24: watching the finale of “Ikaw Lamang,” as this top-rating teleserye of ABS-CBN came “full circle,” and ended with the opening scene from the March premiere. As ABS-CBN reported, Ikaw Lamang’s final episode emerged as the most watched TV program in the country. According…
THE brutal murder of transgender Filipina Jennifer Laude has galvanized protests among kababayans from coast to coast here in the United States on two fronts: against the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the United States and the Philippines; and the prejudices and violence against the gays, lesbians, transgenders in the Philippines. President Benigno Aquino III…
THE murder of transgender Filipina Jennifer Laude in Olangapo City last October 11, allegedly by US Marine Joseph Pemberton, has added fuel to the fire of nationalist activists who continue to fight for the abolition of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), and the scrapping of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), signed during President Barack…
BLESSINGS continue to pour in for The Filipino Channel’s 20th year celebration with the opportunity to give back to all our kapamilyas in North America. Just last Tuesday, TFC’s daily newscast Balitang America’s coverage of Typhoon Yolanda’s 24-hour telethon won the 2014 Cablefax Best Shows or Series News, beating Jorge Ramos Fusion Network’s “America”, E! Entertainment’s…
Kababayans in Texas have been feeling scared and vulnerable when the news broke about 100 people in Dallas were exposed to Ebola patient Thomas Duncan. There are about 35,000 Filipinos living in Northern Texas. Fortunately, none of these 100 people who reportedly came in contact with Duncan was Filipino. This was the confirmation given by…
FILIPINOS have expressed mixed reactions over new bills enacted into law in California that will help undocumented immigrants be able to work and live in America without fear of imminent deportation, and in their plight to get legal status. California Governor Jerry Brown just signed Senate Bill 1159, which prohibits licensing boards under the state’s…
Gridlock in Congress may have stalled the passing of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill, but undocumented immigrants in California will now enjoy immigration benefits despite their status. This has been made possible when California Governor Jerry Brown signed three bills into law, which will help about three million undocumented immigrants — including many kababayans. California…
“HE was already there and he have time to visit a gun store to satisfy his hobby. He’s able to satisfy his stomach by going into [McDonalds] but the community was never given any sense to be with the president,” Dr. Orlando Cagampan of Los Angeles told Balitang America Correspondent Steve Angeles. This was a…
ONE of things that frustrates many Filipinos raising small kids in America is the thought that we cannot spank our kids to discipline them — the way we were disciplined growing up in the Philippines. Many Pinoy parents grew up with the belief, “Mabuti na yung may kinatatakutan ang bata,” so that kids will be…
