DOOMSDAY in America is what President Donald Trump has been scaring people about in his campaign. He warns that if his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, wins in November, then people will not be safe with all the chaos, violence, and killing happening in the country. He claims only he can fix this and…
“We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal” “I HAVE A DREAM that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal,” civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr….
THE Republican Party was once known as the party of Abraham Lincoln; the party of true statesmen fighting for true conservative values and in the service of the American people; the Grand Old Party. But it has been hijacked by this reality star named Donald Trump. He has taken over the party, while its members…
KAPAMILYA, kapuso, kapatid, mga kababayan ko, I hope this letter finds you well, amid the threat of the coronavirus pandemic that has been threatening the lives of people around the world. This global health crisis has truly disrupted our lives and livelihoods, financial stability, families, culture and traditions, and our chance to visit our loved…
ELECTION FEVER is heating up this August as the two major political parties hold their respective national conventions for the next two weeks to formally nominate the next presidential and vice-presidential candidates. The members of each party will also work together to adopt the official platform which will be our guides as voters in choosing…
SUFFRAGE is defined as “the right to vote in electing public officials and adopting or rejecting proposed legislation,” according to Britannica. The exercise of the right to vote by every citizen is the very foundation of a democracy — the government of the people, by the people, for the people. But what would and should…
YES, BIDEN-HARRIS 2020! “I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate,” former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, announced on Twitter on Tuesday, August 11. This personally excited me…
THREE MONTHS until the 2020 presidential election and amid the rising death toll and infected COVID-19 cases in the United States, we are bombarded with even more mixed messages on social media that confuse us more than answer our questions. Unfortunately, there are people in power who capitalize on our despair as this pandemic has…
COVID-19 in the United States has killed over 158,000 and has infected more than 4.8 million, claiming the lives of at least 1,000 Americans each day in a widespread outbreak throughout the nation, from the densely populated cities to the rural areas. These are real people who died because of the coronavirus pandemic, with real…
COVID-19 does not discriminate against who to infect. It may hit you regardless of your gender, age, financial status, educational attainment, political affiliation, and religious beliefs. However, some groups of people may be more susceptible and vulnerable to being exposed to the virus because of their present health condition and their life, home and employment…
FILIPINOS all over the world can’t help but compare and contrast U.S. President Donald Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. For many of us Filipinos in America, their similarities in terms of their leadership style, the image they want to project, the rhetoric, their relationship with the international community, the laws championed, facts and the…
COVID-19 has made us realize how far away we are from the Motherland despite the conveniences of modern technology and apps like cellphones, Facetime, Viber, Zoom, Facebook, etc. While these help us keep in touch with our families back home, we have come to terms with the sad fact that without freedom of navigation, these…
RES IPSA LOQUITUR. The thing speaks for itself. I remember learning a lot about legal terms in Latin on the legal talk, public service and drama radio program on DZMM with the late Philippine Senator Rene Cayetano, the good father of House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. The “Compañero ng Bayan”, as I fondly called him,…
A GLIMMER of hope in the United States’ fight against the pandemic: Recent polls suggest that a majority of Americans do not trust the words coming out of President Donald Trump’s mouth, and they turn to the nation’s top epidemiologist Dr. Anthony Fauci in handling the COVID-19 outbreak. The ABC News/Washington Post poll reveals that…
CONGRESS has ruled to deny a new franchise to ABS-CBN, the nation’s biggest broadcasting company that has been serving the Filipino people for more than 65 years. The company has spearheaded the growth of the industry from analog to digital in providing news, information, entertainment and public services to Filipinos wherever they may be —…
HAPPY 4TH of July! Today, we celebrate the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, which we now call our home in our adoptive country. As History.com chronicled: “The Fourth of July—also known as Independence Day or July 4th—has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence…
IF you and your family have been depending on Sky Direct, TV Plus for news and entertainment, especially after the Duterte Administration’s National Telecommunications Commission ordered the shutdown of the Philippines’ biggest broadcasting network ABS-CBN and its subsidiaries on May 5 amid the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, then effective June 30, you will…
“FAMILY.” If you ask our kababayans what drives them to uproot themselves from the Philippines and endure the loneliness, homesickness, and the security and happiness of being in your homeland, one answer stands out: To give my family a better life and opportunities they cannot give them staying in the Philippines. Most of us take this route,…
BEFORE Donald Trump was elected president of the United States in 2016, the nations and people of the free world looked up to America to lead the global community in matters of shared concerns like peace, human rights, hunger, the threat of nuclear arms, climate change, protection of the environment and pandemics. That was then….
LISTEN! The coronavirus is NOT done with the United States, no matter how much President Donald Trump would want you to believe in March that it would disappear by the spring. It will officially be summer this June 21 and COVID-19 remains to be a threat to people all over the world. Many states have…
THE name of veteran journalist and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa evokes both pride and fury among Filipinos in the world, depending on which lens they are wearing as they look at what’s happening in the Philippines, especially during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. Maria Ressa is a multi-awarded Filipino American journalist and author who co-founded…
“THIS country was founded on protest — it is called the American Revolution,” former President Barack Obama said during an online roundtable event with his former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. and activists from Minneapolis, voicing his support for George Floyd peaceful protesters and calling for police reform. “Every step of progress in this…
PRO-LIFE. Anti-abortion. Anti-illegal immigration. Rule of law. Conservatism. Christian faith and values. Lower taxes. Fiscal responsibility. These are the core issues close to our hearts as Filipinos in America, making many kababayans lean Republican instead of the pro-choice, more inclusive, more tolerant and progressive Democratic Party. In the many presidential debates I moderated for The Filipino…
“BLACKOUT TUESDAY” was an initiative to post a black picture on social media, reflect on recent events, and stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement by sharing information about the cause. Last Tuesday, June 2, my children posted a black picture on social media and posted unequivocal demand for the demand for equity…
MGA KABABAYAN, we have seen the gruesome video and pictures recounting how Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on African American George Floyd’s neck last week while Floyd pleaded with him, saying he couldn’t breathe. Multiple videos reveal the white police officer knelt on the 42-year-old black man for eight minutes and 46 seconds in…
100,000. That is the number of Americans who lost their lives to the coronavirus pandemic, as of the afternoon of Wednesday, May 27. Add to this, 40 million jobless Americans. The threat of COVID-19 was labeled as a hoax by no less than President Donald Trump. When we first knew about the first three patients…
WITHOUT the constitutional authority to do so, President Donald Trump on Friday, May 22 “ordered” state leaders to allow churches and places of worship to open immediately, starting last Sunday. This came after asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to hold off the publication of guidelines that will help them safely re-open….
FILIPINOS, wherever we may be, are some of the most religious and devoted Christians in the world. We find both joy and solace when we go to church to worship God, pray fervently and serve Him. Most of us, this author included, find our strength in our faith. This is why a lot of us…
WHAT should America do when Donald Trump, the president of the United States, undermines and violates the guidelines of the very health agencies and regulators of the American government especially during a time of medical emergency? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an advisory last month saying that hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria/anti-lupus drug, has…
WHAT should Americans do when the very leader of our nation goes against the facts, scientific studies, and the advice of health officials as the nation and the world continue to fight the war against the deadly COVID-19? The mixed messaging has been causing a lot of confusion, misinformation, and division when President Donald Trump…
