MEMBERS of the yellow tribe will mark today the 30th anniversary of what they call people power revolt. Hopefully, their numbers will be small enough to confine themselves to a road which is perpendicular to the 23.8-kilometer Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA, formerly called Highway 54. The restriction may be justified by the fact that…
THE recent BusinessWorld (BW)-Social Weather Station (SWS) presidential preference survey, conducted from February 5 to 7, tells us that Vice President Jejomar Binay is ahead of the pack with a 29 percent rating. While this is lower than the 31 percent that he got in the January 8-10 BW-SWS reading, one could conjecture that Binay’s…
FIL-AM Aries Dela Cruz spearheaded an online petition for Nike to drop the Philippines’ Pambansang Kamao Manny Pacquiao as its endorser after the boxing congressman compared people in homosexual relationships to animals. Now, this kababayan from New Jersey is getting death threats online. The harassment and threats are reportedly not only aimed at Dela Cruz,…
30 YEARS ago—on Feb. 25, 1986—the People Power Revolution on EDSA trampled the 20-year-old dictatorship of former Pres. Ferdinand Marcos. For the generation who witnessed this peaceful uprising, the echoes of the People Power Revolution reverberated not only in the air, but in the consciousness of the Filipinos who were awakened to their senses about…
Are you wondering why the vice presidential campaign of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is making significant headway despite his being the son of a former authoritarian President? This phenomenon, according to University of the Philippines (UP) professor Popoy de Vera, has an explanation. He said 70 percent of the voters are 34 years old and…
Why President Obama should quickly nominate an Asian American to the US Supreme Court PRESIDENT Obama, as a result of the unexpected death of US Supreme Court Justice Antonio Scalia, has an opportunity to appoint the first Asian American to the US Supreme Court in its more than 225 year history. As the late Justice Scalia…
THE recent BusinessWorld (BW)-Social Weather Station (SWS) presidential preference survey, conducted from February 5 to 7, tells us that Vice President Jejomar Binay is ahead of the pack with a 29 percent rating. While this is lower than the 31 percent that he got in the January 8-10 BW-SWS reading, one could conjecture that Binay’s…
IN the Asian Journal’s Midweek edition on Wednesday, Feb. 17, I shared the advice of Atty. Lou Tancinco, The Filipino Channel’s Pinoy Panawagan Legal Counsel, on why eligible kababayans should apply for naturalization to be US citizens. Tancinco outlined the benefits: family unity, avoiding separation, vivic engagement, federal employment, ease of travel. This topic has…
Successor to Scalia PRESIDENT Obama, as a result of the unexpected death of US Supreme Court Justice Antonio Scalia, has an opportunity to appoint the first Asian American to the US Supreme Court in its more than 225 year history. As the late Justice Scalia has frequently stated, the court needs more diversity. In America’s…
With the Nevada Democratic Caucus approaching on February 20 and big issues at stake in 2016, I know that we Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters will make our voices heard. The number of AAPIs eligible to vote in Nevada has grown by 55 percent over 2000 to 2010 to 134,000 - a critical 7.3…
It’s that time again, the time every four years when candidates start paying attention to different constituencies and the media assesses the relative value. Asian American Pacific Islander voters matter in Nevada, and we can be the difference in a close election. As a veteran of a few Nevada campaigns, I’ve had people ask me…
MANY kababayans in America, even those among my own circle of family and friends, take their sweet time before taking the first step toward naturalization to become U.S. citizens. This, despite the pains and struggles of obtaining their Permanent Resident card (green card) so they can legally live and work in the U.S. Some have…
PRESIDENT Barack Obama welcomed leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday, Feb. 15, to discuss terrorism, maritime security, trade, and climate change. “Economic growth that is inclusive, creating opportunity for all; mutual security and the peaceful resolution of disputes; human dignity, including respect for human rights, and development that is sustainable…
THIS is perhaps the reason why Filipinos are happy and resilient people despite all the challenges that they face: they continue to believe in love and happily ever after, in “forever,” as the Pinoy teleseryes call it. The question of whether there is “forever” has in fact been debated on in different teleserye and movie…
ACCORDING to the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) the incidence of poverty in the Philippines in 2014 was 25.8 percent. This includes individuals earning less than P1,755 a month or a family of five earning less than P8,778 a month. This begs the question: If only one-fourth of our population lives in poverty, does that mean…
AFTER the Iowa Caucuses and before the New Hampshire primary, a new national poll reveals the sentiment of the American people on where they want this nation to be stirred moving forward through the presidential elections. On the Democratic front, Frontrunner Hillary Clinton has reportedly planned on shaking her campaign to stop the momentum that…
AND so it begins. Filipinos are in the throes of election fever as the campaign period for the upcoming May national elections officially began on Tuesday, Feb. 9. With 18,053 elective positions at stake, qualified voters in the Philippines and abroad have in their hands, the power and responsibility of ensuring candidates for public office…
YOU may already be getting your W-2, 1099 and other forms in time for the April 15th tax deadline. Tax season is also the time when many unscrupulous entities will try their best to scare, confuse, and intimidate you, just to steal away your hard earned money. As immigrants, we are usually targets of these…
President Benigno S. Aquino 3rd spent about P50 billion of taxpayers’ money on his campaign to get the insane Bangsamoro Basic Law enacted into law, documents as well as sources in government disclosed. The money was spent on efforts to convince the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to agree to the BBL, generate support from…
DAVAO mayor and presidential hopeful Rodrigo Duterte has announced that part of his platform of government is the extermination of criminals and corrupt public officials within six months from assuming the presidency. “Extermination,” as in kill them dead, like Flit Insect Spray. The enthusiastic approval by Duterte’s supporters are reminiscent of movie audiences lustily cheering…
The long race to the White House has started with the caucuses in Iowa on Monday, Feb. 1. The election in this state has defied all conventional wisdom, polls and political pundits’ analyses and fearless forecasts. Voter turnout was reported to have broken records, revealing voter enthusiasm in both parties. Republican caucuses Frontrunner Donald Trump…
WITH only five months left before he steps down from office, President Benigno Aquino III has yet to fulfill one of his campaign promises in the 2010 presidential election: to bring resolve to the Maguindanao massacre. Who could ever forget that fateful day on November 23, 2009, when a private army (allegedly led by the…
I RECEIVED a letter from a reader who passionately replied to an article I wrote about the gun control. In the article, I looked at the importance of understanding the spirit and historical context by which the law was written in our understanding and appreciation of the Second Amendment of the Constitution in the very…
If presidential candidate Manuel Roxas 3rd looked so morose at the Senate hearing the other day on the Mamasapano massacre – especially when Senator Juan Ponce Enrile grilled him on why he did not do anything to save the massacred police commandos – it was most probably because he has already been mourning the fatal…
All around the Las Vegas Valley, high school seniors are making important decisions about where to continue their education next fall. As the father of a college freshman, I know this is an exciting time. But preparing for post-secondary education can also be a daunting task when families start to think about costs and financial…
THE United States’ role in Oplan Exodus that killed an international terrorist but led to the worst massacre of Philippine troops in recent history must be established if we are to understand and put closure to this national tragedy brought upon us by this incompetent president. A report by the respected Los Angeles Times on…
IN less than a week, the race to the White House takes off in Iowa for both the Democratic and the Republican parties. The voters of this state and all the others, as scheduled perhaps until summer, will head to the polls and choose the candidate who they believe will best represent the principles, vision…
IT has been a year since the bloodbath between the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF), and elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and private armed groups in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. That fateful Sunday on Jan. 25, 2015 left 44 elite policemen and 19 Moro rebels dead. The government’s…
AFTER more than a year of debates and court battles, the US Supreme Court (SC) finally announced last Tuesday, Jan. 19 that it will decide if President Obama exceeded his authority when he announced his immigration programs aimed at allowing millions of undocumented immigrants to apply for programs that could make them eligible for work…
HAVING Manny Pacquiao in Congress has always been a lot like having Michael Jordan in a baseball uniform: It’s uncomfortable to watch, and one desperately hopes he figures out on his own that he’s a fish out of water, before someone has to tell him he’s making a fool of himself. Although Pacman is a…
