A warm Christmas greeting to you and your families! I hope you’re enjoying the Christmas season and keeping yourselves in good health. This Sunday’s Feast of the Holy Family falls immediately the day after Christmas. And so it may serve us best to see the importance of faith-filled and loving families like that of Jesus,…
SAN Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and local health officials are urging San Diegans to get vaccinated and boosted to protect against the new dominant COVID-19 variant, omicron. “My message to San Diegans is simple: get vaccinated. Do not wait. It’s up to each one of us to protect each other and support stability in our health…
AHEAD of the holiday season, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released new data on COVID-19. As of Thursday, December 23, there were 8,633 new COVID-19 cases and 24 new deaths. The county has recorded 1,585,313 positive cases to date and 27,512 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Currently, 770 people are…
Filipino Catholics from throughout Southern California celebrated the beginning of Simbang Gabi, one of the oldest Filipino Christmas traditions, with a special Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Wednesday, December 15. Archbishop José H. Gomez presided at the liturgy, presented by the Filipino Ministry of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The mass…
IF the long list of Christmas trends and traditions was any indication, Filipinos love celebrating the yuletide season. Be it decorating the house with lanterns and ornaments as early as the Ber months begin, going Christmas caroling, or completing Simbang Gabi, Filipinos are known to never run out of ways to signify the festivities. However, nothing…
THE Los Angeles Police Department will have its first Filipino American deputy chief in its 152-year history. Commander Donald Graham becomes the first person of Filipino descent to hold such a position, following an announcement from Chief Michel Moore made public on December 17. The announcement did not specify when the promotion takes effect. A…
“Mon’s performance at Catalina was the alarm clock [that] my jazz spirit needed to wake from its catatonic dormancy throughout the pandemic! It was a great jolt of jazz as Mon covered standards, new materials, and Tagalog songs (with his children Carlo and Nicole along for the ride!) The great Hoagy Carmichael (who wrote my…
Philippine Airlines, Inc. (PAL) announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York has approved its Plan of Reorganization (the “Plan”). PAL filed a voluntary petition on September 3, 2021 for a prearranged restructuring under the U.S. Chapter 11 process, and has received overwhelming creditor support throughout the process. “Today’s court…
LOS Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently signed Executive Directive 32, which seeks to improve access to city information and services for English language learners. “Los Angeles is a place of belonging where everyone can, and should, feel comfortable engaging in our civic process,” said Garcetti in a statement. “This new directive will help to ensure…
NURSES and health care workers across the country are finding strength in numbers and with labor actions not seen in years. In California, which has a strong union tradition, Kaiser Permanente management misjudged workplace tensions during the covid-19 crisis and risked a walkout of thousands when union nurses balked at signing a four-year contract that…
California is once again emerging as a leader in the fight against Big Tobacco with the California Smokers’ Helpline, renamed Kick It California — the state’s official effort to help people stop smoking. Through Kick It California, anyone who wants to quit tobacco use – whether it’s cigarette smoking, vaping, chewing or anything else –…
Asia’s King of Talk, Boy Abunda, and leading U.S. immigration attorney, Michael J. Gurfinkel, lead the discussion in the first virtual forum where Atty. Gurfinkel provides answers and relevant information to viewers’ immigration questions. Elaine, from Fairfield, California, wants to know if her sister’s family can be interviewed on an expedited basis. She is worried…
By Governor Gavin Newsom Since the early days of the pandemic, California has led the nation’s fight against COVID-19 through robust vaccination efforts rooted in science and data. This has helped slow the spread of the virus and save countless lives, especially in our most vulnerable communities – someone’s parent and friend, and each of…
AS we come to the close of 2021, the data shows that the Southern California housing market has continued to appreciate for the past three years since 2019. As of date, here are the average sales prices for single-family homes in Southern California in comparison to years 2020 and 2019. Los Angeles County’s average sales…
Each month, the Visa Office of the State Department publishes, in the Visa Bulletin, the priority dates for that particular month, for the various family and employment-based categories. A priority date is a person’s “place in line” for a visa, meaning immigrant visas (or green cards) would be available for persons whose priority date is…
October 6, 1946 – December 19, 2021 RICARDO Lim Roco passed away gracefully in his sleep on December 19, 2021 after a very rare, fast-paced progressive neuro-degenerative disorder. He was a beloved Home Depot Sales Associate with a legendary smile and quick wit, expert at re-keying and problem solving. He was an inventor and patented…
THE kids are back in school, businesses have reopened, and while COVID continues to be a threat, life is busier than ever. The days are getting shorter and the holidays are quickly approaching, giving us less time to complete many small but important tasks, such as registering your car or renewing your license. Fortunately, the…
OMICRON is super-contagious and skyrocketing across the nation, while the virus continues to replicate and mutate mostly in the bodies of those more than 50 million unvaccinated people in the U.S. who are “carriers/transmitters” causing the current massive surges (almost a million last week) in COVID-19 infections, 70,000 hospitalizations, and about 1,300 deaths daily. Indeed,…
YEAR after year without fail at around this time, December days and nights seem to slip from our grasp like fine grains of sand. The hours seem to hurtle through the day as we complete a year’s cycle and move on to the next. Many of us try in earnest to mesh the unusually heavy…
President Joe Biden on Monday, December 20 announced his intent to appoint three Filipino American leaders to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Amy Agbayani, Teresita Batayola and Luisa Blue are among the 23 community leaders who will be appointed to serve on the commission, the White House announced on Monday….
Contributed by Manny V. Ilagan SIMBANG Gabi, which literally means “evening or night Mass,” is a Filipino Christmas tradition. As a devotional practice in the tradition of the novena, it is a series of nine evening Masses usually celebrated during Advents from December 16-24, in preparation for Christmas Day. Simbang Gabi originated from the Missa…
THE city of Artesia, California now has its first Filipina American mayor. Melissa Ramoso ascended to the top post after the city council’s appointment during its meeting on Monday, December 13. Ramoso, a Fil-Am community leader working in state government, previously served as mayor pro tem. “It is incredible to think that there were people…
IT’S no doubt that the upcoming Christmas and New Year celebration is the most highly anticipated holiday season in recent history. The coronavirus pandemic upended the last holiday season, which largely consisted of Zoom parties, limited in-person gatherings, and generally truncated celebrations governed by the safety protocols at the time. But amid the beginnings of…
It is with deep sorrow and much love that we mourn the passing of Epifanio ‘Jun’ Capistrano on Sunday, December 12th, 2021 at the age of 69. Jun will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 35 years, Marisa; and his children, Daryll, Charmaine, and Dale. He is the oldest of two brothers and two…
WE’RE in the fourth week of Advent, and it will be Christmas next week! Are you prepared? Prepared to welcome the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus? As I’ve said, the Advent liturgies have allowed us to see in greater depth the meaning of Christmas, the coming of Jesus, the Word-made flesh. For…
