KAPAMILYA actress Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo once again proved her mettle by bagging the Best Actress trophy in the recent Luna Awards held on December 18 for the movie “Mindanao.” The 42-year-old multi-awarded mother of two and wife to fellow actor Ryan Agoncillo won her second Luna award, with the first one coming in 2007 for…
DEAR Attorney Gurfinkel: I was born in the Philippines, and in 2015 my mother petitioned me in the F-2B category (unmarried adult child of immigrant). Recently, I received a “Notice of Immigrant Visa Case Creation” from the National Visa Center (NVC), advising I need to log on to the consular electronic application center (CEAC) and…
By Mark Hedin, Ethnic Media Services Los Angeles County officials from the Office of Immigrant Affairs, Department of Consumer and Business Affairs and Department of Health Services met ethnic media on Monday, Dec. 21, to discuss ways the county is looking out for its immigrant population — the largest in the U.S., with 35% of…
FOLLOWING months of inaction, the United States Congress on late Monday, Dec. 22, passed the long-awaited stimulus package that includes $600 in direct payments to millions of American taxpayers as well as a flurry of other funding measures that are unrelated to the COVID-19 economic crisis. The 5,593-page spending bill’s eleventh hour passing this week arrived…
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte has condemned the police officer who shot a mother and son dead in Paniqui, Tarlac. In a taped speech, Duterte said Police Senior M/Sgt. Jonel Nuezca should be locked up for shooting and killing Sonya Gregorio, 52, and her son Frank Anthony, 25, after an altercation on Sunday, December 20. “Ang…
THE Philippines is set to raise the age of sexual consent from 12 years old to 16 years old. According to a recent report by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the country has one of the lowest ages of consent in the world, allowing adults to legally have sex with children as young as 12. “Child rights…
LAS Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs has been named to the 2021 NFL Pro Bowl roster. The NFL on Monday, December 21, announced its 2021 AFC Pro Bowl roster, which includes Jacobs as well as his Raiders teammate, tight end Darren Waller. Jacobs, who is Black and Filipino American, is currently sixth in the…
PERLA Salva Puzon joined her Creator on December 3 at the age of 80 after suffering from complications associated with COVID-19 at 10:06 a.m. at the St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington. She was 80. Perla was born in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines to Ambrocio Salva and Guadalupe Noche. She was a devoted wife…
MY wife and I would have wanted to spend this Christmas in the Philippines, but unfortunate circumstances prevented a trip. First of all, there is COVID-19 and the quarantine protocol being strictly enforced by the government. Secondly, U.S. citizens now need a visa to enter the Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte’s tit-for-tat response to the…
By Mark Hedin, Ethnic Media Services With the COVID pandemic setting new records almost daily for the number of people dying or hospitalized, Los Angeles County officials met with ethnic media members to spread the word about programs to expand health care to everyone, at little or no cost and without consideration of immigration status,…
[Editor’s note: On December 18, 2020, several current and former Filipino American elected officials sent a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom endorsing Assemblymember Rob Bonta as the state’s attorney general.] Dear Governor Newsom, As current and former Filipino American elected officials, we are proud to support one of our most outstanding colleagues, the Honorable…
Part I of a series on love-leavened Fil-Am small businesses Minyong Ordoñez, a Filipino anthropologist, wrote that the Filipino culture defines Filipino identity as [something] that “manifests goodness and virtues, creativity, and accomplishments in symmetry with the people’s material and spiritual faculties,” as quoted by Fr. Aris Martin in his Santo Niño Christology dissertation chapter,…
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is observing another spike in COVID-19 infections among overseas Filipinos as 198 more individuals have contracted the virus. The new infections reported on Monday, December 18 brought the official tally to 12,816 — 3,654 of whom are currently undergoing treatment. The agency also recorded 107 new recoveries, which…
The U.S. Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s plan to exclude undocumented immigrants from the calculations used to allocate seats in the House of Representatives. “At present, this case is riddled with contingencies and speculation that impede judicial review,” the court said in an unsigned 7-page opinion. The Supreme Court added that…
IN the spirit of giving and bayanihan, Filipino American organizations on Thursday, December 17 held a blood donation and bone marrow registration drive in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown for a Fil-Am who was diagnosed with leukemia. Kalayaan Incorporated, in cooperation with the Long Beach Bacolod Association, held the drive with the City of Hope at…
A NEW, 70 percent more rapidly transmissible, strain of SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) have been detected in up to three-fourths of cases in the United Kingdom today. PM Boris Johnson has ordered a new and strictest lockdown and travel ban yet in London and Southeast England. Whether this new strain, a variant, which was first detected in…
GOING into the holiday week, California is still hitting record COVID-19 numbers, signaling that restrictions could remain in place into the new year. Governor Gavin Newsom earlier this week said that the state is inclined to extend the regional stay-at-home order for more than the three-week period. But he did not offer what that extension…
Places of worship permitted to hold modified indoor services DAYS before Christmas, Los Angeles County reached another grim milestone of hitting over 600,000 positive cases since the pandemic began. Based on the new total, more than 100,000 new cases alone were reported since December 11, when the county had reached the 500,000 mark. The County…
THE Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles will temporarily shut down operations for the rest of the year following at least one confirmed COVID-19 case among its personnel. The Consulate General will shut down operations until January 3, 2021, it said in a public notice on Saturday, December 21. This update comes after the Consulate…
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,…
“As he told the story of that wondrous night to Luke, Joshua carefully removed himself from the narrative. It was to be between him and God alone.” JOSHUA was excited with his new job at the inn. It sure beats having to herd sheep this time of the year when the cold nights chilled his…
THE WORST crisis that parents (and grandparents) perhaps have to face is to see our helpless babies and children fight for their lives. If only we can take their place so that they will not have to suffer, we will do it in a heartbeat. This Christmas, and during the coronavirus pandemic, the main focus…
By Mark Hedin, Ethnic Media Services In a time of COVID-necessitated lockdowns, if you’re working, you’re essential. In Los Angeles County, no one should allow an employer to rob them of their wages or force them to work in unsafe conditions. But immigrant workers, both documented and not, are particularly vulnerable to such exploitations. Three…
WEST Covina, long considered home to one of the largest Filipino American concentrations in Southern California, now has its first Filipina-Mexican American mayor. Leticia “Letty” Lopez-Viado, who previously served as mayor pro tem, will lead the San Gabriel Valley city in the top post for the next year. The incoming mayor was sworn into office…
FOR the first time since the pandemic hit Los Angeles County, Anna Medrano walked into work hopeful. With a quick jab to her left arm, the Filipina American nurse practitioner became the first health care worker at City of Hope in Duarte to receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, December 16….
THE Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has approved the re-entry of foreigners who left the Philippines on December 17 and onwards, Malacañang announced Friday, December 18. “The IATF, in its 89th meeting, also allowed the re-entry to the Philippines of foreign nationals with valid and existing visas under Section…
WITH the Christmas holiday nearing, Los Angeles County officials are pleading with the public to stay home and limit gatherings as the capacity of Southern California’s intensive care units hit 0% this week. The situation in LA County — which has consistently been a leader in COVID-19 cases in the state and the country —…
PHILIPPINE Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday, December 18, maintained that the discussions with Pfizer reportedly didn’t include supplying the country with 10 million doses of its vaccine. “I completely, unequivocally deny that. Unang-una, ang 10 million dose na iyan, wala naman akong alam. Wala silang pinadalang sulat na may ganoong commitment ang Pfizer…
