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…
TWO U.S. pharmaceutical firms are willing to supply the Philippines with their vaccines against the coronavirus by the second half of 2021, according to Philippine Ambassador to Washington D.C. Jose Manuel Romualdez. The Philippine envoy said that Moderna and Arcturus Therapeutics have reportedly given their commitments to the country. “I am pleased to report that…
Driver held without bail and convicted of second-degree murder EARLIER this month, a young Filipino boy was killed while riding a bicycle with his father by a suspected drunk driver in Costa Mesa, California. The tragedy occurred on Sunday, Dec. 6 around 6 p.m. on Arlington Drive near Juniper Drive when 12-year-old Noel Bascon and…
THE City of Los Angeles has launched the Grocery Intervention for Vital Emergency Needs (GIVEN) initiative to provide thousands of low-income Angelenos in need with $300 in cash assistance to help with food and other essentials this holiday season. The program, announced on Friday, December 18, is a partnership between Mayor Eric Garcetti and the…
MANILA — It would’ve been the stage to showcase his rediscovered killer’s instinct and new-found fountain of youth but Nonito Donaire Jr. said that he’s not griping over the cancellation of his fight against Puerto Rico’s Emmanuel Rodriguez for the vacant WBC bantamweight title in Connecticut even if the basis was an apparent mistake in…
NOONG Nobyembre 14, 2020, ang United States District Court ng Eastern District of New York ay nag-isyu ng Memorandum and Order sa patuloy na alitan tungkol sa Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program at ang mga aksyon at pagsisikap ng Trump administration na ipatigil ang DACA. Binigyan ng United States District Court ng order…
WHILE we advocated accelerating deductions and postponing income in prior year tax plans, we cannot apply these traditional tactics anymore. Both COVID and a change of the guards at the White House dictate that we alter these strategies this year. 1. Georgia on our minds – Control of Senate If Democrats win both Georgia Senate seats, they…
When a drug test may constitute disability discrimination “Under California law and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an employee who is taking medication for a disability is protected from discrimination. Thus, if an employee’s drug test is positive for controlled substances but such substances are due to medication prescribed for a disability or medical…
THE young: Clients are in their late 20s, the epitome of youth. They have their whole life ahead of time. They married three years ago. Right after they got married, they spent all of their money to buy a retail business thinking that the business would flourish and provide their new family with financial security…
THE COVID-19 Pandemic is a scary reality which affects everyone globally and has shut down the global economy. Individuals over 60 years old and individual that are immune compromised are more at risk of having serious complications with this virus. Individuals are dying all over the world in exponential numbers. Although we cannot completely control…
