West Sacramento Mayor Cabaldon: Under Pete Buttigieg, America will be a place of welcome
By Mayor Christopher Cabaldon That a young Irish-German woman from a small Iowa town was asked to become director of the Filipino Community House of Chicago as World War II raged encapsulates the rich story of America’s immigrants welcoming America’s next immigrants. The Asian-American immigration experience has been as rich as America itself. I know,…
Fil-Am community leaders weigh in on final Democratic primary debate of 2019
LOS ANGELES — Climate change, U.S.-China relations, campaign donations, college affordability and of course, the impeachment of President Donald Trump which took place the day before, were among the topics tackled in the sixth Democratic primary debate on Thursday night, December 19. Hosted by PBS NewsHour/POLITICO at Loyola Marymount University, former Vice President Joe Biden,…
Filipinos respond to House impeachment of Pres. Trump
House of Representatives vote to impeach the president on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress THE United States House of Representatives on Wednesday, December 18 voted along party lines on two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, making him the third sitting U.S. president in history to be impeached. The final vote among…
Sara-Digong tandem emerges as top bets for 2020 election – poll
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, came out as the top bets for 2022 vice president and president, respectively, in a pre-election survey conducted in Visayas and Mindanao (VisMin). The independent and non-commissioned survey entitled “Pahayag VisMin 2019,” conducted from November 15 to 19, revealed that Duterte-Carpio ranked first in…
New California laws to take effect in 2020
WITH the end of 2019 approaching, California is gearing up for new laws set to take effect in the new year. Whether it’s in the workplace, at home, or outside in nature, below are just some of the many policy changes the nearly 40 million Californians can expect in 2020. Gig economy changes In California…
Justice served as Maguindanao massacre perpetrators found guilty
THE Quezon City Regional Trial Court on Thursday, December 19, has found members of the Ampatuan family of Maguindanao, together with several others, guilty for the murder of 57 people in the Maguindanao massacre. Former Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and his brothers former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Datu Zaldy “Puti”…
Marcos family ordered to surrender ill-gotten paintings
THE Sandiganbayan Special Division on Thursday, December 19, ordered the Marcos family to return more than 160 paintings and artworks that were unlawfully acquired, saying that they should be surrendered to the Philippine government. Valued at millions of dollars, paintings by Matisse, Monet, Picasso, and Van Gogh — which were all listed by the Philippine…
Doña Juana’s own Paella Mixta recipe
(Serves 6) Ingredients • 2 1⁄2 cups – Bomba or Valencian Rice • 5 cups – salted chicken or fish broth or a little more as needed • 8 tablespoons – extra virgin Spanish olive oil • 5 oz - Premium Chorizo de Bilbao cut into 1⁄2 inch pieces • 3/4 lbs. – chicken thighs or drumettes…
Preserving Filipino-Spanish flavor traditions in Southern California
WITH Christmas around the corner, Filipinos carry certain customs with them wherever they are around the world. One of them is the noche buena feast following midnight mass on Christmas Eve — a cultural and religious observance learned from the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. Queso de bola (Edam cheese), ham, hot chocolate and pan de sal are considered must-haves….
Our favorite gadgets at last year’s CES in Las Vegas
CES (Consumer Electronics Show) gives us a glimpse of the next mega trend in consumer technology. Each January, tech giants from around the world gather to show off their latest inventions in Las Vegas. Here’s a list of our favorites at the tech show earlier this year. 1. AFLAC Therapy Duck For Kids With Cancer:…
FilAm Arts presents GANAP Singers in North Hollywood
Show on January 4 benefits of the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture A STORY of hope accompanies the GANAP Singers as it embarks on its “Lingkod” Tour. The singers are the choir of the GANAP Performing Arts Foundation, based in Quezon City. Each singer is a scholar, who benefits from the musical and artistic…
Federal appeals court strikes down portion of Obamacare
by Julie Rovner A FEDERAL appeals court panel in New Orleans dealt another blow to the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, December 18, agreeing with a lower-court judge that the portion of the health law requiring most people to have coverage is unconstitutional now that Congress has eliminated the tax penalty that was intended to…
Trump’s impeachment shows no one is above the law
“Our nation is founded on the principle that we do not have kings. We have presidents. And the Constitution is our compass. When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, to do something. Our children and their children will ask us, ‘What did…
Fil-Am Chamber of Commerce of Greater LA to install new president at 2020 fundraising gala
AFTER two years of presidency, Ellen Samson will pass the torch to Annie Nepomuceno who will serve a two-year term along with a new Board of Directors in the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles (FACCGLA). This changing of the guard follows two fruitful years under President Ellen Samson. The Chamber’s regular…
House fulfills constitutional duty: Trump impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of co-equal branch of government
DEMOCRACY is alive in America! The 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has been impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of a co-equal branch of government pursuant to the mandate of the Constitution. Trump is the third of the 45 presidents to be impeached, and the…
Getting month residency requirement to file a divorce in California
GENERALLY, you must have resided in California for at least six months in order to file a divorce in this case. Under Family Code Section 2320, a judgment of marriage dissolution (divorce) may not be entered unless one of the spouses has been a “resident” of California for six months and of the county where…
Extending paid sick leave to part-time employees
Q: I AM a part-time hourly employee working in retail. I work between 20 to 30 hours a week. I recently got sick and had to be out for three days. I was told that I was not entitled to paid sick leave because I was a part-time employee. Is this right? A: No, you…
L1 intracompany transferees
ANG L1 nonimmigrant visa classification ay nagpapahintulot sa U.S. employer na maglipat ng mga empleyado mula sa kaakibat na kumpanya sa ibang bansa papunta sa kumpanya sa U.S. Ito rin ay nagpapahintulot sa kumpanya sa ibang bansa na walang kaakibat na kumpanya sa US na magpadala ng executive o manager sa U.S., o empleyadong may…
Repo deficiency causes senior to seek Chapter 7 relief
THE first client is 75. Her husband passed four years ago and left her with $30,000 of credit card debt. She has been making minimum payments on their credit cards for the last 15 years as far as she can recall at the rate of $800 a month. So in one year, she pays about…
K-1 Fiancé(e) visa: Getting your significant other to the United States
SEVERALl options exist for a US citizen to bring his/her foreign-national fiancé(e) to the United States. One popular option is to marry the fiancé(e) in the country in which he/she resides, and file an I-130 immigrant petition, with the fiancé(e) to undergo consular processing for an immigrant visa when the I-130 petition is approved. However,…
My best Christmas gift
FOR my Pastor’s Notes this 4th Sunday of Advent, let me share you this reflection I wrote several years ago: My best Christmas gift in December 2011 was not a gadget, nor a nice polo shirt or a sweater. It was not a gift card either, nor a ticket to a concert. It was something…
May angal, Washingon DC style
Towards the end of the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, I wrote a biting piece entitled, “May Angal???” Literally, “Any complaints?” I wrote the piece out of sheer frustration over the way the Arroyo administration took liberties with the law and how the citizenry could only offer feeble protest. It was like being pushed around…
Are your debt problems making you worry about the future?
IF you care about how you are going to live your life 10, 20 or more years from now, this article is for you. The future is something we don’t want to think about at times. To some, it’s pretty scary. But one thing is for certain. Time flies. Weeks easily turn into months and…
The secret of the best Christmas
I thought I have forgotten what the real Christmases were like, but, I remembered. Christmas comes but once a year, made up of equal parts of love, good cheers, gentleness and humor. The Yuletide feast that descends with the full gamut of holiday moods — from tender reminiscences to rollicking jollity, to new thrills of…
PCGG ready to cooperate with Senate
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) on Wednesday, December 18, said it is ready to cooperate with the Senate after Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Richard Gordon announced he would initiate a probe into PCGG’s failure to recover the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family. “The PCGG welcomes Senator Gordon’s pronouncement that he…