PRESIDENT Donald Trump has intensified his crackdown on undocumented immigrants and many raids have already been conducted to apprehend those who have been living in the United States without legal status. While Trump said he will prioritize deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records as President Barack Obama did during his term, Trump’s executive order has…
In the autumn of our lives, my wife and I would love to retire in the Philippines, no matter what the naysayers, the pessimists and the sensation-prone media say about the traffic, the anti-drug war, and other so-called Third World problems. But we are stymied by one obstacle. Adequate health care. For sure, there are…
Senior needs Chapter 13 to stop sale of $1.0M house by judgment lien of $30K “ Don’t wait until the last minute. Credit card debt must be wiped out now by Chapter 7 or 13. Otherwise, these debts will become lawsuits that become judgment liens that will put your house at risk. If you wipe…
Q: I WAS severely injured in a recent car accident while returning to work on an errand. I had to undergo multiple surgeries. I missed several weeks of work and will need more time off for treatments. I am afraid to tell my employer about my need for more time off because I might be…
QUESTION: What has happened with this Muslim ban per the executive order? Answer: Just a few days ago, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that it was unconstitutional and would cause irreparable injury and ordered a nationwide injunction on the execution of the the ban. In essence, this Judge gutted the executive order and all…
THIS is the second of three articles on how the IRS selects tax returns for audit. Our first article discussed how tax returns are received, verified, and reviewed. This article deals with how your tax returns are stored into master files. The next and last article will discuss how the IRS scores your tax returns…
MAYBE you’ve experienced this before: You’re driving down the road one cold, chilly day and before you know it, you find yourself surrounded by a thick white wall of dense fog. How did you react? If you’re like most people, perhaps you felt momentarily lost and confused or perhaps even panicked, not knowing what was…
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have taken into custody a 23-year-old man brought to the US as a young child, but had applied for, and was GRANTED, Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA), with his work permit valid until 2018! This was one of the first times a DACA applicant has been taken into…
The clamor for a healthier lifestyle has transformed society into more conscious, more intelligent, and more discriminating consumers of food and food ingredients. Truth in food labeling is a law that is strictly implemented, especially in the United States. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions on this subject. Why are some meats…
FIL-Am actor Darren Criss cast as Andrew Cunanan! Possibly the biggest casting news this year from Hollywood relating to our Filipino-American community was announced this week! As you know, hardly do you find Filipino Americans represented on screen and even more so given parts they can shine in! There are a lot of factors that…
1. Non-recognition rules of property settlement between spouses. There is no gain or loss recognized on a transfer of property incident to a divorce under IRC section 1041. Sample 1 Toni receives payments from her ex-husband in return for her agreement to abandon her claim to ex-husband’s retirement benefits. The payments are for the transfer…
FIDEL V. Ramos’ recent interview with Rappler’s Maria Ressa was a study in sophisticated elder statesmanship. He was cordial and engaging, of course, and kept the talk good-humored and paternal. He didn’t sound the least bit patronizing towards his interlocutor, who seems incapable of giving anyone a hard time and tends to err, rather too…
POLITICAL reform in the Philippines is hounded by high public expectation because of untold amounts of corruption and law-breaking by public officials for years. It is like a mirage that never truly materializes; it recedes the closer we try to get to it. There are those who maintain a level of cynicism toward the political…
DONALD TRUMP has bigger problems to worry about than his historic 40 percent approval/55 percent disapproval ratings in the most recent Gallup Poll. His less than a month-old presidency has already been saddled with lawsuits one after another, and then this: the issue about the “resignation” of his senior National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. NO,…
“Have you ever caught a dance fever? An infectious move? I sometimes wonder about the difference between choreography and freestyle. If choreography is the influence imposed upon you by outside bodies — like stars, or other humans — what is free style? It radiates from the inside out. Is my evil star inside?” – Ordinal…
One of the biggest milestones in a woman’s life is her wedding day. Even at a young age, many girls dream of their “perfect wedding.” They dream of that pivotal moment of seeing themselves walking down the aisle and seeing their groom at the end. They can only imagine the joy and excitement that they…
WE have a saying in theology that Jesus Christ is the Sacrament par excellence. This statement does not only mean that Jesus is the Word made flesh or the Living Bread that came down from heaven, but it also means that Jesus embodies the whole Law of God. It’s why He says in the Gospel…
The Year of the Fire Rooster began on January 28, but the celebrations across Southern California haven’t waned down. Last weekend on Saturday, February 4, The Americana at Brand in Glendale, CA hosted an afternoon of elaborate festivities, complete with cultural performances and an array of Asian food vendors. The high-end mall has been hosting…
The Los Angeles Times brings ‘Food Bowl’ to the city in May FOODIES in Los Angeles have yet another reason to rejoice: this May, the Los Angeles Times is launching a 31-day food festival at various locations throughout the city. Dubbed the ‘Food Bowl,’ the culinary fair — which is slated to be annually —…
Senior needs Chapter 13 to stop sale of $1.0M house by judgment lien of $30K CLIENT is 61. Her husband is 60. In my book, they are young seniors. They bought their house in 2006 just before the crash of the housing market. They used a zero down 10 years interest only mortgage for the…
SEXUAL misconduct in the workplace is more common than most people think. In many instances, victims do not complain for fear of retaliation, of being disbelieved, or for sheer embarrassment. However, it is only by filing a complaint can a victim of sexual misconduct at work obtain justice. Consider the following story from an actual…
DID you ever wonder how the IRS selects tax returns to be audited? Here’s a three-part series on how tax returns are received, stored, and chosen for audit: • How e-filed and paper-filed tax returns are verified, validated, and reviewed for accuracy. • How tax returns are stored into master files. • How IRS scores…
Awarded one-year talent holding deal with NBCUniversal A millennial Filipino American has won this year’s ‘StandUp NBC,’ a national search for stand-up comedians of diverse backgrounds. JR De Guzman was selected from over 600 stand-up comedians who auditioned at open calls last year in New York City, San Diego, Nashville and Austin. As part of…
“EPIPHANY — A moment when you suddenly feel that you understand, or suddenly become conscious of, something that is very important to you.” In other words, an awakening. This definition of “epiphany” certainly applies to President Rodrigo Duterte’s change of attitude towards his certain promises and policies, including those concerning the Philippine National Police and…
TWO defeats out of two court battles, and Donald Trump is learning the hard way that in the United States, no one is above the law. No one is above the law and the Constitution — even if you were a celebrity who could grope a woman’s genitals and do anything because of your celebrity…
The apple that fell far from the tree is one I could only dream of. A perfect newshen. God’s little pencil. I would have taught her to begin each work by having a real and passionate curiosity about how people behave in the infinitely various situations they find themselves in. To be aware that no…
SINCE becoming president, Donald Trump has issued over 20 executive orders (EO) on a wide variety of topics and issues, including immigration. So far, there has not yet been an Executive Order concerning the future of Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA). However, there have been several draft or leaked memos, which eventually became executive…
IN the first two weeks of the Trump Administration and with a quick stroke of a pen, the country was swept up in a whirlpool of Executive Orders the tangled mangled web of which we are still trying to make sense. What is happening? What does it mean for me and my family? What’s going…
Since its issuance on Jan. 27, 2017, the Executive Order on immigration (Trump’s E.O.) has been dissected because it is a “travel ban” of nationals from seven specific countries ( Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Somalia) whose majority populations are Muslims. While the previous administration and Congress have characterized them as war-torn and…
Countless lives around the world have been saved by CPR (Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation). Accounts by locals on this remote Alubihod beach resort in Guimaras Island (across Iloilo), where we were as of this writing, revealed they have witnessed CPR performed on a drowning victim a couple of times in the past several years. Actually, you can…
