• YOU may claim exemptions for yourself, your spouse and your dependents. • Dependents must have a Social Security number (TIN is not good enough). • Exemption amount is $4,000 for 2015 for each exemption. • Exemptions reduce your taxable income and your income tax. • It could also produce credits such as child care…
ARE you being harassed by your creditors day and night due to unpaid bills? If you are, you know that this is a pretty unpleasant experience. You may feel scared, angry or embarrassed about your situation. The prospect of debt relief through bankruptcy may sound appealing to you but you are not quite sure if…
THE Los Angeles City Council approved settlement fees for two cases involving homeless people, together totaling $950,000, according to a Los Angeles Times report. Deliberated in a closed meeting, lawmakers agreed to a payout of $822,000 in a case in which homeless people collectively sued the city for seizing and destroying their property, the Times…
It would have been like any other Sunday morning on June 12 — one where I wake up knowing that life is good and that everything is exactly how it should be. Only, it wasn’t. Because that morning, evil took over and life will never be the same again. I say this with a broken…
My father is the kind of man I’ve always dreamed of: kind to the weak, fierce to the arrogant, generous to those who loved him, ruthless to those who will order him around. Today as a whole nation of sons and daughters pause to remember their fathers, I thought of how little I really know…
After being cleverly introduced, she elegantly sashayed her way on to the stage as the spotlights fully revealed her anonymity from behind the velvet curtain. Simple but tastefully garbed in a body-hugging silk taffeta floor-length evening gown that revealed her fleshy limbs courtesy of a generous slit, she repositioned herself after breathing gently upon the…
Los Angeles, California: You Eat Now! is collaborating with Makossa Cookout and The POT Bar to kickoff this summer’s party season on Saturday, June 18 at 3:30pm at The Line Hotel. Last summer, Makossa brought their legendary soiree of great food, good music, cold drinks, and happy people to the “backyard boogie” setting of Los…
The new Miss Philippines Earth 2016 has been crowned last Saturday, June 11 at UP Theater in Diliman, Quezon City. Standing out amongst 45 other candidates from all over the Philippines—and the world, was Imelda Schweighart from Puerto Princesa, Palawan. The 21-year-old lass is also a veteran of beauty pageants. She joined Bb. Pilipinas in…
FAMILY based petitions and some employment-based petitions (where a relative owns a 5% interest in the petitioning company) require the petitioner to submit an affidavit of support (Form I – 864) in order for the beneficiary to adjust status or obtain an immigrant visa. The petitioner must be domiciled (or living) in the US to…
ALL we need is love, says a love song. Love will keep us alive, says another. Unfortunately, real life is not a three-and-a-half minute power-ballad love song. Love and marriage in the real world involves trying to put order in the chaos of work, maintaining a home, and raising a family all the while maintaining…
About 50 billion plastic water bottles are consumed around the world each year. This does not include the billions of other plastic materials littering the globe, chocking our environment in more ways than one. In the United States alone, which is less than 5 percent of the over 7.4 billion population, about 30 billion bottles…
(Publisher/Editor’s/OpEd Editor’s note: The following is part of the statement released by the author about her acceptance of the offer from President-elect Rody Duterte to make her Secretary of Education. She is the lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines.) 1. All my life I have been exposed to the challenges of education in the Philippines….
Celebrities have a busy life — shooting schedules, appearances, concerts, red carpet premieres — that people assume they have no time to go to a regular school. But there are some who managed to continue their education and even finish with honors. Here are some artists who shuffled their time between work and school and…
Father’s Day weekend is just around the corner, and Cafe Sierra’s Father’s Day Weekend Bash is the perfect way to celebrate your old man’s special day. Cafe Sierra is known throughout the Filipino-American community for providing top-flight service and cuisine, and its Father’s Day Celebration on Sunday, June 19 will surely be no different. The…
A complete account of the origin and background history of the graduation gown would fill a book. But to make a very long story short, the early academic dress in colleges and universities came from Medieval Europe. Sometimes also known as academical dress, academic regalia, and graduation cap and gown, it has its origins in…
DURING and after the recession, many borrowers who were financially distressed lost their homes and had their loans cancelled. It was a relief to have their debts reduced or forgiven, but the same debt relief also triggered tax consequences that they were not aware of. Some homeowners were in disbelief when they learn that they…
GRIM news of insurgency and terror attacks are thrust onto international headlines every day. Although modernization demolishes geographical barriers and moves the world toward an amalgamated economy, clashes among cultures continue to have a damaging impact on world peace and security. Because of cross-cultural ignorance, the essence of civilization is compromised. In one senseless act…
There is in all work of service a deep soul — something that has called those who participate in it and sustains it. Tangible and visible, whose objects had been brought by nurses, doctors, telephone operators, cleaning women, file clerks, social workers, to name a few, but it is not possible to tell what had…
NO one is ever late for God’s mercy and forgiveness. This contention is what Pope Francis has always reflected on in all his actions and words, especially in promulgating 2016 as a Year of Mercy. This Sunday’s Gospel powerfully illustrates God’s mercy in the story of a woman who came to wipe Jesus’ feet with…
Business owner seeks to discharge $100K credit cards used to buy business; Clinton beats Trump to become first woman president of America CLIENT is 65 and recently widowed. Her husband was suddenly taken ill and was diagnosed with lung cancer even though he doesn’t smoke. Strange. Husband was in the pinnacle of good health, so…
THE government is more lenient to people with low-incomes and assets in the sense that they can get Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) anytime of the year. That leniency to get Medi-Cal anytime is even more obvious to children and pregnant women whose household income is not more than 266 percent of the Federal Poverty Level…
(Part 2) IN an earlier article, I discussed about the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program (“FWVP”). The FWVP allows certain family members of Filipino World War II veterans (“FWV”) are beneficiaries of an approved I-130 Petition to apply for parole with the USCIS so they can come to the US while waiting for…
ON January 1, 2016, the minimum wage in California became $10.00 per hour. Most employees in California are entitled to be paid at least the minimum wage. On April 4, 2016, California’s governor approved a new law that will increase California’s minimum wage every year until it becomes $15 per hour by 2022. This new…
IF you run your own business, consider employing your children this summer vacation. Employing your children gives you a triple benefit: 1. It teaches your children the virtue of work and the value of money. 2. It could save you taxes by shifting income down from your rate of about 33% to 39% for federal…
A LOT of people in need of debt relief are often hesitant to file bankruptcy for fear that it will ‘ruin’ their credit and that they will never be able to purchase a car or home again, or that they will never be able to rent an apartment if they ever have to move. First…
Jess Matubis, who has worked under more Philippine presidents at close quarters than most broadcast journalists, recently posted the following blog by president-elect Duterte’s Agriculture Secretary- designate, Manny Piñol: “NO MORE JUNKETS, NO MORE FIRST CLASS TICKETS, NO MORE EXPENSIVE SUVS, NO MORE EXPENSIVE LUNCHES FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN THE DUTERTE ADMINISTRATION “1. All officials…
They say, “Anyone can be a father but it takes a real man to be a dad.” As Father’s Day approaches, I would like to pay tribute to all the amazing fathers of the world. And what better way to do that but to talk about how great fathers are in spite of all the…
Hollywood—Peerless on its grace and splendor with changes subtle and grand, noble and patriotic this unending testimony of class, tradition and old world elegance has left even the most eloquent of connoisseurs bereft of words: a mix of restored pieces, paintings, chandeliers of the most skillful Murano, glass blowers, its mirrors and fireplaces are the…
As beauty authorities often say: “A beautiful woman has the most probability to explore every possibility but failure sets in the absence of an excellent head on her shoulders.” Realistically, beauty isn’t all that a woman needs to be able to confront what challenges her, or strive on her own when relying mainly on her…
FILIPINO workers, who prevailed in a yearlong legal battle against the owners of a French bakery in Southern California, now have temporary authorization to live and work in the US. After winning a $15.2 million case against the owners of the now shuttered L’Amande Bakery (which had locations in Torrance and Beverly Hills), the 11…
