For the third consecutive year, Walmart employees went on strike on Black Friday to protest for a minimum wage of at least $15 per hour and for more consistent work hours. Barbara Gertz, a Walmart worker who decided to participate, makes $12.40 an hour, but still encounters financial difficulties with that wage. “I have dental…
Burial workers in Sierra Leone have left corpses on a street outside a hospital in the city of Kenema in protest of not having received pay bonuses for managing victims of Ebola. A spokesperson for workers on strike said they have gone on for seven weeks without their weekly hazard allowance. Although officials recognized the…
Gorgeous, big-hearted, pious, amiable, strong-willed single mom, civic-oriented community leader, and passionately fashionable…these and much more best describe the socially indefatigable community figure Marieta Esquillo Lamar from Majayjay, Laguna and currently a prominent resident of 42 years of Staten Island, New York. A quintessential Saggitarian, born on December 19 to Gregorio Lamar and the former…
Last week, President Obama finally fulfilled his promise to provide executive amnesty to those who do not have legal status. The President did not call it amnesty, but in fact it is amnesty because his program gives legal status for a period of three years and gives eligible candidates a work permit to work legally…
No indictment for Darren Wilson leads to national outcry Hundreds of state militia marched into Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 24, after a night of protests and rioting over a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer in the killing of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown. The Brown killing has inflamed tensions…
Many Filipino families are excited about President Obama’s announcement on November 20, 2014 concerning Executive Action (EA) which has, among other things, expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and now includes so many more young people. I know that when DACA first came out, many Filipinos were reluctant to come forward and apply. While…
THANKSGIVING Day is an opportunity to extend my heartfelt appreciation to all the people who have been there for me during my recovery. As some of you may know, I have undergone physical therapy and rehabilitation due to injuries I sustained from a serious car accident that happened last August. I was deeply touched…
One of the pillars of our constitutional form of government is a separation of powers, vesting in Congress the power to legislate and in the Presidency the duty to faithfully execute the law. However, by executive fiat on Nov. 20, President Obama obliterated that pillar and circumvented safeguards that provide order to our republic. Regardless…
THEY have been waiting for this for so long—perhaps for twenty years. Many kababayans living in the United States without legal status, those who entered the country unlawfully, or those who overstayed, may now be spared from deportation, at least temporarily, thanks to President Barack Obama’s executive order while waiting for Congress to pass a…
On top of the Ebola scare, we now have enterovirus D68 infecting children and producing polio-like symptom, including limb paralysis in some. The poliomyelitis epidemic in the United States dates back to 1894. At the height of this viral illness (first cases were in Vermont) in 1952, which produced limb paralysis, there were 60,000 cases,…
Protests erupt across the country Tensions in Ferguson, Mo. escalated to a boiling point on the night of Monday, Nov. 24, when the grand jury found no probable cause to file an indictment against Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 9. The verdict was announced at 9:25pm EST at…
The fruit of our labor is finally sprouting; but they still need to be cultivated. The Philippines’ very own Vigan made it to the final phase of the New 7 Wonders Cities. However, the “battle of clicks” is not yet over. To take home the title, Vigan must garner higher votes compared to at least…
ATHLETES do more than just represent the flag where they came from. Their presence in every sporting event gives their countrymen hope, self-respect, and to many people—pride in who they are. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao did just that, when he gave his kababayans another reason to celebrate after prevailing against an undefeated opponent last Saturday, Nov….
WHEN Alan Peter Cayetano spins a tale of a threat to his life and Antonio Trillanes begins to predict his incarceration or liquidation if Jojo Binay ever becomes president, you know that they have begun to scrape the bottom of the barrel. “Hey Alan,” you can almost hear Trillanes say, “I’ve got a great new…
AFTER months of speculation as to what President Obama’s Executive Action would bring for immigration reform, President Obama delivered a speech last night announcing executive action that provides immigration relief to millions of undocumented persons in the US. The focal point of the executive action is relief for undocumented parents of US Citizen children and…
THIS great holiday of thanks and giving is not a date on a calendar, but a state of mind. It is about our capacity to realize things that we can, sometimes, only imagine. No matter how difficult the recession is for each of us, there are always others who are going through more severe hardships….
AT the top of the list of most congested cities in the US, Los Angeles is not the place to be on Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday. Angelenos will face the worst traffic in the country, with trips in and out of the region projected to take 36 percent longer than average, according to a…
WITH the increasing number of viral disease outbreaks, including Ebola and SARS, public health officials are already girding for the next health disaster. “It’s really urgent that we address the weak links and blind spots around the world,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Ebola is a powerful…
AT the top of the list of most congested cities in the US, Los Angeles is not the place to be on Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday. Angelenos will face the worst traffic in the country, with trips in and out of the region projected to take 36 percent longer than average, according to a…
MY dear friend, Prosy Delacruz, pleaded that I respond to Rodel Rodis’ column, Pope Francis’ View of God on Inquirer.net. My tukayo’s column reflected on Filipinos’ perception of God in the light of a study conducted by sociologists from Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion on people’s various images of God: authoritarian, benevolent, critical, and…
THE Philippines is among the top 10 countries with the highest level of terrorist activity in 2013, according to the study released recently by the Institute for Economics (IEP). “Terrorism has increased significantly in the Philippines between 2012 and 2013, with almost twice as many incidents. The number of deaths has also more than doubled in this…
PRESIDENT Barack Obama finally delivered on his promise to fix America’s broken immigration system by using his executive authority to start the process. In a televised speech last Thursday, Obama laid out the biggest overhaul in immigration in two decades, which he said would keep the brightest in America while deporting criminals; send more resources…
CLIENT presents his financial problem as follows. It’s quite interesting and unusual. Client registered a partnership with his younger brother, each owning 50% of a retail business 20 years ago. The business did very well until recently due to increased competition that slowly crept up over the years. Then disaster struck. A fire occurred in…
YOU plan to sell an apartment building that you purchased 10 years ago at $300,000. It is now worth $800,000. You want to sell but are worried about potential taxes. And rightly so. Your tax preparer computes capital gains and gives you a combination of good and bad news. The good news: the capital gain…
Q: SEVERAL weeks ago, I was diagnosed with a medical condition that required me to go to my doctor every week for treatment. I had informed my supervisor about my need to take 2-4 hours off work every week for a limited period of time. Last week, HR told me I had too many absences….
FROM what I’ve witnessed in the last 15 years as a bankruptcy attorney, debt problems can put a huge stress on any marriage. When couples are going through a financial crisis, they are often deeply frustrated with one another especially when they are not on the same page as to what they need to do…
If you have been thinking about marketing your company or brand, you have probably heard these buzz words: paid media, owned media, and earned media. You might be asking yourself “What is the difference?” It is mind boggling trying to understand what is going on in marketing these days. Last month, we discussed paid media—referring…
Thanksgiving is when people take a step back and reflect on all of the wonderful things and events to be grateful for, and to give thanks to those people who played such a key role in helping us achieve them. At this Thanksgiving, I would like to once again give thanks to all of the…
IT has been five years since the ignominy of a conscious and premeditated crime, where 58 people (32 of them were media workers) were slaughtered on a hill top in Solio Masalay Barangay Salmon in Ampatuan Maguindanao, in what is now acknowleged as the worst incident of electoral violence in recent Philippine history. Yards and…
ON Thursday, Nov. 20, administrators of the University of California approved tuition increases of as much as 5 percent over the next five years, despite protests from both undergraduate students and faculty, and open criticism from California governor Jerry Brown and other state legislators. The 14-7 vote from the Board of Regents marks the end…
