LAST Wednesday, I wrote about the plan being discussed in the Senate to decrease the number of family visas to give priority to employment-based petitions, specifically for highly-skilled workers. Although there is no final proposal yet, the petitions that may likely be eliminated are those by US citizens on behalf of adult, married children and…
“PURITY of heart, then, is the miracle-worker’s greatest engine of wealth creation.” – Marianne Williamson, The Law of Divine Compensation, 2012. The New Pope Francis As the Lenten season progresses, reflection among Catholics intensify. With the selection of Pope Francis (who was named after Francis Xavier, one of the pioneering Jesuits), the energy of Catholics…
FILIPINO-American Councilmember Antonio “Tony” Cartagena of the City of Walnut is urging permanent resident aliens to take advantage of attending a free US Application Workshop through the Filipino American Service Group, Incorporated (FASGI) at the Walnut Senior Community Center, 21215, La Puente Road, Walnut, CA 91789, on Saturday, April 6, 2013, from 9am to 4pm….
DEBTOR walks away from his residence because it is under water with no equity whatsoever then files for Chapter 7 relief. The house is worth $300,000 but the mortgage owed is $400,000. Debtor obtains a discharge of all his debts including the mortgage. Six months post-discharge, debtor receives a real estate tax bill for $4,000…
In the continuing series of My close encounters with terrestrial stars I came to a point when I finally realized how significant those relationships I have had through the years. Just merely reminiscing vividly the colorful anecdotes and compelling fragments of the past lightens my sentimental loads. Telling and retelling these amusing accounts and biographical…
A young Fil-Am unprecedentedly shines in the recent staging of Lyman Frank Baum’s classic fantasy novel, The Wizard of Oz, at the Quibbletown Middle School’s Drama Club in Piscataway, New Jersey. A budding Broadway talent and potential beauty queen, Alyssa J. Shoemaker more than justifiably fits her role as Dorothy Gale to a T. As…
Angeles City moves with the frantic pace of a bustling metropolis. You can sense it with the whizzing jeepneys and cars, people crossing the streets, and the establishments ecstatic with trade all under the bright sun. This is not a surprise for a city that was founded way back in 1756. It breathes with activity…
The snake oil scam of yesteryears took decades to travel from town to town. Obviously, that saved a lot of “potential” victims. With the advent of the internet age, scams, in general, including fraudulent health products and unfounded “food supplement” claims are disseminated with lightning speed around the globe through the world wide web, reaching…
People around the world are actively following the news concerning comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), hoping that the Democrats and Republicans in Washington can work together and pass a law overhauling our immigration system, and possibly grant amnesty to illegal aliens in the US. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that an influential Republican senator (Sen. Lindsey Graham)…
SMOKING kills, as advertisements would say it, but it remains a choice. If you smoke, you know that cigarettes are harmful to your health, but you still choose to do it, no matter how society tries to stop you. This week, professionals in the international tobacco industry, visitors and exhibitors are all looking forward to…
POOR Jun Magsaysay and Dick Gordon must be agonizing over what they should do to improve their rankings in the current senatorial race. Should they learn to dance Gangnam style like some lady candidates? Should they appropriate a movie star girlfriend? Should Dick be more likeable? Should Jun wave the “Magsaysay is my Guy” flag,…
Little girls grow up, marry and change their names. It was one of those Beverly Hills weddings. The groom sneaked in, unnoticed at the ultra conservative church of The Good Shepherd. On the other hand, the bride emerged from a lily white stretch limousine. She hitched up her handwoven French lace wedding gown and treaded…
ONE of the more compelling reasons why many kababayans are pushing for the passing of a comprehensive immigration reform is to facilitate the speeding up of family reunification. This is especially true for those who have been waiting for many years for their ates or kuyas (with their spouses and kids) to finally re-join the family, after being left behind in…
I KNOW that the current economy has caused a lot of financial problems for a lot of people. Most families are struggling financially every month and are living paycheck to paycheck. Chances are you know someone who is perhaps facing foreclosure because they can’t even afford to pay their mortgage. Maybe they’ve lost their job….
LOS ANGELES – Filipino-American Rico Foz was only seven years old when he was first exposed to an environment of smoking. His father was a smoker who worked for a tobacco company. Often, Rico would be asked by his dad to buy cigarettes at the store. With very little knowledge on the habit’s negative impact…
Habemus Papam. “We have a pope.” The Vatican has finally chosen its new pontiff in 76-year-old Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who has been named as Pope Francis. As the symbolic white smoke clears and rejoicing among Catholics linger, expectations from the new pontiff remain high — will he be able to revive the Catholic…
“REMEMBER not the events of the past, the things of long ago, consider not; see, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:16). Aren’t these words that God spoke to the Israelites during their Babylonian exile relevant to our times now that we have a new pope? I…
I HAVE been following and writing about the conclave and the election of Pope Benedict XVI’s successor. But I was pleasantly surprised by my own emotions, when I saw white smoke coming out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. I was glued to the TV screen just before I drove to the TFC studio…
I was summoned by an invitation to attend a presscon at a quaint café called LA Rose. Green-topped tables groaning with mouth-watering dishes made an auspicious start of a thoroughly moving and inspiring launch for Greenfund Philippines (a 360-degree program which addresses livelihood, environmental protection, education and sustainability), where doing good makes good business sense….
MANY people, employers and employees alike, have been in our office recently requesting information on H-1B visas and whether or not that is an option for them. The rush to investigate H-1B possibilities is normal at this time of year. April 1 of every year is the date that US Citizenship and Immigration Services begins…
Q: I WORKED in a company for more than 10 years. A new supervisor was recently transferred to my department. This person and I do not get along. Last week, our human resources director informed me that the company was letting me go and gave me my last paycheck. I don’t have any disciplinary record…
FOR the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos working and living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dr. Rosario B. Tigno is widely known as a generous hero. The first Filipino doctor from the Philippines to practice in UAE, Dr. Tigno was issued a medical license by the Department of Health and Medical Services of Dubai…
THERE has been a lot of fines and penalties that the banks have assessed from all these claims of foreclosure abuses, including bungled loan modifications and wrongful evictions of borrowers who either current or still making their reduced modified payments. Federal regulators announced an $8.5 billion agreement with 10 mortgage servicers to settle these claims….
After a brief respite and heaps of social commitments that I had to cover, the continuation of my celebrity encounters resumes. Brace yourself for some more of my interesting nostalgic anecdotes. The “Fishnet & Minis” era gave Helen Gamboa an unprecedented popularity surge with the advent of musical films a fitting bifurcated avenue that showcased…
For 2013-2014 term CERRITOS – Filipino American Cerritos City Councilman Mark E. Pulido was elected to serve as Mayor Pro Tem for the 2013-2014 term by his city council colleagues at the Council’s annual reorganization meeting on the evening of March 13, 2013. The meeting began with outgoing mayor Jim Edwards being honored for his…
LOS ANGELES – A man wanted for criminal raps here in California was arrested by operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Pampanga in the Philippines. Rodolfo Suacon, who is wanted in US for a multi-million dollar investment scam, was apprehended by NBI agents in his Pampanga home, where he had been hiding…
LOS ANGELES – For five Filipino-American sailors serving under the 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge, it is a tremendous honor to take their Oaths of Reenlistment to the US Navy on Philippine shores. The Navy men took advantage of a recent port visit of the flagship to Manila, and had their reenlistment ceremonies done…
A young Fil-Am unprecedentedly shines in the recent staging of Lyman Frank Baum’s classic fantasy novel, The Wizard of Oz, at the Quibbletown Middle School’s Drama Club in Piscataway, New Jersey. A budding Broadway talent and potential beauty queen, Alyssa J. Shoemaker more than justifiably fits her role as Dorothy Gale to a T. As the…
Hepatoma is a common and deadly cancer among Asians. I lost a close friend, a Fil-Am physician, a couple of years ago, and a few others before that, all to hepatoma. They all lived for only about 6 months from the time of diagnosis. Also known as hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatoma is the most common (70…
THE joke among so-called undocumented Mexicans in California is that they did not illegally cross the US border. The US border crossed them. The other joke is that Europeans were the original TNTs in the New World. The Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III, might have a better appreciation of his chances to reclaim Sabah…
