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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Volume 19 - No. 52 • 14 Pages

T H E F I L I P I N O A M E R I CA N C O M M U N I T Y N E WS PA P E R

Volume 18 - No. 17 • 2 Sections – 16 Pages

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USA

DATELINE Non-profit offers US citizenship test materials in 9 languages, including Tagalog

Also published in LOS ANGELES, ORANGE COUNTY/INLAND EMPIRE, SAN DIEGO, LAS VEGAS, NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY

Trump signs long-awaited COVID-19 relief bill House passes legislation on $2,000 stimulus checks

FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

THE path to U.S. citizenship may be more difficult as the naturalization test now features an expanded version of the civics portion — but a free educational tool is helping applicants prepare with study materials in their native language.

USAHello, a non-profit dedicated to providing an online center of information and education for refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers, has released translations for the 2020 version of the U.S. citizenship test in nine languages on its website (usahello.org).

The organization partnered with Translators Without Borders to translate the civics test in Spanish, Arabic, French, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Tagalog, Swahili, and Vietnamese.

“For the citizenship test in particular, we have found that many people in preparing for u PAGE A4

J A N U A RY 1 - 7 , 2 0 2 1

by KLARIZE

MEDENILLA AJPress

DAYS after expressing doubts over Congress’ coronavirus relief bill, President Donald Trump on Sunday, Dec. 27 signed the bill, leaving the U.S. government scrambling to send out the one-time stimulus check as soon as possible.

The $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill — which adds up to $2.3 trillion when factoring in other government spending — includes a one-time $600

direct payment to millions of American taxpayers and an extension of unemployment benefits to the jobless, gig workers and independent contractors, as previously reported in the Asian Journal.

The bill was chock full of other financial allocations that were originally in the omnibus government spending bill, leading the president to call the bill “a disgrace” that strayed too far from the original intent of COVID-19 relief legislation.

Trump’s signing of the bill on Sunday night was not without conditions; according to a statement

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by AJPRESS

FRUITS GALORE. A man takes a look at round fruits being sold at a store along Elliptical Road in Quezon City on Monday, December 28.

Many Filipinos buy round fruits believing that these would bring luck in the new year.

PNA photo by Joey O. Razon

MERCURIO Philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines — Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is preparing its fleet to help in the transport of COVID-19 vaccines to the country and around the region.

“PAL is readying its fleet of wide body aircraft for the task of transporting vaccines to the Philippines and around the region,” it said.

The carrier has continuously been operating repatriation flights that bring home stranded overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and other Filipinos from all over the world, along with all-cargo flights to transport essential goods.

WITH the coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, California’s regional stayat-home orders are slated to continue into the new year.

Most of the Golden State has been under a stay-athome order, which has limited activities and closed down certain businesses, since December with ICU capacities falling below 15%.

As of this writing, the Bay Area’s ICU capacity stands at 9.5%, while Greater Sacramento is at 16.6%. San Joaquin Valley and southern California remain at 0% with their orders set to be extended.

The Bay Area is eligible to exit by January 8, during which the region’s status on lockdown will be reassessed.

“We see the Greater Sacramento area and the Bay Area. those stay-at-home orders are set to expire on January 1st in Sacramento — and we’ll update you after the beginning of the new year where the Greater Sacramento area and region are based on their fourweek projections — and the Bay Area a week later on January 8,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday, December 28 during his daily briefing. “We’ll update

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Metro Manila, 9 other areas remain under GCQ in January

by AJPRESS METRO Manila and other areas around the country will continue to operate under general community quarantine (GCQ) status until January 31, 2021.

In a taped public address, President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, December 28, 2020 said the provinces of Batangas, Isabela, Lanao del Sur, Davao del Norte, and cities of Santiago, Iloilo, Tacloban, Iligan, and Davao will also remain under GCQ until the end of January.

The rest of the country will also remain under the least restrictive modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the president said.

Duterte said the community quarantine classifications are subject to appeal from their respective local government units (LGUs).

He also reminded the public not to leave their homes unless to do essential activities.

“Stay home if it’s really possible. It’s for your own good,” the president advised.

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PAL readies fleet for vaccine transport

by RICHMOND

u PAGE A2

California’s stay-at-home orders to remain into new year

More than 2,900 health care workers died this year — and the gov’t barely kept track MORE than 2,900 U.S. health care workers have died in the COVID-19 pandemic since March, a far higher number than that reported by the government, according to a new analysis by KHN and The Guardian.

Fatalities from the coronavirus have skewed young, with the majority of victims under age 60 in the cases for which there is age data. People of color have been disproportionately affected, accounting for about 65% of deaths in cases in which there is race and ethnicity data. After conducting interviews with relatives and friends of around 300 victims, KHN and The Guardian learned that one-third of the fatalities involved concerns over inadequate personal protective equipment.

Many of the deaths — about 680 — occurred in New York and New Jersey, which were hit hard early in the pandemic. Significant numbers also died in Southern and Western states in the ensuing months.

The findings are part of “Lost on the Frontline,” a nine-month data and investi-

confirming his formal approval of the bill, the bill’s passing was contingent upon the Senate’s consideration of further legislation that would increase stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000.

This likely catalyzed the House to gavel in on a holiday week, and in a bipartisan vote on Monday, Dec. 28 passed legislation that would increase stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000.

The bill is now in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and the Repub-

In terms of commercial flights, PAL has also been increasing domestic services on various routes in line with its network restoration plan and in time for the holiday season.

The airline has doubled services on the prime trunk route between Manila and Cebu, from 14 to 28 round trip flights weekly since Dec. 1.

Flights between Manila and Cagayan de Oro is set to grow to three times daily, while flights between Manila and Tacloban were doubled to two times a day.

The flag carrier has resumed services to Antique, as well as to Catarman and to popular tourist u PAGE A4

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte

Duterte warns US: No vaccine, no VFA

by RITCHEL

MENDIOLA AJPress

“PAL is readying its fleet of wide body aircraft for the task of transporting vaccines to the Philippines and around the region,” the airline said.

Philstar.com file photo

Malacañang photo by Alfred Frias

PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte has warned that he will terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) if the United States fails to provide the country with COVID-19 vaccines.

In a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on Saturday, December 26, the chief executive urged the country’s ally to deliver at least 20 million doses of the vaccine. “‘Yung Visiting Forces Agreement matatapos na.

Ngayon ‘pag hindi ako pumayag, aalis talaga sila. ‘Pag di sila naka-deliver maski minimum ng 20 million vaccines, better get out (The Visiting Forces

Agreement will be ending. If I don’t extend it, they will really leave. If they cannot deliver even a minimum of 20 million vaccines, better get out),” he said.

“No vaccine, no stay here,” Duterte added.

Malacañang clarified the president’s remarks, however, saying that it was an exercise in the Philippines’ independent policy.

“Wala pong masama dyan, hindi po ‘yan blackmail. ‘Yan po ‘yung ibig sabihin ng independiyenteng panlabas na polisiya o independent foreign policy. Hindi po tayo sunudsunuran. Hindi po tayo didiktahan ng kahit sino (There is nothing wrong with that, it’s not blackmailing. That’s what independent foreign policy u PAGE A3

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january 1-7, 2021 • nOrCaL aSIan jOurnaL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 689-5160

From the Front Page

Trump signs long-awaited...

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lican-heavy Senate, who have opposed the $2,000 figure for months arguing it will increase the country’s debt. As of press time, it is unclear whether McConnell will consider the updated legislation but Republicans like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) wrote on Twitter in support of the increased stimulus check.

“I am concerned about the debt, but working families have been hurt badly by the pandemic,” Rubio said. “This is why I supported $600 direct payments to working families & if given the chance will vote to increase the amount.”

Whether they end up being $600 or $2,000, it is unclear when the payments will arrive, but some experts predict the payments should arrive in the next two weeks. During the first roll-out of the $1,200 stimulus

checks sent out in the spring, it took about two weeks between the time of Trump’s signing and the arrival of the first checks.

Those who have bank information on file with the IRS will likely receive money first via direct deposit; others will receive paper checks or prepaid debit cards in the mail.

Trump’s eleventh hour signing of the bill — which was passed in Congress earlier last week — may provide temporary relief for an economically struggling American public, but the delay comes at the expense of those enrolled in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs.

Both programs were part of the historic expansion of the federal unemployment system that Congress enacted in the $2

trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stability (CARES) Act passed in late March. The former allowed independent and self-employed workers as well as those who can’t work due to the pandemic to qualify for up to 39 weeks of payments. The Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, on the other hand, provided an extra $300 weekly payment to people who run out of state payments.

Both programs would have expired on Dec. 31, 2020.

Roughly 12 million people were enrolled in either program and would have received their last payment this weekend. The passage of this new bill means an extra 10 weeks, but because of Trump’s delayed signing of the bill, beneficiaries won’t receive a payment for the final week of the year. n

er matters not COVID related.

“Routine emergency care is being slowed down. So, if you think this doesn’t impact you, if you think somehow you’re immune from impact of COVID, there’s the direct impact that is the transmission of this virus,” Newsom said.

“There is the indirect impact, God forbid, you have a stroke or a heart attack, you have a car accident or you have other acute care needs. The impacts of this virus, this pandemic, is being felt on the entire hospital system, and that impact obviously could impact each and every one of us.”

Newsom on Monday also announced that the state has opted into the federal COVID19 Pharmacy Partnership in which CVS and Walgreens will

administer Pfizer vaccines to residents and staff in long-term care facilities.

CVS and Walgreens will start with nursing homes, which will take an estimated 3-4 weeks, and then vaccinate staff and residents in assisted living, residential care and other longterm care facilities.

Approximately 499 nursing homes will be provided vaccine by CVS and 357 by Walgreens. The vaccines will be administered by pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and nurses. Pharmacy technicians are participating under a recent waiver by the Board of Pharmacy that requires appropriate supervision under California law and specialized training, according to the governor’s office. n

CHRISTMAS JOY. Children play with gifted toys received for Christmas along Salvia Street, Saint Dominic Novaliches, Fairview in Quezon City on Saturday, December 26. Gift-giving to children is a tradition in the area on Christmas day.

PNA photo by Oliver Marquez

California’s stay-at-home orders to remain... More than 2,900 health care workers died...

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PAGE A1 you on those four-week projections moving forward around that date as well.”

Meanwhile, Northern California is the state’s only region that hasn’t fallen under the orders as its ICU capacity sits at 29.3%.

California has 2,155,976 co nfirmed cases, and 24,284 COVID-19 deaths to date.

The 7-day positivity rate is 11.6% and the 14-day positivity rate is 12.5%.

Currently, 19,766 individuals who are COVID-19 positive are hospitalized and 4,228 are in the ICU. With the continued surge and hospitals being stretched thin, the governor also warned that it could prevent others from receiving emergency care for oth-

Metro Manila, 9 other areas remain under...

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Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said that the government’s priority is also to prevent the new COVID-19 strain from entering the Philippines.

“Our focus now is to prevent

the entry of the new variant in our country,” Año said.

Based on reports, the new variant of COVID-19 from the UK spreads 70% faster.

The Philippines has imposed a temporary travel ban on all

flights from the UK until January 14, 2021.

To date, 470,650 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the country, with 9,124 fatalities and 438,780 recoveries. n

STOP THE SURGE Wear a mask

Stay home

Washing hands frequently

Stay 6 feet apart

covid19.ca.gov

gative project by KHN and The Guardian to track every health care worker who dies of COVID19.

One of those lost, Vincent DeJesus, 39, told his brother Neil that he’d be in deep trouble if he spent much time with a COVID-positive patient while wearing the surgical mask provided to him by the Las Vegas hospital where he worked. DeJesus died on Aug. 15.

Another fatality was Sue Williams-Ward, a 68-year-old home health aide who earned $13 an hour in Indianapolis, and bathed, dressed and fed clients without wearing any PPE, her husband said. She was intubated for six weeks before she died May 2.

“Lost on the Frontline” is prompting new government action to explore the root cause of health care worker deaths and take steps to track them better.

Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services recently asked the National Academy of Sciences for a “rapid expert consultation” on why so many health care workers are dying in the U.S., citing the count of fallen workers by The Guardian and KHN. “The question is, where are they becoming infected?” asked Michael Osterholm, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory team and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “That is clearly a critical issue we need to answer and we don’t have that.”

The Dec. 10 report by the national academies suggests a new federal tracking system and specially trained contact tracers who would take PPE policies and availability into consideration.

Doing so would add critical knowledge that could inform generations to come and give meaning to the lives lost.

“Those [health care workers] are people who walked into places of work every day because they cared about patients, putting food on the table for families, and every single one of those lives matter,” said Sue Anne Bell, a University of Michigan assistant professor of nursing and co-author of the national academies report.

The recommendations come at a fraught moment for health care workers, as some are getting the COVID-19 vaccine while others are fighting for their lives amid the highest levels of infec-

Over 2,900 health care workers are estimated to have died from the COVID-19 since March.

Kaiser Health News collage

tion the nation has seen.

The toll continues to mount.

In Indianapolis, for example, 41-year-old nurse practitioner Kindra Irons died Dec. 1. She saw seven or eight home health patients per week while wearing full PPE, including an N95 mask and a face shield, according to her husband, Marcus Irons.

The virus destroyed her lungs so badly that six weeks on the most aggressive life support equipment, ECMO, couldn’t save her, he said.

Marcus Irons said he is now struggling financially to support their two youngest children, ages 12 and 15. “Nobody should have to go through what we’re going through,” he said.

In Massachusetts, 43-yearold Mike “Flynnie” Flynn oversaw transportation and laundry services at North Shore Medical Center, a hospital in Salem, Massachusetts. He and his wife were also raising young children, ages 8, 10 and 11.

Flynn, who shone at fatherdaughter dances, fell ill in late November and died Dec. 8.

He had a heart attack at home on the couch, according to his father, Paul Flynn. A hospital spokesperson said he had full access to PPE and free testing on-site.

Since the first months of the pandemic, more than 70 reporters at The Guardian and KHN have scrutinized numerous governmental and public data sources, interviewed the bereaved and spoken with health care experts to build a count.

The total number includes fatalities identified by labor unions, obituaries and news outlets and in online postings by

the bereaved, as well as by relatives of the deceased. The previous total announced by The Guardian and KHN was approximately 1,450 health care worker deaths. The new number reflects the inclusion of data reported by nursing homes and health facilities to the federal and state governments. These deaths include the facility names but not worker names. Reporters crosschecked each record to ensure fatalities did not appear in the database twice.

The tally has been widely cited by other media as well as by members of Congress.

Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) referenced the data citing the need for a pending bill that would provide compensation to the families of health care workers who died or sustained long-term disabilities from COVID-19.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) mentioned the tally in a Senate Finance Committee hearing about the medical supply chain.

“The fact is,” he said, “the shortages of PPE have put our doctors and nurses and caregivers in grave danger.”

This story is part of “Lost on the Frontline,” an ongoing project from The Guardian and Kaiser Health News that aims to document the lives of health care workers in the U.S. who die from COVID-19, and to investigate why so many are victims of the disease.

This story was produced

by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

(Christina Jewett, Robert Lewis and Melissa Bailey / Kaiser Health News)

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Dateline USa

NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL • JANUARy 1-7, 2021

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California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission releases new interactive app

GETTING BY. Shoppers wait to be fetched by vehicles outside a supermarket in Dasmarinas City, Cavite on Saturday, December 26. In the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, Filipinos get by with traditional Christmas celebrations, simpler this time, under strict safety health protocols.

PNA photo by Gil Calinga

Prop 19 major changes take effect in first trimester of 2021 SF Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu advises property owners to take note of February, April deadlines

by Joseph

peralta AJPress

THE passage of Proposition 19 in last November’s elections by a vote of 51 to 49 percent will herald changes to the transfer of properties between family members, and seniors/severely disabled persons/victims of wildfire or natural disaster taking a favorable assessment on a home purchase.

San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu in a Zoom conference call in mid-December issued a warning to Californians to take a look at their situation, read about the new law and determine their course of action as the first one of the two major changes made by Prop 19, which affects transfers of inherited property (from parent to child or from grandparent to grandchild), begins on February 16, 2021.

“You want to get this done early,” Assessor-Record Chu told media present at the Zoom call. “You don’t want this done at the last minute.”

According to Chu, since February 15 is a holiday, San Franciscans wishing to complete paperwork before the Feb. 16 deadline must file complete their paperwork at the soonest time possible to avoid any delays. She anticipates that there may be a lot of people filing paperwork with their office so she is advising SF residents to get a move on with the steps needed to complete any changes they need with regard to their properties.

As the Assessor-Recorder office is still closed for physical visits, those wishing to secure forms or find information can go to https://sfassessor.org.

Information about Prop 19 is available in the site; in-language translations can be found on the Prop 19 page in Chinese, Tagalog and Spanish.

“We have put resources into a single, consolidated website that shows information on Prop 19.”

Chu explained, as she showed call participants how site visitors can scroll down to see information, quick tables and a video on Prop 19.

According to Chu, property owners can submit forms in multiple ways – electronically (aside from property owner himself/herself, this can also be done through title companies, law offices or banks), via a dropoff box located at Grove Street near City Hall which is checked by their office three times a day, or by mailing documents to their

office.

Assessor-Recorder Chu added that while their office staff will try to record documents that come into their office before 4pm each day, it may become a challenge to do so if the volume of paperwork that comes into their office as the Feb. 16 date nears increases exponentially, especially if a lot of property owners want to transfer their properties to their children or grandchildren.

Chu also added a caveat to those wishing to transfer their properties to family members: If you do transfer your property to SF Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu a family member, then you don’t Photo from sfassessor.gov own it anymore. As such, Chu is advising people to look closely at their situation and make a decision, which may include consultations with family members, that best serves them.

Chu also announced during the Zoom call that the SF Assessor-Recorder Office will hold one of its Digital Family Wealth Forum Series on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 entitled “Understanding the Benefits & Impacts of CA Prop 19” from 12 noon to 1 p.m.

The online event is designed to provide families with the necessary tools to understand the new law and help continue their family’s financial planning.

This free online event, while offered by their office, can be attended by any Californian wishing more information on Prop 19. To register, click on https:// docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FA IpQLScewSij6viuh0iOvEqxKXljEJMYjtXr30vSCEcFFXZ17_G6_Q/ viewform. Those wishing more information can contact the SF Assessor-Recorder office at (415) 554-7434 or by sending an email to nicole.agbayani@sfgov.org.

Another online event is planned for the Spring of 2021 which will tackle Prop 19 benefits for seniors, the severely disabled and victims of natural disasters.

As for legal challenges to Prop 19, Chu said that she has not heard of any group or organization that has filed any court cases versus the new law.

“The implementation of this law is very fast,” Chu said. “The first part is going into effect in February of 2021 so everyone will have to act fast. While there is still some information not available to us as state legislators and the State Board of Equalization go over the fine print of the law, I encourage everyone to read as much about it, attend the forum and file their paperwork early if they want to make changes.” n

Duterte warns US: No vaccine...

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means. We are not blind followers. We cannot be dictated by anyone),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.

The Philippines on February 11, 2020 sent a notice to Washington that terminated the defense agreement.

In June, the abrogation of the VFA was suspended “in light of political and other developments in the region.”

Duterte admitted that he became “a cynic” to the U.S., stressing that if the country really wants to help the Philippines, it should show through delivering vaccines against COVID-19.

“Do not believe in that sh*t, na America delivering kaagad.

Hindi nga nila ma-deliver agad sa kanilang lugar, dito pa (Do not believe in that sh*t that America will deliver immediately. They can’t even deliver it right away in their area, what more here)?” he said.

“Naging cynic ako sa kanila.

Kung ibigay, eh di ibigay (I’ve become a cynic to them. If they give it, then give it). If you want to help, you deliver (and) stop talking. What we need is the vaccine, not your verbose speeches,” he added.

Pfizer applies for EUA in PH U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. has applied for

Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of its COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines, according to Malacañang.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Rolando Domingo confirmed Pfizer submitted its application on Dec. 23.

“It will take FDA 21 days to evaluate and approve the EUA but vaccination would start as soon as stocks become available,” he explained Saturday.

Domingo, for his part, said Pfizer will not have difficulties in obtaining the EUA for its COVID vaccine.

“Pag nanggaling na sa (If it has already come from) stringent regulatory authority like the U.S. FDA and UK, there would be minimal requirement,” he said.

Meanwhile, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. announced that U.S. drugmaker Moderna is “on board” and “accelerating” a huge shipment of COVID-19 vaccine to the country.

“More good news from [Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez]: Moderna on board and accelerating huge shipment. Everything’s falling back into place,” he said in a tweet. n

SACRAMENTO — California State Treasurer Fiona Ma on December 22 announced the release of a new application (app) for the California Debt Financing Guide (Debt Guide). Until now, the Debt Guide has only been available as a static PDF document.

The app was developed by the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (CDIAC), which Treasurer Ma chairs.

The new app provides public finance information in an interactive way to help members of the public, policy makers, and the public finance community find information quickly.

“The new interactive application responds to the needs of present-day finance officers, many of whom require quick answers to complex questions from an objective, balanced and easily accessible source,” said Treasurer Ma. The app is available at www. debtguide.treasurer.ca.gov.

The Debt Guide is the 2020 update to CDIAC’s flagship resource, the California Debt Issuance Primer. Information in the Debt Guide are organized to respond to the problem-based challenges facing finance officers in local government.

“This version of the Debt Guide enables users to easily search for public finance terms and concepts and then save their personal notes and bookmarks for future use,” said CDIAC Executive Director Robert Berry.

California has more than 4,400 units of government, many of

which borrow to finance for infrastructure that the public depends on to promote commerce, enable essential services for citizens, and support California’s economy.

As designed, the app enables users to create an account to highlight sections, save notes and bookmark sections for future use.

In addition, the application can be accessed and viewed on any personal device. One highlight of the application is the Legal References appendix to the Debt Guide.

“One of the most important aspects of the Debt Guide app is that it can be accessed on any device, a shortcut to the application can be saved to the home screen of your phone, tablet, or computer and easily accessed when needed,” says Berry.

“The new Debt Guide application complements CDIAC’s vision to provide educational content in a form and environment adapted to the needs of California public finance community and how works gets done,” he added.

CDIAC improves the practice of public finance in California by providing responsive and reliable information, education, and guidance to state and local public agencies and other public finance professionals. For more information, contact CDIAC at https://www. treasurer.ca.gov/cdiac/index.asp.

The California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission provides information, education and technical assistance on debt issuance and public fund investments to local public agencies and other

public finance professionals. In 1981, the California Debt Advisory Commission was established as the State’s clearinghouse for public debt issuance information and required it to assist state and local agencies with the monitoring, issuance and management of public debt. The Commission’s name was changed to the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (CDIAC) in 1996 and its mission was expanded to cover public investments.

Fiona Ma is California’s 34th State Treasurer and is the first woman of color and the first woman Certified Public Accountant (CPA) elected to the position. The State Treasurer’s Office was created in the California Constitution in 1849. It provides financing for schools, roads, housing, recycling and waste management, hospitals, public facilities, and other crucial infrastructure projects that better the lives of residents. California is the world’s fifth-largest economy and Treasurer Ma is the state’s primary banker. Her office processes more than $2 trillion in transactions within a typical year. She provides transparency and oversight for the government’s investment portfolio and accounts, as well as for the state’s surplus funds. Treasurer Ma oversees an investment portfolio of about $103 billion, $32.2 billion of which are local government funds. She serves as agent of sale for all State bonds, and is trustee on outstanding debt of $93 billion.

(CA State Treasurer’s Office Release)

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january 1-7, 2021 • nOrCaL aSIan jOurnaL

Dateline USa

Census Bureau releases 2020 demographic analysis estimates

THE U.S. Census Bureau released its 2020 Demographic Analysis, which provides a range of estimates — low, middle and high — for the nation’s population as of April 1, 2020. Instead of collecting responses from households like the 2020 Census, Demographic Analysis uses current and historical vital statistics records and other data to estimate the size of the U.S. population. By releasing these estimates ahead of the first results from the 2020 Census, Demographic Analysis offers an independent measure of the population for comparison with the official census counts.

Based on varying assumptions about the population, Demographic Analysis produced three different estimates for the size of the U.S. population on April 1, 2020: Low: 330,730,000 Middle: 332,601,000 High: 335,514,000 “The Census Bureau goes to great lengths to ensure the quality of our work,” said Dr. Ron Jarmin, Census Bureau deputy director and chief operating officer. “Demographic Analysis is a valuable resource to help us analyze the completeness of the 2020 Census population count.”

Demographic Analysis estimates are developed using birth and death records, data on international migration, and Medicare records. The range accounts for the levels of uncertainty in the input data and methods used to produce the estimates.

For example, birth and death estimates are regarded as relatively precise since they’re based on the National Vital Statistics System which is very accurate and complete. However, there is greater uncertainty in the estimates of international migration because administrative records are not available to produce those estimates. Instead, we use data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and other sources to estimate international migration.

“Demographic Analysis enables us to utilize already existing data, such as current and historical administrative records and survey data, to estimate the size of the population,” said Dr. Eric Jensen, senior technical expert for Demographic Analysis in the Population Division. “We have done Demographic Analysis since the

1960 Census, and over time our estimates have benefited not only from methodological improvements, but improvements to the available administrative records.”

The final 2020 Census results will be compared against the 2020 Demographic Analysis estimates to produce estimates of potential net coverage error by age, sex, broad race and Hispanic origin groups. A report detailing the 2020 Demographic Analysis estimates of net overcounts and undercounts is planned for release in 2021.

Additionally, in 2021 and 2022, we plan to produce new, experimental sets of estimates, including: Estimates for the Hispanic and non-Hispanic populations by sex for ages 0 to 39 (expanded from ages 0 to 29 released today) in 2021.

Estimates for young children (ages 0 to 4) will be available for the first time at the state and county levels in 2022. These estimates will incorporate current birth records, which are not yet available from local jurisdictions.

Estimates for the population ages 0 to 17 for White, Black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races, and by Hispanic origin in 2022.

These estimates incorporate race detail available in both birth and death records since 2003.

The Demographic Analysis estimates are one of two methods used to measure coverage in a census and help us understand what population groups may have been undercounted or overcounted. The other method is part of the Coverage Measurement Program and uses information from the Post-Enumeration Survey, an independent Census Bureau survey, to estimate how many people and housing units were missed or counted erroneously in the 2020 Census. Coverage estimates from the Post-Enumeration Survey are scheduled to be available in November 2021.

The Census Bureau is working hard to process 2020 Census data in order to deliver complete and accurate state population counts as close to the December 31, 2020, statutory deadline as possible.

Demographic analysis highlights In addition to the estimates of

the total population for the nation, 2020 Demographic Analysis also provides national-level estimates of the U.S. population by age, sex, broad race and Hispanic origin groups.

Specifically, estimates are available for the number of people who are: Black alone/non-Black alone by sex for ages 0 to 85 and above.

Black alone or in combination/ non-Black alone or in combination by sex for ages 0 to 85 and above (expanded from 0 to 29 in the 2010 Demographic Analysis).

Hispanic/non-Hispanic by sex for ages 0 to 29 (expanded from 0 to 19 in 2010).

These estimates can only be produced in limited race detail because they rely on historical records and measures of race that have changed over time.

Other highlights from today’s release include, in order of low, middle and high estimates: The median age of the U.S. population was estimated to be 38.4, 38.5 and 38.7, respectively.

The percentage of the U.S. population estimated to be Black alone was 13.5, 13.7 and 13.9, respectively.

The percentage of the population estimated to be Black alone or in combination with other races was 14.9, 15.1 and 15.4, respectively.

The sex ratio (number of males per 100 females) for the total population was 98.1 in the low and high series and 98.2 in the middle series. The sex ratio for the population under the age of 30 was 104.2 in the low series and 104.3 in the middle and high series.

For the population under the age of 30, the percentage estimated to be Hispanic was 23.0, 24.6 and 26.0, respectively. Demographic Analysis estimates of the population by Hispanic origin are not produced for all ages because the Hispanic origin option was not widely available on birth and death records until the 1990s.

Demographic Analysis only estimates the national population for these demographic categories, so its estimates cannot be compared to more detailed 2020 Census data that will show the population in states, cities, counties, census tracts and at the block level. n

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RAINY SUNDAY. Traffic begins to build up along northbound of Roxas Boulevard in Manila due to heavy rains on Sunday, December 27. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration warned of moderate to heavy rains in Metro Manila and many parts of the country due to two low pressure areas (LPAs) that entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility.

PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan

Non-profit offers US citizenship test materials...

PAGE A1 t

the exam were focused solely on memorizing the English questions and corresponding answers,” Sarah Ivory, president of USAHello, told the Asian Journal in an email.

“Time and time again we found that when people failed to pass the civics portion of their exam, it was because the phrasing was slightly different in the in-person interview and the memorization tools they had used were not triggered,” she added.

The free translations aim to not just help future Americans study for and pass the exam, but to help them fully understand the content so they are answering the questions with the benefit of the larger context.

“Rather than repeating memorized responses, people who learn in their first language may be more likely to comprehend the material,” Ivory explained.

USAHello released the translated study materials based on the number of speakers of those languages inside the U.S. Of the nine

offered languages, seven represent the top languages spoken in the country.

Tagalog, a language spoken in the Philippines, ranked fourth, with 1.7 million speakers in the U.S. Spanish leads the ranking right after English with 41 million speakers. Other languages in the top seven are Chinese (3.5 million), Vietnamese (1.5 million), Arabic (1.2 million), French (1.2 million), and Korean (1.1 million).

USAHello said it is planning to add more languages soon.

The naturalization test has two components: an English test, which has not changed, and an expanded version of the civics test.

The English test allows the applicant to demonstrate an understanding of the language including the ability to read, write, and speak basic English.

Meanwhile, the revised civic test assesses applicants’ knowledge of American history, government and civic values. An immigration

officer will ask the applicant 20 questions from a list of 128 civics test questions. The applicant needs to answer at least 12 of the 20 questions correctly to pass the revised version.

Previously, the civics test only asked the applicant up to 10 questions from the list of 100 civics test questions. The applicant needed to answer six questions correctly to pass the test.

The revised civics test did not change the passing score, which remains at 60%.

Applicants who apply for naturalization on or after December 1, 2020 will take the updated version of the test.

USAHello also offers trustworthy and verified information about recent news and policy updates, such as changes to immigration programs like the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, as well as articles about understanding American laws and cultures, educational opportunities, and job preparedness. (Ritchel Mendiola / AJPress)

PAL readies fleet for vaccine...

PAGE A1 destinations Coron (Busuanga), Siargao and Boracay.

Its Cebu hub also continues to expand with flights to Clark, Puerto Princesa, Legazpi, Bacolod, General Santos and Siargao.

PAL is likewise operating regularly from Davao to Zamboanga and vice versa and revived its service to Tagbilaran (Panglao airport) in November after the reopening of Bohol province to domestic tourism.

The airline said it is likewise

increasing flight frequencies on most domestic routes, including those from Manila to Laoag, Legazpi, Puerto Princesa, Kalibo, Cotabato, Butuan, Ozamiz and Pagadian; and likewise between Cebu and both Davao and Butuan.

“We are mobilizing more aircraft and hiking flights throughout our network to further help boost the recovery of the economy, including the tourism sector which is a major provider of jobs and business,” PAL senior assistant

vice president for Philippine sales Harry Inoferio said.

“At the same time, we are here to help our fellow Filipinos come home to be reunited with their families this Christmas and fly them back to their residences and work sites abroad,” he said.

PAL has resumed services to 25 domestic and 32 international destinations.

Prior to the pandemic, it was flying to 38 international destinations and 30 domestic destinations. n

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Dateline PhiliPPines

A

Find best vaccine, set aside geopolitics, Zubiri urges Duterte

by DJ

Yap Inquirer.net

MANILA — Malacañang needs to set aside geopolitics for now and give priority to finding the best coronavirus vaccine available, instead of giving preferential treatment to China’s more expensive and less effective Sinovac brand, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Sunday, December 27.

Zubiri made the call a day after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to go ahead with the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) unless the United States guaranteed at least 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the Philippines.

He urged Duterte “to temporarily stop looking at our geopolitical relationship” with China and the United States, among other allies, and instead focus on the welfare of the Filipino people.

“What I am asking Malaca-

ñang is to choose the best [vaccine],” the senator said in a radio interview, pointing out that even China recently ordered 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine codeveloped by Pfizer of the United States and BioNTech of Germany.

“We have so few resources. Tax collection is down. Not enough cash is circulating. Let us [put our money] to maximum use. We need the most affordable [option] and most importantly, reviewed by science,” he said.

“COVID is not a joke. I was infected twice. This is not a joke,” said Zubiri, who has recovered after testing positive twice for the coronavirus.

The senator said he understood Mr. Duterte’s “frustration” after the President leveraged the VFA in vaccine procurement talks.

“If they are not able to deliver a minimum of 20 million vaccines, they better get out. No vaccine, no stay here,” Duterte said dur-

ing a meeting in Malacañang on Saturday, alluding to the VFA, a 1999 agreement allowing periodic visits of American troops in the Philippines and the holding of war games with Filipino soldiers.

In February, Duterte announced the termination of the VFA, citing the country’s independent foreign policy. But in June, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said the nullification had been suspended amid the pandemic and geopolitical tensions.

Zubiri said the President’s threat might have been a sign of his growing anger “because other countries have jumped ahead of us” in procuring COVID-19 vaccines.

“Nevertheless, we have other alternatives anyway. India has one and it requires two doses for only P366 per person. It’s really cheap but we have other options. Pfizer is one of them but we should look at others,” he said. n

Some Cabinet members, troops get vaccines ahead of FDA approval MANILA — A number of Cabinet members and soldiers have already been inoculated with coronavirus vaccines, government officials confirmed, despite an earlier statement that medical frontliners would be top priority and despite no vaccines being authorized for use yet.

The confirmation was prompted by President Rodrigo Duterte’s comments that many people had already received vaccines from Chinese government-run Sinopharm.

“I know some from the Cabinet and the Presidential Security Guards,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said in mixed Filipino and English in an interview aired over dzMM TeleRadyo. “Until those people confirm it for themselves I cannot say their names.”

In a separate statement on Monday afternoon, December 28, the Armed Forces of the Philippines confirmed that the soldiers who were vaccinated first belonged to the Presidential Security Group. This came after

Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, AFP spokesperson, initially stressed at the Laging Handa briefing that there is no vaccination happening within the military.

Asked if the AFP would be willing to submit to an inquiry by the FDA, Arevalo said: “That’s a hypothetical question. Let’s find out what happened first.”

The Palace earlier in December said that 1.76 million health workers are first on the list of priority beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccination. Uniformed personnel like the military are fifth priority in the government plan to vaccinate 24.7 million Filipinos against COVID-19.

As reports of military personnel getting jabs of unauthorized COVID-19 vaccines circulated, the Department of Health maintained in a statement later Monday that all vaccines should undergo the evaluation and regulatory process of the country’s regulatory and expert bodies.

“We also reiterate that the use of unregistered products poses

harm to a person’s health and safety. This is why only vaccines which have been approved and found to be safe should be administered,” it said.

US drugmaker Pfizer has applied for Emergency Use Authorization, which would make vaccines that have yet to be registered available for use. The FDA has not issued any authorizations for any COVID-19 vaccine.

But Palace spokesman Harry Roque saw things differently, saying at a press briefing later Monday: “It’s not illegal to be vaccinated with an unregistered vaccine. What is prohibited is the distribution and sale.”

“Let’s just accept that our military who guards our security is now safe from COVID when they can do their job. I don’t think [Duterte authorized the inoculation of soldiers.] It must have been the decision of the commanders and the soldiers,” he also said. (Franco Luna with a report from Gaea Katreena Cabico/ Philstar.com)

BUSINESS AS USUAL. Two men prepare bouquets of flowers at the Manila Flower Center on the intersection of Laong Laan Road and Dos Castillas Street in Sampaloc, Manila on Saturday, December 26. Several business establishments have been allowed to operate to slowly revive the country’s economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

PNA photo by Joey O. Razon

Duterte will fail to destroy CPP-NPA – Joma

by Darwin

pesco ManilaTimes.net

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will continue to fail to destroy the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPPNPA), its founding chairman Jose Maria Sison said on Saturday, December 26.

In a message for the CPP’s 52nd founding anniversary, Sison said Duterte will continue to “drive more people to take the road of armed revolution.”

“Now the Duterte regime is trying hard to surpass the state terrorism and brutality of the Marcos fascist dictatorship. He will continue to fail in his futile attempt to destroy the armed revolution,” he said in his message.

In a message for the CPP’s 52nd founding anniversary, Sison said Duterte will continue to “drive more people to take the road of armed revolution.”

“Now the Duterte regime is trying hard to surpass the state terrorism and brutality of the Marcos fascist dictatorship. He will continue to fail in his futile attempt to destroy the armed revolution,” he said in his message.

He bared that the CPP-NPA continues to grow in strength, as they are developing guerilla fronts in every region to become revolu-

tionary base areas.

“The time will surely come when NPA battalions and regiments will accomplish the strategic offensive on a nationwide scale,” the exiled CPP-NPA founder added.

Sison said the CPP now has tens of thousands of members “and a mass following in the millions.”

Also, he said the CPP recruits and develops a large number of new cadres and members through theoretical and political education and mass work, among others.

He said Duterte “is going crazy” by using anti-communist witch hunts.

“The regime is engaged in blind red-tagging, slander, extortion, arbitrary arrests, torture and murder,” he said.

Sison maintained that the CPPNPA is not a terrorist group as it adheres to international law on human rights and humanitarian conduct in the civil war and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Human Law. Moreover, he said that the CPP, NPA and National Democratic Front Philippines are willing to negotiate with the future administration.

“They are willing to negotiate with a future regime that will

reject state terrorism and seek peace negotiations,” he said.

On Friday, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the CPPNPA has no reason to celebrate its anniversary, as the members should be “ashamed of what it has done to the Filipino people.”

According to Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Gilbert Gapay, the CPP-NPA is already in crisis with the erosion of its mass base.

The military said it managed to prevent the gathering of NPA members in Sultan Kudarat on Christmas Day. The troops from 6th Infantry “Kampilan” Division conducted an operation to prevent the attempt of hundreds of CPP-NPA members belonging to Far South Mindanao Region to commemorate their anniversary in the hinterlands of Mount Lumuton in Palimbang town, Sultan Kudarat.

The military operation resulted in the death of three NPA members while other reported deaths were still being confirmed.

Recovered were several highpowered firearms, improvised explosive devices, laptops, two generator sets, subversive documents and other war materials.

Clearing operations were being conducted by troops in the area. n

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JANUARY 1-7, 2021 • NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL

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FeatURes

OPiniOn

Christmas tragedy

FOR a family in Taguig, it has been a horrifyingly tragic Christmas. It started on Christmas Eve, when 28-year-old mother of two Karina Siacunco was found dead at their home. Relatives disputed her husband Aiko’s claim that she had hanged herself.

On Christmas Day, Aiko, wearing a bloodstained shirt, showed up at a police station in the city and said he had strangled to death his threeyear-old daughter and one-year-old son in their room. Aiko himself had reportedly tried to hang himself. Police rushed to his home, where they found the children’s bodies on a mattress.

Police said Siacunco had been depressed and had been fighting with his wife, who worked at a call center, over his failure to find a job since lockdowns were imposed in mid-March to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The tragedy that befell the Siacuncos is an extreme manifestation of the mental distress that health professionals say has been on the rise as a result of the difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. For household breadwinners in particular, the loss of jobs or sources of livelihood can be deeply stressful and can put a strain on family relationships.

The Department of Health, the University of the Philippines and private civic organizations

have been operating hotlines to assist those who are suffering from mental distress and to dissuade people from committing suicide. The hotlines have recorded spikes in calls since the start of the COVID lockdowns.

Such mental health services, however, remain limited. Even in organizations that provide psychological counseling and require members to pass psychiatric exams, the services can be inadequate. This has been manifested in the coldblooded murder of a mother and her son in Paniqui, Tarlac on Dec. 20 by police M/Sgt. Jonel Nuezca during a heated altercation.

The government has institutionalized the promotion of mental health, with the enactment of Republic Act 11036 in 2018. Yet limited resources and the lack of trained personnel have slowed down the rollout of mental health programs, and millions of Filipinos lack access to such services.

This campaign also calls for support from local governments as well as the engagement of the

Editorial

Philstar.com photo Philstar.com photo

community and various sectors such as schools and spiritual counselors. The tragedy that befell the Siacuncos lends urgency to the need for a

more aggressive campaign to promote mental health together with physical wellness in this pandemic. (Philstar.com)

Honoring our heroes on the frontline in the fight against COVID-19: What happens when the doctor becomes the patient?

The Fil-Am Perspective GEL SANTOS-RELOS THE doctors, nurses, and caregivers who are fighting on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic are our modern-day heroes. They work long hours and are exposed to the COVID19 virus on so many levels. What happens when these heroes get infected by the virus? What happens when the doctor becomes the patient?

Let me share with you my interview with a colleague of my husband at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Redwood City, California.

Dr. Eric Kwon is an Asian American urologist and is among the frontliners who have no choice but to continue serving and providing care to his patients despite the threat of COVID-19.

In March, when the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, and just when the whole world was still learning more about this new virus, Dr. Kwon was infected by COVID-19. The doctor became the patient.

Q: Tell me about how you found out you were infected by the coronavirus.

Dr. Kwon: It was late March. We were learning how to put on and take off PPE, what to do in case someone had symptoms. And it was just it was actually very confusing. There was a lot of change, a lot of information. A lot of uncertainty. And a

lot of change, all at once.

And then one Saturday morning, I woke up and I felt I felt a little sick. A little runny nose, a slight cough headache. But mostly I was tired. That was [an] overwhelming feeling that I had throughout the entire disease process. So, took some Tylenol took a nap, what I thought would be a nap and eight hours later, I woke up. And to my surprise, the entire day had passed. And, but I felt better. So I didn’t think much of it. So I went about my evening.

The next day, Sunday, no problem, no symptoms. I thought, ‘Oh this must have been just a hard week at work, and I was just tired.’ You know sometimes when you’re really tired, you can feel sick.

That Monday, I went to work.

I was okay. That next Tuesday, I went to work, and around nine in the morning when our team huddled to talk about the day, I remember having a headache.

And I said, ‘Oh, that’s funny, you know, I got a good night’s rest, took an Advil, got through my morning.’

And then right around noon, when we’re finished with the morning patients, my partner came over to me and said, ‘Hey let’s go get lunch.’ I remember putting on my white coat, and as I put my arms into the sleeves, I could feel it was like sandpaper.

My body just ached and I felt a

slight fever. ...My whole body was just very achy [and at] lunch, [I] didn’t think much of it...And I was thinking to myself, I wasn’t thinking I have coronavirus. I was just thinking: ‘Gosh, I hope I’m not getting sick with the flu.’ Because the very next day, Wednesday, was the start of spring break for my kids, and I was supposed to be off for two weeks. And the trip that we had planned was already canceled. So we were thinking, what else are we going to do, we’re going to, maybe, you know, do something local, you know, spend some time with the family.

And then that night, I got home.

And that’s when it really got serious with fevers, chills, more body aches, headache, joint pains, but really just feeling terribly tired. I just wanted to lay down, I could not get out of bed. And so that was the beginning of it.

Q: How do you think you got infected?

Dr. Kwon: The next morning I get up, I’m thinking I’m looking back [at] what happened. At that time, we were not wearing masks...So, we did not understand that this was an airborne disease. So we were talking about six feet social distance. We were talking about hand washing and cleaning surfaces. But really, in hindsight, we now know that this is an airborne virus. So, if you’re indoors, even if you’re

Back on track

Babe’s Eye View BABE ROMUALDEZ WITH clear instructions from President Duterte that anything that has to do with vaccine procurement begins and ends on COVID task force chief General Carlito Galvez’s desk, we can now all be assured that we are in good hands. Secretary Galvez can very well leverage his experience as a logistics expert to consolidate the diverse tasks needed to carry out the country’s national vaccine roadmap.

We have already turned over all the information including delivery timelines provided by American pharmaceutical firms ready to supply our country with their vaccines – and the rest is now up for Secretary Galvez’s perusal. I spoke with him a few days ago and he said they are looking at four or five suppliers of the vaccines assuring us of a supply of 60-70 million doses no later than the

middle of next year. As soon as he instructs us, we will try to work on earlier deliveries from this end.

The secretary has also issued an assurance that the country is “on track” and that we are still able to make up for the delays in the negotiations.

“We are working on getting a fair share of the vaccines in the global market, given that 80% of the vaccines have already been procured by the manufacturers’ country of origin and countries now in the height of the ‘second wave,’” he said.

The private sector is joining forces with the government to support the massive logistical requirements in the rollout of the vaccines as seen in the big turnout during the recent virtual Vaccine Logistics Summit. Coordination between the public and private sectors, including global agencies, was emphasized in the fight against the pandemic.

As underscored by Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation president Butch Meily, “Collaboration between the govern-

ment and the private sector in the distribution of the COVID19 vaccines ensures the best use of trucks, airlines, hospitals and other resources in one of the most complex logistics exercises ever.”

The whole world is hoping to recover from the ravages of the pandemic, although the case rate is still very high, especially here in the United States where over 18 million have been infected. More than one million Americans have been vaccinated starting with the frontliners, with more than 20 million doses set for distribution in the next few weeks.

But as health experts have cautioned – foremost among them U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci – people still need to be vigilant with the wearing of masks and the practice of social distancing. Based on past history and even during the time when no vaccines were available, wearing masks is an effective way to stop the spread of an infectious disease.

six feet apart — it doesn’t really matter. Masks can help. It’s not everything. But you really need to provide protection for your airway.

So before I became sick, even though we knew this virus was raging, we did not even in the hospital, and in the clinic here at the Medical Center, we did not have a mask policy. In fact, we were worried about using up the limited supply of masks that we had. So we were very much in the mode of preserving masks and PPE rather than just making sure that everyone was using them everywhere.

And of course, depending on the advisory coming from [the] CDC and the health officials. But the fact is we’re just learning more about this on COVID-19...

In my personal opinion, I think probably a lot of people would agree that the way we responded, our initial response to this virus was a complete public health failure.

Q: How did this experience change you?

Dr. Kwon: You know, I’m middle-aged. Before this happened.

I considered myself to be young and healthy. Now, I know that I’m old. And I know that because I realized that I am no longer invincible.

When you’re young, when you’re healthy, you don’t think that something bad like this can happen to you.

And as a physician, maybe as health care workers, we might have this little voice in our head, that says, I’m one of the good guys. Right. So, in a moral universe where there’s maybe you believe in karma. If you do good, good will come to you, if you work hard, you will be rewarded.

If you do the right thing. Maybe that will somehow protect you from being in harm’s way. All of those myths evaporated in a heartbeat — being young being healthy, never, ever hospitalized, don’t really go to the doctor ever, and wasn’t taking any medications.

Occasionally, you know, go in for vaccination for work, get the flu vaccine once a year. But other than that, my interaction with the medical world actually as a patient was quite minimal. And so, I had this thinking that it would not affect me at all — what a mistake that was. And now on the other side of having gone through a relatively severe bout of COVID, being in the ICU for several days, being sick and symptomatic for a couple of months. And now having some residual long haul symptoms that I’m still recovering from.

Q: How was it like being a patient? What insights did you learn from this health crisis in your own life?

Dr. Kwon: It’s been very humbling. And the thing that I think the way that I really changed is

my perspective on the people, the people that we depend on that. They’re always there quietly doing their work. And they’re in the background...when you really need them.

These are exceptional people that do the work every single day with hardly any recognition.

They’re not getting awards. This is not Hollywood. These are real life, everyday heroes. And the people who are most impactful for me, who have been the most impactful have been the nurses.

They are the ones that are literally on the frontlines putting themselves at risk, more, more than anybody else really and doing the hard work, providing the care. So, before all of this, of course, I am friends with the nurses and I know them, some of them personally, mostly in the operating room, where we have teams and we work together.

But after being a patient and directly receiving that care that that human touch, literally. You know I was quarantined for a total of five weeks. And during that five weeks, the only people that ever touched me were nurses, and that warm hand on my arm was reassuring.

The reassuring words, the medicine they brought, the ice packs that they put around me.

When my body felt like it was on fire. Those are the people. They are my heroes, and I appreciate

In the past few weeks, new strains of the novel coronavirus have been detected in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Initial reports indicate that the “UK variant” could be 70% more transmissible, although scientists say it does not seem to cause more severe illness.

Experts are also confident that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines would still be effective as they can be tweaked to combat the new strains.

It was quick on the part of President Duterte to suspend flights from the UK to ensure public health and safety. We have to accept the fact that developments like this will happen every now and then, which is why we have to continue to be vigilant, and people must maintain health and safety protocols for at least a year until the World Health Organization officially declares the pandemic over.

As the saying goes, it’s not over till it’s over since it will take time for the immunization of at least 60% of the world’s population. Clearly, lessons can be learned from this pandemic – described as unprecedented because the virus behaved in a

manner that defied all expectations, as it would not manifest any symptoms for one person while it could be fatal for another.

What is very clear is the need for a more accurate system of reporting and tracking to prevent the further spread of the virus. Definitely, all these lessons will help countries prepare better for any potential pandemic that could take place again. Billionaire Bill Gates’ foundation warned about a major pandemic 15 years ago.

No doubt it’s been a really difficult year, with so many sectors having been affected, especially our overseas Filipino workers. But deployment is starting to slowly pick up, according to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Several countries are also set to reopen their borders to foreign workers once their respective vaccine programs start to roll.

The government has also put together a package of livelihood assistance programs for OFWs who have been displaced due to the pandemic, along with college scholarships provided for their children.

In the meantime, Finance

Secretary Sonny Dominguez will be launching several virtual economic briefings to attract more companies that are relocating to Asia. Secretary Dominguez is confident that “the worst is over” and that the Philippines will be able to rebound strongly in 2021 given the “green shoots” that are coming up, among them our record-high gross international reserves that stood at $104 billion as of the end of October. The peso is also projected to strengthen even further in 2021 as the market “continues to focus on the Philippines’ strong macroeconomic fundamentals,” according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Ben Diokno.

All of us will never forget 2020, but we are all certainly looking forward to 2021 – confident that we are “back on track for the health and wealth of our country.” ***

u PAGE A7

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.

*** Email: babeseyeview@gmail.com

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A

Paniqui shooting victims Sonya and Frank Gregorio laid to rest

by Christian

Deiparine Philstar.com

Taguig Congressman Alan Peter Cayetano and newly-appointed House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco

ManilaTimes.net photos

House survives bitter speakership row

by Divina

nova Joy Dela ManilaTimes.net

Cruz foot down, calling Congress to a this year. Pero nandito pa rin

THE drawn-out, emotionally charged change of leadership ratcheted up the political tension in 2020 in the House of Representatives that was already struggling to adjust to the new realities brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

The dispute centered on the term-sharing deal arranged

by President Rodrigo Duterte to smoothen the transition in the speakership. The President convinced the two contenders, Taguig-Pateros’ Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque’s Lord Allan Velasco, to be speaker by turns during the 18th Congress.

Everyone seemed agreeable to the set-up. University of the Philippines Political Science Prof.

Maria Ela Atienza saw it as a way to unite different political parties and factions into a “supermajority” that supports Duterte.

Cayetano was Duterte’s running mate in the 2016 elections, while Velasco was the choice of the President’s party, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), for speaker.

The early months of the agreement went smoothly, with Cayetano assigning his allies to key House positions and Velasco content with staying in the background, patiently waiting his turn.

But soon relations between the two camps began to fray.

There were heated debates between the supporters of Cayetano and Velasco. Cayetano began to complain about attempts to topple him even before his turn was up, while Velasco’s camp decried the “inequitable” district allocations in the national budget.

Things came to a head in September, when Cayetano declared he would hang on to the post because the House needed a strong hand in coming up with an effective coronavirus response, something which he claimed Velasco was incapable of doing.

On September 30, Cayetano offered to resign, but decided to stay on as speaker after the House voted to turn down his offer.

The night before, Cayetano and Velasco met with the Duterte, assuring him they would abide by the term-sharing deal.

Velasco blasted Cayetano’s “political maneuverings” and “theatrics,” insisting that the turnover must take place by October 14.

The speakership row incensed Duterte, who saw it as a major obstruction in the swift passage of the 2021 national budget.

As the dispute heated up, the House was forced to suspend session without passing the 2021 budget. But more politically significant, it prevented an October 14 transition.

The President finally put his

special session from October 13 to 16 specifically for the passage of the budget.

Velasco seized the chance to go on the offensive. Assembling majority of the House membership at the Celebrity Sports Complex on October 12, his allies convened a session that voted to replace Cayetano with Velasco.

Questions on the legality of Velasco’s election were put to rest the following day, when 186 congressmen attended a special session at the Batasang Pambansa to ratify Velasco’s speakership.

Hours later, Cayetano announced his resignation in a Facebook post.

The Velasco-led House hit the ground running, reopening deliberations for the 2021 budget and passing it on third and final reading on October 16.

Velasco vowed to unite the House and restore its “integrity” and “sense of statesmanship” after what he called an “unnecessary turmoil.” He consolidated his hold on power, establishing a supermajority in the House which included Cayetano’s Nacionalista Party.

By December 16, Velasco’s ascendancy was complete. He also named 32 deputy speakers, 10 more than Cayetano had appointed.

While many regard the appointments as a way to reward Velasco’s allies, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who was among the new deputy speakers, said it was “a move in the right direction,” ensuring equal representation of all regions and political parties.

During Cayetano’s stint, Velasco’s allies were also stripped of sensitive posts. Among them were Oriental Mindoro First District Rep. Salvador Leachon, Velasco’s PDP-Laban partymate, who had been booted out as chairman of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, and 1-Pacman party-list Rep. Michael Romero, president of the Party-list Coalition that supported Velasco, who had been stripped of the deputy speaker post.

As soon as Velasco assumed office, Leachon was elected as senior deputy speaker and Romero regained his deputy speaker post.

Cayetano could not help but take a final swipe, accusing Velasco and his allies of prioritizing plans for the 2022 elections instead of ensuring funding for a coronavirus vaccine.

Velasco believes the House is up to the challenge of passing key legislation amid the pandemic and the calamities that have struck the country.

“Never has the mettle and resolve of government and our public servants been collectively and consecutively tested in recent memory than it has been

Honoring our heroes on the frontline in the fight...

PAGE A6 t them way more than I ever did.

Our mothers, our fathers in this war against the coronavirus...It’s really important to understand that, because there are only so many of them.

Our nurses have gotten sick, particularly in the spring, when PPE was in such short supply...

You know nobody likes to admit this but the United States, our healthcare system, we just were not prepared for, for many reasons. Supply chain being one of them. We just didn’t have what we needed. Let’s just face the facts.

So we were making do with what we have reusing and N-95 masks. We’re still reusing them.

So, unfortunately, a lot has not changed. But at least we are.

We’ve learned. But it’s not like we have a whole army of nurses that we can just call upon to fill in. We have a limited workforce.

You know they’re working very hard, under extremely stressful situations.

And we have to protect them.

We have to treat them as a valuable resource and a limited resource. And the way we do that is with our own behavior [and] to protect each other.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! *** The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.

*** Gel Santos Relos has been in news, talk, public service and educational broadcasting since 1989 with ABS-CBN and is now serving the Filipino audience using different platforms, including digital broadcasting, and print, and is working on a new public service program for the community. You may contact her through email at gelrelos@icloud.com, or send her a message via Facebook at Facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos.

tayo, lumalaban at nagtatrabaho (But we are still here, fighting and working). After all that we have been through, I could truly say, we are a Stronger House,” he said before Congress went into a Christmas break on December 16.

Velasco reported that since he assumed office in October, the House has processed a total of 185 measures, with 7 Republic Acts and at least 20 more measures awaiting Duterte’s signature.

The House has also approved 83 measures on third and final reading and 50 more measures on second reading, he said. n

MANILA — Slain mother and son Sonya and Frank Anthony Gregorio were laid to rest on Sunday, December 27, two days after Christmas in what should have been a happy occasion for the family that was marred by the murder of the two by a police officer.

It has been a week since SMSgt. Jonel Nuezca shot dead the two unarmed individuals in Paniqui, Tarlac after figuring in a heated argument with his neighbors.

A video of the incident went viral on social media, and the killing was met with outrage from the public which had called for reforms in the police force that has figured in series of controversies this year.

Dozens attended the burial as shown in a Facebook Live

by News5, where emotions ran high as the mother and son were given final rites and the caskets carrying their bodies lowered to the ground.

“I’m not angry at the [Philippine National Police],” said Belen Gregorio, a relative of the family, in Filipino. “What I am furious about are the wrongful acts done by some from the police.”

Nuezca now finds himself behind bars, having been charged

by Tarlac City prosecutors with two counts of murder.

Nuezca previosuly faced

administrative and criminal charges that were dismissed for lack of evidence.

Florentino Gregorio, widower of Sonya and father of Frank Anthony, told a television interview that he was concerned how Nuezca was still able to remain in the police force despite the said string of cases.

“I fear that he has faced a lot of cases but he still got out of it. All were dismissed. We only hope that he would finally be out of service,” he told CNN Philippines in Filipino.

The Duterte administration and the PNP have sought to paint the murders as an isolated one, mere cases of “bad apples” despite the many documented cases of police brutality in this year alone.

Officials have also denied that erring cops had been encouraged as a result of the president’s repeated backing of policemen involved in killings related to his anti-drug war.

Both have also rejected that a “culture of impunity” has prevailed in the police force, signaling that reforms which even lawmakers are calling for, are unlikely to be rolled out.

In his weekly address a day after the incident, Duterte lashed out on Nuezca and described him as mentally ill although he did not present evidence of this.

He has said as well that “there will be hell to pay” for cops who go against the law.

The tone significantly dif-

fered from how he has said in the past that he has no regard for human rights, let alone telling police to shoot dead those who would violate quarantinerelated curbs.

In June, a report by the United Nations Human Rights Office detailed how such rhetoric incited violence and “may have had the effect of encouraging, backing or even ordering human rights violations, with impunity.”

The human rights commission has said too that changing the language being used by leaders toward the PNP could be the easiest thing to do in implementing changes.

“Utterances may be construed as an order and if it comes from the highest authority,” said Commissioner Karen Dumpit.

“Any word that you utter will be taken as a serious matter or by the subordinates as something that is quite serious.”

In Congress, solons have filed resolutions to conduct probes to identify gaps in law enforcement with senators sounding the alarm over the series of unresolved killings in the last six months.

Such incidents continue to put a dispute on findings by US-based Gallup Inc. that the Philippines is among the safest countries in the world this 2020, which, even Duterte was surprised to find out about the results, as the country tied with other nations such as Australia, New Zealand and Poland. n

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january 1-7, 2021 • nOrCaL aSIan jOurnaL

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C A L I F O R N I A

Friday, January 1, 2021

INSIDE >>> L I F E S T Y L E • C O N S U M E R G U I D E • C O M M U N I T Y • M A R K E T P L A C E

The January 2021 Priority Dates Immigration Corner ATTY. MICHAEL GURFINKEL, ESQ The January 2021 priority dates, continue to provide great news for workers in the EB-3 (skilled/professional) and “other worker” (unskilled workers like caregivers). The priority dates for all countries (except India

and China) are CURRENT! This includes the Philippines! This means visas are available, regardless of the person’s priority date. If a person is being petitioned by an employer, and their Form I-140 employment- based petition has been approved or is pending, they could possibly be eligible to file for adjustment of status and work authorization, assuming they are otherwise eligible for adjustment of status (i.e. no issues re maintaining status, no fraud/crimes, etc.) People with approved or pending I-140 petitions should see an attorney

about their eligibility to file for adjustment, now that the priority dates for these employmentbased categories are current.

Each month, the Visa Office of the State Department publishes, in the Visa Bulletin, the priority dates for that particular month, for the various family and employment-based categories. A priority date is a person’s “place in line” for a visa, meaning immigrant visas (or green cards) would be available for persons whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed below.

PAGE B3

New Year’s Eve gives families that opportunity to celebrate, complete with an impressive spread to welcome the incoming year.

Illustration by Kendrick Tan

Filipino traditions to welcome 2021 By

ritChel MenDiola / AJPRESS

2020 has been a turbulent year all around, offering no reprieve as it doled out concerning news and tragedies month after month.

SPECIAL THANKSGIVING EPISODE OF CITIZEN PINOY THIS SUNDAY PROVIDES ANSWERS TO YOUR IMMIGRATION QUESTIONS! In the Thanksgiving episode of Citizen Pinoy, Atty.

Gurfinkel answers questions from Kapamilya in Hawaii and in Texas. Mercy (center) has a childcare business in Honolulu, HI, and would like to know if she can petition her niece, who is a Psychology graduate and who passed the board exam, to work in her facility.

She asks why her mother was subjected to the 10-year ban after her mother went home to the Philippines to get her visa. Teemmie from Houston, TX (right) would like to petition her husband but is currently receiving SSA and SNAP from the government. Can her sister-in-law provide the affidavit of support as a co-sponsor? Atty. Gurfinkel offers answers as well as thoughts on gratitude on a special Thanksgiving encore episode of “Citizen Pinoy: Your Tanong, My Sagot – Social Distancing Style” this Sunday, January 3 at 6:15 pm PST/EST (9:15 pm EST thru select Cable/Satellite providers).

(Advertising Supplement)

It’s no wonder then, that everyone is eager to say goodbye to this year and welcome 2021 with boundless hope that it will be better than the last. Countries like the United Kingdom and the United

States have already begun their COVID-19 vaccine campaigns, so the new year is looking a little less bleak.

Just like with Christmas, we PAGE B3

Self-care in 2021: Resisting commercialized wellness and appreciating what you have Plus, taking a look at the radical history of self-care

by Klarize

MeDenilla AJPress

IT could not be said enough: 2020 was awful.

Nearly everybody could agree, and no matter what kind of silver-lining spin you try to put on it, it’s an immovable fact that this was a year marked by the ongoing coronavirus crisis which has

threatened economic stability, political security and, most importantly, the health of millions of people across the globe.

According to the World Health Organization, there have been nearly 80 million confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus globally as of Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020. Nearly 1.8 million people have passed away from complications over

the virus.

On a local level, the staggering numbers paint a much more dire situation, especially in Los Angeles County, in which hospitals continue to be swamped with COVID-19 patients and where a new stay-at-home order may be on the horizon.

All in all, the current climate PAGE B2

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Features

January 1-7, 2021 • nOrCaL aSIan JOurnaL

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Mr. Wowowin Willie Revillame heads list of celebrity world birthday celebrants for month of January

By Ferdie Villar

WILLIE Revillame (born Wilfredo Buendia Revillame on January 27, 1961 in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines) is a Filipino television host, singer, actor and comedian.

Revillame started out as the host of GMA Network’s noontime variety program “Lunch Date” in the early 1980s, together with Randy Santiago. After this hosting stint, he started appearing in different movies, playing sidekick to big-name stars.

In 1998, he started co-hosting the ABS-CBN noontime show “’Sang Linggo nAPO Sila.” After the show was canceled, it paved the way for his big break in “Magandang Tanghali Bayan” and he also started appearing in “Richard Loves Lucy.” Other shows he hosted on television were “Willingly Yours,” “Masayang Tanghali Bayan” and “Wowowee,” as well as TV5 variety programs like “Willing Willie,” “Wil Time Bigtime” and “Wowowillie.”

Currently, Willie can be seen on GMA Pinoy TV via “Wowowin” from Monday to Friday.

It was in 2015 that Revillame

marked his homecoming to the GMA Network and a long-awaited return to Philippine showbiz and television via the weekly variety show “Wowowin,” which became a weekday variety program February 2016 due to its popularity.

Other celebrities who will be celebrating their birthdays for the first month of 2021 are the following: January 1 – Daly City youth leader Joseph Cabrera, who celebrates his 21st birthday; January 2 – Former winner of Mrs. Philippines-USA Fely Casco, multi award-winning GMA Network actor Alden Richards; January 4 – Kapuso network contravida actress Katrina Halili; January 5 – Business executive Renato (Boyet) Bala; January 6 – Megastar Sharon Cuneta (now with the Kapamilya network), Tri-Pro owner Richard Tan; January 8 – the late Dancing Queen of the Bay Area Lilly Smith; January 9 – Kapamilya actress Melissa Ricks; January 10 – Movie producer Jessie Ejercito, actor-politician

Piolo Pascual, ASAP co-host and recording artist, celebrates his birthday on Tuesday, January 12.

Willie Revillame, known as the Philippine entertainment world’s host of noontime game/variety shows, heads the list of January birthday celebrants. He celebrates his 60th birthday on January 25. Willie is shown in photo with beauty impresario Ferdie Villar during one of his many visits to San Francisco.

Sharon Cuneta, known as the Megastar, celebrates her birthday on Wednesday, January 6.

tress Toni Gonzaga-Soriano, former San Mateo Harbor District Commissioner Robert Bernardo; January 21 – Kapamilya actor/ model Richard Gutierrez; January 24 – Club Royale Grand Dame Jett Viray Navarro; January 25 – Asia’s Guru of Beauty Dr. Vicki Belo, the late former Philippine President Corazon Aquino;

January 26 – Former Jukebox Queen Imelda Papin; January 29 – Hotel executive Flordelis Mayapis, South San Francisco community leader Ressie Espiritu; January 31 – Kapamilya singer-actress Jessa Zaragoza.

Happy Birthday to all January celebrants, and let us all welcome the Year 2021.

Jestoni Alarcon; January 12 – ASAP co-host, recording star and actor Piolo Pascual, boxing champ Manny Pacquiao’s wife Jinkee Pacquiao, late actor/comedian Bentong; January 14 – San Rafael’s singing diva Malou Hajian; January 17 – Multi award-winning actress Hilda Koronel; January 20 – Kapamilya ac-

Katrina Halili, a contravida actress of GMA Kapuso Network, celebrates her birthday on Monday, January 4.

Alden Richards, one of the most popular actors in the Philippines today and a GMA Pinoy TV stalwart, celebrates his birthday on Saturday, January 2.

Kapamilya actor Richard Gutierrez celebrates his birthday on Thursday, January 21.

Jessa Zaragoza, the beauteous singer-actress of The Filipino Channel, celebrates her birthday on Monday, January 31.

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Hilda Koronel, a well-known and multi-awarded actress now residing in Los Angeles, celebrates her birthday on Sunday, January 17.

Jestoni Alarcon, a popular actor of The Filipino Channel, celebrates his birthday on Sunday, January 10.

Self-care in 2021: Resisting commercialized...

MA DRA .com | tv TY

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Daly City youth leader Joseph Cabrera celebrates his birthday on Friday, January 1.

doesn’t make conducive the prospect of optimism and safety. But no matter what the circumstances are in the outside world, there’s always room for self-care.

Self-care isn’t a new phenomenon but it quickly became shorthand for mental health around 2016. Searching the #selfcare hashtag on Instagram yields more than 15 million posts that depict everything from a fresh manicure and a haircut to collections of luxury aromatherapy and yoga poses on mountain tops. Google searches for the term doubled in 2016, and interestingly, the term was Googled twice as much in April and May of this year, signaling the pandemic as a catalyst for self-care But what does self-care actually entail? A concept so individualistic means that one person’s vision of self-care differs from the next, but popular conceptions — taking breaks from social media, adopting an exercise or diet routine, Marie Kondo-ing your closet — seek to provide universal balms to the burns of anxiety, depression and mental exhaustion.

The popularity of self-care has devolved the phenomenon into a commodifiable concept; for $492 you can buy a vial of sandalwood essential oil. For about the same price, you can book a spot at The Silent Meditation Retreat in North Carolina (if you book by Dec. 31, the price is a special COVID-19 discount at the relatively equally astonishing price of $295). Online marketplaces like Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness empire GOOP regularly hawk quirky, exorbitantly priced self-care products and services (like a $135 at-home coffee enema designed to detox your rectum and, allegedly, provide a caffeine boost).

By 2018, the global health and wellness space became a $4.5 trillion industry, obscuring the point of self-care from an authentic mission to care for oneself to a muddy marketplace rife with grifts and sham cures.

The truth is that there isn’t (and, some would argue, shouldn’t be) a price tag on self-care. And it wasn’t designed that way.

The term self-care was first documented in the 1950s among the medical community to describe behavioral and attitudinal changes in institutionalized patients who needed to preserve physical independence through daily tasks like personal groom-

ing or exercising.

In the 1960s, academics began to look more closely at the concept of self-care, particularly in the context of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among first responders: hospital workers, social workers and firefighters who all became overworked during one of the most tumultuous times in American history.

This included expanding the list of needs that affected folks required to establish boundaries between work and personal life — an explicit precursor to the plight of front line workers of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the concept of self-care took off in a big way in the 1970s at the cross section of the women’s liberation and civil rights movements. The Black Panther Party promoted it to the Black community as a way to maintain strength of character while experiencing repeated abuses of systemic racism.

Notably, the Black Panther Party wanted to provide a channel of care at a time when the American medical system — which, at that time, lacked racial diversity — failed to diagnose illnesses rampant among the Black American community, like sickle-cell anemia and lead poisoning.

Simultaneously, women’s clinics began popping up around the country as a way to escape a white, patriarchal medical system, a radical corrective to the “claiming [of] autonomy over the body as a political act against institutional, technocratic, very racist and sexist medicine,” Natalia Mehlman Petzrela, associate professor at the New School and author of many academic articles about the wellness industry, told Slate in 2016.

There became a push to reexamine health care beyond just the physical and the socioeconomic factors that contribute to low mental health, according to Jennifer Nelson’s book “More Than Medicine: A History of the Feminist Women’s Health Movement”: women in poverty were constantly described as “vectors of disease,” hostility toward reproductive rights increased and racist attitudes and practices over who deserves the best medical care.

This era of self-care was built upon the idea that, at the heart of it, self-care relies on agency, awareness and nuance: understanding that there may be mental and emotional issues present

and it is a valid and radical act to preserve physical, emotional and mental autonomy.

As Audre Lorde wrote in “A Burst of Light” in 1988, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

So in a climate that is so charged by quarantine fatigue and rampant political division, what does self-care look like?

The COVID-19 crisis has taken a huge toll on our lives, whether it’s putting front line family members at a daily risk or causing an economic plunge that threatens basic livelihoods.

Given the cultural and political implications of self-care, and the current state of affairs, it makes sense that there is a hunger for meaningful introspection and ways to achieve peace of mind; if you’re willing to spend $500 for a silent retreat, essential oils or whatever newfangled wellness commodity the marketplace offers, then there truly is no expense spared when it comes to self-care.

The new year often brings to the fore resolutions, ways to stimulate productivity and positive change and, in general, feel better mentally and emotionally.

Losing weight, spending less time in front of a screen, learning a new language and decluttering are common long-term goals, but new year’s resolutions famously don’t last longer than a month.

This idea of a new year’s resolution is usually based in self-care and rooted in the idea that we become newer, better versions of ourselves. But what that kind of rhetoric does is encourage a way of thinking that values productivity over mindfulness and ignores the fact that maybe what we need, we already have. That there isn’t a sweeping master plan toward self-care that involves major life decisions or purchases.

Jenny Odell — a Filipina American artist and professor at Stanford — wrote in her best-selling book “How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy” that perhaps the secret to living a more fulfilled life is by “doing nothing.”

What that means is resisting the persuasions of a cultural, political and media landscape that forces us to believe in a toxic view of upward mobility, that to remain in one place is to remain mentally stagnant. It’s the radical thought that there is plenty to PAGE B4

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Features

NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL • JANUARy 1-7, 2021

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The January 2021 Priority Dates

PAGE B1

If your priority date was “current,” but later retrogressed (or

“moved backwards” and became unavailable) before your immigrant visa was issued (or before

you adjusted status in the U.S.), you would have to wait until it becomes current again.

The Priority dates for the Philippines are as follows: FAMILY CATEGORY:

Phyllis Grae Grande (left) and Angelina Canapi

For the first time, PH short film makes it to Sundance

By Marinel

Cruz

Application Filing Date

Visa Issuance Date

First Preference

Unmarried sons and daughters of US citizens (over 21 years of age)

October 08, 2012

January 01, 2012

Second Preference

(2A) Spouse and minor children (below 21 years old) of green card holders

August 01, 2020

Current

(2B) Unmarried sons and daughters (21 years old or older) of green card holders

April 01, 2012

August 15, 2011

Third Preference

Married sons and daughters of US Citizens

December 22, 2002

March 01, 2002

Fourth Preference

Brothers and sisters of US Citizens

September 01, 2002

February 01, 2002

Application Filing Date

Visa Issuance Date

LABOR CERTIFICATION:

Second Preference

Advanced Degree (Masters)

Current

Current

Third Preference

Professional/ Skilled Workers

Current

Current

Other Workers

Non-Skilled Workers

Current

Current

Inquirer.net

I JUST tried my luck and filled out their online application form,” said filmmaker Sonny Calvento on how his 15-minuter “Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss” got included in the Short Film Program of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival in Utah, United States.

Starring Phyllis Grae Grande and Angelina Canapi, the film is a social satire about the plight of contractual workers in the Philippines. It debuted in the 2019 QCinema International Film Festival (winner of the Audience Choice Award) and also competed in the 2020 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.

“What really gave me hope was the idea that Sundance requires a ‘premiere status’ in order to be considered in their short film program,” said Calvento when Inquirer Entertainment asked him to recall how his film got into the prestigious festival. “But at the same time, this was also why the competition to get into the festival is way more stiff. You will be fighting it out with other short films that have bigger production value and also premiered in other reputable festivals.”

According to the Sundance digital archives, “Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss” is the first Filipino short film to ever make it to the festival.

“When they first sent an email a month ago, I couldn’t open it because I was having trouble with my internet connection. I could only read the subject headline that it’s an email from Sundance,” said Calvento, recalling the time he first learned of the good news.

“I thought it was a rejection

*** Michael J. Gurfinkel has been an attorney for over 40 years and is licensed, and an active member of the State Bars of California and New York. All immigration services are provided by, or under the supervision of, an active member of the State Bar of California.

Each case is different and results may depend on the facts of the particular case.

The information and opinions contained

Follow us on Facebook.com/GurfinkelLaw, Twitter @GurfinkelLaw and YouTube: US Immigration TV Call Toll free to schedule a consultation for anywhere in the US: 1-866-487-3465 (866) – GURFINKEL Four offices to serve you: LOS ANGELES ∙ SAN FRANCISCO ∙ NEW YORK ∙ PHILIPPINES

Filipino traditions to welcome...

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Scene from “Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss”1

letter from them. I was ready to put it directly in the trash bin, but then moments later, I realized that five other members from their team were CCed on the email. I asked myself, ‘Why would they inform five other staff that my film is rejected?’

My heart began to pound. I had to rush outside our house to look for a good LTE signal,” the director recalled.

“I started cursing repeatedly when I read that it was actually a congratulatory letter from them,” he said. “I’m still in disbelief until now. Madami akong tulala moments! I know that it’s a once-in-a-lifetime feat and it might not happen again so I’m cherishing this moment.”

Calvento pointed out that amid the pandemic, there’s one great reason for him to be happy. “This has brought a different kind of happiness for me.

I’m also delighted because this recognition is a clear validation of my real voice as a filmmaker,” he declared.

Calvento said that while his plan as a film director was really

“to delve into social realism,” he wanted to focus more on “the absurdities of Filipino living, for the meantime. I want to tackle funny but tragic moments in the lives of Filipinos.”

The 2020 Sundance Film Festival, which will run from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, is organized by the Sundance Institute and is the largest indie filmfest in the United States.

Calvento said he expected to learn a lot from his experience.

In fact, only last Wednesday, Sundance organizers already asked him to preview some of the short films from our program since he would be participating in one of their online forums this week.

“I’m excited to learn more about emerging filmmakers from other countries and how they tell their stories,” he added.

“I am also interested to learn their impression on Philippine cinema. And also, I hope to meet people, especially producers and content developers, who would be interested to develop similar stories with me.”

With COVID-19 surging, Covered California urges consumers to sign up for health coverage by Dec. 30 deadline Covered California’s open-enrollment period runs through Jan. 31.

SACRAMENTO — With the first open-enrollment deadline approaching this week, Covered California urged consumers to sign up now so they can have their health care coverage be effective on Jan. 1.

“Covered California is a critical safety net to help people get quality health care coverage during the surging pandemic and ongoing recession,” said Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California. “With our first enrollment deadline coming up this week, we want to encourage anyone who needs coverage to check out their options and sign up so they can start the New Year with protection and peace of mind.”

In response to the pandemic, Covered California extended the enrollment deadline to receive Jan. 1 coverage from Dec. 15 to Wednesday, Dec. 30. Consumers who sign up by Dec. 30 will need to pay their first bill in order to have their coverage take effect on Jan. 1.

Right now, an estimated 1.2 million Californians are uninsured — even though they are eligible for financial help through Covered California, or they qualify for low-cost or no-cost coverage through Medi-Cal. Of those eligible for subsidies, more than half — 650,000 — are believed to be Latino.

Financial help lowers costs for consumers Roughly nine out of every 10 consumers who enroll through Covered California receive financial assistance — in the form of federal tax credits, state subsidies, or both — which helps make health care more affordable. California’s state subsidies, which first became available in 2020, are benefiting nearly 600,000 consumers — including more than 41,000 middle-income consumers who had previously been ineligible for financial help because they exceeded the federal income requirements.

“Most of the people who are uninsured either do not know they are eligible for financial

herein (including testimonials, “Success Stories”, endorsements and re-enactments) are of a general nature, and are not intended to apply to any particular case, and do not constitute a prediction, warranty, guarantee or legal advice regarding the outcome of your legal matter. No attorney-client relationship is, or shall be, established with any reader.

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assistance, or they have not checked recently to see how affordable quality coverage can be,” Lee said. “No one should wait to sign up, and we are extending the deadline through Dec. 30 to give all of us more time to spread the word and make sure our family and friends have health insurance during this pandemic.”

The latest data shows that, with the combination of federal tax credits and state subsidies, the average consumer receiving financial help paid an average of $127 per month for their coverage (with federal and state assistance reducing their costs by $454 or nearly 80 percent).

Get covered, stay covered Covered California is urging consumers to “get covered” — not only with quality health insurance coverage, but also with a mask and vaccine when they become available.

Covered California mailed masks to 1.5 million enrollees and asked consumers to take all necessary precautions to help prevent the spread of the virus, while sharing the news about open enrollment.

“Getting covered with a mask will help protect Californians and their families and friends; getting covered with a health plan will help protect people if they get sick,” Lee said. “Covered California helps you get access to some of the best doctors and health care facilities in the country, and provides peace of mind during these challenging times where there is so much uncertainty.”

Shop and compare Those interested in applying for coverage can explore their options — and find out whether they are eligible for financial help — in just a few minutes by using the Shop and Compare Tool at CoveredCA.com. All they need to do is enter their ZIP code, household income and the ages of those who need coverage to find out which plans are available in their area.

“Do not wait until the last min-

ute, or let Wednesday’s deadline go past, without checking your options,” Lee said. “In only a few minutes at CoveredCA.com, you can see which plans are available in your area and whether you qualify for financial help to bring the price of coverage within reach.”

The state individual mandate penalty will also return for 2021. Consumers who can afford health care coverage, but choose to go without, could pay a penalty when they file their state taxes in 2022. The penalty is administered by California’s Franchise Tax Board, and could be as much as $2,250 for a family of four.

Getting help enrolling Consumers interested in learning more about their coverage options can: • Visit www.CoveredCA.com.

• Get free and confidential inperson assistance, in a variety of languages, from a certified enroller.

• Have a certified enroller call them and help them for free.

• Call Covered California at (800) 300-1506.

Covered California is the state’s health insurance marketplace, where Californians can find affordable, high-quality insurance from top insurance companies. Covered California is the only place where individuals who qualify can get financial assistance on a sliding scale to reduce premium costs. Consumers can then compare health insurance plans and choose the plan that works best for their health needs and budget. Depending on their income, some consumers may qualify for the low-cost or no-cost Medi-Cal program.

Covered California is an independent part of the state government whose job is to make the health insurance marketplace work for California’s consumers.

It is overseen by a five-member board appointed by the governor and the legislature. For more information about Covered California, please visit www.CoveredCA.com.

can’t celebrate the new year the way we used to. Restrictions are in place to keep the public from contracting COVID-19 and everyone is encouraged to stay at home.

Still, even without the usual fanfare, we Filipinos can still welcome 2021 by partaking in traditions that are supposed to help in making the new year better, happier, and more bountiful — right in our own homes. Here are some of those traditions: 1. Eating media noche Filipinos love eating — but more than that, they love eating together with their families. New Year’s eve gives them that opportunity to celebrate, complete with an impressive spread to welcome the incoming year.

Roughly translated as “midnight,” Media Noche is a Filipino custom where family members,

their relatives, and friends all gather together to eat and drink.

The menu differs for every family but there will always be some food that remain a staple in every household such as pancit (long noodles), which represent good health and long life; and sticky rice, which represents tighter family bonds.

2. Having circles/round shapes everywhere Filipinos and Chinese alike believe the round shape is a symbol of prosperity, so it’s common to see circles during New Year’s Eve. More often than not, you’ll see 12 round fruits displayed on the dining table (one fruit per month for a prosperous year) or people wearing polka-dotted clothes.

3. Jumping when the clock strikes 12 The most popular tradition that Filipino adults and kids do as soon as the clock strikes January 1. Jumping as high as you can is

believed to be a way to help you grow taller in the new year — there’s no scientific explanation to support this belief, but it’s fun and exhilarating to do anyway.

4. Opening doors and keeping all the lights on When the new year arrives, Filipinos would open all the doors in their houses to allow good energy and good fortune to come in, and turn on all the lights to welcome a brighter year.

5. Making loud noises to drive off evil spirits Firework displays are a common sight in every country when they welcome the new year, but in the Philippines, fireworks light up the sky because it is believed loud sounds would scare off evil spirits that bring bad luck. Aside from this, Filipinos usually play loud music in the open, and use horns or toy instruments to produce ear-piercing noises.

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Health@Heart PhiliP S. Chua, MD, FaCS, FPCS THE other day, I received a startling video clip from a friend in Texas who forwarded it from his Messenger account, showing a nurse being interviewed after getting the anti-COVID-19 vaccine. The video showed she felt ill right there and then, and passed out. The video clip ended there.

The printed message on the video said, “Nurse died after taking shot of COVID vaccine.”

Tiffany Dover, a nurse at CHI Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who fainted after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, was wildly circulated in the social media around the world as having died from the shot.

News like this will obviously create fear and panic among people who are waiting to get the vaccine and may opt out of it. That would be a disaster. The public is already worried about the safety of the vaccines because they were developed rapidly (about 11 months rather than the old conventional way, which took years, even decades, to develop).

COVID-19 data update Currently, worldwide, there are almost 81.3 million cases of COVID-19 and nearly 1.8 million deaths: U.S. – about 19.6 million, with about 342,000 deaths; the Philippines – around 471,000 cases and 9,200 deaths.

A new strain (variant) with 20 mutations of SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) virus, 70 percent more transmissible, is spreading in the United Kingdom and first detected on December 14, 2020. Other countries with this new strain include Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

All passengers on flights from the UK to the U.S. are now required to have a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their flight. It is not certain at this point that if this new strain is already in the U.S. An egregious act Whoever circulated the incomplete video and the resultant halftruth – fake news –must be censured. CHI Hospital confirmed Tiffany is alive and well and back to work. Fake news – false information like this – instantly circulates throughout the world in this day and age of the internet and social media. The harm this person

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Did the nurse die? had done, obviously intentional, could kill countless people, especially those gullible, innocent and ignorant who would develop deathly fear of the vaccine and refuse to get it. The act, an abuse of our first amendment right by an apparent mentally deranged person, borders on criminality. It is a great disservice to humankind as a whole. If we cannot help end this ravaging pandemic, we must at least not endeavor to worsen it and kill more people around the globe. As recipients of fake news, we, on the other hand, have the responsibility not to disseminate them, without doing a due diligence first. All lives matter. All lives are valuable. We have more than enough deaths!

Hurried vaccines?

Scientifically, the impressive speed with which these antiCOVID-19 vaccines evolved was due to a newly discovered faster, more efficient, process (with mRNA) in vaccine manufacturing. There was no rush or shortcuts taken here. The same strict, rigid, intensive laboratory and 3-stage clinical, evidencebased, randomized studies and trials were followed, involving at least 80,000 subjects for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, and released for public use a week ago only after passing the stringent safety milestone of, and approval by, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). With this new and improved process of vaccine production, future vaccines will also be developed faster.

As we have stated in an earlier article, simply because vehicles today are manufactured a lot faster than those of 80 years, or even 50 years ago, does not mean our cars of today are less safe. As a matter of fact, with the amenities and smart features in vehicles today, they are a lot safer, more comfortable and a joy to drive.

The faster speed of development is due to the more efficient, more precise way of manufacturing vehicles today.

Of course, vaccines, medications and surgical procedures are not perfect, not 100 percent without risk or possible complications. Life is full of risk. We have all read about people crossing the streets, climbing ladders, biking, skiing, etc., who were killed.

That is reality. The trick is not to abandon them, but to evaluate and take all precautions.

Shot or no shot As far as the vaccines against the SARS-CoV2 virus of CO-

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VID-19, what we have to weigh is which one is less risky, less deadly to have. The scale definitely, scientifically, practically and wisely tips in favor of getting the vaccine. It’s a no-brainer.

We must take advantage of what modern medicine has to offer to save our life and maintain good health.

Those with history of allergies are observed at the place of vaccination for at least 15 minutes after the vaccine is given. All those facilities have anti-allergy medications, steroids, etc., in readiness, even for the more severe reactions. This is reassuring.

In one clinical study of a quarter of a million people given the anti-COVID-19 vaccine, there were six who developed severe allergic reactions, a miniscule incidence of 0.000024 percent.

Evidently, as the manufacturers announced, these vaccines are safe. More common side effects noted are pain in the area of the shot, fever, tiredness, and headache, which last for a day or two.

The world, each country, would acquire herd immunity and stop this pandemic only when 75 percent of the(ir) population get the anti-COVID-19 two-shot vaccine.

Post-vaccination behavior After getting the shot, all of us should behave as if we have not had it yet, continuing our frequent handwashing, limiting ourselves to essential travels, using facemask and doing social distancing. This is the safe demeanor post-vaccination because there are a lot we do not know about the clinical course of the vaccines.

The vaccines are new, and the medical community and the public should (would) learn more about it: How long after the vaccination does protection (immunity) start, and at what level (about 52 percent after the first week?

How about after the first day, second day, etc.?). During this first week of vaccination, can we still get the infection, and can we still transmit the virus to others?

After the required second shot (21 days for the Pfizer-BioNTech and 28 days for the Moderna vaccine), how much protection do we get and when do we get the 95 percent the manufacturers reported, and for how long? Do we have to get the vaccine every year like the Flu vaccine? Anyway, hope is now here.

In the meantime, let us rejoice that the vaccines are here – the silver lining, the light at the end of the tunnel – which hopefully

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Investment coaching scams are trending YOU’LL make a lot of money.

I’m going to show you how to do it — and using my program, I guarantee you’ll be successful.

If you see that in an ad, there’s likely a scammer behind it. Just last week, the FTC announced Operation Income Illusion, a nationwide effort to shut down income scams that used false promises like this to trick people into believing they would make a lot of money if they bought one of these programs.

In each case, it turned out to be, well, an illusion.

One of the cases announced is against RagingBull.com, an online operation that the FTC alleges took in at least $137 million. The people who paid believed the defendants’ promises about their so-called unique and proven techniques to make profits in the stock market. In ads, the defendants touted people’s ability to make money during the

pandemic, and featured people who claimed to have been successful using their program. But the FTC says it was all smoke and mirrors. People didn’t make the returns advertised and many lost money instead. And those glowing testimonials? The FTC alleges the defendants admitted — in the fine print of the ads — that they don’t even verify if those testimonials are true.

Before you pay for a program that promises to help you invest your money, consider these things: • Statistics and testimonials can be faked. Scammers want you to believe their program is always successful and low-risk.

• Scammers exaggerate the press of time. They want you to feel pressured to commit now without doing research on the offer.

• No one can guarantee a specific amount of return on an in-

vestment. Scammers might claim that you can make thousands of dollars per day or per month for life, but no one can actually guarantee that an investment will be successful.

Read more tips in the article Real Estate and Investment Scams (https://www.consumer. ftc.gov/articles/real-estate-andinvestment-scams). If you were a RagingBull.com client, make sure you bookmark this blog (https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/ blog/2020/12/investment-coaching-scams-are-trending?utm_ source=govdelivery).

We’ll update it when we have more information to share with you.

You can also subscribe to get FTC consumer alerts at ftc.gov/ consumeralerts. And if you want to report a scam like this, please visit ReportFraud.ftc.gov. (Rosario Méndez/Attorney, Division of Consumer and Business Education)

Self-care in 2021: Resisting commercialized...

PAGE B2 learn from and build up what we already know how to do.

“But beyond self-care and the ability to (really) listen, the practice of doing nothing has something broader to offer us: an antidote to the rhetoric of growth,” Odell writes. “In the context of health and ecology, things that grow unchecked are often considered parasitic or cancerous.

Yet we inhabit a culture that privileges novelty and growth over the cyclical and the regenerative.

Our very idea of productivity is premised on the idea of producing something new, whereas we do not tend to see maintenance and care as productive in the same way.”

As members of a culture that prioritizes optimization over maintenance, it makes sense that we generally don’t see what’s directly in front of us, our focus moving away from the attainable foreground to an ideal faraway place of perfection.

Maybe what we need to do in the name of self-care and selfsatisfaction doesn’t truly thrive in the supposed utopias that modern technology and capital enterprise promise.

Many of us, especially in the Filipino American community, have lost friends and family members to COVID-19 — possibly the most tragic, unconscionable loss in a year full of losses. Earlier this year, in a story about the Lakers championship win, the Asian Journal spoke with Annalynn Rosario, a graphic designer in Lake Forest who lost her father to COVID-19 in June.

For that story, Rosario recounted what it was like to watch the Los Angeles Lakers win their 17th title without her father, who was a fervent Laker fan and with whom Rosario bonded over the Lakers.

“There’s nothing like losing your parent. It happens all the time, and everyone can agree is sad and tragic, but experiencing

it, especially if you were close to that parent like I was, was lifechanging, in good and bad ways believe it or not,” Rosario said in October.

Rosario added that the loss of her father made her “really reevaluate what I value in life. If I knew that I was going to die tomorrow, what would my thought processes be? Would I be wishing that I made more money or went on more vacations? Would I be full of all these regrets?”

She continued, “I don’t think it would be, and I don’t think that was what my dad thought either. I would be making a plan to spend time with my family, speak with my friends [and] play with my dog and listen to my favorite music because what I have and who I have in my life is more than enough. I don’t need anything else.”

In other words, maybe selfcare, real self-care, lies in what we already have and not what we don’t.

symbolizes the beginning of the end of this COVID-19 pandemic within the next year. We are all in this together globally. Let love, compassion, and peace reign as we usher in a healthier and more prosperous new year for the world.

the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff. *** The main objective of this column is to educate and inspire people live a healthier lifestyle to prevent illnesses and disabilities and achieve a happier and more productive life.

Any diagnosis, recommendation or treatment in our article are general medical information and not intended to be applicable or appropriate for anyone. This column is not a substitute for your physician, who knows your condition

well and who is your best ally when it comes to your health. *** Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, a Health Public Advocate, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian and antigraft foundation in the United States. Visit our websites: philipSchua.com and FUN8888.com Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com

*** The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of

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