012722 - Las Vegas Edition

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JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2, 2022

T HE F ILIPINO A MERICAN C OMMUNITY N EWSPAPER

Volume 33 - No.3 • 12 Pages

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DATELINE

USA

FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

From pandemic to endemic: Will we ever be there?

EVEN as COVID-19 hospitalization rates surge in some parts of the U.S., many public health experts are advising a shift from thinking of the crisis as a pandemic to an endemic, in which COVID will continue to be around for an unknown number of years, but at levels that are low and controllable.

At a round-table news briefing Jan 21, hosted

by Ethnic Media Services, Dr. Ben Newman — chief virologist at Texas A&M University’s Global Health Research Complex — and Dr. Dali Fan, Health Science Clinical Professor at the University of California, Davis, debated the issue in a lively discussion.

Fan likened COVID-19 to the flu. “We have to learn to live with this virus, like we do with angina or cancer.”

Newman disagreed. “In the US, in a given year, the flu will kill between 12,000 and 16,000 people. And in a given year, COVID will several hundred thousand people. So this is a very much more serious problem.”

“I’m not done with this thing until we have exhausted every possible opportunity to get rid

US sees strong post-poll ties with PH

by PIA LEE-BRAGO Philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines — The United States looks forward to continuing strong and productive relations with the Philippines regardless of who is elected president in the May 9 elections, the top official of the U.S. embassy in Manila said on Thursday, January 27.

Chargé d’Affaires (CDA) ad interim Heather Variava said the “U.S. has a lot of faith and

belief in the democratic process here in the Philippines.”

“Regardless who is elected in May we look forward to strong and productive relations. We look forward to continuing the relationship,” Variava said at a virtual media briefing.

According to Variava, the embassy has received inquiries from leading organizations in the U.S. to come to the country as election observers.

“We, here at the embassy are looking to discussions with Comelec to be part of the election

Filipino Americans in Las Vegas aid communities hit by Typhoon Odette LAS VEGAS – Filipino Americans in Las Vegas, through the Philippine American Charity Foundation (PACF), a non-profit charitable organization in Nevada, sent funds to municipalities struck by Super Typhoon Rai, locally known as Typhoon Odette.

“We were able to raise from generous donors close to $10,000. This enabled us to buy and distribute rice and canned goods to needy families,” said Luz Micabalo, President of PACF. “Through our partners on the ground, we also provided roofing materials for temporary shelters.”

The funds aided the people of Del Carmen and Surigao City in Surigao del Norte, Loboc and Tagbilaran in Bohol, Pasol in Cebu, Puerto Princesa in Palawan. Assistance was also provided to the Pag-asa Island, the only inhabited island among the contested Spratly Islands, west of Palawan.

“It truly breaks your heart when you hear stories of people having to eat moldy rice because it was not properly stored and got wet,” said Gloria T. Caoile, co-chair of the fundraising effort.

Besides the immediate action of food distribution,

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5 things you should know about ‘free’ at-home COVID tests AMERICANS keep hearing that it is important to test frequently for COVID-19 at home. But just try to find an “at-home” rapid COVID test in a store and at a price that makes frequent tests affordable.

Testing, as well as mask-wearing, is an important measure if the country ever hopes to beat COVID, restore normal routines and get the economy running efficiently. To get Americans cheaper tests, the federal government now plans to have insurance companies pay for them.

The Biden administration announced Jan. 10 that every person with private insurance can get full coverage for eight rapid tests a month. You can either get one without any outof-pocket expense from retail pharmacies that are part of an insurance company’s network or buy it at any store and get reimbursed by the insurer.

Congress said private insurers must cover all COVID testing and any associated medical services when it passed the Families First

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AIR TIME. Tarpaulins of candidates cover the footbridge on Philcoa, Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on Wednesday, Jan. 26, about six months before the local and national elections in May. ManilaTimes.net photo by John Orven Verdote

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Biden, Harris enter second year with mixed public opinion, lukewarm social progress White House AANHPI representatives celebrate diversity despite low approval ratings for current admin

by KLARIZE

MEDENILLA AJPress

ONE year ago, on Jan. 20, 2021, when President Joseph R. Biden and Vice President Kamala D. Harris were sworn into office, they inherited a host of national problems.

The Biden administration effectively took over the largely lackluster coronavirus response from the Trump administration, stressing the rollout of vaccines, tests, funding for the health care sector, and

economic relief for a country struggling to make ends meet.

A side effect of the coronavirus response came the response to the sharp uptick in anti-Asian harassment, discrimination, and violence that percolated across the country, a trend that prompted the White House Senator Manny Pacquiao to increase efforts to stand by the Asian American community.

On Thursday, Jan. 20, the White House Initaitve for Asian Americans Native

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Billionaire Manny Villar to become next media tycoon after taking over ABS-CBN frequencies

by MIGUEL

R. CAMUS

Inquirer.net

Filipino billionaire Manny Villar Photo from his Facebook/@Manny Villar

process or observation program Comelec hosts and we will see observers from the U.S.,” Variava said.

“As a diplomat for 25 years I can say some of the most exciting and inspiring moments is being able to watch democracy work and people cast their votes,” she added.

The United Nations said election observation is a valuable tool for improving the quality of elections. Observers help build public confidence in the integrity of the electoral processes. ■

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte once told Manuel Villar Jr. he would back the campaign supporter, billionaire, and former senator if he ran a second time for president.

Villar, the head of a powerful political and business clan, is not seeking any post in the 2022 presidential elections but through a Malacañang-supported move, he would nevertheless gain a new title, that of media tycoon.

Villar-linkedAdvancedMediaBroadcasting System Inc., whose 25-year franchise extension was approved in 2019, is taking

over the television broadcast frequencies previously held by Lopez-led ABS-CBN Corp., according to documents from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that were seen by the Inquirer.

The frequencies were recalled from ABSCBN after Duterte and his allies in Congress allowed the company’s franchise to expire in 2020 in a move that was decried as politically motivated.

The Inquirer received the documents on Tuesday morning, January 25 and made multiple requests for comment to the NTC, whose officials have yet to reply.

Based on the NTC documents, Advanced Media was given a “test broadcast” permit

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Inquirer.net photo

I won’t embarrass myself, says Pacquiao in running for president

by CATHRINE

GONZALES Inquirer.net

MANILA — Presidential candidate and Senator Manny Pacquiao said on Thursday, January 27 that he would not have run for the presidency if he was not knowledgeable about the solutions to the problems of the country.

The boxing legend said he had carefully studied the problems of the Philippines and would not embarrass himself in aiming for the top government seat.

“Alam niyo, pinag-aralan ko po lahat ‘yan, kung ano ang problema ng ating bansa, pinag-aralan ko.

Kaya nga sinasabi ko sa lahat na hindi ako tatakbo sa pagkapangulo kung kulang po ang aking kaalaman, kung hindi ko po alam ang problema ng ating bansa,”

Pacquiao said at the “Ikaw Na Ba?” presidential interview of DZBB. (I have studied the problems of our country. That’s why I tell everyone that I would not have run for the presidency if my knowledge is lacking and I don’t know the problems of the country.)

“Bakit ko ipapahiya ang sarili ko na tatakbo ako rito tapos matagal kong inalagaan ang pangalan ko, tapos tatakbo ako rito sa pagkapangulo na wala akong alam? Hindi po ako tumatakbo na wala akong alam, kundi alam ko po ang lahat ng problema,” he added.

(Why would I embarrass myself if I have taken care of my name for so long and run for president without knowing anything? I will not run for the presidency if I don’t know the problems of the country.)

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http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

January 27-february 2, 2022 • LaS VeGaS aSIan JOurnaL

From The FronT Page

Biden, Harris enter second year with mixed...

PAGE 1 Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) hosted a closed press briefing that featured Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander leaders in the Biden administration — including Harris herself — to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the inauguration and discuss the administration’s commitment to “diversity and inclusion.”

“One year ago today, the president and I were sworn in and I will speak for both of us in saying that when we took that stage and took that oath, all of you as leaders were there with us,” Harris said, addressing WHIAANHPI. “It was an oath that in many ways, we took together which is to continue with the work that has to be done to make sure that we are a government that represents all the people and that we fight for the equality of all people and the dignity of all people.”

Areas that are heavily concentrated with Asian communities, like Los Angeles County and New York City, saw steep increases in anti-Asian hate crimes and hate incidents. To address these disturbing trends, the Biden administration passed a bill to improve the nation’s response to hate crime reports, increased funding toward research to better tackle bias and xenophobia against Asian Americans, and signed several memoranda related to improving civil rights practices and accessibility to resources for the multilingual Asian community.

The massive $1.9 trillion COVID relief package and the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law each helped families across the country navigate the coronavirus crisis. Biden also presided over an economic uptick: 6.4 million jobs created, rising wages and low unemployment.

“There’s still a lot of work to do, in that regard,” Harris said, regarding anti-Asian hate. “I think one of the most important things that we can all do together is to continue to speak truth, but not only to the strength of community but also to the particular needs of communities, and to do that is to understand and embrace that the diversity of our country is part of our strength.”

The Biden administration’s response to the COVID crisis emphasized the increased

accessibility to vaccines, a triumph that WHIAANHPI emphasized on Thursday.

“When President Biden took office, only 2 million Americans were fully vaccinated, but today, 210 million Americans are highly protected from the most severe outcomes of COVID,” said Krystal Ka’ai, executive director of W’HIAANHPI. “There have been historic investments made to ensure that we are tackling this crisis.

However, it’s difficult to ignore the overwhelming public disapproval of the progress (or, lack thereof) undergone by Biden and, by extension, Harris.

A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only 43% of Americans approve of how the administration is handling its job.

The poll, released this week, also found that just 28% of Americans said they want Biden to run for re-election.

A Gallup poll in December found that 44% American approve of Harris’ job so far, a similar outcome to Biden’s rating in that same survey.

In November, an approval rating by USA Today shared that Harris’ public approval rating sat at 28%, making her one of the least vice presidents in contemporary American history — a significantly lower approval rating than that of former Vice President and driver of the Iraq War Dick Cheney in his first year in office.

The glaring disapproval rating is only punctuated by the seemingly absent Harris, who was once a driving force toward the administration’s emphasis on better racial and gender representation but had become a lukewarm answer to the social clarion call.

According to WHIAANHPI, in addition to Harris being the first Black, South Asian, and female vice president, 15% of all agency appointees within the White House are Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander which exceeds the 7% population share that the same group has across the nation. Additionally 26% of the president’s appointed officers within the Biden administration identify as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander, making the Biden administration one of the most diverse administrations in

American history.

The speakers on Thursday stressed vague goals of “diversity and inclusion” with Harris — who is South Asian, Black, and female — as the standard bearer after a predominantly white and male Trump administration, which, for the most part, had a dubious relationship with racial, ethnic, and gender equality and equity.

But diversity and inclusion should go beyond presenting a variety of skin colors and genders; it should mean constantly taking action on the broad and specific issues and struggles of a nation that is becoming more diverse and inclusive. The Biden administration has so far failed to forgive the mounting national student loan problem, It’s also worth noting that in her first year, Harris’ task list included tackling two hot national issues: improving the precarious situation at the U.S.Mexico border and enacting national voting reform — two uphill challenges decades in the making.

In early 2021, Harris’ negative public perception kickstarted with the border crisis, notoriously telling Guatamalan migrants, “Do not come. Do not come.

The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our borders. If you come to our border, you will be turned back.”

Harris, and the Biden administration at large, suffered a blow, with many Latino American leaders, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, expressing disappointment in the onceprogressive former senator.

Most notably, the Biden administration has been criticized for the too-often confusing and shifting guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventing (CDC) and a shortage in testing and personal protective equipment. (This week, after weeks of criticism, the White House announced it would make 400 million N95 masks and free at-home tests available.)

“We certainly have a lot more work to do and we will do it together,” Harris said in her final remarks on Thursday. “But we must be committed to ensuring that the ideals that we hold dear are fought for because we can sometimes think they’ll just happen, but I think we all know that also, we have stand up and be vigilant.” n

Filipino Americans in Las Vegas aid...

PAGE 1 PACF is involved in funding water filtration systems.

“Filipinos all over the world, and those who are members of Rotary Clubs specifically, are responding to the water filtration project.

We hope our partnership with 1Filipino Foundation, a registered non-profit in the Philippines, will help the affected communities,” said Caoile “It’s going to be a long road to recovery,” said Luz Micabalo.

“PACF will do it’s best to help. Our online campaign has ended but if people still want to donate, they can send checks.”

Checks can be sent to PACF, 10705 Back Plains Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89134. n

Billionaire Manny Villar to become next media...

PAGE 1 to use the coveted Channel 2 spectrum last January 6 and provisional authority to use digital TV frequencies in Metro Manila and Mega Manila on Channel 16.

This effectively gives the Villar group control over the frequencies, a scarce public asset, while blocking future attempts by ABS-CBN to regain use of the spectrum.

It was unclear how the NTC vetted Advanced Media’s capacity to run a TV network. Before awarding the frequencies, it also did not hold the traditional public selection process or “beauty contest”.

The last time radio frequencies were awarded was during the rigorous 2018 bidding for the third telco license—which was bagged

by Dito Telecommunity, a venture between Duterte campaign donor and business tycoon Dennis A. Uy and China Telecom.

The documents also showed Malacañang’s support for the move.

The NTC said the 18-month

provisional authority to Advanced Media was reviewed by the Department of Justice and Office of the Executive Secretary, which issued a “no objection” on the assignment of the vacated and available frequencies last December 29.

Advanced Media will broadcast the Channel 2 frequency from the Villar Group’s Starmall shopping center along EDSA in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, the documents showed.

Moreover, the NTC said the test broadcast permit will be effective until the final shut off of analog TV, which was earlier set in 2023.

Industry player Felipe Gozon, GMA Network Inc. chair and CEO, previously shared his views that the deadline would be extended anew due to the Philippines’ low adoption of digital TV. This would also extend Advance Media’s hold over the Channel 2 frequencies.

Democracy.Net.Ph co-founder Pierre Galla said the issuance of a temporary permit can be subject to “misuse.”

“One method of misuse is if a permit is granted whose nature is indefinite and not short in duration,” he said.

It is an anti-competitive behavior designed “to prevent any other entity [from using] the frequencies covered by the permit,” Galla told the Inquirer.

According to Forbes Magazine, Villar is the county’s richest individual with a fortune worth $7.2 billion. He owns property giant Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., broadband company Streamtech apart from water and infrastructure assets.

In September last year, the House of Representatives approved the sale and transfer of control of Advanced Media to Villar-owned Planet Cable Inc. In latest financial statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Advanced Media reported an 80 percent decline in 2020 revenues to P3.1 million while losses widened to P3.1 million from P1.82 million in 2019. It had total assets of P35.7 million. n

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Date lin e USa

I won’t embarrass myself, says Pacquiao in...

PAGE 1 Pacquiao stressed he is knowledgeable about the solutions to problems like those related to the economy, jobs, and corruption.

Asked about the comment of critics that he does not have enough experience in politics, the senator said that he surpasses other presidential candidates in terms of experiences in life.

“Alam niyo po, kapag experience sa buhay ang pag-uusapan, daig ko po ‘yan sila lahat,” Pacquiao said, noting the difficulties he faced before becoming a boxing champion.

(In terms of experiences in life, I surpass them all.)

Pacquiao pointed at his capability to lead as he discussed possible solutions to the economic woes of

the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Pacquiao, his administration would provide more budget for micro, small, and medium enterprises, attract investors from other countries, and boost the “non-tax revenue” if he is elected president.

He noted that the country has debt because its expenses are higher than its revenue.

“Ang concern po natin, ‘yung revenue, income ng ating gobyerno, napakaliit po. Ang sinasabi ko nga po dito ay kung talagang matatalino po talaga ang mga namuno mula pa noon hanggang ngayon, alam mo sa totoo lang ang dapat nating pagtuunan ng concern natin ‘yung revenue income ng ating gobyerno,” he said.

(Our concern is that the revenue of the government is really low. If the previous and present leaders of our country are really smart, we should have focused on the revenue income of the government.)

“Kumbaga sa isang bahay, ‘yung income ng isang bahay, mas malaki ang ginagastos ng isang bahay kaysa income ng isang bahay, so ganun po ang sitwasyon ng ating bansa. Mas malaki ang ginagastos natin taon-taon kaysa kinikita ng ating bansa, kaya palaki nang palaki ang deficit natin at inuutang natin,” he added.

(It’s like the situation in a household where the expenses are higher than the income. That’s our current situation. We are spending more than our revenue, so our deficit keeps on increasing.) n

From pandemic to endemic: will we ever...

PAGE 1 of COVID once and for all, because the reward for doing that is a world where you don’t have to worry about COVID, and you don’t have to live with that number of deaths and hospitalizations in the ones you love. And I think that’s worth fighting for,” he said.

Questions and responses The Centers for Disease Control announced Jan. 21 that booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have proven highly effective at preventing Omicronrelated hospitalizations, and 90 percent effective at keeping people out of hospital after they had become infected with the Omicron variant.

DALI FAN — Well, that’s hardly surprising. We know that even the protective effect of two shots of the Pfizer vaccine, wanes after some time from 80 percent to about 30 percent, but a booster shot really elevates it back up to 70 percent.

So this was a really good piece of news. The undertone of the news is: get vaccinated, get the booster shots.

Given that that the vaccine’s effectiveness wanes after a period of time, will we have to get fourth and fifth boosters as we go along, maybe boosters every six months?

BEN NEUMAN — It’s not clear whether this is the case, but at the moment, based on the data we have, I think I would agree that more boosters are likely.

Additional doses of the vaccine raise both the levels of cellular immunity and antibody immunity.

And they give you both broader

protection and more protection.

They are a good idea, and they are the best idea that we have so far to deal with this virus.

DALI FAN — It is not only whether we should have a fourth or fifth shot or not, but also the time of those shots, whether it’s six months or 12 months or later. That is still unknown. I think time will tell.

When do we expect to see a peak of the Omicron variant? And what target number or percentage must we reach before we can say we have effectively fought off this variant?

DALI FAN — Omicron started in South Africa, and then went to England very quickly. So if you look at those countries, they peaked very quickly within the first week or two, and then they come down very quickly as well. That’s the hallmark of Omicron across the globe. I think that’s the same thing happened in the US. It started in New York, then spread towards the middle part of the country, and to the West Coast right now.

I think we’re peaking in the West Coast it. In California, I think we should spike now or in the next week, and then come down by early February.

BEN NEUMAN — Testing centers are overwhelmed: we are under-reporting because we are under-testing at the moment. So to some extent, I’m not sure how much we can believe the apparent slowing in the number of cases.

Given the current rates of infection, is it safe for our schools to re-open?

DALI FAN — I do. I think it’s always a balance, not just in infectious disease, but in also in

any other field. You balance the risk and benefit of reopening schools.

Societal engagement for children right now outweighs the benefit of shut down.

My concern is the side effect of shutdown society, and it’s aftermath.

Can we move towards an endemic, in which we acknowledge that COVID-19 will be with us for the long-term, and re-open our society to prepandemic norms?

DALI FAN — if you look at cancer, or in my field, chronic angina, you try a bypass, you do everything you can to mechanically provide more circulation back to the heart. But at some point you’re going to have to say enough is enough. And then the patient has to live on. There’s a life to live, their families, work that needs to be done. So at that point, you have to live with angina.

By that same analogy, we have to learn to live with COVID, no matter how brutal it is.

BEN NEUMAN — I do not believe we have come to the point where we have to give up. And that’s essentially what people are talking about when they talk about the the disease becoming an endemic.

I’m not done with this thing until we have exhausted every possible opportunity to get rid of COVID once and for all. Because the reward for doing that is a world where you don’t have to worry about COVID, and you don’t have to live with the number of deaths and hospitalizations in the ones you love. And I think that’s worth fighting for. (Ethnic Media Servies)

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • January 27-february 2, 2022

5 things you should know about ‘free...

PAGE 1 Coronavirus Response Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act. The have-insurance-payfor-it solution has been used frequently through the pandemic.

Insurance companies have been told to pay for PCR tests, COVID treatments and the administration of vaccines. (Taxpayers are paying for the cost of the vaccines themselves.) It appears to be an elegant solution for a politician because it looks free and isn’t using taxpayer money.

1. Are the tests really free?

Well, no. As many an economist will tell you, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Someone has to pick up the tab. Initially, the insurance companies bear the cost. Cynthia Cox, a vice president at KFF who studies the Affordable Care Act and private insurers, said the total bill could amount to billions of dollars. Exactly how much depends on “how easy it is to get them, and how many will be reimbursed,” she said.

2. Will the insurance company just swallow those imposed costs?

If companies draw from the time-tested insurance giants’ playbook, they’ll pass along those costs to customers. “This will put upward pressure on premiums,” said Emily Gee, vice president and coordinator for health policy at the Center for American Progress.

Major insurance companies like Cigna, Anthem, UnitedHealthcare and Aetna did not respond to requests to discuss this issue.

3. If that’s the case, why haven’t I been hit with higher premiums already?

Insurance companies had the chance last year to raise premiums but, mostly, they did not.

Why? Perhaps because insurers have so far made so much money during the pandemic they didn’t need to. For example, the industry’s profits in 2020 increased 41% to $31 billion from $22 billion, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The NAIC said the industry has continued its “tremendous growth trend” that started before COVID emerged.

Companies will be reporting 2021 results soon.

The reason behind these profits is clear. You were paying premiums based on projections your insurance company made about how much health care consumers would use that year.

Because people stayed home, had fewer accidents, postponed

surgeries and, often, avoided going to visit the doctor or the hospital, insurers paid out less.

They rebated some of their earnings back to customers, but they pocketed a lot more.

As the companies’ actuaries work on predicting 2023 expenditures, premiums could go up if they foresee more claims and expenses. Paying for millions of rapid tests is something they would include in their calculations.

4. Regardless of my premiums, will the tests cost me money

3

directly?

It’s quite possible. If your insurance company doesn’t have an arrangement with a retailer where you can simply pick up your allotted tests, you’ll have to pay for them — at whatever price the store sets. If that’s the case, you’ll need to fill out a form to request a reimbursement from the insurance company. How many times have you lost receipts or just plain neglected to mail in for rebates on something you PAGE 4

Dateline PhiliPPines

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http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

January 27-february 2, 2022 • LaS VeGaS aSIan JOurnaL

DOH: PH, Metro Manila down Comelec chief bares vote to DQ Marcos, hints ‘intervention’ delaying release of ruling to ‘high risk’ for COVID-19

by GaEa

KatrEEna CabiCo

Philstar.com

MANILA — The risk classifications of the Philippines and Metro Manila for COVID-19 have been downgraded to high from critical, the Department of Health said.

In a briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte aired late Monday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the growth rate of cases nationwide from January 11 to 24 went down to 176% from 3,361%.

However, the country registered an average daily attack rate of 28.46 per 100,000 individuals.

Meanwhile, the two week growth rate in Metro Manila, the epicenter of the surge driven by the Omicron variant, declined

to 65% from 7,225%. But the average daily attack rate was still high at 84.56 per 100,000 people.

According to Duque, COVID19 cases in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces have been decreasing, while the remaining areas in Luzon are showing signs of plateauing.

The health chief earlier said that the surge in Metro Manila has already reached its peak.

The government’s pandemic task force will meet on Thursday to discuss the possible deescalation of the alert level in the capital region. Metro Manila is currently under Alert Level 3.

Aside from Metro Manila, Soccsksargen, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Mimaropa were also deemed at high risk from

COVID-19.

Under critical risk classification were Bicol region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Western Visayas, Davao region, Cagayan Valley, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula, Ilocos region, Caraga, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Calabarzon, and Central Luzon.

The country’s healthcare utilization rate was at moderate risk, with total bed use at 52.1% and intensive care unit utilization at 49.33%.

Daily cases reached record highs this month following the detection of local cases of the hyper-contagious Omicron variant.

The DOH has reported 3.44 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic started. Currently, there are 262,997 active cases. n

2021 PH GDP grew by 5.6%, slightly above target by bEn

o. dE VEra Inquirer.net

Mapa said gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2021 expanded by 7.7% yearMANILA, Philippines—The on-year, reversing contraction Philippine economy grew by 5.6% in 2020. in 2021, above target, following its As more productive sectors worst post-World War 2 recession of the economy reopened from in 2020, the government reported October to December 2021, GDP on Thursday, January 27 increased by 3.1% compared to National Statistician Dennis third-quarter output.

The full-year growth slightly exceeded the government’s 5 to 5.5% goal for 2021.

But economic growth in 2021 also benefited from the record 9.6-percent GDP drop in 2020 as the most stringent COVID-19 lockdowns shed millions of jobs and shuttered thousands of businesses. n

5 things you should know about ‘free...

PAGE 3 bought? A lot, right?

Here’s another thing: The reimbursement is set at $12 per test. If you pay $30 for a test — and that is not unheard of — your insurer is only on the hook for $12. You eat the $18.

And by the way, people on Medicare will have to pay for their tests themselves. People who get their health care covered by Medicaid can obtain free test kits at community centers.

A few free tests are supposed to arrive at every American home via the U.S. Postal Service. And the Biden administration has activated a website where Americans can order free tests from a cache of

a billion the federal government ordered.

5. Will this help bring down the costs of at-home tests and make them easier to find?

The free COVID tests are unlikely to have much immediate impact on general cost and availability. You will still need to search for them. The federal measures likely will stimulate the demand for tests, which in the short term may make them harder to find.

But the demand, and some government guarantees to manufacturers, may induce test makers to make more of them faster. The increased competition and supply theoretically could

bring down the price. There is certainly room for prices to decline since the wholesale cost of the test is between $5 and $7, analysts estimate. “It’s a big step in the right direction,” Gee said.

(Damon Darlin/Kaiser Health News) This story was produced by KHN (Kaiser Health News), a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation. n

by Edu

Punay Philstar.com

MANILA — In an unprecedented move, Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon disclosed that she voted to disqualify presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., an announcement made ahead of the promulgation of the poll body’s division ruling on petitions against him.

In an exclusive interview with GMA News’ “24 Oras” on Thursday, January 27, Guanzon said she informed her fellow commissioners of her vote to disqualify Marcos — meaning to grant the consolidated petitions against the presidential aspirant in the 2022 elections — as early as January 17.

But the commissioner said that her vote may have caused a delay in the release of the main ruling, hinting at external forces attempting to influence the Comelec division.

“That’s why this is happening.

Because my vote is [to] disqualify Marcos Jr. I think there is moral turpitude based on evidence and the law,” she said in Filipino.

Section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code on disqualifications holds that: Any person who has been declared by competent authority insane or incompetent, or has been sentenced by final judgment for subversion, insurrection, rebellion or for any offense for which he has been sentenced to a penalty of more than eighteen months or for a crime involving moral turpitude, shall be disqualified to be a candidate and to hold any office, unless he has been given plenary pardon or granted amnesty.

Petitioners Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party and the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law’s Bonifacio Ilagan cited Marcos’ conviction for failure to file Income Tax Returns for four years.

Among the arguments they raised is whether he is perpetually disqualified from holding public office, whether he was convicted of a crime of moral turpitude, and whether he is perpetually disqualified because of his convic-

tion that carried a penalty of more than 18 months.

Influencing commissioners?

Guanzon did not name who the commissioner assigned to write the main resolution or the ponencia is. But the report stated that other commissioners at the First Division are Aimee Ferolino and Marlon Casquejo.

But in a separate exclusive interview, this time with CNN Philippines, she said Ferolino is the ponente on the case and that they have not been able to contact her in the past three days.

In the days leading up to GMA News’ exclusive report, Guanzon went on Facebook Live unannounced twice, on January 19 and 26. In both times, she discussed arguments in the petitions and the processes of the division, but did not state her vote on the case.

“Ang kutob ko talaga may nakikialam na eh. Some people are trying to influence the commissioners. Yan ang ayaw ko,” Guanzon continued in the GMA report.

(My gut feel says there is someone trying to influence [the outcome] Some people are trying to influence the commissioners.

That’s what I don’t like.)

She also said a commissioner had even commented that cases raffled after the Marcos Jr. disqualification petitioners had already been resolved.

Guanzon said it might be that the unnamed people would want to have her vote to disqualify invalidated if the promulgation of the main ruling is delayed until she retires on February 2.

But she asserted that that could not happen since she already submitted her draft opinion on the case to all commissioners prior to the day of her retirement.

“That should already be on the record that I voted already. That should be counted and considered by the next presiding commissioner after me,” she added.

It is unclear how the unprecedented announcement of Guanzon’s vote would affect the Comelec First Division’s promulgation on its resolution. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez has yet to reply to reporters’ questions on this matter.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

File photo

SC will have last say Guanzon said she hopes the division resolution is released on Friday or by Monday at the latest.

But even if it will be released on January 31, she hinted that it may even be “too late” and it would spell “chaos.”

“That’s the last day, that means conflict. I already gave all the chances, I already have all understanding,” she added.

The retiring commissioner appealed to the unnamed person, whom she believes is “powerful,” to stop intervening in the case so the division can finally promulgate the resolution.

“Akyat na kayo sa [Supreme Court]. Di dito ang laro, dun matatapos ang laro ninyo,” she added.

(Go up to the SC. The showdown is not here [at the Comelec]; the game will be finished at the SC.) Aside from the three consolidated disqualification suits pending before the Guanzon’s division, Marcos is still facing another petition to cancel his Certificate of Candidacy filed by nuisance candidate Tiburcio Marcos.

Another disqualification suit is also pending before the Second Division.

The petition to cancel COC filed by civic leaders, represented by lawyer Theodore Te, was dismissed by the Second Division, but an appeal was filed earlier this week. Like the disqualification suits pending before the First Division, this plea is also expected to reach the SC. n

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LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • January 27-february 2, 2022

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JANUARY 27-FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

OPINION

Public disclosure

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FEATURES

HOURS after saying he would not make public his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth if it will be used by his political opponents, presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr. shifted gears last Monday, January 24 and said he would be “perfectly willing” to release his SALN if he wins.

Unresolved questions about his family’s enormous wealth continue to hound Marcos, so it was unsurprising that the SALN controversy has been revived in the course of his campaign for the nation’s highest office. He initially cited the ouster of Renato Corona as chief justice as an example of the use of the SALN issue for political purposes.

Corona, however, was found guilty of lying in his SALN based on his own admission about his undeclared dollar accounts, before an impeachment court presided over by the Senate president at the time, Juan Ponce Enrile, who is a Marcos ally and opponent of then president Noynoy Aquino.

Republic Act 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, requires the filing of the SALN within 30 days upon assumption of office, and every year thereafter. The law, which stresses that public office is

a public trust, states that “the public has the right to know” the “assets, liabilities, net worth and financial and business interests” of government officials and employees “including those of their spouses and of unmarried children under 18 years of age living in their households.”

The public disclosure can sometimes be a farce, with the help of topnotch accountants. In previous Congresses, Marcos’ mother Imelda had emerged as the poorest member of the House of Representatives, based on her SALN. Still, in the interest of public accountability, transparency and good governance, the nation’s highest officials should release their SALNs to the public, even without mass media invoking freedom of information and seeking the public disclosure.

It’s called leadership by example, and the public should remember the persons showing this quality as they apply for high office. (Philstar.com)

Editorial

The Fil-Am Perspective GEL SANTOS-RELOS TO hold public office is one of the most sacred privileges a citizen can ever have because along with it comes the opportunity to affect change for the greater good.

This is especially true for those running or are appointed for local or national posts because such positions of power, especially that of the Office of the President, are accorded and entrusted with public trust.

After all, citizens pay taxes to fund the government and its operations, programs and services in faith and in trust that our public servants are working for our interest. We, the People, are their “boss.” These public officials work for us, and not the other way around.

Working for the government does not give an employee a hefty salary so it is not the job one would want if he/she aspires to be rich. However, we have heard how some people had been willing to kill other people just to hold a position in government — from the top post to the “baranggay tanod.”

We also wonder how with a meager salary, some government officials and employees have been able to acquire wealth and live extravagant lifestyles. We have seen families holding public

Election red flag: Resistance to transparency, accountability of candidates seeking public office office together in the legislative and executive branches of government in both local and national offices, clinging to these positions in a merry-goround dance, generations after generations.

“Corruption is a cancer within the body of societies—a disease that eats at public trust and the ability of governments to deliver for their citizens. The deleterious effects of corruption impact nearly all aspects of society. It exacerbates social, political, and economic inequality and polarization; impedes the ability of states to respond to public health crises or to deliver quality education; degrades the business environment and economic opportunity; drives conflict; and undermines faith in government.

Those that abuse positions of power for private gain steal not just material wealth, but human dignity and welfare,” the White House official page states.

This truth is very palpable in the Philippines. Elections after elections we hear campaign promises about fighting against and abolishing corruption, but the promises remain to be empty rhetoric of many sweettalking scheming politicians who fear and therefore tactically workaround and game the system to avoid two important requirements of these sacred

WHILE people are seeing a spark of hope that the COVID-19 situation will eventually transition from pandemic to endemic, what is really worrisome now, especially for the U.S. and its friends and allies, is the escalating tension in Ukraine, with the buildup of Russian troops over the border now estimated at 100,000.

The encouraging news is the decline in the number of Omicron infections worldwide. In the United States, cases are also going down in places such as New York, California, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania and several other states, indicative that the surge is peaking, according to experts. But while the situation is becoming less grim, people should not be complacent and should maintain masking and health protocols.

In the Philippines, the number of cases is decreasing particularly in Metro Manila, with the one-week growth rate falling to -20 percent, according to OCTA Research, noting that the downward trend

positions of public trust in government: transparency and accountability.

Transparency means to be open and proactive in disclosing everything that is material and important to how the public official will conduct himself and make decisions while in office, and this starts the moment he/ she has signified and formalized intent to run for office or accept an appointment to serve in government.

This is the sacred resume a candidate presents to the people on his qualifications and personal information why we, the people, should entrust with him the position of power to work for our greater good.

The public official is expected to be proactive in his/her disclosure about his personal, social, economic ties; his/her assets, liabilities and net worth; about his/her clean record involving crimes and moral and ethical turpitude; about principles, visions, and platform to make our lives better, and our democracy stronger.

Campaigns are free to present their candidates in the best possible light to convince the electorate they are best suited for the position. That is their public relations function. But all these this need to be checked, examined, questioned, and

explained as required by the principle of transparency.

Political appointees are vetted, their past dug up, and they are subject to hearings which are like “cross examinations” about their fitness to be in office before they are confirmed pursuant to the rule of law.

For elected officials, part of the process by which the citizenry can make a more informed decision in hiring or rejecting a candidate for office is by thorough research, investigation and the job interview, which take the form of debates, interviews, panel discussions, town hall meetings, etc., done by the fourth estate — the free, independent press in a democracy.

A candidate applying for the job, therefore, should be ready, willing and able to go through this rigorous process of job application because no one is entitled to the job. He/she could not cherry-pick who should conduct the interview and face only those who accept his claims as gospel truth. That would be PR. A true, honest, trustworthy candidate should be ready, willing and able to face the press who are like hungry hyenas ready to devour him/her until all his skeletons are revealed with hard, mean, incisive questions.

That is the role of the press in

a democracy because this will serve the public better in their sacred decision-making process of choosing the right and deserving public servant.

This is also a pre-cursor to how a candidate, when elected in office, will be transparent in his/her actions as an elected public servant. Government information, government records, transactions, dealings should be made available to the public, whether proactively and/ or when asked.

Former President Barack Obama wrote a Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and their Agencies” and part of it read: “We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.

Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government. Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset.”

When do we demand transparency, which promotes accountability from our own public officials in the Philippines?

This is not “paninira” or putting

the government down. In fact, it is our sacred obligation to keep our government officials transparent and accountable in all their actions because that will push them to serve us better and strengthen our democracy.

Systemic corruption has been perpetuated in government not just by those in power, but by the voters who, knowingly or unknowingly, have been condoning, approving, and even nurturing this very chronic social ill that has been keeping the Philippines a “third world” country. This coming election, don’t turn a blind eye to the red flags. Demand transparency and accountability from all candidates, especially from those running to be president of the Philippines. *** 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.

Major global challenges ahead

Babe’s Eye View BABE ROMUALDEZ

Philstar.com photo

is similar to the pattern seen in South Africa where a rapid surge was followed by a “dramatic decrease in infections.” Daily cases in the National Capital Region could go down to 1,000 in mid-February, and possibly less than 500 daily infections by the end of February, OCTA also said.

But the world will be coming out of this pandemic with new challenges not only economically but politically as well. U.S. intelligence sources are convinced Russian president Vladimir Putin will use the troops to move into Ukraine, a strategically important nation for NATO and the United States.

State Secretary Antony Blinken has decried the Russian troop buildup, saying there was “no provocation, no reason” for such action and raised the possibility that Russia could attack Ukraine “on very short notice,” warning of tough sanctions if that happens.

“We know that there are plans in place to increase that force even more on very short notice,” Secretary Blinken said in a press conference.

Reports that Russia is also moving troops and military

hardware to Belarus – with plans to conduct military drills in February dubbed as “Allied Resolve” – has fueled the tension even further. Lithuania, which shares a border with Belarus, has expressed concern about the presence of Russian troops.

“In the current situation, we consider the entry of Russian military forces into Belarus not only as a destabilizing factor of the security situation, but also as an even greater threat to Lithuania,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said.

Both the UK and Canada are also showing support for Ukraine.

The UK has sent antitank weapons and British personnel to provide training, while Canada has warned about severe sanctions and also deployed special forces.

Russia has denied allegations that it is looking for an excuse to invade Ukraine. Security experts believe that such course of action would be costly – economically and otherwise – for Russia, and would be damaging to the political standing of Vladimir Putin.

However, they also acknowledge the risk of war if talks between the U.S. and Russia will fail to ease

tensions. Ukrainians meanwhile have expressed their readiness to defend their nation from any attempt at invasion, saying they will fight to the end.

North Korea’s recent firing of suspected ballistic missiles is also another cause of tension, aggravated by a statement from North Korean state media KCNA that the “hostile policy and military threat by the U.S. have reached a danger line that cannot be overlooked anymore,” thus the need to prepare for “a longterm confrontation.”

Japan has issued a condemnation, with Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi saying that the “repeated launching of North Korea’s ballistic missiles is a grave problem for the international community, including Japan.”

And while the missile launches did not pose an immediate threat to the U.S. and its allies, these highlight the destabilizing impact of North Korea’s illicit weapons program, said the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

Aside from North Korea and Ukraine, the virtual meeting between President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio

Kishida on Friday, January 21 also tackled China’s increasing aggressiveness and how they can work together to preserve stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

Last Wednesday, January 19 Chinese military fighter jets entered Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone in yet another act of intrusion. In his congressional testimony last year, then-Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Philip Davidson said China could attempt to take control over Taiwan within six years, observing that China’s military capability has evolved throughout the 21st century.

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah also warned about China’s new strategy in advancing its territorial claims.

Instead of the nine-dash-line – which was rejected by the Permanent Court of Arbitration as having no legal basis – China is now using the “four sha” (four sands archipelagos, referring to disputed island groups which China has named as Dongsha, Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha) to justify its claims of sovereignty over the South China Sea. A 47-page report released

by the U.S. State Department outlines the “unlawful” maritime claims of China which “gravely undermine the rule of law in the oceans and numerous universally recognized provisions of international law reflected in the Convention,” the report said.

Countries in the Asia Pacific, especially ASEAN membernations, will need to be unified in their stand because clearly, any escalation will only make it difficult for nations to recover from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy.

President Biden has already sent out formal letter invitations to all the ASEAN leaders for a faceto-face summit in Washington within the next couple of months. The summit is expected to cover a wide range of issues about post-pandemic economic cooperation and security in the region. (Philstar.com) *** 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

The views expressed by our Op-Ed contributors are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the predilection of the editorial board and staff of Asian Journal.

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SFIO announces 2022 roadmap following successful year of acquisitions, restructuring

SMOKEFREE Innotech, Inc. (SFIO), a leading asset management company and innovation group, is pleased to share details around its pending name change to Starfleet Innotech, Inc., its ongoing transformation initiatives, and its progress towards uplisting to the Nasdaq within the next three years.

In the weeks to come, SFIO hopes to receive final confirmation on their proposed name change to Starfleet Innotech, Inc. – a company name that truly captures the team’s mission of innovating across new frontiers. It’s a step of SFIO’s team and they’re really excited about it.

When SFIO began developing their plans for a network of innovative companies working in conjunction to explore new frontiers of innovation, SFIO couldn’t help but draw inspiration from the scifi classics they grew up with. As Starfleet, the team is leading this new alliance, sharing knowledge and resources to help their businesses boldly go where none of their industries have gone before.

The name change will be a fitting start to 2022, following a big year of restructuring for SFIO. As SFIO continued to grow the global portfolio of companies throughout 2021 and embarked on a series of vertical and horizontal integrations to best consolidate their resources, resulting in a more efficient, more productive, and ultimately more profitable family of businesses operating across a shared, streamlined supply chain. Today, SFIO’s three core divisions – Food & Beverage, Real Estate, and Technology – represent a clear, coherent strategy for growth over the next three years.

The Food and Beverage (F&B) division was a consolidation of the businesses that comprised their international supply chain powering brands like the flagship enterprise, Epiphany Cafe. These consisted of firms across food, franchising, coffee, and beverage solutions. To date, they’ve established partnerships with wholesale bakeries and food commissaries; developed better supply chain management, logistics, and administrative systems; localized the franchising and license procurement strategies; and forged new distribution channels for their coffee and beverage solution products.

In consolidating these businesses under one division, SFIO’s team was able to more effectively organize their complementary resources, and focus efforts towards turning their F&B businesses into SFIO’s vehicles for entering new global markets.

This year, SFIO is exploring expansions for Epiphany Cafe across Australia, the Philippines, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Market research, feasibility studies, and financial modeling are already underway, with pilot sites across these regions currently being selected. SFIO is also in the process of shortlisting the master franchise partners and developing brand conversion strategies nuanced to these new markets.

In the Philippines, SFIO partnered with FJ Prime Management, Inc. to spearhead the growth of Epiphany Cafe in the country. Similarly, SFIO has established a partnership with Epiphany Ventures Corporation to grow their footprint across Malaysia.

As part of these plans, the team of SFIO is currently in talks with key convenience store brands in Malaysia and Australia to carry Epiphany’s signature pillowsoft donuts. As for the 5-in-1 instant coffee offering under SFIO’s Gorgeous Coffee brand, they already

received initial orders from the partner distributors across the United States and Australia, with the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines soon to follow.

To fuel this expansion, SFIO team built the Real Estate division around a series of high-yield projects, the proceeds of which will be reinvested in their future growth. SFIO ended 2021 announcing that local permits have been obtained and land development initiatives are already underway for many of their exciting and innovative township projects. In addition, they are actively exploring non-dilutive funding options for these initiatives, the details of which they will be sharing in the months to come. As SFIO begin pre-selling and staging marketing roadshows for these projects, they will be launching a new brand around SFIO’s Real Estate division to communicate the type of future-ready communities SFIO aim to create – communities that embrace the best of smart city technologies, health and wellness systems, and opportunities around medical tourism.

Finally, SFIO established a Technology division as SFIO’s key enabler, underpinning all their efforts as a conglomerate. In terms of strategy, this division will not only augment business operations, unlock innovative new revenue streams, and grow the intellectual property assets, but will also serve as SFIO’s backbone as they grow as an agile organization.

For example, as SFIO concurrently enters new markets with Epiphany Cafe, part of ensuring the sustainability of the growth is embracing new technologies to better manage the operations at scale – starting with a unified, streamlined logistics platform. With this platform, SFIO’s goal would not only be to standardize the operations of different businesses across the supply chain, but to also bring value to the franchisees, and, ultimately, their customers who will now benefit from a truly seamless, tech-powered system.

Similarly, their Technology division is hard at work on a proprietary platform to manage all the global Real Estate projects, specifically when it comes to supporting their agents’ customer engagement and sales workflows. Through the use of artificial intelligence tools, this platform will serve as the scaffolding for future tech services, housing their pipeline of real estate innovations. SFIO’s goal with this suite of tools is to eventually offer it to other developers as well, to help them showcase their real estate portfolios and augment their operations.

SFIO’s technology efforts around real estate aren’t limited to showcasing them, however, but will be fundamentally integrated into each of the developments, beginning with the big investments they’re making in pioneering community health systems. SFIO recently partnered with Fort Health Data Systems, a startup that develops health and wellness dashboards for communities-as-a-whole.

With Fort Health, they’re able to pull in individual health data points, as well as environmental data from Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled sensors to build predictive models for proactive community care. And to really take those data gathering systems to the next level, SFIO has NeuroSky, a Silicon Valley-based biosensor solution firm that develops bleeding edge hardware like brainwave monitoring headbands and smartwatches for tracking wellbeing. The company believes that integrating NeuroSky’s hardware with Fort Health’s community health platforms, then deploying those systems across the township projects will be a real gamechanger for tech-driven public health systems.

Just as SFIO intends to do with the real estate platform, this community approach to care will then be expanded and deployed to other settings, taking a blend of proprietary software and innovative hardware to health institutions, universities and workplaces around the globe. By providing the means to meaningfully gather and analyze health data, SFIO will be enabling communities to build measurable, proactive health strategies, leading to greater savings by ensuring people don’t become ill in the first place.

Finally, the most fascinating is the work the Technology division is doing with digital tokens – specifically NFTs (nonfungible tokens) – to allow the shareholders, partners, and other community stakeholders to participate more meaningfully in SFIO’s growth and operations. They’ve been studying a lot of the interesting ways grassroots communities are using decentralized technologies to structure their organizations. In designing this new system, SFIO will be taking cues from the firms experimenting with blockchain and digital tokens to build what they hope will be the new gold standard for asset management platforms.

While these technologies will serve SFIO well as they grow exponentially in the years to come, the real test of the conglomerate’s mettle will not be in its ability to innovate, but in its ability to do so collaboratively. This past year SFIO’s team has built SFIO into a truly global community, adding to their presence in New Zealand and Australia with the launch of new offices and teams across the UAE, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the U.S. – where they’ve engaged with experienced firms to help lead the marketing efforts. With such an expansive footprint, the only way to accomplish their shared mission is to establish a united front. And so, following 2021’s restructuring, SFIO has embarked on a new commitment – investing heavily in building SFIO into a truly agile ecosystem.

As an asset management company, SFIO decided to adopt the same lean-agile framework prevalent among hyper-scale tech developments firms for three reasons. First, it is the best way to ensure that as SFIO grows exponentially in the years to come,

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they do so flexibly and sustainably. It is essential that they decentralize decision-making wherever possible, so as to allow each of SFIO’s global units and business divisions to champion their own growth and efficiently respond to their own needs. Second, this framework provides the means to rapidly stage new innovations within the divisions and iterate on them independently, before scaling their successes across the SFIO ecosystem-at-large. Third, this framework recognizes the vital role that talent plays in fueling growth.

To accomplish all this, SFIO has gathered a worldclass team of professionals tasked with spearheading SFIO’s various initiatives. Transforming their corporate framework is no small task and will require a strong community, united by a culture of collaborative innovation. Just this month, SFIO established a new communication team, whose role will be to both shape a clear and consistent external messaging strategy as SFIO operates in concert with their many stakeholders, and to organize many corporate teams around their shared goals, supporting each and every one of SFIO’s units, and establishing the channels they need to collaborate freely.

That collaborative, transparent culture extends beyond their business units, encompassing the entire corporate community. Beginning this month, they will be facilitating regular video conferencing calls with their key investors and partners to keep the stakeholders abreast on their activities. In each of these monthly sessions, they will be introducing new initiatives, sharing important updates, and calling for they shareholders and investors’ feedback – all of which reflect the stance that each member of the SFIO community plays a vital role in SFIO’s growth.

Further, SFIO has been curating the growth of the top-level leadership to guide their expansion, led by the appointment of additional non-voting advisory board members. A series of appointments to leadership: Jonathan Petalver, Roger Oriel, and Michael Venezuela. These leaders have been crucial to helping SFIO achieve corporate excellence in these early stages, and they will continue to play even more vital roles as SFIO expands. Joining now on board, Jeths Lacson, the chairman of SFIO, is excited to announce Jose Gerardo Noble, Stanley Yang, and Vince Caruso, as its global leaders in real estate development, technology, and marketing.

In the coming weeks, SFIO will be sharing more information on their progress towards developing the audited financials of each of their subsidiaries; introducing a new class of preferred shares to be used in securing strategic partners, hiring key officers, and closing new acquisitions; and placing SFIO on the OTCQB Venture Market, as a stepping stone towards their larger goal of uplisting to the Nasdaq.

The CEO and chairman of SFIO, Jeths Lacson ,would like to outline the strategies they will be employing as SFIO embarks on an ambitious mission of growth and transformation. They have a world-class team assembled to make this happen. But to achieve their goal of uplisting in the next three years, they will need a united front – not only among their global teams and divisions, but across all stakeholders in the community. With the shareholders and valued business partners’ continued support, they will accomplish SFIO’s mission to boldly go where no conglomerate has gone before. (Advertising Supplement)

January 27-february 2, 2022 • LaS VeGaS aSIan JOurnaL Las vegas ASIAN JOURNAL

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VEGAS&STYLE

January 27, 2022

Journal

inside

LifestyLe • Consumer Guide • Community • MARketpLAce

Iza on what she considers her ‘best acting performance’

by Boy

ABundA Philstar.com

IZA Calzado knows acting is a born talent yet she also believes that anyone can train to be an actor.

“There are people who are naturally gifted with it. And for some actors, their eyes alone (can) express emotions, like Judy Ann (Santos) or Zaijian (Jaranilla). But there are also people who have harnessed their talent through the years. Maybe they weren’t as good when they started, you know it’s like clocking in your time. ‘Di ba, it takes 10,000 hours to be really, really good at something? I also believe in that,” said Iza, who took the time for a one-on-one interview on my podcast Who Are You When No One Is Watching? a few days ago. The 10,000-hour rule, by the way, was popularized

by Malcolm Gladwell’s blockbuster book Outliers.

If there’s one thing that helps Iza’s acting performances become amazing instead of just being commonplace, it’s knowing her lines. She reads the script many times so as not to sound robotic.

“I memorize my lines and if I feel anxious, I just breathe and I shake and do ‘rrrr’ (sound). I do a lot of things. Actually, from the time I wake up pa lang, I’m already telling myself affirmations about being an actress. I’d say, ‘I am genuine, I am brilliant, I am talented.’

“That’s how I prepare for some moments so I can relax. Sometimes, iba pa yung, ‘I need to be in the moment.’ Being in the moment pulls you there. If I have to connect to an object or to my co-actor, I will do that.”

Iza, who entered showbiz in 2002, recalled the time when she had to do a scene with such great actors as Jaclyn Jose, Cherry Pie Picache and Tirso Cruz III. It was still vivid in her memory how she felt so intimidated while watching their stunning performances.

“That was in 2006 and I was just four years into this (business) so I was very intimidated. But Cherry Pie, she’s a very warm person; very generous, but still, ako yung oh my god, Take 1, binigay na yung lahat ni Cherry Pie. I wasn’t able to deliver because I was just looking at her and wondering how she’s doing it. Ang husay! And you know, that happened to me many times. I was absolutely floored like how’s this person doing that?

“Tirso Cruz III, I think in our scene in Etiquette for Mistresses, I was at some point kumawala ako ng konti kasi I was observing like how he was like so just there.

That’s how I get intimidated, papanoorin na lang kita,” she added.

Here are more excerpts from my one-on-one interview with Iza:

Iza Calzado

Philstar.com photo

When you do a scene in a movie, you have Take 1, Take 2, Take 3. Are you a Take 1 actress or when you do a number of takes, is every take different?

“You know, I believe in the magic of Take 1 when it flows and when you’re actually so ready because as actors, we have to be relaxed, actually. The mind has to be relaxed.”

How do you relax in an environment that is not conducive to relaxation?

“I know, and when everyone’s watching you, right? It’s hard and to this day, I don’t get to relax all the time. But you know, you breathe, you tell yourself you can do this.”

Let’s go with that particular scene that you did, for example, with Toni Gonzaga in Starting Over Again. Okay, so you’re ready for that particular scene lahat ng paghahanda ginawa mo and then something happens. Your co-actor throws you a different energy, do you go to your intuition or do you go to your preparation?

“Oh, I’ll go with it, kung halimbawa ganun. But, you know, just that scene alone, I came into that with a different approach, and it was really Inang (Olivia Lamasan, who directed Starting Over Again) who… at nakailang takes kami nun and I couldn’t get it. I felt defeated because we shot it two and a half days yata — that scene alone ha, kasi ang haba n’ya talaga. I was crying and then I finally understood what she wanted; her vision for that.”

Noong nag-u-umpisa ka Iza, did you, at one point, fake it until you made it?

“Yes, so many times, hahahaha.

I didn’t know anything kasi kaya parang Take 2 ganyan until you kind of get it, and until i-good nila.”

When you play a role, do you ever think about, like, is this going to be validated by the audience? Is my producer going to like this?

“I can’t be so selfish that I’m doing it for myself. I am doing it for the audience, to a certain degree, this is for them but I have to feel

it as well. And yes, it can be frustrating at times when you have a different vision of how things will go and then the director has a different take on it. Ideally, we meet half way but you have to trust also.

They have a vision and you may not always see eye-to-eye but you have to give them that respect.”

What do you consider as your best acting performance?

“I’m gonna say Mary Grace in Milan but that’s under the guidance of Inang so wala akong sense of ownership dun. I know that’s my performance but I didn’t know what I was doing. The challenge was how you deliver this performance without them kasi di ba dapat kaya mo.”

‘Pag TV work, what comes to mind?

“Encantadia, A Love to Last and Ang Sa ‘Yo Ay Akin. My co-actors in Encantadia — Diana (Zubiri), Karylle, and Sunshine (Dizon) — we’re actually always in touch because we have a production company now. I just did my first rom-com, a series called B&B: The Story of the Battle of Brody and Brandy, created by director Mark Reyes. Ian (Veneracion) played Brody and I played Brandy.

I really enjoyed playing the role because finally, I was given the opportunity to show I’m not always this pinakawawa (character) or a dark or ganyan haunting-like in most of my films. It’s for WeTV Philippines. Kami ni Sunshine, we’re together. It was her first co-directorial stint.”

How much do you value awards?

“It’s really icing on the cake but, of course, I would be a hypocrite if I told you I don’t dream of them.”

Who are you most like among your film or TV characters?

“Brandy, the closest.”

Who are you when Ben’s watching?

“I am his wife.”

What are you wearing when no one is watching?

“Nothing (laughs).”

Who are you when no one is watching?

“I am me. I’m myself.”

Megan, Mikael admit forgetting their 2nd wedding anniversary by dAnA

Cruz Inquirer.net

MEGAN Young and Mikael Daez seem to be going strong with their marriage, but enjoying their life together may have led to the couple almost forgetting their second wedding anniversary.

The Miss World 2013 titleholder confessed that she and Daez forgot their anniversary while showing a throwback photo from their wedding on her Instagram page last Tuesday, Jan. 25. She also thanked fans for reminding them about their special day. “[Two] years married and 11 years together. I’ve always got your back as you’ve always got mine,” she told the actor. “P.S. Thank you to everyone else for reminding us because we always forget these things.”

For his part, Daez said, “It’s all good in the hood,” and noted that this is not the first time he and his wife forgot about a milestone in their relationship, as seen on his Instagram page, also last Tuesday.

His post was accompanied by a photo of himself and Young eating ice cream together.

“On cue, we forgot a major milestone in our relationship once again. Today is our [second] wedding anniversary! (synchronized face palm from me and Bonez). But then again, this is how we roll and it’s all good in the hood,” he quipped. Bonez is Daez’s nickname for Young.

Daez also poked fun at Young by showing her sleeping facedown on the bed while wearing her wedding gown.

“She has fallen and stayed fallen… in love with me! [But] to be honest, I’m just looking for a cheesy excuse to post that picture. And with that, happy

Megan Young and Mikael Daez

Photo from Instagram/@mikaeldaez

anniversary to us!” he greeted Young. “My only message to Bonez is… I shall do my best to make you stay ‘fallen.’”

The couple received anniversary greetings from fellow celebrities Coney Reyes, Iza Calzado and Gabbi Garcia.

Young and Daez had been together for nine years before tying the knot in January 2020. They had two weddings that month: an intimate ceremony with their loved ones in Nasugbu, Batangas, then a bigger wedding in El Kabayo, Subic.

Health @Heart PhiliP S. Chua, MD, FaCS, FPCS COCONUT oil, touted to be a healthy oil and a “superfood” is a “pure poison” according to some Dutch researchers, claiming there are no studies to prove it does your body better than other edible oils.

We have been warning the public about the danger of coconut oil since the early 80s as false claims flooded the market, together with various forms of coconut products, including virgin coconut oil.

The American Heart Association published a report a couple of years ago warning about the dangers of eating too many unhealthy, saturated fats, was a big blow against coconut oil, which is listed and characterized as one of the “unhealthy fats,” which raises LDL (bad) cholesterol levels “more than any other liquid fat.”

The report further stated: “From a structural perspective, coconut oil is about 90 percent saturated fat (which is why it stays solid at room temperature). According to Harvard’s Walter Willett, that’s a far higher percentage than butter, at 64 percent, as well as beef fat and lard, both at 40 percent.”

Olive and avocado fruits and oils are healthy food items.

Coconut oil is known to be good for the hair, and perhaps for the skin, but falsely marketed as a “superfood.”

As always, caveat emptor!

Fecal transplant One of the most recent popular topics in medical science is the microbiome, especially of the gastrointestinal tract. Microbiome, as the term suggests, concerns the microscopic life environment in and on our body. The gut microbiome (microbes in our intestinal tract) influences our metabolism, immunity, and mediator of resistance to some infections. There are good and bad microbes (trillions) on our skin and in our body, like the gut. The balance of their coexistence with

Coconut oil: ‘Poison’? us and our body determines our health and wellbeing. Our body needs both types of microbes, in harmony and in balance, for good health.

It has been reported that the “distinct and essential organ within the human body, the gut microbiome contains an estimated 500-1000 species and 100 trillion organisms, encoding 100fold more unique genes than our own genome.”

Antibiotic-associated diarrhea, for one, is caused by a disturbance in the balance of the microbiome milieu when the drug kills both types (good and bad) of bacteria in the body. The condition leads to Clostridium difficile infection, which has doubled in incidence in the U.S. alone from 1996 to 2003. In 2010, it was estimated to be half a million a year, resulting in 20,000 deaths a year.

To reestablish the original balance of gut microbiome, Fecal Microbiome Transplantation (screened donor human stools given to the patient) has been found effective in the management of C. difficile infection, which has saved countless lives.

The donor feces, blenderized and filtered, is introduced by enema or colonoscopy into the patient’s colon, aimed at providing the gut a normal flora of stool bacteria.

FMT has been found to be very effective.

Stools, after all, are not a total waste.

NIOSH-N95 mask The government is providing free masks for all soon, a mitigating PPE that should have been distributed two years ago, followed by a federal mandate for vaccination for all when the vaccine first came out on December 11, 2020. Those two strategies would have ended COVID-19 in the U.S. before 2022. Mutations gave us Delta, Omicron, Deltacron and now a subvariant of Omicron, BA.2 virus, an even more rapidly transmissible strain (first found in Denmark late December 2021 and now 30,000 new cases per day, the 45-percent predominant strain in Denmark), nicknamed “Stealth Omicron.”

With the massive surges of these new variants, we can expect the virus to be all around us, on us (especially among the unvaccinated), flying in the air, and dropping on the floor. Talking, breathing, sneezing, and coughing (without a mask) spews out the virus and transmits the virus to people around. Sneezing and coughing shoot the virus into a trajectory of 16.5 meters per second. Certainly beyond 6 feet. The more reason to mask-up, perhaps doubly, or with a gaiter or a face shield on top of the mask. One can never be too careful in the presence of this stealth enemy.

Even to a silly degree of protection.

The size of COVID-19 (SARSCoV2) virus is 0.1-0.5 micron, 600 times smaller than a grain of salt, 150 times smaller than pollen, 25 times smaller than dust, 20 times smaller than bacteria. The mask we need should have pores smaller than 0.1 micron to really prevent the virus from going through our mask and entering our nose and mouth. Unfortunately, such a mask does not exist (yet).

Cloth masks, using 100 percent cotton, found to be the best material among dozens of common fabrics, still has about 100 micron-size pores, which would allow (accommodate) 1000 viruses in one pore alone, making it a poor filter for COVID-19 viruses.

The NIOSH-approved N95 mask filters up to 0.3 micron. During a high velocity cough, even N95 masks filters only 53 percent of small particles. But reducing the viral load is always beneficial.

Even 100 percent cotton, when made into a 3- to 5-layer mask, is still helpful, better than no mask at all.

NIOSH-N95 mask is still the best (when worn properly covering the nose also), compared to all the other masks, even expensive high-end and designer masks.

The N95 could be doubled or reinforced with a gaiter or a face shield to maximize protection.

Frequent handwashing, social distancing, avoiding crowds, and staying home except for essential PAGE 10

Las Vegas Lunar New Year: Celebrate the Year of the Tiger LAS VEGAS - Chinese New Year in the Desert/Spring Festival proudly returns to Las Vegas for the 11th consecutive year on Feb. 3 – Feb. 6, 2022.

Chinese New Year in the Desert™has experienced explosive growth over the past ten years. From humble beginnings at the Fremont Street Experience in 2012, the celebrations have expanded city-wide and now have claimed The Grand Canal Shoppes, the X Pot Venetian, Downtown Las Vegas, Taverna Costera, and Rainbow Kitchen as the new venues of choice. Major supporters for the 2022 celebration include the JAMBA inside McCarran International Airport, National ACE, Vegas Golden Knights, the City of Las Vegas, and Golden Catalyst, LLC. Named by Forbes Magazine as one of the “8 Great Places to Celebrate Chinese New Year” in the United States and Canada, Chinese New Year in the Desert™ continues to set the bar on celebrating one of the most important social and economic Asian holidays.

The schedule is as follows: Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022: National ACE presents CNY Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony & KickOff Feast Grand Canal Shoppes Las Vegas & The X Pot Venetian 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Join us for the official kick-off and ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Grand Canal Shoppes. Entertainment consists of the “Dotting of the lions’ eyes” ritual and traditional dance performances.

After the ceremony, there will be an elaborate feast at the X Pot Venetian. Tickets can be purchased at: https://cny2022thexpot.eventbrite.com.

Friday, Feb. 4, 2022: Gala Dinner & Karaoke Taverna Costera 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.

A ticketed VIP dinner includes a family-style dinner and cocktails sponsored by Remy Cointreau.

Enjoy the night market, lions blessing, and traditional folk dances. Tickets can be purchased at: https://cny2022TavernaCostera. eventbrite.com. Join us for Karaoke on the roof-top after dinner!

Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022: Spring

Festival Parade Downtown Las Vegas 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

The parade, featuring gorgeous floats, elaborate costumes, and traditional lions, is quickly becoming a Las Vegas tradition that entertains thousands who come to watch. Announcers’ stage and limited bleacher seating will be provided by the City of Las Vegas.

Applications for parade entries and complete details can be found at: https://cny2022ParadeEntry. eventbrite.com.

Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022: JAMBA inside Harry Reid International Airport presents Closing Ceremony and Gala Dinner Rainbow Kitchen 6 p.m. - 9p.m.

Enjoy a traditional 9-course family-style Chinese dinner. Drunk Fruit will be providing Lychee, Yuzu, and Melon Hard Seltzer to compliment the delicious meal.

Tickets can be purchased at: https://cny2022RainbowKitchen. eventbrite.com.

Additional information and an updated schedule can be found at https://cnyinthedesert.com.

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Nevada State Taxes Gold House, other API brands to usher

Tax Tips Victor Sy, MBA, cPA (retired) N eva d a d o e s n o t h a v e corporate or personal income tax.

It’s for this reason that businesses leave their states of residency to set up shop in Nevada. Individuals also flock to Nevada to escape taxation of their retirement income, even if Social Security, IRa, and 401(k) were earned while residents of their prior states of domicile. But it’s more complicated than simply using a Nevada address for convenience.

Tax benefits do not apply to about 95% of Nevada corporations.

Let’s explore Nevada state taxes with some caveat at the end of our discussion.

State Income Tax (Personal): Nevada has no personal income tax; however, if you reside in another state such as California, you’ll need to apportion your income to California and file and pay taxes in California.

State Income Tax (Corporate):

There’s no state income tax for corporations and LLCs. Commerce Tax Return: a Commerce Tax is an annual tax for the privilege of doing business in Nevada, but this does not apply if gross revenue is less than $4 million.

Modified Business: a Modified Business Tax is for employers who are liable to pay contributions under the Nevada Unemployment Compensation Law. This tax is based on gross wages (including tips).

Unemployment Insurance Tax: Unemployment Insurance Tax is paid by employers and administered by the Nevada employment Security division.

This fund is used to support people who become unemployed or are fired through no fault of their own.

Payroll Taxes: If your Nevada LLC has employees, you must submit typical payroll taxes.

Local Taxes: The city and/or county where your Nevada LLC is domiciled may

also impose local taxes.

Additional Taxes: depending on your type of business, your Nevada LLC may be responsible for additional tax filings such as: • Property Tax • Cigarette Tax and Other Tobacco Products • Liquor License and Tax • Live Entertainment Tax • Short Term Lessor Tax. Caution: Consult a lawyer, enrolled agent, or certified public accountant before making your move. *** Victor Santos Sy graduated Cum Laude from UE with a BBA and from Indiana State University with an MBA. Vic worked with SyCip, Gorres, Velayo (SGV – Andersen Consulting) and Ernst & Young before establishing Sy Accountancy Corporation. *** He retired after 50 years of defending taxpayers audited by the IRS, EDD, BOE and other governmental agencies. He published a book on “How to Avoid or Survive IRS Audits” that’s available at Amazon. Readers may email tax questions to vicsy@live.com.

SB19 surpasses BTS record on Billboard Hot Trending Songs with 7-week ‘Bazinga’ streak by anne

PaSaJol Inquirer.net

SB19 has taken over the global K-pop sensation BTS’ longest streak in Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart, with the P-pop group’s seven-week reign on no.

1 spot.

SB19’s “Bazinga” surpassed the six-week run of BTS’ “Butter” in the digital chart powered

by Twitter. “Bazinga” garnered 9.3 million Twitter mentions in the Jan. 15 to Jan. 22 tracking week, as per Billboard’s report on Tuesday, Jan. 25.

SB19 announced the good news and once again thanked their fans, a’TIN, while referring to lyrics from the song on their Twitter page, also yesterday.

“Throw it away, the world unloads hostility,” they said. “‘Ba-

Pinoy boyband SB19

zinga’ is on a record-breaking 7th week at No. 1 on the [Billboard Hot Trending Songs!] THaNK YOU A’TIN!” SB19’s “Bazinga” music video premiered last October, which

in Year of the Tiger with campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Gold House is partnering with several asian and Pacific Islander-owned brands for its second annual Lunar New Year campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® to bring good fortune to St. Jude patient families and raise awareness and support for its lifesaving mission: Finding cures. Saving children.® From February 1 through april 30, when shoppers purchase from participating brands, they will have the option to donate to St. Jude during the checkout process. additionally, a portion of the proceeds from each sale will go toward St. Jude research and treatment of childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Pediatric cancer is a trillion-dollar, multi-year problem, requiring millions of supporters coming together to solve. The public and partnerships like this one make it possible for St. Jude to save children together.

“Gold House is proud to once again partner with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to direct the collective power of API-founded businesses in the Gold House community toward supporting and advancing its crucial research and treatment of cancer and other catastrophic children’s diseases,” said Mikkoh Chen, Head of Gold House Futures.

Last year St. Jude launched its six-year, $11.5 billion strategic plan – the largest in St. Jude history – to create a brighter future for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases by delivering on its promise to triple its global investments and help more of the 400,000 children with cancer around the world each year.

Thanks to generous supporters, St. Jude has pressed ahead with a vital collaboration with the World Health Organization to increase global access to pediatric cancer medicines, which will allow St. Jude to impact as many as 120,000 young cancer patients in 50 countries by 2027.

Participating brands in the Lunar New Year campaign include Covry, dagne dover, duck duck Books, Fly By Jing, Glow Recipe, Health-ade, Neuro Gum, Nona Lim, The Qi, Sanzo, and Tochi Snacks. These companies offer a wide array of products, including food, condiments, beverages, books, eyewear, beauty and handbags. Several of them are members of the Gold House Founder Network, a cross-indus-

try community of promising asian and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs and business leaders.

St. Jude patient families embody the strength and courage of the Tiger. among the children who are thriving after receiving treatment at St. Jude are Calvin who had an aggressive, non-cancerous brain tumor called craniopharyngioma, Max who had retinoblastoma, a cancer of the eye, and MaelinKate who was diagnosed with a rare blood disease called Fanconi anemia. a limited-edition Tiger plush toy named after St. Jude patient Maelin-Kate is available via the St. Jude Gift Shop.

For additional campaign information, visit stjude.org/lunarnewyear. (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Release)

featured them as video game characters in an action-packed journey. The group has since released two more music videos for their songs “Ligaya” and “SLMT.”

Claudine hopes to work with Julia Barretto

by Jan

Milo Severo Philstar.com

aCTReSS Claudine Barretto hopes that she can work with niece Julia Barretto in a project now that she and sister Marjorie Barretto settled their differences. during the recent virtual press con of her new movie “deception” with Mark anthony Fernandez, Claudine said she would love to work with the young Barretto.

“Yes, hopefully, oo sana. Kapag medyo maluwag luwag na ‘yung Claudine Barretto Photo from Instagram/@claubarretto schedule niya,” Claudine said.

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“Kasi may mga ginagawa siya ngayon for viva and ako rin.

Siyempre gusto ko makatrabaho siya,” she added. at the same press conference, she said that she and Marjorie reconciled and they celebrated New Year’s eve together.

“It’s such a touching experience. The best new year of my life. I am sure my dad is so happy because magkakasama kami lahat. after two years nung nagkagulo sa wake ng dad ko, finally nakasama ko ulit mga nieces and nephews ko. Masaya, masaya,” Claudine said.

Coconut oil: ‘Poison’?

travel are still the best weapons we have against the virus, which has so far killed more 5.6 million worldwide, greater than 890,000 in the U.S., and almost 53.6 thousand in the Philippines.

Cancer and diet diets high in red meat, processed foods, and low in vegetables, fruits, and nuts are well-known causes of cancers in general. High saturated animal fats and burnt meat (barbeques) are believed to increase the risk of pancreatic and colon cancers.

Recent studies show the impact of diet on cervical cancer. eating a variety of natural fresh whole food items (unprocessed, no preservatives, no additives), minimum red meats (twice or once a week), and

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a lot of green leafy vegetables and other colored veggies, nuts, and fruits lowers the risk for cervical malignancy and other forms of cancer. In the Philippines, about 5,000 cases of cervical cancer (caused by Human Papilloma Virus) are detected each year, making it the second most common cancer in women. The vaccine, Gardasil, which prevents cervical cancer almost 100 percent, when given to young boys and girls in grammar school before they become sexually active, is a miracle drug all parents should welcome.

*** 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.

*** 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

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CELEBRATION. The beautiful and sophisticated Didi Nivia celebrated her 80th birthday party with family and friends at the Revere Golf Club in Henderson, Nevada on Sunday, January 23. The iconic signer Martin Nievera was the surprise guest singer of the night while DJ DannyMac provided the dancing music. Didi was a nutritionist in New York before moving to Las Vegas in 2001.

Photos by Raoul Gatchalian

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