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FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024 Volume 35 - No. 5 • 12 Pages

T HE F ILIPINO A MERICAN C OMMUNITY N EWSPAPER

2770 S. Maryland Pkwy., Suite 201 Las Vegas, NV 89109 Tel: (702) 792-6678 • Fax: (702) 792-6879

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

Marcos insists ‘Uniteam’ remains Meet the only Fil-Am intact despite word war with Dutertes golfer swinging his DATELINE USA FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

dreams in the PGA Tour BASKETBALL may be the Philippines’ quintessential sports but one Filipino American golfer is set to prove that amidst the hurdles of golf not being accessible to everyone, he is waving the Philippine flags in the PGA Tour.

This year, Rico Hoey is changing the game with Philippine flags standing tall — an unusual sight in a PGA Tour. He kickstarted his fourth PGA Tour game as a full-fledged member at the initial round at The American Express Tournament on Thursday, January 25.

“It was kind of cool having everyone out here, my family, my dad, girlfriend, coaches, everyone,” Hoey said during the tournament.

“Feels like a home event for me. I only live an hour away. I grew up out here, playing junior tournaments out here, so it was fun.”

Filipino American golfer Rico Hoey’s journey Born in the Philippines and raised in  PAGE 3

MANILA — The so-called “Uniteam” coalition is still intact and functional, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said after signs of cracks in his alliance with the Dutertes emerged.

Marcos maintained that his relationship with Vice President Sara Duterte is “exactly the same” even after he and his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte,

engaged in a war of words.

“If you remember ‘Uniteam’ is not just one party or two parties or three parties. It’s the unification of all political, hopefully all political forces in the Philippines to come together for the good [of] the country,” Marcos said.

“And that is still there. It is still vibrant. It is still

Fil-Am in North Las Vegas charged over neighbor’s shooting A FILIPINO American woman is facing murder charges in Nevada over the shooting of her neighbors in December.

Police said 36-year-old Joe Junio opened fire on her neighbors Nicholas and Sarah Davi in the Alianta community in North Las Vegas.

Junio is in police custody at the Clark County Detention Center.

The Davi couple had two children, aged 15 and 12, who witnessed the horrific incident.

Police say the shooter lived next door to the Davi family.

The motive for the shooting was established as a longstanding dispute over the Homeowners Association rules.

It was known that the Davi family had filed for a temporary protection order against Junio after she repeatedly threatened them.

The shooting was partially captured on video by Davi's 15-year-old daughter, who was recording as they were leaving their driveway.

The video showed Junio driving past them, and parking next to their car. She then rolled down the window and stared at them.

It also showed that Nicholas confronted her and

Housing gaps are racial gaps, say Bay Area policymakers AS the Bay Area housing crisis deepens racial and wealth divides, how much is the system working as intended?

With a two century history of race-based discrimination preventing many Bay Area communities of color from finding homes, race-conscious housing plans are needed to mend this disparity, said front-line housing policymakers and advocates at a Monday, January 22 forum held by San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR).

The racial history of Bay Area housing Moderator Geeta Rao said these racialized housing policies began before the 18th century with the divestment of land from indigenous Americans, and continued well through the 20th with exclusionary zoning and redlined maps; racialized public housing; covenants prohibiting property sales to minorities; and blockbusting, in which developers convince residents to sell below market due to an alleged influx of minorities.

Decades after California Fair Housing Act of 1959 and the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) of 1968 outlawing racial discrimination in housing sales, renting and financing, the leg PAGE 4

working, and we will continue,” he added.

The president also said that Sara will retain her post as the country’s education chief.

The Marcoses and the Dutertes formed an alliance ahead of the 2022 elections. Since then, however, their relationship has seemingly fractured ahead of  PAGE 2

ATTRACTING GOOD LUCK. A worker arranges Lucky Bamboo stalks being sold at a store along Ongpin Street in Binondo, Manila on Thursday, Feb. 1. In Chinese tradition, the lucky bamboo symbolizes good fortune, health, and prosperity.

PNA photo by Yancy Lim

 PAGE 2

Amid Duterte-Marcos verbal spat, public must stay neutral – groups

by ZEUS LEGASPI Inquirer.net

MANILA — Multiple progressive groups have reminded Filipinos to remain impartial amid the heated exchange of accusations between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) President Renato Reyes Jr. said in a statement on Tuesday, January 30 that the two factions are merely fighting over who controls the country’s “spoils” as neither represents genuine change.

“At the end of the day, we cannot place our hopes in any of these factions given the interests they represent,” Reyes stressed.

Anakbayan, meanwhile, condemned the “pointing of fingers” between the two camps.

“Imbis na gumawa ng mga kongkretong hakbang para apulahin ang lumalalang krisis na dinaranas ng mamamayan, mas pinipili ng mga kampo ni Marcos Jr. at mga Duterte na magbardagulan para sa sariling interes Senator Imee Marcos nila,” Anakbayan national spokesperson Kate Almenzo said.

(Instead of taking concrete steps to address  PAGE 2

‘Difficult news’: CNN Philippines signs off on January 31

by RUSSEL P. LORETO, TYRONE JASPER C. PIAD Inquirer.net

MANILA — Employees of award-winning broadcaster CNN Philippines gathered on Monday, January 29 in a general assembly to hear the sad news that had been circulating the past few days.

CNN Philippines president Benjie Ramos announced that nine years after debuting in the local broadcasting industry, CNN Veteran broadcast journalist and senior anchor Rico Hizon leaves the CNN Philippines Philippines was to cease operaheadquarters in Mandaluyong City on Monday after the local franchise holder of the global tions on all media platforms on media brand announced it will cease operations on Jan. 31 due to financial losses.

Wednesday, Jan. 31 as Nine MeInquirer.net photo by Grig Montegrande dia Corp., the franchise holder of

the global media brand, struggled to keep the company financially afloat.

“It is with heavy heart that we share the difficult news that Nine Media’s news production will stop its operations due to serious financial losses, made even worse by the pandemic,” said Ramos, who turned emotional as he delivered the news.

“Despite our best efforts … it has become increasingly clear that we are not able to sustain our  PAGE 2

Inquirer.net file photo

Imee Marcos tells Bongbong: ‘Stand firm and put an end to PI’

MANILA — Senator Imee Marcos asked her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to hold his ground and end the uproar surrounding the people’s initiative (PI) to amend the 1987 Constitution.

In a televised interview, the senator admitted that she hadn’t seen her brother. But when asked what her advice to her brother was, she immediately said: “Stand firm and put an end to this PI.” “Until now, he says that we need to study it [and] consult legal luminaries. The Commission on Elections, on its own, has said that the signatures are still alive – there’s no deadline, there’s no expiry date, and they can be used and recycled for future effort. Let’s set that aside. It’s illegally and unconstitutionally obtained. Let us

not let this happen,” said Marcos in an interview over ANC’s Headstart on Thursday, February 1.

“Perhaps he can make a very firm and clear stand. Put an end to the PI, and let’s do this properly together, and there will be no controversy,” she added.

According to the senator, her brother is too kind. She, however, emphasized that kind people often get abused.

Early this week, Marcos has acknowledged that the PI has been politicized.

Nevertheless, Marcos remained firm in his position that the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution must be changed.

However, he is unsure if the PI approach is still a workable option for his administration. (Charie Abarca/Inquirer.net)

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

FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

From The FronT Page

Fil-Am in North Las Vegas charged over...

PAGE 1

Joe Junio

asked her to leave them alone. But Junio responded by pulling out a gun and shooting him. She then turned the gun on Sarah and fired another shot.

The police arrived shortly after and arrested Junio at her townhome.

She admitted to shooting Nicholas Davi and was initially taken to the North Las Vegas Community Correctional Center before being transferred to the facility in Clark County.

Junio is facing open murder and attempted murder charges, as well as child endangerment, and discharging a firearm at a vehicle.

She is scheduled to appear in court on March 8.

North Las Vegas police are still investigating the case and are asking anyone with information to come forward.

Photo courtesy of North Las Vegas Police Department (Bev Llorente/TFC News)

‘Difficult news’: CNN Philippines signs off...

PAGE 1 operations,” he pointed out.

CNN Philippines had trouble paying its annual franchise fees of P55 to P60 million after its advertising revenues fell short of its costs as fewer people watched free TV. In the nine years it went on air, CNN Philippines had accumulated financial losses exceeding P5 billion.

CNN Philippines first aired in 2015 after Nine Media secured a licensing deal with The Cable News Network (CNN), an international news channel based in Atlanta, Georgia, owned by Turner Broadcasting Corp.

It has been using RPN 9’s free TV frequency, which will revert to government control following the shutdown.

International recognition In an advisory on Monday, CNN Philippines extended gratitude to all its staff, partners and viewers for their support.

“To our staff, we thank you for your commitment and dedication,” it said. “And to our viewers, our sincerest gratitude for your loyalty and trust over the past nine years.”

The media outlet signed off with several accolades under its belt.

Just last month, CNN Philippines was named “Premier Business Best Broadcast Media Company in the Philippines” at the first Southeast Asian Premier Business and Achiever Awards.

Veteran journalist Rico Hizon was also recently awarded “best factual presenter” at the Asian Academy Creative Awards.

All CNN Philippines employees were retrenched and would be given separation pay as a result of the outlet’s closure, a source told the Inquirer.

The source said that although they are officially employed until Feb. 29, CNN Philippines would no longer be producing content.

Asked if the affected employees could be absorbed by other media outlets under the ALC Group of Companies, the source said the management did not mention anything about it.

The ALC Group owns other media entities such as Business Mirror, Philippine Graphic, Pilipino Mirror, Aliw Channel 23 and Cook Magazine.

In an advisory on Monday, the broadcaster said it would “discontinue operations on all media platforms effective Wednesday, Jan. 31.”

The network reportedly lost more than P5 billion as it tried to compete with media giants on free television.

“To our staff, we thank you for your commitment and dedication,” CNN Philippines said.

“To our partners, including CNN Worldwide/Turner Broadcasting Corp., we are grateful for your support.”

“To our loyal viewers, thank you for giving us purpose. We are honored to have served you,” the

media corporation added.

The decision not to renew the CNN franchise and shut down the Philippine operations — which will affect about 300 employees — had been made last year and approved by Nine Media of the Cabangon family, but the latter decided to defer implementation until after the Christmas holiday season.

Transparency from employers Meanwhile, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) issued a statement on Friday, January 26 urging media workers to organize and demand transparency from their employers, especially in light of the shutdown of CNN Philippines.

“Each newsroom that goes dark is one less source of reliable information for the public and is a loss for our community and profession,” said Jonathan de Santos on X (formerly Twitter).

“It is cruel to have to find out about your company’s potential plans from news reports and from gossip instead of from leadership that expects media workers to be on call and updated on issues of the day but are silent on pressing workplace issues,” NUJP said.

“The apparent lack of communication between management and staff over the coming changes highlights the need for workplace organizing to, at minimum, ensure that employees are kept abreast of corporate developments that will affect them,” it added. g

IN HIGH SPIRITS. Vice President Sara Z. Duterte does the thumbs up sign as she addresses the crowd at the Bagong Pilipinas (New Philippines) kick-off rally on Sunday, Jan 28 at the Quirino Grandstand. Around 400,000 people, including members of the Cabinet, lawmakers, local government officials, and the public, attended the launching.

PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan

Marcos insists ‘Uniteam’...

PAGE 1

next year’s midterm polls and the 2028 presidential race.

On Sunday, January 28, former President Duterte launched a tirade against Marcos over a campaign to change the Constitution. He accused his successor of being a “drug addict” without evidence and of trying to amend the Constitution to extend his term.

The Duterte patriarch also warned Marcos that pursuing charter change could lead to his ouster, similar to what happened to his dictator father.

Marcos struck back at his predecessor, suggesting the former leader’s use of fentanyl had taken a toll on his health.

Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, the vice president’s brother, also called for Marcos’

resignation over the weekend.

In a statement Monday, January 29, Sara said her brother did it out of “brotherly love, coupled [with] the common sentiment that I do not deserve the despicable treatment that I am receiving from some sectors within the circle of the president.”

(Gaea Katreena Cabico/Philstar.com with reports from Agence France-Presse)

Amid Duterte-Marcos verbal spat, public...

PAGE 1 the worsening crisis experienced by the people, the camps of Marcos Jr. and the Dutertes choose to engage in a brawl for their interests.)

Fisherfolk group Pamalakaya likewise condemned Duterte’s “hi-jacking” of the fight against Charter change, noting that the former president himself did not honor the Constitution during his administration.

The group alleged that Duterte “openly surrendered” the country’s “national sovereignty to China in exchange for foreign loans,” which they said increased Beijing’s military presence in the West Philippine Sea to the detriment of Filipino fisherfolk.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Bagong Pilipinas kick off rally.

In a speech during a prayer rally at Davao City on Sunday, a fuming Duterte alleged that Marcos has been on the watch list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). He claimed the

Malacañang photo

list was shown to him when he was still mayor of Davao City.

But PDEA denied such a claim, saying President Marcos Jr. was never on the government’s drug watch list. g

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Dateline USa

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024

Karagdagang kaalaman sa Filipino (Tagalog) ay makikita rin sa website ng Lalawigan ng Clark Kagawaran ng Halalan sa: www.clarkcountynv.gov/vote.

NOTICE TO ELECTORS OF CLOSE OF REGISTRATION FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE PRIMARY ELECTION TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2024 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that, Lorena S. Portillo, the Registrar of Voters of Clark County, Nevada, will conduct a registration of qualified electors for the Presidential Preference Primary Election to be held on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

Any qualified elector whose name does not appear on the official registry list may apply for registration by mail, in-person, online, or through same day registration in the manner approved by law according to the deadlines listed below. (NRS 293.3568, 293.560, 293.565, 293.5832, 293.5837, 293.5842, 293.5852) EVERYDAY LIFE. This life-size statue of a boy using a smartphone is one of several found along Scout Tobias in Barangay Laging Handa, Quezon City on Wednesday, Jan 31. Several sculptures adorn the streets of the village, depicting scenes of everyday life, such as a “taho” vendor selling the morning staple.

PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler

MSEUF Alumni Association of CA hosts grand reunion in LV in summer 2024 THE Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation (MSEUF) Alumni Association of California will be hosting a MSEUF Grand Reunion in Las Vegas, Nevada from Thursday, August 29 to Sunday, September 1.

The highlight of this grand reunion will be a dinner/dance on August 31. The venue will be

the South Point Hotel and Casino (9777 Las Vegas Blvd.) where rooms have been blocked for alumni and guests attending the momentous occasion.

For hotel reservations, please mention the group name “MSEUF Class Reunion” when calling tollfree (866-791-7626) or via the hotel’s direct line (702-797-8961).

The group code when reserving online is MSE0829. Deadline to reserve rooms is by August 8, 2024.

For additional information, please contact the following: Rolando “Butch” Villarama, (916) 600-8472; Mercelita “Mercy” Bruno, (310) 462-9535; or Nonato “Nonet” Palomar, (818) 209-6881.

Where are the nation’s primary care providers? It’s not an easy answer CLINICIANS at Valley-Wide Health Systems never know who will appear at their clinic in San Luis, a town of about 600 people in southern Colorado.

“If someone’s in labor, they’ll show up. If someone has a laceration, they’ll show up,” said nurse practitioner Emelin Martinez, the chief medical officer for the health care system serving 13 rural Colorado counties.

But she struggled to find a fulltime medical provider for that clinic, the only one in Costilla County. Born and raised in the area, Martinez filled some of the gap by driving about 45 minutes from Alamosa, the nearest city, once a week for months. A physician assistant from another town chipped in, too.

As one of the nation’s more than 1,000 federally designated primary care shortage areas, Costilla County has many carrots to dangle in front of medical providers willing to practice there, including federal student loan repayments, bonus Medicare payments, and expedited visas for foreign clinicians. Still, Martinez said, its latest opening remained unfilled for more than a year. Not a single physician applied.

Policymakers have long tried to lure more primary care providers to the areas of the nation that have fewer than one physician for every 3,500 residents. Recent examples include the Biden administration boosting funding in 2022 to address shortages and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pushing sweeping primary care legislation in 2023.

But researchers steeped in the issue have a persistent frustration: It’s hard to know if any policy is working given that the data the federal government collects on primary care shortage areas has been flawed for a long time. One of the biggest gaps

is that the system counts only physicians, not the myriad other health care professionals who now provide much of our nation’s primary care.

Additionally, a Health Affairs study shows the federal designations, which help allocate an estimated $1 billion in annual funding through at least 20 federal programs aimed at boosting primary care capacity, haven’t helped much.

In fact, Costilla County is among more than 180 federally designated areas that have remained stuck on the primary care shortage list for at least 40 years, according to a KFF Health News analysis. That’s even as the overall number of licensed U.S. physicians more than doubled from 1990 to 2022 to over 1 million, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards, outpacing overall population growth.

No one disputes that much of the nation is starved for primary care clinicians, with patients having to wait weeks to get appointments or travel long distances for basic preventive care. Many doctors decide against primary care career paths, let alone practicing in isolated communities, because those jobs entail heavy workloads and earn less money and respect than specialists. But how does the nation solve the problem without knowing exactly where it is? And what tools must be used?

Does a physician need to be the one providing the care?

Whitney Zahnd, president of the board of the Iowa Rural Health Association, said the fact that some rural areas have had such federal shortage designations for decades doesn’t prove they are ineffective. “Had the program not been there, would it have been even worse?” she said.

Federal funding supports 18,000 primary care doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to provide care to more than 18 million patients in the highest-need urban and rural communities across the country, said David Bowman, a spokesperson for the Health Resources and Services Administration, which manages the shortage designations. He said more than 80% of clinicians who get such scholarships or loan repayments continue to practice in shortage areas beyond their obligation of several years.

But that doesn’t mean they stick around forever.

Justin Markowski, a Yale School of Public Health doctoral student, co-authored the Health Affairs study that found the federal shortage designation makes no difference in upping physician density long-term. He is skeptical of policy ideas that promise big primary care fixes. That includes the Biden administration’s investment in more scholarships and loan repayments through the National Health Service Corps.

“You’re just throwing more money at a set of programs that don’t really seem to work,” he said. “We’ll see in a few years, but I’ll be shocked if it actually moved any physicians or any other advanced practice providers.”

One possible explanation for the persistence of shortage areas is that such incentives are too small or too fleeting.

But another issue is how shortages are measured.

The government considers geographic shortage areas, now numbering just over 1,000, but also population groups such as migrant farmworkers and individual facilities such as prisons that lack enough providers. Yet it’s up to state PAGE 4

Meet the only Fil-Am golfer swinging his...

PAGE 1 Rancho Cucamonga, California, Hoey grew up in an athletic family with both sisters also playing golf. This Filipino American golfer’s passion began at home.

Honing his skills at Rancho Cucamonga High and USC, he’d already showcased his talents that proved his success one day — competing not just for the U.S. but also for the Philippines during his teen years. He was part of the Philippine National team in 2013 Putra Cup and was one of the top players in the “Dream Team.”

He won the Callaway Junior World Championship and the Junior America’s Cup in 2012.

Before he claimed his ticket to the PGA Tour, his journey was not without hurdles.

In 2017, after turning pro and playing for PGA Tour Canada for the first time where he triumphed in the Freedom 55 Financial Championship at around 22 years old, he suffered injuries, inconsistent results and low spirits.

Thanks to the director of golf at Goose Creek Golf Club in Southern California, Ross Fisher, who saw his golf potential and gave him a job at Goose Creek.

“It was a low point for me, where it’s like, I’m injured, I

Photo from Instagram/@ricohoey3

have nothing to do, I’d rather do something than sit around, and (Fisher) was the one who envisioned everything, even through those tough times,” Hoey shared with PGA Tour. com.

Fast forward to 2023, his career took an unexpected turn — a win at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Visit Knoxville Open with high stats marked his comeback and paved the way for his chance at the PGA Tour.

Meanwhile, Hoey will start at No.10 this Thursday with four birdies before his turn. While birdie holes 1,4, 5, 6 and 7 will put him in a tie with Christiaan Bezuidenhout for second place.

This Filipino American golfer’s history is still being written, with each tournament and round a new chapter in his burgeoning career. We just can’t wait to see what’s next for Rico Hoey. (Mary Villegas/ Inquirer.net)

The deadlines to register for the first time or update your existing voter registration by mail or online in time for the February 6, 2024, Presidential Preference Primary Election and still receive a mail ballot are below. After those dates pass, voters who wish to register for the first time, or make changes to their existing registration information will have to do so through the same-day registration process, either online or in-person (at an early voting site or on Election Day at a Vote Center). New registrants will be required to vote a provisional ballot in-person at any early voting site or on Election Day at any Vote Center. We strongly encourage all qualified electors to register to vote or update their existing voter registration as soon as possible.

2024 PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE PRIMARY ELECTION VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINES AND HOURS Method of Registering Through the mail, government agencies, or in person voter registration application to: Clark County Election Center 965 Trade Drive, Suite A North Las Vegas, NV 89030 Online, only at www.RegistertoVoteNV.gov, and must have a valid Nevada DMV issued ID, Driver’s License, or Interim Document

Dates

Hours

Tuesday, January 9 (Deadline)

7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Closed

Tuesday, January 23, 2024 (Deadline) to receive a mail ballot or vote a regular ballot in-person at any early voting site or Election Day Vote Center.

January 24 – February 6 (Online Same Day Registration), must show ID at Early Voting site or at Election Day Vote Center and may only vote a provisional ballot in-person at any Early Voting site or Election Day Vote Center.

Same Day Registration (In-Person), must have a valid Nevada DMV issued ID, Driver’s License, Interim Document, or Nevada Tribal ID per NRS 232.006

January 27 – February 6 at all Early Voting sites, during voting hours and on Election Day at all Vote Centers, by close of polls

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINES AND HOURS (Mail or Over the Counter) Location Boulder City City Clerk’s Office 401 California Avenue Boulder City, Nevada City of Henderson City Clerk’s Office 240 Water Street Henderson, Nevada City of Las Vegas City Clerk’s Office 495 S. Main Street 2nd Floor Las Vegas, Nevada City of Mesquite City Clerk’s Office 10 E. Mesquite Blvd.

Mesquite, Nevada City of North Las Vegas City Clerk’s Office 2250 Las Vegas Blvd. North North Las Vegas, Nevada

Dates Monday - Thursday

Tuesday, January 9th (Deadline) Monday - Thursday

Tuesday, January 9th (Deadline) Monday - Thursday

Tuesday, January 9th (Deadline)

Hours 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Closed 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Closed 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

7:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Closed 7:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Monday – Thursday Friday

7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

7:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Saturday and Sunday Closed

Tuesday, January 9th (Deadline)

7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Monday – Thursday

Tuesday, January 9th (Deadline)

8:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Closed 8:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m.

A qualified elector who possesses a Nevada driver’s license, DMV-issued identification Card, or DMV-issued Interim Document and wishes to receive a mail ballot, may register or update his/her voter registration information online until 11:59 p.m., on 01/23/2024, exclusively at www.RegistertoVoteNV.gov, (Nevada Secretary of State website). Those qualified electors who register online from 01/24/2024 – 02/06/2024, will not receive a mail ballot, must vote in person at an early voting site or on Election Day and may only vote a provisional ballot, and must be prepared to show their Nevada Driver’s License, DMV-issued Identification Card, Nevada DMV Interim Document, or Nevada Tribal ID (per NRS 232.006) prior to voting.

Nevada and federal law require first-time registrants to provide an identifying number (Nevada driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number).

If these do not match the records maintained by the Department of Motor Vehicles or Social Security Administration, the registrant will be required to present identification before being allowed to vote. Forms of current and valid identification include a photo identification with the registrant’s name and current physical address (Nevada Driver’s License, Nevada I.D. Card, etc.) OR a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or document issued by a government entity, listing the registrant’s name and current physical address. These individuals have been notified.

For more information, call the Clark County Election Department at (702) 455-8683.

DATED: LORENA S. PORTILLO Registrar of Voters PUB: January 11, 18, 25 & February 1, 2024 Las Vegas Asian Journal

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Dateline USa

FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

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Housing gaps are racial gaps, say Bay Area...

PAGE 1

acy of this discrimination remains, added Rao, senior director of Enterprise Community Partners In the U.S., Black family incomes are about 60% of white incomes, yet the housing wealth of black families comprises 5% of white ones.

In the Bay, the Black population comprises 30% of the region’s homeless population — five times higher than its 6% share of the general population.

“When the U.S. first cut its teeth on mortgaging, they weren’t mortgaging property but people,” said Wilhelmenia Wilson, executive director of Healthy Black Families.

“My father sold our house in north Berkeley in the 1950s; as a state attorney, he got the memo about the incoming BART train station.

Now, I work there in a landscape made ripe for mass displacements of African Americans who never got that memo.”

This displacement of housing for communities of color is historically allied with exclusionary single family zoning where there is new development — “particularly in the South Bay,” said Mathew Reed, policy director at SV@Home.

“Many regions, like San Jose, essentially didn’t exist before World War II as we know them now,” he added. “They grew under public investments like the GI Bill, which subsidized overwhelmingly white Americans into the homeowning middle class.”

Bay Area cities with at least 85% of residential land zoned for single families have home values over $100,000 higher, with households nearly 20% whiter, than elsewhere in the Bay. Even though the FHA outlawed discriminatory housing policies, Congress debates around the bill racialized the distribution of resources by turning control of home financing over to local realtors.

Even 15 years ago, “predatory lending of subprime mortgages was central to the Great Recession” and disproportionate foreclosures among Black and Latino homeowners, Reed said.

A SPUR report released on January 23 found that even for such a high-cost region, the Bay produced by far the least per-capita and per-job housing from 2010 to 2020 among 25 comparable U.S. cities who shared a population greater than 1 million; a population density greater than 100 people per square mile; an average commute less than 40 minutes; an

annual job growth rate over 1% per year; and residents who largely voted for Joe Biden.

As one of the youngest U.S. elected officials, South San Francisco Mayor James Coleman — having entered office at age 21 — said this experience of precarious, expensive housing was a mainstay for his upbringing in the Bay: “People I graduated high school with still DM me on Instagram and say: ‘When are you going to build affordable housing?’ Because they grew up here and would love to afford returning, but the landscape is so unequal.”

Because 74% of single-family homes in South SF were built before the 1968 FHA, generational property wealth is still segregated staunchly along racial lines citywide.

In the southwest neighborhood of Westborough, for example, 72% of families are Asian, whereas 20 to 30% are elsewhere. Residents downtown, which houses under a fifth of the city, are similarly far more likely to identify as Latino compared to citywide averages.

What’s working?

Such segregation is best broken at the ground level, Coleman continued.

“In 2021, particularly for our Spanish-speaking community, our city created a program where we hired two to three people whose job was to literally knock on doors and ask residents what they struggled with most … We found it was rising rents.”

Even with aid like state and federal COVID rent and mortgage relief programs, language barriers unaddressed by local governments prevent those who most need the assistance from accessing it, he noted.

Additionally, Coleman added, South San Francisco passed a 20%-margin majority measure in 2022 superseding Article 34 — a segregationist state measure passed in 1950 giving wealthy neighborhoods veto power over affordable housing.

“Because the history of housing here is the history of racialized displacement, encouraging affordable housing is a race-conscious policy in of itself,” noted Reed.

As the state invests in housing, it focuses development in “resource-rich communities” — i.e. areas with high income, educational outcomes and public infrastructure.

However, oftentimes the outcome of this is that low-income residents are displaced from

neighborhoods they’ve lived in all their lives, he continued. “The expansion of opportunity is wellmeant, but we’re pushing back on the narrative that lower-income communities aren’t worthy of investment too,” by supporting returning-tenant preference programs.

Affording affordable housing With Healthy Black Families, the city of Berkeley has been ground zero for one such program. Building on a prior “right to return” survey the city released last year, the nonprofit asked Berkeley residents in-person and online — especially those near the North Berkeley and southern Ashby BART stations, where future affordable housing units will be built — “What do we need to create a thriving black Berkeley?”

“Across four months, through our initiative Equity 4 Black Berkeley, we compressed 1,600 inputs into nine categories,” she continued. ‘Housing’ was the foremost response, just above ‘Health’ and ‘Community.’

This feedback informed an Affordable Housing Preference Policy for displaced residents which the City Council passed unanimously last July, effective this year.

“Engaging your community to find out what they need isn’t a checkbox, it’s a cycle — and so is the history of black progress and majority retaliation,” Wilson said. “I find that when you walk into communities that have been devalued, even the capacity to dream takes building the capacity to trust, the will to share.”

Black respondents’ priorities generally differed from non-Black allies in a greater emphasis on community and finance, she remarked. These were interdependent for many Black residents “because creating affordable housing without also creating opportunities to afford housing” — like limited-equity co-ops that give people a stake in their community — “is just a welfare state.”

“My father used to say ‘You can’t legislate relationships, you have to build them,” Wilson continued. “Even the city told us early on — ‘If the community doesn’t show up, it’s a wrap.’”

On the way here, I dropped by our office and a woman was standing outside asking how moving back to Berkeley worked under the affordable housing policy,” she added. “To want to show up for their community, people need to see the outcomes of community.” (Selen Ozturk/Ethnic Media Services)

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FREED. About 267 sea turtle hatchlings are released from the eight-hectare biodiversity Aboitiz Cleanergy Park in Sitio Punta Dumalag, Matina Aplaya, Davao City on Thursday, Feb. 1. Since 2014, about 8,719 hatchlings have been released from the park.

PNA photo by Robinson Niñal Jr.

Filipino internet mourns the passing of Chris Punsalan’s beloved grandmother

by Mary Grace anne ToMines Inquirer.net

CHRIS Punsalan has shared the sad news of his 97-year-old Kapampangan grandmother, Anicia Santos Manipon passing on Monday, January 29, 2024.

Punsalan, who is a musician and FilAm content creator, became well-known for being a full-time caregiver to his grandma. Their social media journey began in 2019 when his TikTok video about his typical day as a caregiver went viral.

Since then, Punsalan continued to document their moments, and their inspiring videos have earned him a massive following on various social media platforms, including 2.4 million TikTok followers, 962,000 Facebook followers, and 1 million Instagram followers.

In a TikTok video, Punsalan expressed his heartbreak over his grandmother’s passing, saying, “My heart is broken, grandma fought so hard and lived such a fruitful life. I’m relieved that she can finally rest and she’s in better hands than we could’ve ever provided. I love you forever Grandma.”

Many digital and video creators have also expressed

Chris Punsalan has shared the sad news of his 97-year-old grandmother, Anicia Santos Manipon passing on Monday, January 29.

Photo from Instagram/@chrispunsalan

their sympathy and shared their memories of Grandma.

Social media users have penned their gratitude to Punsalan for sharing his grandmother with them.

The collective heartache resonates, and Punsalan has not posted anything following the confirmation of his grandmother’s passing. May she rest in peace. g

Where are the nation’s primary care providers...

PAGE 3

offices to identify populations and locations that might qualify as shortage areas and submit them to HRSA, which then scores the extent of any shortages. The funding and staffing for those state offices vary, creating an uneven foundation from which to map actual shortages.

“Some states became very adept at the equivalent of gerrymandering, where they were piecing together census blocks or census tracts in odd shapes in order to maximize the areas that are eligible,” said Stephen Petterson, a senior scholar at the Robert Graham Center, a policy think tank in Washington, D.C., that focuses on primary care.

The federal Government Accountability Office has highlighted such issues since at least 1995, when it released a report identifying widespread data problems with the shortage area system and concluding it had “little assurance that federal funds are used where most needed.” The report noted one of the persistent shortcomings is that the system counts only physicians, not other key primary care providers.

Since 1998, federal officials have made three attempts to update the 1970s-era rules that define what counts as a shortage area. The authors of the Affordable Care Act tried most recently, tasking a committee of experts to decide on an update.

Among other things, the committee concluded in its 2011 report that nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse midwives should be counted

as primary care providers. But the recommendations fell short by just a handful of votes.

“We failed and the committee as a whole failed and HRSA failed by not moving the process forward,” said Petterson, who presented to the committee on how to comprehensively measure primary care needs.

Steve Holloway, who directs the Colorado health department’s Primary Care Office, served on the committee. Without action at the federal level, he then led a team to create Colorado’s own health professional shortage area designations that factor in nurse practitioners and physician assistants, not just doctors.

He said it’s taken about six years to create a tool and map of Colorado to answer a deceptively simple question: “How many actual flesh-and-blood, live clinicians are seeing patients?”

Ed Salsberg, who was the lead federal government representative on that committee and who headed HRSA’s National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, said the rest of the nation needs more precise data, too.

“It’s so important for the nation to target its resources to the highest-need communities,” he said. “It’s time again to try one more time to develop an improved methodology.”

In the past few years, more readily available data from insurance claims has allowed researchers to distinguish the medical providers who are practicing primary care from those who have specialized or retired.

Policymakers have long tried to lure more primary care providers to the areas of the nation that have fewer than one physician for every 3,500 residents.

Unsplash.com photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography

Candice Chen, an associate professor of health policy and management at George Washington University’s Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, used claims data that reflects one large slice of the American population — about 66 million Medicaid beneficiaries — to map the primary care workforce.

Meanwhile, Monica O’ReillyJacob, a nurse-scientist who recently moved from Boston College to Columbia University’s School of Nursing, studied Medicare claims to conclude that fewer than 70% of physicians typically considered primary care providers were actually providing primary care. The rest, she said, often find more lucrative positions, such as subspecializing or working in hospitals. By contrast, nurse practitioners are likely undercounted. Her study found that close to half are providing primary care.

But such publicly available data leaves out much of the country, given that fewer than 40% of Americans are insured through Medicaid or Medicare.

“There’s no government organization that’s tracking: Who trained in what, where, and where are they now, and what are they practicing,” said Alison Huffstetler, medical director of the Robert Graham Center. “And if we don’t know who is doing what kind of care — and where — then there is no way for us to equitably manage the patient-toclinician ratio across every state.”

In Costilla County, Martinez finally found someone to provide primary care: an experienced physician assistant who moved from Texas in December.

The physician assistant’s presence should bump the county out of its dire shortage, according to Colorado’s measure. But since he isn’t a physician, he’ll remain invisible in the national data and Costilla County will likely remain on the books as a federal shortage area. (Rae Ellen Bichell/ KFF Health News) Data reporter Hannah Recht, data editor Holly K. Hacker, and rural editor/correspondent Tony Leys contributed to this report.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.

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LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024

5

3 senators oppose Duterte’s campaign to separate Mindanao

by Bernadette e. tamayo ManilaTimes.net

AT least three senators have expressed their opposition to the plan of former President Rodrigo Duterte to conduct a signature campaign to separate Mindanao from the Philippines.

These were Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, and Senators Maria Josefa Imelda "Imee" Marcos and Francis Joseph "Chiz" Escudero.

"[It] needs more study, although I am against any suggestion of secession or separation of [any] part of Philippine territory," Pimentel said in a text message to Manila Times.

"We have to work tirelessly on making this nation function as a working effective State," stressed Pimentel.

Escudero said Duterte's plan "is not constitutionally possible."

As for Marcos, she said it would be heartbreaking if the Philippines

would be divided.

"We've been hearing about that [plan] from other sectors in Mindanao because [according to them] we [in 'Imperial' Manila] have apparently neglected them," she said.

Pressed to comment that Duterte, a Mindanaoan being a native of Davao City, had been president for six years, Marcos said, "You can't catch up [development for Mindanao] for six years." g

Sara denies hand in ‘Tokhang,’ dares accuser to file murder case

by Cristina Chi

SWAMPED. Houses in Purok 2, Barangay Matina Gravahan in Davao City are still immersed in knee-deep flood waters as of 2 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 1. About 1,500 individuals took temporary shelter at the University of Mindanao - Matina Campus due to the floods brought by inclement weather.

PNA photo by Robinson Niñal Jr.

Philstar.com

MANILA — Vice President Sara Duterte has denied any involvement in the drug war killings that took place under her term as Davao City mayor, challenging the self-confessed hitman who recently revived the claim to file a murder case against her.

“Wala na itong debate, sa testigo at mga tao na nakapalikod sa kanya magfile kayo ng kasong murder laban sa akin dito sa Pilipinas,” Duterte said in a statement on Thursday, February 1.

(There is no more debate here.

To the people surrounding him, file a case of murder against me here in the Philippines).

This comes after former Davao cop Arturo Lascañas accused Duterte of creating the “trademark” Oplan Tokhang (knock and plead) campaign — a deadly police operation that targets persons who use illegal drugs through a "knockand-plead" strategy — when she was mayor of Davao City.

The self-confessed Davao Death Squad member — who included the allegation in his affidavit to the International Criminal Court in 2022 — said in a media forum on Wednesday that Duterte came up with “Tokhang” alongside Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, then-Davao City police chief.

On Thursday, the vice president again reiterated that the allegations against her are a “new script” and

House leaders vow to pass bills promoting freedom of expression Vice President Sara Duterte

Photo from Facebook/@MayorIndaySaraDuterteOfficial

said that she was never accused of ordering drug-related killings when she held local posts in Davao City.

Duterte — daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte — previously served as the mayor of Davao City from 2016 to 2022, and from 2010 to 2013. She was the city's vice mayor from 2007 to 2010.

“Maliban sa tiyempo, malinaw na sadyang pinilit lang na maidugtong ang pangalan ko sa isyung ito para ako maging akusado sa ICC,” Sara said.

(Aside from the timing, it’s clear that they are trying to connect my name to the issue so that I can be accused in the ICC.) The vice president again expressed opposition to the ICC’s drug war investigation in the Philippines, which seeks to identify any alleged crimes against

humanity committed by former president Duterte during the socalled war on drugs.

Similar to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Sara said that the ICC’s investigation is a threat to the country’s sovereignty.

Human rights group Karapatan earlier urged the human rights panels of the House and the Senate, as well as the Commission on Human Rights, to investigate Lascañas’ allegations, saying that a thorough probe would “exact justice and accountability from the perpetrators” of the deadly drug war under former president Duterte.

Official estimates peg the number of drug war deaths under the previous admin at around 6,000, but human rights groups believe the true figure could be as high as 30,000, with several innocent victims. g

MANILA – House leaders have reaffirmed the commitment of Congress to pass meaningful legislation that would promote freedom of opinion and expression in the pursuit of transparency, accountability, inclusivity, and building a better Philippines.

According to a statement issued by the House on Thursday, February 1, House Committee on Justice chair Juliet Marie Ferrer and House Inter-parliamentary Relations and Diplomacy chair Glona Labadlabad made the commitment during their meeting with United Nations Special Rapporteur (UNSR) Irene Khan at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, January 31.

Ferrer said the House has taken steps to uphold freedom of opinion and expression, media freedom, and access to information as enshrined in the Philippine Constitution.

Ferrer highlighted 14 House bills that would operationalize the right to information and the policy of full public disclosure in all government agencies and instrumentalities.

Aside from the Freedom of Information bills, she also noted that measures have been filed to promote the welfare of media workers and protect journalists and their sources.

“The Philippine Congress has enacted and will continue to discuss and enact timely and impactful legislation to uphold the Filipinos’ constitutional right of access to information, freedom of expression, and press freedom,” she said.

Labadlabad, for her part, described the meeting as a "pivotal moment that embodies the House and the UN’s shared commitment to human rights, equality, and open dialogue".

Khan urged the lawmakers to prioritize three important bills, namely the Human Rights Defenders’ Bill, the Media Welfare Bill, and the possible decriminalization of libel and cyber libel.

“Those three would be absolutely critical to make sure you are on set very well the mainstream of human rights in this country,” Khan said.

Ferrer said the Human Rights

Defenders’ Protection Bill has already been approved by the House Committee on Human Rights in February 2023.

KABAYAN Party-list Rep. Ron Salo, who was also present during the meeting, said the provision on rights of the people to freedom of speech, expression and peaceably assemble is already in the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

“It’s self-explanatory, hence, it doesn’t need a bill to implement it,” Salo said.

Salo also pointed out that there are no laws that regulate mass media in the country.

“They are all around. The standards they follow are developed by themselves,” he said.

Khan visited the country to meet with various government agencies to assess the country's human rights mechanisms.

Khan's ten-day visit will end on Feb. 2.

Khan is expected to provide recommendations to the UN on enhancing the country's human rights mechanisms after her 10day visit. (PNA)

6

FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

OPINION

The untouchables

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

FEATURES

AS President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte swapped charges of illegal drug use, one question inevitably came up: if they are both sure of their allegations, why hasn’t either of them been charged or arrested on drug-related offenses?

Duterte cast the first stone by accusing Marcos, in a prayer rally in Davao City on Sunday night, January 28 of being a drug abuser.

Back when he was mayor of the city, Duterte said, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was on the drug watch of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. He did not name Marcos, Duterte said, because they are friends. The PDEA denied this on Monday, Januaruy 29. During the 2022 presidential race, Duterte had also warned voters about an alleged cocaine addict among the contenders. He did not name the candidate.

President Marcos said he would not dignify the accusation with a reply. But he said Duterte’s tirade might have been caused by prolonged use of fentanyl, a powerful opioid that has caused deaths in the U.S. and other countries. Duterte had admitted during his presidency that he had been prescribed fentanyl against chronic pain following a motorcycle accident when he was 68 years old.

Fentanyl is a controlled substance in the Philippines; cocaine is a prohibited drug. Duterte had carried out the bloodiest crackdown in the country’s history against prohibited drugs, since his days as Davao City mayor until he became president. He had campaigned for the presidency

in 2016 on a platform of ridding the country of the drug menace in six months.

At the end of his presidency, the police reported killing over 6,000 drug personalities in law enforcement operations. Nearly all those killed were from lowincome families, including several teenagers.

Meanwhile, alleged large-scale traffickers such as Cebu businessman Peter Lim, who was on the PDEA’s list of most wanted but whose family reportedly supported Duterte’s campaign for the presidency, appeared untouchable. If Duterte had known all along that Bongbong Marcos was a drug addict, why was the latter spared from the brutal crackdown on illegal drugs? Was it also out of gratitude for the Marcoses’ political support?

Duterte’s war on drugs was hounded by criticism of selective law enforcement. Today drug killings continue, although the scale is much less than during Duterte’s time. The Marcos administration has been pursuing a kinder, gentler approach to fighting the drug scourge, with emphasis on rehabilitation. The word war that has erupted between President Marcos and Duterte shows the complexity of the drug problem and the need for new approaches. (Philstar.com)

Editorial

Babe’s Eye View BABE ROMUALDEZ SO much controversy is being unnecessarily generated with this Charter change issue but in reality, changes to the overly protectionist economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution should be debated upon because it hinders the country from realizing its full economic potential. So many limitations on foreign ownership to just 40 percent in various sectors such as advertising and mass media, and even educational institutions, is already irrelevant today.

We’re glad that after initially indicating that economic Charter change was not a priority, President Marcos is now seeing the need to make adjustments, saying that the “1987 Constitution was not written for a globalized world.

And that is where we are now.

We have to adjust so that we can increase the economic activities in the Philippines and attract more foreign investors.”

In a report published by pwc.com, the Philippines

The Corner Oracle ANDREW J. MASIGAN THE Marcos-Duterte UniTeam has disintegrated. It was flimsy in the first place, never founded on creed or principles but on political interest. Both camps collide in practically all facets of governance, and nowhere is this more apparent than in foreign policy, particularly on our relations with China and America.

Their foreign policy differences are as stark as night and day. How do they differ and which works better?

Mr. Duterte adopted a policy of appeasement towards China, coupled with overt hostility towards America. His stance remains the same today and for the most part, adopted by the vice president. Has it been effective? Let’s put this way – we are where we are today due to the lack of deterrence on the Philippines’ part during the Duterte years.

Meekness and weakness were akin to an open invitation for China to have its way on

ManilaTimes.net photo

Charter change: Only the economic provisions should be included in 2020 ranked “third most restrictive out of the 84 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s foreign direct investment regulatory restrictiveness index (FDI Index)” based on four types of restrictions – foreign equity limitations; discriminatory screening or approval mechanisms; restrictions on the employment of foreigners as key personnel and other operational restrictions.

“The restrictions are evaluated on a 0 to 1 scale (1 being the most restrictive). It is no surprise that the Philippines scored 0.374, as we have several laws restricting FDI and most of them are enshrined directly in the Constitution,” the report said.

All the investment pledges and other economic gains from the foreign trips that the President has made would come to a full stop if the problematic provisions and restrictions that businessmen and potential investors have been complaining about are not addressed. This is also a major reason why we have been losing out in terms of foreign direct investments to our neighbors in ASEAN like

Vietnam, and other countries that have a similar political system as ours, because our economic policies have been too restrictive and inflexible – not to mention outdated and unresponsive to the changing needs of a highly globalized world.

There are a lot of investment opportunities that are available to us, especially from the United States because of the strong economic and security relationship we have today.

This is underscored by the highly anticipated Presidential Trade and Investment Mission arriving in March headed by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, with a toplevel delegation composed of CEOs representing over 100 companies. The trade mission is expected to open up more investment opportunities in clean energy, critical minerals, agriculture, infrastructure, innovation economy and other sectors.

Other countries are also looking at investment opportunities in the Philippines, such as Germany that is interested in the renewable energy sector. But like others, a major concern is economic

liberalization and “unclear rules” regarding foreign participation.

Several foreign chambers in the Philippines have in fact voiced their concerns, saying that the 40 percent minority ownership provision is making foreign businessmen hesitant to invest, resulting in low foreign participation in some key sectors.

As pointed out by the country’s “economic czar,” the recently appointed Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go, legislators should review these laws that have become outdated, irrelevant and, more importantly, are in conflict with newer policies, because they confuse potential investors and hinder efforts to improve the ease of doing business in the Philippines.

Every time a new law is passed, five old ones need to be repealed or amended because this could result in overlapping that create confusion and worse, result in six laws that businessmen have to deal with, Go explained during a forum organized by the Anti-Red Tape Authority, adding that these old laws have generated serious concern from foreign direct

investors.

Foreign businessmen and potential investors certainly welcome the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 filed

by Senate President Migz Zubiri that seeks to start the discussion on amending specific economic provisions to the 1987 Constitution. RBH No. 6 would require concurrence from the House of Representatives, which has indicated its support for the proposal through a letter from Speaker Martin Romualdez.

There have been efforts in the past to change the Charter and repeal or amend the economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution, but these have been met with resistance and even distrust because the timing is suspicious, the initiative is surrounded by controversy and there are disagreements regarding the process – Cha-cha or people’s initiative? Actually, the Constitution itself is silent on the mode of amendment.

I firmly believe that the issue about constitutional amendments on the economic provisions should not be dismissed but properly dissected and debated upon through a rigorous process of discussing the pros and cons. That way,

controversies as well as suspicions attached to Charter change would be assuaged, plus the hysteria that some people go into when they hear the phrase “constitutional amendments” would simmer down.

As for the continuing controversy surrounding the push for Charter change through the people’s initiative – this should be investigated to get to the bottom of the issue and must be resolved one way or another.

The bottom line is – we have to do things the right way. If we want to change certain provisions in the Constitution, it should be done properly and in a transparent manner. People should be given a chance to look into the whole issue and have the opportunity to thoroughly study the potential ramifications of any amendment to the Charter.

But definitely – changes should not be rammed down the throats of the Filipino people. (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.

*** babeseyeview@gmail.com

Campaign of disunity must be nipped in the bud our sovereign territories with impunity. So notwithstanding years of humble servitude and red carpet treatment for the Chinese, Beijing never stopped its illegal annexation and militarization of the West Philippine Sea. Mr. Duterte failed to detect that China views meekness with contempt and opportunistic lust.

The absence of pushback from the Philippine government only accelerated China’s maritime incursion. Worse, Beijing wroteoff Mr. Duterte as a “given” and saw no need to make good on its $24-billion investment pledges.

Why should they when China’s interest was already being served? Mr. Duterte showed his personal bias too early and the Chinese took advantage of it. It was an amateur move.

So with Mr. Duterte’s policy of appeasement, we ended up with an occupied West Philippine Sea and nearly no economic benefits from China to show for it.

Marcos’ China policy The Marcos government understands that a country need not be pro-China or pro-America, exclusively.

Relationships between nations are nuanced, depending on where the

country’s best interests lie. So while the Marcos government pursues vibrant economic and cultural relations with China, it also pursues defense alliances with like-minded countries.

Marcos’ parameters are clear in as far as our relationship with China and the WPS are concerned. He clearly defined them during the recently concluded ASEAN Summit in Jakarta. They are as follows: That the Philippines condemns the illegal grab and militarization of the WPS; that the Philippines and like-minded nations will not allow the peaceful order in the disputed waters to be disrupted by a country with hegemonic ambitions; that the use of coast guards and maritime militia for coercive activities is a cause for escalation; that peace and stability in the maritime domain can only flourish in a regime anchored on the rule of law; that UNCLOS is the primordial framework within which activities in the maritime domain are to be conducted; that there is a need for a code of conduct among nations; that actions, not words, are the ultimate measure of our collective commitment to ensure peace in the WPS.

Early in his presidency, President Marcos declared that he will not allow a single inch of Philippine territory to be subsumed by China.

Neither would he allow the Philippines to be bullied. He also acknowledges the validity of the 2016 arbitral ruling of ITLOS. The position of the Marcos government is consistent with the will of the people. A recent survey by the Stratbase Institute revealed that 79 percent of Filipinos choose the U.S. as its ally in the West Philippine Sea row. Further, 80 percent of the population consider the protection of fishing rights in the disputed waters a top priority.

The same supermajority say that the Philippines must not engage with China on security sensitive industries like telecommunications.

The Philippines was right to expand the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) as it gives both credence and substance to the Mutual Defense Treaty between America and the Philippines. Look at it from America’s perspective – why should they stand in the Philippines’ defense if its own government is pro-China, hostile

to the West and unwilling to capacitate the U.S. in fulfilling its defense commitments to its allies. Expanding EDCA shows that our values are aligned.

Similarly, the ratification of multilateral defense agreements with like-minded countries like Japan, Australia and South Korea are indications that the Philippines is among nations who espouse the rules-based global order and a free and open Indo-Pacific. EDCA and the rest of our defense alliances serve as effective deterrence against China’s aggression.

Marcos’ foreign policy opened the floodgates of international support for the Philippines’ cause. It resulted in closer cooperation with countries like Canada, the UK and the EU, for whom we will do well to ratify an EDCA with. It also caused China to view the Philippines not as a “given” but with respect.

Sowing disunity There are forces trying to divide the country. Trolls associated with Mr. Duterte are back on social media in full force. Masquerading as political commentary, the trolls criticize Marcos’ foreign policy with such rancor that their intent to

discredit, destabilize and divide is obvious.

What’s alarming is that the trolls propagate China’s narrative, untrue as they are, and force-feed them to the unsuspecting public. They have gone so far as to blame our own government and countrymen for the bullying we suffer and for escalating tensions with China.

The trolls are causing confusion and dividing the nation and this posts grave threats to national security. It is so dangerous that it deserves a Senate and/or congressional inquiry… because a divided nation will never prosper amid the security challenges we face against China. It will make us weaker in a situation where we are already at a disadvantage.

This treasonous campaign must be nipped in the bud. (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: andrew_rs6@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @aj_masigan

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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Dateline PhiliPPines

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024

UN rapporteur, CHR discuss expression rights, impact on marginalized MANILA — United Nations (UN) special rapporteur Irene Khan met with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to deepen her understanding of laws concerning Filipinos’ right to expression and access to digital communications, the agency said on Wednesday, January 31.

Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, and the CHR officials discussed on Tuesday, January 30 how these affect various sectors, particularly the marginalized.

“The findings of the Special Rapporteur based on her meeting with the CHR will be part of her

final report which will be presented during the 59th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in June 2025,” the commission said.

Over the weekend, Khan visited detained journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and human rights workers Alexander Philip Abinguna and Marielle Domequil at the Tacloban City Jail.

They have been imprisoned on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, but rights groups, including Karapatan, argued their detention shows the use of red-tagging and filing of trumped-up charges against advocates of freedom of

expression and opinion in the country.

Khan also met with Department of Justice officials, during which she raised concerns on redtagging, media killings and impunity.

Khan also had field visits in Baguio City and Cebu City.

In a statement Wednesday, January 31, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) urged Khan to condemn attacks on freedom of expression by the Marcos Jr. government, both in the Philippines and overseas. (Gaea Katreena Cabico/Philstar.com)

CBCP warns of deception in people’s initiative on Charter change

by Gaea Katreena CabiCo Philstar.com

MANILA — The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has raised concerns about the alleged lack of informed consent and potential deception in gathering signatures for the people’s initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution.

In a statement Wednesday, January 31, the CBCP President Pablo Virgilio David questioned the legitimacy of the people’s initiative, suggesting it was primarily driven by “a few public servants and not truly the initiative of ordinary citizens.”

“Many could sign for various reasons, but it is clear that their signing is not the result of a careful study and discussion,” said David, who also serves as the bishop of Kalookan.

“If that is the case, it involves deception and disregard for our

true and free participation in the democratic process of our country. Is that good?” he added.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has indefinitely stopped all its duties related to the people’s initiative, noting the need to review and enhance provisions in its rules to avoid confusion and misinterpretation of law.

The poll body had received signature forms from municipalities and cities across the country for the people’s initiative, a mechanism that empowers people to propose amendments to the Constitution.

Despite the suspension of proceedings related to the people’s initiative, the CBCP urged the public to not be complacent “as there may be other attempts for this charter change.”

“Our prayer is that we will not sign or agree to any petition without careful discernment, discussion, and prayer. Let us not

allow such deceptive systems to continue, encouraging those who continuously exploit our nation,” David said.

The petition being circulated for people's initiative seeks to allow members of Congress to jointly vote on the proposed amendments in a constitutional assembly, giving the House of Representatives an advantage as they outnumber the 24-member Senate.

Sen. Imee Marcos, who leads the upper chamber’s committee on electoral reforms, conducted a hearing this week on the alleged vote-buying practices of the individuals behind the people’s initiative campaign.

While House Speaker Martin Romualdez has denied involvement in the initiative, Marcos claimed that he orchestrated the campaign and offered a P20 million reward for each legislative district that secures enough signatures. g

ANC to continue airing – ABS-CBN THE ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) will remain on the air, parent network ABS-CBN said on Monday, January 29, despite the looming shutdown of broadcasts

by SkyCable.

"ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel, will continue its operations on February 26 as recently announced," the network wrote.

ANC programs will remain on air through partner cable

television providers nationwide and online via its YouTube channel and the ABS-CBN News website.

These programs will also be on iWantTFC and The Filipino Channel.

ANC's late night news bulletin, "The World Tonight," can also be viewed on the pay TV Kapamilya Channel at 11 p.m. on weeknights.

The announcement came after another news channel,

7

CNN Philippines, announced its shutdown on Monday, January 29 following "significant financial losses." It will formally go off-air on Wednesday, January 31.

SkyCable's operations are expected to go off-air for good by the end of the next month, following the Philippine Competition Commission's approval of the sale of the cable provider to PLDT for P6.75 billion.

(ManilaTimes.net)

BAYONG-ALL-YOU-CAN. Senate Pro Tempore Loren Legarda (left) puts sweetcorn in a native basket, locally known as bayong, during the launch of the bayong-all-you-can at the Senate in Pasay City on Thursday, February 1. The program involves giving the beneficiaries a basket they can fill with vegetables, sourced from farmers from northern Luzon provinces and Batangas through the non-profit organization Rural Rising Philippines (RuRi).

PNA photo by Avito Dalan

Deeper devotion of faithful seen as Quiapo Church now a national shrine MANILA – Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna on Tuesday, January 30 expressed hope that the elevation of the Quiapo Church to a national shrine will inspire more Catholics to develop an even more intense devotion.

“We expect more people to be drawn to our very popular Quiapo Church, which had created a huge religious and cultural impact on the nation as a whole, even bridging the gap between societal classes particularly during the holding of the annual ‘Traslacion’, easily the most deeply-revered religious event in the country,” she said in a statement.

Lacuna added that even before the official declaration, the Quiapo Church or Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Jesus Nazareno, had long been esteemed as a shrine not only by Manila residents and devotees of the Black Nazarene but also by the Catholic faithful both here and abroad.

During Monday's rites, January 29, Msgr. Bernardo Patin, secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), handed over to Quiapo Church rector Fr. Jun Sescon the decree that now classifies the basilica as a national shrine during the solemn declaration which was attended by

Quiapo Church

over 70 bishops, other members of the clergy and devotees.

Canonically known as the Saint John the Baptist Parish, the Quiapo Church was recognized

by Pope John Paul II in 1987 as the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene for its cultural impact on the religiosity of Filipinos.

It has become world-famous for drawing millions of devotees during the holding of the procession of the Black Nazarene every Jan. 9.

During its 126th plenary assembly in Aklan in July last year, the CBCP has decided and subsequently announced that

PNA file photo by Joan Bondoc

from being an archdiocesan shrine, the Quiapo Church will be officially declared as a national shrine on Jan. 29, 2024.

It approved Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jose Advincula’s petition to designate the home of the centuries-old image of the Black Nazarene as the nation’s 29th national shrine.

A national shrine is a Catholic Church or other sacred place which has met certain requirements, and is given the honor by the national episcopal conference in recognition of the church's special cultural, historical, and religious significance. (PNA)

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FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

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February 1, 2024

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13 Fil-Am chefs named James Beard Awards semifinalists S

by MoMar G. Visaya / AJPress

EVERAL Filipino American chefs are in the running for the 2024 James Beard Awards as the James Beard Foundation announced its Restaurant and Chef Awards semifinalists on Thursday, Jan. 25.

The James Beard Awards are among the nation’s most prestigious culinary honors, recognizing the outstanding and talented leaders making their mark on American food. The awards celebrate excellence across a range of experiences, from fine-dining establishments to casual gems, and emerging talents to established luminaries.

Nikko Cagalanan of Kultura in Charleston is in the running for the Emerging Chef Award, given to “a chef who displays exceptional talent, character, and leadership ability, and who is likely to make a significant impact in years to come while contributing positively to their broader community.”

Chef Nikko moved to the United States from the Philippines in 2011 and worked as a nurse. Driven by his passion for Filipino cuisine, he decided to transition to a career in cooking. In 2018, Chef Nikko made the move to Charleston, taking significant steps in his culinary path that in early 2019, he founded Mansueta’s Filipino Food to share his love for Filipino cuisine with the community.

Cagalanan achieved recognition as the Best Filipino Restaurant in South Carolina

by Food & Wine magazine, coupled with the prestigious title of Chopped Champion in November. Last year, he opened Kultura, a personal space where

he can welcome guests and collaborate with chefs from diverse backgrounds, allowing them to showcase their own cultures through the art of food.

Aaron Verzosa, co-owner and chef of Seattle restaurant Archipelago, is one of the “Outstanding Chef” nominees.

Last year, Verzosa, was a semifinalist for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific.

Kaya, a contemporary Filipino restaurant situated in Orlando, is up for the Best New Restaurant Award. This accolade is dedicated to recognizing recently opened restaurants that showcase outstanding excellence in cuisine and hold the promise of making a significant impact in the years to come. Kaya is run by Chef Lordfer Lalicon and Jamilyn Bailey, who expressed their profound gratitude for the nod on their Instagram account, stating, “What an incredible honor and testament to the hard work and love of the village that lifts us. We are humbled to represent our culture and our city in this special way.”

Kimmie and Josh Mcintosh of Milkfish Bakeshop in Las Vegas are in the Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker category. The couple started Milkfish as a popup bakeshop to uplift Filipino culture through heritage, technique, and ingredients.

Chefs Melissa Miranda of Musang (Seattle) Tara Monsod of Animae (San Diego) Among their offerings are Ube Photo from Instagram/@meltronica Photo by Matt Furman Halaya Babka, Cashew Coco Jam Sticky Buns, Pandan Tres Leches Cake, and Carioca Skewers.

Chefs Melissa Miranda of Musang (Seattle) and Sheldon Simeon of Tiffany’s (Wailuku) got another nod for the Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific along with Lord Maynard Llera of Kuya Lord (Los Angeles) and Tara Monsod of Animae (San Diego) for Best Chef: California.

“I am floored and humbled to be a semifinalist. I’m proud of the work my team has done and grateful for the support from the community. To be able Lord Maynard Llera of Kuya Lord (Los Angeles) Sheldon Simeon of Tiffany’s (Wailuku) to create the food I want and Photo from Instagram/@cheflordmaynard Photo from Instagram/@chefwonder push the culture forward means

the world to me,” Monsod said.

“The San Diego food scene deserves to be recognized and I’m proud to represent.”

As a BIPOC LGBTQ chef in her first Executive Chef role, Tara Monsod’s emphasis on creating a welcoming and inclusive environment extends into every facet of operating Animae. In addition to fostering a diverse team which reflects her drive for a more inclusive industry, Chef Tara has proven herself as an outstanding leader in San Diego’s booming culinary scene by producing a menu filled with complex and delightful dishes that highlight her identity as a first-generation Filipino American.

Offering guests a journey into her upbringing, Monsod’s food displays a heightened sense of refinement, showcasing expertly prepared dishes from across Asia. Tara is proud to lead a restaurant that serves a community that represents the second-largest Filipino American population of any county in the nation—for many Filipino families, Animae is the first fine dining establishment where they have felt truly at home.

Chris Mauricio of Harana Market (Accord) is a semifinalist for Best Chef: New York State while Erik Bentz and Elaine Uykimpang Bentz of Cafe Mochiko (Cincinnati) and Joe Fontelera of Boonie’s Filipino Restaurant (Chicago) are duking it out for Best Chef: Great Lakes.

The husband-and-wife team of Mark and Jennifer Berdin of Kadence (Orlando) are up for Best Chef: South.

These chefs were recognized for setting high standards in their culinary skills and leadership abilities and are making efforts to help create a sustainable work culture in their respective regions while contributing positively to their broader community.

Harana Market, formerly of Woodstock recently moved to its bigger location in Accord. Their lease in Woodstock ended and since they have been growing

Nikko Cagalanan of Kultura (Charleston) Photo from Instagram/@nikko_cagalanan

Aaron Verzosa of Archipelago (Seattle) Photo from Archipelago Seattle

Joe Fontelera of Boonie’s Filipino Restaurant (Chicago) Photo from Instagram/@joefontelera

Chris Mauricio of Harana Market (Accord) Photo from Instagram/@haranamarket

since they opened, Chris and Eva decided to expand. They have since become the go-to Filipino spot in the Hudson Valley area.

The announcement was a big surprise that they did not expect, almost three years to the day of their first service, according to the Instagram post of Harana Market.

“Regardless of what happens in the next round, this is a significant win for Filipino food and culture. It’s also a win for generations of our family. As you probably know by now, the food Chris makes is as they learned it from their Grandma who learned it from her ancestors and it’s how we eat it around our table if you were to ever come visit our home. That Chris can make it to this world-renowned list without compromising or conforming, and remaining true to their food, flavors, and

culture is outstanding,” the post further said.

This year’s winners will be celebrated at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony on June 10 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The James Beard Awards, considered to be among the nation’s most prestigious honors, recognize exceptional talent in the culinary and food media industries, as well as a demonstrated commitment to racial and gender equity, community, sustainability, and a culture where all can thrive.

Founded more than 30 years ago, the James Beard Foundation “celebrates and supports the people behind America’s food culture, while pushing for new standards in the restaurant industry to create a future where all have the opportunity to thrive,” according to its announcement.

Fil-Am cinematographer receives Oscar nomination for ‘Maestro’

by NiMfa rueda Inquirer.net

BEVERLY HILLS – Filipino American cinematographer Matthew Libatique has received an Oscar nomination for his work on “Maestro,” starring Bradley Cooper.

“Maestro” is Libatique’s third Oscar-nominated film. He also received Academy Award for Best Cinematography nominations for his work on “A Star Is Born,” his first project with Cooper, in 2018 and “Black Swan” in 2010, for which he won his second Independent Spirit award.

He has also won best cinematography awards from the LA Film Critics Association, NY Film Critics Online and SF Film Critics.

Libatique’s notable films include blockbusters such as “Iron Man” and “Iron Man 2.”

He is also known for his collaborations with director Darren Aronofsky on the films “Pi” (1998), “Requiem for a Dream” (2000), “The Fountain” (2006), “Black Swan” (2010), “Noah” (2014) and “Mother!” (2017).

Libatique was born in Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, to Filipino immigrant parents Georgina and Justiniáno Libatique. His father was from Dagupan, and his mother was from Lucena.

Libatique studied sociology and communications at California State University, Fullerton, before earning an MFA in cinematography at AFI

Conservatory. `Oppenheimer’ leads the way “Oppenheimer” continued its roll through the Hollywood awards season today, snagging a leading 13 Academy Award nominations, including for best picture, best actor, best director and best supporting actor and actress – while “Poor Things” was next with 11 nods, followed by “Killers of the Flower Moon” with 10 and “Barbie” with eight.

Joining “Oppenheimer” in the best picture category were “American Fiction”; “Anatomy of a Fall”; “Barbie”; “The Holdovers”; “Killers of the Flower Moon”; “Maestro”; “Past Lives”; “Poor Things” and “The Zone of Interest.”

Best picture is the only one of the academy’s 23 categories with 10 nominees. All the others have five apiece.

Matthew Libatique on location with Bradley Cooper “Maestro” is Matthew Libatique’s third Oscar-nominated film. He also received Academy Award for Best Cinematography nominations for his work on “A Star Is Born,” his first project with Bradley Cooper, in 2018 and “Black Swan” in 2010, for which he won his second Independent Spirit award. Image: American_cinematographer/IG Cillian Murphy captured a best actor nomination for “Oppenheimer” — the story of atomic bomb mastermind J. Robert Oppenheimer – and was joined in that category by Brad-

ley Cooper in “Maestro”; Colman Domingo in “Rustin”; Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers” and Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction.”

Nominees for best actress were Annette Bening in “Nyad”; Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon”; Sandra Huller in “Anatomy of a Fall”; Carey Mulligan in “Maestro”; and Emma Stone in “Poor Things.”

“Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan took a nod in that category, joining Justine Triet for “Anatomy of a Fall”; Martin Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon”; Yorgos Lanthimos for “Poor Things” and Jonathan Glazer for “The Zone of Interest.”

Scorsese’s nomination was the 10th of his career, moving him past Steven Spielberg for most by a living director. (The late William Wyler had 12 nods, including three wins.) “Killers” also made history Tuesday as Gladstone became the first Native American to capture a nomination in an acting category.

“Oppenheimer” co-stars Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt captured nominations for best supporting actor and actress.

Libatique in blue jacket posing for a photo with Ruben Nepales Matthew Libatique was born in Elmhurst, Queens, New York City to Filipino immigrant parents Georgina and Justiniáno Libatique. In photo: Libatique (left) with Ruben Nepales, former chair of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Image:

rubenvnepales/IG In the best supporting actor category, Downey was joined

by Sterling K. Brown in “American Fiction”; Robert De Niro in “Killers of the Flower Moon”; Ryan Gosling in “Barbie” and Mark Ruffalo in “Poor Things.”

Joining Blunt in the best supporting actress competition were Danielle Brooks in “The Color Purple”; America Ferrera in “Barbie”; Jodie Foster in “Nyad” and Da’vine Joy Randolph in “The Holdovers.”

“Barbie” director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie were two of the most noteworthy snubs of Tuesday morning’s announcements, failing to capture nods for best director and best actress, respectively – though Gerwig did take a nomination for best adapted screenplay along with her co-writer, Noah Baumbach.

Leonardo DiCaprio also missed out on a best actor nod for “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Besides its five nominations for picture, actor, director and supporting actor and actress, “Oppenheimer” drew nods for cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design, sound and adapted screenplay.

In addition to its best picture, best actress and directing nominations, the Frankenstein-like tale “Poor Things” will compete for best supporting actor (Mark Ruffalo), cinematography, costume design, film editing,

Filipino American cinematographer Matthew Libatique has received an Oscar nomination for his work on “Maestro.”

Photo from Instagram/@team.deakins

makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design and adapted screenplay “Killers of the Flower Moon” also garnered nominations for cinematography, costume design, film editing, original score, original song and production design.

Besides best picture, the acting nominations for Gosling and Ferrera and the adapted screenplay nod for Gerwig, “Barbie,” drew recognition for costume design, original song, and production design.

Giamatti has already collected Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards for his lead-

ing-actor work in “The Holdovers.” Stone won the Golden Globe for best actress in a musical/comedy for her work, along with the Critics Choice prize for best actress. Gladstone won the Globe for best actress in a drama film.

The announcements were made by actors Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The 96th Oscars will be presented March 10 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood in a ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

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

Features

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024

9

Top Filipino chefs host dinner collaboration in Las Vegas Do you need a new or replacement Social LAS VEGAS – Istorya, a Las Vegas-based Filipino pop-up restaurant, is excited to announce a dinner collaboration that brings together the top Filipino chefs across the country. Isang Kusina, or One Kitchen, will take place in Las Vegas on Monday, Feb. 5 at Fine Company in Downtown Summerlin®. Istorya was awarded Best Pop-Up restaurant in Las Vegas by The Las Vegas Weekly for its dinners that serve Filipino cuisine inspired by history.

What: Isang Kusina - A Filipinos Chefs Collaboration When: Monday February 5, 2024 with two seatings: 5PM and 8PM Where: Fine Company at 10970 Rosemary Park Dr Suite 100 Price: $99 per person for prixfixe meal, $49 add on for optional beverage pairing Embark on a historic culinary journey on Monday, February 5th, as we shine a spotlight on the rich and vibrant flavors of the Philippines. The exclusive six-course prix fixe dinner is a heartfelt ode to Filipino culture, imagination, and the spirit of bayanihan—the essence of community.

This event embodies that mission, as the Filipino community in Vegas is the largest Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) group in Las Vegas makes up 53% of the AAPI community— that’s more than 200,000 Filipinos living in the city.

The curated menu and optional beverage pairing promise to enchant your palate and celebrate

Security card? We’re making it easier

by Annie WAlters Social Security Public Affairs Specialist in Nevada

IF you need a new or replacement Social Security card, we’ve got great news! You may be able to complete, or at least start, your application on our website – and, if necessary, use our online scheduling tool to book an appointment at a local office.

Start your application Do you need to apply for a Social Security number (SSN) and card? You can visit www.ssa.gov/ number-card to begin the process.

You’ll answer a series of questions to determine whether you can: Complete the application process online.

Start the application process online, then bring any required documents to your local Social Security office to complete the application, typically in less time.

Complete the application process at your local office.

If you can’t complete the application online, you must visit a Social Security office. To learn more, please review our publication, Your Social Security Number and Card, at www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-0510002.pdf.

Replace your Social Security card Want to replace your card?

The Card Replacement Screener on our Replace Social Security card webpage at www.ssa.gov/ number-card/replace-card helps you determine the best way to do so.

Depending on your situation, you may be able to request a replacement card without visiting a local office. Choose “Answer a few questions” on the Replacement Card webpage at www.ssa.gov/ number-card/replace-card to get started. Even if you can’t complete the process online and must visit an office, you can still save yourself time by starting the application online.

Were you asked to come into an office? Here’s what you should know If you start the application online and we determine you need to come into an office, you can use our

new Online Self-Scheduling option.

This option allows you to: Select your language preference.

Select the most convenient office to receive service.

Choose to receive communications and appointment reminders through email or text.

Conveniently use your mobile device to check-in for your appointment.

You can also reschedule, modify, or cancel your appointment online without having to call or visit the office.

Please note that this service is not available in Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, or American Samoa.

We hope to make it available soon.

It’s never been easier to do business with us! Please share this information with your friends and family—and post it on social media.

THE anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp—has been designated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day to honor the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism.

This year’s theme is “Fragility of Freedom,” emphasizing how religious expression and other freedoms are vulnerable to abuse and restriction.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, known in Germany at the time as “Bibelforscher” (Bible Students), were among the lesser known victims of Nazi oppression.

According to Professor Robert Gerwarth, the Witnesses were “the only group in the Third Reich to be persecuted on the basis of their religious beliefs alone.”

“We acknowledge and Mayor Baby “Armi” Alvarez of Munoz (The Science City), Nueva Ecija, Philippines (center) poses with the Chua Family medical missionaries appreciate that Nazi persecution is (L-R) Sheillah Chua Gentile, MD (Family Medicine), Rachel Chua, MD (Gynecology), Mayor Alvarez, Farida I. Chua, MD (Pediatrics), and Asian first associated with the systematic Journal columnist Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS (Cardiac Surgery), during a lunch break. The 50-member annual humanitarian mission, held murder of some two-thirds of February 7-12, 2024, was headed by Daniel C. Fabito, MD, FACS, president of the Philippine American Association of Nevada.

Europe’s Jewish population,” said

Jason Hohl, national spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “The scale of horror is without equal. We also recognize that other groups, including Witnesses, suffered profoundly.”

Of some 35,000 Witnesses in Germany and Nazi-occupied territories at the time, more than two-thirds were arrested for their faith, with nearly one in eight sent to concentration camps.

Some 1,600 lost their lives, 548 by execution. Hundreds of children were taken from Witness families to Nazi homes or reformatories to be “Germanized.”

One of those was Hermine Liska, who was barely 11 years old when she was sent to a re-education facility away from her Witness family. She recalled in a memoir that “all citizens were expected to greet others with the‘HeilHitler’ salute. “I refused to do so because ‘heil’ in German means ‘salvation,’ and I was not going to ascribe salvation to Hitler! I knew that

Jesus Christ was my Savior.”

The Nazi regime branded Jehovah’s Witnesses “enemies of the State,” according to historian Christine King, because of “their very public refusal to accept even the smallest elements of [Nazism], which didn’t fit their faith and their beliefs.”

Adherents maintained a politically neutral stance based on their understanding of Christ’s teachings and refused to salute Nazi symbols, to take part in racist and violent acts, or to join the German army. Rather, Witness literature distributed to the public worldwide “identified the evils of the regime, including what was happening to the Jews,” King noted on the website of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center.

Consequently, the Witnesses were among the first sent to concentration camps, where they bore a unique uniform symbol, PAGE 10

the peak of Filipino culinary artistry, brought to life by the collaborative genius of eight pioneering chefs: Catherine Carlucci, Istorya (Las Vegas) Roy Ellamar, Fine Company (Las Vegas) Melissa Miranda, Musang (Seattle) Phillip Esteban, Wildflour (San Diego) Nico De Leon, Lasita (Los Angeles) Nicole Ponseca, Jeepney (Miami) Melvin Reyes, Mano Modern (Chicago) Paolo Dungca, Hiraya (Washington, DC)

Cat Carlucci, Istorya (Vegas): “I’ve been in the restaurant industry 10+ years, and this is something that I’ve been wanting to do: A Filipino chefs collaboration. I’m super excited to be doing this.”

Melvin Reyes, Mano Modern (Chicago): "It's exciting to bring the top Filipino chefs representing our culture all throughout the nation. The reception has been unbelievable and we look forward to set the precedence for future collaborations."

Roy Ellamar: “Isang Kusina – One Kitchen, I am so honored to share my kitchen and restaurant with these talented Filipino chefs that are pushing the envelope and bringing new ideas and conversations to

Remembering Nazi victims and fragile freedoms

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Features

FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

Minding Your Finances atty. RayMonD Bulaon

Health @Heart

Anatomy of a medical mission

MEDICAL missions to various remote towns in the Philippines are now a regular ritual for many patriotic Filipino American organizations in the United States. Desirous of helping their underprivileged fellowmen and obviously heeding the call from within their own hearts, these dedicated and benevolent countrymen of ours spend time, effort, personal money and some risk to their own health and safety to journey across the oceans to offer their medical expertise and medicines for free to our people.

Balikbayan volunteers, mostly seniors, are quite aware of the fact that theirs is only a small token of what they all want to provide our underserved fellow Filipinos in these villages and rural areas.

What impresses me most is their tenacity, sincerity, sacrifices, and perseverance, in spite of all odds, logistics, funding, their personal safety, etc. As could be expected, there are heartless and unsavory comments from some inconsiderate sectors who are just standing by and watching the suffering neglected people, while the missionaries labor and sweat.

The Philippine-American Association of North Carolina (PAANC) in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A., is an example of benevolence and service at its best among the medical missions. Founded in 1988, the PAANC has evolved quietly and without fanfare into a respected and proven humanitarian group, known as Carolina Medical Mission (CMM). Among the stalwart members of CMM who provided significant leadership to the project was the late Fred T. Ng, M.D., his wife, Anita, and Drs. Arturo de Leon and his wife, Rosemary, also of Raleigh. CMM had its latest mission in Pinamalayan, Mindoro, last January 2024.

The others are the Philippine American Association of Nevada, headed by Daniel C. Fabito, MD, FACS, FPCS; the Philippine American Charity Foundation, Luz Micabalo, RN, president; supported by the Filipino United Network-USA Foundation (FUN8888. com) chaired by Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS; and many other groups (medical alumni from various universities, specialty societies, and professional associations, and countless local Philippine physi-

cians) provide general surgery, cataract surgery, medical and pediatric clinics with free medications, and surgical care to thousands of needy people each year. Locally, in Quezon City, the Hospital on Wheels headed by Jim Sanchez, MD, travels around the country providing free minor surgical care.

Major surgeries during these medical missions include hernia repair, thyroidectomy, harelip repair, lumps and bumps, circumcision, hysterectomy, gallbladder surgery, mastectomy, dental surgery and eye surgery. Intra-ocular lenses are donated by Alcon, U.S.A., and surgical packs by SEE International of Santa Barbara, California. Sometimes, when surgery lasts late in the evening, ordinary flashlights are options and serve to illuminate the operating field for the surgeons when brownout or power failure confronts the team. It seems nothing can stop them from accomplishing their objectives.

The volunteers pay for their own airfare from the United States to their target countries and other expenses on every mission, on average about $5,000 per person.

Practically all of them are joined by their spouses. They also contribute funds for the mission to buy medications and bus rentals. They leave their loved ones and medical practices in the United States and fly thousands of miles to lend a helping hand, no matter how small or how briefly, to our suffering fellowmen.

On each mission, the medical volunteers bring in surgical equipment and instruments, medical supplies, drugs (mostly purchased in Bambang), besides 15 to 20 balikbayan boxes of supplies shipped from the U.S. Some Philippine-based volunteers provide them with local support. Service hours, including surgeries, usually last till the end of each day because the demand is always heavy, and patients travel miles by foot to seek medical care.

No one is turned away unattended.

Sometimes the supplies of medications run dry, and they have to dole out additional personal funds for the IV fluids and extra medications.

In our latest medical mission in Munoz and Talavera, Nueva Ecija (January 7-12, 2024), my daughters, Sheillah (a family physician; this is her second medical mission), and Rachel (gynecologist) personally purchased at Mercury Drug Store hormones (the mission did not have) for their patients, a fact I learned only after the medical mission. My wife, Farida, a retired pediatrician, and I are very proud of

PAGE 9 the purple triangle. Alone among the groups sent to the camps, Witnesses had an opportunity to leave—if they signed an “Erklärung” document renouncing their faith and pledging to report fellow believers to the police and fully submit to the Nazi government. Few did.

The courage of these ordinary individuals to stand up for their faith reminds ones like [Doe] not to take their worship for granted. “I want to show the same appreciation for my relationship with my God, Jehovah,” said Doe. “This day is a grim reminder of the fragility of freedom,” said Jason Hohl. “Even today, Jehovah’s Witnesses are being systematically attacked—imprisoned, beaten, and

tortured—for peacefully practicing their faith in some countries, particularly Russia and other totalitarian states.”

For more information about the experience of Jehovah’s

PhiliP S. Chua, MD, FaCS, FPCS

our two daughters who joined us in this medical mission. We are most grateful to the other compassionate and hard-working missionaries who toiled with us. Within this column, a photo shows the missionaries posing for a photo during their break following a hectic morning.

It always breaks our hearts to go back to the United States without having been able to serve more sick children, women, and men needing medical care because of time constraint; our only consolation is that we are coming back. This sentiment is shared by all medical missionaries.

Having been the pioneer medical volunteer (my very first medical mission, a year after my graduation from medical school) to the remote and secluded Palanan, Isabela area (and my classmate, Dr. Arturo de Leon assigned to Kapangan) in 1962, under the Work-A-Year-WithThe-People (later called MARIA) project of former Senator Raul S. Mangalpus, Senator Ramon Magsaysay, Jr., and Manuel Quezon, Jr., and having joined medical missions the past thirty some years, I could empathize well with these selfless kababayan colleagues and friends of ours and feel their frustration for not being able to do more for our people. Indeed, theirs is a noble act of sacrifice, charity, and love.

A NOTICE of Federal Tax Lien (NFTL) is a public record filed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with the County Recorder where you live. When the IRS wants to enforce delinquent taxes against you, there are various mechanisms that the government can use to achieve that goal. This is one of them.

Technically, the IRS has a “secret lien” the moment that taxes are assessed, but this is between you and the IRS, and the public doesn’t know about it yet. But when the IRS makes the lien public by recording it, it puts creditors and everyone on notice that the government has a lien or a secured interest against your property. In other words, it tells everyone that you have an unpaid federal tax debt. Of course, filing the lien is not something that the IRS just does without prior attempts to collect. If you have received several collection notices and do nothing, this is the next step by the IRS to force you to pay. In other words, federal tax lien can be avoided by paying the tax in full before they are filed. But this is not always possible, especially if you owe a large amount.

The federal tax lien could have negative effect on your finances and your credit. Until the underlying tax debt is resolved, it would be difficult to remove the lien. By having a lien on your property, it would also be very difficult, if not impossible, for you to purchase a home, refinance your mortgage, and purchase things on credit.

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When the IRS files a federal tax lien While the credit bureaus stopped reporting tax lien information on your credit report in 2018, the IRS still makes tax liens a matter of public information. If lenders, landlords and employers find out about the lien, they may use that negative information against you if you are applying for a loan, a house or apartment rental, or a job.

If you have just received a notice of federal tax lien, the notice will tell you that you can generally apply for a “Collection Due Process” hearing where you can have your side of the story heard and possibly dispute the validity of the tax lien. And if the hearing does not work out in your favor, you can also typically have another chance to do so in tax court.

However, the request for such a hearing needs to be filed in a timely manner. Read the letter carefully as it will tell you exactly how much time you have.

Now, you may ask: What are my options in resolving the federal tax lien once I get the notice from the IRS? Of course, you can always pay the full amount of the tax debt and resolve it quickly. That’s a no-brainer. But what if you cannot afford to pay the full amount?

If you qualify for an Offer in Compromise, you will be able to settle the outstanding debt for less than full amount. If the IRS accepts your offer, the lien will be released. Whether or not you qualify for this program will depend on your income, the value of your assets, and the amount of time remaining under the IRS 10year collection statute. The IRS uses a specific formula to determine eligibility and requires very detailed financial disclosures.

*** 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, Health Advocate, newspaper columnist, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. He was a recipient of the Indiana Sagamore of the Wabash Award in 1995, conferred by then Indiana Governor, later Senator, and then presidential candidate, Evan Bayh. Other Sagamore past awardees include President Harry Truman, President George HW Bush, Muhammad Ali, Astronaut Gus Grissom and other personalities (Wikipedia). Websites: FUN8888.com, Today.

SPSAtoday.com, and philipSchua.com; Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com.

Remembering Nazi victims and fragile...

EMPLOYMENT

Witnesses in Nazi-controlled lands in the 1930s and 1940s and currently in Russia, visit jw.org, the organization’s official website.

(Public Information, Jehovah’s Witnesses United States of America)

SERVICES

SERVICES

Another method is to ask for an installment agreement that allows you to pay off what you owe over time. If you abide by the terms of the agreement, the IRS may release the lien.

In some cases where the only way to pay what you owe is to refinance your property, the IRS may allow you to subordinate their tax lien to your new loan so that you can access the equity in your property to pay the IRS. All of the above is general information and my purpose is to simply provide you a quick overview of options that may be available.

The tax lien is one of the most serious collection tactics used by the IRS because it gives the government rights to all your assets until they collect every penny that you owe. Therefore, DO NOT ignore the notice under any circumstances as doing so may cause you to lose legal rights that you perhaps didn’t even know existed.

If you owe the IRS, the State, EDD or State Board of Equalization, my office can help you find the best solution to resolve your tax liability. You will never have to speak with the IRS again. I will review your case and help you make the best decision for yourself and your family. *** 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. *** None of the information herein is intended to give legal advice for any specific situation. Atty.

Ray J. Bulaon has successfully helped over 6,000 clients in getting out of debt. For a free attorney evaluation of your situation, please call RJB Law Offices at TOLL FREE 1-866-471-8272.

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FEBRUARY 1-7, 2024 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

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