021619 - Los Angeles Weekend Edition

FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019 Volume 29 - No. 12 • 4 Sections – 30 Pages

Rappler chief Maria Ressa released on bail after arrest

USA

DATELINE Trump declares national emergency for border wall funding FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

Arrest of 2018 TIME Person of the Year sparks international outrage, questions about press freedom

Republicans split on support as other lawmakers seek lawsuits

by KLARIZE

MEDENILLA AJPress

ONE day after her arrest for “cyber AFTER Congress approved a spending bill libel” charges, Filipina journalist Maria to avert another government shutdown, President Donald Trump on Friday, February 15, NBI agents arrested Rappler CEO Maria Ressa from Ressa of Rappler was released on bail declared a national emergency to access bil- her office in Pasig City after securing an arrest on Thursday, Feb. 14 by her lawyer.

After her lawyer posted bail lions of dollars for border wall construction—a warrant on Wednesday, February 13.

Philstar.com photo by Manuel Tupac (P100,000, or $1,915), Ressa did not move many are seeing as an overreach of power, and a move sure to face legal challenges.

Congress on Thursday, February 14 approved a spending bill that gave Trump $1.375 billion for border security funding, an amount far less than the $5.7 billion Trump had asked for.

At the Rose Garden on Friday, Trump said he was declaring a national emergency because of “an invasion of our country with drugs, with

by NATHALIE ROBLES u PAGE A4

shy away from condemning the government for its perceived weaponization of the law against journalists and critics of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

“The only thing I can think of is that the government wants me to feel its power,” Ressa, the

CEO of Rappler, said on CNN on Thursday. “I’m being set up as an example so that others will stop asking tough questions, and I think that puts responsibility on me to continue asking tough questions.”

On Wednesday, Ressa was arrested u PAGE A2

Duterte endorses 11 senatorial bets, drops Jinggoy Estrada

Former Fil-Am MTV VJ and son experience racist rants during coffee run in LA

W H E N former Filipina-American MTV personality and model Belinda Panelo went out for a regular coffee run with her son, she didn’t expect them to be the target of a racist tirade.

A video of the incident quickly caught Belinda Panelo attention after Panelo, 44, shared the experience on social media on Tuesday, February 12.

Panelo, well-known for being among the funniest video jockeys on MTV in the early 2000s, was getting coffee with her son in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Playa Vista, California when a woman approached them and began u PAGE A4

AJPress

PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte has announced the 11 senatorial candidates he is endorsing for the upcoming midterm elections, notably excluding plunder-accused former Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

“Kapag natalo ‘tong mga kandidato ko dito ha, babalikan ko kayo (If my candidates lose here, I’ll get back at you),” Duterte said during the proclamation rally in Bulacan on Thursday, February 14.

The president confirmed that the “pork-tagged senator” has been dropped from the chief executive’s slate even after he raised Estrada’s hand in solidarity during the peace and order summit in Legazpi City, Albay. u PAGE A2

FOR PRESS FREEDOM. Students hold a rally at the University of the Philippines Diliman on Thursday, February 14 to condemn the arrest of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa. Condemnation from international and local press freedom and human rights groups poured in after Ressa’s arrest, which was widely seen as a government attempt to silence criticism of President Duterte.

Inquirer.net photo by Richard Reyes

1 million Filipino kids to receive measles vaccine Saturday, February 16 through the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) after it held a dialogue with over AMID the contagious measles 200 barangay leaders. outbreak in the Philippines, one As of February 12, there were Former Special Assistant to the President and senatoriable Christopher million children aged 5 months to 4,302 children all over the PhilipLawrence T. Go (center) poses with Pag-Ibig Fund officials during the mass 6 years old will receive vaccines pines aged 0 to 12 afflicted with wedding of 300 Pag-Ibig members held at the Philippine International starting this weekend. the contagious disease.

Convention Center (PICC) on Thursday, February 14. Go was keynote speaker The mass measles immunizaThe Department of Health Epiand one of the principal sponsors of the newly-wed couples during the tion campaign will kick off on demiology Bureau reported a toevent.

PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan

by NATHALIE

ROBLES

AJPress

tal of 87 deaths and 5,635 cases earlier this week across the country.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) urged the public to have their children vaccinated to at least prevent the further proliferation of the highly contagious

u PAGE A3

Garcetti nominates Fil-Am Jessica Caloza to LA Board of Public Works Palace: Renaming PH to ‘Maharlika’ AJP needs congressional action by

RESS

LOS ANGELES Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on Friday, February 15 that he is nominating a high-ranking Filipina American in City Hall to fill the vacant Board of Public Works seat.

Jessica Caloza, who has been the mayor’s director of scheduling since 2017, has been selected to be the next Public Works commissioner. If confirmed by City Council, she would be the first Pinay in this position.

The seat was previously held

by Fil-Am community leader Joel Jacinto, who resigned in January.

“Jessica is an experienced public policy expert with a proven record of standing up for File photo shows Jessica Caloza (center), director of scheduling for LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, leading a panel of local Fil-Am elected officials during people in our community— from the NaFFAA Civic Leadership Forum in Dec. 2018. On Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, Garcetti nominated Caloza to the city’s Board of Public Works.

u PAGE A3

by RITCHEL

MENDIOLA AJPress

IN response to President Rodrigo Duterte floating the idea of renaming the Philippines to “Maharlika,” Malacañang said that the name change would require a new law and the public’s approval in a referendum.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said that in order to change the country’s name, congressional action will be needed.

“The Constitution provides that Congress may enact a law that can change the name of the country and submit it to the people for a referendum,” said Panelo in a press briefing on Tuesday.

Based on Article XVI, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution, the AJPress photo by Noel Ty Congress may, by law, adopt a

new name for the country, a national anthem, or a national seal, “which shall all be truly reflective and symbolic of the ideals, history, and traditions of the people.”

Such law shall take effect only upon its ratification by the people in a national referendum.

“Let’s see how it evolves. He is expressing an idea again as usual,” the president’s spokesperson added.

Duterte, in a speech delivered in Maguindanao last Monday, February 11, said former President Ferdinand Marcos was right in his proposal to change the country’s name to “Maharlika,” explaining that “Philippines” has colonial origins.

According to Duterte, Spanish colonizers had named the country

u PAGE A3

A February 16-19, 2019 • La WeeKeND aSIaN JOurNaL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797

FROM THE FRONT PAGE

Duterte endorses 11 senatorial bets...

PAGE A1 t “Nandoon siya eh. Alang-alang naman na hindi ko siya. Even for just one single day masabihan mo ng kandidato mo 13 lahat (He was there. How could I not raise his hand? Even for just a single day, you could say that all 13 were your bets) What is that to a friend? We know that he has suffered. We know that he was in

prison,” he added.

The Chief Executive’s candidates now include Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-LABAN)’s main slate, three of them were often associated with Duterte, namely former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, former presidential aide Christopher “Bong” Go, and

former presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino.

Duterte urged the electorate to vote for the former police chief because he is “brave, patriotic and fundamentally honest” man “ready to die for his country.”

Go, his former aide, “only wants to serve. He only wants to work, he wants to know everybody.

That’s why even the communists will vote for him,” the president added.

Two more candidates that complete the five-man slate are Maguindanao Second District Representative Zajid Mangudadatu and Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. Together, they formed “MaBaGoKoTo” similar to the Duterte’s “change is coming” campaign slogan.

The six other senatorial bets were deemed as the president’s “personal choice.” Among them are folk singer Freddie Aguilar; incumbent Senators Sonny Angara, JV Ejercito and Cynthia Villar; Taguig Representative Pia Cayetano; and Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos.

Despite Duterte’s move of withdrawing him from the lineup, Estrada respectfully responded that he has confidence that the Filipino electorate would still choose him as their senator given his “long list of legislative accomplishments and genuine desire to uplift the lives of the masses.”

“I respect the recent statements made by President Duterte and the decision of the PDP-LBN regarding their preferred senatorial bets,” Estrada said. “While the endorsement of our popular president will be helpful to my senatorial candidacy, I trust that the Filipino people will reelect me to the Senate based on my good track record as a public servant.”

However, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo urged the public to be wary of those individuals reported to be using the president’s name without authority to solicit funds and campaign materials for the administrationbacked candidates.

“For everyone’s information and guidance, the president has not authorized anyone in either the private or public sector, including government agencies like the Bureau of Customs, to resort to such illegal undertakings,” Panelo warned. n

TENT HOSPITAL. The Philippine Red Cross opens an extension ward (tent hospital) for measles patients at the San Lazaro Hospital in Santa Cruz, Manila. PRC Chairman Richard Gordon (in red jacket) visits the hospital to check on the situation of measles patients on Wednesday, February 13.

PNA photo by Gil Calinga

Rappler chief Maria Ressa...

PAGE A1 t at the paper’s headquarters on suspicion of “cyber libel” by the Philippine Department of Justice.

Ressa, a former CNN bureau chief, claimed her stake as a lead critic against Duterte and his administration, providing damning coverage of the controversial war on drugs that claimed thousands of lives through extrajudicial killings.

“The message that the government is sending is very clear: Be silent or you’re next. So I’m saying and I’m appealing to you, not to be silent,” Ressa added.

The charges stem from a story published to Rappler involving businessman Wilfredo Keng from May 2012, months before the Philippines adopted a cybercrime prevention law. In 2014, Keng claimed that the piece linked him to human and drug trafficking, which prompted the paper to update the article that same year.

Keng argued that the article’s change in 2014 was under the purview of the cybercrime prevention law.

“Constitutionally, you can’t have a law go retroactively,” Res-

sa said.

On Friday, Keng said in a statement that he will “continue this criminal case against Rappler and Ressa” and is “currently exploring all other cases that can be filed against them.”

In a response to Ressa’s arrest and her reactions, Duterte distanced himself from Ressa’s arrest, telling reporters on Friday, Feb. 16 that he’s “far from it actually.”

“I do not relish picking on her.

I’m out of it” adding that he himself has been the subject of legal attacks since he was the Davao City mayor.

Since her arrest, Rappler continues to defend its CEO and urge the government to drop the charges, which they call “absurd and baseless.”

“Maria Ressa, along with her colleagues at Rappler, has fearlessly exposed the abuses of the Duterte government, even in the face of relentless harassment,” the online news outlet said in a statement. “By arresting her on these absurd and baseless charges, concerning an article published 7 years

ago and prior to the enactment of the very law under which she is being charged, the Philippines government has exposed how desperate it is to silence critics and stamp out independent journalism in the country.

We call on the Duterte government to immediately drop these charges and release Ressa. Investigative journalism is not a crime.”

Despite Ressa’s ongoing strife with the administration, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo told reporters that Ressa’s arrest “has nothing to do with freedom of expression or freedom of the press. I think I’d rather advise Maria Ressa [to] just focus on her defense.”

After years of covering the war on drugs in the Philippines, Ressa was one of four journalists named by TIME magazine as Person of the Year in 2018.

Ressa’s charges of cyber libel come at the heels of a November 2018 charge against Ressa and Rappler for alleged tax evasion and failure to file tax returns, a claim which both defendants denied. n

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DATELINE USA

LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019

A3

Can California beat the federal government in lowering drug prices?

by SAMANTHA

YOUNG Kaiser Health News

HOW TO SAVE A LIFE. Guests at the health forum, “Awareness Campaign about Heart Diseases”, get hands-on training on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), at Annabel’s Restaurant along Tomas Morato Ave., Quezon City on Tuesday, February 12. The forum, organized by the Philippine College of Physicians, in partnership with the Philippine Heart Association, pointed out the importance of having a family member who knows CPR as this would help save lives.

PNA photo by Gil Calinga

1 million Filipino kids to receive...

PAGE A1 disease, according to The Manila Times.

An estimated 2.6 million children below 5 years are targeted to be vaccinated in 2019.

PRC Chairman and Senator Richard Gordon said that an additional one million doses of measles-rubella vaccine (MRV) are expected to arrive by the second week of March to augment existing supplies.

In a report from the Manila Bulletin, NDRRMC convened a meeting with its member agencies to address the outbreak. Among those who attended were representatives from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of Transportation (DoTr).

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) was also there along with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), and Philippine Information Agency (PIA).

Gordon, as well as representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), also participated in the meeting.

The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday ordered all of its hospitals to open fast

CALIFORNIA Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’s done waiting for the federal government to curtail the rising cost of prescription drugs.

Newsom has his own plan to ease that financial burden — one he hopes other states can join or replicate.

The Democratic governor said he intends to use California’s might as the world’s fifth-largest economy to demand lower prices directly from drug companies for millions of Medicaid enrollees, state government workers and, eventually, Californians in the private sector.

“I recognize deeply the anxiety so many of you feel around the issues related to the cost of prescription drugs,” Newsom said in a Facebook Live video when announcing his initiative. “And I hope California’s efforts here can lead the way to other states to

consider the same.”

Newsom said later he’s already “talking to other state governors about how they can participate.”

Whether he can deliver on his ambitious pledge to take on big pharmaceutical companies is far from certain. The plan he introduced his first day in office is based on broad ideas, with few details and start dates that may be years away.

States have taken smaller steps to rein in drug prices and achieved limited savings. But the issue has stymied lawmakers at the federal level, including President Donald Trump, who called for lowering the cost of prescription drugs in his State of the Union address last week.

Lawmakers face an array of challenges that make reform hard, such as secretive drug pricing and the political influence of the pharmaceutical industry, one of the most powerful lobbies in the country, said Rachel Sachs,

an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in health law.

“Drug pricing is one of the most complicated areas within a complicated health care system,” Sachs said.

In California, the amount the state government spends on prescription drugs has risen 20 percent per year since 2012, according to Newsom’s executive order.

To stem that rise, he wants the state Department of Health Care Services — which oversees MediCal, the country’s largest Medicaid program, for low-income residents — to negotiate prescription drug prices for all of its roughly 13 million enrollees by 2021.

Currently, the vast majority of Medi-Cal enrollees get their prescription drugs through managed-care plans that contract with the state to provide Medi-Cal coverage — a fragmented system that doesn’t yield the best price PAGE A5

Garcetti nominates Fil-Am Jessica Caloza...

A father waits for his measles-stricken child to be admitted to the pediatric ward of San Lazaro Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila. The Department of Health has declared a measles outbreak in Metro Manila and in four other regions.

Inquirer.net photo by Richard Reyes

lanes for measles and to be able to control the increasing number of cases in as fast as two to three months by April or May. “We don’t want to unduly raise expectations, then we cannot deliver, so I think the most prudent estimation would be about April or May – probably last week of April to about first few weeks of May,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.

However, he noted the “rising trend” of measles will make it less possible to contain the outbreak earlier than the target period.

The measles virus can cause debilitating or fatal complications, including encephalitis (an infection that leads to swelling of the brain), severe diarrhea and dehydration, pneumonia, ear infections and permanent vision loss.

“We are looking for parameters that it is now under control,

but for now, we are still seeing (an) uptrend. We cannot say that the trend is starting to reverse because it hasn’t,” Duque said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the resurgence of measles is proving to be a global phenomenon that even first-world countries with high vaccination coverage have been affected.

WHO Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals Katherine O’Brien said that the case in the Philippines is “not an isolated problem.” The outbreak is occurring “in all regions” and is “protracted, sizable and growing,” she added.

“We’re backsliding on the progress that has been made.

And we’re not backsliding because we don’t have the tools to prevent this. We do have the tools to prevent measles. We’re backsliding because of the failure to vaccinate,” O’Brien said. ■

PAGE A1 advocating for students to fighting for immigrants’ rights,” Garcetti said in a release on Friday.

“She will serve Angelenos with dedication, drive, and integrity on the Board of Public Works.”

The Board of Public Works is comprised of a five-member full-time executive team that oversees projects and programs across the city that “enhance the quality of life, economic growth, public health, and the environment to all Angelenos.”

Currently, Caloza oversees the mayor’s entire scheduling operation — including strategic planning, day-to-day logistics, and coordination. She served previously as deputy director

of scheduling, and came to the Mayor’s Executive Office from the Office of Immigrant Affairs, where she managed policy proposals, grant programs, and civic engagement initiatives focused on expanding access to resources for immigrant communities.

Prior to joining the Garcetti administration, Caloza served in the Obama administration as a policy analyst in the Department of Education — where she worked on Congressional and legislative affairs, student data and privacy, and gender equity issues. She has also been a campaign aide for several members of Congress, including former Rep. Xavier Becerra, Califor-

nia’s current Attorney General.

Outside of government, Caloza currently serves on the Leadership Council for the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE).

In 2014, she was also selected as one of 10 delegates for the Filipino Youth Leadership Program (FYLPro), an immersive leadership program led by the Ambassador of the Philippines.

Caloza previously served on the boards of KAYA: Filipino Americans for Progress, the FYLPro Executive Committee, and the Philippine Humanitarian Coalition.

A first-generation immigrant, Caloza is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego. ■

Palace: Renaming PH to ‘Maharlika’ needs...

PAGE A1 t after their King Philip II, who financed Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition to the Philippines.

“Actually, tama si Marcos. Panahon ni Marcos, tama talaga si Marcos. Gusto niya palitan [ng] Maharlika, the Republic of Maharlika because Maharlika is a Malay word and it means more of a concept of serenity and peace (Actually, Marcos is right. This

was during the time of Marcos, he is really right. He wanted to change the name to Maharlika, the Republic of Maharlika because Maharlika is a Malay word and it means more of a concept of serenity and peace),” Duterte said.

The president lamented that the allegations regarding Marcos being a dictator, however, overshadowed the proposal.

“Pero okay na yan. Balang

araw palitan natin (But that’s okay. One day, we will change it),” he said.

Rolando Borrinaga, a historian from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, however, said the understanding “Maharlika” as nobility is a common misconception due to mistranslated historical texts.

“Maharlika” actually means “free man,” according to Borrinaga. ■

A February 16-19, 2019 • La WeeKeND aSIaN JOurNaL

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Allies, partners to join future US operations in South China Sea

by PATRICIA LOURDES Philstar.com

VIRAY

AS the United States steps up its presence in the disputed South China Sea, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command confirmed that allies and partners will be included in future operations.

Speaking before the U.S. Senate earlier this week, Indo-Pacific Command commander Adm. Philip Davidson noted how other countries have started stepping up its freedom of navigation operations in the contested waterway,

according to a report from USNI News.

“We’ve had allies and partners in the region — the UK, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, all in one form or another step up their operations in the South China Sea and I think that shows the international community’s willingness to push back,” Davidson told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Indo-Pacific Command chief warned that Beijing has been working to expand its “form of ideology” through fear and co-

ercion, breaking existing rulesbased international order.

China has installed weapons and military facilities on its artificial islands in the South China Sea, where several other Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines, also have claims.

“In its place, Beijing seeks to create a new order, one with Chinese characteristics, led by China, an outcome that displaces the stability and peace in the Indo-Pacific that has endured for over 70 years,” Davidson said.

Davidson also reported that Chinese Coast Guard vessels have been regularly harassing and intimidating Filipino fishing vessels operation near Scarborough Shoal, as well as fishing fleets from other neighboring countries.

In his statement before the Senate panel, Davidson stressed that he is focused on working with Southeast Asian allies Thailand and the Philippines, as well as partners Singapore and Vietnam, “to stand up to the malign influence of state and non-state actors, especially in the South China Sea.” He noted that despite not being a formal ally, Singapore has provided access to the entrance of the South China Sea and has supported U.S. presence in the region.

Davidson commended Vietnam for sharing some of the U.S. principles on international rule of law and freedom of navigation and for having “one of the loudest voices” on the maritime dispute.

The admiral also took note of increased French and British activity in the South China Sea. “The recently concluded cooperative deployment with the HMS Argyll and USS McCampbell in the South China Sea highlights the value of multinational operations and, more importantly, the international message to those who seek to infringe on the ability to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows,” Davidson said, referring to the recently concluded joint drills between the UK and U.S. navies.

British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson earlier confirmed that the Royal Navy would sail HMS Queen Elizabeth in the South China Sea. The British navy’s largest warship would carry two squadrons of F-35 jets from the UK and the U.S. Williamson, however, did not disclose when the warship will be deployed. n

The paintings – an 1881 work by French impressionist Claude Monet titled “L’église à Vétheuil,” an 1897 work by British landscape artist Alfred Sisley titled “Langland Bay” and a 1946 work by French painter Albert Marquet titled “Le Cypres de Djenan Sidi Said,” which is also known as the “Algerian View” – commanded more than $3 million.

Philstar.com file photo

OSG clueless on $3 million sale of Marcos paintings

by ELIZABETH

MARCELO Philstar.com

THE Office of the SolicitorGeneral (OSG) has admitted that it was not aware of the sale of three of about 200 artworks owned by the Marcos family during an auction in New York City in November last year.

The paintings – an 1881 work

by French impressionist Claude Monet titled “L’église à Vétheuil,” an 1897 work by British landscape artist Alfred Sisley titled “Langland Bay” and a 1946

work by French painter Albert Marquet titled “Le Cypres de Djenan Sidi Said,” which is also known as the “Algerian View” – commanded more than $3 million.

All three were subject of a pending civil forfeiture case before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.

Monet’s work was sold for $2.6 million, Sisley’s for $900,000 and Marquet’s for about $90,000.

In a manifestation filed before the court’s Special First Divi-

sion on Jan. 25 and obtained by reporters Monday, February 11, the OSG, which represents the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in the case, confirmed that the three paintings were already sold.

“The OSG had no prior knowledge of the sale and the details thereof or of the supposed court order. While the undersigned has requested the PCGG for the details, the documentation/written information is still forthcoming,” the OSG’s manifestation read. n

Former Fil-Am MTV VJ and son experience...

PAGE A1 t making racist remarks.

“What are you? He doesn’t even look human,” shouted the woman in the video. “Get off our street.

You do not belong in Playa Vista.”

Panelo, who remained calm throughout the incident, asked the woman if she was okay.

The woman replied, “No, I’m not. We don’t want you here. This is our street. Leave us alone.”

She continued, “We pay $10,000 a month keep you out.”

What was caught on video apparently didn’t catch all that was said. Panelo told the Asian Journal that off camera, the woman reportedly kept asking them what mix they were, and kept calling them ugly, poor, and subhuman.

“Frankly, my son and I were in shock,” Panelo said in an interview.

She said that she and her son frequently go to the coffee shop and have never had anything like this happen before.

“We have never encountered

anything quite like it and we were quite unprepared and put off guard,” said Panelo.

Following the incident, Panelo and her son naturally talked about what had just happened.

“The conversation with my son at first started out with how unbelievable it was and we discussed all the smart, witty things we could have said,” she said, adding that they tried to lighten up the situation with some joking around.

“But then the conversation turned serious and we discussed how potentially volatile it could have been and the risk of escalation involving law enforcement was a reality,” said Panelo. “That scared us.”

In the video, the lady walks up close to Panelo’s car, which had its windows opened.

But Panelo didn’t let the encounter dampen their day and instead saw it as a teachable moment to reflect on. Panelo said her son turned to her and told her how eye-opening the experience was

for him.

“We discussed how there are people in the world that experience racism and harassment regularly and how that must crush their spirit. We talked a bit about the complicated history of race in American and explored why and how it persists,” said Panelo.

Talking to kids about the issues of racism is something Panelo encourages all parents to do.

“I would say to parents to not wait for an incident, a tweet, or a comment on social media to finally be the reason you discuss this as a family. Find out what they are teaching your kids in school. What are they leaving out of history?” Panelo suggested.

She added, “Be involved in the community, vote, and purposefully surround yourself with those who aren’t like you. An inclusive world view comes from living outside a bubble.” (Rae Ann Varona/ AJPress)

Trump declares national emergency for...

PAGE A1 t human traffickers, with all types of criminals and gangs.”

“We are going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border,” said Trump. “And we’re going to do it one way or the other. We have to do it—not because it was a campaign promise, which it is.”

The declaration will allow Trump access to about $8 billion for border wall construction, including the recent $1.375 billion passed by Congress.

Of that amount, about $3.6 billion would be diverted towards military construction funds, $2.5 billion from allocated counterdrug activities for the Department of Defense, and $600 million from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund.

Acknowledging the high possibility of legal challenges sure to reach the Supreme Court, Trump said, “We’ll win, I think.”

He went on to say that he wasn’t happy with the nearly $1.4 billion deal made in Congress, and said the national emergency declaration was a fast alternative to doing the wall “over a longer period of time.”

“I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster,” said Trump.

“And I don’t have to do it for the election,” he continued. “I’ve already done a lot of wall for the election 2020.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said ahead of Trump’s announcement that filing a legal challenge was a possible option, but that it was important to first note that what is happening at the borders is not an emergency.

“It’s a humanitarian challenge to us,” said Pelosi.

Pelosi said that Trump’s declaration of a national emergency would set a precedent for a future Democratic president to do the same with gun control.

Her challenging statement came on the one year mark since the Parkland Shooting.

“Let’s talk about today, the one year anniversary of another manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America. That’s a national emergency. Why don’t you declare that emergency, Mr. President? I wish you would,” said Pelosi on Thursday.

“A Democratic president can declare emergencies as well. So, the precedent that the President is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans,” Pelosi added.

Before Trump’s emergency declaration, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked Republicans to join them in overturning the decision.

“The president is not above the law,” they said. “The Congress cannot let the president shred the Constitution.”

Trump’s national emergency declaration was the 60th to be declared since the power to do so was allowed in 1976.

But given that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to appropriate money, many see Trump’s use of the power as being unconstitutional, especially as Congress refused to give Trump the amount he wanted.

Other Democrats were more sure to bring legal actions, including California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Earlier this month, Becerra said he’d sue the Trump administration in the event of a national emergency over border wall funding. On Friday, he confirmed that a lawsuit would be likely.

“This is not 9/11. This is not the Iran hostage crisis of 1979,” said Becerra, referring to the national emergency declared by President Jimmy Carter to freeze assets of Iran during the Iran Hostage Crisis.

“This is a president showing his disdain for the rule of law and our U.S. Constitution.”

Governor Gavin Newsom doubled down on Becerra’s remarks.

“President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up ‘national emergency’ in order to seize power and subvert the constitution,” said Newsom.

“Our message back to the White House is simple and clear. California will see you in court.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that it was filing a lawsuit next week to challenge the declaration.

“By the president’s very own admission in the Rose

Garden, there is no national emergency. He just grew impatient and frustrated with Congress, and decided to move along his promise for a border wall ‘faster,’” said ACLU executive director, Anthony Romero.

“This is patently illegal power grab that hurts American communities and flouts the checks and balances that are hallmarks of our democracy,” Romero added.

Support split among Republican lawmakers Ahead of Trump’s national emergency declaration, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) expressed support for Trump’s move, despite before being among those in the GOP looking to avoid it.

“I indicated to him I’m going to support the national emergency declaration,” McConnell said on Thursday.

Republican Senator Richard Shelby said, “I’m not uncomfortable. I think the president’s probably on solid ground.”

But a number of Republicans were less supportive upon hearing about the announcement of a potential national emergency.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio described the move as a “bad idea.”

In a statement, he said, “We have a crisis at our southern border, but no crisis justifies violating the Constitution.”

“I will wait to see what statutory or constitutional power the President relies on to justify such a declaration before making any definitive statement,” he added. “But I am skeptical it will be something that I can support.”

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said on Thursday that he was not in favor of operating the government by national emergency, while Republican Senator Ron Johnson described it as a “pretty dramatic expansion of how this was used in the past.”

Meanwhile, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) said it “would not be a practical solution, because there would be a lawsuit filed immediately. And the money would presumably be balled up.” (Rae Ann Varona / AJPress)

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LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • FEbRUARy 16-19, 2019

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If not Floyd Mayweather, maybe Keith Thurman for Pacquiao?

by JOAQUIN

HENSON Philstar.com

NEW IT EQUIPMENT. Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar (center) and Philippine News Agency (PNA) Acting Executive Editor Luis A. Morente (right) receive the new IT equipment donation from Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua in a turnover ceremony at the PNA central office in Quezon City on Wednesday, February 13. The donation includes a teleprompter, iMac Pro computers, camcorders, lights and other types of broadcast equipment to be used for the PNA Newsroom, the state news agency’s online newscast.

PNA photo by Rico H. Borja

Philippines moves to delist over 600 cases of disappearances THE Philippine government formally moved for the delisting of more than 600 cases of enforced and involuntary disappearances that occurred from 1975 to 2012 during a meeting with a United Nations working group.

The Philippine delegation sought to delist 625 cases during a meeting with the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital of Sarajevo, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a release on Friday, February 15.

The said disappearances were mostly attributed to government forces.

AFP: Most cases caused

by CPP-NPA ‘purge’ Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Armed Forces of the Philippines deputy chief of staff for operations, claimed that many of the cases took place at the height of the internal purging by the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army.

The process of clarifying these

cases, DFA said, is supported by and runs parallel to mechanisms established by Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Law of 2012 and Administrative Order 35, which created the interagency committee on extra-legal killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other grave violations of the right to life, liberty and security of persons.

While it sought to delist cases of disappearances, the Philippine delegation assured the UN working group that the government would continue to assist families of the disappeared.

The Justice department said that 105 of the 625 cases had already been taken up and claims for reparation had been granted under the Human Rights Victims Recognition and Reparation Act of 2013.

That law created a board to evaluate and process claims of victims of human rights violations during the Marcos administration.

The WGEID is one of the panels overseen by the UN Human Rights Council, which aims to

Can California beat the...

PAGE A3 t for consumers, the Newsom administration argues.

With the state in charge of negotiations, Medi-Cal could save $150 million a year, the administration said, and Medi-Cal enrollees could go to virtually any pharmacy, as opposed to the limited options authorized by their health plans.

Although the concept of bulk purchasing might sound good, health experts say, the state faces barriers.

Federal law requires Medicaid programs to cover most drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration. That leaves states without one of the biggest bargaining chips available to the private sector: the ability to tell drugmakers they won’t buy their products.

But California can get creative, said Jennifer Kent, the health department’s director. For example, the state can create a preferred drug list that gives drugmakers an incentive to reduce their prices. If a medication is on the list, doctors don’t need to obtain preauthorization from Medi-Cal to prescribe it, making it more accessible and thus more likely to be used by patients, Kent said.

In addition, the sheer size of California’s Medi-Cal program can help drive down prices, Kent said.

“I think of us as the third-largest public purchaser in the nation” behind Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs, Kent said. “We cover a very significant number of people.”

But representatives for California health plans and pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen who negotiate with drugmakers on behalf of health plans and government entities, say their organizations already work to find the best prices for consumers. They haven’t publicly opposed Newsom’s plan but have expressed skepticism.

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents pharmacy benefit managers, said in a written statement that its companies are set to save the California Medi-Cal program $8.59 billion in projected costs from 2016 to 2025.

Drugmakers have launched a national campaign that blames insurers for failing to pass along more than $150 billion a year in rebates and discounts to consumers.

In addition to negotiating for Medi-Cal enrollees, Newsom wants to get a better deal for state workers. He has directed his administration to study how agen-

cies could band together in a separate drug-purchasing pool to buy prescription drugs as one entity.

Currently, more than 20 state agencies negotiate drug prices separately.

Newsom said he envisions private purchasers — including small businesses, health plans and selfinsured Californians — eventually joining these state agencies at the bargaining table in a bid to “marshal public and private parties” for lower drug prices.

A report last year by the National Academy of Sciences found that spending on biopharmaceuticals accounts for nearly 17 percent of America’s annual health care bill, and that many people have difficulty paying for the drugs they need.

Among the report’s recommendations to lower costs: The federal government should consolidate its purchasing power and directly negotiate prices for all federal health care programs, including Medicare and Department of Veterans Affairs coverage. However, legislation to do that within Medicare has stalled repeatedly over the years and remains controversial.

Trump’s proposal last year to link Medicare spending for certain drugs to what other industrialized countries pay has gone nowhere.

Last month, the Trump administration proposed a new prescription drug discount plan that would steer the rebates drug companies now give to insurers directly to consumers.

In the absence of federal action, states have sought to curb drug prices on their own. Among those efforts: a Connecticut law requiring drug companies to justify price increases, a California law requiring them to report price hikes, and a New York cap on drug spending in the state’s Medicaid program.

Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia belong to multistate purchasing pools, mostly for their Medicaid programs. But data about how much money these pools have saved is scarce, said Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families.

“I think there are real opportunities and real interest in the states about leveraging their buying power,” said Trish Riley, the executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy.

“The states can’t wait for federal action.”

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

help relatives of disappeared persons ascertain the whereabouts of their disappeared family members.

The working group consists of five members that serve as experts “in their individual capacities, to examine questions relevant to enforced or involuntary disappearances of persons.” (Gaea Katreena Cabico/Philstar.com)

IF Floyd Mayweather decides to stay retired, the man whom WBA welterweight champion Sen. Manny Pacquiao could fight next is undefeated Keith Thurman whose nickname “One Time” is supposed to herald his one-punch knockout power.

Thurman, 30, is recognized by the WBA as its welterweight champion in the “super” category while Pacquiao, 40, is the WBA titlist in the same division but in the “regular” class. A unification title fight to decide who deserves the WBA welterweight belt on an exclusive basis makes sense particularly as the governing body has been criticized for commercializing the sport by declaring champions in several categories to maximize earning from sanction fees. At the moment, the WBA has 11 “super,” 16 “regular,” two “gold” and three “interim” champions in 17 weight divisions.

The other day, Thurman called out Pacquiao to determine the “real” WBA ruler while on vacation with his Nepalese wife Priyana Thapa in Tokyo. The Japanese capital is where Thurman met Priyana Thapa in 2016. She worked for her father in a bar called Vibration in the Roppongi district. Thurman, whose father is African-American and mother is of Polish-Hungarian descent, is 10 years younger than Pacquiao and appears confident of beating him.

“The welterweight division is

amazing,” he once said. “A lot of talent, a lot of fighters. I always say the welterweight division is the biggest of the small guys. It’s a very athletic division. A lot of people don’t understand the life of a fighter. Boxing is one of the hardest sports in the world. You need strength, conditioning, stamina, reflexes. In most sports, no one is punching you. You have to move backward, forward, side-to-side, take an attack, attack back.”

For a fighter known as a knockout puncher, Thurman hasn’t lived up to his reputation lately.

Five of his last six fights went the distance and he’s coming off a hard-fought majority 12-round decision over Josesito Lopez at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn two weeks back. Thurman’s latest outing came after a 22-month layoff to recover from surgery in his right elbow and a bruised left hand. Against Lopez, Thurman started strong and scored a knockdown in the second round but faded as the fight progressed.

He was nearly floored in the seventh round and lucky to survive a furious assault by Lopez.

What makes Thurman a leading candidate in the Pacquiao sweepstakes is his willingness to fight in the Philippines, something Mayweather will never agree to. “Bring it in the ring,” said Thurman. “Maybe Brooklyn, maybe Las Vegas, wherever Pacquiao wants it. I’d fight him in the Philippines if I had to.” Pacquiao hasn’t fought in his home country since outpointing Oscar Larios in 2006. After the Larios fight,

Floyd Mayweather visits Manny Pacquiao in his locker room before his bout against Adrien Broner at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on January 20, 2019.

Photo by Wendell Rupert Alinea/Manny Pacquiao Promotions

Pacquiao went on to figure in 23 bouts abroad.

Thurman started boxing when he was seven. He was initially trained as an amateur by Benjamin Getty who worked with Sugar Ray Leonard early in his career.

Now, his trainer is Dan Birmingham. As an amateur, Thurman posted 76 KOs in 101 wins. As a pro, he’s never lost and suffered only one knockdown, a first round drop before stopping Quandray Robertson in Los Angeles in 2010.

Robertson was decked in the first, second and third rounds before it was over. Thurman turned pro in 2007 and has a record of 29-0, with 22 KOs and one No-Contest.

When Thurman made his pro debut, Pacquiao was already a two-division world champion and on the way to becoming the only fighter ever to capture eight world titles in eight weight classes. n

A February 16-19, 2019 • La WeeKeND aSIaN JOurNaL

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DATELINE PHILIPPINES

Duterte threatens to slap ex-senator for spreading rumors on his health he would slap former Senator and columnist Francisco “Kit” Tatad when they cross paths for SAN JOSE DEL MONTE CITY spreading rumors about his sup— President Rodrigo Duterte posed deteriorating health. said on Thursday, February 14, “There’s a border between

by DARRYL JOHN

ESGUERRA

Inquirer.net

Former Senator Francisco Tatad

Inquirer.net photo

press freedom and pagbabastos ng tao. ‘Pag una kitang makita, iwasan mo ako. P****** sampalin kita,” Duterte said during his party PDP-Laban’s campaign kickoff here in Bulacan.

Duterte also dared Tatad to prove his virility as he was already diabetic.

This was not the first time Duterte mocked the former senator for supposedly spreading false news about his health.

In 2017, the President alleged that Tatad has enlarged testicles and venereal disease.

In his column published in a broadsheet last June 2017, Tatad, quoting “highly informed sources,” said Duterte had suffered a mild stroke and was brought to Cardinal Santos Medical Center, where he reportedly also underwent peritoneal dialysis — a treatment for an early kidney disorder. n

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Despite evidence, Imee Marcos insists she graduated from Princeton

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VIRAY

MANILA — An official of Princeton University itself earlier confirmed that Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos did not earn a degree but she insisted, once again, that she graduated from the Ivy League university.

“Pumasok ako sa Princeton at pagkakaalam ko, nag-graduate ako (I went to Princeton and as far as I know, I graduated),” she told News5 chief Luchi Cruz-Valdes on “Aplikante sa Senado.”

The eldest child of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos also claimed that she did not know the spokesperson of the university who said she did not finish a degree.

Asserting her academic record, Marcos then proceeded to talk about her qualifications as she is seeking a seat in the upper chamber.

“Ang alam ko, ako ay politics of performance, alam ko ‘yung ginagawa ko. Pumasok din po ako sa UP katulad po ninyo at alam natin na ang importante dito sino ‘yung nakakapag-deliver ng performance at higit sa lahat ng track record (All I know is that I am about the politics of performance, I know what I am doing. I also went to UP just like you and we know that the impor-

In this February 12 photo, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos attends the campaign launch of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago coalition in San Fernando, Pampanga.

Philstar.com photo by Michael Varcas

tant thing here is who delivers in their performance and most importantly their track record),” she added.

Last year, a supposed photo of Marcos’ sholastic records went viral, raising questions on her academic credentials Interaksyon reached out to Princeton University, which confirmed that although she attended the school, she did not graduate.

“I included all the information within her file that I am permitted to release to you but she did not earn a degree,” the universi-

ty’s archivist told Interaksyon in an email.

According to the Princeton archivist, Marcos attended the university from the fall of 1973 to spring 1976 and the fall of 1977 to spring of 1979.

Records from the university showed that Marcos took Independent Concentration in Religion and Politics. This, however, does not correspondent to an undergraduate degree as an independent concentration is among the special features of the undergraduate program that lead to a degree. n

5 Metro Manila cities tagged as poll hotspots telligence.

The PNP earlier listed 701 towns and cities as election hotMANILA — The Philippine spots.

National Police (PNP) has idenOf the number, 94 were listed tified at least five cities in Metro as “red” or areas of grave conManila as election hotspots, an cern, where intense political official said. rivalries, armed groups and hisThe cities of Mandaluyong, tory of election-related violence Malabon, Caloocan, Pasay and are present.

Manila have been tagged as A total of 382 are listed as “yellow” hotspots, the lowest of “orange” or areas of immediate four levels of hotspots, accord- concern where there is serious ing to Director Guillermo Elea- threat from armed groups. zar, National Capital Region PoMeanwhile, 223 cities and lice Office chief. towns, including the five Metro PNP chief Director General Manila cities, are coded yellow Oscar Albayalde earlier identi- or deemed areas of concern catfied the five cities as yellow elec- egory. tion “areas of concern” due to Eleazar said the situations in past election-related incidents the five cities “are manageable. listed by the Directorate for In- Just the same, all interventions

by NON

ALQUITRAN Philstar.com

available will be done by the NCRPO in coordination with other government agencies concerned to have a peaceful elections come May.” Observers noted that in Mandaluyong City, incumbent Mayor Menchie Abalos is running unopposed while no intense rivalry was monitored among candidates in the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Manila and Pasay.

Eleazar expressed confidence that the May polls would be peaceful and orderly with at least 14,000 police officers deployed to secure voting precincts.

He threatened to impose severe sanctions on police officers who show they favor certain candidates. n

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LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • FEbRUARy 16-19, 2019

A

P433-billion aid from Japan to improve peacekeeping, infrastructure

by HELEN

FLORES Philstar.com

The content of campaign propaganda cannot be controlled because “that is also in the ambit of free expression,� according to Namfrel treasurer Lito Averia.

Philstar.com photo

Campaign ad content won’t be regulated CRISOSTOMO

Philstar.com

MANILA — Despite the political mudslinging, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is standing pat on its position that it cannot regulate negative campaigning.

In an intervew with “The Chiefs� on Cignal TV’s One News, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said that negative campaigning is “allowed.� “We do not regulate content. But we do require candidates to submit reports on the cost of the use of social media associates,� Jimenez said, referring to the requirements for all candidates and their political parties to file Statements of Contributions and Expenditures.

This position was backed by poll watchdogs Legal Network for Free Elections (Lente), National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and Kontra Daya.

The content of campaign propaganda cannot be controlled because “that is also in the ambit of free expression,� according to Namfrel treasurer Lito Averia. “That’s why it is difficult to regulate content. Comelec is shying away from it. From my personal standpoint, the way I see it, it is a no-no,� Averia said.

This was echoed by Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao, who admitted that doing such a regulation is “hard.� “The danger in controlling content is you might also end up infringing on freedom of expression.

Of course, there could be a noble intention behind it – to help raise the level of discourse,� Arao said.

He added that the challenge in terms of voter education is “how to properly educate the voters in terms of appreciating the content� as this may reveal truths about certain candidates.

Lente project director Brizza

Rosales underscored the need to “capacitate� the public so they can properly discern who to vote for in the coming midterm polls. “For now, the most effective way is still public voter education... We have to teach them what to expect on election day, the campaign regulations... They should know their candidates not based on personality but on platform,� Rosales said.

Jimenez at the same time cautioned candidates and political parties that “state resources are not allowed to be used for partisan poltical purposes.� “No distinction.

No qualification. If it’s government resources, it cannot be used for partisan politics,� he maintained.

Final warning Meanwhile, the Comelec gave senatorial aspirants and party-list organizations a final warning before the poll body initiates legal actions against them over their unlawful campaign materials.

Jimenez said all candidates for national positions have until today to remove their illegal campaign propaganda. “We are giving them a grace period of about three days, which will expire (today), to take down the materials that they already have out,â€? he said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum at CafĂŠ Adriatico in Manila.

Jimenez noted that tomorrow, the Comelec will start documenting unlawful materials that are still in place, and once the poll body has completed documentation, “legal actions� will be taken against violators.

The poll body observed that many illegal campaign materials have been taken down before the campaign period for 62 senatorial candidates and 134 party-list groups started on Tuesday.

While Jimenez gave the final

warning, many other materials – either oversized or located outside of designated common poster areas or both – were still up as of Thursday, February 14. “There are still efforts to comply with the rules. That’s why we are giving them this grace period to allow them time to remove their materials,� he said.

The Comelec spokesman has reiterated that the poll body will not accept the excuse of many candidates that the posting of illegal campaign materials was without their consent or knowledge. “If you were told to remove the materials and you failed to take them down, or if you knew about the presence of these materials and you did not do antyhing, you are taking advantage of that criminal act... You are just as responsible,� Jimenez said. n

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MANILA — More Japanesefunded projects are expected to benefit Filipinos in the next three years, particularly those in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, an official of the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Assistant Press Secretary Natsuko Sakata, director of International Press Division, said the $202-million road network project in Mindanao is one of many being funded by the Japanese government, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and Japan Foreign Minister Taro Kono signed the exchange of notes for the Road Network Development Project in Conflict-Affected Areas in Mindanao (RNDP) in Davao City last Sunday. “The Japanese government is deeply involved in the Mindanao peace process,� Sakata told a select group of journalists in Makati City.

Apart from the road development project, Sakata said her government is also assisting in the vocational training of former combatants, as well as in the area of capacity building.

Other projects in the pipeline include social safety net for the people to promote inclusive

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growth, social infrastructure, healthcare promotion, as well as rehabilitation of former drug users.

In 2017, Japan offered a onetrillion-yen (approximately P433 billion) aid package for the Philippines in the next five years to promote economic and infrastructure development.

Metro Manila subway The Japanese government aims for the Metro Manila sub-

way project, which is also being funded through a grant from JICA, to be partially completed by 2022, the last year of the Duterte administration.

An official of the Japan embassy in Manila said the Japanese company which was awarded the P356-billion Metro Manila Subway Project submitted its proposal to the Department of Transportation last December 2018,

u PAGE A10

A8 FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797

OPINION

FEATURES

Looking the other way

THERE is ongoing litigation specifically for the government to recover the paintings. So people are mystified by the sale of three prized paintings for nearly $3.6 million by Christie’s auction house in New York.

An 1881 masterpiece by French impressionist Claude Monet fetched the highest price at $2.6 million. British landscape artist Alfred Sisley’s 1897 work was sold for $900,000 while French painter Albert Marquet’s 1946 painting went for $90,000.

The three were part of the staggering treasure trove of fine art that Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos managed to accumulate on a Philippine president’s modest income during their two decades in power. According to published reports, Imelda Marcos bought the Monet painting from an art gallery in 1975 for $138,000, and entrusted it in 1985 to her personal secretary Vilma Bautista.

How could the Marcoses afford such treasures?

The three artworks are part of about 200 paintings, which are the subjects of an ongoing civil forfeiture case before the Sandiganbayan.

Procuring paintings normally leaves a paper trail, so it should be relatively easy to pin down the former first lady for unexplained wealth based on her family’s extensive art collection. Yet the for-

feiture cases are moving at such a glacial pace in the Sandiganbayan that the artworks under litigation can be sold while the Office of the Solicitor General appears to be either sleeping on the job or looking the other way.

Maybe the OSG was too preoccupied last year with its efforts to oust the chief justice. Last month the OSG confirmed in a manifestation before the Sandiganbayan’s Special First Division that the three paintings had been sold, and that the OSG was clueless about the auction.

If this is the way the government is trying to recover ill-gotten wealth from a family accused of mind-boggling plunder, it’s little wonder that the Marcoses have staged a dramatic political comeback. Imelda Marcos was convicted for the first time last year, but for seven counts of graft rather than plunder, which allowed her to remain free while the case crawls along the tortuous path to a final decision. With no political will to go after ill-gotten wealth, she and her family will likely get away with everything. (Philstar.com)

Editorial

The power of kindness: Four types of people

Rhizomes PROSY ABARQUEZDELACRUZ, J.D. WITH BIANCA NEPALES

Smatterings of light and shadows at Angeles National Forest, taken by Enrique Delacruz on Feb. 7, 2019.

“Think of a person who faces the world without knowing his capabilities and limitations – someone with misguided notions about himself, who dreams of being powerful, rich, and admired for a host of talents he does not have. Such a person is incapable of self-judgment. Equipped with mistaken ideas, he enters the great arena of the world ready to compete and excel. You can only shudder at the thought of his fate. He is like a child who thinks he can walk miles, but who tires after only two hundred feet. To know your own weaknesses and to accept them, even if it is painful. To be honest. To chase illusions away and realize how much you do not know. To treasure life’s lessons. That is humility.

And humility is a great strength.”

On running for senator

Street Talk GREG B. MACABENTA HOW does one win in a senatorial election where 63 candidates are fighting over 12 seats? The advertising geniuses at the watering holes in Makati insist that name recognition is vital. But the harsh reality may be that money, which is also known as “the root of all evil,” is the foundation of Philippine elections. No money. No votes.

Some idealists still hope in vain that a meaningful platform of government geared to public service, based on a sound ideology should influence the choice of candidates.

But that doesn’t seem to apply in the Philippines. Cynical voters no longer believe the high-falutin’ promises of politicians.

In the first place, there is no longer such a thing as an ideological underpinning for candidates, according to a senior citizen friend who longs for those days when senators were brilliant, respectable, dignified and were guided by principles and ideology.

“Candidates don’t stand for any party ideology or even a philosophy of governance,” explains my hoary friend, who still longs for the two-party system of old.”

There was a time when there were only two dominant political parties, the Liberal Party and the Nacionalista Party. And they were guided by respective ideologies.”

According to him, there were also no political butterflies then, flitting from one party to the other,

depending on who was in power.

Well…yes and no. In the 1965 presidential elections, Liberal Party Senate President Ferdinand Marcos flitted to the Nacionalista Party to become its official candidate against reelectionist President Diosdado Macapagal.

Adds one pundit, Marcos made “butterflying” more rampant than “Noynoying.”

Well…yes. But Marcos did not invent the political butterfly or its fruity equivalent, the balimbing. This political reality has been around for a long time.

For instance, the Liberal Party broke away from the Nacionalista Party when Philippine independence from the United States became imminent (after the Japanese had been defeated by Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the Philippine Commonwealth was reestablished). Senate President Manuel Roxas founded the Liberal Party and pushed for a presidential election, apparently to contest the high office then occupied by President Sergio Osmena. Roxas won.

Indeed, political ambition was not a post-Marcos phenomenon.

NP Congressman Jose Romero, had some harsh words for the Roxas “Liberal wing” at the opening of the convention that decided on the presidential election.

According to Wikipedia, Romero, who delivered the keynote speech, accused Roxas and his followers of “fanning the flames of discontent among the people, of capitalizing on the people’s hardship, and of minimizing the accomplishment of the [Osmeña] Administration. These men with

Philstar.com photo

the Messiah complex have been the bane of the country and of the world. This is the mentality that produces Hitlers and the Mussolinis, and (in) their desire to climb to power. they even want to destroy the party which placed them where they are today.”

“But, at least the two parties had distinct ideologies,” insists the hoary political observer.

Well…yes and no. The Nacionalista Party did have a distinct ideology because, having been founded in 1907, in the wake of the colonization of the Philippines by the United States, the NP actively campaigned for independence. But the stated ideology of the LP was pure motherhood and could have been crafted by the Boy Scouts.

According to Wikipedia, “The (LP) currently espouses liberalism as its main ideology. According to its values charter, the selfdescribed values of the party are freedom, justice and solidarity (bayanihan).”

They could well have added the whole Boy Scout code: The LPs are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, brave, clean reverent.

“But, at least the candidates had distinct platforms of government which they enunciated during their campaigns,” persists the nostalgic political observer.

Well…yes and no. In the 1959 senatorial elections, LP candidate Estanislao A. Fernandez, Jr. had nothing to say for himself except about getting a Filipina named Lydia Dean acquitted in a criminal case, reportedly sparing her from death row.

u PAGE A10

– Piero Ferrucci, “The Power of Kindness,” 2006.

I HAVE sat down to interview thousands of folks: first, as an eligibility worker interviewing welfare recipients, mostly single mothers with children for two years; second, as a public health professional at a state agency for 27 years; and third, as an appointed LA City Commissioner for Civil Service for two years.

This role entailed listening to grievances and employer anomalies with employees testifying to abuse of power through its public agenda process of five minutes per commission’s meeting. Few employees succeeded to present their issue and only if they persisted for months.

My fourth, as a contributing writer for the Asian Journal for 11 years. I have interviewed individuals at work, in factories, restaurants, churches and sometimes, their homes.

It has been 42 years of listen-

Demand and Supply BOO CHANCO HOW did our neighboring countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and now Vietnam manage to industrialize while we are still struggling? Many of the vehicles in our streets were made in Thailand and Indonesia.

It’s the same thing with the steel industry. I remember a joke one of my professors in college made about the Philippine steel industry as nothing more than beauty parlors that add the curls in G.I roofing sheets.

Maybe it is because of the Filipino First import substitution strategy we have had from the ’50s. Our so called “infant” industries got significant protection through high tariffs and nontariff barriers to entry.

As a result, consumers suffered having to buy lower quality products at higher costs. Several decades later, our “infant” industries refused to grow. Protection gave them no incentive to adopt new technology and improve efficiency.

So we failed to industrialize.

Our car manufacturing industry is a joke. Outside of labor, we import practically every component used in making a car.

We used to manufacture tires here, something that should come naturally because we grow, or used to grow rubber in Basilan. Now, the original tire manufacturers are gone.

Nationalism was used by vest-

ing to people sharing their stories and listening for life’s lessons.

I have interviewed welfare moms, multimillionaires, CEOs, professionals, artists, photographers, jewelers, musicians, writers, professors, students, activists, entrepreneurs, workers, chefs, realtors, authors, writers, playwrights, actors, actresses, directors, mayor, composers, assemblymembers, members of Congress, composers, attorneys, lyricists, conductors, beauty queens, 50 priests, two monsignors and a bishop.

There are more who I need to connect to – computer technicians, gardeners, parking attendants, cleaning ladies, busboys, waiters, electricians, plumbers, bus drivers, garbage men, repairmen, and homeless families from whom I can learn from.

Four types of people I recently shared with a good friend, that reflecting on the

thousands whom I have interviewed, I believe there are three kinds of people.

First, the radical givers who share themselves; second, the content receptors of grace or open vessels; and third, a hybrid of both open receivers and sensitive givers of grace.

I added a fourth category: those who are mean, unkind, cruel, and feeling victimized and harassed, much like the 45th U.S. president in the Oval Office, who extracts patience and tolerance from others, with the unusual grace of understanding and justice for their wrongdoings.

I added this fourth category as it is quite obvious, in public view for all to see how the current president creates division, while he considers diverse folks as his enemies: Muslims, women, Mexicans, immigrants, gays disabled, journalists, the intel-

u PAGE A9

Industrialization ed interests from the oligarchy and the narrow minded left to justify protectionist policies. That kept us away from industrialization.

To compensate, we talked about leapfrogging from agriculture to services, bypassing the industrial stage. We started exporting labor abroad instead of manufactured goods. The BPO sector started to grow the service sector, but it is an industry that can be here now and elsewhere tomorrow.

Many economists have been warning that our strong dependence on OFWs and BPOs is not sustainable. We need a third leg: manufacturing.

Economist Bernardo Villegas once said “there was no question that a country with as large a population as the Philippines would never be really considered industrialized if manufacturing does not constitute a fair share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing a significant percentage of the labor force.”

Villegas noted that “through the years, manufacturing in the Philippines would average a little over 20 percent of GDP (compared to 30 percent or more of most of our neighbors) and nine percent of the labor force (compared to more than 15 percent of our peers). In any modern economy with a large domestic market, economic progress is associated with an increasing share of the manufacturing sector in the economy.”

One reason manufacturing never took off in this country is

our failure to have an honest-togoodness integrated steel mill.

We had one in the ’60s that was integrated only in name. Government took that over after it had financial difficulties, but failed to get it going too.

It was privatized and ended up with some Indian investors.

Today it is a pile of junk that ought to be melted down to free valuable real estate in Iligan for something useful.

There is no doubt that a thriving steel industry serves as the backbone of a country’s industrialization.

Villegas pointed out that “iron and steel were of the essence of the first industrial revolution that occurred in England in the last decades of the 19th century. The irony is that the world is now in the fourth stage of the industrial revolution (the digital age) and the Philippines has not yet developed a strong domestic steel industry.”

Perhaps, Villegas suggested, one other reason why we failed to develop a good steel industry is the limited market. Understandable because a large portion of the Philippine population lives below the poverty line and does not have an effective demand for steel products.

But it should be different today with our consumer driven economy. We have a growing middle class and a population that was last counted at 107 million. This should be, Villegas mused, big enough to constitute a viable market for a local steel industry to flourish. This is also probably

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The power of kindness: Four types...

PAGE A8 t

ligence community, refugees, even his personal attorney and Special Counsel, while he has admiration for authoritarian leaders from Russia and North Korea. He could not even let go of the rebuke he got from the late Sen. John McCain, who voted no to the repeal of Obamacare.

I was in Europe in 2003. It had been two years after the suicide bombers from the Middle East attacked the Twin Towers and thereafter the U.S. and its coalition partners went to war against Iraq. Travel felt ominous then and even more so as American citizens as we were met with hostility and suspicion. To folks whom I met and struck conversations, they openly complained of the actions of U.S. President George W. Bush.

They recalled what they had to endure during World War II and were afraid of another World War III. They pointed to a nearby building, whose inaccessible basement and tunnels remain and reminiscent of how folks hid there during the war. They prayed for peace and they had all their prayers written down and kept in a wooden box. Quietly, a prayer movement reached 20,000+ for peace and no world war. They kept the box as a symbol of their unity, hoping someday, they would be alive to read them aloud and thank God for protecting Europe during the invasion of Iraq.

Fast forward to Donald Trump who recently pulled out of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces agreement, signed by Pres. Ronald Reagan and Soviet General

Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev on Dec. 8, 1987.

“The treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate and ratified by both Gorbachev and Reagan on June 1, 1988. With this treaty, 2,692 missiles were eliminated, in May 1991, followed by 10 years of on-site verification inspections.” (Source:Wikipedia and Euro News).

The “U.S. formally suspended the treaty on Feb. 1, 2019, and Russia followed the following day. Putin wants to have ‘supersonic’ missile after the treaty suspension and declared that “Russia must develop new nuclear warhead-carrying missiles by 2021,” according to CNBC and CNN. Is the 45th U.S. president taking us back to the Dark Ages?

“The term Dark Ages was coined by an Italian scholar, Francesco Petrarch, who lived from 1304 to 1374,” according to Nate Sullivan, a history professor and writer.

Petrarch lamented the scarcity of quality in Latin literature and dark ages became a term for lack of culture and advancement in Europe. Black Death bubonic plague killed an estimated 100 to 200 million, devastating Europe from the late 1340s to early 1350s, Sullivan continued. Are we now having our Dark Ages in America?

Do we have a choice between this culture of death and a culture of life? Do we sense the opioid epidemic of deaths in the thousands, the suicides of teenagers, shootings of black teenagers by police officers, and 30,000 deaths of Americans

Dr. Jeremy Velasco extracting teeth in Iloilo on Jan. 21, 2018. He shuts down his private practice for a week and spends for his travel expenses and two staffers to do this medical mission for five days. He also collects stuffed toys all year for these hundreds of children he gives dental services to.

Photo by Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz

OpiniOn & Features

from random gun violence? Yet, the president insists on cultivating fear coming from caravans of migrants, refugees, immigrant crimes and women choosing to abort their fetuses. His fearmongering has backfired and resulted in bringing in more diverse congressmembers to the 116th Congress: hundreds of women representatives, the first two Muslim-Americans, the first two Native Americans, the first Filipino American from the Central Valley TJ Cox, and the youngest 29-year-old Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Smatterings of light I wondered if we became radical givers and contribute to a movement of being Saints, could that change America from being in the Dark Ages of massive deaths, lies, lack of culture and advancement? Would that be enough to stop the violence from hatred? I pray and I hope so.

Allow me to switch back to describing the first three categories.

It is really my intent to choose smatterings of light towards a lighted path and to leave behind the dark shadows of hatred and bigotry.

The first type is radical givers, who give without expectations of anything in return.

I know of Korkie, a high school classmate, who is a radical giver.

She organizes her friends, to the point of arranging carpools for those who don’t drive so all can meet for bible studies or reunions. Our classmates are from diverse income categories, and some are without cars. But, that does not deter them from sharing rides and to be together. She also arranges visits to the nuns who are now in their retirement home, about three hours away from her residence, while staying up at times till dawn to connect to U.S. and Canadian classmates and share what these nuns need for daily living.

She even supervised the carpenters and laborers, whom our 1967 batch contracted, to renew the kneelers in the school’s chapel and buy snacks for these laborers using her own resources.

I consider her as part of the first category. At one time, she coordinated the receipt of books donated to the school’s library from U.S.-based classmates, through the efforts of Ambassador Mary Jo Aragon, then, Philippine Consul General in Los Angeles.

Another classmate, Beatriz,

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LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • FEbRUARy 16-19, 2019

A

Manila bay rehab; 95 towns, cities broke environment laws – DILG

by EMMANUEL

TUPAS

Philstar.com

MANILA — A total of 95 towns and cities within the Manila Bay watershed area have not complied with environmental laws, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said.

DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said the number comprises 53 percent of the 178 local government units (LGUs) from Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), according to the assessments and on-site inspections by their regional-interagency committee in 2018.

Of the 95 LGUs, 56 are from Central Luzon followed by 37

PAGE A8 t

from Calabarzon and two in the National Capital Region. Año did not reply when asked which two LGUs in Metro Manila are non-compliant.

The LGUs, Año said, failed to hit the indicators gauging their compliance with existing environmental laws, with 16 having the worst problems.

“Based on our assessment, we still have a lot of work to do, and we intend to start with these 16 LGUs as we go along assisting all of 178. We will help them,” he said in a statement.

While they are not in the habit of pointing fingers on who are responsible for the environmental woes at Manila Bay, Año warned local chief executives to shape up or they will not hesitate to file administrative

complaints against them before the Office of the Ombudsman or even straight to President Duterte.

Año says that depending on the assessment, the DILG can extend the provision of capacity development, workshops, coaching and mentoring, among others, to ensure that the LGUs are fully capable of exercising their mandates.

He underscored the need for the DILG continue with its stringent monitoring of LGUs for the cleanup and rehabilitation of the Manila Bay is sustained.

Año also urged LGUs to pass ordinances that will ensure that commercial establishments without environmental compliance certificates will not be allowed to operate. n

Industrialization

why this idea of an integrated steel mill here is gaining investor attention.

I found out early this week that from out of the blue, China’s largest steel company contacted Ben Yao of Steel Asia expressing interest in a joint venture to put up a real integrated steel mill here. Ben told me that they visited the Phividec Industrial Park in Cagayan de Oro and signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set up a $4.5 billion steel mill there.

The Chinese company, Hebei Iron and Steel (HBIS), is state owned and the 4th largest steel company in the world. They are currently in the feasibility study stage and should be able to make a decision to invest this year.

Once they get going, it would take three to five years to implement the project in two phases.

The facility will be able to produce crude steel of up to eight million tons.

They will be able to produce steel for use in many industries such as automotive grade steel; special steels for engineering machinery; appliance grade steel; food grade steel; construction grade and high strength construction steel; aerospace engineering steel; nuclear power steel; shipbuilding and marine engineering steel and railway steel.

But there is a problem. In the

course of doing their feasibility study, they found out that we have little or no quality standards for steel products and implementation of the standards that we have is spotty. There is also a significant gray market and some smuggling of substandard steel products. It is not a level playing field.

Actually, substandard steel products are a danger to life in our earthquake-prone country.

DTI is responsible for the formu-

lation and enforcement of standards but it has had problems doing this.

Anyway, if this investor comes in, it will be a big feather on the cap of DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez and President Duterte can report fulfilling a dream. Secretary Lopez must simply make sure our loose governance doesn’t scare away a major investor in a segment of our economy that’s pretty basic.

(Philstar.com)

A10 February 16-19, 2019 • La WeeKeND aSIaN JOurNaL

Dateline PhiliPPines

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Remittance growth hits all-time high in December

MANILA — Money sent home

by Filipinos abroad hit an alltime high in December, bringing the 12-month tally slightly above the government’s target for 2018, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported on Friday, February 15.

Cash remittances grew 3.9 percent year-on-year in December to hit a record $2.8 billion.

For the entire 2018, cash remittances registered a 3.1 percent growth to $28.9 billion, a tad higher than the revised 3-

percent target set by the central bank for the year.

“The countries that contributed most to the increase during the month were the United States and Canada,” the BSP said.

“The growth in cash remittances was supported by the transfers from both land-based and sea-based overseas Filipino workers, which grew by 2.8 percent and 4.6 percent from last year’s levels, respectively,” it added.

Money sent home by Filipinos working abroad is one of the Philippines’ main sources of dollars, helping the economy stay afloat by giving households more cash to spend and providing support to the local currency.

Remittances usually peak towards December every year as OFWs send more money to fund increased spending during the Christmas shopping season.

(Ian Nicolas Cigaral/PHilstar. com)

‘Kill order vs drug dealers remains’ Google Philippines affirms its commitment to the Filipino people with the recent launch of Google Station, a platform which will provide free, open and high-quality internet to all. Photo shows Google executives with Google Station key partners (from left) PLDT Enterprise head of core business solutions Jojo Gendrano, PLDT-Smart Communications CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, Information and Communications Technology Secretary Eliseo Rio, Google Philippines country head Ken Lingan and global director for Next Billion Users partnerships Mahesh Bhalerao.

Philstar.com photo

Google, Smart establish free WiFi stations in PH

by JANVIC

MATEO Philstar.com

MANILA — Free public WiFi stations with high-quality internet connection will be established by the end of the month in heavily trafficked locations nationwide, including airports, train stations, malls and academic institutions.

Google Philippines has forged a partnership with telecommunications company Smart for the implementationof the Google Station project, which involves the establishment of WiFi platforms providing “free, open and high-quality” internet access to users.

The project was announced yesterday by Google Philippines country manager Kenneth Lingan during an event in Parañaque City attended by partners and stakeholders, led by PLDT and Smart Communications chief

executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan.

“Glad to be working with Google Philippines to help bring the benefits of the internet to more Filipinos across the Philippines! #internetforall #Google4PH,” Pangilinan wrote on Twitter following the public announcement.

“The internet is creating opportunities for individuals and businesses to connect, learn and grow, which is reflected in the economic growth the country has seen in the last five years.

However, we can only sustain this growth by building a strong foundation for inclusive growth, where every Filipino can participate, contribute and benefit,” Lingan said.

An initial 50 Google Stations will be activated this month, including at all terminals of the Ninoy Aquino, Clark and Davao

International Airports as well as the LRT-2 and MRT-3 stations in Metro Manila.

Other transport stations that will host Google Stations are the Araneta bus port in Quezon City, Cebu South bus terminal and the Port of Batangas. It will also be available at Ali Mall and Gateway Mall in Quezon City.

Ten academic institutions will be part of the pilot coverage of the project, including the Ateneo de Naga University, Bohol Island State University, Bukidnon State University, Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Calamba, Columban College, Cebu Technological University, Holy Cross of Davao College, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Southern Luzon State University and University of Cebu.

Additional stations are expected to be activated in the coming months. n

P433-billion aid from Japan to improve...

PAGE A7 t

but this has yet to be signed.

The subway project is expected to start in the first quarter of this year and will be fully completed by third quarter of 2025.

Equipment for police Meanwhile, the Japanese government yesterday donated equipment to the Philippine National Police to boost the PNP’s operational capabilities.

The equipment worth 500 million yen or P210,000 consists of six bomb suits, six ballistic

shields and 440 units of ballistic helmets.

Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda witnessed the ceremonial turnover of the equipment at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Haneda said the donation is part of Japan’s development assistance to boost the PNP’s capabilities to combat terrorism, illegal drugs and other criminal activities, which President Duterte included in his campaign platform.

“As we challenge violent ex-

by CATHERINE

VALENTE ManilaTimes.net

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has vowed not to lift the “kill” order against drug traffickers even if human rights groups would seek God’s intervention.

In his speech during the inauguration of a drug treatment facility in Laur, Nueva Ecija on Wednesday, February 13, Duterte reiterated that his government would give no quarter to those involved in the illegal drug trade.

“If you destroy my country, I will kill you. So be it. Human rights, you can shout to the heavens. You can call God and intervene,” the president said.

“If you continue to sell shabu, cocaine and the drugs that are deleterious and toxic and can cause death to the Filipinos, I will kill you. Period,” he added.

Duterte maintained that his “kill” order against drug offenders would not be lifted.

“For those in the business, my God, no quarters given, no quarters asked. I don’t give a s**t, I will just kill you,” the President said.

He added that he would take full

PAGE A8 t

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society for so long.”

“I acknowledge the efforts of the management and staff of Moscati Meadows for successfully launching this facility, which will serve as a haven for those who have been victims of drug abuse. I am truly glad that through this center, you will help them recover and find their way back to society,” Duterte said.

“By complementing traditional rehabilitation treatment with non-medical treatment methods such as group and individual therapy sessions, meditation, and horticulture and farm animal therapy, you will not just provide holistic care to your patients, but will also empower them to become effective drug and [alcohol] counselors to their peers who suffer the same predicament,” he added.

The president lamented that some three million Filipinos remain “slaves” to illegal drugs.

“Three million addicts is no joke to me. I can cut you to pieces a thousand times. I hate drugs because you do not f***k with my country,” Duterte said. n

On running for...

Fernandez’s campaign slogan tremism in the region, it is more was: “Savior of Lydia Dean.” He crucial than ever that Japan and won. the Philippines work together to His party-mate and the only enhance our collective capabili- other LP senatorial candidate ties,” Haneda said in his speech. who won was a congressman Equipping police officers with from Batac, Ilocos Norte named the necessary tools is important Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos also as it would enable them to fulfill had motherhood promises in his their tasks in dangerous situa- campaign materials but depended tions, he added. more on film drama to communi“The PNP should take pride in cate his purported brilliance. His the fact that it has accomplished campaign commercial showed a great deal in terms of counter- him reviewing for the bar exams terrorism and drug enforcement while in prison, accused of killing operations,” Haneda said. n a political opponent. Marcos not only won, he was the highest votegetter in that senatorial contest.

I clearly remember that because I wrote the script of that LP campaign film for Lamberto V. Avellana’s production company, Documentary, Inc. Incidentally, Bert also produced the NP campaign film and I also wrote the script – and I wasn’t even old enough to vote.

And talk about writing scripts, I wrote the screenplay of the bandit bio-pic, “Nardong Putik,” that revived the movie career of Ramon Revilla, Sr. and catapulted him to the Senate. Sadly, his detractors refer to his senatorial stint as being

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responsibility for the drug war and was ready to be hanged for it.

“We had a command conference, tapusin na natin ito sa panahon ko (I said let’s finish this under my term), while I’m still here ready to assume singly. I will assume full legal responsibility for whatever it is. And they can hang me if they want. No problem,” Duterte said.

“I can kill an enemy. But to the drugs people, I can kill you for nothing,” he added.

Duterte also observed that there seemed to be “a blossoming” of criminals globally, citing the involvement of Sinaloa cartel and bamboo triad in the drug trafficking.

“We are fighting a global war against drug,” the President said.

He lauded the establishment of Moscati Meadows, a one-hectare drug addiction treatment center that can accommodate up to 50 patients for a six-month holistic rehabilitation program.

He said the treatment facility was “truly in line with this administration’s efforts to combat the drug menace that has plagued our

a perennial member of the “Committee on Silence,” whatever that means.

Did Revilla run on principles or ideology? Not at all. He literally won on the basis of putik (mud).

“But, at least, the senatorial candidates then had meaningful campaign promises that resonated with the voters,” my old friend insists, not showing any signs of giving up.

Well…yes. After all, motherhood promises always resonate with the voters. Nothing could be more motherhood than Erap para sa Mahirap – although I can’t recall if he also used this line for his senatorial campaign (aside from his presidential campaign).

Another classic motherhood campaign promise made by a senatorial candidate was, “Ipaglalaban ko ang katarungan para sa mahihirap!” (I will fight for justice for the poor).

That promise got Juan R. Liwag elected to the Senate. It was coined by my boss at Advertising & Marketing Associates (AMA) Tony Cantero. I can never forget that because I produced the radio tags in Tagalog and all the major dialects, using Liwag himself.

(The trouble was, my assistant

used a defective audio tape and the recording was spoiled. To avoid being fired, I re-recorded the spiel with radio personality Fernando Fernandez, imitating Liwag. That went on the air without Liwag knowing. Anyway, he won.)

“At least they did not have every Pedro, Juan and Pablo running for senator,” my hoary friend persists. “There weren’t 63 candidates then, unlike now. It was easier for the voters to make an intelligent choice.”

Well…yes and no. Easier choice, maybe. Intelligent choice, not necessarily There were also so-so senatorial candidates then – well below the caliber of Claro M. Recto and Lorenzo Tanada.

At any rate, assuming that name recognition is essential in winning a senatorial contest, a mnemonic device or memory aid like Otso Deretso (the slogan of the opposition slate) could help. But, so far based on the surveys, it looks like money and party machinery are the most important ingredients for victory.

I have a feeling that my hoary friend will wish for the good old days in vain. (gregmacabenta@ hotmail.com)

The power of kindness: Four types...

PAGE A9 t uses her financial resources to build chapels and to provide scholarships to boys for their complete education. She and her husband pay to the colleges directly and their treasures come in the form of scholars who finish their degrees. They monitor them to make sure these college graduates finance their siblings so they catalyze lifting one family at a time, out of poverty.

Can you imagine her ‘without fanfare’ giving and philanthropy without calling to what she does publicly? She also does not subscribe to the glitter and bling culture of the rich, even though she is well-endowed. What is her pay-off? A much closer relationship to God. When she visits me in LA, I invariably witness spiritual gifts of grace. To those who may not believe in invisible miracles, it might be difficult to comprehend, but to those with faith, they appreciate the shared stories.

I also became a volunteer in 2018 to the Philippine Medical Society of Northern California, an organization which has been fielding volunteer medical professionals for 30+ years now.

Doctors, dentists, nurses give up a week’s worth of income to go to a province in the Philippines, spending their own dime, to provide comprehensive medical, surgical, optical and dental services to thousands. It was so moving to witness 150 folks help thousands they do not even know nor have met in a matter of five days. Volunteers include retired professionals who simply want to help folks to have a better quality of living and not to keep suffering from their aches and pains due to the lack of money to pay for health care. Doctors end up operating to remove goiter, hernia,

reverse club foot, cleft palate, tumors, and dentists removing decaying teeth by the hundreds.

The look of sweat and fatigue are matched by big smiles and content residents who get muchneeded care.

Second, folks who are content receptors of grace or open channels of grace.

They discern well and speak with so much wisdom, like Pope Francis and certain holy priests.

Sure, there are issues within the Catholic Church that have yet to be fully addressed like sexual abuse of parishioners and now, nuns.

I once told a Catholic priest/ mentor that the brotherhood of priests includes holy priests only, and when the priest preys on his flock, he now belongs to the category of criminals, and no longer deserve to be treated as priest nor bishop nor cardinal.

Pope Francis recently made a historic trip to the Middle East, where he held a historic mass joined by thousands in an Islamic state and signed an agreement for peace.

“The document, signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed elTayeb, was prepared “with much reflection and prayer”, the Pope said. The one great danger at this moment, he continued, is “destruction, war, hatred between us.”

“If we believers are not able to shake hands, embrace one another, kiss one another, and even pray, our faith will be defeated,” he said.

The Pope explained that the document “is born of faith in God who is the Father of all and the Father of peace; it condemns all destruction, all terrorism, from the first terrorism in history, that of Cain.” The Holy Father said

that from the Catholic point of view, the Document on Human Fraternity “does not go one millimetre beyond the Second Vatican Council… the document was made in the spirit of Vatican II.” Among Muslims, he said, there are various opinions, but them, too, it is a process.” Vatican News reported.

I consider Pope Francis a holy vessel where each move that he makes seems inspired by the joy of the Holy Spirit and as he intended.

As Rev. Jude Winkler reminds us, “The Spirit of God is not like a dull knife that refuses to cut.

The Spirit is like a sharp blade that can cut right to the heart of the matter. The Spirit can help us to explore what is hidden and confused and to sort out our motivations so that we may be and do what is Spirit-filled.” Third, a hybrid of sensitive givers of grace and receivers of that divine blessing.

I have a friend who is a wonderful giver of services in wellness. Antonio hands use acupuncture needles, cupping and massage, which result in pain intervention. You sense his healing energies pass through as his clients receive them. He meditates to a Higher Source just before seeing each one.

As one of those receiving his healing energies, we also have in-depth dialogues about life, faiths, travels and family love.

From him, we get on track to a better quality of living, not a cure, but issues of sprained muscles, and aching back or painful joints are interrupted and resolved.

The fourth, a dangerous one, as the Lies of Two Minds come from them.

They believe they are the greatest gifts to mankind and

u PAGE A11

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A11

‘Not illegal’ for media to record arrests, Justice chief says

by KRISTINE JOY

Philstar.com

PATAG

MANILA — It is not illegal to record an ongoing arrest, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Thursday, February 14, less than a day since a reporter for news site Rappler was told to stop taking a video of the service of a warrant on its CEO in its own office.

The video, which journalist Aika Rey posted on her Twitter account, recorded a man, presumably an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation, telling her not to record the service of a warrant on Rappler CEO Maria Ressa on a case of cyberlibel. She also said the man said “we’ll go after you”, but this was not in the video.

Guevarra said that members of the media are allowed to document the act of serving a warrant but they “should give enough space to our law enforcers so that they could perform their duties without any unnecessary obstruction or interference.”

‘Simple request’ The unidentified man can be heard on the video trying to convince Rey to stop recording, calling it a simple request.

“Come on, be cooperative. your boss is already talking to us, no need for that. I sure you

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the Department of Justice “will not tolerate harassment of journalists who obey our laws.”

Philstar.com photo by Edd Gumban

do understand what I’m telling you, right?” he also says, later telling her that he would talk to others in the Rappler office to stop recording the proceedings.

Asked to explain why she should stop taking the video, the man says: “Because I’m saying so.”

He adds that it would be up to Rey to comply with this “simple request” before saying: “Okay.

We’re gonna do same banana.”

It is unclear what the man meant by that.

The man again refuses to explain and says “I warned you”, which he follows up with: “Your boss is already talking to us, okay? Chill out.”

Guevarra on Thursday said his department “will not tolerate harassment of journalists who obey our laws.”

The NBI is an attached agency of the DOJ. n

VACC defends Acosta from criticisms

by NOVA JOY DELA

ManilaTimes.net

CRUZ

THE Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) defended Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Acosta from criticisms that her statements against Dengvaxia scared parents, prompting them to decide not to have their children immunized against other diseases such as measles.

Acosta had been vocal in lambasting the acquisition of P3.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia vaccines in 2015. The PAO probed the deaths of children allegedly linked to the dengue vaccine.

The Department of Health earlier reported that 90 percent of patients infected with measles in Metro Manila were not vaccinated.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque attributed the decline in vaccination rates to Acosta’s statements.

Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Acosta

But Acosta said the vaccination rate started to drop even before the investigations on Dengvaxia.

In a statement, VACC said the PAO chief was merely doing her job and sole mandate — to provide legal assistance to the poor and marginalized.

“PAO continues to be in the forefront of the issue with the sole intention of uncovering the

ManilaTImes.net photo

truth and only the truth, while in defense of more than 100 innocent children who succumbed to fatal diseases after having been vaccinated with Dengvaxia,” the VACC said.

“Finger pointing by dissenters is only diverting the attention of the public from the true issue as to who are to be blamed for the Dengvaxia fiasco,” it added. n

Heart-shaped box and a stone with “Believe” engraved

Photo by Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz

The power of kindness: Four types...

PAGE A10 t

they claim to have faith in God and even religious. But they inflict the highest levels of cruelty to thousands of human beings.

Recall the current president’s ban on Muslims? Recall how he separated toddlers and children from their families to the thousands?

Recall how he engineered the shutdown, insisting on the building of the southern border wall, causing 800,000 federal workers to have no salaries to pay their bills for 35 days?

Recall how faith-believing slave owners prevented slaves from having their freedoms until the U.S. Civil War? Recall the evils of Adolf Hitler gassing up six million Jews, and how he believed he was the savior of the German race tasked to purify the nation? He was a solid believer in the Catholic faith but he got disillusioned.

Might the pedophiles now in the Catholic Church, who act like priests, be criminals who live with the ‘lies of two minds?’

Might these be the corrupt politicians who pretend to be public servants, but receive emoluments or money benefits to their private checkbooks and waste time in public office without doing any work for the public good?

Are their hearts stone-cold, much like ice crystals on the ground?

What good is this knowledge of knowing these four types?

To me, the first three are sources of inspiration and the fourth, a source of lessons and what not to follow.

We are reflections of the Divine Creator. When we remember that, we self-identify with these first three categories and we practice the power of kindness and adhere to the light.

When we are unaware of ‘the light,’ we are misaligned with our shadows and darkness conquering our divine spirits, creating the ‘lies of two minds,’ with no awareness of sense of weaknesses or impact of our wrongdoings.

When we become conscious of this light at all times, the power of kindness become us.

It is what Enzo Capua described as: “These cultural shifts become unstoppable thanks to their communicative force, and are therefore physical transformations in the broadest sense, moving from one place to another…but today it is generally accepted, even held up as an example of the brotherhood between different countries, where borders are nothing more than lines drawn on a map. They don’t exist in nature. Often they’re the outcome of wars and deals struck under (clearly non-peaceful) pressure.”

We all have choices of being in the dark or the smatterings of lights and risk being kind and generous, to change the proliferation of negative energies.

We just might reverse the proliferation of threats of nuclear wars, but also fill up this world with new energies from those of us who are and who become radical givers, receptors of grace and even hybrids of both.

In connecting with a human being, we validate who we are, another humane person!

Much like what my 4-year-old granddaughter Princess says to me, she looks at the rock where it is written, “BELIEVE,” then reads each letter and altogether she says: “Believe LOVE!” Happy Hearts Day to all! *** Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz, J.D. writes a weekly column for Asian Journal, called “Rhizomes.”

She has been writing for AJ Press for 10 years. She also contributes to Balikbayan Magazine. Her training and experiences are in science, food technology, law and community volunteerism for 4 decades. She holds a B.S. degree from the University of the Philippines, a law degree from Whittier College School of Law in California and a certificate on 21st Century Leadership from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She has been a participant in NVM Writing Workshops taught by Prof. Peter Bacho for 4 years and Prof. Russell Leong.

She has travelled to France, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Costa Rica, Mexico and over 22 national parks in the US, in her pursuit of love for nature and the arts.

A12 February 16-19, 2019 • La WeeKeND aSIaN JOurNaL

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SHOWBIZ&STYLE

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JOURNAL 11-year-old Fil-Am Angelica Hale on overcoming obstacles to become viral singing sensation Young ‘America’s Got Talent: The Champions’ finalist on her continuous ascent in the music industry

the young Filipina-American singer rose to prominence on the 12th season of the wildly “OH, my gosh, it’s all just so popular “America’s Got Talexciting!” ent,” where she wowed the In a recent interview, 11- judges and millions of viewers year-old Angelica Hale repeats with a rendition of “Rise Up” variations of this sentence and it by Andra Day that showed off is the hallmark of who she is as the young girl’s impressive a young singer/songwriter and vocal range and stamina. inspirational viral sensation.

She made it through to the In case you stayed off the in- 12th season finale and came ternet for the last year and a half, in second place, but that by

KLARIZE MEDENILLA AJPress

didn’t stymie any chances of success for the young, energetic Atlanta native.

After roughly two years of performing for charity events, professional sports games, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and other important events post-AGT season 12, she became a contestant on “America’s Got Talent: The Champions,” where she became the first-ever con-

testant to be awarded two golden buzzers, a judge or host-awarded honor that allows the recipient to bypass the possibility of elimination and takes them immediately to the finale.

“Oh, my goodness, my mind just went blank in that moment!” Hale told the Asian Journal in a phone interview on Thursday, Feb. 14. “I just

‘DOMs? Honestly, I just ignore them!’

by RICKY LO Philstar.com

THERE’S something about Yen Santos who projects a certain vulnerable sexiness even if she has clothes on. Could it be that cool allure that she exudes in the Regal movie “Northern Lights” (partly filmed with the Aurora Borealis in New Zealand as backdrop, with no less than her favorite actor Piolo Pascual as leading man), or in the Kapamilya soap “All of Me” (with JM de Guzman) or the current top-rater “Halik” (with Jericho Rosales, Sam Milby and Yam Concepcion)?

With the hit Aegis song Halik as musical background, the searing drama co-directed by Carlo Po Artillaga and Cathy O. Camarillo has been keeping viewers awake and making men’s dreams wetter and wilder night after night. That’s why this “Sexy Talk” with Yen is in answer to men readers’ request for them to find out more about Yen who plays Jericho’s wife in a complicated life entangled with that of another couple (Sam and Yam). Oh well, you know what’s happening to them, don’t you?

Yen Santos

Describe your role in “Halik” and kung paano ka nakaka-relate sa kanya.

“My role in ‘Halik’ started off as an aggrieved wife who is being cheated upon and who’s just

Philstar.com photo by Xander Angeles

silently dealing with her pain.

Jacky still continues to evolve as she discovers things about herself, her inner strength and while she’s trying to figure out how to PAGE B2

PAGE B2

Eleven-year old Filipina-American singing sensation Angelica Hale will compete in the finale of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” on Monday, Feb 18.

Photo courtesy of NBC Universal

B FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

EntErtainmEnt

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More challenges for Megan

by LHAR

SANTIAGO ManilaTimes.net

ACTRESS and international beauty queen Megan Young had no doubts she wanted to renew her contract with GMA Network this week especially since it is where her heart and her sweetheart belong.

Very happy with how the network has nurtured her career, the former Miss World winner told The Times, “This is where I started and I feel so at home here. I’m happy with the projects they give me and I really enjoyed Rebel Wilson (middle) stars as Natalie, alongside Adam Devine (left) as her earnest best friend, Josh, and Priyanka Chopra (right) as yoga doing our soap ‘The Stepdaughambassador Isabella.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures ters’ which lasted for almost a year. I want to do another soap of that type because I want to be challenged and I want to improve more in my craft,” she shared.

In “The Stepdaughters”, Megan had real-life boyfriend Mikael Daez as her leading man and she won’t lie it was a big factor in her excitement.

“Masaya we got to work together.

He’d pick me up at home During presenby CHRISTINA M. ORIEL and we’d go to the set together tations Natalie is AJPress tapos may baon pa kaming mistaken as an asfood! But of course, I’m very LOOKING for a movie to watch sistant who delivers open to work with other leadwith your significant other, group coffee and has a ing men now that I’ve renewed of friends, or even alone this hard-time attractmy contract. I also realized pag ing the attention of Valentine’s weekend? boyfriend pala ang katrabaho ko, Romantic comedy “Isn’t It the opposite sex… parang nahihiya ako na hindi ko Romantic,” which hit theaters on or so she thinks, as maintindihan kasi kilala niya ko.

Valentine’s Day, is sure to con- she subconsciously Pag ibang leading man, hindi jure some (or a lot of) laughs as keeps “work husako nahihiya because he doesn’t it satirizes all the tropes found in band” and notknow anything about me,” she so-secret admirer rom-com favorites. laughed.

Film stars Priyanka Chopra Josh (Devine) in the (who plays Isabella) and Adam friend zone. Of his Devine (who plays Josh) spoke character, Devine with the Asian Journal ahead of said he got into the release about why this rom- playing a thoughtcon is heartwarming and a breath ful, ‘sweetheart,’ PAGE B1 of fresh air amidst the negativity. which contrasts looked up to see all the golden “It’s one of those feel-good his usual R-rated, confetti falling around me and it movies and I think the world edgier projects. was absolutely mind-blowing!”

However, like needs that right now. There’s so She added, “I was just fomuch that we see and a lot that a n y r o m - c o m cused on my performance and I happens in this world that does arch, this world wasn’t thinking about the golden bring you down,” Chopra told the quickly changes, buzzer at all, and I told myself Asian Journal. “This is an uplifting all because of a that even if I just made it to movie and you don’t have to over- subway mugging the finale, that would be crazy that leaves Nata- Romantic comedy “Isn’t It Romantic” starring Rebel Wilson, Liam think it — it’s just super fun.” awesome.

But I didn’t even Hemsworth, Adam Devine and Priyanka Chopra was released on The movie centers around Nat- lie unconscious in think about getting the golden February 14. alie (Rebel Wilson of the “Pitch the hospital. Upon buzzer, so it was just so mindPerfect” films), a career-driven waking up, she is greeted by a her unbrushed dog becomes prim blowing.”

New York architect who grew up handsome doctor and walks out and groomed, and formerly antiThough the market for jawwatching romantic comedies but clad in a chic outfit into a tidy, social neighbor Donny (Brandon dropping child singers who is now cynical about love — even flower-scented New York City.

Scott Jones) is her gay sidekick go viral is booming right now, She becomes the leading lady whose life revolves around hers. mocking her assistant Whitney Hale is a child prodigy of her (Betty Gilipin) for watching rom- of her own rom-com where men When Natalie gets to her office, own class. coms at her desk and listing out smile and approach her on the Whitney is no longer her assistant She isn’t just a young girl all the ways those films get real- street, her shoebox apartment but her work nemesis. Wealthy who can sing really well. She’s a life wrong (i.e. the lead is quirky is now a glamorous bachelorette client Blake (Liam Hemsworth) is warrior and a beacon of inspirapad 1:35 withPM a gorgeous and clumsy and2019__Layout all women 1are AJ Ads 129 Feb 2/14/19 Page 1 view of the a romantic interest — never mind tion at a time when many of us Hudson River and a walk-in closet, enemies in the work place).

PAGE B3 are hanging onto optimism by a

“Isn’t It Romantic” stars Priyanka Chopra, Adam Devine talk about new rom-com satire

Megan Young Photo from Instagram/@meganbata

Asked what she’d love to be given next, Megan quickly replied, “I want to do a rom-com.

Hindi pa ko nakaka-rom-com.

Mahilig kasi ako manood ng koreanovela and I find Korean romcoms very entertaining so I really want to do shows like that.”

Secondly, she’d like to hone her hosting skills because she really enjoys commentating and Q&As. “I hosted the last season of ‘Starstruck’ with Dingdong Dantes, and I really had fun doing it. I hope they will consider me again for the new season because I love to interact with people. Ang hilig ko pa namang magsalita because I’m naturally talkative.”Moreover, hosting Starstruck brings back a lot of memories for Megan who auditioned for the very artista search in Pampanga in 2004.

“Sumingit lang ako no’n. I was only 14 and had no experience whatsoever in acting or performing. Bahay-school-bahay lang ang alam kong buhay.”

With no social media back then, Megan had no other way to check on requirements and schedules except to be glued to the TV. “Inaabangan lang namin ang announcements. Tapos we’d ask the help of friends kasi makikifax ka ng birth certificate and other requirements. It’s a lot easier and more convenient now for the aspiring ‘Starstruck’ contestants with the Internet.”

As host of the show on the other hand, Megan reveals she feels just as nervous as the contestants since she had been through the experience before.

“Whenever it’s elimination day, kinakabahan talaga ako because I know the feeling na baka ka matanggal. And then as hosts, we have to be the ones to announce the end of someone’s Starstruck journey so that’s an added emotional moment pa rin.”

For now, as Megan waits for her next assignment, she and Mikael will take a couple of trips here and abroad as they are known to do.

“Travelling is really what we enjoy doing together. It’s a way of enriching our knowledge on so many things and to experience those as a couple has made our relationship stronger.”

11-year-old Fil-Am Angelica Hale...

thin, thin thread.

At the age of four, Hale suffered from septic shock caused by a severe case of double pneumonia. This caused organ failure, including in her kidneys and respiratory system, and placed her in a medically-induced coma and, eventually, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) life-support for 12 days.

“It was extremely, extremely hard for me but once it was all over with, it made me stronger than I ever was before, and it made me a real fighter because when I was in the hospital I never knew if I was going to make it or not,” Hale shared.

“The chances [of surviving] were extremely low in the beginning, and I was so, so scared and I didn’t know if I was going to survive and pursue my dreams of being a singer.”

She then spent 80 days in the hospital and a year and a half on dialysis before receiving a life-saving kidney transplant at the age of 6 from her Filipina mother, Eva Hale.

Shortly after, Angelica Hale and her family wasted no time in making the young girl’s dreams a reality, signing her up for singing lessons and performing in kids competitions as well as charity functions for children’s

age gracefully

‘Beauty’ Foods Help You Look Younger

BY GRACE O

dermabrasion, or an acid peel. Citrus fruits, berries, melons, and peppers are all good sources. A spicy salsa with hot peppers and lime juice can be a real skin saver.

Vitamin E strengthens skin and hair, whether taken internally or used topically.

Add vitamin E to your diet by snacking on nuts and seeds or even sea buckthorn berries. Whole grains and vegetable oils also contain good amounts of vitamin E. Copper forms collagen to promote strong and youthful-looking skin. Buckwheat, beans, nuts, eggs, dark green leafy vegetables, red meat, poultry, and liver all contain copper.

Silica improves the structure of collagen, elastin, and connective tissues in general.

Believe it or not, beer is a good source of this mineral. Coffee and water also contain silica. Unrefined whole grains, seeds, cucumbers, onions and alfalfa sprouts do, too.

SOD fights free-radical damage in your skin cells. We all need that, no matter how old we are. Melons, such as honeydew and cantaloupe, are great sources of SOD, along with barley grass and wheatgrass. The next time you’re in a juice bar, ask for a glass of melon juice with a wheatgrass shooter. You can also eat Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, corn, and soy.

I hope this guide helps you eat your way to beautiful, younger-looking skin!

I’ve gotten to do, that singing is my passion and I shouldn’t be afraid of it, and if it’s what I love, I’ll sing my heart out and I shouldn’t be afraid of showing the world my light,” she explained.

Because of her incredibly vast vocal range, Hale reaches for songs which allow her to express her passion widely with dazzling skill and projection.

Her No. 1 inspiration is, unsurprisingly, Whitney Houston and her favorite song to sing is still “Rise Up” which she says “still touches me to this day.”

The “AGT: Champions” finale airs on NBC on Monday, Feb. 18, and no matter what the outcome is, Hale is likely to remain a mainstay in music.

She still lends her talents by performing at different venues, but she’s also establishing a recording career: in December, she released a Christmas album called “Christmas Wonder” and later this year, she has a debut album which comprises of covers as well as original songs written by Hale herself.

To anyone with ears, it’s clear that Hale is an outstanding, skillful performer, but that’s only half of what makes her a star.

“One day I want to get up on so many more stages and inspire so many more people, and that’s really what drives me because people like Whitney Houston have inspired me so greatly,” she said. “I want to encourage people to never ever give up because once you give up, you can’t really go back. You have to keep pursuing and fighting, and that’s what I did in the hospital and yet I’m here today, so I know that anything is possible.”

On social media as well as this interview, she radiates a deep positivity that’s less cliché personality curation and more a deep reflection of the real Angelica Hale.

“When I was first on the show, I said that I wanted to be the next Whitney Houston. But now, today, I just want to be the first Angelica Hale!” Hale confidently declared.

‘DOMs? Honestly, I just ignore...

© 2015–2019 by FoodTrients.com

What foods can you eat to help you look younger and promote healthy smooth skin, strong nails, and shiny hair? Fruits, vegetables, melons, peppers, grains, nuts, mushrooms, and fish containing the FoodTrients anthocyanins, carotenoids, omega-3 fatty acids, selenium, and vitamins C and E, as well as copper, silica, and Superoxide Dismutase (SOD).

Anthocyanins improve capillary function.

Your capillaries bring blood to your skin and are therefore very important for optimum skin health. You can get anthocyanins in your diet by eating red, blue, and purple fruits and vegetables.

Berries are an excellent source. Plums, pomegranates, and grapes are, too.

Vegetable sources include eggplant, blue corn, blue potatoes, and tomatoes.

Carotenoids convert to vitamin A inside our bodies. Vitamin A boosts the production of collagen, which strengthens skin and hair.

Orange and yellow fruits and veggies are rich sources. I love mangos, papayas, jackfruit, and sweet potatoes. My Sweet Potato and Jackfruit Delight and Mango Tapioca desserts (on FoodTrients.com ) help build collagen and keep your skin young. Kale, spinach, and moringa leaves are also good sources of carotenoids.

Omega-3 fatty acids are the best possible way to give skin the fat it needs to stay hydrated and elastic, and therefore wrinkle-free. Oily fish such as salmon and sardines from the ocean contain plenty of this good fat. Whole grains also provide omega-3s, as do seeds and nuts—especially flaxseeds and walnuts.

Selenium helps skin stay elastic, allowing it to bounce back from all those facial expressions we use every day. Mushrooms and Brazil nuts are a great source of this mineral.

Vitamin C aids tissue regeneration, which is especially helpful after a facial,

hospitals in the Atlanta area.

“I overcame that challenge and I’m here today pursuing my dream,” Hale said. “I think that’s what made me a real fighter, and I keep telling myself whenever I feel down, ‘Well, you’ve gone through so many things in the past and this compared to that is nothing so you can do it. You can overcome anything.’ Being in the hospital changed me in a lot of ways, good and bad.”

In 2016, she auditioned for AGT, but didn’t make it through but was invited to audition a second time for the 12th season in 2017. That was when her performance of “Rise Up” in the auditions rounds broke the Internet and established Angelica Hale as a rising star.

“When I first auditioned for AGT, I was extremely, extremely, extremely nervous!” Hale recalled with a laugh. “But I was extremely excited at the same time. I remember my heart was racing and as I was listening to the buzzers, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh!’ I was so afraid of getting one of those x’s from the judges.

But I remember very clearly telling myself, ‘OK, it’s now or never!’”

But once she got on the stage and began singing she grew more and more comfortable.

As she reaches the chorus of the song, the cheers from the audience grew and in the end, all four judges gave a standing ovation, which brought the then9-year-old to tears.

“When you’re on a show like that, you have these really low expectations because it’s sort of like, you never know what’s going to happen. But it’s exciting and thrilling, and as I got through the rounds, I actually got less and less nervous,” she said.

But through all the success and the stardom and a growing fanbase, Hale maintains a humility about herself and understands the concept there isn’t a finite amount of improvement you can achieve.

“But I realized then and through all the amazing things

GRACE O is the creator of FoodTrients®, a unique program for optimizing wellness and longevity. She is the author of two award-winning cookbooks — The Age Gracefully Cookbook and The Age Beautifully Cookbook, which recently won Gourmand’s ‘Best in the World’ Award for Innovation. She is a fusion chef with a mission to deliver delicious recipes built on a foundation of anti-aging science and her 20 years in the healthcare industry.

Visit FoodTrients.com to learn more. Email us at info@FoodTrients.com

PAGE B1 handle the situation.

“I’ve seen similar situations with people I know, friends, distant relatives, I have observed how they coped with and handled the pain and struggle. I eventually turn what I’ve learned from them as a motivation and then try to translate their emotions and actions once the camera starts rolling.”

You are an effective actress.

From where do you draw your performance?

“As an actress, every role that I take on, I see it as a challenge. I do some research and figure out how I can know more about the role if there are pieces that I can learn from real life and apply in the role.

There might be some pieces that would come from different people or situations and I try to put them together to whatever is applicable for the role.

“For situations that I have experienced before, I think about the thoughts and feelings I had at that time and figure out if I can apply them for the role. I also talk to other people, especially those who have been through similar

situations. I also reach out to others in the industry to find who can mentor and coach me to become a better actress.”

How many times have you fallen in and out of love?

“Enough times to learn that love is not really ‘love’ especially when I was younger. For me, those early love were merely stages for someone to understand what real love is and hopefully, to find someone they can truly love and love them in return.”

How do you deal with DOMs or persistent suitors?

“I think when you join showbiz, you have to be ready for all kinds of attention that you might get. I focus on my work, family and friends a lot which is why it’s somehow easier to just ignore somebody who’s trying to get your attention for the wrong reasons. DOMS? Honestly, I just ignore them.”

What did you take up in school?

“I did not finish school as I entered showbiz in my teens.”

How did you get into showbiz?

“I auditioned for PBB Teen

Clash 2010 in Tarlac and Baguio and luckily, I was selected. That led to opportunities and opened doors for me in showbiz.”

What is sexy to you?

“Sexy is being confident about who you are as a person.”

When do you feel sexy?

“I wish I could say every day, but when I’m happy and contented, that’s when I feel sexy.”

What part of your body do you think is sexiest?

“The mind. For me, it all begins in the mind. What I think of, what I do and from there, it makes everything fall into place.”

What part of a man’s body do you find sexiest?

“The eyes, how they draw you in and how they could invite you to know more about the person.”

Sexiest movie?

“Closer.”

Sexiest scene that you have done?

“Making love in the shower.”

Sexiest thing that you have done with somebody?

“Massage while blindfolded.”

Sexiest book? “#Girlboss.”

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Boots Anson Roa-Rodrigo and husband lawyer King Rodrigo during their pre-nup pictorial five years ago and (right photo) during Boots’ recent post-birthday lunch with friend journalists at Club Filipino.

Photos courtesy of Boots Anson-Roa Rodrigo

CAREGIVER PETITION ALLOWS ISAAC TO BE REUNITED WITH HIS CHILDREN IN THE U.S. AS GREEN CARD HOLDERS. Driven by the desire to improve his life for his children’s sake, Isaac (left) jumped ship when his ship docked at Los Angeles in 2007. Fortunately, he found an employer who was willing to petition him as a caregiver. The employer’s petition was approved, but Isaac still had to wait several more years before his priority date was current and he was eligible for a green card. All that time, Isaac could not return to the Philippines due to his immigration status. But he still made that sacrifice, knowing it was the right way to do. For him, it was better to wait, if everything was done properly and legally. Isaac knew he was in capable hands under the Law Offices of Michael J. Gurfinkel, who helped obtain green cards for Isaac and his two young sons. Watch this happy family reunion on an encore episode of “Citizen Pinoy” – on Sunday at 6:15 p.m. (PST) on TFC. (Advertising Supplement)

Arjo Atayde and Maine Mendoza: Love under scrutiny

BY MONET

LU

LOVE in a time of social media bashing is one of the most challenging obstacles that celebritylovers face.

It’s one thing to be caught in a ‘bad romance’ and get disapproval by netizens but another to have a whole community of fans fighting over whether or not their love should go on just because they are in favor of another person.

But alas, such is the story of actors Arjo Atayde and Maine Mendoza aka “Yaya Dub.” Last January, after months of speculations, Juan Carlos Ocampo Atayde (better known as Arjo Atayde) confirmed that he was in a relationship with Maine Mendoza.

He is the son of actress Sylvia Sanchez and businessman Art Atayde. He is most recently known for portraying the antagonist Joaquin Tuazon, on the ABS-CBN primetime series, “Ang Probinsyano.” He is a very good actor, in my opinion, and I admire his bravery and honesty in admitting his relationship to Maine Mendoza who is half of the love team, “ALDub.” But more on that later.

As I’ve said, it is quite a predicament for this young actor to be under the scrutiny of people who don’t have better things to do but bash him on social media.

He actually responded to it in an interview saying, “To insult me is fine and I can take it. I’m a very passive person… I don’t know how to get mad, I don’t know how to disrespect people. I despise disrespectful people. So if they disrespect me, it’s fine. But for my family to get affected, for Maine to be disrespected, like anything, that’s not okay with me.”

Some people think that Arjo is only using Maine for popularity’s sake. While others are not happy with him getting between Maine and her onscreen partner, Alden Richards (who, by the way, has actually expressed his support to his onscreen partner’s new flame).

Fortunately, there are those who are just as happy that their idol has found her prince charming and that all is fair game. I have to say that I am part of the latter

Yam Concepcion

community who wants to give this couple a chance. I think everybody is entitled to her own path to happiness and love story. And if Arjo and Maine really love each other, who are we to stand between them, right?

I know it is not easy for the fans to accept that onscreen love teams are (more often than not) not real lovers in real life. While some have actually turned from “reel to real,” that is not always the case. Maine has made her choice and we have to honor that.

I hope people can move on and be happy that AlDub (Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza) are both happy with their respective places in show business and should be free to love whoever makes them happy.

The name “AlDub” was conceived as a portmanteau of the tandem’s name, Alden and Yaya Dub. Maine Mendoza — who had initially gained popularity for posting Dubsmash videos on various social media platforms — auditioned for the “Yaya” role where her character exclusively interacted with Alden’s character through the show’s split screen frame and main communication through lip-synching audio clips from popular songs, films and TV series, hence the term, “dub.” Both joined the cast of “Eat Bulaga” in 2015, with Alden Richards appearing as a host of various segments, such as “That’s My Bae” portion, while Mendoza originally appeared as Yaya Dub on the show’s portion “Problem Solving.” After they personally met in September 2015, Yaya Dub was later allowed to speak and the couple’s interaction was no longer limited to split screen and lip-synching.

“Isn’t It Romantic”...

PAGE B2 that he completely ignored her in a meeting the day before pre-concussion. Josh has his eyes set on someone else, a charming model and yoga ambassador named Isabella (Chopra) whom he saves from a choking attack in Central Park. (We first encounter Chopra on a giant billboard outside Natalie’s office window).

“There’s no such thing as a yoga ambassador — yoga cannot have an ambassador and doesn’t need one,” explains Chopra with a laugh during our interview. “She is the daughter of rich parents, spoiled, sort of living life in her terms and has never been said ‘no’ to. She gets insecure and falls in love, but is still really a nice girl.”

As Natalie navigates this fuzzy rom-com world that feeds into the stereotypes of everything that women supposedly want, things, of course, start to get complicated.

She realizes that Blake, despite his wealth and attractiveness, is not the one for her and must stop Josh’s impending and rushed marriage to Isabella because she’s the one who he should be with.

“I thought about how to make [Isabella] an asset in the plot and leaning into that instead of it being a cat fight with Natalie,”

Chopra said. “It’s about the emotional feeling when two girls have feelings for the same guy.”

Like all rom-com classics, there is the moment of clarity and realization that the person you should be loving is yourself.

“When you’re single, you don’t want to go out, meet anyone, and feel depressed... our validation depends on someone else when the most important relationship you need to have is with yourself,” Chopra added. “I know that’s easier said than done. But as soon as you recognize that you’re not opening yourself up to the world, love doesn’t happen — you just have to open your heart to the world and the rest comes, at least that’s in my experience.”

Without giving away too many spoilers, along the way, a fun karaoke scene set to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” shows off the cast’s singing chops as well.

“Rebel and I really clicked right back into our ‘Pitch Perfect’ days.

Priyanka has done like 50 Bollywood movies and that’s what they do in Bollywood movies, breaking out into song and dance. She was such a pro at that so it was really a fun day... or actually two days on set,” Devine said.

There’s another musical treat

Photo courtesy of ABS-CBN

AlDub’s popularity took the nation by storm. Not too long after, they starred in their first fulllength movie entitled “My Bebe Love,” which was entered into the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival.

In 2016, three days before the anniversary of AlDub, “Imagine You and Me” was shown in cinemas worldwide as an anniversary gift to the fans of AlDub. In the film, Richards and Mendoza played as star-crossed lovers with the opposite views of love. On October 21, 2017, the love team starred in Eat Bulaga!’s “film made for television” titled “Love is...” directed

by Adolf Alix, Jr. AlDubs’ rise to stardom is truly epic. For me, it’s the modern-day Guy and Pip love team.

Come to think of it; in real life, Guy (Nora Aunor), despite the world’s disapproval, later made a choice to marry her co-star Christopher de Leon – this broke the hearts of thousands of fans. I think Maine deserves to choose her “Christopher de Leon.” As the millennials say, “YOLO” (you only live once).

And this love between Arjo and Maine – if it’s real and pure – would stand scrutiny and prevail. I think we owe it to these lovebirds to try and give it a shot.

Just saying. *** Monet Lu is a Marikina-born, award-winning celebrity beauty stylist with his own chain of Monet Salon salons across Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. Ultimately, Monet is known as an all-around artiste who produces sold-out fashion and awards shows as well as unforgettable marketing campaigns. Monet is also the founder of the revolutionary allnatural beauty products such as Enlighten, your solution to discoloration . To contact Monet, please visit www.monetsalon.com or email him at monetsalon@aol.com

to end the movie that you’ll just have to see for yourself.

“Doing a big dance number in the middle of New York City with the cast and back-up dancers was very reminiscent of what I do in my Indian movies and it was just so much fun. I was completely at home,” shared Chopra, who still maintains her career in India and is set to release another Bollywood film later this year.

Devine added that “people are going to leave singing and dancing out of the theater.” *** “Isn’t It Romantic,” presented

by New Line Cinema in association with Bron Creative, a Broken Road/Little Engine Production, is rated PG-13 and runs for 1 hour 28 minutes.

Todd Strauss-Schulson (“A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas,” “The Final Girls”) directs from a screenplay by Erin Cardillo and Dana Fox & Katie Silberman.

Todd Garner (“Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” “Tag”), Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo (“13 Going on 30,” “What Women Want”) are producing, with Marty Ewing (“IT,” “The Accountant”) and Rebel Wilson executive producing.

Released in the U.S. on Feb. 14, it is distributed worldwide

by Warner Bros. Pictures and streamed on Netflix on Feb. 28 in all territories outside of the U.S. and Canada.

How Boots & King keep the flame of love burning

by RICKY LO Philstar.com

WHEN Boots Anson Roa-Rodrigo turned 74 last Jan. 30, she and her husband, lawyer King Rodrigo, celebrated by dancing cheek-to-cheek to Spanish music while having a candle-lit dinner of garlic tuyo, sardines and scrambled eggs downed by vintage brandy. It was the couple’s way of keeping the flame of love burning in their five-year marriage, proving that love is indeed more comfortable the second time you fall.

“We were at our weekend house in Tagaytay and there was a Chinese Dragon Festival at the Clubhouse as an advance welcome for the Year of the Pig (that started Feb. 5),” Boots told their friend journalists at the Club Filipino where she and King hosted a post-birthday lunch, with King’s sister Pempe and Boots’ sister Vicky present.

“We were in no mood to join the festival so we decided to spend a quiet evening at home.”

Oh, so romantic, wasn’t it?

They planned to have a bigger party on June 14 to celebrate two events: King’s 80th birthday and their fifth wedding anniversary.

“We call it our 60th ‘monthsary,’ as the millennials would call it,” said King.

But wait, what was Boots’ birthday wish (that is, if she hasn’t gotten tired of making such wishes for the past 73 years)?

“Nothing really,” admitted Boots. “I have so much to be thankful for, so maybe just a prayer that I deserve all the blessings I am getting,” adding with a laugh, “I’m thinking of

memorizing Kuh Ledesma’s song Paano Kita Mapasasalamatan and sing it to King.”

Sense of humor is one of the things that enliven and cement this union of two seniors coming from long and happy marriages that ended when their espouses passed on. Boots and King are fun to be with because they can actually laugh at themselves and at their own jokes. They are funny in their recollection of their wedding night.

“We were under the delusion that we could still have a baby,” narrated King. “We told friends that we would name our son John but somebody suggested that we should name it John-John so that at the crucial moment when I would ask, ‘Saan-saan?’ she would say, ‘John, John!’ When I started to hug her (niyapos ko), she suddenly screamed, ‘Aray!’

So I said, ‘Wala pa, not yet!’

She started laughing and said, “Naumpog ako. I hit my head against the headboard.’”

Added King, a humorist like his lawyer-brother Boogie, “There are many ways of making love,” demonstrating one of them by having his palm touch that of Boots’ and together shouting (gently now), “Appear!!! Every time we kid each other, ‘Tonight is the tonight!,’ we do that ‘Appear!’ act. Making love na sa amin ‘yon.”

Just for fun, Boots once joined her friends do the Santa Clara dance in Obando, Bulacan, even if, as she confessed (needless to say), “The factory is closed but the playground is open,” and then she laughed and laughed.

The truth is that, as you probably know, the thing between Boots and King is companion-

ship and, of course not, ehem, procreation.

But, added Boots posthaste, they do enjoy doing things together, such as reading in bed together before turning in (the Bible for King and something light for Boots) and, brace yourselves, showering together.

“We tried bubble-bathing together twice,” shared King, “once in Bangkok and then in Hong Kong. The bathtub was quite small for us, so we ended up sliding over each other trying to find the right position and then having a hard time getting up. The whole bathtub was so slippery.”

It helps that they are both busy, King with “lawyering” and Boots with TV/movie assignments.

“Otherwise,” said King, “if you retire, what would you do, just look at each other, mag-titinginan na lang kayo? With us, ang dami naming napag-kukuwentuhan so there’s never any dull moment between us.”

So happy are they together that they are bent on celebrating their silver wedding anniversary, no kidding!

“You are all invited,” said Boots, then she and King started laughing together.

Before we bade them goodbye, we playfully asked the couple to kiss and they obliged not once, not twice but thrice.

(Postscript: To celebrate her 75th birthday, Boots will publish her autobiography titled Boots On. She promised that it would be a tell-all book, so we suggested a subtitle, What you don’t but should know about the virginal Boots. Something to look forward to, isn’t it?)

B4 FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

Health@Heart PHILIP S. CHUA, MD, FACS, FPCS APPETITE suppressants, weight loss products, herbal aids for dieters, food supplements for weight watchers, are all potential harmful substances, with side-effects in the long run.

Since overweight and obesity are generally in most cases due

http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797

Valuable tips

to more calories getting in and less calories getting out, reducing food intake and expending excess calories through physical exercises are the safest, most inexpensive, and most beneficial strategy to manage the waistline and general health. *** Individuals taking Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI) pills for gastro-esophageal reflux (GERD), like Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid, etc., reduce stomach absorp-

MOONLIGHTING

tion of Folic acid and Vitamin B 12. In view of this, physicians prescribing PPI medications also add Folic acid and B 12 in the treatment regimen. Another sample of remedial therapy is co-prescribing CoQ10 for those on cholesterol-lowering drugs, statins, because statins also act to lower the body’s natural CoQ10 as a side-effect. The other is adding a beta blocker (like Bystolic) to protect the kidneys for those taking Metformin for diabetes. *** Current trend in medicine when it comes to diet is extreme reduction in carbohydrate intake, like rice, bread, desserts, and sweets (candy, ice cream, etc.), and total abstinence from any and all forms of soft drinks, because they increased the risk for the development of Metabolic Syndrome, among both adults, and especially children. Protein, more on wild caught (not farmed) fish, like salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines, shrimp, crab, lobster, scallop, and oysters (preferably cooked), chicken, lean red meat, oat meal, grains, nuts (almond, walnuts), avocados, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, asparagus, various spices, and moderation in fruits (organic berries). *** Abstinence from or severe restriction in rice (white or brown) and in bread and potatoes (regular or sweet) consumption effectively lead to dramatic weight loss, waistline reduction, and lowering of serum triglyceride and cholesterol levels. This strategy and caloric control have been noted among those who are normal weight individuals, but especially more strikingly among overweight and obese persons. Rice (white or brown) has a high glycemic index that almost instantly leads to spike in blood glucose after ingestion, is a major culprit in the high incidence of T2 diabetes, besides cardiovascular diseases, in the Philippines and in other highcarbs eating nations. Indeed, LOW-CARBS-high protein diet is in, like the Ketone diet. *** Owning a pet, especially a dog, reduces the risk for depression, more impressively among women in pre and post menopausal stage of their life. This beneficial psychological effect is also generally found among men. Having a pet also provides joy, security, PAGE B5

by MYLAH DE

LEON

PERHAPS the heart is not just something in our chest that sustains life. It is also the wellspring of faith, hope and love. All the musings in the human heart — meanings, metaphors, even humor — jumpstart the imagination about its significance as the most popular symbol.

Would a heart-filled life mean the heart is in the right place? Year after year of Valentine’s Day coma, we are plunged into a heartscape on matters of the heart, and references to heartache, heartbreak, heartlessness, heart of darkness, change of heart that makes something in our breasts lurch or recoil.

On Valentine’s Day, we pay tribute to love’s ability to endure beyond years, beyond difficulty, beyond distance — even beyond death.

Love is the most precious gift to us, because it opens the heart, uplifts the mind and inspires the spirit.

It is the sweet companion in our heart’s journey through life’s complexity. However, what defines our intimate relationships? What signs should we look for to discover how love reveals itself? With what insights or eloquence?

A poet once asked: What ways has the heart changed since King Solomon courted new wives with his love songs? Since Vatsayana collected together in his Kama Sutra some ancient Hindu recipe for good loving? Since a cleric at Eleanor of Aquaitaine’s court penned “The Rules of Courtly Love?”

By what level, what language, would one use to describe a romance that breaks all the rules and goes pretty far – exhausting the categories of the forbidden?

A catastrophe in the landscape of the heart was written on a masterpiece (a piercing irony)

Post-Valentine combustion by the Nobel laureate and Mexican poet Octavio Paz in “The Labyrinth of Solitude” — “To realize itself, love must violate the rules of our world.”

The greatest love is not bound by rules Why do some people experience enduring love (which lasts a lifetime), while others are only destined to love for a short time? Why are there those who separate either by choice or by fate?

Love is the blossom and fragrance of all human feelings, thoughts, passion and longing which inspires patience of the heart and strength of the mind, and never leaves without transforming us at the very depths of our being.

In 1936, as the world was pre-

according to Kahlil Gibson.

To be under the spell of love, I’ve learned through the years, is to be ruled by the possibilities of the unknown.

The Valentine man was the best part of the day. You start looking redundant with life, health and energy. For better or worse, love is bewitching, tenacious and can flourish in its absolute rhapsody. Indivisible, without duration, infinite in its attributes, as it broadens the heart to grow, it is warm with ecstasy that can thrive in primitive longings and sudden fugitive convulsions of lust, even without huge caresses that unmistakable accompany romance.

The Valentine man made my earrings dance. It is not the relationship that has been declared to others, or perhaps even said loudly. It is not symbolized by a diamond or even by a simple bond of gold. It is not defined by time or even the space while we are apart, or when we are together.

Rather, it is a mutual affection, reaffirmed each time we reach out to one another in pure bliss, each time we tell the truth, each time one of us is there to support or comfort each other, each time we share a newly uncovered insight or emotion.

It is a spiritual union continually revealed in each new level of trust, in each new layer of vulnerability…in each new depth of love. It is a commitment, as each day we each rediscover who we are and how much love our love is capable of giving.

It is unconditional giving and true marriage of spirit, whose ceremony of union is found in each and every moment we love one another, whose anniversary is found in each and everyday in which love grows. If you are looking for something permanent, what is? If you need 100 percent pure love, you need not mix that with marriage.

I am a modern woman. Never mind the wedding! ***

“It is a commitment, as each day we each rediscover who we are and how much love our love is capable of giving.”

paring to blow itself apart, King Edward VIII and Wally Simpson enacted their own drama of self absorbed abdication. It was a basic story that today changed little — only the details, the personalities, the stakes they pay for, and as we now see, the ages and death of the lovers.

Hemingway said, “Right decisions are the right decisions wrongly made (of the Bergman and Rosellini scandalous love affair).”

Today, every time Valentine’s Day comes you wonder if two people and the rules of convention between them can sum up the energy that being in love requires. To be under the spell of love is to be ruled by the possibility of the unknown. Its vistas are inexhaustible, linked by pleasure shared — you can’t put words into these feelings.

In spite of the absence of the vow lovers have, a tale that tip toed on the profound bond that can extract from their hearts the elements of compassion, patience, regrets, surprise, forgiveness, surprise — from a E-mail Mylah at moonlightingmdl@aol. chemistry of an atom called love com

Radiofrequency (RF) treatment: V-shaped face without the blade Image Spa IMEE ONG-MAGHANOY HAVING a V-shaped visage or oval face — as what most Filipino, Korean and Japanese celebrities have — accentuates a person’s facial features and gives a sculpted youthful appearance. This much-coveted face shape is considered one the most sought-after looks, especially among Asians.

There are a number of ways to achieve a V-line or V-shape.

Some can be as natural as using face massagers or wearing face-lift masks; while others use fillers like Botox. Others involve surgical restructuring, such as V-line surgery and chin augmentation.

In this column, I will uncover one of the ways you can achieve a V-shaped face without the ‘blade,’ otherwise known as Radio Frequency or RF Treatment. I know it seems like a hi-tech sounding buzzword so I will try to break it down into simpler terms.

First off, let me define a Radiofrequency (RF) treatment is: an aesthetic technique that uses RF energy to heat tissue and stimulate collagen production in order to reduce the appearance of fine lines and loose skin.

It tightens sagging skin along the jawline and reduces double chin and fat over the lower cheeks and jawline. This gives definition to the lower face and produces an oval shape.

Basically, RF treatment is all about stimulating our own collagen. Collagen, which gives our skin its strength and elasticity, diminishes because of aging and exposure to factors such as smoking and UV light. What makes RF a great option is that it helps boost oxygen levels in the skin. This results in a more contoured face and delays aging signs, and in effect, prevents one from getting surgery prematurely. In a nutshell, the longer you delay aging signs, the better your skin looks and the less your need is for “a nip and a tuck.”

Furthermore, radiofrequency helps in the removal of the fat and tightening the skin.

Heating the deep layers of the

Celebrity host, Giselle “G” Tongi, receives RF treatments from Image Body Spa.

face through the use of radio waves makes the skin firmer and smoother, and ultimately helps in eliminating jowls and tighten the jawline. As a result, a sculpted V-shape face is achieved.

This procedure is very famous among celebrities who prefer non-surgical and noninvasive treatments. Most of them would even have the treatment done before going to their event or their red-carpet appearance.

A client of Image Body Spa who had a lot to say about this experience is celebrity host, Giselle “G” Tongi who had an RF treatment done recently, and is going to share more about it on our Adobo Nation segment this week. G generally doesn’t have any major skin issues but she wants to keep her face looking as contoured as possible. Her face is naturally oval-shaped so the goal is to maintain that V-line without going through the knife or any other invasive treatments.

Another reason that RF treatment is preferred by many is because of its “zero downtime” guarantee. You could easily have the procedure done

at lunchtime and go out that evening looking amazing! The process takes approximately 30 minutes. It involves having a warm face massage wherein a machine is used to heat the skin to between 38-40 degrees with radiofrequency, which feels like a hot stone face massage – you do feel heat on the skin but it’s comfortable.

Because of how fast and pain-free this treatment is, I usually recommend that you do it as regularly as possible. The stimulation produced by the RF energy is great for the face, neck and the eye. In fact, one can start having the procedure as early as during their mid20s. Just like I said earlier, the sooner you start maintaining that “youthful appearance,” the longer it will last.

Some benefits of RF treatment include: reduction of a double chin, improvement of lines on wrinkles around eyes, on forehead lines, and smile lines. And if that’s not enough to make you want to try it, remember that it is non-invasive, non-surgical, and requires no downtime. This goes without saying that the procedure PAGE B5

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LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019

B

Valuable tips...

PAGE B4 and calmness to children. For homes, these man’s best friends are good addition to or an effective substitute for security alarm.

Studies show that a barking dog, especially the big ones, almost always deter home break-ins. *** New studies showed that there is NO safe level for alcohol intake.

Previous recommendations were one drink per day for women and two drinks for men to be medically acceptable, and that drinking red wine with dinner was good for the cardiovascular system. The most recent clinical research suggests even one drink is unhealthy, especially for the liver and the brain. On holidays and special occasions, about 12 times or so a year, I still enjoy my Beefeater’s very dry Martini with 3 large olives. *** Coffee is in as a health drink, minus sugar and cream. Soft drinks are toxic and are out!

Coffee is an antioxidant that lowers the risk for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, and also for Alzheimer’s and even cancer. There was a time when coffee was feared to contribute to cardiac rhythm irregularities.

Indeed, continuing, never-ending, scientific researches lead to a healthier life for the world, albeit sometimes reversal or 360 degree-change in medical recommendations is confusing. But progress always includes correction of old dogmas and data with new updated evidence-based medical facts, for the benefit of mankind as a whole. *** COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases) is not associated with smoking cigarettes

only. It could be genetic and is also seen among individuals with GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease, where gastric acid could regurge (flow upwards from the stomach to the throat) into the airway pipe (between the vocal cords) down the lungs, causing some inflammation over time, eventually leading to COPD. The individual could have episodes of itchy throat and mild coughs. Instead of the toxic tobacco smoke, the irritant here is the stomach acid going to the airway pipe and the lungs. For those with reflux, the best is to avoid spicy foods and alcohol, and raise the head part of the bed to prevent stomach acid from backing up and spilling over from the food pipe to the air pipe. Using bed raisers is better than using 2-3 pillows which get displaced while asleep. *** This electronic age and the continued progress in computer technology, including virtual reality and all the related gadgetry have been a boon to mankind.

Depending on how they are used, computerized gadgets, including the cellphones, pods, tablets, laptops, etc., could bring families closer and help improve health. On the other hand, their overuse, misuse, or abuse could lead to adverse effects overall.

Children, unsupervised and undisciplined, spend too much time with any of these devices, all to themselves, sometimes missing meals, social interaction, and in some cases even school. The addiction could lead to 8 hours or more screen time, attention deficit, poor school performance, maladjustment in the social environment, and, physically, to poor posture (with neck aches

and backaches), impairment of vision (blurry or double vision) from the prolonged screen glare and not blinking enough causing eye dryness, tiredness, and eye irritation, leading to actual damage to vision (computer vision syndrome) and general health.

Of course, the same negative impact from undisciplined use of electronics could also be seen among older children and adults. Abuse in computer use could lead to cataract formation even among younger individuals and also increase in the risk for macular (central part of retina vital to vision) degeneration and blindness. Parents should limit screen time for their children, encouraging them to play more, outdoors, with their friends, and make sure they get adequate sleep. At night the blue lights from thes gadgets impair sleep.

Never use these gadgets as “baby-sitters.” Teach them the 20-20-20-20 rule: Blinking at least 15 times a minute, have a 20-minute break from these devices after 20-minute use, and get up, stretch, and look at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds, staring at a distant object. This will relax the body and the muscles of the eyes. Let’s use these marvelous gadgets wisely and take advantage of them to help us attain improved brain-power, better health, more substantial joy, and greater security and prosperity. ***

Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is a medical lecturer/author, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. Websites: FUN8888.com, philipSchua.com Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com

Radiofrequency (RF) treatment...

PAGE B4 should only be carried out by licensed professionals. So, make sure you do your research before anything else.

Achieving the V-shaped face sans the needle and the blade is now made possible through the RF treatment. With more and more face experts combining cutting edge technology with a hands-on approach when treating the skin, the demand for these treatments is ever increasing.

To know if you are a good candidate for this procedure, head over to Image Spa MD and ISkin Face & Body SPA (formerly Image Body Spa) for a free consultation. They specialize in face and body contouring.

ISkin Face & Body SPA is located at 8709 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90048 (Tel: 424-382-1002).

Image Spa MD is located at 9227 Haven Ave. Suite 120 Rancho Cucamonga, CA (Tel: 909989-8464) and 499 N El Camino

Real, Suite c-200, Encinitas, CA (Tel: 760-214-6343)

*** Imee is an established aesthetician, a business owner and a managing partner for Image Spa MD and CEO of Image Body SPA. She has a degree in Biology and Doctor of Dental Medicine. Image Spa is now one of the most reputable medical spa facilities in LA and has branches in Rancho Cucamonga and Encinitas for Image SPA MD and Image Body SPA-West Hollywood.

Imee has been in the aesthetics industry for over 20 years.

(Advertising Supplement)

McDonald’s sweetens up Valentine’s Day week with McCafé donut sticks

Roses are red, violets are blue, the rumors of Donut Sticks coming to McDonald’s are true!

Because donuts and coffee are a “perfect pair,” McDonald’s is excited to announce McCafé Donut Sticks this week as a little sweet to go with our premium roast McCafé coffee.

Starting Feb. 20 for a limited time, customers can enjoy the delicious combo of Donut Sticks and McCafé coffee during breakfast hours at participating restaurants nationwide.

Donut Sticks are made fresh throughout the morning, prepared in McDonald’s restaurant kitchens until hot, crispy and golden brown for a light and airy texture – never microwaved.

They’re sprinkled with cinnamon sugar for a crunchy outside and soft, doughy inside, and served warm to customers.

“We are proud of our breakfast offerings, and excited to share new Donut Sticks with our customers. Donut Sticks are the perfect complement to our existing breakfast lineup, and pair deliciously with our fresh brewed premium roast McCafé coffee,” said Linda VanGosen, McDonald’s Vice President of Menu Innovation. “We initially tested them in select Illinois

restaurants in early 2018, and then again in October 2018, as it was critical that we perfected them before we brought them to our customers nationwide. We looked at several donut shapes, tested a variety of doughs and even worked to get the amount of cinnamon sugar just right for the recipe. We are thrilled to be making breakfast at McDonald’s even more delicious by introducing Donut Sticks.”

Whether guests are grabbing Donut Sticks for themselves or looking for a sweet gesture to continue the love after Valentine’s Day, customers across the country can enjoy this tasty treat by the half-dozen or by the dozen. Customers can also pair a half-dozen Donut Sticks and a small McCafé brewed coffee for a special price at participating restaurants.

Customers already love McCafé coffee, and the company continues to innovate its McCafé line with exciting beverages and bakery items to delight customers and provide a satisfying coffee experience that is affordable and convenient for all. This has included testing premium bakery items like Muffin Toppers and Coffee Cakes in some of our modernized restaurants,

and now McCafé Donut Sticks, which is the first sweet treat we’ll be offering exclusively at breakfast.

McDonald’s has been a category leader in breakfast since 1971. In recent years, it has refocused on breakfast to deliver more options inspired by customers – from All Day Breakfast, to Triple Breakfast Stacks, to this latest breakfast innovation, McCafé Donut Sticks. McDonald’s is constantly evolving our food to meet consumer taste and quality expectations, all while introducing new offerings.

Since 2015, McDonald’s has also made several key moves such as switching from margarine to real butter on its iconic breakfast sandwiches like the Egg McMuffin, removing artificial preservatives from its breakfast pork sausage patty and committing to cage-free eggs in the U.S. and Canada by 2025. Additionally, McDonald’s is part of the global movement to ensure coffee is grown and traded in ways that support communities and their land.

It has set aspirational goals to sustainably source 100% of McCafé coffee worldwide by 2020.

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B FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

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COMMUNITY JOURNAL

Another brick in the invisible wall: Overcoming USCIS processing delays THE border wall, Donald Trump’s as-yet unrealized passion project, has consumed the political discourse for the past two years. Trump’s wall may or may not ever happen, but if it does, it is likely to have little effect on the flow of illegal border crossings (which have already been steadily declining over the last decade). However, the wall would likely provide an incredible market opportunity for entrepreneurial smugglers and traffickers. It would also stand as an indelible symbol, in the same way that the Statue of Liberty once did, although with a very different message. In place of “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” it would tell the world: “Gated Community—Keep Out.” The debate around Trump’s border wall have largely obscured the construction of another wall against legal immigration that has been taking shape since Trump took office. This “invisible wall” is being built not with brick and mortar, but with policy memoranda and internal directives that result in dramatic reductions in legal immigration and crisis-level delays in otherwise meritorious applications. A recent analysis by the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA) shows that while case receipts have leveled or declined, the backlog of cases awaiting decisions by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has nearly doubled in the last two years, resulting in dramatically slower case processing times compared to only a few years ago. The delays force employers to scale down or seek less talented workers, and discourage students and others from seeking to study, work, and immigrate to the United States.

The “invisible wall” is the result of polices and practices that have been implemented by USCIS over the last two years with the apparent goal of slowing and reducing legal immigration to the U.S. Some of these policies

Your Immigration Solution ATTY. ERIC WELSH include: (1) USCIS’ rescission of longstanding guidance that directed its adjudicators to give deference to prior applications for extension of status of employment-based cases involving the same position with the same employer, forcing USCIS to reexamine matters that were previously assessed; (2) overhaul of refugee adjudications, bringing many applications to a virtual standstill; (3) implementing a new in-person interview requirement for all employment-based applications; and, (4) dramatically increasing the number of cases that will be referred to immigration court for removal (deportation), including new directives to issue notices to appear in almost all denied applications, and new measures subjecting students and visitors with even minor status violations to deportation.

These and other policies result in extreme delays and denials in cases that in the recent past would have swiftly been approved. AILA recommends strengthened Congressional oversight and heightened USCIS transparency, and this is certainly important, considering that USCIS is an executive agency controlled by a man who campaigned on a promise to build walls and reduce immigration.

Our immigration laws grant considerable discretion to the agencies adjudicating benefits and relief, and many relief applications are based on equitable standards like “hardship” and “humanitarian interest” that are subject to interpretive caprice. In the last two years, for example, USCIS has narrowly interpreted the meaning of words like “specialty occupation” to make it dramatically more difficult for foreign workers

to qualify for temporary visas.

Facing such daunting obstacles, a vulnerable and unempowered foreigner may find herself on the outside of this “invisible wall,” losing hope of ever finding a door. Fortunately, the federal courts still provide certain avenues to challenge the immigration service. A person facing agonizing delays far exceeding “standard processing timelines” may consider filing for mandamus relief in district court (i.e., an order from a judge compelling the agency to do its job). A person who receives an adverse decision based on unfair or unwarranted conclusions may have a case for declaratory relief (i.e., a finding by a judge that the agency misapplied the law or failed to correctly analyze the facts or provide basic constitutional safeguards). Even before going to federal court, an applicant may make multiple inquires to seek action on their case (although these options are becoming more and more limited).

The “invisible wall” is, in many ways, more frustrating and impossible to scale than the proposed border wall. It is designed to extinguish hope and reduce immigration by frustrating and confounding lawful applicants.

For that reason, the best weapons against it are persistence, fortitude, and zealous advocacy by an experienced and knowledgeable immigration attorney. *** REEVES IMMIGRATION LAW GROUP is one of the oldest, largest and most experienced immigration fi rms in the United States with offi ces in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Manila and China.

For more Information please call (800) 795- 8009 or visit www.rreeves.com.

Telephone: (800) 795-8009 E-mail: immigration@rreeves.com Website: www.rreeves.com. *** The analysis and suggestions offered in this column do not create a lawyer-client relationship and are not a substitute for the personalized representation that is essential to every case.

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C FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

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How did your debt problems start? Four basic tax changes for individuals

ARE you currently struggling with debt problems and don’t know what to do? To most people, finding themselves in that situation is pretty scary. They constantly worry about their finances and wonder whether they will ever be able to get out of the financial mess that is causing them a lot of stress. But what led to your present situation? The answers can be different in every situation.

I was counseling someone the other day in my office. He looked shocked and confused as we sorted through all the credit card statements on my desk and added up how much he owed. $65,000! That’s how much the statements said he owed!

How could this be? He said he remembered paying a lot of these debts off just a few years ago. When I asked him how it was possible for him to owe that much again, he replied: “Honestly, I don’t even remember”.

For the vast majority of people, their debt problems usually stem from a series of events or bad financial decisions. It can be that a lot of people simply don’t keep track of what they charge on their credit cards. So they use their credit cards for everyday purchases without realizing how much debt they are accumulat-

Barrister’s Corner ATTY. KENNETH URSUA REYES THERE is a natural tendency among divorcing parties to hide their assets from their spouse and understate income. This is a common problem that I have observed from practicing law for many years. A common question I hear from clients is “my spouse doesn’t know I have an account in this bank, do I have to let him/ her know of this account?”

Parties to a divorce proceeding have a duty to disclose financial information to each other. This duty arose based on California’s policy (1) to marshal, preserve, and protect community and quasi-community assets and liabilities that exist at the date of separation so as to avoid dissipation of the community estate before distribution, (2) to ensure fair and sufficient child and spou-

Minding Your Finances ATTY. RAYMOND BULAON ing. Some use their credit cards for so-called “emergencies”.

The problem is that anything could pretty much qualify as an “emergency”. The “emergency” could be new furniture that they don’t even need, a new car or an unplanned family vacation.

Months or years go by and before they realize it, their debts have skyrocketed beyond their ability to repay. And unless their income has increased over that period of time, it becomes a struggle to make the debt payments every month.

If you don’t have the extra cash lying around every month to make those increasing debt payments, it will only be a matter of time before you start defaulting.

And from there it just gets worse and worse until one day you have a big financial emergency in your hands.

Some people even resort to borrowing from some credit cards just to pay other credit

cards but quickly realize that this strategy doesn’t work and that they are only digging themselves into a deeper financial hole with no way out.

The truth is that your debt problems didn’t just suddenly appear out of nowhere. Experience is often our best teacher. It would help to understand what past decisions led you to your present financial circumstances so that you can avoid making the same mistakes again.

This can be a good first step to solving your debt problems.

The late author and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, said: “You may not be able to change your destination overnight but you can change your direction overnight.” It’s never too late to make the change and today is a good day to start.

If you need help, call my Valencia office at (866) 477-7772. We have offices in Glendale, Valencia and Cerritos. ***

None of the information herein is intended to give legal advice for any specific situation. Atty. Ray Bulaon has successfully helped thousands of clients in getting out of debt. For a free attorney evaluation of your situation, please call Ray Bulaon Law Offices at TOLL FREE 1 (866) 477-7772.

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Consequences of failing to disclose material assets, income, facts and information in a divorce case sal support awards, and (3) to achieve a division of community and quasi-community assets and liabilities on the dissolution or nullity of marriage or legal separation of the parties as provided under California law. To promote the above public policy, the family code requires a full and accurate disclosure of all assets and liabilities in which the parties have or may have an interest be made in a divorce or a legal separation, regardless of the alleged characterization of the property as either community or separate.

Parties are also required to disclose all income and expenses of the parties.

The parties also have a continuing duty to update and augment that disclosure to the extent that there has been a material change to their financial position. The purpose of the duty to augment

and update the disclosures is so that at the time the parties enter into a settlement agreement, stipulated divorce judgment, or trial, each party will do so with full and complete knowledge of all relevant underlying facts of the case.

The disclosures are made by the parties by serving each other with a preliminary declaration of disclosure and a final declaration of disclosure. The preliminary declaration of disclosure should be served within 60 days of serving the divorce, separation, or nullity petition. The commission of perjury on the preliminary declaration of disclosure may be grounds for setting aside the judgment in addition to other remedies available under the law. The preliminary declaration of disclosure is not filed with the

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1. Tax rates The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Act) reduces tax rates to seven lower tax brackets: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. The top rate was reduced from 39.6% to 37%. The rates applicable to net capital gains and qualified dividends were not changed. Kiddie tax rules were simplified by using rates that apply to trusts and estates instead of the parent’s top tax rates and unearned income of any siblings.

2. Exemptions: The new law suspends the deduction for personal exemptions. You can no longer claim personal or dependency exemptions through 2025. Sad. 3. Standard Deduction: But don’t be too said. The Act makes up for the loss of exemptions by doubling the standard deduction to $24,000 for joint fil-

The Prophetic Voice REVEREND RODEL G. BALAGTAS AT first glance, we may think that Jesus was speaking to a general audience when he was proclaiming the Beatitudes. But after reading this Gospel scene (Luke 6:17, 20-16) thoroughly, we would find out that Jesus was directly conveying its message to his disciples.

For the Gospel states, “And raising his eyes toward his disciples, he said: Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are weeping, for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold your reward will be great in heaven…”

It makes sense that Jesus would direct this message to his disciples, for they gave up their trades and left the comfort of their homes to follow him. The power of Jesus’ words made them “hungry” for more of God’s wisdom. But in following Jesus and believing in his words, some people hated and insulted them,

Tax Tips VICTOR SY, CPA, MBA

ers, $18,000 for heads of household, and $12,000 for singles and married taxpayers filing separately. With the higher standard deduction, very few people will itemize. It virtually eliminates itemized deductions on a realistic level.

4. Child And Family Tax Credit: The new Act doubles the credit for qualifying children from $1,000 to $2,000 and increases the refundable portion of the credit to $1,400. It introduces a new nonrefundable $500 credit

for a taxpayer’s dependents who are not qualifying children. The credit begins to phase out at an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) over $200,000 ($400,000 for married couples). This rule is in effect through 2025. *** Victor Santos Sy graduated Cum Laude from UE with a BBA and from Indiana State University with an MBA. Vic worked with SyCip, Gorres, Velayo (SGV - Andersen Consulting) and Ernst & Young before establishing Sy Accountancy Corporation in Pasadena, California. *** He has 50 years of experience in defending taxpayers audited by the IRS, FTB, EDD, BOE and other governmental agencies. He is publishing a book on his expertise - “HOW TO AVOID OR SURVIVE IRS AUDITS.” Our readers may inquire about the book or email tax questions at vicsy@live.com.

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Blessed are those who follow Jesus!

and denounced their names. So to encourage them, Jesus called “blessed” and assured them of their reward in heaven.

With this in mind, we find the relevance of Jesus’ words to his disciples in today’s times. To what maybe be a surprise for us, we meet men and women, especially young ones, who feel compelled to follow Jesus—to become priests, religious, pastors, and missionaries. They have heard the “calling” and they are willing to dedicate their lives to preach the Gospel and serve God’s people.

I think of the seminarians I teach who constantly amaze and inspire me in their intense desire to be priests. They are hungry for wisdom and skills in their eagerness to bring people to God and direct them to the truth of the Gospel.

Yet, when I reflect on the life they are willing to embrace, I think of the sufferings, difficulties, rejections, and challenges they will experience and endure. I pray that they will remain strong and receive moral support from their mentors and the people they serve.

It’s not easy to remain faithful to this vocation especially in a secular and political environment that opposes the Gospel and the Commandments of God.

Take for example the political climate in the Philippines now in which the president constantly attacks the Catholic Church, denounces priests and bishops, and even tells people to kidnap and kill “useless foolish” bishops because they oppose his deadly war on drugs. Another example is the support of many politicians and citizens in the U.S. for bills that support abortion.

This is the reason why Archbishop Socrates Villegas recently told the newly ordained priests in his diocese to be brave enough to defend the faith and to stand up for it, not to be afraid be good priests, to be “broken and crushed into pieces” like the Body of Christ, to be “coward” to be separated from Jesus. He told them to be “weak enough” to rely solely on the grace of God while being “afraid” of “lying…lust… hypocrisy… stealing money from the people…convenience and comfort.” (https://epicpew.com/ video-priesthood-sabins-studio/) Thus, as members of the Body of Christ, one of our crucial tasks is to pray for our bishops, priests, ministers, religious men and women, and seminarians to remain steadfast in their vocation, to be brave and “weak” at the same time, relying fully on God’s grace. Instead of criticiz-

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Work-life balance & preventing Writ of Mandamus relief for unreasonable delay in pending immigration filings pregnancy discrimination SIX attorneys sued their employer, Morrison & Foerster, one of the largest law firms in the country, claiming that their employer discriminated against them by holding them back in their careers after they became pregnant. They sued on behalf of themselves and other female attorneys at the firm.

The employees allege that those who took maternity leave are denied opportunities for advancement and higher pay.

The employer held back women who took maternity leave, regardless of their performance.

The employer, thus, created a lasting stain on their careers, impeding not only their opportunities for advancement within the company, but also their marketability at other firms.

Attorneys who came back from their maternity leave were demoted, and left to work their way back. They are forced to prove their commitment to their work and meet the new, and impossibly high, standards that are set for them after they return from leave – which is never asked of their male counterparts who took the same parental leave.

The employer defended itself saying that their company actually expanded their parental leave and flexible work policies. It claimed that it has a proven track record of supporting employees as they return from maternity leave. However, the women countered that pregnant attorneys were treated differently. Women who take advantage of these

Protecting Employee & Consumer Rights ATTY. C. JOE SAYAS, JR. programs are held back from career advancement and “set up to fail.”

During her performance review, one of the suing employees was told by a partner at the firm that she was not promoted “because she had become a mother.” The complaint allege that when female attorneys become mothers, the employer demands they prove their commitment by working more hours. However, when they seek additional work, they are denied assignments because of stereotype-driven perceptions that they lack commitment to their jobs.

The lawsuit is currently pending before the courts.

Pregnancy discrimination is defined as discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions.

Prohibited conduct includes firing, demoting, harassing, retaliating, refusing health benefits, denying promotion, denying medical leave, and treating a pregnant employee differently.

Pregnancy (and all its related medical conditions such as severe morning sickness, doctorordered bed rest, childbirth, recovery from childbirth) is considered a temporary disability.

The employer must therefore

give pregnant employees the same treatment and benefits that it gives those with other temporary disabilities.

Employers must hold open a job for a pregnancy-related absence the same length of time jobs are held open for employees on sick or disability leave.

Any leave, seniority, or reinstatement rights other workers get from the employer when they cannot work for health reasons should be available to pregnant women and new mothers who are temporarily physically disabled.

Discriminated pregnant employees may recover the following remedies: back pay, hiring, promotion, reinstatement, front pay, compensatory damages, including emotional pain and suffering, punitive damages, and other applicable remedies.

Aggrieved employees may also recover attorneys’ fees, expert witness fees, and court costs. *** The Law Offices of C. Joe Sayas, Jr. welcomes inquiries about this topic. All inquiries are confidential and at no-cost.

You can contact the office at (818) 2910088 or visit www.joesayaslaw.com or our Facebook page Joe Sayas Law. [C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is an experienced trial attorney who has successfully recovered wages and other monetary damages for thousands of employees and consumers. He was named Top Labor & Employment Attorney in California by the Daily Journal, consistently selected as Super Lawyer by the Los Angeles Magazine, and is the recipient of PABA’s Community Champion Award for 2016.]

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Defrauded seniors left with $100K debts need Chapter 7 relief

SENIOR No. 1 and senior No. 2 are in the same boat. They each have car repossession deficiencies of over $100,000, and business credit card debt of $50,000.

Just by looking at these figures, you know there’s something not right.

At their age, why should they each have several car repo deficiencies of over $100,000? What is a car repo deficiency? A car repo deficiency arises when the debtor becomes delinquent on the car payment or lease payment. The creditor then goes to your house in the dead of night and hauls your car away. When you wake up in the morning, your brand new car in the driveway is gone. The creditor then sells your car at wholesale, which means they get a lot less than what they should get if it’s sold at retail. They apply the net proceeds from the sale to what you owe them and collect the unpaid balance from you. Thus, it’s aptly called the car repo deficiency.

For example, you bought a brand new M-Benz E-350 for $50,000. You got a car loan for $48,000 at 9 percent p.a. interest. Total payments for five years will be $60,000. You become delinquent on the car payments.

The creditor repossesses the car.

They sell the car at wholesale for $30,000. The repo deficiency, which you owe, is $30,000.

Yes, you still owe them $30,000 even though you don’t have the car anymore. Why? Because by contract that you signed with the creditor, you agreed to pay them $60,000. When they sold the car at wholesale, they only got back $30,000. So, they can still collect $30,000 from you, because by contract, you owe them $60,000.

I know it’s not fair to you, but that’s how contract law works.

Debt Relief

ATTY. LAWRENCE YANG In the case of these two seniors, one of them owes repo deficiencies for 5 expensive cars. If each repo deficiency is $30,000, then five times that, the senior owes $150,000 of repo deficiencies. This senior also owes a business credit line of $50,000.

So, easily, senior owes probably $200,000. But why will a senior buy five expensive cars and get a line of credit for a business of $50,000?

The answer, of course, is that there is a story that needs to be told so other seniors won’t be defrauded too.

The senior is approached by an acquaintance who offers her an opportunity to participate in a business that will give the senior $30,000 profit if she does something. This something is that the senior will fill out a form giving her personal financial information to the acquaintance. The acquaintance will then use the personal information to apply for business credit cards in the name of the business and senior, as well as to buy or lease several expensive cars. These cars will be rented out so that the rental income will be used to pay the car loans and car leases. The money generated from this business endeavor will be so good and immediately that the business will very shortly give senior $30,000 of cash back just for letting the business use her name and good credit.

Of course, what actually hap-

pens is that once the credit lines are available for use, the acquaintance sucks out the money and the business pays the bank zero.

The cars are rented out, and the acquaintance collects all the rent money for the cars but does not pay the car loans or leases, so eventually, the cars are repossessed with the senior holding the bag. The acquaintance ends up with a lot of cash, which is used to buy the acquaintance a house, for instance.

OK, here’s another good scam.

I can let you stay in the White House for $2,000 a month payable one year in advance sent to my Wells Fargo account No. 123. Believe it or not, someone will believe that for $24,000 he will be able to stay in the White House with rent paid one year in advance. The saying that there’s a sucker born every minute is true; hopefully that sucker is not you. As a general test, just use this standard to avoid being scammed: If it sounds too good to be true, then it’s not true.

Remember this, a fool and his money are soon parted. All these sayings are true.

All of the money is sucked out while the senior’s name is on record as being the debtor so the collectors go after the senior to get whatever is owed to them repaid. Pretty good scam for the scammer, but very bad for the senior victim who certainly doesn’t need this kind of problem during her retirement years.

I recommend that the seniors both file for Chapter 7 relief.

What will happen in Chapter 7?

The seniors will be relieved of all liability for these credits, car loans, and leases that were fraudulently obtained in their names.

The creditors will not be able to

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Consequences of failing to disclose material...

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court but only exchanged by each party. The preliminary declaration of disclosure shall set forth 1) the identity of all assets and liabilities which the declarant may have an interest regardless of the characterization of community, quasi-community, or separate property; 2)The declarant’s percentage in the asset or liability; 3) the declarant’s characterization of the asset or liability. In addition, the declarant shall also provide the other party with a completed income and expense declaration. The declarations may be amended without permission from the court.

The parties shall serve each other with a final declaration of disclosure at the time the parties enter into a settlement agreement, stipulated divorce judgment, or if the case goes to trial, at least 45 days prior to the first assigned trial date. The final declaration of disclosure shall include (1) All material facts and information regarding the characterization of all assets and liabilities(2) All material facts and information regarding the valuation of all assets that are contended to be community property or in which it is contended the

community has an interest. (3) All material facts and information regarding the amounts of all obligations that are contended to be community obligations or for which it is contended the community has liability.(4) All material facts and information regarding the earnings, accumulations, and expenses of each party that have been set forth in the income and expense declaration. The parties may agree to mutually waive the final declaration of disclosure requirement but not the preliminary declaration of disclosure.

A party who fails to comply with the disclosure requirements under the family code may be held in breach of the party’s fiduciary obligation to the other spouse under family code section 721, 1100, and Marriage of Feldman. The party that failed to disclose material assets, income, facts, and information may be sanctioned by the court by awarding attorney’s fees and sanctions to the other spouse under family code section 271. When hiring an attorney to represent you in a high asset divorce case with complex property issues, it is important to hire an attorney that understands the disclosure obli-

gation under the family code. *** Please note that this article is not legal advice and is not intended as legal advice.

The article is intended to provide only general, non-specific legal information.

This article is not intended to cover all the issues related to the topic discussed.

The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. This article does create any attorney client relationship between you and the Law Offices of Kenneth U. Reyes, P.C. This article is not a solicitation. *** Attorney Kenneth Ursua Reyes is a Certified Family Law Specialist. He was President of the Philippine American Bar Association. He is a member of both the Family law section and Immigration law section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He is a graduate of Southwestern University Law School in Los Angeles and California State University, San Bernardino School of Business Administration. He has extensive CPA experience prior to law practice. LAW OFFICES OF KENNETH REYES, P.C. is located at 3699 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 747, Los Angeles, CA, 90010. Tel. (213) 388-1611 or e-mail HYPERLINK “mailto: kenneth@kenreyeslaw.com” kenneth@ kenreyeslaw.com or visit our website at Kenreyeslaw.com (Advertising Supplement)

A COMMON question that is asked by a person who has a pending immigration petition or application is “how much longer until USCIS makes a decision?” The question is understandable, in that an unreasonable delay in the USCIS’ adjudication of a petition or application can have adverse effects, including loss of employment and employment opportunities, possible termination of employment, and difficulties in obtaining student and credit loans.

While an immigration filing is pending, the typical response by USCIS upon inquiry is that further time (usually 90 or 180 days) is needed to make a decision. However, often that 90 or 180 days that USCIS needs to make a decision turns into months and sometimes years. What option does a petitioner or applicant have to compel the USCIS to act on his or her case?

Pursuant to the Mandamus and Venue Act of 1962, a Writ of Mandamus action can be filed in the US District Courts to compel the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the USCIS, DHS’s bureau, to act on a petition or application for which adjudication has been unreasonably delayed.

The statute allows for an “action to compel an officer of the United States to perform his duty.”

The legal duty for USCIS to promptly act on a pending petition or application can be found in the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”), 8 USC Sec. 1571, and 5 USC Sec. 555(b).

These statutes form the basis of Writ of Mandamus relief.

Legal Advice ATTY. DARRICK TAN The APA gives the court authority to “compel agency action unlawfully held and unreasonable delayed.” The policy for processing immigration applications is set forth under 8 USC

cision. The timeframe given to make a decision is 180 days; however, more than 180 days pass and no decision is made.

The applicant then seeks to get updated status of the application via an Infopass appointment, and is advised that the case is still under consideration and more time is needed.

In such a case, a writ of mandamus can be filed in Federal Court to compel the USCIS to act on the application. Often, a decision is made on the case after the Writ of Mandamus is filed in that the unreasonable delay is brought to the attention of the USCIS. A prompt decision is often made by USCIS after filing to avoid the use of government resources in having to defend the meritorious action.

It is important to keep in mind that Writ of Mandamus relief is available to a variety of pending petitions and applications, not just green card applications based on marriage. To determine whether Writ of Mandamus relief is a good option in your pending immigration case, it is recommended that you seek the advice of an experienced attorney. *** Darrick V. Tan, Esq. is admitted to practice law in California and Nevada. Mr. Tan is a graduate of UCLA and Southwestern University School of Law. He is a member of the Consumers Attorney Association of Los Angeles and is a former member of the Board of Governors of the Philipp ine American Bar Association. *** LAW OFFICES OF DARRICK V. TAN, 3580 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 900, Los Angeles, CA 90010. Tel: (323) 639-0277.

Email: info@dtanlaw.com.

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“ While an immigration filing is pending, the typical response by USCIS upon inquiry is that further time (usually 90 or 180 days) is needed to make a decision.”

Sec. 1571, which states that “the processing of an immigration benefit application should be completed no later than 180 days after the initial filing of the application.” Further, 5 USC Sec. 555(b) states that “within a reasonable time, each agency shall proceed to conclude a matter presented to it.”

A typical case in which Writ of Mandamus relief is a viable option is in a green card application based on marriage. I have had several inquiries in recent months concerning delays in processing of these cases. Typically, the green card applicant along with his or her US Citizen spouse is interviewed by a USCIS officer and at the end of the interview, the green card applicant is advised that additional time is needed by USCIS to make a de-

Blessed are those who follow...

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ing and attacking them, let’s pray that they be authentic and loyal in their vocation. Let our prayers reflect the words of the First Reading this Sunday (Jer 17:5-8): “Blessed be the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord.

He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its

roots on to the streams: it fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruits.” Amen! *** From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993);

St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1991-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.

C4 FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

Calendar of Events across

A

merica

ADVERTISE YOUR EVENTS! PRE-EVENT AND POST EVENT GO DEEPER. GO WIDER. LET THE WORLD KNOW. CALL ASIAN JOURNAL: (818) 502-0651 DISPLAY AD SIZES AT SPECIAL RATES FOR NON-PROFIT GROUPS F E B R UA RY 1 6

Domestic Violence Prevention Symposium in San Fernando, CA The Valley Care Community Consortium partners with the Lions Clubs International/District 4-L3 to host the inaugural Domestic Violence Prevention Symposium to be held on Saturday, February 16, from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the San Fernando Regional Recreation Park (208 Park Avenue, San Fernando, CA). Admission is free, open to the public and registration is strongly encouraged. For more information or to register for the event, please contact the Valley Care Community Care Consortium (VCCC) at (818) 904-5566 or email at healthy@valleyccc. org.

F E B R UA RY 2 0

FACCGLA hosts Music and Merlot in Sherman Oaks Join us for evening of Wine & Cheese to unwind after a busy day on Wednesday, February 20 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. as we enjoy the music of jazz guitarist Ric Ickard. Get to know the members of the the Filipino American Chamber of Greater Los Angeles (FACCGLA), and get a chance to tell us about your business or profession. We love to meet new people to share our plans for the year, with some time for a Q & A and inspirational talks from Asian Business owners. We will announce a special perk for our members AND you can be one of the first to get hold of the FilAm Entrepreneurship Magazine. Register at www.faccgla.org. Venue is BFG Room, 2nd floor, 5121 Van Nuys Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.

F E B R UA RY 23

Free oil filter exchange in Lynwood, CA Free oil filter & motor oil recycling event! Everyone is invited to bring in their motor oil and used oil filters on Saturday, February 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. All those who recycle their used oil filter will receive one FREE new oil filter. Recycling motor oil and filters helps save our environment and keeps our water clean. It will be held at O’Reilly Auto Parts at 10727 Long Beach Blvd. Lynwood, CA 90262.

MARCH 9

LolaLand: The Grandmother of All Shows in Los Angeles Rejoicers Events brings to Los Angeles, “LolaLand: The Grandmother of All Shows,” the show that sold out in Manila, and soon restaged in New York and the Bay Area. It will be held on Saturday, March 9 at the Aratani Theatre (244 San Pedro St, Los Angeles, CA 90012) at 7 p.m. Headlined by comedienne Fe delos Reyes, award-winning songwriters Cecile Azarcon and Odette Quesada are joined by singers Jam Morales and Chiqui Pineda, who popularized numerous OPM Songs. Part of the proceeds of this much-anticipated concert benefit Philippine Patrons of the Arts USA, a non-profit organization that helps bring Filipino Artists to U.S. stages.

MARCH 30

Philippine Medical Society of Northern California installation of officers in Foster City, CA The Philippine Medical Society of Northern California will hold its 47th anniversary and installation of officers for 2019-2021 at the Crowne Plaza in Foster City, CA on Saturday, March 30. For sponsorship information, please contact Dr. Clementina Manio at drtina0427@gmail. com or visit https://www.pmsnc.org/.

United Bicolandia Los Angeles induction in Montebello, CA United Bicolandia Los Angeles will hold its 45th Anniversary and Induction Ceremony at Quiet Cannon in Montebello, CA on Saturday, March 30. For tickets and sponsorship information, please contact Lanie Berrei at lanieberrei@hotmail.com or (818) 281-3169.

APRIL 7

Ryan, Ryan! The Maestro and the Ryan Cayabyab Singers in Glendale, CA Recently proclaimed National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab’s works will be showcased on Sunday, April 7 at the John Wayne Performing Arts Center (1440 E Broadway, Glendale, CA 91205) at 6 p.m. by his multi-talented singing group, the Ryan Cayabyab Singers joined by some local artists like Mon David, Annie Nepomuceno, Louie Reyes and many more. Come and hear how his work that spans five decades has made an indelible impact on Filipino culture. Copresented by Philippine Patrons of the Arts USA, a 501 (c) 3 organization that brings exemplary Filipino Artists to U.S. stages. For ticket information ($35-$125) visit www.philpatrons.org and to learn about other tour stops in Las Vegas (April 7), San Diego (April 12) and Seattle (April 14).

A P R I L 25 -28

Philippine Nurses Association of America - North Central Regional Conference in Columbus, Ohio The Philippine Nurses Association - Central Ohio will hold a regional conference from April 25 to 28 at the Embassy Suites (2886 Airport Drive, Columbus, Ohio). For more information, please visit http://www.mypnaa.org/.

J U LY 2 0

The Ibaan Association USA-Canada gala dinner in LA The Ibaan Association USA-Canada will hold its 32nd Annual Gala Dinner & Dance July 20, 2019 from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. at the Hilton Los Angeles / Universal City - Ballroom A at 555 Universal Hollywood Drive, Universal City, California 91608. For reservations call Monica Benitez at (323) 6973731 / email: monica_benitez03@yahoo.com or Irene May Villafranca at (323) 423-2299 / email: imay02@yahoo.com.

Tickets are $85 for Adults and $40 for Children (3 to 10 years old). Please make checks payable to: Ibaan Association USA-Canada and mail to: Merly Pagunsan at 5025 Heintz St. Baldwin Park, CA 91706.

For sponsorship information on our 2019 Souvenir Program please contact President Noli Reyes at homesbynoli@gmail.com or call (818) 458-7888. Please RSVP by April 12, 2019.

J U LY 24 -28

40th annual Philippine Nurses Association of America National Convention in Atlanta, GA The Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA) will have its 40th annual national convention from July 24 to 28 at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, GA, hosted by the PNA-GA chapter. More information and details TBA. To learn about the PNA-GA, please visit: https://pnaga.wildapricot.org/.

AU G U ST 1 - 9

University of the Philippines Nursing Alumni Association International Convention & Alaskan Cruise The University of the Philippines Nursing Alumni Association International, Inc. (UPNAAI) will have its 40th convention on a cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. The theme will be “In the New Millennium - UPNAAI at 40: Evolving and Emerging Nursing Roles.”

On Aug. 1. it will be UPNAAI Volunteers Service Day in Seattle, then 2-9 will be a cruise from Seattle, Juneau, Skagway, Endicott Arm & Dawes, Victoria, and back to Seattle. Convention Fee $100 for Alumni in addition to cruise pricing. No convention charge for friends and family members. Contact Hours will be provided for the educational conference. For more information/to register and view cruise rates, please visit https://www.upnaai.com/.

If you have an upcoming event and would like us to post it, please email us the details at info@asianjournalinc.com or calendar@asianjournalinc.com

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Defrauded seniors left with $100K debts...

PAGE C3 t

sue the senior to collect on the repo deficiencies and it doesn’t matter that the seniors do not have the cars in their possession.

The creditors will have to locate the cars at their own expense.

Of course, what actually happened leading to the defrauding of the seniors will have to be adequately explained to the bankruptcy court so that the U.S. Trustee (UST) will not object to the discharge of these debts.

Otherwise, it may be argued that seniors are not victims but partic-

ipants in this fraudulent scheme.

The creditors may show up at the 341A hearing to ask the debtors how this came about because it is the signature of seniors that appear on all loan applications.

This must be handled properly or a UST objection to discharge may arise.

Certainly, if they had come to see me before signing all these documents, I would have told them not to proceed as this was clearly a scam. But since it already happened, the best remedy for a fresh start for seniors is

Chapter 7.

If you need debt relief, please set an appointment to see me. I will analyze your case personally. *** Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in bankruptcy, business, real estate and civil litigation and has successfully represented more than five thousand clients in California. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S. Fremont Ave, Mailstop 58, Building A-1 Suite 1125, Alhambra, CA 91803.

(Advertising Supplement)

People & Events

Kalayaan Incorporated announces PH Sen. Risa Hontiveros as guest speaker for annual Independence Day gala Festivities set for June 1 in LA

LOS ANGELES – Kalayaan Incorporated invites the community to its celebration of the 121st Anniversary of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence on Saturday, June 1, 2019, at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel (5855 W. Century Blvd., Los Angeles, CA).

Kalayaan is extremely proud to have Honorable Risa Hontiveros, an incumbent senator who assumed office on June 30, 2016, as the grand gala’s guest of honor and speaker.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, a health and women’s rights advocate, a proud activist, and a champion of the basic sectors brings the voice of ordinary citizens to the Philippine Senate.

She has been fighting the good fight from an early age. She organized a student group that campaigned against the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) while in high school at the St. Scholastica’s College in Manila. During her college days, she led advocacies for peace and social justice as a student council leader.

In 2001, Hontiveros received the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award for Peace and Advocacy for her work in the peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF). She was also one of the 27 Filipino women among the 1,000 women worldwide who have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

As Akbayan Partylist’s representative during the 13th and 14th Congress, then- Congresswoman Risa fought for the passage of people-centered legislation like the Cheaper Medicines Law and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms Law (CARPER).

She also led civil society groups and fellow advocates in working for the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Law, a landmark legislation that provides women and families access to reproductive health and modern family planning services.

As a member of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Health

Senator Risas Hontiveros

Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Hontiveros pushed for expanded benefits and coverage, specifically for indigents and senior citizens.

As the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women and Gender Equality, she pushes for legislative measures to address social injustice and inequality, particularly in the areas of health care and women’s rights.

She vowed to pass laws to expand the maternity leaves of working women and impose heavier penalties on hospitals that continue to demand a deposit as a prerequisite for the admission or medical treatment of an emergency patient.

Also, part of her commitment is to push for better benefits to be given to Barangay Health Workers, the front-line health care providers in the communities. She is also pushing for the passage of the Anti-Discrimination bill on the ba-

sis of Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Gender Expression (SOGIE), which reached the Senate plenary for the first time after nearly two decades of lobbying.

Hontiveros graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences from the Ateneo De Manila University.

Before her career as a lawmaker, she was a community organizer and peace advocate. She was also a successful television journalist and news anchor who has worked for major news networks. She is a dedicated solo mother to her four children and shares with them her love of music, culture, and the arts.

For tickets to the Gala Night, please contact Annie CuevasLim, Kalayaan President at (213) 447-7078. For more information, contact KI PROs Violet Mislang at vmislang@gmail.com or Lady Hope Robillos at lhopepr@yahoo. com. ■

Lower your electric bill, increase energy efficiency

by SUSAN COX Southern California Edison

CUSTOMERS may be able to lower their electricity bill by taking part in money-saving programs at Southern California Edison.

About one-third of SCE’s residential customers are enrolled in income-qualified programs that offer bill discounts and low cost/no cost energy-efficiency products and services. These programs help to not only reduce electricity usage, but may also lower the amount customers pay.

“All of our income-qualified programs are designed to assist customers who live in our service territory and we want to encourage them to seek assistance if needed,” said Michael K. Bushey, director of SCE Program Operations.

“SCE keeps all customers’ information confidential. We want our customers to have confidence with all aspects of our customer service and we encourage those who qualify to apply for assistance if they need it– we are here to help wherever we can.”

In addition, SCE does not inquire about the citizenship or legal status of customers in the provision of services, does not share customer information with outside groups or agencies without consent, and does not require proof of residency for customers to participate in customer assistance programs.

Customers ineligible for income-qualified programs can work with SCE staff on payment arrangements that could spread out their payments and help during difficult times.

“Everyone needs help from time-to-time, and at Edison we want our customers, especially our most vulnerable customers, to feel free to reach out to us so we can be of assistance,” said Bushey. “We want to provide safe, reliable and affordable service for all of our customers.”

SCE customer assistance programs California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) Provides a discount of about 30 percent on monthly electric bills for eligible customers. Household of two would be eligible if the household income is below $32,920/per yr. Customers who qualify for CARE may be referred to the Energy Savings Assistance Program for additional help and savings.

Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) Provides a reduced monthly discount of 18 percent for incomequalified households of three or more. Households of three would be eligible if the household income is below $51,950/yr.

Energy Savings Assistance Program (ESAP) Helps income-qualified cus-

tomers save money on their bill and conserve energy. Customers may be eligible for free replacement appliances such as an energy-efficient refrigerator, air conditioner and more, as well as home efficiency solutions like weatherization and LED bulbs that help save energy and money.

SCE’s Energy Assistance Fund (EAF) In partnership with the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, SCE’s nonprofit Energy Assistance Fund program, funded by customers and SCE employees, provides up to $100 to help customers pay their SCE energy bills when they meet the program’s income qualifications. Assistance is available once during a 12-month period.

Budget Assistant This free, easy-to-use tool will allow you to set monthly spending goals and receive proactive alerts either weekly, mid-month or when they have exceeded the spending goal. This tool will track costs in close to real time and send alerts via email, phone or text.

Level Pay Plan SCE’s Level Pay Plan offers eligible customers the opportunity to pay for their annual electricity service across 11 equal monthly payments. The Level Pay Plan does not reduce the amount of the bill. Customers are responsible for paying the full cost of the energy they use, however they can split the cost into equal payments throughout the year. ■

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Fil-Am ‘McDonald’s pranksters’ showcase Filipina hitmakers lead much-awaited concert on March 9 the brand’s commitment to inclusion The “Grandmother of All Shows” goes onstage at the Aratani Theatre

WHAT do you do when you are friends with legendary female icons of the Philippine Music Industry?

Comedienne Fe de los Reyes is at the helm of “Lolaland,” with a script she developed with close friend, songwriter Odette Quesada.

The show was conceptualized at the height of popularity of the film “LalaLand,” but since the performers were of advanced age, the tagline “the grandmother of all shows” was lovingly added.

The cast, led by Delos Reyes and featuring Quesada, Cecile Azarcon, Jam Morales and Chiqui Pineda, have numerous OPM hits between them. They claim the show is a “memory jog” for the audience, to see how many of them one can remember.

Though they live in opposite points of California, Quesada often visits Delos Reyes in the Bay Area, where Azarcon, incidentally, also lives. The writer of “Ikaw Ang Lahat Sa Akin,” “Lift Up Your Hands” is still in contact with “How Did You Know” singer Chiqui Pineda, who lives in Canada and “Even If” singer Jam Morales, a longtime resident of the U.S. The women have been enjoying revived interest in their songs. Quesada herself was honored for her catalog of songs that include “Til I Met You,” “Don’t Know What To Do” and “To Love Again,” the theme of a recent Jollibee commercial which has gone viral.

Both Azarcon and Quesada have been going back to the Philippines for various tributes honoring their work. So when Delos Reyes brought “Lolaland” to Manila, the show sold out.

They have since performed the show in New Jersey, New York, Atlantic City and the Bay Area.

Los Angeles will have its turn on March 9, where all the women will be present in one show, after having been guests in different cities. Delos Reyes has announced that this will be the last performance, as she will be developing other concepts for future shows.

Don’t miss your chance to catch this final performance of “Lolaland: The Grandmother of All Shows” at the Aratani The-

Odette Quesada, Chiqui Pineda, Fe de los Reyes, and Jam Morales lead the cast of “Lolaland,” which lands at the Aratani Theatre on March 9.

Chiqui Pineda

Odette Quesada

Jam Morales

atre on Saturday, March 9, at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the box office or by calling or texting (949)332-9162 or email mcds.rejoicersevents@gmail.com. Part of the proceeds benefit Philippine Patrons of the Arts USA. n Fe de los Reyes

L-R Steven Hunter, McDonald’s Multicultural and Brand Engagement Lead, moderator Leangelo Acuna, William Cho, McDonald’s OwnerOperator, Jevh Maravilla and Christian Toledo

‘MCDONALD’S pranksters’ Jevh Maravilla and Christian Toledo and YouTube star Mike Bow discussed the importance of diversity in marketing at this past weekend’s East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU) Conference in Orlando, the nation’s oldest conference run by-and-for Asian American and Pacific Islander students.

First-time sponsor McDonald’s worked with the ECAASU conference team to arrange the panel featuring Maravilla and Toledo — the Filipino American college students who received national attention for a viral poster prank inside a Houston McDonald’s restaurant — and to secure Bow, who stars in a new TV commercial for the Golden Arches — to serve as the event’s keynote speaker.

Now in its 41st year, the conference was one of the organization’s largest to date, attracting over 800 students from 100+ schools in the East Coast. The event explored a range of community issues with interactive workshops, speeches and performances.

During the McDonald’s panel, the pranksters discussed the inspiration behind their headline-making stunt and the media whirlwind that followed, which culminated with an appearance on ‘The Ellen Show.’ The duo was later joined by company representatives who spoke about the Golden Arches’ ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion.

“McDonald’s continues to demonstrate that it’s serious about having an open dialogue about

Jevh Maravilla and Christian Toledo

diversity and we’re very proud to be part of that conversation,” said Maravilla, who, together with Toledo, was awarded $25,000 by the Golden Arches for their poster stunt and recently made a surprise cameo in a national McDonald’s TV commercial.

During their panel discussion at ECAASU, the University of Houston students spoke about what individuals can do to help drive change at both the local and national level.

“It starts with realizing that your voice matters and then taking action,” said Toledo. “Social media also helps — as Jevh and I know.”

Social media was also a prevalent theme during Mike Bow’s keynote address, in which the YouTube personality credited today’s digital landscape for enabling new forms of Asian American representation.

“Asian Americans today are bypassing traditional media channels to redefine themselves in bold new ways that challenge conven-

tions and shatter stereotypes,” said Bow, who creates comedic sketches exploring Asian American topics.

McDonald’s has been a strong supporter of education and achievement in the Asian American community from a national and local level through its support of program such as the Education Workshop Series and Archways to Opportunity. The Golden Arches’ presenting sponsorship of the 2019 ECAASU Conference is part of the company’s mission to help young people reach their academic aspirations and dreams by providing access to educational resources. “ECAASU welcomes the support of companies that are willing to directly invest in diverse communities like ours,” said Justin Chu, the 2019 ECAASU Conference Director. “McDonald’s went above and beyond the traditional sponsor role by working closely with our team to secure special guests that helped take this year’s conference to whole new level.” n

C FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

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)ROORZ XV RQ

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MARKETPLACE SHOWROOM

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Can I remarry my first Philippines falls in talent competitiveness index spouse and petition her?

Immigration Corner ATTY. MICHAEL GURFINKEL, ESQ DEAR Atty. Gurfinkel: I divorced my Filipina spouse and married a U.S. citizen who petitioned me for a green card.

Unfortunately, things did not work out, and I divorced the U.S. citizen. I just recently took my oath of U.S. citizenship.

My first wife and I have rekindled our love and are thinking about getting remarried. She is out of status, and I would like to petition her. Do you think I will encounter any problems or issues if I marry and petition my first wife?

Very truly yours, JT Dear JT: There is nothing wrong or illegal about a person re-marrying and petitioning their first spouse. However, USCIS will likely be concerned or suspicious on whether your marriage to the U.S. citizen was real or fixed, meaning you married the U.S. citizen only to get a green card.

Therefore, you might have to make a clear and convincing presentation about the bona fides of your marriage to the American, even though you are petitioning your spouse.

Let’s be honest: many times, a couple is truly in love, but agree they will divorce and one of them will marry a citizen in a fixed marriage, solely for a green card.

Sometimes they continue living together (or even have children together) while supposedly married and in love with their second (US citizen) spouse. After getting the green card, or even U.S. citizenship, they divorce the US citizen and remarry their first spouse.

In your case, if you remarry and petition your first spouse, although the interview and inquiry is supposed to be about the married couple, you will likely be questioned extensively about your marriage to the U.S. citizen.

If it truly was for love and you lived together with the U.S. citizen spouse, and truly fell out of love, then it may be worth pursuing a petition of your first wife.

If the marriage to the American was fixed, you should not pursue the case, because you were not eligible for your own green card based on the fixed marriage, and USCIS could uncover the fraud and try to put you in removal proceedings or denaturalize you, if they believe your green card was fraudulently obtained.

That is why if you are pursuing a petition of a first wife, after

having married and obtained a green card through a U.S. citizen, I would strongly recommend you consult with an immigration attorney, who can evaluate your case, and help prepare and document your case, including the marriage to the U.S. citizen. *** Michael J. Gurfinkel has been an attorney for over 35 years and is licensed, and an active member of the State Bars of California and New York. All immigration services are provided by, or under the supervision of, an active member of the State Bar of California. Each case is different and results may depend on the facts of the particular case. The information and opinions contained herein (including testimonials, “Success Stories”, endorsements and re-enactments) are of a general nature, and are not intended to apply to any particular case, and do not constitute a prediction, warranty, guarantee or legal advice regarding the outcome of your legal matter. No attorney-client relationship is, or shall be, established with any reader.

WEBSITE: www.gurfinkel.com Follow us on Facebook.com/GurfinkelLaw and Twitter @GurfinkelLaw Call Toll free to schedule a consultation for anywhere in the US: 1-866-4873465 (866) – GURFINKEL Four offices to serve you: LOS ANGELES · SAN FRANCISCO · NEW YORK · PHILIPPINE (Advertising Supplement)

Business Quote of the Week

“One way to understand human progress is to look at how technology has made products and services - once reserved for the elite - progressively more accessible and affordable.”

— Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal

Results of the 125-nation Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2019 — published by INSEAD business school, the Adecco Group and Tata Communications — showed the Philippines scored 40.94 out of 100, placing the country at 58th spot. In 2018, the country ranked 54th out of 119 nations tracked by the report.

Philstar.com photo by Rudy Santoss

by IAN

NICOLAS

Philstar.com

THE Philippines ranked lower in a 2019 talent competitiveness report.

Nonetheless, the Southeast Asian nation led the group of lower-middle-income countries in terms of talent edge.

Results of the 125-nation Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2019 — published by INSEAD business school, the Adecco Group and Tata Communications — showed the Philippines scored 40.94 out of 100, placing the country at the 58th spot. In 2018,

the country ranked 54th out of 119 nations tracked by the report.

The report defines “talent competitiveness” as the set of policies and practices that enable a country to develop, attract and empower the human capital that contributes to productivity and prosperity.

“The Philippines has a good pool of Global Knowledge Skills (34th), scoring quite well in both High-Level Skills (37th) and Talent Impact (30th),” the report said.

“It is also relatively adept in growing talent (41st), where its strengths in Lifelong Learn-

ing (27th) and Access to Growth Opportunities (42nd) offset a sub-standard Formal Education (85th),” it added.

“More discouragingly, the country’s weak Sustainability (88th) and Lifestyle (91st) subpillars result in a low ability to Retain (92nd) talent,” it continued.

This year’s Global Talent Competitiveness Index rankings was dominated by Switzerland, which scored 81.82 out of 100, followed

by Singapore, the United States, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg.

Yemen placed on the bottom of the list. ■

PH looks to revitalize agri to power economy grown at its potential of 4 percent in 2018, full-year economic growth would have reached 6.5 percent, TO reverse the dismal perfor- equal to the low-end of our revised mance of the “laggard” agricul- growth target last year,” Diokno ture sector and temper high food said in a statement. He said the prices, the economic team wants sector contributed a mere 0.1 to extend greater financial support percentage point to the full-year to farmers and fisherfolk, accord- growth rate of 6.2 percent.

“Simply put, the farm sector had ing to Budget Secretary Benjamin virtually zero contribution to ecoDiokno.

“Had the agriculture sector nomic growth last year,” Diokno

by BEN

O. DE VERA Inquirer.net

added.

He said it was high time the government prioritized the agriculture sector.

“For our farmers and fisherfolk in the rural areas, higher productivity will mean higher incomes. At the same time, for consumers, this means lower prices for staple food items like rice, vegetables, fish and meat,” the budget chief added.

PAGE D2

D FEBRUARY 16-19, 2019 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

Inflation seen returning to target by Q2 – Diokno

by MAYVELIN

U. CARABALLO Manilatimes.net

INFLATION will likely return to target in the second quarter and then ease further in the last six months of the year, a Cabinet official said on Wednesday, February 13.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno told a press briefing that economic managers were optimistic that consumer price growth — which hit a nine-year high of 6.7 percent last year — would fall back to 2.0-4.0 percent in the April-June period following January’s “significant drop” to 4.4 percent.

“In fact there are scenarios where we’ll see inflation around 2 percent in the third or fourth quarter,” he added.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which expects inflation to average a within-target 3.07 percent this year after hitting 5.2 percent in 2018, has forecast a drop to below 4 percent next month.

In the wake of last year’s surge, economic managers have said that they will continue to

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno

O. DE VERA Inquirer.net

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has been tasked to collect P79.012 billion in taxes from the higher or new levies slapped on various goods under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act this year.

The target additional tax take from the TRAIN Act was included in the BIR’s overall collection goal of P2.331 trillion for 2019, according to Revenue Memorandum Order No. 9-2019 issued by Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay.

Last year, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the government had a target collection of P3.2 trillion in tax and nontax revenues for 2019, of which P181.4 billion would come from the Duterte administration’s comprehensive tax reform program.

However, the P181.4-billion collection goal from tax reform

PH exports, imports plunge; ‘external challenges’ blamed Full-year trade deficit hits record high of P41.44 billion

Manilatimes.net photo by Dante Dennis Diosina Jr.

push for full implementation of non-monetary and administrative measures to stave off supply bottlenecks said to have led to food price hikes in 2018.

The measures include preparations for a quick and smooth transition to a new import tariff regime, operationalization of the National Single Window to facilitate trade procedures, making high-value crops more adaptive and resilient to climate change, facilitating a comprehensive crop

management system, and intensifying the sustainable management of coastal and other marine resources.

The agriculture sector also needs greater attention, they added, with a particular focus on promoting resiliency and adaptability to extreme weather events.

Timely release of the unconditional cash transfers and fuel vouchers to cushion the impact of inflation on vulnerable secters was also stressed. n

BIR to collect P79.012 billion under TRAIN Act in 2019

by BEN

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The full-year trade deficit ballooned to a record $41.44 billion, 51 percent higher compared to the 2017 result.

Manilatimes.net photo by Joseph Gerard Seguia

EXPORTS plunged in December and imports also closed the final month of 2018 in the red, the government reported on Tuesday, February 12, capping a difficult year for Philippine merchandise trade.

The full-year trade deficit ballooned to a record $41.44 billion, 51.3 percent higher compared to the 2017 result and blamed by Cabinet officials on “external challenges” such as a global economic slowdown and the impact of the US-China trade war.

Outbound shipments hit $4.72

billion in December — down 12.3 percent year on year — while the value of goods bought from abroad was 9.4 percent lower at $8.47 billion, which led to the trade deficit hitting a three-month low of $3.75 billion.

December’s imports drop, however, barely dented the fullyear surge in inbound shipments, which at $108.92 billion was up 13.4 percent from 2017, and the exports plunge cemented a 1.8percent contraction — to $67.49 billion — in overseas sales of Philippine-made goods.

The full-year trade deficit of $41.44 billion is significantly higher than the $27.28 billion and $26.70 billion recorded in 2017 and 2016, respectively, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed.

“Merchandise trade in all the monitored Asian economies continued to weaken in the last month of 2018 as the region began to feel the impact of the weakening Chinese economy and the U.S.-China trade tension,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said in a statement. (Manilatimes. net) n

PH looks to revitalize agri to power...

PAGE D1 t Last year’s high inflation episode was partly caused by the shortage in food supply, especially of rice.

During last week’s meeting, the Duterte Cabinet discussed measures to pump up agriculture—for instance, the state-run Land Bank of the Philippines would look into giving small farmers better access to credit and loan facilities.

Also, the budget chief said the Inquirer.net file photo economic team was working with was supposed to come from pro- gressed in Congress, the pro- the departments of Agriculture ceeds of the TRAIN Act as well as posed reforms in the MVUC sys- and Agrarian Reform to put the from proceeds from the tax am- tem had stalled. farm sector “in a more sustainnesty and the revamp of the moAn off-shoot of the TRAIN able and less volatile growth trator vehicle user’s charge (MVUC) Law, Package 1B also includes jectory.” under tax reform Package 1B. The Department of Budget of bank secrecy relaxation and auWhile the tax amnesty proManagement (DBM) is now rePAGE D3

viewing a number of studies made by agriculture experts in order to enhance farm sector resource allocation, according to Diokno.

“One recommendation by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, for instance, is to direct more resources in improving supply-chain connectivity (such as farm-to-market roads and other infrastructure) and focusing on agricultural research and extension services. This leads to long-term productivity gains as opposed to emphasizing input subsidies [such as fertilizers and seeds],” Diokno said.

“This will take a holistic approach, both in policy formulation and program implementation.

Rest assured that the DBM will continue to play its part in ensuring that resources are allocated to most beneficial and most efficient purposes,” Diokno said.

“Agri has consistently grown at rates lower than overall economic growth, and has failed to reach its potential economic contribution despite the great number of people the agriculture sector employs. This is bad news because the poor are concentrated in rural areas where agriculture is the primary livelihood. Clearly, inadequate policies, vulnerability to natural hazards, and bureaucratic mismanagement all had a hand in the sluggish performance of the agriculture sector throughout the years,” Diokno said. n

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Peso seen weakening to 54 to $1

by DORIS

DUMLAO-ABADILLA Inquirer.net

THE peso may slip to the 54 level against the dollar by the third quarter of this year as the U.S. Federal Reserve may not turn out to be as dovish as expected by global markets while the country’s trade deficit continues to worsen.

This was the view of ING Philippines economist Nicholas Mapa, who projected the peso to reach 53.09:$1 by the end of the second quarter, weakening to 54.64 by the end of the third quarter and close the year at 54.04 to a dollar.

The local currency is seen to remain at the 54 levels against the greenback in the first two quarters of 2020.

While the peso has strengthened recently, Mapa said this was due to foreign portfolio flows to local stocks, driven by expectations of a dovish U.S. Fed. But Mapa said the Fed might not remain as dovish. “That can have a negative impact on the peso. That’s why we think the dollar will eventually move higher for the rest of the year,” he said.

“The second reason is the trade deficit will continue to outpace traditional flows of foreign currency,” Mapa said, noting that remittances would not be enough to fill the gap.

In previous years, the Philip-

by MARY

GRACE Philstar.com

Inquirer.net file photo

pines enjoyed a current-account surplus because large remittances from overseas Filipinos offset trade deficits.

These days, however, the import bill has widened as the government strived to build muchneeded infrastructure. Mapa referred to the importation of raw materials such as iron and steel for the “Build, Build, Build” program as well as capital formation with the purchase of new airplanes and machinery.

The Philippines’ main exports, electronics, are likewise affected by the U.S.-China trade tension.

Against such backdrop, Mapa said exports of other products such as tuna and mangoes were not enough to offset the adverse

impact on the trade position.

Meanwhile, ING is expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by the second quarter of this year, citing the U.S.’ “red-hot” labor market.

Robert Carnell, ING head of research for Asia-Pacific, suggested that global markets seemed overoptimistic at present. He noted that Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments at the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting were interpreted as signaling rate cuts.

“The Fed will still hike in 2019 and the best we can hope from the [U.S.-China] trade discussions is a cessation of additional hostilities, not a rewind of existing tariffs,” Carnell said. n

Philippines urged to open up fiscal space to fund social protection programs

by CZERIZA

VALENCIA Philstar.com

THE Philippines is among six countries in the Asia-Pacific region that need to open up new fiscal space to fund the minimum required investments in social protection under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The report, titled “Asia’s Fiscal Challenge: Finding the Social Protection Agenda of the SDGs,” surveyed the fiscal situation of 16 countries in the region and identified the challenges they face in building and expanding their social welfare programs.

ADB said countries in the region have a good chance of achieving the social protection agenda under the SDG if the right fiscal reforms and policies are in place.

Philippines to score higher in economic freedom index — DOF

Of these countries, several, including the Philippines, have around 20 percent of their population living below the national poverty line, thus necessitating greater spending power for social welfare programs.

Other than the Philippines, the five other countries that need to open new fiscal space to meet minimum requirements in funding social investments under the SDG agenda include India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Six other countries in region (Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Mongolia, PRC, Thailand, and Vietnam) should be able to meet their social protection agenda requirements with lesser effort as expenditure falls within the limit of their current fiscal deficit.

“Many countries still face considerable challenges in creating

the sustainable financing needed for their social welfare program, the bedrock for the success of the social protection agenda under the SDGs,” said Woochong UM, director general of ADB’s Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department.

The social protection agenda under the SDGs has four dimensions: provision of cash transfers for income security, health services, education services, and other essential goods and services.

Some of the potential sources of revenue mobilization for these countries, according to the report include increasing tax efforts, reallocating energy subsidies, and reallocating natural resource taxes.

“Majority of the countries in the study will have to revamp their policies and open new fiscal PAGE D5

PADIN

THE Department of Finance (DOF) expects the Philippines to score higher in the economic freedom index of the Heritage Foundation next year, following the enactment of various laws that set improvements on Filipinos’ property rights and trade freedom.

In his latest economic bulletin, Finance Undersecretary and chief economist Gil Beltran said the country may perform better in the 2020 Index of Economic Freedom (IEF) compared to its scores in this year’s index.

“For index year 2020, the country’s score is expected to improve significantly,” Beltran said.

He said the increase would be driven by the signing of the Personal Property Security Act, which would improve the country’s score on property rights, one of the factors considered in the computation of the IEF. He said that the approval of the Rice Tariffication Act would reduce the penalty for non-tariff barriers in the computation of the IEF’s trade freedom index.

“We recognize that government should not stand in the way of private sector participation in the economy. That is why TradeNet.ph, for example, should already be made operational to cut red tape in the processing of trade-related documents by 76 trade regulatory agencies,” Beltran said.

The Heritage Foundation defines economic freedom as the fundamental right of any person to control his or her own labor and property such that individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please and that governments allow labor, capital, and goods to move freely and refrain from constraining liberty.

Economic freedom, therefore, brings greater prosperity and is

Philstar.com file photo

associated with healthier societies, higher incomes, human development, democracy, and poverty elimination.

In the 2019 IEF, the country recorded an overall score of 63.8, landing the Philippines in the 70th ranking out of the 186 participants. This is nine notches down from its rank in index year 2018.

The IEF was weighed equally by 12 quantitative and qualitative factors – property rights, government integrity, judicial effectiveness, tax burden, government spending, fiscal health, business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom – grouped into four broad categories – rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency, and open markets.

However, Beltran said the IEF still has limitations as it “leaves out important details.”

“For example, the foundation puts a premium on small government without regard for the economy’s developmental stage; thus, there is penalty for increas-

ing government spending whether an economy is industrialized or developing,” Beltran said.

“But a developing economy may require greater government involvement in the economy as in the provision of infrastructure and social services such as basic education, health and social protection,” he said.

He said a low tax effort due to high level of tax evasion may also give a misleadingly high score in the tax burden index. Conversely, he said improving tax administration, which results in a higher tax effort, may also mean lower tax burden score.

“The foundation also does not take into account equity issues of progressive tax system. Since the IEF simply takes the highest marginal tax rate in the computation of the index, the score of the Philippines was reduced because the highest marginal personal income tax rate was increased from 32 percent to 35 percent,” the DOF official said, referring to the personal income tax reforms under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law. n

BIR to collect P79.012 billion under TRAIN...

PAGE D2 t tomatic exchange of information — tax administration measures removed by the Senate from the version of the first tax reform package passed by the House of Representatives in 2017.

For 2019, the BIR was pro-

grammed to collect P1.06 trillion in taxes on net income and other profits, P506.8 billion in valueadded tax (VAT), P400.5 billion in excise taxes, P112.4 billion in percentage taxes, as well as P177.5 billion in other taxes.

A total of P2.26 trillion must

be collected by the BIR from its operations, while the take from non-BIR operations (including final withholding and documentary stamp taxes from government securities transactions) had been programmed to reach P73.2 billion. n

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Jollibee nets 17% more in New neighborhoods now open 2018, doubles 2019 capex at Park Place in Ontario, CA

To sustain its momentum, JFC is almost doubling its capital expenditures this year to support further expansion and new investments.

Philstar.com file photo

by RICHMOND

MERCURIO Philstar.com

FILIPINO-owned fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) finished 2018 with higher profitability despite a challenging environment brought about by rising inflation rate and slower economic growth.

To sustain its momentum, JFC is almost doubling its capital expenditures this year to support further expansion and new investments.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, JFC is allocating P17.2 billion in capex this year for new stores, renovation of existing stores, and investments in manufacturing plants.

The amount is almost double the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actual spending of P9.6 billion last year, with the company launching a total of 502 stores,

the highest number opened in a year in JFCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 40-year history.

JFC saw its net income attributable to equity holders of the parent rise by 17.1 percent last year to P8.3 billion from P7.1 billion in 2017.

Systemwide sales, a measure of all sales to consumers, both from company owned and franchised stores, rose 23.5 percent to P212.19 billion from P171.76 billion in 2017.

JFCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revenues also jumped by nearly 21 percent to P158.67 billion in 2018 from a year ago.

In the Philippines, it said sales of its restaurant chains grew by more than 15 percent year-onyear behind strong contributions from new stores and same store sales growth, or restaurants that were already open for at least 15 months.

Sales from stores abroad, meanwhile, surged by 55.5 per-

cent led by the North America business. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Philippine business performed strongly in 2018 despite rising inflation rate and slowing GDP growth. Operating margin even improved slightly compared with 2017. Our foreign business grew by 22.1 percent organically (exclusing acquisitions), in line with our long term growth model. We continue to pursue our aspiration to become one of the top restaurant companies in the world,â&#x20AC;? JFC chief executive officer Ernesto Tanmantiong said.

JFC opened 317 stores in the Philippines and 185 new stores abroad in 2018. It also re-entered Malaysia with the opening of a Jollibee store in Kota Kinabalu last Dec. 15.

At the end of 2018, it was operating 3,126 restaurant outlets in the country and 1,395 stores abroad. n

Philippines urged to open up fiscal...

PAGE D3 t space, while some exhibit capability in using existing resources to increase their revenues without dramatically increasing tax rates or introducing new taxes,â&#x20AC;? said ADB principal social development specialist Sri Wening.

ADB said developing countries

in Asia have expanded their social protection programs, but are challenged by creating sustainable financing.

The Philippines, for instance, continues to be challenged by limited coverage of social insurance, covering only half of the population to date.

Health coverage by government insurance also remains be limited. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In particular, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand could generate considerable revenues from increased tax effort and reallocation of energy subsidies,â&#x20AC;? the report said. n

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