030522 - Los Angeles Weekend Edition

MARCH 5-8, 2022 Volume 32 - No. 18 • 2 Sections – 18 Pages

DATELINE USA FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

Biden pledges better nursing home care, but he likely won’t fast-track it

Indoor mask mandate lifted as LA County hits ‘low’ COVID activity

by AJPRESS

PRESIDENT Joe Biden’s top Medicare AS the two year anniversary of the coronavirus official suggested Wednesday, March 2 that forthcoming rules to bolster nursing home pandemic approaches, Los Angeles County hit a new staffing won’t be issued under a mechanism, milestone on Friday, March 4 and lifted its indoor mask known as interim final rules, that would mandate. allow regulations to take effect more or less immediately.

“While we want to move swiftly, we want to get comments from stakeholders,” Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in an interview about the overhaul Biden promised during his State of the Union address.

“Medicare is going to set higher standards for nursing homes and make sure your loved ones get the care they deserve and that they expect,” Biden said.

But Brooks-LaSure suggested the administration’s sought-after nursing home changes are not considered urgent even as nursing homes and other long-term care facilities register shocking numbers of COVID

The LA County Department of Public Health on Thursday, March 3, issued a modified health officer order after the county moved into medium or low risk for COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention community level designation.

According to the modified order, indoor masking

‘We need greater investment in our community’: Asian American women reflect on anti-Asian racism one year after Atlanta massacre

by KLARIZE

MEDENILLA AJPress

 PAGE A3

California governor’s big promises on drug prices are slow to materialize SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When Gov. Gavin Newsom took office in 2019, he promised to lower prescription drug costs for all Californians.

But now, as Newsom nears the end of his first term, his ambitious ideas — such as requiring California to make its own insulin and forging drug partnerships across state lines — have failed to get off the ground or haven’t produced the hefty savings he promised.

“There are powerful forces arrayed against us — not just politicians in Washington, but drug companies that gouge Californians with sky-high prices,” Newsom said on his inauguration day in January 2019. “Here in California, we have the power to stand up to them, and we will.”

A few months later, he vowed California would save “hundreds of millions of dollars right away — potentially billions” — by using the state’s massive purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices for California’s counties, its businesses, and other states. But so far only a few counties are participating in the program, and savings have fallen far short. Another program, which debuted Jan. 1, is intended to save the state hundreds of millions of dollars  PAGE A3

will not be required, but will be strongly recommended for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

However, face coverings will still be required in high-risk settings where federal and state regulations continue to require masking, such as on public  PAGE A2

POLL POSTER VIOLATORS. Despite the prohibition of putting election tarpaulins on power wires, many still defy the policy as seen along Ilocos Sur Street, Bago Bantay, Quezon City on Friday, March 4. The Commission on Elections has designated areas for placing election campaign posters and tarpaulins.

PNA photo by Ben Briones

LAST year, when anti-Asian violence and hate spiked exponentially due to the coronavirus pandemic, the heartbroken Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community continued demanding justice for these senseless attacks, which primarily targeted women and the elderly.

The frustrations and tragedy among the AAPI community crested on March 16, 2021 when a gunman drove to three separate Asian-owned massage parlors and shot and killed eight people, including six Asian women.

Since March 2020, the community has faced more than 10,905 attacks, 16% of which were physically violent, according to Stop AAPI Hate, the national  PAGE A2

Philippine commitment to welcome Ukrainians fleeing war commended MANILA — The United Nations Human Rights Council lauded the readiness of the Philippine government to accept Ukrainians fleeing the war.

"UNHCR commends the Philippine Government, through Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, for its swift expression of willingness to accept people forced to flee from Ukraine due to ongoing emergency," it said in a statement.

UNCHR Philippines Head of National Office Maria Ermina Valdeavilla-Gallardo said, in the same statement, that the Philippines has proven again that “it is a leader in the region when it comes to

ensuring the inclusion of refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness in Government programs and services, especially during these challenging times.”

Guevarra on Thursday, March 3 said Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion are welcome to the Philippines.

Although, to date, no request for asylum has been filed, the DOJ secretary assured the public that the applicants "will be evaluated in accordance with our laws and recently signed executive order."

This comes after President Rodrigo Twenty-five more Filipinos evacuate to Moldova amid tensions between Russia and Ukraine.  PAGE A2 Photo courtesy of Usec. Sarah Lou Arriola

Duterte relaxes rules on foreign investments 116 Filipinos still in Ukraine, around

by KRISTINA

MARALIT ManilaTimes.net

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has enacted a measure amending the country's foreign investments law to lure more businesses into locating in the Philippines.

Signed on March 2, Republic Act (RA) 11647 eases some restrictions on foreign investments to help speed up the recovery of the country's economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

Among the amendments is the reduction of the number of direct hires for foreign companies from 50 to 15 to help attract smaller President Rodrigo Duterte

PNA photo by King Rodriguez

foreign investors.

This applies to defense-related businesses like the manufacture, repair, storage and distribution of firearms, ammunition and lethal weapons, and small and micro domestic market enterprises with a paid-up capital of less than $200,000.

The old law put the investment cap at $500,000.

The amended law likewise allows foreigners to have 100 percent ownership of startups or startup enablers, enterprises involving advanced technology, enterprises where a majority of direct employees are Filipinos and there must be at least 15 such  PAGE A5

200 seafarers ‘stranded’ – DFA

by CHRISTIA

MARIE Inquirer.net

RAMOS

MANILA — One hundred sixteen Filipinos are still in Ukraine while around 200 seafarers are “stranded” amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola said.

Arriola said 209 other Filipinos in Ukraine have been accounted for, 93 of whom “were able to get out” since the crisis began.

“We only have 116 inside,” she said in an ANC interview.

Citing information from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Arriola said some 200 Filipino seafarers are “stranded” amid the armed conflict.

“Hindi naman sila yung totally nasa crossfire kaya lang medyo stranded talaga sa Black Sea area, sa may Odessa, sa iba’t ibang lugar,” she said in a separate interview over Teleradyo.

She noted that at least two cargo ships with Filipino crewmen have already been hit by a bomb or a missile.

“Kaya nagiingat na sila. ‘Di sila  PAGE A2

A2 MARCH 5-8, 2022 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

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

FROM THE FRONT PAGE

Indoor mask mandate lifted...

PAGE A1 transportation, emergency shelters, health care settings, correctional and detention facilities, homeless shelters and long-term care facilities.

Employers will be required to offer, for voluntary use, medical grade masks and respirators to employees working indoors in close contact with other workers and/or customers at sites where masking indoors is no longer mandatory, according to the Department of Public Health.

“Despite the encouraging news, people who are unvaccinated, immunocompromised, or living in low-resourced communities, continue to be at higher risk and are more likely to become seriously ill and die from COVID-19. Along with the significant protection provided by vaccines and boosters, masks add an important barrier to transmission that protects those

most vulnerable from the worst outcomes.

Therefore, Public Health, in alignment with the state, strongly recommends that individuals keep their masks on in public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status, until there is less risk for those at elevated risk,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of LA County Public Health.

Friday’s reversal as California state lifted its indoor mask mandate for unvaccinated individuals last Tuesday, March 1.

By March 11, schools and childcare facilities will no longer be enforced but will continue to be strongly recommended for students, children, teachers and staff regardless of vaccination status. School districts in LA County will have the authority to require masking at schools and at school activities.

Masking will continue to be required for those who exit

isolation or quarantine early through day 10 of their isolation or quarantine period. “Regardless of the community risk level, people can wear a mask based on their personal preference, comfort level, and informed by their personal level of risk,” Public Health said in a release on Thursday.

Several COVID-19 measures remain in place, including a city of LA ordinary requiring people over the age of 12 to show proof of vaccination before entering indoor restaurants, gyms, entertainment and recreational facilities and personal care establishments.

As of Thursday, Public Health confirmed 80 additional deaths and 1,626 new cases of COVID-19.

To date, the total number of deaths FRIDAY PRAYERS. Churchgoers offer prayers while looking at lighted candles at the St. Peter Parish: Shrine of Leaders along Commonwealth is 30,853 and 2,799,169 positive Avenue in Quezon City on Friday, March 4. Religious gatherings are now allowed at full capacity in Metro Manila which is under Alert PNA photo by Joey O. Razon cases of COVID-19 across all Level 1. areas of LA County. The positivity rate is 1.2% as of this writing. 

116 Filipinos still in Ukraine, around 200 seafarers...

PAGE A1

makapag-sail kasi baka tamaan naman yung kanilang mga merchant ships. Medyo stranded sila ngayon doon sa Black Sea or dun malapit po sa port,” Arriola said.

“Most of them, OK lang naman daw sila pero, of course, naririnig nila yung mga putukan,” she added.

The only problem for them, according to Arriola, is they could

not sail.

“Kasi nga may presence na rin ng mga armed conflict, may nangyayari na ring armed conflict doon sa dagat so medyo apektado talaga tayo ng giyerang ‘to,” she added.

“Although, malayo tayo sa Ukraine, dahil ang Pilipinas ang may pinakamaraming seafarers sa buong mundo. So halos lahat po ng mga barko na naglalayag, may Pilipino,” she also said.

So far, 19 Filipinos have already been repatriated.

Meanwhile, 19 others have crossed the border in Poland on Thursday, March 3 while 27– 21 of whom are seafarers–are now on their way to Bucharest, Romania for their eventual repatriation to the Philippines.

Four other Filipinos are now in Romania, 15 are in Hungary and nine are in Austria, according to Arriola. 

PAGE A1 Duterte signed on February 28 Executive Order that also created the Inter-Agency Committee on the Protection of Refugees, Stateless Persons and Asylum Seekers, where the justice secretary sits as chairperson.

The committee is tasked to ensure that policies on the protection of persons of concern are fully implemented and that they are given access to courts, documentation and other assistance.

The panel is also tasked to "cooperate with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or any other relevant international body in effectively implementing the Conventions, and in providing

for the protection of refugees."

'Long tradition of humanitarian assistance' The UNHRC said that the order “reaffirms the Philippines’ long tradition of humanitarian assistance for refugees and stateless persons, and contributes to the fulfillment of the country’s obligations.”

Among these are being as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, its 1967 Protocol and both the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions. The Philippines also made a pledge during the Global Refugee Forum and the High-Level Segment on Statelessness, the UN body said.

The Philippines was also one

of the signatories of the UN General Assembly resolution calling for Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

The UNCHR also said that while no Ukrainian has yet to seek asylum in the Philippines, the country “has served as a safe haven for nine waves of refugees in the past, including the Vietnamese boat people who fled the Vietnam War, and Jews escaping the Holocaust during World War III.” It added that the Philippines also previously expressed willingness to give refuge to the displaced, including Rohingya and Afghans fleeing the crisis in August 2021. (Kristine Joy Patag/ Philstar.com)

Philippine commitment to welcome...

‘We need greater investment in our community’...

PAGE A1

coalition of AAPI organizations that began gathering self-reports of anti-AAPI hate since the pandemic’s beginning.

Disturbingly, AAPI women comprised 70% of all reported harassment, according to the Stop AAPI Hate tracker. A separate poll from the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum found that 70% of AAPI women experienced racially motivated harassment or discrimination between June 2019 and January 2021.

The increased attacks, as well as the increase in awareness toward the oft-overlooked social issues plaguing the AAPI community, brought forth a fervent string of AAPIs demanding betterment for the community through policy that protects the diverse AAPI community and education.

“In terms of education and awareness, we now have more voices speaking out to help people understand the harm that racist rhetoric has on our communities,” Filipina American Maritza Etcubañez, senior director of strategic initiatives at Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), said at an Ethnic Media Services press conference on Friday, Feb. 25.

She added: “We need greater investment in our community,

including in social services, improving education, so that we can better create the conditions where people not only feel safe but are [also] able to thrive.”

In May 2021, President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law, which requires the U.S. Justice Department to establish nuanced guidance for police departments and agencies that caters to the AAPI community.

Despite the wide attention that last year’s surge in antiAAPI hate received — a surge that has certainly not quieted — ostracization and discrimination against AAPIs is historic and layered with misogyny and “othering.”

“As Asian American women, many of us felt this living in the United States long before COVID; we are constantly targeted both for our race and our gender,” Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, said at Friday’s press conference.

She detailed the harmful stereotypes that are thrust upon Asian women — stereotypes of submissiveness and hypersexuality that make AAPI women the targets of harassment and assault.

Choimorrow shared that in the 19th century, “The first Chinese

immigrant woman in the United States was brought over by a New York businessman who put her on display so that Americans could watch her eat, look at her small feet, look at her skin color or hair, and the way she talked. From the get-go of the Asian immigrant women’s experience, we were seen as entertainment or an experience to be consumed.”

These demeaning stereotypes and perceptions of the “china doll” Asian woman persist today, with many arguing that the Atlanta murders last year were a residual result of these dangerous stereotypes.

The Stop AAPI Hate movement gained significant traction last year, but because of the quickness of social media and news trends, it’s somewhat faded. #StopAAPIHate hasn’t trended in the United States in months and progress toward a safer environment for AAPIs remains slow, but steady.

And, anti-Asian harassment hasn’t stopped.

Between October and December of 2021, the hate crime tracker reported 535 incidents.

But the founders of Stop AAPI Hate continue to encourage deeper investment through community-based efforts, like bystander intervention training,

 PAGE A5

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DATELINE USA

LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • MARCH 5-8, 2022 A3

Biden pledges better nursing home care, but...

FULL PASSENGER CAPACITY. A passenger jeepney with the route Cubao Mercury - Pantranco Roces and vice versa wait to be filled with passengers at its temporary terminal in Panay Avenue, Quezon City on Friday, March 4. With Metro Manila and 38 other areas now on the loosest Alert Level 1 classification, public transportation is back to 100 percent passenger capacity on all vehicles.

PNA photo by Ben Briones

California governor’s big promises on drug...

PAGE A1 a year by consolidating drug purchasing for the 14 million lowincome Californians enrolled in Medicaid, but how those savings will materialize isn’t clear.

Newsom’s third initiative requires the state to manufacture generic drugs, but it hasn’t gotten off the ground.

Drug spending by public and private health insurers grew 5% in California during Newsom’s first year in office, according to the most recent state data available — and costs are expected to continue rising in California and across the country because of increases in both pharmaceutical prices and prescription drug use.

Yet Newsom, a Democrat who is running for reelection in November, argues that California’s initiatives are leading the nation and that realizing cost savings can take years.

Newsom’s office declined to answer questions about the cost savings shortfalls, but his administration provided written responses to some KHN queries.

Leveraging the power of government When Newsom announced that California would contract with its counties, its businesses, and other states to buy drugs in bulk — and expand existing bulk purchasing agreements across state agencies — he said the initiative would save “hundreds of millions,” if not billions.

Three years later, the state has seen some modest savings — but nothing near what Newsom predicted.

Although it seemed as though Newsom was announcing a new program to partner with California’s counties, its businesses, and other states, he was building on state drug discount agreements that predated his administration.

“The state was already doing it,” said Jane Horvath, a consultant who advises state policymakers on health care costs. “They’ve sort of opened it up to counties to participate.”

California for years has negotiated with drug manufacturers to get discounts on prescription drugs for state-run hospitals, jails, and other entities that buy and dispense drugs.

Newsom’s 2019 executive order expanded those agreements to allow other entities to benefit, akin to giving them a coupon code that is applied at checkout. Though Newsom initially said two other states were interested in joining the program, none have.

So far, three populous counties — Los Angeles, Orange, and Sacramento — have joined.

County officials and the Newsom administration say the state’s pricing agreements have saved money, but how much is unclear — they have given different figures and time frames.

The state Department of General Services, which oversees the Statewide Pharmaceutical Program, said the three counties saved about $500,000 from January 2021 to September 2021. But Sacramento County in February reported saving nearly $700,000 on drugs for its jails “in a little over a year.”

How many state agencies have banded together to buy cheaper drugs is also unclear. The Newsom administration said the California State University system joined the program and saved $476,000 over five months. The governor’s office also said the state saved $3 million over five months on mental health medications under an August 2021 bulk purchasing arrangement.

Other states have been banding together for years to get discounts.

Oregon Health Authority pharmacy director Trevor Douglass runs a drug purchasing consortium with Washington that has saved both states at least $142 million since 2016. Nevada plans to join the consortium, and Douglass said he is in talks with Delaware and Wisconsin — but hasn’t heard from California.

“I would be happy to hear from California tomorrow,” Douglass said. “I would have been happy to hear from them yesterday.”

Overhauling Medicaid drug purchasing

Starting in January, a single company started administering prescription drugs for all of California’s Medicaid patients, most of whom previously got their medications through about two dozen managed-care plans.

But the state contractor, Magellan Health, was woefully understaffed and unprepared when the transfer occurred Jan. 1, and thousands of patients were left without critical medications. The state and Magellan have worked to address some of the shortfalls, but some physicians say problems persist.

Newsom’s administration projects the state will save $414 million in the 2022-23 budget year, mostly by securing rebates from drug companies now forced to deal with the nation’s most populous state at the negotiating table. The state expects to double those savings the following budget year.

However, it’s too soon to tell whether Newsom’s experiment will succeed. Health insurance plans are skeptical, citing industry-backed studies that show high prescription drug costs in the few states that run their own programs.

“We think the assumptions, the savings, are exaggerated,” said John Baackes, CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest publicly operated health plan in the country. “That would be a polite way to say it.”

Newsom isn’t alone in pushing his state away from managed care as a cost-saving measure.

In July, Ohio will begin using a single health contractor for its Medicaid program, which the state estimates will save the Buckeye State $186 million in fiscal year 2022-23. New York is planning to make the switch in April 2023.

In Missouri, Josh Moore, the state’s Medicaid pharmacy director, said there’s no question that the state’s move in 2009 to buy drugs for Medicaid enrollees has saved taxpayers millions of dollars through rebates alone.

Today, he said, the state collects 99% of drug rebates offered by drug companies to state and federal governments, compared with the 90% to 95% that states typically claim through managedcare plans, which don’t always catch or follow up on billing errors.

“Small percentages make large numbers whenever we talk about the kind of money that we’re talking about in Medicaid pharmacy systems,” Moore said.

Diving into the generic drug market In 2020, Newsom’s proposal to create a California generic drug brand, CalRx, became law and required the state to manufacture the drugs or partner with drug manufacturers.

The law calls on the state to “enter into partnerships” to produce or distribute generic prescription drugs and at least one form of insulin. The Newsom administration is in discussions with drug manufacturers and has made some progress, but no contracts have been inked, according to prepared responses from Rodger Butler, a spokesperson for the state Health and Human Services Agency.

Vishaal Pegany, assistant secretary for the Health and Human Services Agency, told lawmakers at a hearing in January that the state is focusing on developing insulin and other generic drugs that would serve a large population, as well as drugs that are high-cost or in short supply. But the state isn’t sharing details about which other drugs California might produce, the names of the drug companies it’s negotiating with, or how long producing the first CalRx drugs might take.

The state had previously been in talks with Utah-based nonprofit drug company Civica Rx, but Senior Vice President Allan Coukell declined to say whether the company is still working with the state.

State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), who authored the 2020 generic drug bill, said California must also eventually develop the ability to manufacture

its own generic drugs. “You can’t just stand up a factory overnight and we have a learning curve, so right now we have to find a generic manufacturer that wants to play ball with California,” Pan said.

“But I hope in the long run we will stand up our own manufacturing capacity so we’re not constrained by a company willing to work with us.” (Angela Hart, Rachel Bluth and Samantha Young/Kaiser Health News) Phillip Reese, an assistant professor of journalism at California State University-Sacramento, contributed to this article.

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. 

PAGE A1 deaths. A KFF analysis estimated that more than 200,000 residents and staff members of long-term care facilities had died from COVID as of Jan. 30, amounting to at least 23% of all U.S. deaths.

“When we do interim final rules, those tend to be things that are absolute emergencies,” BrooksLaSure said when asked whether they would be considered for nursing home staffing levels, “or tight timelines.”

The White House this week said CMS will first study the issue and then propose minimum staffing standards “within one year,” but officials have been otherwise vague about timing.

When issuing regulations, federal agencies generally release a proposal and then seek public feedback before finalizing it. The entire process can take months or even years. But there’s an exception that allows newly issued regulations to kick in much faster even if the agency allows for public comment — a move that Biden officials have exercised recently when issuing a COVID vaccine mandate for health workers and implementing a ban on surprise medical bills that took effect this year.

Marjorie Moore, executive director of Voyce, a St. Louis nonprofit that advocates for long-term care residents, said “the speed of this is a little frustrating.” She said she’s seen situations where residents hadn’t had their diapers changed for days because staffing shortages are so dire.

“That’s not what we expect for our most vulnerable,” she said.

Still, she said, “I think one year, knowing that this is government stuff, may be the best we can hope for. That’s not going to be an overnight thing. We just knew there was no way.”

Biden’s proposal would amount to the biggest increase in federal nursing home regulation in nearly four decades. CMS could pursue several elements under the agency’s existing authority, such as investigating the role of private equity in the sector, increasing its scrutiny of the poorest-performing facilities, and making public more information about facilities’ finances and operators.

Some ideas would require congressional action.

They include allowing CMS to ban from the Medicare and Medicaid programs those facilities owned by people or corporations with subpar track records and to increase penalties on poorperforming facilities from $21,000 to $1 million.

Most states have standards for nursing home staffing levels, but the minimums vary widely. Some states have been criticized for granting exemptions so facilities can provide less care for each resident.

Forthcoming federal rules on staffing must be designed to avoid “unintended consequences,” said David Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, who is supportive of the effort. “Figuring out the right kind of threshold for facilities is going to be challenging.”

He said unintended consequences might come

from boosting staffing levels by disproportionately hiring nursing assistants, who earn less and have limited responsibilities, at the expense of positions for licensed practical nurses and registered nurses, or depleting resources in other important areas like housekeeping.

Brooks-LaSure declined to say whether CMS would allow nursing homes to seek exemptions, instead arguing that minimum staffing rules will “help with retention.”

“We’re hearing from staff over and over about the strain that staffing is placing on them personally and on residents.

And we have got to address the quality of care for people who are enrolled in our programs,” she said. “We want to work with industry, absolutely, to get there, but everything we hear is about what kind of strain the insufficient staffing is putting on residents and on the workers themselves.”

The industry, for its part, hasn’t minced words in criticizing Biden’s plan, especially after the pandemic exacerbated existing workforce retention problems. A February study in JAMA Health Forum found that, compared with other parts of the health sector, nursing homes experienced the greatest relative wage growth during the pandemic yet saw the biggest drops in employment.

“By singling out nursing home care for attack, President Biden is only further demoralizing struggling providers and their workers,” Brendan Williams, CEO of the New Hampshire Health

 PAGE A5

A4 MARCH 5-8, 2022 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

Dateline USa

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SFIO announces new F&B expansions in Malaysia, regional headquarters in Dubai GLOBAL investment holding company Starfleet Innotech, Inc. (SFIO) (OTC: SFIO) announced a series of expansions across new markets for their food and beverage businesses. Through their Malaysia-based team, SFIO has launched Hungry Dudes, a mall kiosk concept for cafe fare in Kuala Lumpur, with additional sites reserved for later this year.

SFIO will soon be converting these Hungry Dudes kiosks into locations for their flagship F&B business, Epiphany Cafe.

Over the next two years, the company is targeting to launch at least 100 licensed outlets, establish centralized commissaries to service them, and strike strategic partnerships with convenience stores to boost brand awareness. By the end of 2023, SFIO plans to have flagship sites for Epiphany Cafe in 10 major regions.

To that end, SFIO also just opened their regional headquarters in the United Arab Emirates, following the successful completion of their registration in Dubai. This office will oversee the conglomerate’s growth in the region, beginning with negotiations with key distributors for the company’s Gorgeous Coffee products.

SFIO’s Dubai team is now conducting market research and feasibility studies, paving the way for Epiphany Cafe’s entrance into the Middle East.

This regional office will also serve as the remote hub for SFIO’s technology division, managing the conglomerate’s subscription-based software and hardware offerings, such as the Neurosky health monitoring wearables that the company recently secured exclusive distribution rights over within the United Arab Emirates.

“We kicked off this quarter with the announcement that 2022 will be the year we begin expanding aggressively,” said CEO Jeths Lacson. “Not even halfway through the quarter, we’ve already made significant progress entering two new markets with our F&B offerings.”

“That said, it’s important to note that we are taking a ‘measure-twice, cut-once’ approach to this growth –

Lynda Johnson (center) is surrounded by her ardent supporters during her “Meet & Greet” campaign at Shadow Park Cerritos. Seated with her on her left are Lakewood Councilmember Fil-Am Ariel Pe, Cerritos Mayor Pro Tem Chuong Vo and ABC School Board Member Soo Yoo on her right. Standing wearing Lynda Johnson T-shirt is Rene Trevino.

Contributed photo

entering markets only after we’ve done the requisite studies and properly localized our playbooks,” Lacson said.

“We’re excited about all the immediate growth we’re seeing, both in terms of global footprint and shareholder value. But we want to ensure this growth is sustainable in the long-term. So, we’re investing heavily in understanding the markets we’re entering.”

To further facilitate that growth, SFIO is also building out the capacities of its Philippines-based technology division. Richard Prodigalidad, who leads SFIO’s technology efforts, describes this division as the “scaffolding supporting this period of hyper-growth”.

“Right now, we’re expanding in multiple important directions,” Prodigalidad said.

“We’re entering new markets, while also striking partnerships to fund and accelerate those expansions. Behind all that is a global team, operating across time zones and various markets. The only way to ensure this is all scalable is through technology.”

Prodigalidad leads a stable of developers, designers, project managers, and communications specialists working across blockchain, artificial intelligence, wellness technologies, e-commerce, and learning management systems.

Currently in the technology division’s pipeline is one such learning management system, designed to consolidate and streamline the training resources for businesses like Epiphany Cafe. Catering to the brands’ franchisees and employees across different

markets, this digital learning platform replaces traditional training methods, allowing for more affordable, scalable, and localized onboarding processes. In addition to being a knowledge hub for Epiphany Cafe’s franchise operations, these platforms will also see use across SFIO’s other units – offering on-demand access to the entrepreneurship master classes of The Global Academy and training courses for the real estate division’s agents.

According to Statista, the global online e-learning market is forecasted to grow exponentially to reach over $370 billion by 2026.

This growth is led in large part by the use of learning management systems, which in 2019 generated roughly $18 billion in the U.S. alone.

“Having a platform like this allows us to grow rapidly while ensuring the quality of our operations and our workforce, keeping us aligned around latest developments and shared values,” Prodigalidad said.

“Eventually, we’ll be developing this proprietary learning management system into a subscription service for other organizations like SMEs that want to scale their knowledge sharing, continuous learning, and training processes. We’re planning to roll out this subscription service by the third quarter of this year.”

In the meantime, SFIO’s learning management system will be servicing new and existing Epiphany Cafe locations across New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, and the United States as early as Q2 2022.

(Advertising Supplement)

Lynda Johnson gains key supporters as candidate for Cerritos City council Contributed by Dan

E. niño

CERRITOS, CA — With her vast and glowing experiences as paralegal and field deputy of Los Angeles County’s two branches of services, Lynda Johnson may yet be the first Filipina American woman to break the glass ceiling as councilwoman of the City of Cerritos. Election day is April 12, 2022.

Tangible signs are pointing to that direction as Democrats, Republicans and Independents and from the cross section of the community, showed their support during her official kick off campaign and subsequent meet and greet and subsequent rallies.

Over 80 people were in attendance to support Lynda during kickoff event including speakers L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, Cerritos Mayor Pro Tem Chuong Vo, Cerritos Councilmember Naresh Solanki, Cerritos Councilmember Bruce Barrows and former Artesia Mayor Rene Trevino. All spoke in earnest in support of Lynda for the Cerritos City Council who has the widest experiences in constituent engagement.

During her Meet and Greet at Shadow Park in Cerritos, Fil-Am Councilman Ariel Pe of nearby Lakewood, Cerritos Mayor Pro Tem Chuong Vo and ABC Unified School District President Soo Yoo led the batteries of speakers extolling Lynda Johnson’s readiness to be the next councilwoman of Cerritos.

Lynda has lived in Cerritos since 1971. Her father, Samuel Johnson, was born in Manila, Philippines and her mother Delia

Provido Johnson is from Jaro, Iloilo. Samuel Johnson served in the United States Navy and retired as Chief Petty Officer, Lynda’s youngest child is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, commissioned as a Marine officer and achieved the rank of captain in the United States Marine Corps.

The first woman Fil-Am candidate for the Cerritos City Council was a parent volunteer at her children’s elementary schools.

Lynda coached basketball and T-Ball through the City Council Parks and Recreation sports programs. She also served as a three-term Cerritos High School PTSA President and six years as an ABC Unified School Board member where she ensured that the district had a balanced budget and were fiscally prudent.

Professionally, Lynda has served Los Angeles County for 35 years which includes 20 years as a Paralegal with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office where she testified as an expert witness for special allegations and sentencing enhancements on felony trials. In the last five years, she served as the Field Deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn serving six cities including the City of Cerritos. In this capacity, she worked closely with the management at both the Los Cerritos Shopping Center and the Cerritos Auto Square, to ensure that they remained open during the pandemic to protect the city’s revenue stream.

As L.A. County Field Deputy, Ms. Johnson has assisted many constituents of her former boss L.A. County Supervisor

Janice Hahn and “got things done without much fanfare and braggadocio,” chorused by those she had helped.

Currently, Lynda Johnson is the Field Deputy to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, overseeing the 10 million residents of L.A. County. She maintains a satellite office out of the Cerritos Sheriff’s Station.

“Public safety is my top priority for Cerritos City and I’m in a position to ensure our concerns are heard. I share the same passion with the County Sheriff,” she enthused in an interview.

Lynda is the only candidate endorsed by Sheriff Alex Villanueva and three current Cerritos Councilmembers, who all spoke at her kick-off campaign.

She also has endorsement of four former Cerritos Mayors: Carol Chen, George Ray, Barry Rabbitt and Dan Wong, former Assemblywoman Sally Havice, ABC School Board members Brad Beach and Michael Eugenio, Lakewood Council Members Steve Croft, Todd Rogers, and Fil-Am Ariel Pe, Lomita Council Member Mark Waronek and Paramount Council Member Vilma Cuellar-Stalings.

Lynda has also gained support from surrounding cities in the Gateway Region: Bellflower FilAm Mayor Pro Tem Sonny Santa Ines as well as Council Members Ray Hamada and Victor Sanchez, Artesia Council Member and former Mayor Tony Lima.

Information on Lynda Johnson can be found at www.vote4lynda. com. She can be reached at vote4lynda@gmail.com or at 310-650-6159. g

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Duterte relaxes rules on foreign...

PAGE A1

employees.

It also establishes the InterAgency Investment Promotion Coordination Committee, led by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which will craft plans to promote the Philippines as a foreign investment destination, maintain an online database of foreign investments and local enterprises that can be partnered up, help local governments attract

foreign investments, and address concerns of foreign investors.

Under the amended law, foreign investments are encouraged in enterprises "that significantly expand livelihood and employment opportunities for Filipinos; enhance economic value of agricultural products; promote the welfare of Filipino consumers; expand the scope, quality and volume of exports and their access

to foreign markets; and/or transfer relevant technologies in agriculture, industry and support services."

Foreign investments will be considered as "a supplement to Filipino capital and technology in those enterprises serving mainly the domestic market," it added.

The new law takes effect 15 days after it is published in The Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation. 

‘We need greater investment in our community’...

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encouraging states to adopt public school curricula that Asian American studies, and electing officials who pledge to stand for the AAPI community.

“In Georgia, the first generation of Korean Americans formed the Atlanta Korean

American Committee Against Asian hate on March 17,” said Michelle Kang, general secretary of the Atlanta Korean Committee Against Asian Hate.

“During the 2021 elections, AAPIs made a tremendous effort to elect representatives who pushed the country in solidarity

to stop hate crimes and to achieve inclusion and racial equity,” Kang added. “Georgia AAPI is making a historical record having 12 progressive Asian American candidates, including young candidates in their 20s to represent all Americans.” 

Biden pledges better nursing home care, but...

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Care Association, which lobbies for long-term care facilities, said in a statement. Mark Parkinson, CEO of the American Health Care Association in Washington, D.C., said in a statement that “we cannot meet additional staffing requirements when we can’t find people to fill the open positions nor when we don’t have the resources to compete against other employers.”

Central to Biden’s plan is getting facilities to open their books to make public information about their opaque finances and operating structures. Among other moves, CMS plans to create a database to identify nursing home owners and operators.

There is an international movement to more closely monitor and improve nursing home staffing levels, staff pay, and quality of care.

To achieve that, 106 investor groups and labor unions in the U.S., Canada, and Europe that manage more than $3 trillion in assets have published staffing, pay, and quality goals for nursing homes. They are pressing large companies and real estate investment trusts that operate nursing homes to publicly disclose whether they are complying with those targets.

They seek greater financial transparency in nursing home operations.

Some of the investor groups

have told nursing home operators that if they fail to meet the expectations, they may take shareholder actions against management and ultimately divest from the companies.

But those investors and unions are facing tough challenges in getting the information they seek, said Adrian Durtschi, head of the health care section at UNI Global Union, which spearheaded the international effort.

He noted greater cooperation from nursing home operators in European countries with more heavily regulated national health care systems and stronger unions. It’s been slower in the U.S., he said, where there are so many private nursing home companies.

“Transparency is key for investors to make good investments, and unions need it for good negotiations,” Durtschi said. “But it’s generally not easy to access the information.

Some companies are willing to disclose it, while others are more resistant.”

Biden’s plan could inspire others to enact similar disclosure laws and regulations, he added.

For instance, French authorities are under pressure to toughen nursing home oversight following revelations of severe quality-of-care problems at nursing homes run by Orpea, a large publicly traded operator of high-end facilities. As a result, some investment funds have

reduced their nursing home holdings.

“Demands for higher standards, more transparency, and more union rights,” Durtschi said, are “great to see.”

In the U.S., Brooks-LaSure said CMS can use its leverage.

“As part of our requirements to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid program, we have authority to require entities to report information to us,” she said.

However, Grabowski, noting the industry’s skill at staying steps ahead of the government and weak agency enforcement, said that “it sounds like a great objective, but it’s going to be really challenging.”

“I’m a little skeptical they’ll make the necessary investment,” he said of CMS. One advocate for vulnerable older adults, who’ve especially suffered during the pandemic, saw hope in Biden’s statement.

“Nursing homes getting literally three lines in the State of the Union is profound,” said Dr. Michael Wasserman, a geriatrician in California. “Let us stop and realize that the White House has recognized improving quality in nursing homes as a priority.” (Rachana Pradhan and Harris Meyer/Kaiser Health News) This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. 

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OPINION

FEATURES

Containing aggression

THE international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is instructive of what’s in store for states that behave on the premise that might makes right.

This week Switzerland adopted the sanctions slapped by the European Union on Russia. The Swiss have stressed that their move is compatible with their tradition of neutrality. Russia has engaged in an “attack on sovereignty, freedom, democracy and the population and institutions of a free country,” according to Swiss President Ignazio Cassis.

“Playing into the hands of an aggressor is not neutral.”

While no country has directly engaged in military intervention to assist Ukraine in stopping the invasion, Russia has faced a slew of sanctions. It has been cut off from the global SWIFT bank messaging system and several countries particularly in Europe have closed off their airspace to Russian flights.

Effective Feb. 28, Switzerland froze the assets of 363 Russian individuals and four companies, including President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Swiss banks, which as of 2020 reportedly held $11.24 billion in Russian assets, are now barred from doing new business with those on the blacklist, and five oligarchs believed close to Putin face travel bans.

The United States has imposed financial and technology sanctions on Russia, but has held off on including Putin directly and banning Russia from the SWIFT system.

Russia is fighting back, vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the invasion. Switzerland has said it is bracing for Russian retaliation through energy supply disruptions and cyber attacks. On Wednesday, March 2 the UN General Assembly was poised to vote on a non-binding resolution that no longer “condemns” but instead “deplores in the strongest terms the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine.” The resolution is still “condemning” Putin’s move to put Russian nuclear forces on alert.

Russia has invoked “self-defense” in the invasion, but this has been rejected by much of the global community. The Philippines supported the UN General Assembly resolution and expressed “explicit condemnation” of the invasion.

Ukraine, armed with weapons partly supplied by sympathetic states, has put up strong resistance to the invasion. The conflict, however, has displaced many of its people, and Russian bombardment has hit even Ukrainian

Editorial

civilians and killed children. The conflict has rattled global markets particularly crude oil trading; the Philippines itself is reeling from surging fuel prices. The global community

must send a message in the strongest terms that this invasion will turn the perpetrator into an international pariah, with all its dire consequences. (Philstar.com)

President Joe Biden’s first year: The State of the Union is ‘strong’

The Fil-Am Perspective GEL SANTOS-RELOS AMID the scare of more uncertainties about the future and the threat to international security, President Joe Biden on Tuesday, March 1, delivered his first State of the Union Address and told the American people: “The State of the Union is strong—because you, the American people, are strong.”

This declaration is Biden’s way of acknowledging that all the gains made in the past year since he took office were made possible by the collective effort of the American people, whose help and cooperation he sought as we started building the country back better from the rubbles of the Trump presidency.

After his speech, a new NPR/ PBS NewsHour/Marist survey “finds he is seeing a significant boost in his approval ratings across the board following his State of the Union address and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.”

National Public Radio (NPR) reported: Overall approval rating jumped to 47%, up 8 points from the NPR poll last month.

Presidents don't generally see much, if any bounce, out of a

Commentary

ENRIQUE

Philstar.com photo

DE LA CRUZ

THIRTY SIX years ago, early in the new year of the tiger, the Filipino people deposed a hated dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, who had to flee for his life, like a coward, under cover of darkness. Aided by the U.S. Government, Marcos and his family fled to Hawaii, where he would spend the rest of his life.

This new year — of The Tiger — seems to be opening with a different story from that of 36 years ago, when a relatively bloodless revolt deposed a dictator.

This month an authoritarian power, Russia, is invading a fledgling democratic country with a land area no larger that the State of Texas, but with a much, much smaller economy.

Russia’s economy is ranked 11th in the world, while Ukraine is 50th.

Russia’s invasion is unprovoked yet Putin claims that Ukraine is a threat to Russian national security. Russia’s invasion is unprecedented since the 2nd World War when Hitler began invading neighboring countries in Europe.

State of the Union address.

Since 1978, there had only been six times when a president saw an approval rating improve 4 points or more following State of the Union addresses, according to the pollsters. Three of those bounces were for former President Bill Clinton.

Ukraine handling is up 18 points to 52%.

Coronavirus pandemic handling is now 55%, up 8 points.

Economic handling up 8 points to 45%.

More details as reported by NPR: Biden appears to be benefiting from a rally-aroundthe-Ukrainian-flag moment. A whopping 83% of respondents said they support the economic sanctions the U.S. and allies have leveled against Russia. That includes 8 in 10 Republicans.

More than two-thirds (69%) said they would still support the sanctions even if they result in higher energy prices. That includes 4 in 5 Democrats, three-quarters of independents and almost 6 in 10 Republicans.

Biden has warned that Americans, who are already feeling the pinch from higher prices resulting from inflation, will likely see higher gas prices because of the Russian invasion

and resulting sanctions.

Biden continues to face challenges as well. While his rating on the economy, for example, has improved, a majority (53%) still disapprove of how he's handling it, and a slim majority (51%) think his foreign policy decisions overall have weakened America's standing on the world stage.

And Americans have various concerns about the escalating crisis in Ukraine: About 4 in 5 said they're very concerned or concerned about cyberattacks on the United States and that the conflict will spread to a wider war in Europe.

Seven in 10 are worried that nuclear weapons will be used.

Older Americans, those 45 and older who lived through the Cold War, were 14 points more likely to show that concern.

Americans are split on whether Biden's approach has been about right (46%) or too cautious (43%). Just 6% said he has been too aggressive.

When he ran for the presidency, Biden promised the American people that he will work hard to save lives from the threat of COVID-19 and lead the country toward building our lives and our economy better from the economic challenges and the threat to life by the

ongoing pandemic.

As the United States passed the 900,000 death toll on February 4, 2022, Biden said in a statement: We now have more tools than ever before to save lives and fight this virus — with vaccines remaining our most important tool. Vaccines and boosters have proven incredibly effective, and offer the highest level of protection. Two hundred and fifty million Americans have stepped up to protect themselves, their families, and their communities by getting at least one shot — and we have saved more than one million American lives as a result.

We can save even more lives — and spare countless families from the deepest pain imaginable — if everybody does their part. I urge all Americans: get vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, and get your booster shot if you are eligible.

It’s free, easy, and effective — and it can save your life, and the lives of those you love.

On the economic front, the numbers show how Biden has shepherded the country toward economic recovery.

According to AmericanProgress.org, “2021 was an extraordinary year of economic growth and recovery. The country saw record job gains and an unprec-

edented drop in unemployment.

The economy likely grew faster than in any year since 1984, as measured by real gross domestic product (GDP). In 2021, the economy not only regained all pandemic-related GDP losses—it also surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Despite elevated inflation, Americans’ disposable incomes were higher in 2021 in real (inflation-adjusted) terms than they were in 2019 and 2020.”

“Additionally, by many important measures such as savings and bank balances, Americans are more financially secure. The United States also made dramatic progress in lowering its exceptionally high rate of child poverty,” the report stated.

Despite these gains, the rising inflation rate hurts us all more and makes it harder to really feel the economic boom.

Even Biden acknowledged it in his speech. But economists say that there's not that much Biden can do about inflation as whether it goes up or down is largely in the hands of the Federal Reserve, which is responsible for interest rates.

Darrick Hamilton, an economist at the New School in New York, said context is key.

"We just experienced the

deepest decline on record. And likewise, the quickest recovery on record," Hamilton explained.

He added, "A lot of that had to do with an intervention from the government that allowed us to withstand that pandemic. So there's going to be inflation.”

Some economists point to last year's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package known as the American Rescue Plan as one of the reasons behind the inflation seen today, but the alternative could have been more dangerous. They fear that without the COVID-19 relief money, the economy would have spiraled into a recession.

How would you rate Biden's first year in office? ***

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

*** Gel Santos Relos has been in news, talk, public service and educational broadcasting since 1989. She was a news anchor, TV host and radio commentator and public service host for ABS- CBN and DZMM. She is now working on her advocacies independently, serving the Filipino audience using different media platforms. You may contact her through email at gelrelos@icloud.com, or send her a message via Facebook at Facebook.com/Gel. Santos.Relos. Also on Twitter, Instagram: Gel Santos Relos

The Philippines, Ukraine, and the Year of the Tiger We know the outcome of the People Power Revolution against Marcos. The People Power Revolution of 1986 set an example globally of how people, when they come together and coalesce in the thousands can overcome obstacles that appear insurmountable, and force a democratic transition often ignored by those who wish to remain in power. It demonstrated quite literally how people power, or the power of ordinary people — not armies--can bring about revolutionary change.

During his 1995 visit to the Philippines, Václav Havel, revolutionary idol of the Czechoslovakian uprising and later president of the Czech Republic, took note that People Power had been an inspiration to him and his fellow Eastern European dissidents. People Power has come to symbolize a peaceful, spontaneous popular uprising that topples authoritarian rulers without resorting to violent revolution.

What we are seeing in this year of the tiger is the use of war for political gain and territory.

Putin claims that NATO, a military alliance of Western European countries, having

added a few Eastern European countries to its ranks after the break-up of the Soviet Union, notably Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and etc., is now a threat to Russian national security. This may well be, if NATO Countries were hostile to Russia. This is a big if, since NATO countries are interconnected with Russia via economic and cultural ties.

E.g., much of Europe, especially Germany are heavily dependent on Russian natural gas exports.

And in some cases, such as the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) joint projects require sharing of information and technology.

Cooperation and the settlement of conflict through diplomacy and negotiation are really the norms thru which war is avoided and the peace is kept.

Russia and Putin have violated this norm thru the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s Ukraine invasion is at best a high risk gambit that NATO countries will not be able to craft a unified pushback against the invasion.

After days of fighting, all indications are that the invasion has unwittingly pushed NATO

member countries whose relations have been somewhat contentious lately, to adopt uniform economic sanctions against Russia.

Even worse vis-à-vis Russia is that some member countries have been pushed to re-armor themselves.

Germany and Norway have broken with long standing tradition to not give arms to parties in conflict; they are now going to send arms to Ukraine. Germany is also significantly increasing its military budget. With Putin’s threat to use its nuclear arsenal, and Ukraine expressing some regret over giving up its nuclear arsenal upon the break-up of the Soviet Union, some countries may now seek nuclear capability as a deterrent to aggression. Ukraine most likely doubly regrets letting go of this arsenal since it gave it up over Russia’s assurances that it will respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Putin’s war on Ukraine harkens back to medieval times when warlords grabbed territory from their weaker neighbors without risking negative repercussions for their aggression. Putin started doing this with Ukraine in

2014 by invading and annexing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

Now he wants to do it to the entire country.

But this is not the Middle Ages. We are so much more interconnected today. We are tied together by a globalized economy and its network of supply chains.

Information, knowledge, and our social bonds are globally nurtured via the internet and various social media platforms.

And not the least is global migration: most likely there is someone in your circle that has a connection with Ukraine (we have a colleague who adopted Ukrainian children).

The invasion of Ukraine affects everyone (have you been to the pump lately?), every country, and most especially those who have direct economic ties with Russia.

The flip side to this interconnectedness is empowerment.

We can do something.

The ultimate outcome of Putin’s war against Ukraine and the fate of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government still lies beyond the horizon, but it has re-unified the NATO alliance, and more

importantly, it has unified Ukraine. Even Russian speaking Ukrainians are speaking out against the Russian invasion, dispelling Putin’s claim that he is doing this for Russian Ukrainians (who, he claims are oppressed in Ukraine). Russian soldiers are allowing civilian protesters to stop their tanks, reminiscent of when unarmed Filipinos stood in harms way to prevent the advance of Marcos loyalist tanks.

Aside from NATO member countries who are crafting economic sanctions, corporate giants like Shell and British Petroleum (BP)who hold investments with Russia are disinvesting. Exxon-Mobile is ending operations in Russia while Boeing is withdrawing from Russian aircraft projects.

Elon Musk has assured Ukraine’s continued internet access via its starlink system of communications satellites.

Smaller countries are adding their voices to the protests by pointing out that Russia’s aggression violates the “sovereign equality of states,” a guiding principle of the United Nations.

The invasion of Ukraine is

 PAGE A8

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A7

Philippines should get fair share in 1951 PH debt breaches P12 trillion, seen Mutual Defense Treaty, says JV Ejercito exceeding P13 trillion by end of 2022 by anGELiC

B. JoRDan

by BEn

o. DE VERa Inquirer.net

Inquirer.net

MANILA — Former senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Thursday, March 4 said the Philippines and the United States should benefit equally from the mutual defense treaty between the two countries.

“As the name of the treaty suggests, Mutual Defense Treaty, dapat po ito ay pantaypantay. We are considered the little brown brothers of the United States of America and one of their staunchest allies,” Ejercito said during the latest SMNI Senatorial Forum at the Okada Hotel in Parañaque City.

Despite some initial reservations about the move, Ejercito said he eventually saw the wisdom in President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to withdraw from the accord, arguing that the Philippines has been getting the short end of the stick when it comes to military aid.

“Nagtaka rin ako nung una, bakit si President Duterte, bakit di niya gusto ang Amerika? Pero looking back at the military aid, they gave us five, 10 million, probably 30 million dollars in military aid. When you look at other countries, hundreds of

Senatorial aspirant Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito joins the SMNI senatorial debate held on Thursday, March 4.

Inquirer.net photo

millions of dollars. And yet, we are supposed to be staunchest ally. Pag sinabing Pilipinas, kakampi agad ng Amerika,” he said.

“They have to equip us with (military) equipment just like a partner does. Dapat strategic partner tayo. Dapat pantaypantay, hindi po bilang isang maliit na kapatid,” he added.

Signed in August 1951, the mutual defense treaty between the Philippines and the United States bound the two countries to support each other should one of them be attacked by

external threats.

The Philippines withdrew from the accord in February 2020, but back-pedaled on its decision after a few months.

Ejercito said the Philippines should pursue stronger ties with its regional neighbors in countering China’s growing aggression.

“Aside from the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States, we can already forge alliances with Australia, Japan, UK, and other Asian countries that have disputes with China,” he said. 

papuntahin ngayong March 28 sa Washington para mag-usap-usap lang,” Duterte said in a speech in Ilocos Sur. (When ambassador [Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel] Romualdez went there, he told me, and he was holding this letter from Biden. ASEAN leaders, about nine of us, are invited to go t Washington this March 28, to talk.)

In the same speech, Duterte said he does not like the “arrogance of the Americans.”

“Ako naman, I do not hate the people, may anak ako na American citizen, asawa ko OFW sa Amerika, so wala akong rason but siguro narinig na ninyo

many times over sa TV that I just don’t like the arrogance of the Americans,” Duterte said.

(Me, I don’t hate people, I have a child who is an American citizen, my wife was an OFW in America, so I don’t have reason but maybe you have heard many times, I just don’t like the arrogance of the Americans.)

The president also said he does not like armed foreign soldiers in the country.

“The Americans, ayaw ko. Ayaw kong may sundalo na foreigner–be it an Arab, European, ASEAN soldiers or bearing arms, ayaw ko sila sa bayan ko kasi magulo pati ayaw

Duterte says Biden invited him, other ASEAN leaders for summit in Washington by nEiL

aRWin MERCaDo Inquirer.net

MANILA— President Rodrigo Duterte said he, along with other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders, were invited by U.S. President Joe Biden for a summit in Washington.

Duterte said the meeting is set to happen on March 28.

“I must be frank with you, nung nagpunta yung ambassador natin, si [Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel] Romualdez, sa akin, sabi niya, dala-dala n’ya yung sulat ni Biden. Kaming mga ASEAN leaders, about nine of us,

 PAGE A8

MANILA — As the national government’s debt climbed to a new high of P12.03 trillion in January, repaying obligations that piled up amid the prolonged pandemic will require higher revenues through tax reform being proposed by President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic team to his successor.

Data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Friday, March 4 showed outstanding debt breaching the P12-trillion mark for the first time in January.

The additional P301.1-billion debt from end-2021’s P11.73 trillion was a result of more local and foreign net borrowings at the start of the year, the Treasury said in a statement.

Domestic debt, which accounted for bulk or 69.6 percent of total, grew 2.4 percent month-on-month to P8.37 trillion after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) extended the P300-billion provisional advances to the BTr for budgetary support to the national government.

In all, a net of over P197 billion was borrowed locally in January, also taking into account the treasury bills and bonds that matured during the month. Yearon-year, domestic obligations climbed 14.2 percent from P7.33 trillion in January 2021.

Foreign debt increased 2.9 percent month-on-month to P3.66 trillion. The BTr partly blamed the higher external obligations to the weaker peso, which added P11.2 billion to the pile. But the BTr said P2.4 billion was subtracted by debt denominated in other foreign currencies which strengthened against the US dollar. The peso depreciated to P51.135 against the greenback in end-January, from P50.974:$1 last December.

The BTr added that the Philippines also borrowed a net of P94.9 billion from foreign creditors in January.

This pushed external debt to jump 22 percent year-on-year from over P3 trillion in January 2021. The share of foreign

debt to total was nonetheless a lower 30.4 percent, as the Philippines had been prioritizing local borrowings to not only temper forex risks but also take advantage of oozing liquidity in the domestic financial market.

A closer look at January debt data showed that it remained what the Duterte administration’s economic team had described as “manageable” and “sustainable” — obligations were mostly denominated in the local currency, plus the majority had long-term tenors or maturing in over 10 years.

BTr data showed that of the P12.03-trillion debt in January, P8.35-trillion worth or 69.4 percent were pesodenominated. By type of instrument, debt securities— like T-bills and bonds issued here and abroad—amounted to P10.06 trillion, while loans from bilateral development partners as well as multilateral banks accounted for the remaining P1.97 trillion.

In terms of maturity, longterm debt amounted to P7.93 trillion (67.6 percent of total); medium-term obligations maturing between one and 10 years reached P3.05 trillion (26

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL RAIL AUTHORITY RFQ NO. MTL2204550 OmniSwitch Spares The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA) is seeking quotes for OmniSwitch Spares. Bid documents may be obtained at https:// metrolinktrains.com/doing-business (free registration).

Electronic Bids are due at 2:00 P.M. (PT) on March 24, 2022.

For further information, contact Brian Jacob, Senior Contract Administrator, at (213) 452-0316 or jacobb@scrra.net.

3/5/22 CNS-3559963# ASIAN JOURNAL (L.A.)

percent); and short-term debt that matures in less than a year amounted to P744.6 billion (6.3 percent).

The BTr had said that the government will borrow P2.2 trillion this year, of which threefourths were to be raised from the domestic debt market.

This year’s borrowings will further hike the debt stock to a record P13.42 trillion by end2022, from P11.73 trillion in 2021.

With expectations of 7 to 9 percent growth this year, the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was expected to slightly ease to 60.4 percent of GDP from the 16-year-high

 PAGE A8

LOS ANGELES COUNTY METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (LACMTA) INVITATION FOR BID LACMTA will receive Bids/ Proposals for OP85232 - HVAC Industrial Water Treatment Services at the 9th Floor Receptionist Desk, Vendor/Contract Management Department, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

All Bids must be submitted to LACMTA, and be filed at the reception desk, 9th floor, V/CM Department, on or before 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday, March 28, 2022, at which time bids will be opened and publicly read. Bids received after the above date and time may be rejected and returned unopened.

Each Bid must be sealed and marked Bid No. OP85232.

For a copy of the Proposal/ Bid specification visit our Solicitation Page on our Vendor Portal at https://business.metro.net or for further information email Marc Margoni at margonim@ metro.net.

3/5/22 CNS-3561544# ASIAN JOURNAL (L.A.)

A8 MARCH 5-8, 2022 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

Dateline PHiliPPineS

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PH debt breaches P12 trillion, seen exceeding...

PAGE A7 

ALMOST COMPLETE. Presidential Chief Protocol and Presidential Assistant on Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Robert Borje (2nd from left) and Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian inspect the construction of the China-funded Binondo-Intramuros Bridge in Manila on Thursday, March 3. Once finished, the bridge will be one of the newest landmarks in Manila with its iconic basket-handle tied steel arch.

PNA photo by Avito Dalan

Robredo: ‘Insult’ to Church to suggest it’s being used for politics

by XAVE

GREGORIO Philstar.com

CAVITE — Vice President Leni Robredo pushed back against insinuations that she is using the Catholic Church to bolster her political standing, saying that it will not allow itself to be used by politicians.

“I think that’s an insult to the Church,” Robredo told reporters in Filipino in Dasmariñas, Cavite on Friday, March 4.

“I think the Church will never let it be used. The Church is a stronger institution than us politicians and it will never allow itself to be used just because of Priests at St. Augustine parish in Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro pray over Vice President Leni Photo courtesy of VP Leni Media Bureau their inclination for a politician.” Robredo during her visit on Thursday, March 3.

The independent presidential is different, our problem is sectors in the Catholic Church to candidate said she thinks the the same if false propaganda support presidential candidates, Church is actively involving itself becomes the reason why our particularly Robredo. in politics since it recognizes how elections would lose integrity,” “They can preach moral crucial the upcoming elections Robredo said. values. But to use the church are.

The Catholic Bishops itself as a focal point for a rally, “It’s not just about siding with Conference of the Philippines is that's not acceptable. And we a politician, but the morality not endorsing any presidential saw that on TV, there were of our nation is what’s at stake candidate, but has come out leaflets and pink propaganda here,” Robredo added. with a pastoral letter warning materials in front of the altar.

Robredo said she is seeking against historical revisionism That sends a different message the help of the Church to help particularly of the brutal martial already,” Domagoso’s political her fight disinformation — which rule of the Ferdinand Marcos Sr. strategist Lito Banayo said in independent fact-checkers say Marcos’ son and namesake is Filipino in a press briefing on she is the top target of — in the also running for president and Thursday, March 3. hopes of tapping its machinery to is enjoying a wide lead in preBanayo, however, admitted combat falsehoods. that they, too, seek meetings election surveys.

She added that the fight The campaign of Manila with bishops.Earlier in February, against disinformation is not Mayor also courted Isko Moreno Domagoso limited to the Church and groups Domagoso, standard-bearer of members of the Catholic supporting her but is open to all Aksyon Demokratiko, raised charismatic group El Shaddai as sectors. eyebrows at what it called the he joined the religious group's “Even if their candidate “unacceptable” move of some worship service. 

60.5 percent last year. Among emerging markets like the Philippines, debt watchers deemed outstanding obligations remained manageable at 60 percent of GDP. The Department of Finance (DOF) will come out with the fiscal consolidation package to repay and lower the country’s debt while narrowing the budget deficit, also at a record high, that was inflicted by larger expenses but weaker tax and non-tax revenues amid the prolonged pandemic.

The DOF’s chief economist Gil Beltran on Friday told the Inquirer that Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, who heads Duterte’s economic team, will soon announce the proposed fiscal consolidation strategy. For Beltran, “there is a need for another tax reform to boost revenues.”

The Duterte administration these past six years undertook a comprehensive tax reform program which had a mix of new and higher taxes slapped on consumption while reducing personal and corporate income taxes, plus tax administration improvements.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic which weakened revenues, the Philippines borrowed more, securing a total of $2 billion in low-interest loans from multilateral lenders last year to buy vaccines and booster shots, en route to vaccinating the majority of the population for free.

The government had also obtained concessional borrowings to implement programs and projects supportive of recovery from the pandemic-induced economies slump.

With a combination of high debt, wide budget deficit yet still recovering revenues, the fiscal consolidation proposal to be pitched to the next administration may include new or higher taxes, spending cuts on non-priority sectors, as well as economic growth drivers to spur larger revenue collections.

DOF data last Thursday, March 3 showed that while the share of 2021 expenditures to GDP hit a historic high of 24.1 percent, the revenue effort remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Beltran said the decline in total revenue-to-GDP was partly

due to the implementation of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, which slashed big and small companies’ income tax rate so they could reinvest their savings while the economy recovers.

The CREATE Act cut to 20 percent, retroactive to July 2020, the corporate tax rate slapped on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), faster than the tax reduction among large firms to 25 percent from 30 percent previously, which had been the highest in Asean.

Beltran also pointed to the non-recurrent non-tax revenues last year, which dragged the revenue effort lower to 15.5 percent of GDP in 2021 from 15.9 percent in 2020 and 16.1 percent in 2019.

Last year’s non-tax revenues fell by almost a fourth to P65.8 billion even as the amount exceeded the target by nearly three-fifths after collections normalized unlike in 2020 when the national government squeezed more dividends from state-run corporations to fund COVID-19 response at the onset of the pandemic. 

Duterte says Biden invited him, other...

PAGE A7 

ko lang,” Duterte said.

(I don’t want foreign soldiers, ASEAN soldiers or bearing arms, I just don’t want it.)

“I just want Filipino policemen and Filipino soldiers roaming around the country na nagdadala ng baril at armas,” he added.

In June, the Philippine government extended for another six months the suspension of the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

The VFA, which took effect in 1999, provides a mechanism for visiting American soldiers

and serves as the foundation for military exercises and humanitarian work.

Duterte ordered the termination of the VFA in February 2020 after the United States canceled the visa of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, the President’s longtime ally. n

The Philippines, Ukraine, and the Year...

PAGE A6 

pushing the world towards a new geopolitical and economic order whose major outlines are still developing. A major aspect of this order is the moral condemnation of war mongers.

Another aspect is the growing realization that our interconnectedness means that we can do something. And if we do it in concert, we might effect change.

When the year of the tiger dawned upon the Philippines 36 years ago, it unified Filipinos against a hated autocrat. An army general, and Marcos’

Defense Secretary declared open rebellion against Marcos.

Filipinos unified with them; their creative and spontaneous actions, such as bringing food to the rebel soldiers in Camp Aguinaldo; priests talking soldiers into joining the rebels; unarmed civilians putting themselves in harms way against a convoy of tanks and other acts of unarmed resistance brought down the Marcos dictatorship.

Putin’s war is a violent conflict, where lives are being lost along with horrific human suffering and untold damage to places of human habitation. But

I am hopeful that this new year of the tiger will reaffirm a lesson from 36 years ago, that a unified people (of global proportions this time) can prevail over the actions of a war mongering autocrat.

February 28, 2022 *** The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.

••• Enrique de la Cruz is Professor Emeritus of Asian American Studies at Cal State University, Northridge.

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Asian Journal

WKND

Saturday, MARCH 5, 2022

LIFESTYLE CONSUMER GUIDE COMMUNITY MARKETPLACE

Lola’s wrong advice resulted in many years of family separation, this Sunday on Citizen Pinoy MIKE missed the chance to bring his kids to the U.S. due to wrong advice from his wellmeaning mother.

Mike was petitioned as single by his mother, but she told him not to bring his children along, since their birth certificates had a date of marriage listed.

Many erroneously assume that a date of marriage on the birth certificate of a child born out of wedlock can be fatal to their case if they are being petitioned as single. This episode proves that is not true.

Watch how leading U.S. Immigration Attorney Michael J. Gurfinkel was able to bring Migs and Myki to the U.S. under their grandmother’s petition, despite a date of marriage on their birth certificates.

Don’t miss this success story on an encore episode of “Citizen Pinoy” on Sunday, March 6 at 7:00 PM PT (10:00 PM ET thru select Cable/ Satellite providers). Citizen Pinoy is also available on iWantTFC. Viewers may download the app for free.

(Advertising Supplement)

Olivia Rodrigo, Saweetie, H.E.R. shine at Billboard’s Women in Music event

By Klarize

Medenilla AJPress

IT was a night for the Pinays at Billboard’s Women in Music event on Wednesday, March 2 when pop music’s It Girl, Olivia Rodrigo, along with rapper Saweetie and multi-talented musician H.E.R. were honored with accolades.

All three are among the biggest names in music right now — and all happen to be Filipina Americans — and stole the show on Wednesday night at an empty SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

The yearly event, appropriately taking place at the start of Women’s History Month, honors artists who also perform their top hits. Rodrigo was honored

SINGLE PARENT LEAVES CHILDREN BEHIND BECAUSE OF DATE OF MARRIAGE ON THEIR BIRTH CERTIFICATES, THIS SUNDAY ON CITIZEN PINOY. Mike (2nd from left) was petitioned as “single” by his mother and wanted to bring his children with him to the U.S., but his mother said, “leave the kids behind,” since their birth certificates had a date of marriage. Unfortunately, that decision resulted in many years of separation for Mike and his children. Leading U.S. Immigration Attorney Michael J. Gurfinkel (right) was able to bring Mike’s son, Migs (left), and daughter, Myki (3rd from left), to the U.S. under Lola’s petition, despite a date of marriage on their birth certificates. Watch this success story on an encore episode of “Citizen Pinoy” on Sunday, March 6 at 7:00 PM PT (10:00 PM ET thru select Cable/Satellite providers), right after TV Patrol Linggo.

Arci slays at New York Fashion Week runway

By lora

Mae reyes Inquirer.net

Olivia Rodrigo received Woman of the Year at Billboard’s Women in Music event on Wednesday, March 2.

Photo from Instagram/@

with the event’s top accolade, Woman of the Year, while Saweetie received the Game Changer Award and H.E.R. received the Impact Award.

Rodrigo — who was awarded

the Woman of the Year award after a stellar year — shared touching tributes to the women in music who paved the way for them and noted the strong PAGE B2

CATEGORY is: rockstar eleganza!

Filipina actress and singer Arci Muñoz slayed the New York Fashion Week runway as she walked for style e-commerce Hekka Fashion and performed for the audience.

Muñoz took to Instagram her excitement on rocking the New York Fashion Week runway.

The actress posted her runway

photo, where she donned a green jacket with an all-black ensemble underneath, and captioned it with, “Maaaa!!!!! @mommychooky look! yer daughter Rocking ze New York fashion week Runway!!!”

In addition to walking the runway, Muñoz closed out the show by belting out the lyrics to Guns N’ Roses’ hit song ‘Sweet Child of Mine.’ The social media platform Uplive Philippines posted a video of Muñoz’s musical performance.

Uplive wrote: “We got a “rockstar” on the runway! @ramonathornes wowed everyone with her lively performance. She sang Sweet Child of Mine, and at the same time, she gave us a graceful walk to show us the Uplive x Hekka collaboration.”

Muñoz is no stranger to performing in front of a live audience as she’s the vocalist of the Filipino band, Philia, a 5-piece metalcore band based PAGE B2

B2 MARCH 5-8, 2022 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

EntErtainmEnt

TKO returns with a big bang, live at Pechanga Theater!

IT’S gonna be another evening of fun-filled laughter, excitement and family entertainment and togetherness at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California.

T.K.O. (Tawanan! Kantahan!

Overload!), comes back with a bang come Saturday, March 5, 2022, to perform live at 8p.m., at the halls of Pechanga Theater with tons of jokes and antics to kick off your New Year.

Pechanga Resort Casino is well-known for hosting the best and the brightest Filipino entertainers and provides a wholesome entertainment to the delight of the crowd and patrons of the casino.

Fan-faves Bugoy Drilon and Kris Lawrence will appear as special guests of the T.K.O troupe — Negi, Wacky Kiray, and Rufa Mae Quinto.

Negi and Wacky Kiray commonly do various comedy streaks in both local and national scenes while making waves in the Filipino American comedies.

Highly acclaimed by her followers and audience, Rufa Mae Quinto will render special performances with matching songs and laughter that will surely wow the crowd. As an entertainer, she has done various comedy shows in both local and international scenes.

Bugoy Drilon and Kris Lawrence – both winners in reality television singing competitions in the Philippines – have the ability to capture the hearts of the audience with their

songs and performances.

Mark your calendars on March 5 with the number one entertainment hub in Southern California- Pechanga Resort Casino at Temecula, California.

Tickets starting at $38 may be purchased by calling 888-8108871 or via online at www. pechanga.com.

Shows in the Pechanga Theater offer a comfortable and intimate concert experience.

With 1,200 seats in its theater, each show features state-ofthe-art, acoustically perfected sound, plus comfortable chairs and an up-close view from every theater seat.

Pechanga Resort Casino offers one of the largest and most expansive resort/casino experiences anywhere in the United States. Voted the number one casino in the country by

USA Today and rated a Four Diamond property by AAA since 2002, Pechanga Resort Casino provides an unparalleled getaway, whether for the day or for an extended luxury stay.

Pechanga offers more than 5,000 of the hottest slots, table games, world-class entertainment, 1,100 hotel rooms, dining, spa and golf at Journey at Pechanga, Pechanga Resort Casino features a destination that meets and exceeds the needs of its guests and the community. Pechanga Resort Casino is owned and operated by the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians.

For more information, call toll free (877) 711-2946 or visit www.Pechanga.com. Follow Pechanga Resort Casino on Facebook, Instagram and on Twitter @PechangaCasino.

(Advertising Supplement)

Arci slays at New York Fashion...

Arci Muñoz

PAGE B1 in Manila.

Apart from Muñoz, numerous personalities and influencers attended the Uplive x Hekka Fashion NYFW 2022 Runway Show, including Canadian-South African model Maye Musk, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s mother, Google’s Head of Strategic Planning Abigail Posner, and media personality Jailyne Ojeda.

Before slaying the New York Fashion runway, Muñoz has been making her appearances left and right in the international scene. The Filipina actress-singer made her red carpet debut during the premiere of the 2022 comedy film Jackass Forever. She was, later on, seen with fellow Photo from Instagram/@ramonathornes Filipinos Ruby Rodriguez, Apl.de.Ap, and J. Rey Soul.g

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FASGI fundraiser features Becca Godinez THE Filipino American Service Group, Inc. (FASGI), a non-profit organization in Historic Filipinotown dedicated to serving the Filipino community, will kick start a year of raising funds to support on-going programming. In its 40th anniversary, FASGI has helped millions of individuals through programs that include mental health education, naturalization application assistance, arts incubation, health and wellness, and assistance to WWII veterans. FASGI has also implemented programs to deal with COVID protocols and prevention.

Together with Individual Health Care Services, Inc., FASGI will be executive producing its first concert featuring actress/singer Becca Godinez.

Entitled “Becca Godinez: In My Life,” the concert is Becca’s most intimate show to date as she revisits her time as one of the Philippines’ most indemand performers during the 1970’s and 1980’s.

This musical journey will trace Becca’s career from hit-music recording artist, concert singer, television host, and thespian with Repertory Philippines. Joining her on stage are special guest artists Mike Monserrat (dancer/choreographer and member of the original “Penthouse 7” crew), Spanky Rigor (co-founder/musician of the 70’s hit group VST & Company), Broadway actors Jennifer Paz (“Evita,”and “Songs for a New World”), Red Concepcion (“Miss Saigon,”and “Priscilla Queen of the Desert”), Nicole Santiago (“Mama Mia” and “Criers for Hire”) and Natasha Kaiserman (Becca’s daughter), who will be making her L.A. concert debut.

Becca will also be joined by guest vocalists Charmie Morales, Leah Auditor and Tina Cruz.

Myke Gonzaga, one of the most in-demand musical directors, leads the band which also features Abe Lagrimas, Jr. (drums), Bryant Simpson (bass), Sandro Rebel (keyboards) and Michael Seaman (piano). The concert will also feature a special virtual appearance by Cocoy Laurel, one the Philippines’ legendary actors and Becca’s co-star in many theatrical productions. When asked what the audience will experience, Becca said, “Gosh, my career spans about 50 years!! I chose each guest because they were all part and parcel of what I’ve done as a performer – from hosting TV shows, to being a theatre artist.”

FASGI’s Executive Director Yey CoronelAlcid stated, “The FASGI Board wants all our fundraisers to be memorable and fun. We know that this concert will truly entertain because it combines Becca’s talent, charisma, and energy with her showmanship, creativity, and style.

More importantly, Becca understands and shares FASGI’s passion in helping those in need to lead richer and more fruitful lives.

It is important for FASGI to raise additional funds because most of our programs have either limited or no funding. Our clients become part of the FASGI family, so we commit to care for their needs and provide the utmost quality in services. We embrace our motto, “Happy to serve; Honored to help!” Any funds raised will go towards additional services for seniors, human trafficking survivors, and artists/ performers with our Arts Incubator Program.

We will also create a revolving loan fund for US citizenship applicants who find costs prohibitive; and resume the Kalayaan Festival, a whole day of medical and holistic healing for physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.”

Co- Executive Producer Trinity Foliente, owner of Individual Health Care Services said, “I have known and partnered with FASGI since Yey Coronel became Executive Director in 2015. Under her leadership, I have seen FASGI’s dedication to serving the Filipino American community increase and expand. FASGI always goes the extra mile to help the community in any way possible. They are dependable and efficient and never cease to amaze me.”

Tickets for the one-night-only concert on Saturday, March 12 are $100/$60/$45 and can be purchased by contacting Yey Coronel 818-271-

Filipina actress and singer Becca Godinez

0901 [phone/text] and Trinity Foliente 818-4552132 [phone/text] or via email at admin@fasgi. org. Special balcony pricing of $25 is available for seniors, military, and students by calling 818271-0901. Tickets are also available at the Aratani Theatre website by visiting www.jaccc.org or by calling 213-680-3700.

FASGI’s Acting Board Chairperson, Celina Taganas-Duffy is excited for the concert. “Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to see Becca perform. She’s truly amazing and we’re honored she’s headlining this benefit concert to raise funds and further FASGI’s mission to provide vital services to our community.” She is joined on the Organizing Committee by Co-Chairperson Ronnie Cross (FASGI Board Member), Mae Abeleda (FASGI Board Treasurer), Ferdinand “Bong” Soriano (FASGI Board Member), Ethel Provido (FASGI Program Director), Evelyn Andamo (Principal, Westin Enterprises, Inc.), Ethel Rubio (Principal/Owner, Ethel G. Rubio Assoc. AIA, PRO, Kalayaan Incorporated, Community Leader), Rosalie Caratao (Community Leader) and Thelma Sugay (President, Filipino American Press Club of California).

FASGI and Individual Health Care Services are honored to have LA City Commissioner Dr. Cris B. Liban and his wife, Benel Se-Liban (Managing Partner of JBC Group, LLC) as the presenting sponsor for the show. Other sponsors include Asian Journal; Joel & Luchie Pengson, Eleos The Cognitive Center of Southern California, MVCMG – the Moreno Valley Community Medical Group; Joel A. Pengson, M.D., A Medical Corporation; Josie Jones, Admiral Home Health Inc., Admiral Hospice Care and Alpha Hospice Care; Ronson Provido, P.E., Century Engineers, Inc.; D-1 Productions, MonteMaria Cellars; and BayaniPay. The Aratani Theater strictly follows current State, County and City COVID protocols, which change daily. To maintain a safe environment for the artists and the audience, patrons should be prepared to wear masks once inside the theater for the duration of the entire show and may be asked to present valid vaccination cards. The venue will not accept negative COVID tests results. Patrons should be vaccinated and/or boosted prior to entering the theater.

For more information on the concert, please visit The Filipino American Service Group, Inc. at www. fasgi.org. Becca Godinez: In My Life is produced and directed by LXV Enterprises, LLC to benefit the Filipino American Service Group, Inc. g

Olivia Rodrigo, Saweetie, H.E.R. shine...

PAGE B1 female camaraderie within the industry today.

“It’s not always easy being a young woman in the music industry, but I’ve found so much strength from the female songwriters who have come before me and paved the way and open doors for so many young women like me,” Rodrigo, 19, said after receiving the Woman of the Year award from country icon Sheryl Crow.

Rodrigo said, “I wanna say to all the young girls out there who are writing songs every day, in their journals, on their bedroom floors — I am constantly moved by your vulnerability and your creativity and bravery. And I promise everyone here today is working to make this world and this industry a better place, for you.

The event aired a pre-recorded performance by Rodrigo, who performed “Deja Vu,” the hit second single off the young artist’s immensely popular debut album, “SOUR.” In addition to Rodrigo’s performance, Saweetie (born Diamonté Valentin Harper) performed her new single,

The Oscar and Grammy Award-winning R&B artist H.E.R. added another accolade to her name as she received the Impact Award at Billboard’s Women in Music event.

Photo from Instagram/@hermusicofficial

Wednesday, she paid tribute to her Filipina mother, saying, “I want to thank my mom for teaching me to stay humble, be grounded and be hardworking.”

Saweetie’s mother, Trinidad Valentin, is also Filipina and introduced her daughter before her “Closer” performance, saying she is a “force to be reckoned with.”

Valentin recalled asking her daughter what she plans to do if the music career doesn’t take off, to which Saweetie told her, “Mom, there is no Plan B.” Valentin then affirmed this, saying before her daughter took the stage, “Here’s to not having a Plan B, baby girl!”

After receiving the Game Changer award, Saweetie said in her speech that with her music, she “would rather be changing the weather than to report on it. My frequency of gratitude is vibrating at an all-time high!”

She then thanked her family, friends, and fans for “supporting Saweetie takes a mirror selfie with her Pinay mom Trinidad Valentin. The “ICY GRL” rapper me throughout my roller coaster journey because this sh*t ain’t received the Game Changer Award at Billboard’s Women in Music event.

Photo from Instagram/@saweetie easy.” g “Closer,” in an electric retro 70s-inspired performance that didn’t include the song’s collaborator, H.E.R. However, H.E.R. (born Gabriella Wilson) took to the stage by herself later on with an acoustic performance of her song “Fate.” The 24-year-old last year won an Oscar for the social justice anthem “I Can’t Breathe” and in her speech on

LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • MARCH 5-8, 2022 B3

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Why do sophisticated investors prefer Pahrump, Nevada?

THERE are many reasons why people go to Pahrump, Nevada.

Time Magazine did a poll on projected population growth or loss by percent for the period 1980 to 2000, entitled “America in The Year 2000,” which said that the State of Nevada, one of the most rapidly of all is growing states then, was expected to increase its population from about 800,000 to almost 2 million by the start of the 21st century.

In 1996, there were 30 million tourists that came to Las Vegas. According to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, each tourist spent an average of $300 which meant $9 billion in gross revenues for the city. Additionally, the estimated population of Nevada in 2021 was approximately 3.14 million, with Clark County estimated to be at 2,388,515, for a growth rate of 1.73%.

What is the effect of this population boom in Las Vegas? It creates a large demand for Pahrump land. In fact, many residents of Las Vegas are now moving out and relocating to Pahrump, many of whom are my clients. Not all of them are retirees. Many still work in Las Vegas but preferr to live and raise their families in Pahrump where they believe it is peaceful, tranquil and a great place to raise their kids.

The major reasons cited for their preference in Pahrump over Las Vegas are heavy traffic, crowded classrooms and the growing crime rate.

Pahrump is about 60 miles from Las Vegas and is an estimated 45- to 55-minute drive. Pahrump is dubbed as the “bedroom community of Las Vegas” not only to seniors but also for the young as well. Pahrump is a perfect example of an “EXURB”. Many are aware of the words suburban and urban communities. An “EXURB,” according to Harry Dent, a well sought economist and advisor to major 500 Fortune companies, is an area that is between 60 to 80 miles away from a center of development that has hit a million in population or more. The County of Clark where Las Vegas is located just hit 3.14 million in 2021, and it is still growing.

Celebrating with my clients, Jorge and Reggie Bondoc of Houston, Texas, after getting their Certificate of Eligibility (COE) on a commercial lot.

The Time Magazine report in 1983 showed that Nevada was one of the few states with a projected population growth of more than 100%.

Among the many factors that contribute to the tremendous growth of the valley include the Sun Belt climate, improvements in Highway 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump, better medical facilities and the rapid influx of retail businesses. For instance, Walmart and Home Depot employ a large number of Pahrumpians.

According to reliable source Silverton Hotel may break ground in May and the Spring Mountain Motor Sports is building many of its presold million-dollar homes, including those already built featuring a 26,000-square-foot house with 17 bathrooms.

Another job on the pipeline is the glove factory to be built on a 10-acre parcel by my investor, Andrew Hoang from Orange County, CA, which will create hundreds of jobs in Phase 1. Also, notable is the Front Sight that attracts hundreds of members

Fely Quitevis (extreme right) with Hung (SBA Loans) and Annie Yeh who bought commercial lots near Highway 160.

and tourists each month that create room shortage in Pahrump.

With several banks, casinos, wineries, drugstore outlets and all burger chains (except In and Out Burger), Pahrump almost has everything. Many huge projects in neighboring Las Vegas under construction such as The Sphere, and the Drew Hotel with proposed grand opening next year with 3,000 rooms and about 6,000 jobs, will definitely attract thousands of new residents and heavier foot traffic for Las Vegas, which is one another huge reason why old-time residents are moving out to Pahrump.

Precious Properties is a full-service company serving its clientele since 1992 and can be reached at 775-513-8447, 805-5592476 and 702-538-4948. We have investors who buy houses in California and Nevada for cash and quick escrow in as short as 7 days. Realtor Fely Quitevis with Alka Products CEO/President Andrew Hoang, who is (Advertising Supplement) building a glove factory in Pahrump.

A young investor, IT specialist Chris Dela Cruz of San Antonio, Texas, with Fely Quitevis.

Realtor Fely Quitevis (2nd from left) with Philippine Realtor Bing Palma Gil Roldan and repeat investors Jorge and Reggie Bondoc, the King and Queen of

B4 MARCH 5-8, 2022 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

EMPLOYMENT

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EMPLOYMENT

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LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • MARCH 5-8, 2022

Renouncing the evil of war in Ukraine Pastor’s Notes reverend rodel G. BAlAGtAS RUSSIA’S invasion of Ukraine, causing the horrific destruction of human lives and the country, has stunned the world. The Holy Father calls it diabolical and urges us all to pray for the end of this aggression against Ukraine and peace in the world.

On Ash Wednesday evening this past week, our parish responded to the call of the Holy Father to dedicate a special Holy Hour of Prayer for Ukraine.

Thanks to those who came to pray for this intention. We continue our earnest prayers for the people of Ukraine.

As I reflect on this ongoing tragic event, I cannot help but think of our common humanity and our solidarity with one another. We hurt when we see other people fleeing their countries and being denied human rights. Seeing the bombings in Ukraine and the fleeing of thousands of people, including children, from their

homeland breaks our hearts and puts us to tears. This sin against humanity should have never happened! As Pope Francis said: The one who makes war forgets humanity. He doesn’t look at the concrete life of people, but he puts before this all the partisan interests of power. He entrusts himself to the diabolical and perverse logic of arms, which is farthest from the will of God, and he distances himself from ordinary people who want peace.

We decry and renounce this evil that the Russian government inflicted upon Ukraine. Deep in our hearts, we know when something is evil. It’s because we have the Law of love on our lips and in our hearts. As St. Paul tells us in his Letter to the Romans this Sunday: Brothers and sisters: What does Scripture say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart—that is, the word of faith that we preach—, for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Jesus came to sanctify our mouths, minds, and hearts, configuring them according to his holy will. It’s why he teaches us to forgive our enemies, to love even those who are not related

to us, and to do to others as we would have them do to us.

As we celebrate Lent this year, we pray for the softening and sanctifying of the hearts of world leaders to bring peace and order to our world. We pray for the end of the threat of war and the use of nuclear arms. We pray for the demise of autocracy in all countries that deprive people of their freedom and human dignity.

The temptations of inordinate power and wealth really exist in the minds and hearts of some people. It’s the fundamental reason for chaos, poverty, and inequalities in our world. That’s why Jesus showed resistance to these temptations in the Gospel this Sunday. So may all leaders in governments, business, and yes, even in the church receive the grace of belief in Christ to resist these worldly temptations and renounce all forms of evil!

Peace! *** The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff. *** Fr. Rodel “Odey” Balagtas is the pastor of Incarnation Church in

Arjo to Maine as she turns 27: ‘Looking forward to celebrating all your birthdays with you’

By Dana

Cruz Inquirer.net

ARJO Atayde looked into the future with actress Maine Mendoza as he greeted her on her birthday, talking about how he wishes to celebrate all her birthdays with her.

The actor wished Mendoza a happy birthday while showing himself with the actress on his Instagram page on Thursday, March 3.

“Mahal na mahal kita (I love you very much). Looking forward to celebrating all your birthdays with you! Happy happy birthday, Baba,” he told Mendoza.

Meanwhile, Mendoza toasted her 27th birthday by showing herself holding a glass of

for the birthday greetings and wishes,” she said.

Mendoza received birthday greetings from her fellow celebrities including Atayde’s mother Sylvia Sanchez, singer Regine Velasquez and TV host Iya Villania, among others.

Mendoza and Atayde celebrated their third anniversary in December last year. The actor confirmed his relationship with Mendoza in January 2019, while the actress followed suit and revealed they were “exclusively dating” in March 2019.

Atayde admitted in his interview Maine Mendoza and Arjo Atayde Photo from Instagram/@arjoatayde with Julius Babao last October 2021 that he sees Mendoza as “the champagne on her Instagram one” for him and that they have page. talked about getting married in the “Cheers to 27! Thank you all future. g

B5

Personal injuries and your rights at work Protecting Employee & Consumer Rights Atty. C. Joe SAyAS, Jr. Q: I WAS severely injured in a recent car accident while returning to work on an errand.

I had to undergo multiple surgeries. I missed several weeks of work and will need more time off for treatments. I am afraid to tell my employer about my need for more time off because I might be fired. What can I do?

A: You need to notify the employer immediately about the need for more treatments related to your injuries or medical condition.

In this way, you are protected from any adverse action that may be taken against you at work.

Once notified of your medical condition or the need for more treatments related to a medical condition, the employer is obligated by law to engage you in a timely, good faith interactive process to determine if reasonable accommodation can be made.

There are several instances where an employee’s personal injuries (whether these injuries happened at work or outside work) lead to violations of the employee’s rights. Consider the following situations: • The employer denied the employee’s request to take time off to undergo treatments. Employers with 5 or more employees are prohibited from denying the right to use medical leave, or for disciplining, discharging, demoting, suspending, or discriminating against an employee for using such leave for themselves (or to attend to an ill family member).

• The employer denied the employee’s request for reasonable accommodation.

The employer must engage in a timely, good faith interactive process to determine if reasonable accommodation can be made for a disabled employee to accommodate restrictions.

Sometimes, granting an additional short-term extension of an approved leave may constitute reasonable accommodation.

• After filing a request for family or medical leave (or after filing a worker’s compensation claim), the employee experiences an adverse employment action, such as demotion, decrease in pay, decrease of work hours,

action such as being assigned to unfavorable assignments, given difficult-to-achieve deadlines, being written up, demoted, stripped of supervisory responsibilities, laid-off, or fired.

• The employee was fired for “excessive absences” even though the employee provided doctor’s notes for these absences.

Employees who have been seriously injured face difficult challenges, including having to miss work in order to get treatments. These efforts to get the employees’ health back in order to rejoin the workforce is protected by law. If the employee was let go based on a disability or medical condition, the employee can sue for wrongful termination.

The employee may be entitled to the following: reinstatement, back pay, loss of earnings, damages for emotional distress, attorneys’ fees and costs, and punitive damages in certain instances. *** The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff. *** The 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) 291-0088 or visit www.joesayaslaw.com. [For more than 25 years, C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. 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 a past Presidential Awardee for Outstanding Filipino Overseas.]

“Employers with 5 or more employees are prohibited from denying the right to use medical leave, or for disciplining, discharging, demoting, suspending, or discriminating against an employee for using such leave for themselves (or to attend to an ill family member).” loss of benefits, assignment to unfavorable tasks, suspension, or termination. Such actions violate California law.

• The employer retaliates against the employee for filing a worker compensation claim, or some other claim, by withholding the payment of all the employee’s wages due on the last day of employment. The employer must immediately pay all compensation due, and ensure that the employee receives the payment.

• After the employee requests intermittent leave or comes back from leave, the employee experiences an adverse employment

B6 MARCH 5-8, 2022 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL

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How to put a handle on too much debt Modifying down child and spousal

IS there such a thing as “good” debt? Sure there is.

Debt can get you a higher education and get you a profession.

By higher education, I mean college and graduate school, including the professions. Let’s say you’re about to graduate from high school and you want to become a medical doctor, a physician.

You have to hurdle two steps.

First, get into college and get the minimum requirements to apply for med school. You need to get credits for several science subjects like chemistry, physics and biology, among other prerequisites. Get a respectable college GPA and science GPA. About a 3.5 would do for both.

Try to get a higher science GPA if you can, maybe a 3.7. That helps a lot in getting into U.S. med schools. The problem of course is that lots of guys who get into college get a taste of freedom that they never had before. They don’t live in their parents’ house because they get to live either in a dorm or an apartment near the university. Every day there’s a party with lots of drinking and drugs. That’s just the way it is.

This is genius among us So amidst so much temptation it’s really not easy to get the GPA you want even if you have the brains for it. But if you want to get into med school here, you have to discipline yourself and focus. Sure you can have all the fun you want, but don’t neglect studying hard. You may not want to be a physician. You might want to be an engineer, or a CPA or an IT guy. You can’t just “wing it,” unless you’re a certified genius. There are actually geniuses around you know.

I know our class valedictorian is a genius. I mean, he has a mutant brain. He got straight A’s in grade school, high school, and college (summa cum laude) in Physics. Then he went on to get a doctorate degree in a computer-related field. His father lived to 105, and his mother is still going strong at 105 right now.

I mean, he’s got great genes.

There’s research that shows that in the year 2088, the average height of people on earth will be 6’10” and people will have smaller mouths. How come? I don’t know. Maybe with smaller mouths, people eat less so obesity will be a thing of the past.

With small mouths, people will

Debt Relief

Atty. LAwrence yAng drink food with straws. Basketball players will have an average height of 10 feet.

‘Good debt’ You can get student loans to pay for college and med school.

By the time you graduate from med school, you will probably owe $250,000 to $300,000 of student loans. But once you are done with your specialization, you can easily pay the $300,000 in a year or two. But not all medical specializations are created equal. Surgeons make a lot more than GPs or pediatricians, especially specialized surgeons like for example, neurosurgeons.

Then, student loans are an example of “good” debt because they let you become productive and set you up for life on the right track. Don’t ever make the mistake of trying to get into med school if you don’t have the talent for it. You will end up with a lot of loans that you can’t pay back because you can’t pass the medical board exam. So, assess your talents objectively.

Getting a mortgage to buy a house is also “good” debt. It gives your family shelter and the value keeps going up.

‘Bad debt’ So when I say how do you put a handle on too much debt, I’m talking about “bad” debt. Credit card debts are “bad” debts without question. Their interest rates are way high at over 20%.

They don’t serve any purpose except to satisfy impulse satisfaction.

More income to pay down bad debt How do you handle $50,000 of credit card debt? You need $1,500 a month to keep them current. One way is to make more money and pay them down significantly every month. If you make $2,000 more net a month, you can pay the principal down by $6,000 a year. So in 9.5 years, after paying about $200,000 of interest and principal, you will owe zero on year no. 10. The problem is it’s not that simple to make another $2,000 of income a month. Maybe you can

drive Uber for six hours after work every day to make $2,000 more a month. But maybe you’ll have to buy another car because your old car won’t keep up and we don’t know if your not that young body anymore can keep up either.

Chapter 7 and 13 Or, you can file a Chapter 7 and just wipe out the $50,000.

Or, you can file Chapter 13 and pay a portion of the $50,000 over three to five years. They have differing eligibility qualifications.

Seriously, if you don’t put a handle on the $50,000 now, you will have a miserable future. If you can’t get more income, the $50,000 will grow at the rate of $20,000 a year of new debt if you just borrow from Peter to pay Paul. So by the end of 2022, you will owe $70,000 of credit cards, not $50,000. For $70,000, you will need $2,100 a month of minimum interest payments to keep them current. Your credit cards will mutate into something harder to handle. Indeed it will become a money-eating virus that will be fatal to your financial stability. Not good at all for you and your family.

If you have debt problems, set an appointment to see me but mask up and get the booster first. I got the booster and always double mask when I see clients. Court hearings have been done telephonically and by zoom since 2020.

It also helps to pray to our God, Jesus and the Blessed Mother Mary for divine protection against the virus, and financial problems, because we have a God who loves us and showers us with infinite mercy. All we have to do is humble ourselves and pray. *** Disclaimer: None of the foregoing is considered legal advice for anyone.

There is absolutely no attorney-client relationship established by reading this article. *** 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 20274 Carrey Road, Walnut, CA 91789 or 1000 S. Fremont Ave., Mailstop 58, Building A-10 South Suite 10042, Alhambra, CA 91803.

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support obligation after a divorce

Barrister’s Corner Atty. Kenneth UrsUA reyes DIVORCED parties are sometimes ordered to pay child support and spousal support in the divorce judgment. The support orders are generally based on the parties’ financial situation and custody arrangements at the time of the settlement or trial. However, what if your income decreases after the divorce or what if your spouse’s income increases after the divorce due to a promotion or a better paying job? Do you have the right to modify your support obligation?

If your income has gone down substantially from the time that the child or spousal support determination, you may be able to file a modification of your support obligation. Losing a job or having less income constitutes a material change of circumstances that would allow the court to modify down your support obligations.

Child support in California is based on guideline formula. One of the factors that is considered in the guideline formula is your gross income. Usually the court would look at several months or

even an average of the last 12 months income. If your average income has decreased, you may be able to modify your child support to a lower amount.

Bear in mind that there are other factors that come in the equation such as the amount of actual timeshare you spend with your child and the income of the other parent. If the other parent’s income has gone down, this may adversely affect your child support obligation.

Spousal support may also be modified unless you stipulated in a divorce judgment that it is non modifiable. However, spousal support are usually calculated differently than guideline. The court will look at other factors in deciding whether to modify this.

Those factors are listed in family code section 4320.

If you are unemployed, the other party may be expected to try to impute income on you.

However in light of the recent cases in California, they would have to prove that you had the ability and the opportunity to obtain employment.

If your income has gone down or your spouse’s income has increased as a result of a new job, a promotion, or you got laid off or hours cut, it may be possible to modify both your child support and spousal support obligation.

Without modifying the order, the current order will continue to be in effect and the same amount

will accrue regardless of whether your income declined or your spouse income increased. It is important to file a post judgment request for order to modify support as soon as your financial situation changes. *** 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, APLC 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, APLC. is located at 3699 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 747, Los Angeles, CA, 90010.

Tel. (213) 388-1611 or e-mail kenneth@ kenreyeslaw.com or visit our website at Kenreyeslaw.com.

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Can bankruptcy be avoided before it’s too late?

ARE your finances stressing you out? For a lot of people, financial concerns can be their number one cause of stress. We are living in difficult financial times and a lot of people are worried about how they can get by from month to month.

But worrying doesn’t really solve anything. If you feel that your finances are out of whack, it’s time to take charge and to hold yourself accountable for the results. Sure, there are certain things that are beyond your control. But unless you take responsibility for where you are, you will remain powerless to change anything in your life.

Here are two steps that may help you reduce your money stress: (1) Be prepared: You can’t spend more than you earn and then complain how unfair it is that there is never enough no matter how hard you work. Keep in mind that life happens to all of us, and financial challenges will always come, sometimes when you least expect them. I think the key to surviving the tough financial times is to always be prepared for them.

As I tell my clients all the time, it is not a matter of “if”; it’s a matter of “when” the financial storms will come. Let me ask you this: How prepared are you financially should there be even just a temporary disruption in your income? I understand how

Minding Your Finances Atty. rAymond BULAon hard it may be for you to save money when you don’t even have enough money to pay your bills. Maybe you can’t even make the minimum payments on your credit cards, let alone put aside a couple of hundred dollars a month in savings.

I see a lot of people who have monthly automatic savings deductions from their paycheck that go into a designated bank account.

However, before next paycheck, they withdraw the money from their savings account anyway because they are always short and they wouldn’t have enough to cover all their bills. So although they are doing their best to save, the automatic paycheck deduction becomes a futile exercise.

(2) Think before you act: The decisions you make today can impact your life not only in the months to come but possibly in the years to come. Before spending your hard-earned money on anything, or before you buy anything on credit, ask yourself these questions: Do I really need it? How much am

I willing to sacrifice in order to make this purchase and what will be the impact on my overall financial health?

See, a lot of people spend their money mindlessly without thinking of the long-term consequences of their actions. If you make the wrong move, you and your family can suffer in ways that you can’t imagine. Don’t set yourself up for a lifetime of financial hardship by making rash decisions that can only put you in a deeper financial hole that you’re already in.

If you’re struggling with debt problems and would like to figure out all available options to get your finances back in order, let me help you. Call 1-866477-772 for more information.

NOTE: Due to pandemic safety concerns, I am offering free consultations BY PHONE to anyone who needs help in dealing with their debt problems. *** NOTE: Due to COVID-19 pandemic, I am offering free consultations BY PHONE to anyone who needs help in dealing with their debt problems. *** None of the information herein is intended to give legal advice for any specific situation. Atty. Ray J. Bulaon has successfully helped over 6,000 clients in getting out of debt. For a free attorney evaluation of your situation, please call RJB Law Offices at TOLL FREE 1-866-477-7772.

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Why Gigi doesn’t drink salabat for her voice

By Alex

BrosAs Inquirer.net

problem DEALING WITH INSURANCE CLAIMS? We’ll take it.*

SINGER Gigi de Lana does not believe in taking salabat (ginger tea) to protect her voice. For her, it just doesn’t work, because she looks after her voice through other ways.

De Lana was asked about how she takes care of her voice during the online press conference for the “Domination” tour with her band, The Gigi Vibes, on Tuesday, March 1.

“Actually, napahinga ko talaga ang boses ko ngayon.

Pinahinga ko siya totally,” she said. (Actually, I rested my voice now. I rested it totally.)

She also confessed that she’s not the type of singer who would rely on remedies or drinks like salabat (ginger tea) to protect her voice.

“Hindi ako naniniwala doon.

Para maingatan mo ang boses mo, maintain mo ‘yung pagkanta mo. Mag-vocalize ka, magpractice ka, proper technique kasi ‘yung mga iniinom-inom na ganyan, I don’t believe in that.

Hindi siya nagwo-work for me,” she explained.

(I don’t believe in those practices. To take care of your voice, you have to maintain your singing. You vocalize, you practice, use proper technique, because drinking this and that, I don’t believe in those. It doesn’t work for me.)

She clarified though that she

Gigi de Lana

doesn’t discount the effects of traditional remedies for those who find these useful in their singing, because she’s only speaking for herself. Instead, she emphasizes the need for rest, drinking lots of water and practicing everyday.

“Domination” is ABS-CBN Events’ first live concert with a live audience at the venue since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. Joining ABSCBN Events is Resorts World Manila as co-producer. The concert will also have a special streaming on KTX.ph on April 23 to allow fans abroad to watch it as well. Fans can avail tickets at P8,000 (platinum), P7,000

Photo from Instagram/@gigidelanaofficial

(SVIP), P6,000 (VIP), P5,000 (gold), P3,500 (silver), and P1,500 (bronze). Online viewers can purchase tickets from www. ktx.ph.

De Lana is one of 2021’s breakthrough stars who headlined YouTube Music Night and was featured as one of the performing artists in 1MX Dubai last December. She welcomed 2022 with a bang with the release of her self-titled debut album featuring her hit single “Sakalam.” She also recently gave life to “Nasa ’yo Ako” from the official soundtrack of “Viral Scandal,” and “Bakit Nga Ba Mahal Kita” in the OST of “Hello Heart.” g

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