031721 - Southern California Midweek Edition

March 17-19, 2021 Volume 31 - No. 19 • 14 Pages

Los Angeles County relaxes COVID More Californians now eligible for restrictions with move into red tier DATELINE

USA

FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

COVID-19 vaccine Expanded to residents with disabilities, certain health conditions

STARTING this week, approximately 4.4 million more Californians are eligible to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

As of Monday, March 15, individuals who are 16 to 64 years old with disabilities and certain high-risk health conditions can sign up to receive their vaccine.

Conditions include: • Cancer, current with weakened immune system • Chronic kidney disease, stage 4 or above • Chronic pulmonary disease, oxygen dependent • Down syndrome • Solid organ transplant, leading to a weakened immune system • Pregnancy

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CA launches rent relief program for tenants, landlords CALIFORNIA has announced the launch of a statewide COVID-19 rent relief program, intended to help income-eligible households pay rent and utilities, both for arrears and future payment.

Supported by the Federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, the CA COVID19 Rent Relief provides financial assistance to income-qualified tenants experiencing housing instability and provides rent reimbursement to landlords for unpaid rent accrued between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.

Landlords who participate in the CA COVID-19 Rent Relief program can get reimbursed for 80% of an eligible renter’s unpaid rent between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, if they agree to waive the remaining 20% of unpaid rent during that specific time period.

Requirements include: 1) All payments must be used to satisfy the renter’s unpaid rent for the period between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021; 2) renters must take

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by CHRISTINA

M. ORIEL

AJPress

LOS Angeles County this week gave the green light for several business and activities to operate indoors, including restaurants, gyms and movie theaters, as it moved into the less restrictive red tier un-

der California’s reopening plan.

As of Monday, March 15 — a year after the county’s first COVID-19 related health order — restaurants could reopen indoors at 25% maximum capacity and with additional restrictions, such as one household per table with a limit of six diners and eight-feet distancing between tables.

The county Department of Public Health urges restaurant employees to have additional masking protection, such as N95 masks, KN95 masks, or double masks, in addition to the required face shield.

These changes come as LA County, along with

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Pope Francis celebrates 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines

by RITCHEL

MENDIOLA AJPress

POPE Francis on Sunday, March 14 led a Holy Mass commemorating the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines.

Held at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Mass was attended by several members of the Filipino Church including Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the pope’s vicar for Rome.

“Dear brothers and sisters, 500 years have passed since the Christian message first arrived in the Philippines. You received the joy of the gospel, the good news that God so loved us that He gave His Son for us. And this joy is evident in your people. We see it in your eyes, in your songs and in your prayers,” Pope Francis said in his Homily.

He also noted that Filipino women in Rome are “smugglers” of faith, saying that they “sow the faith” wherever CELEBRATION. Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle thanks Pope Francis and the Catholic Church for sharing the Christian faith with Filipinos they go. during the Sunday Mass celebrated by the Pontiff marking 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines at St. Peter’s Basilica on March 14.

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Photo courtesy of CBCP

New data: 3,795 hate incidents reported since start of pandemic, 503 in first 2 months of 2021 alone 7.9% of reports came from Fil-Ams, Stop AAPI Hate finds

by CHRISTINA

M. ORIEL

AJPress

NEARLY 3,800 hate incidents have been self-reported by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) — including approximately 8% coming from Filipinos — across the country since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from Stop AAPI Hate.

Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition that tracks anti-Asian American discrimination, reported on Tuesday, March 16 that from March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021, it has received 3,795 firsthand incidents of racism

and discrimination from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Of that number, 503 incidents took place in the first two months of 2021 alone.

The reporting center previously announced that it received 2,808 incidents from March to December 2020, but that number has increased to 3,292 based on accounts submitted at a later date.

Chinese are the largest ethnic group (42.2%) that say they’ve experienced hate, followed by Koreans (14.8%), Vietnamese (8.5%) and Filipinos (7.9%), Stop AAPI Individuals hold up signs denouncing the rise in anti-Asian violence during a rally at the Hate found.

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Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo on Saturday, March 13.

AJPress photo by Christina M. Oriel

AAPI Democrats endorse Fil-Am Nani Coloretti Metro Manila under curfew until March 31 to lead Office of Management and Budget

by RITCHEL

MENDIOLA AJPress

23 areas in Quezon City are under SCLA due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler

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Nani Coloretti, a former Obama admin official

ON top of its general community quarantine status, Metro Manila has implemented a curfew until the end of March in an effort to curb the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the capital region.

The curfew, which took effect on Monday, March 15, will be observed daily from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. It will last for two weeks until March 31.

“The mission is plain and simple: All police forces will strictly impleLOCKDOWN ENFORCERS. A Quezon City Police District officer and a barangay personnel prepares ment the Uniform Curfew Hours to enforce health and safety protocols in a special concern lockdown area (SCLA) along C. from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and will Benitez Street in Barangay San Martin de Porres, Quezon City on Monday, March 15. At least ensure that people in Metro Ma-

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clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation.”

AAPI leaders have addressed ASIAN American and Pacific a letter to Biden — first reported Islander (AAPI) Democratic by POLITICO’s Anita Kumar on leaders are urging President March 12 — endorsing ColoretJoe Biden to nominate Filipina ti, who was deputy secretary at American Nani Coloretti to lead the Department of Housing and the Office of Management and Urban Development during the Budget (OMB) amid concerns Obama administration. She was over the lack of AAPI represen- the highest ranking Fil-Am at tation in his Cabinet. the time.

This comes after controver“Our country is facing unprecsial pick Neera Tanden, who is edented challenges — worldIndian American, withdrew her wide pandemic, economic crinomination as budget chief on sis, racial injustice, xenophobia March 2, saying “it now seems

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From the Front Page

AAPI Democrats endorse Fil-Am Nani Coloretti...

PAGE 1 and increase in anti-AAPI violence across the nation. To meet this moment in our nation’s history, we urge you to nominate Ms. Coloretti as the director of OMB,” the letter said.

The Yappie reported that the effort, led by Democratic National Committee AAPI Caucus Chair Bel Leong-Hong, has the support of leaders, such as Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Rep. Grace Meng (D-New York).

They commended Vice President Kamala Harris as the first AAPI and Black woman to hold the second-highest office, but “are troubled by the lack of AAPI representation in your Cabinet.”

Aside from Tanden, Biden has nominated Katherine Tai as U.S. Trade Representative.

However, there are concerns over the new administration being the first in 20 years to not have an AAPI in the Cabinet at the secretary level.

“There is only one AAPI member of your Cabinet and no AAPI Cabinet Secretaries. This stands in stark contrast to the last three Administrations which had at least one AAPI Cabinet Secretary. Ms. Coloretti will be an asset to you and a source of pride for us,” the leaders added.

The letter was set to be delivered by organizers to the White House on Friday, March 12,

POLITICO said. Fil-Am advocacy groups and organizations like the AAPI Victory Fund and CAPA21 are also joining the effort, according to The Yappie’s report.

If tapped by Biden, Coloretti, who is from Honolulu, Hawaii, would be the first American of Filipino descent to be nominated to a Cabinet-level position.

Previously, she served as deputy secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She managed the department’s day-to-day operations and cross-cutting program initiatives, including a $45 billion annual budget and approximately 8,000 employees.

During her Senate confirmation hearing in 2014, Coloretti shared how she comes “come from a family with a tradition of community service and one that represents the best of what our country has to offer.” Her maternal grandfather was a minister and a community organizer who advocated for Filipinos working in Hawaii’s sugar cane fields, while her grandmother was among the first wave of nurses working in the U.S. Her mother was also a nurse and later a preschool teacher.

“There are two things I am most proud of: Helping create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after the passage of the DoddFrank Act in 2011, and helping

finish the regulation to guide communities in their efforts to affirmatively further fair housing,” Coloretti told the Asian Journal in a 2016 interview.

“In both instances, I was able to help address the conditions for individuals and families that are working to achieve the American dream but who face the challenges of imperfect or unfair markets.”

Before HUD, she spent five years at the Department of the Treasury, most recently as the assistant secretary for management. Prior to the Obama administration, Coloretti spent four years as policy adviser and budget director for then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

She is currently the senior vice president for financial and business strategy at think tank Urban Institute.

“I think the broader challenge for me as a Filipino American who is half Filipina is to make sure that my voice can be heard in an effective way. I think it helps that I come from a diverse state of people with different ways of communicating and interacting. I also think that any challenge can also be an opportunity. So, being someone who is different from others in a table can be helpful, particularly if I am operating with both ears open and with curiosity,” Coloretti told the Asian Journal in a 2016 interview. n

EARLY CARE. A medical worker attends to an infant due for immunization at a public health center in Barangay Kaligayahan, Novaliches, Quezon City on Tuesday, March 16. The Department of Health is aggressively promoting its Measles, Rubella and Oral Poliomyelitis Vaccine Supplemental Immunization Activity nationwide.

PNA photo by Oliver Marquez

Los Angeles County relaxes...

PAGE 1

other Southern California counties like Orange and San Bernardino, moved out of the most restrictive purple tier and into the red tier, allowing more relaxed measures.

“Today marks a pivotal moment in our fight to end this dual

pandemic — public health and economic pandemic,” LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said during a press briefing with ethnic media on Monday.

She added, “It’s important to note that the following health guidelines paid off. We’ve reached this moment thanks to our collective effort to socially distance, wear our masks, get tested and get vaccinated when it’s our turn to do so.”

Gyms, fitness centers, yoga and dance studios, which had been previously allowed to operate outdoors, are able to welcome back guests indoors at 10% capacity with a masking requirement.

Meanwhile, movie theaters (with reserved seating and six feet distancing), museums, zoos and aquariums can open indoors at 25% capacity. Retail and personal care services, as well as indoor shopping malls, can increase capacity to 50%.

Private gatherings can occur indoors with up to three separate households, with masking and distancing required at all times.

People who are fully vaccinated can gather in small numbers indoors with other people who are fully vaccinated without required masking and distancing.

“Outdoors is definitely safer than indoors and that’s one of the reasons why the restriction in terms of the number of people inside is the way it is right now,” LA County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said during Monday’s briefing. “We want to see how this actually works.”

Individuals who are at highrisk for illness from COVID-19 are still advised to not gather with others outside of their household indoors, Davis said.

With spring break and holidays like Easter, coming up, county officials are advising residents to not let their guard down, especially as certain segments of the population are not yet eligible for the vaccine.

As of this week, Californians with disabilities and certain health conditions, as well as those working in public transit and custodial positions are eligible for the vaccine.

Those who are high-risk for illness will be asked to self report their condition when signing up for an appointment.

“I want everybody to understand that those vaccines are being made available to this group because they’re at serious risk of being hospitalized and dying,” Davis said.

This expansion builds on the already eligible population, which include health care workers, those over the age of 65, those living in long-term care facilities, educators, food and agricultural workers, and emer-

gency service personnel.

The Biden administration recently announced that by May 1, adults in the U.S. will have access to the vaccine.

Officials and medical professionals are also continuing to urge communities of color to get vaccinated when it’s their turn and are underscoring the layer of protection that comes with receiving both doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna jab or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson.

The county, along with community organizations, has been organizing mobile vaccination events at churches, parks and centers to make vaccinations more accessible if individuals can’t make it to one of the county-run sites.

“As more vaccine frees up, as the tiers open up, we are going to get more and more vaccine into the arms of people who need it,” Jim Mangia, president and CEO of St. John’s Well Child and Family Center, said on Monday. “And we’re going to see that herd immunity get to the levels we needed to be in order to allow the communities of South LA, Central LA, East LA, to be safe and for us to go back to normal.”

On Tuesday, March 16, 11 counties moved from the most restrictive purple tier to the red: Lake, Monterey, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare and Ventura. Meanwhile, San Mateo moved from the red to the moderate orange tier.

Eleven counties remain in the purple tier, while 42 are in the red, and four in the orange tier.

Only one is in the yellow (minimal) tier.

On April 1, theme parks, such as Disneyland in Orange County and Universal Studios Hollywood in LA, will be allowed to reopen at 15% capacity with instate visitors only.

With the red tier status, schools are permitted to re-open for in-person instruction for students in grades 7-12 adhering to all state and county directives.

“If conditions worsen, strong state or local mandatory measures may again be necessary.

We urge everyone to exercise great caution and good judgment in these next critical weeks and months to avoid overwhelming our health care system with a surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, like we saw at the end of 2020, and the beginning of 2021,” Davis said.

LA County confirmed six new deaths and 422 additional cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total to 22,475 fatalities and 1,210,663 positive cases since the start of the pandemic. n

More Californians now eligible for COVID-19...

PAGE 1 • Sickle cell disease • Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or • cardiomyopathies (but not hypertension) • Severe obesity (Body Mass Index ≥ 40 kg/m2) • Type 2 diabetes mellitus with hemoglobin A1c level greater than 7.5% Or • If, as a result of a developmental or other significant, high-risk disability, one or more of the following criteria applies: • A COVID-19 infection is likely to result in severe life-threatening illness or death; OR • Acquiring COVID-19 will

limit the individual’s ability to receive ongoing care or services vital to their well-being and survival; OR • Providing adequate and timely COVID care will be particularly challenging as a result of the individual’s disability Persons who are newly eligible and qualify for a COVID-19 vaccine due to a medical condition should note that during registration for a vaccine appointment, they will be asked to state that they have a high-risk medical condition or disability.

To protect confidentially, they will not be asked to disclose the specific condition.

People getting vaccinated must provide documentation PAGE 4

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Metro Manila under curfew until March 31 North Hollywood Fil-Am restaurant Tatang burglarized, cash stolen

PAGE 1 nila observe the minimum health safety standard protocol,” Philippine National Police (PNP) officer in charge Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said on Sunday, March 14.

Under the new restriction, the majority of the general public will not be allowed outdoors with some exemptions: • Medical practitioners, nurses, ambulance drivers and other workers of medical facilities while on their way to and from work; • Attendants of other persons dealing with an emergency medical situation; • Persons who are obtaining emergency medical assistance for themselves or for other persons; • Drivers of delivery trucks while on their way to deliver essential goods/products; • Owners, vendors and other persons involved in the transport and delivery of essential goods; • Private employees such as call center agents while on their way to and from work; • Construction workers while on their way to and from work; • Media practitioners while performing their job; • Persons who are traveling to or from the airport prior to or after a flight; • Drivers of private transportation used as shuttle services while on their way to and from work; • Members of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), including Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fire Protection, and other emergency responders;

by AJPress

LIQUOR BAN. A barangay personnel posts a public notice ban on alcohol selling at various stores and groceries in Barangay Immaculate Conception, Cubao, Quezon City on Tuesday, March 16. In a post by the Quezon City government on its Facebook page, all retail sales of alcoholic beverages have been suspended in accordance with supplementary guidelines that impose emergency measures and protocols.

PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler

• Security guards; and • Employees of open fast-foods (take out only).

Penalties for curfew violators will depend on the ordinances passed by local governments, according to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

The MMDA is also drafting a resolution that bans minors in Metro Manila from going outside.

“Only individuals aged 18-65 years old are allowed to go outside their residences amid the alarming rising number of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila starting tomorrow, March 17,” it announced Tuesday, March 16.

“We are implementing age restrictions because of the increase in our COVID-19 cases,” it added.

The MMDA also reminded the public to observe and practice the minimum health protocols.

“Be extra careful and follow stringent measures particularly when around vulnerable family members, as there have been reports of transmission among family members,” MMDA chief Benhur Abalos said.

“As I’ve said before, the metro mayors and MMDA are regularly monitoring the COVID-19 numbers and we will implement calibration and changes on our directives depending on the figures that we have,” he added.

To date, there are a total of 631,320 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, with 12,848 fatalities and 560,736 recoveries. n

SINCE the start of the pandemic, independently-owned restaurants have been fighting to keep their doors open.

Tatang, a Filipino American restaurant along Oxnard Street in North Hollywood, California, had to deal with another setback on Thursday, March 11, when it was broken into and robbed of the cash in the register.

Tatang owner and chef JR Martin was in line to get his COVID19 vaccine on Thursday morning when he received a call from a neighbor that the restaurant’s front door was shattered.

Surveillance video uploaded to the restaurant’s Instagram page shows the suspect entering and taking the cash register in the early morning of Thursday. As the suspect unplugged the register, several signs and glass containers can be seen falling to the floor.

The suspect did not take any of

the restaurant’s electronics, Martin told the Asian Journal.

This is the first time the restaurant has been broken into in its three years of operation.

“The register itself, in terms of what the retail cost is for registers, was probably the same amount of cash that was actually sitting there so it wasn’t a crazy amount of cash,” Martin told the Asian Journal. “Thank goodness I have some background in the food and beverage industry so I built protocols and safety measures to make sure that if by chance we do get it, it’s not something that’s as detrimental.”

Martin filed a police report and an investigation is underway.

The front door has been boarded up as they await a replacement.

Despite the incident, Tatang was slated to reopen for takeout and outdoor dining service on Thursday night.

“Many Filipino American establishments do need support and patronage. A lot of busi-

ers,” he said.

According to the Pope, one should “never be afraid to proclaim the Gospel.”

“With your joy, you will help people to say of the Church too: ‘she so loved the world!’ How beautiful and attractive is a Church that loves the world without judging, a Church that gives herself to the world. May it be so, dear brothers and sisters, in the Philippines and in every part of the earth,” he added.

Tagle, for his part, thanked Pope Francis for the Mass.

“I want to express our gratitude to you for leading us in this Eucharistic celebration and thanksgiving for the arrival of the faith in the Philippines 500 years ago. We bring you here the filial love of the Filipinos in the 7,641

LOS ANGELES COUNTY METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (LACMTA) REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL LACMTA will receive Proposals for PS73744-2 - Safely Transporting All Riders Program Services at the 9th Floor Receptionist Desk, Vendor/ Contract Management Department, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Pope Francis celebrates 500 years of...

PAGE 1 “It is part of your genes, a blessed ‘infectiousness’ that I urge you to preserve. Keep bringing the faith, the good news you received five hundred years ago, to others,” the Pope said.

“I want to thank you, then, for the joy you bring to the whole world and to our Christian communities,” he added.

Pope Francis also urged Filipinos to continue spreading the word of God. “On this very important anniversary for God’s holy people in the Philippines, I also want to urge you to persevere in the work of evangelization – not proselytism, which is something else. The Christian proclamation that you have received needs constantly to be brought to oth-

nesses are struggling, us included, and whatever we can do to help keep our community, culture and food represented is definitely worth maintaining,” Martin said.

In addition to its regular menu, Tatang has Dine LA lunch and dinner menus featuring family-style packages until Sunday, March 14.

The Fil-Am chef is currently in the running for the online world’s Favorite Chef competition. The winner will get a $50,000 cash prize.

“That prize money is important to help make sure that we’re going to be okay and that we can do whatever we can to sustain our mission,” he said. n

islands of our country,” he said in his message to the Pope.

On March 16, 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew landed in Cebu, bringing Christianity to the Philippines. The first Mass in the country is believed to have been celebrated on March 31 on the island of Limasawa.

The island of Mactan, Cebu did not welcome Christianity, according to various historical accounts, leading to a battle between Rajah Humabon under the command of Magellan and Lapu-Lapu and his warriors, who rejected Spanish colonization. Magellan was killed in the battle.

A yearlong commemoration of Christianity’s 500th anniversary The front door of Tatang, a Filipino American restaurant in North Hollywood, was broken into in the country will be launched on the morning of Thursday, March 11. The suspect walked away with cash in the register. on Easter Sunday, April 4. n Photo courtesy of JR Martin

A Pre-Proposal conference will not be held. All Proposals 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 Friday, April 2, 2021. Proposals received after the above date and time may be rejected and returned unopened. Each proposal must be sealed and markedProposal No. PS73744-2.

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 Victor Zepeda at zepedav@ metro.net.

3/17/21 CNS-3451310# ASIAN JOURNAL (L.A.)

EXPRESS YOURSELF. PROTECT YOUR COMMUNITY.

MASK UP. Wear a mask to help keep your community healthy.

Take a risk with fashion, not your health. covid19.ca.gov

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More Californians now eligible for COVID-19...

PAGE 2

at all appointments with either a letter from a healthcare provider, a personal physician or an agency providing services or, if not available, the eligible person or their caretaker will be asked to sign an attestation.

All eligible persons will also need to provide identification (government ID not required)

and proof that they live within LA County at their appointment.

Also eligibility for vaccines starting this week are public transit workers, janitorial/custodial staff, and those who work and reside in congregate living spaces, including people experiencing homelessness and individuals in federal immigrant

detention centers.

Vaccine eligible will continue for those already qualified: health care workers, food and agriculture workers, emergency service personnel, educators, child care providers, and those who are over 65.

To check vaccine eligibility, or to make an appointment, visit myturn.ca.gov. (AJPress)

New data: 3,795 hate incidents reported...

PAGE 1 Women are 2.3 times more likely to report the incidents versus men. Youths (those up to 17 years old) accounted for 12.6% of incidents, while 6.2% were experienced by individuals 60 years and older.

Verbal harassment (68.1%) and shunning (20.5%), which entails the “deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans,” are the top two types of discrimination reported.

Stop AAPI Hate shared some examples of incidents, including one from Milpitas, California, in which the individual was shopping at a store when an older man started making faces.

The report continued, “I asked him what was wrong and he said, “What’s wrong? You are out here shopping!” I was confused, and he followed up with, “We delisted your companies, shipped back your international students... when do you ship out? When do you ship out? We are going to take away your citizenship!”

Meanwhile, physical assault (11.1%) comprises the thirdlargest category of total incidents. Civil rights violations — which include workplace discrimination, refusal of service, and being barred from transportation — comprise 8.5% of total incidents and online harassment makes up 6.8%.

Businesses were the “primary site” of discrimination (35.4%), followed by public streets (25.3%) and public parks (9.8%).

Online harassment accounted for 10.8% of total incidents.

The reporting center said that the 3,795 incidents “likely represent only a fraction” of experiences by the AAPI community. A Pew Research Center study from July 2020 said that four in 10 Asian (39%) adults said: “someone has acted uncomfortable around them because of their race or ethnicity since the coronavirus outbreak.”

In recent weeks, high-profile cases have included violent attacks and assaults against Asian Americans, as previously reported in the Asian Journal.

The reports include 84year-old Thai immigrant Vicha Ratanapakdee being pushed to death in San Francisco; Noel Quintana, a Filipino man who was slashed in the face on the New York subway while on his way to work and received nearly 100 stitches; and 74-year-old Juanito Falcon, a Filipino grandfather who was punched in the face in Phoenix, Arizona, and later died of his injuries.

In White Plains, NY, an 83year-old Korean American woman was spat on and punched, causing her to hit her head on the ground and blackout, without provocation on Tuesday, March 9. Police arrested the 40year-old suspect two days later.

A Filipina American medical worker was assaulted at a Caltrain station in San Jose as she was on her way to work onWednesday, March 10. The suspect — identified as Johan Strydom, who was later arrested and charged — reportedly grabbed her from behind and pulled her hair back, as he hurled expletives about her Asian ethnicity, according to KTVU. “The Asian American community needs more than solidarity; we need solutions,” said Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council. “We ask policymakers at the local, state and national level to partner with us on implementing community-based solutions that will help ensure Asian Americans have equal rights and access to opportunities.”

Stop AAPI Hate was started by Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, Chinese for Affirmative Action and San Francisco State University’s Asian American

Studies department in March 2020, following a troubling rise in hate at the beginning of the pandemic.

In his first primetime address marking the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday, March 11, President Joe Biden condemned the attacks on Asian Americans “who have been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated.”

“At this very moment, so many of them, our fellow Americans, they’re on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives, and still, still they’re forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America. It’s wrong. It’s unAmerican. And it must stop,” Biden said.

The president signed an executive order on Jan. 26, which included directives to remove language in federal actions or documents that would contribute to xenophobia and racism against the Asian American and Pacific Islander population and for the Department of Justice to expand its collection of data and public reporting regarding hate incidents against community members.

Members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus have been pushing for a meeting with the DOJ and the administration to carry out the order.

Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) in the House of Representatives and Sen. Mazie Hirono in the Senate, plan to introduce new legislation addressing the hate incidents against Asian Americans, according to USA Today.

Members of the AAPI community who have experienced hate during the pandemic are encouraged to report the incident at https://stopaapihate.org/ reportincident/. In addition to English, individuals can report in one of 11 languages, including Tagalog. n

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Bay Area man charged with hate crime in sexual assault against Filipina medical worker

by KlaRize

Medenilla AJPress

WAIT ONE’S TURN. Devotees observe physical distancing as they wait for their turn to enter inside Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine in Barangay Graceville, Sta Maria Road, San Jose Del Monte City, Bulacan for the 4th Sunday of Lent mass on March 14. A maximum of 300 persons every mass is allowed inside to maintain health protocols amid threat of the COVID-19.

PNA photo by Ben Briones

Vatican says Catholic Church can’t bless same-sex unions

by Ritchel

Mendiola AJPress

THE Catholic Church does not have the power to bless samesex unions despite their “positive elements,” the Vatican said Monday, March 15.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) issued a formal response to a question about whether the Church has the authority to bless gay unions, answering “negative.”

Signed by Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the doctrinal office, the explanatory note said that blessings are not allowed because what is to be blessed needs to be “objectively and positively ordered to receive and express grace, according to the designs of God inscribed in creation, and fully revealed by Christ the Lord.”

“For this reason, it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage, as is the case of the unions between

persons of the same sex,” the CDF said.

“Furthermore, since blessings on persons are in relationship with the sacraments, the blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered licit. This is because they would constitute a certain imitation or analogue of the nuptial blessing invoked on the man and woman united in the sacrament of Matrimony, while in fact ‘there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family,’” it added.

Pope Francis, lauded for taking an unprecedented welcoming tone towards the LGBT community, approved the note.

However, the CDF maintained that the statement was “not intended to be a form of unjust discrimination,” but rather a “reminder of the truth of the liturgical rite and of the very nature of the sacramentals, as the Church understands them.” in a separate explanatory

note, the CDF said that the decision on same-sex unions “in no way detracts from the human and Christian consideration in which the Church holds each person.” it added that the Church could bestow blessings “to individual persons with homosexual inclinations who manifest the will to live in fidelity to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching.”

Last year, Pope Francis shocked Catholic clergies when he called for civil unions for same-sex couples in the documentary “Francesco.”

“They’re children of God and have a right to a family. nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it,” the pontiff said, referring to same-sex couples. “What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”

However, the Vatican clarified that the statement was taken out of context and did not indicate a change in Church doctrine on same-sex marriage. n

A SAn FrAnSiSCo man was arrested and charged with a hate crime for attacking and sexually assaulting a Filipina American woman in a Caltrain station in San Jose last week, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office said.

The victim, a 26-year-old Filipina medical worker named Tiffany who didn’t want her last name released, told KTVU that she was on her way to work in Palo Alto when she took the Caltrain at San Jose’s Diridon Station on Wednesday, March 10 at around 6:30 a.m.

The suspect, a 32-year-old white man named Johan Strydom, allegedly grabbed the Filipina by her neck, pulled her to the ground and threw the woman by her hair. The district attorney’s office said that he told Tiffany, “F*ck you, Asian,” and that Strydom intended to rape her. “i’ve never seen him in my life,” Tiffany later told officials. “i’ve never seen him at the station.”

While Strydom was attacking Tiffany, bystanders at the train station were yelling at him to stop and let her go. The victim’s boyfriend had been on the phone

with her at the time of the attack and reportedly showed up at the scene where he and other witnesses detained Strydom. in a video that Tiffany took of the suspect after the attack, witnesses followed the suspect to try to apprehend him and he laughed, uttered another racial slur and said, “You guys gonna come and save that h*e?”

Shortly after, officers arrested Strydom near the SAP Center, San Jose police said.

Strydom was arraigned on Friday, March 12 and charged with “assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury” and “assault with an intent to commit rape and assault” with hate crime enhancements. if convicted, he will face prison time.

“A hate crime against a Filipino woman is an attack against all of us,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff rosen said in a press release. “This is every woman’s nightmare, and this is our community’s nightmare.

This is also a tale of heroism. our community came to this woman’s aid and stopped the attack.

Hate crimes are not someone else’s problem. They are mine.

They are yours. it will take all of us to confront them.”

At the arraignment, the read description of the attack made

Strydom emotional and cry, according to reports. His attorney, a deputy public defender named Meghan Piano, noted that Strydom suffers from mental illness and that he was “sex deprived.”

The attack on Wednesday further highlights the disturbing uptick in crimes and violence against the Asian American and Pacific islander (AAPi) community in recent weeks.

The Stop AAPi Hate tracker — which has been documenting the rise in anti-Asian racism and assaults for the last 12 months — reported on Tuesday, March 16 that there were at least 503 anti-Asian hate incidents between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28 alone. in 2020, there were a total of 3,292 reports. “i hope that we as a community help stop all the violent racial crimes against us,” Tiffany told nextShark. “That even shouting out at [an attacker] can make a huge difference in saving a life. no one deserves to go through what i’ve gone through or all those that were assaulted. To not be afraid to call law enforcement because they are there to help and protect us.”

Strydom is currently being held without bail and will enter a plea in May. n

CA launches rent relief program for...

PAGE 1 steps to verify that they meet eligibility requirements and sign the application; and 3) renter’s household income must be at or below 80% of the Area Median income (AMi).

Eligible renters whose landlords choose not to participate in the program may apply on their own and receive 25% of unpaid rent between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. Paying this 25% by June 30, 2021 can help keep you in your home under the extended eviction protections in SB 91. renters are eligible to apply if one or more individuals in the household meet all the following criteria: 1) Have qualified for unemployment benefits or experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs, or experienced other financial hardship due to CoViD– 19; and 2) demonstrate a risk of

experiencing homelessness or housing instability, which may include: a past-due utility or rent notice or eviction notice; unsafe or unhealthy living conditions; or any other evidence of such risk, as determined by the program; and 3) Have a household income that is not more than 80% of the Area Median income.

They will not be asked about their citizenship or be required to show proof.

Utility assistance Eligible renters may also receive assistance for unpaid utilities and future payments. Unpaid utilities accumulated from April 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021 will be compensated at 100% of cost, limited to a total of 12 months.

Applications must include all required information, along with necessary verification items. once an application has been successfully processed, both the

landlord and renter will be notified about the application status.

The CA CoViD-19 rent relief program is not on a first come, first served basis. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis. For all applications received, the state will first review and commit funds to applicants who are eligible and meet the priority requirement having income at or below 50% of Area Median income (AMi) to ensure those most in need receive assistance. resources and application information are available at HousingisKey.com. A CA CoViD-19 rent relief call center is available to get help answering eligibility questions, for application assistance, and to provide information on local assistance. The call center may be reached by calling (833) 430-2122 between 7 am and 7 pm daily. (AJPress)

6

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OPINION

End to impunity?

FeATUres

MALACAÑANG has declared an end to impunity in assaults on media workers in the country. The statement was issued by the Presidential Task Force on Media Security following the release of a global report on journalists’ safety by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Where the task force statement is based remains as murky as the Palace assessment that the government’s pandemic response has been “excellent” a year into the public health crisis. UNESCO estimates that on average, a journalist is killed every five days around the world. UNESCO also reports that nine out of 10 journalist killings are unsolved.

In the Philippines, the conviction of the principal defendants in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, mostly members of the Ampatuan clan and their henchmen, brought the country out of the worst five in the 2020 Global Impunity Index drawn up by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The Philippines was also removed from the list of most dangerous countries for journalists in 2018.

In highlighting the importance of the issue, UNESCO declares: “Impunity for crimes against the media fuels and perpetuates the cycle of violence and the resulting self-censorship deprives society of information and further affects press freedom. It directly impacts the United Nations’

human rights-based efforts to promote peace, security and sustainable development.”

Among the critical players in ending impunity is the judiciary.

This, unfortunately, is one of the weakest links in the campaign against impunity, whether the targets of assassination are journalists, drug personalities, left-leaning activists and even lawyers.

Even in the Maguindanao massacre case, it took a decade before the masterminds were finally convicted.

Apart from armed violence, journalists in the Philippines face other forms of threats. Last year the country slid by two notches to 136th place in the World Press Freedom Index. The slide was fueled by the shutdown of ABS-CBN, legal moves against news website Rappler, the deployment of troll armies against certain journalists, and cyber attacks against alternative news sites. Last December, Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem weeks even after a local court had ordered her was arrested on International Human Rights Day, release. detained on charges of illegal possession of fireUNESCO is working with judiciaries in sevarms and explosives, and held for several more eral countries for capacity building particularly

Editorial

The Fil-Am Perspective GEL SANTOS-RELOS YES! President Joe Biden has announced that by May 1, ALL adults in the United States will already be eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

This is made possible by the government’s expedited procurement of vaccines to help save lives and protect us as we safely move toward “normalcy” and build our life and our nation back better and stronger.

After Biden’s announcement, even more Americans feel empowered and hopeful that YES, WE CAN and YES, WE WILL defeat this virus as more people begin to understand how important it is to get vaccinated. In fact, individuals have been reaching out to their health care providers to know when we can be scheduled for our life-saving shots. I am one of them.

My husband is a doctor working on the front lines and so he is done with his two doses of shots of the Pfizer vaccine. Our psychologist daughter, who is a clinician therapist in direct patient care, has also completed her two doses of Moderna, another vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration with a 95% efficacy rate.

People who have already been vaccinated post their pictures on social media like a badge of honor because indeed, it is a humani-

Philstar.com photo

in prosecuting crimes directed at media workers and threatening freedom of expression. In the Philippines, ending impunity is clearly a work in progress. (Philstar.com)

It’s COVID-19 vaccine season. What are the options? tarian and patriotic act to get our shots, along with wearing masks, observing physical distance, avoiding crowds, washing hands often and practicing hygiene even after vaccination.

COVID-19 vaccines are important weapons in our war against the pandemic. They “teach our immune systems how to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19. It typically takes a few weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus. That means it is possible a person could still get COVID-19 just after vaccination, because the vaccine has not had enough time to build immunity, covid19. ca.gov explains. I am sharing more information here.

Many people ask me if this is safe, including my own mother who has also been bombarded by anti-vaccine propaganda in the Philippines.

“COVID-19 vaccines authorized by the FDA have been shown to be safe and effective in clinical trials. These vaccines were authorized only after it was found that they make it substantially less likely you’ll get COVID-19.

The authorized vaccines are up to 95% effective against a person becoming ill with COVID-19.

The U.S. vaccine safety system ensures that all vaccines are as safe as possible.

Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines. These vaccines have undergone the most intensive

safety monitoring in U.S. history, using both established and new safety monitoring systems.

These vaccines cannot give you COVID-19.”

Many kababayans in the United States who are working on the frontlines, especially those in nursing homes, are reportedly hesitant to take advantage of their priority position to get the shots because they wanted to be sure they would not have fatal side effects if people they know who are vaccinated are still well and alive.

“After COVID-19 vaccination, you may have some side effects.

These are normal signs that your body is building immunity. The most common side effects are pain and swelling in the arm where you received the shot. In addition, you may have fever, chills, tiredness, and headache.

They may affect your ability to do daily activities, but they should go away in a few days.”

Other than having a sore arm, my husband did not have any side effects after getting the two doses. My daughter, who is in the early 30s, had “flu-like symptoms,” like chills and a fever, after getting the second shot. She was aware of these side effects and just took Tylenol and a day or two after, she was back to normal. The younger ones are reporting more of these side effects after the second dose but then again, this only means they are building strong immunity against the virus.

My health care provider is Kaiser Permanente and before they schedule members for vaccination, they determine if it is right for you.

According to Kaiser Permanente: “People who are allergic to most types of allergens (like animals, food, pollen, latex, or most medicines) are no more likely to have an allergic reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine than people who don’t have any allergies.

Allergic reactions to vaccines are very rare and typically occur immediately after receiving the vaccine. All vaccination sites have the appropriate medications and equipment to treat an allergic reaction.

You should NOT receive a vaccine that contains an ingredient to which you have had an allergic reaction. If you have had an allergic reaction to an ingredient of a particular vaccine, you may still be able to receive a different type of vaccine – if one is available – following a consult with a physician.

If you’ve had swelling, hives, trouble breathing, or anaphylaxis within 4 hours of receiving any previous vaccine or injectable medication, the risk of developing another severe allergic reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine is not fully known. Per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance, you can still receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

You’ll be observed for 30 minutes afterward as a safeguard.

If you’re concerned about a severe allergic reaction, you may consider waiting to get the vaccine until more information is available. If you’d like to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination further, please contact your doctor.”

Many of you also ask: “Can I choose which vaccine to have?”

Vaccine types and supplies are limited at this time as the government is still working with vaccine manufacturers to expedite production to meet the demand as soon as possible.

After Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the FDA has given emergency authorization to COVID-19 vaccines developed by Janssen (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson). Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a single-dose vaccine.

Some people are hesitant to have the J&J shots and would rather wait for Pfizer and Moderna. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) explains: “The J&J/Janssen vaccine was 66.3% effective in clinical trials (efficacy) at preventing laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 illness in people who had no evidence of prior infection 2 weeks after receiving the vaccine. People had the most protection 2 weeks after getting vaccinated.

The vaccine had high efficacy at preventing hospitalization and death in people who did get sick.

No one who got COVID-19 at least 4 weeks after receiving the J&J/Janssen vaccine had to be

hospitalized.

Early evidence suggests that the J&J/Janssen vaccine might provide protection against asymptomatic infection, which is when a person is infected by the virus that causes COVID-19 but does not get sick.”

BOTTOM LINE: The sooner we get vaccinated, the better are our chances to save our lives and the lives of others. Waiting for one brand to be available means time lost in helping you become immune from the virus which can be a life and death situation for you and those of others. These vaccines not only keep you safe from being infected. If in case you still get the virus even after the shots, they also mitigate the symptoms of the virus, which means you would not have to be hospitalized and would not have to be in the ICU. It’s still life-saving.

(To be continued…) *** The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.

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

So you’re vaccinated against COVID. Now what?

Asking Never Hurts

BY BERNARD J. WOLFSON CALIFORNIA HEALTHLINE

AS you surely know, this country’s COVID vaccination effort has been plagued by major birth pangs: registration snafus, poor communication, faulty data and a scant supply of vaccine — all exacerbated by inequitable allocation, alleged political favoritism and unseemly jockeying for shots.

Still, over 100 million shots have gone into arms, and more than 38 million people, 11.5% of the nation’s population, have been fully vaccinated. One in 5 U.S. residents have had at least one dose The vaccine rollout is finally ramping up — just as the deadly winter surge has ended, dramatically reducing infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths.

President Joe Biden has promised enough vaccine for every adult in the country by the end of May and dangled the hope of a

return to semi-normalcy by July 4.

We’ll see if that happens. Unfortunately, ill-advised behavior, or a mutant strain of the COVID virus — or both — could still ignite another surge. And we’re not entirely certain to what extent vaccination prevents you from infecting unvaccinated people, or for how long it protects against COVID. Bottom line: Optimism is warranted, but all of us — even the vaccinated — still need to be careful.

In case you missed it, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new public health guidelines last week that offered a small glimpse of what the not-so-distant future might hold if enough people are vaccinated. The most striking point was that it’s OK for vaccinated individuals to meet indoors with unvaccinated members of another household, without masks, as long as nobody in that household is at risk for severe COVID. That’s big news if you’ve not seen your children or grand-

children in person for a while. If you are fully vaccinated, it’s now likely safe to visit with them indoors without masks, regardless of their vaccination status. You can even hug them.

As long as they don’t live too far away, that is: The CDC still frowns on long-distance travel.

If everybody in your group is vaccinated, so much the better.

In that case, hosting a maskless dinner party inside your home, for example, is “likely a low risk,” according to the new guidance.

But Dr. George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California-San Francisco, warns not to interpret this new freedom too liberally: “People say, ‘Oh, we can have a wedding reception for 50 people at a hotel as long as they are all vaccinated.’ I say, ‘What about the people serving you — are they all vaccinated? And the band?’”

Public health experts and the CDC agree that if you are vaccinated and in the company of people who aren’t — or if you

don’t know their status — you should continue the safeguards of masking and maintaining your distance.

“What I tell people who are vaccinated is, ‘You should assume you are one of the 5 or 6% for whom the vaccination will fail, and that everyone around you is a super spreader,” Rutherford says.

That means you should probably tap your inner brakes before going to a movie, working out in a gym, boarding an airplane or dining indoors at a restaurant.

Dr. Walter Orenstein, associate director of the Emory Vaccine Center and professor of infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine, points to a possible side benefit of the new CDC approach. “It may enhance vaccine uptake if it shows people that once you get vaccinated you have more freedom to do things,” he says.

Orenstein, like most public health experts, acknowledges that we still have an incomplete picture of COVID and how the vaccines will work in the real

world. Officials must set guidelines based on the best data available at the time, he says. “If, in fact, there is a marked spike in cases as a result, they will have to revise them.”

For now, Orenstein says, he is incorporating the new guidelines into his personal life. “We hadn’t had people over to our house in ages, and last night we had a couple over,” he says.

They were all vaccinated, and they didn’t wear masks.

Others are wary of easing up too soon, even if they’ve been vaccinated.

“I feel a real sense of relief, but it hasn’t changed my behavior,” says Sam Sandmire, a 65-yearold retired gymnastics coach in Boise, Idaho, who’s had two doses of the Moderna vaccine. “I still mask up and will continue to mask up and social distance until the science shows that I can’t infect others.”

Andy Mosley, 74, says he is not entirely convinced by the new CDC statement. “The information that we could start hanging out with each other again

was laced with a lot of qualifiers,” says Mosley, a resident of Temecula, California, who’s also had two shots of the Moderna vaccine. “That tells me they are not really sure about it.”

But he may alter his behavior in one instance. He has not seen his daughter, a chef who lives in San Francisco, since October 2019. She is scheduled for surgery soon and may need his help.

“Because she’s been immunized and I’ve been immunized and her roommate has been immunized, I would feel safe going up there,” Mosley says. “So that would be a change. But I would drive; I wouldn’t fly.”

Many others, including state and local politicians, are less cautious. Texas recently did away with its mask mandate.

Florida has remained largely open for business through much of the pandemic.

In California, 13 counties accounting for nearly half the state’s population have reopened gyms, movie theaters and indoor restaurant dining — albeit at reu PAGE 8

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

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7

DATeLINe PHILIPPINes

DOH: New COVID-19 variant found in PH

by AJPress A nEW CoViD-19 variant called P.3 has been found in the Philippines, the country’s Department of Health (DoH) confirmed Saturday, March 13.

“The (Philippine Genome Center) previously detected 85 cases with a unique set of mutations, including both E484K and n501Y mutations. Upon verification with the Phylogenetic Assignment of named Global outbreak Lineages (PAnGoLin), the said samples with these mutations have been reassigned to the P.3 variant,” the agency said in a statement. it also confirmed the country’s first case of the more transmissible P.1 variant first discovered in Brazil after the PGC detected it in the samples of an overseas

Filipino worker who returned from Brazil.

Both the P.3 and P.1 variants belong to the B1128 lineage.

“At present, the P.3 is not identified as a variant of concern as current available data are insufficient to conclude whether the variant will have significant public health implications,” the DoH said.

Dr. Anna ong-Lim, member of the DoH technical advisory group, expressed a similar sentiment.

“With respect to characterization, sa ngayon wala pa tayong sapat na datos para sabihin kung mas nakakahawa ba siya, mas nakaka-cause ba ng malubhang sakit, or mayroon bang association with a higher mortality rate (With respect to the characterization, as of now we don’t have enough data to definitively say

if it is more infectious, causes severe disease, or could be associated with a higher mortality rate),” she said in a Laging Handa briefing.

To date, there are a total of 98 P.3 variant cases in the Philippines.

The health agency stressed that P.3 should not be called a Philippine variant but as “a variant first reported in the Philippines.”

“The WHo discourages use of places to identify variants. The so-called UK and South African variants were tagged so because these variants were first reported in these countries,” said the DoH. “The P.3 variant, in the same way, shall be more accurately described not as a Philippine variant but a variant first reported in the Philippines,” it added. ■ SAFETY FIRST. A Barangay Kaligayahan personnel in Novaliches, Quezon City conducts business mindful of health and safety protocols against COVID-19 on Tuesday, March 16. A resident claims her certificate of residency from a barangay official safely seated behind a plastic barrier.

PNA photo by Oliver Marquez

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque tests positive for COVID-19 SC junks petition vs ICC withdrawal “As of 11:29 this morning, nakuha ko po ang resulta na positManilaTimes.net ibo po ako para sa CoViD (As PrESiDEnTiAL spokesperson of 11:29 this morning, I got the Harry roque Jr. confirmed that result and I learned that I tested he tested positive for coronavirus positive for COVID),” he said. roque advised those who had disease 2019 (CoViD-19). roque was tested on Sunday, contact with him to follow apMarch 14. He got the result on propriate protocols and isolate themselves.

Monday morning.

by Keith

calaYaG

“Yung mga nagkaroon po sakin ng close contact, i ask you for your indulgence pero kinakailangan po kayo magquarantine kung kayo po ay nagclose contact sa akin (To those who made close contact with me, I ask for your indulgence but you have to undergo quarantine),” he said. ■

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque

by eVelYn

MacaiRan Philstar.com

MAniLA — The Supreme Court (SC) unanimously dismissed the petitions that questioned President Duterte’s decision to unilaterally withdraw the Philippines’ membership from the international Criminal Court (iCC), for being moot and academic. in a statement issued yesterday, SC spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said the SC justices dismissed the petition filed by six senators led by Senator Francis Pangilinan under G.r. no 238875, and the petition filed by the Philippine Coalition for the international Criminal Court (PCiCC) led by former Commission on Human rights (CHr) chair Loretta Ann rosales. respondents in the petition were former Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, then United nations (Un) Ambassador Teodoro Locsin Jr. and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, who were represented by the office of the Solicitor General (oSG) led by Jose Calida.

Malacañang photo The High Court’s decision,

Did you know you have safety and health protections from COVID-19 at work?

Workers in California have the RIGHT to: • Protection from safety and health hazards, including COVID-19 • Report an unsafe workplace • Refuse to work in an unsafe condition To file a confidential complaint about an unsafe workplace, contact your nearest Cal/OSHA district office. It is illegal for your employer to reduce your hours, fire you or otherwise retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Learn more about your RIGHTS and how to contact Cal/OSHA at dir.ca.gov/covid.

Your Actions Save Lives

penned by SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, was made known two years after the country’s withdrawal of its membership from the iCC took effect on March 17, 2019, making the Philippines the second country to leave the Hague-based tribunal.

The SC held two oral arguments on the issue last Aug. 28 and Sept. 4, 2018. “in a unanimous decision penned by Justice Leonen, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition questioning the unilateral withdrawal for being moot and academic,” said Hosaka.

“The decision acknowledged that the President, as primary architect of foreign policy, is subject to the Constitution and existing statute. Therefore, the power of the President to withdraw unilaterally can be limited by the conditions for concurrence by the Senate or when there is an existing law which authorizes the negotiation of a treaty or international agreement or when there is a statute that implements an existing treaty,” he added. in the decision, the SC also took note that there were provisions in a prior law, the republic Act 9851 or the “Philippine Act

on Crimes Against international Humanitarian Law, Genocide and other Crimes Against Humanity” that took effect in 2009, that were amended by the rome Statute.

The Philippine government, after an 11-year process, ratified the rome Statute only in 2011, becoming the 117th member of the iCC. The SC also said even if the Philippines had withdrawn its membership from the iCC, “the Judiciary has enough powers to protect human rights contrary to speculations raised by the petitioners.”

President Duterte reportedly withdrew the country’s membership from the iCC after special prosecutor Fatou Bensouda started a preliminary examination on the alleged human rights violations of the war on drugs campaign of the government.

Panelo on ICC “The decision puts to rest the debate on the authority of the President to withdraw from treaties and international agreements,” Panelo said yesterday.

Panelo reiterated that they have repeatedly articulated that the President has the sole preu PAGE 8

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March 17-19, 2021 • Socal aSIaN JOUrNaL

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PH’s own vaccine plant in the works

A FILIPINO-owned company is putting up a multibillion-peso facility that will manufacture the “next generation” coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine.

Giovanni Alingog, chief executive officer of Glovax Biotech Corp., aims to build a production plant either in Subic in Zambales or Clark in Pampanga.

Glovax was the first company to distribute the vaccine for the AH1N1 or the swine flu that swept the country in 2010.

Alingog said his goal was to de-

velop the country’s “next-generation Covid vaccine” that would be effective against new strains of the virus.

He shared his plan with The Manila Times in a telephone interview.

The vaccine Glovax will produce is the EuCorVac-19, developed by the United States-based Pop Biotechnologies and produced by its Korean partners Eubiologics and LG Chem.

EuCorVac-19 would be effective against Covid-19’s new strains,

Alingog said.

He shared that his company wanted the Philippines to be selfsufficient when it came to vaccine supplies. That will eliminate the present concerns about delays in the delivery of the foreign-made vaccines.

Vaccine makers tend to supply their host countries and the rich states first, “that is why it is very timely that we are suggesting to have a local vaccine plant,” Alingog said.

A local vaccine plant would also boost the country’s economy, he noted.

Once the plant is fully operational, Glovax can produce 40 million doses of EuCorVac-19.

Alingog said Glovax plans to partner with the Philippine government in building the vaccine plant, and that the Department of Science and Technology was keen on the proposal.

He also welcomed the idea of the government taking a minority stake in the project to ensure longterm viability.

Alingog is confident the vaccine plant will become a legacy of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Department of Science and Technology Undersecretary for Research and Development Rowena Cristina Guevara confirmed that discussions with Glovax were ongoing.

She said the pandemic highlighted the need for the country to ensure a steady source of vaccines, so building a local vaccine plant is a welcome development.

She added that it would take a partnership of the government, academe and industry to develop and manufacture vaccines, and the government, through the Board of Investments, can help ventures like Glovax.

The passage of the Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (Arise) and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (Create) can push the country closer to its objective to develop its own vaccine manufacturing facility.

“The Arise intends to provide grants on manufacturing, research and development, prototyping, certifications and other processes undertaken by manufacturers involving the production of Covid-19 goods, including vaccines, while the Create provides stimulus packages for enterprises engaging in similar activities,” Guevara said.

(Red Mendoza/ManilaTimes.net)

This December 2020 photo shows Baybain Hub’s co-working space.

Photo courtesy of Baybayin Hub Cowork

Sanity break: Filipinos go on ‘workation’ during world’s longest lockdown

by Rosette

adel

Philstar.com

MANILA — On March 16 last year, many Filipinos forced to work from home after President Rodrigo Duterte placed all of Luzon under “enhanced community quarantine,” what would later be dubbed among the “longest lockdowns” in the world.

This quarantine phase that lasted for three months only allowed employees under the essential services to work on site, leaving the majority of businesses no choice but to operate remotely or close down. More relaxed quarantine phases were later implemented to include non-essential businesses but they were only allowed to work at limited capacity.

Mentally-challenging remote work setup Maria Patricia Natacia Suarez Atienza, owner of a virtual assistant agency, is not new to the work-from-home setup as she has been doing it since 2015.

Through that journey, she realized that while she resides in Quezon City, she could enjoy working anywhere and build her business whenever and wherever.

However, when the mandatory quarantine was declared, she had to start from scratch.

“So, when the pandemic hit, staying at home, I was back to Square One—a lot of projects, a lot of clients, working with no limits and living in the same routine every day in our home.

We came to a point that we get excited [during] grocery day because we can go out,” the 29-year-old shared in an online interview.

When Atienza and her partner had enough of their daily routine, they started looking for a place where they “can be safe and experience nature again.”

Atienza and her partner availed of a workation offering from a co-living and coworking shared space for remote workers, freelancers, and online entrepreneurs in Bolinao, Pangasinan where they stayed for 34 days in late 2020, an experience she said she won’t forget.

“Change in environment, fresh perspective in all aspects of my daily life—not only in surroundings which allowed me to [arrive] to some realizations. It gave me a sense of accomplishment because I didn’t have to be in an office to help businesses

or clients achieve their goals.

I can be at the beach and help people learn that there’s an industry like this,” she added.

Before the pandemic, finance and accounting analyst Mark Adrian Henera, a Makati City resident, was working at the office four times a week. He was also challenged by the WFH setup.

“There’s a blurred boundary between work and life. As a person who loves to travel, I felt anxious working in an enclosed space at home for almost a year now and that led to my decision to try workation in Boracay,” the 24-year-old told Philstar.com.

Henera said choosing a workfriendly destination with low cost of living is his top priority for workation arrangement, so, when he saw a Facebook advertisement with a budget-friendly package he tried it for a week last month to see if it will boost his productivity.

“I was able to merge my hobby and work and I guess this design best works for a travel person like me. But of course, it requires self discipline to keep my focus balanced between work and vacation,” he said. n

Over 200,000 medical frontliners vaccinated vs COVID-19, says Galvez

by Keith

Calayag ManilaTimes.net

OVER 200,000 medical frontliners out of the 1.7 million have been vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. disclosed this on Tuesday, March 16, two weeks after the nationwide inoculation in the country started.

Galvez also said rollouts of vaccines in the country are now speeding up.

“Napakaganda po ng development… Bumibilis na naman ang ating vaccination (The has been a positive development… The vaccination is again speeding up).”

“Sa ngayon po nakareceive

kami ng report na as of 11 a.m. today, meron na po tayong 216,794 na medical frontiners na nagkaroon na po ng vaccination so may dumagdag po na more or less 17,000 (We have received a report that as of 11 a.m. today, 216,794 medical frontliners have been vaccinated, more or less 17,000 were added to the number).”

Galvez said 1,011,520 of the 1,125,600 vaccine doses received by the country earlier this month have been deployed nationwide.

After the government finishes the inoculation of medical frontiers this April, senior citizens will be vaccinated next, according to the vaccine czar.

Last Sunday, Galvez said the government remains on track in its vaccination program.

He made the statement after Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson criticized the supposed slow distribution of vaccines in the country.

According to Lacson, if the government will not speed up its vaccination efforts then the targeted population of 70 million and the herd immunity might not be achieved until 2033.

Galvez said the supposed slow pace of vaccination of health care workers can be attributed to the precautionary measures and pandemic protocols being imposed by hospitals. n

So you’re vaccinated against COVID...

PAGE 6 duced levels. That includes Los Angeles County, one of the hardest-hit regions in the U.S. during the winter surge. And Gov. Gavin Newsom has suggested that California’s four-level colorcoded system for phased reopening could soon add a “green” tier — meaning pretty much back to normal.

However, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, says localities that open too soon “are going to be in big trouble shortly” because of a new surge he expects to be triggered by a fast-spreading COVID strain first detected in the United Kingdom,

which is projected to become the dominant strain in the U.S. sometime this month.

For now, stick with masking and physical distancing in most social and commercial encounters. Get vaccinated as soon as it’s your turn and try to persuade the people in your lives to do the same. The more people vaccinated, the greater the protection for the community.

In the near future, we may all have extra incentive to get vaccinated: Proof of vaccination could be required for air travel, sports events, concerts and other mass public gatherings. This is being considered in some parts of the U.S. and is already happening in some countries.

Israel, for example, has begun issuing six-month vaccination “passports” that would allow entry to sporting events, restaurants and other public venues.

That has “created this kind of push for people who otherwise might not be that interested in getting vaccinated to get vaccinated,” Rutherford says.

This story was produced by KHN (Kaiser Health News), a national newsroom that provides in-depth coverage of health issues and that is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation).

KHN is the publisher of California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. n

SC junks petition vs ICC...

PAGE 7 rogative on terminating treaties which is vested upon him by law as head of state and as the chief architect of our country’s foreign policy.

“As the petitions, according to sources, were dismissed based on mootness (i.e., the withdrawal already took effect), the ruling of the Supreme Court effectively upholds the validity and force of the withdrawal without the concurrence of the Senate,” Panelo added.

“It should be clear to some members of the upper chamber of Congress that their participation in treaties or similar instruments is limited to their concurrence for ratification, and not

for any other undertaking,” he added.

Panelo maintained that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines since the membership did not comply with the publication requirements.

“The decision, however, for practicality is of no consequence to the earlier posture of our country that the ICC never acquired jurisdiction over us.

As the President said, the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines, nor any of its state officials, given that the Rome Statute was not published in accordance with the demands of due process and the right to information,” he said.

Panelo reiterated the call to the

officials of the ICC “to stop their futile endeavors apropos the internal affairs of our country.”

Panelo pointed to Article 127 of the Rome Statute that “their preliminary examination, not being considered as a criminal investigation or court proceeding, has neither basis in fact nor in law to proceed.”

“It is about time for foreign elements not to meddle in the affairs of our state and unchain their imperialist assault on our sovereignty, even as the citizens of this country assert our independence against external forces that seek to trample upon our fundamental sovereign rights and institutions,” Panelo added. n

9 The

Asian Journal

mdwk The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - March 17, 2021

Wednesday MARCH 17, 2021

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Hear me roar: A brief history of the groundbreaking Filipina Looking back at revolutionary Filipinas who broke — and continue to break — barriers in national independence, social work, medicine and arts and entertainment

T

by Klarize

Medenilla / AJPress

O understand the world, one must understand women; it is simply impossible to know world history without the history of women — in a biological sense and in a cultural sense.

Illustration of Gabriela Silang by Bayani Art

Dr. Fe del Mundo

The Philippines is a country built on the strength of resilient women. On a macro level, women in the Philippines — before, during and after colonial occupations —have always held positions in power.

On a micro level, women are the central figure of the household, as mothers, wives, lolas (grandmas) and titas (aunts) are respected members of any extended family.

That being said, to honor Women’s History Month is to honor the Filipinas — of the motherland and of the diaspora — who helped cultivate the strong and resilient identity of the Groundbreaking Filipina, the woman who pushes boundaries and subverts patriarchal systems of power in the name of equality and fairness.

Early national heroines For nearly four centuries, the Philippines was a colonial instrument during the golden ages of world imperialism. The influence of European — and then, American — occupation remains in the country today, but with the help of early Filipina revolutionaries, the fight for a truly unique Filipina identity continues today.

Gabriela Silang (1731-1763) was a military leader who spearheaded the Ilocano campaign for independence from Spain. Born in Ilocos Sur to a Spanish Ilocano father and a Tinguian mother, Gabriela Silang was separated from her parents as a young girl and was raised by a priest.

Known as the “Joan of Arc of Ilocandia,” Gabriela Silang became integral to her second husband’s, Diego Silang, effort to overthrow Spanish control in Ilocos and appoint native Filipino leaders. After his assassination by the Spanish in 1763, Gabriela assumed her husband’s position as commander of rebel troops and mobilized local fighting forces to lodge successful guerrilla attacks against Spanish soldiers.

During the fight to liberate Vigan, the fearless Filipina leader led more than 2,000 soldiers against a formidable Spanish force of more than 6,000 men, but outnumbered natives were captured and even-

tually, the Spanish military executed her in September 1763.

Despite her demise, Gabriela Silang is regarded as a national symbol in the fight for independence and is known as “the first Filipina to lead an uprising against a foreign power.”

More than a century after the exploits of Gabriela Silang, a school teacher from Manila named Teresa Magbanua (1868-1947) parlayed her skills in horseback riding and marksmanship (which she learned while married to a wealthy businessman) to join the Katipunan’s women’s chapter in Panay.

She was influenced after her brothers joined an uprising against the Spanish military and convinced her uncle, General Perfecto Poblador, to led her lead trips in the Visayas during the revolution, the first and only woman to do so. During this time, she led a group Teresa Magbanua of bolo soldiers during the Battle of Barrio Yoting and the Battle of Sapong Hills, two victories that led to the liberation of Iloilo City.

After that first success, Magbanua collaborated with guerrilla forces in fighting against Americans at the turn of the century and later, against Japanese forces during WWII, making her one of the few who fought for Philippine independence against all three of the country’s main instigators: Spain, the U.S. and Japan.

Pioneers in the modern era As the Philippines was slowly moving towards becoming a totally sovereign nation, innovation and cultural expansion grew among the Filipino people. A standard for what it means to be a pioneer had been set, and Filipinas of the Modern Era helped catapult the global Filipino community onto the world stage.

Encarnacion Alzona (1895-2001) was a pioneering Filipino historian, educator and suffragist who was the first Filipina to earn a Ph.D. As white American women won the right to vote in 1920, Alzona was among the few who spoke out in favor of the right to vote for Filipino women.

Continued on Page 10 Encarnacion Alzona

10

entertainment/sports The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - March 17, 2021

H.E.R. wins Song of the Year for ‘I Can’t Breathe’ at 2021 Grammys by

aJPress

R&B singer-songwriter H.E.R. took home “Song of the Year” at the 2021 Grammy Awards on Sunday night, March 14 for her single “I Can’t Breathe.”

The 23-year-old artist released the song last summer in response to the killing of George Floyd and the protests for racial justice.

“We wrote this song over FaceTime,” H.E.R. said in her acceptance speech, joined by co-writer Tiara Thomas. “I didn’t imagine that my fear and that my pain would turn into impact, and it would possibly turn into change. And I think that’s what this is about.

And that’s why I write music.”

She added, “I want to thank my mom, I recorded this song myself in my bedroom at my mom’s house. And I want to thank my dad. He cried.

He was in tears when I wrote this song and I played it for him. He was the first person I played it for.”

H.E.R., whose real name is Gabriella Wilson, was born in Vallejo, California to a Filipina mother and an African Ameri-

DJ Mitchell, guard on the University of Hartford’s men’s basketball team

Photo courtesy of Hartford Athletics/Steve McLaughlin

Fil-Am hoop star DJ Mitchell catches his elusive March Madness dream

By MoMar

G. Visaya

AJPress

MARCH Madness is upon us and sports fans across the country are excited after missing out on the tournament H.E.R, a Black and Filipina American R&B artist, took home two Grammys on Sunday, March last year due to the pandemic.

14, including one for Song of the Year.

Photo courtesy Instagram/@hermusicofficial A total of 68 men’s college basketball teams will be in said in her speech. “Rememcan father.

Indianapolis to duke it out for ber, we are the change that Robert Glasper’s “Better we wish to see. That fight that the championship.

Than I Imagined” won Best For DeRohn “DJ” Mitchell, we had in us in the summer of R&B song on Sunday, which Jr., a Black and Filipino Ameri2020, keep that same energy.”

H.E.R. is featured in alongside can guard on the University On Monday, March 15, Meshell Ndegeocello. of Hartford’s men’s basketball H.E.R., along with collaboraWith two wins on Sunday, tors Tiara Thomas and D’Mile, team, playing in this 82-yearH.E.R. now has four Grammys old American tradition has was nominated for best origiunder her belt. She won two nal song at the 2021 Academy been a lifelong dream.

Grammys in 2019, for R&B “Getting into March Awards for “Fight for You” album and R&B performance.

DJ Mitchell, a guard on University of Hartford’s men’s basketball team, is fulfilling his dream Madness is an unbelievable from “Judas and the Black “I’m so speechless right of playing in the NCAA tournament.

Continued on Page 11 Messiah.” now, I can’t believe this,” she Photo courtesy of DJ Mitchell/Instagram

Hear me roar: A brief history of the groundbreaking...

From Page 9 Born in Laguna, Philippines, Alzona’s father was a trial court judge and a distant relative of the renowned national hero Jose Rizal. Both Alzona’s parents encouraged the young girl to pursue academic excellence, an influence that helped Alzona earn undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of the Philippines in Manila (UPM).

She pursued further studies in the U.S., earning a master’s degree from Harvard University in 1920 and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1923.

When she moved back to the Philippines at the end of the 1920s, Alzona dedicated herself to the suffragist movement and penned several books on the topic; many credit her 1934 tome “The Filipino Woman: Her Social, Economic and Political Status (1565-1933)” as an integral piece in granting Filipino women the right to vote in the Philippines in 1937.

In 1985, she was granted the rank and title of National Scientist of the Philippines and her extensive bibliography continues to be a staple in the Philippine history genre.

Another Harvard graduate, Dr. Fe Del Mundo (1911-2011), another boundary-breaker in higher education, was an extremely influential pediatrician who founded the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines.

As reported in the Asian Journal, Del Mundo was inspired to become a doctor after one of her sisters died of appendicitis in her youth. After a stellar undergraduate stint at the UPM, then President Manuel Quezon recognized her achievements and offered her a full scholarship to any U.S. college of her choice for further studies. She chose Harvard University, and became the first woman ever to study at Harvard Medical School.

After years of frustration of working for a government hospital, Del Mundo sold her home and possessions to establish the Philippines’ first pediatric hospital, The Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City, in 1957 — the first medical facility of its kind in the entirety of Asia.

Del Mundo continued working through her 90s, making hospital rounds and seeing patients even when her own health began to deteriorate.

“I’m glad that I have been very much involved in the care of children, and that I have been relevant to them. They are the

Vicki Manalo Draves

Nilda Rimonte

Geena Rocero

Diane Paragas

most outstanding feature in my life,” Del Mundo said in 2007.

Another pioneer of the crucial mid-century was Victoria “Vicki” Manalo Draves, a Filipina American competitive diver who became the first Asian American to ever win Olympic gold medals.

Draves was born in San Francisco to a Filipino father and an English mother and became interested in diving at the age of 16. As she became more competitive, she changed her name to Vickie Taylor to avoid racial discrimination for her Filipino background.

In 1948, at the age of 23, Draves won five U.S. diving championships, which allowed her to join the U.S. team at the London Olympics, where she won a gold medal in the 10meter platform and springboard, becoming the first woman to win both titles.

She was also the first Asian American to ever win a gold medal. Staying true to her roots, she dedicated her post-diving life to advocate for Filipino American issues, supporting the Filipino

Education Center in San Francisco in the 1960s when the second wave of Filipino immigrants came and settled in the Bay Area.

As Filipinos were adjusting to their newfound sovereignty after centuries of colonialism and occupation, the community and the diaspora boomed, clearing the way for Filipinas to make their mark in society and pop culture.

As more and more Asians began migrating to the U.S., the need for social services that specifically cater to the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community became acutely apparent.

In the late 1970s, Filipina American domestic violence survivor Nilda Rimonte saw the need for a resource that supports AAPI victims of domestic abuse and understood that AAPIs (especially immigrants) are among the least likely groups to seek help.

Knowing that community trust is crucial for AAPIs to seek help from violent home life, Rimonte established the Center for the Pacific Asian Family in Los Angeles, the first anti-domestic abuse organization dedicated to serving AAPI survivors and victims.

“We got high statistics but people didn’t want to talk about it. The issue of concealment and detail is huge. People told me not use the word ‘rape’ [for the center’s rape hotline] because women wouldn’t use it. I refused because I thought this was colluding with the community in hiding the issue. I thought it was time to bring it out, and it paid off,” Rimonte told the Los Angeles Times in 1981.

The multi-lingual and multicultural center — which still operates today — provides emergency and transitional shelter as well as counseling and case management.

Fanny band members included Fil-Am sisters June and Jean Millington

Isabel sandoval

Though Filipino American musicians today are mainly associated with hip-hop culture and Broadway, a little-known band from the early to mid-1970s called Fanny set an important standard for women in music.

Filipina American sisters June and Jean Millington — who were born to a Filipina socialite and a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander — moved from the Philippines to Sacramento, California, where they formed two all-female bands in high school with June on the guitar and Jean on the bass.

The sisters — and their former bandmates Alice de Buhr, Nickey Barclay and Brie Brandt — moved to Los Angeles and rebranded as Fanny after being discovered by producer Richard Perry during a gig at The Troubadour Club in West Hollywood in 1969.

Altogether, the band released three albums, but because of the male-dominated nature of rock music at the time, the band largely went under the radar, despite being the first all-female group to achieve a Billboard Top 40 single (they released two during their short duration).

But those within the music industry lauded Fanny for its fresh sound, even garnering high profile fans like the legend David Bowie, who told Rolling Stone in 1999 that “[they] were extraordinary: they wrote everything, they played like m*therfuckers. They were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody’s ever mentioned them.”

Though the group ended up splitting by 1975, Fanny’s impact was monumental for women in rock. Throughout their career, the Millington sisters were adamant in rejecting record executive’s suggestions to emphasize sex appeal like other female acts of the time, preferring to acquire a reputation based on their talent and sound.

The now and beyond As the Filipino diaspora continues to grow, so do the possibilities for the Groundbreaking Filipina. The arts and entertainment are the lifeblood of the Filipino community with acute attention placed on Filipino representation in Western media.

But there are many groundbreaking Filipinas in the arts today who are redefining the boundaries of what it means to be a storyteller.

As the conversation on gender continues to evolve, Filipino figures within the LGBTQ+ community are part of the force leading the way to cultural inclusion.

Model Geena Rocero, born

country song as a film, something that is something authentic, simple and straight with a lot of emotion,” Paragas told the Asian Journal in a 2019 interview.

“That’s what I was going for in terms of the tone of the film: a simple, true authentic story that feels real and grounded in something poetic.”

The film stars Tony-nominated Filipina American actress and singer Eva Noblezada (“Miss Saigon,” “Hadestown”) in her feature film debut, but the resolute spirit with which she brought to the role powered the film.

Carrying a narrative isn’t new to Noblezada, another Groundbreaking Filipina, who brought an effortlessly youthful energy as the leading character of Eurydice in the popular Broadway musical “Hadestown.”

In 2020, Sandoval made waves in the prestige independent film circuit with her third film “Lingua Franca,” a dramatic love story about a Filipina living in New York City who struggles to make money for her mother in the Philippines and to pay for an American man to marry her for a green card.

The intimate lens with which Sandoval — who is trans — tells her story rejects popular filmmaking styles that opt for grandiosity and exclamations, preferring “complexity” in her “quiet, patient [and] subtle” narrative approach.

“We have to establish what is distinct and unique about our voice and our worth because it’s so easy to get pigeonholed or to be put in a box especially for someone like me,” Sandoval told the Asian Journal last year.

“There will always be several expectations about you and the community you belong to and it’s easy for Hollywood to just be like, ‘You’re an immigrant so you should be telling immigrant stories or you’re trans so you should be making films about the trans experience,’ and kind of impose on me the kinds of stories that I should be telling and [am] only capable of telling.”

in Manila, started her career as a beauty pageant contestant at the age of 15. After moving to the U.S. in the aughts, Rocero was discovered by a fashion photographer in New York City, a chance encounter that led to a fruitful career in fashion editorials.

As a transgender woman, Rocero rose up as an advocate for trans rights; she and fellow trans model Tracey Norman became the first two openly transgender models to appear on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar in 2016. But Rocero’s big breakout came in 2019 when she was chosen as the Playboy Playmate of the Month for August 2019, becoming the first openly transgender AAPI model to pose for the lauded publication.

“As the first trans Asian Pacific Islander Playmate, I feel that I’m making it possible for someone to reach for their biggest dreams just like the people who came before me,” Rocero said in 2019. “I also hope that for anyone who’s been deemed ‘other’ to know that what makes you different, is your power, especially the unapologetic expression of your sexuality, gender and the value of your unique perspective.”

In the era of diversity and inclusion in Hollywood, the primary concern among cinema aficionados — who fear for the disintegration of the art form — is the preservation of authentic and sophisticated story-telling.

Streaming services and content pushers like Netflix and Marvel are regularly criticized for massproducing narratively sub-par content that may be diverse, racially and culturally, but lack creativity and imagination: which, to many, will eventually render the art of cinema nearly obsolete.

But filmmakers like Diane Paragas (writer, director and producer of “Yellow Rose”) and Isabel Sandoval (director, writer, producer and star of “Lingua Franca”) are bridging the gap between mainstream representation trends and auteur filmmaking.

As written about in the Asian Journal, “Yellow Rose” (available on Amazon Prime) tells the coming of age tale of a young undocumented Filipina in Texas named Rose who longs to be a country music star and struggles to find herself after immigration officers detain her mother. The film’s style is reminiscent of the raw, elegantly dusty pictures of John Ford and the ethereal and devastatingly poetic films of Terrence Malick.

“I kind of wanted to do a

Eva Noblezada

Stuck in debt during the pandemic?

Here’s how bankruptcy can help Minding Your Finances Atty. rAyMond BUlAon MOST debt problems don’t go away and solve themselves. They are there when you go to bed at night, and they’re still there when you get up in the morning.

They can cause a lot of ulcers, sleepless nights, stress and even physical sickness.

As a bankruptcy attorney for the last 22 years, I have seen the devastating effects of serious debt problems on people’s personal lives, their businesses, their families and their marriages. What I have also seen is that a lot of these effects could have been avoided with proper planning.

Facing serious debt problems often causes severe anxiety and fear about the future. What will happen to me and my family if I get sued by creditors? Can they garnish my wages or freeze my bank accounts? Will I have enough to buy food, pay my rent or mortgage, and keep my head above water?

The worst thing that you can do when you are in this situation is to pretend that everything is OK until one day your situation becomes a financial emergency. You have probably heard a lot of negative things about bankruptcy.

Maybe you have heard from others that you will never be able to buy anything on credit again. But what if I told you

that on average, people who file bankruptcy can rebuild their credit in as little as 3-4 years? That’s right. Although it can be reported on your credit for 7-10 years, the effects of bankruptcy rarely last that long unless you allow it to happen. Bankruptcy is a beginning, it’s not the end of the world.

After bankruptcy, there are positive steps you can take to rebuild your credit.

Most people who file bankruptcy have a tarnished credit rating anyway due to late payments, collection accounts, lawsuits, etc. on their credit report and as long as they remain delinquent, creditors continue to report them to the credit bureaus month after month. Filing bankruptcy stops the reporting of negative information. While payment history accounts for 35% of your credit score, 30% accounts for how much total debt you owe. If bankruptcy wipes out most, if not all your debts, your debt to income ratio improves over time.

Filing for bankruptcy protection automatically stops all creditor actions such as harassing phone calls, collection letters, lawsuits, wage garnishments, foreclosure and repossession. Generally, there are 2 types of bankruptcy for individuals. You can either wipe out debts you can no longer pay (Chapter 7) or you may consolidate all your debts into one low monthly payment and pay your creditors based only based what you can afford (Chapter 13).

Which chapter is right for you will depend on your income, expenses, assets, and your

objectives in filing, among other things.

If the COVID pandemic has resulted in loss of income which has made it difficult for you to keep up with all your bills, you’re not alone. The first thing that you need to do is to protect yourself and your family before anything else.

If bankruptcy has become necessary for you to survive financially during this difficult time, there is no shame in doing what you need to do to ensure your family’s financial safety.

Bankruptcy relief can be your first step in rebuilding your finances, your credit and your life. Remember that your past doesn’t equal your future. You have the power to change your life by taking action now. If you have not read my book, “What You Need to Know Before Filing Bankruptcy”, you can download it free of charge at www. beforefilingbk.com.

For a free evaluation of your case, please call our office at Toll-Free 1-866477-7772 to schedule a free consultation. *** NOTE: Due to the current lockdown order caused

by COVID-19, I am offering free consultations BY PHONE to anyone who needs help in dealing with their debt problems. . ***

community 11 Why using your married child as a co-borrower to refinance your house The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - March 17, 2021

community interest on his 50% share of your house. According to In re Marriage of Branco, a community property loan used to pay off a preexisting separate loan gives the community an interest in the amount of Atty. Kenneth that loan. In re Marriage of UrsUA reyes Branco, (1996) 47 Cal.App.4th 1621. Thus, the refinance described above allowed for MANY parents who may the new loan to pay off the old have problems refinancing their house due to low income separate property loan, and for a community interest to arise. in retirement or due to low Your married child’s credit score sometimes resort to the idea of having their mar- spouse can claim that adding your child’s name to the ried child serve as a co-bordeed was not a gift but instead rower to refinance their house As part of the refinancing proc- property your child acquired during marriage as community ess, the parents usually adds their adult children to the deed property because your child paid for that interest by getof the house then have them ting a mortgage as a co-borapply as a co-borrower in a rower during their marriage. mortgage. This is a really bad Family Code Section 760 idea especially if there your provides that all property, real child’s marriage is in trouble. or personal, wherever situated, This becomes a big probacquired by a married person lem if your married child ever during the marriage while gets divorced from his or her domiciled in this state is comspouse. Your child’s spouse munity property. will have a claim for half the Procedurally, your married community interest in your child’s spouse will join you as house even if your intent was an indispensable party in the only to use your child’s credit divorce case. Once you are to help you qualify for the joined as a party, you will be refinance. served with a summons and Although you can argue complaint for joinder into the that adding your married action. You then would have None of the information herein is intend- child’s name to the deed of to retain your own lawyer to ed to give legal advice for any specific your house was only a gift defend you in your married situation. Atty. Ray Bulaon has success- which should be characterchild’s divorce case. fully helped over 5,000 clients in getting ized as your child’s separate If you can avoid this situaout of debt. For a free attorney evaluation property, the fact that your of your situation, please call RJB Law Of- married child’s credit was used tion and refrain from adding your married child to the deed to obtain the refinance mortfices at TOLL FREE 1-866-477-7772. and serving as a co-borrower (Advertising Supplement) gage loan during the marriage which was then used to pay off in your refinance. However if refinancing would really your prior mortgage creates a

Barrister’s Corner

make a big difference in your mortgage interest and you are willing to give one half ownership interest in your house to your married child, then you may be able to plan around this situation by having your married child execute a post nuptial agreement with his spouse before you enter into the refinance transaction.

Although not bullet proof, it should offer you some protection in case your child gets divorced. *** 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. Visit our website at Kenneth@ kenreyeslaw.com.

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An old tale on self-absorption Immigrant Living: 101 and Beyond Monette AdevA MAglAyA

(Conclusion of 2 parts)

“Vanity of vanities; ALL is vanity.”

— From Ecclesiastes

with the image on the pool. He fell in love with the image of himself, hook, line and sinker, (Continued from last not unlike celebrities who read week’s issue …)

Poor Echo! Her heart broke their own press and believe them to be true. But I digress. into a million little pieces.

Narcissus tried to embrace Beauty and light dissolved into his own reflection in the water darkness for her until nothing but his attempt to touch or held any meaning. Refusing For the first time in program history, the University of Hartford’s men’s basketball team is heading to the NCCA tournament after winning food and drink, Echo grew kiss his beloved ended in the America East Conference men’s basketball championship.

Photo by Steve McLaughlin via University of Hartford/Twitter pale and consumptive and frustration each time. The image in the water dissolved faded away, leaving only her into ripples, disappeared and far-off voice in the distance. came back on. Narcissus had It is said that Echo haunts the to be content just by looking mountains where she answers she said.

From Page 10 summer basketball camps at the mirror image of himself all who call but only with the Last year, he fell and hit his last words. feeling. It’s something I have and programs to nurture his in the pool, day and night, dreamt about all my life since passion. After a summer camp head hard. without ever knowing the joy Narcissus meanwhile con“My heart dropped at I was a kid,” Mitchell told basketball program at IMG of touching or being loved in tinued to break one hapless the game watching my son the Asian Journal. “I spent Academy in Sarasota, Florida, heart after another in the most return. He now knew, up close hit the ground and lie still on countless hours thinking about DJ Mitchell came back and and personal, the excruciatmean spirited away, until one the court. He had a massive when I would arrive here — if I said he wanted to attend ing pain of multiple rejections day, one totally aggrieved goose egg concussion so my would even ever make it. Not boarding school there. After from the same object of his nymph with her heart shathubby and I took him off the many people believed that this a thorough discussion of the affection. Still he persisted, tered, prayed to the powers court and rushed him to ER,” was possible for me. But luck- pros and cons, the couple becoming rooted to the spot that be, for vengeance, to ily for me, with the support sent him to IMG as they saw in Alvarez-Mitchell shared. “In inflict punishment on Narcissus by the pool. He now knew how another crushing blow, the of my family and friends, my their kid a drive that was too to make him feel the pure pain it is to be on the receiving end injury had him benched for dream has become a reality.” compelling to ignore. of rejection. He slowly pined of unrequited love, to make Mitchell is excited and he The entire family has been a few weeks. But again, he away, losing his youth and him feel how it is to give love healed and jumped back onto and have it flung back in his is looking forward to their supportive of Mitchell’s quest beauty and withering away on the court.” game this Friday, March 19 ever since, something that he face. Her prayer was heard and the same spot by the pool’s With sheer hard work and against their bracket’s top fully acknowledges. It has not edge with Echo still hovering in a world of swift and evena bit of luck, Mitchell’s perseseed Baylor. This is the first been easy at all but they all handed justice with no lawyers, over him and repeating his time in his school’s history knew that it was the price they verance is starting to pay off. poignant last word, “Alas!” as judges and jury to cloud the He was never the tallest or issue, appropriate punishment he lay dying. that their team made it to its had to pay. biggest, but he found a way to was served. first NCAA tournament, March It is a full-time commitAs the woodland creatures help the teams he played on in Madness no less, something ment all year long, with most One day Narcissus chanced prepared to bury his body, any way he could. He trained that Mitchell and his Hartford basketball events in school Narcissus’ body was nowhere upon a pool with water so himself to be aware of everyHawks teammates are mighty were always held over holito be found and in its place, clear, it looked like a mirror. thing on the court and knew proud of. days and weekends. When he stood a flower, bending over Bending over to drink, Narcisthat he had to play smarter “A few of my teammates wasn’t in school or with the the pool, as though admiring sus saw his own reflection, against bigger competition. and I have been talking about team, he was working with thought it was a water nymph, itself. Gardeners know this According to his mother, this moment over the last few speed coaches and trainers at flower as narcissus. and forthwith, was smitten Mitchell learned to speed up weeks — about the ‘what if the gym. the game, catch a rebound, this?’ and ‘what if that?’ We “There isn’t a day from we experienced worth it and This year, the team won kept circling back to ‘let’s be the moment I chose to pursue get that breakaway steal, and score a three. He was naturally over Vermont in the semifinals even that more meaningful.” legendary.’ Let’s do somea career in basketball that I DJ is grateful to his family on March 6, then UMass-Lowathletic and he has a great thing that no one else has wasn’t doing something to for the support and underell last week in the America vertical. He fast-tracked his done before and pave the train for it and I still continue standing they have given East Tournament championbasketball IQ to understand way. Right now, we have acto today. I continue to also him. He says all of them have ship game. The major win complished that and we’re dream of making it to pro one team dynamics and his comworked hard and made sacrigave Hartford the America petitors’ weaknesses to add in unchartered territory,” day,” Mitchell said. fices.

East Championship for the more value than just a shot or Mitchell, a junior majoring in There have been epic “I would be lying if I said I first time in the school’s hisbusiness management and highs and lows so far, and like two and help set up his team arrived here without my famtory and along with it, their administration, said. “But we every sports parent out there, to win. ily. They have given me every ticket for their first-ever “It was his way to shine traveled this far to make it DeRohn and Monica underopportunity in the world to NCAA Tournament appeardifferently than others on the all the way to Indiana — why stand this all too well. make this happen,” he said, court,” she added. “Today, his ance. don’t we stay awhile?”

“For me, the worst moacknowledging that they “Eleven years ago, I got value is clear; even announcThe 21-year-old Mitchments were the obstacles haven’t had proper time off this and I said, ‘Let the dream ers say he’s one of the most ell knew he wanted to play that seemed overwhelming or a family vacation since his begin,’” Hartford coach John undervalued players on the college sports at the young at times and the injuries. Like career started. court. But we believe that’s his Gallagher told AP. “There age of 8; although initially, any parent, injuries are scary, Through his journey’s ups he thought it was going to but for an athlete, they can be strength. Never underestimate were a lot of nightmares to and downs, there is one thing be football. At 12, he found career-ending,” Alvarez-Mitch- his will to win and making sure get to this point. So many consistent in DJ, his motivapeople to thank but this prohe is doing all he can every basketball and there was no ell shared. tion. gram, this neighborhood that looking back.

She recalled DJ’s first scary second he’s playing.”

“Most people don’t we built, is so special. To put Road to March Madness Monica Alvarez-Mitchell injury when he hurt his hand, know this about me, but my it into words is really hard.

Hartford’s entry to the and her husband DeRohn fully chipped his tooth, and needed motivation through all of this But we’re dancing.”

March Madness is what hoop supported their second child’s stitches one year in post-grad — through everything I’ve “This moment is a dream dreams are made of. dream. while at St. Thomas More in endured, both the good and come true for us. After last They were set to play “I believe it was around 12 Connecticut. the bad — has been my little year’s letdown, the team Vermont for the America East years old when he declared “When that happened brother, Bryan,” he shared. “I came together and played Tournament title last season, basketball to be his destiny. though, it felt like the world wanted to show him you can their hearts out,” Alvarezbut COVID-19 happened and Like most parents, I was happy was ending because during achieve anything you want to Mitchell shared. “They finally to see him enjoy a sport that the fall, he fractured his hand, the rest of the season got and pursue different dreams got a ticket to the dance for I assumed he’d outgrow,” and his only thought was, ‘Can canceled. For the first time in that you have for yourself Alvarez-Mitchell said.

I still even play?’ It was one of its 81-year history, even March the first time. This achieve— to break the mold and crement has made all the lows They sent their son to the darkest moments we had,” Madness itself was canceled.

Fil-Am hoop star DJ Mitchell catches...

Hence, we call those who exhibit the same folly these days as narcissistic. The irony of it is that others clearly see it for what it is but the afflicted individual is blind to this egocentric flaw in himself, thinking the world revolves around him. In today’s world, there’s opportunity to cash in on this human flaw and use vanity and self-image as hot buttons to sell their wares: beauty products and services, diet pills and machines and illusions of power and beauty, with remarkable success. Selfimprovement is great but only if it comes from the inside out.

Pray that both the “once young” and the young ones don’t fall prey to the trappings of extreme self-absorption that rule the global culture of the present age. Self love taken to extreme, is something that might account for much of the social problems affluent societies with only one or two self-absorbed children per family, experience and suffer from today. *** 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.

*** Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@ asianjournalinc.com

ate your path. Not everything is perfect in life, but resiliency is key. Being resilient will take you anywhere you want to go.”

Looking back now, DJ’s mom Monica couldn’t help but be proud of her young son’s achievements.

As a mom, she said she always wanted her children to dream big.

This echoes DJ’s motivation to show his younger brother to chase whatever dream he wanted.

“You live through every emotion your child has and become invested on all levels.

But you keep going because there is no option. This is your child’s dream, and you will go with them to explore all roads until the end to help them achieve their destiny,” she said. “But I’ll say this to others: support your kids’ dreams — foster it and grow it. If your kid dreams big, works hard, keeps his head down grinding, never gives up, and gets a little lucky too, dreams can come true.”

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community The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - March 17, 2021

Island Pacific condemns recent surge of hate crimes against Asian American community

Island Pacific is a supermarket chain that caters to all communities however considers the Filipino american and asian american as their biggest demographic of loyal shoppers. With the current anti-asian american hate crimes proliferating in this pandemic, Island Pacific stands united to protect and serve the asian american communities against bigotry and hate due to the horrific rise in bias occurring across the country. according to the United states department of Justice, unlawful acts directly targeting asian american community members has risen exponentially. On January 26, 2021, President Biden issued the “Presidential Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance against asian americans and Pacific Islanders in the United states,” which mandates that the “attorney General shall explore opportunities to support,

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consistent with applicable law, the efforts of state and local agencies, as well as aaPI communities and community-based organizations, to prevent discrimination, bullying, harassment, and hate crimes against aaPI individuals, and expand collection of data and public reporting regarding hate incidents against such individuals.

Island Pacific will never tolerate discrimination and violence towards our community and will make every effort to provide a safe place in all our locations and provide all resources necessary to combat growing violence against our employees and customers.

The market encourages all customers and employees to raise awareness in the rising hate crime in our community by immediately reporting such crime to law enforcement.

(Advertising Supplement)

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The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - March 17, 2021

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T he Asian Jo ur na l M D W K M A G A Z I NE - M a rch 1 7 , 2 0 2 1

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