Group urges Biden to include issue of Filipino...

The coalition asks for a humanitarian executive order “that would protect the rights and welfare of current and future Filipino Amerasian children and adults by including them in the U.S.-PH EDCA Agreement terms of engagement. This would heal this festering wound between the Filipino and American People.”

The EDCA terms of engagement are being negotiated by Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin with their PH counterparts in 2+2 meetings in Washington. Earlier, they have agreed to increase the number of PH military-run joint bases to nine.

“Your Amerasian executive order will be timely in light of the 15,000 visiting U.S. troops now in “Balikatan” training with Filipino soldiers. A surge of new Amerasian children can be expected in future years,” the letter states.

The coalition urged Biden to support Filipino Amerasian legislation in the U.S. Senate and House (“Uniting Families Act of 2021” (H.R. 4522 in www.congress.gov) that wold reunite Amerasians with “their fathers and/or American siblings who have accepted financial responsibility for them since they have proven through their DNA to be the offspring of the American service member.”

The coalition also asks the Biden administration to “seriously promote democracy and protect human rights” with the government of President Marcos Jr. “Your reasonable increases of mutual defense funding, trade and

Amerasians are abandoned children of American military fathers who served in the Philippines during the Cold War and the war in Vietnam. Photo courtesy of UPA

Albert Del Rosario, ex-top diplomat who won...

PAGE 1 economic incentives to the PH would assure peace in the West Philippine Sea and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. We believe EDCA will protect the Filipino People’s sovereignty from outside aggression and intimidation,” the letter says. The letter was signed by Loida Nicolas Lewis, National Chair (NY) U.S. Filipinos for Good Governance (FB.com/

Contributed photo

USFGG) & convenor Filipino Amerasians Reunification Coalition; John Haines, USN Ret. (WI) and Chad Southard ,USMC Ret. (GA), Fathers of Filipino Amerasians (FAFA) founders; Angela Aquino, founder chair, EqualRightsforChildren.org (NY); Christopher Lapinig, Esq, FARC Legal Counsel (CA); Eric Lachica, coordinator USFGG & FARC (Washington DC). g

Secretary,” Manalo said of his former boss. Del Rosario, the diplomat Del Rosario served as the secretary of foreign affairs beginning February 2011 before resigning in March 2016 due to health reasons. His term was supposed to end in June, the same time as Aquino’s.

The DFA described him as a “staunch advocate” of protecting Filipinos here and abroad. Under his term as foreign affairs chief, Del Rosario led the evacuation of Filipinos working in wartorn countries such as Libya and was also on the frontline of negotiations for the case of Mary Jane Veloso, an overseas Filipino worker who was put on death row in Indonesia after being caught smuggling heroin into the country.

The Philippines filed its case to invalidate China’s expansive claims across the South China Sea at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2014. The court’s decision on the case was released months after Del Rosario’s resignation in May 2016.

Despite stepping down from the post, Del Rosario continued to actively engage in discussions on the West Philippine Sea. He also criticized the foreign policy thrust of President Rodrigo Duterte – whom Del Rosario said left a “shameful legacy” after Duterte “quickly shelved the Arbitral Award” in exchange for Chinese investments.

As the country’s envoy to the U.S, a position he held beginning 2001, del Rosario secured a $1.2 billion funding assistance to the Philippines along with other business opportunities such as investments into the country’s Business Process Outsourcing Industry, among others. He was reportedly recalled after disagreements with Arroyo.

Del Rosario, the businessman Del Rosario has a vast experience in the private sector. Stratbase ADR Institute notes that before he entered public service, Del Rosario was on the board of directors of “over 50 firms.”

Aside from his company Gotuaco, del Rosario Insurance Brokes, he was chairman of Stratbase and the Makati Foundation for Education. He also served as president of the Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corp. He was MAP President in 2007, while he was also conferred the MAP Management Man of the Year in 2014. Del Rosario graduated from New York University with a Bachelors Degree in Economics. He is survived by his wife, Gretchen de Venecia, and their five children. g

Watch for the yellow envelope...

PAGE 3 at jobs where health insurance is included may lose their eligibility for MediCal. Others may now be earning enough that they will be shifted from Medi-Cal coverage to the Covered California program, which subsidizes people’s health care on a sliding scale.

“For families on Medi-Cal, it may have been a long time since they last renewed their coverage,” Alvarez noted.

She said that her biggest fear is that people who are still eligible for MedicaidCal will lose their coverage in this “unwinding” process, simply because the state can no longer find them.

“If, for example, a termination notice is sent to an old address, they may never get that information, and those who actually might still be eligible may end up losing their coverage.

Families need to know that if they’ve moved since March 2020, they need to update their contact information,” she emphasized. This “redetermination” won’t happen overnight, and the yellow envelope DHCS officials mentioned is only one of several ways to find out about your eligibility status.

Community outreach

You can also call or email your county office. The contact information for all 58 California counties can be found here. Or you can check on your account online. That page will direct you to one of two web pages, benefitscal. com, that applies to 45 California counties, or mybenefitscalwin. org/#/home for the other 13, where you can see if you’re eligible, apply for benefits, report changes and more.

On top of all that, Huang said, the DHCS is devoting “a huge budget” for partnerships with community-based organizations to hire trusted messengers in the community to augment its own 1,700 “coverage ambassadors” to help people get or stay insured. Another thing to take into consideration is if there are new members of the family who hadn’t been born at the time of the last eligibility check, or if you’ve assumed new caretaking responsibilities.

“Now is the time to make sure we’re taking the necessary steps to keep our coverage,” Alvarez said. “Anybody, regardless of their immigration status, regardless of their income, can apply for MediCal.”

“This is especially important for people of color, who are more likely to rely on MediCal for coverage, and more likely to be at risk of losing that coverage.”

“It’s a lifeline for so many in our communities.” g

Fil-Am couple sheds light on...

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Federation of Filipino American Associations Greater LA has also started a GoFundMe page at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ vf6zak-fight-for-justice-elderlyfilams-attacked.

“We implore you to join us in calling for justice. As an organization, NaFFAA GLA, we strongly condemn this brutal act of violence and demand that California Attorney General Rob Bonta investigate this crime as a potential Anti-Asian hate crime. We must hold the attackers accountable for their actions and ensure that justice is served,” the organization wrote on the GoFundMe page. g were