050423 - Las Vegas Edition

US lawmakers renew bipartisan bill to quickly reunify Filipino WWII vets’ families

WASHINGTON – A group of lawmakers has reintroduced a bipartisan bill to speed up the visa process for children of Filipino World War II veterans.

The Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act was reintroduced April 25 by Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Representatives Ed Case (D, HI1) and Jen Kiggans (R, VA-2) to exempt the sons and daughters of Filipino WWII veterans from numerical limitations on immigrant visas.

The law would benefit thousands of people, including those already waiting in the visa application queue.

“Filipino soldiers served our country with honor and bravery during World War II. But for too long, they’ve been denied many of the rights and benefits they deserve, including

Toward a more perfect union: California aims higher to ensure people’s voting rights

TWO measures now making their way through the State Assembly aim to improve how California draws new district maps to ensure more participatory elections.

By some accounts, California’s independent redistricting commission (IRC) has set the gold standard for fair elections, wresting control of legislative mapmaking from the archetypal smoke-filled backroom dealmakers who’ve made an art of keeping power to themselves.

But recent examples point to the need for more and better reforms to ensure the state’s elections are open to all.

In Los Angeles, leaked reports of city councilmembers’ racist comments amid redistricting discussions last year exposed how the system still works there. In San Mateo County, the most recent round of redistricting found the Board of Supervisors voting to preserve the status quo even after hearing its own advisory committee suggest needed changes.

In the Central Valley, a steady, unrelenting campaign led by the county’s League of Women Voters and the Dolores Huerta

Marcos wants closer ties with US

by KRISTINA MARALIT ManilaTimes.net

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. sought a stronger alliance with the U.S. when he met President Joe Biden on Monday, May 1. Marcos pointed to escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific and how vital U.S. assistance is on resolving the differences. He cited America’s role in maintaining peace, stability and development in the region.

“We need to find ways to strengthen our alliances

and our partnership in the face of the new economy that we are facing post-pandemic,” he said in his opening statement, adding that current geopolitical issues put the Philippines in “arguably the most complicated geopolitical situation in the world right now.” Because of this, it is “only natural” for the country to “look to its sole treaty partner in the world, to strengthen and to redefine the relationship” of the Philippines and the United States amid the volatile situation “around the South China Sea and the AsiaPacific and Indo-Pacific region.”

Marcos hopes Filipinos in US come home ‘for good in much better PH’

by DAPHNE GALVEZ Inquirer.net

WASHINGTON D.C. — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday, May 1 expressed hope that overseas Filipinos residing in the U.S. would come home “for good and retire in a much better Philippines.”

He issued the remark during a meeting with the Filipino community here, saying he hopes to welcome them back to the Philippines “sooner or later.”

“Sooner or later, we will be able to welcome you back home to the Philippines, especially those who have reacquired their Filipino citizenship,” Marcos said in his speech.

“It’s my hope that some of you will come home for good and retire in a much better Philippines — a Philippines with better airports, Philippines with better roads, better airports, better internet, better governance.

‘Yun ang aking pinapangarap (That’s what I

As PH COVID cases rise, contrasting views on restrictions emerge

MANILA — Earlier this year, cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines dropped despite eased pandemic restrictions. However, cases surged again starting last month, with the nationwide positivity rate hitting as high as 17 percent.

“For now, our COVID-19 cases are plateauing, it is going down, [but] we have a few areas being monitored where COVID-19 admissions are increasing a little,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge, last January.

Vergeire also said that the country’s COVID situation was “generally manageable” given the decrease in the nationwide positivity rate. Records from DOH showed that cases of COVID-19 continued to fall from January until February this year.

According to data from the health department’s COVID-19 case bulletins, the weekly additional cases dropped to 832—or around 119 average daily cases—for February 20 to 26.

However, new COVID-19 cases saw a significant increase in April. A case bulletin report by the health department showed that an average of 450 infections

“We have many things that are new that need to be assessed and again our role as partners in the world ... in our worldview of what we are hoping for the future of peace, not only in the Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific region but in the whole world,” the chief executive said.

In response, Biden reiterated his government remains “iron-clad in our commitment to the defense of the Philippines, including the South China Sea and we’re gonna continue [supporting] the Philippines’ military modernization.”

WASHINGTON D.C. — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was welcomed by United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin with full honors at the Pentagon on Wednesday, May 3. According to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), the full honors accorded to Marcos at the Pentagon – where they subsequently held a bilateral meeting – were the first to be given to a foreign head of state or government under the Biden administration, citing the U.S. Department of Defense protocol office.

In their opening statements, Austin told Marcos that Manila and Washington are not just allies but are “family,” adding that the U.S. will always have the Philippines’ back in the South China Sea and elsewhere in the region.

Austin also reiterated Washington’s ironclad commitment to the defense of the Philippines, further

California jury rules against Manny Pacquiao in Paradigm breach of contract case

FILIPINO boxing legend

Manny Pacquiao said his legal team is reviewing the decision of a California jury that ruled against him in a breach of contract case filed by Paradigm Sports Management.

A report on ESPN.com said the jury sided with Paradigm, 9-3, in a civil lawsuit against Pacquiao, who is alleged to have acted in bad faith and failed to disclose other existing contracts he had when he entered a representation agreement with the sports management agency.

“The decision is still being reviewed by my U.S. lawyers as there is no final judgment yet on the case,” said Pacquiao in a statement sent to the Philippine media.

“While I respect the decision of the jury, I feel that our position on this case was not fully appreciated so I am definitely pursuing other legal remedies so that truth and justice will prevail,” he added

According to the same ESPN report, Paradigm said it is owed $8 million in damages.

Pacquiao’s legal counsel in the case said they are awaiting the court’s final decision with another hearing scheduled in June.

Marcos wants closer ties...

“Our countries not only share strong partnership. We share deep friendship, one that has been enriched by millions of Filipino Americans and the communities all across the United States,” the American leader stated.

Biden also noted the U.S.’ unwavering commitment to “tackle climate change, workers’ rights, rule of law and economic cooperation” with the Philippines.

Monday’s face-to-face was the second high-level meeting between the two presidents.

Their first meeting took place at the sidelines of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly in September 2022 in New York.

Marcos is on a four-day trip that follows last week’s state visit to Washington by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and a White House meeting in January between Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Biden greeted Marcos in the Oval Office.

A senior U.S. official said the Marcos visit — which began with a military honor guard outside the White House — was the first “at this level and intensity” between the two countries for decades.

“It is clear that we’re in a deeply consequential period in terms of our Indo-Pacific engagements,” the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Alarm bells are ringing for Washington and its Asian allies as China moves ever more confidently to assert claims to sovereignty over almost the whole South China Sea, ignoring an international ruling that this has no legal basis.

The stand-off, combined with constant saber-rattling over Taiwan — the democratically run island that Beijing claims but Washington vows to help defend — has prompted the Biden administration to rapidly bolster its military capabilities.

The Philippines, which lies close to key sea lanes and Taiwan, is of particular interest.

Marcos signaled as he left for Washington that he is wary of being caught between the superpowers, telling reporters, “We will not allow the Philippines

to be used as a staging post for any kind of military action.”

This month, however, the Philippines identified four military bases — in addition to five existing sites — where U.S. forces will be given access, including one located near the tense Spratly Islands.

The two allies also carried out their largest-ever military maneuvers in recent weeks.

That has alarmed China, which accuses Washington of trying to drive a wedge between Beijing and Manila.

In a reminder of how diplomatic tensions can quickly echo in the real world, a Chinese ship on April 23 narrowly missed colliding with a much smaller Philippine Coast Guard vessel in the Spratly Islands.

The focus of talks between Biden and Yoon last week was on another regional flashpoint: nuclear-armed, communist North Korea.

Expressing disappointment that China has not done more to rein in North Korea, U.S. officials announced that a U.S. nuclear submarine would make a visit to South Korea soon — the first in decades.

During Kishida’s visit, Biden also underlined the U.S. treaty commitment to defend Japan.

Tokyo, meanwhile, is on a shopping spree to buy an arsenal of U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles.

The senior official briefing journalists ahead of Marcos’ visit said Manila is also “looking for

reassurance and a strong desire to maintain peace and stability in this complex period.

“Recent events have caused much greater focus in both capitals on taking the necessary steps to up our game, to improve engagement on the security side between the United States and the Philippines.” Although giving few details, the official said new “bilateral defense guidelines” would see “a series of steps to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines modernization.”

In an acknowledgment of Philippine sensitivities about the U.S. troop presence, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the sites slated to be used by the United States remain part of the Filipino military and “every single step of the way will be done in complete coordination.”

“It’s about our ability to be better allies to one another and meet our commitments to each other,” he added.

The shifting geostrategic situation in the Asia-Pacific region will be a major topic when Biden visits Japan for a G7 meeting later in the month.

The U.S. official said Biden would also meet separately during that trip in a trilateral format with the leaders of Japan and South Korea.

Biden then heads to Australia for a session of the Quad group: Australia, India, Japan and the United States. (With reports from Agence France-Presse)

Bongbong Marcos is first foreign leader...

saying that the two nations’ Mutual Defense Treaty applies to armed attacks against their armed forces, coast guard vessels, public vessels, or aircraft in the Pacific, including anywhere in the South China Sea.

The ranking U.S. official also recognized how the Philippines has been an “indispensable friend and ally” of the U.S. “for decades.”

Austin emphasized the degree of participation by combined military forces of allied nations under the Balikatan (Shoulder-toshoulder) Exercises

“The recently concluded –the largest and most complex iteration of Exercise Balikatan and it included more than 17,000 troops in the Philippines, the United States, and Australia, training side-by-side across air, land, sea, and for the first time, cyberspace,” Austin pointed out.

“And I said before Mr. President, we’re more than allies, we’re family and we share a common vision for a free and open IndoPacific because a region governed by rules and rights help provide security and prosperity for our two countries and for the whole region,” he added.

Marcos, for his part, said the “call of the times… is asking for us to meet the new challenges perhaps we have not faced before.”

“That’s why it is very important that it is continuing… the exchanges that we have started,”

he added.

“I look to a very bright future between the Philippines and the United States – a future that is founded on the long experience and as you say, friendship and familial relationship because the people-to-people exchanges between our two countries have been ongoing at every level,” he also said.

The visit of Marcos at the Pentagon comes in the wake of the Philippines and the U.S. reaffirming their security alliance amid tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.

In February, Marcos and the American defense chief met at Malacañan Palace. During his courtesy call, Austin promised to help the Philippines modernize its defense capabilities as well as increase the interoperability of American and Filipino military

forces.

At a location of the Balikatan Exercises last week, Marcos witnessed the live-fire sea drills involving the sinking of an old Philippine Navy ship. He had expressed hope that through the military exercises, the Philippines could benefit from enhanced cooperation with the U.S.. Balikatan , which is also a Filipino term for “sharing the load together,” is the largest military exercise held annually between the Philippines and the U.S. This year marks its 38th iteration and the largest to date. Balikatan provides an opportunity for the armed forces of the two nations to enhance cooperation, increase capabilities, and improve interoperability in a conflict situation and disaster response. g

Marcos hopes Filipinos in US come home...

PAGE 1

am dreaming of). And that’s why that is what my administration is working for,” he added.

The president also urged them to encourage their children and grandchildren to visit the Philippines to see the richness of Philippine culture and history.

“Let them see for themselves what the Philippines is about, what is our culture, what is our history. I’m sure the first and second and third generation Filipino-Americans are more than happy to learn about their proud Philippine ancestry,” Marcos said.

He also thanked overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for their significant contributions to the growth of the economy through remittances and credited them

for “keeping the Philippines afloat” during the pandemic.

“Noong pandemya ay ang bumuhay talaga sa ekonomiya ng Pilipinas ay ang mga OFW. Kung hindi po sa inyo ay siguro mas nahirapan po na makabangon ang Pilipinas, kaya’t ulit maraming, maraming salamat sa inyo,” he said.

(During the pandemic, the lifeblood of the Philippine economy was the OFWs. If it were not for you, we would have suffered more, and it would have been more difficult to recover.)

The chief executive also mentioned his recent meeting with U.S. President Joseph Biden, whom he thanked for accommodating Filipinos and providing opportunities for them to thrive.

“Kasama ko po ang ating mga miyembro ng Gabinete upang ipagtibay ang ating pagkakaibigan sa Amerika, United States at saka ng Pilipinas… Malaking bahagi doon sa usapan namin ay nagpasalamat naman ako sa kanila dahil sa dami ng Pilipino na nandito sa Amerika, na nandito sa U.S. ay lahat naman naging maganda ang buhay at… tinanggap kaagad ng ating mga kaibigang taga-U.S.,” the president said.

(I am with Cabinet members to further strengthen the alliance of the U.S. and the Philippines. A big part of our discussion was my thankfulness to the U.S. because they allowed Filipinos to live here and have a good life.)

“Kaya naman nagkaroon kayo ng magandang hanapbuhay. Nagkaroon kayo ng magandang pagkakataon para tulungan ang inyong mga pamilya, para tulungan ang inyong mga community, para tulungan ang inyong bansa sa Pilipinas,” the president added.

(That’s why you had an opportunity to help your families and communities, as well as the Philippines.)

Marcos reassured OFWs of the government’s sustained efforts to make the Philippines better and vowed to boost the quality of jobs so that time will come when Filipinos would no longer have to go abroad out of necessity. g

LIBERATION DAY. The Philippine Veterans Foundation leads the commemoration of the Liberation of Davao City from the Japanese occupation forces, at the city’s Magsaysay Park on Wednesday, May 3. Simultaneous wreath-laying ceremonies were also held at the Golden Kris Monument, Dambana ng mga Bayani, Rizal Park, Andres Bonifacio Monument, and Osmeña Park. PNA photo by Robinson

STRONGER ALLIANCE. Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and U.S. President Joe Biden meet at the White House on Monday, May 1. Marcos said his U.S. visit is crucial to strengthen the alliance between the Philippines and the U.S. Malacañang photo

According to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), the full honors accorded to Marcos at the Pentagon — where they subsequently held a bilateral meeting — were the first to be given to a foreign head of state or government under the Biden administration, citing the U.S. Department of Defense protocol office. Malacañang photo

COMMUNITY. President Ferdinand R. Marcos

visit to the United States. Marcos thanked Filipinos

of calamity and disaster. Marcos also recognized their contribution

Toward a more perfect union:

Foundation pressured the Tulare County Board of Supervisors to finally draw fairer maps for the 65% Latino population previously excluded from the halls of power almost completely.

Building on the Fair Maps Act

At a recent press conference hosted by California Common Cause to discuss two measures currently grinding their way through the state Assembly, AB 764 and AB 1248, speakers shared these and other stories to demonstrate the ongoing need to improve and expand the state’s redistricting process.

“We have got to institutionalize protection so that communities don’t have to fight tooth and nail for their rights,” said Dora Rose, deputy director of the California League of Women Voters, one of the sponsors of the two bills. “We’ve got to build on the success of the Fair Maps Act.”

“Otherwise, we end up with older white people in charge, who just don’t reflect the Latino people, the API people, the Indigenous people, the Black people, the youth, that together make up the majority of our vote,” Rose said.

California passed the Fair Maps Act (AB 849) in 2019 to strengthen earlier legislation in 2008 and 2010 that led to the IRC’s formation and its initial implementation following the 2010 Census.

Closing loopholes in the redistricting process

But the FMA had “a huge loophole,” said Jonathan Mehta Stein, of California Common Cause: It failed to specifically address incumbent protection.

AB 764 closes that, banning drawing districts “for the purpose of favoring or discriminating against an incumbent or political candidate.”

It goes on to spell out specific, uniform and prioritized criteria for

how district boundaries are to be determined up and down the state and compels local IRCs to issue reports explaining their ultimate decisions.

AB 764 also mandates set numbers of public hearings and workshops for the process, including provisions on timing, accessibility and noticing. It requires that draft maps be unveiled in time for the public to effectively respond and clarifies the legal process for resolving disputes.

AB 1248 orders that any county, city, school district or community college district serving more than 300,000 people must establish an IRC by the time the next batch of population data from the U.S. Census comes in to set the redistricting process in motion, as it does every 10 years at the beginning of the decade.

If the jurisdiction fails to form a committee, the legislation provides guidelines on how to meet the requirement.

This will bring into the fold 17 California counties that do not currently have IRCs (five already do), plus the cities of Anaheim, Bakersfield, Fresno, Irvine, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana and Stockton, 20 school districts and many community college districts, too. It specifies standards for appointments to the commissions such as residency qualifications and an ability to be impartial, as well as prohibitions, for instance, against doing redistricting work outside of public view.

Along with Rose and Stein at the briefing were representatives of the Asian Law Caucus, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California and the ACLU, all of which were primary sponsors of one or both of the measures. Maps designed to protect

incumbents

Also on hand was Nicolas Heidorn, whose report, “The Promise of Fair Maps,” published earlier this year, studied the successes and shortcomings of the Fair Maps Act in the subsequent redistricting process.

Heidorn’s findings, Stein said, were foundational in the drafting of the two measures currently under review.

He wrote that the FMA improved the transparency of and public participation in the 2020 redistricting cycle, with some jurisdictions surpassing its requirements.

“The FMA was broadly successful in promoting a more transparent and participatory local redistricting process” and producing maps that better reflect the state’s diverse communities, the report found.

But it also noted “ambiguities, loopholes, and deficiencies in the legislation that undermined the law’s important goals and were often exploited to protect incumbents.”

“In many jurisdictions, incumbency protection proved to be the overriding criterion for how maps were drawn.”

“This is a statewide problem that demands statewide solutions,” Stein said.

AB 764 and AB 1248, sponsored by Assemblyman Isaac G. Bryan, D-Culver City, and Senator Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, both cleared the Assembly’s Local Government committee on April 26 and will now be taken up by the Appropriations committee.

If approved there, they’ll go to the full Assembly for a vote, and then have to repeat that process through the State Senate before arriving on Gov. Newsom’s desk. (Mark Hedin/Ethnic Media Services)

California jury rules against Manny...

“A final judgment has not been entered. The court has scheduled a hearing in June and there are still legal issues that need to be addressed before the case is fully resolved. We look forward to the final decision of the court,” Atty. Jason Aniel also said through a statement. Pacquiao joined Paradigm in February 2020. He was sued by the company after he signed on to face Errol Spence Jr. in a bout presented by TGB Promotions

while Paradigm was negotiating for him to fight another boxer in Mikey Garcia. The fight against Spence pushed through despite Paradigm’s effort to stop it through an injunction before Pacquiao’s opponent pulled out due to a retinal tear.

In an interview with ESPN, Paradigm’s trial attorney Judd Burstein said that despite Pacquiao’s contract with TGB Promotions the former Filipino senator still accepted $3.3 million from Paradigm and declined to

Biden-Marcos bilateral criticized as lip service to labor protections, human rights, security

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Cries of “Marcos is not welcome here!” filled the air in front of the White House as FilipinoAmericans and supporters gathered at the nation’s capital to protest President Joe Biden’s bilateral meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos, who was in the U.S. until May 4, and brought with him a large delegation of cabinet secretaries to discuss trade, climate, and security with leading U.S. officials.

face Garcia. Pacquiao and Paradigm reportedly had an agreement for a four-fight deal with streaming service DAZN that would’ve included a Garcia fight in Saudi Arabia.

Pacquiao has not fought in a professional match since losing to Yordenis Ugas, a late replacement for Spence, via unanimous decision in August 2021. He last figured in an exhibition match against South Korean Youtuber and martial artist DK Yoo last December. g

Protestors noted the hypocrisy of the meeting that took place on May 1, International Labor Day, on the heels of the April 23 murder of union organizer Alex Dolorosa. “[Dolorosa’s] brutal murder happened in the context of larger attacks on workers and human rights, and the work they do fighting for change,” said Elena Lopez of the Communication Workers of America. She added, “For two years in a row, the Philippines was named one of the top ten worst countries for workers’ rights because workers are vulnerable to violent attacks, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests.”

And while the two countries committed to a bilateral Labor Working Group to ensure implementation of labor rights as part of the newly announced U.S.-Philippines Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), Melinda St. Louis, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, remained skeptical, asking,

“Will the rhetoric around worker centered trade translate into accountability for the human rights violations that continue everyday against workers in the Philippines?”

The renewed momentum in the U.S.-Philippine security partnership also remained a point of contention for those gathered. Nina Macapinlac, Secretary General of Bayan USA, countered Biden’s commitment that the U.S. would come to the defense of the Philippines should the latter be attacked.

“If you look at history, we already know that the U.S. will not fight for us. In the throes of world war, the U.S. left the Philippines to the brutal Japanese occupation,” she said. Macapinlac concluded by advocating for an independent foreign policy that puts the

Filipino people’s interests first, rather than “bowing down to any foreign master, whether the U.S. or China.”

The rally outside the White House was matched by concern over the Biden-Marcos meeting from within Congress. Earlier in the day, U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), along with 13 colleagues, delivered a bipartisan letter calling on Biden to put forth concerns of human rights in his meeting with Marcos. Activists have been demanding the U.S. Congress to pass the Philippine Human Rights Act (HR 1433), a bill that would restrict U.S. security aid to the Philippines contingent on policy and military reforms to address human rights violations.

(Bayan USA Release)

Photos courtesy of Bayan USA

As PH COVID cases rise, contrasting views on...

per day were recorded from April 17 to 23.

It further increased by 42 percent from April 24 to 30, with an average of 637 daily COVID cases.

As of May 3, total COVID cases have reached 4,096,335.

Of those, 7,565 were marked as active cases, 4,022,326 have recovered, and 66,444 died.

Amid the recent surge of infections, Vergeire said the number of daily COVID cases in the country may remain at 600 until June.

"Based on the projections, we are seeing that the number of cases will increase by up to 600 until June. Eventually, hopefully, the cases will start to go down after that month,” she said at a press briefing.

However, for health reform advocate and former special adviser to the National Task Force on COVID-19 Dr. Tony Leachon, estimates by the DOH might be lower than the actual numbers—citing the rising nationwide positivity rate.

“We have rising positivity rate close to 18%. We have not seen the peak or even the plateau. That’s why maybe they’re disregarding positivity rate,” Leachon said in a tweet posted on May 3.

"So why are we testing if we don’t value positivity rate?

How do we stop the surge by doing status quo measures? It is truly disturbing. Hopeful for enlightenment from [DOH],” he added.

In a separate tweet, Leachon attributed the increasing nationwide positivity rate to the “new Omicron XBB1.16 subvariant known as Arcturus, optional masking, complacency, increase in mobility, and waning wall of immunity.”

Rising positivity rate

Data from independent pandemic monitor OCTA Research showed that last February 6, the country’s positivity rate—the percentage of all COVID-19 tests that turned out positive for the virus—was 1.20 percent, the lowest so far since January.

Two months later, the nationwide positivity rate hit 7.40 percent on April 14, following the health department’s announcement that multiple cases of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.9.1 have been detected in the Philippines.

As of May 3, the positivity rate in the Philippines rose to 17.1 percent—the highest so far this year.

However, Vergeire explained that the nationwide COVID-19 positivity rate is not a good basis for assessing the country’s COVID-19 situation as it is only derived from the number of individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 in a specific number of RT-PCR tests conducted.

“Let me remind everybody that the positivity rate is not a good basis to tell the country’s COVID situation,” Vergeire said.

“No matter how high these positivity rates are, those are not accurate [basis] that can give us the picture and the situation that we have for COVID right now,” she said at a media briefing last May 2, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino.

The health undersecretary stressed that currently, there is a “tremendous decrease” in RTPCR tests that are being done in the country.

"We know that the positivity rate is affected by the number of those who undergo RT-PCR tests for COVID. [M]ost of our citizens right now are using antigen, some are not having any tests at all [and] are just isolating themselves when they are sick,” said Vergeire.

Vergeire also previously said that it would be unfair for local governments and other sectors if the health department declared that the country is at high risk based only on the positivity rate.

Low utilization rate

Last month, amid increasing COVID cases, the DOH told the public that there was no need to panic as the health utilization rate, or available beds and services against occupancy, remained low throughout the country.

“The most important thing to look at and focus on is the utilization of the hospital, so even if we see that there is an increase in cases until we see that the utilization,” Vergeire said.

“Rest assured to all of our citizens, our hospitals are ready, we have gone through different variants already, especially during the delta period, and we have learned our lesson,” she continued.

According to DOH’s nationwide facilities data, as of May 1, there are 1,887 available facilities in the country for COVID-19

cases. The majority, or around 1,440 facilities, were classified as low risk—or 0 to 49 percent occupancy rate.

In terms of bed occupancy rate, 17.2 percent of all 24,430 beds for COVID-19 is currently occupied. This translates to 4,207 occupied beds and 20,223 vacant beds—which consists of 2,411 ICU beds and 22,019 non-ICU beds. While the country’s health care utilization rate (HCUR) remained low, Leachon stressed that it has been “increasing gradually.”

“Mild cases expected but we can’t predict the future. The best is to prevent further surge while it’s manageable,” he said.

To mask or not to mask?

Following the rise in COVID-19 cases, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. last May 1 said that the government might bring back the mandatory use of face masks—depending on the recommendations of the DOH and Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

“We’ll see if the IAFT and the DOH will have guidance I hope we don’t have to, but we might. But I hope not,” he said in an interview with reporters.

On May 2, however, the DOH said there was no need to reimpose the mandatory face mask rule.

“We already have recommended to the Office of the President, based on the agreements coming from the IATF discussions, that there is no need to return the mandate. We need to shift the mindset of our countrymen,” Vergeire announced.

“Cases will increase and decrease in our country because the virus is here, it will not disappear, and the virus will mutate and produce variants every now and then,” she added.

Vergeire explained that what the public needed was for each individual to know how to protect themselves and their family—by choosing to wear a mask when going to high-risk places, especially if they are unvaccinated, immunocompromised, senior citizens, or pregnant.

In a television interview over CNN Philippines’ The Source, the health undersecretary explained that the DOH might recommend reimposing the mandatory use of face masks if the country’s

US lawmakers renew bipartisan bill to...

the ability to reunify with their families in the U.S.,”

Senator Hirono said in a press release.

More than 260,000 Filipino soldiers fought under the American flag from 1941 to 1946 when the Philippines was a U.S. colony. In 1990 former President George H. W. Bush granted U.S. citizenship to about 26,000 of them.

However, the law did not grant citizenship or residency to the veterans’ children. To this day, Filipino applicants must wait nearly 20 years before their applications are considered.

In 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services implemented the Filipino WWII Veterans Parole program to reunite veterans with their families. However, the extensive delays are leaving applicants without certainty as dozens of the surviving veterans are now over 100 years old.

The new legislation would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act, providing a permanent solution for WWII veterans who were naturalized under the 1990 law or other specified laws.

“To express our gratitude to the brave Filipino service members who fought for our nation in WWII,

COVID situation becomes critical.

“I am still an advocate of masking, DOH is still an advocate of masking, but we need to understand that we cannot go back and forth with our policies for COVID-19,” said Vergeire. "We cannot go back to our restrictions every time there would be an increase in cases. We need to move forward on this,” she added. Leachon, on the other hand, questioned the DOH

we should do what is right and fair for our veterans and their family members,” Senator Lisa Murkowski said in a press release. “This bill will reunite mothers and fathers with their children, and honor the service of Filipino veterans who served under the American flag.”

“I’m proud to reintroduce the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act to reunite these veterans with their loved ones,” Hirono added. “I will continue working to support Filipino veterans, their families, and all veterans in Hawaii and across our country.”

Hirono has been leading the bipartisan Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act since 2013. She also led the introduction of the Filipino American History Month (FAHM) Resolution recognizing October as FAHM and celebrating the heritage and contributions of Filipino Americans.

Due to her years of advocacy, Congress finally awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award from the U.S. government, to Filipino WWII veterans in October 2017, after the Filipino community’s decades of fighting for the veterans’ recognition. (Inquirer.net)

recommendation.

“Why wait for escalation of COVID cases? Sense of urgency is key. I don’t understand the rationale behind this decision,” he said in a tweet.

“[W]e need to protect the people with the rising positivity rate. We need to make face masks mandatory and make it optional once the cases are controlled. But doing nothing is quite a big letdown because we will be perpetuating an error in the

past. It’s about public safety,” he added. He emphasized that the use of face masks remains the cheapest, most important protective measure and the least disruptive of the minimum public health standards (MPHS) against COVID-19.

“Wearing face masks should be a way of life while we are trying to upgrade our booster rates and improve our fragile and weak healthcare system.” g

PARCHED. Farmer Eduardo Rossel, 62, walks on a dried-up rice field in Sitio Maname, Naic, Cavite on Wednesday, May 3. With the El Niño certain to start between July and August, the Department of Agriculture is implementing the Mitigation and Adaptation Plan that includes cloud seeding, irrigation system schedule, water management, rehabilitation of irrecoverable areas, maximized production in non-threatened areas and massive information dissemination. PNA photo by Yancy Lim

Outage again at the NAIA

DURING another long weekend, on another start of the month, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was hit by another power outage. Lasting nearly eight hours, the outage hit the NAIA Terminal 3 early on Monday, May 1 stranding thousands of passengers as dozens of flights were canceled or delayed.

As of Monday night, May 1, initial inspection indicated that the outage was due to faulty electrical wiring or a short circuit.

The outage occurred exactly five months after another powerrelated problem shut down not just the entire NAIA but also Philippine airspace. This was on Jan. 1 this year, when a circuit breaker that failed to work caused two uninterruptible power supply units of the NAIA’s Communications, Navigation and Surveillance / Air Traffic Management System to bog down. With the UPS unable to come on stream when needed, the CNS / ATM was paralyzed.

Over 300 flights were disrupted and about 65,000 travelers were stranded at the NAIA for over nine hours before the system came back to life and flights gradually resumed. New UPS units have since been procured. A promise to make heads roll after an investigation is completed, however, has not materialized.

In September last year, a problem at the terminal’s power substation resulted in an hours-long outage that delayed at least 31 flights as airlines shifted to manual check-in and immigration processing slowed down. At the

Commentary

AT the outset, and lest people misconstrue my point, it should be stressed that citizens have the right to express their dissatisfaction with the government. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right accorded to us by the Constitution. It is an inherent element of any democratic system.

Yet, many people seem to focus too much on their individual rights, or the benefit of their own groups, without thinking about their responsibilities to the greater community and society. Worse, they delude themselves into thinking, or even intentionally appropriate the line of reasoning, that they are doing this to advance some collective good.

Democracy is not just about freedoms and rights. It is also about our duties. Many people forget that while citizens are sovereign, a responsible and rational exercise of our political rights is also fundamental in a democracy. A representative democracy

time, airport and transport officials vowed to address the problem to prevent its repeat.

In April 2016, the NAIA-3 was also hit by a five-hour outage that was blamed on one broken power generator. Power transmission had tripped briefly in the airport area in Pasay City. Power was restored within less than a minute, but electricity failed to kick in at the NAIA 3 because one of the 10 generators meant to service the main building did not work. This weekend outage canceled 82 domestic flights and delayed 79 international and local flights. The fiasco contributed to perceptions of incompetence on the part of the Aquino administration, with the general elections just weeks away.

This was seven years ago. Will NAIA officials ever grasp the critical importance of uninterrupted electricity supply in the country’s premier gateway? There wasn’t even a weather disturbance that might have affected the power supply at the NAIA 3 on Monday. Transport officials said they were not ruling out sabotage. Whatever the reason, it must be determined quickly so that it can be addressed ASAP. (Philstar.com)

Too much complaining

such as ours depends not only on the robustness of our democratic rituals such as elections, but on the quality of our participation in it, either indirectly when we vote, or more directly when we engage in political discourse, or take part in political activities.

Unfortunately, most citizens would rather defer to the actions of their elected representatives and those these officials appoint, instead of actively participating in politics. While our voter turnout is relatively high, the quality of the exercise of these rights is undermined not only by candidates who run not on the basis of platforms, but largely riding on the power of optics and narratives. More fatal to the pursuance of highquality democracy is the fact that this kind of politics of image instead of substance is enabled by voter behavior.

People vote less on the basis of the idea of a common good, but more on preferences that are formed from biases and even blind loyalties. We turn our politicians into brands to whom we have been fixated to patronize regardless of their performance, or the service they offer.

voters would, after the regular periodic rituals of elections, retreat into states of passivity and detachment, unless something personal hit them that they would demand action from the government. Only a small minority would actively participate in political activity beyond voting during elections. But this was before the birth of social media, where people did not have access to platforms where they could express their views.

The era of social media has reframed the way people do politics. While it certainly amplified the role of optics and narratives, it also amplified political noise. The noisy minority effectively found an avenue to project their voices, and this created a mirage of a groundswell of opinion that, without social media, would have been drowned by the apathy of the greater number of people.

Social media has become an effective avenue to make politics accessible. However, it also became the launching pad for the propagation and growth of a kind of politics that is driven by hatred and fear. Social media traffic is characterized by people who

become peddlers of anger and intrigue, who feed the gripes of the minority, even if it means spreading lies, misinformation and disinformation. It became worse when what used to be a vocation that would require dedication, where activists are committed to a cause, the monetization of social media engagements has produced a new breed of noisemakers. These are in the form of social media vloggers who turned political commentary into an income-generating commodity. They effectively become merchants of discord, anger and fear. And thus, we end up with a highly toxic political landscape, where what can be seen, heard and read in social media is dominated by rants and complaints, giving the impression of an utter system failure and a government at the precipice of collapse. This, however, does not add up when results of scientific surveys reveal a government earning high trust, approval and satisfaction ratings from four out of five Filipinos. The voice of the noisy minority, those driven by blind loyalties and who thrive on intrigue and discord, and

whose politics subsists on anger and fear, take control, and are in command of the production of political discourse that we mistake to be the pulse of the masses. Yet, it is all a mirage. Unfortunately, their noisy voices are the ones that are picked up not only by mainstream media, but also by politicians who either fear them, or suck up to them to advance their political careers. It is in this political landscape that our policy decisions are now directed by a noisy minority, and where government initiatives sink or swim on the basis of the decibel of their noise. We saw the initiative of modernizing our jeepneys being tanked not on the basis of reason but on the basis of accommodating sectoral interests over the greater good of protecting human and environmental health. I have my own issues with the move to replace our carbon-emitting jeepneys, but these are more on issues of unaffordability as well as the unimaginative design of turning what used to be a cultural icon into a boring box-like contraption. But what we got instead is the more convenient and populist response of

shelving the proposal until further discussion, which in our political discourse could mean putting it on hold forever. Then we have the SIM card registration initiative, which is a rational response to the increasing incidence of fraud using unregistered mobile devices. Again, because of internet-generated noise, the government caved, and gave fraudsters a reprieve. What we end up with is not the image of a government that is responding to people's concerns and advancing public good, but a political culture that unleashes internet anger and fear being spoiled by a government that bows to their noise, and turns public good into a negotiable, fluid and uncertain construct. We now have turned public interest away from a landscape dominated by reason and informed decisions, into one that is overwhelmed by internet noise. We are turning our democracy into a noisy marketplace of rants and complaints. (ManilaTimes.net)

* * *

Commentary

THE role of labor in the factors of production has been historically valued as the most crucial. This is because the generation of goods and services is paramount along with land, capital and entrepreneurship. This is not because of any Marxist paradigm, but this is essentially due to the fact that labor is humanity.

Will labor, therefore, in the Philippines experience a golden age soon?

We are a country which prides itself on having closelyknit families. A nation that is supposed to treat our workers as members of an extended family where everyone is regarded as an important part of a big clan. But we are aware that in most instances, this claim is farthest from the truth. Our workers, especially in the blue-collar category, hardly enjoy the full benefits

And later, a huge number of

Will there be a golden age for Philippine labor?

of the wealth that they help create.

Construction workers of our modern highways and bridges could not afford to acquire and drive their own vehicles. Even the cost of commuting through public utility vehicles devours a big portion of their wages. Those who participate in building condominiums and other mixed developments of lush villages could not aspire to live in any of these units.

In fact, many of them are informal settlers who struggle daily and could only hope that their children, perhaps through the leveraged power of education, could someday uplift their plight. Servers in plush restaurants have to deal with daily hunger pangs hidden in the extravagance around them and the need to sneak in the nearby jollijeeps. This is the paradox amidst our society. And every 1st of May, we celebrate labor. Or, more importantly, we recognize their sacrifices and renew our commitment for an inclusive growth where almost

everyone will benefit from a robust economy.

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. A

Labor is trapped in a vicious cycle of near poverty. To become laborers basically means that you have to tirelessly endure the idiom of making both ends meet. To many, this is a skill. To some, it’s almost a curse.

According to official reports in 2022, our service sector is the largest at 59.6 percent of our labor force. They are the nurses, teachers, tourism workers, food servers, kitchen crew, drivers, hotel staff, delivery guys and millions more who are oftentimes faceless in the huge world that struggles for survival.

The agricultural sector has 24.1 percent of the more than 50 million Filipinos in the labor force. In our country, working in the farms is almost synonymous to being perpetually unsecured, despite the patriotic role of providing food for almost everyone. Farmers have the lowest income at less than P10,000 monthly. No

wonder the poverty-stricken rural areas are the bastion of restlessness and rebellion in our modern history. Their children could hardly finish their education, and their chance of a better future dims by the day because of the continuing decline in agricultural productivity and competitiveness. To worsen their situation, their homes and communities are the most susceptible to the onslaught of natural calamities such as tropical typhoons and floods.

Meanwhile, the 16.3 percent industrial workers have to endure a similar dilemma of being content or not, because they are physically experiencing the trappings and tastes of modern manufacturing in the metropolis, yet they don’t have enough to fully capture the complete benefits that those in the higher ladder of the enterprises enjoy.

They are the most vulnerable to problems on childcare, lack of pay and incentives, poor access to good

education, fertility issues, discrimination, pension reforms and other legitimate concerns that overwhelm the entire system. The whole labor sector is regularly challenged also by global recession, high interest rates and, in several cases, the financial crisis in other parts of the globe. Such external challenges aggravate the conditions of labor.

Roadmap for possible collective success for labor.

The issues hounding our labor force will not be resolved if the conditions that fundamentally define our economy are basically the same. Meaning, we must ensure the needed structural solutions that will boost our business enterprises, bring in more capital especially from foreign direct investments, create more jobs that will actually pay more also, attract modern technologies and encourage visitors who will see the potential of our country to host a vibrant business environment.

Again, this will mean revisiting the prohibitive provisions of our Constitution and regulations on foreign capital, establishing a permanent ease of doing business in the Philippines office, making the cost of electricity lower and stable, controlling the abuses in many local government units who prey on legitimate businesses, providing a strong sense of security and provide no room for criminality, digitalize and further modernize our processes in government and maintain education as the best bridge of labor in crossing to a much better world.

So, will there be a golden age for Philippine labor? As the economists would answer, it depends. Meaning, this will depend on external dynamics outside of labor itself. (Philstar.com)

* * *

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

York/New Jersey, Las Vegas, San Diego. Philippines

ANTONIO P. CONTRERAS

PH improves in press freedom index but still a ‘difficult’

by Gaea Katreena CabiCo Philstar.com

MANILA — The Philippines climbed 15 notches in this year’s World Press Freedom Index, but it continued to be among the world’s “most dangerous” countries for journalists, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday, May 3.

The country ranked 132nd out of 180 countries, according to an annual report that was published on World Press Freedom Day. It placed 147th in 2022.

Despite the improvement, the Philippines obtained a score of 46.21, keeping it a “difficult” country for journalists.

“The Philippine media are extremely vibrant despite the government’s targeted attacks and constant harassment, since 2016, of journalists and media outlets that are too critical,” RSF said.

RSF: New admin 'loosened constraints' on media

In its report, the Paris-based media watchdog said the election of Ferdinand “Bongbong”

country

Marcos Jr. as president in June 2022 was “very unsettling” for most Filipino journalists because of the reputation of his father, a former dictator who silenced and controlled the media during Martial Law. But it noted the change of government “loosened constraints” on the media.

It added the acquittal of Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa in a tax evasion case is an encouraging development.

Despite these, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines stressed that many journalists are still facing threats, and that press freedom in the country remains fragile.

“Nearly a year into the Marcos Jr. presidency and as dominant media adjusts to reporting on an administration that is not openly hostile to the press, it is tempting to consider that maybe the situation for media workers has improved and will continue improving,” NUJP said.

NUJP documented 60 reported violations against journalists from June 30, 2022 to April

for journalists

30, 2023. These include two killings—Rey Blanco and Percy Lapid, a popular broadcaster who criticized several government officials.

In the Philippines, journalists who do not toe the government line are tagged as rebels or supporters of the communist movement. Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who had been red-tagged and subjected to surveillance, was arrested in a Tacloban City raid in 2020.

“The slow pace of the case— especially in contrast with the quick resolution of other, more high profile ones—is a violation of her right to a quick trial and also deprives the communities on Negros Island that she used to report on and for,” NUJP said. It added that policies blocking access to alternative news outlets Bulatlat and Pinoy Weekly have not been reversed. On World Press Freedom Day, Bulatlat reported its Facebook page has been restricted over alleged violations of community standards. There are also moves in Congress seeking to penalize “fake news.” g

PH crime rate down in first 4 months of 2023

MANILA – The country's crime rate has dropped by 11.36 percent in the first four months of this year, a ranking police official said on Thursday, May 4.

In a Laging Handa briefing, Philippine National Police (PNP) Public Information Office chief Col. Redrico Maranan said a total of 12,226 crime incidents were recorded from January 1 to May 2, as compared to 13,763 crimes in the same period last year. “Nakapagbaba tayo ng 1,500 plus na krimen at iyan po ay iyong mga eight focused crimes.

Kaya nakikita natin, iyong ating different anti-criminality strategies, nakikita naman natin na ito po ay epektibo (We were able to reduce 1,500 plus crimes of the so-called eight focus crimes. That's why we see, our different anti-criminality strategies, we see that it is effective),” he added.

The eight focus crimes include murder, homicide, physical injury, robbery, theft, vehicle theft, motorcycle theft and rape.

Index crimes are serious crimes such as murder, homicide, physical injury, robbery, rape, theft, and carjacking, while nonindex crimes are violations of local ordinances and laws and vehicular accidents.

Maranan said that under PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr.'s leadership, the PNP will deploy policemen in barangays identified by the local police

forces as crime-prone areas as part of preemptive efforts against criminality. “The focus of our new PNP chief, Gen. Acorda, is to assign police to crime-prone barangays. We have already identified that and that will be the priority of our deployment… in the crimeprone barangays. And we have also identified police regional offices that will be the ones to lead because in their area of responsibility, that's where we saw those barangays with the most crime occurring,” he added.

Maranan earlier said the move is a strategic action plan as the national police do not have enough manpower to guard over 100 million Filipinos across the country.

Maranan explained that police visibility has been proven as a crime deterrent over the years. He emphasized the importance of the cooperation of the barangay officials in maintaining peace and order.

He said that strong coordination between the police and the community lies on the cooperation between the two, adding that it is the police commanders who are given the task to initiate it.

“The PNP cannot deploy policemen in each of the barangay. What we do is to cluster the barangay and then we either put up Police Community Precincts, police assistance desks or even a police outpost. We believe that if

Recto proposes total NAIA check-up after T3 power outage

MANILA – House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto on Wednesday, May 3 acknowledged the move of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to audit the electrical system of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) after the power outage at Terminal 3 early Monday.

The Batangas lawmaker, however, said a complete check-up of the country’s ailing international airport is more appropriate.

“And whatever work to be done should be submitted as one package, so the remedies will not be several ‘Band-Aid of cures,' but a wellness package,” Recto said.

He said even if this “light bulb moment" had come too late, after the airport had been hit with electrical crashes, it should be treated as an urgent request.

“Every time NAIA is hit with a blackout, the nation gets a black eye,” he added.

The NAIA management said it would need PHP1 billion for a new electrical system.

“So, if the promised power system audit would validate that request, then the government should buy it, but not necessarily in the amount floated. Panic buying is the number one procurement sin,” he said. “May pera naman kasi (There is fund really). NAIA is a corporate profit center for the government. It is not a charity.”

The gross revenues of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), which runs NAIA, in 2019 was PHP15.2 billion.

Of the given amount, PHP1.8 billion were remitted to the National Treasury as the government's share of the profits.

This, Recto said, was aside from the PHP2.2 billion tax payments, adding that despite the big deductions, the MIAA

US Embassy alerts citizens on rise of diphtheria cases in PH

by bernadette tamayo ManilaTimes.net

regions” reported an increase in the number of people infected with the disease.

diphtheria” particularly fever and sore throat.

this is properly implemented, we would be able to reduce the crime, especially in the crime-prone barangays," he added. (PNA)

THE United States Embassy in Manila has alerted American citizens in the Philippines on the reported rise of diphtheria cases nationwide. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 2 travel health notice on May 1 after “several

“Vaccination is essential to protect against diphtheria and anyone traveling to affected areas should be up to date with their diphtheria vaccines,” the embassy said.

It also advised U.S. citizens in the country to “avoid contact with persons with symptoms of

Diphtheria is “a serious infection caused by strains of bacteria called Corynebacterium diphtheriae that make toxins. It can lead to difficulty breathing, heart rhythm problems, and even death,” according to the CDC website. It recommends “vaccines for infants, children, teens, and adults to prevent diphtheria.” g

managed to post a net income of PHP5 billion.

“Hindi lang MIAA ang kumikita sa airport operations. Tumitiba rin ang mga ahensyang nagoopisina sa ating pangunahing paliparan (It’s not only MIAA that profits in airport operations. Other agencies that are conducting offices are also raking gains from our primary airport),” he pointed out.

He cited as an example the “travel tax” exacted from departing Filipino passengers in 2019 where the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) collected a whooping PHP7.2 billion.

Recto said the Bureau of Immigration (BI) had also a gross income of PHP10.5 billion in 2019.

He said even the Office for Transportation Security – the ones in charge of the X-ray machines – had collected PHP1.1 billion within a year from Airport Security Fee, which is tucked in with the airline ticket.

“Sabi ng Department of Transportation (DOTR), magkakaroon ang NAIA ng electrical system audit. Kung maraming sakit, bakit hindi gawing complete check-up, para malapatan ng tamang lunas (The DOTR said they are going to have an electrical system audit at the NAIA. If there are many ailments, why not make it a complete checkup, to find the proper cure?),” he said.

Recto noted that because the MIAA is a corporation, there is no need for Congress legislation for them to have the authority to appropriate.

He said DOTR Secretary Jaime Bautista has the experience and the expertise “to undertake NAIA’s urgent to-do list – the ones which are not cosmetic, but essential.” (PNA)

MEETING WITH VP HARIS. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, April 2 vowed to boost mutually beneficial partnerships between Manila and Washington on a wide range of areas, such as digital inclusion and clean energy economy. Malacañang photo

VEGAS&STYLE JOURNAL

‘DANCING ON AXES AND SPEARS’

Resisting assimilation: Caroline Garcia showcases Filipino cultural traditions through video, sculpture, and performance

by MoMar G. Visaya / AJPress

CAROLINE Garcia is a Filipino Australian who has been living in Brooklyn for five years now, exploring and rediscovering her Filipino identity through her art.

Garcia’s  Dancing on Axes and Spears, a four-month exhibition at the George Segal Gallery of Montclair State University, featured an interactive martial arts gym, virtual and augmented reality artworks, and various forms of choreography.

“I’m very much inspired by indigenous Filipino traditions and ritual, and then fusing that with modern or contemporary technologies and then in my efforts to fuse the two together, I kind of create, new languages or new lexicon to express diasporic experiences, very much shaped by my own life,” Garcia told the Asian Journal.

In the artist’s first solo museum exhibition which ran until April 21, she explored her Filipino identity, assimilation and cultural memory, and Indigeneity through diasporic and feminist perspectives.

Garcia’s parents immigrated to Australia from the Philippines in the 1970s, bringing with them the rich cultural heritage of the Philippines. Growing up in Sydney, Garcia was exposed to a blend of Filipino and Australian cultures, which informed her artistic sensibilities and worldview.

After honing her craft, Garcia began exhibiting her work in various institutions in New York City, such as The Shed in Hudson

Yards, and Lincoln Center, among others, showcasing her unique aesthetic that fuses traditional Filipino elements with modern techniques.

Through a residency at Wave Hill in the Bronx, Garcia caught the attention of a curator from Montclair, who was impressed by her bold and innovative approach to art.

Currently a resident at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Garcia is continuing to push the boundaries of her interdisciplinary art, experimenting with a variety of media to create pieces that are both visually striking and conceptually profound.

“Garcia reflects on feelings of belonging and alienation from her ancestral homeland in the Philippines and her current home in the United States through a range of media and approaches,” said Jesse Bandler Firestone, Curator and Exhibition Coordinator of Segal Gallery.

“Her reverence for Indigenous practices, sensitivity to issues of authenticity, and embrace of corresponding nuances related to her diasporic identity create a complicated, sentimental, and layered exhibition that conveys overlapping issues that are not easily distilled.”

Employing video, performance, sculpture, and installation, Garcia

addresses a central theme of “alterity” – an anthropological term meaning “otherness” to mark her position in the diaspora where distance, language barriers, and colonization fracture traditional knowledge.

Garcia’s exhibition invites visitors to stretch their understanding of Filipino cultural traditions, community resilience, and personal identity. She showcases them as emblematic of the ways she resists assimilation tactics within colonized land through unique survival strategies informed by elements of Indigenous Filipino culture and traditions including martial arts and spirituality, technology, and community collaborations.

Garcia’s exhibition at Montclair State University Galleries built upon these themes and their relationships to larger systems including immigration, self-hood, and safety.

The Move to New York

Garcia moved to New York in 2018 to pursue graduate studies at Parsons, where she finished her MFA. She currently lives in Brooklyn.

Despite being born in Australia and living in the United States for five years now, Garcia remains deeply connected to her Filipino heritage, drawing inspiration from the rich artistic traditions of

her ancestors.

Garcia describes her artwork as interdisciplinary and inspired by indigenous Filipino traditions and rituals, as well as popular culture and martial arts.

Martial arts play an important role in Garcia’s life and artistic practice, specifically Kali, an indigenous Filipino martial art that emphasizes fluid movement and flexibility.

“I’ve been trained in Kali, a Filipino martial art, and it has really influenced my movement practice and my art,” she shared. “I think it’s important to acknowledge the cultural heritage that informs my art, but also to bring it into a contemporary context.”

Through her participation in a collective called Chrysalis Kali Collective that practices Kali in New York City, Garcia has found a community that shares her passion for this unique art form.

“When I started Kali, I saw something transformative with this practice for me,” she shared. “It is like choreography and dance but it’s functional and I also felt like I needed some of these skills living in New York, especially.”

By embracing the influences of both her Filipino and Australian cultures, Garcia’s artistic practice reflects a broader theme of crosscultural exchange. Garcia’s work serves as a testament to the power of cultural hybridity and how different artistic traditions can come together to create something entirely new and beautiful. In this sense, Garcia’s work is not only a celebration of her heritage but a celebration of diversity and how it can lead to innovation and creativity.

Through her interdisciplinary approach to art, Garcia can explore a wide range of themes and subjects, from identity and memory to politics and society.

By drawing on traditional Filipino motifs and blending them with contemporary techniques, Garcia can create pieces that are deeply rooted in her cultural heritage and relevant to contemporary audiences.

Garcia’s use of digital technology is particularly noteworthy, as it allows her to create works that are not limited by the constraints of physical space or time. By incorporating digital elements into her work,

Garcia can create immersive experiences that engage the viewer on multiple levels.

Overall, Garcia’s work reflects a unique blend of traditional Filipino elements and modern techniques, showcasing the power of crosscultural exchange and innovation.

By embracing her heritage and exploring new forms of artistic expression, Garcia can create works that are both deeply personal and universally resonant.

Garcia wants the exhibition guests “to have a critical engagement with violence”.

“Violence is a topic that can be quite confrontational, to have and it is especially important and feels significant for AAPI women and femmes to have because statistically, they are most at risk,” she said.

Garcia believes it is crucial to have a critical approach towards violence, where we recognize its presence in our daily lives.

“This acknowledgment should inspire us to learn practical skills to defend ourselves, prioritize self-preservation, and understand that our lives hold value and we have the right to exist,” she added.

Caroline Garcia’s Dancing on Axes and Spears is the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States. Garcia’s works explore her Filipino identity, assimilation and cultural memory, and Indigeneity through diasporic and feminist perspectives. Employing video, performance, sculpture, and installation, Garcia addresses a central theme of “alterity” – an anthropological term meaning “otherness” to mark her position in the diaspora

where

distance, language barriers, and colonization fracture traditional knowledge. AJPress Photos by Momar G. Visaya

Garcia’s featured works are emblematic of the ways she resists assimilation tactics within colonized land. These unique survival strategies are informed by elements of Indigenous Filipino culture and traditions including martial arts and spirituality, technology, and community collaborations.

Martial arts play an important role in the Garcia’s life and artistic practice, specifically Kali, an indigenous Filipino martial art that emphasizes fluid movement and flexibility. Through her participation

Garcia has

Dolly attributes success to hard work and timing

by Boy aBuNda Philstar.com

BEFORE Dolly de Leon became famous that she is today, she went through many failures, rejections and hardships that could easily weaken one’s spirit. Dolly was first to admit that her life’s obstacles were then too tough for her to handle but she chose not to give up.

Dolly created a lot of buzz in Hollywood for her brilliant acting performance in Triangle of Sadness. She’s the first-ever Filipino actress to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes and at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in the same category. Film critics also showered Dolly with praise for her effective acting. Moreover, Dolly received more nominations from international award-giving bodies.

“I’ve become a happier person. I was really down in the dumps before any of this happened. I was really in a bad, dark place before,” Dolly disclosed when we had our oneon-one interview in Fast Talk With Boy Abunda.

As she looked back on what she had been through, the actress cited the importance of treating everyone with kindness.

“What I also learned about this whole thing is that we always have to be kind to everyone we encounter, and that’s basically it,” she said.

“You’re right about that gap between what happened before and who I am now. There is a gap there and there is a transition that happens. And through that transition, the biggest thing I learned is that, buti na lang I was kind to everyone I had known before,” she added.

Dolly also noticed the big change in the way she’s being treated by people. “The big difference is people who have not been so kind suddenly are so kind now.”

Nevertheless, Dolly assured that nothing has ever changed in the way she deals with people.

“I treat them with kindness.

Kung pinili nilang maging mean or snubbish before, hindi ko sila gagayahin,” she shared. “The only way to lead is by example di ba it’s walking the talk. I can’t say, ‘Treat people with

kindness,’ tapos hindi ako kind.”

She continued, “So, it doesn’t matter who you are, kahit nga sinong taong talagang badtrip na badtrip ako or hindi ko talaga type, I still treat them with kindness.”

Her moments of frustration and rejection can serve as motivation for young actors not to lose hope and to just keep on working hard until they succeed.

“Naranasan ko na pong mag-audition (sa) cattle call.

‘Pag sinabing cattle call, lahat ng artista nandun, 300 actors nandun Ibig sabihin nun maraming roles ang kailangan kaya maraming pinapapunta na hindi ako pumasa,” Dolly recalled.

She, too, had been rejected many times during auditions for theater plays and “I also experienced auditioning for local film festivals and I didn’t pass.”

“But it didn’t mean that I gave up. Of course, I felt sad but that didn’t stop me. It should never stop you. And don’t be discouraged. Don’t ever think na, ‘Ay, hindi ako pumasa sa audition na ito, wala na akong pag-asa. No. We must go on and on. Laban lang ng laban and keep going to every audition,” she remarked.

In the life of an actor, rejections are inevitable. One must learn how to accept failures because “the success rate in

Angeline shares love story, life as a mommy

by Nathalie M. toMada Philstar.com

auditions is really low. Rejection is part of our job. That’s the sad thing of being an actor. We have to learn to accept it and live with it,” stressed Dolly, who apart from being an actress, is also an acting coach.

In the midst of her hardships, Dolly was supported by fellow actress and dear friend Eugene Domingo, especially when she experienced some financial struggles.

“Uge (Eugene) and I have known each other since we were young, teenagers pa kami. We were together in UP theater arts so barkada na kami n’yan,” she recalled.

“At the time when I was going through really hard times, Kuya Boy, because there were really times when I had no way to pay for the electric bill, when my child had to stop schooling because I could not pay for the tuition, a lot of friends came to support me and Uge (was) one of them.” She went on to tell that Eugene provided for her son’s educational needs and it all the more made their friendship stronger.

“She paid for my son’s tuition for three years. She never left even if she reached that superstardom level already,” she said. “She was always a friend. She was always Uge, as we know her.

“So, totoong kaibigan ang tingin ko talaga sa kanya at ang laking tulong n’ya sa akin nito, itong buong thing na nangyayari sa akin kasi kumbaga dinaanan na n’ya ito kaya binigyan n’ya ko ng tips,” Dolly shared, referring to the accolades she received for her performance in Triangle of Sadness.

I asked Dolly how much of who she is today is luck? How much of that is timing and how much of that is talent and hard work?

“I would say that hard work is 90 percent, timing is probably 10 percent. Luck has nothing to do with it. I worked really hard to become the actor that I am today,” she replied.

“It was a lot of hard work and timing also. Timing in terms of ‘yung mga bata, they are now more conscious of being more inclusive and accepting of all kinds of stories,” she added.

ANGELINE Quinto said that when her adoptive mom, Sylvia “Mama Bob” Quinto, passed away, she lost all desire to work and perform. But then, motherhood happened. It gave the singer-actress a newfound purpose in life. Her son Aziel Sylvio, who was named after her Mama Bob, just turned one last April 27.

“The happiness na in-expect ko, mas sobra pala. Iba pala talaga. Siguro ang masasabi ko, hindi siya madali. But yung pagbalanse ng oras sa work and sa anak, yun ang talagang mas inayos ko. (The happiness that I expected turned out to be more. It’s really different. Maybe what I can say is, it’s not easy. Balancing my time between work and caring for my child, that’s what I really worked on more),” Angeline told The STAR in a recent interview.

The first time she saw her baby boy, the 33-year-old newbie mommy was so scared to hold him. “Kasi ang liit-liit niya. Sabi sa akin ng isang nurse, ma’am hindi kita tuturuan (paano hahawakan siya) subukan mo lang. Tapos pagbuhat ko sa kanya marunong pala ako. (Because he was so small. And then a nurse told me, ma’am I won’t teach you how to hold him, just try. When I carried him, I actually knew how to do it),”

she recalled.

While Sylvio came unexpectedly into her life, she could say she was ready for his arrival.

“Hindi sa ayaw ko but hindi ko lang in-expect na parang kakawala lang kasi ni Mama, wala pang one year, nung nalaman kong buntis ako. Pero sobrang nagpapasalamat ako kasi dumating siya. Kasi pagkawala ni Mama, hindi ko kakayanin. (It’s not that I didn’t want to, but I just didn’t expect it because Mama had just passed away, less than a year from when I found out I was pregnant. But I am very thankful that he came. Because after losing

Mama, I couldn’t handle it.)”

She continued, “It got to the point where I didn’t want to work, I didn’t want to sing, I didn’t want to do anything. When Mama was gone, I thought, for whom am I working hard for? Para kanino ako nagpapagod?”

“Yun din ang tinanong ko sa Diyos, kung wala ang Mama, ano ang purpose ko sa buhay? Eto na pala yun. Ito yung sagot sa akin ni Lord. (That’s really what I asked God, with Mama no longer with us, what is now my purpose in life? This is the Lord’s answer to me),” she further said of motherhood.

Coco shares personal view on work-life balance

by Kristofer Purnell Philstar.com

COCO Martin does a lot of the heavy lifting on "FPJ's Batang Quiapo" as the show's leading man, director and occasional writer, yet he still manages to balance it well with his personal life.

During the media conference for the show held earlier today at the Luxent Hotel, Coco joked, "Wala na. Wala nang buhay!" before explaining how one can balance their schedule.

"'Pag nakapa na 'yung isang bagay, nagiging fluid... rumolyo na lang na hindi mo naiintindihan," shared Coco, admitting he was initially nervous about the show's pilot.

However, after the story and characters of "FPJ's Batang Quiapo" took form, Coco went as far as to say that he had more difficulty with his previous show, the long-running "Ang

Probinsyano," which aired for seven years, from 2015 to 2022.

Coco attributed the show's "fluidity" to its cast, staff, crew, directors and writers.

"Siguro hindi ako naniniwala dati, pero it's a gift na may talent kang makabuo ka ng isang proyekto," Coco continued.

"Hindi ko na siya namamalayan — 'yung hirap at pagod 'di ko nararamdaman — kasi nageenjoy ako sobra!"

The actor reiterated how proud he was to see the scenes his costars end up making and that he is happy with how their show is currently doing.

Dolly, who received multiple nominations for her performance in Triangle of Sadness, shows her moments of frustration and rejection can serve as motivation for young actors not to lose hope and to just keep on working hard until they succeed.

Photo from Instagram/@dollydeleon

Angeline Quinto and non-showbiz partner Nonrev Daquina celebrate the first birthday (April 27) of their son Aziel Sylvio. Photo from Instagram/@loveangelinequinto

Lovi Poe and Coco Martin Philstar.com photo

MD, FaCS, FPCS

THE owner of Cebu Doctors University Hospital in Cebu, Philippines, and my cardiac team in Northwest Indiana established the Cebu Cardiac Center at CDUH in November of 1997. I shuttled between Cebu and Northwest Indiana every couple of months as Chief of Cardiac Surgery to do open-heart surgery in both cities.

Before I returned to the United States from Cebu, Philippines to retire on September 28, 2010, I was interviewed by Sky Cable in Cebu. Besides the topic about heart attack and stroke, and lifestyle in general as a preventive regimen in warding off diseases, the discussion also touched on cancer.

One of my statements alluded to the fact that most of the diseases known to man, including cancer, in my opinion, “are man-made, self-induced, brought on by us to ourselves thru unhealthy lifestyle, whether we realize it or not, inadvertently or otherwise.”

Smoking (first- or secondhand), alcohol abuse, ingestion of “killer” processed foods, high-fat, high- cholesterol foods, trans-fat, absence or lack of vegetables, fruits, and high-fiber items like nuts and lentils in our diet, drinking soft drinks (which poison our body), exposure to environmental pollution (air and water) were among the factors and culprits I cited. This unhealthy situation is rampant, an “epidemic” in the Philippines.

While poverty is a factor, most Filipinos are literate, many well-educated and well aware of medical facts, but upbringing, the way of life, and culture, greatly factor in this environment, making them disregard healthy lifestyle. The thinking “whatever will be, will be,” and “God will protect me,” or “I want to enjoy life,” self-encourages the unhealthy behavior and lifestyle.

I also stated that while genetics (good or bad genes) play a role in all this, our environment and our lifestyle (particularly diet and exercise) appear to outweigh the hereditary factor. The more disciplined siblings, who opted to live a healthy lifestyle unlike their parents, did not necessarily fall victims to their elders’ common illnesses. Even their longevity was improved. So, the impact of environment and lifestyle do, indeed, outweigh genetics in general.

The human factor includes

Cancer is self-induced

the carcinogenic fumes from cigarettes, carbon monoxide/ dioxide from engine emissions, chemical contamination from the household agents (soaps, bleaches, tile and toilet cleaners, etc.) we use daily, factories polluting our atmosphere and dumping of toxic waste products into our rivers and lakes, deforestation and destruction of our greeneries, invasion of the original habitats of animals and disturbing the natural order of things, and the environmental insults that urbanization brings with it in general.

Greek medical writings hardly mentioned cancer and among these mummies (from the Ptolemaic period) only two (worldwide) were detected to have histological evidence of cancer. Obviously, cancer, in adults or children, was extremely rare during those times, and not because their life expectancy was shorter compared to ours.

The mummies studied were persons with arteriosclerosis, osteoporosis, Paget’s disease, illnesses found in seniors, who were old enough to develop cancer. Logic tells us that the carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) we inhale, eat, or expose ourselves to today, were not present in ancient times. The environment then was pristine, not polluted as it is now.

Then came the Industrial Revolution and the massive environmental pollution. This was followed by the explosion of the incidence of cancer, especially childhood cancer, not to mention other diseases now known to man, cardiovascular, metabolic, even infectious.

Professor Michael Zimmerman, a visiting professor at the KNH Centre, who made the first ever histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy stated, “In an ancient society lacking surgical intervention, evidence of cancer should remain in all cases. The virtual absence of malignancies in mummies must be interpreted as indicating their rarity in antiquity, indicating that cancer-causing factors are limited to societies affected by modern industrialization.”

It has also been pointed out that all the mummies at the museums in Cairo and Europe showed no evidence of cancer at all.

The research, which was published in NATURE, reported that “Evidence of cancer and medical procedures, such as operations for cancers does not appear until the 17th century… Scientific literature depicting distinctive tumors have only been about for the last 200

years, when data started to be documented about chimney sweeps with scrotal cancer in 1775, nasal cancer in snuff users in 1761, and Hodgkin's disease in 1832.”

It is lucidly clear from all those medical facts from thousands of years ago that cancer, and most of the diseases afflicting mankind and the damages to our environment today, are manmade and self-induced.

In my book of healthy lifestyle and disease prevention at the DNA level (entitled Let’s Stop “Killing” Our Children, available at amazon.com; preview at www. philipSchua.com), I pointed out that we, humans, seem to be bent on hurting ourselves, with our lack of discipline and unhealthy behavior. The result is most of us have arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, which we falsely label “normal diseases of aging.” But this is not true. There are millions of people without these ailments in their ripe old age; minimal, if any. If we started to live a healthy lifestyle starting from the crib, with the aid of our parents, and follow though as teenagers and as adults, we do not necessarily have to be afflicted with those chronic illnesses. These are selfinflicted.

The vital question is: What do we do about this masochistic, self-destructive, and almost suicidal behavior of our species on this wonderful planet earth?

* * *

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

* * *

The main objective of this column is to educate and inspire people live a healthier lifestyle to prevent illnesses and disabilities and achieve a happier and more productive life. Any diagnosis, recommendation or treatment in our article are general medical information and not intended to be applicable or appropriate for anyone. This column is not a substitute for your physician, who knows your condition well and who is your best ally when it comes to your health.

* * *

Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, Health Advocate, newspaper columnist, and Chairman of the Filipino United NetworkUSA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. He was a recipient of the Indiana Sagamore of the Wabash Award in 1995. Other Sagamore past awardees include President Harry Truman, President George HW Bush, Muhammad Ali and Astronaut Gus Grissom (Wikipedia). Websites: FUN8888. com, Today.SPSAtoday.com, and philipSchua. com; Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com.

Enrique makes showbiz comeback

MULTI-talented artist Enrique Gil, remains a certified Kapamilya after signing an exclusive contract with ABS-CBN on Tuesday, May 2.

Gil was welcomed on the red carpet by ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Katigbak, chairman Mark Lopez, COO of broadcast Cory Vidanes, OIC for Finance Group Vincent Paul Piedad, ABS-CBN Film Productions Inc. head Kriz Gazmen, and Dreamscape Entertainment head Deo Endrinal, as he once again stepped foot in the ABS-CBN compound to reaffirm his commitment to ABS-CBN. Also present at the contract signing ceremony was Enrique's talent manager, Ranvel Rufino.

As he officially continues his journey as a Kapamilya for his much-awaited showbiz comeback, viewers can expect to see more of Gil in ABS-CBN's shows and they can soon look forward to a stronger and bolder "King of the Gil."

Through the years, Gil's undeniable charm and enigmatic performances have established him as a versatile actor and one of the hottest leading men in the industry today. Some of his notable projects are Kapamilya teleseryes such as Mula sa Puso," "Princess and I," "Muling Buksan ang Puso," "Forevermore," "Dolce Amore," and "Bagani," and movies "She's the One," "Seven Sundays," "My Ex and Whys," and "Just the Way You Are." (ManilaTimes.net)

Dimples shares parenting style: ‘I don’t allow jealousy nor envy’

by Maridol ranoa-BisMark kathleen a lleMit Philstar.com

DIMPLES Romana continues to show who is the girl boss in the nightly action-packed show "The Iron Heart." Her Selene character is not far from the real world as the actress is definitely a woman who wears many hats, on- and off-camera. On camera, she's Selene, the tough boss of a criminal group. It's tough for the mother of three because she is filming the series in Cebu City where the show is set, while rearing for her third child, Elio, who turns one next month. When motherhood and career can be daunting, the actress does not see it that way. On her Instagram, fans can see her

uploading clips of her bonding with Elio, who has started walking, her second son and her eight-year-old Alonzo. Her eldest, Callie, might be building her career as a pilot in Australia, but the 19-year-old remains to be her mother's grown-up baby.

Her daughter is quite an achiever, who passed her Private Pilots License exams last year in Australia.

Callie is her mother's daughter, for sure, as Dimples, herself has not stopped learning at 38.

Thirst for knowledge

The actress enrolled in online classes in a U.S. school at the height of the pandemic.

"I don't want to stop learning," she explained. "I want everything I say to have basis. I want to have an educated answer every time someone asks me anything."

Dimples turned night into day by catching up on sleep, while her multi-racial classmates on the other side of the world took their lunch break (classes were 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., Manila time).

She likened her routine to that of her father and grandma, former government employees who napped during their lunch breaks.

The rewards outweigh the sacrifices, she shared.

"I learned so much! It's nice to get different mindsets from those who are not living in the Philippines. It opens more horizons and opportunities."

By studying again, Dimples hopes she will make her children, Callie and Alonzo, proud of the fact that Mommy is still learning, even in her late 30s. She wants to show them that money is not the only denomination in the world. Time is, as well.

So she squeezed in an hour from her busy schedule for her studies.

"I'm taking marketing classes because I don't want to speak without factual basis."

Raising her children right

This mom can also speak with authority when it comes to raising children. Dimples told the press she enforces good old Catholic discipline at home, where she and husband Boyet encourage Callie and Alonzo to express themselves with respect.

"It's their responsibility to be kinder. They treat our angels (house help) the same way they treat us. And they have to be their own competition. I don't allow jealousy nor envy at home. I don't want my kids to live with envy," she revealed.

The actress also shared that she told her children they can always commit mistakes at home, because it is their training ground. And their parents will love them, no matter what.

by anne Pasajol Inquirer.net

EUGENE Domingo finally opened up about her romance with her husband, Italian film critic Danilo Bottoni, admitting she had already accepted a “life of being single” and was contemplating entering a convent before she met him in Italy.

The actress spoke about this during an interview for “Fast Talk with Boy Abunda” on Wednesday, May 3, after show host Abunda asked if Domingo would leave show business for love.

"Yes. At this point, my goodness, I’m a golden girl. This is the second half of my life,” she answered. “I have given the first half to always just about me and helping my family. The second part would be for me and Danilo.”

Although Domingo did not immediately disclose details about their wedding, she called him “my husband” in answering one of the “Fast Talk” questions.

Domingo then narrated how they met each other when she attended the Udine Film Festival for her 2013 film “Barber’s Tales,” recalling how she thought he was a “stalker” when he first approached her.

“I was alone. I was exhausted in general, in life,” she said. “I was already surrendering [to] a life of being single or maybe I could enter the convent. ‘Yun na talaga ‘yung iniisip ko (I was really thinking about that).”

“All of a sudden, he appeared in front of me and I was scared because baka (maybe he was a) stalker or something. ‘Yun pala

(But) he was a film critic,” she stated, adding that Bottoni asked her for an interview.

Domingo did not immediately say yes to his request, but they eventually had the interview, during which she got to appreciate his eyes and physical appearance.

Domingo then admitted that she did a search for his e-mail address, reached out to him, and their friendship—which would later turn into romance—started.

"Nung umuwi ako from Italy tapos hindi ko na siya nakita, sabi ko, ‘Yun na ‘yon e. Papalampasin ko pa ba e naramdaman ko na?’ So ayon, ni-pursue ko,” she said.

(When I came home from Italy and was no longer able to see him, I told myself, “That was it. Why would I let this go if I already felt it?” So, I pursued him.)

Meanwhile, Domingo was also asked in the interview about her friendship with Dolly de Leon who earlier revealed that Domingo had paid for the tuition of the latter’s son for three years. Domingo said she did not know how to react to this revelation, noting that it was something she considered a “secret.”

Domingo then teared up after Abunda handed her a letter from De Leon which the “Kimmy Dora” actress read aloud. A part of the letter says that De Leon is “looking forward to 2025,” which prompted Abunda to ask why. “We wanted to do a play together. We’re looking for producers, but we already asked Harlene Bautista and she said, ‘Go na ‘yan!'” Domingo then revealed.

Enrique Gil Photo from Instagram/@enriquegil17

Actress Dimples Romana

Philstar.com photo

Danilo Bottoni and Eugene Domingo Photo from Instagram/@eugenedomingo_official