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MAY 15-21, 2020 Volume 13 - No. 28 • 16 Pages 133-30 32nd Ave., Flushing, NY 11354 • 2500 Plaza S. Harborside Financial Center, Jersey City, NJ 07311 • Tel. (212) 655-5426 • Fax: (818) 502-0858
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Over 71,700 overseas Filipino workers DATELINE USA Fil-Am student accepted expected to be displaced by pandemic to all 8 Ivy League schools FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
by RITCHEL
commits to Yale University
THE Filipino American student from Jacksonville, Florida who was accepted to all eight Ivy League schools will be part of Yale University’s class of 2024. Craig McFarland, 18, has committed to the prestigious university in New Haven, Connecticut, he revealed in a recent interview with the Asian Journal. In total, 17 colleges and universities across the country, including Stanford University, offered him a slot in their freshman class. “I actually planned on committing to Stanford and chose [it] a few minutes before the deadline, but I felt so much regret and sadness personally and just knew that Yale was right for me,” McFarland told the Asian Journal. Yale was his first college acceptance back in December as he applied under the early action
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MENDIOLA AJPress
AROUND 45,000 overseas Filipinos are expected to return home to the Philippines over the next two months, following the over 20,000
who have been repatriated since the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new report. As the coronavirus continues to affect industries globally, including tourism and hospitality, the Philippines is anticipating Filipino workers
coming back to the country in May and June, Bloomberg News reported. Overseas Workers Welfare Administrator Hans Cacdac said Filipinos working abroad in cruise
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PH House committee OKs bill granting ABS-CBN provisional franchise until end of October by AJPRESS A PHILIPPINE House of Representatives committee on Wednesday, May 13 approved a bill granting the media giant ABS-CBN a provisional franchise until the end of October. The House of Representatives Committee of the Whole gave the greenlight for House Bill 6732 or “An Act Granting the ABS-CBN Corporation A Franchise to Construct, Install, Operate and Maintain Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations in the Philippines, and For Other Purposes,” which was filed by House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano in an effort to give the House
Nurse credentialing group appoints Filipino Fulbright scholar as director of global u PAGE 2 standards and qualifications Elmhurst Hospital ER nurse dies from coronavirus West Orange father, mother die of COVID-19 less than a month apart M G. V A FILIPINO American registered nurse has been appointed director of global standards and qualifications of CGFNS International, Inc., the world’s largest credentials evaluation organization specializing in the nursing and allied health care professions. Jasper Tolarba, a Fulbright scholar, will assume the new position responsible for the oversight of global standards and qualifications for nursing and other health care positions. “I am hoping that in my expanded role as director of global standards and qualifications, I would be able to contribute to the improvement of international nursing education by looking at best practices and evidence in the field,” Tolarba told the Asian Journal. He is hoping to translate these global standards into useful instructional concepts that
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NEW NORMAL. Social distancing spaces and signs are set up at the MRT 3 North Avenue station in Quezon City on Wednesday, May 13. Metro Manila’s mass transport system is preparing for the resumption of operations that adhere to established health protocols under the modified enhanced community quarantine. Inquirer.net photo by Grig Montegrande
OMAR AJPress
ISAYA
by MOMAR
THE Filipino American community in New York and New Jersey continues to lose frontliners, mostly nurses, to the coronavirus in the last couple of weeks. Over the weekend, emergency room nurse Erwin Lambrento, 58 lost his life after a month of battling the virus. Lambrento was a nurse at NYC Health + Hospitals in Elmhurst, the hospital in the New York epicenter of this pandemic. His death was announced on Saturday, May 9. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of nurse Erwin Lambrento. He served our patients and community for over two decades at NYC Health + Hospitals Elmhurst,” NYC Health + Hospitals said in a statement. “As we continue to respond Erwin Lamberto
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G. VISAYA
AJPress
Charles Magdamo Repayo and wife Lucia Repayo
MORE than 27,000 people in New York State have died from coronavirus, followed by New Jersey with almost 10,000 casualties. Among them are a couple of frontliners: Imelda Supnet Tangonan, a nurse from Westchester, NY and Lucia Repayo, a nurse from West Orange, NJ who died a month after her husband passed away due to the virus. Charles Magdamo Repayo, 64, was hospitalized on April 3 and died on April 11, 2020. His wife
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From the Front Page
Elmhurst Hospital ER nurse dies from... PAGE 1 to this unprecedented global public health crisis, we remain forever grateful for his service on the front lines.” According to the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, 53% of registered nurses, 61% of nursing care facilities personnel, and 78% of home health care services workers in New York City are foreign-born. In the ten northeast states covered by the Philippine Consulate General in New York, 90 Filipinos have been reported to
succumb from the disease, 30 of them frontliners like Lambrento. Testimonials from co-workers calling themselves ‘Hurst Crew, friends and relatives have poured on social media. Some of them also attended a vigil outside the hospital to express their gratitude to their fallen colleague. “Please remember Erwin. He just died of Covid19. He was a world class nurse at Elmhurst Hospital in NY,” Dr. Jeremy Faust wrote on Twitter. Dr. Faust
Colleagues and coworkers, including FDNY and EMS, gathered to honor Lambrento in a vigil outside the Elmhurst Hospital.
used to work with Lambrento at Elmhurst Hospital. “When I was a resident physician there, he worked triage. When he said, ‘Doc, come take a look at this patient,’ I knew I’d better get over there,” he shared. According to his nephew Ernesto Ebuen, Lambrento fought the virus for more than a month. The disease severely damaged his lungs and kidneys. Lambrento, a doctor in the Philippines, is survived by his wife Au and children Sigmund and Cara and his parents Macario and Dominga Lambrento. “At an early age, he recognized the importance of education in his life, thus he put his focus on his education and he succeeded by graduating as a physician. As a doctor in Philippines, he served a lot of sick people in the hospital and in the community,” Ebuen said. “He happily and generously gave his professional services for free to his community. Prior to migrating to the U.S. to join his wife Tita Au, he also studied to become a registered nurse.” n
Over 71,700 overseas Filipino workers...
PAGE 1 ships, hotels, restaurants and retail establishments have been hit the hardest by the pandemic. He added that the construction sector is starting to report some job losses, as well. The agency is asking for $50 million (P2.5 billion) in additional funding from Congress since it has been shouldering the temporary shelter, food and transport of displaced overseas workers, who are required to undergo COVID-19 testing and the obligatory 14-day quarantine. “We need to preserve our budget for reintegration, reskilling and livelihood programs for
the post-lockdown scenario,” Cacdac told Bloomberg News. Meanwhile, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday, May 11 resumed its repatriation efforts, welcoming home 299 Filipino crew members of the MV Azura from London, United Kingdom. The agency has repatriated a total of 24,422 overseas Filipinos — of which 16,936 are sea-based, and 7,486 are landbased. “Why should we allow 400 to 800 Filipinos or even 3,000 to return home every day? Because they have the constitutional, absolute and total right
to come home that no power can suspend, slow down or, in any way, restrict,” said Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. “Government has only one power: To bring them home,” he added. The DFA has brought home “tens of thousands of overseas Filipino workers the instant they became jobless,” the secretary said. “It’s strained our quarantine and testing capacities back home, but I don’t care [that it did because] I won’t leave our people to die in deserts. Period,” Locsin added. n
West Orange father, mother die of COVID-19... PAGE 1 Lucia Anne Gerardo-Repayo, 60, was hospitalized on April 4 and was on a ventilator for four weeks before passing away on Mother’s Day, May 10. Lucia Anne was a nurse in the VA hospital and was a frontliner. The couple’s two sons Gregory and Gilchrist lost both their parents while being quarantined in their home in West Orange, NJ while battling the virus themselves. “We are at a loss for words, losing both our parents to this virus in just under a month. My parents were very loving and caring to give the life my brother and I have right now,” Gregory said. “We lost our Dad somewhat quickly and that was a shock but the past month my Mom was in the hospital and it had been a roller coaster.” Their cousins have set up a GoFundMe page to cover immediate funeral expenses and attorney cost. “Adding to the grief is the unfortunate circumstance that the parents died without a will,
leaving the two sons while in quarantine, to make funerals arrangements for their Dad and Mom and to try and navigate the complications that arise without having a will in place for both parents,” explained the note on the page. “We are hoping any donations can help alleviate the burden of losing both parents in such a painful way. The grief and emotional anguish that Greg and Chris must feel is just unimaginable.” Imelda Tangonan worked as a nurse at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, NY for 30 years. Her memorial page say that “she will be remembered fondly by her Blythedale family as an exceedingly compassionate and joyful nurse who fiercely advocated for her patients and positively influenced the lives of those around her and the ones she cared for.” At a young age, Tangonan had wanted to come to America, and becoming a nurse was her way to achieve this dream. This dream was greatly influenced by an aunt, according to the memorial page her friends and
Imelda Supnet Tangonan
family have set up. “An early memory of hers was the Dove soap her aunt would bring for her from the U.S. She would wrap her clothes around the soap, so they could “smell like America”. At the time there was a huge demand for nurses in the U.S. so her aunt told her to become a nurse if she wanted to come to America. Thus, her resolve to become a nurse was set in stone,” the memorial read. After graduating with a degree in nursing, she began her career at the Philippine Heart Center, before accepting an offer from Blythedale in 1989. Tangonan is survived by her husband Pedro and their children, Neal and Satchel. n
PH House committee OKs bill granting ABS-CBN...
PAGE 1 and the Senate sufficient time to deliberate the network’s franchise bid. “Through this measure, we hope to strike a balance between the immediate needs of the people amid this crisis and the duty of Congress to ensure accountability to our present laws,” the bill read. “Providing ABS-CBN with a provisional franchise valid until 31 October 2020 will give both the House of Representatives and the Senate to hear the issues being raised for and against the renewal, and assess, with complete impartiality and fairness, whether or not the
network shall be granted a franchise for another twentyfive (25) years,” it added. The bill was also sponsored by Representatives Neptali Gonzalez, Raneo Abu, Roberto Puno, Dan Fernandez, LRay Villafuerte Jr., Ferdinand Romualdez, and Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado. “The sudden turnaround by the NTC [National Telecommunications Commission] was both unexpected and unconscionable. It only disrupted the essential work of Congress, and sowed intrigue and disunity among different branches of government and our people—it was done during this period of
crisis,” the lawmakers said. “We cannot, in good conscience, sweep the accusations under the rug,” they added. Cagayan De Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, for his part, welcomed the new development, saying that the chamber is now preparing a committee report that will be presented before the House plenary. “We welcome this. It was a surprise but we were pleasantly surprised because there is now a bill to give a provisional franchise to ABS-CBN,” he said. “It’s just a few months but it’s good enough so we can restore ABS-CBN to the airwaves,” he added. n
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NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY ASIAN JOURNAL • mAY 15-21, 2020
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Fil-Am student accepted to all 8 Ivy League schools... PAGE 1 program. It was one of those days where everything seemed to go awry, he recalled. “I had many problems that day and I actually only opened the letter because I was like, ‘Let me make this day even worse.’ The next day would feel amazing just by comparison,” McFarland narrated. “When I found out I was accepted, I was freaking out. I was screaming with my mom and hugged her.” He waited until March to hear from other schools, which included admission letters one after another from the seven additional Ivy Leagues — Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell U n i v e r s i t y, D a r t m o u t h College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton university — as well as high-ranked institutions like Stanford and Duke University. “I had the same reaction when I found out I was accepted to all the Ivys,” he said, noting that friends and family were not surprised by the news and told him that he shouldn’t doubt himself. “It’s nice that people had that confidence…but I believe that there is absolutely no one who should be confident enough to know that they’re going to be accepted into a school.” McFarland, who is half Filipino and half Black, entered the exclusive club of being admitted to all the Ivy League schools, which have between a 4 to 8% acceptance rate. As the May 1st deadline to decide approached, McFarland narrowed down his choices to Florida State University, Harvard, Stanford and Yale, which are among the schools that extended full-ride scholarships. Other institutions said he could qualify for a scholarship on top of the private ones he’s received. The pandemic prevented
him from visiting schools in person so he resorted to virtual tours, watching YouTube videos, and connecting with current students and alumni for insight. “I often ask them the worst questions, like ‘What do you hate?’ or ‘What would you change?’ because no one necessarily wants to talk about the bad unless prompted but that bad stuff was what was going to determine how much I truly love an institution,” he said. Then, the final round came between the latter two universities. His mother Donabel Santiago said the only advice she gave McFarland was to “pick whatever feels right” and where he would thrive as a student and individual. “I told him that he’d be happy [with] whichever he chose as they’re both amazing…but one most likely [felt] more right than the other, and that one so happened to be Yale,” Santiago, who is originally from Nueva Ecija, Philippines, told the Asian Journal. “When he told me he chose Yale, I just could tell he was not only relieved, but happy as well.” As evidenced by his academic record, McFarland has excelled and enjoyed every subject he’s taken and can’t be boxed into either a humanities or math and science student. For now, he is leaning towards studying biochemistry and linguistics in college. “I’ve genuinely been interested in everything,” he said. “I want a college experience that provides the freedom to explore myself because I’ve been able to do great things in math and science but also in foreign languages and law competitions.” During his four years at Stanton College Preparatory School — which has been rated among the top public high schools in the country and
With a 4.98 GPA and other academic accomplishments, McFarland has enjoyed entering competitions outside of the classroom. Photo shows an awards ceremony for the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition where he won multiple awards, including one for visual artwork. Photos courtesy of Craig McFarland
Fil-Am student Craig McFarland has committed to Yale University after being accepted to all 8 Ivy League schools and nine other universities across the country.
from where he will be graduating valedictorian — McFarland hit the benchmarks that made him appear extraordinary on paper. He maintained a 4.98 grade point average, received near perfect standardized test scores, studied 48 courses when only 24 are required at school, took 20 Advanced Placement and eight International Baccalaureate exams, and mastered several languages, including French, Spanish, Arabic, Italian and Tagalog. Outside of the classroom, he boasts a long list of extracurricular activities from debate club to varsity track and field, and has won numerous accolades, such as a top award in the local Ethics Bowl and first place in column writing for The Florida Times-Union’s high school journalism competition. Early on, McFarland created a regimented routine so he could manage his academic workload and activities. “I would do my homework right away and pay attention intently in class because the more I paid attention, the less I would have to study after,” he said. “It was out of necessity that I needed to manage my time because I would have track practice, a club, a competition, or a tutoring session, and then try to make time for family and friends.” He has been able to take advantage of the opportunities at his high school, but the downside was being in an environment where students are “competitive, cutthroat and only care about test scores and class rank.” What the Fil-Am student tried to illustrate in the college applications was that he is more than straight As and high marks and that he has a personality and life apart from school. Burying in schoolwork hasn’t deprived him of the experiences that come with the teenage years. He recounts PAGE 7
Dateline USa
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PAGE 1 nursing institutions globally can reference and adopt with the unified goal of developing caring and competent worldclass nurses. Tolarba, who received his doctorate in nursing practice with specialization in leadership and health policy from Yale University in 2015, returns to CGFNS after completion of his research as a J. William Fulbright Scholar at the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in the Kingdom of Jordan. He first joined CGFNS in 2016 as director of credentials evaluation services. “I’m pleased to welcome Dr. Tolarba back to our team and know that his Fulbright experience, combined with his previous depth of knowledge and expertise, will go far to further strengthen our role in the global standards and qualifications sector,” said Dr. Franklin Shaffer, president and CEO of CGFNS International. “Having migrated from the Philippines and used CGFNS’ services in his own journey to practice nursing in the U.S., Dr. Tolarba’s experience in these areas provides personal insights that enhance our leadership team.” Journey to CGFNS Tolarba joined CGFNS International, Inc. (formerly known as the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools) in the summer of 2016 as the director of credentials evaluation and was in charge of various programs such as VisaScreen® service and Certification Program. Prior to this, Tolarba was the director of nursing at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. At CGFNS, he has helped thousands of foreign-educated nurses and other health care professionals (e.g. Physical Therapists, Medical Technologists, Clinical Psychologists, etc.) with their goal of migrating and practicing their profession in the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world. In his new role, Tolarba will lead CGFNS’ programs around global standards and qualifications for health professionals by collaborating with global leaders in the fields of education, regulation, accreditation and practice to promote innovation and the advancement of harmonization to enhance cross-border mutual recognition. Nursing milestone Last year, the World Health Organization declared 2020 as the International Year of Nurses and Midwives coincid-
ing with the 200th year of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. “We never expected that this year would also catapult the role of nurses to the limelight with the onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses, along with doctors and other healthcare professionals, are deemed modern-day heroes, putting their lives on the line,” Tolarba said. “It is indeed a very challenging time for nurses around the world especially those who are in the front line.” The virus, considered by many now as the treacherous enemy, has taken the lives of many people around the world including those nurses in the frontline fighting this war. This is the reason why he would like to personally call Contributed photo for nurses around the world to Jasper Tolarba be vigilant in the frontlines to i.e. writing and campus jourmake sure they are taking the nalism and ended up being proper precautions to protect the editor-in-chief of the Bicol Universitarian, the official themselves. “They also need to speak student campus paper of Biup if they feel that they are col University. He graduated but still, he unsafe going to their patient care assignments,” Tolarba didn’t want to become a nurse said. “Always wear the proper so instead of taking the board personal protective equip- exams for nurses he went to ment (PPE) when caring for enroll for his second degree, patients afflicted by COVID- this time in journalism. After 19 and demand to have prop- two years, he was still unemployed so his mom gave er PPEs.” “Nurses’ lives are priceless, him an ultimatum to take his and they too have families. board exams. To appease his mom, he did Losing one more life in the fight against COVID19 is too and even though two years many. The whole world ap- have passed since he obtained preciates the work and dedi- his nursing degree, he passed cation of all frontline nurses the board. However, the prospects of fighting this battle against the landing a job as a nurse in the coronavirus,” he added. late 1990s was dim because Reluctant nurse “Quite honestly, I never that was the time when the planned on becoming a nurse. United States was on retroI was really planning to take gression and there was an up architecture or journal- oversupply of nurses in the ism in college,” Tolarba told Philippines. While waiting for better the Asian Journal. When he was in high prospects, Tolarba went to school, he realized that he graduate school, finishing a had a knack for writing and master’s degree in education. drawing. Tolarba comes from He went on to the University a modest family and his moth- of the Philippines-Diliman er singlehandedly raised him and got admitted to the docand his five siblings since his torate program for education, father died when he was still a where he spent the next three years, until his immigration small child. “So, my mother, a public papers arrived. “It was a hard decision to school teacher in the Philippines, asked me (more like told abandon my Ph.D. studies but me) to take up nursing instead beginning a new life in Amerbecause my older brother was ica in 2004 was something I a senior nursing student that looked forward to because my time and this way, I could use wife was already in the US at his books, old uniforms, and that time,” he said. In the U.S., his first employclinical paraphernalia, in order to save money,” Tolarba ment was as a staff nurse at a local hospital in Cincinnati, shared. So despite being less than Ohio. While working full-time, thrilled, he soldiered on. On he also received a master of the side, he dedicated his science degree in nursing. PAGE 9 time still doing what he loved,
Nurse credentialing group appoints Filipino...
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NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY ASIAN JOURNAL • MAY 15-21, 2020
OPINION
FEATURES
Modifying the quarantine WALKING a tightrope between lives and livelihoods, the government has decided to extend the enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and Laguna, with the fate of two other provinces to be known later this week. The ECQ, however, will be “modified” after May 15, to allow the gradual reopening of the economy in the National Capital Region after two months of quarantine. So far, various degrees of quarantines and lockdowns nationwide to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic have rendered 2.5 million Filipinos jobless, according to the Department of Labor and Employment. Overseas Filipino workers, forced out of jobs by the COVID-19 crisis in other countries, are also arriving in droves, looking for alternative sources of livelihood. With the start of the modified ECQ in Metro Manila, the country’s most densely populated region, the biggest danger is complacency. Wuhan City in China, where the COVID-19 virus originated and which became the epicenter of the pandemic in that country, reported six new infections over the weekend – the first cases
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since the city lifted its lockdown. New cases have also been reported in countries such as South Korea and Germany after they eased restrictions. France, which began easing lockdown measures last Monday, also recorded at least nine COVID cases linked to a funeral. In Metro Manila, its police commander himself has set a bad example of complacency if not outright flouting of quarantine rules even before the ECQ is modified. Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas entertained a large gathering for his birthday celebration on May 8 at Camp Bagong Diwa. Photos of the party showed guests – clearly numbering more than the ECQ limit of 10 persons – digging into the food, unmindful of physical distancing. As in the earlier case of a COVID-infected Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III visiting the Makati Medical Center, those tasked to enforce quarantine rules prefer to see no evil in the case of Sinas. Little wonder that the killer disease is of the Quezon City Police District, placed under spreading among members of the Philippine Na- lockdown. Such irresponsible behavior gives tional Police, with Camp Karingal, headquarters urgency to warnings against easing restric-
Editorial
Philstar.com photo
tions and relying on self-discipline to fight the contagion as the country reopens for business. (Philstar.com)
What is good for the White House should be good for all Old networks never die, they get resurrected of America before asking people to safely return to work Street The Fil-Am Perspective GEL SANTOS-RELOS SCARED to go back to work in fear of being infected by the deadly COVID-19? This is what is happening now in the White House after two people working close to President Donald Trump have tested positive for the virus this past week. Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary Katie Miller — who is married to
one of Trump’s closest aides, Stephen Miller — and one of Trump’s personal valets have contracted the virus, TIME reported. As a result, the White House has implemented new safety measures: every staff member in close proximity to the president and vice president is being tested DAILY for COVID-19 as well as any guests. Contact tracing is also now being conducted to help patients recall everyone with whom they have had close contact with during the timeframe while they may have been infectious — a laborious and elaborate
measure that helps mitigate the spread of the virus. The fear and worries of the people working in the White House are the same concerns of people all over America, especially after President Trump has been pushing to relax social distancing and other safety measures and re-open America for business. Many governors from Republican states allied with Trump warned people that either they go back to work or they lose their unemployment benefits. For many Americans, this PAGE 7
Talk
GREG B. MACABENTA ABS-CBN signed off after its franchise expired on May 4, 2020. Actually, the franchise was left to expire by the Philippine House of Representatives that preferred to second-guess President Rodrigo Duterte rather than do its job. Duterte had made it clear that he didn’t like the network and its owners. Too powerful for their own good. Their source
of power had to be crushed. So, the country’s largest broadcasting network had to be knocked off the air. For millions of television viewers and radio listeners all over the Philippines, that is like being deprived of their daily victuals — as much of a habit as kape and pan de sal for breakfast, and kanin, ulam and merienda, the rest of the day. For journalists and civil rights activists, the closure of the network is a brass-knuckled assault on press freedom. To the marketing industry, it is a loss of a potent sales and promotional vehicle. For my colleagues in the advertis-
ing agencies, a loss of commissions. And for ABS-CBN’s thousands of employees, talents, production staffers and stars, the loss of jobs and income. For its business rivals and political enemies, ABS-CBN’s going off the air means one pain-in-the-neck gone. For its allies, one platform for gaining prominence and visibility lost. But not for Pinoys in America and the OFW enclaves in the Middle East, Asia and Europe. They will continue to have their daily serving of news, tear-jerkers, action serials, fantasies and showPAGE 10
The views expressed by our Op-Ed contributors are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the predilection of the editorial board and staff of Asian Journal.
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Dateline PhiliPPines
Mocha Uson summoned by NBI over fake news Palace releases new quarantine by KRistine Joy
Philstar.com
Patag
ManIla — The national Bureau of Investigation is conducting probe into Overseas Workers Welfare administration Deputy administrator Mocha Uson for posting fake news. nBI Deputy Director Ferdinand lavin confirmed to reporters that the nBI-cybercrime Division is investigating Uson for fake news. a subpoena has also been sent to the OWWa official. “There was an order of [Justice Secretary Menardo guevarra] before for nBI to investigate fake news, we included her in the investigation re: posting of PPEs,” lavin said. lavin added there are private complainants against the OWWa official. On april 2, Uson posted photos of new sets of personal protective equipment supposedly purchased by the government, but one of the photos came from SM Foundation. Uson’s Facebook page has 5.96 million followers.
Former Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson Photo from Facebook/Mocha Uson Blog
The OWWa official later changed the photo and apologized for the “misleading content on the meme” she attributed to an article posted by Philstar.com entitled “First Batch of 1 Million PPEs Delivered.” “The photo used on the meme was taken directly from Philstar.com which has since been updated with a new image by the said website,” she added. NBI fake news probes
Early in February, Justice Secretary Menardo guevarra directed the nBI to conduct a case build up against people “on the alleged deliberate spread of misinformation and fake news about... and false reporting of the [cOVID-19].” The Bayanihan to Heal as One act, signed late March, also prohibits the spread of false information regarding the cOVID-19 crisis on social media. The nBI said early april that they sent out dozens of “invitations” to individuals under its fact-finding probe into social media posts bearing false news. The bureau has yet to respond to Philstar.com’s repeated requests for data on fact-finding investigation and complaints filed over fake news posts since the declaration of a public health emergency. Mocha and fake news This is not the first time Uson has been accused of peddling fake news. In May 2017, Uson shared an PAGE 10
guidelines for Metro Manila, other areas by Ritchel
Mendiola AJPress
Malacañang on Wednesday, May 13 released new guidelines for areas under a modified enhanced community quarantine. This comes after President Rodrigo Duterte the day before announced that Metro Manila, laguna and cebu city will continue operating under a modified quarantine until the end of the month, following his meeting with the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. Under the modified enhanced community quarantine, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said people are still required to stay at home, but they are allowed to walk, jog, run, and bike outside as long as they observe safety protocols like wearing face masks and practicing social distancing of at least two meters. Public transportation will also remain prohibited, but government company shuttles, personal vehicles, bicycles, motorcycles, electric scooters, and public shuttles will be allowed provided the people follow safety protocols.
“Sa Modified EcQ, wala pa rin pong public transportation pero pwede po na mag-deploy ng mga shuttle buses iyong mga industriya na ina-allow na magtrabaho at saka subject din po sa exceptions na ibibigay ng DIlg [Department of Interior and local government] tungkol dito (Under the modified ECQ, public transportation is not allowed but companies could deploy shuttle buses to ferry workers subject to exception rules of the DILG),” Roque said. The Department of Transportation said that the operation of tricycles may be allowed by the local government. “[Tricycles] are under the jurisdiction of lgUs/DIlg. Sila ang makakasagot nyan (They are the ones who are responsible for that),” said DOTr assistant Secretary goddes Hope libiran. Meanwhile, domestic flights continue to be suspended, while international flights are operating on limited schedules. Roque also said that government agencies may implement skeleton workforces under modified EcQ, while private sector workers must be provided shuttle services.
likewise, several sectors and services will be allowed to partially resume operations with 50 percent of their workforce on site. Businesses that can now partially open under modified EcQ include manufacturers of essential goods like food and beverages (only non-alcoholic drinks), hygiene products, medicines and vitamins, medical products (masks, PPEs), pet food, feeds, fertilizers; essential retail stores; telecommunications companies; media establishments; postal, courier, delivery services; office administrative and office support; legal and accounting; management consultancy services; and publishing and printing. Barbershops, salons, gyms, karaoke bars, cinemas, libraries, museums, cultural centers, and personal care services are still not allowed to operate. “nag-simula tayo sa EcQ. gagawin nating modified EcQ papunta sa gcQ at susunod po ang modified gcQ bago po tayo magkaroon ng new normal (We began with the implementation of ECQ. We will now implement modified ECQ. Afterwards, GCQ and modified GCQ before we have the new normal),” Roque said. n
Palace assures UN rights body: Alleged violations during quarantine will be investigated by alexis RoMeRo Philstar.com
ManIla — Rule of law would prevail and wrongdoers would be punished, Malacañang said on Wednesday, May 13, after the human rights body of the United nations raised concerns over the alleged brutality of state forces enforcing lockdowns in some countries including the Philippines. Un High commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet recently urged governments to ensure that human rights are not violated under the guise of exceptional or emergency measures. Bachelet said there have been numerous reports about security forces using “excessive, and at times lethal” force to make people abide by lockdowns and curfews. Such violations have often been committed against people belonging to the poorest and most vulnerable segments
of the population, the Un human rights chief said. Emergency declarations in 15 countries, including the Philippines, were viewed as most troubling, a report quoted an official of Bachelet’s office as saying. asked to react to the statement of Bachelet, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Philippine national Police has given an assurance that all wrongdoers would be held accountable. “We have a message here from the PnP chief (gen. archie) gamboa. He will implement the rule of law. He will go through all the incidents involving alleged human rights violations and he will punish those that need to be punished,” Roque said at a press briefing. “But for now, we will rely on presumption of regularity in the discharge of their duties. But all complaints will
be addressed by the PnP,” he added. Presumption of regularity means the discharge of duties is presumed to have been done according to procedure unless there are indications otherwise. The Supreme court in 2013 ruled in aguilar vs Department of Justice et al., a case that involved a suspect being killed in police custody, that “when the accused admits killing the victim, but invokes a justifying circumstance, the constitutional presumption of innocence is effectively waived and the burden of proving the existence of such circumstance shifts to the accused.” Watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also called on Philippine authorities to respect the basic rights of people detained for violating the government’s coronavirus PAGE 10
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PH gov’t to reboot economy – Dominguez Fil-Am student accepted to all 8 Ivy League schools... by Catherine
Valente
ManilaTimes.net
THE Philippines will “restart and accelerate” its Build, Build, Build infrastructure program and hire contact-tracers “en masse” to reboot the economy, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said on Tuesday, May 12. In a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte and other Cabinet officials aired over state-run PTV4 on Tuesday, Dominguez said the government needed to “do many things to revive the economy.” “After we are confident that we are in control of the death rate and infections, we should restart and accelerate the Build, Build, Build program subject to minimum health standards,” he said. “The infrastructure remains to be the best driver of economic growth because it has the best multiplier effects in terms of employment and
shared prosperity,” he added. The Finance chief revealed that some 1.2 million to 1.5 million jobs were “temporarily lost” because of the health crisis. “We should also hire contact tracers en masse to boost our efforts to stop transmission and defeat Covid-19 while providing jobs,” Dominguez said. “I think we can provide good jobs to people,” he added. Dominguez also batted for the passage of the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (Citira), which Duterte certified as urgent in March. The Citira seeks to rationalize tax incentives granted to industries. It will also gradually lower the corporate income tax from 30 percent to 20 percent over the next 10 years. It has been approved by the House of Representatives and is awaiting approval in the Senate. “The bill has been with
PAGE 4 that on the morning he took the SAT, he went through a break-up right before and was crying on the way to the testing center, for instance. He was named homecoming prince, and loves driving around listening to music, getting frozen yogurt with friends, watching “Game of Thrones,” scrolling through Instagram for memes, and watching TikTok videos. (Though he promises he’s not glued to his phone like most Gen Zers.) “I wanted to emphasize that yes, I’m a student, but above all, I am a person,” he said. “I’m more proud of the fact that I was able to accomplish all of that despite everything in a single-parent household and never having a lot of academic resources.” McFarland has risen above his circumstances when the system is typically stacked against someone with his background. He credits his mother for instilling the importance of education and hard work. Santiago, who obtained a nursing degree in her home chance that this virus is just country, raised McFarland going to disappear.” and his two siblings, an older “Shame on us if we don’t brother and younger sister, by have enough tests by the time herself while she went back to this so-called return might oc- school for sonography. cur in the fall and winter,” he “Craig knows the struggles said, suggesting that the U.S. we’ve had to go through with needs to make sure there’s an me as a single mom, and I adequate supply of tests and a hope my experiences have system for getting those tests helped drive him to be great,” to the people who most need she said, adding that educathem before a second wave of tion “is our wealth that nobody the virus hits. “It’s going to be can take away from us.” around, and if given the opThe family moved around 12 portunity, it will resurge.” times in the Jacksonville area Response coordinator for and lived in a small house with White House Coronavirus extended relatives for several Task Force Deborah Birx es- years. Santiago was able to timated that about 2.5% of all find a job as a registered carAmericans have been tested, diac sonographer, though she adding that the number is commutes about two hours increasing by half a percent each day. every week. As ABC News re“It was pretty much being ported, she agreed with many left to our own devices so we experts, stating that test- often had to find out how to ing and contact tracing are cook for ourselves and just maproven to be critical to help- ture on our own for the times ing identify cases locally and in our lives when my mom was contain the spread. out working or at school,” McBirx also stressed in the re- Farland said. “That indepenport the importance of “being dence, while a bit sad at times, proactive about testing,” and was undoubtedly useful, even monitoring high-risk places today.” with vulnerable populations Santiago never worried such as prisons, long-term about whether her son fincare center and inner city ished his homework or studcommunities after New York ied for exams because of his Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Dem- self-discipline. Whenever she ocrat, announced required did ask, he would say he did it twice-weekly testing for nurs- days before. ing staffers in his state. “He honestly pushes himEven more important num- self harder than anyone has bers to consider: pushed him, and I say that as According to the COVID his mother,” she said. Since Tracking Project, testing for McFarland was young, he has the coronavirus in the U.S. been curious and compassionPAGE A10 ate, and always wears a smile
the Senate for a few months. We would like to ask for your support so that Congress can pass this before June 3,” Dominguez said. The government should likewise stimulate consumer demand by promoting the manufacturing of products that have strong and inelastic demand, such as food, he added. “Inelastic demand means you must buy it regardless of what your income is or what the price of the good is and that is food, number one. You have to eat. So we must push food production and food logistics,” he said. “The Duterte administration’s economic team and legislators are finalizing an economic recovery program that will help us combat the pandemic,” he added. Last week, the Philippines reported a 0.2-percent shrinkage in first quarter gross domestic product, the first contraction since 1998. n
What is good for the White House should be good for... PAGE 5 order from Trump and the Republican governors was like a death sentence, especially since health officials, scientists and many Democratic governors have been warning that to safely re-open the country for business, widespread testing combined with contact tracing need to be implemented as they are still the most effective ways to slow the spread until a vaccine is available. Additionally, protective equipment should be available to ALL Americans returning to work. We would think that after having firsthand experience with the threat of the coronavirus pandemic in the White House, Trump would finally heed the advice of health officials and be more aggressive and proactive in conducting widespread testing, contact tracing, providing protective equipment, making sure social distancing orders are still being followed wherever warranted, to the degree required by their specific circumstances and COVID-19 infection cases in their states. Unfortunately, Trump does not think what is good and safe for the White House is something he will push and support for the rest of us. As of press time on Tuesday, May 12, the total confirmed cases around the world was recorded at 4,178,156 and counting, killing more than 286,353 people. The United States leads the world in the
number of confirmed cases with more than 1,382,630 and a death toll of more than 81,779. The number of cases per 1 million people in the U.S. is now at 4,195 and counting. Despite the death toll and continued threat to infect more people, Trump continues to deny the scientific facts and evidence about COVID-19 and insists that the pandemic will disappear on its own. ABC News reported that during a White House meeting with Republican House lawmakers last week, Trump again said, “I feel about vaccines like I feel about tests. This is going to go away without a vaccine.” Trump has been touting that no other country in the world has been testing like the United States, but this claim is misleading because he is boasting based on the absolute numbers without reference to the over-all total population of the nation. A country as big as the U.S. would require more testing. It still lags behind countries like Italy and Denmark in per capita [per how many persons] tests performed, ABC News reported. How can he address the need for more testing if he denies the fact? Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top epidemiologist, has been pushing for more testing, something that Trump undermines. Dr. Fauci said in a National Geographic interview, “I don’t think there’s a
on his face. “I always see him looking out for his friends and even people he barely knows,” she said. “I’ve heard him spend hours on the phone helping friends with their homework or spending whatever small amount of money he has saved up on gifts for friends.” McFarland admits that he was “incredibly shy” as a child, but started coming out of his shell around middle school and explored activities to fill his time, especially those that tested his knowledge on subjects or challenged him to defend a position on a social issue. “Any competition that involved a requirement of being well-spoken and reaching an audience, I ended up really loving,” he said. Being raised in a singleparent household meant that there was only one source of income for the family. Since his mom is not familiar with the U.S. college process, he researched financial aid opportunities and was able to get the application fees waived. Whatever extracurricular activities McFarland wanted to participate in, he had to raise the money himself by taking on a private tutoring job. “A lot of people don’t understand the privilege of being able to access things, such as a private tutor or a review book, or even just having a parent there with you to advocate for your success at a counselor meeting,” he said. “I didn’t want to ask my mom to pay for the SAT or all these dues for activities.” He also acknowledges teachers who mentored and took an interest in helping him succeed and those who served as “father figures” since he did not have one growing up. Moving to Connecticut this fall will be the third time McFarland has ever left his home state. He’ll be swapping the sunny, humid weather for a Northeast winter, though he has no clue what’s in store for him climate wise and culturally. “I’m extremely sentimental and emotional and part of the reason why I cried when I got accepted to the colleges was because it marked this rite of passage,” he said. “Eventually I’m going to have to leave my mom — that dichotomy of success academically but also having to say goodbye to the only person who’s been a constant in my life beyond my brother and sister.” The other two times McFarland has ventured out of Florida were trips to the Phil-
ippines, first at the age of 4 and then at 16. Santiago said she raised her children immersed in their Filipino heritage, whether it was through watching teleseryes, eating the food, observing holiday traditions or teaching them to address and respect elders with mano po. “I’ve told [them] that we Filipinos are strong and smart people. Craig especially has been interested in his Filipino culture. He is a member of his school’s Filipino performance group and dances tinikling for his school’s multicultural club,” she said. McFarland’s biracial identity has presented extra challenges, as he never quite fit in or felt completely welcomed by either side. (Since his college acceptances garnered nationwide press attention, he also received comments about “not being black” or “not being a real Filipino,” he said.) He recalled that he and his younger sister were targets of racial slurs and were discriminated against because of the color of their skin during their 2018 trip to the Philippines. “It’s not necessarily that I hold that against the Philippines as I know it’s a product of colonialism, but it pushes me to want to make social change,” he said. “I hope that my accomplishments provide a testament that certain type of people aren’t dumb or lesser than any other.” While his final high school semester moved online and events like prom were scrapped, McFarland was particularly sad about initial reports saying graduation would be canceled. He will still be able to deliver his valedictorian speech since the school’s ceremony was postponed to July. As the achiever he is, he’s already prepared his remarks and hopes to impart the message that test scores and getting into top schools aren’t the only metrics to measure one’s impact. Before he heads off to college, he intends to enjoy one last summer in his hometown with his best friends and family and do “normal teen stuff.” “My main goal in college is to be happy and to genuinely live,” McFarland said. “It’s important to be successful but my definition of success isn’t to become a CEO or make a high paying job. It’s being content with what I’ve done and that contentment comes from being able to help others, especially those who are in situations similar to mine.” (Chrstina M. Oriel/AJPress)
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Defense secretary: US attack helicopters beyond PH budget by Frances
Mangosing Inquirer.net
MANILA — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the attack helicopters being offered by two American companies to the Philippines are way out of the Philippine government’s budget. The defense chief said the Philippines has allocated only P13 billion for the attack helicopter acquisition project of the Philippine Air Force (PAF). “The money allotted to buy attack helicopters is only P13 billion,” he said. He said if the Philippines bought the American helicopters, the country could buy only one or two units. This was the reason, he said, that the Philippine military looked for other countries that can supply attack helicopters with more units than what the allotted funds could buy if these were bought from the U.S. The U.S. State Department has recently approved the possible sale of six units of Bell AH-1Z Viper and six units of Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to the Philippines.
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the potential sale of Viper and related equipment carried a price tag of $450 million (around P22 billion), while the Apache AH-64E sales package costs around $1.5 billion (around P76 billion). These packages are not final, and may be adjusted upon the request of the Philippine government. The offers came despite the Philippine Air Force’s selection of T129 ATAK helicopters of the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for its attack helicopter acquisition program. The Turkish supplier, however, is still trying to obtain an export license from the US government for subsystems because of sanctions imposed by Washington against Turkey for purchasing weapons from Russia. The Philippines is getting six units of T129 ATAK helicopters from TAI. While a contract has not been signed yet, a Notice of Award has been issued in late 2019. At the same briefing, Lorenzana also reacted sharply
to leftist groups that are criticizing the helicopter purchase project. “There are those who say, the leftists, they say why buy, why not give the money to the people?” Lorenzana said. Earlier, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said that the government is already having difficulty finding funds for its COVID-19 response but had the temerity to still buy attack helicopters. “The President said all the funds he was referring to last April is just in the air and that his administration now is in a tight fix looking for money to help the poor during the COVID lockdown,” Zarate had said. “If it were so, why this plan still to buy war and killing machines like attack helicopters in the midst of this crisis?” he said. “The new U.S. arms deals will only fortify the President’s arsenal. We call for widespread education to mobilize people against the deal,” the U.S.based International Coalition of Human Rights in the Philippines said. n
NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY ASIAN JOURNAL • mAY 15-21, 2020
ANTI-VIRUS CANNONS. The Rosita Soliman Foundation, a nongovernment organization that specializes in emergency equipment, on Monday, May 11 donates disinfection misting cannons to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and Department of the Interior and Local Government. Jo Soliman (at the back), who represented the foundation, was present at the turnover, along with Interior Secretary Eduardo Año (right) and MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim (second from right), at the MMDA main office in Makati City. ManilaTimes.net photo by John Orven Verdote
Nurse credentialing group appoints Filipino Fulbright... PAGE 4 After graduating, his family moved to Connecticut, where he spent more than a decade working before pursuing further studies. Tolarba was one of the 14 inaugural doctoral students accepted to the Yale University Doctor of Nursing Prac-
tice (DNP) program, among the many achievements he has amassed throughout his career. He has become an international expert in the topics of international nursing education, nursing mobility and migration, and nursing curriculum evaluation.
“I am humbled by the opportunities that come my way and I have to thank my mother for showing me the right path even though nursing was not my initial choice. It only proves the old adage, ‘Mother knows best!’” he said. (Momar G. Visaya/AJPress)
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Old networks never die, they get resurrected
FIRST STORM OF 2020. Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) senior weather specialist Christopher Perez gives an update on Tropical Depression “Ambo” at the PAGASA Weather and Flood Forecasting Center in Quezon City on Monday, May 11. “Ambo” is expected to bring scattered light to moderate with isolated heavy rains over Mindanao in the next 24 hours. PNA photo by Joey O. Razon
Mocha Uson summoned by NBI over... PAGE 6 unverified photo of supposed Filipino soldiers kneeling in prayer and asked for prayers for government troops as they fought against local terrorists in Marawi City. Those who were in the photo that she shared were not Fili-
pino soldiers as it was discovered later on that the image was taken in Honduras. In January 2020, Uson also posted an article about Vice President Leni Robredo’s relief aid to victims of Taal Volcano eruption. The write-up featured a
comment accusing Robredo of handing out only five pieces of pandesal and water to the victims. Uson said the vice president was merely giving aid for photo opportunity. The vice president slammed Uson’s post as fake news. n
Palace assures UN rights body: Alleged... PAGE 6
regulation. In a statement released last March, the group said police and local officials have confined those arrested to dog cages and forced them to sit in the midday sun as punishment, among other abuses. Most of the arrests, HRW said,
are for violating curfew but some are for violating “social distancing” and quarantine regulations. “Any mistreatment should be immediately investigated, and the authorities responsible held accountable.” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of HRW, said.
“While the Philippines government needs to protect the health and welfare of the people, any interventions must be in line with international human rights standard, including the prohibition against cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of people in custody,” he added. n
What is good for the White House should be good for... PAGE 7
has steadily improved to around 264,000 tests a day — nearly 9 million tests total as of Monday — but the U.S. is still below proposed benchmarks from several experts. Researchers at the Harvard University, for example, calculated that the U.S. would need to do approximately 500,000 tests per day, as a bare minimum, by May 1 — a figure they have since revised to 900,000 for May 15 as more states ease restrictions. WHY is Trump doing this? It is all about POLITICS. “I will tell you, you look at some cases, some people think they’re doing it for politics,” Trump was quoted by ABC News, suggesting some Democratic governors are
moving slowly to undercut him politically. “Here we go again. But they think they’re doing it because it will hurt me the longer it takes to — to hurt me in the election, the longer it takes to open up.” “The media likes to say we have the most [coronavirus] cases, but we do, by far, the most testing. If we did very little testing, we wouldn’t have the most cases. So, in a way, by doing all of this testing, we make ourselves look bad,” Trump said last Wednesday, May 6. What is worse than being attacked by the COVID19 pandemic? It is to have a president who denies science and facts, misleads people, just because to him, his personal interests and political
survival are more important than saving the lives of the people he has sworn to defend and protect. SPEAK OUT! Do not wait for you and your family to be casualties of this invisible enemy before you call out this president for the dereliction of the duty and betrayal of public trust under the United States’ highest office. * * * Gel Santos Relos has been in news, talk, public service and educational broadcasting since 1989 with ABS-CBN and is now serving the Filipino audience using different platforms, including digital broadcasting, and print, and is working on a new public service program for the community. You may contact her through email at gelrelos@icloud.com, or send her a message via Facebook at Facebook. com/Gel.Santos.Relos.
PAGE 5 biz tsismis that remind them of home. For the Lopez family, owners of the network, the closure is just one more chapter in the corporate complex’s storied existence in Philippine business and politics. Just one more predictable consequence of being in and out of power. It is déjà vu. But, as in the past, ABS-CBN will go on the air again. Indeed, old networks never die. They get resurrected. In 1972, following the declaration of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos, the network was forced to close down — its assets taken over by business and political rivals and its executives jailed and subsequently forced into exile in the U.S. This was the same Ferdinand Marcos whom the Lopezes helped in winning the presidency in 1965, along with the vice presidency of one of the family patriarchs, Fernando Lopez. The same Marcos that the family helped to depose in the 1986 People Power revolution, en route to resurrecting the network and reclaiming its dominance I have no doubt that ABSCBN will outlast Rodrigo Duterte, just as it outlived Marcos. And, as sure as day follows night, Duterte’s current allies will become Lopez allies when the Davao cartel’s time has come. In Philippine politics, there are no permanent enemies or friends, just ongoing interests. Don’t be surprised if even ABS-CBN’s arch tormentor, Solicitor General Jose Calida, will become a member of the Lopez cheering squad at the network’s resurrection. I have a unique affinity for ABS-CBN. For me, the network is like an old rich neighbor, whose family members I have known most of my life, whose kids I practically grew up with, befriended, and even fought and competed with. Can one ever avoid fighting with the neighbor’s kids? As a boy in Manila, fresh off the boat from Leyte, I performed in soap operas aired on the network’s DZAQ Radio, broadcasting from the Republic Supermarket Building on Avenida Rizal. I was also among the earliest on-camera talents when television was introduced in the Philippines by Alto Broadcasting System, the ABS part of ABSCBN. This was in 1954. As an ad agency producer in 1960, I wrote and co-di-
rected a weekly radio show on DZXL Radio. Located in the Chronicle building on Aduana, it was owned by the Chronicle Broadcasting Network, the CBN part of what would become the Philippines’ largest broadcasting network. And then in late 1965, the merged ABS-CBN, housed in a huge broadcast complex on Roxas Boulevard, hired me as a manager for program evaluation and development. I also became head of script quality control and executive producer of the network’s prime TV property, Buhay Artista (which starred the comic duo, Dolphy and Panchito). It was presidential election season. On the instruction of network chairman Geny Lopez, Jr. I produced a daily satire that helped defeat reelectionist President Diosdado Macapagal and helped catapult Ferdinand Marcos to Malacañang. The title of the daily satire was Alis Diyan! I had a great admiration for Geny Lopez, whom everyone reverently referred to as Capitan, although I only worked for ABS-CBN for less than a year. In the early 1990s, I was retained by the network, this time, under Geny’s son, Gabby or Eugenio Lopez III, who had begun laying the groundwork for ABS-CBN’s expansion to the United States. However, as luck would have it, it was ABS-CBN’s rival, GMA Network, that I eventually helped to break into the U.S. market. Did I say that I fought and competed with ABS-CBN, just like fighting with the neighbor’s kids? I did. The Lopezes are fierce competitors and dislike business rivals with a passion. Because I was associated with rival GMA, I was also disliked. ABS-CBN top management even had me “dis-invited” to a special event despite receiving a formal invitation from the network’s middle managers in my capacity as National Chairman of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA). Of course, being an equally fierce competitor myself, I also had ABS-CBN expelled from a Fil-Am community festival that I had cornered exclusively for GMA. Those were just two of the many instances when ABSCBN and GMA, which I used to represent, pre-empted each other, in dealings with
the Fil-Am community. But these things I have never taken personally against the network and its people. I have a lot of respect for them as industry colleagues. Besides, many of them are friends. However, I take personal offense over the closure of ABS-CBN in the Philippines. I consider it an assault against things I hold dear. Press freedom, particularly. And the freedom to speak out for or against a country’s leaders, as well as the freedom to compete in business with a passion. I do not grieve for the fortunes of the Lopez family and their business empire. The family has enough wealth to last many generations and the corporate complex can outlast several presidential tenures and political enemies. Will the network lose money with the closure of its Philippine operations? For sure. But it will continue to make money from its worldwide operations. The owners of the network are savvy entrepreneurs and it will take more than a Duterte and a Calida to sink them. I do not grieve the loss of the tear-jerkers, action serials and fantasies of the network. They can always be revived when friendlier times come. Show business, like the Phoenix, will always manage to rise from the ashes. But I grieve for the staffers of the network, especially the journalists and production people who have lost their jobs and their means of livelihood. Many of them are isang kahig isang tuka. Most of all, I grieve for the loss of the freedom to criticize and hold accountable the leaders of my beloved Philippines. I resent the raw use of power and the way the law has been bent and used as a weapon of oppression. In this regard, I am glad that the network’s U.S. and overseas staffers are still in harness and I hope that those who have lost their jobs in the Philippines will be employed again. They are professionals who have nothing to do with corporate and political power struggles. I regard them like good neighbors. And, to paraphrase the slogan of an insurance company, like a good neighbor, they can count on me to have their backs. (gregmacabenta@ gmail.com)
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COMMUNITY Journal
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‘Secret evidence’ denials are unconstitutional Immigration Corner Atty. MichAel Gurfinkel, eSQ ON April 14, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (which is one level below the U.S. Supreme Court) ruled it is unconstitutional for the USCIS to deny a petition or application based on secret or undisclosed evidence. This case is very important for people who had their cases denied based on USCIS’s claims that it had obtained an affidavit or confession from some unnamed witness or ex-spouse, or it uncovered some undisclosed record or evidence, but never provided the statements or evidence to the person, in order to give the person a chance to rebut or challenge the incriminating evidence. In that case, a U.S. citizen’s petition of his alien spouse
was denied on the grounds that the alien spouse’s prior marriage to a different U.S. citizen was fraudulent or fixed. (By law, if a person is ever caught in a fixed marriage, no future petition can be approved.) Apparently, USCIS had relied on an apartment-rental application the alien’s former husband had previously submitted to USCIS, which required him to list his past addresses. However, none of the prior addresses he listed included the residence he and the alien supposedly lived together at. Therefore, USCIS concluded the alien did not live together with the first spouse. However, in denying the second U.S. citizen spouse’s petition, USCIS never told the couple it had used that rental application in making its fraud determination about her prior marriage. It was only when her case finally made its way to the federal court that USCIS submitted the rental agreement as
part of the record. That was the first time the alien was ever made aware of this derogatory or negative evidence. Had they been given the derogatory evidence sooner, they could have been able to refute (or at least attempt to refute) the accusation that she had not lived together with her first husband. The Ninth Circuit held that the government’s use of undisclosed records in making its marriage-fraud finding violated the person’s constitutional right to due process, as it denied her a meaningful opportunity to respond. This case is important because many times, a person’s case is denied because USCIS states it has obtained certain records, documents, or affidavits, but fails to produce or provide that evidence. Other times, the USCIS may have obtained a “confession” of someone, such as an exspouse, but quotes only portions of that statement, when PAGE 12
‘Float,’ Pixar’s first-ever short featuring Filipino characters, earns Peabody nod By AJPress
PIXAR’S first-ever short film featuring Filipino characters has been nominated in this year’s Peabody Awards. Filipino American storyboard artist Bobby Alcid Rubio took to social media to share that his seven-minute short, “Float,” is one of the nominees in the award ceremony’s entertainment category. “So honored to have @Pixar #PixarFloat to be nominated for the #PeabodyAwards. I am grateful that our #SparkShorts #ShortFilm about Acceptance and Celebration of our Differences is being recognized. I share this achievement with my wonderful producer, Krissy Cababa @cababapalooza, my amazing crew #TeamFloat
Bobby Rubio photographed on August 20, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar
“Float” made history as the first Pixar animation featuring Filipino characters. Photo courtesy of Pixar
and the entire Pixar Family!” Rubio wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday, May 7. The organization on Wednesday revealed this year’s 60 nominees, chosen by a board of 19 jurors from nearly 1,300 entries, for the
most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcasting and digital media during 2019. “Float,” written and directed by Rubio and produced by fellow Fil-Am Krissy Cababa, PAGE 13
LEADING U.S. IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY MICHAEL J. GURFINKEL EXPEDITES CASE TO ENSURE “CHILD” LANDS ON U.S. SOIL BEFORE HIS 21ST BIRTHDAY. One of Atty. Gurfinkel’s favorite cases is from 23 years ago, but the lessons are timeless and valuable to the present, where the family’s efforts to save money resulted in extra delays and a child who was about to age out in a matter of days. This was before the Child Status Protection Act, and back then, the child must arrive in the U.S. before midnight of his 21st birthday or the case would be lost. Time was running out for Steve (2nd from left) when the family realized that “Miracle Worker” Atty. Gurfinkel (right) was their only hope. As soon as the family agreed to retain the Law Offices of Michael J. Gurfinkel, the latter worked non-stop to ensure that Steve would land on U.S. soil before his 21st birthday. Watch the events unfold on an all-new episode of CITIZEN PINOY – on Sunday at 6:15 pm (PST) on TFC. (Advertising Supplement)
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May 15-21, 2020 • NEW yORK aND NEW JERSEy aSIaN JOURNaL
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An amazing race to beat the Asian Americans #MakeNoiseToday deadline before eldest son aged out on through social movement an all-new Citizen Pinoy this Sunday New thought leader-driven social media campaign THIS success happened 23 years ago, but the lessons resonate until today. Steve was 10 years old when his parents migrated to the U.S. and left him and his siblings with their grandmother. It was almost 11 years later, when Steve was about to turn 21, that the parents got their green cards. The couple immediately flew back to Manila in December 1996 to help process Steve’s papers as he was turning 21 on January 30, 1997. In an attempt to save money, the father tried to handle his case on his own,
took a while in making decisions, and was still taking advice from well-meaning friends while precious time was running out. With barely a week to go, the family finally resolved to retain and trust the services of “Miracle Worker” Atty. Gurfinkel. This was before the Child Status Protection Act, so Steve must arrive in the U.S. before midnight of his 21st birthday, or the visa would be lost. While in Manila, Atty. Gurfinkel worked nonstop, coordinating with his Glendale offices to follow up on documents, complete
forms, and ensure all cable notifications were sent and received (this was before email and other forms of modern communication) and medical results were acquired. Hours before Steve would have aged out, he ran the most incredible race of his life to ensure that he stepped foot on American soil barely two hours before he turned 21. Get the details of this race to the finish line on a brand-new episode of CITIZEN PINOY – on Sunday at 6:15 pm (PST) on TFC.
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Fil-Am Francisco Martin makes it to ‘American Idol’ Top 7 By Ritchel
Mendiola AJPress
FILIPINO American singer Francisco Martin advanced to the next round of ‘American Idol’ Season 18 as he secured a spot in the top 7. For the penultimate episode of the season, the contestants had to perform twice, with the first performance being centered around Disney songs. Martin, a 19-year-old student from Daly City, California, performed his own version of “You’ll Be in My Heart” from the movie “Tarzan,” impressing judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan. “We’re witnessing here a transformation of Francisco,” Richie said. He added, “I saw several times of that performance. You’re smiling at yourself when you perform. In other words, what you’re doing now is just giving us confidence and enjoyment. And by the way, we as an audience, we’d love to see that kind of emotion. Francisco, congratulations on being on the Top 7, man. I’m really, really proud of you.” Perry, meanwhile, said: “Francisco, I thought that performance was amazing. I agree with Lionel, you looked relaxed. All that self-doubt has been really stripped away.” “What you gave us at the
Francisco Martin of Daly City, California continues to impress judges on Season 18 of “American Idol.” Photo courtesy of ABC
end is kind of what I wanted from Louis Knight. This is a competition. Let’s get real. There’s only one Idol and you were spot-on with your performance and then at the end, you let us have it with the talent of your voice. Good for you. You are a good bet,” she added. Bryan, for his part, dubbed him as the “King of American Idol.” “My man! Great job. Just in that performance, you were like the King of the jungle and you felt like the King of American Idol in my opinion,” he said. For Martin’s second performance, he dedicated a heartfelt performance of Leon Bridges’ “River” to his mom. “From Tarzan to singing ‘River,’ I don’t know what happened but you have grown even more,” Perry noted. “This set of Mother’s Day songs is really separating
the pack. It’s showing who deserves that top position and you are making it difficult for all these other contestants because that performance was so soulful and beautiful and real… it was so heartfelt, what you just did,” she added. Bryan went as far as to say that Martin “beat the original record.” Meanwhile, Richie praised the singer’s confidence. “The thing I love the most is your confidence is front and center. You’re no longer in your head. Congratulations because you have a career and that is what’s important,” he said. The season finale will be held next Sunday, May 17, starting with two contestants being eliminated based on audience votes. The five remaining hopefuls will perform two songs each as real-time voting will help determine who gets the “American Idol” title.
changes the narrative around Asian Americans
LONG BEACH – #MakeNoiseToday launches a social movement encouraging Asians to stand up, stand out, and speak up. The COVID-19 crisis has propagated a surge in racism and attacks toward Asian Americans and now is the time to organize and stand together. This May, multicultural communications agency Intertrend is tapping its inhouse nonprofit Creative Class Collective to honor Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by kicking off #MakeNoiseToday to combat racism and hate through the power of authentic storytelling and social good. With a partnership with Good Morning of Portland, the organizations have collaborated on this historic social media campaign to elevate the celebration of Asian stories and accomplishments meant to create empathy, educate, and unify. The stories shared by Asian Americans from all walks of life through #MakeNoiseToday are anything but one dimensional. Each story builds an economy of narrative plenitude and informs the public at large on the rich texture of Asian American history, culture and identity. ”When Asian Americans take our individual or collective stories out of the silo, we
strengthen the discourse that is so needed at this moment to fight back against the rise of xenophobia and racial attacks against Asians,” said Julia Huang, president of Creative Class Collective and Intertrend Communications. “Making Noise Today is just one way of encouraging Asians to speak up and be heard.” #MakeNoiseToday kicks off with the ‘Recipe for Change’ social media campaign, including videos, posts, and live sessions with familiar faces such as jeffstaple, Aerica Shimizu Banks, Hudson Yang, AJ Rafael, and dozens more. This campaign aims to defy typical stereotypes while highlighting the impact Asian Americans have made today and throughout history. Creative Class Collective, Good Morning and Intertrend are encouraging anyone who would like to show support for #MakeNoiseToday to join the movement by creating a post and tagging it with the #MakeNoiseToday hashtag and or follow along on Instagram. To learn more visit #MakeNoiseToday on Instagram: @ makenoisetoday Or visit makenoisetoday. org for more information. Creative Class Collective is a nonprofit 501 (c) (3) that facilitates, supports and en-
courages new and innovative ideas in the realm of arts, music, education, and other creative outlets with the goal to aid in elevating community planning and economic viability. Their goal is to establish a creative movement with a positive civic impact and strengthen cultural equity by focusing on communities in need. Good Morning is a minority-owned communications strategy consultancy. We focus on taking creativity into culture with precision by studying how people behave and reflecting that into how brands should behave. We strive to launch and sustain world-class brands by cutting through today’s complex media and cultural landscape. Intertrend is a multicultural agency that understands the intersection of cultures, emerging trends, and the interaction between brands and consumers. Based in both Long Beach, CA and Plano, TX, the agency has worked with leading brands and also houses a family of entrepreneurial brand units that build to its core expertise across digital, content and experiential. Interpreters and interrupters, interdisciplinary and international, Intertrend is where culture and content meet.
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‘Secret evidence’ denials... PAGE 11 or statement exonerates the alien, or demonstrates their eligibility. The ruling is not limited to only marriage cases. Other times, USCIS or the embassy will deny a case but never really explain the basis for the denial, or they give some general explanation, such as the person “does not have the required relationship,” or they committed fraud, but don’t explain what the fraud was, leaving people guessing. This case confirms a person has the right to be provided with the evidence being used against them, so they have the opportunity to defend themselves and refute the claims. Many times, there is a reasonable explanation for discrepancies, or there was a spiteful ex-spouse who lied
in an affidavit, by claiming the marriage was not bona fide. I’ve encountered many such cases, and was able to clear my client’s name. If your case was denied based on secret or undisclosed records or statements, and you believe you are legitimately entitled to that immigration benefit, you should consult with an attorney, who can require the government to produce the derogatory evidence and give you the constitutional right to due process and an opportunity to be heard. *** Michael J. Gurfinkel has been an attorney for over 35 years and is licensed, and an active member of the State Bars of California and New York. All immigration services are provided by, or under the supervision of, an active member of the
State Bar of California. Each case is different and results may depend on the facts of the particular case. The information and opinions contained herein (including testimonials, “Success Stories”, endorsements and reenactments) are of a general nature, and are not intended to apply to any particular case, and do not constitute a prediction, warranty, guarantee or legal advice regarding the outcome of your legal matter. No attorney-client relationship is, or shall be, established with any reader. WEBSITE: www.gurfinkel.com Follow us on Facebook.com/ GurfinkelLaw, Twitter @GurfinkelLaw and YouTube: US Immigration TV Call Toll free to schedule a consultation for anywhere in the US: 1-866-487-3465 (866) – GURFINKEL Four offices to serve you: LOS ANGELES ∙ SAN FRANCISCO ∙ NEW YORK ∙ PHILIPPINES (Advertising Supplement)
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After initial anxiety attacks, Eula now enjoys quarantine life By MARINEL
CRUZ
Inquirer.net
ACTRESS Eula Valdes, who plays Christopher de Leon’s first wife in the ABSCBN drama series “Love Thy Woman,” admitted that she had suffered from anxiety attacks shortly after she learned that the actor had tested positive for COVID19. Christopher has since recovered from the illness. Eula said she and Christopher last worked together on March 14. “There were only four of us (cast members) on the set, and on that day, our scenes were so intense. We had to work really close to each other,” she recalled. “That’s why I got worried— slightly.” Eula also said that, shortly after learning that Christopher was infected, their ABSCBN bosses had arranged for the cast and production staff to have a video call with doctor and former health undersecretary Susan Mercado to discuss all that they needed
Eula Valdes
to know about the disease. “That night, I experienced body aches and chills. I didn’t have fever—I kept checking, and each time, my temperature was normal. My guess was that it was a really nasty case of anxiety attack,” she told Inquirer Entertainment. “While in bed, I kept asking myself, ‘What if I’m that special person who catches the disease and dies really fast? Should I start writing
WE ARE
ABS-CBN photo
my Last Will and Testament now?’” Eula said she had to psych herself up so she would not succumb to depression or really get sick physically. “I had to fight the feeling. The following day, I disinfected the entire house and my car. I felt so much better afterward. I also isolated myself from my kids,” the actress recalled. “I likewise called PAGE 15
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‘Float,’ Pixar’s first-ever short...
PAGE 11 tells the story of a father trying to keep his infant son’s special ability to fly a secret. The animated short is based on Rubio’s relationship with his son Alex, who is on the autism spectrum. He submitted it to Pixar’s SparkShorts, an immersive storytelling program that gives studio employees six months and a budget to develop animated short films. “I’m a storyteller at heart. I was thinking of doing this story about my son and me…I’ve been holding onto this story for eight years and I finally felt like it was time to tell it,” he told the Asian Journal in an interview last year. The short was screened at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood last October before it made its Disney+ debut a month later when the streaming platform was unveiled. Rubio has worked as a traditional artist and storyboard artist on films like “Pocahontas,” “Tarzan,” and “Treasure Planet.” He was also an assistant director and storyboard artist for “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” before moving to Pixar, where he has worked
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“Float” tells the story of a Filipino father who discovers his infant son has the ability to float. Photo courtesy of Pixar
on “Up” and has since included “Brave,” “Monsters University,” “Inside Out” and most recently, “Incredibles 2” and “Toy Story 4.” “At the end of the day, [‘Float’] is about the bond between father and son. It’s about unconditional love, especially amongst family members and amongst everybody. I want that to be the end thing that people get. It’s about love and acceptance and hopefully, that will resonate,” Rubio said in his Asian Journal interview. “Float” is up against shows, such as “Chernobyl,” “Stranger Things,” “Succession,” “Fleabag,” and “Watchmen.” Apple TV+’s original comedy series starring actress Hailee Steinfeld — who is of Filipina descent — also garnered a nomination in the category.
“Float” and “Dickinson” mark the first Peabody Awards nominations for Disney+ and Apple TV+, respectively, since the two streaming platforms debuted last year. “Peabody is proud to champion this year’s nominees who inspire our connection, provoke our thinking and delight our senses. From the communal strength of black women to the eminence of science to the conviction of those who speak up, these stories and their creators celebrate the diversity of human experience and of our democracy,” Peabody Executive Director Jeffrey P. Jones said in a statement. “Amidst the challenges of our present moment, we can find empathy, entertainment and truth in these nominees,” he added.
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MAY 15-21, 2020 • NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY ASIAN JOURNAL
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people events arts culture entertainment
Award-winning Fil-Am author Erin Entrada Kelly releases sixth novel about famous space shuttle incident, family dynamics by
E
CHRISTINA M. ORIEL /AJPress
RIN Entrada Kelly is a product of 1980s pop culture, from having names for each Cabbage Patch doll to collecting sticker books to rewatching “E.T.” countless times.
But what the author — who was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana to a Filipina mother and a white father — remembers the most from her elementary school days was when the space shuttle Challenger launched on January 28, 1986 and subsequently exploded, killing all seven astronauts on board. Decades later, Kelly revisited news about the incident and delved deeper into the stories of the astronauts. With that research, coupled with how the incident has been almost forgotten by subsequent generations of young students, she knew this historical moment would be the backdrop of her sixth middle-grade novel, “We Dream of Space.” Released on May 5, “We Dream of Space” brings readers into the lives of the NelsonThomas siblings, 12-year-old twins Bird and Fitch and their older brother Cash, and the weeks leading up to the Challenger launch. Along the way, we read about Bird’s dreams of being NASA’s first female shuttle commander and the dynamics of this middle-class family in Delaware. We also get introduced to their science teacher Ms. Salonga and see the recurring themes, such as loneliness, found in Kelly’s work, namely “Hello Universe” (2017), for which she received the 2018 Newbery Medal, the most prestigious award in children’s literature.
Kelly holds a copy of “We Dream of Space, which was released on May 5 by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Kelly, a former journalist who is now a full-time author based in Delaware, spoke to the Asian Journal about how her upbringing as a Filipina American has shaped her writing, the development of her latest release, and what’s next for her award-winning novel. Asian Journal (AJ): You’ve written and released six novels in the past five years. How do you begin developing a story? Erin Entrada Kelly (EEK): The story kind of grows and blossoms. For several months, I’ll spend time just thinking about the characters and the story. Once I feel like I have it kind of fleshed out in my head, then I’ll get a notebook and start writing things down
longhand. I’ll just write down the characters’ names and the seeds of the idea that I have and let it go from there. AJ: Once you’ve filled the notebooks, do you have sticky notes or other tools to help map and organize the story? EEK: I’m a very linear writer so I write in order by chapter. Usually I’ll do a chapter outline, but it changes so I’ll cross things out and add things. This is the only mapping I really do. I write several chapters in the notebook and then I’ll type it out. Then I print the whole thing out and go by hand and that’s when I use a lot of sticky notes for revisions I need to make. AJ: It’s interesting to ask
that question to writers and authors because everyone handles it differently. You seem so organized. EEK: I am completely disorganized and a mess in every other aspect. I never know where anything is and I lose things. But when it comes to writing, I am pretty organized. AJ: Going back to your first novel “Blackbird Fly,” what was the process of pitching that to a publisher and finding an editor? EEK: After I published a series of short stories and decided to focus on middle grade and wrote my first middle-grade novel, I had a pretty conventional journey. I queried agents and found my first agent — she’s no longer my agent — and she brought it to editors. It probably took almost a year or two for an editor because I had to do more revisions and such. Then about after a year, I got the offer from HarperCollins, who I’ve been with ever since. AJ: It’s been two years since “Hello Universe” received the Newbery Medal. How has this award helped your work and how has it been to be among this roster of authors we grew up reading and learning in school? EEK: It’s surreal every single day. Even two years later, it’s very, very strange, but in a great way, of course. It’s very surreal because you PAGE 15
Kellyʼs spring book events have turned virtual. Photo shows the author delivering the keynote address for the Pocono Mountain Retreat organized by the Society of Childrenʼs Book Writers and Illustrators. Photos courtesy of Erin Entrada Kelly/Instagram
Photo shows Entrada Kelly (center) as an infant held by her mom, Virgilia Sy Entrada, while her older sister Anna stands to the left.
A copy of Erin Entrada Kellyʼs award-winning “Hello, Universe” and her notebooks that contain early drafts of the novel.
Research for “We Dream of Space” included newspaper clippings of the Challenger tragedy.
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NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY ASIAN JOURNAL • MAY 15-21, 2020
Award-winning Fil-Am...
PAGE 14 never think that’s going to ever happen. I think the greatest benefit has been a larger platform. The book has been translated into many different languages, which is cool. But honestly the greatest benefit has been the wider readership — and I don’t mean that from a business royalties standpoint — and being able to connect with even more readers, librarians and teachers. I was working full-time when “Hello Universe” first came out and not long after it won, I was able to leave my job. Now I write full-time and do some teaching. AJ: Also to mention what the book has done for Filipino American representation in literature. You have a FilAm central character, Virgil. The book illustrations were done by a Filipina artist [Isabel Roxas]. EEK: Definitely, thank you, yes. That was absolutely a benefit because when I was growing up, I didn’t really have access to any books that had Filipino characters, and even Asian characters or minority cultures of any kind were not really depicted. Next year, actually, I’m working on a chapter book series now that will have a mestiza — half Filipina, half white girl — as the main character so I’m really excited about that too. I’m doing the illustrations as well. AJ: “Hello Universe” has also been picked up by Netflix to develop it into a movie with Fil-Am screenwriter Michael [Golamco]. Did you ever imagine any of your work would be translated to the big screen? EEK: No, never! Again, it’s been really surreal. I think right now, they’re still in the script development stage so the production hasn’t gotten started yet. But when that all starts up, I’m really looking forward to it. One of the things they asked me at the beginning was, “What is most important to you about this story?” I said, “The representation!” Virgil’s Filipino American and then Ori is Japanese American. I didn’t want any of that to change. I didn’t anticipate that they were going to but I wanted to make sure it was important that the representation stayed the same. For Virgil, it’s a very important part of the whole narrative because he has his lola and Filipino folk tales woven in there. They said that was one of the things they loved about the book and it wasn’t even in their mind to cast it any differently. AJ: How involved are you
going to be during the production? EEK: I will probably not be very involved. I know different writers are involved in different ways but I prefer to not be that involved only because I don’t know anything about making movies and I trust them. I trust Michael [Golamco] — he’s great and very talented. He gets it. I trust that they’re going to do well by the material so I don’t necessarily need to be involved. As long as I know what’s going on and when things are happening, that’s all I really need to know. AJ: Are there any screen adaptations you’ve particularly loved that did justice to the stories? EEK: I have to say I did enjoy “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” I’m not huge on book to movie adaptations because I always, of course, prefer the book. But that’s the first recent one that comes to mind. AJ: Shifting to your latest novel, “We Dream of Space.” It takes place in Delaware, where you currently live, and goes back to the 80s when you were growing up. What led to the development of this story and creating this family? EEK: The Challenger disaster, I think for a lot of people of my generation and my age group, was one of the biggest events of adolescence. It really stayed with me as it did with other people as well so I knew I wanted to write about it at some point. Also, partly because I feel like it’s been forgotten in a general sense. For example, when I go to schools, I ask students if they’ve heard of the Challenger disaster and almost none of them have. It was a huge news event that has kind of been lost. I knew I wanted to revisit it and have a book set in the 80s because I was a child of that era. AJ: The central characters are the three Nelson-Thomas children. Though they’re not of Filipino descent, our community can likely relate as they’re from a big family too and we see similar dynamics play out among the siblings and even in their relationships with their parents. For example, we read about the only daughter Bird receiving passive aggressive comments from her mother about her appearance and role as a girl. How did this family come about? EEK: The idea started with Bird and I thought it would be interesting to have siblings who are all in the same grade. When I was thinking about Bird and her story and I
thought, “Okay, she has these siblings.” Then I thought, “Well, how are they all going to be in the same grade?” So then she became a twin to Fitch and has an older brother, Cash. It’s really underrepresented in literature to see children that fail grades so I thought it was important to have Cash in there. I’m really glad you mentioned that with Bird because you never quite know what’s getting across or if your intentions are coming through. But my intention with Bird is that she’s the glue of the whole story. Number one, she feels responsible for whatever reason for the tenor of the house so she tries to interject when she can and to manage the mood of the home, which is an unfair and large responsibility for a 12-year-old girl. She also gets conflicting information from her mother because her mother tells her that looks aren’t important but she also harps on her about gaining weight and not eating that kind of cereal. The three siblings together get conflicting information as well because their parents correct them and tell them to be kind but they’re not kind to each other as they argue all the time and use certain language. That was something I wanted to explore too because adults are very often critical and they operate under this view of “do as I say, not as I do.” It’s a very dangerous way to bring up young people because they can see those contradictions. Bird, Fitch and Cash are getting different information but they’re also not getting the emotional support that each of them needs. AJ: Through this book, what did you learn about yourself as a writer and what aspects of your childhood and upbringing did you revisit and tap into? EEK: Of course, on the fun side, I got to explore things like the arcade, a phonebook and cassette tapes — all these things I have nostalgia for. One of the things all my books have in common is that they explore loneliness on some level. In this book, I thought it would be interesting to explore that there are these three siblings and there’s five of them in this fairly modest home. Even though they’re surrounded by family, they’re still very lonely. This concept of loneliness, being within and not without, is something that I wanted to explore because I often felt like that when I was young. Also this feeling of family floating in its own orbits was something important to me.
After initial anxiety attacks...
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PAGE 13 the hospital to ask if I could have myself tested. I was told that the best thing to do was to go on self-quarantine.” After successfully getting past that hurdle, Eula said she now enjoys being stuck at home. “I am actually able to save money because I can’t go out to shop. Online shopping doesn’t work for me because I want to be able to fit stuff before buying them,” she explained. “In order to make my free time more productive, I also researched on what skills I could learn online and practice at home. It had to be something simple, something that would make use only of whatever resources I have at home.” She also donated to charitable organizations and fundraising efforts organized by colleagues in the business.
Eula admitted that she felt sad about ABS-CBN’s decision to discontinue the taping of “Love Thy Woman.” She explained: “This was because we have no idea how long [the work stoppage] would last, but it was a necessary thing in order to help stop the spread of the virus.” Inquirer Entertainment’s interview with Eula happened only a few days before the broadcast network went off the air in response to the cease and desist order of the National Telecommunications Commission after its legislative franchise expired on May 4. Asked for her reaction to the possibility of resumption of work on May 15, when the government’s order for an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) finally gets lifted, Eula said: “I don’t think
we will resume taping immediately. I’m sure the Management will not force everyone to go back to work without implementing precautions just so it would have new episodes to air.” The actress added: “I’m sure that, as early as now, the bosses are already meeting to figure out how to go about this. We can’t act with our faces covered, unless it’s OK with them for me to put ‘Eula Valdes’ on my face mask. “This also doesn’t mean we can all go out already and hang out at the malls or watch in movie houses. We still have to test the situation. The government can still order another lockdown if people would not behave properly, if they would not practice social distancing,” she declared.
When I was growing up in south Louisiana, my father was white and his family all lived in the Midwest. My mom’s entire family was in the Philippines so I had so many relatives that I didn’t know or would never meet. They’re all far away so it was a strange, insular experience when you’re connected to your family, but not really connected to them. AJ: Since you mentioned your two family backgrounds, how did your mom end up in Louisiana? EEK: They met in the Philippines because my dad was stationed there. He ultimately had a job transfer. He’s originally from Kansas so she moved there from the Philippines in the middle of a blizzard and obviously she had never been around snow before. Then he got transferred to Louisiana. AJ: And how did you find your way to Delaware? EEK: I moved to Pennsylvania like eight years and my partner now is in Delaware so we bought a house here together. AJ: Since the book takes place there, what do you want people to take away from the small state? EEK: What’s fun about living in Delaware is that when I travel and people ask where I live, I tell them Delaware and they always look at me as if I said I lived on Mars. But the point I wanted to explore as well is that there’s a line where Bird’s brother tells her, “You’re just a girl from Delaware.” Delaware is this underdog state that people seem to forget about. I wanted to show that it doesn’t necessarily mat-
ter where you’re from and you don’t have to be from some big exciting place to do amazing, incredible things. When you grow up as I did in Louisiana, there were very few immigrant families or any first-generation parents and you’re kind of going up against being an “other,” whether you’re an other ethnically, culturally or religiously. Whereas in Bird’s case, she feels like an other because she’s interested in all these things other people don’t seem to be interested in. It really shapes who you are. So the fact that she’s from Delaware, it doesn’t matter. You can be from anywhere. AJ: This book comes out as students and families are learning from and staying at home. How is the story fitting for this time to get lost in this universe you created? EEK: I’ve met at this point thousands of young people from traveling and they tell me about their own life in some situations. This book explores a non-ideal family situation — it’s not that the parents don’t love their children, but they’re caught up in their own toxic dynamic that’s permeating the rest of the family. It was important so that young people who are in that kind of family can see their dynamic on the page. My hope is that families can use it as a jumping off point to talk about family dynamics and other things mentioned. AJ: What’s something surprising readers may find in the book? EEK: The teacher, Ms. Salonga, in “We Dream of Space” is never explicitly mentioned to be Filipina American
but a lot of Filipinos have written to me to ask because she has a Filipina name. For the audio book, which is read by Ramon de Ocampo who also narrated “Hello Universe,” I didn’t speak to him before he read it. But when I listened to the audio book, he speaks in a Filipino accent doing her sections, which I love! AJ: Advice for aspiring writers and storytellers? EEK: My advice is definitely to read — a good writer is a good reader. It sounds kind of cliché but just keep writing because like with anything, it’s practice. That’s how you perfect your craft. AJ: What are you reading right now? EEK: I am in between books. I just finished a book called “The Blackbird Girls” [by Anne Blankman], which is very good. Now I’m trying to figure out what to read next. I read about two to three books a week. AJ: There are so many options out there, especially in Filipino American literature alone coming out from major publishing houses. EEK: Oh yes. Most notably, Randy Ribay’s book “Patron Saints of Nothing” was a National Book Award finalist and was on all these lists. I know the landscape for not just Filipino authors, but people from all kinds of marginalized groups, has opened up and will continue to do so because literature needs to reflect our entire society. That’s what our world and bookshelves should look like. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
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May 15-21, 2020 • NEW yORK aND NEW JERSEy aSIaN JOURNaL
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