MAY 23-26, 2020 Volume 30 - No. 40 • 2 Sections – 18 Pages
USA
DATELINE Officials, orgs concerned about decrease in domestic violence calls in LA FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
Resources and services still available during pandemic
Los Angeles County reaches over 2,000 coronavirus cases as more restrictions ease by CHRISTINA
M. ORIEL
AJPress
LOS ANGELES County is easing more restrictions ahead of the long weekend, despite reaching over 2,000 coronavirus deaths earlier this week.
The county Department of Public Health confirmed 35 new deaths and 1,072 additional cases of COVID-19 on Friday, May 22, bringing the totals to 2,049 deaths and 43,052 positive cases. Of the latest deaths, 25 individuals were over the age of 65 and five were between 41 to 65 years old. Meanwhile, 23 had underlying health
Human rights group to US: Don’t sell attack helicopters to PH
WITH safer-at-home orders in place for the past two months in Los Angeles County, officials are expressing concern over the decrease in domestic violence calls. “We had expected to see an increase and weren’t seeing that. We were instead seeing a drop and our concern was that survivors in the wake of COVID-19, especially in those first few weeks, would not know what was still operational and up and running,” Pallavi Dhawan, director of Domestic Violence Policy & Prevention at the LA City Attorney’s office, said at a virtual media roundtable on Thursday, May 21. In light of this, advocacy groups are sending out a reminder that resources are still available and accessible amidst COVID-19 shutdowns. Studies have shown that just knowing what resources are available makes a survivor of domestic violence 25% safer.
by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
u PAGE A3
UC system eliminates SAT, ACT for eligibility requirements until fall 2024 IN a historic move to accommodate changes due to the coronavirus pandemic, the University of California (UC) Board of Regents on Thursday, May 21 eliminated SAT and ACT scores from its admissions requirements until fall 2024. In its unanimous ruling, the board’s decision to eliminate the requirement for in-coming freshmen until 2024. This decision was coupled with the announcement that the UC would be taking the next three years to design a new entrance test “that more closely aligns with what we expect incoming students to know to demonstrate their preparedness for UC,” UC President Janet Napolitano said in a statement. The board said that the new test will also serve as a more equitable alternative to the SATs and ACTs which are administered by notfor-profit organization The College Board. The SAT Reasoning Test (which includes a crucial essay portion) costs $64.50 to take while the u PAGE A4
conditions including 20 people over the age of 65 years old and three people between 41 to 65 years old. The day before, the county passed the 2,000 threshold for total fatalities. “This is a very sad milestone for us,” county u PAGE A2
RIDE OF THE TIMES. People ride their bikes along a highway in Quezon City as public transportation remains suspended due to the lockdown. The country’s top cycling organizations met online on Tuesday to issue a collective call for the promotion of a “biking culture,” as they pledged to help government efforts to set up bike lanes on major roads. Inquirer.net photo by Marianne Bermudez
Chinese POGO workers, tenants tested for COVID-19 after raid of illegal hospital in Clark by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
NEARLY 500 Chinese citizens working and residing at a resort situated at the Clark Freeport Zone north of Manila have been tested for COVID-19, following the discovery of an illegal makeshift hospital. A total of 490 Chinese nationals underwent testing at Fontana Leisure Park, according to the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group on Thursday, May 21. This comes two days after the compound was found to have an underground
AN international human rights watchdog is urging U.S. Congress to “block or delay sales” of attack helicopters worth almost $2 billion to the Philippines. In a post on Friday, May 22, Human Rights Watch gave its recommendation to Congress after the Trump administration last month announced two possible Foreign Military Sales by the U.S. military to the Philippines. The sales include six Boeing multi-role combat helicopters worth $1.5 billion and six Bell attack and reconnaissance helicopters worth $450 million — both with accompanying guided missiles, rockets, and light cannon ammunition, as well as ongoing service contracts for training, parts, and maintenance, according to the HRW. “Approving contracts for attack helicopters would be sending a terrible message to the Philippine government that long-running military abuses without accountability have no consequences on the U.S.-Philu PAGE A2
hospital treating patients. The facility only did check-ups on patients without requiring them to be quarantined, said Brig. Gen. Rhoderick Armamento, deputy chief of the CIDG. “Lahat ng mga staff doon, lahat ng mga tenant, hindi na pinayaganag lumabas. Pati iyong community within that area, ni-lockdown na (All the staff, tenants there were barred from leaving. The community within that area was also locked down),” he said. “Ang ultimate objective natin, number one, A police team discovers a drugstore operating in the clandestine hospital set up in a residential Photo by CIDG Regional Field Unit u PAGE A3 villa at Fontana Leisure Parks in Clark Freeport.
Anti-Asian racism and COVID-19: How to be an ally Study finds PH now a ‘global Community orgs offer bystander trainings to prepare individuals for encounters of anti-Asian harassment by KLARIZE
MEDENILLA AJPress
On May 14, a young Asian woman in Wisconsin was minding her own business and walking down the aisle of a grocery store. A white man stopped her and started hurling racial epithets at her; later, a police report stated that multiple Asian “customers were called names and harassed for wearing masks because of their race.” The day after that, in a New York City subway an Asian woman was verbally harassed by a stranger for allegedly not wearing her mask “properly,” yelling
at the Asian woman, “You f**king Chinese don’t speak English! Go back to China!” before slapping the victim’s phone from her hand. The next day on May 16 in San Luis Obispo, California, a Zoom meeting among members of the Cal Poly Chinese Student Association was bombed by anonymous trolls who drew swastikas and spammed the chat box with xenophobic language and blamed the COVID-19 pandemic on the entire Chinese community. If you saw these incidents happen, what would you do? These incidents, which hap- Illustration shows how to properly document an incidence of public harassment. u PAGE A4 Courtesy of Hollaback!
hotspot’ for online child abuse by AJPRESS THE Philippines has become the world’s largest known source of online child sexual exploitation, according to a new report released this week. The study from the International Justice Mission on Thursday, May 21 found that underage abuses are worsening with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as the victims have been forced to go on lockdown with their abusers. “The global shutdown with the COVID-19 pandemic seems to only be increasing these phenomena,” noted U.S. State Department official John Richmond during the online launch of the study.
The traffickers are typically parents or close family members, the official said. “And so lockdown orders mean that children are being locked down with their traffickers,” Richmond added. The seven-year study, entitled “Online Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Philippines: Analysis and Recommendations for Governments, Industry and Civil Society,” also said the combination of English fluency, high internet connectivity, long-entrenched poverty, and wide access to vulnerable kids helped make the country a “global hotspot” for child pornography. Citing its data collected by law enforcement, the study found that u PAGE A3