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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Volume 19 - No. 22 • 12 Pages
T H E F I L I P I N O A M E R I CA N C O M M U N I T Y N E WS PA P E R
Volume 18 - No. 17 • 2 Sections – 16 Pages
JUNE 5-11, 2020
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Also published in LOS ANGELES, LAS VEGAS, NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY
Senators welcome suspension of VFA termination DATELINE USA by JOSEPH
FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
Filipinos abroad infected with COVID-19 reach over 5,200 THE Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, June 2, reported 12 new cases of the novel coronavirus among overseas Filipinos, bringing the total number of infected individuals to 5,230. It also recorded five new deaths from the Middle East, raising the death toll to 347. “With only a few countries across three major geographical regions reporting on the status of our people abroad today, the DFA confirms 12 new cases bringing the total number of Filipinos afflicted by COVID-19 at 5,230,” the agency said. “The total number of Filipinos who have u PAGE 3
CA COVID-19 cases surpass 117k mark California now has 117,687 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4,361 deaths, according to the state Department of Public Health. As of June 2, local health departments have reported 10,293 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 63 deaths statewide. As testing capacity continues to increase across the state, the California Department of Public Health is working to expand access to COVID-19 testing. Testing should be used for medical evaluation of persons with symptoms of COVID-19 as well as for efforts by public health agencies and essential employu PAGE 3
AND
PERALTA RITCHEL MENDIOLA AJPress
SENATE President Vicente Sotto III and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday, June 3 both welcomed the move of Malacañang to suspend the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the United States and the Philippines. The two senators reiterated that the petition filed by senators in the Supreme Court asking to affirm the chamber’s role in treaty termination will not be affected by the suspension of the VFA termination in separate interviews. Senate President Sotto, who stated that the majority of senators prefer the retention and improvement
of the VFA, told the Philippine Star that “the pending issue in the Supreme Court remains. We will still ask the SC whether or not the abrogation (of treaties) must have the concurrence of the Senate, the concurring body.” Sotto added he would still press for a review of the military pact between the two countries. Senator Drilon, who welcomed what he termed as the “sudden policy change” of the Philippine government, said to the Inquirer, “This turnaround does not affect the case we filed before the Supreme Court. The petition we filed is for declaratory relief and mandamus where we asked the Supreme Court to uphold the power of the Senate over treaty termination. The fact that the VFA is reinstated will not render our case moot and academic. The case stands.”
Anti-terror bill OK’d in PH House
“The unhampered implementation of the VFA will serve the interest of our country, particularly with the preservation of our rights over parts of the West Philippine Sea,” Drilon added. “The abrupt abrogation of the VFA last February as initiated by the President – which was done amid the increasing aggressiveness and the bullying of China – is disadvantageous to us. What the country truly needs is a stable foreign policy that promotes our interest,” the Senate Minority Leader further stated. It was on Tuesday, June 2 that Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. announced that the Philippines has suspended the termination of its Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States “in light of political and other developments in the region.” u PAGE 2
by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
THE Philippine House of Representatives on Wednesday, June 3, approved the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, on its third and final reading. A total of 173 lawmakers voted to pass House Bill 6875, while 31 voted against its passage; 29 others, on the other hand, abstained. “No need for bicameral conference committee since there are no disagreeing provisions. When approved on 3rd reading, it will be an enrolled bill for the action of the President. He may sign, veto any or all provisions, or not act on the measure for it to lapse into law,” said Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta Representative Jericho Nograles, who co-authored the bill. What does this mean for Filipinos? Once signed into Law, HB No. 6875 grants any law enforcer to arrest and detain without warrant “a person suspected of committing any of the acts” punishable under the measure for 14 calendar days, extendable by 10 days. The suspected “terrorist” can also be placed under surveillance for 60 days, extendable by up to 30 u PAGE 3
BIKE LANE. The Taguig City government launches its bike lane at the Mercado Del Lago, Lakeshore Area, C6 Road in Barangay Lower Bicutan on Wednesday, June 3. The national government is urging local government units to put up bike lanes in their respective localities. PNA photo by Avito Dalan
Gabby Lopez: I am a natural-born Filipino Why they protest: Filipinos express support for Black Lives Matter, call for structural police reform by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
ABS-CBN Corporation chair emeritus Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III ABS-CBN photo
ABS-CBN chairman emeritus Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III on Wednesday, June 3, said he is a natural-born Filipino, explaining that both of his parents are Filipino citizens. “It was in recognition of being a natural born citizen that I took it upon myself to ask for recognition of my citizenship. My understanding of my lawyer was that I was a naturalborn Filipino citizen because both of my parents are Filipino
citizens,” he told the members of the House committees on legislative franchises and good government and public accountability as the hearing for ABS-CBN’s franchise resumed. “But because I was not born in the Philippines, I did not have a Filipino birth certificate. So it behooves me to have a recognition by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Immigration for whatever legal purposes I may use of that recognition,” Lopez added. u PAGE 2
by KLARIZE
MEDENILLA AJPress
THE protest started out peacefully. Gathered on a breezy Saturday morning on May 30, tens of thousands of individuals far and wide gathered at Pan Pacific Park on the westside of Los Angeles for a Black Lives Matter rally. Standing 6-feet apart and donning face masks and wielding signs, the rally was meant to be a more muted yet equally as powerfully influential as the demonstration the previous night in Downtown LA. Filipino American filmmaker Jon Jon Augustavo was among the first of thousands who arrived at the demonstration and, like others, noticed an extraordinary sense of community and harmony as the speakers took turns at the podium and spoke from the heart about the need for systemic change in law enforcement across the country. “I’m from Seattle and that’s my heart, but [this protest] was the first time in 10 years that I was proud to call Los Angeles my home,” Augustavo told the Asian Journal. The rally brought forth speakers who voiced frustration with Released after Memorial Day by organization AF3IRM, Kanlungan.net is a memorial the pattern of police brutality website honoring Filipino health care workers around the world who lost their lives to the that have plagued cities across coronavirus pandemic. u PAGE 3
‘They’re not even naming our dead’: Digital memorial tracks deaths of transnational Filipino health care workers by CHRISTINA
M. ORIEL
AJPress
SINCE March, 74 health care workers of Filipino ancestry have died of COVID-19 in the United States. The number is nearly double the fatalities of individuals working in the same sector back in the Philippines. In the United Kingdom, where around 20,000 Filipinos are employed in the national health care system, 41 deaths have been reported. Despite the rate at which Filipino health care workers have been dying on the global front lines of
u PAGE 4
A 5-year-old Filipina American hangs up a handmade sign in support of Black Lives Matter, a movement that advocates against violence and systemic racism towards the Black community. The sign joined several messages left at the Silver Lake Reservoir in Los Angeles as protests were organized throughout the city. Photos courtesy of Abigail Zelenski