092822 - Southern California Midweek Edition

Carson kicks o Fil-Am History Month on Oct. 2

THE Filipino American American History Month Kick-off Celebration in Carson marks the annual anniversary commemoration when Filipinos first landed in America. Musical artists, dancers and comedians along with a variety of vendors, food booths and other entertainment will mark the occasion which will be held for the first time at Dignity Health Sports Park.

The festivity “kicks-off” Sunday, October 2, 2022 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 18400 Avalon Boulevard in Carson and admission is free to the public.

Rex Navarrete, will be one of the headliners as he brings his unique comedy to the Dignity Health stage. “I’m actually looking forward to this opportunity,” said the veteran comic, “since I’ve always wanted to perform in Carson for our Filipino-American community!”

Dynamic acapella singing group The Filharmonic will also be performing their well-blended vocal stylings to the event. The LA-based quintet, best known for their run on NBC’s talent competition “The Sing-Off” as well as an appearance in “Pitch Perfect 2”, has been preparing for their 2023 season.

Health plan shake-up could disrupt coverage for low-income Californians

ALMOST 2 million of California’s poorest and most medically fragile residents may have to switch health insurers as a result of a new strategy by the state to improve care in its Medicaid program.

A first-ever statewide contracting competition to participate in the program, known as Medi-Cal, required commercial managed-care plans to rebid for their contracts and compete against others hoping to take those contracts away. The contracts will be revamped to require insurers to offer new benefits and meet stiffer benchmarks for care.

The long-planned reshuffle of insurers is likely to come with short-term pain. Four of the managed-care insurers, including Health Net and Blue Shield of California, stand to lose Medi-Cal contracts in a little over a year, according to the preliminary results of the bidding, announced in late August. If the results stand, some enrollees in rural Alpine

Marcos wants to ‘reintroduce’ PH

by CATHERINE VALENTE ManilaTimes.net

NEW YORK – Looking to "reintroduce the Philippines" to the world, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has plans for his nation on the international stage and at home — if, that is, the twin specters of pandemic and climate change can be overcome or at least managed.

And if he can surmount the legacies of two people: his predecessor and his father.

He also wants to strengthen ties with both the

United States and China — a delicate balancing act for the Southeast Asian nation — and, like many of his fellow leaders at the United Nations this week, called on the countries that have caused global warming to help less wealthy nations counteract its effects.

In a separate interview with former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd here, Marcos also laid out his economic agenda where he hoped there would be "not one more hungry Filipino."

Marcos, swept into office in the May 2022 Philippine elections, is drawing distinctions both

subtle and obvious between himself and his voluble predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who alienated many international partners with his violent approach to fighting drug trafficking and the coarse rhetoric he used to galvanize supporters.

Asked if Duterte went too far with his lethal drug crackdown, Marcos redirected the criticism toward those who carried out the plan.

"His people went too far sometimes," Marcos told The Associated Press on Friday, September 23.

"We have seen many cases where policemen, other u PAGE 2

ICC prosecutor says ‘drug war’ probe needed despite government arguments

INTERNATIONAL Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan continues to push for an on-ground investigation into the “war on drugs” of the Rodrigo Duterte administration.

Manila is asking the court’s pre-trial chamber to reject the Office of the Prosecutor’s request to resume its investigation on the alleged extrajudicial killings on grounds such as the court’s supposed lack of jurisdiction and the gravity of the alleged crimes.

However, in a 21-page response dated September 22, the ICC prosecutor maintained that "none of those arguments have merit."

"There is no provision in the Statute for a State to challenge the resumption of an investigation on jurisdictional or gravity grounds at this stage of proceedings," Khan wrote, adding that the country’s gravity challenge is not backed by facts.

The ICC prosecutor said the government's submission did not refute any previous findings. He also said that the government has not submitted any

Palace: Marcos ‘closely monitors’ peso sag

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is “in constant touch” with the economic team in monitoring the weakening value of the Philippine peso, Malacañang assured the public on Tuesday, September 27 but didn’t say what else he plans to do to calm investors, market watchers, and consumers’ concerns.

Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said that while the topic was not discussed during the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the President is still monitoring the situation.

“Not today, although the President is in constant touch with the economic team and they’re closely monitoring [the slide],” she said in a Palace briefing when asked if the sagging peso was discussed during the Cabinet meeting.

“As you know naman (As you know), the

inflation rate is due to any local factors, it’s really about the exchange rate. But it is a matter for the President, which the President closely monitors on a regular basis and he’s in close contact with the economic managers on this matter,” CruzAngeles added.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that slow growth in the Philippine economy is expected in 2023.

The IMF predicts the Philippine economy to grow 6.5 percent in 2022. And for 2023, it said the Philippine economy might grow 5 percent.

But Cruz-Angeles asserted that “our economic managers forecast a higher growth.”

“Our fundamentals are strong, the economy u PAGE 2

‘Karding’ batters Luzon

by KAITHREEN CRUZ, KRISTINA MARALIT AND FRANCIS EARL CUETO ManilaTimes.net

SUPER Typhoon "Karding" (international name: "Noru") pounded Luzon with strong winds and heavy rain that forced hundreds of people to flee their homes.

The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometers an hour as it charged toward Luzon after an unprecedented "explosive intensification," the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

Karding, the strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year,

made landfall in Burdeos town on the Polillo Islands, part of Quezon, at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, September 25.

"We ask residents living in danger zones to adhere to calls for evacuation whenever necessary," Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin said.

The Philippines is regularly ravaged by storms, with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.

"The winds were fierce this

Surging dollar sends peso plunging to new low

by RAMON ROYANDOYAN Philstar.com

MANILA — The surging dollar beat the peso into submission as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate hike continues to reign king in global markets.

The local currency’s finish on Tuesday, September 27, at P58.99 against the greenback, was weaker than its previous close of P58.5, marking a new record-low.

That said, the peso's decline kept pace with the Philippine Stock Exchange's lowest level this year.

As it is, the peso's continued decline is foreboding for a

Philippine economy reeling from imported inflation driven partly by expensive oil. The Philippine economy is also looking to regain economic momentum as it recovers from pandemic fallout in the past two years.

Domini Velasquez, chief economist at China Banking Corp. attributed the peso’s decline to the market’s delayed reaction on the dollar.

“The peso's new high today may be a delayed reaction from yesterday's movement globally, where currencies of developed and developing economies plunged amidst broad dollar strength,” she said in a Viber

WASHED ASHORE. Metropolitan Manila Development Authority workers collect trash and debris washed ashore at the Manila Bay Dolomite

Beach on Monday, Sept. 26. The debris and other waste materials ended up at the shore amid Sunday’s torrential rains brought by Super Typhoon Karding.

PNA photo by Alfred Frias

The peso’s new high today may be a delayed reaction from Monday’s (Sept. 26) movement globally, where currencies of developed and developing economies plunged amidst broad dollar strength. Philstar.com file photo

by Mike

Juan

From the

Marcos wants to ‘reintroduce...

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operatives, some were just shady characters that we didn't quite know where they came from and who they were working for. But now we've gone after them."

Marcos said that his administration's war on drugs will shift its focus to target the big networks involved in such illegal activity in the country and not on "the kid who makes P100 a week selling weed."

Marcos said that he ordered the Philippine National Police to "go after people who — if we get them, if we neutralize them, or put them in jail, we put them away, whatever it is — will make an actual difference so that the supply of drugs, the system of distribution, the system of importation of drugs because much of it really does come from abroad."

"That will actually make a difference; it will put a stop to it. And that's what we are working on right now," the President added.

Citing that the "argument or rather the discussion about human rights in the Philippines in the past few years has really derived from the anti-drug war that President Duterte undertook", Marcos said what can be done is "to examine and learn lessons from the experience from the past administration."

He said that "enforcement, which has been the part of the drug war that has been most vigorously pursued by President Duterte, only gets you so far."

Marcos said that instead of simply enforcement, the "focus" would be on "prevention, education and cure." "To be more sensitive and more sympathetic to those who actually have gotten caught up in this lifestyle," he added.

'Not one more hungry Filipino'

In the same interview with Rudd at the Asia Society here, Marcos said what he hoped to achieve with his economic agenda was simple: "Not one more hungry Filipino."

"It's a very simple aim. It's a very simple goal," said Marcos, acknowledging that "it is not necessarily a simple problem to solve, and it requires a great deal of effort and thinking on the part

of the public sector." Marcos sits concurrently as the Philippines' Agriculture secretary.

The President noted the importance of their partnership with the private sector to reach the administration's goals.

So far, the country is addressing the supposed shortage of sugar and rising prices of basic commodities.

But Marcos said improving agricultural productivity and streamlining bureaucracy will ensure a more efficient government service, adding that this will be among his administration's strategies to ensure economic transformation.

In the same event, Marcos also touted the country's macroeconomic fundamentals and enabling policies as among the main reasons that make the Philippines a leading investment destination.

He said the Philippine economy expanded by 5.7 percent last year and 7.8 percent in the first half of this year.

Marcos also cited enabling policies and investor-friendly laws that seek to "leverage gamechanging reforms."

He also took note of the country's human capital and boasted of a "young, educated, hardworking and Englishspeaking workforce that is globally competitive."

Family legacy Marcos, 65, sat for a wideranging interview in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's annual leaders' meeting. Three months into his administration, he seemed energetic and enthusiastic — and eager to project his vision for the nation beyond its borders.

On Thursday, he met with US President Joe Biden in a bid to strengthen the sometimes complicated ties that have ebbed and flowed between the two nations since the Philippines spent four decades as an American colony in the early 20th century.

"There have been bits and pieces where they were not perhaps ideal," Marcos told the Associated Press. "But in the end, that overall trajectory has been to strengthen and strengthen and strengthen our relationship."

In addition to Duterte,

Marcos also must draw distinctions between himself and the most iconic figure in the Philippines' public sphere: his late father, whose name he shares. Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., hero to some and plundering dictator to others, ruled from the 1960s to the 1980s, including a tumultuous period of martial law and repression. He made the family reputation an indelible part of Filipino history.

Addressing the family legacy directly is something the son has been loath to do, at least explicitly, though he vehemently rejects use of the term "dictator" to describe his father's rule. To him, the political baggage of his parents is a remnant of the past.

"I did not indulge in any of that political back-and-forth concerning the Marcos family," he said. "All I spoke about was, 'What are we going to do to get into a better place?' And people responded."

Engaging, he said, would have simply been a retread — and an unnecessary one. "It doesn't help. It doesn't change anything," he said. "So what's the point?"

The elder Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law in 1972, a year before his term was to expire. He padlocked Congress and newspaper offices, ordered the arrest of political opponents and activists and ruled by decree. Thousands of Filipinos disappeared under his rule; some have never been accounted for.

No to ICC When it comes to his predecessor, Marcos treads a nuanced political line as well. Distinguishing himself from Duterte's in-your-face rule can benefit him at home and internationally, but Duterte's popularity helped catapult him into office, and the former president's daughter Sara is Marcos' vice president.

The extrajudicial killings associated with Duterte's yearslong crackdown provoked calls that his administration should be investigated from the outside, and he vowed not to rejoin the International Criminal Court — a precept that Marcos agrees with. After all, Marcos

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ICC prosecutor says ‘drug war’ probe needed...

information that would contradict allegations.

The response comes just two weeks after the Philippines transmitted its observation on the alleged crimes against humanity through the Philippine Embassy at The Hague in Netherlands.

Manila has consistently said that the government is capable of and is already conducting its own investigation into "drug war"

deaths, but the ICC prosecutor said he remains unsatisfied with the country’s independent efforts to look into Duterte’s "war on drugs".

For one, Khan noted that the Department of Justice’s Inter-Agency Review Panel’s review "fall short of comprising such tangible, concrete, and progressive investigative steps."

The Philippine government has also failed to provide substantiated criminal

proceedings that concern Davao cases from 2011 to 2016, he said. "The small number of investigations and prosecutions arguably substantiated by the Philippine government continue to be few in number, are directed at low-level and physical perpetrators, relate only to killings during official police operations, and fail to investigate patterns of conduct or any policy underlying the killings," Khan said. (Philstar.com)

Palace: Marcos ‘closely monitors’...

is in good resurgence and we are expecting a good rate of growth right now. We will have to see in the end whether that forecast is going to be more accurate than the local forecast,” she noted.

As of September 27, the value of the Philippine peso dropped further to 58.99 against one US dollar.

Meanwhile, the country’s inflation rate for the month of August was at 6.3 percent.

Based on a report from First Metro Investment Corp. and the University of Asia and the Pacific, the 6.3 percent inflation rate is seen to increase to 6.7 percent by September or October. (Christian Paul Dela Cruz/Inquirer.net)

Surging dollar sends peso plunging...

message.

Data from the Asian Development Bank showed that the peso has depreciated by 11% since the end of 2021.

The peso’s depreciation has a hand in pushing up the costs of goods and services since this meant that businesses and firms

would need to spend more for their importing needs. To recoup their expenses, they would pass on the burden to consumers.

“Although the peso is testing the 59-levels, and may even test 60, we think that the dollar's strength may likely be nearing its peak,” Velasquez added.

That said, the Bangko Sentral

ng Pilipinas mirrored the US Fed’s actions to quell inflation. Interest rates in the country currently stood at 4.25%, which banks use as a benchmark when they lend to consumers and businesses.

“Structural flows such as remittances and upcoming IPOs may provide some support to the peso,” said Velasquez. n

OIL PRICE CUT. Members of the Department of Public Safety and Traffic Management motorcycle unit of Caloocan City refuel at the gas station on Serrano Street on Tuesday, Sept. 27. Oil companies slashed anew their pump prices for gasoline by PHP1.65 per liter and diesel by PHP1.25 per liter.

PNA photo by Ben Briones

‘Karding’ batters Luzon

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morning," said Ernesto Portillo, 30, who works as a cook in the coastal municipality of Infanta in Quezon.

"We're a bit worried... We secured our belongings and bought a few groceries so we have food just in case."

Videos posted on social media and verified by AFP showed trees being buffeted by strong winds in Infanta and on the Polillo islands.

Pagasa said the storm's wind speeds had increased by 90 kph in 24 hours.

"Typhoons are like engines — you need fuel and an exhaust to function," said weather forecaster Robb Gile.

"In the case of Karding, it has good fuel because it has plenty of warm water along its track and then there is a good exhaust in the upper level of the atmosphere — so it's a good recipe for explosive intensification," he added, using the local name for the storm.

The storm hit about 100 kilometers northeast of Manila. Emergency personnel braced for the possibility of strong winds and heavy rain battering the capital, home to more than 13 million people.

Forced evacuations have started in some "high risk" areas of the metropolis, officials said.

"NCR is prepared. We are just waiting and hoping it will not hit us," said Romulo Cabantac, regional director for the civil defense office, referring to the National Capital Region.

Karding came nine months after another super typhoon

devastated swathes of the country, killing more than 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Residents in several municipalities in Quezon were evacuated from their homes, according to the provincial disaster office.

In the neighboring province of Aurora, residents of Dingalan town were forced to seek shelter.

"People living near the coast have been told to evacuate. We live away from the coast so we're staying put so far. We're more worried about the water from the mountains," said Rhea Tan, 54, a restaurant manager in Dingalan.

Tan said residents were securing the roofs of their houses and boats were being taken to higher ground while the weather was still calm.

"We're even more anxious if the weather is very calm, because that's the usual indicator of a strong typhoon before it hits land," Tan added.

The storm is expected to weaken to a typhoon as it sweeps across central Luzon, before entering the South China Sea on Monday and heading towards Vietnam.

The weather bureau warned of dangerous storm surges more than 3 meters high along the coast of Aurora and Quezon, including the Polillo Islands, along with widespread flooding and landslides as the storm dumped heavy rain.

It could topple coconut and mango trees, and cause "severe losses" to rice and corn crops in the heavily agricultural region,

while inundating villages.

The coast guard reported more than 2,500 people were left stranded by ferry cancellations as vessels took shelter ahead of the storm.

Dozens of flights in and out of Manila were also canceled.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Sunday ordered work and classes suspended in all the affected areas.

Pagasa raised tropical cyclone wind Signal No. 5 in Polillo Islands; the extreme northern portion of Quezon (the northern and central portions of General Nakar, the northeastern portion of Infanta); the extreme southern portion of Aurora (Dingalan); the extreme southern portion of Nueva Ecija (General Tinio, City of Gapan, Peñaranda, San Isidro, Cabiao); Pampanga (Arayat, Candaba, Santa Ana, San Luis); the eastern and central portions of Bulacan (San Rafael, Angat, Norzagaray, Doña Remedios Trinidad, San Ildefonso, San Miguel); and the extreme northern portion of Rizal (Rodriguez).

Under Signal No. 4 were Calaguas Islands; the central and southern portion of Nueva Ecija (Cuyapo, Nampicuan, Guimba, Licab, Zaragoza, San Antonio, San Leonardo, Jaen, Santa Rosa, Palayan City, Gabaldon, Laur, Cabanatuan City, Aliaga, Quezon, Santo Domingo, Talavera, Llanera, General Mamerto Natividad, Rizal, Bongabon, Talugtug, Science City of Muñoz);

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Health plan shake-up could disrupt coverage for...

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and El Dorado counties, as well as in populous Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, and Kern counties, will have to change health plans — and possibly doctors.

“I’m still shocked and I’m still reeling from it,” said John Sturm, one of about 325,000 members of Community Health Group, the largest Medi-Cal plan in San Diego County, which could lose its contract. “Which doctors can I keep? How long is it going to take me to switch plans? Are there contingency plans when, inevitably, folks slip through the cracks?” Sturm wondered.

Sturm, 54, who has three mental health conditions, largely because of childhood sexual abuse, said finding a psychologist and psychiatrist he could trust took a lot of time and effort. He pointed to the disruption caused by the rollout of Medi-Cal’s new prescription drug program this year, despite assurances it would go smoothly.

“I have concerns, and I know other people in the community have concerns about what we’re being told versus what the reality is going to be,” Sturm said.

Arguably, the biggest loser in the bidding is Health Net, the largest commercial insurer in Medi-Cal, which stands to lose half its enrollees — including more than 1 million in Los Angeles County alone. St. Louis-based Centene Corp., which California is investigating over allegations it overcharged the state for prescription drugs, bought Health Net in 2016, in part for its Medicaid business, of which L.A. is the crown jewel.

But the state’s health plan selections are not set in stone. The losing insurers are fiercely contesting the results in formal appeals that read like declarations of war on their competitors and on the state. Some of the losers essentially call their winning rivals liars.

The stakes are high, with contracts in play worth billions of dollars annually. Insurers that lose their appeals with the state Department of Health Care Services, which runs Medi-Cal, are likely to take their complaints to court. That could delay final decisions by months or years, causing a headache for the department, which wants coverage under the new contracts to start Jan. 1, 2024.

State officials hope to spend the rest of this year and all

of 2023 ensuring the chosen health plans are up to the task, which includes having enough participating providers to minimize disruptions in care.

“Member access and continuity are really our top priorities as part of this transition, and we have dedicated teams that will be working with the health plans on the transition planning and the continuity planning,” Michelle Baass, director of the department, told KHN.

Baass also noted that enrollees have continuity of care rights.

“For example, if a member is currently under the care of a doctor during the prior 12 months, the member has the right to continue seeing that doctor for up to 12 months, if certain conditions are met,” she said.

The competitive bidding process is an effort by the department to address persistent complaints that it has not effectively monitored subpar health plans.

Eight commercial insurers bid for Medi-Cal business in 21 counties. They were required to submit voluminous documents detailing every aspect of their operations, including past performance, the scope of their provider networks, and their capacity to meet the terms of the new, stricter contracts.

The new contracts contain numerous provisions intended to bolster quality, health care equity, and transparency — and to boost accountability of the subcontractors to whom health plans often outsource patient care. For example, the plans and their subcontractors will be required to reach or exceed the 50th percentile among Medicaid plans nationally on a host of pediatric and maternal care measures — or face financial penalties.

They will also be on the hook for providing nonmedical social services that address socioeconomic factors, such as homelessness and food insecurity, in an ambitious $8.7 billion, five-year Medi-Cal initiative known as CalAIM, that is already underway.

Local, publicly governed MediCal plans, which cover about 70% of the 12.4 million Medi-Cal members who are in managed care, did not participate in the bidding, though their performance has not always been top-notch. Kaiser Permanente, which this year negotiated a

controversial deal with the state for an exclusive Medi-Cal contract in 32 counties, was also exempt from the bidding. (KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)

But all Medi-Cal health insurers, including KP and the local plans, will have to commit to the same goals and requirements.

In addition to Health Net, Blue Shield of California, and Community Health Group — which have contracts with MediCal only in San Diego County — are also big losers, as is Aetna, which lost bids in 10 counties.

Blue Shield, which lost in all 13 counties where it submitted bids, filed a fiercely worded appeal that accuses its rivals Anthem Blue Cross, Molina, and Health Net of failing to disclose hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties against them. It accused those three plans of poor performance “and even mendacity” and said they filled their bids with “puffery,” which the state “bought, hook, line and sinker,” without “an iota of independent analysis.”

Health Net’s appeal slammed Molina, which beat it out in L.A., Sacramento, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. Molina’s bid, Health Net said, “contains false, inaccurate and misleading information.” The whole bidding process, it said, was “highly flawed,” resulting in “erroneous contract awards that jeopardize the stability of Medi-Cal.”

In particular, Health Net said, the Department of Health Care Services “improperly reopened the procurement” after the deadline, which allowed Molina to make “comprehensive changes” that raised its score.

The protesting health plans are requesting that they be awarded contracts or that the bidding process start over from scratch.

Joseph Garcia, chief operating officer for Community Health Group, said, “It would be easiest for all concerned if they just added us. They don’t have to remove anybody.”

Community Health Group has garnered an outpouring of support from hospital executives, physician groups, community clinics, and the heads of multiple publicly governed Medi-Cal plans who sent a letter to Baass saying they were “shocked, concerned, and very disappointed” by the state’s decision. They called Community

'KARDING' AFTERMATH. A payloader of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) hauls mud during clearing operations at the Marikina Riverpark in Marikina City on Monday, Sept. 26. The area was inundated due to the overflow of the Marikina River which reached as high as 18.4 meters after Sunday's heavy downpour caused by Super Typhoon Karding.

PNA photo by Joey O. Razon

Marcos wants to ‘reintroduce...

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asked, why should a country with a functioning legal system be judged from elsewhere?

"We have a judiciary. It's not perfect," he said. "I do not understand why we need an outside adjudicator to tell us how to investigate, who to investigate, how to go about it."

Marcos cast the coronavirus pandemic as many other leaders have — as a balancing act between keeping people safe and making sure life can push forward.

"We took a very extreme position in the Philippines, and we eventually had the longest lockdown in any country in the world," he said. "That was the choice of the previous government. And now, we are now coming out of it."

In recent days, he has both removed a national mandate to wear masks outdoors and extended a "state of calamity" — something he said he didn't necessarily want to do, but keeping the declaration in place allows more people to continue getting help.

"It's not very encouraging when people look at your country and they see, 'Well, it's under a state of calamity.' That's not

good for tourists. It's not good for visitors. It's not good for business," Marcos said.

Encouraging ties with China, particularly given Beijing's aggressive maritime policies, might be a daunting prospect for a nation so closely and historically aligned with the United States. But, Marcos says, it's possible — and necessary.

"It is a very fine line that we have to tread in the Philippines," the president said. "We do not subscribe to the old Cold War 'spheres of influence.'... So it's really guided by national interest, number one. And second, the maintenance of peace."

Peace comes in many flavors.

Last week, Marcos traveled to the southern part of the nation — a predominantly Muslim area of a predominantly Catholic country — to express support for a multiyear effort to help a onetime rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, give up their guns and govern their autonomous region effectively.

While Moro has come into the government fold, smaller militant groups including the violent Abu Sayyaf have continued to fight the government and wage sporadic attacks, especially in

impoverished rural regions with weak law enforcement. Marcos dismissed Abu Sayyaf as a group that no longer has a cause other than "banditry."

"I don't believe they are a movement anymore. They are not fighting for anything," Marcos said. "They are just criminals."

Marcos did not specify precisely why the Philippines needed to be reintroduced, though the country's image took a hit from 2016 to 2022 under the Duterte administration.

"The purpose, really, that I have brought to this visit here in New York... has been to try to reintroduce the Philippines to our American friends, both in the private sector and in the public sector," he said.

And after the pandemic truly ends, he said, the nation needs to find a fruitful path and follow it.

"We have to position ourselves. We have to be clever about forecasting, being a bit prescient," he said.

"We do not want to return to whatever it is we were doing prepandemic," Marcos said. "We want to be able to be involved and be a vital part of the new global economy, of the new global political situation." n

Health plan shake-up could disrupt coverage for...

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Health Group “our strongest partner of 40 years,” for whom “equity is not a buzzword or a new priority,” noting that more than 85% of its staff is bilingual and multicultural.

Community Health Group noted in its appeal that it had lost by less than a point to Health Net, which won a San Diego contract — “a miniscule difference that in itself resulted from deeply flawed scoring.”

Garcia said that if Community Health Group loses its appeal, it will “absolutely” sue in state court. A hearing officer appointed by Baass to consider the appeals has set deadlines to receive written responses and rebuttals by Oct. 7.

There is ample precedent for protracted legal battles in bidding for Medicaid contracts. In Louisiana, Centene and Aetna protested the results of a 2019 rebidding process, which led the state to nullify its awards and restart the bidding. The new

results were announced this year, with Centene and Aetna among the winners. In Kentucky, the state court of appeals issued a ruling this month in a contested Medicaid procurement that had been held two years earlier.

Another factor could delay the new contract: California is juggling several massive Medi-Cal changes at the same time. Among them are the implementation of CalAIM and the anticipated enrollment of nearly 700,000 unauthorized immigrants ages 26-49 by January 2024, on top of nearly a quarter-million unauthorized immigrants 50 and older who became eligible this year. And then there’s the recalculation of enrollees’ eligibility, which will take place whenever the federal covid-19related public health emergency ends. That could push 2 million to 3 million Californians out of Medi-Cal.

“Just hearing you list all those things gave me a minor panic

attack,” said Abigail Coursolle, a senior attorney at the National Health Law Program. “They are making a lot of work for themselves in a short amount of time.”

But, Coursolle added, the state has “a very positive vision for improving access and improving the quality of services that people in Medi-Cal receive, and that’s very important.” (Bernard J. Wolfson/Kaiser Health News)

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

Carson kicks off Fil-Am History Month on...

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JayR, dubbed the “Pinoy R&B Prince”, will bring his soulful brand of music to the audience. The singer/songwriter, actor, model and producer is fresh off his appearance at last month’s Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture, and is set for a fall/ winter tour.

Other performers include Janice Javier, the Season 1 contestant of “The Voice: Philippines” (mentored by none other than Apl.de.Ap of the Black Eyed Peas) who stunned the judges, audiences and other contestants with her powerful singing; Jules Aurora,

the quadruple-threat singer, dancer, actor and model who is turning heads with her pristine vocals and her covergirl looks; and Ardyanna Ducusin, the 9 year old phenom who has been making the rounds and performing among L.A.’s elite top singers and was recently crowned WCOPA’s Junior Vocal Group World Champion.

Making their debuts to the greater L.A. Filipino American community are singer/ songwriter Chris Chatman (the soul, jazz, R&B singer/ songwriter extraordinaire); the very world-travelled comedian Erik Escobar (who is also

hosting); and the local Hawaiian/ Polynesian performing group Hoku Mae’ole Polynesia who will share some dances from Paradise.

The event will be hosted by actor/singer Michael Palma (last seen on stage at East West Players hit “Mama Mia”) and by Emmy-award winning ABC Eyewitness News Health Reporter Denise Dador.

The entertainment stage is being produced and directed by Ted I. Benito for LXV Enterprises, LLC in cooperation with staff from the City of Carson and with the guidance of the Mayor and City Council. (AJPress)

‘Karding’ batters Luzon

PAGE 3

the northern portion of Metro Manila (Marikina, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela, and Quezon City); Tarlac; the rest of Pampanga; the rest of Bulacan; Zambales; the northern portion of Bataan (Dinalupihan, Hermosa, Morong, Orani, Samal, Abucay); the southern portion of Pangasinan (Bautista, Alcala, Bayambang, Mangatarem, Urbiztondo, Aguilar, Bugallon, Infanta, Dasol, Burgos, Mabini, Labrador); and the extreme northern portion of Laguna (Famy, Siniloan, Santa Maria, Pangil). Signal no. 3 was up in central Aurora (Dipaculao); the southeastern portion of Nueva Vizcaya (Alfonso Castaneda, Dupax del Sur, Dupax del Norte); the rest of Nueva Ecija; the rest of Bataan; the rest of Pangasinan; the rest of Metro Manila; the rest of Rizal; the northern and central portions of Laguna (Mabitac, Pakil, Paete, Kalayaan, Lumban, Cavinti, Pagsanjan, Luisiana, Majayjay, Magdalena, Santa Cruz, Pila, Liliw, Nagcarlan, Victoria, Rizal, City of San Pedro, City of Biñan, City of Santa Rosa, Cabuyao City, City of Calamba, Los Baños, Bay, Calauan); the northern and central portions of Cavite (Tanza, Rosario, Noveleta, Kawit, Imus City, Bacoor City, City of Dasmariñas, Carmona, Gen. Mariano Alvarez, Silang, Amadeo, City of General Trias, Trece Martires City, Naic, Indang); the rest of northern Quezon (Infanta, Real, General Nakar, Mauban); and the northern portion of Camarines Norte (Vinzons, Paracale, Jose Panganiban, Capalonga).

Under Signal No. 2 were the southern Isabela (Dinapigue, San Guillermo, Echague, San Agustin, Jones); Quirino; the rest of Nueva Vizcaya; Benguet; La Union; the rest of Aurora; the rest of Cavite; Batangas; the rest of Laguna; the central portions of Quezon (Calauag, Perez, Alabat, Quezon, Tagkawayan, Guinayangan, Sampaloc, Lucban, City of Tayabas, Lucena City, Pagbilao, Padre Burgos, Atimonan, Agdangan, Unisan, Plaridel, Gumaca, Lopez, Pitogo, Dolores, Candelaria, Sariaya, Tiaong, San Antonio, Macalelon, General Luna, Catanauan, Buenavista); the rest of Camarines Norte, the northern portion of Camarines Sur (Del Gallego, Ragay, Lupi, Sipocot, Libmanan, Pamplona, Pasacao, San Fernando, Pili, Minalabac, Ocampo, Tigaon, Cabusao, Magarao, Gainza, Canaman, Camaligan, Milaor, Naga City, Bombon, Calabanga, Tinambac, Siruma,

Goa, Lagonoy, San Jose, Garchitorena, Presentacion, Caramoan, Sagñay); and Catanduanes.

Under Signal No. 1 were southern Cagayan (Tuao, Solana, Enrile, Tuguegarao City, Iguig, Peñablanca); the rest of Isabela; southern Apayao (Conner); Kalinga; Abra; Mountain Province; Ifugao; southern Ilocos Norte (Nueva Era, Badoc, Pinili, Banna, City of Batac, Currimao, Paoay, Marcos); Ilocos Sur; the rest of Quezon; northern Occidental Mindoro (Abra de Ilog, Paluan, Mamburao, Santa Cruz) including Lubang Islands; northern Oriental Mindoro (Puerto Galera, San Teodoro, Baco, City of Calapan, Naujan, Victoria, Pola, Socorro, Pinamalayan); Marinduque; the rest of Camarines Sur; Albay; Sorsogon; Burias Island; and Ticao Island.

Kennon Road, the main highway to Baguio City, was also temporarily closed. (with AFP)

We’ll take it.*

WILL IT HOLD? A couple reinforces their house in Noveleta, Cavite by securing it with rope ahead of the whiplash of Super Typhoon ‘Karding’ on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022. ManilaTimes.net photo by John Ryan Baldemor

After the typhoon, the garbage

As in previous typhoons, tons of garbage washed up on the shores of Manila Bay as Super Typhoon Karding pummeled Luzon beginning Sunday night, September 25. The most visible was the garbage on the white dolomite beach in Manila.

Before the controversial artificial beach was installed beside Manila’s Baywalk, even normal tides regularly dumped tons of garbage along what used to be rock-strewn shores. This points to a problem that has yet to be resolved: improper garbage disposal. It also lies at the heart of plastic pollution: whether it’s single-use or plantbased biodegradable, plastic – and all other types of materials – will continue to pollute land and oceans, getting stuck in the guts of whales, as long as waste is not disposed of properly.

These days, in addition to plastic, tin cans, glass containers, water bottles, paper waste and wood scraps, the other materials now regularly washed ashore around Manila Bay are pandemic-related garbage: face masks and medical waste. One can only guess where the garbage comes from, but it is a clear indication of inefficient waste management by the government, compounded by people’s filthy habits that can’t seem to be broken.

The garbage likely has multiple origins: households, business establishments, industrial plants, government offices, schools, health facilities, leisure areas, and even the large ships that enter the bay. Local government units, now

equipped with a much larger share of national revenue, must boost their garbage collection and waste management services, especially in depressed areas where people cannot afford to buy plastic garbage bags, much less segregate their waste.

Garbage receptacles are also needed in public spaces with high foot traffic, such as in areas where people line up for mass transport. In the absence of such receptacles, many people simply drop cigarette stubs, used tissue paper and face masks as well as food containers on the sidewalk, knowing that no one is enforcing laws against littering.

Apart from attracting rodents, cockroaches and other vermin, the garbage piles also clog drainage systems, aggravating flooding that has worsened in recent years amid extreme weather attributed to climate change. During heavy rainfall and typhoons, the garbage washes ashore, spoiling the pristine state of the highmaintenance dolomite beach in Manila.

Barangay personnel, who are moving heaven and Earth to obtain yet another term extension from Congress and Malacañang, should make themselves useful and organize systematic garbage disposal within their jurisdictions.

People should do their part, through a change in mindset and practices. There are people who like dumping their garbage anywhere except in their

own backyard. In fact the entire planet is our backyard, and it is every person’s responsibility to keep the Earth clean. (Philstar.com)

A very successful US trip for President BBM

BABE ROMUALDEZ

ARRIVING on presidential flight PR001 from Manila to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, we were extremely honored to welcome President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his official visit to the United States –his first trip to the Western world as president. With me was Ambassador Antonio Manuel “Tonet” Lagdameo, our Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Our staff from the Philippine embassy in Washington D.C. and the New York consulate, together with the Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN office, worked extremely hard to make the President’s trip successful.

As instructed by the President, he wanted his trip to be meaningful and successful. And sure enough to begin with,

the Filipino community event at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center was jampacked where the President and the First Lady received a very warm welcome from our kababayans – many of them traveling from across the U.S., with some coming all the way from Canada just to see the President, who lauded the overseas Filipino workers for their courage and heroism at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A good friend of mine, John Tuttle, who is vice chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, invited the President as their special guest. The President and the First Lady were expected to ring the closing bell. While making our way to the famous balcony, a number of Filipino traders and people at the trading floor came up to President BBM to congratulate and wish him well. I found it a very good omen that the green light was on, signaling that the stocks were going up.

Joining the President at the NYSE forum were members of his economic team that include Finance Secretary Ben Diokno and Trade Secretary Fred Pascual, as well as businessmen

led by Aboitiz Group president and CEO Sabin Aboitiz, lead convenor of the Private Sector Advisory Council.

The NYSE meeting was a great opportunity to signal that the Philippines is definitely back on track and is the “next big thing in Asia,” as Sabin Aboitiz said, describing President Bongbong Marcos as smart because he was able to get 30 of the Philippines’ busiest CEOs to “voluntarily work for him and our country.”

The President’s schedule was arranged in such a way that even dinners became meetings with American business executives coming from various industries, along with discussions from organizations such as the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as well as the World Bank.

The main event was of course his speech at the 77th UN General Assembly, where he told the world that we are a country that seeks global peace, underscoring “our open, inclusive and rules-based international order that is governed by international law and informed by the principles

of equity and of justice” as we continue to be “a friend to all, and an enemy of none.”

PBBM called attention to climate change as the greatest threat affecting nations and the people, saying “the time for talk about if and when has long since passed – it is here and now.” He called on industrialized nations to act responsibly as the effects of climate change are “uneven and reflect an historical injustice: Those who are least responsible suffer the most,” among them the Philippines.

The President also spoke about existential threats and the transcendent challenges of our times that are as consequential as those the world faced 77 years ago when the UN was founded. Saying the world is at a watershed moment and is ready for transformation, he enjoined world leaders to work together, to stand united and achieve success for the peoples of the world.

It was an excellent, well delivered speech that people thought was very well written. The President himself had been working on it for some time, adding ideas and keeping at it

for the past month. As usual, the sour-graping naysayers started posting that hardly anyone heard the President speak at the UN General Assembly hall. The fact is, many permanent representatives usually watch it from their mission offices.

One of the highlights of the visit was PBBM’s meeting with Dr. Henry Kissinger, who came over to the President’s hotel. The former U.S. State secretary – who has been described as “a master of the geopolitical chessboard” – was still very sharp at 99 and had fond memories of president Marcos Sr. and Mrs. Imelda Marcos. During their one-onone, the President had good insights from Dr. Kissinger on what the world was before, and the political challenges the world faces today. The President truly appreciated Dr. Kissinger’s insights that were extremely valuable.

The most awaited engagement was President BBM’s bilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. I accompanied the President together with Secretary Ricky Manalo and Secretary Diokno, House Speaker Martin Romualdez

who brought along Senior Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Sandro Marcos. President Biden has always been a warm and friendly person and the two leaders hit it off very well. I must admit that it gives me a great feeling that we are truly on the right track regarding our relationship with the United States.

We were hoping BBM could stay longer but it was clear his schedule was already packed full once he arrives in Manila. While the amount of business pledges is normally used to evaluate the outcome of a President’s overseas trip, I personally think that the success of this U.S. trip could not be measured simply in terms of the amount of potential investments but more in terms of elevating the country’s profile in ways that are immeasurable. (Philstar. com)

* * *

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

* * * babeseyeview@gmail.com

Too early to say US trip was a success

assemblies of people of varied concerns (UN member-states now number 193). Marcos himself did not listen to the 16 other speakers after him. He left right after his speech.

IT’S too early for followers of President Ferdinand Marcos to declare his recent six-day working visit to the United States a success – and for his critics to dismiss it as a failure. We’ll have to wait for the verified scorecard or make our own assessment and conclusions.

We can evaluate tentatively the mission’s accomplishments against the declared objectives. What did Marcos set out to do as a visiting chief of state? Was he able to do it? And at what expense of time and resources?

Before departing on Sept. 18, Marcos said: “I will outline our expectations of the United Nations and the work ahead, the role our country will play and our contributions in strengthening the international system.”

Was he able to do that during his 21 minutes at the UN podium? We think he tried his best, although we were not sure the many vacant seats in the yawning session hall were listening.

But that’s the way it often is in

The speakers after him were the heads of state of Lithuania, Romania, Bolivia, Peru, Marshall Islands, Seychelles, Argentina, Poland, Guatemala, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, El Salvador, Japan, Germany, Morocco and Italy.

Marcos also met with the U.S.ASEAN Business Council, the U.S.-Philippines Society and the Asia Society. Those meetings, together with briefings with investors, plus his appearance at the New York Stock Exchange, may help draw U.S. investments to the Philippines, but that would be counting the chicks before they hatch.

A trip is not complete without the President touching base with our kababayans abroad who send foreign exchange back home that amounted to at least $31.4 billion in 2021. On this trip, FilAms welcomed him at a performing arts center in Newark, New Jersey.

So, was the Marcos expedition to America a success? We

think it was a qualified success, comparing what he was able to do and what he said he intended to accomplish. The missing figures are those of the U.S. investments that his team has been pursuing relentlessly.

The Biden-Marcos dialog in NY President Marcos sought a meeting with his U.S. counterpart. Two days after he spoke at the UN, President Biden met with him and his small group at the InterContinental Barclay in New York.

Part of the White House account of their exchange:

Biden: Well, Mr. President, welcome to you and your delegation. I think I woke you up election night. I called you so late to congratulate you. (Laughter.) But it’s a great victory, and I –and my best to your wife as well.

The relationship between the United States and the Philippines xxx has very deep roots. We’ve had some rocky times, but the fact is it’s a critical relationship, from our perspective. I hope you feel the same way.

We have strong ties, including millions of Filipino Americans who are very proud of their ancestry and desperately want us to continue to have a strong

relationship. Our foundations are strong in the U.S.-Philippine alliance, which is of critical importance.

For decades, the alliance has strengthened both of us, I believe. And one of the things I want to talk about today is how we continue to strengthen that and work together on the things that are of greatest concern to you.

I look forward to discussing the opportunities for a wide range of issues, including COVID-19 recovery, energy security and renewable energy. I was impressed with the work you did on windmills and a whole range of other things. You and I both think that’s the future xxx.

In addition, I expect we’ll discuss the South China Sea and disputes in a critical global throughway. I’ve spent a lot of time with not only the President of China but others about the international waters and how they have to be respected. xxx

Thank you for your position on the war against Ukraine and – by Russia – and how it’s impacting energy prices and – and food prices. xxx

And so, we want to talk about human rights, talk about a whole

range of things. But I’m mainly interested to know what’s on your mind and how we can continue to strengthen this relationship.

Marcos: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you. We’re very happy for the opportunity to meet with you despite the schedules that we both have to deal with.

Biden: You came a little farther than I did.

Marcos: (Laughs.) Well, the 100-plus-year-old relationship between the Philippines and the U.S. continues to evolve as we face the challenges of this new century and the events that we have been watching over the past few months. So, we have very much to discuss in terms of redefining, I suppose, in many ways.

But the role of the United States in maintaining the peace in our region is something that is much appreciated by all the countries in the region and the Philippines especially.

We feel that we are especially fortunate because we have very strong foundation of a very long relationship and the strong relationships on various facets not only political, not only diplomatic, but also economic.

And, of course, there is the very large Filipino population that have chosen to live and make their lives here in the United States and have been very successful.

Again, we would like to thank the United States for the massive help that we received during the pandemic. We had the provision of up to almost 36 million doses of vaccines very early on. For that, we are very, very grateful.

We continue to look to the United States for that continuing partnership and the maintenance of peace in our region. xxx

Thank you again, Mr. President, for making time to see us. We are your partners. We are your allies. We are your friends. And, in like fashion, we have always considered the United States our partner, our ally and our friend.

Biden: Thank you. It’s mutual.

* * *

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

* * * NB: Author is on Twitter as @ FDPascual. Email: fdp333@yahoo. com. All Postscripts are also archived at ManilaMail.com

CARREON Videographer

MOMAR G. VISAYA Executive Editor

ROGER

ANDY

Babe’s Eye View

ManilaTimes.net photo

Dateline PhiliPPines

Concepcion: Private sector helped pitch investments during Marcos visit

MANILA — With the country’s leading tycoons making up the delegation, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recently concluded six-day working visit to the US stirred excitement among some of the world’s largest private equity investors who wish to explore investment opportunities in the Philippines.

One of the highlights was a high-level roundtable meeting organized by Asia Society Philippines chair Doris Magsaysay Ho and vice chair Myla Villanueva last Sept. 23, where some of the world’s largest private equity investors in aviation, big infrastructure, energy, fintech and payments, e-commerce, and digital infrastructure were in attendance.

Magsaysay-Ho, who gave the opening remarks, also facilitated the introductions. The investors in attendance included former ambassador John Negroponte of McLarty Associates, Gregory Nixon of Cerberus Capital Management, Charles Phillips of Recognize Fund, Ken Mehiman of KKR, Andrew Thomas of Stonepeak, Mark Tatum of NBA, Dinesh Kanna of Boston Consulting, Michael Kirban of VitaCoco, Proof of Learn founder Shiela Marcelo, Asia Society trustee Asheet Mehta of McKinsey, Nick Rohatyn of The Rohatyn Group, Itai Lemberger of Bow Wave Capital, Brian Frankle of Indigo Partners, and Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai, who is also already invested in Mynt, or Gcash. Asia Society

was instrumental in bringing in its network of investors who are already invested, or have expressed great interest in investing in the Philippines.

“This government has been very supportive of the private sector and public participation.

The President is very keen to get the private sector involved and we are delighted with that,” said Ayala Corp. chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala during the Public Economic Briefing held during the President’s visit. He added that it is now up to the private sector to maximize the favorable business environment under the Marcos administration.

“The president has quite cleverly gotten 30 of our country’s busiest CEOs to voluntarily work for him,” said Aboitiz CEO Sabin Aboitiz, who also is the convenor Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), a group of leading businessmen directly advising the President.

“The private sector was in full force during the three major business briefings during the visit,” said Go Negosyo founder and RFM President and CEO Joey Concepcion, who also heads the Jobs committee of the PSAC.

“I think that the president’s winning the biggest mandate in Philippine history inspired the private sector to join in this bid to make the country a great investment destination.

Likewise, it reflected in how the foreign investors were eager to connect with us, seeing how well attended the briefings were and how the meetings were on

time and went on as scheduled,” Concepcion added.

Concepcion told the private gathering at Asia Society that the Philippines presents huge opportunities for foreign investors, especially in the area of public-private partnerships.

He said public-private sector partnerships have met with success in the country, as proven by the country’s experience during the pandemic where private-public sector cooperation was crucial in securing vaccines, supporting mass testing, and coordinating with enforced lockdowns.

He added that these opportunities include a chance to promote inclusive growth in the country through MSMEs, which comprise almost all of the enterprises in the Philippines.

“Our desire is to make this growth more inclusive; not just us, the big corporations, but the whole nation,” he said, adding that large corporations must help small enterprises scale up. “The opportunities in the Philippines are huge, and many still remain untapped,” he said. “There may be a lot of headwinds but we’re making progress,” he said.

The Philippines private sector at the Asia Society meeting was represented by the heads of the largest companies in the Philippines, including PSAC convenor and Aboitiz CEO Sabin Aboitiz, RFM Corp. president and CEO Joey Concepcion, Ayala Corp chairman Jaime Zobel de Ayala, Magsaysay Holdings CEO Doris Magsaysay Ho, JG Summit CEO Lance Gokongwei, GCash President Martha Sazon, and MDI founder Myla Villanueva.

The private meeting preceded the public address and discussion with the President hosted by Asia Society president and former Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

President Marcos and his economic managers have emphasized the important role of private sector participation in the administration’s near- and medium-term agenda, and how it will support it through newly enacted liberalization laws and a healthy, productive workforce. (Philstar.com)

Ex-Chief Justice Bersamin is Marcos’ new executive secretary

by Daniza FernanDez, Gabriel Pabico lalu Inquirer.net

MANILA — Retired Supreme Court (SC) chief justice Lucas Bersamin is the new executive secretary of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Malacañang confirmed on Tuesday, September 27.

Press Secretary Trixie CruzAngeles announced Bersamin’s new designation in a message sent to reporters after taking his oath before the President.

“Former Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin has taken his oath of office as Executive Secretary, before President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.,” CruzAngeles said.

“He began his duties immediately by attending the 9th cabinet meeting right after swearing in,” she added.

Bersamin replaced Atty. Vic Rodriguez, who had acted as lawyer and spokesperson for Marcos as early as during his bid for the vice presidency in 2016 and when he ran for president in the 2022 polls.

The former chief justice is expected to bring almost 20 years of expertise and experience in the judiciary, including over 10 years in

the high court, to the new administration. He was appointed associate justice of SC from 2009 to 2018, and chief magistrate in November 2018 after former President Rodrigo Duterte appointed him.

After he retired from service, Duterte appointed Bersamin as chairperson of the Government Service Insurance System.

Rodriguez stepped down from his post after getting dragged

into the sugar importation controversy when he admitted to asking the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to draft the controversial Sugar Order (SO) No. 4. The draft order has since been revoked by Marcos, saying it was drafted without his permission.

But while he has resigned as the “little president,” Rodriguez will continue to serve as chief of staff to Marcos. n

SAFE HAVEN. Families whose houses were affected by typhoon-induced flash floods are temporarily housed at the Delpan Sports Complex in Tondo, Manila on Monday, Sept. 26. The Manila local government provided modular tents and food packs for at least 67 families as Typhoon

Karding placed Metro Manila under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 4 on Sept. 25.

PNA photo by Ben Briones

Some of the country’s biggest businessmen accompanied President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., seen here at a dinner hosted by LT Group’s Michael Tan: (from left): China Bank Chairman Hans Sy, LT Group COO Lucio Tan III, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s George Barcelon, President Marcos, RFM Corp. and Go Negosyo’s Joey Concepcion, and LT Group President Michael Tan. Philstar.com photo

Newly-appointed Executive Secretary Lucan Bersamin during his oath taking before Pres. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Photo from Office of the President

Marcos certifies 2023 P5.268T national budget as urgent

by Delon Porcalla Philstar.com

MANILA — President Marcos last night certified as urgent the executive department’s proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023 even as the House of Representatives intends to approve the government spending plan this week.

“The certification from Malacañang will enable the House to approve the General Appropriations Bill on second

and third reading on the same day, which we set on Wednesday (Sept. 28),” Speaker Martin Romualdez said in a statement.

“We are right on track with our schedule,” he said, referring to House Bill 4488, as the lower legislative chamber deliberates on the budget proposals of only less than 10 agencies this week.

House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said they are 76 percent done last week.

In a single-page document, Marcos invoked his power

under Article 6, Section 26, and Subsection 2 of the 1987 Constitution, which authorizes him to “certify to the necessity of the immediate enactment of HB 4488.”

“In order to address the need to maintain continuous government operations following the end of the current fiscal year, we strengthen efforts to respond more effectively to the pandemic and support initiatives towards national economic recovery,” Marcos stated. n

Duterte leaves office with record-high satisfaction rating

MANILA — Former President Rodrigo Duterte stepped down from Malacañang with a record-high satisfaction rating, according to a poll released Friday, September 23.

According to private pollster Social Weather Stations, Duterte received an “excellent” +81 net satisfaction rating in the last days of his presidency, beating his previous record of +79 in November 2020.

Duterte's final satisfaction rating is 16 points higher than the “very good” +65 he received in April, which the SWS attributed to the rise in satisfaction with the president’s performance across all regions.

The net satisfaction rating is the difference between the number of Filipinos who said they were satisfied with Duterte as president and those who said they were dissatisfied.

In the survey conducted from June 26 to June 29 with 1,500 respondents, 88% of adult Filipinos said they were satisfied with Duterte as president, while 7% were dissatisfied and 5% were undecided.

Those satisfied with Duterte rose by 10 points from the last survey conducted in April, while those dissatisfied fell by six points and those undecided fell by four points.

The former president logged

EMPLOYMENT

new record-high satisfaction ratings in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon and Visayas, where he went from “very good” to “excellent,” while he remained “excellent” in his home region of Mindanao.

Duterte's performance was also rated as “excellent” in both urban and rural areas, by both men and women, in all age groups and educational groups.

Satisfaction with Duterte was higher among families who called themselves “non-hungry” at +83, while families who reported to have experienced severe hunger rated the former president +56. (Xave Gregorio/ Philstar.com)

DOT to build tourism rest areas across

by Ghio onG Philstar.com

MANILA — The Department of Tourism (DOT) is set to launch the construction of 10 so-called “tourist service areas” across the country next month.

During a meeting with busi ness leaders in New York where President Marcos held a working visit, Tourism Secretary Chris tina Garcia-Frasco declared the groundbreaking of the 10 tourist service areas is part of the agen cy’s “strategies for tourism de velopment.”

She highlighted that the tourist rest areas would contain “clean restrooms,” which she described as “the most basic aspect of trav el.”

“We plan to address the most basic aspect of travel across the Philippines: clean restrooms.

I’m very pleased to inform you that in the first week of October,

under the directive of the Presi dent, we are breaking ground on no less than 10 tourist rest areas across the Philippines. Three in Luzon, five in the Visayas and two in Mindanao,” she said. She added aside from “clean and decent restrooms for our tourists,” the tourist rest areas would also feature “a lounge for them to rest in, complete infor mation on tourist destinations, as well as pasalubong centers for them to be able to purchase local products and delicacies.”

The DOT came up with the con struction of the tourist service ar eas upon orders from President Marcos, whom Frasco said has “clearly identified tourism as a major tool for the economic re surgence of the Philippines.” n

Rise in PH working-age population boon

by Kaithreen Cruz ManilaTimes.net

THE Commission on Popula tion and Development (PopCom) highlighted the important role of a robust working-age popula tion in achieving socioeconomic development through a state of demographic dividend, with the 64 percent ratio of working-age Filipinos in 2020.

The PopCom referenced the latest Philippine Statistics Author ity's Labor Force Survey, which indicates a continued rise in the employment rate at 94.8 percent

in July 2022, estimated at 47.39 million employed people, com pared to the 41.67 million in the same period in 2021.

During the seventh edition of the United Nations Eco nomic and Social Commis sion for Asia and the Pacific-Com mittee on Social Development earlier this month, PopCom Offi cer in Charge Executive Director (OIC-ED) Lolito Tacardon said that the steadily increasing propor tion of the Philippines' working age aligned with President Fer dinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s goal to reinvigorate job creation

and poverty reduction.

"Over the medium term, the agenda will focus on creating more [secured jobs] and social protection and retaining an ad equate and productive work force.... Retooling and reskilling, as well as the institution of effec tive job-facilitation processes to increase the employability of job seekers, will be strategically pur sued," Tacardon added.

He said that the economy could be steered back to a high-growth path and economic transforma tion for a prosperous, inclusive and resilient society. n

Workers are seen inside a construction site along Roxas and Macapagal Boulevards in Pasay City, on 4 June 2022. ManilaTimes.net photo by Mike Alquinto

Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Frasco Philstar.com photo

FOGGING. A local government personnel conducts fogging operations as part of an anti-dengue campaign at the City Hall Compound in Mandaluyong on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The Department of Health told local officials to search and destroy mosquito breeding grounds and not just conduct fogging to combat dengue. PNA photo by Joey O. Razon

‘Lahi ’: Reina Bonta talks about how the multi-generational Fil-Am experience inspired direc torial debut

by Donnabelle GatDula arevalo / AJPress

LOS ANGELES — Emerging Filipina American filmmaker Reina Gabriela Bonta says her earnest love for her family’s roots is what gave rise to her directorial debut, “LAHI.”

“Primarily, I am constantly struck by the privilege associated with having a living grandparent, who existed through and was a critical piece in major historical and cultural events, have such a sharp memory and be so eager to share about her experiences. I’ve wanted to, for a few years, find a way to document her life story for future generations to commemorate, “says Bonta, age 23, when asked about her motivation in making her short film.

LAHI, a Tagalog word for race or legacy, is a short film about cultural identity filmed in Hawaii. It is inspired by Bonta’s own experiences as a third-generation Filipina, as well as the life of her lola Cynthia, a WWII survivor who was born and raised in the Philippines.

Specifically, the 21-minute “LAHI” tells a story of a young, culturally-disconnected Filipina girl named “Mimi” who returns to O’ahu for her grandmother’s funeral. On the island, she embarks on a journey to return a family heirloom and is visited by the apparition of her grandmother and elders whose stories about Filipino identity turn her worldview upside down.

“I saw this work as an opportunity to create a narrative-infused archive of my lola’s incredible life story, as well as flex my imagination and the creative possibilities of a short film,” says Bonta, daughter of Rob Bonta, California’s first Filipino Attorney General, and Mia Bonta, assemblymember for California’s 18th Assembly District.

“I often refer to ‘LAHI’ as a love letter to my lola, and by casting her in the film as

well, I was able to deepen our relationship in new, profound ways,” she added.

Recently graduated with distinction at Yale University with Bachelor of Arts in Film and Media Studies, Bonta reckons her love for filmmaking began at a tender age.

“To some degree, I believe I was always drawn to film. When I was about five years old, and a ball of unbridled energy disrupting the house, my mother would hand me a disposable camera and send me into the backyard to ‘turn my energy into art’,” she recalls.

Growing up, she remembers also taking on photography from an early age, which naturally evolved into her deep love for film. “The year I spent away from Yale during the pandemic of 2020-2021 really affirmed this passion as something real and viable as a career for myself, building upon my lessons in the classroom,” she said. Some of her photography were featured in worldrenowned publications including Forbes Magazine.

Her passion for film intensified further when she got to spend a lot of time in the film/movie industry during the past few years.

“I spent the first half of the year working as a production assistant in Hawaii on a multi-million dollar CBS television show, and the second half of the year working onlocation in Kenya on a documentary project about endangered black rhinos on a wildlife conservancy and the rangers that protect them from poachers,” she says.

“These incredible experiences allowed me to learn about film in a new and adventurous way, outside of a more classically pedagogical learning environment, and cemented my passion for it,” adds Bonta, born and raised in

California, who is now currently based in Brooklyn, New York.  Bonta is also a life-long competitive soccer player like her father. Rob, who also attended Yale University where he graduated cum laude with a B.A. in History in 1993, played on the Yale Bulldogs men’s soccer team. The young Bonta is currently playing with the Philippines Women’s National Team in preparation for the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

In this ever-changing world, Bonta believes that it’s nice that some culture and traditions remain the same as reflected in the film.

“In my eyes, the (film) story itself is reflected in the act of making it... both center on a young, third-generation Filipina engaging in a journey towards cultural reconnection. During a modern time where people may grow further from their cultural roots, ‘LAHI’ is a reminder that preserving and honoring culture, specifically Filipino culture, is still a virtue of my generation,” she opines.

Bonta comes from a family of Filipino and Puerto Rican activists, which deeply informs all of her pursuits as a storyteller.

After viewing the film, she hopes that all supporters and audience members of LAHI will feel a renewed sense of optimism.

“LAHI” will be having its World Premiere at Portland Film Festival, screening on October 14 and 17.

A still from LAHI shows Mimi (played by Tiki Willis) at the thrift store.

Photos courtesy of Reina Bonta

on Page 12

Reina Bonta

community

Divorce mediation as an option prior to pursuing litigation

Immigrant Living: 101 and Beyond

Hail to the ordinary

IF the divorcing parties are both reasonable in their expectations in resolving their family law case and if they don’t think involving lawyers in their divorce case early on would be an efficient and cost effective way of going about their divorce process, then perhaps mediation is the way to go.  It can be a more cost effective option to resolve your family law issues.

There may be situations where involving the wrong type of lawyers in either side of the case can turn your family law case into a circus and end up costing the parties unnecessary legal fees x2 (legal fees for each party).

Remember, legal fees from both parties can rapidly escalate in litigation and those fees will be coming out of the same pie.  If both you and your spouse are open to a fair and amicable settlement in your family law case and both of you are not interested in playing games or weaponizing the judicial process against the other spouse, then both of you can benefit from trying mediation first before pursuing litigation. This can result to a less stressful process and preserve the size of the pie that both of you are trying to divide in your divorce case.

By hiring an experienced mediator in your case, the mediator will serve as a “neutral” in your case.  A mediator with many years of family law trial experience to draw upon to advise you on a myriad of possible solutions to your family law issues that is fair to both parties under the California Family Code and case law can increase the chances of settling your case substantially and in cost effective manner with less stress.  Further, both parties can share in the cost of the mediation services instead

of each party paying for their own attorney to fight it out in court.   If you have young children, taking a scorch earth position in litigation might not be a good idea.  Remember, you will continue to co-parent your children even after the divorce case is over.  Through mediation, you might be able to avoid burning bridges with your ex spouse. As part of the mediation services, mediators can also assist both parties in drafting the pleadings necessary to successfully complete the case. This may include filing the divorce petition, preparing the required financial disclosures, and drafting the settlement agreement and stipulated judgment should the parties successfully settle the case.

Of course, there is no guarantee that you will be able to come to an agreement but chances are higher is done through an experienced mediator.  The good thing about family law is that each issue in a family law case is “divisible.”  This means it is not an all or nothing predicament like in civil cases. You do not have to settle all the issues. You can settle some of the issues that you are able to agree upon and litigation the other issues you have an impasse on in court at a later time. For those issues you cannot settle in mediation, you will still have a chance to litigate them in court at a later time and hire lawyers to represent you.

Both parties can also utilize experts as part of the mediation process. For example if you own a business and need the business to be appraised, the parties may jointly retain an expert for purposes of appraising the business during the mediation process in order to arrive at a fair and equitable division of community property. If you own a property prior to marriage but there was a mortgage on the property which was paid using community income during the marriage, you may have to involve an forensic accounting expert to calculate and apportion the community interest in the property during

the mediation process.

In addition, most statements during mediation are privileged and confidential. The only statement or writing made in connection with mediation which can be disclosed without the express consent of both parties is the settlement agreement reached during the mediation. Except for limited exceptions created by the courts, nothing else said or written during or in the course of the mediation, or for the purpose of the mediation, can be received in evidence, compelled in discovery, or compelled as testimony in any proceeding. California Evidence Code Section 1119, 1121, and 1123.

Of course, both you and your spouse need to agree to give mediation a chance and will be jointly retainer the services of a neutral. Mediation should be a process to think about as an option in your divorce prior to litigation. It can save you a lot of agony and resources.

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Please note that this article is not legal advice and is not intended as legal advice. The article is intended to provide only general, non-specific legal information. This article is not intended to cover all the issues related to the topic discussed. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. This article does create any attorney client relationship between you and the Law Offices of Kenneth U. Reyes, APLC. This article is not a solicitation.

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Attorney Kenneth Ursua Reyes is a Certified Family Law Specialist. He was President of the Philippine American Bar Association. He is a member of both the Family law section and Immigration law section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He is a graduate of Southwestern University Law School in Los Angeles and California State University, San Bernardino School of Business Administration. He has extensive CPA experience prior to law practice. LAW OFFICES OF KENNETH REYES, APLC. is located at 3699 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 747, Los Angeles, CA, 90010. Tel. (213) 388-1611 or e-mail kenneth@kenreyeslaw.com or visit our website at Kenreyeslaw.com. (Advertising Supplement)

THE world we live in is conditioned to emulate extremes. We delight in the most beautiful, the tallest, the largest, the richest, the brightest, the fastest and anything else you can think of, as well as pay attention to extremes at the opposite end of the spectrum: the ugliest, the shortest, the smallest, the poorest, the darkest, the slowest. You get the idea.

We’re conditioned to pay no mind to the ordinary, the middle ground, the average run-ofthe-mill, the shades of gray, the humdrum of everyday life or the predictably dull and boring.

The heroes and heroines made immortal in books and movies were extraordinary characters. We do not particularly care for bland characters who live lives of quiet desperation. We want to live vicariously through the lives of characters who are defiantly shaking their fists at the gods and beating all odds. We are tempted to look at movie stars, fat cats and other luminaries who dare defy conventions basking in the public limelight pursued by TMZ cameras as people worthy of awe and respect.

And if you let it, a tiny tinge of envy gnaws at our souls when you see their images commanding megabucks. They appear as titans walking among ants. Granted a select few of them deserve the attention we give them but most can be reduced to fodder for the gristmill of entertainment.

The truth is, those who deserve our awe and respect are the ones who orbit our daily life.

Perhaps we need to look at another firmament to gain a genuine and lifelong perspective of celebrating what is ordinary, of celebrating you and I and everyone of us, mere mortals cut from the average cloth, who have to get up every single day to slay our dragons with our rusty sword and trusty steed, that is, after we’ve gulped down our java and said our prayers.

Look to the stars in the true celestial firmament, to gain a soulsearing appreciation and even love and respect for our tiny place in the universe. Nature is a great teacher. A layman’s appreciation of astronomy and cosmology teaches us that there is every reason to celebrate the ordinary.

Our own sun is an ordinary, average, ho-hum star shining steadily in the suburbs of the center of the Milky Way (what Sagan termed as the boondocks, from the Tagalog word “bundok” meaning mountain but extended to mean far from the core).

In the hierarchy of stars, our own sun is a lowly commoner and it is located a third of the way from the center where a black hole exists, according to educated guesses by scientists. This black hole is sucking in, like the drain in your kitchen sink, all the brightest stars within its vicinity.

The biggest, brightest stars in our galaxy are energy guzzlers and therefore, have short lives, about half the life span of our solar system, and thus cannot support planets that need a longer span of time to support the existence and development of thinking, feeling beings such as our home planet.

Our sun, according to scientists, is approaching middle age and has enough fire in its belly to support life for another 4 to 5 billion years before it goes into its death throes and gets recycled back as dust and gas to repeat the process of giving birth to a new star, possibly with one special planet supporting intelligent life all over again. The universe is the ultimate recycling bin after all. This is probably what it means by the phrase “world without end.”

Consider that the Milky Way is only one ordinary spiral galaxy out of billions of others in a universe that according to evidence gathered by Edwin Hubble in the 1920’s is still expanding with billions of galaxies moving away from each other at a furious pace.

To simplify the imagery, perhaps we may be given license to view the universe in its near incomprehensible vastness, as a single mega structure in infinite space. The entire cosmos could be one unit composed of galaxies as its building blocks like cells and molecules of a human body but with gravity and plasma collectively emitted by the energy of countless stars, functioning as its cosmic lifeblood holding everything together. Whew!

The cosmos, according to evidence so far gathered by probes and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and more recently, the James Webb Space Telescope, is so inconceivably vast with more stars than there are grains of sand on earth, it strains the limits of human imagination.

It is more than likely, there are other forms of intelligent life in places where there is water, complete with soul and spirit, following the laws of nature and teeming in wild abundance in the cosmos. We may never have any evidence of what sounds like science fiction, but some sage once pointed out quite rightly that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Yet for all this awesome grandeur, consider the glorious ordinariness of the earth in the celestial heavens. It’s like Goldilocks gravitating to the porridge in the middle. Neither too hot nor too cold, earth is the only place in the solar system with a slim ecosphere that allows life to not only survive, but to thrive with astonishing tenacity, as long as the sun shines steadily while it faithfully orbits the center of the Milky Way every quarter of a million years.

The earth’s size, its tilt, its distance from the sun, its companion moon, the presence of water in various states all conspire to make it and its inhabitants the crowning glory of creation as far as human life is concerned.

Our blue marbled dot is a place so wonderfully made that of all the eight orbs of different sizes and makes, revolving around that ordinary star we call the sun, it is the only one uniquely qualified to sustain life, as we know it, in our tiny neck of the cosmic woods.

Value the ordinary. Value your life. The sun, the earth and the stars at night remind us daily.

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

Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya writes for Asian Journal. Email monette.maglaya@ asianjournalinc.com for comments.

Gary Valenciano embarks on US Tour this Fall 2022

Mr. Pure Energy has sold out in two cities

MR. Pure Energy Gary Valenciano returns to the US in “GaryV ReEnergized!” raring to go onstage with a live band and guests Yeng Constantino and Kiana V. GaryV, as he is called by fans, has sold out in Cache Creek and Temecula.

Still available but low in ticket stock are Seattle (Sept 30) at the Pantages Tacoma, Los Angeles (October 9) at Royce Hall UCLA, Dallas (Oct 15) at Texas Hall UT Arlington, Anchorage (Oct 21) and New York (Oct 23).

His concerts often sell out since he always puts together a sensational show. It’s a repertoire of familiar tunes which he puts in new staging and new settings. He is every bit the creative and producer of his work, whether it be a recorded release, a video on social media or a live concert.

Coming out of a pandemic brings even more to look forward to as he mentions in a recent interview with SoCal Filipinos. He wants nothing more than to be in front of an audience. Inspirational hits from “Take Me Out Of The Dark,” and “Could You Be Messiah” to the upbeat “Shout For Joy” brings audiences to their feet like “Hataw Na” where GaryV displays his signature dance moves.

It’s as if he has released music for every aspect of our lives. From catchy pop hits “Di Bale Nalang,” and “Wag Mo Na Sanang Isipin,” to soaring ballads like “Sana Maulit Muli,” “How Did You Know”, Gary V, as he is more affectionately known has made 39 album releases, documented on www.garyv.com. In this concert “GaryV ReEnergized!” directed

by Paolo Valenciano and musical direction by his longtime collaborator Mon Faustino, GaryV will be presenting new arrangements, a new duet with Yeng Constantino and more surprises that just shows the overflowing of talent and showmanship that he is known for.

As the song goes “Babalik Ka Rin,” GaryV keeps coming back on to the concert stage because the audience simply cannot get enough. A Gary V show is truly a memorable experience, proven by his track record of sold out shows all over the world.

Log on to www.starmediaentertainment.com for more information, email buy@maitickets.com or call/text (818) 337-1665 (Seattle, Los Angeles and Seattle only.) For events of Music Arts International, visit www.maitickets.com

The Los Angeles producers Music Arts International LLC and promoter Starmedia Entertainment and Manila Genesis thank media partners Asian Journal, iWant TV, TFC The Filipino Channel and sponsors Varsobia Luxury Homes, T-Mobile, ChimeTV, Philippine Airlines, Tancinco Law Offices, BayaniPay, National Diversity Coalition (NDC) and the National Asian American Coalition (NAAC), Atty JR Canlobo of JRC Law, Leo Bato and Associates, Valencia Financial Agency, Seafood City, Fiesta Fastfood, Ala-ala Arckopolis Records, David Banes of Onyx Auto Collection, Regal Estate Gal Janice Jimenez, Bamboo Bistro, Max and Lucy’s, Philippine Patrons of the Arts USA, SoCal Filipinos and community partner the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles.

“… but some sage once pointed out quite rightly that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”

Monette AdevA MAglAyA

Atty. Kenneth UrsUA reyes

Station Casinos plans to build 67-acre hotel-casino project in North Las Vegas

By RealtoR Fely Quitevis-Bateman

THE North Las Vegas Planning Commission recently approved Station Casinos’ plans to build a 67-acre hotel-casino at the northwest corner of Losee Road and the 215 Beltway, it was recently reported in the Las Vegas ReviewJournal

This project, according to the report, will be built in two phases. When completed, it will feature 600 hotel rooms, more than 75,700 square feet of casino space, and include restaurants, a movie theater, banquet facilities and other amenities.

A Station representative told the planning commission that the proposed development will provide more than 1,100 construction jobs and, at project’s completion, up to 840 permanent full-time jobs.

The company’s proposed project is scheduled to go before the commission for a first reading and a vote in October.

Station Casinos’ parent company is Red Rock Resorts, which has been a busy player in the real estate field lately.

Red Rock recently announced that a trio of casinos shuttered during the pandemic – Fiesta Hendeson, Fiesta Rancho and Texas Station – will be closed for good, torn down and the land sold.

According to Red Rock, the decision to close the three properties were due to the fact that, despite their popularity, patrons who frequented the establishments have switched over to other Station casinos.

Currently, there are no mentioned

interested buyers for the land on which the three casinos sit on, which is a total of 107.5 acres.

The locals-oriented casino company sold the Palms casino property for about $650 million in 2021.

Red Rock Resorts, in addition to a property with its own name in Summerlin and Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, operates multiple gaming properties under the Station brand throughout Las Vegas. It also runs 10 Wildfire casinos, which includes seven properties in the Henderson area.

The company is also looking to cement on its status as the dominant operator of locals-oriented casinos, with the construction of a Wildfire casino in the downtown area, specifically along the busy Fremont Street tourist destination.

A statement issued by Red Rock Resorts said that they are “excited to bring a new Wildfire casino with fresh new amenities to the local residents of downtown Las Vegas.”

Wildfire Casinos are said to be typically heavy on slot machines and video poker. It also features casual and affordable dining options that cater to Las Vegas locals.

Aside from the casino in the downtown area, Red Rock is also busy constructing a Durango project in Southwestern Las Vegas. The project is expected to include a 73,000-square-foot casino, sports book, a 200-room hotel, four restaurants and meeting space. That resort will sit on the intersection of Durango Drive and Interstate 215.

Although it is not a dominant player in the downtown area nor does it have a presence along the Strip, Red Rock Resorts, via its many casino properties in the Las Vegas area and neighboring communities, is a huge player in the gaming arena. Its emphasis on serving Las Vegas locals may well play to its advantage, as the area’s population continues to grow, courtesy of retirees who are moving to Nevada due to the lower cost of living and those who are moving to the area for other reasons, including employment and business opportunities.

Many Californians who have moved to Nevada are also benefitting local casino properties as they are not as affected by the changing numbers of workers in the construction arena and those who work in other casino properties.

Indeed, these are busy times for Red Rock Resorts and its Station Casinos and Wildfire brands. Its goal is to double its portfolio by 2030, and the projects it is currently undertaking are just the tip of the iceberg in Red Rock Resorts’ long-term bid to widen its reach.

While news of a housing slowdown has dominated recently, there is still a lot of construction going on in Las Vegas, with many planned casino-resorts and other mega projects opening within the next few years. That means continued employment for many, and a bevy of permanent jobs that will be available when these projects are nearing

completion or are completed. And many of those jobs are not in the gaming industry, but are in other fields which include hospitality, conventions and sports.

If you are looking to buy property or land in Las Vegas or neighboring areas, now is the time to make that investment. You will be able to negotiate with sellers as there is more inventory available, and you will be able to look for that piece of land/property which can fit your budget, plans and dreams.

I have many decades of experience in assisting clients who are looking for their first home, second/vacation homes, investment properties or land (for future use/ development). I can assist you in looking

for these opportunities. Many of my clients have begun to reap the benefits of their investments, including turning their properties to rentals or Airbnb, or getting a good return on investment for the properties they bought in previous years.

My company, Precious Properties, is a fullservice company that has served its clientele since 1992. You can reach me at 775-513-8447, 805-559-2476 and 702-538-4948 for more information, or send me an email at fely@ precious-properties.com or fely.precious@ gmail.com. We have investors who buy houses in California and Nevada for cash and quick escrow in as short as 7 days. (Advertising Supplement)

Realtor Fely Quitevis-Bateman’s investors from the Bay Area keep buying more land in Pahrump.

Realtor Fely Quitevis-Bateman (2nd from right) with her new wave of Pahrump investors from San Antonio, Texas and Guam.

Realtor Fely Quitevis-Bateman attended the Commercial Alliance Symposium sponsored by the Las Vegas Realtors association to gain more insight on real estate trends that she can share with her clientele.

Realtor Fely Quitevis-Bateman helps those who need business financing, including loans for small businesses. For more information, call (702) 538-4948, or send email to fely@ precious-properties.com or fely.precious@gmail.com.

community

SAN PEDRO, CA − In celebration of Filipino American History Month, Philippine Expressions Bookshop is proud to present the FIRST PHILIPPINE FESTIVAL OF BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. The event will be held on Saturday, October 1, 2022 from 1:00pm to 6:00pm at Philippine Expressions Bookshop, 479 W Sixth Street, Suite 105, San Pedro, CA 90731. The bookshop is located in the historic Arts District of San Pedro, the Port City of Los Angeles.

The mini-Festival, the first of its kind to be held in the US, will honor author and illustrator Jose Aruego (19322012), who paved the way for Filipino American children’s book authors and illustrators in the US. The success of his first self-illustrated book, The King

OF BOOKS

A Tribute to Jose Aruego (1932-2012)

and His Friends, published in 1969 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, launched his writing career and landed him illustration jobs. This was immediately followed by his first Filipino tale, Juan and the Asuangs, which received the Outstanding Picture Book of the Year designation by New York Times in 1970. In collaboration with his former wife, Ariane Dewey, he contributed to the texts of many popular authors, including Robert Kraus and Mirra Ginsburg, with over 70 titles that bear his witty and imaginative characters. His books, self-illustrated or those which he illustrated for other authors, earned the approval of critics, and a number of them have won awards or received similar distinctions, notably: The Day They Parachuted Cats on Borneo; Look What I Can Do!;

Whose Mouse Are You?; Milton, the Early Riser; Mushroom in the Rain; We Hide, You Seek; The Chick and the Duckling; A Crocodile’s Tale; Owliver; Marie Louise and Christophe; Mushroom in the Rain; Leo the Late Bloomer, and Herman the Helper. In 1976, Aruego received the Outstanding Filipino Abroad in Arts award from the Philippine government. While most of his works are now out-of-print, they are available in practically all libraries in the US. Some titles have continued to be reprinted by various American publishers but sadly, Aruego’s name is hardly known to the present members of our FilAm community.

To give homage to, as well as to introduce the spectacular works of Jose Aruego to the younger FilAm generation, a collection of his books will be on display during the Festival, along with a selection of titles that are still in print which will be available for purchase. This family-friendly event will also treat the audience to a storytelling of Juan and the Asuangs by multi-disciplinary performer and FilAm Arts Teatro Artistic Director, Giovanni Ortega, who will bring this beloved tale to life.

In the bookshop’s efforts to highlight and support first-time and rising Filipino American and Filipino authors, some of whom have self-published their works, the bookshop is proud to feature the following authors

from Southern California, with two special guests from the San Francisco Bay Area and Las Vegas, Nevada, Marielle Atanacio, author and illustrator of Who Turned on the Sky; Tracy Badua, author of Freddie vs the Family Curse; * Jenn Estacio, author of Buko; Dan Manalang, author of Ambrosia; Zachlewis B. Maravilla, 13 year-old author of A Splendor Adventure; Leslie V. Ryan, author of I am Flippish!; Michelle Sterling, author of When Lola Visits; * Annie Cheng, author of two books: Nurse Mommies are the Best and Nurse Ube Sings Karaoke; Jocelyn Francisco, Ph.D, author of Hay Bahay, the latest of her first Filipino language series which includes: Abakada, Oh My Kulay!, Pamilya Ko and Isa, Dalawa, Tatlo...Ito ay Obalo; * Rowena Similar, author of two books: Rom-Rom Counts to Ten and Rom-Rom & Lola; * Jennifer Suzara-Cheng, author of Tide Pool Adventure”, “Ocean Adventure and six Children’s Nature Book Series (Bi-lingual, in English & Tagalog) for Global Filipinos; and * Marylaine Viernes, author of Bakey-Wakey Little Baby. Viernes will host the festival’s program which will feature book talks, book signings, games, music, and other activities for children.

The Festival opens at 1:00pm and the Program will start at 2:00pm.

The Community Partners for the Festival are Asian Journal and Random Length News,

a community paper based in San Pedro, CA. Community supporters include: Adobers.net, FilAm Arts, Filipino American Chamber of Commerce - Greater Los Angeles, Filipino Cultural School, Jun Aglipay, Fred Docdocil, Prosy Dela Cruz, Carol Ojeda-Kimbrough, Giovanni Ortega, and Mark Pulido.

Since Christmas is fast approaching, the Festival will give FilAms a chance to shop early for Christmas. The bookshop would like to encourage the FilAm community to give books as Christmas gifts for children. This will teach them to read for pleasure, and create an awareness at an early age for books that are specially autographed for them by the participating authors. Your purchase of books during the Festival will encourage FilAm authors to write more culturallyoriented books for children of Filipino descent. The Festival is part of the ongoing community outreach program of the

bookshop, aimed to increase the awareness of mainstream America to the Filipino presence in the country. In the words of Linda Nietes-Little, owner and founder of the bookshop, “it is also my hope that these authors and many more who will join their ranks in the near future will continue the work that Jose Aruego had started, and put Philippine-related stories for young children in the literary map of the United States.”

It is Nietes-Little’s finale tribute to the Fil Am community. She is retiring on December 31, 2022 after 38 years of service to the FilAm community in the US and to Filipinos in the diaspora. Established in 1984, visit their online bookshop: http://www. philippinebookshopcom Email: info@philippinebookshop.com Tel Nos: 310-514-9139 Cell and 310-548-8148 landline. During this pandemic, the physical bookshop is open only on Saturdays from 2:00 - 6:0 0pm and by appointment.

Filipino American Chamber of Commerce-Greater Pasadena hosts lumpia eating competition, Kusina Filipina ribbon cutting

FIL- AM community members flocked to Eagle Rock’s Kusina Filipina to witness the ribbon cutting ceremonies for its soft relaunch post COVID. The event was organized and sponsored by the Fil Am Chamber of Commerce Greater Pasadena headed by its President, Ishka Villacisneros-Tusjakova. The guests were delighted to witness the highlight of the celebration which was the Lumpia Eating Competition. The competition is a brainchild of FACC-Greater Pasadena Vice President Paul Mirador who takes pride in generating unique entertaining activities for anyone who joins their chamber. “I have always had a creative mind and it brings me total fulfillment to have our business partners at the chamber enjoy the benefit of becoming our member affiliate,” adds Paul.

His co Vice-President Tony Chi-Su Gutierrez graciously moderated the ribbon cutting ceremonies with Assembly Member Wendy Carrillo as one of its VIP guests. Ms Carillo spoke about the importance of supporting the small businesses of the community. “The family owned and operated small businesses are the pillar of the community. Without these businesses , the community failed to thrive,” says Wendy Carillo of the 51st district of which Kusina Filipina is a part of. The restaurant’s co-partners Jun Miranda and Vener P. Ramos have served their neighboring areas for over 11 years now and have kept the quality of the food they serve to that consistent and delicious standard. “When our chef prepares the dish for our clients , he is motivated to provide them with the closest to a home cooked meal they can ever have,” says Jun. “And that’s why they keep coming back for more”, states Vener Ramos.

Winners of the competition are Elizabeth

Hernandez for the women’s division. Crowned as the Lumpia Queen, She happily consumed 50 PCs of lumpia in 10 minutes. Kevin Montenegro bagged the honor for the men’s division, crowned as the Lumpia King, with 61 lumpias eaten and finally the Grand Champion of the day Raina Huang who flew all the way from Las Vegas who chowed down 141 lumpias and had the kitchen run out of the tiny rolls way before the time was up.

Fun was had by all and the standing room only situation at the Kusina Filipina was a testament to the event’s success . Movie producer AJ Calomay of the film Lumpia 2 with the Vengeance was there to share a glimpse of the sequel’s movie trailer. The film will be released starting September 23, 2022 and will make its way on the city of Long Beach to as far out as Northern California.

The event would not have been possible without the support of media partner Asian Journal, Camarillo Skilled Home Health, Philippine National Bank Remittance Center in Eagle Rock, OfficeZilla, Ishkaster Media, Filipino Shopping Network and of course Kusina Filipina Los Angeles.

Others present were Gerry PalonPresident of the Coalition of Filipino Americans Chambers of Commerce (COFACC), Merwynn Montenegro - COFACC Co-Founder and President Emeritus of Filipino American Chamber of Commerce (FACC) Tri-County, Femie Villaflores Cupit - President of FACC North San Diego, Joseph Joseph - President of FACC Orange County, Katherine Bercasio - FACC Hollywood, Kathy Current - FACC Greater Los Angeles board member, and last but not least Dr. Fatima Bustos Choy.

For more information on upcoming events like this, please visit www.FACCGP.org.

Reina Bonta talks about...

From Page 9

Simultaneously, it will also be screening on October 14, 5pm, at the San Diego Filipino Film Festival.

Bonta told the Asian Journal that “LAHI” has also been selected to be shown, in other festivals such as LA Femme International Film Festival (Los Angeles, CA), Twin Cities Film Festival (Minneapolis, Minnesota), and Hawai’i International Film Festival (Honolulu, HI), within the months of October and November this year.

“LAHI” features exceptional performances by Tiki Willis as Mimi (debut lead performance, known for Magnum P.I., upcoming Netflix pilot project), Tessie Magaoay as Andrea, Virginia Almonte-Savella Harper as Gabriela, and Cynthia Bonta (Reina’s grandmother, lifelong activist) as Lola’s Apparition. DP Kilani Villiaros

Asked about her future and upcoming projects after “LAHI,” Bonta says she is currently producing a narrative feature film called “Characters Disappearing”, which centers on the IWK (the less visible Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) counterpart to the Black Panthers and Young Lords who were instrumental to the 1970s Yellow Power Movement), and is primed for production in New York’s Chinatown in November of this year.

“As for my own directorial pursuits, I am exploring the concept of expanding “LAHI” into a feature,” she adds.

FIRST PHILIPPINE FESTIVAL OF BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. The event will be held on Saturday, October 1, 2022 from 1:00pm to 6:00pm at Philippine Expressions Bookshop, 479 W Sixth Street, Suite 105, San Pedro, CA 90731.

Multi-disciplinary performer and Fil-Am Arts Teatro Artistic Director, Giovanni Ortega reads “Juan and the Asuangs” by Jose Aruego.

Jose Aruego (1932-2012), pioneer Filipino author and illustrator of picture books in the US.

(NCIS: Hawaii), Producers Connie M. Florez (Waikiki) and Angelique Kalani Axelrode, and Executive Producer Bryan Spicer (24, Bones, The X Files) are crew members of the project.