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OctOber 22-28, 2021 Serving San Diego Since 1987 • 12 Pages

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California becomes only state with DATELINE USA 300 banners installed in ‘moderate’ COVID-19 transmission level SOMA Pilipinas to honor FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM AcroSS AMEricA

SF’s Fil-Am community

THREE hundred banners have been installed in San Francisco’s SOMA Pilipinas neighborhood as the country celebrates Filipino American History Month and continues to combat the spike of anti-Asian hate.

The banners placed along street light posts are located throughout the city’s Filipino Cultural Heritage District from Market to Brannan and 2nd to 11th streets.

“Our community was hit hard by the pandemic. A disproportionate number of Filipino nurses lost their lives and many of us lost loved ones. In SOMA, many residents lost their jobs and small businesses closed down.

On top of all this, our elderly fear for their safety amidst the anti-Asian assaults in our City,” said Raquel Redondiez, director of SOMA Pilipinas.

by AJPress

THE Golden State is currently the only state in the country that has improved to a “moderate” rate of transmission for COVID-19, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) The findings come as the state continues to

have strict mask and vaccination mandates in place, including wearing face coverings at outdoor venues and vaccine requirements for schoolchildren.

The updated figures, released Monday, October 18, show that California is the only one of the 50 states to reach that level with a 0.2 deaths rate per 100,000 over the past seven days.

More women are targets of xenophobic hate

MuSLIM, Asian and Latina women are the main victims of xenophobic attacks in the united States during an increase in hate crimes against immigrants. The phenomenon, said experts convened by Ethnic Media Services, reflects the fact that marginalized groups end up being the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong in the country. But why women?

According to the new survey “Islamophobia in the eyes of Muslims,” women (76.7%) are more likely than men (58.6%) to be victims of Islamophobia, and 91% of women reported that Islamophobia affects their emotional and mental well-being compared to 84% in the case of men.

“Women are viewed as a symbol of a visible (wearing the hijab), external and opposing culture,” said Basima Sisemore, researcher for the Global Justice Program at the Othering & Belonging Institute at uC Berkeley, who conducted the survey.

“And that culture is Islam and the East, and Muslims who supposedly are at odds with

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Husband of missing Fil-Am mom in Chula Vista arrested

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Immigrant women account for most of the victims of hate crimes. Why is this phenomenon so pervasive?

Meanwhile, the state has a 34.4 cases rate per 100,000 during the same period.

Joining California in the “moderate” level are two territories, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Nationwide, eight states are categorized under the “substantial” or orange level of community transmission and 44 states are considered

ATTORNEY GENERAL BONTA MEETS WITH SAN DIEGO CITY OFFICIALS AND LEADERS. California State Attorney General Rob Bonta met with San Diego city officials and leaders on Monday, October 18 to discuss the the rising number of hate crimes in the state and how to deal with these crimes at the local level. San Diego was the fourth stop in Atty. General Bonta’s statewide, 13-city tour. Photo above shows the roundtable meeting participants after the discussion, with the San Diego downtown skyline as backdrop, which included Atty. General Bonta, San Diego City Mayor Todd Gloria, Police Chief David Nisleit, City Attorney Mara Elliott, District Attorney Summer Stephan and leaders from organizations of the NAACP and Border Angels.

Photo courtesy of City of San Diego

TEN months after a Filipina American mother was reported missing, her husband was taken into custody on suspicion of murder.

Larry Millete, 40, was arrested at his home in Chula Vista, California on Tuesday, October 19 in relation to the case of his wife, May “Maya” Millete who has been missing since the beginning of January this year.

He was charged with murder and possession of a semiautomatic rifle prohibited under California’s assault weapons ban, according to San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan.

“As the evidence unfolded in this case, it pointed in one direction — that [Maya] was murdered,” she said during an afternoon news conference.

Larry’s lawyer, Bonita Martinez, said that she was “very, very surprised” about the arrest since a body has not been recovered.

“This is a surprise to me since they have no proof

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Palace: Duterte not remiss in investigating drug war killings

by Ritchel

Mendiola AJPress

PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte is “not remiss” in his obligation to investigate human rights abuses in the country, according to Malacañang.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday, October 20, made the statement after the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) released a 21-page information table on over 50 cases of deaths during police anti-drug operations.

“I can only commend the DOJ for this conclusion because this proves that the President has not been remiss in his obligation to investigate perpetrators of these crimes,” he said in an interview at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum hosted by Marichu Villanueva.

According to Roque, the matrix belies “all claims” that Duterte is responsible for the killings.

“I think these findings of the DOJ will belie all claims that the President is respon-

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PH updates green list, Fil-Am labor leader Larry Itliong inducted into California Hall of Fame quarantine protocols Climate change may

A plaque marks an area nearest the early Filipino settlement in St. Malo, in a Louisiana bayou.

Photo courtesy of FANHS

for travelers

by AJPress FILIPINO American labor activist Larry Itliong is among the six notable individuals posthumously inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom on Tuesday, October 12, announced the honorees for the California Hall of Fame 14th class through a webcast streamed by the California Museum.

“Sometimes the Hall of Fame gives us the opportunity to bring outstanding Californians out of the shadows when their contributions to society have been largely overlooked in history books,” said Siebel. “And there is no better example of that than Larry Itliong.”

Newsom added, “We all benefit from Larry’s leadership and unapologetic advocacy.”

Itliong, according to his description on Larry Itliong as photographed by Jon Lewis Courtesy of

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Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University

New measures don’t apply to US arrivals

wash out traces of earliest Filipino settlers in US

ST. MALO, a former village along the shore of Lake Borgne

by Ritchel Mendiola in Louisiana’s St. Bernard AJPress Parish, was the first Filipino THE Philippines has updated its roster of settlement in the united States, “red, yellow, and green” countries and ju- long before the Civil War. Now, climate change is risdictions following its decision to ease the quarantine protocols for arriving travelers, threatening to erase any and all signs of the historical according to Malacañang.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque site, according to a recent on Friday, October 15, said that the Inter- CNN report.

St. Malo’s early Filipino Agency Task Force for the Management of community thrived for years, Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) came up with the list, which will take effect but hurricanes over the years destroyed the village and from Oct. 16 to 31.

Romania is the only country that has been forced many settlers to other included in the red list, or those classified parts of Louisiana. Some set as “high risk” based on their COVID-19 dis- up their own Manila Village, in u PAGE 4 Jean Lafitte town, not far from

St. Malo.

They made a living from fishing and introduced a unique process of drying shrimps.

Although there’s little historical documentation on the early Filipinos in Louisiana and stories about them were mainly handed down through generations, Filipino Americans say more people need to know about the villages of St. Malo and Manila Village in Jean Lafitte and how climate change could erase any trace of them.

Some say that the Filipino community in St. Malo goes back to as early as 1763 when

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OctOber 22-28, 2021 • SAN DIeGO ASIAN JOUrNAL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (619) 474-0588

From The FronT Page

Mayor Gloria, State of California announce Husband of missing... new outreach program for unsheltered San Diegans camping along state highways SAN DIEGO – Building on ongoing efforts to connect San Diegans experiencing homelessness to shelter and social services, Mayor Todd Gloria, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Caltrans on Monday, October 18 announced a new collaborative outreach program to support residents living in dangerous conditions adjacent to state highways.

“I don’t think homelessness can be solved, I know it can be solved,” Governor Newsom said. “The state has provided unprecedented financial resources and opportunities to local governments to address street homelessness, but it takes local leaders like Mayor Gloria to turn this into action. Our vision on homelessness must be realized at the local level, and I hope this partnership becomes a template for other cities and counties around California to address encampments along our streets and highways.”

The City of San Diego’s Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department will contract directly with City Net – a nonprofit homelessness-services organization that started in Long Beach in 2005 and has programs in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and Santa Barbara counties – to provide focused street outreach.

“We know there has been a proliferation of homeless encampments along our state highways, which is a particularly dangerous place for them to be. Ensuring we are able to reach them and offer services is critical,” said Mayor Todd Gloria.

“This first-of-its-kind collaboration with Caltrans and a new partner, City Net, harnesses the opportunities provided by Governor Newsom’s California Comeback Plan, creating yet another way for us to implement our compassionate approach to keeping people safe and ending homelessness one person at a time.”

“I’m excited to expand our base of service providers in San Diego as we collaborate with dedicated partners such as San Diego Housing Commission, San Diego Downtown Partnership and the Regional Task Force on Homelessness and triedand-true providers like PATH, Alpha Project and Father Joe’s Villages,” said Hafsa Kaka, director of the City of San Diego’s Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department. “City Net will be fully integrated into our systems of care and help us resolve encampments while adhering to the proven principles

of Housing First.”

The city’s partnership with Caltrans and its contract with City Net represents the first agreement in the State of California to provide dedicated outreach at encampments in the Caltrans right-of-way since Gov. Gavin Newsom announced $22 billion in investments to local governments to address homelessness and the lack of affordable housing as part of his California Comeback Plan.

“Caltrans looks forward to continuing our work with the City of San Diego to find resources for those living near our roadways while the department keeps the public and people experiencing homelessness safe,” Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin said.

“Caltrans recognizes the role we play in San Diego’s regional plan to get people who are experiencing homelessness into housing,” Caltrans District 11 Director Gustavo Dallarda said.

“This partnership with the City of San Diego allows us to continue addressing encampments on the highway and ensure individuals sheltering in unsafe conditions are provided the necessary services and support to move them into stable living situations. Working collaboratively with our local partners furthers Governor Newsom’s Comeback Plan and California’s investments toward ending homelessness.”

Under its contract with the Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department, City Net will deploy three outreach teams that will work with the San Diego Housing Commission and its current network of providers on shelter placements and wraparound supportive services, including transportation, case management and emergency mental-health support. The contract spans from October 2021 through June 2022.

“City Net is excited to join the collaborative partners in the City of San Diego that have already been working to connect vulnerable homeless neighbors to shelter and housing and to return public spaces to their intended uses,” City Net Executive Director Brad Fieldhouse said. “Realizing the significant community concern around this important issue, we will leverage our experience in some of the largest homeless encampments in Southern California to seek solutions that will benefit both those experiencing homelessness and the broader community of businesses, homeowners and civic leaders.”

(SD Mayor’s Office Release) n

City of San Diego develops comprehensive resiliency plan to deal with climate change hazards Residents encouraged to review and provide input on draft ‘Climate Resilient SD’ plan

SAN DIEGO – With the purpose of improving the lives of all San Diegans and ensuring the city is prepared for the effects of climate change, the City of San Diego is asking for public feedback on its recently released draft Climate Resilient SD plan.

Climate Resilient SD implements key strategies of the city’s Climate Action Plan and fulfills legislative requirements to integrate climate adaptation into the city’s General Plan. Specifically, Climate Resilient SD looks at the past, present and future conditions of San Diego’s primary climate change hazards: wildfire, coastal flooding and erosion, flooding and drought, extreme heat and sea level rise.

“The climate crisis is already impacting San Diegans, espe-

cially those in frontline communities,” said Mayor Todd Gloria. “We are doing the work needed to prepare our city to overcome these threats while addressing environmental justice. Our efforts to enhance San Diego’s resilience will result in many economic, health and quality of life benefits for all of us.”

The plan aims to make sure San Diego will not only have the capacity to respond and recover from these climate change hazards, but also improve through investments in local communities. In addition, the plan focuses on maintaining critical city services, prioritizing investments for the city’s most vulnerable populations and investing in the areas with the greatest needs. Each of the plan’s adaptation strat-

egies focuses on core benefits that can be achieved, such as social equity, recreation and improved air quality.

Residents and members of the public can read the draft, provide feedback and interact with others giving input by visiting the city’s Resiliency webpage at https://www. sandiego.gov/sustainability/ resilience. Comments can also be submitted to JTMoore@ sandiego.gov or mailed to Attn: Climate Resilient SD Team at 9485 Aero Drive, M.S. 413, San Diego, CA 92123.

“Climate change hazards present a risk to San Diego’s natural environment, public health and safety, and economic prosperity,” said City Planning Director Mike Hansen. “By taking action now, we ensure our city is not only

prepared to respond to the impacts of climate change but is actually able to thrive. We are committed to planning for a more equitable, sustainable and healthy future for all San Diegans, especially the most vulnerable who face the greatest risks and have the fewest resources available to respond.”

As city staff developed the draft plan, they held several outreach events and collected community surveys. They will continue to solicit additional feedback before finalizing the document. Staff will present the draft to the Planning Commission at its Nov. 4, 2021, meeting. Climate Resilient SD is expected to go to the San Diego City Council for approval by the end of this year.

(San Diego City Release) n

PAGE 1 Maya is dead, and I believe she is still alive,” Martinez told KFMBTV. However, Stephan pointed out that prosecutors can file a murder charge without having a body.

“The law is so crystal clear that we cannot let someone murder someone and gain a benefit by hiding the body in a way that we cannot discover it,” she said.

May was last seen by her family at her home on the evening of January 7 and was reported missing two days later.

That Saturday, the family was planning a trip to Big Bear Mountain Resort for her daughter’s 11th birthday, but May was never heard from, as previously reported by the Asian Journal.

Larry, who reported her as missing, has been considered as a “person of interest” in her disappearance.

According to Stephan, May had called a divorce lawyer on the same day she disappeared.

“When she called the attorney on Jan 7, we know that Larry was aware,” Stephan said. “He sent text messages to his boss that this was final, that it was coming.”

Stephan also revealed that Larry was opposed to the divorce, hiring “spellcasters” to keep her from leaving.

“These spellcasters were asked to make May want to stay in the relationship. He was asking for May to become incapacitated, to be in an accident, to have broken bones so she would have to stay at home,” she said.

Larry also allegedly sent an ominous text the last night May was seen alive, saying: “I think she wants me to snap, and I’m shaking inside ready to snap.”

Further, Stephan talked about a security video from Jan. 8 showing Larry backing his Lexus SUV into the garage at his home before 6 a.m. He drove roughly two-and-a-half hours away, disappearing for 11 hours and 21 minutes with his 4-year-old daughter.

Stephan urged anyone who may have seen Larry’s black 2015 Lexus GX460 with personalized plates on the side of a road on Jan. 8 to come forward with any information.

Since the start of the case, 67 search warrants had been served, 87 interviews conducted and 130 tips reviewed, with thousands of hours poured into the investigation.

“These efforts ultimately generated a variety of pieces of evidence that have become clear and overwhelming,” said Chula Vista police chief Roxana Kennedy.

She added, “Larry Millete, May’s husband, is responsible for May’s murder and disappearance.”

In response to the latest developments, May’s sister Maricris Drouaillet said it was “overwhelming.”

“I’m still trying to take it [in],” she said. “It’s been really hard.

He’s our family.”

“It’s hard to go against family. He’s been with us for 20 years.

My sister loved him. She gave him three kids,” she added.

Drouaillet once again asked the public to help bring May home.

“We’re still asking the public: Please, help us bring my sister home,” she said.

“We did a promise to her 11-year-old daughter that we will bring her mom home,” she added. (Ritchel Mendiola/AJPress) n

Fil-Am labor leader Larry Itliong inducted into...

PAGE 1 California Museum’s website, was one of the most important civil rights leaders of the 20th century and a father of the West Coast labor movement.

He was born in the Philippines and migrated to the United States in 1929, working in the Alaskan fish canneries and along the West Coast as a farm laborer.

After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Itliong became a U.S. citizen in 1954 and settled in Stockton, where he organized for the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC).

“He was so good at recruiting new members that union leaders asked him to move to Delano to organize Filipino grape workers,” noted the California Museum. “It was there that he helped change the history of farm labor.”

Among Itliong’s achievements include uniting with the National Farm Workers As-

sociation (NFWA) and starting the Delano Grape Strike and Boycott, which is one of the most important social justice and labor movements in American history.

Itliong also formed the United Farm Workers (UFW) with César Chávez, with the latter as director and the former as assistant director.

In addition, Itliong successfully secured funding for the construction of the Paulo Agbayani Retirement Village in Delano, which has provided housing and support for retired Filipino farmworkers since 1974.

Aside from Itliong, LGBTQ advocates Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, artist Ruth Asawa, singer-songwriter and guitarist Jerry Garcia, and rock music icon Ritchie Valens were inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

“Jennifer and I are pleased to induct this group of extraordinary Californians into the Hall of Fame,” said Newsom.

“There is no doubt their lives and legacies have helped make California synonymous around the world with innovation, imagination and progress,” he added.

The new inductees joined 134 other Californians recognized for embodying the state’s “innovative spirit.”

“These luminaries represent the best of California,” said Siebel. “Each one has left their own indelible mark on history and reminds us of the creativity, ingenuity and courage that lives inside all of us.”

The California Hall of Fame was established in 2006 at the California Museum by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver.

Inductees are selected from all walks of life and have made distinguished achievements across a variety of fields, including the arts, education, business and labor, science, sports, philanthropy and public service. (AJPress) n

May “Maya“ Millete

File photo

California becomes only...

PAGE 1 “high” transmission, including Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and New York.

The California Department of Public Health reports a 2% 7-day positive rate.

From Friday, October 16 to Sunday, October 18, the department reported 16,764 new cases, with cases largely among unvaccinated

populations, bringing the total confirmed cases to date to 4,588,231. Meanwhile, 3,669 are hospitalized and 1,006 are in the ICU with confirmed COVID-19.

The state continues to lead in vaccination rates with 51,271,175 vaccines administered and 24,426,200 individuals considered fully vaccinated. n

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SAN DIEGO ASIAN JOURNAL • OctObER 22-28, 2021

Friedman appointed to San Diego commission, continues lifelong devotion to arts and culture

by Joseph

L. peraLta

AJPress

VETERAN entertainment industry and Hollywood executive Fritz Friedman can now very well rest on the laurel of his many accomplishments if he wants to.

A Boston native and graduate of the acclaimed Vassar College with a Master’s degree from The Annenberg School of The University of Pennsylvania, the exuberant and bubbly FilipinoAmerican, whose first job was as an usher in Carnegie Hall, has had a nearly four decade career of triumphs and firsts in the entertainment industry.

Honored as one of the most influential FilipinoAmericans in 2020, Friedman, until he stepped away in 2014, was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Publicity and Corporate Communication for two divisions of Sony Pictures Entertainment – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Sony Pictures Worldwide Entertainment. He oversaw worldwide publicity, corporate communications and media initiatives for Sony’s multi-billion-dollar global home entertainment company. Some of the most successful publicity campaigns under his tenure included those for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Spiderman” and “Men in Black” franchises, “The Social Network,” “22 Jump Street” and “Equalizer,” as well as iconic television hits “Seinfeld” and “Breaking Bad.” Friedman also formulated and executed the global media campaigns that successfully launched several revolutionary technical entertainment innovations including the DVD, Blu-ray, 3-D and digital distribution formats.

Recently, the adjunct professor emeritus at The Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism of The University of Southern California was appointed to the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture by Mayor Todd Gloria. This is in addition to his appointment to the California Commission on Humanities by past California Gov. Jerry Brown. He also serves on the

Fritz (right) with San Diego City Mayor Todd Gloria

An early depiction of “Manila Village” in Jean Lafitte, Louisiana.

Photo courtesy of FANHS

Climate change may wash out...

successfully lobbied for a marker to commemorate PAGE 1 both the Philippines and Louisiana were under St. Malo. Gonzales said it was a challenge to put Spanish rule. Today, The U.S. Census Bureau up since no one ever goes to St. Malo, and they estimates there are around 8,000 Filipinos in wanted it protected.

Fritz Friedman Louisiana.

As the climate crisis intensifies, Louisiana’s Creative Advisory Committee for the Democratic Randy Gonzales, an English professor at the coast is being battered by sea level rise, more National Committee’s Asian American Caucus.

University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and co-vice frequent hurricanes and erosion. Traces of St. As a commissioner on the San Diego president of the Philippine-Louisiana Historical Malo and even the Jean Lafitte settlement may Commission for Arts and Culture, Friedman and Society, told CNN that in the late-1700s Filipinos disappear soon. his 14 other colleagues act in an advisory capacity likely escaped from globe-sailing Spanish ships Louisiana has lost about 25% of its coastal land to Mayor Gloria and the city council where they and went deep in the bayous of Louisiana, the size of Delaware since in 1932, according to are tasked with “promoting, encouraging and building huts over the wetlands. the U.S. Geological Survey, cited by the CNN increasing support for the region’s artistic and The Philippine-Louisiana Historical Society report. (Inquirer.net) n cultural assets, integrating arts and culture into community life and showcasing San Diego as an “Part of my job as I have defined it will be the cultural groups and explain to them how to international tourist destination.”

“It is our job to make our recommendations to raise awareness of the cultural needs of solicit funds, what the process entails, and how to the mayor’s office, as long as they’re aligned San Diego’s Asian American community with the Commission can help them in the immediacy, to the overall mission that Mayor Gloria has a very special personal bias for the large and so be it. I think one of my big projects is going established. Having said that, the Commission is very significant Filipino American community. to be to inform the Filipino community here as mandated to go out and develop equitable and This group has many arts and cultural festivals to how the system works and how they can get innovative strategic programs that make use of mounted throughout the year but they do not plugged into it,” Friedman said as he continued the talents of its members as well as utilizing know event know that the Commission for Arts to explain that community groups need to be government programs and the latest technologies and Culture is available to support their projects pro-active – ask or inquire – if they want to be to disseminate information to teach and educate in some capacity. These are small, nonprofit considered for the grants that the commission the diverse communities that make San Diego organizations that don’t necessarily have the most gives out.

Friedman believes that San Diego, which has what it is,” Friedman told the Asian Journal in a sophisticated outreach program. It’s not what they do. And so you need someone who’s aware been designated as the eighth largest city in the Zoom interview.

According to the “Spirit of Inspiration” of them and sensitive to their needs and who United States, has become a very rich breeding awardee, the commission’s mandate can include wants to be an advocate for their projects. And ground for creativity, and this excites him.

The influx of money, as well as young and “helping to approve or making recommendations that’s what I’m going to be on the commission,” to approve public art, education through public he said. However, Friedman further clarified his well-educated individuals in the tech and bioart, raising spirits through public art, helping position by also stating that he will also represent tech industries have brough a high level of neighborhoods with their neighborhood arts all the diverse communities in San Diego and sophistication and a solid appreciation for arts policies, as well as the bigger projects like San that he is not relegated to purely Asian-centric and culture which has quickly made San Diego a significant cultural center, Friedman believes.

Diego Opera, the San Diego Symphony, Balboa issues.

The San Diego resident says that while the Proof of this fact can be seen in the many great Park, which is a huge cultural space because you have all of San Diego’s major museums and the commission’s outreach efforts are important, that museums, indoor and outdoor public art and the world-renowned San Diego Zoo located there. is only part of the equation. Community groups plethora of performing arts venues like The San And all contribute to the general cultural and also need to learn how to ask for a seat at the Diego Opera and The San Diego Symphony. table, and that includes soliciting grants and As a lifelong devotee to arts and culture, educational spirit of the city.

Friedman, and his fellow commissioners, believe As a commissioner, Friedman is ready to extend delving into the system.

“That’s one of my plans, to get word out that the “in the power of arts, culture, and humanities to a helping hand to his kababayans, especially in commission is here, and to make clear what the transform and unify disparate communities. applying for grants within the city’s framework.

“When people understand the significance “I know that one thing I would like to do is to commission does and what it can do to support ensure that the Filipino American community various cultural groups. You need to reach out. of a different community’s culture and how it in San Diego are heard… that that they have a And if that means that maybe one day I may have developed, and how its art is impacted and defined voice in me to support their cultural initiatives,” to bring a couple of the funding people out to by a country’s unique ecology, and by its sociosome high school auditorium so they canJournal__RUN: talk to Friedman stated. u PAGE 4 21SDG1077_CARE Family6Walking__Asian 07_23_21__ 1/4 pg 4C__TRIM: 5.69” x 10.56”

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OctOber 22-28, 2021 • SAN DIeGO ASIAN JOUrNAL

Palace: Duterte not remiss in investigating...

One sample of the 300 banners flying high in San Francisco’s SOMA Pilipinas neighborhoods in time for Filipino American History Month. The collages feature residents, artists, small business owners and community leaders who contribute to the Filipino Cultural Heritage District.

Photo courtesy of SOMA Pilipinas

300 banners installed in...

PAGE 1 “This Filipino American History Month, we wanted to recognize our community heroes — residents, artists, and small businesses who continued to shine with the bayanihan (mutual support) spirit despite so many challenges. The banners are a declaration that we’re still here, and we will continue to build our cultural district towards an equitable economic recovery for all City.”

The banners feature a collage of residents, artists, and small businesses framed by the iconic sun of the SOMA Pilipinas logo and brand. “SOMA Pilipinas is not defined by bounding streets, but by a sense of place that radiates a resilient joy and shared determination.

It is a district where the sun continues to rise, a living celebration of community, its people, and their stories. SOMA Pilipinas shines in its own light,” said Julie Munsayac, graphic design lead for the banners who also designed the first set of SOMA Pilipinas banners back in 2018.

Original photography on the banners and photos attached provided are by Nix Guirre, SOMA Pilipinas’ Program and Communications Coordinator.

The banners are supported by cultural district grants generated from the City’s Hotel Tax through the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development.

While the hotel tax suffered an unprecedented decline with the pandemic, one-time grants were made available to help address COVID-specific impacts and to support economic recovery especially within the hardest-hit communities of color as represented by the City’s nine cultural districts. n

PH updates green list...

PAGE 1 eases incidence rate On the other hand, there are 49 states and jurisdictions in the green list, or those classified as “low risk” for COVID-19 infections: Algeria, American Samoa, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Chad, China (Mainland), Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Eritrea, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Gibraltar, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), Kiribati, Madagascar, Mali, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Montserrat.

Also included in the green list are Nauru, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Poland, Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), Saint Helena, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Sint Eustatius, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, and Yemen.

Meanwhile, all other countries, jurisdictions, or territories not mentioned are included in the yellow list, or those classified as “moderate risk” for COVID-19.

The United States is under the yellow list.

Testing, quarantine protocols Roque also said that the IATFEID has “streamlined and codified” the testing and quarantine protocols for international travelers entering the Philippines.

Arriving travelers coming from or who have been to red countries within the last 14 days prior to their arrival in the Philippines will be barred from entering.

However, travelers who are merely transiting through the red country should not be deemed as “having come from or having been to said country or jurisdiction or territory if they stayed in the airport the whole time and were not cleared for entry by its immigration authorities,” said Roque.

Filipinos returning to the country through government-initiated or non-government-initiated repatriation, as well as Bayanihan Flights, will also be allowed subject to testing and quarantine protocols.

Passengers from the red countries who are allowed to enter the Philippines are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival. The first 10 days shall be observed in a quarantine facility, while the last four days will be completed at home.

They are also mandated to take a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on their seventh day in the country.

“Notwithstanding a negative test result, the arriving passenger shall complete the facility-based quarantine period of 10 days,” Roque said.

The Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) has been directed to ensure strict symptom monitoring while in the facility quarantine for 10 days.

For fully-vaccinated travelers from yellow countries, they are required to undergo a facility-based quarantine until the release of their negative RT-PCR test result taken on their fifth day in the Philippines.

“After which, they shall be re-

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quired to undergo home quarantine until their 10th day,” added Roque.

Foreign nationals are also required to secure their pre-booked accommodation of at least six days.

For unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or individuals whose vaccination status cannot be independently verified, they need to undergo a facility-based quarantine until the release of a negative RT-PCR test taken on the seventh day.

After which, they are required to undergo home quarantine for another week. Foreign nationals must also secure their prebooked accommodation of at least eight days.

Meanwhile, fully vaccinated foreign nationals coming from the green list territories are no longer required to undergo a facility-based quarantine. Instead, they need to yield negative RTPCR test results taken within 72 hours prior to departure from the country of origin.

“Upon arrival, no facilitybased quarantine will be further required but the passenger is enjoined to self-monitor for any symptoms until the 14th day,” Roque said.

Fully-vaccinated Filipinos, on the other hand, can choose facility-based quarantine until the release of a negative RT-PCR test taken in the quarantine facility upon arrival, or no facility-based quarantine after getting a negative RT-PCR test within 72 hours prior to departure from the country of origin. They are likewise enjoined to self-monitor for any symptoms until the 14th day.

As for unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or individuals whose vaccination status cannot be independently verified, and those vaccinated but failed to comply with the test-before-travel requirements, they are required to undergo a facility-based quarantine until the release of a negative RT-PCR test taken on the fifth day.

“In the case of foreign nationals, they shall be required to secure hotel reservations for at least six days,” said Roque.

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated minors traveling with their fully vaccinated parents or guardians, on the other hand, are required to observe quarantine protocols corresponding to their vaccination status.

A parent/guardian will need to accompany the child in the quarantine facility for the full term of the latter’s facility-based quarantine period.

To validate their vaccination status, international Filipino travelers, their spouse, parent/s, and/ or children; and foreigners vaccinated in the Philippines can present either VaxCertPH digital vaccination certificate, International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICV) issued by BOQ or the World Health Organization (WHO), or the national digital certificate of the foreign government accepting VaxCertPH to validate their vaccination status.

Foreigners vaccinated abroad, on the other hand, can present WHO-issued ICV, or the national digital certificate of the foreign government which has accepted VaxCertPH under a reciprocal agreement unless otherwise permitted by the IATF-EID. n

PAGE 1 sible under the principle of command responsibility because on the contrary, it proves that the Philippine state has in fact investigated and prosecuted individuals for these extralegal killings,” he said.

Further, the matrix shows no evidence of the chief executive’s “culpability.”

“I don’t think it says anything about the culpability of the President because in the 52 cases there’s not been an instance where there’s been a determination that the President ordered the killing or that the President did not do anything to punish those who committed criminal acts,” said Roque.

On Tuesday, Oct. 19, the DOJ authorized the release of an information table concerning certain details of the 52 cases.

In its press statement, the agency said that the release of case details is for the purpose of informing the families and loved ones of the deceased suspects that the circumstances surrounding each incidence of death are undergoing a determination of possible criminal liabilities on the part of erring police officers.

The matrix was also part of the DOJ’s recognition of the importance of transparency in its review process.

52 cases Of the cases that the DOJ reviewed, the majority were buy-bust operations that turned into shootouts after the subjects resisted arrest.

However, the agency noted some glaring lapses in the police reports about the conditions surrounding the suspects’ deaths.

In the case of suspect Ryan Robosa, who was killed in a shootout during a December 2016 buy-bust operation in Taguig, the DOJ said that the police records do not support that narrative.

“There are no pre-operation report, coordination form, chain of custody form, ballistics or paraffin test result, or autopsy result on record,” it said.

Officers involved who were “found guilty of grave irregularity in

the performance of duty” were only given a reprimand.

In another case, police said they killed Anwar Sawadjaan, Noel Rey Bacalso, and Angelo Hofer at a checkpoint allegedly out of selfdefense in July 2016, but the DOJ said that the medico legal report showed the victims appeared to have been shot at close range.

The cops were dismissed from service as a result.

The DOJ also highlighted one case that had a non-drug-related death. In December 2016, a victim who was allegedly of unsound mind was shot by the police in Laguna.

“At the time he was shot, the suspect did not appear to have posed any direct imminent danger to the police operative. The victim was not in possession of any deadly weapon or firearm,” noted the DOJ. For this, the cops involved were only handed a 180-day suspension.

According to the DOJ, around 150 policemen were involved in the 52 cases. However, names were not released because of “due process considerations.”

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, for his part, said that the National Bureau of Investigation will conduct a case build-up and will file criminal charges against the cops involved.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar welcomed the DOJ’s move to release the matrix, saying that it was “in the interest of truth, transparency and justice.”

He also urged the families of the victims to come forward and hold erring police officers accountable.

“Ito rin ang pagkakataon para sa mga pamilya ng nasawi sa police anti-illegal drug operation para sila’y makapagsumite ng complaint-affidavit o kaya’y magharap ng testigo upang maisampa ang kaukulang kasong kriminal sa korte (This is also the chance for the families of the individuals killed in the police anti-illegal drug operation to submit their complaint-affidavit or find a witness to file appropriate criminal cases in court),” said Eleazar. n

More women are targets of xenophobic hate...

PAGE 1 western ideals and democratic values.”

The survey is the first national study to ask Muslim Americans (about 3.5 million people) their perceptions and experiences regarding Islamophobia. It was conducted in 50 states and 1123 respondents participated.

62% of all respondents reported that they, relatives, friends or members of their community have been affected by federal and / or state policies that disproportionately discriminate against Muslims.

Islamophobia, says Sisemore, already existed before the attacks of September 11, 2001 and dates back to the beginning of the nation as 20% of the African slave population was Muslim.

It has been perpetrated by people in individual acts of violence, but also institutionalized by “structural racism” in the United States with policies such as “the travel ban for Muslims, Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programs or even anti Sharia legislation.”

“Liberal and imperialist feminism feeds into the false and dangerous narrative of Muslim women as oppressed,” continued Sisemore. “That feminism says that women have no equality under Islam, and are seen in need of being saved from violent and oppressive Muslim men, which is a very dangerous narrative that played out in the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan as a means to garner public support toward the narrative of white saviorism.”

While in some Islamic countries women need to go out in public with their husbands or have severe restrictions on their rights, Sisemore says these are “extreme examples” and that the media could highlight other aspects of Muslim culture as “women play an intrinsic role in all parts of society.”

According to Elsadig Elsheikh, Director of the Global Justice Program at the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, in some African countries women have led the

struggle against dictatorships and invasions and there are exemplary cases of leadership in the East like that of Sheikh Hasina, current prime minister in Bangladesh, and Benazir Bhutto, the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim-majority country like Pakistan.

“I’m not quite sure the representation of women in most liberal democracies in the West exceeds 20%,” Elsheikh said.

Elsheikh said that another worrying finding from the survey is that almost a third or more of Muslims have hid or attempted to hide their religious identity, “because Islamophobia has made their place of worship linked to ‘terrorism’ which makes it hard for Muslims to engage with each other… if I see a guy with a turban on his head, I am also filled with rage against those who will come into bombing our country.”

Many Muslims censor themselves by avoiding talking about their beliefs or place of origin and in the case of women “almost nine out of 10 women do that in their everyday life, they try to get away from speaking their mind.”

For Elsheikh, Muslims and other marginalized groups, “seem to be the scapegoats for everything wrong in the United States.”

This experience is similar for AsianAmerican communities that have been the subject of a wave of racist and xenophobic incidents related to the origin of COVID in Asia. According to the Stop AAPI Hate center, from March 2020 to June 2021, more than 9,000 incidents have been reported against this community and more than 66% of those attacks have been against AsianAmerican women, including school-age girls.

“With that idea of ‘Make America White Again”, the rest of us are foreign invaders and whole groups of people are rendered as being second-class, less than human,” said Helen Zia, AAPI activist, author, and

journalist.

“Add to that a layer of gender based attacks against women, which puts immigrant women to face multiple jeopardy for being just who they are.” Zia mentioned the massacre in Atlanta, Georgia, where six Asian-American women who worked in spas were killed, and said that the hate incidents, although not documented by gender, date back to 1980.

“The sexualization of Asian women, and women of color in general, plays a role in these kinds of incidents,” Zia said. The most difficult thing for women is to report “because they know that in society overall they are diminished, they are shamed and blamed, and they may even face stigma within their own community.”

Among the Latino community, labor and sexual exploitation occurs in silence due to the latent threat of deportation. Latina and indigenous agricultural workers, particularly immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America escape various forms of violence in their countries of origin and by seeking refuge in the United States, they continue to be victimized.

“Latina women have faced a lot of sexual violence, especially in the fields, considering the dynamic that exists with their citizenship status,” said Irene de Barraicua, Director of Operations for Lideres Campesinas, a network of agricultural workers that supports women with their asylum cases.

“They are afraid of retaliation and deportation and do not seek assistance for fear of being deemed a public charge,” added Barraicua. During the pandemic “they were the first to go when business and growers farmers had to stop or wanted to keep the fastest workers.”

The leader says that all these forms of violence can only stop when “we see a fair immigration reform” and for that “we will continue lifting these voices.” (Jenny Manrique/Ethnic Media Services) n

Friedman appointed to San Diego commission...

PAGE 3 political history, then people understand: ‘Oh, so that’s why their artwork is characterized by its colors, shapes and tones.’

When you start to understand how their respective signature looks were developed, you appreciate the culture and you appreciate the people who created it. Then, perhaps, you come to understand the community better. This new aesthetic becomes less foreign to you. I think the Commission really wants to ensure a city where they are unified in their respect and appreciation for other people’s symbols, other people’s art, or people’s cultures,” Friedman stated.

As one of the most successful Filipino-Americans in the entertainment field, Friedman told the Asian Journal that following his personal vision, and living a happy, content life have been the keys to his success. The unconditional love of his parents, who may have not understood his career choices but supported him nonetheless, was a blessing for him.

His first career as an usher in Carnegie Hall may have mortified many parents who spent a lot of money to send their child to an Ivy League school, but the social skills they gave him, coupled with his love for classical music, his innate outgoing and fun-loving personality and dedication, led him to being promoted to the Carnegie Hall Green Room where he was tasked with taking care of all of the world-class performers who appeared at the legendary venue.

After Carnegie Hall, he was hired at Columbia Pictures, and went on to Sony… and the rest is history. His affinity for entertainment marketing, which he had no experience with, fueled his desire and ambition to succeed. Having no training in publicity, Friedman was not afraid to ask friends for their advice or opinion to which he added his own spin on what he

Friedman (center) flanked by (from left) San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta

learned. He was not afraid to fail, and that ultimately led him to greater heights.

“I kept on growing until I got what I got. But I did it because I never second-guessed myself.

I did it my own way,” Friedman said.

It also helps that he has had no attached scandal to his name in his more than four-decade career. Keeping his career squeaky-clean and a long list of accomplishments have afforded him the luxury of being respected in an industry where one disaster can push you out the door faster than you can say, “Action!”

Friedman has focused as well on giving back to the community via his philanthropic activities. This has included lobbying efforts to help gain veterans benefits for the more than 18,000 Filipino Veterans of World War II. For this he was given a Presidential Citation by the Philippine Government which was awarded by former

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at Malacañang Palace in Manila. He was also a member of the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs, Chair of the Vassar College Asian Pacific Islander Alumni Association, and is the co-founder and President Emeritus of The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE), the largest entertainment organization for Asian Americans in the world.

These days, the 71-year-old Friedman is busy attending to the needs of his own business venture, The Fritz Friedman Company, which is a production and strategic marketing communications firm. His past and current clients include Sony Pictures Entertainment, Electric Entertainment (Independence Day: Resurgence), Invoke, the Boston-based tech company and Parrot Analytics, the L.A./ New Zealand-based big data company.

He is working on several

productions including “The Fear Chronicles,” an anthology of ghost stories around the world for digital platforms with his co- producers Rick Dugdale (“Blackway”) and, Tony Awardwinner David Henry Hwang (“M. Butterfly”). He is also coproducing Korematsu Vs. the US, a bio-pic about Japanese American civil rights pioneer Fred Korematsu who was imprisoned for refusing to enter the U.S. internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II, asserting that he was an American Citizen and that this act was an attack on his civil liberties. After the war, Korematsu sued the U.S. government and his conviction was ultimately overturned.

Additionally, Friedman is an associate producer for “Open Door,” a documentary chronicling the true – and little known – story of how thenPhilippine President Manuel L. Quezon permitted more than 1,200 Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust of Nazi Europe to enter the Philippines.

He has associate produced several films including “The State of Marriage,” a documentary on marriage equality, and “Kid Kulafu,” the live-action biopic on world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.

Friedman has enjoyed settling down in San Diego, where he and his partner, Dr. Jeffrey Krebs, and their Labradoodle, Walter, live. But as busy as he is, one thing is for sure: he wants to enjoy what time he has in this Earth.

“For now, the most important thing to me is to have fun. I just want to have a laugh, meet interesting people, and to make substantive contributions to my many communities. I want to talk to them about ideas, I want to make things happen,” he stated.

And his advice to Filipino Americans?

“Be loud and proud to be a Filipino American!” Friedman said. n

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SAN DIEGO ASIAN JOURNAL • OctObER 22-28, 2021

Dateline PhiliPPines

Duterte to voters: Choose new faces Filipino nurses leaving in droves – PHA sponse from Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Inc. “Sabihin ko sa iyo mamili kayo PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte ng bagong mga opisyal, senador, on Tuesday, October 19, urged basta ‘yung bago. Hindi naman Filipinos to “scout new faces” in kailangan wala talaga hindi sa the elections next year. gobyerno. They might be governDuterte made the statement as ment officials, past or present, he took another jab against Sen. but try to scout new faces. HuRichard “Dick” Gordon over the wag ‘yang pabalik-balik (Choose Senate’s investigation into the new officials, senators. They handling of the government’s might be government officials, pandemic funds. past or present, but try to scout In his prerecorded public ad- new faces. Not those who keep dress, the President said the coming back),” Duterte said. people should not reelect GorThe PDAF, popularly known don, claiming that the senator as pork barrel, is a discretionary misused his Priority Develop- fund distributed to senators and ment Assistance Fund (PDAF). congressmen to fund local projGordon, who chairs the Phil- ects. It was abolished in 2013 afippine Red Cross, also heads ter the Supreme Court declared the Senate Blue Ribbon Com- it unconstitutional after several mittee that has been investigat- legislators were found to have ing alleged irregularities in the misused the funds. purchase of medical items for Gordon was among the lawthe government’s COVID-19 re- makers implicated in the soby CatheRine

S. Valente ManilaTimes.net

called pork barrel scam.

In his public address on Tuesday, Duterte said he wants the Office of the Ombudsman to take cognizance of Gordon’s alleged failure to pay the P86 million he owes the government.

The disallowance was reportedly incurred during Gordon’s time as Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman from March 13, 1992 to June 30, 1998.

Duterte claimed that the Supreme Court ruling that ordered Gordon to return the funds is “final and executory.”

“So bakit kung senador ang may tama, walang nagagawa at ilang taon na to (Why is it that if senators are at fault, nothing is done to them even if years have passed)?” the President asked.

Duterte earlier said Gordon could be charged with malversation in connection with the unreturned money. n

Pope appoints Tagle to preside over French beatification

by RobeRtzon

RaMiRez

Philstar.com

MANILA — Former Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle was appointed by Pope Francis to preside over the beatification ceremony of Venerable Pauline-Marie Jaricot in Lyon, France in May next year, the Archdiocese of Manila reported on Thursday, October 21.

The Manila Archdiocese said that Jaricot’s beatification was made public by Gaëtan Boucharlat de Chazotte, secretary general of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in France.

Tagle is now prefect for the Congregation of the Evangelization of Peoples.

Jaricot was born in Lyons in 1799. She founded the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of Faith and the Association of Living Rosary. She was declared Venerable by Saint John XXIII on Feb. 25, 1963.

Beatification is a process guided by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

by Red

Mendoza ManilaTimes.net

WITH more health care workers resigning to work abroad or avoiding contracting the coronavirus disease 2019, the Philippines may lose many of its nurses in the next six months, the head of the country’s private hospital group warned on Tuesday, October 19.

Dr. Jose Rene de Grano of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHA) said that around 5 to10 percent of nurses in private hospitals resigned in the past two to three weeks, severely limiting the capacity of health institutions.

“Gusto ho nilang magwork sa ibang bansa; ‘yun ang kinakatakot natin (They want to work abroad; that is what scares us),” de Grano said during the Laging Handa briefing on Tuesday.

He added that with a more relaxed deployment of nurses to foreign countries, coupled with few nursing board passers to replace them, the country may experience a shortage of nurses that would severely impact admissions in hospitals.

“Kung wala po tayong mga tamang angkop na number na health care workers, medyo mapipilay po ang pagtanggap natin sa mga COVID cases (If

we do not have enough workers, our response to COVID cases will be severely affected),” de Grano said.

In an earlier interview with The Manila Times, he disclosed that the State of New York aims to hire more Filipino nurses to replace resigning health care workers over vaccine mandates being enforced by the state.

He said most international hospitals hire Filipino nurses from larger hospitals with ISO certification as they tend to be more experienced and more equipped with the skills needed in these facilities.

De Grano added that once these health care workers resign, hospitals will be forced to downsize their operations and not serve COVID-19 patients.

The Department of Health has reiterated that it has tapped the services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Fire Protection to augment health care workers in public and private hospitals while continuing its hiring of health care workers.

Moderate, severe cases up In the same briefing, de Grano said while hospitals are experiencing a decrease in the number of admissions and in the number of cases, the number of those with moderate, severe and critical cases has

increased as well.

“Kung makikita natin, tumaas po ang porsyento ng mga naku-confine, na ito po iyong moderate, severe and critical.

Lalo po iyong moderate at saka severe, medyo tumaas po eh, almost mga 12 percent po sila (The number of those getting confined is increasing, including those under moderate, severe and critical symptoms. Those moderate and severe had the highest increase at around 12 percent),” he noted.

De Grano reminded the public to continue observing minimum health protocols amid the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila) deescalating to Alert Level 3, where more establishments are being reopened.

Meanwhile, Dr. Guido David, OCTA Research senior fellow, said the reproduction number in the NCR has decreased to 0.55, its lowest since May 18, where it hovered at 0.56 In his tweet, David also said the seven-day average number of cases in the region is now at 1,411, close to the 1,367 daily average reported during that period where the reproduction number was low.

On Tuesday, the country reported 4,496 COVID-19 cases, its lowest since July 28, when it reported 4,478 cases, for a total of 63,637 active cases and 2.73 million total cases. n

IATF resolution basis for ‘no jab, no job’ – Bello

by Mayen JayMalin Philstar.com

MANILA — Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said on Thursday, October 21, certain establishments are allowed to require their workers to get vaccinated, based on a resolution issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force The Manila Archdiocese said that Jaricot’s beatification was made public by Gaëtan Boucharlat for the Management of Emergde Chazotte, secretary general of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in France.

Philstar photo by Miguel De Guzman ing Infectious Diseases (IATF), despite the absence of an enThe process starts with an cording to the archdiocese. abling law.

After the beatification, the intensive investigation of a de“The legal basis of restauceased person’s life, writings pope will give the person the ti- rants, spas and other similar and virtues, except in the cases tle “Blessed” if he/she meets all establishments (to require vacof martyrs, proof of one miracle the requirements and declare cination among employees) is worked by God through the that the person may be honored the resolution of the IATF,” said intercession of the person, ac- or venerated. n Bello, citing how these workers

are engaged in dining or inperson services.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), however, stressed that vaccination is not a requirement to gain employment, and it is discriminatory and illegal for employers to demand vaccination cards before hiring job applicants.

During the Laging Handa public briefing, Labor Undersecretary Ana Dione said, “The requirement that an employee must be vaccinated has no basis in law. That means, it cannot be imposed by companies.”

Likewise, an employer cannot terminate an employee for simply refusing to get vaccinat-

ed, Dione said.

“To cite unvaccinated as the basis of termination – it’s been said and repeated – that’s discrimination. If the termination is solely based on being unvaccinated, that’s illegal,” she said in Filipino.

The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) questioned the legality of the IATF resolution, which it claimed is contrary to the voluntary vaccination policy.

“The power of compulsory inoculation, especially if accompanied by penalties or sanctions like not giving work to enforce obedience or compliance, must have a legislative

u PAGE 7

OctOber 22-28, 2021 • SAN DIeGO ASIAN JOUrNAL

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OpiniOn

Questions on ‘ayuda’ distribution

Features

SINCE the multibillion-peso financial assistance or ayuda for the COVID pandemic was launched last year, anomalies have hounded the aid distribution.

There were complaints of favoritism, and provision of aid even to the wealthy.

There were problems with the list of beneficiaries.

As early as May last year, 134 barangay officials, mostly captains, faced criminal charges before the Department of Justice for various types of irregularities in ayuda distribution. Among the offenses were the collection of “processing fees” ranging from P50 to P1,000 from each recipient, and inclusion of unqualified relatives of barangay officials among the beneficiaries.

Despite the filing of criminal charges and suspension of those indicted, the aid anomalies have continued. Last August, for example, three barangay officials led by the captain together with a civilian were arrested in Manila on charges of stealing the P8,000 cash aid from two beneficiaries.

In the latest ayuda-related controversy, senators are questioning a contract awarded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development to what they described as a little known financial service provider to distribute about P50 billion worth of aid to over 1.89 million beneficiaries. The DSWD has defended

the award of the bulk of the contract to Starpay, saying it was one of just two FSPs accredited to do mixed manual and electronic payouts.

Senators wondered why bigger entities such as GCash, PayMaya and RCBC have fewer beneficiaries than Starpay, which was allotted up to seven million beneficiaries, each of which would be charged P50. Only 800,000 have downloaded the Starpay app as of last week, the senators said.

DSWD officials have said it was the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that selected the FSPs for the distribution of the social amelioration program. The department had to “recalibrate” after it turned out that many beneficiaries did not have contact numbers. Only Starpay and RCBC “signified” readiness to distribute the SAP to such beneficiaries, the DSWD explained.

Senators, on the other hand, urged the Bangko Sentral and investigative bodies to probe the deal with Starpay, a company that reportedly declared bankruptcy in 2019. Apart

Editorial

Philstar.com photo

from failing to fully distribute the aid, Starpay reportedly deposited the undisbursed amount in a private bank before it began returning the funds in installments to the DSWD, the senators

said. The country has struggled to deal with pandemic, and the government must ensure that aid distribution is efficient and aboveboard.

(Philstar.com)

Climate change: the next global challenge

Babe’s Eye View BaBe roMualdez AS the current chairman of the ASEAN Committee in Washington (ACW) an organization composed of ambassadors of ASEAN member-nations in Washington – we have organized a list of activities aimed at elevating the concerns of Southeast Asian nations and further strengthening the political and economic ties with the United States.

Last Wednesday, October 13, we chaired the ASEAN committee meeting at our embassy where we invited former State Secretary, now Special Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry, to discuss climate change and its inherent consequences affecting the world which could be equated with COVID-19.

Secretary Kerry gave us a rundown on what the U.S. wants to accomplish together with other countries – the reduction of carbon emissions and a commitment to phase out fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. President Biden has

pledged to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent (based on 2005 levels) by 2030, create a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and a net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.

According to Secretary Kerry, we have less than 10 years – by 2030 in fact – to get the world on the right path and avoid a potential climate catastrophe.

He believes we can reverse the dangerous warming of the planet by limiting the rise in our temperature to that level of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Secretary Kerry spoke about the upcoming 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland this November where leaders are expected to step up on their commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

Each country that signed up on the 2015 Paris Agreement committed to a target known as a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez, the chairpersondesignate of the Climate Change Commission, will be our representative to COP26, but perhaps

Secretary Teddy Locsin may be joining him at that important two-week summit with an estimated 30,000 delegates that include world leaders as well as scientists and environment advocates.

All eyes will be on the COP26 (which was postponed from last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic), acknowledged as the biggest and most important climate conference and dubbed by many as “the world’s best last chance” to keep the worst consequences of the climate crisis at bay.

A major factor in helping countries move forward in the goal to reduce their carbon footprint is new technology, such as “green hydrogen” using a chemical process that extracts hydrogen from water using electricity from renewable sources, which can be a replacement for fossil fuels. Secretary Kerry discussed opportunities for alternative sources of energy – green energy – which can be a driver in reversing the impact of global warming and climate change.

He mentioned the technology that develops small, modular nuclear reactors as sources

of renewable energy that require smaller investment capital plus greater scalability. In fact, Bill Gates – who authored “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” – founded TerraPower, an advanced nuclear innovation company that aims to develop carbon-free small modular reactors, the first of which will be built in an abandoned coal station in Wyoming.

Scientists have long been saying that nuclear energy can combat climate change because it is low carbon, and power plants do not emit greenhouse gases during operation. In the Philippines, one of the most passionate advocates of nuclear energy is former Pangasinan Congressman Mark Cojuangco, who has been calling for the revival of the Bataan nuclear power plant to boost the supply in Luzon and avert a power shortage as it could add 600 megawatts of reliable power.

Mark believes reviving the BNPP will help provide consumers with a stable source of electricity at a lower cost. He also cites NEDA estimates that the Philippines will need 13,000 megawatts of electricity to cope

‘We believe in Asia’

Street Talk GreG B. MacaBenta FOR over two months, I have been virtually half-blind and unable to do any writing. I’ve had my left eye treated by a cornea specialist for an infection. The last three weeks, I have been wearing an eye-patch. This week, thank God, Dr. Shaley Shah, my eye doctor, promised to remove the eye-patch. It was in anticipation of my full recovery that I labored over this piece with my one good eye (the patch has been removed and the infection is gone but it turns out that recovering my vision will take a while – oh well, c’est la vie!).

This has been the longest time that I have missed writing a weekly newspaper column, since my first piece came out in Business World over 33 years ago. I have rarely missed a deadline. The unbelievable – even ridiculous – extents to which I have resorted to meet my column deadlines would make a funny piece, I think. But that can wait.

At any rate, over the past weeks, I decided to go through my files. And I came upon a very interesting – almost prophetic – piece that I wrote in September 1982, more than 39 years ago.

“We Believe in Asia” was an ad in free verse that I wrote for the AMA Consolidated Group, of which I was president and CEO. It was for the souvenir program of the 13th Asian Advertising Congress in New Delhi, India.

My boss, Antonio R. de Joya, AMACon Group chairman and founding chairman of the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA), also planned to use it as the intro for his annual report on the federation at the Ad Congress.

Frankly, at the time, the piece sounded too much like hyperbolic rhetoric and hollow flagwaving. Here’s what Wikipedia had to say about that period: “The worst recession in half a century cast a shadow over the growth prospects of the developing countries of Asia and the Pacific. In 1981, many of these nations managed to maintain the tempo of economic progress, but 1982 brought a general slow-down in growth rates under the grim pressures of lingering recession, high interest rates and faltering export earnings because of slack demand and increasing protectionism in the industrialized countries.

The impact was felt not only in widespread development cutbacks and mounting fiscal imbalances but also by millions of people as unemployment rose and hardships worsened for the

region’s ragged legions of rural poor.”

Indeed, the economic prospects for Asia were not encouraging. One good sign, however, was that, China, long regarded as a “Sleeping Giant,” had begun to stir. With the death of Mao Tse Tung in 1976 and the growing power of Deng Xiaoping as paramount leader, China had begun to revive its entrepreneurial spirit. According to Wikipedia, “Deng led China through a series of far-reaching market-economy reforms, earning him the reputation as the ‘Architect of Modern China.’…

Under (Deng’s) leadership…

China underwent massive economic reforms. The Chinese economy became less centrally planned. It evolved into what Deng Xiaoping described in a 1984 speech as ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics.’”

Tony de Joya believed in Asia well before then.

At the 10th Asian Advertising Congress in Sydney, Australia in 1976, Tony had agreed to take on the challenge of formally organizing the incipient AFAA. This was achieved in 1978, at the 11th Asian Ad Congress in Manila. Tony was unanimously elected founding chairman.

In 1982, for the 13th Asian Ad Congress in New Delhi, Tony asked me to create the ad based on the theme, “We

Believe in Asia.” While I verbalized the theme, Tony de Joya was the visionary. But it was Deng Xiaoping who made it a reality. It turned out to be an impressive ad, designed by AMA’s executive art director Alejandro Serrano. Allow me to reprint the poem: We Believe in Asia Only a few decades ago, many of those who looked on Asia, Saw with barely seeing eyes; For they just saw jungles, untamed mountains, Endless stretches of undeveloped land; While we saw treasures yet untapped In the pristine wilderness, In the caverns and the bowels of the earth, In the soil that knows no equal in its wealth.

They only saw hungry billions gaping helpless at the sky, Mankind crawling out of wombs, just to die.

We saw a multitude of minds awakening, Hearts and sinews strengthening.

Venturing. Daring. Challenging the doom-songs that were sung.

They missed the structures of glass and steel; The huge machines that dig into the earth and reach up to the skies;

with the rising demand, and small modular reactors with a capacity of up to 300 megawatts could address this rising need in the electricity grid. This is something that we should continue to study and, hopefully, the next administration will seriously look at alternative sources of energy as the only way to go.

During our meeting with Secretary Kerry, I precisely asked him about his thoughts on nuclear energy. The secretary was very clear: he was a firm believer in nuclear energy. As I said, the United States is already developing a safe modular type of nuclear energy power plant that will be ultra-safe and can be easily installed in many countries. The U.S. plans to share this technology as soon as it is fully developed.

To this day, the impact of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) can still be felt, with people in low-lying coastal areas getting distressed every time strong rains start pouring. A few days ago, Severe Tropical Storm Maring (Kompasu) battered several provinces in northern Luzon, dumping more than a month’s worth of rain that sub-

merged many towns, with damage to agriculture estimated at P1 billion.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is a global concern, climate change is an “existentialist threat” that also poses the “greatest threat” to global public health, increasing the number of heat-related deaths and illnesses, causing a rise in infectious diseases and impacting the mental health of people, with lives and livelihoods lost due to droughts, floods, fires and other disasters.

As Secretary Dominguez noted, the pandemic is a problem – but climate change issues that we have faced and will continue to face will impact the next generation. Hopefully, leaders – especially those from the G20 economies – will deliver on their climate change commitments because the time to act is now, not tomorrow. (Philstar.com) ***

And they wondered if they would ever see them here.

But we saw the art and wisdom of the ages That first bore fruit upon these grounds And without which their structures and machines would not have been.

And now they have begun to see The promise we have always known; The jungles and the mountains baring wealth; The billions rising in a chorus of dreams being realized.

But they may never see enough And we shall reap more than they ever will For we believed, when they did not.

Remarkably, much of what I wrote have been realized. Asia, spearheaded by China, has become an economic powerhouse.

China is, in fact, set to overtake the United States, even in digital technology. While the U.S. has accused China of intellectual piracy, there are many aspects of digital technology and artificial intelligence where the former “sleeping giant” is making huge strides. And in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), South Korea, India, Japan, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Thailand and Taiwan are surging ahead of many countries in Europe.

You may ask, why isn’t the Philippines in the roster of Asia’s

economic tigers? Wasn’t there a time when the Philippines was an aggressive and progressive member of this pack – in fact, ahead of many of them? True.

But if Deng Xiaoping’s leadership spelled the difference for China, a series of failed leaders caused our country’s retrogression. This should caution us to choose more wisely and carefully in the coming presidential election.

If Tony de Joya were still alive, I would suggest writing a piece on the theme, “We Believe in the Philippines.” I sincerely believe this.

We just need to understand that what the Philippines needs is a leader with a vision. Not just profanity and bluster, or kleptomaniacal brilliance or pompous political rhetoric. And we must be prepared to back up that leader with the hard work and commitment of an awakened citizenry. Only then can we change the trajectory of our beloved Philippines.

We should prove that Rizal was wrong in his “Mi Ultimo Adios.” Our Patria Adorada does not deserve to be “nuestra perdido Eden.“

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.

*** Email: babeseyeview@gmail.com

*** The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff. *** (gregmacabenta@hotmail.com)

The views expressed by our Op-Ed contributors are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the predilection of the editorial board and staff of Asian Journal.

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MASSAGE THERAPY. Licensed massage therapist Helen Bandoy, 53, massages the left knee of Lilian Royo, 68, inside the Zabarte Town Center in Camarin, Caloocan City on Thursday, October 21. The movement of persons with personal care services, like massage therapy, is allowed at a maximum of 30% venue capacity with reasonable restrictions based on age and comorbidities to be determined by the local government units.

PNA photo by Ben Briones

IATF resolution basis for ‘no jab, no job’...

PAGE 5 mandate,” said FFW president Sonny Matula.

Matula argued that the IATF cannot bend the law by the mere issuance of a resolution.

Law needed A law may be needed to bar businesses from hiring unvaccinated persons, Malacañang said Thursday, as it expressed confidence in a faster vaccine rollout amid an adequate supply of jabs.

“Well, kinakailangan po siguro ng batas kung ipagbabawal iyong pagha-hire ng mga non-vaccinated individuals (Perhaps a law is needed to prohibit the hiring of non-vaccinated individuals),” presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said at a press briefing.

“We have proven that we can fast-track that (vaccination) because in Metro Manila, more than 80 percent have been vaccinated. Before, our problem was the supply. Now, we have a lot of supplies,” he said.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. previously said there would be no discrimination if an employer refuses to hire a person who is not yet inoculated against COVID-19. He pointed out that companies have the responsibility to protect their personnel and customers against health risks.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, however, recently said companies cannot reject unvaccinated applicants, citing the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021, which states that vaccine cards “shall not be considered as an additional mandatory requirement for educational, employment, and other similar government transaction purposes.”

‘It’s illegal’ Lawmakers disapprove In Congress, Deputy Speaker Eddie Villanueva stressed that the “no vaccine, no pay” policy reportedly practiced by some employers is not only unconstitutional but very “uncompassionate” and “ungodly.”

“While it has been made clear by the Department of Labor and Employment that such is illegal, I would like to add that, more importantly, such policy is devoid of compassion,” said Villanueva, a pastor and representative of the Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption party-list.

“Depriving laborers of salary they rightfully earned with sweat and blood is a spit on the face of human dignity and the dignity of work,” he

said. “CIBAC condemns the unlawful and ungodly practice.”

Another administration legislator, Rep. Eric Pineda of 1Pacman party-list who sits as chairman of the House committee on labor and employment, said “requiring a person to be vaccinated just so that they may be able to make a living is not right.”

“I don’t agree with the ‘no jab, no job’ policy.

I don’t believe that it should be forced upon our people. Restricting access to a livelihood on the basis of one’s choice not to be vaccinated is violative of their basic right to choose, their right to free will,” he said.

Palace reacts to IMF warning Meanwhile, Malacañang allayed the concern raised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has warned that the low vaccination rate in the Philippines would affect the economy.

“Well, that’s why we are fast-tracking the vaccination. More than 30 percent of the entire Philippines and more than 80 percent of Metro Manila have been vaccinated. We have enough supply and we expect the vaccination to be faster,” Roque said.

As of Oct. 20, about 24.88 million persons or 32.25 percent of the country’s eligible population have been fully vaccinated as 53.84 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered nationwide.

In Metro Manila, the country’s economic center, the vaccination rate is at 81.40 percent of the eligible population or about 7.96 million individuals.

Roque said the Duterte administration would deliver vaccines to Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and other provinces to raise the Philippines’ overall vaccination rate.

Asked to react to the proposal to impose vaccination quotas per province, Roque said the government’s pandemic task force need not tackle the matter.

“It is just an implementation of the vaccination program, only the NTF (National Task Force against COVID-19) can decide on that,” the Palace spokesman said.

The Duterte administration has raised its daily vaccination target from 500,000 to 1.5 million to achieve a “happy Christmas” this year. n

SAN DIEGO ASIAN JOURNAL • OctObER 22-28, 2021

OctOber 22-28, 2021 • SAN DIeGO ASIAN JOUrNAL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (619) 474-0588

LEGAL SERVICES

LEGAL SERVICES FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 2021-9021287

Pink Souvenirs of San Diego located at 1436 Oakdale Ave., El Cajon, CA 92021.

Registrant: Muhannad Naveed Kabiri, 1436 Oakdale Ave., El Cajon, CA 92021.

This business is conducted

by Individual.

REGISTRANT HAS BEGUN TO TRANSACT BUSINESS UNDER THE ABOVED NAME AS OF 09/23/2021.

Signature Muhammad Naveed Kabiri.

6WDWHPHQW ¿OHG ZLWK Recorder/County Clerk of San Diego County on 09/23/2021.

AJ 794 10/01, 10/08, 10/15, and 10/22/2021.

AJSD 794

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 2021-9021530

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 2021-9021739

a. Oceanside Smiles located at 3870 Mission Ave., Suite D4, Oceanside, CA 92058. b. Oceanside Smiles and Orthodontics located at 3870 Mission Ave., Suite D4, Oceanside, CA 92058.

Registrant: Andrew T Hoang Dental Corp., 3870 Mission Ave., Suite D4, Oceanside, CA 92058.

This business is conducted by Corporation.

REGISTRANT HAS NOT BEGUN TO TRANSACT BUSINESS UNDER THE ABOVED NAME. Signature Andrew Hoang.

6WDWHPHQW ¿OHG ZLWK Recorder/County Clerk of San Diego County on 09/29/2021.

AJ 800 10/08, 10/15, 10/22, and 10/29/2021 AJSD 800

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 2021-9022149

POOLSERV located at 5339 Camininto Mindy, San Diego, CA 92105.

Registrant: B&D S Service Inc, 5339 Camininto Mindy, San Diego, CA 92105.

This business is conducted

by Corporation.

REGISTRANT HAS BEGUN TO TRANSACT BUSINESS UNDER THE ABOVED NAME AS OF 09/14/2021.

Signature William John Zarek Jr. 6WDWHPHQW ¿OHG ZLWK Recorder/County Clerk of San Diego County on 09/26/2021.

AJ 796 10/01, 10/08, 10/15, and 10/22/2021.

a. My Situation Dating located at 5444 Roswell St., San Diego, CA 92114. b. www.mysituationdating. com located at 5444 Roswell St., San Diego, CA 92114.

Registrant: David Nathanael *ULI¿Q 5RVZHOO 6W 6DQ Diego, CA 92114.

This business is conducted

by Individual.

REGISTRANT HAS BEGUN TO TRANSACT BUSINESS UNDER THE ABOVED NAME AS OF10/04/2021.

6LJQDWXUH 'DYLG *ULI¿Q 6WDWHPHQW ¿OHG ZLWK Recorder/County Clerk of San Diego County on 1004/2021.

AJ 801 10/08, 10/15, 10/22, and 10/29/2021 AJSD 801

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 2021-9021531

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 2021-9022348

AJSD 796

Urban Bubble located at 325 S. Radio Dr., San Diego, CA 92114.

Registrant: PLSprinter LLC, 325 S. Radio Dr., San Diego, CA 92114.

This business is conducted

by Limited Liability Company.

REGISTRANT HAS BEGUN TO TRANSACT BUSINESS UNDER THE ABOVED NAME AS OF 09/26/2021.

Signature Lauren Thiemthath.

6WDWHPHQW ¿OHG ZLWK Recorder/County Clerk of San Diego County on 09/26/2021.

AJ 797 10/01, 10/08, 10/15, and 10/22/2021 AJSD 797

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 2021-9021303

Skyview Petroleum located at 7346 Skyline Drive, San Diego, CA 92114.

Registrant: Jamil Inc., 7346 Skyline Drive, San Diego, CA 92114.

This business is conducted by Corporation.

REGISTRANT HAS NOT BEGUN TO TRANSACT BUSINESS UNDER THE ABOVED NAME. Signature Khairy Jamil.

6WDWHPHQW ¿OHG ZLWK Recorder/County Clerk of San Diego County on 09/23/2021.

AJ 798 10/01, 10/08, 10/15, and 10/22/2021.

AJSD 798

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 2021-9020589

JCSN Accounting Service located at 1592 Tuscan Springs Ave., Chula Vista 91913.

Registrant: JCSN CORP, 1592 Tuscan Springs Ave., Chula Vista 91913.

This business is conducted by Corporation.

REGISTRANT HAS BEGUN TO TRANSACT BUSINESS UNDER THE ABOVED NAME AS OF 01/01/2021.

Signature Joana Crstina Lagrosa.

6WDWHPHQW ¿OHG ZLWK Recorder/County Clerk of San Diego County on 09/14/2021.

AJ 799 10/01, 10/08, 10/15, and 10/22/2021.

AJSD 799

a. A Plus Barber Studio located at 426 Broadway, Chula Vista, CA 91910.

Registrant: a. Algie Donald Creer JR., 500 Telegraph Canyon Road, Unit D, Chula Vista, CA 91910. b. Adrian John Haynes, 1560 Coronado Ave., Apt 29, San Diego, CA 92154.

This business is conducted

by Joint Venture.

REGISTRANT HAS NOT BEGUN TO TRANSACT BUSINESS UNDER THE ABOVED NAME. Signature Algie Donald Creer JR..

Statement filed with Recorder/County Clerk of San Diego County on 10/05/2021.

AJ 803 10/08, 10/15, 10/22, and 10/29/2021.

AJSD 803

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 2021-9022585

RecoverMe located at 3270 Greyling Dr., San Diego, CA 92123.

Registrant: MJS Holdings LLC, 3270 Greyling Dr., San Diego, CA 92123.

This business is conducted by Limited Liability Company.

REGISTRANT HAS NOT BEGUN TO TRANSACT BUSINESS UNDER THE ABOVED NAME. Signature Sak Sopheak.

6WDWHPHQW ¿OHG ZLWK Recorder/County Clerk of San Diego County on 10/07/2021.

AJ 804 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, and 11/05/2021.

AJSD 804

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 2021-9023234

Little Busy Ants Family Child Care located at 1918 Via Las Palmas Unit #20, National City, CA 91950.

Registrant: Leidy Viviana Penagos Torres, 1918 Via Las Palmas Unit #20, National City, CA 91950.

This business is conducted

by Individual.

REGISTRANT HAS NOT BEGUN TO TRANSACT BUSINESS UNDER THE ABOVED NAME. Signature Leidy Viviana Penagos Torres.

6WDWHPHQW ¿OHG ZLWK Recorder/County Clerk of San Diego County on 10/15/2021.

AJ 805 10/22, 10/29, 11/05, and 11/12/2021.

AJSD 805

CASE NUMBER: 37-2021-00040794-CU-PT-CTL

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EMPLOYMENT

LEGAL SERVICES

CASE NUMBER: 37-2021-00040665-CU-PT-CTL

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SAN DIEGO ASIAN JOURNAL • OctObER 22-28, 2021

Journal

O c tO b e r 22 , 2 0 2 1

ConCepCion: An immigrAnt FAmily’s Fortunes

‘History ripples into perpetuity’: FilAm author’s sprawling memoir weaves family history, migration, colonialism

by MoMar

G. Visaya / AJPress

uthor and BuzzFeed News inequality editor Albert Samaha’s second book Concepcion is his definitive love letter to his family, and the entire Filipino diaspora A by extension.

Samaha was born in Vallejo, went to Kindergarten in Manila, first through third grade in San Francisco, fourth grade in San Mateo, then middle school and high school in Sacramento. “I went to six different schools from Kindergarten to 8th grade, and having to keep adapting to those new environments and being constantly presented with the unfamiliar certainly shaped who I am today in ways I’m still untangling,” he told the Asian Journal in an earlier interview.

Photo shows Samaha reading excerpts from his book at a reading in Brooklyn sponsored by the Asian American Writers Workshop.

Photos from Twitter/@hanbae

The author on how the book’s central message evolved: While I had abstract notions about the book’s central message, I couldn’t conceive or sharpen my points until I equipped myself with knowledge I lacked. One of the most important ways the book evolved was in my fundamental conception of its point of view: While I initially thought of this book primarily as an immigration story, I came to see that the ideas I was developing were products of my second generation experience, and so I framed the history through that lens.

The book tells the personal journey of Samaha’s family leaving a comfortable life in Manila to start fresh in the United States and the author cleverly weaves the migration narrative into the colonial history of the Philippines along with that of Filipinos in America.

“If I have any single dream for the book, it’s that I hope enough people read it and are moved by it that it contributes to rolling back the oppressive rules by which our world operates, shrinking the gap between colonists and colonized, served and servers,” Samaha told the Asian Journal.

From a more practical perspective, he hopes the book helps people from immigrant diasporas better understand their place in the global age — and see themselves represented.

“I hope kids read it to frame the mythologies presented in their textbooks. I hope it helps Filipino Americans unaware of our history embrace our collective past and interrogate our impulse to assimilate. And, above all, I hope it inspires others to investigate their own family histories. As I note in the book, my family’s story is but one thread in a vast tapestry, and the more stories we record, the fuller our vision of the world,” he added.

Critics are raving, Publishers Weekly calls it “an extraordinary look at the freedoms and perils of making a new life in America” while Kirkus Reviews says it is

Albert Samaha and his mom, Lucy. He told us, “If there was anything I know I’ve learned from this process, it was about my own understanding of my privileges as the American-born child of immigrants and the duties that came with that: to push my country toward the ideals that lured my elders here.”

“an expansive view of Filipino history and the experiences of Filipino immigrants... that provides an intimate perspective on the legacy of colonialism.”

Samaha seamlessly blending multiple story arcs involving Philippine history, FilAm history in America and his own family’s immigrant journey makes Concepcion an interesting,

Samaha with his uncle Spanky Rigor of VST. “When I was young I knew he’d been in a well-known band called VST & Company, but had no sense of how famous he was,” Samaha shared. “I never thought to dig into that past -- which now feels a bit shameful.”

Photos courtesy of Albert Samaha

engaging, and compelling read.

How else would one explain getting the feels of an epic history lesson interspersed with an intimate family narrative, all in one chapter?

Concepcion is his mom’s family name, and it’s the name that links the main characters in the story: from his grandparents and uncles, aunties to his cousins.

The second-generation FilAm read more than 50 books, dozens of research papers, and hundreds of pages of primary source documents just to learn the ins and outs of the history he hoped to explore in the book.

His initial plan was to complete all the research before he started writing, only to realize within a

u PAGE 10

10

OctOber 22-28, 2021 • SAN DIeGO ASIAN JOUrNAL

Health@Heart PhiliP S. Chua, MD, FaCS, FPCS DO people need (is it safe) to be vaccinated against COVID-19?

The almost 6.5 billion COVID-19 vaccines given have shown the vaccines are safe and effective.

The massive global deaths are a compelling proof we all need the vaccines. The majority of COVID-19 deaths in the United States, the Philippines and other nations were from among those who refused the vaccines, which is the reason it has been referred to as “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

When dealing with a disease like COVID-19 we must think like scientists and deal with evidencebased clinical data, and not listen to and be misled by ignorant civil rights agitators, spineless selfserving politicians, or purveyors of dangerous misinformation in social media. For our electrical problems at home, who would we believe, plumbers or electricians?

Riskier than Mount Everest Before making a choice, we must first be adequately informed of the facts – not myths, not lies – and be able to do the analysis and the math ourselves. For example: Around 750,000 in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 and about 7,900 died after receiving the vaccines (many of them were not directly caused by the vaccine itself). So, which one is the more likely to kill people, COVID-19 or the vaccines?

More precisely, the risk of taking the vaccines is only a fraction of 1 percent (0.0105%), compared to the 10-20 percent risk of dying from COVID-19. Getting the vaccines is at least 90 times safer than getting COVID-19. The risk from COVID-19 is said to be greater than the risk of climbing Mount Everest. Getting the vaccines is obviously the wiser/safer choice! A no-brainer, even for a 5th grader.

What we now know The scientific facts we know today about COVID-19 (the deadliest pandemic in American history), which started in China in December 2019, are as follows: 1. Masking (covering both nose and mouth) and social distancing greatly reduce the transmission of the virus, which could also be spread in aerosol mode (virus flying in the air) and not only by droplet infection (breathing, talking, sneezing, shouting, coughing, singing). The trajectory could be 20 feet or more, depending on the airflow. The spread is greatly minimized with 6 feet of social distancing. Cloth masks, even the expensive designer ones, are not as protective as the KN95 masks.

2. Wearing a mask, even for hours does not cause harm. It is best to mask up, do social distancing, and avoid crowds, even after a booster shot, until this pandem-

Booster shot? ic is over.

3. Governors, judges, and others who are against a vaccine mandate or who mandated against social distancing or masking are doing a great disservice to the public. Their arrogant un-medical harmful advocacies have caused preventable miseries and countless deaths, with some victims being children. Albeit not malicious, their reckless actions could lead to potential lawsuits. One person is enough to transmit a killer virus to millions. How do you think did the one person in Wuhan infected

by SARS-CoV2 virus lead to the 242 million cases and have killed close to 5 million around the world (nearly 46 million cases and about 750,000 deaths in the U.S. alone)? Indeed, one person can cause a pandemic within days in our shrunken world today where one could have breakfast in Las Vegas and dinner in Paris on the same day.

4. The unvaccinated are at the greatest risk to get COVID-19.

When infected, they have more severe symptoms and are six times more likely to die, compared to those who have been fully vaccinated, and especially to those with a booster shot. Trying to get infected in order to get natural immunity is insane. Remember the famous personalities who were against the vaccines and ended up getting infected and died? They regretted their previous dangerous advocacy, and before they died, they urged everyone to get vaccinated. They did not survive to benefit from natural immunity.

5. Natural immunity is not as good, not as stable, and long-lasting when compared to immunity from the vaccines. Natural immunity (without vaccination) will NOT protect the unvaccinated from getting infected AGAIN by a newer variant! Those who have recovered should still get vaccinated to get 2-tiered immunity, greater protection than those who had the two shots but did not get infected.

6. Vaccine effectiveness wanes after 6 months. Those vaccinated need the booster shot, which will “boost” their antibody titer 8-10 times higher. The FDA says mix-and-match boosters are safe.

Without the booster, they could still get breathrough COVID-19 infection, like the one that killed former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had the 2 shots.

7. Vaccines for children 5-11 are here. The new anti-COVID-19 pills will be a game changer. More are in the pipeline. Monoclonal antibodies have saved countless lives.

COVID-19 vaccines and the flu shot (for the winter’s twin-demic) may be given at the same time, just like children getting their multiple shots for school.

A deadly delay The COVID-19 pandemic is being prolonged by the 20 percent of Americans who refuse the vaccines. Their bodies are acting as

a huge reservoir where the virus continuously replicate and mutate to more severe (and deadlier) strains. They will spread the virus around exponentially, possibly making it necessary someday for people to need annual COVID-19 vaccination, like the annual flu shot.

Medically speaking, only a federally-mandated COVID-19 vaccination (like children’s legal school vaccination requirements today) could fully eradicate this deadly virus. Vaccines ended Polio 65 years ago. Smallpox and various other infectious diseases are practically gone, thanks to vaccines. But abuse of freedom, political correctness, and cancel culture today are standing in the way. In a democracy, national societal interest and safety must always prevail over individual civil rights.

Think about this: Would you allow people who have active tuberculosis or any deadly infectious disease and who refuse treatment (as their constitutional right) to spread the disease and kill thousands? Would a federal mandate to compel these patients to get treatment to protect the public not be justified?

A single individual is enough to perpetuate this pandemic. Why then allow the 20 percent (about 60 million) who refuse the vaccines to hold the majority (260.8 million) of Americans hostage, forcing the 80 percent to face a lingering nightmare and potential death, not to mention a national economic disaster, simply because the unvaccinated are wrongfully invoking the freedom of (a bad) choice that kills? Is this just? Any choice that endangers the lives of others is not the kind of freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.

How many thousands more deaths are we waiting for before we do the right thing? *** The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff. *** The main objective of this column is to educate and inspire people live a healthier lifestyle to prevent illnesses and disabilities and achieve a happier and more productive life. Any diagnosis, recommendation or treatment in our article are general medical information and not intended to be applicable or appropriate for anyone. This column is not a substitute for your physician, who knows your condition well and who is your best ally when it comes to your health. *** Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, a Health Advocate, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. Websites: FUN8888.com, Today.

SPSAtoday.com, and philipSchua.com; Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com.

Carla, Tom charm in Batangas prenup shoot CARLA Abellana and Tom Rodriguez exuded the joys of a countryside romance in their prenup shoot in Batangas, as they prepare for their upcoming wedding.

The celebrity couple’s prenup portraits were shown by wedding photographer Pat Dy and other members of his team on their respective Instagram pages on Wednesday, Oct. 20.

According to photographer Nelwin Uy, the photos were taken in San Juan, Batangas.

Abellana donned a white, long-sleeved lace dress paired with gloves and a ribboned sun hat, while Rodriguez looked dashing in a beige suit.

“It’s always about finding that sweet spot (photographywise) that’s appropriate for my couples,” Dy explained. “This time, a much lighter mood with Tom and Carla for their engage-

Carla Abellana and Tom Rodriguez Photo from Instagram/@patdy

ment shoot.”

The couple’s prenup photos also featured them in laidback outfits as they walked around and lay on the grass in what appears to be a garden.

Abellana wore a printed brown dress with white heeled boots and Rodriguez donned a gray button-down shirt paired with black pants.

Rodriguez proposed to Abellana in October last year. They announced their engagement last March. The couple has been in a relationship since 2014, after meeting through the TV show “My Husband’s Lover.”

Abellana and Rodriguez plan to get married at Madre de Dios Chapel in Talisay, Batangas, this month, as per wedding banns released by the local parish.

While waiting for her wedding day, Abellena received a “wholesome” bachelorette treat from fellow celebrities earlier this month. The gathering was arranged with the help of her co-stars in the GMA series “To Have and to Hold.” (By Dana Cruz/Inquirer.net) n

Wells Fargo donates $1M for California wildfire relief and recovery efforts Support benefits first responders, evacuees, critical services, and longer-term community needs

WELLS Fargo & Company on Thursday, October 21 announced it is donating a combined $1 million to five nonprofit organizations in California to address immediate and long-term disaster relief, response, and recovery efforts in communities impacted by this wildfire season.

Grants to American Red Cross, California Fire Foundation, Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society, United Way Northern California, and North Valley Community Foundation (NVCF) will help provide food, clothing, shelter, small business needs, and supplies, as well as support for injured firefighters.

“Wells Fargo is committed to help our neighbors impacted by wildfires rebuild their lives, businesses, livelihoods, and communities,” said Jim Foley, executive vice president of the Pacific region, Wells Fargo. “We are grateful to the organizations working tirelessly to help our communities recover, and we hope this $1 million donation will bolster their efforts.”

This year’s wildfires have burned nearly two and a half million acres of California’s landscape, damaged or destroyed more than 3,600 structures, and has claimed lives.

“We are extremely thankful for Wells Fargo’s generous donation to our Foundation,” said Rick Martinez, executive director of the California Fire Foundation. “As the need for the California Fire Foundation’s programs continues to grow, especially given the recent unprecedented wildfires, its support and generosity make a tremendous difference to California firefighters, their families, and the communities they protect.”

United Way of Northern California President & CEO Larry Olmstead added, “Wildfires in the North State are increasingly affecting populated sectors in our rural areas, creating a need for increased support to communities that are already lacking in infrastructure and services. Particularly impacted are our indigenous tribal, Hmong and Latino pop-

u PAGE 11

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Kylie: ‘Pass divorce bill’

by Nika

Roque ManilaTimes.net

HOURS after her ex-husband Aljur Abrenica’s Facebook post about their split went viral, Kylie Padilla took to her social media pages to respond.

On Instagram, Padilla posted a quote from Rihanna: “Never underestimate a man’s ability to make you feel guilty for his mistakes.”

Kylie Padilla

Photo from Instagram/@kylienicolepadilla

She also took to Twitter (@kylienicolep) to state, “#passdivorcebill”.

Abrenica’s post continues to make the rounds on social media on Wednesday, with 453,000 reactions, 335,000 comments and 202,000 shares as of this writing.

Abrenica wrote: “Kylie, please tell them the truth. Don’t hide and disguise your comments, statements for your own gain. Tell them who cheated first. Tell them who wrecked our family.

Tell them why I gave up on you, not on our family. The people deserve to know. I have no hate for them despite all the attacks and accusations they have towards me.”

The ex-couple started dating in 2011. They broke up in 2014. They got back together in 2016 and got engaged in 2017. That same year, they had a son named Alas. Abrenica and Padilla got married in 2018 and had another son named Axl in 2019.

The actress’ father, Robin Padilla, confirmed on Ogie Diaz’s vlog in July that the couple separated because Abrenica had an affair.

The actress said that they had officially separated in April and that they both agreed to date other people.

Actress AJ Raval confirmed that Abrenica is courting her but emphasized that she was not the third party behind the separation. n

Jayda’s music video snags New York win

SINGER-songwriter Jayda Avanzado’s first foray in directing her own music video has proven a success. Made for her single “Paano Kung Naging Tayo?” not only was it a hit among her fans, but it won the Best Music Video award on the International Film Festival Manhattan 2021 in New York.

Avanzado was ecstatic when she announced the good news on social media, admitting she hardly expected to win as a newbie.

“I’m over the moon to announce that ‘Paano Kung Naging Tayo?’ has won Best Music Video at the International Film Festival Manhattan 2021!

Never would’ve seen it coming that my directorial debut into the world of music video directing would be recognized as my first win in a category like this,” she wrote on Instagram.

Avanzado, who also sang the song, starred in the music video along with actor Rhys Miguel.

She collaborated with Edrex Sanchez in directing the video.

“My co-direk @edrexclyde, we did it rekdi!! Thank you for guiding me, collaborating, and being with me throughout this whole process! Not to mention for also helping and allowing me to grow as a creator whenever we work together! I appreciate you,” the singer added.

“You and I both know how much this project means to the both of us. I won’t forget our

The music video for Jayda’s hit single ‘Paano Kung Naging Tayo?’ was released on Valentine’s Day this year.

Photo from Instagram/@jayda

very emotional session editing Released on Valentine’s Day this one.” this year, “Paano Kung Naging Jayda further thanked ABS- Tayo?” counts over a million CBN Star Music and Miguel for views on YouTube as of press being part of the music video’s time. major success. “I say this time Jayda is the only daughter and time again, but it’s really of OPM stars Jessa Zaragoza true that this is your award just and Dingdong Avanzado. as much as it is ours.”

(ManilaTimes.net) n

‘History ripples into perpetuity’...

PAGE 9 few months that the breadth of information he was gathering “was far too massive to digest all at once — plus, I was restless to start putting words to the scenes and ideas bouncing around in my head.”

Thus, he ended up writing one page, one section at a time.

Once he had all the elements he needed for one section, he would start to write and build up the chapter.

He admits he initially struggled with the structure, braiding together two timelines. The first began with his grandmother Caridad’s arrival in the US in 1978, the other that stretched back to his ancestors on precolonial Mindanao and chronicled the path that led to their family’s exodus from the Philippines.

Trying a bunch of different arrangements and combinations, Samaha added the secondgeneration experience, the lens that he was looking into. He also opted for short chapters that quickly jumped back and forth in time, but that muddled the core ideas and felt like laying out a bunch of dots without enough lines connecting them.

Eventually, it became clear to him, with help from many conversations with his editor Becky Saletan, that one of the central messages in the book is that “history ripples into perpetuity, the events of the past forever shaping the basic tenets of our reality.”

“To show how past and present are linked, I decided to build longer chapters that paired a segment from each timeline under a shared theme — for instance, weaving the experiences of migrant Filipino workers in 1930s northern California with my cousin’s upbringing in 1990s Vallejo, California, to show how American definitions of race dictate opportunities,” he shared.

“This structure posed its own challenges: how did the puzzle pieces best fit together, with chronology in order and the themes aligned? I’d print out early drafts and cut out sections with scissors so I could move the parts around on my living room floor until I eventually came to the arrangement that you see in

the book.”

Asked if there was a specific moment that inspired him to come up with the book, Samaha said that the inspiration accumulated over time.

Looking back, he thinks he first gained a vague inkling that he wanted to better understand his family history when he visited his granduncle Tomas in Italy in 2009 after former Philippine president Corazon Aquino died. He was in college and writing about his role in the People Power revolution for a Filipino community newspaper in California.

Even before that, however, he had been curious about his roots, that over the following years he began to ask his elders more questions about their respective migrations.

“Then one day in 2016, when I was back in the Bay Area visiting family and contemplating the struggles my elders faced, I was suddenly struck by the impulse to promote my curiosities into a specific project — to build the stories I was hearing into a single, cohesive narrative,” he said.

As a journalist, he had exclusively been telling the stories of others, but deep within him he knew he had a story to tell as well.

“The more I learned about my family’s history, the more I realized that it was so fascinating to me because I so rarely encountered books or shows or movies that presented experiences that reflected our own, even fewer exploring the second generation perspective I carried. That revelation convinced me that our story was worth sharing,” he added.

He then embarked on this project with a question he didn’t know the answer to: “Were my elders’ immigrant sacrifices worth the price they paid?”

He was deeply fascinated by his Uncle Spanky Rigor’s career as a rockstar and one of the founding members of the pioneering ‘70s disco band VST & Company, and his choice to leave it all behind. Rigor worked as a baggage handler at San Francisco International Airport for almost 30 years, since he immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines.

When Samaha last visited the

Philippines in April 2017, he went with his mom, for an essay he wrote about President Rodrigo Duterte later. His mom grew up in Manila, though her parents are from northern Mindanao.

His dad is from Beirut and currently lives there. The couple met on an airplane. His mom was a flight attendant, his dad was a passenger.

“They separated when I was young. I lived with my mom in California, but saw my dad at least once a year, and much more often in recent years. I grew up around my mom’s side, so culturally I felt full Filipinx growing up,” he told Asian Journal in an earlier interview.

As a journalist, Samaha said he was accustomed to the struggle of finding critical sources and digging up enough puzzle pieces to stitch together a truthful story.

This project posed an opposite challenge.

“I had easy access to the relatives I was writing about and had no trouble compiling a vast trove of material, from interviews and recollections — but what to omit?” he asked.

Certainly not the fact that Albert’s mother is ultra-religious and a Trump supporter, or that she had to go through financial trouble years ago.

Samaha shared that some relatives were more forthcoming than others.

“My family, like a lot of Filipino families love to chismis, to talk and gossip about one another. I learned how to tell stories from my mom, from my family. We were always talking,” he said at a book reading in Brooklyn last week. “A lot of our friends, even some of our relatives don’t know some of the details revealed in the book.”

His initial reaction when he saw the book for the first time?

“Sheer joy, man. Just sheer joy. And relief. A big weight off the shoulders. And immense, personal pride.”

“This project took me five years and has been on my mind for much longer. To see my family’s name there on the front of a hardcover — it brought me to tears and all I could think about was how excited I was to show my mom and aunties and uncles and cousins,” he said. n

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SAN DIEGO ASIAN JOURNAL • OctObER 22-28, 2021

Amazon impersonators: what you need to know

HAS Amazon contacted you to confirm a recent purchase you didn’t make or to tell you that your account has been hacked? According to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) new Data Spotlight, since July 2020, about one in three people who have reported a business impersonator scam say the scammer pretended to be Amazon.

These scams can look a few different ways. In one version, scammers offer to “refund” you for an unauthorized purchase but “accidentally transfer” more than promised. They then ask you to send back the difference. What really happens?

The scammer moves your own money from one of your bank accounts to the other (like your savings to checking, or vice versa) to make it look like you were refunded. Any money you send back to “Amazon” is your money (not an overpayment) — and as soon as you send it out of your account, it becomes theirs. In another version of the scam, you’re told that hackers have gotten access to your account — and the only way to supposedly protect it is to buy gift cards and share the gift card number and PIN on the back. Once that information is

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theirs, the money is, too.

Here are some ways to avoid an Amazon impersonator scam: • Never call back an unknown number. Use the information on Amazon’s website and not a number listed in an unexpected email or text.

• Don’t pay for anything with a gift card. Gift cards are for gifts. If anyone asks you to pay with a gift card – or buy gift cards for anything other than a gift, it’s a scam.

• Don’t give remote access to someone who contacts you unexpectedly. This gives scammers easy access to your personal and financial information—like access to your bank accounts.

Have you spotted this scam? Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

If you think someone has gotten access to your accounts or personal information, visit IdentityTheft.gov. There, you’ll find steps to take to see if your identity has been misused, and how to report and recover from identity theft.

(Maria Mayo/Acting Associate Director, Division of Consumer Response and Operations, FTC) n

SFIO’s The Global Academy in partnership with FPACC aims to guide businesses in their journey Wells Fargo donates $1M for... of digital transformation THE existence of the COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for almost two years, forcing the world to live in a “new normal.” Due to the constant lockdowns, businesses have been forced to close their doors under lockdown restrictions that have put most entrepreneurs in very difficult situations.

To sustain the business, entrepreneurs have had to stay ahead of the curve, make necessary changes, and be creative during the pandemic – critical actions they have needed to do for their businesses to pull through.

Undoubtedly, technology has been a great help for the business to stay afloat; some businesses have performed even better than before with the support of technology. Most of the businesses moved online to protect their cash flow, their businesses, their staff and themselves. SFIO’s “The Global Academy” (TGA) headed by its CEO, Jonathan Petalver, is proud to present a new partnership with the Federation of Philippine American Chamber of Commerce (FPACC) to build business leaders and digital entrepreneurs.

The establishment of a new relationship with FPACC is to support its thrust to develop business owners’ mindset to stay ahead in this new digital economy. Transitioning into a new way of running a business has always been a challenge. The academy teaches business owners how to utilize their products with an improved process and digitalize it through a suitable platform, shortening the time of trials and lessening the failures as theyt embark on their digital business. We know the pain of going through the transition period.

Hence, we would like to enable our kababayans to have a solid foundation in operating a digital business in the long term.

The course is sponsored by SFIO and SAM.

The strategic learning provider, The Global Academy New Zealand, will provide coaching and training about digitalizing the product, process and platform. The coaching session will equip business owners with ways to thrive and stay ahead by transforming their business organizations digitally in this new economy. The course of digital business will guide them from product to process and eventually to operate their businesses on different digital platforms to stay competitive in this new business and economic environment.

There are new strategies and practices required as most consumers move dramatically to online platforms nowadays. Digital transformation will be the core element to stabilize the business operation in the future. SFIO aims to create futurereadiness and resilience for entrepreneurs, while TGA sets out to reset, reboot and reprogram the mindsets of FPACC members to be well-prepared entrepreneurs and welcome the ultimate “new normal” of reopening for future business.

SFIO has gone through the same process of digital transformation which enabled it to become a global leader. Throughout the program designed

by TGA, we are confident that our business owners will be trained with strong foundations to be able to operate a steady digital version of sustainable business. TGA equips them through business coaching to stay ahead and thrive amidst this COVID-19 pandemic.

TGA is looking for Strategic Entrep Coaches to reach out to as many kababayans for 2022. This is to raise interest for those who already became successful in the U.S. and would like to be part of TGA globally.

(Advertising Supplement)

PAGE 10 ulations and the rural poor. As United Way works on the ground to support individuals and grassroots agencies involved in wildfire recovery, we salute Wells Fargo for its commitment to help ensure resources are made available to promote equity in the delivery of disaster services.”

Additionally, the grant will support the business resilience efforts of entrepreneurs whose small businesses were destroyed or affected by the wildfires.

“Wells Fargo’s support will enable us to connect and support a network of small businesses and community stakeholders to support each other during recovery and to build resilience to future disasters, while accessing the myriad resources made available post-disaster,” said Dr. Lucy Jones, founder and chief scientist of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society.

NVCF president and CEO Alexa Benson-Valavanis expressed the importance of collaboration: “Wells Fargo showed up in such a significant way after the Camp Fire with a multimillion-dollar commitment that helped to jump-start our regional recovery.

They have walked beside our region every day since then. This new charitable investment will help immensely to quickly and meaningfully address the hardships we face when disasters hit.

We are so fortunate to have Wells

Fargo as a partner in recovery.

They are a company we trust and depend on.”

Wells Fargo is also committed to providing support to customers, clients and employees affected by California wildfires, including suppressing, waiving, or reversing certain fees, such as late fees. Payment assistance and disaster relief options require that customers contact us.

Customers who want to discuss their financial needs should call

800-219-9739. For up-to-date information on branch status, customers can visit our branch locator website.

Customers may make donations to the American Red Cross via Wells Fargo Online® and in the Wells Fargo Mobile® app with Zelle®**, 1. Donations will go toward Red Cross Disaster Relief to prepare for, respond to, and help people recover from disasters big and small.

(Wells Fargo Release) n

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OctOber 22-28, 2021 • SAN DIeGO ASIAN JOUrNAL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (619) 474-0588