OCTOBER 23-26, 2021 Volume 31 - No. 84 • 2 Sections – 18 Pages
CDC endorses boosters for Moderna and J&J vaccines by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
UNITED States residents can now get booster shots of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) endorsed its advisory committee’s recommendation. CDC director Rochelle Walensky on Thursday, October 21, signed off on the recommendation, a day after the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the booster doses. “These recommendations
DATELINE
are another example of our fundamental commitment to protect as many people as possible from COVID-19,” she said in a statement. “The evidence shows that all three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States are safe – as demonstrated by the over 400 million vaccine doses already given. And, they are all highly effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even in the midst of the widely circulating Delta variant,” she added. Earlier, the CDC’s Advisory
USA
FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
Husband of missing Fil-Am mom in CA pleads not guilty THE husband of a missing Filipina American mother in California has pleaded not guilty to her murder. Larry Millete entered the plea on Thursday, October 21, during his arraignment at the courthouse in Chula Vista. He was accused of murdering his wife, May “Maya” Millete who has been missing since the beginning of January this year. He was also charged with possession of a semiautomatic rifle prohibited under California’s assault weapons ban. According to NBC San Diego, the trial began nearly 40 minutes after its scheduled start at 1:30 p.m., and lasted no more than 10 minutes. Larry was accompanied by his lawyer, Bonita Martinez, who waived a reading of
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Contrasting fates for Fil-Ams Clarkson, Green in NBA season debuts IT was a mixed bag of results for the two NBA players of Filipino heritage, Jordan Clarkson and Jalen Green, in their respective season openers on Wednesday, October 20. Clarkson, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, picked up where he left off for the Utah Jazz in their 107-86 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was among six Jazz players who finished in double-digit scoring in the dominant win that saw them control the game the whole 48 minutes. At one point, they led the Thunder by as much as 26 points. Clarkson finished with 18 points on an efficient 6-of-11 shooting. His scoring was second only to Bojan Bogdanovic, who scattered 22. Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert had 16 points each. Gobert also grabbed 21 rebounds to open the season with a double-double.
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Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) unanimously voted to support COVID-19 vaccine boosters. The panel recommended a third dose of the Moderna vaccine at least six months after an individual received the second shot. The booster is recommended for those 65 and older, or 18 and older if they’re at high risk for severe COVID-19, or their jobs or living conditions put them at high risk of exposure to the virus. Meanwhile, the second dose of
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PFIZER VAX ARRIVAL. NTF Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Heather Variava, Health Director Ariel Valencia, and Health Undersecretary Ma. Carolina Vidal-Taiño do the “V” sign during the arrival of 813,150 doses of government-procured Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine via Air Hong Kong LD456 at the NAIA Terminal 3, Pasay City on Thursday, October 21. Variava said another two million doses of the U.S.-made vaccines will arrive in the Philippines on the last week of October. PNA photo by Avito Dalan
‘A disgrace to our community’: Fil-Ams lament the failed San Pedro Filipino festival that promised so much but delivered nothing — literally
The highly anticipated FAHMFest was canceled without notifying ticket buyers before the event’s scheduled start by KLARIZE
MEDENILLA AJPress
EVERY October, Filipino American community leaders pull out all the stops for celebrations for Filipino American History Month. Music and culture festivals, like those honoring Filipino artistry and talent, are massive gatherings that mark Filipino American History Month (or FAHM) — which is celebrated every October to commemorate the first known arrival of Filipinos in Morro Bay on Oct. 18, 1587 — and bring together
Fil-Ams across all walks of life. Festivals like these are also meant to introduce Filipino Americans, who perhaps weren’t in touch with the culture, to the eddy of languages, music, food, fashion, and customs that make up the Filipino American and Philippine cultures. One such Fil-Am is Bobby Hermoso, from Arcadia, California, who was excited to finally experience for himself all the offerings that the month usually provides. “With all the stuff happening with violence against Asians, I thought it was important to finally
LA County reports largest increase in anti-Asian hate crimes since 9/11
get in touch with my Filipino culture and identity,” Hermoso told the Asian Journal in a phone interview, adding that both his parents are immigrants from Cebu, Philippines. Hermoso had never attended “a proper Filipino American event” (during Fil-Am History Month or otherwise) outside of family parties, but he was excited for the hyped-up, highly anticipated FAHMFest that was scheduled for the third weekend of October in San Pedro, California very near the historic Port of Los Angeles. u PAGE A3
2020 saw a 76% increase in anti-Asian hate incidents and crimes in LA County, ‘the capital of Asian America’ by KLARIZE
MEDENILLA AJPress
In 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes increased by a whopping 76% in Los Angeles County, according to a new county report that parallels the troubling trend of increased verbal and physical harassment against Asians in cities, counties and states across the country. The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations (LACCHR), which has
been collecting hate crime data since the 1980s, found that the 76% increase — from 25 reported crimes to 44 crimes — was the largest reported since 2001. Three-quarters of those incidents involved physical violence (which alone increased President Rodrigo Duterte by 58% since 2018), including a report in which a Chinese man who was waiting for a bus was the target of xenophobic insults and three punches to the face by a white woman.
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PAL urges ‘no facility quarantine protocol’ for fully vaccinated passengers from N. America by MIGUEL
R. CAMUS
Inquirer.net
MANILA — Philippine Airlines (PAL) is calling for the removal of quarantine stays in an accredited hotel or other designated facilities for fully vaccinated passengers arriving from North America. Dexter Lee, PAL chief strategy and planning officer, said the flag carrier was working with Presidential Adviser Joey Concepcion and OCTA Research group on the proposal, adding this was now being evaluated by the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF). “Our suggestions have received positive
feedback and [these are] now with the IATF technical working group for further deliberation,” Lee said in a statement on Thursday, October 21. The proposed “no facility quarantine protocol” will cover returning Filipino tourists and those allowed to travel to the Philippines, such as current and former Filipino citizens and foreign spouses of Filipino nationals residing in North America, including Canada and the United States. Currently, passengers arriving from North America are subjected to a minimum six-day facility-based quarantine, with RTPCR testing conducted on the fifth day.
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Malacañang photo by Simeon Celi
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 21page information table on over 50 cases of deaths during police antidrug 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 responsible 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 u PAGE A3