121219 - Las Vegas Edition

LAS VEGAS

We’ve got you covered from Hollywood to Broadway... and Online!

DECEMBER 12-18, 2019 Volume 30 - No. 50 • 16 Pages

T H E F I L I P I N O –A M E R I C A N C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R

2770 S. Maryland Pkwy., Suite 201 Las Vegas, NV 89109 Tel: (702) 792-6678 • Fax: (702) 792-6879

Also published in LOS ANGELES, ORANGE COUNTY/INLAND EMPIRE, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY

DATELINE

USA

Duterte to lift martial law in Mindanao

FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

Fil-Am California prosecutor Patrick Bumatay confirmed to the Ninth Circuit The Trump nominee becomes the first Filipino American to serve on a federal appeals court

THE United States Senate on Tuesday, December 10 voted to confirm a President Donald Trump-nominated Filipino American prosecutor to the largest appeals court in the country.

As the first Filipino American and second openly gay federal appeals court judge, Patrick J. Bumatay’s confirmation is historic. Originally nominated for the U.S. District Court for the

u PAGE 3

Fil-Am federal prosecutor Patrick J. Bumatay Department of Justice photo

by RITCHEL

MENDIOLA AJPress

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will no longer ask the Congress to extend martial law in Mindanao, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Tuesday, December 10.

According to him, a security President Rodrigo Duterte chats with an officer of the Armed Forces of assessment showed “the weakthe Philippines Council of the Sergeants Major during the Thanksgiving ening of the terrorist and exgathering he hosted at the Malacañang Palace on Tuesday, December 10. tremist rebellion” in Mindanao Malacañang photo by Alfred Frias

through the arrest and killing of leaders of local terror groups.

“The Palace is confident in the capability of our security forces in maintaining the peace and security of Mindanao without extending martial law,” said Panelo in a Palace briefing.

“The people of Mindanao are assured that any incipient major threat in the region would be nipped in the bud,” he added.

Defense Secretary Delfin

Lorenzana earlier said he was no longer inclined to recommend extending martial law and called for a tougher anti-terrorism law instead, saying it would be a better arrangement than martial law.

Meanwhile, Drieza Lininding, chair of the Marawi-based Moro Consensus Group, said the announcement was “ long overdue but a welcome development.”

u PAGE 2

Water firms to drop P10.8billion compensation claim

by RITCHEL

MENDIOLA AJPress

THE country’s two biggest water concessionaires announced Tuesday, December 10, that they are no longer seeking to collect more than P10 billion in compensation claims from the government after President Rodrigo Duterte accused them of economic sabotage and threatened to jail them.

“We are willing to cooperate and negotiate with the government, and we will not implement as well the rate increases come January 2020. We will also coordinate with the leadership of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS),” said Jose Rene Almendras, president and chief executive officer of the Ayala Group’s Manila Water at the joint hearing of the House committees on good government and on public accountability.

“We’ll follow the wishes of the President, we’re responding to the call of President Duterte,” he added in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Maynilad chief executive officer Ramoncito Fernandez said they came to the decision of abandoning their arbitral claim following Duterte’s announcement that he would not honor it.

Poll: 84% of Filipinos prefer economic ties with US over China PH coalition for ICC: ‘Any killing in any u PAGE 2

MAJORITY of Filipinos prefer having strong economic ties with the U.S. rather than China, according to a survey by Washington-based Pew Research Center.

The poll released December 5 found that 84% of Filipinos named the U.S. as the world’s leading economic power while 59% answered China.

Pew noted that those who identify the U.S. as the world’s leading economy are more likely to prefer stronger economic ties with the country.

A separate survey from Pew also showed that 64% of Filipinos said they rely on the US as a dependable ally in the future while only 9% chose China.

In terms of views on China’s growing economic stature, Filipinos have mixed views.

u PAGE 2

CLOSING CEREMONY. Fireworks light up New Clark City in Capas town, Tarlac as part of the closing ceremonies of the 30th SEA Games on Wednesday, December 11. The Philippines topped the regional biennial meet with a total of 387 medals.

Photo from Facebook/Sea Games 2019

police investigation should be investigated’

by AJPRESS

THE Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court on Tuesday, December 10, called for a state-sanctioned investigation into the alleged extrajudicial killings linked to the government’s war against illegal drugs — even the ones supposedly done in self-defense.

“Self-defense is a valid reason to kill,” said Dr. Aurora Parong, Philippine Coalition for the ICC chairperson. “[But] even if a suspect fights back, there has to be first immobilization. The use of force cannot just be used to kill people. The

work of the police should be to just arrest a person who may have been issued a warrant of arrest because they are pushing [or] using drugs,” she added.

The Revised Philippine National Police Operational Procedures released in 2013 stated that “the excessive use of force during police operation is prohibited” but “in the lawful performance of duty, a police officer may use necessary force to accomplish his mandated tasks of enforcing the law and maintaining peace and order.”

It also stressed that a police officer should first issue a verbal warning, which should include “identifying himself; his intention;

u PAGE 3

Tagle’s new post may boost his chances of becoming pope PH caps 30th SEA Games hosting

Teammates throw Jylyn Nicanor in the air to celebrate the Philippines’ first gold medal in fencing in the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. Nicanor came from behind to beat Indonesia’s Diah Permatasi, 15-14, in the women’s individual sabre event.

PNA photo by Jess M. Escaros Jr.

with overall championship

by TINA

G. SANTOS Inquirer.net

MANILA — A former envoy to the Holy See has expressed belief that the chance of Manila archbishop, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, of becoming the first Filipino Pope may have been boosted with his new appointment to a top Vatican post.

“Speaking in practical terms and the ways of the world, of course, he will be more known by those electing the Pope. Although he is already known, he will be further known,” said former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican Henrietta de Villa in an interview with reporters.

“And with all the good things he will be able to do, I am sure his value to the universal Church will be seen,” she added.

Pope Francis appointed Tagle on Sunday, December 8, as the new prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of File photo shows Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle showing Pope Francis how to give the popular Peoples, which is one of the nine departments in the Roman hand sign for “I love you” last January 2015.

Inquirer.net photo

by LUISA

MORALES Philstar.com

MANILA — Team Philippines started and ended strong in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, clinching the biennial meet’s championship for the first time since 2005.

Hauling a whopping 149 golds, 117 silvers and 120 bronze medals, the Philippines finished atop the standings by a long mile in the 11-country meet.

The Filipinos already had the u PAGE 2 upperhand from the get-go.

Gold rush

By Day Two of the competition, Team Philippines had already surpassed their 2017 SEA Games gold medal output with 38 golds.

In the Kuala Lumpur edition of the games two years ago, the Philippines had a total of only 24 golds.

The Filipinos continued to hold a dominating lead over other competitors, with sports like Arnis, Dancesport, Taekwondo and Skateboarding becoming

u PAGE 2

2

http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

DECEMBER 12-18, 2019 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

FROM THE FRONT PAGE

Duterte to lift martial law...

PAGE 1 He also expressed hope that the curfew in Marawi and Lanao del Sur will also be lifted “to ensure freedom of movement and maximize it for economic recovery.”

Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, on the other hand, lamented the lifting of

martial law, saying it had greatly improved the city’s peace and order situation.

“We, the city officials, want martial law to be retained, but we will respect the decision of President Duterte,” Guiani-Sayadi said.

Martial law was first declared on Mindanao island in May

PH caps 30th SEA Games hosting with...

PAGE 1 gold mines for the Philippines.

2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz copped her first-ever SEA Games gold medal.

2018 Asian Games gold medalist Margielyn Didal also notched two first-place finishes in Skateboarding’s SEA Games debut.

Agatha Wong likewise clinched double gold medals in Wushu.

For his part, Philippine Gymnastics darling Carlos Yulo had a productive outing with a total of seven medals — two golds and five silvers.

History makers, record breakers PAGE 1 Apart from the medals, history “When we were ignored, we was also made by a number of did not insist. We’re no longer Filipino athletes in the biennial pursuing the award,” Fernandez meet. said in Filipino.

As expected, the Philippines Last month, an arbitral court in ruled the basketball scene with Singapore ordered the Philippine the Gilas Pilipinas women’s government to pay Manila Water squad clinching their first-ever P7.4 billion in indemnification SEA Games gold medal while for the refusal of the regulator, the men’s squad took their 13th Metropolitan Waterworks and straight championship.

Sewerage System (MWSS), to alIn volleyball, the men’s team low the water concessionaire to ended a 42-year finals absence raise water rates over the past by dethroning Thailand. several years.

Ej Obiena and Kristina Knott The same tribunal also ordered also shattered SEA Games rethe government to reimburse cords in the pole vault and womMaynilad P3.4 billion for losses en’s 200-m dash. from March 2015 to August 2016 Meanwhile, Philippine womin July 2017. en’s softball team Blu Girls The officials of the two water maintained their dominance in firms also said they were willthe region, clinching their 10th ing to cooperate with the government in striking a new deal, without the “onerous” provisions as well as defer rate increases scheduled for next month.

PAGE 1 “We are OK to defer it, we Curia. just need to resolve what exactly “And with all the good things needs to be done. We need to talk he will be able to do, I am sure with MWSS,” Almendras said.

“That supposed increase is a result – because there are projects that we need to do. We submitted projects and MWSS PAGE 1 approved it and we were given The same Pew survey revealed ways to recover what we spent,” that 48% of Filipinos said Chihe added. na’s growing economy is a bad Duterte, for his part, still in- thing while 47% said it is a good sists on pursuing action against thing.

Manila Water and Maynilad deFilipinos are also divided on spite being aware of the water investment from China as 49% firms dropping their compensa- said it is a bad thing while 45% tion claims. said it is a good thing.

He said Tuesday that he might Generally, in the Asia-Pacific take over the water distribution region, more countries tend to and treatment operations in Met- see investment from China as a ro Manila should he be unsatis- potential liability as it gives Beified with the firms’ explanation jing too much influence over of the contracts. ■ their economies.

2017 after Islamic State-inspired armed groups, led by the Maute brothers and leaders of Abu Sayyaf, laid siege to Marawi City.

The martial law was only supposed to last for 60 days, as indicated in the Constitution, but Congress extended it three times after Duterte warned that militants continued to recruit fighters and plot attacks. ■

Water firms to drop P10.8...

Jean Claude Saclag of the Philippines (in red) defeats Mohammed Mahmoud of Malaysia, 3-0, in the men’s U63.5kg low kick finals to capture the gold medal in kickboxing in the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City on Tuesday, December 10. Fellow Team Lakay members Jerry Olsim and Gina Iniong also bagged golds in their respective matches.

PNA photo by Jess M. Escaros Jr.

straight SEA Games gold finish.

In swimming, James Deiparine also ended a 10-year gold medal drought for Philippine swimming after ruling the men’s 100-meter breaststroke.

The 30th SEA Games also saw 65-year-old Efren Bata Reyes win a bronze medal in the one-cush-

ion carom event of the meet.

Philippine surfer Roger Casugay also made headlines after a heroic act of saving a fellow competitor for drowning.

Overall, it was a productive hosting for the Philippines with the success of Filipino athletes bringing pride to the country. ■

Tagle’s new post may boost his chances... his value to the universal Church will be seen,” she added.

Pope Francis appointed Tagle on Sunday as the new prefect of

the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which is one of the nine departments in the Roman Curia. ■

Poll: 84% of Filipinos prefer economic ties...

Train for a Career of Value!

AviationMaintenance.edu

5870 S. Eastern Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89119

(702) 798-5511

FAA Approved A&P School. Accredited School, ACCSC. Some scenes may depict career opportunities. AIM Chesapeake and Manassas campuses are Certified to Operate by SCHEV. AIM Las Vegas campus is licensed to operate by the Commission on Postsecondary Education. AIM Indianapolis is regulated by Office for Career and Technical Schools 10 N Senate Avenue, Suite SE 308 Indianapolis IN 46204 OCTS@dwd.in.gov 317-234-8338 or 317-232-1732 http://www.in.gov/dwd/2731.htm. Not all programs available at all locations. For consumer information, please visit www.aviationmaintenance.edu ADV1019

“These same countries are also more likely than others to see U.S. economic influence in their country positively. And, when it comes to developed countries, views of China are much more mixed to negative,” the report read.

The study also noted that countries in the Asia-Pacific region tend to be generally negative in their views of China.

In the Philippines, the percentage of those who have a favorable view of China dropped from 63% in 2002 to 42% in 2019.

The Pew survey was conducted among 38,426 people in 34 countries from May 13 to October 2. A total of 1,035 adult respondents were surveyed in the Philippines using face-to-face interviews, with the margin of error at 4.3 percentage points.

“For results based on the full sample in a given country, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus the margin of error,” the think tank said. (Patricia Lourdes Viray/Philstar.com)

Dateline USa

(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • dEcEmbER 12-18, 2019

Palace slams Filipino couple for using Duterte for US grant of asylum

by Ritchel

Mendiola AJPress

MALACAÑANG on Tuesday, December 10, criticized a Filipino couple for using President Rodrigo Duterte’s human rights record as a reason to seek political asylum in the United States.

Last week, Rene Flores and his wife Joy were granted asylum by a San Francisco immigration judge after claiming that they might experience political persecution from the government if ordered to return to the Philippines.

The couple sought help from immigration lawyer Ted Laguatan, who said the rulings affirmed that many American officials are already aware of what he described as the “extensive human rights violations” of Duterte.

The couple, who flew to the U.S. in 2000 to visit relatives, participated in U.S. protests against Duterte for the alleged extrajudicial killings and the war on drugs in the Philippines.

However, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Malacañang “have never heard of Rene and Joy Flores being political activists in the Philippines.”

“We consider the application of the Flores couple highly doubtful. Their attendance to political rallies and issuance of anti-Duterte statements while in the U.S. are more of a stratagem of their lawyer for them to stay permanently in the U.S. and to shield them from being deported.

Apparently, they have opted for an easy way out at the expense of the Duterte administration,” he said.

According to the spokesman, the Flores couple “have been illegally overstaying in the U.S.” “The ignorant granting of the judge of their application would, therefore, set a dangerous precedent to other illegal aliens who can abusively use politics as a scapegoat in violating immigration laws of the United States,” Panelo noted.

He assured that no citizen of the Philippines has been charged in court nor clamped in jail by reason of criticism against the policies of the present government.

“If they happen to be critics and they presently face criminal charges, it is because both the administrative and judicial officers found probable cause for certain infringement of laws and for which by law should be properly charged,” Panelo said.

“Their being critics have absolutely nothing to with their criminal prosecution. They can Members of various groups hold a rally to observe Human Rights Day on Tuesday, December 10. They also sought an end to armed unrest in not hide behind the mantle of Southern Tagalog provinces.

ManilaTimes.net photo Enrique Agcaoili the freedom of the press and of speech when they are found violating the laws of the land. This circumstance alone casts doubt PAGE A1 The PNP, however, released on the bodies were found in areas on the scheme employed by the and what he wants the offender to their own data that claimed only that would critically injure a perFloreses,” he added.

Panelo also stressed that the do.” However, police officers are 5,000 “drug personalities” were son, not just immobilize them.

“It has also been shown that Duterte administration does not not required to give attacking of- killed.

“Even if they’re not police, many of those who supposedly resort to any form of persecution fender/s “the opportunity for a fair there should be that responsibil- fought back were asleep, holding and welcomes criticisms as long or equal struggle.”

“The reasonableness of the ity of the police to investigate [the their children, or even chatting as they are based on facts and not and eating,” she said. on rumors or fake information. n force employed will depend upon deaths],” Parong said. the number of aggressors, nature “It should be their responsiAccording to her, there should and characteristic of the weapon bility to investigate any crime, be cases filed against those who used, physical condition, size and including the crime of killing or killed for reasons that are not selfother circumstances to include murder. Any killing in any police defense.

“As of now, there should be peals for the Ninth Circuit, which the place and occasion of the as- investigation should really be investigated,” she added. cases that should be filed against is headquartered in San Francisco sault,” the manual added.

Parong cited figures from huParong also noted that suspects those [cases with] the possibility and covers Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, man rights groups who said the fighting back and “forcing” police of having used force without a Nevada, Oregon, Washington victims of President Rodrigo officers to “neutralize” them has good reason not in self-defense,” State, Guam and the Northern Duterte’s war on drugs have been a recurring theme in police Parong said. reached up to 27,000 — with some reports of anti-drug operations, “If they didn’t really fight back, Mariana Islands.

Bumatay is also a member of of them not necessarily killed dur- and pointed out that autopsies there is really no reason to kill,” reported that most of the wounds she added. n the National Filipino American ing official police operations.

Lawyers Association (NFALA) which recommended Bumatay to the executive branch in early 2019 “and has supported him throughout the appointment and confirmation process,” NFALA said.

The case revolves around a the original provision an insurer “We congratulate Patrick on

by Phil Galewitz temporary Obamacare provi- “slush fund.” But researchers latKaiser Health News his historic confirmation to the sion — called the “risk-corridor” er found that the loss of the riskU.S. Court of Appeals for the MORE than $12 billion is at program — that was designed to corridor program was largely reNinth Circuit,” NFALA President Philip Nulud wrote in a statement. stake for the nation’s health insur- help health plans recover some sponsible for soaring premiums “Patrick’s strong qualifications, ers Tuesday, December 10, when losses in the first three years of in 2016 and 2017, and contributed to several startup insurers including his breadth of experi- the Supreme Court hears another the health law marketplaces.

The Republican-controlled going out of business. ence as a federal prosecutor, a Affordable Care Act case.

Dozens of insurers have cried For the federal government, Congress in late 2014 stripped defense attorney and a senior Department of Justice attorney make the potential damages could be most of the money out of the pro- foul and sued the government. him ideal for the Ninth Circuit. far greater, as its reputation as a gram in a budget bill signed by Lower courts were split on We commend President Trump reliable partner to private busi- President Barack Obama. This whether the government should occurred a year after insurers be- be forced to make the payments. on his selection of Patrick, adding nesses is on the line.

Here are five reasons you Unlike earlier Obamacare cas- gan selling policies to millions of much-needed diversity to the fedes before the high court — where Americans with the expectation should pay attention to the case: eral judiciary.”

The integrity of the federal Nulud added, “We look forward the entire 2010 law and health that the safeguard would back government is at stake. to seeing the impact he will make coverage for millions of Ameri- them up.

Republicans led by Sen. Marco Health insurers say the govnot only on the bench but also on cans was at risk — the latest case Rubio (R-Fla.), who were deter- ernment’s decision on the riskhas largely flown under consumthe community.” (Klarize Medemined to repeal the ACA, called ers’ radar.

PAGE 5 nilla/AJPress)

PH coalition for ICC: ‘Any killing in any police...

Fil-Am California prosecutor Patrick Bumatay...

PAGE A1

Southern District of California last year, Bumatay was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District on Oct. 15, 2019.

The Republican-majority Senate voted 53-40 on Tuesday in favor of Bumatay’s appointment which is currently awaiting judicial commission.

The 41-year-old assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California is the son of Filipino immigrants. He was born in Secaucus, New Jersey and graduated cum laude from Yale University, earning his Bachelor of Arts; after, he earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

He then served the U.S. Department of Justice in a variety of capacities, working in the offices of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General and the Associate Attorney General and Legal Policy.

He also volunteered for President George W. Bush’s presidential campaign in 2000 and was later hired as a staff assistant and paralegal for the Bush White House.

As Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of California in the San Diego office, he has served in the Organized

Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Forces Section. At the time of his confirmation, he served as a counselor to the Attorney General consulting on the national opioid crisis, organized crime and the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” approach at the Southern border.

The Fil-Am prosecutor had assisted in the president’s efforts to appoint Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, during which he earned a departmental award for his work on the latter’s confirmation.

In 2018, Trump announced his intent to nominate Bumatay to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California despite opposition from both U.S. Sens of California Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein.

Both senators noted the diversity that Bumatay would bring to the court — as most court appointees are white and straight — but expressed concern over Bumatay’s lack of experience in appellate courts. Harris also cited Bumatay’s “troubling prosecutorial record” when she formally opposed his nomination in 2018.

On Sept. 20, 2019, Trump announced his intent to nominate Bumatay for the U.S. Court of Ap-

Obamacare back at the high court — with billions for insurers on the line

december 12-18, 2019 • LAS VeGAS ASIAN JOUrNAL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

Dateline USa

(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • dEcEmbER 12-18, 2019

ICC cannot arrest Duterte – Panelo by divina

nova Joy deLa ManilaTimes.net

Cruz

THE International Criminal Court (ICC) cannot order the arrest of President Rodrigo Duterte because it has no jurisdiction over the Philippines, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said on Sunday, December 8.

Panelo was reacting to former Bayan Muna party-list representative Neri Colmenares’ statement that the ICC might request for a warrant of arrest against Duterte once the preliminary examination on allegations of crimes against humanity in relation to his war against drugs campaign was concluded.

Panelo dismissed the claim as a “fervent wish.”

“Hindi mangyayari ‘yun (That will never happen),” Panelo said in a radio interview.

He stressed that the ICC could not enforce a warrant of arrest since it has no jurisdiction in the country.

“So ineffective na mag-isyu pa sila ng warrant. Paano nila i-i-enforce (Issuing a warrant is ineffective. How can that be enforced)?” Panelo added.

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo ManilaTimes.net photo

He explained that the ICC must first determine if it can have jurisdiction after the preliminary examination. “‘Pag meron na, saka mag-tatrial. Malayo pa ‘yun, assuming na may jurisdiction, eh wala nga (After that, there would be a trial. It would take long, assuming there is jurisdiction, but there is none) as far as we’re concerned,”

Panelo said.

On Saturday, December 7, the Palace official said the ICC’s insistence to investigate the government’s drug was an “utter disrespect” to the Philippines, an “independent country” that has a working justice system.

The ICC, in its 2019 preliminary examination activities report, said it intended to conclude its initial review of Duterte’s drug war by 2020 to determine the possible necessity to conduct a full-blown investigation into the Philippines’ anti-narcotics trade campaign.

The Philippines became a party to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, on Nov. 1, 2011.

Duterte, however, submitted a formal notice of revocation of its membership from the ICC on March 17, 2019.

The ICC’s preliminary examination of Duterte’s drug war, which was launched by prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, pushed through in February 2018, noting that it has jurisdiction over the possible crimes perpetrated during the period the Philippines was a state party to the Rome Statute. n

US Air Force conducts overflights at SCS

by Jaime Laude Philstar.com

THE United States Air Force (USAF) has been sending its planes and other air assets to conduct flight operations across the South China Sea to implement Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS) in the region.

U.S. Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) commander Gen. Charles Brown said the air operations run parallel to the U.S. Navy’s sustained FONOPS to ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

“We’ve been flying in and around the South China Sea for really about the last 15 years and I would probably tell you we’ve done some as recently as this week,” Brown said.

“It doesn’t probably get as much press as what you hear about the freedom of navigation and the maritime environment, but we do hear about it because we do get calls from PRC,” Brown said, referring to China.

Brown said the USAF has been deploying its bombers, high-altitude U-2s, P-3 Orions and P-8 Poseidons surveillance planes as well as RQ-4 drones over the South China Sea. “We have quite a bit of air ac-

tivity in the South China Sea,” Brown said in response to a question by a Vietnamese reporter on PACAF’s activities.

Claiming almost 90 percent of the South China Sea, Beijing’s posturing in the region has progressed into challenging vessels and aircraft of other countries sailing or flying over the vital sea lane.

The U.S., a well as its partners and allies Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, France and India, have openly challenged China’s massive occupation and militarization of the South China Sea. USAF chief Gen. David Goldfien pointed out that despite the USAF decline in personnel and air assets as compared to 1991, its posture in the Pacific hasn’t changed.

He said with troop and asset numbers coming down significantly in Europe, USAF’s footprint in the Pacific has become very steady in the region, being the number one priority of the U.S. National Defense Strategy (NDS).

“We’re an Air Force that’s 300,000 less airmen and about 3,000 less aircraft than we were even back then to 1991 and yet, if you look at our footprint and our posture in the Pacific, we haven’t changed. We’ve come

down significantly in Europe.

We’ve changed significantly in the U.S. Our footprint in the Pacific has been very steady over time,” Goldfien said.

He issued this statement in response to question posed by a U.S.-based journalist pointing out the gap in the USAF capabilities, given the distance of the theater from the U.S. mainland in a China scenario.

On the recent visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Thomas Esper in the Philippines, Brown said the discussions between him and his counterpart, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, centered on the two allied states’ Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

“It’s not about basing. It’s really about the EDCA,” Brown said.

He said EDCA is a mutually beneficial agreement and the USAF is now looking forward to building various airfields to support the Philippine government’s humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR).

“There’s really no U.S. miltiary presence or expanding presence.

It’s really how we equip those airfields to be able to support the Philippines, in particular, the Philippine Air Force on the conduct of HADR,” Brown said. n

Obamacare back at the high court...

PAGE 3 corridor program amounts to a bait-and-switch. The health plans took a chance with the new marketplaces, where they had little knowledge of how sick or expensive new enrollees would be. They said they expected the risk-corridor funding would back them up.

The latest data shows the government owes insurers more than $12 billion in payments to cover losses on the insurance exchanges between 2014 and 2016.

“This case warrants comparison to Lucy Van Pelt pulling the football away from Charlie Brown — with our nation’s government cast as the capricious bully,” the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, an industry group representing nonprofit health plans, wrote in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court. “If the Federal Circuit’s rule stands, then from now on no business can trust a statutory promise of payment from the government.”

The risk-corridor program was one of several ACA safeguards for insurers. The law called for insurers that made large profits to pay some of it back to the government to share with moneylosing plans.

But the money taken in under the program fell billions short of the amount owed to insurers. The Obama administration told insurers that it would make up the difference with funds from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ budget. The General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, supported that decision for 2014.

The Trump administration argued the federal government never had power under the law to make the payments out of the CMS budget. The December 2014 budget deal confirmed that, according to the administration.

The federal government’s top lawyer rejects insurers’ notion that the risk-corridor money was ever guaranteed to them.

Congress did not “lure private parties into expensive undertakings with clear promises, only to renege after private parties have relied to their detriment and incurred actual losses,” Solicitor General Noel Francisco argued in court briefs.

Obamacare consumers may benefit if the court sides with the

insurers.

The Supreme Court case combined suits from four insurers: Moda Health Plan of Oregon, Maine Community Health Options, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance, a now-defunct health plan from Illinois. But dozens of other insurers also have filed lawsuits. If the court rules in favor of insurers, it could force the federal government to pay them $12 billion.

Experts say that could have a marginal effect on those insurers in setting future premiums.

It could also force some plans to make rebate payments to customers based on another ACA provision that plans pay money back to members if they spend more than 20% of their premium dollars on administration, marketing and profits.

Meg Murray, CEO of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, said the government owes $627 million to about 20 of her organization’s plans. “The money would help them going forward in paying back debts or investing their plans or reducing premiums,” she said.

The co-ops have been stymied.

When the Affordable Care Act was nearing its final votes, Democrats removed a controversial provision that would have set up a government-operated plan that would be a “public option” for consumers. It was replaced with federal money to start new, nonprofit insurers to bring more competition into many markets, which lawmakers hoped would help hold down premium costs.

There were 23 new health cooperatives that started enrolling members in 2014. Today, just four are still in business.

More than other insurers, the co-ops were most at risk when the money was eliminated because they operated on the smallest budgets.

“This was a huge factor in the failure of the co-ops,” said Timothy Jost, a retired law professor at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., who has studied the ACA. Kevin Lewis, CEO of Maine Community Health Options, said his company is owed $59 million. Without that money, his plan had to withdraw from New

Hampshire and raise premiums in areas it still serves. Community Health Options is one of three health plans on the marketplace in Maine and has 38,000 members.

Lewis said that, while many factors caused the demise of the co-ops, the loss of risk-corridor money is high among them.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce — a leading opponent of Obamacare — is defending the risk-corridor provision.

The chamber has spent nearly a decade and millions of dollars fighting to overturn the Affordable Care Act. That’s why its amicus brief supporting insurers’ fight to restore its risk-corridor funding is so notable.

In its brief, the chamber said the health law promised funding to private insurers, and when the government reversed its commitment, “it pulled the rug out from under them.”

The court’s ruling would reverberate well beyond just the health insurance industry if it does not reverse lower court rulings, according to the chamber.

“If allowed to stand, the decision will chill the business community from working with the federal government in the future,” the chamber said.

A ruling could influence another big Obamacare case.

If the justices rule in favor of the insurers on this case, they may strengthen the industry’s argument in a separate ACA lawsuit working its way through lower courts.

Insurers have sued the federal government for $2.3 billion in unpaid “cost-sharing reduction” payments after the Trump administration stopped making the payments in 2017. Six insurers — in front of three different federal judges — have succeeded in their challenges over unpaid payments.

These ACA payments were intended to compensate insurers for reducing deductibles, copayments and coinsurance mandated by the ACA for marketplace enrollees with low incomes.

Some lawsuits from insurers have been stayed, pending the court’s ruling on risk corridors.

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. n

ALTERNATIVE MODE OF TRANSPORT. Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso and other government officials lead the relaunch of the Pasig River ferry service at the Lawton ferry station in Manila on Monday, December 9. The public is encouraged to try the relaunched ferry service, a viable alternative for commuters wishing to avoid the hassles of vehicular congestion on the streets of Metro Manila.

PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan

US to Asian allies: Choose prudently, protect sovereignty

by Pia Lee-Brago Philstar.com

SUPPORTING a “pluralistic” Asia, the United States will not force its allies and partners to choose between the U.S. and China, but Washington encourages them to choose prudently in ways that protect their sovereign national interests.

Assistant Secretary David Stilwell of the U.S. Department of State-Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs said many of the initial hopeful signs and assumptions for China’s reform and opening when it began to grow from ideologically self-imposed isolation and economic weakness 40 years ago – were wrong.

American officials hoped that demonstrating the benefits of “openness” would move Beijing onto a more liberal path.

He said that 20 years of empty post-World Trade Organization (WTO) assurances that “China will continue to work toward greater openness” have triggered an overdue rethink of China, its ambitions and U.S. response.

China, according to Stilwell, is a major consideration in the long-overdue changes to U.S. policy in the Indo-Pacific region that the Trump administration has made.

“The United States supports a pluralistic Asia. A pluralistic

Asia is one in which the region’s diverse countries can continue to thrive as they wish. They are secure in their sovereign autonomy,” Stilwell said in a speech on U.S., China and Pluralism in International Affairs at the Brookings Institution on Dec. 2.

In a pluralistic Asia, he emphasized that countries enjoy open and shared use of the global commons, international waters and airspace belong to all and no one country can convert them into a sole possession or a zone of exclusion.

On Beijing’s “new type” governance idea, he said Chinese officials have spoken for themselves.

He said former Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi summed up Beijing’s view of regional order in 2010, when he declared to an Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting: “China is a big country and other countries are small countries, and that’s just a fact.”

The official stressed that for China, international relations is about hierarchy and big-makesright, and Beijing is not respectful of pluralism or sovereign autonomy.

“Now, let’s consider the commonly heard concern that countries will be forced to choose between the United States and China. I want you to know, they

won’t be forced to make such a choice by the United States,” Stilwell said.

He noted that America’s vision is pluralistic and inclusive and the U.S. record shows it, as Washington aspires to friendly relations with China and has no objection if other countries similarly strive to deal with Beijing in cooperative and cordial ways.

“We encourage our allies and partners to choose prudently, in ways that protect their sovereign national interests,” Stilwell said.

“Sovereignty means the ability to live free of foreign domination, to live according to one’s own laws and make one’s own decisions.”

“We’re not looking to dictate to others and we want our allies and friends not to be subject to anyone else’s dictates. Choosing for sovereignty is important because without it, the freedom to choose at all could be lost,” he added.

The U.S. said Washington does not want the Philippines to choose between the U.S. and China, and they do not object to improved relations of Manila with Beijing.

The State Department said the U.S. remains a steady and trusted partner, strong ally, stands ready to honor its commitments, international law and stands by the Philippines. n

:8IG< ;@<D 8KK<EK@FE @DD@>I8K@FE C8NP<IJ C<>8C @DD@>I8K@FE `j X 9@> @JJL< k_\j\ [Xpj% D8EP `e fli Zfddle`kp E<<; pfli j\im`Z\j% K_\i\ Xi\ k_fljXe[j n_f dXp nXek kf \og\[`k\ k_\`i i\j`[\eZp fi glijl\ ]lcc Z`k`q\ej_`g Ylk [feËk befn _fn kf Y\^`e Xe[ n_\i\ kf ^f%

JK8E; FLK =IFD K?< G8:B% 8J@8E AFLIE8CËJ GIF=<JJ@FE8C J<IM@:<J ;@I<:KFIP# n`cc efn Y\ ilee`e^ n\\bcp# \m\ip K_lij[Xp f] CXj M\^Xj <[`k`fe%

8AËj GJ; ZXe _\cg PFL i\XZ_ flk kf k_\d X]]fi[XYcp Xe[ \]]\Zk`m\cp%

:8CC PFLI 8::FLEK D8E8><I .') .0)$--./ 8jb XYflk fli GIFDFK@FE8C @EKIF;L:KFIP G8:B8>< GI@:@E> n_`Z_ ilej pfli X[ n\\bcp ]fi dXo`dld \ogfjli\ Xk kilcp X]]fi[XYc\ iXk\j%

Fli gi`ek \[`k`fej ile `e kXe[\d n`k_ 8AËj Gi`ek <[`k`fe Fec`e\% Fec`e\1 _kkg1&&`jjll%Zfd&Xj`XeaflieXc[`^`kXc\[`k`fe

6

http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

DECEMBER 12-18, 2019 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

OPINION

Promoting a human rights culture

FEATURES

THERE was one noteworthy detail during the 19-day stint of Vice President Leni Robredo as anti-drug czar last month: as confirmed by the Philippine National Police, there was not a single case of death resulting from “nanlaban” or the suspect resisting arrest anywhere in the country.

Officials of the PNP and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency have stressed that nanlaban deaths have in fact been abating for some time now, as anti-drug units shift their focus from street pushers to high-value traffickers.

Such killings by police have again been reported in recent days, but the cases are dramatically lower. This should be a piece of good news as the country joins the international community in observing World Human Rights Day today.

The special day is the culmination of the yearlong commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration was proclaimed by the assembly as the “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations” – with everyone enjoying inalienable rights regardless of race, sex, color, religion, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

For 2019, the theme of this special day is “The Year of Indigenous Languages: Promoting and Deepening a Human Rights Culture.” In the Philippines, this takes the form not only of preserving

the many indigenous languages, but also promoting the welfare of indigenous communities. A number of these communities face challenging circumstances arising from development programs and armed conflict.

Although a democracy, the Philippines is a focus of concern among global rights advocates.

Last year, New York-based Human Rights Watch in its country report declared that there is a “human rights crisis” in the Philippines — due mostly to the violent war on drugs, the arrest or criminal indictment of government critics and killings of journalists.

President Duterte has often argued that his principal concern is the human rights of crime victims and the protection of law-abiding people.

Like several other Asian leaders, he also stresses the importance of economic rights – freedom from poverty, which he says is a focus of his administration.

Those in charge of his most controversial campaign appear to be heeding concerns raised by human rights groups. There is still more to be done, however, as the country pursues the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (Philstar.com)

Editorial

Commentary

RIGOBERTO TIGLAO FORMER President Aquino 3rd and his solicitor general Florin Hilbay agreed to the two water companies’ demand to have the arbitration suits that the latter had filed against the government kept secret.

The two arbitration panels, one each for Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc., in decisions announced in July 2017 and November 2018, upheld the two concessionaires’ claims, and ordered government to pay them P3.4 billion and P7.4 billion, respectively. Each panel had three members, two of which were foreigners, and one Filipino. The suits were heard by a three-man panel the two parties agreed to, with the Singapore unit of the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration acting as registrar.

What’s so outrageous about this is that the water companies in their suit claimed that these amounts represented their losses when the regulatory body Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) refused to grant their petitions to raise their tariffs from 2014 to 2018. (The other day though, the Ayala-led, majority foreign-owned Manila Water claimed the suit was filed for “breaches of procedure” it hasn’t explained.)

But the MWSS proved to have been correct in its computations.

Even without the rate increases

Aquino, Hilbay agreed to keep water arbitration suits secret

they demanded, these firms’ income in those years totaled P67 billion; their average annual income of P13.4 billion during those five years was even higher than the P10.5 billion of the previous five years.

Yet the firms still wanted to recover those amounts that they claimed in 2015 when they filed the case they would lose, but didn’t.

How could the arbitration panels have dismissed such facts staring them in the face? Was Hilbay as solicitor general just too dumb or too lazy to defend the MWSS stand? Or did he sabotage the government’s defense so it would lose the case?

Secret We don’t know. If Hilbay deliberately plotted to have the water companies win the arbitration, he was clever enough to hide his tracks, literally: the arbitration was kept secret.

Unlike other arbitration cases that the Philippine government has been involved in, such as its suit against China over the South China Sea dispute, the proceedings, the two water companies’ arguments, the government’s defense, and the award itself have been kept confidential. Check it out for yourself at the website of the Permanent Court of Arbitration for the two suits. Only the Maynilad case is listed, but contains no details. Manila Water’s case is not listed at all Such confidentiality is allowed under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (Uncitral), under whose

provisions the suits were filed.

But this could be done only upon agreement of the two parties, and only when the private party can prove that it stands to have its proprietary secrets revealed to its competitors. What competitors?

Manila Water and Maynilad Water are monopolies in the sectors they distribute water.

Why did the government, represented by Aquino 3rd and Hilbay, agree to such confidentiality? If they had not agreed to keep the proceedings secret, they could just have told Maynilad and Manila Water: “Take it or leave it, and just comply with the MWSS decision.”

If not for a November 29 letter

by Manila Water’s assistant corporate secretary to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Disclosure Department — a requirement because the firm is publicly listed — the public would not known of the award and the water company would have secretly negotiated with government for the payment of the P7.4 billion.

It would have claimed that even the payment was covered by the confidentiality agreement.

If I were of a very suspicious mind, I’d even think that Hilbay’s bending oer to make the proceedings secret, and even perhaps a promise not to undertake a genuine defense of the MWSS decision, clinched his job as solicitor general. After then Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2014, Hilbay took over, but only in an acting capacity for eight months until Aquino ap-

The Philippines’ Bernie Sanders Horizons

RICHARD HEYDARIAN “THE lesson of this moment is that winning politics is grassroots politics,” said the firebrand U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, reflecting on his unlikely political success in an interview with The New York Times.

Confined to the fringes of American politics throughout his youth, which was marked by radical activism and unabashed socialist advocacies, Sanders found an improbable political lifeline in one of America’s most rural, conservative states. A Jewishborn New Yorker, Sanders burst into electoral politics by moving to Vermont in the 1970s. For an

Philstar.com photo

entire decade, he became a serial loser, twice running for the Senate and once for the state’s gubernatorial position. His numbers hardly cracked into the double digits.

The following decade, however, marked a dramatic turn in his fortunes. In one of the most iconic electoral shocks of the era, Sanders became one of the first openly socialist American mayors at the height of the Cold War. In 1981, the tall, lanky activist found himself at the helm of Burlington, besting veteran mayor Gordon “Gordie” Paquette. Against all odds, including active sabotage by the establishment-infested city council, Sanders managed to secure several reelections throughout the 1980s before heading to Capitol Hill and, later, becoming the longest-running independent senator in American history.

In 2016, he almost pulled

off another electoral tsunami against the Democratic establishment. The latest polls show that Sanders can still beat Donald Trump were he to be picked as the Democratic presidential nominee today.

His secret to political success, as Sanders put it, is simple: “[W]inning politics is developing coalitions of working people, of low-income people, of women, of environmentalists. So the coalition is, we do it from the bottom on up, and we ended up in my years as mayor taking on everybody.”

Through nonstop political organization, and astute populist initiatives such as a local television show called “Bernie Speaks With the Community,” Sanders mobilized a whole new constituency, which sustained him in office throughout decades of progressive advocacy.

Throughout the world, the rise

pointed him formally to the post in June 2015.

Solicitor General Did Aquino need that much time to decide who the solicitor general would be? Was it just coincidental that after Maynilad filed its suit on March 2, 2015 and Manila Water on April 23, 2015, Hilbay was appointed permanent solicitor general about two months later on June 16, 2015?

Why would Aquino and Hilbay agree to make secret arbitration proceedings and rulings that would affect over 10 million Filipinos, the captive market of the two water monopolies? Indeed, Maynilad got the arbitral panel to order the Philippine government to pay it the P3.4 billion it asked for, while Manila Water got panel to agree for the government to pay it P11.4 billion. Did the two companies want to hide things from the public?

For all we know Hilbay might have just sent the tribunal a onepage defense or asked his clerk to write it. Sources claim that neither Hilbay nor any other staff from the Office of the Solicitor General had asked MWSS to help them draft their defense before the arbitral panels.

Technically called “rebasing” undertaken every five years, the process for computing reasonable tariffs the water companies can charge is complex, and involves the expertise of teams of accountants, auditors and technicians who even physically inspect the firms’ facilities, to determine how much the firms can charge

given the need both for their captive consumers’ right to clean, accessible water and a reasonable return on capital for them.

Objectionable The MWSS found objectionable many items the two firms included as part of their costs, which reduced their income, on paper. The most scandalous was their inclusion of corporate income taxes, as part of their costs.

This is such a blatant violation of accounting principles and even of plain logic. How can something (a tax) that is computed after expenses is deducted from income (to yield taxable profit) be included among the expenses?

Congress must call Aquino and Hilbay to a public hearing and ask them why they agreed to keep the arbitration cases confidential.

It must subpoena all of the docu-

ments involved in the arbitration cases, to determine if Hilbay really defended the MWSS stand against the water companies.

Congress must summon Manila Water’s owners, the Ayalas and Maynilad’s Manuel Pangilinan, who runs the firm for Indonesian owner Anthoni Salim, to its halls to ask them if they, or their representatives, ever consulted with Hilbay over their firms’ suits against the government.

During the last elections in which he ran for senator (where the hell did he get the funds to dare to do so?), Hilbay’s sole claimed qualification for that post, which he boasted about, was that it was he who filed the arbitration case against China, which the country purportedly won. AntiChina, but pro-oligarch? (ManilaTimes.net)

of right-wing populists such as Donald Trump has opened up the space for their polar opposites — progressive populists such as Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Their rallying cry is an end to American oligarchy in favor of the middle classes, for, as Sanders explained, the likes of “Ronald Reagan and his billionaire friends do not represent America, but we do.”

Fortunately, we also have our own versions of Sanders. On top of my mind is professor Walden Bello, a world-renowned scholar and activist, among Princeton University’s most distinguished alumni, and a former progressive congressman who became the first-ever statesman to voluntarily resign his office out of sheer conviction.

I had the privilege of knowing and working with him about a decade earlier as his consultant on foreign affairs. He is unquestionably an indefatigable soul, a passionate advocate and arguably the best mentor one could ask for. While no socialist or

communist, I always appreciated Bello’s genuine passion for social justice. True, his bid for the oligarchic Senate failed to bear fruit, but he has been a consistent advocate for political reform and human rights in the Philippines. And despite unimaginable difficulties, including personal tragedy, he recently managed to finish not one, but two books almost simultaneously.

The first, as discussed in an earlier column, is “Counterrevolution,” tracing the global rise of right-wing populism. “I would say that Duterte is a counterrevolutionary” Bello argues, since ”he challenges the whole liberal democratic project” without offering a true progressive alternative.

His latest book is “Paper Dragons: China and the Next Crash,” which analyzes the structural vulnerabilities of the Chinese economy and its dangerous implications for the global economy. More fundamentally, it skillfully traces the contours of the existing international order and

the perilous direction of SinoAmerican rivalry.

Bello makes two crucial arguments. First, he rightly criticizes both the United States and China for their imperialist mindset and behavior, while arguing that Beijing’s foreign policy is far from predetermined.

Through a combination of diplomacy, engagement and tough bargaining, Bello believes that smaller countries such as the Philippines have some agency in shaping the rise of China. Moreover, he downplays fears of a Chinese “debt trap,” instead focusing on an even more troubling phenomenon.

For Bello, Chinese investments bring about a “20th-century [top-down] model of economic development, [with] tremendous negative impact on the environment” of its beneficiaries.

Like Sanders, Bello believes in participatory grassroots politics as the best countermeasure against both imperialism and right-wing populism. (Inquirer. net)

Hilbay at the arbitration hearing against China at The Hague. Did he also appear in the hearings for the suits filed by the water companies, even if these were only in Singapore, which the government lost?

Contributed photo

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.

ROGER LAGMAY ORIEL Publisher & Chairman of the Board

Main Office: 1210 S. Brand Blvd Glendale, CA 91204 Tels: (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 Fax: (818) 502-0858 • (213) 481-0854 e-mail: info@asianjournalinc.com http://www.asianjournal.com

Manila Office: 2/F D&E Fort Palm Springs Cond.

30th St., Cor. 1st Ave., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig Tel.: (632) 856-4921 • 856-0397 • Fax: (632) 856-1661

Northern California: 1799 Old Bayshore Hwy, Suite 136 Burlingame, CA 94010 Tel.: (650) 689-5160 • Fax: (650) 239-9253

New York office: 133-30 32nd Ave., Flushing, NY 11354 Tel.: (212) 655-5426 • Fax (213) 481-0854

Las Vegas Sales Office: 2770 S. Maryland Pkwy., Suite 201 Las Vegas, Nevada 89109 Tel.: (702) 792-6678 • Fax: (702) 792-6879

New Jersey office: 2500 Plaza 5, Harborside Financial Center, Jersey City, NJ 07311 Tel: (212)655-5426 • Fax: (818)502-0858

CORA MACABAGDAL-ORIEL President ELIZABETH HILARIO SISON Chief Financial Officer ROBERT MACABAGDAL Vice President & General Manager Las Vegas Asian Journal MOMAR G. VISAYA Executive Editor German P. Palabyab Advertising and Business Development Director

ADVERTISING AND ADVERTORIAL POLICIES Asian Journal Publitions, Inc. (“AJPI”) reserves the right to refuse to publish, in its sole and absolute discretion, any advertising and advertorial material submitted for publition by client. (“Client’s Material”) Submission of an advertisement or advertorial to an AJPI sales representative does not constitute a commitment by AJPI to publish a Client’s Material. AJPI has the option to correctly classify any Client’s Material and to delete objectionable words or phrases.

Client represents and warrants that a Client’s Material does not and will not contain any language or material which is libelous, slanderous or defamatory or invades any rights of privacy or publicity; does not and will not violate or infringe upon, or give rise to any adverse claim with respect to any common law or other right whatsoever (including, without limitation, any copyright, trademark, service mark or contract right) of any person or entity, or violate any other applible law; and is not the subject of any litigation or claim that might give rise to any litigation.

Publition of a Client’s Material does not constitute an agreement to continue publition.

Client agrees and covenants to indemnify AJPI and its officers against any and all loss, liability, damage, expenses, cost, charges, claims, actions, uses of action, recoveries, judgments, penalties, including outside attorneys’ fees (individually and collectively “Claims”) which AJPI may suffer by reason of (1) Client’s breach of any of the representations, warranties and agreements herein or (2) any Claims by any third party relating in any way to Client’s Material.

AJPI will not be liable for failure to publish any Client’s Material as requested or for more than one incorrect insertion of a Client’s Material. In the event of an error, or omission in printing or publition of a Client’s Material, AJPI shall be limited to an adjustment for the space occupied by the error, with maximum liability being ncellation of the cost of the first incorrect advertisement or republition of the correct advertisement.

Under no circumstances shall Asian Publitions, Inc. be liable for consequential damages of any kind.

ASIAN JOURNAL PUBLITIONS, INC. publishes the Los Angeles Asian Journal, published twice a week; Northern California Asian Journal, Las Vegas Asian Journal and the New York / New Jersey Asian Journal which are published once a week and distributed to Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange Counties, Northern California, Las Vegas and New York and New Jersey respectively.

Articles published in this paper do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher. Letters to the Editor are welcome. Letters must contain complete name and return address. The materials, however, are subject to editing and revisions.

Contributions and advertising deadlines are every Mondays and Thursdays. For advertising rates and other informations, please ll the L.A. office at (213) 250-9797 or the Las Vegas Sales Office at (702) 792-6678 or send us an email at info@asianjournalinc.com

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • dEcEmbER 12-18, 2019

(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com

D ateline PhiliPPines Media groups: State agents behind

69 cases of attacks vs journalists

by Darryl John

EsguErra

Inquirer.net

MANILA — At least 69 attacks and threats against journalists were linked to government officials and uniformed personnel since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in 2016, a network of media organizations reported.

In its report published on Tuesday, December 10, the Freedom for Media, Freedom for All Network—a group composed of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), MindaNews, Philippine Press Institute (PPI), and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ)—documented 154 incidents of attacks and threats against news media from June 30, 2016 to December 5, 2019.

The cases include 15 journalists killed during the Duterte administration.

“Of the 154 cases, at least 69

had linked state agents — public officials from the Executive and Legislative branches, uniformed personnel, and Cabinet appointees of President Duterte — as known or alleged perpetrators,” the groups said.

“Of these 69 state agents, about half or 27 are from national government agencies.”

The media groups also documented 28 incidents of intimidation, 20 events of online harassment, 12 threats by text messages, 12 libel cases, 10 website attacks, eight murder attempts, and eight cases of journalists being barred from coverage.

Sixty cases of attacks were made against online media — the highest by media platform — apart from 41 cases against radio networks, 33 against print media agencies, and 15 cases against television networks.

The groups likewise reported cases of red-tagging or red-baiting of journalists by police and

the military.

“On multiple occasions, various state agents and pro-Duterte groups have tagged independent and critical journalists and media agencies as supposed fronts or supporters of the leftist and communist groups, via social media posts and in press statements,” the network said.

The report came a week after Duterte reiterated his threat to block the franchise renewal of the ABS-CBN franchise for not airing his 2016 presidential election advertisement and for alleged biased reporting.

The Philippines placed 134th out of 180 countries on the 2019 World Press Freedom Index of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

It is also home to the touted deadliest attacks on members of the media anywhere in the world, the Maguindanao massacre, wherein 32 out of the 58 victims were media workers. n

Locsin jokes: Rising sea levels will swallow China’s ‘illegal constructions’

by Darryl John

EsguErra

MANILA — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. on Wednesday, December 11, recalled how the United Na-

tions Security Council burst into a laugh when he made light of the Philippines’ longstanding maritime dispute with China. “[The Philippines] is way ahead of whites on climate change although at the UN Security

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr.

Inquirer.net photo

Inquirer.net

Council I said the Philippines is ambivalent about climate change raising sea levels; it may be the final solution to the repeated taking of our reefs by China because the sea will swallow their illegal constructions,” Locsin wrote on Twitter.

“For the first time in a long time, the Security Council laughed. I just had to lighten up the moment,” the country’s top diplomat said in another tweet.

China has been pushing for its expansive claims in the South China Sea, refusing to recognize the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) that invalidated its ambitious nine-dash line feature which claims virtually the entire body of water.

Meanwhile, President Duterte has chosen to shelve the PCA ruling in exchange for Chinese economic perks to help fund his administration’s infrastructure projects. n

‘Pork is here to stay’: Lacson claims last-minute insertions in 2020 budget MANILA — Sen. Panfilo Lacson claimed that the proposed 2020 national budget that the bicameral conference signed is full of lastminute insertions.

The bicameral conference committee of senators and congressmen approved the P4.1 trillion 2020 national budget on Wednesday, Decemer 11.

Lacson, however, did not sign the bicameral report after receiving a flash drive with two files — the “source” file with a list of 1,253 budget items worth P83.219 billion and the “list” file with 742 projects worth P16.345 billion inserted in the report.

“Since there is no preliminary explanation from the house regarding the two files, we cannot ascertain if indeed only P16.345 [billion] or the bigger amount of P83.219 [billion] was inserted at the last minute prior to the bicam signing” Lacson said in a statement.

The senator pointed out that the bicameral report contains lump sums and vaguely described projects. he also noted the huge allocations in the provinces of Albay (P670 million), Cavite (P580 mil-

Sen. Panfilo Lacson

lion), Sorsogon (P570 million), Batangas (P502 million), Bulacan (P440 million), Pangasinan (P420 million) and Cebu (P410 million).

A total of 117 flood control projects worth P3.179 billion dominated the insertions, eight of which are uniformly budgeted at P60 million each, according to Lacson, adding that there are more “corruption-driven” insertions in the files they received.

Lacson said he would inform the Department of Budget and

Philstar.com photo

Management and the Office of the President on the insertions while his team continues to scrutinize the proposed budget.

“Pork is here to stay. I hope the president will again exercise his political will in vetoing line items that will obviously waste people’s tax money,” Lacson said.

As of writing time, the house of Representatives has voted to ratify the bicameral conference report approving the proposed budget for next year. (Patricia Lourdes Viray/Philstar.com)

‘No one should feel threatened’: Robredo to release ‘drug war’ report next week MANILA — No one should feel threatened by the report on the government’s campaign against illegal drugs that Vice President Leni Robredo is expected to release next week, she said.

The vice president confirmed that she will release her report on Monday, December 9.

“Walang dapat matakot. Medyo nakakatawa nga na parang ‘yung anticipation nananakot ako. Wala naman tayong tinatakot (No one should be scared. It’s kind of funny that the anticipation is that I’m threatening them. We are not threatening anyone),” Robredo told reporters.

The report will include the gaps that Robredo found in the “drug war” and her recommendations to improve the campaign. “’Yung sa atin lang, mas rekomendasyon para ipakita ko naman na hindi ko sinayang ‘yung 18 days na binigay sa akin. Nakita n’yo naman kung papaano ako nagtrabaho (These are more like

recommendations to show that I did not waste the 18 days given to me. You saw how I worked),” Robredo said.

Robredo met with several government agencies and foreign entities during her stint as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).

President Rodrigo Duterte fired Robredo from the ICAD less than a month after her designation, saying he could not trust the vice president with classified information.

Robredo, however, said she would continue her work against the country’s drug problem despite being dismissed as ICAD co-chair.

“Makakaasa kayo, kahit tinanggalan ako ng posisyon, hindinghindi nila kayang tanggalin ang aking determinasyon itigil ang patayan, panagutin ang kailangang managot, at ipanalo ang kampanya laban sa iligal na droga,” she said in November (You can

Vice President Leni Robredo Photo from the Office of the Vice President

expect that even though I was stripped of my rank, they cannot take away my determination. My determination to end the killings, bring to justice those who need to answer for their doings, and win the campaign against illegal drugs). n

JOBS FOR THE ELDERLY. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III (2nd from left); Ang Probinsyano Party-list Rep. Ronnie Ong (far left); and officials of the Manila International Airport Authority and the cities of Pasay and Parañaque show a copy of the memorandum of agreement for the employment of senior citizens at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Under the agreement, some 100 senior citizens living near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) will be enlisted in the work-for-pay program initiated by Ong in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the local governments of Pasay City and Parañaque City.

Photo courtesy of the office of Rep. Ong

Ombudsman starts SEA Games probe by ritchEl

MEnDiola AJPress

ThE Office of the Ombudsman on Monday, December 9, started its investigation into the possible corruption in the organizing of the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games).

“I have just created a panel to conduct a fact-finding investigation, at kapag may nakitang ebidensya (and if we find evidence) we will be forced to file a case against those officials na involved sa (involved in) alleged corruption,” said Ombudsman Samuel Martires in an interview. he added that the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PhISGOC) — a non-stock, non-profit group created solely for the hosting of the SEA Games — is included in the probe. “hindi puwedeng hindi kasama ang PhISGOC (We cannot not include PHISGOC),” Martires said. “hindi tayo pwedeng maging selective sa ating (We will not be selective in our) investigation. We have to see kung anong (what is the) participation ng bawat (of each) official involved in the Southeast Asian Games,” he added.

Martires also said that the seven-man panel will also investigate the other agencies that had a hand in organizing and hosting of the SEA Games, adding that

ON THE ATTACK. Filipino Charly Suarez (left) and Thai Pidnuch Khunatip exchange blows during the men’s lightweight finals of the 30th Southeast Asia Games at the PICC Forum in Pasay City.

Suarez won the gold medal via a unanimous decision.

ManilaTimes.net photo by DJ Diosina

the panel has already begun collating documents.

“I gave the panel the discretion kung paano nila gagawin ang investigation, basta ang kailangan ko lang sa kanila ay report ng kanilang investigation which I suppose will be completed anytime within the year (I gave the panel the discretion how to do their investigation, I just need their report which I suppose will be completed anytime within the year),” he said.

And while house Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who is also the PhISGOC chairman, welcomed the investigation, he maintained that there was no anomaly.

“We welcome this as an opportunity to put to rest all the questions so that we may move forward in celebrating the success of our athletes and honoring the sacrifices of our work-

force and volunteers,” Cayetano said in a Facebook post.

“We will fully support all investigations, and as I said before, I am ordering full transparency, audits and opening of all books. Thousands of Filipinos worked hard and faithfully to make the Games the success that it is. Wala itong anomalya (There’s no anomaly here),” he added.

Cayetano also warned those who criticized the SEA Games.

“As we are ready to meet all these accusations, I am also issuing fair warning to all those who plotted against the SEA Games and put politics over country; those who espoused and spread fake news and malicious lies.

Personally, I forgive you, but for the national interest there to accountability and a reckoning,” he said. n

december 12-18, 2019 • LAS VeGAS ASIAN JOUrNAL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

Dateline PhiliPPines

(702) 792-6678 â&#x20AC;˘ http://www.asianjournal.com

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL â&#x20AC;˘ dEcEmbER 12-18, 2019

Expert says pneumonia still top killer of PH kids, bats for wider vaccine access

by Tony

Bergonia Inquirer.net

MANILA â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Pneumonia remained to be the top killer of children in the Philippines and the rest of the globe which makes it critical to give wider access to vaccines as a preventive measure, according to an international expert on pediatric diseases and their cures.

Dr. James Wee, medical director of pharmaceutical company Pfizer who had done extensive research on different diseases stalking children, said three types of deadly microbes, or serotypes, cause pneumonia among children 5 years or younger and are still prevalent in the Philippines.

The three serotypes, Wee said in a statement, cause serious infections but one, which he identified as serotype 19A, was the most virulent and prevalent.

It is also associated with antibiotic resistance, he said.

Another serotype, 3, is associ-

ated with complicated pneumonia. Serotype 6A is a cause of invasive pneumococcal disease.

According to Wee, pneumonia is the No. 1 cause of death among children worldwide, worse than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

The Philippines is among the most vulnerable because scientific data showed that the three serotypes that cause pneumonia among children are present in 19.36 percent of samples extracted from pneumoniastricken children in previous years.

The Department of Health (DOH) website, citing the World Health Organization, said in 2015 alone, almost 1 million children aged 5 and below died of pneumonia-related causes around the world.

In the Philippines, the pediatric death ratio is 23.4 per 100,000. The Philippines is among 15 countries that account for 75 percent, or three-fourths, of childhood pneumonia cases.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our children are at risk and vaccination is key,â&#x20AC;? said Wee. He said a particular vaccine, PCV 13, was found to be effective against the microbe strains.

The DOH has been using PCV 13 since 2014. Globally, the vaccine is used by 126 out of 159 countries with ongoing national immunization programs. The United States and China are on PCV 13 exclusively.

Since 2015, PCV 13 use globally has been on the rise because of the broader protection it offers and because of findings that preventing deaths actually saves government more money than if it were to use cheaper vaccines like PCV 10 that do not offer protection against the three strains.

From 2015 to 2019, at least 18 countries introduced PCV13: Spain, Cambodia, Portugal, Solomon Islands, Uzbekistan, Eritrea, Lebanon, Namibia, Mauritius, Algeria, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, India, Romania, Haiti, Mongolia and Seychelles and Bhutan. n

Lorenzana, Sison lock horns over preconditions to peace talks THE reopening of the peace talks remained in limbo as officials from both sides locked horns over conditions before the negotiations.

In a statement on Wednesday, December 11, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jomaâ&#x20AC;? Sison insisted that the talks should be held in a â&#x20AC;&#x153;foreign neutral venue,â&#x20AC;? saying that the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) does not trust the â&#x20AC;&#x153;no arrestâ&#x20AC;? assurance of the government.

A precondition set by President Rodrigo Duterte and which Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. supported was the hosting of the talks by the Philippines.

Sison rejected the proposal.

The government also guaranteed that there would be no arrests of the NDFP consultants despite court-issued warrants across the country. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The NDFP cannot trust any â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;no arrestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; declaration from the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) side unless the repressive issuances and

campaigns of Duterte are ended, the political prisoners are amnestied and released, the CASER (Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms) and a bilateral ceasefire are already in place,â&#x20AC;? Sison said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Right now, the Duterte regime cannot gain the trust and confidence of the NDFP while it refuses to carry out [the] goodwill measures [of the NDFP],â&#x20AC;? he added.

Some of the preconditions that the NDFP wanted were the release of political prisoners and a holiday ceasefire to be declared by both the state forces and the New Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Army (NPA). â&#x20AC;&#x153;The NDFP is under no obligation to negotiate with a regime that is already discredited and is running out of time. The revolutionary movement is advancing,â&#x20AC;?

Sison said.

Lorenzana, however, disagreed with the preconditions reiterated by Sison and questioned his distrust over the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assurances. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ano siya, sinuswerte? (What is he, lucky?)â&#x20AC;? the Defense chief said in a message when asked

for his comment on Sisonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest statement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the first place, it was they who came to the President to request for the reopening of the talks through Sisonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emissaries,â&#x20AC;? Lorenzana said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If the NDFP will not trust the assurance of the government that no consultants will be arrested in the country should peace talks resume, â&#x20AC;&#x153;then that is their problem,â&#x20AC;? Lorenzana said.

The military said it would pursue its operations against the communist rebels even if the peace talks would reopen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are continuing with our operations and we said we are successful,â&#x20AC;? Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, the Armed Forces spokesman, said in an interview over CNN Philippines.

Asked if the military backed the resumption of peace talks, Arevalo said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;If itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desire to move along this way, once again, we always are going to support and we are supportive of the President.â&#x20AC;?

(Dempsey Reyes/ManilaTimes. net)

SWEET KISS. Karateka Jamie Christine Lim of the Philippines gets a kiss from her mother, former Pag-IBIG Fund president and chief executive officer Darlene Berberabe, during the awarding ceremony in the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the World Trade Center in Pasay City on Monday, December 9. Lim clinched the gold in the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kumite +61 kilogram.

PNA photo by Avito Dalan

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Business without conscience is greedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

by Javier

J. ismael ManilaTimes.net

SENATOR Christopher Lawrence â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bongâ&#x20AC;? Go blasted the unjust provisions in the concession agreements with the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two water concessionaires.

In a privilege speech late on Monday, the senator questioned the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Singapore ordering the Philippines to pay Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc. billions of pesos for stopping the two water firms from adjusting their rates. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I strongly believe that such a decision is not only disadvantageous to the Filipino people, it is also wrong,â&#x20AC;? Go said.

Go enumerated some of the unfair practices that water concessionaires engage in to make a profit, stressing that the companies continue to take advantage of Filipinos. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wala na ngang binabayarang corporate income tax ang mga concessionaires na ito dahil pinapasa na sa mga consumers, pagbabayarin pa nila ngayon ang taongbayan at ang gobyerno?

Bumaba na nga ang konsumo ng tubig ng publiko, patuloy pa rin ang pagtaas nila ng presyo (These concessionaires do not pay corporate income ax because it is being passed on to the consumers, and now they want the people and the government to pay)?â&#x20AC;? the senator said in his speech. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Manila Water, through its â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;fixers,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; have continuously opposed several water projects that would improve our water systems. Why,

so they could build their own water provider and raise prices anytime?â&#x20AC;? he added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Saan naman kayo nakakita ng kumpanya na hindi pa man naisasagawa ang mismong septic tank desludging nito, nangongolekta na sila agad ng â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;environmental chargeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sa kanilang mga consumers para rito. Ano ito: pay now, service never (Where can you find a company that collects environmental charge for non-existing septic tank desludging. What is this: Pay now, service never)?â&#x20AC;?

Go said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Furthermore, Manila Water has yet to comply with its contractual obligation to provide for sewerage and wastewater treatment facilities in Metro Manila, which clearly constitutes a breach of the concession agreement,â&#x20AC;? he added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ginigisa nila tayo sa sarili nating mantika (Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sauteing us with our own oil).â&#x20AC;?

The senator cl arified that he is not against businesses turning a profit. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I strongly believe that promoting a culture of entrepreneurship and fostering a country that is conducive for business and commerce are crucial in creating a better life for us all,â&#x20AC;? he said.

But he stressed that â&#x20AC;&#x153;business without conscience is just greed.â&#x20AC;?

The senator also criticized those who negotiated the contracts: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sinu-sino ba ang mga abogado at opisyal na nakaupo nang pinapa-bid at ginagawa pa ang mga kontratang ito? Bakit pinalusot ninyo at hinayaan na magkaganito? Bukod sa hindi

Sen. Bong Go

ManilaTimes.net photo

makabayan, hindi pa makatao ang mga kontrata. Wala ba kayong mga puso (Who are these lawyers and officials in power when these contracts were bidded and allowed this to happen? Aside from not being patriotic, these contracts are inhuman. Have you no heart)?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;These contracts are not propeople and are clearly meant to bleed money from the Filipino people,â&#x20AC;? he added.

The senator urged the renegotiation of the agreements â&#x20AC;&#x153;to eliminate or neutralize those provisions, which are unduly disadvantageous to the government and align both governmental and private interests to one common goal: public interest.â&#x20AC;?

He also urged the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System to â&#x20AC;&#x153;explore the possibility of terminating the extension of the concessionaire agreement.â&#x20AC;? n

60 COUNTRIES. OVER 100 CITIES WORLDWIDE. THATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INTERNATIONAL.

,1 3$571(56+,3 :,7+ 7+( '(3$570(17 2) )25(,*1 $))$,56 2) 7+( 3+,/,33,1(6 %$/,.%$<$1 0$*$=,1( ,6 12: ',675,%87(' $7 /2&$/ $1' )25(,*1 3+,/,33,1( (0%$66,(6 &2168/$7(6 2)),&(6 $1' 28732676 72 &203/(0(17 285 (;,67,1* ',675,%87,21 &+$11(/6 68&+ $6 %22.6725(6 +27(/ $1' 5(6257 52206 +263,7$/6 %$1.6 &/,1,&6 5(67$85$176 6+236 75$9(/ $*(1&,(6 (9(176 $1' 68%6&5,37,216

^chiV\gVb#Xdb$Vh^Vc_djgcVa

[VXZWdd`#Xdb$6h^Vc?djgcVaEjWa^XVi^dch

il^iiZg#Xdb$Vh^Vc_djgcVaXdb

lll#WVa^`WVnVcbV\Vo^cZ#Xdb

10

december 12-18, 2019 • LAS VeGAS ASIAN JOUrNAL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

VEGAS&STYLE

Journal Give the gift of knowledge with these books by Filipino authors by

Christina M. Oriel, Klarize Medenilla & MalOu bledsOe / AJPress

CHRISTMAS is just around the corner and we are all rushing to complete our shopping list. Gifting during the holidays is a tricky thing, however, as most people tend to buy what is trendy or popular. In the end, our recipients are most likely to receive something that someone else has given, or a gift that they have no use for.

This is why a book is one of the best gifts you can give — it’s compact with stories and details that can fill not only one’s brain but heart as well.

So this holiday, why not give the gift of knowledge? This year alone, The Asian Journal team has read (and featured!) a plethora of books by Filipino and Filipino American authors across genres, including: “Loves You” (poetry)

by Sarah Gambito; “The Body Papers” (memoir) by Grace Talusan; “I Was Their American Dream” (graphic memoir) by Malaka Gharib; “Patron Saints of Nothing” (young adult fiction) by Randy Ribay; “Why Karen Carpenter Matters” (biography/memoir) by

Karen Tongson; “Somewhere in the Middle” (memoir) by Deborah Francisco Douglas; “No Forks Given” (cookbook/stories) by Yana Gilbuena; “Baking at République” (cookbook) by Margarita “Marge” Manzke; and “Rice. Noodles.

Yum.: Everyone’s Favorite Southeast Asian Dishes” (cookbook) by Abigail Sotto Raines.

Here are a few more recommendations that will be perfect either as a stocking stuffer or a special Christmas gift to family and friends.

“Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion” by Jia Tolentino From the whip-smart voice of a generation Jia Tolentino, “Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion” has been named one of the 10 best books of the year by the New York Public Library and appeared on best of the year lists from The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Time and The Washington Post to name a few.

In nine moving essays, Tolentino captures, with photographic clarity, the state of collective confusion and distortion we’re

currently experiencing in the age of the internet, peppering in her own experiences as the daughter of Filipino immigrants.

Among the contemporary cultural topics featured in the book, she discusses the capitalization of feminism, her tumultuous relationship with religion and how that intertwined with her experience with drugs in the vein of ecstasy and the toxic, convoluted triangle of “sex and race and power.”

“Trick Mirror” is a necessary read that showcases the incredible talent of the 31-year-old writer who, time and time again, perfectly sums up millennial sensibilities in the age of social media and attempts to untangle the most muddled parts of American culture.

In the intro to the book, Tolentino writes, “I began to realize that all my life I’ve been leaving myself breadcrumbs. It didn’t matter that I didn’t always know what I was walking toward. It was worthwhile, I told myself, just trying to see clearly, even if it took me years to understand what I was trying to see.”

“Lalani of the Distant Sea” by Erin Entrada Kelly Embark on a courageous and mythical journey with 12-yearold Lalani Sarita in “Lalani of the Distant Sea,” the debut fantasy novel by Filipina American Newbery Medalist Erin Entrada Kelly.

Drawing from Filipino folklore, Lalani is in search of Mount Isa, a mysterious landmark known for a flower with healing powers that could potentially help her ailing mother as well as good fortune that could save her fellow villagers on the island of Sanlagita, which is facing its own threats of survival. The 12-year-old pro-

tagonist is confronted by external tests along the way as many men, including her own father, have perished in the quest for the mountain. The issues of toxic masculinity and gender stereotypes are also prevalent in the dialogue and text as well.

Though a children’s novel, the lessons of empathy, perseverance, identity and fate transcend any age. In the end, sometimes you choose yourself.

“I created a heroine in Lalani, who isn’t particularly gifted in any way,” Kelly told the Washington Post. “What’s extraordinary about her is her power to be compassionate... That’s not something we typically celebrate in our society.”

“From Rufio to Zuko” by Dante Basco You know him as the tri-mohawked Rufio of the Lost Boys in the 1990s cult classic “Hook.”

You also know him as the voice of Prince Zuko from the wildly popular Nickelodeon show “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” Regardless of your point of reference, you’re Filipino American, you know actor Dante Basco as the symbol of Filipino representation in entertainment of the 1990s and the aughts. Often playing a wide range of Asian side characters, Basco is the success story of the Asian American who broke into mainstream entertainment, and that journey is detailed in a new memoir called “From Rufio to Zuko.”

The memoir released this year chronicles Basco’s beginnings as a breakdancer from the Bay Area and the impact his family upbringing has had on his career. (Basco is one of four siblings who are also in entertainment) navigating the entertainment industry as a Filipino in a pre-“Inclusion Rider” world. In an interview with the

Hollywood Reporter, Basco said that his memoir may be beneficial “for the next generation of people of color” who are trying to break into Hollywood.

“Steel Crow Saga” by Paul Krueger Named of the best books of 2019 by NPR, “Steel Crow Saga”

by Filipino American author Paul Krueger takes readers on a post-colonial, adventure-filled fantasy heavily influenced by Asian cultures, such as Filipino, Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

From magical animal characters to themes of diplomacy, rebellion and unlikely alliances, the novel brings together four destinies — a soldier with a curse, a prince with a debt, a detective with a grudge and a thief with a broken heart — to defeat an evil force who defies the laws of magic. Many reviews liken the Fil-Am author’s second novel to Pokémon, Avatar: The Last Airbender and anime.

“The biggest thing I learned was to trust my instincts. ‘Steel Crow Saga’ happened because I felt like I had nothing left to lose, so I might as well roll the dice on the wildest, most specifically Paul book I could write. I’m very fortunate the dice came up in

my favor, but I think it’s because readers respond well to specificity and honesty,” Krueger wrote in an AMA thread on Reddit.

“Dear Seller: Real Estate Love Letters from Los Angeles” edited by Teena Apeles As the adage goes, home is where the heart is, but finding that ‘home’ in a competitive and pricey market like Los Angeles can be a grueling process. In “Dear Seller: Real Estate Love Letters from Los Angeles” — edited

by Filipina American Teena Apeles and released by her LA-based publishing company Narrated Objects — homebuyers share letters about the moment they found the place of their dreams.

“I have a very huge Filipino family up in the Bay Area that is very excited to know that I am just a few hours’ drive away, instead of across the country. I plan to house them as often as they let me. I plan to fall in love, get married, and have a family. I plan to plant a garden and have a play set and have barbecues with friends and family—and I want to do it in your home,” another Pinay buyer writes in a handdelivered letter — which she had PAGE 14

Look and feel good: How two US-based Pinay This cookbook shows that an Instant Pot is beauty brands give back to the Philippines all you need to prepare classic Filipino dishes

By Christina

M. Oriel

AJPress

BEAUTY products are often considered individually beneficial as they are intended to make one look and feel good. But certain brands take it a step further and help others as well. With the season of giving in full swing, purchases from two Filipina-owned beauty and skincare brands in the United States support causes back in the Philippines, from feeding school children to supporting mothers in need postpartum.

Prim Botanicals The story: With $3,000 of her own money and mixing and packing products by hand, Stefanie Walmsley started Prim Botanicals from her New York apartment as a passion project. Today going four years strong, Prim Botanicals is now sold at all U.S. Anthropologie stores, certain natural beauty storefronts, and online on its website. Each month, the company sets aside an amount to donate to Philippine-based organizations, but customers can also add an extra donation while checking out.

“Whatever free time I had, I would play around and study all kinds of essential oils and got really lost in it,” the Filipina American founder recently told the Asian Journal. “It was a great outlet.” Walmsley had been working in TV and film as an actress and producer (one project she produced, “God of Love,” won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2011) and was experimenting with ingredients, many of which came from her native Philippines to treat her various skin concerns.

“The more I owned my story as a Filipina from the Philippines and reflected that in Prim’s products and branding, the more attention the brand got,” she said. “I wasn’t just another brand — I was a brand with a real identity, story and full culture behind it.”

The offerings: Prim Botanicals offers products predominately using Philippine-found ingredients that can be used on hair, lips, body and face. Prices range from $12 to $60. Her first concoction was a Face Oil that took a year to create and then was sent to different women to test out and provide feedback. It’s now one of the signature brand products using cold pressed sea buckthorn, black cumin seed, wild moringa from the Philippines, Polynesian tamanu and African marula to address inflammation and blotchy skin. There’s also the Hair Oil that

A former TV and film professional, Stefanie Walmsley started Prim Botanicals in 2013 as a hobby and officially launched it in 2015.

Each month, the brand supports a non-profit back in the Philippines.

Photo courtesy of Prim Botanicals

has Virgin Coconut Oil from the Philippines, camellia, moringa, marula, and black seed; the Debauchery Detox Body Scrub using Activated Charcoal, Philippine Barako Coffee, Hawaiian Black Lava Salt; Aura Mists to energize you; and CBD-infused products from body lotion to a roll-on for period pain.

“The question I ask myself each time is, ‘Is something that I confidently feel is better than whatever else on the market?’

‘What could I sell that I would buy and confidently get my friends to buy it?’ But I also need stuff that’s affordable. Trust my gut, know my customer and know what I would like to see and so far, that formula has been working really well,” she said.

Not so proper: The product formulas at the beginning used a lot of evening primrose oil so the brand name is a play on that ingredient, as well as Walmsley liking “how nice and clean the name sounded,” she said. “But we’re not so prim and proper...and we try to highlight all of that in our copy.

It’s a brand effort to keep the writing accessible, snarky and more tongue-in-cheek. With everything that I do with Prim, I want to take away any sense of intimidation and make the language like if a friend is talking to you.”

Embracing womanhood: With Prim Botanicals’ products, Walmsley wanted to bottle the excitement a woman gets in the moment before she uses a product. Each product is not meant to be mindlessly used. “It’s not meant to be a prissy brand. But I wanted to fill this white space that was decid-

edly and unapologetically feminine and celebrated womanhood,” she said. “It’s not unisex...I wanted something that felt really feminine and was also clean and something you would keep on your bathroom shelf. I know there are so many products that are hidden behind, I love that a lot of our customers come from seeing a Prim product in someone else’s shower or on their shelf.”

Teaching Pinay beauty rituals: Rooted in the beauty and wellness rituals Walmsley grew up following — whether using coconut oil as a mask or barako coffee as a skin scrub — she said Prim Botanicals is a way to teach others about the ingredients the country is rich in and its resourceful, inventive traditions. In the coming months, expect more basic, day-to-day products from a cleanser to body wash too.

“In 2020, I plan to go harder on wellness as a whole and I’m happy that trend is occurring. Back home in the Philippines, you don’t even think about it. When you get a sunburn, everyone says to put aloe vera. If you have a stomachache, they say to drink ginger tea.

These are things we have taken for granted but the rest of the world...

I’m very that most of our ingredients come from the Philippines,” Walmsley said. “Younger generations are now paying homage to our roots — I see it in fashion, design. It’s such an exciting time and I’m glad this generation is looking more at our own history and own traditions instead of constantly looking at what the rest of the world is doing.”

On paying it forward: Since 2015, Prim Botanicals has identified several Philippine-based nonprofits to give back to, including the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation which builds boats for kids in flood-affected areas so they can get to school and Glory Reborn in Cebu that helps marginalized pregnant women receive medical and childcare support. Walmsley announced that the next non-profit the company will support for the next eight months is Tiny Blessings, which provides food, shelter and basic needs to homeless children in Manila.

“It’s 2019 and there’s so much going on. I don’t think it’s enough to just sell a product for profit anymore. At one point, it was enough that we’re natural and sustainable, and we know where everything is coming from and we’re transparent,” Walmsley said. “Now, those values are pretty common. How else can I give back and what more PAGE 14

By MOMar

G. Visaya

AJPress

THERE are many Filipino dishes typically take a long time to cook, with nilaga, pata tim and bulalo to name a few.

We can remember our mothers and grandmothers slaving it in the kitchen boiling and braising pork or beef bones. We also remember that trusted pressure cooker, which comes out to help shorten the prep and cook time for many of these dishes.

A whiff of the dish wafting in the kitchen and eventually tasting it usually triggers nostalgia, bringing back memories of days past. Such is the immense power of food.

That is why the Instant Pot is a lifesaver and a Godsend for working moms and dads who crave these classics once in a while.

There’s no shortage of Instant Pot groups on Facebook, one just needs to look hard. Among them is the Filipino Recipes Instant Pot Community, which as of press time has 40,300 plus members and counting, making it one of the largest and most active Filipino Instant Pot (IP) congregation on the web.

When Jorell and Tisha Domingo got their Instant Pot, they were a bit overwhelmed and went on Facebook to see if there was a group or a community focused on Filipino recipes for what she calls “a magic little machine.” They came up empty-handed so they decided to start one. That was in February 2018.

There were a few rules, among

them keeping the focus on Filipino recipes cooked using the Instant Pot and if possible, posting the photos and the recipe along with the posts.

Last month, they announced the release of “The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook: Classic and Modern Filipino Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker.”

In the book, its six authors — Tisha and Jorell Domingo, Jeannie E. Celestial, Art Swenson, Romeo Roque-Nido, and Jaymar Cabebe — set out to explore their Filipino heritage and intimate family histories, one dish at a time. The result was a collection of over 75 Filipino recipes, all carefully translated for preparation in the Instant Pot, today’s most essential piece of kitchenware.

“Late last year, some friends approached us about joining them in converting our collective family recipes into a cookbook. Tisha and I agreed that it would be a pretty cool thing to preserve our family history and culture in this special way,” Jorell posted in the Facebook group.

“It’s been such a great and eyeopening experience. We especially appreciate the spirit of bayanihan that comes alive in our/your sharing of stories, photos, cooking tips, and recipes,” he added.

The authors all currently live in California and self-identify as second-generation Filipina and Filipino Americans. They all have young children, so there’s a need to prepare dishes quickly and easily

(Filipino or otherwise).

“The IP has certainly been a game-changer for all of us. And we, of course, would love to see Filipino cuisine continue to make its way into mainstream American culture...this is our little contribution to that movement,” Jorell added.

Many of the members shared how they used the Instant Pot to cook Filipino dishes for their Thanksgiving feast, and are planning to cook the same for the upcoming holidays, particularly for Noche Buena and Christmas Day grub.

Members shared the usual, from lechon kawali to mechado and desserts such as leche flan and bibingka. Others were more adventurous, coming up with ube coconut tart and using ube for their sweet potato casserole, showcasing the range of dishes that can be done using the kitchen workhorse.

Crafting the cookbook “To truly appreciate and understand Filipino dishes, you have to understand the evolution of the spices, the nuances of the flavor profiles, the land from which these dishes were birthed. That’s what this book provides. This is not just a book of recipes; this is a book about our story,” said Pati Navalta Poblete, editor-in-Chief of San Francisco Magazine.

For many of the Instant Pot diehards and believers, the appliance is the best to use when it comes to cooking Filipino food.

From classic dinner staples like PAGE 14

How to make ube cheesecake in an Instant Pot Reprinted with permission from ‘The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook’ “NOT to be mistaken for taro, ube has been a longtime staple in Filipino desserts and has recently made its way into mainstream American culture. This yam adds a sweet and nutty flavor to desserts and is easy to identify by its deep purple color, making ube desserts very Insta- gram-worthy. In this recipe, I used ube halaya (purple yam jam) and ube extract to make ube cheesecake. Cheesecake is probably one of the most popular desserts to make in the Instant Pot because you can cut your cooking time in half.” -Tisha Gonda Domingo Serves 6 to 8 Prep Time: 15 minutes Active Time: 0 minutes Pressure Cook Time: 15 minutes Release: Natural For the cake: 2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese

1⁄4 cup sour cream 1⁄3 cup white sugar 3⁄4 cup ube halaya (purple yam jam) 3 tsp ube extract 3 eggs, room temperature 11⁄2 cups water For the crust: 1 packet graham crackers 2 tbsp white sugar 4 tbsp butter, melted Equipment: Food processor, parchment paper, 7-inch springform pan, Hand mixer, Instant Pot trivet , and heavy-duty aluminum foil 1. About 30 to 60 minutes in advance, take cream cheese, sour cream, and eggs out of the refrigerator so they can come to room temperature.

Prepare the crust: 2. Break graham crackers into food processor and pulse until fine. Alternatively, you can put the

graham crackers in a resealable plastic bag and crush the crackers into crumbs using a rolling pin.

3. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup graham cracker crumbs, 2 tbsp sugar, and butter. Place a larger circle of parchment paper on the bottom of a 7-inch springform pan.

Spray the liner with cooking oil and pour crumb mixture into pan and press evenly to form the crust.

Make the cake: 4. In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sour cream, 1/3cup sugar, ube halaya, and ube extract using a hand mixer at low speed. Add eggs one at a time and continue mixing at low speed until all ingredients are fully incorporated. Be careful not to overmix batter.

5. Spray the sides of the pan with cooking oil. Pour batter into springform pan and tap pan on PAGE 14

COMMUNITY JOURNAL

(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com

Immigrant Living: 101 and Beyond MONETTE ADEVA MAGLAYA “REMEMBER the Wonder” was a catchy TV ad slogan for Wonder Bread, an iconic bread company that fled the woeful state of California. But the phrase can very well be used to refer to the true season of wonder — CHRISTMAS. December days and nights seem to slip from our grasp like fine grains of sand. The hours seem to hurtle through the day as we complete a year’s cycle and move on to the next.

Women in particular try in earnest to mesh the unusually heavy demands of the many roles they play specially this season. If we get completely sidetracked by the minutiae and the methodology, the expenses and the endless activities of what constitutes Christmas, we are more than likely to morph into the likes of Scrooge and be tempted to say “Bah, humbug!”

More than likely, the heaviness and drudgery that we seem to associate with this season have a lot to do with the failure to find that somewhat elusive SENSE OF REAL JOY that this season can bring in abundance to those who are open to it.

Sure, we can go through the motions of Christmas activities, shopping, baking, decorating, partying, drinking and binging. And yet, very often even if we diligently check off all the things in our list, something remains amiss. We fail to catch that Christmas feeling.

The spirit of the season is like a butterfly. If you keep mindlessly trashing about in endless activities, it will elude you. But if you sit very still, that Christmas feeling might simply alight on you. Be still and soak in the sight, sounds and smells of the season.

If you can, take time to be holy.

One trick I have learned is to SIMPLIFY and not try to take on too much of anything. That includes refraining from maxing out my credit cards, no matter how infinitely tempting it is to rush out and join the shopping madness.

Filter out distractions. Tune out of social media. Make room in your tight schedule to ponder the

Health@Heart PHILIP S. CHUA, MD, FACS, FPCS A RECENTLY published article in the New England Journal of Medicine alluded to a study that concluded, in essence, that intensive medical treatment had the same results as interventional therapy (angioplasty with stenting, or heart bypass) for those with angina (chest pains) from ischemia (lack of blood supply to heart muscles due to arterial blockages).

There are subtleties and medical nuances to this which a lay person might not be able to discern.

This may have spread via the internet and could be causing some confusion and concern in the mind of the public, depriving patients from making the correct intelligent medical decision. Allow us to clarify the issue in layman’s term and put the facts in their proper medical perspective.

While an aggressive medical regimen of pills may succeed in relaxing coronary arteries that are in spasm (narrowing the lumen of the arterial channel) and allow some blood to go through, these vasodilators would not be able to open up obstructed arteries, which are stenosed (blocked by rockhard calcium within these tiny arteries). I have broken scalpels (blades) in surgery trying to cut these solid stony blockages. They are like teeth, bones!

Arterial spasm is a physiological-biological reactive condition, which could respond to “antispasm/vasodilator” medications, but a calcified blockage inside the arteries, especially those obliterating the arterial channel more than 50 percent, will not dilate (open-up) enough, thus still reducing the blood flow to the heart muscles. And if the blockage is 80 percent or complete, no medication could open it up. The analogy of a massive two-semi-trucks accidents blocking three of a 4-lane highway can only be cleared by towing all the trucks blocking the expressway because they are a physical-mechanical obstruction.

If the obstruction were caused by snow or fallen garbage on the highway, they could easily be power-washed, etc.

While that study had the usual noble goal of protecting the patients from any unnecessary procedure, it is short in practical scientific wisdom and lacks support from larger evidence-based studies, many authored by nonsurgeons, which showed that for left main artery blockage and multi-vessel blockages (3 or more), which they usually are, coronary artery bypass in the long run ben-

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • DECEMBER 12-18, 2019

11

Remember the wonder Arnel continues own journey “Lest we forget .........

CHRIST is the reason for this season.” wonder of this season.

Each day of the season, count at least ONE BLESSING that you may have taken for granted — like YOUR FAMILY, dysfunctional or imperfect the members may be, including yourself, we are all we’ve got.

To borrow from a song, “Love the one you’re with.” That means stop looking elsewhere. The internet and social media could be a minefield of dashed hopes and dreams. For the most part, it is definitely not the place to find what you think is missing in your life. It is, at best, an illusion.

If you still have relatively good health and do not have to depend on a cocktail of drugs to get you through the day, REJOICE AND BE GLAD! Many wealthy yet ailing people longing to live a bit longer, will trade places with you in a heartbeat. TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED. Love your life but without conceit. It is simply on loan to you. Treasure the hours. Forcibly yank out just an hour each day to sit in the silence during this season to take the time to smell the coffee, steep the tea or quaff the cocoa in a quiet spot, free of the interruptions of all those annoying electronic beeps.

Unless your job entails spelling the difference between life and death, CUT OFF YOUR ELECTRONIC LEASH, at least for just an hour. Who said you have to be on call all the time?

That hour you gift yourself with is yours to savor and JUST BE. That hour might very well help you to remember the wonder — to get back that gift of amazement we once had when we were children.

Lest we forget, CHRIST IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON. Pay no attention to the godless fools who would like to delete Christ from the season. It is CHRISTMAS, not XMAS. Those are minions of the devil at work in the guise of “multi-culti” political correctness always on the lookout for relabel-

ing things to suit a twisted, AND oftentimes, sinister agenda The strongest evidence of Christ living in our hearts during this season is an inner glow becoming an outward display of joy that wells within. The joy overflows and like a heaven-sent viral infection affects those we work and live with within the small orbit of our existence.

Sorrow, pain and disappointment, heartache and heartbreak in spades — we will always have.

They have a place in the general scheme of things. They work like a sculptor’s tool kit that shapes and molds the structure of our soul and our being that ultimately make us resilient. We can then not only weather all seasons, but to survive and even THRIVE. But just for this season, BELIEVE that you are allowed to get a moratorium from all that.

This season is filled with awesome wonders and all it takes is to open our eyes, sharpen our senses and soak them all in.

Conditioned by years of mundane repetition, we have lost the magic and instinctive sense of wonder we were born with. We went through the motions of getting an education, raising a family, earning a living, running a business, working ceaselessly, it seems till we drop down dead or until Social Security says we can stop, (whichever comes first), sleeping and doing the same things all over again at daybreak.

Routine and predictability though calming and reassuring, can numb the soul over time.

Don’t let that happen. Christmas is a gift. Christ was born so we can have eternal life. God, in His great love for us, thinks that we are worth saving.

Take heart. This season of wonder, as God intended it to be, will always be a joyful reminder of HIS LOVE for us. *** Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette. maglaya@asianjournalinc.com

Disputed heart study

efits the patients the patients better, even compared to angioplasty and stenting, much less medical therapy alone, as far are morbidity and mortality are concerned. And there are countless millions of bypass patients around the world to prove this.

When a patient comes in with angina, a complete history and comprehensive physical examination and laboratory tests are done. If coronary heart disease is suspected, coronary angiography — cardiac catheterization is the definitive diagnostic procedure recommended.

What is a Cardiac Catheterization?

Cardiac or Heart Catheterization is a medical test where radioopaque dye is injected into the left (and as needed, also into the right) chamber of the heart and the coronary arteries of the heart to find out if there are any abnormalities of the inner walls of the heart, the heart valves, the strength of the cardiac contraction (pumping action), and any blockages in heart arteries.

How is it performed?

The cardiologist injects an anesthetic agent (numbing medication) into an area of the skin in the groin of the patient, who has been given a sedative beforehand, and makes a 2 mm hole in the skin. Through this tiny opening, a catheter (size of a strand of spaghetti) is inserted into the femoral (groin) artery and under X-Ray fluoroscopic guidance, advances this catheter to the base of the ascending aorta (large major artery connected to the heart). The two main coronary arteries (left and right) branch out from the base of the aorta to supply blood (carrying oxygen and nutrition) to the muscles of the heart.

Once the tip of the catheter catches or hugs the opening of the left and right coronary arteries, dye is injected into the catheter into these arteries, and video film of the dye flowing into the coronary arteries are taken. If there are any blockages, they will be captured on the (movie) film. Dye is also flushed into the left ventricle (in some cases, also into the right ventricle) to visualize any wall or valve abnormality and measure the Ejection Fraction (EF) (as a gauge of how powerful the left ventricle pumps blood into the circulation. A poor EF suggests weak cardiac muscles, which could be due to blockages of the coronary arteries (lack of blood supply), diseased heart valves or cardiomyopathy (usually a viral infection that causes weak and flabby heart muscles).

Why is this test important?

Cardiac Cath or Coronary Angio, as the procedure is popularly nicknamed, is what could be regarded as the “supreme court”

of all heart tests. While EKG (electrocardiogram) and Stress EKG (treadmill test), or even ECHO (echocardiogram) are studies used to detect the presence of coronary artery disease, these tests are non-invasive procedures utilized as preliminary or screening diagnostic methods. If they show normal results, then chances are there are no blockages in the coronary arteries. If the results are doubtful or positive, then cardiac cath is performed to make the final determination. Following cardiac cath, the physician can say with practically 100% certainty if the patient has coronary blockages or heart valve disease or not. Hence, it is considered the “supreme court” or “court of final resort” of cardiac diagnostic tests.

Any death reported from the procedure?

Just like many invasive medical tests, cardiac cath has attendant risk, but the risk of dying from cardiac cath is much much less compared to, say accidental death from a car accident on a busy highway.

The risk of NOT having the test at all and leaving the heart condition undiagnosed poses a greater risk than undergoing cardiac cath. In one study, it was shown that in 5000 consecutive cardiac caths performed, there was no mortality at all. Indeed, cardiac cath is one of the safest tests, and a most valuable and life-saving one.

Should cardiac cath be done as preventive measure?

Not as a rule. If there are no symptoms, and the patient is healthy and active, we do not recommend cardiac cath just to satisfy our or the patient’s curiosity.

Besides being expensive, the test has possible risk and complications (although mild and rare) as described earlier. One exception is for big corporation executive check-ups and for airline pilots, where some companies require initial employment cardiac cath.

The other exception, which is more of a medically indication, is for persons who have a strong family history of heart attack (a genetic predisposition), and who are also hypertensive, diabetic, and a cigarette smoker.

Love and protect your heart; it’s the only one you’ve got, and can’t live without it. *** Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus in Northwest Indiana and chairman of cardiac surgery from 1997 to 2010 at Cebu Doctors University Hospital, where he holds the title of Physician Emeritus in Surgery, is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Philippine College of Surgeons, and the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society. He is the chairman of the Filipino United Network – USA, a 501(c)(3) humanitarian foundation in the United States. Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com

by NATHALIE

TOMADA Philstar.com

LAST DECEMBER 6, Arnel Pineda took to his Facebook page to share that it’s been 13 years since the legendary U.S. rock band Journey announced him as its new lead singer.

How an “unknown Filipino singer,” who used to perform in small-time clubs, was discovered on YouTube by guitarist Neal Schon continues to inspire to this day, that you just don’t stop believin’.

The YouTube videos of Arnel’s first-ever gig with Journey in Chile back in 2008 never fail to give you the chills.

As for Arnel, it will always be a favorite memory. “With 19,000 people (in attendance) and 30 million on the internet watching it live, it was quite scary, one of the most terrifying feelings that I’ve had in my life! You’re going to represent the band and at the back of my head (was) ‘Steve Perry, he is the voice of Journey and here I am the replacement and going to try please 19,000 people,’” he said in a recent interview.

“It didn’t help that Neal Schon told me three minutes before we started, ‘Do you know that Chile is a solid Steve Perry fan?’ That added to the very, very bad feeling I was feeling already. Pero dahil may dugong Pinoy tayo, palaban tayo... bahala na! I believe ito ang trait natin mga Filipino eh, we’re so gutsy when it comes to work.

That’s why we have millions of OFWs. To not see your family, that’s guts! So, it was the same for me: it’s now or never.”

Apart from rocking stadiums and arenas all over the world, another highlight perhaps of singing for Journey, was meeting the original lead singer himself.

“I met Steve Perry at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction for Journey in 2017. It was great, he was very friendly, very open, he was in his best mood, you know.

After we met, he did his speech at the stage, he even mentioned me.

He thanked me for relentlessly singing. You know, singing my ass off for the past 12 years. He was so happy about it. It’s like a notion of passing the torch to me. I think, the fans get it, it’s me now that’s singing for the band and not him anymore because he doesn’t want it,” he told The Star.

Asked how long does he see himself singing for Journey, Arnel who’s on a break from a Vegas residency with the band at the

Colosseum at Caesars Palace, replied, “It’s up to them. As long as they need me, I’m going to be there. If the time comes that they don’t need me anymore, they can always tell me. You know, from the very beginning, I told myself, I’m already good with doing one or two concerts with them. But what happened was, we already did almost 700 shows in 12 years and they’re still keeping me.”

If there’s one big lesson to learn from his journey into becoming part of an iconic rock group, it’s that the hard work — to borrow lyrics from a Journey song — “goes on and on, and on, and on.”

“It’s serving and representing a legacy like this in America, it’s part of American history, so it’s just hard, it takes a lot of discipline and self-control and focus, which is one thing I’ve really learned.

Like before Journey, I was just trying to have fun and survive and float, and it was enough for me that I was able to feed my family, that I was able to go through the day kahit mababa lang ang budget. (Now) much as you’re blessed with monetary gain, the responsibility is just heavy, you really have to work hard. Yung work ethic mo talaga mag-i-improve. And you really have to improve.”

The rocker’s life story will get a big-screen retelling as Jon Chu — yes, the director of the blockbuster hit “Crazy Rich Asians” — has decided to do his biopic in partnership with Warner Bros., to be written by Joker screenwriter Scott Silver.

“This story in particular has been on my mind since I first read about it years ago. A true fairy tale and triumph of the human spirit,” the Chinese-American filmmaker was quoted as saying in a report by the U.S. website Deadline in December 2018.

Indeed, Arnel’s Cinderella story is worth aspiring for, especially among young artists.

Interestingly, there are bands now that are getting his admiration, such as Ben&Ben and IV of Spades. But no, he has no pointers to give them because “I don’t think they need mentoring because ang gagaling na ng mga yan. I’m just so surprised how intelligent these boys are at a young age, because I just started to mature when I turned 40. Then I wrote more music. But for them, at an early age, they’ve been writing meaningful songs, good for them.”

Nevertheless, if given the op-

Calendar of Events across

Now on a break from a Vegas residency with Journey at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Arnel performed back-to-back with the Black Eyed Peas at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 2019’s closing ceremony on Wednesday, December 11, in New Clark City.

Photo from Facebook/@Arnel Pineda Official

portunity to mentor budding singers in some platform, like a singing competition for example, he’s open to it. In fact, five years ago, he was offered to be a coach on “The Voice of the Philippines.”

“I wanted to do it, I wanted to share my experience, I wanted to help and inspire, I believe I could do that. But because of time constraints and schedules, di magtagpo talaga,” he said. “(But I’m) very open to that. If ever, open pa sila sa notion, that they would like to have me and if our schedules meet, of course, why not!”

Arnel said the Philippines is teeming with so much talent and if he had his way, “we should focus more on the talent, not the looks and the height. We have so much here. It’s part of our natural resources, the talent of Pinoys especially when it comes to music.”

As for those seeking his advice, he just encourages them to always be passionate about their craft and to stay professional. “Dito sa showbiz, maraming nakasunod sayo, sa likod mo. If you quit, madali kang kalimutan, madali kang palitan. Hangga’t mainit ka, you just have to do everything you can.

You gotta work hard at it.”

America

ADVERTISE YOUR EVENTS! PRE-EVENT AND POST EVENT GO DEEPER. GO WIDER. LET THE WORLD KNOW. CALL ASIAN JOURNAL: (818) 502-0651 DISPLAY AD SIZES AT SPECIAL RATES FOR NON-PROFIT GROUPS D EC E M B E R 1 4

Holiday Parol Making Workshop in Eagle Rock, CA Make craft Filipino paper lanterns (parols) with SIPA for the holiday season on Saturday, December 14! It will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. at Eagle Rock Plaza (upper level center court) at 2700 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041. It is a FREE workshop with complimentary food and refreshments. Contact Maria Carmel Valendez at (213) 382-1819 ext. 107 or maria@ sipacares.org for more info!

D EC E M B E R 1 8

FACCGLA Holiday Mixer in Sherman Oaks, CA The Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles (FACCGLA)’s holiday mixer will be held at Marie Callender’s Restaurant in Sherman Oaks, California (14743 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403). Come join in the spirit of the season with the FACCGLA. Early bird special for Members is $30 and $35 for future members. After December 15 tickets will be $35 and $40, respectively. Please purchase online at www.faccgla.org, select ‘Events’ and select December 18. Venue address is 14743 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403. For inquiries email info@faccgla.org.

D EC E M B E R 2 1

SIPA’s holiday festival and toy distribution in LA During this season of giving, volunteer with Search to Involve Pilipino Americans on Saturday, December 21 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. as they spread joy in Los Angeles. Join SIPA as they hand gifts out to over 250 youth in the Historic Filipinotown community, eat a delicious meal, and listen to some Christmas tunes! It will be held at 3200 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA. Contact Maria Carmel Valendez at maria@sipacares.org or (213) 382-1819 ext.107.

D EC E M B E R 29

#HashtagLunchbag/SIPA food drive in LA The Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) and #Hashtag Lunchbag are joining forces to create positive changes in Historic Filipinotown on Sunday, December 29 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

SIPA will be hosting a Food Drive with #HashtagLunchbag to create letters of encouragement, decorate lunch bags, and assemble sandwiches for those in need in Historic Filipinotown. When finished, they will be giving out lunch bags to homeless youth, women, and families. Registration contact and link: Maria Carmel Valendez at maria@sipacares.org or (213) 382-1819 ext. 107.

2020 JA N UA RY 1 2

FACCGLA’s gala in Woodland Hills, CA The ‘Shining Shimmering Splendid Gala’ is the annual fundraising event of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles (FACCGLA) on January 12, 2020 at 6 p.m. at the Hilton Woodland Hills. Everyone is welcome to attend to enjoy good food, music and dancing plus raffle prizes and other entertainment. Installation of the new President and Board precedes the merriment. Tickets are only $75 for all this enjoyment ($85 after Jan. 5), available online atwww.faccgla.org, select ‘Events’ and select the Jan12 event. Sponsorships available. Venue address is 6360 Canoga Ave, Woodland Hills, CA 91367. Emailinfo@faccgla. org for inquiries.

If you have an upcoming event and would like us to post it, please email us the details at info@asianjournalinc.com or calendar@asianjournalinc.com

12

december 12-18, 2019 • LAS VeGAS ASIAN JOUrNAL

EntErtainmEnt

http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

Netizens speak: Why the crown slipped from Gazini Give the gift of knowledge with... by nika

Roque

ManilaTimes.net

THe beauty pageant nation was a little heartbroken Monday, December 9, when the Philippines’ Gazini Ganados failed to clinch a back-to-back win with 2018 Miss Universe Catriona Gray, much less snag a place for her finish. After all, Ganadoz’ performance in the pre-pageant activities had been more than promising — many of them going viral even — making her a crowd favorite from the start.

Ganadoz certainly looked like a winner on coronation night at the Tyler Perry Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia, but the verdict among netizens is that she seemed to lack in confidence and looked nervous through most of the competition. They further reckon that the pressure in succeeding Gray became too much for her to take the closer she got

to the main event.

High points Nevertheless, Ganados deserves congratulations for carrying herself as best she can under such pressure.

For following her rigorous training, Ganados proudly debuted her “Phoenix Walk” at Miss Universe scored top points in the swimsuit, evening gown and national costume segments.

For these she was a Top 5 Wild Card Pick and a Top 20 finisher.

Jitters Meanwhile, her jitters seemed to get the better of her during her interviews.

First asked by host Steve Harvey during her Top 20 moment to talk about her three first names, Gazini Christiana Jordi, Ganados stuttered in parts.

“What you guys don’t know is that this is a great opportun — opportunity for me to shoutout all my friends and family who

gives me one gift on Christmas and on my birthday.” This came after Ganados explained that her second name Christiana came from the fact that she was born on the day after Christmas.

Fil-Am vlogger (#LifeofMarc) nevertheless had a positive take on Ganados’ reply and commended her on YouTube for allowing her personality and “true self” to unfold on stage, with a few witty punches here and there.

What was more challenging for the Filipina candidate however were questions regarding her advocacy.

She opened with a strong point, saying “The world is aging” as a segue to her concern for the elderly. However, the rest of her answer was far from fluid as she paused and stuttered several times anew. And based on #LifeofMarc’s commentary, PAGE 14

Sarah is maid of honor to Matteo’s sister

by Ryan

aRcadio Inquirer.net

BeFore walking down the aisle of her future wedding, Sarah Geronimo was the maid of honor to her fiancé Matteo Guidicelli’s sister Giorgia at her wedding last Sunday, December 8. Giorgia tied the knot with her longtime partner Ian Dato in a ceremony in Mactan, Cebu.

The Popstar royalty glowed in a yellow dress alongside Giorgia who donned a stunning white gown, as seen in photographer Lito Sy’s post on Instagram on the same day.

Giorgia could not help but smile

while she was surrounded by her bridal squad who were all beaming in matching yellow dresses.

Prior to the ceremony, Giorgia and Geronimo shared a sweet moment together as they appeared to look at their engagement rings from their respective significant others, Dato and Matteo. The newlyweds posted about the moment on her Instagram page on Monday, December 9.

The Guidicelli family also looked stunning during the ceremony as they walked down the aisle together. Their mother donned a white and gold dress which featured an intricate pattern of flowers; while

Sarah Geronimo with Matteo Guidicelli and his family.

EMPLOYMENT

PAGE 10 her mother translate into Tagalog — to a Filipino family who owned a home she had her eyes set on in northeast LA. The aesthetically pleasing photography is enough to get you to flip through the book or even keep it on a coffee table, but one can get engrossed and feel a glimmer of hope in the notes that reveal the humanity and emotion in a business that is often transactional, as well as the heartwarming interactions in a city that can sometimes feel disjointed and inhospitable.

In another letter and story, a Pinay shares how moving from West Hollywood to eagle rock had “really transformed our lives…We have neighborhood friends, we take care of each other’s kids and we hang out—the quality of our life has really shifted, it is so much better.”

The book is available on Narrated objects’ website or local LA shops like Skylight Books. A portion of the proceeds from the book will go to Piece by Piece, which provides free mosaic art

workshops to low-income and formerly homeless people, according to Apeles.

“A for Adobo” by Nelson Agustin Are you looking for a present that can teach your children the alphabet while introducing Filipino food and language to them?

Then “A for Adobo” by Nelson Agustin is the perfect gift!

From the simple tuyo to the lavish paella Valenciana, “A for Adobo” is a visual feast for the palate. Both Filipino kids and adults will delight in the eyepopping pictures of beloved and iconic native dishes, and the use of the bilingual descriptions and food notes will deepen their appreciation for their cultural heritage.

It’s not a read-aloud book, but it’s an introduction for a child to the Filipino alphabet as well as food. From A to Z, the reader will be taken into the world of Pinoy cuisine, and the mouth-watering pictures (also taken by Agustin) make it more appealing. Best of all, it’s available in soft cover for

Matteo, his little brother Paolo and their father looked sharp in gray and black suits.

Meanwhile, Giorgia’s little brother Paolo appeared to be wiping away tears from Matteo’s eyes as they watched their sister exchange vows with Dato.

Geronimo was a hands-on maid of honor as she and other bridesmaids helped fix Giorgia’s veil and gown while she was at the alter with her now-husband Dato.

“The most important people in my life,” Giorgia said.

Geronimo will soon be walking down the aisle herself. She and Guidicelli announced their engagement last month.

Photo from Instagram/@matteog

EMPLOYMENT

FOR RENT

PSYCHIC

the adults, and in board book edition for kids. A for Adobo is truly an alphabetical, gastronomical journey to Filipino food. It’s available on Amazon and other online seller sites.

“Zoobooloo: With Filipino translation” by Christine L. Villa A not her c h i ld r en’s book that teaches kids self-love and acceptance in a non-preaching manner is “Zoobooloo” by Christine L. Villa. What’s also great about it is that the book comes with Filipino translation, which is perfect to introduce the language to children as well as a deeper appreciation of the heritage.

“Zoobooloo” is about zoo animals that are not content with their own body parts and so they decide to switch with each other.

Sprinkled with humor and wit, the book points out about being happy with our God-given gifts and talents.

“All of us were created to be unique individuals with a special purpose. In a materialistic world, where outside appearance and superficial attributes matter more, it is so easy to be envious of other people, to whine about what we don’t have, and wish we were as beautiful, talented, or smart as the others. Instead, we should accept and appreciate who we are, look beyond our flaws, and utilize our gifts and talents to bring joy to others,” said Villa during a past interview with the Asian Journal.

Available on A mazon, but signed copies can be purchased directly by e-mailing her at chissivilla@gmail.com. You can also check out Purple Cotton Candy Arts at www.purplecandyarts. com.

FEATURES

(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • DECEMBER 12-18, 2019

AAG of Las Vegas celebrates annual Holiday Season Party THE Asian American Group (AAG) of Las Vegas hosted its annual holiday season party on December 4 at the Indian Mint Bistro (located at 4246 S Durango Dr., Las Vegas, Nevada).

The night was full of celebration, entertainment, and camaraderie.

Attendees were encouraged to bring gift cards valued at $25, which in turn will help fund winter break provisions for children, holiday gifts for the adults with special needs living in DRC group homes, and assistance to veterans at Veterans’ Village.

Distinguished guests included Judges Elissa Caddish, Joanna Kishner, Mark Denton, Ronald Isreal, Adrianna Escobar, Soonhee Bailey, Bonnie Bulla, Bryce Duckworth, Randall Forman, Heidi Almase, Jacqueline Bluth, Mary Kay Holthus, Tierra Jones, Cristina Silva, Michael Villani, Joe Hardy, Susan Johnson, Eric Johnson, Linda Bell, Bill Kephart, Cynthia Giuiliani, and Gloria Sturman.

Also present during the celebration were Secretary of State of Nevada Barbara Cegavski, UHS Vice President Karla Perez, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and Stavros Anthony and Victoria Seaman from the Las Vegas City Council.

For more information about AAG of Las Vegas, please visit their website www.asianamericangroup.com.

AJPress photos by Robert Macabagdal

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21 ѝĀÃ ӓ Ã Ā ř ¸ ÝÇ

TICKETS start at

$25

themresort.com TICKETS ARE NONREFUNDABLE .

TICKETS REQUIRED FOR ALL GUESTS. MANAGEMENT RESERVES ALL RIGHTS.

13

14

DECEMBER 12-18, 2019 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

FEATURES

http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

Fil-Am actor Nico Santos receives 2020 Critics Choice nomination ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ breakout star nominated for his acclaimed performance on NBC’s ‘Superstore’

by KLARIZE

MEDENILLA AJPress

Prim Botanicals’ face oil and facials potions to fight inflammation and breakouts.

Photo courtesy of Prim Botanicals

Coconut oil-based body balms and lip balms from Kaya Essentials come in seven different flavors, from calamansi to honey.

Kaya Essentials, founded in 2017, uses highgrade coconut oil from a fair trade farm in Davao.

Photos by Nailah Barcelona

PAGE 10 can I do? Even within the green beauty and natural, organic world, it can start to feel like any other business, especially when these really big companies are getting into the game. For Prim, we give back all year long and I feel really good about that.”

Kaya Essentials The story: Sara Meredith was a college student at University College London when she heard Gawad Kalinga founder Tony Meloto delivering a talk about alleviating poverty in the Philippines and building social enterprises toward that goal. She soon took on a three-year internship with the Filipino organization’s Europe chapter and spent time on GK’s Enchanted Farm in Angat, Bulacan.

“That was my first introduction into a social business, the idea that the business model did good, rather than it being an afterthought,” the half-Filipina, half-British entrepreneur said in a recent interview.

“What I originally thought of as a business doing good or charity was giving a percentage of the profit. It made me think how your sourcing and business model have a true impact.”

DIY: Her experience with Gawad Kalinga — coupled with her childhood of making products with her mom and noticing how there were hardly any Filipino-owned coconut brands in the market — led her to founding Kaya Essentials in 2017, an organic skincare line using cold-centrifuged coconut oil from a fair trade farm in Davao.

“My mom is a super DIY-er.

She would make her own beauty, skincare and a lot of cleaning products at home so I always grew up making organic products.

One thing we always did was use coconut oil as a hair mask where we would put the coconut oil all around ourselves from root to tip and we’d leave it for three hours.

She would make the coconut oil from scratch, from coconut meat and make it into an oil,” Meredith recalled.

Kaya spirit: Her first products were the calamansi and lemongrass lip balms, using essential oils from a Filipino family-owned business called Casa de Lorenzo.

As a part-time commercial model, Meredith would sell the lip balms to people she met on sets.

“I started with the lip balms because those were something everybody could use. My focus was not so narrow. I was looking at it more like, what is something is for every age group, male or female, and is a small way that could do good?” Meredith said. “Starting with calamansi came from wanting to introduce a product that was proudly Filipino so I wanted it to capture the Filipino culture and essence. I always knew the [brand’s] name would have a Filipino affirmation in it. That’s where Kaya comes from.”

Now based in Los Angeles, Meredith makes each product by hand and in small batches.

The brand is sold online, at select retailers and special farmer’s markets and pop-ups in LA. Prices range from $5 for balms in seven flavors, $16 for a 2 oz jar of extra virgin coconut oil, and $26 for body balms ranging from calamansi to tea tree flavors.

The products don’t contain fragrances nor long, unidentifiable ingredients.

“I wanted it to be minimalist so there are only seven flavors.

We don’t do different blends. You know exactly what you’re getting so that puts you more in control of your skincare,” she added.

In the coming months, Kaya Essentials is expanding its line to include clay masks, candles, and limited edition jewelry, which will be made by Filipina artisans through Gawad Kalinga.

One for one: Kaya Essentials uses the ‘one for one’ model,

meaning that for every product sold, one school meal is provided to an elementary school student through Gawad Kalinga’s feeding program. This model, Meredith argues, allows more transparency for customers to know the direct recipient of their purchases. To date, the company has fed over 5,000 students.

“People innately want to give back... but there’s a distrust in how much is going and what it’s really helping. With one for one, it’s tangible and transparent because you can imagine what a lunch school meal looks like and everyone knows the importance of education. It’s a small way to give back, but I would argue that it’s big because you’re helping nourish a child who can then continue going to school,” she said.

Meredith will be launching a partnership with No Kid Hungry to bring the giveback model to local LA schools, a way to reflect the “Filipino American experience” of sourcing from the Philippines, yet producing and selling the products here in the U.S. “I felt like it was time the give back really reflected the making of our balms,” she added.

Until Dec. 13, Kaya Essentials is running a promotion that for each body balm purchased, customers can get a free lip balm too. In turn, the brand will donate two school meals for each purchase.

“Purchasing with a purpose, voting with your dollars, and our new tagline in 2020 is ‘small acts of kindness together have a big impact.’ Sometimes when you talk about making a difference or contributing, it can feel overwhelming so I really love the message of even kindness to one another and any little act can make a difference.

Just because you’re not some huge corporation making a huge donation doesn’t mean your impact isn’t there. In fact, I would argue that it’s even stronger,” Meredith said.

Look and feel good: How two US-based Pinay...

FOR the second year in a row, Filipino American actor Nico Santos is nominated for a Critics Choice Award (CCA) for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on the NBC sitcom “Superstore,” the Broadcast Film Critics Association announced on Sunday, December 8.

Santos, 40, plays the opportunistic sales associate of the fictional superstore Cloud 9 named Mateo Liwanag. The Manila-born actor made waves last year when he co-starred as Oliver T’sien in the blockbuster hit “Crazy Rich Asians.”

“Apologies to my neighbor for screaming too loud when I heard the news and THANK YOU @ CriticsChoice!” Santos wrote on Twitter in response to his nomination.

Santos was nominated for the same award at the 2019 CCAs but lost to Barry’s Henry Winkler.

“This has been a truly great year for television and movies,” CCA CEO Joey Berlin said in a statement. “In every genre, from every viewpoint and distribution platform, brilliant storytellers are challenging and delighting us.”

The Critics Choice Awards will air on The CW on Sunday, January 12.

Nico Santos

Photo courtesy of NBC

Netizens speak: Why the crown slipped from...

PAGE 12 her ensuing statements lacked a sense of urgency toward her advocacy. Overall, he observed she was unable to present “the heart and soul” of her mission.

Ending her Miss Universe journey at that point as she failed to advance to the Top 10, netizens agreed she fell short of clearly delivering her message.

Many suggested she should have taken a more personal approach and told her story of being raised by her grandparents and segue to the issue of ageism.

As netizen justcallme_dell put it, “She really sounded rehearsed vs the other girls… it’s never the answer that is wrong it is how you deliver!”

Country’s pride But overall, Filipinos as always rallied behind the beautiful kababayan who nonetheless

Miss Universe Philippines 2019 Gazini Ganados

made an impact during the preliminary rounds.

In fact, celebrities were at the forefront of congratulating Ganados, starting off with Anne Curtis who tweeted, “Maraming Salamat @gazzzini You made us proud!”

Photo from Instagram/@gazinii

Actress and Miss World 1993 runner up Ruffa Gutierrez also tweeted, “Thank you for trying your best @gazzzini;” while Vice Ganda recalls, “Sabi ni Gazini ‘No one shall be left behind’ so walang iwanan!!! We still love u Gazini!!!”

This cookbook shows that an Instant Pot is...

PAGE 10 the traditionally sour Sinigang na Baboy (pork tamarind soup) to sweet treats like Putong Puti (steamed rice cake), the rich flavors of Filipino food are typically unlocked through a long braise or boil, a delicate steam, or some other treatment by moist heat.

Fortunately, this is exactly what the Instant Pot does best.

“The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook” is an absolute musthave for every modern home cook and the timing of its publication could not have been any more perfect as Filipino food is fast becoming a mainstay in the consciousness of foodies from around the world.

“I believe that anyone can become a great Filipino cook. However, cooking new food can sometimes feel intimidating. The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook helps any level of cook step into the kitchen and create delicious Filipino food, the kind you thought only your mom and aunts could make for you,” said Chef Dominic Ainza, an experienced restaurant owner and corporate chef.

That’s one of the good things about the Instant Pot. You can easily cook for a small group or you can create a feast enough for the extended family, friends and neighbors included.

It was actually her mother who introduced her to Instant Pot, according to Tisha Gonda Domingo.

She quickly developed her expertise cooking with the electric pressure cooker through practice with traditional Filipino ingredients, methods, and dishes.

Through her first published work, The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook, Tisha offers personal stories and family recipes that bring her love for food, community, and Filipino culture together. Outside of her work as an author and home cook, Tisha works in publicity for a major television studio. She currently lives in Orange County, California, with her husband, Jorell, and two children.

One of the book’s authors, Jeannie E. Celestial was born on Guam and raised by Filipino parents and grandparents who were skilled farmers. They helped develop her cooking instincts early on, instilling in her a deep understanding of and respect for traditional Filipino ingredients.

In addition to her work with food, Jeannie is a practicing psychologist who is committed to holistic wellness and fostering healthy Filipinx (Filipino/a/x) communities.

Earlier this week, Celestial and her husband Art were on Good Day, Sacramento talking about the cookbook and showcasing the ease in cooking with the Instant Pot. They served adobo sa gata, ginataang sitaw at kalabasa, Filipino style spaghetti, ginataang mais and mango royale cheesecake, all done using the versatile kitchen gadget.

“The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook” brings her passions together, allowing her to promote mental health through food, helping to break down colonial mentality by proudly sharing the recipes,

stories, and cultural practices of her motherland, the Philippines.

She currently works in Vallejo, California.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Romeo Roque-Nido’s cooking was influenced early on by a diversity of cultures before being broadened further during his time as a world-traveling student in the California Maritime Academy.

While his culinary influences are varied, his truest passion Filipino cuisine. With The Fili-

pino Instant Pot Cookbook, Romeo hopes to preserve the rich culinary heritage of the Philippines, by using modern appliances to make it more accessible to even the busiest of families. He lives in Vallejo, California with his wife and two children.

This holiday season, instead of using multiple pots and pans and spending time over the stove, let the Instant Pot do all the work so you can spend more time with loved ones.

How to make ube cheesecake in an Instant Pot PAGE 10 counter to get air bubbles out.

6. Add water to the inner pot and place trivet inside.

7. Make a sling using an 18-inch piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil and fold it into thirds lengthwise and place the springform on the center.

Carefully lower the spring- form onto the trivet using the sling. Fold down the excess foil from the sling to ensure that the pot closes properly.

8. Turn and lock the lid into place, making sure the steam-release valve is in the sealed position. Select Manual and program for 15 minutes on High Pressure. When cook- ing is complete, allow pressure to release naturally.

9. Unlock and carefully remove the lid. Remove the cheese- cake using foil sling and place on a wire rack to cool. Gently blot any water on the cheesecake with a paper towel.

10. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

11. To remove the cheesecake from the pan, run a thin knife around the inside of the pan and release the spring to remove the round pan rim.

(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • dEcEmbER 12-18, 2019

15

16

december 12-18, 2019 • LAS VeGAS ASIAN JOUrNAL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678