DECEMBER 19-22, 2020 Volume 30 - No. 100 • 2 Sections – 20 Pages
LA residents urged to skip holiday 12-year-old Filipino Costa Mesa boy killed gatherings as virus cases spike DATELINE
USA
FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
by drunk driver
by CHRISTINA
Driver held without bail and convicted of second-degree murder
EARLIER this month, a young Filipino boy was killed while riding a bicycle with his father by a suspected drunk driver in Costa Mesa, California. The tragedy occurred on Sunday, Dec. 6 around 6 p.m. on Arlington Drive near Juniper Drive when 12-year-old Noel Bascon and his father were biking near the intersection. According to police, a man driving a rented F-150 pickup truck ran past a stop sign and fatally collided with the boy. The driver was 59-year-old Richard Lavalle of Long Beach who police investigators said had a prior DUI charge in 2013. Authorities alleged that Lavalle was intoxicated when he crashed into Noel. In an interview with NBC4, Noel’s mother Eleanor Bascon said that her husband witnessed the crash. He had tried to get the driver’s attention to get him to stop but Lavalle didn’t u PAGE A4
M. ORIEL AND KLARIZE MEDENILLA AJPress
WITH the Christmas holiday nearing, Los Angeles County officials are pleading with the public to stay home and limit gatherings as the capacity of
Southern California’s intensive care units hit 0% this week. The situation in LA County — which has consistently been a leader in COVID-19 cases in the state and the country — continues to worsen as the county reports that two people are dying every hour from
the virus in what Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer called “an explosive and very deadly surge.” On Friday, December 18, the county reported 16,503 new cases of COVID-19 and 96 new deaths. It also confirmed the highest number of COVID-19 u PAGE A2
‘SPIRIT OF HOPE’
Fil-Am health care workers among first to receive COVID-19 vaccine in LA County by CHRISTINA
M. ORIEL
AJPress
FOR the first time since the pandemic hit Los Angeles County, Anna Medrano walked into work hopeful. With a quick jab to her left arm, the Filipina American nurse practitioner became the first health care worker at City of Hope in Duarte to receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, December 16. Some nine months on the frontlines of the virus, Medrano didn’t hesitate to sign up for the vaccine as it was an opportunity “to lead by example.” “The vaccine experience was surreal. There was a spirit of hope in the air as we received the first deAnna Medrano (left), a Filipina American nurse practitioner, was the first health care worker at City of Hope in Duarte, California to receive livery of the COVID-19 vaccine. Laughter and tears the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, December 16. Photo courtesy of City of Hope u PAGE A3
IATF allows foreigners to re-enter PH Envoy: 2 American firms ready to supply PH up to 25M doses of vaccine by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
While on a bicycle ride with his father, 12-year-old Noel Bascon was fatally struck by a suspected drunk driver in Costa Mesa, California on Sunday, Dec. 6. Photo courtesy of the Bascon family/GoFundMe
FTC’s ‘Operation Income Illusion’ targets get-rich-quick scams IN the midst of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, criminals are brazenly floating “getrich-quick” schemes to fleece unsuspecting people seeking financial security for themselves and their families. Speaking at a mid-December ethnic media conference call, the Federal Trade Commission issued urgent warnings that people need to be on their guard to avoid being robbed. Kati Daffan and Rhonda Perkins, two lawyers in the FTC’s Division of Marketing Practices, spotlighted a variety of scams promoted in advertisements online or in TV, radio and newspapers and even within religious communities. In a year’s time, Daffan said, there was a 70% increase in this kind of crime. “In the first nine months of 2020 alone,” she said, “people reported losing at least $50 million.” And those victims are just the ones who came forward. Most people don’t, Daffan said, so “it’s a tiny fraction of what’s going on in the marketplace.” To combat the scams, the FTC has launched “Operation Income Illusion.” Both speakers urged everyone to contact
by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA
AJPress
TWO U.S. pharmaceutical firms are willing to supply the Philippines with their vaccines against the coronavirus by the second half of 2021, according to Philippine Ambassador to Washington D.C. Jose Manuel Romualdez. The Philippine envoy said that Moderna and Arcturus Therapeutics have reportedly given their commitments to the country. “I am pleased to report that aside from Pfizer, Moderna and Arcturus are ready to
supply the Philippines anywhere between 4-25M [million] of their respective vaccines starting Q3 2021, should the Philippine government find their proposals acceptable,” he said in a statement on Friday, December 18. “We are hoping our government will consider the promising candidates of Moderna and Arcturus for inclusion in our country’s pool of anti-COVID vaccines,” added Romualdez. Like Pfizer, both Moderna and Arcturus are utilizing the new messenger ribonucleic u PAGE A2
THE Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has approved the re-entry of foreigners who left the Philippines on December 17 and onwards, Malacañang announced Friday, December 18. “The IATF, in its 89th meeting, also allowed the re-entry to the Philippines of foreign nationals with valid and existing visas under Section 9(e) and 9(g) of Commonwealth Act No. 613, as
amended, who are already in the country and will be leaving the country starting December 17, 2020,” said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque. Under Section 9 (g) of the Commonwealth Act 613 or the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, it says that foreign visa holders are those “lawfully admitted into the Philippines for permanent residence, who is returning from a temporary visit abroad to an unrelinquished residence in the Philippines.” Foreigners are allowed reenu PAGE A2
Letty Lopez-Viado ascends to West Covina, CA mayorship, becoming first Filipina-Mexican American in top role by CHRISTINA
M. ORIEL
AJPress
WEST Covina, long considered home to one of the largest Filipino American concentrations in Southern California, now has its first Filipina-Mexican American mayor. Leticia “Letty” Lopez-Viado, who previously served as mayor pro tem, will lead the San Gabriel Valley city in the top post for the next year. The incoming mayor was sworn into office by Judge Lucy Armendariz of the Los Angeles Superior Court, with her husband Garry Viado and their two children Victoria and Garrett at her side, during a ceremony at the West Covina council chambers on Tuesday night, December 15. “I feel extremely honored and proud. It’s u PAGE A4
nice to see that I can take on a leadership role and give inspiration to others who have been in situations like mine in the past. West Covina is a diverse city with high populations of Filipinos and Hispanics,” Lopez-Viado told the Asian Journal in an interview. West Covina, located about 19 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles, boasts a population of 107,786 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 11,000 Filipino Americans have settled in the city. Lopez-Viado — whose mother hails from Manila and her late father from Mexico — was elected to the City Council in 2018, becoming its first councilmember of Filipina and Mexican descent. She ran touting her nearly two decades of experience working in Los Angeles County’s public sector. u PAGE A3
Leticia “Letty” Lopez-Viado (left) is sworn-in as mayor of West Covina, California by Judge Lucy Armendariz of the Los Angeles Superior Court during a ceremony at the West Covina council chambers on Tuesday night, December 15. She was joined by her husband Garry Viado and their two children Victoria and Garrett. Photo by George Ogden