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june 4-10, 2020
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
Volume 31 - No. 22 • 12 Pages
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
USA
DATELINE ‘They’re not even naming our dead’: Digital memorial tracks deaths of transnational Filipino health care workers from the AJPress NEWS TEAM across America
SINCE March, 74 health care workers of Filipino ancestry have died of COVID-19 in the United States. The number is nearly double the fatalities of individuals working in the same sector back in the Philippines. In the United Kingdom, where around 20,000 Filipinos are employed in the national health care system, 41 deaths have been reported. Despite the rate at which Filipino health care workers have been dying on the global front lines of the pandemic, there is no centralized place for tracking this data for Filipinos beyond separate sources that include news articles, online obituaries, fundraising pages and social media posts. A new digital project housed on Kanlungan. net — the Filipino word for shelter and resting place — was recently unveiled by transnation-
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Philippine Consulate in New York boards up amidst looting in the city, sets new protocols when it reopens THE Philippine Consulate General in New York — just as it was preparing to reopen — shuttered and boarded up its glass windows on Monday, June 1 as New York braced for more widespread looting and violent protests. “In light of reports of looting and break-ins in the vicinity of the Philippine Center, and as a precautionary measure to add protection to the facility and enhance the safety of our on-duty personnel, we decided to shutter and board-up the glass windows and doors of the Center until the situation calms down,” Consul Arman Talbo, who also acts as manager of the Philippine Center, told the Asian Journal. “We urge our kababayans to monitor the news in their area and to take necessary safety measures.” The consulate was informed last week that there have been break-ins around the area even before the first looting in the city happened. Some of the protests escalated into looting on Sunday as dozens of stores from Soho to mid-
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Palace: Duterte’s decision unchanged, VFA termination only suspended by Ritchel
Mendiola AJPress
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte has not changed his decision to terminate the country’s Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States, despite the suspension this week. “Ang nangyari lang po, nasuspinde ang termi-
nation. Hindi pa po niya sinasabi na hindi na tuloy ang termination, so wala pong nagbago sa pagiisip ng ating pangulo (What happened is the termination has been suspended. He did not say the termination is no longer happening. The resident has not changed his mind),” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Thursday, June 4. “Ang nasuspinde lang naman po ay iyong pros-
eso ng termination, eh wala naman pong bagong desisyon ang presidente pagdating doon sa termination (The only thing suspended is the process of termination. The president has no new decision about the termination),” he added. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Tuesday, June 2 announced that the Philippines
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96 more Filipinos abroad contract COVID-19 by Ritchel
Mendiola AJPress
THE Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, June 4, reported 96 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) among Filipinos abroad, bringing the official tally to 5,355. It also recorded two new fatalities from the Middle East, raising the death toll to 357. Meanwhile, five new overseas Filipinos recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recovered individuals to 2,210. “With a spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases among Filipinos abroad today at 96 across three major geographic regions, the total number of COVID-19 infections involving our nationals abroad went over the 5,300 mark,” the DFA said in its report. “Of the total confirmed cases, 5 new recoveries were recorded in Asia and the Pacific and Europe with 2 new fatalities in the Middle East,” the agency added. Overall by region, Europe — which comprises 16 countries with PH Foreign Service coverage — has recorded 834 cases, including 453 undergoing treatment, 290 recoveries and 91 deaths. The Middle East and Africa, covering 12 countries,
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INDEPENDENCE DAY PREPS. Philippine flags fly at a center island in Rizal Park, Manila on Thursday, June 4 in preparation for the commemoration of Independence Day on June 12. The Philippine flag was first unfurled May 28, 1898 after the Philippine Revolutionary Army defeated Spanish forces in the Battle of Alapan in Imus, Cavite. It was officially presented to the public on June 12, 1898. PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan
Anti-terror bill to undergo Duterte review before being signed into law by Ritchel
Mendiola AJPress
A protester wears a protective mask as he holds a slogan during a rally calling on lawmakers to junk a proposed anti-terror bill at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City on Wednesday, June 3. ManilaTimes.net photo by DJ Diosina
DESPITE growing criticism over the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte will run a “final review” before signing it into law to ensure that it complies with the 1987 Constitution. “Alam niyo, bagamat it’s certified urgent, hindi naman po automatic na pipirmahan yan ng presidente (You know, even if it was certified urgent, it does not mean that the president will automatically sign it),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual presser on Thursday, June 4. “That is still subject to final review by the president to ensure that it is compli-
ant with our Constitution,” he added. The House of Representatives on Wednesday, June 3, approved HB 6875 on its third and final reading. A total of 173 lawmakers voted to pass the measure, while 31 voted against its passage. 29 others, on the other hand, abstained. According to Roque, Duterte would not allow unconstitutional provisions in the proposed law. “Dadaan pa rin yan sa isang final review para titingnan kung may probisyon na labag sa Saligang Batas bago po pirmahan ng presidente (It will undergo a final review to see if there are provisions that violate the Constitution before it is signed by the president),” he assured.
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UN report: Philippines’‘heavy-handed’ focus on drugs, Gabby Lopez: I am a natural-born Filipino security threats led to serious rights human violations by Ritchel
Mendiola AJPress
by Gaea
Katreena Philstar.com
Cabico
MANILA — The Philippine government’s “heavy-handed” focus on combating illegal drugs and security threats—coupled with verbal encouragement from top officials—has resulted in grave human rights violations, the United Nations Human Rights Office said. In a report released Thursday as mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, the UN rights agency said human rights concerns in the Philippines have become “more acute” in recent years
as manifested by the “widespread and systematic killing” of thousands of alleged drug personalities. The campaign against illegal drugs was launched by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 after winning elections with his ruthless anti-narcotics and anti-crime platform. “While there have been important human rights gains in recent years, particularly in economic and social rights, the underpinning focus on national security threats—real and inflated—has led to serious human rights violations, reinforced by harmful rheto-
ric from high-level officials,” the report said. “This focus has permeated the implementation of existing laws and policies and the adoption of new measures—often at the expense of human rights, due process rights, the rule of law, and accountability,” it added. Latest government figures put the number of alleged drug personalities killed in Duterte’s war on drugs at 5,601. But it is significantly lower than the estimates by human rights watchdogs of as many as 27,000 killed. ‘Ominous’ language
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ABS-CBN Corporation chair emeritus Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III ABS-CBN photo
ABS-CBN chairman emeritus Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III on Wednesday, June 3, said he is a natural-born Filipino, explaining that both of his parents are Filipino citizens. “It was in recognition of being a natural born citizen that I took it upon myself to ask for recognition of my citizenship. My understanding of my lawyer was that I was a naturalborn Filipino citizen because both of my parents are Filipino citizens,” he told the members of the House committees on legislative franchises and good government and public
accountability as the hearing for ABS-CBN’s franchise resumed. “But because I was not born in the Philippines, I did not have a Filipino birth certificate. So it behooves me to have a recognition by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Immigration for whatever legal purposes I may use of that recognition,” Lopez added. The network chairman also denied that he took the United States pledge of allegiance. “I grew up in the Philippines and I went to grade school and high school in the Philippines. I only went to college and my
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