May 13-15, 2020 Volume 30 - No. 37 • 2 Sections - 14 Page
DATELINE
USA
FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
Nurse credentialing group appoints Filipino Fulbright scholar as director of global standards and qualifications A FILIPINO American registered nurse has been appointed director of global standards and qualifications of CGFNS International, Inc., the world’s largest credentials evaluation organization specializing in the nursing and allied health care professions. Jasper Tolarba, a Fulbright scholar, will assume the new position responsible for the oversight of global standards and qualifications for nursing and other health care positions. “I am hoping that in my expanded role as director of global standards and qualifications, I would be able to contribute to the improvement of international nursing education by looking at best practices and evidence in the field,” Tolarba told the Asian Journal. He is hoping to translate these global standards into useful instructional concepts that nursing institutions globally can reference
LA County’s stay-at-home order likely to be extended for another 3 months by AJPRESS AS Los Angeles County’s “safer at home” order is slated to expire this week, officials are now recommending that it be extended for another three months in a continued effort to diminish the spread of the novel coronavirus. The county’s current emergency order was set to
be lifted on Friday, May 15. The possibility for an August reopening comes after Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, May 12 said that the directive “with all certainty” should be extended unless there is a “dramatic change to the virus and tools at hand” to combat COVID-19. “Our hope is that by using the data, we’d be
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Confirmed viruses cases among overseas Filipinos reach over 2,200 by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
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US senators urge Justice Department to tackle surge in anti-Asian hate WASHINGTON — U.S. senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Mazie K. Hirono (DHI) and 14 other Democratic senators urged the U.S. Department of Justice to take more “concrete steps” against the rising number of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) during the COVID19 pandemic. In a letter addressed to Assistant Attorney General Eric S. Dreiband, the senators expressed “deep concern” over the surge in discrimination directed against AAPIs and urged the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ to take more active measures in responding to the rise in racism and xenophobia. According to the Center for Public Integrity(CPI), “Neither the Justice Department nor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced efforts to prevent the public targeting of Asians, which ranges from bias incidents to hate crimes. Both agencies were quick to act in similar situations: the CDC during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak and the Justice Department after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.” Assistant Attorney General Eric S. Dreiband
able to slowly lift restrictions over the next three months,” she said, according to the Los Angeles Times. The director subsequently in a statement clarified her remarks made earlier in the day by saying that the county is continuing its “road to recovery” with a phased approach to lifting certain restrictions.
MEGA SWABBING CENTER. Medical personnel perform a swab test on returning overseas Filipino workers at the Palacio de Maynila along Roxas Boulevard in Malate, Manila on Sunday, May 10. The opening of Palacio de Maynila as one of the mega swabbing centers is seen to bolster efforts to detect and isolate patients. PNA photo by Avito Dalan
THERE are now 2,233 positive cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, among overseas Filipinos, according to the latest figures released by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. The DFA’s daily count on Tuesday, May 12 also announced one new death, bringing the death toll of 261. Meanwhile, 669 individuals have now recovered from COVID-19 as 25 additional recuperations were reported. “Based on the latest figures, the total number of Filipinos who recovered from COVID-19 at 669 remains more than twice than the total fatalities and is now almost 30% of the total confirmed cases,” the DFA noted. The agency’s breakdown includes: 38 deaths, 537 individuals receiving care and 68 recoveries in the Middle East and Africa; 79 deaths, 422 undergoing treatment, and 167 discharged among 16 European countries; and 142 deaths, 193 in treatment and 194 recuperations in
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NAIA reopens to some international flights on assigned days this week by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
INTERNATIONAL arrivals into Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport resumed on Monday, May 11 following new guidelines. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) released a Notice to Airmen over the weekend, specifying a new schedule for international chartered and commercial flights to ease congestion into the country’s main gateway. Chartered flights will be allowed to land on Mondays and Thursdays after securing
clearance from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the aviation authority for slotting purposes. Meanwhile, scheduled commercial flights will be allowed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and weekends after securing an approval from CAAP 48 hours before their scheduled departure from the airport for the “necessary slotting and rescheduling of flights in order to subscribe to the 400 passengers per day capacity of NAIA.” The restrictions are slated to last for a SAF PATROL. Members of the Mandaluyong Special Action Force patrol Barangay Mauway, which month until June 10. Other international the city government placed under a four-day lockdown starting on Monday, May 11 because airports in the country will have their own of the high incidence of COVID-19 infections. ManilaTimes.net photo by Ruy Martinez
Manila, Laguna, Cebu City From the 1904 World’s Fair to the Filipino farmworkers: PBS’ new placed under modified docu-series ‘Asian Americans’ also includes history of Filipinos in the US quarantine until May 31 u PAGE A3
by KLARIZE
MEDENILLA AJPress
AS Asian Pacific American Heritage Month continues on during a time of unprecedented fear and tension, a new documentary series from PBS celebrates the complex history of Asian Americans through stories of resilience in the face of persecution. The five-episode docu-series — simply called “Asian Americans” — is the result of a groundbreaking program that spans the incredibly tumultuous 150-year history of Asians in America, a Filipino labor leader Larry Itliong (right) talks to Cesar Chavez in front of the National Farm Workers country that would have never Association headquarters at Delano, California on July 28, 1967. AP photo by Harold Filan been the way it is today without
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the efforts and exploits of immigrants and people of color. The series, which premiered on Monday, May 11, follows the journeys of early Asian Americans from the mid-19th century when Chinese immigrants, who built half of the transcontinental railroad, became the first racial group to be banned from immigrating to the United States. This was a period when Asians had no political leverage or representation in government, rendering numerous uphill legal battles in immigration and equal protections. “These Asian immigrants arrived at a time of great upheav-
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by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
METRO MANILA, Laguna and Cebu City will continue operating under a “modified enhanced community quarantine” until the end of the month, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval. This decision to extend the quarantine from May 16 to 31 came after Duterte’s meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on Monday night, May 11. “It is not ECQ as we know it. It is
not GCQ (general community quarantine) as we know it. It’s somewhere in between. It is a transition phase po at ini-envision natin na matapos ang one month, makakapunta na tayong lahat sa GCQ (we envision that after one month, we will all transition to GCQ),” said presidential spokesperson Harry Roque in an online press briefing on Tuesday, May 12. Under the new guidelines, individuals will be able to leave their homes for essential activities, such as going to the pharmacy or grocery store, and to go to work if the
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