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OCTOBER 28 - NOVEMBER 3, 2021
T H E F I L I P I N O A M E R I CA N C O M MU N I T Y N E WS PA P E R
Volume 32 - No. 43 • 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, SAN DIEGO, NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY
Duterte thanks Biden for COVID-19 DATELINE USA Larry Itliong vaccine donations during ASEAN summit Resource Center opens FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
in CA’s Central Valley
THE Larry Itliong Resource Center has finally made its grand opening in California’s Central Valley. “We Are A Living Legacy” was the theme for the event held Sunday, October 24, to celebrate the inauguration of the Larry Itliong Resource Center, in Poplar, California, as well as commemorate the birthday of recent California Hall of Fame inductee and Filipino American labor hero Larry Itliong Jr. The event was sponsored by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Delano, the Bulosan Center of Filipino Studies, and the Central Valley Empowerment Alliance (CVEA). Attendees included family members of movement leaders Itliong, César Chávez and Al Rojas. Also present in the event was Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the National Farmworkers Association with Chávez, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers. She was joined
by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte has personally thanked United States President Joe Biden for America’s COVID-19 vaccine donations. The chief executive was able to express his gratitude during a high-level discussion at the virtual 9th Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN)-U.S. Summit held Tuesday, October 26. “Your Majesty, Excellencies, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought complicated challenges to all of us. We appreciate the United States’ generous offer of vaccines for the region, including the Philippines,” Duterte said in his intervention. This was Biden’s first attendance to the ASEAN Summit, with the 38th and 39th iterations being hosted simultaneously by Brunei.
A NEW report revealed that Apple once gave Facebook an ultimatum over the abuse of Filipina domestic workers in the Middle East. “Two years ago, Apple threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from its app store over concerns about the platform being used as a tool to trade and sell maids in the Mideast,” the Associated Press said in an article published Tuesday, October 25. In response to the threat, Facebook admitted to being aware of both the exploitative conditions of foreign workers and the use of Instagram to buy and trade maids online. It also recognized the website’s problem with “domestic servitude,” which is a form of human trafficking “for the purpose of working inside private homes through the use of force, fraud, coercion or deception.” Facebook engineers reportedly found nearly three-fourths of posts that showed
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FDA panel recommends Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 by KLARIZE
MEDENILLA AJPress
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Report: Apple threatened Facebook ban over abuse of Filipina domestic workers
“President Duterte welcomed President Biden to his first ASEAN-U.S. Summit, noting the longstanding relations between ASEAN and the U.S.,” a statement from the Office of the President read. To succeed against the pandemic, Duterte stressed the need to “further strengthen bilateral, regional and international cooperation to ensure
REPAINT. Josephine Pabularum 42, (right) together with her daughter Jannel, repaints the tomb of their departed loved one at the Tala Cemetery in Barangay 176, Phase 7A, Bagong Silang, Caloocan City on Thursday, October 28. The public is advised to visit the cemeteries, memorial parks, and columbaria early as these will be closed from October 29 to November 2. PNA photo by Ben Briones
ON Tuesday, Oct. 26, a committee from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended the Pfizer vaccine for children aged between 5 and 11 years old, a move that is likely to intensify national discourse and disagreement over whether children should receive the COVID-19 vaccine. While the vote from the panel — which voted 17 in favor and one abstention — could bring the 28 million children in this age bracket closer to the vaccine, the ultimate decision to enact emergency authorization falls on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser for the White House, shots could be approved for 5- to 11-year-olds as early as next week. “If all goes well, and we get the regulatory approval, and the recommendations from the CDC, it’s entirely possible, if not, very likely, that vaccines will be avail-
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PH remains at bottom of COVID resilience ranking by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
THE Philippines is still the worst place to be during the pandemic, according to Bloomberg’s latest COVID Resilience Ranking. With a score of 40.5, the Philippines placed last among 53 countries for the second month in a row. The indicators used to rank the countries include vaccination coverage, virus containment, the severity of lockdowns, quality of healthcare, progress toward re-
starting travel, and the overall mortality throughout the pandemic. “While other Southeast Asian nations also continue to be ranked low among the 53 economies tracked, the Philippines fares among the worst on vaccine coverage, with just 26% of the population covered amid challenges in bringing shots to areas outside of the big cities,” Bloomberg said Wednesday, October 27. It also said that the Philippines’ ongoing restrictions on domestic movement and international travel continued to drag down Famed boxers Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather crossed paths once again at an LA
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Clippers basketball game in Jan. 2019.
AJPress file photo by Noel Ty
No quarantine for North America travelers sought Pacquiao, Mayweather to play by LOUELLA
DESIDERIO Philstar.com
MANILA — Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion has expressed optimism that the InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) would approve a proposal to do away with quarantine for returning Filipinos and visitors from North America to help the airline industry bounce back. “We hope that the IATF would agree to our suggestion to allow no quarantine for travelers from North America as this would
encourage returning Filipinos and other visitors to travel to the Philippines and to be with their loved ones,” Concepcion said. As a big market for airlines, Concepcion said North America can help the local aviation industry recover from huge losses they suffered, as lockdowns prevented people from traveling to various parts of the country and the world. “If we can implement this regulation immediately, it would also be a happy Christmas for our airline industry as many Filipinos and other visitors would pack their bags and return to the Philippines and celebrate
Christmas here with loved ones who they haven’t seen for a long time,” Concepcion stressed. During the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine purchase by Go Negosyo through its “A Dose of Hope” vaccination program for private sector workers, Concepcion said vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez are making sure that there would be enough vaccines arriving until the first quarter of 2022. “The available vaccines will ensure that family members our balikbayans will go home to are also protected from hospitalization. Let’s give them a chance to be reunited,”
Concepcion added. The Go Negosyo founder also emphasized that the increased inbound traffic and the influx of returning Filipinos from North America would greatly benefit the economy, particularly the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). In his last meeting with IATF adviser Dr. Edsel Salvana, Concepcion presented the proposals of the aviation industry, including the shelving of multiple requirements for traveling, such as RT-PCR test for most local destinations and long quarantine for passengers of international flights.
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basketball for charity in Las Vegas by AJPRESS BOXING superstars Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather are planning to reignite their rivalry in a possible rematch, only this time it is going to be on the basketball court for a planned charity basketball event. Organizers are planning to stage the event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas which was also the venue of Pacquiao and Mayweather’s 2015 multimillion dollar mega-fight that drew a record 4.6 million payper-view buys. “We agree on the main concept
of the event, which is to bring total entertainment to the fans of boxing, basketball and all sports in general and to create a project that will solidify our legacies to the fans,” read the letter of intent signed by both boxers and their teams, Mayweather’s TMT and Mayweather Promotions and Pacquiao’s MP Promotions. Under the unique concept created by promoter, UNIO Enterprise, a sports and entertainment collective, Pacquiao and Mayweather have agreed to participate in a charity event to benefit causes of their
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