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Caregiver with COVID is fired; gets restitution through NYC agency
By Cristina DC Pastor For four years, Antonio has been taking care of an elderly man with a long-term illness in New York. In April of 2020 — around the time COVID-19 was rapidly spreading in NYC – the Bataan-born caregiver caught the virus. When he asked his employer for a sick leave to see […]
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The human spirit will not be conquered
The FilAm Editorial Gloom and near despair are pervasive as we usher in 2022. The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is running riot in our country, affirming that the virus is not done yet and will be around for months and even years to come. The virus has led directly to a tsunami of hate for […]
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Biden names 3 FilAms to the 23-member AAPI advisory board
President Biden has appointed 23 commissioners to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Three of them are Filipinos. They are Amefil Agbayani, Teresita Batayola, and Luisa Blue. In a statement, the White House said the commission will advise the President on ways the public, private, and non-profit sectors can […]
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Albert Guerzon pens tribute song for his father who died from COVID-19
In April 2020, Broadway singer-songwriter Albert Guerzon (“The Visitor,” “Mamma Mia!”) lost his father, Robert Guerzon, to COVID-19. Along with thousands of New Yorkers, the Guerzon family was at the mercy of limited ventilators and hospital beds. In the end, Albert bid his father farewell through a telephone screen and a prayer. In the summer […]
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Leila Policarpio: Representing N.Y. State at the Macy’s marching band
By Cristina DC Pastor Every year since she was a kid, Leila Policarpio, her parents and elder sister would watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, the world’s largest,on NBC. The morning tradition usually begins with the East Hills, New York family getting up for a special holiday breakfast and then turning on the TV for a […]
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Well-loved Ridgway, PA Mayor Guillermo Udarbe, 81
Doctor Guillermo Udarbe, who was mayor of Ridgway, Pennsylvania for 12 years, died unexpectedly on November 11, according to an obituary announcement. He was 81. He is survived by his wife Gloria Aragones Udarbe of Ridgway, daughters Cherry Pie Udarbe Clark of Fairview, PA and Charina Udarbe Felix of Lutherville, Maryland; five grandchildren Isabella Udarbe […]
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Celebrating Thanksgiving amid 1M COVID deaths looming
The FilAm Editorial By the end of 2020, some 340,000 Americans were dead from COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. That was the winter from hell. Scores perished because of the dithering and neglect by the then federal administration, which caused an unmitigated catastrophe. A mutated variant and vaccine resistance stoked by […]
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Tina Marie Romero: Caregiving is from the heart
The American Dream entered Tina Marie Romero’s consciousness as a young girl growing up in Bacolod City in Negros Occidental. In fact, she confessed to the excitement of opening balikbayan boxes sent by cousins working as nurses in the US. America came in these boxes, through the cornucopia of Oreos, Cabbage Patch kids and Nine […]
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When airline passengers misbehave
By Cristina DC Pastor Flight attendant Lia Ocampo has had her share of defiant airline passengers chortling in disdain when told to wear face masks while boarding the plane. Some travelers with ‘attitude’ tell her to her face “just let me go home” in an angry tone. So far, she has not figured in a […]