In Maria Ressa film, a peek into the beginning of strongman rule in the PHL

By Cristina DC Pastor A documentary five years in the making: From 2015 when Rappler journalist Maria Ressa interviewed undecided presidential aspirant Rodrigo Duterte, to 2020 when Ressa was convicted of cyberlibel, a law widely seen as an attempt by the Duterte government to silence journalists. Watching filmmaker Ramona Diaz’s “A Thousand Cuts,” one wonders: […]

Noel Francisco steps down as Solicitor General

Solicitor General Noel Francisco has stepped down from the Department of Justice on July 3. The first Asian American to be confirmed by the Senate as solicitor general said representing the United States before the Supreme Court is “one of the greatest jobs in the law.” “It has been the honor of my professional career […]

28M renters face evictions

An estimated 28 million renters in the U.S. are facing evictions as states begin lifting their COVID-19-related eviction moratoriums in the coming months. In April, most U.S. states imposed some manner of lockdown to control the spread of the virus, restricting most workers to their homes. Unemployment rates shot to 14.7 percent, according to the […]

The Conways: A Filipino American family

By Cristina DC Pastor They’re not the Conners where the head of the family, Dan, works as a contractor, and his wife Roseanne ran a diner in a fictional working-class suburb called Lanford in Illinois. We are talking about the Conways where the head of the family, George, is a high-powered Manhattan lawyer, and his […]

Top companies fund ‘Fight the Bias, Fight the Virus’ campaign

With nearly 2,000 reported incidences of discrimination and hate speech against the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community in the U.S. amidst COVID-19, the Ad Council’s Emmy-Award winning Love Has No Labels campaign has premiered “Fight the Virus. Fight the Bias” anew PSA to dispel the racism increasingly endured by the API community throughout the […]

Amb. Romualdez assures U.S. lawmakers anti-terror law won’t be abused

The world of Donald Trump, according to his niece

Much of what the world has seen of Donald Trump’s behavior is now being understood by way of a tell-all memoir written by his niece Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist. “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” portrays the American president as a psychologically impaired individual who craved parental […]

The Maria Ressa case and the role of the press we all need to understand

By Cristina DC Pastor A deafening outcry of “defend press freedom” greeted the guilty verdict slapped on Rappler’s Maria Ressa and co-accused Reynaldo Santos Jr. for supposedly violating the cyber crime law in the Philippines. The uproar came from many sectors that it became like a call to arms sounded by politicians, the Left, showbiz […]

Juliet Payabyab ‘honored’ to be appointed to Astoria community board

By Cristina DC Pastor On May 31, community leader and retired banker Juliet Payabyab became a member of the community board of Astoria in Queens. She will join 49 other individuals who will be advising elected officials and agencies about matters ranging from land use planning to scheduling of garbage collection. She was appointed to […]