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A new ConGen for New York
By Cristina DC Pastor Before the month is over, a new Consul General for New York will likely be taking over. Or it could also be that one of the two sitting consuls – Kerwin Tate or Arman Talbo — is installed in an interim capacity before the actual ConGen assumes office. Whatever the circumstances, […]
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NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson gives assurance of continued protection of immigrants
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, in his first formal press briefing with members of the community and ethnic media in the city, cited “daunting” statistics about homelessness and poverty and noted that four in 10 New Yorkers are living at or near the poverty line. In a city that is “superficially doing so well,” with […]
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Consul General bids goodbye, urges community to support each other
By Cristina DC Pastor Consul General Theresa Dizon-De Vega is a rare-breed diplomat. Actually, extraordinary, if one were to consider how she has been “borrowed” by Manila and “asked to help” senior officials as they ease into their jobs. She is a walking Official Gazette, knows all the Republic Acts from memory, she is pleasant, […]
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GABRIELA NY activists detained in Cotabato, later released
Social worker Jamy Drapeza and photographer Julie Jamora were part of a five-person delegation that was detained on February 22 on suspicion of being terrorists, and later released. Drapeza and Jamora – secretary-general and chairperson of GABRIELA NY, respectively — together with Dinah Anderson, Adam Shaw, and Tawanda Chandiwana, were reportedly accused by Philippine law […]
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Bipartisan bill seeks to expand coverage of veterans compensation
U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, introduced on February 15 the Filipino Veterans Fairness Act of 2018. February 18 marks 72 years since Rescission Act stripped benefits promised to Filipino veterans. The bipartisan legislation would restore the U.S. government’s promise […]
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The life, the legacy, and the woman behind Reginald F. Lewis
One of the greatest love stories that has fascinated Filipino Americans is that of immigration lawyer Loida Nicolas Lewis and the legendary Reginald F. Lewis, who would become the richest African-American man in the 1980s. The two met on a blind date some 20 years earlier. Loida was then an up-and-coming lawyer who had just […]
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The International Criminal Court will open inquiry on PHL drug killings to determine jurisdiction
By Cristina DC Pastor The International Criminal Court in The Hague will open “preliminary examination” into the rash of drug killings in the Philippines. The announcement was made by ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on the ICC website. “The preliminary examination of the situation in the Philippines will analyse crimes allegedly committed in this State Party […]
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Amb. Babe Romualdez receives warm welcome from N.Y. FilAms
By Cristina DC Pastor “I finished my high school here (in New York City) after I got kicked out of Ateneo.” With that opening statement, Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel ‘Babe’ Romualdez introduced himself before the Filipino American community in the New York Tri-State, during a General Assembly on February 3. He said […]
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Human rights forum echoes: Stop the killings, stop the killer
By Cristina DC Pastor Human Rights Watch’s Phelim Kine remembered a chilling encounter he had with then presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte in 2015. The two met on the sidelines of the presidential debate forum organized by Rappler. When Duterte learned Kine was deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, Kine recalled the mayor inviting […]