061924 - Southern California Midweek Edition

CALIFORNIA lawmakers on Thursday, June

14 passed a 2024-25 budget that rejected Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to cut in-home supportive services for low-income older, blind, and disabled immigrants lacking legal residency. However, the Democratic governor has not said whether he’ll use his line-item veto authority to help close the state’s $45 billion deficit.

The legislature, controlled by Democrats, passed a $211 billion general fund spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1 by drawing more from the state’s rainy-day fund and reducing corporate tax deductions to prevent cuts to health and social services.

“Our legislative budget plan achieves those goals with targeted, carefully calibrated investments in safety-net programs that protect our most vulnerable,” said Assembly member Jesse Gabriel, chair of the Assembly’s budget committee, following voting in Sacramento. Newsom and lawmakers are expected to

TENER gripe, tener gripa, engriparse, agriparse, estar agripado, estar griposo, agarrar la gripe, coger la influenza. In Spanish, there are at least a dozen ways to say someone has the flu — depending on the country.

Translating “cardiac arrest” into Spanish is also tricky because “arresto” means getting detained by the police. Likewise, “intoxicado” means you have food poisoning, not that you’re drunk.

The examples of how translation could go awry in any language are endless: Words take on new meanings, idioms come and go, and communities adopt slang and dialects for everyday life.

Human translators work hard to keep up with the changes, but California plans to soon entrust that responsibility to technology.

State health policy officials want to harness emerging artificial intelligence technology to translate a broad swath of documents and websites related to “health and social services information, programs, benefits and services,” according to state records. Sami Gallegos, a spokesperson for California’s

MANILA — Allies of the Philippine government at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic supported any vaccine available at the time, according to presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr.

ABS-CBN quoted Galvez as saying that reports alleging a U.S.-backed propaganda that tried to discredit China’s Sinovac vaccine are not true.

“I believe it is not true,” he reportedly asserted in a statement.

Galvez was the National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine

czar during the peak of the pandemic.

A Reuters report, which saw print over the weekend, alleged that the U.S. military allegedly launched a clandestine program to discredit China’s Sinovac during the pandemic.

Galvez explained that countries supporting the Philippines during the pandemic said the best vaccine during the pandemic is the vaccine that is immediately available.

“I am not aware of anything like this since all countries, through their embassies, are trying to help us to acquire available vaccines in the market,” he said.

“As far as I can remember, most of our

MANILA — The Philippines has formally submitted a claim to the United Nations, seeking recognition of its entitlement to an extended continental

in the West Philippine Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced on Saturday, June 15.

In an official statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), the DFA disclosed that the Philippine Mission to the UN in New York submitted a claim on June 15 to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) "to register the country's entitlement to an extended continental shelf (ECS) in the West Palawan Region in the West Philippine Sea/ South China Sea."

The CLCS is the body responsible for facilitating the implementation the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) regarding the establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.

The Philippines cited Article 76 of the UNCLOS,

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, June 17 urged Filipinos to help enrich the lives of others as he joined Muslim Filipinos in the observance of Eid'I Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice.

In his message, the chief executive said the solemn occasion offers the nation a unique opportunity to ruminate on the life and tale of Ibrahim whose steadfast faith and unconditional love for Allah have become the core virtues of Islamic teaching.

"We will find a greater sense of purpose in uplifting the lives of others and enriching the facets that make our dreams and endeavors meaningful," he said.

"Let us continue to radiate goodness to those around us, confident that—with the right intention and conduct—the true, the good, and the beautiful will prosper now and in the years to come," he said.

Marcos hoped that Filipinos, through dependence on God and on life of prayer, will gain clarity of mind and kindness of heart to overcome trials.

MANILA — Suspended

Bamban Mayor Alice Guo on Tuesday, June 18 sought to dispel all accusations against her in a letter sent to Malacañang, where her camp said her name had been "dragged unfairly" amid speculations of her ties to illicit activities by Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).

In a six-page letter addressed to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, the mayor's camp requested a thorough and impartial probe into the accusations against her.

Bersamin chairs the same anti-crime body that is set to

file human trafficking charges against Guo. Guo denied all accusations against her related to human trafficking, kidnapping and money laundering, according to a copy of the letter provided to reporters.

"Ang aking mabuting reputasyon at character, pati na rin ang pagsunod sa mga regulasyon tulad ng ARTA, ay patunay ng aking integridad," Guo said.

(My good reputation and character, as well as my adherence to regulations such as ARTA, are

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Malacañang photo

PH submits extended continental shelf claim...

stating that a coastal state is "entitled to establish the outer limits of its continental shelf comprising the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas extending beyond 200 nautical miles (NM) but not to exceed 350 NM from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured."

DFA Assistant Secretary for Maritime and Ocean Affairs

Marshall Louis Alferez described the submission as a "declaration not only of the Philippines’ maritime entitlements under UNCLOS but also of the country’s commitment to the responsible application of its processes."

He pointed out the importance of the award rendered by the arbitral tribunal on July 12, 2016, which validated the Philippines' maritime claims and rejected those exceeding the geographic and substantive limits defined by UNCLOS.

"While incidents on the surface of the waters attract much attention, the real importance lies beneath," Alferez said.

"The seabed and subsoil extending from our archipelago to the furthest extent allowed by UNCLOS are rich with resources that will benefit our nation for

generations. This submission is a vital step in securing our exclusive right to explore and exploit these natural resources," he added.

For Ambassador Antonio Lagdameo, permanent representative of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York, the submission can "reinvigorate efforts of States to demonstrate their readiness to pursue UNCLOS processes in the determination of maritime entitlements and promote a rules-based international order."

According to the DFA, the National Mapping and Resource Information Agency (NAMRIA) led the effort, working for over 15 years to gather and process data needed for the submission.

NAMRIA Administrator Peter Tiangco lauded its Extended Continental Shelf Technical Working Group (ECS-TWG) "for their work in gathering and processing of data on geodetic and hydrographic information, and geophysical and geological information to substantiate the submission."

The recent move marks the second time the Philippines has made a submission for an ECS entitlement.

In April 2009, the country

filed a partial submission for the Philippine Rise (formerly known as the Benham Rise).

The United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf approved the Philippines' undisputed territorial claim to Philippine Rise in 2012.

Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, brushing aside competing claims from several Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines and an international ruling that its stance has no legal basis.

To assert its stance, Beijing deploys coast guard and other boats to patrol the waters and has turned several reefs into artificial islands that it has militarized.

China Coast Guard vessels have used water cannon against Philippine boats multiple times in the contested waters, where there have also been collisions that injured several Filipino troops.

New China Coast Guard rules will take effect Saturday, allowing officers to detain foreigners in disputed areas of the South China Sea for up to 60 days without trial.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. previously said in a defiant speech that he would not yield to Chinese pressure. g

US, other nations condemn China...

The U.S. State Department also called China’s actions "escalatory" and emphasized that the 72-year-old mutual defense treaty between the U.S. and the Philippines includes "armed attacks" on its Coast Guard "anywhere in the South China Sea."

In a separate statement, France, Japan, Germany, Finland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands denounced China’s actions and called for the recognition of the ruling of the 2016 arbitral tribunal of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Netherlands said that China’s “irresponsible maneuvers” “endanger the safety of ships and crews” and question “the freedom of sea routes guaranteed under international law.”

“Netherlands considers it of utmost importance that the 2016 arbitral award is fully respected and implemented,” Netherlands ambassador to the Philippines Marielle Geraedts said in a post on X.

The European Union also expressed its concern over the "ramming" and "towing" incident.

“The EU opposes coercion and intimidation in the South China Sea, or anywhere. We support international law and peaceful dispute resolution,” EU Ambassador to the Philippines Luc Veron also said in a post on X. This was not the first time Chinese maritime assets have been involved in an incident with the PCG’s RORE mission to bring supplies to the BRP Sierra Madre anchored in Ayungin Shoal. Previous incidents involved the spraying of water cannons

DFA Assistant Secretary for Maritime and Ocean Affairs Marshall Louis Alferez and PH Permanent Rep. to the UN Antonio Manuel Lagdameo officially made the extended continental shelf submission at the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea on

MEDICAL research has shortchanged women for decades. This is particularly true of older women, leaving physicians without critically important information about how to best manage their health.

Late last year, the Biden administration promised to address this problem with a new effort called the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. That inspires a compelling question: What priorities should be on the initiative’s list when it comes to older women?

Stephanie Faubion, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health, launched into a critique when I asked about the current state of research on older women’s health. “It’s completely inadequate,” she told me.

One example: Many drugs widely prescribed to older adults, including statins for high cholesterol, were studied mostly in men, with results extrapolated to women.

“It’s assumed that women’s biology doesn’t matter and that women who are premenopausal and those who are postmenopausal respond similarly,” Faubion said.

“This has got to stop: The FDA has to require that clinical trial data be reported by sex and age for us to tell if drugs work the same, better, or not as well in women,” Faubion insisted.

Consider the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi, approved by the FDA last year after the manufacturer reported a 27% slower rate of cognitive decline in people who took the medication. A supplementary appendix to a Leqembi study published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that sex differences were substantial — a 12% slowdown for women, compared with a 43% slowdown for men — raising questions about the drug’s effectiveness for women.

This is especially important because nearly two-thirds of older adults with Alzheimer’s disease are women. Older women are also more likely than older men to have multiple medical conditions, disabilities, difficulties with daily activities, autoimmune illness, depression and anxiety,

uncontrolled high blood pressure, and osteoarthritis, among other issues, according to scores of research studies.

Even so, women are resilient and outlive men by more than five years in the U.S. As people move into their 70s and 80s, women outnumber men by significant margins. If we’re concerned about the health of the older population, we need to be concerned about the health of older women.

As for research priorities, here’s some of what physicians and medical researchers suggested:

Heart disease

Why is it that women with heart disease, which becomes far more common after menopause and kills more women than any other condition — are given less recommended care than men?

“We’re notably less aggressive in treating women,” said Martha Gulati, director of preventive cardiology and associate director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai, a health system in Los Angeles.

“We delay evaluations for chest pain. We don’t give blood thinners at the same rate. We don’t do procedures like aortic valve replacements as often. We’re not adequately addressing hypertension.

“We need to figure out why these biases in care exist and how to remove them.”

Gulati also noted that older women are less likely than their male peers to have obstructive coronary artery disease — blockages in large blood vessels —and more likely to have damage to smaller blood vessels that remains undetected. When they get procedures such as cardiac catheterizations, women have more bleeding and complications. What are the best treatments for older women given these issues?

“We have very limited data. This needs to be a focus,” Gulati said. Brain health How can women reduce their risk of cognitive decline and dementia as they age?

“This is an area where we really need to have clear messages for women and effective interventions that are feasible and accessible,” said JoAnn Manson, chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a key researcher for the Women’s Health Initiative, the largest study of women’s health

in the U.S.

Numerous factors affect women’s brain health, including stress — dealing with sexism, caregiving responsibilities, and financial strain — which can fuel inflammation. Women experience the loss of estrogen, a hormone important to brain health, with menopause. They also have a higher incidence of conditions with serious impacts on the brain, such as multiple sclerosis and stroke.

“Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t just start at the age of 75 or 80,” said Gillian Einstein, the Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair in Women’s Brain Health and Aging at the University of Toronto. “Let’s take a life course approach and try to understand how what happens earlier in women’s lives predisposes them to Alzheimer’s.”

Mental health

What accounts for older women’s greater vulnerability to anxiety and depression?

Studies suggest a variety of factors, including hormonal changes and the cumulative impact of stress. In the journal Nature Aging, Paula Rochon, a professor of geriatrics at the University of Toronto, also faulted “gendered ageism,” an unfortunate combination of ageism and sexism, which renders older women “largely invisible,” in an interview in Nature Aging.

Helen Lavretsky, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and past president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, suggests several topics that need further investigation. How does the menopausal transition impact mood and stress-related disorders? What nonpharmaceutical interventions can promote psychological resilience in older women and help them recover from stress and trauma? (Think yoga, meditation, music therapy, tai chi, sleep therapy, and other possibilities.) What combination of interventions is likely to be most effective?

Cancer

How can cancer screening recommendations and cancer treatments for older women be improved?

Supriya Gupta Mohile, director of the Geriatric PAGE 4

President Marcos to Filipinos: Uplift lives...

"As we understand the significance of this commemoration, we feel deep within ourselves that, in nurturing our relationship with others and the Almighty, we are strengthened by our past and fueled with

lessons to face tomorrow with grit and resilience," he said. He also expressed optimism that Filipinos would band together for a Bagong Pilipinas, as achieving a brighter future for the nation would not be realized "without the guidance of the

Philippines ex-vaccine czar doubts...

friends and allies even said that ‘the best vaccine is the vaccine (on) our shoulders,’ meaning, whatever vaccine we had and (was) available, we have to take it immediately,” he added.

China-made Sinovac was one of the early vaccines made available to the country at the height of the pandemic.

Public distrust

In a related development, Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin on Monday, June 17 cautioned against any effort to demonize a vaccine, saying it would lead to public distrust in immunization programs.

Garin, a former health secretary, noted that public health should be insulated from military operations because in the end, the victims would be the people and the

public health programs.

“Accountability should be in place,” she said in a television interview as she underscored the need for the media to be discerning in getting people to interview about public health. She added that if a certain vaccine is “demonized,” it will “create public distrust in all vaccines and all vaccination programs.”

Garin made the statement following reports that the U.S. military had launched a clandestine program to discredit China’s Sinovac vaccine against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, House of Representatives Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro strongly condemned the U.S. government, particularly the

Pentagon, for running a secret anti-vaccination campaign. Castro said this is “deeply concerning” as it would “cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of Chinese vaccines,” which were the primary vaccines used by the Philippines to combat COVID-19.

“The impact of this operation on public health cannot be overstated. Public health experts have rightly criticized this campaign for endangering lives and undermining trust in vaccines, including those manufactured in the United States,” she added.

The lawmaker emphasized that this campaign would contribute to “vaccine hesitancy in the Philippines, a country where vaccine coverage was already limited, leading to unnecessary loss of lives.” g

One from whom all wisdom and knowledge flows."

Adha is a major holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide.

Alice Guo calls for fair probe in plea to...

)

proof of my integrity.

"Anumang pagkukulang ay dulot ng kawalan ng kaalaman kaysa sinasadyang pagkakasala, at wala akong direktang pakikilahok sa anumang ilegal na gawain na kaugnay ng mga paratang na ibinibintang sa akin," the mayor added.

(Any shortcomings are due to a lack of knowledge rather than intentional wrongdoing, and I have no direct involvement in any illegal activities related to the accusations against me.)

Guo denied claims she is using her position to protect the POGO hub recently raided in Bamban. She also said that she

has no direct participation in the everyday operations of gaming operators.

“Ang mga organisadong krimen tulad ng money laundering, human trafficking, kidnapping at illegal POGO operations ay karaniwang naisasagawa nang patago ng mga malalaking grupong may sariling agenda,” Guo said.

(Organized crimes such as money laundering, human trafficking, kidnapping, and illegal POGO operations are typically carried out secretly by large groups with their own agendas.) “Ang pagsasakdal sa isang mayor ng pagkakasangkot sa mga

ganitong klase ng aktibidad nang walang sapat na ebidensya ay hindi makatarungan at nakasisira sa integridad ng opisina, at ng reputasyon ng indibidwal at ng institusyong kanyang pinaglilingkuran,” she added. (Charging a mayor with involvement in such activities without sufficient evidence is unjust and damages the integrity of the office, as well as the reputation of the individual and the institution they serve.) The embattled mayor is also the former president and 50% owner of Baofu Land Development Inc., the company leasing the property where the facility of the POGO hub is located. (Philstar.com)

California lawmakers preserve aid to older...

continue talks.

“What was approved today represents a two-house agreement between the Senate and the Assembly – not an agreement with the governor,” said state Department of Finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer.

“We’ve made good progress, but there’s still more work to do.”

Newsom had proposed eliminating the new in-home benefit for qualified immigrants to save nearly $95 million in the next fiscal year, with no plans to bring it back. Lawmakers not only rejected Newsom’s cut to the in-home services program; they also refused the governor’s proposal to slash $300 million a year from public health agencies.

However, they accepted delaying food assistance to low-income older immigrants without legal residency.

The In-Home Supportive Services program helps lowincome older, blind, and disabled individuals receive care in their homes, which helps keep them out of more costly nursing and residential facilities. The program works by paying $16 to $21 an hour to caregivers, many of them family members.

Advocates applauded lawmakers for rejecting the cut. They had urged the governor to adopt the

legislature’s budget, arguing the state could end up paying more in the long run as Medi-Cal recipients tap nursing services.

The state has estimated the annual per-person cost of nursing homes is $124,189, compared with the roughly $28,000 average cost for people without legal residency in the in-home services program.

“These individuals would need to essentially go into costly hospital or nursing care,” said Ronald Coleman Baeza, managing policy director at the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. “It’s not only cruel for undocumented immigrants, but it doesn’t make sense as a fiscal decision either.”

The governor has said he’s trying to maintain fiscal discipline while preserving Medi-Cal benefits for immigrants. California was the first state to expand Medicaid eligibility to all qualified immigrants regardless of legal status, phasing it in over several years: children in 2016, adults ages 19-26 in 2020, people 50 and older in 2022, and all remaining adults this year.

“It’s a core of I think who we are as a state, and we should be as a nation,” Newsom said in May.

As part of the Medi-Cal expansion, the state authorized nearly 3,000 older, blind, and disabled immigrants without legal

residency to access paramedical services and daily care, including meal preparation, bathing, feeding, and transportation to medical appointments. Advocates estimate 17,000 immigrants qualify.

“Fixing California’s deficit means making tough choices, so the Assembly came to these negotiations focused on preserving programs that matter most to Californians,” said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a Central Coast Democrat, in an earlier statement.

Lawmakers did agree to Newsom’s proposal to delay around $165 a month in food assistance to low-income immigrants without legal residency ages 55 and older.

Lawmakers had approved the benefit two years ago, but the governor proposed delaying it by two fiscal years to 2027. (Vanessa G. Sánchez/KFF Health News)

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.

California loops in AI to translate health...

Health and Human Services Agency, declined to elaborate on which documents and languages would be involved, saying that information is “confidential.”

The agency is seeking bids from IT firms for the ambitious initiative, though its timing and cost is not yet clear. Human editors supervising the project will oversee and edit the translations, Gallegos said.

Agency officials said they hope to save money and make critical health care forms, applications, websites, and other information available to more people in what they call the nation’s most linguistically diverse state.

The project will start by translating written material.

Agency Secretary Mark Ghaly said the technology, if successful, may be applied more broadly.

“How can we potentially not just transform all of our documents, but our websites, our ability to interact, even some of our call center inputs, around AI?” Ghaly asked during an April briefing on AI in health care in Sacramento.

But some translators and scholars fear the technology lacks the nuance of human interaction and isn’t ready for the challenge. Turning this sensitive work over to machines could create errors in wording and understanding, they say — ultimately making information less accurate and less accessible to patients.

“AI cannot replace human compassion, empathy, and transparency, meaningful gestures and tones,” said Rithy Lim, a Fresno-based medical and legal interpreter for 30 years who specializes in Khmer, the main language of Cambodia.

Artificial intelligence is the science of designing computers that emulate human thinking by reasoning, problem-solving, and understanding language. A type of artificial intelligence known as generative AI, or GenAI, in which computers are trained using massive amounts of data to “learn” the meaning of things and respond to prompts, is driving a wave of investment, led by such companies as Open AI and Google.

AI is quickly being integrated into health care, including programs that diagnose diabetic retinopathy, analyze mammograms, and connect patients with nurses remotely. Promotors of the technology often make the grandiose claim that soon everyone will have their own “AI doctor.”

AI also has been a game changer in translation. ChatGPT, Google’s Neural Machine Translation, and Open Source are not only faster than older technologies such as Google Translate, but they can process huge volumes of content and draw upon a vast database of words to nearly mimic human

translation. Whereas a professional human translator might need three hours to translate a 1,600-word document, AI can do it in a minute.

Arjun “Raj” Manrai, an assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Harvard Medical School and the deputy editor of New England Journal of Medicine AI, said the use of AI technology represents a natural progression in medical translation, given that patients already use Google Translate and AI platforms to translate for themselves and their loved ones.

“Patients are not waiting,” he said.

He said GenAI could be particularly useful in this context. These translations “can deliver real value to patients by simplifying complex medical information and making it more accessible,” he said.

In its bidding documents, the state says the goal of the project is to increase “speed, efficiency, and consistency of translations, and generate improvements in language access” in a state where 1 in 3 people speak a language other than English, and more than 200 languages are spoken.

In May 2023, the state Health and Human Services Agency adopted a “language access policy” that requires its departments to translate all “vital” documents into at least the top five languages spoken by Californians with limited English proficiency. At the time, those languages were Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean.

Examples of vital documents include application forms for state programs, notices about eligibility for benefits, and public website content.

Currently, human translators produce these translations. With AI, more documents could be translated into more languages.

A survey conducted by the California Health Care Foundation late last year found that 30% of Spanish speakers have difficulty explaining their health issues and concerns to a doctor, compared with 16% of English speakers.

Health equity advocates say AI will help close that gap.

“This technology is a very powerful tool in the area of language access,” said Sandra R. Hernández, president and CEO of the foundation. “In good hands, it has many opportunities to expand the translation capability to address inequities.”

But Hernández cautioned that AI translations must have human oversight to truly capture meaning.

“The human interface is very important to make sure you get the accuracy and the cultural nuances reflected,” she said.

Lim recalled an instance in which a patient’s daughter translated preoperative instructions to

Barriers to Alzheimer’s care for rural Californians

by Selen Ozturk Ethnic Media Services

ALTHOUGH the number of Californians living with Alzheimer’s will nearly double to 1.1 million within twenty years, those in rural and remote areas face major challenges to accessing care.

Compared to urban communities, these rural Californians struggle to access preventative services, including screenings, diagnostic care, clinical visits, and appointments with specialists. Long wait times and a lack of public transportation are also common issues.

Alzheimer’s access in remote California

With Alzheimer’s now the second-leading cause of death for people in California—home to more adults aged 65 and over than any other state—barriers to treatment are more harmful than ever, said Dr. Rita Nguyen, assistant health officer for the state of California and population health director for the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

For instance, California’s largest program for low-income adult home care—In-Home Support Services, serving 700,000 individuals—“is essential for keeping adults in the community and out of nursing homes, but it’s selfdirected. Users apply for, find, hire, supervise and fire their caregivers, and 70% of users have a family caregiver,” she explained. “But it doesn’t work for those who can’t direct their own care,” she added, suggesting an agency option, and integration of caregiving with social services like housing.

Other Medicaid programs like Assisted Living Waivers, available in only 15 of California’s 58 counties, can have 3,000-person waitlists. (Medi-Cal is California’s version of the federal Medicaid program.) Community-Based Adult Services, an adult day health program available in about 22 counties, closed many centers during the pandemic in rural counties which already have less alternatives like nursing homes, caregivers and specialty clinics.

caregiver referrals, caregiving training and respite care.

“Most importantly, we learn what the community needs,” Estrada continued, through listening sessions and focus groups, as well as what the best channels are for delivering information, whether it’s “flyers, TV, radio?” Language accessibility is also critical.

One caregiver’s story

“I’ve been caring for my brother three years since he got diagnosed with frontal temporal dementia, and it’s been challenging,” said Maria Cortez, a Glenn County-based 66-year-old caregiver for Jerry, her 62 year old brother with Alzheimer’s.

She lived in Texas when he first showed abnormal symptoms, including losing his job, drinking frequently, being verbally abusive to siblings who’d visit him and blacking out while driving, totaling his car on one occasion.

her mother the night before surgery. Instead of translating the instructions as “you cannot eat” after a certain hour, she told her mom, “You should not eat.”

The mother ate breakfast, and the surgery had to be rescheduled.

“Even a few words that change meaning could have a drastic impact on the way people consume the information,” said Sejin Paik, a doctoral candidate in digital journalism, human-computer interaction, and emerging media at Boston University.

Paik, who grew up speaking Korean, also pointed out that AI models are often trained from a Western point of view. The data that drives the translations filters languages through an English perspective, “which could result in misinterpretations of the other language,” she said. Amid this fast-changing landscape, “we need more diverse voices involved, more people thinking about the ethical concepts, how we best forecast the impact of this technology.”

Manrai pointed to other flaws in this nascent technology that must be addressed. For instance, AI sometimes invents sentences or phrases that are not in the original text, potentially creating false information — a phenomenon AI scientists call “hallucination” or “confabulation.”

Ching Wong, executive director of the Vietnamese Community Health Promotion Project at the University of California-San Francisco, has been translating health content from English into Vietnamese and Chinese for 30 years.

He provided examples of nuances in language that might confuse AI translation programs.

Breast cancer, for instance, is called “chest cancer” in Chinese, he said. And “you” has different meanings in Vietnamese, depending on a person’s ranking in the family and community. If a doctor uses “you” incorrectly with a patient, it could be offensive, Wong said.

But Ghaly emphasized that the opportunities outweigh the drawbacks. He said the state should “cultivate innovation” to help vulnerable populations gain greater access to care and resources. And he was clear: “We will not replace humans.” (Paula Andalo/ KFF Health News)

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.

There were 660,000 Californians living with Alzheimer’s in 2019; that number is expected to more than double to nearly 1.5 million in 2040.

While rural California is home to just 6%—2.3 million residents—of the state’s overall population, residents in these areas are also older than their urban counterparts; more geographically isolated from clinics, caregivers and specialists; and more prone to Alzheimer’s risk factors like heart disease, hypertension and diabetes.

“The Surgeon General has highlighted the immense impact that loneliness has on health outcomes,” noted Nguyen, adding that stigma around Alzheimer’s adds to the isolation many experience, despite the fact that most Californians are “connected by one or two degrees” to someone with the disease.

In response, CDPH has launched Take on Alzheimer’s, the first-ever statewide campaign to reduce stigma around the disease and teach Californians how to detect it and what to do after a diagnosis.

“Our own research on access barriers to Medicaid, the largest payer of long-term U.S. care access, has involved over 40 focus groups and over 100 individual interviews,” said Hagar Dickman, senior attorney at Justice in Aging. “We found, statewide, that low-income individuals with mid-to-late Alzheimer’s and dementia, particularly in rural areas, generally have no options to access community or personal care programs.”

“We found that those with neglected needs go into institutional care or die at home as providers … social workers and community organizations struggle to find support for those who come to them for help,” Dickman said. “Once the Alzheimer’s is mid-to-late, often in despair, they call Adult Protective Services, even though it can’t really assist.”

“What became clear from talking to rural participants is that many policy solutions that may work in urban areas really are not appropriate for rural areas, because of low density, lack of providers and lack of infrastructure,” she continued. “Any solution, to help individuals with Alzheimer’s who don’t have family caregivers, needs to address these issues.”

Alzheimer’s outreach in rural SoCal

“Our population is growing. In the Inland Empire alone, there’s a projected 685% increase in people 65 and over by 2060,” said Carmen Estrada, executive director of the Inland Caregiver Resource Center, a network of 11 free caregiver service centers in the San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo and Monroe counties of Southern California. “Our infrastructure is definitely not ready for that, but we’re hopeful we can implement what we found about reaching people.”

“First of all, we use word of mouth,” she continued. “It’s not just about dropping off brochures at a community center or church … individuals in rural communities are close-knit, and to foster trust we encourage current clients to tell others about how we can help them care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s” through services like counseling,

“He was then living alone in our parents’ home and had four friends who saw what was going on, moved in, and took over the home and his bank account,” Cortez said. “They had him living worse than a dog, so I took him to Texas. He was upset, so after a few months we went back to remove his friends. It took three to four months to evict one … If we hadn’t intervened, my brother would be dead by now.”

“Since he had no money left, I spent a month and a half struggling with paperwork to get him on Medi-Cal,” she explained. Unable to get a neurologist in Chico, 10 minutes away, “he got one in Sacramento, early appointments two hours each way.”

“The symptoms progressed so fast, about every two months,” said Cortez. “It was memory loss, then anxiety, hallucinations, depression, losing empathy, personal hygiene and the ability to feed or dress himself. In the last month or two he can no longer bathe himself, which has been difficult for me, being his sister.”

She added that her brother has been able to join the Peg Taylor Center for Adult Day Health Care in nearby Chico, where he goes two to three times a week for up to four hours per visit, “They’re wonderful,” she said. “He’s now like a three year old in an adult body, and this is the only program I know of here that gives me time to catch up, go out, do what I want for a bit.” Cortez said the most fulfilling part of caring for her brother despite these challenges “is that I helped him be alive, for however many years he’s got left. But we didn’t know what was happening for a few years, and that could have helped him … If you’re facing similar issues, learn the signs.” g

Older women are different than older...

Oncology Research Group at the Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester, wants better guidance about breast cancer screening for older women, broken down by health status. Currently, women 75 and older are lumped together even though some are remarkably healthy and others notably frail.

Recently, the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force noted “the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening mammography in women 75 years or older,” leaving physicians without clear guidance. “Right now, I think we’re underscreening fit older women and overscreening frail older women,” Mohile said. The doctor also wants more research about effective and safe treatments for lung cancer in older women, many of whom have multiple medical conditions and functional impairments. The age-sensitive condition kills more

women than breast cancer.

“For this population, it’s decisions about who can tolerate treatment based on health status and whether there are sex differences in tolerability for older men and women that need investigation,” Mohile said.

Bone health, functional health, and frailty How can older women maintain mobility and preserve their ability to take care of themselves?

Osteoporosis, which causes bones to weaken and become brittle, is more common in older women than in older men, increasing the risk of dangerous fractures and falls. Once again, the loss of estrogen with menopause is implicated.

“This is hugely important to older women’s quality of life and longevity, but it’s an overlooked area that is understudied,” said Manson of Brigham and Women’s.

Jane Cauley, a distinguished professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health who studies bone health,

would like to see more data about osteoporosis among older Black, Asian, and Hispanic women, who are undertreated for the condition. She would also like to see better drugs with fewer side effects.

Marcia Stefanick, a professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, wants to know which strategies are most likely to motivate older women to be physically active. And she’d like more studies investigating how older women can best preserve muscle mass, strength, and the ability to care for themselves.

“Frailty is one of the biggest problems for older women, and learning what can be done to prevent that is essential,” she said.

This article was produced by KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

With Alzheimer’s now the second-leading cause of death for people in California, barriers to

US, PH marines hold joint live-fire exercise

MARINES from the Philippines and the United States on Saturday, June 15 held a joint live-fire exercise to showcase their interoperability during conflict situations.

The exercise, Marine

Aviation Support Activity (MASA) 24, started on June 3 at the headquarters of the 4th Philippine Marine Brigade in Burgos, Ilocos Norte.

The troops fired howitzers at a floating target several meters from the coastline.

MANILA — Boxers Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio, both silver medal winners in the last Olympics, have been named as flag-bearers for the Philippine contingent to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“We based it on the performances of our athletes in the Tokyo Games. They (Paalam and Petecio) were the best performers among our returning Olympic bets,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino on their choices on who will carry the country’s colors during the Paris Games opening ceremonies on July 26.

Paalam and Petecio delivered two of the four medals won by the Philippines in what’s easily its best showing in the quadrennial games during the Tokyo edition in 2021.

Weightlifting gold-medal winner Hidilyn Diaz missed a shot at a fifth Olympic appearance while boxing bronze medalist Eumir Marcial will be among the “comebackers” in Paris along with Paalam, Petecio, pole-

Brig. Gen. Vicente Blanco, commander of the 4th Marine Brigade, oversaw the command and control center during the exercise.

by Mark erNest Villeza Philstar.com

MANILA — Interior Secretary

Philippine Marine Corps Public Affairs Office Director Capt. Marites Alamil said MASA is held annually and focuses on mutual defense, strengthening relationships and rehearsing emerging aviation concepts.

Both forces also conducted Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) at the grounds of the Philippine Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

The TCCC covers three phases: care under fire, tactical field care and casualty evacuation procedures.

Participants simulated providing care under fire, assessing injuries and patient status, applying tourniquets for massive bleeding, and evacuating patients to secure locations. MASA 24 will end on June 21. g

vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnast Caloy Yulo, weightlifter Elreen Ando, golfer Bianca Pagdanganan and possibly judoka Kiyomi Watanabe and sprinter Kristina Knott.

Tolentino announced the appointment of the flag-bearers during the final briefing among members of the Philippine team at the Milky Way Restaurant in Makati on Monday, June 17.

The bulk of the delegation will be departing Saturday for training camp in Metz, France, three weeks before the start of the Paris Games.

On Friday, June 21, President Marcos will join the athletes, coaches and officials in a sendoff ceremony in Ayuntamiento de Manila, Intramuros. Paalam and Petecio will be joining a number of boxers who have been given the honor of being the Philippine Olympic flag bearers. The list includes Manfredo Alipala in 1964, Arlo Chavez in 1992, Reynaldo Galido in 1996 and Marcial in 2021. In 2008, pro boxing icon Manny Pacquiao was a special choice to carry the flag in the Beijing Games. g

Benhur Abalos warned local government executives on their liability in the proliferation of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) and other illegal activities in their respective areas.

The liability of local government officials “does not only involve POGO but all illegal businesses,” Abalos said over dzBB when asked if elected officials will be held accountable over illegal POGO operations.

He noted that he led a raid on an illegal POGO in Angeles City, Pampanga two years ago. “I personally led the raid in Angeles City, involving Lucky 99, that’s why I was surprised that it was allowed to operate in Porac when I already raided this company.”

Abalos said local government units could ask for police assistance to check on suspicious activities of a business establishment in their jurisdiction, adding that Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. Chairman Alejandro Tengco earlier said only 43 POGOs have licenses to operate in the country.

“From 200 to 400 (licensed POGOs)… based on my conversation with chairman (Tengco), only 43 are legal and he said every week, these are being regularly checked. So you could just imagine those who were not given permits, these are still in the Philippines and it is possible that they are involved in illegal activities, so all the LGUs and the PNP should be aware and immediately act on this,” he added.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian took the same stance, saying governors, mayors and other local officials should be held accountable for failing to monitor illegal POGO activities in their respective areas.

He commended the Pampanga provincial government for investigating the POGO hubs in Porac town and Angeles City.

Pampanga Vice Gov. Lilia Pineda vowed to finish the investigation into the POGO in Porac, saying these operators had no respect for the government.

“It (Lucky South 99) has no

building permit, no electrical permit, nothing at all, zero. It has no environmental compliance certificate. They entered the town, disregarding everything. They have no respect for the government,” Pineda said over Teleradyo Serbisyo.

Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission spokesman Winston Casio revealed in an interview over ANC that at least four POGO hubs, including the one in Porac, raided by PAOCC have licenses but were also seen to be doing illegal activities. He said the POGO hub in Porac lost its license in October 2023, but continued illegal operations, including torture, which led to a raid on June 4.

Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz also revealed in an interview over Storycon on OneNews PH that PAOCC is investigating the presence of a former executive assistant to Harry Roque, spokesman for the past Duterte administration. Cruz said the former assistant resided in the POGO complex in Porac while studying in nearby Clark. He noted that this is unusual since a POGO complex typically accommodates only employees and not students. Of the 43 remaining licensed POGOs in the country, the largest is the former Island Cove Resort in Cavite, Casio said as he revealed that they are also monitoring the operations of this hub. He confirmed that PAOCC monitors both legal and illegal POGOs, although the agency has not physically entered Island Cove. Casio acknowledged the challenge posed by the

OPINION FEATURES

The high ground

THE last thing opponents of former President Rodrigo Duterte should want is to have accusations hurled back at them about gross human rights violations. This, however, is happening now as the administration comes down hard on Apollo Quiboloy, pastor of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

The Department of Justice has declared Quiboloy a “fugitive” as he evades arrest for various offenses including the non-bailable qualified human trafficking. In compelling anyone to face the law, however, authorities should not look like lawbreakers themselves. This is what Quiboloy’s camp is saying after police swooped down last week on four Quiboloy properties in Davao to serve arrest warrants for the pastor, a staunch supporter of Duterte. Video footage showed police breaking down the fence of the KOJC’s “Glory Mountain.” Quiboloy’s lawyer stressed that an arrest warrant does not allow a search of the premises, except if there is reasonable ground to suspect that the fugitive is in the address specified on the warrant, in which case an “incidental search” may be allowed. The lawyer said there could have been no “reasonable” certainty of Quiboloy’s presence in the property that was broken into because the police tried to serve the warrant almost simultaneously at four different sites. The raid is on top of the House of Representatives voting overwhelmingly last March to revoke the franchise of Sonshine Media Network

IN a recent meeting I had with Facebook executives, they said they are continually developing new tools and technologies to increase account security as well as identify and shut down fake Facebook accounts that scam people and, more critically, those that are used for misinformation/ disinformation and covert influence operations.

In November last year, Meta – the parent company of Facebook – announced that it has shut down over 4,800 fake social media accounts that originated from China but whose profiles appear to be Americans (complete with fake photos) creating and sharing political content aimed at sowing political discord and furthering ideological divide.

While misinformation/ disinformation activities are geared at spreading fake news or misleading information, influence operations (IO) take things a step further because they are aimed at manipulating public opinion/perception and

Editorial

International, which is operated by Quiboloy’s Swara Sug Media Corp. Duterte, who has agreed to serve as administrator of KOJC assets, lambasted the raids. “Will this overkill be the trademark of this administration when dealing with individuals who are merely accused of committing a crime and have not been proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt? Will they exhibit the same lack of selfrestraint they have shown toward critics of this administration when dealing with their supporters?”

Those who suffered from Duterte’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs will scoff at his comments. Still, the actions of the current administration and its allies against Quiboloy are raising genuine concern about the state of free speech and the constitutionally guaranteed right to be secure in one’s domicile.

It is also unfortunate that after deploying elite police Special Action Force commandos and several other police teams to serve an arrest warrant, the police still came up empty-handed. Government critics are not the only ones who see a failure of intelligence in that operation.

Days of trolls and hackers are numbered

ultimately, influencing political outcomes. IO may also use trolls, hackers and cyberthugs to attack personalities through black propaganda by spreading lies and engaging in smear campaigns.

In the Philippines, “cyberthugs” are increasingly becoming rampant, with black propaganda and demolition jobs now considered to be big business, making it relatively easy to hire IO and social media rent-a-groups. Oftentimes, the source of the black propaganda/ smear campaign is a newly created Facebook account (likely to be dubious or fake) making a malicious post or content that assails the integrity and credibility of public figures or institutions.

Aside from the use of fake social media accounts (with ridiculous sounding names and locked or blank profiles) another way to spot a demolition job is when there is a “coordinated inauthentic behavior” (CIB) from Facebook and other social media platforms like X that post the same content with copy pasted, repetitive, scripted and verbatim comments attacking the target at specific time intervals, in contrast with real social media accounts whose

users show diverse opinions and a variety of comments.

Obviously, technological advancements have also greatly enabled the capability of cybercriminals to perpetuate scams, steal data, hack company and government websites and other nefarious activities with relative anonymity. Artificial intelligence (AI) in particular is becoming a weapon of choice for cybercriminals because of its great capacity to increase the speed, efficiency and sophistication of attacks, and could even tailor fit the kind of assault for a specific target.

Just last month, scammers impersonated a mayor in Queensland, Australia and made it look like she was making a live call through the use of generative AI that allows scammers to impersonate a face and clone voices to create deepfake audios and videos.

The good news is – a number of U.S. high-tech companies with strong financial backing from major investors are now rapidly developing AI technology to identify security threats and vulnerabilities, investigate malicious software, go after scammers, hackers, trolls and all kinds of cyberthugs. These emerging technologies

are intended not only to spot fakes but to also locate the base of operations of hackers and cybercriminals.

Last May, OpenAI – an artificial intelligence research company based in San Francisco – announced that it identified and removed five influence operations that were using the company’s AI technology to create deceptive content shared across a variety of platforms to influence public opinion and political discourse.

Developments such as this are significant because cybercrime has become so rampant all over the world, but most especially in the Philippines where cyberattacks doubled in 2023. Considering the highly politicized atmosphere in the country today with the 2025 elections drawing nearer, the proliferation of POGOs (Philippine offshore gaming operators) suspected of being hubs for spying and hacking operations against government agencies, plus the fact that we are facing external security threats, the Philippines could be highly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Certainly, the government is aware of these cybersecurity threats and our national security

officials have already identified some of these cybercriminals and mercenaries, some of whom are Western nationals – among them an American pretending to be a US intelligence officer or at least pretending to be a spy operating in the Philippines and allegedly involved in local politics. Our national security people are slowly but surely closing in on them.

During the first-ever Philippines-U.S.-Japan trilateral summit in Washington, among the topics discussed was the need to strengthen cybersecurity cooperation, with plans to hold a cyber dialogue sometime in July to help the Philippines become more resilient in combatting cyberattacks from state-backed and criminal organizations.

A technology and digital summit among heads of state is also being contemplated to discuss how emerging technology can be leveraged to enhance cybersecurity, considering that the new battlefront is in cyberspace where threats and risks have become a global concern because of their impact on the global economy.

I’m very pleased to see that the United States is very much at the forefront of AI technology

and research, as seen in the launch of “Task Force Lima” by the U.S. Department of Defense to develop and use artificial intelligence in a trustworthy and responsible manner for many sectors that include business, health care, policy making and naturally, military defense and readiness.

According to Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Kathleen Hicks, who directed the organization of “Task Force Lima,” the Pentagon has been investing in AI-enabled systems for many years.

I am one of many government officials being targeted by black ops, but we all know that as public figures, this is par for the course. Nevertheless, these cyberthugs will not deter us from doing our job in deepening the relations between the Philippines and the United States, especially in the wake of continued maritime harassment and cyberattacks from a big bully nation. (Philstar.com)

* * * The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.

* * * babeseyeview@gmail.com

the nation.

ASIANS are the fastestgrowing racial group in the U.S.

Yet most Americans can’t name a famous Asian American or a single event or policy related to them, according to a recent study by The Asian American Foundation.

More than 150 years after the first major wave of Asian immigration to the United States, knowledge of AAPI history across the country is severely lacking and needs to be addressed.

I have the privilege of being a Chapter Leader and Legislative Action Committee lead of the student-led group, AAPI Youth Rising, which works to increase understanding of the AAPI community and combat rising hate and intolerance. Over the last few months, I have presented AAPI Youth Rising’s One Day of AAPI History lesson to several middle school classes.

Thanks to a partnership with Alliance for a Healthier Generation, the lesson has already reached 52,000 schools

across the country, exposing the untold stories of Asians in America.

Still, the last thing I expected when teaching this lesson was to learn a sobering lesson myself. I asked my middle school students to name as many Asian ethnicities as they could. After listening to several enthusiastic responses, one student raised his hand and, with all seriousness, said “Caucasian.” The student genuinely believed it was true. None of them had heard of the Chinese Exclusion Act or the annexation of Hawaii. The gap in what young people are learning—or not learning— when it comes to AAPI history is shocking, I realized.

Earlier this year, I conducted a survey on AAPI education at my high school in the San Francisco Bay Area. Of the 159 students surveyed, 87% of them did not understand the significance of the murder of Vincent Chin. Chin was an American of Chinese descent who was killed following a racially motivated assault, and his death was a turning point for Asian American civil rights engagement, sparking a movement that challenged systemic injustices and

advocated for equality.

My study also showed that 74% of students at my school hadn’t heard of the 442nd Regiment Combat Team, the most decorated military unit in U.S. history. The bravery and sacrifices of the 442nd Regiment, made up of Japanese American soldiers during World War II, demonstrated the strength and loyalty of a dedicated group of Japanese Americans whose own country was incarcerating Americans of Japanese descent.

The lack of AAPI recognition in school classrooms speaks directly to the wider underrepresentation of Asian Americans in society and to the recent rise in hate crimes targeting the community.

During the pandemic, we witnessed an alarming increase in anti-Asian sentiment and violence, and the hate incidents continue. According to a 2023 AAPI Data/AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs), one in three reported experiencing some sort of hate incident in the last year.

Educating young people can help combat the harmful stereotypes fueling this

disturbing trend and build a culture of understanding across the nation. It’s a lesson I’ve learned first-hand.

Growing up as an Asian American in a predominantly white community, I experience my share of bullying. Comments like, “Where are you really from?” “You speak English so well” and “You people are so good at math” were also a common refrain. And even if well-intentioned, they have a detrimental impact on youth, leading young Asian Americans like me to feel as though we don’t belong.

Studying AAPI history helped me flip the narrative. It has led to an increased sense of pride in my Asian American culture and a newfound confidence in my own ability to speak about issues facing AAPI youth. That, in turn, has given me the ability to stand up for the AAPI community as a whole.

The good news is that some states are starting to take notice.

In 2021, the Illinois State Board of Education passed the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act. This ensures that within Illinois public schools,

students are taught about Asian Americans’ contributions to the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the U.S. Recently, the governor of Wisconsin signed legislation mandating Asian American and Hmong history be taught in all K-12 public schools in the state. Additionally, the New York State Senate has passed a bill requiring the commissioner to establish AANHPI history and civic impact curriculum for school districts.

California is also expected to expand Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history in schools. This comes following the passage last year of California Assembly Bill 1354, introduced by Assemblyman Mike Fong (D-Alhambra), which calls for the creation of curriculum frameworks for Asian American Studies in grades K-12. These actions can play a vital role in dismantling harmful myths involving the AAPI community, such as the “model minority” and “perpetual foreigner” myths. And they can lead to a broader understanding of Asian Americans’ experiences and acknowledgment of historical discrimination while building a culture of understanding across

Within the U.S., only 20 states have mandated the teaching of AAPI History; this is not nearly enough. At a national level, we must collectively fight anti-Asian hate by presenting a more equitable and accurate curriculum to students across America.

AAPI history is part of this country’s history. It’s time to ensure that AAPI history isn’t just a footnote, but an essential part of the narrative we teach future generations. (Ethnic Media Services)

* * * The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.

* * * Matthew Sugiyama is a Bay Area high school student and Legislative Action Committee CoLead with AAPI Youth Rising. This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California

At least the Philippine National Police leadership reacted quickly and sacked the police regional director for the Davao Region plus the PNP operations chief and more than a dozen

other officers over the botched operation. The raid must serve to inculcate within PNP ranks the idea that in law enforcement, it is best to maintain the moral and legal high ground. (Philstar.com)

The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE

Wednesday JUNE 19, 2024

Fil-Am taps magic and wonder in costume design for Shakespeare’s play

Raven Ong is designing the wardrobe for the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s staging of ‘The Winter’s Tale’

By Walter ang Inquirer.net

FILIPINO American costume designer Raven

Ong is designing the wardrobe for the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s staging of “The Winter’s Tale.”

King Leontes’ jealousy and rage spark the action in this romance by the Bard. Driven by nothing but his unfounded suspicions, Leontes falsely accuses his wife Hermione of infidelity and dire consequences follow.

Ong says that a Shakespeare play is subject to interpretation. “It can be anywhere and anytime. Building the world for the show is the most exciting part of the process.”

He explains that this particular staging sets the action in the early 1900s. “The Edwardian period serves as the main inspiration. Since the story has several magical moments and characters, we call it ‘Edwardian fantasy’ or ‘imagined Edwardian’ aesthetic.

“By going in this direction, we were able to create our own world of myth and our own visual vocabulary.”

Raven Ong returns to the Utah Shakespeare Festival after having previously designed the costumes for two of its school touring productions, “Othello” and “Much Ado About Nothing.” “The Winter’s Tale” marks his first mainstage summer show.

Ong has also designed costumes for New York Lyric Opera at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club’s world premiere of Fil-Am playwright Linda Faigao-Hall’s “Dying in Boulder,” and De-Cruit Theatre Company’s Shakespeare Triptych in New York.

Musicals include “Alice in Wonderland,” “Waitress,” “Kinky Boots,” “Matilda” and “Beautiful: Carole King Musical,” among others.

He is also the associate professor of costume design at Central Connecticut State University. As an educator, he has presented his paper “Filipiniana: Fabrics and Silhouettes in the Transnational Journey” at the Fashion, Costume and Visual Cultures conference in Roubaix,

France.

Whimsy

When he was preparing to work on this show,

“it was clear from the beginning that we would approach this play with childlike wonder and belief in the magic of wonder.

“After my meetings with the director Carolyn Howarth, I was reminded of the many things that were magical to me as a young child.

“My research process included looking at artworks by painters of the time such as John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini.”

While grounded in reality, Ong made sure to incorporate whimsy and fun into his work.

A favorite childhood cartoon movie provided inspiration for his costume for the character Time.

“The piece is a large white cape with crinkled texture. To achieve this texture for dramatic effect, yards and yards of silk fabric were soaked, twisted and dried. There is a wide belt with a gold 3D printed spinning astronomical clock. It comes with a large gold round headdress with stars and sparkles.”

Ong says “The infamous ‘Exit, pursued by a bear’ stage direction is from this play and it took some time for us to design.”

He worked with the show’s scenic designer Apollo Weaver to craft the show’s “own unique version of Edwardian bunraku puppeteers with top hats and fur details. It is still winter after all!”

Professional Ong also looks for practical solutions to realworld problems. “I needed to solve a number of looks for the Hermione character. I couldn’t afford two different dresses for two scenes.

“My solution was to create a two-in-one outfit where Hermione wears her base dress and a detachable beaded outer dress. This formula allowed for the outfits to still be able to tell the story without compromising the design, while also keeping within budget and designing economically.”

Ong adds, “Costume Director Jeff Lieder assembled a dream team. Working with highly skilled and brilliant people like drapers, stitchers, costume crafters, wigs and makeup made the process a dream come true.”

Jiro Manio faces more challenges in career, family life

By ronnie CarrasCo iii ManilaTimes.net

“THE spirit is willing but the flesh is not,” so goes a saying when a person would like to do something but he cannot due to lack of strength or energy. Sadly in Jiro Manio’s case, he neither has the spirit nor the flesh to go back to the one he once loved: acting. In Vignettes’ January 16 issue, we wrote how excited the loyal fans of the former child actors were to see him revive his showbiz career via ABSCBN’s “Batang Quiapo.” It’s just too bad that Coco Martin — who has been known for giving jobless and inactive peers another shot at showbiz — may no longer be able to do just that. In his guesting last January on “Fast Talk with Boy Abunda,” Jiro disclosed that his doctor has advised him against returning to his craft “for health reasons.” Whether he likes it or not, Jiro — who’s still under medications for treatment of his drug-related problem — needs to be constantly reminded of the do’s and don’ts since he hasn’t fully recovered yet. No to staying up late. No to taking on roles which require him to deliver intense emotions. Most importantly, no to taking drugs again.

At present, the “Magnifico” star has already gone home to their residence in a town in Rizal Province. He’s no longer a volunteer staff at a Bataan drug rehabilitation facility. To be precise about it, the 31-year-old former actor is in between jobs. Jiro admits to willingly taking on jobs except acting on TV or in the movies. To while his idle time away, his activities from sun up to sun down include nothing but

tinkering with his gadget.

And yes, what also keeps him busy is getting his eyes fixed on social media.

In case you’re searching for him on Facebook. Jiro is not who he’s named on Facebook as he goes by the name Jiro Yusuke, the last name being his father’s.

And speaking of whom, despite his tireless, frantic quest for the father he hasn’t met all his life, Jiro may as well throw the towel in.

In an interview by PEP. ph with Ai Ai de las Alas, the comedienne swore that Yusuke does not intend to show himself up to finally meet Jiro in person.

Ai Ai told the online portal that she had actually scoured most of Japan to get to Yusuke’s residence hoping to meet up the old man in the flesh.

What the comedienne thought was her successful house visit ended up as a chance to unravel the truth behind Yusuke’s deliberate no-show all throughout his son’s life.

“He said he lost interest because the help he was sending to Jiro’s grandmother wasn’t reaching her. It’s like Yusuke developed a phobia of Filipinos, or worse, anger! So now, he has no plans to see his

Dingdong feels ‘very proud’ of what daughter Jayda is trying to accomplish

By Jerry Donato Philstar.com

WHEN talks lead to and touch on Original Pilipino Music (OPM) and the genre Pinoy Pop, the name Dingdong Avanzado will come up and surface. He has made a name for himself as a singer of hits, original compositions and covers, as well as a songwriter.

It’s not surprising that Dingdong has been given the moniker “The Original Prince of Pinoy Pop.”

His passion for music and performing will be showcased in the concert, with the title, as you’ve guessed it right, “The Original Prince of Pinoy Pop,” on July 19 at The Theatre at Solaire.

His wife, singer Jessa Zaragoza (also known as Phenomenal Diva and Jukebox Queen of the ‘90s), and their daughter, singer-songwriter Jayda Avanzado, will join Pablo of SB19, another OPM artist Randy Santiago, singing competition winners JM dela Cerna, Khimo and Marielle Montellano, and singer-actor LA Santos as guests.

Beyond the music man persona, Dingdong is a family man, specifically a loving husband to Jessa and a doting, nurturing father to Jayda.

“I was a present father for the most part. Paniwala ko yan na kailangan kumpleto yung pagpapalaki sa bata, na present ang both parents, ‘di ba? As much as possible (that’s my belief that both parents should be present when it comes to raising a child),” said Dingdong in a virtual one-onone with The STAR, where he was also joined by his unica hija Jayda.

“Of course, mas maganda na buo kayo, but there are times (when a parent can’t be because of reasons such as work). So, that was my belief, that’s why I made every effort that I would be there in the significant moments of my child. That’s why I have lots of good memories and recollections from the time she was born until today,” added he.

“(I’m) very proud of what she’s accomplished and what

Tetchie

she’s trying to accomplish. Of course, malayo pa, she’s just starting with her life, with her career.”

The 21-year-old Jayda appreciates all that, seeing the value of having “a strong father in your life and a male presence in that sense.”

“He’s really my playmate growing up,” said she, giving one a sneak peek of her fondest childhood memories with Dad Dingdong.

“Bilang unica hija (being an only child), people always asked, like, ‘Did you ever feel lonely ‘coz you didn’t have a sibling?’ But for me, I felt very complete. I had a very active imagination as a kid, I think that really helped me flourish as a creative later on in life. I think that was like the building blocks of my creativity, and my foundation even as an artist.”

There was one time when Dingdong surprised Jayda by helping her arrange the latter’s Barbie dolls in a particular way.

“That’s how he and I used to play. We would do very specific (things) like details of my Barbie dolls… and with (them) having certain roles and characters and things like that.

I think he really encouraged me to have such an active imagination and to dream big as early as that age,” said she.

So, the father and daughter even then had “a very healthy relationship,” as

Dingdong put it.

“Because Jayda and I converse a lot,” shared he, who bonds with her over music and food.

“Whatever he’d probably like, like 98 percent of the time, that’s the kind of food that I like. So, that’s usually our bonding activity, like trying new food together or just having a good conversation over dinner, or lunch or meal,” said Jayda.

Aside from that, Dingdong and his daughter have shared an interest in and affection for animals.

“We both love dogs and animals,” said he. “If you would ask her what she wanted to be at that time, when she wasn’t in showbiz, her answer was to become a veterinarian.”

“I’ve always loved animals, and you definitely encouraged that with me,” his daughter chimed in.

Dingdong remembered bringing a four-to-five-yearold Jayda to a pet store when their family was living in the US and Jessa had a show. After weighing in on the pros and cons of owning this and that animal, they finally got a goldfish, which was easy to manage.

At 10, however, Jayda expressed her interest in music by asking Dingdong, “How do you write a song, dad?”

“I was surprised why she

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Agbayani reveals why she turned down ‘Rambo 2’ with Sylvester Stallone

By Kristofer Purnell Philstar.com

ACTRESS Tetchie Agbayani looked back at her career, shooting and trying out for international films, including “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” which she turned down despite completing a test screening with Sylvester Stallone.

Agbayani sat down for an interview with broadcaster Julius Babao for his YouTube series “Julius Babao Unplugged,” with the second part uploaded last June 11.

The actress recalled moving to Los Angeles after appearing on the German edition of Playboy in 1982, which made her the first and only Filipina to date to have done so, and working on a few Filipino movies.

After attempts to study in University of California, Los Angeles and find non-showbiz jobs, a friend suggested Agbayani to try acting. This led her to meet talent agent J.J. Harris, who at the time handled Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell and Michael J. Fox.

Harris helped Agbayani get into the films “The Emerald Forest,” “Gymkata” and “The Money Pit,” the latter as the stepmother to Tom Hanks’ character despite having no scenes with him.

After some time, Harris contacted Agbayani about auditioning for “Rambo: First Blood Part II” because it was reportedly going to shoot in the Philippines.

The role for Vietnamese intelligence agent Co Phuong

Bao went down between Agbayani and SingaporeanAmerican actress Julia Nickson, and the two agreed whoever got the part will treat the other to an expensive dinner. Agbayani went to a screen test with Stallone. Harris called the actress to inform her she had landed the role; however, the shoot was going to be in Mexico and not the Philippines because of logistical issues. “Rambo 2” was released in 1985. The early 1980s were marked by high tension during Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s final years as president.

“I just came from the jungles of the Amazon. I wouldn’t mind the jungles of the Philippines but Mexico?” Agbayani told Harris, turning the role down. Nickson nabbed the part

instead. The actress also shared her audition with Stallone went well, finding the action star polite but not as tall, “Simple lang siya... Pangkaraniwan lang, hindi siya ma-ere.”

Many years later when Agbayani was at the airport heading back to the Philippines, she crossed paths with Nickson, whom Agbayani pointed out was married to “Starsky & Hutch” star David Soul for six years. Sabi ko sa kanya, ‘Look, let’s do this. Let’s not have dinner. Let’s just keep this nice story between us going... that you’ll forever owe me a dinner,’” Agbayani recalled telling Nickson, happy the latter got the “Rambo” sequel role.

Babao asked Agbayani if she had any regrets about turning down the “Rambo: First Blood Part II” role, given that it might have changed the trajectory of her career. The actress said she has no regrets.

Wala naman akong ilusyon na I wanna make it big in Hollywood, ang sakin ay everything is an adventure,” Agbayani explained. “Let’s see what unfolds. There’s more to life than just acting, even up to now.”

The actress also pointed out that accepting the “Rambo” sequel might have not allowed her to come back to the Philippines, finish her collegiate studies, or have a family. “To me, life is a learning experience, life is there to live [and] make the most of, and certainly not just all about being an actor,” Agbayani ended.

Progression of Filipino American Raven Ong’s costume design for Hermione in Utah Shakespeare Festival’s “The Winter’s Tale.” Photos courtesy of Raven Ong

Tetchie Agbayani GMA photo

Dingdong Avanzado has established himself as an Original Pilipino Music (OPM) singer-songwriter. Beyond this music man persona, he is a family man, specifically a loving husband to singer Jessa Zaragoza and a doting, nurturing father to singer-songwriter Jayda. Philstar.com photos

Sadly, Jiro Manio neither has the spirit nor the flesh to go back to the one he once loved: acting. Photo from Facebook/JiroKatakura

Heart Evangelista returning to silver screen after almost a decade with new international movie

SOCIALITE-ARTIST Heart Evangelista is making a comeback to the big screen after nearly a decade with the international film “Infamous 6.” Heart confirmed she was set to appear in the upcoming Anthony Hickox film by sharing a still on her Instagram story. A teaser for the movie was also shown at the recently concluded Toycon 2024 held in SMX Convention Center in Pasay. In the cast with Heart are Lorena Andrea from “Warrior Nun” and “The Little Mermaid,” Emmy winner Armand Assante, Alana Boden from “Uncharted,” Jemma Dallender, Alexandre Nguyen, Keli Price, and British-Filipino Ocean Navarro. Heart’s last movie appearances were Viva Films’ “Trophy Wife” and “Felix Manalo” from 2014 and 2015 respectively. Her television appearances are more recent with 2022’s “I Left My Heart in Sorsogon” and “Bling Empire.”

The film announcement comes on the heels of Heart’s recent appointment as president of the Senate Spouses Foundation, Inc. following her husband Chiz Escudero succeeding fellow senator Migz Zubiri as Senate President. (Kristofer Purnell/Philstar.com)

Jiro Manio faces...

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child anymore.”

Perhaps privy by now to the personal convo between Ai Ai and his father, Jiro won’t give up on his hope of reuniting with his dad.

Here’s praying that both spirit and flesh of the senior Yusuke are willing to reconnect with Jiro. But will it be all in the distraught son’s dreams? Poor Jiro.

Oliver Tolentino shows at 75th Anniversary Philippine-Thai diplomatic relations & 126th

BEVERLY Hills-based fashion designer Oliver Tolentino wowed an 800+ person crowd in Bangkok, Thailand, last Wednesday night as part of the 75th Anniversary of Philippine & Thai Diplomatic Relations and 126th Independence Day Gala.  The event was produced by the Philippine Embassy in the ballroom of the luxury Siam Kempinski Hotel and hosted by Ambassador Millicent “Tinta” Paredes.  She kicked off the evening (in a Tolentino piña gown) with a toast in honor of the Thai King, and Thai Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Russ Jalichandra reciprocated with a toast to President Marcos.

Guests mingled while enjoying Filipino dishes and drinks as they viewed native dances and an art collection by local Manila artists.

Tolentino’s fashion show was the main event with a 29-piece collection presented by professional models in front of a capacity crowd of ambassadors, diplomats, and members of Thai society, including the President of the Senate, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Minister for Social Welfare and Human Security, Governor of Bangkok, and former Thai ambassadors to the Philippines, Ambassadors Ruangprateepsaeng & Upatising.

The designer featured a collection mostly made of handwoven piña, abaca, inabel, ikat fabric (from Mindanao), raw silk cocoon (from Visayas), and Thai silk to represent the two countries’ native fabrics. Tolentino modernized and manipulated the fabrics into wearable couture.

He featured structured piña bell skirts alongside pantsuits with tops of abaca, ikat, and inabel paired with piña bottoms.  One set featured piña pants accented with solihiya-weaved Thai silk.

Independence Gala

He closed with hand-painted and embellished piña gowns and colorful gowns with dramatic hand-draped abaca bodices.   According to the designer, “The embassy put on a first-class event that really impressed the international diplomatic audience. I was proud to be flown in

to showcase our native fabrics to support the local weavers, embroiderers, and fabric painters,” Tolentino added. The designer is one of the biggest promoters of Philippine fabrics on the international stage, with even Hollywood celebrities wearing pina and abaca on the red carpet. Tolentino noted, “It makes me so happy to help all the talented hard workers in the province.” Tolentino, the first Filipino couture designer to expand operations to the U.S., maintains walk-in boutiques in Makati and Beverly Hills.  For more info:  OliverTolentino.com or IG: @ theOliverTolentino

Heart Evangelista Photo from Instagram/@iamhearte

Photos courtesy of the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok

Jon Lucas reflects on first award after over a decade in acting

By Jerry Donato Philstar.com

STARRING in the GMA full action series “Black Rider” is a manna from showbiz heaven for Jon Lucas. Prior to it, the actor considered the possibility of taking a break from the spotlight because work tends to be few and far between.

“It was sometime in March or April (of last year), I told myself perhaps that at the beginning of halfway through the year, I wouldn’t accept (projects) and (I would) think of other means of earning a living,” said Jon in a twopublication virtual interview. He plays Calvin Magallanes, the villain to Ruru Madrid’s Elias Guerrero, in “Black Rider” weeknights at 8 on GMA Prime. “I have my own family, and I provide for them.”

According to Jon, his plan was to partner with a friend and start a buy-and-sell car business. However, fate had other plans for him since “Black Rider” came along.

“I realized may magandang resulta pa rin talaga yung paghihintay, yung pagtitiis, parang yung pagtitiyaga mo sa bagay na gusto mo (I realized that waiting, patience and perseverance to continue on with what you want to do yield good results),” said he. “Kapag di ka pala nag-quit, talagang may ibubuhos din sa’yo na biyaya kasi nakikita naman Niya kung ano yung

nangyayari sa utak mo, sa puso mo (if you decide not to quit, you will receive a blessing because He sees what goes on your mind and what your heart desires)… kaya hanggang ngayon nandito pa rin (that’s why I’m still here and doing acting).”

Another blessing for Jon came in the form of the TV Supporting Actor of the Year trophy from the fifth VP Choice Awards.

“After 11 years of acting, it’s my first-ever award,” shared Jon. “Kaya walang kasing saya at walang

pagsidlan ng kaligayahan ang aking puso (that’s why my heart is only filled with happiness). Of course, I offer it to my children, my wife and those people who make up ‘Black Rider.’ They’ve helped me to portray (my role) and to become a supporting actor. I also offer it to GMA Public Affairs (that was behind the conceptualization and production of ‘Black Rider’).”

He also dedicated the award to his late parents. The trophy symbolizes the fulfillment of his promise to them of one day receiving such recognition.

“Itong award na ito, ipinangako natin ito sa mga magulang natin nung nabubuhay pa sila (the award was something I promised to my parents when they were still around). That’s why after I received the award, and when I reached home, I cried alone,” recalled he. “I was recreating the moment in my mind that while I was accepting the award, they were present, perhaps sitting at one of those tables and applauding. Ang kaso, eh hindi naman natin hawak ang buhay natin kaya hindi na lang nila na hintay, hindi na nila nakita.”

As part of “Black Rider”’s ensemble cast, Jon reports on set Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This somehow allows him to recharge and pursue acting for film.

At the time of the interview, he shared that he was doing a movie titled “Neophyte.”

“It’s like an educational film, and the target audiences are university and high school students,” said Jon. “It’s a story about fraternities and students. I don’t know when it will be shown, hopefully, this year.”

As for the projects and roles he wants to foray into in the future, Jon had this to say: “I’m a fan of true-to-life stories, action and drama. For example, when I was young and I was not yet doing showbiz, during Metro Manila Film Festival, before I watched comedy and horror movies, I would choose to watch first true-to-life stories such as “(Manila Kingpin: The) Asiong Salonga (Story)” of sir E.R. Ejercito, and ‘El Presidente.’”

“I want to portray (real-life characters) and (be part of a film that delves into) Philippine

Continued on Page 11

Dealing with assets omitted in a divorce case

Barrister’s Corner

Atty. Kenneth UrsUA reyes

YOU and your spouse may have gone through a lengthy and contentious divorce proceeding. This is usually the most difficult period of a person’s life. Finally, time heals all pain. You and your spouse get tired of bickering and being mean to one another that you both decide to compromise each other positions and resolve all issues in your divorce case through settlement. Shortly thereafter, the divorce judgment is finally entered by the Court and you get a sigh of relief. Later you discovery that “Oops!,” your ex-spouse had community asset and/or debt that was left out of the divorce judgment. This may be a pension, retirement account, a hidden bank account, or a piece of real estate property which was not divided in the judgment. What is one to do in this situation? The answer can be found in California Family Code §2556. California Family Code §2556 provides “In a proceeding for dissolution of marriage, for nullity of marriage, or for legal separation of the parties, the court has continuing jurisdiction to award community estate assets or community estate liabilities to the parties that have not been previously

adjudicated by a judgment in the proceeding.” California Family Code §2556. Even if the parties did not expressly reserve jurisdiction on that piece of asset, the Court retains the power to divide a specific property if there is a community interest in it.

The Court’s “continuing jurisdiction” over omitted community estate assets or debts is invoked by filing a post judgment Motion, or Request for Order in the divorce case. Family Code §2556 provides “A party may file a postjudgment motion or request for order in the proceeding in order to obtain adjudication of

property. Marriage of Klug (2005) 130 CA4th 1389, 1396, 31 CR3d 327, 331–332 If an asset was partially omitted, the Court can still divide and adjudicate the portion that has been omitted postjudgment under family code §2566. Community Property adjudicated under § 2556 shall be divided equally “unless the court finds upon good cause shown that the interests of justice require an unequal division of the

If an asset was partially omitted, the Court can still divide and adjudicate the portion that has been omitted postjudgment under family code §2566.

any community estate asset or liability omitted or not adjudicated by the judgment.”

The postjudgment partition of the unadjudicated community estate claims is properly entertained by the court even absent an express reservation of jurisdiction in its prior judgment. Marriage of Moore & Ferrie (1993) 14 CA4th 1472, 1483, 18 CR2d 543, 549, fn. 9.

The postjudgment motion is available to any omitted asset or debt not adjudicated by the divorce judgment. However, Family Code §2556 does not extend to division and adjudication of any separate

Dingdong feels ‘very proud’ of what...

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asked me and (thinking) where she was coming from,” said he, who also saw her talent for writing stories because she’s fond of reading.

“I told her, ‘You know it will just come to you,’ and she said, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever write a song.’ ‘No, don’t say that.’ Then I asked her, ‘How old are you now?’ You’re only 10.’ I wrote my first song when I was like 18 years old. So, I told her, ‘You know it will just come to you’ kasi gusto niya si Taylor Swift. How old was Taylor Swift when she wrote her first song? She was 12 and you’re only 10, Jayda. For all you know, you have two more years.”

When she reached the age of 12, Jayda was able to write her first song. Dingdong described it as “something remarkable” and was at first curious about the theme — love — that the tune would explore. At that time, he was serving as vice governor in Siquijor and received a call from his wife Jessa telling him about their daughter’s composition. The excited dad gave the song, with guitar as the main accompaniment, a listen at home.

“Sabi ko, ‘Ikaw talaga gumawa nito… kasi yung lyrics, saan ka naghugot ng ganyan?’ (I asked if she really composed it and where did she get the idea for the song’s lyrics) and of course, you’re still young, but it was like ang ganda nang pagkakasulat (it was well-written) for a 12-year-old and wow, this girl has talent,” shared the veteran artist, who also witnessed the potential of Jayda to write more songs and become prolific.

“That’s when we knew that her career would be in music,” said Dingdong. “She has empathy and passion, so it’s a big (and important) trait for a songwriter to have, kaya yung mga kanta niya madamdamin talaga (that’s why her songs are really full of emotions).”

Jayda’s being musically inclined is in her genes, having both parents as recording and performing artists. She has inherited good qualities from them. From Dingdong, Jayda has traits such as being determined and passionate.

“When I have an idea or a concept or something that I really stand by,

pinapanindigan ko talaga yung idea na yun,” said she. “I’ve obviously learned from him to consider other people’s ideas and of course, be collaborative when it comes to music and my career… we’re both very particular, we pay attention to detail when it comes to our craft.

“I’ve been told like, with the way that I can be really talkative, definitely yung pagiging madaldal ko, hindi ko nakuha kay Mommy yun Definitely nakuha ko yun (from him).

“I’ve said this before. I feel like he and I love very similarly. I’m very expressive and affectionate even towards my friends like that sort of thing and I think that something that, I mean, even Mom has told me that she’s learned from you (Dingdong).”

From there, Jayda has also learned that her love language is through words of affirmation.

She said, “I feel like that’s my strength with words and articulating my thoughts and whatever I’m feeling and it also even comes down to when I communicate my feelings and speak to people and explain what I want.”

All this was music to Dingdong’s ears, hearing those words from his daughter Jayda.

“Perhaps, her mom and I make a good combination… I think it’s just a good balance because I also see traits that she got from her mom,” said he.

Since Father’s Day is this Sunday, how do they celebrate it?

“Sometimes, they either have a gift for me or we eat out or order, we’re very simple people,” answered Dingdong.

“We don’t have anything grand or fabulous, basta together masaya kami. I appreciate that they make Father’s Day my day. They go out of their way to make me feel special, kung ano yung gusto ko, yun ang gagawin nila o i-preprepare nila (whatever I like, they find time to prepare it).”

As a father of a talented young artist, Dingdong feels proud of what Jayda has accomplished thus far.

“I’m hoping and praying for the best for her. But of course, lagi ko siyang hindi nakakalimutan na kamustahin at bigyan ng advice ‘pag kailangan (I always check on her and give her advice if needed).”

Jon Lucas Photo from Instagram/@lucas_aljohn

Michelle Dee on advice to Chelsea Manalo, post-Miss Universe career

By HannaH Mallorca Inquirer.net

THE moment Michelle Dee

crowned Chelsea Manalo as her Miss Universe Philippines successor, she didn’t stop showing her support to the Bulacan native while keeping herself busy in her postpageantry career.

Dee, who was breathtaking in a black-and-white Mark Bumgarner gown at the MEGA Ball last June 12, was all smiles as she praised Manalo’s personality and inner beauty in a chance interview with reporters.

“I really love Chelsea. I really love her personality. I think we crowned a genuine-hearted queen. Of course, we’ve been talking since she won. I told her if she needed any advice, I’m always here,” she said.

Dee said she’s excited about Manalo’s Miss Universe journey while adding that she will always be present for the Bulacan native “every step of the way.”

“It’s going to be such an amazing journey for her. It’s an amazing time to be Miss Universe Philippines, and it has such an amazing platform. I will be guiding her every step of the way she needs it. She’s in very good hands. I trust that [the Philippines] will be okay,” she said.

Dee shared that she had given a lot of queenly advice to Manalo since her win, but her greatest advice to the latter is to “own [her] story and know

[her] purpose.”

“Own your story, know your purpose, and how we can impact everybody’s lives. That’s what [instilled] in me. That’s what kept me going,” she said. “Even if you don’t bring home the crown, as long as you achieve your purpose, that’s what’s important. That was my [goal] for the Philippines. For me, you’ll still come home feeling like a winner.”

On post-pageantry career Since passing her crown, the actress-beauty queen kept herself busy. She appeared in the GMA action series “Black Rider,” graced the cover of another lifestyle magazine, and closed a show at TernoCon,

among many other pursuits.

“I always say that being busy is always good. I stress out when I’m not busy. There’s a lot to be done,” she said.

Dee shared that she believes in the beauty of “maximizing every opportunity” where life takes her, highlighting that life doesn’t stop after being the titleholder of a national title.

“There’s one life to live so you try to maximize every opportunity that’s given your way. Time is the only thing you can’t take back, control, or stop so I always just try to keep going and doing every single facet that [will make me] proud of,” she said.

Jon Lucas reflects on first award...

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history. Yun ang mga dream projects ko pa po,” added he. As for his showbiz journey, Jon is simply glad and grateful.

“Masasabi ko rin na masayang masaya ako sa nagiging takbo ng karera natin (I can say that I’m also very happy with the way my career is going),” said he.

“Grateful na po ako sa mga bagay na meron ako ngayon (I feel grateful for what I have now). Napakaraming aspirants at tao na gustong masubukan itong ginagawa natin (there are lots of showbiz aspirants and people who want to give acting a try).”

Following his line of thought, one could glean that Jon is in a career phase in

which he has to further prove his mettle in acting, and he is in for the long haul. Starring in the GMA fullaction series “Black Rider” is like manna from showbiz heaven for Jon Lucas. Prior to it, the actor considered the possibility of taking a break from the spotlight because work tends to be few and far between.

Michelle Dee

Photo from Instagram/@michelledee