Hawaii Filipino Chronicle - September 16, 2023

LINGERING THOUGHTS

unethiCal u.S. Supreme Court anD a lawSuit over afforDaBle houSing

COMMUNITY & WOMEN’S HEALTH SUPPLEMENT INSIDE!

CANDID PERSPECTIVES

Can lapu-lapu in ‘1521” Draw a CrowD like olivia roDrigo?

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES

Dr. BelinDa aquino: a life in Between

Raising the Retirement Age Eligibility to 70-years Old Would Be Yet Another Stab in the Back on Our Younger Generations

Make no mistake, a retirement income crisis will hit the U.S. as soon as more Gen X begins to reach retirement age.

Currently, there is still a relatively high contentment among Baby Boomers with regard to Medicare and Social Security, specifically with Medicare.

Why the glum prognosis? Medicare is actually insufficient to pay for the high costs of healthcare. But Baby Boomers are hardly complaining because they are the last generation that’s enjoying the benefit of their former employers in the private sector or government paying for much of Medicare’s out-of-pocket costs, premiums and prescription drugs. Many Baby Boomers are fortunate to have Rolls Royce retirement plans from their previous employers and if they’re healthy, they’re really not paying much.

But it’s important to point out also that there are Baby Boomers without these plush retirement plans and struggling financially to make ends meet because the cost of healthcare has been outpacing inflation and they’re actually paying for Medicare (which is not free, as people have this misconception about) and the out-of-pocket healthcare costs. This second group is growing but still a minority at the time.

But fast forward to when Gen X begins to retire, you will begin to see that a majority of retirees will be like this second group, retirees enrolled in Medicare and not having their former employers pay for everything, and thus, struggling to get by because Medicare is insufficient to pay for enrollees’ health needs.

Already less than half the private sector workforce participates in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. The private sector is increasingly abandoning retirement plans for their employees. And government – federal, state and counties – is struggling to maintain their employees’ retirement plans. As powerful as government unions are, they’re simply not able to deliver on the retirement benefits as Baby Boomers now enjoy.

On top of that, because the cost of healthcare outpaces inflation, Medicare will be even less able to pay an adequate share of healthcare come 10, 20 years.

Entire retirement income system

What are politicians doing now with regard to Medicare and Social Security? They’re playing catch up and narrowly thinking about these two programs as independent entities in the giant ecosystem of retirement.

They’re only looking at providing benefits and services for Medicare that meets the bare minimum of retirees’ needs and not looking at the entire retirement income system currently, and what’s to come in 10, 20 years.

Where will the money come from to pay for Social Security and Medicare as healthcare and inflation costs rise in 10 to 20 years? Will the government then, still be reactive and playing catch up?

Containing Medicare costs has always been linked to containing the cost of our overall healthcare system. But powerful interest groups in healthcare have essentially stopped any efforts that politicians might have to explore these possibilities.

But Medicare will always be insufficient (especially as employers move away from the responsibility of providing their workers retirement plans) to cover healthcare costs if the root of the problem is not addressed – containing our overall healthcare system costs.

The same problem exists with Social Security. We see in-

FROM THE PUBLISHER

One of our goals at the Hawaii Filipino Chronicle has been to inform our seniors on pressing information. With many of our seniors living on a fixed budget and concerned about healthcare, sharing the latest in Medicare and Social Security ranks high in our priorities.

For our cover story this issue, associate editor Edwin Quinabo reports on changes to these two popular entitlement programs. For 2024 there are two major updates: 1) the annual maximum limit or cap on out-of-pocket drug spending will be no more than $3,429 (in the 2024 catastrophic coverage phase), and 2) all formulary insulin products will cap at $35 per month. Senior advocacy groups say potentially bigger changes to Medicare and Social Security are ahead; and the scope of changes could be determined on which political party wins a majority in next year’s national elections. Drug price negotiations, a more substantial cap on out-of-pocket spending, raising the eligibility age to 70 for both Medicare and Social Security are only a few of the policies at stake. Get the details on these and more in the cover story.

In news, find out about the RUSH program which provides funding for emergency shelter and rapid housing and up to 24 months of rental assistance for those who lost their homes due to last month’s devastating Maui wildfires.

Also in this issue, HFC columnist Emil Guillermo updates us on two cultural events that put our community in the limelight. The first is the release of 1521 on Oct. 2 at AMC theaters throughout the U.S. It’s a film about Philippines national hero Lapu Lapu and Portuguese explorer (sailing for Spain) Ferdinand Magellan in the Battle of Mactan upon the foreigners’ landing in Cebu. The second is more pop-culture, nonetheless exciting, in the much-anticipated release of Filipino-American singer Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomoric album entitled “Guts.”

For our Personal Perspectives column, we have a contribution from HFC contributing editor Belinda A. Aquino, Ph.D. on her experiences living “A Life Between” the U.S. and the Philippines.

It’s September and long-time readers of the Hawaii Filipino Chronicle know that it’s time for our annual Community and Women’s Health Supplement. As usual, we have a plethora of helpful articles, starting with our Supplement cover story on suicide which is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. between the ages of 10 and 34. September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and healthcare professionals say it’s a good time to talk about this often, taboo subject which they say could save a life. A few of the many other topics in the Supplement include: “Breast Health Saves Lives” by Dr. Jon Avery Go, “Sjögren Syndrome: What Is It, Who Gets It, And How Is It Treated?” by Dr. Arcelita Imasa and Diabetes Technology: Modernizing Diabetes Care by Dr. Anna Melissa Lo.

We hope you enjoy these stories and our other columns and news. Thank you to our advertisers and guest writers-healthcare professionals who’ve helped to make this health supplement possible. Until the next issue,warmest Aloha and Mabuhay!

Publisher & Executive Editor

Charlie Y. Sonido, M.D.

Publisher & Managing Editor

Chona A. Montesines-Sonido

Associate Editors

Edwin QuinaboDennis Galolo

Contributing Editor

Belinda Aquino, Ph.D.

Design

Junggoi Peralta

Photography

Tim Llena

Administrative Assistant

Lilia Capalad

Editorial & Production Assistant

Jim Bea Sampaga

Columnists

Carlota Hufana Ader

Rose Cruz Churma

Elpidio R. Estioko

Willie Espero

Perry Diaz

Emil Guillermo

Arcelita Imasa, M.D.

Seneca Moraleda-Puguan

J.P. Orias

Charlie Sonido, M.D.

Emmanuel S. Tipon, Esq.

Contributing Writers

Clement Bautista

Edna Bautista, Ed.D.

Teresita Bernales, Ed.D.

Sheryll Bonilla, Esq.

Serafin Colmenares Jr., Ph.D.

Linda Dela Cruz

Carolyn Weygan-Hildebrand

Amelia Jacang, M.D.

Caroline Julian

Max Levin

Raymond Ll. Liongson, Ph.D.

Federico Magdalena, Ph.D.

Matthew Mettias

Maita Millalos

Paul Melvin Palalay, M.D.

Renelaine Bontol-Pfister

Seneca Moraleda-Puguan

Mark Lester Ranchez

Jay Valdez, Psy.D.

Glenn Wakai

Amado Yoro

Philippine Correspondent:

Greg Garcia

Neighbor Island Correspondents:

Big Island (Hilo and Kona)

Grace LarsonDitas Udani

Kauai

Millicent Wellington

Maui

Christine Sabado

Big Island Distributors

Grace LarsonDitas Udani

Kauai Distributors

Amylou Aguinaldo

Nestor Aguinaldo

Maui Distributors

Cecille PirosRey Piros

Molokai Distributor

Maria Watanabe

Oahu Distributors

Yoshimasa Kaneko

Shalimar / Jonathan Pagulayan

Advertising / Marketing Director

Chona A. Montesines-Sonido

Account Executives

come levels have been stagnant for decades and are not keeping pace with inflation. And what are politicians doing? They’re simply focusing on Social Security and ways to keep that program afloat without looking at big picture economics. Why? Because powerful interest groups are protecting their bottom line, their profit thresholds, and redirecting awareness, conveniently for their own benefit.

A reckoning is coming

It can be argued that Baby Boomers are enjoying the best

Carlota Hufana Ader

JP Orias

Suicide is Not an Individual Problem, But a Family and Community Problem

Suicide is often thought of as an individual problem. But suicide impacts families and close friends that often will become lifelong trauma survivors, particularly for a spouse, parent or children.

There’s a true story we’d like to share. A man in his late 40s lost his wife due to a brain aneurysm. It was an unexpected death. One month before then, he lost his mother to cancer who was also his best friend. The double deaths being so close left this man reeling in unimaginable sorrow and shot of all happiness. All semblance of order in life escaped him and dreams were cut short for this man whose wife was just short

of turning 49.

He recalls while he was at his mother’s funeral grieving her loss, he was also thinking about his wife who at the time was in a deep coma. Immediately after the funeral he rushed to the hospital where his wife lay in a deep sleep that would not end like a Disney film. Two weeks after, he had to make the heart-wrenching decision to let her go, that is what they had agreed upon while she was living, that there would be no attempt at resuscitation should there be no chance of coming out of a coma.

After the funeral of his wife, he was in complete despair. He quit his job which was a high-pressure job that he knew he could not do in his current state of mind, at

years of Medicare and Social Security and the future is bleak for future generations unless we begin to look at our entire retirement income system relative to our entire healthcare system and our entire economic system.

Baby Boomers, while many (not all) are enjoying the full benefits of their employers’ retirement system and a Medicare program to pick up the slack (or vice versa), they should be less complacent and not wholly pushing for the status quo.

Look at the housing nightmare that Baby Boomers and early Gen Xers left for millennials and Gen Z – runaway housing prices, runaway rent prices that even professionals are having financial difficulty surviving in certain cities.

That same phenomenon is likely the future of retirement – that retirement will only be affordable to a few, like today’s housing market. And both Medicare and Social Security (like the so-called affordable housing initiatives) would be negligent to correct the situation because of a lack of foresight and preparedness.

We are already looking at the gross inequities in our retirement community as increasingly more in our population fall through the gaps of the nation’s security blanket (Medicare and Social Security). And the Baby Boomer haves are turning their backs on their generation’s have-nots, and unaware to think about what retirement will look like for future generations, just as they’ve done with the housing market.

The problem of today’s Medicare and Social Security is not meant to spark generational warfare. But when you look at the latest proposal by Republicans to raise the eligibility age of both these retirement programs to 70 years old (whether it would be immediate to affect Gen X or in the future to affect Millennials and after), you cannot help but to think that Baby Boomers are once again looking at their interests and ignoring the needs of future generations, as they’ve done with today’s housing crisis.

There’s endless rhetoric of caring for our children and future generations. We’ve failed Gen Z with housing affordability and climate change. Let us not pass the buck and fail Gen Z with Medicare and Social Security. It’s absolutely absurd to raise the retirement age to 70-years old.

France was right to zealously protest a proposal to raise their eligibility retirement age from 62 to 64.

Comparatively, in the U.S. the complacency surrounding talks of raising that age to 70 is woefully astonishing.

least for a while. He was a white-collar worker, but got a job, menial work, just to get out of the house.

At his new job, word spread of his situation, especially since he was a complete misfit for that kind of work. He said he recalls there was a Japanese woman about his age who he felt something was amiss. She wore a sadness in her face that he recognized in his own. They never talked for about a month. But just by glances and frequent extra-seconds peering, he said they knew there was an indescribable bond that was rooted in deep sorrow.

One day before work started, the man pulled up to park and he saw the Japanese woman sitting in her car. He introduced himself and in the course of two weeks, they started a friendship. They’d meet in the parking lot before work for a quick chat.

The Japanese woman one morning told him that she heard about his situation as a widower, and she said she was a widow. He recalled when she told him this, there was a long pause. The man said to the woman, “I felt that when I first saw you.” He asked, “how long has been?” She said over 12 years. He thought to himself but said he did not vocalize it to her then, “that’s a long time to been in deep sorrow.”

Some time after, in a lapse of about a month, the topic came up again. He asked the Japanese woman if she would mind sharing what happened to her husband because the previous week, he had shared his story.

He said, she looked hesitant. But said she felt comfortable enough given that they

both were young widowers and had that in common. She told him that her husband committed suicide. He had jumped out of a room in a Waikiki hotel. And that the suicide was planned based on the note police discovered. She was not there with him at the time. The night before she had called the police reporting that her husband was missing.

The woman said she blamed herself for her husband’s death for years and was overcome with grief and guilt. The man said he felt the burden she had to carry must have been even more tragic than his own because of the additional emotional complexities beyond grief, that of guilt, plus betrayal and confusion.

The woman said she had no insight of suicide as a possibility for her husband. She told him they were a typical married couple with challenges, financial, periodic arguments, and so forth. But still, had no clue.

She said her sister, who also worked at the same company, saved her life. About a year after her husband’s death, she too seriously contemplated suicide. But her sister Miki had her move into her home to live with her husband and children. Miki would accompany her to a bereavement counselor once a week for several months and got her hired at the same company. Prior to that, she was a housewife. The counselor recommended that she also see a psychiatrist. She was put on heavy medication.

The man recalls -- after hearing her story that would be revealed to him over the course of months – thinking that if only her husband knew the intense trauma that he had inflicted upon her, perhaps, he would not have committed suicide.

He said before he had met this Japanese woman, he

thought loss of a loved one by death was similarly painful. But after meeting this special woman, he realized death by suicide can be far more devastating, harrowing, for the loved ones left behind.

It should be clear that suicide is never just an individual problem. Families are hurt, communities are hurt.

Filipinos and suicide

Due to Filipinos’ Catholic faith that views suicide as a mortal sin, this could be one reason why suicide is not as common. The Philippines ranks 10th in the world in countries with the fewest suicides per population. Within the Asian community in the U.S., Filipino Americans have the lowest rate of suicide (3.5 per 100,000). Still, one death by suicide is more than plenty because as health professionals say, suicide is preventable, unlike terminal illnesses.

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and public health professionals recommend that it’s a good time to talk to a family member or close friend about suicide. They say talking could save a life because as the story of this woman above, often survivors say they’d never anticipate suicide be something that would happen in their closest inner circle.

It’s said that suicide is a death of despair. How wonderful that Miki was there to save her sister whose despair could have led her down to a tragic ending as her husband.

We all have a responsibility to our loved ones and if we see despair in them that we do everything within our power to help lift them from it. No one deserves to carry the crushing weight after the fact. Let’s take care of each other. Learn the warning signs of suicide.

(Raising....from page 2)

Medicare and Social Security is on the Ballot in 2024, The Results Could Determine What These Programs Will Be in the Next 5-10 Years

By Edwin Quinabo

2024 could be among the last years before Medicare and Social Security experience a major overhaul. And the national election of 2024 could determine how much change these two programs will undergo.

If Democrats win a majority in Congress and the Presidency, Medicare features of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that’s already law but not fully set in motion – drug price negotiations, cap on annual out-ofpocket drug costs at $2,000 – would be implemented uninterrupted with potentially other incremental changes.

Should Republicans win a majority in Congress and the Presidency, drastic changes to age eligibility for enrollees of Medicare and Social Security to the share of Medicare beneficiaries’ costs and how Medicare is funded could be changed as floated by GOP policy proposals. Considering that no Republican voted for the IRA, features of the IRA also could be on the chopping block.

Some Republicans have said they would not touch the two entitlement programs. But Republican-led studies looking into changes, proposals on record in the U.S. Senate and initiatives discussed on the debate stage by Republican presidential candidates, all suggest if the GOP is given a majority, deep changes are bound to happen. According to Vox, after meeting with pharma lobbyists, former president Donald Trump also promised to drop drug price negotiations.

Advocates of these national programs say without a doubt Medicare and Social Security are on the ballot in 2024.

Meanwhile, the current big changes for Medicare 2024

While the Medicare Part D out-of-pocket costs at $2,000 a year starts in 2025, beginning in 2024 the annual maximum limit or cap on out-of-pocket drug spending will be no more than $3,429 (in the 2024 catastrophic coverage phase) for most before reaching the RxMOOP, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Also, the $35 cap on a month’s supply of all formulary insulin products will continue in 2024, as well as approved vaccines for a $0 copay during all phases of Part D coverage.

The cap on insulin and out-of-pocket costs will translate to considerable savings for Medicare beneficiaries suffering from chronic illnesses, experts say. Both initiatives were made possible through the passage of the IRA which passed unilaterally by Democrats before the 2022 midterm elections when Democrats held a unified government (executive and legislative control).

Nominal changes in Medicare for 2024 from 2023

For most healthy beneficiaries of Medicare, changes in cost for 2024 will increase in Part A (hospital stays) and decrease in Part B (outpatient and preventable care services) by a few dollars in Original Medicare. Similar small changes in costs are expected in Medicare Advantage Plans and Medigaps (private insurance).

The lack of changes from 2023 to 2024 will be welcomed by those contented with Medicare and their retirement plans -- government or private – that have their previous employer covering a large share or all of Medicare costs.

But for others wanting more in savings, they will be let down in 2024 and potentially in the near future, senior groups say, with the bulk of changes of Medicare via the IRA is closer geared for beneficiaries with chronic illnesses with little more in savings on premiums and copays for most.

On top of that, eight lawsuits have been filed by pharma companies challenging the Inflation Reduction Act (which authorized the price negotiation process). An unfavorable ruling against the government could upend price negotiations which is currently underway for 10 drugs but will not take effect until 2026.

President Joe Biden hasn’t brought up any new plans to Medicare outside of the features in the IRA to be implemented. He hasn’t mentioned adding medical services like coverage for dental, hearing or vision as

proposed by progressive Democrats in 2020. Currently, those without Medicare Advantage or Medigaps either go without healthcare in these areas or must pay costly uninsured prices.

Cost of healthcare even with Medicare is about one-third of average senior’s annual income

The average Medicare cost per beneficiary in the US was $15,727 in 2022, which is an increase of 3.88% or $588 from 2021. This cost includes all the expenses incurred by Medicare beneficiaries, including premiums and out-of-pocket costs when health care is needed, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). Some Americans’ employee retirement plans will cover a large share of this average annual cost of Medicare.

But for others, with the median annual income for an American aged 65 and older at $47,630 (a third of that deriving from Social Security), the cost for healthcare for seniors with Medicare annually at about $15,500 is too steep for many who do not have cushy retirement plans, senior advocacy groups say.

Majority of Americans have favorable opinion of Medicare and Social Security

Still, a vast majority of Americans –both Republicans and Democrats – support Medicare and Social Security which are among the most popular entitlement programs, according to YouGov.

Each program is especially liked by older Americans, who are closer to the age of receiving benefits. About nine in 10 Americans (89%) who personally receive Social Security benefits have a very or somewhat favorable opinion of the program. Nearly as many of the people who currently have Medicare benefits (84%) have a positive view of it.

(Medicare....from page 4)

The enrollment in Social Security is currently 66 million Americans and for Medicare 64 million. Despite both programs’ popularity, there are serious calls to bring about major overhauls for both.

What are some of the possible changes to Medicare and Social Security?

Raising the age eligibility for Medicare and Social Security

If you recall beginning this year in January, several massive protests erupted throughout France because of a pension reform bill that proposed to increase the retirement age there from 62 to 64 years. Protests drew over one million people nationwide in a series of often violent demonstrations in France’s largest cities to the countryside. All that controversy and brouhaha came about due to upping the retirement age by two years.

In the U.S. prominent Republicans have proposed raising the retirement age to be eligible for Medicare and Social Security to the age of 70 as a way to rein in government spending and to keep both programs from going bankrupt, they say.

Currently, the Medicare eligibility age is 65. For Social Security the current eligibility age begins at 62, but with benefits collected at 20% less than Full Retirement Age (FRA). To collect Social Security benefits at FRA, Americans must wait between mid66 to 67 years old.

The eligibility age-hike plan was developed by a Republican Study Committee led by a group of conservatives in the U.S. House. Raising the retirement age has been supported by conservatives like presidential candidate Nikki Haley. Besides the insolvency threat to these programs, Haley says the retirement age should be raised because people are living longer.

Republicans also want to link retirement age to future changes in life expectancy, which could mean that the age for claiming Social Security could creep even higher than 70.

The last time Congress upped the retirement age was in 1983 to 67 years old for anyone born in 1960 or later.

According to a Quinnipiac poll from March 2023, nearly

80% of respondents opposed upping the retirement age even three years to 70 years old.

In an Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs research poll, over 70% were against raising the eligibility age.

Impact of raising eligibility age

Senior groups say boosting the age to claim retirement benefits would likely increase financial hardship and poverty for older Americans, low-income seniors, seniors who need to stop working due to health issues or to take care of family members who are also older.

Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst, at The Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group for older Americans, said “postponing eligibility for Medicare would leave most older Americans ages 65 -70 significantly underinsured and threatens their finances and their health. The cost for those 65 to 70 would be even more financially challenging, especially given the fact of the need to use more care and spend more out of pocket. Where will they find the money to pay those new unexpected healthcare costs?”

She said Americans between 65 to 70 years of age would either need to work longer in order to keep their health coverage through their employers, or turn to Healthcare.gov’s marketplace to buy insurance. She noted that even plans for people who are under 64 can be costly, running more than $10,000 per year in premiums.

Nancy Altman, the president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the benefit program, said “It particularly hurts those in low-income, physically demanding jobs who are more likely to stop working earlier due to health issues.”

Altman said “most people don’t even work to their full retirement age, much less 70. This would add to insecurity, and it would add to the retirement income crisis.”

Experts say people who hold laborious type work would also be impacted most because they’re just physically unable to work until 70 years doing hard labor.

Certain communities like Hawaii’s Filipino community are disproportionately represented in blue collar and tradeskilled work that require exhaustive physical labor.

Florante Guzman, 57, Pearl City, said “I cannot believe that politicians are even thinking about raising the retirement age to 70. It’s just crazy. My dad died at 60. He worked all his life and couldn’t enjoy retirement and collected nothing for all those years he contributed to Medicare and Social Security. I am close to my dad’s age. I’ve been a cook since my twenties. It’s hard work, standing for hours, having to move fast in a very hot kitchen. You sweat for hours. Now, at my age, I can feel the body pain just to get up to go to work. My knees are no longer good after all these years. I pray that I can continue working until I reach retirement age and feel like I’m almost there.

“If they raise the retirement age for me, people like me, maybe we have no choice but to go to the Philippines, because our bodies cannot last until 70 years old working the same way. If they raise it for the younger people. That’s unfair. If I were them, maybe moving to another country would be better,” said Guzman.

Teresita Bernales, retired, Kailua, says the current age eligibility of retirement benefits is alright as it is at 65. She is enrolled in Medicare Advantage plan that is paid for by her NYS Retirement system. Instead, what she would like to see is Medicare adjusting with the health needs of the aging population which she says Medicare didn’t anticipate in its inception.

Expanded services, emphasis on healthy lifestyle Bernales said, “There’s

“It [raising age eligibility for Medicare] particularly hurts those in low-income, physically demanding jobs who are more likely to stop working earlier due to health issues. Most people don’t even work to their full retirement age, much less 70. This would add to insecurity, and it would add to the retirement income crisis. More people would be entering the program not only at an older age but potentially sicker after delaying health care treatments for several years. In the long run, delaying Medicare access could even counter the very purpose it aims for in cost-savings because sicker seniors would require more health services.”

– Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the benefit program

greater emphasis now on prevention rather than treatment of a disease. With this model, Medicare should increase services to prevent diseases like diabetes, heart attack, stroke, etc.

“Emphasis on healthy lifestyle should be started early in life. Food expenditure related to promoting good health can be made deductible. Highly processed foods should be eliminated and replaced by healthy ones.

“Definitely an adjustment on Medicare cost is needed depending on a determined baseline every 5 years. As a result of a healthy lifestyle, major illnesses will decrease. When the trend continues, Medicare can be adjusted to reflect less need for major health interventions,” said Bernales.

She said she supports dental, hearing and vision coverage.

On home health services, Bernales would like to see them expanded to include less restrictions and wider eligibility for services available for those aging in place because she said seniors are living longer and now opting to age in place.

Rose Cruz Churma, retired, said the State’s EUTF covers all costs charged by Medicare for life. Her husband retired from the State of Hawaii and his retirement benefits cover her, as well. “So, we don’t pay anything for premiums. We’ve signed up with Kaiser, and the cov-

erage is pretty generous with deep discounts (or covered at 100%) for prescriptions, medical tests, vaccinations, and the like.”

Churma said she is in favor of keeping Medicare age eligibility age 65. “However, we should explore universal health care for all, not just seniors. It may not happen in my lifetime, but it is worth analyzing its impact now.”

Like Bernales, Churma sees that healthcare providers are emphasizing healthy, preventative medicine. “We’ve been with Kaiser the last 40 years. Kaiser is proactive in keeping seniors healthy— that’s the impression I get. I am reminded periodically to get mammograms, colonoscopy, etc. all covered at 100% by whatever policy we have,” she said.

While healthcare providers are emphasizing healthy living and a prevention approach as both Bernales and Churma say, a policy that raises the retirement age could counter that model.

Altman said, “more people would be entering the program not only at an older age but potentially sicker after delaying health care treatments for several years.” In the long run, she says, “delaying Medicare access could even counter the very purpose it aims for in cost-savings because sicker seniors would require more health services.”

By Will Espero

As a former state senator, I am fully aware of the need to disclose annual financial information as directed by the law and the need to be transparent regarding gifts and other transactions of significance or importance.

Constituents expect openness, fairness, and good behavior from government officials who are making decisions impacting communities and residents. Improper interactions, appearances of impropriety, unethical moments, and conflicts of interest were and are to be avoided at all costs.

The legislative branch of government at the county, state, and federal levels has rules, policies, and laws intended to keep lawmakers honest, accountable, and ethical.

Unfortunately, we have found that the United States Supreme Court lacks many rules and policies to keep track of its members.

The revelation by ProPublica, an independent non-profit newsroom, about

Changes in funding Medicare and Social Security

Because reducing benefits to the two entitlement programs or increasing premiums for people enrolled in Medicare are overwhelmingly unpopular and could be a political detriment, some senior advocates see the two proposals that would change the way Medicare and Social Security are funded as a backdoor approach to making unpopular changes.

Instead of openly coming out with a plan to reduce benefits or raise premiums and pitch them to the American people, for example, the stealth approach is to empha-

Unethical U.S. Supreme Court and A Lawsuit Over Affordable Housing

the relationship between Justice Clarence Thomas and conservative billionaire Harlan Crow has shown how justices or judges can possibly be bribed, bought, and manipulated with very few consequences or penalties.

The argument that Crow is an old friend with no business before the courts is weak. In my humble opinion, any United States Supreme Court justice who thinks it’s okay to accept and not disclose expensive tickets to sports events, yacht cruises, free flights on private jets, and vacations does not deserve to be on the highest court of our land.

Thus, I join the chorus of others who believe it is time for Clarence Thomas to resign from the U.S. Supreme Court. His secretive, shady private life is fine as long as he is not in his current federal position of power and influence.

If Thomas wants to live the good life at the expense of his wealthy friends, he can do it as a civilian.

The United States Supreme Court needs to reform itself and create an ethics code for its members. The appearance of favors for justices being doled out by the super-rich and wealthy is not acceptable and is completely out of line.

United States Supreme

size the monolithic budgeting process, then make last minute budgetary cuts.

Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican, Wisconsin, has proposed subjecting Social Security and Medicare to annual congressional spending bills.

Sen. Rick Scott, Republican, Florida, has proposed subjecting nearly all federal spending programs to a renewal vote every five years.

Funding for both entitlement programs is basically on autopilot as they are now.

Experts say both senators’ plans would make Medicare and Social Security more vulnerable to budget cuts. They would leave the programs susceptible to Washington’s notorious

quid pro quo or pay-to-play. At the very least, I question their character and thought process.

Court Justice Samuel Alito is another one who should resign. ProPublica also reported Alito accepted freebies from billionaire Paul Singer, and argued he was not required to disclose the costs and actions. Alito had accepted a free luxury trip to Alaska with Singer and did not report it.

In the years to follow, Singer’s interests and business interacted with the U.S. Supreme Court on multiple occasions. Alito and Thomas claim they never spoke about business, legal matters, or court cases, but at the end of the day, we really don’t know.

One interpretation the justices had was that accommodations and transportation for social events were not disclosable. Really! How sad that these intelligent judges who were once attorneys can’t recognize their actions may be construed to be a form of

fraught debates over funding the government, making it more difficult for retirees to count on a steady stream of benefits.

Political Outlook

Changes to Medicare found in the IRA (since the IRA is law) are already in place or underway, some of which experts say are dramatic and could save beneficiaries substantial cost-savings, particularly for those with chronic illnesses.

Possible changes pitched by some Republicans could become law if the party wins a unified government. Losing the House, U.S. Senate or presidency would cancel any hopes for such dramatic

Now, there is no specific allegation of bribery to affect a case or trial, but the actions of Thomas and Alita have diminished the reputation of the Supreme Court and brought into question the integrity of these individuals appointed by Republican presidents. Whatever reasons or excuses these justices give to justify their actions, I believe their actions were bad decisions and poor judgment. In the highest court of the USA, we do not want justices who are willing to accept expensive gifts because they can.

On another note, Governor Josh Green’s emergency proclamation regarding affordable housing is going to the courts for resolution. The American Civil Liberties Union, the Sierra Club, and other local community groups claim the lack of affordable housing is not an emergency in the traditional sense of the word, and that the governor exceeded his authority in creating a temporary ad hoc group to make decisions regarding housing developments.

This case will be one to watch as the costs of housing

changes, politicos say.

President Joe Biden said, “From the time you’re 16, you have money taken out to pay for Social Security. But guess what? There’s somebody out there busting their neck, or you just lost your husband or your wife, you’re 66, 68 years old, and they want to take away your Medicare and your Social Security.”

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget in Washington, said “Changes desperately need to be made to the programs to ensure solvency — politicians can disagree about what changes to make, but not whether they need to be made. It’s highly disap-

continue to soar in our state and the shortage of affordable housing lingers. The cost of living will always be an issue here with housing costs leading the way for many.

With the tragic Lahaina wildfire disaster, the importance of housing development and timely decisions has taken a new meaning.

Hawaii has become a state of haves and have-nots, and I believe this will be the status quo for some time. Hawaii has become an expensive place to live so it is very imperative that we provide the best education for our youth so they can acquire the knowledge, skills, and talent to land good-paying jobs here.

With a labor shortage locally and nationally, if we don’t prepare properly, more Hawaii residents will move away for a better quality of life elsewhere. It’s not easy living in or governing in the most isolated islands in the world and being surrounded by an ocean has its fill of challenges and obstacles. 

WILL ESPERO retired from the Hawaii legislature after serving 19 years in the state House of Representatives and state Senate. He is currently a novelist, poet, and supporter of the arts. Lingering Thoughts provides a glimpse of his perspective on current events and issues.

pointing to hear the president, who knows better, resort to fearmongering rather than using his platform to help enact needed changes.”

Democrats side with looking at other means besides cutting services, raising premiums or raising the retirement age to maintain the two programs. For example, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that Medicare will save $98.5 billion over 10 years from the price negotiations. Other areas are being explored.

The future of both programs, what they’d transform to in the next 5-10 years, will be determined by next year’s crucial national elections, politicos say.

WHAT’S UP, ATTORNEY?

How Much Are You Willing to Give for Love?

By Atty. Emmanuel S. Tipon

ove is an ocean of emotions entirely surrounded by expenses.”

“Love is measured by how much one is willing to spend for it.” –Emmanuel

In the 1951 film “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman,” Pandora (Ava Gardner) asked the Flying Dutchman (James Mason), who killed his wife believing that she was unfaithful although she was innocent and was doomed to sail the Seven Seas for eternity until he could find a woman who loved him enough to die for him, “What would you give up for my love?” The Dutchman replied: “My salvation.”

There is an Ilocano lawyer who is spending for a 19-year-old girl as if he were a millionaire even though he is now only a thousandaire, giving her the most expensive Apple computer, iPhone, thousands in cash, paying for her tuition, all of which she is not asking for but is not refusing either. The lawyer is not asking for a quid pro quo. There is quid, but no pro quo.

Why? Is the lawyer crazy? Is he a fool? Does he “love” the girl?

Here is what the young girl wrote to the lawyer:

“I just wanted to take a moment to express my appreciation for your generosity and kindness. You have a remarkable ability to make life easier for those around you, and I truly believe that your compassionate nature is one of the things that makes you such a special person. I often think that perhaps it’s this kind of goodness that leads to a longer life. Maybe God

rewards those who bring happiness and positivity to others with extra time on this earth.”

Love and spending for immigration purposes

A man was with an attractive woman seeking to convert her tourist visa to a green card and asked a lawyer how much it would cost. The lawyer asked if he loved the woman.

He replied “Yes,” but he did not seem very enthusiastic. The lawyer asked: “How much would you be willing to spend?” There was a riot of silence.

The lawyer had expected a genuine lover to say, “Whatever it takes.” The lawyer asked, “If you had a million dollars, would you spend it on the woman beside you?” The man was silent. A gallant lover would have said: “Of course” or “Absolutely.”

A significant number of people want to petition a socalled “loved one” to come to the United States to live with them. But when they find out the cost, they hesitate and even refuse. Why? Is the cost that much?

Here are the estimated fees to be paid to the U.S. government, subject to change without prior notice. This is not complete, is not guaranteed and should not be used as a basis for future action. Check with the USCIS and the State Department for the current fees:

For relatives abroad, the government fees total about $2,000, consisting of: filing fee for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative; Filing fee for Affidavit of Support; Immigrant Visa Application Processing Fee; USCIS immigrant fee; Medical examination fee; Vaccination fee.

For relatives living in the U.S. and seeking adjustment of status, the government fees total less than $2,000, consisting of the Filing fee for

I-485 Petition

for Adjustment of Status; Filing fee for I-130 Petition for Alien Relative; and Biometrics fee.

Here are the estimated fees for an attorney to file the petitions. Each attorney charges differently based on various factors including location of office, education, experience, and quality of work. Fees for a petition for a relative living abroad –around $2,000. Fees for adjustment of status – around $4,500.

The fees for non-lawyers such as travel agents (trouble agents?), tax preparers, and others are much lower but the quality of their work cannot compare with a lawyer, and they cannot represent the client with immigration authorities if there is a problem.

Daughters refused to spend money for father in deportation proceedings

A Filipino was placed in deportation proceedings for having been convicted of manslaughter in California based on a plea of guilty. He had loaned an automobile tire to a neighbor.

When he asked for its return, the neighbor refused and chased him with an iron bar. The man ran to his home with the neighbor in pursuit. He fled to his garage where he got his revolver and shot the man pursuing him.

His lawyer terrorized him saying that if he fought the case and lost, he could spend more than 10 years in jail but if he pleaded guilty, he would spend less than that. The lawyer did not warn him of the immigration consequences of his plea.

The Filipino’s immigration lawyer suggested that he should hire a lawyer to set aside his conviction for ineffective assistance of counsel. The cost was estimated at $10,000. He did not have the money.

His two daughters refused to help saying that they had their own expenses to take

care of. The immigration lawyer suggested that they could borrow. They balked. The Filipino was deported. He was enjoying life in the Philippines with a girlfriend but then suffered a heart attack and died. Too much enjoyment?

The daughters asked the immigration lawyer how to bring the body of their father back to the U.S. The lawyer told them that it was no longer an immigration issue. They said they were willing to spend money to bring him back.

The lawyer remarked: You are willing to spend more than $10,000 to bring him back dead but you were not willing to spend that amount while he was alive to save him from deportation?

A Filipino green card holder was in the Federal Detention Center undergoing deportation proceedings. He had gone to the Philippines and overstayed for more than one year. He obviously knew that he had lost his eligibility to return to the U.S. with his green card. So, he allegedly tore the page of his passport showing the date he went to the Philippines.

At the airport, the immigration officer noticed the missing pages. He asked the Filipino when he went to the Philippines, and he mumbled something like a few months ago. A quick check by the officer disclosed that he had left more than a year ago. He was charged with fraud and placed in removal (deportation) proceedings.

At the immigration court, the judge asked the Filipino if he had relatives in the U.S. who could petition for him. He said he had a daughter. The judge said that she could hold the proceedings in abeyance while the daughter petitioned for him.

The judge indicated that there was an immigration lawyer in the court and said that they could talk with him and called a recess. A man claiming to be the husband of the

daughter said that she did not want to petition her father.

Her reason: “Bay bay am ta agawiden, isu pay nga paggastuan.” (Let him go back home, he is an additional expense). Wow, what kind of a daughter is that? Without her father, she would not be on Earth. Did the father complain about spending money to raise his daughter?

If love is measured by what one is willing to spend for it, do these potential immigration petitioners really “love” their so-called “beloved”?

The information provided in this article is for general information only. It is not legal advice. Publication of this information is not intended to create, and receipt by you or reading by you does not establish or constitute an attorney-client relationship.

ATTY. EMMANUEL SAMONTE TIPON was a Fulbright and Smith-Mundt scholar to Yale Law School where he obtained a Master of Laws degree specializing in Constitutional Law. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines. He placed third in the 1955 bar examinations. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, New York, and the Philippines. He practices federal law, with emphasis on immigration law and appellate federal criminal defense. He was the Dean and a Professor of Law of the College of Law, Northwestern University, Philippines. He has written law books and legal articles for the world’s most prestigious legal publisher and writes columns for newspapers. He wrote the annotations and case notes to the Immigration and Nationality Act published by The Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co. and Bancroft Whitney Co. He wrote the best-seller “Winning by Knowing Your Election Laws.” Listen to The Tipon Report which he cohosts with his son Attorney Emmanuel “Noel” Tipon. They talk about immigration law, criminal law, court-martial defense, politics, and current events. It is considered the most witty, interesting, and useful radio show in Hawaii. KNDI 1270 AM band every Thursday at 8:00 a.m. Atty. Tipon was born in Laoag City, Philippines. Cell Phone (808) 225-2645. E-Mail: filamlaw@ yahoo.com. Website: https://www. tiponimmigrationguide.com

–Lord Thomas Dewar.

S. Tipon.

By Emil Guillermo

Are you ready to kill the colonizer?

You can on Oct. 2 from just about any AMC theater in the country.

If you’re Asian American of any stripe, but especially Filipino, you can get the thrill of seeing a Hollywood movie that gets it right.

One with the narrative where we win. And the colonizer loses.

Take your sabres to any AMC for one day only in October, Monday night, Oct. 2, to watch the movie, “1521.”

It’s the film where LapuLapu, the fearless Filipino leader and not the fish, triumphs over the Portuguese circumnavigator who sailed for Spain, Ferdinand Magellan.

Can Lapu-Lapu In ‘1521” Draw a Crowd Like Olivia Rodrigo?

The movie comes courtesy of producer Francis B. Lara-Ho, who met me in New York just hours before a special “1521” billboard appeared for 24 hours in Times Square.

Seeing a splashy ad was almost but not quite like seeing the film itself. Still, the quick message to the throngs of people who visit Times Square on a weekend was gratifying for the film producer.

“It’s a vindication and an affirmation of our mission to let the world know about the Filipino’s greatness and heroism,” said Lara-Ho, a Chinese Filipino who went from humble beginnings in the Philippines to immigrate to the U.S., where he was able to achieve his dream of leading the multi-million dollar Hollywood movie project.

“People come to Times Square from all over the world, and now they can see

who we are. We are people of honor and class. We are not barbarians. That was our main mission.”

“1521” stars Danny Trejo, the character actor often seen in movies as an ornery hardedged Latino bad guy. There’s a Filipino American actor named Michael Copon, who plays Lapu- Lapu. There’s also a key love story mixed in it all. But the headline is that Trejo, as the colonizer Magellan, gets it in the end.

But how? And by whom exactly? The important details of Magellan’s demise are explored in the film. Was it really at the hands of Lapu-Lapu? His warriors? Was Magellan beheaded?

And then there’s the overall narrative that needs correcting, the existing one that portrays Magellan as discovering the Philippines for Spain.

“We weren’t savages hanging on trees,” said Lara-Ho who added that the Philippines was a highly civilized society with an honor code. And it had women in positions of similar or equal power to men. They were ready to fight off Magellan, who arrived with boats, guns, and manpower.

“We had valor and bravery because we were fighting for our survival, our freedom,” said Lara-Ho, “while [Magellan and Spain] were fighting for their economic interest.”

That underdog spirit of

that many of us want to see them depicted. Now.

I admit to being amok envious of Olivia Rodrigo

If you’re a Filipino American artist, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to pull in a crowd like pop star Olivia Rodrigo?

I didn’t make it to Rockefeller Center to see her on the TODAY show plaza last week.

Filipinos in the film is imbued in the entire project. Made in record time, “1521” cost a fraction of a typical Hollywood movie, and nowhere near the “Barbie” movie’s $145 million budget, according to Lara-Ho.

The film has recently been enhanced and trimmed down to about 90 minutes from an original two hour-plus run time. And now Lara-Ho feels confident “1521” is ready for a nationwide distributor.

But first comes the test.

He’s got to prove that people want to see it. And that’s the significance of the nationwide showing at AMC theaters.

It’s just one day, Monday, Oct. 2, at 7 pm local time.

The numbers swirl in LaraHo’s head. If just ten percent of four million Filipinos in the country show up, that would be 400,000. That would help prove there is a national audience for a film like “1521.”

More realistically, even a one percent turnout, 40,000, on a one-day screening, would show a significant demand.

And what if just a handful of the other 22 million or so Asian Americans who know about colonization respond?

Indians, Pakistanis, and other South Asians dealt with the British. So did the Hong Kongers, the Singaporeans, the Malay, and the Burmese. Vietnamese had the French.

Wouldn’t that be something if several of us joined in to see the Filipinos give it to Magellan?

It would prove to Hollywood that our stories, and our histories really matter. And

But on TV, she showed us all that her star keeps rising with no sign of letting up. Throngs of fans came to New York City to see her debut her new album “GUTS.” (The song “Vampire” is a great pop song.)

Rodrigo is a storyteller with words and music, telling tales of teenage angst that attract millions of listeners worldwide. As she sang from the plaza, her fans mouthed each lyric as if gospel.

Audiences don’t exactly mouth the words to my show as I say them. “Emil Amok” is more spontaneous and subject to change.

But Rodrigo’s fans show us how our stories¬–Filipino, Filipino American, Asian American–can be both unique and universal.

When we hit that sweet spot and strike a nerve, there’s a larger audience than anyone thinks for the stories we must tell.

Find the theater near you with a showing of “1521” on Oct. 2, at 7pm (local) or fathomevents.com/events/1521the-quest-for-love-and-freedom

Watch the movie trailer here: https://youtu.be/Nj6aFWLVgRk?si=iUb_iIAHCGDhbxNE

NOTE: I will talk about this column and other matters on “Emil Amok’s Takeout,” my AAPI micro-talk show. Live @2pm Pacific. Livestream on Facebook; my YouTube channel; and Twitter. Catch the recordings on www. amok.com.

EMIL GUILLERMO is a journalist and commentator. His talk show is on www.amok.com.

BOOK REVIEW

MULTO–A Thriller

By Rose Cruz Churma

This book, which will be released on September 26, 2023, is the latest publication by Filipino American writer, Cindy Fazzi. This book is her first thriller–and her first attempt at writing fiction. The first draft was written in 1995 when she was still a “green card” holder.

For most immigrants, the value of owning a “green card” while in the USA is one of relief, a sense of appreciation for being legally allowed to stay, get a job, and live without fear of deportation. It is the most logical path to citizenship.

Unfortunately, for the tens of millions of undocumented immigrants, the fear of being hunted down by a bounty hunter is a real threat

daily. This will continue soon since immigration reform may not happen for a long time, and that so-called reform may be more detrimental to illegals seeking permanent residency in the USA.

This book frames the immigration issues in a fictionalized narrative from the perspective of a bounty hunter named Domingo (called Sunday to his non-Filipino friends and clients). The story begins in the late 1990s when he is hired to detain a young Filipina mestiza who has overstayed her tourist visa.

It turns out that the young biracial woman was the outcome of a romantic liaison between a Vietnam veteran who spent his R&R in the Philippines in the company of a Filipina—pretty typical

in the late 1960s to the ear ly 1970s when the Vietnam war was raging and the Philippines still hosted several American bases.

By the late 1990s, her Caucasian father was high up in the Washington D.C. political power structure, and was not keen on accepting a daughter out of wedlock, despite her close resemblance to him—in-

cluding his fair skin color. She was still tainted with Filipino blood.

Domingo, the bounty hunter, also of Filipino ancestry, was hired to find her—not once, but three times!

The time frame changes in ten-year intervals at each chapter—from 1998 to 2008 and finally to the present— roughly during the 20162018 era or during the dark Trumpian America—when immigration policies were at their harshest for illegal immigrants, and when racist talk show hosts became an acceptable norm.

The story of Monica Reed, the illegal immigrant and her life as a TNT (also called tago ng tago in Filipino American circles) was described in flashbacks.

For the bounty hunter, Domingo, he calls his illegals—Multo—or ghost. This an apt name considering that undocumented immigrants

want to be faceless, and unnoticed, and prefer to move below the radar of normal, everyday existence.

In the process of telling the story of his search for Monica Reed, we get to meet the other characters—his mother Mamang whose path to acquiring a green card and citizenship, for her and her son, was marrying an American citizen. And then there were the caregivers, mostly Filipino, and Monica’s loyal best friend, Tess. The author was able to capture the social mores and cultural values of these immigrants as they navigate life in their adopted country.

The theme of immigration as a backdrop to the thriller is timely. Unfortunately, the reader never gets to live vicariously the life of an illegal, which I believe would have a greater emotional pull if Monica Reed was allowed to share her

(continue on page 13)

By Elpidio R. Estioko

Former President Donald Trump was indicted for the fourth time for crimes committed against the U.S. Constitution, but it seems that it did not deter his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination for 2024!

In fact, As I See It, it even bolstered his chances to be the party’s nominee.

Even if he did not participate in-person in the first GOP debate hosted by FOX News Channel recently in Milwaukee, his presence was everywhere on the stage and almost every presidential candidate

Were the Four Strikes Not Enough?

has either mentioned his name or alluded to him in delivering their messages during the debate.

Even with the four indictments and did not participate in the debate, he was a winner in the first debate participated in by eight presidential candidates seeking GOP nomination as standard bearer of the party.

The four indictments didn’t seem to bother his standing in the presidential race and his absence in the debate didn’t even matter at all!

In fact, the candidates struggled to find their grounds in the debate. Republican presidential candidate former Vice President Mike Pence took time to find his bearing but at the end he was a surprise winner, with several forceful interventions.

He also got an unexpected assist in the shape of a question to all the candidates about his actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

Then, Pence focused on the 38-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy, saying, “Now is not the time for on-the-job training. We don’t need to bring in a rookie.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also took turn in attacking Ramaswamy, after he boasted that he was the only candidate on the stage “not bought and paid for.”

Christie countered by saying, “I’ve had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT.”

With that line, Christie may have found the weak spot in Ramaswamy’s armor, but the viewers gave him negative points for doing that.

Christie also emphasized his differences with Trump labeling him as the most aggressively

anti-Trump candidate in the race. Speaking of Trump’s multiple indictments, Christie said that whether people believed the former president’s actions were criminal or not, “Someone has got to stop normalizing this conduct, OK?”

It seems that the GOP base hated what Christie have been saying, but in terms of debating skills, I think, he was probably the most impressive performer on the stage, along with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. His points were clear and very convincing.

The debate showed the differences among the candidates with their clear display of their varied experiences, but no matter how lively the conversation was, no matter how credible the arguments were, no one on the stage was a threat to Trump’s presidential nomination. In fact, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the most likely runner-up, was a far second to Trump.

Trump showed a clear dominance on stage, and it took former Haley about 15-minutes into the debate to criticize him by pointing out the nearly $8 trillion of federal spending authorized during the Trump presidency that any of the eight candidates did not criticize.

Clearly, the former president emerged from the debate as the clear winner, even though he wasn’t there. He suffered no major blows from the candidates onstage, was frequently defended by one of the loudest voices in the room and after a question from moderators Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, six of the eight candidates pledged to support him even if he is convicted of a crime.

The audience also showed this kind of reaction of what loyalty is all about. When Christie, Haley or

Pence would say something critical of Trump, they were met with boos.

By the end of the night, it did not seem as though any candidate could be a realistic alternative to Trump. None was not even close!

So, while the debate contenders had their moments of brilliance, no one emerged as the clear, nonTrump alternative. Pence’s defense of his actions on January 6 didn’t break any new ground; Christie’s Trump attacks were met with boos; South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott could not break the mold of a career politician; and Ramaswamy started to get booed with more frequency after he declared that climate change was a “hoax.”

Haley stood her ground during the debate, cracked enough jokes, and confronted Ramaswamy just as it was needed. But none of it was likely to be enough to catapult her to the front of the pack or seriously challenge Trump… not even DeSantis.

But going into the debate night, DeSantis was still the most plausible nonTrump candidate to win the nomination. He was still the next-best candidate in most polls and the most serious threat to Trump. He was hardly ever the center of attention on the debate. It was Trump!

Few of the candidates were willing to go after Trump, and of the eight candidates, six raised heir hands when asked if they swill support Trump even if he was convicted of a crime.

Were the four strikes not enough? 

ELPIDIO R. ESTIOKO was a veteran journalist in the Philippines and a multi-awarded journalist here in the US. For feedbacks, comments… please email the author at estiokoelpidio@gmail.com

Former U.S. President Trump

A Life Between

By Belinda A. Aquino, Ph.D.

If this narrative sounds like a memoir, it is not meant to be. I used the above title, which needs a bit of explaining especially the phrase “life between,” because that can mean a lot of numerous spaces and stages of events in my life.

The space I am writing in is more than, and not necessarily, geographical as in the Philippines and America. This “life between” is a situational and dynamic one, subject to constant changes and extreme contrasts during entire lifetimes and generations.

As psychologist Erik Ericson notes in his various writings on the American identity, “Most inhabitants are faced, in their own lives or within the orbit of their close relatives, with alternatives presented by such polarities as open roads of immigrations and jealous islands of traditions; outgoing internationalism and defiant isolationism; boisterous competition and self-effacing cooperation…”

In a major and substantial way, this is how I would characterize my “life between.”

I am essentially a product of public schools in my hometown, a situation I consider the basis of my secular and socialized identity. In comparison, many of my peers and cohorts entered private schools with a religious or sectarian orientation.

In Philippine society and culture, especially when I was growing up in the 1950s, the concept of choice was essentially non-existent. Decisions were made for you by your parents, relatives, teachers, and others whose role was to tell you what to do.

That was why from el-

ementary and high school, life was fairly uniform and agreeable. We even wore uniforms to underscore this basic culture of obedience and propriety. There was no escape because you did not exist by yourself. You belonged to a large family, a clan, and a village, and you were never alone for most of your young life.

Breaking away

It was an unusual and individual act of rebellion on my part to break away from this debilitating pattern of young adulthood. As far as identity is concerned, I consider rebellion as a personal trait; a combined curiosity about the world outside, a rejection of some but not all traditional norms and values; a sense of “come what may.”

I made certain, however, that this attitude should not be equated to the common “bahala na” (the English equivalent of “come what may”) escape route.

Not that I was running away from an oppressive existence or something that some Western analysts might attribute to a domineering mother, authoritarian father, or some pathological or dysfunctional aspect of family socialization.

I just thought that there was another set of basic truths and values out there beyond the confines of a small town or village.

So leaving my hometown for Manila, the big city 200 miles away, was the first significant change in my young life. For the first time, I became conscious of an emerging “life between” my regional identity as an Ilocano and another world within university walls.

I was exposed to a multiplicity of ethnicities at the University of the Philippines campus. I ended up in a boarding house or cottage with five other students from

pines.

It was also more fun mixing up all our various languages. There are about eight different Philippine languages and dozens of dialects.

I became a member of the University of the Philippines Student Catholic Action Club and attended Catholic mass regularly, always remembering my mother’s advice to pray especially because I was now far away from home.

ority to my studies because there were a lot of requirements needed for graduation, including foreign languages such as French, German, Latin and, for English majors like me, natural and social sciences.

Surigao del Sur in the Mindanao region.

They occupied the main room in the cottage, and I and another Ilocana, who was a distant relative, were in the smaller room.

The loud chatter of the five girls speaking in Cebuano, a Visayan language, amused me. At times, I was picking up some of their conversations and eventually understood what they were talking about.

But we ended up communicating more effectively in English and we also conversed in Tagalog or Pilipino, the Philippines national language taught in my high school.

Eventually, I met students from all over the Philippine regions— Tagalog, Kapampangan, Ilonggo, Bicolano, Waray, and so on. It was at times more effective to combine Tagalog with words from different areas of the Philip-

Occasionally, she would visit me from the province, bringing a lot of food and supplies. I was experiencing a “brave new world” so different and a bit intimidating from my old hometown.

I also felt a growing consciousness from participating in campus politics. Student activism was developing with and among various campus constituencies and the fraternities and sororities on campus.

I made sure I gave pri-

We also had to take a lot of classes on American History, which were interesting because they were not like those we took in high school. These courses were mostly American colonial history, extolling American heroes like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I struggled to complete a college degree that would land me a good job later and prepare me for another chapter: life in the real world.

Coming to America

When I finished college in the late 1950s, the first thought that came to my mind was a job. However, I was not sure what kind of work I could get with a

(continue on page 12)

Belinda Aquino

(A Life ....from page 11)

Bachelor of Arts in the Humanities with a major in English.

I did not even have enough Education courses to qualify me to teach at the high school level. I was at another “life between” crossroads and I finally decided to go back to college to specialize in some field that could qualify me for a decent-paying job.

I chose the field of Public Administration at the University of the Philippines Institute Administration, which offered several graduate fellowships. I received a grant that allowed me to take courses on Government, Personnel and Fiscal Administration, National-Local Relations, and related fields.

I began to learn more about another area of human knowledge: social science, quite different from my undergraduate major in the Humanities and its focus on Shakespeare, Melville, Emerson, Thoreau, and the whole New England gang of notable writers and authors. It was completely disorienting for me at first but I had gotten used to a “life between” at this stage.

I started to understand more about the intricate and bureaucratic processes and nuances involved in the various levels of government

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES

from the presidency down to the lowest unit of governance, the village, or the barrio as it is called in the Philippines.

Then another opening for a scholarship opened up, this time from the Fulbright and East-West Center in the early 1960s. I applied for a master’s degree in Political Science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The Department of Political Science was especially interested in attracting applicants from the Asia-Pacific region.

I went on to complete a doctoral degree from Cornell University after which I looked forward to returning to the Philippines to resume my faculty duties at the University of the Philippines. I thought that living permanently in my own country would be the end of my continuously “swinging” life.

This would have been a logical conclusion to what had been a hectic backand-forth experience and it would have been a relief to settle in my native land that I had only visited occasionally while studying in Hawaii.

Martial Law Intervenes

But it was not to be. A major event made me change my plans midstream. In September 1973, then President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law, using the con-

tinuing aggression of the leftwing underground forces and the Muslim insurgency in Mindanao as his reasons for emergency rule.

Marcos had instructed the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. to infiltrate a conference in Cornell attended by some 150 Filipino students, myself included, studying in various U.S. institutions. These students organized a conference to discuss alternatives to Martial Law.

The order from Malacanang was to cancel their Philippines passports. To my surprise, I landed on the “blacklist” of Filipino students “whose activities in the U.S. were considered inimical to the national security of the Philippines.”

The Philippine Consulate had been spying on students who were active in the regime like the Movement for a Free Philippines, Union of Democratic Filipinos, the Friends of the Filipino People and Ninoy Aquino Movement.

Without a passport, I could not go back to the Philippines. My only recourse was to stay in the U.S., another “life between.” The problem was I was summarily served with a letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) explaining why I should not be deported since my student visa had expired after I finished my degree at Cornell. The INS called me to a trial-like hearing.

This was a real “in-between” dilemma—deportable from the U.S. and undesirable on the Philippine end. I hired a pro-bono defense lawyer who studied my case. She found a provision in the immigration law that might be acceptable to “stay my execution.”

I could apply for a “suspension of deportation” if I had lived seven years in America. What this meant was the longer I stayed in the U.S. with this case hanging over my head, the better since it would buy me some time to fulfill the seven-year proviso.

At this point, my lawyer and I decided to contact Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink to seek her advice. I have worked on her various political campaigns in Hawaii. She suggested that we also seek U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye’s help as only senators can introduce a private bill for individuals who deserve to remain in the United States. I was getting an education on the nuances of American bureaucratic processes of seeking redress for cases similar to mine.

To cut a long story short, on March 18, 1976 at the 74th Congress, Senator Inouye introduced Bill 3175, my private bill.

It stated that “for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Dr. Belinda A. Aquino shall be held and considered to have been admitted to the United States for permanent residence as of the date of enactment of this Act, upon payment of the required visa fee.”

A few years after having acquired permanent resident status, I filed for U.S. citizenship. At least, that would stop my back-and-forth “life between” the Philippines and the United States.

I had to prove that I was of good moral character, had a steady job with the faculty of the University of Hawaii, paid my taxes, and that there was no possibility that I would be a public charge. I had to get all kinds of letters from prominent individuals who would attest to the viability and merit of my application.

A few weeks after fulfilling all the citizenship requirements, my approval letter arrived via special delivery from the White House. It read:

Dear Fellow American:

I am pleased to congratulate you on becoming a United States citizen. You are now part of a great and blessed nation. I know your family and friends are proud of you on this special day.

Welcome to the joy, responsibility, and freedom of

American citizenship, God bless you, and God bless America.

Sincerely,

GEORGE W. BUSH

Happy ending

This in a nutshell is the saga of my journey through a “life in between.” I take one hard look at my life events in terms of the Filipino global diaspora. What Filipino values have played in living at the crossroads?

My desire for higher education led to a breaking away from my familiar home ground to a more complex society. In the process, a different consciousness took root with its own set of complex values.

You encounter and accept new norms without necessarily rejecting old ones. This is all part of the dynamic process called socialization. As you develop an adult identity, you discover new ways of thinking to further alter your earlier beliefs and behavior.

Life is full of surprises along the way. The declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines in the early 1970s and my being on the blacklist of the Marcos regime, along with my expired student visa, put me between a rock and a hard place.

With the help of a remain on American soil. Sometimes, I laugh at my “life between” and the twists and turns that enabled me to come to America. But “all’s well that ends well.”

DR. BELINDA (LINDY) AQUI-

NO is a professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where she served as professor of Political Science and Asian Studies for nearly 40 years before retiring. Lindy received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Cornell University as a Ford Foundation Fellow. She was the founding director of the University of Hawaii Center for Philippine Studies. She was also a visiting professor, scholar and research fellow at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies; Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand; and in four universities in Indonesia.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

Changing Seasons

By Seneca Moraleda-Puguan

As the cool breeze starts to blow and the heat slowly says goodbye, I can’t help but be grateful for this awesome time. Autumn is my favorite season.

It is my most awaited time of the year (aside from Christmas) when I get to enjoy the change of the surroundings’ color- from green to yellow to orange, red and brown.

This beautiful season is a wonderful respite from the intense summer heat and a pleasant preparation for the harsh winter cold.

This autumn also signifies a deeper meaning for me and my family, it is a time of transition as we enter a new season in our lives. The season of long waiting has ended and our breakthrough has come. A prayer we have been uttering for several months has been answered. A door has been opened.

But before this season of rejoicing came, buckets of tears were shed. Anxiety, worry, and fear infiltrated our

(BOOK REVIEW: Multo ....from page 9)

thoughts, fears and feelings–except very fleetingly.

Although Domingo, the bounty hunter is an engaging character, it is difficult to understand his motivations (except maybe at the end, but by then, it is too late). Short, brown, and speaking in a heavy Filipino accent, he is a unique protagonist.

Despite the difficulty of following the storyline (for the most part–due to the shifting of time frames), the book is true to its genre. It keeps you glued to reading until the very end.

An intriguing aspect of the book is the meditative essays on immigration that introduce some of the chapters. The author describes the ways one can acquire a green card: through birth, joining the U.S. military, seeking asylum, marrying a

hearts. Doubts entered our thoughts. Are our prayers being listened to? Will this season of waiting and uncertainty ever end?

Despite all our questions and doubts, we held onto faith. We stood on the promises of the One who is faithful. We set our eyes and hearts on the Rock by which we stand, the foundation by which our lives are built.

And true enough, He delivered. In His perfect timing, He answered. Breakthrough came. Our tears have been replaced with joy. Our doubts have been overcome by assurance.

We have been living in South Korea for almost a decade. My husband has spent his prime years in this beautiful nation. This is where our love story began. This is where we started to build our family and where our two beautiful children were born.

South Korea is our second home. We have experienced wonderful things here. We have witnessed its people’s hospitality and generosity. We have gained covenant rela-

U.S. citizen, sponsorship of a blood relative, or a company sponsorship that needs your skills, etc. –serving as a brief on gaining American citizenship.

The author, Cindy Fazzi, was formerly an Associated Press reporter. As a journalist, she has worked in the Philippines, Taiwan, and the United States. This is her first thriller—but she has also written other publications including a historical novel on Douglas MacArthur’s Filipina mistress.

ROSE CRUZ CHURMA established Kalamansi Books & Things three decades ago. It has evolved from a mail-order bookstore into an online advocacy with the intent of helping global Pinoys discover their heritage by promoting books of value from the Philippines and those written by Filipinos in the Diaspora. We can be reached at kalamansibooks@gmail.com.

tionships worth keeping. We fell in love with this nation.

But as foreigners, we knew from the very beginning that our time here in this nation was just temporary. And our time here is coming to an end.

A new beginning is in front of us. New things await us. Exciting but at the same time, nerve-wracking.

Just like the Israelites entering the Promised Land, we know that the land where God has called us is a land flowing with milk and honey, but we are sure there are giants in the land. But we can be strong and courageous because we know that He will be with us every step of the way and He is fighting for us.

Maybe you are in the same season–a season of waiting, a long one. You believe in something, but the way is unclear and the future seems bleak. I encourage you to look beyond your circumstances and look up!

Look to the One who will fulfill what He says He will do. Make the most of your waiting season, enjoy every

moment because all the waiting ends. No season is permanent, it always changes. You will eventually receive the answer to your prayer. You will have your breakthrough. Take heart!

It was lonely in the dark, but you were working. It was painful, it was hard, but you were working all things for my good. Couldn’t feel you at the time, but you were working. Full of questions, wondering why but you were working all things for my good. When I look back over my life and I think how good you have been, my soul sings, great is Your faithfulness. When I get over your love on my mind, I get grateful all over again and my soul sings, great is Your faithfulness.

Truly, this song ‘Great Is’ by Elevation Worship has

become the song of my soul while I waited.

As we prepare for our new season, our new destination, we will make the most of our time here and now. We will continue to do the things we have been called to do here in this land we have called home for the past decade.

There are still so many things to do–places to visit, things to try, people to bless and serve, moments to treasure as a family.

Just as the cool breeze starts to blow and the heat slowly says goodbye, I will take the time to thank the One who is in control of time and who holds my life in His hands, for the many great things He has done and will do; and for being constant, firm and faithful despite the changing seasons.

Federal Support Provides Housing Assistance to Maui Wildfires Victims

On August 21, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited Maui and saw the damage and recovery of Lahaina residents from the devastating wildfires.

“Mahalo to the President and the First Lady for making this historic trip to be here in our time of need. We in Hawai‘i have been through hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis, but we have never seen such a robust federal response,” said U.S. Senator Brian Schatz.

To support the recovery of Lahaina, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $1.3 million to the State of Hawaii to support people who were experiencing homelessness or at risk of

homelessness through the Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing (RUSH) program.

The funding will help communities in Maui to rebuild during the aftermath of the recent wildfire disaster.

“This funding will provide essential assistance to individuals impacted by the devastating wildfires who were previously experiencing housing insecurity. I appreciate HUD’s quick action as one of the many federal agencies providing assistance in these early stages of recovery,” said U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono.

long-term relief Maui and the State of Hawaii will need to recover and rebuild.”

The RUSH program provides funding for emergency shelter and rapid housing which provides up to 24 months of rental assistance. Moreover, it also provides financial assistance for moving-in costs, utility assistance, and supportive services for people at risk or experiencing homelessness.

For Sen. Schatz, additional federal funding is needed to help Lahaina recover. In a letter addressed to President Biden, Sen. Schatz asked for the following:

• Include funding for Maui in a continuing resolution

• Support increased financial

“As we work to provide those impacted by this disaster with safe and stable shelter, I will continue working with our federal, state, and local partners to secure the immediate and (continue on page 15)

By Arcelita Imasa, M.D.

Were Filipino workers treated well in the past and have they played a role in improving working and living conditions in Hawaii?

– From Reader

Dear Reader, Most schoolchildren and even college students know little or nothing about the labor struggles of the past and the

Filipino Workers’ Role in Hawaii’s Labor Movement Part 1

role Filipino workers played. These struggles have helped Hawaii attain a higher standard of living in the islands.

One key struggle was the Great Strike of 1920, launched by Filipino sugar plantation workers and joined in by their Japanese co-workers in 1920 and 1924.

The Great Strike of 1920 was conducted by the Filipino Labor Union led by Pablo Manlapit, an immigrant worker who became a lawyer and labor organizer.

The strike was launched to demand higher wages–$1.25 a day plus a better bonus system–an eight-hour workday, maternity leave for women,

improved housing and medical clinics and paid holidays.

Workers were paid less than a dollar a day and often worked 10 to 12 hours a day for 6 days a week. There were different pay rates for each nationality of the workers. Women were paid less than men and they had to take their young children out into the fields with them as they worked.

The Hawaii Sugar Planters Association (HSPA) refused the workers’ demands and so the Filipino workers went on strike. The Japanese workers in the Federation of Labor united with their Filipino coworkers and joined the strike which spread from plantation

to plantation on Oahu.

The sugar plantation owners refused to negotiate and instead evicted 12,000 workers and their wives and children from their plantation homes. About 5,000 went to Honolulu and stayed at Aala Park outside Chinatown, and the rest, nearly 7,000 workers and their families set up makeshift camps in the countryside.

The workers and their leaders were attacked by the press as “un-American” and agitators and racist propaganda and claims were made that the strike was an effort to “Japanize” Hawaii. In the camps, the food was scarce and conditions difficult. Some small merchants, mainly Chinese, extended credit to the strikers so they would not starve.

PHILIPPINE LANGUAGE

Karit Iti Pluma Ni Ilokano

ILOKO By Amado I. Yoro

Ti Bibirokek a Saem-Sam-it ken Siit iti Pluma. Agnadnadnaden ti birtud ti pangaldaw kadagiti nadumaduma a taraon kas iti insalada a rangaw ti balangeg ken kamote nga adda bugguongna sa napettakan iti nakaluluom a bunga ti kamatis, adda pinakbet, igado, dinardaraan, beef broccoli, liningta a mais ken saan a mainaganan ken saan a mabilang a kita ti sinam-it ken kankanen, saramsam, kadua ti inapuy. Adda pay basi da Adviento Amigable, Mike Ulibas, Elpidio Antolin, Ric Agnes,Ely Agor iti likudan ti puni.

SAANKO A napakadaan a naawagan ti naganko. Agsaritaak kano met no ania met ti maibingayko ditoy.

Saanko a pinaay. Ania ti saritaek?

Naimbag ta sakbayna, nakasarsaritak ni Adviento ket nadakdakamatna dagiti diaryna kabayatan dagiti adu a panagbiahena a sumrsurot iti barko kas maysa a marine officer.

Sa maysa, nagpuonak ti kinuna ni Lorie Saoit a nagku-

na nga interesado met nga agsurat. Kayatna ti makasursuro, ti parikutna, kasano, kaano, sadino.

Apagisu la unay a masakupan met ti ammok dagiti nadakamatda.

Journal/Diary.

Agbalin ti mannurat a:

1. Chronicler, paraisurat iti pudno a pasamak, pulso, bitek, rikna ken situasion

2. Caretaker, paraaywan, isu ti awagak iti para-iggem iti pluma, ti pulso, ket palasbangen, pabaknangen ti kultura, ti lenguahe ken kannawidan

3. Recordkeeper. Dagiti pasamak. Padas. Isu ti rangtay, ti lagip ti nabaknang a napalabas.

Essem. Gagar. Interes. Apagisu la unay iti pagsasaok: masapul nga addaanka iti panagduyos, inclination, essem, desire, ----no awan dagitoy, kunada: inka laengen agmula ti kamote.

Parikut no kasano, kaano. Iti ania man nga oras, iti aniaman a wagas ken panagrugi.

“The most important thing

Part 2

is WHEN you write rather HOW you write. The time is NOW set aside a specific time to write”---J Malan Healop, Dell Van Orden iti libroda How To Write.

“A thought must tell at once or not at all” kuna ni William Hazzlet

“It does not matter how you write it, where you write it. The most important is you capture the brilliant ideas and never miss the golden opportunity, to WRITE”. Once you miss and let go, it will never come back again” Damon Knight in Creating Short Fiction.

Kayat. Interes. Inspirasion. Panawen.

Agsurattayo latta, maipablaak man ken saan a maipablaak. Ti nasken ken napateg unay,maisurat dayta napateg nga idea a bunga ta panunotmo.

“Matay man ti mannurat, ngem dagiti sinuratna, agnanayon a sibibiagda kadagiti mata, puso dagiti agbasbasa”, nabatad a kinuna kaniak ni Juan S.P. Hidalgo, Jr. mannurat, editor, Bannawag.

Imbatayko iti bukodko a padas ken bukodko nga estilo.

The workers and their families suffered but held firm for six months, from January through June, even in the face of a great and very deadly flu epidemic in 1920 which killed an estimated 25 to 50 million people around the globe. About 150 people were estimated to have died in the makeshift strikers’ camps at Aala Park and elsewhere during the strike.

The strike was defeated by July 1, 1920. The Filipino workers’ alliance with the Japanese strikers had ended earlier and the Japanese consulate in Hawaii was urging Japanese workers to give up and go back to work. The plantation owners spent $12 million to break the strike. The Workers’

(continue on page 15)

“Agbirbirokak iti saem. Nasken a masugatka tapno napintas ti ibunga ti suraten. Ramen ti nabileg a piesa ti prosa ken dandani, dungdung-aw, sangsangit ken kankanta ti sugat, ti lua, ti dara, ti nasakit nga angaw, nasakit a pannakapaay. Dagita ti mangpalagda ken mangpatalged a kas iti risiris wenno kontrabida kadagiti suraten. Masapul nga ammom ti masugat. Dagitoy ti aw-awagak iti SIIT KEN ROSAS, iti panagsuratan.

AGSURATTAYO LAT-

TA iti nagan ti Literatura Ilokana ken Kultura. Listaan dagiti immay na-

kiinnadal:

1. Mel Agag, Jr.

2. Ric Agnes

3. Mina Agnes

4. Ely Agor

5. Jocelyn Agustin

6 Adviento Amigable

7. Elpidio Antolin

8. Vina Antolin

9. Cleo Bala-Mrs. GH 1991

10. Nora Cabico

11. Ines Cayaban

12. Fely Cristobal

13 Cresencia Dela Rosa-Domingo

14. Nenita Diga- Mrs. GH 1992

15. Flory Fermin

16. Adrian Galvez

17. Lerina GalvezFirst Miss GH

18. Carlo Laforga

19. Marietta Laforga

20 Dee Madarang

21. Felipe Madarang

22 Magdalena Nacino

23. Letty Pascua

24. Merly Pasion

25. Aurora Ponce

26. Francisco Ponce

27. Mildred Sadorra

28. Perlita Sadorra

29. Fred Saludes

30. Pacita Saludes

31. Rev. David Saludez

32. Mrs. D. Saludez

33. Lorie Saoit

34. Dolores Tugadi

35. Ludovico Tugadi

36. Helen Ulibas

37. Mike Ulibas

38. Benny Ventura

39. Amado Yoro

Ti kangrunaan nga akem ti mannurat, ket agsurat. Agsurat. Aginggana ita, agsursuratak latta. Adda nagkuna: Daniw idi, daniw pay laeng, agdandaniwka pay laeng.

Kunak met: agyamanak ta addaak nga agdandaniw latta, ngem iti awanakton nga agdandaniw”.

ARAMIDEM TI

MAARAMIDMO IT AN. NO BIGAT AMANGAN A MALADAWTON.

LET’S ZUMBA | Filipino Community Center | Every Monday starting January 9, 2023 at 6:15pm | FilCom Center, Consuelo Courtyard, 94-428 Mokuola Street, Waipahu | Need to unwind in movement and dance after a long workday? Join the community as we Zumba through the evening. Only $5 per class. Proceeds go to support these programtypes for FilCom Center.

69TH ANNUAL WAIKIKI HOOLAULEA

Stryker Weiner & Yokota | September 23 from 6pm to 9:30pm | Kalakaua Avenue, Waikiki | Aloha Festivals will host its premier block party at Waikiki’s beachfront Kalakaua Avenue with booths highlighting Hawaii

(HAWAII WORKERS CORNER: Filipino ....from page 14) Federation of Labor raised and spent $600,000.

Due to extreme racist attacks on the Japanese and their leaders, and the passage of the Japanese Exclusion Act of 1924 preventing any new Jap-

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

cuisine, crafts, culture and entertainment.

HONOLULU RAINBOW FILM FESTIVAL

Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival, Hawaii LGBT Legacy Foundation and more | September 8-18 | Doris Duke Theater, Honolulu Museum of Art, Online | HRFF is one of the longest running LGBTQ+ film festivals in the world. Enjoy five amazing feature films live at the Doris Duke Theater, followed by a week of free online shorts. Tickets and schedule at HRFF.org.

KAILUA FALL FESTIVAL Krave Marketing Group LLC, UFC Gym BJ Penn, Kailua Chamber of Commerce and more | September 30, 4-10pm | Hahani Street, Kailua, Oahu |

anese immigration to the U.S. and Hawaii, the Japanese labor organizations became less active for the next two decades.

But the Filipino workers under Manlapit would try again, in the Filipino strike of

1924. Pablo Manlapit would be subject to legal prosecution and deportation for his continued courageous efforts to help Filipino sugar workers improve their working and living conditions. We’ll share

Enjoy a night of entertainment, vendors, foods, drinks and fun for the entire family! The event is free for all. Parking is available at Kainalu Elementary School. For more information, visit kailuaevents.com.

HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Halekulani | October 12-22 on Oahu, October 26-29 on Maui and Kauai, October 30-November 1 on Lanai, and November 2-5 on Big Island | Consolidated Kahala, Ward Theatres and various locations in the state | Celebrate indie and art house cinema that focuses on Asia-Pacific, Pasifika, Indigenous and Kanaka Maoli films. Critically lauded films from Sundance, SXSW, Cannes and Toronto will be premiered during the festival. Purchase festival passes from hiff.org.

the story of that strike and its union leader Manlapit in the next issue.

Sincerely, Hawaii Workers Center

HAWAII-FILIPINO NEWS

Dr. ARCELITA IMASA is a practicing family physician and the secretary of the Hawaii Workers Center’s Executive Committee of the Board. She grew up in the Philippines before migrating to Hawaii with her family more than a decade ago.

Family Medicine Training to Expand on Kaua’i Via Federal Grant

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) via the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is investing $750,000 to plan and develop a rural Family Medicine residency program on Kauaʻi.

With the physician shortage impacting the neighbor islands and other rural areas, families on Kauaʻi often struggle to find care.

The three-year grant partners the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine, Hawaiʻi Pacific Health, Hawai’i Health Systems Corporation Kaua’i, the Kauaʻi District Health Office, and the broader Garden Isle healthcare community as they aim to break down barriers in accessing care by establishing new residency programs in rural communities.

Currently, the 233 residents and fellows in 18 specialties sponsored by the University of Hawaiʻi Graduate Medical Education enterprise train almost exclusively on Oʻahu.

(Federal ....from page 13) assistance for high-cost areas

• Waive the State and Local cost share for needed FEMA programs

• Presume that Lahaina survivors do not have their paperwork

• Ensure safe air and drinking water

The proposed rural-track curriculum would now provide a cohort with more than 60% of the Family Medicine Residency training on Kauaʻi once the program is approved by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education.

The program, which embeds more interdisciplinary training opportunities with public health than many existing family medicine residencies, will strengthen and grow the health workforce, which will eventually make it easier for Kauaʻi families to access care.

“Family medicine physicians care for entire families, from the youngest children to the kūpuna,” said Dr. Allen Hixon, chair of University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, and Hawai‘i Pacific Health chief of academic family medicine.

“With the ongoing shortage of primary care physicians, especially in rural areas, this federal grant provides an incredi-

• Surge crisis counseling

• Extend disaster unemployment assistance to one year

• Expedite processing and waive fees for Lahaina immigrants

• Harden electric grid

• Mitigate fire risks

• Prevent pollution in coastal waters

ble opportunity for JABSOM to partner with Hawai‘i Pacific Health, the state Department of Health and the Kaua‘i community to train the next generation of family medicine physicians on Kauaʻi.”

Under the new initiative, a cohort of residents of the JABSOM’s Family Medicine Program will spend their first year training at Hawaiʻi Pacific Health and other clinical sites on Oʻahu. Their second and third years of residency will be spent training primarily at Wilcox Health on Kauaʻi.

“We value our relationship with the John A. Burns School of Medicine as we work together with the University of Hawai‘i to create a pipeline for future physicians on Kaua‘i,” said Jen Chahanovich, president and CEO of Wilcox Medical Center and CEO of Kauai Medical Clinic.

“The family medicine residents will gain valuable experience and knowledge while training in a rural setting side-

• Increase small business loan limits

• Fund Hawaii’s community development financial institutions

• Send cabinet officials to Maui

To read the full letter, head to https://www.schatz.senate.gov/ download/potus-maui-letter.

by-side with our providers. These residents are the future of health care and we hope to inspire them to continue their careers on Kaua‘i.”

According to the Hawaiʻi Department of Health, the entire state, outside of Honolulu, is designated as a primary medical Health Professional Shortage Area. Physician shortages, poverty, and geographic isolation contribute to lack of access to care and poorer health outcomes for those in rural areas.

“We are very grateful to

HRSA for awarding this grant and recognizing the health workforce needs of rural Hawai‘i,” Dr. Hixon said.

This funding through the planning grant may be used to support accreditation costs, curriculum development, faculty recruitment and retention, resident recruitment activities, and consultation services to support program development.

A formal accreditation application will be developed by the partnership, with the aim of recruiting in the inaugural class by the end of the project period.