Mang Pepeng

“There are people who curse worse than me and want to hide it all, but I ain't no hypocrite.”

—BUSWICK BILL

By Alex P. Vidal

 

MANG Pepeng, 84, and his wife, Estelita, 85, finally received their stimulus checks worth $1,400 each on March 27.

Contrary to what he passionately declared two weeks ago, Mang Pepeng didn’t reject the largesse from Uncle Sam, which was part of the $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus package otherwise known as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

“Better late than never,” the old man, who survived the pandemic by taking a Tylenol tablet in June 2020, beamed. 

Mang Pepeng and Estelita were “expecting” to receive the checks before March 24 but they arrived late.

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Social Security recipients and railroad retirees who weren't required to file federal tax returns for 2018 or 2019 will receive $1,200 stimulus payments automatically based on information contained in their “1099” benefit statements

Under the law, a single filer making up to $75,000 will receive the full payment, while those earning up to $80,000 will get a reduced amount. 

Joint filers making up to $150,000 will get the full $2,800, while those earning up to $160,000 will receive a smaller amount. 

Previously, the phase-out thresholds were $100,000 for single filers and $200,000 for joint filers in the House version.

 

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Eligibility was based on our most recent tax return and adjusted gross income. 

For the third round of checks, the IRS used our 2019 or 2020 tax return to determine if we qualified for the direct payment.

Social Security beneficiaries, Disability Insurance beneficiaries, Supplemental Security Income recipients, Railroad Retirement Board beneficiaries, and Veterans Administration beneficiaries all were eligible for the payment even if we didn’t file a 2019 or 2020 tax return

“Ayaw kong tanggapin yan kahit na dumating (I won’t get the check if it would arrive),” Mang Pepeng, a native of Nueva Ecija, told his fellow Filipino-Americans in Queen’s Elmhurst community second week of March. 

“Naawa ako sa mga bata sa masunod na henerasyon. Sila kasi ang magbabayad sa utang na yan (I pity the children in the next generation who will pay that debt).”

He believed that if Mr. Trump were the President, congress would reject the $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package.

Mang Pepeng was criticized by pro-Biden Pinoys in the community for being “hypocrite.”

“Sabi ko na nga ba. Kunwari iingay siya na ayaw pero pagdating ng stimulus check masaya naman siya (I knew he would take the stimulus check even if he was grumbling against it),” said Demit, 61, a Democrat and supporter of former President Barack Obama.

 

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Mang Pepeng, a loyalist of former President Donald Trump, scored the Biden administration’s “excessiveness” and the “wasteful” law, which was President Joseph Biden’s first big legislative initiative making good his  campaign promises of more economic relief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mang Pepeng, who fled the Philippines after Marcos declared Martial Law on September 12, 1972, echoed Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, who called the bill “wasteful, poorly targeted, and largely unrelated to COVID.”

Taxpayers who don't receive a direct deposit by March 24 may get their payment as a paper check or a prepaid debit card in the mail.

The first batch of payments was worth approximately $242 billion, or more than half of the $450 billion earmarked for stimulus payments. 

It went to taxpayers who have direct deposit information on file at the IRS, either from their 2019 or 2020 tax returns or from those who used the IRS Non-Filers tool in 2020.

The majority of payments were expected go out by direct deposit, but around 150,000 paper checks—worth approximately $442 million— have been mailed as part of the first batch.

This round is $1,400 per eligible individual plus a $1,400 bonus per dependent. 

Around 158.5 million households are expected to receive a payment under the new stimulus deal, according to the White House.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)

Unemployed Fil-Ams and their $600 stimulus check

“But, at the same time, I think that there is room for economic stimulus in terms of accelerated depreciation to encourage businesses to invest and to grow and ultimately to hire more people again.”

—John Breaux

 

By Alex P. Vidal 

 

WE should worry no more for our relatives permanently living in the United States who lost their employment since March 2020 due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

When the pandemic-induced lockdown was first imposed in March, millions of Americans lost their jobs when business establishments closed down.

Some of those affected were hundreds of thousands of Filipino-Americans (Fil-Ams) who regularly sent dollar remittances to their families in the Philippines. 

Since the pandemic has been felt almost worldwide, there was a  domino effect when those jobless Fil-Ams stopped sending money to their loved ones in the Philippines, who were also hit badly by the COVID-19 juggernaut. 

Beginning January 2021, they will receive a one-time direct-payment of $600 on top of the $300 a week from the massive $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief and government funding bill signed into law by President Donald Trump December 27 night.

It also averted a government shutdown that was set to begin on December 29, and extending billions of dollars in coronavirus aid to millions.

 

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And if the ongoing efforts by the U.S. Congress will materialize, the $600 check could balloon to $2,000, the original amount sought by the Democrats and the primary reason why Mr. Trump, who also demanded for $2,000, delayed the signing of the bill into law. 

This can be possible because, as of this writing, it was reported that Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders would filibuster an override of President Trump’s defense bill veto unless the Senate holds a vote on providing $2,000 direct payments to Americans.

Sanders told the press December 28 night: “McConnell and the Senate want to expedite the override vote and I understand that. But I’m not going to allow that to happen unless there is a vote, no matter how long that takes, on the $2,000 direct payment.”

The Vermont independent can’t ultimately stop the veto override vote, but he can delay it until New Year’s Day and make things more difficult for the GOP.

“The American people are desperate, and the Senate has got to do its job before leaving town,” Sanders said. “It would be unconscionable, especially after the House did the right thing, for the Senate to simply leave Washington without voting on this.”

 

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U.S. Congress passed legislation on December 21 that will extend federal unemployment benefits that were set to expire after Dec. 26.

The Employment Development Department (EDD), now signed into law by Mr. Trump, will implement the new programs when it receives guidelines from the U.S. Department of Labor describing how the states will be required to follow the law. 

The EDD, however, is making program adjustments with what information is available so when federal guidelines and details become available, EDD can complete the necessary programming to make these new benefits available as soon as possible.

Legislation passed by Congress extends and expands the federal unemployment benefits as of December 24:

—Restores the federal supplement to recipients of all state and federal unemployment benefits, which will provide $300 per week of additional benefits for weeks beginning after the date of enactment through March 13, 2021.

—Extends the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program by 11 weeks, providing up to 57 weeks of benefits.

—Extends the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program by 11 weeks, providing up to 24 weeks of benefits.

—Allows up to an additional 7 weeks of federally-funded Federal-State Extended Duration Benefits program (FED-ED) through March 14, 2021, providing up to 20 weeks of benefits for those who qualify.

—Provides a supplement of $100 per week to certain “mixed earners” who received at least $5,000 a year in self-employment income but were eligible for regular state unemployment, not Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)