‘Bakit sila meron, kami wala?’

“Adversity is a stimulus.”

—James Broughton

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

SHORT of running amuck, a 53-year-old Filipino female caregiver protested her “exclusion” from the Excluded Workers Fund, the pandemic “stimulus” largesse for undocumented workers in New York State only.

“Nag submit man ko papers pero asta subong wala gid reply kon na approve ako. Ang iban nga miga ko ya ara na ila kuarta. Nagbayad man ko taxes ko since 2016 dapat pasok papers ko eh (I already submitted my papers but until now I received no reply if I was approved unlike some of my friends who already received their money. I thought I was eligible because I paid my taxes since 2016),” lamented Rose Joy, of Iloilo City in the Philippines, who overstayed her tourist visa in 2018.

Rose Joy, a mother of two from Brgy. Tanza Baybay, Iloilo City who now stays in Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC, said three of her fellow caregivers who applied together with her more than a month ago had already received $14,500 each.

“Nag abot na ila ATM cards may unod $14,500 gin mail sang Department of Labor. Galalain ko pagkabalo ko kay wala gid ya bati a ang papers ko. Yots unfair ni ya (their ATM cards arrived from the Department of Labor and they contained $14,500 each. It’s unfair because nothing has been heard of about my papers),” Rose Joy bewailed.

 

-o0o-

 

“Bakit sila meron, kami wala? (Why were they given and we weren’t?),” cried Dolores, 63, undocumented worker from Silang, Cavite in the Philippines who babysits in lower Manhattan.

Dolores said she is willing to pay her taxes for three years (2018, 2019, 2020) “baka puede pa makahabol. Puede pa kaya?” (Can I still be approved if I pay my back taxes for 2018, 2019, 2020?)

Intended to provide much-needed relief to workers cut off from government unemployment benefits and stimulus checks during the pandemic, the Excluded Workers Find is now open for workers—including undocumented immigrants—who weren’t eligible for unemployment benefits. 

The funds reportedly do not need to be paid back.

The historic $2.1 billion fund was created by resigned Governor Andrew Cuomo and Albany lawmakers to assist undocumented and nontraditional workers as part of last-minute state budget negotiations in April. 

The state recently released the official regulations laying out what it will take to qualify.

New York’s Excluded Workers Fund is the largest program of its kind in the United States dedicated to supporting workers who couldn’t qualify for government assistance during the pandemic with $2.1 billion of state money.

 

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The fund has the potential to be very helpful to about 300,000 of the workers hit hardest by COVID and who were deemed essential to getting New York through the pandemic. 

Among them: food service workers, domestic workers, construction workers, cleaners, farmworkers, care workers, street vendors and more.

At one point, more than half of the city’s immigrants were unemployed, experts estimated. 

But workers without legal immigration status couldn’t get unemployment benefits or stimulus checks to help make ends meet for the past nearly year and a half.

Some workers went on a hunger strike to advocate for this fund — and they won.

They can qualify for the Excluded Workers Fund if they:

Lived in New York State before March 27, 2020, and continue to live in New York State; Are not eligible for and did not receive unemployment insurance or COVID-19 income relief; Earned less than $26,208 in the year before April 2021; Lost income from March 27, 2020, through April 1, 2021, because they lost work, couldn’t work because of COVID or if the person making your household’s income died or became disabled.

In addition to the income limit, the state is now also requiring workers to show they lost at least 50 percent of their weekly income from the end of February 2020 through April 2021.

The Excluded Workers Fund has two tiers: Tier one: $15,600, which is what one would have earned through unemployment insurance for the past year; and Tier two: $3,200, which is how much someone would have gotten from the stimulus checks.

Tier one reportedly requires more documents.

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

 

 

 

 

Pinoys who hate Biden but love the stimulus check

“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that's also a hypocrite!”

—Tennessee Williams

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

A SMALL group of Filipino-Americans in our community in Queens, NYC still can’t accept that Joseph Biden is the new U.S. President.

And they can’t hide their hypocrisy when it comes to salivating for their share of the $1,400 stimulus check per American as contained in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package Mr. Biden signed into law on March 11 afternoon.

“Nadeposit na ba ang stimulus natin? Paki verify nga kung available na (Kindly verify if our stimulus money has already been deposited and if it’s already available),” Grego, 65, a hard-line Republican supporter and loyalist of former President Donald Trump, requested his pal, Deo, 63, in their recent tete-a-tete.

A day earlier (March 12), their fellow Republican supporter, Roman, 70, informed them in jest: “Hindi pala napirmahan ni Biden ang stimulus (Biden failed to sign the stimulus).”

“Bakit? Ano daw ang nangyari? (Why? What happened?)” asked Deo.

“Eh paano fake pala na Biden ang nasa White House. Ang nakikita natin sa TV ay isang impostor na Biden. Si Trump ang pipirma sa stimulus bill para maging law (The Biden who is in the White House is a fake one. What we see in the television is an impostor. It will be Trump who will sign the stimulus bill into a law),” added Roman.

 

-o0o-

 

Grego had criticized the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package for being “too much” and “a burden to us the taxpayers.” 

“Puro pasikat ang ginagawa ni Biden at ang mga walang hiya na mga democrats na yan (What Biden and the shameless democrats are doing is to grandstand),” raged Grego, who initially showed signs he wasn’t interested to get his share of the $1,400 direct payment stimulus check for individuals who earn $75,000 or below, a head of household earning $112,500 or less, and married couples making $150,000 or below. 

Those with kids will also get up to $1,400 for each child.

Grego changed his mind when he asked Deo to check if the stimulus money was already deposited.

“Hindi ako interesado sa stimulus na yan. Kawawa ang mga bata sa next generation. Sila ang magbabayad ng utang na yan (I am not interested in that stimulus money. It will be the children in the next generation who will pay for that debt),” Mang Pepeng, 85, a former gun runner in Nueva Ecija before the Martial Law, vowed.

“Kapag nakuha na natin ang pera balik tayo ulit dito ha (If we are able get the money, let’s meet again here),” Deo suggested.

Roman retorted: “Baka sa Martes darating na yan (It might be available on Tuesday).”

With his signature, President Biden checked off his first priority in the White House. 

He also gave a prime-time address March 11 describing how the country will proceed in fighting the virus a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a pandemic.

The plan sent direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans. Direct deposits will start hitting Americans’ bank accounts as soon as this weekend, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced March 11.

 

-o0o-

 

The bill extended a $300 per week unemployment insurance boost until Sept. 6 and expanded the child tax credit for a year.

It  will also put nearly $20 billion into Covid-19 vaccinations, $25 billion into rental and utility assistance, and $350 billion into state, local and tribal relief.

“This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country,” Mr. Biden said before signing the legislation. “And giving people in this nation, working people, middle-class folks, the people who built this country, a fighting chance.”

Democrats passed the bill in Congress without a Republican vote through the budget reconciliation process. The House approved the measure Wednesday.

Republicans called the proposal “unfit for the moment” as Covid-19 vaccinations pick up and more states move toward reopening their economies. The GOP criticized what it called “funding not needed to fight the pandemic.”

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

 

‘Come, let’s dine on the 19th’

“Too many people just eat to consume calories. Try dining for a change.”

—John Walters

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 BY the time restaurants in New York City and the state of New Jersey are permitted to increase indoor dining capacity to 50 percent, most qualified Americans may have already received their stimulus check worth $1,400 each.

“Let’s dine in our favorite restaurant on the 19th,” transgender Filipino-American Artemio “Art” Lambino invited friends from the Woodside, Queens. 

Lambino, 38, said he will treat his friends to a dinner at Yoon Haeundae Galbi, one of the best Korean restaurants in the Big Apple “as a way of saying thank you” to Uncle Sam for President Joseph Biden’s popular $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package cleared by Congress on March 10. 

“It’s very symbolic,” Lambino explained. “We struggled when we lost our jobs last year. The stimulus package was a big help and President Biden added another one this year.”

“Sama ka sa amin lolo (join us grandpa),” Lambino, a Batangeno, told 84-year-old Restituto “Mang Resty” Lumacad, who had criticized the sweeping legislation that didn’t have any support from Republican lawmakers.

Lumacad isn’t related to Lambino but they both came from Cuenca, a fourth class municipality in Batangas.

They argued earlier whether the bill, which will deliver emergency aid and broader assistance to low-and middle-income Americans, was really good for America as a whole.

 

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Lumacad, a Donald Trump die-hard, called the legislation “bloated and unaffordable.”

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

“Don’t worry about the future,” Lambino chided him. “Let’s enjoy the moment po. Hindi na po ninyo maabutan yan.”

The measure rolling back some of the coronavirus safety restrictions goes into effect on March 19, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Indoor dining at Big Apple restaurants officially reopened at 25 percent capacity on Feb. 12 after Cuomo yet again shuttered indoor business at city eateries in mid-December. That was boosted to 35 percent late last month—but struggling city eateries had been pleading with officials to go to 50 percent. 

“This is a good news for the workers, as well. Our restaurant will be back to seven days again and this will help us a lot,” Renato, 43, a chef in a Queens restaurant, who is from Jaro, Iloilo City, said in a text message.

Governor Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced March 19 will be the largest increase in restaurant capacity in NYC since the start of the pandemic.

Indoor dining has been capped at 35 percent capacity in NYC and NJ since February 26. 

-o0o-

Cuomo had paused indoor dining in the city in December 2020 because of concerns about hospitalization rates after a surge in COVID cases following the winter holidays.

Cuomo previously announced that restaurants throughout the rest of New York state, which are currently operating at 50 percent, could expand to 75 percent indoor dining capacity starting March 19th.

 

According to the latest city Department of Health data, NYC's seven-day average of positive COVID-19 tests is at 6.31 percent. The city reached an almost 10 percent positivity rate in early January, and has been slowly but steadily declining since.

However, on March 10, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed that two new COVID-19 variants were spreading increasingly around the five boroughs, and health officials said the new variant first identified in Manhattan is more infectious than the original strain of coronavirus. 

So far, health officials don't believe that this new variant strain causes more severe illness or reduces the effectiveness of vaccines, but it still poses a health threat merely by spreading faster, according to a report in Gothamist.

The NYC Hospitality Alliance, which has been advocating for this increase in indoor dining capacity, said it was pleased with the move. "Cautiously and safely increasing indoor dining capacity at New York City restaurants to 50 percent, with an eye towards more occupancy, more vaccinations, and dedicated restaurant relief that’s on its way from the federal government gives our industry some optimism among all the doom and gloom of this past year," said Andrew Rigie, the Alliance’s executive director, as quoted by the Gothamist.

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

 

How do some Pinoys plan to use their stimulus money

“COVID-19, are you going to be naughty or nice to me?” 

―Steven Magee

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

SOME Filipinos in New York excited to receive their share of the federal government’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package this week have different plans for their money.

“Unahin ko muna ang pambayad sa rent namin sa apartment at ang iba e save ko (I will first prioritize the payment for the rental of our apartment and save the rest),” vowed Sunnyside, Queens resident Charlie, 56, who will get a total of $2,800 ($1,400 each for him and his wife).

Charlie, a driver in a laundry shop delivery van, and his wife, a former midwife in Tarlac, who now works in an assisted living facility in the Long Island, are among the approximately nine million New York state households who are qualified for more than $22 billion in direct payments.

They have no child.

The much-ballyhooed $1.9 trillion stimulus package is expected to be approved by the House of Representatives this week and signed into law by President Joseph Biden. 

The stimulus payments will be $1,400 for single people who earn $75,000 or below, a head of household earning $112,500 or less, and married couples making $150,000 or below. 

Those with kids will also get up to $1,400 for each child.

 

-o0o-

 

“Pambayad ng utang (it’s a payment for my debt),” enthused Rodel, 48, a midtown Manhattan hotel maintenance crew member from Bamban, Tarlac. “The stimulus money will not only help the economy of America, it will also help us individually.”

“Unemployed ako ngayon kaya malaking tulong yan sa aming magasawa (the money is a big help for me and my wife because I am now unemployed),” Gerald, 62, chef in a Filipino restaurant who was furloughed in springtime last year after the imposition of lockdown in New York state.

Raymund, 52, delivery crew in a wine shop in Bronx, said he will use the money when he goes for a vacation in Talisay City, Negros Occidental in May. “Dugay pa man ang May pero daku nga bulig ang stimulus money para may galastoson ako sa Talisay (It’s a big help for my expenses when I go home to Talisay in May).”

“Wala kami ya nadala. Dapat may social security number gid gali (we’re not included because we don’t have a social security number),” sobbed Jennifer, 50, a caregiver from Tanza-Baybay, Iloilo City. 

“Sabi ni misis huwag na daw muna namin galawin ang pera kasi naghahanda kami sa retirement ko (my wife told me not to touch the money yet while we are waiting for my retirement),” said Leonardo, 64, of Morong, Rizal. 

Leonardo and his wife will get their combined $2,800 money through direct deposit in the ATM card.

Others will get their stimulus checks by mail.

 

-o0o-

 

Beth Fertig explained in the Gothamist that “while some New Yorkers are feeling underwhelmed by the expected stimulus, fiscal watchdogs say it will still benefit many New Yorkers.”

Doug Turetsky, a spokesman for the city’s Independent Budget Office, said the bill “gets substantial dollars into the hands of lower and middle-income New Yorkers, which will help them as well as bolster city tax collections.”

Based on 2018 data, he said almost 3.2 million tax filers in the city will be eligible for all or part of the stimulus checks. Almost 700,000 are not eligible, including undocumented immigrants, because they do not have Social Security numbers.

But direct payments are just one piece of the stimulus package. It also includes a child tax credit worth up to $300 a month per child and extends unemployment payments of $300 a week until September. And there are billions of dollars to help schools reopen safely, which will help families caring for children re-enter the workforce, said Molly Weston Williamson, director of the paid leave and future of work program at A Better Balance, a non-profit dedicated to working families’ needs.

 

-o0o-

 

A few New Yorkers do have bigger plans for their stimulus checks, according to Fertig. 

“I’ll put it towards my new car,” said Sae Gordon, 25, who was taking a break from his two jobs on a bench in downtown Brooklyn.

Gordon said he did not qualify for last year’s stimulus because he was still considered a dependent, but he is filing for himself this year. 

Even though he said he didn’t have a great need for the money, he said everyone should get stimulus aid because “this pandemic is something new to everybody.” 

Azaria Belfon is a registered nurse in the city’s jails who claimed she did not lose any money last year and just bought tickets to take her older child to Disney World for spring break. 

But she said that does not mean she does not deserve the $4,200 she will collect as a head of household with two children.

“Of course I should be entitled,” she said. “Because during the time that everyone was not working and I was working, they were getting unemployment,” she explained, adding that she also worked while pregnant.

“I didn't get any of that. I didn't even get a raise for my job. The most we got is a thank you. That's it. So I think I am more entitled to that money than anyone else because we got nothing during a pandemic.”

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

 

Pinoys among those facing eviction if stimulus isn’t OK’d

 “Housing is absolutely essential to human flourishing. Without stable shelter, it all falls apart.”

—Matthew Desmond

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

ON December 31, 2020, Veronica, 77, a semi-retired pastor and former worker in the United Nations in Manhattan, and her son, Jaime, 51, are among the 6.7 million Americans who could be evicted from their apartments when the federal eviction moratorium ends.

Mother and son, both from Pampanga in the Philippines, have been living in New York City for 40 years, and are on the brink of losing their housing if Congress will not pass the second coronavirus relief package soon.

“Marami na kaming kinontak dito sa lugar ninyo (Elmhurst) just in case ma evict kami maghahanap na lang kami ng malipatan dito (We plan to transfer here in Elmhurst just in case we will be evicted. We have started to contact some people here),” opined Veronica, who sat near the Elmhurst’s Broadway-Whitney bus stop waiting for Jaime who “met with his friends” in the neighborhood.  

PASTOR VERONICA (in my background)
Lawmakers could still pass a scaled-down stimulus bill when they return to Washington, D.C. on November 30, but most economists believe it's unlikely to match the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that was signed into law in March and provided $1,200 checks to most Americans.

 

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Democrats and Republicans reportedly remain far apart on several key issues, such as providing hundreds of billions in funding for states and cities that have been hit by declining tax revenues amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Like Veronica and Jaime, 67-year-old Teodoro has also started to look for a possible relocation in Queens if the December 31 deadline beckons and no relief assistance will come soon. 

“Doon na muna kami sa dati kong apartment if matuloy ang eviction (We will transfer to our old apartment if the eviction will take place),” said Teodoro, born in Marilao, Bulacan in the Philippines. 

Teodoro, a retired worker at La Guardia Airport, lives with his “sickly” wife in Woodhaven.

“I take the 53 bus to come here to look for our old apartment,” he said.

That would approach the number of people who lost their homes to foreclosure during the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing recession, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the University of Arizona.

Even if Congress passes an aid bill early next month, it could take weeks for the IRS to electronically deposit the funds into people's bank accounts, much less mail out millions of paper checks, the CBS News reported. 

It reportedly took between one and three months for most Americans to get their so-called Economic Impact Payment after the bill was signed into law this spring.

“That would leave many households and businesses hanging, with millions set to lose their unemployment benefits by year-end and nationwide eviction moratoriums lapsing in the new year,” said the CBS New report.

“The number of Americans applying for jobless aid rose for the second week in a row, a sign that the economic recovery is losing speed.”

 

 

-o0o-

 

House Democrats had passed an updated Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus and Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act on October 1, but the $2.2 trillion bill ran into opposition from Republican lawmakers. 

Among the main disagreements: Whether the federal government should help cash-strapped cities and states weather the massive economic blow caused by the pandemic. The crisis could cause a $434 billion federal budget shortfall through 2022 under the most severe scenario, which would include a resurgence in the virus and a lack of more stimulus aid, according to Moody's Analytics.

The HEROES Act would have provided more than $400 billion in funding for state and local governments, but Republicans took issue with that aid, including President Donald Trump, who has objected to what he calls "bailouts" for states helmed by Democrats. 

“But the fact is many Republican-helmed states and cities are facing budget shortfalls as well, including Ohio and Texas, with the latter staring into a $4.6 billion budget hole,” observed Aimee Picchi.

Democrats and Republicans also remain far apart on the issue of unemployment aid, with Democrats pushing for a renewal of the extra $600 in weekly pay provided under the CARES Act.

Republicans have argued that enhanced jobless benefits are too generous and dissuade people from returning to work, despite a lack of economic data that supports the contention.

More than a dozen New York City nonprofits currently have contracts to provide supportive housing for homeless or unstably housed individuals who have mental/psychiatric disabilities or are high-cost Medicaid users. 

The criteria to live in these apartments varies based on the government agency funding them.

Affordable housing has income and credit requirements and it is for various income ranges. 

Applications are picked through a lottery system. 

When an applicant is chosen through the lottery, they have made it to the next step of the process and have to go to an interview to submit required documents. 

Being picked for an interview does not guarantee an apartment.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, is a former editor of two dailies in Iloilo, Philippines)

 

 

 

Pinoy ‘TNTs’ and the $1,200 stimulus check

“Every time I hear a politician mention the word 'stimulus,' my mind flashes back to high school biology class, when I touched battery wires to a dead frog to make it twitch.”

—Robert Kiyosaki

By Alex P. Vidal

BACK in 2008, we helped encourage some kababayans who have overstayed their temporary visitor’s visa and who have worked “under the table” in California to file their income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a bureau of the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Those who file an income tax return are issued with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

In the absence of a Social Security Number (SSN), an ITIN can be used to open a bank account on a case to case basis, among other documentary purposes and financial transactions within the United States.   

Fearing that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “might monitor them” as overstaying aliens and with a TNT (tago ng tago) status, some of them ignored our suggestions and backtracked.

No transaction with the IRS, no monitoring of our movements and whereabouts, some of them argued.  

The IRS does not discriminate against those who file income tax, we emphasized to them. 

It does not determine whether certain tax payers are TNTs and illegal aliens as long as the transaction is valid, we insisted. 

-o0o-

The IRS, actually, performs only three main functions—tax return processing, taxpayer service, and enforcement. 

The USCIS and the DHS might have access to IRS data, as well as other federal agencies, but they would never use the act by any TNT or illegal alien of paying an income tax to the IRS as reason to arrest and deport him—unless he commits a crime.

The only thing to fear is fear itself, as they always say.

The advantages of filing an income tax return with the IRS far outweigh the disadvantages, which are sometimes only in their minds.

In fact, it never crossed our imagination that 12 years later, an ITIN can play a big and decisive role to help “bail out” TNTs and illegal aliens caught in the financial quagmire. 

The ITIN they acquired and have been using to religiously pay their income tax annually have become their saving graces.

Twelve years later, or in the year 2020, coronavirus butchered the United States, which resulted in the declaration of a mind-blowing home quarantine to slow down cases of infections and deaths.

Job losses followed suit as the lockdown prolonged.

-o0o-

This compelled congress to pass a law that would give the Americans stimulus packages—1. The CARES Act; 2. HEROES Act— to cushion the economic impact.

Under the proposed $3 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES Act, another batch of stimulus payments for most households would be authorized.

In the first round of stimulus checks directed by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES Act in March, only taxpayers with Social Security Number were included in the $1,200 stimulus check. 

ITIN-issued taxpayers weren’t qualified.

Under the HEROES Act, taxpayers with ITIN are expected to also get a stimulus check worth $1,200. 

The exclusion of some Americans in the CARES Act was severely criticized by advocacy groups and taxpayers alike.

Most Americans would get more money in a second stimulus under the HEROES Act, according to the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. 

Its analysis found that the average household would receive $2,170 in the HEROES Act, compared with $1,729 for the first stimulus checks in the CARES Act.

Unless they have children or dependents who qualify for a $1,200 payment, wealthier Americans would be excluded in the HEROES Act. Like the first stimulus round, the cutoff would be $98,000 for single taxpayers and $199,000 for married couples. 

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

Can we bring America to the Philippines?

“It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance.”

—Simone Weil

By Alex P. Vidal

BECAUSE of the Internet, we can monitor what is happening in the Philippines and in other parts of the globe on a regular basis even if we’re now living in a faraway place.

We are very much aware that our kababayans, our fellow Ilonggos, are among the hardest hit and now wallowing in abject economic difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 mayhem.

It’s also disheartening to learn that some public utility drivers had been arrested and jailed for begging in the streets.

Since this is a worldwide pandemic, our imagination conjures up a mirror or events that illuminate a similar scenario in other places with coronavirus commotion.   

Including the United States.

Like the Filipinos and other nationalities, many Americans also lost their employment and livelihood, aside from registering a staggering number of cases and deaths, especially in New York.

They also suffered enormously from appalling economic conditions as a result of COVID-19 lockdown, and their emotional and mental anguish sometimes has led to suicide and nervous breakdown.

-o0o-

The only difference is the Americans aren’t poor.

Their grief and melancholy is short-lived. Their depression is temporary—and gone as soon as Uncle Sam flexes his muscles and come to his children’s succor.

America is so vast and its resources—food and otherwise—are  abundant they can take care of its 350 million population in any circumstance.

They can quickly rebound from the pit of desolation and despondency and move on to the next chapter of their lives without the need to curse the government.

The federal government’s stimulus checks, passed through a bipartisan legislation, were readily available as soon as the law that created it took effect. 

No red tape and corruption. No politics involved. 

Emergency food supply and other social assistance in kind and in cash are accessible and always available.   

Unlike in the Philippines. 

Even the opportunity for many Filipinos to work again in many essential jobs had been forestalled.

No work means no income and no sufficient food on the table and in the stockroom.   

Some jobs disappeared after only three months since the quarantine or lockdown took effect. 

We furthered learned that many construction workers who, after completing the lockdown in La Paz, Jaro, Arevalo, Mandurriao, and the City Proper, have been given termination notices “for lack of budget” even before they could resume their work. 

Employment opportunities or the chance to hack out a “boundary” for those in the transportation sector were reportedly scarce during the initial lifting of lockdown.

-o0o-

Because the government social amelioration funds are not enough, many Filipino households can hardly prepare a budget meal even for a small family.

There’s also an uptick of cases on violence against women and children even as nasty altercations had sparked between suspicious residents and defensive village officials.  

To complete the somber situation, a flustered President Rodrigo Roa Duterte whined about the deficit of stimulus money (where to get the next trance is his biggest headache).

The president had also decried some sneaky village officials who made a pile from the social amelioration program (SAP) intended for the poor residents. Heads were nonetheless expected to roll as proper charges have been readied.

If only the Philippines is a state of America, the Filipinos can also avail of the head-turning stimulus check worth $1,200 each, plus the pandemic unemployment fund of $600 a week.

The next coronavirus stimulus package in the United States could see Americans receive as much as $4,000 as part of a tax-credit scheme aimed at boosting tourism in the country, it was reported.

No need anymore for the elderly drivers to beg in the streets and be arrested and jailed like ordinary criminals. 

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