I thought New York mask mandate has been lifted

“There is a face beneath this mask, but it isn't me. I'm no more that face than I am the muscles beneath it, or the bones beneath that.” 

― Steve Moore, V for Vendetta

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

THE first four people I met while walking in the street from the workplace on 1^stAvenue in midtown Manhattan February 7 morning didn’t wear the mandated face masks.

The first one, a woman, who responded when I greeted her “good morning”, was walking her dog in the sidewalk near the Yemen Embassy. I thought she only forgot to wear her face mask.

When I crossed the street on my way to 2^nd Avenue for a subway ride on 3^rdAvenue, I spotted another maskless woman walking in my direction.

On my left side, meanwhile, I saw a female bike rider trying to beat the red light in the bike lane. She also didn’t have a mask on the face. Three in a row isn’t anymore a coincidence, I told myself.

Finally when I turned right from 51^st Street going to 52^nd Street, I saw another maskless person, this time a man, walking from 52^nd Street toward 51^st Street. Four in a row. This is unusual, I told myself anew.

I didn’t come out for three days, so I thought the mask mandate has been lifted starting that morning. Dream on.

But as I continued walking and crossing the street toward 3^rd Avenue, all the pedestrians I met thereafter were now wearing the face masks like me. Back to the real world.

 

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Many New Yorkers actually have stopped wearing the face masks outdoor ever since reports came out that coronavirus cases in the week were down about 46 percent from the previous week's tally of cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

“Next month kahit ang mga establishments and restaurants baka e lift na rin ang mask mandate,” said Camilo Galinea, a Pinoy working in a pub house on Fifth Avenue. 

New York ranked 43rd among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.

Nationally, coronavirus cases decreased about 15 percent from the week before, with 4,770,122 cases reported. With 5.84 percent of the country's population, New York had 4.07 percent of the country's cases in the last week.

New York's rapid decline in new coronavirus cases unfolded as deadlines to end or extend various pandemic-related measures, such as the indoor mask mandate, were fast approaching in early February.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul wanted everyone to give her the mid-winter break before she decides whether to lift school mask mandates statewide.

The governor was expected to announce on February 9 that she will lift a separate mandate requiring businesses without vaccination requirements to compel workers, customers and visitors to wear face coverings in public spaces. 

 

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Hochul told a group of teachers, administrators and parents February 8 that she wants to wait until after the upcoming school break the week of Feb. 21 before making a final call on the mask edict.

The school vacation period typically starts over Presidents Day weekend and kids return to class on Monday, Feb. 28.

It buys Hochul more time to mull a change, especially as the state Department of Health said on February 7 that the regulation granting her the ability to issue mask mandates in schools would likely be renewed on Feb. 21 – its anticipated expiration date.

She was under mounting pressure to lift the mandate, especially after neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut announced school masking mandates will end within the next several weeks.

The rule was initially slated to last over a 90-day period, but it’s unclear if Hochul would issue a renewal over the same period or for a shorter extension.

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

 

Whom the gods wish to destroy

“Clowns are the pegs on which the circus is hung.”

—P. T. Barnum

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

FOR three months starting February 8, the start of the official campaign period for the May 9, 2022 Philippine election, the Filipinos will have to endure listening to the bizarre campaign promises of politicians vying for various local and national positions.

The period between February 8 until May 9 would be “too short” for those enjoying watching the clowns gyrate and do acrobatics on stage, and “too long” for those who hate the circus, especially when everyone is still trying to clear the cobwebs of pandemic from their imagination.  

The sources of “discomfort” and “inconvenience” of the Filipinos could come mostly from the candidates’ self-serving, freakish and weird campaign jingles and media advertisements.

Both the reelectionists and the first timers, in many ads, heap praises and accolades upon themselves through the “ordinary hoi polloi” who credit them for being “hulog ka ng langit” (you’re heaven sent) and “ang galing-galing mo, iba ka talaga” (you are so good and really different).

Other candidates also lift their own chairs through the catchpraise and  sound bites of “nang dahil sa iyo” (because of you), and “salamat sa iyo ganito na kami ngayon” (thank you, we owe you a debt of gratitude for what we are today).

If some politicians aren’t ashamed to insult our intelligence, it’s because we have been willing spectators cheering and clapping our hands when the circus came to town a long time ago.

We must not forget what Donna Brazile had told us about the politicians and their antics: “I think people involved in politics make good actors. Acting and politics both involve fooling people. People like being fooled by actors. When you get right down to it, they probably like being fooled by politicians even more. A skillful actor will make you think, but a skillful politician will make you never have to think.”

 

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If we think the Creator of the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Father of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, will destroy the false prophets who build empires they call “Churches of God”, rape minors and sexually exploit blind women followers, we can be wrong.

As Christian believers we know that God, the Father Almighty, does not wish to destroy anyone. 

Not even the disgraced alleged child sex trafficker and money smuggler Apollo Quiboloy. 

Unlike the Greek gods (“whom the gods wish to destroy they make mad first”) who were quick to take offense at any transgressions of their rights by humans and affronted above all by the sin of hubris, the Christian God wishes the sinner to turn from his wickedness and live. 

God may punish to bring him or her to repentance. But that is different.

If Quiboloy were Greek, the gods of Mount Olympus certainly would destroy him because of his hubris.

But we are certain Quiboloy, 71, will soon be arrested now that he is in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) “Most Wanted” list. 

And he could spend the rest of his life in jail, sex trafficking being a serious offense in the United States, that spares no one when it comes to execution of federal laws.

 

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We’re surprised that only 12 candidates in Iloilo province reportedly vowed not to buy votes on May 9.

What happened to the others? Was their “silence” or failure to participate in the pledge “a cause for alarm” for those advocating for a fair and honest election?

For sure, there are more than 12 candidates vying for various positions in the municipal, congressional and provincial levels.

If election in the Philippines is clean, in the first place, there’s no need for some candidates to make a pledge in public not to prostitute the voters.

Because vote-buying has been rampant and almost a cancer in Philippine election for so many decades now, many sincere and honest candidates have to band together and make a commitment not to repeat the sins of the past.

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

 

 

 

Pinoy lawyer insults FBI

 “Drama starts where logic ends.”

—Ram Charan

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WE don’t know what will happen next to a Manila lawyer defending wanted religious preacher, Apollo Quiboloy, after he insulted the world’s most powerful federal investigative agency.

In a statement aired February 6 on Philippine broadcast media, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the United States Government of “playing politics”, or “trying to smear President Rodrigo Duterte” supposedly to “undermine the candidacy of Sara Duterte.”

The blabbermouth might justify his disruptive behavior by saying that “I am only doing my job”, but we admire the guts of a frog to pick up a fight against the elephant “because it’s part of my job.”

The FBI, principal investigative agency of the federal government of the United States responsible for conducting investigations in cases where federal laws may have been violated, of course, ignored the lawyer.

FBI will never degrade its reputation by bothering to answer the small fry.

The likes of Topacio don’t merit any serious attention from reputable investigative institutions and law enforcement agencies because their motives are suspect: they are paid to make a noise in order to muddle legitimate and meritorious cases and camouflage the real issues against a client wanted for “sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; conspiracy; bulk cash smuggling.”

 

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Topacio apparently wanted to divert the people’s attention from reports that his disgraced client, the 71-year-old spiritual adviser of President Rodrigo Duterte, is now listed as one of the FBI’s “most wanted”.

“We all have to be in a state of abject denial to say that the United States has not been interfering with our elections as far as we can remember,” said Topacio as he accused “some sectors” in the US of throwing the monkey wrench on the Philippine elections. 

“Indirectly, it is undermining the candidacy of Sara Duterte. Indirectly, it may be undermining the candidacy of Bongbong Marcos or whichever candidate the United States does not want to win in this country,” he added.

Topacio wanted to make those who heard his tantrums against the FBI and the United States as fools.

The issue here is sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; conspiracy; bulk cash smuggling allegedly committed by his client Quibiloy, et al.

He probably wants us to believe that “the FBI or the US Government will fabricate cases against his client in order to damage President Duterte so that the president’s daughter who is running for vice president will lose.”

Topacio needs to study Logic 101 again.

 

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Quiboloy has been habitually and excessively using the name of the Lord thy God in vain to gain power and enrich himself.

This impostor and ego-maniac, described by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a “diabolical wolf in a sheep’s clothing”, even went to the extent of claiming “he talked to God.”

Because he thought he could fool most of the gullible faithful most of the time, he gained power and amassed wealth through immoral and illegal means and got away with it over the years.

Because he underestimated the intelligence of some people he used as pawns and sacrificial lambs for his carnal desires and money making machinations, many of them disastrously fell for his false charm.

Every time he went afoul with the law, he would cry “persecution” and invoke the Bible if not directly the Divine Providence.

A perfect strategy to further mesmerize the unsuspecting blind followers.

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

  

  

 

 

Why US visas are abused

 “You try turning up in America without documents, without a visa, without a passport; you'll be treated as very, very much illegal.”

—Tony Abbott

 

By Alex P. Vidal 

 

I PERSONALLY know a lot of Filipinos who are now in the United States because of religious visa.

And it is not only Apollo Quiboloy, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spiritual adviser, who allegedly recruited women and children to act as “slaves” in the US branches of his religious organization, who relied on religious visa for mass recruitment. 

Mamerto, 54, of Bugasong, Antique, affiliated with Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was able to bring all three members of his family (a wife and two children) to New York because of religious visa.

To maintain their eligibility to stay in the US, Mamerto and his family were required to distribute pamphlets of their church in public places, bus and train stations. 

Diosdada, 48, single, former choir member in a Catholic parish church in Biliran, Leyte, also came to New York in 2010 on a religious visa.

To maintain her eligibility to extend her stay in the US, she volunteered to sing at St. Patrick’s Church on Fifth Avenue during important Mass celebrations.

What most of us don’t know yet is it’s not only the tourist visa (B1/B2 Visitor Visa) as the only subject of regular abuses by those intending to stay in the US as “Tago Ng Tago” or TNT. 

 

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A working or H-1B visa, used for people to go and work temporarily in the US. for a specified period of time, is also being abused.

The period of time that the visa holder will be working should be noted in the employment contract or the visa application. 

This type of US visa does not allow individuals to work in the US indefinitely or permanently, but many H-1B visa holders didn’t go back to their countries after their visa had expired.

Economic opportunities and the prospect of becoming a permanent resident in the US are among the reasons why US visas are being abused.

Temporary Religious Workers or R-1 visas are non-immigrant, temporary work visas for foreign nationals coming to the United States to be employed as religious workers. 

Ministers, priests, educators, translators, missionaries, and other religious workers may qualify for this type of visa.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has several requirements that foreign nationals and employers must meet to be eligible for an R-1 visa. 

Qualifications for individuals include the following: Membership of a legitimate religious denomination with a bona fide non-profit religious organization in the U.S. for at least two years; a job offer to work in the U.S. for an affiliate of that same religious organization for at least 20 hours per week; be coming solely as a clergy member or to perform a religious occupation.

Like the tourist visa, religious visa, as well as other visas obtained in order to travel to the United States, can be abused.

As long as there are economic opportunities in the United States, visitors coming from all over the world will always be tempted to take advantage of the visas issued by the Embassy of the United States of America for non-immigrant visitors.

 

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Quiboloy is now being hunted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for “sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force,  fraud and coercion; conspiracy; bulk cash smuggling.”

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) defines a religious denomination as a group of people governed by a type of ecclesiastical administrative body. Members of a religious denomination must also agree on at least one of the following criteria:

-A recognized statement of faith or shared beliefs

-A commonly held system of worship

-A commonly held doctrine and code of discipline

-Established places of worship and congregation

-An agreed upon set of ceremonies and services

-Another comparable indication of a religious denomination

Religious entities without a central governing or ecclesiastical administrative body may instead submit a description of their internal organizational structure to satisfy these requirements.

Religious occupations include positions with duties that primarily relate to a traditional religious function: members of the clergy and other religious workers. Eligible religious occupations include but are not limited to the following:

Clergy: Ministers, priests, rabbis, salaried Buddhist monks, ordained deacons, etc. Other religious workers: Liturgical workers, instructors, counselors, missionaries, translators, broadcasters, cantors, etc.

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

 

   

Ex-mayor who didn’t quit

“Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.” —Mark Twain

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

TEN years ago on February 4, 2012, I interviewed then Quezon City mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista in Vancouver.

It was his first visit to Canada, the then 42-year-old former child actor admitted.

The article I wrote about Mayor Bistek was the headline story in the February 8, 2012 issue of the Surrey-based Philippine Asian News Today, where I had the privilege to serve as editor for several months.

The interview with Mayor Bistek was made possible after then Philippine Consul General Jose Ampeso introduced me to the popular former showbiz personality during a private dinner in the house of Sister City founder Annie Miles on Edward Street, City of Vancouver.

Ampeso, best remembered as the one who handed to the late former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. his passport bearing the opposition leader’s false name of “Marcial Bonifacio” for his ill-fated trip to Manila where he was assassinated on August 21, 1983, introduced me to Mayor Bistek as “our journalist friend from California.” 

Mayor Bistek said he would quit politics if his term expired in 2019.

He had been mayor since 2010 after a landslide victory in the 2010 local elections in Quezon City.

But three years after his term as mayor expired, he didn’t actually quit as he is now running for senator under presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Only fools don’t change their minds?

 

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A former Kabataan Barangay National Federation president from 1986 to 1989, Mayor Bistek was one of the panelists when some 40 international business and urban leaders discussed various issues particularly the business of city building during the two-day Cities Summit 2012 Feb. 1-2 at the Vancouver Convention Center West Building. 

"It's my first time in Canada and I have just signed a reaffirmation of our (Quezon City) sisterhood with New Westminster (British Columbia's oldest and former capital city) Mayor Wayne Wright," Bautista told this writer.

Bautista said he and Wright discussed the possibility of expanding their ties not only in the area of education and culture, but also in technology, economic and human resources.

"Our cities have one thing in common," Bautista pointed out. "Quezon City is the former capital of the Philippines, while New Westminster is the former capital of the British Columbia."

Quezon City and New Westminster City signed a sisterhood pact in 1991, Bautista disclosed.

 

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He clarified that Quezon City and Vancouver City didn’t have any sisterhood agreement but he was tapped as panelist along with then Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi; Milo Medin, Google vice-president of Access Services; Gordon Innes, CEO of London & Partners; Courtney Pratt, chairman of Toronto Region Research Alliance; David Helliwell, CEO of Pulse Energy, among other mayors and business leaders.

The Cities Summit 2012 was hosted by then Vancouver City Mayor Gregor Robertson and the Vancouver Economic Commission.

Vancouver hosted the global Summit on the pressures city regions must address as the world urbanizes at an increasingly rapid pace. 

International speakers, thought leaders from both the public and corporate sectors, and participants engaged in discussions on the solutions urban centers and their citizens can apply to address strain on cities and their environments, while supporting responsible growth and innovation.

It was noted then that the world was urbanizing faster than ever. For the first time, half the planet’s population-over 3.5 billion people-lived in cities. 

Another two billion will join them by 2030, it was anticipated. This great migration was set to define urban life for generations to come, said the summit description.

The Cities Summit assembled international business and urban leaders to design the creative, practical solutions for a sustainable urban future.

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

Philippine election’s Novak Djokovic

 “Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.”

—Robert A. Heinlein

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

BEFORE the start of the recently concluded Australian Open, tennis scribes, sports and Aussie authorities for that matter, wasted a great deal of time tackling the vaccine woes of erstwhile world No. 1 Novak Djokovic as if the world of tennis would come to a screeching halt if he didn’t compete in the prestigious Aussie tournament.

They trained their guns exclusively on Djokovic as if he was the lone superstar and a sure winner.

When the smoke was cleared, all the hysteria, saber-rattling, sound and fury and prolonged media coverage proved futile when the Serbian tennis star failed to compete and was eventually deported.

When the saga of Djokovic’s struggle to stay in Melbourne for the important tournament was finally over, authorities and the scribes realized Australian Open, or tennis in general, could still proceed normally—and more colorful and exciting—even without the Serbian brat.  

 

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In fact, while Djokovic’s tiff with immigration authorities was getting the lion’s share of media attention, nothing or very few publicity was given to the other seeded players who were supposed to share the limelight with Djokovic if the vaccine hullaballoo didn’t take centerstage.

The epic final tussle between 20-time grand slam winner Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev became poetic justice.

It turned out the Spanish and Russian finalists deserved more attention than the deportee.

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. could end up as the Novak Djokovic of the May 9, 2022 Philippine election.

When retired Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Rowena Guanzon declared Armageddon against fellow Commissioner Aimee Ferolino days before her retirement on February 2, the bone of contention was the Negrense lawyer’s disqualification vote against Marcos Jr., which wasn’t anymore counted under the rules now that she has retired.

 

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During the days before Guanzon’s retirement, she blasted not only the “grand conspiracy” to bump off her vote and Ferolino, but Marcos Jr. himself whom she repeatedly called “a convict” and “guilty of moral turpitude.”

Media enormously played up Guanzon’s rant and Marcos Jr. reaped all the derogatory assaults from a machine gun mouth. 

Commentaries by election experts sought by reporters focused on a scenario where Marcos Jr. “would be replaced by the duly elected vice president if the Supreme Court disqualified him.”

Like Djokovic when he was trying to fend off efforts to deport him following a weeks-long battle surrounding his Covid-19 vaccination status and his eligibility to be in Australia, Marcos Jr. has been getting all attention from the media and election analysts as if he’s a sure winner in the May 9, 2022 election. 

 

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By shoring up a possible Marcos-will-be-disqualified-by-the-Supreme Court-and-will-be-removed-from-office scenario, election analysts, like the press and tennis authorities who focused only on Djokovic weeks before the Australian Open, have failed to consider that all the blunderbuss and hoopla on Marcos Jr would be an exercise in futility if Leni Robredo, like Rafa Nadal, will be the winner.

In the Australian Open, the moment Medvedev and Nadal breezed through the final in the men’s single, Djokovic had been forgotten.

At this stage, no can still underestimate Isko Moreno, Manny Pacquiao, Ping Lacson, and Leody De Guzman. 

If any of these gentlemen will win, no one will talk about Marcos Jr. anymore.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

    

 

Alleged Comelec affair irrelevant

 “An affair wants to spill, to share its glory with the world. No act is so private it does not seek applause.”

—John Updike

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

NINETY percent of my past employers in New York were Jews.

And most of them didn’t like TV host and actress Whoopi Goldberg.

Not because she is a bad person; it’s because some of them, including an Orthodox couple in Brooklyn I sued in the Department of Labor three years ago, think Goldberg, born Caryn Elaine Johnson, adopted her stage name to be deliberately Jewish-sounding even if she doesn’t have a Jewish ancestry.

Some of the Jews in America recently nearly rekindled their dislike of the 66-year-old comedian when she made a mea culpa while hosting “The View” on ABC News by declaring, “the Holocaust isn’t about race,” but rather about “man’s inhumanity to man.”

But despite the apology she made later, ABC News president Kim Godwin still suspended her for two weeks. 

In my opinion, the suspension was unnecessary given the severity of her regrets and sincere acceptance of the error.

 

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The panel was discussing a Tennessee school board’s removal of the Holocaust book “Maus” from its curriculum earlier this month. 

All five co-hosts opposed the board’s decision, saying that the acclaimed graphic memoir should be taught in classrooms; but Goldberg differed strongly from her colleagues on the question of exactly why the Holocaust should be taught to students.

“If you’re going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it,” Goldberg said, before elaborating that “these (Jews and Nazis) are two white groups of people.”

Co-host Joy Behar objected, arguing that Nazis “considered Jews a different race.” Guest co-host Ana Navarro asserted that “it’s about white supremacy, it’s about going after Jews and Gypsies.” But Goldberg continued to speak.

“The minute you turn it into race, you go down this alley,” she continued, as the show’s producers began playing music as a cue to cut to commercials.

 

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Goldberg has actually apologized in a note posted to Twitter. And on February 1 (Tuesday), she opened up "The View" offering yet another apology.

"Yesterday on our show, I misspoke. I tweeted about it last night but I want you to hear it from me directly," the comedian and actor said. "I said something that I feel a responsibility for not leaving unexamined, because my words upset so many people, which was never my intention. I understand why now, and for that I am deeply, deeply grateful because the information I got was really helpful, and it helped me understand some different things."

"I said the Holocaust wasn't about race and was instead about man's inhumanity to man," Goldberg said Tuesday on "The View." "But it is indeed about race because Hitler and the Nazis considered Jews to be an inferior race."

She continued, "Now, words matter and mine are no exception. I regret my comments, as I said, and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people as they know and y'all know, because I've always done that."

 

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The alleged dalliance between a Commission on Elections (Comelec) official and a senator is irrelevant. 

It has nothing to do whatsoever with the ongoing catfight in the national Comelec office.

True or not, whatever is the relationship—past and present—between the Comelec official and the senator, who are both married, is none of the people’s business.

Extra-marital issues are separate from election-related issues. 

The former is a salacious showbiz appetizer, the latter a pertinent public interest. 

The public should focus on the question of whether retired Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon was right when she “prematurely” revealed her opinion on the disqualification case against presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and accused fellow Commissioner Aimee Ferolino of “conspiring” with a senator to “save” Marcos Jr.

Let Boy Abunda and Vice Ganda tackle the alleged affair. Let’s zero in on whether money changed hands, as Guanzon had alleged, in order to allegedly sidestep the feisty Negrense lawyer’s vote to disqualify Marcos Jr.  

Even if it is true that there’s a “deeper” relationship between the Comelec official and the alleged philandering senator even before the current tumult had erupted, it does not necessarily follow they would connive and risk their reputations over a controversial case that’s impossible to be kept under wraps.

On the other hand, it is also possible the alleged “intimacy” had helped “pave the way” for the alleged sinister plot to “protect” Marcos Jr. 

As mentioned earlier, showbiz is showbiz and election issues are separate issues, and never the twain shall meet.

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