By Harvey I. Barkin DALY CITY – Former Vice-mayor Juslyn Manalo stepped up to become this city’s first Filipino woman Mayor at the reorganization meeting last December 11. Manalo worked for the Veterans Equity Center for 11 years and was Citizens Advisory Committee Chair for the San Mateo County Transit District for three years. Before becoming vice-mayor for a year, she was with Forest City’s 5M Project. She holds a B.A. in Asian American Studies with a minor in Wom...

The Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco and the University of the Philippines Alumni Association San Francisco (UPAASF) presented Paskuhan sa Konsulado, an evening of Filipino Christmas traditions. The event kicked off with Simbang Gabi, followed by the lighting of parols and the singing of Christmas carols. The celebration was topped off with popular delicacies shared and enjoyed with family and friends. The sound, the taste, the spirit took everyone back home for ...

Fairfield, CA – After 47 years of hard work, Amadeo E. Lopez retired last Saturday, December 16, 2017 in a feting surprise retirement party tendered by his wife Julie, children, and dad Servillano Lopez held at the Mandarin Restaurant & Lounge this city, Joy, Amadeo’s daughter and emcee for the night said. “Actually, this is the second retirement my dad had after retiring after serving the US Navy for 20 years and then after 27 years at the US Postal Service in Fairfie...

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — With more cold nights in the forecast this week in cities across the Bay Area as a cold weather system moves in Tuesday evening, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) urges customers to be cautious when heating their homes. Electric heating devices, such as space heaters, are a home fire hazard when not properly used or monitored. Fuel-burning appliances, such as gas furnaces, stoves and water heaters, can increase the risk of carbon monoxide,...

By Lorna Dietz EL CERRITO, CA --- Councilmember Gabriel Quinto was selected as mayor during the reorganization of the city council last December 19 at City Hall. Quinto is El Cerrito’s first Filipino American and LGBT mayor, as well as the third mayor of color in its 100-year history, following Mayor Leticia Moore (of African descent) and Mayor Ann Cheng (of Asian-Chinese descent). The Berkeley-born Quinto was sworn into office by Contra Costa’s Superior Court Judge ...

By Lara Climaco l FilAm Star Correspondent The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has upgraded the economic outlook for the Philippines, raising GDP forecasts to 6.5 percent for 2017 and 6.7 percent for 2018. At 0.1 percentage points, the forecast upgrade for the country is the third-largest upward revision across 10 economies in Southeast Asia. ADB’s previous GDP projections for the country were 6.4 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively. “The Philippines remains among the fa...

By Daniel Llanto | FilAm Star Correspondent Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa declared that he might recommend the declaration of nationwide martial law and not just in Mindanao if his 17 regional directors, who he called for a meeting, were in “unison” about the need for it. Dela Rosa said the entire police organization would support President Duterte should he decide to place the entire country under military rule, less than a week after C...

By Macon Araneta | FilAm Star Correspondent With the incessant attacks against human rights defenders under the present administration, Opposition Sen. Leila de Lima called for a Senate investigation into the reported deaths of 17 women activists summarily killed amid the spate of extra-judicial killings in the country. In filing Senate Resolution (SR) No. 573, De Lima said the State has an obligation to protect human rights defenders, especially those who were abused a...

By Lara Climaco | FilAm Star Correspondent It could take up to 20 years of surveillance and monitoring on the part of the Philippine government to deal with the Dengvaxia fiasco. Like finding a needle in a haystack, the government would have to commit resources to monitor the entire population of more than 830,000 inoculated with the dengue vaccine in order to manage any adverse event, especially among about 2,000 who are at high risk of severe dengue on account of the ino...

By William Casis | FilAm Star Correspondent Former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla asked the Sandiganbayan to give him a leave to file a demurrer to evidence in his PHP 224.5-million plunder case over the multi-billion pork barrel anomaly. A demurrer to evidence is a pleading filed by a defendant telling the court they no longer need to present evidence and that the prosecution’s weak evidence is enough to dismiss a case. But to file this, the court must approve the motion...