Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon is bracing for a possible "court battle" over restrictions the unvaccinated claim curtails personal liberty. Drilon noted that restricting the movement of unvaccinated individuals could be defended as an exercise of the inherent police power of the State to protect public health. But whether such is a reasonable exercise of its constitutional power is a matter for the courts to decide. “This is a classic clash of interests. It’s a ...

Importing galunggong is like buying smartphones from snatchers, said Sen. Panfilo Lacson. According to the Partido Reporma presidential bet, Filipinos deserve better than for their government to import the iconic mackerel scad, especially when the galunggong come from those ransacking fish stock from the country’s own territorial waters. He noted that this is a situation comparable to someone buying electronic gadgets from snatchers. "Our aquatic resources in the Wes...

MANILA -- Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said he will urge the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to gradually phase out quarantine protocols once COVID-19's Omicron variant eased up at a Go Negosyo Forum last January 21. Concepcion said the country should open up like Thailand and Switzerland by removing quarantine rules and enforcing home based-quarantine from facility-based. "We're not suggesti...

Vaccines are an important tool in mitigating the spread of Covid-19, said Dr. Erica Pan, California’s State Epidemiologist and Deputy Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases, at a news briefing January 20, organized by Ethnic Media Services and the Vaccinate All 58 initiative. “The risks of hospitalization and death remain high for unvaccinated individuals, so the most important thing we need to continue to do is get vaccinated and get boosted,” said Pan, a pediatri...

From left to right: Dr. Ben Neuman, Chief Virologist at the Global Health Research Complex, Texas A&M University; Dr. Dali Fan, Health Science Clinical Professor, UC Davis; Dr. Monica Gandhi, Professor of Medicine and Associate Division Chief of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine, UCSF/San Francisco General Hospital Even as Covid-19 hospitalization rates surge in some parts of the US, many public health experts are advising a shift from think...

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) late last week nabbed five suspects believed to have orchestrated the biggest scandal to hit the Philippine banking industry in decades. While not the biggest in terms of amount, the heist was the biggest in terms of the number of victims. The five -- two Nigerians and three Filipinos -- allegedly siphoned off funds ranging from PHP25,000 (US$500) to PHP50,000 (US$1,000) from more than 700 Banco de Oro (BDO) depositors, the cou...

Narding Floro, 80, was incarcerated upon the complaint of a neighbor for theft and his inability to make bail. Floro had taken some PHP10,000 (US$200) worth of mangoes from a tree located just outside his residence in Asingan, Pangasinan. His neighbor Robert Hong demanded payment for what he said were clearly produce from his property. Floro said he planted the tree years ago when there was no fence dividing their two adjoining properties. After he refused to pay the am...

If you are applying for immigrant visa based on marriage to a U.S. citizen, it is a must that you discuss your case with an immigration attorney. Many people do it by themselves but later on find problems along the way. It could be in the long wait for adjudication, more evidence requested and legal issues they could not resolve. In proving good faith marriage the USCIS is governed by case law that we will discuss here. Question: What is the main consideration to determ...

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently issued an alert warning Californians to beware of fake COVID-19 testing locations and websites. With an increased demand for COVID-19 testing due to the recent spike in cases, scammers are exploiting vulnerable individuals looking to determine whether they have the COVID-19 virus. These unverified sites pose as legitimate companies and healthcare clinics offering COVID-19 testing. However, after receiving payment ...