Fil-Am Chef to Be Among First to Serve Vegan Spam

Chef Reina Montenegro (right) and OmniPork’s vegan spam.

Fil-Am chef Reina Montenegro’s new vegan restaurant Chef Reina in Brisbane, CA will be one of the first places in the United States to serve OmniPork’s vegan spam, a plant-based copycat of Hormel’s SPAM (See Vegan News for story).

PH Added to UK's Covid 'Red List' - Travelers Must Pay for 11 Nights Hotel Stay

The UK government has announced hotel quarantine plans for Britons returning from high-risk or “red list” countries to stop new coronavirus variants entering England. As of 4am on 9 April, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Kenya were added to the “red list.” Those quarantined must £1,750 for 11 nights of hotel stay (See the Independent for story).

Pinoy Tricycle Roaming San Francisco's Streets

A Philippine tricycle was spotted in the US recently, making history by becoming the first trike to cross the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge along with 60 Filipino American motorcyclists. With its remarkable jeepney-like features and the built-in karaoke blasting OPM hits, the trike served as an accent to the iconic bridge that grabbed the attention of anyone who saw it (See Manila Bulletin for story).

Attack on PH in S. China Sea Will Trigger U.S. Mutual Defense Obligation - State Dep't

“An armed attack against the Philippines’ armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea, will trigger our obligations under the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters (See Inquirer.net for story)..

PH Covid Cases Now More Than 800,000

The country’s total COVID-19 caseload exceeded 800,000 after the Department of Health (DOH) logged 8,355 new infections on Monday (See Inquirer.net for story).

PH Turns Up Heat on China for Boats Massing in South China Sea

Aides of President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday criticized China for what they called territorial incursions by hundreds of its vessels, which his legal counsel warned could damage ties and lead to "unwanted hostilities" (See ABS-CBN News for story).

PH Economy Goes from Bad to Worse

“The economic outlook in the Philippines has gone from bad to worse over the past month. The main headwind is a renewed surge in virus infections, with the country now reporting around 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 each day,” Capital Economics said (See Philstar for story).

Number of Filipinos Who View Religion as Very Important Drops from 83% to 73%

The number of Filipinos who believe that religion is “very important” in their lives has gone down by 10 percentage points – from the record high of 83% recorded in December 2019 to 83% as shown by a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from Nov. 21 to 25, 2020 (See Inquirer.net for story)..