ASIA / PACIFIC
March 7, 2022
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
“We’re Filipinos”: Women soccer players decry criticisms
FILIPINA FIRST. Jessica Miclat (#9) of the
Philippines and Lee Geum-min of South Korea jump
for the ball during an AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022
match held last month in Pune, India. The Philippines’
women soccer team made local history by securing
their country’s first-ever World Cup spot by defeating
Taiwan 4-3 in a penalty shootout after the match
ended 1-1. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
By Jim Gomez
The Associated Press
ANILA, The Philippines —
Members of the Philippines
women’s soccer team, which
recently qualified for its first World Cup,
have played down social media comments
that most of the players with mixed
American ancestry “were not Filipino
enough.”
The Philippines beat Taiwan 4-3 in a
penalty shootout in February after the
match ended 1-1 in the Women’s Asian
Cup hosted by India, a regional
tournament that also served as Asia’s
qualification for next year’s Women’s
World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The landmark victory added to soccer’s
phenomenally growing attention in the
basketball- and boxing-crazy former
American colony, where young Filipinos
often transform busy public roads into
makeshift basketball courts and mimic
Filipino and U.S. celebrity players.
Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, who
retired from the sport last year after 26
years, has used his stardom as a spring-
board to national politics. An incumbent
senator, he is currently campaigning for
M
the May 9 presidential elections.
After the victory in India, the
still-ecstatic Filipina players and their
Australian coach, Alen Stajcic, faced
journalists in Manila to reflect on the
historic win. An online video of the
winning kick posted on Twitter went viral
with 168,000 views, 5,700 likes, and more
than a thousand retweets.
Then the questions turned to the online
criticism, which cast a cloud on the
American heritage of many of the players
on the Philippine team.
“We’re all Filipino, there’s no such thing
as we’re not Filipino enough,” online news
site Philstar.com quoted U.S.-based Kiara
Fontanilla as telling a news conference in
Manila. “I think people that are saying
that are wrong. We’re here to make a
difference.”
Olivia McDaniel, whose penalty
shootout kick against Taiwan gave the
Filipinos their first World Cup berth, said
the questions hurt her and stressed the
Filipino-American players were certain of
their identity as Filipinos.
“Some people haven’t been really
accepting ... but I think when you’re
Filipino, you’re Filipino,” McDaniel said.
Stajcic said the criticisms upset him,
having witnessed the hard work, passion,
and sacrifices of the players.
“How can you doubt?” he asked. “How
can you doubt how much Filipino they
are?”
The Philippines women’s team plans to
compete in the Southeast Asian Games,
the AFF Women’s Championship, and the
Asian Games as part of its 18-month
preparation for the World Cup.
Japan emperor turns 62, calls for hope to overcome pandemic
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
OKYO — Japan’s Emperor
Naruhito, marking his 62nd
birthday last month, called on
people to keep “the fire of hope” burning in
their hearts and support each other to
overcome the challenges posed by the
coronavirus pandemic.
Naruhito said his heart aches thinking
about people who have lost their jobs,
struggled financially, or felt isolated due to
the pandemic.
“The difficult situation has persisted,
but I strongly believe that it is possible
that we can overcome this severe reality
with patience by caring for each other,
sharing each other’s pain, and by making
T
efforts to support each other,” Naruhito
said at a palace news conference held
ahead of his birthday.
His birthday greetings to the public at
the palace were cancelled for a third year,
and a palace ceremony was also scaled
down because of the pandemic.
Naruhito said his daughter, Princess
Aiko, who studies Japanese literature at
Gakushuin University, has been taking
classes online due to the coronavirus.
Recalling his time in college, where he
constantly had “new discoveries and
experiences” such as meeting people in
classes and sharing a table at a cafeteria
with other students, Naruhito said he
hopes his daughter also can enjoy a
post-pandemic campus life.
Aiko is the only child of Naruhito and
Empress Masako, a Harvard-educated for-
mer diplomat who has suffered from what
has been described as a stress-related
condition for about 20 years.
Aiko turned 20 in December and now
can help with royal duties as an adult
member of the imperial family.
Aiko is not eligible to succeed her father.
Under Japanese law, she also has to leave
her family if she marries a commoner, like
her older cousin, Mako, who married her
college sweetheart and moved to New York
with him.
The 1947 Imperial House Law, which
largely preserves pre-World War II family
values, only allows a male succession line
and requires that female royal family
members who marry commoners join their
husband-led households.
A government panel in December recom-
mended that the government continue the
male-only imperial succession system
despite a shrinking number of men in the
royal family.
Hong Kong vaccinating 3-year-olds amid omicron surge
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong says it
is offering COVID-19 vaccines to children
as young as 3 years old as infections rage
through the semi-autonomous Chinese
city. The announcement came in
mid-February ahead of another surge in
cases. Hong Kong schools also extended a
suspension of in-class teaching through
March 6.
The wave blamed on the omicron variant
already prompted new restrictions
limiting in-person gatherings to no more
than two households. Hong Kong residents
rushed to grocery stories to stock up on
vegetables and to hair salons to get
haircuts.
Authorities imposed lockdowns on
residential buildings wherever clusters of
infections were identified, and had already
banned public dining after 6:00pm. Only
vaccinated people are permitted in
shopping malls and supermarkets, while
places of worship, hair salons, and other
businesses were ordered to close.
Immunizations using Chinese maker
Sinovac’s vaccine for children age 3 and
older started last month. Previously, the
age limit was 5 years old. Hong Kong has
fully vaccinated approximately 73% of its
eligible population, not including children.
Hong Kong adopted mainland China’s
“zero tolerance” approach to dealing with
the pandemic that requires quarantines,
mask mandates, case tracing, and
lockdowns of buildings, neighborhoods,
and entire cities, even when only a few
cases are detected.
Beijing officials and Chinese state
media say adopting a “living with the
virus” policy as some countries have done
would overwhelm Hong Kong’s medical
system.
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please contact Dave or Caitlin at (503) 378-4209
or visit our website at oregon.gov/dcbs/sbo.
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