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Since 1986 January 15-21, 2011 www.filipinopress.com • (619) 477-0940

IN MEMORYSamahan Clinic

staff remembers ‘Ate Remy’Page 10

YOUR LIFEClass is in session

at Macy’s Workshopfor minorities, women

Page 4

An Award-Winning Newspaper • San Diego’s No. 1 Source of News & Information for the Filipino Community

Farah Soriano

Miss Malasiqui 2011 Reyllen Bangsal is joined MSDC’s President Mel Salinas (far right), first lady Noemi Salinas (far left), escort Jonelle Papa (center), scepter- and sash-bearer Nathan Phillip Salinas (lower left) and crown-bearer Jeanne ashley Salinas (lower right).

Proposed budget cuts could cost National City $40 million in revenue

Blight in almost any context is almost never a good thing. But as defined by the state — empty buildings, a high crime rate or too many x-rated shops — the word literally means millions of dollars in revenue for cities such as National City, which, accord-ing to a recent San Diego Public Radio report, is considered two-thirds blighted.

Once designated blighted, a city’s redevelopment agency works to improve buildings and attract new business and it collects new taxes from the improvements.

In National City, that revenue could amount to as much as $40

to $50 million a year — more than the city’s entire operat-ing budget — if rede-velopment agencies are phased out in California

as part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s pro-posed state budget, according to the KPBS-FM report this week.

Brown’s budget proposes eliminating the economic de-velopment agencies and would redirect the tax money into core government services, the report said.

Bad idea, said National City Mayor Ron Morrison in an inter-view broadcast on Wednesday, Jan. 12.

“To take it away and take away our future so they can plug a budget at this moment is extremely short-sighted,” Mor-rison said. “Currently this money is being used to invigorate the economy, to create jobs.”

New year, new look for Filipino Press, in print and online

Notice anything different in this issue of the Filipino Press? If you can’t quite put your finger on it, take a closer look. You're read-ing it.

“We’ve been planning a rede-sign for the past six months, but something always conspired against us,” said Bill Ramsey, edi-tor and designer of the Press.

The original plan, according to Ramsey, who became editor in August, was a coordinated effort to launch a completely rede-signed paper at the beginning of the year. Computer issues and staff changes set that goal back, but Ramsey said the fresh new look is now debuting in stages.

“We’re rolling it out in stages,” said Ramsey. “First, the typefac-es are changing to a more mod-ern font with this issue — with a gradual rollout, we won’t shock anyone. In the coming weeks, we’ll tweak other elements and soon, readers will recognize the paper they’re reading has a totally new look.”

The redesign, along with a new website design for filipinopress.com is expected to be rolled out over the next few issues, accord-ing to Ramsey.

SAN DIEGO — San Diego architect and longtime Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) advocate Lilbert “Gil” Ontai will join 13 other Califor-nians — including four other AAPIs — from around the state to the state’s new Citizens Re-districting Commission.

After a year-long selection process, the commissioners will now tackle the very seri-ous work of drawing the elec-toral district lines for the state legislature, Board of Equaliza-tion and California’s congres-sional seats.

In drawing the lines, the commission will decide wheth-er the Asian-American and Pa-cific Islander communities are kept together or unfairly split apart.

The new commission will begin its work this month and must adopt the new lines by mid-August.

The Southwest Center for Asian Pacific American Law (SCAPAL) recently lauded the 14 individuals who were se-lected for the new commission.

AAPI communities must get involved in the process, the or-ganization said, in order to en-sure that the commission un-derstands their needs and interests.

SCAPAL is working with the Coalition of Aisan Pacific Americans for Fair Redistrict-ing (CAPAFR) to ensure that the AAPI community in San Diego County provides input to the commission. SCAPAL

Redistricting

Five AAPIs named to new citizens commissionSan Diego architect Gil Ontai joins group of 14 who will draw new electoral district lines for California

• Photos and brief biographies of some of the commissioners can be found at www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov/bios.html.

ONLINE

• a SCalPal/CaPaFR-sponsored community meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Jan 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at alliant International University’s green Hall, 10455 Pomerado Road.• For more information or to RSVP, e-mail to phooper@qhlawyers.com.

COMMUNITY MEETING

See COMMISSION on Page 11

Special to the Filipino Press

SAN DIEGO — Reyl-len Bangsal was crowned Miss Malasiqui 2011 by the Malasiquinians of San Di-ego County (MSDC) during their town fiesta celebration on Saturday, Jan. 8, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Miss Malasiqui 2010, Marjorie Macaraeg Mon-temayor, passed on the crown to Bangsal with MSDC President Mel Sa-linas and San Diego City

Councilman Carl DeMaio presding over the fiesta and coronation. Both Montemayor and Bangsal received a certif-icate of appreciation from the City of San Diego for serving as Miss Malasiqui and in rec-ognition of their charity work.

MSDC is a nonprofit organi-zation that aims to help Mala-siquinians in the Philippines and in San Diego. The group also promotes camaraderie among its members as well as preserving the rich culture and traditions of Filipinos.

MSDC has conducted nu-merous outreach projects in the past, such as donations to the local government in Mala-siqui for building and improv-ing the town’s hospital, beauti-fying the plaza and providing scholarships to deserving stu-dents among others.

“This year — hopefully by spring — we’re planning to do a medical and dental mission back home,” said Salinas. “We will cover different barrios in

MSDC crowns Reyllen Bangsal Miss Malasiqui 2011 during fiesta

See MSDC on Page 11

NEWS IN BRIEF

Ron Morrison

edwin lee first asian-american mayor of S.F.

Edwin Lee was appointed interim mayor of San Francisco on Tuesday, Jan.11, making the 58-year-old the city's first Asian-American mayor.

San Francisco is 34 percent Asian, making it the largest U.S. city with an Asian-American mayor, according to Don Nakani-shi of the UCLA Asian Studies Center.

Elsewhere in California, 10 other mayors, three members of Congress, eight members of the state legislature and two state-wide officeholders are of Asian or Pacific Islander descent.

CHULA VISTA

Vallejos is passionate about the Chula Vista Nature Center.

Now the center’s chief operations of-ficer, Vallejos began working there as a volunteer in 1990, cleaning the large fish tanks in order to be closer to the ocean and all its sea life, all the while working at his “regular” job as an executive with Macy’s/Robinson May. Later, when a part-time gift shop position became avail-able at the nature center, he left his job in retail administration and jumped at the chance to work there permanently — even

By alicia Deleon-Torres • Filipino Press

Ben Vallejos knows all the animals at Chula Vista Nature Center and speaks about them as if they were his own “children.” With the center’s special permit, which allows collection of local fish,

in-depth understanding and a genuine care about the animals, Vallejos has assisted the center obtain specimens for years.

“I collected him when he was ‘this’ small,” Vallejos said, gesturing as he pointed to the large orange girabaldi fish swimming past and recalls with excitement the day he caught it when it was only two inches long, “Now look at him!”

Chula Vista Nature Center

FINDINg NeMO: Chula Vista Nature Center Chief Operations Officer Ben Vallejos still enjoys cleaning the aquatic life tanks, as he did when he first started as volunteer when the park first opened. He knows where and where each fish was caught; he should — Vallejos caught most of them himself.

Ariana M. Torres

FeeDINg TIMe: Children watch sharks at feeding time at the Chula Vista Nature Center. Sharks are fed at 3 p.m. daily. See ValleJOS on Page 11

Ben Vallejos left a promising career in retail to follow his passion. Now,as chief operations officer of the Chula Vista Nature Center, he helped guide the center back from the brink of extinction

Nature Boy

2 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com January 15-21, 2011

By Jaime laudeThe Philippine Star

MANILA — Seven people have been added to a growing list of fatalities that now in-cludes more than 40 deaths in the widespread flooding and landslides in Mindanao, East-ern Visayas and Southern Ta-galog due to prevailing severe weather conditions in the re-gions.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported in its latest count that more than 40 peo-ple have died either due to drowning or were buried alive by landslides.

NDRRMC executive officer Benito Ramos identified the latest fatalities as Veneranda, 49, and Marcos, 51, both sur-named Maestre of the flood-stricken Barangay Payapayon, Oras; Gleiza Joy Rivera, 6, of Barangay San Roque, Dolores; Jerome Cornala, 9, of Baran-gay San Miguel, San Julian; Alfredo Alvero, 6, and Julius Ellorando, 22, of Barangays Locso-on and Campesao, all of Borongan, Eastern Samar; and Mark Paul Agilando, 21, of Barangay Cabariwan, Pala-pag, Northern Samar.

NDRMMC’s damage report on agriculture, infrastruc-ture and private properties due to widespread flooding in Mindanao, Visayas and Bi-col caused by the tail-end of a cold front and the north-east monsoon has ballooned to P898.2 million.

Ramos said the amount could still increase because of the continuing inclement weather in these already dev-astated regions.

The number of people dis-placed already breached the one million mark at 1,294,039.

Of this figure, 4,839 fam-ilies or 22,505 persons re-mained inside 86 evacuation

centers while 65,177 are tem-porarily staying with rela-tives.

In Albay, 28 evacuation centers are still serving 2,277 families or 11,660 persons from the municipalities of Da-raga, Malilipot, Manito, Sto. Domingo and Camalig.

On the other hand, 28 evac-uation centers in Eastern Vi-sayas remained open to serve 1,081 families or 4,820 evac-uees from the towns of Bo-rongan and Maslog in Eastern Samar and the towns of Bon-toc, St. Bernard and Sogod in Southern Leyte.

President Aquino visited

the regions that were inun-dated by floods and landslides this week.

Deputy presidential spokes-person Abigail Valte said Aquino made his first stop at Legazpi City to lead in the dis-tribution of relief goods and medicine before flying to Ta-cloban in Leyte and Agusan del Norte in Mindanao.

“As always, the president would like to see the extent of the damage. We’re not quite sure if he is able to go to the actual site because I under-stand we have weather consid-erations,” Valte said.

“He’d like to see the ex-

tent of devastation and just to check on the progress of the concerned agencies on the ground, to see what else can be done to assist the victims,” she said.

The Department of Health, on the other hand, declared an emergency code white alert in the CARAGA region and pre-positioned the distribution of medicine and fluids amount-ing to P763,082 in Butuan City for distribution to residents in the flood-stricken areas.

The National Food Author-ity also distributed 3,824 bags of rice assistance to displaced residents in the region.

By TJ Burgonio Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA — President Aqui-no’s vow not to run for any pub-lic office after June 2016 is good news for Filipinos hoping for an honest-to-goodness gov-ernance and for other presiden-tial aspirants as well, accord-ing to senators.

Senators said on Sunday that Aquino’s early declaration would free him from any po-litical baggage in running the country, and should set a prec-edent for political leaders.

“That’s a clear statement that any action of his will not be perceived as motivated by personal ambition, and that any policy adopted is not for his personal benefit, but for the good of the country,” Sen. Franklin Drilon said in an in-terview.

Drilon, chairman of the fi-nance committee, acknowl-edged that Aquino was sending a clear message to all Filipinos that he would run the country in the next five and a half years without any political ambition.

In the long run, this would augur well for his governance until the end of his term on June 30, 2016, he said.

Aquino made the pronounce-ment while reminding mem-bers of the League of Cities

of the Philippines that a prob-lem would arise if they started thinking about the next elec-tion and failed to do their job at present.

“I understand that there’s a problem. I’m also a politician although this would probably be the last position I will occu-py. I will no longer campaign in the future. I understand that you have to think about the next election,” he said.

Aquino’s six-year term ends on June 30, 2016.

His predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, made an unprecedent-ed move to run for a congressio-nal seat in her home province Pampanga’s second district in the May 2010 elections, and won overwhelmingly.

Arroyo was catapulted to the presidency after a people’s re-volt ousted President Joseph Estrada in January 2001 amid charges of corruption, incom-petence and inefficiency. After

vowing not to run, she ran and won the 2004 presidential vote that was marred by charges of fraud.

Sens. Gregorio Honasan and Francis Pangilinan also praised Aquino for his declara-tion to forgo any future run for public office.

“He might of course be con-sistently taking the cue from his mother,” Honasan said in an interview, referring to the late President Corazon C. Aqui-no, who did not seek re-election after her six-year term ended in 1992.

Aquino now has a free hand to govern the country in the next five and a half years, ac-cording to Honasan.

“It gives the president a free hand to move forward, unen-cumbered by political bag-gage,” he said.

Pangilinan agreed, saying that Aquino’s pronouncement was “significant because it can-not be business as usual for our politics and governance.”

“Without political ambitions getting in the way, the presi-dent is free to make the dif-ficult and painful decisions needed to effect change. Oth-er political leaders should take the cue from the president and focus on governance instead of being too fixated on 2016,” he said in a text message.

aquino’s vow not to seek re-election good news, Philippine senators say

Flood death toll risesP-Noy buys himself a (used) Porsche

MANILA, Jan. 13 (MSN) — The country's 50-year-old bachelor president has bought himself a new car.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda confirmed on Thursday that President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III has purchased a third-hand 2007 Porsche, but empha-sized that the president used his personal funds for the purchase.

"It's a private purchase, it came from his own funds. The purchase were proceeds from the sale of another asset and that other asset was acquired through personal loans," Laci-erda said at a press briefing in Malacanang.

He said Aquino's sold his BMW, which he bought back when he was a senator, for P4.5 million so he could purchase the Porsche, as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The Palace spokesman noted that the value of the Porsche was depreciated. "If it was not

depreciated, the president wouldn't even buy it, wouldn't even consider it."

Last month, Aquino issued a memorandum prohibiting all agen-cies from acquiring and using luxury vehicles for their operations, "and to be more prudent in spending government funds, especial-ly in the acquisition of motor vehicles to maximize the utilization of scarce government resources."

At the news briefing, Lacierda said Aquino did not violate the memorandum, as the president used his own funds for the pur-chase of the Porsche.

"How the president spends his personal funds is entirely his own discretion and I think that should not be used to sow intrigue. If there's anybody planning to do that, let's respect the president's private transactions," Lacierda said.

Lacierda said Aquino had been"prudent" in spending government money, particularly during his foreign travels as chief executive.

Comelec chief hopefuls promise election reforms

MANILA, Jan 12 (MNS) — Election lawyers Sixto Brillantes and Romulo Macalintal on Thursday vowed to institute reforms in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) if either one is appointed chairman of the poll body.

The two confirmed that they were personally interviewed by President Benigno Aquino III for the position last Monday.

Macalintal, the election lawyer of former President Gloria Maca-pagal Arroyo, said it is important to appoint a Comelec chairman who knows the ins and outs of the election process in the country.

"The problem is some of the Comelec appointees don't know how elections are done here or the relevant election laws," he said.

He said lack of knowledge in Comelec processes is one reason why anomalies continue under the noses of the Comelec com-missioners.

"Kapag alam ng nasa ibaba na alam mo yung iyung ginagawa, hindi sila gagawa ng ganyan," he said.

For his part, Brillantes, the election lawyer of President Aquino, said he wants to restructure the senior staff in the poll body.

In particular, he said he wants stricter monitoring of Comelec re-gional directors especially since "they are practically autonomous in their regions."

"Di mo naman magagalaw ang mga commissioners eh. Kung ako pagagalawin sa commissioners, gusto ko sana panibagong ang mga kasama ko lahat," he said.

If appointed, both lawyers said that they will have to inhibit from ruling on electoral protests that they were pursuing before the poll body. Macalintal has 20 pending cases for various clients before the Comelec while Brillantes has 24-25 cases.

The next chief of the poll body will serve for 4 years, the remain-der of the term of Comelec Chairman Jose Melo, who opted for early retirement effective end of this month.

Rains from cold front to continue

MANILA, Jan. 13 (MNS) — The cold front behind heavy rains that triggered floods and landslides in several parts of the country in past weeks may last until February, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Thursday.

PAGASA forecaster Connie Dadivas also said the cold front is also starting to affect the Western Visayas region.

"We expect this weather system to last until February," Dadivas said.

She said the northeast monsoon is prevailing over Northern and Central Luzon while the diffused tail-end of a cold front is affect-ing Visayas and Mindanao.

For Thursday, PAGASA's 5 a.m. bulletin said southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and isolated thunderstorms becoming cloudy with widespread rains over the Bicol region, Eastern Vi-sayas and northeastern Mindanao which may trigger flashfloods and landslides.

The rest of Luzon will be mostly cloudy with scattered light rains, it added.

Widespread floods, landslides leave more than 1 million displaced

IN BRIEF

“It gives the president a free hand to move forward, unencumbered by political baggage.”Sen. Gregorio Honansan

President Benigno S. aquino III joins newly-promoted officer Brig. gen. Jeffrey Delgado and family after administering the oath of office at a mass oath-taking ceremony at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall, Malacanang on Jan. 11. Delgado is the Senior Military assistant to the President of the Philippines.

Heavy rains, flash floods and landslides in the Philippines have affected milliions and killed at least 40. Casualties resulted from drowning, burial by landslides and electrocution.

HONOLULU — A feder-al judge on Jan. 13 approved the distribution of $7.5 mil-lion to settle a lawsuit filed by thousands of victims of torture, execution and kid-napping under the regime of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos.

The distribution provides victims their first opportuni-ty to collect something since they sued in 1986.

Each of 7,526 eligible members of the class-action lawsuit will receive $1,000 under the plan approved by U.S. District Judge Manuel Real. Distribution is expect-ed to begin in mid-February and take about a month.

Robert Swift, the lead at-torney in the case, said the payments were an important milestone for victims who have been fighting for years. Most of the victims or their surviving family members live in the Philippines.

“We know they are anx-ious for distribution. Most of our members are poor, very poor and live in a Third World country that hasn’t compensated them for any injuries they suffered, or loss of loved ones,” Swift said.

(PhilStar.com/AP)

Martial law victims to get $1,000 each

January 15-21, 2011 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com 3

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4 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com January 15-21, 2011

If you do not stop at a red light in California, be ready to pay $436 in fines. If you pass a school bus with flashing red signals, your wallet will be $616 lighter.

These are just two of the new traffic fines effective im-mediately. A full list appears below.

The state of California is undergoing a budget crisis, of course, and traffic fines are a constant source of revenue, an estimated 30 percent increase in fines over the past two years.

Traffic fines effective Jan. 6• $214: Failure to obey li-

cense provisions.• $214: Failure to notify

DMV of address change with-in 10 days.

• $796: Failure to provide evidence of financial responsi-bility (insurance).

• $436: Failure to stop at a

red signal.• $214: Unsafe speed, 1 to

15 miles over the limit.• $328: Unsafe speed, 16 to

25 miles over the limit.• $214: Failure to stop at a

stop sign.• $616: Passing a school bus

with flashing red signals.• $148: Driving while us-

ing a wireless phone not hands free, first offense .

• $256: Driving while us-ing a wireless phone not hands free, each subsequent offense.

• $148: Driving while using a wireless device to send, read or write text.

• $148: Minor driving while using a wireless phone.

• $976: Parking in a bus loading area.

• $976: Violation of disabled parking provisions, first of-fense.

• $1,876: Violation of dis-abled parking provisions, sec-

ond offense.• $178: Unlawful material

on vehicle windows.• $178: Adequate muffler re-

quired.• $148: Mandatory use of

seat belts.• $436: Mandatory use of

passenger child restraints.• $178: Headsets or Ear-

plugs covering both ears.• $178: Violation of motor-

cycle safety helmet require-ments.

• $616: Commercial Driver — log book violation.

• $256: No evidence of cur-rent registration.

• $178: Notify DMV of change of address within 10 days.

• $178: Proper display of li-cense plates.

• $178: Commercial weight fees due.

Some fines may be reduced or waived if corrected.

NEW YORK In an effort to help bolster up-

and-coming enterprises, Macy’s re-cently announced the creation of a one-of-a-kind program covering the business of fashion — The Work-shop at Macy’s.

Setting the stage for retail busi-ness innovation, The Workshop at Macy’s aims to nurture and grow the next generation of minority and women-owned retail talent. The Workshop is the latest evolution of Macy’s long-standing commitment to vendor diversity and to providing customers with unique goods and services that meet their lifestyle.

The specially designed business development curriculum of “The Workshop” is aimed at minority and women-owned retail businesses that are poised to succeed on a larger scale, but need additional tools on business practices to move to the next level and sustain growth. The four and a half-day intensive train-ing course, to be held in May at Ma-cy’s Herald Square offices (pictured) in New York City, will be taught by Macy’s seasoned executives and in-dustry experts, as well as key retail partners. With this annual program, Macy’s hopes to create a pipeline of viable vendors that will grow to become successful partners within Macy’s own vendor community.

“Of the many initiatives Macy’s,

Inc. has pursued on behalf of our ex-panding diversity strategy, suppli-er diversity is an area of special im-portance,” said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and chief ex-ecutive officer of Macy’s, Inc. “The Workshop at Macy’s is the latest ex-ample of our continued commitment to support and grow certified minor-ity or women-owned retail vendors that will allow us to enhance our business, while also providing our customers with compelling product. As partners, it’s a true win-win for both the vendor and our company. Macy’s finds and nurtures talented new vendors who can deliver high quality, competitively priced mer-chandise and these vendors, in turn, see their business grow.”

The Workshop at Macy’s will al-

low selected participants to collab-orate with fellow aspiring vendors, gain access to industry experts and solicit one-on-one business coach-ing. The course work includes class-es on Strategic Planning, Merchan-dising and Assortment Planning, Branding, Sales and Marketing, and Access to Capital. The curricu-lum was designed by a consortium of experts from Macy’s Learning & Development, Macy’s Multicultur-al Merchandising and Vendor De-velopment, Babson College, the na-tion’s leading business school for entrepreneurship, and with select Macy’s merchants/vendors.

“The Workshop at Macy’s will help us to identify and cultivate tal-ent within the minority and women-owned small business community

that will keep us at the forefront of innovation and continue to enhance our overall diversity strategy,” said Shawn Outler, Macy’s group vice-president of Multicultural Merchan-dising and Vendor Development. “Our support will provide these up and coming vendors with the nec-essary tools to succeed on a wid-er scale, as well as build a pipeline of exemplary vendors ready and able to provide our customers with unique merchandise that speaks to their various lifestyle needs.”

To promote the inaugural pro-gram, Macy’s enlisted a few key vendors from its ranks to give a face to supplier diversity success at Ma-cy’s. One such partner is Lisa Price, founder of Carol’s Daughter, who will be one of the program’s ex-pert panelists. “I know first-hand the challenges small business own-ers face when looking to grow a suc-cessful venture and take it to the next level,” said Price. “This pro-gram will be an extremely valuable tool for participants to learn from the best in the business. Hopefully what they take away from the pro-gram will help them identify and create opportunities that will result in long-lasting growth.”

Macy’s is now accepting entries for consideration. All information in-cluding full program requirements are available online at www.ma-cysinc.com/workshop. All eligible applications will be reviewed and selected applicants will be asked to attend an in-person interview.

For more information on The Workshop at Macy’s, please visit www.macysinc.com/workshop.

Class in session at Macy’sMacy’s to host first business workshop for minority- , women-owned businesses

State traffic fines increased

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. and CUPERTINO — Verizon Wire-less and Apple recently an-nounced that the iPhone 4 will be available on the Verizon Wireless network beginning on Thursday, Feb. 10. Qualified Verizon Wireless customers will be given the exclusive op-portunity to pre-order iPhone 4 online on Feb. 3, ahead of gen-eral availability.

iPhone 4 is the most inno-vative phone in the world, fea-turing Apple’s stunning Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone resulting in super crisp text, images and video, and Face-Time®, which makes video calling a reality.

The iPhone 4 on Verizon Wireless will also include new Personal Hotspot capabili-ties allowing customers to use iPhone 4 to connect up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Verizon to offer iPhone

January 15-21, 2011 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com 5

There is something excit-ing going on at the San Diego Superior Court.

On Thursday, Feb. 1, 250 San Diego County high school stu-dents are expected to compete in the 2011 Season of the San Diego County Mock Trial Com-petition. Nine different high schools are expected to partici-pate in this year’s competition, including Otay Ranch High School, San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts and Mater Dei Catholic High School.

The Constitutional Rights Foundation (CFR) originated the mock trial competition in Los Angeles County in 1980. In 2009, 26 California counties took part in the competition, with more than 8,000 students and 3,000 judges, lawyers and teacher volunteers participat-ing.

The mock trial competition is organized by the CRF with the help of the San Diego Su-perior Court and the San Diego County Bar Association. CRF is a community-based organiza-tion organized for the purpose of educating America’s young people about the importance of civic participation in a demo-cratic society. The CRF board of directors is a cross-section of professionals in the fields of law, business, government, education, the media and the community. Its mission state-ment is as follows: “Constitu-tional Rights Foundation seeks to instill in our nation’s youth a deeper understanding of cit-izenship through values ex-pressed in our Constitutional and its Bill of Rights and to ed-ucate young people to become active and responsible partic-ipants in our society.CRF is dedicated to assuring our coun-try’s future by investing in our youth of today.”

The CRF has created oth-er programs in addition to the

annual mock trial competi-tion, including History Day and the Horizons Internship Program. CFR has also creat-ed programs designed to edu-cate students about immigra-tion and intellectual property. If you are interested in CFR or any of its free programs take a look at their website at http://crf-usa.org.

The competition is a simu-lation of a criminal case where students portray the impor-tant people involved in a trial.This year’s focus will be on the crimes involving anti-bully-ing and cyber-bullying of stu-dents and assault with a dead-ly weapon.

Because of the new social media available to virtually ev-

eryone and anyone with a com-puter and an Internet connce-tion, there has been a growing problem with bullying. Many young students have been ex-posed to purposefully ag-gressive antagonistic behav-ior from their own classmates through the use of the Inter-net. Some teenagers are not only being bullied physical-ly by their classmates, but are also bullied through the Inter-net. The victims of the abuse often suffer both physical and emotional harm. Often, bullies will spread false rumors about their victims. Some students and even adults have been known to create fake identities or even pose as the victim on social websites to cause harm. Those using the Internet in this manner have caused victims to be beaten and some say have caused some young people to commit suicide.

Thus, this year’s competi-tion will focus on both a time-ly and relevant issue affecting many students across the coun-try. Students will be required to master complex concepts of law, including constitution-al law issues such as the first amendment, the 14th amend-ment and freedom of speech principles. The students will also be required to understand criminal law, including the new California laws such as California Penal Code §626.3, which makes it a crime to ha-rass, threaten or intimidate other students through the use

of the Internet. This new law is a misdemeanor. If a person is convicted of this new crime, the punishment can include up to one year of imprisonment.

Students will play the role of defense attorneys, prosecut-ing attorneys, courtroom staff such as bailiffs and important witnesses. Volunteer attorneys will act as coaches to the high school teams and real judges will sit as judges for the mock trial. Other volunteer attorneys will sit as the mock jurors and give scores to the different high school students participating in the mock trial. At the end of the competition on Saturday, Feb. 5, one team will emerge victo-rious based on the final scores given by the volunteer lawyers. Last year, Bishop’s School won the competition and represent-ed San Diego County in the state tournament.

By preparing for and partic-ipating in the mock trial com-petition, students will devel-op knowledge of history, social science and the language arts. Additionally, students will gain a deeper understanding of the legal system and, no doubt, will increase their basic reading and speaking skills, analytical ability, critical-thinking and presentation skills.

Undoubtedly, the partici-pants will gain an increased knowledge about the law, in-cluding the U.S. Constitution, our courts and our legal sys-tem. Having students work with other students on rele-vant issues important to them in conjunction with communi-ty leaders and role models can only lead to positive results.

San Diego attorney Edgar H. Sevilla III has practiced law in California for more than 18 years, specializing in catastrophic work injury, personal injury and criminal cases. To contact Sevilla, e-mail edgar@sevillalaw.com.

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Free law school for high school studentsEdgar H. Sevilla III

Legal Notes

By preparing for and participating in the mock trial competition, students will develop knowledge of history, social science and the language arts and a deeper understanding of the legal system and, no doubt, will increase their basic reading and speaking skills, analytical ability, critical-thinking and presentation skills.

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6 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com January 15-21, 2011

Here we go again. Just six months after losing power in a landslide

election, allies of Gloria Ma-capagal Arroyo are at it again trying to push their agenda to amend the 1987 constitution, a move that had been rejected multiple times by the people. Didn’t we say all along that Ar-royo would never rest until she gets back into power?

The funny thing about this is that the same politicians who shamelessly tried to force the charter-change (cha-cha) pro-posal down the throats of the people during the latter part of the nine-year reign of Arroyo are the same people who are pushing cha-cha and who now purport to be newfound allies of President Benigno S. Aqui-no III.

Rep. Ben Evardonne, who led Arroyo’s charges in push-ing for the much-maligned cha-cha movement when he was still governor of Easter Samar and president of the governors’ league, is back on the saddle again in the cha-cha campaign. Evardonne, a former Lakas-Kampi stalwart, now claims to be an ally of Aquino, being a turncoat member of the presi-dent’s Liberal Party.

Evardonne said last week he would file a bill in the House of Representatives calling for the election of a constitutional convention to coincide with the senatorial elections in 2013 for the purpose of amending the constitution.

He was, of course, just fol-lowing up on House Resolution No. 8 filed by his former mas-ter Arroyo on the very first day of Congress that called for the convening of a constitutional convention, which was co-au-thored by her son, Camarines Sur Rep. Dato Arroyo.

The funny thing about it is that Evardonne and his fellow new Liberals (is there any dif-ference really, Philippine pol-itics being populated by turn-coats and opportunists?) are now using Aquino’s populari-ty to push an agenda that have been rejected time and again as a move to perpetuate Arroyo in power. Evardonne said that now that Aquino’s trust rating remains at an all-time high, it is the best time to tackle pro-posed amendments to the Con-stitution.

The good thing, though, is that Aquino and House Speak-er Sonny Belmonte are not buying it. Aquino said, through his spokesmen, that it is not one of the priorities of his ad-

ministration. Palace spokes-men added that they fear that debates on the cha-cha propos-al would distract Congress’ at-tention from his priority bills and the administration’s goal of combating poverty and cor-ruption.

Belmonte also said that cha-cha is not among the priorities of the House and that there are more urgent bills that need to be attended to by the body. He said that the issue is “time-consuming and divisive.”

Divisive is actually the key word to why cha-cha should be repulsed again, cast in cement and dropped in the Philippine Deep where it should lay for a long, long time.

The Aquino administration needs cha-cha like a hole in the head. Having just emerged from highly divisive presiden-tial elections and from nine years of abusive and corrupt leadership, the country can-not afford to plunge again into what would certainly be a highly combustible and divi-sive debate over issues that are not important at this time.

The Aquino administration must steer clear of dangerous depths and currents in its ef-forts to bring back the country on the right course. Once the cha-cha debates are reignited, the national attention would be focused again on highly politi-cal and divisive issues, instead of being concentrated on the two biggest problems at hand — the worsening poverty and corruption.

It doesn’t matter if new eco-nomic policies are put in place, or a new form of government installed as long as the whole political system remains cor-rupt, the country will still not move forward. I fully agree with Vice President Jojo Bi-nay that it is not the constitu-tion that is the problem, but a lack of fair and lawful enforce-ment of its provisions.

Even if some of the propo-nents have good intentions, such as former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, there is always the danger that some ill-inten-tioned individuals and groups would take the opportunity to amend the constitution to suit their ends. Arroyo and her al-lies, for example, would cer-tainly use all their resources (and they are definitely close to unlimited) to push a shift to parliamentary form of govern-ment or removal of term lim-its on the president and other elective officials, in both cases allowing Arroyo to take a sec-ond chance at power.

The U.S. will also definitely grab at a chance to bring back its bases in the country and foreign interests can lobby for removing limitations to foreign investments and land owner-ship. Powerful families can re-move restrictions on political dynasties or the provisions on agrarian reform.

In other words, reviving cha-cha would open a can of worms, a Pandora’s box, so to speak. The vultures would again be lurking while the peo-ple continue to suffer from the pangs of poverty.

There will be time to amend the constitution, if there really is an urgent need for it. But at this time, it would do well for the government to keep its fo-cus on its fight against poverty and corruption, and veer away from divisive and destructive political exercise.

The people had hoped so much that Aquino would be different from his predecessor and failing them again could mean irreversible consequenc-es.

E-mail Val Ablegas at valabel-gas@aol.com

Val Abelgas

On Distant Shore

“'I have always imagined that Paradise will be some kind of library.”

— Jorge luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine librar-ian, writer, essayist, professor and poet, Borges was also di-rector of Argentina’s National Public Library

Borges’ quote, in sever-al languages, greets vis-itors entering the Na-

tional City Public Library and is just one of the many inspir-ing features of the institution. As a lifelong, card-carrying member of public libraries, I have often echoed Borges' sentiment when pondering paradise.

So, when I noticed an open-ing on the National City Li-brary Board of Trustees was coming up this year, the op-portunity struck me as a no-brainer. Besides my eight years in the Air Force, I’ve never been much of a civic volunteer (a fact I am some-what ashamed of, but often as-cribe as a conflict of interest in my career as a journalist). But I was impressed with the city’s library (that it had one of its own at all was a pleas-ant surprise), its design, com-fort and collection. Because I’ve always considered public libraries among our greatest national assets — and a sort of free university — I was elated with my new library. Even in this age of technology, if the li-brary weren’t free, I’d gladly pay admission.

The process was simple, the requirements few: Be a resident of National City and a registered voter. Fill out a simple application, deliver it to the city clerk and you’re a candidate. I was certain that appointees, however, were longtime residents with clear bonafides, but no length of residence was specified, only a desire to serve. Relevant qualifications are a bonus, but a willingness to volunteer of-ten overrides any particular qualifications.

That said, the city clerk in-formed me when I dropped off my application that can-didates must appear at a city council meeting for a public interview. “Nothing to sweat,” he said with a smile. “Just show up, introduce yourself and tell the council a little bit about yourself and why you want to serve.”

Again, a no-brainer. As a career journalist, I’d relied upon public libraries as a sec-ond office, a space filled with information and dedicated,

humble servants ready and willing to aide me in my fre-quent quest for knowledge. All free of charge. Why not give back? It was the right oppor-tunity at the right time and I sincerely wanted to repay the many gifts the library had giv-en me.

Of course, the “interview” gave me pause, regardless of the city clerk’s attempt to put me at ease. As a reporter, I’ve covered many city coun-cil meetings in many towns and cities and ’ve always felt a certain professional require-ment to regard politicians — especially local politicians — with a detachment. Add to that a natural aversion to pub-lic speaking and I considered backing out up until the very moment when I wandered over to city hall.

Any case of nerves quick-ly disappeared. The chambers were familiar, similar to any council chambers in any town in America: The semi-circular council dais, the podium, the framed photo of the president. I hadn’t found it necessary to cover a local council meeting yet, but I was back in my el-ement.

The crowd was familiar, too. Change their names and faces, and you’d find similar citizens at every city council meeting every week in every town in America. To the coun-cil, most of the faces are very familiar. There’s not shortage of former politicians lurking in the audience ready to tweak their successors (especially so soon after an election), nor is there a lack of citizens with an ax to grind, a pothole to point

out or a grievance to air. The public forum session of any council meeting can be trying for elected officials, but it is amusing for the au-dience, comic relief during an often tedious evening of dry mechanics. And, these days, sometimes scary.

In the wake of the mur-derous actions of the un-hinged fringe that have sur-faced recently — a Florida man caught live on cam-era firing almost point black into a school board meeting; the senseless, tragic killing spree at a Tucson super-market where U.S. Rep. Ga-brielle Giffords was hosting a “meet your congressper-son” event — I am now more acutely aware of any off-beat behavior in pub-lic forums. What had once seemed harmless and amus-ing, if exhausting, rants by some “concerned” citizens now occurs alarming, if not downright dangerous.

Nevertheless, this partic-ular meeting went off with-out a hitch. Luckily, each citizen has only three min-utes to speak their peace before the buzzer sounds. When my name was called, I approached the coun-cil, introduced myself and made my case for a seat on the library board. My brief remarks were, I felt, well-received and I exited the chambers on Tuesday eve-ning with the feeling you get when you've done some-thing selfless. There’s noth-ing quite as satisfying.

I did not, however, leave with an appointment. One more session on Jan. 25 will conclude the interviews be-fore decisions are made. But, as I promised the coun-cil, regardless of the out-come, I will continue to sup-port my local public library as both a patron and as ed-itor of this paper. Like vot-ing, I consider it a duty — and a privilege.

As a familar phrase goes, “What price paradise?” In this case: Free.

E-mail Filipino Press Editor Bill Ramsey at editor@filipi-nopress.com.

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Cha-cha? Here we go again

Jesse Reyes

The administration needs cha-cha like a hole in the head. Having just emerged from highly divisive presidential elections and from nine years of abusive and corrupt leadership, the country cannot afford to plunge again into a debate over issues that are not important.

Commentary

Bill Ramsey

BambooBasement

What price paradise? A love letter to my library

Because I’ve always considered public libraries among our greatest national assets — and a sort of free university — I was elated with my new library. Even in this age of technology, if the library weren’t free, I’d gladly pay admission.

“There is a mistaken notion among some that to own a paper is to have a license to clobber one’s enemies and attack people we don’t like. A newspaper is an information tool to reach a large number of people at a given time.

A newspaper should inform, educate, entertain and provide viewpoints that could give us the means to make intelligent decisiions for ourselves and others.” — ernie Flores Jr., Founding editor and publisher

January 15-21, 2011 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com 7

Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska who was vice-presidential

running mate of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, is in the cross-hairs of U.S. opinion-makers.

Last fall, on her website, Palin featured 20 congressio-nal districts targeted for Re-publican takeover in the No-vember mid-term elections. To dramatize her point, she showed the Democratic mem-bers of Congress on cross hairs. Among them was U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Ar-izona.

Last Saturday, Giffords was shot in the head by a lone gun-man who also killed six others and wounded 14 in the shoot-ing rampage. This happened at a shopping center in Tuc-son, Ariz., where Giffords had set up a booth at which she met with her constituents. Giffords is still in critical condition but has shown signs of slow recov-ery.

President Barack Obama and Washington officialdom paused for a moment of silence last Monday, as they and the rest of America struggled to understand what could have prompted 22-year-old Jared Loughner to go on the killing spree.

There are indications that Loughner had purposely sought out Giffords. Accord-ing to government prosecu-tors, before he took a taxi to the shopping center, he had scrawled on an envelope the words “my assassination” and “Giffords.”

While the gunman is re-ported to have a history of mental instability, some opin-ion-makers are wondering if the rampage may have been

triggered by the increasing-ly inflammatory rhetoric be-ing employed by conservative talk radio hosts, as well as Sar-ah Palin, during her election campaign sorties and in sub-sequent media appearances.

Palin does have a tendency to be over-dramatic, making up for lack of substance with motherhood statements and hellfire-and-damnation rheto-ric. But Palin’s language is be-nign compared to that used by conservative talk radio com-mentators who, almost liter-ally, call for the scalp of those they consider liberals.

As a result of the Arizo-na shooting, some Democrat-ic lawmakers are considering new legislation that would in-clude members of Congress in current laws that restrict im-ages and language that threat-en the president. U.S. Rep. Robert Brady, Decmocrat from Pennsylvania, is said to be preparing a bill that would outlaw the use of threatening language against lawmakers.

Is there a red flag here for Philippine public officials who have become targets of the in-creasingly vitriolic rhetoric of radio and TV commentators and newspaper columnists?

I don't think so. If we are to go by past experience, it is unlikely that the average Pi-noy will be agitated enough by commentaries to be motivated to assassinate any public offi-

cial, even those who have be-come virtual media whipping boys, like the members of the Supreme Court.

In fact, in the Philippines, the reverse is true. The pub-lic officials are the ones who are known to liquidate me-dia commentators and opinion makers, as well as political en-emies.

The assassination of Pak-istani Prime Minister Bena-zir Bhutto wouldn’t have hap-pened in the Philippines. Pinoys do not seem to have the kind of temperament that would drive us to pick up a gun and hunt down and kill a public official, no matter how corrupt or incompetent.

We love to make loud nois-es against crooked public offi-cials, but in the course of our railing and ranting, we let off steam and, subsequently, lose interest.

In the first place, it takes us a long, long time to get really outraged over even the most brazen official abuses. Small wonder, it took centuries be-fore we could mount a revolu-tion and sustain it enough to achieve a measure of success.

In the case of Marcos, it took a combination of Ninoy Aquino’s assassination, the breakaway of Ramos and En-rile, the rhetoric of Cardinal Sin and the support of civil so-ciety for the EDSA revolution to explode.

But, even in this histor-ic display of People Power, which awed and impressed the entire world, we could not sus-tain our passion enough to see genuine reforms through and to punish those whom we per-ceived to have abused us.

Indeed, we seem incapa-ble of the passion and the fa-naticism that characterized the French Revolution. I don’t think anyone of us can imag-ine lining up official thieves and plunderers at the guillo-tine.

This is what makes us such a remarkable people. We are imbued with the talent for hospitality and friendliness, the virtue of charity and com-passion, the inability to hold a grudge, the readiness to for-give and forget.

The politicians have a word for it: “Uto-uto.”

I can’t think of the Eng-lish equivalent for that word. But it means being easily led around by the nose, sold a bill of goods, made happy and sat-isfied with consuelo de bobo, and fried in our own lard.

Even our commentators and opinion-makers in media are like that. You can count on the fingers of one hand those can sustain their outrage against such obvious objects of disdain as Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The politicians and pub-lic officials know this only too well. They know that no mat-ter how grievous their abuses may be, they can always count on the Pinoys to forgive and eventually to forget.

Thus, they have no com-punction about plundering the country and committing all kinds of violations against the citizenry. They know that af-ter all the sound and the fury,

the people will cool down, lose interest and even forget what it was they got so mad about. And, thus, the politicians know that they can plunder and in-flict abuses all over again.

In America, I’m often asked to explain the psychology of the Pinoy.

How can we stage a revolu-tion and drive leaders out of the country for having abused us and robbed us blind and then welcome them back and elect them to high office again?

How can we eject a suppos-edly corrupt and incompetent president like Erap Estrada and then give him the second highest number of votes in the last presidential elections?

How can we accuse an in-cumbent president like Arroyo of every conceivable violation of the public trust and yet al-low her to remain a power be-hind some of the most impor-tant offices in the land?

In the aftermath of the Ari-zona shooting rampage, my re-sponse is simple enough:

“Our bark is worse than our bite.”

No wonder we are abused over and over and over again.

E-mail Greg Macabenta at gregmacabenta@hotmail.com.

Could Giffords tragedy happen in the Philippines?Pinoys do not seem to have the kind of temperament that would drive us to pick up a gun and hunt down and kill a public official, no matter how corrupt or incompetent.

Greg B. Macabenta

Street Talk

What does the Scrip-ture say about God? It says God is om-

nipotent, omniscient, om-nipresent — all attributes which are solely His. He is each of these and all of these at the same time. Man’s belief is rooted in God’s inspired words: “I am the Word, the Truth and the Life.”

Webster defines omnip-otent as almighty, all-pow-erful, all-encompassing au-thority, with dominion over all form and matter.

Omnipotent: He reigns in the universe and all legiti-mate authority derives from Him. His power and might were demonstrated at the time of creation. Then the universe had no form. The heavens and the earth were void. There was eerie empti-ness. Then God put things in order.

All these took into form and God saw they were good. Then He created man and woman into His likeness and let them rule the earth and ordered them to increase and multiply.

To prove His power, God, through His Son Jesus Christ, created wondrous miracles. He cured lepers, caused the blinds to see, raised the dead back to life, multiplied loaves of bread to feed thou-sands, made water into wine, and much more.

Omniscient: This refers to the universal knowledge of God — the quality of know-ing all things at once — un-bounded and infinite knowl-edge about everything and anything. He knows our thoughts, our feelings, our desires. He is familiar with you and me, every one on this planet, six billion of us, down to the minutest and in-timate details.

Man’s knowledge when compared to God’s can only be described as insignifi-cant, minuscule. Even with the advance of science and technology, man has barely scratched the surface of what could be known. Knowledge are stored on Wikipedia is but a microscopic portion of God’s mind. These facts will give us pause if we dwell on them.

Omnipresence: Omni-presence is a term that re-fers to God’s presence every-where and anywhere at the same time. It is “unbound-ed and universal” presence. God revealed Himself in Psalm 139:7-8: “Where else could I go from your sight? Where could I flee from your presence? You are there if I ascend the heavens; you are there if I descend to the depths.”

In those bushwhacked country trails where we reg-ularly go hiking we could feel the presence of God. As we sit alone in our thoughts we could feel God’s breath in the buzz of bees, the chirp-ing of birds, the twitters of squirrels in the foliage. It’s a place to savor quietness and to ease a burden. And who could have created those tiny creatures crawling un-der your feet living their own lives?

Then God in His infinite wisdom had created such awesome wonders. His im-age is mirrored in the clus-ter of trees, on the crests of mountain ranges, ripples of placid seas, murmur of riv-ulets, in the bud that opens, in the bird that sings, in the glow of dawn and sunset — all beckoning "Come to me all who are laden and will give you rest."

God is our Comforter, our Savior, our Redeemer. Nay, he is more than that.

God is omnipotent, omni-scient, omnipresent. These are the three “O”s of God.

Spiritual Word Rudy M. Viernes

The three ‘O’s of God

Arlington National Ceme-tery stands as a dramat-ic and constant remind-

er of the costs of freedom. It is a place of overwhelming his-tory where every visit offers a lesson.

When you pass alongside the rows and rows of simple stan-dard white gravemarkers and read the appellations, you sud-denly see beyond the names the faces of living Americans — moving, looking, touching, whispering — and in their midst your own face is reflect-ed in the shining marble slab. It seems to say, their war was not theirs alone, it is all of ours — if you wish peace, do love and remember them.

The best known of the more than 100 national cemeter-ies in the United States, the green slopes of Arlington shel-ter veterans from every war that involved the nation. More than 290,000 servicemen and their family members rest on the 624 acres of Virginia soil across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial. About 24 burials are conducted daily.

All who are remembered here have this in common: service to their country. To each one, no matter what rank or station, whether decorat-ed hero or unknown, belongs a place of honor. Though the majority of those buried here have been servicemen, many women who have also served our Armed Forces are also in-terred within these hallowed grounds.

The granite and marble markers and memorials re-flect the tides of American his-tory, beginning with the Civ-il War and cresting since in times of armed conflict. The sinking of the USS Maine at Havana harbor, Cuba, in 1898 touched off the Spanish-Amer-ican War and added graves of sailors near the salvaged mast of the ship. Like that of the troops who served under his command, the headstone for John J. Pershing, World War I’s general of the armies, is a

simple standard-issue marker. World War II is represented by such distinguished soldiers as Medal of Honor recipient Aud-ie Murphy and Gen. George C. Marshall. From the frozen fields of Korea and the steam-ing jungles of Vietnam came the remains of other veterans to this sacred spot. Cape Cod stones frame the eternal flame at the grave of President John F. Kennedy, where the words, “with history the final judge of our deeds…” are quoted from his inaugural address.

Symbols of human struggle and sacrifice, the stones and monuments of Arlington Na-tional Cemetery are steeped in history. In their time, all buried here, taken from many walks of life, creeds, and rac-es, answered their country’s call.

Indeed, it is fairly safe to presume that every genuine American servicemen and women’s fondest wish was to be buried in Arlington Na-tional Cemetery — what many consider America’s most sanc-tified ground — a place “where valor proudly sleeps.”

It may sound odd and really sad to say, but the day is com-ing when there will no longer be room to bury our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines on the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington has truly become the most sacred ground in the United States, and rightly so, although the vision at its be-ginning certainly didn’t pre-dict it would happen that way.

The sacredness of the ground is agreed upon; there is no doubt about that. There is no other cemetery in the na-tion that has heroes from ev-

ery war or conflict since the Revolutionary War. And while that is Arlington’s past, its fu-ture may be uncertain. It’s hard to imagine that many of the honor guard members who are lay members of the armed forces to rest today may not have a place in the same dedi-cated grounds when their time comes. But when you make that realization, it does put things into a different per-spective — and so this humble reflection of mine.

As a Vietnam-era Navy veteran whose military ser-vice began here in the finest city of America — San Diego — Rosecrans National Ceme-tery has been so meaningful to me, too. It’s always been so beautifully maintained, its lo-cation so awe-inspiring. Over the years I’ve always gone there,especially when we have out-of-town visitors. You can feel the respect and the so-lemnity on the grounds. If it weren’t so well taken care off and in such a reverential site overlooking the bay, a visi-tor for the first time, come to think of it, wouldn’t have the time to reason about the sac-rifices of the people who are buried there or ponder the his-torical significance of it all.

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery ran out of space and was closed to casket burials in 1966, although it remains ac-tive with casketed internments of family members of those currently interred and inurn-ments of cremated remains. So, for military veterans of San Diego like me, Riverside National Cemetery, located ap-proximately 90 miles from to the north, was, until now, the nearest cemetery offering full

burial options.I know the effort to estab-

lish a new national cemetery in San Diego had been under way for at least a decade. Go-ing through the largest expan-sion since the Civil War, the new cemetery at Miramar is the 13th national cemetery the Veterans Affairs Department has opened in the last nine years. No doubt the building boom in national cemeteries is a result of the aging veteran population and the Veterans Affairs Department’s attempt to locate the graveyards with-in 75 miles of large concentra-tions of veterans.

Construction of the 313-acre Miramar cemetery, designed as a series of gardens set into rolling hills of scrub be-gan earlier last year. The first phase, expected to be complet-ed this year at a cost of more than $20 million, will include approximately 11,500 casket grave sites, 4,900 in-ground cremation sites, 10,000 colum-barium niches, an administra-tion building and maintenance complex, two funeral service shelters and a public assembly area.

Miramar National Ceme-tery was consecrated by prac-titioners of seven faiths who blessed the hallowed ground where a new generation of combat veterans will eventu-ally be buried.

Cmdr. Ronald A. Ritter, a retired Navy chaplain who hosted the sanctification cer-emony, paid his respect at the veterans’ grave sites. “This will be going on here long af-ter you and I are gone,” he said.

“This is a special day for California’s veterans. By building a national shrine in San Diego, we will provide a final resting place and lasting tribute to the men and women who have faithfully served our nation,” said Secretary of Vet-erans Affairs Eric K. Shinse-ki during the official opening ceremony.

Many in San Diego’s naval

aviation community will ap-preciate the location near the airfield, said Kirk Leopard, director of the new cemetery and the one at Fort Rosecrans. “There is a lot affiliation with the Marine Corps Air Station and the old Naval Air Station. The Top Gun school used to be here,” he said. “A lot of people from the military have a spe-cial connection to Miramar.”

Army Maj. Dominador Ya-capin, a Vietnam War veter-an and former paratrooper, told his family he wanted to be buried in the ground in a “sol-dier’s grave,” with planes fly-ing overhead from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

After he died in 2008 at age 68, his widow saved his re-mains in a place of honor in their Santee home. Yacapin was originally from Hawaii, so his relatives paid their re-spects with flower leis or, after a trip to the beach, seashells placed on the small box of ash-es for lack of a grave, said his wife, Magrit Yacapin.

Magrit was finally able to honor her husband’s wish-es when San Diego’s new Mi-ramar National Cemetery opened for its first burials. Ya-capin was among the four ser-vice members and a relative whose cremated remains were laid to rest in the ground dur-ing a ceremony with full mili-tary honors.

“He was a soldier, and when you see the soldiers’ graves all together, it is something spe-cial,” Magrit said. “He want-ed to be with his comrades. He loved the military.”

During the ceremony, a Ma-rine Corps plane circled si-lently in a large arc across the sky, a helicopter skimmed low over the nearby air station and a fighter jet rumbled overhead. Military honors included a ri-fle salute and the playing of “Taps.”

It didn’t go unnoticed, and it never will.

Yes, it’s Miramar National Cemetery.

Lest we forget.

Miramar National Cemetery new hallowed groundJesse T. Reyes

Filipino Potpourri

8 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com January 15-21, 2011

January is Cervical Health Month, a valuable opportuni-ty to raise public awareness about the importance of pre-vention, screening and treat-ment of cervical cancer.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 12,000 wom-en in the United States are di-agnosed with cervical cancer each year. Sadly, this disease claims the lives of 4,000 wom-en annually.

“Routine well-woman ex-ams are the best defense against cervical cancer,” said Dr. Katharine Sheehan, med-ical cirector at Planned Par-enthood of the Pacific South-west.

“Because Planned Parent-hood is most often associat-ed with contraceptive servic-es many people aren’t aware that we are one of the largest providers of cervical cancer screening in California,” she said. “Not only does Planned Parenthood provide no-to-low-cost breast and cervical health screenings, we also offer Gar-dasil, the vaccine which re-duces the risk of contracting the highly contagious Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer.”

The CDC estimates that at least half of all adults in the United States will contract HPV at some point. Because the virus is contagious, it is wise for women to have a cer-vical cancer screening on a regular basis.

“From age 21, women with no history of abnormalities should have an exam every two years,” said Sheehan. “Af-ter 30, it’s every three years if no changes in cervical health have been detected. A repro-ductive health care provider, who is familiar with an indi-vidual’s medical history, is the best resource for a woman.”

Prevention and early de-tection of cancer precursors are keys to saving lives. Ear-ly signs of cervical abnormal-ities and effective treatments of such conditions are treated at Planned Parenthood health centers.

For more information or to make an appointment visit planned.org or call 1-888-743-7526 (PLAN).

Prevention, awareness highlight of Cervical Health Month in January

SAN DIEGO — A new law requir-ing middle and high school students to be vaccinated against whooping cough will go into effect for the 2011-12 school year, the county’s Health and Human Services Agency recent-ly reported. This requirement will help prevent outbreaks such as the current one that brought the highest number of pertussis cases to Califor-nia in 50 years.

Beginning July 1, all students en-tering 7th through 12th grades in both public and private schools must show proof that they have had a Tdap booster shot before they can start school. Schools have been informed there will be no grace period and that they should strictly enforce the re-quirement. Previously, the CDC rec-ommended that children receive a booster shot of Tdap vaccine at 10-11 years.

In San Diego County, two infants died of complications resulting from pertussis and confirmed whooping cough cases reached a total of 1,106 by year’s end. The total includes nine cases in the last week at sites where other children may have been ex-posed. The number of cases in 2010 nearly tripled the previous record of 371 cases in 2005. In 2009, the region reported 143 confirmed cases of per-tussis.

“The Tdap booster is important because it offers adolescents protec-tion from the highly contagious dis-ease after the childhood pertussis im-munization protection wanes,” said

Dr. Dean Sidelinger, county deputy public health officer. “Parents should make it their New Year’s resolution to get a booster shot for their middle or high school child before July 1 to ensure there is no delay in enrolling students for the fall term.”

Parents can get the vaccine from their primary care physician. Res-idents who do not have health care coverage may visit a HHSA Public Health Center.

The CDC also recommends that children get one dose of DTaP vac-cine at the following ages: 2 months; 4 months; 6 months; 15 to 18 months and 4 to 6 years.

The California Department of Pub-lic Health recommends a pertussis booster vaccine (Tdap) for everyone 10 years or older who has not yet re-ceived it, especially women of child-bearing age, before, during, or im-mediately after pregnancy; and other people, including household contacts, caregivers, and health care work-ers, who have contact with pregnant women or infants. Children 7-9 years of age who did not receive all of their routine childhood shots are recom-mended to receive a Tdap booster dose.

A typical case of pertussis in chil-dren and adults starts with a cough and runny nose for one-to-two weeks, followed by weeks to months of rapid coughing fits that sometimes end with a whooping sound. Fever, if present, is usually mild. The disease is treat-able with antibiotics.

School shotsNew law requires whooping cough vaccination for 2011-12 school year

January 15-21, 2011 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com 9

SAN DIEGO — On Tues-day, Jan. 18, the Rock Cancer C.A.R.E. ministry and organi-zation will kick start the new year with the grand opening of their new office space in San Diego. The ribbon-cutting and grand-opening event will take place from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Rock Cancer C.A.R.E. is not just an organization, but also one of the fastest growing min-istries of the Rock Church in San Diego. With over 150,000 new cancer cases in California alone and 15,000 people diag-nosed with cancer in San Di-ego each year, the center ex-ists to provide compassionate, spiritual and emotional sup-port while connecting cancer patients, caregivers and survi-vors to available resources to help them cope with the affects of cancer.

The center's 200 volunteers help transport patients to their treatments, pray with them, provide financial assistance, tutor, deliver meals and much more. They fill in the spiritual and physical gaps that medical insurance does not cover.

The center is one of 100 ministries at the Rock that are part of the “Do Something World” vision founded by Pas-tor Miles McPherson. McPher-son founded the campaign to bring people together and take action to directly transform the lives of the people and of San Diego, and the world. He will be the official ribbon-cut-ter at the grand-opening event, giving his blessing on the office doors and a quick speech about this ministry.

“We are so excited with the

opportunity to take Rock Can-cer C.A.R.E. to a new level and have an office space to expand and grow not only our employ-ees, but daily duties and envi-ronment as well … it’s truly a dream come true” said RCC Founder, Tamela Reed.

“I feel blessed and honored to be able to take Mile McPher-son’s ‘Do Something World” vi-sion and contribute to it reach-ing past the church doors and into the community,” she said.

The afternoon will consist of catering from Bonnie Jeans Soul Food and The Village Crossroad. Two new initiatives will also be announced day of:

• The Gourmet Meals on Wheels Program in partner-ship with executive chef Neil

Shepler.• Finding Faith in the Face

of Cancer benefit calendar, featuring cancer survivors of RCC.

• The introduction of RCC's founder, Tamela A. Reed's book, “Recipes for Healing,” which provides cancer pa-tients with hope and reassur-ance during the battle with cancer

VIPs from around the com-munity, church members, pas-toral team, volunteers and media are expected to be in at-tendance.

For more information on the grand-opening event or for more information on Rock Cancer C.A.R.E. visit www.rockcancercare.org.

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10 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com January 15-21, 2011

When I first visited the Center for Nonvio-lent Social Change in

Atlanta in 1994, I picked up a book that contains more than 120 excerpts from the speech-es, sermons and writings of Martin Luther King Jr.

I would like to share some of these words of wisdom and in-spiration as America pauses to observe his birthday on Mon-day, Jan. 17. It will be recalled that following the passage of Public Law 98-144, President Ronald Reagan signed a proc-lamation declaring the third Monday in January of each year a public holiday in honor of the birthday of Martin Lu-ther King Jr.

Here are some of King’s pro-found thoughts on faith, love, and service:

• “There is so much frus-tration in the world because we have relied on gods rather than God. We have genuflected before the god of science only to find that it has given us the atomic bomb, producing fears and anxieties that science can never mitigate. We have wor-shiped the god of pleasure only to discover that thrills play out and sensations are short-lived. We have bowed before the god of money only to learn that there are such things as love and friendship that money can-not buy. These transitory gods are not able to save or bring happiness to the human heart. Only God is able. It is faith in Him that we must rediscover.”

• “So I say this to you, seek God and discover Him and make Him a power in your life. Without Him, all of our efforts turn to ashes and our sunris-es into darkest nights. With-out Him, life is a meaningless drama with the decisive scenes missing. But with Him we are

able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. With Him we are able to rise from the midnight of des-peration to the daybreak of joy. St. Augustine was right — we

are made for God and we will be restless until we find rest in Him.”

• “Love yourself, if that means rational, healthy and moral self-interest. You are commanded to do that. That is the length of life. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. You are commanded to that. That is the breadth of life. But never forget that there is a first and even greater command-ment, ‘Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy mind.’ This is the height of life. And when you do this you live the com-plete life.”

• “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all hu-manity.”

• “We must develop and maintain the capacity to for-give. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our ene-mies.”

• “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive self-ishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and ur-gent question is, “What are you doing for others?”

Aurora Soriano-Cudal

My Personal Testimony

Just as surely as some things can change in an instant — with a single

phone call or with one word — some things take much longer to change.

Changing an attitude can take a long time. If you have been reared in a culture of prejudice and hatred toward people who are different from you ethnically, racially, reli-giously or socially, you may have already discovered how difficult it is to outgrow those feelings of hatred and preju-dice. Don’t give up. Give peo-ple a chance. Ignore the color of their skin. Forget about their accent. Just love them.

If you have been abused, hurt or taken advantage of to such an extent that your trust has been damaged and your confidence in people has been weakened, you are probably aware of the fact that getting beyond that hurt is taking lon-ger than you ever dreamed it would take. It starts with for-giveness. Forgiveness will take time. It will be difficult. It will not make sense sometimes. Stay with it. It will be worth it.

If you have experienced loss (death, divorce, betrayal) you have already learned that the healing process takes longer than we expect and much lon-ger that we prefer. We want to get beyond our grief immedi-ately, if we have to deal with it at all. You need to allow your-self to grieve. But grief must do the work that grief does. Don’t stop it. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to cry. It’s nor-mal to feel angry at times. It will get better.

Breaking a habit can be a slow process. I’ve heard people who have not had a cigarette in 20 years admit that they still experience the craving as

strong as ever when stress lev-els rise, when they get a whiff of someone else’s smoke or af-ter a good meal. Those addict-ed to alcohol, food or pornog-raphy share similar struggles. And if you have ever struggled with the use of bad language, even if it was years ago, you may still need to control the urge to “let it fly” when you are cut off in traffic, encoun-ter an interference or inter-ruption to your plans or mis-place your keys. Some things change slowly. With persis-tence, a lot of prayer, moving at a little slower pace, and en-couragement from people who love us a lot of progress can be made.

Traditions change slow-ly (if they can be changed at all). If you know what I’m talk-ing about, there is no need for explanation. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, there is probably no explanation that will make sense. If you do know what I’m talking about, no explanation is needed. Churches change slowly. With

patience, lots of understanding and good listening skills can go a long way toward the growth process.

Relationships that have been damaged cannot always be healed quickly. It may take a lot of time, a lot of energy and a lot of understanding. Re-lationships that have been sev-ered may even take a lot lon-ger to restore. But the proper care and attention the broken-ness can be mended.

Some things change slow-ly. Some things change in the blink of an eye. Change is a part of being alive and part of being God’s creation. Change can be frightening. Change can make us feel that the world around us is shak-ing and about to crumble. But remember, we are part of “A kingdom that cannot be shak-en.”

“The words ‘once more’ in-dicate the removing of what can be shaken — that is, creat-ed things — so that what can-not be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are re-ceiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God accept-ably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’” (Hebrews 12:27-29)

With the assurance that God is always near, always kind, al-ways gracious, always just and always loving, we can embrace the changes we face with confi-dence and hope.

Danny Hernaez

From Whom All Blessings Flow

A kingdom that cannot be shaken

Some things change slowly. Some things change in the blink of an eye. Change is a part of of being alive and part of being God’s creation.

Profound thoughts of MLKRemembering ate Remy

Samahan Clinic’s ‘mother and mentor’By Fe SeligmanFilipino Press

Someone once said that the true worth and val-ue of a person is of-

ten known by how one is remembered posthumous-ly. Remy Magbanua, who died of skin cancer on Nov. 29, 2010, is still revered by those she left behind — her Samahan Clinic family. “Ate Remy,” as she was fondly known, was a mother and a teacher to many workers at the clinic. Though harsh with her words at times, she was dearly loved.

“When I started at Sa-mahan way back in August 1992, Ate Remy was the one who taught me everything I needed to know at the clin-ic,” said Acelita Cunanan, a medical assistant at the clin-ic. “She molded me into the person that I am.”

Samahan Clinic is a com-munity clinic founded by the Filipino community 36 years ago. Cunanan is one of the clinic’s hard-work-ing and highly detail-ori-ented staffers. She attribut-ed those traits to Ate Remy’s strict tutelage. Cunanan said there were times when she didn’t want to go to work be-cause she thought Remy was

picking on her. “Little did I know that she cared so much about Samahan Clinic and her work,” Cunanan said. “It wasn’t personal. She was like that to everybody.”

“Ate Remy was the clin-ic’s gatekeeper,” said Amy Tenchavez, Samahan Clin-ic’s accounting assistant. “She trained at least three generations of workers here at the clinic, starting with me.”

Samahan Clinic has be-come a family to many of its employees, some who have worked there since 1977. Tenchavez was barely 16 when she began working at Samahan. Ate Remy was her first mentor.

“It was difficult at first to be under her,” she said. “I thought she was always picking on me. She would al-ways point out all my mis-takes when I thought I was doing well. But now, I know better. She was teaching me how to be detail-orient-ed and was not patient with slackers.”

Tenchavez holds a key po-sition at the clinic, which re-lies greatly on her ability to be accurate with her finan-cial entries, and she is grate-ful to Ate Remy for instilling those skills in her. Essen-tially, it was Ate Remy’s high standard for punctual-

See aTe ReMY on Page 11

Remy Magbanua, seated at center, is surrounded by Samahan Clinic staff.

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

January 15-21, 2011 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com 11

part-time — and at many lev-els less than his previous job.

“I had grown to love this place. I wanted to be here,” said Vallejos, who graduated from San Diego State Univer-sity with a bachelor’s degree in marine biology and an associ-ate’s degree in aquarium and aquaculture science from Sad-dleback College.

Vallejos’ supervisor saw a lot of potential in him. He be-gan his career climb from gift shop, to manager, to managing the aquariums, operations and, most recently, chief operations officer. His longevity at the center provides a strong foun-dation for the center’s growth. This came in handy during the difficult period that fell upon the nature center.

In 2008, the center faced fi-nancial hard times. At that point, it had been part of Ch-ula Vista City’s budget, which was looking for savings. The city had to cut somewhere. The community wanted to keep the public safety budget intact, so the nature center became an early target. But the may-or created a task force to see how the nature center could be saved. Consequently, it was placed under the city’s parks and recreation department. Unfortunately, the move was not feasible and the next round of city budget cuts proved dire.

In 2010, the city found it could no longer afford to keep the nature center within its budget. The Chula Vista Na-ture Center was on the verge of closing its doors.

“Our operating budget un-der the City of Chula Vista was $1.2 million,” said Vallejos. “When the center was funded by the city, we had 12 full-time employees. When the budget was cut, eight staff left. The center survived because of the commitment of volunteers.

“We were left with four em-ployees who took on the extra

tasks and were committed to making things work. The vol-unteers became the lifeline.”

On Feb. 5, 2010, Vallejos and the three other remain-ing staff erwere officially laid-off by the City of Chula Vista. There was enough public out-cry and support to warrant try-ing to keep the doors open. It was apparent that without city backing, funding to contin-ue center operations would be a major challenge. The casu-al fundraising committee be-came the operating board. It was decided that Chula Vis-ta Nature Center would be-come a public nonprofit entity. Major fundraising, long-term partnership and rebuilding be-came the focus.

“People asked why I didn’t leave the center,” Vallejos said. “I could have gone oth-er places, but I wanted to stay. I was committed to making things work here. We had a core of very good staff and vol-unteers who were passionate about keeping the doors open.”

Last year was a year of ma-jor operational rebuilding for the center. It was able to gar-ner partnerships and sponsor-ships from San Diego com-panies such as the Birch Aquarium and SDG&E. Two anonymous donors gave large gifts and many supporters gave what they could.

“In the last six months we earned over $400,000,” said Vallejos. “Within the last 10

months, we were able to hire good staff. We have a good foundation for growth with a new director of development, great boardmembers and we continue to have wonderful, committed volunteers — and we have new programs.

“We’re expecting to operate with a deficit during the next three years, but there’s hope. We plan to earn $800,000 this year.”

Since the Chula Vista Na-ture Center became a nonprof-it, attendance has increased by 40 percent. They’ve relied on creativity in developing pro-grams, such as the youth edu-cational day camp and a part-nership with artists to create glass art to complement the sea life.

The center capitalizes on the unique history of the marsh-lands, which the center sits on, and the interesting past and personalities of the animal am-bassadors, such as the Ameri-can bald eagle sent to live here after a crippling injury that took half of its left wing; and its neighbor, the golden eagle, the national bird of Mexico, who was found with advanced ar-thritis and unable to fly.

The center has not spent any money on major marketing ef-forts, but they’ve done excep-tionally well with a passionate marketing committee consist-ing of volunteers from the San Diego Zoo, Birch Aquarium, Legoland’s Sea Life Aquarium and other organizations.

Volunteers at all levels con-tinue to be the cornerstone of the Chula Vista Nature Cen-ter and it continues to attract young volunteers like Julie and Roberto, both high school stu-dents who visited the nature center during middle school, fell in love with the place and pursued volunteer positions as animal docents as soon as each turned 16 years old.

“I was like them,” said Vallejos. “I came here. I fell in love with the place — and here I am.”

is urging anyone interested in keeping AAPI communities to-gether to attend the next CA-PAFR community meeting where community members will consider possible ways to draw electoral district bound-aries.

The community meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Jan 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Alliant International Uni-versity’s Green Hall, 10455 Pomerado Road.

Those interested in attend-ing should RSVP by e-mail to phooper@qhlawyers.com or info@scapal.org.

Questions about the com-mission and CAPAFR’s re-districting work in San Di-ego County should be directed to Pam Hooper, president of SCAPAL, who can be reached at (858) 752-2220 or by e-mail at phooper@qhlawyers.com or info@scapal.org.

For general information about CAPAFR or the sched-ule of CAPAFR meetings in other counties within Califor-nia, visit www.capafr.org.

New commissionersThe 14 commissioners are:• gabino aguirre of Ventu-

ra County is a Latino-Ameri-can Democrat.

• Maria Blanco of Los Ange-les County is a Latino-Ameri-can Democrat.

• Vincent Barabba of Santa Cruz County is a white Repub-

lican.• Cynthia Dai of San Fran-

cisco County is an Asian-American Democrat.

• Michelle Diguilio-Matz of San Joaquin County is white and declined to state party affiliation.

• Jodie Filkins Webber of Riverside County is an Asian-American Republi-can.

• Stanley Forbes of Yolo County is white and declined to state party affiliation.

• Connie galambos Mal-loy of Alameda County is an African-America and de-clined to state party affilia-tion.

• elaine Kuo of Santa Clara County is an Asian-American Democrat.

• lilbert (gil) Ontai of San Diego County is a Pacif-ic Islander Republican.

• M. andre Parvenu of Los Angeles County is an African-American and de-clined to state party affilia-tion.

• Jeanne Raya of Los An-geles County is a Latino-American Democrat.

• Michael Ward of Orange County is an American In-dian Republican.

• Peter Yao of Los An-geles County is an Asian-American Republican.

Additional information about each commissioner can be found at http://we-drawthelines.ca.gov/down-loads/demographic.

ENCINITAS — With the end of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, all of the world’s eyes are continue to focus on China.

The Encinitas Chamber of Commerce is offering an up-close look at the country for those who want to develop business ties or just see the sights of an ancient land.

The chamber is sponsor-ing a nine-day trip to Beijing and Shanghai in October, billing it as a business trade mission. But the trip is open to anyone interested in visit-ing China.

The trip is schedule for Oct. 17-26. Cost for non-member is $2,099 per per-son, which includes airfaire, hotels, food, tours and ad-missions. A $200 deposit re-serves space. Payment for the trip is due July 22. For more information, call the chamber at (760) 753-6041.

By Jaqueline l ReynosoPresident/CEO, National City Chamber of Commerce

Capt. Robert Mereness is an icon in our civic and business community.His

leadership in organizing the first and longest standing Sa-lute to Navy celebration in Na-tional City is still noted today. His good will to bring togeth-er business and the Navy is re-ceived with great enthusiasm, pride and respect.

The Salute to Navy celebra-tion is a time-honored event and serves as a tribute to our nation’s relationship with the Navy. Had it not been for late Mereness, we would not have the honor of continuing this tradition, now 56 years strong.

We want to send our com-mendation and deep grati-tude to the Mereness fami-

ly. Although I did not have the chance of meeting Mereness, he has left deep roots in our community that will continue to impact the lives of many.

On behalf of the National City Chamber of Commerce and the Salute to Navy Com-mittee, we want to say thank you to Mereness — a hero, a visionary, a leader and a busi-nessman — who transformed our lives in National City for decades and made in an impact throughout the United States. He left a great gift for all of us to cherish.

During World War II, Mere-ness served with the amphibi-ous forces participating in the invasions of Sicily and Saler-no before becoming a training officer at the Navy’s amphibi-ous training base at Ft. Piece, Fla. He later served in the Pa-cific aboard amphibious attack

transport ships. In 1946, Mereness was se-

lected as a public information specialist and assigned as one of the first 40 members ofto the Navy Office of Public Re-lations (also known as the “40 Thieves”).

One day, two gentlemen appeared in his office unan-nounced and unknown. Mere-ness happened to be in the outer office and invited them into his den. What they wanted were a

few Navy recruiting posters for display in their spanking new bowling alley in National City. In those days, National City got little attention, often overshad-owed by San Diego.

During the next two hours, Mereness single-handedly brainstormed them into nam-ing and organizing a Salute to Navy Week in National City. He had these two pioneers nodding their heads in excite-ment to marshalling a parade as well as a premiere includ-ing Hollywood stars. Mereness was on a roll and it was sponta-neous and without a scintilla of prior preparation. Before the meeting ended, the two visitors came up with business-related activities that became integral to the salute.

Mereness’ enthusiasm was contagious. Here were two small entrepreneurs with zero

experience in the proposed project, but with Mereness’ guidance and detailed coordi-nation, they carried the event off beautifully. It was all done so well that Mereness got some calls from the San Diego aris-tocracy inquiring how all this had been generated.

Due to Mereness’ achieve-ment and foresight, Nation-al City to this day continues in fulfilling a longstanding tra-dition in conducting Nation-al City’s Salute to Navy week. The National City Chamber of Commerce proudly holds the first and longest running event of its kind in the United States.

Cities across the nation have joined in saluting the Navy, in-cluding Salt Lake City, Okla-homa City, Baltimore, Oma-ha, Kansas City, St. Louis, San Diego, Boston, New York City, Pensacola and Corpus Christi.

ity, accuracy and loyalty that rubbed some employees the wrong way. But among those who knew her intimately, they reckoned that behind the stern look and attitude was a person who they could draw strength and courage from.

“She was like a second mother to me,” said Cora Cai-mol, another dedicated med-ical assistant at the clinic. “I did not have anyone to con-sole me here in America ex-cept for her. Although she could be highly upfront with her viewpoints, she had a ten-der heart beneath that stern look. I will never forget how she consoled me and encour-aged me when it was difficult here at Samahan.”

Ate Remy was diagnosed with a very rare skin cancer in 2007 called mycosis fun-goides. During the last year of her life she was in excru-ciating pain, but requested that her chemo treatment be stopped because she could not handle the negative side effects. Despite her condi-tion, there was only one thing she wanted to do: continue to work at Samahan Clinic and be with the people she cared about.

“Ate Remy was very dedicated to the clinic,” Tenchavez said. “Even dur-ing her last days, even when she was in her worst condi-tion, she did not stop coming to Samahan Clinic to work and to be with those who mattered to her.”

Ate Remy’s last day at Sa-mahan was when she cele-brated her birthday, exact-ly one week before she died. Despite her great discomfort, she sliced the birthday cake herself to be shared by all. As if she knew it would be her last celebration, she called out the staff by name and asked where they were when they were not within sight. For those who were there, all they could give her was their last hugs and kisses, thanking her for the role she played in their lives.

“Remy was my instructor when I first came to Samahan in 1992,” said clinic manag-er Irene Gallardo. “She was a role model for me and I thank her for everything good I learned from her. Remy gave 100 percent to Operation Sa-mahan. She cared for all of us and we will truly miss her. In our hearts, she will be there forever. I am thankful that I was able to have her in my life.”

aTe ReMYContinued from Page 10

Remembering Capt. Bob Mereness

Founder of Salute to Navy WeekHad it not been for Mereness, we (National City) would not have the honor of continuing this tradition, now 56 years strong.

encinitas Chamber mission to China open to anyone

Malasiqui and coordinate with Mayor Armando Domantay Sr. on this outreach project. Members of the organization who are doctors, nurses and dentists will help out. We will also tap the local medical and dental professionals in Mala-siqui who are willing to give their time for this mission.

“A couple of charity works are in line for the rest of the year and Reyllen Bangsal is the new of face of MSDC.”

“I am very pleased to be Miss Malasiqui 2011 and I look forward to the year ahead,” Bangsal said after her coronation. “May I fulfill the task at hand to continue help-ing others, especially my ka-

babayans. During my reign, I would love to reach out to the younger generations to impart my experiences and stories of growing up in the Philippines. I would like to further enrich their knowledge of their roots and have a better understand-ing of being a Filipino. And as for those who are young at heart, I would like to gain more wisdom from them. May we strengthen our bond even more and have greater faith that together we can do great things for our beloved town Malasiqui and for our fellow Malasiquinians.”

Philippine President Be-nigno S. Aquino III has laud-ed the outstanding humanitar-ian efforts of MSDC. Aquino sent an appreciation letter to Salinas, which was included

in the souvenir program. Gov. Armando Espino of Panga-sinan and Mayor Armando Domantay Sr. of Malasiqui, along with DeMaio of San Di-ego also expressed their grat-itude to MSDC. All messages were shared in the souvenir program given to guests who

attended the town fiesta. Some 200 guests flocked to

the hotel for the event. Some flew in from San Francisco, Vallejo and Sacramento. Oth-ers drove from Los Angeles and Temecula. It was an eve-ning full of good food, laugh-ter, dancing and socializing with old friends. Attendees enjoyed entertainment from former queens and several talented members.

Bangsal and Montemay-or joined Vanessa Maisie Ar-mas (Miss Malasiqui 2009), Rachelle Palisoc (Miss Mala-siqui 2006), Melanie Calim-lim (Miss Malasiqui 2005) and Mary Joan Barcelon (Miss Malasiqui 1992) in presenting a dance number during the opening of the coronation pro-gram.

Glen Salcedo serenaded Bangsal while the audience handed flowers to their new queen. Bangsal was delight-ed with the procession and received more than 50 ros-es and orchids from her well-wishers. She was escorted by Jonelle Papa. Maddi Mendo-za of PASACAT Performing Arts performed a Filipino folk dance. Butch Macaranas and Rachelle Palisoc shared their singing talent while guests dined. Music was provided by DJ Celso Macaspac of Mabu-hay Entertainment Produc-tions.

At the conclusion of the evening, the organization gave away prizes, including cash, a complimentary room at the Crowne Plaza and gift certifi-cates to Todai Restaurant.

MSDCContinued from Page 1 “During my reign, I

would love to reach out to the younger generations to impart my experience and stories of growing up in the Philippines.”Miss Malasiqui 2011 Reyllen Bangasal

COMMISSIONContinued from Page 1

ValleJOSContinued from Page 1

Ben Vallejos

12 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com January 15-21, 2011

TEMECULA — The new-ly created Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of In-land Empire (FACC-IE) wel-comes inaugural members, future members, sponsors and guests to its Inaugural Event and Community Introduction 2011.

The event will usher in a new era in Filipino-American business development, sup-port and partnership in the Inland Empire and surround-ing communities, said FACC-

IE President Lloyd Cos-tales. The event is co-s p o n s o r e d by the Fili-pino Amer-ican Cham-ber of Commerce of San Diego

County and Citi.The free event takes place

from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 18, at Goldilocks Bakery

and Restaurant, 27480 Ynez Road in Temecula.

Memberships are $40.00 (includes introductory joint membership FACC-San Diego County).

Interested individuals are encouraged to RSVP early by e-mailing FACC-IE Pres-ident Lloyd Costales at Facc.inlandempire@gmail.com. When RSVP-ing, please in-clude your name, contact in-formation and additional guests, if applicable.

JANUARY15 • SaN DIegO MUlTICUlTURal FeSTIValThe 13th Annual Sheila R. Hardin Multicultural Festival will be held on Saturday, Jan. 15, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. along the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade (across from the San Diego Convention Center, Fourth Avenue to Market Street on Harbor Drive). The event will feature children's activities, multicultural entertainment, food and merchandise, and an education fair. For vendor and sponsorship opportunities, call (619) 533-7145. For more information about the event, call (619) 235-2222 or visit www.ccdc.com.

18 • HealTH CaRe ReFORM aCT WORKSHOPThe API Community Health Network, a project of Operation Samahan and a coalition of Asian and Pacific Islander communtities committed to addressing and eliminating health disparities in San Diego, will host this workshop from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 18, at the Kalusugan Wellness Center, 1419 E. 8th St. in National City. The workshop will be conducted by Maria Theresa Calimag, a law student at California Western Law School and a student intern at ACCESS, Inc., Immigration Department. The workshop is aimed at clarifying the basic information on the recently passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act while addressing immigration issues affecting pregnant immigrant women, women who may be victims of domestic violence and how their status affects their health care reform eligibility. The following are members of the network: ACCESS, Inc. Kalusugan Community Services, Pacific American Education Scholastic Foundation, Che'lu, Samoan Athletes Group, Lao American Coation and Victorian House Corporation (serving the Cambodian and other multi-cultural communities) and SDSU-IPH. For more information, please contact Steven Jackson at(619) 477-4451 (ext. 622) or sjackson@sdapi.org.

20 • FaCC BUSINeSS leaDeRSHIP aND COMMUNITY eNgageMeNT THROUgH PeRSONal BRaNDINgThe first of the 2011 Entrepreneurial Educational Series on leadership, this event from 6 to 8 p.m., co-organized and sponsored by Cox Communication, will bring together a diverse panelist of well-known experts for a spirited conversation on leadership and community engagement through personal branding.

Featured speakers include:

• Rebecca Smith, vice president at the San Diego Workforce Partnership. Smith will also moderate a local panel of emerging leaders from the Latino, Jewish and African-American communities on their perspectives about reaching out and giving back.

• antonio Pizarro, president/chief executive director for the Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty in San Diego, Inc. (MAAC, formerly the MAAC Project).

Cox Communications, Palace City Rooms A/B, 5651 Copley Drive, San Diego (Across the street from A-1 Self Storage, just past Roadrunner Sports. Just before the street ends, turn left into our parking lot where you will check in with Security. There will be security guards, signs and balloons to guide you where to park & to the conference meeting room.)

$35 for FACC San Diego, FACC Inland Empire and FACC/ABA Members; $50 for non-members. Refreshments provided by Cox Communications.

Please RSVP by Jan. 17 to Lorena Dominguez at (619) 702-8690 or Ldominguez@decastropc.com.

29 • NaTIONal CITY CHaMBeR aNNUal DINNeRThe National City Chamber of Commerce will hold its Annual Dinner on Jan. 29. This an annual celebration inaugurates the incoming board of directors. It is also a great opportunity to network with city leaders, business owners and other chamber members. With raffle prizes, live auctions and entertainment, this night is sure to be filled with fun and excitement. Contact Jacqueline Reynoso at Reynoso@nationalcitychamber.org for more information.

FEBRUARY5/23 • FRee Tax aSSISTaNCe eVeNT A free tax assitance event will be held at the Logan Heights Branch Library in partnership with Intuit Tax Freedom Project. Volunteers will be on site at 567 S. 28th Street in San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 5 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Wednesday, Feb. 23 from 1to 7 p.m. to help file your taxes for free if you qualify. For qualification information and Tto avoid waiting in line, call (866) 577-1231 to make a reservation, and mention that you are calling to reserve your spot for the Intuit Tax Freedom Project.

12 • FaPaC SOUTHWeST INDUCTION OF OFFICeRS aND SHINDIg JaM SeSSION FAPAC Southwest hosts the Shindig Jam Session and Couples Night following the induction of officers for 2011-12 at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 12, at the Nationa City Middle School Auditorium, 1701 D Ave. Attire is smart casual. For tickets, contact Lorna at (619) 477-0940 or visit www.2011sjsgrandreunion.com.. Music by DJ Kristina. Hosted by SJS Batch '81.

17 • 17TH aNNUal lUNaR NeW YeaR CeleBRaTION 2011 | YeaR OF THe RaBBITThe Asian Business Association of San Diego presents this annual event with the support of title sponsor Viejas, along with supporting sponsors SDG&E and Cox Communications, held this year from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the NTC Promenade at the McMillin Event Center, 287 Dewey Road in San Diego. ABA and partner members: $25; non-members: $30; at the door: $35.. Free parking. For more information, contact the ABA San Diego at erica@abasd.org. The ABA San Diego is headquartered at 5675 Ruffin Road, Ste. 305, San Diego, CA 92123.

geT lISTeD: To have your event listed in Save the Date, e-mail your information (include date, time, location, cost, and phone/e-mail) to filpress@aol.com. Keep in mind we publish on Saturdays, so ensure your event happens on the day of publication or during the following week.

Save the Date

NATIONAL CITY — Vallar-ta Grocery Store has more than 45 locations in California and business owner Miguel Gon-zalez is bringing their new-est location to National City. Vallarta is scheduled to open its 45,000-square-foot store in March.

Vallarta Grocery Store is seeking to hire approximately 100-150 people to work at their new store in National City. The store is seeking meat-cut-

ters, bakers, cashiers, pro-duce clerks, sales clerks, food preparers, chicharoneros and drivers with grocery experi-ence. Management positions are also available.

National City City Council-man Luis Natividad has been working closely with the Na-tional City Chamber of Com-merce, Vallarta’s CEO and human resources team to en-sure that a large percentage of those hired are National City residents.

“It is important that we pro-vide employment opportuni-ties to National City residents. Local hires will help keep money circulating in our city and build our economy”, said

Natividad. The National City Chamber

of Commerce is playing an ac-tive role in workforce and eco-nomic development.

“We are doing our part to promote these positions in National City. Both residents and Vallarta’s supermarket will benefit from the enter-prise zone tax benefits asso-ciated with local hires,” said Jacqueline Reynoso, president and CEO of the National City Chamber of Commerce.

Applications are available at the National City Chamber of Commerce located at 901 Na-tional City Blvd. To learn more visit www.nationalcitycham-ber.org.

For more information, con-tact the National City Chamber office at (619) 477-9339 or by e-mail at reynoso@nationalci-tychamber.org.

Vallarta grocery to bring new location, jobs to National CityStore to open in March; seeking more than 100 new employees

FACC Inland Empire to launch on Jan. 18 with inaugural event

“It is important that we provide employment opportunities to National City residents. Local hires will help keep money circulating in our city and build our economy.”National City Councilman Luis Natividad

lloyd Costales

Barona hosts ‘Free-4-all’ slot tournament

SAN DIEGO — Bar-

ona Resort & Casino is breaking out a “Free-4-All” as a special incentive for its Club Barona mem-bers. The casino is ramp-ing up its offerings in Jan-uary with a free weekly slot tournament open to all Club Barona members featuring $50,000 in cash prizes and an estimated $25,000 in mailed myOF-FERS.

“This free tournament is a great way to have fun in the new year,” said May-lette Garces, executive di-rector of casino marketing at Barona Resort & Casi-no. “With free registration, players will get the chance to compete for amazing cash prizes and Club Bar-ona exclusive offers.”

Club Barona members can register in front of Bar-ona’s El Rancho Grande Mexican restaurant locat-ed on the casino floor at no cost for the slot tourna-ment, held every Tuesday throughout January and will have the opportuni-ty to compete once weekly in a five-minute round be-tween noon to 10 p.m.

Tournament partic-ipants with the top five scores each week will earn cash prizes includ-ing: $10,000 for first place; $1,000 for second place; and $500 for those who place third through fifth. A leader board will be post-ed at the South Club Bar-ona booth and online on www.Barona.com begin-ning each Thursday an-nouncing the weekly win-ners. Participants who play in the tournament each of the four weeks and also earn 500 myPOINTS each Tuesday will receive a bonus $50 myOFFER of-fer via mail valid Feb. 1-28.

Also happening in Jan-uary is Barona’s inaugu-ral Power Party, a 1980s-themed, casino-wide celebration featuring a live band performing all of the greatest hits from the ’80s on the Hayloft stage. Mu-sic videos from the decade will be on display through-out the casino.

For more information & or for reservations, vis-it www.barona.com or call the casino toll-free at 1-888-7-BARONA (722-7662).

‘Gabbymania’ at Barona CasinoBy Marissa aciertoSpecial to the Filipino Press

SAN DIEGO

As the evening comes near-er, a classic

Baby Boomer fa-vorite, Gabby Con-cepcion, a Filipino-American actor and singer, was an an-ticipated featured guest at Barona Re-sort & Casino on Fri-day, Jan. 7.

Concepcion was the ultimate tee-ny-bopper idol in the early 1980s who made many young teens, moms and even grandmothers swoon.

The star was, dur-ing his early stag-es, a promising ac-tor and singer. Then he married love-ly singer and ac-tress Sharon Cune-ta. Unfortunately, the love team ended up sour; however, the couple did give birth toCasey “KC” Concepcion, who is now a successful TV host, actress and singer.

Now, Concepcion is back, bigger than ever and with a new beginning, includ-ing a new wife and family. He and his daughter, KC, have also established a solid relationship and the two have worked on concerts and in movies.

At Barona Resort & Casino, Concep-

cion was surround-ed by fans. One of them was Regina, a Chinese- and Filipi-no-American and a software engineer from Chula Vista. She was in the VIP room admired him from afar and glad-ly asked for a signa-ture and photo.

“I would not of missed this for the world,” she said. “It is a wonderful plea-sure to meet him. Pogi naman! (Truly good-looking!”).

Shonee Henry, owner of Allegro and one of the or-ganizers with Bar-ona Resort & Ca-sino, said, “It is a pleasure to have one of the notable Baby Boomer spectacu-

lars from the Philip-pines. I am greatly honored by his pres-ence and Barona gladly welcomes him. He was per-sonable, interactive and loved by many fans.”

Eddie from North County said, “I am curious as to what is the true commo-tion that my friends were getting ga-ga cross-eyed over. I do not really know who he is but am glad to get the chance to be acquainted with the heartthrob of the Baby Boom-era that all my Fil-Am female friends kept swooning over.”

The “Gabbyma-nia” event began early during a VIP

reception for one hour with special photo opportunities. Barnoa offered hors d’oeuvres and an opportunity to chat with the star. Then, in another location, Concepcion met his other fans in the long procession line that started from the foyer area of the casino and lined up all the way to the end of the elevator leading to the park-ing lot. The opportu-nity was scheduled for only two hours, but it ran over due to the long line of guests anticipating Concepcion. More than 200 had the pleasure of getting a free color photo and signature.

Filipino Press

CONCePCION ReCePTION: gabby Concepcion greets fans at Barona Resort & Casino on Friday, Jan. 7. Inset: (From left to right) Sim Silverio and genevieve “gen” Silverio of the asian Journal, Shonee Henry of allegro, gabby Concepcion, eddie enriquez, Regina Ong-garcia, Susan de los Santos of the Filipino Press, Marissa acierto and Richard Mojica of Philippine Mabuhay News. More photos on Facebook | Filipino Press.

January 15-21, 2011 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com 13

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14 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com January 15-21, 2011

Try Our FamousCrispy Pata, Sisig, Pancit, Seafood,

BBQ, Pasta and More

GAPORESTO & KARAOKEServing Filipino and International Cuisine

933 S. Harbison Ave., National City, CA 91950

(619) 267-3746

Closed on Mondays

Filipino breakfast –served all day

Party trays to go(Free delivery orders of $400 or more)

KaraokeTuesdays thru Sundays:

7pm - 12pm

FESTIVALS13th annual Sheila R. Hardin San Diego Multicultural Festival Where: Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade across from the San Diego Convention Center When: 11 a..m.-5 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 15Online: www.ccdc.com

TOURING SHOWSDisney on Ice “let's Celebrate” Where: Valley View Casino Center (formerly San Diego Sports Arena) When: Jan. 26-30Online: www.ticketmaster.com

CLUBSBeN'S BaR & ReSTaURaNTa Duet with Miss aira luna with special performance by leonard Obal, Tyra Brakes and Raul Maliksi ($20)When: 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 15; 7:30 pm., Saturday, Feb. 12; 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb.24Where: 1615 Sweetwater Road, National CityPhone: (619) 227-8876

CaFe la MaZe STeaKHOUSe

Colors live BandWhen: 7 p.m. SundaysWhere: 1441 Highland Ave., National CityPhone: (619) 474-3222

lUCKY STaRWednesdays: Filipino Night with Eric de LeonThursdays: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra Big BandFridays: Ballroom dancing/karokeWhere: 3893 54th St., San DiegoPhone: (619) 229-8228

McDINI'S DINeR & SPORTS BaR Filipino food every SaturdayWhen: Open until 2 a.m.Where: 105 E. 8th St., National CityPhone: (619) 434-5140

KARAOKElOURDeS BaR aT JaDe HOUSe ReSTaURaNTWhen: Fridays and SaturdaysWhere: 569 H St., Chula VistaPhone: (619) 426-5951

gaPOReSTO & KaRaOKeWhen: 7 p.m.-midnight, Tuesdays to SundaysWhere: 933 S. Harbison Ave., National CityPhone: (619) 267-3746

geT lISTeD: To have your event listed in Around Town, e-mail your information (include date, time, location, cost, and phone/e-mail) to filpress@aol.com. Keep in mind we publish on Saturdays, so ensure your event happens on the day of publication or during the following week.

Around Town

San Diego singer aira luna performs on Saturday, Jan. 15, at Ben's Bar & Restaurant in National City.

Chris Farina/Top Rank

Donaire vs. Montiel: Desert Showdown

Two-time world champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, right, and WBC/WBO Bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel pose during a press conference for their upcoming world title fight to be held at the Mandalay Bay events Center in las Vegas on Saturday, Feb. 19, live on HBO Boxing after Dark.

Carpio new in ‘Spiderman’

By Ruben V. NepalesPhilippine Daily Inquirer

Fil-Am Natalie Mendoza, who decided to bow out of the headline-making “Spi-derman: Turn Off the Dark” musical on Broadway, will be replaced by another Fil-Am, T.V. Carpio. U2’s Bono and The Edge wrote the score of the musical, which has been plagued by injuries suffered by cast members.

Mendoza, who was going to play the principal role of Arachne, a villainess, sus-tained a concussion when a piece of backstage equip-ment hit her on the head. Mendoza is one of several actors who were injured in-the big-budget musical stage

version of the Marvel comics hero’s exploits. Born in Hong Kong, she is the daughter of Filipino musician Noel Men-doza and Australian TV per-sonality Robin Jackson.

Carpio also has a Hong Kong connection. She is the daughter of Teresa Carpio, a Filipina singer based in Hong Kong, and Peter Mui, a businessman also in Hong Kong.

The show’s director, Ju-lie Taymor, met Carpio when she cast her in the film “Across the Universe.” Orig-inally hired to play a mem-ber of the Greek chorus in “Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark,” Carpio now has the key role when the $65-mil-lion production officially opened on Feb. 7 at the Fox-woods Theatre.

Carpio’s theater credits include “Rent” and the mov-ies “She Hate Me” and “Lim-itless.”

T.V. Carpio replaces Natalie Mendoza in the headline-making "Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark," opening on Broadway in March.

ON BROADWAY

Fil-Am takes Fil-Am’s place in Broadway show

By Josephy lariosGMANews.TV

CHICAGO — Filipino-American White House Executive Chef Cristeta Pasia Comerford, the first woman se-lected for the post, credited her suc-cess to her mother, who she said was a “great cook.”

Comerford said her mother Erlinda, a dressmaker, had a big influence in her career.

She said if her mother, who passed away last May, “did not marry early, she would probably be a chef. She was a dressmaker. But (she) showed me the ropes, she made me watch her cooking every time.”

“She would use fresh ingredients, al-ways. There was no such thing as refrig-erating anything during those days; you buy foods fresh and cook them fresh,” Comerford said.

Comerford shared her thoughts in an interview conducted by Sarah Lee.

Comerford said her family’s decision to emigrate from the Philippines to Chi-cago in 1983 also helped her achieve the success she now enjoys.

In that year, her mother and a friend working in a hotel convinced her to try out a hotel job, “just to check it out really," Comerford recalls.

“Somehow, it seemed like a magic door that opened up for me. Little by lit-

tle, I began to embrace it. I was really liking it. And when I worked with one wonderful chef, I was mesmerized with the culinary job. I knew then that this was my new career path,” she said.

Comerford recounts, “I was still a Food Technology student at the Univer-sity of the Philippines in Diliman (Que-zon City) when my family decided to emigrate to Chicago in 1983.

“I don’t really know how my parents picked Chicago, but I’m so glad that they did.

“I’ve always been a food lover. I grew up in a large family, so there was al-ways food cooking in the kitchen," Com-erford said.

“I smelled it everywhere around the

house. Bulacan and Batangas are very well known for their wonderful cuisine. So these great-tasting foods were very familiar to me. I finished high school at Manila Science High School. I was real-ly then a big science geek. Guess, I kin-da married the two, and that’s food sci-ence, or food technology," she added.

Chef of the YearThe interview took place last year

after Comerford received Chef of the Year 2010 award from the March of Dimes Chicago in November.

Comerford becomes the second re-cipient of the award first bestowed on Chicago-based Chef Rick Bayless, who specializes in traditional Mexican cui-sine with modern interpretation.

In 2008, Bayless was widely consid-ered to be a serious contender for the position of White House executive Chef under the administration of Barack Obama.

The Philippine-born Comerford said, “It’s very humbling. Of course, it is a great honor. The first honoree was Rick Bayless, and everybody knows he is a good chef and to be in the same catego-ry with him is very humbling.”

Fil-Am White House chef named ‘Chef of the Year’

TOP CHEFS

Cristeta Comerford

January 15-21, 2011 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com 15

SAN DIEGO — Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year.

Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the peo-ple born in each animal’s year would have some of that an-imal’s personality. A person born in the year of the Rabbit possesses one of the most for-tunate of the 12 animal signs. The rabbit is the emblem of longevity and is said to derive his essence from the moon.

Help celebrate the “Year of the Rabbit” as Sycuan counts down to Lunar New Year! Be-ginning Jan. 3, players can earn entries by playing their favorite table games during the Lucky 8’s Giveaway.

The countdown continues with three nights of drawings for a chance to win a share of over $15,000.

Drawings for $888 will be held on Feb. 3r at 7, 8 and 9 p.m.; Feb. 4 at 8, 10 p.m. and midnight; and Feb. 5 at 8 and 10 p.m. Also on Feb. 5 at mid-night, one grand prize winner-will take home $8,888 in cash during the Lucky 8’s Giveaway grand finale.

Also, seated table games players will be eligible for lucky red envelopes and com-memorative t-shirts beginning on Feb. 3. A Dim Sum Buf-

fet will be provided for seat-ed Asian Games and Primrose Roomplayers on Saturday the 5th at 6pm.

A Vietnamese Lunar New Year Concert takes place on Jan. 29. Tickets are on sale now ($25/$35) at www.sycuan.com.

Pampered friends, we have been discussing ways to reach our new

year goals as well as ways to overcome the challenges win-ter presents. This week, we fo-cus on care and color — the two C’s that cover the wide range of questions I’ve received from readers recently.

CareDry skin is a common winter

problem. Gently slough off dry skin with an exfoliating cleans-er. Apply moisturizer, body butter, or body oil immediate-ly after showering. Moisturize throughout the day, especial-ly your hands. Continue to use a mild sunblock during winter months.

Hair can become brittle in colder months. Until the weather heats up, use a mild-er, less clarifying shampoo and deep condition at least once a week. Those with sensitive skin should stay away from hair products that are infused with jojoba and coconut, though, as these ingredients can wreak havoc on one’s complexion and cause breakouts.

Like hair, nails are also more prone to breakage during the winter. Luckily, short is in. Apply a calcium-infused nail strengthener before applying polish. Use cuticle oil or cream at least once a day to keep cuti-cles soft and healthy. I recom-mend peppermint-based cuti-cle care products.

ColorDon't worry! It won’t be long

before your golden summer tan returns. Until then, your make-up foundation should be one to two shades lighter in order to avoid the dreaded “mask” look — you know, when your face doesn’t match the color of your neck. Eek!

Because your foundation is lighter, your hair, lip, even nail color can be darker dur-ing winter. This is the time to experiment with red and raisin tones, especially on your lips. (Remember though, the dark-er the lips, the lighter the eye makeup should be. Red lips are best matched with brown shades of eye makeup.) If you have never dared to try me-tallics, blues or even black on your nails, now’s the time to try these darker shades on for size. Spring will be a different story.

In terms of winter fashion, black is safe — but certainly not mandatory. Add splashes of color, especially jewel tones, to your winter ensembles. Hats, scarves, gloves, these ac-cessories spell out opportuni-

ties to show off your individu-al style. Let pops of color show your vibrant personality even in the dreariest of seasons. Animal prints can also add some pizzazz to your ensem-bles. Be prepared to see plen-ty of cheetah-patterned acces-sories, from heels to handbags, for example. As with anything, though, animal prints are best when used in moderation.

We’re half way through January and working to sport

fresh looks while we keep a fresh look on life, my pam-pered friends. I enjoy and ap-preciate all of your messages and salute each one of you on your respective, personal jour-neys toward success in 2011!

• Wanna keep in touch and join in on fun weekly chats with oth-er Pampered Pinay fans? Simply check out www.Facebook.com, and search “Francine Maigue.” See you online!

• Check back every week for ways to pamper yourself and those you love. Why? The answer is simple: You deserve it!

• Got a business or event I should know about? Wish to agree or disagree with me? Want to send me a love note? (I love those.) E-mail me at thepam-peredpinay@yahoo.com.

Francine Maigue

Pampered Pinay

Skin, hair and nails: Care and color

Year of the Rabbit at Sycuan

16 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com January 15-21, 2011

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January 15-21, 2011 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com 17

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18 Filipino Press • www.filipinopress.com January 15-21, 2011