February 15, 2013 1

Vol. XXII, No. 7 Online: www. manilamail.us February 15, 2013

US to fi x reefs P4

Nab NJ Filam tutor P6

Filvets bill refi led P8

VA Filam wins for PH P19

Where’s Jon Melegrito? P29

Filam group helps save OFW in Saudi ArabiaWASHINGTON D.C. Gov-

ernment and concerned citizens joining hands helped the save life of a convicted overseas Fili-pino worker in Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario lauded the efforts of Vice President Jejomar Binay and Filipino American businesswoman Loida Nicolas Lewis who together produced the 3 million Saudi riyals to pay

the “blood money” for Rogelio “Dondon” Lanuza.

Lanuza was sentenced to be beheaded for the killing of a Saudi man in 2000. He confessed stabbing the victim but insisted he was only trying to defend himself.

In February 2011, the Phil-ippine government and the Saudi Reconciliation Committee

Continued on page 23

WASHINGTON D.C. - Hopes for the passage of a com-prehensive immigration reform

bill have steadily risen as both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have agreed on a blue-

print to solve the decades-old problem.

Some 11 million undocu-mented immigrants, includ-ing estimated 300,000 Filipino ‘TNT’s (meaning tago ng tago -hiding and hiding), may become the benefi ciaries of any reforms that will give them a pathway to legalization and eventually citi-zenship.

Already, Asian American groups have already joined His-panic organizations to lobby for the passage of a bill in this ses-sion of Congress.

In California, Lolita

Lapid wife gets 3-year probation for smuggling

LAS VEGAS – A Nevada court has sentenced Marissa Lapid, wife of Philippine Senator Lito Lapid, to three years proba-tion and seized thousands of dollars that she tried to smuggle into the United States.

After the plea bargain-ing agreement, US Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen on Feb. 3 also included in Lapid’s 3-year probation fi ve months of home

‘Word war’ over weight WASHINGTON D.C. The

Filipino American former White House doctor of three former Presidents says New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie angrily called her Feb. 7 after she made comments about his weight in an interview with KTVK-TV in Phoenix, Ari-zona.

Dr. Connie Mariano, who wrote a book about her being the physician in the White House for 9 years, publicly suggested in the TV interview that if the Gover-nor planned to run for President he risks having a heart attack of a stroke if he doesn’t lose weight.

Continued on page 23

File photo shows NY Filam Loida Nicolas Lewis with Mrs. Letty Lanuza in Manila and at right is Rogelio Lanuza.

Sens. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) announcing their plan

Mrs. Marissa Lapid

Continued on page 23Continued on page 22

NJ Gov. Christie Dr. Connie Mariano

Pope’s resignation shocks FilamsWASHINGTON D.C. - Fili-

pino Catholics in the greater Washington D.C. area, around the US and in the Philippines have expressed surprise over the sudden decision of Pope Bene-dict XVI to resign.

The 86-year-old Pontiff announced on Feb. 11 that he would resign on Feb 28

because he no longer has the strength to fulfi ll the duties of his offi ce. He becomes the fi rst pon-tiff since the Middle Ages to take such a step.

Initial reactions of Filipinos

in DC and worldwide were one of shock, surprise and disbelief. Most of them have suggested that a younger Cardinal, like Luis Antonio Tagle should be elected to the post. “I wish the Philip-pines will give the world its fi rst Asian pope,” said another. “It opens the way for a Filipino Pope,” says Ria Pavia. J. Pare-des said on twitter: “Many were surprised that it was possible for the Pope to resign. The last one to do so was Gregory the XII in

Continued on page 23Pope Benedict XVI

February 15, 201322

2 Filams invent bamboo amplifi erCEBU CITY. What does a

New York-based architect and Japanese American anthro-pologist have in common? The answer is simple – the bamboo amplifi er.

Filipino American architect Franz Ignacio and Japanese-Fil-ipino-American anthropologist Koh Onozawa met by chance when they vacationed in Cebu. They were introduced by their Cebuana mothers who are long-time friends.

That started a long and apparently fruitful collaboration despite their divergent special-izations. They are, according to Karla Maquiling of GMA News, the brains behind the “Loud-basstard”, an amplifi er made entirely from bamboo that is now being sold online in the Philippines.

It was introduced in Canada last year and plans are to bring it to the US, Italy and other coun-tries.

The pair gave up their jobs abroad and moved to Cebu. Their initial foray, a digital tablet called “Butler” fi zzled out. The idea of a sustainable speaker that did not rely on electricity struck the tandem after Onozawa’s girl-friend, Julie Ghafari, used a plas-tic cup to amplify the music from a smartphone.

From that seemingly inno-cent episode was born “Loud-basstard”, an eco-friendly ampli-fi er that works with smartphones

like the iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy 3.

“Loudbasstard wasn’t cre-ated to replace speakers or your home sound system,” they explained in their web-site, “but to provide a personal sound amplifi er that is organic in design and environmentally friendly as it uses no electricity.”

“Each piece is cut and dyed by hand, by local craftsmen in Cebu.There’s an entire army of people behind Loudbasstard…by purchasing a Loudbasstard you’re helping us help them pro-vide for their families and ulti-

mately improve upon their qual-ity of life,” they added.

“We want to foster an eco-nomic growth. Everything we do

in terms of who we employ and where we create, is all within the Philippines, specifi cally Cebu. We also pay homage to our cul-tural heritage by using tradi-tional techniques in cutting and shaping the bamboo.”

The Loudbasstards are now being sold online in the Philip-pines and in Vancouver, Canada starting in October 2012. Hoping to expand their reach, the two are working to bring it to Swit-zerland, the Middle East, and the US this year.

To use it, one simply has to slip in a gadget into the hollow

part of the Loudbasstard, and the music is amplifi ed by the bamboo case’s cuplike shape.

Ignacio recalled that initially

they sent 50 pieces to Vancouver, Canada “through a family friend who was visiting for a bit, and they immediately placed a bulk order after that. That’s when we realized we were onto some-thing.”

Other friends abroad helped Ignacio and Onozawa get the bamboo speakers distributed in Rome and Milan, Italy.

GMA News said its sustain-able and eco-friendly design has given the Loudbasstard some good press from publications abroad, such as “Design Street” and “Fool Magazine” in Italy

and “Chic Haus Magazine” in Mexico.

One review came from Ital-ian entrepreneur Enrico Marone

Cinzano, a member of the exclu-sive design organization Associ-azion per il Disegno Industriale, who called the product “stylish and sustainable.”

Ignacio said he and Ono-zawa didn’t expect that their simple and practical design would be well received locally and abroad. “The reception has been 100% awesome. We’re still blown away by everyone’s kind words. It makes what we do that much more worth it,” Ignacio said on GMA News.

Koh Onozawa and Franz Ignacio, the inventors of the bamboo amplifi er (right).

February 15, 2013 3

‘Mahirap,’ US envoy says about Tagalog languageUS Ambassador to the Phil-

ippines Harry K. Thomas, Jr., tells Expats magazine in Manila that learning how to speak Taga-log is “Mahirap.”

In a question-answer inter-view with Expat’s Christine Cunanan, the ambassador said Tagalog is a diffi cult language, and the older you get, the harder it is for you to hear things. I’d rate it just below Korean in terms of diffi culty.

He continued: But I speak Spanish, so the Spanish words are easy. When I go to Zam-boanga where they speak Chavacano, I just speak Spanish and they understand me. I have

a hard time pronouncing Taga-log words, and my friends make fun of me. Sometimes it’s appre-ciated, and sometimes, people say “Harry, I’m so proud of you

for speaking Tagalog. But what were you saying?” But I try.

Talking about the embassy, Thomas said the Philippines has the second-largest immigrant visa section for the US Embassy in the world, but our non-immigrant visa section is just as crowded. Our consular sec-tion is now state-of-the art, with over 400 seats, a fl at-screen tele-vision and Internet connection. So everybody can come in with respect and dignity and go to the different sections depending on what they want.

“It always surprises people when I tell them that three out of four applicants for tourist visas

receive one. President Obama is really trying to encourage tourism. He wants all people to go to America because it’s very good for business. We’re trying to be open, and we want people to come to the US in an honest manner.”

Asked if there is a similarity

between Filipino and American cultures, Thomas said “Filipinos will probably be surprised to learn how important family is to us. In my family, my mother was one of eight, my father, one of 10. My grandfather was one of 16. So I have a lot of cousins. It’s a huge family.”

US Amb. Harry K. Thomas, Jr.

February 15, 201344

US to restore reef damaged by minesweeperMANILA - The United

States is ready to rehabilitate the damaged Tubbataha Reef where the US minewseeper “Guardian” ran aground Jan. 17 due to faulty maritime map.

In a statement, the US Embassy in Manila said it is now developing a technical plan for coral reef rehabilitation that will be led by a US team of marine experts.

It said that as soon as prac-ticable, a US interdisciplinary scientifi c team will initiate dis-cussions with the Philippines to review coral reef- rehabilitation options in Tubbataha, based on assessments by Philippine-based marine scientists. This US team is being formed now.

They will help assess damage and remediation options, in coordination with the Tubbataha Management Offi ce, appropriate Philippine govern-ment entities, non-governmen-tal organizations, and scientifi c experts from Philippine univer-sities. the US embassy said.

The US plans to carefully remove the minesweeper in pieces so as not to increase the damage to the reef which is Unesco’s World Heritage Sites.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) commandant Rear Adm. Rodolfo Isorena said a crane con-tracted by US from a salvor com-pany in Singapore has arrived in the country and is now in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.

The government has placed the damage of the coral reef to 1,400 square meters and urged

the US government to speed up its action to haul the grounded ship off the World Heritage Site as soon as possible.

The US Navy has already removed the fuel and other vital equipment from the mine-sweeper.

In the next two weeks, the US Embassy said it will orga-nize a roundtable with local coral reef-conservation experts to listen to concerns and discuss options for conservation and res-toration of the Tubbataha Reef.

Invitees to this discussion will include entities such as USAID [United States Agency for International Development], the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency [NOAA], relevant government agencies of the Philippines and the Tubba-taha Management Offi ce.

“Through USAID’s Coral Triangle Support Partnership

[CTSP], P4.1 million [$100,000] will be granted to a Philippine university to support coral res-toration research at Tubbataha Reef,” the embassy said.

In addition, the US gov-ernment offered to fund a site survey for proposed improve-ments to the existing ranger sta-tion on Tubbataha Reef.

Proposals could include the installation of radar and com-munications equipment that can assist Park Rangers and Philip-pine Coast Guard in avoiding collisions and keeping tabs on marine poachers, it said.The US minesweeper “Guardian” sits atop the Tubbataha reefs in the Sulu Sea.

The senatorial campaign period in PH begins

MANILA - From speeches to TV adverts, from jingles to slogans, Team PNoy will be trumpeting President Aquino’s accomplishments spurred by his policy of good governance.

Convinced that the May 13 midterm elections are a referen-dum on his leadership, the Pres-ident will be personally rooting for the 12 senatorial candidates. People will see more of him on the campaign trail, standing on a fl atbed truck, pressing fl esh and climbing the stage in his trademark yellow T-shirt.

He proclaimed the LP can-didates at the historic Plaza

Miranda Feb, 12 and drew a clear line between Team PNoy and the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) to ensure a 12-0 sweep. The battle lines will be drawn.

“In this campaign, we will put the President’s capital on the line,” Sen. Franklin Drilon, Team PNoy campaign manager, said in an interview.

The strategy is to highlight the administration’s accom-plishments: The 6.6-percent full-year growth in 2012, the pre-liminary peace deal with Moro rebels, the Senate vote to oust Chief Justice Renato Corona,

among other notable ones.Add to that, the govern-

ment’s conditional cash transfer program, which is benefi ting more than 2 million poor fami-lies.

These were proofs that the reforms Aquino has undertaken in the past two and a half years were “bearing fruit,” Drilon said.

“The 6.6-percent growth is attributable to nothing else but confi dence in the President due to his unwavering adherence to ‘daang matuwid’ platform,” he added.

Filam docs, nurses stream for medical missions to PH WASHINGTON D.C. As

the winter season winds down, Filipino American doctors and nurses from all over the United States have started going back to the Philippines to conduct medi-cal missions.

The medical missions appear to be unaffected by last year’s controversy over Philip-pine health department guide-lines, many of which were even-tually suspended after an uproar.

The Association of Filipino Physicians of Southern Illinois will launch on Feb. 17-23 what it says is one of their biggest medical missions in Bohol. The missioners are composed of American surgeons and nurses from Illinous, West Virginia, Ari-zona, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Florida and California led by Dr. Antonio Daquipa.

They will perform thyroid-ectomy, hysterectomy, oopho-rectomy, breast tumor, hernia, gall bladder and cleft lip/palate, among other major operations. The mission is expected to ben-efi t residents of 47 towns in the

island province, including the capital Tagbilaran City.

A separate group, organized

by Global Health Foundation, brought 55 doctors, nurses and other health care practitioners from Standford University in Palo Alto, Ca. to Leyte.

The mission provided free surgical, minor surgery, dental, general consultation, distribu-

tion of eyeglasses, and other medical services at Tacloban City Hospital and at the Mother

Mercy Hospital in the city.A 50-man contingent from

the Medical Mission Foundation of St. Louis, Mo. headed by Dr. Fred Jimenez completed their own medical mission in Malolos, Bulacan last month, along with a group from the University of Sto.

Tomas Medical Alumni Associa-tion of America in Tuguegarao, Cagayan Province.

But the outreach from America does not only involve free medical services. The DC-based Feed the Hungry is part-nering with the government’s Commission of Filipino Overseas for projects in Palawan, Manila, Cebu, Quezon City, Paranaque, Batangas, Davao City, Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro.

They will be conducting feeding programs for the poor as well as turning over school classrooms built from donations to Feed the Hungry.

Another area-based non-government organization, the Medical Mission of Mercy, is slated to render free medical services for indigents in Mexico, Pampanga and Marinaya, Dumaguete City in the province of Negros Oriental.

While some groups are able to conduct year-round missions in the Philippines, most are done at the height of the winter season in the US but before the onset of

the hot, humid summer season in the Philippines.

The medical missions have also helped raise awareness of the plight of poor Filipinos among Americans, like nurse Peggy Moore who’s joined at least 5 of these medical missions in the Philippines led by Dr. Ber-nard Quebral who was born in Alaminos, Pangasinan.

The missions were orga-nized by the Philippine Min-nesota Medical Association and Hope for the City which collects used medical equipment and ships them to missions. .

“I cried because there were so many people waiting in line, just thousands of people wait-ing their turn,” Moore said in a StarTribune.com article. “It was overwhelming. It just touched me to think those people could wait for years without getting any health care. And here people come and they have a sore throat and they want to be fi xed that same day.” (RJJ)

Filam medical missioners treating patients in the Philippines.

February 15, 2013 5

February 15, 201366

Georgia law makes doctors prove they’re citizens

ATLANTA, Georgia – More that 1500 health care profession-als here are angry over a tough new law that makes all health-care workers, nurses, doctors, pharmacists and other medical worker prove they are either citi-zens or foreigners who have per-mits to work.

In the past, they only have to routinely renew their license to practice.

Now they must prove that they are either citizens or for-eigners who have permission to work and short-staffed state agencies can’t keep up with the paperwork.

In a state that licenses some 500,000 practitioners, the law has sideline some 500 doctors, 450 physicians assistants and respi-ratory therapists and 600 nurses who got caught up in the back-

log.“If doctors aren’t able to see

their patients, there are potential issues there, particularly in an urgent situation,” says Bob Jef-frey, director for operations for the Georgia Composite Medical Board.

“Patients can certainly see other physicians but you wouldn’t have the same continu-ity of care,” Jeffrey said.

Colombian born-doctor Jorge Simmonds-Diaz, 64, a phy-sician in a family practice out-side Atlanta calls the new law worthless. “You’re practicing for 15 lyears or more, and all of a sudden, they fi nd that you’re an illegal immigrant working here? That doesn’t make sense.” Offi cials say the new rule has not unmasked any foreigner work-ing without permission.

Judge shows compassion to old Filam doctor in NY NEW YORK - “I beg the

court not to put me in jail because my wife will die. I am the only one who is taking care of her.”

With this plea, a contrite, weeping Dr. Felix Lanting, an 85-year-old Filipino American physician, asked Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopdf of the US District Court in Brooklyn last month not to put him in jail.

Dr. Lanting of Staten Island pleaded guilty last year to con-spiracy to distribute the power-ful pain medication oxycodone, He was accused of writing an average of 15 prescriptions a day, seven days a week, between April and October 2010 and faced up to 71 months in prison.

During his sentencing, Dr. Lanting said: “I beg the court not to put me in jail because my wife will die. I am the only one who is taking care of her.”

He then began to weep. “I’m

very sorry. I made a mistake. If I could undo it, I would. I’m beg-ging you please.”

Taken aback by the plea, the

judge called for a fi ve-minute recess to think.

When the court resumed,

Judge Mauskopf said, “I am ago-nizing about what to do.”

But obviously moved by his plea, the judge showed compas-

sion by deciding not to let the old doctor go to jail. She took into consideration his age, his

responsibilities to his equally frail wife who depends on him for care and his admission of wrongdoings.

She gave him six months of house confi nement, fi ve years of probation and a $25,000 fi ne. He was stripped of his medical license and he must forfeit about $117,000 in cash.

Also to be forfeited were 100 silver bars weighing 750 grams each which were seized when his offi ce was raided in Novem-ber 2010, according to a spokes-man for Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

And the judge scolded the old doctor, a University of the Philippines graduate, and said:

“You need to feel the restric-tions on your liberty.” “The fi ne is meant to hurt and to punish you for what you did.”

Lanting was accused of run-

ning a pill mill out of a “make-shift” medical offi ce at his Hunter Avenue home in Staten Island.

He wrote an average of 15 prescriptions a day, seven days a week, between April and October 2010, prosecutors said. He potentially faced up to 71 months in prison, according to court fi lings.

Previously, Dr. Lanting was highly rated by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). His hospital affi liations included Staten Island Univer-sity Hospital - North and Doc-tors Hospital of Staten Island.

“The overall average patient rating of Dr. Felix Lanting is ‘Good’. Dr. Lanting has been reviewed by 10 patients who have provided 6 comments.

The rating is 2.5 out of 4 stars, AARP said.

NJ Filam teacher held on sex chargeMIAMI, Florida - A Filipino

American high school teacher accused of having a sexual rela-tionship was arrested January 25 at a rehabilitation center in South Florida.

U.S. Marshals arrested 28-year-old Jennalin Garcia-Calle after she checked in her-self into a rehab facility. She is charged with sexual assault after allegedly having sexual relations with a 16-year-old male student.

New Jersey prosecutors said Garcia-Calle had sex with the student several times on campus while teaching algebra at Plain-fi eld High School.

“It was after school, the door was locked, the window was blocked,” Union County Prose-cutor Theodore Romankow said. “The fact that someone would be that brazen to do this is very troubling.”

Investigators said Garcia-Calle fl ed to South Florida last

week after an arrest warrant

was issued in her name. Detec-tives were able to track her down through her cell phone and text messages, according to CBS Miami.

“She had told either friends or associates that she was going to South Florida to get help,” said U.S. Marshal’s spokesper-son Barry Golden.

“Obviously Ms. Garcia-Calle was aware that these

charges were forthcoming. She was aware that she was probably going to be in a lot of trouble and that’s when she fl ed the New Jersey area.”

Prosecutors also said Gar-cia-Calle reached out to the stu-dent before fl eeing, asking him to get rid of evidence.

“He was under intense pressure by the teacher over the course of the weekend to elimi-nate some of the evidence which he did not do,” Romankow said.

The sexual affair came to light when the boy told his par-ents, CBS New York reports. The Plainfi eld School District put Garcia-Calle on immediate administrative leave, pending the criminal investigation.

Garcia-Calle is now being held on $200,000 bail, accord-ing to CBS New York. She is expected to be extradited to New Jersey soon.

Dr. Felix Lanting (left) and his residence on Staten Island.

Jennalin Garcia-Calle

US appeals court affi rms ruling on Filipino vetsBy Roy C. Mabasa

MANILA - The United

States Court of Appeals for the

Ninth Circuit has affi rmed an

earlier judgment rendered by a

US district court dismissing for

failure to state a claim and for

lack of subject matter jurisdiction

claims brought up by a group of

Filipino World War II veterans

and the widows who did not

receive payments under the Fili-

pino Veterans Equity Compen-

sation Fund (FVECF).

The Court of Appeals (CA),

in its decision issued on February

7, noted that under the Veterans

Judicial Review Act of 1988, the

district court does not have juris-

diction over claims that would

require it to review a question of

fact or law relating to or affecting

veteran’s benefi ts decision.

(The Filipino American

veterans were represented by

Washington D.C. Filam lawyer

Arnedo Valera.)

The court held the Act

barred review of plaintiffs’ due

process claim, and therefore the

district court’s dismissal of the

claim was appropriate.

The Court of Appeals panel,

composed of Circuit Judges

Robert Sack, Ronal Gould and

Milan Smith, also held that the

district court had jurisdiction to

consider the veterans’ equal-pro-

tection challenge to the FVECF.

(The Filipino American vet-

erans of WWII were represented

by Washington D.C. Filam

lawyer Arnedo Valera. One

report said Valera will appeal

the decision.)

On the merits, the panel

held that the veterans, who fi led

the case against the US Veterans’

Affairs Department (VA) last

year, failed to state a claim for an

equal protection violation.

The FVEC was established

by statute in 2009 to give a one-

time payment to each qualifying

service member.

The veterans involved in

the case were either supposedly

ineligible for benefi ts under the

or qualifi ed for benefi ts but were

denied them because the Depart-

ment of Veterans Affairs could

not verify military service.

They contend that their Fifth

Amendment rights to the pro-

cess and equal protection were

violated by the statute estab-

lishing the fund and the VA’s

administration of it, resulting in

their lack of payment.

The district court dismissed

their claims with prejudice on

the

pleadings for lack of subject-

matter jurisdiction and for fail-

ure to state a claim upon which

relief can be granted.

February 15, 2013 7

Filam kid in Coloradoshooting to sue state

DENVER - Ryan Lumba, the 17-year-old Filipino American student who sur-vived a serious gunshot wound during the deadly July 20 shooting rampage that killed a dozen people and injured 70 others at a theater in Aurora, Colorado, is among 16 people who have notifi ed the State of Colorado they may sue in the wake of the tragedy.

The 16 include family members of those killed, survivors of the shooting and some who witnessed what happened that night in theater 9 during the showing of ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Rises.”

The suspected gunman, James Holmes, was a University of Colorado neuroscience student who had seen a psy-chiatrist employed by the state.

The documents claim the University of Colorado may have had knowledge of the danger Holmes represented.

According to a local CBS report, the notices of claims fi led guarantee the right of those people to sue the state.

The documents had to be fi led within 183 days of the shooting.

They contain chilling information, serious allegations and large sums of money, says the report.

Lumba was shot in the hip, abdomen, chest and arm.

“Just remember being on the ground,” he recalled.

“I see people running and scream-ing. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?then I was knocked out.’

Lumba, who graduated in May from

Eaglecrest High School, has put his col-lege plans on hold as he recuperates.

He was to attend Western State Colo-rado University last fall prior to the trag-edy.

His parents, Sam and Remy, are unemployed, with his now partially paralyzed father in need of 24-hour care. Remy, meanwhile, underwent major sur-gery a few months before her husband suffered a stroke.

Some of those giving notice to sue were in other theaters inside the Century 16 theater complex. They claim they, too, were traumatized by the events.

Lumba and others have earlier fi led a separate lawsuit against theater owners blaming them for lack of security.

Sued before a federal court was the Plano, Texas-based Cinemark USA (dba Century 16 Aurora) alleging that the nation’s third largest theater circuit failed to ensure adequate safety to prevent the shooting at Century 16.

Ryan Lumba sues state of Colorado.

February 15, 201388

Will Lu’s departure hurt FilVets’ drive?

WASHINGTON D.C. - The resignation of Chris Lu, Presi-dent Obama’s liason to the Cabi-net the past 4 years, might hurt the efforts of some 18,000 Fili-pino veterans of WWII who have been denied benefi ts under the 2008 Filipino Veterans Equity Fund.

Lu, who had served as Obama’s primary liaison to the Cabinet and also served as co-chair of the White House Initia-tive on Asian Americans and Pacifi c Islanders had been instru-mental in keeping hopes alive for the veterans who failed to avail of the benefi t.

Many of the Filipino veter-ans’ advocates had counted on Lu to help give recognition to the thousands who were not able to collect the lump sum payment from FVEF.

Last year, Lu received approval and created the high level White House Inter Agency Working Group, to examine the issue of the denied Filipino Vet-erans.

Last October, the Presi-dent appointed the Taiwanese-American to co-chair the group to address the Filipino veterans’ problems.

The IWG’s role is to look deeper into the process and con-

cerns to see if there are changes or adjustments that can be made that would be helpful to the vet-erans.

Among them were the order to make public the records of Filipino World War II veterans in the government’s archives in Missouri

The news of his sudden departure surprised many Fili-pino WWII Veterans advocates.

The Manila Mail’s Bing Branigin, who posed for a pic-ture with Lu at the January 18 White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacifi c Islanders welcome briefi ng, did not know about his resignation.

So was Eric Lachica of the Coalition for Filipino Veterans, Inc. who was also present at the briefi ng by the White House staff before the President’s Inaugura-tion.

“There was no inkling of his intention of resigning in his conversations with us,” Lachica said.

Veterans’ advocates had counted on Lu to help the thou-sands of veterans who have been

denied lump sum benefi ts.Rozita Lee told the Asian

Journal that Lu’s departure does hurt, but the “work continues” to help the estimated 18,000 Fili-pino WWII veterans who applied but were denied their share of a lump sum payment from the US.

“His departure is a big deal,” said Lee, Commissioner, President’s Advisory Commis-sion on Asian Americans and Pacifi c Islanders and Board

Adviser, NaFFAA NV State and National.

“I am a bit disappointed but I know the kind of person that he is, he cares. I’m sure he left infor-mation to the other White House staff working with our group,” she added.

“He’s not abandoning us. We just miss him personally. He is a man of integrity and he does care [about the Filipino WWII veterans].”

Nevada solon leads charge for FilVets in Congress By Rodney J. Jaleco

WASHINGTON D.C. Fili-pino veterans supporters hailed the move of Nevada Rep. Joe Heck to reintroduce a bill in the US Congress that would compel the Department of Veterans Affairs to accept other docu-ments to prove a Filipino veteran served with the US armed forces in World War II.

The government’s insistence to rely on at least 2 offi cial docu-ments, including the so-called Missouri List to prove service to the United States during World War II has often been cited as the biggest obstacle for Filipino veterans to receive the lump sum payment for the injustice they suffered after the war.

The US Congress enacted the Rescission Act in 1946, with-drawing recognition for thou-sands of Filipinos who served with the US military, either as part of the Commonwealth Army or as guerillas who fought under American supervision. In the process, they lost the chance to enjoy benefi ts given to other nationals who fought with the

US in World War II. The Filipino Veterans

Equity Compensation (FVEC) was intended to address that injustice by recognizing the role of the Filipino veterans and pro-viding for a one-time payment of $15,000 for Filipino World War II veterans who’ve become Ameri-can citizens and $9,000 for those who retained their Filipino citi-zenship.

Some 24,385 of the more than 43,000 surviving veter-ans who applied for the FVEC were turned down, reportedly because their names were not in the offi cial roster at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Last December, President Obama approved the release of a previously classifi ed report outlining US military actions in the Philippines during and after World War II, including the pro-cess by which the US Army rec-ognized qualifi ed guerillas.

Retired Maj. Gen. Delfi n Lorenzana, special envoy for Fil-ipino veterans at the Philippine Embassy, expressed the hope the 335-page report would provide alternative proof of service for

those previously disqualifi ed for the FVEC.

Heck’s bill would direct the VA to accept the paperwork and to accept one valid document as acceptable proof, rather than multiples, and it would direct the Army to cooperate. It would also extend the deadline for eli-gible veterans to apply.

Lorenzana said of the 43,083 veterans who fi led claims with the VA, only 18,698 are in both the US Army Roster of Troops and the Discharge List. Many applications for the FVEC were rejected because their names were either not in the lists or

are only in one of the lists, he explained.

This comes after “The “Mighty Five” – Fil-Am World War II veterans from Southern Nevada denied compensation and whose cause was taken up in Las Vegas - have been reduced to two over the past year with the deaths of Augusto Oppus, Romeo Barreras and Silverio Cuaresma.

Barreras died last month at 85. Cuaresma, who was 100, died two weeks ago in Las Vegas.

“Simply put, these men fought so that the Allies could defeat the Japanese in the Pacifi c,” Heck said in a privilege speech on Capitol Hill.

According to a document his family has preserved through the years, Cuaresma was appointed second lieutenant on April 22, 1943, “in the fi eld by order of Edwin P. Ramsey, major, U.S. Army commanding.”

Ramsey was the well-known leader of the 26th Cavalry who made the famous last horse charge in US history on Jan. 16, 1942. Decades later, Ramsey vouched for Cuaresma’s Army service in an affi davit for his vet-

eran’s benefi ts claim to no avail because the papers were not rec-ognized.

One of those, a Pangasinan-Tarlac Military District roster dated April 22, 1943, names “Cuaresma, Silverio S., 2nd Lt., USAFFE,” as the No. 7 offi cer on a list of 85 soldiers.

“If they can show they fought, let’s fulfi ll our promise to them so they can live out their years knowing the United States has offi cially recognized their service.”

In the Senate, Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) is also set to rein-troduce a Filipino veterans com-pensation bill as work gets under way on the Veterans Affairs committee on which he sits, a spokeswoman said.

“It’s a very convoluted pro-cess,” Heck said before paying his respects to Cuaresma at the memorial. “It’s the Department of the Army that has to make the determination that they are recognized. Then they turn that over to the VA and the VA pays the benefi t. Unfortunately, they have a very narrow interpreta-tion of what documents they will accept to prove service.”

DVA says 21% of American war veterans are minorities

WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced the appointment of six new members to the Advi-sory Committee on Minority Veterans.

The committee advises the Secretary of Veterans Affairs regarding the needs of minority Veterans with respect to com-pensation, health care, rehabili-tation, outreach, and other ben-efi ts and programs administered by the VA.

“Our Veterans are refl ec-tive of the society in which we live, and we draw strength from their diversity,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “VA relies on this committee to provide sound counsel on issues

that impact the minority Veteran population, and we welcome the newest members.”

There are approximately 4.7 million minority veterans in the United States and its territories, thus comprising nearly 21 per-cent of the total Veteran popula-tion.

Chartered on Nov. 2, 1994, the committee makes recommen-dations for administrative and legislative changes. The com-mittee members are appointed to one, two, or three-year terms.

The new committee mem-bers include: Tommy L. Daniels, Brig. Gen., retired Air Force, of Fort Worth, Texas; Raymond Jardine, Col., retired Army, of Honolulu, Hawaii; · Thanh

Dinh, Air Force Veteran of Burke, Va.; Harold Hunt, Army Veteran of Pembroke, N.C.; Shelia Mitchell, Air Force Vet-eran of Manassas, Va.; Elisandro T. Diaz, Navy Veteran of Santa Ana, California.

Current members are Clara L. Adams-Ender, Brig. Gen., retired Army; Oscar B. Hilman, Brig. Gen., retired Army, Ben-jamin C. Palacios, Command Sgt. Maj., retired Army, is assistant VP, regional account manager for Guam and CNMI region for Science Application Inter-national Corporation (SAIC); Celia Renteria Szelwach, Army Veteran; Marvin Trujillo, Jr., Marine Corps Veteran.

Nevada Rep. Joe Heck

Chris Lu

February 15, 2013 9

1st Filam federal judge speaks at FALDEF March 1NEW YORK - Lorna Gail

Schofi eld, the fi rst Filipino Amer-ican in the history of the United States to serve as an Article III federal judge, will address the Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund (FALDEF) on March 1 in her maiden public appearance before a Filipino American audience, the Filipino Reporter has learned.

This will be the fi rst time since her nomination and confi r-mation as the fi rst Filam federal judge that she will be meeting with Filipino American barris-ters.

Schofi eld, who turned 57 on Jan. 27, was a distinguished attorney with the prestigious Manhattan fi rm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP since 1988 spe-cializing on complex civil litiga-tion and white collar criminal defense.

The FALDEF fund-raiser will be held at the offi cial resi-dence of Philippine Consul Gen-eral in New York Mario de Leon, Jr. on 66th Street in Manhattan.

FALDEF is also reportedly eyeing as a guest of honor Fili-pino Pulitzer-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who came out in 2011 as an undocumented immigrant and helped bring to the political forefront the immi-gration reform issue.

FALDEF is a national orga-

nization that provides pro bono legal services to members of the Filipino-American community who are suffering legal injustices by reason of their immigrant

origins and status and unable to engage legal aid and assistance on account of poverty.

It was helped and estab-lished by the late civil rights advocate John A. Payton, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Education Fund.

As an only child born in Fort Wayne, and grew up in New Haven, Indiana, Schofi eld is a second-generation Filaam and the product of what used to be called a “mixed marriage” - her late mother, Priscilla Tiangco Schofi eld, was a Filipina war bride from Batangas City, Philip-pines, who married an American

serviceman.“My father left us when I

was 3,” Schofi eld disclosed in past interview with The College Magazine of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University (IU).

“My mother came to the United States because of her ide-alism about the country that had saved her during World War II, and remained here, I believe, because of the stigma and shame she would have suffered had she returned to the Philippines as a divorced woman. She was a pharmacist and stressed achieve-ment, independence and self-suffi ciency as essential values.”

As the fi rst Asian-American to be elected chair of the 70,000-member litigation section of the American Bar Association, she has been named a Super Lawyer for fi ve years in a row by Super Lawyers magazine.

In 2008, she was named one of the nation’s 50 most infl uential minority lawyers by the National Law Journal.

Schofi eld, double-majored in English and German on full scholarship and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude in three years from Indi-ana University, and earned her J.D. from New York University (NYU) Law School, where she served as editor of the NYU Law Review and a Pomeroy scholar.

Filam Federal Judge Lorna Scho-fi eld.

Lohman wants Manila to boost military forceMANILA - Walter

Lohman, director of the Wash-ington D.C.-based Asian Stud-ies Center of the Heritage Foun-dation, says the Philippines must strengthen its “military force” to assert its rights over the contested territories in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

After calling of Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosa-rio during his stopover here during his Asia tour, Lohman said that despite the country’s move to bring its dispute with China before the International Arbitral tribunal, Beijing would still not agree to arbitration but would continue to assert its claims “aggressively.”

The Philippines should strengthen its military force to protect its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, he said.

“You are absolutely going in the right direction, no ques-tion. [But] you have to push back on the Chinese on every possible venue. You have to push back legally, you also need to have some sort of cred-

ible military force,” Lohman said.

He noted that international law “is on the Philippine side” when it came to the nine-dash map claims of China.

“From their [China’s] perspective, their best oppor-tunity is to press their advan-tage physically because on the merits of the case they are not going to win the case on the validity of the nine-dash-map,” he said.

Lohman suggested that Manila acquire a fi ghter aircraft in order to tell the Chinese “to stay out of our territory”.

Secretary Albert del Rosario with Walter Lohman

February 15, 20131010

Foreign workers’ rights should be part of reforms - AFTWASHINGTON D.C. One

of America’s biggest unions has challenged lawmakers to craft measures in an immigra-tion reform bill they are writing that will protect foreign workers from abuses.

Randi Weingarten, presi-dent of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), said the gov-ernment has an obligation to pre-vent abuses like those infl icted by a US-based recruiter against hundreds of Filipino teachers in Louisiana.

“Three years ago the AFT brought to light the abuses of nearly 350 Filipino teachers recruited to work in Louisiana. These teachers borrowed money to pay massive fees, had their documents seized and faced threats and extortion. Their story was a shock to our union,” she said.

The US District Court in Los Angeles, CA. ordered their recruiter, Universal Placement International last December to pay $4.5 million to the Filipino teachers who were forced into exploitive contracts.

In a statement, timed with release of the report, “The Amer-ican Dream Up for Sale: A Blue-print for Ending International Labor Recruitment Abuse” Weingarten noted that such abuses seemed to be prevalent in the US.

“The outrageous practices catalogued in this report cry out for justice and we have an obli-

gation to reform the systems that are allowing them to happen…and break the cycles of exploita-tion that engulf so many immi-grant workers.”

The report, Weingarten stressed, “makes clear that such abuses…permeate the system.”

Two years ago, the US Department of Labor ordered the Prince George’s County Public School (PGCPS) system in Maryland to pay $5.9 million in back wages and fi nes for violat-ing visa rules when it recruited about a thousand foreign teach-ers, most of them from the Phil-ippines.

The teachers were report-edly compelled to pay $1,000 in placement fees, including for their H-1B visas that should have been paid by PGCPS.

The AFT denounced the school district for “illegally

exploiting workers who came from other countries to teach in American schools.” The DOL order also banned PGCPS from recruiting foreign teachers for 2 years, forcing many of the teach-ers to return to an uncertain future in the Philippines.

Weingarten said the report offers a “set of core principles for the kind of treatment that any worker in our nation should be able to expect. Ideals such as freedom from discrimination or coercion, access to justice and information, and freedom of movement and association are not reserved for citizens alone.”

“They are universal values for which our country stands and must apply to any worker on our soil,” she added.

The AFT campaign, if it proves successful, would benefi t all foreign guest workers in the US, including about two dozen Filipino oil rig workers who fi led a class suit against contractor Grand Isle Shipyard and job-placement fi rm DNR Offshore.

The Filipinos, who work as welders and pipefi tters in off-shore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and other drill sites, alleged they were “essentially imprisoned from the minute they set foot in Louisiana.”

Three Filipino welders were killed in an explosion on one of those oil platforms last Nov. 16.

“As our nation begins the essential work of comprehensive immigration reform,” Weingar-

ten declared, “It is imperative that the agenda include reason-able regulation of the interna-tional recruitment process.”

Among their proposals, she

explained, is creating a national recruiter registry, public disclo-sure of information and the elim-ination of fees for workers to get jobs. (RJJ)

PH ranks 67th in world’s happiest people

NEW YORK - The Philip-pines ranked 67th among 142 countries in the world with the happiest citizens in the 2012 Legatum Institute Prosperity Index, posted on Forbes.com.

Norway topped the list in the last three reports in 2010, 2011, and 2012.

The next happiest coun-tries after Norway were Den-mark, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands,Switzerland, and Ireland.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) says the Philippines had been given the distinction of “Most Roman-tic Destination” by the Shang-hai Peninsula Hotel last month. The DFA noted that the award was received by Consul General Charles Jose, accompanied by Niel Ballesteros of the Philippine Tourism Offi ce in Shanghai.

The Legatum Prosperity Index, an annual global survey developed by the London-based

Legatum Institute, is a unique assessment of global wealth and wellbeing in eight catego-ries economy, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety and security,npersonal freedom, and social capital.

The survey is helped by data from Gallup World Roll, World Development Indicators, GDP, World Intellectual Property Organization, United Nations Human Development Report, World Bank, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and World Values Survey. An overwhelming 93 percent of surveyed Filipinos said they believe that “people are treated with respect in the coun-try,” higher than the global aver-age of 85.1%, while 81.8% are sat-isfi ed with the beauty of the envi-ronment (75.1% global). A high 79.8% are satisfi ed with govern-ment efforts (40.2% global) and 88.3% are â œsatisfi ed with free-dom of choice’ (75.8% global).

The highest Philippines ranked 47th in economy, 63rd in gover-nance, 75th in entrepreneurship and opportunity, 72nd in educa-tion system, 93rd in health, 55th in personal freedom, and 72nd in social capital.

Legatum Institute research-ers started to rank the happiest countries in the world six years ago. It defi nes happiness as being healthy, having enough food and enough money to buy what one wants, being able to speak what is on one’s mind, free to wor-ship, feel safe and secure, having opportunity to get an education, and be an entrepreneur.

We congratulate the govern-ment of the Republic of the Phil-ippines headed by H.E., Presi-dent Benigno S. Aquino III and Vice President Jejomar C. Binay in their programs to bring the fruits of development to major-ity of Filipinos. CONGRATULA-TIONS AND MABUHAY!

Filam sailors enjoy perks from US pivot to Asia

MANILA - Filipinos serv-ing aboard US Navy warships are getting an unexpected perk of sorts as their vessels call on Philippine ports, often paving the way for impromptu family reunions.

The Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Stockdale docked at Subic Bay last week. It’s unclear whether it’s going to be a regular feature of America’s “pivot to Asia” but US warships have been dropping anchor in the Philippines at the rate of once a week.

And perhaps none are hap-pier than their 15 Filipino Ameri-can crew members. “We have quite a few Filipino American sailors among our crew,” dis-closed the Stockdale’s skipper

Cmdr. Lex Walker.“I hope that the citizens of

the Philippines can look at our ship and see that their people and culture are well represented and respected in the US Navy,” he told the Philippine News Agency.

Earlier, the nuclear-pow-ered submarine USS Cheyenne also stopped at Subic to replen-ish supplies and for some well-deserved R&R, including for two of her Fil-Am crew mem-bers Robert Hicks and Teodorico Dante.

Hicks was born at Clark Air Base in Pampanga and the visit was his fi rst time to return to the country. He fi nally got a chance to fulfi ll a dream to “stand in the shadow of Mt. Pinatubo” – the volcano that devastated large parts of the province and forced the US Air Force to abandon the sprawling Clark Air Base.

Hicks added he was ready for some “real” lumpia and pancit.

For Tapia though the expe-rience could be more profound. Born in California, all he knew

about the country were the tales his parents and grandparents told him. His “lolo” from the mother-side served with the US Army in World War II and both his parents – who trace their roots to Cebu and Pangasinan – served with the US Navy.

Submariners are consid-ered an elite class in the US Navy because they are carefully selected and train extensively to work in confi ned spaces for extended periods of time. A nuclear submarine can operate underwater for months on end without surfacing.

“I am really looking forward to fi nding the food I grew up with,” he was quoted in a Manila Bulletin report, “I can’t wait for some liberty to explore the place

my elders still call home. I am an American but I am a descendant of the Philippines and this is my fi rst chance to see a place I’ve only dreamed of visiting.”

Filams serving aboard the USS Stockdale have families in Baguio City, Metro Manila, Bataan, Pampanga and Olon-gapo City, Zambales, Walker revealed. Most of them visited relatives while the ship was on port.

The US Embassy in Manila also arranges for crew members to participate in community projects such as handing gifts to orphans or organizing guided tours of their ships.

The USS Stockdale is a 9,200-ton destroyer that carries up to 90 long-range cruise and shorter-range defensive missiles. It is based in San Diego, Ca.

The USS Cheyenne, on the other hand, is a Los Angeles-class attack submarine that is powered by its own nuclear reactor. It took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom, fi ring Tomahawk cruise missiles against Saddam Hussein’s forces.

File photo shows Filipino tutors demonstrating in DC 2 years ago.

Filam crew of visiting US warship in Manila line up for photo.

February 15, 2013 11

February 15, 20131212

Investigative reports on the way out?NEW YORK - Sheila Cor-

onel, the executive director of

the Stabile Center for Investi-

gative Journalism in Columbia

University and founder of the

Philippine Center for Investiga-

tive Journalism (PCIJ) 17 years

ago, tells Filam online magazine

she does not see a future for this

form of journalism. She told a

recent gathering of Filam jour-

nalists here that investigative

journalists should start thinking

‘entrepreneurially’ because they

are fi nding themselves short of

funds and lack of support from

major news organizations that

are afraid of lawsuits and pres-

sure tactics.

The Kapihan forum was

held at the Pan de Sal coffee shop

on Jan. 25. She said this poses a

danger to the strengthening of

democratic institutions. In fact,

her former colleagues in PCIJI in

Manila have faced several libel

suits.

She said investigative jour-

nalism gets its support from the

government, such as the Free-

dom of Information Act in the

U.S. and the pending FOIA legis-

lation which is being opposed by

President Benigno S. Aquino, Jr.

Sheila also shared her thoughts

on recent developments in

media, such as the death of

Newsweek and the reported dis-

solution of CNN’s investigative

reporting division, which was

treated as a half-serious gag on

the “Daily Show with Jon Stew-

art.”

She said Newsweek’s

journalism ‘business model’ is

“obsolete,” in view of the speed

offered by the Internet.

She continued:

“Why would I read News-week about China when I can read (an English language Chi-nese newspaper) and get their perspective” without having the reports “fi ltered” by Newsweek?

“Do I grieve for the loss of Newsweek? Not really,” Sheila added.

As for CNN, she said the cable network has been searching for its business model especially at a time when it has been fi nding diffi culty competing against Fox News or MSNBC and a plethora of Internet sources of news.

Sheila said journalists can still push watchdog reporting forward by “carving out your own space,” such as setting up blogs and publishing indepen-dently.

Sheila Coronel

February 15, 2013 13

4th Biennial Filipino American Studies Gala at UM March 2The Filipino Cultural Asso-

ciation (FCA) would like to invite you to the 4th Biennial Filipino American Studies Gala. FCA seeks to raise awareness about Filipino American Stud-

ies (FAST) at the University of Maryland, which embodies the value of sharing our stories and the stories of our families. Still only one of the only courses of its kind offered at higher education

institutions on the East Coast, the origins of FAST were organized a collaboration of students, the University, and the community. The event will be at 6pm in the Grand Ballroom at the Adele H.

Stamp Student Union. The event will be a fundrais-

ing dinner held in the interest of two Asian American Studies Program scholarships: the Major

General Antonio Taguba Profi les in Courage and Leadership Scholarship, and the Philip Vera Cruz Outstanding Commu-nity Service Scholarship. Through the active spon-sorship of these scholar-ships, we continue to foster a spirit of public and community service that refl ects and encour-ages true citizenship.

The theme for the Gala is “Inheriting His-tory.” We recognize the importance of learning from our past in order to create a better future. As an organization, we revisit the legacy of past student leaders who exceeded the expecta-tions of a cultural group for a worthwhile goal. As students, we reaffi rm our commitment to aca-demic excellence and the

privilege of a well-rounded and advanced education. As a com-munity, we commit our support to students who exemplify the values of service and citizenship. Inheriting history is not a passive acceptance of the past by the next generation, but rather an active engagement to work for a better tomorrow for all people.

To purchase tickets, please visit www.tinyurl.com/fastg-ala2013. For more information, please email public.relations@fcaatumd.com.

The mission of the FCA is to promote awareness and edu-cation of Filipino-American cul-ture for the University of Mary-land community. We unite our members through cooperative involvement in cultural, aca-demic, political, athletic, and social programs and activities. Through our shared experiences, we preserve, encourage, and inspire the celebration of our cul-ture.

Contact: Dana Janelle Ong, Public Relations Offi cer Phone: (973)960-7204, Email: public.rela-tions@fcaatumd.com Website: www.fcaatumd.com

February 15, 20131414

February 15, 2013 15

February 15 (Friday) 6:00-10:00pm Fil-Am Multicultural Center Children’s Valentine Pajama Party. 7500 Livingston Rd. Oxon Hill, MD 20745. $ 15 per person ($ 5 per half hour after 10 pm).includes dinner, snacks, craft class, dancing, obstacle course, games, and movies. This event is for pre-schoolers to the young at heart. Attire: PAJAMAS. Attendees are

encouraged to bring a sleeping bag and a pillow. Contact: 301-567-2280.

February 16 (Saturday) 5:3-9:30pm Holy Trinity Jubilee Park Valentine Dinner-Dance Benefi t . Regency at Dominion Valley, 15351 Championship Drive, Haymarket, VA. $100 per person or $150 per couple; $65 per stu-dent; $600 for table of 8. Tax deductible donation to Trinidad

Tonolete, 10260 Greystone Rd., Manassas, VA 20111. Contact: Sandy Witter 703-266-3534.

February 16 (Saturday) Filipino American Institute of Accountants of Metro DC has joined VITA Program’s Free Tax Preparation: at Fairfax Skill Source Center, 7611 Little River Turnpike, Suite 300 West, Annandale, VA; For individuals with household income $51,000 or less). Go to this link for details: http://www.money.umd.edu/vita.cfm. Contact: info@faia-metrodc.org

February 22 (Friday) Fili-pino American Institute of Accountants of Metro DC has joined the VITA program Free Tax Preparation: University of Maryland, School of Public Health Building, College Park, MD. (For individuals with

household income $51,000 or less). Go to this link:: http://www.money.umd.edu/vita.cfm for details. Contact: info@faia-metrodc.org

February 23 (Saturday) 9:00-12:00noon. Hepatitis B Initiative of Washington, DC together with PAFC, PNA, Bicol Association of MWDC, Care-givers Home Health Services, “HEALTH SCREENING: Glu-cose, Cholesterol and Hepatitis B.” 12-hour fasting required. Chinese Consolidated Benevo-lent Association, 510 I St. NW, Washington, DC (Gallery Place/China Town Metro Stop). Con-tact: Aylene Mafnas at aylene@mris.com or 703-868-5660.

February 23 (Saturday) 10:00am-2:00pm LaSalle Phil-ippines Alumni Association & Filipino American Basketball Association Fundraising Bowl-ing Tournament. $100 for team of 4 (includes shoes, balls and donation to victims of Typhoon Pablo Disaster). Bowl America 6450 Edsall Road, Alexandria, VA 22312. Deadline for Reg-istration: February 14. To reg-ister: https://adobeformscen-tral.com/?f=zBB0gW-3G4ulb-pZHTXP0hQ Contact: Rolly Sal-dana at rsaldana@gmu.edu

March 1 (Friday) Filipino American Institute of Accoun-tants of Metro DC has joined the VITA Program Free Tax Prepa-ration: University of Maryland. See details above on February 22 entry. Contact: info@faia-

metrodc.orgMarch 1 (Friday) Filipino

Heritage Night in the NBA East Coast at the Wizards vs Knicks Games. Sponsored by the Filipino American Bas-ketball Association (FABA ). Includes 8-10 Youth/Adult pre-games, early entry, FAN Tunnel Experience,Tinikling Performance. Ticket ranges from $27UL, $40CL and $89 pressbox with gourmet buffet. Contact: fabaofmetrodcinc@aol.com.

March 2 (Saturday) 5:00pm. Filipino Cultural Association and Asian American Studies Pro-gram at the University of Mary-land, “Fourth Filipino American Studies Gala,” a fundraiser for scholarships. Grand Ballroom, Adele Stamp Student Union, Universityof Maryland. $40; Students (with ID) $10. Contact: Andrew Aggabao at president@fcaatumd.com 410.562.2707

March 9 (Saturday) 10:00am-1:00pm. Philippine American Foundation for Chari-ties Community Meeting for Members and Volunteers. Mrs. Philippines Home, 6482 Bock Rd, Oxon Hill, MD 20745. (301) 567-9537..Contact: Bing Branigin at mcbranigin@aol.com

March 11-15 Bicol Associa-tion MWDC Surgical Mission at the Bicol Eastern Medical Center, Virac, Catanduanes. Contact: Yvonne Horneffer, CRNP at 301-496-7955 or horneffery@hotmail.com.

Virginia Beach consular outreach Feb. 23

The Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., in coopera-tion with the Council of United Filipino Organization of Tide-water (CUFOT), will conduct a consular outreach mission in Vir-ginia Beach, Virginia from 9 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday Feb. 23. The venue is Travel Outlet in Lila Lane, Suite 101, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23464.

Services To Be Rendered: Processing of applications for issuance or renewal of Philip-pine passport• Processing of authentication/acknowledgment of legal docu-ments• Processing of applications for Reports of Births and Marriages• Administration of oaths to former Filipinos under the Dual• Citizenship Law on 23 Febru-ary 2013 (Saturday) at 2:30 p.m.*

Passport applicants are no longer required to bring pass-port photos since they will have their pictures taken using ePass-port data capturing machines at the outreach site. However, they still need to bring their cur-rent passport, photocopy of the passport data page, the passport

application form which may be downloaded from the Embassy’s website at http://philippineem-bassy-usa.org/uploads/pdfs/passport.pdf

Applicants are advised to bring $60 in cash or postal money order payable to the Philippine Embassy, as passport application fee. An additional fee (as admin-istrative fee) may be imposed by the organizer which will be used to pay for the rental of the venue and other miscellaneous expenses.

For the applicant’s conve-nience, a USPS Express Mail envelope with tracking number will be available at the venue for a fee.

The application for Phil-ippine passport “is strictly by appointment only.” Applicants are advised to APPLY FOR AN APPLICATION APPOINT-MENT/SLOT by sending an e-mail to the Embassy at wdcpeconsular@gmail .com <mailto:%20wdcpeconsular@gmail.com>.

Appointments will be auto-matically scheduled as they are received.

February 15, 20131616 Around DC in Pictures

The ‘Sinulog’ comes to Rockville, Maryland

Sunday January 20, 2103 turned out to be a beautiful sunny winter day with Spring-like temperature at St. Mary Church on Viers Mill Road in Rockville, MD. Devotees started to fi ll up the pews of the main church at 1:45PM for the annual celebration of the Feast of Sto Nino.

Holy Mass hosted by the Mother Butler’s Guild began promptly at 2:00PM as sched-uled. The marble communion rail circling the altar was bedecked

with more than eighty statues of the Sto. Nino. The statues came in different sizes, different colors, different confi gurations, and different ornamentations. Before the closing prayer of the Mass, Fr. Archie Carampatan, the offi ciating priest, blessed the statues. The Mass was quickly followed by the recitation of the Rosary and the Novena to the Infant Jesus.

Unlike in past years, the parish social hall was booked ear-lier for another function. Recep-

tion was held at nearby Lincoln Park Community Center. Phil-ippine delicacies created a long double line at the buffet table. Guests line-danced to DJ music. Following the tradition which started from Cebu, the recep-tion culminated with the Sinu-log. Holding their own images of the Sto. Nino and stems of carnations, the Sinulog dancers swayed their way in circular for-mation to the beat of “Pit Senor”. (Written by Presy Guevara)

“Sinulog” participants line up with their statuettes of Santo Nino for the blessing by Fr. Archie Carampatan last January 20 at the St. Mary Church in Rockville, Maryland. (Photo by Ann Corominas)

Soan Velasquez,outgoing president for 2012, hands over the symbolic gavel and paddle to incoming president Beth A. Wong after the induction ceremo-nies held in January with members and guests from the community, and friends from other APO alumni associations who came as far as California, New York, New Jersey and Virginia Beach. (photo by Maurese O. Owens)

International performer Stephanie Reese, a Filipina American, with US Amb. Harry Thomas, and Bing Branigin, during the birthday party for Reese, and get together of Fil ams and other expatriates at the Pacifi c Towers, The Fort, in Metro Manila last February 2.

Fil Am Erwin Gomez, beauty guro based in Washington, DC., is currently in the Philippines taking a break before launching his soon to be reality show in the US. Gomez became famous 4 years ago when his name came up during the investigation of the “White House gate crushers”, the Shalahis. Photo shows Gomez with Veronica Uy and Roy Mabasa, Philippine journal-ists. While in the Philippines, Gomez also appeared on ANC, a cable news channel affi liated with ABS-CBN. Photo: Bing Branigin

Shown from left are Col. Arnel Duco, Air Force Attache’, Capt . Elson Aguilar, Naval Attache’, Maj. General ( Ret.) Delfi n Lorenzana, Offi ce of Veterans Affairs, Bing Branigin, NaFFAA; Senipr Supt (Ret) Cris Maralit, Maj. Gen. Cesar Yano, Defense Attache’, and Col. Jojo Gentiles, in-coming Police Attache, pose for a photo after their meeting in the embassy last month.

Seen in a local eatery in Virginia recently are the lovey-dovey couple Amor and Rudy Regala in what appears to be a pre-Valentine’s Day dinner. Rudy, a friend of the Manila Mail, has just recovered from a stroke. (Photo by Bing C. Branigin)

Members of Mother Butler Guild had an impromptu birthday celebration after their monthly meeting at the com-munity room of St. Anne’s Church in Tenleytown, D.C. Seated, from left: Vicky Cirujales, Sally Madis, Mary Horcajo, birthday girls Belen Bernardino and Rose Flores; Mila Aguas and Philomena Reediekel. Back, from left: Ledy Lar-gado, Nerie Decena, Lydia Aguas, Elma Garcia, Herly Vibas, Sister Sara Dwyer, Virgie Salcedo, Remy Aydalla and Siony Tugado. Not in photo is Recording Secretary Aida Ancheta.

February 15, 2013 17

Debut band shows at PMCC

Photo taken by Vic Galang shows,

from left, David Valderama (seated),

Hana and Linda Inejosa, Fe Baraceros,

and Julian Oteyza during the Feb. 2 debut

performances of the Tutubi Band and

the Legends of Classic Pinoy Rock at the

Philippine Multi-Cultural Center in Oxon

Hill, Maryland. The attendees who braved

the icy snow were treated to a trip down

memory lane with a violin concert by

Korina Baraceros, some rocking tagalog

songs by Badette of “Agos”, live painting

by Gabriego, disco songs by Erma Mon-

tero, Beatles songs by Cugie dela Santa,

Bee Gees songs by Marvin Santos, Elvis

songs by Benny Medina and the music of

Julian Oteyza and Tutubi Band. They also

celebrated the birthdays of Dave Valder-

rama, Linda Inejosa, Corina Barrientos,

George Brooks, Hanna and others. Tutubi

is performing at the Cultural Center 8 to

12 p.m. every Saturday for free. Jam with

the band or bring your art material and

paint with other artists

They sell beer, wine, softdrinks,

water and snacks. For info, email: julian-

oteyza@gmail.com or (703) 969 5469.

February 15, 20131818

Salazar unveils new AsianAm museum in WASEATTLE, Washington - On

Sunday, February 10, 2013, Sec-retary of the Interior Ken Sala-zar joined senior offi cials from the Department of the Interior, members of Washington’s con-gressional delegation and other local offi cials to tour the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacifi c American Experience and unveil a new Asian Ameri-can Pacifi c Islander heritage ini-tiative that will be undertaken by the National Park Service. Salazar will also make a major announcement regarding the future of the museum. Other guests are Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget Rhea Suh National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell U.S. Sen-ator Patty Murray and Reps. Jim McDermott and Adam Smith. Luke Museum of the Asian Pacifi c American Experience is on 719 S King Street Seattle, WA 98104.

■ Pinoys tramp Trump son over Tubbataha

Donald Trump Jr., the son of real estate mogul Donald Trump, blasted Washington recently for agreeing to cut into sections the USS Guardian, the US mine-sweeper which ran aground on the Tubbataha Reef in Palawan on Jan. 17.

Washington also agreed to pay for damages caused by the grounding of the ship and for the cleanup costs. Trump posted a link via twitter to a Washing-ton Free Beacon article, which reported that the US mine-sweeper will have to be cut up into small pieces “to prevent the harming of the ocean’s eco-system.” Trump said the deci-sion to scrap a $277 million boat was “stupid” since the ship only damaged a “very small section of the reef that has already been run over.” His tweet, though, drew sharp reactions from many of his followers, including Filipino politicians and militant groups. Former Pangasinan congress-man Mark Cojuangco, celebrity tourist guide Carlos Celdran and youth group Anakbayan slammed the businessman’s “attitude” and called on the government to declare Trump a “persona non-grata.”

■ Filam bests 61 in chest tourney

PENNSYLVANIA - Fili-pino-American David Asuncion Apelo bested 61 other players in a 7-Round Swiss format to bag the crown for the 45th Lib-erty Bell Open Under -2100 chess tournament held on Jan. 18-21, 2013 at the Sonesta Hotel in downtown Philadelphia. Hailing from Queens, New York, Apelo took home the grand cash prize amounting to $1,185 after scor-ing six points in seven rounds.

The tournament was orga-nized by the Continental Chess Association under the direction of Bill Goichberg, a former presi-dent for the US Chess Federa-tion. In an email to Asian Jour-nal, Apelo said he was proud of his victory as a Filipino rep-resentative in the tournament. He said that there was no other Filipino who participated in the tournament aside from him. Team captain Nonoy Rafael said he considers Apelo, 55, as one of the best Filipino-American chess players in the East Coast.

■ No more SS paper checks

WASHINGTON D.C. - Starting March 1, the Social Secu-rity System will no longer issue paper checks. A new regulation requires almost all recipients of federal benefi ts to receive pay-ments electronically. Payment will be accessible through direct deposit or a Direct Express pre-paid card. Of 63.5 million ben-efi ciaries, about 5 million people still receive paper checks, says Walt Henderson, director of the Treasury Department’s GoDirect campaign. A limited number of hardship cases and eople in their 90s who do not convert to electronic payments by March lll1 will continue to receive paper checks, but the number of allowable waivers will dwindle over time. To sign up for direct deposit, go to GoDirect.org or call 800 333 1795

■ Trotsenburg is WB VP for East Asia

WASHINGTON - Axel van Trotsenburg has been appointed the World Bank’s new Vice Pres-ident for East Asia and Pacifi c by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, effective February 1st He will lead the Bank’s advi-sory services and lending opera-

tions in a dynamic region which now accounts for 40 percent of global growth. “I am excited to join the team serving East Asia and the Pacifi c, a region leading the global economy in growth and poverty reduction, with an increasing need for innovation and knowledge, said Trotsen-burg. We will continue work-ing closely with countries in the region to help deliver practi-cal development solutions and create opportunities for all.”

■ No more blue, red states -RNC

Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Com-mittee, says that after the 2012 electio, Republicans knew we had to get to work growing our party. In a press release to the Manila Mail, Priebus said RNC has launched the Growth and Opportunity Project to get input from across the country. He said the party must reach more voters and fi nd out what it could do better, and how to better com-municate our message where it’s not being heard. In the recent Atlanta GOP meeting, RNC gathered local African Ameri-can leaders and political activ-ists to solicit answers to these questions. “The feedback we received--along with informa-tion gathered from similar meet-ings and thousands of individu-als--will help guide the Republi-can Party as we work to be more welcoming and more inclusive. That’s why we must stop talk-ing about “reaching out” and start working on “welcoming in.” “This is not just about win-ning elections. It’s about doing what’s right for America. Repub-licans know our principles, when applied through smart policy, can do the most good for the most Americans. He went on to say “Republicans believe

the economy should be grown by the innovation of enterpris-ing Americans--not kept afl oat by the meddling of big govern-ment. In education, we believe parents and teachers should mold a child’s future--not union bosses and government work-ers. Families, not government, should decide what healthcare and energy is best for them.

■ Pinay tutor sues Egyptian employers

STATEN ISLAND - Rina Hernandez, a 52-year-old Fili-pino teacher turned nanny, is accusing her Egyptian employ-ers of abuse. She told a press con-ference organized by the Filipino American Legal and Education Defense Fund said she left her job as teacher in Qatar to join the family of an Egyptian business-man in New York.

In Staten Island, where the family settled, she looked after six children and worked long hours with very little sleep and food. Her passport was held by the Egyptian housewife, and she and two other Filipino maids lived reportedly in deplorable conditions. At the hotel where the family stayed at the height of the hurricane Sandy, police anf Faldef lawyers, consular offi cials rescued Rina. Two other Filipina maids decided to stay with the family. The rescue was planned. Rina’s daughter reached out to Faldef who passed on the infor-mation to the lawyers. Falfep is set to fi le human traffi cking charges.

■ Men who killed 3 Pinoys are charged

LOS ANGELES - The man suspected of killing three Fili-pinos and one other victim in Northridge, California was for-mally charged with four counts of murder by the Los Angeles

District Attorney’s Offi ce. Ka Pasasouk and three other sus-pects allegedly shot the vic-tims on December 2 last year, a report of the news site Asian Journal said. The victims - Fili-pinos Robert Calabia, Teofi lo Navales, Amanda Ghossein, and Korean-American Jennifer Kim - were allegedly killed outside an unlicensed boarding house. On December 3 last year, Pasasouk reportedly fl ed to Las Vegas. He was then arrested shortly after, along with three suspected accomplices in the murders. According to the report, authori-ties believe that the murders were due to an argument over personal belongings. Pasasouk was previously accused of grand theft, drug possession, and rob-bery. He may be sentenced to death if found guilty.

■ Woman kills man with her boobs?

SEATTLE, Washington - Donna Lange, a 51-year-old woman is accused of using her boobs to smother and kill her boyfriend after an altercation at their mobile home. Lange report-edly suffocated her boyfriend with her large boobs early last month. Seattle’s KIRO 7 Eye-witness News said deputies, called to the Airport Inn trailer park for a disturbance report, found medics performing CPR on Lange’s 51-year-old alleged boyfriend, who was later pro-nounced dead at Swedish Hos-pital. Witnesses claim they saw Lange throw her boyfriend down in the back of the mobile home. She was later found by witnesses with her chest covering the vic-tim’s face. Police noted the size difference between Lange and her boyfriend -- she was 5-feet, 6-inches and 192 pounds, he was 5-feet, 7-inches and 175 pounds.

U.S. News Briefs

Wanted: New champions for PH in CongressBy Jennie L. Ilustre

Washington, D.C.–“Wanted: New Champions” might as well be the slogan of the Philippines and the embassy in this nation’s capital to advance its legislative agenda.

The 113th US Congress opened on Jan. 3 without Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, the Philip-pines’ No. 1 champion, who passed away Dec. 17 last year at age 88.

Inouye, who was chair-man of the Senate Commitee on Appropriations, had assured the passage of Save the Textile Act, aimed at generating jobs here and in the Philippines.

Ambassador to the US Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. recalled Inouye had told him, “Don’t worry, we’ll do

it.” The bill’s other setback: the

full legislative plate of the cur-rent Congress. Top priorities include the economy, gun safety and comprehensive immigra-tion reform

Cuisia stressed at the annual media gathering, “We need to develop new champi-ons.”

He added he and his legislative team were fortunate to have started making new allies, such as Rep. Ed Royce (R, CA), while lobbying for the tex-tile bill.

The Philippine embassy here also needs a budget increase, observers say. The US Pinoys for Good Governance, based in this capital, had lob-bied in vain for the Aquino

administration for a $1-million budget increase, half of it for the embassy here.

Gus Alzona, a Filipino American leader in Maryland, had expressed a similar budget concern at a public forum, spon-sored by the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS).

The Philippines has also lost other staunch supporters. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D, HI) retired after three decades of public service. Sen. John Kerry (D, MA) took his oath as Secre-tary of State on Feb. 6.

Valued ally Sen. Richard Lugar fell short in his Republi-can primary bid before the Nov. 6 elections. Congressman Bob Filner opted to run for mayor of San Diego, California, which he won.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) can poten-tially fi ll Inouye’s shoes, in terms of his top leadership posi-tion. But he obviously has his focus on big issues facing this session.

Reid teamed up with Inouye and Senator Akaka, then chairman of the Committee on Veterans Affairs, in passing the equity pension in 2009 for Filipino and Filipino American World War II veterans.

Reid survived a tough reelection bid in 2010–thanks in part to the labor union, Filipino American leaders Rozita Lee, whose late husband was Reid’s physician, Gloria T. Caoile, and, Reid publicly acknowledged, to boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, who is popular in Nevada.

February 15, 2013 19

Fairfax Filam teen powers Azkals past MyanmarThe Azkal’s Fairfax, Va.

Filipino American O. J. Porteria delivered what Manila sports scribes called the “wonder goal” to secure a confi dence-building 1-0 win against Myanmar last week.

The game was billed as the Philippine national soccer team’s tune-up match for the Asian Football Conference (AFC) Chal-lenge Cup and although it was considered a “friendly match”, the Azkals avenged their 0-2 loss to the same team last December.

The game had gone score-less until Porteria’s attack on the 78th minute. The Philippine Daily Inquirer described it as a “moment of sheer individual brilliance from Porteria.”

Reporter Cedelf Tupas’ account: “Substitute Ian Ara-neta found Porteria isolated on the left and the 18-year-old took on and beat his defender before fi ring a curling shot using the outside of his right foot. The curveball caught the Burmese keeper off guard and found the bottom corner. It was the only goal needed by the Azkals, who actually made history with its fi rst away victory against Myan-mar.”

“It’s really a dream come true for me to score a goal like that,” he declared.

Porteria is the son of Manila Mail realty columnist and North-ern Virginia resident Jocelyn Porteria.

As an attacking midfi elder,

Porteria is one of the youngest players on the Philippine team. He trained with the DC United Academy, which helps develop new players for the DC club.

Despite his youth, he earned a slot in the Azkals when the national team conducted try-outs in Daly City, Ca in 2011. He decided to move to Manila last year after graduating from the Falls Church High School in Fair-fax, Va. and shortly after joined the Kaya Futbol Club which is owned by Santiago Araneta of

LBC Cargo. His mother says O.J. is pur-

suing his passion for the sport, adding that he’s been playing the soccer since he was 4 years old.

The AFC Challenge Cup qualifi ers are scheduled March 22-26 at the Rizal Memorial Sta-dium in Manila.

The top team in the fi ve qual-ifying groups will advance to the main stage of the Challenge Cup set next year in the tiny island of Maldives. The remaining three slots will be fi lled by the three-best second placers.

The period of the qualifi ers are set during the FIFA interna-tional friendly dates, meaning that clubs worldwide will have

to release their players if needed for national team duty.

Filam intern in DC mayor’s offi ce

There is a Filam intern in the DC Mayor’s Offi ce. She is Josephine L. Aviado who was born and raised in Manila and immigrated to the United States in 1998. She has an AA in Social Sciences and an AA in Humani-ties from Laney College in Cali-fornia, where she graduated Valedictorian of her class in 2011. Josephine is a member of both the Phi Theta Kappa Inter-national Honor Society and the Golden Key International Honour Society. She is now a senior at the University of Cali-fornia – Santa Cruz, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Sociol-ogy. She is currently attending the University of California – Washington Center and doing her internship at the DC May-or’s Offi ce on Asian and Pacifi c Islander Affairs (OAPIA). For her research assistantship, she

has been transcribing inter-

views of World War II Filipino

veterans conducted both in

the Philippines and the United

States.Josephine hopes to know

more about the needs and con-

cerns of the Asian American

and Pacifi c Islander commu-

nity. Her long-term aspiration

is to become a social worker.

O.J. Porteria sows the kick that led to the victory over Myanmar.

Josephine L. Aviado

February 15, 20132020

Abu terrorists, MNLF rebs clash to free hostages in Sulu MANILA - The al-Qaida

linked Abu Sayyaf terrorists are locked in fi ghting with fi ghters of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by Nur Misu-ari for control of Sulu, an island where they used to coexist in peace.

The clash is expected to help the Philippine armed forces and US troops who are assisting it in battling this terrorist group which have resorted to kidnap-ping for ransom in recent years.

In their fi rst known major clash, the MNLF rebels attacked the Abu Sayyaf terrorists to lib-erate foreigners being held in their mountain redoubt in Pati-kul, Sulu. The clash resulted in the deaths of more than 31 com-batants, including the beheading of 8 MNLF rebels.

Bonded by blood ties and war, the two armed groups had coexisted for years on Sulul a predominantly Muslim region, where abject poverty, guns and weak law enforcement have combined in an explosive mix to fuel their rebellions and pockets of lawlessness.

The trouble began after the MNLF rebels-seeking to regain their former dominance in the region-tried to arrange the release of several hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf, including Jordanian TV journalist Baker Atyani and two European tour-ists. Two Filipino companions of Atyani were freed prior to the encounter.

When the Abu Sayyaf com-manders refused to free the hostages even after ransom was allegedly paid, the MNLF launched the attack.

The MNLF rebels are now trying to rescue the captives and end the Abu Sayyaf’s reign, Moro commander Khabier Malik told The Associated Press

“We breathe the same air, speak the same language and live and fi ght in the same jungle,” Malik said by telephone. “We’re a bigger force and we cannot allow this small group to reign with this brutality.”

For years, a shadowy alli-ance is believed to have existed between the groups. While the MNLF signed a limited peace

deal with the government years ago, some Moro commanders are suspected of giving sanctuary to Abu Sayyaf men and carrying out kidnappings for ransom with them.

“Collusion between the Abu Sayyaf and MNLF members-many of whom are relatives-

on Jolo is a major reason large swaths of the island have been essentially ungovernable for years,” said Bryony Lau of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank.

The government “should consider whether the recent clash has shifted relations between them in a way that could make it easier to isolate senior fi gures of the Abu Sayyaf,” Lau said.

But the rift offers no easy answers for the Philippines. Weaning the Moro rebels from hardened militants would mean a true government alliance with the rebels, some of whom are suspected of involvement in attacks on civilians and govern-ment forces.

Walking a tightrope amid the clashes, President Aquino said the Moro offensive was not sanctioned by his administra-tion.

But government offi cials also are not trying to stop the fi ghting, presumably hoping each group weakens the other.

Police and soldiers have simply set up checkpoints to seal

off the area around the fi ghting, trying to keep it from spilling into other rural areas.

Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan said he would allow the MNLF attacks to continue, at least for now. “They’re cleaning their ranks. These kidnappers are either their former members or one of their own,” Tan said.

The MNLF spearheaded an underground movement in the early 1970s for a separat-ist Islamic state in Mindanao. But it dropped its secessionist goal when it accepted limited autonomy for minority Muslims in the Roman Catholic-majority nation’s south, prompting key guerrillas to break away, includ-ing a Libyan-educated radical, Abdurajik Abubakar Janjalani, who established the Abu Sayyaf.

So long as Janjalani lived, the Abu Sayyaf dedicated itself to fi ghting for an Islamic state in Mindanao. But after he was killed in a clash with govern-ment forces in December 1998, the Abu Sayyaf descended into terrorism and then resorted to banditry.

Ex-foes play basketball as Aquino visits MILF areaSULTAN KUDARAT,

Maguindanao - Members of the Armed Forces of the Philip-pines and Moro Islamic Libera-tion Front (MILF) on February 10 joined hands in the sprawl-ing MILF’s Camp Darapanan as President Aquino III made a his-toric fi rst visit to the area.

Aquino, MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, cabinet offi cials and representatives of government agencies led in the launching of basic services pro-gram for Bangsamoro, known as Sajahatra Bangsamoro at the Bangsamoro Leadership Man-agement Institute compound.

This is the fi rst time that a Phil-

ippine President ever visited the

area held by the MILF. President Joseph Estrada earlier went there when the armed forces launched an all-out attack and temporarily occupied the camp.

Sajahatra Bangsamoro, a Malay Bahasa term, which means Peace for Bangsamoro, is

Aquino’s socio-economic peace initiative that aims to uplift the health, education and livelihood conditions of the Islam commu-nities.

A “fl uvial parade” of dozens of colorfully decorated motor-boats welcomed the President.

Soldiers and Muslim guerrillas met in sporting events instead of combat.The two sides, who once fought each other fi ercely, will also play “friendly matches” of football, softball and volleyball to welcome the president, Her-moso told radio station dzBB.

Manila’s $4-B mega casino complex opens next month

MANILA - The $4-billion mega-casino complex will open next month when the fi rst of four franchise-holders starts commer-cial operations. First to open will be the $1.2-billion Solaire Manila Resort, one of four gaming operations licensed at Manila’s bayside Entertainment City, a government project designed to compete with Macau, Las Vegas and Singapore as a gaming hub.

Boasting 500 hotel rooms, Solaire will open its doors on March 16, parent company Bloomberry Resorts Corp., a listed fi rm controlled by Philip-pine port tycoon Enrique Razon.

Two other franchise-hold-

ers-one involving Australian billionaire James Packer and Macau gaming tycoon Lawrence Ho as shareholders and another with Japanese gambling tycoon Kazuo Okada-are also building at the complex.

The 100-hectare Entertain-ment City, a project of the state-owned gaming regulator Philip-pine Amusement and Gaming Corp., required each of the fran-chise-holders to invest at least $1 billion.

A unit of global leisure and entertainment group Genting Hong Kong Ltd. is a key investor in the fourth franchise.

‘Waling-waling’ set to be nat’l fl owerThe Philippines is set to

have another fl oral emblem to represent the uniqueness of the country’s fl ora. Dubbed the “Queen of Philippine fl owers,” Waling-waling (Euanthe sand-eriana) of the orchid family will soon be placed alongside the Sampaguita (Jasminum sambac) after the House approved House Bill 5655 naming Wal-ing-Waling as the Philippines’ second national fl ower.

The Sampaguita has been the country’s national fl ower since February 1, 1934 by virtue of Proclamation No. 652 issued by Governor-General Frank Murphy.

In November 2011, the ini-tial recommendations declaring Waling-waling as the country’s new national fl ower was made through House Bill No. 4073.

The approval paved the way for Filipinos to discover this rare orchid which is endemic to Mindanao, particularly in the provinces of Davao, Cotabato, and Zamboanga.

Discovered in the 1800s, Waling-waling was originally named as Vanda sanderiana,

the more common orchid vari-

ety. But due to its structural difference, with Waling-waling having larger fl owers, it was separated from Vanda in 1914.

Waling-waling, which appears in pink and white vari-eties, is found on the trunks of dipterocarp trees at elevations below 500 meters and is often used in hybridization.

Both Waling-waling and Sampaguita fl owers symbolize honor and veneration. Sam-

paguita fl owers are usually made into garlands and placed on religious icons. It also used in special occasions to bestow accolades.

The Waling-waling is believed to be worshipped by the lumads of Mindanao. In Davao City, the yearly Kaday-awan Festival showcases the Waling-waling in a fl oral parade competition along with the city’s other distinct products.

However, while Sampagu-ita is commonly seen being sold by street vendors or by children near churches, Waling-waling’s costly propagation makes it under-appreciated by Filipinos.

Legislators have been pushing for the orchid’s well-deserved recognition due to its native origin. Sampaguita is indigenous to India and Arabia and is also the national fl ower of Indonesia, known as melati putih.

Sen. Loren Legarda, who sponsored a bill similar to House Bill 5655, expressed con-fi dence that the declaration will create regulations to conserve and protect the Waling-waling.

Heavily-armed rebels of the MNLF show their wares.

MILF rebels share their food with visiting army troops during Aqui-no’s visit.

The ‘Waling Waling’ fl ower

February 15, 2013 21Hometown News

PH okays distribution of $246-M to Marcos victimsCongress has approved a

bill to distribute the $246 million that the government recovered from Ferdinand Marcos’ ill-got-ten wealth to some 9,000 human rights victims. An independent commission will be formed to determine who gets more or less based on the severity of their sufferings during the Marcos dictatorship more than 30 years ago. All claims will still have to be evaluated by the commission and the amount each will receive will depend of the severity of the abuse suffered. ppine Con-gress to vote on a bill awarding compensation and recognition to martial law victims. The bill is expected to be signed into law by Pres. Benigno Aquino III. SELDA, an organization of polit-ical prisoners that campaigned for the bill, said “More than the monetary compensation, the bill represents the only formal, writ-ten document that martial law violated the human rights of Fili-pinos...”

■ Manila set to be $4-B gambling mecca

A $4-billion mega-casino complex will be inaugurated in the Philippines next month when the fi rst of four franchise-holders starts commercial operations.

First to open is the $1.2-bil-lion Solaire Manila Resort which is one of four gaming operations licensed at Manila’s bayside Entertainment City, a govern-ment project designed to com-pete with Macau, Las Vegas and Singapore as a gaming hub.

Boasting 500 hotel rooms set in modern resorts, Solaire will open its doors on March 16, parent company Bloomberry Resorts Corp. said in a disclo-sure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. Solaire plans to add 300 more hotel rooms after two years, said Bloomberry, a listed fi rm controlled by Philippine port tycoon Enrique Razon. Two other franchise-holders,one involving Australian billionaire

James Packer and Macau gaming tycoon Lawrence Ho as share-holders and another with Japa-nese gambling tycoon Kazuo Okada are also building at the complex.

The 100-hectare Enter-tainment City, a project of the state-owned gaming regula-tor Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., required each of the franchise-holders to invest at least $1 billion. A unit of global leisure and entertainment group Genting Hong Kong Ltd. is a key investor in the fourth franchise.

■ Madonna endorses coconut water

Madonna, the US pop star, has endorsed coconut water as a health drink. This brought cheers to coconut farmers in the Philippines. After centuries of replenishing Filipinos, the mineral-rich liquid has become a must-have health drink thanks to aggressive marketing by a beverage industry looking to offset soda sales that have lost their fi zz. Once thrown away by coco growers, the water is now being saved, canned and sold to the public. In his most recent state of the nation address, Presi-dent Benigno Aquino 3rd hailed coconut water as one of the coun-try’s most promising new export opportunities. He cited industry fi gures showing exports jumping more than nine-fold to 16.76 mil-lion liters (4.4 million gallons) in 2011.

■ Top cops in boat purchase dismissed

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales fi red two rank-ing offi cials of the Philippine National Police, suspended eight others and warned a director of the National Police Commission over the anomalous purchase of 75 rubber boats in 2009. Morales dismissed Deputy Director Gen-eral Benjamin Belarmino Jr. and Chief Superintendent Herold Ubalde for gross neglect of duty

and grave misconduct for the P131.5 million rubber boat con-tract.

The Ombudsman also for-feited their retirement benefi ts and disqualifi ed them from ever holding public offi ce. Morales meted six-month suspensions without pay on Director George Piano, Chief Superintendent Luis Saligumba, Senior Superin-tendent Job Nolan Antonio and Senior Superintendent Edgar Paatan for simple neglect of duty. Non-uniformed personnel Joel Crisostomo De Leon Garcia, Ronald Lee, Ma. Linda Pado-jinog, and Ruben Gongona of the PNP bids and awards commit-tee and technical working group were also suspended for one month without pay.

■ 47,000 foreign students in PH

An upsurge in the number of foreign students was recorded by the Bureau of Immigration which said that more than 47,000 foreigners were studying in vari-ous schools and learning insti-tutions nationwide. Commis-sioner Ricardo David Jr. said the bureau’s student desk processed and approved in 2012 a total of 47,478 applications for student visa and special study permit. That number was 14 percent higher than the 41,443 fi gures in 2011, thus prompting David to say that the Philippines was becoming the University Belt of the Asia-Pacifi c.

■ Whistleblower accused of graft

Rodolfo ‘Jun’ Lozada, the whistleblower in the $329-mil-lion national broadband net-work deal with China is now the subject of an arrest warrant for failing to post P60,000 bail. He is accused of graft for alleged issu-ance of leasehold rights to his brother and to a private company with ties to him when he was a former president of the Philip-pine Forest Corp. (PhilForest). agovernment owned and con-

trolled corporation. On January 14, the Offi ce of the Ombudsman affi rmed with fi nality the graft charges against Lozada after Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales junked Lozada’s motion for reconsideration. The private company is under his Lupang Hinirang program.

■ Clark veterans cemetery restored

United States President Obama has signed into law a bipartisan legislation to restore the Clark Veterans Cemetery located in Clark Freeport Zone, which is the fi nal resting place in the Philippines for more than 8,600 US service members.

The earliest recorded burial was that of Private Santiago Belona, a Philippine Scout who served in the US Army and died on January 13, 1900. The status of the Clark Veterans Cemetery was overlooked at the time the former US Air Force base at Clark was transferred back to the Philippine government. Fol-lowing the eruption of Mt. Pina-tubo in 1991, the US completely abandoned Clark Air Force Base, leaving the cemetery covered in ash and overgrown by weeds. Since 1994, volunteers in the Philippines have attempted to maintain the cemetery without assistance from the US govern-ment. It is presently adminis-tered and cared for by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2485 through voluntary efforts and donations. In April last year, junior US Senator Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire introduced “The Remembering America’s Forgotten Veterans Cemetery Act,” which had 15 bipartisan co-sponsors including Democrat Sen. Mark Begich from Alaska. The measure requires the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) to restore, operate, and maintain Clark Vet-erans Cemetery to honor the cou-rageous Americans buried there.

■ Gordon says graft

still prevalentCorruption is still rampant

under the administration of President Benigno Aquino 3rd, according to former Sen. Rich-ard Gordon. Gordon, a senato-rial candidate under the opposi-tion United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), said that the Aquino administration’s “propaganda machinery” really works to project that his government is already corruption free. He said many government offi cials have recently been charged with cor-ruption.

■ SC pardons lawyer with three wives

The Supreme Court has shown mercy over Edmundo L. Macarubbo, 58, of Enrile, Cagayan who was disbarred 10 years ago for illegally marry-ing three wives. The court said that for showing deep remorse, Macarubbo had been granted his petition for “extraordinary mercy” and reinstated in the roles of attorneys. The court said Macarubbo “still has productive years ahead of him that could signifi cantly contribute to the upliftment of the law profession and the betterment of society,” according to a Jan. 22 resolution by the court. The lawyer was ordered disbarred after it was found that he had “contracted a bigamous marriage with com-plainant Florence Teves and a third marriage with one Jose-phine Constantino while his fi rst marriage to Helen Esparza was still subsisting.” In a six-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, the court en banc said the lawyer had “suffi ciently shown his remorse and acknowledged his indiscretion in the legal profes-sion and in his personal life.”

■ Damaso to jail for offending church

Carlos Celdran, a social activist, was recently sentenced

Continued on page 22

February 15, 20132222

to between 2 to 13 months in jail for offending religious beliefs for claiming he was Fr. Damaso and speaking out in favor of birth control during a mass at the Manila Cathedral in 2010. A member of one of the country’s top travel agency, Celdran said he would appeal the verdict, describing the authorities’ use of the little-known and rarely used law as a threat to freedom of speech. “I am calm but I am going to fi ght this till the end,” Celdran said in a statement posted on social media alongside a copy of the court’s decision. Celdran remains free on bail, pending his appeal.

LUZON ■ Alaminos city mayor

faces plunder rapsALAMINOS CITY - Mayor

Hermani Braganza has been charged with plunder and malversation charges by the

Ombudsman for the misuse of P300 million obtained by the city from the Land Bank of the Philippines during the Arroyo administration. Braganza is not expected to be suspended by President Aquino since the Ala-minos mayor is the Liberal Party candidate, unlike Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia who was ordered suspended by Aquino as she is not an LP candidate.

In a complaint affi davit, incumbent and past barang-gay chairmen from different barangays in Alaminos asked Ombudsman Conchita Car-pio-Morales to look into their detailed allegations against Bra-ganza who ensured that plum contracts in his city ended up with the construction fi rms.

“The complainants strongly believe and are willing to prove based on the numerous evidence as well as from their personal knowledge that the government contracts entered into by Mayor

Braganza is grossly disadvanta-geous to the government and inimical to the interest of the State and the people of Alaminos and the Filipino people.”

VISAYAS ■ Koreans No. 1

Visayas visitorsILOILO CITY -South Kore-

ans were the top visitors in West-ern Visayas in 2012, according to the fi gures released by the Department of Tourism. Of the 2.1 million tourists who came to the region, and of around 1.2 million who went to Bora-cay, Aklan, 184,992 were South Koreans. The Taiwanese came in second, accounting for 93,407 visitors; then Chinese 84,186 tourists; Americans, 20,603; and Australian, 15, 237. Completing the top 10 visitors in Western Visayas were those from Russia-14,810, Japan-8,841, United King-dom-8,729, Germany-8,098, and Hongkong-7,591.

■ British tourist charges man with rape

ILOILO CITY-Police have arrested Carlo San Jose, 36, a Boracay resort cook, for the alleged rape of a British tourist after a drinking spree they had late last month. The victim, a 23-year-old British woman, told police that when she became intoxicated, the suspect did not bring her back to the resort but to a staff house in Barangay Bala-bag in Boracay where the alleged rape occurred. The woman also underwent medical examina-tion, which showed signs of rape, police said. San Jose denied raping the woman and claimed that she was his girlfriend. But police said “Even if they are lovers, it does not necessar-ily mean that there was no rape because there is even marital rape.”

MINDANAO ■ ‘Lolong,’ world’s

biggest croc diesCOTABATO CITY - Lolong,

the world’s biggest reptile in captivity, is dead.

Rowena Bunawan, media coordinator in the town of Bunawan in Agusan del Sur, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone that Lolong was declared dead inside his pen around 8 p.m. Feb. 10 by Dr. Alexan-der Collantes, animal doctor at Davao Crocodile park. Experts will investigate the cause of death. Captured in the Agusan Marsh in September, Lolong’s length was initially measured at 6.12 meters (20 feet 4 inches), according to Apollo Canoy, a Bunawan municipal councilor, who was with Briton’s group. Cassius is only 5.48 meters (17 feet, 11.75 inches) long. Lolong is believed to have eaten a man who went missing in July and to have bitten off the head of a 12-year-old girl in 2009. The crocodile was caught on Septem-ber 3 last year.

Hometown News... from page 21

Andrada Lledo of the Pilipino Workers Center told Balitang America that advocates are now planning to pay visits to law-makers who are in the middle of crafting and debating the legisla-tive reform. She said she plans to go to Washington D.C. to meet with other groups advocating for reforms.

But latest reports said Presi-dent Obama, who originally supported the blueprint of the so-called bipartisan Gang of 8, is having second thoughts about conditioning the approval only if the borders are fully secured.

The Gang of 8, led by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ari-zona, outlined a blueprint to make the undocumented immi-grants pay a fi ne, pay their taxes, learn how to speak English, undergo rigorous check, and go behind the line of the thousands who are now waiting for their quota number and green card.

Obama outlined a similar plan that included a tempo-rary farm workers’ program and preference for immigrants with advance degrees. But he is reportedly against linking the approval of the bill only if local politicians along the border states to Mexico certify that the border is fully secured. He was expected to elaborate his pro-posal during Tuesday’s State-of-The Nation Address to Congress.

Analysts are almost cer-tain that with the emergence of a bipartisan plan, the coun-try is closer to making sweep-ing changes than it has tried for decades. But the overriding question is whether the new legislation will make it through Congress.

If Republicans for the fi rst time since Ronald Reagan in the

80a are willing to go along, it’s because they need the votes of Latinos and other demograph-ics with ties to undocumented immigrants if they want to win in national elections. But there are still many GOPs who are opposed to a comprehensive reform.

It’s up to the Republican leadership to whip up their more conservative members into line.

This is easier in the Senate, where members represent larger swaths of the electorate and are less beholden to vocal minorities in small districts. As well, the rise of minorities in the Repub-lican Party give voice to people who know that immigrants can’t simply be sent back where they came from.

While Democrats want to see immigration reform happen soon, as they’ve been pushing for years, they have the luxury of time, at least politically. Many Democrats are unhappy President Obama hasn’t accom-plished more for immigration reform so far, so he will need to deliver something this term, ideally before the midterm elec-tions, but until then, he can sit back and watch the Republicans tear themselves apart over the issue.

Obama has said he supports the bipartisan Senate proposal, and he has put forward several more progressive changes he would like to see, like the exten-sion of his deportation defer-ment program, the easing of restrictions on family members-including same-sex partners-and reforms not tied to increases in border enforcement.

But the Senate plan is one he agrees with and would be happy to see pass. Democrats will con-tinue to push, and if Republi-

cans can’t muster the votes to pass even these limited reforms, which most Americans support, then Obama can present his agenda and force the Republi-cans to vote against a popular measure a second time, perhaps undermining their support in the midterm elections.

If a reform bill is passed, it will be welcome news for the thousands of Filipinos who have waited in line for years for their green cards will no longer wait for years. At the same time, a new bill might spell the death of the family unifi cation system which encourages immigrants to petition for their parents or sib-lings.

Under the senators’ path to the green card, the undocu-mented will have to fi rst reg-ister with Homeland Security to undergo a thorough check is made of each applicant. ARaR pass several hurdles. Among these are to fi rst apply for tem-porary legal status by registering with Homeland Security, com-pleting a background check and paying a fi ne.

Another impediment would be the long wait. Those granted legal status would probably have to wait up to 20 years before they can obtain their green cards.

The plan also excludes the children of illegal immi-grants, commonly referred to as “Dreamers,” as well as agri-cultural workers from the long wait for a green card. To prevent future illegal immigration, the blueprint also calls for a man-datory employment verifi cation system.

Immigration advocates, who generally favor a fast path to citizenship for the coun-try’s illegal immigrants, mostly praised the senators for adding to the “momentum” of reform, but did not comment on the spe-

cifi cs of the plan.So are the major labor

unions who used to be vehe-mently against any form of legal-ization. Some also doubt that all undocumented immigrants will avail of the path to legalization.

Chris Rickerd, policy coun-sel at the American Civil Liber-ties Union, said his organization has “concerns” that the lengthy time frame and fi ne might dis-courage people from applying to legalize.

But groups that favor less immigration have blasted the plan as “amnesty.”

The last time Congress gave green cards to undocumented immigrants was in 1986 under Republican President Ronald Reagan. Now, however, most Republicans and even Demo-crats are still reluctant to grant outright amnesty.

“We still have a long way to go, but this bipartisan blue-print is a major breakthrough,” said Sen. Schumer. Their time-

table is to have a bill offi cially introduced by March and passed through the Senate by “late spring or summer.”

The eight senators who introduced the proposal late last month include Republicans John McCain, Marco Rubio of Florida, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lind-sey Graham of South Carolina, and Democrats Michael Bennet of Colorado, Dick Durbin of Illi-nois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Schumer.

Giving the reform bill momentum is the message the electorate gave in the last elec-tion when Hispanics and Asians voted overwhelmingly for Obama in the hope that he would push for immigration reforms.

“For the fi rst time ever, there’s more political risk in opposing immigration reform than supporting it,” Schumer said at the press conference late last month. “We believe we have a window of opportunity to act.”

Filipino ‘TNT’s may... from page 1

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation through Asia Unit Chief Lamont Siller of the International Operations Division presented a Plaque of Appreciation to outgoing Philippine Police Attache Armando Ramolete January 18, 2013 in Washington DC.

February 15, 2013 23

in Dammam helped convince the victim’s family to forgive Lanuza. The victim’s family required a diyya or compensa-tion worth 3 million Saudi riyals (P32.5 million or $800,000) to stay the execution.

Two years ago, Lewis launched a campaign in the US and the Philippines to raise the “blood money”.

Through the initiative of Lewis’ US Pinoys for Good Gov-

ernment (USP4GG), they were able to raise about 450,000 Saudi riyals (or 4.9 million pesos). “It’s amazing that even ordinary people responded by donat-ing $5 or $20 and contributed prayers and moral support for Dondon’s cause,” Lewis said.

The big donors included Judy Araneta Roxas, Manny V. Pangilinan, Tessie Sy Coson, J.J. Soriano and Quintin San Diego. Metrobank president Arthur Ty

also helped by waiving all bank charges in the remittance of donations.

But in the end, Lewis and her friends were able to gener-ate only SR700,000 (about P7.6 million) which wasn’t enough to stop the execution.

In desperation, Lanuza’s mother Letty appealed to the Saudi government to shoulder the balance of SR2.3 million. The Saudi government agreed to pay the balance and Lanuza, 37, will soon be freed.

“We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Royal family for allowing God to touch their hearts,” Lewis said in a statement.

The 37-year-old OFW is expected to be released soon from the Dammam Central Prison, his home for the last 11 years.

“It’s a joy and relief that the Saudi king showed mercy and compassion to a simple worker like Dondon,” said USP4GG vol-unteer Dr. Angie Cruz. “It was

God who made everything pos-sible. To me, this was really a miracle.”

But even as the nation cel-ebrated Lanuza’s forthcoming release, it was revealed the Phil-ippines was working to raise P44 million to save another convicted OFW Joselito Zapanta, sentenced to death for the 2009 killing of his Sudanese landlord during an argument over rent. He is sched-uled to be executed in March.

Filam group helps... from page 1

1415, almost 600 years ago. In my lifetime, no Pope has resigned. What is happening? I have gone through about 6 popes.”

Sara Pimentel said: “Wait, can a Pope resign? When you sign a contract with God as your boss, wouldn’t that be a forever kind of deal?”

In announcing his resigna-tion in Rome, the Pontiff said in a statement that he had noticed that his strength had deterio-rated over recent months “to the extent that I have had to recog-nize my incapacity to adequately

fulfi ll the ministry entrusted to me”.

“For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome,

Successor of Saint Peter,” he said according to a statement from the Vatican.

A Vatican spokesman said the pontiff would step down from 1900 GMT on

February 28, leaving the offi ce vacant until a successor is chosen. He will then revert

to his original German name, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. MANILA, - The Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country in Asia, expressed “great regret” Monday night over the news of Pope Benedict XVI’s plan to resign at the end of February.

“At this time, when the Pope has announced the physi-cal challenges he faces makes it diffi cult to continue bearing the burdens of his offi ce, we join the Catholic world and all whose lives he has touched, in prayer and sympathy,” said Philippine presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda Feb. 11.

He said the Pope’s decision is an act of supreme faith in the institution he has headed, and the country is hopeful and pray-ing that “the Catholic Church and the Holy See will emerge from the coming period of the Sede Vacante, the conclave to come, with the election of a new Pope prepared to take up the great burdens and expectations of the Catholic faithful world-wide.”

Lacierda said the Philip-pines would remember the Pope with fond gratitude, for the many prayers and comfort-ing words that he has dedicated

to Filipinos in times of calamity

and challenge, and his words of

encouragement and witness in

the many Catholic events that

have brought Catholics together,

such as the recent canonization

of San Pedro Calungsod.

With 75.5 million members

in 2011, the Philippines has the

fourth largest number of Catho-

lic citizens in the world after

Brazil, Mexico and the United

States. It is also a major Catholic

country in Asia after East Timor.

Pope’s resignation shocks... from page 1

confi nement in Las Vegas and forfeiture of about $150,000 in banks deposits in addition to the $40,000 cash taken from her when she arrived at the McCar-ran Airport in November, 2010.

A plea bargain is an agree-ment between prosecutor and defendant where the defendant agrees to plea guilty in exchange for some concession from the prosecutor like a more lenient sentence.

Lapid, 55, will be required to wear an ankle bracelet for the duration of the “house arrest” that electronically tracks her location.

Nonetheless, her lawyer Eliot Krieger, who negotiated the plea deal, said Lapid was relieved that the whole thing is over. She had claimed the money

was intended to purchase a house in the US.

She can only travel again after serving the home confi ne-ment and can even temporarily return to the Philippines pro-vided she gets permission from the Probation Department, he explained.

But under US probation rules, she will be required to report to a probation offi cer at least once a month for the dura-tion of her three-year sentence. If conditions of the probation are violated, she could be fi ned or more time could be added to the probation period or the judge could order her incarceration.

The case against Lapid stemmed from a series of cash deposits she made in different banks in Las Vegas from January

2009 to June 2010 totaling more than $150,000.

Banks are required to submit to the federal government cur-rency transaction reports on cash deposits that exceed $10,000. Mrs. Lapid’s cash deposits ranged from $5,000 to $9,000.

The court ordered those deposits plus the $40,000 confi s-cated from Lapid when she

arrived at McCarran Inter-national Airport on Nov. 27, 2010, forfeited in favor of the US government, Krieger said.

When she was caught, she told customs agents the money was to be used to buy a house in Las Vegas. The lien placed on Lapid’s Las Vegas properties to cover her $500,000 bail has been released, Krieger said.

A report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer cited the real estate website, Blockshopper,

listing two Las Vegas proper-ties in Marissa’s name and her son Maynard. These are at 7304 Bugler Swan Way and on 2055 Buffalo Drive.

Her husband, Sen. Lapid said his wife had the means to travel with that amount of money because she operated many businesses.

The PDI report said Mrs. Lapid owns MTL Enterprises, which runs a hardware store, ice plant, farm supply shop, mini mart and drugstore in Porac, Pampanga.

Lapid was held at an Immi-gration and Customs Enforce-ment (ICE) detention center in Las Vegas for three days after she was arrested on January 15, 2011 for the smuggling attempt.

ICE special agent Albert Giangregorio, of the agency’s Money Laundering Asset

Removal Group, stated in an affi davit that Lapid “knowingly concealed $40,000” when she arrived at McCarran on Nov. 27, 2010.

Lapid, a green card holder, declared in the US Customs and Border Protection form that she was carrying $10,000 and P10,000 (equivalent to $225), Giangregorio said in his affi da-vit. After searching her luggage, ICE agents found $40,000 in two socks and a cloth bag hidden in the lining, he added.

US federal law requires arriving passengers to declare any currency or monetary instru-ment totaling $10,000 or more. Violators are fi ned a maximum of $500,000 and the money recov-ered is confi scated by the US gov-ernment. Bulk cash smuggling is also punishable by a maximum 10-year imprisonment.

Lapid wife gets... from page 1

Dr. Mariano, who resides and practices medicine in Scars-dale, Arizona described to Anderson Cooper of CNN that the governor phoned and yelled at her for the comments she made.

She described the call to Anderson as “rather shocking.” She did not want to give any fur-ther details.

Mariano described herself as a Christie supporter who wants him to run for president and warned the governor’s health could hurt his potential 2016 race.

Her comments came after Christie appeared on the “Late Show With David Letterman” and poked fun at jokes about

his weight by eating a doughnut during the interview.

“It’s almost like a time bomb waiting to happen unless he addresses those issues before running for offi ce,” said Mari-ano, who attended to former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush during her time at the White House.

Asked about Mariano’s comments at a press conference on Feb. 6, Christie lashed out, calling her “just another hack who wants fi ve minutes on TV.”

He said Mariano’s com-ments scared his children about his dying in offi ce. “If she wants to get on a plane and come here to New Jersey and ask me if she

wants to examine me and review my medical history I will have a conversation with her about that,” Christie said. “Until that time she should shut up.”

Mariano says that after the press conference, Christie called and yelled at her. “It was essen-tially the tone of the press confer-ence, only louder,” Mariano told

KTVK. “It was hard to get any-thing across.”

A Christie spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the governor phoned Mariano and, if so, what the tone of that conversation was.

Mariano says she’s now rethinking whether she would

support a Christie candidacy for

the White House.

“The way he’s acted lately

I don’t think so. He wasn’t very

nice to me,” Mariano told KTVK.

“Is this presidential? I’ll have to

think about that. Is this a presi-

dential way to behave? C’mon.”

‘Word war’ over weight... from page 1

February 15, 20132424

Kris paid ex-hubby ‘millions’ for annulmentPresidential sister and TV

personality Kris Aquino paid the last installment of her settlement with former husband, basketball star James Yap which allegedly amounted to millions.

“Last night while taking care of (son) Bimb, I had to sign another check in the millions,” she vented on Twitter, “Last pay-ment sa fi nancial settlement w/ u know who.” She didn’t name Yap in her tweets.

Aquino married Yap, a pro basketball MVP awardee cur-rently playing of the San Miguel squad, at a civil ceremony in 2005. Their son “Bimby” was born in 2007 but by 2010 the union was over and Aquino announced she would fi le to annul their marriage.

Aquino has an older son, Joshua, from an affair with a married actor Philip Salvador.

Although she did not divulge the amount of the set-tlement, Aquino said she was

especially sad by the realization that the money could have been better spent on her two chil-dren. “Unfortunately, Josh and Bimb won’t get everything that I worked for,” she lamented.

She blamed her Twitter rant on “birthday blues”. Aquino turned 42 last Valentine’s Day.

“With the millions he got from me and I wish they’d just let me have peace. Di ko kaya ginugulo. I more than ‘paid’ for my peace already. Don’t dare me to name the amount because

then everyone will know why I’m so afraid of being used again, because si Josh and Bimb ang

nabawasan ang savings for their future,” Aquino said.

Aquino, who says she still doesn’t have her own home, was featured in the comedy “Sister-akas” which was the top-gross-ing movie at the recent Metro Manila Film Festival, earning

P342 million ($8.3 million).

She is also the star in the

teleserye “Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw”

together with ex-fl ame Robin

Padilla and Anne Curtis, which

the latest audience surveys show

is in the top 20 most-watched

programs in the Philippines.

Aquino’s career appears to

be taking off again after taking off

to help campaign for her brother,

Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III,

who won the presidency in 2010.

Shortly later, she said she was

leaving the industry to spare the

new president from controver-

sies arising from her separation

with Yap as well as the intrigues

that seem to shadow showbiz

personalities.

She also is part-owner of

several restaurants and a bou-

tique that Aquino opened with

friend and TV host Boy Abunda.

Entertainment

Workaholic star out of hospital, back at work

“Primetime Queen” Marian Rivera is back with a vengeance after being hospitalized for exhaustion.

She is the lead star of GMA network’s top-rating “Temp-tation of Wife”, a remake of a smash South Korean telenovela of the same title that the station fi rst aired after dubbing it in Pili-pino.

They eventually decided to produce their own drama series featuring Rivera and some of the country’s hottest stars, includ-ing Dennis Trillo and Glaiza de Castro. The TV drama has been running since last October.

With one of the prettiest faces among today’s crop of stars, Rivera is evidently riding the crest of her popularity.

Aside from “Temptation of Wife” she also stars in the movie “My Lady Boss”. She is also engaged in commercial model-ing – including a 2nd pictorial for FHM after her maiden splash sold out the popular men’s mag-azine – and has recorded at least two studio albums, including the platinum “Marian Rivera Dance Hits”.

With a back-breaking sched-ule, doctors reportedly had to ask Rivera to wear a neck brace as part of her therapy.

They also advised her to rest for 3 consecutive weeks but she

turned it down because of her prior commitments.

Rivera promised instead to

set aside a fi xed time for rest (2 to 3 days a week). “I am not com-

plaining because I have work but I need to take care of myself too. It’s not right to work and work

if my body can’t do it anymore,” she said.

‘Sir Chief’ is latest break-out star

Manila’s latest break-out star waited nearly 4 decades to make it at the top of the heap.

Richard Yap, aka Sir Chief, is cast as a kind but stern wid-ower, not too unlike Christopher Plummer’s Captain von Trapp in the “Sound of Music”. He may have fewer children but the simi-larities become only too glaring with the lovable Jodi Sta. Maria playing the nanny. Although almost everyone knows how that tale ends, “Be Careful With My Heart” still keeps a tight grip on its audience.

Yap, who turns 46 in May, was born in Cebu City. Like many Filipinos with Chinese roots, he was destined to a life in commerce and business – and studied at the Ivy League Dela Salle University for it.

His furniture business led him to the offi ces of ABS-CBN where some executives spotted his potential. In 2011, he was cast as Kim Chiu’s father in the tele-drama “Binondo Girl”.

“It’s fl eeting so I’d rather not put that in my head,” he says of his new-found popularity. After all, “Be Careful With My Heart” has become the undisputed top daytime program.

Yap is said to be one of the most sought after stars in the Philippines today, ranking him alongside teen heartthrobs Coco Martain and Piolo Pascual.

He is still struggling coming

to grips with his superstar status. “That’s something I’ll never get used to. I don’t know why people would scream just to see me, because there is no differ-ence between me before I joined showbiz and now,” he said.

Yap said he’s become more comfortable in front of the camera. “I don’t want to pres-sure myself so I just take every-thing as it comes and try to make the most out of it,” he averred.

“We should not close our minds to other possibilities,” he declared, “acting was a new pos-sibility for me. So I learned how to act, I did workshops, I learned from other people.”

He has parlayed his screen success to other equally lucrative fi elds like modeling and product endorsements.

At age 30, his screen partner Jodi Sta. Maria already has about 2 decades of experience working on TV and cinema.

Testament to its strong showing, “Be Careful With My Heart” has been extended and will run until June.

Yap said he’s now allow-ing the fame get to his head. “If I wasn’t in showbiz, I’d be just like any other guy on the street. Just because I’m in TV, suddenly ‘gwapo na ako’. Nobody told me that before. So take it with a grain salt. It doesn’t change who I am,” he said.

James Yap

Kris Aquino

Marian Rivera

February 15, 2013 25

Search and Seizure

QUESTION: I’d like to know when a police offi cer can lawfully search my car if I’m stopped for a minor traffi c viola-tion.

ANSWER: The subject of search and seizure is an extremely complicated subject, and it is important to talk about consti-tutional basics before I proceed. The issues are immensely broad and we can only cover the sub-ject superfi cially here. To begin with, the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. constitution places limits on the power of the police to make arrests, search people and their property, and seize objects and contraband (such as illegal drugs or weapons). Specifi cally, the Fourth Amendment states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and sei-zures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affi rmation, and par-ticularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” The search and seizure provisions of the Fourth Amendment are all about privacy. While the Fourth Amendment protects against “unreasonable” searches and seizures by state or federal law enforcement authorities, it does permit searches and seizures that are considered reasonable. Basi-cally, this means that the police may override your privacy pro-tections or expectations and conduct a search of you, your home, car, etc., if (i) the police have probable cause to believe that they can fi nd evidence that you committed a crime, and a judge issues a search warrant, or (ii) the particular circum-stances justify the search with-out a warrant fi rst being issued. Note that the Fourth Amend-ment applies to a search only if a person has a “legitimate expec-tation of privacy” in the place or thing searched; if not, the Fourth Amendment offers no protection because there are, by defi nition, no privacy issues. For example, there are expectations of privacy in a public restroom, and we don’t expect the police to have a video camera there monitoring our private activities.

When can the police search your car if you’re stopped for a minor traffi c violation? Unlike homes, cars have fewer Fourth Amendment protections. Prob-able cause is all that’s required to search a car. The probable cause must be particularized to a particular area of that car. For example, if the police smell the odor of marijuana in the pas-senger compartment of a car, they have probable cause to search that area for marijuana.

They may not, however, search another area of the car without probable cause to believe that there’s evidence of a crime in the area they’re searching.

Can the police also search the trunk of your car? The police can search the trunk of your car if there is probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime may be found inside the trunk. In gen-eral, however, probable cause to search the passenger compart-ment of a car does not extend to the trunk of the car unless the police fi nd something that would give them the additional probable cause that they need to conduct a search of the trunk.

QUESTION: Can a security guard at a store (for example, Target) conduct a search of my bag without a warrant?

ANSWER: Yes. The protec-tions of the Fourth Amendment apply only when (i) the search or seizure is the product of govern-ment action, and (ii) the search or seizure violates an individ-ual’s reasonable expectation of privacy. Privacy intrusions by private actors are not protected and evidence derived from pri-vate intrusions is not covered by the exclusionary rule. In other words, the Fourth Amendment does not apply to search car-ried out by non-governmental entities, such as private security guards. For example, assume that a shopping mall security guard observes a teenager put-ting a pair of jeans in his back-pack without paying for them. The security guard can search the teenager’s backpack, detain the teenager, call the police, and turn the teenager and the contents of his backpack to the police. The contents of the teen-ager’s backpack will be admis-sible into evidence.

QUESTION: What is the prevailing law and practice regarding school searches?

ANSWER: Generally speaking, when reasonable sus-picion exists, school offi cials may search property belonging to students. Reasonable suspi-cion requires circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that the person or persons to be searched are the most likely individuals to be in violation of a law or school rule. Property belonging to students includes item that can be con-nected to a student, carried by a student, or stored by a student in areas made available to the student by the school. Searches

based upon reasonable suspi-cion may include, for example, examining a student’s person, clothing, and possessions such as handbags, backpack/book-bags, notebooks, books, and other items that can be connected to the student; looking through, handling, or feeling the student’s personal possessions; opening any closed containers owned by the student; and opening any secured property to which the school has retained possession and access such as lockers, desks, or storage cabinets.

QUESTION: What are the consequences of an unlawful search?

ANSWER: If, upon review, a court fi nds that an unreason-able search occurred, any evi-dence seized as a result of the search cannot be used as direct evidence against the defendant in a criminal prosecution. This rule, established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1961, has come to be known as the “exclusion-ary rule.” In addition to being excluded as evidence against the defendant, evidence resulting from an illegal search may not be used to discover other evidence, under a legal rule known as the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doc-trine. The “tree” is the evidence that the police illegally seized in the fi rst place; the “fruit” is the product of the illegally seized evidence. Both “tree” and “fruit” are inadmissible at trial. For example, Offi cer John Doe arrests drug dealer Joe Blow for selling illegal drugs. A judge rules that Offi cer John Doe ille-gally entered Blow’s home and improperly seized a map show-ing the location where Blow hid his illegal drugs. Offi cer Doe then found Blow’s illegal drugs in the location identifi ed on the improperly seized map. Because Offi cer Doe obtained the map through an illegal search, Blow’s illegal drugs are the fruit of that unlawful search and are there-fore inadmissible into evidence.

A. Enrico C. Soriano, Esq., is the managing member of Axxis Law Group, PLLC (www.axxislaw.com). The answers and discussions pro-vided in this column do not constitute legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created hereby. You should consult a competent attorney for further assistance.

1099 from your lenderIT’S TAX TIME ONCE

AGAIN!! As always, I get a lot of inquiries regarding 1099C they received from their mort-gage lenders as a result of short sales, foreclosures and deed-in-lieu of foreclosures. The initial reaction was they panic and so worried to be in trouble with IRS and they do not have any money to pay. Relax; it is normal to get 1099 from anything that you earned just like W2 from your job. I know you did not get this money but still.

Last year, I was surprised when I learned that one of my clients way back in 2008 who did short sale on her primary residence is still paying IRS for the amount of her debt that was forgiven. It was just one of her friends who accidentally men-tioned it to me. I immediately called her and told her to go to a tax professional and ask to amend her income tax return for that year. She can do that up to the last three years. I sent her information on Mortgage Debt Forgiveness which started in 2007 and Form 982. She then realized I sent that same infor-mation to her with that Form in January of 2009. Every year, I send the same information to all my clients who did short sale for that tax year in case they forget. I was just talking to her last week to check what happened and she was so happy. It’s not only because she no longer pay IRS but she got all the money she paid all these years!!! You may have the same experience and still paying IRS as a result of short sales or foreclosure. Better review your fi le and you may still be able to amend your income tax returns.

The following are most FAQs (Frequently Asked Ques-tions) I get especially it is tax time once again; you should con-sult a tax professional as each case maybe different.

Q: I did short sale on my pri-mary residence in 2010 but did not get 1099C from my lender. I fi led the tax just as normal. I received a letter from IRS that I did not report the amount that was forgiven by the lender, what do I do?

A: You should receive a 1099C from your lender in the fi rst place from the amount of debt that was forgiven. It is usu-ally received fi rst week of Febru-ary each year. Call your servicer to get that 1099 and in most cases now, you can just log in to their website, create an account and it

should be there. This will save you a lot of time. Ask your tax preparer if 1099 is necessary in this case before you amend or include on your next tax returns.

Q: I did short sale last year on my primary residence, I have all my W2s but I still have not received the 1099 from my mortgage lender, do I need to wait for it?

A: I strongly suggest to my clients to wait for that 1099 to come or call your mortgage servicer. Most 1099C now can be retrieved from your ser-vicer website by just creating an account. However if none of these works, ask your tax advisor how you can go over with that.

Q: I did short sale but it was not my primary residence, do I have to pay taxes on the amount forgiven although I lost a lot of money too?

A: Normally YES, the Debt Forgiveness Program is designed only for the primary residence, however; the forgiven debt maybe qualifi ed under the insol-vency exclusion. You are insol-vent or unable to pay debts if your total liabilities exceed your total assets.

Go this website for more detailed information: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/The-Mortgage-Forgiveness-Debt-Relief-Act-and-Debt-Cancella-tion-

As I have said, consult a tax professional to assist you better on your issues and answer your questions in further details. You might as well take care of this now rather than later. Debt For-giveness has just been extended but only until this year. Just imagine how much you owe if not for this program. If you are like one of my clients I men-tioned; who paid or still paying IRS due to short sales, see a tax professional as soon as possible. You may still be able to recover all the money you paid.

Note: Jocelyn Porteria is a Realtor® licensed in VA. She earned a designation of ABR, GRN Accredited Buyer’s Specialist and GREEN Designation, CDPE Cer-tifi ed Distressed Property and Short Sale Expert, (SFR) Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource. For more info, visit her website at www.jprealdeal.com or call her at 571-432-8335 or email at realde-alconsulting@yahoo.com for a free confi dential evaluation of your indi-vidual situation, property value, and possible options. She is also an accredited agent of Ayala Land, SM Residences and Century Properties in the Philippines.

February 15, 20132626

GLAZED SPARE RIBSJust recently, upon request

of visiting friends, I cooked this, among other dishes, using my own interpretation and style. I know it was super delicious because it was the fi rst one that was devoured. The secret of this recipe is by not using a lot of sodium to be able to taste the crisp fl avor of the ribs. Also, if you need more sauce, it is up to you to add more water or home-made stock and thicken with slurry (corn starch and water). This dish can also be served as dry fi nger food.

Ingredients:3 lbs. baby pork spare ribs 1/4 cup soy sauce1 tablespoon garlic powder1 teaspoon sesame oil3 cups water1 cup breadcrumbssalt and pepperSuggested garnishing:

celery leaves or parsley and few thin strips of red bell pepper

Methods:Separate the ribs and boil

briefl y to remove the excess fat; drain and discard the water. In

a large stock pan, combine the ribs, soy sauce, garlic powder, sesame oil and 2 cups water and bring to a fast boil. Then lower heat, cover the pan and cook the ribs until tender. (While in the middle of cooking the ribs, check if more water is needed to pre-vent the meat from sticking to the pan.)

Transfer the ribs into a big bowl but separate the sauce. Lay the ribs into a fl at surface lined with aluminum foil and sprin-kle slightly with breadcrumbs, season lightly with salt and

pepper turning the ribs all over.

Heat a non-stick skillet

moistened with a little bit of

vegetable oil. Pan-grill or stir-

fry the ribs in batches and when done, return the sauce into skil-let, glazing the ribs lightly with the sauce.

Before transferring to a plat-ter, add the garnishing and toss the whole dish one more time. Serve the dish with the garnish prominently showing.

Editor’s Note: Master Chef Evelyn: 100 Most Influential Fili-pina Women in the U.S., 2009, Fili-pina Women’s Network; MHC Most Outstanding Migrant Award in Culinary Arts, 2011; PAFC Dakila Special Achievement Award, 2011; Owner/Chef, Philippine Oriental Market & Deli, Arlington, Virginia; Founder and President of CHEW (Cancer Help – Eat Well) Founda-tion, a 501 (c) (3) public charity formed to help and cook pro-bono for Filipino-Americans who are afflicted with cancer and other serious ill-nesses; Culinary writer; Member, Les Dames d’Escoffier Interna-tional, Washington DC Chapter; Member, International Cake Explo-ration Society, Master Chef, French Cuisine and Patisserie, Le Cordon Bleu, London.

ENGRAVINGRicky is buying an expen-

sive bracelet to surprise his girl-friend on Valentine’s Day.

The jeweler inquired, “Would you like your girl-friend’s name engraved on it?”

Ricky thought for a moment, grinned, then answered, “No, engrave ‘To my one and only love’.”

The jeweler smiled and said, “Yes, sir; how very romantic of you.”

Ricky retorted with a glint in his eye, “Not exactly, just practi-cal. If we break up, I can use it again.”

VIRGINA young man was planning

to get married and asked his doctor how he could tell if his bride is a virgin.

The doctor said, “Well you need three things… a can of red paint, a can of blue paint and a fl y swatter.”

The man was puzzled and asked, “So what do I do with those?”

The doc replied, “Before the wedding night, you paint one of your balls blue and the other red. If she says, ‘That’s the strangest pair of balls I ever saw’, ‘You hit

her head with the fl y swatter.”

NAMESTwo elderly ladies had been

friends for many decades. Over the years, they had shared all kinds of activities and adven-tures. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to play cards.

One day, they were play-ing cards when one looked at the other and said, “Now don’t get mad at me ..... I know we’ve been friends for a long time, but I just can’t think of your name! No matter how hard I try, I can’t remember it. Please tell me what your name is.”

Her friend stared at her for at least three minutes... she just sat there and stared at her. Finally she said, “How soon do you need to know?”

BIRTHDAYMailman talking to client:Mailman: Wait a minute,

ma’am... fi rst you invite me in for lunch, then you made love to me, and now you’re giving me fi ve dollars. What’s going on? I don’t understand.

Housewife: Well, you see... yesterday I told my husband it

was your birthday today and asked him what gift we should give you. He said... “F#%ck the mailman, give him fi ve bucks.” But you know, lunch was my idea.

INGLISANJunior: ‘Nay, bibili ako ng

high cake. Nanay: Hindi “high cake”,

anak - hot cake tawag ‘dun. Junior: Okay ‘nay, what-

ever. Pahingi na lang ng pera. Nanay: Sige, kumuha ka na

lang diyan sa soldier bag ko.

BAKIT?Boy: Bakit wala ka pang

boyfriend?Girl: Kasi bawal pa ako.

Ikaw, bakit wala ka pang girl-friend?

Boy: Kasi bawal ka pa.

PANGITDriver: Lahat ng pangit

bumaba sa jeep.Sumagot ang isang pasa-

hero; Tapos po? Sino na po ang magda-drive sa amin?

PULUTANPedro: Anong pulutan niyo

kahapon sa birthday mo?Juan: Pata!

Pedro: Wow, ang galing! Anong klaseng pata?

Juan: Pata-galan ng kuwento!

HOLDAPERDalawang holdaper nag-

uusap:Holdaper 1: Yehey! Pare,

mayaman na tayo!Holdaper 2: Bilangin mo na

ang nahakot natin, pare!Holdaper 1: Alam mo

namang mahina ako sa math. Abangan na lang natin sa balita kung magkano!

FRIESKumain sa isang sosyal na

restaurant sina John at Paul. “Give me Swiss steak and

French fries” order ni John sa wikang Ingles.

“And you, sir?” tanong ng waiter.

“The same… give me

sweepstake and fi rst prize, too”, sagot ni Paul.

GROUPTeacher: If a group of birds

is called a fl ock of birds, also if a group of fi sh is called a school of fi sh, and if a group of wolves is called a pack of wolves, then what do you call a group of dogs?

Carlos: Madali lang yan, mam. Di anser is “aso-ciation” .

BRIDGENagpunta si Manny sa Eng-

land at nag-meet sila ng prime minister.

Habang kumakain, nag-tanong ang prime minister, “Is San Juanito Bridge the longest bridge in the Philippines?”

“Yes,” mabilis na sagot ni Manny saka biglang nag-isip ng maitatanong din, “Ah... Is London Bridge falling down?”

February 15, 2013 27

‘A Healthy Dog Is a

Happy Dog’

My two daughters like this catchy TV ad line very much, promot-

ing a dog food. Their prized pet dogs are treated like babies and of course, these “babies” thought they were humans. Winnie has Coco, a small white Bichon here in Virginia and Chela has Buddy, a big black Labrador in Florida. They truly believed that to keep their beloved pets happy, they are to provide them with proper foods and appropriate exercises. In addition to Coco’s dog food, he is given shredded cooked chicken breast with a little rice and soup three times a week, also yogurt for snack. For exercise he is allowed to roam around in the confi nes of their sizable property and can even visit their neighbor’s dog. The houses in their area are not fenced. In the morning, he goes up his chair by the window to “see the outside world” while he is given body massage. When they watch the TV, he is on lap of either his “Mommy” or “Daddy” and wants attention all the time. He whimpers when ignored and when sleepy, he wants to be carried. He has a bed on the fl oor of the master’s bedroom, but prefers to be up on the big bed. However, Coco knows some tricks like he can stand up and turns around, plays dead and answers (barks) back when talked to. I must admit he is lov-able ….. but bratty and he gets away with it.

Buddy’s skin is sensitive so he is given supplemental tablets added to his special dog food. He exercises on Chela’s tread-mill three times a week (Tues-day, Thursday and Saturday) for 45 minutes each time while watching the TV and the rest of the week, they walk to the dog park to socialize with the other dogs. Every two months, Chela takes him to the dog’s grooming

place for nail cutting, brushing the teeth, cleaning the ears, fur brushing to make it shiny and massage. Buddy has a big soft bed on the fl oor of Chela’s bed-room. He eats on schedule unlike Coco who eats whenever as his food is always available. Buddy would sit when their front door is opened for him and would only go out when told to. He follows my daughter around the house but does not whimper and would get his favorite toy when he wants to play. Like Coco, he also has a jacket worn outside the house when cold. His head is patted and told “good boy” most of the time. He seemed to under-stand it. But one thing is clear, one was brought up a spoiled pet and the other one well disci-plined.

Observing Coco and Buddy, both of them are well-loved and well-cared for and seemed to be happy and contented. In truth, they are lovable, amusing and entertaining and in turn, amaz-ingly giving my daughters and son-in-law so much joy in their everyday life.

A Healthy Person is a Happy Person

Likewise, the TV ad jingle could also be “A Healthy Person is a Happy Person.”Following this line, we can be happy by simply staying healthy and because we are not dependent creatures like Coco and Buddy, we should be in control of what we want to achieve. This topic leads me to the New Year’s reso-lutions of numerous people for 2013 – good health which for many of us is a tall order and a challenge to attain as it involves big deals like eating habits, diet-ing, exercises, style and mode of

living. Do we have a great sense of discipline, self-control and determination? Do we procras-tinate? Otherwise, I envy Coco and Buddy and others like them.

Warm Wishes and CheersI dedicate this poem to the

following friends and relatives: Jennifer and Mito Tabo-

nes of Sterling, VA whose son, Jeremy, passed away on January 22, 2013.

Norma Azarcon of Hern-don, VA for her recent hip replacement surgery

Dr. Ernesto and Josie Roldan from New York who are cur-rently experiencing the furious blizzard

A New DayDusk falls and I close my

eyes,To wake to a bright new

tomorrow,Gone are the labors of life,

the futility of strife,And the lingering trauma of

sorrow.Dawn breaks and I clearly

see,A new day of heavenly cre-

ation,Fresh with new hope,

renewed faith, good cheer,And the promise of eternal

salvation.By Dolores Karides from

the Salesian Collection of poems.

February Birthday Celebrants:

Vilma Mataac on 2/2Jojo Masanque on 2/16Nenita Rasmussen on 2/18Norma Azarcon on 2/21 Becky Ramos on 2/21Becky Pagsibigan on 2/21 Jojo de la Rosa on 2/26

Valentines Are for Fools Like Me

There is a fi eld of clovers where every fourth leaf has my name. Each raindrop drenches the thirst of a faerie. A treasure chest is waitingjust beyond the horizon and we each can choose our perfect wish. Every tear elevates a friend’s heartache, somehow somewhere. Each kiss is saved in a heart bank that doesn’t get depleted. And one day Santa will tip toe to my room and leave the moonbeam I longed for a lifetime ago.

~~~~~~~~~I wrote that verse one Valentine’s Day. I may be a fool and a

romantic, but far from being hopeless as the saying goes, I am rather a hopeful one. I had my share of youthful insecurities and longings, heartaches too. But my dream came true. I have a husband who cher-ishes me and who believes my ambitions have merit.

Before our fi rst daughter married, she and a group of her friends sat across me on the kitchen table one evening. Our conversation wandered from one topic to another. It fi nally settled on how one is guaranteed love and loving.

“Mrs. Lopez, how did you know you found your one true love?” One earnest young woman asked. Several pairs of hopeful eyes looked at mine.

Now how to answer that? I hadn’t thought about ‘one true loves’ in quite a while. One thought broke through my initial confusion. Cherish. I told them I felt cherished. Even the heart-palpitating, sweat-inducing, cloud-nine-soaring, fi rst days of romantic love could not overshadow the tenderness and sincerity I felt. There were no second thoughts or second guessing. Everything felt right.

It also helped that my then boyfriend was every bit as romantic as my young heart required. I feel sorry for today’s young women. The thrill of receiving beautifully written love letters can’t compare to the terse messages they receive on small intrusive mobiles.

Some of my daughter’s friends are married now. I wonder if they remember that conversation. I wonder if they even agreed. I know they nodded their heads out of deference.

Mitch and I have been married thirty seven years. There were white-knuckle times when funds were close to being depleted. There were times of excitement, arguments, and disagreements. Even bore-dom. But my ‘one true love’ has endured. I am still living the dream.

~~~~~~~~~Our LovingYou drew me to your world and gave me your love.Cherished me, freed me,allowed me my dreaming.I lay myself bare to youwith total abandon, trusting.See me, touch me, hear me.I accept the love you are offeringand return mine not caringwhat future awaits or unveils our loving.

Send comments to: myrnamlopez2012@yahoo.com

Ms. Earth 2012 and Ricky Reyes

Ricky Reyes hosted a dinner reception for the winners of the 2012 Ms. Earth competi-tion at his posh Valle Verde res-

idence recently. The pageant’s fi rst Runner-up Stephany Ste-fanowitz, Ms. Earth 2012 Teresa Fajksova of Czech Republic, and

third Runner-up Camila Gon-

calvez of Brazil were among

Reyes’s guests.

February 15, 20132828

‘Mr. Filam USA- DC’In keeping with Valentine’s Day,

Tsismoso is launching a search for the top Mr. Filam USA-DC in the greater Wash-ington D.C. area. No, I am not referring to a political or community leader. Tsis-moso’s grapevine has been alive recently with reports of men who deserve the title. The search is for a person who is an excel-lent listener and follower inside and out-side the house. He is always an epitome of power.

In the offi ce or in a gathering, he serves as the model leader. Because of his position in an organization or an offi ce, he can scold, praise, and fi re his underlings. But in his private and public life, he only listens and follows the order of the Mrs. Filipinos call it Under the Saya (USA).

We will crown the winner Mr. USA-DC of 2013. at an appropriate cer-emonies at a place to be announced later. Keynote speaker will be the Philippine Ambassador.

Nominations must be forwarded to Tsismoso@aol.com.

***A Tsismoso follower named Lito has

sent in this item that he says is appropri-ate for this column on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2013. It’s said to be the work of the late Andy Rooney who is no longer around to dispute this. Here goes.

(Warning: If you are averse to read-ing anything about sex, funny or other-wise, stop reading NOW.)

1. When I was born, I was given a choice - a big pecker or a good memory.... I don’t remember which I chose.

2. Your birth certifi cate is an apology letter from the condom factory.

3. A wife is a sex object. Every time you ask for sex, she objects.

4. Impotence: nature’s way of saying, “No hard feelings...”

5. There are only two four letter words that are offensive to men - ‘don’t’ ‘stop’, unless they’re used together.

6. Panties: No, the best thing on earth, but next to the best thing on earth.

7. Three stages of life: Tri-Weekly, Try Weekly and Try Weakly.

8. Virginity can be cured. 9. Virginity is not dignity, it’s lack of

opportunity. 10. Having sex is like play-ing bridge - if you don’t have a good part-ner, you better have a good hand.

11. I tried phone sex once, but the holes in the dial were too small.

12. Marriage is the only war where

you get to sleep with the enemy. 13. Question: What’s an Australian

kiss? Answer: The same thing as a French kiss, only down under.

14. A couple just married were happy with the whole thing. He was happy with the Hole and she was happy with the Thing.

15. Question: What are the three big-gest tragedies in a man’s life?

Answer: Life sucks, job sucks and the wife doesn’t.

16. Question: Why do men fi nd it dif-fi cult to make eye contact?

Answer: Breasts don’t have eyes. 17. Despite the old saying, ‘Don’t

take your troubles to bed’, many men still sleep with their wives!

(Send to the men who need a laugh and the women with a good sense of humor.)

***And this health message are for the

retired of which there are now many in the Filam community. Of course, this includes some editorial volunteers of the Manila Mail.

Retired Health Message: As I was lying in bed pondering the

problems of the world, I rapidly realized that I don’t really give a rat’s tail. It’s the tortoise life for me!

1. If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.

2. A whale swims all day, only eats fi sh, drinks water, and is fat.

3. A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 15 years.

4. A tortoise doesn’t run and does nothing, yet it lives for 450 years, and you tell me to exercise?? I don’t think so.

*** (I’m retired. Go around me.)God grant me the senility to forget

the people I never liked, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.

Now that I’m older here’s what I’ve discovered:

1. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it.

2. My wild oats have turned into prunes and all-bran.

3. I fi nally got my head together, and now my body is falling apart.

4. Funny, I don’t remember being absent-minded.

Washington Tsismis Manila Times

EditorialThe time is now

Hope for the passage of a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year is building up as Congress and the White House appear ready to solve a problem that has lingered for decades.

Late last month, a bipartisan group of eight senators led by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) unveiled a comprehensive reform plan that would eventually lead to the legalization of the stay of the some 11 million undoc-umented immigrants.

The last election has made Republicans, who had been opposed to any reform in the past, realize the power of the Lati-nos and other immigrant groups.

The senators plan, which hews closely to that of President Obama, would, among other things, mandate the undocumented alien to pay a fi ne and taxes, undergo a background check, learn to speak English and fi nally, go behind the line of the tens of thousands of legal immigrants who have been waiting for years for their green cards.

Like Obama, the Gang of Eight also wants the government to further strengthen the border, force employers to check the status of all workers, and provide visas for temporary farm workers.

Intense debate is now raging between a piecemeal approach or a comprehensive solution. But both sides are hopeful that an agreement could be reached.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid predicts that a reform bill would be passed before the end of the year. House Repub-licans, including Speaker John Boehner, also agrees that there is a need to confront the problem.

Most of the benefi ciaries will be the undocumented aliens from South America, Africa and elsewhere. But more than an estimated 300,000 Filipino TNTs (tago ng tago) will also benefi t from immigration reform.

Continued on page 31

February 15, 2013 29

Doctor on sick economy

Something very interesting happened at the Fellow-ship Foundation National

Breakfast on February 7 at Wash-ington, DC., a nonpartisan event attended by political big shots in town of all persuasions.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Benjamin Carson, an African-American recipient of the high-est civilian honor awarded by the President of the United States in 2008. He serves as full profes-sor in neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery and pediatrics at the John Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Maryland. He did the fi rst and only success-ful separation of Siamese twins in the US and in South Africa. His Carson Foundation supports 4,500 scholars all over the US.

He spent his childhood in dire poverty. His mother only had third grade education, born to a family of 24 siblings, the father being a bigamist. Poverty however became the driving force that led to his success. His poor mother realized that edu-cation was their way out of the economic gutter. She forced her two sons to read books borrowed from the public library that she herself could hardly read and

she limited the kids’ TV time to two programs a week. His moth-er’s foresight and dogged deter-mination to push her children paid off. Dr. Carson is now the personifi cation of rags to riches story earned with his own sweat.

Dr. Carson’s speech became a hit in the blogosphere. He was eloquent, humorous, witty and not shy about being perceived politically incorrect in the pres-ence of the President of the United States. He even ventured into the heated issues consuming the nation.

He reminded his listeners of the great Roman Empire that could not be threatened by any military might at that time. It disintegrated because of moral decay and fi nancial misman-agement. The perils of the past are the perils that we see today. The $16.5 trillion national debt should be taken very seriously by our political leaders. Pres. Obama owns more than 1/3

of the debt in just four years in offi ce. How serious is the prob-lem? If you pay $1 per minute it would take 507 years to pay down the entire debt.

Not surprisingly, he ven-tured into health care. He is not enamored with Obamacare and argues that health care deci-sions should be largely left to the responsibility of individu-als. He supports Health Savings Accounts for every individual to be funded during the person’s lifetime with pretax income. As for people who are indigent and cannot afford to make contribu-tions to their HSA, the govern-ment can contribute to their HSA instead of spending the big pot of money to run a bureaucracy. When a person is in control of budgeting health expenses, he/she will be more prudent in usage. And there will not be a government board called death panels by critics making health

The trouble with Christie

Someone should tell New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie not to shoot the messenger.

This after a tirade against Dr. Connie Mariano, a retired naval offi cer and one of the most suc-cessful Filipino Americans when she served as physician to Presi-dents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Christie appeared to bring it upon himself when he conceded in a guest appearance in the “Late Show with David Letter-man” that his considerable girth was “fair game” to comics. He munched on a doughnut, boast-ing “I’m basically the healthiest fat guy you’ve ever seen in your life.”

The Center for Disease Con-trol (CDC) reckons that more than a third of all Americans are obese, which is one of the leading causes for heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some kinds of cancer.

And Christie was no ordi-nary state executive. He is con-sidered as one of the Republican Party’s rising stars with a good shot at winning the nomination for the 2016 presidential race. That is if the mercurial governor can hold his tongue.

Mariano, who now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, claimed Christie yelled at her during a

recent phone call. “It was essen-tially the tone of the press con-ference, only louder,” she told a Phoenix radio station.

“It was sad,” Mariano said in an interview on 3TV. “He was making fun of himself and I feel sorry for him. He’s a nice man. He’s a very talented, smart man and he has a lot to offer and I feel awful if something happened to him.”

“If she wants to get on a plane and come here to New Jersey and ask me if she wants to examine me and review my medical history I will have a con-versation with her about that,” Christie said in a press confer-ence.

“Until that time she should shut up.”

Mariano insisted that it was common for medical experts to weigh in on the health of high-profi le personalities in the news, including potential presidential candidates. “I worry that he may have a heart attack, he may have

a stroke,” she said on CNN.“I’ve gotten lots of hate

mails, lots of threatening, mean stuff,” Mariano revealed. “My intention wasn’t to hurt any-body.”

Born in Cavite and grow-ing up in Imperial Valley, Cali-fornia, Mariano retired as a Rear-Admiral after becoming the fi rst woman to be director of the White House Medical Unit. After her retirement, she wrote her memoir, entitled “The White House Doctor: My Patients Were Presidents”.

Former President Clinton, who won his own battle with weight, wrote the book’s fore-word. A large part of his suc-cess is attributed to eating right, avoiding artery-clogging fast-foods, and getting enough exer-cise – a regimen that we’re sure Mariano can help teach Christie, if only he recognizes his health challenges and ask nicely.

The governor obviously

Opinion

Continued on page 31

Memory Tour(Ed’s note: Jon is still in the

Philippines visiting places where his family lived before coming to the U.S.)

On my third visit to the homeland in nearly fi ve decades, I vowed to

spend more time and visit the many places of my childhood and teenage years: barrios and towns in the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Davao, Cotabato and Lanao.

The fl ight from Manila to Davao City and a bus ride to Barangay Magatos took about seven hours. It used to take almost a week to make the same trip, by barko (steam ship), jeepney and banca (small boat).

In those days, my parents moved a lot. After the end of World War II in 1945, they resided in Munoz, Nueva Ecija where I was born a year ear-lier; Bayombong, Nueva Viz-caya; Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Guimba, Nueva Ecija. These con-stant movements were dictated by my father’s deployments as a Philippine Army offi cer. He also served in the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE).

After he retired from the Army, my parents (who were both teachers and farmers) responded to then President Ramon Magsaysay’s call to go South, to the “Land of Promise” that was Mindanao. They joined other migrants from the North and settled in different parts of the region to seek better oppor-tunities and build careers. In the case of my parents who chose to go to Davao, they were, as author Lolita Lacuesta puts it, part of those who “make up the soul and spirit of Davao - the dream destination for Filipinos looking for new opportunities and fresh beginnings.” Davao, she writes, was where popular culture

heroines fl ed to in those times (“magpapakalayo-layo” or go far away) in their desire to forget their past and heal their broken hearts. A hero down on his luck and aspiring to a better life for himself also decides to move to Davao, because there he can have a chance at “pagbabagong buhay” (new life). Armed merely with a dream and an ambition and a sense of adventure

That’s how my mom and

dad viewed Davao way back then, nearly 60 years ago. Appar-ently, it’s still true today. My 32-year-old nephew from Hous-ton, Texas happened to also be visiting with relatives about the same time we were there. But he plans to stay in Davao indefi -nitely. Separated from his wife and child, he said he was going to pick up the pieces of a broken marriage and start afresh. Like my dad, he believes that he can make it here in the land of prom-ise, where a new life is possible.

A Long Journey. I was six years old, the oldest among four children born a year apart, when my family packed all our earthly belongings and made what seemed like a very long journey, by land, by boat and by kari-ton, to what seemed like a very distant, far away land. Almost beyond reach.

But they were deter-mined to face all kinds of chal-lenges and build a life for our family. We settled in the barrio of Magatos where the only passage to the closest town of Tagum was by a banca. I remember the men loading up one boat with all our belongings, and another boat with only my mother’s piano in it.

Yes, the piano always moved with us. It was my mother’s prized possession, a

Continued on page 31Continued on page 31

Jon poses in front of his old Grade VI classroom with the elementary school children of Magatos.

February 15, 20133030

Why Pinoy politicians runMANILA

It’s still three months before the nationwide elections here on May 13 but the campaign

fever is already heating up. Cam-paigning is still not offi cially allowed at this time but the law can’t stop politicians from sell-ing themselves already to the electorate.

That’s the Philippines, where laws generally are only taken as mere suggestions by everybody and not legal statutes that must be obeyed.

This is the same with traffi c laws; motorists and pedestrians alike don’t consider road laws are mandatory and to be obeyed by all, but as optional, depend-ing on citizens’ dispositions or moods.

Ah, the Philippines, what a place, what a place.

The department of tourism’s current motto here is: “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” Which is made fun of by wags here who come up with all sorts of jokes and puns about the slogan. Like “It’s more fun in the Philippines to urinate in public” or “It’s more fun in the Philippines to kidnap someone” and so on, and so on.

Of course, it’s not help-ful to the country when citizens make fun of the serious efforts of the government to boost the country’s tourism.

But then again, life in the Philippines is so absurd, you would be a fool to take every-thing seriously. Humor is the Filipinos’ means of escape from hard reality.

But back to early political campaigning. The law sets cam-paign periods for when politi-cians can offi cially start present-ing themselves to the voters. For candidates for national offi ce (senators and congressmen), it’s 45 days before election day, and for local offi ce, 30 days. Obvi-ously, it’s still not 45 days before May 13, and yet there they are on television and radio “unoffi -cially” campaigning.

It’s so typically Filipino to circumvent the law. Politicians claim they’re really not cam-paigning yet, but just sending messages out to the people. They disguise their campaigning by putting out messages on televi-sion ostensibly to support a good cause or “remind” people to be good citizens, etcetera, etcetera. The advertisements are cam-

oufl aged as public service mes-sages, but they’re campaign ads in reality. And the involved poli-ticians are breaking the law by campaigning prematurely.

In many localities, political rivalries are so intense, they’ve already resulted in a number of killings. Rivals are ambushed and shot dead.

It makes observers wonder why politicians would move heaven and earth just to win an elective position. The pay is ridiculously low, you’re on call 24 hours a day, and you’re called names by your enemies and people who dislike you. Why would anyone want to be in that position?

Campaigning politicians all cry out to the heavens that they only want to serve the people by running. And so they make all kinds of promises that are later broken and forgotten. The people inexplicably believe all the politicians’ lies and vote them into offi ce.

In reality, politicians, espe-cially those who have no other skills in order to pursue any other productive calling, turn the government into a milking cow when they are elected. They turn governance into a business from which they earn millions of pesos and be able to live luxuri-ously.

Imagine a politician spend-ing his own money (or his benefactors’) to win an election. Do you think he does that only because he just wants to serve the people? Or does he do it so he could make money for him-self and recoup his “investment” many times over? Politicians who were poor before getting elected often end up living in mansions, owning businesses, and supporting a mistress or two on the side (and helping the mis-tress start her own business too). There are very few politicians who continue to live modestly as before.

It’s easy to understand why politicians would move heaven and earth (and their opponents out of the way by “neutraliz-ing” them either temporarily or permanently) just to get elected. There’s money in them dar hills, as the early pioneers of Amer-ica shouted in anticipation of a better life.

Continued on page 31

Incubator for SleazeMANILA

“Dark Money” column, published by Inquirer 2 Feb,

uncorked a slew of furious reader reaction against legisla-tors who hefted Concurrent Resolution 10, to block audits of their tax-money splurges. The solons, at the same time, demanded transparency from others. “Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits”, Mark Twain wrote.

Cobbled by Senator Panfi lo Lacson, CR10 twisted budget items, like “maintenance and other operating expenses” into a personal kitty for “dark money”. An on-my-word-of-hornor cer-tifi cation, by a legislator, did away with irksome Commission on Audit reviews.

Thus, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile gift-wrapped, last Christmas, P1.6 million MOOE checks for 18 “friendly” sena-tors. In the Lower House, mem-bers badgered CR10 into ATMs. Members key in the right combo and tax payers pesos cascaded forth. “Wrongs aren’t wrong, if it’s done by nice people like our-selves”?

Brickbats from readers insist that the nub of corruption is to exempt oneself from a commu-nity’s rules. Sleaze metastasizes into hypocrisy when legislators urge others to hew by standards they scoff at. You “strap heavy loads on a man’ shoulders,” the Master ticked off the Pharisees: “But you never lift a fi nger to ease the burden”. :

“Liquidating billions of tax-payers’ money, by mere ‘certi-fi cation” is daylight robbery”, “Wakats emailed. . Worse, ‘dis-tinguished senatongs’ put to shame, in their probes, many heads of agencies for corrupt practices they themselves are guilty of. Remember former AFP chief of staff Angelo Reyes, who committed suicide? Senator Jinggoy Estrada ridiculed Reyes, at public hearings, for receiving pasalubong from AFP on his retirement. Yet, Jinggoy feeds

from the CR`10 trough. COA should have audited Congress without fail.

“No need for Congress to do away with CR10”, the Inquirer of Feb 3 quotes Panfi lo Lacson as saying,” Dr Carolina Camara from Cagayan de Oro wrote. Anyway, COA’s Grace Pulido Tan trashed CR10 by starting a long overdue audit. Lacson is drafting a Senate circular that’’d detail “new guidelines on the liquidation of expenses, based on COA’s guidance.”

“Who appointed Lacson to interpret for COA?”, asks Dr Camara Legislators are capable of reading COA guidelines. Is this just Lacson’s desire to keep his progeny CR10 in the incuba-tor. Will CR10 be resuscitated when we’re all looking the other way? Lacson even preempts Tan and insists: Audit will be

Continued on page 31

Immigration NotesBy J.G. Azarcon, Esq.

Approval of petitions after death of relative

In the past, if the petitioner dies while the visa petition is pending, the benefi ciary

would not be entitled to seek approval of the petition. The law changed with the amendment of Sec. 204(l) of the Immigration Act in 2009.

Under current law, an alien seeking immigration benefi t through a deceased qualifying relative may obtain approval of a visa petition or adjustment application and refugee/asylee relative petition if the alien meets the following illegibility require-ments:

Resided in the United States when the qualifying relative died;

Continues to reside in the United States on the date of the decision on the pending petition or application;

Is at least one of the follow-ing:• the benefi ciary of a pending or approved immediate relative visa petition;• the benefi ciary of a pending or

approved family-based visa peti-tion, including benefi ciary and any derivative benefi ciaries;• any derivative benefi ciary of a pending or approved employ-ment-based visa-petition;• the benefi ciary of appending or approved Form I-730, Refu-gee/Asylee Relative Petition;• an alien admitted as a deriva-tive “T” or “U” nonimmigrant; or• a derivative asylee.• The Immigration Service

defi nes “qualifying relative” as an individual who immediately before death, was:• the petitioner or principal benefi ciary in a family-based petition;• the principal benefi ciary in an employment-based visa petition;• the petitioner in a refugee/asylee relative petition;• the principal alien admitted as a T or U nonimmigrant;• the principal asylee who was granted asylum.

VISA PRIORITY DATES FOR THE PHILIPPINES

FEBRUARY 2013

• FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES First: Unmarried sons/daughters of US citizens Mar. 08, 1997Second:A: Spouses/minor children of permanent residents: Oct. 22, 2010B: Unmarried sons/daughters 21 years of age or older of permanent residents May. 15, 2002Third: Married sons/daughters of citizens Aug. 22, 1992Fourth: Brothers/sisters of citizens Jun. 01, 1989

• EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCESFirst: Priority workers CurrentSecond: Professionals holding advanced degrees or persons of exceptional ability CurrentThird: Skilled workers, professionals Aug. 22, 2006Other Workers Aug. 22, 2006Fourth: CurrentCertain Religious Workers CurrentFifth: Employment creation/ (Million or half-million dollar investor) Current

February 15, 2013 31

“prospective” and examine only 2013 books. That’d blindfold tax-payers to previous plunder. No way Jose.”

“We have two kinds of morality side by side,” phi-losopher Bertrand Russell once noted: “One which we preach but do not practice and another which we practice but seldom

preach.” Lacson fi ts that bill..”“No senator stepped for-

ward to say they’re willing to return public funds they’ve received as Christmas gifts from Enrile,” notes “Buninay”. The Senate won’t recover until all ‘gifts’ are returned, because public funds must revert to the national treasury, “ adds .”Hel-lomr”. Only then, can they start talking of integrity ...” Don’t hold your breath, commented ‘Kolambogan. “They’re display-ing traditional “Honor Among Thieves.” If any one returns, that would repudiate ‘Santa Claus’.

“It’s hard to drive a dog from a butcher’s counter”, emailed. Kapayapaan_1900. We must remove morally bankrupt people in Congress and discon-tinue electing people who rein-force their families and cohorts in power. Otherwise, this no-holds-barred money making machine called “pork barrel”, will continue to entice people joining this exclusive club.

The public was not even aware that a bastard of this legalized scheme called MOOE existed until one of them whis-tled “foul” due to unequal dis-tribution of ( loot ) It’s simple ? Who will kill the goose that lays the golden egg?

Why is the stink over CR10 mostly confi ned to print or cyber media? asks Kayanatwo Radio or t.v. talk-shows need to do more investigative reporting and let 93 million plus Juan de La Cruzes know about pressing issues like political dynasties,

economic gaps, etc.CR10 is a case in point. The

common “ tao”, “living outside the national capital region are not fully aware about offi cials con-niving with each other on how to loot the national treasury legally. Do the electronic media view the “masa” as “bobo”, and therefore deserve dumb teleseryes, These are , hollow and sensationalize news and showbiz happenings.

“Bum Weed ( PDI/ Jan 29 ) questioned Commission on Elections Resolution 9615. This provides for mandatory right of reply ( RoR ) “Candidates aggrieved by press reports can demand to have their side pub-lished in the same prominence or in the same time slot as the fi rst statement.”

Kapisanan ng mga Brod-kaster ng Pilipinas, National Union of Journalists of the Phil-ippines , Cebu Citizens’ Press Council, among others, slammed the stitching of RoR provisions into rules for the May 13 elec-tions. If need be, they’ll challenge this rule before the Supreme Court.

Constitutional scholar Joa-quin Bernas noted that prevail-ing jurisprudence, notably the 1974 US Supreme Court’s deci-sion in Miami Herald vs Tornillo, struck down RoR as unconstitu-tional.

“ROR can also mean Retort of Rulers:.writes AllaMo. Still, it causes one to retch” Indeed, this is the :classic case of having one’s cake and eating it too”, adds Buninay”. Misbehaving politi-cians get into the news through their own fault. Resolution 9615 compells free media space to explain away the besmirching news. In effect, RoR amounts to media shooting their foot every time they take on unsavory characters.

(Email: juan_mercado77@yahoo.com)

missed a chance to pivot the dis-

cussion to America’s continuing

concerns over health and obe-

sity. We agree with observations

that it doesn’t take an expert to

see Christie is overweight.

We have no qualms about how the New Jersey governor manages his weight, but he can’t be condoned when he seems to insinuate it’s perfectly normal.

care decisions.He challenged head on Pres.

Obama’s progressive tax scheme and wa s not shy to tout his reli-gion to make a point. Here are excerpts….

“What about our taxa-tion system? So complex, there is no one who can possibly comply with every jot and title- If I wanted to get you or you, I could get you on a tax issue. That doesn’t make any sense.

What we need is to come up with something simple. And when I pick up my Bible, do you know what I see? I see the fairest individual in the universe, God,

and he has given us a system. It is called tithes.

Now we don’t necessarily have to do 10%, but it’s a prin-ciple. God didn’t say, “If your crops failed, don’t give me any tithes”. He didn’t say, “Have a bumper crop? Give me triple.”

So there must be something inherently fair about proportion-ality.

You make $10 billion? You put in $1 billion. You make $10 you put in $1. Of course, you got to get rid of loopholes.

But, now some people say, “That’s not fair, because it doesn’t hurt the guy who made

$10 billion as much as the guy who made $10.

Where does it say you have to hurt the guy? He just put a bil-lion dollars in the pot; we don’t need to hurt him.”

In his state of the union address two years ago, Pres. Obama shot arrows at the con-servative Justices of the Supreme Court for their decision allowing unrestricted political contribu-tions by corporations and labor unions. The Justices who were captive audience and could not talk back could only squirm in their seats. Barack got a dose of his own medicine at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Elected offi cials get a share (the lion’s share) of the money poured into government projects in their districts. American read-ers are familiar with the pork barrel in their country’s political system and culture. It’s the same here. Millions in funds are allot-ted to congressional and sena-torial districts for development projects. Favored contractors are awarded the projects and favors are in turn given to the politi-

cians in the area, in the form of cold cash or favors in kind.

What a rotten system. And so, the races are on

here despite the offi cial ban on early campaigning. Politicians are among the thickest-skinned of the earth’s living species. They cannot be shamed into following the rules. They cannot be dis-couraged from their shameless behavior.

It’s starting to be a big

fi esta out here. But this is just the start. The gore and the mayhem are still to come; blood and guts in the genre of Sam Peckinpah and Quentin Tarantino will be on display soon in the politi-cal landscape. More ambushes, killings, extortions, exposes and all the sordid activities during a typical Filipino election cam-paign will surely be in the news soon. It will be one big spectacle.

Don’t miss folks.

Why Pinoy politicians... from page 30

5. Funny…6. If all is not lost, where is

it?7. It is easier to get older

than it is to get wiser.8. Some days, you’re the

dog; some days you’re the hydrant.

9. I wish the buck stopped here; I sure could use a few.

10. Kids in the back seat cause accidents.

11. Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

12. It’s hard to make a come-back when you haven’t been anywhere.

13. The only time the world beats a path to your door is when you’re in the bathroom.

14. If God wanted me to touch my toes, he’d have put them on my knees.

15. When I’m fi nally holding all the cards, why does everyone

want to play chess?

16. Its not hard to meet

expenses . . . they’re everywhere.

17. The only difference

between a rut and a grave is the

depth.

18. These days, I spend a lot

of time thinking about the here-

after.

.I go somewhere to get

something, and then wonder

what I’m hereafter.

19. Funny, I don’t remember

being absent-minded.

20. DID I SEND THESE TO

YOU BEFORE..........??????

“Inside Every Older Person

Is A Younger Person Wondering

What Happened!”

Washington Tsismis... from page 28

Incubator for Sleaze... from page 30

gift from an uncle who appreci-ated her love for music. During the Japanese occupation, when evacuation was ordered by local town leaders, my mother insisted on bringing the piano along, secured on a kariton, a bamboo cart pulled by a carabao. During rest breaks, my mother would play the upright Steinway and provide some comfort to the tired and weary towns folks who were fl eeing the foreign invad-ers.

She did the same thing years later after the guns of war had been silenced, when we reached the river that led to Magatos. She had to convince the men operat-ing the boat that the piano had come a long way, that it meant a lot to the family. She begged and begged. The men eventually relented, but not until my father was forced to use up our savings just to get the piano transported.

A man with a shot-gun accompanied us on that four-hour river boat ride across crocodile-and-mosquito-infested waters. My siblings and I hud-dled close to my mother. It was dark when we arrived in that remote barrio. Only the sounds of crickets and cocks crowing could be heard.

For the next three years, Magatos was home. The barrio folks, in true bayanihan spirit, helped build our house made of tree barks for walls, cogon grass

for the roof and bamboo for the fl oors. It was all manual labor. They also made a clearing in the forest to build a vocational school where my parents taught math, science, english and lit-erature to the locals who had no means of pursuing further edu-cation. My parent’s pioneering spirit, I’m proud to say, made a difference in the life of the barrio.

While they taught the 40 or so students and farmed their small piece of land, my brother, two sisters and I went to Elemen-tary School. On late afternoons and weekends, I helped my father in the farm, plowing the fi elds and taking our carabao to pasture.

A Native Son Returns. During this sentimental jour-ney, nothing about Magatos was familiar. Nothing resembled the pictures in my mind that have kept me yearning to return. The whole place is crowded now. The elementary school had been torn down, giving way to a new building. Our house is gone and the farm is now part of a large banana plantation owned by a rich landowner who doesn’t live there. The only structure left standing is the Grade VI build-ing, now decrepit and decaying. That’s where I spent my last year before my family left yet again, moving on to another place. And the little creek where my brother and I used to spend the

lazy hours of summer wading in shallow waters, with improvised rafts made of banana stalks. It’s still there. And so is the river.

The landscape has been pro-foundly altered in a way that heightened my sense of loss. And so have the inner land-scapes of peoples lives, those who may still live there, and those who have come and gone, never to return.

I’m still sorting out why we came and why we left, and what we tried to do in that brief time and space. The romantic in me still longs for idyllic moments running in the sun, playing in the rain, climbing trees, catch-ing mudfi sh in rice paddies, and jumping in the river.

Yes, the river that ferried countless of others from the North looking for new begin-nings, armed merely with ambi-tion and a dream.

Yes, the river that honored even my mother’s piano.

Having returned to Maga-tos, I am certain Magatos will always return to me, keeping me anchored, as NVM Gonza-lez puts it, to a sense of place, a sense of belonging and identity and a sense of connection to my own family through what we remember of what we did there, and what the place did to our lives.

Send your comments to jon-mele@aol.com

Memory Tour... from page 29

The trouble with Christie... from page 29

Doctor on sick... from page 29

February 15, 20133232