DHs win Supermaid concessions

WRITER AND AUTHOR
ISABEL ESCODA JOINS
OUR COMMENTATORS
FROM THIS ISSUE
FOCUS 15
MIXED COUPLES LET
US INTO THEIR LIVES
AND LOVE IN CANDID
PERSONAL PORTRAIT
FEATURE 20-21
filipino globe
hong kong / manila edition
Issue 4, Volume 1
www.filglobe.com
February 2007
In two weeks of mass protests, domestic helpers in Hong Kong brought their numbers to bear on policymakers. The result was an easing of two key provisions of the new policy.
DHs win Supermaid concessions
OFWs want follow-through action to avoid a repeat of policy’s confused implementation
Eight-page special pull-out
section on new policy inside
Migrant groups are pressing the government for follow-through action after winning key concessions over the
controversial Supermaid policy.
“We urge the POEA [Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration] to immediately issue guidelines
reflecting these changes as soon as
possible,” the Filipino Community
Services Network said.
This came after the POEA lowered
the age limit from 25 to 23 and waived
the training requirement for returning
workers with existing contracts following widespread protests.
It affirmed the scrapping of placement fees and a US$400 minimum
pay, pending further review and discussions with host countries.
Top government officials in Manila
joined consulate officials in Hong
Kong and representatives from migrant groups, employers and NGOs in
a roundtable conference organised by
Filipino Globe to discuss the policy.
Migrant groups, meanwhile, stepped
up their protest against the policy,
demanding it be scrapped. They argue that the policy puts our domestic
helpers at a disadvantage with workers from other countries.
Despite this, demand for Filipino
household service workers remained
strong, the Department of Labor said.
More than 500 job orders have been
received from employers in various
host countries under the new US$400
salary standard, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said.
Brion said job orders have been received 45 days since the new standard
took effect on December 16, 2006.
The host countries include Brunei
Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore,
Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the
United Arab Emirates, he said.
“In Brunei, we have verified 50
contracts, in Malaysia we have verified 100 contracts, in Singapore 100
contracts, Egypt, one contract, Jor-
dan, 50, Kuwait, 90, Qatar, 50, Saudi
Arabia, 9, and the UAE, 95, for a total
of 545 in the past 45 days,” he said.
Brion said the job orders affirm the
the preference for quality overseas
Filipino workers.
The labor department noted no
decline in overall deployment, with
61,126 being placed in January
compared with 57,120 last year, an
increase of 7 per cent. “Given these
developments, recruitment agencies
who are greatly concerned about their
business should not fear about the future,” Brion said.
He said placement fees had not been
outlawed but merely redirected.
2
news
filipino globe
Two nabbed with fake papers
ANGBANSA
Iloilo
Some 7,000 malnourished
children in the province of Iloilo
have benefited from the milk
feeding program, a partnership
project between the local
government unit, province of
Iloilo, Department of Social
Welfare and Development and
the National Dairy Authority.
Under an agreement, milk
packs intended for the children
will be paid for by the local
government and the NDA.
Social welfare officers of each
partner local government unit
will be the one to identify the
recipients.
Arfe Molanida, manager of
the Iloilo Federation of Dairy
Cooperatives Milk Processing
Plant based in Tigbauan, Iloilo,
said they have just ended their
feeding program for the 5,000
children.
Pinays’ Italy
dream dashed
with jail term over
passports
Jose Marcelo in Hong Kong
Two Filipinas with dreams of landing
well-paying jobs in Europe ended up
in a Hong Kong jail after being arrested at the airport for traveling with
spurious passports.
A 35-year-old Filipina from Laguna
was stopped by Hong Kong airport officials shortly after disembarking from
a Cathay Pacific flight on her way to
Madrid. Another Filipino bound for
Milan was arrested a day later.
After pleading guilty to the charge
of using illegal travel documents, the
two were sentenced to nine months in
jail.
According to consulate officials,
both had used forged passports that
are the known handiwork of the
“Baklas Passport” syndicate, which
has been known to operate back home
in connivance with rogue Philippine
immigration officials.
Like several victims, both breezed
through immigration scrutiny at the
Manila airport.
Curiously the two were invited for
questioning by Hong Kong authorities
the moment they stepped out of the
plane from Manila, leading consulate officials to believe that fastidious
intelligence work led to their arrests.
“The Foreign Affairs department
Davao
Davao City Councilor Peter
Laviña has urged the country’s
flag carrier Philippine Air Lines
to open direct flights from
Davao to Japan to develop the
Japanese market.
The city can capture Japan
as a major market for tourism
industry if a direct flight from
Davao to Japan is opened,
“
Laviña said during the Davao
City Business Forum.
A PAL executive said
the airline is not keen on
establishing direct flights from
Davao to Japan because there
is no market in thatcountry in
terms of tourist arrivals.
If you use spurious
documents, chances
are high you’ll
get arrested and
prosecuted
news
filipino globe
February 2007
3
Preslyn reveals lowest point in prison
Enjoying temporary freedom while she prepares her appeal, she shares her hope for vindication
Jose Marcelo in Hong Kong
Her lowest point, she said, came as
the clock ticked 12 on New Year’s
Eve, while the world outside the prison walls was celebrating and she was
alone in her cell, with a piece of bread
and a glass of milk for noche buena.
“Ang lungkot ko noon dahil naalala
ko, tuwing bagong taon ay birthday
ng tatay ko,” said Preslyn Catacutan.
“Kung nasa Pilipinas ako, siguradong
kumpleto ang pamilya namin at nagkakasalo-salo.”
Preslyn, though, has again found a
reason to smile.
The 30-year-old domestic helper
convicted of stealing three photos
and a letter from Canto pop star Jacky
Cheung has been granted temporary
freedom after the High Court granted
her appeal for bail.
But more than that, Preslyn has been
heartened by the torrent of support
she has received from the Filipino
community in Hong Kong, as well as
the backing of people who continue
to stand behind her as she fights her
conviction.
Only after she stepped out of the Lai
Chi Kok correctional last January 29,
Preslyn said, did she fully grasp the
magnitude of sympathy she has received from people she does not even
know.
“Parang hindi ako makapaniwala
noong una na ganoon pala karami
ang sumuporta sa akin. Nakakagaan
sa problemang dinadala ko. Kung puwede ko lang silang pasalamatan isaisa, gagawin ko,” she said.
In her darkest moment she has also
found friends like vice consul Noel
Novicio and lawyer Ody Lai – people
who have gone beyond the bounds of
their obligations and dedicated them-
selves to her cause. “Mga hingaan ko
sila ng problema, kaibigan, phone pal
– lahat-lahat na,” she said.
Preslyn’s immediate focus now is
on her forthcoming appeal before the
High Court of the six-month sentence
handed down by Eastern Court Magistrate Winston Leung last December
10.
Preslyn has already sent an application to the Legal Aid Department
which, if approved, would have the
Hong Kong government covering
her legal expenses during the appeal
before the High Court. Such applications, according to Novicio, take from
four to six weeks to process.
The mother of three from Dumaguete is also in the process of choosing a senior counsel to represent her
in the proceedings, and she would
have a wider range of choices if her
application for legal aid is approved.
As it is, one high-profile senior
counsel has already volunteered his
services, pro bono, to join lawyer Ody
Lai in the appeals process.
Preslyn has already spent seven
weeks in jail and has around nine
more weeks to serve if she loses her
appeal. Hong Kong laws deduct Sundays and holidays from the original
sentence.
She is being housed at a shelter provided by the Consulate and has been
wrestling with all sorts of emotions,
from fear to loneliness to sadness to
anger, as she awaits her next appearance in court.
But she has a clear idea on how she
should be if she hopes to survive this
ordeal.
“Kailangan kong maging matapang,” she said. “At ang dinadasal ko
ay sana malinis ko ang pangalan ko
pagkatapos ng lahat ng ito.”
Cebu
NOEL NOVICIO
Vice consul
has time and again issued warnings
about this practice,” said vice consul
Noel Novicio. “We keep telling our
kababayans that if you use spurious
documents, chances are high you’ll
get arrested and prosecuted.”
According to Novicio, at least two
other Filipinos are languishing in
Hong Kong jails for the same offense.
Still several others are willing to take
a chance.
One of the Filipinas arrested said
she paid the syndicate P100,000 for
another person’s passport bearing
a genuine Spanish visa. Syndicate
members merely replaced the picture
in the passport with hers.
The second Filipina, 27 and also
from Laguna, told consulate officials
she used the passport of a sister working in Milan which the syndicate doctored to bear her picture.
She paid P300,000 for the forgery.
The two revealed they were emboldened to try their luck after being
told by syndicate members that three
other Filipinos had managed to reach
European destinations just the previous week under the same ploy.
February 2007
The Filipina and her children were allowed to leave Hong Kong after being fined HK$2,000 for the offence.
Now, this is one unlucky charm
Jose Marcelo in Hong Kong
Ten live bullets supposedly meant to
bring good luck and special powers
spelled trouble instead for a Filipina
and her three children at the Hong
Kong airport.
The 37-year-old Filipina spent
a night in detention and fined
HK$2,000 by a Hong Kong court
after thee bullets were found in her
carry-on knapsack while in transit on
her way to Milan.
The bullets, she told Hong Kong
authorities, were “anting-antings”
or amulets she had intended to give
as “pasalubongs” to friends and
relatives in Milan after spending the
holidays in her native Batangas.
On how she managed to slip
through Manila’s international airport
with the bullets in her possession
still baffles consulate officials as they
renewed their warning to residents
and tourists alike not to bring these
bullets during their travels.
Several Filipinos have gotten
themselves in trouble for the same
violation since heightened security
in airports around the world was
enforced after the September 11
attacks.
Still, cases for the same offense
keep piling up at the consulate,
officials said.
A lot of people, especially from
southern Philippines, believe amulets
like live bullets can protect them
from danger – even death.
The Filipina was with her three
children, aged two, eight and 12, last
January 26 and just about to board a
connecting Cathay Pacific flight to
Milan when a routine X-ray check
yielded the bullets in her luggage.
She was interrogated for hours and
spent a night in detention before she
was made to post a HK$400 bail the
next day and turned over to consulate
officials who provided the Filipino
and her family temporary shelter at a
Catholic center.
After a four-day trial at the Tsuen
Wan magistry, the Filipina was
slapped a HK$2,000 fine and the
bullets confiscated before she was
finally allowed to leave for Milan.
The Filipina said she has been
residing in Milan with her husband
and children for the past 20 years.
Cebu is set to host a world food
expo at the Cebu International
Convention Center in Mandaue
City, giving a boost to the
province’s bid to become a
convention and exhibition
capital of the country.
The exhibition called World
Food Expo (Wopex): Food
Processing and Packaging
Technology Expo 2007 is
expected to gather at least
700 local and international
exhibitors at the CICC in April.
Felix Tiukinhoy, president of
the Philippine Association of
Meat Processors (Pampi) and
co-host of the event, said the
exhibition will boost Cebu’s bid
to become a convention and
exhibition capital of the country.
The event will also boost
industries and businesses not
only in Cebu but also those in
the region, with the presence
of hundreds of suppliers and
buyers gathered in one huge
event.
“Hundreds of deals are sealed
in events like these. Instead of
going to Manila where you meet
one or two suppliers or buyers
in one day, in an expo you
meet a hundred of them,” said
Tiukinhoy.
Preslyn-saga Catacutan is free while her appeal is spending.
Training for poll volunteers
Election volunteers in Hong Kong
are set to undergo training from a
team of Commission of Election
officials from Manila in preparation
for the May 13 elections.
According to vice consul Alnee
Arugay, 65 volunteers have so
far enlisted to man the 22 voting
precincts in the territory and another
201 to serve as special board of
election inspectors.
As mandated by the Comelec, the
volunteers will undergo three-day
training before they are tapped to
serve in the polls.
The seminars are set on successive
weeks – February 23-25, February
28-March 1 and another on the last
week of March.
Hong Kong has posted the highest
voting percentage among all foreign
posts when the first absentee voting
was held in 2004, with 80 per cent of
its 88,000 registered voters casting
their ballot.
It is expected to duplicate that feat
in May from a voting list that has
since climbed to an estimated 95,000.
More reports – Page 6
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filipino globe
February 2007
It’s official: we sent US$12.8b
Annual total surges to record after OFW remittances hit US$1.3 billion in December
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
(BSP) on Thursday announced a record high 37.2 per cent annual growth
in Overseas Filipino Workers remittances through banks in December after workers abroad remitted a total of
US$1.3 billion.
BSP governor Amando Tetangco
Jr said the December remittances
brought to US$12.8 billion last year’s
total OFW remittances, higher by 19.4
per cent from 2005, and also higher
by US$500 million as forecast for the
whole year.
He attributed the increase in remittances to the high volume of OFW
deployment and the financial institutions’ adoption of new ways to fasttrack the delivery of its services, expansion of network, and enhancement
of infrastructure.
BSP records show that remittances
coursed through banks in December
2005 is about US$ 961.87 million
while that year’s total OFW remittances was US$ 10.69 billion.
Also, initial 2006 data from the
Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA) on new hires
and rehires’ annual deployment was
1.1 million, an annual growth of 10.5
per cent.
Deployment of land-based workers was higher by 12.2 per cent at
831,318 than sea-based workers despite the increase in the deployment
of sea-based workers last year by 5.2
percent at 260,737.
The government is deploying more
OFWs in the coming years as it intensifies human resource development
and training programs.
Meanwhile, Tetangco is grateful
that banks and non-bank remittance
companies paid attention to the central bank’s call for these companies to
implement faster, safer and more efficient services.
“Specifically, remittance channels
have improved the platform for remittances through adoption of advanced
systems and new technologies and enhanced and expanded financial products and services,” he said.
Link-up of three major automated
teller machine (ATM) networks also
paved the way for the beneficiaries to
have access to the formal channels of
remittance transfer, he pointed out.
Bulk of OFW remittances come
from the US, Saudi Arabia, Canada,
Italy, United Kingdom, Japan, United
Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tai
Malacanang
welcomes
IMF growth
forecast
Malacanang welcomed the
International Monetary Fund’s 5.8
per cent growth forecast on the
Philippine economy this year as
another solid proof that “2007
will be the year when it all comes
together”
“The IMF forecast is a solid
affirmation of the strength and
momentum of President Arroyo’s
economic reform agenda,” Press
Secretary and concurrent presidential
spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye said
in a statement.
“Strong leadership at the top, good
governance, and the political will
to fight corruption and poverty will
continue to drive confidence in the
Philippines,” he added.
The country’s economic indicators
are encouraging – a bullish stock
market, the peso continues to be
strong, foreign direct investments
reaching US$2 billion, exports
registering double-digit increase,
inflation dropping at all-time low,
credit agencies outlook turning
positive, creation of over one million
jobs, and the approval of the national
appropriations for 2007.
A sustained economic growth,
according to Bunye, would “ensure
a better future for all Filipinos as
investments, jobs and opportunities
for the grassroots increase.”
The IMF has forecast that the
Philippine economy would grow
by 5.8 per cent this year and could
further expand to 7 per cent if
the government could sustain its
favorable economic momentum.
The IMF report specifically noted
the “impressive” fiscal reforms in an
environment of sustained economic
growth and declining inflation that
resulted to strengthened investors’
confidence in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, economist
Representative Joey Salceda has
bagan his tenure as the President
Arroyo’s chief of staff.
“He is a champion of free
enterprise and social reform and we
expect him to help put into action
the blueprint of a new Philippines,”
Bunye said.
The Philippine economy is firing on all cylinders, driven by consumer spending, a surging peso and a
resurgent stock market. Record remittances are pumping liquidity into the system, but inflation is benign.
Benchmark
US nurse
exam comes
to Manila
Good news! Filipino nurses may now
pursue their American dream without
spending a fortune.
They need not go abroad to take
the National Council on Licensure
Examinations (NCLEX), which is
an absolute requirement in getting a
nurse’s job in the United States.
Chairman Dante Ang of the
Commission on Filipinos Overseas
(CFO) told a news conference today
that the National Commission on the
State Board of Nursing (NCSBN)
of the US has approved the proposal
to hold an NCLEX in Manila in the
next six months.
On orders of President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo, the CFO made
strong representations before the
Chicago-based NCSBN, for the
Philippines to be named as one of
the very few NCLEX testing centers
outside the US mainland.
Other NCLEX testing centers are
in Hong Kong, South Korea, Saipan
and Guam.
Some 10,000 Filipino nurses
travel abroad yearly, just to take the
NCLEX.
To take the series of tests, each of
the examinee spends an average of
US$1,200 or roughly P58,000, Ang
said.
To have the Philippines included
in the list of its NCLEX testing sites,
Ang said he had to make a 90-minute
presentation before the NCSBN.
The NCSBN “unanimously
approved” the CFO’s request after
its officials got convinced that
the Philippine government has
adequately addressed all of the
concerns on the peace and order
situation prevailing in Manila and
on the integrity of the forthcoming
examinations.
Ang added that NCSBN officials
were “profoundly impressed with
the intervention of the President
(Arroyo), when she placed the
Professional Regulatory Commission
under the supervision and control
of the Department of Labor and
Employment.”
He quoted NCSBN officials as
saying that this was “the first in
NCSBN history, when no less than
the president of a country had to
intervene in such a delicate issue.”
Another factor that convinced
NCSBN officials, Ang said, was
when Mrs Arroyo created the
Presidential Task Force NCLEX.
Between 25,000 and 50,000
Filipino nurses are expected to take
the first NCLEX tests in Manila,
where the examinees stand to save
a large part of what they could be
spending if they were to take the test
abroad.
Aside from being the largest source
of registered nurses serving in US
hospitals and healthcare institutions,
the Philippines is the top producer
of internationally educated nurses
taking the NCLEX tests.
Other members of the Task Force
include Dr Carmencita Abaquin,
chairman of the PRC board of
nursing and Ruth Padilla, governor
of the Philippine Nurses Association
filipino globe
February 2007 5
6
news
filipino globe
February 2007
Singapore ready for
first internet voting
System check gives thumbs-up to high-tech experiment
It’s all systems go for internet overseas voting, which will be piloted in
Singapore for the May 14 national
elections.
The system uses technology from
Spanish firm Scytl, which has been
used in elections in Switzerland, Belgium, and the United States, according to Comelec commissioner Florentino Tuason.
Scytl chief executive officer in Manila, Pere Valles, explained the mechanism of the voting system, which he
said has “end-to-end security set-ups”
and allows for a “self-verifying voting receipt” which the voter could use
to cross-check his vote.
Valles explained that in the internet
system, control of all the voting processes is in the hands of the electoral
board which, under Philippine laws,
is composed of representatives of the
political parties, among others. The
members are given the key for decrypting the process after all the votes
have come in.
Bayan Muna party-list Representative Satur Ocampo, who attended a
Scytl briefing, said he was pleased
with what he heard but expects the
Comelec to be open to modifications
if the pilot-testing will not prove “100
per cent fail-safe.”
Of the senators invited to the orientation, only Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr, showed up.
Pimentel has been batting for the
full automation of this year’s poll exercises but conceded that there is not
much time for “end-to-end automa-
tion.” His nemesis, Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos was not at the
launching.
According to Tuason, Singapore
was chosen for pilot-testing because
of its ideal technological capacity and
its “mixed lot of Filipino OAVs, some
26,000 students, domestic helpers
and professionals” who can come to
the Philippine embassy to cast their
votes. uason said there is no room for
“flying voters” in the system because
the computer can recognize a registered voter’s personal identification
number which can be used only once.
Worldwide, there are more than
500,000 registered OAVs. Except for
OAVs in Singapore, the rest will cast
their votes in more than 80 foreign
posts the traditional way via ballots.
The technology is supplied by a Spanish firm, which has set up similar
systems for the United States, Belgium and Switzerland.
No kissing please,
we’re the Comelec
Employees of the Commission
on Elections have received stern
warning from their executive director
for “unbecoming behavior” in
public by smooching and hugging
personalities who come to the
Comelec offices.
The warning was issued by in a
“very urgent memorandum”, which
also reminded Comelec personnel
that they are subject to civil service
rules and the code of behavior of
public employees.
Comelec officials were disturbed
that during office hours, employees
left their work to wait for the
arrival of famous candidates, such
as Gregorio Honasan and Antonio
Trillanes III, both identified with the
renegade military group “Magdalo.”
Trillanes was mobbed and hugged
by adoring women employees and
posed for photos with the navy
officer.
The scene was played repeatedly in
news programs.
It all began with Representative
Chiz Escudero, who was
accompanied by well-loved
beauteous movie star Susan Roces,
when he filed his candidacy for
senator.
The young legislator from
Sorsogon became popular since
holding out publicly for the
opposition at the height of the socalled “Hello Garci tapes.”.
On Thursday, a slightly toneddown behavior was displayed when
TV host Kris Aquino-Yap arrived
with her brother, Representative
Benigno Aquino III, who filed his
candidacy as senator on Thursday.
Their mother, former president
Cory Aquino, and Kris’s basketball
star-husband, James, joined the party.
Were it not for the memorandum,
both male and female employees
would have gone wold, noted a high
Comelec official.
Kris, James and Cory have their
respective large following.
Erap security stepped up
Armed Forces chief General Hermogenes Esperon Jr on Friday said authorities are implementing an elaborate security measures to ensure the
safety of former president Joseph
Estrada in his rest house in Tanay,
Rizal.
Esperon made the statement in reaction to earlier statement of National
Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales
that communist New People’s Army
rebels are out to assassinate the former president and other important
figures.
Gonzales said he received “serious
information” that the NPA hit men
will get Estrada, who is on a house arrest due to a plunder case before the
anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, and
other targets and later blame these to
the government. Esperon, however,
said the reported assassination plot is
still subject for validation.
He said hasn’t seen the report yet
but he was already briefed on it.
“I have not seen the report but it’s
[report] very sensible. The plotters
as they are, could do something that
could be blamed on the government,”
said Esperon.
“There is an effort to see to it that at
least the former president is secured,”
Esperon said.
Esperon refused to elaborate on the
security measures being implemented
to ensure Estrada’s safety.
However, he said the Philippine
National Police has the primary responsibility in securing the former
president.
filipino globe
February 2007
7
8
news
filipino globe
February 2007
False dawn for fraud victims?
With closer regional
cooperation
and monitoring,
exploitation and fraud
will be reduced, if not
eliminated
F
ilipino laborer Andres
Bartolome had dreams of good
pay in New Zealand. He saved
his money, bought his ticket—and
ended up lost in Malaysia instead,
eating snakes and lizards to stay
alive.
Now he says he cannot return to his
hometown before he finds a way to
repay the money he borrowed to give
the people-smugglers who ripped
him off.
“I can’t go back,” Agence FrancePresse quoted the 33-year-old sa
saying.
His tale is repeated many times
over in Southeast Asian towns and
villages, where men and women long
for an overseas job as a vehicle to
haul their families out of poverty but
only wind up being cheated.
Asean (Association of Southeast
Asian Nations) countries reached
a landmark agreement at last
weekend’s summit in Cebu to protect
the rights of Bartolome and the
millions of migrant workers like him,
who form the backbone of many
economies across the region.
But while the accord’s intentions
are good, it is far from certain it will
make a difference to the lives of
many.
The pact outlines a political
commitment to protect the rights of
the region’s burgeoning number of
migrant workers. But it is not legally
binding.
“I hope it’s not another toothless
paper,” Bartolome said from Kuala
Lumpur.
Many men and women have been
able to improve their situations
as migrant workers, finding
employment abroad and sending
money back home in a cycle that has
helped countless numbers of families
escape the grind of poverty.
But many others such as Bartolome
– not his real name – fall prey to
illegal recruiters and syndicates
involved in human smuggling, or end
up with abusive employers.
“A legally binding framework
within Asean that is comprehensive
is still a long way off,” said William
Gois of Migrant Forum Asia, a
nongovernmental group that tries to
help migrant laborers.
“In the meantime there are
hundreds of people being deported
every day from Malaysia and from
Thailand,” Gois said.
Bartolome, a handyman and cook,
borrowed about US$2,000 last
year to pay a recruitment agency in
Manila for a job in New Zealand.
He only got his ticket at the airport.
And when he arrived there, the plane
looked much smaller than one he had
flown on to the Middle East several
years before.
In fact he was booked on a budget
airline—and one that did not fly to
New Zealand at all.
He was surprised when asked to
pay for his in-flight food, and even
more surprised when the plane
landed in the Malaysian state of
It can be a lonely battle when you
yourself in a foreign land after
falling prey to illegal recruiters.
On an auspicious note, Filipino
maids hone their entrepreneurial
skills (below) under the protection
of strict labor laws.
ANGBANSA
Maguindanao
Local chief executives recently
agreed with foreign donor
agencies to converge and focus
donor assistance on addressing
economic and food security
problems to facilitate human
security-based development in
Maguindano province.
In a recently held Mindanao
Working Group Technical
Meeting for Maguindanao
in this city, donor agencies
with existing programs on
food and economic security
agreed to explore convergence
opportunities in food and
economic security needs of
Maguindanao.
Donors also agreed that local
stakeholders such as local
government units, traditional
and religious leaders, as well
as law enforcers, should be
assisted to address “ridos” or
clan wars that threaten peace
and order in Maguindanao.
Palawan
Platinum Group Metals Corp.
(PGMC), a mining company
operating in Narra, Palawan
resumed its operation early this
week following renewal of its
Small-Scale Mining Permit.
Pocholo Nieto, PGMCPalawan manager, said the
mine has resumed operation
after they renewed its
mining permit issued by the
Provincial Mines Regulatory
Board. He also disclosed that
Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita handed out a decision
dismissing the appeal of City
Nickel Mines and Development
Corp to revoke the PGMC’s
Environmental Compliance
Certificate issued by
Department Environment and
Natural Resources.
Ermita urged the CNMDC to
respect the PGMC interest to
mine to extract 10.3 million tons
of nickel ores in certain areas.
“
My woman employer
would slap me
in the ears when
I made a mistake
Baguio
LEAH
Former domestic helper
Sabah. Left with no money, he
and other recruits on board were
forced to work at a remote palm oil
plantation.
They were paid only 10 Malaysian
ringgit (US$2.85) daily to pick
palm oil fruit. Food was meager
and they were sometimes forced to
snare snakes and monitor lizards to
supplement their diet.
With the help of a friend,
Bartolome escaped to the Malaysian
capital Kuala Lumpur in December.
He is still there, looking for a better
job.
The Philippines is one of Southeast
Asia’s main suppliers of migrant
workers, along with Indonesia, Laos,
Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and
Thailand are the major recipients of
their labor.
The Asean accord spells out the
obligations of both labor supplying
and receiving countries, and calls for
close monitoring for compliance by
the Asean secretary-general.
But without legally enforceable
rules, it is unclear whether the
agreement will be able to improve
the conditions of the region’s vast
traveling work force.
“I don’t think it will make a
difference,” said Gois. “A lot of the
palm oil plantation workers are lowly
paid and undocumented.”
Lilian, a maid working in
Singapore who declined to let her
full name be used, wakes at 5 a.m.
for her job as a domestic.
She says she cannot go to bed until
1 a.m. and remains on call the other
four hours—every day. “My body
feels like giving up but my family
needs the money,” she said.
Most of her monthly salary of 300
Singapore (almost US$200) dollars
goes to her husband and three young
children in the Philippines.
She said she could not send
anything home for the first six
months, when she was paying off her
debt to the recruitment agency.
Leah, another maid working in
Singapore, was not so lucky.
She sought refuge at the Philippine
Embassy in November because of an
abusive employer—and was back at
home before she could even send her
first paycheck.
“My woman employer would
slap me in the ears when I made a
mistake,” said the 24-year-old.
She is now back in her hometown
in the central Philippines with no
immediate plans to go back.
The chairman of the Baguio
Flower Festival said fresh
flowers that will be used in
the month-long celebration
of the Flower Festival or
“Panagbenga” this year is
estimated to be worth more
than P25 million.
Lawyer Damaso Bangaoet
said most of the fresh flowers
will be used during the float
parade and street dancing
scheduled on February 24 and
25.
He confirmed that many
expected visitors during the
festival highlights have made
room reservations in hotels and
inns in this mountain resort 250
kilometers north of Manila.
Bangaoet asked the traders
here not to take advantage of
the situation and to keep the
prices of flowers and other
agricultural products low
despite the high demand. He
said floriculturists have found
their industry very profitable.
news
filipino globe
February 2007
Filipino crew
released by
Nigerian rebs
9
Manila rules out evacuation of nationals
Nigerian kidnappers who seized 24
Filipinos from the country’s oil-rich
delta region have freed all the men,
government officials have said.
The group of seamen were kidnapped from their vessel, owned by
a German shipping firm, on 20 January.
The men were released without
a ransom being paid following the
intervention of local elders, reports
said.
Armed gangs regularly target foreign workers in the Niger Delta region, and currently hold at least seven
hostages.”
All 24 hostages are on board our
vessel, Baco-Liner 2, and they’re on
their way to Warri now,” a spokesman
for German shipping firm Baco-Liner
said.
The hostage-taking, one of two
cases involving Filipino workers in
the region in January, prompted the
Philippines to ban workers travelling
to Nigeria. The country is one of Africa’s biggest employers of Filipino
workers,.
It employed some 3,900 at the end
of 2006.
In recent months, attacks by the
militants have escalated, causing oil
multinationals to evacuate thousands
of workers from the western side of
the region.
The violence has cut crude production in Africa’s biggest oil exporter by
nearly a quarter.
Meanwhile, the Manila has ruled
mass evacuation of Filipinos from
the country, saying the spate of kidnappings did not warrant emergency
measuires.
However, it said the government is
doing its best to secure the release of
the captives through intermediaries
without giving in to compromise.
Officials said contingency plans
were in place for Filipino nationals in
countries other than Nigeria.
The victim’s sister appeals to her captors. The rebels say she jumped into the sea as she tried to escape.
Confusion over whereabouts of Pinay
Another national has been kidnapped
by militants in Nigeria, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
It said Josiebeth Foroozan, 37, had
been kidnapped by rebels and brought
to an undisclosed location.
She is a native of Occidental Mindoro who has been living in Nigeria for
17 years with her Iranian husband.
Philippine embassy officials in
Abuja said the rebels had contacted
the victim’s husband, but no ransom
demand or conditions for her release
was given.
The victim’s sister, Jane Gregorio,
met with Philippine officials and later
told the media that the kidnappers
contacted the husband and told him
the woman jumped into the sea as she
tried to escape.
Foroozan’s family believes that the
victim would not kill herself, adding
that local police officers in Nigeria
have not found her body. Officials admitted the information said that the
information is sketchy but said Nigerian authorities are investigating.
10
news
filipino globe
February 2007
Brion paves way for UAE jobs
Raft of opportunities awaits as formal labor agreement is signed this month
The stage is set. A new series of labor
agreements will be signed between
the Philippines and the United Arab
Emirates this month, it was disclosed
by Labor and Employment Secretary
Arturo Brion (right).
When this happens, Brion said more
job opportunities in the UAE, many
of them high-paying, will be opened
up for the Philippines’ growing labor
force.
“Since October 2006, I’ve been
talking with the UAE’s labor minister
who wants to travel here for the signing,” Brion said.
Data available at the Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration show that the
UAE is the second top destination, after Saudi Arabia,
for overseas Filipino workers seeking employment in
the Middle East.
POEA data show that
from a low total of 35,485
re-hired and newly hired
land-based OFWs deployed to UAE
in 1998, the number increased to
81,707 in 2005.
Meanwhile, at a Malacanang briefing, Brion urged private sector workers nationwide to carefully consider
the possible repercussions
of a P125 legislated wage
increase they are seeking.
Brion cited studies
made by the regional
wage boards on the proposed wage increase. He
said the labor force faces
a series of mass lay-offs
ande stablishments are at
risk of closure.
“I can’t say what the appropriate
amount of [wage] increase [there]
must be, since this the acceptable rate
depends on the RWBs’ findings for
each region in the country,” he said.
Brion said the cost of living in the
Philippines vary from region to region
and their respective economic bases.
He said that instead of effecting a
round of salary increases through legislation, the win-win solution would
be to allow the RWBs to study and
determine the cost of living and other
conditions prevailing in each region,
so that the fair rate of salary increases
could be implemented in such areas.”
Since 1999, the increases amount to
P152 given to workers in the National
Capital Region,” he said. Historically,
salary increases in the private sector
are granted once a year.
Death row
pair win
pardon
in Dubai
Two overseas Filipino workers
sentenced to life imprisonment for
drug-related offenses in the United
Arab Emirates have been granted
royal pardon.
Executive Secretary Eduardo R.
Ermita identified the two OFWs as
Editha Dagdag and Christian Albert
Garcia.
Dagdag, the only Filipina
serving life sentence at the Dubai
Central jail, was granted pardon by
Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, prime minister and ruler
of Dubai.
The granting of royal pardon,
according to Ermita, was the result
of representations made by the
Philippine consulate general in Dubai
on the occasion of Eid Al Adha or
national day.
Garcia, the only Filipino serving
a life sentence in the Emirate of
Sharjah, on the other hand, was
convicted in 2003.
He was granted pardon by Sheikh
Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qassimi,
Ruler of Sharjah, on the occasion of
Ramadan.
It was also through the
representations of the Philippine
government that the sentences of
six OFWs charged with offenses
punishable by death in different
countries have been downgraded to
jail terms recently.
The six are Guen Aguilar, Zenaida
Taulbee, Ronilo Arandia, Fernie
Salarza, Melvin Obejera and Ma. Fe
Cruzado.
Aguilar was sentenced to death by
a Singapore court for the 2005 killing
of fellow domestic worker Jane La
Puebla in Singapore.
Her death sentence was commuted
to 10 years imprisonment due to her
“mental state.”
Taulbee was meted maximum
penalty for her participation in the
murder of her husband, James, in his
Aragona Village home in the United
States on January 5, 2004.
Other OFWs await decisions on
their appeal for commutation.
ANGBANSA
Cotabato
Army bomb experts disarmed a
live hand grenade found Friday
dawn at a minivan passenger
terminal situated along Jose
Lim St.
Police said the caretaker of
the Parang, Maguindanaobound minivan passenger
terminal discovered the
MK-2 type explosive near
the entrance of the facility
as he was attending to his
early morning chores and
immediately reported the matter
to authorities.
“Had the grenade exploded,
many would have been
hurt,” said a member of the
responding 6th Explosive
Ordnance Detection Unit who
requested anonymity.
Security alert in the city has
been heightened following the
incident.
Investigations into the
incident are continuing.
Manila
European Commission Director
General for external relations
Eneko Landaburu met with
President Arroyo to discuss the
issue of the Melo report and the
extra-judicial killings.
Landaburu earlier said he
would officially request for a
copy of the report of former Justice Jose Melo to determine the
extent of assistance that they
can provide to the Philippine
government.
“We will see in which way the
EU will take some decision. At
this stage, we are waiting for
some more precise information
and the report,” he said.
The United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Extra-judicial
Killings Philip Alston is in the
country for a 10-day investigation on these incidents and met
with Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.
Quezon City
Israeli agencies are not authorised to send Filipino workers to Spain (above) under the Proyecto Piloto program.
Warning against Israel agencies
The Department of Labor and Employment has warned against spurious
Israel-based placement agencies who
promise job opportunities in Spain.
Labor Attaché to Israel Teresita R.
Manzala of the Philippine Overseas
Labor Office in Tel-Aviv, said no
placement agency outside the Philippines was authorised by the Spanish
government to recruit Filipino workers for jobs in Spain.
Philippines-based licensed recruitment agencies are the only companies
allowed to deploy overseas Filipino
workers to Spain under the “Proyecto Piloto”, which is an experimental
hiring of Filipino healthcare professionals and skilled workers, Manzala
said.
She added that under the agreement,
the point of hiring and issuance of entry visas as well as work permits are
exclusively in the Philippines.
In a meeting held in Jerusalem last
month, consul general Ramon Ansoian of the Spanish embassy reiterated this arrangement.
Consul general Gilberto Asuque
and Manzala represented the Philippine Embassy in Israel in the meeting.
Presently, only three Philippine
manpower agencies have been prequalified by POEA to participate in
the recruitment and deployment of
OFWs to Spain.
These are Sun-Ace International
Management Services, Ed-Fro-Bon
Manpower Services and Dahlzen International Services.
No job orders have come from employers in
Agriculture Secretary Arthur
Yap (below) on Friday opened
its fourth barangay food
terminal (BFT) or “talipapa” in
Barangay Pansol in Quezon
City, in tandem with the city
government, to
ensure steady
supply of basic
food for urban
poor families
at affordable
prices.
Yap said
every BFT
outlet will sell
rice, fish, meat, vegetables and
other basic goods at prices
lower by as much as 10 percent
than those sold at regular wet
markets and other retail outlets.
He said the BFT, which is
among the hunger-mitigation
measures of the government,
will help the poorest of the poor
gain access to more affordable
but high-quality food items.
filipino globe
February 2007 11
12
news
filipino globe
February 2007
Violence in comfort of home
Filipina victims of domestic abuse in the US are finding an ally in gutsy Nilda Valmones
Laura G Perez in Los Angeles
W
e now know enough
about domestic violence
to demand immediate
intervention. A push becomes a
punch. A criticism becomes a rabid
insult. The suggestion on what
dress to wear becomes an order. His
jealousy becomes paranoia.
Experts warn us that Prozac and
therapy will not solve it. Calling 911
will not end it. Resorting to selfdefense could aggravate it – say, if
you push him during an argument,
you are the one likely to get arrested
and charged with assault.
The response to women in distress
has been disappointingly slow and
temporary.
Most shelters do not have a space
available at the moment these women
call. Nobody will pick them up from
their home. Once they make it to a
shelter, a social worker jots down
their complaint, gives them a case
number, and tells them to contact this
and that agency.
After they have told a poker-faced
staff about their life’s most intimate
details, they have nowhere else to
go except back to their house where
they would get another blackeye.
Women in abusive relationships in
the Philippines fare worse because
of fewer agencies that support
domestic violence victims there.
Another barrier to their emancipation
is a male-dominated society with
laws that work in men’s favor.
The Philippines is one of only two
countries on earth that does not allow
divorce.
If battered women run to their
parents or parish priest, they will be
reminded of their promise to stick to
their spouse for better or for worse,
for richer or poorer, till death do
them part.
Nilda Valmores, executive director
of My Sister’s House, one of a
few centers for battered women in
Sacramento, is not accepting any
excuse for spouse abuse. She would
hear nothing of being drunk or
stoned when it happened.
Graduating cum laude from Loyola
Marymount University with an
MA in public administration from
Harvard University, Nilda does not
buy the so-called “cultural aspect”
of domestic violence either – that it
is “normal” for certain ethnicities,
say Filipinos, to hurt their wives at
some point in their married life. The
general view is that a wife could
be largely at fault to “deserve” a
beating.
“It is not normal to beat one’s wife
or partner for any reason at any given
time. It doesn’t matter if a man did
it only once. It doesn’t matter if it is
merely a slap, a push or a threat. That
is abuse,” she flatly declares.
A lot of women, especially Asian,
do not realize that they are abused.
Mental cruelty, which is a ground for
divorce in the United States , does
not strike them as an issue for their
mothers and grandmothers suffered
a lot more from their husbands in
their native country and everyone
accepted it with resignation.
They may complain that their
husbands swear at them, blame and
criticize them for every little mistake,
ANGBANSA
Pampanga
The widening to four-lane of
the 18-kilometer portion of
the Gapan-San FernandoOlongapo between here and
Lubao will soon be started with
a P1.5 billion appropriation.
Department of Public Works
and Highways Secretary
Manuel Bonoan was briefed
on the widening project by
Assistant Secretary Ramon
Aquino, former DPWH regional
director.
The project with funding
assistance from the Korean
government will include the
rechanneling of the PoracGumain river in Guagua,
according to the Mt Pinatubo
Project Management
Emergency Office.
Public works regional director
Alfredo Tolentino said that
the next phase of the GSO
widening project would be
extended up to the PampangaBataan boundary in Layac.
Sorsogon
Cebu Pacific, the country’s
low fare and leading domestic
carrier will start operating a
second daily Manila-Legazpi
service in anticipation of the
coming summer peak season
highlighted by the whale shark
or “butanding” watching in
Donsol, Sorsogon and in other
parts of Bicol being visited by
the “gentle giants” of the sea.
A shelter for abused women in the US, which has
an alarming incidence of couples in an abusive
relationship. Nilda Valmones (below) runs a similar
institution for abused Filipinas in California.
“
It doesn’t matter if a
man did it only once.
It doesn’t matter if it is
merely a slap, a push
or a threat. That is
abuse
NILDA VALMONES
My Sister’s House
that they do not let them shop alone,
go out with friends and keep their
own e-mail and bank account. But
they think men are supposed to be
the head of the household and should
therefore call the shots.
Helping battered women
necessitates an extreme makeover
– of their thinking, their beliefs,
priorities, values and goals. They
have to be taught to love themselves
more and not allow anyone to put
them down. Most important of all,
victims of domestic violence need to
be empowered in every way. Nilda
agrees that one way of empowering
them is to help them land a job.
However, landing a job can be next
to impossible to aliens who have
decided to divorce their American
husbands a few months short of
getting their greencard.
Government and private
organizations that claim to help
retrain battered women and get them
a job would only assist American
citizens or permanent residents.
Nilda says that a number of women
in abusive relationships met their
partners online.
“They just didn’t give themselves
enough time to know the person
thoroughly.”
The United States Citizenship
and Immigration Services reports
that mail-order bride and e-mail
correspondence services result in
4,000 to 6,000 marriages between
American men and foreign brides
each year.
The Philippines may prohibit the
business of organizing or facilitating
marriages between Filipinas and
foreign men with Republic Act 6955
or the Anti-Mail Order Bride Law
but stories of Filipinas being abused
by their foreign husbands persist.
Survivors of domestic violence
cannot overestimate the value of
immediate intervention. Someone
has to take them out of the situation
at the crucial moment. However, the
police and social workers can only
do so much while the relief they offer
is short term.
Responding to victims of marital
violence should be the concern of
the whole community for lives are
at stake, not only of the women but
also of their children. Consider these
statistics:
• Every nine seconds in the United
States a woman is assaulted and
beaten.
• Every day, four women are
murdered by boyfriends or husbands.
• Sixty per cent of all battered
women are beaten while they are
pregnant.
In homes where domestic violence
occurs, children are abused at a
rate 1,500 per cent higher than the
national average.
“In America , people put a
higher priority on privacy than
accommodating somebody who’s at
the end of her rope,” says a woman
who suffered from years of marital
violence.
“Friends and relatives said they
were afraid my ex-husband would
harass them if they took me in.”
Nilda admits: “There are women
who need shelter that we have to
refer elsewhere because we are full.
This is largely why the Board would
like to open an additional site,”
she said. Ironically, the amount
spent to shelter animals in the US is
reportedly three times the amount
spent to provide emergency shelter to
battered women.
According to Candice Iyog,
Cebu Pacific marketing director,
the A320 direct service
aircraft is expected to arrive in
March this year to complete
the US$670 million refleeting
program of the said company.
She said the additional A320
Manila-Legazpi direct service
will operate from March 22 to
June 12, 2007. It is scheduled
to depart Manila at 6:05 am,
arriving in Legazpi at 7:30 am.
Bukidnon
An undetermined number of
communist insurgents were
either killed or wounded when
a fierce gunbattle erupted
between government troops
and New People’s Army
guerillas in the jungles of
Kawayan,
Quezon town,
Bukidnon
province,
sketchy
reports
reaching
the Armed Forces of the
Philippines.
In a report received by Major
General Jose T Barbieto, area
command chief of the Army’s
Northern and Northeastern
Mindanao Fourth Infantry
(Diamond) Division, said that
26th IB combat maneuvering
battalion of the 403rd Infantry
Brigade are still in sporadic
running gunbattle after an initial
20-minute fierce fire fight in
Kawayan area.
news
filipino globe
February 2007
Pensions up for Filipino vets
California lawmaker promises passage of bill that will benefit non-combatants
Laura G Perez in Los Angeles
A California Democratic congressman
has begun hearings on a bill granting
pension to some 5,000 Filipino World
War II veterans living in the US and
about 12,000 in the Philippines who
have nonservice-connected (no combat-related) disability.
Congressman Bob Filner is conducting the hearing, which will directly benefit some 2,000 veterans in
San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Filner has guaranteed the bill’s passage in the House, where he is the
new chairman of the committee on
veterans affairs and the bill’s co-sponsor over the years.
He re-introduced the bill in January
with 11 bipartisan co-sponsors.
In the Senate, another Filipino
veterans’ champion, Senator Daniel
Inouye of Hawaii, re-filed the bill in
ti,me of the opening of the 110th US
Congress.
The House bipartisan bill was expected to be re-introduced last week.
Filner told Guillermo Rumingan,
veteran and American Coalition for
Filipino Veterans services officer,
about the February schedule when
they talked after a January 30 committee organization hearing.
Under the bill, now undergoing
hearings in the California
legislature, 5,000 veterans with
non-combat-related disability
will receive lifetime pensions.
His office also confirmed the date
in a reply to an e-mail on Wednesday.
But the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) based in this US capital is not
taking any chances. It held a meeting with ACFV and other groups last
week to discuss “budget and staffing”
to insure victory.
NaFFAA would raise funds for the
effort, but it will not be for top Washington lobby firm, “more like a grassroots lobby group.”
It said much of the effort is being
driven by the veterans themselves.
13
Pinay in
bid to make
history in
Chicago
A Filipino American community
leader is aiming to make history on
February 27 by becoming the first
Asian American member of the city
council.
Naisy Dolar, who served on
Chicago’s Commission on Human
Relations, takes on Alderman
Bernard Stone, a veteran who has
held the 50th Ward seat for the past
34 years.
“I’m very optimistic about my
chances,” Dolar told Philippine
News, even as she appealed for more
financial support from the Filipino
American community, to bolster her
“get out the vote” efforts.
On January 30, Dolar received
the endorsements of the Democratic
Leadership for the 21st Century and
the Citizen Action Illinois, the state’s
largest public interest organization.
Four days earlier, her campaign
also received a lift from California
congressman Mike Honda, who flew
in for a fundraiser and a pep rally.
“Naisy is a strong leader who
will bring all of the residents of the
ward,” he said.
14
news
filipino globe
February 2007
US offers chance for undergrad nurses
Nursing students who are unable to
graduate will still have a chance to
work in the United States.
National Federation of Licensed
Practical Nurses of America president
Gregory Howard said there is a “huge
demand” for licensed practical nurses
in the US.
An LPN is one who has completed
a practical nursing program, not necessarily a bachelor’s degree, and is
licensed by a state to provide routine
patient care under the direction of a
registered nurse or a physician.
LPNs are often employed in hospitals, nursing homes, physician’s
office, clinics, schools, industry and
correctional facilities.
“Unlike registered nurses (RNs),
LPNs focus more on bedside care.
Their task is highly technical and the
scope of practice is dependent on the
state where they are based,” Howard
said.
According to Howard, LPNs in the
US have an average salary of 10,400
to 10,900 annually for those without experience. Experienced LPNs
receive an average salary of 16,000
dollars to as much as 40,000 dollars
annually.
But despite the “attractive” salary
and the “huge demand,” the Philip-
pines’ medical profession is unable to
tap the need for LPNs in the US.
Howard said the Philippines has
been more focused on sending nursing graduates to the US.
This, he said, may be due partly to
the lack of US-accredited vocational
schools that offer practical nursing
curriculum in the Philippines.
“The US would love to hire our
LPNs but our LPNs are not even rec-
editorial & features
filipino globe
February 2007
15
All change as OFWs
reinvent themselves
ognized in our own country,” said
PPTS founding chairman Art Lacuesta.
Howard said once the Philippines
recognises both the LPN and the “ladderized” nursing program, he said the
US will be hiring an estimated 30,000
LPNs from the country alone.
In the US, employment opportunities are not limited to graduates of a
four-year bachelor’s degree, he said.
Pinay rocks
America
with country
music band
A Filipina from San Carlos City is
now making waves as a song writer,
singer and head of a famous country
rock band under her name called
“Anna Fermin’s Trigger Gospel” in
Chicago.
The band bearing the name of the
San Carlos lass was described by
Greg Kof, a columnist of the Chicago
Tribune, as “one of Chicago’s most
treasured voices”.
Fermin was only a year old when
her parents Renato and Nida PeraltaFermin immigrated to the US.
Her family settled and laid their
roots in America’s dairy land at
Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Although she studied classical
piano and violin and performed in
choirs throughout her childhood
and adolescence, it wasn’t after her
graduation from the Art Institute of
Chicago in 1993 that she wrote her
first song.
She set aside her profession as a
graphic designer and embarked on a
career closest to her heart—singing
and song writing.
The San Carlos City-borne Fermin
names Patsy Cline, Nancy Wilson
and Nina Simone – among many of
the music world’s big names – who
have influenced her music and
singing style, but admits her father,
Renato, must have had the strongest
influence on her.
Fermin recalls how her father, a
self-proclaimed Filipino Elvis, used
to embarrass her as he sang songs on
his karaoke at parties.
But she admits that it was this early
exposure to his father’s songs that
instilled in her a love for music.
Having taught herself how to play
the guitar, using a borrowed classical
guitar from her ‘tita” (aunt), Fermin
started attending local open mikes.
There, she impressed other
musicians, including her now longtime drummer Paul Bivans, who,
among others, encouraged her to
form her first band “Anaboy”.
That was the beginning of what has
emerged today as “Anna Fermin’s
Trigger Gospel”.
The other members of the band
include Scott Ligon on electric guitar
and keyboards, Bivans on drums, and
Michael Krayniak on bass.
They become the perfect
complement to Fermin’s stunning
voice in an incredible blend of
harmony.
focus
As home to more than 120,000 domestic helpers, Hong Kong represents a cross section of the OFW population.
We could all do with cheery stories
I learned a lesson recently. I guess I
should have known that Pinoys don’t
like to hear about or read sad tales
during the holiday season.
I wasn’t enlightened enough to
realise that, being a naturally happygo-lucky, laid-back, cheery people
famous for our friendliness and
smiles, we don’t like to pay attention
to bad news.
We prefer hearing happy stories
and spreading cheeriness around
– particularly during the holiday
season. That’s why our minds
automatically shut off any depressing
news during that time of year when a
major holiday approaches, and why
we usher in the Christmas season
in mid-September with carols and
general merriment.
The lesson I learned happened soon
after I sent an article to a Manila
newspaper to which I’ve contributed
occasional commentaries over the
past few years. They’ve always
been published, sometimes a month
late, since freelancers are like the
proverbial beggars who can’t be
choosers.
But last October, a piece I sent
which I thought was quite relevant
never appeared. I felt like I’d
dropped a pebble into a well that
didn’t produce a ripple. A month
went by, then December came
around -– still no article. My first emailed query went unanswered, then
a reply came later saying the editors
were thinking it over.
In my piece I related how a friend
of mine in my neighborhood called
one night to report a case of child
abuse. The 10-year-old child whom
Fely has cared for since infancy had
been physically hurt by her mother, a
busy Hong Kong businesswoman.
PINOYDIMSUM
observations
Isabel T
Escoda
Fely had told me before about
the kid being a sickly asthmatic
who sometimes displays suicidal
tendencies. She often needs to cheer
her up and dissuade her from running
away from home or killing herself.
From what she told me, it was
obvious that Fely’s employers had
abdicated their parental role and only
noticed their daughter to berate her
for her poor marks at school. Indeed
Fely would phone me occasionally
to ask for help with the kid’s English
homework.
Knowing the problems faced by
Hong Kong’s education department
over English teaching in its public
schools, I did my best to help out,
even though I began feeling that I
was helping improve Fely’s English
more than that of her charge.
The abuse occurred when the girl,
feeling ill, refused to go to school
one morning.
Her infuriated mother dragged
her out of bed and almost broke the
child’s hand in the process. Fely
says she protested loudly at the
cruel treatment, to no avail. She
considered contacting the authorities,
but decided she didn’t want to lose
her job.
Knowing of the growing cases of
child abuse in Hong Kong, as well
as reports on the rise in suicides
of Hong Kong youngsters, I wrote
about this. My lead was the case of
the parents who punished their son
for some misdemeanor by locking
him in a suitcase for three hours.
The boy’s death was widely
publicised, highlighting the problems
faced by many young people living
in Hong Kong’s pressure-cooker
conditions.
I included the case of a Kowloon
mother who inadvertently stabbed
her daughter’s hand during an
altercation over lost homework. And
I pointed out the invaluable service
countless Filipino domestic helpers
render in so many homes, acting
practically as surrogate parents in
“Asia’s World City.”
My contributions to the Manila
paper haven’t all been about the
OFW’s travails and woes.
There have been success stories
like savings made to allow
comfortable retirements back home,
accounts of luck with immigration to
Western countries, and even happy
marriages to non-Pinoys. And I’ve
highlighted the flaws and foibles of
Hong Kong society.
Admittedly many of my dispatches
have been hard luck stories, relating
the racism and abuse too often
encountered by the OFWs in a place
that’s long delayed the passing of an
Anti-Race Discrimination bill by its
legislature. But I’ll know better each
year-end and will desist from sending
any depressing reports Manilawards,
instead providing cheery Pollyannatype pieces in line with the holiday
spirit.
Isabel T Escoda is a
Hong Kong-based writer,
commentator and author
Barely more than two years ago,
about three to five inspired people
from various walks of life got
together and agreed to form a Hong
Kong chapter of the University of
the Philippines Alumni Association.
Nothing much in there, except that
the group has since grown to a
60-strong grandly loquacious lot,
including yours truly.
That’s nothing much, some of
you (especially those from other
Philippine universities) may say,
except that such an alumni chapter
wouldn’t have grown at such speed
in Hong Kong a decade or so ago.
The same is true for Singapore,
Sydney, Wellington or whichever
overseas posting where you’ll find
a surge in the number of Filipino
professionals or entrepreneurs in the
past few years alone.
Now, here’s another anecdote. The
Filipino Community Services and
Information Network (Filcomsin), a
Hong Kong-based alliance of nongovernment organisations founded
and advised by another UP alumna,
has been trying for almost a year
now to launch a regular newsletter
run by its own members, who are all
domestic helpers here.
The reason it has failed so far is
not for lack of trying. The problem
has been that every time Filcomsin’s
officers have chosen one of their
peers to act as the newsletter’s
manager, that editor-designate
invariably – if not inevitably – leaves
Hong Kong for some other overseas
job that demands more skills and
rewards them with much more
moolah.
These two episodes may seem
unrelated, but they actually point to
the same thing: the rapidly changing
complexion of the Filipino expatriate
communities all over the world, and
that includes Hong Kong.
From a menial, labour-intensive
workforce to more and more
professionals and highly mobile
talent, the Filipino labour pool is
undergoing a 21st-century seachange into something very rich but
not at all that strange.
That shift is quite familiar, for it
has happened or is happening in
other parts of the world – India,
Ireland, China, and even Vietnam,
just to name a few of the countries
where growing ranks of professionals
and highly-skilled workers going out
or coming home are changing the
domestic economies.
In Hong Kong’s case, market
forces that are unhampered by
bureaucracy and uncorrupted by
state-dictated central planning have
been slowly but surely pushing
the Filipina domestic helper to
the next higher level of economic
opportunities, such as nursing or
hotel jobs.
Sadly, the Philippine government’s
latest package of reformist policies
on domestic helpers, which we
explain and expound upon in this
issue’s Special Report, may end up
tripping the Filipina maids. In the
process, despite its avowed good
intentions, the government may
be unwittingly institutionalising
servitude.
FIRSTWORD
editor’s briefing
Rex
Aguado
We try to measure
our words when we talk about
domestic helpers, as most of us
subconsciously follow the dictum
of political correctness. Under the
government’s so-called Supermaid
program, domestic helpers, or DH,
are now “household service workers”
– HSWs, if you will. Of course,
there was a time in the not-so-distant
past when the term “DH” itself was
actually the label of choice in lieu
of “maids”. And before that, before
all this political correctness, we had
tsimay. Could it be that behind all
this Orwellian gloss is the unspoken
collective shame of a proud race?
Surely, shame is not the reason
behind the government’s reform
policies on the deployment of
domestic helpers.
After all, the objective of
protecting workers’ rights is a
worthy one. Unfortunately, perhaps
due to the confusion over the
implementation of the policies, or
the shrillness of the protestations
that have so far greeted them, the
program’s focus now appears so off
the mark that it is not just laughable
– it’s outrageously tragic.
Instead of fixing people’s attention
on the long-term goal of protecting
the well-being of the Filipina
domestic helpers abroad, the debate
is bogged down over the complex
training, testing and assessment
programs and seminars for HSW job
applicants.
Most critics have zeroed in on
the way the prospective maids will
be processed like some piece of
poultry for overseas consumption
– at their own expense. The argument
is that the government has become
dangerously dependent on the
dollar remittances of the OFWs that
it is now exporting cheap labour
wholesale.
Indeed, if one of the government’s
main aims is to ramp up the export
of maids, drivers, cleaners and other
menial workers, why not start from
the primary school years? Why
not institutionalise a vocational
course on domestic work? Why not
offer a college or university degree
on servitude and call it BSHSW
– Bachelor of Science in Household
Service Work?
Perhaps top universities such as
UP can offer such a course, thereby
boosting the ranks of its alumni
associations abroad.
Shallow cynicism aside, it is
probably time for the government to
communicate its message properly.
What has happened so far is a failure
of imagination and a total disregard
for the intelligence of the “masa’’.
The HSWs deserve better than that.
[email protected]
16
forum
filipino globe
TINGINNAMIN
Supermaid is an investment in future
I
t’s a victory for our domestic
helpers, but in a bigger sense, it’s
a triumph of sobriety on the part of
all concerned that a compromise
has been struck over the contentious
issues of the Supermaid policy.
That the government was willing
to ease two of its most crucial
provisions after all the hype and
pronouncements, shows us that, yes,
the policy can still be refined to the
satisfaction of all who have a stake
in it.
But first, a word about
communication.
It was obvious from the start that
the new policy, for all its far-reaching
implications, was not clearly brought
to light. Hence, it was doomed
to face such an unprecendented
backlash.
Blame it on its confused
implementation, or the possibility
that stakeholders are not ready for
it. Or consider it as a case of bad
experience in our policymakers’
preoccupation with the big picture
instead of the important details.
It remains to be seen whether the
new guidelines just released by the
POEA will be sufficient to convince
everyone to support the policy as a
whole. To be sure, the argument that
we are pricing ourselves out of the
market will fester for a while.
Having said that, we think that the
policy deserves to be given a chance
to prove itself.
As we said earlier, those who are
looking for instant benefits will not
find it there – not just yet.
It is in its potential to create a
new breed of service workers, with
all the training and protection and
compensation that the law allows,
that the Supermaid policy will prove
its worth.
In the future. SULATLETTERS
By now, you might have known
that my tour of duty as Philippine
Labor Attaché in Hong Kong
would very soon end. (Actually,
I should have left by the end of
December 2006).
By the time I leave Hong
Kong, I would have served a
good five years and nine months
– a record in the history of the
Philippine Overseas Labor Office
in this city.
Having served that long, it
is obvious that I have learned
to like and love not just the
city itself and all that it offers
but most of all my fellow
nationals and in particular
my constituency, the Filipino
workers.
That is why I find it hard
to leave and also because
I consider Hong Kong “my
second home” having literally
been reborn here following my
successful liver transplant some
three years ago.
But I cannot lose sight of
the fact that I am a Philippine
government public servant and,
therefore, subservient to the
demand of public service that
now requires me to be in the
home office for awhile.
For whatever shortcoming and
inadequacy I have and those of
the people I worked with, I ask
for your kind understanding and
forgiveness.
I realise that in the course of
service, I might have had some
differences with a number of you.
I wish to assure you that there
was absolutely nothing personal
in them and those differences did
happen because of our common
and fervent desire to bring out
the best in us in the hope that
by doing so we would be able to
serve our people well.
Thank you for the friendship.
Thank you for the company.
Thank you for the sympathy.
Thank you for the support you
have given me.
I ask for the same support to
my successor.
It is through cooperation
and working hand-in-hand
in an atmosphere of mutual
understanding and respect that
we can truly and effectively serve
the people.
Bernie B Julve
Labor Attache
February 2007
community
filipino globe
February 2007
17
Not a useless lesson to
learn from for Pacman
If the textbook definition of
overseas Filipino worker is
someone who earns the bulk of
his income abroad, then the most
popular Pinoy today must qualify
as an OFW.
Superstar boxer Manny
Pacquiao earns his multimillion
dollar paychecks abroad, almost
always in the US. While he did
have one fight back home last
year, it was his two Las Vegas
fights with Erik Morales that
really fattened his bank account
in 2006.
(Incidentally, Pacquiao and
Morales seem to have formed
a fast friendship. The Mexican
legend was in the Philippines
recently, and the first thing he did
was to meet Pacman for drinks at
his hotel. The pair later filmed a
pretty sharp and witty commercial
for San Miguel beer.)
Besides SM beer, he also has
his endless stream of product
endorsements, of course. But
for the next few years, Manny
Pacquiao will have to head for
abroad to work. Nothing has been
finalised yet, but his next fight
might take place in Guam.
Sooner or later, his glory
days will end. But from the
looks of things, Pacquiao will
have the happy ending that all
OFWs dream of. Already he has
built a mansion in his adopted
hometown of General Santos City.
He has also invested in several
businesses, the most well known
of which is a large convenience
store, ala-7/11.
He also has a long-term contract
with San Miguel. This means he
will be making commercials and
endorsing the country’s favorite
beer long after he hangs up his
gloves. In a way, he follows in
the footsteps of the Philippines’
greatest boxer of all, the legendary
Gabriel “Flash” Elorde.
Flash Elorde was a contract star
of SMC, doing many memorable
commercials in the company of
Rico Puno and Amang Parica,
until his health began to fail.
So unless he makes some
truly horrible decisions with his
millions, Pacquiao is set for life.
His life provides a strong
contrast with another Filipino
pugilist whom I got to see when
I was staying in California.
Luisito Espinosa was every bit as
deadly as Pacquiao in his prime.
Unfortunately, the man called
Lindol made some very bad career
decisions. When he finally called
it quits, he had no fortune to speak
of. I once saw him at a casino
in northern California. He was
supposedly working as a greeter of
guests, since that restaurant-cumgambling joint was owned by a
Filipino, and the bulk of its guests
were Pinoys and Fil-Ams.
Espinosa was a sad sight to
VIEWPOINT
the observer
Beting
Laygo
Dolor
behold. He was still fighting long
after his skills had faded. But
he kept on as this was his only
way of staying in the US. Last I
heard, he was working in Costco,
a wholesale membership club
where I occasionally shopped with
my family. He had started as a
box boy, a job that requires some
physical work.
I don’t feel sorry for Espinosa
because of the manual nature of
his job. In the US, there really is
dignity in labor. No, I feel sorry
for him because he did earn
millions in his prime. Where that
money went, only he and his
accountant know for sure. Oh, and
his ex-wife too, who was always
there whenever he fought. She,
too, has left Lindol so that the
once great Filipino boxer is now
fending for himself in the Bay
Area.
At least Espinosa has gotten his
green card, and will likely spend
the rest of his days in America.
He may even get to meet a nice
woman whom he can spend the
rest of his life with there. He may
be too old to fight, but Lindol is
still relatively young with many
good working years ahead of him.
Unlike Pacquiao, Espinosa has
squandered his fortune, although
he still has a pending claim for a
purse that he never got in one of
his last fights in the Philippines.
Under a best case scenario, he will
live a decent life in the US, with
enough earnings for some of life’s
luxuries.
The saddest plight of all Filipino
boxers who became world
champions, however, has to be
another resident of Pacquiao’s
adopted hometown of GenSan.
Like Espinosa, Rolando
Navarette also became a champ
who lost it all. But not only did
the “Bad Boy of Dadiangas”
end up as punch drunk excon, he has virtually become
a pauper. He is unable to find
gainful employment, often gets
in trouble with the law, and
depends on doleouts to survive.
Perhaps, because Pacquiao runs
into Navarette in GenSan often
enough, he will always play it
smart and not take needless risks
with his hard-earned money. Not
just Pacman, but all OFWs should
take this road.
[email protected]
Beting Laygo Dolor is the editorin-chief of the Inquirer’s Bandera
Executive EDITOR: Rex Aguado PUBLISHING CONSULTANT Philip Evardone ADVISERs Therese Necio-Ortega, Prof Dr Maurice Teo BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Ricky Sumallo
CORRespondents Eddie Alinea (Manila), Celeste Terrenal (Manila), Terrie Fucanan (Manila), Chito Manuel (Jeddah). Rick Sumallo (New Jersey), Loi Liwanag (Los Angeles)
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Bernie Domantay, AccessPoint (Philippines) Josephine Miranda (Philippines), TJ Badon-Doble (Philippines), Venice Austria-Paita (Hong Kong)
EDITORIAL BOARD Rex Aguado, Philip Evardone, Prof Dr Maurice Teo CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Beting Laygo Dolor, Teo Antonio, Chito Manuel, Danny Vibas, Dante Vino
Filipino Globe is published once a month by Apex Services (HK) Ltd, Suite 1905, Lippo Centre Tower 2, Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong, telephone (852) 2918 8248, email [email protected]. No part of this publication
may be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers. Printed by Premier Printing Group, Yuen Long, New Terrories, Hong Kong
Paikot-ikot sa
isang gulong,
tila eroplano
ang dating
Seminar
tackles
loopholes
in bias bill
Nasabak na si Maria Flores sa isang
kumpetisyon ng unicycling sa US
Adan Magnaye in Hong Kong
Marunong ka bang magbisikleta?
Kahit siguro pedikab kaya mong
patakbuhin.
Pero nasubukan mo na bang
sumakay at magpaikot-ikot sa
sasakyang iisa ang gulong at walang
manibela?
Hindi kailangang maging sirkero sa
karnabal o stuntman sa pelikula para
makapagpatakbo ng unicycle. Maski
babae at bata, puwedeng sakyan
ang wonder wheel na ito nang hindi
natutumba.
Maaaring mahirap sa simula, pero
tulad ng lahat ng bagay, napagaaralan din.
Ganyan ang drama ni Maria Flores.
Walang takot siyang sumubok sa
unicycle.
Siyam na taong gulang lang siya
nung mag-aral nito. Natumba at
nasaktan nung una siyempre. Ilang
beses na umuwing masakit ang
katawan at may gasgas sa binti’t
braso.
Pero matapos ang ilang buwan,
easy rider nang maituturing si Maria.
Kayang palikuin ang unicycle saan
man niya naisin.
“It’s like learning how to walk,’’
aniya sa mga panahong baguhan pa
lang siya at nangangapa.
“Parang nagbibisikleta ka din,
except that you don’t have anything
to hold. Parang half-flying.”
Ngayon 14 anyos na si Maria.
Gaya ng karaniwang teenager,
marami siyang libangan.
Bagaman isang gulong ang
nakatuwaang paikutin at paglaruan,
hindi ito nangangahulugan na onedimensional na din ang buhay niya.
Likas siyang mahilig sa sports.
Spiker siya ng volleyball team ng
Sir Ellis Kadoorie Secondary School
sa West Kowloon.
Pag trip niya, sumasali din sa
basketball. “Michael Jordan is my
all-time favorite,” aniya.
Malaking bahagi ng buhay niya
ang musika. Palibhasa kilalang
musikero ang amang si Nicky Flores,
entertainment director ng Philippine
Islands pub and restaurant sa Wan
Chai.
Mahusay ding kumanta ang nanay
niyang si Merle.
Si Maria? Bukod sa mahilig
sumayaw, marunong tumugtog ng
drums, guitar at piano.
Paborito niya si Alicia Keys.
Ka-jamming ang ilang kaibigan,
nagkaroon sila ng gig minsan sa
Philippine Islands.
Bigay-todong binanatan ang One
of Us ni Joan Osborne at Torn ni
Natalie Imbruglia. Feel din ni Maria
na magkaroon ng singing career.
Big fan siya ng American Idol, pero
never niyang inambisyon na sumali
sa show.
“Takot po ako,” aniya.
Dahil sa gimik at pag-aaral,
madalas nakatengga ngayon ang
wonder wheel ni Maria sa tirahan
nila sa Sai Ying Pun.
Minsan naiimbitahan sila ng
coach niyang si Steve Dressler na
magbigay ng street performances at
mag-exhibition sa mall.
Bagama’t kulang sa practice, di
nakakalimutan ni Maria ang ilang
tricks na natutunan niya noon.
Gaya ng pagpapatalon sa unicycle o
pagtrato rito na parang isang kabayo
o rocking chair.
Salamat sa unicycle, nakapunta
na si Maria sa Amerika para magcompete kasama ng Philippine team
noong 2002.
Sulit ang hirap at pagod niya sa
pagsisikap na matutong mag-unicyle.
Wala man siyang naiuwing
medalya mula sa Tate, marami
“
You have to keep
your back straight,
your shoulders thrown
back, your arms
spread wide ...
MARIA FLORES
Tip on riding a unicycle
naman siyang happy memories.
Paano nga ba sumakay ng
unicycle?
“You have to keep your back
straight, your shoulders thrown back,
your arms spread wide, your fingers
kept together. Parang airplane,” sagot
ni Maria.
“The key is to just enjoy it.”
Hindi ba niya naisipang tumigil
nung panahon na natutumba pa siya,
bugbog ang katawan sa ensayo at
halos halikan niya ang sahig matapos
sumemplang?
“You can’t go through anything
without going through pain,” aniya.
Filipinos are being urged to take
part in a public consultation on the
Racial Discrimination Bill to ensure
its chances of being an effective
measure.
The call was made during a
forum attended by academics,
migrant groups and non-government
organizations.
A coalition of ethnic minorities,
including Filipinos, Indians and
Nepalis sought clarification, citing
insufficiencies and grey areas in the
proposed legislation.
The bill does not adequately protect
the rights of children of minorities to
educational opportunities and does
not guarantee adults equal treatment
in terms of
employment
and career
development, the
group said.
Their concerns
were share by
Dr Keezhangatte
James Joseph
(right), a
lecturer in social work and social
administration at Hong Kong
University.
He said the basic requirement for
local universities is proficiency in
written and spoken Chinese.
However, there has been little
support to facilitate learning of
Chinese by non-Chinese speaking
residents.
This weak foundation makes
ethnic minority children unable to
attend university
Also, he said lack of proficiency
in Chinese would, in the long run,
undermine the competitiveness of
ethnic minorities in the workplace.
He called on them actively
participate in discussions to bring
these inadequacies in the proposed
measure to the attention of
legislators.
The Home Affairs Bureau
submitted the Racial Discrimination
Bill for discussion in the Legislative
Council last December.
Following the public consultation,
the bill will be deliberated in Legco.
It is expected to be passed by July
2008, before the election of new
Legco members in September of that
year. The consultation period began
last year. It covers all sectors of the
community, not only minorities.
18
community
filipino globe
February 2007
young globe
filipino globe
February 2007
Viva contract only the start for Elvie
19
After a soured singing
stint in Guangzhou,
Elvie Manacmul
bounced back to fulfil
a childhood dream,
writes Jose Marcelo
E
lvie Manacmul arrived in
Hong Kong with her passion
for music in the backburner,
her mind set on earning money
to pay off debts after a singing
engagement gone wrong across the
border in Guangzhou.
That was three years ago.
Today, the 31-year-old mother
of three from Dinalupihan, Bataan
stands on the threshold of a fullfledged singing career, after being
adjudged the inaugural winner of
IDT Asia’s Tunog Pinoy Star Search.
By besting nine other entries in the
grand finals of the five-month search
watched by a huge crowd at Chater
Garden, Elvie won, among other
prizes, a three-year recording deal
with Viva Records.
“Ito na yata ang pinakamagandang
nangyari sa buhay ko,” said Elvie,
who still could not quite believe
how an unexpected detour that had
her working as a domestic helper in
Kowloon City would serve to bring
her closer than ever to a childhood
dream.
Singing has always been her
passion, Elvie said, and it has
brought her success in contests held
in school and in towns across Bataan
and in nearby provinces.
She has also fronted a band,
Reality Band.
But a different reality dawned
on Elvie in 2003 when a promised
singing deal in the mainland only
left her desperate and buried in debt.
When a cousin offered to help her
find work in Hong Kong, it was the
only option she had.
“Inalis ko na talaga noon sa isip
ko ang pangarap ko sa pagkanta,
dahil kailangan kong magbayad ng
utang dun sa pamasaheng ginamit
ko papuntang China,” Elvie said.
“Naisip ko wala siguro sa pagkanta
ang suwerte ko.’’
Life, though, had one more
surprise turn waiting for Elvie. It
started with her recording a song
on the Konek Pinoy platform which
in turn garnered enough votes on
Passi City comes
out tops of the pops
Passi City Choir, led by Rema
Denamara, swept top honors in the
SBSK (Sa Bangko Sigurado Kayo)
singing ambassadors competition.
Second place went to Oriental
Mindoro Hong Kong Society.
Mindanao Federation placed
third.
The contest was held before a
big turnout in Chater Garden under
the auspices of the Philippine
Bankers Club, in conjunction with
Unang Hirit Show presented by
MIGA and Kwela at Saya.
At right, participants take to the
stage in one of the highlights of the
program.
Passi City Iloilo Association is
headed by Wilma Padura.
A home beyond borders, across oceans
Joshua Mayo tries
his best to make the
most out of life on the
move. The young son
of a diplomat presently
calls Sweden home
Elvie Manacmul signs
a Viva recording
contract right
after winning the
competition. Below,
the finalists take a
curtain call.
I
“
Dahil lang may album
ka na hindi naman
ibig sabihin sisikat ka
na, kaya hindi pa rin
ako titigil sa pagiging
domestic helper
ELVIE MANACMUL
On her dream deal with Viva
the Philippines Tonight Show radio
program to put her through to the
finals. According to the organizing
IPVG, over 400,000 votes were cast
using Tawag Pinoy phone cards
for the duration of the search, and
almost 100,000 in the grand finals,
where the votes accounted for 60
per cent of the judging. A panel of
judges accounted for the 40 per cent.
Elvie’s rendition of Lani Misalucha’s
Tunay na Mahal got the most number
of votes as well as the nod of the
judges.
Julie Ann Jereza, who sang Sharon
Cuneta’s Pangarap na Bituin, finished
runner-up while Irene Aquino placed
third with her version of I Don’t
Wanna Miss A Thing.
“Elvie showed the talent to
captivate and entertain an audience,”
said Maliard Paraguya, Artist and
Repertoire Officer of Viva Records
and one of the judges in the finals.
“We look forward to seeing her in
the studio to start production of her
first album.”
Elvie is now excited to cut her
debut album, which Viva plans
to launch in Hong Kong. She still
plans to sign a third contract with
her employers in December but is
keeping her fingers crossed.
“Dahil lang may album ka na
hindi naman ibig sabihin sisikat ka
na, kaya hindi pa rin ako titigil sa
pagiging domestic helper” she said.
“Pero sana ito na ang pinakahihintay
kong pagkakataon sa buhay ko.”
n my life of 14 (and a half) years,
I have been to many countries
and lived in at least three
foreign cities. I have had so many
experiences, some good, and some
bad. When you are the child of a
diplomat, that is what happens.
You move. You move away from
your country, your friends and your
home. But traveling is not all about
loss. Far from it, you gain. You meet
new friends, build a new life and
learn a new culture.
There are ups and downs to living
around the world. I hope to give an
inkling of what these are to a 14-year
year-old boy like me.
When I left the Philippines for the
first time, I was merely a baby of a
few weeks. My very first plane ride
took me to Greece.
Then it was time to go home
with my parents and six years of
memories and a new addition to our
small family.
Now, of course, I was too young
to really remember Greece, or to
really value the time I had there. I
left Greece, not sad but wondering
about the family I had not met or the
country I had never lived in.
When I turned nine, and my family
was moving to another country once
more, I knew that I would leave in
tears.
I can’t begin to tell you how hard
it is. Leaving a life that you have
gotten used to for years. It is like
leaving your mother’s womb. You
come out crying.
However, I do not feel that
leaving is the hardest part. I think
it is changing, adapting to your
new situation. The language is new,
the food different and the people
seemingly unusual.
This process takes a long time, but
in the end, new friends are gained
and this country is made your new
home. It is now familiar; you know
it like the back of your hand (or, if
you prefer, the front). And when it is
finally time to leave again, it’s like
leaving your second home and, in my
case, I was crying. Again.
Joshua takes time out with friends
after the Uniting Water ceremony,
where he plants the Philippine flag
(above and far left). He takes in a
bit of Swedish culture at the Vasa
museum in Stockholm.
“
I can’t begin to tell
you how hard it is.
Leaving a life that you
have gotten used to.
It is like leaving your
mother’s womb. You
come out crying
But there is an upside to living
abroad. Residing in a foreign land is
an experience like no other. Imagine
the number of people in the world
who have not seen places beyond the
borders of their own village. To see
these sights, to learn these languages,
it is a wonderful gift.
What I miss most though is my
family. I just miss that warm feeling
of having my grandparents, titos,
titas and cousins close to me.
Soon, I will be going home
yet again. As much as I miss the
Philippines, which I’ve known for
five years, I have mixed feelings
about leaving Sweden, my second
home for the past four years. The
most important lesson I’ve learned is
not to forget that I am a Filipino. If
you lose your identity, forget where
you are from, then you become a
foreigner in the one place you truly
belong.
20
feature
filipino globe
February 2007
He says ... she says, and yes, we all agree
Talking shop, having
space and sleeping
with the enemy
Rhodora Espinosa Kahny
M
y first summer of residence
in the US was intense, the
way vivid colors show
sharply on a black background.
Photos of prisoner torture from
Abu Ghraib were coming to light.
As I sat in my parents-in-law’s
living room and talk swirled about
the horror of the stark pictures, I
couldn’t help thinking about all the
other atrocities Americans had done
in my own country, many of them
still undisclosed and undocumented,
unknown to the American general
public.
I thought it was particularly ironic
that a Filipino-American general,
whose father survived Japanese
atrocities in the Bataan Death
March, investigated and compiled
the report on Abu Ghraib. Less than
two months later, Ronald Reagan
died and the whole country was in
mourning for and in celebration of
the Great Communicator who led
and turns, we stumble onto the light.
For example, he’s quietly Lutheran
and I’m a rebellious Catholic. Often,
we go to his church where I seem
to be among the token minority
in a predominantly Caucasian
community.
Sometimes, when I miss the chaos
of home, we go to the Catholic
church where babies scream and
toddlers run around and the parish
priest has a strong Visayan accent
that mangles his vowels, but
probably endears him to one and all.
Jim doesn’t like fish or anything
smelling like it. I miss it and on the
days when I get home early from
work, I break out the tuna and open
the windows wide so when he gets
home, he can concentrate on his
meat and potatoes.
We have a standing agreement.
When we’re around his family, I
agree with whatever he decides.
When we’re around mine, he agrees
with whatever I decide. When we’re
in our own turf, it’s a level playing
Jim and Rhodora Kahny (center) with fellow academics during their
stint in Japan. The couple are now based in Lodi County, California.
the country to the end the Cold War.
Again, my thoughts led me back to
the Philippines and the Reagans’
allies, the Marcoses. I won’t even
go into the emotions that roiled in
me then.
Meanwhile, my husband, Jim, and
I, spoiled from living in courteous,
customer-service-oriented Japan,
were being driven around by a big,
blustery real estate agent who was
more interested in getting us to
quickly pick a house so he could get
back to watching the Sacramento
Kings play, than helping us look for
our overpriced dream house. In the
end, we settled for a 15-year-old
bungalow that was way beyond our
original budget and way smaller
than what we had expected.
And so, here we are, navigating
through the maze of multiracial
coupling in California.
Some days, after several twists
field. Let the games begin!
There are still moments when I
catch our images in mirrors and I
wonder how a dark runt like me
ended up with a pale rod like him.
Then, I remember what brought
us together. I’d love to say it was
unadulterated lust, but it was
teaching English that started it all.
From that boring beginning, we
learned about more bland stuff
about each other and more quirky
stuff, and thought, hey, we could
actually stay together and carve out
a life together – diverse, but not
entirely different; in tune, invoking
harmonizing voices.
Sometimes, we fall apart and rant
and rave about it.
More often than not, we seem to
make good progress and shuffle
along. I hate to repeat the cliche, but
skin color and cultures aside, it’s all
about getting along.
We asked three couples in mixed marriages how they met, what
they remember most about that meeting, and what makes their
relationship work.
More than we imagined, we got a candid, personal portrait
from each one, a treasure chest of heartwarming, sometimes
amusing anecdotes that prove once and for all that cultural
differences aside, love unites us.
Here, Mike and Levinia Raath, Jim and Rhodora Kahny and
Andrew Stephen and Valerie Badilla give us a glimpse into some
of the most memorable moments of their lives.
Mike is a senior sub-editor on the South China Morning Post
in Hong Kong, while Levinia used to work at the defunct Hong
Kong Press Club.
Jim and Rhodora are both academics based in the United
States.
Andrew Stephen is the general manager of United Airlines
in Hong Kong while Valerie is an executive at a travel services
company.
This is it, in their own words.
BRAD CAMPOS
How do I know it was love? There are many answers to that
Andrew Stephen
V
alerie and I met in January 2005,
at a function in Hong Kong. We
spoke only for a few minutes, and
although we exchanged phone numbers
that night, we didn’t meet again for a few
days.
Valerie played hard to get, and I then
had to go to Chicago on a business trip. I
phoned her on the night of her birthday,
although I didn’t know it was her birthday
at that time.
We agreed to meet again in Hong Kong,
and then, after Valerie had returned to
Manila, we met there.
The first few months were both exciting
and difficult for us both, as we both
learned about each other, learned to live
with each other, and learned to love each
other.
We come from different cultures,
different societies, and much of what we
knew and took for granted, was strange
and new to the other.
It is very interesting and challenging
to find out from another person you can
trust and who trusts you, that some of
what you have learned – the conditioning
that your culture imposes on you – can be
examined, modified and changed.
So on top of the usual finding out about
each other, the usual falling in love,
we had to cope with some fundamental
changes in outlook and perception. But
it was hugely educational for us both. I
remember the first time Valerie came with
me to Scotland to visit my mother.
There were so many aspects to my
home country. Its people, its practices,
that I took as normal. And to see them
through the eyes of a newcomer, who
looked at them so inquisitively, was a new
experience for me too.
And I felt similarly about the
Philippines. I had lived in Manila for a
few months in 2001 – we often wonder
if we saw each other in the street or
in a mall then – but to experience the
Philippines with Valerie made it seem as
if it was the first time for me.
Which brings me to the question, ‘How
did I know that this was love?’”
There are of course many answers
to this. First of all, Valerie is the most
beautiful person, inside and out, that I
have ever seen. But also for me there
were, and still are, so many moments and
occasions with Valerie that feel as if I’m
experiencing them for the first time.
Some of them are literally for the first
time – I remember that after a year or
so we had our first big argument, and I
traveled to manila on a Friday night to
try and put things right. I got a taxi to
Valerie’s house, and we talked and talked,
without really getting anywhere. It was
frustrating, difficult and frightening for us
both, and at one point I felt I had to go for
a walk. Valerie came to the door with me,
not really knowing what would happen
next.
As I went to leave, the heavens opened
and it poured with rain, as it does only in
the Philippines. We looked at each other
and I asked Valerie to walk with me.
She did, and within seconds we were
soaked through, but we walked and
walked, without saying anything. I’m sure
we were both crying with the emotion
of the whole evening, although our faces
were so wet from the rain that neither of
us could tell.
By the time we returned home, our
argument had long gone.
That was my first, deliberate walk in
the rain.
Even today, most of our
misunderstandings come from cultural
and social differences.
Valerie’s Filipino culture teaches her
to be spontaneous, and to live for the
moment. My Scottish culture teaches me
to be measured, and to plan for the future.
Perhaps the best approach lies somewhere
in the middle.
What’s the recipe for success in our
marriage? Understanding, love, caring,
sharing, and most of all trust.
It’s like winning the
lottery of life. Every
man has dreams and
mine are coming true
Mike Raath
T
he question will arise at the
oddest time. “Darling. Who’s
the luckiest man you know
and why am I?” Levinia’s answer
comes straight back: “Because
you’re married to me, of course.”
I had to teach her the answer but
she now has the hang of the script.
That’s the way it’s been since
June 30, 2000. I’d known her for a
decade before that but on a platonic
basis. She’d been working part-time,
making sure the cockroaches didn’t
take over the bachelor flat and that
I had enough clean, ironed shirts to
look half respectable for the office.
Over the years she’d told me
like that at times. Soon after setting
up a home came hurdle number one
– money. She took one look at my
budgeting and declared my finances
to be a mess.
Of course they were. Every
journalist I know lives on the edge of
penury. My question was: “Can you
do better?” Levinia said of course
she could so I put her in charge and
haven’t looked back.
Checkbooks balanced, credit cards
were paid off and there’s always
enough in my wallet to meet any
need.
Next hurdle, the families. As it
turned out, mine came first. The
trip to Australia was nervous. The
important thing was Levinia was
Mike and Levinia relax with their extended family on their small island in
Caliraya Lake. The couple look forward to Mike’s retirement next year.
Andrew and Valerie only have eyes for each other (above). On a cruise, the couple make the most out of their time together.
I’m lucky, I met the love of my life
Valerie Badilla
It was not a “kilig” moment, and yet,
there was something poignant in that
time, just after midnight of, January
28, when I met Andrew.
He had the unmistakable reserve
and the quite dignity of a gentleman.
Oh! Those damn Harlequin books!
“ How old are you?” He rudely
asked.
“ Im 32,” I answered. Shocked.
Amused. Disappointed.
We were still able to exchange
contact details as is customary in
Hong Kong party scene. Frankly, I
did not expect to see him again when
I went back to Manila.
But I was pleasantly surprised
when he phoned me one day to say
he is in town. The rest is history.
Falling in love was both wonderful
and at times difficult. Excruciatingly
beautiful.
We were so fortunate to have
friends and families to help us
through the bad times.
I learned to love his pasta in
tomato sauce and he valiantly cooked
“cornsilog” for me when we were in
Scotland.
By his bedside is his favourite
– Culture Shock: Philippines book.
I love listening to his stories. I try
to capture in my mind the sounds,
the tastes, the smells of his foreign
childhood. At times, it was rough but
we fought for our love.
I have seen a lot in life, been
through so much. I have cried for
dear lost loves. I have never felt
a love as beautiful as I have for
Andrew.
They say people go trough their
lives without meeting the right
one for them. I am fortunate. I met
Andrew, the love of my life.
about her two kids growing in
The Philippines and later the
grandchildren, all of whom I’d never
dreamed I’d meet.
What was obvious was that she
was a woman of integrity, well above
my standing in terms of integrity and
virtue.
In the interests of her family she
would have worked eight days a
week to meet their needs if God had
allowed that many days in a sevenday week.
It was a bolt from the blue about
seven years ago. “God I love this
woman,” I said to myself. She was
flabbergasted when I put my arms
around her. We’d become good
friends over the years but at arms’
length.
Getting married was not an
option but mandatory despite her
reservations. I wanted her to be my
bride and that was it.
Levinia wasn’t quite dragged
kicking and screaming to the registry
office in Hong Kong but it seemed
my bride. She wasn’t marrying the
family and if they didn’t like her,
they had a problem not us. Of course
they adored her.
The first visit to The Philippines
was made with similar trepidation.
Again it was with the same attitude.
“I’m not married to the family.
You’re my number one.”
I was knocked out by the welcome
and now have what I’ve wanted since
a child – an extended family with
more relatives than I could point a
stick at.
That’s been the real bonus. Apart
from winning the lottery of life with
the best wife in the world, there
was a flock of the most beautiful
grandchildren you have ever seen.
Yes, money does come into it.
But we’ve made it clear that the
grandchildren are the priority.
They’re growing up fast, I retire
next year and I’m looking forward
to seeing their grandchildren. Every
man has dreams. Mine are coming
true.
21
filipino globe
22 February 2007
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filipino globe
the OFW newspaper
home, health & beauty, stars & sports
filipino globe
life
February 2007
23
Water, water everywhere, but not a drop until you pay, but why?
Q
We all know the benefits of
clean drinking water. But
why are we paying so much for
it? What’s the big idea about
bottled water?
Francia Bonoan
Hong Kong
A
For a natural resource that
most of us have access to for
minimal cost, water is doing pretty
well as a profit center for many
people.
The bottled version of the stuff
is currently a US$8 billion industry
in the United States alone, with
Americans drinking about seven
billion gallons of it in 2005.
DIYBOB
do it yourself
ROBERT
LUNARIA
That’s compared to hundreds
of billions of gallons of tap water,
but for a product that can cost
up to 10,000 times more than its
municipal counterpart, it’s still an
impressive marketshare.
In the Philippines, so-called
water stations were the rage
several years ago until suppliers
started delivering directly to
homes. So what’s the appeal?
The three most common
reasons given by bottled-water
drinkers are healthiness, purity
and taste.
The pretty pictures and
superlative language on the labels
of bottled water can sometimes be
misleading.
One famous example is the
now defunct Alasika Water, which
stated on the label, “Alaska
Premium Glacier Drinking Water:
Pure Glacier Water From the Last
Unpolluted Frontier,” and came
from one of the municipal water
supplies in Juneau.
The currently available Glacier
Clear Water comes from a source
in Greeneville, Tennessee. But
if you look past the names and
descriptions and go straight to the
water type, the label will more or
less tell you what’s in the bottle.
“Spring water” and “artesian
water” are examples of bottledwater types. Evian is “mineral
water,” and Perrier is “sparkling
mineral water.” Both are widely
available in the Philippines.
Eldorado Springs is “artesian
spring water.” These labels
primarily indicate two things
about the water in the bottle: its
source and any treatment it has
undergone.
Aquafina and Dasani, the two
top-selling brands in the United
States, are “purified drinking
water.”
Other popular brands, including
Poland Spring and Arrowhead,
are “spring water.”
So there.
Send your questions or comments to
[email protected]
Don’t let those
leaks take over
your home –
and your life
Plugging a hole is easy enough, but a little
technique goes a long way in dealing with the
annoying situation, writes Gerald Tobias
M
ost plumbing problems
occur at or near such
fixtures as sinks, tubs, and
toilets. Sometimes, however, the
pipes themselves are the root of the
problem. Pipes can be temperamental
– they can leak, sweat, freeze, or
make loud noises.
Whether it’s all sorts of strange
noises or annoying leaks, there are
many reasons why pipes may be
posing problems.
“There are all kinds of plumbing
leaks. Some can flood your home,
while others are not nearly so
damaging,” says home designer
Rhoda Alcuaz.
Your approach to stopping a leak
depends on the type of leak it is. If
the leak is at a joint, tighten the joint.
If the leak is in a pipe, remove the
section that is leaking and replace it
with a new section.
Unfortunately, this is more easily
said than done.
For example, when you turn a
threaded galvanized steel pipe to
unscrew it from its fitting at one end,
you tighten the pipe into its fitting at
the other end.
With copper pipe, the new section
must be sweat-soldered in place.
Most pipe replacement jobs are best
left to a plumber, but, as a do-ityourselfer, you may consider an
“
There are all kinds
of plumbing leaks.
Some can flood your
home, while others
are not nearly so
damaging
RHODA ALCUAZ
Home designer
alternative: the pipe patch.
You’ll find patch kits for plumbing
leaks at the hardware store, or you
can make your own with a piece of
heavy rubber from an old inner tube
and a C-clamp.
Another possibility is to use a hose
clamp with a rubber patch.
Factory-made kits contain a rubber
pad that goes over the hole in the
pipe and metal plates that compress
the rubber pad over the hole.
A quick and easy way to stop a
leak, the patch kit can even be used
on a permanent basis if the pipe is
otherwise sound.
There are several ways to stop a
leak in a pipe. For a temporary patch
use a piece of heavy rubber and
hose clamps or a rubber pad and two
plates that bolt together.
Other quick and easy temporary
measures for stopping pipe leaks
include wrapping waterproof tape
over the bad spot or rubbing the hole
with a stick of special compound.
Applying epoxy paste or inserting
a self-tapping plug into the hole
are other alternatives. When using
waterproof tape, be sure to dry the
pipe thoroughly before you start
wrapping.
Start the tape about two to three
inches from the hole and extend it
the same distance beyond. For tiny
leaks in pipes, use a compound stick
available at most hardware stores.
Simply rub the stick over the hole to
stop the leak. The compound stick
can even stop small leaks while the
water is still running in the pipe.
It’s a perfect
world in your
bathroom and
kitchen until
they spring
a leak. A few
simple solutions
are available,
but where
professional
intervention is
called for, it’s
best to leave it
to the plumber.
24
your health
filipino globe
February 2007
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February
February
2007 2007 25
Early detection can help
conquer cervical cancer
This month, we have called upon a
gynecologist to give us an idea about
cervical cancer, the leading killer
among malignancies afflicting the
female reproductive system in our
country.
Dr Ernesto Lactaoen of the
Mandaluyong City Medical Center
writes in response to Imelda
Hubalde, a 35-year-old domestic
helper working in Qatar, who wants
to know how it can be detected early.
Dr Lactaoen writes:
The most common procedure for
detecting precancerous lesions in
the cervix is called Pap’s smear. It
is simple, economical and efficient.
However, there is an ideal age for
undergoing the procedure if it is to be
a meaningful one.
Women above 40 should have
it every six months. Those of
reproductive age until 40 should
undergo the procedure once a year,
and women with multiple sex
partners and those in early pregnancy
every six months.
Pap’s smear has been a success
in developed countries, which
explains why cervical cancer is now
uncommon in the United States,
Canada and western Europe.
In less developed countries such
as the Philippines, it is the most
common type of gynecological
cancer and the number one killer
among malignant tumors of the
reproductive system.
The increasing incidence of the
condition is alarming. Many women
die without the benefit of medical
intervention because of poverty,
ignorance or lack of medical
facilities.
Although the actual figure is not
known, a hospital in Metro Manila,
which serves residents of San Juan
and its neighboring towns and cities,
HEALTHTALK
what the doctor says
Dr Jun
Amigo
recently reported that the condition
strikes 20 per 100,000 women and
the number is increasing.
The exact cause of the disease
is also not known, but there is
overwhelming evidence that the
human papilloma virus (HPV) is the
main risk factor.
The mere presence of HPV
infection increases the risk fortyfold.
Adding to the risk are early marriage,
multiple sex and sexual activity at a
very young age.
The disease manifests in 70 per
cent of sufferers through abnormal
bleeding not related to menstruation.
If it occurs in post-menopause,
cancer is highly suspected. Others
symptoms are whitish or pinkish
discharge with fishy odor, and pain in
the urinary bladder.
Many women visit the clinic for
consultation at a very advanced stage
of the disease.
With a simple and affordable
procedure such as Pap’s smear
widely available in clinics and
hospitals, they can go for early
detection at the suggested time.
This should greatly reduce the risk
developing the condition and buy
them piece of mind.
If you are experiencing symptoms
similar to the once I described earlier
and you are not sure what is causing
it, it’s best to consult your doctor. As
they say, an ounce of prevention ...
Cancer Month at the Mandaluyong Medical Center offers free medical
consultation and services. From left are Dr Cuesta, Dr Jun Amigo,
Mandaluyong City first lady Queenie Gonzales, Dr Yap and Dr Ernesto
Lactaoen.
[email protected]
If you have questions about health, send them to us and we
will try our best to answer them with expert opinion. With
Dr Jun Amigo, chief surgical resident at the Mandaluyong
Medical Center, as moderator, this forum will feature
specialists on the chosen topic. Please note that this is not
intended as a medical consultation and readers are strongly
advised to see their doctor for proper advice. To contact
us, please visit our website www.filglobe.com and click on
“[email protected]” to send your queries.
Among those at the forefront of the push for generic drugs are military hospitals. But a wider implementation
of the practice by clinics and other health outlets should help bring down the cost of basic medicines.
Affordable medicine
still a distant dream
Statistics point to a troubling situation as high prices
deprive more people of even the most basic drugs
A
n alarming 80 per cent of
Filipinos die without access
to medicine, 40 per cent have
not seen a doctor in their life and less
than 30 per cent have access to basic
drugs.
Those who do find the cost far
beyond their means.
“If there was a Guinness Book of
World Records category for it, the
Philippines would have the dubious
distinction of being the country with
the most expensive medications,”
Roberto Pagdanganan, chairman of
the Philippine International Trading
Corp told The Manila Times.
He said records of the past three
decades showed that pharmaceutical
firms catered only to the richest 10
per cent of the population.
“As for the 90 per cent who can’t
afford [to buy medicines], bahala na
sila,” he added.
Pagdanganan said the average price
of medicine in the country is 40 per
cent to 70 per cent higher than in
other Southeast Asian countries.
Multinational firms control
more than 70 per cent of the local
pharmaceutical market.
He said poor people who could
be saved by generic drugs are
disadvantaged by “a campaign of
disinformation.”
“People feel that ‘cheap’ generic
medication is not going to do them
any good so either they buy the
expensive stuff or don’t bother to
take medication at all,” Pagdanganan
said.
Pagdanganan, whose agency
“
People feel that
‘cheap’ generic
medication is not
going to do
them any good ...
ROBERTO PAGDANGANAN
PITC chairman on generic drugs
imports generic drugs, said it is not
poor quality that makes generic
medication cheap, but the add-on
costs like marketing.
He said his agency, the Department
of Health and the Bureau of Food
and Drugs, are at the forefront of
the government’s thrust to provide
Filipinos with affordable medicine.
“In order to do that, we need to
be able to provide them with more
products and more venues or stores,
as well as an educational campaign
that corrects their wrong assumption
about ‘cheap’ medication,” he said.
President Arroyo’s administration
launched the Botika ng Bayan
program in December 2004.
The country has about 1,200
Botika ng Bayan. These are owned
by individuals.
Under the program, the PITC
provides 76 imported drugs covering
ten therapeutic categories.
It also accredited 57 local suppliers
and manufacturers of essential
branded and generic medicines,
which provide the Botika ng Bayan
with medication.
In order to invest in a Botika ng
Bayan, the investor must have space
of at least 50 square meters, P50,000
in initial capital and a licensed
pharmacist in the staff.
“The presence of a pharmacist is
an extremely important part of the
Botika ng Bayan,” Pagdanganan
said.
“Not only does it assure that
customers get affordable medication
but that they also get the correct
medication.”
Pagdanganan said the success of
the Botika ng Bayan program shows
that more people are willing to buy
generic medicine; that they are aware
the medicine does not have to be
expensive and is a basic right for
everyone, not just the rich.
Dr Steve Warren is board
certified in family medicine
as well as hospice and
Dr
Steve Warren
is board
palliative
medicine
certified in family medicine
as well as hospice and
palliative medicine
Today’s toxic environment coupled with the high-fat,
high-sugar diets that are so common among most
people combine to make it very difficult to achieve
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Overall
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with
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that contains
two important
ingredients:
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and the acaiprofile.
berry. Surprisingly, the answer many
people are looking for can be found in a juice blend
that
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ingredients:
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Americans
to think
of chocolate
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Americans
tend tofor
think
of chocolate
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its nourishing
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sweet
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peoples
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time.
Today, health
conscious
consumers
chocolate was revered for its nourishing qualities
and ability to provide energy and stamina for long
periods of time. Today, health conscious consumers
are learning that dark chocolate possesses some
impressive health properties that are increasingly
supported by science. Believe it or not, chocolate
are
that dark
chocolate possesses some
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be very good
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impressive health properties that are increasingly
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blueberries,itchilli
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in combination with antioxidant-rich, immuneagave.
boosting superfood complements like red grapes,
blueberries,
chilli
prunes,
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The acai fruit
has peppers,
a long history
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agave.
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the size of a small grape. It grows on palm trees
common to the Amazon
www.xocaipinoy.com;
email
[email protected];
www.xocaipinoy.com; email
[email protected];
mobilemobile
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5390486;
Corp Philippines pick-up and training center: (632) 637 5279; fax (632) 634 7909
26
lakbayan
filipino globe
February 2007
Riding the waves in surfing paradise
Tess Mauricio looks at the wild and exciting
phenomenon of surfing and what makes our
country so attractive to its practitioners
W
hen one thinks of surfing,
the wild and exciting
breakwater scenes of
Hawaii, Australia and California
immediately come to mind, not the
pearly shores of the Philippines.
With over 7,000 islands and bordered
by the Pacific Ocean and the South
China Sea on its east and west coasts,
complemented by the monsoon and
typhoon seasons, the archipelago is
surely bound to have surfing spots.
It is not known exactly how
this intense sport started in the
Philippines, but many claim it was
during the filming of Francis Ford
Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. During
a break from the production, some
actors, production crew and extras
were rumored to have reached Baler,
Aurora (then Quezon province), and
enjoyed the activity. The Americans
befriended and taught some of the
locals, left some of the surfboards,
and the rest as they say, is history.
Another account dates back to
the early 1980s, when a mysterious
traveler by the name of “Max
Walker” settled in a small hut along
the coconut-lined shores of Tuason
Point, Catangnan, a quick hop from
the perfect break, the famous Cloud
Nine. The former town mayor still
remembers the strange tourist whom
he gave the moniker “Mad Max”.
In the course of time, it was
found out that he was the legendary
Hawaiian surf traveler Mike Boyum.
While on the lam, he discovered
Grajagan or G-land, a popular surfing
spot off Java, Indonesia. Fans and
friends followed his footsteps later
on to recount his adventures and
their stories and pictures of the
isolated and unspoiled wonders
of Siargao found their way in
international magazines, providing
an unprecedented exposure for the
island.
Nowadays, Siargao Island is
known as the country’s surfing
capital. The unspoiled teardropshaped island in the province of
Surigao del Norte, is a Shangri-la for
adventurers and nature lovers.
The excellent waves draw its size
and strength from the Philippine
deep to the island’s east enhanced
by the strong typhoon winds that hit
the country annually between July
and November. The Philippine deep,
a continental trench, is the second
deepest in the world at about 34,000
feet. Mt Everest can be submerged
there with a few thousand feet more
to spare.
The most popular among the
Siargao breaks is Cloud Nine, a
powerful first-class right-hander that
has brought an annual international
surfing competition to our shores
every September or October.
The quality wave is hollow and
extremely strong that international
surfing magazine, Surf Magazine,
hailed it as one of the world’s
five toughest breaks and has been
frequently compared to the famous
surf of Hawaii and Australia. It is for
the experienced surfers.
Beginners and intermediate surfers
need not despair, however, as there
are numerous breaks within the
immediate vicinity with both foreign
“
I liked the place. The
breaks were mainly
untouched and there
were hardly any
surfers
KAZUO AKINAGA
On the La Union surfing spot
and local sounding names such as the
Jacking Horse, a wave that jacks up
out of the blue and hits the reef with
a fair bit of vengeance.
Quicksilver is good for beginners
to intermediate as it can deliver a
good long ride. Pacifico, a beautiful
barrel – a quality left hander that
rides long and Rock Island, a
right-hander breaks on a rocky reef
wrapping around a small rock island.
It is a fast, hollow and extremely
long ride.
Moreover, there are so many others
yet unnamed or undiscovered. With
some patience, one is bound to find
the perfect surf for the individual’s
taste. It also does not have to be
limited to Siargao either as there
are numerous breaks throughout
the Pacific coast, from the town
of General Luna, Siargao, going
north to Samar in the Visayas, and
Catanduanes and Baler in Luzon.
Southward, Lanuza in Surigao del
Sur has also been making waves
as a surfers’ paradise and lately, as
the birthplace of the export-quality
bamboo surfboard.
At the recently concluded Lanuza
Surfing Festival organized by the
Philippine Surfing Federation, the
Australian and Japanese participants
were impressed with its ride,
construction and inexpensive cost.
According to the district’s
congressman, Representative Butch
Pichay, the product will be massproduced by the Lanuza natives to
generate income for the townsfolk
and bolster tourism.
On the Philippines’ west coast,
Zambales and La Union are the
known wave-dancing spots. While
the former is an up and coming
destination for the sport, La Union
has steadily drawn locals and
tourists due to its range of waves
and accommodation facilities, plus
its proximity to Metro Manila.
The waves here are reputed to
be “glassy,” (smooth) probably a
surfer’s term, coined by a Japanese
resident named Kazuo Akinaga.
“Aki,” his fond nickname among
the locals, said he came to La Union
25 years ago as an amateur and
frequented the same coast for its
natural beauty, the glassy waves
between October and March, friendly
locals and its exclusivity.
“I liked the place. The breaks were
mainly untouched and there were
hardly any surfers.” He eventually
settled there, married a Filipina,
taught the locals and visitors, and
started the now defunct La Union
Surfing Association.
While fanatics see the sport as a
thrill, the government recognizes
it as an engine to boost the local
economy with an influx of tourists
while local aficionados earn extra
income from teaching visitors.
Surfing lessons are said to start at
a mere P350 and that includes the
surfboard already. For adrenaline
junkies and those with a knack for
adventure, surfing pros and beginners
alike, the Philippines is truly a gem
for excitement hunters, particularly
those interested in the physically and
mentally demanding activity. Ready
to get wet?
filipino
filipinoglobe
globe
your
money
celebrity
February
February
2007 2007 27
28
your money
filipino globe
February 2007
Here’s how you do the one-third
principle of money management
When we leave the country to work
overseas, many of us practically start
a new life. Some enter their host
countries with only loose change in
their pockets. They’d look forward
to their first salary to tide them over.
What little is left would later be
added to their first remittance to the
family.
I was no different when I went to
Saudi Arabia for the first time.
Most OFWs work abroad to
improve the plight of their families,
or buy things they have long wanted
but otherwise could not afford
with their Philippine salary. It is
no surprise that returning OFWs
are highly valued customers at
airport duty free shops. They are
prized cash customers for real estate
agents, appliance stores and major
department stores.
Sadly, when the funds run out, it
is time to leave the country again to
earn a living. It’s a vicious cycle.
I almost had the same mindset
when I was overseas. However, I
knew that there is always an end to
the good times. Hence, I decided to
cut my income three ways.
I apportioned the first one-third of
my pay for sending money home.
After all, I was working overseas so
OFWWISE
be your own boss
Herbie
Sancianco
that my kids could go to school and
eat three square meals a day. The
money also paid for the rent, utilities,
occasional treats to the movies and,
sometimes, a nice birthday gift.
The next third of my pay was
budgeted for my personal needs. This
included meals, toiletries, laundry
detergent powder, rent and my
contribution to the utility cost in the
villa I was staying. It also paid for
an occasional for-the-boys night-out
with my co-workers. I wasn’t always
able to consume the amount that I
allocated for this purpose.
My personal savings were added
to the last third of my apportioned
income. I called this my reserve
fund.
This was for the future. It was for
a possible business idea, or for any
your money
filipino globe
processed products and packaging
materials used, inefficient marketing
system and long payback period for
cashew.
They also discussed the agriculture
department’s interventions such as
improving production, processing
and marketing, market promotion
and support services through active
participation of local government
units and extension services linkages
among government agencies and
non-government organizations.
Masbang urged farmers in the
country to plant cashew, because it
has many by-products that could help
farmers generate income.
Cashew trees, according
to Masbang, are suitable for
emergency that might happen to me
or my family. In an earlier article,
I mentioned that I used part of this
reserve fund to buy things to sell
to my friends and relatives in the
Philippines.
I made it grow that way since
putting it in a savings account was
not attractive given that the interest
rate was nominal.
When I went on my first home
vacation, I realised I had a good
amount of money saved. I was
practically worry-free for a good
12 months even if I opted not to
leave again. Luckily, my employer,
Pepsico, had another country
assignment for me, in Vietnam,
which I readily accepted. I thus
continued applying the 1/3 principle
of money management.
The reserve fund became my seed
money to start my company, which
has been operating for the past 12
years.
It also paid for the needs of my
family while I focused by time and
efforts on the new business.
Herbie Sancianco is a professor in
the graduate school for continuing
education, De La Salle College of
St Benilde, Manila
February 2007
reforestation due to its ability to
survive even on poor soils.
Cashew apples can be eaten
fresh when ripe and its pulp is used
and processed into prunes, jams,
atsara, fruit sauce, candies and
meat extender for longganisa and
meatballs. The juice of the apples
can be further processed into wine,
vinegar and jelly.
The cashew nut shell liquid is
used to make paints, resins, varnish,
cold setting cement, anti-corrosion
treatment, brake-lining, clutch
facing, and magneto armature for
airplane.
It can likewise be used as cure for
warts. The leaves and bark, on the
other hand, can cure toothache, sore
FACING OUR
LIFESTORMS
N
Cashew nuts and their by-products are known to have a variety of uses for making fuel, medicine and paint. Of course, it’s one of the Filipinos’ favorite pasalubong.
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filipino globe
the OFW newspaper
Going nuts
over cashew,
our next great
export champ
Farmers are being urged to cultivate
the crop for its investment potential
I
f cashew excites your taste
buds, its potential as an export
commodity will whet your
appetite.
The popular nut crop has emerged
as a future export champion from
the country during an investment
seminar held in Puerto Princesa,
Palawan to flesh out its potential in a
growing world market.
“It is a potential investment
opportunity for agribusiness and
other stakeholders and some
provinces in the country are
emerging to popularise cashew
production,” said Roberto Masbang,
acting regional director of the
Department of Agriculture.
He said cashew production
could generate income and create
employment amid growing demand
in the world market for the crop and
its by-products.
Masbang said raw nuts are supplied
by Vietnam, India and Brazil whereas
processed nuts come from the US,
Vietnam and Australia.
Total worldwide demand for
cashew kernel annually is 200,000
metric tons, he said.
In Mimaropa, 24,345 hectares with
106,256 metric tons production,
or 99.90 per cent, can be found in
Palawan while Occidental Mindoro
has 47 hectares with 97 metric tons
production or 0.10 per cent.
Provincial agriculturist Dr Nelson
Salvador said that a total of 210,993
hectares are underdeveloped and are
potential cashew plantation.
Masbang said the government’s
policy is to expand a campaign
to increase cashew production
and improve the productivity and
profitability of cashew farmers.
The officials tried to find a
solution to the problems that are
being encountered by farmers in the
propagation of cashew.
These are lack of quality planting
materials, absence of reliable
data on the production such as
area planted and number of trees,
seasonality of cashew, pests and
diseases, particularly termites
and antharacnose, low quality of
oong taong 2006 maraming bagyo ang
hinarap ng ating bansang Pilipinas, mga
bagyong nanalanta sa marami sa ating
kababayan.
Ang salitang bagyo ay ginagamit din natin
sa pagtukoy sa problema / krisis o pagsubok.
Ika nga, “Hay, kakatapos ko lang dumaan sa
bagyo!”
Madalas ay kinatatakutan natin ang bagyo o
storms. But there are three things we need to
know regarding storms.
1. Storms are inevitable. Parte ng buhay
ang storms or bagyo. Storms are part of life.
Maging ang bagyo ng buhay. Ang problema,
krisis or pagsubok ay parte ng buhay. In
this life, you will have difficulties. Dadaan at
dadaan ang bagyo. Hindi ito maiiwasan.
Storms are inevitable. Kaya’t dapat
maging handa. When you know that
something is coming, you prepare for it.
Tingnan mo ang probinsya ng Batanes.
Typhoons regularly sweep through its
islands. At dahil alam ng tao na madalas
ang bagyo doon, they have adapted to it.
Dapat ay ganyan din tayo sa buhay. Iyan ang
kagandahan ng pag-remit sa sarili ng regular.
While we take care of the current concerns,
we prepare for the future. We prepare for
uncertainties. Prioritize your savings. Paulit-ulit
na sinasabi ito dahil ito ang pinakamadaling
isantabi o balewalain.
May I also suggest that as early as now,
i-refer na ang inyong mga beneficiaries
mag-open ng BPInoy account. Ito ang
pinakamabilis na paraan ng pagreremit.
Within seconds ay matatanggap na nila ang
iyong remittance. At dahil BPInoy account ito,
maari ring tumubo ang perang pinadala mo.
2. STORMS come in different intensity.
May bagyong mahina, may bagyong malakas.
Iba-iba po. May signal No. 1, may signal No.
2, meron ngang Signal No. 8. Merong malakas
ang hangin pero wala masyadong ulan; meron
naman malakas ulan ngunit mahina hangin.
Meron naman parehas na malakas.
Even lifestorms come in all shapes and
sizes. Iba-iba ang bagyong dumadaan sa ating
buhay. May mga maliliit at merong major.
Storms come in different intensities. Kaya’t
dapat maging matibay. Sa gitna ng bagyo
makikita ang ating katatagan – kung gaano
tayo katibay.
Pagdating sa pampinansiyal na bagyo, dito
natin ma-aapreciate ang budgeting – ang
tamang paghawak ng ating pananalapi.
Katulad ng palagi nating sinasabi, income less
savings at ang matira ang iyong panggastos.
Ganyan ang tamang budgeting.
It takes a strong character to keep on in
the midst of difficulties. It takes a strong
and steadfast character not to deviate from
our goals kahit may bagyo sa buhay. Mag
sakripisyo kahit mahirap; ang pagtitiis sa
pagbili ng hindi kailangan; ang pagsakripisyo
29
throat and gums, burns, diarrhea,
dysentery and hemorrhoids.
The cashew shell is a good source
of fuel.
Favorite cashew delicacies the
market has come to enjoy are
pulboron, barquillos, brittle, fruit
cake, tarts and pastillas de kasoy.
Businessmen selling cashew-based
products said fried and roasted
cashew nuts and other products
made of cashew are still the favorite
“pasalubong” items for visitors to
their friends and families.
So if Davao is known for its durian
fruit, Guimaras for its sweet mango
and Camiguin for its lansones,
Palawan is proud to offer its cashew
nuts.
Kye Diamante
para sa mas mahalagang bagay; ang
pagpatuloy mag-remit sa sariling BPInoy
account kahit mahirap.
3. STORMS are purposeful. Kung minsan
ang mga bagyo serves as a wake-up call.
Example, matagal nang sinasabi na
delikado ang billboards along Edsa sa
Maynila. Maraming ayaw makinig hanggang
sa dumating ang bagyong si Milenyo.
Napakaraming nasaktan dahilan sa billboards
na nagsilaglagan dahil sa lakas ng bagyo. It
took a storm and several casualties for us to
realize that billboards are indeed dangerous.
It’s the same with life storms. LIFESTORMS
SERVE AS A WAKE-UP CALL.
STORMS are purposeful. Kaya’t dapat
maging matalino. Kung minsan kailangan
natin dumaan sa bagyo upang matuto. Kapag
lubog ka na sa utang, doon mo lang maiisip
kung saan ka nagkamali sa paghawak ng
iyong pananalapi. It is only then that we realize
and appreciate how prudent our choice was.
“Sana pala hindi ko muna binili yung blouse na
iyon. Hindi ko naman kailangan. Sana pala
nakapag-ipon na ako noon”... and so on and
so forth ...
Ang krisis na ating pinagdadaanan serves to
teach us a lesson. We must learn from it.
As a reminder, malaking pribelehiyo na
po para sa ating mga Expat Pinoy ang
mabigyang ng oportunidad na kumita ng mas
malaki kaysa kung tayo ay nasa Pinas. Huwag
sayangin.
We have to be steadfast. Hindi natitinag sa
ating lakbayin. Patuloy lang bilang mga Expat
Pinoy. Patuloy sa tamang Gawain. Ngayong
taong 2007, asahan na dadaan ng bagyo.
Life storms are inevitable. Life storms come
in different intensity and Life storms are
purposeful.
So when storms hit you ... maging handa.
maging matibay. maging matalino.
Be steadfast. BPInoy
Ang “Be the new Pinoy, BPInoy!” series ay handog ng
BPI Remittance Centre. Ito ay mapapakinggan sa AM
1044 MetroPlus at mababasa sa Filipino Globe, Hong
Kong News at Kayumanggi Magazine. BPI contact
number 2527 2289.
30
celebrity
filipino globe
February 2007
Love – and politics – are in the air
Break out the champagne and raise a Valentine toast, then hitch your political wagon to the stars, writes Danny Vibas
P
inoy showbiz has two
preoccupations this month:
Valentine shows and politics
– for the good (or bad) of the
country.
There are, of course, preValentine right on Valentine, and
post-Valentine shows. We, Pinoys,
after all are a romantic lot. We’ll do
anything and everything for love.
And so we think. And so promise the
politicians and would-be politicians.
After all, the local elections are just a
few months away.
The Valentine concert season
began with Piolo Pascual’s and Sam
Milbys (yes, they teamed up in one
concert) Heartthrobs at the Music
Museum in Greenhills, San Juan
on February 2 and 3 and with Ara
Mina’s solo show at the Araneta
Coliseum in Cubao, on February 3
titled Loving Ara at 15.
It was meant to celebrate the
actress-singer’s 15 years in showbiz.
In Cebu Cit, specifically at the
Cebu Coliseum, an assortment
of young singers known as
Headmasters Honor List of Six had
a group show on February 2. The six
upcoming talents. three girls and
three boys, are actually the grand
finalists in ABS-CBN 2s reality show
Pinoy Dream Academy.
They are on a nationwide concert
tour this entire month aimed partly
to promote the four albums they
recorded as contestants-scholars
in the reality show held in the last
quarter of 2006.
One of them, Yeng Constantino,
who emerged as grand champion and
bestowed the title First Grand Star
Dreamer, already has a solo album,
Salamat.
Next month, and after the
Philippines, the six will go on a
concert tour in the US and in the
Middle East. They will perform
mostly for the subscribers to
ABS-CBN 2’s global TV network
popularly known as TFC or The
Filipino Channel.
The other members of the
Headmasters Honors List of Six
are Irish Fullerton, Ronnie Liang,
Chad Peralta, Jay Siaboc, and Panky
Trinidad.
Other showbiz idols with concerts
in the love month are Sharon Cuneta,
Pops Fernandez with APO Hiking
Society and Jay-R, Kuh Ledesma,
Vina Morales, Lovi Poe, sweethearts
Rachel Ann Go and Christian
Bautista, Rufa Mae Quinto and Erik
Santos.
Pops and the APO trio of Danny
Javier, Jim Paredes, and Boboy
Garovillo were guests of Sharon in
her February 10 concert at the Big
Dome. And then on the 13th, all four
Kuh Ledesma and the Apo Hiking Society (above)
were among those who spiced up the love month with
concerts. Heating up the political front were Richard
Gomez (right), Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla
(bottom), among others.
of them had a concert of their own,
along with local R & B Prince Jay-R,
at the Makati Shangri-la Hotels Rizal
Grand Ballroon.
On the other hand, Erik Santos,
along with Rey Valera, was one
of the guests performers in Kuh’s
Valentine show at the Mandarin hotel
in Makati on February 13-14.
Showbiz idols do appreciate the
politics of cooperation, of give and
take, among themselves.
In the name of love and friendship
and ticket sales, they guest in each
others shows.
Then there are showbiz idols
who have practically mastered the
intricacies of hardcore politics. The
politics that affect the future of the
country, the economics of the people,
their employment, even their health
benefits from their employers.
The Arroyo camp is reportedly
wooing Cesar Montano and Edu
Manzano. It did not have to sweettalk
Tito Sotto and Richard Gomez to
join them as they invited themselves
to the administration unity party.
Richard once ran as a partylister
for a congressional
seat but his votes as
Mamayang Ayaw
sa Droga (MAD)
representative were
nullified due to
protests that MAD
was not an NGO but
a government-funded
group established during the shortlived presidency of Joseph Erap
Estrada.
Last year, Richard became highly
visible in Bulacan, sparking talk
that he was considering running for
the governorship of that province.
Talk about him dreaming to become
Bulacan governor stopped only
after he made it known that he had
become more interested in joining
the ranks of actor-senators Bong
Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada, and Lito
Lapid, whose latest political ambition
is to become mayor of Makati.
Richard found a way to meet
with the deposed Erap in one of
the latter’s furloughs and everyone
thought that the actor-TV host (of
GMA 7’s showbiz news magazine
show S-Files)
was given
a slot in the
opposition’s
senatorial
line-up by the
imprisoned expresident who is
still deferred to
as an opposition
leader.
It later came
to surface that
Richard knew
all along that
the opposition had no use for an actor
and he met with Erap to seek his
blessing to run for the Senate outside
the coalition opposition party.
It soon became known that the
husband of ABC 5 dance show host
Lucy Torres was willing to join the
administration’s senatorial bets.
The latest report is that Edu
Manzano isn’t looking forward to
be a national legislator and he is
happy enough as chairman of the
piracy-curbing Optical Media Board.
Cesar Montano reportedly is more
interested in the governorship of his
native Bohol than writing laws for
the nation.
Edu’s ex-wife Vilma Santos,
Senator Ralph Recto’s wife for
almost a decade now, might go
for the chief executive position
of Batangas if her brother-in-law
Ricky Recto doesn’t go for it. Ricky
is the acting governor, following
the suspension of Governor Arman
Sanchez. As for The Star for All
Seasons, she is on her third last term
as mayor of Lipa City.
Alma Moreno has decided to run
for councilor in Parañaque. In the
last elections, she ran for mayor and
lost. So did her ex-husband Joey
Marquez who sought a congressional
seat against Roilo Golez.
Ex-actress Nadia Montenegro
is running for congresswoman in
Caloocan. She has been the extralegal wife for years now of Boy
Asistio ,who wants to become mayor
of Caloocan by next year.
The Asistios were once political
kingpins of that city action star Rey
Malonzo came along and lorded
it over there for multiple terms as
mayor.
The city of Manila has two exshowbiz idols who want to become
vice mayor: Cita Astals and Ishko
Moreno who are both in their last
terms as councilors in separate
districts.
One of their rivals is the movie
star-handsome Don Bagatsing who
comes from the political Bagatsing
clan that ruled tne city in the ‘80s.
Don is a first cousin of the now USbased multi-awarded actor Raymond
Bagatsing.
Meanwhile, there’s no news
yet about the political plans of
incumbent Quezon City vice-mayor
Herbert Bautista and councilor Aiko
Melendez as well as incumbent
Antipolo councilor Jestoni Alarcon.
politics.
Sharon doesn’t care to revive the
Cuneta political reign in Pasay or
anywhere in the country. But she
has vowed to campaign vigorously
for husband Francis Pangilinan and
uncle Tito Sotto in their senatorial
bid even if they end up running on
opposing tickets.
celebrity
filipino globe
January 2007
31
Richard, Angel sa batang romansang lalong pinatamis
Danny Vibas in Manila
Turning-point movie ang tawag nina
Angel Locsin at Richard Gutierrez
sa kanilang The Promise na
nagsimulang itanghal noong Pebrero
14 sa mga sinehan sa Metro Manila.
Turning point dahil, ayon mismo
sa kanilang dalawa, grown-up
adults na ang roles nila sa pelikula.
At kaya lang naman nila tinatawag
na adult ang mga papel nila ay dahil
lang may lips to lips kissing and bed
scenes sila for the first time in their
acting career.
Dati na rin naman silang
gumagnap na magkasintahan pero
hindi sila naghahalikan sa bibig at
nagtatalik.
Ayon naman sa ilang matataray
na showbiz reporters, turning point
ang The Promise para sa screen
love team nila dahil sa pelikulang
ito mapag-aalaman kung gusto
pa ng viewers o hindi na ang
tambalan nila. Hindi naman daw
kasi napasama sa Top three biggest
grossers ng nakaraang Metro Manila
Film festival ang entry nila na Mano
Po 5, kaya maraming nagtataka
na pinagtambal pa sila uli sa The
romise immediately after Mano Po
5. Ang feeling ng iba ay baka mas
effective sila sa box office kung
hindi sila ang magkatambal.
Solo production ng Regal
Entertainment ang Mano Po 5 at
involved din ang Regal sa The
Promise bilang co-producer naman
ng GMA Films. Bale remake nga
pala ng Hihintayin Kita Sa Langit
nina Dawn Zulueta at Richard
Gomez noon ang The Promise. Ang
bagong pelikula ay sa direksyon ng
batang direktor na si Mike Tuviera,
anak ng Eat Bulaga blocktime
producer na si Tony Tuviera.
Itinuturing ng anak nina Eddie
Gutierrez at Annabel Rama na
isang malaking karangalan na
magampanan niya ang papel na
mahusay na nabigyang-buhay noon
ni Richard Gomez na ngayon ay
nangangarap maging senador.
Hindi pa nagbibigay ng pahayag
ang batang aktor kung susuportahan
nya ang kandidatura ni Goma
sakaling hingin nito ang tulong nya.
Sa pelikula na lang nagtatambal
ngayon sina Angel at Richard. Sa
GMA 7, magkahiwalay sila ng TV
shows. Si Angel ay katambal ni
Robin Padilla sa Asian Treasures.
Si Richard ay kasalukuyan nang
nagti-taping ng anime-inspired
fantasy-adventure na Lupin.
Richard Gutierrez
and Angel Locsin
hoping for
acceptance from
fans as they play
mature roles.
Although the two
have been
reel-life
sweethearts, their
screen roles have
been limited to
sugar-and-spice
romance.
Tatlong Maria
sa buhay at
pag-ibig ni
Bong Revilla
Rufa Mae, nahayag ang relasyon sa
senador sa eksplosibong pagbubunyag
Danny Vibas in Manila
Hindi naman daw siya iniirapan
o tinatarayan ni Lani Mercado
tuwing di-sinasadyang magkita sila,
pagtatapat ni Rufa Mae Quinto sa
isang maliit na grupo ng reporters
kamakailan.
As usual, maningning na nakasilip
sa damit niya ang kalahati ng
malusog niyang dibdib na tiyak na
kinahumalingan noon ng mister
ni Lani na si actor-senator Bong
Revilla.
Kamakailan ay ibinunyag ng
TV host na si Lolit Solis na bukod
kay Gretchen Barretto ay naging
girlfriend din ng kilalang playboy na
aktor-senador sina Rufa Mae at Dina
Bonnevie sa panahong kasal na si
Bong kay Lani Mercado at may mga
anak na sila.
Actually, kahit matindingmatindi na noon ang usap-usapan
na girlfriend ni Bong si Rufa
Mae, parehong itinanggi yon ng
dalawa. ‘Yun din ang panahong
nagkakalabuan supposedly sina
Rufa Mae at ang boyfriend nyang
basketbolista na si Rudy Hatfield.
Pero inamin din naman ni Rufa
Mae na hanggang hi and hello lang
sila ni Lani mula nung mapabalitang
secret girlfriend siya ng aktorsenador na mister ni Lani.
Wala na ‘yun sa amin ni Bong.
Tapos na tapos na yon. Mag-ieight years na rin naman kaming
magkasama sa GMA 7 at wala
namang nangyayari sa amin ngayon
na dapat ika-insecure nino man,
pahayag pa ng pinakamaalindog na
comedienne sa bansa.
Sa totoo lang wala rin namang
panahon si Peachy (tunay na palayaw
ni Rufa Mae) para magpakalulong
sa pagkadawit nya sa hidwaan nina
Lani at Gretchen Barretto na dala
yata ng pagiging live-in girlfriend
niya ng bilyonaryong si Tonyboy
Cojuangco ay walang inuurungang
katunggali ngayon.
May pinagkakaabalahan si Peachy
ngayon at pagkakaabalahan sa mga
sa mga darating na araw. Sa unang
linggo ng Pebrero ay kasama siya
ng isang grupo ng showbiz idol a
magtatanghal sa Qatar sa Middle
East. Pagbalik niya ay seryoso na
siyang mag-eensayo para sa When
Erik Meets Rufa Mae (Repeat to the
Max) na nakatakda sa Pebrero 16
sa Aliw Theater sa CCP Complex,
katabi ng Star City.
Repeat nga ito ng dalawang gabing
konsyerto nila ng boyfriend nyang
si Erik Santos sa Music Museum
sometime last year.
Ilang araw lang pagkatapos ng
repeat concert ay malamang na
magsimula na silang magsyuting ni
Ai Ai de las Alas ng pelikula para
sa Viva Films sa direksyon ni Wen
Deramas.
Nakatakda rin siyang gumawa
ng isa pang pelikula sa OctoArts
Films na si Wen Deramas pa rin ang
magdidirek.
Tanggap na raw ni Lani Mercado (itaas)
ang nakaraan ng asawa matapos na
lumabas na naging karelasyon nito sina
Gretchen Barretto (itaas), Dina Bonnevie
(kanan) at Rufa Mae Quninto.
Oo nga pala, kaya pagkatapos na
ng Valentines Day ang concert nila
ni Erik ay dahil pareho silang may
show commitments na sa Pebrero 14
mismo. Si Erik ay isa sa mga guest ni
Kuh Ledesma sa two-night Valentine
concert nito sa Mandarin Hotel sa
akati. Okey na okey pa rin naman
daw ang relasyon nila ni Erik sa
kabila ng maiskandalong pagkakalkal
ng nagdaang relasyon nya. Sa simula
pa lang naman daw ng relasyon nila
ni Erik ay naipagtapat na nya ang
tungkol sa mga nagdaang relasyon
nya at maluwag naman daw sa loob
ni Erik na tinanggap ang lahat ng
nagdaan nia.
“To the max pa rin naman ang
happiness ko sa relasyon ko kay
Erik,” paggagad pa ni Peachy.
32
filipino globe
celebrity
February 2007
Business as usual pagdating kay Vina
Vina Morales
continues
to fight off
controversy over
Borgy Manotoc’s
damning
revelation on
national radio.
Habang malakas ang kita ng aktres sa showbiz, negosyo
ang inaatupag kaya pahapyaw lamang ang lovelife niya
Danny Vibas in Manila
Mahilig pala talagang magnegosyo si
Vina Morales.
Hindi lang pala ang Estylo Salon
ang negosyo niya sa mga nagdaang
taon. May isang negosyo na nga raw
siyang nalugi. At milyun-milyon
daw ang nawala sa kanya sa mga
negosyong iyon.
“Dahil kumikita at umaasenso
ang Estylo, akala ng marami eh ang
yaman-yaman ko na. Ang hindi nila
alam, may isang araw na naglupasay
ako sa kakaiyak nang malaman kong
milyones na pala yung nalugi sa
akin sa trucking business na pinasok
ko,” biglang naipagtapat ng singeractress nang napagkatuwaan siyang
kantyawan ng ilang press people
tungkol sa pagiging milyonarya na
niya.
Naganap ang kantyawan na ‘yon
sa press conference para sa concert
niyang Showgirl: The Repeat.
Sa Araneta Coliseum naman
muling gaganapin ang concert sa
February 24.
Wala pa naman daw siyang
planong lumagay sa tahimik kaya
niya nakakahiligan na pumasok sa
negosyo. Naisip lang daw niyang
pasukin na rin ang pagnenegosyo
habang malaki pa ang kita niya sa
showbiz dahil alam naman niyang
darating din ang panahon na di na
siya magiging in-demand. Ang totoo
nga niyan ay may nakababata siyang
kapatid na babae na nakatakda nang
magpakasal this year.
Nang kantyawan na naman siya
ng kaharap niyang reporters na
baka tumandang dalaga na siya, ang
malambing niyang sagot ay: “Hindi
naman po siguro. Lagi naman po
akong may boyfriend eh.”
Pero ayaw niyang deretsahang
sagutin ang isyu na umano’y may
asawa na ang boyfriend niya. Hindi
naman daw taga-showbiz ‘yon
kaya bilang respeto raw sa kanya
ay wala siyang sasabihin tungkol sa
boyfriend niyang ‘yon.
Pero nagpahaging siya na may past
na nga ang boyfriend niya. Pero para
sa kanya past is past, kaya wala raw
epekto sa kanya ‘yon.
Maski naman daw siya ay may past
rin. At kung sino man ang boyfriend
niyang ‘yon, tiyak na hindi seloso
‘yon at tiyak din na matibay ang
sikmura.
Matibay ang sikmura dahil
nakakayanan niyang magkaroon
ng girlfriend na nakatiwangwang
halos ang buong katawan kung magperform.
Tiyak na maski na ang poster
lang ng Showgirl concert ni Vina ay
pinagpapantasyahan na ng mga tunay
na lalaki. Bikini lang na may mga
borlas ang suot niya sa poster para sa
concert nya. Sa concert nga mismo
ay may ipinagmamalaki pa si Vina na
Kama Sutra segment. Siguro naman
ay alam niya na ang Kama Sutra ay
mga posisyon sa sex.
Si Vina pala, kung ganun ang
totoong magaling magturo ng sex at
hindi ang Viva Hot Babes na may
sexy video na ang titulo ay Kama
Sutra.
Nagsimula si Vina bilang child
actress na dicovery noon sa Cebu ng
mag-asawang Viva Films producer
na sina Mina Aragon (ang dating
sexy actress na yumao na) at Vic del
Rosario. Sa Viva Films nagsimula
ang showbiz career ni Vina, bagamat
sa ABS-CBN na siya identified
ngayon.
At hanggang ngayon ay idinideny niya na naka-sex siya ni Borgy
Manotoc na nasampal na nga niya.
Pero sana sampalin din niya si DJ
Mo na walang modong nagtatanong
ng mga walang modong tanong sa
mga laos na celebrity o sa mga trying
hard na celebrity na gaya ni Borgy.
(Si DJ Mo, sa isang pang-umagang
radio program niya, ang nagtanong
kay Borgy kung sinu-sino na ang
mga taga-showbiz na naka-sex niya
at isa nga sa mga isinagot nito ay si
Vina.).
celebrity
filipino globe
February 2007
Lindsay hopes to move into new home after rehab
Lindsay Lohan (right) is well on the
road to recovery.”
“She’s wonderful. She’s great,”
Dina Lohan told a Hollywood TV
show. “She’s working, which I wish
she wouldn’t, but she is.”
Last month, the 20-year-old
Lindsay checked herself into
the Wonderland rehab center
in Los Angeles.
In December, it
was revealed the
actress had been
attending Alcoholics
Anonymous
meetings for a year.
She was hospitalised for heat
exhaustion on the set of a movie.
Preparing for life after
Wonderland, Lindsay has bought
the Los Angeles apartment that
movie legend Marilyn Monroe once
called home.
Lindsay is expected to move into
Monroe’s former two-bedroom
apartment after her treatment is
completed.
Lindsay made some money when
she sold her LA condo for US$2.4
million, offsetting a US$431,000
Chateau Marmont hotel bill last
year.
El Palacio is described as an
enchanting place that screams early
Hollywood – Spanish arches and
lush greenery and brick walls.
And baby sits
in the center
of battle over
Nicole’s cash
W
The case was pending when she
died. With the Supreme Court’s
ruling, her estate could get part of
Marshall’s US$1.6 billion fortune,
or all of it. Already, the prospect has
created a cottage industry of claims
and counter-claims she has no way of
handling.
That’s a damning legacy her sole
heir should have to deal with. After
all, she’s only five months old.
Dannielynn Smith is already being
pulled in many directions. Men of all
stripes, persuasions and motives are
suddenly coming out to stake their
claims – as her father.
Lawyers, bodyguards, casual
acquaintances – even a prince
– are giving the paternity battle a
tantalizing spin.
“Dannielynn stands to inherit
hundreds of millions of dollars,”
blogger Thomas Antonio writes.
“Who would not want a piece of it
– and for free?”
The money grub has drawn Smith’s
estranged mother, Virgie Arthur. who
came out to deny she was driven by
profit motive in her fight for custody
of the baby.
In a TV interview, Arthur said she
feared Dannielynn will be the next
family death after her daughter and
grandson Daniel, Smith’s son from a
teen pregnancy who died from a drug
TAKEFIVE
Door open for Cruise
Viacom boss Sumner Redstone
has offered an olive branch to
Tom Cruise, despite dumping
the actor from his Paramount
studios six months ago.
Cruise was fired from the
company after concerns were
raised about his outspoken
beliefs and sofa-jumping antics
on The Oprah Winfrey Show
last year, but Redstone admits
he would be willing to work with
the star again in the future.
He says: “We had to do the
best thing for Viacom. The
company was disturbed by
Tom’s then behavior, which has
now changed. I would probably
work with Tom in the future but
not immediately.”
Scarlett not dating
Scarlett Johansson has shot
down reports she is dating pop
star Justin Timberlake.
The Lost in Translation
actress has been linked with the
singer after she appeared in the
video for his new single “What
Goes Around... Comes Around,”
but she insists the pair are just
good friends.
“We have a lot of friends
in common, and Justin’s a
sweetheart, and it’s always
good to see him but there’s a
lot of speculation and I try not to
read that stuff,” she says.
“I think when two people are
single and are seen together,
it’s immediately like a crazy
feeding frenzy.”
Amen to that.
Prospect of custody bonanza prompts men of all
stripes to claim Daniellynn, writes Loi Liwanag
hen Anna Nicole Smith
died last week after an
overnight spree of drink
and drugs, she left behind a trail
of unanswered questions. Was it
suicide? Foul play? Or was it a slow
simmer of a cocktail of alcohol and
prescription drugs that boiled over
and poisoned her blood?
Police have mostly ruled out
foul play and the suicide angle is
getting less plausible by the day.
There’s increasing evidence that she
collapsed and died at the height of
a drunken stupor, consumed by her
own excess.
“Certainly, she did not go
unnoticed,” wrote Hollywood
observer Sam Newland-Dunn.
In fact, Smith was more colorful
in life. A former striptease dancer
and Playboy centerfold, she gained
notoriety by marrying Texas
billionaire J Howard Marshall in
1994, when she was 26 and he was
89.
When Marshall died a year later,
she inherited a US$400 million
fortune. That has been the subject
of a long-running court battle with
Marshall’s stepson, who has since
also died. Smith saw the inheritance
cancelled by a lower court only to
have the case reopened by the US
Supreme Court.
33
Cow ‘planted’ singer
Anna Nicole Smith with his lawyer, Howard
K Stern (above), bantering with her late
son Daniel (left) and with baby Danielynn
(below) just before her death
overdose in September,
aged 20. “I’m worried that she’s not
going to live either. My daughter is
dead and my grandson is dead and
I’m scared to death that something
is going to happen to her. She’s
the last one in that family. There’s
nobody to protect her. I’ have to do
do something.”
The baby has been in the care of
a friend of Anna Nicole since the
model left her home on Nassau for a
vacation in Florida last week.
Arthur, who flew to her daughter’s
home in the Bahamas to check on
Dannielynn, has hit back at Smith’s
companion Howard K. Stern for
denying her access to the baby.
And the former policewoman
insists the baby’s real father is
photographer Larry Birkhead.
She tells Good Morning America,
“[Stern] won’t talk to me. I saw him
on TV and he said, ‘You’ll never
see her [Dannielynn] as long as I’m
alive.’
“I think Larry Birkhead is the
father. I don’t have a problem with
[Dannielynn] being with Larry
Birkhead; I do have a problem with
her being with Howard Stern.”
Arthur insists she doesn’t want
custody of the baby, she just wants
to make sure she is properly looked
after.
“If Howard wants the money, give
him the money. Just give us the
baby.”
Now, even the late tycoon has
entered the picture.
In a manuscript obtained by the
New York Daily News, Smith’s
half-sister Donna Hogan claims her
sibling froze the sperm of her 90year-old oil tycoon husband before
his death in 1995.
Train Wreck, a damning biography
by Hogan about her late sister,
suggests Smith may have used the
frozen sperm to become pregnant
with baby daughter Dannielynn.
Just one day after Smith died, Zsa
Zsa Gabor’s social climber husband,
Prince Frederic Von Anhalt, came
forward, claiming he could be the
father of the child.
The prince, a former friend of
Marshall, later backed down on his
stunning claim but insisted he did
know who Dannielynn’s biological
father was – and it wasn’t Stern or
Birkhead.
Music mogul and reality show
judge Simon Cowell has been
accused of planting a British pop
star who was once signed to his
record company.
Former Take That back-up
singer Tom Lowe has made it
through to the TV
singing contest’s
Hollywood stage
after wowing the
judges in Seattle,
but he stunned
Cowell at the end
of his audition by
saying: “I was at
BMG Records in London at the
same time that you were there.”
Lowe was a member of a
British boy band which scored
four minor British hit singles on
Cowell’s record label.
Britney, Cohen split
Britney Spears and model Isaac
Cohen’s short romance fizzled
out because of their competing
work schedules.
The couple began dating
in mid-December after they
were introduced by Spears’
choreographer.
Cohen’s agent, Brandi
Lord, insists the split was
“very amicable” and came
about because of their work
commitments.
She tells People magazine:
“They’re both busy with their
careers. She just got out of her
marriage and she has two kids
to take care of. Her plate is full,
and the same with him.”
Still, Lord says there are no
hard feelings and predicts the
pair may remain friends.
34
celebrity
filipino globe
It’s Oscars
time and
the great
race is on
February 2007
Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker, Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood are frontrunners
in their respective categories. Little Miss Sunshine (below) is a surprise candidate
for the best picture Oscar. Oh well, that’s Hollywood.
I
Sunshine” has momentum in the
best film race after being named the
top movie by the Producers Guild
of America, best ensemble cast by
the Screen Actors Guild, and best
original screenplay by the Writers
Guild of America.
Martin Scorsese’s crime thriller
“The Departed” also boasts a strong
chance since Scorsese claimed
the best director award from the
Directors Guild of America and
William Monahan earned best
adapted screenplay from the Writers
Guild.
Oscar watchers cautioned,
however, to not discount drama
“Babel” with its strong social themes
about overcoming communication
gaps among people of different
cultures.
While “Babel” lost several
guild awards to “Sunshine” and
with all these awards. We get the
message.”
Mary J Blige’s comeback
also was richly rewarded: She
received three trophies for her
double-platinum album “The
Breakthrough.” The Red Hot Chili
Peppers won three for their doubledisc “Stadium Arcadium,” which
also won a package-design award.
The Dixie Chicks won all five
awards they were nominated
for, sweet vindication after the
superstars’ lives were threatened
and sales plummeted when Maines
criticised President Bush on
the eve of the Iraq war in 2003.
Almost overnight, one of the most
successful groups of any genre
was boycotted by Nashville and
disappeared from country radio.
All the trophies collected by the
Dixie Chicks, Blige and the Chili
Peppers contributed to the evening’s
old-school feel.
The show often derided as The
35
Philippine
basketball
comes in
from the cold
Tito Talao in Manila
“
I think you’ll see a
very split up year. I
see no film with more
than three awards,
and the winners are
going to be all
over the place
DAVID POLAND
Giving a fearless forecast
“Departed,” it still enjoys loyal
support, and historically Oscar voters
favor dramas with social messages
over comedies like “Sunshine”
and violent crime movies like
“Departed.”
“It hasn’t done well in the guilds,
which means there isn’t much
industry support,” said Tom O’Neil
of awards site TheEnvelope.com,
The other two best film nominees,
“The Queen,” about the British
royal family, “Letters from Iwo
Jima,” director Clint Eastwood’s
Japanese war drama, enjoy die-hard
followings.
Yet the experts think “The Queen”
is too small in terms of its story and
production – not too mention too
British – to win the top Oscar, and
the thinking is Eastwood had his day
with past winners “Unforgiven” and
“Million Dollar Baby.”
Meanwhile, Helen Mirren, playing
Queen Elizabeth II in “The Queen,”
Jennifer Hudson as a struggling
singer in “Dreamgirls,” and Scorsese
for “Departed” appear to be have
a lock on best actress, supporting
actress and director, respectively.
“Will this be Scorsese’s year?
‘Yes.’ I can say with confidence,”
said veteran critic and movie blogger
Emanuel Levy. About Mirren, he
added: “if she doesn’t win, I’ll go to
jail.”
Forest Whitaker, playing dictator
Idi Amin in “The Last King of
Scotland,” and Eddie Murphy
as a drug-abusing soul singer in
“Dreamgirls” are frontrunners for
best actor and supporting actor.
But they should not clear a space
on their mantels just yet. Peter
O’Toole, who portrays an older
man in love with a younger woman
in “Venus,” has been making the
Oscar party rounds in Hollywood to
challenge Whitaker.
Dixie Chicks go back to the very top of pecking order
Were they unpatriotic? Maybe.
Were they insensitive and
disrespectful? Perhaps.
But were they good? Definitely,
says the Grammy Awards
committee.
So, after being shunned by the
country music establishment over
their anti-Bush comments in the
run-up to the invasion of Iraq, the
Dixie Chicks came back with a
vengeance by winning big at the
Grammys.
The Texas trio won record and
song of the year for the no-regrets
anthem “Not Ready to Make
Nice.” They also won best country
album, which was especially ironic
considering the group says they
don’t consider themselves country
artists anymore.
“I’m ready to make nice,” lead
singer Natalie Maines exclaimed
as the group accepted the album
of the year award. “I think people
are using their freedom of speech
February 2007
Lifting of international suspension on
horizon after unprecedented unity pact
Loi Liwanag takes us to the
starting line of Hollywood’s
blockbuster run of stars,
parties, deals and the big night
t’s been a year of wars, violence,
royal fuss and family enterprise.
That’s as true with the world as
with Hollywood.
And that’s as wide a theme as it
will ever get for the consumption of
the judges on Hollywood’s biggest
night on February 25.
That’s good news for the
contenders and an exciting prospect
for movie types engaged in the
guessing game.
“I think you’ll see a very split
up year. I see no film with more
than three awards, and the winners
are going to be all over the place,”
said David Poland, who runs a
Hollywwood website.
On Monday, tobservers picked
the comedy “Little Miss Sunshine”
and thriller “The Departed” as
frontrunners.
Independently made “Little Miss
palakasan
filipino globe
The Dixie Chicks savor
their final vindication on
stage after winning big.
Grannys embraced its baby boomer
status in its 49th year. Maybe the
Recording Academy was trying to
relive the industry’s glory years
– 2006 saw a sharp downturn in
record sales, a decline that seems
to grow each year as fans flock to
the Internet and even ringtones to
experience their tunes.
The Grammys tried to tap that
new technology with its “My
Grammy Moment” contest, in
which three unknown singers vied
for the chance to perform on stage
with Justin Timberlake. Viewers
determined the winner by voting
on the Internet and text messaging,
but the winner’s performance was
forgettable.
The “Moment” also incorporated
a bit of “American Idol” into the
telecast. Last year ,the Fox talent
contest crushed the Grammys on
a head-to-head Wednesday night.
So it was no surprise when the
Grammys returned to Sunday this
year.
Though the show featured a
medley with bright new stars
such as John Mayer, John Legend
and Corinne Bailey Rae, it relied
heavily on the classics: Nominee
Lionel Richie sang his ‘80s hit
“Hello” and Smokey Robinson sang
the Motown classic “The Tracks of
My Tears” in a tribute to R&B.
Wrapped in the atmosphere of a presidential convention, a joint session of
congress, a Hall of Fame ceremony
and an MTV awards, Philippine basketball unity was finally achieved inside a candelabra-lit ballroom at Dusit
Hotel in Makati.
In an unprecedented gathering, all
but the confetti and champagne were
missing from the event that brought
together in one room representatives
from different sectors – sports, politics, business, legal, media, and the
music industry.
Bitter foes and trusted friends attended the two-part Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas unity congress
that ran for almost four hours, capped
by an announcement by Patrick Baumann, the Swiss national secretarygeneral of the International Basketball
Federation or Fiba
who arrived from
Bangkok where the
final details of the
merger were hammered out from afternoon to dawn a
few days ago.
“As soon as ac- Baumann
creditation to the
new organization is given by your
Philippine Olympic Committee, the
day it is done, the Fiba suspension is
automatically lifted,” Baumman said.
Fiba placed the country under suspension more than two years ago as an
offshoot of the POC suspending and
then expelling the 70-year-old BAP
over worsening leadership issues.
Telecommunications tycoon Manny
V. Pangilinan, affirmed by the SBP
board of trustees as president of the
association that would be known as
the BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas – an apparent concession given
the Basketball Association of the
Philippines – provided the highlight
before Baumann’s highly awaited announcement.
Pangilinan, chairman of the threeman panel tasked by FIBA to unite
warring factions in the country during
a meeting in Tokyo last August, read
out the names of the 25-man board,
a big bone of contention in previous
meetings, who will serve as BAPSBP’s founding trustees.
In crisscross fashion covering both
BAP and Pilipinas Basketball, named
from the geographical sector were
Raul Alcoseba, Bonifacio Alentajan,
Pedro Alfaro Jr, Rey Baula, Elmer
Cabahug, Fr Paul de Vera, Tony Fabico, Graham Lim and Danny Soria.
Chosen from the professional
group were Ely Capacio, Tony Chua,
PBA commissioner Noli Eala and
Ricky Vargas. Named to represent the
schools were Bernie Atienza, Junjun
Capistrano, Fritz Gaston, Christian
Tan and Wilson Young.
Completing the board were Lito
Alvarez, Michel Lhuillier and Chino
Trinidad (commercial), Tisha Abundo
(women), and Nic
Jorge (youth).
Joining Pangilinan as BAP-SBP
officers were Rep.
Luis
Villafuerte,
chairman,
Ricky
Vargas, vice-chairPangilinan
man, Marievic Annonuevo, corporate
secretary, Christian Tan, treasurer,
Boni Alentajan, legal counsel, and
Senator Jinggoy Estrada, special adviser to the board.
Ely Capacio was named chairman
of the membership committee, Junjun
Capistrano, finance, and Represetative Douglas Cagas, audit and ethics.
The position of executive director,
who will run the day-to-day operations of the association, will be filled
after a search.
Baumann’s announcement puts the
ball in the hands of POC president
Peping Cojuangco, who, according
to Pangilinan, has assured him of accreditation.
POC spokesman Joey Romasanta
said the general assembly will meet
to act on the group’s application for
accreditation.
All-star cast turns out for big day
Three senators, past and
present and past, three PBA
commissioners, current and former,
congressmen, coaches, team
officials two collegiate teams – the
Ateneo Blue Eagles and San Beda
Red Lions – stood as witnesses to
the basketball unification.
Among them were were Frank
Elizalde, International Olympic
Committee representative to
the Philippines, former senators
Robert Jaworski, who
recalled the golden
days of Philippine
basketball, and
Freddie Webb, and
former commissioners
Rey Marquez and Jun
Bernardino.
Go Teng Kok, the newly elected
BAP president, joined Manny V
Pangilinan, Patrick Baumann and
Jaworski at the head table.
During its suspension by Fiba,
Philippine basketball was
reduced to little more than a
sandlot operation.
MVP’s top man helps pull it off
Jose Marcelo in Hong Kong
Faced with a choice back in the
mid-eighties, Al Panlilio made
the decision to walk away from
basketball, convinced that much as
he loved the sport, it would never
work out for him as a career.
“At that point I realized I needed
to take a different direction,
pursue other things,” Panlilio says.
“Basketball was in my blood, but I
knew then I’d never be as good as,
say, an Alvin Patrimonio.”
Little did Panlilio know that
decades later, he would be serving
basketball in a much bigger way.
After finding success in the
corporate playing field that was a
world detached from basketball, the
Hong Kong-based executive found
himself returning to his roots and
playing a major role in the campaign
that finally brought unity to the
fragmented Philippine basketball
establishment.
As one of PLDT and Smart
chairman Manny Pangilinan’s top
lieutenants, Panlilio helped lay
the groundwork that led to the rise
of a new leadership in Philippine
basketball – one spearheaded by
genuine stakeholders in the sport
– and paved the way for the lifting
of the country’s suspension from
international competitions.
“
We have come from
the lowest point in the
history of Philippine
basketball, and there
is no other way but up
from here on. But the
work has just begun
AL PANLILIO
On the future of RP basketball
“I’m relieved that the lifting of the
suspension is imminent, but there
are a lot of things we still need to
address to set Philippine basketball
right,” said Panlilio, president and
CEO of PLDT Global, from his
office in Central.
Panlilio, 43, played for Ateneo’s
junior squad in the NCAA, saw
action for Fuji Soy Sauce with the
likes of Ato Agustin and the late Jack
Tanuan in the old PBL and served
as alternate governor of PLDT’s
ballclub, Talk ‘N Text, in the PBA.
He has been based in Hong Kong
since 2004 as head of PLDT’s
international operations.
Panlilio was part of the highpowered SBP group that went to
Switzerland to open communication
lines with the international basketball
body, Fiba, and was instrumental
in forging the alliance between
Pangilinan and Senator Jinggoy
Estrada, then president of BAP.
It turned out Estrada, also the head
of the Senate Committee on Games
and Sports, was one of Panlilio’s
basketball buddies at Ateneo.
“At the end of the day, both MVP
and Senator Jinggoy had the same
objectives – unification of basketball
and the country’s participation in
international tournaments,” he said.
That alliance was seen as the
biggest breakthrough in the
protracted struggle that led to the
rise of a new body, BAP-SBP, on
February 5.
Panlilio is among those being eyed
for the crucial executive director role
in the new group, although he has
politely declined. But he can now
sit back with a sense of satisfaction
and pride, knowing the sport that he
loves, after years of decline, is now
back in good hands.
“The future is definitely bright,” he
said. “We have come from the lowest
point in the history of Philippine
basketball, and there is no other way
but up from here on. “But the real
work has just begun.”
36
palakasan
filipino globe
February 2007
It takes a village to stop coach Derick
Kings head for royal appearance in PBA finals but first, they have to take care of a few small details
Tito Talao in Manila
Barangay Ginebra is headed for the
finals of the PBA Philippine Cup, the
league’s 21st version of the All-Filipino Conference, and the only thing
that stands in the way is the fierceness
of the usually stoic coach scowling at
the opposite end of the Kings bench
– Talk ‘N Text’s Derick Pumaren.
His voice breaking with passion
during timeout huddles, Pumaren
willed the Phone Pals back from a 21point deficit and nearly drove a dagger
into the hearts of the Ginebra horde
before coming up short, 108-105, in
Game 5 of their semifinal showdown.
The great escape gave the Kings a
big exhale and a critical 3-2 lead in
the best-of-seven playoffs.
“This is a very emotional win but
the series is not yet over. If we come
out thinking it’s already over, then
we’ll be in trouble,” said Ginebra
coach Jong Uichico.
“Ang hirap kalaban ng Talk N Text,
lalo na with their backs against the
wall. Imagine, we were already leading by 21 points but they were able to
seize control in the fourth quarter.”
Nor are the of the Phone Pals taking
things for granted.
“We’ll have to take it one game at a
time,” Pumaren said.
That, interestingly, is what the
Kings have been doing since they lost
power forward Eric Menk to injury
after a reported barroom brawl two
weeks ago.
Pushed to the limit without the
powerful presence of Menk inside,
the Kings responded by turning on
their running game two notches higher, neutralising the ceiling advantage
Barangay Ginebra fills Araneta Coliseum to the rafters, as usual.
of the hulking Phone Pals with speed
and hustle.
Menk’s return continues to be a big
question. But a royal appearance in
the finals by the Kings could bring on
the comeback of the man known as
Major Pain.
Barring a major collapse in Games
6 or, if necessary, Game 7, the Kings
will face the winner of the other semifinal series between San Miguel and
Red Bull, which the Beermen similarly lead 3-2.
San Miguel broke away from a 22 standoff by annihilating the Bulls,
111-82, handing Red Bull its second
worst beating in franchise history. “I
told my players in the locker room that
they can celebrate the win but at the
same time start thinking about Game
6,” said SMB coach Chot Reyes.
In 2001, San Miguel faced Ginebra
for the All-Filipino Cup title, with the
Beermen prevailing 4-2.
A lot of changes have taken place
since then.
For one, Uichico no longer is coaching San Miguel; Reyes is.
And for another, somebody else
handled the Kings that year, not the
multi-titled mentor now at the reins.
Although the Kings and the Beermen might be setting the stage for a
Sister Act II championship, it’s still
possible for the Phone Pals and the
Bulls to gatecrash the party and force
Game 7.
There, anything can happen.
‘Napaiyak ako nung
nakausap ko na siya’
Naging emosyonal
ang unang sandali
sa telepono nina
Marc Pingris at ang
amang matagal niyang
hinanap. Ulat ni
Celeste Maring
P
inatunayan nina basketball star
Marc Pingris at actress Danica
Sotto na kakaiba ang galaw at
ihip kapag umiibig.
Hindi kaila na magkasintahan sina
Danica at Marc. Katunayan ay balak
na nga nilang magpakasal sa Marso.
Pero bago ang kasalan, ninais ni
Marc na “mabuo” ang kanyang
pagkatao sa paghahanap sa kanyang
tunay na ama – na siya namang
tinupad ni Danica.
Matagal nang hinahanap ni Marc
ang kanyang ama na nagngangalang
Jean Marc Pingris, isang Frenchman.
Sanggol pa lang daw kasi ang
Purefoods player nang iwanan sila
nito. Dumating na nga si Marc sa
puntong ibig na niyang sumuko, pero
binuhay muli ni Danica ang kanyang
kagustuhan na makilala ang kanyang
tunay na ama.
“Actually, sa totoo lang, hopeless
na rin ako nung una kasi parang
imposible na ito. Kasi hinanap ng
nanay niya, hinanap na ng lahat. Pati
embassy, di kami matulungan. So nahopeless na rin ako,” patuloy niya.
“I just want to find out if he’s alive
or dead,” sabi ni Marc.
Higit naman sa paghahanap at
pagkikita ng mag-ama ang hangad ni
Danica.
“Kasi dati nung friends pa lang
kami [ni Marc] ay parang lagi siyang
galit. Ang sabi ko, ‘Kapag kunwari
galit ka, madadala mo ‘yan hanggang
pagtanda mo kung hindi ka matutong
mag-forgive,’” sabi ni Danica.
Mahirap ang naging daan sa
paghahanap ni Danica sa ama ni
Marc. Pero lahat nang iyon ay
pinagtiyagaan ng dalaga nina Vic
“
I just want closure
para maging buo
ang pagkatao niya.
Forever ‘yang may
pagtatanong, forever
‘yang may feeling of
rejection
DANICA SOTTO
On Marc’s search for his father
Sotto at Dina Bonnevie alang-alang
sa pag-ibig niya sa basketbolista.
“First, I was looking sa Internet.
Pero nahanap talaga namin through
letters din. Noong nasa [basketball]
practice si Marc, I went to the French
embassy sa tulong ng mommy
niya. Kinuha lahat ng documents
ni Marc, kasama na doon ang mga
importanteng documents ng father
niya para may proof talaga. After
that, dinala naman sa Switzerland
yung documents kasi may tita ako
doon. Yung tita ang nagdala sa
embassy doon,” panimulang kuwento
ni Danica.
“So, naghintay na lang ng go
signal niya [ama ni Marc] dahil mga
personal na mga bagay ‘yon. Hindi
caption here
agad pinapayagan na makakuha ng
info, although yung embassy ay di
rin alam kung nasaan siya. So, sinabi
magpadala na lang ng sulat sa uncle
ni Marc, si Luis Pingris, na kapatid
ng tatay niya,” patuloy niya.
“So we wrote a letter na ang
nakalagay ay gusto ko lang malaman
if he is still alive. Wala akong
pakialam kung tanggapin siya [Marc]
o hindi. I just want closure para
maging buo ang pagkatao niya. Kasi
hindi siya buo, di ba? Forever ‘yang
may pagtatanong, forever ‘yang
may feeling of rejection,” paliwanag
pa ni Danica. Makaraan ang ilang
buwan ay dininig ang panalangin ng
dalawa. Sumulat ang ama ni Marc
at kamakailan nga ay nagkausap ang
dalawa.
“Tinanong ko siya kung ano
ang nararamdaman niya ngayong
nagkausap na kami. Sabi niya,
masaya din siya. Pinapupunta kami
ni Danica sa Normandy sa France
at siya na daw ang bahala sa aming
dalawa,” kuwento ni Marc.
“Sinabi ko rin sa kanya na ikakasal
na ako at sana makarating siya. Sabi
niya hahanap siya ng mga days na
wala siyang work siguro,” dagdag
niya. Nakatakda ang kasal nina
Danica at Marc sa Marso 3.
Hindi ikinaila ni Marc na
napaiyak siya nang sabihin nang
kanyang ama na mahal siya
nito kahit pa matagal silang
nagkahiwalay.
“Yun lang naman ang gusto kong
marinig. Parang nakumpleto na
ako,” aniya.
Para kay Danica, isang magandang
advance na regalo ang kanilang
natanggap dahil nang mahanap nila
ang ama ni Marc.
palakasan
filipino globe
February 2007
37
Kenny at Kennyvic
abot-kamay na ang
Beijing Olympics
Celeste Maring in Manila
Iniuukit ng magkapatid na
Kenny at Kennevic Asuncion ang
Pilipinas sa daigdig ng badminton.
Maituturing na isa sa
pinakamahusay na tandem sa
badminton ang dalawa bunga ng
mga karangalang kanilang natamo
na lalo pang nagpakilala sa kanila
at sa Pilipinas sa daigdig.
Ang magkapatid, ang unang
Pilipino na nakasali sa World
Badminton Championships, ay
nagkamit na ng bronze medals
asa SEA Games sa Vietnam
noong 2003, silver medals sa
Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open
Badminton Championships
at gold medals sa 2006 Ballart
Eureka International Badminton
Championship sa Australia
at Babolat North Harbour
International Badminton
Championship sa New Zealand.
Sa nakaraang MVP Cup, isang
malaking sorpresa ang magkapatid
na Asuncion na tanging Fipinos
na nakasama sa Asian team.
“Nobody expected us to close
in on the world champions by
winning the first set,” pahayag
ni Kenny. “Many people think
that Filipinos are far behind in
badminton, I think otherwise. With
dedication and love for the sport,
winning a world tournament is
never impossible,” wika naman ni
Kennevic.
Ang pagmamahal at dedikasyon
ng magkapatid sa bandminton ay
bunga impluwensya ng kanilang
ama na dating national badminton
team coach.
“I tried almost everything. I
played volleyball and basketball.
The other sports rejected me. Only
badminton accepted me,” wika ni
Kennevic.
Maging ang kanyang kapatid
ay sumubok din na mapasama sa
bang sports tulad ng wakeboarding
at wall climbing. Pero dahil sa
kanilang busy training schedule,
mas pinili na manatili sa
badminton.
Hindi naman nagkamali ang
Kenny (top)
and brother
Kennyvic
have been
bringing
their sibling
act to the
world stage.
Now their
sights
are firmly
focused on
the Beijing
Olympics in
2008.
dalawa dahil sa halos abot-kamay
na ng mga ito ang matagal na
nilang inaasam – ang mapasama
sa Olympics.
Umakyat ang brother-siter
badminton team na Asuncion sa
ika-11 puwesto sa world ranking
ng mixed doubles upang maging
isang bahagdan na lamang ang
kakulangan para makasama sa
2008 Beijing Olympics.
Unang lumundag mula sa
ika-15 mula sa ika-20 ang mga
Asuncion matapos na makasama
sa round-of-32 finish sa mixed
doubles noong nakaraang
buwan sa Korean Open na
kinukunsiderang Super Series
dahil sa pawang mahuhusay at
nasa world ranking ang kalahok.
Nauna rito, nakasama rin
sa round-of-32 sina Kenny at
Kennevic sa isa pang super series
tournament sa Malaysia pero
nabigo sina sa Danish tandem
nina Britta Andersen at Joachim
Nielsen, 18-21, 14-21.
Hangad ng dalawa na lalo pang
iangat ang kanilang kampanya
sa pagsali sa10 internasyunal
na torneo na sanksyon ng
International Badminton
Federation upang makasama sa
2008 Beijing Olympics.
“We need to continuously
compete internationally not only
to gain points but also to sustain
the momentum and keep the fire,”
pahayag ni Kenny.
“But for us to do that, we need
all the help we could get from
both the government and private
sector,” dagdag naman Kennevic.
Kung sasapat pa sa kanilang
pondo, minamataan ng mga
Asuncion ang dalawa pang super
series events – ang All England
Open sa March 6-11 sa Great
Britain at ang Swiss Open sa
March 14-18.
Ngayon pa lamang ay dama
na ng dalawa na malaki ang
kanilang pag-asa na makamit ang
minimithing slot sa Olympics,
kaya’t walang makapipigil sa
kanila sa kanilang pagdagundong
sa badminton.
Cecil Mamiit (foreground) sees action in Wimbledon and celebrates his victory in the SEA Games (below).
From Wimbledon to
Davis Cup and more
Taglay ni Cecil Mamiit
ang karanasan sa
pinakamataas na
antas ng tennis. Ulat
ni Celeste Maring
N
akakabata. Ito paglalarawan
ng kasalukuyang Southeast
Asian (SEA) Games singles
tennis champion na si Cecil Mamiit
sa kanyang pagsali sa first round
Group II tie of the Davis Cup Asia/
Oceania zone kontra sa Pakistan.
Hindi ikinaila ni Mamiit, nagumpisang maglaro ng tennis noong
siya anim na taong gulang pa
lamang, ang kanyang pakiramdam
na tila “nagsisimula” pa lamang ang
kanyang pakikipagsapalaran sa sport
dahil sa pagkakasama niya sa Davis
Cup team.
“It gives me a reason to continue
playing,” sabi ni Mamiit. “It makes
me feel young and energetic,”
wika ni Mamiit na nanging unang
freshman na nanalo ng NCAA title
simula nang magawa ito ng isang
Stanford freshman na nangngalang
John McEnroe noong 1978.
Itinuturing din ni Mamiit na
malaking karangalan ang muling
pagkakasama niya sa Davis Cup
team na nakatakdang lumaban sa
Pakistan.
“This is a great honor for me
and I am proud to be a part of this
team,” sabi ni Mamiit na dating
may ranggong No. 72 sa daigdig at
nanatili sa top 100 players sa loob
ng limang taon. “It’s the highlight
of a player’s career just as John
McEnroe used to say. The best
players participate and make time for
it. It’s part of the tour. To represent
your country is a matter of personal
pride.”
Tulad nang kanyang idolong
si Michael Chang, isa sa
pinakamahusay na tennis player
noong 1990s, gagamitin ni Mamiit
ang kanyang bilis at two-fisted
backhands.
Ilang ulit na ring napasama sa
Wimbledon si Mamiit noong bilang
singles player inoong 1999, 2001
at 2002 at doubles player noong
nakaraang taon katambal ang
Amerikanong si Kevin Kim.
Inamin ni Mamiit na hindi
magiging madali ang kanilang laban
kontra sa Pakistan na isasalang
ang Pakistan’s No. 1 player na si
Aisam Qureshi na naging US Open
qualifier. “It’s going to be a difficult
match, but we are determined to
win,” wika ni Mamiit.
“Our chances are 50-50 but with
our homecourt advantage, it’ll be 6040 in our favor,” dagdag ni Mamiit.
“Pakistan is the top seed in Group
II and we’ve got our work cut out
for us. Pakistan has a rich Davis Cup
history with wins over Thailand with
Paradorn Srichapan and Taiwan. But
Pakistan didn’t medal in the Doha
Asian Games and we did. If we play
smart, we should be able to pull
through. We’re ready for war.”
Ikinuwento rin ni Mamiit na
nakalaban na niya si Quereshi limang
taon na ang nakakaraan pero nabigo
siya sa 7-5, 7-5 decision. Ngunit,
ayon kay Mamiit, walang kabuluhan
ang pagkatalong ito dahil noong
nakalaban niya ang Pakistani ay
wala sa isip niya ang laro.
“I had no idea who he was when
we played,” pahayag ni Mamiit. “My
mind wasn’t on the game because I
was frustrated at the way I was being
treated by the USTA [(United States
Tennis Association]. I was ranked
No. 106 in the world but the USTA
couldn’t enter me in the US Open
as a wildcard. But no excuses, I lost
a close one to Qureshi. And I’m
looking forward to playing him again
in Manila.”
Idinagdag niya na paghihiganti at
oportunidad para sa ibang Filipino
tennis palyer ang hangad niya
ngayon.
“My goal is to open up
opportunities for the next wave of
players. This is for the Philippines. If
I can continue playing at a high level,
I hope to qualify for the Olympics
and peak in time for the next Asian
Games in 2010,” pahayay ni Mamiit.
Nagmamalaki si Qureshi, 26, ng
33-16 win-loss Davis Cup record
simula noong 1998. Pinamunuan
niya ang Pakistani sa pag-anghat
bsana sa elitelevel dalawang taon na
ang nakakaraan nang talunin nito ang
Thailand at Taiwan sa Group I.
Hindi rin naman pahuhuli si
Mamiit, 30, na wala pang kabiguan
sa anim na Davis Cup matches
at tanging isang set lamang ang
naibigay kay Minh Quan Do ng
Vietnam.
Kabilang sa kredensyal ni Mamiit
ay ang ilang ulit niyang pagpasok sa
Grand Slam at kasama sa mga naging
biktima niya ay sina Andre Agassi,
Michael Chang, Todd Martin at Mark
Woodforde.
Kung magtatagumpay ang RP
Davis Cup team, kakalabanin nito
ang mananalo sa New ZealandPacific Oceania tie sa the second
round sa Abril 6-8.
palakasan
filipino globe
February 2007
Gentleman
Spurs, take
a bow,
thank you
Rodel Almazan in New York
Tiger’s billion-dollar prowl
Rodel Almazan looks
at why the world’s
most famous athlete is
such an excellent
business proposition
N
ine-year-old Thomas
Mulligan stood in the cold
outside a gift shop in New
York on Christmas morning, huddled
with other children, men in suits and
parkas, some pretty young things and
a few indiscernible faces obscured
by hoods. puffing warm air into the
mist.
They were there at least half an
hour early, waiting for the shop to
open, and perhaps too focused on
one object to realise they could come
away empty-handed.
It was the height of the buying
spree for the latest Tiger Woods
PlayStation game, and in a city
where fans were emptying shelves as
soon as the game landed, frustration
ruled. “I’m getting tired lining up for
nothing,” said Mulligan. “But I’ll get
my hands on one of these if I don’t
stop trying.”
Such passion for the world’s most
famous athlete is a small reason
Tiger Woods is such a compelling
business proposition. Tiger Woods
Inc, a euphemism for the moneyspinning machine that he is, is worth
more than US$750 million. In a
few more years, the man will be the
world’s first billionaire athlete.
But he won’t get there just by
swinging clubs and picking up
trophies. Although he ratchets up
the value chain with each brilliant
finish on the course, Tiger Woods
compounds his millions by playing
smart. “He’s an astute businessman
and he chooses his deals
impeccably,” says Lucas Neumann, a
New York investment banker.
The bulk of his earnings comes
from endorsements. Nike, Tag
Heuer and Accenture deliver the
big pay day. A host of minor brands
fight – and pay – for pride of place
alongside Woods’ hallowed name.
Tiger Woods celebrates yet another victory
(above). His Tiger Woods Learning Center
gives underprivileged children a fighting
chance. Woods and wife Erin enjoy a break
before practice.
“
People were trying
to compare 2006 to
2000, but 2000 was
surprising. Now it’s
like saying, ‘Hey,
there’s a Ferrari. Oh,
there’s another’
“As the world’s most recognisable
human brand, Tiger Woods can
sell anything,” says a Los Angeles
advertising executive.
Still, Tiger Woods is not all
positive cash flow. His Tiger
Woods Foundation, which runs
the Tiger Woods Learning Center
in California, is a mammoth cashdispensing machine that spends
millions on children’s education and
charities.
That said, Woods’ fame and fortune
could come unhinged if he stopped
being great at his game. But with
each hole-out, Woods is proving he
has a good many years playing great
golf, driven by one overriding target:
Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 major
championships.
Woods has 12 so far, already
a watershed in a sport where a
major triumph is as rare as it gets.
Unblinkingly, he told sportswriters
he prefers chasing Nicklaus to
pursuing Byron Nelson, whose
improbable record of 11 straight
victories survives his death last
year. But even that is no longer safe:
Woods owns seven straight.
Last year, he won eight times in
15 starts, including six in a row
and two more majors. He began
his 2007 season with another win
DAVIS LOVE III
Comparing Woods’s best seasons
after sitting out the game for several
weeks. Inevitably, Woods has revived
comparisons to his landmark 2000
season, which stands as the best in
the game.
His peers, as usual, are at a loss
for words. “We’re used to it,” Davis
Love III said. “People were trying
to compare 2006 to 2000, but 2000
was surprising. Now it’s like saying,
‘Hey, there’s a Ferrari. Oh, there’s
another.
No cursing, no brawls and no
shooting, please – we’re the Spurs.
And so, from on high down to a
man, the San Antonio Spurs mantra
lives, and the clean-cut NBA team is
reaping the rewards by focusing on
what they do best: basketball.
It starts with Peter Holt (below),
the Spurs’ 58-year-old owner, a
decorated Vietnam War hero and
recovering alcoholic. He does not
like controversy and refuses to spend
big bucks on prima donna stars.
Instead, he built his team around
young, often obscure players who
excel more on the hardwood than on
the police blotter.
That’s why, they have nice guys
like forward Tim Duncan.
Drafted in 1997, Duncan is a role
model on and off the court and has
twice been named the league’s MVP.
Point guard Tony Parker, who is
engaged to Desperate Housewives
star Eva Longoria, has been one of
People’s Magazine 50 Most Beautiful
People.
No Spur
has gotten
in trouble
for starting a
barroom brawl
or shooting a
gun outside a
nightclub.
So what?
“By being free from these
distractions, they are able to focus on
the team and on basketball,” said a
longtime Spurs aficionado.
The record shows it all. The Spurs
have won three NBA titles in the
past eight years and have the highest
winning percentage by any major
US professional team. The team is
worth US$390 million, well above
the league average, and was one of
the 10 most profitable NBA outfits
last year.
Rather than sign flashy US college
standouts, Holt goes overseas for
70 per cent of his draft picks, and
waits, if he needs to. When the Spurs
drafted Argentinean guard Manu
Genobili in 1999, they did not sign
him until three years later.
The draft picks continue to play
for their national teams until they’re
finally called to action in the NBA.
“We look at character first, then
skill,” says Holt, whose team now
includes players from France,
Slovenia and the Netherlands.
Holt reinforces the team’s
untarnished image by pumping
money into charities. The Spurs
Foundation, for instance, has given
US$10 million in cash and gifts over
the past 20 years to help children of
Southern Texas.
“They have exemplified what a
team can mean to a community,”
says NBA commissioner David
Stern.
ESPN agrees. For the past three
years, the magazine has named
the Spurs the best franchise in
sports, ranked on fan feedback,
championships and owner loyalty.
They could hold the title for a long
time to come, barring a blackeye.
dibersyon
february 2007
filipino globe
BUHAYPALAD
ARIES Mar 21-Apr 19
LIBRA
In a month so glorious
for career progress,
you might not have
to try too hard. A
promotion may be offered to you
from your present boss, or you may
have a career victory that is so
special that the press will pick up on
your recent accomplishments. Push
hard all month.
A friend may be
worried and depressed
and truly need your
cheerful ways and
sound advice. No matter how busy
you are, her a shoulder to cry
on. She’ll always remember your
kindness, and when you need a
friend someday, she’ll be there for
you.
TAURUS
SCORPIO
Apr 21-May 20
Oct 23-Nov 22
A professional matter is
coming to critical mass.
Will you get the big job
with the corner office?
It seems so. The full moon will bring
either reward or critical feedback,
but either will allow you to advance
if you read the situation properly.
You need to do some serious
thinking.
GEMINI May 21-Jun 20
SAGITTARIUS
You may need to
travel, or, conversely,
you may be able to
communicate online or
though video conferencing.
This is an exciting development, but
before you can investigate the facts
on it, an older person in your sphere
will be bent on criticising you and
your patience will be tested.
You seem to need a
change of scenery – a
good idea. Your first
opportunity to go away
will come over the full moon. Jupiter
will be in lovely angle to the Sun,
ensuring that your accommodations
would bring a touch of luxury. If you
travel for business near this time,
you’ll likely make the deal.
CANCER
CAPRICORN
Nov 23-Dec 22
Dec 21-Jan 19
Stay cool, even though
it’s not easy. Spend
time conjuring up a
variety of possible
solutions because one solution
could actually turn out to be quite
original. There seems to be a
financial situation that has been
clouded or that you simply aren’t
viewing realistically.
You seem to have
lost touch with your
finances lately, and
the situation you are
dealing with may not be your fault.
You may experience some sort of
shock when you realise just how
far things have come. Being in a
confused state over finances isn’t
like you, so it’s temporary.
LEO Jul 21-Aug 21
AQUARIUS
Clear the air and
confront issues head
on. You may consider
leaving, much to
your partner’s amazement, as the
experience you have this week may
represent the last straw. No matter
what ensues, others will see a new
decisiveness in you, and they’ll say
it’s quite attractive.
One day this month,
that you might want to
watch for good news
about money. The
money you receive is likely to come
from a source that would ask you
keep confidential. When the check
shows up, it would be a complete
surprise. Then you will feel a sense
of accomplishment.
VIRGO Aug 22-Sep 22
PISCES
This should be a highly
romantic month, but
first you’ll have to get
through two possibly
difficult points that will occur at the
very start of the month. Someone
near, a woman relative or friend,
will likely need your attention and
sympathetic care, perhaps for
health reasons.
This month, it is vital to
follow your hunches,
for you’ll be amazed
to discover how easily
your inner voice will show you the
right path to follow. You may have
no facts to justify your decisions
quite yet, but you will have the all
the facts you need to justify your
actions later.
USEFUL NUMBERS
Philippine Consulate
2823 8500
2866 6975
Labour Hotline
9102 0840
Immigration
2824 6111
Police/Fire/Hospital
999
Labour Department
2717 1771
Labour Tribunal
2717 1771
Airport assistance
2861 3980
Int’l Social Services
2836 3598
Caritas Filipino Serv
2526 4249
2147 5988
Bethune House
2721 3119
Bayanihan Center
2817 8928
Asian Migrant Center
2312 0031
Mission for Fil Mig
2522 8264
Unifil Hong Kong
2522 8264
Race Relations Unit
2835 1579
Fil Mig Work Union
2915 9468
ANGSISTE
Sep 23-Oct 22
You may not get the
support from a partner
you expect but no
matter, you seem
able to stand up for yourself quite
nicely. In many ways, you become
strongest when the chips are down
and you feel that everything is
falling to you to save the day. It’s
time to prove yourself.
Jun 20-Jul 21
39
KATUWAANLANG
Sino ba
ang mga
babaeng
ito?
Kung hindi
ninyo
alam ang
kasagutan,
malamang
huli kayo sa
uso pagdating
sa buhok at
pananamit
Sirit? Eto po sila:
1. Bill Clinton 2. George W. Bush 3. John Kerry 4. Jimmy Carter 5. Bill Clinton
6. Donald Rumsfeld
38
LARONGSUDOKU
Jan 20-Feb 18
Feb 19-Mar 20
Pinakamainit na laro ngayon, hamon sa kakayahang mag-isip at magbilang. Punuin ang mga square ng
numero mula 1 hanggang 9 na hindi umuuulit. May dalawa kayong tsansa para hamunin ang sarili. Suko?
Tingnan ang sagot sa aming internet edition (www.filglobe.com).
YOURDIARY
February 17
Platinum Planholders
Hong Kong Organization
general assembly. Harbour
Road Park, Harbour Road,
Wanchai, 2 pm onwards.
Vicky 9357 2125 or Rose
9842 1411
February 18
Free Believers in Christ
Fellowship International
(HK) anniversary
celebration, 2/F Hua Fu
Commercial Centre, 111
Queen’s Road West,
Sheung Wan. Evelyn 9099
3742 or Susan 9092 6452.
February 25
NOPT Hong Kong
7th anniversary and
Valentine celebration
(Search for Miss NOPT
and Miss Valentine).
Bayanihan Centre.
9.30 - 10:30 am
Thanksgiving mass.
1 pm program
Edna (9760 4962) Tess
(9344 5870).
February 25
Edil’s Migrant Dance Club
Search for Mr and Miss
Valentine 2007. Bayanihan
Centre, Kennedy Town,
12-5 pm. Zeny 9035 4044
or Lea 6150 5735.
May 6
OFWIE Search for
Outstanding Overseas
Workers Inventors and
Entrepreneurs 2007
continues
Send your activities and
programs for publication
to [email protected]
EXCHANGE RATES
Hong Kong dollar
6.27
British pound
94.83
Saudi riyal
12.92
Canadian dollar
40.96
Euro
63.14
Australian dollar
37.82
Japanese yen
40.09*
Singapore dollar
31.60
US dollar
48.42
*per 100 pesos
Above rates are for reference purposes only.
Please check with your bank for actual rates.
shoot, show & tell
filipino globe
the big picture
February 2007
40
MANILA BAY OR CALIFORNIA?
Lian Amihan snapped this incredible California sunset while driving by. A former speech pathologist at UP Manila, Lian now lives in San Mateo, California. “I must say that photography is
an amazing cure for homesickness,” she writes in. Was she perhaps imagining Manila Bay when she took this photo? Then again, who can blame her for missing home?
Hanggang kailan naman tayo sa abroad?
Marami na ang gustong umuwi na
for-good na matatagal na rito sa
abroad at isa na ako doon. Kailan
kaya matatapos ang obligasyon para
makauwi na?
Ito ang madalas na tanong sa
sarili ng marami natin kababayang
tila napako na sa dolyar dahil sa
pangangailangan. Samantala, yong
iba kapag tinatanong mo kung kailan
magfor-good ay ngingitian ka muna
bago magsasalita “malakas pa naman
ako at kaya ko pang kumayod”,
at may pahabol na biro “hindi pa
nauubos ang dolyar ng Hong Kong”.
Totoo nga naman. Bakit natin
kasi tinatanong, para nang sinabi
doon sa tao na matanda na siya at
dapat na siyang magretiro. Wala
tayong pakialam kung nawiwili pang
FRANKLYSPEAKING
CELY
GONZAGA
Hong Kong
magtrabaho, di ba? Dahil 65 years
old ang retirement age na nasa labor
ordinance. Si aling Mely nga 70 na
pero nandito pa bilang DH.
Katwiran ng iba ano ang gagawin
nila sa Pilipinas. Mag-alaga ng apo
na walang sahod? Samantalang
dito ay masaya. Nakakarampa pa sa
stage with sexy ballroom outfit and
matching high heels. E sa ‘Pinas diipit na tsinilas na lang.
Kaya determinado hangga’t may
amo. Hangga’t si amo ay pumipirma
pa sa kontrara, sige lang. Sayang
ang pagkakataon dahil yong iba
natin kababayan ay nagangarap na
pumarito sa abroad.
Nandito ka na rin lang, sasagarin
mo na ba ang pagkakataon? Lalo na
ngayon mahirap nang mag-apply
papuntang overseas sa bagong
polisiya ng POEA. Maraming
hinihinging dokumento at malaking
gastos sa paglalakad ng papeles.
Kaya kahit mission accomplished na
gaya ng pagpapaaral ng mga anak
at pagkakaroon ng sariling bahay ay
nanaisin muna dini. Enjoy!
Ngunit may payo ang mga health
experts lalo na sa mga nasa 40
pataas “listen to your body”. Kung
marami na ang sumasakit sa katawan
sanhi ng matagal ng pagtrabaho
sa gawaing bahay,pakikisama sa
demands ng amo, pagtitimpi sa mga
makukulit na alaga ay marahil mga
sinyales na ito at pahiwatig-. At
kung ikaw naman ay kade-debut lang
noong pumarito hanggang sa burado
ka na sa kalendaryo andito ka pa rin
at dalaga ka pa rin ay mag-isip-isip
ka na rin. Baka matuyuan ka ng apdo
este matres, mahirap na. Your bioclock is ticking. Listen to it.
Yong iba naman ay umuwi at
nagpakasal. Pero bumabalik naman
kaagad na di pa man nasasagad ang
mga kiliti. Tapos ngayon ay inggit
na inggit sa mga may anak. Magdusa
ka. Pinili mo ang dolyar kesa magkababy.
Pero ibang istorya na ‘yan.
PHOTOESSAY
Show us your flash for
photography by giving us
the big picture of the Filipino
expat’s life. Photos must be
accompanied by a caption
of not more than 100 words,
describing the event or
circumstances behind them.
Or tell us an interesting
anecdote or observation in
not more than 500 words and
share them with the world.
Each photo or essay entitles its
owner HK$200 and becomes the
property of Filipino Globe. Photos
should have a minimum resolution
of three megapixels. We reserve the
right to make changes in line with
house style. Entries should be sent to
[email protected]