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Volume No. XXII No. 12
December 2004
Denuded forests cause disastrous floods
Philippines seeks international assistance to help victims
Residents are trapped in a river swollen with floodwaters carrying debris of mud,
rocks and fallen trees in Dingalan, 23 November 2004.
There have always been storms
and typhoons that always hit the
Philippines during this time but not
as destructive as the four storms
that lasted for over two weeks.
Experts in both government and
non-governmental organizations
acknowldged the cause of these disatrous floods to be due to decades of
rampant
illegal
logging
that
denuded the mountains thus
exposing the farms and villages to
erosions and mud slides which
happened during these past few
weeks.
President Gloria Arroyo
issued an order Saturday, December 11, 2004 to suspend all logging
and said that illegal loggers would
be prosecuted in the same manner
as terrorists, kidnappers and drug
traffickers. She also urged Congress to stiffen penalties for illegal
loggers and their cohorts.
The damages caused by the
Map showing the worst hit areas.
mud slides and floods have been
estimated to be several million dollars. After assessing the needs of
the population, a UN country team
and the Philippine government
launched a 6.4 million dollar (4.8
million euro) “flash appeal” in
Manila, the World Health OrganisaSee Page 4
Former presidential candidate movie actor dies
MANILA, Philippines – Action
film star and presidential candidate
Fernando Poe Jr., who refused to
concede May's election, died on
December 14, 2004 after suffering a
stroke. He was 65.
Poe died at St. Luke's Hospital,
where he was taken late Saturday
after complaining of dizziness while
dining and drinking with friends.
He later slipped into a coma, his
condition worsened, and he died
after midnight, according to his
doctor, Abdias Aquino.
Poe's wife, actress Susan Roces,
issued a statement thanking Filipinos for praying for her husband.
"We are indebted to your being with
him in the face of the challenges,"
she said.
Poe's fellow actors, actresses
and politicians from all walks of life
rushed to the lobby of the hospital
as the news of his death spread.
Joseph Estrada, a former movie
star who was ousted as the country's president by street protests in
2001, was allowed out of detention
by the anti-graft court to visit his
close friend in the hospital for about
See Page 17
FPJ dies
Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon
Happy Holidays
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année
Now open
Storms
Page 2
The North American Filipino Star
Published monthly by FILCAN PUBLICATIONS, INC.
4950 Queen Mary Road Penthouse,
Montreal, QC H3W 1X3
Tel.: 514-485-7861
E-Mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
4770 Kent Ave.
Suite 316
Montreal, QC
H3W 1H2
Tel.: 514-283-0171
Fax: 514-283-2407
December 2004
4770, ave. Kent
Bureau 316
Montréal (Qué.)
H3W 1H2
Tél.: 514-283-0171
Zenaida Ferry-Kharroubi
Publisher & Chief Editor
Lourdes Fabia
Michael Davantes
Entertainment News Editor
Contributing Editor
Dr. Victor Gavino
Esther Stansfield
Nida Butaran
Columnists
Bert Abiera
Virgie Ladiao
Sales Director
Sales Manager
Founder
Opinions, comments of writers and columnists do not necessarily reflect that of the
management of Filcan Publications, Inc.
Editorial
Let the true Christmas
spirit prevail upon us
through the Red Cross. Any
amount will help if everyone gives
whatever he or she can afford.
What are other ways of
showing true Christmas spirit?
Many events here and
around the world are undoutedly
making us realize how lucky we
are to be living in a peaceful country like Canada. In spite of the
weather, we are able to enjoy the
holiday season.
Being so blessed with many
comforts of life, we should feel
guilty enough to think of sharing
our good fortune wih others who
are not only homeless but also in
great danger of dying from diseases
due to the unsanitary conditions
in their environment. This applies
particularly to flood victims in
the Philippines as well as to the
tsunami-devastated people of seven
countries in Southeast Asia. And
to think of these castrophic events
happening during the holiday season makes it even more difficult to
imagine the magnitude of human
suffering.
The international community seems to have responded
quite generously to the call for
assistanc. But the need is so huge
that it is not possible to put any
limit to how much we should give.
There have been local
initiatives by organizations and
individuals to help out. The campaign for cash donations is on-groing. We encourage everyone to give
through the local associations orn
SUBSCRIPTION
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Telephone: Residence_____________________ Office: ___________________
Enclose a cheque or money order for:
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Hon. Irwin Cotler, P.C. / C.P., O.C., M.P. / député
Mount Royal / Mont-Royal
May this Christmas and New Year bring
Peace and Blessings to all.
Meilleurs voeux de bonheur et de paix
à l’occasion de Noël et du nouvel an.
Rizal plaque unveiled in Hong Kong
ROSES AND THORNS By Alejandro R. Roces The Philippine Star
December 30, 2004 is the 108th
anniversary of Jose Rizal’s execution and in Hong Kong his death
anniversary will be commemorated
with its Antiquities Advisory Board
placing a commemorative plaque on
the place where Rizal resided in
Hong Kong. The place where he
stayed was known as Rednaxela
Terrace. (Rednaxela is Alexander
spelled backwards.) Rizal lived there
with his family from December 1891
to June 1892. This is the second
plaque for Rizal in Hong Kong.
Years ago, they installed a similar
plaque at the site of the clinic where
Rizal practiced as an ophthalmologist.
We have to commend Hong Kong
for marking the places where our
national hero stayed while in Hong
Kong. They seem to be conscious of
our national hero and our history.
They have even placed a marker
where the very first Filipino flag was
sewn. This was the flag that General
Emilio Aguinaldo displayed when he
declared Philippine independence
on June 12, 1898. Aguinaldo also
lived in exile in Hong Kong.
Because it was December 30,
1896 that Rizal was executed by
Spanish musketry in Bagumbayan,
now known as the Luneta, other
historical events pertaining to Rizal
were done on that day. Two classic
examples are: his remains were
moved to the cornerstone of the
monument erected in his honor
near the spot where he was executed in 1912. And on December
30, 1913, that monument was
unveiled.
Rizal had a sense of humor
when he was living in exile in Dapitan; he was in close touch with the
people exercising his medical profession. One day he was called
because a coconut fell on a cockfighter who who was fighting his
gamecock under a coconut tree. By
the time Rizal arrived, the man was
dead. This is the way Rizal recorded
the event in his diary. A coconut fell
on the head of a cockfighter. He
died instantly. This means that if
Isaac Newton had been a Filipino,
the law of gravity would not have
been discovered.
In his biography of Rizal entitled,
The First Filipino, author Leon
Maria Guerrero noted that Rizal
was the first person to call the
natives of his country Filipino.
Before that we were referred to as
indios. Indios originally referred to
the natives of India, later it was
applied to the native tribes of America and in time it became the Spanish name for all indigenous people.
Spaniards born in Spain called
themselves peninsulares while
those born in the Philippines were
classified as insulares. Contact with
Spain had to be through the galleon
trade. That meant the galleon trade
which meant Manila to Mexico and
then Spain. Not till the Suez Canal
opened did Filipinos have direct
contact with Spain. Now the world
is a global village. International
travel is done by plane.
We still find it difficult to accept
that Rizal was tried, sentenced and
executed at Christmas time. On
December 24, 1896, the Spanish
Military
Governor
of
Manila
appointed the members of the Court
Martial that would try him. Two
days later, he was sentenced to
death. We can only conclude that
his trial took place right on Christmas day. And he was executed on
December 30.
The blood of the martyrs –
Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jacinto
Zamora, Jose Burgos and Jose Rizal
– were the seeds that made us a
nation.
December 2004
GMA leads Christmas gift-giving for
young scholars, poor children in Palace
(12/21/2004) President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo today led the
giving of Christmas gifts to more
than 2,000 young scholars from
Metro Manila and 1,000 children
from shelter homes during the Project Joy celebration at the Malacanang Park.
Project Joy is a tradition of
Petron Corporation employees and
its business partners to provide
fun and excitement during the
Yuletide season for children in
depressed communities in Metro
Manila.
Assisting the President were
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon
Soliman, Education Secretary Florencio Abad, Petron Chairman
Nicasio Alcantara, Petron president Khaled Al-Faddagh, McDonald’s president George Yang,
UNICEF Country Representative
Dr. Nicholas Alipui, and UNICEF
national ambassador Gary Valenciano.
This year’s beneficiaries were
the 2,060 scholars of the Tulong
Aral ng Petron and the 1,000 children from the Department of
Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD) shelter homes and the sons
and daughters of jeepney drivers.
The President also witnessed
the signing of a memorandum of
agreement (MOA) between the
Petron Foundation and Ronald
McDonald House of Charities
(RMHC) represented by Alcantara
and Yang in support for Petron’s
Tulong Aral Program.
Under the agreement, the
Tulong Aral ng Petron scholars
would also be the beneficiaries of
the McDonald’s "Bright Minds
Read," a partnership program with
the Department of Education
(DepEd) to develop reading among
public school children.
Alcantara informed the President that their 2,060 scholars are
enrolled in 80 schools located in the
Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan
(KALAHI) areas in Metro Manila. Of
these, 1,053 are now enrolled in
Grade One while 1,007 are in Grade
Three.
These young scholars enjoy
educational assistance such as uniforms, shoes, school supplies, and
Page 3
daily meal allowance worth P10
coursed through their respective
school’s feeding program.
"Along with our partners, we
effectively support your government’s social development agenda
through basic education. We see
our role as your partner in fighting
poverty by planting the seeds of
hope in our children," Alcantara
said.
Alcantara also informed the
President that they have been
actively partnering with the DepEd
in its Adopt-A-School Program.
To date, Alcantara said, they
have built Petron schools in Bataan,
Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Zamboanga, Saranggani and Lamitan,
Basilan.
He said more schools would be built
each year in the Mindanao region,
including Maguindanao, Sulu, and
Tawi-Tawi.
No Christmas
Party in Palace
THERE will be no parties at
the Palace this Christmas season,
but Malacañang will be bringing
cheers to tens of thousands of
families in five typhoon-hit towns
in northern and eastern Luzon.
There will also be milk, clothes,
candies and toys for children.
Social Welfare Secretary
Corazon Soliman yesterday said
the government would distribute
about P120 million worth of relief
goods before Christmas Day.
"There is still Christmas,"
Soliman told reporters at Camp
Aguinaldo, the military’s general
headquarters in Quezon City. "Our
message to all victims, especially
to the children, is that there are
many caring countrymen that will
make them feel the true spirit of
Christmas."
Singing soldiers will join
artists, mostly from the Cultural
Center of the Philippines, in performing "therapeutic art" during a
series of variety shows set in the
provinces of Quezon, Nueva Ecija
and Aurora that bore the brunt of
the landslides and floods that left
more than 1,800 people dead or
missing in late November and
early December.
Soliman said organizers were
still deciding whether to put up
individual shows in each barangay
(village) or just come up with one
See Page 5
No Christmas
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Page 4
From Page 1
December 2004
Storms
tion (WHO) said in a statement
Wednesday (December 15). Citing
government data, the United
Nations
said
storm
damage
amounted to 80 million dollars.
“In countless situations, the
sudden mudslides and flash floods
have robbed families of the homes
and possessions they have spent a
lifetime to build up,” said the Philippine National Red Cross chairman,
Richard Gordon. “Many of those
made homeless by this succession
of disasters live in remote communities. Our assessments show that
their needs are significant,” he
added.
Latest reports indicate that the
four storms which struck the Philippines in one month left almost
1,800 dead and missing with 4.588
billion pesos (81.49 million dollars)
in damage, the civil defense office
said Saturday (Dcember 11). The
toll is expected to rise further as the
search continues for victims of the
last two weather disturbances, a
tropical storm locally codenamed
Winnie which hit on November 29
and typhoon Nanmadol (locally
codenamed Yoyong), which struck
the country on December 2.
The civil defense office said 941
were left dead while 836 were still
missing due to typhoon Muifa (local
name Unding) which hit on November 18, storm Merbok (Violeta)
which struck on November 23, followed by Winnie and Nanmadol.
Most of the casualties were from
Winnie which left 775 dead and 713
missing after it spawned flashfloods
and landslides that swept away
whole villages in the northeastern
coast of Luzon island.
The civil defense office put total
damage to agriculture and infrastructure from the four storms at
4.588 billion pesons.
An appeal to help the flood victims has been launched worldwide.
Canada already pledged to give
$100 000 and is monitoring the situation. Some 14 million dollars has
already been raised since the disaster struck thanks to international
contributions for emergency assistance such as air transport to reach
the victims but much more was
Children walk beside a house almost totally submerged in muddy waters
at the storm-ravaged town of Dingalan in Aurora province.
needed.
“The United Nations and the
Red Cross in the Philippines
appealed to the international community for more support to meet
the relief and emergency needs of
those affected,” the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the local community
in Montreal as reported by the
Montreal Gazette is rallying to help
victims of the tropical storms. The
Tagalog Association of Quebec
headed by Lina Flores, together
with the Filipino Association of
Montreal and Suburbs (FAMAS)
announced their campaign to collect clothing, non-perishable food,
and money to be sent to the flood
victims. Marlene Birao-Schacter,
one of the three newly elected presidents of the Federation of Filipino
Canadian Associations of Quebec,
also organized a solicitation campaign. She contacted the Philippine
Embassy in Ottawa to inform them
of her intention to collect money for
the flood victims.
Anyone wishing to contribute to
the fund drive may bring their
donations in cash, non-perishable
food, clothing, to the FAMAS Centre at 4708 Van Horne Avenue, or
Telephone: 514-341-7477; or you
call Marlene Birao-Schacter at Telephone 514-696-7008, for cash
donations.
To donate money through the
Red Cross, call the 24-hour toll-free
line, 1-800-418-1111.
Other Filipino communities and
associations in Canada are also
doing their own campaign to help
the Philippine flood victims. The
Order of the Knights of Rizal,
Toronto Chapter, announced that
their local chapters in the Philippines are making sure the assistance for the victims are directly
distributed to them.
All Montreal community associations are encouraged to work
together in a common effort to
extend much needed relief to the
Philippines.
The Department of
Social Welfare and Development
which is coordinating the relief in
kind can be reached at: (632) 93181-01 to 931-81-07.
Some scenes of destruction caused by the typhoons and floods
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December 2004
From Page 3
No Christmas
big Christmas caravan that would
go around the typhoon-ravaged
areas.
Noche buena packs
The parties will provide a colorful occasion for the distribution of
"noche buena" packs to each of the
32,000 families from the towns of
Infanta, Real and General Nakar in
Quezon. There will be around
30,000 beneficiaries in Dingalan
town, Aurora and Cabaldon town,
Nueva Ecija province.
Each pack will contain ingredients for a modest Christmas Eve
meal -- spaghetti and ready-tocook sauce, rice, canned goods,
noodles, sugar and salt.
There will also be milk, candies
and toys for children, and clothes
coming from the P120 million
worth of smuggled "ukay-ukay"
(cheap used clothes) seized by the
Bureau of Customs in Muntinlupa
City.
Soliman yesterday oversaw the
transfer of 2,800 bales of smuggled
used clothes to the military's relief
center in Camp Aguinaldo.
There will be another set of
"family packs" containing basic
necessities, like bath and detergent soap, slippers, and used
shoes, Soliman said.
Soliman said the government
had already distributed some P35
million worth of goods among the
typhoon victims. In two weeks, the
government will start the rehabilitation of Quezon and other affected
provinces. Families will each be
given P50,000 to rebuild their
homes.
International aid agencies' appeal
As Malacañang was preparing
its Christmas treat for typhoon victims, international aid agencies
yesterday launched an emergency
appeal for more than $8 million in
additional aid to combat disease in
flood-stricken areas, saying 3.6
million people were at risk.
The International Federation of
Red Cross and the Red Crescent
Societies doubled its fund-raising
goal to $3.64 million and the UN
World Health Organization asked
for $6.4 million in additional aid.
The Philippines has so far
received a total of $14 million in
emergency assistance aimed at
feeding 65,000 families in temporary shelters.
Many of the 880,000 people
displaced by the floods depend on
aid to meet basic needs while
malaria and diarrheal diseases pose
a constant threat, the Genevabased WHO said.
"The priority now, from WHO's
perspective, is to safeguard the
health of survivors and to rehabilitate public health services," Dr.
Jean-Marc Olive, the WHO representative in the Philippines, said in
a statement.
Storm survivors lack safe drinking water and sanitation facilities
and the risk of a malaria outbreak
is on the rise, said the WHO. The
UN funds would also be used to
assist agriculture and education
projects.
About 600 US Marines from the
southern Japanese island of Okinawa have arrived in the flood-hit
areas, bringing helicopters and
other equipment to speed up the
delivery of relief supplies and evacuate the sick and injured.
Remember:
Christmas is a time for
family reunions. It’s also the
time to forgive and
forget and that
it’s more blessed to give than
to receive.
Four survivors rescued
REAL, Philippines (AFP) Three adults and a three-year-old
girl have been pulled out alive
from the rubble of a two-storey
building that collapsed in a storm
11 days ago in the Philippines'
town of Real.
"They can still talk. They are
being treated by our medical
teams. They are being readied for
evacuation," said Colonel Jaime
Buenaflor. The survivors were
later flown to a military hospital
for treatment.
"I still can't understand how
they survived," Buenaflor said.
Buenaflor had initially said
three people had been found but
increased the number after rescuers reported another survivor.
One of the survivors said
there were many others still
buried alive in the rubble, he
said.
"It looks like there might be
more survivors under the collapsed building," he said.
The four were among the
more than 100 people who
sought shelter in the two-storey
Page 5
Repador building on November 29
at the height of a storm that hit the
northeastern coast of the Philippines.
The building collapsed and was
inundated by a mudslide.
The survivors were rescued by a
special volunteer team from local
mining companies who specialize in
digging through collapsed buildings
and mines.
A Filipina girl shields her body from the
rain in Infanta town, Quezon province,
which remains under mud more than a
week
Page 6
December 2004
Community News
Montreal Filipinos and Gawad Kalinga:
Partners in Nation Building
By Maureen Quinto
ANCOP volunteers singing a medley of songs for the entertainment of
the guests
The show, organized by ANCOP
Montreal volunteers, was designed
to raise awareness regarding the
work of Gawad Kalinga. Translated
as "to give care", GK is a nationbuilding initiative in the Philippines
whose goal is to build 700,000
homes in 7000 GK villages in 7
years. The GK777 dream provides a
holistic approach for poverty relief,
organized around their five key proANCOP volunteers pose on the stage showing a simulation of the Philipgrams on shelter, environment,
pines’ poor people’s improvised shelters, including “clean” garbage for
health, livelihood and community
realism effect. (Photo by: Z. Kharroubi)
empowerment to build sustainable
communities and raise the Philiprium,
the
event
drew
Filipinos
with
"I want in!"
pines out of third world status. Now
different
backgrounds,
from
young
Such were the words of the varin the second year of nation-buildious attendees who were present at professionals to community leaders.
ing, GK has built over 9000 homes
BayANCOParin!, the creative pro- The 90-minute production showcased
in nearly 400 GK villages all over
duction launching the work of a mix of different creative elements,
the Philippines. Started by Couples
Gawad Kalinga to the Montreal Fil- including a stirring musical medley,
video presentations, and moving per- for Christ, Gawad Kalinga's success
ipino community.
has attracted partners from all secHeld on December 5, 2004 at sonal sharings portrayed in a slum
tors of society, including President
environment
stage
set.
the quaint Atwater Library AuditoGloria Macapagal Arroyo, Ateneo de
Manila University president Fr. Ben
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e-mail: [email protected]
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See Page 16
RESTAURANT
LA MAISON NEW KUM MON
Choice 1
Tel.: (514) 342-4100
Cell: (514) 242-0786
Nebres and McDonald's Philippines
CEO George Yang, who have each
pioneered their own GK villages.
In addition to local partnerships, Filipinos abroad are eager to
give back to their motherland
through Gawad Kalinga. Twelve
Canadian GK villages and other
sites sponsored by Filipinos from
Texas, Florida, Malta, Switzerland
and other countries have been constructed, restoring the dignity of the
country's poorest of the poor.
The BayANCOParin! production
emphasized the Filipino values of
bayanihan, faith in action, and
patriotism, the same core values on
which Gawad Kalinga is built and
sustained. The evening also focused
on the call to "be a hero" for one's
country, inspriring attendees to
take part in rebuilding the Philip-
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December 2004
Page 7
Knights of Rizal initiates new members
By Lina Fernandez
The Order of the Knights of Rizal
of Montreal spearheaded by Sir
Eddie A. Valdez, KCR, Commander
of MontrealChapter, Sir John Linden, KCR Deputy Commander, and
in coopeation with the Kababaihang
Rizalista (Ladies of Rizal) headed by
its presdient, Lady Elvira “Elvie”
Maximo, held a succesful mass initiation of the new members of the
Montreal Order of the Knights of
Rizal and Kababaihang Rizalista on
December 19, 2004 at 5950 Cote
des Neiges, Suite 375, inthe city of
Montreal.
The occasion was the Conferring of Knighthood to new members of the OKR Montreal Chapter,
conducted by the Order of the
Knights of Rizal Supreme Council
of Toronto, headed by Sir Lapulapu “Poy” Caña, KGOR, Regional
Commander of Canada. With him
were:
Sir Ka Miling Silverio,
Sir Popoy Caña delivering his brief remarks. Others from left are: Sir Emiliano
Silverio, Sir Chito Collantes, Sir Eddie Valdez, and Sir Fran Pulumbarit. In the
background, left: Sir John Linden and Sir Freddie Espinosa.
Swearing in ceremony the new members of the Kababaihang Rizalista
KGCR; Sir Chito Collantes, KGOR;
Sir Fran Palumbarit, KGOR; Sir Joe
Faminial, KGOR; Sir Joe Damasco,
KCR; Sir Alex Trinidad and Sir Jun
Zerrudo (ranks not available at
press time.)
With the Toronto Order of the
Knights of Rizal, Supreme Council,
are the Kabaihang Rizalista President, Lady Rose Cruz, and CLARIZ
President, Lady Baby Palumbarit,
and officers, Lady Ligaya Caña, KR
Advoser; Lady Pet Collantes, LadyAsun Ramos, and Lady Lydia Evangelista.
The ceremonies and rituals performed by the members of the
Supreme Council of Toronto were:
initiation of new members (1st
Degree) KR: Elevation to Knight offi-
cer of Rizal, (2nd degree) KOR and
Exaltation of Knight Commander
of Rizal (3rd degree) KCR.
First Degree KR: Sir Pedro
Apelo, Sir Rey Balansi, Sir Salvador Cabugao, Sir Leo Carbo, Sir
Jerry Danzil, Sir Lito Domingo, Jr.,
Sir Joe Escuadro, Sir Eric
Esguerra Hamon, Sir Ric Marcelo,
Sir Willy Pasion, Sir Flor Rillo, Sir
Eddie Sideco, Sir Fred Villarino,
Sir Amador Yanto. The 2nd degre
KOR: Sir Bert Abiera, Sir Jose
Espinosa and 3rd degree KCR, Sir
Freddie Espinosa.
The Order of the Knights of
Rizal is a civic, patriotic cultural
non-sectarian, non partisan and
See Page 8
Knights
Horaire des fêtes - Holiday Hours
Friday, Dec. 24 & 31 - 8 AM - 2 PM
Saturday & Sunday, Dec. 25-26, 2004
January 1 &2, 2005 - CLOSED
Fill your freezer for the Winter.
Pork loin
2.69lb
Half or Whole pork
Cut & Wrapped
1.19lb
2.99lb
Boneless leg
of ham
Front quater of beef
Approximately 200 lbs
1.89lb
1.45lb
Pork Spare Ribs
Home smoked
meat
7.49lb
2.49lb
Fresh Belly
with skin
Beef
short ribs
3.49lb
Fresh pork blood
Fresh bacon
203
Fresh liver
Havelock
Pork skin
4
4.69lb
.79lb
Napierville
219
202
Hemmingford
219
Jackson Road
Parc
Safari
Covey Hill Road
Boucherie Viau Inc.
Malone
Moders
Montreal, QC H3S 1Z7
514) 731-7788 / 514-731-1343
10 lbs & over
St. Remi St. Edouard
Sherrington
Barrington
6080 Cote des Neiges (near Linton)
Regular smoked
bacon
2
St.Chrysostome
RIZ ET NOUILLES
RICE & NOODLES
1 litre of fresh
blood with purchase
1/2 pork
.79lb
2.99lb
Available
Picnic ham
(with bone)
Beef
Blade steak
Approximately 15 lbs
Lacolle
Sortie
Montee Exit No.6
Class
15
Parties - capacity
for 120 people
Special
$90
1 TABLE Good for
10 PERSONS
LUNCH OR DINNER
with FREE 2-liter
Sprite OR Coke
Canada
U. S. A.
Champlain
83 Covey Hill, Hemmingford QC J0L 1H0
Tel.: (450) 247-2130 or (450) 247-3561
Mtl. (514) 990-5162
$5.95
Lunch Special
Daily
Open 11:00 A.M. - 11:00 P.M. everyday
FREE DELIVERY (Minimum $8.00)
Menu
( customer can request changes)
1) Wanton soup or sweet corn with crab
2) Crispy chicken
3) Fried squid with salt and pepper
4) Mixed vegetables with beef
5) Cantonese chow mein or Miki bihon
6) Shrimps in lobster sauce
OR Pork chops with salt and pepper
7) Special fried rice
8) Steamed rice
Page 8
From Page 7
Knights
non-racial organization.
It was
founded for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of Dr. Jose Rizal
and propagating his ideals and
teachings. In pursuit of its lofty
objectives, the Order is supported
by its affiliate organizations, the
Kababaihang Rizalista, CLARIZ
(Canadian Ladies Auxilliary of Rizal)
and others in the Philippines and
abroad.
Lady Rose Cruz, the President of
the Toronto Kababaihang Rizalista, inducted the Montreal
Kababaihang Rizalista, headed by
its president, Lady Elvie Maximo,
advisers Lady Lina V. Fernandez
and Lady Zeny Kharroubi with
members: Lady Nora Antenor,
Lady Lilia Apelo, Lady Esperanza
Balansi, Lady Thelma Cabais,
Lady Amalia Edralin, Lady Chantal
Espinosa, Lady Luz Garque, Lady
Beth Razon, Lady Rose Rillo and
Lady Dolly Villarino.
Oath taking ceremony of Kababaihang Rizalista: (From left) Dolly Villarino, Lina
Fernandez, adviser, Elvie Maximo, president, and Zeny Kharroubi (Photo by Sir
John Linden, KOCR)/
Christmas party hosted by Grace Yip *3rd from left, back row) at her
residence, December 19.
December 2004
Developing the CCP complex
MANILA, PHILIPPINES | Wednesday, December 22, 2004
By JOSEFA LABAY CAGOCO
In 1969 the Cultural Center of
the Philippines (CCP) was built
amidst controversy and speculation, yet it was undeniably a very
ambitious project. Now, a little over
three decades later, CCP is attempting another ambitious task, that of
developing its 60-hectare property
into the "mecca of arts and culture
in Asia."
The cultural Center of the
Philippines' main building
In the CCP, many artists and
cultural groups like its resident
companies -- Ballet Philippines, the
Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra,
Tanghalang Pilipino, the Philippine
Madrigal Singers, the Philippine
Ballet Theater, the Ramon Obusan
Folkloric Group, Bayanihan, and
the UST Symphony Orchestra -have found a home. Initially formed
to become the country's performing
arts center, the CCP's responsibilities have over the years included
reaching out to minority cultural
groups in the country and serving
as an ambassador of art to the
international community.
However, arts and culture do
not always have a popular following
in the country. Many people continue to view art as a luxury and the
CCP has always been hounded by
budget constraints. A major part of
its huge property has been sitting
underutilized and unproductive for
a long time because the CCP does
not have the money to finance the
development of the complex.
Money was not all that stopped
CCP though. A land ownership
squabble between private developers and the CCP dragged on for
years. The Supreme Court finally
handed down a decision affirming
CCP's ownership of the disputed
property in the reclaimed area.
Finally, the ball for CCP's longstanding complex development plan
has started rolling.
"We were stopped from developing because of the case," said Virginia Bactad, consultant for complex development. Ms. Bactad was
formerly the assistant vice-president for complex development
before she retired recently but she
was asked to stay on because of her
knowledge of the whole plan.
Involved in the Republic Real
Estate Corp. case which Ms. Bactad
said started in the 1970s were the
CCP, the local government of Pasay,
and Stonehill Corporation.
"We won this. With finality the
Supreme Court said 'you own the
land,'" said Ms. Bactad.
"Because we won it, we want to
go full-blast on the development so
we can earn income, we can beautify the place. Our target is to make
it the mecca for arts and culture in
Asia."
Consultations then started with
the stakeholders -- the CCP board
members, officials, artists, cultural
workers, youth, art patrons, and
government -- on the creation of the
CCP Complex Development Plan, a
two-volume document that outlines
the framework for the development
project. Planning Resources &
Operations Systems Inc. (PROS)
was commissioned to come up with
the plan.
What exactly is the vision for
the CCP? To make it the center for
arts and culture in Asia. "The centerpiece of artistic expression of the
Filipino soul and spirit," stated Ms.
See Page 13
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Page 9
December 2004
Page 10
December 2004
Five Filipinos hurt in
tsunami-hit Phuket
(Inquirer News Service)
FIVE Filipinos, including four
women, were among the thousands
hurt in Phuket, Thailand, after
earthquake-spawned tidal waves
slammed into coastal areas in nine
countries last Sunday, Department
of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday.
Earlier,
Foreign
Secretary
Alberto Romulo had dispatched an
embassy staffer to Phuket to identify any Filipinos on the list of eight
casualties with Filipino-sounding
names released by the Thai Ministry
of Interior.
The five hurt in the tsunami
were Marco Sangil, Vergini Cruz,
Miss Virginia, Margaret Ang-Choi,
who were all confined at the Vichara
Hospital, and Rosemarie Phi King
Ang-Tan, who was confined at
Patong Hospital. Both hospitals are
in Phuket.
"Ms Rosemarie Phi King AngTan is confined for minor injuries.
The four others in the Vichara Hospital -- we have not received any
information from the embassy as to
the nature of their injuries,” DFA
spokesperson Gilberto Asuque said
at a press briefing.
Officials could not say if those
injured were working in or touring
Phuket when giant waves smashed
into homes, restaurants and hotels
on the island and other coastal
areas in Thailand on Sunday.
An estimated 70 to 120 Filipinos
are based in the island resort, working as diving instructors, hotel staff
and musicians. The government
estimated that some 1,500 people
were killed in Thailand and more
than 7,000 injured.
On Sunday, a 9.0-magnitude
earthquake under the Indian Ocean
near
Sumatra,
Indonesia,
unleashed a tsunami that battered
southern Thailand and later India
and Sri Lanka and several other
countries.
Ang-Tan's husband, David Tan,
a British national, and their daughter Sharleen May are missing. Consular staff members were scouring
hospitals, hotels and other establishments to look for them, Asuque
said.
Ang-Choi, one of the injured Filipinos, was married to Choi Chung
Huen, a British passport holder
who was among those killed and
was earlier erroneously identified as
a Filipino by the Thai Ministry of
Interior.
Eight fatalities
The DFA was furnished a list of
eight casualties with Filipinosounding names, namely: Barrera
Jann, Curlos Barong, Major Tomas,
Mary Tanagtong, Sesilvia Bargoa,
Sevrine Pairuno, Flona Gallan and
Feri Cornelia.
"The bodies are being preserved,
and the Thai ministry has requested
the Philippine Embassy for assistance in verifying the names of the
eight individuals,” Asuque told
reporters in a briefing.
Since the department could not
confirm if any of them was a Filipino
from its databank of passport applications, officials decided to release
their names to the press "to expedite verification.”
"We are releasing the Filipinosounding names through the media
so this would reach relatives in the
Philippines. Hopefully, someone
would recognize their names,”
Asuque said.
So far, the DFA has not received
any report of casualties, injuries or
the disappearance of Filipinos in
Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Maldives and Indonesia in the aftermath of the disaster, Asuque said.
Relatives of any of the eight
casualties should contact Sheila
Solas of the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs
at 834-4594.
Inquiries about overseas Filipinos affected by the tsunami
should call the DFA Action Center
at 834-3333 or the Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration Operations Center at 833-6992 or 833OWWA, 551-6641, 551-1560; fax
nos. 804-0638, 551-6651; website:
www.owwa.gov.ph; e-mail: [email protected].
Ship crew safe
Labor Secretary Patricia Sto.
Tomas yesterday said 73 Filipino
crewmen manning a luxury ship in
the Indian Ocean, as well as seven
overseas Filipino entertainers in
Phuket, Thailand, were confirmed
safe.
The OWWA OpCenter reported
that all the 73 Filipino seafarers
manning the luxury liner "Silver
Cloud" were safe based on the confirmation given by the seafarers'
Jebsens Manning Agency in Manila.
Sto. Tomas said the OpCenter
was also getting in touch with the
manning agencies to monitor and
confirm the safety of Filipino seafarers on the following vessels: MV
Constellation, MV River Dream, MV
Sidney, MV Peam Siam, MV Zaabel,
MV Sea Boss, MV Lady Grete, MV
NYK Castor, MV Cornelis and MV
Lake Arafura.
She added that the Philippine
Overseas Labor Offices (Polos) in
Singapore and Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, as well as the 24-hour
OWWA OpCenter in Pasay City were
doing all they could to assist
affected Filipino workers and their
families, by continuously monitoring the situation, and providing
updates.
The OWWA OpCenter also
opened its doors to relatives of
OFWs who are in the tsunami-
A Thai woman goes through salvaged items outside her house in Khao Lak,
nearly 115 km north of the Thai resort island of Phuket on December 29, 2004.
stricken countries, giving them
three minutes of free calls so they
could ascertain if their loved ones
were safe.
The Polos, in coordination with
the Philippine embassies, were
pushing onsite efforts to get in
touch with, confirm developments,
and assist any affected OFWs.
According to figures furnished
by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, some 5,300
documented OFWs were deployed to
affected Indian Ocean countries
from January to July this year, the
majority of them in Malaysia (2,745)
and the rest in India (179), Maldives
(80), Burma (Myanmar) (77), Sri
Lanka (183), Thailand (1,091) and
Indonesia (1,044).
Medical teams
Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz
announced yesterday that the government would send medical teams
to tsunami-stricken countries in
Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand and Indonesia.
The deployment of medical
teams was made on orders of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo following a meeting with the National
Disaster Coordinating Council
(NDCC) yesterday morning. Cruz
chairs the NDCC in concurrent
capacity.
During the meeting, Cruz
emphasized the need to have an
effective information campaign on
tsunamis and other disasters to
minimize damage to lives and property.
"The NDCC will work toward an
effective information campaign on
the dangers of tsunamis, earthquakes and typhoons to minimize
damages to lives and properties in
the event of these three major natural disasters," Cruz said in a statement.
The Department of Health was
also communicating with the Thai
health minister to see what kind of
assistance the Philippine government could give.
"We've been asked to prepare
medical teams, but there are no
details yet. We'll assess their needs
and see what we can manage to
give," Health Secretary Manuel
Dayrit told the Inquirer in a phone
interview yesterday.
Prayers and donations
The Catholic Church yesterday
rallied the country's faithful to
donate, in cash or in kind, to their
Asian neighbors who were affected
by the earthquake and tsunami.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and Caritas
Manila will be receiving donations
from individuals and parishes starting today.
"Although we have been badly
hit by recent calamities, we Filipinos can still share something.
For this reason, I appeal to all Filipinos to offer financial help," CBCP
president Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla said in a message
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yesterday.
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio
Rosales also urged all parishes in
Manila, the Philippines' biggest
cluster of dioceses, to set aside a
portion of the Sunday collections for
victims of the tsunami.
"Tragedy and human suffering
transcend many barriers. All of a
sudden, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand,
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Maldives have become special neighbors to us. These people now reach
out to us in the manner that our
own sufferings have in the past,"
Rosales said in his message yesterday.
Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra
called for prayers for those still
missing, those injured, and those
struggling to survive after losing
their homes in the largest earthquake to hit the world in 40 years.
"I appeal for prayers for the
repose of the souls of those who
perished and their bereaved families," he said.
The catastrophe, he added,
should also be a reminder for everyone to seriously do something to
take care of the environment and
ecology.
Caloocan Bishop Deogracias
Iñiguez said the tsunami that hit six
countries in Asia was a wake-up
call for the Philippine government to
ensure that its weather bureau was
well-equipped to monitor possible
calamities.
Donations for the victims of the
tsunami can be coursed through
Caritas Manila at 527-4146, 5274148, 527-4163 or through the
CBCP's National Secretariat for
Social Action, Justice and Peace
(NASSA) accounts with Citibank at
Paseo de Roxas, Makati City. For
peso donations, the account number is 8-133-000-980. For dollar
donations, the account number is
8-142-002-559. Both are under the
account name CBCP-NASSA.
Capalla said donations from
Philippine churches would be
handed over to the Caritas offices in
the affected countries. With a report
from Carla P. Gomez, PDI Visayas
Bureau
Philippines Begins to
Rebuild Flood-Hit Areas
Sat Dec 18, 7:26 AM ET World Reuters
MANILA (Reuters) - Hundreds of army and civilian engineers
have begun massive construction
work in the northern Philippines to
rebuild flood-hit areas that have
been cut off from the rest of the
country for weeks.
Reuters Photo
President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo (news - web sites) said on
Saturday that the reconstruction
was in full swing.
"Today, we begin the rehabilitation phase of our response to
the disaster of the four storms," she
said in the town of Infanta on the
east coast, which bore the brunt.
Damage to crops, fishing
and infrastructure is estimated at
4.69 billion pesos ($83 million). It
will take weeks to restore power to
the worst-hit areas, clear roads and
rebuild bridges.
Teams of army and navy
engineers have begun repairing half
a dozen bridges after clearing 35 km
(20 miles) of highway to Infanta, one
of three towns that were badly hit.
Also on Saturday, the U.S.
Marines turned over $1 million
worth of tents, generators, blankets,
medical supplies and water containers to Philippine disaster officials as
it pulled out 650 troops after two
weeks of relief operations.
Nearly 1,800 people are
dead or missing in eastern and
northern provinces on Luzon island
after a typhoon and three tropical
storms in two weeks set off torrents
of water, mud, boulders and logs
that swept away villages and
bridges.
Close to four million Filipinos have been affected. With disease a major worry, the U.S Marines
helped speed up efforts to get food,
clean water, medicine and shelter to
880,000 people marooned by floods
and landslides.
Arroyo thanked Washington for
its help in the relief effort, saying
the role played by U.S. troops in
delivery of emergency rations
"speaks of the mighty ties that are
shared by time-honored allies
across the Pacific."
She said the $7 million in total
U.S. assistance was the biggest contribution by an individual foreign
government to her government's
relief efforts.
Manila has received close to 100
million pesos ($1.8 million) in cash,
emergency rations and equipment
from the international community,
including foreign non-government
Page 11
organization.
International aid agencies
continued to appeal for support to
combat potential disease outbreaks in flood-stricken areas,
saying more than $8 million in
additional aid was needed during
the next three months.
Logging has been blamed for
making a natural disaster worse.
Arroyo has ordered cancellation of
all permits to cut and haul trees
but timber companies have scuttled previous attempts in Congress to ban logging. ($=56.20
pesos)
Communist rebels reject Christmas
truce, peace talks dim
Dec 19, 2004
Agence France-Presse
COMMUNIST guerrillas on Sunday
effectively rejected a Christmas truce
with the government, and said they
were unlikely to resume peace talks
with President Gloria MacapagalArroyo.
(514) 367-1990 Jimmy Ozaeta 7995 Browning
St.
(514) 367-0355 Rey Nacino
La Salle, QC
[email protected]
H8N 2E9
Arroyo declared a threeweek unilateral ceasefire on
December 16 and urged the
rebels, who are waging one of the
world's
longest
communist
insurgencies in this Roman
Catholic country, to reciprocate.
An official from the Communists' negotiating arm, the
National
Democratic
Front
(NDF), said the group "desires
the resumption of formal talks in
the peace negotiations with the
Government of the Republic of
the Philippines.
"But the prospects for such
resumption under the Arroyo
regime are dim," Fidel Agcaoili
said in a written statement to
news agencies here.
He alleged that the government
wanted the rebels to capitulate
"under the guise of indefinite
ceasefire."
The NDF "considers as tricky
psywar [psychological war] the
so-called unilateral ceasefire
issued by the [government] for
the Christmas and New Year
holidays.
Page 12
Arts and Culture
Philippine Cuisine
Filipino Lumpia
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound ground pork
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup minced carrots
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup thinly sliced green cabbage
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
30 lumpia wrappers
2 cups vegetable oil for frying
Mayon Volcano
December 2004
DIRECTIONS:
Place a wok or large skillet over
high heat, and pour in 1 tablespoon
vegetable oil. Cook pork, stirring
frequently, until no pink is showing.
Remove pork from pan and set
aside. Drain grease from pan, leaving a thin coating. Cook garlic and
onion in the same pan for 2 minutes. Stir in the cooked pork, carrots, green onions, and cabbage.
Season with pepper, salt, garlic
powder, and soy sauce. Remove
from heat, and set aside until cool
enough to handle.
Place three heaping tablespoons
of the filling diagonally near one
corner of each wrapper, leaving a 1
1/2 inch space at both ends. Fold
the side along the length of the filling over the filling, tuck in both
ends, and roll neatly. Keep the roll
tight as you assemble. Moisten the
other side of the wrapper with water
to seal the edge. Cover the rolls with
plastic wrap to retain moisture.
Heat a heavy skillet over
medium heat, add oil to 1/2 inch
depth, and heat for 5 minutes. Slide
3 or 4 lumpia into the oil. Fry the
rolls for 1 to 2 minutes, until all
sides are golden brown. Drain on
paper towels. Serve immediately.
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December 2004
So a rabbi, a priest, and a minister ...
now tell lots of jokes
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald Correspondent of The Christian Science
Monitor (12/16/2004)
This fall, when the people of New
England Bible Church wanted to
have a really good time, they got
together at the start of Sunday worship to memorize Bible verses.
Part of the fun was the gameshow atmosphere, as "contestants"
filled in the blanks of a verse. But
part of it was also the mood of levity
that invades a realm once known
more for hard pews than hard
laughs.
One recent Sunday, a goodnatured quiz pitting elders against
deacons connected with congregants partly because of its tonguein-cheek tone.
"This is all for show," Pastor
Tyler Thompson assured the flock.
"These people up here really don't
like each other all that much."
Everyone laughed.
From here to Hollywood, somber
services where smiles are frowned
upon have in many churches gone
the way of sky-high pulpits and
knuckle-rapping ushers. In its place
is an effort to tap the nation's culture of humor to promote spiritual
gain:
* In Texas and southern California, church outreach ministries
now include Christian comedy
shows that draw upwards of 300
people.
* A forthcoming book on "The
Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching"
(Zondervan, 2005) dedicates an
entire chapter to humor as a
homiletic device.
* Preachers in congregations
large and small are building laughter into their worship plans.
Example: The Rev. Paul Sangree
of Bethany Congregational Church
in Foxboro, Mass., pokes fun at
himself every week because he finds
"it loosens people up."
To be sure, certain areas of
church life remain no joking matter.
A preacher who once joked with
bread and wine while serving the
Lord's Supper earned the scorn of
his congregation for "demeaning
those in some way," according to
The Rev. John Beukema, who wrote
the humor chapter in the new book
on preaching.
Still, observers say what's happened has been a shift to speak the
laugh-getting language of a casual
culture that values entertainment.
Some do voice concerns about a
loss of reverence, but many see the
lighter side as a vital tactic for
touching souls.
"It is going to be impossible to
preach without using humor," says
Joseph Webb, author of "Comedy
and Preaching" (Chalice Press,
1998) and dean of the communications program at Palm Beach
Atlantic University. "You will not be
able to stand up and hold the peo-
Tyler Thompson uses humor in his sermons
ple if you cannot work the stage."
With faith that there's much to
gain from cutting loose, religious
leaders increasingly work laughs
into announcements, sermons, and
dramatizations of scripture.
While the goal is to connect to
today's flock, the trend draws on
tradition. Seminary students are
mining the sermons of yesteryear's
preachers who had a flair for making the faithful chuckle. And some
pastors regard the Bible itself as
seasoned with more than a few
funny stories.
Others see a theological dimension involving the demand for
redemption. "We need to laugh at
ourselves because that's the whole
basis of our belief, is that we're not
worthy," says Beukema, associate
editor at www.preachingtoday.com
and teaching pastor of the Village
Church in Western Springs, Ill. "It's
by His grace alone that we are
saved."
Some material is quite safe.
When telling the Bible story of
Jonah, spared from the fish's
mouth but then pouting on a hillside because God wouldn't squash
his enemies, a dramatist can play
up the prophet's unwitting folly
without much risk. Likewise the
tale of Balaam's donkey, who verbally rebukes his master for missing the Lord's direction, may have
missed the mark if no one cracks a
smile.
Knowing what's fair game and
what's not, however, can be as crucial as timing when it comes to
blending humor and holiness. A
generation ago, the norm was to
save laughter for coffee hour
because, Webb says, church sanctuaries held a loftier status, and
God was thought to reign above the
humorous minutiae of ordinary life.
Today, he says, God is one who
"walks with me, and talks with me"
- so laughing together isn't far
behind. But now leaders face a
challenge to determine case by case
when laughter is appropriate, and
when it still might defile the sacred.
Leaders seem to agree on this
rule of thumb: Poke fun at yourself
or at universal human foibles, but
never mock God, holy things or par-
Page 13
ticular people. Prayer and sacraments are no times to laugh, they
say. And beware of actual joke
telling during worship, which
Beukema deems "high risk humor
because if the punch line misses,
everybody loses."
Despite cautions, humor is now
part of the clerical playbook. At this
year's Rosh Hashana service at
Temple Micah in Philadelphia,
Rabbi Bob Alper in a sermon on joy
laughed at the impulse to annoy thy
neighbor.
Drawing on his trade as a professional comedian, he recalled a
childhood neighbor who never liked
Alper's family and gave their Jewish
household a Christmas tree. "If
MasterCards had been around
then, they could have produced this
ad," he told the congregation. "A
desk-size Douglas fir Christmas
tree: $5.00. A small box of ornaments: $2.75. The chance to wreak
havoc with the religious identity of
the children of your despised neighbor: Priceless."Folklorist Bill Ellis of
Pennsylvania State University in
Hazelton says laughter is "hardwired" in human nature, something
that often helps people resist
despair. In folklore, he says, "we
laugh at the devil because the devil
relishes pride and can't stand to be
laughed at.... Sometimes a little
subversiveness in religion is just
From Page 8
CCP
Bactad. "It will be a major cultural,
ecological, and tourism landmark of
the Philippines. It shall be the home
for the Filipino artist and an urban
oasis for the Filipino people."
The CCP complex sits on 88
hectares of reclaimed land, about
60 hectares of which are owned by
CCP. Other properties are managed
by other government agencies -- the
Philippine International Convention
Center by the Bangko Sentral, the
Westin Philippine Plaza Hotel, the
Coconut Palace which is handled by
the GSIS, and Star City by the Privatization and Management Office.
As the CCP does not have control over these properties, future
projects would have to be developed
around them. T h e d e v e l o p m e n t
plan also aims to consolidate the
activities in the complex which,
aside from arts and cultural events,
also include sports and recreation,
trade fairs, dining, ferry terminal
operations, and transient living.
The plan identifies nearly 58
hectares and will take much longer
than the establishment of the complex decades ago. The project is
planned for completion over the
next 10 years, starting 2004 to
2013, and will be accomplished in
four phases.
Restaurant
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Reservation
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15% Off
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Page 14
The NorthAmerican Filipino Star
December 2004
Montreal Party Photos
Gilmore College students with their friends and family held their annual
Christmas party, December 12, 2004 at the College premises.
Arthur Murray Dance School Christmas Party, December 17, 2004 photo of the
Shania Twain formation participants pose with Maria, D.I. (wearing Santa’s hat)
Gilmore College students continued their party with a dance held at
the Via Salsa Studio on 5149 Decarie Boulevard. Posing with them
is the director, Mme Hong Quy Clauzier (2nd row, 2nd from left).
APO celebrated its 10th anniversary on December 11, 2004 at the Buffet Dionysia
on Jarry West Shown with the president, Claro Bermudez, (seated, 2nd from the
right) are Zenaida Kharroubi, editor/publisher of the Star, Richard San Miguel,
Gina & Totoy Buning, Jun Mendoza, Romy Gambalan, Dany Corpuz, Noli Ortiz,
Jorge Baldoza, Joel Guia, Armando Pizorro and an unidentified guest.
December 2004
M
E
R
C
A
N
C
A
P
I
Page 15
T
A
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D
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Your application for a visa is successful
when you deal with Mercan Capital
May pag-asa kayong ma-aprobahan ang inyong
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aming mahusay at eksperiensadong tagapayo.
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Mercan Capital Ltd
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visa, and if unsuccessful, your money
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Mercan Capital Ltd.
keeps itself informed
about
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changing.
The information you
receive is relevant
and up-to-date.
We offer our expertise in the
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• Skilled Workers
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• Family Reunification
• Work Permit
• Student’s Visas
• Live-in Caregiver
Mr. Jerry Morgan, president
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Ltd., manages a team of
seasoned immigration professionals
Ms. V. Marcas, lawyer
A mosaic sculpture which
can be seen at the public
square of the Old Port of
Montreal symbolizing religious freedoms recognized
by the Canadian Constitution.
The Parliament building
where the Quebec Government holds its meeting of
the National Assembly composed of 123 MNAs who are
elected every 5 years.
Mercan Capital Ltd.
offers you all services and informs
you of the programs
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your
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New rule change
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Part time sales
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Canadian laws are complex.
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Page 16
Al Abdon
The Video
Guy
How popular are DVDs?
Very! Almost every movie that is
produced today is available on
DVD. In fact, when a movie comes
out it is mass produced in DVD first
before VHS because the cost of
making DVD is less than VHS. Even
DVD players are cheaper than VHS!
You can get a DVD player, progressive, MP3, for$35.00 ie. after mailin rebates at a local discount store.
The DVD & CD are very similar
physically and functionality. But
the DVD holds 7 times more data
than CD does. This means the DVD
has the ability to hold enough room
to store a full-length, MPEG-2
encoded movie and has a lot of
other information.
Here are some of the characteristics of a typical DVD movie: a) It
holds up to 133 minutes of high
resolution video in letter box or a
pan-horizontal
resolution.
b)
Soundtrack presented in up to eight
languages using 5.1 channel Dolbydigital surround sound c) Subtitles
in up to 32 languages d.DVD can
store to almost 8 hours of CD-quality music per side.
What are the advantages of a DVD?
DVD picture quality is better,
and many of DVDs have Dolby Digital or DTS sound, which is much
closer to the sound you experience
in a movie theater.
Many DVD movies have an onscreen index, where the creator of
the DVD has labeled many of the
significant parts of the movie, sometimes with a picture. With your
remote, if you select the part of the
movie you want to view, the DVD
player will take you right to that
part, with no need to rewind or fastforward. DVD players are compatible with audio CDs.
Some DVD movies have both
the letterbox format, which fits
wide-screen TVs, and the standard
TV size format, so you can choose
which way you want to watch the
movie.
DVD movies may have several
soundtracks on them, and they may
provide subtitles in different languages. Foreign movies may give
you the choice between the version
dubbed into your language, or the
original soundtrack with subtitles
in your language.
That is why burning video CD is
so much faster (7 minutes of a 30
minute footage) than a DVD
because of the quantity of information embedded in those disc is
larger.
Going shopping for DVD? If
money is not the issue I recommend
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that you buy a DVD recorder than
just a DVD player. You can copy
VHS video tapes for archives and
also save storage if the unit has
firewire. DVD recorders are going
down in prices. A BenQ recorder,
progressive scan, which reads a
Kodak Picture CD, MP3 is only
$299! I bought a recorder two
years ago and it cost me $900.00
for the same capability.
There is also a unit that comes
in a combo of VHS and DVD
recorder such as the Panasonic
DMRE75 ($699).The advantage of
these units are no wires are needed
and are capable of dual recordings
because they have two independent tuners. As long as there is no
copy right protection such as
Macrovision, you can just copy
movies for you own viewing and
safe keeping. But I must warn you
of royalties and copyright issues. It
is illegal to make a mass production of someone’s work without his
permission.
Merry Christmas and have a
safe and wonderful New Year to all!
Al Abdon
Hollywood Junkies Video
Porductions
(514) 705-8706
December 2004
From Page 6
ANCOP
pines. ANCOP organizers who met
with each guest during the meetand-greet session were ecstatic over
the number of new partners who
expressed their desire to help transform the Philippines, a sure indication that 2005 will be an exciting
year for ANCOP Montreal.
The event's success is perhaps
best summed up in the the words of
former Philippine President Cory
Aquino,"Before when friends used
to ask me if the Philippines still had
hope I would say yes, but I couldn't
explain why. Now I am happy I can
say: The Philippines has hope
because there is Gawad Kalinga."
Most definitely, many BayANCOParin! guests went home feeling the
same way.
**ANCOP is an acronym for
Answering the Cry of the Poor and
is the international sponsor relations and fundraising arm of Gawad
Kalinga. For more information,
please contact Maureen at 514-5755216.www.gawadkalinga.org
or
www.ancop,ca
Advertise now in the Star
Call 485-7861
Cherish your memories on video!
Learn to make your home movies anytime you want with your own
video camera.
Call 485-7861 to register in the
basic video production course or
by e-mail:
[email protected]
December 2004
From Page 1
FPJ dies
an hour Sunday.
A political neophyte, Poe reluctantly agreed to become the main
challenger to President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo in the May 10
election but lost by 1.1 million
votes.
Two months later, Poe asked
the Supreme Court to nullify
Arroyo's victory and declare him
president, accusing her party of
committing electoral fraud. Arroyo's
camp denied any wrongdoing and
expressed confidence the Supreme
Court would eventually throw out
Poe's protest.
Poe, who starred in more than
200 films, was popular among
impoverished Filipinos for his portrayals of fast-punching, underdog
champions of the poor.
He often played the silent hero
who beat up the bad guys in movies
such as "Muslim Magnum .357" or
the children's epic "Ang Panday,"
about a blacksmith who crafts a
magical sword.
He was a formidable opponent
to Arroyo even though his campaign
suffered from disorganization and
questions over his citizenship,
which a court later resolved in his
favor.
The man known nationwide as
"Da King" promised all Filipinos
"breakfast, lunch and dinner." The
masses flocked to see Poe at campaign rallies, but his vague plans
for the economy made analysts and
investors uneasy.
A five-time winner in the local
version of the Oscars, one of his
most memorable roles was a true
story – a teacher who became a
rebel leader fighting greedy landlords and bureaucrats in the 1920s,
when the Philippines was still an
American colony.
Poe was born on Aug. 20, 1939,
to a popular Filipino actor Fernando
Poe Sr. and Elizabeth Kelley, an
American.
His family prospered until his
father died of rabies and Poe had to
drop out of high school to help support them. Poe worked odd jobs,
including as a cleaner and a stunt
man, becoming a full-time actor in
the 1950s.
Ousted President Joseph Estrada right, tries to control his tears as the widow
and movie actress Susan Roces wipes her tears during a mass for Fernando Poe
Jr.Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 at Sto. Domingo Church, Quezon City.
Page 17
Tens of thousands of supporters of Philippine film idol and former presidential
candidate Fernando Poe Jr. join the funeral march in Manila Dec. 22, 2004.
Thousands attend
funeral of FPJ
MANILA (AFP) - Hundreds of
thousands of fans attended the
funeral of the Philippines' most
famous movie star, defeated presidential candidate Fernando Poe,
held under tight security amid fears
of unrest.
A throng of mourners accompanied a white coffin carrying the 65year-old, worshipped as the champion of the underdog, as it was
pulled through the streets of the
capital Manila on a carriage drawn
by two white horses.
Hundreds of riot police were
deployed around the presidential
palace to head off potential violence
from Poe supporters who accuse
President Gloria Arroyo of cheating
in the May 10 presidential vote. The
military was also placed on heightened alert amid intelligence reports
of a coup to replace Arroyo and in
her place install Poe's widow, movie
dame Susan Rocess. Fans chanted
Poe's initials FPJ and waved presi-
Mourners of the late FPJ light candles
outside Santo Domingo church in Quezon City during his wake.
dential campaign posters used by
the actor, who died on December 14
after suffering a stroke. Crying
women and children showered the
coffin with flowers as it wound its
way to the cemetery.
The presidential palace, close to
the route of the procession, was
barricaded with huge shipping containers as Justice Secretary Raul
Gonzales warned that some parties
could use the funeral to stir up
trouble. The procession however
ended without violence.
Page 18
December 2004
Business & Economy
Jobless rate hits 10.9% in Oct
The Philippine Star 12/16/2004
The country’s unemployment
rate rose slightly to 10.9 percent in
October this year from the year-earlier level of 10.2 percent, the
National Statistics Office (NSO)
reported yesterday.
In the April 2004 survey, the
jobless rate stood at a higher 13.7
percent mainly due to the addition
of new college and high school graduates.
The number of unemployed in October was recorded at 3.9 million or
nine percent higher than last year’s
level of 3.6 million. More than half,
or 59.5 percent of the jobless, were
males while females accounted for
40.5 percent.
The unemployed include those
who did not look for work during
the survey period; those who had no
job or business and did not look for
work because of their belief that no
work is available, have pending job
applications or job interviews, and
those with temporary illness or disFrom Page 21
Writers
Colombo Plan Staff College, an
International, and Inter-Governmental Organization, based in
Manila, Philippines. He has gained
membership in several international professional associations, is a
member of the International Biographical Centre's On-Line-Hall of
Fame, and in 2004, he was given life
long tenure of Chair of Human Relations within the World Academy of
Letters.
Zenaida Ferry-Kharroubi, is
a professional teacher and the
Founder/Owner of Gilmore College
as well as the Publisher & Chief
Editor of the North American Filipino Star. She holds a B.A. degree
major in English Literature from the
University of the Philippines as well
as an M.A. degree in Educational
Studies from Concordia University.
Note: Fees: $495. for the Workshop
Dates: To Be Determined
To register by appointment, please
call 514-485-7861
ability.
The NSO said among the unemployed, around 44.8 percent were
between 15 to 24 years old. Among
the regions, Metro Manila or the
National Capital Region posted the
highest unemployment rate at 12.2
percent.
From a total labor force of
about 35.6 million, the NSO said
some 37.1 percent work in the farm
sector. Another 47.5 percent are in
the services sector while the rest are
in the industrial sector.
The number of employed persons in the services sector
increased by 1.5 percent while
those in the agricultural sector, by
0.2 percent. The industry sector, on
the other hand, registered a 1.3
percent contraction in terms of
employment in October.
The Philippines has a total population 15 years and over of 53.5
million out of which 66.5 percent or
35.6 million are considered fit to
work.
Nothing unusual in
signing of 'sin' tax law
- Palace
Malacañang yesterday brushed
off suspicions over the "unusual"
enactment of the "sin" tax law, saying the Palace would rather focus
on the measure's merits.
Press Secretary Ignacio R.
Bunye said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Republic Act
9334 into law on Monday without
the usual fanfare as part of the
"adjustments" to limit the President's activities.
Mr. Bunye denied talk that the
change was due to destabilization
threats against the government in
light of today's burial of actor and
former opposition presidential candidate Fernando K. Poe, Jr.
"The adjustments were only
done to accommodate the numerous functions that are lined up for
the President. Instead of the President skipping other events, it was
decided that all the events would be
done in one venue," Mr. Bunye said
in a radio interview.
Pray and Learn
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LEARNING TOUR OF IRELAND
MARCH 15-22, 2005 - "Following the Footsteps of St. Patrick - his
life and legacies" and "Life and Legacies of St. Kevin of Glendalough".
Highlights: visiting cathedrals in Armagh - the ecclesiastical capital
of Ireland, the St. Patrick Centre, his burial site, his first church
and many other sites associated with this world-famous saint. Visit
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Please call 483-4139 for details.
Upcoming Trip: To Our Lady of Knock Shrine in Mayo, Ireland -
August 18-25, 2005.
December 2004
Page 19
Workshops Now Forming For Spring and Summer 2005
The Writing Workshop - A New Approach to Powerful Writing
And it works!
A week-end experience
designed to release the force of
your personal voice
- that leads to more powerful
and effective writing and communication.
HOURS
First day:
7:00 p.m. -10:30 p.m.
Second day:
9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Third Day:
9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
A LEARNING PROCESS THAT
WORKS FOR ANY KIND OF WRITING
The workshop is the Brainchild of Isaac Goodine and incorporates ideas developed from Peter
Elbow's useful book for writers,
Writing Without Teachers.
The Writers Workshop is
interactive and the activities are
divided between work in which the
entire group participates and that of
small support groups.
The entire group engages in
Lecture-Discussions with the workshop leaders as well as Writing and
Problem-Solving Exercises.
From time to time partici-
pants Read Original Writing outloud in small support groups,
seminar style.
Who Is The Workshop For?
The Workshop is open to
all who write. It is specifically
designed for anyone who needs to
develop and use writing skills.
Participants will be Professional
Writers, Managers, Novelists,
Business Leaders, Poets, Lawyers,
Editors, Professors, Journalists,
Public Speakers, and anyone who
needs to broaden their communication skills.
The Workshop Includes
People Who Do All Kinds of Writing All people who write have
similar challenges: whether a thesis, novel, technical report, business proposal, or a letter to the
editor, the purpose of writing is to
communicate meaning for others
through the written word. Therefore, the Workshop isn't about the
particular content or form of your
writing but how you achieve
meaning for others. The instant
feed-back from fellow participants, who are not experts in the
subject matter of your writing,
provides objective guidance for
improvement and less experienced writers gain by observing
how professionals handle their
problems and, and experienced;
gain by observing how professionals
handle their problems and, and
experienced writers gain by seeing
how elementary problems are tackled in fresh ways as each participant performs at his or her level of
skill. Writers at all levels benefit
from this powerful new method,
particularly when the participants
are from diverse cultural backgrounds and the communications
transcend national boundaries.
This is a Breakthrough Idea
The Writing Workshop experience
plants a seed that grows each time
you write-long after the week-end
workshop has concluded. You will
gain special insight that opens your
creative self as you continue to
write. You will be able to set and
achieve personal goals to: (1) learn
new and useful methods of solving
problems in writing, (2) increase
your power to know what you want
to say, (3) increase your ability to
put across persuasively what you
have to say, (4) to enable you to see
the actual relationship you have
with your readers.
About The Workshop Leaders: Isaac Goodine, and Zenaida
Ferry-Kharroubi will lead these
Writers Workshops
Isaac Goodine
Isaac Goodine is an International Educator with experience in
65 countries. He has designed and
delivered numerous cross-cultural
communications workshops in the
course of his work and his writings
have been published in magazines,
journals, and newspapers worldwide. He is a Fellow of the United
Writers' Association, of India. His
latest book, Leaders Leading Leaders, was published in 2003, by
See Page 18
Writers
Page 20
That Video Game under the Tree
In this article, I am going to step out of
my usual topics concerning science and
health to write about a subject that is
more technology but still definitely
related to health, more specifically, psychological well-being. I am referring to
video games.
There was a time when my wife
and I would make an annual trek to the
local toy store at about this time of the
year every year. This was during the
early 80s. That period of our lives is a
distant memory - our children are all
adults now. The items we bought were
not always for our children - a few were
mine. I remember buying my first "personal computer" - a Commodore 64 from a big toy store chain in California.
It could do more than the "pong" games
of the vintage Atari electronic game
boxes. Nintendo and the X-box existed
only in the dreams of future-oriented
gamers.
Everyone in my generation is
acutely aware of the explosion of computer power over the past 20 years. In
my graduate school days, our research
computer was a PDP-11, a small monster that occupied a small room, had big
12- or 15-inch floppy disks and communicated only in UNIX. Incredibly, my
laptop today is more powerful than that
old machine of 20 years ago. What
happened parallel to the explosion of
computer power, was an equally
astounding increase in the sophistication of video games. Whereas 20 years
ago our video games were based on a
dot going back and forth across the
screen, or a big dot "eating up" a series
of smaller dots, today's gamers have on
their screens 3-dimensional renderings
of objects that can look like real people,
real machines, or sub-human figures of
fantasy. I am sure that as technology
continues to improve, we will certainly
see more and more impressive and realistic images produced by game
machines.
Nutritionists have always been interested in the effect that hours in front of
a television or game monitor can have
on the health of a child. It has long been
suspected that children might gain too
much weight by staying indoors to
watch television or to play video games
instead of getting much-needed exercise by playing outdoors. There was
also the problem that children glued to
the television set also tend to consume a
lot of non-nutritious snack items such
as potato chips and sugary soft drinks.
Childhood obesity has indeed become a
major health concern. Overweight children are at risk of various chronic diseases such as diabetes, a condition that
used to be associated only with the
older set. There was and still is a concern that overweight children will
remain overweight, or at least have a
greater tendency to gain excess pounds
as they grow into adulthood.
To research this area, I consulted the electronic databases on
health and found a special issue of the
Journal of Adolescence published early
in 2004 that focused on the concerns
over television and video game use.
The reports are alarming.
First, what was clear from the
studies is that the majority (89%) of
video games in the market contain
some form of violence. In addition, 50%
of all video games depict violence
against another game character.
Teenagers spent an average of 9 hours
per week playing video games, boys
more so than girls (13 hours/week for
boys versus 5 hours/week for girls). In
addition to video games, teenagers
watch television for an average of 25
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December 2004
hours/week and listen to music for
another 21 hours/week. Notwithstanding the fact that some teenagers do all
three activities simultaneously, the sum
total is 55 hours of electronic entertainment per week.
In terms of content, twice as
many boys preferred violent games
compared to girls. In turn, those who
prefer violent video games were more
likely to have a hostile attitude, more
likely to have arguments with teachers,
more likely to engage in physical fights,
and more likely to obtain lower grades
in school.
Some of the negative effects of
violent video games can be explained
by the results of another article concerning desensitization. In essence, the
more a child or teenager is exposed to
violent video games, the more he/she
becomes insensitive to actual acts of
violence. In other words, our normal
reaction to an act of violence such as a
shooting or stabbing is one of horror. A
child or teenager accustomed to violent
video games will react differently - he
will see it as much less of a horror. In
addition, that child will not empathize
with the victim - that child will be
unable to feel or to relate to the emotions of the victim. No wonder adolescents who prefer violent video games
tend to have what we perceive as a hostile attitude. Perhaps they have gone
numb to violence and begin to see it as
a "normal" way of life. A third article
mentions the fact that those exposed to
violent video games, even for only 10
minutes, somehow gain a heightened
level of aggressive behaviour that they
themselves don't recognize.
Finally, there was an interesting article concerning on-line or internet gaming. The investigators studied
the profile of people who play
Everquest, an on-line game that is
reputed to have more than 400,000
players worldwide. This is a role-playing game where the player takes on his
persona of choice. Among the players,
the teenagers turn out to be mostly
male. This group also tended to see the
game as being more important than
either school or work, playing an average of 26 hours per week on-line. In
contrast, the adults sacrificed their
social life instead of work (of course!),
playing an average of 24 hours per
week on-line. Teenagers tend to like the
violence in the game more than the
adults did.
It turns out that these psychological and psychosocial effects of video
games were more alarming to me than
just weight problems. It is true that a
child whose obesity is partly due to
physical inactivity due to television
watching or video gaming may eventually develop chronic disease requiring
long-term care. The cost of such health
care will be absorbed by our health-care
system. However, antisocial behaviour
may actually be more costly in the longrun in many respects. There can be positive aspects of video games: it does
improve reaction times and hand-eye
coordination. There are reports that
some players derive greater self-esteem
by winning video games. The technology can also be used effectively as
teaching or training aids. However, I
do believe that we need to be concerned
and be ready to do something about the
proliferation of violent video games.
One encouraging note: one article in the
issue found that the negative effects of
violent video games were attenuated or
lessened when the parents had control
over the length of time their children
spent in front of the game machines, as
well as on the type of games that they
played. Parents, take note!
New Scientific Studies
Reveal Mechanisms
Behind Rooibos’ Red
Tea Leaves
Anticarcinogenic,
Antimutagenic & Antioxidant Health Benefits.
(Santa Barbara, California) New
scientific studies provide evidence
that rooibos red tea may protect
against cancer, skin cancer, heart
attack, and stroke, just as South
African Bushmen and Hottentots
have claimed for centuries. Rooibos
(pronounced roy-boss), the antioxidant-packed South African herbal
red “tea” bursting with full, smooth,
fruity, sweet taste and free of caffeine and tannins, has taken U.S.
tea drinkers by storm with its combination of great taste, soothing
effect, and health benefits including
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December 2004
physical defenses against some
deadly diseases. Now, that’s a comforting cup of tea!
Recent laboratory research on
red tea’s potent, unique antioxidant
composition (rooibos contains certain antioxidants not found in green
or black teas) reveals that rooibos
may help protect against free radical damage that can lead to cancer,
skin cancer, heart attack, and
stroke. Previous studies showed
that rooibos teas are antimutagenic,
i.e., they protect against induced
DNA damage, both in vitro (in the
test tube) and in vivo (in live animals). The newest studies examine
the mechanisms behind those findings. Results: rooibos red tea
appears to enhance the activity of
certain important carcinogen-detoxifying enzymes in the liver and
enhance the liver’s overall antioxidant capacity.
Rooibos teas may also offer new
ways to fight the alarming increase
in cases of skin cancer. In skin
cancer model studies, researchers
find that rooibos tea extracts
inhibit promotion of cancerous
tumors in mouse skin.
“We concluded that rooibos
extracts interfered with skin cancer in its promotion [later development] stage. This provides the first
evidence of such a protective effect
for rooibos teas,” states Jeanine L.
Marnewick, MSc., Senior Research
Scientist at the Program on Mycotoxins and Experimental Carcinogenesis at the Medical Research
Council of South Africa in Tygerberg. “We are conducting further
studies to elucidate the possible
mechanisms involved in this protective effect.” Marnewick, whose
research examines the chemopreventive properties of South African
herbal teas and is funded by the
Medical Research Council of South
Africa, the Cancer Association of
South Africa, the Rooibos Forum,
UNIVERSAL NET ENTRPLRISE wishes to thank its customers
for their continued patronage. We wish everyone Happy
Holdays and a Prosperous New Year.
and the Department of Trade and
Industry, also conducted the liver
enzyme and antioxidant capacity
rooibos studies.
“The results obtained from the
rooibos study look very promising
to us,” explains Marnewick.
“Mouse skin that was topically
treated with the rooibos extracts
before cancer promotion showed a
75% decrease in the development
of skin papillomas. The development as well as the size of the skin
papillomas were also delayed and
decreased, respectively. This study
has been repeated and the results
confirmed.”
Skin is the body’s largest organ
and serves as a protective barrier
against environmental onslaughts
such as ultraviolet light and chemical carcinogens. Well aware of the
rising incidence of skin cancer,
Marnewick and her team used a
skin cancer model developed in
mice to monitor anticarcinogenic
protective effects of rooibos teas.
The multi step model used
includes both cancer initiation and
promotion steps.
Cancer initiation is an irreversible process and is mostly
unavoidable because we are continuously exposed to physical and
chemical carcinogens, but promotion has been described as
reversible,” says Marnewick. “This
provides researchers with an
opportunity to interrupt or delay
the development of genetically
Page 21
altered (mutated) cells. DNA damage can lead to cancer development
and rooibos showed protective
effects against DNA damage when
tested in an in vitro assay as well as
in an animal system, or in vivo.”
Extracts of both fermented and
unfermented rooibos teas, which
are unique to South Africa and
noted for their marked antioxidant
activities, are being tested as possible chemopreventive agents in this
cancer model.
Foods that contain dietary substances that modulate or prevent
cancer may play a role in the general well being of humans, especially if they are easily available and
inexpensive. For a compound such
as tea to be considered a chemopreventive agent, researchers must
first conduct a battery of pre-clinical tests, both in the test tube and
in whole biological systems (e.g.
animals). Marnewick’s team is in
the process of completing these
tests. They have confirmed that the
in vitro antimutagenic activity of
rooibos also exists in animal studies, with no adverse effects. interfere with iron absorption
Rooibos is exported to manufacturers and wholesalers in the USA
and Canada. For trade inquiries call
Herbal Teas of Africa at toll free
877-433-3832. For media inquiries
call Christie Communications at
805-565-4122. For more information,
visit these web sites at www.rooibos.us
or www.rooibosltd.co.za.
Marcel Tremblay
Associated Councilor - Intercultural Relations
Councilor, Decarie District
Merry Christmas and
a happy new year
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année
May you and your
family enjoy the Holiday Season
Page 22
Entertainment
Rosanna Roces, happy
to start over again
Happily separated. That is
Rosanna's state of being shortly
after the collapse of her 11-year
union with Tito Molina, son of the
late great jazz artist Lito Molina and
grandson of National Artist for
Music, Antonio Molina.
They've separated many times
before, but they'd patch things up
and always he'd come back. This
time, however, she's shutting the
door on him – for good. The reasons
for their separation are said to be
about money, infidelity and loss of
trust.
For a time, Tito worked as consultant for the GSIS, but he wouldn't even give her his contact number
there and she got terribly hurt by
that. However, she still felt relieved
that he took the effort to go back to
work again.
A product of the PMA (although
he dropped out eventually), Tito – a
computer whiz-worked for a while
at Camp Crame . When he met
Osang one early morning in the
early '90s at Bakahan and
Manukan and instantly fell in love
with her, he was getting P40,000 a
month (a big amount then) at the
Asian Development Bank.
He quit his job, however, when
December 2004
Osang made it big in the movies. It
was supposed to be a mutual decision between them because that
was the only way they'd be together
– for Tito to hang around during
Osang's location shoots.
Unfortunately, this arrangement didn't work out well because
Osang eventually got disillusioned
working so hard, while her husband
was just there – bumming around.
In one episode of Startalk around
year 2000, I remember her say on
the air, "May ibang tao diyan –
batugan!" While she didn't mention
any name, people close to her knew
the person she was referring to.
For Tito, she set up several
business: a salon that eventually
closed shop, a farm in Antipolo and
the BBC auto repair shop (that
turns into a pub at night) along
Kalayaan Avenue in Quezon City .
She now runs BBC – with the
support of some people she has
helped financially in the past. On
the day she took over the auto shop,
she was horrified to see "only P10 in
the cash register."
Once more, she is gathering the
pieces of her life together – this time
minus a home companion. Maybe
not for long? You see, as soon as
word got around that she had separated from Tito, there formed a beeline of suitors and admirers (some
of them politicians) at her doorstep.
Osang is actually legally free to
get married because her marriage to
Tito (in January 1994) – so she discovered too late – is null and void
since he was previously married to
another person.
But Osang is not about to take
another plunge into marriage right
away. Her attention is now focused
on daughter Grace who is giving
birth (to Jolo Revilla's child) either
in late January or very early February.
Hapy New Year
Claudine is a
chameleon
On screen, Claudine Barretto is a chameleon. As Lena in
"Kailangan Kita," she pleads guilty
of falling in love with the man her
elder sister is supposed to marry
and we forgive her for doing so. In "
Milan ," she shatters the traditional
notions on loving and needing and
we yearn to learn some more lifechanging lessons from her. In Claudine's hands, what are otherwise
stock characters transform into
indelible celluloid feats for future
generations of movie aficionados to
go back to again and again.
Next on the actress' career
itinerary is "Lihim," a suspensedrama from her home studio Star
Cinema. Earmarked for an early
2005 playdate, Claudine reunites
with her "Mula sa Puso" and "
Marina " leading man Diether
Ocampo and gets to work for the
first time with Jericho Rosales.
"It's an exciting combination
and the role of Pilar is very challenging. Although I must admit na
nung una, I was a little apprehensive about our director (Cholo Laurel). He's from the advertising world
kasi. Pero as the shooting progressed, I discovered that for someone who's directing his first feature
film, he's really good," Claudine
shares in her birthday lunch with
the entertainment press in July (she
turned 25).
After the groundbreaking
fantaserye "Marina" bid farewell last
November, everyone has naturally
been anticipating the acknowledged
Teleserye Queen's return to primetime drama. Amid reports that she
is being tapped to do the small
screen adaptation of an old Vilma
Santos potboiler, "Kampanerang
Kuba," Claudine says she'd rather
take a much-deserved break first.
"Hindi ko na siguro gagawin
yun (Kampanerang Kuba) kasi
parang ang dami nang nakakaalam.
So iba naman. We'll do another
project."
Life these days, Claudine
adds, has never been as breezy. In
July, she became custodian to the
now-six-month-old Sabina Natasha.
"When I found her on my
doorstep, she was very, very thin.
She had diaper rashes, didn't even
know how to drink milk or suck
from a bottle!" Claudine recounts in
an exclusive story on StarStudio
magazine's October 2004 issue.
"They say, 'ang suwerte
naman ng batang yan,' not realizing
that I'm the lucky one. This is my
joy, my Sabina. She changed my
life."
Sabina's arrival, for one, signaled the end of a two-year animosity between Claudine and the Yans,
the family of her former boyfriend
Rico who died in his sleep two Holy
Weeks ago while vacationing on a
Palawan resort.
"It's not really important
who made the first move (between
me and Geraldine Yan, one of Rico's
two sisters). I appreciate the fact
that finally, there's closure."
The rift, however, among the
Barretto sisters (Gretchen Barretto
on one end and the whole Barretto
clan on the other) still awaits a similar closure. After Claudine aired
her side of the story in July, with
Gretchen answering back and their
mother Inday Barretto pouring her
heart out on the issue, the heat has
relatively simmered down.
Perhaps time will serve as
the ultimate healer. For now, Claudine is having the time of her life
playing motherhood to the hilt ("The
DR. EMILIA C. ESPIRITU
CHIRURGIEN DENTISTE / DENTAL SURGEON
5790 COTE DES NEIGES RD.,
SUITE A-024
MONTREAL, QUEBEC
H3S 1Y9
PHONE: 514-340-8222 (4077)
Email: [email protected]
December 2004
new rule in the house," she says, "is
that at 7:30 in the evening, it's all
lights out and only Mozart lullabies
can be heard.").
And very soon, sometime in
2006, marital bliss will be all hers
for the taking as she walks down
the aisle with fiancé Raymart Santiago in what promises to be the wedding event to watch out for. At long
last, the perennial bridesmaid in
her friends' weddings (she caught
the bouquet in Gladys Reyes' January 2004 wedding to Christopher
Rojas) will be playing the most
demanding role she could ever hope
Fernando Poe, the
Philippines’
Schwarzenegger
MANILA: Fernando Poe Jr, who
died on December 14, after having a
stroke, was one of the Philippines’
best known and best loved toughguy actors who topped a successful
acting career with a failed bid for
the presidency.
Supporters of Poe, who was 65
when he died in a Manila hospital,
worshipped him as the champion of
the underdog, a role he perfected on
the silver screen.
But his critics mocked him as a
dim-witted film star who would
have led the Philippines to ruin if he
had become president.
In a country in love with
celebrity, Poe was the biggest movie
star around, a self-made millionaire
who was loved by the man-in-thestreet for his depiction of heroes
who overcame huge odds to protect
the oppressed.
Known simply as “Da King” or
by his initials “FPJ”, Poe dropped
out of school at 15 and built a successful movie career and film business. His production company FPJ
Productions is said to be one of the
biggest in the country.
Outside of the Philippines, Poe
was a relatively unknown figure
until he decided to stand in this
year’s presidential election despite
his total lack of experience in politics. He promised very little to the
voters.
“Breakfast, lunch and dinner”
was the slogan of his faltering cam-
paign, which saw the actor blow a
huge opinion poll lead to arrive at
election day trailing incumbent Gloria Arroyo.
To the half of the Philippines’
population who live on under two
dollars a day, Poe’s simple message
offered hope and brought back
memories of Joseph Estrada, the
movie star president forced out of
office in 2001 by a military-backed
revolt.
Poe’s campaign was more about
showbiz than politics. His aides
were film stars, his bodyguards
stuntmen and he liked to pepper his
election speeches with some of his
most famous one-liners.
But he proved to be a disastrous candidate and lost the election to Arroyo by more than one million votes.
Some of his closest friends have
said that he was reluctant to stand
for the presidency and only did it as
a favour to his old friend and acting
buddy Estrada.
Born Ronald Allan Kelley Poe,
the son of film star Fernando Poe
and an American mother Elizabeth
Kelley, Poe always seemed destined
for a life in the movies.
He changed his name to Fernando Poe Junior to bank on his
father’s popularity.
He dropped out of high school
after his father died and took a job
as a messenger in a film exchange
office. Later he took bit parts as a
stuntman for Everlasting Pictures
before being given his first real acting role in the film “Son of Palaris”
in 1950.
Poe’s biggest break was in the
film “Lo Waist Gang” in 1956. It
marked the local cinemas shift from
the fantasy world of costume productions to the trendy realism of
action movies. He starred in some
200 films specialising in Robin
Hood-style guerrillas and honest
cops who overcame fearsome odds,
corrupt politicians and gangsters to
secure victory for the common man.
Just as Arnold Schwarzenegger
is “The Terminator”, Poe was “Panday” or “The Ironsmith”, a working
class hero who struck down challengers with a giant magic sword
modelled on King Arthur’s Excalibur.
Through his years in the spotlight, Poe had guarded his privacy
closely and tried to cultivate an
image of incorruptibility, revealing
little about his supposed storybook
marriage to fellow movie star Susan
Roces.
However the image slipped a little in February when Poe was forced
to admit he had fathered a child out
of wedlock with a minor starlet,
denting his reputation as “Mr
Clean.”
He leaves his wife and daughter,
Mary Grace.
Philippines sends
emissary to poll
Japanese business on
entertainers
Tuesday December 21, 6:36 PM
(Kyodo) _ The Philippines last
week dispatched to Japan one of
President
Gloria
MacapagalArroyo's advisers to get "the pulse
and sentiment" of Japanese entertainment-sector businessmen on
plans to impose stricter visa regulations on foreign entertainers, many
of whom come from the Philippines,
it was learned Tuesday.
The four-day visit to Japan by
Dante Ang, chairman of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, is
apparently part of government
preparations to ask Japan to recon-
Page 23
sider its plans to enforce stricter
rules that will include requiring
entertainers to show proof of two
years of training or two years of professional experience.
The Philippines has yet to formally convey to the Japanese government its position on the matter
although Filipino officials say they
have started efforts to seek reconsideration by Japan.
Ang said his trip to Japan consisted of "very quiet legwork."
"I did not meet officials. My task
was merely to feel the private sector
pulse...and also to help mobilize
public support in Japan," Ang said
in a telephone interview.
Ang was in Japan from last
Thursday to Sunday. He was sent
there by Arroyo "to see the real situation on the ground."
"We want to find out if the
Japanese businessmen share the
sentiment of their government," Ang
said.
Ang is preparing a set of recommendations to Arroyo that include
issuing a statement that the Philippine Embassy in Japan may use "to
correct" impressions of Filipino
entertainers.
"My recommendation is for the
government to issue a statement to
the effect that Filipinos are world
class entertainers. They undergo
rigid training before they are sent
there," he said.
Foreign
Affairs
Secretary
Alberto Romulo said the Philippines
may dispatch officials to ask Japan
to continue accepting Filipinos certified as entertainers in the Philippines.
Filipino entertainers and their
agencies fear the new Japanese
rules will render their certification
useless and eventually cause unemployment.
Page 24
Tourism V-12
Sons and Daughters
WW II, VFP
Col. Camilo Tiqui (Ret.)
Bomber is gone!
Where is Bob? Josephine, are
you still in California? Taciana
Ignacio, and Bomber can no longer
be able to attend yearly reunions in
Tarlac with governor Aping (Jose)
Yap to reminisce on WWII and the
Liberation. Capas Memorial Monument is now naturally beautiful
with environmental values because
of Conservation Consciousness of
the Boy Scouts and Reservists of
the Philippines.
This August 2004 marked the
30th year of looking up to a reunion
with cousins born in the Philippines
during the year of WWII and the
Liberation (1944 - 1946). Taciana,
Ignacio, and cousin Bomber are
gone. Like President Manuel. Quezon, who was born on August 19th
, they share their lives to eternity.
We can say they died with their
"Boots on" in North America, which
the Filipino Star would record in the
history of civilization. They are partakers in the Great Generation
which the Washington D.C. Memorial for WWII veterans will honor this
year's opening.
Taciana (a Jew) an Immigration
Canada Judge during Prime Minister Mulroney's time, and her
brother Ignacio (Joe) Tiqui, Litton
Systems computer scientist responsible for the realization of the Sampaguita Filipino Village of Mississauga for senior citizens in Ontario;
and Bomber (Ocampo) Moran,
action Villain movie actor will be
missed. Their "Spirits Live On" with
us, as we splash into the China Sea
that beats on the sandy beaches of
Zambales at San Antonio and
Capones Islands, this coming Summer vacation in the Philippines.
VFP Tourism V-12 starts in November till April (Fall of Bataan) to reminisce onWWI - WWII.
By the way, as a memorial note,
Bomber Moran, was chubby,
strong, handsome, energetic, cute,
with curly hair,, moreno, during his
childhood, and rode horses in Tarlac. He was born when B-29s were
carpet bombing strong fortifications
set by theJapanese War machine in
Manila and Okinawa. He grew in
San Juan and Mandalayong and a
friend of the Estradas. He served
with the Bureau of Customs when
Erap was President. He immigrated
to the U.S. (after Pres. Joseph
Estrada stepped down from Malacanang). Cecilia, his mother (widowed by Roming Ocampo) resides
permanently in California and used
to visit the Philippines to have
reunions with Eduard (Amang of
the NBI), Brother Anong's children
and their families, and Ruben
Nu?ez Clan. Danny Ocampo, a
Barangay captain in Mandaluyong
will take care of the remains of
Bomber. Cecilia, a cousin of Gen
Marcos Villa Agustin (the famous
Marking Guerrilla Comdr) served
the underground, and met Roming
Ocampo in Pangasinan preparing
for Gen Douglas MacArthu's Lingayen landing. Bomber is a son of
WWII veteran freedom fighter clan
of Luzon.
Bob and Josephine (knee Tiqui),
leave a note with the Filipino Star
of North America, and share with us
(son and daughters of WWII) your
present status. Telephone Gilmore
College (514-485-7861) and give
your support to "Investing in Conservation" to solve mass poverty in
our home country of our roots.
December 2004
The intangible gifts
of Christmas
Some evening between now and
Dec. 24, I have a seasonal date with
domesticity. I'll set up the ironing
board, turn the iron dial to Linen,
put on a CD of the "Messiah," and
begin a mundane but pleasurable
task: ironing yards and yards of a
damask cloth that will grace our
Christmas dining table.
As the iron sweeps rhythmically
over the damp cloth, little puffs of
steam rise, along with little puffs of
memories. This annual reverie of
Christmases past recalls other holiday tables the cloth has covered as
it made its way from my grandparents' home to my parents' to ours.
It's a chance to consider the intangible gifts of Christmas passed
along from generation to generation.
In this case, it's the gift of hospitality, symbolized by the tablecloth.
Who can say how many family
members and friends have come
together around this shiny damask
over the decades, or how much conversation and laughter they have
shared? The word family is stitched
invisibly along its length.
It's also a reminder that the best
Christmas memories often have little to do with presents under the
tree - though don't tell that to the
December 2004
merchants hoping to ring up an
estimated $220 billion in sales this
season.
As the snowy fabric spills over
the ironing board, I think of another
cherished holiday legacy: the gift of
culinary traditions. Our recipe box
holds my mother's Christmas
favorites, handwritten on 3-by-5inch cards in her neat script: Cranberry Pudding, Spritz Cookies,
Snow Drops, Cranberry Bread.
Nothin' says lovin' like something
from the oven, according to Pillsbury, and for most of us, Mom's (or
Dad's) holiday cooking says it best.
In the living room, my father's
Christmas songbook in the piano
bench offers another holiday legacy:
music.
To flip through pages of traditional carols, along with sheet
music for popular favorites, is to
recall Christmas Eve sessions
round the piano, singing everything
from "Silent Night" to "Winter Wonderland." Never mind if we were
sometimes off-key; it's the family
spirit that counts.
And then there's the all-important legacy of charitable giving,
passed down by parental example.
No holiday shopping outing as a
child was complete until we had
made a donation, however small, to
the red Salvation Army kettle, or
placed a small toy in a Toys for Tots
barrel. The kettles and barrels
offered visible evidence that other
families needed help.
Now that Target and some shopping centers are banning red kettles, how do children learn about
this kind of sharing?
Finally, there's the legacy of the
family Christmas tree itself. Humble
or grand, a Christmas tree is an act
of generosity - time-consuming and
often messy, but irreplaceable as a
conveyer of traditions. (Memo to
grandparents everywhere: Be careful about the traditions you jettison.
If you do give up trees, offer your
ornaments to your children and
grandchildren. How I wish I had an
ornament from each of my
grandmothers' trees to hang on our
own.)
As the final wrinkles disappear
from the tablecloth and I turn off
the iron, I know that damask is
probably an endangered species:
too much work for a permanentpress era. No matter. It's not the
fabric that counts, but the act of
gathering around the table, reaffirming connections and a seasonal
truth:
Long after the gifts under the
tree are used up, worn out, outgrown, or given away, the unwrappable holiday offerings - hospitality,
favorite recipes, music, charity, and
trees - will go on giving.
Page 25
Happy birthday, Rommel
on your Natal Day, November 11
From Dad and Letty
Rommel owns a small business in OAKVILLE, Ontario. He rebuilds race
cars from scrapped old autos of FORD with brother Napoleon. His shop,
TAG Motor Sports, is well operated. Both brothers were BSP delegates to
Norway ‘’74 Jamboree. They intend to visit the trees they planted on Makabulos mountains of Patling (O’Donnel) Capas, Tarlac 30 years ago. They
will plant mango trees for Philippine conservation and eco-tourism in Central Luzon in April 2005.
Page
26
The True Story of Santa Claus
begins with Nicholas
The true story of Santa Claus
begins with Nicholas, who was born
during the third century in Patara, a village in what is now Turkey. His wealthy
parents, who raised him to be a devout
Christian, died in an epidemic while
Nicholas was still young. Obeying
Jesus' words to "sell what you own and
give the money to the poor," Nicholas
used his whole inheritance to assist the
needy, the sick, and the suffering. He
dedicated his life to serving God and
was made Bishop of Myra while still a
young man. Bishop Nicholas became
known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and
ships. Under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who ruthlessly persecuted
Christians, Bishop Nicholas suffered for
his faith, was exiled and imprisoned.
The prisons were so full of bishops,
priests, and deacons, there was no
room for the real criminals -- murderers, thieves and robbers. After his
release, Nicholas attended the Council
of Nicaea in 325 AD. He died December
6, 343 AD in Myra and was buried in his
cathedral church, where a unique relic,
called manna, formed in his grave. This
liquid substance was said to have healing powers which fostered the growth of
devotion to Nicholas. The anniversary of
his death became a day of celebration,
St. Nicholas Day.
Through the centuries many stories
and legends have been told of St.
Nicholas' life and deeds. These accounts
help us understand his extraordinary
character and why he is so beloved and
revered as protector and helper of those
in need.
One story tells of a poor man with
three daughters. In those days a young
woman's father had to offer prospective
husbands something of value -- a
dowry. The larger the dowry, the better
the chance that a young woman would
find a good husband. Without a dowry,
a woman was unlikely to marry. This
poor man's daughters, without dowries,
were therefore destined to be sold into
slavery. Mysteriously, on three different
occasions, a bag of gold appeared in
their home -- providing the needed
dowries. The bags of gold, tossed
through an open window, are said to
have landed in stockings or shoes left
before the fire to dry. This led to the
custom of children hanging stockings or
putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts
from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the
story is told with gold balls instead of
bags of gold. That is why three gold
balls, sometimes represented as
oranges, are one of the symbols for St.
Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a giftgiver.
One of the oldest stories tells of the
townspeople of Myra celebrating the
good saint on the eve of St. Nicholas'
feast day. A band of Arab pirates from
Crete had come into the district. They
stole treasures from the Church of Saint
Nicholas to take away as booty. As they
were leaving town, they snatched a
young boy, Basilios, to make into a
slave. The emir, or ruler, selected Basilios to be his personal cupbearer. As he
did not know the language, Basilios
would not understand what the king
said to those around him. So, for the
next year Basilios waited on the king,
bringing his wine in a beautiful golden
cup. For Basilios' parents, devastated at
the loss of their only child, the year
passed slowly, filled with grief. As the
next St. Nicholas' feast day approached,
Basilios' mother would not join in the
festivity, as it was now a day of tragedy.
However, she was persuaded to have a
simple observance at home, with quiet
prayers for Basilios' safekeeping. Meanwhile, as Basilios was fulfilling his tasks
serving the emir, he was suddenly
whisked up and away. St. Nicholas
appeared to the terrified boy, blessed
him, and set him down at his home
back in Myra. Imagine the joy and wonderment when Basilios amazingly
appeared before his parents, still holding the king's golden cup. This is the
first story told of St. Nicholas protecting
children -- which became his primary
role in the West.
Another story tells of three theological students, traveling on their way to
study in Athens. A wicked innkeeper
robbed and murdered them, hiding
their remains in a large pickling tub. It
so happened that Bishop Nicholas, traveling along the same route, stopped at
this very inn. In the night he dreamed of
the crime, got up, and summoned the
innkeeper. As Nicholas prayed earnestly
to God the three boys were restored to
life and wholeness. In France the story
is told of three small children, wandering in their play until lost, lured, and
captured by an evil butcher. St.
Nicholas appears and appeals to God to
return them to life and to their families.
And so St. Nicholas is the patron and
protector of children.
Several stories tell of Nicholas and
the sea. When he was young, Nicholas
sought the holy by making a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land. There as he walked
where Jesus walked, he sought to more
deeply experience Jesus' life, passion,
and resurrection. Returning by sea, a
mighty storm threatened to wreck the
ship. Nicholas calmly prayed. The terrified sailors were amazed when the wind
and waves suddenly calmed, sparing
them all. And so St. Nicholas is the
patron of sailors and voyagers.
Other stories tell of Nicholas saving
his people from famine, sparing the
lives of those innocently accused, and
much more. He did many kind and generous deeds in secret, expecting nothing
in return. Within a century of his death
he was celebrated as a saint. Today he
is venerated in the East as wonder, or
miracle worker and in the West as
patron of a great variety of persons-children, mariners, bankers, pawn-brokers,
scholars, orphans, laborers, travelers,
merchants, judges, paupers, marriageable maidens, students, children,
sailors, victims of judicial mistakes,
captives, perfumers, even thieves and
murderers! He is known as the friend
and protector of all in trouble or need
(see list).
Sailors, claiming St. Nicholas as
patron, carried stories of his favor and
protection far and wide. St. Nicholas
chapels were built in many seaports. As
his popularity spread during the Middle
Ages, he became the patron saint of
Apulia (Italy), Sicily, Greece, and Lorraine (France), and many cities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Belgium, and the Netherlands (see
list). Following his baptism in Constantinople, Vladimir I of Russia brought St.
Nicholas' stories and devotion to St.
Nicholas to his homeland where
Nicholas became the most beloved
saint. Nicholas was so widely revered
that more than 2,000 churches were
named for him, including 300 in Belgium, 34 in Rome, 23 in the Netherlands and more than 400 in England.
December 2004
Nicholas' tomb in Myra became a
popular place of pilgrimage. Because of
the many wars and attacks in the
region, some Christians were concerned
that access to the tomb might become
difficult. For both the religious and
commercial advantages of a major pilgrimage site, the Italian cities of Venice
and Bari vied to get the Nicholas relics.
In the spring of 1087, sailors from Bari
succeeded in spiriting away the bones,
bringing them to Bari, a seaport on the
southeast coast of Italy. An impressive
church was built over St. Nicholas'
crypt and many faithful journeyed to
honor the saint who had rescued children, prisoners, sailors, famine victims,
and many others through his compassion, generosity, and the countless miracles attributed to his intercession. The
Nicholas shrine in Bari was one of
medieval Europe's great pilgrimage centers and Nicholas became known as
"Saint in Bari." To this day pilgrims and
tourists visit Bari's great Basilica di San
Nicola.
Through the centuries St. Nicholas
has continued to be venerated by
Catholics and Orthodox and honored by
Protestants. By his example of generosity to those in need, especially children,
St. Nicholas continues to be a model for
the compassionate life.
Widely celebrated in Europe, St.
Nicholas' feast day, December sixth,
kept alive the stories of his goodness
and generosity. In Germany and Poland,
boys dressed as bishops begged alms
for the poor-and sometimes for themselves! In the Netherlands and Belgium,
St. Nicholas arrived on a steamship
from Spain to ride a white horse on his
gift-giving rounds. December sixth is
still the main day for gift giving and
merrymaking in much of Europe. For
example, in the Netherlands St.
Nicholas' Day is celebrated with the
sharing of candies (thrown in the door),
chocolate initial letters, small gifts, and
riddles. Dutch children leave carrots
and hay in their shoes for the horse,
hoping St. Nicholas will exchange them
for small gifts. Simple gift-giving in early
Advent helps preserve a Christmas Day
focus on the Christ Child.
December 2004
Page
27
HANDOG PASALAMAT NG
SM
SERVICES CANADA
MALIGAYANG PASKO 2004
Handog pasalamat ng SM Services Canada ngayong Pasko
SM started as a small company with the main desire of serving the Filipino community in Montreal. It was
the thought of myself being miles away from my family, longing to provide and make them happy even in my
absence that drove me to establish SM Services Canada. Though how hard the struggles were, surpassing
many winters ... all these were nothing compared to the happiness and comfort that we were able to extend to
our loved ones back home.
The past years have been fruitful because of the support and trust you gave me. I just wanted to give it
back to you. I want us to continue sharing the fruits of our labor to our “kababayan.” Knowing the ongoing
economic crdisis in our country, I’ve started the SM Scholarship Grant last year in my hometown which is sending poor but deserving students to school. A dollar out of every box we send goes to the education expenses of
these students.
This year, SM is giving a special promotion which will provide extraordinary low delivery rates for your
balikbayan boxes. This is my own little way of thanking each and everyone for your loyalty.
Here’s wishing you love, joy and the peace of this Blessed Season.
With all sincerity, I remain your brother, your family, your friend in Montreal.
Sol Mendoza
Sol Mendoza
SPECIAL RATES EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2005
MANILA - $59.99
OUTSIDE METRO MANILA - $84.99
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Tawag na kayo!!! Sa serbisyong mabilis,
segurado at mura pa --- magaan sa bulsa.
SUBOK NA MATIBAY
SUBOK NA MATATAG
514-928-4318
OFFICE / WAREHOUSE
3150 DE MINIAC
VILLE ST. LAURENT, QC
Less
$10.00
Hatid sa
warehouse
OTTAWA * MONTREAL * QUEBEC CITY * HALIFAX * NEW BRUNSWICK
Page 28
Build your future today!
Enroll now at Gilmore College
Call 514-485-7861
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année.
Maligayang Pasko sa inyong lahat!
Gilmore College Administration
December 2004
•
International Trade
(C.I.T.P.)
•
Office Automation
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Language Courses -
•
Accounting/Bookkeeping
•
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Computerized
English, French, Spanish
Mandarin, Tagalog
Account-
ACCPAC Simply Accounting
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Microsoft Office
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Desktop Publishing
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Legal or Medical Secretary
Word, Excel, Access,
Powerpoint
Studetns and alumni with their family and friends at their annual Christmas party, Dec. 12, 2004
Gilmore College
4950 Queen Mary Road Penthouse
Gilmore College is an accredited delivery partner of
the Forum for International Trade Training. (FITT).
Montreal, Quebec H3W 1X3
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: www.gilmorecollege.com
Established 1989
Fax: 514-485-3076
Snowdon

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