The Filipino Express v28 Issue 35

Transcription

VOL. 28 w
NO. 35 w
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014 w
NATIONAL EDITION w
NEW JERSEY w
NEW YORK w
(201) 434-1114 w
$1.00
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. AFP photo
Santiago: I've licked cancer,
I may run for president
By Maila Ager
New California law lets
undocumented to apply
for driver's license
Takes effect January 1, 2015
Seen as a public safety measure
Debate on implementation details still going on
“I have licked cancer, and I'm
actually thinking of several career
By Harvey I. Barkin
The new law, Assembly Bill Connecticut have adapted
MANILA -- Just barely two months options. By 2016, I will be disqualified
60
(AB60),
allows any 16-year- similar laws.
before announcing she had Stage 4 lung by law to seek another term as senator,”
SUNNYVALE, California -- A old with no criminal record to
In 1993 Republican thencancer, Senator Miriam Defensor- Santiago said in a statement on
new
law
will
take
effect
on
get
a
driver's
license
from
DMV
Governor
Pete Wilson required
Santiago said she has now overcome it Wednesday, August 27. Last July 2, the
January 1, 2015 allowing if he or she is able to prove applicants to have a Social
and is now considering running for senator called a press conference to
practically anyone, even those identity and residency in the Security card and legal status
president in 2016.
u
Page 4
who can't prove they are in the state within six months of before they can get a driver's
US legally, to apply for driver's application.
license from DMV.
license.
Governor Jerry Brown
Current Los Angeles City
A forum to make the public signed the bill into law in Council member, then-State
aware of the new law was held October last year. It was Assembly member Gil Cedillo
recently by the Sunnyvale authored by State Assembly proposed a bill to allow
C o m m u n i t y S e r v i c e s , m e m b e r L u i s A l e j o ( D - undocumented aliens to get
Department of Motor Vehicles Watsonville). To date, Nevada, driver's licenses, which then(DMV), the Mexican Consulate Oregon, Washington DC, New Governor Gray Davis signed in
a n d I m m i g ra n t R i g h t s & Mexico, Colorado, Maryland, 2003. But after Davis was
Education Network (SIREN).
Vermont, Utah, Illinois and
Homeland Security chief vows to take a 'hard look' at request
u
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Fil-Am, 10 others appeal
for deportation deferral
By Jun Medina
Jose Antonio Vargas
WASHINGTON, DC -- Prominent
Filipino journalist and activist Jose
A n t o n i o Va r g a s a n d 1 0 o t h e r
u n d o c u m e n t e d i m m i g ra n t s o n
Wednesday, August 20 appealed for
deportation deferrals and the inclusion
of most of the 11 million
undocumented immigrants in any
executive action to reduce
deportations.
In a letter to Homeland Security
chief Jeh Johnson, the 11 who came
from across the nation asked for
deferred action to allow them to stay in
the country “we call home.”
Vargas, and the 10 others outlined
their case during a press conference
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House OKs 3 impeachment
complaints against Aquino
By DJ Yap
MANILA -- The three
impeachment complaints against
President Aquino passed the first
hurdle on Tuesday, August 26 after
these were found to be sufficient in
form by the justice committee of the
House of Representatives in spite of
some technical defects.
Administration lawmakers said
t h ey exe rc i s e d t h e “ s p i r i t o f
liberalism” in ruling favorably on the
impeachment complaints, the first
ones to be filed against Aquino for
culpable violation of the Constitution,
graft and corruption, and betrayal of
public trust.
The committee chaired by Iloilo
Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. voted 53-1, with
A vendor arranges eggs for sale at a wet market in Manila on Thursday, August 28, 2014. The Philippine economy
bounced back to post 6.4 percent growth in April to June, the second-highest in Asia despite “underspending” by
the government, authorities said. AFP photo/Noel Celis
PH regains spot as SE Asia's best-performing economy
one abstention, and 42-7, with four
abstentions, in favor of the sufficiency
By Paolo G. Montecillo
6.16 percent, a poll by the the distinction with Malaysia.
of form of the first two impeachment
Inquirer
this week showed. In
China was Asia's fastest
complaints. The body approved the
M A N I L A - - E c o n o m i c January to March, the economy with a 7.5-percent expansion in
third complaint unanimously.
g r o w t h w a s f a s t e r t h a n grew by a revised 5.6 percent.
the second quarter.
At a news briefing,
expected in the second quarter,
“Coming from a high base,
This year, the government's
Communications Secretary Herminio
d r i v e n b y t h e s t r o n g growth shows the economy is growth target is 6.5 to 7.5
C o l o m a s a i d M a l a c a ñ a n g wa s
manufacturing sector, putting back to its higher trajectory,” percent, a goal officials are
prepared for whatever the outcome of
the country back on track to S o c i o e c o n o m i c P l a n n i n g confident can still be met. The
the impeachment complaints.
meeting state targets.
Secretary Arsenio Balisacan International Monetary Fund
“According to our laws, [the House
The Philippine Statistics said at a press conference. “This and the World Bank expect the
of Representatives] is the branch of
Authority (PSA) on Thursday, bodes well for economic country to grow below target.
government with jurisdiction over
August 28 reported that the growth.”
With first-semester growth
this. Let us just wait for their decision,”
country's
gross
domestic
In
the
second
quarter
of
last
at
6
percent, the country would
Coloma said of Congress which is
product (GDP), which measures year, the Philippine economy have to expand by 6.9 percent in
dominated by Aquino's political allies.
all the money made in the rose by 7.9 percent, the fastest the second half for state targets
Members of the justice committee
economy, expanded by 6.4 in Asia at the time. The to be met, the PSA said.
agreed to overlook certain
percent.
Philippines regained its spot as
The Philippine economy
deficiencies, which could be
Av e r a g e f o r e c a s t s b y S o u t h e a s t A s i a ' s b e s t - grew 6.8 percent in 2012 and
u
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Page 7
analysts put expected growth at performing economy, sharing 7.2 percent in 2013. u
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 2
THE FILIPINO EXPRESS
Why 6 million signatures
are needed versus pork
barrel system?
By Tetch Torres-Tupas
the President cannot reject it (has no veto
power) and Congress cannot repeal it.
MANILA -- Anti-pork groups are
Citing Article VI Section 1 of the 1987
targeting the passage of a law abolishing
Constitution, he said that “the legislative
the pork barrel system that cannot be
power shall be vested in the Congress of
rejected by the President or be repealed by
the Philippines which shall consist of a
GOLDEN PIG AS NEW IDOL. Members of organizations taking part in the “Stand Up, Sign Up” people's
Congress.
Senate and a House of Representatives,
initiative against all forms of pork barrel at Rizal Park in Manila take cover from the heat under a giant
Integrated
Bar
of
the
Philippines
except
to the extent reserved to the people
papier-mâché golden pig. Richard A. Reyes
President Vicente Joyas said that is why it
by the provision on initiative and
is important to gather the required
referendum.”
number of signatures for the people's
The campaign for gathering the
initiative against pork barrel for the move
signature will not end on Monday's rally in
to succeed.
Luneta.
The 1987 Constitution provides for the
Colmenares said signature gathering
passage of a law through a people's
will continue and the groups' target of
initiative, or a petition by “at least twelve
submitting it to the Commission on
per centum of the total number of
Elections (Comelec) will be on December.
registered voters, of which every
At the protest rally, tents have been set
By Leila B. Salaverria
the pork barrel because the government and
legislative
district
must
be
represented
by
up
per area and per district where
Congress would not despite a Supreme
at least three per centum of the registered
participants can sign in their respective
MANILA -- Outrage over the pork barrel Court ruling last year that the system was
voters therein.” Currently, there are 234
districts.
is not enough. Filipinos must turn out and unconstitutional.
legislative
districts.
Atty. Pete Principe, national President
sign up for a people's initiative for the
Thousands of protesters including
The proposed act will prohibit all
of the Philippine Trial Lawyers Association
enactment of a law that would abolish once activists and clergy gathered at the park to
forms of pork barrel, defined as the use of
said signing per district is necessary to
and for all that source of political patronage denounce the pork barrel, which they
“lump sum public funds” under the “sole
make it easier for Comelec to verify the
and official corruption.
blamed for the deepening poverty in the
discretion of the President, legislator or
signatures.
That was the message from the country.
group of legislators, or any public officer.”
The Comelec, in turn, will call for a
organizers of the protest against the pork
They also launched a campaign to
Six million signatures are needed for
referendum a few months after the
barrel held at Rizal Park in Manila on gather 6 million signatures to support a
this initiative.
submission of the petition for the act
Monday, August 25.
people's initiative bill that would abolish the
Bayan Muna Representative Neri
abolishing the pork barrel system.
It was National Heroes' Day and the pork barrel. That target represents 10
Colmenares, on the other hand said the
Inquirer.net
message was intended to encourage all percent of the total number of registered
anti-pork barrel act is significant because
Filipinos to take up the initiative to abolish
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Page 4
Protesters say outrage
over pork not enough
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Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 3
Ombudsman: New evidence in
fertilizer scam to ‘shock world’
By Marc Jayson Cayabyab
MANILA -- The anticorruption agency has found
new strong and “shocking”
evidence against former
Agriculture Secretary Luis
“Cito” Lorenzo and
Undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante on the alleged
fertilizer fund scam,
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio
Morales said on Thursday,
August 28.
Morales said she believes
the Sandiganbayan still found
irregularities in the fertilizer
funds and clarified that the
court has not yet dismissed the
case.
“The Sandiganbayan is
aware that there is fraud and
irregularity… It did not dismiss
t he ca se b ut wa nt s t he
Ombudsman to submit more
evidence. And they are ready to
do that,” Morales said during
their budget hearing in the
House of Representatives on
Thursday.
She added that the agency
has only strengthened its case
with newly found evidence.
“We have newly discovered
evidence. We have only
strengthened our case. It will
Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II speaks in a press briefing in Camp Crame.
Julliane Love De Jesus
Binay-Villar tandem?
Roxas turns a deaf ear
Investigation and Detection Group
(CIDG).
MANILA -- Interior Secretary
But the media prodded Roxas to
fertilizer funds allegedly to the
Manuel “Mar” Roxas II on Thursday, comment on the issue which came after
campaign kitty of former
August 28 declined to comment on the Roxas' political nemesis appointed on
President Gloria Arroyo.
possibility
that former Senator Manny Wednesday Cavite Governor Jonvic
On May 2, the Ombudsman
Villar
would
be Vice President Jejomar Remulla as his official spokesperson.
dismissed for lack of evidence
Binay's
running
mate for the 2016
Remulla is a member of the
the graft complaint against
elections.
Nacionalista Party. Villar is the
Arroyo in connection with the
In a press briefing in Camp Crame, president of the coalition.
scam.
Roxas
deliberately skipped the topic
During the 2010 national elections,
Lawyer Frank Chavez (now
and said, “are there any questions on Villar, who was then running for
deceased) filed the plunder
PNP (Philippine National Police)?”
president, considered a tie-up with
case, naming Bolante as one of
The
Department
of
the
Interior
and
Binay
but ended up choosing Senator
those who signed the papers
Local Government (DILG) secretary Loren Legarda.
for the release and disposition
held a presser at the PNP headquarters
Roxas, currently the Liberal Party's
of the funds. Bolante fled to the
to
present
the
recent
accomplishments
president-on-leave,
lost to Binay when
United States before a Senate
of the National Capital Police Region he ran for the vice president position
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Page 5
Office (NCRPO) and the Criminal also in 2010. Inquirer.net
Former Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. Inquirer photo
surely shock the world,”
Morales said.
The anti-graft court gave
them 60 days to beef up their
case against the two former
officials under the Arroyo
administration.
“We have a strong case. We
are not filing a case if we don't
have a strong case,” Morales
said.
The Sandiganbayan found
no probable cause to hold
Lorenzo and Bolante on trial
for plunder on the purported
diversion of P728 million
By Julliane Love De Jesus
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 4
concerned, there were no favors.
They stole [our] thunder to make it
appear they were giving us a favor.
This is not a favor to the Filipino
people. This is a duty on the part of
the committee to look beyond these
trivial, trifling details,” he told
reporters.
House Oks ...
From page 1
considered “not fatal,” such as the
names of organizations appearing in
the endorsement sheet instead of
individual complainants in the first
complaint, and the lack of
documents properly verifying the
identities of the complainants in the
second.
All three impeachment
complaints were endorsed by
m e m b e r s o f t h e M a k a b aya n
opposition bloc and filed by their
allies.
DAP, Edca
The first two complaints were
filed in connection with the
Disbursement Acceleration Program
(DAP), which the Supreme Court
declared unconstitutional in July,
while the third was related to the
Enhanced Defense Cooperation
Agreement (Edca) allowing the US
military greater access to Filipino
bases nationwide.
The DAP and Edca issues are
subjects of motions for
reconsideration in the Supreme
Court.
A fourth impeachment
complaint filed by Alliance of
Concerned Teachers Rep. Antonio
Tinio accusing Aquino of continuing
t h e p o rk b a rre l sys te m wa s
considered submitted late and not
referred to the committee for action.
In the initial round of
deliberations, Ilocos Norte Rep.
Rodolfo Fariñas, vice chair of the
committee, pointed out that the first
set of complainants had signed the
complaint in their individual
capacities and not on behalf of their
organizations.
For example, Bagong Alyansang
Protesters
say outrage ...
From page 2
voters, including 3 percent of all
voters in each congressional
district, as required under the
initiative and referendum law.
For insurance, however,
sponsors of the campaign said
they would gather 10 million
signatures, as the Commission
on Elections (Comelec) could
q u e s t i o n a n d t h ro w o u t
millions of suspect signatures.
Pork barrel allocations
were supposed to pay for
d eve l o p m e n t p ro j e c t s i n
congressional districts, but P10
billion was allegedly siphoned
off the Priority Development
Assistance Fund (PDAF) into
the pockets of legislators in
c o n n i v a n c e w i t h
businesswoman Janet LimNapoles over a period of 10
years.
Inquirer exposé
The pork barrel scam was
exposed by the Inquirer last
year, leading to plunder and
graft charges being filed against
Napoles and Senators Juan
Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada
and Bong Revilla, their senior
staff and dozens of former and
current department officials.
But the pork barrel, despite
the Supreme Court's
declaration last year that the
PDAF was unconstitutional,
remains, with P20.7 billion
being retained in the 2014
budget and billions suspected
to be inserted into the P2.6trillion budget for 2015.
IMPEACHMENT TALK. Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. (fourth from left), chair of the House
committee on justice, stresses a point to Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares (2nd
from left) during deliberations on the impeachment complaints against President
Aquino. The committee found the complaints sufficient in form. With Tupas and
Colmenares are Nathaniel Santiago and Renato Reyes of Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan and Quezon Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte. Lyn Rillon
Makabayan (Bayan) secretary
general Renato Reyes signed the
complaint as “I, Renato Reyes,” and
not on behalf of Bayan.
But the resolutions of Bayan
Muna Representatives Neri
Colmenares and Carlos Zarate,
Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap and
Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan endorsed
the complaint of “Bayan,” and not
“ Reye s ,” m e a n i n g t h ey we re
endorsing an impeachment
complaint filed by a “nonexistent
party,” Fariñas said.
Spirit of liberalism
Fariñas then proposed that the
complainants be allowed to correct
the error “in the spirit of liberalism”
in a motion received generally
favorably by the body, whose
members included several
lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Party
(LP).
But Colmenares, the senior
deputy minority leader, did not
Reports of the continued
existence of the pork barrel
sparked the public outrage that
led to Monday's protest at Rizal
Park.
Smaller crowd
Organizers said almost
20,000 people joined the
protest, but observers said the
crowd was much smaller, with
police putting it at about 5,000
at its peak.
The crowd, which included
nuns, priests and lawyers, was
significantly smaller than a
similar protest held at the park
a year ago that attracted 80,000
to 100,000 people.
Monday's ralliers came
from various schools including
the University of the
Philippines and University of
Santo Tomas, the Catholic
Church, Integrated Bar of the
Philippines, Concerned Citizens
Movement, Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan (Bayan), Gabriela,
Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and
a group of taxi drivers.
Some beauty queens were
also seen in the crowd. Maria
Isabel Lopez and Azenith
Briones joined the protest and
signed the people's initiative
bill.
“We are taxpayers, and it's
hard to know where our taxes
go. President Aquino should
prove what he says that if no
[official] is corrupt, there are no
poor people,” Lopez said.
“Let us wake up. If we
remain blind and deaf to the
times, nothing will happen to
the Philippines. The poor will
become poorer. We should
oppose the pork barrel and the
corruption attached to it
appear to appreciate the gesture.
He said the complaint should be
considered sufficient in form “as it
is,” since the endorsement sheet
clearly was referring only to the
impeachment complaint it was
attached to.
“ We b e l i eve t h a t t h e
endorsement resolution is valid as it
is, because the essence of the act is
not the letters… What if we made a
mistake in the spelling? Would the
impeachment complaint be
considered insufficient in form?” he
said.
In the end, the committee voted
in favor of the sufficiency of form of
the complaint “as amended.”
No favors
Human rights lawyer Edre Olalia,
a counsel of the first set of
complainants, said it was not a case
of the administration party giving
them favors.
“As far as the counsels are
because it's only [the
politicians] who benefit from
it,” Briones said.
By noon, about 5,000
people had signed up for the
people's initiative, and
organizers said the drive for
more signatures would
continue.
The National Capital
Region Police Office (NCRPO)
said the rally was “generally
peaceful.”
Lack of ID
On the second complaint,
C a g aya n d e O r o Re p . Ru f u s
Rodriguez objected to the lack of
identification documents of the
complainants.
He noted that under the rules of
court, the complainants should have
provided supporting documents
proving their identities, such as a
driver's license, a Professional
Regulation Commission ID, a
National Bureau of Investigation
clearance, or a police clearance.
Rodriguez said these
requirements were satisfied by the
first and third sets of complainants,
but “in the second complaint, there is
none.”
At this point, some LP members
were feeling less liberal, arguing that
the opposition was being given too
much leeway.
Precedent
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben
Evardone said: “While we in the LP
exercise liberalism… impeachment
is a very important case. We're
impeaching no less than the
President, the highest official of the
land.
“Earlier, we gave you leeway…
can we do that for every
complainant? I think we should not
set a bad precedent. We should
f o l l o w r u l e s b e c a u s e w e' r e
impeaching no less than the
President,” he said.
Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez
Santiago ... From page 1
announce that she was suffering from
Stage 4 lung cancer.
After her oncologists issued a
diagnosis on lung cancer, Santiago said she
was placed on medication called Tarceva
(aka Erlotinib) for six weeks, at only one
table a day.
Last August 12, she said, St. Luke's
Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City
issued a report on a PET/CT Scan stating
that the tumor in her “left lung has
regressed,” meaning that it has become
smaller.
“The latest lab test shows that the
cancer cells are waving a white flag. During
this time, I only have to work on my
stamina . During the six-week period of
treatment, I was even able to work on the
2014 editions of some 10 law books which
are scheduled for release by the end of the
year,” she said.
“I'm not going to be coy. Society leaders
have urged me to seek the presidency. I can
rise to the occasion, although I was
following the other sign posts on the road
proposed a “way out” for the
minority. He said under the rules,
verification of the identity of the
complainants could be accomplished
by having the endorser, Kabataan
Rep. Terry Ridon, vouch personally
for the identities of the 15
complainants.
Explaining his “no” vote, Iloilo
City Rep. Jerry Treñas wondered why
the majority was being too lenient.
“Precisely if there is a defect as to
the sufficiency of form, how can we
vote for sufficiency in form? If there
is none, there is none,” he said in a
tautology that elicited laughs from
the body.
3rd complaint
When the turn of the third
impeachment complaint came, Leyte
Rep. Sergio Apostol, a deputy
speaker, also provoked laughter
when he said that “since we're
already approving everything, under
the spirit of liberality, I move that we
approve the third impeachment
complaint.”
This prompted a rejoinder from
Tupas, who said: “This is an
impeachment complaint. We should
not trivialize this proceeding.”
Substance next
An impeachment complaint is
considered sufficient in form if it
satisfies the documentary
requirements such as the
verification and signatures of the
complainants, and the signatures of
the endorsing lawmakers in the
resolution of endorsement.
Next week, the justice committee
will determine the sufficiency of
substance of the impeachment
complaints. That condition is met if
an impeachment complaint is found
to contain “a recital of facts
constituting offense charged and
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Page 5
to recovery,” said the senator.
Santiago said she would run for
president in 2016 if there are enough likeminded people such as Fr. Joaquin Bernas
who will support her.
The senator was reacting to Bernas'
remarks that President Aquino should no
longer seek a second term and to “give
Miriam naman a chance.”
While she has always ran for public
office under her own People's Reform
Party, this time, Santiago said she would
need to coalesce with one or both among
the Liberal Party headed by
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio
Abaya, and the Nacionalista Party led by
former Senator Manny Villar.
“After I was diagnosed with cancer, Sen.
Manny went to my house and told me,
among other things, that my popularity
level is very high. But he also said that he is
encouraging several hopefuls to raise their
survey ratings,” Santiago said.
Quoting from a poem that she recited
during the funeral ceremonies for her son
who died at 23 years old, Santiago said:
“Do not stand at my grave and weep; I am
not there. I do not sleep.” Inquirer.net
Public fatigue
Monet Silvestre,
spokesman for the Abolish Pork
Movement, said the smaller
crowd could be seen as the
A q u i n o a d m i n i s t r a t i o n' s
victory in instilling fatigue in
the people. “Instead of doing
good for the country, it's easier
for them and more beneficial
for them to come up left and
right with new issues,” he said.
“They played around with
[constitutional amendments]
and term extensions and when
the public did not bite, they're
saying it was just a joke.”
Silvestre said a law
specifically prohibiting lumpsum appropriations would be
useful to defeating government
budgeting strategies aimed at
going around the Supreme
Court's decision against the
pork barrel.
Silvestre said the proposed
law would criminalize
programs like the PDAF and the
Disbursement Acceleration
Program (DAP) and their clones
known by other names.
“It's handcuffs for officials
so they cannot maneuver,”
Silvestre told the Inquirer.
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Page 5
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 5
Ombudsman ...
From page 3
inquiry under the 13th Congress could
start. He was later arrested in the
airport in October 2008 when he was
deported back to the Philippines
after the US Embassy cancelled his
visa.
Bolante finally appeared in the
Senate in November 2008 before the
blue ribbon committee chaired by
Sen. Richard Gordon.
In his testimony in the Senate,
Bolante cleared Arroyo of liability,
saying the “implementation of the
P 7 2 8 - m i l l i o n fa r m i n p u t - fa r m
implement program was approved by
[the budget department] without the
President's approval.”
Bolante also appeared before the
House committee on agriculture,
where he cleared all House members,
governors and mayors whose names
appeared on a purported list of
beneficiaries of the fund, saying they
were merely project proponents with
whom the Department of Agriculture
coordinated. Inquirer.net
He also said it was unprecedented,
as “it's the first people's initiative to
prohibit and criminalize a system that
has been here for the longest time.”
initiative], it's the [root] that is sought
to be removed,” he said.
In a statement, the bar said it
regarded as an “assault to our
elementary sense of order” the alleged
bullying of the Aquino administration
of Supreme Court justices, threats to
impeach them and the congressional
investigation into the Judiciary
Development Fund (JDF).
People's initiative bill
The people's initiative bill not only
defines and bans pork barrel and
lump-sum appropriations in the
budget but also prohibits the
impoundment of funds by retention,
reduction, deferral, suspension of
release or any other method, unless
there is an official declaration of an
unmanageable budget deficit.
The bill would prohibit the
insertion of provisions allowing any
postbudget intervention by members
of Congress in the implementation of
programs, as well as the participation
of lawmakers in the implementation.
It would also disallow the realignment
of improperly declared savings.
Those who would violate the law
would be jailed for six to 10 years.
Integrated Bar of the Philippines
National president Vicente Joyas said
the people's initiative bill would also
serve a purpose other than what was
served by the Supreme Court ruling
against the PDAF.
Joyas said the court's PDAF ruling
outlawed the system of
implementation of the pork barrel
funds, in which lawmakers had been
able to interfere.
“But here [in the people's
SC ruling not enough
Former Rep. Teddy Casiño said the
Supreme Court ruling against the PDAF
was not enough to stop the pork barrel
because Congress had other practices
not covered by the decision.
He said many lump-sum funds
remained accessible to lawmakers
even after the decision was handed
down.
Casiño said the redefinition of
savings and the addition of special
provisions, which made the DAP
possible, was another such practice.
“To nail down the positive aspect of
the Supreme Court decision, we feel it
has to be codified into law,” he said.
Renato Reyes of Bayan warned that
without a law, every administration
would find new ways to justify lumpsum appropriations, forced savings,
and discretionary funds because for the
President , currying favor with
Congress required pork.
Reyes said the administration was
more likely to ensure there were
discretionary funds in the 2015 budget
because next year would be the start of
preparations for the 2016 elections.
Church leaders lent strong support
to the protest and signature campaign.
Inquirer.net
House Oks ...
hearing, Tupas said the “liberalism”
shown by most of the administration
lawmakers was not a party decision.
“In fact, we were willing to vote. If
there was a disagreement, let's vote,
and as you saw, an overwhelming
majority decided it was sufficient in
form,” he said.
Tupas said he expected that the
deliberations on sufficiency of form
would be “too technical.”
“We already expected points to be
raised, which is why there was a motion
to be liberal on the interpretation of
rules on form in the interest of justice…
That's how fair the committee was,
which is why the discussions became
intense,” he said.
T h e vo te o n s u f f i c i e n c y o f
substance would be a different matter,
Tupas said. “In sufficiency on
substance, it won't be pure technicality.
It will depend on the individual
conscience of the members,” he said.
Inquirer.net
Protesters say
outrage ...
From page 4
From page 4
Determinative of jurisdiction of the
committee.”
Tupas, an administration ally who
served as lead prosecutor in the
impeachment of then Chief Justice
Renato Corona in 2012, said he
believed this was the “most crucial
stage” for any impeachment
complaint.
“Once it passes sufficiency of
substance… you can order
respondents to answer all sorts of
questions. I think the most crucial
here is next hearing on the substance
of the impeachment complaints,” he
told reporters after the hearing. Once
an impeachment complaint meets the
requirement on substance, it will then
be judged on whether it has sufficient
grounds and if there is probable cause.
Speaking to reporters after the
Aquino flying to Europe,
US next month
By Nikko Dizon
MANILA -- President
Aquino will embark on a long
foreign trip next month,
visiting four countries in
Europe first, then cross the
Atlantic for engagements in
the United States.
Aquino will travel to
Belgium, France, Spain and
Germany from Sept. 13 to 20.
It will be his first visit as
President to these countries.
From Berlin, he will fly to
the United States, where he
will visit Boston, New York
and San Francisco from Sept.
20 to 23.
Visit to EU
His trip to Europe will
include meetings with
potential investors as well as
with the European Maritime
Safety Agency for “deeper
c o o p e ra t i o n ,” P re s i d e n t
Aquino said in a taped
interview aired Thursday on
Bombo Radyo.
The President will also
visit the European Union (EU)
headquarters in Brussels.
“The European Union has
helped us a lot such as in the
[aftermath] of [Super
President Benigno S. Aquino III (Malacañang Photo Bureau)
Typhoon] 'Yolanda,' and
among other things, and also
in our peace efforts [in the
Bangsamoro],” Aquino said.
He also said he would be
meeting with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and
French President François
Hollande at the EU
headquarters.
2 days per country
President Aquino said
there were issues that need to
be ironed out with the
European Union but did not
specify what these were. He
said he hoped these would be
resolved during his trip.
On trade and commerce,
Aquino said several
companies had been showing
interest in investing in the
country “especially at this
time.”
“What I can tell is that in
this trip, we will spend only
two days in each country. We
were joking among ourselves
that we will get sleep only on
the plane. But the exhaustion
would be worth it because we
are expecting investments to
come into [the country],
especially in manufacturing,”
he said.
Climate change summit
In the United States,
Aquino will deliver a speech at
the United Nations Global
u
Page 7
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 6
New California
law ... From page 1
recalled, new Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger repealed it and
vetoed another Cedillo bill.
Cedillo's attempts were to no
avail, until Gov. Brown signed a
deferred action bill for young
immigrants who qualified for
temporary status in 2012. Brown's
signing of AB60 in 2013 completed
the reversal.
On-going debate
Sunnyvale Community Services
Caseworker Jose Hernandez said
something new always comes up at
every public forum on AB60:
“Despite still on-going debates in
Sacramento, one thing that has been
finalized is that there will be three
tests (instead of like the two for
citizen applicants) for those
qualified: the written, the behindthe-wheel and the competency tests.
The last is for the applicant to prove
he comprehends that 'stop' means
alto and he grasps that he has to slow
down a certain speed when he sees
the curve sign.”
SIREN Community Organizer
Jeremy Barousse said
undocumented aliens shouldn't
have any fear about being
apprehended at large gatherings
because the California Trust Act (or
AB4), which was signed into law
early this year, specifies that only
undocumented aliens with serious
crimes can be lawfully detained by
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE).
The California Trust Act was a
response to the infamous Secure
Communities program that links law
enforcement agencies with Customs
and Border Patrol. Reports revealed
that many deported undocumented
aliens were mostly first-time
offenders or guilty of minor
offenses.
Barousse also said that various
community organizations like
SIREN are “working with DMV and
the state to get affirmation that they
will not share information with the
Federal government, USCIS or ICE.
We have not heard of any case when
the DMV has been sharing
information.”
Sunnyvale Community Services
Director of Emergency Services
Marie Barlahan said, “Each city has
its own policy. I believe that the San
Jose Police Department is for this.
They will support this and won't
turn in anybody.”
Henandez said he asked a
Sunnyvale police officer at the event:
“The officer replied that he was only
assigned (to watch that night) and
could not share official policy. But
that (Sunnyvale) has an
understanding that people need to
get around to do their jobs, feed their
families and pay their bills.”
For public safety
Hernandez said he had been a hit
and run victim himself. “And I don't
know if the driver fled because he
didn't have a valid license. People
now see that this measure is part of
the solution” for public safety.
“Right now you can get (a fake)
license from somewhere, and there's
no validation on how competent you
are on the road,” Hernandez
explained. “This (law) will
Sunnyvale Community Services Caseworker Jose Hernandez and Director of
Emergency Services Marie Barlahan. Inset photo: SIREN Community Organizer
Jeremy Barousse. Photos by Harvey Barkin
encourage everyone to get to know
better the rules of the road and get
insurance.”
He also warned that 90 percent
of the first-time applicants in the
state of Washington failed their tests
because they did not know the rules
of the road, and that the State
Controller is monitoring the
situation to spot price-gouging and
discrimination in insurance.
Although DMV said the list of
approved documents for validating
identity has not been finalized, the
list of accepted documents include:
the Mexican Federal and Consular
cards; Guatemalan National ID and
Consular cards; Peruvian Identity
and Consular cards and the
Ecuadorian Consular card.
Secondary documents include:
official school or college transcript
with birth date or sealed school
record with photo of applicant when
it was issued; marriage license;
divorce decree; foreign driver
license; ITR; some US Federal
documents for asylum applicant;
eligible non-immigrant, student,
e xc h a n g e v i s i t o r a n d o t h e r
documents.
The list of documents to prove
California residence includes: rental
or lease agreement; deed or title;
mortgage bill; home utility bill;
school and medical record; IRS or
California Federal Tax Board return;
change of address confirmation by
USPO; property tax bill and others.
Information campaign
H e r n a n d e z s a i d t h ey a re
campaigning to make everybody
know about what AB60 can do for all
communities. They have been
interviewed on radio and have been
holding public forums in different
San Jose locations. But he knows of
only one Asian community
organization that has picked up on
Fil-Am, 10 others ...
the campaign.
A small DMV office along Senter
Road in San Jose will be one out of
four planned just to transact the
applications overflow from AB60.
With most everything still up for
debate, there are still loopholes and
kinks to be ironed out. Details and
clarity have yet to be threshed out
about responsibility for Driving
Under the Influence (DUI) in this
new situation, driving with the
license in states that don't have
similar laws, how harsh threestrikes-you're-out will be on these
new drivers, and other gray areas.
Initially, the proposed Driver
License card would have been called
Driver Privileges card, stamped not
valid for identification purposes,
receiving public benefits, travel by
air, job employment or opening a
bank account. But complains about
this being grounds for
discrimination and abuses have
stalled final implementation.
Hernandez related that some in
federal agencies wanted “a dot or
any mark” differentiating the new
driver's licenses. The debate rages
on “how closely should their driver
license card resembles ours.”
But he said, “It's the law of the
land. It's going to happen. But what
is the form, the feel and how it's
going to look like is still being
worked out.”
“People are yearning for this.
They know that this is not the way to
become a citizen, but it's just one
more level of something like paying
your taxes so the individual can
show he is decent and respectable
and hopes to one day become a
citizen.” Inquirer.net
and pledge allegiance to an America whose
flag does not recognize us.”
From page 1
Wednesday at the National Press Club and
made a personal appeal to President Barack
Obama to “administer relief” for similarly
situated immigrants “who are integral
members of our evolving American
community.”
Apart from the 33-year-old Vargas, a
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and
filmmaker, the 10 others are Erica Aldape,
24; Maria Guadalupe Arreola, 55; Felipe
Jesus Diosdado, 35; Maria del Rosario
Duarte Villanueva, 54; Michaela Graham,
52; Noemi Romero, 23; Eduardo Sanmiego,
22; Yestel Velasquez, 38; Aly Wane, 37; and
Jong-Min you, 34.
Taking a hard look'
In a press statement, Johnson's office
did not mention the letter, but said the
Department of Homeland Security has been
“taking a hard look” at the immigration
policy and would submit recommendations
to President Obama within “the confines of
existing law.”
Vargas, who was sent by his mother to
live with grandparents in Mountain View,
California as a 12-year-old, was detained by
Customs and Border Patrol agents last
month in McAllen, Texas, after learning of
his immigration status.
Vargas, founder of the advocacy group
Define American, said he was documenting
the plight of tens of thousands of immigrant
youth from Central America, many of them
unaccompanied, who have streamed across
the southern border this year.
The human surge has strained border
services and rekindles the debate over
immigration reform in Washington, a cause
that Vargas promotes.
Unique story to tell
Each one has a unique story to tell: a 54year-old Mexican woman in rural Alabama
who is caring for three grandchildren after
their parents were deported; a son of a
former UN diplomat who has lived in the
U.S. for 25 year since he was eight, getting
his education and working in the country;
and, a German businesswoman in Los Executive authority
Vargas said a decision by Johnson to
Angeles who has been living in the United
grant their request would delay any
States since 1986.
Vargas and his colleagues said in their deportation proceedings with the hope that
letter that they represent only a few of the the President Obama would then use his
estimated 11 million undocumented executive authority to expand deportation
immigrants in the United States. “Often, protections, or that Congress would finally
we're treated as abstractions, nameless and agree to an overhaul of immigration law.
Obama used his executive authority in
faceless, subjects of debate rather than
individuals with families, hopes, fears and 2012 under a program called Deferred
Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA),
dreams,” they wrote.
They likened their plight to the pilgrims granting work authorization for two years
who arrived centuries before them: some or more for those who came to the United
came to the U.S. by choice, others by States as children. Vargas missed the age
eligibility by only months.
necessity in search of a better life.
Vargas, who was raised by hardworking
“Over the past decades, we have been
working, worshipping in churches, going to grandparents from the Bay Area, became an
school and contributing to the communities immigration reform advocate in 2011 after
u
Page 8
we call home,” they said. “We love, fight for,
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 7
Aquino ...
From page 5
Climate Change Summit upon the
invitation of UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon and US
President Barack Obama.
Aquino said that even World
Bank president Jim Yong Kim
agreed that the Philippines
should be at the forefront of
discussions on how to deal with
global climate change, having
experienced several deadly
typhoons in recent years.
“The Philippines' carbon
footprint is very small compared
to the magnitude of the disasters
that occur in our country,” Aquino
said.
Carbon footprint is the total
emission of greenhouse gases
such as carbon dioxide by an
institution, individuals or a
c o u n t r y, a n d i t s t o t a l
environmental impact.
At the United Nations,
President Aquino said he would
propose that countries with
bigger carbon footprints would
have to contribute more to
mitigate the effects of global
climate change.
The President's itinerary in
San Francisco, New York and
Boston has yet to be released to
the media.
He reportedly wants to visit
the home in Boston where he
lived for three years with his
parents and sisters while they
were in exile at the height of the
Marcos dictatorship. Inquirer.net
Economy
rebounds ...
From page 1
Growth was driven mainly by the
manufacturing sector, which rose 7.8
percent. Agriculture grew 3.6 percent,
while services expanded 6 percent.
Favorable sentiment
Balisacan said growth in the three
major industries reflected favorable
consumer sentiment and stronger
demand for the country's exports due
to improving global economic
conditions.
Of the GDP growth, 2.5 percentage
points came from the industry sector,
3.5 percentage points from services
and 0.3 percentage point from
agriculture.
On the demand side, household
consumption grew 5.3 percent,
exports were up 10.3 percent, while
imports rose 1.4 percent.
Biggest disappointment
Household consumption was
driven by steady growth in remittances
from overseas Filipino workers.
The biggest disappointment was
public investment, which contributed
nothing to growth. Government
spending contracted in April and May
due to administrative bottlenecks that
81 Filipino peacekeepers in
standoff with Syrian rebels
By Frances Mangosing
MANILA -- After capturing 43 Fijian
United Nations peacekeepers in Golan
Heights Thursday, August 28, Syrian rebels
proceeded to capture Filipino troops, who
defiantly resisted, as a result of which a
standoff has ensued, the Philippine military
said late Thursday night.
“The Philippine government and the
United Nations are in close coordination and
are working together to ensure the safety and
security of our troops,” Armed Forces of the
Philippines spokesman Lieutenant Colonel
Ramon Zagala said.
The rebels surrounded the Philippine
contingent's encampments and demanded
that Filipino troops surrender their firearms,
but the Filipinos resisted.
“The Philippine peacekeepers held their
ground and demonstrated their resolve to
defend their positions. They did not
surrender their firearms as they may in turn
be held hostage themselves,” Zagala said, but
did not say how many of the Filipino
peacekeepers were involved. (Agence
France-Presse put the number at 81.)
“This resulted in a stand-off which is still
the prevailing situation at this time as UN
officials try to peacefully resolve the
situation,” he said.
Before the standoff, the rebels occupied
Fijian positions of the United Nations
were not addressed until June. “Public
construction fell as the fiscal
disbursements were negatively
affected by the allegations of
corruption regarding President
Aquino's (stimulus) program,” ANZ
bank said in a note to clients after that
data was released.
“We will keep a close eye on fiscal
spending and its effect on the Aquino
administration's roll out of the
infrastructure development program,”
the bank said.
Balisacan said the government was
confident that the growth in spending
in June would be sustained in the
second half as the state's
reconstruction plan for the Visayas hits
full swing.
“We are confident the government
will catch up with its program for the
year,” he said. Large areas of the
Visayas was devastated by Super
Typhoon “Yolanda” (international
name: Haiyan) last November.
The government's infrastructure
program is expected to play a big role
in driving growth for this year.
Spending on infrastructure is expected
to reach the equivalent of 3.1 percent of
GDP this year, up from 1.8 percent in
2010.
T h e c e n t ra l b a n k s a i d t h e
economy's performance showed the
country was strong enough to absorb
interest rate hikes, which were done to
keep prices stable. Inquirer.net
TO ADVERTISE, PLEASE CALL
201-434-1114
Armored vehicles from the UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, also
known as UNDOF wait to cross from the Israeli controlled Golan Heights to Syria, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014.
After capturing 43 Fijian United Nations peacekeepers in Golan Heights Thursday, Syrian rebels proceeded
to capture Filipino troops, who defiantly resisted, as a result of which a standoff ensued, the Philippine
military said late Thursday night. AP PHOTO/ARIEL SCHALIT
Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on
Thursday morning (10a.m. Syrian time) and
demanded that they surrender their
firearms.
Upon surrendering their firearms, the 43
Fijians were taken hostage, Zagala said.
The UN said in a statement the 43
peacekeepers were detained in the vicinity of
Al Qunaytirah and another 81 peacekeepers
were currently being restricted to their
positions in the vicinity of Ar Ruwayhinah
and Burayqah.
Syrian rebels previously abducted
Filipino peacekeepers in two separate
incidents last year. As of July 31, there are
1,223 peacekeepers from six countries (Fiji,
India, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands,
Philippines) serving in United Nations
Disengagement Observer Force. There are
331 Filipino peacekeepers. Early this week,
the Philippines ordered the pullout of troops
in Golan Heights after their tour of duty ends
in October due to the worsening security
situation there. Inquirer.net
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 8
Fil-Am, 10 others ...
From page 6
he revealed he was undocumented in an essay for The New
York Times Magazine.
He wrote and directed a film, “Documented,” which
chronicles his struggles as an undocumented immigrant. It
was aired by CNN and is currently being shown to various
audiences across the nation to raise people's awareness on
the often divisive immigration debate.
Dr. Connie Mariano, White House physician for three presidents. New York FANHS delegates at San Diego conference Facebook photo
Fil-Am history conferees
celebrate 'togetherness'
By Florante Peter Ibanez
SAN DIEGO, California -- Some 500
Filipino American history buffs,
activists and academics convened July
31 to August 2 at the Kona Kai Hotel and
Resort in Shelter Island for the Filipino
American National Historical Society's
2014 conference.
Of special attention was the
Wednesday evening memorial tribute
to FANHS co-founder “Uncle” Fred
Cordova who passed away peacefully at
82 on December 21, 2013.
The conference theme was KAPWA:
Moving Forward in Unity, with kapwa,
meaning “togetherness,” as the “core
construct” of Filipino psychology.
Kapwa refers to community; not doing
things alone.
Plenary Keynote speakers and
programs included Dr. Leny Strobel,
Ret. Army Major General Antonio
Taguba, Dr. Connie Mariano, and the
screening of “Delano Manongs:
Forgotten Heroes of the UFW” with
filmmaker Marissa Aroy, Assemblyman
Rob Bonta and Johnny Itliong.
A cross-generational spread of
participants and topics was apparent in
the panels, workshops and
roundtables, all reflecting the Filipino
experience in America, from the first
Filipino American organization
founded in New Orleans to the “Empire
of Funk: Hip Hop Representation in
Filipina/o America.” Remie Estepa
Brown, a founding member of the first
Filipino American student organization
(1971) at San Diego State University,
MATAPANG, a first time FANHS
conference attendee felt that it was so
important to be able to disseminate the
history of Filipinos.
She recalled the role of MATAPANG
in visiting the UFW manongs in
A g b aya n i V i l l a g e , s t a r t i n g t h e
community based San Diego Project
Bayanihan and an early 1970s
controversial “Miss Philippines
Contest” where young Filipinas
chastised the older generation for not
taking up the real community issues
and problems they faced.
F e l i x T u y a y, p r o f e s s o r a t
Southwestern College for 37 years,
FANHS presenter and coauthor of
Filipinos in San Diego, felt a strong
FANHS camaraderie and appreciated
the sharing of their rich stories.
Tuyay was concerned that the
current students still need to learn
about what his generation had
accomplished as community and
s t u d e n t a c t iv i s t s . B u t h e wa s
encouraged by what FANHS has done,
particularly in achieving the wide
recognition of October as Filipino
American History month.
As part of the conference planning,
Tuyay also recognized the leadership of
Judy Patacsil, Tina Barlolong, Herb
Delute and Steve Yagyagan. Major
conference sponsors were, Gawad
Kalinga (GK) USA, Operation Samahan,
Inc, AARP, Dr. Dario & Dr. Tess Villa,
Filipino American Development
Initiatives (FADI) and Ramar Foods.
The Gala Banquet, which
traditionally signals the end of the
biennial conferences, was highlighted
by by the first time joint performances
of the two outstanding cultural folk
dance groups in San Diego, PASACAT
Philippine Performing Arts Company
and Samahan Philippine Dance
Company, both accompanied by the
Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble.
Dr. Eleanor Concepcion “Connie”
Mariano who served as the White
House physician for three presidents
enthralled the GALA attendees with
stories of her growing up in San Diego
and inspiring career journey.
As an added post conference
special event, a Filipino American
Psychology Forum took place on
Sunday, August 3, to address history
research and clinical practice issues, as
well as updates on colonial mentality,
body image, transnational parenting, as
well as learning about different types of
racial and sexual orientation, micro
aggressions and skills to deal effectively
with them.
The next FANHS conference is
planned for New York in 2016.
Inquirer.net
1 of 11 Million campaign
At the National Press Club press conference, Define
American and National Immigration Law Center launched
a nationwide “1 of 11 Million” campaign seeking to
highlight the stories of the undocumented immigrants.
“Our families need urgent relief now, and here's the key
question just how inclusive and humane will President
Obama's executive action be? Who will be left out and
why?” Vargas said.
For his part, immigration reform advocate Eduardo
Samaniego of the Freedom House Georgia said the
campaign aims to “humanize the debate on immigration.”
“We speak about why we're here, what our families are
going through, why it is necessary to be relieved from
deportation,” Samaniego said.
With immigration reform legislation languishing in the
Republican-controlled House, President Obama has
hinted at issuing executive orders to address what he
called the “broken immigration system.”
As part “1 of 11 Million” campaign, advocates believe
the stories of Vargas and others are symbolic of the 11
million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. who may
benefit from any executive orders Obama may undertake.
“He has the power to take actions, the power to
exercise prosecutorial discretion, and to protect the 11
million from deportation,” Samaniego stressed.
Inquirer.net
51,000 Filipinos live in
area struck by 6.1 quake
VA L L E J O, C a l i f o r n i a - - A n
earthquake registering 6.1 on the
Richter Scale struck Solano and Napa
counties early Sunday, August 24,
causing some damage to buildings in
downtown Vallejo and Mare Island,
reports the Vallejo Times Herald.
An estimated 51,000 Filipinos
reside in the Vallejo-Fairfield
metropolitan area. There are no
reported injuries among them at press
time.
The quake shattered several
storefront windows in the downtown
area, and bricks fell from a section of
wall on the Sonoma Boulevard side of
the First United Methodist Church.
“(Vallejo) residents have reported
loss of water from several water
breaks, minor roadway damage,
minor gas leaks,and power outages,”
according to a City of Vallejo press
release. “A road has been closed on
Mare Island at Nimitz and Rickover
streets.”
The city said that most of the
damage has been limited to “collapsed
aw n i n g s a n d fa c a d e s , b ro ke n
windows and glass, and one
confirmed partial collapse on Mare
Island,” according to an updated
release.
The Times Herald reports that
Nimitz Avenue on Mare Island is
closed from Seventh Street to Bagley,
and 1145 and 1155 Nimitz Ave. have
been red-tagged.
Twenty five minor injuries were
reported at local hospitals, the city
said.
State Route 37′s Sonoma
Boulevard exit was closed shortly
after the earthquake due to safety
concerns but has since reopened.
Andrea Garcia, Director of
External Relations at Touro University
California, said that books and other
paperwork fell from walls and desks
but no other damages were reported.
Touro University is located on
Mare Island and is housed in older
buildings.
Napa suffered significant damage,
with two commercial buildings in the
downtown area severely damaged.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of
emergency for Napa after the quake,
the strongest to hit Northern
California in 25 years, reports the
u
Page 14
Times Herald.
201-434-1114
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 9
Filipina one of Harvard Business
School's outstanding alumni
By Aries Joseph Hegina
A Filipina entrepreneur on Tuesday, August 26
received the Harvard Business School Alumni
Achievement Award, the highest honor the school
bestows, for her personal and professional
Dr. Wilson Sy Lim
accomplishments.
Sheila Lirio Marcelo, who was raised in Manila,
is the founder and chief executive officer of
Care.com, a website that specializes in finding care
providers. She graduated magna cum laude for her
economics degree from Mount Holyoke College and
earned her master of business and juris doctor
degrees in Harvard in 1998 and 1999, respectively.
She also shared the origin of Care.com, stating
that the idea stemmed from her response to a family
emergency when her father fell backwards on their
stairs while carrying her son. She launched the
website in 2006, providing professional help for
people. The website presently caters to 11 million
people across 16 countries and has been listed in
DALY CITY, California -- A Filipino dentist accused of plotting with a
the New York Stock Exchange this year.
California state senator to illegally traffic guns from the Philippines to
Marcelo is also a trustee of the Philippine
the United States died Monday night, August 25.
Development Foundation, a non-government
Dr. Wilson Sy Lim died of cardiac arrest at Kindred Hospital in San
organization aimed at spearheading science and
Leandro, California. Lim was among 29 co-defendants in a massive
technology development and innovation projects in
Federal Bureau of Investigation corruption and gun trafficking sting
the country and co-founder of WomenUp.
that snared Democratic State Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco. Lim
The globally-recognized business school
was admitted to the intensive care unit of Seton Medical Center in Daly
Sheila
Lirio
Marcelo.
SUSAN
YOUNG/Harvard
Business
Law
bestows
the awards in recognition of graduates who
City on June 18 and was suffering from congestive heart failure, kidney
School alumni website
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Page 12
failure and liver failure.
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Page 12
Daly City dentist linked to
gun smuggling probe dies
Was arrested with state Senator
Leland Yee in FBI sting
Fil-Am summer camp named a finalist for '14 Torchlight Prize
SAN FRANCISCO, California -Sama Sama Cooperative, a Filipino
language, arts and ecology summer
camp for children aged 5 to 10
years old, was chosen as a finalist
for the 2014 Torchlight Prize.
The Torchlight Prize is an
annual award that recognizes and
rewards self-organized groups of
families, friends and neighbors
from across the US for their efforts
to strengthen their communities.
Sama Sama Cooperative began
with a group of five Filipina
mothers who wanted a children's
Filipino arts and ecology summer
camp. Seeing limited opportunities
for their children to explore
Filipino culture and history with a
lens that “challenges dominant
h e g e m o ny, c o l o n i a l i s m a n d
imperialism,” Sama Sama parents
created an alternative educational
space.
With an emphasis in Tagalog
immersion, indigenous arts and
ecological heritage, the program
takes a hands-on approach to
education. Initially, it organized a
three-week outdoor summer camp.
The camp was so successful there is
interest and momentum for doing
year-round educational work.
“Sama Sama filled gaps of
h i s t o r y a n d c u l t u re t h a t I
experienced being born and raised
in the United States,” said Frolayne
Carlos, Sama Sama Co-op member.
“My daughter's journey of cultural
identity will begin at a very young
age thanks to Sama Sama
Cooperative. It offers a safe and
nurturing space with unique
learning opportunities that she
might otherwise not have access
to.”
The Torchlight Prize was
established by Family
Independence Initiative in 2012.
Each year, up to four nominated
groups are chosen to receive a
$10,000 prize as recognition for
their work. This year's winners will
be announced in September.
“Every day in communities
across America, regular people
come together to innovate and
implement their ideas and
solutions to create a better future
for their communities,” said Mia
Birdsong, vice president of Family
Independence Initiative. “But, this
work often happens without
notice, and even more so, without
celebration.”
“That's why we created the
Torchlight Prize to spotlight this
initiative and encourage direct
i nve s t m e n t i n r e s i d e n t - l e d
solutions that are already working
to improve some of our country's
least-resourced communities,”
Birdsong added.
For more information about
Sama Sama Cooperative, visit
www.samasamacoop.org.
2014 Torchlight Prize, visit
w w w. To r c h l i g h t P r i z e . o r g .
Inquirer.net
Local grassroots group may win $10,000 prize
Prize rewards self-organized groups
that strengthen communities
Fil-Am kids at Sama Sama Coop summer camp. Facebook photo
[email protected]
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 10
PH ready for AEC?
The vision is the integration of the economies of the 10
member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) whose combined gross domestic product is $2 trillion, to
create a new economic powerhouse where there is free
movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labor and
capital. The goal is the establishment of the Asean Economic
Community (AEC) by 2015. That's next year, obviously pretty
close, given the challenges still to be met. The AEC commits to
form a single market and production base.
Although framed by the Asean Economic Blueprint that was
adopted by the region's leaders at the 13th Asean Summit held in
Singapore way back Nov. 20, 2007, some members are still wary
about its impact on their businesses. But others seem already
well-prepared for it.
To push awareness of the AEC, the Asean Business Advisory
Council (Abac) launched in 2007, the Asean Business Awards
(ABA). Abac is considered the official voice of the private sector
in communicating with the Asean leaders.
ABA initially only recognized outstanding and large
homegrown businesses that have made significant
contributions to Asean's economic landscape. Its scope,
however, was broadened in 2008 to include small and medium
enterprises (SMEs), a vital economic force and engine of growth
for the region. This year, the awards were again modifiedto
honor young entrepreneurs and women leaders to highlight
their importance to regional economic and social development.
In September, six national champions from each of the 10
Asean countries will be announced. The following month, the
they have already been allocated The first is through the regular
regional board of judges, one from each Asean member-state,
for them. Applications for
program which requires the
will gather in Yangon, Burma (Myanmar) to select the six Asean
adjustment of status will be
investor to make a $1 million
champions. The awards will be presented at the gala dinner of
accepted but they will be put on
investment ($500,000 in a rural or
the 2014 Asean Business and Investment Summit, scheduled in
The State Department
hold until visa numbers are
high unemployment area) in a new
November this year in Nay Pyi Taw, Burma.
announced last August 23 that the
available. The EB-5 category for
commercial enterprise which will
How ready are Philippine companies for the AEC? The
EB-5 immigrant visa cap for China
China will again be current on
create at least ten full-time jobs.
Aquino administration insists that the Philippines is ready for
for fiscal year 2014 has been
October 1, the start of the fiscal year
The second way is through the
the AEC. Two sectors that are expected to face difficulties in a
reached. This means that
2015.
pilot program which permits
“borderless” region are agriculture and financial services.
immigrant visa numbers for
Visa numbers are still available
investments in designated regional
Chinese nationals under the
for the nationals of other counties
centers that will create at least ten
Standard & Poor's, for one, believes that Philippine banks are not
employment-based fifth
such as the Philippines although jobs, directly or indirectly. There
yet ready for tougher competition. In one of its publications early
preference (EB-5) category for this
the annual worldwide allocation is
are more than 70 regional centers
this year, S&P said Philippine banks, although profitable and
fiscal year is no longer available.
almost exhausted.
today and most of them require a
stable, have a much smaller business scale compared with their
This is the first time that a country
The EB-5 visa category allows
$500,000 investment. The regional
regional counterparts and this would make it difficult for them to
has reached its annual limit since
foreign nationals who can make
center program was recently
preserve market share with the free entry of foreign
the program began almost twentysubstantial investments to become
extended until September 30,
competition.
five years ago.
permanent residents. It is one of
2015.
An official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas admitted that
The Department of State
the fastest ways to obtain a green
The alien investor must file an Ithe asset and capital size of the country's banking system pale in
clarified that this is not a visa
card. We recently represented
526 petition along with supporting
comparison to those in the region. One reason is, the country has
retrogression since no cut-off date Indonesian nationals who applied
documents showing the
the lowest provision for foreign ownership, which is capped by
has been established. Chinese
under the program and they
investment in the enterprise or
constitutional limitations at 40 percent. Compare this with the
n a t i o n a l s w h o a r e a l r e a dy
received their green cards in less
regional center and demonstrating
99 percent in Indonesia, the lack of a “hard limit” to foreign
scheduled for interview at a U.S.
than a year.
that the funds came from a lawful
ownership in Malaysia and Singapore, and a “flexibility clause”
consulate in August or September
There are two ways by which source. Once that is approved, he
that allows foreign ownership beyond 50 percent in Thailand.
this year may be issued visas as
one can become an EB-5 investor.
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Page 12
For perspective, the BSP official noted that the total assets of all
Philippine banks would be equivalent to only one big bank in
Malaysia; the combined assets of the three biggest banks in the
country would approximate one bank in Thailand; and the total
capitalization of the entire Philippine banking system would be
u
Page 12
the size of just one Singaporean bank.
For First Time EB-5 Investor
Visa Reaches Annual Limit
Embedded impunity
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Lito A. Gajilan, Jr.
Columnists: Reuben S. Seguritan, Esq.,
Juan L. Mercado, Joseph G. Lariosa
Correspondent: Grace G. Baldisseri
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do
not reflect the opinion of the paper nor that of the publisher.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 201-434-1114 Fax 201-434-0880
2711 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ 07306
The immediate often blurs the
significant. Pope Francis' press
conference aboard the plane
returning from his South Korea
visit is an example.
He made “a chopping gesture
and a whistling sound as if to say
death comes sooner or later for
everyone.” Headlines cascaded on
Francis saying he probably had
two, at most three more years to
serve. Then, “it's off to the Father's
house,” the Pope said with a smile.
What if health faltered to
where he could not discharge his
duties? He would resign “even if
such a step does not appeal to some
theologians.”
That smudged Francis'
statement that there were no more
problems blocking the
beatification process for
Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar
Romero who had been murdered
by a sniper from the paramilitary
“escuadrones de la muerte.”
That resonates here. Fr. Fausto
“Pops” Tentorio, 59, served
indigent tribal people in North
Cotabato for 39 years. He was
gunned down on Oct. 17, 2011, at
his parish in Arakan.
The Armed Forces of the
Philippines' Eastern Mindanao
Command (Eastmincom) denied it
had any hand in Tentorio's rubout.
But the Eastmincom spokesperson
admitted it did tag the priest as
“friendly” to the New People's
Army. Did the military remember
that the Master welcomed sinners
and tax collectors?
In El Salvador, the conservative
Romero was jolted by the death
squad murders. He evolved into an
outspoken critic against the brutal
suppression of leftist rebels by the
right-wing government in the
1980-1992 civil strife. Romero was
shot as he lifted the Host during
consecration.
Romero's cause is now before
the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints. The congregation oversees
the complex process that leads to
canonization, after screening for
the declaration of “heroic virtues”
and beatification. The Pope has the
final say.
Tentorio shepherded his flock
and cobbled programs from child
immunization to adult literacy.
Thousands of those he cared for
trudged alongside his coffin. “For
many years, Father Tentorio
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Page 14
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 11
Tradition versus change
It has been a wild and
unpredictable four years, the kind
that should be expected of a
presidency that was born from a
clamor for change. And change has
been its centerpiece, some
intended, and some erupting on its
own.
The inaugural speech of PNoy is
remembered for two basic
pronouncements, “No wang-wang”
and “Matuwid na daan.” It was a
daring message, daunting and
taunting. It meant to reverse the
reality of the elite getting more than
a fair share of benefits, privileges
and opportunities, just as it signaled
that a different and straight
pathway would be demanded of
public servants.
Even during the presidential
campaign, many allies of then
Noynoy Aquino tried to dissuade
him from centering on his key
slogan, “Kung walang korup, walang
Making
life worth
living
Ellen Tordesillas
From our always reliable
source: A few days after the
Supreme Court declared parts of
the Disbursement Accelerated
Program or DAP unconstitutional
last July 1, the three presidential
sisters- Ballsy Cruz, Pinky
Abellada, and Kris Aquino (Viel
Dee didn't join them) talked with
the President to let go of Budget
Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad.
As we all know by now, DAP
the issue that has shaken the
otherwise Teflon presidency of
Benigno Aquino III was the
brainchild of Abad.
The Supreme Court's vote was
unanimous (13-0) stunning
Malacañang who had thought it
would be 7-6 in their favor.
mahirap.” They tried to make him
focus on softer, less controversial
targets, like the economy. But these
were political allies, not comradein-arms. They did not relish radical
change, only the kind of change that
would install their choice of a
president and their takeover of
power.
They did not succeed, of course.
The campaign was relentlessly run
on the issue of corruption, and the
promise to fight it with the new
presidency. But the traditional
politicians did not fail, either. They
had their candidate become
president , largely because
volunteers carried the fight and
dominated the spirit of the
campaign. And they had themselves
getting most of the positions they
sought.
The crusader in PNoy showed in
his inaugural speech. It set the tone
of a presidency that would
Opinion
By Jose Ma. Montelibano
discourage the vulgar use of
position and rank as symbolized by
the “wang-wang” or car siren. It also
declared that the presidency would
not be demanding monetary tribute
to itself, would not be setting a
“boundary” that each department
or agency had to give the Palace.
The presidency, though, of a
democratic government, has to
contend with two other branches
the Legislative and the Judiciary. If
corruption and poverty had to be
addressed, it could not be done
alone by the Executive. No matter
how determined a president is, a
governance that would be defined
by a constant conflict between
Malacañang, Congress and the
Supreme Court also meant a destabilized society. Democracy is not
meant to be confrontational. At
most, it only puts in place a checkand-balance system that can be
flexible or rigid depending on the
harmony, or lack of it, among coequal branches.
The traditional, then, was to be
challenged but not discarded.
Enough of it had to remain stable for
governance to deliver public
services even if reform was going to
be pushed. Tradition and change,
however, are a dog and a cat. They
may co-exist, but both are driven by
a natural distaste, or distrust, for the
other. Tradition has been digging in,
loathe to surrender any of its
advantages. Change, too, is not any
less determined. It confronts
everything, not just some, as is its
nature.
PNoy is riding the back of the
tiger, and surprisingly well. He has
kept the dog and the cat from killing
each other but he has not been
successful in maintaining their
peace. The Senate was his first
challenge even as the House of
Representatives quickly and
effectively supported him. The
Supreme Court of Rene Corona was
his bigger challenge, not only
because they flip-flopped in high
profile, controversial decisions, but
because he believed that the
majority of the Justices were
appointed to protect Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo. Not
surprisingly, both the Senate and
the Supreme Court shot down
Executive Order # 1
the
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Page 12
Aquino sisters wanted Abad out; Hyatt 10
came to his rescue
At the time his sisters talked to
him about Abad, Aquino had not
issued any statement on DAP yet.
The source said the President
appeared convinced by his sisters.
Abad's comrades in the cabinet
were alarmed and they took
action.
Social Services Secretary
Dinky Soliman; Finance Secretary
Cesar Purisima; Teresita Quintos
Deles, presidential adviser on the
Peace Process, and Mely Nicolas,
chairperson of the Commission on
Filipinos Overseas (the core group
of the 2005 Hyatt 10) went to
Aquino and appealed for Abad's
retention.
But it was a loaded appeal
because they told the President if
he let go of Abad, they will all
resign.
The President gave in. On July
11, during the cabinet meeting on
the 2015 budget, he announced
that Abad will stay. “To accept his
resignation is to assign to him a
wrong. And I can't accept the
notion that doing right by our
people is a wrong,” he said to the
applause of members of his
cabinet except Vice President
Jejomar Binay, who is part of the
cabinet as chairman of the Housing
and Urban Development
Coordinating Council.
The next day, July 12, Abad
released a statement disclosing
that he tendered his resignation
July 10. On the President's
rejection of his resignation, Abad
said: “Although I was wholly
prepared to relinquish my post, I
am grateful for the President's
expression of his continuing trust
and confidence in my leadership of
The Aquino sisters attend the birthday party of Vice President Jojo Binay.
the Department. I have thus
chosen to defer to his better
judgment and stay.”
The presidential sisters
attempt to influence the
President's decision on Abad
brought to fore once again the
great divide in Aquino's political
family.
It is known that the Aquino
sisters are lukewarm to the Mar
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Page 14
But the get-Binay plotters see
encouragement in the fact that
Aquino has not yet openly declared
if he is for Binay or for Roxas.
Aquino may just be dangling
withholding his endorsement - and
even floating options like a second
term, which is being pushed by the
lunatic fringe of his much-reduced
mass base - to avoid becoming a
total lame duck and alienating
allies in either the Binay or the
Roxas faction; but until he decides,
it seems that the demolition of the
Vice President will continue as
plotted.
At this point, just a little over a
year until the 2016 elections, there
is no strategy to elect Roxas that
will be discarded by his boosters never mind if his survey numbers
seem fated never to go into doubledigit territory.
If jailing Binay is what it takes,
then the Roxas camp will do it,
regardless of what the Veep or his
own supporters will do in
retaliation. I'm stocking up on
popcorn - this should be a real
dogfight.
***
Having said all of that, I
wouldn't put too much stock in the
fact that neither of Binay's bashers
in the SenateAlan Peter Cayetano
and Antonio Trillanes - belong to
LP. While these two Nacionalista
senators constitute the tag team
that is trying to bludgeon the Veep
into submission, they are
independent contractors, political
“ronin” or rogue samurai who have
only their own personal interest
( a n d ove r we e n i n g p o l i t i c a l
ambition) in mind.
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Page 12
Jailing Binay
Rambotito should dig up his
flack jacket and prepare to go to
war again. The long knives of his
tormentors, I've been told, are
about to be unsheathed.
A source with close ties to
Malacañang Palace has revealed
that the current game plan of a
powerful faction in the Aquino
administration is to throw Vice
President Jejomar Binay in jail,
possibly by the end of the year. The
plot against Binay was virtually
confirmed by an informant in the
Vice President's camp, who said
that they are expecting
impeachment charges to be filed
soon against the country's secondhighest official, currently the
runaway leader in popularity
surveys.
If these reports are true, then
President Noynoy Aquino is in dire
danger of falling into the trap laid
out for him by his Liberal Party
Politburo, which is desperately
seeking a way to foist Interior and
Local Government Secretary Mar
Roxas upon the unwitting voting
population as the anointed
successor of the current Chief
Executive. The LP leadership,
which apparently believes that it
has Aquino's ear exclusively, wants
to remove Binay physically from
the political landscape to prevent
him from going around the country
campaigning, something the
party's leaders think will greatly
improve the chances of Roxas.
Of course, jailing Binay - who
has not seen the inside of a cell
since the Marcos years, when he
was a much-arrested human-
rights lawyer and street
parliamentarian - is easier said
than done. After all, at the height of
its great powers, the Arroyo
administration wasn't even able to
unseat Binay from Makati City Hall
on trumped-up administrative
charges that it filed; Binay is
definitely not going to allow his inhouse foes to do the same to him,
when he is already a heartbeat
from the presidency and nominally
still allied with the palace.
Certainly, the anti-Binay plot
will be jettisoned if Aquino is
roused from his LP-induced stupor
and puts his foot down. But until
Aquino does that, the Roxas faction
in Malacañang will continue to
operate as if it has the President's
go-ahead - which, at the moment, I
still very much doubt has been
given, tacitly or not.
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 12
Tradition vs ...
From page 11
establishment of a Truth
Commission. The reason?
Because they said it targeted the
Arroyo presidency, and maybe
only the Arroyo presidency.
The radical in Pnoy, again
against the wishes of his inner
circle, decided to take on the
Supreme Court and openly
attacked its Chief Justice, Rene
Corona. Fighting what seemed to
be a losing battle, especially the
hurdle of getting two-thirds of
the Senate to convict and
impeach, PNoy succeeded. It was
a battle where 70% of the people
agreed from beginning to the
end that Rene Corona was guilty
as charged, that he was Gloria
Arroyo's protector, and that he
had enriched himself as a matter
of course. It was a battle won by
PNoy because he, like 70% of
Filipinos, was simply right.
The economy then
performed beyond anyone's
Filipina ...
From page 9
are “contributing significantly
to their companies and
communities, while upholding
the highest standards and
values in everything they do.”
Harvard Business School
dean Nitin Nohria praised the
alumni, stating that “these
graduates set a very high
standard for our students in
terms of integrity, personal and
professional achievement, and
contributions to both business
and society.”
expectations, catching everyone
by surprise, outpacing the rest of
t h e wo r l d , exc e p t C h i n a .
International credit upgrade
after credit upgrade
accompanied the outstanding
economic performance three
years running. Funny, because
his critics said, and still say, he
doesn't know what he is doing.
They cannot deny what he has
done so they focus on what he
has not done. In turn, PNoy
points to the fact of what he has
done what his political enemies
had never managed to do.
The Napoles issue then
erupted, literally, It was not a
government initiative but it
quickly earned the
government's support. In the
p revious a dminist ra t ions,
whistleblowers were silenced,
or threatened, or seriously
discouraged. But this time, the
NBI and the DOJ gave protection
and support. The Napoles scam
was a can of worms that had long
been waiting to be opened,
skeletons in a closet that had
been hidden too long. Napoles is
“They are prime examples
of what our students can
accomplish in their lives and
careers. They epitomize our
mission of educating leaders
who make a difference in the
world,” Nohria said.
Marcelo's co-awardees
were Year Up CEO and founder
Gerald Chertavian; Altiostar
Networks co-founder Ashraf M.
Dahod; founder and CEO of
Providence Equity Partners LLC
Jonathan M. Nelson; and
chairman and CEO of Corning
Incorporated Wendell P. Weeks.
Inquirer.net
right in one thing she did not
create corruption in high places.
She took advantage of it, though,
and now starting to pay the
price.
For the first time in history,
dozens of high-ranking public
officials, the proverbial big fish,
are indicted. Some are in
detention, and more will be.
There are still two sets of
accused that the DOJ and
Ombudsman have not fully
processed, and it may not be
dozens but hundreds that will be
prosecuted. For the first time in
history.
Of course, change has
charged where even PNoy was
not fast enough, or even
reluctant, to do so. By passionate
and consistent public demand,
expressed largely through social
media, the PDAF and DAP were
a t t a c ke d , b ro u g h t t o t h e
Supreme Court, and defeated.
And change is only starting. Four
years is too short for what is
destined to happen. Change
cannot be denied, not anymore.
Daly City ... From page 9
The FBI indictment allege that Yee
and Lim tried to convince an
undercover agent to illegally buy and
smuggle $2 million worth of guns from
an arms dealer in Mindanao.
Yee was also accused of accepting a
$10,000 bribe from an undercover
agent in exchange for placing a call to
the California Department of Public
Health regarding a contract.
Yee has been suspended from the
state legislature. A federal judge in San
Francisco is still deciding on a trial date
for him. Lim's lawyer said the
indictment against his client would be
dismissed after he obtains and files a
death certificate. Inquirer.net
For first time ...
From page 10
can file for a conditional green card.
The condition will be removed two
years after the investor's admission as
a conditional resident upon showing
that the required number of jobs was
created.
Congress allotted 10,000 visa
numbers to EB-5 investors. Spouses
and unmarried children under 21 are
included in the count. But the program
has drastically grown in popularity in
recent years that a waiting line might
be created next year. For example, in
2006 the USCIS received less than five
hundred I-526 petitions. In 2012, it
received over 6,000 petitions. There
are over 10,000 petitions pending at
this time.
A cut-off date might have to be
imposed for the EB-5 category for
China in May or June 2015 because of
the continued high demand, according
to Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the
Department of State Immigrant Visa
Control and Reporting Division, who
Jailing Binay
From page 11
Cayetano, for instance, was the
main hired gun of the Nacionalista
Party of Manny Villar during the 2010
presidential elections. Cayetano
winces when he is reminded of his
former demolition job, since he is now
vying for the position of “senator
closest to Malacañang,” but he used to
be a one-trick pony whose only line
was to demand that Noynoy Aquino
prove that he was not mentally
incapable of becoming President.
Knowing Aquino's sensitivity to
questions about his mental state, I
really don't know how Cayetano
wormed his way into the President's
good graces. But I suspect that the
senator decided that he would rather
cast his lot with Aquino rather than
take his chances with Binay - whose
Makati, after all, is still trying to get
back the most expensive real estate in
Cayetano's Taguig.
As for Trillanes, his mercenary
made the announcement. It is expected
that the visa backlog for Chinese
nationals under the EB-5 category
could be several years or more.
Investors whose priority dates are
prior to the cut-off date would not be
able to immigrate until an immigrant
visa is immediately available. An
investor who is in the U.S. must be
careful not to lose lawful status in
order to be eligible for adjustment of
status once a visa is available. Even if
the investor has an approved I-526
petition, the investor cannot file for
adjustment of status if a visa number is
not yet available to him.
In contrast with the family-based
and other employment-based
preferences where the delays range
from several years to more than two
decades, the EB-5 category with a
relatively short processing time is
preferred as it is still one of the fastest
routes to a green card.
(Editor's Note: REUBEN S. SEGURITAN has
been practicing law for over 30 years. For
more information, you may log on to his
website at www.seguritan.com or call (212)
695-5281.)
ways go back even further, when he
was in the employ of the financiers of
the Oakwood mutiny that he staged
with his fellow soldiers who belonged
to the so-called Magdalo to bring down
the Arroyo administration.
Trillanes has since gone a long way,
all the way to the Senate, while his
fellow coup plotters have been
dismissed from the military or are still
in jail; very few of the former Magdalo,
by the way, speak highly still of
Trillanes, whom they consider a
sellout to the ideals they declared
when they attempted to grab power.
Both Cayetano and Trillanes are
going after Binay for an audience of
one in Malacañang, in the hopes that
they, too, will get the President's
support for the higher offices that they
seek. The two senators' interests, at
this point, merely jibe with the Roxas
faction's.
It should be interesting to see how
long the Cayetano-Trillanes show will
run, especially if Aquino refuses to
intervene. Popcorn, anyone?
PH ready for AEC?
From page 10
For agriculture, the government is set to get a reprieve from the
quantitative restrictions on our rice imports. The local sugar industry,
however, is deemed vulnerable once tariff on the commodity is slashed to
only 5 percent in 2015 from 18 percent in 2013.
Moreover, it is common knowledge that local firms in general continue to
face high cost of production (electricity in particular is very expensive here)
and the seemingly perennial problem of weak regulatory institutions and
policies, not to mention the country's vulnerability to climate change and
disasters.
But a number of Philippine businesses, SMEs and entrepreneurs are, no
doubt, ready for regional economic integration and are prepared to compete
in the AEC. In fact, a total of 56 Philippine companies are vying for the
awards. This should inspire and motivate more Filipino businesses to
participate and become key players in the broader regional market.
But there are those, too, that need to adapt to the changing economic
environment where the inefficient will surely perish. These enterprises
better emulate the Asean business awardees if they are to survive the
inevitable economic integration. Inquirer.net
201-434-1114
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 13
1 in 10 foreign-born Asian Americans has hep-B;
most don't know it
NEW YORK, New York -- As
many as 1 in 10 foreign-born Asian
Americans is affected by hepatitisB, a rate over 20 times higher than
that of the overall U.S. population,
reports Gilead Sciences.
Chronic hepatitis B is a
potentially fatal liver disease
caused by the hepatitis B virus
(HBV). HBV is up to 100 times more
easily transmitted than the AIDS
virus.
Chronic hepatitis B can slowly
destroy the liver over many years
even decades without producing
symptoms. It may cause lifethreatening complications
including liver cancer or cirrhosis
(severe liver scarring).
Worldwide, approximately 240
million people are living with
chronic hepatitis B infection, with
as many as 2 million living in the
United States.
Although anyone can become
chronically infected with hepatitis
B, Asian Americans are particularly
impacted. About 1 million Asian
Americans are living with chronic
hepatitis B infection more than any
other ethnic or racial group in the
United States.
Asian Americans chronically
infected with HBV are at an
increased risk of liver cancer.
Without appropriate monitoring
and treatment, Asian Americans
are 2.7 times more likely to develop
liver cancer than whites and 2.4
times more likely to die from the
malignancy the most significant
cancer disparity between Asian
Americans and whites.
Transmission
HBV is found in blood and other
body fluids, and can be transmitted
by any activity that involves
exposure to these fluids, including
sexual contact, use of contaminated
needles (e.g., injecting drugs or
tattooing), or sharing some
personal items like razors or
toothbrushes.
H o w e v e r, m o s t A s i a n
Americans who have hepatitis B
contracted the disease from their
mothers during childbirth. This is
because of historically low levels of
hepatitis B testing and vaccination
in some Asian countries.
It is important to know that
hepatitis B is NOT transmitted
through casual contact it cannot be
spread by sharing food, water or
eating utensils, or by hugging,
kissing, coughing or sneezing.
Importance of screening
Hepatitis B can be diagnosed
with a simple blood test yet
alarmingly, as many as two-thirds
of Asian Americans with chronic
hepatitis B do not know they are
CDC photo
i n fe c t e d . H BV s c re e n i n g i s
especially critical because patients
with chronic hepatitis B usually do
not experience any symptoms until
advanced liver disease has already
developed.
In order to address the high
rates of hepatitis B among Asian
Americans, screening guidelines by
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) recommend
that all U.S. residents born in areas
that are highly impacted by
hepatitis B, such as Asia, be tested
for hepatitis B.
Similarly, the U.S. Preventive
Services Task Force (USPSTF), a
government-appointed
independent panel of experts,
issued guidance in May 2014
recommending hepatitis B
screening for individuals born in
areas that are highly impacted by
hepatitis B.
The USPSTF recommendations
mean that hepatitis B testing for
high-risk populations must be
covered without cost-sharing by
m o s t p r iva t e i n s u r e r s a n d
M e d i c a re , a n d m ay ex p a n d
coverage for screening under
Medicaid.
Prevention and treatment
The good news is that chronic
hepatitis B is preventable, with a
safe and effective vaccine that has
been available for over 30 years.
For those living with hepatitis B
who are closely monitored by a
d o c to r, t h e d i s e a s e c a n b e
manageable and treatable.
Although there is no cure for
chronic hepatitis B, there are
several treatments available that
can help protect the liver from
further damage.
Studies have shown that over
the long-term, hepatitis B
treatment may help to reduce or
reverse signs of serious liver
d a m a g e c a u s e d by c h ro n i c
hepatitis B infection. Yet it is
estimated that only 41 percent of
Asian Americans living with
hepatitis B are under the care of a
physician and among those in care,
less than half are receiving
hepatitis B therapy.
Addressing hepatitis B
There are a growing number of
initiatives taking place across the
country to increase screening for
hepatitis B and linkage to care for
those who are infected. These
include:
The U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) has
implemented a Viral Hepatitis
Action Plan, which has been
u
Page 14
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 14
Aquino sisters ...
From page 11
Roxas faction, where Abad belongs.
In the 2010 elections, the sisters
were with the Noy-Bi (AquinoBinay) faction.
That's why it's not surprising
that Kris Aquino likes the idea of his
brother endorsing Binay in the 2016
presidential election to the horror of
Liberal Party stalwarts, who, up to
now, pin their hopes on Roxas.
That was another masterstroke
that Binay did last Aug. 11:
announcing that he has received
information that the ruling Liberal
Party was considering adopting him
to be its standard bearer in the 2016
elections. (The other masterstroke
of Binay was infiltrating the Liberal
Party campaign in 2010. In the same
building where LP had their
headquarters, there was a room
distributing Noy-Bi campaign
materials.)
Senate President Franklin
1 in 10 ...
From page 13
renewed for 2014-2016. Key
accomplishments of the agency's
work to date include the provision of
$6.6 million in CDC grants to expand
viral hepatitis testing and linkage to
care;
The first-ever multilingual
campaign to increase HBV testing
among Asian Americans, “Know
Hepatitis B,” has been launched by
CDC and Hep B United, a national
coalition focused on addressing and
eliminating the disease;
The Viral Hepatitis Action
C o a l i t i o n i s a p u b l i c - p r iva te
partnership coordinated by the CDC
Foundation to make meaningful
a dva n c e s i n t h e p re ve n t i o n ,
screening and treatment of viral
Embedded
impunity
From page 10
served the people… in a courageous
and indefatigable way,” wrote then
Pope Benedict XVI. “He was a good
priest, a fervent believer…”
He belonged to the Pontifical
Institute for Foreign Missions (Pime).
Pime members work in many
countries - like Algeria in Africa,
Mexico in Latin America, Papua New
Guinea, Thailand and the Philippines.
The Vatican recognized Pime in 1926.
Today, Pime supports more than 500
missionaries in 18 countries.
As pastor, Tentorio “sought
justice for lumad or indigenous
people, dispossessed of their land,
harassed by armed men, when
government seemed to abandon
them,” Kidapawan Bishop Romulo de
la Cruz recalled. Siding with the
oppressed “can earn you enemies
who go after even the kindest of men.”
A UN commission later
established that death squad leader
Roberto D'Aubuisson ordered the
killing of Romero. Here, Eastmincom
continues to deny it had any hand in
Tentorio's rubout.
Up to now, the murderers of
Tentorio have not been pinned down,
reports Asia Philippines from
Kidapawan in North Cotabato.
The investigation is snarled by
contradictory and false leads. Jimmy
Drilon, LP vice- chairman
vehemently denied Binay's claim. LP
issued a statement underscoring
that the party is against “corruption,
patronage and self-serving
a m b i t i o n .” T h e u n w r i t t e n
message:Binay is the epitome of
what they are fighting against.
But Kris Aquino said she and her
sisters are open to Binay succeeding
her brother: “Kami ng mga sister ko
naman pinag-uusapan namin yan.
Sinasabi namin puwede naman
talagang magkaroon ng unity at
puwedeng kung ano kasi hindi
naman kami magkaaway. At kung
ipagpapatuloy naman niya lahat ng
nasimulan ni Noy, why not?(My
sisters and I discussed this. We said
it's possible to have unity and we are
not really fighting. If he (Binay)
would continue what Noy has
started, why not?),” she said in her
TV show.
In a separate TV interview, she
said:”I don't make a secret of the fact
that one of my closest friends is his
(Binay's) daughter Anne, and we
pray together.”
The eldest sister, Ballsy agreed
with Kris: “You know, he never said
anything bad about my family at pati
na rin sa ibang partido, kaya ako ay
natutuwa na ganoon ang
pakiramdam niya. Kung yun din
naman ang kanyang hangarin, na
maipagpatuloy ang mga nasimulan
ni Noy , e di magaling. (…I'm happy
that that's how he feels. If that his
desire, to continue what Noy has
started, good.)”
I think if Roxas decides to push
through with his presidential bid
despite low popularity ratings,
Aquino will be compelled to endorse
him but he will not prevent his
sisters, relatives and members of his
cabinet like Executive Secretary
Paquito Ochoa to support Binay.
Under the Binay presidency,
Aquino will be amply protected. He
will not suffer the fate of Joseph
Estrada and Gloria Arroyo.
Aquino will have his cake and eat
it too. Some people are damn lucky.
hepatitis. Hepatitis B is a leading
cause of liver cancer worldwide. By
2030, one study estimates that liver
cancer among Asian Americans will
increase by 132 percent. What is
being done to address this alarming
problem?
the same family from multiple
generations are affected by this
disease. How has chronic hepatitis B
affected families in your community?
Dangerous Stigma
In many Asian families, serious
illnesses like hepatitis B can carry a
strong stigma and are often not
discussed. But the truth is, anyone
can get the hepatitis B virus, and the
good news is that it can be treated
and managed. How can we break
through the stigma and start a
dialogue about hepatitis B?
Tragically, the vast majority of
hepatitis B cases among Asian
Americans are transmitted from
mother to baby during childbirth.
Oftentimes, several members of
and Robert Ato were arrested in
December 2011. So were five
members of the paramilitary group
Bagani led by Jan Corbala, also known
a s “ C o m m a n d e r I r i n g .” T w o
witnesses have retracted.
“Someone is trying to block or
deflect the investigations,” suspects
Fr. Peter Geremia of Pime. Look at the
paramilitary groups that patrol the
area, “they seem untouchable… We
are locked into a system of impunity
and a system of corruption.” Father
Geremia stresses there are also other
victims of extrajudicial executions.
It is a measure of Tentorio's
integrity that even Mindanao
communists tried to hijack his name.
In a full-page ad published in the
Inquirer issue of Oct. 26, 2013, the
Southern Mindanao Regional Party
committee hailed Tentorio as
“Beloved Servant of the Masses.”
Siegfred M. Red, “secretary,” signed
the ad. This was unprecedented.
Tentorio was selfless, not because
of his priestly vocation but “because
he learned from the masses” - the ad's
spin. “The masses alone are the
creators of history.” This is, of course,
Mao Zedong 101. “Party members
should take their cue from the
masses, and reinterpret policy with
respect to the benefit of the masses,”
the Great Helmsman wrote.
Sundays, Tatay Pops would give
“brief but sound homilies that
affected people's lives,” the paid ad
stated. “In his sermons, he guided
peasants and the masses… to
Asian American population
growing
A U.S. Census Bureau report
indicates that Asian Americans are
the fastest growing racial group in
the country. It is therefore critical
that hepatitis B and other serious
health disparities among Asians be
addressed. What policy and other
changes are needed to ensure that
the health needs of Asian Americans
are met?
hepatitis B or to speak with expert
physicians, community advocates or
patients, contact (650) 574-3000 or
[email protected].
Inquirer.net
embrace the national democratic
s t r u g g l e .” T h a t ' s c o m m u n i s t
shorthand for conflict.
The military insists they did not
tag Tentorio as a “communist” thereby making him a target for
hitmen. “The ad… is a deceptive
attempt to insinuate that the military
is behind his murder,” Eastmincom's
spokesperson protested.
Tentorio's assassins have not
been brought to justice. The Catholic
Bishops' Conference of the
Philippines and Pime are pressing
government to nail the killer and
mastermind. “What makes us so
indignant is the impunity of the
perpetrators,” the Italian ambassador
fumed. What will we tell Pope Francis
when he visits in January 2015?
“Your dream is my dream,” Father
Tentorio wrote in his last will and
testament, made public by his Pime
confreres. Scribbled in the Visayan
dialect he was fluent in, Father Pops
added: “Your struggle is my struggle.
You and I are one: companions in
building the Kingdom of God.”
That resonates in Romero's note:
“Nothing we do is complete, which is
another way of saying that the
kingdom always lies beyond us… We
may never see the end results, but
that is the difference between the
master builder and the worker. We
are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs. We are
prophets of a future not our own.”
(E-mail: [email protected])
Quake-damaged storefront in Vallejo, California VALLEJO TIMES
HERALD PHOTO
51,000 Filipinos ... From page 8
“Dozens of patients have been treated or are being treated
at Queen of the Valley Hospital,” according to a City of Napa
press release. “There are two major injury cases known at this
time.
“Four mobile homes were destroyed and two on fire on
Orchard Avenue in north Napa,” says the press release.
There were reports of a young child seriously injured by a
damaged fire place. The child was flown out of the area for
treatment. According to the release, there were 30 water main
leaks, as well as damage to Sam Kee Laundry building, the
Goodman Library and the Napa County Courthouse. A Red Cross
evacuation center has also been set up in the Napa High School
Gym, and drop boxes for debris will be placed at all public
schools.
Residents in the affected area are being asked to check
water heaters and check for the smell of gas. Law enforcement
has also asked individuals to stay away from damaged area to
allow emergency personnel access the area. Inquirer.net
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 15
Community members of Hapao in Hungduan town in Ifugao province engage in a friendly competition of “guyyudan” (tug-of-war) as part of activities of the “punnuk” ritual to mark the end of the rice harvest season.
In Ifugao, a ritual after
a bountiful rice harvest
By Analyn Salvador-Amores
Hungduan children forge a bond by joining community festivals and rituals
tied to Ifugao province's rice cycle. EV Espiritu
When the rice terraces in
Hungduan town in Ifugao province
turn from green to yellow, villagers
start harvesting the ripened grains
and hold a ritual to mark the end of
the harvest season. The “punnuk,” a
postharvest ritual, is performed by
residents of Hapao, Baang and
Nungulunan in Hungduan.
A day before the punnuk, a
“houwah” (thanksgiving rite) is
performed by the “mumbaki”
(native priest), along with the
reading of the bile of a chicken for
good omen, and the offering of
“bayah” (rice wine) to the gods and
deities. The next day, the punnuk is
declared by a “dumupag,” a female
agricultural leader who holds the
social position and respect in the
village.
Elena Uyammi, a 63-year-old
dumupag in Hapao, says the punnuk
is a thanksgiving ritual after a
bountiful rice harvest.
“This signals that people can
now be free to do other things that
were earlier prohibited during the
harvest ritual. For instance, no
eating of fish or shells from the river,
no eating of leafy vegetables from
the terraces or planting in the
gardens and other heavy manual
tasks,” Uyammi says.
There is a belief that
“Binongbong,” a deity from the
Lagud (East), would declare the
lifting of these prohibitions.
Jose Uyyami, a Hapao elder, says
his ancestors have been observing
the ritual for generations.
“As a child I actively participated
in it and even until now. I am glad to
see young people, and even my
grandchildren, in the punnuk,” he
says.
The punnuk was last performed
in 1986 before the community
revived it in 1997 through the help of
Baguio-based filmmaker Kidlat
Tahimik.
From the rice terraces, a group of
children, teenagers, adults and
elders lines up dressed in their
native attire: The men in their
“wanoh” (loincloth) with their
“pongot” (headdress) and the
women in their “tolge” (native skirt).
They carry the “dongla,” the
principal sacred plant of Ifugao, and
the “kina'ag” (a monkey-like
scarecrow made of rice stalks) in a
procession heading to the nearby
river.
As they walk down through the
terraces, the participants and
spectators cheer and challenge each
other to play the “guyyudan” (tug-ofwar).
The “pakid,” a long wooden pole
with a hook, is pulled by each group
from the opposite end. The players
from each village are a mix of men
and women, children and elders,
with their bodies half-soaked and
resisting the strong current of the
river.
Rowena Nakake-Sicat, tourism
officer of Hungduan, says: “Our
ancestors believed that the winners
of the game would have a bountiful
supply of rice, while the loser would
experience scarcity throughout the
year.” The guyyudan is also regarded
as a form of entertainment for
residents as they celebrate the lifting
of the prohibitions at the end of the
harvest season.
At the end of the guyyudan,
villagers throw the kina'ag and then
the dongla into the river to
symbolize that all misfortunes, pests
and sickness will be washed away.
Inquirer.net
UST documents in ancient 'baybayin' script declared
a National Cultural Treasure
By Edgar Allan M. Sembrano
Owing to their outstanding
cultural value, two 17th-century
baybayin documents from the
University of Santo Tomas (UST)
Archives were recently declared
National Cultural Treasure (NCT) by
the National Archives of the
Philippines (NAP).
Baybayin is the ancient Filipino
syllabary in use during the Spanish
contact in the 16th century.
The declaration was made
during the Second Baybayin
Conference on Aug. 22 at National
Museum of the Filipino People at
Agrifina Circle in Manila. The
conference was held in conjunction
with the Buwan ng Wika (National
Language Month) celebration.
“This is the first declaration
made by the National Archives and
the first paper document to be
declared as NCT,” said UST professor
Regalado Trota Jose, director of the
U ST A rc h ive s a n d a fo r m e r
commissioner of the National
Commission for Culture and the
Arts.
The formal declaration was
made by National Archivist Ino
Manalo.
Jose said the recognition
highlighted the age of UST and its
status as Asia's oldest university and
an historic institution.
He explained the ancient scripts
should assist in the understanding
of the history of the university and
the Philippine nation, and
highlighted the importance of the
collection of ancient documents in
the UST Archives.
Significance
The UST Baybayin Documents,
said Jose, represent the longest and
most complete documents
handwritten entirely in baybayin, a
Philippine script in use since precolonial times up to the present.
The two records are also the
oldest of their kind, both as being
written in baybayin and as examples
of early deeds of sale, showing
insights into the use of baybayin by
different individuals living in and
around Manila in the early 17th
century and in the legal affairs of
early Spanish colonization.
These documents, Jose
explained, also provide insights into
a particular stage of the
orthographical and paleographical
development of baybayin scripts
and are very rare examples of 17thcentury records in a fair state of
preservation.
The deeds of sale also highlight
the role of women in ancient
Philippine society as landowners
and entrepreneurs. Jose said ancient
women apparently had the same
power as men to own and sell land.
They provide insights on how
much more prevalent was the use of
baybayin then, since it was generally
thought previously that baybayin
was just limited to writing poems,
accounting and signing of
documents.
Deeds of sale
“These two documents are
deeds of sale of lands. The first one is
1613 (Document A); the second one
is 1635 (Document B),” said Jose.
He said Don Andres Capiit
bought the land in Document A;
married Doña Francisca Longar,
who bought the land in Document B.
1613 document. The discoloration is water-damage from particularly heavy
u
Page 19
floods in the 1930s.
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 16
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 17
Page 18
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
th
Order of the Knights of Rizal USA 5
Regional Assembly Opens in Cleveland, Ohio
Chapter at the Philippine Consulate
in New York City. Consul General
Mario De Leon Jr., himself a member
of the Order, and Sir Atty. Ferdinand
Suba, KCR, KOR NY Chapter
Commander, will lead in welcoming
the illustrious Supreme Commander.
On Thursday, September 4, the
Supreme Commander visits Jersey
City, New Jersey where he will be
hosted by Council President Sir
Rolando Lavarro, the first Filipino
American elected to the Municipal
Council of the City of Jersey City. A
wreath-laying ceremony will be held
at Plaza Rizal followed with a
program at the Council Chamber,
Jersey City Hall.
The Supreme Commander will
be in Las Vegas on Friday, September
5 to meet with local chapters before
returning to Manila sometime in the
second week of September.
Sir Jeremias C.Singson, KGCR
Supreme Commander
The gold, green and white colors
of the flag of the Order of the Knights
of Rizal will be proudly displayed
during the KOR USA 5th Regional
Assembly in Cleveland, Ohio from
August 29 to September 1, 2014.
Host of the Assembly is the
Knights of Rizal Cleveland Chapter
with support from the different
chapters in Ohio. More than 250
brother knights from various
chapters in the United States have
confirmed their attendance. The
newly elected Supreme Commander
of the Order of the Knights of Rizal
Sir Jeremias “Jerry” C. Singson, KGCR
is the event's guest of honor. Sir Jerry
will open the Assembly and give
remarks regarding the state of the
Order and likewise present his
vision and goals for the years 20142016. Sir Francis D. Sison, KGOR will
formally assume the position of
Regional Commander for USA
succeeding 2012-2014 Regional
Commander for USA Sir Tom
Rodriguez, KGOR.
The symposium's theme for this
year is “Rizal Is Alive In Us; We Shine
Like A Prism Through K.O.R.
Leadership” which speaks of the
importance and relevance of Rizal's
ideals through leadership, both then
and now, even after more than a
century of Dr. Rizal's martyrdom at
Bagumbayan Field.
Sir Jerry will make various stops
i n t h e U S A . O n We d n e s d ay,
September 3, he will grace an event
to be hosted by the KOR New York
Sir JEREMIAS “Jerry” C. SINGSON,
KGCR
Sir Jerry is a native of Vigan City,
Ilocos Sur. He is a seasoned political
icon in the province which started in
1975 as a Barangay Captain. He was
elected Vice Mayor of Vigan and
became the Executive Vice President
of the Vice Mayor's League of the
Philippines. He was also a Board
Member of the province and became
the Executive Vice President of the
Provincial Board Member's League
of the Philippines. He was an elected
Vice Governor of Ilocos Sur and
became the National Chairman of
the Vice Governor's League of the
Philippines.
Presently, he is a Provincial
Board Member and has the following
call-names given by the people of
Ilocos Sur: Father of Day Care
Services; Father of Botika ng
Barangay; Father of Ukay-Ukay;
Father of Water Spring
Development; and Father of Medical
Missions.
From these advocacies, he was
awarded the esteemed President
Elpidio Quirino Distinguished Medal
of Service in November 2008 by the
President Elpidio Quirino Assembly.
His civic involvements include
Boy Scout of the Philippines as
Chairman, Jaycees as President,
Rotary International as President,
his very own JCS Foundation as
Chairman and CEO and his 24-year
membership with the Order of the
Knights of Rizal. At first, he was a
Chapter Commander for Vigan
Chapter, then became a Supreme
Trustee in 2000. Last 2012, he
became the Deputy Supreme
Commander of the Order. For two
years in a row, he was the Over-all
Chairman of the National Rizal Youth
Leadership Institute (NRYLI), an
annual conference of almost a
thousand youth of the land under
shared objective of Rizalism.
The illustrious Supreme
Commander is a caring and loving
husband, father and grandfather, an
advocate of the diseases of poverty,
and an ardent Rizalist.
The Order of the Knights of Rizal
The Order of the Knights of Rizal
is a civic and patriotic organization
recognized by law as an
instrumentality by which the
teachings of the Philippine national
hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, may be
propagated among the Filipino
people, and others who may believe
in his teachings to the end that they
may emulate and follow his
examples. Aside from it being a civic
and patriotic organization it is also
cultural, nonsectarian, non-partisan
and non-racial.
The history of the Order of the
Knights of Rizal go back to December
30, 1911 when Colonel Antonio C.
Torres organized a group of 9 men
from different walks of life for the
purpose of commemorating in a
fitting manner the execution and
martyrdom of Philippine national
hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal. Thereafter,
year after year, the same group
would gather to celebrate the birth
and commemorate the death of Dr.
Jose Rizal. During Rizal Day
celebrations, this group would be
seen conspicuously on horseback
reminiscent of the knights of old
known for their chivalry and
exemplary life. To provide a
continuing entity and to encourage
others to join them, these admirers
of Dr. Rizal on November 16, 1916,
organized a private non stock
corporation and named it the "Orden
de Caballeros de Rizal."
T h e O rd e r h a s ex p a n d e d
considerably since the early 1950s.
Since then, chapters had been
organized not only all over the
Philippines but also in foreign
countries having as members
foreign nationals who are ardent
admirers of the Philippine national
hero. (By Sir Sonny Austria, KCR)
Filipino Films Take Spotlight Again in
New York at 7th Sinehan Sa Summer
NEW YORK, 22 Aug. 2014 -- Avid
moviegoers, film buffs and wannabe
critics gathered once again and
reveled in Filipino films during the
week-long Sinehan sa Summer
organized by the Philippine
Consulate General New York at the
Philippine Center last 11 to 15 August
2014.
During the opening, Consul
General Mario L. De Leon echoed
movie pundits' observation that the
recent years have been considered as
the renaissance of Philippine cinema.
He cited Filipino films that are being
recognized by international awardgiving bodies and are doing the
rounds of festival circuits around the
world.
In New York alone, some Filipino
filmmakers whose works have been
featured in film festivals around the
city including Lav Diaz at the Lincoln
Center and the Museum of Modern
Art are becoming favorites of film
connoisseurs and are filling up
venues SRO.
At the premiere night, cosponsored by the Alumni
Associations of All Ateneo, De La Salle
University and Assumption College,
the audience were treated to Eddie
Romero's 1976 classic “Ganito Kami
Noon Paano Kayo Ngayon.”
Overwhelmed with an abundance
of submissions, the festival
showcased 20 short films shown over
two nights dedicated for shorts on
Tuesday and Wednesday; both
sponsored by youth organizations JCI
Philippine New York, UniPro and
Legacy NY.
The screening committee found
that there was a recurring theme in
many of the 3- to 20-minute films: the
immigrant life and the Filipino
diaspora. Some of the movies told
stories of settling into a new home
country such as the opening prefeature documentary “To Manong
Carlos”, “The Houseband's Wife”
tackles the social costs of having an
OFW mother, while “Ins and Outs” is a
humorous take on a day-in-the-life of
immigration police officers.
The entries came from all over,
too. “Erintes” was submitted from
Hungary by Filipino Erasmus scholar
Pa n x S o l a j e s ; “ M a b u h ay A n g
Pilipinas” by director Bor Ocampo
came all the way from Australia
where part of it was filmed.
A Q&A session followed the two
short films screenings, where
filmmakers came to entertain queries
from the audience. Festival Screening
committee members Fiel Zabat
(award-winning production
designer) and film producer and
writer Gil Quito moderated each of
the days and had a lively discourse of
comments, reviews, reveries and
musings with the fans and panelists.
The Filipino independent film
movement also has seen a steep rise
during the recent years, and the
festival took note of this trend by
featuring two indies. “Ang Huling Cha
Cha Ni Anita” (Anita's Last Cha Cha), a
big winner in acting awards during
the first CineFilipino Festival in the
Philippines, was a crowd pleaser with
the audience and the partner
organization Philippine American
Friendship Committee (PAFCOM).
“A n g D a a n P a t u n g o n g
Kalimugtong” (The Road to
Kalimugtong), which garnered 8 wins
and 17 nominations from local and
international award-giving bodies
with its heart-wrenching story of
rural children's struggle to go to
school, struck a chord with the
viewers, mostly from co-sponsor
Association of Filipino Teachers in
America (AFTA). A simple cocktail
reception and fellowship preceded
the indie night screenings.
Permissions for films from the
Philippines were provided by ABSCBN, Kapatid 5 TV, Unitel Pictures,
CineFilipino and Film Development
Council of the Philippines.
The complete lineup of films may
be accessed from the Consulate's
facebook page: www.
facebook.com/PHConsulateNY.
From Left: Marshall Factoran (Underdog); Joam Villabrosa (Deep Water, My
Friend Charlie Whight); Vice Consul Khrystina Corpuz, Fiel Zabal, Paolo Bitanga
and Gil Quito of the Screening Committee; Josh Russel, friend and Michael
Rosenbaum (Limbs); Cultural Officer Olive Magpile and JCI VP Reggie Torrejon
pose for a photo opportunity after the Shorts Night Q&A. (Photo by Victor Cruz)
Clockwise from top Left: DCGs Kira Acuzena-Dangan (3rd from left) and Zaldy
Patron (4th from left) pose with PAFCOM Officers and members; Vice Consul Khrys
Corpuz (2nd from left) with filmmakers of Limbs and sister of Pagtuo director;
Panelists are engaged in a lively discussion moderated by Ms Fiel Zabat (3rd from
left); Ms Olive Magpile (2nd from right) with AFTA officers during cocktails.
(Photos by NYPCG)
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 19
Before and after Oct. 15, 2013
By Edgar Allan M. Sembrano
University of San Carlos (USC) of Cebu
and Holy Name University (HNU) of Bohol
are set to launch Monday the book
“Pagsulay: Churches of Bohol Before and
After the Earthquake of 2013.”
Written by Jose Eleazar R. Bersales and
photographed by Fr. Generoso Rebayla Jr.,
SVD, and Estan Cabigas, the 240-page
coffee-table book describes in both text
and photography the state of the 26
churches in Bohol before and after the 7.2
magnitude earthquake struck the province
on Oct. 15, 2013. Worst affected by the
strong tremor were the churches of Loon,
the biggest in the Visayas, and Maribojoc.
Both are now in ruins. Other iconic
churches also suffered from minor to major
damages.
Efforts are now underway to rebuild
and restore these religious edifices.
Government agencies such as the National
Museum (NM), National Historical
Commission of the Philippines, and
National Commission for Culture and the
Arts (NCCA), as well as private institutions,
organizations, and individuals have since
been working to save the churches and
somehow restore their old glory.
Bersales is a columnist of Ceby Daily
News and director of the USC Press.
Father Rebayla is vice president for
finance of USC and an accomplished
photographer. Cabigas has worked with
Augustinian historian Fr. Pedro Galende on
the book “Philippine Church Façades.”
Both have worked on “Balaanong
Bahandi: Sacred Treasures of the
Archdiocese of Cebu,” also published by the
USC Press.
Divine Word missionaries
USC and HNU are owned and managed
by the priests and brothers of the Society of
the Divine Word, the missionary order.
Church historian and University of
Santo Tomas archivist Regalado Trota Jose,
former NCCA commissioner, writes the
foreword of the book. Jose is the author of
“Visita Iglesia Bohol: A Guide to Historic
Churches,” published in 2001 by the NCCA.
The book contains messages by
Tagbilaran Bishop Leonardo Medroso and
Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto.
Pagsulay is a Cebuano word for “test.”
The book chronicles the history and the
rich heritage of the Bohol churches, a
number of them declared Important
Cultural Property and National Cultural
Treasure by the NM.
Coinciding with the launch is the
opening of the exhibit of selected
photographs from the book. Cebu-based
poets will read literary works and the USC
Dance Troupe will perform traditional
Bohol dances.
Copies intended to help raise funds for
the rebuilding of the Bohol churches will be
available for a week at the exhibition area.
Copies are also available at the USC Press
and USC Museum.
Launching ceremonies will be held at
the Activity Center of the Ayala Center in
Cebu at 5 p.m. Monday. The formal launch
will be led by Fr. Dionisio M. Miranda,
president of USC.
For book orders, call USC Press at
2315342, 2300100 local 290. For
information on launching and exhibit, call
USC Museum at 2531000 local 191.
Inquirer.net
LOBOC church before
LOBOC church after
CHURCH of Maribojoc before (left) and after
Baclayon church
Church of Loon before (top) and after (above)
DAUIS church
Got hurt at work?
LISA A. ARKIN, ESQ.
Cover sheet of 1613 document
1635 deed of sale
UST documents ...
(environment) to take care of these. Not
only these but all other documents [in the
collection]. These are to be kept for
posterity, for the next generations, for
other people and other countries to use
and study later on.”
“So we have to train our staff to know
how to handle the documents,” added Jose,
who also teaches in the Cultural Heritage
Studies program of the UST Graduate
School. The actual copies are not available
for public viewing due to their fragile state.
Replicas have been made and may be
viewed at UST Archives bulletin board
(5/F, Central Library). These will
eventually be uploaded on the UST website
along with important data.
From page 15
Longar remarried after Capiit died
sometime between 1613 and 1625. She
married Don Luis Castilla, who sold some
lands to UST in 1629.
A contestation ensued, and Castilla had
to show Documents A and B as proofs of
ownership. The documents were passed
on to the university archives after the
acquisition of the land from Castilla.
These deeds of sale were actually part
of a book with baybayin documents, said
Jose. During the UST tricentenary in 1911
(the university was founded by the
Dominicans in 1611), among the
“treasures” exhibited by UST to the public
were the baybayin documents.
The two documents were first
published in 1911 on Libertas, the daily
newspaper published by UST.
Conservation
“We are recognized as custodians of
the NCT, but there's the responsibility for
these to be taken care of,” said Jose about
the declaration. “So we have to have good
NO CHARGE CONSULTATIONS
“Dedicated to helping
injured workers”
201-444-1078
Wwww.lisaarkinlaw.com
www.lisaarkin.com
'Tagalog ABC'
The baybayin is a pre-Islamic, preSpanish Philippine script with 14
consonants and three vowels. It is wrongly
referred to as an alibata or alphabet.
Baybayin, explained Jose, “is the term
used in the alphabet. If we are going to
refer to the old Tagalog dictionaries,
baybayin is the ABC of the Tagalogs. So 'di
tamang gamitin ang alibata (So alibata is
u
Page 24
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 20
2nd quarter GDP
growth seen at 6.2%
Moody's unit cites factory output, trade growth
By Paolo G. Montecillo
Improvements in factory
output and external trade
numbers likely fueled faster
economic growth in the
second quarter of the year,
research firm Moody's
Analytics said.
The expected secondquarter rebound would stay
moderated, the firm said,
but the improvement was
expected to continue on the
back of reconstruction work
in the Visayas.
“High frequency data
have all been pointing in the
r i g h t d i r e c t i o n ,” s a i d
Moody's Analytics, the
research arm of
international debt watcher
Moody's Investor Service.
Data to be released next
Thursday could show that
the Philippine economy
grew by 6.2 percent in April
to June, improving from 5.7
percent in the first quarter.
Economic Planning
Secretary Arsenio Balisacan
said the second quarter was
likely better than the first.
Moody's said its forecast
for the economy in the
second quarter was still
“below trend.” Last year, the
e c o n o my g re w by 7 . 2
percent, faster than any
other major Southeast Asian
economy.
The research firm said
reconstruction work in
Visayas in the second
semester of the year should
push economic growth
“toward trend.”
Finance Undersecretary
Gil Beltran, for his part, had
a rosier outlook. In a
comment this week, Beltran
said the economy likely
expanded by at least 7
percent in the second
quarter.
The Moody's forecast is
still below the state’s official
target range of 6.5 to 7.5
percent for the year - a goal
that both the International
Monetary Fund and the
World Bank said would
probably be missed.
In its note released
yesterday, Moody's said
i n d u s t r i a l p ro d u c t i o n ,
which was up 13 percent in
the second quarter, as well
as data on imports and
exports, pointed to a better
economic performance. The
manufacturing sector
accounts for about 23
percent of gross domestic
product (GDP).
At the end of June, the
value of goods exported by
the country rose by 21.3
percent, the fastest
expansion so far this year.
The economy slowed
down in the first quarter due
to supply chain bottlenecks
caused by Supertyphoon
“Yolanda,” which devastated
central Visayas in November
last year. Inquirer.net
Private sector leaders meet
to tackle Asean trade issues
By Amy R. Remo
Top business leaders
from the 10 member-states
of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) will convene next
month to tackle issues and
concerns about regional
trade amid ongoing
preparations for the
establishment of the Asean
Economic Community
(AEC) by end-2015.
The Asean Business Club
(ABC), a private sectordriven initiative for the
region's major homegrown
corporations, said the ABC
Forum 2014 to be held in
Singapore on Sept. 8 and 9
was primarily aimed at
promoting sector-based
discussions to enhance the
Asean agenda.
“(The forum) seeks to
help better prepare the
Asean region's business
community for AEC, which
will establish a single
market and production base
by 2015. It also aims to help
attract more investments in
the region, initiate reforms,
prepare the work force for
market integration and
improve the region's
competitiveness alongside
neighboring economic
giants China, Japan and
India,” ABC explained in a
statement.
According to the group,
the forum, which is expected
to gather more than 300
business leaders in the
region, would focus
primarily on six sectors,
namely legal and tax;
a utomot ive a n d
manufacturing; financial
services and capital
markets; minerals, oil and
gas; food and agriculture,
and retail.
Discussions in the forum
will be included in the Asean
Business Club's “Lifting-theBarriers” reports on each of
the sectors and the reports which will highlight
industry barriers and
bottlenecks as well as
propose solutions - will be
delivered later to Asean
officials and economic
ministers in the region.
The forum, to be chaired
by AirAsia Group CEO Tony
Fernandes, is being
organized by the ABC and
the CIMB Asean Research
Institute (Cari).
Cari is a public
organization committed to
the development of the AEC
and serves as the secretariat
of the ABC, whose members
include some of the most
prominent business leaders
in the region, among them
Jaime Augusto Zobel de
Ayala, Nazir Razak, Tony
Fernandes, Patrick Walujo,
Chairul Tanjung, Chartsiri
S o p h o n p a n i c h , To s
Chirathivat, Cezar Consing,
Chew Gek Khim, Goh Yew
Lin and Thura K. Ko.
Businesses across the
region are bracing for the
potential impact of a fully
integrated regional
economy by 2015, which
will see a freer flow of goods,
services, skilled labor,
investments and capital.
Tariff-wise, the Asean has
already gained a major
headway as most of the
import duties in the region
have been slashed to zero
since January 2010.
Inquirer.net
Screengrab from www.pldt.com
PLDT, HK firm to lay
25,000 km of cable
in three continents
By Miguel R. Camus
Philippine Long Distance Telephone
Co. has partnered with Hong Kong-based
PCCW Global to undertake an
international fiber optic project, the
Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) Cable
System, which may be completed in
2016.
PLDT said in a statement that the
project would further increase its
international bandwidth capacity and
raise the resiliency of its overseas links
as it enhances the quality of data and
Internet connections for its customers.
The 25,000-km undersea cable
network system will connect Asia, the
Middle East, East Africa, and Europe. It
will have the capacity to process 100
gigabits per second (Gbps) of
information, with the minimum pegged
at 10 Gbps.
“The AAE-1 Cable System will
p rov i d e n e t wo r k d ive r s i t y a n d
resiliency, which is a great enabler in
delivering quality service to our
customers,” PLDT president and CEO
Napoleon Nazareno said in the
statement. “This new cable system will
facilitate the PLDT Group's growth and
expansion, allowing it to serve more
customers not only in the country but in
Europe and the Middle East as well.”
PLDT said the AAE-1 will connect the
Philippines to 17 international
destinations: France, Greece, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Yemen,
Djibouti, Pakistan, India, Cambodia,
Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam
and Hong Kong.
“AAE-1 will boost our country's
global competitiveness by being one of
the significant factors that could attract
investors in business process
outsourcing industries (BPOs) and other
enterprises,” Nazareno said. “It will also
allow the PLDT Group to offer products
and services, such as enterprise data and
Internet services to customers in
Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”
For the past years, PLDT has been
investing in international submarine
cables in the Asia-Pacific, establishing
direct connections to the US mainland.
The investment in AAE-1 forms part of
PLDT's capex for 2014 estimated at
between P30 billion and P32 billion.
PLDT and its partners last year
completed the construction of Asia
Submarine-Cable Express (ASE), the
largest capacity international submarine
cable system in the Philippines with a
landing station in Daet, Camarines
Norte. Inquirer.net
Peza off to Europe
for another roadshow
The Philippine Economic Zone
Authority (Peza) is embarking on
another European roadshow in
November this year to woo
prospective investors anew to tap
potential trade and investment
opportunities in an emerging economy
like the Philippines.
Peza Director General Lilia de Lima
said the roadshow would cover several
countries in northern and central
Europe, including Germany, where
they hope to entice more foreign
investors to invest primarily in the
country's IT and manufacturing
industries.
A report from the Department of
Trade and Industry's foreign trade
office in Germany showed that the
Peza mission would be in Stuttgart,
Germany, to present the country's
business proposition during a
Philippine business day. Following
that, Peza is expected to conduct
business missions in Belgium,
Denmark, France, Sweden and the
United Kingdom.
The DTI and the country's
investment promotion agencies have
been aggressively marketing the
Philippines as an ideal investment
destination and as potential hub or
base for foreign companies wanting to
capitalize on the opportunities
presented by the Asean economic
integration.
u
Page 22
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 21
Simplify trade process for
SMEs, DTI urges Asean
By Amy R. Remo
The Philippines will push anew for
the simplification of rules and
processes during a regional economic
ministers' meeting in Myanmar, to
allow local small- and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) to benefit from
free trade agreements and the
liberalization of cross-border flows
throughout the region.
Trade Secretary Gregory L.
Domingo on Friday said that this
would be on the agenda of the Asean
Economic Ministers Meeting in
Myanmar, which began last Aug. 24
and ends on Aug. 28.
“As always, our push is for SME
trade facilitation, so it will be easier for
our SMEs to trade with other
companies in other Asean countries.
We need to simplify the rules for the
SMEs,” said Domingo, who flew to
Myanmar on Saturday. “This should
however be a regional effort, meaning
it should be implemented across the
region.”
Since early this year, the trade chief
has been saying that the current rules
and regulations governing free trade
agreements and other bilateral
agreements are largely meant for the
big companies.
“We have to start making changes
to ensure that SMEs can participate in
[this cross-border flows] in an easy
manner. We need to make the rules
simple for small companies so they can
feel the effect or benefits of the free
t r a d e a g r e e m e n t s ,” D o m i n g o
explained, citing as examples the
industries of garments, handicraft and
furniture, whose players may skip
certain application processes to
enable easier access.
Also, Domingo revealed that as
many as 21 meetings among the 10
member states of the Asean and its
eight dialogue partners, were expected
to take place during the 46th Asean
Economic Ministers Meeting. These
would include one-on-one bilateral
meetings and subcommittee group
meetings.
Issues concerning the forthcoming
establishment of the Asean Economic
Community in 2015 will also be
discussed, along with post-AEC 2015
scenarios and the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership
(RCEP).
RCEP is a bigger free trade
agreement being negotiated among
the 10 member states of the Asean and
its six trading partners: Japan, China,
Korea, Australia, New Zealand and
India.
Once in place, the RCEP may turn
into the world's biggest trading bloc, as
this group of nations reportedly will
account for 40 percent of the world's
trade, with a combined GDP of about
$17 trillion.
The main goal of the RCEP is to
“create a comprehensive trade
a g re e m e n t t h a t w i l l fa c i l i t a te
economic integration between all the
countries involved.” Main negotiating
issues involved are trade in goods and
services, investment, economic and
technical cooperation and dispute
settlement.
Like the AEC, the RCEP is expected
to be concluded by the end of 2015.
Inquirer.net
Tourism boom boosts
hotel sector
Mikee Malig
Peachy Ong Sichon
Mildred dela Cruz
BPO sector in PH yields
modern-day heroes
A hero is a person who can
make a positive difference in the
lives of his or her loved ones, coworkers, customers and the
community at large. In the
Philippines, there are thousands
of such heroes - and they don't
even need to leave the country,
according to the country's
largest private employer,
Convergys.
T h e b u s i n e s s p ro c e s s
outsourcing (BPO) industry
continues to grow. As a result, a
million Filipinos now enjoy
rewarding jobs and rising
careers within the country
while they contribute to the
nation's economy and help in
improving quality of life.
As we celebrate National
Heroes' Day, we find examples of
f ive m o d e r n - d ay F i l i p i n o
heroesdiverse BPO employees
who inspire with their
exemplary stories of bringing
positive change to others' lives
as well as their own.
Family hero
Mikee Malig, 25, was a
sophomore at UP Diliman when
his studies were disrupted by
family and livelihood
misfortune.
With their finances in
disarray and his mother's health
worsening, he was the only one
left to support the family. Mikee
quit school, but found work as a
call center agent.
“As the eldest , I took
responsibility. When Mama got
sick, I knew I had to step up,” he
explained.
His earnings, first as an
agent and then as team leader,
enabled Mikee to care for his
mother's treatment while
putting his brother through
school. Thankfully, his mother's
health improved, and his
brother earned a scholarship,
also in UP Diliman.
Mikee also resumed his
studies, benefiting from
Convergys' educational
assistance program and now
just 18 units shy of graduating all the while excelling in his
work.
Successfully managing his
own team and delivering
outstanding performance since
he joined the company, Mikee
for several times was named top
team leader in the Convergys
MDC 100 site in Quezon City,
u
Page 22
FamilyMart to open franchising
by end of 2014 to spur expansion
By Doris C. Dumlao
MANILA -- Japanese
retailing chain FamilyMart, a
retail store chain brought to the
Philippines by the Ayala and
Rustan's groups, will open up to
franchising by the end of this
year to speed up its nationwide
expansion.
Anton Huang, president of
Philippine FamilyMart (PFM)
and SSI Group Inc. said in a press
To further accommodate the growing number of visitors, more hotels are slated to be
statement
on Tuesday that
constructed within Newport City by 2016. Metro Manila's stock of hotel rooms will
franchising would hasten
expand by 22.9 percent year-on-year to end this year at 21,532 as more property
FamilyMart's store roll-out
developers invest in tourism, widely deemed as the low-hanging fruit for the domestic
Facebook photo/FamilyMart Philippines
while offering opportunities to
economy, property consulting firm Colliers International said.
hundreds of families and acceptance. “From a virtually h a s b e e n a g g r e s s i v e l y
individual entrepreneurs who unknown brand, FamilyMart expanding its footprint in the
have been looking for ways to go has now become a recognizable Philippines. It opened 31 stores
By Doris C. Dumlao
integrated gaming resorts in Pagcor
into business.
brand that has ushered in a new in 2013 and targets to end 2014
Entertainment City, envisioned to be
“We will provide all out convenience store lifestyle.”
with up to 90 to 100 stores.
Metro Manila's stock of hotel the country's version of the Las Vegas
support to ensure that their
Established in Japan in the
The FamilyMart brand
rooms will expand by 22.9 percent strip casino resorts. From 2014 to
business is properly run. We 1970s, FamilyMart is currently operates in the Philippines
year-on-year to end this year at 2017, an average 3,700 new hotel
want them to succeed because the world's second largest under SIAL CVS Retailers Inc., a
21,532 as more property developers rooms will be delivered annually in
their success is ours as well,” he convenience store chain with joint venture firm equally
invest in tourism, widely deemed as the metropolis, Colliers said in its
said, adding that the details for a more than 22,000 branches owned by leading specialty
the low-hanging fruit for the domestic second-quarter property report,
franchise were still being worldwide. It is present in store retailer SSI Group Inc. and
economy, property consulting firm which aggregates the official pipeline
worked out, as of Tuesday.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ayala Land.
Colliers International said.
of property developers.
Huang said SSI's long Thailand, China, Indonesia,
As of June 30 SSI retailed
As many as 4,015 new hotel rooms
For the first half of this year,
experience in building brands in V i e t n a m , U S A , a n d t h e 103 international brands in 655
will be added to Metro Manila's hotel Colliers said only 20 percent of
the country would be critical for Philippines.
stores located in 68 malls
inventory this year, including those to additional hotel rooms in the 2014
the FamilyMart brand to gain a
Since it opened its first store t h r o u g h o u t t h e c o u n t r y.
open along Manila Bay at the
u
Page 22
distinct position in the market in Glorietta 3 Makati in April Inquirer.net
and immediate consumer 2013, the Japan-based brand
More than 4,000 rooms to be added in Metro this year
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 22
PEZA ... From page 20
As it is, the Philippines is reportedly
in a sweet spot as it is no longer difficult
to promote the country, given critical
developments that saw banner GDP
growths over the past quarters and
investment-grade ratings from global
agencies. Add to that the country's huge
population and the availability of a
young, skilled and English-speaking
workforce.
For this year, the DTI expects the
country's net foreign direct investments
(FDIs) to grow by as much as 20 percent
from the $3.9 billion posted last year as
the Philippines continues to gain
Tourism boom ...
Men of no small means slake their wanderlust on their “hogs.”
From page 21
CEOs embrace brotherhood
of the long, winding road
By Alan T. Ortiz
Why do we ride? Why are so
many middle-aged
p ro fe s s i o n a l s a n d s e n i o r
executives buying big bikes,
donning armored jackets,
slipping into leather gloves and
reinforced boots and riding off
to Tagaytay, or Subic, or Tanay,
or Gumaca at the crack of dawn
every Sunday morning?
The easy explanation
dismisses it as merely the
coming of our second childhood,
the fulfillment of juvenile
dreams, or simply the
performance of male bonding
rituals amidst the roar and the
swoosh of high performance
machines.
Perhaps. But we riders can
attest that there are certainly
d e e p e r, m o re m e a n i n g f u l
explanations for the urge to
mount our bikes and join the
thundering herd on Sunday
mornings or on long weekends,
as we navigate around the
unruly buses, jeepneys,
tricycles, dogs, chickens, and
pedestrians and finally escape
the clutches of the metropolis,
coast through the countryside,
and still manage to be back
home by lunchtime to be with
our wife and kids in the
afternoon, go to mass at sunset
and have a pleasant family
dinner after.
And why does big biking
have a particular appeal to
CEOs, senior executives and
industry leaders? Well, to
belabor the obvious, while it
looks like a highly
individualistic sport, one of its
biggest attractions is that big
biking is actually the pinnacle of
team play. Each biker plays a
role in the veritable wolf pack whether playing the
“spearhead” or lead rider, or the
“sweeper” or rear guard - the
singular objective is team
security and the safe arrival at
the ride destination. Big biking
is a team sport. And like any
other team sport there are
certain fundamental principles
that encourage adventurous
individuals to choose to learn
how to ride.
We can cite at least five
reasons why we choose to ride.
It's about time
The kids are no longer
toddlers and are nearing
adulthood. The childbearing
and childrearing days are
mostly behind us. The house has
been set up. We are at or near
the summit of our respective
professions. The cars are fully
paid off. And, lo and behold,
there is some surplus in the
bank account to purchase, say, a
reasonably priced big bike (by
definition bigger than 450cc).
This is when we realize that the
time has come to turn a previous
gleam in the eye, and to
transform the wistful yearnings
of our youth for the freedom of
the wide open spaces and the
proverbial wind in our face, into
the reality of a powerful,
throbbing, gorgeous big bike
weaving skillfully through the
twisties of Bitukang Manok in
the Bicol region or climbing
Marcos Highway up to the City of
Pines or breaching Dalton Pass
to access Cagayan Valley.
pipeline had been actually delivered,
brought largely by four projects, namely
Tune Hotels Ortigas (182), Azumi
Boutique Hotel (187), Marco Polo
Ortigas (313) and Citadines Salcedo
Makati (215).
The property consulting firm said
the bulk of the additional hotel
inventory would be delivered in the
second semester, with close to 1,660
new rooms to be located in Parañaque
City. While 75 percent of the rooms will
be located in Pagcor City, two others will
momentum globally with its strong
e c o n o my a n d g o o d g ove r n a n c e
measures.
Also driving this growth would be
the increasing competitiveness situation
of the Philippines and the increasing
capability of the local workforce.
This heightened investor interest is
evident particularly in the local
manufacturing sector, which grew by 10
percent last year. The resurgence in
manufacturing and continued fast
growth of the service sector, specifically
the IT-BPM (IT-business process
management) sector, are seen to push
the growth in net FDIs this year.
Inquirer.net
be located elsewhere.
“One particular project, Go Hotels
Parañaque (199 rooms), is expected to
attract budget travelers who want to
temporarily stay near the airport
terminals,” the research said.
For the new rooms to be delivered
each year through 2017, 56 percent will
be located in Pagcor City while a
substantial number will be located in
Pasay City, Quezon City and Taguig, the
report noted. These three locations are
expected to contribute 3,600 rooms that
will cater to business travelers, with the
majority of the hotels to be operated by
international brands. Inquirer.net
have encountered a bespectacled lady,
usually with a ponytail and a sunny
smile. She would carry herself with a
becoming one of the “Best of the Best” in dignified bearing, helped along by a
his program.
walking cane in her hand. She is Mildred
“I couldn't have accomplished this on dela Cruz, a mother, widow, and topmy own. My family inspires me and my performing agent at Convergys Alabang.
supervisors and colleagues have always
Mildred was only about a year old
been supportive and understanding,” he when she was stricken with polio.
shared.
“As a little girl, I felt a pinch in my
Mikee always sees the silver lining in heart when people looked at me with
every dark cloud. “Your situation might pity or curiosity. But my parents told me
not be what you wanted, but it is what not to mind it. They told me, 'Mildred,
you have now. Just turn the equation when they get to know you, they would
around.”
appreciate what you can do,'” she shared.
It is pure wanderlust
Indeed, she has shown the world
During our youthful days,
Starting over
what she can do. In the late 1980s to
we always suspected that there
Maria Theresa “Peachy” Ong Sichon 1990s, Mildred was in the civilian staff of
was a registered nurse working in a US the Armed Forces where her work
is a whole, wide, beautiful
hospital when the US financial crisis included writing speeches for the chief of
country out there filled with
struck in 2007. As opportunities staff.
warm people and incredible
declined, she found herself on a plane
vistas. In the course of our work
She moved on to corporate work
back to Bacolod, wondering how she afterwards and found the love of her life
when we were younger, we got
would provide for her two daughters.
bits and pieces of this
Levy - with whom she shared many
This was yet another one of life's U- similarities. They were both left-handed,
patchwork tapestry. But after a
turns for Peachy, who had recovered born only a month apart, and he, too, had
couple of years of riding, our big
from a failed marriage and tried her hand been stricken with polio as a child. In
bike group has seen and
at entrepreneurship before taking up 1996, the couple was blessed with a
experienced almost the entire
nursing which, in the early 2000s, healthy baby boy.
tapestry - from the windmills
seemed like the key to a better future.
Joining Convergys was actually her
u
Page 29
“I was considering what to do next husband's idea. He told Mildred about a
when I heard that Convergys was great place for her to work that was
opening here in Bacolod,” Peachy closer to home. “He even picked my outfit
recalled. “So, I gave it a try, and the rest is for my job interview and drove me there,
history.”
making sure I was early,” Mildred
From starting out as an agent in reminisced. Five months after she
2008, Peachy consistently grew in started work at Convergys, she got a
leadership. She is now an operations phone call at the office. Her husband
manager and program head of an almost succumbed to a heart attack.
150-member team.
“Needless to say, I was devastated.”
“I believe the drive to succeed is
Slowly she picked up the pieces, all
greater when your inspiration is your the while continuing work and
children. It's important that I set a good transitioning to the life of a single
example,” Peachy shared. “I'm proud of mother. Her son, now 18 years old, keeps
how responsible my children have her going.
become and the efforts they make to help
“He's the living memento of my
out in their own way. My eldest daughter husband. I tell him that 'even if I have to
was a scholar throughout her college life crawl on the ground to support you, I
in the University of St. La Salle. She also would do it.'”
joined the Convergys recruitment team
“It helps a lot that at work, it feels like
so she is now helping share the job you're part of a family,” she said. “This is
opportunities to others.”
what's good about the company. We
Peachy and her daughters indeed don't discriminate against physical
found greener pastures and are touching abilities, age, appearance or orientation.
lives in the process, right at home in What we see is your ability to do the job
Bacolod.
well.”
Mildred diligently comes to work
An indomitable spirit
each day and is a high-performing agent.
Commuters taking the Sta. Rosa, Her advice to those facing life's
Laguna-Alabang route every day might challenges - “never give up.” Inquirer.net
BPO sector ... From page 21
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 23
Anne Curtis shrugs
off 'lasenggera' tag
Heart, center, with her sister and mother, at left.
Has Heart Evangelista
reconciled with her family?
MANILA -- Things seem to be
looking up for actress Heart
Evangelista after her engagement
with Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
That is if her Instagram posts are to be
believed.
On Monday, August 25, she posted
a photo of herself with her sister and
mother, two days after Escudero
proposed to her in Sorsogon. The
photo's caption was: “My mom and
sissy @camongpauco.”
The day before, she also posted on
Instagram a screenshot of her father's
text message to her: “always be happy
heart love u.”
It wasn't clear whether the text
message was her dad's reaction to
Escudero's proposal. The caption of
the photo read: “To my dad… thank
you for loving me the way you do… my
perfect morning.”
Before Escudero proposed to
Evangelista on Saturday, he showed
her a text message from her father
congratulating them on their
engagement. The two have been a
couple for over two years. Escudero is
15 years senior to the actress.
On March 2013, Evangelista's
parents held a press conference to
announce their dislike for Escudero,
whom they accused as being
disrespectful and an alcoholic. Her
parents also disapproved of the
actress' past relationships with actor
Jericho Rosales and Brazilian model
Daniel Matsunaga.
Her parents' apparent meddling
with her personal life forced
Evangelista to live apart from her
family. Escudero had his marriage
annulled in 2012.
The forthcoming wedding came
no surprise as Evangelista and
Escudero have been open about their
plan. The wedding date, however, has
yet to be announced. Inquirer.net
MANILA -- Anne Curtis does
not mind being labeled
"lasenggera" (drinker).
"That's okay. Not an issue
for me at all. I had worse!" said
the 29-year-old tv host/actress
at the grand press launch of her
upcoming movie "The Gifted"
alongside Cristine Reyes and
Sam Milby.
Curtis said she is not hiding
anything from the public and
everyone knows that she likes to
party and hang out with friends.
"I don't deny na I drink
naman and minsan nalalaseng
talaga. At least I'm honest about
it and yung tao hindi nasa-shock
kasi alam nila na she's like us, na
it happens," she added.
Also, she clarified that she is
still with most of her sponsors.
"I'm still with most of my
endorsements. I think what
helped was I was honest about
it. Hindi ako nagtago and I
admitted that it was a mistake. It
goes to show na tao ako and
people could relate. Nangyayari
talaga," she added.
Earlier, the "It's Showtime"
host became controversial
following two separate
confrontations between her and
Mona Louise Rey. Inquirer file photo
Anne Curtis
some showbiz personalities.
She was under the influence of
alcohol in both incidents.
Meanwhile, the actress said
that she and her boyfriend, food
blogger Erwann Heussaff, are
"very much together."
She said they just keep their
relationship private.
" I t w i l l j u s t ke e p o n
happening [rumors of breakup] because we are not a
showbiz couple. We don't post
mushy Instagram pictures, but
that's a choice. We choose to
keep it private. He'd rather keep
ours, ours."
Curtis said they are happy
with the relationship but no
plans yet of getting married.
"Wag muna! Siguro in mga
three or four years, I'll be ready,"
she added.
When asked if she sees
herself settling down with
Heussaff, Curtis replied: "Ayoko
mag-isip ng ganun kasi paano
pag hindi, masakit. I'd rather
not have my hopes high. Sana,
yun na lang."
Curtis said that she is too
young to settle down and start
her own family. But she hopes
that when the time comes that
she will finally become a mother
and a wife, she will still get lead
roles on television or movies.
"If you're not in showbiz, it's
the perfect age [29 years old].
With us kasi, it's different in the
industry here. You don't become
leading lady material once
you're already a wife. It's very
rare."
"The Gifted" will grace the
big screen starting September 3.
Xyriel Manabat. Inquirer file photo
Kids rule the roost in
local drama shows
By Nestor U. Torre
Dawn Zulueta and Bamboo Manalac
Dawn: Bamboo is not my brother
MANILA -- Actress Dawn Zulueta
took to the microblogging site Twitter
to finally address rumors saying that
she and "The Voice" judge Bamboo
Mañalac are siblings.
Zulueta denied that Mañalac is her
brother, but she was quick to add that
she has "high respect" for the singer.
The actress said she and her
brother, George, are the only children
of her parents, Jose Fazil Tahanlangit-
Taleon and Maria Cleofe SoletaSalman. Her father remarried and she
only has two half-brothers, Jed and
Josiah. "Apart from all of us, both my
parents can attest to no other
offsprings," she said.
In the end, Zulueta urged the
public to help her in putting an end to
the said issue. She also requested
Mañalac to release his own statement
"as a courtesy."
C h i l d c h a ra c te r s h ave
always figured strongly in local
TV drama series “Flordeluna”
had Janice de Belen and Herbert
Bautista, “Anna Liza” starred
Julie Vega in its title role, “Mga
Batang Yagit” featured many
juvenile players.
However, the current TV
season bids fair to end up as the
most “child-friendly” (in terms
of exposure) TV season of them
all, with practically all ongoing
shows casting child actors in key
roles:
“Hawak Kamay” may topbill
Piolo Pascual, but he has to work
doubly hard to avoid being
upstaged by the gifted juvenile
likes of Xyriel Manabat and
Zaijian Jaranilla. “My BFF”
topbills Mona Louise Rey and
Jillian Ward as her “ghostly” ate.
“Be Careful With My
Heart's” lead youths have been
growing up in full view of the
popular show's audience
because it's been telecasting for
two full years, and counting.
“Ikaw Lamang” has many little
ones playing its adult leads'
respective progeny. Kids of all
sizes and ages are similarly all
present and accounted for in
“Dading,” “Ang Dalawang Mrs.
Real,” “Sana Bukas Pa ang
Kahapon,” “Niño,” etc.
Why are child characters
and actors so popular with
producers and viewers? The socalled “awa factor” is a key
consideration, because
teleseryes are basically
tearjerkers and nobody can beat
a small, innocent, vulnerable
and pathetic waif at easily and
breezily fulfilling that most
essential function and
requirement!
All the angel-faced child
actor has to do is look at viewers
with his or her big, beautiful and
ineluctably sad and forlorn eyes
and the communal waterworks
readily ensue!
Trouble is, some TV people
a ren't sa t isfied w it h t he
u
Page 24
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 24
Fil-Am star Ellona Santiago
upbeat after 'X Factor' stint
By Alexandra Drechsler
SAN FRANCISCO -- Fil-Am
singer Ellona Santiago
instantly became the pride of
Filipinos worldwide after her
solo debut on the Fox Channel
hit music television
competition, “X Factor.”
Her passion for music,
upbeat performances and
strong vocals gained her
international attention as she
worked her way deeper into
the competition. But this teen
singing sensation did not
happen over night. Her music
abilities have been honed
since she could barely walk.
“I've been singing since I
was about two-and-a-half
years old. I would perform at
various events like birthdays,
weddings and fiestas,” Ellona
recalls. “My dad was actually
the one who has been with me
from the start. He would
always play songs on our
stereo machine and
everywhere we go so I would
listen to it and one day I
started to sing through our
karaoke machine. My family
thought I could read but I
really just memorized the
song.”
The “X Factor” stage was
no mystery to Ellona, who had
competed previously. Taking a
big step and moving into a solo
career, she competed for the
second time and won the
h e a r t s o f n o t o n ly t h e
audience, but judges as well.
Her time on “X Factor” has
Daniel Matsunaga TV grab from ABS-CBN
Brazilian model
Daniel Matsunaga wins
Pinoy Big Brother
By Maila Ager
given her the experience,
exposure and opportunity to
further her music and move
towards a more serious
singing career.
“I've always been so
passionate with music
especially because my whole
family is musically inclined,”
Ellona explains. “I've always
wanted to inspire others
through my singing and
performance. My favorite part
is actually performing on the
stage because I feel so at home,
insightfully sensitive for their tender
and I am meant to be there to
From page 23
years. In fact, some popular child stars
pour my whole entire heart
pride themselves for their ability to
into it.”
speak flowery reams of “adult-minded”
naturally affecting gift of child talents
Ellona has inspired Fildialogue in a mad, hyperdramatic and
and feel that they have to amp up the
Ams and Filipinos alike
emotional rush, without even stopping
lachrymal “flow” of their shows for
d e s p i te h e r u n ex p e c te d
to take a deep breath!
maximum effect!
u
Page 26
Alas, this hokey ability is nothing to
So aside from making the kids in
One surprise after another
By Nestor U. Torre
Maricel Soriano's
portrayal of the “wounded
wife on the warpath” in “Ang
Dalawang Mrs. Real” is
currently the talk of TV town,
what with Dingdong Dantes
and Lovi Poe at the painful
receiving end of her verbal
and physical attacks.
Her unexpectedly violent
reaction to their extramarital
duplicity has made viewers,
particularly potentially
philandering men, see
“ wo u n d e d w ive s ” i n a
decidedly cautionary light!
The teleserye could end
up as the local version of
“Fatal Attraction,” the US film
that scared male viewers so
much that it dissuaded them
from straying - an
e m p a t h e t i c a l ly p a i n f u l
lesson learned!
Even more interestingly,
Maricel's assertive attacks in
“Mrs. Real” are turning out to
be a series of assaults! Just as
viewers think that her
MANILA -- Japanese-Brazilian
model and actor Daniel Matsunaga,
dubbed as the “Hunk of the Word ng
Makati,” was named the Big Winner of
ABS-CBN's reality show “Pinoy Big
Brother: All In” on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Matsunaga broke
into tears after it was announced that he
was the big winner after garnering the
highest net text votes with 11. 69
percent .
Coming in second was 16-year-old
“Singing Sunshine” of Davao, Maris
Racal, with 3.1 percent of the text votes,
followed by 3rd placer 18-year-old Jane
Oineza, dubbed as the “Rising
Celebriteen ng Quezon City” with -0.73
percent. Fourth-placer with -0.78
percent of the votes was the “Lady
Mahinhin” of Bacolod, Vicky Rushton,
girlfriend of actor Jason Abalos.
Asked why he thought he won the
title, a tearful Matsunaga said: “Sa tingin
ko dahil mahal na mahal ko kayo at
siyempre some people would think na
hindi ako Filipino pero I'm so much more
proud to be a Filipino by heart…I'm a
true Filipino.”
Matsunaga was not part of the 18
original housemates when the show
started last April 27. He only joined the
show two weeks later. Inquirer.net
Kids rule ...
their cast behave and act naturally, they
jazz up their performances with many
additional heart-tugging ploys, most of
them fake as a three-peso bill and there
goes the child actors' spontaneity and
affecting believability!
The worst sins of commission in this
regard is the fetish of local drama series
to give child actors a lot of expressive,
flowery and “poetic” dialogue to
“feelingly” and “quotably” intone. In real
life, children talk briefly and to the point
on TV, however, their loquacious and
poetic counterparts are given long and
self-consciously “sensitive” lines to
tearfully utter, thus making them come
off as little adults, much too wise and
be proud of because it artificializes the
child actor's performance, which is most
touching when it is simple and truly felt.
Why don't some scriptwriters and
their “enabling” directors realize this?
Because they think that they're in the
business of coming up with shows that
are “larger than life,” “as melodramatic
and amazing as possible, and
showcasing “acting for effect.”
In so thinking and doing, however,
they deprive viewers of the genuinely
deep emotions that come only when
characters and actors, especially
children, are allowed to just believably
be, rather than be amazing! Inquirer.net
published by the Dominicans in 1593,
was also in baybayin, as well as in
From page 19
Spanish and Tagalog Roman scripts. The
new declaration may be the sixth
not the correct word). Alibata is a term
recognition from the Philippine
invented in 1914. So it is not a traditional
government for UST.
word. It was just invented to refer to
In 2011, the National Historical
this.” The baybayin is still being used
Commission of the Philippines declared
today by the Palaw'an and Tagbanua
UST a National Historical Landmark.
ethnic groups of Palawan and the
In 2010, in the run-up to the 400th
Hanunuo and Buhid Mangyan of
Maricel Soriano plays wounded wife on the warpath
anniversary of UST in 2011, the National
Mindoro.
Museum declared four sites on campus
A number of baybayin artifacts have
outraged character has
getting zipped with one
as NCT: UST Main Building, UST Central
been recovered through archaeological
already done her worst in
surprise after another!
Seminary, UST Arch of the Centuries and
diggings or by accident all over the
beating up Dingdong and
After her initial outburst
UST Open Grounds.
country. These are the Laguna
slapping Lovi, it looks like
and assault, Maricel didn't
Even much earlier, around the
Copperplate Inscription (Laguna);
she's just warming up for a
stop to savor the sweet relief
1940s, the National Historical Institute
Calatagan Ritual Pot (Batangas);
really long battle!
of vengeance and catharsis,
installed a marker at the UST Press (now
Intramuros Potsherd (Manila); Monreal
F r o m d a y t o d a y,
but surprised viewers when
the UST Publishing House), naming it a
Stone (Masbate); Butuan Tin Paleograph
watching the series'
she told the by now
National Historical Site. The UST Press is
and
Butuan Ivory Seal (Agusan del
the second-oldest press in the world,
climactic scenes unfold is like
u
Page 25
Norte). The first book printed in the
after the Cambridge University Press of
Philippines, “Doctrina Christiana,”
England. Inquirer.net
UST documents ...
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 25
CCP at 45: Unforgettable encounters in
the performing arts
By Pablo A. Tariman
The Cultural Center of the
Philippines opened in 1969 with
Lamberto Avellana's “Golden
Salakot: Isang Dularawan.”
Back then my only exposure to
classical music was limited to DZFE
broadcast and free listening at the
Thomas Jefferson Library in Sta.
Mesa.
In 1969, when Cecile Licad was
only 8 and Lea Salonga was yet to
be born (in February 1971), I had
no idea where the CCP was and
what kind of people were seen
there.
“Tita King,” that is, Lucrecia
Kasilag, was only 51 then, and the
little I know of Manila's performing
arts I learned by reading the
reviews of Morli Dharam, Lito
Molina, Fr. Rodrigo Perez III,
Alfredo Roces and Rosalinda Orosa.
It was in Albay that I met Tita
King for the first time in 1974, and
it was also there that I met Licad in
1974. Both musicians stayed in the
house of the Rebustillos in Albay.
'Goodbye, Nora Aunor'
As the CCP observes its 45th
anniversary, my memories are full
of encounters with the artists who
have made the CCP what it is today.
I saw my first concert at the CCP
in 1975, when it was only 6 years
old. The featured artist was 14year-old Cecile Licad, with the CCP
Orchestra (now the Philippine
Philharmonic Orchestra) under the
baton of Luis Valencia.
She played three concertos
(Bach, Ravel and Chopin). After the
Lea Salonga as “Annie” with Zeneida Amador at the CCP in 1980
Legendary cellist-conductor Mstislav Rostropovich trying out a Manila jeepney with Cecile Licad
concert, I told myself, “Goodbye,
Nora Aunor. Welcome, Cecile
Licad.”
For this 1975 concert, I joined
the Manila trip of the Rebustillos (I
was then based in Legazpi City),
and decided I would enter the
One surprise ... From page 24
completely cowed Dingdong that she wasn't through
with him and Lovi: She insisted that he take her to his and
Lovi's nest - and started trashing the whole place, hurling
picture frames here and there, ransacking their clothes
closet and throwing her underwear in his face! Hell
knows no greater fury than a wounded wife on the primal
warpath - indeed!
Nor was that the end of it: When Lovi made the big
mistake of fighting for her man, Maricel's character went
on attack mode anew - and didn't stop until Dingong
miserably mumbled his pledge to choose her over her
younger and more delectable rival and interloper!
Was that the end of it? No way! Maricel then
proceeded to further twist the knife in Dingdong's
innards - and decided to give him up! In fact, she even
“returned” him to his parents!
Now that was an even more unexpected lulu, and all
Dingdong could do was to look really dumbfounded!
To complicate matters even more, it turns out that
Lovi's old dad, played by Tommy Abuel, also has a
mistress on the side - a plot development that effectively
amplifies the “extramarital” discussion that the series
has initiated to include not just Dingdong's case, but the
general issue of some (many?) Filipino men's penchant
for having more than one “wife”!
Let's hope that the amplified discussion will prompt
some viewers to effect changes of perception, if not
action, in their own lives in this regard - knock on wood!
As “Mrs. Real” hurtles to its climax and finale, we keep
watching to see what other surprises Maricel and her
coplayers have up their sleeves - and hope that, when the
dust finally settles, valuable and cautionary lessons about
the perils of marital infidelity are taught - and learned by
the empathetically quivering and battle-scarred viewer!
Inquirer.net
performing-arts world while doing
crime, travel and entertainment
reports.
Sensing my enthusiasm in the
arts, Tita King gave me free access
to all the CCP shows in the late '70s,
and that was the reason I was
commuting from Albay to Manila
almost every week, courtesy of the
Philippine National Railways, then
headed by Nicanor Jimenez (the
father of PDI's editor in chief
Leticia Jimenez-Magsanoc).
I also heard the first
Cavaradossi of Placido Domingo
opposite the Tosca of Eva Marton at
the CCP in 1979.
When I learned that the CCP
was in need of someone to write
and edit its Arts Monthly in 1980, I
jumped at the chance and left Albay
to start a new life in Manila.
It was then that my education
as an arts writer started. I saw
performances in the country's
premier center of the arts and
interviewed famous visiting
artists.
Golden Age
The first decade with the CCP I
would consider its golden age.
Young artists who would become
world-famous years later held
their first recitals there.
In the '80s, my unforgettable
CCP experiences were the
Philippine debut of Romanian diva
Nelly Miricioiu; Lea Salonga
performing “Annie”; the OdetteOdile and Giselle of Yoko Morishita
and Maniya Barredo; the SaintSäens concerto of Licad with
conductor Mstislav Rostropovich;
the unforgettable “Dying Swan” of
Russia's dance icon Maya
Plisetskaya; and legendary French
mime Marcel Marceau performing
in Manila before an audience that
included comedians Vic Sotto and
Joey de Leon in the audience.
In the same decade, Peque
G a l l a g a d i r e c t e d Fra n c i s c o
Feliciano's opera, “La Lobra Negra”
with libretto by Fides Cuyugan
Asencio. The drama backstage got
more media attention than the
actual production.
Rolando Tinio's Teatro Pilipino
was at its glorious phase in the
early 1980s.
One development that caused
uproar in the CCP boardroom was
when Tinio decided to stage
u
Page 26
Tanghalang Pilipino's 'Sandosenang
Sapatos,' a musical on the disabled,
returns to the stage
There are children who are born
physically disabled but are
emotionally whole. Such is the
condition of a little girl named Susie,
the central character in “Sandosenang
Sapatos,” a musical which will be
restaged at the Tanghalang Huseng
Batute, Cultural Center of the
Philippines, on Aug. 28-31.
The musical is based on Dr. Luis
Gatmaitan's Palanca Award-winning
children's book of the same title.
The idea for the story came when
the author, a physician, encountered a
patient born without feet. He thought
then, what if this child has a father who
is a very skillful shoemaker?
“Sandosenang Sapatos” tackles the
incomparable love of a father for his
differently abled child.
From the pages of the book, the
story of Susie crossed over to the stage.
Last year, it was staged by Tanghalang
Pilipino and CCP, with the Philippine
Board on Books for Young People
(PBBY).
Cast of “Sandosenang Sapatos, The Musical”
Layeta Bucoy, an accomplished
playwright, did the musical
adaptation. Noel Cabangon and Jed
Balsamo, two of the country's
seasoned musicians, rendered the
heartwarming songs. Tuxqs Rutaquio,
a Philstage Gawad Buhay awardee,
handled the direction and set design.
The play received positive reviews and
had a successful run.
“Sandosenang Sapatos” returns to
stage for a limited engagement at the
CCP. IdeaCube, a company that creates
u
Page 26
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 26
Kapuso Soul Diva Jaya reunites
with dad in Vancouver
As thousands of FilipinoCanadians flocked to the Plaza
of Nations in Vancouver to see
Jaya perform at the third
Vancouver OPM Festival, two
special guests drove 13 hours
from Edmonton, Alberta just to
see the Kapuso Soul Diva.
T h e y w e r e R e y
Kagahastian, Jaya's father
whom she had not seen in
almost 20 years, and Joshua
Kagahastian, her half-brother
whom she met for the first
time.
“My father left when I was
three years old, I think,” Jaya
recalls. “But I can remember
seeing him again in 1980 when
he met up with me in Fiesta
Carnival in Cubao.”
“That was also the day he
bought me my first pair of
e ye g l a s s e s ,” J aya f o n d ly
remembers of that meeting.
Rey, who now resides in
Canada, last saw his daughter
in 1997 when she was on tour
with Asia's Queen of Songs
Pilita Corrales.
The opportunity for their
long-awaited reunion came
when the Kapuso singer, who is
currently a main host of GMA's
variety program, Sunday AllStars, headlined the Vancouver
OPM Festival last July, which
Tanghalang
Pilipino’s ...
From page 25
programs and projects for missionbased organizations, manages this
year's run. As a marketing partner of
Tanghalang Pilipino, IdeaCube
envisions to uplift the level of
understanding and appreciation of
the viewing audience for plays
performed by Tanghalang Pilipino.
IdeaCube created a “Sandosenang
Sapatos” theater kit, which includes
the souvenir program, an art folio, and
a study guide for teachers and
storytellers, and a copy of the
“Sandosenang Sapatos” book, as
CCP at 45 ...
Joshua Kagahastian, Jaya, and Rey Kagahastian are reunited in Vancouver, Canada.
was organized by GMA Pinoy
TV in partnership with the
Filipino Canadian Marketing
Group, Inc.
“My father and I talked
about everything,” she shares.
“From how he met my mother,
to the time I was conceived and
why he left. We talked about
our future together.”
Meeting her half-brother
was also a special moment for
Jaya and she was grateful for
the opportunity to visit Canada,
through the efforts of GMA
Pinoy TV, which led to this
significant milestone. “I felt so
happy and blessed to have had
a chance to get to know him
even for a short time,” she says.
“I can't wait to spend more time
with him so I can get to know
him further.”
Going beyond giving her
kababayans abroad a taste of
home through a night of
original Pilipino music, Jaya's
trip to Vancouver proved to be a
memorable one as she herself
was able to find a sense of home
in reuniting with her family.
From page 25
“Romeo and Juliet” with frontal
nudity. While doing his part as Romeo,
Tinio hissed at the audience when
they started giggling at the “bold”
scenes.
It was also the same decade Manila
audiences watched its first “Magic
Flute” under the baton of Boston
Opera's Sarah Caldwell.
After several seasons at Frankfurt
Opera, Filipino tenor Otoniel Gonzaga
debuted at the CCP in the late '80s
during the term of Bing Roxas.
Post-Marcos CCP
In the '90s, with the continuation
of the post-Marcos CCP leadership,
Barredo (“Romeo and Juliet”) and
Morishita (“Swan Lake”) did their last
performances at the CCP. In an effort
to get the backing of the Cory Aquino
government for arts and culture, Kris
Aquino was invited to join in the
ballroom scene of Alice Reyes' version
of “The Nutcracker.”
I also saw Bibot Amador and Baby
Barredo directing “Rigoletto” at the
Fil-Am star ...
From page 24
elimination from the singing contest.
She believes her biggest inspiration is
Beyoncé, the epitome of perfection in
her eyes.
Ellona idolizes Beyoncé for her
success in all aspects of the
entertainment industry like singing,
dancing, performing and acting. She
notes that her role model is passionate
in everything she does, and she
aspires to have that same passion in
her personal career.
After graduating high school,
Ellona plans to continue her education
while still living her dream in the
entertainment industry. “'My XFactor'
journey was an amazing experience
for me. It was like a nonstop roller
coaster ride!” she exclaims.
“There was a lot of stress, but at
the same time it was fun working with
such honorable people in the music
industry. Since the 'X Factor' show
additional package for each ticket.
Gatmaitan will also be present for a
“talk back” at the end of every
performance.
“Sandosenang Sapatos” was a
finalist for Outstanding Production for
Children in a Musical or Play at the
Gawad Buhay Awards, an award-giving
body for theaters presented by
Philstage.
The lead actress, Trixie Esteban,
was also a finalist for the Best Female
Lead in a Musical or Play category.
Cabangon and Balsamo were
finalists for Best Musical Direction.
This year, “Sandosenang Sapatos,
The Musical” will represent the
country in the 2014 Beijing
International Theater Olympics in
China. Inquirer.net
CCP. Opening night was delayed as
artists staged a “lock-out” until they
got assurance that their talent fees,
apparently delayed, would be paid.
A f te r t h e M a rc o s e ra , t h e
leadership of the CCP went to Ma.
Teresa Roxas, Francisco del Rosario Jr.,
Baltazar Endriga, Armita Rufino,
Nestor Jardin and Isabel Wilson.
Pianist Raul Sunico took over as
the new president in 2010. He
remains CCP head executive to this
day.
Sunico completed the CCP cycle
when it mounted a special tribute to
the CCP founder, Imelda Marcos,
during the 40th founding anniversary
in 2009. It may be recalled Sunico was
one of the recipients of the CCP's
Young Artists Foundation scholarship.
As the CCP observes its 45th year
with nationwide arts festivals and
performances, my heart goes to the
new generation of arts audiences who
did not have the chance to see how the
likes of Licad, Salonga and Barredo
evolved as world-class artists.
Those were great years with great
artists who didn't “theorize” about the
a rt s b u t a ct u a lly lived t hem.
Inquirer.net
ended I've been getting invited to
various events. I've been promoting
my concerts and upcoming shows in
and outside US. I've also started to
write my own music, but I'm still in the
process of working with producers to
produce my first song.”
When choosing pieces to perform,
Ellona selects songs that have
important meaning to her and bring
out the best tone of her voice. To make
the performance unique and bring
individuality to the songs, she adds
her own style and spin to the music.
After her time on “X Factor,” Ellona
still believes in working hard and
continuing to develop and create a
name for herself. “I think I am still
trying to strive for my “breaking
point,” she says. “All my life I've been
trying to hustle to find my breaking
point. That mindset helps me to work
harder.”
One of her upcoming performance
will be on September 20 in San
Leandro, California, along with special
guests. Inquirer.net
201-434-1114
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 27
Mariah Carey is coming back to Manila
MANILA -- Mariah Carey is
coming back to Manila. That's one
sentence we're sure the diva's
legions of fans in the country have
been waiting for to read. The last
time the singer-songwriter was in
the country for a concert was in
November 2003 - eleven years ago.
For the hardcore fanswhich
Mariah affectionately calls the
“lambs,” before giving names to fans
became cool seeing her perform for
the first time in '03 was a dream
come true. But many wondered if
they will ever see the “elusive
chanteuse” on Philippine soil again.
Fortunately, the Filipino lambs
need not wonder anymore. They get
to hear “The Voice” once more when
she brings her “Mariah The Elusive
Chanteuse Show” to Manila on
October 28 at the SM Mall of Asia
Arena. The pop diva kicks-off her
world tour in Asia that will include
stops in the Philippines, Singapore,
M a l ays i a , C h i n a a n d J a p a n .
The world tour comes on the
heels of the successful launch of
Mariah's latest album “Me. I Am
Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse,”
which debuted at #1 in many music
stores in the country. The album is
Mariah's 14th studio albuma true
testament to her staying power in
the ever fickle-minded pop world
we live in.
The Manila leg of the world tour
shouldn't really come as a surprise.
After all, the Philippines has always
been a Mariah nation. When Mariah
came here in 2003, she performed
to a sold-out crowd of 30,000.
The Filipino lambs have
consistently been the first ones to
send her songs on top of the iTunes
charts (since the music platform
debuted several years ago).
Mariah's most recent songs from
the new album “#Beautiful” and
“You're Mine (Eternal)” as well as
preview track “The Art of Letting
Go” all made it to #1 in iTunes
Philippines before anywhere else in
the world. “Me. I Am Mariah… The
Elusive Chanteuse” received an
overwhelmingly positive response
from critics and fans alike. In
Philippine radio, “Thirsty” and “You
don't know what to do” have been
staples for months. While the set list
for the concert has not been
revealed yet, fans should expect a
mix of new songs, fan favorites, and
#1 hits to be performed.
When rumors about Mariah's
Anne Curtis, 'KathNiel'
doused for charity
By Marjorie S. Duran
Anne Curtis, Kathryn Bernardo and
Daniel Padilla (“KathNiel”) are the latest
local celebs to join the ALS ice bucket
challenge bandwagon.
Anne, who was nominated by Billy
Crawford, posted on Instagram a video of
herself being doused by boyfriend
Erwann Heusaff.
She then posted a screengrab of the
ALSA.org website, captioning it, “Don't
forget to donate after accepting the
challenge and nominating others. Raise
awareness…”
The actress went on to nominate
Regine Velasquez, Sarah Geronimo and
couple Luis Manzano and Angel Locsin.
Kathryn and Daniel, on the other
hand, gamely took the challenge together.
They were nominated by “Kris TV” writer
Darla Sauler.
The duo posted a photo of themselves
being drenched on Instagram. They then
nominated celebrity couples Robin and
Mariel Padilla, Angelica Panganiban and
John Lloyd Cruz, and Bea Alonzo and
Zanjoe Marudo; as well as businessman
Ben Chan.
The ice bucket challenge aims to raise
funds for people suffering from
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or
also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Among local celebs who have already
participated in the challenge were Kris
Aquino, Lea Salonga, Aga Muhlach and
Vice Ganda. Manila Bulletin
Anne completes ice bucket dare (Instagram)
KathNiel drenched (Instagram)
wo r l d to u r i n A s i a s t a r te d
circulating online several weeks
ago, the official fanclub in the
country (Mariah Carey Philippines)
launched a campaign on social
media to entice her to come back.
Now that there's a confirmed date
and venue for the concert, the
Filipino lambs are ready to show
Mariah how her Asian lambs love
her.
There are many reasons why
everybody (not just the lambs)
should be excited for Mariah's
return. For one, the eleven years
that flew by has put Mimi (one of the
singer's many nicknames) in a
much different place professionally
and personally. She was already a
pop icon back then (as the bestselling artist of the 90s). But today
Mariah is a legend, an industry of
her own.
During that span of time,
Mariah has gotten married to
husband Nick Cannon (host of
“America's Got Talent”) and gave
birth to “dembabies”twins
Morrocan and Monroe.
Since her first concert here in
2003, she has released five studio
albums, including the worldwide
blockbuster album “The
Emancipation of Mimi” (2005),
which yielded monster hits like “We
belong together” and “Shake it off.”
She also released “E=MC2”
(2008) and “Memoirs of an
Imperfect Angel” (2009). The
former is the parent album of the #1
hit “Touch my body,” while the latter
yielded hits like “Obsessed” and
“Angels Cry.” In 2010, Mariah
released her second holiday album
“Merry Christmas II You,” from
which a re-vamped version of the
n ow - c l a s s i c “A l l I wa n t fo r
Christmas is you” could be found, as
well as new Yuletide favorite “Oh
Santa!”
With the Manila leg of the
“MARIAH THE ELUSIVE
CHANTEUSE SHOW,” Filipino fans
would get a chance to experience
(again, for some) first hand what
made Mariah a force in the music
world for more than two decades.
During the course of her career,
Mariah has become the best-selling
female artist of all time with more
than 220 million records sold
worldwide. She has 18 Billboard #1
singles under her belt (17 of them
she wrote or co-wrote herself)
including “Hero,” “Honey,” and “One
Sweet Day,” “Don't Forget About Us.”
Mariah has received hundreds
of accolades including five Grammy
Awards, nine American Music
Awards, Billboard's “Artist of the
Decade” Award, the World Music
Award for “World's Best Selling
Female Artiste of the Millennium,”
and BMI's “Icon Award.”
“Mariah The Elusive Chanteuse
Show” Live in Manila is brought to
you by Wilbros Live. Tickets
available starting August 15
(Friday) via smtickets.com. Call
374-2222 or 470-2222 for details.
Follow @wilbroslive and
@mcareyPH on Twitter and
Instagram for more information.
Inquirer.net
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 28
The Philippines’ Luis Gabriel Moreno and China's Li Jiaman (above) are flanked by the runnerup pairs during the awarding ceremony for the mixed international team archery competition
in Nanjing. At right, Li and Moreno face reporters. June Navarro
Coach Pacquiao and PBA commissioner Salud seal KIA's league debut with a handshake as CAC chair and
Palawan Gov. Jose “Pepito”Alvarez and president Ginia Domingo look on. Inquirer photo
Golden Boy Gab
Moreno relishes victory Pacquiaos officially enter PBA
By June Navarro
NANJING, China -- Still in his teens,
archer Luis Gabriel Moreno has already
etched his name in the annals of
Philippine sports after seizing the first
official Olympic gold medal for the
country at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games
here.
“You don't have to be tall or short and
you don't have to have long arms or short
limbs,” said the 16-year-old, 5-foot-10
Moreno. “As long as you have the will and
determination, you can do anything.”
He displayed these traits in an
effective pairing with China's Li Jiaman in
the finals of the mixed international team
archery event Sunday, August 24 at
Fangshan Archery Field.
“Of course, I'm very lucky to have
paired with her (Li) and I'm very
thankful,” said the high school senior from
La Salle Green Hills.
It was actually a perfect combination
with Li getting the support of the
hometown crowd and Moreno shooting
the arrows that helped down Germany's
Cynthia Freywald and Malaysia's
Muhamad Zarif Syahir Zolkepeli in the
gold-medal match. Moreno, son of
archery chief Fred Moreno of the
Philippine Archers' National Network
and Alliance Inc., scored a pair of 10s and
four 9s in a 6-0 victory (38-37, 38-35, 3733) that no one really expected.
“She (Li) did everything to encourage
me and I think I needed that,” said the
young Moreno. “And yes, the support of
the crowd lifted our spirits.”Except for
shooting a seven in his first arrow during
the quarterfinals against Japan's Hiroki
Muto and Sughrakhanim Mugabilzada of
Azerbaijan, Moreno was in the zone all the
way to the finals. He even failed to warm
up before the match after his father took
him to lunch outside the competition
venue.
They arrived seven minutes before
the faceoff with Muto and Mugabilzada
began. “I knew everybody had warmed up
and I knew I had to catch up. I just
concentrated and did my best,” said
Moreno, No. 30 out of 32 in the men's
individual recurve rankings.
Moreno said communicating with Li
was never a problem even though Li could
only speak a little English.
For his record-setting feat, Moreno
hopes to become a symbol of inspiration
to his countrymen, adding he wishes that
many Filipinos will qualify for the 2016
Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Delivering the gold in the Rio Summer
Games will be his next target. Inquirer.net
Jordan Clarkson #5 of the Missouri Tigers falls to the floor as he
watches his shot against the Texas A&M Aggies during the
second round of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at
Georgia Dome on March 13, 2014 in Atlanta. AFP file photo
Lakers sign Fil-Am rookie Jordan Clarkson
Filipino-American rookie Jordan Clarkson, the 46th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, is
now officially a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The 6-foot-5 guard from Missouri was signed by the Lakers August 25.
The 22-year-old Clarkson made a strong case to make the Lakers roster in the NBA
Summer League where he averaged team high 15.8 points, 5.0 rebounds while shooting
42% from long range. Clarkson was named to the Second Team All-SEC in his only
season with the Tigers after starring for Tulsa in his freshman and sophomore years in
college. - Mark Giongco, Inquirer.net
By Bong Lozada
MANILA -- With the
penultimate pick, the KIA
Motors selected Manny
“Pacman” Pacquiao.
And with their first pick in
the 3rd round, they selected
the boxer's Cebuano cousin
Rene.
Making sure that their
coach would not go anywhere,
KIA Motors selected the eightdivision World Champion with
the 11th pick in the Gatorade
PBA Rookie Draft 2014 Sunday
(August 24) afternoon at
Robinson's Manila.
Pacquiao was the first pick
of the KIA in the draft, the team
that he would also coach. KIA
made it official that Pacquiao
would be the lone playingcoach in the PBA with the
boxer adding another
occupation to his thick résumé.
In a previous interview,
Ginia Domingo, KIA
Philippines President, said
that the Sarangani
representative would be their
first pick. “He was always our
first priority, he's our coach,”
Domingo said.
She hoped that Pacquiao
would influence his players
with his mentality and
professionalism once the
season starts.
“I hope that his work ethic
and star power reflects on
them,” Domingo said. “They
should always give their 100
percent when they are with
their coach.”
In the same draft, KIA took
Rene Pacquiao with the 25th
pick.
A 6-foot-4 big man from
powerhouse Southwestern
University of the Cebu Schools
Athletic Foundation
Incorporated, the younger
Pacquiao is hard-nosed player
who would play for his cousin.
Pacquiao could not make it
to the draft as he is on a
promotional tour for his fight
against Chris Algieri in
November. Inquirer.net
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 29
CEOs embrace ...
From page 22
and beaches of Pagudpud via
Tuguegarao and the Callao caves, all
the way to the seafood markets of
General Santos, Cotabato, the durian
stalls of Davao, through the Buda
highway to the pineapple plantations
of Bukidnon and via Ro-Ro to the hot
springs and lanzones of Camiguin
Island.
And everywhere we went, we
were met by smiles, friendly chatter,
helpful guides, curious locals eager to
lend a hand, or have selfies taken,
with the bikes and not the rider! On
our part, we are always the antistereotypesthe respectful, fun-loving
yet courteous visitors, not quite the
hooligans and boors bikers are often
depicted in the movies. Some Pinoy
big bikers have also managed to ride
abroad - in South Africa, in Borneo, in
Baja, Mexico, in Yosemite, California
and in the Austrian Alps and Italian
Dolomites. To see all these interesting
places and to meet such wonderful
people is to appreciate the beauty and
majesty of God's work.
It is the macho effect
Of course a little vanity is involved
here. Wearing leather jackets, gloves
and high-cut riding boots (in
scorching Manila!) atop gleaming,
pricey superbikes conjures
adolescent illusions of being Matt
Damon (Jason Bourne) or Daniel
Craig (James Bond), or in an earlier
era, Marlon Brando or Steve
McQueen. Big bikes are undoubtedly
chick magnets and every once in a
long while, illusion becomes reality.
But most of the time, it's just smoke
and mirrors, a juvenile wet dream -
like that time in Bacolod when we
were surrounded by a gaggle of
schoolgirls swooning excitedly at our
group and shouting “Power Rangers!
Power Rangers!” Ouch. To be
mistaken for cartoon characters. That
was when reality hits home. And it
hurts, just a little bit. But there are
also many instances when real men
off the streets would ogle and marvel
at our machines and our
accoutrements. And that's when we
fantasize that we belong to that rare
breed of Man, the Adventure Biker,
the one-who-rides-and-crossesmountains-and-seas-in-search-ofTruth-and-Beauty. Cut! End of
fantasy.
There is modern technology
The bikes of the 21st century are
far superior, technology-wise,
compared with the bikes of the '70s,
'80s and '90s. The most coveted name
brands today have totally upgraded
their latest models starting from the
design, on to the weight, then the fuel
systems and finally the braking
systems. In terms of design,
aerodynamic configurations reduce
drag and allow better handling and
safety at higher speeds.
Nearly all big bikes now have fuel
injection and hence, are less fuelthirsty. Big bikes may look bulky and
heavy but may actually weigh less due
to the extensive use of more carbon
fiber, aluminum fairings, titanium
exhaust pipes, monoshocks and
tubular frames. Again, this adds
greater maneuverability, speed and
safety. By adopting the ABS (Anti-lock
Braking Systems) found in many cars,
big bikes now have shorter, yet safer,
braking distances and therefore more
control to avoid accidents. Because of
the greater emphasis on ease of
Bikers (from left) AJ Adiviso, Arthur Tan, the author, Josef Pfister and Jeff Ingram
pause at the Timmelsjoch Pass on the Italian-Austrian border.
handling and safety, big bike sales are
up all over the world. And more
adventure bikers are hitting the road.
Brotherhood of the road
Bikers everywhere have this
unspoken, unwritten bond, whether
on the smallest or on the biggest of
bikes. Criminal elements excluded,
this compact says that: “We are all
part of the Brotherhood of the Road.
Our paramount mission is to ensure
the Safety and Well-Being of every
Biker at all times.” This is a real code.
Not some fancy, romantic slogan
imbibed during the motorcycle riding
course we took prior to our first ride
on the superhighway. Once we ride on
that saddle and start running and
gunning our machines, we all assume
a sense of responsibility for all the
EXPRESS SUDOKU
HOW TO PLAY: Place a number from 1 to 9 in each empty cell so that each
row, each column and each 3x3 block contains all the numbers from 1 to 9
Solution to Issue 34 Sudoku
Solution to Issue 34 Crossword
riders in our group, for our individual
selves, and for all the riders we
encounter in the course of our trip.
This code is true not just in the
Philippines but all over the world.
When we pass each other on the
street, big bikers often offer a slight
nod, a honking of the horns, a wave of
the hand, to acknowledge a Brother
Biker. Like ships on the ocean, when
bikers come across an accident, we
offer assistance and ensure that the
distressed biker gets proper help. Off
the road, bikers often get together at
local clubs to discuss bike equipment,
to swap stories on new and old trips
and to make new friends. This
Brotherhood of the Road is a
remarkable phenomenon amidst the
turbulence and complexities of our
modern society.
How does one become a Big
Biker? Without sounding snooty or
snobbish, big biking is not for
everyone. As with any other hobby or
occupation, big biking demands a
unique and high level of innate or
inborn skill, proper and continuous
training, and long riding hours before
one can take to the highway plus that
enduring and irreplaceable quality
called PASSION.
When I summoned the courage to
get started, this rider bought two
bikes - one a trainer and the other the
coveted Machine. I took two short
riding courses and then for nearly
every weekend for six months, I
would take riding loops around C-5,
Edsa, Roxas Boulevard, Binondo and
Quezon Boulevard - sweating
profusely, jostled roughly by the small
bikes we call the “underbones,”
harassed by buses, jeeps, taxis and
dogs, until finally, bravely, after six
months, the trainer bike is resold and
the big bike is taken out of
hibernation. And that first ride on the
North Expressway is taken. A surge of
mixed emotions kicks in and tears of
joy and fear flow. At long last, another
dream on the bucket list is fulfilled.
For all these reasons, riding has
become a passion for many, an oasis
of peace, brotherhood, and beauty,
amidst the stresses and pressures of
everyday living. Big bike riding
provides what Ian Fleming calls our
“quantum of solace.”
Because every time we ride, it's
just us, the bike, the road, and about a
hundred million personal thoughts
between the start of our journey and
our final destination.
(The author is president and COO
of SMC Global Power. The 60-year-old
also served as COO of the Development
Bank of the Philippines.) Inquirer.net
EXPRESS CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1. Under
6. Affirm
10. Rodents
14. A kind of macaw
15. Flexible mineral
16. Black, in poetry
17. Driven by lust
19. Stare
20. What's left behind
21. One time around
22. Largest continent
23. Sedate
25. Crash
26. Assist in crime
30. Made noises while
sleeping
32. Remedy
35. A 19th century art
movement
39. Highway divider
40. Ring around the
nipple
41. Improvised
43. Quartz
44. Lama pacos
46. Wise one
47. Habituate
50. Point of greatest
despair
53. Misplaced
54. Air movement device
55. In style
60. Decorative case
61. Satisfactory
63. Food from animals
64. Consider
65. Heavenly hunter
66. Doing nothing
67. A period of
discounted prices
68. Relaxes
DOWN
1. Cotton bundle
2. Historical periods
3. Not first
4. Killer whale
5. Tarries
6. French for "Friend"
7. Fiddle
8. S. American country
9. Coarse file
10. In spite of everything
11. Humiliate
12. Subject
13. Move stealthily
18. Animal doctor
24. Donkey
25. Tired
26. Not legs
27. Red vegetable
28. Cocoyam
29. Three-party
31. Back
33. American symbol
34. Break
36. Greek letter
37. Smelting waste
38. Man
42. Remedy
43. Knave
45. Declare null and
void
47. Lacquer
ingredient
48. Well-known
49. Normal
51. Evil spirit
52. Turbine part
54. Crazes
56. Have the nerve
57. Nile bird
58. Notch
59. Female chickens
62. An uncle
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 30
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September 30, 2014
September 30, 2014
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 31
Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2014
Page 32

The Filipino Express v28 Issue 35

Transcription

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