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AFTER 13 days of negotiations on ad-dressing climate change on a global scale, 195 countries on Saturday, Dec. 12, ap-proved a historic, unprecedented climate accord that seeks to address global warm-ing.

Under the accord, known as the Paris Agreement, individual countries have com-mitted to slash emissions and pledged to assist poorer nations to adapt to the dam-aging effects of a warming planet. It also sets a long-term goal of capping the rise in global temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, while calling on nations to try to limit that increase to 1.5 degrees C.

“This is a tremendous victory for all our citizens,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said during the final session of the summit, according to Mother Jones, a non-profit news outlet. “It’s a victory for all of the planet and for future generations.”

Saturday marked the culmination of more than two decades of international attempts to come to a collective agreement on how to tackle the global problem.

In 2009, discussions in Copenhagen failed, as officials could not agree on a way to level the playing field for wealthy and poor nations. Prior to that, the 1997 Kyoto protocol, which the United States and Chi-na did not ratify, also failed. Additionally, it only addressed approximately 14 percent of the world’s carbon emissions.

The Paris Agreement marked a major foreign policy success for US President Barack Obama, who touted the agreement, calling it a “turning point for the world.”

“We came together around the strong agreement the world needed. Together we’ve shown what’s possible when the world stands as one,” he said.

Other commitments made under the deal include a global review of climate progress by 2018, and the reconvening of nations in 2020 to present climate targets that “will

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December 16-18, 2015

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EVACUATED. Evacuees feel comforted by the presence of different Christmas lanterns hanged in classrooms turned evacuation centers at the Cabangan Elementary School in Camalig town while Albay province is bracing for Typhoon Nona. Disaster and local government officials in Bicol have moved to safer areas nearly half a million people as the region, particularly Sorsogon and Albay provinces, brace for the entry of Typhoon ”Nona” (international name: Melor) by early evening Monday, Dec. 14. Inquirer.net photo by Michael Jaucian

MANILA – Typhoon Nona (in-ternational name Melor), which made landfall over Northern Samar and Sorsogon on Friday, Dec. 11 dumped rains over the Visayas and parts of Luzon, in-cluding Metro Manila, on Tues-day, Dec. 15 the state weather bureau said.

Thousands flee, classes suspended as Nona makes landfall

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGA-SA) raised public storm warning signal No. 3 over Catanduanes, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Albay, Sorsogon, Northern Sa-mar, Eastern Samar, Samar, Bili-ran and Masbate, including Ticao and Burias Islands.

Signal No. 2 was hoisted over Batangas, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite,

Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro including Lubang Is-land, the rest of Quezon includ-ing Polillo Island, Eastern Samar, Samar and Biliran.

Metro Manila, Bulacan, Bata-an, Pampanga, Southern Zam-bales, Southern Aurora, Coron, Leyte, Northern Cebu including Bantayan and Camotes Islands, Aklan, Capiz, Northern Antique,

FORGET the slapping match between two presidential candidates: Davao City Mayor Ro-drigo Duterte has instead challenged rival Mar Roxas to a duel.

“Let’s shoot it out instead. People might be afraid to die, but what am I afraid of?” Duterte said in Bisaya on Monday, Dec. 14.

But the tough-talking mayor – and lawyer – may yet find himself haled to court for issuing the challenge and violating Article 261 of the Re-vised Penal Code of the Philippines.

According to Article 261, “the penalty of pri-sion correccional in its minimum period (four months and one day to two years and four months) shall be imposed upon any person who

Duterte challenges Roxas to gunfight

AS ThE nine-day “Simbang Gabi” (dawn Mass) began Wednesday, Dec. 16 to kick-off the Christmas season in the Philippines, the Catho-lic faithful, especially the youth, are reminded that the traditional novena is for worship—not courtship.

This year’s Simbang Gabi will focus on the Year of the Eucharist and the Family as spiritual preparation for the International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Cebu next month, accord-ing to Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Con-ference of the Philippines (CBCP).

The Jaro (Iloilo) Cathedral Parish, in its news-letter, noted that many young people sometimes tend to playfully congregate with their peers or their “special someone” outside the churches instead of actively participating in the Simbang Gabi, according to a post in the CBCP News.

But couples who attend the dawn Masses must be supported, Villegas said.

“(Those) boyfriends-girlfriends who go to-gether for Simbang Gabi must be encouraged. It means they put God as the setting of their friend-ship,” Villegas said.

Praying for a wishMany people believe the completion of the

nine-day dawn Masses would mean the grant-

‘Simbang Gabi’ kicks off Christmas Season

MANILA – The Philippines’ com-mitment to trade reform and liber-alization has shown the country’s readiness to join the United States-led Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said.

In a press briefing at the Philippine embassy in Washington on Thurs-

day, Dec.10, Cuisia cited the busi-ness community’s taking cognizance of the vigorous efforts of the Aquino administration to initiate reforms and set the stage for the country’s inclu-sion in the TPP.

“Today, we look back on an event-ful year, but we also look back on the great strides taken by the Philippines on the firm belief that good gover-

Envoy reiterates PH’s keen interest to join Trans Pacific Partnership

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte and Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas. inquirer.net file photos

ThE nation’s highest court has been debat-ing a landmark case regarding US affirmative action in college admissions.

The Supreme Court appeared sharply divid-ed last week, as conservatives, including Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., believe that using affirmative action in admission decisions is “unneeded and unconstitutional,” reported the Los Angeles Times.

“What unique perspective does a minor-ity student bring to a physics class?” Justice Roberts asked, when a lawyer spoke of the importance of diversity in the classroom. “In the past, when the high court has upheld af-the past, when the high court has upheld af-the past, when the high court has upheld affirmative action, it did so with the understand-ing that it was a ‘temporary’ measure. When do you think your program will be done?”

The Court’s three liberals, led by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, argued in defense of race-

Supreme Court hears historic case on affirmative action

Asian Americans will benefit, experts say

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by Nestor CorralesInquirer.net

by Pia lee-BragoPhilstar.com

by tiNa saNtosInquirer.net

by HeleN FloresPhilstar.com

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ThE Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) canceled classes on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at its 900 charter and K-12 schools after receiving a “credible threat” of violence.

The threat was sent via email to several school board members on Monday evening, Dec. 14, LAUSD spokeswoman Ellen Morgan said. The email was later traced back to an IP address in Frankfurt, Germany.

The message reportedly targeted students and implied a threat of “explosive devices, as-sault rifles and machine pistols” to all LAUSD campuses, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said. It also mentioned backpacks and packages left at school campuses, though none of the schools were named.

District officials and police looked into the email on Monday night, prompting LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines to close the schools the next morning. The first message

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Over 190 countries adopt historic climate accord in Paris

It’s worship, faithful reminded

DECEMBER 16-18, 2015 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797A�

From the Front Page

Northern Negros Occidental and Northern Iloilo were placed un-der signal No. 1.

Classes in all levels are sus-pended today in Cavite, Cainta, Antipolo, Quezon, Laguna, the cities of Batangas and Lipa in Batangas, Albay, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Catanduanes, Masbate, Naga City, Northern Samar and Caibiran, Kawayan and Almeria in Biliran Island.

Classes in pre-school and el-ementary were suspended in Lucena City, Sorsogon and Cat-balogan City.

In Oriental Mindoro, classes are suspended until tomorrow.

PAGASA said Nona was pro-jected to bring heavy to in-tense rains within its 400-kilo-meter diameter. It warned the public in areas under signal Nos. 3 and 2 against possible flash-floods and landslides. It also advised the public to brace for possible storm surges that could reach up to four meters (about 13.12 feet).

Rene Paciente, chief of PAGA-SA’s marine meteorological services section, said Nona is expected to be 110 kilometers south of Manila this afternoon.

As of 4 p.m. yesterday, the eye of the typhoon was spotted over Bulusan, Sorsogon, packing winds of 150 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 185 kph.

It is forecast to move westward at 17 kph.

200-km radiusState weather forecasters said

the typhoon has a 200-kilometer

radius and its effects will be felt in places far from the point of landfall.

Aurelio said Nona is likely to weaken into a storm this after-noon due to its interaction with landmass and the intrusion of the cold northeast monsoon to its circulation.

Nona, with winds of 150 kph and gustiness of up to 185 kph, was forecast to move westward at 17 kph and was expected to make a second landfall in Sor-sogon last night.

The 14th tropical cyclone to enter the country this year, Nona is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility on Saturday.

Remain alertMalacañang has called on the

public to remain alert even as it gave assurance that concerned government agencies would en-sure timely and relevant response in typhoon-affected areas.

Presidential spokesman Ed-win Lacierda said the Depart-ment of Social Welfare and De-velopment has prepositioned P25,034,400.47 in standby funds while the Department of Health prepared logistical equipment in its field offices.

Lacierda advised the public to follow the Facebook and Twitter accounts of PAGASA for updates on the typhoon.

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno directed all executive judges in areas covered by storm signal No. 3 or higher to take all necessary measures, including suspension of work.

“Executive judges are directed

to ensure that court records are protected and safeguarded from damage arising from typhoon,” Sereno stated in her directive.

StrandedAs of noontime yesterday, the

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said 6,795 passengers were stranded while 75 vessels, 15 motorized boats and 466 rolling cargoes were not allowed to sail due to Nona.

The PCG said 2,226 of the passengers were stranded in Manila; 1,125 in Batangas; 1,772 in Oriental Mindoro; 131 in southern Quezon, 69 passen-gers in Northern Quezon and 68 in Romblon.

Around 300 passengers were waiting in Albay, 630 in Sor-sogon, eight passengers in Cat-anduanes and 25 in Masbate.

The PCG in Central Visayas said it recorded 413 passengers in Cebu and the PCG in north-eastern Luzon said six passen-gers were stranded in Ormoc.

Over 1,000 passengers were stranded in Albay, Sorsogon, Catanduanes and Masbate.

EvacueesThe National Disaster Risk Re-

duction and Management Coun-cil (NDRRMC) said 724,839 indi-viduals or 161,014 families were evacuated in Albay, Sorsogon and in Northern Samar.

The bulk of evacuees, more than 589,000 of them, were from Albay.

“The people here are very vulnerable but they are safe,” Albay Gov. Joey Salceda told ABS-CBN News Channel.

Thousands flee, classes suspended…PAGE A1 t

shall challenge another, or incite another to give or accept a chal-lenge to a duel, or shall scoff at or decry another publicly for having refused to accept a challenge to fight a duel.”

Slapping matchDuterte issued the challenge to

Roxas when asked by reporters about his earlier statement say-ing he would engage Roxas in a slapping match for allegedly ly-ing about being a graduate of the prestigious Wharton School.

The mayor twitted Roxas about his Wharton studies after the Lib-

eral Party standard-bearer brand-ed “a myth” Duterte’s claim about the peace and order situation in Davao City and said that the city was among those with the highest crime rate in the country.

‘Recto-made’During an ambush interview

on Monday night, Duterte main-tained that Roxas was not a Wharton graduate, saying that two congressmen, who also at-tended Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, con-firmed this to him.

Duterte also dismissed the doc-uments presented by Roxas to

prove his being a Wharton alum-nus, as “Recto-made,” referring to the avenue near the University Belt in Manila notorious for pro-ducing fake school certificates.

On Tuesday, the word war between the two presidential aspirants turned into threats of physical violence after Roxas challenged Duterte to a fistfight instead of a slapping match.

“Do what you want. But why a slapping match? That’s only for women. Let’s have a fistfight,” Roxas told reporters in an am-bush interview in Cubao, Que-zon City. n

Duterte challenges Roxas to…PAGE A1 t

ing of a wish. Thus, some Filipi-nos have made it a personal mis-sion not to miss the dawn Masses so that the petitions and wishes they are praying for would be granted.

But Villegas said that while personal wishes may be prayed for during Simbang Gabi, the Catholic faithful must primarily thank God for being Catholics—and for being Filipinos.

“Love of God and love of coun-try go together,” he said.

Preserving the faith“Simbang Gabi is a tradition of

Filipino Catholicism to thank God that the Philippines is a Catholic country. In addition, thanksgiv-ing is a petition to God to pre-serve the Catholic faith in the country,” Villegas said.

And while many Filipinos equate the tradition with festivi-ties and the eating of native deli-cacies, like “puto bumbong” and “bibingka,” Villegas believes it has not lost its religious mean-ing, despite its being too com-

mercialized.Puto bumbong (a sticky rice

delicacy steamed in wooden tubes) and bibingka (rice cake) are popular native fare usu-ally sold by vendors outside the churches after the dawn Mass.

“Simbang Gabi was and is and will be a cherished Catholic tra-dition among Filipinos,” Villegas said. “Filipino piety will outlive all commercialism and secularism. Not even the martial law curfew hours or World War II could stop it,” Villegas stressed.

Reminder to CatholicsThe Jaro Cathedral Parish also

reminded the faithful that Sim-bang Gabi is not just a tradition widely celebrated because it has become fashionable.

“It is a significant moment not only because it strengthens re-lationships among family mem-bers or among friends but also because it is the time when our faith is intensified,” it said.

Simbang Gabi traditionally begins on Dec. 16 and ends on Christmas Eve with the “Misa de

‘Simbang Gabi’ kicks off Christmas Season

SAY NO TO ILLEGAL DRUGS. Senator Vicente C. Sotto III, the principal author of Comprehensive Dangereous Drugs Act of 2002 (RA 9165), leads an Anti-Drug Abuse Campaign in Pagsanjan, Laguna together with former Laguna Governor Jeorge “ER” Ejercito Estregan (right) and his wife Pagsanjan Mayor Maita Javier-Ejercito (left with white long sleeve shirt). Laguna is advocating a drug-free province under Gov. Ejercito’s leadership. Senate photo

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Aguinaldo.”The Masses are usually held at 4

a.m., thus the name “Misa de Gal-lo,” or Mass of the Rooster, since the rooster crows at the break of dawn. Since the Mass is held while it is still dark, it is also called Sim-bang Gabi, or night Mass.

Modern scheduleBut for many years now, the

novena Mass has no longer been strictly held before dawn. The Catholic Church has adjusted to modern urban schedules and agreed, as a “pastoral accommo-dation,” to hold Simbang Gabi the night before.

One of only two Christian na-tions in Asia, the Philippines has the longest Christmas celebra-tion in the world.

Christmas officially begins in the Philippines with the start of Sim-bang Gabi and ends on the first Sunday of January, or the Epipha-ny, which celebrates the visit of the Three Kings to the Infant Jesus.

In other countries, Christmas starts on Dec. 25 and ends on the Epiphany. n

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PAINTING THE TOWN RED. A legally binding agreement to curb global carbon emissions may have already been signed, but the fight for climate justice is far from over for the thousands of environmental activists who painted Paris red in protest of the lack of action against climate change. Inquirer.net photo by Sara Pacia

nance is good economics. The Philippine economy is in excel-lent shape, and the future holds much promise,” Cuisia said.

He described how strong macroeconomic fundamentals, prudent public finance man-agement and good governance have significantly improved business environment and com-petitiveness.

He noted the re-emergence of the industry sector as a strong driver of economic growth.

He also reassured US corporate executives that the downturns in GDP growth and the stock mar-ket were reactions to external conditions rather than offshoots of problems within the Philippine economy.

“Our strategic gains in com-petitiveness and transparency have been validated by inde-pendent institutions,” Cuisia told the audience, citing the Index of Economic Freedom of the Heritage Foundation, World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report, and the Millennium Challenge Corpora-tion (MCC) Scorecard.

The ambassador also reported developments in infrastructure.

He also said laws passed un-

der the administration’s reform agenda have increased the Phil-ippines’ attractiveness to inves-tors and institutionalized the foundations of good governance, fair competition and business transparency.

“These laws ensure that the substance and pace of reforms will be sustainable,” he said.

The embassy, in a statement, said reactions to the economic portion of the briefing were posi-tive and optimistic.

“Over the last five years, the Aquino administration made im-pressive strides in growing the Philippine economy and improv-ing governance,” said Alexander Feldman, president and CEO of the US-ASEAN Business Council.

“We have seen a steady in-crease in US business confidence in the Philippines over the past several years,” said John Goyer, a senior director at the US Cham-ber of Commerce.

In the briefing, Cuisia spoke about the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community, as well as Manila’s hosting of Asia Pacific Economic Coopera-tion (APEC) summit recently.

He also discussed President Aquino’s bilateral meetings with US President Barack Obama and

with other US officials, the South China Sea arbitration case and Philippines-US defense coopera-tion, as well as Aquino’s partici-pation in the climate change con-ference in Paris.

Cuisia also presented slides on the state of tourism in the Philip-pines. This year, the Philippines ranks 7th in the WEF Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, jumping 20 places from the 2011 level.

“We look forward to working with the government of the Phil-ippines to continuing to ensure that American business is aware of and takes advantage of the op-portunities in the Philippines as the Philippines moves toward eventual accession to TPP,” Feld-man said.

The TPP seeks to lower or eliminate trade barriers such as tariffs, establish a common framework for intellectual prop-erty, enforce standards for labor and environmental laws and es-tablish an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.

The Philippines’ entry into TPP is reportedly being hampered by restrictive provisions in the Constitution, including limiting foreign ownership of lands and certain businesses. n

Envoy reiterates PH’s keen interest to…PAGE A1 t

“This is not a pre-emptive evacuation but a large scale res-cue operation… We are doing our best to achieve zero casu-alty,” Salceda added.

Edgar Posadas, civil defense director of Eastern Visayas, said

he has received reports that parts of northern Samar are flooded.

The National Food Authority said it has prepositioned 57,368 bags of rice for Albay’s first dis-trict, another 80,649 for the sec-ond district and 10,222 bags for the third district.

The NDRRMC said 40 domestic flights bound for Manila, Legazpi, Virac, Tacloban, Cebu, Naga and Calbayog were cancelled. (With reports from Delon Porcalla, Alexis Romero, Edu Punay, Ev-elyn Macairan, Celso Amo, Ricky Bautista and Rudy Santos)

Thousands flee, classes suspended…PAGE A2 t

based admissions policies at the University of Texas, which was segregated by law and later opened its doors to minority stu-dents in 1950.

The public university has al-ways had a selective admissions system that “sought to increase the minorities, using race and ethnicity as one of many factors in evaluating applicants,” report-ed NPR. Angered lower courts have ruled that UT could not con-sider race in any way in its admis-sions policies, but the university has still implemented it, guaran-teeing three-quarters of slots as reserved by law for students who qualify in the top 7 to 10 percent of their high school class.

Abigail Fisher, a white student

who was not accepted to UT in 2008, challenged UT’s “holistic review” policy that combines race/ethnicity and class rank with SAT scores, independently-grad-ed essays, and extracurricular leadership, awards, and skills.

“There were people in my class with lower grades who weren’t in all the activities I was in, and who were being accepted into UT, and the only other difference between us was the color of our skin,” Fisher argued.

Denying her claims, the uni-versity said it was neither extra-curricular activities nor race, but Fisher’s grades and test scores were “simply too low” to get her in. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed the school’s claims of good faith in its use of

race in admissions, upholding the plan as constitutional by a 7-1 vote in 2013.

By contrast, Justice Antonin Scalia raised controversy when he questioned whether affir-mative action benefits African American students.

“There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas, where they do not do well, as opposed to hav-ing them go to a less-advanced school, a slower-track school where the do well,” he said.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, of-tentimes the key swing vote for the Supreme Court, suggested that the case should be sent back to a lower court to give the uni-

Supreme Court hears historic case on…PAGE A1 t

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was sent at 6:30am to parents and guardians of the district, but some parents said that they were notified later in the morning, ac-cording to various reports.

Some facilities of the district had already opened by 7 am, where some students and staff were already present. Students were asked to go home or remain under an adult’s supervision until a parent or guardian could pick them up. Metro offered students free rides on buses and rail lines until noon.

The district is no stranger to such threats; however, in light

of the mass shootings in San Bernardino earlier this month and the Paris terror attacks in November, Cortines said he was “not going to take the chance with the life of students.”

“There are no secrets,” he told reporters about his decision to close down the nation’s second largest school district. “Some-body has sent information that leads us to pause and make sure that ... our children and our staff [are] safe.”

The district’s roughly 900 charger and K-12 schools were ordered to be searched within the day.

New York’s school system, the largest in the country, received the same anonymous threat on Tuesday, but police brushed it off as a “hoax,” according to Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

“[It would be a] huge disser-vice to our nation to close down our school system,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said, calling the email “so generic, so out-landish.”

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti stood by the decision to shut down the city’s public schools for the day, despite critics quickly calling it an overreaction.

LAUSD closes schools after receiving ‘credible…PAGE A1 t

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represent a progression beyond the Party’s then-current” target, Mother Jones reported.

“Countries have united around a historic agreement that marks a turning point in the climate cri-sis,” said Jennifer Morgan, global director of the climate program at the World Resources Institute, according to Mother Jones. “This is a transformational long-term goal that should really send clear signals into the markets” about the imminent decline of fossil fuel consumption.

After Copenhagen climate sum-mit in 2009, many world leaders thought the United Nations pro-cess would no longer be effective in addressing global warming, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations told The New York Times.

But the Paris talks were differ-ent because of a shift in the geo-politics of climate change and a change in the perception of glob-al warming as an imminent threat rather than a warning. French di-plomacy also contributed to the success of the global meeting, by helping reduce the chances that major points of contention might kill a deal again, accord-ing to the Times. Economist Lord Stern said that France brought openness, expertise in diplo-macy and mutual respect to the talks, The Guardian reported. He added that they took great care to ensure everyone was listened to and consulted with.

“It was a wonderful surprise

Over 190 countries adopt historic climate accord in…that after the incredible disap-pointment of Copenhagen, these [countries] could come to an agreement more ambitious than anyone imagined,” said Jim Yong Kim, World Bank president, who has been closely engaged in the talks, according to The New York Times. “This never happens.”

One word almost killed the cli-mate deal

In Article 4 of the agreement, a line read that wealthier coun-tries “shall” establish economy-wide targets for reducing their greenhouse gas pollution. Previ-ous drafts of the document had the world “should” in place of “shall.” While the difference may appear small, the latter term im-plies legal obligation, while the former does not. If the word re-mained, the Obama administra-tion could have been obliged to submit the final deal to the Sen-ate for approval, which the GOP-dominated chamber would have rejected, according to Politico.

“When I looked at that, I said, ‘We cannot do this and we will not do this,” Kerry told report-ers afterward, Politico reported. “And either it changes or Presi-dent Obama and the United States will not be able to support this agreement.”

The Philippines signs €1.5-mil-lion deal with France

Among deals reached in Paris was a grant agreement worth €1.5 million between France and the Philippines, which will take place throughout the next four years. Under the agreement, the

Philippines will build ecosystems and community resilience in the central region of the country, ac-cording to Philstar.

Steps toward this goal will be-gin late this year with a focus on the coastal municipality of Con-cepcion in Iloilo, which will be jointly managed by Conservation International Philippines and the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Support-ed developments include both natural and man-made defenses, such as mangroves, coastal ar-moring and small levees.

While the targets agreed upon in Paris are not legally binding, Climate Change Commissioner Heherson Alvarez said that the Philippines, which chairs the Climate Vulnerable Forum that called for a 1.5C global cap on temperature, can lead highly vul-nerable countries to transition to a zero carbon economy, accord-ing to The Manila Times.

Alvarez also said the Philip-pines can begin to come up with policies to prepare the nation for a low carbon economy with the adoption of the Paris climate agreement, the publication re-ported.

“A low carbon economy in the long term will mean low energy cost, low cost for the manufacture of goods and services. Philippine products would be competitive and will open up opportunities for jobs and higher productiv-ity,” Alvarez said, according to the Times. n

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(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • DECEMBER 16-18, 2015 A�Dateline USa

versity an opportunity to present more evidence about the plan. It felt “like we’re just arguing the same case,” he said.

Supporters of affirmative ac-tion in higher education are fear-ful that the court might issue a broad ruling in the case, that would curtail a public universi-ty’s ability to consider race in order to produce a more diverse student body, said CNN.

The outcome almost certainly turns on Kennedy’s vote. If Ken-nedy votes with the three liber-als, the court will be split 4-4, which would affirm the lower court’s ruling although without a majority opinion.

Justice Kennedy has long agreed that having a diverse stu-dent body is sufficiently impor-tant to justify consideration of race in admissions, but only if all other race-neutral systems have been tried and failed--such as economic status, NPR reported. During his career, Kennedy has never voted to uphold a race-based policy, but he has not joined with more conservative justices in a ruling that would flatly forbid affirmative action, said the LA Times.

If the court writes an opinion in Fisher vs. University of Texas, it is not likely to be handed down until the late spring.

Jennifer Lee, a sociologist and professor at UC Irvine, said she hopes that Asian American par-ents who are against the concept understand that affirmative ac-tion represents a “net positive” for their community.

“They think it’s in their self-in-terest to fight affirmative action,” Lee, author of “The Asian Ameri-can Achievement Paradox,” told NBC News. “But it is only in a very narrow way, without thinking of their broader life course. We need affirmative action because we don’t have the institutional ad-vantages we think we do.”

She also pointed to data from the 2014 National Asian Ameri-can Survey that shows the major-ity of Asian Americans--69 per-cent of registered voters polled from California--are in support of affirmative action, mainly be-cause at some point, they may need such policies.

“This may come as a surprise because there has been a small, but highly organized, vocal mi-nority who opposes it. What’s important to note is that the sec-

ond generation are more likely to support affirmative action than immigrants, most likely because the former understand how race affects their life chances, even as they attain high levels of educa-tion,” Lee continued. “The better question [isn’t self-interest, but] whether Asian Americans are willing to recognize our ethnic and class diversity.”

“Affirmative action policies al-low universities to consider the differential starting points while also promoting diversity on cam-puses,” she added.

A May 2015 study by the As-cend Foundation, a non-profit or-ganization dedicated to fostering

Supreme Court hears historic case on…

AS countries across the globe continue fighting against the Is-lamic State (IS), President Barack Obama on Monday, Dec. 14, said the US-led coalition is hitting ISIS “harder than ever.”

“ISIL leaders cannot hide, and our message to them is simple: you are next,” Obama said at the Pentagon on Monday, following a briefing from his national secu-rity team.

His announcement comes sev-eral days after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California and nearly a month after multiple co-ordinated attacks in Paris, a time at which he faces pressure to convince Americans he is taking all measures to keep them safe. He is also pressured by Demo-crats and Republicans to pick up the pace and intensity of the campaign against IS.

To date, Obama said the United States has dropped about 9,000 bombs; last month, the country

Obama: US-led coalition is hitting Islamic State ‘harder than ever’

hit more targets than any other month since it began its attacks on the Islam State last year

“Our partners on the ground are rooting ISIL out by town, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block. That is what this campaign is doing,” the presi-dent said.

Still, Obama acknowledged that progress needs to continue more quickly.

“This continues to be a difficult fight,” he said. “We recognize that progress needs to keep com-ing faster.”

The president also noted that there’s a particular problem in urban areas controlled by IS, where militants often use civil-ians as human shield, USA Today reported.

“Even as we’re relentless we need to be smart, targeting ISIL surgically and with precision,” he said.

The White House said it has experienced more success in escalating the war through air strikes on oil smuggling -- a key

source of revenue for the organi-zation -- and expanding the co-alition of 65 countries aiding the effort, rather than using ground troops or “carpet bombing” por-tions of Syria and Iraq controlled by IS militants.

Last month, the Pentagon said it would deploy approximately 100 more special operations troops to Iraq as a “specialized expeditionary targeting force” to conduct raids, free hostages, collect intelligence and capture Islamic State leaders in Iraq, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Obama’s meeting at the Pen-tagon was the first since July 6, at which point he said there was progress in the fight against ter-rorism, but warned it would be a “long-term campaign,” accord-ing to USA Today.

On Thursday, Dec. 17, Obama will visit the National Counter-terrorism Center to learn more about its efforts to track terror-ism, before he departs for his annual two-week vacation in Ha-waii. n

by Agnes ConstAnteAJPress

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“An abundance of caution is something that…all of us who have children can appreciate,” said Garcetti, adding that “it’s easy for people to jump to con-clusions. But decisions need to be made in a matter of minutes.”

The LAUSD has over 650,000 students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade and about 250,000 in adult education pro-grams, according to its website. The district comprises about 720 square miles in Los Angeles and smaller Southern California com-munities.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, said the incident targeting the LAUSD appears to also be a hoax.

“The preliminary assessment is that it was a hoax or something designed to disrupt school dis-tricts in large cities. The investi-gation is ongoing as to where the threat originated from and who was responsible,” Schiff said in a statement.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sher-man Oaks) noted that the email message was written by someone who claims to be an “extremist Muslim who has teamed up with local jihadists.”

“We do not know whether these claims are true or a lie,” he said in a written statement. “We do not know whether this email is from a devout Muslim who sup-ports jihadists or perhaps a non-Muslim with a different agenda.”

Police Chief Steven K. Zipper-man said schools will remain closed until authorities are “com-pletely satisfied that we have tak-en every measure to ensure the safety of our students.”

As of press time, officials an-nounced that the district’s schools would re-open on Wednesday, Dec. 16. For more information and updates, individuals may call 213-241-2064, visit lausd.net or laspd.com, or text laspd to 888777. (AJPress)

LAUSD closes…PAGE A3 t

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Metro Silver Line ExpressStarting December 13, Metro’s new Silver Line Express 950X will make limited stops along the I-110 Freeway to provide faster trips to and from San Pedro, Downtown LA and El Monte. You can con-nect to dozens of destinations, including STAPLES Center, USC and the Battleship USS Iowa. For more information, visit metro.net/silverline.

See something? Say something.Assaulting a Metro Operator is against the law. If you see any threatening or violent behavior, don’t be silent – report it. Call the Sheriff’s Hotline at 888.950.SAFE or use the Transit Watch app. Our operators look out for you. Please look out for them.

Help Us Build Metro Bike ShareThe Metro Bike Share Downtown LA Pilot will launch in Summer 2016 with up to 80 stations and 1,100 bikes. Metro’s Board recently approved a flexible fare structure for the program and Metro is refining plans for Bike Share station locations. Provide your input on proposed station locations by visiting metro.net/bikeshare.

Holiday Eve Free FaresTo help you celebrate the holidays safely, all Metro bus and rail lines will provide free service on the nights of Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Specifically, no fare will be charged from 9pm on Thursday, December 24 until 2am Friday, December 25, and starting at 9pm on Thursday, December 31, 2015, until 2am on Friday, January 1, 2016.

DECEMBER 16-18, 2015 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797A�

WITH over 30,000 Filipinos living in Long Beach, conver-sations about raising the minimum wage and wage enforce-ment in the city are important issues to the Filipino commu-nity.

Most Filipinos in Long Beach have settled in Westside Long Beach, an area tucked in between the 710 freeway and the bustling Port of Long Beach. Fili-pinos living in Westside Long Beach largely work low-wage jobs in the health and service industries. Raising the minimum wage would undoubtedly create a positive impact in the Filipino community.

According to data from Long Beach Ris-ing: A City that Works for Everyone by the Economic Roundtable, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would affect 17,000 Long Beach residents who work in the city.

An increase in wages would help nearly over 6,500 Long Beach workers rise out of poverty by 2020. In addition to providing a living wage for residents working in the city, the minimum wage policy should include earned paid sick days so workers do not have to make the choice between going to work sick or staying home and not getting paid. Workers should also receive stronger

protection against wage theft, which includes being underpaid and being denied overtime or breaks.

In November 2015, the Filipino Mi-grant Center surveyed 110 Westside Long Beach residents about raising the minimum wage in Long Beach and their experiences with wage theft. Of the residents surveyed, 96 percent sup-port the raising the minimum wage in Long Beach.

More than half of residents (62 per-cent) shared experiencing at least one form of wage theft, including being underpaid, denied breaks, and work-ing overtime without pay. Respondents working as caregivers, restaurant serv-ers, and health care workers shared personal experiences with wage theft. 41 percent of residents reported know-

ing someone who has experienced wage theft.

The high percentage of respondents stating they have experienced wage theft is not surprising. Filipino immi-grants and migrant workers working low-wage service jobs are some of the most vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace. Long Beach Filipino resi-dents were overwhelmingly supportive of passing a policy to protect workers from wage theft.

As part of the Coalition to End Wage Theft and the Raise the Wage Coalition, the Filipino Migrant Center has been working collaboratively with other com-munity organizations and members in a growing movement to end wage theft and raise the wage in Long Beach. We believe that all workers in Long Beach

deserve better. As a part of a vibrant Filipino community, we must empower workers and uplift communities by pass-ing a policy in Long Beach for a living wage, strong wage enforcement, guar-anteed paid sick days, and no exemp-tions. Our families are depending on it.

Joanna Concepcion is the Executive Director of the Filipino Migrant Center, a non-profit organization based in Long Beach, California that serves Filipinos throughout Southern California and ad-dresses the issues and concerns they face in their daily lives. n

* * *Joanna Concepcion is the executive director of the Filipino Migrant Center, a non-profit organization based in Long Beach, California that serves Filipinos throughout Southern California and addresses issues and concerns they face in their daily lives.

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Long Beach Filipinos support $15 minimum wage and protections against wage theft

“THE success of Donald Trump has so defied the con-ventional wisdom of political punditry that a new genre of analysis has come into being. Call it Trumpology. It con-sists of reaching for exotic explanations from surprising sources. For example, Barton Swaim, who wrote ‘The Speechwriter: A Brief Education In Politics,’ hears magic in the Donald’s diction. Think word order. Think timing.”

Thus did American broadcast jour-nalist Robert Siegel kick off a panel dis-cussion on the mystique of Republican presidential aspirant and real estate mogul, Donald Trump, who currently leads the pack in the process of select-ing the official GOP candidate in next year’s US presidential elections.

Participating in the discussion were PR specialist Mark McKinnon, vice-chair of Hill & Knowlton; political speech writer Barton Swaim; Scott Adams, the creator and cartoonist of Dilbert; and Rosalind Wiseman, a prominent parent-ing educator and author.

The opinions came from left field, right field and center field, to use base-ball idiom, but they all appear to arrive at the same conclusion: Trump repre-sents the “anger” of American voters.

This has been exacerbated by the re-cent terrorist attacks, such as the one in Paris, which have made Americans feel vulnerable. The more impression-able are pining for a personification of Dirty Harry who will “make their day” by eliminating the threats to their se-curity. Like a typical used car sales-man, Trump has vowed to do that and a whole lot more.

We are witnessing a similar phenom-enon in the person of former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, said to be lead-

ing in the recent public opinions polls among presidential aspirants.

Duterte’s promises are the kind that could come from the mouth of Clint Eastwood as the San Francisco cop who fought crime by being a criminal himself – to the

cheers of the movie audience. If elected president, Duterte would give the fu-neral parlors a windfall by liquidating drug dealers and assorted criminals. He would literally make the Philippines peaceful by making them rest in peace.

Duterte is foul-mouthed, lacing his public remarks with vulgar invectives. But that simply marks him as an over-aged juvenile. What makes him particu-larly dangerous is his obsession with extra-judicial killings as a short cut to peace and order.

Like Trump, Duterte is exploiting the frustration of the Filipino people over everything that seems to be going wrong in the country, and the seem-ing incompetence and cluelessness of the current administration. And like Trump, Duterte has one simple solution. Get rid of the crooks, the criminals, the incompetents and everyone who gets in the way of Duterte’s vision of a progres-sive Philippines.

Apparently, Duterte considers the Law an obstacle to achieving peace and or-der. He may even suggest to the courts that the best way to clear the backlog of cases is to “shoot the suspects dead.” He hasn’t said it yet but Duterte, as president, may decide to convert the Philippine National Police into the Phil-ippine National Death Squad.

It’s classic used car salesman talk and macho bluster, but even suppos-edly intelligent Metro Manilans are buying it. Of course, it also helps that the campaign team of Duterte and vice-presidential hopeful, Sen. Alan Peter

Cayetano, has some hotshot communi-cators and creative minds – with skills that can make black look white and bad sound good.

Duterte’s fans do not seem to care that Duterte’s reputed success as may-or of Davao does not necessarily qualify him to lead a country of over a hundred million people, the majority of whom are wallowing in poverty – and a large percentage of whom may be on the verge of turning to criminality in order to survive (would Duterte liquidate all of them?).

A Duterte fan enumerated on Face-Book what he described as “Ten P—Inang Achievements of Duterte in Davao.” The list consisted of ordinances covering smoking in public places, pub-lic intoxication, peace and order, using the karaoke after hours, vendors tak-ing over sidewalks, etc. Aside from the incremental benefits created by these ordinances, nothing was said about job generation, the economy, foreign af-fairs, national defense, social welfare, health care, education and similar ur-gent national needs. But this simple-minded Duterte fan appears convinced that his favorite local executive is ready for prime time.

Concerning peace and order, his fans do not seem to realize that Duterte’s promise to summarily liquidate crimi-nals could one day see their own rela-tives and loved ones – even themselves – at the point of a gun, on mere suspi-cion.

Duterte has publicly boasted that he personally killed criminal suspects, in-cluding setting one on fire – and to hell with due process (it makes you wonder if Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Mo-rales has been sleeping on the job or has not been reading the postings on social media – otherwise, shouldn’t she go after Duterte with her usual hammer and tongs?).

Now, where do Nardong Putik and

Adolph Hitler come in?I happen to have written the screen-

play of the film about that notorious Cavite bandit for Ramon Revilla. To say that his acting career was washed up at the time would be an understatement. But Revilla saw a chance to resurrect it by starring in a biopic on Putik.

His gamble hit the jackpot. Nardong Putik, the movie, was the biggest box-office hit that year, in spite of opening in the middle of a raging typhoon and floods in Metro Manila. But what fol-lowed next will give you an idea of how our people tend to confuse screen he-roes with their perception of a real life knight in shining armor.

Encouraged by the box office success of his movie, as well as his subsequent films, Revilla ran for senator. He lost because he made the mistake of using his real name, Jose Bautista, in his Cer-tificate of Candidacy. In the succeeding senatorial election, he ran again, this time as Ramon Revilla. He won. And not only that, he bred a new political dynasty in Cavite, with family members winning provincial posts and his son, Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr., taking his seat in the Senate.

I could have used former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada as an example of the confused percep-tions among our people, but the anal-ogy of Nardong Putik, a killer, is more akin to the macho persona that Duterte has donned. Erap is regarded more as a womanizer and, in this department, Duterte’s boast that he has two wives and two girl friends pales in compari-son. Erap is smooth. Duterte is crude.

And what about Adolph Hitler? Isn’t comparing Duterte with Hitler like matching the neighborhood basketball team with an NBA franchise?

That may be the case, but the fasci-nation with Duterte is grounded on the same sense of frustration and hopeless-ness that catapulted Hitler and the Nazi

Party to a position of leadership in Ger-many.

An online write-up entitled, “Why was Hitler’s Nazi party so appealing to Germans in the 1930’s?”, is very in-structive:

“The 30s was in the great depres-sion and the monarchy (was) seen to do nothing to alleviate the problems of no money and short food supply. The Nazi party offered nationalisation and work, building the autobahns and other na-tional projects, giving Germans a sense of self achievement by completing such major constructions…The Nazi party preyed on the sense of German pride in their self-achievement, using a char-ismatic Hitler to tell them how good and how much better than the rest of the world the Germans were. And since the party had done such a great job of ending the depression, then maybe, just maybe, it would be better for the whole world if they too were helped by the Germans, ruling them for their ‘own good.’… Of course this was taken a little too far and the party was ruled by idiots, insane people and complete lunatics and megalomania (sic). In ‘39 when all the trouble started, the people went along for the ride, only to realise very shortly that they were on an un-stoppable avalanche to hell.”

And as history tells us, it was hell, not just for six million Jews, but for all of Europe.

On social media, I cited the example of Hitler in an exchange of opinions about Duterte with some friends. Re-sponded one of them, an advertising man, “If Duterte’s Jews are the rich, he’s my dude.”

I wouldn’t describe my friend as irre-sponsible. I think he is just getting car-ried away by the Nardong Putik, Trump and Hitler syndrome. I hope he realizes this before it’s too late (or his rich cli-ents hear about it). (gregmacabenta@hotmail.com)

Duterte, Trump, Hitler and Nardong Putik

GreG B. MacaBenta

Street Talk

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to stop crime and corruption if elected president of the Philippines in 2016. It seems that he will stop at nothing to get there. The no-nonsense presiden-tial aspirant is on a mean streak lately and has been engaging his rivals in a political mudslinging.

Menacing

His first target was Sen. Grace Poe, who is currently facing disqual-ification cases over her residency and citizenship status. Duterte said he was convinced to submit his bid for the presidency because he does not want an American to be the country’s next president.

“The president should be a Filipino,” Duterte said.

Poe’s camp maintained the senator is a natural-born Filipino and that the Senate Electoral Tri-bunal (SET’s) favorable decision on the senator’s eligibility, rendered justice to Poe and all other foundlings. “In a democracy, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We respect Mayor Duterte and we respect his opinion. But to reiterate, Sen-ator Poe is a natural-born Filipino. International laws and covenants substantiate this fact,” Poe’s spokesman, Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian said.

However, Poe’s candidacy remains in limbo af-ter the Commission on Election (Comelec’s) First and Second Divisions disqualified her from the presidential race due to citizenship and residency issues. The Supreme Court will review and give the final verdict on the cases.

On Sunday, Dec. 13, Duterte lashed back at the Liberal Party’s standard bearer, former Interior

Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and accused him falsely of graduat-ing from the prestigious University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

“I would like to ask the presiden-tiable [Roxas], you claim to have graduated from Wharton School of Economics, that is a myth. You did not graduate from Wharton School of Eco-nomics, Mr. Roxas,” Duterte said. Roxas present-ed his Wharton credentials, but Duterte remained adamant and said they were fabricated.

According to the university’s website, Roxas graduated with a Bachelor of Science in eco-nomics from the Wharton School in 1979 and is listed as one the institution’s notable alumni, which also include Donald Trump and Warren Buffett.

The word-war sparked when Roxas claimed that Davao City’s peace and order is a myth. Davao City was recently ranked the fourth safest place in the world by Numbeo.com, and the country’s most child-friendly based on a government rank-ing.

With neither one backing down on proving their claims, Duterte dared Roxas in a slapping match, while Roxas insisted a fistfight. The heated ex-change ended with Duterte challenging Roxas to a gun duel, saying he is not afraid of anything.

Editorial

While recent poll results are in his favor, Duterte should be reminded that there is a multitude of ills in the country that deserve more attention. Rather than trading barbs with his competition, he should elaborate on his platform instead to en-gage more voters to cast his name on the ballot next year.

Filipinos have unenthusiastic assessments on the socio-political situation in the country. As spectators to this current political drama, they owe it to themselves to think objectively and look at facts instead of having prejudices and biases. With the presidency on the line, civic participation is encouraged now more than ever. (AJPress)

Joanna ConCepCion

Commentary

(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • DECEMBER 16-18, 2015 A�

Dateline PhiliPPines

business leadership in the Asian-American community, which found that while Asian Ameri-cans made up 27.2 percent of professionals at major tech com-panies Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, LinkedIn, and Yahoo, only 13.9 percent of executives were Asian-American, pointing to a lack of representation in leader-ship positions.

“They make up less than 1 percent of corporate board mem-bers and about 2 percent of col-lege presidents. Asian Americans may be facing a ‘bamboo ceiling,’ not unlike the glass ceiling that women face. How to break down that ceiling? Affirmative action, of course.”

In her collaborated research with UCLA professor Min Zhou,

Lee explained that some lower-income Asian Americans were able to overcome class disadvan-tages by using what the research-ers called “ethnic capital”—the “communal knowledge, prac-tices, and institutions created by better-off peers to help oth-ers within their ethnic group. It includes academic enrichment and tutoring programs,” she explained. “Those communities with larger middle classes are in [a] position to leverage their edu-cation and financial resources to create it. But other groups like Mexican immigrants remain dis-advantaged. Not all groups have access to the same type of ethnic capital. This is why affirmative action matters.”

Across the country, universities are making major efforts to diver-

sify their campuses, whether af-firmative action makes it through the Supreme Court or not. In November of this year, Yale Uni-versity announced it would de-vote $50 million to retaining and recruiting a diverse faculty, and Brown University said it would spend $100 million.

“The racial tensions that have come to light on campuses across the country, and the stu-dents’ non-violent protests show that race continues to matter in the lives of university students, even for those who are on the country’s most elite campuses,” Lee finished. “Students, faculty, and universities have made their positions clear: diversity matters, and insuring diversity is critical for all, not just certain groups.” (Allyson Escobar/AJPress)

Supreme Court hears historic case on…PAGE A5 t

SENATOR Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. thanked the Thomasian community for topping a survey conducted by The Varsitarian, the official student publication of the University of Santo To-mas (UST) which was posted in their webpage last December 13, 2015.

The random sampling survey among the more than 40,000 students was held from Oct. 26 to Dec. 10, 2015, with 1366 respondents from the various faculties and colleges of the university participating.

The students were asked who they would vote for Vice President if the elections were held on the day of the survey.

Sen. Marcos was Number One among all the Vice Presidential candidates garnering 29 percent.

Earlier, Sen. Marcos’ pushed for the granting of full scholarships for students of all State Universi-ties and Colleges (SUCs) to bolster the Iskolar ng Bayan Act of 2015 which only provided grants to top graduates of all public high schools.

Sen. Marcos was also the main proponent of the National Youth Commission during his first stint in the Lower House in the 9th Congress to empower the youth to be more participative in Nation Building.

“Bibigyan ko ng halaga ang pagtitiwalang ito na ipinagkaloob niyo sa akin. Marami pa akong gustong gawin para sa inyong kapakanan at kina-bukasan pati na rin sa inyong mga pamilya at sa buong sambayanan,” Marcos concluded. n

Thank you, UST — Sen. Marcos

GLOBAL CHAMPION FOR RESILIENCE. Senator Loren Legarda poses for a souvenir photo with her colleagues in the Senate led by Senate President Franklin M. Drilon after the Chamber adopted a resolution commending Legarda for her appointment as a Global Champion for Resilience by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). “Senator Legarda remains resolute in appealing to the global community on behalf of nations most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, addressing world leaders and delegates to step up to the responsibility of improving the resilience of communities and averting the climate change,” the resolution stated. In photo are (first row, left to right) Senators Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar and Nancy Binay; (second row) Senators Serge Osmeña, Sonny Trillanes, Koko Pimentel, Tito Sotto, Ralph Recto, Pia Cayetano, Bam Aquino, JV Ejercito and Sonny Angara.

MANILA – The House of Rep-resentatives has decided to delete the controversial opt-in provision from the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in a move to lessen opposition to the measure.

“The leadership has agreed to the proposal of our colleagues from Mindanao to scrap this provision,” Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, principal sponsor of the proposed law, told

reporters on Monday, Dec. 14.“Its deletion will be the first

amendment I will present when the period for amendments comes after we finish the re-maining interpellations,” he said.

The opt-in provision allows the envisioned new autonomous Bangsamoro region to expand if at least 10 percent of voters in neighboring areas or their municipal councils petition for their inclusion in the regional government.

If there were such petition,

a plebiscite would be called to have it approved by voters.

The planned Bangsamoro en-tity would replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. It would be composed basically of the five provinces in the ARMM.

Congressmen outside the Muslim region fear that they would lose their districts to the Bangsamoro regional govern-ment if the opt-in provision were retained in the BBL. (With reports from Paolo Romero and Roel Pareño)

House drops opt-in provision from BBLby Jess Diaz

Philstar.com

THE Iglesia ni Cristo has (INC) won court cases involving two of its critics—an expelled member in the United States and a leader of a rival religious group, Ang Dating Daan.

INC spokesperson Edwil Zaba-la said a court in Virginia Beach, Virginia sided with the INC in the case filed by an expelled church member, who wanted the weekly offerings she had made as an INC member, returned to her after she was removed from the church.

Zabala said that in a decision handed down last week, Virginia Beach Judge Salvador Iaquinto denied a petition filed by Lilibeth Rose against INC minister Steven Inocencio.

The US judge declared Rose’s testimony “erroneous” after she said in court that her weekly of-fering “deposits” before her re-moval should be returned “since the expulsion precludes her from continuing in the weekly offering toward what the INC members refer to as the Annual Thanksgiv-ing Offering.”

Zabala said Iaquinto had re-minded Rose that church offerings were made voluntarily and “made to honor God.” The offerings, the court declared, were “also what she would have devoutly agreed to when was still a member of the Church of Christ.”

The judge asked Rose if she would be satisfied if Inocencio gave her what she had already set aside. After she responded “no,” Iaquinto remarked that “it seems like you just want to get back at the church.”

Iglesia wins 2 court cases vs critics in US and PHRose was reported to have

been influenced by the Restore the Church movement, a group of former INC members in the United States, which called on INC members to stop making of-ferings to the church.

The movement campaigned for the filing of a class action suit against the church and its offi-cials, but the plan did not materi-alize as Rose was the lone plain-tiff in the Virginia court case.

Libel convictionIn the Philippines, the Court of

Appeals upheld with finality its ruling in April that Ang Dating Daan leader Eliseo Soriano could no longer appeal his conviction from the libel case filed against him by the INC.

In a three-page decision dated Nov. 24, the appellate court’s for-mer 16th Division denied Soria-no’s motion for reconsideration, which sought the reversal of the decision of the Quezon City Re-gional Trial Court’s denial of the right to appeal his conviction.

On Dec. 16, 2013, the Quezon City court found Soriano guilty of two counts of libel and ordered him to pay P120,000 in fine and moral damages.

The INC, represented by its general evangelist Bienvenido Santiago, sued Soriano for say-ing on his television show in April 2003 that the INC was “a church that kills, swindles, terror[izes] and steals.”

Since Soriano was abroad dur-ing the promulgation of the case, the Quezon City judge denied his right to elevate his case to the Court of Appeals.

The judge cited Section 6, Rule 120 of the 2000 Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure, which states

that a person convicted in ab-sentia must first surrender to the court and explain his absence within 15 days after conviction before he is allowed to appeal.

The Court of Appeals affirmed its finding that the judge did not commit grave abuse of discretion in ruling against Soriano, adding that “a party seeking relief must strictly comply with the rules of procedure or otherwise face the risk of losing the remedies avail-able to him.”

Zabala said INC’s legal victo-ries “only reinforce what we have said from the beginning; that when the facts and the evidence are weighed by a court of law, we have nothing to fear as these charges will be exposed for what they really are: nuisance cases filed in an attempt to besmirch the reputation of the church and our officials.”

“We continue to be vindicated by court and prosecutor rulings here and abroad. Our detractors know they cannot win in a court of law, which is why their only option is to take their baseless and fantastic stories to the me-dia,” he added.

Zabala said the INC continued to receive reports from members and sympathizers that the cam-paign against the church would continue.

“If the desire of our detractors is to bring the church down and sow disunity within our mem-bership, their baseless tirades are actually doing the exact op-posite. We count our legal victo-ries as blessings that strengthen our resolve to defend the church from these planned, sustained and well-funded attacks,” he added. n

by Jerome aningInquirer.net

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COMMUNITY J o u r n a lBusiness News

SAN FRANCISCO – After reaching a seven-year high in January, small business owners are feeling less optimistic today than they were a year ago, ac-cording to the latest Wells Far-go/Gallup Small Business Index, conducted November 9-13.

In the quarterly small business survey, which measures small business owner optimism, the overall Index score dipped from 59 in August to 54 in November, representing the lowest score since July 2014. It’s also the third quarter in a row that the score has dropped after starting the year at 71.

A major contributor to this year’s decline is a drop in the number of business owners re-porting increases in company revenue. This quarter’s score also was driven by a combination of incremental declines in busi-ness owner perceptions of their financial situation, capital spend-ing and hiring.

“This has been an unusually slow economic recovery for ev-eryone, and small business own-ers are certainly feeling that,” said

US small businesses feeling less optimistic today — survey

MANILA – The Villar Group has decided to ride the electric vehi-cle bandwagon as it launches an environment friendly transport system in its P50-billion master-planned community in southern Metro Manila.

The Electric Vehicle Associa-tion of the Philippines (EVAP) said the 1,500-hectare Vista City is the latest real estate develop-ment to introduce green trans-port in the country.

“To have a large real estate company such as the Vista Group join the electric vehicle band-wagon is a big boost for the local electric vehicle industry,” EVAP president Rommel Juan said.

Juan said Metro Express Con-nect Inc., a subsidiary of Vista Land, has launched two electric jeepneys that would ply the C5

Villar Group rides e-vehicle bandwagonExtension Road or the Quirino Avenue, Pulanglupa to Sucat Road route and vice versa.

The route covers four kilome-ters round trip suitable for the electric jeepneys, Juan said.

The electric jeepneys were made by PhUV Inc., the manu-facturer and supplier of other electric jeepney fleets in Makati, Alabang, Muntinlupa and Que-zon City.

“We are very happy that a large company like the Vista Land group of the Villars are now supporting electric vehicles to be used in their real estate de-velopments. This goes to show that electric vehicles are now moving into the mainstream of our mass transport system,” Juan said.

According to Juan, the Villar family is supportive of the elec-tric vehicle movement, believing that such vehicles are beneficial

to use in residential and com-mercial developments because they are environment-friendly and noise free.

Vista City will house numerous office towers, medium-rise con-dominium buildings, residential communities and commercial centers, making it the flagship project of the real estate firm of the Villar family.

The 1,500-hectare community covers portions of Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, Bacoor in Cavite and San Pedro in Laguna.

“We hope that other major real estate developers will soon follow suit so that our country may en-joy a cleaner and healthier public transport option,” Juan said.

Juan said more than half a dozen electric vehicle initiatives are currently operating in the Philippines at present but more is needed to make its impact in lessening air pollution. n

MANILA – More Filipino households receiving remittanc-es from their loved ones abroad are saving and investing amid the heightened financial literacy programs being undertaken by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Results of the Consumer Ex-pectations Survey (CES) for the fourth quarter showed an in-crease in the number of overseas Filipino workers’ households al-locating remittances for savings to 41.4 percent from 38.2 percent in the previous quarter.

Likewise, the number of house-holds which allocated remittanc-es for investments improved to 6.6 percent in the fourth quar-ter from 6.2 percent in the third quarter.

BSP deputy governor Diwa

Results of the Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) for the fourth quarter showed an increase in the number of overseas Filipino workers’ households allocating remittances for savings to 41.4 percent from 38.2 percent in the previous quarter.  Philstar.com file photo

Report: More OFW households saving, investing remittances – survey

Guinigundo said financial litera-cy seminars and lectures being conducted by the BSP are yield-ing positive results as seen in the

results of the survey.“Among others our public in-

formation campaign focused on

Mark Vitner, Managing Director and Senior Economist for Wells Fargo Securities. “With the econ-omy growing as slowly as it has been, it’s been difficult for many

business owners to increase their sales, and this has been particu-larly burdensome for firms who have seen expenses rise, includ-

MANILA – The Philippines maintained its rank as the mi-crofinance leader in Asia and the third best in the world this year, according to a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The country got a score of 81 in the Global Microscope 2015, which assessed the regulatory environment for financial inclu-sion in 55 countries.

The country’s score was Asia’s

Third worldwide: Philippines still Asia’s microfinance leader – EIU

best and ranked third in the world, next to Peru’s 90 and Columbia’s 86. India placed fourth with a score of 71, followed by Pakistan with 64, and Chile with 62.

Haiti was ranked last with a score of 24.

“The Philippines continues to achieve considerable local and global milestones in its pursuit of financial inclusion, owing to the country’s success in terms of the variety of players, which provides a wide range of financial services and products to the public,” the EIU said in the report.

The countries were ranked based on 12 indicators includ-ing government support; regu-latory and supervision capacity; prudential regulation; regulation and supervision of credit portfo-lios; regulation and supervision of deposit-taking activities; and regulation of insurance targeting low-income populations.

The metrics also included regulation and supervision of branches and agents; require-ments for non-regulated lenders; electronic payments; credit re-

uPAGE B2

uPAGE B2uPAGE B2

by Richmond S. meRcuRioPhilstar.com

by LawRence agcaoiLiPhilstar.com

by LawRence agcaoiLiPhilstar.com

DECEMBER 16-18, 2015 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797B� Business news

Atty. LAwrence yAng

Debt Relief

NO one has anything good to say about the IRS. Tax collectors were much hated even during the time of Jesus two thousand years ago. Jesus was walking along the street when He saw Matthew sitting in his tax col-lector booth, then Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple. Cli-ent had a confirmed Chapter 13 plan since 2013. The plan paid for her 2013 income tax owed of $10K, and $50K arrears in her mortgage. These are the only creditors that she owed. She had a 2nd trust deed of $100K, which was fully forgiven by Bank of America after we filed her mo-tion to avoid the 2nd trust deed. She had $60K credit card debt which all got discharged in her Chapter 7 case the year before. This was really an extreme re-organization of her financial af-fairs that we were doing. Phase 1, she discharged all unsecured debt. Phase 2, was to handle the IRS and the $50K arrears on the mortgage. Things had gone quite well. The $100K second trust deed had completely dis-appeared in an instant right af-ter we filed the LAM motion. We really did not expect that Bank of America would just forgive the entire 2nd mortgage. Our strategy was to argue that cli-ent did not have to pay Bank of America anything as unsecured debt upon approval of the mo-tion to avoid lien because the previous chapter 7 discharge wiped out the promissory note, so there was nothing to pay even as the lien was stripped. I wasn’t sure that the court would buy this argument but it was logical and legally correct.

IRS seeks to dismiss client’s chapter 13Client with good income wants chapter 7

to discharge $70K credit cardsThe next step we took was to

work on a loan modification for the first mortgage. This worked out really well too. Not only did Nationstar reduce payment by $800 a month, it updated the loan such that there were no more ar-rears. Therefore, the loan modi-fication cured the $50K arrears. With the LM in place, client was now completely current on her mortgage. Nationstar wrote a letter to the trustee saying that the LM cured the default and no more payments in the plan to Nationstar were needed!

So, the only debt left unpaid was the IRS of $10K. However, client failed to pay IRS her 2014 tax liability, which was $14K. This created a big problem be-cause non-payment of the 2014 tax liability is a violation of the terms of the confirmed plan. A violation of the terms of the plan is legal ground to dismiss the case. Thus, the IRS filed a motion to dismiss case. To set things right, we had to oppose the IRS motion to dismiss on the ground that if Nationstar withdrew its prepetition proof of claim which showed a $50K default which no longer exists, the plan could be modified to pay the IRS in full over the rest of the life of the plan. We also filed an objection to the proof of claim of Nationstar because the loan modification wiped out the arrears of $50K. Hopefully, these will all combine to prevent the case from being dismissed.

Second client is 57 years old. He had a good paying job for 20 years. He cleared $150K a year every year for the last 20 years working 18 hours a day

because he was so dedicated to his work. Although he was paid well, the kind of work he did was very stressful and it af-fected his mind. He would have nightmares involving what he saw at work. A lot of gore and blood, and he saw the evil that men do. He decided that it was time to start again in life with-out too much stress. Anyway, he had already qualified for a good pension. He said the money wasn’t worth the stress that he had to go through every day. The guy was a nervous wreck. He still owed $70K of credit cards. He owned a house with a reasonable mortgage payment of $1800 and two-car payments total of $1,000. He takes it easy nowadays. Does a little part time work here and there. His wife still works. With his pension and part time income, there’s enough to cover monthly ex-penses, but there is no money left to make minimum payments of $2K on his $70K credit cards. These have to go. With his fresh start in life, he will have no more $70K of credit card debt. This is what he wants, and it makes a whole lot of sense.

“Come to Me, all of you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28

* * *Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in bankruptcy, business, real estate and civil litigation and has successfully represented more than five thousand clients in California. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S. Fremont Ave, Mailstop 58, Building A-1 Suite 1125, Alhambra, CA 91803. (Advertising Supplement)

ing healthcare costs.He said further: “As a result,

many have been reluctant to in-vest in equipment, expand their operations and hire staff, even as business owners in general have seen gradual improvement in their financial situation and cash flow over the last few years.”

Company revenue is a measure that changed significantly since January. Thirty-nine percent of small business owners reported that their company revenues in-creased a little or lot in the last 12 months, which is a 10 percentage point drop from the first-quarter survey. Looking ahead, 47 per-cent of business owners expect their revenues to increase in the next 12 months compared to 55

percent at the start of the year.Most other Index measures

had small declines or saw no im-provements in the fourth-quarter survey including:

• Financial situation – When asked about their financial situ-ation, 65 percent of small busi-ness owners rate it as very or somewhat good, essentially un-changed from a year ago (64 per-cent) and the same score as the previous three quarters.

• Capital spending – Twenty-six percent of small business owners said their company in-creased the amount of money allocated for capital spending in the past 12 months, essentially unchanged from 27 percent a year ago.

• Hiring trends – Seventeen

percent of business owners in-creased the number of jobs at their company in the last 12 months, essentially the same as what business owners reported a year ago (18 percent). When asked about hiring plans in the next 12 months, about a quar-ter (26 percent) said they plan to increase the number of jobs at their company, unchanged from a year ago.

In the November survey, busi-ness owners were also asked about their use of credit, includ-ing credit cards, lines of credit, and other loans, with 38 percent saying that they have less debt now than they did a year ago, compared to 26 percent when the question was last asked in April 2013. (Inquirer.net)

US small businesses feeling less…PAGE B1 t

porting systems; market-conduct rules; and grievance redress and operation of dispute-resolution mechanisms.

The EIU, a unit of global busi-ness magazine, The Economist, said the Philippines attained perfect scores in five indicators including government support, regulation and supervisory ca-pacity, deposit taking activities, branches and gents, and dispute resolutions.

It hailed the recently launched National Strategy for Financial Inclusion by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and 13 other

agencies.“The strategy establishes a

framework and action plan for the government and the private sector to take a coordinated and systematic approach to the de-velopment of a financial system that is accessible and responsive to the needs of the entire popula-tion,” the EIU explained.

Through the BSP’s financial inclusion strategy, EIU said there have been increased opportuni-ties for partnership with the pri-vate sector, especially in the area of technological innovation.

“In terms of financial capabil-ity, the BSP implements eco-

Third worldwide: Philippines still…nomic and financial-education programs to reach audiences in targeted areas, as well as public information campaigns, financial-education sessions for Filipinos overseas and their beneficiaries, financial-education exhibitions and financial-empowerment ses-sions,” EIU said.

In terms of improvement, the EIU said the country needs to undertake market innovations, particularly technology-driven initiatives that will make micro-finance more inclusive. Financial education as well as consumer protection initiatives were also highlighted. n

PAGE B1 t

OFWs has been yielding positive results in terms of investments and savings. They are more aware of the need to save and in-vest in case they decide to come back in the Philippines,” he said.

Guinigundo said the number of households using remittances for savings has increased to 41.4 percent in the fourth quarter, a sharp increase from only 7.2 per-cent when the CES was launched in the first quarter of 2007.

On the other hand, he added the number of households using remittances for investments rose to 6.6 percent or almost three times the 2.3 percent level when the survey was launched eight years ago.

Rosabel Guerrero, director of the BSP’s Department of Eco-nomic Statistics, said the house-holds receiving remittances from

their loved ones abroad have pri-oritized the purchase of house to save on rentals.

Guerrero said the percentage of OFW households using remit-tances for the purchase of house increased to 11.9 percent in the fourth quarter from 11.5 percent in the third quarter.

She explained the number of households using remittances to buy motor vehicles declined to 6.4 percent from 7.4 percent amid the heavy traffic being expe-rienced in major thoroughfares.

Guerrero said OFW house-holds continued to prioritize foods and household needs that accounted for 95.9 percent fol-lowed by Education with 69.5 percent and medical expenses with 59.7 percent.

Likewise, the survey showed 42.7 percent of the total house-hold respondents use the remit-

tances to pay debt and other fi-nancial obligations.

The number of OFW house-holds purchasing appliances and other consumer durables declined to 21.8 percent in the fourth quarter from 23.1 percent in the thid quarter.

The survey was conducted from Oct. 1 to 12 and covered 6,020 households. Of the total respondents, 574 households re-ceived remittances from Filipinos working and living abroad.

Latest data from the BSP showed cash sent home by over-seas Filipinos went up 4.1 percent to $20.37 billion in the first nine months from $18.41 billion in the same period last year on the back of sustained demand for skilled Filipino manpower overseas.

Cash remittances went up 5.9 percent to $24.35 billion last year from $22.98 billion in 2013 while personal remittances increased by 6.3 percent to $26.97 billion from $25.37 billion. n

PAGE B1 t

Atty. Kenneth UrsUA reyes

Barrister’s Corner

IT is very common for ben-eficiaries of family based petition to wait many years before their petition’s priority date becomes current. This is usually the case with US Citizen parent petitions to adult son or daughter. This is

Reinstating a deceased petitioner’s family-based petitionalso common among petition’s between Siblings. What happens when the Petitioner dies? Are all those years of waiting wasted? Not quite. Normally, the Petition is automatically revoked once the Petitioner dies.

However, all is not lost by the death of the Petitioner. The beneficiary has a couple of op-tions depending on whether they are inside the US or outside the US. The beneficiary may either

uPAGE B3

Report: More OFW…

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Pampanga High School Class of ’65 Golden Jubilee CelebrationThe Class of 1965 of the Pampanga High School will hold “TULA ampong SAYA,” its 50th

Anniversary Reunion, this coming December 29-30, in San Fernando Pampanga, Philippines. All 1965 graduates of the Pampanga High School (PHS), formerly the Jose Abad Santos High School (JASHS), and their spouses are welcome to all scheduled events. Admission is free. The celebration will begin with BISPERAS on December 29 from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, enjoying fun games, old music, and togetherness at the DIASPORA FARM RESORT in Santa Barbara, Bacolor, Pampanga. On December 30, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, join us for KAPIYESTAN, a provincial fiesta luncheon featuring familiar Kapampangan dishes, at the Mulang Galang orchard in San Antonio, Mexico, Pampanga. The evening of Dec. 30 will conclude with TERAKAN, a gala dinner-dance from 6:30 pm to 12 midnight, at the Fortune Hongkong Seafood Restaurant in the San Fernando, Pampanga. Enjoy a fun evening of dancing to the retro music of Decadas and the mellow songs of folksinger Jerry. Class ‘65ers, please join us in celebrating our 50th Golden Anniversary! Full details on preparations, events and venues can be found on “TULA ampong SAYA,” on Facebook. For donations, interest in the 50th Anniversary Reunion souvenir memory book, highlighting the successes of individual Class ‘65ers and the accomplishments of the PHS Class ’65 Foundation, Inc., please contact the jubilee reunion organizing committee in the Philippines: Joseph Deang (0927-228-8588); Erlie Aquino Estandarte (0929-219-0248); Corazon Cunanan (0939-118-2888; 0926-660-35540); Cecille Morales Bernas (0932-509-2646); and Marcial Morales (0918-915-9095); and Dan Galang 0929-427-9308; 045-966-0764). In the US and Canada, please contact Dan Galang at (510) 487-5551 or at (510) 648-1047.

DECEMBER 29-30

MAy 2016

PUP/PCC to hold 1st Global ReunionAttention all graduates of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the Philippine

College of Commerce: join us in our FIRST GLOBAL REUNION being organized by the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Alumni Association, USA Inc. scheduled on May 27-29, 2016 (Memorial Day Weekend) at the New Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. We promise a weekend of fun-filled activities, of friendship and camaraderie as we reminisce our best memories during our high school and college days. There will be lots of entertainment, singing and dancing and photo opportunities with your classmates and friends.

For more information, please contact any of the following: Loi Herrera at 562-544-8210 or loiherrera@yahoo.com; Monette Santillan-Rivera at 818-970-8317 or Monette_santillan@yahoo.com; Rose Mejia at 323-997-3838 or Rosemariemejia@kw.com; Marissa Sugay-Palanca at 818-281-7460 or marispalanca@yahoo.com; Rose Maghari at 661-794-8906 or rmaghari@gmail.com; Sally Mendoza at 323-695-0235 or sally.mendoza616@yahoo.com; Honeylette De Leon at 562-480-5743 orhoney@worldclassfreight.com; Virginia Herbito at virginiaherbito@gmail.com; Connie Acosta at 323-854-5303 orconnieacosta1@att.net; Violeta D. Cristobal at 310-880-5808 or vee@cristobalcpa.com; Jun Mapoy at 323-627-5326 or jcmapoy@yahoo.com.

Blessed Hope Christian Church Night of PraiseCome celebrate the birth of Christ and praise God with the congregation at our upcom-

ing Christmas Praise Night, on Friday, December 18 at 7:30pm. Our church can be found at 474 North Summit Ave. Pasadena, CA 91103. Please contact Jun Recio (818) 472-5244 for more details.

DECEMBER 18

MonetteAdevA MAglAyA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond

Feast of Santo Niño de CebuAll are cordially invited to the Feast of Santo Niño de Cebu on Saturday, January 9,

2016, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Bellflower, California, organized and sponsored by the Santo Niño de Cebu Association of Southern California, Inc., a non-profit religious organization. The Eucharistic Celebration will be presided by the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, His Excellency Bishop Oscar A. Solis at 10:00 am followed by the traditional procession of the image of Santo Niño de Cebu, fiesta lunch and Sinulog pre-sentations. Food and financial donations are welcome, and all donations are tax deductible. For further information, you may contact the association President, Danny C. Diluvio at (323) 252-4991 or email at: dannydiluvio1@gmail.com.

JANUARy 9

JASHS (Binondo) Alumni Christmas PartyJose Abad Santos High School (Binondo) USA Alumni Association will hold its 2015

Christmas Party at 6:00pm on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015, at the Mayflower Seafood Restaurant (679 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012). Please contact Val Abelgas val.abelgas@aol.com for more information.

DECEMBER 20

(This is a short version of a longer article on logging off and enjoying the moment.)

… I AM picking and choosing from the constant flow of mes-sages in my inbox, only this one below. Some are for laughs, oth-ers inform while some can make you think harder or even take ac-tion.

Pet peeves are those that are pure drivel and chain emails with a punitive clause, like a curse of bad luck, if you fail to forward. For malevolent messages and all the rest of the junk from scam-mers promising riches, simplify your cyberlife and HIT DELETE. DO NOT ENGAGE.

Sometimes a golden nugget comes through that deserves to be amplified. So simple, it hits you right between the eyes. I searched for the author’s name but like many other pieces flung by anonymous, creative beings in Cyberville, authorship is largely unknown and unclaimed.

To the originator of this meta-phor then, whoever you are and wherever you may be, please ac-cept a profound thank you, from

Hot chocolate“… Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.”

the rest of us. Here it is.THE HOT CHOCOLATE

STORYA group of graduates, well es-

tablished in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. Dur-ing their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the pro-fessor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups-porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some ex-pensive, some exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the profes-sor said: ‘Notice that all the nice looking; expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is nor-mal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you’re drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is

just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eye-ing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Some-times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate we have.

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything… They just make the best of everything that they have.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

And enjoy your hot chocolate! But first, LOG OFF.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!

* * *Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@asianjournalinc.com

St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church Simbang Gabi 2015We invite you be a part of our annual celebration of an old-time Filipino Christmas tradi-

tion, Simbang Gabi, a project of the Filipino Catholics of Saint Paul the Apostle Ministry. Simbang Gabi (meaning “Night Mass”) will occur each morning for 9 straight days, starting December 16 to 25, with Mass starting at 5:30am. Everyone is welcome to celebrate the joyful upcoming birth of Jesus Christ! Light breakfast will be provided after each mass at the Maher Hall of St. Paul the Apostle Church (14085 Peyton Dr, Chino Hills, CA 91709). We are currently in need of volunteers to help serve breakfast or assist us in serving at the Mass as ushers or Eucharistic ministers. We gladly accept and encourage individual or group volun-teers. Please spread the news and invite your friends to this joyous community gathering. If you are interested in helping please call any of the following; Tara Villavicencio - (909) 210-4891, Emily Jiao - (909) 248-8791, or Rick Jiao (909) 248-8790.

DECEMBER 16-24

Church of the Good Shepherd Simbang Gabi 2015The Filipino-American & ethnic parishioners of the Church of the Good Shepherd of

Beverly Hills will celebrate “Simbang Gabi 2015” on Tuesday, December 22, at 7:00 pm. Everyone is invited to come and celebrate the special Advent Mass in the parish, in conso-nance with the observance of the tradition by the Filipino Ministry of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The theme of this year’s Simbang Gabi is “Jesus our Savior, empower our families to be better stewards of your creation” –translated in Pilipino as “Jesus aming Tagapaglig-tas, bigyan mo ng kapangyarihan ang aming Pamilya na maging mas mahusay na tagapanga-laga ng iyong nilikha.” Most Reverend Bishop Oscar A. Solis, the first Filipino Bishop in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and currently the Head of the San Pedro Pastoral Region, will be the main celebrant, with other priests including Fr. Ed Benioff to concelebrate with the Bishop. Special guests include the Philippine Consul General of Los Angeles, Leo Herrera-Lim, and his wife, with music from the Philippine Chamber Singers of Los Angeles. A catered and potluck reception follows after the Mass at the Church Hall.

DECEMBER 22

Parathanal of Holy Trinity Parish PiligrimagesFr. Jose Joseph Parathanal of Holy Trinity Parish, San Pedro District, Archdiocese of Los

Angeles, invites all to join Fr. Joseph Parathanal’s Pilgrimages to EASTERN EUROPE, OL-GUADALUPE/Colonial Mexico, and INDIA. During the journey, pilgrims will pray to God for healing of body, mind and spirit especially for healing of the world from violence, terrorism and climate changes. Trip dates are: Divine Mercy/Infant Jesus of Prague/Austria/Hungary/Medjugorje (Eastern Europe) April 17- April 30; OLGuadalupe and Colonial Mexico - June 20 - June 27; and Mother Teresa/St. Thomas/St. Alphonsa/St. Euprasia/St. Chavarra (India) - Sept. 15 - Sept. 29, 2016. For more details and pilgrimage information, please contact Bernadette at bcorp1114@hotmail.com or call 323-344-1548 & 323-547-6618.

APRIL - SEPTEMBER 2016

avail of the INA § 204(l) which was signed into law in 2009 if the beneficiary is inside the US at the time the petitioner’s death and continues to reside inside the US.

Alternatively, if the benefi-ciary is outside the US, benefi-ciary may seek to reinstate the petition based on humanitar-ian grounds. The DHS (Dept. of Homeland Security) may ex-ercise discretion “for humani-tarian reasons” to reinstate the petition and to allow the Affi-davit of Support requirements to be satisfied by the qualify-ing I-864 of a spouse, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, grandparent, or grandchild or legal guardian of the beneficia-ry, as long as the petition was “approved” prior to the Peti-tioner’s death.

If the beneficiary is inside the US either in legal status or grandfathered by INA §245(i) and the priority date on the pe-

tition is current, the beneficiary may apply for adjustment of sta-tus. The beneficiary may also apply for an employment autho-rization card.

DHS discretion does not mean “guaranteed” approval. The case will be evaluated on a case by case basis. Some of the factors that the DHS may consider are 1) disruption of an established family unit; 2) hardship to US citizens or law-ful permanent residents; 3) beneficiary is elderly or in poor health; 4) beneficiary has had lengthy residence in the US; 4) beneficiary has no home to go to; 5)undue delay by USCIS or consular officer in processing petition and visa; 6) and Ben-eficiary has strong family ties in the United States.

The beneficiary must be pre-pared to show proof of the orig-inal I-130 that was filed, proof of I-130 approval if approved, a copy of the Petitioner’s death certificate, proof of substitute

sponsor’s relationship to the beneficiary, and meet all the I-864 requirements.

***Attorney Kenneth Ursua Reyes is a

Certified Family Law Specialist. He was President of the Philippine American Bar Association. He is a member of both the Family law section and Immigration law section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He has extensive CPA experience prior to law practice. LAW OFFICES OF KENNETH REYES, P.C. is located at 3699 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 747, Los Angeles, CA, 90010. Tel. (213) 388-1611 or e-mail kureyeslaw@gmail.com or visit our website at Kenreyeslaw.com.

***Please note that this article is not legal advice

and is not intended as legal advice. The article

is intended to provide only general, non-specific

legal information. This article is not intended to

cover all the issues related to the topic discussed.

The specific facts that apply to your matter

may make the outcome different than would be

anticipated by you. This article does create any

attorney client relationship between you and the

Law Offices of Kenneth U. Reyes, P.C. This article

is not a solicitation.

(Advertising Supplement)

Reinstating a deceased petitioner’s…PAGE B2 t

DECEMBER 16-18, 2015 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797B� Community Journal

People and Events

ROSEMEAD, Calif. –Panda Cares, the phil-anthropic arm of Panda Express and it’s parent company, Panda Restaurant Group, hosted its 8th annual Leader In Me Holiday Carnival on Friday, Dec. 11. Four hundred students from Encinita El-ementary School in Rosemead, CA, were recog-nized at the event for their academic and leader-ship achievements in The Leader in Me program, a whole school transformation process created by FranklinCovey, that teaches leadership skills at the elementary school level.

The students were welcomed by the Panda Express Panda Bear mascot and enjoyed carni-val-themed booths created and staffed by Panda Restaurant Group associates. All attendees were

treated to a delicious Panda Express lunch and re-ceive Panda swag. Toy manufacturer, Mattel Inc., also joined the celebration by donating gifts for the students.

Through Panda Cares, Panda has support-ed The Leader in Me program in over 550 schools throughout the country. Encinitas Elementary School, sponsored by Panda since 2009 is one of 27 schools sponsored by the company that has earned the prestigious Lighthouse School desig-nation from the program.

“We are proud to bring leadership development to schools nationwide,” said Peggy Cherng, co-chairman of Panda Restaurant Group. “Through

Panda Cares to honor local students at 8th annual holiday carnival celebration

Panda Cares, the philanthropic arm of Panda Express hosted its 8th annual holiday carnival celebration honoring students from Encinitas Elementary School for their academic and leadership achievements in the Leader In Me program. Photo credit: Panda Express

uPAGE B5

BY Resolution issued on De-cember 1, 2015, the Second Division of the Philippine Com-mission on Elections (Comelec) ruled that Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares is not a resident of the Philippines for at least ten (10) years immedi-ately preceding the May 9, 2016 elections, as required by Article VII, Section 2 of the Philippines 1987 Constitution to be elected President.

Thus, it denied due course and canceled her Certificate of Can-didacy (COC) for President due to false material representations therein. It found that Grace Poe deliberately attempted to mislead or misinform the electorate or hide a fact from them when she supplied the answer “10 years and 11 months” to the question on her period of residence in her COC for President.

This is so because she had stated in her COC for Senator in 2012 that she had been a resi-dent for “6 years and 6 months,” so that her residency period is only 9 years and 6 months by the May 5, 2016 elections.

Moreover, according to Com-elec’s Second Division (Commis-sioners Al Parreno, Arthur Lim, and Sheriff Abas), Grace Poe became a resident only in July 2006, when she applied for dual citizenship, and short of the 10-year residency mandate.

Legal principles of prior ad-mission against interest and estoppel are invoked against Grace Poe, who had reportedly admitted error in her 2012 COC for Senator, based on estimates when her husband resigned from his job in the United States, as stated in her Affidavit submitted to the Senate Electoral Tribunal, that dismissed the disqualifica-tion complaint against her by a 5-4 vote.

Issue on residency is decided by a preponderance of the evi-dence:

The issue on Grace Poe’s resi-dence is a factual issue to be decided by a preponderance of the evidence on an appeal to the Comelec en banc, consisting of its Chairman and six (6) Commis-sioners of both its First and Sec-ond Divisions, and ultimately to the Philippine Supreme Court.

A distinction between domicile

Legal Commentary

Atty. RomAn P. mosquedA

Why Grace Poe is a natural-born Philippine citizen and eligible to be president

and residence is in order. Article 50 of the Philippine Civil Code defines “domicile” as the place of habitual residence of natu-ral persons. Domicile denotes a fixed permanent residence to which an absent person has the intention of returning (animus revertendi). It is broader than residence which merely denotes a place of abode, whether per-manent or temporary.

If the 10-year residence re-quirement is deemed “domicile,” it is favorable to Grace Poe, who can argue that she may have a residence in California, but her domicile is in the Philippines.

But can she claim domicile in the Philippines before her application for dual citizenship reportedly in July 2006? Yes, because a U.S. citizen can es-tablish domicile abroad. U.S. citizenship, unlike lawful perma-nent residence status, does not require domicile or residence in the United States.

Factual evidence on intent of returning to the Philippines as domicile should be considered. On the other hand, if the 10-year residence requirement is deemed as the place of abode, did Grace Poe have a residence in the Philippines when she re-turned in the first half of 2005? Did she have the intention of re-turning to that residence to es-tablish domicile?

The case of Imelda Romualdez-Marcos vs. COMELEC, 64 SCAD 358, 248 SCRA 300 (1995), would be instructive on this issue be-cause it considered domicile, not residence, as dispositive of elec-tion issues on residence, citing the 1928 case of Nuval vs. Guray, 52 Phil. 645, among others.

Issue of natural-born citizen:Article IV, Section 2 of the Phil-

ippine 1987 Constitution states that: “Natural-born citizens are those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to ac-quire or perfect their Philippines citizenship.”

This definition of natural-born is not found in the Constitution of the United States, whose Article 11, Section 1 requires the follow-ing qualifications to be elected President: natural born citizen, at least 35 years of age and 14 years a resident of the United States.

Indeed, the United States is a jus soli (right of the soil) country, not a jus sanguinis (right of the blood) as the Philippines.

There seems to be no dispute that Grace Poe was born in the Philippines of unknown parents, later on adopted by Susan Roces and Fernando Poe, Jr., and that as a Philippine citizen, she obtained U.S. citizenship by naturalization, and that she re-acquired Philip-pine citizenship upon taking the oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines, under Sec-tion 3 of Republic Act 9225 (ap-proved on August 29, 2003).

If there is still an issue on her Philippine citizenship, under Ar-ticle IV, Section 1(2) of the Phil-ippine 1987 Constitution, she acquired Philippine citizenship, if her father or mother is a citizen of the Philippines.

But her parents are unknown, and so is she a Philippine citi-zen? But why was she allowed to reacquire Philippine citizen-ship in the first place? Under aforesaid Section 3 of Republic Act 9225, “natural-born citizens of the Philippines who have lost their Philippine citizenship by reason of their naturalization as citizens of a foreign country are hereby deemed to have re-acquired Philippine citizenship upon taking the oath of alle-giance to the Republic.”

Once a natural-born, always a natural-born, under aforesaid Republic Act 9225. So, the Phil-ippine Government has admitted that Grace Poe is a natural-born Philippine citizen by granting her dual U.S and Philippine citizen-ships. It is estopped from ques-tioning her natural-born status.

Issue on foundling: conven-tions against statelessness:

The 1930 Hague Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Laws states in Article 14 thereof that: “A child whose parents are both unknown shall have the nation-ality of the country of birth…. A foundling is, until the contrary is proved, presumed to have been born on the territory of the state in which it was found.”

And Article 15 thereof states that: “where the nationality of a state is not acquired automatical-ly by reason of birth on its terri-

uPAGE B5

(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • DECEMBER 16-18, 2015 B�PeoPle & events

this program, students have the opportunity to become insightful and confident leaders who will contribute to their communities.”

The Leader in Me program was inspired by Ste-phen Covey’s book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” that integrates timeless leader-ship principles with practical character and life skills relevant to today’s challenges. By building

self-confidence, interpersonal skills, elevating student achievement, and reducing school-wide discipline problems, this program helps children become leaders in their field of interest. Earning Lighthouse School status is the highest level of achievement within the program. There are cur-rently 161 schools in The Leader in Me program that have been designated as Lighthouse Schools, including Encinitas Elementary School. n

Panda Cares to honor local students at…PAGE B4 t

tory, a child born on the territory, of that state of parents having no nationality, or of unknown na-tionality, may obtain the nation-ality of the said state.

Moreover, the 1961 Conven-tion on the Reduction of State-lessness, in its Article 1 states that: “A Contracting State shall grant its nationality to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless. Such na-tionality shall be granted: (a) a birth by opposition of law, or (b) upon on application… by or on behalf of the person concerned, in the manner prescribed by na-tional law.”

Since the Philippines is not a signatory to these two con-ventions and is not bound as a non-contracting state, and has no foundling statute, is Grace Poe a “stateless” person? No,

because the Philippines and the United States have considered her as citizens of both countries. Moreover, it can be argued that the rule against statelessness in the aforesaid Conventions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, and foundling statutes of other states has become customary interna-tional law. An ancestry DNA test may resolve any lingering issue on her country’s citizenship.

The framers of the Philippine 1987 Constitution in Article IV, Section 1 (2) and (3) took pains in avoiding statelessness by de-claring as citizens those whose mothers are citizens of the Phil-ippines, a carry-over from the 1973 Constitution, and those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Phil-

ippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority.

Conclusion:Grace Poe is a natural-born

Philippine citizen whose domicile in the Philippines complies with the 10-year residency require-ment of the Philippine Constitu-tion and customary international law. Any legal doubt should be resolved in favor of the suprema-cy of the Filipino electorate to de-cide their President. Vox populi, vox Dei.

* * *(The Author, Roman P. Mosqueda, has written numerous legal articles on constitutional law and international law, and published two law books on Marriage and Its Dissolution and Products Liability: A Competitive Study, as his doctoral dissertation at The University of Michigan Law School. Visit his website at www.mosquedalaw.com to read his other articles, or contact him at (213) 252-9481 in his Los Angeles law offices.)

Why Grace Poe is a natural-born Philippine…PAGE B4 t

Feast of Santo Niño de CebuAll are cordially invited to the Feast of Santo Niño

de Cebu on Saturday, January 9, 2016, from 10am to 5pm at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Bell-flower, California, organized and sponsored by the Santo Niño de Cebu Association of Southern Cali-fornia, Inc., a non-profit religious organization.

The Eucharistic Celebration will be presided by the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, His Excellency

Bishop Oscar A. Solis at 10:00 am followed by the traditional procession of the image of Santo Niño de Cebu, fiesta lunch and Sinulog presentations.

Food and financial donations are welcome, and all donations are tax deductible. For further in-formation, you may contact the association Presi-dent, Danny C. Diluvio at (323) 252-4991 or email at: dannydiluvio1@gmail.com. n

SERVICES

EMPLOYMENT

PSYCHIC

EMPLOYMENT FOR RENT

DECEMBER 16-18, 2015 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797B�

The Asian Journal

MDWKMAGAZINEWednesday, December 16, 2015

By AJPress

The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - December 16, 2015

2 cover story

What’s on a Filipino Table on Christmas Eve?Kumain ka na ba? (Have

you eaten?)in the Philippines, asking

this question is tantamount to saying Hi or Hello to somebody. Filipinos love to eat, and the smart phones and social media have only helped in proving that. if in the past people would gather and pray before a meal, now they transform into foodies searching for that perfect angle of any food served in front of them before taking a snapshot.

although times have changed, what can be seen on a Filipino table during noche buena or on Christmas Eve has practically remained the same. after hearing the mass and completing the Simbang Gabi for some, the entire family gathers around the table like the knights of King arthur, all in preparation for a palatable battle.

While dining customs in the Philippines do not usually adhere to the appetizer-entrée-dessert format of the West, we have organized the following Filipino Christmas foods to fit the menu of our kababayans abroad, particularly those second and third generations of Pinoys who grew up in the united States.

Appetizer• Castañas – These are,

simply, roasted chestnuts. The smell of these shelled delicacies is enough to give any Pinoy that

Christmas feeling associated with the malamig na simoy ng hangin. For some, the essence of eating the castañas is in the peeling, so savor that moment.

• macaroni Salad – a small serving of this chilled pasta delight is enough to tickle those taste buds and ready them for the bigger treats ahead. Just be sure not to consume too much of this as it might ruin your ap-petite and lose interest in other Christmas cuisines.

• Keso de Bola – Literally, a ball of cheese. This is actu-ally an Edam or a semi-hard cheese that originated in the netherlands. This can be paired with any wine of your choice or eaten together with the Christ-mas ham.

Entrée• Hamon – The Christmas

ham (hamon for most Pinoys) is considered the star and center of the table. Every grocery store is filled with boxes of this cured meat, made in different sizes, shapes, and types. But a typical ham must always, always, have a special sauce poured on top of it.

• Lechon – This roasted pig that usually comes with a red, succulent apple in its mouth is never absent in any special occasion being celebrated by Filipinos, so it’s only natural that this meat be served alongside other “sinful” food served on the Christmas table.

• Relleno – a special dish that is quite hard to prepare, this is a stuffed cuisine usu-ally made with either a fish (a bangus or milkfish) or a chicken. Put this in any dining experi-ence and automatically it turns any meal into something extra special.

• Paella – This is another meal that is difficult to prepare. Thanks to the Spanish coloniz-ers, Filipinos learned to cook rice in a special way, what with all the rich ingredients mixed altogether to bring that exqui-site blend, not to mention that it connoted wealth for some families.

Dessert• Leche Flan – another

Spanish-influenced food, this dessert is more commonly known by outsiders as crème caramel or caramel custard. The heavenly sweetness and awe-some creaminess of the leche flan makes one ask for more and more... and more.

• Halaya – a Filipino dessert made of purple yam, many call it as simply ube. Westerners are probably more familiar with the Japanese taro. Well, this is its close relative, and the taste is relatively the same—sweet, creamy, and extremely satisfy-ing.

• Fruit Salad – in the Philip-pines, a fruit salad is a mix of all-purpose cream, condensed milk, and tropical fruits easily both in tin cans and is usually

called fruit cocktail. To make it special, some add coconut meat shreds, nata de coco, kaong, and cherries.

Drinks• Tsokolate – Hot chocolate

is a Filipino favorite during Christmas Eve. a local recipe is called tablea, which is Spanish for tablet. it is hard chocolate melted into perfect viscosity and mixed using a tool called batirol, which is believed to bring out the flavor of the cocoa.

• Salabat – This is ginger tea, a strong brew that many Filipinos believe can help in soothing any throat malady and improve one’s singing voice. it is usually given free of charge when you buy puto bumbong or bibingka.

Breakfast/Snacks• Puto Bumbong – usually

eaten after the Simbang Gabi, this is a deep purple, seasonal rice cake made from galapong or sticky rice. The flour mixture is placed in a tube of bam-boo or bumbong and cooked through steam. it is then served with margarine, sugar, and sesame seeds.

• Bibingka – a close friend of the puto bumbong, this rice cake is yellowish orange in color and is cooked using an improvised oven—two clay pots filled with burning charcoals. a special bibingka is one that is “baked” with cheese and itlog na pula or salted egg.

Bibingka Photos courtesy of Balikbayan Magazine

Keso de Bola

Christmas ham Hot chocolate Fruit salad Puto bumbong

Polvoron

Fruit cake

features 3The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - December 16, 2015

Pork Belly Adobo TacosThe Pork Belly Adobo Tacos, is served by Chef King Phojana-

kong at Tito King’s Kitchen at Jimmy’s 43 in the east Village. It can be served as a merienda while waiting for the Noche Buena or an appetizer. “It’s not traditional but it looks, tastes and feels like Christmas,” Chef King said.

Ingredients• 2 pieces Pork Belly, 1¾”-

2” thick• 6 Garlic Cloves, crushed• ½ tsp Black Peppercorns,

whole• 1 Bay Leaf• ½ cup Vinegar, rice wine• 3 oz. Soy Sauce• ½ cupWater• 6 oz. Rice Vinegar• 1 tablespoon Salt• 3 oz. Sugar• 1 cup Red Onions, thinly

sliced• 10 Corn Tortillas, 4-5”• Your favorite salsa, to tasteMethod1. Combine all ingredients

(pork belly-water) and let stand for at least ½ hour. If necessary,

add more liquids to cover.2. Bring to a boil, reduce

to a simmer, and then cover and braise for 1 hour or until tender.

3. Remove from braising liquid and hold.

4. In a pot, combine the vinegar, salt and sugar . heat to dissolve the salt and sugar.

5. Remove from heat, cool slightly and add to onions.

6. For pickup, grill or saute the pork bellies until caramal-ized and heated through and slice.

7. Brush the tortillas with soybean oil and grill to warm.

8. Assemble the taco with your favorite salsa, pork belly and the pickled red onions.

Yield: Serves 4-6

Bûche de Noêl (Yule Log) using Brazo de MercedesThis holiday make a Filipino inspired Yule Log or Bûche de noêl

using Brazo de Mercedes based on a recipe courtesy of Créme Caramel. Decorate with toasted coconut, meringue mushrooms, cranberry/rosemary “holly” and you have a sweet and festive treat for your family to enjoy and admire.

FillingIngredients• 10 egg yolks, beaten • 14 oz condensed milk • 2 Tsp ube extract • Sauce pot• heat resistant spatulaMethod1. Stir all ingredients until

combined and boil over me-dium high heat on the stove,

continue to stir until thick spreadable paste.

2. Cool paste before spread-ing gently onto meringue. Gently roll cake using the parch-ment to help guide and cool in refrigerator for 2 hours.

3. Decorate with toasted coconut, meringue toadstools, and cranberry/rosemary “holly.”

Crème Caramel LA CRèMe Caramel

LA is Los Angeles’ neighborhood bakery and sweet shop. With a variety of goods, includ-ing French and Filipino-inspired crème cara-mels, bread puddings, upside-down pies, and savory bites, this is your one-stop bakery for custards and confection desserts.

The co-owner, Fil-Am Kristine de la Cruz, attended Califor-nia State Polytechnic University in Pomona, where she studied business marketing and soon realized her passion for the food industry. She began making custard desserts, incorporating her family’s special leche flan recipe as well as Filipino ingredients such as Ube and Buko Pandan.

She along with boyfriend Sean Gilleland started their business in 2010, from humble roots in farmer’s markets, pop-up events, etcetera; and eventually opened their store in Sherman Oaks in 2013. Since then, the success of Crème Caramel LA has been tremendous; with diverse Angelenos, Filipinos, and tourists from every which way com-ing to visit.

The bakery also helps other food artisans, incorporating locally-made products into some recipes. Crème Caramel LA has been featured all over Southern California, from Coachella to the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture, and was also recognized by LA Mayor eric Garcetti as an Outstanding Small Business in 2014.

Ingredients• 10 egg whites • 1 Tsp cream of tartar • 1 Cup superfine sugar (process granulated sugar for 5 minutes in a food processor), sifted• Powdered suar• half sheet baking pan (12” x 18”)• Baking spray• Parchment paperMethodPreheat oven 350 degrees f1. Spray baking sheet with

oil and line with parchment

2. Beat eggs and cream of tartar at low speed until foam forms, slowly add sugar in and mix until stick peaks form.

3. Spread egg mixture evenly on sheet.

4. Use a fork to score a design on the surface of the egg mixture and place in 350 degree oven – 18-20 minutes, remove and cool.

5. Sprinkle powdered sugar onto the top of the meringue and turn pan upside down onto a clean parchment.

Pork Belly Adobo Tacos, Pickled Red Onions and “Ginger Scallion Noodles” Photo courtesy of Chef King Phojanakong at Tito King’s Kitchen

Yule Log or Bûche de Noêl using Brazo de Mercedes. AJPress photos by Allyson Escobar

Kristine de la Cruz

Buche de Noel (Yule Log) using Brazo de Mercedes

4The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - December 16, 2015

features The innkeeper’s untold storyBy Monette AdevA MAglAyA

[The following original story is a work of fiction meant as a Christmas gift to Asian Journal readers and everyone else who loves the story of the birth of Je-sus Christ. Its basis is the Nativity Story from the Gospel of Luke.

A Blessed and Merry Christ-

ing of the star. The seers felt sure something earth-shaking was going to happen. The time has come for a prophecy foretold in ages past by the prophet Isaiah to be fulfilled. The king to rule all kings from the line of King David was to be born very soon within the kingdom. Micah, another prophet, had foretold that Beth-lehem is the place where it will happen.

Though fearful, the soothsay-ers had to tell Herod. It was no wonder the ruthless king who had ruled Judea for 30 years was in a vicious mood. He brooked no opposition to his reign. He had three sons he named after himself as heirs to the throne to continue his line of succession. He would remove all threats by all means fair or foul. It was bad enough he had to bow to the superior might of the Roman conquerors who had allowed him to be king in this corner of the empire.

Just as Joshua was about to lock up for the night, a couple came in. The man, visibly tired and leaning on his staff with one hand, was supporting the wom-an with his other hand. She was heavy with child. The woman looked to be in some pain. Still, Joshua noted there was a stately calm, grace and beauty about her. The man asked Joshua for a room and told him his wife was about to give birth. He said the other inns turned them away because there was no room for them. Alas, the last room has been let and Joshua told him so. The man’s face fell and his shoulders sagged.

Joshua glanced at the woman and his heart was filled with pity. He thought of his own home for them to stay for the night, but it was some distance away and it looked like the woman was about to give birth at any moment. Joshua had seen his own mother when she was heavy with child and he had helped his father deliver some of his brothers himself.

“Maybe, I have something for you. It’s not much, but it would get you through this cold night, at least,” he told them. “Come with me.”

Joshua gathered some blan-kets quickly. He gave instructions to the attendant to heat water.

He then gathered food and other provisions. He moved in haste leading the couple to an empty stable a few yards at the back of the inn.

Earlier in the day before the sun was up, he took to clearing the stable himself. He didn’t know why he did it. But now he was glad he did so. He thought the squalid stable with its walls and roof would shield this poor couple from the chilly night as the woman delivered her child.

Joshua gave the man the blankets, the warm water and some extra oil for the lamp to burn through the night. He set up a makeshift table for the bread, fish and wine and lit the lamp in one corner. Joshua helped the man make his wife comfortable. He could see the birth pangs seem to be stron-ger now. Beads of sweat lined the woman’s brow. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to meet up with his friends tonight. He was needed here for the long night ahead.

Just before he decided to go back to the inn to fetch a few more things, he said to them, “I’m Joshua. Let me know if you need anything else.” The man replied, “I’m Joseph and this is Mary. Thank you, Joshua. You have done more than you can possibly know. The Lord’s light

burns brightly in you.” Mary looked up at Joshua and smiled through her pain. For as long as he lived, Joshua will never forget that smile.

Mary’s child was born that night. Joshua could not remem-ber a night more filled with wonder, mystery and myriad points of light.

He remembered Mary wrap-ping her child lovingly in swad-dling clothes and placing the child in a manger. The child was bathed in light. The entire stable was aglow. A sweet heavenly fragrance wafted through the air. It seemed the heavens were opened, the stars shone brighter and the world stood still that night.

Strains of celestial music can be heard from a choir of angels above the stable. An angel was heard praising God saying,

“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Joshua’s shepherd friends came to visit the child. How could they have known? In hushed whispers, his friends said that an angel told them about the good news of great joy. Heavenly beings guided them to the stable. Filled with awe, their hearts bursting with joy they themselves could not under-

8th annual Parol Parade in Historic FilipinotownIN the Philippines, one

of the signs that Christmas is near is the multi-colored parol in the windows of homes, up in the lampposts of streets or even in commer-cial establishments. From its simple design in the older days, the star-shaped decor has evolved into many differ-ent shapes, sizes and design; as well as the materials it is made out of. Since the parol is a staple of celebrating

the holiday, many Filipinos living all over the world have brought this tradition with them.

Here in Los Angeles, the Historic Filipinotown Neigh-borhood Council held its 8th annual parol parade on Friday, Dec. 4, featuring an array of parols decorated by community members and lo-cal organizations.

AJPress photos by Andy Tecson

Continued on Page 6

mas to those on whom God’s favor rests!]

Joshua was excited with his new job at the inn. It sure beats having to herd sheep this time of the year when the cold nights chilled his bones on the hillside pasture where he tended his family’s small flock of sheep and cattle. The job fell to his younger brother.

Jacob, the owner of the inn, was his father’s friend. He had asked if Joshua could help him mind the inn for a period of time as he and his wife will be going on a long journey. Jacob liked and trusted Joshua like the son he never had. The young man was a good worker who quickly learned the ropes of the busi-ness.

Not long after, Jacob and his wife left for their journey to the town north of the country where they were born many miles away to comply with the Roman emperor Augustus’ decree that everyone be counted for the census. This is to determine the tax that can be collected for the empire’s coffers. Few, if any, dared disobey the Roman conquerors.

The inn was busy. People for miles around were on the move, with many going back to their own hometowns. Joshua guessed that the few other inns in town were also humming with the brisk business brought by overnight travelers in their otherwise sleepy town. He was tired, yet he felt pretty proud of the work he was doing.

Today, just before sundown, he had filled the 12 modestly furnished rooms with tired and hungry travellers. He thought of meeting up with his shepherd friends in the pasture once he had turned over the inn’s affairs to the night attendant. He had heard his friends on night watch talk about an unusually bright star that has been moving slowly in the heavens for many nights now. They said it was a spectacle to behold and he wanted to see it for himself.

The gossip buzzing around Jerusalem was that the sooth-sayers studying the heavens in King Herod’s palace were cower-ing in fear. They were loath to face the wrath of the vengeful king if they told him the mean-

Illustration by James Christer Francisco and Allana Santos

Community members in front of the Filipino American Service Group, Inc. (FASGI)’s parol.

features 5The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - December 16, 2015

Ventura Crab N Spice: Finger-lickin’ good Cajun seafood!

PUT on a plastic bib, and maybe a pair of gloves, be-cause your meal is about to get messy…in the best way possible.

Located in the Telephone Road Plaza, Ventura Crab N Spice goes beyond the average seafood restaurant in Ventura County. With a fresh selection of shrimp, mussels, clams, crawfish, lobster tail, and different variet-ies of crab, this restaurant serves quality by the pound. Seafood is boiled in seasoned sauces and brought to the table in plastic sacks, where guests are invited to eat with their hands.

With your choice of lemon garlic, coconut, Hawaiian, or the chef’s special Crab N’ Spice flavor, as well as varying spice levels (from original/mild to the superhot “Assassin8”) and add-ons (like corn, sausage and hard-boiled quail egg), Crab N Spice offers variety, the spice of life. Boiled in savory flavors, the pound of shrimp makes the perfect meal that stays true to its Southern roots, while subtly fusing with traditional Asian/Fili-pino seafood cuisine. Coconut with clams also make a delicious pairing, reminiscent of Filipino Ginataan. And the Dungeness and snow crab legs are served fresh, with juicy flavors in every bite.

“We came up with pineapple and light coconut flavors--the co-conut because there is so much interest in coconut water now,” said co-owner Marlon Arsenal.

The restaurant offers many specials and deals, including a $40 CNS Combo that gives your choice 3 pounds of seafood (shrimp, crawfish, clam, or mussel), and includes 2 corn, a half-pound of hot sausage, and quail eggs. There is also a party combo option ($71) for larger groups. Sides include white rice, basketfuls of Cajun/French/sweet potato fries, chicken wings, onion rings, fried cala-mari, hush puppies, and tasty garlic noodles. You can even order the fresh oyster. Check out the restaurant’s official website (www.venturacrabnspice.com), Instagram, and Facebook page

for more restaurant deals and discounts.

The Pinoy owners, Marlon Arsenal and Jerrico Reyes, take pride in their family-owned business, which opened its doors this past August. They were inspired by their favorite Vietnamese-owned restaurant in Alhambra, the Boiling Crab, which has a similar eat-with-your-hands approach. “Ventura County needed a seafood res-taurant like this, where you eat fresh from the table--almost like kamayan style--and it’s a differ-ent (and delicious) experience,” Reyes said.

The owners are already looking to expand to the vacant space next door, to better ac-commodate throngs of hungry customers in the plaza at lunch and dinnertime.

“There’s no place that has the same concept like Crab N Spice in the Ventura/Oxnard area, so I was super stoked to have found this place…Our food was out and ready within 15 minutes of ordering!” said restaurant reviewer Lene N. on Yelp.

“The customer service was amazing and they go above and beyond; they do their best to accommodate the patrons,” said another reviewer from Oxnard, Youri Y.

Crab N Spice’s new winter hours are 3:00 to 10:00 pm on Mondays through Thursdays, and noon to 9:00 pm on Fridays and weekends. Visit @ventura-crabnspice, 4732 Telephone Rd #5B Ventura, CA 9300; (805) 535-4363. *Advertising Supplement

‘Tis the season of giving: Alternative gift suggestions for this holiday

By Malou liwanag-Bledsoe AJPress

WE all have to admit that we are all once guilty of recycling gifts. Although it may seem like we have lots of choices, in the end we tend to give the same kind of presents to our family and friends every year. Shopping malls have many things to offer, but with the holiday rush, we might just end up being frustrat-ed with long lines at the counter and crazy crowds who are also trying to do their last minute shopping.

This year, the Asian Journal has a short—but sensible and memorable—list of alternative gifts that you can give to your loved ones.

The gift of knowledgeOne of the best times to

spend the cold nights is to have a cup of hot cocoa, sit on your

favorite chair and read. Aside from the usual bestsellers you can find in mainstream book-stores, Arkipelago, The Filipino Bookstore recommends the following books:

A Taste of the Philip-pines by Ghillie Basan and Vilma Laus

Classic Filipino recipes made easy, with 70 authentic traditional dishes shown step by step in more than 400 beautiful photographs.

(ISBN 978-1-844760949-0, 180 pages, paperback with flap cover, US$19.99)

From Our Table to Yours: A Collection of Filipino Heirloom Recipes & Family Memories by Angelo Comsti

Treasured recipes handed down from generation to gen-eration.

(ISBN 978-981-4398-56-5, 150 pages, paperback with flap

cover, US$28.00)Four Sparrows: A Tale of

Race and Survival in the Califor-nia Gold Rush

by Daniel C. RoddickIn 1850, Tomas travels from

the Philippines to strike in rich in the California gold rush as a subconscious way to overcome racial barriers. In his struggle to gain legitimacy he progresses through various stages of racial identity development. He is not alone in this regard. John, an American, has remained in Cali-fornia after the Mexican War to police the camps. Cath has ar-rived from Ireland to escape her own experience with oppression. Jungdoo, from China, suppress-es a painful past brought on by his own cultural hegemony. All fight for legitimacy in an effort to continue their own way of life, at the risk of not living at all.

Continued on Page 6

features6The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - December 16, 2015

‘Tis the season of giving: Alternative gift...(ISBN 979-150851-78-

9-4, 300 pages, paperback, US$21.95)

Cool Don’t Live Here No More: A Letter to San Fran-cisco by Tony Robles

In Cool Don’t Life Here No More, Tony Robles sings the mu-sic of the San Francisco Streets—that rhythmic sound that is being lost and that some pretend never existed. Through honest humility and with crisp magic, Tony gifts us the food and courage of his poetry, a life “tattooed on the tongue”. A pensive, penetrat-ing study of the city that is being washed away but whose “smell ain’t never gonna come out.” - Benjamin Bac Sierra, Author of Barrio Bushido

(ISBN 978-1-943209-07-1, 180 pages, paperback, US$16.00)

Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews in the San Francisco Bay Area by Oliver Wang

“As a writer and scholar Oli-ver Wang is relentlessly insightful and compulsively readable. With Legions of Boom he has created something indispensable - a singular document of a forgot-ten yet influential era in West Coast hi-hop and dance music, a rare and rich account of protean Asian American creativity, and a subtle, poetic work of ethnog-raphy.” - Jeff Chang, Author of Who We Be: The Colorization of

From Page 5

Winter tips for furry friends Mango Mix

by Martin Jason

L. ita-as

“OH the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delight-ful.” These lyrics tell us that some-times a winter wonderland can turn into a harsh environment for both man and beast. But it’s often a lot harder for our fuzzy family members who rely on us most of the time to avoid both dangerous and awkward snow situations.

Here’s a simple checklist for you to make sure your fluffy friends are safe, sound and warm throughout the winter season:

Outside habitsUnlike the multiple layered

clothing options humans have, pets are often left bare naked or with thin yet flexible little outfits. While it may seem protective enough, their furry little coats can’t do much on their own. Try to keep your pets out of the cold or dress them up with a coat and booties as much as you can because their tiny paw pads and little bodies might not be able to handle extreme colds. Try to keep them inside your heated home as much as possible to avoid turning your dog or cat into a pet-sicle.

Pet rationsFood is important for any lov-

ing household pet, but it can also be something to look out for dur-ing the time of chill and ice. Avoid giving your little ones food that is either frozen or too cold to eat. This along with not giving them enough to eat can mess up their digestion and can make them feel to sick or tired during the entire winter. Just remember that pets are also not as active during the snowy seasons so try not to over-feed them to avoid making them

too fat and lazy. Water is also an important factor, so try to give them enough of it while making sure fleas and other pet-related pests haven’t used their drink dish as a personal swimming pool for the holidays.

Winter care = winter scareWhile taking care of your

home and a few other items is a necessity during this difficult time of ice and snow, some practices can prove annoying or even fatal to your pets. For car owners, antifreeze may accidentally leak into your driveway and look like a harmless little spill on the garage floor. Unfortunately, one lick is enough to poison both large and small dogs or cats. If you use antifreeze solution and your pet acts as if it is “drunk”, be mindful and get him or her checked at your nearest vet. Also, look out for salted driveways. Some salts can be bad against paw pads and can even hurt your little bundles of fluff.

Vehicle angerIt’s obvious that vehicles can

be a danger to your pets on the road, but sometimes the danger can be a little closer to home: the garage. In the last post we talked about how leaking antifreeze so-lution can poison your pets, but the inviting warmth of the motor itself can prove dangerous for

pets looking for a hot place to lie on. This is especially the case for cat owners, where the little fluff balls can climb into the motor area without their owner knowing while they unwittingly start the car. To avoid this, check your car every time or try knocking on your car hood to wake them up. This could result in a grumpy pet, but an annoyed animal is better than a fried one.

Armed with this knowledge, it’s up to you to take care that your precious little animal friends are safe and sound during this cold, wintry time. It might be a little inconvenient to both you and your pet, but keeping them safe until you can enjoy each other’s company on spring or summer is well worth it.

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The innkeeper’s untold storyFrom Page 4

stand, they knelt before the child who was to be king.

Later on that night, three foreign men garbed in royal splendor and bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh came to pay the child homage. They had been travelling from afar, following the bright star hovering about the heavens for many nights leading them to that dusty town called Bethle-hem. The men recounted how they had studied scripture and spent much of their lives watch-ing the heavens, waiting for this greatest of prophecies to be fulfilled. The fullness of time had come on that very night in a lowly stable.

Years later in his old age, the memory of that night still stayed with Joshua. He had remained the innkeeper. Joshua met many people who travelled the hill country. He had become privy to many untold stories he kept hidden in his heart. One of the people he met was a man called Luke with whom he had struck a friendship. He was a physician who stayed as a guest quite a few times at the inn. He was dif-ferent from the others. Thought-ful, gentle and quiet as though on a mission, Luke was always writing on scrolls of parchment in his room.

Joshua was nearing the end of his life. He did not want the memory of that glorious

night to be forgotten when he died. He opened up to Luke. As he recounted the story, Joshua carefully removed himself from the narrative. He meant for his tiny part to be left untold through the ages -- it was to be between him and God alone.

The light of that bright night burned in his soul forever. He could not have known he was one of the few favored to witness the unfolding of the greatest mystery of God’s love for men on earth.

* * *Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is

SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@asianjournalinc.com

America(ISBN 978-0-8223-

5890-9, 220 pages, paperback,US$25.95)

To Love as Aswang: Songs, Fragments and Found Objects by Barbara Jane Reyes

The Philippine Aswang is mythic, monstrous creature which has, since colonial times, been associated with female transgression, scapegoating, and social shaming, known in Taga-log as hiya. In the 21st century, and in diaspora, she manages to endure. Barbara Jane Reyes’ To Love As Aswang, the poet and a circle of Filipino American wom-en grapple with what it means to live as a Filipina, or Pinay, in a world that has silenced, dehumanized, and broken the Pinay body. These are poems of Pinay tragedy and perseverance, of reappropriating monstrosity and hiya, sung in polyphony and hissed with forked tongues.

(ISBN 978-0-9763316-8-1, 90 pages, paperback, US$15.95)

The Brothers Luna: Mad-men or Geniuses by Jules Delgallego

Two brothers. One cause. Both willing to die for the freedom of the Philippines from foreign rule. The Brothers Luna is a novel on historical facts inter-twined with a compelling story of romance, passion friendship, intrigue, murder and espionage, war and the arts.

(ISBN 978-149-479-126-

1,420 pages, paperback, US$21.95)

(Arkipelago Books, The Filipino Bookstore is located at 1010 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. For more information or inquiries, log on to www.arkipelagobooks.com or call (415) 553-8185.

The gift of health and foodThe holiday is all about food

of course. However, for those who are want to give more than the usual peppermint bark, cookies and hot chocolate, why not consider a basket of natural fruit juices and products? Sun-Tropics have a wide array of fruit products that you can choose from like their Pure Calamansi juice, Mango and Soursop, Coconut Water and dried fruits. All their products are made with real fruit puree, and definitely, no high fructose syrup is used. SunTropics products are avail-able at all 99 Ranch supermar-kets, Seafood City and Costco Northern California branches. (Sample gift basket cost is $27).

The gift of Fil-Am historyConsider giving a piece of

Fil-Am history to your family and friends this holiday season by gifting them a DVD copy of the Emmy-nominated documentary, The Delano Manongs: Forgot-ten Heroes of the United Farm Workers Movement.

As told by director Marissa Aroy, the documentary positions the Great Grape Pickers’ Strike

as a “last stand” for decent wag-es and working conditions. The manongs by mid-60s had been tolling in the farmlands and ser-vice industries of the West Coast for over 40 years but have been prevented from establishing families or owning property. The Strike, organized by Filipinos involved with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), was seen as a bold move for economic dignity. Legendary labor organizer and farmworker Larry Itliong appealed to Mexican laborer and leader of the National Farm Workers Association to join the strike, which they won five years

later. That the Filipinos who instigated the years-long action found themselves marginalized from this momentous victory is a sad footnote to this chapter of labor history, one that director Aroy seeks to rectify.

DVD copy is only $25 and can be shipped directly to your gift recipients. To order, log on to http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u= b37c4704f1a854fad4a973a6c&id=39e6c2534c.

The gift of compassion As we gather around the

table to give thanks for all our blessings, let us not forget that there are people in other parts of the world whose daily

struggle is finding food to eat. This season, why not consider donating to a worthy cause whose main goal is to bring Noche Buena dinner packs to poor families in the Philippines?

Cassie Eng has been work-ing with the non-profit Project Pearls since was 6 and has become increasingly involved in more projects since then. This summer she did her second Bag of Dreams Challenge and delivered 600 backpacks filled with school supplies to the kids of Project Pears. Last year she gave out 300 bags to the Badjao kids in Lucena.

Continued on Page 7

7featuresThe Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - December 16, 2015

Moonlighting

by Mylah de leon

The Apostolic mission of a lola

“IF you want to civilize a man, begin with his grandmother.” - Victor Hugo

So, one moment you’re just a mother -- and before you can blink and think that you have escaped the ties of children, their troubles and their demands; you feel a little tug, and next moment, you’re past that certain age, and you’re ready for the scrap yard. Then comes along the grandchil-dren, handing back your youth in a fancy box and you’re starting all over again. You find yourself bound once more by the needs of your grandchildren and their love.

I thought I had forgotten how to hold a baby, but my arms remember. Gazing into the sweet, innocent face, just above the size of a hug -- the grasping of tiny soft hands, like a kitten in the shelter of your clasp. Those gasps of astonishment and shrieks of pleasure, sighs of delight, lost long time ago after my four girls grew to women, are suddenly back.

Rocking a tiny bundle of joy who is a loving extension of you. It is called midlife ecstasy, and just like that, it is the evidence of love in its most uncomplicated and trustworthy state.

The moment a baby is born, a grandmother is born too. Sud-denly, by no act of yours, you’ve become biologically related to a human being. It really seems quite crazy that your baby should be sitting with a baby, her own, on her lap. And then you realize, all that joy of becoming a mother was simply a prelude to the ela-

tion of becoming a grandmother.One sweet Sunday, I cradled

in my arms a seven pound, 15-ounce baby girl named Eliana Milaina, aged 26 hours and four minutes. I wrapped my granddaughter so tightly so that nothing else in this world could get at her.

How I prayed she could stay protected that way. Where there is love, there is usually a little granddaughter nearby. She is independence parading around in her mother’s shoes, slippers. Alluring in a bandana, dark glasses and yards of beads, who relishes in turning my daily routine topsy turvy with her ardor and curiosity. She is the biggest thrill, she whose laughter is like a concert of little bells, shattering the morning sun, a present joy a promise of the future.

Through the years, I’ve learned that there are 147 dif-ferent ways to hold a baby, all of them right. Used to asking the questions by my trade, I found myself groping for words, through the years when con-fronted by questions that defied logic or whose answers required another question. Why is God not married? Did Jesus shave or did he go to a barbershop? Is the sun hot? Do flowers go to sleep? Why is the sky blue? Does the Easter bunny lay eggs? Which cow gives chocolate milk? How do birds fly? She is amusing and enchanting whether 3-6 or 13, and now even older, she has the power to raise the spirit and ex-pand my universe, with the mere twinkle of her eye.

Together we learned names of plants, every tree, every bird, and insect and oddities. We drew cats and dogs and fathers and mothers and flowers. Her acts of kindness were what my mother

taught me. The eldest had be-come close a confidante and best friend -- and like grown ups she has started asking questions that can be answered.

But a grandson, is a pint sized bolt of lightning. With such skinny eyes, w a bewitch-ing creature sprinkled with stardust, heaven sent bathed in moonglow. He is purity in dirty sneakers, chivalry on a carousel horse. A quick study in per-petual motion, a magnificent little tyrant I call “Principeto,” the captor who holds the key to her grandmother’s heart.

When I take him for a stroll he stops to talk to a dog or a cat, look at butterflies. When I am away, his mother lets him breathe on the phone, and in totally unex-pected language he is able to say he loves me. Last New Year’s Day, he turned 13, in a blast of a birthday party where he gives me a chance to sing, play and dance.

So what is grandmothering all about? It may feel like a second chance to get parenting right but it is not. It is however, another chance to love and nurture a child, a relationship between one heart and another love -- that kind that flows through con-nected spirits.

The years will go by and my grandchildren will be older. I will no longer be in demand to baby sit, read fairy tales, ride the merry-go-round, play their favorite piano pieces. Heavens, how I dread that day! But if I am lucky there will be another time, another place, another children. For someday, I’ll be a great grandmother!

This piece was inspired by my colleague, Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz.

***E-mail Mylah at moonlightingmdl@aol.com

‘Tis the season of giving: Alternative gift...From Page 5

She has opened a fundrais-ing page to be able to donate 167 Noche Buena dinner packs to the families (as part of Project Pearls’ 1000 dinner pack goal). A minimum of $10 or PhP 500 donation will feed a family of 6–8 with a meal of spaghetti noodles and sauce, canned

meat loaf, bread, champorado (porridge) mix and hot choco-late mix.

Cassie has also been selling Christmas ornaments made by the mothers of Project Pearls to help fund her project. This is a perfect gift for those who want to donate in lieu of presents, which includes a note saying that

a donation has been made in the name of the receiver.

Cassie’s Noche Buena proj-ect is trying to raise $10,000 and still has 14 days remaining until the campaign ends on Decem-ber 31, 2015.

To donate and/or more information, log on to: http://www.projectpearls.causevox.

8 The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - December 16, 2015

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