March 31, 2013 1

Vol. XXII, No. 10 Online: www. manilamail.us March 31, 2013

Villar new apology P3

Come visit PH P6

Pinoy is Hagel’s cook P9

Abus free Aussie hostage P11

Ossorio art show P14

WASHINGTON D.C. - Pres-ident Barack Obama is pressing Congress to have the political courage to pass an immigration reform bill because “I want to sign that bill into law as soon as possible.”

Speaking at a naturaliza-tion ceremony for 28 new U.S. citizens - including a Filipino - at the White House on March 25, Obama said he expects Congress to start debate next month and complete the process soon.

The Filipino is Patricia Marie Marcaida.

Obama stressed what he wanted included in the bill. He said “real reform means con-tinuing to strengthen our border security and holding employ-

ers accountable. We know that real reform means providing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who are currently living in the shad-ows -- a pathway that includes passing a background check and paying taxes and a penalty, and learning English and then, going to the back of the line behind everyone else who is trying to come here legally.”

“I expect a bill to be put forward. I expect the debate to begin next month,” he said. “I want to sign that bill into law as soon as possible.”

Obama pointed to the accomplishments of many of the

Continued on page 22

Pope has high hopes for PHMANILA - Pope Francis has

high hopes for the Philippines saying “May your faith prosper, as well as your devotion to Our Lady and mission to the poor.”

The Pope reportedly con-veyed this message to Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardi-nal Tagle.

Tagle said when he approached Pope Francis to assure him of the closeness and collaboration of the Filipinos with the Vatican, the Holy Father gave him the message to the Fili-pino people.

Tagle also called on Filipi-nos to join the whole Church in thanking the Lord for giving the world an extraordinary person

Filam, 10 others get

WH honorsWASHINGTON, DC – The

White House honored 11 indi-viduals, including a Filipino

American, as Cesar Chavez “Champions of Change ” on

Continued on page 23

Unable to pay tuition, UP

coed kills selfMANILA - A poor Uni-

versity of the Philippines fresh-man killed herself at her house in Tondo on March 15 after she was suspended from attending

classes. Forced to go on leave for

failing to pay her tuition of

2 AmericanWWII heroes

in PH dieTwo American heroes of

World War II in the Philippines passed away early this month, ending what is called “an era in US military history.”

The fi rst is US Lt. Col. Edwin P. Ramsey who refused to sur-render to the Japanese invaders in Bataan and formed a 40,000-strong guerilla outfi t died on March 7 in Los Angeles and was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery. He was 95.

The second is the last sur-viving member of the Angels of Bataan and Corregidor, US Army nurse Mildred Dalton, who was imprisoned for 33 months, along with more than six dozen other nurses in Sto. Thomas in Manila. She died on March 8 in Trenton, New Jersey at the age of 98.

Ramsey was a fi rst lieuten-ant in the 26th Mounted Cav-

Embassy, activists meet on workers’ suitWASHINGTON, D.C.—

“The embassy is satisfi ed with the outcome of the discussions.”

This was the statement of First Secretary Elmer Cato after he, Welfare Offi cers Sani de Vries and Asst. Labor Offi cer Oliver Flores met with lead-

ers of the Justice for Grand Isle Shipyard (JGIS) who staged a demonstration in front of the embassy last week. The JGIS was represented by Dante Simbulan and Josef Cadgugay of the Kata-rungan Center for Peace, Justice and Human Rights in the Philip-

pines and Katrina Abarcar and Ann Beryl Corotan of Philippine Forum and National Alliance for Filipino Concerns.

The migrant rights organi-zations are supporting a group of Filipino offshore oil workers

President Obama watches as new US citizens take the oath of allegiance at the White House.

Kristel Tejada

Lawrence Benito

Vice President Jejomar Binay and family greet Pope Francis after the instal-lation Mass at the Vatican.

Continued on page 22 Continued on page 23 Continued on page 22

Continued on page 23

March 31, 201322

PH violating UN ban on tobacco advertisingMANILA - Is President

Benigno S. Aquino III, a known smoker, violating Manila’s treaty pledge to ban tobacco advertis-ing, promotion and sponsorship by allowing a group to host the world’s biggest tobacco trade show in Pasay city March 20-22?

The tobacco issue, which has been publicized all over the world, arose after UN agencies wrote the President expressing concern over the show.

The Philippines World Health Organization senior health adviser Eigil Sorensen wrote the President expressing concern that it “could encourage smoking by hosting the tobacco trade show.”

The ProTobEx Asia show, described on its website as fea-turing the latest innovations in processing, cigarette making and packaging, was held at an indoor exhibition hall in the Pasay dis-trict.

However, Sorensen himself tried to minimize his expres-sion of concern by saying “it’s important that there is no offi cial endorsement by the government of the tobacco event.”

He even praised the steps being taken by the Philippine government to curb tobacco use. But then he added more needs to be done.

Aquino spokesman Ricky Carandang did not immediately reply to the AFP’s request for comment, while city offi cials were unavailable for comment.

Sorensen noted that it was the second straight year that the Philippines was hosting the annual tobacco fair, which the WHO says gathers some of the world’s biggest tobacco manu-facturers and advertisers.

Again, the UN offi cial tem-pered this statement by saying that it was good that there was no government endorsement of the tobacco show. “If there is a government endorsement, it might be seen as a mixed signal,”

he added.

Sorensen took note of the signifi cant reduction in the number of Filipino youth smok-ers, to one in 10 in 2011 com-pared to two in 10 four years earlier. He also noted that last year the legislature passed a new law substantially raising tobacco taxes to help fi nance the govern-ment’s health care program.

But Sorensen said 14 mil-lion Filipinos out of the nearly 100 million population smoked daily, leading to 10 deaths by the hour from tobacco-related dis-eases.

“Despite the signifi cant decrease in the prevalence of smoking among youths 13 to 15

years old, the tobacco epidemic in the country remains a serious issue,” Sorensen added.

The ProTobEx site said it picked the Philippines as a venue because it has a vibrant tobacco industry. “Tobacco has played, and continues to play, an important role in the domes-tic economy, earning millions of dollars for the country,’ the Pro-TobEx site said.

It praised the host city for lifting its blanket ban on indoor smoking at the trade show venue. Organizers said the fair is not open to the general public or media. (With reports of AFP and Inquirer)

This is a fi le photo of President Benigno S. Aquino III showing him smoking a cigaret.

March 31, 2013 3

Rep. Villar sends apology letter to PNAAWASHINGTON D.C. - Phil-

ippine congresswoman Cynthia Villar has sent a letter of apology to the Philippine Nurses Associ-ation of America (PNAA) for her statements on television which the nurses group took offense to.

In a letter coursed through Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., Villar said: “I deeply regret my wrong choice of words, uttered under extreme time pressure, before a nation-wide, if not global audience.”

Villar also said she intends to push for measures in congress, to raise the minimum wage for Philippine nurses, grant hazard pay, create new job opportunities for local nurses, improve accred-itations of nursing school, and create re-integration programs for nurses who have returned to the Philippines from abroad.

The embassy said PNAA responded favorably to Villar’s apology, and said it is willing to collaborate with Villar with her proposed measures.

Earlier, Villar also wrote to the PNAA to offer her “heartfelt apology.”

“What I was trying to say during the media forum was that nursing students affected by a CHED closure order sev-eral years ago deserved concrete and better career and academic options other than just an abrupt closure of the institutions that

they were currently enrolled in,” she said.

MANILA, Philippines - Team PNoy senatorial candidate Cynthia Villar apologized early this month to Filipino nurses who were hurt by her recent

statement on the nursing profes-sion.

“Taos-puso po akong humi-hingi ng paumanhin sa lahat ng mga nurse at kani-kanilang pam-ilya na labis na nasaktan sa aking kasagutan sa tanong na ibinato sa akin sa isang programa sa TV (I sincerely apologize to all the nurses and their families who were hurt by my response to the question I was asked on TV),” she posted on her Twitter account @cynthia_villar.

In a senatorial forum on GMA News TV on February 23,

economist Solita Monsod asked Villar to explain why, as chair-man of the House committee on high education, she opposed the move to close nursing schools that the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said did not

meet minimum requirements to continue operations.

Villar explained that she favored the students who wanted to continue their school-ing. CHED, she said, wanted to close the nursing schools because they didn’t have the required tertiary hospitals where the nurses would eventually be trained before they graduate and get their BS Nursing degrees.

This part of Villar’s response became controversial: “Actu-ally, ‘hindi naman kailangan ng nurse na matapos ang BSN (BS

Nursing). Kasi itong mga nurses, gusto lang nilang maging’ room nurse,” Villar said in response.

“Humihingi po ako ng pang-unawa sa lahat ng mga nasaktan sa aking sinabi. Wala po akong intensyong maliitin ang mga” Filipino nurses (I apologize. I

had no intention to belittle the Filipino nurses),” Villar added.

Team PNoy campaign spokesperson Marikina Rep-resentative Miro Quimbo said Villar has been “unfairly treated” especially on social media.

Rep. Cynthia Villar courses her new apology letter to PNAA to the Philippine embassy.

March 31, 201344

5 High Bridge Foundation scholarships now availableHigh Bridge Foundation,

Inc. (HBFI), a newly-organized non-profi t organization based in Bowie, MD, is offering fi ve (5) scholarships each valued at $1,000 to deserving high school graduates from area high schools for the 2013-2014 school year. The scholarship is intended to help support the cost of the recipient’s attendance at a trade school, community college, college, or university of his or her choice.

Graduating seniors from high schools located in the District of Columbia, Prince George’s County, MD, Mont-gomery County, MD, Arlington County, VA, the City of Alex-andria, VA, and Fairfax County, VA, who face hardship condi-tions, and who are in need of fi nancial assistance to pursue post-secondary education at trade schools, community col-leges, colleges and/or universi-ties, are eligible to apply for the

scholarships. Additional scholarship

information and the application may be obtained from your high school guidance counselor or from the Foundation’s website: www.highbridgefoundation.org. The deadline for application is April 19, 2013.

High Bridge Foundation, Inc. is a non-profi t, tax exempt organization established by Ernie and Mencie Hairston in 2012. Dr. and Mrs. Hairston are

life-long supporters of youth programs that address the needs of young people, especially those with disabilities and life chal-lenges, who may not have easy access to scholarship informa-tion and funding. As recipients of scholarships during their stu-dent days, Dr. and Mrs. Hairston are aware that a scholarship is more than just free money -- it is a donor’s fi nancial investment in a student’s potential to succeed and to give back to the commu-

nity as well.For further inquiries or to

make a charitable contribution in support of the High Bridge Foundation, Inc. Scholarships, please contact:

Mayumi H. Escalante, Presi-dent, High Bridge Foundation, Inc.

P.O. Box 1003, Bowie, MD 20718-1003 Tel. No. (301) 332-8368

E-mail: mayumi.escalante@highbridgefoundation.org

Order of the Golden Heart Award

Ms. Marie Blanco, Filipina American from Hawaii and chief of staff of the late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, was conferred the “Order of the Golden Heart” by President Benigno s. Aquino III at the Romulo Hall of the Philippine embassy March 25. The award was presented by Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. Photo shows, front, from left: Mrs. Mitchel, Celestino Almeda, Fil Am Veteran of WW ll, Marie Blanco, Amb. Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., Gen (Ret) Delfi n Lorenzana, Veterans Affairs, Philippine Embassy. Back row: Bing Branigin, National Federation of Filipino American Associa-tions (NaFFAA), Ben De Guzman, National Advocates for Veterans Equity (NAFVE), and Eric Lachica, Advocate for Filipino Veterans of WWll.

PAFC grants for 2013

The Philippine American Foundation for Charities (PAFC) Grant Selection Committee met March 11, to select the various qualifi ed Filam organization that applied for the 2013 grants. Among those who received grants were The Marindoquenos, Gawad Kalinga 1 World, Bicol association, ANCOP Fed-eration, FOCUS-Catholic University, Yo-Yo Inc, Asia America Initiative, and Mabuhay, Inc. 2013 PAFC Selection Committee Chair, Bing Branigin, Co-chair,Maurese Owens, and members: Jon Melegrito, Mya Talavera, Nancy Ceniza, and Aylene Mafnas.

March 31, 2013 5

‘Couples’ meet set in JC July 26-28JERSEY CITY, New Jersey

- The 2013 North America East-ern Conference of Couples for Christ (CFC) USA & Canada will be held on July 26-28, 2013 at Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel & Conference Center at 2 Meadow-lands Plaza, East Rutherford, NJ 07073; phone: 201.896.0500.

This was learned from Eric Villanueva, CFC USA National Director & President of ANCOP USA.

Villanueva announced that this year’s conference theme is “Obey and Witness.” (John 2:5 “Do whatever He tells you!”)

According to Sonny Aguil-ing, conference coordinator, over a thousand CFC members are expected to attend the July con-ference.

Aguiling also said, delegates will come from CFC organiza-tions in the following places: Rhode Island, Vermont, Massa-chusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Ver-mont, Philadelphia, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Mis-souri, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee,

Alabama, Mississippi, Louisi-ana, Canada Areas, Puerto Rico, Belize and South America.

An invitation to prospective delegates was issued by George Campos, CFC coordinator to CFC USA. Referring to the forth-coming conference, Campos said, “...This very intimate occa-sion (with our Lord) would be on July 26-28, 2013...Together, we will rejoice in this grand celebra-tion of His Love.”

Registration for the confer-ence is going on.

Details on how to register online, including hotel rates,

are at http://cfcusaconferences.

org/cfceastern/2013/

There will not be walk-in registrants.

March 31, 201366

Cuisia resumes ‘campaign’ to woo US CongressWASHINGTON, D.C.-The

Philippine Embassy is intensi-fying its engagement with the United States House of Repre-sentatives as part of Manila’s efforts to raise the country’s pro-fi le among American legislators.

Since the opening of the 113th Congress in January, Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. has been meeting with key law-makers, especially members of the US-Philippines Friendship Caucus, who could support and advance Philippine interests in the US legislature.

Last week alone, Ambas-sador Cuisia met with Con-

gressmen Rohrabacher, Adam Schiff (D-California), Peter King (R-New York), Colleen Hana-busa (D-Hawaii), and Rick Larsen (D-Washington) and Del-egate Gregorio Sablan (D-CNMI) to update them on developments in Philippine-US relations.

Cuisia also had earlier meet-ings with Rep. Vernon Buchanan (R-Florida), who was recently in Manila as part of the Congres-sional Delegation led by Rep. Ed Royce (R-California), Chair-man of the Foreign Affairs Com-mittee, and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Washington), Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-Pennsylvania) and Sen.

Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).The Ambassador updated

the legislators on issues related to the Save our Industries Act, Filipino veterans; the West Phil-ippine Sea; defense cooperation and the outstanding perfor-mance of the Philippine econ-omy.

“We look forward to a greater engagement with an expanded US-Philippines Friendship Caucus in the House of Representatives,” Cuisia said.

The US-Philippines Friend-ship Caucus is made up of US congressmen who have a strong interest in the Philippines and

who promote the Philippine-US alliance. The Caucus also has a special focus on the concerns of the more than 4 million-strong Filipino community in the United States.

The Caucus, initiated in 2003 by former Ambassador and new Foreign Affairs Secre-tary Albert del Rosario, included Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Bob Filner (D-CA), Duke Cun-ningham (R-CA), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Todd Tiahrt (R-CA), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA.) and Lane Evans (D-Ill).

‘Come visit PH,’ Envoy tells Pinoys, AmericansWASHINGTON, D.C.-Fil-

ipino and Americans making plans for the coming summer break are being urged to take a second look at the Philippines and see why it is fast making a name for itself as an interna-tional holiday destination.

Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. made the pitch in his remarks at the launching on 19 March of the 8th Ambassadors, Consuls General and Tourism Directors Tour (ACGTDT) and the 1st NextGen Tour to the Philippines in July.

Cuisia said that recent posi-tive developments in the tour-ism sector in the Philippines are reason enough for Americans to see why it is more fun in the Phil-ippines and for Filipinos to head back and rediscover their roots.

He expressed optimism that the number of tourist arrivals in the Philippines will exceed 4 mil-lion this year.

Cuisia cited the 2013 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report by the World Economic

Forum (WEF) that listed the Phil-ippines as “the most improved country in the region, ranking 16th regionally and 82nd over-

all” out of the 140 economies covered by the study. The coun-try jumped 12 spots, up from 94th in the last report in 2011.

“We in the Embassy are

doing our part through, among other things, promoting the 8th ACGTDT and the 1st NextGen Tour to the Philippines,” Cuisia

said. “With that, I hope you will join me this July as a participant in the tours and help us promote these packages to friends and relatives.”

Philippine Tourism Rep-resentative Mitchell Dy said that since its inception in 2005, an estimated 3,000 people have participated in the program that features a four-day tour package that is highlighted by an audi-ence with the President in Mala-canang.

Running in parallel to the ACGTDT is the NextGen Tour that targets the next generation of US-based Filipino-Americans, particularly those with little or no exposure to the Philippines. This new program was devel-oped by Roy and Naomi Estaris of The Travel Outlet, who are also Filipino Community leaders in Virginia Beach, as a joint proj-ect with the Philippine Embassy and Consulates throughout the US.

Estaris said the NextGen Tour includes a four-night stay at F1 Premier Hotel; daily break-fast; tour of Intramuros with cul-tural dinner show and gallery tour of Hall One of the Center for International Trade and Expo-

sitions and Missions (CITEM); four-day transfer service; and out-of-town lunch with choice of ultralight fl ying adventure, lahar safari tour with sand spa or snor-keling and island hopping tour.

She said Post-Island Tours with overnight Manila accom-modation and complimentary one-way domestic airport trans-fer may be arranged. Also avail-able are the optional JUSTGO Philippines Eco-Tourism Tour in Puerto Princesa or Bohol; the Adventure Tour in Sumilon, Cebu or Apo Island in Duma-guete; the Adventure Tour in Boracay Island.

For pricing, reservation and other questions, interested parties may contact for the 8th ACGTDT, telephone number 202-467-9398 or email cultural@philippinesusa.org; and, for the NextGen Tour, telephone num-bers 888-700-0669 (toll free), 757-424-3311 or email justgotours@justgoph.com and leny@just-goph.com.

Embassy starts hunt for FYLP candidatesAmbassador Jose L. Cuisia,

Jr. has announced the search for the second batch of outstanding young Filipino Americans (aged 18 to 40), who will be tapped as future leaders of their Filipino-American communities and advocacies. The involvement of these emerging leaders in the Filipino-American commu-nity is expected to further add vibrancy and dynamism to the development of the Philippines and to the Filipino-American community in the United States.The second Filipino American Youth Leadership Program or FYLPro (known last year by the acronym “FAYLP”) will build on the success of the fi rst-ever program held from July 13 to 16, 2012.

Last year’s program yielded a remarkable batch of young Fili-

pino-Americans who continue to embark on different advocacies to help promote further progress in the Philippines and to further engage the multi-faceted Fili-pino-American community. The fi rst batch of delegates have gone to undertake, among others, political advocacy initiatives, cultural and tourism promotion programs, social entrepreneur-ship activities, education inno-vations, Filipino-American heri-tage projects, voter awareness and education, and have even launched political campaigns of their own.

In partnership with the Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI), this year’s edition of the FYLPro hopes to attract more young Fil-ipino-American leaders who we hope will be among the movers and shakers among the emerg-

ing generation of Filipino-Amer-icans. Program sponsors shall fund the bulk of the cost of the participants’ airfare, local trans-portation and accommodations.

Among the qualifi cations for the outstanding Filipino American achievers and lead-ers are the applicant’s scholastic achievements and other acco-lades, leadership skills, accom-plishments, active involvement in school, civic, political, busi-ness and other organizations as well as their vision, innovative-ness and commitment to making a difference in the Philippines and within the Filipino-Ameri-can community.

The chosen delegates will take part in an immersive pro-gram in the Philippines from July 7 to 9, 2013 and will likewise participate in the 8th Ambassa-

dors, Consuls General and Tour-ism Directors Tour (ACGTDT) from July 9 to 11, 2013. The spe-cial FYLPro program will afford them the opportunity to meet and dialogue with the highest offi cials and policymakers in the Philippines, leaders of industry, legislators, media, artists and cultural experts, entrepreneurs both traditional and social, as well as innovators in different fi elds.

Applicants should be no younger than 18 years old or no older than 40 years old by July 1, 2013. They should be ready to travel by this date (i.e. have a valid passport for international travel). The chosen participants are expected to commit time, skills, and resources to engage with the Philippine Foreign Ser-vice posts in the United States in

ways which would advance the causes and interest of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans.

The application form for the search may be accessed at the fol-lowing link, http://www.philip-pineembassy-usa.org/uploads/pdfs/embassy/2013/2013-0315-FYLPro.docx, or interested parties may contact the Philip-pine Foreign Service post in the U.S., which has jurisdiction over their place of residence. The deadline for submission of appli-cations is April 30, 2013. The names of the chosen delegates will be announced on the web-site of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., www.phil-ippineembassy-usa.org, on May 15, 2013.

Amb. Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. with Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (HI).

Philippine envoy to the US Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. (3rd from right) poses with guests (l-r) writer Nancy Dizon-Korionoff, new Katipunan President Luis Florendo, Kennedy Center’s Circles’ board member Carmen Stull, and travel agency owners Ofelia Adriano and Belen Saramosing during the reception March 19, 2013 at the Philippine Embassy’s Romulo Hall launching of the 8th Ambassadors, Consul General & Tourism Directors Tour (ACGTDT) to the Philippines this July 8-12, 2013. (Photo by Angelyn Tugado-Marzan)

March 31, 2013 7

SC stops implementation of controversial RH law

MANILA - The Supreme Court of the Philippines stopped the implementation of the anti-life Reproductive Health (RH) Law for 120 days on a 10-5 vote March 19 pending oral arguments scheduled to take place on June 18.

The law, which the Catholic Church and many other institutions in the Phil-ippines vehemently oppose due to its promotion of contraceptives and aborti-facients regardless of conscientious objec-tion, was set to fully take effect on Easter Sunday, March 31. Several constitutional challenges to the law have already been fi led with the Court.

But activists and human rights groups in the Philippines and abroad slammed the high court for stopping what they believe the country urgently need to stop the high birth rates that stunts eco-nomic progress.

Voting against the decision were Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, and Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Mari-ano del Castillo, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Marvic Leonen. Sereno, Perlas-Ber-nabe, and Leonen were all appointed by current president and RH Law advocate President Benigno Aquino.

Human Life International’s country director in the Philippines, Dr. Rene Bul-lecer, and Regional Director for Asia, Dr. Ligaya Acosta, who resides in the Philip-pines, reacted with joy and hope to the news. Both have been highly infl uential in organizing opposition to the RH Bill for over 14 years, but the bill was fi nally

signed into law by President Aquino last December. Opposition to the law is now focused on the Supreme Court, and on electing pro-life legislators to repeal the law.

Opposition Congressman R. Lagman (Albay), sponsor of the RH bill said priests are using the confessional to campaign against it.

“With God’s amazing grace, the Supreme Court of the Philippines by a vote of 10-5 has today issued a temporary restraining order against the Reproduc-tive Health Law! We thank you and all our supporters all over the world who are keeping us and the Philippines in prayer,” said Dr. Acosta.

“Truly I’m overwhelmed with joy on this feast day of our beloved St. Joseph, protector of families and protector of the Church, as we also join and rejoice in the inauguration today of our new beloved Pope Francis,” she said. “Please continue to pray for us as we unceasingly battle against this most deplorable law which has been forced upon the Filipino people. We earnestly pray that this suspension be made permanent.”

“We thank Saint Joseph, protector of the universal Church, for his interces-sion, and that this favorable decision came out today on his feast day,’ said Dr. Bul-lecer. “With this development, we need to regroup our forces and focus on the elec-tion of pro-life candidates for Senate and Congress in the crucial May 13 elections.”

March 31, 201388

US Navy Filams reenlist on board ‘Blue Ridge’Text & photo by PO Melvin Orr

MANILA - Five Filipino American sailors assigned to U.S. 7th Fleet fl agship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) took advantage of a port visit in Manila to reenlist in their country of birth.

The sailors who reenlisted include Chief Personnel Specialist Achilles Amante, Chief Boatswain’s Mate Bryan Barcena, Ship’s Ser-viceman 1st Class Michel Tolentino, and brothers, Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Jefferson Angcanan and

Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Jerick-son Angcanan.

The Angcanan brothers reen-listed March 8, while Amante, Bar-cena and Tolentino reenlisted March 10. Both ceremonies took place on the fl ight deck aboard Blue Ridge in the presence of their families, friends and colleagues.

Barcena, originally from Davao City, joined the Navy 16 years ago. He reenlisted for his fi nal six years. “It’s amazing to have this opportu-nity,” said Barcena. “I can’t think of

a better place to do it than here.”Amante, originally from Tondo,

Manila, reenlisted on the 15th anni-

versary he joined the Navy. He was accompanied by his father, Achilles Amante, and his sister, Chief Per-sonnel Specialist Aurora Caasi, who also serves on Blue Ridge.

“I’m very honored to reenlist in the Navy, and I can’t believe that I was able to do it here in the Philip-pines,” said Amante. “I’ve always been very proud of my Philippine heritage, and it’s a great honor to be here today.”

Jefferson and Jerickson Ang-canan are originally from Cavite. They went to basic training together and have been s tationed at the same fi rst two comman ds.

“I’m proud to serve in the U.S. Navy and I know my brother is, too,” said Jerickson Angcanan. “My family appreciates us for serving in the Navy and that helps make it all worth it.”

The reenlisting offi cer for Amante, Barcena, and Tolentino was Blue Ridge Administration Offi cer Lt. Cmdr. Wilfredo Eslao. Eslao is also Filipino American and spent 14 years as an enlisted sailor before becoming an offi cer.

“I’ve never experienced a reen-listment like this in my career. These sailors were able to have their cer-emony with their friends and loved ones in a country they called home and left behind so many years ago,” said Eslao. “I’m deeply honored to have been asked to administer the Oath of Reenlistment to these Fili-pino-American sailors.”

Lt. Cmdr. Wilfredo Eslao (right) administers the Oath of Reenlistment to Chief Boatswain’s Mate Bryan Barcena (from left), Ship’s Serviceman 1st Class Michel Tolentino, and Chief Personnel Specialist Achilles Amante during a ceremony on the fl ight deck aboard U.S. 7th Fleet fl agship USS Blue Ridge during its visit to Manila early this month.

March 31, 2013 9

Filam sarge cooks meals for Secretary HagelBy Rodney J. Jaleco

If US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel develops a fondness for chicken “relleno” or “pinakbet” blame it on one very talented Fili-pino-American chef.

Staff Sgt. Ghil Medina has been with the US Air Force for the past six years. He is offi cially part of the 633rd Force Support Squad-ron working out of Langley Air Base in Virginia. But he is also one of the cooks who feed the Defense Secre-tary and other Pentagon brass and is sort of a celebrity within the elite clique of culinary warriors.

He’s already collected a silver medal in the K1 “professional” cat-egory of the 38th Military Culinary Arts Competition at Fort Lee, Va.

which ended March 15. Medina won on a dish that he says was inspired by his Filipino roots - chicken rel-

leno, mixed vegetables and garlic rice with adobo sauce.

Hagel is probably no stranger to Asian dishes. He served and was wounded twice in Vietnam in 1967-68 as a squad leader with the 9th Infantry Division. But unlike that

other Vietnam War vet in the Obama Cabinet (State Secretary John Kerry) I couldn’t fi nd any record that Hagel stopped at either Subic or Clark where the seriously wounded were usually brought from Vietnam to recuperate.

But the 25-year-old Medina assures he’ll be well fed in the Pen-tagon. The Secretary, he revealed, “eats simple and on the healthy side”.

Medina’s life story is like that of many other immigrants to the US. He survived on “bare essential”, living with his godparents until his father and stepmother could bring him to New York when he was 18 years old.

“It’s a different world,” he told a US military journal years back. “In the Philippines, if you don’t have

anything, you truly don’t have any-thing. I know the defi nition of star-vation.”

He joined the USAF to get a college education. His family couldn’t afford the tuition and fi nancial aid was out of reach, he explained. He enlisted in 2007 and rose steadily through the ranks by topping one exam after another and reaping awards. He also started win-ning cooking competitions in the military.

“I put so many hours in the kitchen, it was exhausting. But I knew I had to work that hard to get where I wanted to go,” Medina declared. “I wanted my whole life to be a success and make a better life for myself, and this was how I was going to do it.”

He is competing with the “best

of the best” in the US Armed Forces. For those who’ve been in Clark and Subic when the Americans still ran the bases, it’s obvious they fed their soldiers well. At Fort Lee, they had well-stocked containerized kitchens that were probably the closest thing they could come up with to simulate fi eld conditions.

“What they can expect here is enhanced professionalism, enhanced culinary skills, more developed techniques in the arts of food prepa-ration and food sanitation, and the credentials that will allow them to be recognized in the private industry,” explained Lt. Col. Luis A. Rodri-guez, director of the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence at Fort Lee in a US Army website.

US warship with 106 Filam sailors visit PHMANILA - A US subma-

rine tender with one fourth of its crew are Filipino-Americans arrived in Subic Bay March 16 for a routine port call, the United States Embassy in Manila said.

The embassy said the USS Emory S. Land conducted main-tenance, replenished supplies and let the crew have rest and relaxation during the port call.

“While in Subic, the ship’s crew will continue its subject matter expert exchanges with

the Philippine Navy. The crew will also engage in several com-munity service projects with schools, medical institutions, orphanages, and other local com-munity centers, as well as com-munity relations activities such as sports events,” it said.

USS Emory S. Land is part of the U.S. Pacifi c Fleet and is homeported in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, the embassy said.

According to the Embassy,

the submarine tender’s crew includes 106 Filipino Americans out of a total of 410. The other crewmembers include 26 U.S. Navy Sailors and 80 Civilian Mariners.

“They (Filipino-American crewmembers) hail from Boto-lan, Olongapo City, San Antonio, and Pasay City, and elsewhere in the Philippines,” it said.

Some of the Filipino-Ameri-can crewmembers include:

- Supply Corps Offi cer Lt.

J.G. Michael Agojo, a second-generation. Sailor following in the footsteps of his father.

- Logistics Specialist Senior Chief Randy Mangohig, who oversees the professional growth and development of 35 enlisted personnel aboard the ship.

- Chief Petty Offi cer Nino Miranda, a Sports Community Relations Coordinator for the Morale Welfare and Recreation Offi ce and is part of the Religious Ministries Team.

- Gunners Mate Second Class Veronica Connole, who helps train the crew in safe deployment of the ship’s self-defense weapons. She also helps with translations between the ship’s crew and the local com-munity in Subic.

- Chief Petty Offi cer Enrico Manalac, a language inter-preter for subject matter expert exchanges with the BRP Grego-rio del Pilar.

Staff Sgt. Ghil Medina in the kitchen.

March 31, 20131010

China starts ‘sovereignty patrols’ in West Philippine Sea MANILA - China has

announced that four navy ships are conducting war exercises and “sovereignty patrols” in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). This came as the Department of Foreign Affairs said the Philip-pine navy and coast guard were checking reports that a “big” Chinese vessel has intruded and was unloading construction materials in one of the islets of the Kalayaan Island Group near Palawan.

DFA said it was check-ing this report, but Malacanang denied it was an ‘intrusion”, saying it was just a fi shing boat. It was this kind of an intrusion by Chinese fi shing boats in the Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal last year when President Aquino III said he was prepared to use force to arrest the fi shermen.

In his speech before the Chi-nese Filipino Chambers of Com-merce and Industries March 22, Aquino said he expected better relations with China now that it has the new leadership of Presi-

dent Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

DFA said the Western Com-mand based in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan has already sent reconnaissance planes and patrol ships to check on the report that

a Chinese landing tank ship unloaded materials somewhere in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), according to Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, the designated spokesman for security concerns in the West Philippine Sea and special disposition of forces of the Philippine Navy.

“We are validating that information. Navy aircrafts and

ships under the operation con-trol of the Naval Forces West continue sovereignty patrol mis-sions in its AOR (area of respon-sibility, including KIG,”

Arevalo said.The report about the new

intrusion of Chinese ships in the KIG during nighttime early this week and the alleged dumping of construction materials in one of the KIG islets was “very much similar” to what the Chinese did in the Mischief Reef, which is located very near Spratlys.

“The Chinese operate at night, brought their construction materials to the Mischief Reef by dropping them inside the lagoon until we woke up one day that the Chinese had already estab-lished underwater the founda-tions of the structures that we saw at present on that part of the sea that we originally owned,” a senior offi cer from the Philippine Air Force (PAF) said.

The KIG is composed of seven islets and two reefs is a municipality of Palawan which

is currently under the leadership of Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon. It is located in the WPS where the Spratly Islands (South China Sea) is found.

In his speech before the Filipino Chinese Chambers, the President said he expected the bilateral ties between the two countries to remain strong and continue to fl ourish under Chi-na’s new leadership.

“I would like to again express my sincerest congratula-tions on the election of President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keq-iang,” Aquino said at the open-ing ceremony.

“I have every confi dence that, under President Xi’s lead-ership, the Chinese people will continue to realize their goals of peace, prosperity, and happi-ness for all, and that the relations between our two countries will remain largely positive, as they have been in the past,” Aquino stressed.

Xi was elected the new Chi-nese president on March 14.

8 Sultan followers face death penalty in SabahMANILA - Eight followers

of the Sulu Sultanate face the death penalty as Malaysia for-mally charged them with terror-ism and waging war in Sabah. Kuala Lumpur also issued an arrest order of the Sultan of Sulu for the incursions that have resulted in the death of 63 Filipi-nos and 10 Malaysian police and troops.

But a spokesman of the Sultanate said the charges are illegal because it is tantamount to usurpation of powers of the Sulu Sultan. Abraham Idjirani, spokesman of the Sultanate, said Malaysia’s charges are ille-gal because it was a usurpation of the powers of the Sulu Jultan Jaalul Kiram III which “owns” Sabah.

At the same time, President Aquino III, who earlier con-demned the sultan’s followers for launching the incursion said he is now willing to talk with Malaysia over the ownership of Sabah.I.

Idjirani also said the 8 accused are not Filipinos but Malaysian citizens.

“We condemn this terroris-tic act of Malaysia because they do not own Sabah. They are only occupants. In fact, Malaysia is still paying rent to the sultanate of Sulu,” Idjirani said, adding the Sultan will bring his case to the International Court of Justice.

“We are concerned that eight fellow Filipinos are now being accused of an offense that carries a penalty of death. That’s illegal because Sabah belongs to

the sultanate of Sulu,” he added.President Aquino said he

had directed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to retain lawyers to defend the Filipinos in the Sabah court. But his gov-ernment still maintains it will prosecute the followers of the Sultan for causing the Sabah

crisis when they returned to the Philippines.

Aquino said, however, that he had an “obligation” to ensure that the eight Filipinos got due process in Malaysia.

“It’s automatic for us to pro-vide legal assistance to any of our countrymen facing charges (in other countries) regardless of whether we believe or not in their cause,” Aquino told report-ers in Naga City.

The eight Filipinos, seven of whom were in straitjackets, kept silent as they were arraigned at

the High Court in Tawau town, Sabah, last week on charges of launching terroristic acts and waging war against Malaysian King Abdul Halim.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-San-tiago has suggested that a third party acceptable to both the Phil-ippines and Malaysia conduct a fact-fi nding investigation of the circumstances that led to the fi ling of charges against the eight Filipinos.

Santiago, a former chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations who has been elected to serve on the International Criminal Court in The Hague, said determining whether the Filipinos engaged in terrorism “should not be left to the Malay-sian authorities alone precisely because we’re engaged in a dis-pute.”

She said that if Malaysia proceeded by itself, it could be charged with “bias of justice. It cannot be impartial justice if you heard only one side,” she said.

Agbimuddin’s 200-odd group crossed the Sulu Sea and landed in Sabah on Feb. 9, seiz-ing the coastal village of Tanduo to stake the Sulu sultanate’s ancestral claim to eastern Malay-sian state.

Agbimuddin has not been captured. Zulkifeli said military intelligence had confi rmed that the leader of the Sulu group managed to slip out of Sabah on March 11 and was hiding on one of the small islands in southern Philippines.

Obama to raise Spratlys issue in Asean summit

By Li Xiaokun (China Daily)

US President Barack Obama said on March 12 that he will raise maritime territo-rial issues in October at the East Asia Summit and the fi rst US-ASEAN summit.

Keeping “moderate ten-sions” between nations in the region will help the US strat-egy in the Asia-Pacifi c, experts said, adding that Washington will avoid confronting Beijing directly on territorial issues.

Obama also said that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the US and China will for the fi rst time conduct joint exercises on disaster and humanitarian relief.

The US president made the announcement after meeting with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei at the White House. Brunei holds the rotating presi-dency of ASEAN and will host the October summit.

“We’ll be discussing maritime issues,” Obama told reporters.

“Obviously, there have been a lot of tensions in the region around maritime issues, and his majesty has shown great leadership in trying to bring the countries together to make sure everybody is abiding

by the basic precepts of rule of law and international standards so that confl icts can be resolved peacefully and effectively, and that everybody is brought into that kind of structure.”

The East Asia Summit was inaugurated in 2005. Obama became the fi rst US president to attend a summit, in Indonesia in 2011. He also took part in the 2012 meeting in Cambodia.

Maritime tensions have risen in the past two years between China and some neigh-boring countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea, and Japan in the East China Sea.

China has long maintained that the territorial disputes are bilateral matters between indi-vidual nations. Yet Japan and some ASEAN countries have turned to Washington for sup-port.

The US said it does not take sides in the disputes. But it sent aircraft carriers to the region to protect “navigation freedom”, although Beijing said freedom of navigation has never been a problem.

US Secretary of State John Kerry also reaffi rmed to Japan’s foreign minister in February that the Japan-US Security Treaty applies to the Diaoyu Islands.

Photo of a Chinese navy patrol boat in the Spatlys.

Aerial view of Kalayaan islet with landing strip. It is occupied by Filipino settlers and an AFP contingent.

Malaysian wanted poster of Sultan Jamalul Kiram.

March 31, 2013 11

Abu Sayyaf frees Aussie hostage with P4-M ransomZAMBOANGA CITY, Phil-

ippines - How much did the freedom of Australian national Richard Warren Rodwell cost? For Basilan Vice Governor Al Rasheed Sakalahul, it was only P4 Million, not P7 Million as

reported. But the Manila media said the balance of P3 million went to the negotiators.

Sakalahul said he knew the exact amount because Abu Sayyaf leader Pujuri Indama counted the money in front of

him and Roger Gutang, brother of Rodwell’s wife Mirafl or.

“Throughout the negotia-tions, I only served as guide. I am willing to be subjected to a lie detector test,” the vice governor said following

reports that Rodwell’s release was delayed because “local offi cials and middlemen” had took part of the ransom before it reached the Abu Sayyaf Group.

“If this is what the reports are saying, I challenge

the Australian Embassy, Flor, Roger and Rodwell to an open media briefi ng so the truth would come out,” he said.

Sakalahul said Roger served as the bagman who handed the money to Indama.

Rodwell was released by his captors in Pagadian City March 23. He was kidnapped

by armed men believed to be Abu Sayyaf

bandits from his house in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, on Dec. 4, 2011.

Sakalahul said Roger served as the bagman who handed the money to Indama.

Rodwell was released by his captors in Pagadian City March

23.Rodwell looked thin and

tired as he emerged from the US Green Bell helicopter that fetched him from Pagadian City.

“It was an embassy to embassy agreement and we cannot not do anything about,” Colonel Rodrigo Gregorio, spokesman of Western Min-danao Command, said, refer-ring to the arrangements for Rodwell’s airlift from Pagadian made by the Australian and US embassies.

American soldiers escort Richard W. Rodwell after they fetched him from Pagadian by chopper.

March 31, 20131212

March 31, 2013 13

March 31, 20131414

Works of FilAm artist Ossorio on exhibit in D.C.WASHINGTON, D.C.-The

abstract expressionist works of noted Filipino American artist and art patron Alfonso Ossorio (1916-1990) drew raves when they went on exhibit at a private museum here.

The Philippine Embassy, which collaborated with the Phillips Col-lection for its “Phillips After 5” event for the month of March, said almost 700 guests led by Ambassa-dor Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. and his wife, Ma. Victoria, attended the open-ing of the exhibit dubbed “Angels, Demons and Savages.”

The exhibit features 55 paint-ings and works on paper of the Manila-born Ossorio and his equally famous artist-friends and contemporaries-American painter Jackson Pollock (1912-1990) and French painter Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985)-covering the period 1945 to 1958.

According to The Phillips Col-lection the exhibition, which will run until May 12, illuminates a key

moment in postwar art and reunites a number of works by Pollock and

Dubuffet from Ossorio’s collection for the fi rst time since they were dis-

persed after his death in 1990.Ossorio was born in Manila to a

landed clan from Negros Occidental. He went to school in England and the United States. He took Fine Arts at Harvard University and also stud-ied at the Rhode Island School of Design before becoming an Ameri-can citizen in 1933. It was in the

US where he was able to establish himself as an artist of note. In the Philippines, he is noted for his mural “The Angry Christ” that was com-missioned in 1950 by the parish of St. Joseph in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.

Among those in attendance was Filipino American community leader Mitzi Pickard who noted that it had been a long time since the Phillips Collection showcased a Fili-pino artist and Philippine art, music, dance and culture. “I’m elated that it happened at this time. It was a lovely evening highlighting the works and collections of Filipino artist extraor-dinaire Alfonso Ossorio,” Pickard said.

The event included a display of the fashion creations of Filipino-American designer Cathy Ebrada-Cleveland using the piña cloth (pineapple fi ber) and cultural perfor-mances by the University of Mary-land Filipino Cultural Association and Northern Virginia Rondalla.

Mixing ‘Tinikling’ with basketball at Verizon CenterA full-packed audience of over

18,000 gathered at the Verizon Cen-ter’s game between the Washing-ton Wizards and New York Knicks witnessed a 13-year-old Filam girl singing the US national anthem and a performance of the “Tinikling” bamboo dance at halftime on March 1, 2013.

The occasion was the Filam Heritage night initiated by the Fili-pino American Basketball Associa-tion of Metro DC (FABA) led by Ken Mendoza. Even though the Wizards lost, the audience came out praising Kriskatlin “Baby Kay” Zabala one of Migrant Heritage Commission’s (MHC) rising young star.

At halftime, the crowd was treated to another rare treat, the blindfolded version of the Phil-ippines’ most popular Tinikling bamboo dance, choreographed by MHC Co-Executive Director and former diplomat/Phil.Embassy’s Cultural Offi cer, Grace Divina Valera. It was performed by MHC’s Filam Heritage Dance Ensemble, MHC’s cultural arm. Increasing visibility of the Philippines in the American mainstream is one of

MHC’s main objectives under its Cultural Resource Program.

The ensemble is composed of

Filam talents from various groups including the MHC Youth Envoys and young beauty queens from the

Miss Teen Philippines-America USASunfl ower Pageants. Per-formers were Kathleen Calaro (1st

runner-up ISA’s Miss Teen Philip-pines-USA), Nicole Calaro, Mat-thew Emata Aninzo, Lizane Joyce

Mata (2012 Miss Philippines-USA Migrant Heritage/ISA’s Miss Teen

Philippines-America-Visayas),

Krishna Mata (2012 Miss Teen Sunfl ower-USA), Lex Crisostomo, Alex Cabrera, John John Cabrera II,

Nengster Poliquit, and Julie Quito-riano.

The ensemble, also a grantee of the DC Arts Commission, has been performing in different high profi le events in the U.S. capital region and neighboring States such as the National Cherry Blossoms Festival, the Fiesta Asia Street Festival, the 4^th of July American National Day Parade in DC and Philadelphia, the Katipunan’s Philippine Festival the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the DANCE DC/DANCE Asian Festival in prestigious venues like the Ken-nedy center and the like. The group has popularized the world renowned Philippines Tiniklinf bamboo dance in many variations and with a fusion of the Filipino and American cultures. It has been training many young Filipinoa born and raised in America to keep them connected to their Filipino roots and heritage. And to prepare them as future lead-ers of America, all of the qualifi ed performers are sent as MHC Youth envoy delegates to the World Youth Assembly at the United Nations (UN) in New York.

Consular outreach in Tampa, Florida on April 19-21The Philippine Embassy in

Washington, D.C., in coopera-tion with the Philippine Cultural Foundation, Inc., will conduct a consular outreach mission in Tampa, Florida on April 19-21, 2013 at the Finance Room of the Philfest Bayanihan Arts & Events Center, 14301 Nine Eagle Drive, Tampa, FL 33626.

April 19-20: 9 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 to 6 p.m. April 21, 1 to 6 p.m.

Services To Be Rendered:

Processing of applications for issuance or renewal of Philippine passport ; Processing of authenti-cation/acknowledgment of legal documents; Processing of appli-cations for Reports of Births and Marriages; Administration of oaths to former Filipinos under the Dual Citizenship Law on 21 April 2013 (Friday) at 2:30 p.m.

Passport Services: Pass-port applicants are no longer required to bring passport photos since they will have their

pictures taken using ePassport data capturing machines at the outreach site. However, they still need to bring other necessary requirements, such as their cur-rent passport, photocopy of the passport data page, the passport application form which may be downloaded from the Embas-sy’s website at http://philip-pineembassy-usa.org/uploads/pdfs/passport.pdf. Applicants are advised to bring $60.00, in cash or postal money order pay-

able to the Philippine Embassy, as passport application fee. An additional fee (as administrative fee) may be imposed by the orga-nizer which will be used to pay for the rental of the venue and other miscellaneous expenses. For the applicant’s convenience, a USPS Express Mail envelope with tracking number will be available at the venue for a fee.

The application for Phil-ippine passport is strictly by appointment only. In order to

expedite processing, applicants are advised to APPLY FOR AN APPLICATION APPOINT-MENT/SLOT by sending an e-mail to the Embassy at wdcpe-consular@gmail.com. Appoint-ments will be automatically scheduled as they are received. No request for specifi c time slots will be entertained. Those appli-cants who are not able to secure confi rmed appointments will not be accommodated.

Cultural performers of the University of Maryland Filipino cultural group and students pose with Ambassador Cuisia.

Northern Virginia Rondalla provides the music for the opening of the Phillips arts collection.

Ambassador and Mrs. Jose L. Cuisia view an Ossorio painting at the Phil-lips Collection art show.

Blindfolded Filams dance the Tinikling to the delight of the crowd at Verizon Center.

March 31, 2013 15

If you would like to include your organization’s event in this calendar, kindly send your informa-tion to Maurese Oteyza Owens at mpapoose@aol.com.

April 3 (Wednesday) 6:30-8:30pm. PAFC Volunteers Planning Meeting for Philip-pine Festival and Asian Festi-val. Sweet City Desserts, 131-A Maple Avenue W, Vienna, VA 22180 , tel: 703-938-8188. Contact:

Aylene Mafnas 703 868 5660April 6 (Saturday) 6:00pm-

12:00am,. Philippine Nurses Association of Metropolitan, D.C. Inc. Induction of Officers. Hilton Springfield, 6550 Loisdale Road, Springfield, VA 22150. $65 pre-paid, $70 at door. Contact: Nora Mendoza at 703-765-8474 or norrad79@verizon.net.

April 6 (Saturday) 1:15-3:15pm Filipino Catholic Min-istry at OLGC Zumba. Crown

Dance Studio, Merrifield Bldg. 2820 Dorr Ave. Fairfax, VA. $15. Contact: Ena 703-281-3537

April 11 (Thursday) 6:30-8:30pm PAFC Volunteers Plan-ning Meeting for Philippine Festival and Asian Festival. See April 3 for details on location.

April 20 (Saturday) 7:30pm Filipino Mass at St. Bernadette Catholic Church, 7600 Old Keene Mill Road, Springfield, VA 22152. Sponsored by Filipino Ministry of St. Bernadette. Con-tact 703-569-1054.

April 25 (Thursday) 6:30-8:30pm PAFC Volunteers Plan-ning Meeting for Philippine Festival and Asian Festival. See April 3 for details on location.

April 27 (Saturday) Filipino American Basketball Associa-tion (FABA) FundraisingTrip to Atlantic City. Meeting Places :

(a) 6:45am Springfield Mall in front of JC Penny parking lot (b)7:30am Clarion Hotel , 6400 Oxon Hill Rd Oxon Hill,MD. $50.00 per person with $20.00 back from Bally’s. Breakfast and drinks will be provided. For information and reservations contact: fabayouth@gmail.com or Agnes Espeleta 240.441.9377.

April 27(Saturday) 7:00pm OLGC San Pedro Calugnsod Memorial Mass, Sacred Heart Chapel at OLGC. Light refresh-ments after mass at the Counsel Room. directions: www.olgcva.org

May 2 (Thurs), 15 (Wed), 22 (Wed), and 30 (Thurs) 6:30-8:30pm. PAFC Volunteers Planning Meeting for Philip-pine Festival and Asian Festi-val. Sweet City Desserts, 131-A Maple Avenue W, Vienna, VA 22180 , tel: 703-938-8188. Contact: Aylene Mafnas 703 868 5660

May 4 (Saturday) OLGC Atlantic City Bus Trip. $45. Details TBA.

May 11 (Saturday) 12:00noon-4:00pm. Asians for Mary Annual Pilgrimage, includes a 60 Filipino man/woman choir for the event. Basilica Shrine of The Immacu-late Concepcion, Upper Church. 400 Michigan Ave., Washington, DC 20017. Contact: Jacinta Mas-carenhas terjac@hotmail.com. Details to follow.

May 11 (Saturday) Marin-duqueneo Assn of the Capital Area Atlantic City Fundraiser. Pickup at Montgomery Mall,

Bethesda 6:00am, drop-off 10. $45(21 and over) $35(under 21) includes busfare and voucher. RSVP by March 31; payment due by April 6. Contact: mataac@comcast.net

May 18 (Saturday) 6:00-11:30pm, Feed the Hungry, Inc. “Spring Shindig.” Fort Myer Community Center, McNair Road, Fort Myer, VA. Contact: Mila Nazal 301 288-7010

May 18 (Saturday) 7:30pm Filipino Mass at St. Bernadette Catholic Church, 7600 Old Keene Mill Road, Springfield, VA 22152. Sponsored by Filipino Ministry of St. Bernadette. Con-tact 703-569-1054.

May 26 (Sunday) Miss Teenage Philippines Pageant, Inc. Annual Coronation and Ball. Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 Jefferson Davis High-way, Arlington, VA 22202. Con-tact Trini Padama-301-705-8550 .

May 29- 31 PAFC Philip-pine Festival’s Brown Strokes on White Canvas Art Exhibit. Open-ing reception Wednesday, May 29 at 6:30pm. Location Romulo Hall, Philippine Embassy. Con-tact: Julian Oteyza at julian-oteyza@gmail.com or 703-969-5469

June 6 and 13 (Thursdays) 6:30-8:30pm. PAFC Volunteers Planning Meeting for Philip-pine Festival and Asian Festi-val. Sweet City Desserts, 131-A Maple Avenue W, Vienna, VA 22180 , tel: 703-938-8188. Contact: Aylene Mafnas 703-868-5660.

March 31, 20131616 Around DC in Pictures

The Philippine Embassy and the Peace Corps Alumni Foundation for Philippine Development (PCAFPD) held a reception at the Embassy’s Romulo Hall on March 22 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the foundation. Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. and PCAFPD President Mark Holt hosted some 80 former Peace Corps volunteers who served in the Philippines from all over the United States, leaders of Filipino-American community organizations and offi cials from the Peace Corps, the Department of State and others. The PCAFPD was incorporated in the District of Columbia as a non-profi t foundation on March 7, 1983. Since then, the foundation has provided hundreds of college scholarships to deserving Filipino students. (Embassy Photo by Christine Rubio)

Philippine Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia Jr. shakes hands with Rep. Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, during the annual B. C. Lee Lecture at the Heritage Foundation March 20. (Bing Branigin)

Roberto and Gloria T. Federigan were among the scores of Filipino Ameri-ans from the DC area who fl ew to the Vatican to witness the election of the new Pope. Despite the rain, they joined the crowd on St. Peter’s Square to wait for the white smoke and the announcement of the selection of the Car-dinal from Argentina as Pope Francis.

State Delegate Ron Villanueva, Vir-ginia Beach, hosted a dinner recep-tion on March 31 for Dr. Cynthia Romero, as the incoming Health Commissioner for the State of Vir-ginia. Villanueva and Romero both hails from the Hampton Roads. Vil-lanueva was also instrumental in the appointment of Romero.

Former Washington, DC resident Alma M. Maceda Calleja, (sister of former Amb. Ernesto Maceda), was in DC recently to visit family and friends. L to R front row: Sophia Calanog, Adry C. Sanchez, Arlene Calleja Sanchez, Ria Calanog, Ansel Sanchez, Alice Calleja Delapeyriere, Lucille, Bing Branigin, and Alma Caleja. Standing: Nesty Maceda Calanog, Tony Sanchez, Vesta and Bob Madarang, Ernesto Vergara, and Dr. Anna Maceda Calleja.

Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr and Mr. Winston Lorenzana Mendoza, presi-dent and CEO of Mendoza Solar, met with Amb. Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. to talk about solar and other renewable energy projects in the Philippines. Mr. Mendoza was accompanied by representatives of solar energy equipment and solar panel manufacturers/suppliers, including fuel cell technology for projects in the Philippines.

On March 16, Mia A. Padro (extreme right) came to Virginia with her parents from New Jersey where they reside to mark her 15th birthday with family and friends. The party was held at the residence of Eric and Cindy Andres in Vienna, Virginia. Photo shows, from left Mila Lopez, Teresa Alfaro, Mrs. Molly Amatulli who was visiting from Omaha, Nebraska, ( holding Baby Giovanni Andres), Rebecca Flores, Dr. Myrna Reyes (visiting from Connecticut) and Mia. Standing at right is Luisa A. Padro.

Robert Edward Gross, son of Mark Edward and Mrs. Pinky Lasam Gross, marked his third birthday on March 17 at their residence in Asburn, Vir-ginia. Because it was St. Patrick’s Day, most of the family members and friends came in green. Also belatedly marking their birthdays were Robert’s grandfather, Jack Edward Gross (January) at left, seated, and father Mark (February).

March 31, 2013 17

For our ‘Kababayan,’ a place to eatBy Jocelyn Porteria

“Did you open the store when you were both 15 years old”?

My eyes were wide open while talking to the owners of the famous “Kababayan” Ori-ental store and restaurant in the heart of Woodbridge, Virginia. It is owned and operated by a very young husband and wife team John and Lima De La Rosa. I swear they look like they are still in college. I was even more surprised when they told me they owned the store for nine years now.

I was looking for a place to eat one breezy afternoon after my listing appointment in Woodbridge, I got excited when I saw a place with a big red sign “KABABAYAN” in an array of shopping centers along Smoke-town in Woodbridge.

The store is half grocery and half restaurant and it was really busy that day with of course Filipino clients. Wow, feels like home and the name really suits itself. This is one of the places in the DC area where you can meet

“kababayans” literally.

The husband and wife team

were so busy attending to their

customers and they are really

hands on. As I was watching

them, I feel so proud for the

parents of these young entrepre-

neurs. At this age, I was expect-

ing them having good times of

their young lives partying and

having fun with their “barka-

das”.

Both from Tarlac and John

being employed in Subway food

chain was also a student at that

time. He already envisioned that

he will have his own business

one day. Lima was in a hotel

industry at that time. You can

imagine the challenges and hard-

ships they experienced while

trying to fi nish school, starting

a business and a family as well.

The store became their home.

Talking about multi tasking, they did a very good job!!!

They were lucky to have their parents help them in the store and Lima has to take care of their baby girl while running the business. That was too risky but they did it!! John has to get up from our interview most of the times because distributors, suppliers and customers need his attention. Lima and I contin-ued with the interview while she was wrapping eggrolls and their now little girl is sitting next to us. I was about to feature the store and their products and services but the owners divert my atten-tion and their inspiring story speaks for itself.

I drove home after that and I still think about this young couple, VERY IMPRESSIVE is all I can say. They fi rmly believe that business is a continuous learning process, be creative in marketing and maintain good lasting relationship with the customers. The couple is not yet done, Lima is now in school fi nishing Medical Technology. What more can I say?

John and Lima dela Rosa with daughter man the grocery store-restaurant that has become popular with Pinoys.

March 31, 20131818

Unknown asteroids, meteors heading toward earth? CAPE CANAVERAL, Flor-

ida - Charles Bolden, chief of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration , says earthlings can only pray if a large asteroid heads toward earth. He told the US House of Representatives Sci-ence Committee hearing recently that’s about all the United States - or anyone for that matter - could do at this point about unknown asteroids and meteors that may be on a collision course with Earth, Bolden said. An asteroid estimated to be have been about 55 feet in diameter exploded on February 15 over Chelyabinsk, Russia, generating shock waves that shattered windows and damaged buildings. More than 1,500 people were injured. Later that day, a larger, unrelated asteroid discovered last year passed about 17,200 miles from Earth, closer than the network of television and weather satel-lites that ring the planet. “We were fortunate that the events of last month were simply an interesting coincidence rather than a catastrophe,” said Com-mittee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, who called the hearing to learn what is being done and how much money is needed to better protect the planet. NASA has found and is tracking about 95 percent of the largest objects fl ying near Earth, those that are .62 miles or larger in diameter. “An asteroid of that size, a kilometer or bigger, could plausibly end civilization,” White House science advisor John Holdren told legislators at the same hearing.

■ Filam kid dies in freak accident

WACO, Texas - An 18-year-old Filam freshman at Baylor University died recently follow-ing a freak accident while doing a backfl ip and fatally landing on his head. Kevin Signo, a pre-biol-ogy student from Frisco, Texas (north of Dallas), was rehears-

ing traditional Filipino dances with fellow members at the uni-versity’s Filipino Students Asso-ciation at the campus’ Marrs McLean Gym when, during a break, he practiced a backfl ip, according to news reports. The “Waco Tribune-Herald” quoted a justice of the peace as saying Signo hit his forehead and suf-fered a fatal spinal injury when he broke his neck. He was pro-

nounced dead on arrival at the Hillcres Baptist Medical Center. His parents, Henry and Jackie Signo, said their son was an introvert in high school but thrived at Baylor. They said their son wanted to be a doctor and had a legal document drawn up donating his eyes, skin, bones and organs in case he died.

His parents said they plan to endow a scholarship in his name at Baylor.

■ Young PH gymnasts win in Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA - Three young Filipino gymnasts won four medals- two gold, one silver and one bronze-in the Nadia Comaneci International Invitational tournament held at the Cox Convention Center here

recently. The international com-petition was organized by the world famous Nadia Comaneci and spouse Bart Conner, both Olympic champions in gymnas-tics. Aaliyah Ybanez, 14, grabbed the country’s two gold medals on vault and fl oor routines for Level 5 12-up age group. She was also cited for her powerful and beautiful form and received the Nadia Spirit Award, given only to three athletes in each competitive level. Team Captain Jia Kawachi, 13, placed seventh overall in the all around event for Level 6 in the same age group. She earned silver on vault, sixth place on beam and 10th place in uneven bars.

Tabitha Ybanez, the young-est in the team at 11, was tied in fi rst place with two other com-petitors in her age-group, earn-ing the highest score of 9.475. She received the bronze medal based on competition rules. This is the second international club-based competition for the Ybanez sib-lings and the fourth interna-tional club-based competition for Kawachi, successfully bringing home medals on each occasion.

■ Letter to ‘Mail’ from C. Clamor

LOS ANGELES - Dear Manila Mail, I haven’t had a solo concert in Los Angeles in a couple of years and I am thrilled to be making a Los Angeles debut of my special Easter Show

called “Hallelujah: A Celebra-tion of Rebirth & Renewal” on March 31st, Sunday (7PM), at Catalina Bar & Grill. Did you know that when I’m not sing-ing I heal people as a physical therapist? I’ve been doing it for 13 years. My journey with heal-ing begins with me. Growing up with poor exercise habits and later in life employing unhealthy diets -- Atkins, self-starving, just coffee in the morning -- I used to get ill from colds and fl u and bronchitis a few times a year. In July 2011, I developed allergies that caused diffi culty breath-ing and swallowing properly, as well as rashes that wouldn’t heal. After many unsuccessful attempts with traditional medi-cine I decided to seek alterna-tive care and took control of my own health. I changed my diet, decreased stress by medi-tating, and enlarged my yoga practice. I’m now on the path to full healing, never more aware of *the utmost importance of being healthy in body, mind and spirit. My music is beginning to refl ect my concern with healing, and I look forward to sharing the energy with you in person. Please let me know if you could join me and my Killin’ Sweet-hearts band -- Abe, Dominic and Andy -- to celebrate spiritual rebirth and renewal with you. I’d be happy to put you on the Guest List. I will offer uplifting songs to nourish the soul, songs like “His Eye is On the Sparrow,” “Come Sunday,” “Overjoyed,” and, of course, the title song, Leonard Cohen’s powerful anthem “Hal-lelujah.”

■ Pinoy chef wins ABC’s cooking tilt

LOS ANGELES - A Filipino American lesbian chef has won ABC’s cooking competition, The

Taste and captured the $100,000 grand prize, and a car at the fi nals on March 12. Her name is Khristianne Uy, 31, who resides in West Hollywood and has often worked as personal chef for movie stars, including Charles Sheen. The 8-episode contest put professionals chefs against home cooks. At the fi nals, judges A. Bourdain (host), Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre and Brian Malar-key proclaimed her as the cham-pion, defeating more than 8,000 aspirants. Ms Uy studied at the Art Institute in Los Angeles where she learned her skills. The youngest of three children, the family moved to Torrance, Cali-fornia in the 90s.

■ 12 PH seafood fi rms join Boston show

WASHINGTON, DC-Twelve Philippine seafood companies made their presence felt in this year’s International Boston Seafood Show in Mas-sachusetts-the largest seafood exposition in North America. The Embassy said the participa-tion of the Filipino companies in the seafood show to be held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center from March 10 to 12, 2013 was organized by the Department of Agriculture, through its Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service. Philippine Agriculture Attaché Josyline C. Javelosa said the Fili-pino seafood companies, most of which have European Union-accredited processing plants.

■ PH movie opens in US theaters

“Graceland,” a Filipino American movie directed by Ron Morales, will open in selected theaters in the United States on April 26.

Distributed by Drafthouse Films, the movie has been praised by critics as mesmerizing, intense and unpredictable. It is the story of family man Marlon Villar, the longtime chauffeur of Manuel Chango a corrupt Filipino poli-tician. One afternoon, while he and his daughter accompany the politician’s daughter home, their car is ambushed in a kidnapping attempt. During the confusion of the ambush, the kidnapping goes horribly wrong and the wrong girl is taken and held for ransom. Marlon is determined to save his daughter, but between the confl icting motives of the kid-nappers and Chango, Marlon is forced into a terrible downward spiral. As events unfold, Marlon, Chango, and their families are forced into a game of deceit and betrayal that will leave no one innocent.

■ Stepson, 13, stabs dead Filam in LA

LOUISIANA - Filipino American Carmen Aguelo Bailey, 34, was found dead in her

home in New Iberia, Louisiana, around 6 p.m. early this month after reportedly being stabbed multiple times. Louisiana sher-iff Louis Ackal said the suspect, Aguelo-Bailey’s thirteen years old step-son Dustin Bailey, was charged with second degree murder. Dustin has been trans-ported to Saint James Juvenile Detention Center in Saint James, Louisiana. Detectives have not released a motive for the brutal killing and are still under inves-tigation at this time. Aguelo-Bai-ley’s husband, Warren, is said to be working overseas at the time of the incident.

■ Bradley almost lost title to Russian

CARSON, California - Tim-othy Bradley, Jr. survived a late knockdown in the 12th round to escape with a unanimous but close decision over challenger Ruslan Provodnikov of Russia and retain his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welter-weight belt. In his fi rst defense of the title he grabbed from Manny Pacquiao via a controversial split decision last June, Bradley was in serious trouble near the end of the fi ght after the Russian con-nected with a huge right and sent him down. Only the fi nal bell saved Bradley from a potential knockout loss, and he hung on to claim a 114-113, 114-113, and 115-112 decision at the Home Depot Center here. At one point, Bradley’s trainer Freddie Roach threatened to stop the fi ght before the 10th round because of a cut on top of his left eye.

■ 100 women in 113th US Congress cited

WASHINGTON D.C. - The 113th Congress is historic with 97 representatives from multi-cultural communities and 100 female members. In particular, for Asian American and Pacifi c Islander women, this is the fi rst time the Congressional Asian Pacifi c American Caucus is com-posed of a majority of women. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) an Iraq War veteran, is the fi rst Hindu elected to Congress. Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) is the fi rst Asian American to represent the state of New York. Reps.

Gabbard and Meng shared their experiences as new mem-bers of Congress on a panel dis-cussion titled “A Conversation with AAPI Women of the 113th Congress” on March 13.

Organized by the Asian Pacifi c American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) and sponsored by AARP, Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA.), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacifi c American Caucus and Board Member of APAICS opened the discussion and *Nancy Lea-Mond,* executive vice president of AARP’s State and National Group moderated the panel.

U.S. News Briefs

Kevin Signo

The 3 Filipino medal winners at the Oklahoma International Gymnastics tournament.

Charmaine Clamor

Filam chef Kristieanne Uy

March 31, 2013 19

Pinay nanny sues star for racial abuseLOS ANGELES - A US

judge cleared the way for a Fili-pina former nanny of Sharon Stone to go to trial against the US actress for wrongful dismissal and harassment, including racist abuse.

Lawyers for Erlinda Elemen, who worked as a live-in nanny for the “Basic Instinct” star until she was sacked in 2011, announced last year that she was suing the actress.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mary Strobel ruled that Elemen’s lawyers had provided enough evidence to support her allegations of harassment, failure to prevent harassment, retalia-tion and wrongful termination.

“We’re pleased that the judge recognized that the plain-tiff’s claims should proceed,” said lawyer Solomon Gresen, adding: “We look forward to our July trial date.” The trial is tenta-tively set for July 30.

Stone’s lawyers sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that comments by the actress did not amount to harassment. “All we have is that Ms Stone made comments about Filipino food, Filipino accents,” said lawyer

Daniel Gutenplan. The lawsuit claimed the

star equated being Filipino with

being stupid, and ordered her not to speak in front of her chil-dren so they would not “talk like you.” She barred Elemen from reading the Bible in Stone’s home, even though she lived with her to look after the actress’s three children, and frequently traveled with them.

From August 2010, Elemen

“was repeatedly subjected to repeated derogatory comments and slurs by (Stone) related to

her Filipinoethnicity and heritage,” said

the 17-page lawsuit.Elemen, who was hired in

October 2006 and was promoted to head live-in nanny two years later, was dismissed in February 2011, after Stone learned she was paid overtime when traveling with the children and on holiday

days.

Stone told her nanny that

she had no right to overtime pay,

and accused Elemen of “’steal-

ing’ from her by taking the...

overtime pay,” telling her it was

“illegal” to have taken the extra

pay and demanding the money

back, court documents showed.

The lawsuit asks for an

unspecifi ed amount for unpaid

wages, damages and penalties,

and is seeking trial by jury.

In 2011, the actress was

ordered to pay $232,000 in

compensation to a worker who

injured his knee after slipping

and falling in her backyard in

2006.

Filipina gets big break in NY fi lm festival

NEW YORK - Showbiz newbie Jane Oineza’s fi rst lead role as a professional actress has become her biggest break to date with her nomination in the Best Performance by an Actress category at the 2013 New York Festivals (NYF) World’s Best Television & Films.

‘I’m very thankful po dahil na-recognize nila yung ginawa ko. I’m more than over-whelmed,’ the 16-year-old told media when she was launched as part of the Star Magic Circle 2013.

It was Jane’s Maalaala Mo Kaya (MMK) episode with Angel Aquino that got nomi-

nated. The controversial MMK episode, titled “Manika”, aired in mid-2012 and earned rave reviews for Jane’s portrayal of a 15-year-old girl who was raped by her stepfather in front of her mother.

“Sobrang bigat ng role pero thankful po ako sa MMK dahil ipinagkatiwala nila sa akin.

Jane also feels honored by the fact that she is competing in the festival with Hollywood stars Julia Stiles and Troian Bellisario, who are both from the web series WIGS. The 2013 New York Festivals will be held on April 9 in Las Vegas.

Filam nanny Erlinda Elemen with actress Sharon Stone and kids.

March 31, 20132020

Pope Francis meets predecessor in Rome

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy - Pope Francis fl ew in to a papal residence near Rome on Saturday for an unprecedented encounter with “pope emeritus” Benedict XVI -- the fi rst time a pontiff has met his predecessor.

The talks round off a historic few weeks for the Roman Catho-lic Church after Benedict became the fi rst pope to resign in over 700 years and only the second to do so by choice in 2,000 years.

The last pope to resign -- Celestine V in 1294 -- was locked up and perhaps killed off by his successor Boniface VIII and there is no record of the two ever meet-ing post-resignation.

Highlighting the unusual nature of the encounter, both men are expected to wear white papal vestments since Benedict has been allowed to continue wearing his pontifi cal robes as well as using the title “Your Holiness”.

Cardinals in a conclave in the Sistine Chapel last week elected Francis as his replace-ment -- Latin America’s fi rst pon-tiff and the fi rst non-European pontiff in nearly 1,300 years.

The Vatican said Benedict followed television news cov-erage of Francis’ election from Castel Gandolfo, the lakeside residence where he has been staying ever since he stepped down.

The talks are private and the Vatican has said very little is likely to emerge about their content -- with any number of urgent issues for a troubled Roman Catholic Church possibly on the agenda.

Francis’s helicopter was seen landing at near the palace, which has been the papal summer resi-dence for centuries.

The Vatican said Benedict

was there to greet Francis along with household staff and that the

two would have lunch.The two men -- Francis is 76

and Benedict is 85 -- have very different styles but important core similarities on matters of doctrine and ways forward for the Church after Benedict’s often troubled eight-year pontifi cate.

Francis has paid homage to Benedict and has called him twice since becoming pope.

Analysts say he will rely heavily on the theological legacy of the former pope.

Benedict, before he stepped down, pledged allegiance to whoever his successor might be.

The two leaders of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics are both preoccupied with issues ranging from rising secular-ism in Western countries, to the reform of Vatican bureaucracy, to the ongoing scandal of clerical child abuse.

The two could also discuss “Vatileaks” -- a scandal that broke last year over the leaks of hundreds of confi dential papal documents that revealed allega-

tions of intrigue and corruption inside the secretive Vatican.

Benedict has said he will live “hidden from the world” as a “simple pilgrim” on life’s last journey and is expected next month to move back and live in a former nunnery on Vatican grounds in a life of quiet contem-plation and academic research.

But the Vatican has said he could also provide “spiritual guidance” to his successor.

Benedict is living temporar-ily in Castel Gandolfo with his secretary Georg Gaenswein -- who confusingly is also the head of his successor’s papal house-hold -- and with the four house-keepers who looked after him when he was still pope.

Francis, formerly Jorge Ber-goglio, has known Benedict for a long time.

At the 2005 conclave, Bergo-glio was the main rival to Joseph Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, and represented a more socially progressive current among the cardinals but reports at the time indicated that he pulled out of the race.

Global Summit aims to tap migrants as investors

MANILA - The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) said migrants and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) need to increase their investments in the coun-try’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which is now placed at only at $1.61 bil-lion or 7 per cent of the $23-bil-lion annual OFW remittances to the country.

“It’s payback time,” said CFO Chairman Imelda Nicolas

as she urged OFWs to invest their hard-earned money in MSMEs to further fuel the growth of the domestic economy.

The CFO has launched llate last month an information portal “BaLinkBayan” project at the opening of the Second Global Summit of Filipinos in Diaspora held on Tuesday at Dusit Hotel in Makati City.

Nicolas said the portal will advise OFWs on the viable options for investments coming from three government agen-cies-departments of Agriculture, Trade and Natural Resources.

“These agencies will iden-tify the best products for pos-sible investments in cities and provinces because OFWs tend to invest in the province where they come from,” said Nicolas in an

interview with reporters at the sidelines of the forum.

She said of the 10.4 million Filipinos abroad, half of them are permanent migrants mostly living in the US, Britain, Italy and Spain with strong programs for family reunifi cation.

At the same time, the remaining half of Filipinos abroad, are skilled workers and domestic helps, mostly deployed in Saudi Arabia and United Arab

Emirates (UAE) and Asian capi-tals like Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

Nicolas, however, lamented that only 7 percent or $1.61 of the annual remittances are invested in the country, while 20 percent to 30 percent are saved based on fi gures obtained from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

She said enticing OFWs to invest in MSMEs have a multi-plier effect as they would be able to help the provinces and cities where they come from to grow economically.

“It’s a change of mind-set... let’s admit it, they are not Hilton of the world who can invest huge capitals but we need to encour-age them to invest their hard-earned money in the country to sustain growth,” said Nicolas.

Oldest Filipino World War II vet is 112 years oldMANILA - - How do you

live to be 112? Don’t drink alco-hol. Don’t womanize. Pray.

That is the advice of retired T/Sgt. Tranquilino Cabiling, the oldest living war veteran at 112 years.

Cabiling attributes his lon-gevity to clean living and his faith in God.

“Do not forget to pray to God. He can give you a long life,” Cabiling told reporters in Visayan.

“Do not dance with women in the baile. Do not drink. Avoid vices,” he added.

Cabiling was honored during the Army’s 116th anni-versary rites recently along with offi cers, reservists and civilians who helped the military in its mission.

President Aquino and

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin left their seats to award a plaque of recognition to Cabil-ing.

Cabiling’s deep love for the military service can be seen in the way he received the memen-tos given to him by the Army.

When he was given an infantry soldier statue, Cabiling looked at it intently and did not let go of it.

He was also given an Army keychain, which he immediately placed on his belt loop.

The once strong artillery-man who witnessed the historic Leyte landing and survived the infamous Death March can no longer walk without assistance.

Cabiling, however, appears to be very healthy and even bragged to Armed Forces chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista

and Army chief Lt. Gen. Noel

Coballes about his complete set

of teeth.“I do not drink. I do not

smoke. I do not have vices. I do not eat meat.

I only eat fi sh and root crops,” he said.

Cabiling was born on July 6, 1900 in Barangay Damulaan in Albuera, Leyte. He joined the ser-vice on Aug. 3, 1922 and became part of the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE).

Cabiling narrated how he served as a gunner in the artil-lery division and how he helped shoot down a Japanese aircraft.

He was one of the recipients of a certifi cate <#> of gratitude issued by then US President Harry Truman on Dec. 31, 1944.

“As one of the nation’s fi nest, you undertook the most severe task one can be called upon to perform,” the citation

read.“Because you demonstrated

the fortitude, resourcefulness and calm judgment necessary to carry out that task, we now look to you for leadership and exam-ple in further exalting our coun-try in peace.”

Cabiling retired on July 10, 1952 after almost three decades in the service.

He married after the war but eventually separated from his wife. His second wife bore him a daughter, who died in a road accident in 1995.

Now a widower, Cabiling is staying with a group of reserv-ists who saw him following up his pension in Camp Aguinaldo.

Despite his heroism, Cabil-ing has not received his benefi ts because he lost his identifi cation card.

Pope Francis meets ex-Pope Benedict at Castel Gandolfo, Rome.

Participants in Diaspora summit in Manila last month pose for group picture that included Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and US Ambassador H. Thomas.

T/Sgt. Tranquilino Cabiling

March 31, 2013 21

Sen. Legarda tops Senate slate in latest surveyMANILA - Sen. Loren

Legarda appears headed for the top spot in the May 13 mid-term elections for senators as she emerged No. 1 again in the latest nationwide survey by the Makati City-based polling fi rm StratPOLLS.

She towed with her seven other administration candidates of President Aquino, with Grace Poe posting the biggest gain, thus making it 8 to 4 in favor of the Aquino coalition.

Legarda earned 75.2 per-cent. Second was incumbent Sen. Francis Escudero, who logged 63.2 percent, while Poe placed third with 63 percent in a neck-and-neck battle for the No. 2 spot.

Two weeks ago Escudero complained that his godfather and United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) stalwart, former Presi-dent Joseph “Erap” Estrada, was covertly campaigning against him. Notwithstanding the so-

called Erap factor, the senator landed second in the StratPOLLS

survey.Estrada has been barnstorm-

ing the countryside, directly endorsing his son Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito Estrada and Poe, who turned out to be the big rev-elation in the current campaign,

bigger than Bam Aquino, the President’s nephew, who placed

tenth.Poe was the bigger benefi -

ciary of the Erap endorsements. The core votes of her father, the late Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ), are still out there for her taking.

Another candidate who

bounced back in the StratPOLLS survey was Juan Ponce “Jack” Enrile Jr., who tied for Nos. 7 and 8 with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, both of whom earned 54.7 percent. Enrile won favor from “Solid North” votes, specifi cally in Region 2, his home base, and in the Cordillera and Ilocos prov-inces including vote-rich Panga-sinan.

The StratPOLLS survey, conducted from March 8 to 13, revealed what is shaping up as a tight race for the No. 2 post among Escudero (63.2 percent), Poe (63 percent) and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (62.1 percent).

The highest-ranked opposi-tion candidate was Nancy Binay at No. 4 with 59.7 percent fol-lowed in sixth position by JV Ejercito with 59 percent. Shar-ing No. 7-No. 8 were Enrile and Trillanes, 54.7 percent apiece. Ninth was Edgardo Angara with 54 percent and tenth was Juan Miguel Zubiri with 52 percent.

Placing 11th was Aquino with 50 percent and No. 12 was incum-bent Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III with 49.4 percent.

The administration candi-dates in the Top 12 were Legarda, Escudero, Poe, Cayetano, Trillanes, Angara, Aquino and Pimentel. Conversely, the oppo-sition candidates were Binay, Ejercito, Enrile and Zubiri.

Cynthia Villar took the 13th spot with 49.1 percent. She suf-fered a major dip because of her inadvertent comments about Filipino nurses that were largely viewed as a slur.

Incumbent Sen. Gregorio Honasan came in 14th with 48.1 percent, while former lawmaker Richard Gordon was at No. 15 with 38.7 percent.

The StratPOLLS survey was commissioned by the Business-Mirror for the ALC Group of Media Companies.

Aquino kills anti-poverty bill due to fund lack

MANILA - President Benigno Aquino III has vetoed the proposed Magna Carta for the Poor, saying the government lacks suffi cient funding to make the law a practical solution to the problem of poverty in the coun-try.

“Sa madaling salita, pwede akong nagpa-cute. Pwede kong pinirmahan itong batas na â ˜to, pogi tayo, pero alam ko hindi mami-meet ng gobyerno, Aquino said Monday on the sidelines of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’ 5th anniversary celebration in Pasay City.

More than one-quarter or 26.5 percent of the Philippine population fell below the pov-erty line in 2009, according to latest government data. The gov-ernment has defi ned the poor as those earning below P7,017 a month for a family of fi ve, or below P16,841 per capita a year.

Aquino said had he signed the bill, the government risks being sued for unfulfi lled prom-

ises.“Kunwari, ˜yung head

ng NHA (National Housing Authority ): “˜Bakit wala akong bahay?” he said, citing one of the government’s agencies as an example.

Under the bill, the govern-ment has to ensure fi ve basic rights for every Filipino: food, employment, quality education, shelter, and health services.

But Aquino said the gov-ernment cannot provide even just one of those services, given the current state of its fi nances. “Kaya ba nating gawin ito?” he said, adding that the budget for this year is only about P2 trillion.

“On housing alone, di ba, [nakalagay sa batas] right to shel-ter demandable now ibig sabihin parang ibigay mo ngayon ”mag-kano yung shelter for fi ve mil-lion social housing units? Hindi naman marangyang bahay ito e, social housing units. Ang gaga-stusin natin is P2.320-trillion, Aquino explained.

“Ngayon, ˜yung budget natin, ang pwede lang i-program off the P2 trillion is roughly about P600 billion. Wala pa ˜yung right to food, wala pa ˜yung right to work, wala pa ˜yung right to health, wala pa ˜yung right to education, he added.

Instead of approving the Magna Carta for the Poor, Aquino said he has instructed his cabinet to draft a Malacanang version of the bill to send to the incoming 16th Congress.

“Ang corrective action natin dito, dinirect natin ˜yung social cluster to draw up a substitute measure that we will give to the next Congress and, hopefully, that they will act upon with haste,” he said.

Aquino said he wants a leg-islative measure that will enable the government to provide the needs of the poor while sus-taining the country’s economic growth.

Sen. Loren Legarda raises hands during proclamation rally.

$1.2-B casino opens for rich and famous MANILA - The Philippines

makes its biggest bet this month to become one of the world’s elite gaming destinations, with the launch of a $1.2-billion casino on the Manila Bay.

Solaire Manila Resorts is the first of four enormous entertain-ment venues slated to rise over a giant chunk of prime, reclaimed land that industry and govern-

ment leaders expect will attract millions of cashed-up Asian tourists.

President Benigno S. Aquino III presided at the opening of the Solaire Manila Resorts two weeks ago.

“What Solaire brings is an entertainment and gaming expe-rience that doesn’t exist in the Philippines today,” its American

chief operating officer, Michael French, told AFP in an interview this week ahead of Saturday’s opening.

“It will be like going to Las Vegas. This raises the scale, the excitement and the... glamour.”

Controlled by billionaire Philippine port operator Enrique Razon, Solaire has 300 gaming tables, 1,200 slot machines and

seven restaurants. The building also has 500 hotel rooms and 2,000 parking slots.

It features glass ceilings filtering abundant tropical sun-light, huge chandeliers, thick red-themed carpets, blown glass wall-to-ceiling panels, water pools and an army of cocktail

waitresses in tiny red dresses.Another wing is being built

to add 300 all-suite hotel rooms >, 30-40 high-end shops and a theatre where French plans to host travelling Broadway shows as well as local and foreign lounge acts.

Ex-Knicks player banned from PBA for life

MANILA - Former New York Knicks forward Renaldo Balkman who recently displayed unsportsmanlike behavior that was unprecedented in the Phil-ippine Basketball Association (PBA), Balkman fi nds himself banned from the league for life.

Balkman, who signed on in December as the Petron Blaze Boosters’ import player, lost his cool with 21.6 seconds left in a PBA Commissioner’s Cup game against Alaska Aces at Araneta Coliseum on March 8, bump-ing all three referees, shoving assistant coach Biboy Ravanes and teammates Roland Tubid and Arwind Santos who tried to interfere before the situation escalated any further.

When Santos responded and shoved Balkman back, Balk-man took it a step further and choked him.

The whole display was tele-vised live in the Philippines on AKTV.

Balkman took to Twitter later that night to apologize to his teammates, team and the league for his behavior.

“I got caught up in the moment of a very intense game. I respect (Santos) as a person and player. This was unintentional

towards (Santos), I am a team player who always has the best interest of the team at heart. I

accept all responsibilities for my actions while playing an intense game, I have truly enjoyed my time here playing in the Philip-pines.”

After meeting with PBA commissioner Chito Salud for an hour, Balkman was handed a lifetime ban and a 250,000 peso ($6,150) fi ne.

The incident and ruling caused a storm in social media throughout the PBA community and fans.

Balkman, 28, of Staten Island, N.Y., is hardly a stranger to controversy, having been sus-pended for fi ghting with Corey Smith as far as back as his sopho-more year at the University of South Carolina.

Renaldo Balkman

March 31, 20132222

28 people who had just become U.S. citizens and said immigrants had reinvigorated the labor force and benefi ted businesses.

“If we want to keep attract-ing the best and brightest the world has to offer, we need to do a better job of welcoming them,” he said.

A reform bill has gained momentum in Congress since Hispanic voters overwhelm-ingly supported Obama in November’s presidential elec-tion. Recent polls show strong support for creating a way for undocumented foreigners to become U.S. citizens.

Congress is on two-week recess but is expected to look more closely at immigration and other domestic issues after being consumed for weeks with budget matters.

A group of eight Demo-cratic and Republican senators

is working on a plan that would create a 10- or 15-year process that leads to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

The path to citizenship may be called a path to a “green card” to soften opposition among Republicans, although Senate aides have characterized that as a semantic distinction.

A Senate vote could be held in June or July. One obstacle is the divide between business and labor organizations over how to manage the fl ow of unskilled labor into the United States.

Obama said “We’ve got to fi nish the job, because this issue is not new. We’ve just got, at this point, to work up the political courage to do what’s required to be done.”

Obama said he wants to see movement in the Senate on immigration reform next month

and passage of a bill “as soon as possible,” continuing his pressure on Congress to move quickly to fi x the immigration system.

Obama, joined by Home-land Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas, told the 28 new citizens that witnessing

such ceremonies is “one of the best things” about being presi-dent. He spoke fi rst about the importance of immigrants and what they bring to the country.

“Immigration makes us stronger,” he said. “It keeps us vibrant, it keeps us hungry, it keeps us prosperous. It is part of what makes this such a dynamic country.”

Then he turned to immi-gration reform talks, which are moving forward in the Senate but have not yet resulted in the introduction of a bill. The so-called “gang of eight” in the Senate is working to fi nish its immigration bill before Congress returns from recess in the second week of April. As of Friday, the bipartisan group of senators still needed to fi nalize several issues, including how to deal with wages that could be affected by the future fl ow of guestworkers.

Obama said he expects them to meet that timeline and

put forward a bill in April. He didn’t put an exact time frame on when he wants to see passage of legislation, although he urged swift movement. During a Jan. 29 speech in Las Vegas, Obama said he would put forward his own bill if Congress failed to act, but for now he is waiting for the efforts in both chambers to move forward.

Obama, as he has before, said this is the time to fi nally pass immigration reform.

“Let’s get this done,” he said. “And let’s do it in a way that keeps faith in our history and our values.”

After the swearing in, Obama said: “Today, here in the people’s house -- a house designed by an Irish immigrant -- we welcome 28 men and women, immigrants themselves, who from this day forward have earned the precious right to call this country home.

P6,377 (about $150) on time.The death of Kristel Tejada,

daughter of a parttime taxi driver, ignited committed sui-cide at her house in Tondo on March 15.

The death of Kristel Tejada, stirred up demonstrations in Metro Manila and oprompted school authroites to revam the tuition system. in the premiere state.

Freshman student Kristel Tejada, daughter of a taxi driver, committed suiciede March 15 by drinking a poisonous cleaning liquid because UP Manila forced her to go on leave for failure to pay her tuition loan.

For almost a week, stu-dents from UP Manila and other schools were joined by activ-ists in Metro Manila to mourn the death of Tejada, 18, and demand the ouster of offi cials of

the premier state university, UP students held mass actions out-side the campus in Manila, held vigils, lighted candles, noise bar-rages and marches wearing black shirts as the body of Kristel was brought to the chapel of the Phil-ippine General Hospital before burial during last weekend.

The embattled UP offi cials held a press conference to try to calm down tempers.

Based on new details released by the UPM admin-istration, the 16-year old BA Behavioral Sciences freshman at the College of Arts and Sciences struggled under the state univer-sity’s loan and tuition policies right from the start when she entered UP in May 2012.

Tejada is the eldest of fi ve children of a taxi driver and a housewife. Because she failed to pay her fi rst semester student

loan amounting to P6,377 (about $150), offi cials were forced to make her go on leave.

UP offi cials later denied that Tejada was forced to go on leave.

His voice cracking, UP Manila chancellor Manuel Agulto decried the media’s por-trayal of them as “cold hearted and ruthless” in the light of the suicide.

Agulto broke down and recalled how he was once in a predicament similar to Tejada. “I was once a medical school student scrambling to pay my tuition¦ As administrators, we are not enemies. I would like to see myself as a surrogate parent to the students,” an emotional Agulto said.

According to records, UP Manila offi cials allowed Tejada three extensions to pay for her P6,377 student loan incurred during the fi rst semester. The deadline for the payment was moved to Nov. 30, Dec. 7 and

Dec. 19 after several appeals from her parents.

The girl was also given accommodation to work as a stu-dent assistant, pending her sub-mission of enrollment papers for the second semester.

Agulto said Tejada’s father Christopher fi led another loan application on Dec. 19, this time for the second semester, but was not processed as this was the last working day before the Christ-mas break.

According to the presenta-tion, the father only appealed on Jan. 23, 2013, or nine weeks after the start of classes and way beyond the last week of pay-ment.

The mother approached Agulto at a social gathering, appealing that her daughter be allowed to enroll.

Agulto said he was sympa-thetic but the appeal could no longer be granted, clarifying that there was no begging or kneeling

involved.Meanwhile, the faculty of

the Department of Behavioral Sciences in UP Manila called on the school’s chancellor and vice chancellor to resign.

“We strongly appeal to the conscience of Chancellor Manuel Agulto and Vice Chan-cellor Josephine de Luna to show their solidarity and humility to the aggrieved family of Kris-tel Tejada and other victims of their repressive policy by ren-dering their irrevocable resigna-tion,” said the statement read by sociology professor Jocelyn del Mundo.

The statement was read at the Philippine General Hospital chapel after a mass sponsored by the student council for Tejada.

Professor Andrea Martinez, Tejada’s program adviser, said the girl had been depressed since going on forced leave.

Obama presses US... from page 1

alry Regiment when he led the last mounted the cavalry charge against the Japanese in Morong, Bataan, in 1942. He was credited with organizing up to 40,000 guerrillas fi ghters and was hunted down by the Imperial Japanese Army and by the com-munist Huk guerrillas, but man-aged to escape each.

Some Filipino guerillas who served with him are still living in the Philippines or are in the U. S. Some have been able to receive the US lump sum benefi t but others have not because of lack of documentations.

General Douglas MacArthur personally awarded Ramsey the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and Purple Heart for the success of his guerrilla orga-nization, his heroism and his combat wounds.

After the war, Ramsey returned to the United States,

then spent fi ve years in Japan as an executive with Hughes Aircraft Corporation, and more years in the Philippines as a private businessman before he retired in California. His war-time exploits are preserved in the book “Lieutenant Ramsey’s War” and the documentary movie “Forgotten Soldiers.”

Ramsey is widely credited for his command of the 26th Mounted Cavalry

Regiment in a successful raid on Japanese troops holding fort at the town of Morong in Western Bataan. This was the last horse-mounted cavalry charge in the US Army history.

When Bataan eventually fell to the Japanese, Ramsey retreated to the forests of the peninsula where he mounted guerilla operations over the

course of the next three years of the war.

After the war, Ramsey returned to the US as a war hero, receiving citations and honors from US presidents and the US Army’s Special Forces branch, which were reportedly fashioned after Ramsey’s guerilla organiza-tion in WWII.

Mildred Dalton Manning is thought to be the last of the sur-viving Angels, family members said. “I have never been bitter, and I have always known that

if I could survive that, I could survive anything,” she said in a 2001 interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Manning, who was from Jackson County, spent two years as the head surgical nurse at Grady Hospital before she joined the Corps in 1939.

“She was a trailblazer of sorts,” said her son James Man-ning, of Trenton, N.J. “She was very proud of having made it

through nursing school.”In 1941, while still in Geor-

gia, Manning requested to be sent to the Philippines because she wanted to travel. She never imagined that trip would turn into a more than three-year saga that would forever change her life, her son said.

Manning had been in the Philippines six weeks when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Five months later she and the others were taken prisoner while treat-ing wounded soldiers on the Philippine island of Corregidor.

In 1945, after American tanks rammed through the gates of Santo Tomas - a university facility where the women were being held - and Manning and the others were freed, she contin-ued to serve in the Corps, tour-ing and promoting war bond sales.

It was then she met Arthur Brewster Manning, an Atlanta newspaper man.

Unable to pay tuition,... from page 1

2 American WII heroes... from page 1

Patricia Marie Marcaida

US Lt. Col. Edwin P. Ramsey Mildred Dalton Manning

March 31, 2013 23

like Pope Francis.Vice President Jejomar

Binay, who represented Presi-dent Aquino III at the installa-tion rites, said Pope Francis has expressed openness to an invi-tation to visit the Philippines during the 51st International Eucharistic Congress slated in Cebu 2016.

Binay said he invited the Pope during a meeting after the latter’s installation and inaugu-ral Mass March 19 evening in Vatican and the pontiff answered “probably” to his invitation.

“Pope Francis also asked the Filipino people to pray for him,” Binay said in a statement.

“He told me: ̃ Please pray for me,” the Vice President added.

It was former Pope Bene-dict XVI who announced in 2012 Eucharistic Congress that the next congress will be held in Cebu, which is acknowledged as the country’s “cradle of faith.”

The congress is held every four years.

The Philippines last hosted

the congress in 1937, with re-evangelization as the central program.

Binay also carried the Presi-dent’s letter congratulating the new Bishop of Rome.

By Jennie L. Ilustre

Washington, D.C.-Area Filipino Americans are offering prayers for Pope Francis I, as he “faces a big task” as the new pontiff of 1.2 billion Catholics all over the world.

On the day the pope was chosen, Cora Arca, head ser-vant of Jesus is All in Anandale, Virginia, said in a phone inter-view her group would be pray-ing for him “when we hold our regular prayer meeting every Sunday afternoon at Saint Phil-lip’s Church.” She expressed joy that the swift election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio on March 13 meant “we will have a new pope who will be celebrating the Easter Sunday mass” on March 31.

Jun Pedery of Oxon Hill,

Maryland, said in a phone inter-view on March 19 when the pope was installed: “I like the pope. He’s humble and dedi-cated. As cardinal of Argentina, he shunned the limo and took public transport, cooked his own meals. He served the sick and the poor.”

Media reports note the pope is conservative in his stand on abortion and gay marriage. Pedery stressed: “Reformer or traditionalist? It’s too early to know what kind of pope he will be. He has shown a good begin-ning. We should all pray for him.”

Ed Tiong, coordinator of the Filipino Ministry of North-ern Virginia, said in a telephone interview March 13, “I’m pray-ing for spiritual guidance for the new pope. He faces a big task, particularly in the decisions he will be making, given that there has been a lot of issues facing the Church.”

Romeo and Ponciana Pas-casio of Gaithersburg, Mary-land, said their family would be offering prayers for the pope.

The couple were active church volunteers in their old St. Joseph the Worker church in Project 6, Quezon City, Philippines.

Romeo was lay minister and Ponciana was church caretaker from 1988 to 2010. “Masaya kami dahil meron na uling leader-ship and guidance,” said a joyful Romeo, adding it was not good for the Church when there was a leadership vacuum.

Thelma Alde, interviewed while dining at McDonald’s in the nation’s capital, said she watched the new pope on ABC-TV7.

She added: “I was so happy that we have a new pope. He seemed so humble and soft-spoken. After Pope Benedict resigned, I was so sad. I’m pray-ing the Holy Spirit will guide the new pope.”

Tiong he was heartened by the pope’s choice of the name. St. Francis of Assisi, born in the 12th century, was known as the champion of the poor. Tiong said, “He rebuilt the Church, as Jesus said. His ‘Prayer for Peace’ is popular with Catholics.”

Jesuit Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina was chosen March 13 during the second day of secret voting by a conclave of cardinals. He was offi cially installed as the new pope on March 19.

He seemed destined to be the fi rst pope from Latin America, which has nearly 40 percent of the world’s Catholics. He got the second highest votes in the 2005 election of Pope Benedict XVI, now known as pope emeritus.

In related news, The Wash-ington Post quoted President Obama’s statement on the pon-tiff: “As a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us, he carries forth the message of love and compassion that has inspired the world for more than two thousand years - that in each other we see the face of God.

“As the fi rst pope from the Americas, his selection also speaks to the strength and vital-ity of a region that is increasingly shaping our world, and alongside millions of Hispanic Americans, those of us in the United States share the joy of this historic day.”

March 26.This Champions event, A

Legacy of Service: Organizing for Immigration Reform will honor those who embody the spirit of Cesar Chavez’s legacy and commit themselves to work-ing in their communities to advo-cate and organize around immi-gration-related issues. Though the honorees come from vastly different backgrounds, they all share a commitment to realizing Chavez’s core values and the dream of a more just tomorrow.

These eleven individu-als exemplify the core decency and generosity of Americans, by welcoming and giving voice to those that come to our shore. Whether through advocacy and civil rights, helping with hous-ing and education, engagement in churches and communities, or

simply by being a friend, the citi-zens we honor today embody the legacy of the great Cesar Chavez, who dedicated his life to fi ght-ing for justice for all, said senior advisor to the President, Valerie Jarrett.

The Champions of Change program was created as an opportunity for the White house to feature groups of Americans individuals, businesses and organizations who are doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities.

Leading the list is Lawrence Benito, Chicago, Illinois, the son of immigrants from the Philip-pines who serves as the Chief Executive Offi cer at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), one of the leading organizations with

the Fair Immigration Reform Movement fi ghting for just and humane immigration poli-cies. The son of immigrants from the Philippines, Lawrence has spent the last twenty years work-ing for justice for immigrants and other disenfranchised groups, through community and electoral organizing. Currently, he serves on the board of directors for Chi-cago Public Media, and is a proud Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Ghana, 93-95).

The others are Yvanna Cancela of Las Vegas, Nevada, political director of the Culinary Workers Union who is helping coordinate a statewide campaign for comprehensive immigration reform; Ian Danley, Phoenix, AZ, a community leader and community organizer whose work for nearly 10 years has been directing youth leadership and

college preparatory programs for local urban youth at Neighbor-hood Ministries; Jason Mathis, Salt Lake City, UT is the execu-tive director of Salt Lake City’s Downtown Alliance and EVP of the Salt Lake Chamber oversee-ing policy initiatives for immigra-tion and urban development; L. Mireya Reith, Fayetteville, AR, Executive Director of Arkansas United Community Coalition (AUCC), the fi rst nonprofi t work-ing at the state level to empower immigrants;

Judy Rickard, San Jose, CA, author of Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, Findhorn Press, 2011, who has worked to promote civil rights since 1973 as a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activist with extensive experience working with politicians and educators in San Jose/Santa Clara County;

Maria Rodriguez, Miami, FL, who has worked to defend basic human rights of low-income and migrant peoples for 25 years; Rich Stolz, Seattle, WA who was born in South Korea, grew up in Cali-fornia, and lives in Seattle, but has lived and organized in commu-nities as diverse as Maine, Ala-bama, Arizona, and Washington, D.C. He is the Executive Direc-tor of OneAmerica, the largest immigrant rights advocacy orga-nization in Washington State; MaThew Soerens Glen Ellyn, IL , who serves as the US Church Training Specialist for World Relief, which is the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals; Javier H. Valdes, Brooklyn, NY, who oversees the organizing and policy work at Make the Road New York in the areas of civic participation, civil rights.

in Louisiana who fi led a class suit against their employer for alleged slavery and human traf-fi cking.

This was the fi rst time that the embassy had agreed to sit down with the activist groups. Cato, who is also press attaché, said he conveyed the govern-ment’s position on the case fi led by some 100 to 300 Filipino off-shore oil workers against the

shipyard .The demonstrators in front

of the embassy were made up of protesters from New York, Vir-ginia, Maryland and New Jersey. They demanded that the govern-ment investigate the condition of these groups of Filipino workers who they said were being treated like slaves and kept in prison-like conditions in the Grand Isle facil-ity in Galiano, Louisiana. They

also demanded that Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. resign for fail-ing to take any action on the case.

Cato said the “embassy actually shares their concern for the rights and welfare of Filipino offshore oil workers here in the United States—not just those involved in the class suit against Grand Isle but also the majority who have not joined the case.”

“We hope the Embassy was able to present a clear picture of

what the government has done and what it continues to do in protecting the rights and wel-fare of our workers,” said Cato, who enumerated the actions the Embassy undertook in connec-tion with the Grand Isle Shipyard case and the November 16, 2012 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that left three Filipinos dead and three others seriously injured.

But the activists said they were not satisfi ed with the

embassy’s position. In its statement, the Embassy

said that unknown to the public, it actually helped shoulder the cost of recovering two of the fi rst eight workers who left the Grand Isle facility in 2010 and that it had even offered other pos-sible assistance to the workers through the Philippine Overseas Labor Offi ce. The Embassy said it continued to actively monitor the case even though it never received any request for assis-tance from the workers or their lawyers either before or after they went to court.

The Embassy also said it played a critical role in the after-math of the Black Elk offshore platform fi re by immediately deploying personnel to assist the victims and their families who had to be fl own in from the Phil-ippines.

Embassy, activists meet... from page 1

DC activists held a forum at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church March 17 to show their solidarity with the Filipino workers in Louisiana. (Photo by Jon Melegrito)

Pope has high hopes... from page 1

Filam, 10 others get... from page 1

Consul Elmer Cato (at head table) presides over the meeting with Filam activists in the Philippine embassy.

March 31, 20132424Manila Report

Kris Aquino versus James YapBy Pink Biticon

Kris Aquino is on the spot-light of controversy again!

This time it involves an inci-dent between her and ex-hus-band James Yap on December 3 last year. The youngest sibling of President Noynoy Aquino accuses her former husband of making unwanted sexual advances on her which has been witnessed by their 5-year old son Bimby.

Kris fi led before the Makati Regional Trial court a temporary restraining order against Yap for“overstepping his boundar-ies and of attempting to seduce her while visiting her home and infl icting psychological effect on Bimby.”

The TRO was granted by the court prohibiting Yap to get near at least 100 meters from Kris and Bimby for thirty days, but Kris is still seeking to get a Per-manent Restraining Order which will prohibit Yap to get near their son permanently.

In an impromptu press con-ference on March 20, Yap denied Kris’s accusations of “overt sexual advances” towards her. He explained that he was just joking Kris to kiss her because Bimby did not want to kiss him goodbye, “”I was saying good-bye and asking Bim to give his dad a kiss. He said, ‘I don’t like.’

“So I said, ‘If you don’t kiss Papa, I will kiss Mama.’ And allegedly Kris said, ‘Yuck, yuck, yuck.’

“I approached Kris, held her here [points to his left arm], and said, ‘Bim, look. I’m about to kiss your mom, then Kris said, ‘You’re hurting me!’

A day after Yap’s press con-ference, it was a media spectacle when a teary-eyed Kris, together with her older sisters, Pinky, Viel and Ballsy, appeared on two primetime rival newscasts TV Patrol and 24 Oras to give her side on yet another controversy she has been involved in.

She stood by her version of the story, accusing former hus-band of making sexual advances on her in front of their son saying she felt violated as a woman.

To the surprise of many, Kris also announced that she will be quitting show business for the sake of his son. She told Ted Failon that this controversy is not a part of any gimmick or drama, ““You know my family, we do not do drama.”

Kris already resigned from

her ABS-CBN shows which includes daily talk show KRIS TV, her daily soap KAILAN-GAN KO’Y IKAW and PILIPI-NAS GOT TALENT.

Following the media explo-sion of the Kris versus Yap fi asco, the court approved the gag ordered fi led by the camp of Yap, prohibiting the two camps from making further media and public pronouncements about their problem.

But the gag order might be too late for the observing public who is now feasting on the latest controversy involving Kris. It can be remembered that Kris got involved in a highly publicized scandals and controversies in the past involving her own personal affairs. One of which was her public announcement that she got an STD (Sexually Transmit-ted Disease) from former live-in partner actor Joey Marquez.

Kris fl ew to Europe with son from Philip Salvador, Joshua and Bimby. She tweeted on Saturday, March 23, “Goodbye for now. Many thanks for the love, under-standing & prayers.”

HEART ISSUEThe world of showbiz was

abuzz with another big story involving actress Heart Evange-lista. Heart, 28, is having another rift with her parents Cecille and Rey Ongpauco because of involvement with now boy-

friend, Senator Chiz Escudero who is 15 years senior than her.

Heart’s mother and manager Cecille Ongpauco, surprised the public after holding a press con-ference where she and husband professed their disapproval over Escudero. She accused Escudero of being an “opportunist,” dis-respectful and arrogant. She also accused Escudero of “manipu-lating” their daughter to go against her family.

Escudero, who is now seek-ing reelection in the senate, claimed that he has not done anything “bad” against Heart and said that he loves her.

Heart’s rift with her family is not new. Far too often, Heart fi nds herself caught in the middle between her parents and her man. But Heart seems fi ght-

ing for her love this time. In a statement to the Philippine Star, she wrote,

“This isn’t the fi rst time this happened. This has hap-pened when I was with Jericho (Rosales). At that time, I gave it to my parents’ wishes because I wanted them to be happy. Because I am the youngest in the family, my parents became over-protective which is totally under-standable. And at that time, I was still young and thought it is wise to obey their wishes. But now that I’m 28 years old, I believe I already have the right to decide how to live my life, who to love and to be with.”

Heart’s parents threatened to fi le civil and criminal charges against Escudero amid this issue.

Entertainment

‘I am Filipino,’ Bruno Mars says on ‘SNL’

“I am Filipino,” international singer-songwriter Bruno Mars declared on Saturday Night Live (SNL) show last month.

Mars, who is Peter Gene Her-nandez in real life, said “I am Fili-pino”, in one number at SNL where he served as both host and musical guest, an Associated Press report said. The singer was born in Hawaii to a Filipino mother and Puerto Rican father.

In the AP report, Mars said he had so much fun doing the SNL show and would be glad to do it again.

The report also added that Mars’ October 20 appearance gave the NBC

variety show the second-best ratings this season.

In the show, Mars showcased his singing and acting talents in the comedy skits where he imperson-

ated other musicians like Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Steven Tyler.

Last April, the Grammy winner

visited the Philippines for a success-ful two-day concert in Manila and Cebu.

Among his many hits songs are “Just The Way You Are,” “Grenade,” “Marry You” and “Nothin’ On You.”

Mars will release his upcoming album, “Unorthodox Jukebox”, next month.

PH gets best actor, actress awards in Asian fi lmfest HONG KONG - The best actor

and best actress awards were both won by the Philippines at the Asian Film Awards March 18.

Actor Eddie Garcia scooped the award for a role as a lonely gay man who is in his 70s in the com-edy-drama “Bwakaw”, while Nora Aunor was named best actress for

“Thy Womb”, in which she portrays the struggles of an infertile wife.

A Chinese drama that touches on sensitive topics including police corruption won the best picture, while Japan’s Takeshi Kitano scooped the best director gong.

“Mystery”, directed by Lou Ye, which reportedly upset Chinese cen-sors for dealing with controversial issues such as the behavior of the country’s new rich, also took home the best newcomer award, won by actress Qi Xi.

The social satire was Lou’s fi rst fi lm after he was banned from

fi lm-making for fi ve years for showing politically charged love story “Summer Palace” at the Cannes Film Festival without gov-ernment approval in 2006.

“I am very happy because this (latest fi lm) project has run into some troubles before, so this is a

recognition for us,” Lou told AFP after winning the award at a glitzy ceremony in Hong Kong.

He said he would continue addressing social issues through his fi lms despite the pressures he has faced.

“I just want to concentrate on making fi lms.... Movies and society

cannot be separated,” the director said.

Chinese media said cen-sors demanded Lou cut the violent ending in “Mystery” where the male lead bludgeons a garbage collector to death with a hammer. He refused until a compromise was reached and he agreed to darken the scene.

Japanese actor-director Kitano won the best director honor with his yakuza gangster fi lm “Outrage Beyond”.

The Asian Film Awards, orga-nized by the Hong Kong Interna-tional Film Festival, have been held annually since 2007, aimed at show-casing the region’s movie talent.

While the awards have been dominated by South Koreans in the past, this year prizes were distrib-uted across the region, with China winning four, three for Japan and two for the Philippines.

Kris Aquino cries during press con-ference.

James Yap

Kris and son Bimby depart for trip to Europe.

Heart Evangelista and Chiz Escu-dero

Nora Aunor and Eddie Garcia captured the best actress and best actor, respectively, in the Asian Film Awards.

Bruno Mars

March 31, 2013 25

My Last Will and TestamentQUESTION: I am a 35-year

old divorced parent with two children ages 10 and 12, respec-tively. I am gainfully employed and have modest assets, but I do have a small equity in my house and sundry other possessions, including a car. Can you explain to me what a “Will” is and do I need one?

ANSWER: Yes, the short answer is that you need a will. I will explain what a Will is, what it contains, the typical legal requirements of a Will, etc. In a subsequent column, I will explain the probate process that follows upon the death of a person who has assets. I note that these are not necessarily easy concepts, and laws vary from state to state. Because of the breadth of relevant information, I can only cover a few topics here. You will need to consult a competent trusts and estates attorney for in-depth legal advice that takes your specifi c circumstances into account.

What is a Will? In very simple terms, a Will (also called “Last Will and Testament” in some states) is a written docu-ment signed by you which sets forth how you would like your assets or property to be distrib-uted following your death. Not everyone needs a Will; however, if you have any property, regard-less of value, a Will will ensure

that your desires as to who should receive your property are carried out. By means of a Will, you will be able to, for example, name your primary benefi ciary; designate your alternative ben-efi ciary in the event that your primary benefi ciary predeceases you; provide for the payment of bills after your death; appoint an “executor” (i.e., the person who will manage your estate follow-ing your death); and designate a guardian for minor or disabled children.

A Will controls only what is called the “probate estate.” I will explain the term “probate” and the probate process in a subse-quent column.

QUESTION: What would happen to my property if I die without a Will?

ANSWER: If you die with-out a Will, your state’s laws of intestate succession would govern inheritance rights. The term “intestate” refers to the situation where a person dies without a valid written Will. “Intestate” is the opposite of “testate.” Typically, the spouse and children are the fi rst in line to inherit the deceased person’s (the “decedent”) property. In the event that the decedent did not have a spouse or children, close relatives, such as parents, siblings, and grandparents, will inherit the property.

In Virginia, for instance, if you die without a Will, your property would go to your clos-est relatives fi rst. If you are mar-ried at the time of your death, for example, everything would go to your surviving spouse. If you had children by a prior mar-riage, however, 2/3 would go to all the children and 1/3 would go the surviving spouse. If there is no surviving spouse, then everything would go to your children or grandchildren. In the District of Columbia, your property would go to your clos-est relatives fi rst, beginning with your spouse and children. If you have neither a spouse nor chil-dren, your property would go to your grandchildren or your parents. The list continues with increasingly distant relatives. For example, in Maryland, intes-tacy laws provide that the sur-viving spouse would receive ½ of the intestate’s estate if there is a surviving minor child; if there is no surviving minor child, the spouse’s share would be the fi rst $15,000 plus ½ of the remainder of the estate.

QUESTION: What would happen to my minor children if I die without a Will?

ANSWER: If a parent dies without a Will and the other parent is unable to provide care (for example, if the other parent is no longer living), the state typi-cally will determine the guardian for the children and the property they will inherit. In Virginia, for example, where the benefi ciaries of an estate are minor children, the court would appoint a guard-ian and guardianship would end when the children reach the age of 18, regardless of the ability of the children to manage their inheritance. Throughout guard-ianship, the court-appointed guardian would be able to make expenditures for the “health, education, maintenance, and support” of the minor children. The court may appoint the fi rst person to volunteer as guardian, regardless of whom the intestate might have preferred.

QUESTION: What is required for a Will to be valid?

ANSWER: State laws dic-tate the requirements to which a valid Will must adhere. Typi-cally, however, most states require the following: the “tes-tator” (the person making the Will) must be at least 18 years of age and of sound mind; the Will must expressly state that the document is the testator’s Will; the Will must have at least one

provision that disposes of the testator’s property/assets; the Will must have a provision that appoints a guardian for minor children (if applicable); the tes-tator must appoint an “execu-tor;” the testator must sign the Will; and at least two witnesses who are not designated benefi -ciaries in the Will must sign the Will in the presence of a notary public (although some states do not require a notarized Will, for example, the District of Colum-bia does not require that a Will be notarized to make it legal).

QUESTION: What is an “executor” and why do I need to designate one in my Will?

ANSWER: An executor (also called “personal represen-tative” or “administrator” in some states) is the person who will oversee or manage the distri-bution of your property or assets in conformity with your wishes as set forth in your Will. Typi-cally, the testator chooses his/her spouse, an adult offspring, a sibling, an attorney, etc., to serve as his/her executor. If do you not name an executor, a probate judge will appoint one on your behalf. Typically, the executor will pay the testator’s creditors; pay all applicable taxes; notify Social Security and other govern-mental federal and state agencies and other relevant entities of the testator’s death; and distribute assets in conformity with the tes-tator’s Will.

QUESTION: What kinds of information must I have in order to prepare my Will?

ANSWER: This informa-tion includes, but is not limited to, personal information about you and your spouse (for exam-ple, full legal names, addresses, occupations, dates and places of birth, etc.); information about your marital status (for example, date and place of your current marriage, information related to your past marriages, any sepa-ration agreements, names and ages of your children); an inven-tory of your assets (for example, the amount and location of cash and bank accounts, life insur-ance policies, location and type

of ownership of your principal residence, other real estate hold-ings, personal effects, location and content of safety deposit boxes); summary of your debts (for example, loans, mortgages, credit cards, promissory notes); a list of your benefi ciaries (their full legal names, addresses, age, relationship); your executor or personal representative; names of trusted people who will sign your Will as witnesses.

QUESTION: Can I revise my Will?

ANSWER: Yes. You can change your Will at any time. However, it is not a good idea to keep changing your will at whim, unless you really need to revise it to refl ect new or addi-tional information. You can change your will by (i) prepar-ing a new Will, or (ii) adding an amendment to an existing Will called “codicil.” For example, the new Will typically would include an explicit statement that the testator is revoking all prior Wills. It is a good idea to destroy all copies of the Wills that have been superseded in order to avoid any confusion later on.

QUESTION: Where should I keep my Will?

ANSWER: You must keep your Will in a safe place where someone can fi nd it easily after your death. It is advisable to inform your executor of the loca-tion of your Will. A bank safety deposit box may be acceptable for safekeeping, but it is advis-able that you use a bank in the state where you reside. Some states would seal the testator’s safety deposit box upon the tes-tator’s death. Some states allow testators to fi le their Will for safe-keeping in the local court.

NEXT ISSUE: Probate, living will, medical directive, and power of attorney.

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

Immigration law waivers give hope to Pinoys in US

By Sancho JacintoImmigrants were a huge

factor in the 2012 Presidential election. If not for immigrants, the results would have been very different, and due to this, Washington took notice of an issue that they have relegated to the back burner - immigration reform. Both Republicans and Democrats are in agreement that immigration reform is neces-sary. But what most people don’t know is that, many changes are already happening as imple-mented by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS.

Under the previous law, a significant number of immedi-ate relatives with an approved I-130 petition by U.S. citizen spouses and parents, are not eligible to apply for lawful per-manent resident (LPR) status in the U.S. if they had entered the country unlawfully. In order to be eligible, they need to ask for “forgiveness” or an Unlawful Presence Waiver by filing a Form I-601 wherein the aliens must depart the U.S. and request for

the Waiver overseas, which often result in a lengthy separation from their U.S. citizen relative.

The USCIS would grant this waiver if the alien can prove extreme hardship to his or her U.S. citizen spouse or parent. Factors for adjudication include, but not limited to Health. Finan-cial Considerations, Education. Personal Consideration, and Special Factors.

However, as of March 4, there have been some changes in applying for the Waiver. A Form I-601A can now be filed state-side. It means that the alien can apply for a provisional unlaw-ful presence waiver while in the United States. This huge change in procedure will encourage aliens, such as Filipinos, who have approved I-130 immediate relative petitions, to apply for the provisional unlawful pres-ence waivers. They now won’t have to go back to their home countries with the uncertainties of how long the waiver will take

Continued on page 27

March 31, 20132626

PERCH STEW WITH GREEN MANGO(Pinangat na Isda)

This recipe can be served anytime, but it is most espe-cially helpful during this Lenten Season for those who are observ-ing the meatless Friday. It is tra-ditionally cooked with kamias, with tamarind as a good alterna-tive. Since these are out of reach for most of us in the East Coast, green mango is the best substi-tute. You can also use powdered tamarind soup base, available at

most Asian stores.

Ingredients:4 to 5 cups green mango

bouillon (see Chef’s Tips)2 medium size white perch

(add more if desired), head removed [optional] and gutted

1 fi rm yellow green mango, peeled and sliced, without the stone

sprigs of fresh cilantro or

rosemary4 pieces cherry tomatoes, cut

in halves and de-seeded.

Methods:Place the green mango

bouillon in a non-reactive pot, cover and simmer for 10 min-utes.

Add the perch, mango, and tomatoes and season slightly with salt. Let simmer for 10 min-

utes or until the fi sh is cooked or opaque.

Add the cilantro or rose-mary before removing from the stove.

Serve hot.Chef’s Tips: I just created

this green mango bouillon which can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Green Mango Bouillon6 cups water1 green mango, coarsely

chopped1 onion, chopped1 bay leaf1 1/2 teaspoon salt2 teaspoons peppercornsCombine all ingredients and

bring to a boil in a sauce pan. Let simmer for 15-20 minutes uncov-ered. Cool before use. Strain the solid ingredients and discard. Makes 5 cups.

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

VISITORA man is getting into the

shower just as his wife is fi n-ishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. After a few sec-onds of arguing over which one should go and answer the door-bell, the wife gives up, quickly wraps herself up in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, their next door neighbor.

Before she could say a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 just to drop that towel that you have on”. After thinking for a moment, the wife drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob.

Bob has a close look at her for a few minutes, hands over the $800 and quietly leaves.

Confused, but excited about her good fortune, the woman wraps herself back in the towel and goes upstairs. When she gets back to the bathroom, her hus-band asks “Who was that?”

“It was Bob our next door neighbor,” she replies.

“Great,” the husband says, “did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?”

BARBER JOEA man walked into Joe’s

Barber Shop for a haircut. As he snips away, Joe asks “What’s up?”

The man proceeds to explain he’s taking a vacation to Rome.

“Rome?” Joe says, “Why would you want to go there? It’s a crowded dirty city full of Italians! You’d be crazy to go to

Rome! So how ya getting there?”“We’re taking United,” the

man replies.“United?” yells Joe. “They’re

a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their fl ight attendants are ugly and they’re always late! So where you staying in Rome?”

The man says “We’ll be at the downtown International Marriot.”

“That dump?” says Joe. “That’s the worst hotel in the city! The rooms are small, the service is surly and slow and they’re overpriced! So whatcha doing when you get there?”

The man says “We’re going to the Vatican and hope to see the Pope.”

“Ha! That’s swell!” laughs Joe. “You and a million other people trying to see him. Boy, good luck on this trip. You’re going to need it!”

A month later, the man comes in for his regular haircut. Joe says, “Well, how did that trip to Rome turn out? Betcha United gave you the worst fl ight of your life!”

“No, quite the opposite” explained the man. “Not only were we on time in one of their brand new planes, but it was full and they bumped us up to fi rst class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a beautiful 28 year old fl ight attendant who waited on me hand and foot!”

“Hmmm,” Joe says, “Well, I bet the hotel was just like I described.”

“No, quite the opposite”,

the man answered. “They’d just fi nished a $25 million remodel-ing. It’s the fi nest hotel in Rome now. They were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us the Presidential suite for no extra charge!”

“Well,” Joe mumbles, “I know for sure you didn’t get to see the Pope!”

The man answered, “Actu-ally, we were quite lucky. As we toured the Vatican, a Swiss guard tapped me on the shoul-der and explained the Pope likes to personally meet some of the visitors, and if I’d be so kind as to step into this private room and wait, the Pope would per-sonally greet me. Sure enough, after 5 minutes the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand. I knelt down as he spoke a few words to me.”

Impressed, Joe asks, “Tell me, please! What’d he say?”

“Oh, not much really. Just “Where’d you get that awful haircut?”

HOKEY-POKEYIsang titser tinuturuan ang

kanyang second grade class para mag-hokey-pokey.

Titser: Okay children ganito ang gawin natin: “You put your right feet in, you put

your right feet out, you put your right feet in...”

Bata: Mam, you say “foot” po.

Titser: Okay class, ulitin natin: “You ‘foot’ your right feet in, you ‘foot’ your right feet

out...”

PULISIsang pulis nakita kapuwa

pulis na umiiyak. Nilapitan ito.Pulis 1: O, pare, anong nang-

yari, ba’t ka umiiyak.Pulis 2: Itong Semana Santa

na-assign ako sa bus terminal para magmanman sa mga pasa-herong umuuwi sa probinsiya para ligtas sila sa mga manduru-kot at masasamang loob.

Pulis 1: Yun lang, umiyak ka na? Para kang hindi pulis.

Pulis 2: Paano naman hindi ako iiyak, eh ako ang dinukutan! Buwisit.

Q & A (from last issue)Q: Ano ang sinabi ni Sata-

nas nang ipanganak ako?A: “Lintek! Isa na namang

anghel ang ipinanganak.”Q: Ano naman ang sinabi

niya nang ipanganak ka?A: Oh, no... buwisit, ayaw

ko pang mag-retire!”

KABUTESa sementeryo, isang lalaki

ang nakatayo sa harap ng tatlong magkakatabing puntod. Maya-maya, nilapitan siya ng isang osyosero. Nagkuwentuhan sila.

Osyosero: Pare, kaano-ano mo itong nasa unang puntod na ito?

Lalaki: Asawa ko.Osyosero: Ano ang ikinama-

tay?Lalaki: Nalason siya sa

kabute.Osyosero: Eh, sino naman

itong nasa pangalawang puntod?Lalaki: Pangalawa kong

asawa. Nag-asawa kasi ulit ako pagkalipas ng isang taon.

Osyosero: Ano din ba ang ikinamatay?

Lalaki: Nalason din siya sa kabute.

Osyosero: Eh, itong nasa pangatlong puntod, huwag mong sabihing asawa mo rin siya at nalason din siya sa kabute.

Lalaki: Tama ka pare, pan-gatlo ko nga siyang asawa, pero hindi siya nalason sa kabute.

Osyosero: Kung ganun, ano naman ang ikinamatay?

Lalaki: Nabasag ang ulo niya.

Osyosero: Ha? Bakit naman nabasag?

Lalaki: Ayaw kasing kumain ng kabute, eh!

HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE.

March 31, 2013 27

The Promise of Spring!

When the pink blossoms of hyacinths and the pretty little yellow cro-

cuses appear overnight through the dead leaves and dull soil, spring is in the offi ng. In the midst of nature, the earth sud-denly awakes from slumber. In its mysterious ways, the cold winter quietly does wonders down beneath the lifeless grass to give way, when it is time, to resurrect the blossoms of spring. The splendor of spring brings renewal of faith, hopes and an inspiration to cope with life’s challenges.

After spring, the cycle of seasons continues which are nec-essary to experience the coming out and splendor of spring again. The robust summer gives us so much fun and excitement that it won’t give us a chance to feel low and lonely. When the wind blows gently through the trees and the days are getting shorter, we know that fall is drawing near. The calming autumn is a break to prepare ourselves to a cold winter, a time to create warmth and serenity to our per-sonal space and surroundings. This season is the natural tran-sition of life to refl ect, meditate, count and be thankful of all the blessings, big and small, that we received the whole year through. Ah, winter! It is bitterly cold that trees and fl owers die, but we cannot deny that it also presents its own wonders and beauty. When snow falls, the picturesque sceneries create an indescribable feeling of awe and wonders. It seems that the immaculate white sky and the gleaming white snow on trees and ground are just one stroke of white paint – heaven and earth becomes one.

The Beauty of SpringWhen I arrived in the fall

thirty some years ago, I was looking forward to experienc-ing the beauty and splendor of spring. They told me that I will experience the different scener-ies of each season here in the East Coast but the most beau-tiful was the spring and that there was nothing like seeing the beautiful and colorful fl ow-ers that will blossom in homes, gardens and surroundings. The ones that we have in the Philip-pines were just a fraction of the variety of fl owers that I will see here. But arriving during the fall season, I immediately was mesmerized with the colors of autumn – the paint-like palette of gold, red and orange hues! I was impressed. Then, came wintertime, a feeling of awe and wonder emerged in me. Differ-ent from the fi rst one, the feel-

ing of serenity and solitude pre-vailed. It was beautiful. By start of March, I was really expecting to see something more vibrant and exciting local scenes. Sud-denly, I saw what I was waiting for. Oh, they were lovely, lively and surely attractive fl owers in many shapes – small, medium, big, round, elongated, uneven petals and, of different colors – white, yellow, pink, red, orange, lavender, lilac, purple, light blue, dark blue and even green. Some of them were fragrant and others odorless. I was not disappointed with this “Beauty of Spring.”

The Smell of SpringAfter two weeks of delight-

ful spring experience, I started to feel differently. Funny my eyes, nose and throat were itchy. Then I started to sniffl e and sneezed a lot. With uncontrollable rub-bing, my eyes eventually became swollen and my nose was red like a button and sore like hell. This is not the time to be sick but how could I have devel-oped cold or fl u when it was already past winter season with the icy weather gone? I was fi ne all winter long. Looking at the mirror, the image was not me. It was not funny anymore. I looked horrible! Why, oh, why? I was supposed to be happily enjoy-ing spring till about two months more. Nobody told me that there was such a thing as this common spring allergy. Now I understood that I was allergic to pollens of some sort. This left me feeling so disappointed with spring and suddenly I was no longer ecstatic with it. I could only see the beauty of the season from inside of the car with closed windows or home behind the glass windows. I could not smell the fragrance of the fl owers.

The CulpritIn the Philippines nobody

talked about the pollens only perhaps the arborists or plant scientists. Even my plant lover friends didn’t mention anything to me about it. I recalled that when I was in the fi fth or sixth grade, my teacher required us to draw our favorite fl ower show-ing its parts – the stem, leaves, petals and pistil. On the pistil were a lot of tiny dots but it did not impress on me that they were the pollens. I remember I chose to draw the gumamela or what we

call here as Hibiscus. There were no yellow or orange but only red ones. I drew a big red gumamela complete with the name of its parts indicated by neat arrow diagrams. As my hands were good in drawing with cray-ola, I enjoyed doing it. I must have done a wonderful project because I got a high grade. I remember it was even posted on the blackboard for everyone to see.

Now, going back to this tiny dust-like thing called pollen. Absolutely these minute dusts were the cause of my misery. My eyes, nose and even ears caught these pollens while blown away by the wind spreading them around to the pistils of the fl ow-ers of plants, grass and trees. The pistils are the seed-bearing organ of a fl ower and the pollens are conveyed to the pistil. In my layman’s term this is nature’s process in order to produce more plants and fl owers and in humans the same idea but in a different way, is the process used to create babies. The humans do it privately, but plants do it wan-tonly in the open air and even affecting many people, left feel-ing miserable like me.

Springtime is Good AgainLooking back, last year

something good happened to me during spring. I sniffl ed but it stopped right there. No more taking of the seasonal allergy medication and nose spray. I kind of enjoyed the sights and smell of spring again after a couple of decades of misery. Two things here, either Mother Nature did not allow much pollen to scatter around or my immune system had tremen-dously improved. Whatever it was, I was so thankful. With fervent hope this spring will be a continuation of what was last year onto a complete recovery from pollen allergy. Now I can even go to the fl ower and plant shows and enjoy the morning walk in the garden-park near our house.

An Inspiration Spring fl owers bring fra-

grance and beauty they’re har-bingers of warmth and hope. When daffodils bob their heads gracefully in the chilly wind it is saying, “It’s OK, it will be warm soon.”

Serenity On Tap

The show ‘Seinfeld’ aired from 1989-1998 and fea-tured hilarious vignettes of

life in Manhattan for a group of friends. Frank, a bit player, was George Costanza’s perpetually agitated father. Whenever he felt his stress shoot up to a frenzy he screamed, “Serenity NOW!” It was never clear if it helped him. What was clear, however, was that he made people around him more nervous than he. Tranquil-ity deserted everyone then.

Serenity is the absence of mental stress or anxiety. Where can one go or what can one do to achieve such nirvana? In today’s instant access/instant results type of living, stress is as ines-capable as the air we breathe.

A dear friend of mine has become the repository of my angst and disequilibrium. She has taken her accidental role in stride. She sent me a link on how to tap away stress. Imagine that. Tapping my fi ngers on my chest has helped me. I am suggestible. But this is not about the literal physical action, this is about the bag of tricks I depend on to see me through my most turbulent times.

1. ReadingMy father introduced me

to serious reading when I was 13 years old. He gave me a dog-eared copy of ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ by Betty Smith. Some pages got loose from the bind-ing and were scotch-taped. I was ignorant of life half a world away so the hardships of the ghet-tos were strange and disturb-ing. But Francie tugged at my heart, grabbed it, and never let go. She’s still there insinuating possibilities, sometimes in a soft whisper, sometimes screaming like a banshee, always arresting.

She was supposed to be a writer you know.

2. Early Morning Medita-tion

I love meandering through my house early in the morning. It provides quiet and solitude. That allows me to meditate, gives me the ‘deep breath’ before the storm that is sure to gather as the day progresses. I could only do that on weekends when the children were young and still living at home. In those days our weekday mornings became one harried blur - with half eaten breakfasts, tangled hair, raised voices, and running feet.

3. LaughingI fi nd humor in the most

ordinary circumstance and my laughter escapes and embar-rasses me, but I snort like a pig if I suppress it. It is exhilarating to let loose, like a satisfying sneeze.

4. CryingI have overactive tear

glands. I cry over lovely photos. My lips quiver while listening to my favorite songs. I wax poetic during long drives through scenic Virginia countryside. Beautiful prose and poetry. Check. Tender movie scenes. Double check.

5. Power NapsI am an insomniac. I remem-

ber staring at the ceiling at a very young age and counting sheep even before I knew what they looked like. That didn’t help. Counting my blessings, as the song advised, didn’t work either. I have 10-20 minute naps. My body lights-off for self-preser-vation. Sleeping longer than that gives me headaches.

*********When all else fail a hug from

Mitch works too. Or chocolate.Ooooohmmmm…..

Immigration law... from page 25to be approved or if it will even be approved.

Under the new law, the alien can now apply for a waiver while in the United States, and if and when the waiver is approved, all the alien has to do is obtain the immigrant visa abroad at his home embassy. He comes back to the United States as a lawful permanent resident. This new law is a huge help to a lot of Fili-pinos living in the United States in fear and shadow of being

deported because of a “stain” in their records.

I am very fortunate to not need this type of waiver to clear my record but I can sympathize to those who might need this kind of help. The media often portray “illegal immigrants” as Hispanics, who might usually be Mexicans, who cross the border to do the dirty jobs, jobs “Ameri-cans” are not willing to do such as mowing the lawn or cooking

Continued on page 31

March 31, 20132828

Hail to the Blue Eagles!Habemus Papam...Pope Francis

I...Sorry, Cardinal Chito is too young. Besides the 3 different sizes prepared for the Pope won’t fi t Chito, says one blog-ger. Would be interesting if the next pope would be Cardinal Chito and the selection will be made by text/phone/facebook. Pssstt...just kidding. Now let’s pray!

Maybe the old cardinals did not want Cardinal Tagle (pronounced as Tag-le) to be the Pope yet. Just imagine how long his reign would be ...30 years or more because he is so young, says one blogger.

***President Barack and Michelle

Obama were among the fi rst world lead-ers to greet the new Pope. The President knows that he will have a supporter in his campaign to help the poor and the middle class. But the Pope who is a Jesuit is not expected to support abortion, gay mar-riage and other issues

For Ateneans, the selection was very much welcome. Jesuits run the Ateneos in the Philippines. Hail to the Blue Eagles.

Another Atenean’s congratulatory message was delayed by a few hours because he had to fi nish his Nintendo Game up to the wee hours of the morning, reports my source inside Malacanang.

***Filipino Americans who want to

invest in the Philippines are worried that after PNoy, with his anti-corruption cam-paign, the country will sink back to its cor-rupt ways if....

Manila observers seems certain that the Black Knight might succeed PNoy instead of the Capizeno president-in-waiting. Who, you might ask, is the Black Knight? He is JB whose son is the mayor of a big city and daughter wants to be a senator. As for the wife, she’s also a poli-tician-in-waiting and watching. She keeps watch over what the family is doing.

*** Facebook is now becoming an open

book for the whole world to see. Thus, if you are in, better watch out. Read this warning from one Facebooker: “Facebook has changed their privacy settings once more! Due to the new ‘graph app’, anyone on Facebook, including those in other countries, can see your pictures, like and comments...and then the warning: “Those of you who do not keep my information from going...... out to the public, I will have to DELETE YOU!” (Aray ko po.) “I

want to stay PRIVATELY connected with you. I post shots of family that I don’t want strangers to have access to!... By doing this, my activity among my friends and family will no longer become public.” (Tama. I agree!)

***Here’s another comment posted on

Facebook praising a little girl: “See tama ako kita na kahit bata pa siya. Es muy gwapito ano ba ang sinabi ko basta alam ko he’s very good looking kung kanino man siya mana siguro sa akin. HA HA HA AT HA HA PARIN.”

Ah. Hindi po ako tulog kumakayod para may pambili ng bigas.

8:47 palang ng umaga dito. Sige maghilik na kayo diyan. Goodnight love you.”

***Talking about sinkholes, here’s one

Pinoy’s message to the multitude: “Flor-ida is one of America’s favorite retirement destinations and this phenomena (sink-hold) will not change that.

There must be a lot of sinking and unsettling feelings going around among retirees. My advice to them, for as long as you have peace, love and happi-ness at home, thou shall not fear.”

One Facebooker tried to explain this phenomenon: “What is a sinkhole? He answered his own question: “The natu-rally occurrin.....” Was he swallowed by a sinkhole?

“I’m staying here in Maryland. Don’t want that sinking feeling.” replied a friend. “I concur....peace, love and happi-ness!!!”

***Hurrah! One of the editors of the

Manila Mail is the winner in a FaceBook Lotto! He says he wis willing to share his winnings with the only Filipino American newspaper in Washington D.C. to ensure its continuous publication and for the fi rst time to start paying its volunteer corps of columnist, reporters, photographers, et.

He showed everybody this email: ”Dear….,”I am pleased to inform you that the

verifi cation exercise has been concluded satisfactorily and your status as a winner has been confi rmed. Consequently, you will be issued a Winning Certifi cate stat-ing your prize winnings of $600,000 FACEBOOK LOTTO will pay your win-

EditorialPope’s priorities

Pope Francis, the fi rst Pope from Latin America, has spelled out the priorities of his papacy during the formal installation Mass on March 19.

Addressing the world leaders and thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said his role is to open his arms and protect all of humanity, but “especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the fi nal judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison.”

The Pope also stressed the need to protect the environment, serve one another with love and tenderness and not allow “omens of destruction, hatred, envy and pride to defi le our lives.”

The fi rst Jesuit ever to be elected to the papacy, the Pope is also the fi rst named for the 13th-century friar St. Francis of Assisi, who is a symbol of poverty, simplicity, charity and love of nature.

Pope Francis knows what ails the world and society today. During his ministry in Argentina, he has seen the growing divide between the few who are rich and the tens of thousands who are poor. He has seen the destruction of forests, lakes and rivers by people who have no qualms about destroying nature. All these social and environmental ills are being replicated all over the world by men’s greed.

When he speaks of social issues his fi rst priority is always the poor who have no voice in the corridors of power, no means to provide for his family, and who thinks that everything is hopeless.

The Pope is the best person to bring the light of hope to this darkness. “Today, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope, it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds.”

A very timely reminder to all.

Continued on page 31

March 31, 2013 29

Buyer’s remorse?

Comedian and left-wing fi rebrand Bill Maher contributed $1M in the

last election to advance the lib-eral agenda championed by Pres. Barack Obama, He sup-ported Democrat Jerry Brown, the winner of the last California gubernatorial election.

Then Gov. Brown, just as Democrats are wont to do, raised the marginal income tax rate from 10.3% to 13.3% for every dollar above 1 million earned. That means Bill Maher and other rich people in the golden state will get a hit in their pockets from the highest state income tax rate in America.

You would think that Bill Maher would be singing halle-lujah to Gov. Brown. Yes, more money for the government to buy joy for everybody. Except that Bill Maher woke up one morning after the tax increase and probably got a text mes-sage from his accountant advis-ing that he will have to postpone buying a jumbo jet because Gov. Brown needs a bigger slice of his mega bank deposits.

After a morning gargle to cleanse the bad words in his mouth that he usually reserve

for conservatives and Repub-licans, Bill Maher then breaths fi re. “In California, I just want to say: Liberals, you could actually lose me.” He complained about his over 50% taxes. “Rich people actually do pay the freight in this country…like 70% of the taxes”. Conservative writer and talk show pundit Larry Elder points out that in California, over just 1 percent of the state households account for nearly half of the state income tax revenue.

Bill Maher thinks he is already paying his fair share. As for Pres. Obama’s continu-ing campaign to get the rich to pay their “fair share”, the ornery comedian who holds court at HBO is all for it, just don’t touch his bank account.

***New York Mayor is so full

of love he can’t help but use the powers of government to help the overweight stop gaining

more weight and avoid heart disease, diabetes and cancer. He issued a ban on the sale of high-sugar beverage over 16 ounce size per serving at restaurants, movie theaters, stadiums and mobile food carts.

Early this month a New York state trial court blocked the city regulation as the food and restaurant industries fought back.

The move seems to be is more symbolic rather than a real instrument to do public good. It does not really prevent one from drinking soda to his heart’s delight by doubling up on the order or buying a truckload from the supermarket which is not covered by the ban.

It may seem harmless but if allowed to stand, this little government encroachment on personal liberty could grow into something else that could

War of the Words

Kris Aquino sobbed her way through a bizarre monologue, sharing with

the Filipino nation her latest tra-vails blamed in part to a failed marriage with basketball star James Yap.

Aquino fi led for a restrain-ing order, Yap a hold-departure order. Here was riveting reality TV in its full splendor, or some may say, just plain nasty. All that stemming from a “he said, she said” moment where the public has been undeservedly bombarded with two versions of “The Truth” – a distraction to be sure but also an exercise in dis-cernment.

It may not be as dramatic but the “war of the words” appears to be playing out here in DC as well. Last month, sup-porters of Filipino shipyard workers in Louisiana staged a protest caravan that took them to the gates of Grand Isle Shipyard outside New Orleans, which the workers sued for slave-like work conditions and alleged human traffi cking.

They have accused the Phil-ippine government, including its highest offi cial in America – Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia Jr. – of neglecting the workers. They are demanding that he resign or be recalled back to Manila.

Cuisia lashed back that they’ve been helping the workers even before the protesters decided to mount their campaign.

Last March 18, the caravan reached Washington DC and the gate of the Philippine Embassy. A group led by Consul Elmer Cato, the embassy spokesman, invited the protesters in for a talk that now sounds terribly like the Aquino-James saga.

In a subsequent press release, Cato revealed that “unknown to the public, it (Phil-ippine Embassy) actually helped shoulder the cost of recovering two of the fi rst eight workers who left the Grand Isle facility in 2010 and that it had even offered other possible assistance to the workers through the Philippine Overseas Labor Offi ce.”

He added that consular offi cials “continued to actively monitor the case even though it never received any request for assistance from the workers or their lawyers either before or

after they went to court.”Not so said the protesters.

They chose March 18 to stage the DC protest because it was near the death anniversary of Flor Contemplacion, the Filipino domestic executed for murder in Singapore in 1995 who became a symbol of migrants’ rights advo-cacy on behalf of over 10 million Filipinos who now live and work outside the Philippines.

“We organized the picket to highlight the ongoing neglect by the Philippine government towards its ‘modern day heroes’ in this country,” declared Joanna Quiambao, a member of Ignit-ing Leadership and Action with Women (ILAW).

Josef Calugay of the human rights group Katarungan said Philippine offi cials “basically absolved themselves of any shortcomings, shows a continu-ing lack of introspection and refl ection on their work amongst migrant workers including the

Opinion

Continued on page 31

‘Helping Shape America’

After fi elding several sug-gestions in an effort to fi nd an appropriate and

suitable theme for this year’s Philippine Festival, the PAFC board chose “Our Families, Our Communities: Helping Shape America.”

This is laudable and timely. It expresses our core values of family, inclusion and pakikipag-kapwa. It also conveys the mean-ing of being in community with each other, including those whom we may not have any-thing in common with. Except our basic humanity.

Even the alternative theme, “Our Communities – Rising Together,” embodies a bold spirit of rising above our dif-ferences. Of not simply tolerat-ing someone different, but fully accepting him or her – not as an “other” but someone who feels joy and pain like us, who dreams the same dream like us.

Moreover, both themes explicitly suggest our willing-ness to actively engage in the burning issues of the day, issues that are profoundly transform-ing America. Ultimately, how they are resolved, will deter-mine the kind of civil society that summons our better angels and affi rms our highest ideals of jus-tice and shared prosperity.

Let’s look at the current debate on immigration reform, for instance. Policy makers from both sides of the aisle in the US Congress have fi nally agreed to craft an important piece of legis-lation that allows the 11 undocu-mented immigrants a path to citizenship. Given the harsh rhetoric that demonizes them as “criminals and moochers,” and the intransigence of right-wing elements who have consistently refused to compromise, taking up this measure was for them political suicide.

But public opinion has shifted dramatically after the 2012 elections. Such that it would now be political suicide for the Republican Party to continue on its uncompromising stance.

A leading voice in the party, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, says that immigrants – especially those arriving here during their prime working years – are more likely than native-born Americans to be net contributors to the economy, rather than consumers of social

services. “Immigration is an inte-gral part of America’s lifeblood,” he writes. “Almost by defi nition, people who move to another place not through compulsion but by choice are more fervent about their destination than many of those who were born there by chance.”

Jose Antonio Vargas, an

undocumented Filipino immi-grant, is one who is undoubtedly fervent about his destination. He has already proven he is an asset to this country, through his skills as a journalist, media story teller and his leadership in a move-ment called “Defi ne American.” For opening up a much-needed national conversation about this issue, he has been honored by several civil rights organizations and widely admired for his cour-age in outing himself, not only as an undocumented immigrant but one who is gay. I am delighted that he is a top choice as guest speaker for the PFC Gala Ball in June. He is defi nitely helping shape America and we should hail him proudly because he is one of our own. He has given a strong voice to the aspirations of the vulnerable in our midst and he would honor us greatly with his presence.

Another Filipino who is helping shape America is come-dian Rex Navarette, who per-formed here recently. He laces his humor with sharp-witted social commentary, underscor-ing for instance the xenophobia that’s been driving the immigra-tion debate for years. In a skit about “Marites and her Super-friends,” Rex has the domestic worker (who is ordered out of the U.S. after slaving for the white action heroes) wonder-

Continued on page 31Continued on page 31

Jose Antonio Vargas

March 31, 20133030

Aquino’s daily headachesMANILA

During a press inter-view, President Benigno Aquino III was asked

about his typical day in offi ce. He replied that it’s not atypical to have several issues in his plate on any given day.

The president of a nation, any nation, is on the job 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I’m sure there are days when the chief executive wishes there were more hours on the clock in order to give time to all issues of the day that burdens him or her. Such is the lot of the leader of a nation.

A president cannot choose what he’s going to do when he wakes up in the morning. Unlike some people, maybe most people, a president has to con-front all issues that are pressed upon him or her. He or she must make decisions depending on the urgency of a problem that lands on his desk. He may be able to put off a decision on cer-tain matters but, sooner or later, he will have to make decisions.

We ordinary people may one day wake up feeling lazy or laid back and decide, what the heck, I’ll goof off today and take it easy. A president doesn’t have that luxury; he can’t give in to his laziness and play hooky.

But, with several issues demanding his attention and decision, a leader must priori-tize what issues to tackle when. He has to do that, otherwise his work will be chaotic. He has to learn to manage his time and be able to wisely list the issues or problems of the day according to priority or importance. And, importantly, he has to be able to delegate the work to his subordi-nates.

That’s what Mr. Aquino meant when he said that dispa-rate (and desperate) issues land on his desk practically every day. And he hasn’t got a choice on what issues fall onto his lap. He has no choice about what problems crop up or what to deal with on any given day. He just has to deal with them accord-ing to their individual urgency. As powerful as a president may be, he is powerless to dictate the issues that will land on his desk.

Domestic issues compete with international concerns for the president’s attention. Purely executive matters compete with

political issues. In a nation like the Philippines, with its more than 90 million people, the coun-try’s leader must deal with all of these people’s concerns. While not every one of these 90 mil-lion people voted for him and many of them still don’t like him (even though his popularity rating is high), Mr. Aquino is the president of all of them. And he has no choice but to be aware of every one’s collective problems and welfare and be able to fi nd solutions to those problems.

Mr. Aquino has to concern himself with the economy, and in a poor country like the Phil-ippines, that’s nerve-wracking work. Fortunately, the coun-try’s economy has been picking up, thanks to renewed investor confi dence because of the presi-dent’s reforms toward good gov-ernance practices.

The Philippines’ popula-tion has been growing steadily, even though it has slowed down a bit over recent years. But still, because of widespread poverty, a population of over 90 million creates tremendous strain on the economy. A legislative bill that aims at slowing the growth rate of unwanted pregnancies recently passed into law, but stiff opposition to it (mainly from the Catholic Church) makes its implementation problematic for the government.

Crime, spawned largely by many people’s poverty, has been a major problem. The police seem too inept to tame the crime rate, especially since, in many cases, members of the police are often involved in the crimes.

Education, too, has been a problem, again associated with the size of the population. Too many school-aged young Filipi-nos put a heavy strain on gov-ernment resources, resulting in a sorely inadequate budget for what a good school system requires. Too many children are out of school, which in turn result in many problems, includ-ing young people who are unqualifi ed for good jobs and, down the road, crime committed by jobless youth.

Social services suffer, too, because of a lack of money to pay for such services. Maternal and children’s health, elderly peo-ple’s health concerns, and even

Continued on page 31

Shoes as message

MANILA

Didn’t the dark leather shoes that Pope Francis wore at Tuesday’s instal-

lation rites remind you of Imelda Marcos? a friend asked. No. Should they?

Imelda left 1,080 pairs of shoes in Malacanang when the Marcoses fl ed People Power. Her shoes were a tutorial, this friend insisted. Those overstuffed shoe racks, which Imelda embod-ied, symbolized the dreams of pauperized Filipinos for better tomorrows.

Tell that to Buenos Aires res-idents who had gifted Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio with a pair of shoes. Dump your down-at-the-heel shoes, they told “Padre Jorge”, Alexander Stille wrote in the New Yorker. Use this new pair instead. Bergoglio, who had booked a return fl ight (economy class) to Buenos Aires from the conclave, wore the shoes as the new Pontiff.

BBC contrasted Pope Fran-cis’ shoes with the red leather loafers that his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, used. Those were cobbled by Adriano Stefanelli. Shoes were one of Francis’ mes-

sages by action.After his election, he waved

aside the mozzeta, or red papal cape, and wore instead a plain white cassock before stepping out onto the loggia to greet the people. He opted for a plain “fi sherman’s ring” and a simple pectoral cross. “There’s enough room here for 300,’ he said of the papal apartments. ‘I don’t need all this space.”

He discarded the texts pre-pared by Vatican bureaucrats. Without mercy, the world would crumble, an old woman had told him. “I asked her if she’d taught theology at Gregorian Univer-sity,” he joked about the Jesuit university in Rome.

Stripping away frills meant “showing loving concern for [all], especially the children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think of.” He linked that challenge to “respect-

ing the environment¦ Those who have positions of responsi-bility in economic, political and social life must be “protectors of creation”¦ which open up a hori-zon of hope.”

“Where is the soaring eagle circling above the land and the colorful kalaw (hornbill)?” asked Philippine bishops in their 1998 pastoral letter. “Now they are silenced.” The scars on nature will lead inevitably to an increase in political and social unrest. This is¦ the ultimate prolife issue. Many religions, including the Church, have been slow to respond to the ecologi-cal crisis¦ There is a great need for a Filipino theology of cre-ation¦ in preaching, catecheti-cal programs, schools. At the root of the problem we see an exploitative mentality, which is at variance with the Gospel of

Continued on page 31

By J.G. Azarcon, Esq.

Approval of petitions after

death of relative

In the past, if the petitioner dies while the visa petition is pending, the benefi ciary would not be entitled to seek approval of the petition. The law changed with the amendment of Sec. 204(l) of the Immigration Act in 2009.

Under current law, an alien seeking immigration benefi t through a deceased qualifying relative may obtain approval of a visa petition or adjustment application and refugee/asylee relative petition if the alien meets the following illegibility require-ments:• Resided in the United States when the qualifying relative died;• Continues to reside in the United States on the date of the decision on the pending petition or application;

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

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

The Immigration Service

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

VISA PRIORITY DATES FOR THE PHILIPPINESMARCH 2013

• FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES First: Unmarried sons/daughters of US citizens Oct. 10, 1998Second:A: Spouses/minor children of permanent residents: Nov. 22, 2010B: Unmarried sons/daughters 21 years of age or older of permanent residents Jun. 08, 2002Third: Married sons/daughters of citizens Sep. 15, 1992Fourth: Brothers/sisters of citizens Jul. 15, 1989

• EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCESFirst: Priority workers CurrentSecond: Professionals holding advanced degrees or persons of exceptional ability CurrentThird: Skilled workers, professionals Sep. 01, 2006Other Workers Sep. 01, 2006Fourth: CurrentCertain Religious Workers CurrentFifth: Employment creation/ (Million or half-million dollar investor) Current

March 31, 2013 31

Filipino offshore oil workers in Louisiana.”

“The basic issue of expect-ing workers to come forward to them shows a clear lack of understanding of exploited workers or victims of abuse,” said Terry Valen of the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON).

“We deal with this daily in our wage theft prevention work with caregivers and every other kind of worker. Fear of fi ling a complaint against one’s employer is very real,” he stressed.

Cato said offi cials shared their “concern for the rights

and welfare of Filipino offshore oil workers here in the United States—not just those involved in the class suit against Grand Isle but also the majority who have not joined the case.”

There are about 300 Filipino workers with Grand Isle, but the class suit involved only about a hundred of the Filipinos.

Cato also suggested the pro-testers direct part of their indig-nation to the US government to shut down companies that enforce inhumane business prac-tices. But the protesters coun-tered the Philippine government is chiefl y to blame. “The Philip-pine government is the number

one human traffi cker of the Fili-pino people,” Calugay declared, indicting its labor export policies.

“The Embassy is satisfi ed with the outcome of the discus-sions,” Cato confi dently pro-claimed.

“The meeting did nothing to change…our minds nor the decision to declare, on behalf of migrant Filipinos in the US, Ambassador Cuisia persona non grata,” Calugay retorted.

That left little doubt the bickering, the accusations and counter-accusations will con-tinue.

So, who’s telling the truth? I mean, about Kris and James?

basic preventative health needs don’t get the attention they cry for because of a lack of resources.

The end result is a citizenry that is in generally poor health, under-educated and prone or prey to crime because of very low standards of living, educa-tion and government services.

The gap between rich and poor people is a yawning chasm, has been since Philippine inde-pendence from the United States in the 1940s. The political and economic elite(s) have main-tained a crippling grip on the country and there is no hope in the near future that the poor will soon be able to share more equi-tably in the nation’s wealth. (The “s” in the word “elite” above in is parentheses because in the Philippines, the political and eco-nomic elites are often one and the same. About 40 wealthy families literally control practically all of the country’s activities, political, economic and what-have-you.)

Corruption in government, and even in the private sector, pervades the nation. Once in government, politicians bleed the nation’s treasury dry. This is one country where politicians run for offi ce to be able to steal the peo-ple’s money. It’s a wonder there hasn’t been a cathartic revolution by the masses to kill all the rich

people. Too much of the people’s money go into the pockets of politicians who are often inept and unqualifi ed for public offi ce and are in power only because they literally wield tremendous power over the people in their bailiwicks.

Nature hasn’t been kind to the Philippines, either. Every year, many people die from nat-ural calamities. Agriculture suf-fers greatly, and infrastructure is damaged and needs repairs that drain the government’s resources for its continued upkeep.

As I wrote in an earlier column, disasters seem to favor the Philippines too much in that they come and visit the country too frequently. What have the Filipinos done to deserve such punishment and fate?

No wonder some 6,000 Fili-pinos leave the country every day to work abroad in often demeaning jobs that they tolerate only because they have no other choice. And yet, every day they leave for pastures that aren’t that much greener if only there were more jobs locally. But who can blame them when they leave? Still, they’re accused of abandon-ing their own country and leave their fellow countrymen in their misery. Can we blame them for leaving? I, as a former Filipino

abroad, certainly don’t.For lack of space, I’ve not

mentioned the international issues that President Aquino has to grapple with as chief executive. A nagging territorial dispute with China has been a headache for the president. And currently, a tricky issue with the sudden move of the sultan of Sulu in southern Philippines to reclaim Sabah in Malaysia which is supposedly owned by the sul-tanate.

And then there are the mid-term elections here on May 13 in which Mr. Aquino has fi elded his own candidates in the hope that he will have more allies in place to support his reform pro-gram. Because he wants dearly for his team to win, Mr. Aquino has been going into the hus-tings to rally the voters behind his candidates. We shall know in mid-May if the president’s endorsement has put his candi-dates in offi ce or not, which in turn will have consequences on the chances of his presidential candidate in 2016.

A typical day in the offi ce of the president? It’s often a mish-mash of issues, a smorgasbord of priorities, and a plateful of head-aches.

Aquino’s daily... from page 30nings in 2 installments, the fi rst installment will be for HALF of your total winnings.

”Meanwhile, we have look into the possibility of you having your winning fund shipped down to your residential address so you are to chose from our mode of payment as stated below:

* Bank Draft * Check *ATM Card

“Once we receive the mode of your payment, your Winning File will be sent to FINANCE HOUSE for immediate settle-ment. On behalf of FACEBOOK LOTTO accept our warmest Congratulations.”

Acknowledge this mail by replying back immediately.

“Yours Faithfully,“Patrick Widen”

Washington Tsismis... from page 28

Jesus. This expresses itself in acts of violence against fellow Fili-pinos Recall Fr. Charlito Colen-dres and Typhoon ‘Yoyong” that hit Aurora and Quezon in 2004. Father Chia fl ayed illegal logging in Aurora. This morn-ing, he was restless and deeply affected in his homily, Carmelite nuns in Infanta recalled. “He’d seen 54,000 board feet of timber

waiting for release. But logging is banned.” By evening, fl ash fl oods had risen as high as two-story homes. Evacuees poured into Carmel. Hot logs smashed people to death, including Father Chia, who was then helping evacuate children.

”E-mail: juan_mercado77@yahoo.com

War of the Words... from page 29

be patently objectionable. If Mayor Bloomberg gets a stamp of approval from the Court, he might want to expand his cru-sade for good health to target salt out of concern for New York-ers suffering from high blood pressure.

What if Mayor Bloomberg will regulate salt content and ban food with high salt concentration all for the good of the citizens of the Big Apple? My heart bleeds for the Pinoys in New York. That would be the end of the world for those who cannot live with-out pinakbet, daing na bangus, kare-kare, patis and all

***This Holy Week, the believ-

ers pause and ponder. A time for refl ection to digest the meaning of the resurrection. The fanatics in some parts in the Philippines go to the extreme of doing their penitence by self- fl agellation

and a few even get themselves to

be nailed to a cross simulating

the suffering of Jesus Christ.

For us in America, holy week

or not, millions of workers will

be getting a dose of unwanted

penitence as Obamacare is

set to take a bite more of their

pocket money. According to

the nation’s big insurers, health

insurance premiums could rise

from 20% to 100% for millions

of people when the key provi-

sions of the Affordable Care Act

takes effect in 2014. Those who

will be particularly hit hard are

millions of people who buy their

own insurance and employees of

smaller companies.

What can we do for now?

Pray.

Shoes as message... from page 30

Buyer’s remorse?... from page 29

tacos at a Mexican restaurant. However, what the media fail to grasp is that these ‘illegal immi-grants’ have stories. They are parents, children, profession-als, workers, students, scholars, and even leaders. They are just victim of circumstances “Ameri-cans” are fortunate enough not to encounter. This new law gives hope to these “illegals”.

This new law can right the wrong; this can transform a former “illegal” to a perma-nent resident without the fear of being deported or being stuck in his country of origin. According to 2010 U.S. Census, Filipinos are now the 2nd largest Asian Group with 3.4 million living here in the United States which makes us a

force to be reckoned in this coun-try.

A lot of people say that our immigration system is broken, and I believe that they are wrong. Based on my experience as a paralegal at an immigration law firm, I learned that the gov-ernment is doing its best to work with the people to make things work. Though the system is not perfect, it was still able to bring you, me, and a lot of Filipinos, as well as other foreigners to this great country.

This change in the immigra-tion law is a testament that there is hope for all of us, hope that can be achieved through hard work and determination. There are more details regarding the new

I-601A Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver and I strongly suggest that you talk to an immi-gration lawyer if you think you can benefit from this, some of them offer free consultation anyway. As an aspiring lawyer, I understand that the law is not perfect, and is much politicized. However, sometimes politics can have good results, results that actually help people.

Mr. Jacinto is a paralegal at CGA Immigration Associates, PC (703) 578-3556 or email cgaim-migration@gmail.com) He is a Dr. Jose Rizal Youth Awardee, the Co- ounder/Coordinator of the Fili-pino American Interest Group, Co-Foundesr/President of the NOVA Debators at Northern Virginia Community College-Alexandria Campus, and is an officer of the Circle K International, and Toast- masters International.

Immigration law... from page 27 ing why she, who is from earth, is being kicked out of America while Superman, who is from an alien planet Krypton, is not. Baffl ed, Marites looks at her skin then concludes indignantly: “He is white. That’s not right!”

It dismays me sometimes to hear our own kababayans talk about “illegal” immigration is if it’s only a Latino problem. Worse, some community lead-ers even fall prey unwittingly to immigrant bashing by circu-lating supposedly funny jokes that depict the undocumented as lazy, welfare moochers unwor-thy of America’s graces.

But if we are truly a com-munity rising together, stepping up to face the challenges of a

changing America and helping to shape it, then we must fully embrace Jose Antonio Vargas for who he is and what he stands for. We must also take risks even as he himself took personal risks on behalf of millions like him. To proudly stand with Jose during these contentious conversations and debates is to send a powerful message that we as families and communities are ready to help shape America as one nation, where people regardless of color, origin, religion, gender and sexual orientation are treated fairly, with dignity and respect.

Send your comments to jon-mele@aol.com

‘Helping Shape America’... from page 29

March 31, 20133232