Now open

Volume No. XXII No. 12 December 2004

Denuded forests cause disastrous floodsPhilippines seeks international assistance to help victims

There have always been stormsand typhoons that always hit thePhilippines during this time but notas destructive as the four stormsthat lasted for over two weeks.Experts in both government andnon-governmental organizationsacknowldged the cause of these dis-atrous floods to be due to decades oframpant illegal logging thatdenuded the mountains thusexposing the farms and villages toerosions and mud slides whichhappened during these past fewweeks. President Gloria Arroyoissued an order Saturday, Decem-ber 11, 2004 to suspend all loggingand said that illegal loggers wouldbe prosecuted in the same manneras terrorists, kidnappers and drugtraffickers. She also urged Con-gress to stiffen penalties for illegalloggers and their cohorts.

The damages caused by the

mud slides and floods have beenestimated to be several million dol-lars. After assessing the needs ofthe population, a UN country teamand the Philippine governmentlaunched a 6.4 million dollar (4.8million euro) “flash appeal” inManila, the World Health Organisa-

Former presidential candidate movie actor dies

See Page 4 Storms

Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon

HHaappppyy HHoolliiddaayyssJJooyyeeuuxx NNooëëll eett BBoonnnnee AAnnnnééee

Map showing the worst hit areas.

MANILA, Philippines – Actionfilm star and presidential candidateFernando Poe Jr., who refused toconcede May's election, died onDecember 14, 2004 after suffering astroke. He was 65.

Poe died at St. Luke's Hospital,where he was taken late Saturdayafter complaining of dizziness whiledining and drinking with friends.

He later slipped into a coma, hiscondition worsened, and he diedafter midnight, according to hisdoctor, Abdias Aquino.

Poe's wife, actress Susan Roces,issued a statement thanking Fil-ipinos for praying for her husband."We are indebted to your being withhim in the face of the challenges,"she said.

Poe's fellow actors, actresses

and politicians from all walks of liferushed to the lobby of the hospitalas the news of his death spread.

Joseph Estrada, a former moviestar who was ousted as the coun-try's president by street protests in2001, was allowed out of detentionby the anti-graft court to visit hisclose friend in the hospital for about

See Page 17 FPJ dies

Residents are trapped in a river swollen with floodwaters carrying debris of mud,rocks and fallen trees in Dingalan, 23 November 2004.

Page 2 The North American Filipino Star December 2004

Zenaida Ferry-KharroubiPublisher & Chief Editor

Michael DavantesContributing Editor

Dr. Victor GavinoEsther Stansfield

Columnists

Nida ButaranSales Manager

Virgie LadiaoSales Director

Bert AbieraFounder

Published monthly by FILCAN PUBLICATIONS, INC.4950 Queen Mary Road Penthouse,

Montreal, QC H3W 1X3Tel.: 514-485-7861 E-Mail: fstar@gilmorecollege.com

E-mail: filipinostar2@yahoo.com

Opinions, comments of writers and columnists do not necessarily reflect that of themanagement of Filcan Publications, Inc.

Lourdes FabiaEntertainment News Editor

Name ________________________________________________________________

Address:_____________________________________________________________

Telephone: Residence_____________________ Office: ___________________

Enclose a cheque or money order for:

1 year or 12 issues - $25

SUBSCRIPTION

2 years or 24 issues $40

Editorial

4770, ave. KentBureau 316Montréal (Qué.)H3W 1H2Tél.: 514-283-0171

4770 Kent Ave.Suite 316Montreal, QCH3W 1H2Tel.: 514-283-0171Fax: 514-283-2407

May this Christmas and New Year bringPeace and Blessings to all.

Meilleurs voeux de bonheur et de paixà l’occasion de Noël et du nouvel an.

Hon. Irwin Cotler, P.C. / C.P., O.C., M.P. / députéMount Royal / Mont-Royal

through the Red Cross. Anyamount will help if everyone giveswhatever he or she can afford.

What are other ways ofshowing true Christmas spirit?

Rizal plaque unveiled in Hong Kong ROSES AND THORNS By Alejan-

dro R. Roces The Philippine StarDecember 30, 2004 is the 108th

anniversary of Jose Rizal’s execu-tion and in Hong Kong his deathanniversary will be commemoratedwith its Antiquities Advisory Boardplacing a commemorative plaque onthe place where Rizal resided inHong Kong. The place where hestayed was known as RednaxelaTerrace. (Rednaxela is Alexanderspelled backwards.) Rizal lived therewith his family from December 1891to June 1892. This is the secondplaque for Rizal in Hong Kong.Years ago, they installed a similarplaque at the site of the clinic whereRizal practiced as an ophthalmolo-gist.

We have to commend Hong Kongfor marking the places where ournational hero stayed while in HongKong. They seem to be conscious ofour national hero and our history.They have even placed a markerwhere the very first Filipino flag wassewn. This was the flag that GeneralEmilio Aguinaldo displayed when hedeclared Philippine independenceon June 12, 1898. Aguinaldo alsolived in exile in Hong Kong.

Because it was December 30,1896 that Rizal was executed bySpanish musketry in Bagumbayan,now known as the Luneta, otherhistorical events pertaining to Rizalwere done on that day. Two classicexamples are: his remains weremoved to the cornerstone of themonument erected in his honornear the spot where he was exe-cuted in 1912. And on December30, 1913, that monument wasunveiled.

Rizal had a sense of humorwhen he was living in exile in Dapi-tan; he was in close touch with thepeople exercising his medical pro-fession. One day he was calledbecause a coconut fell on a cock-fighter who who was fighting his

gamecock under a coconut tree. Bythe time Rizal arrived, the man wasdead. This is the way Rizal recordedthe event in his diary. A coconut fellon the head of a cockfighter. Hedied instantly. This means that ifIsaac Newton had been a Filipino,the law of gravity would not havebeen discovered.

In his biography of Rizal entitled,The First Filipino, author LeonMaria Guerrero noted that Rizalwas the first person to call thenatives of his country Filipino.Before that we were referred to asindios. Indios originally referred tothe natives of India, later it wasapplied to the native tribes of Amer-ica and in time it became the Span-ish name for all indigenous people.Spaniards born in Spain calledthemselves peninsulares whilethose born in the Philippines wereclassified as insulares. Contact withSpain had to be through the galleontrade. That meant the galleon tradewhich meant Manila to Mexico andthen Spain. Not till the Suez Canalopened did Filipinos have directcontact with Spain. Now the worldis a global village. Internationaltravel is done by plane.

We still find it difficult to acceptthat Rizal was tried, sentenced andexecuted at Christmas time. OnDecember 24, 1896, the SpanishMilitary Governor of Manilaappointed the members of the CourtMartial that would try him. Twodays later, he was sentenced todeath. We can only conclude thathis trial took place right on Christ-mas day. And he was executed onDecember 30.

The blood of the martyrs –Fathers Mariano Gomez, JacintoZamora, Jose Burgos and Jose Rizal– were the seeds that made us anation.

Let the true Christmasspirit prevail upon us

Many events here andaround the world are undoutedlymaking us realize how lucky weare to be living in a peaceful coun-try like Canada. In spite of theweather, we are able to enjoy theholiday season.

Being so blessed with manycomforts of life, we should feelguilty enough to think of sharingour good fortune wih others whoare not only homeless but also ingreat danger of dying from diseasesdue to the unsanitary conditionsin their environment. This appliesparticularly to flood victims inthe Philippines as well as to thetsunami-devastated people of sevencountries in Southeast Asia. Andto think of these castrophic eventshappening during the holiday sea-son makes it even more difficult toimagine the magnitude of humansuffering.

The international commu-nity seems to have respondedquite generously to the call forassistanc. But the need is so hugethat it is not possible to put anylimit to how much we should give.

There have been localinitiatives by organizations andindividuals to help out. The cam-paign for cash donations is on-gro-ing. We encourage everyone to givethrough the local associations orn

December 2004 Page 3The North American Filipino Star

514-995-9077“A NEW DIMENSION IN BALIKBAYAN BOX”

Save time and money ... Call us now!Delivery in 35 days or less from date of shipment

We provide: Status information of your boxOriginal proof of delivery sent by mail

JUMBO SIZE BULILIT SIZEMANILA $60.00 $45.00OUTSIDE MANILA $85.00 $65.00LUZON $90.00 $70.00VISAYAS $95.00 $75.00MINDANAO $100.00 $80.00

GMA leads Christmas gift-giving foryoung scholars, poor children in Palace

Montreal Office / Warehouse3150 De MiniacVille St. Laurent, QC

BOOKING / INQUIRIESAsk for: Lan or Mei Mendoza

Maligayang Pasko sa inyong lahat

(12/21/2004) President GloriaMacapagal-Arroyo today led thegiving of Christmas gifts to morethan 2,000 young scholars fromMetro Manila and 1,000 childrenfrom shelter homes during the Pro-ject Joy celebration at the Mala-canang Park.

Project Joy is a tradition ofPetron Corporation employees andits business partners to providefun and excitement during theYuletide season for children indepressed communities in MetroManila.

Assisting the President wereSocial Welfare Secretary CorazonSoliman, Education Secretary Flo-rencio Abad, Petron ChairmanNicasio Alcantara, Petron presi-dent Khaled Al-Faddagh, McDon-ald’s president George Yang,UNICEF Country RepresentativeDr. Nicholas Alipui, and UNICEFnational ambassador Gary Valen-ciano.

This year’s beneficiaries werethe 2,060 scholars of the TulongAral ng Petron and the 1,000 chil-dren from the Department of

Social Welfare and Development(DSWD) shelter homes and the sonsand daughters of jeepney drivers.

The President also witnessedthe signing of a memorandum ofagreement (MOA) between thePetron Foundation and RonaldMcDonald House of Charities(RMHC) represented by Alcantaraand Yang in support for Petron’sTulong Aral Program.

Under the agreement, theTulong Aral ng Petron scholarswould also be the beneficiaries ofthe McDonald’s "Bright MindsRead," a partnership program withthe Department of Education(DepEd) to develop reading amongpublic school children.

Alcantara informed the Presi-dent that their 2,060 scholars areenrolled in 80 schools located in theKapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan(KALAHI) areas in Metro Manila. Ofthese, 1,053 are now enrolled inGrade One while 1,007 are in GradeThree.

These young scholars enjoyeducational assistance such as uni-forms, shoes, school supplies, and

daily meal allowance worth P10coursed through their respectiveschool’s feeding program.

"Along with our partners, weeffectively support your govern-ment’s social development agendathrough basic education. We seeour role as your partner in fightingpoverty by planting the seeds ofhope in our children," Alcantarasaid.

Alcantara also informed thePresident that they have beenactively partnering with the DepEdin its Adopt-A-School Program.

To date, Alcantara said, theyhave built Petron schools in Bataan,Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Zam-boanga, Saranggani and Lamitan,Basilan.He said more schools would be builteach year in the Mindanao region,including Maguindanao, Sulu, andTawi-Tawi.

No ChristmasParty in Palace

THERE will be no parties atthe Palace this Christmas season,but Malacañang will be bringingcheers to tens of thousands offamilies in five typhoon-hit townsin northern and eastern Luzon.

There will also be milk, clothes,candies and toys for children.

Social Welfare SecretaryCorazon Soliman yesterday saidthe government would distributeabout P120 million worth of reliefgoods before Christmas Day.

"There is still Christmas,"Soliman told reporters at CampAguinaldo, the military’s generalheadquarters in Quezon City. "Ourmessage to all victims, especiallyto the children, is that there aremany caring countrymen that willmake them feel the true spirit ofChristmas."

Singing soldiers will joinartists, mostly from the CulturalCenter of the Philippines, in per-forming "therapeutic art" during aseries of variety shows set in theprovinces of Quezon, Nueva Ecijaand Aurora that bore the brunt ofthe landslides and floods that leftmore than 1,800 people dead or missing in late November andearly December.

Soliman said organizers werestill deciding whether to put upindividual shows in each barangay(village) or just come up with one

See Page 5 No Christmas

Page 4 The North American Filipino Star December 2004

5777-A & B Decarie Blvd.(corner Bourret) Montreal, QCTel.: 514-342-1138

Come and have fun!Karaoke, Disco dancing

Billiards

Friday & Saturday DiscoLive with D.J. Rich

Kalesa Bar

Hours:Wed. - Thurs.7 p.m. - 1 a.m

Fri - Sat.7 p.m. - 3 a.m.

Under new management!

For specialoccasions -

We do cateringCell: (514) 236-8276Tel.: (514) 342-1138

Happy Hour 7 - 10 p.m.• Wednesday • Thursday

SundayBeer & Shooter @$3.50

Pulotan available

WantedWaitress

From Page 1 Storms

tion (WHO) said in a statementWednesday (December 15). Citinggovernment data, the UnitedNations said storm damageamounted to 80 million dollars.

“In countless situations, thesudden mudslides and flash floodshave robbed families of the homesand possessions they have spent alifetime to build up,” said the Philip-pine National Red Cross chairman,Richard Gordon. “Many of thosemade homeless by this successionof disasters live in remote commu-nities. Our assessments show thattheir needs are significant,” headded.

Latest reports indicate that thefour storms which struck the Philip-pines in one month left almost1,800 dead and missing with 4.588billion pesos (81.49 million dollars)in damage, the civil defense officesaid Saturday (Dcember 11). Thetoll is expected to rise further as thesearch continues for victims of thelast two weather disturbances, atropical storm locally codenamedWinnie which hit on November 29and typhoon Nanmadol (locallycodenamed Yoyong), which struckthe country on December 2.

The civil defense office said 941were left dead while 836 were stillmissing due to typhoon Muifa (localname Unding) which hit on Novem-ber 18, storm Merbok (Violeta)which struck on November 23, fol-lowed by Winnie and Nanmadol.Most of the casualties were fromWinnie which left 775 dead and 713missing after it spawned flashfloodsand landslides that swept awaywhole villages in the northeasterncoast of Luzon island.

The civil defense office put totaldamage to agriculture and infra-structure from the four storms at4.588 billion pesons.

An appeal to help the flood vic-tims has been launched worldwide.Canada already pledged to give$100 000 and is monitoring the sit-uation. Some 14 million dollars hasalready been raised since the disas-ter struck thanks to internationalcontributions for emergency assis-tance such as air transport to reachthe victims but much more was

needed.“The United Nations and the

Red Cross in the Philippinesappealed to the international com-munity for more support to meetthe relief and emergency needs ofthose affected,” the UN Office for theCoordination of HumanitarianAffairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the local communityin Montreal as reported by theMontreal Gazette is rallying to helpvictims of the tropical storms. TheTagalog Association of Quebecheaded by Lina Flores, togetherwith the Filipino Association ofMontreal and Suburbs (FAMAS)announced their campaign to col-lect clothing, non-perishable food,and money to be sent to the floodvictims. Marlene Birao-Schacter,one of the three newly elected pres-idents of the Federation of FilipinoCanadian Associations of Quebec,also organized a solicitation cam-paign. She contacted the PhilippineEmbassy in Ottawa to inform themof her intention to collect money forthe flood victims.

Anyone wishing to contribute tothe fund drive may bring theirdonations in cash, non-perishablefood, clothing, to the FAMAS Cen-tre at 4708 Van Horne Avenue, orTelephone: 514-341-7477; or youcall Marlene Birao-Schacter at Tele-phone 514-696-7008, for cashdonations.

To donate money through theRed Cross, call the 24-hour toll-free

line, 1-800-418-1111.Other Filipino communities and

associations in Canada are alsodoing their own campaign to helpthe Philippine flood victims. TheOrder of the Knights of Rizal,Toronto Chapter, announced thattheir local chapters in the Philip-pines are making sure the assis-tance for the victims are directlydistributed to them.

All Montreal community associ-ations are encouraged to worktogether in a common effort toextend much needed relief to thePhilippines. The Department ofSocial Welfare and Developmentwhich is coordinating the relief inkind can be reached at: (632) 931-81-01 to 931-81-07.

Some scenes of destruction caused by the typhoons and floods

Children walk beside a house almost totally submerged in muddy watersat the storm-ravaged town of Dingalan in Aurora province.

December 2004 Page 5The North American Filipino Star

malaria and diarrheal diseases posea constant threat, the Geneva-based WHO said.

"The priority now, from WHO'sperspective, is to safeguard thehealth of survivors and to rehabili-tate public health services," Dr.Jean-Marc Olive, the WHO repre-sentative in the Philippines, said ina statement.

Storm survivors lack safe drink-ing water and sanitation facilitiesand the risk of a malaria outbreakis on the rise, said the WHO. TheUN funds would also be used toassist agriculture and educationprojects.

About 600 US Marines from thesouthern Japanese island of Oki-nawa have arrived in the flood-hitareas, bringing helicopters andother equipment to speed up thedelivery of relief supplies and evac-uate the sick and injured.

From Page 3 No Christmas

big Christmas caravan that wouldgo around the typhoon-ravagedareas.Noche buena packs

The parties will provide a color-ful occasion for the distribution of"noche buena" packs to each of the32,000 families from the towns ofInfanta, Real and General Nakar inQuezon. There will be around30,000 beneficiaries in Dingalantown, Aurora and Cabaldon town,Nueva Ecija province.

Each pack will contain ingredi-ents for a modest Christmas Evemeal -- spaghetti and ready-to-cook sauce, rice, canned goods,noodles, sugar and salt.

There will also be milk, candiesand toys for children, and clothescoming from the P120 millionworth of smuggled "ukay-ukay"(cheap used clothes) seized by theBureau of Customs in MuntinlupaCity.

Soliman yesterday oversaw thetransfer of 2,800 bales of smuggledused clothes to the military's reliefcenter in Camp Aguinaldo.

There will be another set of"family packs" containing basicnecessities, like bath and deter-gent soap, slippers, and usedshoes, Soliman said.

Soliman said the governmenthad already distributed some P35million worth of goods among thetyphoon victims. In two weeks, thegovernment will start the rehabili-tation of Quezon and other affectedprovinces. Families will each begiven P50,000 to rebuild theirhomes.International aid agencies' appeal

As Malacañang was preparingits Christmas treat for typhoon vic-tims, international aid agenciesyesterday launched an emergencyappeal for more than $8 million inadditional aid to combat disease inflood-stricken areas, saying 3.6million people were at risk.

The International Federation ofRed Cross and the Red CrescentSocieties doubled its fund-raisinggoal to $3.64 million and the UNWorld Health Organization askedfor $6.4 million in additional aid.

The Philippines has so farreceived a total of $14 million inemergency assistance aimed atfeeding 65,000 families in tempo-rary shelters.

Many of the 880,000 peopledisplaced by the floods depend onaid to meet basic needs while

Four survivors rescued

REAL, Philippines (AFP) -Three adults and a three-year-oldgirl have been pulled out alivefrom the rubble of a two-storeybuilding that collapsed in a storm11 days ago in the Philippines'town of Real.

"They can still talk. They arebeing treated by our medicalteams. They are being readied forevacuation," said Colonel JaimeBuenaflor. The survivors werelater flown to a military hospitalfor treatment.

"I still can't understand howthey survived," Buenaflor said.

Buenaflor had initially saidthree people had been found butincreased the number after res-cuers reported another survivor.

One of the survivors saidthere were many others stillburied alive in the rubble, hesaid.

"It looks like there might bemore survivors under the col-lapsed building," he said.

The four were among themore than 100 people whosought shelter in the two-storey

Repador building on November 29at the height of a storm that hit thenortheastern coast of the Philip-pines.

The building collapsed and wasinundated by a mudslide.

The survivors were rescued by aspecial volunteer team from localmining companies who specialize indigging through collapsed buildingsand mines.

A Filipina girl shields her body from therain in Infanta town, Quezon province,which remains under mud more than aweek

Remember:Christmas is a time for

family reunions. It’s also thetime to forgive and

forget and thatit’s more blessed to give than

to receive.

The North American Filipino StarPage 6

KIDZ HOME DAY CAREMoved to a newaddresss:4720 Edouard MontpetitMontreal, Quebec

Call Melo Jane Corpuz

Tel.: 514-342-7534

Full services provided

RESTAURANTLA MAISON NEW KUM MON

6565 Cote des Neiges, Montreal, QC(Corner Appleton)

$95.95Good for 10 people

for Lunch onlywith 2-llitre Coke & Sprite

Choice 1Soup Seafood bean curdFried Crispy Chicken (whole)Beef with mixed vegetablesGeneral Tao chickenSweet and sour fish filletFried noodles miki-bihonSalt and pepper pork loinB.B.Q. pork with bean curdSteamed rice

FREE DELIVERYMinimum order of $10Delivery hours:11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.5:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.

514-733-6029514-733-1067

Choice 2Soup Crab Meat and CornFried Crispy Chicken (Whole)Beef in orange sauceMixed vegetablesFried Noodles CantoneseSalt and Pepper SquidShrimp in lobster sauceSweet and Sour PorkSteamed Rice

Tel.: (514) 342-4100Cell: (514) 242-0786e-mail: eddumandan@yahoo.ca6460 McLynn Ave.Montreal, QC H3X 2R4

December 2004

Community NewsMontreal Filipinos and Gawad Kalinga:Partners in Nation Building

ANCOP volunteers pose on the stage showing a simulation of the Philip-pines’ poor people’s improvised shelters, including “clean” garbage forrealism effect. (Photo by: Z. Kharroubi)

ANCOP volunteers singing a medley of songs for the entertainment ofthe guests

By Maureen Quinto

See Page 16 ANCOP

"I want in!"Such were the words of the var-

ious attendees who were present atBayANCOParin!, the creative pro-duction launching the work ofGawad Kalinga to the Montreal Fil-ipino community.

Held on December 5, 2004 atthe quaint Atwater Library Audito-

rium, the event drew Filipinos withdifferent backgrounds, from youngprofessionals to community leaders.The 90-minute production showcaseda mix of different creative elements,including a stirring musical medley,video presentations, and moving per-sonal sharings portrayed in a slumenvironment stage set.

The show, organized by ANCOPMontreal volunteers, was designedto raise awareness regarding thework of Gawad Kalinga. Translatedas "to give care", GK is a nation-building initiative in the Philippineswhose goal is to build 700,000homes in 7000 GK villages in 7years. The GK777 dream provides aholistic approach for poverty relief,organized around their five key pro-grams on shelter, environment,health, livelihood and communityempowerment to build sustainablecommunities and raise the Philip-pines out of third world status. Nowin the second year of nation-build-ing, GK has built over 9000 homesin nearly 400 GK villages all overthe Philippines. Started by Couplesfor Christ, Gawad Kalinga's successhas attracted partners from all sec-tors of society, including PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo, Ateneo deManila University president Fr. Ben

Nebres and McDonald's PhilippinesCEO George Yang, who have eachpioneered their own GK villages.

In addition to local partner-ships, Filipinos abroad are eager togive back to their motherlandthrough Gawad Kalinga. TwelveCanadian GK villages and othersites sponsored by Filipinos fromTexas, Florida, Malta, Switzerlandand other countries have been con-structed, restoring the dignity of thecountry's poorest of the poor.

The BayANCOParin! productionemphasized the Filipino values ofbayanihan, faith in action, andpatriotism, the same core values onwhich Gawad Kalinga is built andsustained. The evening also focusedon the call to "be a hero" for one'scountry, inspriring attendees totake part in rebuilding the Philip-

December 2004 Page 7The North American Filipino Star

Fill your freezer for the Winter.

2.69lbHalf or Whole pork

Cut & Wrapped

2.99lb

Beef Blade steak

1.19lb

Picnic ham(with bone)

1.45lb

Pork loinApproximately 15 lbs

1.89lb

Front quater of beefApproximately 200 lbs

3.49lb

Boneless leg of ham

7.49lb

Home smoked meat

2.49lb

Pork Spare Ribs 1 litre of freshblood with purchase

1/2 pork

2.99lb2.79lb

Beef short ribs

4.69lb

4.79lb10 lbs & over

Regular smokedbacon

Fresh pork blood Fresh bacon Fresh liver Pork skin

Available

83 Covey Hill, Hemmingford QC J0L 1H0

Tel.: (450) 247-2130 or (450) 247-3561Mtl. (514) 990-5162

203

HavelockJackson Road

SherringtonBarrington

Hemmingford

219

219

Malone Moders

Covey Hill Road

Boucherie Viau Inc. CanadaU. S. A.

ParcSafari

Champlain

Montee

Class

SortieExit No.6

202 Lacolle

NapiervilleSt.Chrysostome St. EdouardSt. Remi

Horaire des fêtes - Holiday HoursFriday, Dec. 24 & 31 - 8 AM - 2 PMSaturday & Sunday, Dec. 25-26, 2004January 1 &2, 2005 - CLOSED

15

RIZ ET NOUILLESRICE & NOODLES6080 Cote des Neiges (near Linton)Montreal, QC H3S 1Z7

514) 731-7788 / 514-731-1343Open 11:00 A.M. - 11:00 P.M. everydayFREE DELIVERY (Minimum $8.00)

Menu ( customer can request changes)

1) Wanton soup or sweet corn with crab2) Crispy chicken3) Fried squid with salt and pepper4) Mixed vegetables with beef5) Cantonese chow mein or Miki bihon6) Shrimps in lobster sauceOR Pork chops with salt and pepper7) Special fried rice8) Steamed rice

Parties - capacityfor 120 people

Special $90

1 TABLE Good for 10 PERSONS

LUNCH OR DINNERwith FREE 2-liter Sprite OR Coke

$5.95Lunch Special

Daily

Fresh Belly with skin

The Order of the Knights of Rizalof Montreal spearheaded by SirEddie A. Valdez, KCR, Commanderof MontrealChapter, Sir John Lin-den, KCR Deputy Commander, andin coopeation with the KababaihangRizalista (Ladies of Rizal) headed byits presdient, Lady Elvira “Elvie”Maximo, held a succesful mass ini-tiation of the new members of theMontreal Order of the Knights ofRizal and Kababaihang Rizalista on

December 19, 2004 at 5950 Cotedes Neiges, Suite 375, inthe city ofMontreal.

The occasion was the Confer-ring of Knighthood to new mem-bers of the OKR Montreal Chapter,conducted by the Order of theKnights of Rizal Supreme Councilof Toronto, headed by Sir Lapu-lapu “Poy” Caña, KGOR, RegionalCommander of Canada. With himwere: Sir Ka Miling Silverio,

Knights of Rizal initiates new members

Sir Popoy Caña delivering his brief remarks. Others from left are: Sir EmilianoSilverio, Sir Chito Collantes, Sir Eddie Valdez, and Sir Fran Pulumbarit. In thebackground, left: Sir John Linden and Sir Freddie Espinosa.

By Lina Fernandez

KGCR; Sir Chito Collantes, KGOR;Sir Fran Palumbarit, KGOR; Sir JoeFaminial, KGOR; Sir Joe Damasco,KCR; Sir Alex Trinidad and Sir JunZerrudo (ranks not available atpress time.)

With the Toronto Order of theKnights of Rizal, Supreme Council,are the Kabaihang Rizalista Presi-dent, Lady Rose Cruz, and CLARIZPresident, Lady Baby Palumbarit,and officers, Lady Ligaya Caña, KRAdvoser; Lady Pet Collantes, LadyA-sun Ramos, and Lady Lydia Evan-gelista.

The ceremonies and rituals per-formed by the members of theSupreme Council of Toronto were:initiation of new members (1stDegree) KR: Elevation to Knight offi-

cer of Rizal, (2nd degree) KOR andExaltation of Knight Commanderof Rizal (3rd degree) KCR.

First Degree KR: Sir PedroApelo, Sir Rey Balansi, Sir Sal-vador Cabugao, Sir Leo Carbo, SirJerry Danzil, Sir Lito Domingo, Jr.,Sir Joe Escuadro, Sir EricEsguerra Hamon, Sir Ric Marcelo,Sir Willy Pasion, Sir Flor Rillo, SirEddie Sideco, Sir Fred Villarino,Sir Amador Yanto. The 2nd degreKOR: Sir Bert Abiera, Sir JoseEspinosa and 3rd degree KCR, SirFreddie Espinosa.

The Order of the Knights ofRizal is a civic, patriotic culturalnon-sectarian, non partisan and

See Page 8 KnightsSwearing in ceremony the new members of the Kababaihang Rizalista

Page 8 The North American Filipino Star December 2004

Century 21 Immo-plus

Courtier immobilier agrØeChartered Real Estate Broker

1982 Notre Dame, Suite 2Montréal (Québec) H3J 1M8

Ginabe (Gina) del CastilloAgent immobilier affilié

Affiliated Real Estate Agent

Bureau: (514) 933-1221Cell: 514-241-1353Fax: 514-933-1251

www.century21immoplus.comginabethC21@sympatico.ca

Immigration & Legal MattersOnly with one call all your immigration

problems will be solved. Call now!• Work Permit • Investment Program • Preparation of affidavits• Visa - Visa Extension • Entrepreneur • Invitation• Student Visa • Citizenship Processing • Copy Conform• Job Placement • Adoption • Will & Testament• Self-Employed • Family Help • Bankruptcy• Sponsorship • Caregiver Program (Personal & Commercial)• Independent Immigrant • Under oathing documents • Non-contest divorce

S.A. RaquelImmigration Practitioner

With 10 Years Experience

Business Hours:Mon. to Friday 9:00 - 18:00Saturday & Sunday 13:00 -18:00By Appointment only

5022 Cote des Neiges Suite 3Montreal, Quebec H3V 1G6Tel.: (514) 567-2415 Fax: (514) 341-8626

From Page 7 Knights

non-racial organization. It wasfounded for the purpose of perpetu-ating the memory of Dr. Jose Rizaland propagating his ideals andteachings. In pursuit of its loftyobjectives, the Order is supportedby its affiliate organizations, theKababaihang Rizalista, CLARIZ(Canadian Ladies Auxilliary of Rizal)and others in the Philippines andabroad.

Lady Rose Cruz, the President of

the Toronto Kababaihang Rizal-ista, inducted the MontrealKababaihang Rizalista, headed byits president, Lady Elvie Maximo,advisers Lady Lina V. Fernandezand Lady Zeny Kharroubi withmembers: Lady Nora Antenor,Lady Lilia Apelo, Lady EsperanzaBalansi, Lady Thelma Cabais,Lady Amalia Edralin, Lady ChantalEspinosa, Lady Luz Garque, LadyBeth Razon, Lady Rose Rillo andLady Dolly Villarino.

Oath taking ceremony of Kababaihang Rizalista: (From left) Dolly Villarino, LinaFernandez, adviser, Elvie Maximo, president, and Zeny Kharroubi (Photo by SirJohn Linden, KOCR)/

Developing the CCP complexMANILA, PHILIPPINES | Wednes-day, December 22, 2004By JOSEFA LABAY CAGOCO

In 1969 the Cultural Center ofthe Philippines (CCP) was builtamidst controversy and specula-tion, yet it was undeniably a veryambitious project. Now, a little overthree decades later, CCP is attempt-ing another ambitious task, that ofdeveloping its 60-hectare propertyinto the "mecca of arts and culturein Asia."

The cultural Center of thePhilippines' main building

In the CCP, many artists andcultural groups like its residentcompanies -- Ballet Philippines, thePhilippine Philharmonic Orchestra,Tanghalang Pilipino, the PhilippineMadrigal Singers, the PhilippineBallet Theater, the Ramon ObusanFolkloric Group, Bayanihan, andthe UST Symphony Orchestra --have found a home. Initially formedto become the country's performingarts center, the CCP's responsibili-ties have over the years includedreaching out to minority culturalgroups in the country and servingas an ambassador of art to theinternational community.

However, arts and culture donot always have a popular followingin the country. Many people con-tinue to view art as a luxury and theCCP has always been hounded bybudget constraints. A major part ofits huge property has been sittingunderutilized and unproductive fora long time because the CCP doesnot have the money to finance thedevelopment of the complex.

Money was not all that stoppedCCP though. A land ownershipsquabble between private develop-ers and the CCP dragged on foryears. The Supreme Court finallyhanded down a decision affirmingCCP's ownership of the disputedproperty in the reclaimed area.

Finally, the ball for CCP's long-standing complex development planhas started rolling.

Christmas party hosted by Grace Yip *3rd from left, back row) at herresidence, December 19.

"We were stopped from develop-ing because of the case," said Vir-ginia Bactad, consultant for com-plex development. Ms. Bactad wasformerly the assistant vice-presi-dent for complex developmentbefore she retired recently but shewas asked to stay on because of herknowledge of the whole plan.

Involved in the Republic RealEstate Corp. case which Ms. Bactadsaid started in the 1970s were theCCP, the local government of Pasay,and Stonehill Corporation.

"We won this. With finality theSupreme Court said 'you own theland,'" said Ms. Bactad.

"Because we won it, we want togo full-blast on the development sowe can earn income, we can beau-tify the place. Our target is to makeit the mecca for arts and culture inAsia."

Consultations then started withthe stakeholders -- the CCP boardmembers, officials, artists, culturalworkers, youth, art patrons, andgovernment -- on the creation of theCCP Complex Development Plan, atwo-volume document that outlinesthe framework for the developmentproject. Planning Resources &Operations Systems Inc. (PROS)was commissioned to come up withthe plan.

What exactly is the vision forthe CCP? To make it the center forarts and culture in Asia. "The cen-terpiece of artistic expression of theFilipino soul and spirit," stated Ms.

See Page 13 CCP Complex

December 2004 The North American Filipino StarPage 9

Page 10 The North American Filipino Star December 2004

Located in BarrioMapunso, Tanay, Rizal,

near Daramak Falls.

Call 514-485-7861

Lot for Sale6 hectares lot for sale at 250 pesos per squaremeter in the Philippines, overlooking a valley, moun-tains and Laguna de Bay. It is ideal for leisure farm-ing, housing subdivision, etc About 1.5-hour driveover good highway from Manila.

Five Filipinos hurt intsunami-hit Phuket (Inquirer News Service)

FIVE Filipinos, including fourwomen, were among the thousandshurt in Phuket, Thailand, afterearthquake-spawned tidal wavesslammed into coastal areas in ninecountries last Sunday, Departmentof Foreign Affairs officials said yes-terday.

Earlier, Foreign SecretaryAlberto Romulo had dispatched anembassy staffer to Phuket to iden-tify any Filipinos on the list of eightcasualties with Filipino-soundingnames released by the Thai Ministryof Interior.

The five hurt in the tsunamiwere Marco Sangil, Vergini Cruz,Miss Virginia, Margaret Ang-Choi,who were all confined at the VicharaHospital, and Rosemarie Phi KingAng-Tan, who was confined atPatong Hospital. Both hospitals arein Phuket.

"Ms Rosemarie Phi King Ang-Tan is confined for minor injuries.The four others in the Vichara Hos-pital -- we have not received anyinformation from the embassy as tothe nature of their injuries,” DFAspokesperson Gilberto Asuque saidat a press briefing.

Officials could not say if thoseinjured were working in or touringPhuket when giant waves smashedinto homes, restaurants and hotelson the island and other coastalareas in Thailand on Sunday.

An estimated 70 to 120 Filipinosare based in the island resort, work-ing as diving instructors, hotel staffand musicians. The governmentestimated that some 1,500 peoplewere killed in Thailand and morethan 7,000 injured.

On Sunday, a 9.0-magnitudeearthquake under the Indian Oceannear Sumatra, Indonesia,unleashed a tsunami that batteredsouthern Thailand and later Indiaand Sri Lanka and several othercountries.

Ang-Tan's husband, David Tan,a British national, and their daugh-ter Sharleen May are missing. Con-sular staff members were scouringhospitals, hotels and other estab-lishments to look for them, Asuquesaid.

Ang-Choi, one of the injured Fil-ipinos, was married to Choi ChungHuen, a British passport holderwho was among those killed andwas earlier erroneously identified asa Filipino by the Thai Ministry ofInterior.Eight fatalities

The DFA was furnished a list ofeight casualties with Filipino-sounding names, namely: BarreraJann, Curlos Barong, Major Tomas,Mary Tanagtong, Sesilvia Bargoa,Sevrine Pairuno, Flona Gallan andFeri Cornelia.

"The bodies are being preserved,

and the Thai ministry has requestedthe Philippine Embassy for assis-tance in verifying the names of theeight individuals,” Asuque toldreporters in a briefing.

Since the department could notconfirm if any of them was a Filipinofrom its databank of passport appli-cations, officials decided to releasetheir names to the press "to expe-dite verification.”

"We are releasing the Filipino-sounding names through the mediaso this would reach relatives in thePhilippines. Hopefully, someonewould recognize their names,”Asuque said.

So far, the DFA has not receivedany report of casualties, injuries orthe disappearance of Filipinos inMalaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,Maldives and Indonesia in the after-math of the disaster, Asuque said.

Relatives of any of the eightcasualties should contact SheilaSolas of the Office of the Undersec-retary for Migrant Workers Affairsat 834-4594.

Inquiries about overseas Fil-ipinos affected by the tsunamishould call the DFA Action Centerat 834-3333 or the Overseas Work-ers' Welfare Administration Opera-tions Center at 833-6992 or 833-OWWA, 551-6641, 551-1560; faxnos. 804-0638, 551-6651; website:www.owwa.gov.ph; e-mail: opcen-ter@owwa.gov.ph.Ship crew safe

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto.Tomas yesterday said 73 Filipinocrewmen manning a luxury ship inthe Indian Ocean, as well as sevenoverseas Filipino entertainers inPhuket, Thailand, were confirmedsafe.

The OWWA OpCenter reportedthat all the 73 Filipino seafarersmanning the luxury liner "SilverCloud" were safe based on the con-firmation given by the seafarers'Jebsens Manning Agency in Manila.

Sto. Tomas said the OpCenterwas also getting in touch with themanning agencies to monitor andconfirm the safety of Filipino seafar-ers on the following vessels: MVConstellation, MV River Dream, MVSidney, MV Peam Siam, MV Zaabel,MV Sea Boss, MV Lady Grete, MVNYK Castor, MV Cornelis and MVLake Arafura.

She added that the PhilippineOverseas Labor Offices (Polos) inSingapore and Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia, as well as the 24-hourOWWA OpCenter in Pasay City weredoing all they could to assistaffected Filipino workers and theirfamilies, by continuously monitor-ing the situation, and providingupdates.

The OWWA OpCenter alsoopened its doors to relatives ofOFWs who are in the tsunami-

stricken countries, giving themthree minutes of free calls so theycould ascertain if their loved oneswere safe.

The Polos, in coordination withthe Philippine embassies, werepushing onsite efforts to get intouch with, confirm developments,and assist any affected OFWs.

According to figures furnishedby the Philippine Overseas Employ-ment Administration, some 5,300documented OFWs were deployed toaffected Indian Ocean countriesfrom January to July this year, themajority of them in Malaysia (2,745)and the rest in India (179), Maldives(80), Burma (Myanmar) (77), SriLanka (183), Thailand (1,091) andIndonesia (1,044).Medical teams

Defense Secretary Avelino Cruzannounced yesterday that the gov-ernment would send medical teamsto tsunami-stricken countries inSoutheast Asia, particularly Thai-land and Indonesia.

The deployment of medicalteams was made on orders of Presi-dent Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo fol-lowing a meeting with the NationalDisaster Coordinating Council(NDCC) yesterday morning. Cruzchairs the NDCC in concurrentcapacity.

During the meeting, Cruzemphasized the need to have aneffective information campaign ontsunamis and other disasters to

minimize damage to lives and prop-erty.

"The NDCC will work toward aneffective information campaign onthe dangers of tsunamis, earth-quakes and typhoons to minimizedamages to lives and properties inthe event of these three major natu-ral disasters," Cruz said in a state-ment.

The Department of Health wasalso communicating with the Thaihealth minister to see what kind ofassistance the Philippine govern-ment could give.

"We've been asked to preparemedical teams, but there are nodetails yet. We'll assess their needsand see what we can manage togive," Health Secretary ManuelDayrit told the Inquirer in a phoneinterview yesterday.Prayers and donations

The Catholic Church yesterdayrallied the country's faithful todonate, in cash or in kind, to theirAsian neighbors who were affectedby the earthquake and tsunami.

The Catholic Bishops Confer-ence of the Philippines and CaritasManila will be receiving donationsfrom individuals and parishes start-ing today.

"Although we have been badlyhit by recent calamities, we Fil-ipinos can still share something.For this reason, I appeal to all Fil-ipinos to offer financial help," CBCPpresident Davao Archbishop Fer-nando Capalla said in a message

A Thai woman goes through salvaged items outside her house in Khao Lak,nearly 115 km north of the Thai resort island of Phuket on December 29, 2004.

December 2004 Page 11The North American Filipino Star

(514) 367-1990 Jimmy Ozaeta 7995 BrowningSt.(514) 367-0355 Rey Nacino La Salle, QC citimobile@videotron.ca H8N 2E9

yesterday.Manila Archbishop Gaudencio

Rosales also urged all parishes inManila, the Philippines' biggestcluster of dioceses, to set aside aportion of the Sunday collections forvictims of the tsunami.

"Tragedy and human sufferingtranscend many barriers. All of asudden, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand,Indonesia, Malaysia and the Mal-dives have become special neigh-bors to us. These people now reachout to us in the manner that ourown sufferings have in the past,"Rosales said in his message yester-day.

Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarracalled for prayers for those stillmissing, those injured, and thosestruggling to survive after losingtheir homes in the largest earth-quake to hit the world in 40 years.

"I appeal for prayers for therepose of the souls of those whoperished and their bereaved fami-lies," he said.

The catastrophe, he added,should also be a reminder for every-one to seriously do something totake care of the environment andecology.

Caloocan Bishop DeograciasIñiguez said the tsunami that hit sixcountries in Asia was a wake-upcall for the Philippine government toensure that its weather bureau waswell-equipped to monitor possiblecalamities.

Donations for the victims of thetsunami can be coursed throughCaritas Manila at 527-4146, 527-4148, 527-4163 or through theCBCP's National Secretariat forSocial Action, Justice and Peace(NASSA) accounts with Citibank atPaseo de Roxas, Makati City. Forpeso donations, the account num-ber is 8-133-000-980. For dollardonations, the account number is8-142-002-559. Both are under theaccount name CBCP-NASSA.

Capalla said donations fromPhilippine churches would behanded over to the Caritas offices inthe affected countries. With a reportfrom Carla P. Gomez, PDI VisayasBureau

Philippines Begins toRebuild Flood-Hit Areas

Sat Dec 18, 7:26 AM ET World -Reuters

MANILA (Reuters) - Hun-dreds of army and civilian engineershave begun massive constructionwork in the northern Philippines torebuild flood-hit areas that havebeen cut off from the rest of thecountry for weeks. Reuters Photo

President Gloria MacapagalArroyo (news - web sites) said onSaturday that the reconstructionwas in full swing.

"Today, we begin the reha-bilitation phase of our response tothe disaster of the four storms," shesaid in the town of Infanta on theeast coast, which bore the brunt.

Damage to crops, fishingand infrastructure is estimated at4.69 billion pesos ($83 million). Itwill take weeks to restore power tothe worst-hit areas, clear roads andrebuild bridges.

Teams of army and navyengineers have begun repairing halfa dozen bridges after clearing 35 km(20 miles) of highway to Infanta, oneof three towns that were badly hit.

Also on Saturday, the U.S.Marines turned over $1 millionworth of tents, generators, blankets,medical supplies and water contain-ers to Philippine disaster officials asit pulled out 650 troops after twoweeks of relief operations.

Nearly 1,800 people aredead or missing in eastern andnorthern provinces on Luzon islandafter a typhoon and three tropicalstorms in two weeks set off torrentsof water, mud, boulders and logsthat swept away villages andbridges.

Close to four million Fil-ipinos have been affected. With dis-ease a major worry, the U.S Marineshelped speed up efforts to get food,clean water, medicine and shelter to880,000 people marooned by floodsand landslides.

Arroyo thanked Washington forits help in the relief effort, sayingthe role played by U.S. troops indelivery of emergency rations"speaks of the mighty ties that areshared by time-honored alliesacross the Pacific."

She said the $7 million in totalU.S. assistance was the biggest con-tribution by an individual foreigngovernment to her government'srelief efforts.

Manila has received close to 100million pesos ($1.8 million) in cash,emergency rations and equipmentfrom the international community,including foreign non-government

organization. International aid agencies

continued to appeal for support tocombat potential disease out-breaks in flood-stricken areas,saying more than $8 million inadditional aid was needed duringthe next three months.

Logging has been blamed formaking a natural disaster worse.Arroyo has ordered cancellation ofall permits to cut and haul treesbut timber companies have scut-tled previous attempts in Con-gress to ban logging. ($=56.20pesos)

Communist rebels reject Christmastruce, peace talks dim Dec 19, 2004 Agence France-Presse

COMMUNIST guerrillas on Sundayeffectively rejected a Christmas trucewith the government, and said theywere unlikely to resume peace talkswith President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Arroyo declared a three-week unilateral ceasefire onDecember 16 and urged therebels, who are waging one of theworld's longest communistinsurgencies in this RomanCatholic country, to reciprocate.

An official from the Commu-nists' negotiating arm, theNational Democratic Front(NDF), said the group "desiresthe resumption of formal talks inthe peace negotiations with theGovernment of the Republic ofthe Philippines.

"But the prospects for suchresumption under the Arroyoregime are dim," Fidel Agcaoilisaid in a written statement tonews agencies here.He alleged that the governmentwanted the rebels to capitulate"under the guise of indefiniteceasefire."

The NDF "considers as trickypsywar [psychological war] theso-called unilateral ceasefireissued by the [government] forthe Christmas and New Yearholidays.

Page 12 The North American Filipino Star December 2004

Arts and Culture

The cheapest way toadvertise!

*$9 .99*for 3 lines

Maximum: 12 wordsEach additional word = 50 centsline = $1.50

How to place a classified ad

By E-Mailfilipinostar2@yahoo.comfstar@gilmorecollege.com

Restaurant Pho BacRESTAURANT

COURSES

Specialité de soupe tonkinoise

• Free coke (3-5.pm.)• Hot soup• Submarine (Vietnamese)

Noodles & rice pork-chicken BBQ

5473 Victoria Avenue (near St. Kevin)

Centre 2000 Professional Training Institute

• Dental Assistant• Nurses Aid• Social Auxiliary• Security Guard• Daycare Educators

Saturdays available

Info: Call 514-342-1000

4950 Queen Mary Rd. Suite 351(Front of Snowdon Metro)

SEMINARS

HOME MOVIESLearn how to make your memories last a lifetime

Register in a basic video course by Al Abdon at Gilmore College

Call 485-7861

The North American Filipino Star Classified Ads

PHOTOGRAPHY

Philippine Cuisine

Special Offers

TUTORING

“Leaders Leading Leaders”by Prof. Goodine, dynamic,

insightful, international educator who inspires and

motivates you to reachyour full potential

How to start and manageyour own businesss

Introduction to TaxationCall 485-7861

for appointment to registerfor our February 2005 sessions

English, French & MathAll levels

Call 485-7861

ARTICLES FOR SALEOffice Desk, tables, chairs,Compaq laptop computer,

typewriters, etc.Call 514-485-7861

Help WantedLive-in janitor/handyman,

very responsible and meticu-lous. Minor plumbing/elec-

tricity, downtown area. Call 874-0695

Mayon Volcano

Filipino LumpiaINGREDIENTS:1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 pound ground pork 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup minced carrots 1/2 cup chopped green onions 1/2 cup thinly sliced green cab-bage 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon soy sauce 30 lumpia wrappers 2 cups vegetable oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:Place a wok or large skillet over

high heat, and pour in 1 tablespoonvegetable oil. Cook pork, stirringfrequently, until no pink is showing.Remove pork from pan and setaside. Drain grease from pan, leav-ing a thin coating. Cook garlic and

onion in the same pan for 2 min-utes. Stir in the cooked pork, car-rots, green onions, and cabbage.Season with pepper, salt, garlicpowder, and soy sauce. Removefrom heat, and set aside until coolenough to handle.

Place three heaping tablespoonsof the filling diagonally near onecorner of each wrapper, leaving a 11/2 inch space at both ends. Foldthe side along the length of the fill-ing over the filling, tuck in bothends, and roll neatly. Keep the rolltight as you assemble. Moisten theother side of the wrapper with waterto seal the edge. Cover the rolls withplastic wrap to retain moisture.

Heat a heavy skillet overmedium heat, add oil to 1/2 inchdepth, and heat for 5 minutes. Slide3 or 4 lumpia into the oil. Fry therolls for 1 to 2 minutes, until allsides are golden brown. Drain onpaper towels. Serve immediately.

December 2004 Page 13 The North American Filipino Star

RestaurantKorean House4950 Queen Mary Road (Snowdon Metro)

Montreal, Quebec H3X 1X2

The best, original Korean foodfor the past 20 years

LunchspecialS

$6.95

A) Korean Soup withPork, “Kim Chi”

C) Beef Soup

B) Tofu Soupwith Vegetables

Lunch & dinner specialInclude rice, 4 vegetable side dishes, Korean tea, and fruit dessert

$9.95

1) Korean StyleBarbecue Beef

2) Korean StyleFish Barbecue

3) Spicy Chicken

Dinner for 2$22.95Beef Stew, Koreanstyle

$25.95Beef Sauté. Table

$24.95Pork BarbecueKorean style

Available: Beer, Korean Saké, Wine 15% Offon dinner menu(Cash only) with

this Ad

Open: Mon. to Sat. 11:00 AM - 11:00 PMSunday 4:00 - 11:00 P.M.

FREE PARKING (Basement) After 5 PM

Tel.: 733-7823Reservation

for 4 or more people

So a rabbi, a priest, and a minister ...now tell lots of jokesBy G. Jeffrey MacDonald Corre-spondent of The Christian Science Monitor (12/16/2004)

This fall, when the people of NewEngland Bible Church wanted tohave a really good time, they gottogether at the start of Sunday wor-ship to memorize Bible verses.

Part of the fun was the game-show atmosphere, as "contestants"filled in the blanks of a verse. Butpart of it was also the mood of levity that invades a realm once knownmore for hard pews than hardlaughs.

One recent Sunday, a good-natured quiz pitting elders againstdeacons connected with congre-gants partly because of its tongue-in-cheek tone.

"This is all for show," PastorTyler Thompson assured the flock."These people up here really don'tlike each other all that much."Everyone laughed.

From here to Hollywood, somberservices where smiles are frownedupon have in many churches gonethe way of sky-high pulpits andknuckle-rapping ushers. In its placeis an effort to tap the nation's cul-ture of humor to promote spiritualgain:

* In Texas and southern Califor-nia, church outreach ministriesnow include Christian comedyshows that draw upwards of 300people.

* A forthcoming book on "TheArt and Craft of Biblical Preaching"(Zondervan, 2005) dedicates anentire chapter to humor as ahomiletic device.

* Preachers in congregationslarge and small are building laugh-ter into their worship plans.

Example: The Rev. Paul Sangreeof Bethany Congregational Churchin Foxboro, Mass., pokes fun athimself every week because he finds"it loosens people up."

To be sure, certain areas ofchurch life remain no joking matter.A preacher who once joked withbread and wine while serving theLord's Supper earned the scorn ofhis congregation for "demeaningthose in some way," according toThe Rev. John Beukema, who wrotethe humor chapter in the new bookon preaching.

Still, observers say what's hap-pened has been a shift to speak thelaugh-getting language of a casualculture that values entertainment.Some do voice concerns about aloss of reverence, but many see thelighter side as a vital tactic fortouching souls.

"It is going to be impossible topreach without using humor," saysJoseph Webb, author of "Comedyand Preaching" (Chalice Press,1998) and dean of the communica-tions program at Palm BeachAtlantic University. "You will not beable to stand up and hold the peo-

Tyler Thompson uses humor in his sermons

ple if you cannot work the stage."With faith that there's much to

gain from cutting loose, religiousleaders increasingly work laughsinto announcements, sermons, anddramatizations of scripture.

While the goal is to connect totoday's flock, the trend draws ontradition. Seminary students aremining the sermons of yesteryear'spreachers who had a flair for mak-ing the faithful chuckle. And somepastors regard the Bible itself asseasoned with more than a fewfunny stories.

Others see a theological dimen-sion involving the demand forredemption. "We need to laugh atourselves because that's the wholebasis of our belief, is that we're notworthy," says Beukema, associateeditor at www.preachingtoday.comand teaching pastor of the VillageChurch in Western Springs, Ill. "It'sby His grace alone that we aresaved."

Some material is quite safe.When telling the Bible story ofJonah, spared from the fish'smouth but then pouting on a hill-side because God wouldn't squashhis enemies, a dramatist can playup the prophet's unwitting follywithout much risk. Likewise thetale of Balaam's donkey, who ver-bally rebukes his master for miss-ing the Lord's direction, may havemissed the mark if no one cracks asmile.

Knowing what's fair game andwhat's not, however, can be as cru-cial as timing when it comes toblending humor and holiness. Ageneration ago, the norm was tosave laughter for coffee hourbecause, Webb says, church sanc-tuaries held a loftier status, andGod was thought to reign above thehumorous minutiae of ordinary life.Today, he says, God is one who"walks with me, and talks with me"- so laughing together isn't farbehind. But now leaders face achallenge to determine case by casewhen laughter is appropriate, andwhen it still might defile the sacred.

Leaders seem to agree on thisrule of thumb: Poke fun at yourselfor at universal human foibles, butnever mock God, holy things or par-

ticular people. Prayer and sacra-ments are no times to laugh, theysay. And beware of actual joketelling during worship, whichBeukema deems "high risk humorbecause if the punch line misses,everybody loses."

Despite cautions, humor is nowpart of the clerical playbook. At thisyear's Rosh Hashana service atTemple Micah in Philadelphia,Rabbi Bob Alper in a sermon on joylaughed at the impulse to annoy thyneighbor.

Drawing on his trade as a pro-fessional comedian, he recalled a childhood neighbor who never likedAlper's family and gave their Jewishhousehold a Christmas tree. "IfMasterCards had been aroundthen, they could have produced thisad," he told the congregation. "Adesk-size Douglas fir Christmastree: $5.00. A small box of orna-ments: $2.75. The chance to wreakhavoc with the religious identity ofthe children of your despised neigh-bor: Priceless."Folklorist Bill Ellis ofPennsylvania State University inHazelton says laughter is "hard-wired" in human nature, somethingthat often helps people resistdespair. In folklore, he says, "welaugh at the devil because the devilrelishes pride and can't stand to belaughed at.... Sometimes a littlesubversiveness in religion is just

From Page 8 CCP

Bactad. "It will be a major cultural,ecological, and tourism landmark ofthe Philippines. It shall be the homefor the Filipino artist and an urbanoasis for the Filipino people."

The CCP complex sits on 88hectares of reclaimed land, about60 hectares of which are owned byCCP. Other properties are managedby other government agencies -- thePhilippine International ConventionCenter by the Bangko Sentral, theWestin Philippine Plaza Hotel, theCoconut Palace which is handled bythe GSIS, and Star City by the Pri-vatization and Management Office.

As the CCP does not have con-trol over these properties, futureprojects would have to be developedaround them. T h e d e v e l o p m e n tplan also aims to consolidate theactivities in the complex which,aside from arts and cultural events,also include sports and recreation,trade fairs, dining, ferry terminaloperations, and transient living.

The plan identifies nearly 58hectares and will take much longerthan the establishment of the com-plex decades ago. The project isplanned for completion over thenext 10 years, starting 2004 to2013, and will be accomplished infour phases.

Page 14 December 2004The NorthAmerican Filipino Star

Montreal Party Photos

APO celebrated its 10th anniversary on December 11, 2004 at the Buffet Dionysiaon Jarry West Shown with the president, Claro Bermudez, (seated, 2nd from theright) are Zenaida Kharroubi, editor/publisher of the Star, Richard San Miguel,Gina & Totoy Buning, Jun Mendoza, Romy Gambalan, Dany Corpuz, Noli Ortiz,Jorge Baldoza, Joel Guia, Armando Pizorro and an unidentified guest.

Arthur Murray Dance School Christmas Party, December 17, 2004 photo of theShania Twain formation participants pose with Maria, D.I. (wearing Santa’s hat)

Gilmore College students with their friends and family held their annualChristmas party, December 12, 2004 at the College premises.

Gilmore College students continued their party with a dance held atthe Via Salsa Studio on 5149 Decarie Boulevard. Posing with themis the director, Mme Hong Quy Clauzier (2nd row, 2nd from left).

December 2004 Page 15The North American Filipino Star

M E R C A N C A P I T A L L T D .

Your application for a visa is successfulwhen you deal with Mercan CapitalMay pag-asa kayong ma-aprobahan ang inyong

aplikasyon kung kayo ay magkukonsulta muna sa isa saaming mahusay at eksperiensadong tagapayo.

Mr. Jerry Morgan, presidentand founder of Mercan CapitalLtd., manages a team of seasoned immigration profes-sionals

Ms. V. Marcas, lawyer

A mosaic sculpture whichcan be seen at the publicsquare of the Old Port ofMontreal symbolizing reli-gious freedoms recognizedby the Canadian Constitu-tion.The Parliament buildingwhere the Quebec Govern-ment holds its meeting ofthe National Assembly com-posed of 123 MNAs who areelected every 5 years.

CSIC No. 041555Canadian laws are complex.

Call us to make an appointment for a FREE CONSULTATION.

MERCAN CAPITAL LTD., Founded in 1989Mercan Capital Ltd.., 390 Notre Dame West, Suite 410, Montreal (Quebec) H2W 1T9

514-282-9214 Fax: 514-282-1084www.mercan.com

Mercan Capital,Ltd., founded in1989, one of themost importantorganizations ofimmigration profes-sionals whoseexpertise and highsuccess rate arewell-known.

Mercan Capital Ltdhelps you obtain yourvisa, and if unsuc-cessful, your moneywill be refunded.

Mercan Capital Ltd.keeps itself informedabout immigrationrules which are con-stantly changing.The information youreceive is relevantand up-to-date.

We accept credit cards

We offer our expertise in thefollowing areas:• Skilled Workers• Business Immigrant• Family Reunification• Work Permit• Student’s Visas• Live-in Caregiver

Mercan Capital Ltd.offers you all serv-ices and informsyou of the programsthat will facilitateyour immigration to Quebec andCanada.

New rule changeopens the door toFilipinos with relatives in Canadaunder the SkilledWorkers Program

Part time salesagents welcome

Mag-ahentepara sa dagdag

na kita.

The North American Filipino Star December 2004Page 16

5895 Victoria Ave.Montreal, QC H3W 2R6

UNIQUE CLOCK SHOP AND JEWELLER

SSpecialistpecialists in Sales & Reps in Sales & RepairsairsWW e buy old gold.e buy old gold.

Remodeling Changing batteryJewelry repaired while you waitAntique Clocks, WatchesENGRAVING

10 K 14 K 18 K 22 KWedding Bands -

Engagement Rings

Tel. 731-8029 Diamonds & Silver

Special

30% off - Watches15% off - Jewelry

Al AbdonThe VideoGuy

MNMFAMILY HOME DAYCARE

How popular are DVDs?Very! Almost every movie that is

produced today is available onDVD. In fact, when a movie comesout it is mass produced in DVD firstbefore VHS because the cost ofmaking DVD is less than VHS. EvenDVD players are cheaper than VHS!You can get a DVD player, progres-sive, MP3, for$35.00 ie. after mail-in rebates at a local discount store.

The DVD & CD are very similarphysically and functionality. Butthe DVD holds 7 times more datathan CD does. This means the DVDhas the ability to hold enough roomto store a full-length, MPEG-2encoded movie and has a lot ofother information.

Here are some of the character-istics of a typical DVD movie: a) Itholds up to 133 minutes of highresolution video in letter box or apan-horizontal resolution. b)Soundtrack presented in up to eightlanguages using 5.1 channel Dolby-digital surround sound c) Subtitlesin up to 32 languages d.DVD canstore to almost 8 hours of CD-qual-ity music per side. What are the advantages of a DVD?

DVD picture quality is better,and many of DVDs have Dolby Dig-ital or DTS sound, which is muchcloser to the sound you experience

in a movie theater. Many DVD movies have an on-

screen index, where the creator ofthe DVD has labeled many of thesignificant parts of the movie, some-times with a picture. With yourremote, if you select the part of themovie you want to view, the DVDplayer will take you right to thatpart, with no need to rewind or fast-forward. DVD players are compati-ble with audio CDs.

Some DVD movies have boththe letterbox format, which fitswide-screen TVs, and the standardTV size format, so you can choosewhich way you want to watch themovie.

DVD movies may have severalsoundtracks on them, and they mayprovide subtitles in different lan-guages. Foreign movies may giveyou the choice between the versiondubbed into your language, or theoriginal soundtrack with subtitlesin your language.

That is why burning video CD isso much faster (7 minutes of a 30minute footage) than a DVDbecause of the quantity of informa-tion embedded in those disc islarger.

Going shopping for DVD? Ifmoney is not the issue I recommend

that you buy a DVD recorder thanjust a DVD player. You can copyVHS video tapes for archives andalso save storage if the unit hasfirewire. DVD recorders are goingdown in prices. A BenQ recorder,progressive scan, which reads aKodak Picture CD, MP3 is only$299! I bought a recorder twoyears ago and it cost me $900.00for the same capability.

There is also a unit that comesin a combo of VHS and DVDrecorder such as the PanasonicDMRE75 ($699).The advantage ofthese units are no wires are neededand are capable of dual recordingsbecause they have two independ-ent tuners. As long as there is nocopy right protection such asMacrovision, you can just copymovies for you own viewing andsafe keeping. But I must warn youof royalties and copyright issues. Itis illegal to make a mass produc-tion of someone’s work without hispermission.

Merry Christmas and have asafe and wonderful New Year to all!Al AbdonHollywood Junkies Video Porductions(514) 705-8706

4891 De La PeltrieMontreal, Quebec

H3W 1K6

514-342-2230Nida Quirapas

Home Daycare Educator(Subsidized)

is moving to

From Page 6 ANCOP

Cherish your memories on video! Learn to make your home movies any-

time you want with your ownvideo camera.

Call 485-7861 to register in thebasic video production course or

by e-mail:fstar@gilmorecollege.com

pines. ANCOP organizers who metwith each guest during the meet-and-greet session were ecstatic overthe number of new partners whoexpressed their desire to help trans-form the Philippines, a sure indica-tion that 2005 will be an excitingyear for ANCOP Montreal.

The event's success is perhapsbest summed up in the the words offormer Philippine President CoryAquino,"Before when friends usedto ask me if the Philippines still hadhope I would say yes, but I couldn'texplain why. Now I am happy I cansay: The Philippines has hopebecause there is Gawad Kalinga."Most definitely, many BayANCO-Parin! guests went home feeling thesame way.

**ANCOP is an acronym forAnswering the Cry of the Poor andis the international sponsor rela-tions and fundraising arm of GawadKalinga. For more information,please contact Maureen at 514-575-5216.www.gawadkalinga.org orwww.ancop,ca

Advertise now in the Star Call 485-7861

December 2004 The North American Filipino Star Page 17

From Page 1 FPJ dies

an hour Sunday. A political neophyte, Poe reluc-

tantly agreed to become the mainchallenger to President GloriaMacapagal Arroyo in the May 10election but lost by 1.1 millionvotes.

Two months later, Poe askedthe Supreme Court to nullifyArroyo's victory and declare himpresident, accusing her party ofcommitting electoral fraud. Arroyo'scamp denied any wrongdoing andexpressed confidence the SupremeCourt would eventually throw outPoe's protest.

Poe, who starred in more than200 films, was popular amongimpoverished Filipinos for his por-trayals of fast-punching, underdogchampions of the poor.

He often played the silent herowho beat up the bad guys in moviessuch as "Muslim Magnum .357" orthe children's epic "Ang Panday,"about a blacksmith who crafts amagical sword.

He was a formidable opponentto Arroyo even though his campaign

suffered from disorganization andquestions over his citizenship,which a court later resolved in hisfavor.

The man known nationwide as"Da King" promised all Filipinos"breakfast, lunch and dinner." Themasses flocked to see Poe at cam-paign rallies, but his vague plansfor the economy made analysts andinvestors uneasy.

A five-time winner in the localversion of the Oscars, one of hismost memorable roles was a truestory – a teacher who became arebel leader fighting greedy land-lords and bureaucrats in the 1920s,when the Philippines was still anAmerican colony.

Poe was born on Aug. 20, 1939,to a popular Filipino actor FernandoPoe Sr. and Elizabeth Kelley, anAmerican.

His family prospered until hisfather died of rabies and Poe had todrop out of high school to help sup-port them. Poe worked odd jobs,including as a cleaner and a stuntman, becoming a full-time actor inthe 1950s.

Tens of thousands of supporters of Philippine film idol and former presidentialcandidate Fernando Poe Jr. join the funeral march in Manila Dec. 22, 2004.

Mourners of the late FPJ light candlesoutside Santo Domingo church in Que-zon City during his wake.

Thousands attendfuneral of FPJ

MANILA (AFP) - Hundreds ofthousands of fans attended thefuneral of the Philippines' mostfamous movie star, defeated presi-dential candidate Fernando Poe,held under tight security amid fearsof unrest.

A throng of mourners accompa-nied a white coffin carrying the 65-year-old, worshipped as the cham-pion of the underdog, as it waspulled through the streets of thecapital Manila on a carriage drawnby two white horses.

Hundreds of riot police weredeployed around the presidentialpalace to head off potential violencefrom Poe supporters who accusePresident Gloria Arroyo of cheatingin the May 10 presidential vote. Themilitary was also placed on height-ened alert amid intelligence reportsof a coup to replace Arroyo and inher place install Poe's widow, moviedame Susan Rocess. Fans chantedPoe's initials FPJ and waved presi-

dential campaign posters used bythe actor, who died on December 14after suffering a stroke. Cryingwomen and children showered thecoffin with flowers as it wound itsway to the cemetery.

The presidential palace, close tothe route of the procession, wasbarricaded with huge shipping con-tainers as Justice Secretary RaulGonzales warned that some partiescould use the funeral to stir uptrouble. The procession howeverended without violence.

Ousted President Joseph Estrada right, tries to control his tears as the widowand movie actress Susan Roces wipes her tears during a mass for Fernando PoeJr.Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 at Sto. Domingo Church, Quezon City.

Page 18 The North American Filipino Star December 2004

JOIN OUR CHRISTIAN HERITAGELEARNING TOUR OF IRELAND

MARCH 15-22, 2005 - "Following the Footsteps of St. Patrick - hislife and legacies" and "Life and Legacies of St. Kevin of Glen-dalough".

Highlights: visiting cathedrals in Armagh - the ecclesiastical capitalof Ireland, the St. Patrick Centre, his burial site, his first churchand many other sites associated with this world-famous saint. Visitto the Trinity College Library in Dublin, the monastic site foundedby St. Kevin, the St. Kevin Parish, and scenic sight-seeing.

Cost: $2,350 - Air and Land Package: Superior deluxe accommo-dation, most meals, admission fees to sites and attractions, airporttransfers, surprise bonuses.

Please call 483-4139 for details.

Upcoming Trip: To Our Lady of Knock Shrine in Mayo, Ireland -August 18-25, 2005.

Pray and Learn

ability. The NSO said among the unem-

ployed, around 44.8 percent werebetween 15 to 24 years old. Amongthe regions, Metro Manila or theNational Capital Region posted thehighest unemployment rate at 12.2percent.

From a total labor force ofabout 35.6 million, the NSO saidsome 37.1 percent work in the farmsector. Another 47.5 percent are inthe services sector while the rest arein the industrial sector.

The number of employed per-sons in the services sectorincreased by 1.5 percent whilethose in the agricultural sector, by0.2 percent. The industry sector, onthe other hand, registered a 1.3percent contraction in terms ofemployment in October.

The Philippines has a total pop-ulation 15 years and over of 53.5million out of which 66.5 percent or35.6 million are considered fit towork.

Business & Economy

The Philippine Star 12/16/2004 The country’s unemployment

rate rose slightly to 10.9 percent inOctober this year from the year-ear-lier level of 10.2 percent, theNational Statistics Office (NSO)reported yesterday.

In the April 2004 survey, thejobless rate stood at a higher 13.7percent mainly due to the additionof new college and high school grad-uates. The number of unemployed in Octo-ber was recorded at 3.9 million ornine percent higher than last year’slevel of 3.6 million. More than half,or 59.5 percent of the jobless, weremales while females accounted for40.5 percent.

The unemployed include thosewho did not look for work duringthe survey period; those who had nojob or business and did not look forwork because of their belief that nowork is available, have pending jobapplications or job interviews, andthose with temporary illness or dis-

Jobless rate hits 10.9% in Oct

From Page 21 Writers

Colombo Plan Staff College, anInternational, and Inter-Govern-mental Organization, based inManila, Philippines. He has gainedmembership in several interna-tional professional associations, is amember of the International Bio-graphical Centre's On-Line-Hall ofFame, and in 2004, he was given lifelong tenure of Chair of Human Rela-tions within the World Academy ofLetters.

Zenaida Ferry-Kharroubi, isa professional teacher and theFounder/Owner of Gilmore Collegeas well as the Publisher & ChiefEditor of the North American Fil-ipino Star. She holds a B.A. degreemajor in English Literature from theUniversity of the Philippines as wellas an M.A. degree in EducationalStudies from Concordia University.

Note: Fees: $495. for the WorkshopDates: To Be Determined

To register by appointment, pleasecall 514-485-7861

Nothing unusual insigning of 'sin' tax law- Palace

Malacañang yesterday brushedoff suspicions over the "unusual"enactment of the "sin" tax law, say-ing the Palace would rather focuson the measure's merits.

Press Secretary Ignacio R.Bunye said President Gloria Maca-pagal Arroyo signed Republic Act9334 into law on Monday withoutthe usual fanfare as part of the"adjustments" to limit the Presi-dent's activities.

Mr. Bunye denied talk that thechange was due to destabilizationthreats against the government inlight of today's burial of actor andformer opposition presidential can-didate Fernando K. Poe, Jr.

"The adjustments were onlydone to accommodate the numer-ous functions that are lined up forthe President. Instead of the Presi-dent skipping other events, it wasdecided that all the events would bedone in one venue," Mr. Bunye saidin a radio interview.

December 2004 Page 19The North American Filipino Star

And it works!A week-end experience

designed to release the force ofyour personal voice

- that leads to more powerfuland effective writing and communi-cation.

HOURSFirst day: 7:00 p.m. -10:30 p.m.Second day:9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.Third Day:9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

A LEARNING PROCESS THATWORKS FOR ANY KIND OF WRIT-ING

The workshop is the Brain-child of Isaac Goodine and incorpo-rates ideas developed from PeterElbow's useful book for writers,Writing Without Teachers.

The Writers Workshop isinteractive and the activities aredivided between work in which theentire group participates and that ofsmall support groups.

The entire group engages inLecture-Discussions with the work-shop leaders as well as Writing andProblem-Solving Exercises.

From time to time partici-

Workshops Now Forming For Spring and Summer 2005

pants Read Original Writing out-loud in small support groups,seminar style.Who Is The Workshop For?

The Workshop is open toall who write. It is specificallydesigned for anyone who needs todevelop and use writing skills.Participants will be ProfessionalWriters, Managers, Novelists,Business Leaders, Poets, Lawyers,Editors, Professors, Journalists,Public Speakers, and anyone whoneeds to broaden their communi-cation skills.

The Workshop Includes People Who Do All Kinds of Writ-ing All people who write havesimilar challenges: whether a the-sis, novel, technical report, busi-ness proposal, or a letter to theeditor, the purpose of writing is tocommunicate meaning for othersthrough the written word. There-fore, the Workshop isn't about theparticular content or form of yourwriting but how you achievemeaning for others. The instantfeed-back from fellow partici-pants, who are not experts in thesubject matter of your writing,provides objective guidance forimprovement and less experi-enced writers gain by observing

how professionals handle theirproblems and, and experienced;gain by observing how professionalshandle their problems and, andexperienced writers gain by seeinghow elementary problems are tack-led in fresh ways as each partici-pant performs at his or her level ofskill. Writers at all levels benefitfrom this powerful new method,particularly when the participantsare from diverse cultural back-grounds and the communicationstranscend national boundaries.

This is a Breakthrough IdeaThe Writing Workshop experienceplants a seed that grows each timeyou write-long after the week-endworkshop has concluded. You willgain special insight that opens yourcreative self as you continue towrite. You will be able to set andachieve personal goals to: (1) learnnew and useful methods of solvingproblems in writing, (2) increaseyour power to know what you wantto say, (3) increase your ability toput across persuasively what youhave to say, (4) to enable you to seethe actual relationship you havewith your readers.

About The Workshop Lead-ers: Isaac Goodine, and ZenaidaFerry-Kharroubi will lead theseWriters Workshops

The Writing Workshop - A New Approach to Powerful Writing

Isaac Goodine

Isaac Goodine is an Interna-tional Educator with experience in65 countries. He has designed anddelivered numerous cross-culturalcommunications workshops in thecourse of his work and his writingshave been published in magazines,journals, and newspapers world-wide. He is a Fellow of the UnitedWriters' Association, of India. Hislatest book, Leaders Leading Lead-ers, was published in 2003, by

See Page 18 Writers

Page 20 The North American Filipino Star December 2004

is looking for a big number of employees in the following domains:

1) Ticketing, Packaging ...2) Forklift3) Sewing (Plain, Overlock ...)4) Administrative (Receptionist,

Secretary ...)

If you are looking for a challenge, please visit us at9292 Meilleur Suite 604

(Corner Chabanel)

Tots PlaygroupDayccare5005 Bourret Suite 6

(Near Westbury)Montreal, QC H3W 1L3

Call GemmaCall Gemma 514-313-9363514-313-9363514-734-1133514-734-1133

Accepts 18 months - 4 years oldFull services provided

That Video Game under the TreeIn this article, I am going to step out ofmy usual topics concerning science andhealth to write about a subject that ismore technology but still definitelyrelated to health, more specifically, psy-chological well-being. I am referring tovideo games.

There was a time when my wifeand I would make an annual trek to thelocal toy store at about this time of theyear every year. This was during theearly 80s. That period of our lives is adistant memory - our children are alladults now. The items we bought werenot always for our children - a few weremine. I remember buying my first "per-sonal computer" - a Commodore 64 -from a big toy store chain in California.It could do more than the "pong" gamesof the vintage Atari electronic gameboxes. Nintendo and the X-box existedonly in the dreams of future-orientedgamers.

Everyone in my generation isacutely aware of the explosion of com-puter power over the past 20 years. Inmy graduate school days, our researchcomputer was a PDP-11, a small mon-ster that occupied a small room, had big12- or 15-inch floppy disks and commu-nicated only in UNIX. Incredibly, mylaptop today is more powerful than thatold machine of 20 years ago. Whathappened parallel to the explosion ofcomputer power, was an equallyastounding increase in the sophistica-tion of video games. Whereas 20 yearsago our video games were based on adot going back and forth across thescreen, or a big dot "eating up" a seriesof smaller dots, today's gamers have ontheir screens 3-dimensional renderingsof objects that can look like real people,real machines, or sub-human figures offantasy. I am sure that as technologycontinues to improve, we will certainly

see more and more impressive and real-istic images produced by gamemachines.Nutritionists have always been inter-ested in the effect that hours in front ofa television or game monitor can haveon the health of a child. It has long beensuspected that children might gain toomuch weight by staying indoors towatch television or to play video gamesinstead of getting much-needed exer-cise by playing outdoors. There wasalso the problem that children glued tothe television set also tend to consume alot of non-nutritious snack items suchas potato chips and sugary soft drinks.Childhood obesity has indeed become amajor health concern. Overweight chil-dren are at risk of various chronic dis-eases such as diabetes, a condition thatused to be associated only with theolder set. There was and still is a con-cern that overweight children willremain overweight, or at least have agreater tendency to gain excess poundsas they grow into adulthood.

To research this area, I con-sulted the electronic databases onhealth and found a special issue of theJournal of Adolescence published earlyin 2004 that focused on the concernsover television and video game use.The reports are alarming.

First, what was clear from thestudies is that the majority (89%) ofvideo games in the market containsome form of violence. In addition, 50%of all video games depict violenceagainst another game character.Teenagers spent an average of 9 hoursper week playing video games, boysmore so than girls (13 hours/week forboys versus 5 hours/week for girls). Inaddition to video games, teenagerswatch television for an average of 25

hours/week and listen to music foranother 21 hours/week. Notwithstand-ing the fact that some teenagers do allthree activities simultaneously, the sumtotal is 55 hours of electronic entertain-ment per week.

In terms of content, twice asmany boys preferred violent gamescompared to girls. In turn, those whoprefer violent video games were morelikely to have a hostile attitude, morelikely to have arguments with teachers,more likely to engage in physical fights,and more likely to obtain lower gradesin school.

Some of the negative effects ofviolent video games can be explainedby the results of another article con-cerning desensitization. In essence, themore a child or teenager is exposed toviolent video games, the more he/shebecomes insensitive to actual acts ofviolence. In other words, our normalreaction to an act of violence such as ashooting or stabbing is one of horror. Achild or teenager accustomed to violentvideo games will react differently - hewill see it as much less of a horror. Inaddition, that child will not empathizewith the victim - that child will beunable to feel or to relate to the emo-tions of the victim. No wonder adoles-cents who prefer violent video gamestend to have what we perceive as a hos-tile attitude. Perhaps they have gonenumb to violence and begin to see it asa "normal" way of life. A third articlementions the fact that those exposed toviolent video games, even for only 10minutes, somehow gain a heightenedlevel of aggressive behaviour that theythemselves don't recognize.

Finally, there was an interest-ing article concerning on-line or inter-net gaming. The investigators studiedthe profile of people who playEverquest, an on-line game that isreputed to have more than 400,000players worldwide. This is a role-play-ing game where the player takes on hispersona of choice. Among the players,the teenagers turn out to be mostlymale. This group also tended to see thegame as being more important thaneither school or work, playing an aver-age of 26 hours per week on-line. Incontrast, the adults sacrificed theirsocial life instead of work (of course!),playing an average of 24 hours per

week on-line. Teenagers tend to like theviolence in the game more than theadults did.

It turns out that these psycho-logical and psychosocial effects of videogames were more alarming to me thanjust weight problems. It is true that achild whose obesity is partly due tophysical inactivity due to televisionwatching or video gaming may eventu-ally develop chronic disease requiringlong-term care. The cost of such healthcare will be absorbed by our health-caresystem. However, antisocial behaviourmay actually be more costly in the long-run in many respects. There can be pos-itive aspects of video games: it doesimprove reaction times and hand-eyecoordination. There are reports thatsome players derive greater self-esteemby winning video games. The technol-ogy can also be used effectively asteaching or training aids. However, Ido believe that we need to be concernedand be ready to do something about theproliferation of violent video games.One encouraging note: one article in theissue found that the negative effects ofviolent video games were attenuated orlessened when the parents had controlover the length of time their childrenspent in front of the game machines, aswell as on the type of games that theyplayed. Parents, take note!

New Scientific StudiesReveal MechanismsBehind Rooibos’ RedTea Leaves

Anticarcinogenic, Antimuta-genic & Antioxidant Health Bene-fits.

(Santa Barbara, California) Newscientific studies provide evidencethat rooibos red tea may protectagainst cancer, skin cancer, heartattack, and stroke, just as SouthAfrican Bushmen and Hottentotshave claimed for centuries. Rooibos(pronounced roy-boss), the antioxi-dant-packed South African herbalred “tea” bursting with full, smooth,fruity, sweet taste and free of caf-feine and tannins, has taken U.S.tea drinkers by storm with its com-bination of great taste, soothingeffect, and health benefits including

The North American Filipino Star Page 21December 2004

Marcel TremblayAssociated Councilor - Intercultural Relations

Councilor, Decarie District

Merry Christmas and a happy new year

Joyeux Noël et Bonne AnnéeMay you and your

family enjoy the Holiday Season

UNIVERSAL NET ENTRPLRISE wishes to thank its customersfor their continued patronage. We wish everyone HappyHoldays and a Prosperous New Year.

physical defenses against somedeadly diseases. Now, that’s a com-forting cup of tea!

Recent laboratory research onred tea’s potent, unique antioxidantcomposition (rooibos contains cer-tain antioxidants not found in greenor black teas) reveals that rooibosmay help protect against free radi-cal damage that can lead to cancer,skin cancer, heart attack, andstroke. Previous studies showedthat rooibos teas are antimutagenic,i.e., they protect against inducedDNA damage, both in vitro (in thetest tube) and in vivo (in live ani-mals). The newest studies examinethe mechanisms behind those find-ings. Results: rooibos red teaappears to enhance the activity ofcertain important carcinogen-detox-ifying enzymes in the liver andenhance the liver’s overall antioxi-dant capacity.

Rooibos teas may also offer newways to fight the alarming increase

in cases of skin cancer. In skincancer model studies, researchersfind that rooibos tea extractsinhibit promotion of canceroustumors in mouse skin.

“We concluded that rooibosextracts interfered with skin can-cer in its promotion [later develop-ment] stage. This provides the firstevidence of such a protective effectfor rooibos teas,” states Jeanine L.Marnewick, MSc., Senior ResearchScientist at the Program on Myco-toxins and Experimental Carcino-genesis at the Medical ResearchCouncil of South Africa in Tyger-berg. “We are conducting furtherstudies to elucidate the possiblemechanisms involved in this pro-tective effect.” Marnewick, whoseresearch examines the chemopre-ventive properties of South Africanherbal teas and is funded by theMedical Research Council of SouthAfrica, the Cancer Association ofSouth Africa, the Rooibos Forum,

and the Department of Trade andIndustry, also conducted the liverenzyme and antioxidant capacityrooibos studies.

“The results obtained from therooibos study look very promisingto us,” explains Marnewick.“Mouse skin that was topicallytreated with the rooibos extractsbefore cancer promotion showed a75% decrease in the developmentof skin papillomas. The develop-ment as well as the size of the skinpapillomas were also delayed anddecreased, respectively. This studyhas been repeated and the resultsconfirmed.”

Skin is the body’s largest organand serves as a protective barrieragainst environmental onslaughtssuch as ultraviolet light and chem-ical carcinogens. Well aware of therising incidence of skin cancer,Marnewick and her team used askin cancer model developed inmice to monitor anticarcinogenicprotective effects of rooibos teas.The multi step model usedincludes both cancer initiation andpromotion steps.

Cancer initiation is an irre-versible process and is mostlyunavoidable because we are con-tinuously exposed to physical andchemical carcinogens, but promo-tion has been described asreversible,” says Marnewick. “Thisprovides researchers with anopportunity to interrupt or delaythe development of genetically

altered (mutated) cells. DNA dam-age can lead to cancer developmentand rooibos showed protectiveeffects against DNA damage whentested in an in vitro assay as well asin an animal system, or in vivo.”Extracts of both fermented andunfermented rooibos teas, whichare unique to South Africa andnoted for their marked antioxidantactivities, are being tested as possi-ble chemopreventive agents in thiscancer model.

Foods that contain dietary sub-stances that modulate or preventcancer may play a role in the gen-eral well being of humans, espe-cially if they are easily available andinexpensive. For a compound suchas tea to be considered a chemopre-ventive agent, researchers mustfirst conduct a battery of pre-clini-cal tests, both in the test tube andin whole biological systems (e.g.animals). Marnewick’s team is inthe process of completing thesetests. They have confirmed that thein vitro antimutagenic activity ofrooibos also exists in animal stud-ies, with no adverse effects. inter-fere with iron absorption

Rooibos is exported to manufac-turers and wholesalers in the USAand Canada. For trade inquiries callHerbal Teas of Africa at toll free877-433-3832. For media inquiriescall Christie Communications at805-565-4122. For more information,visit these web sites at www.rooibos.usor www.rooibosltd.co.za.

The North American Filipino StarPage 22

PHONE: 514-340-8222 (4077)Email: dr_e_pin@yahoo.ca

DR. EMILIA C. ESPIRITU

CHIRURGIEN DENTISTE / DENTAL SURGEON

5790 COTE DES NEIGES RD.,SUITE A-024MONTREAL, QUEBECH3S 1Y9

EntertainmentOsang made it big in the movies. Itwas supposed to be a mutual deci-sion between them because thatwas the only way they'd be together– for Tito to hang around duringOsang's location shoots.

Unfortunately, this arrange-ment didn't work out well becauseOsang eventually got disillusionedworking so hard, while her husbandwas just there – bumming around.In one episode of Startalk aroundyear 2000, I remember her say onthe air, "May ibang tao diyan –batugan!" While she didn't mentionany name, people close to her knewthe person she was referring to.

For Tito, she set up severalbusiness: a salon that eventuallyclosed shop, a farm in Antipolo andthe BBC auto repair shop (thatturns into a pub at night) alongKalayaan Avenue in Quezon City .

She now runs BBC – with thesupport of some people she hashelped financially in the past. Onthe day she took over the auto shop,she was horrified to see "only P10 inthe cash register."

Once more, she is gathering thepieces of her life together – this timeminus a home companion. Maybenot for long? You see, as soon asword got around that she had sepa-rated from Tito, there formed a bee-line of suitors and admirers (someof them politicians) at her doorstep.

Osang is actually legally free toget married because her marriage toTito (in January 1994) – so she dis-covered too late – is null and voidsince he was previously married toanother person.

But Osang is not about to takeanother plunge into marriage rightaway. Her attention is now focusedon daughter Grace who is givingbirth (to Jolo Revilla's child) eitherin late January or very early Febru-ary.

Happily separated. That isRosanna's state of being shortlyafter the collapse of her 11-yearunion with Tito Molina, son of thelate great jazz artist Lito Molina andgrandson of National Artist forMusic, Antonio Molina.

They've separated many timesbefore, but they'd patch things upand always he'd come back. Thistime, however, she's shutting thedoor on him – for good. The reasonsfor their separation are said to beabout money, infidelity and loss oftrust.

For a time, Tito worked as con-sultant for the GSIS, but he would-n't even give her his contact numberthere and she got terribly hurt bythat. However, she still felt relievedthat he took the effort to go back towork again.

A product of the PMA (althoughhe dropped out eventually), Tito – acomputer whiz-worked for a whileat Camp Crame . When he metOsang one early morning in theearly '90s at Bakahan andManukan and instantly fell in lovewith her, he was getting P40,000 amonth (a big amount then) at theAsian Development Bank.

He quit his job, however, when

Rosanna Roces, happyto start over again

Claudine is achameleon

On screen, Claudine Bar-retto is a chameleon. As Lena in"Kailangan Kita," she pleads guiltyof falling in love with the man herelder sister is supposed to marryand we forgive her for doing so. In "Milan ," she shatters the traditionalnotions on loving and needing andwe yearn to learn some more life-changing lessons from her. In Clau-dine's hands, what are otherwisestock characters transform intoindelible celluloid feats for futuregenerations of movie aficionados togo back to again and again.

Next on the actress' careeritinerary is "Lihim," a suspense-drama from her home studio StarCinema. Earmarked for an early2005 playdate, Claudine reuniteswith her "Mula sa Puso" and "Marina " leading man DietherOcampo and gets to work for thefirst time with Jericho Rosales.

"It's an exciting combinationand the role of Pilar is very chal-lenging. Although I must admit nanung una, I was a little apprehen-sive about our director (Cholo Lau-rel). He's from the advertising worldkasi. Pero as the shooting pro-gressed, I discovered that for some-one who's directing his first featurefilm, he's really good," Claudineshares in her birthday lunch withthe entertainment press in July (sheturned 25).

After the groundbreakingfantaserye "Marina" bid farewell lastNovember, everyone has naturallybeen anticipating the acknowledgedTeleserye Queen's return to prime-time drama. Amid reports that sheis being tapped to do the smallscreen adaptation of an old VilmaSantos potboiler, "KampanerangKuba," Claudine says she'd rathertake a much-deserved break first.

"Hindi ko na siguro gagawinyun (Kampanerang Kuba) kasiparang ang dami nang nakakaalam.So iba naman. We'll do anotherproject."

Life these days, Claudineadds, has never been as breezy. InJuly, she became custodian to thenow-six-month-old Sabina Natasha.

"When I found her on mydoorstep, she was very, very thin.She had diaper rashes, didn't even

know how to drink milk or suckfrom a bottle!" Claudine recounts inan exclusive story on StarStudiomagazine's October 2004 issue.

"They say, 'ang suwertenaman ng batang yan,' not realizingthat I'm the lucky one. This is myjoy, my Sabina. She changed mylife."

Sabina's arrival, for one, sig-naled the end of a two-year animos-ity between Claudine and the Yans,the family of her former boyfriendRico who died in his sleep two HolyWeeks ago while vacationing on aPalawan resort.

"It's not really importantwho made the first move (betweenme and Geraldine Yan, one of Rico'stwo sisters). I appreciate the factthat finally, there's closure."

The rift, however, among theBarretto sisters (Gretchen Barrettoon one end and the whole Barrettoclan on the other) still awaits a sim-ilar closure. After Claudine airedher side of the story in July, withGretchen answering back and theirmother Inday Barretto pouring herheart out on the issue, the heat hasrelatively simmered down.

Perhaps time will serve asthe ultimate healer. For now, Clau-dine is having the time of her lifeplaying motherhood to the hilt ("The

December 2004

Hapy New Year

Page 23December 2004 The North American Filipino Star

new rule in the house," she says, "isthat at 7:30 in the evening, it's alllights out and only Mozart lullabiescan be heard.").

And very soon, sometime in2006, marital bliss will be all hersfor the taking as she walks downthe aisle with fiancé Raymart Santi-ago in what promises to be the wed-ding event to watch out for. At longlast, the perennial bridesmaid inher friends' weddings (she caughtthe bouquet in Gladys Reyes' Janu-ary 2004 wedding to ChristopherRojas) will be playing the mostdemanding role she could ever hope

Fernando Poe, thePhilippines’Schwarzenegger

MANILA: Fernando Poe Jr, whodied on December 14, after having astroke, was one of the Philippines’best known and best loved tough-guy actors who topped a successfulacting career with a failed bid forthe presidency.

Supporters of Poe, who was 65when he died in a Manila hospital,worshipped him as the champion ofthe underdog, a role he perfected onthe silver screen.

But his critics mocked him as adim-witted film star who wouldhave led the Philippines to ruin if hehad become president.

In a country in love withcelebrity, Poe was the biggest moviestar around, a self-made millionairewho was loved by the man-in-the-street for his depiction of heroeswho overcame huge odds to protectthe oppressed.

Known simply as “Da King” orby his initials “FPJ”, Poe droppedout of school at 15 and built a suc-cessful movie career and film busi-ness. His production company FPJProductions is said to be one of thebiggest in the country.

Outside of the Philippines, Poewas a relatively unknown figureuntil he decided to stand in thisyear’s presidential election despitehis total lack of experience in poli-tics. He promised very little to thevoters.

“Breakfast, lunch and dinner”was the slogan of his faltering cam-

paign, which saw the actor blow ahuge opinion poll lead to arrive atelection day trailing incumbent Glo-ria Arroyo.

To the half of the Philippines’population who live on under twodollars a day, Poe’s simple messageoffered hope and brought backmemories of Joseph Estrada, themovie star president forced out ofoffice in 2001 by a military-backedrevolt.

Poe’s campaign was more aboutshowbiz than politics. His aideswere film stars, his bodyguardsstuntmen and he liked to pepper hiselection speeches with some of hismost famous one-liners.

But he proved to be a disas-trous candidate and lost the elec-tion to Arroyo by more than one mil-lion votes.

Some of his closest friends havesaid that he was reluctant to standfor the presidency and only did it asa favour to his old friend and actingbuddy Estrada.

Born Ronald Allan Kelley Poe,the son of film star Fernando Poeand an American mother ElizabethKelley, Poe always seemed destinedfor a life in the movies.

He changed his name to Fer-nando Poe Junior to bank on hisfather’s popularity.

He dropped out of high schoolafter his father died and took a jobas a messenger in a film exchangeoffice. Later he took bit parts as astuntman for Everlasting Picturesbefore being given his first real act-ing role in the film “Son of Palaris”in 1950.

Poe’s biggest break was in thefilm “Lo Waist Gang” in 1956. Itmarked the local cinemas shift fromthe fantasy world of costume pro-ductions to the trendy realism ofaction movies. He starred in some

200 films specialising in RobinHood-style guerrillas and honestcops who overcame fearsome odds,corrupt politicians and gangsters tosecure victory for the common man.

Just as Arnold Schwarzeneggeris “The Terminator”, Poe was “Pan-day” or “The Ironsmith”, a workingclass hero who struck down chal-lengers with a giant magic swordmodelled on King Arthur’s Excal-ibur.

Through his years in the spot-light, Poe had guarded his privacyclosely and tried to cultivate animage of incorruptibility, revealinglittle about his supposed storybookmarriage to fellow movie star SusanRoces.

However the image slipped a lit-tle in February when Poe was forcedto admit he had fathered a child outof wedlock with a minor starlet,denting his reputation as “MrClean.”

He leaves his wife and daughter,Mary Grace.

Philippines sendsemissary to pollJapanese business onentertainers

sider its plans to enforce stricterrules that will include requiringentertainers to show proof of twoyears of training or two years of pro-fessional experience.

The Philippines has yet to for-mally convey to the Japanese gov-ernment its position on the matteralthough Filipino officials say theyhave started efforts to seek recon-sideration by Japan.

Ang said his trip to Japan con-sisted of "very quiet legwork."

"I did not meet officials. My taskwas merely to feel the private sectorpulse...and also to help mobilizepublic support in Japan," Ang saidin a telephone interview.

Ang was in Japan from lastThursday to Sunday. He was sentthere by Arroyo "to see the real sit-uation on the ground."

"We want to find out if theJapanese businessmen share thesentiment of their government," Angsaid.

Ang is preparing a set of recom-mendations to Arroyo that includeissuing a statement that the Philip-pine Embassy in Japan may use "tocorrect" impressions of Filipinoentertainers.

"My recommendation is for thegovernment to issue a statement tothe effect that Filipinos are worldclass entertainers. They undergorigid training before they are sentthere," he said.

Foreign Affairs SecretaryAlberto Romulo said the Philippinesmay dispatch officials to ask Japanto continue accepting Filipinos cer-tified as entertainers in the Philip-pines.

Filipino entertainers and theiragencies fear the new Japaneserules will render their certificationuseless and eventually cause unem-ployment.

Tuesday December 21, 6:36 PM (Kyodo) _ The Philippines last

week dispatched to Japan one ofPresident Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's advisers to get "the pulseand sentiment" of Japanese enter-tainment-sector businessmen onplans to impose stricter visa regula-tions on foreign entertainers, manyof whom come from the Philippines,it was learned Tuesday.

The four-day visit to Japan byDante Ang, chairman of the Com-mission on Filipinos Overseas, isapparently part of governmentpreparations to ask Japan to recon-

The North American Filipino Star December 2004Page 24

Col. Camilo Tiqui (Ret.)

Bomber is gone!Where is Bob? Josephine, are

you still in California? TacianaIgnacio, and Bomber can no longerbe able to attend yearly reunions inTarlac with governor Aping (Jose)Yap to reminisce on WWII and theLiberation. Capas Memorial Monu-ment is now naturally beautifulwith environmental values becauseof Conservation Consciousness ofthe Boy Scouts and Reservists ofthe Philippines.

This August 2004 marked the30th year of looking up to a reunionwith cousins born in the Philippinesduring the year of WWII and theLiberation (1944 - 1946). Taciana,Ignacio, and cousin Bomber aregone. Like President Manuel. Que-zon, who was born on August 19th, they share their lives to eternity.We can say they died with their"Boots on" in North America, whichthe Filipino Star would record in thehistory of civilization. They are par-takers in the Great Generation

which the Washington D.C. Memor-ial for WWII veterans will honor thisyear's opening.

Taciana (a Jew) an ImmigrationCanada Judge during Prime Minis-ter Mulroney's time, and herbrother Ignacio (Joe) Tiqui, LittonSystems computer scientist respon-sible for the realization of the Sam-paguita Filipino Village of Missis-sauga for senior citizens in Ontario;and Bomber (Ocampo) Moran,action Villain movie actor will bemissed. Their "Spirits Live On" withus, as we splash into the China Seathat beats on the sandy beaches ofZambales at San Antonio andCapones Islands, this coming Sum-mer vacation in the Philippines.VFP Tourism V-12 starts in Novem-ber till April (Fall of Bataan) to rem-inisce onWWI - WWII.

By the way, as a memorial note,Bomber Moran, was chubby,strong, handsome, energetic, cute,with curly hair,, moreno, during hischildhood, and rode horses in Tar-lac. He was born when B-29s werecarpet bombing strong fortifications

set by theJapanese War machine inManila and Okinawa. He grew inSan Juan and Mandalayong and afriend of the Estradas. He servedwith the Bureau of Customs whenErap was President. He immigratedto the U.S. (after Pres. JosephEstrada stepped down from Mala-canang). Cecilia, his mother (wid-owed by Roming Ocampo) residespermanently in California and usedto visit the Philippines to havereunions with Eduard (Amang ofthe NBI), Brother Anong's childrenand their families, and RubenNu?ez Clan. Danny Ocampo, aBarangay captain in Mandaluyongwill take care of the remains ofBomber. Cecilia, a cousin of GenMarcos Villa Agustin (the famousMarking Guerrilla Comdr) servedthe underground, and met RomingOcampo in Pangasinan preparingfor Gen Douglas MacArthu's Lin-gayen landing. Bomber is a son ofWWII veteran freedom fighter clanof Luzon.

Bob and Josephine (knee Tiqui),leave a note with the Filipino Starof North America, and share with us(son and daughters of WWII) yourpresent status. Telephone GilmoreCollege (514-485-7861) and giveyour support to "Investing in Con-servation" to solve mass poverty inour home country of our roots.

Tourism V-12Sons and Daughters

WW II, VFP

The intangible giftsof Christmas

Some evening between now andDec. 24, I have a seasonal date withdomesticity. I'll set up the ironingboard, turn the iron dial to Linen,put on a CD of the "Messiah," andbegin a mundane but pleasurabletask: ironing yards and yards of adamask cloth that will grace ourChristmas dining table.

As the iron sweeps rhythmicallyover the damp cloth, little puffs ofsteam rise, along with little puffs ofmemories. This annual reverie ofChristmases past recalls other holi-day tables the cloth has covered asit made its way from my grandpar-ents' home to my parents' to ours.It's a chance to consider the intan-gible gifts of Christmas passedalong from generation to generation.In this case, it's the gift of hospital-ity, symbolized by the tablecloth.

Who can say how many familymembers and friends have cometogether around this shiny damaskover the decades, or how much con-versation and laughter they haveshared? The word family is stitchedinvisibly along its length.

It's also a reminder that the bestChristmas memories often have lit-tle to do with presents under thetree - though don't tell that to the

Page 25December 2004 The North American Filipino Star

merchants hoping to ring up anestimated $220 billion in sales this season.

As the snowy fabric spills overthe ironing board, I think of anothercherished holiday legacy: the gift ofculinary traditions. Our recipe boxholds my mother's Christmasfavorites, handwritten on 3-by-5-inch cards in her neat script: Cran-berry Pudding, Spritz Cookies,Snow Drops, Cranberry Bread.Nothin' says lovin' like somethingfrom the oven, according to Pills-bury, and for most of us, Mom's (orDad's) holiday cooking says it best.

In the living room, my father'sChristmas songbook in the pianobench offers another holiday legacy:music.

To flip through pages of tradi-tional carols, along with sheetmusic for popular favorites, is torecall Christmas Eve sessionsround the piano, singing everythingfrom "Silent Night" to "Winter Won-derland." Never mind if we weresometimes off-key; it's the familyspirit that counts.

And then there's the all-impor-tant legacy of charitable giving,passed down by parental example.No holiday shopping outing as achild was complete until we hadmade a donation, however small, tothe red Salvation Army kettle, orplaced a small toy in a Toys for Totsbarrel. The kettles and barrelsoffered visible evidence that other

families needed help.Now that Target and some shop-

ping centers are banning red ket-tles, how do children learn aboutthis kind of sharing?

Finally, there's the legacy of thefamily Christmas tree itself. Humbleor grand, a Christmas tree is an actof generosity - time-consuming andoften messy, but irreplaceable as aconveyer of traditions. (Memo tograndparents everywhere: Be care-ful about the traditions you jettison.

If you do give up trees, offer yourornaments to your children andgrandchildren. How I wish I had anornament from each of my grandmothers' trees to hang on ourown.)

As the final wrinkles disappearfrom the tablecloth and I turn offthe iron, I know that damask isprobably an endangered species:too much work for a permanent-press era. No matter. It's not thefabric that counts, but the act ofgathering around the table, reaf-firming connections and a seasonaltruth:

Long after the gifts under thetree are used up, worn out, out-grown, or given away, the unwrap-pable holiday offerings - hospitality,favorite recipes, music, charity, andtrees - will go on giving.

Happy birthday, Rommel on your Natal Day, November 11

From Dad and LettyRommel owns a small business in OAKVILLE, Ontario. He rebuilds racecars from scrapped old autos of FORD with brother Napoleon. His shop,TAG Motor Sports, is well operated. Both brothers were BSP delegates toNorway ‘’74 Jamboree. They intend to visit the trees they planted on Mak-abulos mountains of Patling (O’Donnel) Capas, Tarlac 30 years ago. Theywill plant mango trees for Philippine conservation and eco-tourism in Cen-tral Luzon in April 2005.

December 2004The North American Filipino StarPage 26

The True Story of Santa Clausbegins with Nicholas

The true story of Santa Clausbegins with Nicholas, who was bornduring the third century in Patara, a vil-lage in what is now Turkey. His wealthyparents, who raised him to be a devoutChristian, died in an epidemic whileNicholas was still young. ObeyingJesus' words to "sell what you own andgive the money to the poor," Nicholasused his whole inheritance to assist theneedy, the sick, and the suffering. Hededicated his life to serving God andwas made Bishop of Myra while still ayoung man. Bishop Nicholas becameknown throughout the land for his gen-erosity to those in need, his love for chil-dren, and his concern for sailors andships. Under the Roman Emperor Dio-cletian, who ruthlessly persecutedChristians, Bishop Nicholas suffered forhis faith, was exiled and imprisoned.The prisons were so full of bishops,priests, and deacons, there was noroom for the real criminals -- murder-ers, thieves and robbers. After hisrelease, Nicholas attended the Councilof Nicaea in 325 AD. He died December6, 343 AD in Myra and was buried in hiscathedral church, where a unique relic,called manna, formed in his grave. Thisliquid substance was said to have heal-ing powers which fostered the growth ofdevotion to Nicholas. The anniversary ofhis death became a day of celebration,St. Nicholas Day.

Through the centuries many storiesand legends have been told of St.Nicholas' life and deeds. These accountshelp us understand his extraordinarycharacter and why he is so beloved andrevered as protector and helper of thosein need.

One story tells of a poor man withthree daughters. In those days a youngwoman's father had to offer prospectivehusbands something of value -- adowry. The larger the dowry, the betterthe chance that a young woman wouldfind a good husband. Without a dowry,a woman was unlikely to marry. Thispoor man's daughters, without dowries,were therefore destined to be sold intoslavery. Mysteriously, on three differentoccasions, a bag of gold appeared intheir home -- providing the neededdowries. The bags of gold, tossedthrough an open window, are said tohave landed in stockings or shoes leftbefore the fire to dry. This led to thecustom of children hanging stockings orputting out shoes, eagerly awaiting giftsfrom Saint Nicholas. Sometimes thestory is told with gold balls instead ofbags of gold. That is why three goldballs, sometimes represented asoranges, are one of the symbols for St.Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver.

One of the oldest stories tells of thetownspeople of Myra celebrating thegood saint on the eve of St. Nicholas'feast day. A band of Arab pirates fromCrete had come into the district. Theystole treasures from the Church of SaintNicholas to take away as booty. As theywere leaving town, they snatched ayoung boy, Basilios, to make into aslave. The emir, or ruler, selected Basil-ios to be his personal cupbearer. As hedid not know the language, Basilioswould not understand what the kingsaid to those around him. So, for thenext year Basilios waited on the king,bringing his wine in a beautiful goldencup. For Basilios' parents, devastated atthe loss of their only child, the year

passed slowly, filled with grief. As thenext St. Nicholas' feast day approached,Basilios' mother would not join in thefestivity, as it was now a day of tragedy.However, she was persuaded to have asimple observance at home, with quietprayers for Basilios' safekeeping. Mean-while, as Basilios was fulfilling his tasksserving the emir, he was suddenlywhisked up and away. St. Nicholasappeared to the terrified boy, blessedhim, and set him down at his homeback in Myra. Imagine the joy and won-derment when Basilios amazinglyappeared before his parents, still hold-ing the king's golden cup. This is thefirst story told of St. Nicholas protectingchildren -- which became his primaryrole in the West.

Another story tells of three theologi-cal students, traveling on their way tostudy in Athens. A wicked innkeeperrobbed and murdered them, hidingtheir remains in a large pickling tub. Itso happened that Bishop Nicholas, trav-eling along the same route, stopped atthis very inn. In the night he dreamed ofthe crime, got up, and summoned theinnkeeper. As Nicholas prayed earnestlyto God the three boys were restored tolife and wholeness. In France the storyis told of three small children, wander-ing in their play until lost, lured, andcaptured by an evil butcher. St.Nicholas appears and appeals to God toreturn them to life and to their families.And so St. Nicholas is the patron andprotector of children.

Several stories tell of Nicholas andthe sea. When he was young, Nicholassought the holy by making a pilgrimageto the Holy Land. There as he walkedwhere Jesus walked, he sought to moredeeply experience Jesus' life, passion,and resurrection. Returning by sea, amighty storm threatened to wreck theship. Nicholas calmly prayed. The terri-fied sailors were amazed when the windand waves suddenly calmed, sparingthem all. And so St. Nicholas is thepatron of sailors and voyagers.

Other stories tell of Nicholas savinghis people from famine, sparing thelives of those innocently accused, and

much more. He did many kind and gen-erous deeds in secret, expecting nothingin return. Within a century of his deathhe was celebrated as a saint. Today heis venerated in the East as wonder, ormiracle worker and in the West aspatron of a great variety of persons-chil-dren, mariners, bankers, pawn-brokers,scholars, orphans, laborers, travelers,merchants, judges, paupers, marriage-able maidens, students, children,sailors, victims of judicial mistakes,captives, perfumers, even thieves andmurderers! He is known as the friendand protector of all in trouble or need(see list).

Sailors, claiming St. Nicholas aspatron, carried stories of his favor andprotection far and wide. St. Nicholaschapels were built in many seaports. Ashis popularity spread during the MiddleAges, he became the patron saint ofApulia (Italy), Sicily, Greece, and Lor-raine (France), and many cities in Ger-many, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Rus-sia, Belgium, and the Netherlands (seelist). Following his baptism in Constan-tinople, Vladimir I of Russia brought St.Nicholas' stories and devotion to St.Nicholas to his homeland whereNicholas became the most belovedsaint. Nicholas was so widely reveredthat more than 2,000 churches werenamed for him, including 300 in Bel-gium, 34 in Rome, 23 in the Nether-lands and more than 400 in England.

Nicholas' tomb in Myra became apopular place of pilgrimage. Because ofthe many wars and attacks in theregion, some Christians were concernedthat access to the tomb might becomedifficult. For both the religious andcommercial advantages of a major pil-grimage site, the Italian cities of Veniceand Bari vied to get the Nicholas relics.In the spring of 1087, sailors from Barisucceeded in spiriting away the bones,bringing them to Bari, a seaport on thesoutheast coast of Italy. An impressivechurch was built over St. Nicholas'crypt and many faithful journeyed tohonor the saint who had rescued chil-dren, prisoners, sailors, famine victims,and many others through his compas-sion, generosity, and the countless mir-acles attributed to his intercession. TheNicholas shrine in Bari was one ofmedieval Europe's great pilgrimage cen-ters and Nicholas became known as"Saint in Bari." To this day pilgrims andtourists visit Bari's great Basilica di SanNicola.

Through the centuries St. Nicholashas continued to be venerated byCatholics and Orthodox and honored byProtestants. By his example of generos-ity to those in need, especially children,St. Nicholas continues to be a model forthe compassionate life.

Widely celebrated in Europe, St.Nicholas' feast day, December sixth,kept alive the stories of his goodnessand generosity. In Germany and Poland,boys dressed as bishops begged almsfor the poor-and sometimes for them-selves! In the Netherlands and Belgium,St. Nicholas arrived on a steamshipfrom Spain to ride a white horse on hisgift-giving rounds. December sixth isstill the main day for gift giving andmerrymaking in much of Europe. Forexample, in the Netherlands St.

Nicholas' Day is celebrated with thesharing of candies (thrown in the door),chocolate initial letters, small gifts, andriddles. Dutch children leave carrotsand hay in their shoes for the horse,hoping St. Nicholas will exchange themfor small gifts. Simple gift-giving in earlyAdvent helps preserve a Christmas Day

focus on the Christ Child.

HANDOG PASALAMAT NG

SMSERVICES CANADA

MALIGAYANG PASKO 2004Handog pasalamat ng SM Services Canada ngayong Pasko

SM started as a small company with the main desire of serving the Filipino community in Montreal. It wasthe thought of myself being miles away from my family, longing to provide and make them happy even in myabsence that drove me to establish SM Services Canada. Though how hard the struggles were, surpassingmany winters ... all these were nothing compared to the happiness and comfort that we were able to extend toour loved ones back home.

The past years have been fruitful because of the support and trust you gave me. I just wanted to give itback to you. I want us to continue sharing the fruits of our labor to our “kababayan.” Knowing the ongoingeconomic crdisis in our country, I’ve started the SM Scholarship Grant last year in my hometown which is send-ing poor but deserving students to school. A dollar out of every box we send goes to the education expenses ofthese students.

This year, SM is giving a special promotion which will provide extraordinary low delivery rates for yourbalikbayan boxes. This is my own little way of thanking each and everyone for your loyalty.

Here’s wishing you love, joy and the peace of this Blessed Season.With all sincerity, I remain your brother, your family, your friend in Montreal.

Sol Mendoza

SPECIAL RATES EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2005MANILA - $59.99

OUTSIDE METRO MANILA - $84.99LUZON - $89.99

VISAYAS - $94.99MINDANAO - $99.99

Tawag na kayo!!! Sa serbisyong mabilis,segurado at mura pa --- magaan sa bulsa.SUBOK NA MATIBAY SUBOK NA MATATAG

514-928-4318 Less$10.00Hatid sa

warehouse

OFFICE / WAREHOUSE3150 DE MINIACVILLE ST. LAURENT, QC

OTTAWA * MONTREAL * QUEBEC CITY * HALIFAX * NEW BRUNSWICK

Sol Mendoza

December 2004 The North American Filipino Star Page 27

The North American Filipino StarPage 28 December 2004

Gilmore College is an accredited delivery partner ofthe Forum for International Trade Training. (FITT).

Gilmore College4950 Queen Mary Road PenthouseMontreal, Quebec H3W 1X3E-Mail: enquiry@gilmorecollege.comWebsite: www.gilmorecollege.com

Established 1989

Snowdon

Build your future today!Enroll now at Gilmore College

Call 514-485-7861

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année.Maligayang Pasko sa inyong lahat!

• International Trade(C.I.T.P.)

• Office Automation

• Language Courses -English, French, SpanishMandarin, Tagalog

• Accounting/Bookkeeping

• Computerized Account-ing

ACCPAC Simply Accounting

• Microsoft OfficeWord, Excel, Access,Powerpoint

• Desktop Publishing

• Legal or Medical Secretary

Studetns and alumni with their family and friends at their annual Christmas party, Dec. 12, 2004

Fax: 514-485-3076

Gilmore College Administration