Asian Journal June 10, 2011 edition

Anime Expo in Los Angeles .. p 8

Pentecost Sunday: The True Indenpendence

... p 15

The original and first Asian Journal in America

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M. BeauchampMsgr. Gutierrez EntertainmentPhl fi lm on women bags

NYC SoHo Int’l Film Fest award.. p 13

(Continued on page 23)

June 10 - 16, 2011




It’s a long-distance love affair that works. Teresita Calderon-Alarcon, former president of the World Bank Group-International Monetary Fund Filipino Staff Asso-ciation, has been feeding the hungry in the Philippines for almost 18 years—from 10,000 miles away.

Alarcon, now based in Leesburg, Virginia in the United States, founded Feed the Hungry Inc. (FtH) in 1993 with her husband Pablito. The non-profi t organization, based in the same state, does more than what its name indicates.

Filipina feeds hungry in Philippines from 10,000 miles away

Teresita Calderon-Alarcon

Aside from holding feed-ing programs across 80 provinces, the organization has constructed classrooms, housing projects and water systems, granted scholar-ships and donated educational supplies, initiated livelihood programs, and rendered ca-lamity assistance and medical missions for the needy in the Philippines.

“When we saw fi rst-hand hungry children roaming the streets, digging in garbage cans to look for food, out-of-school children begging, watch-your-car boys loiter-ing when they should be in school, I thought I had to continue helping as long as I can—it’s the least I could do for my own country and people,” Alarcon says.

Bridging the distance

The Commission on Filipi-nos Overseas (CFO) recently lauded Alarcon as one of 2010’s Presidential Awardees for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas.

“In conferring the Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino Award to

Mapait na KabihasnanKuwento ni Alberto Segismundo Cruz

Ang kabihasnan ay minsang pang nanagumpay sa kabundukan.

Iyan ang sadyang masasabi sa pagkahikayat sa mga magulang na Igurote na mapababa sa kapa-tagan ang kanilang mga anak upang diumano’y papag-aralin at “nang mangaging tagapagmulat ng liping dapat na maging bihasa sa pagtatanggol man lamang ng sariling mga karapatan”. ..

Nang tumulak ang pangkat ng kabataang nahikayat ng mga punong-abala sa kilusang ito ng misyon ng mga Protestante sa Hilaga ng Lu-son ay kasama si Pad-leng, ang lalabinganiming taong batang lalaking Igurote, na sa mga pinili ug mga misyonero ay siyang natatangi sa kaganda-hang lalaki, sa kalusugan ng pangangatawan, at sa pagkakaiba ng kulay na anaki’y isang tubo sa kapatagan.

Unang hakbang na ginawa ng mga misyoner-ong Protestante ay ang pagbibinyag sa mga batang Iguroteng ito, at sa kabutihang-palad, si Pad-leng, ay nabinyagan sa pangalang itinumpak sa pag

Editor’s note: Rarely do we encounter a beautiful story of industry, struggle and success in the America, the land of milk and honey. Below is the story of Patricio and Estelita Corpus who are celebrat-ing their Golden Wedding Anniversary written in their own words. The Asian Journal is proud to share their story with San Diego’s overall community, not with the Filipino Americans alone. Their story makes us proud of our fellow Filipinos and inspires people, especially the young to follow one simple formula for success: industry and dedication to one’s work.

An Inspiring Story

Filipino-American Couple in Escondido Celebrate

Fiftieth Anniversary

Recent photo of the couple

Wedding day

Patricio F. Corpuz was born and raised in Villasis, Pan-gasinan and after high school graduation he went to school at the National University in the city of Manila, Philippines with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Bach-elor of Science in Sanitary Engineering. After graduation he needed to take his Board Review but decide to teach his fa-vorite subjects, Physics and Math. He was hired by a Catho-lic priest and assigned to a Catholic high school on Itogon, Mt. Province, Philippines where he met his wife who would be teaching at the same high school. They were both young at this time and after a few months of courtship he brought his wife-to-be to his hometown of Villasis Pangasinan where

Filipino human traffi cking fi ghter Cecilia Flores-Oeban-da is one of the winners of the World’s Children’s Honorary Award in the 2011 World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child.

The chair of the Visayan Forum Foundation, a multi-awarded nongovernment organization that fi ghts human traffi cking, shares the award, a recognition accorded child rights advocates from around the world with Monira Rah-man of Bangladesh, who was cited for helping victims of acid attacks, and Murhabazi Namegabe, who has long worked for the release of child

Cecilia Flores-Oebanda

Filipina child rights hero honored with World’s Children’s Prize

soldiers and sex slaves in his native Democratic Republic of Congo.

Another Filipino makes it big in Hollywood.

Filipino-American Mark Dacascos plays Wo Fat, Steve McGarrett’s arch-nemesis, in the hit US TV series Hawaii Five-0, a remake of the popular 70’s TV show.

Aside from the series, Mark also joined Danc-ing with the Stars, and is more popularly known as The Chairman in Iron Chef America.

Fil-Am actor stars in US TV series Hawaii Five-0

Mark Dacascos(Continued on page 11)

By Willy Arcilla

Amidst the vicious spiral of endless tur-moil, the world needs a new brand of leaders. And Filipinos are well-qualifi ed to fulfi ll that role. The vast majority of books and literature, seminars and confer-ences on “Leader-ship” have been based hitherto on western philosophy and experience.

Little has been written about the “Filipino” brand of leadership. Yet there are

Filipino brand of Leadership in a Global Village

countless examples of effec-tive Filipino leadership being

exercised throughout the world through our


Page 2 June 10 - 16, 2011Asian Journal - (619) 474-0588 Visit our website at http://www.asianjournalusa.com

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Legal BuzzLaw Offices of Chua Tinsay & Vega

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by Atty. Aurora Vega-Buzon Esq.

Read Atty. Aurora Vega’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

In 1992, Roger was petitioned as a married child by his mother, a Unit-ed States citizen. His visa is now available and his mother is about to pay for the visa fees and affidavit of support fee for Robert, his wife and 3 minor children. However, in 2003, when Robert came as a tour-ist, he attempted to file a divorce in Nevada 2 weeks after his arrival. In the divorce petition, he claimed he was a resident of Nevada for the last 3 months. The Court found out that he lied in the court papers filed and after investigation, he was charged and convicted for perjury and was sentenced to 3 months in county jail although he was released after only 30 days in jail.

In 1999, Editha came as a tourist and within 3 months, paid a man-power agency in Los Angeles who matched her with a company in LA’s garment district willing to file an H-1B working visa petition for her. The H-1B petition was denied for being bogus and fraudulent as there was no real job or position avail-able for her in the company. Editha stayed on for another 7 months but eventually went home in 2000. Her father immediately filed a petition for her as a single child of a perma-nent resident. Now, her visa is also available.

Due to past criminal and immigra-tion violations, Roger and Editha may be inadmissible (meaning they are barred from getting their immigrant visas) – Roger, for his prior perjury conviction (which is

a crime involving moral turpitude); and Editha, for overstaying her tourist visa for over 6 months and, possibly for fraud (the bogus H-1B). Nevertheless, they may be entitled to waivers of inadmissibility and/or statutory exceptions under the Im-migration and Nationality Act (INA) and other federal laws.

Waivers of inadmissibility are available if we can prove extreme hardship to qualifying relatives in the United States - that means Rog-er and Editha must submit evidence to prove that Roger’s U.S. citizen mother and Editha’s permanent resident father will suffer extreme hardship if visas are not granted to Roger and/or Editha.

For Roger, his 2003 perjury con-viction in Nevada may be eligible under the “petty offense excep-tion” under Section 212 (a)(2)(A)(ii) of the INA. The said exception provides that the bar to admission of an alien convicted for a crime of moral turpitude shall not apply if the alien (i) has committed only one crime involving moral turpitude; (2) must not have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment in excess of six months (regardless of the extent to which the sentence was ultimately executed); and (3) the offense must have a maximum possible sentence of one year. If Roger cannot avail of this exception, then he can file for a waiver under Section 212(h) of the INA.

Editha has 2 hurdles : the fraudu-lent H-1B petition and overstay

of her tourist visa for more than 6 months. A good immigration attor-ney should first challenge any find-ings by the United States Embassy that she had a knowing, active and deliberate role in the making of false statements, and in the filing of the bogus H-1B petition. If the Embassy finds fraud, she can file a “fraud waiver” under Section 212 (i) of the INA. Should there be no finding of fraud, Editha is still subject to the 3-year bar due to her overstay and for this, she can file a waiver under INA Section 212 (a)(9)(B)(v).

Approval of waivers is based solely on the discretion of the United States Attorney General. Favor-able discretion will be exercised if extreme hardship is clearly proven by a totality of factors affecting the parents of Roger and Editha, relat-ing to - health and medical condi-tions, other physical and emotional conditions, personal considerations, financial situation, gainful employ-ment, education, length of residence in the United States, presence of other family members in the United States, and other factors . A good quality waiver should contain cred-ible declarations and strong support-ing evidence explaining how each hardship factor will cause extreme hardship to Roger’s mother and Editha’s father. A good attorney knows it is not enough to submit just a stack of documents to the U.S. Embassy in Manila - to secure a favorable exercise of discretion, it is important to present an exhaustive and well-developed waiver applica-tion packet.

Atty. Aurora Vega-Buzon is a partner in Chua Tinsay & Vega, A Professional Legal Corporation (CTV) - a full service law firm with offices in San Francisco, San Diego and Philippines. The information presented in this article is for general information only and is not, nor in-tended to be, formal legal advice nor the formation of an attorney-client relationship. Call or e-mail CTV for an in-person or phone consultation to discuss your particular situation and/or how their services may be retained at (415) 495-8088; (619) 955-6277; [email protected]

Inadmissibility: Waivers and relief

Bill’s Corner

Read Bill Labestre’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Bill Labestre, MBA

You really wanted to keep your beautiful dream house but, the mortgage payments and property taxes are killing you. You have applied for loan modifications but all your applications went nowhere. How long can you live like this with uncertain future? When will you realize that your house isn’t worth keeping for?

Of course it is not easy to make a decision when emotion and pride are involved. What would your friends say when they find out that you lost your home to foreclosure? How hard is it for you to live in a rental home or apartment again?

Some people have already tapped their retirement funds or maxed out their credit cards to stay afloat. Others have filed bankruptcy to get rid of second mortgages, unsecured loans and other liabilities. A few have postponed retirement to main-tain their lifestyles. How long can your old body sustain such a stressful life?

Maybe you and your spouse have to sit down and discuss your current financial status. Try to figure out your current liabilities and estimate the value of all as-sets including retirement savings. Find out the fair market of your home and compare with your loan balance. Is it really that bad?

Unless extended again, the tax exclusions given to those qualified homeowners will expire on 12/31/2012. Any cancelled or forgiven debts will become ordi-nary income. Try to imagine how much federal and state taxes you may owe after losing your home that’s worth less than your loan balance. Welcome to reality.

Well, some people still expect that the housing market may

recover soon. They can hardly give up their second homes or time share properties. They still want to keep their luxury cars with monthly payments that are beyond ridiculous. Maybe they also hope to win the Lotto to fix all problems. They failed to real-ize that their old bodies and mind are getting weaker everyday.

For those who stopped paying their mortgages and property taxes, you better save money to pay income taxes later. You may only qualify for the standard tax deduction. It’s a good idea to change your tax withholding right away. Call your Tax Pre-parer or visit the IRS website for some help.

There are still many workers getting unemployment checks. Please remember that the income is subject to federal taxes so have taxes withheld. Even your regular retirement income and the social security benefits may still be taxable. Just because you retired does not mean you don’t pay taxes.

If you plan to retire this year, don’t get excited and cash out all your deferred accounts like TSP or 401K. The amounts may not be subjected to a 10% withdraw-al penalty but, will be treated as ordinary income. You can roll it over to an IRA and just take whatever you need. If you can, wait until next year to start taking it out since your gross income will be lesser and you will also pay less taxes.

It’s always a good idea to ask advice from a professional and not your friends or co-workers. You may end up paying more taxes because of a free but a wrong financial advice.

Decision TimeBy Florence F. Hibionada/ PNS

A hanging footbridge in Tigbauan, Iloilo could very well be a candidate for “the longest hanging footbridge” in the province.

With P3,029,489.20 in project cost, the distinction though would not be on its actual length but on the con-struction period.

Too expensive and too long to build, affected residents said with sentiments laid down in a Petition sent to Mayor James Excelsior Torres and members of the Tigbauan Town Council.

“It has been almost three years since Typhoon Frank destroyed the previ-ous bridge and since then, up to now, we had to endure the difficulty and in-convenience of crossing the Sibalom River on foot or by a small boat or walking through a fragile bridge made of bamboo,” the Petition went.

A similar yet stronger plea to the members of the Tigbauan Municipal Council with the signatories calling for the immediate completion of the project.

“We have been informed that out of the three million pesos allocated by the municipality for the construc-tion of the said suspension bridge, 2.9 million has already been paid out to the contractor who won the bidding for the said bridge construction proj-ect. In addition, we have also been informed that the said construction work is as of now, a long way past the time limit stipulated in the construc-tion period,” the group said while adding “We further demand there-fore, that the contractor be penalized in accordance with the terms of the contract for not finishing the said con-struction project within the prescribed time. We have suffered long enough because of this delay.”

Worse, locals reached by Philippine News Service (PNS) said the hanging footbridge’s foundation collapsed and is currently undergoing massive rehabilitation works. PNS is unable to confirm the incident however a picture obtained showed a leaning foundation to date.

…..as locals fear defects, await

completion of P3M ‘under construction’

footbridge

Page 3Asian Journal - (619) 474-0588 Visit our website at http://www.asianjournalusa.comJune 10 - 16, 2011

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Light &Shadows

Read Zena Babao’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Zena Sultana Babao

Power shifts. Governments rise and fall. For every shift in power there are consequences, and reverberations for every conflict. What happens in the Middle East affects the United States – and in turn affects us, our safety, our way of life, our Christian faith – and even our very lives.

Country after country in the Middle East and North Africa has been rocked by turmoil and sweeping political unrest. Tuni-sia was first, followed by Egypt, then Libya and Bahrain, and lately, Yemen and Syria. And then there’s the centuries-old conflict between Israel and its neighbors who are hell-bent on wiping this tiny state off the face of the Earth.

Across the Middle East/North African region, giants among men have fallen in disgrace. Massive protests led to the ouster

of long-entrenched dictators in Tunisia and Egypt. Government officials have been forced from office. Civil war broke out in Libya, and Muammar Gaddafi is on the run, or is in hiding.

In Bahrain, a state of emergen-cy was declared following waves of protests. Demonstrations led to economic concessions, release of political prisoners, and dismissal of ministers. In Ye-men, the president’s palace was attacked by protesters. President Ali Abdullah Saleh was wound-ed, and as of this writing, is recovering in a hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Yemen poses the greatest threat to Western security because it is

the hotbed of al-Qaeda. When neighboring Saudi Arabia broke the back of its own al-Qaeda insurgency, many of the group’s members moved across the bor-der to Yemen. Yemen has since become the base for international terrorism and the most active source of attack in the West.

Meanwhile in Syria, President Bashar Assad’s regime is said to be using Mafia-style gunmen to carry out some of the most brutal attacks against the protesters. The gunmen belong to a pro-Assad militia called Shabiha, which supposedly runs protec-tion rackets, smuggling rings and other criminal enterprises while providing muscle for the regime. With continued dissent, Assad’s grip on power is threatened.

Will the continuing turmoil and instability in the Middle East result in the triumph and emergence of Western-style of democracy, as many of us hope?

Or will the era of autocratic rul-ers morph into an Islamist con-federation spanning the Middle East, and thus more trouble for America?

People in the West, especially here in the United States, are hoping and praying that democ-racy will take hold. However, their kind of democracy, if it comes about, would be vastly different from the kind of de-mocracy we have here.

A lead editorial published by The Economist points out that “religion is a growing force in the Arab awakening.” The edito-rial acknowledges that “Islam is bound to play a larger role in government in the Arab world

More Unrest Sweeping the Middle East

than elsewhere. Most Muslims do not believe in the separation of religion and state.”

Another cause for concern is the role that the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood would play in the future. This organization is be-lieved to wield a big hand in the Middle East uprisings. Centered in Egypt, the Muslim Brother-hood sees free elections as the way for them to achieve power.

The Constitution of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was estab-lished in 1928 and is posted on the Arabic (but not in English) website of the Muslim Broth-erhood of Egypt (http://www.ikhwanonline.com), states that one of the primary goals of the organization is establishing an Islamic state that will apply Sha-ria, the Islamic law.

Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service said: “I, for one, have absolutely no illusions about what the Muslim Brother-hood is, or can be. It can be a social organization. But it is at heart, in my view, a terrorist organization.”

Some leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood are also leaders of Al Qaeda, like Ayman Al Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s first lieutenant. Jihadists are supporting and exploiting Arab Spring, as the uprisings have been dubbed. If power falls into the hands of Islamic jihadists, this would not bode well for America and for the rest of the free countries in the world.

Israel, the only democratic country in the Middle East, has been in conflict with the Palestinians and other Islamist countries hell-bent on wiping this tiny state off the face of the Earth. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his worries about the outcome of the con-tinuing Middle East turmoil. He is afraid that the Jewish nation will have more dangerous days ahead.

Israel has lost an ally with the overthrow of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak. Further insta-bility on its borders may occur if more regimes are swept away. There is also speculation that Syrian President Assad’s dif-ficulties may be an opportunity for the fundamentalist regime of Tehran, Iran, to deepen its hold across the region.

It is the opinion of Dr. David Jeremiah (TV evangelist and pastor the Shadow Mountain Church in El Cajon) that the shifting political structure in the Middle East may lead to increased radicalism; or, in the positive side, could provide new openness for the Gospel to be disseminated to everyone.

“The twists and turns of history are under God’s providential control,” Jeremiah said, “and it’s best to watch so we can take advantage of open doors for evangelism while awaiting our Lord’s return.” -zsb

Metamorphosis

Read Ernie Delfin’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Ernie Delfin

by Alex LacsonRotary District 3780 (Combined

Membership Meeting)4 June 2011

To all the seekers of what is true and what is fair and right, to all the pursuers of the com-mon good, to all my brothers and sisters in the Rotary family . . .

I speak before you today with so much faith in the Filipino, with so much faith and con-fidence in ourselves, that we Filipinos have the power within us, as a people, to eventually find the answer to the many questions in our country, to eventually find the solution to the many prob-lems in our nation, and that we will eventually be able to bring our people and our nation to the path of progress and prosperity.

I firmly believe that we Fili-pinos, as a people, have within us the same powerful spirit that moved the Americans of yester-day to build their America of to-day, the same powerful spirit that moved the Koreans of the 1960s and 70s to build their South Korea of today. We Filipinos, as a people, have within us the same powerful spirit that moved our neighbour Singaporeans and Malaysians of yesterday to build the kind of countries they have for themselves today.

I firmly believe that the Filipino possesses deep within himself the same powerful spirit. The Filipino is no less great than these peoples. The Filipino is as great as any of the great peoples in the world!

Today, please let me talk to you about this spirit – this power from within.

There is an old Chinese saying that goes – “You will only be as great as the spirit that lives within you.”

This spirit could be found in a person. It could be found in a family, or in a group, in an army, or in a people.

In a person, we usually refer to it as the person’s passion, or determination, or burning desire. For instance, many boxing ana-lysts say that Manny Pacquiao is different from other boxers because of his discipline, his determination to practice more, his burning desire to learn more, to perfect his plan and his execu-tion. This discipline emanates or springs from something deeper within – a powerful spirit that is within Manny Pacquiao.

Two weeks ago, when I re-ceived the invitation to speak to you today from incoming DG Jess Cifra thru a dear friend and Rotarian Ernie Delfin of Orange County California, I was actu-ally in New York, launching and promoting my new book. I was on my way to Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida, to join my wife and kids for a short vacation.

When my family and I were at the Magic Kingdom in Dis-neyworld, I went to a Hall that showed a 20-minute video entitled “The Spirit of America”. The film was a pleasant surprise to me. In that video, they showed the spirit of the great Americans of yesteryears – in fighting for liberty and equality, in fighting for the kind of America their Founding Fathers dreamt for the American people. They showed those Americans who, despite their many problems, pursued new ideas that changed and brought science and technology to completely different levels; those Americans who pioneered great inventions that changed how the world lived, among many others. Truly, it was one of the best videos about the spirit of a people that I had ever seen in my whole life. It was one of the most effective tools for indoctrination, morale-boosting, and patriotism-seeding that I had ever watched.

There was a line in that film that I could not forget. It goes like this – “Only if this spirit of greatness remains with us, that we can remain to be great! Fly high sons and daughters of America! Continue to fly high in the sky!”

They refer to this spirit as the

“Pursuing our Dream Philippines: Rotary’s Role”

spirit of greatness – the spirit to dare and to be bold; the spirit to seek for new frontiers and pursue new ideas that could change the world for the better; the spirit to aim high and to dream big; the spirit to conquer the sky and to do great things.

They call this as the “Spirit of America.”

Believe me, if you were an American watching that 20-min-ute film, you would come out of the mini-theatre definitely proud and happy as an American.

I believe that this spirit of greatness is also within us Fili-pinos as a people, residing deep in each one of us. But whether that spirit is alive or dormant is another matter we should try to answer.

But before I go there, let me share with you another story.

When I was in the US for the whole of May last month, I read this book entitled “Start-up Na-tion: The story of Israel’s Eco-nomic Miracle”, written by Dan Senor. Israel is just 64 years old as a country, with almost zero natural resources, with around 7.3 million people, located in the Middle East, surrounded by countries that want to obliter-ate Israel from the face of the earth. But despite all these handicaps, Israel today is one of the richest economies in the world, with more companies listed in the Nasdaq (the world’s stock exchange) than those all of Europe, China, India, Japan, Korea, and Singapore combined. The Jews in the world are among the wealthiest today. So what are the secrets to Israel’s economic miracle?

Dan Senor, the book author, said there are intangible fac-tors that are very important that created this economic miracle in Israel. One of these intangible factors, he says, is the spirit

among Israeli people. Dan Senor observes that among Israelis to-day, their people’s love for their family is normal and natural. You can see it and you can feel it. But their people’s love for their country is also as normal and natural as their love for their families. Dan Senor says it is almost 50-50. Their love for their family and country is almost 50-50, 50% for their family and 50% for their country. With that formula, with that equation, they are able to ensure the survival of both, the survival of their family as well as the survival of their country Israel, which as we all know is surrounded in the middle east by countries that want to obliterate Israel from the face of the earth.

The spirit among them, or the culture of the people in Israel, is that they love their family and their country in equal measure. While they promote their busi-ness, they also promote their country.

This is a spirit of greatness, the same spirit that I saw in the film – “The Spirit of America”.

This is the same spirit of great-ness that the Japanese people showed after World War II. After the atomic bombing of Hi-roshima and Nagasaki in 1945, which killed a combined num-ber of almost 120,000 Japanese people within a month after the bombing, the Japanese showed the same fervor for their fami-lies and country. Their love for their family and for their country stood almost in equal measure, at 50-50, 50% for their family, and the other 50% for their country, although there were so many stories about some Japanese who showed greater love by sacri-ficing more for their country. The story of SONY, the world-famous company that produces electronic gadgets for the world market, the story of how it was founded is a prime example of this great love for their coun-try. SONY was founded by a group of soldiers who served and fought during World War II. After WWII, when Japan was defeated, they became depressed. When the founded SONY, the vision they crafted for the company was not for wealth or money, but to make the Japanese respectable in the world again thru the quality of their products. It was their love for their country that moved and motivated them



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Excludes: specials, super buys, shoes for her, furniture, mattresses, floor coverings, rugs, electrics/electronics, cosmetics/fragrances, gift cards, jewelry trunk shows, previous purchases, special orders, selected licensed depts., special purchases, services, macys.com. Cannot be combined with any savings pass/coupon, extra discount or credit offer except opening a new Macy’s account. EXTRA SAVINGS % APPLIED TO REDUCED PRICES.

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As part of the ongoing Trol-ley Renewal project on the Blue Line, on Friday, June 10, at 9 p.m. and continuing until the start of service Monday,* there will be no Trolley service be-tween the Harborside Trolley Station and the 12th & Imperial Transit Center.

A Trolley Shuttle will serve the Harborside, Barrio Logan and 12th & Imperial Trolley sta-tions. This shuttle will run in both directions.

This is the final series of station closures for the first phase of the project. Construction on this phase, which replaced overhead wiring on the Blue Line from San Ysidro to 12th & Imperial, is scheduled for completion on June 26.

Blue Line Closed between Harborside to 12th & Imperial The bus shuttle service will run

every 8-15 minutes during nor-mal Trolley service hours. Regu-lar Trolley service will resume in time for the start of service on Monday. Trolley service may resume earlier if construction is finished.

Trolley tickets, day passes, or monthly passes are required to board the Trolley Shuttle and Trolley Express bus services. No tickets are sold on board these buses.

The weekend closures on the Blue Line are part of the first phase of the Trolley Renewal project. When the four-year plan is complete, the Blue Line will be transformed with new station platforms, passenger shelters, 57

new low-floor trolleys, next ar-rival information and more.

The construction schedule for the next three weeks is:

June 10-12: Blue Line closed between Harborside and 12th & Imperial



MTS encourages riders to ex-pect delays and give themselves extra time when traveling. Rid-ers can find out more infor-mation online at www.sdmts.com/TrolleyRenewal.asp or by calling the bilingual hotline at 619.557.4533.

Filipino artists Ronald Ventura, An-dres Barrioquinto and Jon Jaylo stole the thunder from other Asian artists in the recently concluded Sotheby’s Spring 2011 sale of Modern and Con-temporary Southeast Asian Paintings in Hong Kong.

Total sales fetched a stunning HK$108 million / US$13.8 million, tripling pre-sale estimates.

The star of the auction was the world record sale for any Contempo-rary Southeast Asian Painting at auc-tion and for the artist Ronald Ventura. The thought-provoking piece – Gray-ground by the Filipino artist sold for HK$8.4 million / US$1.1 million.

There was strong interest in impor-tant and top quality artworks, proved by active participation in the room and over the phone throughout the sale, which led to numerous artist records, including Hendra Gunawan, Andres Barrioquinto, Samsul Arifin, Nguyen Gia Tri and Indieguerillas.

MOK Kim Chuan, Sotheby’s Head of Southeast Asian Paintings said, “Today’s total of HK$108 million set a record for a sale of Southeast Asian Paintings at Sotheby’s, established numerous artist records, and proves that quality pieces fresh to the market continue to be coveted.

Our strong results both for es-tablished names and for younger artists making their first appearance at auction demonstrate a market in a healthy state of expansion. The

Filipino artist breaks world record in Sotheby’s art auctiontop price of HK$16,340,000 paid for Indone-sian artist Hendra Gunawan’s Penari Ular (Snake Dancer) came after an extended bidding battle and was many multiples of the pre-sale estimate, setting a record for the artist.

The most extraordinary bidding competition of the day was for Filipino artist Ronald Ventura’s Grayground, a tour de force of hyperrealism and graffiti, was competed for by at least 15 bidders.

Bidding opened at HK$300,000 and after around 50 furious bids, Grayground eventually sold at an astonishing price at HK$8.4 million / US$1.1 million, which is over 24 times its high estimate to a phone bidder, setting a record for the artist and for any Contemporary Southeast Asian Painting at auction.

The previous record for Contem-porary Southeast Asian Painting was achieved by Sotheby’s Hong Kong when I Nyoman Masriadi’s The Man from Bantul (The Final Round) sold for HK$7,820,000 / US$1,000,725 in October 2008.

Filipino artist Jon Jaylo who was making his first appearance

at auction, also made a big splash. HK$275,000 was paid for A Song for Alice (est. HK$60,000), which shows the value of auction for top new pieces.

Sotheby’s said their “debut photog-raphy/new media session was well received, and our collecting base is growing with younger collectors en-tering and competing for new media pieces.”

Top lot of the sale, Hendra Gu-nawan’s Snake Dancer (Penari Ular), sold for HK$16.3 million / US$2.1 million (high est. HK$2.2 / US$283,000), setting world re-cord for the artist at auction. The price leaped from a starting offer of HK$800,000 to HK$7 million in the first minute and eventu-ally fetched HK$16.3 million after intense bidding, over seven times its high estimate (HK$2.2 million / US$283,000).


Proud to be of service to the modern Filipino heroHappy Independence Day to the Filipino community

© 2011 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC.

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13" x 10.5"

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Business and Finance

by: Belinda Summers

Appointment setting is one of the key marketing strategies that businesses employ for the hopes of generating interest and demand from their prospects and leads. Setting up appointments means that business owners or their sales representatives can personally meet with their prospects. This way they can immediately answer any ques-tion asked from said prospects and discuss personally what their company is offering.

There are numerous reasons why businesses from different industry appointment setting are quite a tedious task. One reason is it’s time consuming. Once an appointment has been set, it is the owner or the sales rep that goes to the pros-pects. There are times that the proposed meeting place will be a bit far hence it will take up some time. There might be some sacrifices that needs to be done within the business’ operations and this may cost them to lose out on other busi-ness opportunities.

So what is the best option for you to handle your appointment setting services?

The best answer to that ques-tion is to outsource these services to highly skilled tele-marketers. Outsourcing your appointment setting services to these call center agents can give a business tons of benefits no matter what industry they come from. Telemarketers can also cater to appointment setting ser-vices no matter the scale of the business organization. So even if your business is just starting

Outsourcing Your Appointment Setting Services

out, you can definitely gain a lot of benefits from outsourcing to these telephone marketing call center agents.

If you are wondering what these benefits are, here are some of them.

• Achieve more time for leisure• Reduced time for marketing• Enhancing capabilities for

innovation• Access to a broader sense of

knowledge• Focused core business opera-

tionsKnowing these benefits is just

the first part if you want to take full enjoyment out of these ad-vantages. The next thing we can do is to acquire a better under-standing out of these benefits. Let us take a look at them one by one to gain full understanding as to how outsourced appoint-ment setting can be beneficial for one’s business.

• Achieve more time for leisureLet’s face it, all work and no

play really does make a dull life. Outsourcing these services to telemarketing agents enables businesses to take a load off of their shoulders and maybe even spend some time to get their

much deserved rest and relax-ation.

• Reduced time for marketingFor appointments to be set, one

should first of all search for their prospects then catch their atten-tion. For businesses, this might take a lot of time to complete. Telemarketing companies have an extensive database that they can use at their disposal at any time that they wish. By doing so, the first few phases of the ap-pointment setting campaign can be cut off from the entire market-ing cycle.

• Enhancing capabilities for innovation

With the services outsourced, a business can expand its horizons to gather new business opportu-nities from clients of different in-dustries. This can be thoroughly

achieved by taking advantage of the knowledge, skill, experi-ence, and understanding of these expert call center agents.

• Access to a broader sense of knowledge

There are times that brand new business owners might become lost with the whole appointment setting campaign. Outsourcing to a telemarket-ing company provides instant mastery for the appointment setting campaign.

• Focused core business operationsAgain, let us face reality as ap-

pointment setting is not the only task for business to keep afloat. Outsourcing to telemarketing companies provides businesses with more time to spend on other core functions within the organization for it to survive and maintain its competitive edge.

There is no better way to mar-ket your services than doing it personally. This can make your prospects feel important thus chances of a possible business partnership. Telemarketing will bridge you and your prospects. One of the most important ben-efit you can get.

by: Julia Roberts

Mortgaging is kind of a col-lectivized loan that can affect you and your family for the entire lifetime if it is not worked out properly. People generally fall for deceptive advertisements boasting about best mortgage rates. The trend has been seen in the past and is continuing in present times also. Many people who have fallen in the trap of various companies offering the best mortgage rates in disguise have experienced such sei-zures. It is very important to go through each and every aspect of the mortgage deal that you are making. Do not get carried away by those deceptive adver-tisements that would make your life a disaster. A small mistake of one wrong signature and you would die paying installments for your mortgaged property. A thorough study of the entire plan and all its terms and conditions is very much necessary if you want to go for a safe mortgage plan with best mortgage rates. Buying a home would be the biggest investment that you will make in your life and you would not want anyone to fiddle around with it. Mortgaging is the option for various people who cannot afford to pay entire amount in a single go and thus they look for deals with best mortgage rates suitable for their pockets.

Always try to understand the power of credit limit that you can impose on your self. There have been many examples from the market, where people have actually got deals with Best Mortgage Rates, but due to their negligence and insufficiency, they have created loopholes for

Be patient while looking for deals with best mortgage rates

themselves and got trapped very badly. One needs to know how much he is capable of carrying off without letting him or her affect for his entire lifetime. If your relations with your bank are good, then they would also offer you some interesting deals with best mortgage rates. If you are their privileged clients, then you might be entitled for special dis-counts on mortgage rates. If you go into your loan search with a high credit score and a clean credit record, you would have a better bargaining power. If you have stains on your record, you should try to get them cleaned up before going into negotiations. If you can afford then hire a finan-cial advisor who can help you out with the entire deal making the most possible negotiations for you with the mortgaging company, credit union, Invest-ment Company or the banks with which you are dealing. As market is a notorious arena, therefore, each person should play careful in the mortgaging

business even if he is getting the best mortgage rates for his deal.

Always prefer fixed mortgage rates for your deals. That would prove to be beneficial and best mortgage rates and you would not regret anything about them. With the economic conditions going in the market, interest rates are bouncing like anything but if your deal has a fixed rates, then everything would pass by you leaving you unaffected. Proceed with your deal with sound mind and alert eyes and nothing would go wrong.

About The Author

Julia Roberts is a famous best mortgage rates his knowledge on mortgage. At Best Mortgage Rates Dotcom we know what is going on with rates and we are actively seeking the best deals for our customers! Visit: http://bestmortgagerates.com/.

The author invites you to visit:http://bestmortgagerates.com


ASIAN JOURNALThe first Asian-Filipino weekly in Southern California

An award-winning newspaper, it is San Diego’s most widely circulated Asian-Filipino newspaper!

Ashley SilverioAssistant Editor

In Pursuit of ExcellenceEugenio “Ego” Osin, (1946 - 1994)

Joe Cabrera, (1924 - 1996)Soledad Bautista, (1917-2009)

Dr. Rizalino “Riz” Oades, (1935-2009)

The Asian Journal is published weekly and distrib-uted in all Asian communties in San Diego County. Publication date is every Friday of the month. Adver-tising deadline is Thursday prior to publication date at 5 p.m. For advertising rates, rate cards, or information, call (619) 474-0588. Subscription by mail is available for $50 per year (56 issues). The Asian Journal is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and photo-graphs but welcomes submissions. Entire content is © 2009 copyrighted material by Asian Journal. Materi-als in this publication may not be reproduced without specific permission from the publisher.

Genevieve SilverioManaging Editor

Simeon G. Silverio, Jr.Publisher & Editor

Miles BeauchampAssociate Editor

Santi SilverioAssociate Publisher

At Large...

Miles is Assistant to the Dean and Assistant Professor in the Shirley Hufstedler School of Education at Alliant International University where he teaches new media and diverse writing courses. He has been with the Asian Journal since the 1990’s.

by Miles Beauchamp

Perspectives

by Dr. Ofelia Dirige Founder, President & CEO Kalusugan

Community Services. www.filamwellness.org

Contemporary Asian American Issues

And you thought July was going to be boring. Are you heavily into anime (Japanese animation) and manga? Want to be? You’re in luck.

Anime Expo has announced manga artists Izumi Matsumoto and Fred Gallagher as its latest Guests of Honor, when it returns to the LA Convention Center from July 1 – 4, 2011. Both Mr. Matsu-moto and Gallagher will partici-pate in a meet-and-greet, auto-

graph sessions and focus panels at Anime Expo. Izumi Matsumoto is the creator of the popular ro-mantic comedy manga, “Kimagure Orange Road,” first published in “Weekly Shonen Jump” in 1984. Teenage love triangle meets fan-tasy in this landmark manga that has been adapted into an anime series, novels and a radio drama. In 1990s, Mr. Matsumoto started the production of digital comics with Toshiba EMI, and thought up

the idea to read manga cell by cell on the computer monitor screen.

Right before starting a new serialization in “Super Jump” in 1999, he began experiencing the symptoms of cerebrospinal fluid disease and was forced to suspend his work. In 2004, he resumed his career as a manga-ka and hopes to bring attention to this disorder through his creative works. Mr. Matsumoto’s art will be shown at Anime Expo in GoFa (Gallery of Fantastic art)’s booth in an exhibi-tion titled “Nippon Cha Cha Cha – AX 20th GoFa 15th Memorial & 3.11 Charity Art Show.” The GoFa booth will be adjacent to Anime Expo’s art show area.

Megatokyo

Fred Gallagher is the author and artist behind the popular American manga title, “Megatokyo.” While strongly influenced by Japanese manga and anime, Fred also mixes in elements of American fan culture and other inspirations that only a non-Japanese creator could bring to the medium. “Megato-kyo” is released as a webcomic on www.Megatokyo.com. Recent print collections of Megatokyo are available from DC Comics. Dark Horse Comics will release an omnibus collection of the first volumes this fall.

Noted as being “the best-selling manga series ever by an American artist” by ICV2.com in 2005 and as one of “the 30 Most Important Comics of the Decade” by Comic Book Resources in 2010, “Mega-tokyo” holds its own against many popular Japanese created titles. In 2009 a Japanese edition of “Mega-tokyo Volume 1” was released in Japan, the first original English language manga title licensed by Kodansha for the Japanese market.

A multitude of guests

In addition to these new guests, the roster of Anime Expo 2011 Guests of Honor includes Japa-nese pop trio Kalafina, singing sensation Maon Kurosaki, Japa-nese TV Host and blogger Danny Choo, Volcaloid songwriter Onyx

Kobayashi, voice actress and singer Miyuki Sawashiro, voice actor Vic Mignogna, video game developer Sohei Niikawa, Crypton Future Media CEO Hiroyuki Itoh and Producer Wataru Sasaki.

In addition, Hatsune Miku will be Anime Expo’s first ever Virtual Guest of Honor. Themed the “Year of the Fan,” Anime Expo 2011 will fully immerse guests into the world of Japanese animation, manga (comic books), music and fashion. Anime Expo is a non-stop marathon of Japanese pop culture that’s been likened to Halloween in July. Additionally, there is an amazing opportunity for cultural immersion.

Expo

Held annually in Los Angeles, Anime Expo is North America’s largest anime and manga celebra-tion. Anime Expo gives fans the rare opportunity to meet and hear from some of the most famous anime, manga and musical artists from Japan and get into the action through everything from costume play, karaoke and video competi-tions to exclusive screenings, non-stop video gaming competi-tions and the wildly popular Mas-querade, in which fans transform themselves into their favorite characters through creative cos-tuming, accessories and make-up and put on their own show before an audience of thousands. AX 2011 will be held July 1 – July 4, 2011 at the Los Angeles Conven-tion Center. To register or for more information, visit www.anime-expo.org.

SPJA

The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to popularize and educate the American public about anime and manga, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between profes-sionals and fans. This organization is more popularly known by its entertainment property, Anime Expo®. For more information, please visit www.spja.org.

Anime Expo in LANorth America’s largest anime and manga celebration

Operation Samahan sponsored the third annual Asian Pacific Islander (API) Community Health Forum and Multicultural event on June 4, Saturday, from 10 AM to 4 PM at the Jacob’s Center, lo-cated at 404 Euclid Avenue in San Diego. It was a whole day affair consisting of two main speakers and two discussion panels, staff reports, food tour and entertain-ment. This event was funded by the Tides Foundation, The California Endowment, sponsor (COX) & vendors, and fundrais-ing activities.

PROGRAM

Joel San Juan, Executive Direc-tor of Operation Samahan gave the welcome remarks. The main speakers were Nick Macchione,

Asian Pacific Islander (API) Community Health Forum and

Multicultural EventDirector of San Diego County Health & Human Services Agen-cy, “ SD County Health Plan: Preparing the API community in SD for the 2004 Healthcare Reform Act Mandate”; and Lloyd Asato, Program Director of the Asian Pacific Islander Health Fo-rum (APIAHF), “The Affordable Health Care Act of 2014- What’s going on nationwide”.

Members of the first panel were: Dr. Susan Fernandez, UCSD Pediatrics Department, “Kawasaki Disease”; Khamph Southisombath, Lao American Coalition, “Health Issues in the Lao community”; Phal Chourp, Victoria House Corporation, “Community garden and Urban Agriculture”; Margaret Sanborn, Native Hawaiian Community, “Native Hawaiians in San Di-

ego”; and Alison Rae, Che’lu, Inc, “Chamorro Community: Guamanians or Chamorros?”.

The second panel included Anne Bautista & Joycelyn Cruz, AC-CESS, Inc, “Domestic Violence and the Health Care Reform”; Dr. Felicitas dela Cruz, Azusa Pacific University, “Health Conceptu-alization: Defining API Health”; Erendira Abel, Women’s Health Center, “Integrative Health: Acknowledging our Ancestors”; Michael Byun, ASIA Inc, Cleve-land, Ohio, “Social Enterprise”; and John Smith, Learning Alli-ances, Portland, Oregon, “Net-work Weaving.”

Jenna Wallace, gave a back-ground of the “API Community Health Network”, Natalie Vil-lanueva, the newly designed “API website and social media”, and Mary Grace Sadile, the “Community Based Participa-tory Research” or results of the last survey conducted on API’s. Dennis-Michael Broussard, Event Coordinator, introduced the staff, main speakers, panel discus-sants, and sponsors. He and Phal Chourp were also in-charge of entertainment. Other staff in-volved was Kristin Nonan, Steve Jackson, and Dipna Shetty.

FOOD TOUR

Food is integral to one’s ethnic & religious identity. Food culture is one of the most deeply in-grained forms of human behavior. Therefore, food must be under-stood within the context of cul-ture. There is definitely a relation-ship between food and culture. To understand a culture better, we need to be familiar with their food and vice versa, i.e., when we taste one’s food, then we will be able to understand or relate to someone’s culture better.

The Food Tour was the highlight of the event. It featured samples of healthy cuisines of countries that were part of the network. These included three Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines; and three Pacific Islander countries: Ha-waii, Guam and Samoa. Network members and community mem-bers submitted two recipes from their countries, preferably an

entrée and vegetable dish. These dishes were analyzed using the computer program Nutritionist Pro and modified to be healthy, i.e., low in fat, salt, sugar, salt and cholesterol. Modified recipes were tested and served during one of the API meetings. Thus, during the event, the outcome was an array of healthy yet delicious & tasty dishes that were wonderfully served by the chefs of the network and Jacobs Center.

The food tour was a combined effort by the members of the API-CHN members, staff, Jacobs Center and the community. It was spearheaded by Ofelia Dirige, DrPH, RD, network member representing the Filipino com-munity. The network members are three from Southeast Asia: Phal Chourp (Cambodia), Sandy Spackman (Laos) and Dr. Ofelia Dirige (Philippines); and three from the Pacific Islands, Gil Ontai (Hawaiian), Tanya Chargualaf Taimanglo (Guam); and Benson Mauga (Samoa).

A recipe book was written and compiled by Dr. Dirige, entitled, “Food and Culture: Asian Ameri-can and Pacific Islander Cuisine and Recipes”. This handbook briefly describes each country in the network, their people and food habits, and the modified recipes. Fourteen recipes were included but only eight were served dur-ing the event. The recipes served were: Cambodian Style Stir-Fry Chicken (Cambodia); Spicy Chicken Salad and Vegetable Medley Lao Style (Laos); Chick-en Adobo and Low Fat Chicken Pancit (Filipino); Low Fat Latiya Dessert (Guam); Lomi Salmon (Hawaiian); and Taisi Moa- Chicken Baked in Banana Leaves (Samoa). We are featuring three of these recipes in this article.

The chefs who prepared the dishes were: Phal Chourp, Cam-bodian; Christine Torres, Laotian; Point Point Restaurant, Filipino ; Denise Dudoit-Meyer, Hawaiian; and Jacobs Center, Chamorro and Samoa. The Filipino dishes are in the “Global Filipino Cuisine: Healthy Recipes”, authored by Dr. Ofelia Dirige, Dr. Riz Oades, and Dr. Aurora Cudal. This can be obtained from Kalusugan Com-munity Services by calling (619)

477-3392 or sending email to [email protected]

The API recipe book can be ordered from the API Community Health Network for $5.00, by calling (619) 471-5433 or send-ing email to [email protected]. In a future date, deliberations from the above speakers will be published by the network so be on the lookout for it. Call or email the network for more info.

***

DELICIOUS & HEALTHY RECIPES

CAMBODIANCambodian Style Stir Fry

Lemongrass Chicken

There are several versions of stir fry lemongrass such as the Viet-

namese and the Thai. Each region has their own uniqueness and distinctive flavor. This can also be said of the Cambodian Style Stir Fry Lemongrass. While some can just chop up stalks of lemon-grass then throw it into the stir fry, Cambodian style is rather a bit more complex. Cambodian stir fry lemongrass use what is called “kroeung”. This is a spice paste made of lemongrass, galangal root, turmeric, garlic and shallots. Made fresh in Cambodian kitch-ens daily, kroeung balances dif-ferent proportions of each spice, depending on the desired flavor of the dish in which it is used.

Yield: 6 servings Serving Size: 4 oz

Ingredients:½ Tbsp olive oil for frying½ cup lemongrass paste (Khmer

Kroeung)½ Tbsp finely chopped pahok

(optional)1 lb ground meat of chicken *2 medium jalapenos, sliced

lengthwise (adjust amount to taste)

2 tsps sugar1Tbsp fish sauce½Tbsp tamarind soup base½ cup of holy basil leaves

Procedure: Get your pan nice and hot with

oil.Once the oil is hot, toss in

lemongrass paste and pahok (if using) and stir the two ingredients together until fragrant.

Add the chicken or any choice of ground meat. Stir and break as you stir fry.

Add sliced jalapenos and the remainder of the ingredients. Quickly stir for 1-2 minutes to combine the ingredients and slightly cook jalapeno. Taste and adjust to your preference.

Turn off heat and add holy basil leaves.

Give it a final stir so the won-derful flavors mingle together.

Transfer to a serving dish and it is now ready to be served.

*You may use other ground meats such as pork, turkey or quail.

*The recipe can be obtained and the procedure viewed from Youtube.com (Cambodian Style Stir Fry Lemongrass).

Nutritional Information per Serving:

Calories: 178 Total Fat: 11 g

Protein: 13 g Cholesterol: 51 mg

Carbohydrate: 7 g Sodium: 316 mg

VEGETABLE MEDLEY LAO STYLE (SOOP PAK)

Yield: 20 servings Size of Serving: ½ cup

Ingredients:5 lbs of cut steamed vegetables

combined:

(baby mustard, Chinese cab-bage, regular mushroom,

green beans, snow peas, aspara-gus)

2 T roasted garlic, mashed1 cup shallot½ cup jalapeno peppers¼ cup lime juice1 Tbsp fish sauce1 Tbsp bouillon1tsp ground chili powder1 Tbsp ground black peppers2 Tbsps sesame seed, roasted½ cup cilantro

Procedure:

Mix roasted garlic, shallot, jalapeno peppers together and set aside.

Combine lime juice, fish sauce, bouillon, chili powder, and ground black peppers. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix steamed vegetable, garlic mixture and lime juice mixture.

Toss well so that all the ingredi-ents blend together.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and cilantro and toss again.

Serve cold as a side dish.

Nutritional Information per Serving:

Calories: 44 Total Fat: 0.7 g

Protein: 3 g Cholesterol: 0

Carbohydrate: 8 g Sodium: 163 mg

LOMI SALMONLomi salmon (commonly known

as lomi-lomi salmon) is a fresh tomato and sushi-grade salmon

salad combined with tomatoes, onions and chili pepper. It is typi-cally prepared by mixing canned or raw salted, diced salmon with tomatoes, Maui onions (or green onions), and some flakes of hot red chili pepper or crushed ice. It is always served cold. Other variations include salmon, diced tomato, cucumber, and chopped sweet onion.

It is a side dish in the Pacific Island cuisine. It complements traditional Hawaiian food consist-ing of raw diced ahi tuna, poke, kalua pig, laulau and poi. It is a classic dish and integral part of most Hawaiian parties and gather-ings such as traditional luaus. It was first introduced to Hawaiians by early western sailors. The term lomi-lomi (Hawaiian for “ mas-sage”) salmon is taken from the method of preparation where the shredding (dicing) and mixing of the salmon is done by massaging the salted fish with other ingredi-ents by hand.

Yield: 20 servings Size of Servings: 2 oz (1/4 cup)

2 small cans salmon (6.5 oz), shredded

5 medium tomatoes, diced5 green onion stalks, sliced1 medium onion, sliced1 tsp salt or to taste

Procedure:Combine first four ingredients.

Add salt to taste.Mix well and chill.Serve with taro chips.Reference: http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Lomi_salmonNutritional Information per

ServingCalories: 33

Total Fat: 1gProtein: 4 g

Cholesterol: 10 mgCarbohydrate: 2 g

Sodium: 213 mg

***

ANNOUNCEMENTKCS BOOKS DONATED TO

THE NATIONAL CITY LI-BRARY

Kalusugan donated several books written by Dr. Dirige, Dr. Riz Oades, and

others members of the staff to the National City Library. This includes:

Beyond the Mask, Global Fili-pino Cuisine: Healthy Recipes,

Essential Medina, Nutrition & Fitness Guides, Bayan Ko and others.

Please go to the Philippine Col-lection section or

contact Minh Duong, Librarian, (619) 470-5800


NEW PATIENT CLEANING

$40WITH THIS COUPON (Regular $115)

Includes full mouth exam, necessary x-ray & cleaning

This offer is for new patients without insurance.

by Atty. Susan V. Perez

Immigration 911

Read Atty. Susan Perez’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

Work Visas/Green Cards thru Employment• Family Visas• Student, Trainee, Tourist, Investors, Visas • Reinstatement of Petition • Deportation Defense• International Adoption• Appeals, Motions to Reopen/Reconsider• Battered/Abused Spouse• I-601 Waivers (Hardship)• Consular Support in Manila•

IMMIGRATION (619) 819-8648Speak directly with an Attorney

The Law Offi ces of SUSAN V. PEREZ offer the following services:

We also handle ALL PHILIPPINE cases and have an offi ce in Manila to service your needs there.

*Susan Perez is a licensed attorney both in the State of California and the Philippines. She has eighteen (18) years of combined experience in both jurisdictions in the areas of Immigration, Family, Appellate, Juvenile Dependency, Civil, Criminal, Labor, Contracts, Tax, and Business Law. She is also admitted to practice before the Ninth Circuit of the Court of Appeals, and the District Courts of Southern California and Central District of California.

Nagsasalita ng Tagalog asin Bicol.

By Appointment only from 9:00 to 5:30, Monday thru Friday.

San Diego Office: Manila Office:625 Broadway, Suite 1015 Suite 2502-A East TowerSan Diego CA 92101 Philippine Stock Exchange CentreTel. No. (619) 819-8648 Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig CityFax No. (619) 923-9555 Tel. Nos.: (632) 687-2565 / 687-9851 Email: [email protected] Fax No.: (632) 687-2565

Atty. Susan V. Perez

Visit our website: www.law-usimmigration.com

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Tel: (619) 477-5643 • Suite # 5

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Michael, a U.S. citizen, asked me if he can file a petition for his fiancée in the Philippines. The problem was his fiancée was a man at birth. She had a sex change but her birth cer-tificate still reflects her gender as “male”. I told him that the fiancée petition will be denied and explained to him why. There’s no law in the Philippines that I am aware of that autho-rizes courts to amend a person’s gender in his/her birth certificate or to issue a new birth certificate after that person undergoes a surgical sex change. The memo-randum issued by U.S. Citizen-ship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in January 2009 does not help Michael.

The January 2009 memo-randum provided guidance in adjudication of petitions and applications filed by or on behalf of transsexual individual. The memo was issued to comply with the principle enunciated in the case of Matter of Lovo-Lara, decided by the Board of Immi-gration Appeals (BIA) in 2005. This case involved a petitioner who was born in North Carolina, underwent sex change surgery, amended her birth certificate to reflect her sex change to female, married her husband in North Carolina and filed an I-130 petition on his behalf. The BIA noted that North Carolina does not permit same sex marriage, but permits amendment to one’s birth certificate, to reflect that one has undergone sex reassign-ment surgery. The BIA conclud-ed that whether sex reassignment surgery results in a change in

Spousal or Fiance (e) petition for transexuals

a person’s legal sex, for pur-poses of marriage, is determined according to the law in which the marriage took place. If the petitioner establishes that, under the law of the place of marriage, the claimed marriage is legally valid, monogamous, heterosex-ual marriage, the I-130 petition may be approved. Here, since the petitioner’s marriage to the beneficiary was considered valid under North Carolina law, the I-130 should be approved.

The basic principle of Mat-ter of Lovo-Lara is binding on USCIS, no matter where the marriage took place. Accord-ingly, the Adjudicator Field Manual (AFM) was revised to read as follows: “In the case of a spousal Form I-130 (or as ap-propriate, a widow’s or battered spouse’s Form I-360), a claimed marriage between two persons of the same birth sex, one of who has undergone sex reassignment surgery, is valid for immigration purposes if the petitioner estab-lishes by preponderance of evi-dence that: 1) one of the claimed spouses, has in fact, undergone sex reassignment surgery; AND 2) the person has taken whatever legal steps exist and may be re-quired to have the legal change of sex recognized for purposes of marriage under the law of the place of marriage; AND 3) the marriage is recognized under the law of the place of solemnization as a legally valid heterosexual marriage.” This rule also ap-plies to the adjudication of a Form I-129F on behalf of a K-3


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Read Sim Silverio’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Simeon G. Silverio Jr.

Chapter 17

“Sino iyang kausap mo (Who are you talking to)? Danny was surprised to hear his wife Mindy’s voice from behind. She had surreptiously snuck behind him while his girlfriend Margie was frantically telling him on the phone she was in jail.

Danny didn’t have time to con-tinue the conversation. He turned off the cell phone, afraid Mindy might grab it and rail at Margie at the end of the line.

“Nobody,” he told his wife.

“Anong nobody (What nobody)? Kausap mo na naman ang kulasisi mo ano (You are talking again to your girlfriend again)!”

But Mindy didn’t have the time to nag at her hus-band. The airline personnel announced it was time to board the plane, and they had to fall in line. Inside the plane, Danny took the aisle seat so their daughter Carol would be sitting in between him and his wife; thus, Mindy would not be able to nag at him. Besides, the window seat was always reserved for passengers travelling for the fi rst time, so she could see the view from above the clouds - a unique experience for fi rst timers. He had brought Carol to the United States before, and she was no longer as excited as her mom, who was riding a plane for the fi rst time.

But it was a 12-hour fl ight

His Cop Friendfrom Manila to Los Angeles for Danny. He was dying to know what Margie meant when she told him she was in jail. “How did she end up there?” Danny asked himself. The last thing he knew was Margie was supposed to go to a Cavite town to meet the prospective buyers of his club. There was nothing ille-gal about it that could land a person

in jail.

IT WAS DAYS LATER WHEN DANNY RE-CEIVED A CALL FROM MAR-GIE AGAIN. They were staying in the house of JR, his son, and he could not contact Margie after several attempts. Her cell phone simply would not ring.

“Why have you not been call-ing me?” he asked Margie.

“Bawal ang cell phone dito sa kulungan (Cell phones are not al-lowed here in jail),” she replied.

Inmates were allowed only to make calls once a day.

“Are you are really in jail?” he asked in disbelief, although she had already told him about her situation the last time they talked. “How did you end up there?”

Margie said she went to the Cavite town with the prospec-tive buyer of the club to meet his partners. While waiting for the partner to arrive inside the res-taurant, her companion excused himself to use the restroom.

“Bantayan mo ito (Watch this),” he told her, pointing to the small bundle he left on the table.

After a few minutes, two policemen approached her and asked: “What is this?”

They were pointing at the small bundle.

“I do not know,” she told them. “My companion left it there.”

“Where is he?” one of the cops asked.

“He went to the restroom.”The other cop went to the

restroom and came back empty-handed.

“Nobody is there,” he said.

The policemen opened the bundle and saw a heap of powder in it.

“Drugs ito, ha (These are drugs),” they told Margie. “You are a drug dealer.”

“No, I do not know any-thing about them. They’re not mine,” Margie pro-tested.But her protests were

futile, for the cops would not listen to her. She was arrested

and brought to jail.“Help me get out,” she pleaded

to Danny. “Masikip dito, maru-mi, mabaho, mainit at malamok (It is crowded dirty, smelly, hot and full of mosquitoes here).”

But Danny was helpless. He could not do anything.

“What about the baby?” he asked.

“She’s with my parents. I need to go home; my parents do not have money to feed and take care of her.”

Her parents were poor and de-pended on their daughter Margie.



Read previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjo-urnalusa.com

by Atty. Rogelio Karagdag, Jr.Member, State Bar of California & Integrated Bar of the Philippines

Phil - Am Law 101

TRICARE / UNITED CONCORDIA / MILITARYDELTA DENTAL & MOST INSURANCE ACCEPTED

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Loni has just turned 50 and al-though they still have many more productive years ahead of them, she and her husband Teddy are already planning their retirement. Their eyes shine in excitement every time they talk about going back to their hometown of San Pascual, Batangas. They have plotted the details. They will buy a nice house near her sister’s and stuff it with all the nice applianc-es from the United States. In fact, Loni has already bought several LCD televisions, blu ray players, components, computers, micro-wave ovens and even air con-ditioning from the black Friday sales. She doesn’t mind that these gadgets will already become old and possibly obsolete by the time

they settle in the Philippines. Actually, Loni and Teddy may

get their house sooner. Belinda, who lives a block away from Loni’s sister in San Pascual, has offered to sell them her house. Belinda will be migrating to the United States as a fiancée to join her U.S. navy boyfriend and needs to sell the house soon. There are other interested buyers so Belinda tells Loni that she must deposit some money to hold the property. Loni now comes to us for advice on how to proceed.

There are two recognized ways of depositing money to hold the property for sale. One is to put up option money. The other is to give earnest money to the seller. These two have different con-

cepts and legal meanings.An option money is something

you pay the seller on top of the purchase price. It is payment for the option to buy the property, and not payment for the property itself. Once the seller accepts your option money, she is under obligation not to sell the property to someone else until the op-tion period expires. On the other hand, the earnest money is like a down payment. It is part of the purchase price. It has the same effect of placing the seller under obligation not to sell the property to another person. To this extent, an option money and an earnest money are similar.

However, there are substantial differences between the two, which the Philippine Supreme Court outlined in the case of Oesmer, et al. v. Paraiso Dev. Corp., G. R. No. 157493, Febru-ary 5, 2007. Firstly, as we already mentioned, is that earnest money is part of the purchase price, while option money is the money given as a distinct consideration for an option contract. Secondly, an earnest money is given only where there is already a sale, while option money applies to a sale not yet perfected. Thirdly, when earnest money is given, the buyer is bound to pay the bal-ance, while when the would-be buyer gives option money, he is not required to buy, but may even forfeit it depending on the terms of the option. Finally, the option money is usually much smaller than the earnest money. It does not matter how little you give in option – it can be as little as one peso – as long as you give something of value.

So, in real terms, what did the Supreme Court say? Well, let’s cite a hypothetical scenario. Let us assume that Loni pays Belinda the amount of ten thousand pesos. Then, after a week, Loni finds a house just next to her sister’s and decides to buy it instead. What will be the legal consequences?

If the money paid by Loni is option money, then Loni forfeits it because she gave up her option to buy the house. Now, if it were earnest money, Loni will also most likely lose the ten thou-sand pesos. On top of losing the money, Belinda can also sue Loni for specific performance to force Loni to proceed with the sale and pay the balance of the purchase price. This is because they al-ready have a perfected contract in which they mutually agreed on the price and other terms. Loni cannot renege on her contractual obligation to Belinda without any justifiable reasons.

So Loni should make her choice depending in how sure she is in buying Belinda’s prop-erty. If she is determined to buy the house, does not mind that it is a block away from her sister’s, and does not foresee any chance of the sale not being able to continue, she should pay earnest money. However, if she is think-ing of scouting for other proper-ties – hopefully the one next to her sister’s -- and just wants to hold Belinda’s house for a few days, she can put up a nominal amount of option money to give herself enough time to decide.

Atty. Rogelio Karagdag , Jr. is licensed to practice law in both California and the Philippines. He practices immigration law in San Diego and has continu-ously been a trial and appellate attorney in the Philippines since 1989. He travels between San Diego and Manila. His office ad-dress is located at 10717 Camino Ruiz, Suite 131, San Diego, CA 92126. He also has an office in the Philippines at 1240 Apacible Street, Paco, Manila, Philippines 1007, with telephone numbers (632)522-1199 and (632)526-0326. Please call (858)348-7475/(858)536-4292 or email him at [email protected]. He speaks Tagalog fluently. Articles written in this column are not legal advice but are hy-potheticals intended as general, non-specific legal information. Readers must seek legal consul-tation before taking any legal steps.

Earnest or option money?

The three will receive their awards from Queen Silvia of Sweden in a ceremony in Stock-holm, Sweden and share a cash prize of $100,000.

30 nominees were considered during the search and selection process and at least 24 million children from 101 countries par-ticipated in the global voting for the annual awards.

Among its laureates are the beloved South African leader Nelson Mandela. A Jewish girl, Anne Frank, who wrote poems and stories and recorded her life experience during the Nazi regime for two years until she died in a concentration camp at age 15, was given a posthumous award.

“For me, this is the most important and precious award I have ever received because I got votes from the children for whom I’ve been fighting for for 20 years,” said Oebanda, who has received international recog-nition for her advocacy over the years.

She said she received some 3.2 million votes from around the world, 100,000 from the Philip-pines, over six months.

For Oebanda, her latest award serves as a fresh push to con-tinue her battle against human trafficking, a persistent trans-national problem that preys on some 300,000 Filipinos annually, including minors.

“It’s really a humbling expe-rience. It gives me more fire and strength and courage to do more,” Oebanda said.

“Sometimes, you think you’re alone in this fight. But you see that people are getting together. That’s why it moves me to tears to see the children. You’d see that we have hope in this world, that in our generation, there is a chance for change,” she said.

Murhabazi Namegabe of the Democratic Republic of Congo was awarded for his “long perilous struggle” to free child soldiers and sex slaves in his homeland.

Filipina child rights hero honored with World’s Children’s Prize

(Continued from page 1) “Since 1989, Murhabazi and his organization BVES (a French acronym meaning office of vol-untary service for childhood and health) have freed 4,000 child soldiers and more than 4,500 girls who have been sexually assaulted by armed groups and taken care of 4,600 unaccom-panied refugee children,” the organizers said in a statement.

In all, some 60,000 children have been helped to date by BVES, which today runs “35 homes and schools that offer some of the world’s most vulner-able children food, clothes, a home, healthcare, therapy, the opportunity to go to school, security and love,” the prize jury said.

- From Good News Philip-pines

Mark says that although he still has not met his family here in the Philippines, he hopes to get in touch with his Filipino roots soon.

“My father is Filipino. We have family somewhere in the Philip-pines. I was born in Hawaii so, unfortunately, I haven’t connected with them yet but hopefully I will someday. But my aunt and uncle, they dance Filipino dances, they were professional dancers. My father teaches martial arts, arnis, eskrima and kali,” he said.

Dacascos is a talented martial arts fighter. He has won numerous karate and various styles of kung fu championships between the ages of 7 and 18.

Beginning in January 2005, Da-cascos has portrayed “the Chairman” on Food Network’s television series Iron Chef America. This role was previously played by Takeshi Kaga in the original Japanese Iron Chef, and Dacascos’ character is presented as Kaga’s nephew, though the actors are not related.

Fil-Am actor stars in US TV series Hawaii Five-0

(Continued from page 1)


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Ganap na Babae (Garden of Eve), a film about women made by women directors, was award-ed Excellence in Cinematogra-phy in the recently concluded SoHo International Film Festival NYC (SIFFNYC).

In Ganap na Babae, produced by HUBO Productions, three stories are interwoven to see the plight of Filipino women from the sensitive eyes of three contemporary women directors – Rica Arevalo, Ellen Ramos and Sarah Roxas.

A prostitute, two sisters and a widow come together to tell their stories about womanhood. A woman (Mercedes Cabral) shares her soul as a prostitute in front of the camera. A survivor, she looks back at her life as a mother. Milagros (Sue Prado) and Elena (Jam Pérez) are sisters tilling sweet potato in a dry land. Poverty provokes Elena to migrate as a mail-order bride in Japan while

Milagros stays to take care of the family. Eos (Boots Anson Roa) is a widow who falls in love with a younger man, Rodrigo (Rome Mallari). They try to make the relationship work amidst the pressure of their family and the society.

Only seven awards were handed out and for the first time a technical award was up for grabs this year when Mient (pronounced Mint), a film distributor and major sponsor

Phl film on women bags NYC SoHo Int’l Film Fest award

this year, partnered with SIFF-NYC in the early planning of the festival and decided to recognize technical mastery via a Mient’s Pick for Excellence in Cinema-tography. Ganap Na Babae is the first recipient of the award.

HUBO CEO/resident director Will Fredo accepted the award and in his speech recognized the valuable contributions of Myk Manalastas and Gym Lumbrera, the cinematographers of the film.

Others in attendance were directors Arevalo and Roxas, and HUBO Productions presi-dent Greg Macaraeg, director Ida Ceniza Tiongson, and board member Fernell Cruz.

HUBO Productions is an in-dependent production company which aims to expose the com-plexity of the individual, thus its slogan “Raw Artistry Exposed.” - From Good News Philippines

REDWOOD CITY, CA, May 31, 2011 – It may have been Memorial Day weekend and many may have gone out of town with their families. But hundreds of Bay Area Filipi-nos trooped instead last May 28 to Seasons MarketPlace at Landess in Milpitas to participate in its first anniversary celebration. ABS-CBN’s The Filipino Channel (TFC) was right there to hold hands with Seasons in its festivities by present-ing “Padala Papremyo Sa Mayo (Surprises and Prizes in May)” sponsored by ABS-CBN StarKargo, a one-stop-shop for door-to-door shipments to the Philippines.

The anniversary program of Seasons, ably hosted by Filipino American community leader Ben Menor, started with an opening prayer from Rev. Andres C. Ligot, judicial vicar of the Diocese of San Jose. Then Milpitas Mayor Jose Es-teves and wife Susan were crowned as the Santacruzan’s Hermano and Hermana Mayores (literally Span-ish for older brother and sister, but acting as the leading lay persons for the needs of the Santacruzan, a folkloric reenactment of the ex-ultation of the Holy Cross in the Catholic tradition). Mayor Esteves, in his message, praised Seasons and

Community supports the South Bay retail & dining center with huge Santacruzanand entertainment

TFC celebrates Seasons MarketPlace’s 1st anniversary With Padala Papremyo Sa Mayo

encouraged his constituents to avail of the services and products that its merchants offer. He also encouraged all to take pride in Filipino traditions like the Santacruzan and promote Filipino culture wherever they may be in the U.S.

The Santacruzan procession – organized by Mr. and Mrs. Vi-cente Garcia – followed, creating an audiovisual landscape of music and colorful costumes of the cast of characters as they paraded around the block where the mall was lo-cated. Seasons Merchant Relations Consultant Girly Ramos introduced each participant as they returned to the events suite.

Seasons MarketPlace Director Dinna Bayangos presented Certifi-cates of Appreciation in recogni-tion of support to Mayor and Mrs. Esteves, Philippine Consul General (San Francisco) Marciano Paynor Jr., Reverend Ligot, and Mr. and Mrs. Vicente Garcia. Bayangos also received on behalf of Seasons a City of Milpitas Proclamation from Mayor Esteves proclaiming May 27, 2011 as the official celebration day of Seasons MarketPlace at Landess. Bayangos thanked the Mayor, all awardees and supporters and TFC for the partnership.

Following musical numbers from the Cantemus Filipinas Choir and Mabuhay Culture Club, TFC kicked off the entertainment portion with Barangay USA’s Gelo getting the crowd pumped with giveaways, then introducing Poca, one of the Philip-pines’ premier impersonators. Poca got the audience on its feet with a rousing rendition of Katy Perry’s megahit, “Firework”.

Gelo and Poca proceeded to play the highlight game: Kuwarta o Kahon (Cash or Box). Game registrants were asked TFC trivia questions where they should pick the right answer from three choices un-der T, F, and C. They formed lines behind said letters depending on the answers they had chosen.

After several rounds, it was Maxi-ma Andres from Milpitas, California who was the last contestant standing. Faced with the options of choosing a sure cash prize or a mysterious prize inside the box she selected, Andres had to rely on the audience to help her out. It didn’t make it easy that the audience was completely split in their recommendations.

With helpful hints from the wacky duo of Gelo and Poca, Andres finally chose the box over $320 in cash and crazy add-on items of a can each of

corned beef and Spam. When she finally opened the box and, to her relief and delight, it was a certificate for $500 cash and a TFC shirt!

“What you witnessed is a grow-ing commitment not only from TFC but also from our ancillary products like StarKargo to support Seasons Marketplace as a family hub for the Filipino community in the South Bay. This is a partnership for the long haul and we congratulate Seasons for the impact it has made in the community they’re in,” said ABS-CBN International Senior Director for Cable & Satellite Jun Del Rosario.

“We are so pleased with TFC for the consistent efforts they provide in enhancing the experience of shoppers and diners at Seasons,” Bayangos said. “We appreciate our team-up together with the merchants of Seasons to build and enhance pos-itive connections among Filipinos in the South Bay. We look forward to more years of partnership.”

Added attractions during the an-niversary celebration were merchant tents offering various products and giveaways at the Seasons parking lot, man-on-the-street interviews by Gelo, photo opportunities with TFC teleserye standees, and karaoke sing-ing at the TFC Lounge.

Other sponsors of Padala Papre-myo Sa Mayo are Starry Starry Store, Rod Mercado of Financial Rescue LLC, and Yellow Cab Pizza Co.

Entertainment

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Read Rudy Liporada’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Rudy D. Liporada

By virtue of Republic Act No. 4166, the Philippines fi rst cel-ebrated its Independence Day on June 12, 1964. This was not in accord with the Islands’ indepen-dence which was recognized on July 4, 1946 by the United States where henceforth, Independence Day was observed on July 4. Invoking nationalism and upon the advice of historians, Repub-lic Act No. 4166 was signed into law by President Diosdado Macapagal in 1964, proclaiming June 12, which up to that time had been observed as Flag Day,

as Independence Day. Now July 4 is relegated to being Filipino American Friendship Day.

Since then, there is an ongoing debate on which day should the Philippines really celebrate its independence day considering, too, that we talk of a Japanese liberation day in September 3, 1945. There are even those who contend that we could mark April 27, 1521, as the day the Filipinos fi rst declared their free-dom when Lapu-Lapu slew Ma-gellan on the beach of Mactan.

Then there is the Communist Party of the Philippines that is asserting that the Philippines is not yet free.

June 12 as Independence Day

In declaring June 12 as Philip-pine Independence Day, one of the contentions of former Presi-dent Diosdado Macapagal goes “I felt, too, that July 4 was not inspiring enough for the Filipino youth since it recalled mostly the peaceful independence mis-sions to the United States. The celebration of Independence Day on June 12, on the other hand, would be a greater inspiration to the youth who would conse-quently recall the heroes of the revolution against Spain and their acts of sublime heroism and martyrdom. These acts compare favorably with those of the he-roes of other nations.”

Why Neither July 4 or June 12 Should Philippine Independence Day Be

This Macapagal statement would presuppose that we should not forget the heroism and mar-tyrdom of the likes of Andres Bonifacio and his Katipuneros who sprang the salvo of the revolution in August 1896.

It should also be noted that Macapagal also said “While we were seated at the grandstand during the ceremonies, General Aguinaldo thanked me again for the rectifi cation of an errone-ous historical practice and then asked: ‘When will there be an Aguinaldo monument at the Lu-

neta like that of Rizal?’ I could not answer the question. The next generation might have the answer.”

Perhaps, Macapagal could not answer the question because as history unfolded, it was revealed that Aguinaldo ran a kangaroo court that had Bonifacio, the founder and leader of the Katipunan, sen-tenced to death. Thus,

Aguinaldo’s independence is tainted with the blood of a recog-nized hero, and if the traditions of other countries who declared their leaders of their revolu-tions to be their national heroes are emulated, Bonifacio should have been the Philippine national hero.

Moreover, in the declaration statement of Philippine Inde-pendence on June 12, 1898, this phrase is included: “under the protection of the Mighty and Humane North American Na-tion.” This begs the question, if we were ‘under the protection…’ how could we have been free? The United States and Spain and other countries did not even recognize this declaration.

July 4 as Independence Day

Now if we celebrate June 12 to “recall the heroes of the revolu-tion against Spain and their acts of sublime heroism and martyr-dom,” would this presuppose that if we do not celebrate July 4 as Independence Day that we forget the heroism and martyr-dom of those who fought against American colonialism in the Philippines?

In a collective amnesia, the Filipinos seem to have forgotten that American soldiers massa-cred around 600,000 Filipinos during the US occupation of the Archipelago. This would include

the Balanginga Massacre where a General Jake Smith turned Sa-mar into a “howling wilderness” where he ordered “I want no prisoners. I want you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn, the more it will please me…” And there were other revolu-tionaries who the Americans just relegated to mere bandits or ‘tulisanes’ and tried to be buried in history. To name a few would include: General Miguel Malvar, Luciano San Miguel, Faustina Guillermo, and General Simeon Ola.

It should also be noted that the Philippine Constabulary was founded under the auspices of US Captain Henry T. Allen to quash rebels against the US colonial regime in the Philip-pines and not, primarily, for self defense.

Considering these alone, it would appear that the Indepen-dence declaration of July 4, 1946 would be more fi tting and proper.

The Continuing Revolution

However, the revived Com-munist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison states in his Philippine Society and Revolution that before the United States declared Philippine Independence, the US made sure that treaties that bind the Philip-pines and the US were in place. These treaties made sure that the Philippines would remain just an agrarian and non-industrialized country and self-serving only to the interest of the US colonial-ists. After all, why would the US invest $20,000,000.00 in the Treaty of Paris to secure the Islands if there were no business returns?

Thus, Macapagal himself said in March 29, 1968: “Filipino incumbent presidents and most presidential candidates endeavor to obtain the support of the American government or at least not to antagonize it in their bid for the Presidency. This is sig-nifi cant on two counts. Firstly, it indicates that American authori-ties perform acts, overt or clan-destine, calculated to bear on the actuations of incumbent Filipino Presidents and most Presiden-tial candidates and to affect the campaign and its outcome. Secondly, this practice lessens the independence of mind and action of Filipino Presidents – a fact which could jeopardize the interests of the Filipino people.”

In Joma Sison’s parlance, this Macapagal statement translates that the US still has a strangle-hold on the Philippines by virtue of its control on the govern-ment; the leaders’ economic, social, and cultural activities. Thus, the Communist Party of the Philippines declares that the Archipelago is not yet free; and its armed New People’s Army is hell bent on continuing what the Party calls the unfi nished revolu-tion of 1896.

So, the question is: Philippine Independence – June 12, July 4, or not yet?

Pusoy (A Russian Poker)By Rudy D. Liporada

Prologue

The boy, Bunsoy, dreamt of the river. The river churned a strange course. It rumbled up the mountains, cascading up trees, breaking branches and twigs. It raged, growling, dragging boulders, pounding beneath the wooden-planked fl oors of the huts, smashing stilts, uprooting all the huts in the village.

Bunsoy jolted up. Poundings had awakened him.

It cannot be the river, he said to himself.

The incessant pounding contin-ued, making his heart pound in dissonance with the poundings.

No, it cannot be the river.“Open up or we will bash this

ridaw,” said someone with a gruff voice from outside the hut. The poundings made the pole that barred the door rattle within its slots. “Open up.”

Bunsoy shuffl ed toward his mother and older sister who had already huddled themselves at a corner of the hut. He pressed his cheek between the bare breasts of his mother and tried to subdue his sobs.

With the stringent light of the morning sunrays that sliced through the wall crevices, Bonsuy saw the silhouette of his father whose loincloth brushed on the fl oor as he crawled on his knees towards the wall adjacent to the door. His back glistened as struck by layers of light as he peeped through a hole.

The pounding became more thunderous. “Open up, I said.”

The native Igorot man crawled toward his family. “Chuldados,” he said in a harsh whisper. Sol-diers.

The pounding became more savage. The slots that held the pole not only rattled but, their spikes, attached to the wall, creaked with each of the mur-derous pound. Finally, the pole shuddered to the fl oor. With another shove, the door slammed on the wooden planks and dawn light fl ooded into the hut.

A stocky camoufl aged soldier with a huge gun and muddy boots barged in. He launched at the old man who was on his knees and poked his temple with the gun. The Igorot’s eyes rolled in terror as the nozzle’s eye squinted beside his.

Bunsoy wailed. His mother and sister screamed.

A less stocky soldier with sun-glasses ambled into the hut. His holstered .45 dangled on his hip. He towered over the old man. “Where is that communist?” he asked in the vernacular Ilocano.

The Igorot shook his head vigorously. “A..a..di..ko…ma..maawatan,” he said in his Ifugao tongue.

“Liar. Don’t pretend that you do not understand,” the soldier said, smashing the old man’s chest with his boot.

The old man crumpled to the fl oor with a muffl ed scream.

The old woman shrieked and threw herself between her husband and the soldier. “Uston, apo, uston,” Stop, please, lord, stop.

The soldier grabbed the woman’s hair. “You, you tell me where that communist is or I will have your husband shot.”

“Adi ko…ma…maawatan.”He whacked the woman’s

face with his knuckles and she slammed with a trail of blood from her lips streaking on the fl oor.

Bunsoy sprang to his mother’s side. His older sister also slid towards the old woman. As she did so, wailing, her lufed cloth’s hem slithered up her thighs.

Glancing at the exposed thighs, the soldier lowered down his sunglasses and pushed it up the ridge of his nose again. He snatched the lass by the el-bow and rushed his other hand through her long hair, stopping short above her breast. Her nip-ples, barely curtained by strands, jutted in their innocence. “Where is that communist?”

She shook her head.The soldier grabbed her by the

nape and forced his tongue into her mouth.

The mother sprang and tugged

for her daughter. Bunsoy grabbed the soldier’s leg to pull him off his sister. The soldier smacked the old woman, send-ing her sprawling unto the fl oor again. Unable to shake Bunsoy off his leg, the soldier said, “Ser-geant throw them all out.”

“Yes, sir.” The stocky soldier yanked Bunsoy by the throat. He dragged the wriggling boy and hurled him, fl ying out of the door with his loincloth’s tail fl apping with the wind.

Bunsoy felt himself fl oating in air. In the throes of crushing to the ground, he curled him-self and dropped on a crush-ing roll. He banged to halt at the corner of a wooden pigpen across the hut. Still in a daze, he leapfrogged around the pen. The pigs’ squealing added to his dizzying confusion. He retreated further from the pen into a haven of bushes by the mouth of the nearby thickets.

Through curtains of bushes, he saw his screaming mother tumble down the wooden lad-der from the hut, kicked by the sergeant with his bulky boots. The old man followed with his lanky frame almost like weaving through the rungs of the lad-der as he thudded down to the ground. The sergeant then leaped out of the hut with a brutish smile.

Bunsoy heard the screams of his sister from inside the hut. The screams curled out from a defenseless soul with the plea of “ma-id…ma-id.” No. No. Please,

no.And he saw, too, the other

villagers, rounded up on the grounds, as the sergeant and other soldiers rammed their rifl e butts to smash jaws and crush chests of the Igorots. The sol-diers’ combat boots pummeled unto stomachs, backs and heads. Their dark hands clawed at hairs, breasts, and beneath women’s scanty lufeds.

“Where are the NPAs?” the soldiers said.

“Where is that communist?”A shot blasted from inside the

hut followed by several more shots which Bunsoy lost tract of counting. Shortly, the soldier from inside the hut rushed down, clutching his ear. Blood crim-soned his cheek. He said, “Kill them, kill them all. Burn the huts, burn all the huts.”

Bonsuy slithered deeper into the thickets and began to run. Twigs and stones slashed unto his feet and legs as thick grass and bushes swished passed him. At a distance, he heard the stac-cato billowing of gunfi re. Glanc-ing back, panting, he saw plumes of smoke snake up toward the sky. He burst into his pent up wail.

He blazed farther into the thickets, avoiding the usual trails, toward the river.

Chapter 1The Card Game

My wife used to quash any fl y on a table, wall, or in fl ight with a swatter, folded newspaper, or rubber sandal.

Not anymore. Now, she would speak to a fl y. In her mind, in my mind, a fl y

could be our son.Carlos was nineteen when,

waiting for the green light, a distracted new licensed teenage girl smashed her van behind his car with murderous speed.

“Whiplash,” the coroner said. “I am sure he did not suffer.”

We, however, suffered his be-ing gone.

Gone was his dream of being with the medical corps in the US Navy. Gone was his promise to bring his mom to Spain, his being a big brother to our only daughter who just turned four, and his being a father to his only son who barely turned two.

Gone, too, forever will Carlos’ tender massages on my wife’s nape and back when she comes home, tired from work. Gone, also, his being my couch partner when we watched late night T.V., pushing each other’s feet as in footsies, cramped opposite sides of our adjacent sofas.

Now, when a fl y hovers, we wonder if he is really gone.

On the third morning after Carlos died, still in our mourning night clothes and intermittently sobbing, my wife and I sat on the sofa staring at his picture on the wall.

We wished that we could just have given him a last hug or anything that would have given us the comfort of a last farewell.



Spiritual Life

BalintatawRead Virginia Ferrer’s previous articles by visiting our website

at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Virginia H. FerrerRead Monsignor’s previous articles by visit-

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About the Author: Virginia H. Ferrer is a Filipino Language Teacher at Otay Ranch High School in Chula Vista.

“TELL THE WHOLE WORLDABOUT MY MERCY”

Divine Mercy Leadership Training Seminar

July 10-16, 2011 • Serra Retreat Center, Malibu, CALearn how to share the most important message for our times – the message of God’s great mercy.

For Rates (new commuter rate available!) or to Register, visit www.thedivinemercy.org/dmemor call Angel or Estrelle at 562-694-2580.

RegisterNow!

Dr. Robert Stackpole Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC Angel & Estrelle Mijares

Magandang Malaman Mo (2)Magandang malaman mo na kung ika’y sumusuko namayroon palang balikat na nakalaang magdalang iyong mga kalbaryo dahil sa mahal ka niyaat sa pagmamahal na ‘yon kaya lumalakas siya.

Magandang malaman mong nakahanda siyang magtiispara sa ikaliligaya’t ikaluluwag ng dibdibinihahandog sa ‘yong lahat ang tamis ng daigdigmakita ka lamang niyang maligaya’t walang hapis.

Magandang malaman mo na kahit magkalayo kayoikaw pa rin ang laman ng isipan niya at pusoat kahit na ngayong nasa malayo pa siyang dakopuno ng pananabik sa muling pagkikita ninyo.

Magandang malaman na kapag kayo ay magkasamahindi kayang sukatin kung gaano kayo kasayagaano man kababaw ang biruan sa isa’t isabasta’t ang magkapiling kayo, iyan ang mahalaga.

Magandang malaman mong nasa isip n’ya ang bukas mokahit sa mga sandaling wala siya sa tabi mo mahalaga sa kanya bawat sandaling tulad nitoang samo lang niya, sana siya ay makasama mo

Joke of the week: A group of clergymen and salesmen’s organizations were holding convention in the same New York hotel. The catering depart-ment was working at top speed, serving dinners to both. The salesmen were having “spiked watermelon” for dessert. But the harassed chef discovered this alcoholic tidbit was being served to the clergymen by mistake. “Quick,” he said to the waiter, “if they haven’t eaten the wa-termelon bring it back and we’ll give it to the salesmen.” The waiter reported that it was too late, because the clergymen were already eating the prized dessert. “Well,” demanded the excited chef, “what did they say? How did they like it?” “Don’t know how they liked it,” the waiter replied, “but they’re all putting the seeds in their pockets.”

Scriptures: First Reading: Acts 2: 1-11. The same Holy Spirit who was with Jesus when he chose the apostles is now bestowed upon them. The Spirit came upon Jesus at his baptism and thus started Jesus’ mission in establishing God’s Kingdom. The same Holy Spirit is given to the apostles to begin their mis-sion of preaching and healing. Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-7; 12-13. Paul discusses the relative significance of various gifts of the Holy Spirit. He reiterates the truth that all spiritual gifts must be rooted on Christian wisdom and are di-rected to unity in the community. Speaking in tongues is among the spiritual gifts the Corinthians have received, but this gift has caused so much chaos and con-fusion among the members of that community, because many mistakenly believe it is superior over all other gifts.

Gospel: John 20: 19-23. Every stage in Jesus’ life is done with a gift to us of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus ascends to heaven the Holy Spirit descends upon us. Jesus is God-with-us, through the Holy Spirit he continues to remain with us.Reflections: We live in an

age when there is a so much stresses and challenges to one’s stamina. At the end of the day our energy seems to be low or we are on the point of physically collapsing due to fatigue and exhaustion. Because of this high-level-energy- sapping activities, more and more people are into fitness programs. Others replen-ish their energy by resorting to energy producing beverages and

drinks. Study shows that teen consumption of energy drinks is very popular nowadays because of their caffeine content. The high level of caffeine content of energy drink boosts the energy of the sleep-deprived person and keeps students alert during class or exams, according to a recent study.

Energy drinks may have origi-nated from Scotland in the form of “Red Brew” in 1901. Energy drinks date as far back as 1960’s in Japan through a product called, “Lipovitan.” Generally, energy drinks contain B vitamin, herbs, caffeine (80 to 360 mgs per drink), and their central in-gredient is a high level of sugar. Side effects of energy drink in-clude seizures in individuals who have certain forms of epilepsy.

There is one “Energy” that the world has ever known and is not addictive, but very excellent for body and soul. It is not a thing or a just a simple force. He is a Divine Person whose coming to the Apostles and the Blessed Vir-gin on Pentecost is remembered today. He is the Holy Spirit that Jesus has promised his disciples who would teach them all that he had told them before, who would guide them at times of doubts and confusions, and who would give them strength during persecutions and trials.

The Holy Spirit is present in every baptized person. This Divine Power is to be unleashed from deep within each of us to enkindle the world with his transforming fire and cleanse it of evil and madness. The power of the world increases in each of us to the degree that the power of the Holy Spirit decreases in our lives. Conversely, the power of the Holy Spirit increases in the world to the degree that we allow him through us to change the face of the earth.

Frank Mihalic writes, “Nowa-days everyone on earth is afraid of one big thing: it is called the atom bomb. It is so powerful that it can kill everybody on earth. But atomic power also has its many good uses. Now just where do we find all these atoms that produce this immense power? All around us.” Another potent power that is much more power-ful than that of the atomic bomb is the force that we call the Holy Spirit, but unless we cooperate with him in casting His holy fire on earth, nothing is going to happen.

May the Holy Spirit enkindle all of us with the power of his

Pentecost Sunday: The True Independence.

love, as He had done with the Blessed Mother Virgin and the disciples so that we can faith-fully fulfill the difficult responsi-bilities of our faith.

We are celebrating the 113th Phil. Independence on June 12th. There are different shades of meaning attached to the word “Independence.” One striking quote is from Mahalia Jackson who wrote that “it’s easy to be independent when you’ve got money. But to be independent when you haven’t got a thing -- that’s the Lord’s test.” To be truly independent is to be dependent on the Lord. To admit that we are sinful in need of forgiveness and we are nobody and nothing without Him is to be truthful. A country can be politi-

cally independent and materially self-sufficient, but if bereft of faith in the Almighty, it is not fully independent. Truly, “truth shall make you free.” To be free is to acknowledge that God is the Sovereign Ruler and Creator of all.

I hope and pray that the Philip-pines will not just be concerned in uplifting majority of the Filipinos from poverty and eradicating graft and corruption in the government, but also in affirming its faith in God. Long Live the Philippines! May God bless her!

Quotation of the week: “Un-less we are personally com-mitted, the wind of the Spirit cannot blow through us.” George MacLeod.

By: Father Shay Cullen

Happiness, for one nation at least, is the measure by which they want to judge themselves to be well governed, developed and successful. The measuring stick of the people of Bhutan, a small impoverished kingdom in the Himalayas is Gross National Happiness (or GNH) rather than Gross Domestic Product (or GDP). Simply put, spiritual well-being is of greater value than materialistic success.

However, most nations and individuals pursue prosperity and the relentless acquisition of possessions as the goal of living. It is the unquestioned assump-tion that pursuing wealth is the same as the pursuit of happiness. The consumer society is a very unhappy one. Its a economy built on the need for many people to continue to purchase and consume products. When they consume more than they can earn, they are encouraged to bor-row money and to continue to do so until all sources are exhausted as happened in 2008 and the world economy was on the edge of collapse. It was and still is a very unhappy time for a very big number of people.

For Bhutan and many people, the amount of accumulated wealth is not the criteria by which to judge the well-being of a nation or the ultimate goal of governance but the worthy ultimate goal is the measure of happiness of each individual as part of a group.

The best way to live a success-ful life is to seek out the meaning of happiness. That might give us a whole new understanding of ourselves and the value of our life and bring a welcome change for the better. We could do well to examine the quality of our lives and ask, am I happy?

Money alone is not necessar-ily the measure of success of life or happiness. We may have read or heard of many a wealthy person, or a celebrity with fame and fortune and yet unhappily

Happiness, the Measure of a Good Life

Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy

ending his or her own life. There is more to living a worthy and worthwhile life than having more money than we need.

Sharing our wealth with others for example, rather than hoard-ing, is one path towards happi-ness. It is a step to sharing and being less self-centered. There are wealthy persons who be-come philanthropists and start to share and do good in the world and they find a good measure of happiness. They are giving from their abundance and they still live in comfort. Their giving is painless.

There are those who traveled the opposite path. Over the cen-turies many abandoned wealth, like Saint Francis of Assisi and took vows of poverty. They choose to live on the bare neces-sities, owning nothing, living in seclusion or surviving in groups and communities. For them life

was a daily spiritual experience, despite physical deprivation and hardship. It was overall a life-long experience of inner hap-piness. They were of service to the community, the poor and the deprived. Real Happiness is es-sentially a spiritual experience.

Material comfort is in fact a feeling of pleasure. Feelings change quickly and pleasure is fleeting, deceptive and short lived, needing constant replen-ishing and when it fades and ends then sadness and longing reasserts itself.

Having a livelihood that provides an income sufficient to satisfy the basic needs, banish hunger, provided clothes, shelter and enough to secure the health and education for our family is a necessity and a worthy goal. This is the struggle of the majority of people as they strive to reach that goal. They are not living in misery and unhappiness as they make the journey, the journey itself and the struggle can be the source of happiness. That’s

because it has the elements of sacrifice, unselfishness, sharing and solidarity. These are the es-sential ingredients for an endur-ing experience of happiness.

Above all others, the restless heart craves attention as every parent knows. Giving that atten-tion, recognizing the individual with respect, meeting that need from one’s own inner resources is giving without expecting a reward it is essentially uncon-ditional love. Loving another unconditionally especially if unrelated is a selfless love and it brings happiness to the giver. But being the object or receiver of unconditional friendship and love is the greatest happiness of all. A rare experience indeed.

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The Law that Matters

Read Atty Bautista’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Atty. A. Erwin Bautista

How you can avoid income tax on cancelled debt brought by home foreclosure?

Question: Can I avoid paying income tax on the $100,000 can-celled debt issued by the lender of my second mortgage when my house was foreclosed?

Answer: Yes you can, if you qualify in any of the bases for discharge of tax debt at the time you filed your income tax return.

What is Cancellation of Debt in Home Foreclosure?

When a home is foreclosed and

the foreclosure sale price did not satisfy the second mortgage then the lender will issue a 1099 C or Cancellation of Debt on the por-tion that was not satisfied by the foreclosure sale price.

So if the first mortgage is $350,000 and the second mort-gage is $150,000 but the fore-closure sales price was only for $300,000 then there is no amount out of the proceeds to pay for the second mortgage since even the first mortgage was also just partially satisfied.

It is in this situation that the second mortgage holder or the lender will issue a 1099 C if it cannot run after the homeowner for the deficiency. However if the second mortgage is a recourse loan then the lender can sue the homeowner for the deficiency or it can decide to just issue a 1099 C or Cancellation of Debt.

When a lender issues a 1099 C for a debt that it cannot collect it is as if the lender is forgiving the homeowner in repaying the debt. But in order for the lender to at least write it off as a loss on its books it has to issue a 1099 C so it can report that amount it failed to recover as income on the part of the homeowner.

This is where the hom-eowner gets into trouble with the

Internal Revenue Service.

Why forgiven debt is a taxable income?

The amount written off or charged off by the lender is a loss on its part and considered as income on the part of the hom-eowner because when the lender failed to recoup the money it gave to the homeowner to pay for their home loan at the time they bought their home, there was a gain on the part of the homeowner for such amount lost by the lender. And such gain is treated as income and subject to tax.

How tax is avoided on the Can-celled Debt?

At the time you file your in-come tax you need to bring the 1099 C from the lender which it is obligated to send you on or before January 31 of the follow-ing year the foreclosure occurred so you can report that on your income tax.

Make sure you go to a preparer that knows how to report that on your return have it discharged so you will not be liable for the tax.

What are the bases for dis-charge of Cancellation of Debt?

It could be one or more of the several bases for discharge of tax on income because of cancel-lation of debt. It could be the Mortgage Forgiveness and Debt Relief Act of 2007, or Insolvency meaning your liabilities is more than your assets, or because of discharge in Bankruptcy.

It could be simultaneous reasons or basis but what is important is that it was reported properly on the correct IRS Form so that tax will be avoided.

It would be a very sad situa-tion that after losing your home in foreclosure you will then be slapped with tax liability that is

why there are ways to discharge the cancellation of debt, you just have to report that on your income tax return.

If you have questions, doubts or concerns whether your cancel-lation of debt is being reported properly to the IRS to avoid pay-ing taxes, our office will be able to assist you. Our office is very much familiar with the report-ing requirement of the 1099 C or cancellation of debt so you can avoid paying taxes on such reported gain on your part.

[We invite readers to call Atty. A .Erwin Bautista, founder of American Legal Center, PC, to set up your initial consultation. Atty. Bautista graduated from Western State University College of Law, Fullerton, CA and from the University of the Philippines. Atty. Bautista practices Im-migration, Bankruptcy, Family, Personal Injury Law and Audit Representation/Income Tax Preparation. He also represents client before the U.S. Tax Court. Call (619) 649 0069 in San Diego his office is located at 550 E. 8th St., #11, National City, Ca 91950 and (213) 365 7690 in Los Angeles his office located at 3435 Wilshire Bl., Ste. 2700, Los Angeles, CA 90010.]

Income Tax Return: Cancellation of Debt Home

to elevate their works and prod-ucts to perfection, to excel in the world market.

You may be wondering why I chose this topic in my speech with you today.

I have always believed in the ideals of Rotary

I have always believed in the ideals of Rotary.

I am a firm believer of the 4-Way Test, which was started in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert Taylor, and for which Rotary has become known for all over the world. I believe that we must always seek and speak the truth. That we must always pursue what is fair and what is right. That we must always seek, not only what is good for our family, nor what is good for a few or the good for the greater majority, but the common good, which is the good for everybody in our society.

For me, this is what Rotary is all about, because it seeks for

what is true, what is fair, and what is beneficial for all, not only for the greater majority. Ro-tary seeks for the common good. And this is what attracted me to Rotary, to join its ranks as an ordinary member and follower since 2008.

This common good is the essence of the spirit of great-ness, the marrow of the culture of greatness. Common good combines the love of family and country in equal measure.

If we, Rotarians, can disciple ourselves to become the business people, entrepreneurs, profes-sionals, government officials and citizens that our Rotary founders dreamt us to be; if we can perfect the implementation of Rotary ideals in our country, Rotary could become the light during the night as we journey as a nation, and the cleansing power that could purify the hearts of our people. Rotary has the po-tential to become a spark for the renewal of our people’s values.

Rotary could be that instrument to awaken the spirit of greatness among the Filipino people!

Edsa Project & GK eRC

At this juncture, please let me talk about a specific project that your Rotary Club in the Philip-pines may adopt and implement in your respective areas.

I refer to the EDSA Project of GKeRC that Rotarian Ernie Delfin of Orange Country, Cali-fornia.

The EDSA Project is a youth-oriented program which was pre-sented by Rotary District 5300 Vocational Chair Ray Carlson. The program aims to develop businessmen and entrepreneurs among the Filipino youth na-tionwide by providing them with business and entrepreneurship ideas and training.

More particularly, the GKeRC plans to have a pool or group of experts on business and en-trepreneurship. This group of experts will come up with a list of business and entrepreneur-ship ideas that are suitable and viable in a locality. Then the youth from that locality will be invited to join the Edsa Program. They will be asked to submit their letter of intent and their business plan, which should be among those listed by the group of experts. Thereafter, the group

of experts will help develop and fine-tune the business plans of those youth who qualify in the program. The GKeRC will also help those who qualify to apply for loan or financial credit from appropriate government financial institutions. The group of experts shall also be asked to guide and monitor the implementation of the business plans of those youth who qualify.

GKeRC plans to start this Edsa Project in a few communities. The goal is to create a few model communities that, if they become successful, could be replicated in other areas in partnership with existing Rotary Clubs in said areas.

When Ernie Delfin discussed with me this Edsa Program, I immediately bought the idea, and promised to support him. Before I flew back to Manila from New York last June 1, I decided to join Ernie as charter member in the setting up of this new GKeRC.

I believe in this Edsa Pro-gram. I believe that this one of the important things our nation needs. We need to develop entre-preneurs and business people at the grassroots level, in the rural areas. The grassroots businesses could start at the most basic level – the food needs of the commu-nity. The people in the communi-ty must be able to produce their own food needs. This is among the important things that Japan did in 1960s and 70s. Same with South Korea during the same periods of 1960s to 1970s.

The entrepreneurial spirit is also one of the important in-tangible factors that created the economic miracle in Israel, according to book author Dan Senor. If the Edsa Program is implemented and replicated in various rural areas in the country, it would foster and develop that spirit of entrepreneurship among the Filipino youth, and eventu-ally among our people.

I hope some of you would part-ner with us in this Edsa Program. You or your friends are welcome to join as charter members of the GKeRC.

My Dream Philippines

As a Filipino, perhaps like many of you, I also dream of a beautiful Philippines for the Filipino people. I dream of a

Philippines that is beautiful in its march to progress, because it seeks prosperity for all and not only for a few, because there is enough for every Filipino and his family, because no Filipino fam-ily is left behind in the streets or in slums to suffer in poverty and misery. I dream of a country that is founded on love for one anoth-er, one where there is a culture of familihood among our people, because we as a people commit to the noble idea that we are our sister’s and our brother’s keeper. A society where the weakest of our people can also be strong, where the poorest among us can also be wealthy. A nation where law and justice is the rule, where the mighty are just, where the lowly are secure. A society that can meet the lowest needs and the highest expectations of our people. A country where every child is able to study, where ev-ery graduate is able to find work. A country where every Filipino can attain the fullness of life as he or she conceives it to be, one that can bring out the best, the highest, and the most beautiful of our people, so the Filipino may become a model and a light to many parts of the world.

My 3 wishes for all of you

Before I conclude my speech, let me bid you with 3 wishes –

I wish that God will use in a mighty way the Rotary Phil-ippines, its vast network and tremendous resources included, to build a beautiful future and a beautiful country for our people. I wish that all of you, as presidents-elect and committee chairmen of the different Rotary Clubs of District 3780, would be used by God in a wonder-ful and powerful way, so that in our time, your generation and our generation could bring the Filipino to its destiny, the destiny that God wants us to achieve - a life of prosperity and dignity for every Filipino in the land and country where God planted him.

Finally, I wish that God will grant all the dreams and desires of your heart, and may the Lord bless you and your family with so much more.

God bless all of you, mga kapatid ko.

Mabuhay po ang Pilipino!

“Pursuing our Dream

Philippines: Rotary’s Role”



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*Former San Diego Regional Coordinator for U.S. Immigra-tion Amnesty for Catholic Community Services, Catholic Diocese of San Diego

*Legal Advisor, Los Chabacanos of Cavite CityAssociation, Inc., San Diego, California

*Juris Doctor law degree, University of San Diego (1985),Diploma; Oxford Institute on International and Comparative Law (USD), Oxford, England (1984);Bachelor Degree, University of Southern California (1983);Montgomery High School, San Diego (1979)

*Born in the Philippines (Cavite)

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From Antique to America: Memoirs of a Filipino American Doctor

Happenings in the Family“The object of education is to

prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.”

- ROBERT MAYNARD HUTCHINS

My family and I, during those

years, experienced happy and sad events. For about ten years, we lived in a very nice home in the hilly community of San Diego called Del Cerro Terrace. Cely and I decided to build a house in the same community called Del Cerro Highlands, which overlooked the city and the San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium (now called QUAL-COMM Stadium). Our young-est daughter Arleen was born before we moved in 1980 with our other three children to our dream home. It was there where we entertained our relatives and friends, visitors and dignitaries, and held fundraising activities for humanitarian projects. I con-tinued to appreciate the Ameri-can Dream as the national ethos of the United States in which democratic ideals are perceived as a promise of prosperity for the people. Without going into too many details, my wife and I planned for our future and retirement with the guidance of a financial advisor.

Our children were able to complete their educations: Roy graduated from the University of California Northridge; Marjorie spent school in Hawaii Uni-versity and graduated from the University of Phoenix; Candace at Maric College; and Arleen ex-celled at the University of Cali-fornia in Los Angeles (UCLA).

After my retirement, my wife and I were the only ones liv-ing in our house in San Diego for four years. The children had relocated to their places of employment. Our empty nest was one reason we decided to move to Las Vegas in September 2003, where my daughter Mar-jorie and her husband Christian Hyderkhan resided with their three children, Penelope, Bruno and Maxwell. My son Roy and his lovely wife Marites and their two daughters, Nicolette and Sa-mantha, were left in San Diego. These grand children are the love of our life.

Las Vegas, an internation-ally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining, is about a five hour drive from San Diego. A vibrant, growing and exciting city, it is a great town to live and play. The city bills itself as the entertain-ment capital of the world. It is a growing retirement and family city, and the 28th most populous city in the United States. While I do not gamble, once in a while I might play Texas Hold’em poker, an acceptable therapy for tedium.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the wedding of Marjorie

and Christian was on April 9, 1994. It was a simple gala affair with approximately 250 guests. The reception was at the Omni Hotel in Indianapolis, Indiana. My wife handled the prepara-tions for the wedding over the phone and cyberspace due to the distance from San Diego to Indianapolis. Once again, it was a get-together of the family coming from different states. We were honored with the presence of our many friends especially a toast, asking Christian to take care of my girl, and sang the romantic song “An Affair to Remember” with the band. Yes, it was indeed an affair to remem-ber.

While the general population was preparing for unknown po-tential catastrophic technological events of Y2K, our family was preparing for the celebration of one of the first weddings of the Melenium. Roy and Maria were married on January 1, 2000, in our Del Cerro home.

Professional movers and several family members came to our house, moving every piece of furniture from the living room into other places of the house to transform the entire first floor into a small wedding chapel. Even the grand piano was moved with geometrical genius to an-other area of the house to make way for seating, an aisle for the bride to walk down, and a small altar.

Our families, relatives and friends attended the wedding. My cousin, Benjamin Candari Jr. a lawyer from Bacolod City, Philippines, was present. It was a classic and elegant family wed-ding, a reunion of sorts and full of fun. It was a lovely, memora-ble affair in a more intimate set-ting that everyone enjoyed. From the backyard gardens around the swimming pool, the bride and groom marched to the chapel with Fr. Santos, Marias’ uncle conducting a typical Catholic wedding ceremony. It was stand-ing room only. The reception was a sit-down meal provided by professional party servers with effortless, excellence and impressive gourmet food. The ceremony area was then trans-formed into a dancing floor. It was an unforgettable wedding and New Years day with all the wining, dining, dancing and singing.

We were already residing in Las Vegas when my young-est daughter Arleen and David Coyle got married. It took place on Makenna Beach in Maui, Hawaii, on May 30, 2006. About eighty of us, the Candari’s and the Coyle’s clan and friends of Arleen, attended. Most everyone traveled all coming from the mainland. Peter, David’s dad, and I offered a toast. David’s mother, Elizabeth, and her daughter Rebecca came all the way from Ireland. Short speech-es of dedication, wishes and

congratulations were delivered. It was a fantastically custom-ized celebration with the wed-ding reception, music, Hawaiian gourmet, food, wine, wedding photographer, etc. Nothing but the best for their special day. It was a true Aloha experience pris-tine beach, spectacular oceanside recreation, and enticing dining options. We enjoyed the wedding in the serene tropical location and friendly Hawaiian spirit, the breathtaking beachfront, and the most romantic setting. It was the intimate Hawaiian wedding that Arleen and David had dreamt it would be.

My sixth grandson, a good-looking Filipino-Irish-boy, Caleb D. Coyle, was born October 2, 2009. They presently live in San Francisco. Notice his initials are same as mine. Add an MD, and he will never forget me.

My third daughter Candace is still single. She used to work in Honolulu, Hawaii, with United Airlines but now is back here in Las Vegas. At that time we enjoyed free airline travel in first or business class.

Dr. William Menninger states, “There are six essential quali-ties that are the key to success: sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, and charity.” These are the virtues I have tried to live by.

Life is not always full of fun and happy times; there are struggles as well. Success and sadness go hand in hand in one’s life’s journey. In one’s memoir, I do believe that the sad events should be documented along with the happy ones to bring a better understanding of his fam-ily’s lifestyle and trials and to give a more accurate look into the lives of his ancestors.

Facts of Life When family historians and

genealogists speak about sharing family histories, they generally mean life’s happy occasions, i.e., births, marriages, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. They don’t think about sad events that oc-cur just as frequently, like the deaths of family members. The world is such a random, arbitrary place--pain and joy are both facts of life. We all encounter per-sonal loss and sadness. Animals, creatures, and humans all suffer calamities of emotional feelings and physical pain during their lives.

I am a believer in the will of God. I have found true peace in God through Jesus Christ. I be-lieve that as many people in our world also, believe in HIM, they will find similar peace.

Before we moved to our new home in San Diego, two very sad events happened in my family. In 1976, my oldest sister Eden, at the age of forty-eight, passed away from breast cancer. It was a difficult and shattering ordeal. God had His reasons for call-

ing back my extremely kind and loving sister, who had been an enormous help to our fam-ily. Eden was popular, friendly, and very helpful to her rela-tives and friends. Her home in Santa Monica, California, with her soft-spoken, loving hus-band Sam Baclig, was open to everyone in typical, Filipino warm-hearted hospitality. I owe her a lot. I know she loved me so much, her brother whom she was very proud to call a doctor. Similarly, she was proud of my brother Marcelo, a dentist. A schoolteacher by profession, she was articulate and communica-tive. Eden left two children, Jane Baclig Tompkins, a nurse, and Anthony, a sociology graduate who now works as an assessor of Los Angeles County.

Then in 1978 my dear father, at age of seventy-four, had a car accident and died shortly after. He was a wonderful and compas-sionate human being, respected and well-known to everyone in my hometown. His heritage gave him the concern to help the needy and the poor people in the barrios. He became their guru, particularly in their medi-cal problems. Aside from being a teacher for thirty-five years, I considered my dad a healer. Am I referring to a faith healer? No, rather he spoke to the poor people and comforted them. He also suggested what medicine r herbal things to take. Perhaps his knowledge of basic medicine came from having six children who were frequently sick in one way or another and learned from the medications the doctor would prescribe.

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MoneyGram International welcomed Philippines agent M Lhuillier for a visit to the Dallas-based company. M Lhuillier Financial Services, one of the largest financial institutions in the Philippines, has had a suc-cessful business relationship with MoneyGram since early 2009.

At the end of April, Mon-eyGram Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Pam Patsley met with two M Lhuillier executives to discuss current and future business plans and joint activities for corridor promo-tions. Representing the Manila-based company in Dallas were Michael Lhuillier, Vice President and Lorenzo Escaño, CFO and GM for USA Operations. Also meeting with the M Lhuillier

From left: Lorenzo Escaño, CFO/GM- US Operations -M Lhuil-lier; Juan Agualimpia, EVP/CMO - MoneyGram; Michael Lhuil-lier, VP- M Lhuillier; Pam Patsley, CEO-MoneyGram; Matt Davis, VP Product Development -MoneyGram; Ivy Wisco, Senior Market-ing Manager-MoneyGram

Filipino Money Transfer Provider, M Lhuillier Visits MoneyGram

International in Dallaswas Juan Agualimpia, executive vice president and chief market-ing officer and Ivy Wisco, senior marketing manager for Money-Gram.

“With close to 1,400 locations throughout the Philippines, M Lhuillier is a major MoneyGram partner,” said Wisco. “Money-Gram has had a great business relationship with M Lhuillier and work closely with them to develop our joint business. Whenever we get opportunities to meet with our global partners we always try to do so.”

During the meeting in Dallas, M Lhuillier also discussed its plans to promote the company’s money transfer service within the Latin American market where more and more Filipinos are migrating.

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Health

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Although the apron-wearing, martini-bearing, housewife-in-heels with her rainbow of Tupperware may be a thing of the past, the quest for a well-or-ganized kitchen persists. To see tidy stacks of food-filled plas-tic containers in the fridge and freezer is comforting in a primal kind of way. But then comes the procession of warnings about storing and cooking food in plas-tic, and leaching chemicals, and hormone disruption, and ACK!

So here it is: The lowdown on plastic food containers.

Flip over your favorite plastic food storage container and check the recycling code number. If you spy a number 3 or 7, well, those containers should probably go to the craft room or garage to store buttons or screws rather than food. If there is no number listed, contact the manufacturer. (And to be fair to Tupperware, they do manufacture products that are not made of these plastic types.)

Number 3 is polyvinyl chloride (PVC), also known as vinyl. PVC has garnered the moniker “the toxic plastic” for the pres-ence of DEHA–one of several

Plastics to Never Use with Foodplasticizers (softeners) used in its production. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, long-term DEHA expo-sure has the potential to cause: Reduced body weight and bone mass; damage to liver and testes; and cancer. The manufacture and incineration of PVC also releases carcinogenic dioxins into the environment and food chain. Although PVC is not the most common plastic used for food storage containers, some

are made from it and it is often used in plastic wrap to im-prove performance.

Recycling code number 7 includes several plastic types (it’s the catchall “other” category–see tips below) but it is predominantly polycarbonate. The problem with poly-carbonate is that it harbors bisphenol A (BPA). Studies have shown that BPA damages the reproductive sys-tems of lab animals

by interfering with the effects of reproductive hormones and has other serious health effects. BPA’s capacity to cause these stems from its ability to mimic the human hormone estrogen–it has been linked to prostate and mammary gland cancers, early onset of puberty and reproduc-tive-organ defects.

As might be expected, given the strength of the plastic industry, there is controversy. Although there have been more than 100 studies showing BPA to be a concern, the plastics industry says it is harmless. The FDA admits that “substances used to make plastics can leach into food,” but they maintain that

the levels are safe. Safe?! Yes, leaching petroleum by-products and toxic chemicals in your food are safe–don’t worry! Now why doesn’t that sound right? If, like me, you find the FDA a rather lackadaisical regulator, why not follow these tips for safer plastic use? (There is also that little en-vironmental issue with plastic to keep in mind.) And while some may want to skip the plastic-food relationship altogether, it is a hard habit to break. Many of these tips don’t exclude the use of plastic, but rather offer the safest options.

1. Know your plastics. Plastic items are marked with a resin identification coding system (the number surrounded by arrows), which stand for:

1 polyethyelene terephthalate (PETE)

2 high-density polyethylene (HDPE)

3 vinyl, polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

4 low-density polyethylene (LDPE)

5 polypropylene (PP)6 polystyrene (PS)7 other (includes polycarbon-

ate, acrylic, polylactic acid, fiberglass)

2. When you need to use plas-tic, these are the safer choices to use with food: 1, 2, 4 and 5.

3. Learn to recognize, and then avoid, polycarbonate (number 7) for food usage. Polycarbon-ate plastics are hard and clear. Common items made from this BPA-containing plastic are food storage containers, baby bottles, water bottles, bowls and table-ware. (And the lining inside food and drink cans, by the way.)

4. If you don’t get rid of all of your plastic, at least retire old plastic containers, especially those that are heavily worn or scratched. Older plastics tend

to leach increasing amounts of toxins as they age. Use them to organize and store non-food items.

5. Be careful of serving and storing hot foods or foods made with fats or oils in plastic con-tainers. These foods more readily facilitate the transfer of plastic toxins.

6. Never microwave foods in plastic containers. “Microwave safe” means the container won’t melt or warp, but doesn’t mean it won’t leach. Heating plastics in-creases the potential for leaching of chemicals into your food.

7. Never microwave food in yogurt tubs, take-out bowls, or other one-time use containers. These containers can warp or melt, possibly causing harmful chemicals to migrate into the food.

8. Avoid using plastic sandwich bags or plastic wrap products.

9. If you must use plastic wrap, make sure it is a brand free of both BPA and PVC. Ziploc, Glad and Saran are promoted as being free of BPA and PVC–but remember that these plastics live for 1,000 years–in our landfills.

10. Avoid deli-wrap and similar generic packaging since you can’t ascertain the plastic type used. When sliced cheese and meats are sold in plastic bags and/or plastic deli wrap, trans-fer them as soon as possible to unbleached wax paper or a safe container.

11. Remember that if you are pregnant or nursing, BPA chemicals are passed through your bloodstream directly to your baby.

12. Instead of mixing petro-leum (i.e. plastic) with your food, use inert alternatives such as glass and ceramic rather than plastic food storage containers. Reusing jars is a win-win; and you can often find glass storage containers at flea markets and thrift shops. Or simply store food in bowls covered with a plate.

While children of all ethnicities can contract Kawasaki disease (KD), a study led by researchers at the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at the University of California, San Diego and Rady Children’s Hos-pital-San Diego finds that Filipino children with KD are at a higher risk for inflammation of the blood ves-sels of the heart than those of other Asian and non-Asian backgrounds. Nearly 24 percent of Filipino chil-dren with KD in San Diego County were found to have aneurysms compared to 10.5 percent of children of other Asian descent.

The study appears in the May 6, 2011 issue of Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

“Filipinos make up the largest Asian subgroup in San Diego Coun-ty, yet there are no available reports of KD in Filipino children,” said Adriana H. Tremoulet, MD, MAS, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, UC San Diego School of Medicine. “With the results of this study, our call to action is for medi-cal providers to have a heightened awareness of KD, so patients can be treated promptly and the risk of heart disease is minimized. Parents, especially those of Filipino descent, need to know the signs and symp-toms of KD and when to contact their physician.”

Clinical signs of KD include fever, rash, red eyes, swollen glands in the neck, swollen and red hands and feet, and red, cracked lips. If left untreated, one in four children will develop permanent damage to their blood vessels and heart.

The team analyzed 345 patients in San Diego Country who had KD. They collected clinical and demo-graphic data, across three groups – Filipino, non-Filipino Asians and others.

“Our findings indicate there

Study Finds Filipino Children in San Diego County at Higher

Risk for Kawasaki DiseaseMore targeted outreach needed in high-risk populations

may be genetic reasons why there is a higher attack rate of KD and aneurysms in Filipino children,” said Tremoulet. “Our next steps are to increase awareness of KD in the Filipino community and to understand the genetic reasons why Filipino children are at higher risk of more severe KD.”

In addition to Tremoulet, the research team includes Gemmie Devera, MS, MPH, Brookie M. Best, PharmD, MAS, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; Susan Jimenez-Fernandez, MD, Department of Pediatrics; Xiaoying Sun, MS, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine; Sonia Jain, PhD, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine; and Jane C. Burns, MD, Department of Pediatrics.

Funding was provided in part by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institution, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

The Kawasaki Disease Research Center at UC San Diego:

The Kawasaki Disease Research Program is a joint collaboration be-tween the Departments of Pediatrics and Sociology at UC San Diego, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego, a research affiliate of UC San Diego School of Medicine.

In San Diego County, 30-40 chil-dren per 100,000 children less than five years of age are affected each year. More than 90 new patients are treated annually at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego for KD. The illness is four to five times more common than some more publicly recognized diseases of children, such as tuberculosis or bacterial menin-gitis.

For more information visit: www.pediatrics.ucsd.edu/kawasaki


jeepney drivers pick up passen-gers in that area; they are willing to pay 20,000 pesos a month),” the friend told Danny.

Danny relayed the information to Raymond, who accepted the offer, and for a while the two enjoyed pocketing the bribes at fifty percent each. Their bounty did not last long, however. After a few months, the jeepney driv-ers would no longer give him the bribe.

“Why,” he asked.“May mas malakas sa iyo at

ang kaibigan mong police chief (Somebody else is more influ-ential than you and your police chief friend). Sa kanya na kami nagbibigay (We are giving him the bribe instead).”

“Who?” Danny asked. He could not see anybody more influential than the police chief.

“Iyong tatay ng mayor (The father of the mayor),” the repre-sentative of the jeepney drivers replied.

AFTER A FEW ATTEMPTS, DANNY finally connected with Raymond.

“Pal, help me,” he said. “I am here in America, but my girl-friend is in jail. Help me release her.”

“No problem,” Raymond said. “I will call up the station chief there; her case will be dropped as if nothing happened.”

Danny was relieved. Finally, his investments in his friend were paying off big time. Once his problem with Margie was solved, he could finally attend to his business in the United States: helping his wife Mindy and daughter Carol get settled so he could return to the Philippines and enjoy his carefree life once more.

After two days, he called up Raymond to follow up on his request.

“Pal, it’s bad news,” Raymond told him.

(To be continued)

(Editor’s Note: To read the pre-vious and weekly installments of this series, visit www.asianjour-nalusa.com. Once there, click the “Editorials” heading, then click “Complicated Affairs by Simeon G. Silverio, Jr.” title to see the list of all previous chapters of the series. Click the title of the chapter you want to read and the article will appear.)

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Food for thoughtRead previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjo-

urnalusa.com

Rev. James Martin, S.J.Catholic priest and author,

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

For a lark yesterday, on my

50th birthday, I Tweeted 12 things that I wish I had known at 25. Or more accurately, 12 things that, had I put them into action, would have made my life a lot easier. Some are bits of advice that wisdom figures have told me and took years to sink in. Oth-ers are the result of some hard knocks. A few are insights from the great spiritual masters that I’ve adapted for my own life. Maybe a few will help someone you know who’s 25. Maybe one or two will help you.

1. First up: Stop worrying so much! It’s useless. (i.e. Jesus was right.)

2. Being a saint means being yourself. Stop trying to be some-one else and just be your best self. Saves you heartache.

3. There’s no right way to pray, any more than there’s a right way to be a friend. What’s “best” is what works best for you.

4. Remember three things and save yourself lots of unneeded heartache: You’re not God. This

12 Things I Wish I Knew at 25: Spiritual Learnings on

My 50th Birthdayain’t heaven. Don’t act like a jerk.

5. Your deepest, most heartfelt desires are God’s desires for you. And vice versa. Listen. And fol-low them.

6. Within you is the idea of your best self. Act as if you were that person and you will become that person, with God’s grace.

7. Don’t worry too much about the worst that can happen. Even if it happens, God is with you, and you can handle it. Really.

8. You can’t force people to approve of you, agree with you, be impressed with you, love you or even like you. Stop trying.

9. When we compare, we are usually imagining someone else’s life falsely. So our real-life loses out. i.e. Compare and despair.

10. Even when you finally realized the right thing, or the Christian thing, to do, it can still be hard to do. Do it anyway.

11. Seven things to say fre-quently: I love you. Thank you. Thank you, God. Forgive me. I’m so happy for you! Why not? Yes.

12. Peace and joy come after asking God to free you—from anything that keeps you from be-ing loving and compassionate.

“Don’t worry, I will get you out as soon as possible,” he prom-ised.

Danny called up a friend to get a lawyer to bail out Margie. For that, he needed the money he had spent for the trip to the U.S. Swallowing his pride, he approached his son JR and asked for help. The young man did not hesitate helping his dad, although both agreed to keep the matter between them so their wives would not find out and nag at them. Danny sent the money to Margie’s sister, giving her instructions on how to contact a friend who would know a lawyer.

He also called his friend Raymond, the chief of police of another town. The two had met when Raymond was at-tending police training in Los Angeles years ago. A mutual friend had introduced them to each other, and Danny helped show Raymond around the city. The two became fast friends as they shared common interests: gambling and women. Whenever he would go to the Philippines, Danny would ask his cop friend what he wanted him to bring for him. Sometimes Raymond would ask for a police vest, other times a gun holster. Danny did not mind spending his own money for the gifts as he considered it as an investment. In return, Ray-mond, who rose in the ranks to become a police chief, gave him his card with his signature in it.

“Pag-nahuli ka sa traffic (If you got caught for a traffic viola-tion), just show it to the cop. He will let you go.”

Indeed, Danny tried the magic card three times already - it worked each time.

When one of Danny’s friends found about his close ties with the chief of police, he looked for ways to take advantage of it. He found it in a group of jeepney drivers parked at a busy intersec-tion to pick up passengers. The cop assigned on the beat would harass the jeepney drivers, tell-ing them not to stay there as they were causing a bottle neck and contributing to heavy traffic in the area.

“Sabihin mo sa kaibigan mong police chief the jeepney drivers are willing to pay 20,000 pesos a month pabayaan lang silang pumik-up ng pasahero doon (Tell your police chief friend to let the


ubiquitous OFWs and immigrants who have not only excelled in their professions and careers, but have also exemplified the qualities of good leaders.

Against the plethora of skills, attitudes and principles that define good leadership, there are a few distinctive traits of Filipino leaders that have been found exemplary by the global village.

One is the HEART of the Filipino – beyond passion, compassion or “pagmamalasakit”.

Two is the SOUL as evidenced in the devotion and faith of the Filipino in the Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth.

Three is his MIND. Educated in English, the global lingua franca, the Filipino has learned much and adapts quickly, able to compete and lead effectively in diverse situa-tions. But the Filipino does not just mimic western leadership styles. The Filipino is unique for his ability to balance western individualism with eastern collectivism, due in large measure to the innate nobility of the Filipino race enriched by the

influence of Christianity.Fourth is his SPIRIT, as evi-

denced by his much-vaunted resiliency in the face of seemingly insurmountable hardship and diffi-culty. This is also manifested in his sense of humor and musical talent as a form of individual and collec-tive expression.

Fifth is in his STRENGTH, as epitomized by the Hon. Congress-man Manny Pacquiao, who not only defeated all his toughest opponents in the ring — with grace and humil-ity, compassion and mercy — but more importantly, he has defeated the evils of poverty and destitution, hunger and malnutrition.

The Filipino’s physical superiority is not only seen through the power of the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer but in the pulchritude of our women, the progeny of racial di-versity and intermarriages; and not only in the field of sports competi-tions or beauty pageants, but in the sinews of our workers.

His Heart and Soul, his Mind, Spirit and Strength must be what combine to give the Filipino leader his unique qualities suitable for helping to lead the world. The best Filipino leaders understand that ultimately, “Leadership is Disciple-ship” and this perhaps is the brand of Filipino leadership that the global village needs. - From Good News Philippines

Filipino brand of Leadership

in a Global Village(Continued from page 1)


Street Poetry

Read about Michael’s upcoming book of poems “Crushed Violets” by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Michael R. Tagudin

©2011 Michael R. Tagudin. All rights reserved. About the Author: Michael R. Tagudin Educated as an engineer in the Philippines, the City of Los Angeles employee hopes his legacy of poems will provoke a dialogue about the human condition. He is donating the proceeds from the book “Crushed Violets” to the “Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST)”, a non-profit that provides public awareness and advocacy efforts against human trafficking in the City of Angels. To learn more, visit www.castla.org. To help, call the CAST 24 hour hotline 888.KEY.2.FRE(EDOM) or 888.539.2373. Contact [email protected] for more information about ordering the book “Crushed Violets.”

Read Romeo Nicolas’s previous poems by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

Mga Tulang Tagalog

by Romeo Nicolas

Really Fine Ang Parusa at ang DrogaAnong batas mayron tayo kapag DROGA ang usapan?Napagisip-isip na bang tayo’y pinagtatawanan.Tatlong Pinoy, nasasalang na makitil yaong buhay,Na dahil sa DROGANG dalang hindi nila nalalaman. Samantalang dito satin (‘Pinas) mga Intsik, nahuhuli,‘Di lang DROGA, nasasabat, pabrika na pinipirmi.Nasakote ng PDEA, ang parusa, NAKU! PWEEEEE!!!Wala namang “Firing Squad”, na sa PINAS ay nangyari. Hindi tama, hindi tama na tayo ay malamangan,Lagi tayong pahuhuli pagdating na sa HATULAN.Kung ano ang TINUTUGTOG, ganon din ang SINASAYAW,Upang tayong PILIPINO ay ‘di naman pagtawanan. Kapag DROGA ang dahilan, kasangkot ay ibang LAHI,Bigatan nyo ang parusa upang hindi gawing muli.Kung KILITI lang sa kulungan, KINUWARTAHAN, naku TANGI!Bansa tayong kukutyain sa batas na PAKUNWARI.

Batikos No. 10Romeo S. Nicolas2/16/2011

On the verge of sobbing again, I noticed a fly waggling back and forth on my wife’s forehead. I did not shoo it away. I whispered “There is a fly…”

“I know,” she said without me completing my sentence. With eyes closed and tears skirting down her cheeks, she smiled. “That’s Carlos massaging my head.”

I did not disagree. If that fly would comfort her even mo-mentarily, so be it. I also did not disagree because, I, too, needed anything that would connect me, even only, in our hopelessness, to something I can imagine that could be my son.

The fly hopped down to my wife’s cheek and alternately went from cheek to cheek. My wife said “He is massaging my face now.”

Then the fly swooped down on her right shoulder and stumped up and down vigorously after which, it darted to the other shoulder and did the same.

I said, “It’s nice of you, son, to come comfort your mom. She re-ally needs it. Never mind me.”

In a flash, the fly darted on my right toe. It swirled there, tickling me in a prolonged footsy play.

I sobbed.I did not only want to believe

it. I believed it was my son.From then on, any fly hover-

ing over us at McDonald’s was my Carlos having his share of cheeseburger. One time, he

Pusoy (A Russian Poker)enplaned with us to Seattle. My daughter said, “Carlos wants to be on vacation with us, too.”

My grandson refers to any fly as “My dad.”

Whenever there are two flies, we invariably say, “So, you are with your older brother.” This is in reference to the oldest son we lost at its birth. If there are three, “so you are with grandpa and grandma,” in reference to my dad and mom who have died twenty years ago. If there is a swarm, they are holding a teen-age party.

I know that my other sons do not believe but in reverence to us, they also leave a fly alone. They may even be in a jovial mode whenever a fly hovers, saying, “Here is Carlos again.”

We do not share this with just anyone to avoid rolling eyes. Crazy or not, however, a fly had become a connection we have with the life beyond, which could be beyond comprehension, but to us, a tangible reality that could be a transformation of my son into something we could still connect with his soul.

Even if it is only a lowly fly.

To be continued…

(Publisher’s Note: Pusoy is Rudy D. Liporada’s second novel and third book being seri-alized in Asian Journal. One can get a copy of the book through Amazon.com – A Russian Poker - or by calling the author at 858-722-1465.)


kakatangi niya sa mga kasamahan; “Raul” saka isinunod ang apelyi-dong “Del Monte” upang magpaki-lala na siya ay “taong-bundok”.

Buhat noon, si Pad-leng, gaya rin ng ibang mga kasamahan niya ay nakadadalaw sa kanilang pook na kinamulatan; makalawa sa isang taon, kung natatapos ang mga pag-susulit kung Marso. Sa mga paglili-waliw na ito ni Pad-leng nagsimula ang pagkagising ng kaniyang puso sa pag-ibig. Halos naniningalang- pugad pa lamang siya at nasa huling baytang pa lamang ng intermedya ay nakakahumnalingan na niya ang maghihiling ng “everlasting” kay Puranti -- sa lalabing limahing taong Igurota na sang-ayon sa mga matatandang pantas sa Bontoc, ay ipinaglihi sa bukang-liwayway; kaya’t may himaymay ng ginto ang buhok na malago, may ilaw ang mga mata, at may dugo ng araw ang mga labi, bagama’t kayumangging kaligatan ang balat na tila pangil ng baboy-bundok. . .

Buhat noon hanggang sa dumating ang mga huling araw ng pag-aaral sa Maynila ni Pad-leng -- may pag-aalinlangan man sa pagtatapat ng binata si Puranti — ay ganap pa rin ang kaniyang pag-ibig na nasasalig sa isang pag-asang sa kinabukasan ay sisikat din sa taluktok ng Tarik ang marikit na bukang-liwayway.

Subali’t ang malaong pagkaka-hiwalay ng dalawang pusong magsing-ibig ay sadyang mapan-ganib, lalo na nga sa kalagayan ni Pad-leng at ni Puranti.

Naroon ang dalagang Igurota sa kabundukan ng Hilaga, na walang nagiging aliwan kundi malas-malasin ang malulusog na binhi ng palay sa libis ng bundok; narito ang binatang Igurote, na sa liwanag ng siyudad na mailaw at sa halimuyak ng masangsang na pabango ng mga liwaliwan at palipasan ng oras, ay nagsisinaya sa kaniyang mga tagumpay; naroon nga si Puranti, na sa sariling himutok at sa imbay ng kamay sa paghahabi pinalilipas ang lalong malulungkot na sandali sa pag-aalaala sa kawagasan ng pag-ibig ni Pad-leng. . . At, bukod dito. . . si Pad-leng, ang ngayon ay kilala nang si Raul del Monte sa loob at labas ng campus ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, ay masasabing baliw na baliw sa kaniyang mga tagumpay.

Kailan lamang ay nakamit niya ang katibayang “poet-laureate” sanhi sa kaniyang pagkadalubhasa sa paglikha ng tula sa kalikasan na siyang naging paksa niya sa ipinag-tagumpay na tula sa timpalak-pani-tik na binuksan ng “Literary Guild” at itinaon sa kaarawan ng unibersi-dad ; kamakaiian naman, ay nakamit din niya ang medalyang ginto sa paghahagis ng tandus o “javelin”; at kailan nga lamang ay muntik na niyang masira ang rekord sa isang daang yardang layo sa Dulong-Silangan nang siya ay sumali sa takbuhang nilahukan ng Unibersi-dad ng Pamahalaan upang hirangin ang mga ipadadala sa Olimpiyada noon. O! kay inam gunitain ang pangyayaring yaon, nang tumakbo si Raul, na animo’y tumutugis ng baboy-bundok. . . subali’t hindt na-gunita ng kaniyang mga katunggali sa paligsahan, na siya ay isang tunay at wagas na “taong bundok”.

Sa bawa’t baytang ng tagumpay ni Pad-leng sa pag-aaral dito sa May-nila ay naging malaki mandin ang agwat sa pag-ibig niya kay Puranti. “Ang pag-ibig”, anang isang pantas, “ay pabangong lumilipas”. At masasabi naman nating ang pag-ibig na hindi nadidilig ng pagniniig at pagsusuyuan ay sadyang nalalaing.

Paano’y talagang sa pagitan niya at ni Puranti ay may isa nang “gayumang” nakahadlang ngayon. May kumatlo na sa “triangulo” ng pag-ibig. Dati ay si Pad-leng at si Puranti -- silang dalawa lamang; ngayon ay may isa nang dilag, sa katauhan ni Rita Miraflor.

Iyan ang tunay na dahilan kung bakit si Raul ay hindi na nagnais na magliwaliw sa tanging dalawang pagkakataon sa loob ng panahon ng kaniyang pag-aaral sa unibersidad, sa taun-taon. Bagama’t ang mga magulang niya sa kabundukan, gaya rin ni Puranti, ay nagsisipanabik na siya ay makapiling at makaulayaw.

Nagbago na ngang ganap si Raul. Sa palagay ng maraming nakaba-batid sa kaniyang kabuhayan, ni ayaw na siya ngayong matawag na Igurote. Ayaw na niyang masasa-bing siya ay isang “taong bundok”. Hindi na niya ibig marinig na siya ay galing sa Bontok. At maliban sa paminsan-minsang bugso ng damdaming likha ng pagmamahal sa magulang at sa kinamulatan, si Raul ay naging tunay na Raul nang napaalipin sa isang birhen ng Kata-

galugan.Sa campus, sa mga pagtitipon,

sa mga palabas-dulaan, sa mga sayawan, sa mga piknik, si Raul del Monte at si Rita Miraflor ay napapansin ng madlang hindi nagkakalayo sa pag-uusap. Paano’y sadyang sila ay magkasuyo na, mag-kasintahan na, at sa bibig ng isang palabirong kaibigan nila, “minsan pa”,

diumanong “nagtagumpay ang kapatagan sa kabundukan”. . .

Subali’t sa Banawe, Bontok, ay isang dalagang Igurota ang naghihinagpis. Sang-ayon sa mga matatandang pantas doon, si Puranti ay nababaliw na. Paano’y malimit itong makitang lumuluha sa taluk-tok ng bundok, kung minsan, na nakatitig sa mga zig-zag a patun-gong Maynila ang paningin; kung minsan naman, ay napapansin ng mga kamag-anak na rin ni Puranti na ito ay nagbububulong at waring kinakausap ang mga dulo ng pinong tila sadyang nakikipaghalikan sa simoy ng hangin.

O! Kabihasnan. . . kabihasnan! -- ang halos ay isinisigaw ng dam-damin ni Puranti na tila inihahanap ng katugunan sa mga yungib ng Bontok.

Datapwa’t kinakailangan pa niyang gawin ang huling pagsubok. Ito ang sumilid na bigla sa kaniyang isip. Susubukin niya kung talagang siya ay umaasa nang wala siyang inaasahan.Kahuli-hulihan ngang tangka sa pagtiyak sa damdamin ni Pad-leng ang isinagawa ni Puranti. Isang maliit na tungkos ng mga “everlasting” na pinili niya sa mga pili ang maingat na inilagay sa isang maliit na buslo at sa pamamagitan ng isang amerikanang kakilala niya at nagkataong paluwas noon sa Maynila, ay ipinakiusap na paabu-tin lamang ang alaalang yaon kay Pad-leng.

Nag-ukol din ng malaking pagsa-sakit si Puranti upang maisagawa ang gayong pagpapahatid ng mga “everlasting”. Namuhunan siya ng mabuting pakikisama sa nasabing amerikana, na isa ring alagad ng misyon ng mga Protestante sa Hi-lagang Luson; naglingkod siya rito sa pamamagitan ng pagiging paturo o “guide” sa pagdalaw sa mga liblib na pook ng lalawigan ng mga Igurote, maipadala lamang ang hul-ing alaala ng pusong “limutin man yata ay hindi makalimot sa isang minamahal”.

Subali’t nagdaan ang mga araw, lumipas ang mga linggo, at parang laho lamang na naparam ang mga pangyayari sa isang buwan.. . at hanggang sa mapabalik na muli sa Banawe ang misyonerang amerika-na, ay hindi man lamang nakatang-gap ng kahi’t anong uri ng “ganti” ang kahabag-habag na si Puranti.

Paano’y haling na haling sa mga tagumpay si Pad-leng, ang binatang Igurote, sa tagumpay na halos ay nagiging pampasigla sa kaniyang pamimintuho at maalab na pagma-mahal sa isang “co-ed” -- kay Rita Miraflor, ang Birhen ng Katagalu-gan alinsunod sa mga tula sa pag-ibig ni Raul del Monte.

Sa di-kawasa ay natapos din ang panahon ng pag-aaral. Isa nang manggngamot ngayon si Raul del Monte -- ang binatang Igurote, na sa kaniyang kinamulatan ay lalong kilala pa rin sa pamagat na Pad-leng. Halos pagkatapos na pagkata-pos matanggap niya ang katibayan, ay hiningi na niya agad sa mga magulang ni Rita ang kamay nito, yamang siya ay mapapatakda sa paglilingkod sa isang pagamutan ng mga misyonero sa Bontok. Tawag ng tungkuling hindi maaaring di niya dinggin, at kaway ng kinamula-tang-lupa ang kaniyang namamasid, kaya’t

kailangan niyang talikuran ang siyudad ng mga ilaw; ang kahanga-hangang Maynila.

Buwang mabulaklak nang idaos ang kanilang biglang-biglang pag-iisang-dibdib; at pagkaraan nang mahigit na isang linggong paghah-anda, si Raul at si Rita, taglay ang lahat ng kanilang mga kailangan sa isang tahanan, ay umakyat na sa kabundukan ng Bagyo, upang buhat doon ay tumungo sa Banawe, sa pagtugon sa tawag ng tungkulin at sa pagharap sa tunay na pakikibaka sa buhay.

Napasinayaan na ang pagamutan sa Banawe ng mga di binyagan. Ang lahat ng mga Igurote ay inanyaya-han pa, at naging isang dakilang pagkakataon ang pagbabalik doon ng isang dalubhasa at magiting na kalipi nila, na ayon sa puno ng lala-wigang-bulubundukin, ay nagbalik upang maglingkod sa kinamulatang lupa at maging ilaw na patnubay ng mga kababayan niyang naghahanap at nangangailangan ng liwanag.

Subali’t tumbalik ang pagkakata-

ong nasabi sa tunay na dinaramdam ni Puranti. Umalis si Pad-leng na noon ay taglay “ang kaniyang pag-ibig at pananalig, subali’t nagbalik itong wari’y

may pasalubong na dita upang ip-alasap sa kaniyang naghihirap nang kaluluwa.

At sa paghihingalo ng araw kung dapit-hapon sa Banawe, na ang mga huling sinag na ginto ay nagdudulot ng maputlang dilaw sa mga dulo ng pino, ay parang may nababasa si Puranti. Nasisinag niya ang batas sa kabundukan. Ang pag-ibig na hindi maipagtagumpay ay talagang dapat na humarap sa kamatayan. At para sa kaniya, anong timyas ng humim-lay sa lilim ng pino at sa harap ng mga tiwangwang na taniman ng pa lay sa libis ng bundok!. . .

Iyan ang kaisipang nasisilid sa na-hihibang nang pag-iisip ni Puranti, at kung nang hapong yaon, ay tila may nagbabalang bagyo sa dakong Hilaga, ay may nangyayari na ring bagyo na ibig magahak sa mga pitak ng kaniyang dibdib na sugat-sugatan na sa dalmhati.

Si Puranti ay may handa nang palaso. Palasong ang talim o tulislis ay pinahiran pa ng dagta ng ugat ng isang kahoy na may lason. Natitiyak noon ni Puranti na buhat sa taluktok ng bundok ay maaabot ng kaniyang palaso ang dibdib ng magkasing umagaw sa kaniyang kaligayahan. Tuwing dapit-hapon ay nababatid niyang ang magkasi ay nagsisipag-pasyal sa libis, na walang gaanong agwat buhat sa pagamutan na siya rin nilang kinatatahanan, at doon nila inuulit ang awit ng dalawang kalapating pumaimbulong sa kalu-walhatian.

O! Inaasam-asam ni Puranti na dumating ang dapit-hapon sa kinabukasan. Papatay siya, at siya man naman ay dapat nang humarap sa kamatayan. lyan ang batas sa kabundukan. Iyan nng sariling sigaw ng kaniyang damdamin upang makapaghiganti.

At kinabukasan. . .Kay lamlam ng dapit-hapong

yaon!Namumutla na sa pagbihingalo

ang mga huling sinag ng iraw, ay kung bakit ang mga dulo ng pino ay tila pa hinahalikan ng maiitim na ibong bihirang makita sa mga pook na yaon.

Sugo na kaya yaon ni Kamatayan? Yaon na nga kaya ang hudyat ng

kasaliwaang-palad ni Raul at ni Rita sa kamayng Igurotang maghihiganti sa kasawian ng pag-ibig?

Aywan natin! Subali’t ang totoo ay nakahanda na si Puranti. Naka-panganlong siya sa isang malaking tipak ng batong-buhay na naga-galaw ng kaniyang matipunong bisig, sapagka’t ang batong yaon ay nasa bingit ng isang bangin.

Nakita ni Puranti buhat sa kani-yang kinalalagyan ang magkapiling na magkasi. Ibibinit na sana ang palaso sa busog na hawak. . .

Subaii’t. . . bigla siyang nang-gipuspos. . . Nawalan ng lakas ang kaniyang mga bisig. . .

O! Ang lalaking yaon: ang pangarap at pag-ibig ng kanyang kabataang naghingalo sa kasawian ng kanyang pag-ibig!

Hindi! Hindi! Hindi ang kamay niya ang maaaring pumatay. At parang baliw, ang buong bigat ng katawan niya’y

nanabagsak sa bato sa bingit ng bangin, hanggang sa siya ay tuloy-tuloy na dumagusdos na parang isang tipak lamang ng

lupang nalaglag buhat sa taluk-tok ng mataas na bundok. At kung anong himala ng kapalaran, ang batong-buhay ay sumunod pa sa kaniya at waring pabigat sa kani-yang katawan na humantong sa kapatagang malapit sa pagamutan.

At naganap ang Tadhana: ma-matay o pumatay! Walang lakas upang patayin ni Puranti ang lalak-ing yaon, subali’t ang Tadhana ang lalong makapangyarilian kay sa kaniya, at ang batas ng kabundukan ay sadyang dapat na maisakatu-paran.

Ang sawing pag-ibig ay dapat humarap sa kamatayan!

Nang dumating ang magkasi sa pook ng sakuna, at isagawa ni Raul del Monte ang mga unang pagla-lapat ng lunas, ay namasid niya nang buong liwanag ang mukha ni Puranti, na nakangiti pa sa kaniya, bagama’t tigmak sa sariling dugo.

“Puranti”, ani Raul.Kiang-wan. . . kiang-wan! . . Wala

na, wala na!At pinangiliran na lamang ng luha

si Raul at gayon din ang mga kuba-bayan niyang nagkagulo sa pook ng sakuna.

Ang mga pantas sa Banawe ay nagsiiling na lamang.

Sadyang malupit ang kabihasnan! Anila.

Mapait na KabihasnanKuwento ni Alberto Segismundo Cruz


come on man!you are seeing things!what do you mean look up?i see colors of the sunset!you...you see something else!like your brain being splattered in multicolored layerslayers of ice creating pristine rainbow signaling an end...end of an era wherein valhalla warriors wrestled with us...us mortals so they can go onelse where into the light...holy of holiesground zeroforbidden zoneoff with your sandals!its nothingreally its nothing but a refstock with cold...cold beeropen door let there be light!i am...am...thirstyi drink the fluid flowing downdown my throat reminense of wars fought else wherethe cold...cold...bearing on the warmth of fleshunleashing frictionreleasing warwar of the worldswithin...withoutsee...see the skyelse where...else wherearound the globevenerable oops...did i press on something!its got to be...got to be miller time!it's really the endend of the worldand i feel reallyreally...really...really fine!


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spouse or fiancé(e) of a citizen. In the case of a proposed mar-riage between two persons of the same birth sex, one of who has undergone sex reassignment surgery, the Form I-129F can be approved if the petitioner estab-lishes that the person’s legal sex has changed and the proposed marriage will be recognized under the law of the place of solemnization as a legally valid

heterosexual marriage. The following are the states that DO recognize transsexual marriages as a valid heterosexual marriag-es: North Carolina, New Jersey, and Maryland.

We welcome your feedback. If you have any immigration questions, please feel welcome to email me at [email protected] or call 619 819 -8648 to arrange for a telephone consultation.

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OGIE CRUZ.

Sometime in October, 1999 I created a website called (www.cyberpantheon.com) . It was meant to honor national heroes, martyrs, patriots and Filipinos in history. But I also added new categories such as hometown heroes, heroes in every field of discipline and of course, my hero. The idea was that while the National Historical Commission, Bantayog Ng Mga Bayani and the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani took care of the national he-roes, the local folks may have a different take. The residents of the town know more about who would be considered as heroes in their town. Of course, an indi-vidual may also have a differ-ent view, hence- my hero. This was before Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks became popular. In fact, this was on TV as I announced it a few days before All Saints Day that year. (The website is currently under reconstruction but I hope to be able to upload it soon.)

I just found out that Lakay Condring or former Pangasinan Governor Conrado F. Estrella was finally called by God to join Him. My sincerest condolences go to his family. I offer my prayers as he enters the Pearly Gates of Heaven.

Lakay Condring as a national hero will be judged by history. There are enough reasons and justification for his inclusion. It will probably take a little time to compile the historical files and documentation gathered, re-searched and written by histori-ans to support such an inclusion. But as a hometown hero, as a hero in the field of public service and as a hero of certain individ-uals who have had direct expo-sure to his heroic qualities and traits, we do not have to wait.

Governor Estrella (his pre-ferred title) was indeed a hero and pride of my town, Rosa-les, Pangasinan. What he has achieved in the political arena and public service, no other resident has ever achieved and no one may ever will. He was a great Mayor of Rosales, loved by the people and destined for higher glories. Discovered by President Ramon Magsaysay as someone who resembled him as a “man of the masses”, he

CONRADO F. ESTRELLA:Hero and Pride of

Rosales, Pangasinan

CONRADO F. ESTRELLAGovernor

nurtured Lakay Condring as the latter climbed to Governorship within a very short period of time. I have always wondered what would have happened if Magsaysay did not die in that plane crash. We know how the Province of Pangasinanwas effectively and efficiently run under Estrella’s regime. How far could Magsaysay have nurtured and prepared him for a higher national Chief Executive posi-tion?

The ascendancy of Governor Estrella also meant the ascen-dancy of Rosales residents. I remember as a young Boy Scout while attending the provincial jamboree in Lingayen, I went to visit the Governor’s office at the Princess Urduja building. It was full of people but when I men-tioned to the staff assistant that I was from Rosales, I suddenly received first class service. I also found out that most of the em-ployees in the office were from our town.

The Governor was a basketball player and buff. When I was in the Pangasinan Basketball Team that won the Central Luzon Athletic Association meet in Ba-langa, Bataan, he sought us out. When he found out that I was from Rosales, he made sure that we had a picture together with my gold medal. The picture is still in an old scrapbook of mine


by: Andrew Beene

Nowadays, more and more people are experiencing discom-fort in riding their very own cars. It is for the reason that cars are just like any other property we have. They will be brand new once we buy them off the store. But a few years in their age, and a couple of miles later, we may be able to see some traces of wear and tear. This is the reality that car owners need to accept with their cars.

Cars are actually deteriorating in a case to case basis. If you are the type of person who racks up miles and miles of cross country traveling; expect that the car will be down and out in a few years time. But if you are the person who is only using a car dur-ing the morning before starting the nine to five shift and during the afternoon when the day has ended; expect that a car will last a bit longer. Though one thing is eminent; that every car owner has to expect with their cars a total crash down when the time comes.

But there are times when a car crashing down poses a lot of problems for a car owner. There are even times when cars losing their brakes in El Cajon caused the death of a driver. But these things are actually avoidable if you would be conscious enough to go to the right people before an accident happens. This is the rule in terms of owning a car. It is every person’s responsibility that you check your car every

Avoiding the Avoidable: Car Crash Prevention in California

once in a while. Or to put it in a more exact way; have it checked by professionals every now and then.

California is a hub of car professionals. Every area has the mechanic that actually services virtually anything under the sun that involves cars! Whether it’s an auto tune up in San Diego or it’s a car alternator repair in El Cajon; you could count on them to do the job well!

This the very reason why some accidents in California is pre-vented. Since cars are eventually needing the repair and mainte-nance by professionals; might as well have your car taken cared of to maximize the mileage and also to promote safety in the roads. Since, being a responsible car owner requires the constant repair and maintenance of a car; it is wise to have them in the hands of California’s best. This way you are not just saving your car’s life but also your and other people’s lives as well.

Either you are needing to replace a brake pad or you are needing to have a tune up in Chula Vista, San Diego or any surrounding area for that matter; just make sure you go to profes-sionals and nothing could ever go wrong. In doing so, you will prolong your car’s life and also you could prolong your life as well. The number one lesson taught by California’s mechanic companies is that we could only live our lives once, might as well do everything in our power to protect it.

by: Chris DiCesare

Reviews on the new 2011 Mazda6 are in, and critics agree that this sedan, with its low price tag and no shortage of upgrades, is sure to impress consumers! The newest model of the Mazda cars fleet showcases a new, sleek exterior with plenty of interior upgrades to satisfy the most lav-ish shopper. Plus, it’s equipped with a ton of safety features and better fuel economy than previ-ous models. Here, we take a look at what the 2011 Mazda6 has to offer its users.

The 2011 Mazda6 is offered in four different models: Sport, Touring, Touring Plus, and Grand Touring. This essentially specifies what trim and exterior features your car will have. Gen-erally, the vehicle has sleeker headlights and newly designed taillights. Standard in all mod-els are rain-sensing wipers, body-coloured door handles and integrated sporty side sills. For a mid-size sedan, the Mazda6 does an impressive job at convincing you that it’s edgy and modern! If you’re looking to upgrade, you can consider adding a practical remote-control heated door mir-rors or sporty LED taillights.

The inside of the Mazda6 was built with spaciousness and ease in mind. Fitting five adults comfortably, the storage space in this sedan is also stand-up: flat-folding rear seats give you plenty of cargo space for all of your transportation needs! The standard deck comes equipped with an AM/FM/CD system with six speakers and MP3 capability. Upgrade options include a Bose audio system with disc-in-dash CD changer, auxiliary input and ten speakers. For the tech savvy drivers, an upgradeable voice-activated navigation system and keyless entry with push-button start are available for custom-izing your Mazda6. The Naviga-tion system includes a rearview camera and a larger, seven inch touch screen for easy, convenient controlling.

In terms of power, the 2011 Mazda6 has got its bases cov-ered. Available with either a 2.5L l4 engine with 170 horsepower

2011 Mazda6 is Stylish AND Affordable!

or a 3.7L V6 engine, this car accelerates quickly and moves with an undeniable forward pull. Transmission options include: a 5-speed automatic, 6-speed sport mode or as a 6-speed manual. Reviewers are particularly keen on the plethora of safety features on this year’s Mazda6. Notable components include advanced front airbags, side impact and side curtain airbags, ABS with EBFD and an ultimately superior traction system.

With its contemporary appear-ance, roaring engine and more than adequate safety features, the only aspect of the new 2011 Mazda6 that will surprise you will be its affordable price tag. If you’re interested in learning more about the new Mazda6 or any other new or used Mazda cars, Leggat Auto Group is here to help. At Leggat Auto Group, “you can always count on us”. Whether you’re in the market for a Chevrolet, Cadillac or Buick car, or are looking for Honda service or Buick service, Leggat Auto Group has you covered. Visit Leggat Auto Group and be sure to follow us on Facebook (Leggat Auto Group) and Twitter (leggatautogroup)!


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Laughing MatterRead previous articles by visiting our website at www.asian-

journalusa.com

Lifestyle

Read J’Son’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Joe Son

Are you overweight? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Accord-ing to recent studies more than 50% of young American adults are obese. Doctor’s advice, have a good diet and exercise, but how do you do it. Easy way is a miracle diet, mostly in forms of tablets or pills and fruit juices. These so-called super foods that you take as a supplement to lose weight have been getting a lot of international attention. And like you have probably already seen; they are all over newspapers and magazines, the internet in blogs and testimonial success stories of people who used the products and achieved good results are being used for others to patron-ize these products. Your problem of course, is you don’t have the right way to prove and find the truth.

Dr. Sartor, internist, my primary doctor, adviced me to concentrate on a good diet by counting calories while Dr. Solt-ero, nephrologist wanted me to do some exercise by a stationary bicycle. of course, combined is a good source of losing weight and get rid other illnesses as a conse-quence of being overweight.

I chose to forget complicated formulas and calorie counting and buying expensive machines with doing tiresome exercise. It’s no secret that eating more than our body needs eventually leads to weight gain, but why do so many people do just that? No matter how smart we are, the proximity of food and other external influences make us eat

Miracle diet, impossible... eat less, may just be the answer!

more to satisfy our hunger.Medical studies suggest that by

combined diet and exercise, we should increase our metabolism that boosts our weight loss by more than 800% with at least 39% reduction in cholesterol and an average 2 inch reduction in belly fat within 30 days after doing any form of dieting and exercising, same studies also suggest to include any colon cleansing product for best result. The idea behind its combination is encouraging weight loss and increase energy and the colon cleanse to help rid your body of toxins and allows your body to work and burn calories more efficiently.

Tired of being overweight, I decided to find my lifestyle change by making one or two small and relatively slow and painless changes, I have to set my goal. I believe I have to establish myself the best goal I can. For me, my goal is the seed of my success and that is the plant that I will become, and that the quality of my harvest is the direct reflection of the quality of my seed. My strong desire, my decision. Life is short, but I believe it’s never too late to at least set a goal in a slow but steady space. Let’s say, lose some-where between 20-30 pounds a year. This is not a dramatic loss, but easy to fulfill. To those who have the same health dilemma as I do, I urge you to join my crusade... now!

Here are my experimental

new method of eating less: I am now using a smaller plate about 10 inches in diameter, because I believe I will be eating less food by 20-30% than with a larger plate with no more seconds. This means, I will be using small serving spoons too. This will in-fluence total food intake just like the plate. Keep serving bowls away from the table but on a counter or on the stove. When you have to get up and walk for a refill even foe a short distance this will stop your urge to eat more. Use tall narrow glasses. In my observation people of all ages pour at least 75% more juice, soft drink or water into a wide short glass.

Snack time is always a culprit. Keep away chocolate or candy bowl in a convenient place to prevent yourself from reaching it for snacks, instead have a sugar-less gum or carrot sticks. Hamdy high calorie snacks is always a problem for dieters, fresh fruits has lesser calorie and is a good source of snacks, but always eat small or medium sized fruits or mixed fruit bars, Finally, on average seemingly healthy foods labeled “low-fat” “diet” etc. should contain fewer calories than their regular counterparts, but still lead the average person to eat 44% more total calories. This may not be a perfect weight loss method, however, doing these could help a lot and make it a habit.

Dahil sa tindi ng kahirapan sa probinsya, namasukan si Inday bi-lang katulong sa Maynila. Habang ini-interview ng amo...

Amo: Kelangan namin ng katulong para mag-ayos ng bahay, magluto,maglaba, magplantsa, ma-malengke, at magbantay ng mga bata. Kaya mo ba ang lahat ng ito?

Inday: I believe that my trained skills and expertise in management with the use of standard tools, and my discipline and experience will contribute significantly to the value of the work that you want, my creativity, productivity and work-efficiency and the high qual-ity of outcomes I can offer will boost the work progress.

Amo: [nosebleed]Nakaraan ang dalawang araw,

umuwi ang amo, nakitang me bukol si junior.

Amo: Bakit me bukol si junior? Inday: Compromising safety

with useless aesthetics, the not-so-well engineered architectural design of our kitchen lavatory affected the boy’s cranium with a slight boil at the left temple near the auditory organ.

Amo: [nosebleed ulit]Kinagabihan, habang nagha-

hapunan.Amo: Bakit maalat ang ulam? Inday: The consistency was

fine. But you see, it seems that the increased amount of sodium chloride (NaCl) affected the taste drastically and those actions are irreversible. I do apologize.

Amo: [nosebleed na naman]Donya: Bakit tuwing pag-uwi

ko, nadadatnan kitang nanunuod ng tv?!

Inday: Because I don’t want you to see me doing absolutely noth-ing.

Donya: [hinimatay]Kinabukasan, sinamahan ni

Inday si junior sa principal’s office

Si Indaydahil di makapunta ang amo at donya.

Principal: Sinuntok ni junior ang kanyang kaklase.

Inday: It’s absurd! It was never a fact that he will inflict a fight. I can only imagine how you handle schizophre nic kids in this edu-cational institution. Revise your policies because they suck!

Principal: [nag-resign]Pagdating sa bahay, nandun na

ang amo, galit na galit.Amo: Inday, bakit nagkalat ang

basura sa likod ng bahay?!Inday: A change in the weather

patterns might have occurred wreaking havoc to the surround-ings. The way the debris are scattered indicates that the gust of wind was going northeast causing damage to the path it was heading for.

Amo: [nosebleed ulit]Habang nagluluto si Inday ng

hapunan, malikot si junior.Inday: Stop your raucous behav-

ior. It is bound to result in property damages and if that happens there will be corresponding punishment to be inflicted upon you!

Junior: [takbo sa C R, nagpunas ng nagdudugong ilong]

Pagkatapos magluto, nanood na ng TV si Inday. Nabalitaan nya umalis si Angel Locsin sa GMA 7.

Junior: Bakit kaya siya umalis? Inday: Sometimes, people

choose to leave not because of selfish reasons but because they just know that things will get worse if they’ll stay. Leaving can be a tough act, and it’s harder when people can’t understand you for doing so.

Junior: [tuloy ang pagdugo ng ilong]

Nung gabing yon, me nag text ke Inday. Si Dodong, ang driver ng kapitbahay, gusto maki pag text-mate.

Inday: To forestall further hopes of acquaintance, my unfathomable statement to the denial of your request - Petition denied.

Di naglaon, dahil sa tiyaga ni Dodong, naging syota niya rin si Inday. Pero di tumagal ang kanil-ang relasyon, at nakipag-break si Inday ke Dodong.

Inday: The statute restricts me to love you but you have the provocations. The way you smile is the proximate cause why I love you. We have some rules to think of. We have no vested rights to love each other because the upper household dismissed my petition!

Dodong: Perhaps you are mistak-en, what you seem to contrive as any affections for you are some-what half-hearted. I was merely attempting to expand my network of interests by involving you in my daily recreation. Heretofore, you can expect an end to any verbal articulation from myself.

Me dumaan na mamang basure-ro, at narinig ang usapan ni Inday at Dodong.

Basurero: (sabi ke Inday): Be careful in letting go of the things you thought are just nothing because maybe someday you’ll realize that the one you gave away is the very thing you’ve been wishing for to stay.

Eto may update kay Inday. . .Narinig ang lahat ng amo ni

Inday.Amo: Mula ngayon, walang

magsasalita ng ingles, sinumang magpadugo ng ilong ko at sa anak ko, palalayasin sa pamamahay na ito.

Inday: Ang namutawi sa inyong labi ay mataman ko pong iimbak sa sulok ng aking balintataw, sa kaibuturan ng aking puso, at gugunam- gunamin. Sakbibi ng madlang lumbay kung mapapaalis sa gunita yaring tinuran.

Amo: Leche, di kami sinauna!!! Yung makabago ang gusto ko!!!

Inday: Tarush! Pachenes pa tong chorva eklavuboo chuva tabay-ishki kun suplandish ...:)

Amo: [ nagpakamatay ] Kapag ganito katulong mo eh

siguradong tatambling ka ng paulit-ulit . . .


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LIBRO NG MAIIKLING KUWEN-TO. MAAALIW KAYO SA PAGLA-

LARAWAN SA ATING LAHI AT SINILANGANG BAYAN.

“MAY BAGWIS ANG PAG-IBIG” ($12.00 including shipping), a 206-page collection of short stories written in Tagalog by Percival Campoamor Cruz and Alberto Segismundo Cruz.

The stories depict Philippine characters, lores, adventures and misadventures. Love is the predominating theme of the stories portrayed in many different ways.

Ten of the stories were written by the son, Percival Campoamor Cruz, a more modern expression of the themes explored by the father, Alberto Segismundo Cruz, in the ‘50s up to the ‘70s. Percival’s main story, “May Bagwis ang Pag-ibig”, touch on environmental and political disaster in a Spratly Island-like locale. The environmental/political issues were woven with a love story and the lives of common people living in a remote island. In the real world, a concern exists that there could be a nuclear confrontation in the South China Sea between China and the U.S. China maintains that the Sea is within its territory, while the U.S. insists that the Sea is international waters.

The rest of the stories portray the failures and successes of Filipinos who chose to live in foreign lands, the poor people’s helplessness in the Philippines, and timely issues like the UFO and gay marriage.Story titles: “Ang Kaibigang Alien” – a Filipino scriptwriter in Laguna Beach had a friendly encounter with an alien. “Ang Siyam na Buhay ni Felizardo Cabangbang” – a Fil-Am veteran was born lucky he could not die.“Ang Babaeng Robin Hood” – a beautiful, contemporary Filipino woman does her civic work in her own inimitable way. “Ang Singsing” – the battle of good and bad in the mind of a jeweler “Ang Balikbayan Box ni Doray” – Remember Pandora’s Box? It was the source of all evil.“Tatay Ko ang Nanay ko” – Gender changes are now acceptable; “My Way” – a karaoke singer makes it big in the U.S.A.

The eleven stories of Alberto that fi rst came out in weekly literary magazines, such as, Liwayway, Bulaklak, Kislap, Tagumpay, Aliwan, Silahis - media icons in the Philippines - dwell on the timelessness of honesty, honor, respect for tradition, purity of love, surmounting life’s challenges, and the like.

The stories relive the times when magazines and comics regaled the public before tv became popular; and more importantly, preserve for posterity the Tagalog Language’s beautiful prose and vocabulary now threatened to extinction due to lack of use. Alberto’s stories dwell on the timelessness of honesty, honor, respect for tradition, purity of love, surmounting life’s challenges, and the like. Story titles: “Rosa Malaya” – she saved a stranger due for execution in an old Tagalog kingdom “Makinis at Bughaw ang Kabibi” – long before “Little Mermaid” and “Finding Nemo”, Alberto made a deep sea anemone tell a story “Si Myrna at si Miss Gautier” – teenage love with a twist “Ang Dilag ng Ballet” – a lame girl became a ballerina

“THE MAIDEN OF ILOG-PASIG” ($12.00 including shipping), a 215-page collection of short stories written by Percival Campoamor Cruz in Tagalog and with English translations.

Lead story is a take on the beloved Ilog-Pasig and interprets the famous song, “Mutya ng Pasig”, in a light very different from previous interpretations. Other stories: “In Memory of Maria Lorena Barros” – memorializes a contemporary, real-life, Filipino heroine Enteng Kuryente – a man impervious to electricity “Sa Kaharian ni Raha Buwaya at Prinsesa Waling-Waling” – a folkloric explanation of what a “Manananggal” is “Ang Kakaibigang Katangian ng Tiyanak” – a folkloric explanation of what a “Tiyanak” isThis book features guest writers and their works:Amado V. Hernandez, Philippines’ National Artist for LiteraureAlberto Segismundo Cruz, one of the Philippines’ best 50 writersEfren Abueg, consist winner in the Palanca literary contestAntonio B. L. Rosales, a wellknown Tagalog writer

TO ORDER THE BOOKS: Go online at www.amazon.com. Put Percival Campoamor Cruz in the search box Or Send a check to JAREL CRUZ1731 N. Glenoaks Bld., Burbank, CA 91504 Tel. 818 568 2426 - [email protected]

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in the Philippines.In college I became a stu-

dent activist fighting for social, economic and political reforms. At that time, Governor Estrella was the Agrarian Reform Secre-tary. I remember having several encounters with him on opposite sides. One was in Isla Puting Bato and Don Bosco, Tondo. I was helping the squatters in pre-paring for their march to Mala-canang bringing their “barong-barong” huts and camping at Mendiola in front of the palace. He was there to assuage and discourage the leader, Resty de Leon who was from Pangasinan. He saw me and even told Resty that we were town mates. He was there to relay Marcos’ offer that the titles to the lots would be transferred to the squatters.

Another instance was when my youth group joined the Federa-tion of Free Farmers (FFF) in the march from Agrifina Circle to Malacanang. Secretary Es-trella arranged a dialog between Marcos and some leaders of FFF. When the Secretary opened the gates, all of us barged into the palace grounds and into the Malacanang hall. He was always respected by the farm-ers and their leaders so when he requested them to keep still and he would call Marcos, they did. When he and Marcos came back, he saw me again and somehow he managed to ask me to join

CONRADO F. ESTRELLA: Hero and Pride of Rosales, Pangasinan

(Continued from page 21) him and introduced me to Mar-cos as a town mate of his.

When I was President of the Rizalinian Civic Association (RCA), I invited Raul S. Man-glapus as a guest speaker. When Secretary and Congressman Bobby Estrella found out about the former coming to Rosales, they offered the Secretary’s residence for Manglapus to stay which he did. The latter authored the original Land Reform Code which DAR Secretary Estrella was implementing.

A few years after the People Power Revolution, I had the chance to see him again. First was when I negotiated the deal that brought Frank Sinatra to Manila. I was honored to invite him as a special guest. Accompanying him on front row were his sister, and his daughter Bernie.

When my father-in-law, Raul Manglapus, died, he was at the wake in the Ateneo de Ma-nila University chapel. I was glad to have spent some time with him talking about Rosales and what he and Manglapus had in common, especially with re-spect to the welfare of the farm-ers. Again, it struck me. What they actually had in common was President Ramon Magsay-say. What if?

I met him again later at the house of his daughter Bernie. He was always friendly, charm-ing and disarming. He even

asked me to become a member of PHILCONSA (Philippine Constitution Association). He was already the Chairman of the Association. He was the only non-lawyer I know who gained full knowledge of the Philippine Constitution, vowed to protect it and even led the association that defends it.

“What we are is a gift given to us by God. What we become is our gift to God.” Governor Es-trella was provided by God great talents to govern and to serve other men. His achievements in life – as a Mayor, Governor, Agrarian Reformer and defender of the Philippine Constitution cannot be ignored. His success as a parent could be seen through the children that he raised.

The only Rosalenian or Ro-saleno I know who has been conferred six honorary doctorate degrees (honoris causa) by pres-tigious universities and colleges in Luzon, Visayas andMindanao, Dr. Conrado F. Estrella under-stood the value of education. He was an avid student of history and in fact, obtained a Bach-elor’s Degree in History.

With his historic contribu-tions to society, especially to the people of Rosales, he himself will soon be part of that history written for this current and future generation to emulate.

With what he has become, he is also a great gift to God.

Teresita Calderon Alarcon, the President commends her ef-fective leadership and unself-ish dedication to community service specifically through the Feed the Hungry Inc. and her sustained personal com-mitment to address the needs of the underprivileged in the Philippines,” the CFO pro-gram reads.

FtH bridges the distance by tapping the CFO, self-financ-ing volunteers, and donors to work as their hands and feet in the Philippines.

FtH remains the larg-est contributor to the Link for Philippine Development program of the CFO, effec-tively donating more than P83 million worth of development assistance to the Philippines from 1999 to 2009.

The Alarcons also come home to the Philippines, and stay in their Alabang house for a few months at a time, to oversee FtH projects.

“But because we are not here 100 percent of the time, CFO helps us identify, espe-cially during disasters, where the aid is needed most,” Alar-con explains.

Team effort

She stresses that it is a team effort. “Our US partners, our thousands of donors and benefactors, our volunteers, they all have to be credited for what we are, what we have done and what we are still doing. No one can do these

Filipina feeds hungry in Philippines from 10,000 miles away


alone without their support and assistance,” she points out.

To generate support, FtH holds major fundrais-ers throughout the year, like a gala, a golf tournament, a Spring shindig. “We never run out of activities because we need to be able to provide for those in need,” Alarcon says.

The funds are then chan-nelled into activities ranging from their signature project of giving food and gifts to orphans and the sick during Christmas—the first FtH pro-gram in the 1990s—to class-room-building, now a strong program with 82 rooms built all over the Philippines.

“When we go around, we try to find out what is needed in that locality and try to do something long term for their benefit,” Alarcon says. They have, in her count, helped a million beneficiaries, granting them assistance worth $1 mil-lion and counting.

“We want them to know that even from 10,000 miles away, they are still remem-bered,” Alarcon says.

No sign of retiring

As she had promised to herself, Alarcon shows no signs of retiring from socio-civic activities for Filipinos.

She is also currently active in the Progressive Association of Filipino Americans Inc. and the Filipinas Women’s Net-work.

When she’s not busy sharing her blessings with communities, she lavishes her attention on her “apos” (grandchildren). She is cur-rently in the Philippines for the holidays, but will fly back to the US in February.

And, what does she gain from all of this? Nothing but the pleasure of seeing the best in people, “the dedication of each and everyone who have nothing to gain but who give their all without any expecta-tions in return. If only our government officials will likewise love the country and people more and forget their self-interests, we would be a happier country,” she says.

(Story courtesy of Jaymee T. Gamil of Philippine Daily Inquirer)

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Dear Mr. President:

Based on leaked reports, Vice President Jejomar Binay had already submitted his recommen-dations on the burial of Marcos to you. What is being floated is that Binay recommended the following: 1) Marcos should be buried ASAP; 2) he should NOT be buried at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani; 3) he should be buried in Ilocos Norte; and 4) he should be buried with Full Military Honors.

For fear that you might mis-construe silence as acquiescence to Binay’s entire proposal; the undersigned would like to express his views for all they are worth.

The undersigned worked with your father, Senator Raul Man-glapus, Colonel Boni Gillego, John Sharkey of the Washing-ton Post, Dr. Arturo Taca of St. Louis, Mo. and others in proving to the world that Marcos was no hero and a soldier who the U.S. military claimed to have com-mitted “fraudulent, absurd, pre-posterous and malicious criminal acts.”

Your father and the under-signed acted as signatory wit-nesses to the signed testimo-nies of Commandant Colonel Romulo Enriquez and Adjutant General Captain Vicente Ri-vera of the 14th Infantry Divi-sion, USAF – NL, under whom Marcos served which proved that Marcos’ claim of heroism in Ki-angan, Mt. Province were false and fabricated.

While the undersigned agrees with Vice President Binay with respect to recommendations 1, 2 & 3, he disagrees with the recommendation that Marcos should be given Full Military Honors.

If Marcos is disqualified from being buried at LNMB, he is also disqualified from being buried with Full Military Honors for the same reasons plus more. The at-tempt of a political compromise by going around the objections to a hero’s burial through the military route is legally, morally, and even practically unsound.

VP Binay is banking on the fact that since Marcos was a soldier enlisted by the Philippine Commonwealth Army under the Command of the U.S. Military Forces, he is entitled to at least a standard military honors. And since he was a Former President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in the Philippines, he is entitled to Full Military Honors.

There are several laws, military rules and jurisprudence that you could rely on to support a fair judgment. As I explained in my letter to Binay (http://asianjo-urnalusa.com/letter-to-binay-p10932-168.htm ), Philippine Laws (Republic Act 289) and AFPR G 161 374, disqualify Marcos to be buried at LNMB or any National Cemetery/Pan-theon. Under the rules, because he was dishonorably deposed as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and as a Dictator through the People Power Revo-lution, he is also disqualified to receive Full Military Honors.

Having served as a soldier under the United States Armed Forces, Marcos’ burial benefits as well as military honors could be subjected also to American standards, rules and jurispru-dence. Title 10 Sections 985 and 1491 and Title 38 Section 2411

Letter to P Noy

of the United States Code and the Timothy McVeigh case could guide you. The fact that Marcos or somebody was a soldier does not guarantee military honors. By the time of burial, it must be shown that the soldier did not dishonor his country and is not found guilty of any crime against his fellow citizens and/or the nation. If no trial is held because of death but some clear and convincing evidence prov-ing guilt existed, he would still be disqualified from any military honors.

Terrorist Tim McVeigh was a soldier who fought for his coun-try. But he killed innocent civil-ians, dishonoring his country and the military which is duty-bound to protect civilians.

In the U.S. Military Archives, the following historical docu-ments can be found:

that the U.S. Court of 1. Claims found that Marcos’ reparation claims for the commandeering of his al-leged 2,366 heads of cattle was false and therefore, rejected;that U.S. Military investi-2. gation found that Marcos’ claim for back pay benefits for his alleged guerrilla unit, “Ang Maharlika” was “fraudulent, absurd, preposterous and malicious criminal acts.” disproving that Marcos’ 3. claims for awards and medals did not exist and his alleged heroic acts in specific events never hap-pened; that Marcos had written 4. documents favorable to the Japanese Occupation forces and derogatory to the U.S. Government.

In the U.S. Court System, on record is a decision by a Hawaii court ruling that victims-plain-tiffs of human rights violations during the Marcos dictator-ship were entitled to $2 billion compensation from the Marcos ill gotten wealth that may be recovered. In fact, it was later followed by another decision to distribute $7.5 million compen-sation to 7,500 victims.

Clearly, under U.S. military rules, Marcos who served as a soldier under the U.S. Armed Forces is not qualified to receive any military honor. A fortiori, (with more reason), he is not entitled to Full Military Honors which is usually given to regular soldiers who died in combat.

Under Marcos 60,000 Filipi-nos were kidnapped, illegally detained, and tortured. Many of the women including the current Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights were repeat-edly raped by the military. Many disappeared and up to this day remain unfound. Several were killed and “salvaged”. The Task

Pres. Benigno Aquino III

Force for Detainees of the As-sociation of Major Religious Superiors, the Amnesty Inter-national, the Red Cross and the U.S. State Department detailed and documented these violations. Under the Principle of Command Responsibility enunciated in the Yamashita case and in Aberca, et al vs. Ver, et al, Marcos is as guilty for these offenses.

Citing “violations of human rights” is too vague for the Filipino people to visualize and comprehend. But specifically describing in all multimedia for-mats, the gruesome details that Marcos and his partners in crime did to these victims would make the nation realize that Marcos deserves no honor – military or otherwise.

The details would also show that Marcos and his cohorts committed not only offenses involving moral turpitude but most especially crimes against humanity. For these, not only is he disqualified to receive Full Military Honors under Philippine and U.S. military rules, he is disqualified under International Law as well.

Marcos closed Congress during Martial Law. People Power re-opened it. Yet, 216 Congressmen want to bury him as a hero.

Marcos grabbed TV and radio stations, closed down newspa-pers, and illegally imprisoned publishers and journalists. Peo-ple Power reinstituted Freedom of the Press. Yet, the beneficia-ries failed to inform and educate the current generation of these experiences so that they will not happen again. Worse, many who never saw Marcos alive and were never informed of his misdeeds are ignorantly willing to bury him as a hero.

Marcos castrated the judiciary, placing the tenure of judges at his capricious disposal. People Power made it more indepen-dent. Yet for the human rights victims, for the recovery of ill-gotten wealth, for the pros-ecution of corrupt officials under Marcos, the wheels of justice have been slow;

Marcos transformed the Armed Forces into his private army. People Power returned it into being a professional one. Now it is being called upon to provide military honors to him.

Your predecessors including your own mother had the oppor-tunity to bury Marcos as a hero or with military honors. All of them never did. It was the wise and right thing to do.

Since you are called upon to make a decision, understand-ably aware of your bias, the undersigned suggests the follow-ing: you agree to bury Marcos as soon as possible in Ilocos Norte (not in Libingan Ng Mga Bayani) as recommended by VP Binay but without military honors.

You may not however object to any ceremonies that the Marcos family and their loyal friends may organize or initiate in his honor as they finally make him rest in peace.

If 216 Congressmen decide to honor him by signing a resolu-tion to be read at the burial, it is their prerogative - in the same way that it is ours to organize an alternative Congress as provided for in the Cory Constitution using the People’s Initiative. It could also be opportune to trans-fer pork barrel funds to compen-sate human rights victims and to reinforce local development projects.

In God We Trust and In You We Bank Our Hopes!

Benjamin G. Maynigo

they were married. They were blessed with four healthy, beauti-ful boys, Archie, Lyndon, Patrick and Ariston III.

At that time Patricio resigned from his teaching position and took the Board of Examiners exam in Civil Engineering and passed it right away. He finally worked in the Bureau of Pub-lic Works and took a part time job as a professor at Manuel L. Quezon University to help his growing family. After putting eleven years in with the Public Works, he applied to immigrate to the United States. Being a professional engineer he, along with his wife and at that time 3 boys, were given visas. They eventually landed in Escondido, California in 1972.

His wife’s grandpa started to help him apply for a job. He had been living in Escondido since he was 18 years old. He said to Patricio, “Grandson, it will be very hard for you to get a job as an engineer because I have never heard of the City Hall hiring a Filipino.” It didn’t stop him from applying though. He presented to the five interviewers his excellent experience and per-formances in the Philippines and they hired him right away. The city of Escondido distinguished his services for the promotion of a prosperous community by giv-ing him many awards. The most important was a plaque that said, “City of Escondido Incorporated 1888, October 1972-2003”. He was very proud presenting this plaque to his wife and 4 boys but above all he looked up to Heaven and said, “See Grandpa, I made it. The only Filipino Civil Engi-neer from the Philippines made it after 35 years in service. Now it’s my turn to retire.”

Patricio’s wife, the former Estelita P. Torcuato, was born and raised in Baguio City, Philippines. After they married she continued to teach at the Catholic high school in Villasis, Pangasinan teaching History, Sociology, Spanish and Physical Education. When they arrived here in Escondido in 1972, she applied for her California Teach-ing Credential, utilizing her edu-cation from the Philippines. She continued teaching in Escondido as a substitute teacher. One day she decided to go back to school at Palomar College in San Marcos and she got her degree as an RN. She started working at Tri-City Hospital. She was not satisfied with her title as an RN so while working, she attended the University of Phoenix and received her Bachelor Degree in Nursing and a Public Health Nurse Certificate. She applied at the County of San Diego in 1991 as a Public Health Nurse. She was bilingual, not only in her National Language but also in Spanish. She was assigned to a mostly Latino area in Ocean-side, California. Violence, gangs, drugs, and prostitution previously plagued this commu-nity. There were many crimes, unhealthy and unsafe environ-ment, graffiti, garbage, and poor quality apartments due to poor supervision of managers and

An Inspiring StoryFilipino-American Couple in Escondido

Celebrate Fiftieth Anniversary(Continued from page 1)

owners. The area was at first named from where the “street” the people came from and even dubbed as a “war zone” and the “worst neighborhood” in Ocean-side.

Estelita endured having her life threatened. She wanted to emphasize her professional goal as “a cleaner neighborhood is a healthier neighborhood”. She began to organize street cleaning in the area with a YMCA project coordinator. They named this organization “La Corona Lim-piacio” or “Crown Heights Clean Up”. She modeled to her grass-root clean up from her homeland. She organized meetings with the city mayor, city councils, chief of police and other local community resources including a former gang leader. They as-sisted in buying tools the people needed for the cleanup. She then began to go into the community every Saturday to help with the clean up by picking up trash all over the neighborhood. She felt satisfaction in helping the people make their community a clean and safe place to live. She also provided coffee and donuts for everyone who came out to help clean.

After two years, this par-ticular neighborhood became a cleaner and safer place to live. It also gained the attention of newspapers like The North County Times. They featured pictures of her and the people cleaning up the streets. Channel 10 News also heard about this community and a newscaster interviewed her asking about how she had helped improve this community. Her interview was then broadcasted on the six o’clock news. After this she was still bothered by the name of the community. One day she was looking at the top of the new building at the corner of Division Street. She saw a “crown” on top of it and uttered the words, “crown…Crown Heights!” Soon after during a meeting with the City of Oceanside where the Mayor, the City Council and the Chief of Police were present, she introduced the name “Crown Heights”. They were thrilled and accepted the name right away.

She and the YMCA Coordi-nator were later rewarded and honored for their dedications and commitments to this community. The County Supervisors, Chair-woman Pam Slater and all the members of the San Diego Board of Supervisors were all present to give them this honor. She

retired along with her husband in 2003 after working for 25 years as a nurse, helping the people both young and old in the com-munity she loved very much.

Their eldest son Archie, established his business in pest control management in Atasca-dero, San Luis County with the help of his wife managing the business.

Their second son Lyndon was named in honor of the late US President Lyndon Johnson. He worked at Pechanga in Temec-ula, but one day while walking his Golden Retriever dog he fell backward and hurt his back. Currently he helps manage the renters of his parent’s house.

Their third son Patrick along with his younger brother Aris-ton III both went back to their homeland and attended school at one of the universities. Patrick finished his Bachelor Degree in Microbiology with his wife, formerly Phyllis Teserro gradu-ating with a degree in English. Ariston III graduated too with a Bachelor Degree in English and Minor in Psychology. When they arrived back in the USA, Ariston brought his beautiful and loving wife Jenelyn with their son Cain. A few years later they had another son named Sebas-tian.

All their family will be celebrating their 50th wed-ding anniversary with a Mass at Saint Mary Catholic Church on June 18th at 2:00pm. They will follow with a dinner at 333 Restaurant in Oceanside, CA. Their recipe for a long, lasting marriage is “be honest, sincere, loving, truthful and always com-municate how you feel with each other.”

Parents and sons

Wedding photo

Documents

Asian Journal June 10, 2011 edition