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HEALTHY LIVINGCounty’s medical therapy units: A place for miracles

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SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENTFilipino films spice festival

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September 25 - October 1, 2010

HOME IMPROVEMENTAdvice for foreign home buyers

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Photo: Areeluck ParnsoonthornJazz singer Charmaine Clamor entertains the crowd at FilAmFest 2009. Last year's festival drew 15,000 people. Organizers expect as many as 20,000 for this year's festival.

BOXING LEGEND JOE FRAZIER RECALLS 'THRILLA IN MANILA'

inside this edition

FilAmFest gears up for 6th year with ‘Bayanihan Spirit’

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The 6th annual Filipino-American Arts & Culture Festival, popu-larly known as FilAmFest, kicks off its day-long celebration this year with the theme “Celebrat-ing the Bayanihan Spirit.”

The festival takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 2, at Potomac Park on Paradise Valley Road (between Woodman Street and Gilmar-tin Avenue).

Last year ’s festival drew

15,000 people, according to or-ganizers, who are expecting an even larger crowd this year.

Scheduled performers on the main stage include YouTube sen-sation Gabe Bondoc, “American Idol” season seven finalist Ra-miele Malubay, hip-hop artist Bambu from the Native Guns, and emcee Hopie Spitshard.

Returning acts from previous festivals will also perform, in-cluding hip-hop dance crew In-decisive Dance Krew and local reggae band Monday’s Alibi.

Hosting the first portion of the festival will be actor, model and singer Michael Copon, best known for his role as Felix in the hit series “One Tree Hill.”

Joining Copon as master of ceremonies is comedian and magician Justin Rivera of Chi-no Hills, who has appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Gong Show with Dave Attell.”

FilAmFest is continuing its youth program with arts and crafts, where they can

See fest on 11

FILAMFEST 2010FilAmFest is a Filipino-Amer-ican arts and culture festi-val. It is one of the largest inter-generational arts and cultural events in San Diego. When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 2Where: Potomac Park, Paradise Vally Road (between Woodman Street and Gilmartin Avenue)

Entertainment 11 a.m.: Opening ceremony,Risen BeingezNoon: Katriz Trinida, Lil Desi, Defcase, Allysse1 p.m.: Micheal Copon, Joseph Vincent, Abrina, Bell Middle2 p.m: Bambu, Hopie Spitshard3 p.m.: Seefor Yourself, Nate Burns, Trish, IDK4 p.m.: Ramiele, Gabe Bondoc, Monday’s Alibi5 p.m.: Joey Casora, Rising Stars

Organizers expect record crowds for arts and cultural festival

Obama names 2 Fil-Ams to White House advisory postsWASHINGTON — President Obama has ap-pointed two prominent Filipino-Americans as White House advisers on Asian-American issues, ABS-CBN News reported recently.

Rozita Villanueva Lee, a familiar face on Capitol Hill during the fight for Filipino World War II veterans rights, and Hector Vargas Jr., a well-known gay rights activist, were named as new members of the Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

“These are distinguished and highly-respected leaders of the AAPI community who have demonstrated a strong commitment to the White House initiative’s goal of improving the lives of underserved Asian Americans and Pa-cific Islanders," said Greg Macabenta, national chair of the National Association of Filipino American Associations.

Filipino Press seeks entrants for writing competitionNATIONAL CITY, Calif. — The Filipino Press is launching what it hopes will become an annual writing competition honoring the literary excel-lence of young Filipino-American writers.

The contest, dubbed Gawad Panulat News Story Team Competition, will begin in Novem-ber and run through January 2011. The paper is actively seeking young aspiring writers between the ages of 13-18 to apply for the compeition. Young writers of Filipino descent are encouraged to apply for the competition by submitting a writing sample to contest coor-dinator Allure Llorente by e-mailing allure@filipinopress.com by Nov. 1.

For more information, see our ad on page 19 or contact Llorente at (619) 565-9500. Informa-tion on the contest will also be posted on our Facebook page (Filipino Press).

neWs in BRieF

By Benjamin Pimentel

We remember two key nar-ratives in the Filipino ex-perience this month.

One tells of brutal dictatorship. The other celebrates the courage of Fil-ipino-American migrant farm work-ers and the troubling flaw of a revered Mexican-American icon.

Tuesday, Sept. 21, marked the 38th anniversary of the declaration of mar-tial law and the rise of one of most des-potic regimes in history.

But one would think it was a glo-rious time to remember from the way Imelda Marcos was recently beam-ing, as she celebrated her son Bong-bong’s political rise and what she sees as the eventual return to power of the Marcos forces.

“I'm truly happy to see Bongbong here in the senate following the foot-steps of his father,” she was quot-ed as saying in the Philippine Dai-ly Inquirer. Bongbong aiming for the presidency, she noted, “is a matter of destiny, a divine plan.”

Amid such silly, scary talk, we shift focus to the small central California town of Delano.

Forty-five years ago, on Sept. 8, 1965, Filipino farm workers, led by Phillip Vera Cruz, Pete Velasco and Larry Itliong, kicked off the farm- worker strike that led to the creation

of the United Farm Workers, one of the most influential labor unions in American history.

The manong The dictator

and the

45 years ago this month, Phillip Vera Cruz kicked off the farm-worker strike that led to the

creation of the United Farm Workers. Sadly, the late labor leader is hardly remembered

Filipino American History Month, also known as the Filipino American Heritage Month, is celebrated in the United States during the month of October. The Filipino American National Historical Society es-tablished Filipino American History Month in 1988. In California and Hawaii, where a large number of Filipino-Americans reside, Filipino American History Month is widely celebrated. Many Filipino-American orga-nizations in these states often initiate their own independent celebrations.

Some argue that October as Filipino Amer-ican History Month has not yet attained the prestige of other similar minority cel-ebrations, such as the Black History Month in February, Women's History Month in March and the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May. This is evidenced by the fact that no U.S. Congress has ever resolved to recognize Filipino American History Month. However, the House of the 111th Congress has introduced a House Resolution 155 (H.R. 155) to officially rec-ognize October for Filipinos.

The celebration in 2006 was a pivotal year as it marked the centennial celebration of Filipino migration to the United States. Throughout October, the Filipino Press will feature stories celebrating Filipino Ameri-can History Month. We begin in advance with the story of famed Filipino labor leader Phillip Vera Cruz.

See VeRA CRUZ on 11

Photo illustration: Bill Ramsey Photo: Smithsonian Institution

“Delano Manongs” tells the story of farm labor organizer Larry Itliong and a group of Filipino farm workers who instigated one of the Ameri-can farm labor movement’s finest hours — the Delano Grape Strike of 1965 that brought about the creation of the United Farm Workers Union. While the movement is known for Cesar Chavez’s leadership and considered a Chicano movement, Filipinos played a pivotal role that began it all. Filipino labor organizer Larry Itliong, a 5-foot-5, cigar-chomping union veteran, organized a group of 1,500 Filipinos to strike against the grape growers of Delano, Calif.

For eight days they struck alone, getting thrown out of their labor camp homes, and facing vio-lence from growers’ hired thugs and the sheriff’s department. Yet Larry’s story — and the story of the Filipinos and their union organizing efforts that began in the 1920s in the U.S. — have virtu-ally been forgotten. Told from Itliong’s perspec-tive, the documentary follows Larry’s life arriving in the U.S. at age 15 and immediately becoming involved with Filipino labor unions in the canner-ies and farm fields on the West Coast. The story of Larry and the Delano Filipinos is a history un-known to most Filipinos in the U.S. Visit the film's website at www.delanomanongs.com.

DELANO MANONGS

Michael Copon Justin Rivera

The Filipino Press interviews Joe Frazier on the 35th anni-versary of his match with Muhammad Ali. Frazier will be in San Diego on Oct. 2-3 to sign memorabilia at Horton Plaza.SEE PAGE 20

2 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

MANILA, Philippines – Ma-nila Mayor Alfredo Lim admit-ted that his team failed in han-dling the August 23 hostage crisis but contested the findings of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC).

Lim recently said some por-tions of the IIRC report were " too sweeping, " fa lse , and lacked basis.

At a press conference at the Manila City hall, Lim also said "pumalpak kami" (we failed) but stressed that he and Vice-Mayor Francisco Domagoso (Isko Moreno) should not be blamed for the incident.

Lim asked authorities to spare Moreno from the charges.

"Please spare the vice may-or. He has no culpability. I am

ready to face charges that might be slapped against me. I can't do anything about it," Lim said.

Lim and Moreno were among the 12 government officials, po-lice officers, and media workers held responsible by the IIRC for the mishandling of the Au-gust 23 hostage crisis in Manila wherein eight Hong Kong tour-ists, and the hostage-taker, Ro-lando Mendoza, were killed.

"The Vice-Mayor’s and my in-clusion, and even the negotiator, on the list of those found culpa-ble by the IIRC is too sweeping and totally lacking in factual and legal basis," said Lim.

Lim belied several points in the IIRC’s summary of critical incidents that led to the failure of the hostage negotiations.

Lim particularly elaborat-ed on the first critical incident ó the failure to activate the city of Manila’s crisis management committee (CMC).

"The statement in the IIRC re-port with the heading First Criti-cal Incident... is totally false. We activated the CMC at the city hall. It was supposed to be acti-vated here and not there in the site of the incident," Lim said.

Lim also puts the blame on the Manila Police District leader-ship, particularly on MPD chief Gen. Rodolfo Magtibay, saying the CMC, which Lim headed, was merely an "advisory body."

"(The MPD team) was the op-erational group as distinguished from the policy making body which was the CMC," he said. (MNS)

Government to adjust fourth quarter borrowing programMANILA, Philippines – The government will make appropriate adjustments in its fourth quarter borrowing program, following the successful issuance of 10-year peso-denominated global bonds recently.

National Treasurer Roberto Tan said the government would have to review its projected cash flow. “We will review our projected cash flow with the expected inflow from the global peso issue and make appropriate adjust-ments on our fourth quarter auction program as necessary,” Tan said.

Market investors expect the government to reduce its issuance of Treasury bills (T-bills) and bonds in the fourth quarter following the successful sale of 10-year bonds in the global debt market.

Tan also said the Treasury may issue longer-dated debt papers in the fourth quarter as part of efforts to lengthen maturities now that investors prefer to park their funds in longer-dated securities. The government re-cently raised $1 billion worth of peso-denominated global bonds, the first local currency issue for the Philippines and for an Asian country.

Finance officials said the government decided to issue peso-denominated bonds to help cushion the economy from the external uncertainties and developments in the global environment such as dollar fluctuations.

Global investors tendered a total of $13.3 billion for the $1 billion is-suance or 13 times oversubscribed.

The newly issued bonds, which were priced at 99.607 percent with a coupon of 4.95 percent and a yield of five percent, will mature in Janu-ary 2021. By geographical allocation, 37.1 percent of the orders came from Asia, 32.6 percent from the US and 30.3 percent from Europe.

Proceeds would be used to finance the government’s budgetary require-ments and is part of the government’s management of external liabilities, particularly with respect to reducing its vulnerability to foreign currency risk.

The Aquino administration is staring at a widening budget deficit that is projected to hit P325 billion this year or 3.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) from the original target of P300 billion.

The budget deficit can narrow to P226 billion or 2.5 percent of GDP next year if the economy grows by as much as seven percent or more than the official growth target for next year of five percent. (philstar.com)

More projects to lose perks in 2011 IPPMANILA, Philippines — Some priority economic activities that enjoy tax and fiscal incentives under the 2010 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) may lose such perks under the 2011 IPP as the Aquino adminis-tration is expected to further trim down incentives and grant perks to limited and deserving projects only.

This developed as the Board of Investments is set to convene next month the technical committee of the IPP to start crafting the IPP framework. The IPP is an annual list of government priority economic activities that would be entitled to a package of juicy tax and fiscal incentives.

BoI executive director Efren Leano, however, said the 2011 IPP will be dependent on the Medium Term Development Plan.

“We expect the 2011 IPP to be tight and short but if government says we need to help more investors then we have to widen the list. This will largely depend on the MTDP because it will be basis in the crafting of the new list,” Leano said.

Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo, who is chair of the BoI, also made clear earlier that he would limit the grant of incentives by further tightening the lPP list to specific projects that are really priority. The tightening of the IPP would be imposed under the 2011 IPP, he said.

Industries that Domingo would prioritize are tourism, IT-BPO type indus-tries, electronics, mining, housing and agriculture. These industries are chosen based on their high local value content, export revenue genera-tion and jobs generation potentials.

Projects under the IPP are granted a maximum of 8 years income tax holiday, zero duty on the importation of capital equipment, additional tax deduction on expenses for training and labor, employment of foreign nationals, among others. The annual IPP has undergone a tightening belt over the years by ridding it off of economic activities that are no longer government priorities or activities that no longer require government tax and fiscal assistance. (mb.com.ph)

BOP posts $3.478-billion surplus from January-AugustMANILA, Philippines — The country’s balance of payments (BOP) surplus went up by 25.3 percent in the first eight months of the year due to robust remittances from overseas Filipinos as well as strong foreign exchange inflows from investments, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported recently.

Data showed that the BOP position posted a surplus of $3.478 billion from January to August this year or $703 million higher than the surplus of $2.775 billion registered in the same period last year.

The BOP refers to the difference of foreign exchange inflows and outflows on a particular period and represents the country’s transactions with the rest of the world.

BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the improved BOP posi-tion was registered in the first eight months of the year despite the 24.5 percent drop in BOP surplus to $40 million in August this year from $53 million in the same period last year.

“The BOP is relatively low for August as inflows from BSP’s income and foreign exchange operations were offset by significant payments by the National Government of its maturing foreign exchange obligations,” Tetangco stressed.

The country’s BOP surplus plunged to $89 million in 2008 from $8.67 billion in 2007 due to the full impact of the global financial crisis. The BOP position recovered last year with a surplus of $5.295 billion. This year’s surplus would stablize as the growth of imports would outpace the growth of exports.

The BSP’s Monetary Board sees the country’s BOP surplus hitting $3.7 billion instead of the original target of $3.2 billion due to robust foreign exchange inflows from the higher investment inflows, disbursement of official development assistance (ODA) loans from multilateral lending agencies, and the money sent home by Filipinos abroad.

As early as June, the original BOP surplus target of $3.2 billion set by the BSP for 2010 was already breached.

“Inflows from portfolio investments, remittances, and export receipts for the balance of the year are likely to result in continued surplus in the exter-nal position,” Tetangco added.

Latest data showed that money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) went up by 7.1 percent to $10.679 billion in the first seven months of the year from $9.973 billion in the same period last year. The BSP has already upgraded its growth forecast for the amount of money sent home by overseas Filipinos to eight percent instead of six percent due to the strong demand for Filipino skilled workers. (philstar.com)

By Maila Ager

MANILA, Philippines — Retired police chief Jesus Ver-zosa and Interior Undersec-retary Rico Puno have been named as "ultimate recip-ients" of jueteng money at a recent Senate hearing.

Verzosa and Puno were among those in the list sub-mitted by Archbishop Oscar Cruz and read by Senator Teofisto Guingona III, chair-man of the Senate blue ribbon committee.

The same list named the following operators of the multi -bi l l ion-peso i l legal numbers game: Lilia “Baby” Pineda in Pampanga; Paul Dy in Isabela; retired gener-

al Eugene Martin and May-or Domogan in Baguio; Danny Soriano in Cagayan; a retired general Padilla in Pasay, Pa-ranaque, Muntinlupa, and San Pedro; a governor Espino in Pangasinan; and a Boy Ja-landoni in Bacolod.

The names of Verzosa and Puno were listed under the "nat ional jueteng payola flow," along with a certain Ed-die Fontanilla (“collector on the ground”) and a retired general Cachuela (“interme-diate recipient”).

Guingona said the "sources of information" were Charlie “Atong” Ang for jueteng and jai-alai and Manuel “Manol-ing” Morato for small-town lottery (STL).

Archbishop Cruz recent-ly faced the Senate to expose government officials who have been allegedly receiving pay-offs from jueteng operators.

But at the start of the joint hearing by the Senate blue rib-bon, local government, and rules committees, Cruz ex-pressed hesitation about his revelations and requested for an executive session so he could identify the officials on the take.

“So in case the chair would allow, I'd ask for an executive session where I give all the names in the upper bracket of this whole racket and all the names in the lower echelon of the syndicate,” he said.

But Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile objected

to the request.“This is the moment of

truth. Let's bring out the truth. No matter how pain-ful. Let's name names,” En-rile said.

Cruz confirmed that he has a list of government offi-cials who have either been re-ceiving bribe from jueteng op-erators, or directly involved in jueteng, or in collusion to allow the proliferation of jueteng in the country.

“Question 1 and 2, I have the list of the people. Question 3, yes,” he told the committee.

Asked by Guingona if he was willing to reveal the con-tents of the list, Cruz said, “I can easily do that. It's in front of me.” (inquirer.net)

By Iris C. Gonzales

MANILA, Philippines — Total government borrow-ings rose to P584.67 billion in the first eight months of the year, more than double the P269.15 billion recorded in the same period last year, latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.

Data also showed that bor-rowings increased during the eight-month period because of the P68.5 billion the gov-ernment raised through the sale of global bonds and the P51.74 billion it raised from the issuance of Samurai or yen-denominated bonds.

The government borrowed P158.107 billion from foreign creditors and P426.557 billion from local lenders.

In the same period last year, the government bor-rowed P142 billion from ex-ternal sources and P127.15 billion from domestic lenders for a total of P269.15 billion, data also showed.

Of the P158.107 billion it borrowed from foreign sourc-es from January to August this year, project loans from various multilateral agencies accounted for P18.010 billion while program loans amount-ed to P19.843 billion.

Government borrowings are expected to shoot-up by end-September following the sale of $1 billion worth of peso-denominated global bonds ear-ly this month. (philstar.com)

Government borrowings hit P585B

Mayor Lim admits failure but disputes hostage crisis report

Verzosa, Puno named ‘ultimate recipients’ of jueteng money

A recent Senate hearing revealed that retired police chief Jesus Verzosa (left) and Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno receive payoffs from jueteng operators.Photo: inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines — A ra-dio station recently rejected ac-cusations that its live interviews with a hostage-taker holding a busload of Hong Kong tourists had prevented a negotiator from contacting the hijacker.

Aquilino Pimentel, lawyer for Radio Mindanao Network, criti-cized an official inquiry's call for three of its staff to be prosecut-ed for holding phone interviews with the hostage-taker. Eight tourists were killed in the fiasco.

The probe accused the radio station of monopolizing the phone

link to the hostage-taker and stopping a police negotiator from getting through to him to put for-ward a deal. The hijacker began shooting shortly afterward.

"The interview by (radio re-porter) Michael Rogas gave the hostages an extra few hours to live," Pimentel, a former senator, told the station.

The official inquiry into the disaster, released Monday, also called for the country's top three television networks to be punished, saying their reports allowed the hijacker to follow

police movements on the bus television set.

The networks declined imme-diate comment on the inquiry, which recommended prosecutions against 13 people including police officers, government officials, and media employees deemed culpa-ble for the bloodbath.

The findings also present-ed a scathing indictment of the police response to the August 23 hijacking, accusing the force of negligence, insubordination, and failing to gather intelligence as the crisis unfolded.

Ex-Manila policeman Ro-lando Mendoza hijacked the busload of tourists in central Manila, aiming to force the gov-ernment to give him his job back after he was sacked for al-leged extortion. (MNS)

Radio station rejects hostage phone-hogging allegations

September 25 - October 1, 2010 3THE FILIPINO PRESS

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4 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

By June Fletcher

Q: I am a non-perma-nent resident alien. Do you foresee any

difficulties, and will I be able to get a mortgage from an American lender?

—Vancouver, CanadaA: For you, and for every for-

eigner looking to buy a home, the home-buying process is essen-tially the same as it is for Amer-

ican citizens: You find a home, make an offer accompanied by a deposit, obtain a mortgage, pay for inspections and apprais-als, and—when all contingencies have been removed and the fi-nancing is in place—close.

It's a very straightforward process if you pay all-cash. If you need a mortgage, the process will be challenging. It will be im-possible if you have diplomatic immunity, which would prevent

lenders from seeking redress should you default.

Assuming you don't have dip-lomatic immunity, get your pa-perwork in order. Expect lend-ers to ask you to show at least a two-year history of employment and credit history in the U.S. or another country. You'll also have to prove legal residency in the U.S. for at least two years; if you haven't lived here that long, some lenders will accept two bank ref-

erences instead. You have some flexibility here, since no specific documents are required to prove these things. You also should be prepared to show your passport, a valid visa, and, if you have it, work authorization.

If you need a jumbo loan to buy a high-end property, lend-ers are likely to demand at least a 20% down payment and may

By Nick Timiraos

Two years after they were taken over by the federal gov-ernment, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac face a new chal-lenge: The mortgage-finance gi-ants are becoming two of the na-tion's largest home sellers at a time when the housing market shows new signs of softening.

Realtor Brett Barry said of a recent price reduction to $200,000 from $265,000: 'They're definitely pushing the envelope on price. But they're doing it at the wrong time.'

Fannie and Freddie have al-ready taken back nearly as many homes in the first half of the year as they did all of last year. They owned more than 191,000 homes at the end of June, double the year-earlier total. That num-ber will grow because they are taking back homes faster than they sell them.

In recent weeks, Fannie Mae has warned that it could get tougher on lenders that are tak-ing too long to reclaim homes once they have determined that the home is vacant or once they have exhausted foreclo-sure alternatives, such as mod-ifications. Mortgage servicers, which collect fees from Fannie, could face fines if the process is

Rea l tor John O. Ronis will be putting his extensive knowledge of the South Bay to work for McMillin Realty as he recently joined the com-pany’s network of agents. A 46-year South Bay resident, Ronis has lived in National City, Chula Vista, Bonita and now Eastlake Greens and says he knows the neighbor-hoods and surrounding areas like only a local can.

“As somebody who was born and raised and contin-ues to live in the South Bay, I have a great commitment to this community that extends into all facets of my life and work,” he said. “I saw great

Aggressive real estate agent joins McMillin

Fannie,Freddie:

Reluctantrealtors

Advice for foreign home buyers

See fAnnie on 5 See home bUyeRs on 5 See mCmillin on 5

John O. Ronis

September 25 - October 1, 2010 5THE FILIPINO PRESS

CALL 477-0940 TO ADVERTISEopportunity to work with Mc-Millin Realty because of its similar strong commitment to the South Bay.”

Prior to becoming a Real-tor, Ronis owned a restora-tion business for more than 20 years where he toned his superior customer service skills. Ronis brings to his real estate career the same prin-ciples of serving each client with the utmost respect and putting their needs first that made his restoration business such a success. His stance on customer service helped him earn the Rookie of the Year ti-tle his first year as an agent.

An avid baseball player since high school, Ronis likes to compare athletic training to the real estate industry.

“To be a successful athlete, you have to have the drive to practice and improve – this is true of the real estate profes-sion. To be the best agent possi-ble, you have to constantly keep up with the market and prac-tice the skills necessary to tran-sition as the market moves.”

Ronis can be reached at (619) 565-5616 or jronis@mc-millinrealty.com.

mcmillinContinued from p age 4

charge you a higher inter-est rate than they would an American citizen. But if you're applying for a conforming loan guaranteed by the govern-ment-sponsored entities Fan-nie Mae or Freddie Mac, you will have the same access as an American citizen to all of their programs, at the same interest rates, and with the same terms and fees.

You also should investigate Federal Housing Administra-tion loans. Loan limits differ throughout the country, and are higher in expensive plac-es like California. Moreover, down payments for borrowers with excellent credit can be as low as 3.5%. But act quick-ly. At this time, you do not have to provide a Social Secu-rity number to borrow funds. But in Congress, H.R. 5072, known as the FHA Reform Act of 2010, has passed the House and been referred to the Sen-ate. As now written, it will re-quire that non-permanent res-ident aliens have both a Social Security number and be au-thorized to work in the U.S. to qualify for an FHA loan. (wsj.com)

home buyersContinued from p age 4

unreasonably prolonged.Fannie's recent reminder to

banks signals a growing impa-tience with delays that have be-come "exaggerated and unman-ageable," said Edward Delgado, a former Wells Fargo & Co. ex-ecutive who is now chief execu-tive of the Five Star Institute, a provider of training programs for mortgage professionals.

Fannie is effectively saying "we need to jumpstart the sys-tem. We need to be more expedi-ent," Delgado said.

Once they take homes back, Fannie and Freddie must not only cover the utility bills and property taxes, but they are also relying on thousands of real-es-tate agents and contractors to rehabilitate homes, mow lawns and clean pools. Fannie had ex-penses valued at $487 million on foreclosed properties that had a value of $13 billion dur-ing the second quarter.

While it is expensive for Fan-nie and Freddie to hold on to more unsold homes, they nevertheless want to avoid costly delays. Attor-neys' fees can pile up and vacant homes risk falling further into disrepair. Fannie issued the no-tice to remind servicers to "min-imize processing delays," said a company spokeswoman.

Delays also add to the un-certainty over the housing market, which faces a back-log of loans that are at least 90 days past due or in some stage of foreclosure. Analysts at Bar-clays estimate that this "shad-ow inventory" sits at around four million loans.

Already, as borrowers fail to qualify for permanent mod-ifications, newly initiated fore-closures at Fannie and Freddie have risen for three consec-utive months to more than 150,000 in July, up nearly 60% from April, according to LPS Applied Analytics.

That creates an increas-ingly delicate balancing act. The costs of managing those homes are adding up, but the companies are reluctant to slash prices and dump lots of homes at big discounts.

"Freddie Mac probably owns loans on the same street. We don't want to create a down-ward spiral for values in a giv-en neighborhood," said Chris Bowden, the Freddie executive in charge of selling foreclosures.

Banks are also entering a less favorable environment for disposing of rising inventories. While mortgage rates contin-ue to fall to record lows, home-buying activity stalled earlier this year when tax credits to spur sales expired.

"One year ago, you couldn't even keep them on the mar-ket," said Brett Barry, a re-al-estate agent who sells fore-closed homes for Fannie Mae in Phoenix. "That's so done."

Fannie has reduced the price three times on a proper-ty at the end of East Phelps Road in suburban Phoenix, to $200,000 from $265,000 in ear-

ly July. But, like many of Bar-ry's bank-owned listings, the three-bedroom home has still received no offers. "They're def-initely pushing the envelope on price," he said. "But they're do-ing it at the wrong time."

If demand remains weak, Fannie and Freddie could face pressure to take more aggressive steps to hold homes off the mar-ket. Fannie, for example, is test-ing an effort in Chicago where it will rent vacant foreclosures rather than list them for sale.

Such a "lease-and-hold" ap-proach could make sense in cer-tain markets where "you believe the supply will take a long time to absorb, but there's going to be an increase in employment going forward," said Douglas Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae.

But renting could prove tricky for firms that have little experi-ence as property managers.

The companies face other bal-ancing acts. To promote neigh-borhood stabilization, they have instituted a program that al-lows offers only from owner-oc-cupants and community groups during the first 15 days that a property is listed. To move sales along, Fannie offers financ-ing on its own properties with just 3% down payments and no mortgage insurance. (wsj.com)

fannieContinued from p age 4

6 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

Lately, we have been read-ing disturbing reports of Filipino workers being re-

cruited in the Philippines pur-portedly for good-paying jobs in the United States and Canada,

only to find themselves exploited and abused by unscrupulous re-cruiters on a distant shore where they feel hopeless and helpless. And I thought slavery was abol-ished after a bloody civil war in 1865 with the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Just consider the following news reports this year alone to gauge how prevalent human trafficking into the U.S. from the Philippines has been:

• A Filipino couple, identified as Maximino “Max” Morales, 44, and his wife, Melinda Mo-rales, 46, were arrested by the FBI in April in Paso Robles, Ca-lif., after an investigation found that the couple smuggled Filipi-no nationals and forced them to work as caregivers in their nurs-ing homes for little or no pay. The

federal complaint alleged that the victims were recruited by the couple with promises of work in the U.S., and then smuggled into the U.S. on transit visas. Once the victims arrived, they were forced to work entire days for as many as seven days a week with little pay. Additionally, the cou-ple confiscated the victims’ pass-ports and threatened to harm their families and/or deport them if they left prior to paying off their debt. According to the affi-davit, the caregivers worked 24-hour shifts with no regular days off and slept in closets, hallways and garages with no heat.

• A Philippine-based recruit-ing company, Universal Place-ment International, with satel-lite office in Los Angeles, and its Filipino owner, Lourdes “Lulu” Navarro, were ordered on April 16 in Baton Rouge, La., to pay an estimated $1.8-million in illegal-ly-charged placement fees, a well as a $500 fine and $7,500 in at-torney fees for allegedly cheat-ing 200 Filipino teachers of thou-sands of dollars in recruiting fees and held them in virtual ser-vitude for keeping their visas. Some of those teachers arrived in the U.S. only to find that the promised jobs were not avail-

able. Eventually, some wound up in Avoyelles Parish and other school districts around the state. Each teacher was charged about $5,000 by Navarro in placement fees to obtain a job, and was then required to sign a contract obli-gating them to pay 10 percent of their second-year salaries to the company. Teachers who could not afford to pay the fees up front were directed to loan companies by Navarro and were charged ex-orbitant interest rates.

• A Florida couple plead-ed guilty on Sept. 17 to conspir-ing to hold 39 Filipino employ-ees against their will working in country clubs and hotels. The U.S. Justice Department said Sophia Manuel, 41, and Alfonso Baldona-do Jr., 45, were owners of a labor-contracting service based in the Florida city of Boca Raton. Man-uel and Baldonado promised the workers high wages and two to three years of steady work in the U.S., then had the workers pay “substantial recruitment fees, in-cluding their airfare,” which put them in debt to their U.S.-based employers. Once the workers were in the U.S., the defendants “compelled the victims’ labor and services through threats to have the workers arrested and deport-

ed,” knowing the workers faced serious economic harm and pos-sible incarceration for non-pay-ment of debts in the Philippines. When the workers arrived at Manuel and Baldonado’s Florida residence, the couple confiscated their passports and “housed them in overcrowded, substandard con-ditions without adequate food or drinking water; put them to work at area country clubs and hotels for little or no pay; required them to remain in the defendants’ ser-vice, unpaid, when there was in-sufficient work.”

• POEA Administrator Jenni-fer Jardin-Manalili said the Phil-ippine Embassy in Ottawa has received complaints from several Filipino nurses who were alleged-ly recruited by an agent from the U.S. named Agerico Casey Ga-briel (aka Casey Gabriel) or un-der the name of Medical caregiv-er Management. Gabriel’s modus operandi is to introduce him-self as an agent of Medical Link or other legitimate U.S.-based nurse recruiting agency. He usu-ally holds a recruitment confer-ence without asking any money from the victims. After gaining their trust, he then asks for mon-

The

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Community Outreach: RUBy ChiONG • lORNA DElOS SANTOSARmi GUZmAN • TESS ADAmS

There’s been a sudden change of weather late-ly if you haven’t noticed.

It’s getting cold in the after-noon. Sometimes time flies so fast that you don’t realize that the season changes. The next thing you know there’s an on on-slaught of pollen or symptoms of cold. You may feel under the weather. That is exactly what I’ve been feeling lately, though I think stress has something to do with it. When you get busy you become exposed to free radicals,

and if you are not watching it your immune system weakens.

This season, you have to pay more attention to what you wear and what you eat to make sure that you are dressing appro-priately to beat the cold weath-er and that your head is not ex-posed. Although it is fall, we don’t have to “fall” with the sea-son. If we are proactive, we’ll re-alize that every seasonal change requires adjustments on our part in terms of what we eat, wear and drink to keep healthy.

The time tested recommenda-tion to beat the cold — chicken soup — even doctors can’t ex-plain. But it works like magic in beating the cold and acts a com-fort food. Drinking lots of fluids and of course getting plenty of rest helps beat the blues and the symptoms of cold.

Mostly, we need to practice common sense. While every sea-son brings its challenges, fall and winter can do the most dam-age to your system if you don’t prepare and protect yourself.

Thankfully, we live in beauti-ful San Diego, the envy of many in other parts of the country, and we don’t suffer the harsh effects of winter as much.

Still, the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” remains true.

Be good to yourself this fall, take care — and enjoy the sea-son.

Does you have any time-tested tips for keeping yourself healthy? Send them along with your comments or suggestions. E-mail me at susands4@yahoo.com. And don’t forget to visit us at www.filipinopress.com and on our new official Facebook page.

Seasonal changes: Don’t ‘fall’ with season

By Perry Diaz

Little did Rico E. Puno real-ize that when he joined the administration of his long-

time friend president Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III, he would find himself the target of the Depart-ment of Justice’s investigation concerning the Luneta hostage crisis and also accused of receiv-ing payola -- or protection money -- from gambling lords. What the hell happened?

Less than three months ago, Puno was as virtual unknown in Philippine government and poli-

tics. He was one of P-Noy’s clos-est friends and they share a com-mon interest as gun enthusiasts.

“Shooting buddies” So, it did not come as a sur-

prise when P-Noy asked his trusted “shooting buddy” to work for him. And what a better place to put him than in a plum posi-tion overseeing the 120,000 gun-toting policemen of the Philip-pine National Police (PNP).

Puno’s appointment as under-secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Govern-ment (DILG) was made before P-Noy could decide on his choice

for secretary of DILG. To fill the void, P-Noy took over the top post at DILG temporarily while he was mulling over whom to ap-point from a pool of three candi-dates. With himself as ad interim secretary and Puno overseeing security matters, the “shooting buddies” were ready to roll.

A few days later, P-Noy ap-pointed former Naga City May-or Jesse Robredo as DILG secre-tary. However, he made it clear that his “point man” for the “In-terior” -- security matters – side of DILG would be Puno; thus, limiting Robredo to the “Local Government” side of DILG. It effectively split DILG into two agencies. Although Puno ad-ministratively reported to Ro-bredo, P-Noy was just a phone call away. It was an “arrange-ment” that gave comfort to P-Noy knowing that his “shooting buddy” would take a bullet for him should things go wrong.

Indeed, Puno must really be enjoying his new role keeping an eye on police matters. He was on top of the world. Then, suddenly the world turned upside down… and all hell broke loose!

Luneta bloodbathAt 10:00 AM on August 23,

2010, Rolando Mendoza, a dis-missed senior inspector in the Manila Police Department, hi-jacked a tourist bus carrying 25 Chinese tourists from Hong Kong. Eleven hours later, after a botched rescue operation by an “elite” SWAT team, eight tourists were murdered by the hostage-taker and the hostage-taker was fatally shot by police sniper fire.

The incident put P-Noy in an awkward and embarrassing po-sition for being “invisible” dur-ing the hostage-taking episode which was televised worldwide. His leadership was questioned and many believed that he failed the first test of his presidency.

Also “invisible” were Puno and then PNP chief Jesus Verzosa who, in the midst of the hostage crisis, flew to Cagayan de Oro to attend a “function.” Robredo was around in the periphery but was not involved directly in the nego-tiation with the hostage-taker.

In the aftermath of the Lune-ta bloodbath, a “lynch mob” in the administration singled out Robredo for the fiasco and tried to “hang” him. But Robredo de-fended himself saying that he was “not in the loop,” claiming that it was Puno who was given sole authority and responsibility over police matters.

Consequently, P-Noy or-dered Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to conduct a fact-find-ing investigation and promised that “heads will roll.” De Lima then formed the Incident Inves-tigation and Review Committee (IIRC), which included Robredo and three others.

Jueteng payola exposedThen, in an unrelated inci-

dent on September 11, 2010, re-tired Archbishop Oscar Cruz dropped a “bombshell” right in front of Malacañang Palace al-leging that two trusted aides of P-Noy were each receiving P2 million monthly payola from jueteng lords. While he refused to name names saying that he would do it at the right forum, ABS-CBN published the names of the two officials who alleged-ly were receiving jueteng pay-ola: DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno and just retired PNP Chief Jesus Verzosa. ABS-CBN’s sourc-es claimed that Puno and Verzo-sa were receiving as much as P5 million a month given in tranch-es --every 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th of the month.

Last September 15, P-Noy told reporters, “I still have con-

C o m m e n ta R y

Modern-dayslavery

Double whammy hits Puno

See AbelgAs on 7

See diAZ on 18

September 25 - October 1, 2010 7THE FILIPINO PRESS

It’s all a game. The jueteng game.

A crusading bishop makes very loud noises about the proliferation of jueteng in his neighborhood and all over the country. He claims to have proof and the names of promi-nent local and national officials, politicians and the top brass of the Philippine National Police.

He declares that millions are passing from the hands of gam-bling lords to the pockets of cor-rupt officials. And he decries the decay of the morals of the poor Filipino people.

He also declares that he will release the incriminating docu-ments at the proper time — but not quite yet.

He then challenges the au-thorities to go after the un-

named culprits based on his un-revealed findings.

As soon as the crusading bishop leaks his unexposed ex-posé, the media runs the story in bold type on the front pages of their newspapers and in sen-sational breaking-news reports on TV and radio. Reporters in-terview officials in Malaca-ñang, the PNP brass and prom-inent members of the Senate and the House, as well as the crusading bishop.

Every turn of phrase, every conjecture, every theory is giv-en an intriguing meaning, the better to make the headlines more exciting.

The authorities, from the president and the members of the Senate and the House, to the top echelon of the PNP and

down to the provincial officials, declare that they welcome the opportunity to go after the gam-bling lords and to put an end to illegal gambling.

But, first, they want the cru-sading bishop to name names.

Some sparring in media en-sues over who should make the next move. Both sides dare the other side in a game of chicken.

That’s the clue for the Sen-ate and the House to join the fray and declare that they will, forthwith, conduct a congressio-nal investigation in aid of legis-lation. They also announce that they will summon the crusad-ing bishop, his witnesses, the police brass, the unnamed offi-cials who are on the take and the unnamed gambling lords. Eventually, names are spilled and every single one reacts with righteous indignation. Who, me? A gambling lord? Who, me, on the take? Never. I swear on my mother's grave.

Put on the defensive, the top brass of the PNP promptly an-nounce that they are intensify-ing their campaign against il-legal gambling. A task force is organized and the PNP spokes-man goes on television to an-nounce the impending arrest of the unnamed gambling lords.

The country’s most knowl-edgeable columnists and opin-ion-makers weigh in on the burning issue and do one or more of the following, depend-ing on which side they like or

dislike, at the moment:a) Taunt the new administra-

tion and the president and de-clare that the rackets are alive and well, but with new patrons and protectors;

b) or defend the new admin-istration and the president and castigate the political op-position for making capital of the issue.

c) or launch a debate on the whether or not jueteng should be legalized, the pros giving as lucid a set of reasons as the cons.

d) Or all of the above.Meanwhile, no arrests are

made. The betting goes on, un-hampered. And uncounted mil-lions continue to pass from the unnamed gambling lords to the unnamed officials. No one misses a beat.

Through all of this, the Fil-ipino people are kept waiting for something to come out of all the sound and the fury over jueteng.

You may then ask, to para-phrase Macbeth, do all the sound and fury signify nothing? Of course not. Consider the ben-efits that are reaped.

First, it reestablishes the reputation of the crusading bishop. He may never succeed in stopping jueteng, but no one can say he didn’t try.

Second, it gives the prom-inent members of the Senate and the House an opportunity to become even more prominent. With the high cost of media ad-

vertising, all of that free public-ity is worth a fortune and quite useful in the next elections.

As you know, name recog-nition is the magic ingredient in politics. And the most effi-cient and cheapest way to gain name recognition is to jump into a controversy, conduct an investigation and get inter-viewed by the media.

Third, it justifies a bigger al-location for the intelligence fund of the PNP, the DILG and the of-fice of the president, the better to combat the scourge of illegal gambling more intelligently.

Fourth, it gives the media priceless readable and view-able materials that translate into ratings for TV and radio shows and circulation for print media, which in turn translate into advertising lineage.

Fifth, it reinforces the image of the columnists as intellectu-als, crusaders, and guardians of morality. It also gives them something to write about (be-lieve me, it’s not easy coming up with interesting column topics).

Sixth, it gives the political op-position ammo against the party in power and prevents their de-terioration into irrelevance.

Finally, it gives the new ad-ministration, from the presi-dent to the concerned members of the cabinet, an opportunity to draw attention away from such minor issues as poverty, the economy, health, education, so-cial services and the like.

As you can see, if there were no crusading bishop, media and Con-gress would have to invent one.

But what about the citizen-ry? What do the Filipino peo-ple get out of this flurry of ac-tivities? Plenty.

In the first place, everything is supposed to be for their ben-efit. The crusading bishop wants to preserve their mor-als. The members of Congress want to preserve their morals. The president wants to pre-serve their morals. The media want to preserve their morals. Everyone wants to preserve their morals to ensure they will become better citizens. So, that’s good for them.

On the other hand, the gam-bling lords simply want to offer them a chance to hit the jack-pot. That’s good for them, too.

The gambling lords also simply want to give public of-ficials, the police and mem-bers of the clergy some spend-ing money in exchange for protection.

Which makes the citizens stop to think: Do they want to become better citizens or do they want to hit the jackpot?

It also makes the public officials, the police and the members of the clergy stop to ask: Do they really want to stop receiving their spending money?

Even the crusading bish-op knows the answer to that. (gregmacabenta@hotmail.com)

The falling leaves drift by my window,

The autumn leaves of red and gold,

I see your lips, the summer kisses,

The sun-burned hands I used to hold,

Since you went away, the days grow long,

And soon I'll hear old win-ter's song,

But I miss you most of all, my darling,

When autumn leaves start to fall."

— “Autumn Leaves” by Johnny Mercer

It’s that time of year again. It is the juncture when temperatures start dip-

ping, leaves begin falling, days

shorten,and people set out pre-paring for the cold of winter. The spirit of change casts a seasonal spell and we’re hav-ing our usual amazement that the previous period is only as close as a recent memory, i.e., it’s over. Fortunately, a lot of us find fall fascinating. And so the dance of life continues.

The colorful season of Indi-an Summer is upon us again, and I am reminded of why au-tumn is the apple of anyone’s eye. Sept. 22 is the first day of fall 2010. Of all the season, au-tumn is my favorite. There’s a feel about it, a distinct and un-deniable aura that surrounds it. Being a Chargers football fan, I naturally would favor au-tumn. But of course it’s much deeper than that.

First and foremost, I have an October birthday. So, fall became my season when I first came here to America. Before you go thinking that sounds selfish, we all have our seasons. With birth-days in January and February, my late, lamented Mama, my el-der sister Nora, and the young-est in the family, Dana, share a season together, which is win-ter. My youngest son Randy’s May birthday singly gave him spring. My wife Zeny, with a June birthday, nailed down the summer season for herself. But Papa, who passed on, my young-er brother Angel, my own sec-ond son Rommel and my one and only grandson Jacob and I were fall guys — and I certain-ly reveled in that rare, selfish time when attention was solely on the five of us — four genera-tion of Reyes men.

I absolutely loved the leaves of autumn, both on the tree and off.

Those leaves are definitely part of it. What color, what art-istry! On the tree they were like the robes of royalty, jewels shin-ing in the woodlands around a little country home. As the leaves changed from verdant green to red, orange and yellow, whatever I am doing at the mo-ment often took leave as I gazed at the artistic canvas of God.

Of f the t ree the l eaves might seem to be a chore. But I am quite sure any child who hated to rake leaves never knew the joy of jumping feet-

first or diving headlong into the pile. And if he or she has a dog like my youngest son’s, Bauer,” it would probably join in, too, rollicking and burrow-ing. Yes, that scattered leaves in the cool autumn breeze, but boundless energy gathered them again for another round.

Certainly, crisp, frosty morn-ings also help. What a refresh-ing change from oppressively hot afternoons and swelter-ing nights! Then there is a helpful return to routine as school starts. And along comes Thanksgiving, a nostalgic re-minder that God has indeed “shed His grace on thee.” The firewood is cut. The pumpkins are getting bigger.

And although it may be a little ahead of schedule, it's not too early to give thought to Christmas, too. Not just Christmas Day, but during the days leading up to December 25. We could call these daily gifts “our Christmas projects” — maybe one per day from now until then.

My heart is truly overflowing.That’s surely the sign of fall

season, isn't it?It is time to ponder.Let’s think of autumn as a

season of reflection. It is that time to gain new perspective. It is the spell to stroll along the back roads of our minds. It is the point to think about what — and where — and why. Such visits through the muse-

um of memory never fail to as-sist us in evaluating the way we were and establishing the manner we want to be. This implies change; another reason autumn seems to represent a season of reflection. It’s dur-ing this period of time the foli-age turns over a new leaf. And the weather shifts the scene. And the time gives a turn to. Birds make their annual jour-ney southward. Squirrels fin-ish storing their nuts. Salm-on start their phenomenal swim back to their spawn-ing grounds. And many of the larger animals take their final stretch before curling up for a long winter’s nap. With incred-ible consistency, all these crea-tures in the natural world act out their individual pageants without external instruction or some script to follow.

Quietly, without flair or fan-fare, most of us move upon our very own lives, taking us all from summer to autumn, a season when we mysterious-ly write our various agendas on the tablets of our hearts. We patiently wait for change to commence. Without excep-tion, it does. And we all con-template on that as well.

Has autumn arrived in your heart?

Think before you answer. Close your eyes for a minute or so and consider what has been doing deep within your own heart.

Allow me to remind you all of something you may have forgot-ten. At the root of any agenda is always this promise. Think of it as a sort of guarantee. Re-member, it takes four seasons to make a year here in our won-derful adopted country.

The autumn season of your life may be uncomfortable. Un-employment might be your lot. It could be a broken romance. Perhaps you are grieving over a recent loss. Maybe you’re lone-ly or hungry or cold. You feel anxious about those ugly clouds over the horizon that indicate an ominous tomorrow. The winds of adversity are picking up and you feel afraid.

Someone famous once said, “The roots grow deep when the winds are strong.”

Wel l , guess what . I f au-tumn — the season of reflec-tion — has come, expect your roots to deepen.

Count on it.Our hope is to grow strong

and tal ler as our roots dig deeper in the soft soil along the banks of the river of life, so we can all boldly declare, “Come wind, come weather, welcome autumn!”

Come to think of i t , may these “autumn thoughts” en-courage and strengthen you all, dear folks.

I am a grateful man, myself.Thankful I had taken time

to reflect.Happy Fall, everyone!

The jueteng game

Spirit of change casts seasonal spell

ey allegedly for escrow payments required for visas to “complete the process.” However, the president of Medical Link and Sam Swit-zer of another agency have denied any on-going recruitment for for-eign nurses and any knowledge of one Agerico Casey Gabriel.

• The FBI is investigating a complaint filed by Rufino de Guz-man Jr. who said he and 23 oth-er Filipinos were recruited as sea-sonal worker for a big American company. They paid their recruit-er $6,000 for a job contract that guaranteed a salary of $7.25 an hour. The workers arrived in the U.S. in July. But instead of go-ing to Virginia, where they signed contracts to become waiters, they were driven to Mississippi, where they were told to sign another contract — but not for the jobs or salaries for which they signed up. They were hired as housekeepers instead of waiters for $4.75 per room, instead of $7.25 per hour. Their new contract with Roy-al Hospitality Services required them to clean up to 18 rooms a

day, which, De Guzman said was near impossible to finish. De Guz-man said the recruiters confiscat-ed their passports and threatened to have them deported if they re-sisted the new jobs.

Donn Duero, welfare officer of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration in the U.S. who is currently based in Los Angeles, said that one of the avenues used by illegal recruiters to bring in Filipino workers into the U.S. is the H2B visa (temporary workers and trainees/seasonal agricultur-al workers), He said that in 2007, a total of 2,480 Filipinos entered the U.S. using an H2B visa; 3,684 in 2008; and 1,870 in 2009.

Duero, who is helping De Guz-man while awaiting investiga-tion of his complaint against his recruiters, is asking others with similar problems to contact his of-fice. OWWA e-mail: owwausa@ya-hoo.com. Phone: (661) 878-6149.

I am aghast at the courage of these illegal recruiters to chal-lenge the tough laws of the U.S. against human smuggling and trafficking. I am amazed that de-spite strict rules and regulations imposed by the Department of

State and the Department of Homeland Security, these re-cruiters have been able to forge documents and smuggle these workers into the country.

And I thought it could happen only to workers being recruit-ed for Middle East and South-east Asia, where tens of thou-sands of Filipinos have to suffer physical, emotional and sexual abuse from employers because of cruel deception by illegal re-cruiters, and where tens of thou-sands more are stranded be-cause there was no work waiting for them and they have no mon-ey to go back home.

And that’s only one side of the problem. Think of the par-ents and other relatives who had to pawn or sell properties, get loans at usurious rates and bor-row from friends and relatives. Think of the pain and frustra-tion that these soulless illegal recruiters are inflicting on their victims and the victims’ families. Think of the vanished dreams and the shattered future.

What is even more revolt-ing is that the recruiters in the Philippines are never prosecut-

ed despite the rampant crimes-that they commit. The U.S. State Department 2010 Traf-ficking in Person report said of the 228 human trafficking cas-es reported by law enforcement agencies to the Philippine De-partment of Justice, only eight individuals in five sex traffick-ing cases were actually convict-ed, and that includes two per-sons who remain at large.

A major hindrance, the report said, was “widespread corrup-tion” and “an inefficient judicial system” that severely limits pre-vention and prosecution of cas-es. “Corruption remained perva-sive in the Philippines, and there were reports that officials in gov-ernment units and agencies as-

signed to enforce laws against human trafficking permitted trafficking offenders to conduct illegal activities, either tacitly or explicitly,” it added.

The U.S. State Department urged the government to work harder in efficiently investigat-ing, prosecuting and convicting both labor and sex trafficking offenders involved in the traf-ficking of Filipinos in the coun-try and abroad. It is widely be-lieved that some government officials partner with traffickers and organized trafficking syn-dicates, or at least permit traf-ficking operations in the coun-try, and that law enforcement officers often extract protection money from illegal businesses,

including brothels, the State Department report added.

The desperation and willing-ness of Filipinos to pay huge sums for uncertain jobs are a tes-tament to the failure of the Phil-ippine government to provide jobs to its people.

The continued exodus of hundreds of thousands of Fili-pinos yearly to find better jobs in countries all over the world remains unabated and the gov-ernment seems to encourage them despite the risks that these Filipinos face and the ad-verse social and emotional im-pact that the departures leave on the workers’ families.

Just like it should in jueteng, the Aquino administration must show its resolve to eradicate the problem of human traffick-ing and illegal recruitment. The country owes so much to over-seas Filipino workers, whose nearly $20-billion annual remit-tance has been buoying up the Philippine economy for decades. It is only fair and proper that the government protect them from these predators. They deserve no less. (valabelgas@aol.com)

abelgasContinued from p age 6 I am aghast at the courage of these illegal

recruiters to challenge the tough laws of the U.S. against human smuggling and trafficking.

I am amazed that despite strict rules, these recruiters have been able to forge documents and smuggle these workers into the country.

8 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

By Janet Trautwein

Federal officials recently un-veiled a key component of the health reform package — a new website called HealthCare.gov.

The site aims to be a one-stop shop for health care information, briefing Ameri-cans on the insurance options available to them — as well as the new law’s benefits. But it won't meet that goal unless it guarantees consumers ac-cess to licensed health insur-ance agents and brokers.

A mind-boggling amount of information is available on the website, including details on government-sponsored programs and plans from over a thousand private insurers.

Unfortunately, the gov-ernment isn’t helping con-sumers make sense of all that new information.

That’s where professional health insurance agents and brokers come in.

The insurance marketplace has grown incredibly complicat-ed, and the new law will only add to the confusion. Agents and brokers can help people navigate the dizzying array of options and find the health plan that suits their needs.

Some agents even function as virtual human resources departments for small busi-nesses. As the Congressional Budget Office put it, agents and brokers often “handle the responsibilities that larg-er firms generally delegate to their human resources de-partments — such as finding plans and negotiating premi-ums, providing information about the selected plans, and processing enrollees.”

The individuals and busi-nesses that rely on agents are overwhelmingly happy with the service they receive. A survey commissioned by IBM found that three-quarters of those in-terviewed were very satisfied with their agents’ work.

Another survey, conduct-ed by Assurant Health, found that 64 percent of consum-ers who purchased individu-al medical insurance through a professional agent found their experiences “helpful.”

Some argue that the gov-ernment could provide these services more effectively and at lower cost. But the federal government has a poor track record in this regard.

For a child they thought would never walk and might even struggle just

to move, it’s hard to keep up with 4-year-old Delaney Cer-vantes nowadays. Every time he visits the San Diego Coun-ty Health and Human Servic-es Agency’s (HHSA) Califor-nia Children Services Medical Therapy Unit (MTU), he has to make laps around the build-ing when he gets there and be-fore leaving – handing out hugs and smiles to the therapists and staff that have worked with him since he was eight months old.

Delaney has been through a lot. He was born with a congenital heart defect, suf-fered a stroke when he was just three months old, has a pacemaker and suffers from hemiplegic infantile cerebral palsy, which causes him to fa-vor his right side.

“I was hoping that he would be able to move around, and I wasn’t even sure he would be able to do that,” said Vianey Salgado-Cervantes, Delaney’s mom. “The love that he re-ceives here (at the MTU) and the time they spend working with him and listening to him is incredible. He comes in and hugs them all, and it’s every-one, not just the therapists. He loves to come here.”

Salgado-Cervantes describes how it was a struggle to even

lift Delaney’s arms for simple tasks like bathing and dress-ing him. But determined parents and weekly sessions with the occupational and physical therapists at the MTU have Delaney walking and even riding a bike.

“At first it was real hard to see him struggle and cry, but his first therapist here put in so much effort and I saw how much she worked with him and pushed him,” said Salga-do-Cervantes. “He would fall on his face and she would say, ‘no, you can do it,’ and now he’s really confident and nev-er afraid of falling down.

“If he does, he gets right back up. They have taught him to never give up and he’s always confident he can do anything.”

Sharon Kunugi is one of the therapists that works with Del-aney. She works on his fine mo-tor skills and has been his oc-cupational therapist from the beginning. “He came in as this little guy,” she said. And now? “He has a lot of spunk and is motivated. He’s just a go-getter and always up for a challenge.”

Kunugi spends time work-ing with Delaney on tasks such as matching shapes, connect-ing items and playing with Theraputty to increase finger strength and other motor skills

About 85% of men will have significant hair thinning by the time they’re 50, according to the American Hair Loss Association. Some men begin to lose their hair before they even turn 21.

Uncovering hair loss mythsDoes wearing a baseball cap

cause baldness? Nope. Someone running their fingers through your hair won't cause it either. Neither will combing, brush-ing, twisting, or styling. But avoid being too rough to pre-vent hair breakage.Quit smoking and save your hair?

Several studies show a sig-nificant relationship between smoking and how fast male-pattern baldness gets worse. So if you need one more reason to quit smoking, add early hair loss to your list.

What hair loss says about your health

Fortunately, in most cases, hair loss -- known as alopecia -- doesn't signal a medical prob-lem. And it poses no health risk. But worries about hair loss's impact on first impressions or whether balding makes you look older are common.

What causes hair loss?More than 95% of male hair

loss is due to male-pattern bald-ness, a genetic trait. The gene can come from either parent. In other cases, certain medications,

Insurance agents key to website’s

success

Men’s hair loss

solutions

County’s medical therapy units: A place for miracles

See Agents on 9

Photo: Courtesy photo

Michelle Aquino, left, a physical therapist with the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency’s California Children Services, works on a coordination exercise with 4-year-old Delaney Cervantes.

See hAiR loss on 9See theRApy on 9

September 25 - October 1, 2010 9THE FILIPINO PRESS

having too much vitamin A, or not getting enough protein can cause hair to fall out. Dramatic shedding of hair known as telo-gen effluvium can be caused by illness or stress. In men, hair loss not due to male-pattern baldness often reverses itself.Work to keep the hair you have

Preventing hair loss is eas-ier than replacing it once it's gone. If you want to find some-thing that will work for you, do your homework. But be care-ful. Most miracle products and treatments are shams. When in doubt, your doctor or a der-matologist may be able to help.Hair loss medication: Minoxidil

Although there's no way to cure male-pattern baldness, you can slow it down with some medications. Minoxidil is an FDA-approved over-the-counter medication you apply

to your scalp. It slows the rate of hair loss in men, and some men even grow new hair. But once you stop using it, hair loss returns.

Male-pattern baldness: What to expect

A tell-tale sign of male-pat-tern baldness is a receding, M-shaped hairline. Next, the hair on top of your head also starts to thin, leaving a bald spot. Eventually, the two meet, leav-ing a horseshoe pattern of hair around the sides. The Norwood Scale, seen here, is used to rate male-pattern baldness.

Male-pattern baldness: Blame hormones

With male-pattern baldness, a hormone called DHT causes hair follicles to shrink. Eventu-ally, the follicles shrink so much that no hair can grow in them.

Hair loss medication: Finasteride

Taken as a prescription pill, finasteride slows hair loss by

slowing down the body's pro-duction of DHT. Some men have been able to grow new hair while using it. In gener-al, it's considered to work bet-ter than minoxidil. Pregnant women should not handle the drug since it can cause birth defects in male fetuses. Like minoxidil, it works only as long as it's used.

Should you wear a hairpiece?Hairpieces have come a

long way in how they look. Finding the right one, though, takes time and study. There's a wide range in cost and qual-ity. And hairpieces require regular maintenance which can run between $60 and $ 3 0 0 p e r m o n t h . W h e n shopping, look to match your own hair color, thick-ness, and curl.

What happens with a hair transplant

A d o c t o r w i l l m o v e healthy hair from the back

and side of your head to the top to restore a natural look. Hair transplants can be cost-l y a n d y o u m a y h a v e t o have several procedures. Af-ter two months, most of the transplanted hair is shed, but new hair grows back. Within six months the hair starts to look normal.

Make the most of the hair you have

T h e r e a r e s o m e s t y l i n g tricks you can use to make your hair loss less noticeable. Cutting thinning hair short lets you avoid obvious comb-overs. Hair care and styling

products may add volume to your hair. Eating a balanced diet and handling your hair gently will also help.

Accentuate the positiveHair does not make the man.

Remind yourself of all you have to offer others. Or take care of things you can control, such as staying in shape. It's OK to look to others for support. If you need a boost, think of bald men (or those who shaved their heads) like Ed Harris, Patrick Stewart, and Michael Jordan, who ooze confidence. Then consider yourself in good company. (webmd.com)

C o n s i d e r t h e f e d e r a l 1-800-MEDICARE call center. A Senate investigation found that consumers waited up to an hour to speak with someone. Customer service representatives spoke from scripts littered with errors and jar-gon. Worst of all, callers often re-ceived incorrect information.

Consumers deserve the best information available when shopping for something as im-portant as health insurance. The government’s new web portal can certainly help in that effort. But this new initiative will be in-complete without including ac-cess to licensed insurance agents and brokers — the very experts who can help Americans make sense of an ever-more complicat-ed insurance marketplace.

Janet Trautwein is CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters.

agentsContinued from p age 8

hair lossContinued from p age 8

– the necessary skills that will help Delaney in every day func-tions such as dressing himself and opening doors and drawers.

“He’s made lots of prog-ress with using his hands and grasping,” said Salgado-Cer-vantes, noting that Delaney gets out his shoes and socks and helps get himself dressed now. “People will ask which side the paralysis is on be-cause they can’t tell anymore. That’s just awesome.”

M i c h e l l e A q u i n o i s t h e physical therapist working with Delaney. Her task is to improve his mobility and abil-ity to get around on his own. She spends her time with Del-aney having him walk on a se-ries of buckets, climb stairs and Delaney’s latest accom-plishment – riding a bike.

“He rode a bike for the first time (at the MTU’s recent adapted summer camp),” said

Salgado-Cervantes. “I was real impressed and now he’s been asking me for a bicycle.”

The skills Aquino is work-ing with Delaney on have al-lowed him to do such things as ride the school bus to pre-school and play on the play-ground with other children, according to his mother. He just finished his first year of inclusion preschool and was promoted to year two.

“Being in this program has been a big help,” said Salgado-Cervantes. “I would recommend it to any parent. They should talk to somebody here and they will be able to help you.

“I feel so fortunate,” she con-tinued. “It’s a real comfort to us to know someone else cares about us and knows what we are going through.”

California Children Servic-es (CCS) is a statewide pro-gram that provides treatment for children with certain phys-ical limitations and chronic health conditions or diseases.

therapyContinued from p age 8

10 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

I picked up a book that I found lying on the table of disposal things at the re-

ception room of the Congre-gational Tower. I was attract-ed by the title, “In Times of Illness”. I thumbed through it and found words of com-fort and prayers of hope and strength. The author, Rob-ert M. Hamma, organized the content of the book in such a way that the reader can focus on particular feelings that we often experience when we are sick or in pain.

Here are some of the in-sights I gained from reading this book.

Times of illness challenge us on many levels. We often feel physically, psychologically and spiritually drained. Under such circumstances, prayer can be especially difficult. It is hard to focus our minds when we are sick and words elude us. Lack of sleep added to the side effect of medications may make us drowsy and the pains in our bodies are a constant distraction. A host of conflict-

ing emotions boil up within us: fear, frustration, regret, cannot be simply ignored or pushed below the surface. On a spiritual level, the feeling of comfort or the assurance of faith that we seek may seem like just a faint memory.

At times like this it is help-ful to remember two things:

The first is that the desire to pray is itself a prayer. We would not long for God, we would not want to pray, if God had not already put that de-sire in our hearts. No matter how weak or infrequent that desire may be, it is a grace of the Spirit. No matter if you have not prayed in years and feel guilty about turning to God now that things are fall-ing apart , the recognit ion

that you need God is itself an invitation from God to come home. No matter what hurt, what harm, what sin you may have committed, the desire for peace of heart is the be-ginning of God’s work in you.

The second thing to remem-ber is summed up in this tra-ditional bit of wisdom: Pray as you can, not as you can’t. There is no right or wrong way to pray. Our prayer may last but a second, or we may toss and turn through the night calling out to God with every breath. Structure may be helpful to some, while others will want to make it up as they go along.

Both the desire to pray and our feeble attempts at prayer are the work of the Holy Spir-it within us. As St. Paul said in the Letter to the Romans: “The Spirit helps us in our weak-ness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that ev-

ery Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” Sometimes the very best prayers are the simplest. Did not Jesus hear the prayers of these people in the gospels who called out to him: “Lord, that I may see.” “Lord, that I may hear.” “Lord, that I may walk.” “If you will, you can heal me.”

The best way, indeed the only way to pray is from our hearts . I f we do that , any prayer we make is a true and genuine prayer of faith.

“For whoever exalts him-self will be humbled, and whoever humbles

himself will be exalted.” (Mat-thew 23:12)

I love Stacie Orrico's song “Don't Look at me.” She sings, “Don't look at me if you're looking for perfec-tion. Don't look at me, I will only let you down. I'll do my best to point you in the right direction. Don't look at me, look at Him.”

These lyrics remind me of a resounding theme I noticed re-cently in Mark 15:9-10, Matthew 23:1-39 and Luke 18:9-14: lead-ers who shined the spotlight on themselves. They had no inter-est in making Jesus the main at-traction. God pulled a few lessons out of each passage for me to do the mirror test on my heart. The problem that tripped up the lead-ers in Jesus' day might look fa-miliar to you and me:

Lesson #1 - EnvyThe chief priests were burn-

ing with envy over the popular-ity of Jesus. He had only been on the scene for three years, yet the marketplace was always buzzing with the latest Jesus story! Per-haps the chief priests wondered, “Why is HE the center of atten-tion? What makes HIM the au-thority figure?” Envy is a poison we may not even recognize. We

give it a nicer title like “keeping up with the Jones” or “climbing the corporate ladder,” but being upset with someone else's success is a bone-rotting toxin. Proverbs 14:30 confirms it saying, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones” (NIV).

Lesson #2 - Practice what you preach

The leaders were busy bark-ing legalistic orders to others, but didn't apply the rigid rules to their own lives. Legalism is a strict ad-herence to the law and rules, and usually packs a punch of guilt if the regulations aren't followed to the letter. James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (NIV). The leaders of Jesus' day had great amounts of scrip-ture memorized, but did not live it out. They focused on the rules and making others follow them, rather than on pleasing God. If we are focusing on keeping rules and rituals, instead of building a rela-tionship with Jesus, we too are missing the point. Maybe shift-ing our angle is in order. Look up. Let Bible study move us past just reciting scripture to allow-ing its life-giving Spirit to pene-trate our actions.

Lesson #3 - All for showDressing up and looking good

made the Pharisees believe their own press. They seem-ingly had it all together. Do we act that way too? When asked, “How are you?” Do we put on a happy face and respond, “Fine,” when in fact, all is not fine? Do we fear what people will think or how they will react if they know we messed up again? It's easy to think, “My issues are nobody's business.” Truth is, they are God's business because you belong to Him.

Lesson #4 - Clean the inside“Woe to you,” Jesus repeat-

ed over and over to the Phari-sees throughout Matthew 23. The junk that was brewing inside their hearts didn't resemble the righteous life they claimed to live.

Everyone sees our pretty outside attire, but God knows what's going on beneath the surface. When He cleans house, He starts on the inside. What's lurking in your dark corners? If self indulgence, self-reliance, or self-centeredness has camped out in your heart, let the house-cleaning begin! Soon your outer beauty will radiate your new in-ner beauty.

This mirror test revealed some junk in my life. What did you see in your reflection? A prideful heart, or a passion for Christ? Are you wanting others to look at you, rather than God? Psalm 10:4 says, “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” Pride is a venom. Making room for God takes deliberate ac-tion. As the song says, “Don't look at me, look at Him.”

Dear Lord, pride can camp out so easily in our hearts. Will you clean us from the inside out and let us reflect You? In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Praying in times of illness

AURORA SORIANO-CUDAL

My PersonalTestimony

DANNY HERNAEZ

From Whom All Blessings Flow

Look at HIM!

Glen Abbey MemorialPark & Mortuary

619-498-4600Nature Garden

Chapel of Roses

No matter what hurt, what harm, what sin you may have committed, the desire for peace of heart is the beginning of God’s work in you.

September 25 - October 1, 2010 11THE FILIPINO PRESS

Get ResultsThe

A free weekly publication that serves the 150,000 plus Filipino-Americans of San Diego County.

Call (619) 477-0940 or check us on-line filipinopress.com

learn how to make parols and write their name in Alibata (hosted by AF3IRM/GABRIE-LA Network San Diego) and a children’s area featuring carnival games and prizes hosted by Gawad Kalinga.

The Kabataang maka-Bay-an (KmB/Pro-People Youth) is hosting the senior program with bingo, a dancing area, a videographer (who will be inter-viewing and documenting peo-ple’s stories) and a photo booth.

Also on the grounds will be a health and wellness program hosted by Operation Samah-an. There will be information booths and testing areas that will address health issues in the community.

In an e f f or t to increase awareness of higher education and positive well-being with-in the Filipino-American com-munity, FilAmFest is awarding selected scholarship applicants $500. Students can still apply online at www.FilAmFest.org.

There will also be booths from area schools to assist pro-

spective students with any in-formation they need.

The art program will be hosted this year by Thumb-print Gallery. Artists will ex-hibit work ranging from digi-tal prints, photography, acrylic and spray paint. Some of the artwork displayed will reflect the festival’s “Celebrating the Bayanihan Spirit” theme.

T h e c u l t u r a l p r o g r a m , spearheaded by the Kuya Ate Mentorship Program, will feature workshops hosted by the PASACAT Philippine

Performing Arts Company, a martial arts exhibit by Doce Pares San Diego, SAMAHAN Filipino-American Perform-ing Arts, an education center and more.

There will also be a desig-nated area in the cultural tent that showcases Filipino he-roes, Filipino-American his-tory, political issues, games, comics and a photo booth. The purpose of the cultural tent is to educate festivalgo-ers on the beauty of Filipino art and culture.

The term “Bayanihan” orig-inated in the Philippines and refers to a community work-ing together to achieve a com-mon goal. It is reminiscent of people in the community car-rying a bahay kubo, or nipa hut, from one place to anoth-er. In essence, the task cannot be done single handedly.

FilAmFest embraces the Bayanihan spirit with its four goals: to foster a sense of community and enhance pride in the Filipino cultural heritage; to build inter-gener-ational collaboration and cul-tural understanding among children, youth, adults and seniors; to promote effective networking among individu-als and various groups rep-resenting businesses, civic organizations, local govern-ment, educational institu-tions and public agencies; and to revitalize the Paradise Hills community as a place to raise families, operate busi-nesses and collaborate with diverse peoples, groups and institutions.

For more information visit www.FilAmFest.org.

festContinued from p age 1 City declares Oct. 2 FilAmFest Day

On Tuesday, Sept. 28, San Diego City Councilmember Tony Young will present a special resolution declaring Saturday, Oct. 2, FilAmFest Day during the council's regular session.

Festival Director, J.R. Melchor said it is important to re-ceive a proclamation to recognize FilAmFest Day because, “our community has earned and deserves this recognition.

“It acknowledges all the hard work that the FilAmFest Organizing Committee members and its many partners have tirelessly contributed over the year,” Melchor added.

“The recognition helps to make the unprecedented ac-complishment of gathering so many members of the Filipino community and their friends and family in ‘Celebrating the Bayanihan Spirit,’ ” he said.

Sadly, it’s a chapter in U.S. history in which the role of the Pinoy has largely been downplayed.

When people hear of the Great Grape Strike of 1965, they hear the name Cesar Chavez, the revered Mexican-American labor leader.

Few have heard o f Vera Cruz, Velasco and Itliong, the manongs, the Pinoy farm work-ers who, after years of oppres-sion, took a stand against exploi-tation — and who inspired their Mexican counterparts to rise against an unjust labor system.

A new documentary, “Del-ano Manongs: Forgotten He-roes of the UFW,” by Fil-Am filmmaker Marissa Aroy ex-plores this chapter in Ameri-can history.

“Why don’t we know about the Filipino strikers?” she asks in the trailer for the documentary.

“Why are their contribu-tions not heralded in the histo-ry books or passed down from generation to generation? And why hasn’t anybody heard of Larry Itliong, the UFW’s sec-

ond-in-command during the most powerful era in farm la-bor organizing?”

When Chavez died in 1993, he was honored as a hero of the farm workers and civ-il-rights movement. He de-served the honor, and his sto-ry surely should be known by all Americans.

When Vera Cruz died the following year, his passing was largely ignored. And he cer-tainly did not deserve that. Thanks to Vera Cruz and oth-er Filipino farm workers, farm workers emerged as a major political force in the 1960s.

Phillip Vera Cruz himself epitomized the Filipino as a warrior for justice.

His sense of justice and de-mocracy was deep and broad.

So much so that it led him to break with Cesar Chavez, who turned out to be a bril-liant but flawed leader.

This is the part of the story where the dictator comes in.

While Chavez clearly saw the injustice suffered by U.S. farm workers in the 1960s, he apparently did not under-stand and appreciate the in-justice endured by Filipinos in general in the 1970s.

In 1977, Chavez did some-thing that stunned many Filipi-nos in America, including Vera Cruz: Chavez visited Manila as a guest of Ferdinand Marcos.

And that’s not all.At a time when Filipinos

were being jailed and tortured and brutalized, Chavez public-ly praised the Filipino dictator.

In his memoir, Vera Cruz said, “What Cesar did there in the Philippines is the sad-dest day in the history of the farm workers movement in this country. It was a disgrace.”

In a 1993 profile in Filipinas magazine, he recalled: “We in the union believed in the gener-al principle of freedom. Cesar’s trip to a dictatorship was in di-rect contradiction to those prin-ciples we stood for.”

Disgusted and disillusioned, Vera Cruz later left the UFW, though he remained a steadfast advocate of farm-worker rights.

T h e r e a l r e a s o n s f o r Chavez’s decision to embrace Marcos have remained un-clear. But the incident under-scored Vera Cruz’s greatness as a selfless, unflinching advo-cate for the oppressed.

He saw farm workers — Fil-ipinos, Latinos, and other eth-nicities — being exploited in the fields of California and oth-er states, and joined them in fighting for justice.

And he saw the people of the homeland they left behind being bullied and abused by a dictator, and took a stand with them in their struggle to be free. (Inquirer.net)

vera cruzContinued from p age 1 “Why don't we know

about the Filipino strikers?

Why are their contributions not

heralded in the history books or passed down."

12 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — A group of community volunteers have formed a new Filipino language organization called Mag-Filipino Tayo (Let’s Speak Filipino).

The organization, operat-ing as a non profit California public benefit corporation, will be focusing on promoting the learning and use of the Fili-pino language for individuals at all levels who do not nec-essarily have access to public schools where it may already be taught.

The organization will target Filipino-Americans who were born or raised here who either want to learn the language, or just want to improve their skills, but have few or no op-portunities to learn or improve.

Vince Bumanglag, one of the organizers, is a business own-er who wants to learn the lan-guage so he can relate better with his Filipino customers.

“I was born in the Philip-

pines, but did not grow up speaking Filipino,” he said. “This school definitely fills a need.”

However, Mag-Filipino Tayo is not just for beginners. It is also for those who already un-derstand the language or can actually converse in the lan-guage, such as intermediate or “heritage” speakers.

Genevieve Esmende, one of the volunteer organizers, is one example.

“I understand fluently be-cause my parents spoke to me,” she said. “But I did not always reply back in Filipino because, unfortunately, I was not confi-dent enough. An organization like this would help me gain more confidence.”

The organization has al-ready organized Filipino mix-ers, where people at all levels have showed up at a restau-rant to practice the language in an informal setting. So far, the mixers have been popular,

with attendees participating in fun exercises in a positive setting. The next mixer will held at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, September 30, 2010 at Quiz-no’s, 5252 Balboa Ave.

The organization’s first six-week classes, twice each week, will begin on Oct. 5, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays. The 18-hour “crash course” is designed for adults in learning common phrases used in different re-al-life situations relating to the culture and tradition for everyday conversation. The cost is $99, but some fi-nancial assistance has been made available by anony-mous donors.

For more information and registration, please contact Dr. Juanita Santos Nacu at (858) 335-5024 or e-mail at drjsnacu@att.net or Vicente Bumanglag at (760) 224-4635 or e-mail at vbumanglag@aol.com.

Rosegold International Inc. and its affiliated companies present Old Classics & Broad-way Hits Concert. The con-cert, held in honor of all Filipi-no-American professionals and businessmen, will be held Sat-urday, Oct.2 at 7:00 p.m. It will take place at the Scottish Rite Concert Hall located at 1895 Camino Del Rio South, San Di-ego.

The concert features Profes-sor Terri B. Dela Rosa.

Rosa started her musical career at the age of 7 and has played both classical and con-temporary music for the last 60 years.

Born in 1938 in the Philip-pines, her parents are Profe-sor Clemente Contrerars Basa and Ricarda Lucero Encarna-cion from Cavite City and Pan-amitan Kawit, Cavite. They were teachers at Malate Catho-lic School and under their guid-ance, Rosa’s natural gift in mu-sic flourished.

She attended Pedro Guevar-ra Elementary School and Jose Abad Santos Binondo Manila High School where she was chosen as the pianist of the

school's operetta program un-der the direction of Professor Elena Reyes.

Rosa enrolled in the school of Science in Education at Far Eastern University for her Bachelor’s and continued her education at Centro Esco-lar University in Manila. She took advance courses in music at the Manila Conservatory of Music and exclusive studies at University of Sto. Thomas, Ma-nila where she later became one of the Music Directors. At the same time she still con-tinued studies in Piano under the German-Filipino Professor Marcelino Carluen. She held a piano concert at PHIL-AM Au-ditorium in Manila and was in-vited many times at different secular organizations such as the Kiwanis Club, Lions Club International, Doctor's Associ-ation Meetings and Programs and also at the Inauguration of the Philipine Heart Center by the wife of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda.

Rosa continued her studies in the U.S. attending different seminars and training in music and composition in New Jer-

sey and Virginia State. Aside from singing, Rosa is also an arranger and composer of both contemporary and gospel mu-sic. She has been a very pop-ular figure and judge in many choral competitions. She also taught many piano students in her spare time showing both kids and adults how to express themselves through music. "Don't play, sing" is her man-tra. She means that metaphor-ically. Her passion for what she does really plays into that.

The development of her unique style is the result of a lifetime of musical influence. Growing up in a talented mu-sical family meant that Rosa was always surrounded by dif-ferent forms of music. Her fa-ther was a classically trained violinist, his brother a jazz pia-nist with various bands. Rosa was exposed to a wealth of mu-sic as a child, all of which influ-enced her development.

Rosa is a member of the Music Teacher Association of Northern Virginia, USA, Cal-ifornia Association of Profes-sional Music Teachers and "ASCAP"-American Songwrit-ers Composers Authors and Publishers.

In addition to Rosa, the con-cert will also feature guest art-ists Tenors Adolfo and Luigi Luevano, Linda Jabling (So-prano) and Erano Resty Yong-co (Tenor). The affair will also be graced by prominent per-sonalities and government of-ficials.

Tickets are $25 or VIP for $35. For tickets, call (619) 410-7146, (619) 381-3795 or (619) 405-2550.

SEPTEMBER 26

21ST ANNUAL AIDS WALk SAN DIEGOSan Diego County’s largest one-day HIV/AIDS fundraiser will take place on Sunday, Sept. 26 at Balboa Park.

The 21st annual event will raise funds for more than 20 San Diego County HIV/AIDS service organizations.

AIDS Walk San Diego is a program of The San Diego LGBT Community Cen-ter. More information is available by calling (619) 291-WALK.

SEPTEMBER 26

CHANGEMAkER FESTIvALThe Changemaker Festival at El Prado Patios will take place Sunday, September 26 at Balboa Park from 3:00 - 7:00 p.m.

The event is organized by the Foundation for Change. It will feature music by Super Sonic Samba School and a "Farmers' Market" style feast by Coronado Catering. Individual tickets are $35 or $60 for a pair.

SEPTEMBER 26

CFAC CANDIDATE'S DEBATE FORUM FOR CHULA vISTAThe Concern Filipino American Club (CFAC) Candidate's Debate Forum for Chula Vista City Council will take place on September 26, 2010, Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at Point Point Joint Restaurant in 916 E. 8th Street, Unit 1-2, National City, CA 91950. Lunch $7 and up.

Chula Vista City Council Candidates: Larry Breitfelder (attending) and Pat Aguilar (pending). For more information contact MarissaAcierto.CFAC@gmail.com or (619) 549-0014.

SEPTEMBER 30

CANDIDATES' FORUM FOR THE CITY COUNCIL OF NATIONAL CITYThe Candidates' Forum for the City Council of National City will be held on Thursday, Sept. 30 from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. at the Fellowship Hall, First United Methodist Church, 242 E. 8th Street, National City, CA.

The event is free and open to the public.

OCTOBER 2 & 3

THE ANNUAL MATER DEI BAZAAR & CARNIvALThe annual Mater Dei Bazaar & Carnival will be held on October 2 and 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. It will be held at the Mater Die Catholic Parish located at 1571 Magdalena Ave., Chula Vista.

The event will include carnival rides, Spam Musubi, Plate Lunch, Ha-waiian food, Mexican food, Filipino food, pizza, popcorn, cotton candy, pies, shave ice, halo halo. It will also feature entertainment, including 3-4 local hula halaus, St. Augustine High School Band, Mater Dei Steel Drum Band, Mater Dei Island Crew Band, karaoke contest and more.

Admission is free.

OCTOBER 17

TRIBUTE FOR WALTER PENNINGTONA “Tribute for Walter Pennington" will be held on Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. It will be held at Southwest Lodge Masonic Center 1040 B Ave. National City, CA 91950 (on the corner of B Ave. and 12th Street.

A potluck will be held with a requested $10.00 donation, which will be given to Walter’s widow.

The tribute will include performances from the following bands: Time-piece (Walter’s last group), Bits and Pieces, Robins, Rubbersound, Imperi-als, BeatJacks, Mindinterprotation and others.

NOVEMBER 6

EARLY SAN DIEGO REGIONAL HISTORY CONFERENCEThe Early San Diego Regional History Conference will take place on Sat-urday, November 6 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Old Town Cultural and Historical Program Campus, 3939 Conde Street, San Diego. CA 92110.

The event is brought to you by the Early San Diego Regional History Collaborative, the SDUSD Old Town Program, and local historical parks.

Come discover San Diego’s lost history & local gems. This year’s confer-ence theme is El Pueblo Perdido: The Lost Heritage of Early San Diego, Focusing on 1769-1848 and beyond.

For more information call Angela at (619) 423-7248 or email Karla at kshiminski@sandi.net.

Old Classics & Broadway Hits Concert on tap for Oct. 2

New community organization offers Filipino language classes

GET LISTED: To have your event listed in Save the Date, e-mail your information (include date, time, location, cost, and phone) to filpress@aol.com. Keep in mind we publish on Saturdays, so ensure your event happens on the day of publication or during the following week.

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SAN DIEGO, Calif. — San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) customers will receive new bills that are designed to be easier to read and understand.

“Our goal with this rede-sign effort is to help our cus-tomers better understand the charges on their SDG&E bill, so they can more effectively manage their energy usage on a monthly basis,” said Caroline A. Winn, vice president of cus-tomer services for SDG&E.

The re-designed bills were de-veloped based on input from a broad range of stakeholders, in-cluding SDG&E customers, the California Public Utilities Com-mission's Consumer Services and Information Division and the Division of Ratepayer Advo-cates, as well as consumer advo-cacy groups, such as Disability Rights Advocates and the Utility Consumers' Action Network.

The new SDG&E bill de-sign includes a number of enhancements:

• Improved appearance and larger paper size for reading ease;

• Easier-to-find account in-formation, including account number, bill amount, payment due date, and receipt of previ-ous month’s payment;

• Enhanced graphics for easy comparison of energy us-age for a 13-month period;

• More prominent con-tact information for SDG&E;

• A clearer and more de -tailed breakdown of charges;

• And, new front-page mes-sage section highlighting key billing details and information.

Bil ls wil l continue to be printed on recycled paper stock and billing envelopes are made with recycled paper. The new bills will not affect customers' current billing cycle, payment due date or rates.

Customers enrolled in pa-perless billing also will see the new bill design online, starting today.

To help smooth the transition to the new format, SDG&E is in-cluding new reference fact sheets in this month’s bill for residential and business customers. More information is available at www.sdge.com/yourbill. Additional-ly, residential customers can call SDG&E at (800) 411-7343 and business customers can call (800) 336-7343 with any questions about the new bill.

SDG&E is a regulated pub-lic utility that provides safe and reliable energy service to 3.4 million consumers through 1.4 million electric meters and more than 840,000 natural gas meters in San Diego and southern Orange counties. The utility’s area spans 4,100 square miles. SDG&E is com-mitted to creating ways to help our customers save energy and money every day. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a Fortune 500 energy services holding com-pany based in San Diego.

SDG&E introduces new bill design

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September 25 - October 1, 2010 13THE FILIPINO PRESS

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14 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

The San Diego Asian Film F e s t i v a l ( S D A F F ) i s launching its 11th season,

which runs Oct. 21-28 at the Mission Valley UltraStar Cine-mas. As one of the largest film exhibitions of its kind in North America, the SDAFF kicks off a brand new decade and 11th fes-tival with more than 140 films from 20 countries, including Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Ireland, Iran, Kyr-gyzstan, Mexico, North Ko-rea, Pakistan, Philippines, Sin-gapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and the U.S.

This season, in particular, the festival will be showcasing some extraordinary Filipino cinema:

• “If I knew What You Said” — A love story between a deaf boy who loves to dance and a re-bellious rocker girl.

• “Manila Skies” — Inspired by a true story, a lone, deranged hijacker struggles to survive in modern Philippine society.

• “Ninoy Auqino and the Rise of People Power” — A documen-tary about Benigno Aquino, who fought to free the Philippines from a martial-law dictatorship, co-presented by The Filipi-no Press.

• “The Mountain Thief” — Set in a Filipino “dump town,” a single father is wrongfully ac-cused of murder.

More than 100 filmmakers and actors are scheduled to at-tend including John Cho (“Har-old and Kumar,” “Star Trek”), Aaron Yoo (“21,” “The Wack-ness”), Daniel Dae Kim (“Lost”), Justin Lin (director, “Fast and the Furious”), Justin Chon (“Twilight”), Danny Pudi (“Com-munity”), Ellen Wong (“Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”) and Harry Shum Jr. (“Glee,” “League of xtraordinary Dancers”). The festival will also honor the Co-alition of Asian Pacifics in En-tertainment.

The festival is book-ended by the opening night film on Thurs-day, Oct. 21, with the U.S. pre-miere of “Legend of the Fist,” an epic Chinese martial arts film starring Donnie Yen, and the closing night film on Thursday, Oct. 28, with Taiwanese crowd-pleaser, “Au Revoir Taipei.”

Other highlights include:• Spotlights on trans-racial

adoption (four feature films) with most directors in atten-dance for a question-and-answer session.

• “Free Films at Four,” every weekday at 4 p.m. films are free to the public.

• All 14 short film programs will be presented in high defini-tion for the first time.

• Special events each night, including the Gala Awards Din-

ner on Oct .23, live music show-case and a panel celebrating the art of dance in films and music videos.

“We are especially grateful to our top sponsors – Toyota, our Official Car Sponsor, Barona and Wells Fargo — for support-ing our vision. Thanks to the generous support of many cor-porate partners, we are able to present a high quality, mean-ingful festival experience,” said SDAFF Executive Director Lee Ann Kim.

Since the festival ends less than a week before the gener-al election, the SDAFF is also promoting civic responsibili-ty and democratic participa-tion through a campaign called “Reel in the Vote,” showcasing public service announcements that were created by artists to encourage Asian-Americans to vote.

Discounted tickets are avail-able online until Oct. 17. Tick-ets can be purchased at the Haz-ard Center UltraStar box office beginning on Oct. 19. For ticket-ing info, film details and sched-ule, visit the festival website at www.SDAFF.org.

Mission Valley UltraStar Cin-emas is located at 7510 Hazard Center Drive.

IN CONCERTTHE GREATEST HITMAkERSRico J. Puno • Marco Sison Rey Valera • Nonoy ZunigaWhen: 3 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 26Where: Pala CasinoTickets: $38-$98. Online: www.usasiamediacenter.com. Phone: 1-888-874-1719. Tickets also available at Pala Casino.

ANG GANDA DIvA?Lani Misalucha and vice GandaWhen: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 16Where: Pala CasinoTickets: $48-$98. Online: www.starmediaentertain-ment.com. Phone: 1-818-549-1456. Tickets also available at Pala Casino.

THEATERCOPLEY SYMPHONY HALLBayanihan Philippine National Dance CompanyWhen: 2 p.m.Sunday, Sept. 26Where: 750 B St., San DiegoTickets: $15-$65. Online: www.sandiegosympho-ny.com. Phone: (619) 235-0804. Also available at box office.

CLUBSCAFE LA MAZE STEAkHOUSEJulius Obregon and Friends ShowWhen: 7 p.m. SundaysWhere: 1441 Highland Ave., National City, (619) 474-3222

LUCkY STARWednesdays Filipino Night with Eric de LeonThursdays: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra Big BandFridays: Ballroom dancing/karokeWhere: 3893 54th St., San Diego, (619) 229-8228

MCDINI'S DINER & EvENTSFilipino food every Saturday with live Filipino BandsWhere: 105 E. 8th St., National City, (619) 474-6771

TROPHY LOUNGERising StarWhen: 8 p.m. ThursdaysWhere: 999 National City Blvd., National City, (619) 477-9862

kARAOkE18TH ANNUAL FIEST FILIPIANA MEXICANA kARAOkE COMPETITIONWhen: Saturday, Oct. 23Where: Seafood City, 1420 E. Plaza Blvd., National City, (619) 477-6080

EL JUAN RESTAURANTEric de Leon one-man bandWhen: 6-9 p.m. ThursdaysWhere: 2316 Highland Ave., National City, (619) 477-6262

GAPORESTO & kARAOkEWhen: 7 p.m.-midnight, Tuesdays to Sundays

Where: 933 S. Harbison Ave., National City, (619) 267-3746

JASMINEWhen: 9 p.m -1 a.m. WednesdaysWhere: 4609 Convoy St., San Diego, (858) 268-0888

SIZZLER JULIUS OBREGON SHOW ROOMWhen: 7 p.m. FridaysWhere: 1325 E. Plaza Blvd., National City, (619) 477-2590

SPORTSTOP GUN FLAG FOOTBALLRegister now for five-man, all-passing flag football leagues in Chula Vista, Mira Mesa, North County/San Marcos and Santee. Evening and weekend leagues begin in late September. Inter-league playoffs with neighboring counties. Call toll-free (877) 846-3178 or visit TopGunFlagFootball.com. Must be 18+ to play. Refer-ees needed.

GET LISTED: To have your concert, club or event listed in What's Happening, e-mail your information (include date, time, location, cost, and phone) to filpress@aol.com. Keep in mind we publish on Saturdays, so ensure your event happens on the day of publication or during the following week.

11th San Diego Asian Film Festival features four Filipino films

The Greatest Hitmakers perform Sept. 26 at Pala Casino.

Bayanihan

Julius Obregon

WIN FREE TICkETS TO THE kICkOFF RECEPTIONThe festival is hosting its annual kickoff reception at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 29, at Viejas Casino’s Dream-Catcher Theater and want you to be there. Be the first to get an exclusive sneak peak at the 11th season with free food, entertainment and giveaways. The festival is giving away two pairs of invitations to this ex-citing party. To enter to win, e-mail contests@sdaff.org with “VIEJAS” in the subject line.

Courtesy photos

Lani Misalucha and Vice Gandastar in "Ang Ganda Diva?" atPala Casino on Oct. 16

A scene from "Ninoy Aquino and the Rise of People Power." The documentary traces Benigno Aquino's fight to free the Philippines from a martial-law dicta-torship in the Marcos era.

Set in a Filipino "dump town," a single father is wrongly accused of murder in "The Mountain Thief."

Inspired by a true story, "Manila Skies" focuses on a lone, deranged hijacker struggling to survive in modern Philippine society.

FILIPINO FILMS LINE-UP, SCHEDULE“If I knew What You Said”A love story between a deaf boy who loves to dance and a rebellious rocker girl. Staring Joseph Balan. (Romance/Drama)When: 5:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 22, 7:40 p.m., Monday, Oct. 25

“Manila Skies”   Inspired by a true story, a lone deranged hijacker struggles to survive modern Philippine society. (Drama/Thriller) When: 8:40 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 23

 “The Mountain Thief”Urban drama about people who climb the mountains of trash. (Drama)When: 6:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 24; 9:35 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 27

“Ninoy Aquino and the Rise of People Power”Through People Power, Benigno Aquino made nonviolence into a method for driving out national dictators and strengthening the cause of democracy. He set off a wave that rippled around the planet. (Documentary) Co-presented by The Filipino Press.When: 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 26

Filipino filmsspice festival

In "If I Knew What You Said," a rebellious rocker girl dabbles in romance with a deaf boy who loves to dance. The movie is one of four films featured during the upcoing San Diego Asian Film Festival.

September 25 - October 1, 2010 15THE FILIPINO PRESS

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PALA, Calif. — Ten profes-sional and amateur Muay Thai fights will be center stage at Pala Casino Spa & Resort on Oct. 2.

Muay Thai, the fastest-growing, adrenaline-rushing striking sport, also known as the art of eight limbs, allows fighters to utilize hands, el-bows, knees and shins to bring the opponent down.

The event is headlined by the Light Heavyweight Muay Thai vs. MMA five-round bout between Denis “The Pirate” Grachev (Russia by way of San Diego) and Fernando Gonza-

lez (Temecula, Calif.). Grachev, an IKF (International Kickbox-ing Federation) World Light Heavyweight Champion, for-mer European champion, has a professional Muay Thai record of 15 wins, nine of them by way of knockout, and two losses. His last memorable fight was against Joe Schilling of Los An-geles, which ended in Schilling being knocked out. Grachev also holds a perfect boxing re-cord of eight wins and zero losses. His opponent, Fernan-do “The Menifee Maniac” Gon-zalez is a professional Muay Thai fighter and a very popu-

lar MMA fighter, who’s fought in King of the Cage and WEC promotions. His MMA record stands at 17 wins and eight losses.

One of the most decorat-ed fighters, Romie Adanza (7 wins, 2 losses) will defend his IKKC MuayThai Internation-al Super Bantamweight title against Haigang Huang of Chi-na. Adanza is coming off of a win against a Brit, Andy How-son, which brings his record to seven wins and two losses total. Adanza will square off with the National Muay Thai Champion of China, Haigang Huang, who

is also a part of the Chinese National Muay Thai team. His pro record comes to 26 wins and 12 losses.

Luis Bio vs Terris James is a bout a lot fight fans can get excited about. Bio, an Ensena-da, Mexico fighter is coming off of several consecutive wins. He is a cool-headed technical fight-er, who will be met in the ring by a quick, explosive James, a former IKKC World Champion from Albuquerque, New Mexi-co.

Also on the card is Artem “The Russian Experiment” Sharoshkin, who has recently

secured an IAMTF US Na-tional Welterweight Cham-pionship Title, and who will debut as a pro in California against a fighter from Texas Van “Tactic” Vo.

All bouts are subject to change. Fights start at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are priced at $40 and $100 ringside. Tick-ets are on sale now, with no service charge, at the Pala Privileges Center in the casi-no, or call 1-877-WIN PALA (1-877-946-7252) or (877) 446-7962.

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16 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

What would you buy with an extra $1,000 during the holiday sea-

son? Plane tickets? Toys for the kids? A family feast? Forget lot-tery tickets, spare cash can be found just by tweaking a couple of your weekly spending habits.

Do your own nailsNot too long ago, gel and acryl-

ic nails were as important of a fashion and status statement as Coach purses, particular-ly here in Southern California. The dawn of a changing econ-omy made us more cash-con-scious and fashion resourceful. The trends have even swayed in favor of a more accessible man-icure — the do-it-yourself kind. Short and sultry in deep jew-el tones is the way to sport your nails this season. “But my nail artist is like my therapist,” you say? Make a nail date with your best gal pals and dish while you paint and pedi. If you must head to the nail salon, wait it out and save up for one mani/pedi you can spoil yourself with right be-fore those hot holiday parties.

$avings: On average, wom-en who get their nails done regularly spend $50 each sit-ting. A visit to the salon every other week adds up to $100 a

month. By Christmas, you could save $300! Doesn’t your manicure look better when there's money in your hand?

Make your own coffeeThink Savebucks instead

of Starbucks, and watch your wallet thicken up fast. Treat yourself to a fashionable ther-mos, and rock the “I'm caffein-ated, but eco-friendly and bud-get-oriented” look. Without all the whipped cream and syr-up, you’re also likely to save your body from a lot of calo-ries. (Friendly reminder: Don't you have an amazing incentive outfit you plan to wear to your company holiday party?)

$avings: At $5 a day, five days a week, you could be shell-ing out $100 a month on your cof-feehouse habit alone (and that's a low estimate). Brew yourself a mug and a pot of $300 by the end of the year. Now that’s delicious!

Bag your lunchThe drive-thru is fast, famil-

iar — and it’s taking its toll on your wallet and waistline. That burger, fries and soda combo you keep ordering for lunch may be as comforting as it is convenient, but this daily habit is one worth ditching. We’ve been conditioned to see the land of Happy Meals

as part of the American Dream. But saturated fat, empty calories and empty wallets sound more like a nightmare. Pack yourself a homemade roasted turkey and sun-dried tomato wrap, easy ca-prese salad, or good ol' spinach and papaya tinola (hold the rice to be extra healthy) for you and your loved ones. Any one of those dishes with a side of extra cash is easily more appetizing than what you will find on a drive-thru menu.

$avings: At a conservative estimate of $8 a day, five days a week, fast food also means fast-moving cash, $480 in three months to be exact. In-vest in brown bag lunches now, so you can invest in de-signer handbags later.

Other money-saversReturn that item in your clos-

et that still has the tag on it. (Just when exactly did you plan on wearing that?) Drop your un-used gym membership. (Flabby AND low on cash is an unattract-ive combo. Work out at home or with friends, if the idea of sweat-ing next to strangers makes you uncomfortable.) Cancel premi-um cable channels you don’t watch often. Pull the plug on phone lines that don't get used. Sell items around the house that will serve a purpose other than gathering dust in someone else’s home. The list of simple ways of putting money back into your pockets goes on and on!

As your friend, I must tell you that broke is no joke — and it’s not a good look on anyone. Know-ing where to save and where to splurge is always in style. Cut your spending where you can. One can do a lot of pampering with an extra $1,000-plus lat-er in the year. For now, frugal is fabulous, my pampered friends.

Wanna keep in touch and join in on fun weekly chats with other Pampered Pinay fans? Simply check out www.Facebook.com or www.Twit-

ter.com, and search "Francine Maigue." See you online!

Check back every week for ways to pamper yourself and those you love. Why? The an-swer if simple: You deserve it!

Got a business or event I should know about? Wish to agree or disagree with me? Want to send me a love note? (I love those.) E-mail me at the-pamperedpinay@yahoo.com.

How to save $1,000 by Christmas

Francine Maigue

The PamperedPinay

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September 25 - October 1, 2010 17THE FILIPINO PRESS

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18 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

By Rowena Joy A. Sanchez

MANILA, Philippines — Butch Albarracin, founder of performance training school Center for Pop Music Philip-pines (CPMP), passed away Sept. 16 at the Makati Medical Center due to lung cancer. He was 64.

Albarracin put up Cen-

ter for Pop in 1984. A number of its graduates are now certi-fied stars in their own right in-cluding Sarah Geronimo, Erik Santos, Sheryn Regis, Rachelle Ann Go, Jonalyn Viray, Jimmy Bondoc, Roselle Nava, Geneva Cruz, Frenchie Dy, Rhap Sala-zar and Charice Pempengco.

In a tribute piece posted on the website of the Philip-pine Marketing Association, of which Albarracin was a mem-ber, he was described to have run CPMP “with the same hands-on passion that he gave to it when he established it 23 years ago.”

More, “he also personal-ly hired his voice coaches and handled the training of the cen-ter’s 200-plus staff by himself.” In connection to this, he put up the CPMP Coaches Academy.

From their house’s garage in Cubao, Quezon City, Center for Pop went on to expand into 20 branches all over the country as well as more than 30 extension classes in numerous schools particularly in provinces. And from 30 enrollees, CPMP now has 4,000 students.

PMA also vouched for Albar-racin’s encouraging spirit. “He believed that we all have poten-

tial to be better than what we are presently and it is our task and responsibility to polish and enhance our God-given talents.”

According to abs-cbnNEWS.com, Albarracin’s remains lie in state at Sanctuarium in Que-zon City. His burial was held on Sept. 24 at Himalayang Pilipi-no, Quezon City.

As if in tribute to Albarra-cin's contribution to OPM and its artists, one of CPMP stu-dents, Charice continues to shine bright in the US. She is featured in the latest edition of U.S. magazine Newsweek. Ti-tled “Asia’s Rising Pop Star,” the piece written by Sonia Kole-snikov-Jessop talked about the new “Glee” star ’s Cinderella-like story, from her humble be-ginnings to her astonishing rise to superstardom.

“In my opinion, she will put the whole of Asia on the map as a huge global super-star,” Charice’s mentor and al-bum producer David Foster was quoted in the article as saying.

The last paragraph of the ar-ticle looks to be a piece of advice for the young songstress:

“To avoid the fate of countless young stars who made it and then let it all slip away, she will have to keep her head firmly on her shoulders. But with Foster having officially taken on the role of godfather, and Oprah in her life as her quasi fairy god-mother, it looks like this Cin-derella could continue her hap-py fairy tale.”

Center for Pop Music Founder passes away

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — San Diego’s, own Stephanie La-nare Maxwell will host a new Christian Talk Show entitled, “Around San Diego”.

“This show will feature some of the best and the brightest in the Christian community. It will capture the essence of what’s really going on in our streets, in our city, in our communities, and ulti-mately our world,” said host Stephanie Maxwell.

The show will entertain guest from all walks of life. From pastors and preachers, to storytellers and ministers, to community developers, and entrepreneurs, Around San

Diego will encompass a full myriad of those who are liv-ing through and working for Christ in their businesses, ministries, and lives.

Around San Diego will also feature some of the best in Gos-pel music, and Christian en-tertainment, as well as actors and actresses, and a full host of those in the entertainment field who are living their lives through, and for Christ also.

The show will allow attend-ees to testify on the goodness of Jesus Christ, and share genuine stories of how Christ healed, re-stored, repaired, and complete-ly ratified their lives, while de-livering them from a life of sin.

It will enable those who want or desire a new walk with Christ the opportunity to do so.

Host, creator, writer, and producer, Stephanie L. Max-well will develop show topics that will state our human con-dition, address our daily trials, and tribulations, and discuss them in both a biblical, as well as spiritual manner that at the end of the day lends itself to a life being lead to Christ!

Taping begins in October, check your local public access channel for airdates and times.

For more information about Around San Diego, contact Stephanie L. Maxwell at (619) 563-2018.

Stephanie Lanare Maxwell to host new Christian talk show

Get a good fun fright and a bit of history with the lineup of spooky events this Halloween season at one of the most haunt-ed areas in San Diego, Old Town San Diego State Historic Park and Fiesta de Reyes.

Séance at the Seeley StableOld Town San Diego State

Historic Park will be host-ing “Séance at the Seeley Sta-ble. Is Anybody There?”. Dur-ing this performance, audience members will hear scary, fun-ny, and tragic stories of people who once lived in early San Di-ego during the 1800s. Patrons will be present at a “séance” led by Madam Stolichnaya as she attempts to summon “real live” ghosts who will tell their sto-ries in a fun and spooky way. Performances take place Octo-ber 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30, and 31 at 6:00 and 7:30 p.m. Adults are $10 per ticket and children 12 to 18: $5.00. For reservations visit: www.brownpapertickets/event/12812 or for more infor-mation: (619) 220-5422.

Ghost toursMichael Brown leads San Di-

ego’s only real ghost tours. Dur-ing his walking tours, guests will get to visit various paranor-mally active places in Old Town State Park such as the Whaley House, a park that used to be cemetery, and a haunted broth-el located on the Whaley House property. He shares tips, tricks and techniques to find ghosts and other paranormal happen-ings in Old Town State Park. His tours are every Thurs-day through Sunday in Octo-ber. Walking tours begin at 9:00 p.m. in front of the Fiesta de Reyes fountain. Adults are $19 and children 6-12 are $10. Kids 5 and under free. For more info visit: www.oldtownsmosthaunt-ed.com/.

Old Town Theatre: Quoth the Raven

Write Out Loud will pres-ent “Quoth the Raven” in the Old Town Theatre on Satur-day afternoon, October 16 at 12:30 p.m. and on Monday eve-

ning, October 18, at 7:00 p.m. Quoth the Raven will feature stories and poems of mystery, fantasy and delusion brought chillingly to life by profession-al actors. Authors include Ed-gar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, Lafcadio Hearn, H.P. Lovecraft and Jerome K. Jerome. Tick-ets cost $15 for adults and $13 for students, seniors and active military. For more info, please visit:www.writeoutloudsd.com/.

Old Town Theatre: War of the Worlds

Presented by Cygnet Theater Company, War of the Worlds is a staged radio play that re-en-acts the day of Oct. 30, 1938, when millions of radio listen-ers were shocked when news alerts announced the arrival of Martians forging a ferocious and seemingly unstoppable at-tack on Earth. The War of the Worlds performance is on Oct. 25 at 7:00 p.m. at the Old Town Theatre. Tickets are $10 for all ages. For more information vis-it, www.cygnettheatre.com or call (619) 337-1525.

Movie night and costume contest

Everyone is invited to get in the ghoulish mood with a free spooky movie night under the stars. Bring lawn chairs, blankets and your bravest face and enjoy a family-rat-ed spooky movie under the stars. The movie night will be held Friday, Oct. 29, and Sat-urday, Oct. 30 at 8:00 p.m. in the Fiesta de Reyes court-yard. Before the movie on Sat-urday, there will be a costume contest for all ages featuring prizes from merchants in the park for the various catego-ries of costumes. Admission is free.

Trick-or-Teat Trick-or-treaters are invit-

ed to come out Saturday , Oct. 30, and Sunday Oct. 31. from 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 to collect goodies from participating shops and museums through-out the park. Admission for this is free.

There is free parking avail-able in the Caltrans parking lot on Taylor Street in Old Town after 5:00 p.m. on week-days and all day on week-ends. For more information about any of these events, vis-it www.Fiestadereyes.com or call (619) 297-3100.

Get your scare in Old Town this Halloween season

Butch Albarracin

By Neni Sta. Romana Cruz

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — One need not have a special rea-son for visiting a library apart from the obvious love for the written word. It was for that and other special reasons that my San Francisco-based jour-nalist friend Gemma Nemen-zo and I ventured out to the new Walnut Creek Library in the East Bay two days after its much-touted opening. We both had decided that this would be our own private celebration of National Children’s Book Day.

Truly a library for contem-porary times, it features 94 public computers with Internet access and a 65-inch television screen. But the most heart-warming observation was that despite the glitz and allure of technology, the most popular preoccupation of the students who came for the opening was seeking a favorite nook to sit and read a book.

On the day of our visit, it was a very busy place, still inviting many visitors, especially the youth who were still on summer break. There were library fly-ers, library stickers being given out, summer reading program booklets. A little boy was asking for a bookmark, which sent the librarian scurrying around so as not to disappoint.

Nemenzo’s special reason for the library visit is her current endeavor to organize a first-ever Filipino-American Inter-national Book Festival at the San Francisco Public Library on Oct. 1-2, 2011 — and her ul-timate goal of having Filipi-no-authored books in all pub-lic libraries in California. She strongly feels that Fil-Am kids should have access to their her-itage while non-Filipinos ought to feel the presence of the com-munity in the United States, es-

pecially since the Filipinos are the second largest Asian minor-ity group next to the Chinese.

It envisions opening up the U.S. market for Philippine pub-lishers whose titles do not have a presence here. Amazon, the online shopping giant, requires an available inventory of titles for these to be marketed and de-livered with its known dispatch; on the other hand, Philippine publishers are discouraged to ship these books because of the costs of shipment and maintain-ing a storage area in the Unit-ed States, with no certainty of sale. With the book festival idea conceptualized by Nemenzo and writer Mila de Guzman, that perennial obstacle will hope-fully be overcome, thanks to the Philippine consulate in San Francisco. Consul General Mar-ciano Paynor Jr. has committed

to making a storage room in the consulate premises available for the books from the Philippines especially for the event.

The FilBookFest will go be-yond being a mere sales event for books, although sales cannot but be a gauge of success. Add-ing a special dimension will be workshops on writing, publish-ing, storytelling for kids, culi-nary talks and demos, alterna-tive therapies like the hilot and herbal remedies.

The time is ripe for the rich-ness of Philippine literature to go beyond our shores. There are more interested readers out there than we think. And perhaps, we, back home, will gain a better appreciation of books and reading.

For more information, e-mail filbookfest@yahoo.com. (Inquirer.net)

Fil-Am journalist plans first-ever Fil-Am International Book Festival in San Francisco

The atrium of the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library. Filipino-American journalist Gemma Nemenzo hopes to organize the first-ever Filipino-American International Book Festival at the library on Oct. 1-2, 2011.

Photo: Joe Mabel

fidence in him [Puno] but I will talk to him as soon as I get back to Manila and I’ll ask him about these allegations and see what his responses are.” Puno de-nied the allegations. However, he indicated that he was will-ing to resign his post or be reas-signed to spare P-Noy from fur-ther embarrassment.

On Sept. 17, the IIRC com-pleted its work and submitted its recommendations to P-Noy. The report cited 12 persons and three networks. Puno and Verzosa were named in the re-port. In a press conference prior to his departure for the United States, P-Noy said, “The report is recommendatory in nature. I have forwarded it, and its rec-ommendations, to a legal team composed of the Executive Sec-retary and the Chief Presiden-

tial Legal Counsel to make a thorough review of the IIRC’s recommendations.”

On Sept. 21, the Senate start-ed its own fact-finding investi-gation on the jueteng payola is-sue. Called to testify, Archbishop Cruz identified Puno and Verzo-sa as the recipients of “nation-al jueteng payola flow.” Cruz also named the following as sus-pected jueteng lords in their ar-eas: Pampanga governor Lilia “Baby” Pineda; Paul Dy in Is-abela; retired general Eugene Martin; Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan; Danny Soriano in Ca-gayan; a retired general Padilla (involved in Pasay, Parañaque, Muntinlupa and San Pedro); Pangasinan governor Amado Espino; and, a certain Boy Ja-landoni in Bacolod. Pineda is married to the reputed “Jueteng King” — Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda — who was investigated by Con-gress in 1998, 2000, and 2005.

However, nothing came out of those investigations.

Double whammyThe hostage crisis and the

jueteng payola scandal hit Puno like a double whammy. While he is presumed innocent until prov-en guilty in a court of law, it’s the opposite in the court of pub-lic opinion; that is, he is guilty until proven innocent. It all boils down to perception and in poli-tics perception is reality.

The bottom line is: The jueteng payola scandal could be the defining moment of P-Noy’s presidency. Either he eradicates jueteng — as he promised dur-ing the campaign — or jueteng would spell doom to his anti-cor-ruption crusade.

At the end of the day, Puno can protect his “shooting buddy” by falling on the sword. That would be a noble act. That is also the price of true friendship. (PerryDiaz@gmail.com)

diazContinued from p age 6

September 25 - October 1, 2010 19THE FILIPINO PRESS

MANILA, Philippines — Asia’s Songbird Regine Velas-quez recently began filming her upcoming movie titled "Mrs. Recto."

Coney Reyes, Jazon Gainza and Christian Bautista are also part of the movie project.

According to Velasquez, the movie follows the life of a female vendor who sells fake college diplomas along C.M. Recto Avenue.

She is expected to finish the project before her wedding in December.

Velasquez is set to wed her long-time boyfriend Ogie Alcasid.

In his previous interview,

Alcasid said President Benig-no Aquino III, Megastar Sha-ron Cuneta and businessman Manny Pangilinan will be part of their entourage.

Alcasid said they would ask Lea Salonga to sing in their wedding.

Alcasid’s marriage to former beauty queen Michelle van Ei-meren was annulled in June.

Alcasid and van Eimeren met during the 1994 Miss Universe pageant where she was a contestant. They got married in 1998 and have two daughters. The two an-nounced the end of their mar-riage in 2007, but they report-edly remain friends. (MNS)

Regine Velasquez begins filming ‘Mrs. Recto’

Regine Velasquez

20 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

Boxing legend Frazier recalls ‘Thrilla in Manila’

By Brandi PerezFilipino Press Staff Writer

Legendary boxing great Joe Frazier still has some fight left in him. Thirty-five

years after the historic “Thril-la in Manilla” fight against Mu-hammad Ali, the winner of the bout still remains questionable.

“The fight was a good fight,” Frazier said. “I thought I won the fight up until the bell rang. I was going blind in one of my eyes. I couldn’t see. Somehow Ali found out about that, so he closed my other eye.”

The fight was stopped before the 15th and final round. Fra-zier said he didn’t want to stop the fight but he couldn’t get mad at his corner because he knew they were protecting him.

The epic fight was the third time Ali and Frazier faced each other. The Oct. 1, 1975, bout was held at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines, for the Heavyweight Boxing Champi-onship of the World.

Frazier won the first fight on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden with a 15-round unanimous decision.

Ali won the second fight on Jan. 28, 1974, again at Madison Square Garden with a 12-round unanimous decision.

Frazier didn’t mind facing Ali three times.

“It was fun. I loved fighting him,” he said. “He says he won two out of three of the fights. I say I won all three of them.”

When asked if he wished he could have fought Ali a few more times, Frazier was quick to respond, “I could go for a fight right now.”

There has always been ten-sion between the two fighters. Ali was aggressive while Frazier took a more respectful approach.

“I thought he was a real-ly rude guy,” Frazier said. “He called guys fighting names. He would change their names. He gave me the nickname ‘Tom.’ That’s not what my momma named me.”

Frazier (32-4-1) was never one to boast about his accolades, something that set him apart from him rival.

“Ali thought he was greater than the Lord,” Frazier said.

But Frazier takes no offense. He tries to keep things light, even now.

“My job is to smile upon ev-erybody,” he said.

Frazier prides himself on sportsmanship. He said one of the great things about boxing is that race has never been an is-sue.

“I’ve never had a racial prob-lem,” he said. “I’ve fought white guys and black guys. They al-ways come up to me afterwards and say, ‘good job.’ My job is to be a good man.”

The 66-year-old could not pin-point who he thought the great-est boxers of all time were, rath-er he chose an era.

“All those guys from the ’70s, I’d have to take my hat

off to those guys,” Frazier said. “They’re real champions. They’re all great guys.”

Boxing has endured several changes through the years. One area Frazier sees a big change in is sportsmanship.

“When guys fell down the op-ponent would go to the corner,” Frazier said. “Now guys want to beat them up. I think they need to take it back to the old way. It would make men men.”

Despite his age, Frazier said he's still in fighting shape.

“I’m 66 and I’m feeling good,” Frazier said. “I’m as strong as two ass mules. I’ve been to some of the greatest places in the world. I’ve met a lot of great peo-ple.”

Frazier has been able to see

the world thanks to a successful boxing career that lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a brief come-back in 1981.

His launching point was in 1964 when he won the United States’ only Olympic boxing gold medal in Tokyo, Japan.

“In 1964 I was the only guy who won a gold medal for the United States,” Frazier said. “I fought the big boys. I got a pat on the back from the world.”

Afterwards, Frazier turned professional and went on to win 29 consecutive fights and be-came the undisputed heavy-weight champion in 1970.

George Foreman broke Fra-zier’s undefeated streak on Jan. 22, 1973, in Kingston, Ja-maica. Foreman dominated the bout and the fight was quickly stopped in the second round. He took away Frazier’s world cham-pionship title.

In 1976, Frazier (32-3) fought and lost to Foreman for a second time by a fifth-round knockout. After that he retired.

In 1981, Frazier attempted a comeback against Floyd “Jum-bo” Cummings in Chicago, Illi-nois. The fight went 10 rounds and Cummings took the win. Af-ter that, Frazier retired for good.

“Smokin’ Joe” won 32 of his 37 professional fights. Of them, 27 wins, or 73 percent of his vic-tories, came by way of knockout.

His best-known punch was a powerful left hook. The orthodox fighter was known for adopting the bob-and-weave defensive style.

The International Boxing Research Organization rates Frazier among the 10 greatest heavyweights of all time. He was inducted into the Interna-tional Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

Frazier spent several years training fighters. He backed off from training in 2007. Since then, he’s had to put his gym up for sale.

Although he is no longer training fighters, Frazier keeps busy. He travels about two or three times a month for person-al appearances.

“People want to see the guy who beat up Muhammad,” he smiled. “It’s a great feeling.”

The light-hearted legend said he is in great shape. He has a bit of a limp when he walks but he says it’s due to spinal injuries he sustained in a car accident. Oth-er than that, he said he still has some fire left in him.

“I’m 66 years old and I weigh 225 pounds, nothing but muscle and bone,” Frazier laughed. “I’m like a rail.”

Frazier will sign memorabil-ia in San Diego on Oct. 2-3 at American Icon Autographs at Horton Plaza.

Photo: Courtesy photo

Joe Frazier, left, lands a hard left punch to the face of Muhammad Ali during one of their three bouts in the 1970s. The third and final bout, dubbed the "Thrilla in Manila," took place at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines, on Oct. 1, 1975. Frazier is in San Diego on Oct. 2-3 to sign memorabilia at American Icon Autographs in Horton Plaza.

‘Smokin’ Joe’ visits San Diego to sign

autographs onanniversary of fight

JOE FRAZIER SIGNS MEMORABILIAJoe Frazier will visit San Diego to sign autographs and take pictures (for a price) with fans on the 35th anniversary of his legendary match with Muhammad Ali, dubbed the "Thrilla in Manila."When: 5-7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 2; 5:30-7 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 3Where: American Icon Autographs, 324 Horton Plaza Space No. 31 (on the first level next to 24 Hour Fitness and Ritz Camera)Cost: $99 - Flat items up to 16" x 20"; $129 - Other items; $29 - Inscriptions; $69 – Photo OpportunityPhone: (619) 955-5777Online: www.americaniconautographs.com

September 25 - October 1, 2010 21THE FILIPINO PRESS

22 September 25 - October 1, 2010THE FILIPINO PRESS

The Greatest Hitmakers tour Seafood City stores, meet San Diego fans prior to concert

VISIT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND CHECK OUT ALL OUR PHOTOS

Photos: Susan delos SantosThe Greatest Hitmakers, in San Diego for their performance on Sunday, Sept. 26, at Pala Casino, made the rounds at area Seafood City markets to sign autographs and greet fans last week. In these photos, The Hitmakers greet fans at the Mira Mesa branch of Seafood City on Tuesday, Sept. 21 and Seafood City in National City on Wednesday, Sept. 22. For more photos, see our Facebook page (Filipino Press).