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TYPHOON Koppu is sweeping slowly across the northern part of the Philippines, destroy-ing provinces and forcing thousands to flee from their homes.

The tropical cyclone, known as typhoon ‘Lando’ in the Philippines, is over 500-kilo-meters in diameter. As of Tuesday evening, Oct. 20, it was crawling northeast towards the Calayan and Babuyan islands.

The state weather bureau PAGASA is-

sued an advisory �at 11pm�, saying that the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour (kph) and heavy gusts of up to 80 kph, according to ABS-CBN News.

A severe weather bulletin (No. 23) issued by the Philippine National Disaster Risk Re-duction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Tuesday, Oct. 20 reported that Koppu has only “weakened slightly.” The storm’s center point is about 90 kilometers, West of Calay-an, Cagayan (north of mainland Luzon), with

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DATELINEUSAFROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

Volume 25 - No. 82 • 3 Sections - 20 Pages

October 21-23, 2015

THE SUPREME Court has stopped the plun-der trial of former President Gloria Macapa-gal-Arroyo for 30 days, ordering the antigraft court to comment on her petition questioning court resolutions that denied her right to seek a ruling on the sufficiency of evidence against her.

In an en banc session on Tuesday, Oct. 20, the high court issued a 30-day status quo ante order on proceedings against Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative who has been de-tained at the Veterans Memorial Center in Quezon City since Oct. 4, 2012 for allegedly misusing P365.997 million of the Philippine

Supreme Court stops Arroyo plunder trial

IF THEY really think Sen. Grace Poe is a Filipino, presidential candidates Mar Roxas and Jejomar “Jojo” Binay should tell their allies and supporters to stop making an issue out of her citizenship, Sen. Francis Escudero said Tuesday, Oct. 20.

Escudero, Poe’s running mate in next year’s presidential election, issued a statement after for-mer Sen. Richard Gordon disclosed in a television interview Tuesday that members of Roxas’ Liberal Party (LP) and Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) had asked him to join an effort to take Poe out of the 2016 presidential race.

“It’s getting harder and harder to give the leaders of [the] LP and [the] UNA the benefit of the doubt,

Roxas, Binay asked to stop allies on Poe’s disquali�cation case

THE Department of Foreign Af-fairs (DFA) has announced on Monday, Oct. 19 that it has reached the 1.3 million mark of registered overseas voters for the 2016 elec-tions.

In a statement, Office of Civilian

Security and Consular Concerns Undersecretary Rafael E. Seguis said that a total 1, 301, 598 over-seas Filipino workers (OFWs) be-came registered voters as of Octo-ber 15, 2015.

Seguis said that if 1.3 million overseas voters could influence at least three family members, their sector could bring about 5.2 mil-

lion votes to their preferred candi-dates.

“Since overseas Filipinos are considered to be their family’s bread winners, it is not a stretch to surmise that each overseas Filipi-no can influence the vote of at least three family members. Thus, the 1.3 million active registered over-

DFA exec: 1.3 M overseas voters a ‘game-changer’ in 2016 polls

MANILA – The Philippines has expressed its intention to join the freshly-minted Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement once it opens its doors to new members.

The Department of Trade and Indus-try (DTI) said the recently-concluded TPP agreement is a timely and welcome devel-opment for the country as it is a significant component of the international trade strat-egy the Philippines has been implementing the past four years.

“Even before the TPP was concluded, the Philippine government had already un-dertaken technical consultations with six out of the 12 TPP countries, and the talks will continue,” DTI Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal said.

The TPP is a landmark agreement that reduces tariffs, lowers the cost of trade, and sets new and high standards for global trade while addressing next-generation is-

sues. It is envisioned to promote economic growth, create jobs, raise living standards, reduce poverty, promote good governance and enhance labor and environmental pro-tections among its member countries.

To become part of the TPP, the Philip-pines will need an endorsement from the 12 parties of the trade agreement consist-ing of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Ja-pan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

Philippines intent on joining TPP

W A S H I N G T O N – The United States is preparing to con-duct freedom of navi-gation operations to “challenge excessive maritime claims on a regular basis around the world,” State De-partment spokesman Mark Toner said.

He said these op-erations were not targeted at any in-dividual country but were to be made in accordance with in-ternational law and

‘US challenging excessive maritime claims on regular basis’

FACING increasing pressure both at home and abroad, President Barack Obama has made his decision regarding the state of American troops in Afghanistan.

Obama on Thursday, Oct. 15, pledged to keep US troops in the region throughout the end of his presidential term, halting initial plans for withdrawal and abandoning his of-ten-stated promise to end the US’s longest war before he leaves office.

Under the new plan, the United States will keep 9,800 service members in Afghanistan through most of 2016. The number of troops would be reduced to 5,500 beginning in 2017, assuming the next president stays on the same course, said the Los Angeles Times.

White House aides said Obama was con-fronted daily with problems caused by the collapse of US-trained security forces in Iraq, where he has been forced to send additional troops and warplanes to combat the growing militants in the Islamic State, and did not want to risk a similar scenario in Afghanistan.

“As your commander in chief, I believe this mission is vital to our national security inter-ests in preventing terrorist attacks against our

Obama to leave US troops in Afghanistan past his term

Abandoning promise to end Middle East wars he inherited

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by DJ YAP AND LEILA B. SALAVERRIAInquirer.net

by ARIES JOSEPH HEGINAInquirer.net

by LOUISE MAUREEN SIMEONPhilstar.com

by TARRA QUISMUNDOInquirer.net

by ALLYSON ESCOBARAJPress

Over 65,000 displaced

FROM THE FRONT PAGE

given the revelations of Senator Gordon,” Escudero said.

“When your leaders say one thing and do another, it does not speak well of their character or of their capacity to lead the nation,” he added.

If he believes Poe is a Filipino, Roxas should tell LP members and supporters to lay off the mat-ter, Escudero said.

Binay should do the same, the senator added.

“C.S. Lewis said that integ-rity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching. It is not trying to pull something off in case no one finds out,” Escu-dero said.

Turned downBoth Roxas and Binay had

invited Poe to be their running mate, but she turned them down and opted to run for President herself.

She is now leading in the lat-est voter preference polls for the presidential election.

In an interview on ANC, Gor-

don, who is seeking a Senate seat as an independent on Poe’s tick-et, said members of the LP and the UNA had approached him and asked him to file a disquali-fication case against Poe but he refused.

Escudero said Gordon could have been approached to give credence to the disqualification case against Poe, since he is an accomplished public servant.

He said candidates should keep the campaign clean, plat-form-based and professional.

LP denialThe LP denied its members

had asked Gordon to bring a dis-qualification case against Poe.

“[The] LP has not and will not authorize any person to engage in a smear campaign,” Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, spokesper-son for the coalition, said in a statement.

“What we have learned from P-Noy’s experience is that a President can make decisions, however difficult and unpopular they may be, as long as you have

a clear and unquestionable man-date,” Quimbo said, using Presi-dent Aquino’s nickname.

Quimbo said the LP-led coali-tion had nothing to do with the smear campaign against Poe.

“Both the President and former [Interior] Secretary Mar Roxas have given the Liberal Party clear marching instructions on how the campaign should be waged. We have always campaigned on daang matuwid and that we are focused on issues and our plat-form, not on personalities,” he said, using the code word for the Aquino administration’s reform program.

“That is how we practically swept the 2013 senatorial elec-tion, by entirely avoiding a per-sonality-based campaign,” he said.

“Winning through a smear campaign will make governance difficult. We don’t want that,” Quimbo said.

There was no immediate com-ment from the UNA on Gordon’s disclosure. ■

Roxas, Binay asked to stop allies…t

Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) intelligence funds.

The court ordered the antigraft court to comment within 10 days on Arroyo’s petition which ar-gued that the prosecution’s evi-dence had failed to establish the crime of plunder.

Grave abuseIn a 124-page petition for cer-

tiorari filed on Oct. 15, the Ar-royo camp asked the high court to set aside “for having been is-sued with grave abuse of discre-tion” the Sandiganbayan’s reso-lutions denying her demurrer to evidence, a pleading that sought to dismiss the plunder charges against her on account of insuf-ficiency of evidence.

The antigraft court denied Arroyo’s first attempt to get the court to rule on the sufficiency of the evidence on April 6 of this year, and then her recon-sideration plea on Sept. 10. This prompted her to elevate the mat-ter to the high court.

Arroyo’s plea said the antigraft

court’s rejection of the demur-rer to evidence would eventually lead to Arroyo’s conviction for plunder.

“As an obvious consequence of the above, denial of petitioner Arroyo’s demurrer to evidence [would lead to] to no less than convicting her on the basis of a disjointed reading of the crime of plunder as defined,” read the petition.

It said the Sandiganbayan had effectively “redefined” the offense of plunder in finding the former President liable “on the basis solely of her authorization of the release of confidential/intelligence funds from the PSCO’s accounts.”

It argued that Arroyo was be-ing tried and detained for “a crime that does not exist in law, and consequently a blatant de-privation of liberty without due process of law.”

No evidence“Not a single testimony of the

21 witnesses of the prosecution was offered… to prove that peti-tioner amassed, accumulated or

acquired even a single peso of the alleged ill-gotten wealth,” the petition said.

“No evidence whatsoever was offered by the prosecution, and not any is on record in the case, to show that petitioner Arroyo ever got hold, received or uti-lized a single peso of the alleged ill-gotten wealth,” it read.

It said there was “absolutely no justification” in law or in evi-dence that would prove that Ar-royo was the “mastermind of a conspiracy,” or that she had made “a series of withdrawals as cash advances” from the PCSO’s confidential/intelligence funds.

On Tuesday, Malacañang de-clined to comment on the status quo ante order issued by the Su-preme Court in favor of Arroyo.

“I need to know first what is the content of their (SC) order to understand it and be able to give a reasonable commentary,” Communications Secretary Her-minio Coloma, Jr. told reporters in Filipino. (With a report from Nikko Dizon)

Supreme Court stops Arroyo…t

“Joining the TPP will provide more opportunities to further strengthen our foothold in the global market with our local enterprises, workers and con-sumers benefiting from bigger markets and increased foreign

investments,” Cristobal said.Furthermore, the Philippines

had previously conducted tech-nical discussions with Malaysia, the US, New Zealand, Austra-lia, Mexico and Canada and will soon initiate the same with the remaining six countries.

“From all indications, the 12 TPP members have been supportive of our desire to join but achieving membership will likely take time since the terms of the agreement must now be ratified by member-state legislatures before taking ef-fect,” Cristobal added. ■

Philippines intent on joining…t

maximum sustained winds of 75 kph near the center and gusts up to 90 kph. It has been labeled from a category 5 to category 1 storm, reports said.

The NDRRMC placed Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Apayao, Abra, Batanes, and Northern Cagayan (including Calayan and the Ba-buyan islands) under public storm signal number 2 (winds of 61-120 kph). La Union, Pangas-inan, Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Ifugao, Mt. Province, Isabela, Kalinga, and the rest of Cagayan regions were placed under pub-lic storm signal 1 (winds of 30-60 kph).

The estimated rainfall amount ranges from “moderate to heavy, to at times intense” within the di-ameter of the storm.

In the last 72 hours, Baguio City reported 1,059 millimeters rainfall as of Tuesday, according to the UK Met Office.

Several towns in Aurora prov-ince have been cut off from civi-lization due to major floods and landslides. The entire town of San Antonio in central Luzon has been “engulfed by flood wa-

ters,” town Mayor Antonio Lus-tre told ABS-CBN on Monday, Oct. 19.

“There’s no other weather fea-tures to move it along so it’s just kind of drifting about,” Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth told NBC News. “The storm will have been producing rain in some areas for five-and-a-half days before it moves on--that’s a long time to build up a large rain-fall total.”

As of press time, 18 people have died, according to the NDRRMC in Quezon City. Six-teen have been injured during the onslaught of the typhoon, and one was reported missing in badly-hit Nueva Ecija province. The Weather Channel report-ed as many as 28 deaths from drowning, damages, and land-slides in provinces like Palayan and Tinoc.

“There were people who got trapped by the flood on their roofs, some were rescued al-ready,” said Vice Mayor Henry Velarde of Jaen, a farming town in provincial Nueva Ecija, where about 80 percent of the villages were flooded, according to The

Associated Press. While landslides and river

floods swamped and inundated towns and provinces, residents have scrambled to safety, tragi-cally losing their homes, animals, and farmlands in the process. “Our rice farms looked like it was [run] over by a giant flat iron. All the rice stalks were flattened in one direction,” Velarde said.

The cost of damage to agri-culture is estimated at 5.3 billion pesos, while city infrastructure damages are estimated to be 520,000 pesos, and is still ex-pected to rise.

Hundreds of volunteers, both civilians and police officials, have converged on affected ar-eas--such as in landlocked Nue-va Ecija--to help stranded farm-ers and villagers.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III flew to Nueva Ecija to check the flooding situation and distribute food and care packages in an emergency shel-ter. Aquino said that Koppu’s unusually slow speed allowed it to batter the north for about three days, instead of just a few

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SEAFOOD CITY AD2

seas voters are roughly equiva-lent to 5.2 million votes. This is a definite game changer for Philip-pine politics,” Seguis said.

Majority of overseas Filipino voters are based in the Middle East and Africa, where 550,000 active registered voters reside. It is followed by 250,000 voters in the Americas, about 150,000 in Europe; and, 320,000 in Asia and the Pacific.

Seafarers amount to 30,000 registered overseas voters.

On its part, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) commended the embassies for including over-

seas voting registration in their services.

“I hope we can further look into the possibility of holding these registrations in public ar-eas like malls, public squares and parks, community centers and other suitable places where the host government allows the conduct of election-related activ-ities,” Comelec Chairman Andres D. Bautista said.

Last June, the DFA completed the rollout of online voters’ reg-istration program which is acces-sible to OFWs worldwide.

Voters’ registration will end on October 31, 2015. ■

DFA exec: 1.3 M overseas…t

applied evenhandedly with a wide range of nations.

Toner declined to say if Wash-ington had informed Southeast Asian countries about its plan to let its ships sail within 12 nau-tical miles of artificial islands created by Beijing in the South China Sea.

He said the US was in constant touch with China and shared its concerns and intentions regard-ing the South China Sea.

Asked at a news briefing if this

meant telling the Chinese “we are sending a boat in here, don’t shoot at it,” he said, “I don’t know” and referred the question-er to the Pentagon.

The US has been considering for weeks deploying warships within 12 miles of China’s artificial is-lands to show its non-recognition of Beijing’s territorial claims.

Pentagon officials said they are ready to conduct the mission and are just awaiting orders from the Obama administration. (Jose Katigbak /Philstar.com)

‘US challenging excessive…t

citizens and our nation,” Obama said in a White House appear-ance last Thursday, insisting that he was “not disappointed” in the decision, but “absolutely confident” that this was the right move for the country.

He emphasized that US’s com-bat mission in Afghanistan is over, and the remaining troops will stick to pursuing potential terrorist threats, and helping Af-ghans.

In May 2014, Obama said it was “time to turn the page on a decade in which so much of our foreign policy was focused on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” He also promised to withdraw the last American troops from the former country by 2016.

Obama said that he continues to oppose the idea of “endless war.” But he also said that a longer-term American presence in Afghanistan was “vital to the security of the US, and a country that is beset by the Taliban their allies from Al Qaeda, and mili-tants from the Islamic State,” ac-cording to the New York Times.

“Our commitment to Afghani-stan and its people endures,” said Obama, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and other top military leaders. “I will not allow Afghanistan to be used as safe haven for terrorists to attack our nation again.”

However, he also acknowl-edged that security remains fragile, and the risk of death of American troops being in the country is still very likely, though far fewer than during the height of the war. So far this year, 25 Americans have been killed over-seas.

The decision – which was reached after what White House officials called an “extensive,

lengthy review” – ensures that Obama will leave office next year going back on his seminal prom-ise to responsibly end the mili-tary involvements started by his predecessor, George W. Bush, by keeping troops in the Middle East.

Critics have said that the presi-dent is conveying a message of “weakness” to potential danger-ous adversaries, such as terrorist groups and militants.

The Taliban are now spread through more parts of the coun-try than at any point since 2001, according to the United Nations. Last month, they seized the northern key city of Kunduz and held it for more than two weeks before withdrawing.

Noting these dangers, Obama said, “In key areas of the coun-try, the security situation is still very fragile, and in some areas, there is risk of deterioration…af-ter 2017, American forces will remain on several bases [in Af-ghanistan] to give us the pres-ence and the reach our forces re-quire to achieve their mission.”

“In part, it’s the actual day-to-day interactions [between US advisers and Afghan troops] that matter,” said Melissa Dalton, a former Pentagon official, adding that the presence of US troops would help fortify training efforts for Afghan soldiers, and provide political and psychological ben-efits to the nation.

It “demonstrates the US is not walking away” from a situation that remains “very rocky terrain and uncertain,” Dalton said.

Critics said Obama’s actions did not go far enough to confront Al Qaeda and other threats in Af-ghanistan.

Soon-to-retire House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement that he was “glad the adminis-

tration finally admits President Obama’s arbitrary political dead-lines are ‘self-defeating.’”

It’s what we were dreading…I do think I retain hope some-where inside of me [that the war will end] because I think I have to,” Mary Hladky, whose son is in the National Guard after serving in the Army for several years and in Afghanistan, told the Interna-tional Business Times. “But it’s just terrible what we’re doing to our men and women who serve. It’s really sad--very, very sad.”

“What it’s actually doing is helping [the Islamic State group],” Hladky continued. “Ev-erything we do just helps them and it hurts us. We’re not making progress, so why do we do the same thing? To us, it’s very, very frustrating.”

“As in Iraq, the situation in Afghanistan had deteriorated by the time Obama inherited it, making the conflict difficult to end,” said Gordon Adams, pro-fessor emeritus of International Relations at American Univer-sity. “And there’s no evidence that keeping a large US military presence in either country would have brought stability.” (Allyson Escobar /AJPress)

Obama to leave US troops in Afghanistan…t

DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate Hillary Clinton urged US regulators from the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission to examine the high costs of cer-tain generic drugs, combating anticompetitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry.

Clinton’s requests to the FDA and the FTC on Monday, Oct. 19, were prompted by what she called the “egregious actions of Turing Pharmaceuticals,” ac-cording to Reuters.

Turing Pharmaceuticals drew fire from Clinton last month after news reports that it had raised the price of Daraprim, a 62-year-old treatment for a dangerous parasitic infection, from $13.50 to $750 a tablet after acquiring it.

The criticism sent drug indus-try stock prices plummeting. Tur-ing CEO Martin Shkreli promised to lower Daraprim’s cost to an “unspecified price,” Reuters re-ported, and Turing is in the midst of a major rebranding effort after being mocked on comedy show “Saturday Night Live.”

In her letter to the FDA, Clin-ton said that Turing has still not “meaningfully lowered the price.” The company’s decision to “artificially increase the price” exploited vulnerable patients who are dependent on the drug, which is often used by those with compromised immune systems, Clinton said.

“The FDA should expedite any pending reviews, and encour-age applications for review, of other generic alternatives to Da-raprim,” she wrote.

The FDA said it would review the letter and respond directly to the sender, but noted that the agency’s review of medicines is “a matter of public record.”

In her letter to the FTC, Clinton acknowledged it has only “lim-ited authority to address price gouging when it is the result of unilateral action in a market with no competition,” but also urged the agency to examine both Tur-ing and the pharmaceutical in-dustry overall.

“I believe it would be a great service to the Congress and the Administration if the FTC would study and make recommenda-tions on whether and how our laws might be amended to ad-dress this problem,” Clinton wrote, hinting at how she might attempt to overhaul pharmaceu-tical practices if elected presi-dent next year.

Clinton also asked the FTC to investigate whether Turing’s decision to increase Daraprim’s price amounts to the type of anti-competitive behavior the agency can regulate. A Turing spokes-man on Monday did not respond to requests to comment on Clin-ton’s letters to the FDA and FTC.

Drug prices are also being

Clinton urges FDA to lower cost of medical drugby ALLYSON ESCOBAR

AJPress

scrutinized by Democrats in Con-gress and federal prosecutors. Most pharmaceutical companies regularly raise prices, saying it reflects the drugs’ value in the market.

The head of Valeant Pharma-ceuticals International Inc, which has also come under fire for rais-ing drug prices and is being in-vestigated by the government, also said that he predicts upcom-ing lower price increases for the whole industry.

“The pharmaceutical industry is being aggressively sort of at-tacked for past pricing actions,” CEO J. Michael Pearson said Monday. “I do think, given that environment, the pricing that pharmaceutical companies will take in the future will be more modest.”

The Daraprim price increase was unusual because it was so large, reports said. In interviews,

Shkreli has defended the steep price hike. Last week, Turing announced it was making “im-provements to Daraprim’s af-fordability and accessibility, to clarify any misunderstandings about Turing’s pricing and distri-bution,” according to a release.

Last month, the former Secre-tary of State unveiled a plan for a $250 monthly cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs and other measures to stop what she calls “price gouging” by pharmaceutical companies.

Turing’s Daraprim and Shkre-li were both featured in a TV commercial ad run by Clinton’s campaign about how she plans to take on “skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs.”

“Nobody in America should have to choose between buying the medicine they need and pay-ing their rent,” Clinton says in the ad. ■

IN an effort to ensure that all students have access to a world-class education that prepares them for college and careers, the US Department of Educa-tion released a resource guide on Tuesday, Oct. 20 to help educa-tors, school leaders and commu-nity organizations better support undocumented youth, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

Dept. of Education releases resource guide for supporting undocumented high school, college students

“Our nation’s public schools should be welcoming, safe, and supportive places where all stu-dents, regardless of their zip code or where they were born, are given the opportunity to suc-ceed. We know undocumented youth face unique challenges and we also know that educa-tors and other caring adults in schools and colleges can play a major role in helping all stu-

dents, including undocumented students, to achieve at the high-est levels,” said John King, senior advisor delegated the duties of deputy secretary of education. “This guide provides actionable information and resources that educators and school and cam-pus leaders can use to help im-prove outcomes for high school and college students.”

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Metro takes the safety of all of our patrons seriously. Our camera system monitors you and your ride from start to finish, because everyone deserves a safe trip. Go Metro.

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Metro Introduces New Safety and Security Tech-nologiesAs we continue to make safety our top priority, Metro has introduced three major safety technolo-gies and patrol innovations. This includes deploying elevated security towers, installing security kiosks, and expanding use of the LexRay mobile applica-tion, which allows law enforcement to access real-time video from stations and rail platforms. To learn more, visit metro.net/safety.

Go Metro to College FootballIf you’re heading to the Coliseum and Rose Bowl on game day, Go Metro. Metro’s bus and rail lines will help get you past the traffic and parking hassles and straight to the action. To plan the trip that’s best for you, use our Trip Planner at metro.net/gameday.

Regional Connector Project Street ClosuresIf you work or live in Downtown LA, please note that Broadway is reduced to one lane in each direction between 1st St and 3rd St, and westbound 2nd St is closed between Spring St and Broadway for con-struction of the Regional Connector Transit Project. For more details, visit metro.net/regionalconnector.

October is Girls Empowerment Month in LA CountyMetro supports Girls Build LA – a program designed to educate and empower young women with the skills they need to develop solutions to the challeng-es they face every day. To get involved, visit lafund.org/girlsbuildla.

“It’s been three years since we unveiled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, or DACA, for those eligible young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as chil-dren,” said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Leon Rodriguez. “We strongly encourage those who might be eligible for DACA to use this re-source guide. We applaud the Department of Education for providing these resources to the undocumented young people in this country who can benefit from DACA.”

The guide includes resources aimed at high school and col-lege students and includes: an overview of the rights of undocu-mented students; tips for educa-tors on how to support undocu-mented youth in high school and college; key information on non-citizen access to federal financial aid; a list of private scholarships for which undocumented youth might be eligible; information on federally-funded adult education programs at the local level; and

guidance for migrant students in accessing their education re-cords for DACA.

The aim of the guide is to help educators and school staff sup-port the academic success of undocumented youth, to debunk misconceptions by clarifying the legal rights of undocumented stu-dents as well as sharing helpful information about financial aid options open to undocumented students, and to support youth in applying for DACA consideration or renewal.

King announced the guide during a roundtable with undoc-umented students at San Fran-cisco State University, which is a leader in supporting the suc-cess of undocumented youth. The university has advisers to help undocumented students successfully navigate financial aid options and other university resources, as well as a task force of faculty, staff and students dedicated to supporting the aca-demic, professional and personal success of undocumented stu-dents and prospective students.

As a nation of immigrants,

America has benefited from the vitality and enthusiasm brought to its shores by those seeking a better life. Successful immigrant and refugee integration efforts build the capacity of schools and early learning programs, com-munities, organizations, and other stakeholders to support the civic, linguistic, and economic integration of immigrants.

Since 2012, the US Depart-ment of Homeland Security has allowed certain undocumented people who came to the US as children and meet other crite-ria to request two-year relief from removal. These requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. More than 680,000 young people have received DACA. Re-searchers estimate that nearly 1.5 million undocumented youth in the US are currently eligible for DACA, and another 400,000 children will become eligible in coming years.

In coming months, the depart-ment plans to release a resource guide for early learning and el-ementary school settings. (AJ-Press)

Dept. of Education releases resource guide…t

thours.

He also urged villagers not to return to their homes. “They think it is safe already to go back to their communities, but we are preventing them right now,” Aquino told reporters.

Fisherman and farmers are advised not to venture over the seaboards of Luzon, the NDRRMC said.

As of press time, more than 65,000 villagers in the northern region have been displaced, and over 20,000 across mainland Luzon. With the heavy rains and slow speeds, Typhoon Koppu is expected to hit the northern Philippines for several more days before continuing towards Taiwan and the southernmost islands of Japan.

Though causing widespread damage, the rainfall has also provided needed water to sever-al dams that have suffered from the effects of another Pacific

tropical storm, El Niño, accord-ing to a situation report from the United Nations. The Angat Dam, which supplies a majority of Metro Manila’s water needs, saw an increase of 7.2 meters in its water level, said The Weather Channel.

PAGASA weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio urged the pub-lic and those living in affected villages and provinces to re-main calm, evacuate the region, and not be complacent in times of typhoons. He also warned against possible landslides and flash-floods in low, mountain-ous provinces under the public storm signal.

Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, told NBC News that water was rising steadily in Pangasinan province, pushed by heavy rains and dam water being released. Several low-lying towns in the region were asked to evacuate, warning possible floods from Agno River.

“We are sending rescue teams there now. We will be busy res-cuing people from the tops of roofs--they have no place to go,” Gordon said. “A lot of people can drown or be displaced from their homes. This is a develop-ing tragedy.”

Koppu, which is Japanese for “cup,” is the 12th storm this year to hit the Philippines. The coun-try averages 20 storms and ty-phoons each year. In November 2013, over 7,300 people were left dead and thousands missing after Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), one of the most powerful storms on record, battered the central Philippines.

“[In the Western Pacific,] they’re located in the belt basi-cally between the equator and the subtropics,” Bob Henson, from Weather Underground forecast services, told CNN. “It’s considered to be the most vul-nerable large nation on earth for tropical cyclones.” ■

In California there are approximately 4.4 million unpaid family caregivers. Theseare people who are taking care of parents, grandparents, or loved ones and many of them are also working outside the home.This November, during National Family Caregivers Month, connect with AARP in Los Angeles as we share resources available to caregivers, tips on understanding The Care Act and learn more about how you can share your story through our I Heart Caregivers effort.

To learn more about this and other events visit: www.aarp.org/losangeles

JOIN THE TELETOWN HALLby entering this link into your browser search bar: http://bit.ly/AARPCaregiving.

THURSDAYNOV 12TH

7PM-8PM

This event is FREE and open to the public, no registration is required.

National Family Caregivers Month

FEATURESOPINION

Editorial

GEL SANTOS-RELOS

The Fil-Am Perspective

ON my recent visit to the Philippines, I found myself sharing a case of beer with the vice-mayor of a small provincial town, along with some of his ward leaders. The insights that they provided on grassroots politics could be of interest to social media pun-dits who may be of the impression that their postings on Facebook and Twitter will influence the results of the coming presidential elections.

If you recall the “million people” anti-pork barrel gathering at the Luneta many months ago, fueled mainly by a social media activist, you are probably one of those who believe that your daily online commentaries on the political scene are helping “educate” the bob-otantes out there in the provinces and your clever insults and memes are help-ing erode the SWS and Pulse Asia rank-ings of the candidates you dislike.

Well, okay, mass action was enough to make Noynoy Aquino budge on the PDAP issue, but it fell way short of gathering a million and way short of the impact that social media had on the Arab Spring.

On the other hand, who can argue against the power of Facebook and Twit-ter, considering the 25 million tweets generated by the AlDub phenomenon of GMA Network’s Eat Bulaga? That has certainly brought home the point that the Internet can have a tremendous impact on average folks.

But does that power extend to poli-tics? Not quite.

According to my drinking buddy, the

small town vice-may-or, down at the grass-roots the magic word is “mobilization.” That’s a euphemism for vote-buying.

The cost of running for public office, at least in my friend’s hometown, can drive

the likes of Grace Poe, with her sup-posed halo of honesty and integrity, to steal from the public coffers upon be-ing sworn into office (or allow her big business funders to do it). I’m afraid the situation isn’t very much different any-where else in the Philippines.

There’s one more fallacy that the “electoral reformists” need to swallow. A presidential campaign is a Big Money Game and the King of Kurakot or Po-tentate of Plunder is not necessarily the one being relentlessly investigated by the Senate and crucified on TV and the dailies.

In a recent story in Philippine Star, Paolo Romero wrote: “Some P45 billion in lump sums under the so-called Bot-tom-Up Budgeting (BUB) provisions in the budget program for this year and for 2016 will be used to boost the presi-dential bid of Manuel Roxas II, an op-position lawmaker said yesterday.

“Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon raised the issue during plenary debates on the proposed budget of the Depart-ment of the Interior and Local Govern-ment (DILG), which Roxas headed until last month. ‘There is a reason why Rox-as has been going around the country in the past months to promote BUB and even inaugurate BUB projects in the past months,’ Ridon said.”

That, according to my drinking bud-dy, is just one part of “mobilization.” Manny Villar’s fabled war chest in the 2010 campaign (said to be at P3.5 bil-lion) is chicken feed compared to that of Roxas. If you think that spending the people’s money for a presidential cam-paign isn’t kurakotand plunder, then you must be like the monkey who sees, speaks and hears no evil.

Several decades ago, on a trip to Leyte, I happened to have a casual con-versation with someone who had just run for congressman and had lost. He was furious at the way his opponent – who had won – had bribed voters to the tune of P100 per head. I was about to shower him with sympathy but did a double-take when he added that he could only afford to give P50.

Well, these days, P100 won’t win you a congressional seat anymore, said my drinking buddy. He recalled how he had to spend one million pe-sos when he ran for vice-mayor the last time. And he just barely won. How a vice-mayor of a third class municipal-ity can justify spending a million for a position that officially pays peanuts may be explained by the fact that the potential unofficial earnings are more than peanuts.

I asked him what the going rate was these days in his hometown. Accord-ing to him, it’s P50 per voter if you’re running for councilor, P100 to P150 if you’re a candidate for mayor or vice-mayor, P500 if you want to become a congressman and as much as a thou-sand if you are aiming for the presi-dency.

“A ward leader usually accounts for about a dozen voters,” my friend con-

tinued. “When he attends a meeting called by the provincial coordinator of a candidate, he is expected to bring home the ‘mobilization.’ Otherwise, he will lose face as well as his cred-ibility.”

Now, that’s just for buying votes. The cost of maintaining the campaign machinery is another thing altogether. In an article for Bulatlat, Karl G. Om-bion and Max Cordero, related how an independent activist group in Bacolod computed the expenditures of a tra-po or traditional politician running for congress or for mayor in the province.

“Payroll accounts for the highest expenditure of politicians,” the article stated. “As many as 6,000 ward leaders are maintained by trapos. Ward lead-ers constitute the backbone of election campaign organizations. They are the campaigners in the puroks or baran-gays (villages) where they live. They re-ceive a minimum of P2,000 per month for three months prior to the election. This alone costs P12 million per month or P36,000,000 for three months.” The article broke down the “minimum ex-penses” of a candidate in Bacolod, on top of the budget for ward leaders, and that added up to more than P73 mil-lion.

What happens if you don’t have enough funds for “mobilization”?

“Don’t bother to run,“ was the reply. “Or run to lose.”

That last statement reminded me of a certain senator who has insisted on running for vice-president even while his survey ratings have been pitifully low. “He’s sure to lose,” said one com-mentator. “But he will win.”

What the commentator meant, of

course, was that the senator-cum-VP aspirant is expected to make a neat sum from contributions from business-men and the usual election bettors, namely, gambling lords and assorted racketeers. So, even if he loses, he still wins. Besides, he won’t have to give up his Senate seat.

I asked my drinking buddy if the improved political awareness of the provincial voters, due to the extensive reach of network TV and the Internet, will have any influence on their voting preferences.

“Of course that will influence their votes, TV particularly,” he replied. “But the mobilization will have a greater in-fluence.”

“Does it mean that whoever has bil-lions in his campaign chest is a sure winner?” I pressed.

My drinking buddy hastened to clarify the point. “The big spenders have a ma-jor advantage,” he said. “But the voters could also accept the money from one candidate but vote for somebody else.”

“And why would they do that?”“There’s one thing that works as well

as mobilization,” he explained. “And that is the personal touch. When a can-didate actually goes out of his way to personally talk to the voters, that could neutralize the influence of money. ”

And then he added: “People also don’t forget being told ‘Bahala kayo sa buhay niyo!’ and ‘Buhay ka pa naman, hindi ba?’”

“But an opposition candidate will still have to provide mobilization,” I clari-fied.

“Siyempre,” was his reply. “But, at least, it will cost him less.” (gregmaca-benta@hotmail.com)

Insights from a small town politician

GREG B. MACABENTA

Street Talk

AFTER the five-day filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs), from October 12-16, the Commission on Election (Comelec) reportedly received 130 applications from Filipino presidential aspirants.

Chosen one

As granted by the law, these ap-plications were accepted. Howev-er, not all these aspirants will make it to the ballot as the Comelec win-now the grain from the chaff.

When asked about the high turnout of people wanting to be the next Philippine president, Com-mission on Elections (Comelec) reiterated its pro-visions on “nuisance candidates.”

Citing the Omnibus Election Code, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez told the media that the poll body has the authority to reject the COCs of individuals who make a mockery of the election system; those who seek to confuse voters through similarity of names between candidates; and those who have no bona fide or good faith in running for office.

While the filing of COCs appeared to be a circus, Malacañang said that the high turnout of presi-dential hopefuls “attests to the dynamism of our democracy and reflects the desire of well-mean-ing Filipinos to actively participate in the electoral process.”

“Come election time, we expect our bosses to exercise sound judgment in their selection of fu-ture leaders of the country,” Communications Sec-retary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.

A presidential wannabe only needs to meet five requirements: a natural born Filipino; a registered

voter; must be able to read and write; 40 years of age at the day of the elec-tion; and must have resided in the Philippines 10 years before the elec-tion is held.

From the 130 names tossed in the ring, only few will make it to the next cut. And when election time is over, one will be named the 16th President of the Republic of the Philippines.

Four are expected to make it through to the de-liberation process, those who have the machinery, resources and potential to launch a nationwide campaign. They are Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II, Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), independent candidate Sen. Grace Poe and Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who will be running under her People’s Reform Party.

Meeting the requirements is easy, winning the Filipinos’ approval is the hard part. Instead of working double time on increasing popularity and gaining plaudits, current leaders and those aspir-ing for a public post should do more groundwork and to do more for the people.

Whether wanting to be a president is wise or not, this ambition will adhere to the requirements of due process. Eventually, it is the Filipino voters who will decide if this dream can turn into reality.

Getting the job done is no cakewalk either. As

defined by the Constitution, the president is the Head of State and Head of Government, and func-tions as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. As chief executive, the president exercises control over all the executive departments, bureaus and offices.

It is every Filipino’s undertaking to identify these duties and responsibilities. When the winner is declared, they are expected to transcend from the latest poll results and staunch existing political mentality, and aid the next leader in utilizing them for the next six years. (AJPress)

IT is very heartwarming to see and hear how very engaged kababayans in America have in-creasingly been when it comes to what is going on in the Philippines. Despite the distance away from the Motherland, most of us -- especially those who still have family living there -- still care about what is going on in the country.

There are Fil-Ams who may have challenges paying their own bills, yet they feel obligated and compelled to send money to their families because they know if they are remiss in helping out, their loved ones would not be able to survive. Many of these Fil-Ams lament that if only there are more and better employment opportunities back home, then their families would not be very dependent on them financially. If only…

That is why news about corruption and incom-petence of those in public office infuriate a lot of kababayans in America. The Internet, social me-dia and ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” have provided these kababayans the platform to help them voice out their concerns and opinions about the political situation in the Philippines. However, we can do more to effect change in the Philippines. This is through exercising the right to suffrage.

Filipino citizens residing abroad, or those who

may have already naturalized citizens of other countries but have come dual citizens, can vote -- and these votes will count. There may have been very low turnout in the past elec-tion cycles, but again, because of the power of the Internet, so-cial media, and global broadcast organizations like ABS-CBN, more and more kababayans are now compelled to register as Overseas Absentee Voters (OAV).

There have been some flaws and loopholes in Philippine election laws that discourage more kababayans outside of the country from participat-ing in Philippine elections, but with the advocacy of Filipino community leaders abroad, especially from the United States, these laws have been chal-lenged and amended so more of global Filipinos can cast their sacred and consequential votes.

One of these advocates is Atty. Ted Laguatan, an active Fil-Am leader based in San Francisco, California.

Laguatan filed a petition before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) -- on behalf of US Pinoys for Good Governance (USPGG), Global Filipino Di-aspora Council (GFDC), European Network of Fili-

pinos in the Diaspora (ENFID) and thousands of overseas registered voters — requesting the Com-elec not to disenfranchise about 167,000 registered voters who failed to consecutively vote twice. As a result, Laguatan sent “Bali-tang America” the good news: the Comelec had a meeting en banc to consider such petition and came

out with a very positive resolution.The resolution stipulates that on May 27, 2013,

Congress amended RA 9189 of the Overseas Ab-sentee Voting Act of 2003, replacing it with RA 10590 and making it mandatory and not discre-tionary for the Comelec to deactivate overseas registered voters who fail to vote twice consecu-tively.

Affirming the arguments presented by Lagua-tan in the petition, the resolution recognized the clamor of overseas voters not to disenfranchise them for failing to vote twice. This resolution also affirms the importance of the right of suffrage of every Filipino, wherever they may be.

Laguatan reported that the final policy decision, which was approved unanimously, extends the date for reactivation from Oct. 31, 2015 to Dec. 9,

2015. It also made reactivation a very easy pro-cess. Just mail, fax or email the Comelec before this date and the deactivated overseas voter can still participate in the May 2016 elections.

Laguatan enthused: “Registered overseas voters now have exceed-

ed the one million mark and with time continue to grow in numbers. They can be a real force for good. In general ORVs [Overseas Registered Vot-ers] cannot be bought nor coerced by goons. They are also better informed. As such, they tend to vote for the best candidates in terms of integrity and competence. They can change the quality of our national leadership with their votes and the votes of their relatives in the Philippines whom they help and who will follow their directions on which candidates to vote for. This is one way in which we can change the political culture in the Philip-pines, have good honest non-corrupt leaders and create a better life for Filipinos everywhere in the world.”

* * *

Fil-Ams can help decide who will be the next Philippine president

DATELINE PHILIPPINES

MANILA – The administration is planning to increase the sal-ary of President Aquino’s suc-cessor from P120,000 to about P400,000 a month.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad told The STAR that under Malacañang’s new salary adjust-ment plan, government personnel with low salary grades would re-ceive less, while those with high salary levels would get more.

“Those with low salary grades are receiving salaries that are al-ready at par with the market. It is the higher grades that are far from the market,” Abad said.

By “market,” he said he meant comparing salaries in the gov-ernment with those in the private sector.

There are 33 pay levels in the bureaucracy. Salary Grade 1 is the lowest and pays about P9,500 a month. Salary Grade 33 is the highest and pays P120,000 a month.

Abad said the President’s ba-sic monthly salary of P120,000 is only about “30 percent of the market.”

When told that making it at par with the market would mean

After Aquino, P400,000 monthly salary for president eyed

increasing it more than three times or to about P400,000, he said, “But that is the salary of the country’s president.”

If the present Congress ap-proves the salary adjustment plan and Aquino signs it into law, lawmakers and the President are prohibited by the Constitution from benefiting from it.

It would be Aquino’s successor who would receive the new rate.

Abad said the Cabinet would first approve the plan before it is sent to Congress.

He said the proposed P3.002-trillion 2016 national budget in-cludes about P60 billion for the new round of salary increase for the more than one million gov-ernment officials and employees.

Sen. Ralph Recto has proposed that the pay hike be focused on Salary Grades 11 to 13, or those receiving between P18,549 to P19,887 and P21,436 to P22,982 a month.

Recto said the bulk of state personnel are clustered around these three salary grades.

Salary Grade 11 is the entry-level pay rate in public schools. Government nurses also receive Salary Grade 11, although the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002 provides that they should be get-

ting Salary Grade 15.Party-list group Ang Nars has

filed a case with the Supreme Court (SC) to compel the govern-ment to follow the law.

Three years ago, the govern-ment completed a four-year pay adjustment program that saw bureaucrats’ salaries double. For instance, the President’s salary went up from P60,000 to P120,000 a month.

Members of Congress used to receive only P35,000 a month. They now get about P95,000, the same salary that Cabinet mem-bers are earning.

According to the Commission on Audit report on compensation for 2014, high-ranking govern-ment officials, including justices of the SC, Court of Appeals, Court of Tax Appeals and Sandigan-bayan, are receiving more than P1 million a year in basic pay.

There is no cap on how much allowances they get. In the case of the SC, the highest paid justice earned P6.5 million last year. Of that amount, only P1 million was in the form of basic salary. The rest represented allowances.

Without the planned new round of increase, taxpayers are shelling out more than P2 billion a day for government salaries. ■

MANILA – The Bureau of Im-migration (BI) has issued a de-portation order against US Ma-rine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton even as he is still on trial for the killing of a Filipino transgender last year.

But the BI clarified the deporta-tion order could not be immedi-ately enforced pending clearance from the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74, which is hearing Pemberton’s case.

The Marine is being tried for the murder of Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude in October last year inside a motel room in Olongapo.

BI spokesperson Elaine Tan said on Tuesday, Oct. 20 that the bureau wanted Pemberton deported on the ground of “un-desirability.” She said the order was contained in a five-page res-olution issued last Sept. 16.

“Pemberton would not be de-ported until we get clearance from the court… We would have to wait for the court’s decision before we could physically de-port him,” Tan said.

The murder case is set for promulgation on Dec. 14.

If the court finds Pemberton guilty, he must serve his sen-tence first before he can be sent back to the United States. But if he is acquitted, then he would be immediately deported, Tan ex-plained.

Tan added that despite the deportation order, the Marine would remain in detention at Camp Aguinaldo and would not be placed under the custody of the BI.

She said immigration officials have informed the Olongapo court about the deportation or-der.

The deportation order for an “undesirable” alien was based mainly on a statement from Laude’s friend Mark Clarence “Barbie” Gelviro who, during an October 2014 Senate hearing, pointed to Pemberton as the person who most likely killed the 24-year-old transgender by drowning him in a toilet inside a room at Celzone Lodge in Olongapo City. Gelviro was with Laude and Pemberton before the pair checked into Celzone Lodge.

BI orders Pemberton deported

On Oct. 26 last year, the BI’s Legal Division charged Pember-ton with “undesirability” and in-cluded his name in its watchlist.

The case was then forwarded to the bureau’s Board of Special Inquiry (BSI) composed of BI Commissioner Siegfred Mison and Associate Commissioners Gilberto Repizo and Abdullah Mangotara.

On Nov. 24 last year, the US Marine filed a motion for self-de-portation.

The BSI said there was no doubt Pemberton poses risk to public interest and should be de-ported.

The BSI said that as stipulated in “Acts or Omissions that Con-stitute Undesirability of Foreign Nationals, Section 1,” there is a “presumption” that a foreign na-tional is undesirable “if he com-mits an act constituting a criminal offense punishable by imprison-ment of one year or more.”

In Pemberton’s case, he was charged with murder, which is a serious criminal offense punish-able with more than a year’s im-prisonment.

The BI-BSI explained that since a deportation proceeding is ad-ministrative in character, it only requires “substantial evidence” to establish that an alien poses a risk to national security, public safety or national interest.

“Substantial evidence” refers to relevant information that is

enough to support a position.The immigration bureau be-

lieves the evidence gathered during the Senate hearing, such as Gelviro’s statement as well as corroborative statement from Celzon Lodge’s cashier Elias Galamos, were enough to justify Pemberton’s deportation.

Galamos testified having seen Pemberton walk out of the room less than an hour after he and Laude checked in.

Immigration officials also cited as basis for the deportation order the finding of probable cause to charge Pemberton with murder and the subsequent issuance of a warrant of arrest against the Marine by Branch 74 of the Olon-gapo court.

“We find respondent Pember-ton, an American national, to be an undesirable alien and order his deportation, subject to the issuance of a clearance from the Regional Trial Court, Branch 74, Olongapo City and other appro-priate government agencies,” the BSI said.

Likewise, Pemberton’s offer for self-deportation was denied for lack of merit.

Pemberton was one of the US soldiers conducting a joint drill with Filipino forces under the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The killing of Laude triggered public outrage and rekindled calls for the scrapping of the VFA. ■

by JESS DIAZPhilstar.com

by EVELYN MACAIRANPhilstar.com

MANILA – Russia is neu-tral on the issue of the West Philippine Sea.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov conveyed this to Senate President Franklin Dril-on and other Filipino officials during discussions in Moscow yesterday on pressing global is-sues, including the need to look for a peaceful resolution of the conflict with China over certain areas in the West Philippine Sea.

Drilon and Lavrov also agreed on strengthening bilateral rela-tions.

Drilon said he informed Lav-rov that “both countries can still work together to strengthen re-gional peace and stability.”

Russia neutral on sea row

“Our efforts at the regional level should be complemented by our work at the bilateral lev-el,” he said.

“This is why the Philippines is keen on deepening relations with Russia on all fronts. I believe we need not be held back by history and traditional alliances. Prag-

matism and imagination should guide us instead.”

In response, Lavrov told him that Russia also wants a peace-ful solution to the issue, and that it particularly supports the con-clusion of a legally binding Code of Conduct in the West Philip-pine Sea. ■

by CHRISTINA MENDEZPhilstar.com

SEAFOOD CITYREGULAR AD

FPFC

COMMUNITY J O U R N A LBusiness News

THE Philippines is not the easiest country to pay taxes in, according to a study conducted by international audit firm Price-waterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Out of 189 economies reviewed in the report called “Paying Taxes 2015” for ease of paying business taxes, the Philippines ranked 127.

In the country, it takes 193 hours for a business to comply with 36 required payments, ac-cording to the PwC study. On average, a Philippine employer pays 42.5 percent in taxes and contributions, 6 percent above the average tax rate in the Asia Pacific region.

Sen. Francis Escudero, citing the study, said the Philippines has one of the most tedious pro-

by AGNES CONSTANTEAJPress

cesses for paying taxes in the world and holds the highest in-come tax rate in Asia.

“Where else will you find a country that taxes its people se-verely and then makes it hard for them to pay?” he said

Escudero further pointed out that the Philippines is three ranks above Sierra Leone and 12 ranks ahead of Sudan.

“In fact, it’s even easier to pay taxes in Iraq, Iran and Afghani-stan. What does that say about us?” he said.

The PwC study is completed annually and is included in the World Bank Group’s “Doing Business” project. It attains its findings by assessing the length of time it takes mid-sized com-panies to prepare, file, and pay its taxes; the number of taxes a business must pay; the method of payment; and the total tax li-

ability as a percentage of its com-mercial profits.

On Monday, Oct. 19, the Mala-canang said it would continue working to simplify the tax pay-ing process.

The government, through the Bureau of Internal Revenue, is taking measures to make paying taxes more efficient to boost the economy, Presidential Commu-nications Operations Office Sec-retary Herminio Coloma Jr. said, according to CNN.

Simplifying taxes in the Philip-pines is key to sustaining the sta-bility and growth it has attained in the last five years, said Steve Forbes, chair and editor-in-chief of Forbes Manila, according to InterAksyon.

Neighboring Asian nations ranked significantly higher than the Philippines, including Hong

MANILA – There will be no repeat of last year’s port conges-tion.

Local ports have been told to ensure enough capacity for the ongoing cargo influx for the Christmas season and “divert” shipments if necessary as prepa-rations mount to avoid the piling up of undelivered cargoes just like last year.

“We are prepared. We are doing all we can and we are in close coordination with other agencies on it. We don’t think it (port congestion) will happen again,” Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina told The Star in an interview.

Should there be a necessity however, ports have been in-structed to move excess cargoes from one port to another to free up space, also in a bid to save time and ensure their timely de-livery, Customs said in a state-ment.

“Ports have already been in-spected and given direction should there be a need to divert

Customs Chief Lina assures BOC ready for Christmas in�ux

entries to other ports in the lat-ter part of the year, we will do so, rather than making our ship-ments wait in the anchorage,” it explained.

“(The) Commissioner himself visited Port of Manila this week,” it added.

“The ports are prepared as well as the warehouses.”

In addition, Lina said the bu-reau is likewise coordinating

with the Philippine Ports Author-ity (PPA) to ensure roads around the ports are cleared amid the worsening traffic condition in Metro Manila.

As of September, port utiliza-tion is around 65 percent, far from a high of around 90 percent last year after the city govern-ment of Manila imposed a tighter truck ban plying around its area

AMAZON has filed a lawsuit against more than 1,000 individ-uals who have allegedly posted bogus reviews of products on-line.

The online retail giant is tar-geting account holders on Fiverr.com, which offers false review services starting at $5, most of which are five-star reviews. It is demanding that the defendants cease selling Amazon reviews, reveal who is purchasing the service and identify which re-

Amazon suing over 1,000 people for fake reviewsby AGNES CONSTANTE

AJPressviews were paid for, CBS News reported.

“While small in number, these reviews can significantly undermine the trust that con-sumers and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers place in Amazon, which in turn tarnishes Amazon’s brand,” the online retailer stated in its com-plaint.

Reviews are both positive and negative, although most defen-dants offered five-star feedback, according to the complaint.

“Indeed, many encourage the Amazon seller to create the text

for their own reviews,” the com-plaint states.

But people are also often paid to create and submit critical re-views to negatively impact com-petitors, NewYorker.com editor Nick Thompson told CBS.

Regardless of whether an in-dividual is a customer or not, anyone is able to post reviews on merchandise sold on Ama-zon.com. However, the site’s rules state that paid or fictional reviews are prohibited. The company is suing for breach of contract and for violating Wash-

MANILA – The Philippines is joining a global move to boost consumer protection against scams.

The Department of Trade and Industry said the Philippines has joined 33 other countries that are part of the International Consumer Protection and En-forcement Network (ICPEN) in unveiling an improved version of the econsumer.gov website to help law enforcement au-thorities gather and share cross border consumer complaints that can be used to investigate

PH joins worldwide initiative to protect consumers vs scams

by RICHMOND S. MERCURIOPhilstar.com

by PRINZ P. MAGTULISPhilstar.com

Study: PH ranks 127 out of 189 countries in ease of paying business taxes

u

u

uu

No more port congestion

ATTY. LAWRENCE YANG

Debt Relief

Client no. 1IS it even legally possible that

your social security benefits can be garnished? If creditors can get your social security income when you retire, how can you have peace of mind when you retire? To be sure, not every kind of creditor can garnish your social security, because social security income is generally ex-empt from garnishment. So who can garnish your social security? The bad guy who doesn’t care if you live or die has been, is, and will always be the IRS. The IRS can garnish your social security for unpaid taxes. The IRS is the shark that will eat you alive. But the shark does have a heart and is capable of a little mercy. The IRS usually will not garnish more than 15% of your social security income! Still, receiving 15% less of social security can make or break your monthly retirement budget, especially if, all you rely on at retirement is social security and nothing else.

Client is 63 years old with a previous Chapter 7 discharge in 2008 when he wiped out $30K of credit cards. He took early re-tirement at 62 because he said that he was getting depressed with life. He has been receiving social security of $1,315. Re-cently, he received something that made him more depressed, a letter from the IRS saying that they were going to garnish a portion of his social security for unpaid income taxes for 2009 of $10,000. It appears that client liquidated all of his 401K of $85K in 2009 because his son needed a heart bypass surgery and had no medical insurance. Son lived in client’s country of origin where the cost of heart bypass surgery was significantly less than here,

Client �les chapter 13 to stop garnishment of social security

Abandoned wife files chapter 7 to discharge collection lawsuits for $20K

but nevertheless reached $60K.Here’s how the IRS problem

arose. He did not declare the liquidation of the 401K in his tax returns because he knew that if he disclosed it, his income would increase by $85K, result-ing in higher income tax liability which he had no ability to pay. The nondisclosure gave him temporary relief but as Benja-min Franklin said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” So, eventually the IRS assessed her additional taxes. What he did not expect that the IRS would also assess her an “accuracy pen-alty” of 25% because she knew that she liquidated her 401K but did not disclose it. An “accuracy penalty” also makes that tax non-dischargeable because it shows conduct or intent to evade taxes. Client cannot discharge this tax even in a Chapter 7.

Client will file Chapter 13 to stop the garnishment and pay the IRS without interest and penalty at $170 a month for 60 months. This is still a better deal than an installment payment plan or continued garnishment, both of which have interest and penalty.

Client no. 2Client is 45 years old. Husband

abandoned her 5 years ago and left her with $40K of credit card debt. Husband worked as hotel manager for a big hotel in Los Angeles. A woman lawyer rep-resented the owner of the hotel. The lawyer conducted audits of the hotel operations. The lawyer would fly in from abroad and spend a long time with client’s husband discussing hotel busi-ness. They had meetings late at night. Apparently, the lady lawyer found client’s husband attractive. Being the hotel man-ager, he had access to the hotel

rooms. One drink led to another, and soon enough, they were in the hotel room purportedly in-specting if the sheets were clean enough. You know the rest of the story.

Suspecting something was go-ing on, client asked husband if he was having an affair with the lady lawyer that her husband had introduced to her in a business party. Husband replied, “ No way, she is so ugly! I wouldn’t touch her with a ten foot pole!” Eventually, husband decided to divorce client to marry the ugly lawyer who got husband promot-ed to regional manager for the hotel chain. Husband promised to pay off the community prop-erty credit card debt of $40K. He made minimum payments for 3 months then stopped alto-gether. Client paid the minimum of $1,200 monthly to keep them current for 5 years. After pay-ing $72K in 5 years, she found out that the principal owed was still $40K! She defaulted on the cards. Now she faces collection lawsuits for half of the cards. Cli-ent now decides to file for Chap-ter 7 relief. She should have done it 5 years ago and she would have saved herself $72K and would have very good credit again by now close to 700.

“The sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights.” – Habak-kuk 3:19.

Kong and Singapore, which ranked fourth and fifth with three and five tax payments, respec-tively.

“How can we encourage inves-tors to come and put their money here when a third of that will go to taxes that will be difficult to pay?” Escudero said.

The senator urged Filipinos to make tax reforms an election is-

sue so more leaders would back legislative efforts to amend the Tax Reform of 1997, according to InterAksyon.

“Everyone is now singing the same tune, even those who were hesitant to support us in the past. And that’s fine. The important thing is to let this campaign for tax reforms gather steam be-cause it is a legitimate issue that begs to be addressed if we want

to sustain economic growth,” he said.

United Arab Emirates and Qa-tar tied for the top spot on the list, requiring four payments that could be completed in 12 hours and 41 hours, respectively.

Bolivia ranked last among the 189 countries, with its tax pro-cedure requiring 42 payments that take 1,025 hours to com-plete. ■

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from February to the middle of September.

The ban, said to be targeted on decongesting roads around the capital, had an undesired ef-fect of limiting cargo deliveries in and out of the Metro. This, in turn, resulted in lower supplies, increasing consumer prices and impacting on economic growth.

Aside from current prepara-tions, Lina also said Customs officers continue to work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily in order to facilitate cargo inspection on a timely basis. Reforms undertak-en by the Aquino administration

will also help the bureau.One of them is Republic Act

10668, which amended the Cab-otage law to allow freer access to local ports by foreign vessels.

Under the law signed last July, shipments for areas outside Ma-nila may now be directly sent to any ports in the country. Before, these cargoes will need to be cleared first by the Manila port before getting shipped to their destination.

Sought for comment, busi-nesses had mixed views of Cus-toms’ assurance.

Alfredo Yao, president of the Philippine Chamber of Com-

merce and Industry, said port congestion is already unlikely since most Christmas goods are arriving from September to Oc-tober.

“If they are saying that we are only on 65 percent port utiliza-tion, then that is good, especially since the goods for Christmas are already arriving,” Yao said in phone interview over the week-end.

“I don’t think it can worsen anymore. At the most, few more Christmas goods will arrive until mid-November. But the height really is from September to Octo-ber,” he added. ■

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and take action against interna-tional scams.

“The econsumer.gov is a por-tal in which Filipino consumers, whether here or abroad, can report international scams. The information they will share will be used by consumer protec-tion agencies from around the world as basis to develop mech-anisms to combat and prevent such scams from proliferating,” Trade Undersecretary Victorio Dimagiba said.

ICPEN is an international net-work of consumer protection authorities that aims to protect consumers’ economic interests around the world by sharing information about cross-border issues and encouraging global cooperation among law enforce-

ment agencies.The site, which was launched

in 2011, is now easier to use with its user- and reader-friend-ly interface that suits tablet and smart phone browsing, the DTI said.

The Philippines and Vietnam are the only Asean member states that are members of the ICPEN but it is only the DTI that has access to database.

“The DTI can use the com-plaints in the secure database to investigate cross-border issues, uncover new scams, pursue reg-ulatory or enforcement actions, and spot trends on emerging consumer issues,” the agency said.

“Gaining access to the com-plaints database of the ICPEN is a highlight development in DTI’s

continued effort to strengthen cross-border redress especially in today’s time when threats against the rights and welfare of consumers is no longer isolated in one’s country, but can ema-nate from any part of the world through the use of internet tech-nology,” it added.

Dimagiba said the DTI is urg-ing all consumers to report in-ternational scams through the econsumer.gov website to aid consumer protection agencies in addressing such scams.

He said consumer com-plaints filed through econ-sumer.gov are entered into a secure consumer complaint database and are made avail-able to enforcers and regula-tors in countries with partici-pating agencies. ■

PH joins worldwide initiative to…t

ington’s consumer protection laws, according to CNN.

The retailer said it conducted an investigation, including buy-ing fake customer reviews on Fiverr from people who pledged five-star ratings, BBC reported. It also offered to allow purchas-ers to write reviews.

Some reviewers attempted to circumvent controls on Amazon.com by submitting content through different ac-counts and by using unique IP addresses, according to court documents.

Many of the paid reviews in this case were written abroad, which makes it more difficult to identify the writers.

Fiverr said it was working with Amazon to resolve the is-sue, BBC reported. However, it

declined to state whether or not it will cooperate in the case, say-ing “we actively remove services that violate our terms of use.”

“The challenge of merchants soliciting illegitimate reviews is one that faces all marketplaces and online platforms,” Fiverr said in a statement. “In fact, in our own marketplace we restrict reviews to only those who we can verify have actually pur-chased a service.”

On Monday’s “CBS This Morning,” Thomspon offered advice on how to discern bogus reviews, such as by using web-sites that help authenticate how valid they are and for searching for specific descriptions.

“Hotel reviews that tend to have specific details like ‘the bathroom is large’ tend to be real because if they’ve got that

sort of spacial information, it means that someone was actu-ally there,” Thompson said, ac-cording to CBS.

He also said that companies need to work on training algo-rithms to discern fake reviews from real ones.

The lawsuit follows a similar case in April when Amazon sued a number of websites for selling fake reviews. Most of the sites in the earlier incident have been shut down, CNN reported.

For this lawsuit, Amazon has referred to the 1,114 defendants as “John Does,” as it does not know their real names.

“Amazon is bringing this ac-tion to protect its customers from this misconduct, by stopping defendants and uprooting the ecosystem in which they partici-pate,” the lawsuit states. ■

Amazon suing over 1,000 people for fake…

Study: PH ranks 127 out of 189…

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Customs Chief Lina assures…

MONETTEADEVA MAGLAYA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond Americaalendar of Events

acrossC

ADVERTISE YOUR EVENTS!PRE-EVENT AND POST-EVENT

GO DEEPER. GO WIDER. LET THE WORLD KNOW.CALL ASIAN JOURNAL: (818) 502-0651DISPLAY AD SIZES AT SPECIAL RATES

FOR NON-PROFIT GROUPS

sa Amerika” at the Gold Coast Casino & Hotel (4000 Flamingo Rd. Las Vegas, NV 89103) in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 25-27, 2015. Reminisce with your schoolmates from 50+ years ago and re-live memorable high school days! Reconnect with your old friends and make some new ones! This is the first reunion gathering in the US since our 50th grand reunion. For more information, please contact: Dan Hidalgo - danielh616@hotmail.com; tel. (914) 310-0864 / (914) 740-7028. Ester Tadeo Celestino - cesarucelestino@yahoo.com; tel. (201) 433-0727/ (551) 574-8511. Minda Cuario Cameron - meandatwo@aol.com; tel. (813) 633-5642. Ed Bondoc - bondoced@yahoo.com; tel. (415) 342-9877. Gertrudes “Nette” Descallar Collyer - mycolly@roadrunner.com; tel. (818) 767-8175.

MANDACAL (Mandaluyong Civic Group of Southern California) would like to invite you to attend its 26th Anniversary Dinner Dance on Saturday, October 24, 2015 at the Embassy Suites Glendale (800 North Central Ave. Glendale, CA 91203). The event is a sit down dinner with live music by the Hill Tops Band #1, providing your favorite dance music from 5pm until midnight. There will be raffle prizes and many fabulous door prizes to be given away. Come enjoy a night of great food, excellent music, and pure fun with your family and friends! Tickets are $55 each. For tickets and information, please call: Becky 818-572-3261, Espee 626-383-3621, or Julie 858-337-9224.

Presented by Bible Christian Fellowship Church, the one-of-a-kind Bohol Children Bam-boo Ensemble, hailing from Alicia, in Bohol province, will perform at various locations during their first-ever tour in the US. 23 young performers from Katipunan Elementary School and the Bohol community will perform using traditional bamboo instruments, including a ukulele, drums, flutes, and bass. There will also be special guests, inspiring music, and traditional dances of the Philippines. For many of these young performers, it is their first time to visit the US, and they are eager to share their talents with the community. The show on Saturday, Oct. 24 will take place at Rosemont Elementary School Auditorium (421 Rosemont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026) at 6:30pm; on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Bible Christian Fellowship Church (456 Rosemont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026) at 6:30pm; and on Saturday, Nov. 14 at Search to In-volve Pilipino Americans (SIPA - 3200 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90026) at 6:30pm. Light refreshments will be served. Ticket prices vary from $10, $25, and $50. For tickets and more information, please call 213-249-6672.

Couples, please join for the Marriage Enrichment Seminar on Saturday, October 24 from 9am to 5pm at Helping Hands Adult Day Health Care (9051 Woodman Ave, Arleta, CA 91331). Featuring fun games and prizes, biblical teachings, and engaging interactions rel-evant to couples’ everyday life. Price for couples is $50, and $20 for single participants. Call Henjie Pimenta at 818-486-7481 for more information.

All are invited to attend the Rosary Rally for the Blessed Virgin Mary (Sponsored by the Federation of Filipino Rosary Groups. Inc). This is an annual celebration which calls everyone to prayer for world peace. A reception follows immediately after the liturgy at Potthoff Hall.

When: Sunday, October 25, 1:30 pm Mass; Pre-liturgy at 1:15 pmWhere: St. Denis Parish (2151 S. Diamond Bar Blvd., Diamond Bar, CA 91765)Celebrant: Monsignor James Loughnane, P.A.

Please save the date for the 60th anniversary year of Calapan Central School in Oriental Mindoro.

Where: Oakland, CA When: November 1-3, 2015. Contact: Luz Yu (luz_yu@yahoo.com)

Save the date! The 24th Annual Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture (FPAC) will be cel-ebrated on Saturday, November 7, 2015 at El Pueblo de Los Angeles (125 Paseo De La Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012). and will feature contemporary and traditional Filipino food, music, dance, crafts and culture. FPAC is the longest-running Filipino cultural celebration in Southern California. This year’s theme for the City of Los Angeles’ Filipino American Event is “Balik tanaw, Pananaw bukas” a Tagalog phrase meaning “looking backward, looking forward, and celebrates the rich experiences of being Filipino American. As a community we honor the cul-ture paved by our ancestors, and move forward with a grateful understanding of our Filipino American history. This is the spirit that keeps FPAC going. Please check www.filmarts.org for more event updates. For Sponsorship Inquiries please contact us at 213-380-3722; or info@filamarts.org. For exhibitor (food and business) information, contact John Swing at jswing@esipa.org. #FPAC24

Asian American Professional Association (AAPA) will host The Achievement Awards & Graduation Gala, honoring prominent leaders who trailblaze and inspire others to become leaders, and celebrating the 2015 graduating class of AAPA Mentees. The theme is “Waves of Change, Oceans of Opportunity.” The gala will take place on Thursday, Dec 3 from 5:30pm - 9:30pm, at the Hilton San Gabriel (225 West Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776). Expose your brand to the professional community who are your customers, clients, potential employ-ees, entrepreneurs, corporate and community leaders. Your support will directly benefit the AAPA mentees in the program. To purchase a ticket or ad, the cost is $50 each (limited time only); full/half/quarter page ad sizes are available in full color. Please visit http://aapaawards.eventbrite.com/ for more details and to RSVP by Nov. 13. Please get involved by emailing lia.andika@aapamentoring.com.

FESS up J. K. Rowling. That scene in one of the Harry Potter books where eerie sounds and strange occurrences caused by a ghost in residence were com-ing from — of all places— the toilet stalls, in Hogwarts is not all that original. Because it hap-pened years ago, not as fiction but as part of reality — my real-ity, that is.

Just for kicks during my hal-cyon days as a full-time work-ing /full-time grad student at the University of the Philippines long ago, I had agreed to act as me-dium for a séance or a hypnotic session to conjure or call the spirit or spirits that were caus-ing a disturbance. I took over from another medium in a pre-vious session weeks earlier con-ducted by a Jesuit priest from the Ateneo, Fr. Bulatao. There were re-peated paranormal disturbances at the old building where I worked, a stone’s throw from the In-stitute of Mass Com-munication (now called by another name) where I was a grad student at night while working during the day as a full time research associate of what was then the Institute of En-vironmental Planning, now called the School of Urban & Regional Planning. That haunted building has been razed and there stands a newer multi-story building.

At night, the custodian claimed that when all the rooms were locked up and no one was in-side, there were eerie noises that would make the hair on the back of one’s neck stand on end. The occurrences were so frequent and so disruptive, ignoring them and pretending life was normal was no longer an option. Some-one finally did something about it and called on Fr. Bulatao to help shed light on the mysterious goings-on at the institute. I sim-ply avoided the rest rooms and steered away from isolated areas of the building and never stayed in the building past sundown.

Professor Cynthia Turingan was the first medium. Under hypnosis, she revealed that an

The curious case of Stephen C. Davis: A ghost story

“…Quite plainly, there are things in this world that cannot be de�ned, completely understood and pegged in a nice, neat box …”

American soldier, an enlisted man, by the name of Stephen Da-vies (his name was spelled with an e in the surname) was mur-dered at the location right smack dab where the building stood. Details of a murder story flowed out of her like a gusher. But then it came to an abrupt halt when the door to the room where the session was being held, for no apparent reason, suddenly burst open. The medium snapped out of the hypnotic trance feeling ex-tremely limp and exhausted as though she had traveled many

miles across a desert without water. I stood up and with a non-chalant shrug of my shoulders calmly closed the door.

Dissatisfied with the aborted session, the group decided to hold another. Professor Turingan was unavailable for the next ses-sion and I was drafted to act as medium, a role which I accepted on a lark and a dare.

There was a thunderstorm rag-ing outside but I don’t remember much of what I said when I went on a trance. I do remember feeling very light, as though weightless, while someone gently whispered things to my ear. Later, I learned that under hypnotic suggestion, I was instructed to go back to 1945, the year that the medium revealed when the alleged murder of the American soldier occurred.

I described the place as I saw it — an open field, a moonless night, quonset huts and a heavy sense of foreboding in the air. During the session, the same

Stephen Davies revealed the name of his murderer. He said he was hit on the head by a piece of wood while he was out on patrol one night and was robbed of his money. The ghost revealed de-tails about his murderer: his as-sailant’s name, the exact address where he lived, describing him as an old man by that time, lan-guishing in jail for other crimes he committed and that the house where the murderer used to live on J.P. Rizal Street in Makati was eventually destroyed by fire.

He was asked about the name of his wife and where she lived, q u e s t i o n s upon ques-tions which the ghost said were “not im-portant” but pressed fur-ther, he said that his wife had remarried and pleaded

not to bother his wife anymore. He said that he was not the only spirit hovering in the area and that there were many others. Asked about how he felt, he said that he was lonely and that he just wants to be remembered. Over and over again, he said he wanted to be remembered. He ignored questions about his past brushing them aside for the one thing he wanted — that he be re-membered. His bones, he said, lay scattered and mixed with the soil in the same area which was leveled years earlier by a bulldoz-er. The ghost of the dead soldier requested that a mass be said on a sunny day in his remembrance — a request the group readily granted him. Shortly after, the eerie occurrences seemed to stop. (To be continued)

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The Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) brings the best of a broad selection of Asian World cinema to Los Angeles from Oct. 26 - Nov. 2, 2015 in order to draw greater recognition to the region’s wealth of filmmakers, strengthening ties between the Asian and Hollywood film industries. With films from 50 countries across Asia, from Turkey to Japan to India and the Philippines, the AWFF focuses on cinema-lovers, especially fans of foreign and independent films. Screenings will be held at the ArcLight Cinemas and iPic Theater in Culver City, and VIP festival passes (including access to filmmakers lounge, professional panels, cocktail recep-tions, and screenings) are available. A special showing of Paul Soriano’s “Kid Kulafu,” the story of a young Manny Pacquiao, will also premiere on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 8pm at ArcLight. For more information and ticketing prices, please visit http://www.asianworldfilmfest.org/.

This coming Halloween, come to the newest ultra-lounge located near Glendale’s Ameri-cana, the chic 103 LOUNGE (103 E. Broadway Ave., Glendale, CA, 91025, across Marshalls and Bloomingdale’s)! Brought to you by EMEX Events, ToneDef Music, Bounce Electronic Mu-sic & DJ School, with support from MISS PHILIPPINES USA, HALLOWBACK is a one-of-a-kind Halloween dance music/clubbing event. Featuring dance tunes from the mid 90’s until the year 2000 by DJs Mon Maramba and Josh Evangelista, and curated by Louie Ysmael together with Arnel Castillo, as well as local retro hero Ricky Fabre of ClubManila. Doors for this popu-lar Halloween event will open at 9pm, so make sure you secure a spot on the dancefloor! 21+ only, with $10 entry fee. Reserved seating with bottle service and birthday specials/VIP areas available. Please email tonedefmusicph@gmail.com for more info.

“ But then it came to an abrupt halt when the door to the room where the

session was being held, for no apparent reason, suddenly burst open. The medium snapped out of the hypnotic trance feeling extremely limp and exhausted as though

she had traveled many miles across a desert without water.”

ATTY. KENNETH URSUA REYES

Barrister’s Corner

FAMILY Code 760 provides that all property acquired by the spouse during the marriage is community property. That means each spouse has a half interest on any assets that are acquired during the marriage, with certain exceptions, since it is generally characterized as community property. On the same token, Family Code 771(a) provides that earnings and ac-cumulations of a spouse while living “separate and apart” from the other spouse, are the separate property of the spouse. How about the situation where the couple continues to live to-gether due to economic reasons like roommates. Is a couple liv-ing “separate and apart” under family code 771(a) when they continue to live together in the same home even though they no longer live their lives like mar-ried couple?

The California Supreme Court, in a recent case In re Marriage

Do you need to be living in separate residences to be considered ‘separated’ from your spouse under the California family law?

of Davis, 61 Cal 4th 4th 846 (2015), held that the phrase “liv-ing separate and apart” in the California family code refers to a situation in which spouses are living in separate residences and at least one of them has the sub-jective intent to end the marital relationship, abrogating In re Marriage of Johnson, 134 Cal. App.3d. 148. Prior to this deci-sion, the date of “separation” occurs only when the parties have come to a parting of the ways with no present intent to resume their marriage and their conduct evidences a complete and final break in the marital relationship. The Court would consider all of the relevant evi-dence regarding whether the parties’ conduct evidences a complete and final break in the marital relationship. Living in separate residences, although a factor to be considered, was not required for a separation.

In re Marriage of Davis, hus-band and wife married in 1993 and had two children. Couple

stopped having sexual relation-ship in 1999. Wife moved to another bedroom in the house either in 2001 or 2004. Husband and wife attended children’s ac-tivities but used separate cars. On June 1, 2006 wife announced she was “through” with the mar-riage. Wife believed couple were acting simply as roommates after 2006. Wife increased her earn-ings after this date while hus-band left his job. Parties contin-ued to live in the marital home and went on vacation together. Wife filed for divorce in 2008. Wife moves out of the marital residence on July1, 2011. Wife alleges date of separation of June 1, 2006. Husband alleges a date of separation of July 1, 2011. The trial court and the court of appeal found June1, 2006 as the date of separation. The Cali-fornia Supreme Court reversed the decision holding that living in separate residences “is an in-dispensable threshold require-ment for a finding that spouses are “living separate and apart”

for purposes of section 771(a). The interpretation aligns with the common understanding of the words, the statutory history of the provision, and legitimate public policy concerns.

The In re Marriage of Davis de-cision now requires the parties to be living in separate residenc-es as a prerequisite to a separa-tion. In IRMO Davis, the Califor-nia Supreme Court looked into the plain meaning of the statute, the legislative intent and history of the statute, and the case law in interpreting the term “sepa-rate and apart.” The California Supreme Court looked into the wording and legislative intent of family code 771(a) by tracing it back to a 145 year old prede-cessor statute enacted in 1870 “ An Act to Protect the Rights of Married Women in Certain Cases.” Section 4 of the 1870 act provided a procedure for a wife who was “living separate and apart” from her husband to sell her real property without joining with her husband by stating in

a declaration ”her own place of residence that is “separate and apart from her husband” which strongly suggests that the stat-ute was directed at a situation where the spouses had physi-cally separated and the wife in fact had her own residence. The Supreme Court also relied on the holding in the Norviel case which held that living apart physically is an indispensable threshold requirement to sepa-ration, whether or not it is suffi-cient, by itself to establish sepa-ration. Although the Davis case has adopted a bright line test in determining date of separation, it also acknowledge that there may be “exceptional circum-stances” when a couple is under one roof but still separated. This was noted in footnote 7 in Davis and the concurring opinion writ-ten by Justice Liu and joined by Justice Werdergar. Davis has listed facts that do not qualify as exceptional circumstances. The date of separation is one of the most litigated issues in a divorce

case since it directly affects the characterization and division of community property. This case changes that analysis and may create problems in its practical application to the realities of contemporary families.

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SERVICES

EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT

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T A J

MDWKMAGAZINEWednesday, OCTOBER 21, 2015

PHOTOS BY LOREN TOWNSLEY

The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - October 21, 2015

2 cover story

by AGNES CONSTANTE / AJPRESS

The lunchtime crowd at EggslutThe “Slut,” a coddled egg dish

At Pilipino Workers Center housing village, labor leader Larry Itliong’s legacy lives on

ON the third floor of the Larry Itliong Village, an afford-able housing building in Historic Filipinotown, a spacious court-yard boasts a view of Downtown LA’s skyline and paintings of the Philippine sun with extended rays.

It’s also the floor where the apartment of Maria*, 74, a Fili-pina tenant, can be found.

Maria has lived in the housing complex since 2014 -- around the time the building opened its doors to tenants -- and is the first time she has had her own apartment.

On the fifth floor, Noli Gerona, 59, lives in a one-bed-room unit with his 79-year-old mother.

From his window, the view isn’t quite what it is from the courtyard: he says he can see a pile of soil, other apartments and houses.

But Gerona has no com-plaints because prior to mov-ing into the Village, he and his mother shared a rented room in a house. Additionally, half the cost of his unit is subsidized.

“Lucky naka pasok kami dito (We’re lucky we got into this place),” Gerona said.

“This [unit] is not really that big, but we’re really happy kasi ang ganda ng building (This [unit] is not really that big, but we’re really happy because the building is so beautiful),” he added.

A 10-year projectThe Larry Itliong Village, lo-

cated on the corner of Glendale Boulevard and Rockwood Street, is home to 44 low-income house-holds. (A 45th unit is designated for the building manager.) The project is named after Fil-Am labor organizer Larry Itliong, who was among Filipinos who started the Delano Grape Strike in 1965, which set the foundation that led to the eventual creation of the United Farm Workers.

With Larry Itliong, a distinct name that cannot easily be confused with others, the hous-ing building was named to bring visibility to both the Filipino com-munity in Historic Filipinotown and the general community. But more importantly, the Village car-

ries a name that seeks to uplift and honor Itliong’s legacy.

“This is a part of our legacy,” said Aquilina Soriano Versoza, executive director of the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC), a non-profit organization located on the first floor of the village that is dedicated to assisting workers and their families meet their immediate needs, and gain leadership skills that can be used toward action for change. “The United Farm Workers made some huge changes to the way labor laws were, and that’s a huge contribution of the Fil-Am community here.”

“At PWC, we’re inspired by all of the work that the farm workers did to come together, organize and really improve the conditions they were working and living in,” Versoza added.

It was PWC, along with the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) Community Develop-ment Corporation, that worked to develop the project. With an acquisition loan from the Local Initiative Support Corporation, the organization was able to

secure and purchase the land in 2003. It took about 10 years from the start to completion of the building in 2013. It received funding from several sources, including federal, state and local grants; and the environmental cleanup fund.

By October 2013, the building was completed with five floors. There are a total of 45 units in the building, one of which is for the manager. Of the remaining 44, half are designat-ed regular affordable housing for low- to moderate-income house-holds, while the other 22 are for very low-income households who receive additional subsidies from the housing authority. Do you know what’s the occupancy rate right now?

Additionally, nine units are designated for transitional age youth.

On the first day that PWC began accepting applications for the housing units, Versoza said there were more than 2,000 received. The main criteria for selecting tenants were based on income levels and on if ap-

plicants were coming from a homeless or transitional housing situation.

With the high volume of applicants, a raffle system was implemented to assign each household a number. This determined the order in which applications were reviewed.

By November 2013, ten-ants began moving into the new

units.Housing features and char-

acteristicsEach unit of the Larry Itliong

Village offers tenants free gas, water and WiFi. They also come furnished with a dishwasher, mi-crowave, stove, refrigerator and air conditioning.

Half of the low-cost units also Continued on Page 3

Photos by Loren Townsley

Noli Gerona, 59, a Filipino tenant who lives in the Pilipino Workers Center affordable housing project with his mother, says moving into the complex has elevated his standard of living.

Maria*, 74, is a Filipina trafficking survivor. She is living in her own apartment unit for the first time at the Larry Itliong Village

The courtyard of the Larry Itliong Village is on the third floor of the building and is decorated with paintings of extended rays of the sun found on the Philippine flag.

features 3The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - October 21, 2015

At Pilipino Workers Center housing...

Model from Nueva Vizcaya crowned Miss World Philippines 2015

From Page 2come with beds, dining tables and sofa beds.

But one of the key aspects of the housing project is that it is the first to implement a lending circle program for security deposits. Because the deposits can be a barrier for people to get into the units, Versoza said, the program allows tenants to pay the amount throughout a one-year period.

In the five-story building, floors three to five are dedicated to residential units; the second floor is for parking; and on the first is where the PWC office is found.

Since the housing units are located above the office, ten-ants have access to a number of services on site. Among these include free tax preparation, food distribution, access to computers and workforce training (mostly geared toward caregiving).

One of the goals of the PWC, Versoza said, is to create a com-munity among its tenants.

As part of that effort, the Village also offers activities for its tenants, such as Cinco de Mayo and Philippine Independence Day celebrations. Community rooms on the first floor also serve as spaces for Zumba classes and food distributions.

TenantsAccording to Versoza, Latinos

account for the biggest ethnic group residing in the housing building, followed by Asian

Pacific Islanders, most of whom are Filipino. There are also transitional age youth (between 18 to 25 years old), who are emancipated foster youth and at-risk youth who come from a wide spectrum of situations; trafficking victims; and domestic violence survivors.

Each year, households in regular affordable housing units must go through a recertifica-tion process. Should a tenant’s income see an increase, the rent they pay will be adjusted.

A common thread for the tenants of the Larry Itliong Village is that moving into the facility resulted in a significant improvement in their living situ-ations.

Among residents who have found a home in the Village is Blanca Medina, 28, a mother of four. Prior to moving into the affordable housing project, she lived in an East Los Angeles shel-ter where she and her kids had to share one bedroom, as well as share the bathroom and kitchen with other tenants. She also wasn’t allowed to have visitors or leave the shelter after 6 pm.

Having her own space, for which she pays 30 percent of her income, without having to share amenities in her unit with so many others, is one of the best parts of living in the Village, Medina says. She and her chil-dren have also made friends with other tenants just by living in the

building and through communal housing activities.

Formerly homeless individu-als have also found shelter in the facility, including Edith Uzohl, 58, who volunteers for PWC. After moving back to California from Tennessee for a job that ultimate-ly did not work out, Uzohl ended up at Good Shepherd Center and then a transitional housing facility where she paid $400 a month to share a room.

Uzohl now lives in a one-bed-room unit that she’s in the pro-cess of furnishing, and having her own space is “lovely.” Getting to be by herself is what she likes best, although she also appreci-ates the privacy and security she has in her living space.

“[It’s great] knowing that when I put something down it’s not going to be stolen, because there was a lot of that going on in transitional housing,” she said.

The Larry Itliong Village is already at full capacity, but Gero-na, the Filipino tenant on the fifth floor, said he wishes it could be extended to more individuals.

“I just wish more people could get something like this kasi talagang na-elevate and standard ng living namin (I just wish more people could get something like this because our standard of living really elevat-ed),” he said.

[Editor’s note: *Maria’s name has been changed in this article to protect her identity.]

Miss World Philippines 2015 Hillarie Danielle Parungao. Inquirer.net photo by Armin Adina

Willie Revillame ordered arrested over child abuse case

THE Court of Appeals gave the go-signal for the arrest and prosecution of television host Willie Revillame on charges of child abuse and child exploita-tion.

In an 11-page decision issued by the appeals court 13th divi-sion through Associate Justice Ma. Luisa Quijano-Padilla, it said the Quezon City Regional Trial Court correctly issued the order.

Revillame was charged with child abuse after he made a six-year-old boy perform gyrat-ing moves like male strippers in a March 2011 episode of his defunct show “Willing Willie.”

He asked the boy to repeat his dance moves and gave the boy P10,000. The host even tried to imitate the boy’s moves and at one point raised the boy on hydraulic circular platform while the host shouted “beer pa.”

by TETCH TORRES-TUPASInquirer.net

The boy at one point ap-peared to have been crying while doing the dance moves.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development filed a complaint for violation of Re-public Act 7610 or the Anti-Child Abuse Law before the Quezon City Prosecutors Office, which later on filed the case in court.

“There is probable cause for the petitioner’s commission of a crime, his arrest and arraign-ment should now ensue so that this case may properly proceed to trial where the merits of both

By AGNES CONSTANTE AJPRESS

A Filipino-Chinese model and children’s health advocate from Nueva Vizcaya was crowned Miss World Philippines 2015 during a pageant held at the Solaire Resort Casino in Paranaque City on Sunday, Oct. 18.

Hillarie Danielle Ang Parun-gao, 24, beat 25 other candi-dates to represent the Philip-pines in the Miss World 2015 competition to be held on Dec. 19 in Sanya, China. In addition to winning the crown, she took home several special awards, in-cluding: best in swimsuit, best in sports challenge, best in fashion runway and best in long gown.

Parungao also excelled in the question and answer portion of the competition during the Top 13 semifinals and Top 5 finals.

“My philosophy always relies on compassion which can open doors to challenges in life. In compassion, we get to under-stand people, and in understand-ing people, we become a better society,” she said, according to

Manila Bulletin.“Let us not forget why I will

be on stage, and that is so I can get a bigger platform (the crown) to speak and do more for the children.”

In an interview with Philstar, Parungao, who placed third runner-up when she represented the Philippines in the Miss Asia Pacific World pageant last year, said she entered the pageant be-cause she believed it would open more opportunities for her and allow her voice to be heard.

“[I] have an advocacy and I really want to focus on that. And I was looking for a better venue for that. A better venue for me to have a voice and what would be [better] than Miss World Phil-ippines,” she said.

The 5’7’’ beauty queen re-cently started a program, “Katu-wang: A Fight Against Child Mortality,” which aims to elimi-nate child mortality by spreading awareness on health needs and issues facing children. She has so far organized volunteers in informing families about proper

nutrition intake and carrying out regular physical tests of children, Manila Bulletin reported.

Additionally, in September, she put together a fun run to raise funds for health programs for children.

The first, second, third and fourth princesses of the pageant were Marita Cassandra Nai-das, Mia Allyson Howell, Maria Vanessa Wright and Emma Mary Tiglao, respectively.

Willie Revillame

parties’ evidence and allegations may be weighed,” the appeals court said adding that “the case had long been delayed because of the petitioner’s refusal to sub-mit to the trial court’s jurisdiction and erroneous invocation of the Rules in his favor.”

The appeals court said the lower court followed the rules in thoroughly evaluating the evi-dence and factual circumstances presented before him before finding probable cause to order Revillame’s arrest.

Revillame filed a motion for reconsideration before the lower court but was denied on Oct. 4, 2013.

The court said Revillame’s ar-gument that he has no intention of violating the law should be best threshed out during trial.

Concurring with the rul-ing were Associate Justices Normandie Pizarro and Samuel Gaerlan.

The courtyard of the Larry Itliong Village is on the third floor of the building and is decorated with paintings of extended rays of the sun found on the Philippine flag. Photo by Loren Townsley

4The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - October 21, 2015

features

Kapamilya sweetheart is ready for her comeback

I WAS pleasantly surprised to bump into Roxanne Guinoo at the mall. I didn’t notice her right away but it was so nice of her to greet me. I have fond memories of our Boracay Hal-loween trip a few years ago. She has been on hiatus to focus on her hubby (Elton Yap) and kids (Reine, 5, and Reilly, 3). But she does not look like a mother at all. Roxanne has not lost her charms. The Kapamilya sweetheart is all set for her comeback in the ABS-CBN teleserye “Walang Iwanan.” Roxanne is lovelier, the second time around.

Here’s my tête-à-tête with Roxanne:

What can the audience expect from you as you make a comeback?

A different Roxanne. Since I am a mom and wife now, I have a deeper reservoir of emotions to tap for my acting.

What limitations did your husband give you regarding projects?

I have a very supportive husband. He and my in-laws are excited to watch my new show. In terms of limitations, it was

by DOLLY ANN CARVAJALInquirer.net

Jennylyn Mercado �ne withprenup if future hubby wants one

by MARINEL R. CRUZInquirer.net

ACTRESS Jennylyn Mercado said she would say yes to sign-ing a prenuptial agreement if her future fiancé would ask her to do so.

“When you’re already married, whatever is yours is also his, and what’s his is also yours. But I would understand if he wants to protect [what] he worked hard for when he was still single. I won’t feel insulted.

I don’t see any problem in that.” the 28-year-old actress said.

Jennylyn is promoting her latest movie “The Prenup,” opposite actor Sam Milby. Jun Robles Lana directs this roman-tic comedy that’s currently in theaters nationwide.

Sam, on the other hand, would rather not sign a prenup. “Our characters’ love story hap-pened so suddenly. They went to New York and were already engaged when they returned home. I understand that Sean’s (his character) parents are wor-ried because they don’t know much about Wendy (Jennylyn) and her family so they de-manded a prenup,” the actor explained. “Signing one is like you’re already expecting to break up eventually.”

Together foreverHe added: “You promised

each other that you’d be to-gether forever so you shouldn’t be thinking of having a backup plan. If the girl would insist, and I really love her, I’d agree to it, but not after I find a way to get to know her family more so that they would trust me with her.”

Lana said couples prepar-ing for their weddings should watch the movie. “They may

Jennylyn Mercado and Sam Milby enjoyed their New York trip/shoot.

Cuisine and cinema come together to celebrate LA Premiere of ‘O� The Menu: Asian America’LOS ANGELES—Visual

Communications (VC) -- the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts cen-ter -- has announced the LA premiere of “Off The Menu: Asian America.” The documentary film, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Grace Lee (“American Revolution-ary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs”), is an exploration of food in changing com-munities, families traditions and faiths. In the one-hour documentary, Lee travels from Houston, Texas to New York’s Lower East Side, from Oak Creek, Wisconsin to Oahu, Hawaii seeking stories that re-flect an evolving Asian Pacific America and the role food plays in people’s lives.

Visual Communications will present the film as a special screening event at the Japanese American National Museum on Sunday, Oct. 25. The evening will also feature

a post-screening conversation with representatives from the city’s vibrant culinary scene, including Chef Minh Phan of Porridge+Puffs, food writer Christine Chiao, scholar Karen Tongson, and Youa Yang of Yang Farms. Writer and sociologist Oliver Wang will moderate the discussion.

“I’m thrilled that my film can bring together this kind of synergy, especially in a city like LA.” said director Grace Lee. “Angelenos, myself included, have a very inclusive palette, and are excited to discover and share new cu-linary experiences with each other. I’m looking forward to adding my film to that discus-sion.”

Following the film screen-ing and Q&A, audiences will enjoy a special appetizer & dessert reception, featuring recipes designed especially for “Off The Menu’s” LA pre-miere. This will be the chance

to taste never before seen recipes inspired by the film.

“We’re honored to host the LA premiere of Grace’s new project.” said Francis Cullado, executive director of Visual Communications. “‘Off The Menu’ encapsulates how cultural pride as an Asian Pa-cific Islander can be a shared celebration here in America.” he adds. “I’m excited to launch her film in advance of her national broadcast, and am looking forward to the evening with diverse API leaders who are changing the culinary landscape.”

“Off The Menu: Asian America” is a multimedia project between the Center for Asian American Media and KQED, and is funded by the Corporation for Public Broad-casting. For more information on the film, please visit: www.caamedia.org/offthemenu. To purchase event tickets, please visit www.vconline.org.

my own choice not to do inti-mate scenes anymore because I love and respect my husband and kids so much. Even if some people look down on actors, I love this job. I want to be a good role model to my kids.

How have marriage and motherhood changed you?

My priorities have changed. I put my family first. I’m proud to say that I’m a hands-on mom. I believe that parents should always be involved in their kids’ lives, especially dur-ing the formative years. I refuse to let gadgets get in the way of our quality time as a family. Time goes by so fast, that’s why

I want to give them all my time and attention.

Would you be willing to work with your ex, Jake Cuenca?

If my home network decides to make a good project for us, why not? That wouldn’t be a problem. I am so thankful that ABS-CBN welcomed me back so I will accept any project they give me. I am not after fame or anything. I just want to continue pursuing my passion, which is acting.

Beleaguered JM Speaking of second

chances in the biz, too bad that JM de Guzman seems to have blown the opportunity to make a comeback.

I really thought he got his groove back after the success of his movie with Angelica Panganiban, “That Thing Called Tadhana.” Unfortunately, he was not able to sustain it. JM has been replaced by Jericho Rosales in the movie “Walang Forever,” with Jennylyn Mer-cado.

Hopefully, he can still get his act together before it’s too late.

His charisma and talent are precious and shouldn’t be wasted.

Richard reluctant no moreby BOY ABUNDA

Philstar.com

BEFORE his groundbreaking role as Ser Chief in the day-time family drama “Be Careful With My Heart,” people were referring to Richard Yap as a “reluctant actor” or “accidental actor.” He was a businessman, and despite having done My Binondo Girl (where he first be-came popular as “Papa Chen”), he wasn’t really into showbiz yet.

But when “Be Careful With My Heart” became a phenom-enal daytime hit, running for two years and four months, it changed his perspective on showbiz. He resigned his corporate day job in 2012, put up his own business so his hours would be more flexible and started to totally embrace showbiz. He began to think of acting as his career, and of himself as a product he has to sell to audiences.

Explains Richard: “I now see this as a business, and also, I am a product, I have to sell myself to the public who watches the shows. I’ve learned to accept the fact that acting is also a business, and as a prod-uct of that business, I have to constantly improve myself and make myself more relevant.”

Part of doing that is by challenging himself to try new things. Recently, Richard signed on to play a dramatic role as Carlo, Cecilia’s (Vina Morales) kababata who crosses paths with her again 20 or so years after they first met, in the Kapamilya Gold drama “Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita.” The role as Carlo is more dramatic and heavier than anything he’s done before; since becom-ing an actor, Richard has done mostly light teleseryes. It’s his first time to go dramatic.

This is a switch for him, but he says, it’s all part of learning how to re-invent himself. So

when it was offered to him, he didn’t hesitate. “They needed an actor to play the part of Carlo, and when it was offered to me, I said, why not, it’s some-thing new for me kasi medyo mas ma-drama siya,” says Richard. “In the beginning, may konting apprehension sigu-ro because it’s a role in a drama series. Although my part is to be a positive influence and to lift the character of Cecilia up, so it’s not really as heavily dra-matic as others. That made it a bit easier for me to adjust.”

Although he didn’t feel too confident about doing drama in the beginning, Richard agreed to do it because his planned teleserye opposite Judy Ann Santos was shelved (due to Juday’s pregnancy). It would provide him with something to do in the meantime while wait-ing for his next project. “Yun nga, dahil ma-drama, nag-isip din ako, but as working actors, we go where we are required to go, so anything is okay.”

Since he started playing the role, Richard has learned how to make doing drama easier. “You just have to put yourself in the story. Dito, ina-analyze ko kung saan siya galing,” he says, referring to his character.

The past few weeks have made him realize that he has much to learn about the fine art of television drama. “Siguro kung masyadong heavy di ko pa kaya, and it’s something I have to work on. Especially in crying scenes, I have to really feel the scene. If I don’t believe na kailangan sa story, parang hindi lumalabas.”

But at this point, Richard has definitely embraced be-ing an actor. He is no longer a reluctant one. In fact, he even has a title now: He’s known as the Daytime King. “Actually, nung ‘Be Careful’ pa yan, kasi si Jodi (Sta. Maria, his co-star) was being called the

Daytime Queen.”Ultimately though, says

Richard, it really doesn’t matter. “It’s just a title, it doesn’t really affect who we are,” he says. “We are thankful that we are given titles, but it doesn’t mean we rest on our achievements. We have to work hard pa rin on what we are given.”

Other things he would like to try in the future that are connected with show business is maybe producing (if this ever comes to pass, his top of mind choices to work with include actors like Coco Martin, Piolo Pascual, Dawn Zulueta, Bea Alonzo and Angel Locsin, “be-cause these are the top stars that you always have in mind”) or working on the management side of a film or TV project.

He is also looking forward to trying other roles. He has only one rule: He has to feel that it’s something he can do reasonably well. “Maybe it has to be something I’m capable of doing; if not, siyempre di ko tatanggapin. Mahirap if you can’t do what is required of you.”

So far, Richard has proven that as far as acting goes, he can definitely do what is required of him. So far, so good — and he will just keep getting better and better.

Richard Yap: Iʼm learning to reinvent myself.

Continued on Page 5

Roxanne Guinoo

features 5The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - October 21, 2015

PALA CASINO1/2H

MOONLIGHTING

by MYLAH DE LEON

Until tomorrow comes

I CAN believe that good is manifested from every experi-ence that comes into our lives. Cancer is not a death sentence and I’ve been battling it for 10 years, six months and 29 days in the only way I know: living one day at a time.

It was supposed to be a quick scene, a satisfying inter-lude that the HMO -- a prepaid health plan whose protocol legislated the length of time that a doctor would spend with the patient visit -- ruled.

There was a soft knock on the door and the oncologist en-tered. She greeted me and then spent a few minutes sitting qui-etly and reading the lab results and x-rays I had brought with me. Then she leaned toward me and said: “Tell me, why you’ve come.” A fleeting moment can paralyze one’s capacity to think and feel.

I looked into her face and saw genuine concern. I began telling her all the things I was experiencing — from the most commonplace and finally, to the strange feelings that often awaken me from my sleep. My voice shook, as I started telling her that through my illness, I discovered a basic truth. There are only two kinds of people in this whole world: those who are alive and those who are afraid. One of the attending doctors had ordered that I cannot be

afraid for the next four weeks, as I undergo more comprehen-sive tests. I had to think of a second response after fear. Can Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology, give me an answer? Can you rethink when you’re filled with resentment, self-pity and a sense of victimhood? There is a word I have never found.

She continued and I began to review my life. Looking at as many important relations and experiences as I could remem-ber, I thought of the people I loved once, realizing that while I was certain that I had disap-pointed and even hurt people in the course of my life, I could not remember deliberately causing pain or harm to anyone, nor hating anyone or even telling a significant lie. I didn’t forget to mention that I had that special blessing of someone to love — life’s elegance that far exceeds anything we might de-vice. All the sickness, pain, love, loss and triumph only deepened my capacity for compassion and loving kindness.

I have even learned to for-give those that had mercilessly hurt me, even if it lowered my standards.

Eventually I said: “But why doctor, do I suffer unseen and alone?” And then I just cried. My eyes stung with tears! I felt profoundly diminished, differ-ent and even ashamed, until my heart was a storm of loss.

It took me nine or 10 min-utes to tell all my whole story. The doctor said nothing to in-terrupt and just listened closely.

When I finished, she asked a few questions that showed me she had heard and fully under-stood. Then she reached for my hand and told me that she realized how hard things were. She validated my concerns. She reminded me that my lab studies had ruled out any truly life-threatening possibilities, my affliction assured and declared more clearly when they did a surgical solution, radiation and chemotherapy.

In the meantime, back to my Heart Companion, as I relayed the events. He looked at me and smiled. “We will wait together,” he assured me.

He had no diagnosis, unlike the others. What he offered me was his care, companion-ship and willingness to face the unknown with me. He assured me I had no expiration date.

In those moments, he had lifted the loneliness that had separated me from others and my own strength, in some way that I did not understand then. This made all the difference.

Someone else knew. Some-one else cared. And because of this, I found out that I had the greater courage to deal with whatever was going to happen, even gratitude — until tomor-row comes.

On the 30th, I will have a procedure and all will be in the Lord’s hands. The only sure thing about tomorrow is that it will arrive. And I’ll be alive to greet it.

***E-mail Mylah at moonlightingmdl@

aol.com

How to avoid jet lagMANGO MIX

by MARTIN JASON

L. ITA-AS

JET lag: a bane to starting your journey right and ending it smoothly. Jet lag has existed since the dawn of plane travel. Is there no way to combat these annoyingly draining episodes?

Fortunately, there are a few ways you can cancel the travel mood killer that is jet lag. Here we list down a few of them for you to try out the next time you’re planning on going on a journey:

FoodLove eating before your

big trip? Watching your diet on travel days can do wonders for those prone to jet lag. AA protein-filled meal is the way to go if you want to beat that tired feeling from your flight. Try foods like tuna, eggs, cheese, and chicken breast. But if you’re willing to brush off the hunger, not eating any food is a great solution as well. Not eating before your trip for a duration of 16 hours can help reset your biological clock, making your travel woes a thing of the past.

In-flight sleepingDon’t be afraid to spend

money on the soft, adjustable seats with a lot of room for you to stretch in, especially if you’re prone to jet lag. Having enough space to allow you to stretch will help simulate the sensa-tion of having a nice, wide bed, making it easier to get some well needed rest. The more sleep you get, the less taxing the trip and the arrival will be on you.

Seat positionIf sleeping isn’t an option,

try relaxing more and maybe sneaking a quick nap or two while you’re at it. Your position in the plane can determine how relaxed you will be. A seat at the back of the plane can get jumpy and bumpy mid-flight so try to avoid it as much as you can. Also try to avoid the seats closest to the bathroom, as people will pass by you every now and then, disturbing you from properly resting on the trip.

DrinksWater is definitely the only

way to go when you’re feel-ing parched on a flight. Avoid drinks like alcohol, soda and acidic citrus juices. These drinks affect your digestion, frequency of bathroom use and more importantly, they can dehydrate you, which is one part of the equation for a nasty case of jet

lag. Avoid them at all costs and try to stick with good old H2O.

Direction and sunlightThe amount of sunlight you

need and the direction you’re traveling can actually help with keeping the lag in check. Going East? Try to avoid the morning sun upon arrival. If you were planning to soak some warm rays of sunshine, do it in the afternoon. Westward travel is the total opposite. Make sure you bask in the light as much as you can.

With this information at hand, you can now fly as far and as long as you can with the means to combat the pains of haggard feelings while on a flight.

***Mango Tours is a provider of quality, afford-able and convenient travel services that include low-priced airline tickets, customized Philippine and International Tour Packages, Cruises, Land Transfers, Passport and Visa Concerns. It is the #1 producer of reliable travel services particularly when it comes to Philippine travel arrangements to the Filipino-American community in the US Mango Tours is able to provide its customers with a number of travel options at affordable rates because of its consolidator contracts with over 11 airlines. Book your travel bookings with Mango Tours by calling its 24/7 U.S. toll-free number at 1-866-2-MANILA (1-866-2-626452). Visit www.mangotours.com to know more about its latest promos and travel offers.* *Advertising Supplement

Jennylyn Mercado �ne with prenup if...learn a thing or two, especially on the tricky issue of signing a prenup.”

The movie was partly shot in New York City. Sam shared that they visited scenic spots like Central Park, Times Square, the Meatpacking District and Staten Island. “We didn’t have much time to see the sights, but there was never a dull mo-ment while working with Jen (her nickname). She is very giv-ing and open as an actress.”

Jennylyn said she and Sam already knew that they had nat-ural chemistry even while doing their first screen test. “We were already joking around, so you can just imagine how we were like while filming,” she recount-ed. “Sam knows how to take care of his leading lady. He is thoughtful and would always ask me what I wanted to eat whenever he bought food.”

Sam said their weeklong trip to the Big Apple was “fun and memorable because Jen

is extremely easy to work with. She’s even nicer than I imag-ined. She makes me feel very comfortable.”

As for Jennylyn, she admit-ted to feeling pressured since “The Prenup” came on the heels of her box-office hit, the rom-com “English Only, Please.”

“I feel the pressure. If this movie doesn’t surpass the suc-cess of my previous film, I pray that it would at least match it,” she said.

From Page 4

Gary Kelly

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Ian N.

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6 The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - October 21, 2015