July 15, 2013 1

Vol. XXII, No. 17 Online: www. manilamail.us July 15, 2013

Alcaraz’s family visit warship P8

Thomas in love with Pinay? P10

28 % are foreign doctors P12

PAFC picnic P16

Congressman shoots self P20

PH lets US use Subic MANILA - The Philip-

pines is allowing the US military greater access to its bases to pro-mote security and stability in the area.

The US embassy in Manila said in a statement it “is not seek-ing to create or reopen any mili-tary bases here. Working with the Philippines, we seek to pro-mote security and stability for our nations and in the region.”

The Philippines which is weak militarily wants greater US military presence in the wake

By JON MELEGRITO

The US Veterans Adminis-tration (VA), the U.S. Army and the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), in an effort to expedite pending claims and appeals by Filipino veterans who have been denied ben-efi ts under the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation (FVEC) Fund, have implemented changes to “increase transpar-ency and accelerate processing of claims” submitted by Filipino World War II veterans.

These changes include: the creation of a VA special team dedicated to FVEC appeals, quicker response time for ser-

vice verifi cation requests and expedited hearings, and more detailed response letters explain-ing why an application was denied. In addition, because of the advanced age of veterans submitting appeals, VA staff will personally obtain copies of cer-tain Philippine Army documents from the Adjutant General of the Philippines to increase turn-around time.

These improvements are detailed in the offi cial report of the Interagency Working Group (IWG), which has been working quietly behind the scenes in the last eight months. The report was released recently by the White House Initiative on Asian

American and Pacifi c Islanders

(WHIAAPI), which created the

group in October 2012 in collabo-

ration with the Offi ce of Manage-

ment and Budget. More than 4,000 Filipino

veterans who have fi led appeals after their claims were rejected could benefi t from these changes. These veterans have argued that they have been impeded from fi ling claims or believe their claims were improperly denied because the VA failed to consider other legitimate documentation to prove their service.

They could also have been disqualifi ed on techni-cal grounds, like misspelled or transposed names. These con-cerns prompted the convening of the IWG, which includes the Veterans Administration, the US Army and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Their mandate was “to ana-lyze the process faced by these Filipino veterans in demonstrat-ing eligibility for compensation in order to ensure that all appli-cations receive thorough and fair review.”

GOPs slow downdrafting own bill

WASHINGTON - After more than two hours of closed-door talks, the Republican-con-trolled House of Representatives said they will take their time drafting their own version of the comprehensive immigration reform bill.

CNN said the bill entered an “uncertain new phase” as GOPs expressed some willing-ness to compromise but opposi-

tion to granting the 11 million undocumented aliens a path to

Continued on page 22

FilAms hail sainthood for 2 PopesBy A. TUGADO MARZAN

WASHINGTON D.C. – Fili-pinos and Filipino Americans in the DC area hailed Pope Francis’ signing July 5, 2013 at the Vati-can a decree to canonize two of the 20th century’s most infl uen-tial popes--John Paul II and John XXIII-- who will be made saints of the Roman Catholic Church later this year.

The date of the dual canon-

ization of the late pontiffs will be decided by a consistory (meet-ing of cardinals) possibly this September, according to Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Fed-erico Lombardi. Some expect the ceremony to occur December 8, 2013, feast of the Immaculate Conception, a major feast day for the church that honors the Blessed Virgin Mary (mother of Jesus), to whom the two popes were devoted to.

Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 266th pope of the Catholic Church since Saint Peter fi rst held the post almost 2000 years ago) approved a second miracle (needed for can-onization) attributed to the inter-cession of Blessed John Paul II (also called John Paul the Great) and using his papal author-ity to honor Blessed John XXIII

Continued on page 21 Continued on page 21

Continued on page 22

Aerial view of Subic naval base station.

File photo shows a veteran whose claim has been denied.

House Speaker John Boehner

Pope John Paul II Pope John XXIII

July 15, 201322

July 15, 2013 3

AARP names Kwok VP for outreach to Asians The American Association

of Retired Persons (AARP)has appointed Daphne Kwok as the new Vice President, Multicul-tural Markets and Engagement effective July 8th. Daphne will lead AARP’s outreach to Asian Americans 50+.

“Daphne brings with her

an extensive history of commu-nity activism and leadership in the Asian American and Pacifi c Islander American (APIA) com-munities,” said Lorraine Corts-Vazquez, AARP’s Executive Vice President, Multicultural Markets & Engagement. “We are very excited to have her return to Washington, DC and become part of our team”.

“I am honored to be joining AARP, an iconic national voice for 50+ individuals. Our APIA community needs to become a

part of the AARP network so that we can benefi t from the exten-sive resources and services. As our population grows, our 50+ segment grows, I look forward to focusing my work on empow-ering a revered part of our APIA

family,” stated Kwok.Her most recent appoint-

ment was by President Barack Obama in July 2010 to serve as Chair of President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacifi c Islanders.

Ms. Kwok has also served as the Executive Director of Asians & Pacifi c Islanders with Disabilities of California (APIDC) for the last fi ve years. A non-profi t based in Oakland, APIDC seeks to give a voice and a face to AAPIs

with disabilities. Ms. Kwok has fought to break down the stigma in the AAPI community about disabilities and to provide tech-nical assistance to organizations that want to effectively work with AAPIs with disabilities.

Daphne Kwok

July 15, 201344

Pinoy elected 1st prexy of Jersey City councilBy Manny Caballero

JERSEY CITY - Filipino-

American Councilman-at-Large

Rolando R. Lavarro, Jr. was

unanimously elected president

of this city’s City Council during

the new council’s fi rst session on

July 1, 2013.

The election of Lavarro

took place immediately after the

council members were sworn

into offi ce before a standing

room only crowd of relatives,

friends and supporters at the

council chamber of City Hall.

Councilman Lavarro took

his oath of offi ce before Mayor

Steven Fulop.

The councilman’s wife,

Veronica, held the Bible while

her husband recited the oath.

Lavarro was the only offi -

cial who was sworn in by Mayor

Fulop, who was also sworn in as

new executive of Jersey City a

few hours earlier.

With his election as Coun-

cil President, Lavarro earned

another historic “fi rst” for him-

self and for Filipino-Americans

in Jersey City, the second largest

city in New Jersey.

It is estimated that around

20,000 FilAms reside in this city,

one of the biggest concentrations

of Pinoys in the East Coast.

“I am honored that my col-

leagues chose me,” said Lavarro

in a statement.

“I intend to bring urgency,

accountability and transparency

to the council business. I will

work to forge consensus with the

rest of the Council to transform

our city and government and get

results. This is what the people

of Jersey City demanded and

deserve.”

After trying for over 25

years to send a ‘Pinoy’ to their

city government through elec-

tion (a good number of Filipinos

had been appointed in the past to

various positions and commis-

sions), the Filipino-Americans

here in a united front, unlike in

previous elections, supported

and successfully made a fellow

Fil-Am the second highest city

offi cial, next only to the mayor,

in this city of 250,000.

Lavarro now holds the fol-

lowing distinctions: 1) fi rst Fili-

pino-American to win an elective

position in Jersey City (2011);

2) fi rst Filipino-American

elected to a full four-year term in

Jersey City (2013);

and 3) fi rst Filipino-Amer-

ican president of Jersey City’s

City Council (2013). (Special to

Filipino Reporter)

Jersey City Councilman-at-Large Rolando Lavarro, Jr., with his wife Veron-ica beside him, takes his oath before Mayor Steven Fulop. (Filipino Reporter photo)

July 15, 2013 54 Pinoys indicted for gun smuggling

PITTSBURGH - Four men from the Philippines have been charged by a federal grand jury with conspiring with others in western Pennsylvania and other states to illegally ship military rifl e parts and ammunition over-seas.

The indictment unsealed July 3 names 42-year-old James Almendral, who was arrested last week in San Francisco, and three men who remain in the Philippines: 40-year-old Fred-erico Aglipay, 53-year-old Roger Kabigting, and 43-year-old James Tan Lee.

The men were fi rst indicted in 2009 before a supersed-ing indictment was brought in November, also under seal. The documents charge the men with conspiring to buy the M-16 and M-4 rifl e components from a business in Illinois, then conspir-ing with others in Pennsylvania, Texas and California to ship them labeled as automotive parts to the Philippines.

Online court records don’t list defense attorneys and don’t explain why the weapons were shipped.

Baltimore group helps adopt children from PH

Catholic Charities of Balti-more. a non-profi t organization, has revealed that it has thus far assisted families in the adoption of children from the Philippines.

It said it helps them “adopt their relative children from the Philippines, under certain con-ditions. Over the past fi ve years, we have assisted over 40 families to accomplish this. We are able to assist families who live any-where in the U.S.”

Ellen Warnock, LCSW-C Associate Administrator of

the Center for Family Services Adoption Program, a project of Catholic Charities, says “typi-cally, adoption becomes neces-sary if a child’s birthparents are no longer able to care for him/her, due to death, illness, pov-erty, incarceration, or abandon-ment. It is a complicated process, and often takes 18-24 months to achieve. The Center says costs are “also signifi cant (in the range of $22,000) since many different providers have to be paid for their services. We are a non-

profi t child-placement agency, and all fees simply cover the cost of our work.”

She asked the Manila Mail to help make their services known more widely.

For more info, contact Ellen Warnock, LCSW-C, Associate Administrator, Center for Family Services Adoption Program, a Program of Catholic Charities’ Child & Family Services Divi-sion, 2601 N. Howard Street Suite 200 Baltimore, MD 21218 410-659-4050.

July 15, 201366

Ramsey’s fi nal Cavalry Charge in ArlingtonWASHINGTON D.C. - Col.

Edwin Price Ramsey, former head of the 26th Cavalry Regi-ment of the Philippine Scouts who led the last horse cav-alry charge in Morong, Bataan against the Japanese invaders in 1942, was laid to rest with full military honors at the Arlington National Cemetery on June 28, 2013. He died on March 7 at the age of 95.

Members of the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society paid their fi nal respects to Ramsey who refused to surrender to the Japanese and later organized a big guerrilla force to continue the fi ght until the end of World War II.

Ramsey was born in Illi-nois and attended the Oklahoma Military Academy. He volun-teered to serve in the Philippines

with the 26th Cavalry as 1st Lt. when he was 24 years old. The 26th Calvary he commanded consisted of 54 regular US army offi cers and 784 men, majority of them Philippine “scouts.”

When US Gen. Jonathan Wainwright surrendered in 1942, Ramsey escaped to lead a guerrilla army that continued to harass the Japanese invaders until the liberation of the Philip-pines by Gen. Douglas MacAr-

thur in 1945.For gallantry in action

in Bataan, Gen. Wainwright awarded Ramsey the Silver Star. He also received a Purple Heart and three Presidential Unit Cita-tions for defense of the Philip-pines, Lingayen Gulf and Bataan. In Manila later, General MacAr-thur personally pinned the Dis-

tinguished Service Cross on him for his three years of guerrilla warfare and promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel. A hero to the Filipino people, Ramsey was awarded that country’s Medal of Honor, the Philippine Distin-guished Conduct Star, the Dis-tinguished Service Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Gold Cross of Valor and the Wounded Person-

nel Medal. For more informa-

tion and great images, be sure to

visit http://www.edwinprice-

ramsey.com/

Study bares growing poverty among AsianAms NEW YORK - “The con-

tinual portrayal of AAPIs as the fastest growing, best educated, and wealthiest racial minor-ity group overshadows the growing poverty in our com-munities,” said Lisa Hasegawa, National Executive Director of the National Coalition for Asian Amerian Community Develop-ment (NCAACD).

Ms Hasegawa made this statement recently following the fi ndings of the recent Asian American and Pacifric Islander (AAPI) Poverty Demographic Study at a press conference last month.

She said “We cannot over-look the fact that we are also one of the fastest growing poor pop-ulations in our country. We hope that the fi ndings from our study push policymakers and philan-thropy to recognize that the faces of poverty include AAPIs and that an economic recovery for our country must reach those in our communities who have been most impacted.”

The report is buttressed by the recent Brookings Institution study that the number of poor people in U.S. suburbs rose by 63.6% between 2000 and 2011, from 10 million to well over 16 million people. It said that for the fi rst time, there are now more people living in poverty in the suburbs than in cities.

The study brings attention to communities in need and broad-ens the conversation about what it means to be AAPI in America. The study reveals that the AAPI poor population grew faster than most other ethnic groups from 2007-2011, increasing by 38% to over 2 million. Other key high-lights of the study include:

* AAPI Poverty is Growing

Dramatically: *From 2007 to 2011, the

number of AAPIs living below the federal poverty level increased by more than half a million.

* This 38% increase can be broken down into a 37% increase for Asian Americans (AAs) in poverty and a 60% increase for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacifi c Islanders (NHOPIs) in poverty.

* In comparison, the general poverty population grew by 27% during the same time period, with the Hispanic/Latino pov-erty population growing by 42% and the African American pov-erty population growing by 20%.

* The AAPI Poor Population is Concentrated: Over 50% of all

AAPI poor live in 10 met-ropolitan areas (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chi-cago, Honolulu, Seattle, San Jose, Houston, Sacramento, and Phila-delphia). No other racial/ethnic poverty population is as concen-trated in as few places. Approxi-mately 30% of all AAPI poor live in only 3 metro areas (New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco).

* AAPI Poor Disproportion-ately Face High Housing Costs: The 20 highest cost housing markets in the country contain almost half of all AAPI poor. No other racial/ethnic category has as high of a proportion of its poor population in these mar-kets (closest is Hispanic/Latino at 27%).

* The AAPI Poor Population is Diverse: From 2000 to 2010, the US Census identifi ed AAPI populations in poverty for 22 separate ethnic groups. The larg-est single group is non-Taiwan-ese Chinese at almost 450,000, followed by Asian Indian at

over 245,000 and Vietnamese at 230,000. Hmong have the highest poverty rate at 27%, followed by Bangladeshi at 21% and Tongans at 19%.

“With this report, policy-makers can no longer ignore the growing poverty in our com-munities,” remarked Congress-woman Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacifi c American Caucus (CAPAC). “Like many Americans strug-gling through the Great Reces-sion, Asian Americans and Pacifi c Islanders have been dev-astated by long term unemploy-ment, high foreclosure rates and downward mobility.”

“The fi ndings of this study reinforce the fact that many AAPIs are suffering in the shad-ows,” added Congresswoman Grace Meng (NY-6), Chair of the CAPAC Economic Development Task Force. “In my district, I see fi rsthand the many underserved families and individuals who

desperately need resources to help them get through these dif-fi cult times.”

Congressman Al Green (TX-9), Chair of the CAPAC Housing Task Force noted, “This study highlights the importance of empowering and investing in all underserved communities, including our Asian American and Pacifi c Islander communi-ties. As a member of the Con-gressional Asian Pacifi c Ameri-can Caucus, I will continue to advocate for issues important to our AAPI communities, so that issues of language access are not impediments to equality of opportunity. I will also work to ensure that all full-time working Americans have access to jobs that pay living wages,

which allow them to not only escape poverty but also support their families.”

Ford Foundation Board Chair Irene Hirano Inouye said, “This report confi rms that we

need more accurate data on the AAPI community, which is too often ignored when it comes to resources and attention from government agencies and phil-anthropic interests.

The fi ndings illustrate not only the challenges our neigh-borhoods continue to face in the wake of the recession, but also that the economic recov-ery remains well beyond reach for millions of AAPIs across the country. National CAPACD calls on Congress, the federal govern-ment, the business community, and foundations to bring more resources to our neighborhoods, build the capacity of our local community based organiza-tions and develop public-private partnerships that bring greater investments to our communities.

The full report is available on the National CAPACD web-site, www.nationalcapacd.org <http://www.nationalcapacd.org/>.

Boston Rondalla in Malacanang

Edwin Ramsey photos in 1940 and 2013.

Horses pull caisson bearing Ramsey’s coffi n. ( Embassy photo by Elmer G. Cato)

Scouts, dressed in their old uniform, stand at attention during burial rites at Arlington National Cemetery. (Embassy photo)

President Benigno S. Aquino III poses for a group photo with the Iskwelahang Pilipino Rondalla during the courtesy call at Malacanang’s Heroes Hall on July 2. The ensemble was formed in 1986 by Cristina Castro with a shoestring budget. She searched for several years for a teacher while collecting instruments for the Iskwela-hang Filipino (IP) Rondalla. It has since fl ourished as a truly Filipino American expression, incorporating into its repertoire aspects of traditional and contemporary music from the Philippines and the United States. Also in photo are Violaere Rodriguez Bailey, Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro and IP Rondalla founder Cristina Castro (Malacanang Photo Bureau)

July 15, 2013 7

July 15, 201388

‘I felt his presence,’ Alcaraz daughter saysWASHINGTON, D.C.-The

daughter of Commodore Ramon Alcaraz said she felt her late father’s presence the day she and her mother went on board the BRP Ramon Alcaraz-the latest addition to the Philippine Fleet that was named in honor of the Filipino World War II naval hero.

“When I came on board the Alcaraz, I felt so proud and hon-estly, speechless. I wish I had the words to express the torrent of emotions I experienced,” said Ramona Alcaraz Marshall. “I was extremely close to my father and I so wished he was there; yet I did feel his presence that day.”

Ramona had the chance to board the Alcaraz on July 2, a few days after the vessel arrived in San Diego, its last port call in the United States mainland before it resumes its voyage to the Philippines.

Ramona was with her mother, Concepcion, her father’s sister Efi genia Alcaraz-Johnson, her daughter Hailey Marshall and family friend Santas Tamayo during the visit.

They were received by the offi cers and crew of the Alcaraz led by Capt. Ernesto Baldovino the day after the visit of Consul General Hellen Barber Dela Vega and members of the Filipino-American Community.

“The presence of Com-modore Alcaraz’s family gave

the ship’s namesake a human dimension that touched the crew,” Captain Baldovino said. “We became more aware of the life of Commodore Alcaraz, his

heroism, trials and sacrifi ces during his entire life.”

“The men and women of the Alcaraz are now more inspired to do the same sacrifi ces for the country,” Captain Baldovino said as he recalled how the late

navy offi cer was credited for shooting down three enemy

aircraft while serving as com-mander of a coastal patrol boat at the start of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941.

It was for that feat that the Philippine Navy decided to honor Commodore Alcaraz by rechristening the former USCGS Dallas, a Hamilton Class, all-weather, high endurance cutter, as the BRP Ramon Alcaraz immediately after it was turned over by the United States to the Philippines last year.

“When we found out the Coast Guard cutter was to be named after my father, we were overjoyed and overwhelmed by the honor. My family thought this was such a fi tting tribute for my father’s accomplishments in his many years of service in the Navy,” said Ramona.

“Unfortunately, my father

didn’t share details of his exploits. When he spoke of any event, he would just tell me it happened, but gave no details of what he had experienced. In that way, I think he felt that what he did in the name of country and democracy was simply just his duty to perform, no more, no less,” she said.

Commodore Alcaraz and the members of his crew were captured by the Japanese and incarcerated in Bulacan until they were released upon the liberation of the Philippines. He went on to serve in what would become the Philippine Navy upon the independence of the Philippines. He retired in 1966 and passed away in 2009.

“I was born after my father had already retired from the ser-vice. I knew my father as a suc-cessful real estate entrepreneur, loving husband and father. He was tough in his upbringing of me, but was also very tender and giving,” recalled Ramona.

“My father instilled in me a strong work ethic and noth-ing in this world will be given you. You have to earn it and in order to be proud of any of your accomplishments you must con-duct yourself honestly and with integrity.”

8 of 10 Pinoys impacted by climate change -SWSWASHINGTON D.C. - The

World Bank says there is a need for the Philippines to undertake an extensive information cam-paign about climate change.

In a report released late last month about climate extremes, regional impacts and national resilience, the World Bank said there is a possibility of a 2-degree warmer world in the next few decades due to climate change which threatens to reverse the development gains in East Asia and the Pacifi c region.

The Bank commissioned the Social Weather Station (SWS) to undertake the study in the Phil-ippines, a country that is at risk from various forms of natural disasters every year.

The SWS study said that eight out of every 10 Filipinos have experienced suffering from climate change in the last three years. But it said only one-third or 38 percent of respondents have “only little” understand-ing of climate change, while 14 percent have “almost no under-standing” of the subject. Only 12 percent of respondents said they have “extensive” knowledge” while some 35 percent has “par-tial knowledge” of the effects of climate change on their lives.

SWS said that 85 percent of respondents claimed to have suf-fered from climate change with 54 percent describing their expei-

rences as “severe to moderate.” “Intensifying information

campaigns on climate change remains a very important task in the Philippines,” said Chris-tophe Crepin, World Bank’s sector leader for Environment in the East Asia and Pacifi c.

“With deeper understand-ing of this complex develop-ment issue, the country could enlist greater participation of the people and their leaders, civil society groups, the private sector and media in addressing the challenge especially for the poor and vulnerable,” he added.

In a statement released late last month, the World Bank said “the percentage of those who personally exprienced climate change impacts are highest in urban areas (90 percent) com-

pared to rural areas (79) per-cent.”

SWS said that at 91 per-cent, climate change impact was highest at the National Capital Region, followed by the rest of Luzon (87 percent), Visayas (84 percent) and Mindanao (78 per-cent).

“The SWS survey tells us just how pervasive the impacts of climate change are to the lives of many Filipinos,” said Climate Change Commission secretary Lucille Sering said in the same statement.

“In the last several years, the country has suffered extreme weather events including long dry spells, heavy rains as well as strong typhoons and fl oods¦ Even some areas in Mindanao that we used to consider as

“typhoon-free” have recently been hit by very strong typhoons, fl oods and mudslides,” she added.

The Climate Change Vulner-ability Index 2013 report identi-fi ed Manila as one of the seven cities around the world that face

the highest exposure to the adverse impacts of climate

change. “With deeper understand-

ing of this complex develop-ment issue, the country could enlist greater participation of the people and their leaders, civil society groups, the private sector and media in addressing the challenge especially for the poor and vulnerable,” Crepin added.

Capt. Ernesto Baldovino, skipper of the ‘Ramon Alcaraz’ , poses with Mrs. Concepcion Alcaraz, the widow, during the ship’s stopover in San Diego.

File photo a fl ooded street in Manila.

ANCOP ‘Sayawan sa Oxon Hill’

What better way to raise awareness and funds, than to dance to the music? And that’s exactly what the ANCOP Capi-tal Region did last June 8 at St. Columba’s Fr. Dewan Hall in Oxon Hill, MD.

At the “Sayawan sa Oxon Hill,” ANCOP leaders and guests enjoyed the dinner, music, and dancing. As the evening progressed, the guests heard about the many projects that ANCOP was involved in. One worldwide project is “ANCOP Global Walk for the Poor” which the regional chap-ters all over the world will do simultaneously. The global walks are scheduled for August 3 and 24 (See DC-MD-VA Cal-

endar elsewhere for details).The Educational Scholar-

ship Program was also a major focus of the evening. For the equivalent of $1 a day, anyone can sponsor a child’s elemen-tary or high-school educa-tion. It is an incredible gift that changes the mindset of a child and prepares him or her for a child. Video clips about sponsored students eloquently told the success stories of stu-dents who were recipients of the scholarships. Many hands went up when donations for this program were called for. The organizers of the evening were Rey Regis, Nemi Chavez and Cres Reyes who did an out-standing job addressing all the details of a successful evening.

July 15, 2013 9

July 15, 20131010

US Ambassador Thomas in love with Filipina?MANILA - Is US Ambas-

sador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas, Jr. in love with a dusky, voluptuous Filipina with a tattoo?

This is the question that the media are talking about these days. Thomas and Mithi Aquino, human resource training offi -cer of a British American Cruise Line, who hails from Pampanga have been seen together often, including the recent jazz festival in Manila.

But during the Fourth of July embassy reception at the US embassy, Thomas acknowledged publicly for the fi rst time Aquino by saying that they both would be leaving soon.

Thomas Jr. with his girl-friend Mithi Aquino (left) and Frankie Reed, US envoy to Fiji and other Pacifi c countries, during last November’s consular ball in Manila. Thomas himself tweeted this photo right after the ball, an early public indication that he and Mithi were an item. “Lots of fun!” Thomas tweeted with the picture. At the Fourth of July US Embassy reception last week, Thomas publicly declared that Mithi will be accompany-ing him back to the US this year when he winds up his time in Manila.

Since early last year, colum-nists have been writing about the envoy making sweet music

together with Mithi whom he met on a cruise.

They tried to be discreet about their relationship, with Thomas keeping their photo-graph in his private enclave away from the eyes of visitors.

In the past few months, they have been seen more often, lead-ing some columnists to speculate that the relationship was getting serious.

Still, the couple kept mum. During receptions which offer buffet services, Aquino would get his plate and serve him with affection.

During their travels, Aquino would maintain propriety by paying for her fare and accom-modations. When her two chil-dren would join the trip with Thomas, they would seem like one happy family.

Thomas said that after his term ends in Manila, he will be going to Arizona to take up a teaching fellowship.

The media said that from the way Aquino has been look-ing after him, it seems that she is ready to start a new life.

Thomas has served as Wash-ington’s envoy to the Philippines

since 2010.In November 2009, he was

nominated by US President Barack Obama to replace Kris-tie Kenney as ambassador to the Philippines.

Born on June 3, 1956, in New York City, Thomas earned his bachelor’s degree at the Jesuit-run College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He pursued further study at Colum-bia University and holds an hon-orary doctorate of philosophy from Loyola University of Mary-land.

Thomas, who grew up in Queens, was married to jazz singer Ericka Ovette. They have one daughter, Casey Merie. (Marge C. Enriquez, Inquirer Research)

Palawan beats Boracay as ‘World’s Best Island 2013’

NEW YORK - Palawan has dethroned Boracay in Travel & Leisure Magazine’s “World’s Best Awards Islands 2013.” It broke Boracay’s record which won the award in 2012. Palawan was not even mentioned in the magazine’s list last year.

This year, Palawan took the top spot with a score of 95.04 among the top 10 islands voted by the magazine’s readers. Bora-cay slipped to the second spot with a score of 93.58.

With its majestic limestone cliffs, wondrous underwater scenes, breathtaking beaches, natural attractions and eco-luxury resorts, Palawan is fast becoming a favorite destination for local and foreign tourists.

The two Philippine islands were followed by Maui, Santo-rini in Greece, Prince Edward Island in Canada, Bali, Kauai, Sicily in Italy, Koh Samui in Thailand, and Galapagos.

Earlier this month, El Nido in Palawan, Puka Beach

in Boracay, and Palaui Island in Cagayan Valley also made it to CNN’s list of the world’s top 100 best beaches.

In 2012, El Nido also topped CNN Go’s list of the Philippines’ best beaches and islands. In the same year, Palawan was number four in the Top 10 Holiday Des-tinations In Asia category of a worldwide poll by online travel magazine, Smart Travel Asia.

In 2007, Palawan was recog-nized as one of the world’s best tourist Destinations in National Geographic Traveler’s maga-zine. Palawan was placed in the “Doing Well” category, for places that are in relatively good shape but face minor problems. The magazine noted that pollu-tion posed a threat to the diverse marine life surrounding the islands, but conservation efforts were improving.

Boracay made its debut on the Travel + Leisure list in 2011 and rose to number one in 2012 despite the fact that some visitors

have noted algae bloom, among the signs of pollution in the place that many describe as a beach paradise.

While tourism has provided livelihood opportunities for Boracay’s residents, the nega-tive effects of commercialization cannot be denied. Another prob-lem is the uneven distribution of wealth, with the Ati, the island’s original residents, on the losing end. Boracay has also suffered a tourism glut following the dip-lomatic row between the Philip-pines and Taiwan.

Los Angeles Times travel editor Catharine Hamm was also disappointed by Boracay, with its roads like “pot-holed obstacle courses,” crowded beaches, and badly damaged coral.

“This wasn’t a love match - not for me. Maybe 30 years ago when Boracay and I were less overdeveloped,” Hamm wrote in May.

-Carmela G. Lapena

DFA sets evacuation of Pinoys in Egypt

MANILA- The Department of Foreign Affairs have issued an alert to Filipinos in Cairo, Egypt to prepare for evacuation

as a result of the ongoing crisis in that country.

“Upon the advice of our Embassy in Cairo, the secre-tary of foreign affairs has raised crisis alert level two over Egypt, in view of the deteriorating peace and order situation in the country,’DFA spokesman Assistant Secretary Raul Her-nandez told reporters in a brief-ing July 9.

“All Filipinos in Egypt are advised to restrict non-essen-tial movements, avoid public places, and to prepare for pos-sible evacuation,” Hernandez said. There are slmost 6,000 Filipinos in Egypt, according to DFA.

The Egyptian military ousted president Mohammed Morsi two weeks ago after days of mass protests in Cairo. At least 51 people were killed last week after troops fi red on

Muslim Brotherhood protesters who reported tried to attack the Red Guards headquarters.

Because of the crisis alert

level two, the deployment of newly hired Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to Egypt will be put on hold. Those OFWs who already have existing con-tracts may proceed “but we strongly advice them to take precautionary measures, those who have yet to register with the embassy should do so,” Hernandez said.

He also advised the public to postpone non-essential trips to Egypt.

The DFA was continu-ously monitoring the situation in Egypt and coordinating with the Philippine Embassy there who will issue a recommenda-tion to upgrade the crisis alert level.

Crisis alert level three will mean the beginning of volun-tary repatriation, Hernandez said.

US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas Jr. and his date Mithi Aquino (no relation to President Aquino) during the Best Dressed 2012 awards night in Makati City. (Arnold Almacen) Second photo shows Mithi with Thomas and Frankie Reed, US envoy to Fiji and other Pacifi c countries. Thomas himself tweeted this photo right after the ball.

Photo shows pro- and anti-Morsi supporters clashing in Cairo, Egypt.

July 15, 2013 11

July 15, 20131212

28% of physicians in US are immigrants!WASHINGTON D.C. - Col-

lege educated immigrants rep-resented nearly 28 percent of physicians, more than 31 percent of computer programmers, and over 47 percent of medical scien-tists in the United States in 2011.

Qingging Ji and Jeanne Bat-alova of the DC-based Migration Policy Institute said that contrary to a widely held view, immi-grants in the United States have an expansive range of education levels, with about one in three immigrants having obtained a college degree

According to the US Census Bureau’s 2011 American Com-munity Survey ACS), immi-grants accounted for 16 percent of the 58.8 million college-edu-cated persons. However, their numbers were much higher among workers in certain occu-pations: Immigrants represent nearly 28 percent of physicians,

more than 31 percent of com-puter programmers, and over 47 percent of medical scientists.

This spotlight provides a brief demographic and socio-

economic profi le of college-edu-cated natives and immigrants (age 25 and older) in 2011 and those who were engaged in the US civilian labor force.

Facts:* One in six college-edu-

cated adults was born abroad. * The college-educated

immigrant population grew

faster than their native counter-parts in the 1990s and 2000s.

* Women slightly outnum-bered men among the foreign-born, college-educated popula-

tion. * College-educated immi-

grants were younger than their native counterparts.

* Almost three-quarters of foreign-born, college-educated adults were Asian and white.

* About 17 percent of col-lege-educated immigrants were of Latino origin.

* The foreign born were more likely to hold a doctorate or professional degree than the native born.

* Close to 28 percent of col-lege-educated immigrants were limited English profi cient.

* Of the 9.4 million college-educated foreign born, one-third arrived in the last 11 years.

* Over half of all college-educated immigrants came from Asia, with India, the Philippines, and China being the top three origin countries.

* Close to 8 percent of col-

lege-educated immigrants lived in families below the poverty line.

* College-educated immi-grants were more likely to be unemployed than the native born.

* About one in ten col-lege-educated adults was self-employed.

* The length of stay affected the earnings of the college-edu-cated immigrants.

* Foreign-born, college-edu-cated workers were more likely to be in high-tech, science, or engineering occupations.

* California, New York, Florida, and Texas accounted for half of the 7.2 million immi-grants in college-educated labor force. More than 1.6 million col-lege-educated immigrants were underutilized in the US labor market in 2011.

Foreign doctors in a hospital operating room in the US.

No Pinoy in ‘Asiana’ crash, EU lifts PAL ban

WASHINGTON D.C. - The Philippine embassy has said no Filipino was on board the Asiana Airlines 777 that crashlanded at the San Francisco International Airport July 6.

Asiana Airlines said the plane, which originated in Shanghai, China carried 291 pas-sengers and 16 crewmembers. It said there were 77 Koreans, 141 Chinese, 71 Americans and a Japanese.

In a post on its Twitter account, the embassy said the Philippine consulate general sent two offi cers to the San Francisco airport to check if Filipinos were among the passengers.

MANILA (PNA) – The Phil-ippine Airlines will soon have direct fl ight again to Europe after the European Union announced on July 10 the lifting of the air ban for the country’s fl ag carrier and on the Philippine aviation sector.

(Malacanang and the Department of Tourism hailed the lifting saying this will mean more tourists coming to the Phil-ippines from European coun-tries.)

”Today, the EU has decided to lift the air ban for Philippines Airlines. The decision will be effective starting July 12 this year,” Guy Ledoux, head of del-egation of the EU to the Philip-pines, announced in a press conference at the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) headquarters in Pasay City.

Ledoux said the Philippines’

other airline Cebu Pacifi c Air has not been included in the lifting due to the recent airport mishap at Davao International Airport involving Cebu Pacifi c aircraft.

”Cebu Pacifi c did quite sound compliance but the unfor-

tunate incident on June 2 has shown that there is some safety measures that the airline has to addressed,” Ledoux explained.

The lifting of air restriction for PAL was the result of series of meetings and on-site safety assessment conducted by the European Commission last June 3 to 7 in the Philippines, accord-ing to Ledoux.

”This decision is very encouraging and is a fi rst success for both CAAP and Philippine Airlines,” Ledoux said.

The EU ambassador com-mended CAAP director general William Hotchkiss and his team for working hard to reach this “tremendous achievement in such a short period of time.”

”Without the relentless work of DG Hotchkiss and his team, this would not have been possible. It must be remembered

that DG Hotchkiss took over the helm of CAAP only one year ago,” Ledoux said.

The delisting of the Philip-pines from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s roster of countries with signifi -

cant safety concerns also played big role towards regaining the EU’s decision to lift restrictions on Philippine carriers.

Hotchkiss expressed appre-ciation to EU diplomatic com-munity who were present during the press conference for crediting the hard work and effort that the CAAP team did for more than a year.

PAL president and CEO Ramon Ang also expressed his deepest gratitude to the EU dip-lomatic community and Presi-dent Benigno Aquino III for choosing very competent team to manage CAAP.

With the lifting of air ban, Ang said PAL will start fl ying to Europe specifi cally in Paris, London, Rome and Amsterdam starting September or October.

Ang said PAL is ready to compete with big airlines in

Europe with its acquisition of long-range aircraft Airbus340s.

With the lifting of EU air ban, Hotchkiss is eyeing next the upgrading of the Philip-pines aviation from Category 2 to Category 1 by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

before the year ends.All air carriers from the Phil-

ippines were banned from the EU in March 2010 following very poor results from an ICAO audit in 2009 which led to a signifi cant safety concern (SSC) being issue by ICAO.

p12rp civil aviation.tif

80 die as troops battle Bangsamoro fi ghters

MANILA -- Up to 80 mem-bers of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have been killed in clashes with sol-diers last week. The BIFF is made up of renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which is now close to reaching a peace agree-ment with the Philippine gov-ernment.

The aim of BIFF is to dis-rupt the peace deal.

A lull in fi ghting is expected for the next few weeks as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins, the military said.

But Maj. Gen. Romeo Gapuz, chief of the 6th Infantry Division whose soldiers had engaged BIFF fi ghters in a fi re-fi ght for three days last week, said his men saw only 18 bodies of the dead bandits.

“We cannot just retrieve the bodies because that is against their customs and tradi-tion,” Gapuz said, noting that Muslims bury their dead imme-diately or within 24 hours after death.

“On our part we have six killed, one offi cer and fi ve enlisted

personnel, and we have two wounded in action,” he added.The Army casualty, a

lieutenant, died in a landmine explosion in Shariff Saidona Mustapha, Maguindanao. Landmines are prohibited under international law.

“The BIFF is hell-bent on derailing the peace talks by launching simultaneous attacks against civilian and military installations,” Gapuz said.

The BIFF broke away from the MILF in 2011 due to policy and ideological differences. The BIFF has vowed to sabotage the peace process between the government and the MILF and to fi ght for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.

Army reports said the BIFF had launched sporadic attacks on civilian ommunities and military detachments since last month.

Last month, the BIFF attacked civilians in Baran-gay Bagumbayan in President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat, killing a farmer and a militiaman.

On the same day in the same community, BIFF gunmen led by a certain Uztads Zukarno Sapal also attacked a patrol base of the 33rd Infantry Battalion.

The BIFF also launched a series of attacks during the Ramadan last year.

July 15, 2013 13

New laws go into effect in MD, VirginiaMaryland and Virginia on

July First started implementing new laws that were passed by their respective assemblies in the previous fi scal year.

Pinoys in Maryland will have their tax on gas rise by four cents, from $0.235 to $0.275,275. It is said to be the fi rst gas tax hike in the state in 20 years. This is expected to generate $800 mil-lion per year for road and transit projects.

Other new laws:

-New smoke detector law requires that all battery only smoke detectors need to have a ten year lithium battery that is sealed in because dead batter-ies were responsbile for deadly house fi res last year.

-The sales of crib bumper pads are banned. The health department says that baby bumper pads pose a risk of suffo-cation, strangulation, and death.

- Early voting rule is expaded from six days to eight

days and allows same day voting registration. It also increases fi nes from $2,500 to $5,000 the maximum fi ne for voting more than once or attenpting to infl u-ence voter’s decisions.

-Compounding pharma-cies will now be subject to state review. These pharmacies change medicine to fi t the needs of a particular patient.

For FilAms in Virginia:Pocketbooks of Pinoys will

feel a dent as statewide Retail

Sales and Use Tax rate for most purchases will increase to 5.3 percent statewide. In addition, there is a 0.7 percent increase in the localities that make up the Northern Virginia and Hamp-ton Roads regions. This means their tax rate will rise from fi ve to six percent. The tax on pur-chases of qualifying food for home consumption will remain unchanged.

-Texting while driving or reading a text message will

become a primary offence. It allows police offi cer to pull a driver who does these while driving. Exception is putting information on a GPS device. Violators will be fi ned $125.

- One year in jail for a person found buying a fi rearm in the state for the purpose of resell-ing it to a buyer who is prohib-ited from owning a fi rearm. This was a Class 5 felony but is now a Class 4 felony.

- The public records of con-cealed handgun permits will not be made public and will be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

- Virginia public schools are going to receive a grading scale from A-F that includes the stan-dards of accreditation, state and federal accountability require-ments, and student growth indi-cators.

(For details of these new state laws, go to:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?131+men+BIL

For Maryland go tohttp://mgaleg.maryland.

gov/webmga/frmLegislation.

July 15, 20131414

July 15, 2013 15

If you would like to include your organization’s forthcoming event, please send the informa-tion to Maurese Owens at mpa-poose@aol.com.

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

July 20 (Saturday) 2:00-7:00pm AACEES “Health Chal-lenges…Therapies…Anyone?” at the Fountains, 5100 Fillmore Ave., Alexandria, VA 22311. Dinner will be served. Contact: Ellen Carag 540-628-2404

July 21 (Sunday) 3:00-5:30pm PAFC in cooperation with PALM Council Book Sign-ing/Launch of Kevin F. Owens “Martian Panahon Virus,” a

science fi ction adventure novel that takes place in Mars and the Philippines. Sweet City Dessert, 131 West Maple Avenue, Vienna, Va. Copies available for pur-chase. RSVP to Mitzi Pickard, Mitzip888@yahool.com, 703-909-0791

July 30 (Tuesday) 6:15pm. Washington, DC premiere of the documentary, “Marilou Diaz-Abaya: Filmmaker on a Voyage.” Written, directed, and produced by Mona Lisa Yuchengco. Romulo Hall, Philippine Embassy at 1600 Massachusetts Avenue NW. Limited seating. RSVP to monalisa.yuchengco@gmail.com no later than July 15.

August 3, 2013 (Saturday) 9:00am to 8:00pm ... Marin-duquenos of the Capital Area, Inc. “MCA, Inc. Annual Family Picnic” at Black Hill Regional

Park - Shelter “C”, 20926 Lake Ridge Drive, Boyds, MD 20841. “POT LUCK”, come one - come all - bring “your favorite food” to share. Contact: Xavier Cugie Dela Santa 301-728-1684

August 3 (Saturday) 8:00am ANCOP Global Walk 2013 to raise funds and awareness for the poorest of the poor in the Philippines. Online registration via www.ancopwalk.us; Occo-quan Regional Park. To register, visit www.ancoopwalk.us. Reg-istration fee: $15

August 17 (Saturday) 7:30pm Filipino Mass at St. Ber-nadette Catholic Church, 7600 Old Keene Mill Road, Spring-fi eld, VA 22152. Sponsored by Filipino Ministry of St. Berna-dette. Contact 703-569-1054.

August 24 (Saturday) 7:30am ANCOP Global Walk 2013 Washington DC-Southern and Central Maryland to raise awareness and funds for its vari-ous programs- Children’s educa-tional sponsorship, Community development, Family health and Nutrition, Medical and Surgi-cal Mission. At 1771 Tucker Rd, Oxon Hill, Fort Washington, MD 20744. Online registration, visit www.ancopwalk.us Registration fee $15.00.

September 14 (Saturday) Mrs. Philippines Home for Senior Citizens, Inc. and Yo-Yo Fiesta Tiatro (A Dinner The-atre Show of Filipino Songs and Dance). Mrs. Philippines Home at 6482 Bock Road, Oxon Hill,

MD 20745. $25. Three shows: 12 noon (Contact: Earl Echon 301-248-9655); 3 pm show (Contact: Maria Cacas 301-567-2935; 6pm show (Contact Roy fune 443-493-0391.

October 5 (Saturday) 8 pm-2 am. Ateneo Alumni Association of Metro Washington DC “Char-ity Gala Dinner-Dance and Auc-tion.” Crystal Gateway Marriott Grand Ballroom, 1700 Jeffer-son Davis HighwayArlington, VA 22202. Contact: Aimee San Ramon at aimeesr@yahoo.com

October 19 (Saturday) 6pm-12mn Bicol Association of Met-ropolitan Washington DC“30th Sarung Banggi Gala Fundrais-ing.” Bethesda Ballroom, 5521 Landy Lane, Bethesda, Mary-land 20816. Attire Formal. For all the charitable causes including scholarships and the Surgical Mission.$65 pre-paid; $70 at the door.

Nov 9 (Saturday) 6:00-12:00pm Feed the Hungry, Inc. Handog 2013 at Hilton Markham Center, Alexandria, VA. Contact Person: Solita Wakefi eld (703) 992-4610 or swakefi eld09@gmail.com

Nov 16 (Saturday) 2pm – 5pm PAFC “Dr. Jose Rizal Youth Awards” Romulo Hall, Philip-pine Embassy, Washington, DC. Contact: Aylene Mafnas 703 868 5660.

Dec 1 (Sunday) PAFC, Phil-ippine Embassy and FOCUS, “Paskong Pinoy.” Pryzbyla Hall, Catholic University of America.

US, Canada, Australia warn on Minda travel

MANILA - The United States has warned Americans against travel to the southern Philippines just days after Aus-tralia and Canada issued similar advice.

Malacanang immediately reacted by saying there have been no intelligence reports of any danger posed to travellers in Mindanao. But a few days later, heavy fi ghting erupted in Cota-bato between Philippine troops and renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

A “security message” from the US embassy in Manila earlier this week said diplomatic staff had been restricted from travel-ing to three cities on the southern island of Mindanao.

It was followed by a US State Department travel warning dated July 5 advising Americans to exercise extreme caution when traveling to Mindanao, citing “criminal gangs... (and) terrorist groups” in the area.

It also called on Americans to defer non-essential travel to the Sulu archipelago, a chain of islands off Mindanao where Al-Qaeda-linked militants are active.

“It (the travel warning) refl ects continuing threats in the Sulu archipelago and the island of Mindanao due to terrorist and insurgent activities,” the US embassy said in a statement.

Australia and Canada issued warnings earlier about fresh threats of terrorism and kidnapping in the southern Phil-ippines.

Canberra has barred its dip-lomats from traveling to Davao, Cotabato and Zamboanga -- the same three Mindanao cities that US embassy staff are not allowed to travel to.

An embassy spokeswoman declined to comment on the nature of the threat against Americans.

The Philippine national police also did not know of any specifi c threat against Americans in Mindanao, said spokesman Senior Superintendent Reuben Sindac.

Mindanao and surround-ing islands are a hotbed of vari-ous armed groups including communist guerrillas, bandits, Muslim insurgents and the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist group blamed for the country’s worst terror attacks.

July 15, 20131616 Around DC

PAFC Celebrates Friendship at 2013 Picnic-SportsFestIt rained. It shined. It was

cloudy. It was sunny. And the 2013 Community Picnic & Sport-fest, sponsored by the Philippine American Foundation for Chari-ties took place bringing fun and laughter throughout Sunday, June 30 at the Tucker Road Rec-

reation Park in Fort Washing-ton, MD. Mya Talavera, chair of the Festival, welcomed every-one at 9:00 am with emcees Jon Melegrito and Beth Wong keep-ing the program rolling all day. Highlight of the day were games for the young and old, fantastic

food, super music from 8 Pinoy bands and the incredible Parada ng Litson!

Gigi Bueno, coordinator of the children’s games, encourage little kids to reach out and grab a gift from the “pabitin,” a trel-lis laden with gifts and money! It was a big hit!

Rain, what rain, the zumba dancers asked? As the rain poured , the energy of Rendez-vous Fitness zumba dancers soared . They had arrived early at 8:00 a.m. to lead exercises for an hour. Later in the morning the clouds broke bringing the danc-ers back for more zumba!

A nipa hut housed the champion Lechon decorated by Mr. Rey Cabacar Of Oxon Hill, Maryland and his helpers! The lechon outdid the other 6 roasted pigs in the parade with its native setting.

The food was scrumptious. Barbequed chicken and pork, pancit, lumpia and more. Halo-halo sales were brisk inspite of the rain.

Delegate Kris Valderrama of the 26th District, stopped by to greet the crown and a Proc-lamation from Rushern Baker, PG County Executive, was read. Entertainment was provided by Show Pow, Mabuhay and Hulala. In the afternoon a Rock Concert broke out with Tutubi, Manilatino, Trademark Band, Jun Panlaqui Band, Va Beach Band, Mark dela Cruz Band, Tandang Sora and Virginia Beach 2 Band -- each band with his own style and tempo! (Mau-rese Owens)

Photo shows, from left, Dereck Johnson, winner of the 5 K mini marathon; Corazon Toquero, women’s division winner of the same marathon; Beth Wong, APODCMDVA, Mya Talavera, Chair, PAF’s annual family picnic and sports festival, and Jon Melegrito. (Photo: Bing Branigin)

Young members of the Filipino Youth Basketball Associations (FYBA), per-form on stage at the Park. (Photo: Bing Branigin)

July 15, 2013 17

July 15, 20131818 Around DC in Pictures

Filipino Migrant Workers DayThe Philippine Embassy

honored Filipino workers in the United States during its fi rst com-memoration of Migrant Workers Day on 29 June 2013 at the Best Western Hotel in Lanham, Mary-land with the theme, “Migran-teng Pilipino: Tayo ay Mag-kasama sa Pag-abot sa Pangarap Mo.” the event was headed by Minister and Consul General Ariel Penaranda and Labor Attache Luzviminda Padilla of the Philippine Overseas Labor Offi ce. Attendees participated in activities that included entertain-ment by Tutubi Band, cultural dance performances, games, raf-fl es, medical pre-screening, and immigration consultation.

Owens’ sci-fi novel launch set July 21July 20th is Space Day

and as a toast to that day, the

Philippine American Founda-

tion for Charities, Inc. (PAFC)

in cooperation with Philippine

Arts, Letters and Media Council

(PALM) will present local writer

Kevin Owens, who published

a Filipino-centered science fi c-

tion novel,*/”Martian Panahon

Virus.” PALM president Mitzi

Pickard hopes to encourage dis-

cussions of Filipino sci-fi novels

and the future of Filipinos in

space, as highlighted in this

book. The reading/book launch

is scheduled for 3:00-5:00

pm at Sweet City Desserts on

July 21st, a day after Space Day,

which is remembered for the

Apollo 11 landing men on the

Moon in 1969 and when NASA

Viking I spacecraft made a suc-

cessful touchdown on Mars in

1976. The event will be held

at Sweet City Desserts, 131-A

Maple Avenue W (Route 123) in

Vienna, VA.

Author Kevin Owens is

originally from Tacoma, Wash-

ington. After working several

years with Boeing, he moved to

Virginia in the 1970s. From an

early age, he was fascinated with

space as afuturefrontier.As a kid

he won a school science fair blue

ribbon with a project on Mars,

and while

his daughters were growing

up, he wrote a series of science

fi ction stories for them about

Mars. He did his tour of duty at

the Air Force Rocket Propulsion

Laboratory in the Mojave Desert,

California where he helped in the

design of experimental rocket

engines. He is an active

member of the National

Space Society and the Planetary

Society.

Kevin noted that when he

vacationed in the Philippines

with his wife, PAFC volunteer

Maurese Oteyza Owens, he vis-

ited book stores searching for

action fi ction novels penned by

Filipinos. Specifi cally, he was

interested in English language,

history-based adventure stories,

murder mysteries, and of course,

science fi ction tales. He wanted

detective stories told with a

Filipino point of view, but was

unable to fi nd any.

Samantha, our volunteer

copyreader, proofreader

Samantha M. Alfaro is a college student who has vol-unteered to be a part-time copyreader-proofreader of the “Manila Mail”. She has written several essays for the Manila Mail in the past. She is the daughter Of Jeff and Paige Alfaro of Fairfax, Virginia.

Consul General Ariel Penaranda delivers his message to Filipino workers at the Best Western Hotel in Maryland.

Workers perform the Tinikling dance while others watch.

Family and friends threw a party for Imelda Abella (4th from left) recently on her retirement after 19 years of public service. She was Maryland Delegate David M. Valderrama’s chief of staff for nine years. During that same period, she also assumed the post of Prince George’s County Commissioner for the Commission on Women. In the last 10 years, she served in county with the Offi ce of the County Executive and with the Offi ce of Community Relations as Multicultural Affairs Coordinator. She is currently board chairman of the National Philippine Multicultural Center Foundation. With her in the picture are from left: Greg Abella, Lily Espinosa, Lianne Espinosa-Gonzales, Renato Abella, Imelda H. Abella, Emmy Abella, Gemini Abella & Zaldy Abella. (photo by Ester Fojas)

The Philippine Nurses Association of Metro DC, Inc. (PNAMDC) provided First Aid during the 2013 Annual Antipolo Pilgrimage at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. on June 22. The volunteers are, from left, Carol Robles, Lourdes Careaga, Prima Colburn, Tess Samoy, Lily Chan, Alice Andam, Vicente dela Pena, Ting Delima, Rose dela Pena, Febes Galves.

Filipino nurses joined the American Nurses Association’s lobby day on Capitol Hill June 27 to push for approval of a bill, HR 1821, which promul-gates safe staffi ng prctices in hospitals. mong those who joined are, from left, Leonora Mendoza Diana Comiso, Sharon Jackson, Congresswoman Lois Capps RN (D-CA), Carol Robles and Joy Arellano.

July 15, 2013 19

July 15, 20132020

Solon shoots self after spat with wife, loss in pollsMANILA - A Cagayan de

Oro congressman, who lost his reelection bid and had a well-publicized spat with his Brazil-ian model wife late last month shot himself in his offi ce at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon city.

The congressman, Jose Benjamin “Benjie” Benaldo, 43, thanked his staff several times before going into his offi ce (Room 512) and attempted to commit suicide on the night of June 28.

Rushed to the hospital after he was found slumped on his chair, doctors said he was lucky the bullet did not hit any vital organs of his body.

Benaldo failed to win reelec-tion in the May 13 mid-term election and was preparing to

vacate his offi ce at the Batasan Pambangsa when the incident happened. Three members of his staff waid Benaldo thanks them twice and gave them money before going into his offi ce to shoot himelf with his 8 mm SIG Sauer pistol.

The congressman had been

packing his things as it was his

last day in offi ce.

Benaldo has been in the

limelight lately after a well-pub-

licized tiff with his wife, Brazil-

ian model-actress Daiana Mene-zes. She was later seen at his bed-side at St. Luke’s hospital.

She earlier complained of being a battered wife but refused to accept offers of help from women’s groups.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. also appealed to the public to respect the privacy of Bena-ldo and stop speculating on the motive behind his suicide attempt.

Belmonte said he had ordered House sergeant at arms Gen. Nicasio Radovan to make a full report on the incident in coordination with the Quezon City Police Department.

Some solons questioned why Benaldo carried a gun to the Batasan when this was prohib-ited by House rules.

Stem cell theraphy and Charito PlanasRemember Charito Planas,

the former Filipino activist who demonstrated in the streets of Washington D.C. against the Marcos dictatorship in the 70’s?

Planas, an 83-year-old lawyer, is again in the news in the Philippines. The media is using her as an example of what stem cell theraphy can do to an aging person.

Reports from Manila said Planas, who used to have a hard time getting up can now walk without pain, “thanks to stem cell therapy that cost her only fi ve fi gures (in pesos).”

While hospitals here and abroad charge millions for the treatment, a wellness center in Tagaytay offers the service 10 times cheaper, Planas said in an article of Rina Granli in the Phil-ippine Daily Inquirer (June 30).

“The cane I used to walk with is just an accessory now, for I walk freely, without pain, without limping,” said Planas, a political and human rights activist who sought refuge in the United States during the Marcos martial law administration,”

according to a story in a Manila newspaper.

“My heavily grey hair has now regained its ebony shade; my skin- ”both body and facial skin” has regained a youthful, shining glow; and my wrinkles are slowly fading away,” she added.

Planas underwent six ses-sions of stem cell therapy from March to April at Green and Young Health and Wellness Center, owned by Dr. Antonia Carandang Park.

Other well-known personal-ities, such as justices, physicians and a senator, also reportedly frequented the wellness center.

“Doctor Park, the woman

with an angelic face, performs the treatment and her fees are so minimal,” Planas said.

Park, who is married to a Korean, uses human placenta for the stem cell therapy and tech-nology from South Korea.

Placenta is a vascular organ that develops inside the uterus during pregnancy and is expelled after birth.

But there are also reports that three politicians who alleg-edly died after treatment in Ger-many underwent ‘xenogenic’ or animal-based stem cell therapy. The Philippine Medical Asso-ciation also issued a warning against the procedure, as well as undergoing the treatment in nonhealth facilities.

Planas said she believes pla-centa-derived stem cell therapy is safer, but she could only speak based on her experience.

Park, who studied and researched on alternative treat-ment, herbalmedicines and stem cell therapy, also used the treat-ment to cure her lupus-stricken son, Planas said.

Who’s the richest PH justice?MANILA - The Philippine

Supreme Court, which ordinar-

ily does not reveal the assets and

net worth of individual justices,

has for the fi rst time released the

SALN (Statement of Assets, lia-

bilities and Net worth) for 2012

of the 15 members of the highest

court of the land.

Associate Justice Mariano

C. Del Castillo is the richest

magistrate with a net worth of

P109,743,118.28 while the poor-

est magistrate is Associate Jus-

tice Marvic Mario Victor Leonen

with a net worth of P1,674,623.22.

1. Mariano C. Del Castillo

-- P109,743,118.28;

2. Antonio T. Carpio --

P83,885,614.57;

3. Bienvenido L. Reyes --

P76,542,167.31;

4. Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe

-- P73,827,435.00;

5. Roberto A. Abad -- P43.4

million;

6. Jose C. Mendoza --

P29,982,165.66;

7. Diosdado M. Peralta --

P29,382,037.60;

8. Lucas P. Bersamin --

P26,119,275.39;

9. Martin S. Villarama, Jr.

-- P21,911,495.36;

10. Maria Lourdes

P. Aranal Sereno --

P18,143,104.01;

11. Arturo D. Brion --

P11,908,742;

12. Jose P. Perez --

P11,760,000.00;

13. Teresita J. Leonardo-De

Castro -- P8,941,000.00;

14. Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr.

-- P8,679,740.49; and

15. Marvic Mario Victor

Leonen -- P1,674,623.22.(PNA)

Jose Benjamin “Benjie” Benaldo

Brazilian actress-model Daiana Menezes comforts her wounded husband in the hospital.

Charito Planas

Albay’s search forGuinness record

In a bid to establish a new Guinness world record, over 13,000 government employes, students and volunteers, wering red black and white long sleeved shirts, form a giant No Smoking sign at the state-run Bicol University football fi el in Legazpi, Albay late last month. Joseph Espiritu, assis-tant director for operations of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Bicol, said that at least 6,000 participants formed the red portion of the sign, another 6,000 for the white portion and 1,000 for the black section.

This is not the province’s

fi rst attempt at setting a world

record. In 2000, Bert Gonza-

les of Camalig, Albay was

acknowledged as “Sili King of

the World” by the Guinness

World Records for consuming

167 pieces of chili during the

1999 Magayon Festival contest.

Provincial board member

Herbert Borja, chairman of the

event’s lead convenor, Smoke-

Free Albay Network (SFAN),

said the human no smoking

logo is aimed at raising public

awareness against smoking.

July 15, 2013 21

of China’s aggressive military buildup in the South China Sea. For the US, the access will boost President Obama’s “pivot” to the Asia-Pacifi c rim. It has now a base in Australia and basing rights in Singapore.

Ambassador to the US Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., who is in Manila for the annual Ambassadors’ and Consuls’ Tour, said in a press briefi ng on July 8 that negotia-tions have already started on the bases access plan which was originally bared by Defense Sec-retary Voltaire Gazmin and sup-ported by President Aquino.

As expected nationalistic groups as well as some members of the Senate have expressed their opposition to the plan.

Echoing earlier statements of Philippine diplomatic offi cials, the US Embassy said an agree-ment on the “temporary access by US forces” would be within the framework of the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting Forces Agreement, which have been governing the parameters of Philippine-US defense ties.

“The United States and the Philippines, as friends and allies, engage in mutually agreed, mutually benefi cial military cooperation to enhance the train-ing and capabilities of our forces, strengthen inter-operability for defense as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster response, counter-terrorism, and non-pro-liferation,” said the Embassy.

“An access agreement will increase opportunities for joint military training and exercises

and allow the pre-positioning of equipment and supplies enabling us to respond quickly to disasters,â the Embassy said of the plan, which has invited criticism from those rejecting US involvement in the country’s sovereign affairs,” it added.

Cuisia also guaranteed the public that a base access agree-ment would only be sealed if it complies with provisions of the Philippine Constitution which prohibits the presence of perma-nent foreign military bases.

He said the US is the Philip-pines’ closest defense ally, pro-viding fi nancial and technical aid in bolstering the Philippine military and law enforcement agencies.

The United States is the country’s closest defense part-ner and boosting the relationship is seen by the Philippines as a positive step towards fortifying external defense amid regional security concerns, primarily the Chinese military buildup in the disputed West Philippine Sea.

“You know, we have the bilateral strategic dialogue every year. For the last two years that I’ve been in Washington, we’ve had three dialogues. The fourth is scheduled, and this comes up as part of our discussions, how can we strengthen the alliance between the United on States and the Philippines,” Cuisia said.

He said the Philippines would only agree to open the country’s bases to ally access if such would be benefi cial to both sides.

PH lets US use... from page 1citizenship as the Senate version provides.

Participants in the Repub-lican caucus meeting described a 50-50 split over the undocu-mented immigrant issue, with more consensus on the need to produce some kind of legislation to show the party’s commitment to fi xing a broken system and addressing concerns of Hispanic Americans.

House GOP leaders made clear they intended to slow the process down by tackling indi-vidual components of the broad measure passed by the Demo-cratic-led Senate last month with bipartisan support.

House Speaker John Boehner warned his caucus that Republicans would face politi-cal attacks if they failed to move legislation, according to several GOP sources.

“We don’t want the White House to hope that we fail to make it a campaign issue,” said GOP Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas. “House

Republicans want to do this on our terms, and not on the Sen-ate’s terms and not on the White House terms.”

RYAN BACKS BILLAnother prominent House

GOP leader, Budget Commit-tee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, told his colleagues that doing nothing was not an option, saying reforms would boost the American economy.

Backers of the Senate bill insist some sort of path to citi-zenship must be part of any fi nal bill that they help send to Presi-dent Barack Obama to sign into law.

Republican leaders issued a statement again rejecting a Senate-passed bill that puts the 11 million on a 13-year path to citizenship.

At the same time, a group of bipartisan House legislators have continued to draft its own immigration bill.

This came as former Presi-dent George W. Bush joined President Obama in urging the

House to pass the comprehen-sive immigration reform bill because it would be for the good of the country.

Politico said top Republi-can and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill see the momentum swinging decidedly against get-ting a deal in this Congress.

LEADING OPPOSITIONRep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a

leader of the House’shell-no-on-immigration-

reform caucus, held a jam-packed meeting earlier to discuss why his party should proudly defeat the Senate’s bipartisan bill.

King said the Senate’s immi-gration plan would help “elites who want cheap labor, Demo-cratic power, brokers, and those who hire illegal labor.”

Responding to the Repub-lican Party’s fears of a possible loss in the next election, King said “Two out of every three of the new citizens would be Dem-ocrats.”

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Vir-ginia), head of the House judi-ciary committee which will lead the hearings on a proposed immigration bill, said it’s like giving “a special pathway to citi-zenship where people who are here unlawfully get something that people who have orked for decades to immigrate lawfully do not have.”

He told CNN recently “a pathway to legal standing with-out citizenship could be an option.

Other Republican party leaders think reform is crucial to winning more support from minority groups such as Latinos, Asian-Americans and immigrant electorate ahead of the 2016 pres-idential election.

U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, said there’s some chance some Republicans in California will vote for reforms because there are some 2 mil-lion undocumented aliens in the state.

Lofgren is part of a House group of four Democrats and three Republicans -- a fourth

dropped out -- drafting details of their own sweeping immigration bill.

“In some respects our bill is better (than the Senate’s),” Lof-gren said. “And in some respects it’s probably more conservative.”

It will need to be, Lofgren and others point out, to muster enough support in a House where Republicans hold 234 seats to the Democrats’ 201.

PROS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN

And to get enough votes, immigrant advocates have launched a campaign to infl u-ence House Republicans.

The bill being drafted by the 7-member bipartisan group in the House said their draft would refl ect Republican desires for even tougher language on points like border security than seen in the Senate bill.

Speaker Boehner recently reiterated that the “House is going to do its own job on devel-oping an immigration bill.”

“We just can’t turn a blind eye to this problem and think it’s going to go away,” Boehner said. “It is time for Congress to act, but I believe the House has its job to do. And we will do our job.”

While the Senate passed its own version of the bill by a vote of 68-32, a count undertaken by a professor of the University of California said he is skeptical the House will pass a comprehen-

sive bill.The University professor

counts a solid 203 “yes” votes in the House with an additional 11 votes “likely,” just shy of the 218 needed for a majority.

Another deciding factor for the “what happens next” ques-tion could also come after the August recess when House and Senate members return to their constituents. Through town halls and meetings, members of Congress get to hear exactly how their voters feel and this is one issue they are likely to hear about up close.

GOPs slow down... from page 1

July 15, 20132222

(dubbed the “Good Pope”) based on his merits of convening the Second Vatican Council 50 years ago, instead of a second miracle. “He was truly a pastor of souls, observing that the answer to the many problems mankind faces today is the fi rm foundation of God,” said Washington Arch-bishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl in a statement.

The miracle attributed to the John Paul’s intercession con-cerned Floribeth Mora Diaz, a Costa Rican who was suffering from cerebral aneurism but was inexplicably cured on the day John Paul was beatifi ed May 1, 2011 (the feast of Divine Mercy Sunday which then Pope John Paul II offi cially designated as the Sunday after Easter)) after her family prayed to the late pope.

Charismatic PopeOf the two candidates for

sainthood, John Paul, who led the Catholic Church for 27 years (from 1978 till his death in 2005), is the one whom most people, including Filipinos, are famil-iar with since he was one of the most traveled world leaders in history, even going as far as what he lovingly called “the beauti-ful mountains” of Baguio City in northern Philippines where he celebrated Holy Mass for the indigenous tribes. Likened to a “papal rock star,” he attracted vast crowds as he crisscrossed the globe, visiting 129 countries during his pontifi cate, including the United States (in 1979, 1981, 1987, and 1995) and the Philip-pines (in 1981 and 1995) which has the third largest number of Catholic citizens in the world, after Brazil and Mexico. The charismatic pope even went twice to my alma mater, the imposing 402-year-old Univer-sity of Santo Tomas in Manila where he told the youth that he felt “immensely happy” in their company. “He truly deserves to join the pantheon of saints, together with our own Filipino saints – Lorenzo Ruiz and Pedro Calungsod!” exclaimed Father Pete Literal (Associate Pastor,

St. Louis Church in Clarksville, Maryland) and Father Gary Villanueva (current and fi rst Filipino pastor of St. Columba Catholic Church in Oxon Hill, Maryland).

“When I saw him in Bal-timore, Maryland, I felt like I was seeing God!” said Jojo and Gigi Fabella. “Wow, I touched the hand of a saint!” quietly enthused Reverend Monsignor Edward J. Filardi as he refl ected on his rare encounter with Pope John Paul II when he was priest secretary to then Washington Archbishop Cardinal Theo-dore Edgar McCarrick. “When I looked at him even from afar, I felt like I was about to faint,” said the awe-struck monsignor who appreciates Philippine culture, thanks to the many Filipinos and Filipino Americans he has met in the various parishes (of the Archdiocese of Washington) he has served, including Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Bethesda, Maryland where he is the current pastor.

”Jesus Christ just passed by!” recalled Vienna, Virginia resident Nancy Ceniza as saying whenever Pope John Paul’s motorcade would pass near their home in Paco, Manila.” “He radiated purity and awesome-ness! Nagniningning siya, like the sun!” gushed Annie Asis-tores of Alexandria, Virginia, as she chuckled while reminiscing how her husband Art Asistores would hastily climb a post just to get a glimpse of the passing char-ismatic pope.

Such was the effect of then Pope John Paul II. It’s not hard to imagine the various roles cred-ited to him as changes in world history unfolded, including his being instrumental in the col-lapse of dictatorships or in the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. “He was the spiritual catalyst for a peaceful revolution in Poland,” refl ected Father Michal Sajnog who cel-ebrated last June 16th his fi rst year anniversary as a priest and who, like John Paul, was born in Poland. “It’s about time he gets

to be honored as a saint,” winked the spiritual Fr. Sajnog before celebrating Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church where he serves as parochial vicar.

“Dapat lang! He deserves the sainthood!” exclaimed Robert and Elsa Palting (of St. Lawrence Church in Alexandria, Virginia). “We’re elated! We prayed so hard for our dear Holy Father to be a saint!” said the jubilant Manny and Lita Dialino (of Silver Spring, Maryland) who join members of the “I Care Apostolate” in preparing for the July 21st fi rst monthly Filipino Mass (with Filipino Monsignor Mariano Balbago) at St. Joseph’s Church in Beltsville, Maryland.

“We have been waiting for this day to come and we’re sure that all Catholics around the world are as thrilled with this development. We’re glad it’s being done in our time so we do not forget all the “good” changes he brought about in the world. Pope John Paul rightly deserves the sainthood!” agreed Nitoy & Sarie Lopez, Gerry & Beth Balallo, Rudy & Evelyn Bolipata, & Rumy & Marj Mohta of the Midlothian community in Ches-terfi eld County, Central Virginia, site of the upcoming PONY Bronco – 11 tot baseball World Series where the Philippine Bara-kos (as PONY Asia Pacifi c Zone Bronco-11 champions) will com-pete late this July.

“John Paul was very holy, intelligent, diplomatic and for-giving ” mused Fred Paras, a devout parishioner of Our Lady of Victory Church (OLV) in Washington, D.C., where he was awarded a plaque for good ser-vice during OLV’s 100th- year anniversary celebration. Said to have spoken 10 languages – Polish, Latin, Italian, French, German, English, Spanish, Croa-tian, Portuguese, and Russian, the late pope met with Jews, Muslims and Christians.” “He was a true ambassador of Christ who only promoted goodwill and welcomed non-Christians. Hindi siya bumitaw sa kanyang pagka-Pope kahit may sakit siya!” refl ected Nancy Dizon-Korionoff (of Washington, D.C),

grandmother of 18-year-old Chastity Centina, the newly crowned Miss Teen Philippines-America.

“He did what most human beings would hesitate to do: for-giving Mehmet Ali Agca who shot and critically wounded him and even asking the faith-ful to “pray for my brother Agca whom I have sincerely for-given,” said retirees Dr. Archi-medes & Resurreccion Jao of Vienna, Virginia, Engineer Clem and Alex Manaois of Chicago, Illinois, and Roberto “Bobby” M. & Gloria Maria Talastas Feder-igan of Mclean, Virginia who all witnessed the late pope’s beatifi -cation in the Vatican City in 2011.

Pope John Paul credited the Blessed Virgin Mary as having saved him during that assassi-nation attempt. “He inspired us to be calm in troubled times and to pray earnestly the Rosary as a sign of respect for Mary, the Mother of God,” said Feed the Hungry, Inc founders Pablito and Tess Alarcon and Nancy Ceniza, Raffl e Committee Chair-person of the Philippine Ameri-can Foundation for Charities, Inc. Equally inspired by the late pontiff to seek Mary’s interces-sion are other Marian devotees (including participants of the 16th Annual National Filipino Pilgrimage of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage (Birhen ng Antipolo) June 22, 2013 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.): Eddie Capa-ras, Mila Cortez, Pamela Uy, Stella Aguila Famoso, Emelina Camp, Precious & Alice Andam, Rose & Vic dela Pena, Febes Galvez, Pilar Poblador Walsh, Ray Cabacar, Ador & Nanette Carreon, Anjelica & Jerico Ryan, Gaio & Stella Gonzalez Jun & Lucy Pangilinan, Vic & Ellen Carag, Cora Tesnado, Mila Ocampo, Johnny Panlaqui, Jim & Liza Almendrala, Lulu Alexan-der, Ado and Margi Paglinawan, Robert and Lynn Bagtas, Geof-frey & Charito P. Ampoyo, Fe Sarangay, Tita Datu, Marilen Pascaran, Greg & Emmy Sikorski Abella, Danny & Nelly Orino, Mar and Rose Alipio, Dr. Babe

Ecarma, Sylvia & Ramon Calal-ang, Henry Balagtas, Fer Azar-con, Andrew and Susan Castro, Jun and Kathy Alhambra, Tim Zamora & Bu Hernadez, Lucy Cornejo Pascual, Dominic, Veronica & Joseph Thieman. Lita de Castro, & Cecilia Thieman, among many others .

Pope John Paul II, on the other hand, did not waver in his stand against contraception, abortion, euthanasia, and homo-sexual acts. Inspired by his pre-decessor, Pope Emeritus Bene-dict XVI (who was also present during Vatican II as “Father Joseph Ratzinger”) told the faithful to “resist any ‘watering down’ of Roman Catholic teach-ing…That’s what Pope John Paul II did, when faced with errone-ous interpretations of freedom, underlined in an unequivocal way, the inviolability of human beings, the inviolability of human life from conception to natural death. Freedom to kill is not a true freedom, but a tyranny that reduces the human being into slavery,” said Benedict who recalled the words of John Paul when he said “the ministry of the pope is the guarantor of the obedience toward Christ and his word.”

Even as many cheered the elevation of Blessed John Paul II to sainthood, others were wary on what his sainthood would mean. Pondered Amy Pascual, a Filipino American graphic designer at Washington Post: “Will he be like my favorite Saint Rita who could intercede for me anytime and show me signs/symbols that I am on the right path to having my prayers answered? Or will Saint John Paul be an intercessor for priests and the religious only?” Others wonder if the sainthood of John Paul will inspire young Catho-lics to be excited about their faith or even encourage others to joy-ously return to the faith. Car-dinal Stanislaw Dziwisz (John Paul’s secretary for 40 years) said of his pope, “He lived for God and brought others to God.” Perhaps, through the interces-sion of beloved Saint John Paul, the faithful will do the same.

FilAms hail sainthood ... from page 1

To date, the VA has approved more than 18,000 claims. Eligible veterans who are U.S. citizens received a one-time payment of $15,000. Phil-ippine nationals who qualifi ed received a lump sum of $9,000. These funds became available when President Obama signed the $198-million FVEC Fund into law in 2009. The VA made the fi rst payments within 40 days of the program’s enactment in 2009.

“We appreciate the hard work of the Interagency Working Group in ensuring transparency in the decision-making process,” says NaFFAA National Chair-man Ed Navarra. “We hope that

the implemented changes will assure our veterans that their legitimate claims will be hon-ored.”

In its report, the U.S. Army explained how it developed and administered a “recognition pro-gram between late 1942 and June 30, 1948. Over 1.2 million indi-viduals applied for recognition with ultimately over 260,000 rec-ognized with positive determi-nations for the Philippine Com-monwealth Army.” This pro-gram included “authenticated rosters of recognized guerilla units and individuals who con-tributed materially to the defeat of Japanese forces occupying the

Philippines during World War II.”

For its part, the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) “authenticates prior Army service determinations on behalf of the Army.” In recent years, NPRC has been servic-ing the VA requests regarding compensation claims. NARA’s report also clarifi ed two common concerns relating to Philippine Army-related records needed to authenticate claims of service. The fi rst involves references to the ‘Missouri List’ or the ‘St. Louis List.’ NPRC states it does not have in its holdings such specifi ed documents, nor does it have a single, comprehensive roster listing every Philippine

Army veteran and recognized guerilla. “NPRC authenticates prior service determinations by examining claim folders, fi nd-ing aids, and a variety of rosters compiled by the Army during its post-war recognition program.”

In a statement, the Philip-pine Embassy welcomed the release of the report of the Inter-agency Working Group created by the White House.

“We appreciate the com-mitment demonstrated by the Interagency Working Group and the efforts taken by the member agencies to review the certifi ca-tion process of Filipino veterans and address their concerns,” said Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. who has been actively involved

in efforts to facilitate the grant of long-awaited benefi ts for veter-ans.

“We are hopeful that the procedures introduced will result in more appeals being approved and the processing time reduced,” Ambassador Cuisia said, adding that the development will benefi t the over 4,000 Filipino veterans whose claims under the FVEC Fund were earlier denied.the America Recovery and Rein-vestment Act and grants a one-time lump sum of $15,000 for veterans who have become US citizens and $9,000 for those who retained their Philippine citizen-ship.

FilVets’ get 2nd chance ... from page 1

July 15, 2013 23

The Fast (Fat!) Food Chains

A lawyer in the United States, Sam Hirsch, sued McDonald’s on behalf of

his obese clients. Of the tobacco companies that had been sued, he says “you can’t stop tobacco from being unhealthy, but you can make food less unhealthy.” Obviously, he was referring to the health dangers of what many people consider junk foods, with high cholesterol and fats, like hamburgers, eggs, fries, etc. in this $142 Billion fast food indus-try.

Nobody thought the suits fi led in the United States by fam-ilies against the giant tobacco fi rms on behalf of their dead loved ones who succumbed to smoking-related diseases, like lung cancer, would succeed. But they did.

Will Sam Hirsch and the other lawyers soon to follow his footsteps make their case in court, and prosper? Having heard of a great number of ludi-crous lawsuits that have won, I won’t be surprised if Atty. Hirsch wins his case.

But I have to admit that, to some degree, I do agree with one essence of this suit: that these food chains and other purvey-ors of food have the social obli-gation to make their products less unhealthy, or, better yet, as healthy as possible for the con-sumers, especially for the chil-dren.

These youngsters are still developing habits and lifestyle that are essential for their future.

Apparently concerned with the screaming health-conscious consumers, and of the future legal consequences for food com-panies, the largest food giant in the USA, Kraft, has decided to “set the pace, launching a sweep-ing global overhaul of the way it creates, packages, and promotes its foods.” Kraft announces its plan to reduce the portion size, fat and calories of its food prod-ucts. This move is expected to have a worldwide impact on other food companies and con-sumers around the globe.

McDonald’s, for instance, has already scheduled to test its Happy Meal this summer, replacing the popular but fat-fi lled and deadly French fries, with a bag of fresh, sliced fruits.

More and more restaurants are having a salad bar. Fish is becoming a popular option. There is today a greater aware-ness of the health benefi t of stay-ing away from high cholesterol foods, like red meats (beef, pork, etc) and eggs, and concentrating on fi sh, vegetables, fruits and high-fi ber foods, as the main-stay of our diet. chart from the American Obesity Association of the Center for Disease Con-trol and Prevention published in USA Today showed the follow-ing prevalence of obese children ages 6 to 11: From 1976-1980, 7%; from 1988-1994, 11%; from 1999-2000, 15.3%. The incidence of obesity among 12-19: From 1976-1980, 5%; 1988-1994, 11%; and 1999-2000, 15.5%.

There is no question in my mind that healthy lifestyle must start from the crib, because pre-vention is the key to health. Children, as young as fi ve or six years of age, who died of acci-dent or disease, have shown on autopsies to have a thin lining of cholesterol plaques in their arteries (brain, heart, abdomen, etc). We, parents, must be doing something wrong for these youngsters, at those tender ages, to have arteriosclerosis (harden-ing of the arteries) already. This is the essential message in my, entitled Let’s Stop Killing Our Children, an anthology of car-diovascular and other diseases, with emphasis on prevention starting from the crib, written in layman’s term. The book is avail-able at philipSchua.com, xlibris.com, amazon.com and barne-sandnoble.com. The Philippine edition has just been released in Manila.

Diet is a very signifi cant factor in the development of arteriosclerosis, the condition that leads to heart attack and stroke, and to the aging process in general. The greater and more advanced the hardening of the arteries is, the faster a person ages, not only in years but in looks. When the arteries supply-ing nutrients and oxygen to the skin are narrowed or blocked by arteriosclerosis, the skin loses its collagen, turgor, elasticity, and youthful look. This leads to wrinkle

formation, thinning and loosening of the skin. This is why high-fi ber, low-cholesterol (no red meats and eggs) diet, consist-ing of fi sh, vegetables and fruits, is highly recommended, if we are to slow down the process of arteriosclerosis in our body. The less arteriosclerosis, the healthier and younger we look and feel.

The other part of the health equation is the abstinence from tobacco, a substance that has been found to speed up harden-ing of the arteries, not to men-tion its direct poisonous effects on lungs and practically on all organs in the body. A very common cause of deadly can-cers, tobacco must be avoided.

Secondhand (passive) smoking has been found to be even dead-lier.

Daily exercise is another factor. It not only tones and conditions our body for cardio-vascular fi tness, but also ‘ œneu-tralizes’ some of the bad effects of the unhealthy food we eat or the bad habits we have. Physical activities also reduce stress and put our mind on a more positive frame.

The benefi cial effect of daily exercises on the heart is astonish-ing.

Monitoring and maintain-ing our weight to as close to our “ideal” weight as possible is fundamental. Persons who

are overweight are more prone to illnesses because obesity increases the rate and degree of arteriosclerosis and also weak-ens the immune system. As a result, complications and risk of surgery among patients who are overweight are greater than those with normal weight. The recovery rate is also slower among the obese.

Studies have shown that people who control their calorie intake and who leave the dining table with less than full stomach live longer. Eating to full sati-ety three meals a day obviously impacts negatively on longevity. So, it is good to be still a little hungry after each meal.

Lights, camera, action!

While looking for a home, have you ever stepped in a house where it

looked like the seller hired an interior decorator and staged it like a model house? You were so impressed and asked your Realtor® to immediately pre-pare an offer although the house next door is exactly the same as this one and even priced lower. Sounds and feels familiar?

I just attended an inten-sive training on staging last week so I can offer more value to my clients especially the sell-ers. I always believe as long as the property is clean and well arranged, it should do the job and sell. Well, not really; Stag-ing is using your timeframe and budget to prepare a house for sale so it will sell faster and get the best price. In staging, the seller is the star, Realtor® is the director and potential buyers are the audience. The star and the director should work as a team so they can portray their roles, execute their best and get audience impact based on their performance. We are so emotional when it comes to our home because it holds a lot of memories to us and this is our kingdom, our pride and joy. However, when you sell, you have to disconnect the emotional aspect and your goal is how it will appeal to the buyer to get the best and highest offer. Less is more; this means you have to get rid of your personal collec-tions that you accumulated over the years. You have to take down personal pictures everywhere, mementos acquired from all your trips, personal collections; change the painting although your favorite color is red or pink. I know those are very important to you and it’s hard to let go; but you have to. When buyers got to your home, they don’t care who you are and what you have.

They picture the house as their future home and everything has to appeal to them not yours. Staging is de personalizing your home from you. Most of the time, you just have to remove clutters all over the house. To give a better curb appeal, remove all unnecessary items like hose, bikes, and dead plants from out-side. A nice fl ower pots maybe necessary if the garden is bare. You may want to add mulch for a dramatic and fresh appeal. No more 3 soft colors of paint from the outside, it cannot be as col-orful as Disneyland. The inte-rior should be a Q Tip clean as in detailed from top to bottom. Remove all clutters like what should be there. For example in the living room, a couch, center table, side tables. No entertain-ment center, videos, toys etc. Pretty tough I know but that is how you maximize the space which everybody is looking for. Do yard sales, put items on Craigslist and if you don’t really want to get rid of them, rent stor-age for around 2-3 months. You are moving anyway so why not pack all these. You are already ahead of the game. Clutter eats your equity. Stay on off white color or tan on wall paints. This refl ects space and cleanliness. The list goes on and on but these are the basics I can share with you. It does not take a course to attain this; it just has to make sense to you. It is a fact that when the house is staged, you get multiple offers and get the sales price or higher. Buyers are embarrassed to lower the price to staged homes. Imagine with all the clutters there and don’t be surprised to get at least $10,000 less on the asking price.

Is staging expensive? Not nec-essarily. Stagers can use what you already have in your home and just charge a minimal fee of $350 for consultation and around $600 for the actual staging. If it is a big house, you may want to rent furniture as well. The cost is very minimal but you get the top $$$ on your home. This makes a lot of sense. Remember ROSI, Return On Staging Investment.

After the class, we all went to a single house in Vienna to apply what we have learned in the class. Each team has to stage at least two rooms in the house and I took before and after pic-tures. I just can’t believe a simple room can turn into a showroom and we just use what the owners already have. I went home after that and so excited to do mine. What a transformation and I thought I already staged my home. There is always a possi-bility and your creativity should go hand in hand. If you do not have that, that’s what we’re here for. Do not lose any equity just because your home is not staged well. Don’t forget the lights that will add to it so you can get more actions and top dollars for your home.

Note: Jocelyn Porteria is a Realtor® licensed in VA. She earned a designation of ASP, Accredited Staging Professional; ABR, Accred-ited Buyer’s Specialist; CDPE Cer-tified Distressed Property and Short Sale Expert, (SFR) Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource. For more info, visit her website at www.jprealdeal.com or call her at 571-432-8335 or email at realdealconsulting@yahoo.com for a free confidential evalu-ation of your property, individual situation, property value, and pos-sible options.

July 15, 20132424

On Our Missing Pronouns

I became aware of them on the third year of my high school at a private school just out-

side the geographical boundaries of Manila. To be more precise, I noticed their (them) absence then.

“Them” are the personal pronouns, the referencing points of our individuality as human beings. In the everyday gram-matical speech, they refer to our sex, female or male. On a higher level, in a more polished and polite manner, we allude to our gender, feminine or mas-culine. The awareness came in 1954, when the high school I was attending included in its cur-riculum a subject on Tagalog, on its way then of being declared eventually as the national lan-guage. I had always been used to having English as the medium of instruction in my schooling years. The teacher then ordered us to use for class discussions a prescribed “balarila,” a book on Tagalog grammar, and “Diwang Ginto” and “Diwang Kayu-manggi” both collections of Filipino-authored Tagalog prose and poetry. Even though Taga-log was the language spoken at my home, skimming through the pages of the “balarila” gave me an uncanny feeling that the con-struction of every word, its use and its relationship with other words, would be an unwelcome diffi culty. The horror became even more pronounced when one of the short stories we were supposed to discuss was that written by Estrella D. Alfon, titled “Maghilom May Bati-colum.” How much Tagalog can you get it at that?

Tagalog, or Pilipino, as the national language, has defi ned the Filipinos as cohesive peo-ples of more than 7,000 islands. Peoples with their own Malay-infused dialects speak and use Tagalog as bond of citizenship. They may be speaking their own dialects in Bicol, Sugbuanon, Hiligaynon, Ilokano, Kapam-panganan, Pangasinan, Waray-Waray, Aklanon, Igorot, Ilonggo, or Bisaya, but Tagalog will carry them through successful results in any social or commercial set-tings, more so in individualized, personalized, occasions.

But Tagalog, as a language, has one peculiarity that sum-mons unwelcome suspicions. More often than not, the glaring

absence of personal pronouns creates curiosity among those who are skilled in the use of major European languages, say, in French, German, Italian, or Russian. Why is it that the Taga-log equivalent of personal pro-nouns she or he does not exist in the national language? He or she is “siya,” third person singular and they is “sila,” third person plural, even on occasion when the word “they” is grouped according to gender. The demon-strative pronouns denoting own-ership or possession, his or hers, does not have any equivalent words in Tagalog. The personal pronouns in Tagalog has affi nity with Bahasa Indonesian, Thus, She is my daughter, is translated as “Dia anak perempuan saya” and, He is my son, as “Dia anak lalaki saya.” The same is true in Korean; He or she is “keu saram” or “keu pun” (used when con-ferring honor or ascribing supe-riority). In Chinese Mandarin, he or him, or she or her, is “ta” (singular) and, they or them, is “tanem” (plural).

Tagalog, as a language, does not have the ease of recognizing, by tone of voice or by written alphabet the attribution to sex or gender. In major European lan-guages, like Italian or Spanish or those languages belonging to the Romans group, the recognition is easily manifested in the end letter of any referencing word, “a” for feminine and “o” for mas-culine. Their specifi c grammar is well defi ned.

Grammarians refer to the personal pronouns, along with the action words, verbs, as fl exions, like muscles in a human body which can bend to achieve a desired result. Hence, we always conjugate a verb in relation to a pronoun, whether personal or demonstrative. In German, because of its Teu-tonic origin, pronouns are used in relation to nouns, verbs and adjectives. Hence, declension is used instead of conjugation. The diffi culty of mastering German is compounded when the articles “die,” “das” and “der” are used improperly.

Of course, Tagalog does not have these oddities. But why the absence, the disappearance of the gender-specifi c pronouns? It was a puzzle in my high school

‘Froud to be Finoy’

DALY CITY

The Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino is proposing the rationalization of the

names used for our country, our citizens and our national lan-guage.

Indeed, a lot of people “ foreigners and Pinoys alike“ are confused.

Aside from being known as The Philippines, is our country called

Pilipinas or Filipinas? Are our citizens Filipinos or Pilipi-nos?

Is the national language Fili-pino or Pilipino?

When is it proper to use “P” and when to use “F”?

In the U.S., some groups who identify themselves as ‘pur-ists” insist on using Pilipino to describe our national language. They point out that the use of “F” is un-Pilipino, the letter being Spanish in origin.

That seems logical enough. If you’ve noticed, we always refer to the national language as “Wikang Pilipino”. And when we speak the language of Balag-tas, we never use “F”, as may be seen in the lyrics of Bayan Ko: “Ang bayan kong Pilipinas”.

On the other hand, when we speak in English, we uncon-sciously shift to “F” as in, the Fil-ipino national language. This is probably infl uenced by how we call our country, the Philippines, pronounced like “F.”

Curiously, most Pinoys in America (including some of the “purists”) refer to themselves as Filipino-Americans or FilAms, rather than PilAms. In fact the largest organization of Pinoys in the US is called the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations.

And whenever I deliver a talk on the roots of our people in the New World, I refer to the original name given to the islands by Ruy Lopez de Villalo-bos, which was “Las Islas Filipi-nas”.

However, after my lecture, during the open forum, when-ever I am asked to describe myself, I say “Pilipino ako” when speaking in Tagalog and “I’m Filipino” when responding in English. I hardly notice the shift. It comes unconsciously.

I don’t know if anyone ever wrote down the usage rules, in all my seven decades of exis-tence, I’ve managed to shift from “F” to “P” and back to “F” quite effortlessly.

The “F” version is widely used in America. Not just the community associations but the media, as well. The Pinoy news-papers are called FilAm Bulle-tin, FilAm Courier, FilAm Jour-nal, Filipino Reporter, Filipino Express and Filipinas Magazine,

to mention some. But maybe that’s because these are consid-ered English descriptions.

One newspaper in Miami unabashedly calls itself, Basta Pinoy Times. And when GMA Network introduced its fi rst international channel in the US, it was called GMA Pinoy TV.

The nickname Pinoy appears to be constant, however. I don’t recall anyone daring to use Finoy.

I can appreciate the objec-tive of the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino to standardize the usage, the better for non-Pinoys to declare, “It’s more fun in the Filipins.”

Aside from consistency, there are some advantages in being referred to as “Filipinas”. I recall overhearing a discus-sion concerning this at a meet-ing among the offi cials of the Ministry of Information, back in the wild and wooly days of the Marcos regime. It was 1983 and they were preparing for the participation of Da Apo at the North-South Summit in Cancun, Mexico, which was to be attended by such world lead-ers as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Francois Mitterand and Indira Ghandi.

With such international superstars in attendance, Marcos’ information people were concerned that the Western press would conveniently over-look the president of the Philip-pines. Back then, our country’s reputation was already in a bad way. There was an urgent need for Marcos to gain some positive media mileage, particularly on US network TV.

This was when it was pointed out that the Mexican hosts had insisted on using His-panic names for the participating countries. This meant that the Philippines would be referred to as “Filipinas.”

The Hispanic nomencla-ture was like a blessing from the gods. In the seating arrangement, Marcos, as president of “Filipi-nas”, was positioned between Reagan of “Estados Unidos” and Mitterand of “Francia.” This assured Da Apo of shared expo-sure with both Western leaders who, needless to say, got a lot of media coverage.

Of course, we’re not the only country that uses a variety of names, depending on who is using them. Germany is known to the natives as Deutschland. China is Zhong Guo. Japan is Nippon. Spain is Espana and

Italy is Italia. And if you’re in Roma and want to travel to Flor-ence, make sure you buy a ticket to Firenze, which is what the locals call it.

While I can appreciate the protests of those who want to retain the status quo, what-ever the lexicographers say, in America, changing one’s name, the moment one is sworn in as a naturalized US citizen, is “de rigueur”.

There’s this story of a fellow named Casimiro Bukirkir. Upon gaining US citizenship, he reportedly changed his name to Cashmere Bouquet. And then there was Pedro Cubeta who was so unhappy with his name that when he took his oath of cit-izenship, he changed it to Peter Cubeta.

Okay, okay, both are jokes, of course. But a true story is about Wendell Mayculob, a real-tor in Daly City. Because his cli-ents always had diffi culty pro-nouncing his name, he would say, “It’s like the beer.”

Thus, when he became a US citizen, he formalized the change and he forthwith became offi -cially known as Wendell Mich-elob.

My own family name had to be re-spelled at the turn of the century to satisfy the politically correct requirements of some folks.

My father’s original sur-name was spelled Macaventa. But when he enrolled at the Liceo de Manila, shortly after the revolution against Spain, he encountered a super national-ist professor, Pedro Basa, who told my father that his surname was spelled wrong. “There is no “c” and no “v” in the Philippine alphabet, declared Basa. You better change the spelling to “k” and “b.”

My father, being a national-ist himself, readily agreed. Thus, did Makabenta evolve. When he went home to Carigara, he announced the change in spell-ing to the clan and most of his relatives, including all his sib-lings, followed suit. It was not until I became a reporter that the spelling of the surname reverted halfway to the original, mainly because of a misspelling in my press pass. It was then that my father

related the metamorphosis of our surname.

As Malacanang has put it, the proposal to use Filipinas and no longer Pilipinas presents an interesting topic of discussion.Continued on page 30

July 15, 2013 25

Bad training killsMANILA

Recently here, a fl ight to the major southern city of Davao of a domestic

airline, Cebu Pacifi c, overshot the runway and the passengers were made to wait anxiously on the tarmac for about 30 minutes before any emergency action was taken by airline personnel.

The fl ight and ground crews’ ineptness in times of potential danger brought to focus a grave fl aw in doing business here: lack of professional training.

The woefully inadequate training of professionals across the board thrives in a society that tolerates mediocrity and improvisation. It’s a product of our “bahala na” and “puwede na yan” mentality that results in clueless or ill-trained people shoved willly-nilly into positions of responsibility.

While I don’t know the actual costs of inadequate train-ing to overall economic pro-ductivity, reasonable and com-mon-sense observation would tell us that our economy would improve and society would be more orderly if professional training were more rigorous.

Our teachers who go abroad wouldn’t be relegated to lowly household jobs if they had undergone more rigorous train-ing. Our engineers and accoun-tants wouldn’t just be clerks abroad if their training had been more superior. Filipino senior staff, supervisors and managers wouldn’t be demoted to clerk positions abroad if they had more impressive credentials.

How often have we encoun-tered bureaucrats, reception-ists, security guards, secretaries and many other workers who are unable to explain why their offi ces cannot do what we ask or seek? All they’re able to tell us is that they had been told that that is so but the “why” was never explained to them.

If our teachers are not up to their jobs, how then could we expect their students to be any better? Unqualifi ed teach-ers produce half-baked gradu-ates, and that’s why Filipino graduates aren’t exactly sought after abroad for good jobs. That explains the prevailing situation where Filipino teachers, nurses, accountants and the like are hired all over the richer countries

as household staff, nannies and chauffeurs.

When something bad hap-pens on or to an airline in fl ight, the crew can’t be relied on to explain what had happened because they either don’t know why or they’re not profi cient to explain it in an appropriate lan-guage.

I once was on a fl ight from somewhere to Manila on a Fili-pino airline company and the plane had to make an emer-gency landing. The plane sat on the tarmac for an interminable length of time without any word from the captain or the crew. It turned out later the landing gear was busted and the plane couldn’t safely take off again (and land again at its fi nal des-tination). And yet, there was not a single word from the crew. No doubt, this has happened to many other Filipino passengers. The crew were not trained to explain emergencies when they do happen.

That appears to be what hap-pened at the Davao City airport. The crew just didn’t know what to do after the plane overshot the runway. That is often what hap-pens to Filipino personnel when faced with something unusual: they are paralyzed into inaction.

Often, Filipinos lack the leadership quality of taking over a situation and making sense or order out of the mess. We’re not natural leaders, we’re more used to following orders.

The now-infamous and tragic Luneta hostage-taking incident involving tourists from Hongkong a few years ago was a similar case. The police were ill-trained. They didn’t know what to do. They didn’t know how to negotiate (even with a colleague, even in their own language).

And when they were ordered to carry out an assault, they didn’t know how to pro-ceed correctly. And they didn’t have the right gear to carry out an effective assault that could have spared the lives of some, if not all, of the hapless tour-ists. To make it all worse, civil-ian offi cials in command weren’t trained to handle such situations.

Police overkill treatment of criminal suspects results from a lack of training, too. We’ve had so many incidents in the coun-

No Other Way

MANILA

Popes John XXIII and John Paul II could be canonized as saints

together, possibly this December 8, La Stampaâ news-paper of Rome reported. . That day is feast of the Immaculate Conception. (This column was written before the Vatican’s offi -cial announcement.)

The Congregation for Causes of Saints meet Tuesday (July 2), said the Vatican Press Offi ce. But it didn’t comment on an Associated Press report that members formalized their rec-ommendation to canonize Pope John Paul II. All proceeding in sainthood causes are secret until the pope issues the relevant decrees.

Filipinos feel a special affi n-ity for John Paul II. He fi rst vis-ited here in 1981 and told a poker-faced dictator Ferdinand Marcos to his face: “Govern-ment cannot claim to serve the common good when human rights are not safeguarded”. During the Marcos years, there were 3,257 extrajudicial killings, 35,000 torture victims, and 70,000 imprisoned.,historian Alfred

McCoy notes in a Yale University study. That dark legacy hobbles Ferdinand Jr’s bid to seek the presidency in 2016.

Pope John Paul presided over World Youth Day, at Rizal Park, in January 1995,. Over four million attended the closing Mass. That’s the current world record for the largest papal gathering. Filipinos will host Pope Francis January 2016. He’ll attend the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu City. An advance team is here to fi nalize details. Filipinos will look beyond church institutional deadwood and identify with Francis’ concerns for the poor.

The likelihood then is that of a two-John canonization. That furthers fan an ongoing debate where laymen and scholars com-pare the man who’ll be honored and the pontiff who’ll preside over the ancient rites.

“From the moment of his

introduction to the world as Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergo-glio resembled Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, or Pope John XXIII, more than any other pontiff,” John Borelli of Georgetown Uni-versity wrote in the international Catholic weekly: “The Tablet”.

Both were 76 when elected. Roncalli’s electors fi gured on a short-term caretaker - 54 months it turned out. But John

XXIII stunned everyone by convening the Second Vati-can Council. Only 20 such gen-eral councils met in the last two thousand years.

Pope Francis turns 77 this December Barely less than 200 days on the chair of St. Peter, he is correcting the church’s imme-diate past, as did John XXIII. He is also setting directions for the future, notably implementing stalled Vatican II reforms...

Immigration NotesBy J.G. Azarcon, Esq.

Provisional waiver

processing

The Department of Home-land Security has released on January 2, 2013 new

rules changing the procedure for obtaining a waiver for a ground of inadmissibility based on unlawful presence in the country

Starting on March 4, 2013, certain aliens who are in the country without valid status and who need a waiver of unlawful presence to qualify for a green card can now apply for obtain a waiver decision before exiting the US for an interview abroad.

Those who could avail themselves of this rule change are spouses, children under 21 years and parents of US citizens who are unlawfully present in the US because they entered without having been admitted or paroled or violated their autho-rized stay. These are mostly people who crossed the border and others who do not qualify for adjustment of status.

These aliens do not qualify for adjustment of status in the US and must exit the country for a visa interview. Upon depar-ture however, they are subject to a three year or ten-year bar depending on the length of

unlawful presence.In order avoid the three or

ten-year bar, the alien needs to obtain a waiver of inadmissibil-ity from the Department of State. This requires a showing that the US citizen relative will suffer extreme hardship as a result of the separation from the alien. Under the old procedure, the application is fi led at a foreign consular offi ce after the alien has exited the US. If disapproved, the alien would be stranded in his home country and separated

from his family in the U.S. The new rule change will

allow the fi ling and determina-tion of the merits of the waiver application in the US without requiring the alien to exit while the waiver is in process. It does not alter or lower the standard of proof required for a showing of extreme hardship.

What does this mean to somebody who walked across the border without a visa,

VISA PRIORITY DATES FOR THE PHILIPPINESJULY 2013

• FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES First: Unmarried sons/daughters of US citizens Jul. 01, 2000Second:A: Spouses/minor children of permanent residents: Oct. 08, 2011B: Unmarried sons/daughters 21 years of age or older of permanent residents Dec. 22, 2002Third: Married sons/daughters of citizens Nov. 22, 1992Fourth: Brothers/sisters of citizens Dec. 15, 1989

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

Continued on page 30 Continued on page 30

Continued on page 30

July 15, 20132626

MUNG BEAN SPROUTS WITH TOFUThis is one of several

dishes I will demonstrate this coming July 21 at Diamond Hill in Charlotte Court House, Vir-ginia, owned by Vellie Dietrich-Hall. This is a charity event to benefi t the Charlotte County Adult Learning Center and all is arranged by Vellie. This will also be attended by the President of Mama Sita Foundation.

This delicious and whole-some dish is a meal in itself, which can be eaten with or with-out rice or bread. However, this recipe can be prepared both the hard and the easy way. Either way, it is a pleasure to cook this dish. If the hard way is chosen, be prepared to chop and cook the onions and garlic, on top of making the vegetable or chicken stock. Just cooking the stock is no simple matter and takes a lot of prep time. The easy way is to use one of the most popular Phil-ippine products -- Mama Sita’s Chop Suey/ Pancit Canton Stir Fry Mix. This is available at any oriental store.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:1 pound mung bean sprouts1 pack (16 oz.) fi rm tofu,

diced (1/2”)Vegetable oil2 cups water1 packet Mama Sita’s Chop

Suey/ Pancit Canton Stir Fry Mix

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

crosswise1/4 cup red bell pepper

strips

Methods:Briefl y submerge the bean

sprouts in cold water and remove any fl oating mung bean skin.; drain and set aside.

In a non-stick skillet, stir fry the tofu in a little bit of oil until lightly golden (do not toast). Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Mix 2 cups of water and 1 packet of Mama Sita’s Chop Suey/Pancit Canton Stir Fry Mix until dissolved; wipe clean the same skillet and pour in this mixture. Bring the mixture to a quick boil and add the mung bean sprouts. Let simmer for a few minutes or until the sprouts is half-cooked. Add the tofu, celery and red bell pepper strips and cook for another 2 to 3 min-utes but do not overcook the bean sprouts. Season slightly with salt and pepper, only if needed.

Serve hot.Editor’s Note: Master Chef

Evelyn: 100 Most Influential Fili-pina Women in the U.S., 2009, Fili-pina Women’s Network; MHC Most Outstanding Migrant Award in Culinary Arts, 2011; PAFC Dakila Special Achievement Award, 2011; Owner/Chef, Philippine Oriental Market & Deli, Arlington, Virginia; Founder and President of CHEW (Cancer Help – Eat Well) Founda-tion, a 501 (c) (3) public charity formed to help and cook pro-bono for

Filipino-Americans who are afflicted with cancer and other serious ill-nesses; Culinary writer; Member, Les Dames d’Escoffier International, Washington DC Chapter; Member, International Cake Exploration Society, Member, Culinary Histo-rians of Washington, D.C.; Master Chef, French Cuisine and Patisserie, Le Cordon Bleu, London.

MARRIAGE‘Woman inspires us to great

things, and prevents us from achieving them.’... Dumas

‘I’ve had bad luck with both my wives. The fi rst one left me, and the second one didn’t.’... Pat-rick Murray

‘I don’t worry about ter-rorism. I was married for two years.’... Sam Kinison

‘A good wife always for-gives her husband when she is wrong.’... Milton Berle

‘Two secrets to keep your marriage brimming 1. Whenever you’re wrong, admit it. 2. When-ever you’re right, shut up.’... Nash

TRAFFIC STOPJohn and Jessica were on

their way home from the bar one night and John got pulled over by the police. The offi cer told John that he was stopped because his tail light was burned out. John said, “I’m very sorry offi cer, I didn’t realize it was out, I’ll get it fi xed right away.”

Just then Jessica said, “I knew this would happen when I told you two days ago to get that light fi xed.”

So the offi cer asked for John’s license and after looking

at it said, “Sir your license has expired.”

And again John apologized and mentioned that he didn’t realize that it had expired and would take care of it fi rst thing in the morning.

Jessica said, “I told you a week ago that the state sent you a letter telling you that your license had expired.”

Well by this time, John is a bit upset with his wife contra-dicting him in front of the offi -cer, and he said in a rather loud voice, “Jessica, shut your damn mouth!”

The offi cer then leaned over toward Jessica and asked. “Ma’am, does your husband always talk to you like that?”

Jessica replied, “only when he’s drunk.”

HOME POLICEEthel was a bit of a demon

in her wheelchair and loved to charge around the nursing home, taking corners on one wheel, and getting up to maximum speed on the long corridors. Because the poor woman was one sandwich short of a picnic, the other resi-dents tolerated her, and some of the men actually joined in. One

day, Ethel was speeding up one corridor when Fast Eddie out-stretched his hand. “STOP!” he shouted in a fi rm voice. “Have you got a license for that thing?” Ethel fi shed around in her hand-bag and pulled out a Kit-Kat wrapper, and held it up to him. “OK” he said, and away Ethel sped down the hall. As she took the corner near the TV lounge on one wheel, Weird Harold popped out in front of her and shouted, “STOP! Have you got proof of insurance?” Ethel dug into her handbag, pulled out a drink coaster, and held it up to him. Harold nodded, and said “Carry on, ma’am.”

As Ethel neared the fi nal corridor before the front door, Crazy Craig stepped out in front of her, stark naked, with a very sizable erection.

“Oh, good grief,” cried Ethel, “Not the Breathalyzer Test again!”

SEXTotoy: Inay, ano po ba yung

sex?Inay: Ah, eh... ang ginagawa

ng mag-asawa para magka-anak. Totoy: Ang haba naman

nun, ‘nay... paano ko isusulat

iyan dito sa bio data ko?

BAKIT?Sa isang ospital pagkatapos

ng operasyon...Pasyente: Dok, bakit ganito

ang pagka-opera sa ulo ko? Halos kita na ang utak ko.

Dok: Okey yan... at least open-minded ka na ngayon.

ANG ORDERSa airport canteen, umorder

ang isang Amerikano.Kano: Miss, will you please

give me one few two.Tindera: What sir?Kano: I said one few two.Tindera: Oh, puto.Kano: yeah, that’s right.Tindera: (Sa sarili:, Tanga.

puto lang, pino-few two, few two pa, gagantihan ko nga). Okey sir, what color do you want? Few la or few ti?

HINDI RAWCustomer: (Sumisigaw)...

Pabili ng HOPE.Tindero: Huwag kang

sumigaw, hindi ako bingi. Ilang COKE ba ang bibilhin mo?

AWAYNag-aaway ang dalawang

tanga:Kulas: Ano ba ang gusto

mo... away o gulo?Tomas: Away na lang para

walang gulo.

YAYAMa’am: Yaya, magluto ka na

pag-alis ko ha!Yaya: Ano po lulutuin ko?Ma’am: It’s up to you.Ma’am: (During dinner)

Yaya, bakit ketsup at tuyo ang ulam?

Yaya: Di ba nung tinanong ko kayo kung anong lulutuin ko, sabi niyo, ‘kitsup, tuyo’!

July 15, 2013 27

Halo Halo

Summer is here and halo halo is synonymous to the season. It is a welcome treat.

Who would refuse a glass of this refreshing mixture of shaved ice, milk and a variety of native sweets in the midst of hot and sweltering weather? Not me! Not even those having calorie count challenges that I know of. Double whammy is the “Special Halo Halo” with leche fl an and ube or mango ice cream topping added to the regular ingredi-ents of macapuno, kaong, beans, munggo, langka, sweet babanas, yams and pinipig. OMG! Forget about counting those calories.

Literally speaking, halo in Tagalog means the motion of swirling something like com-bining and blending the various ingredients used in halo halo. It is only when they are well mixed with the liquefi ed ice and milk ala milkshake when it is thor-oughly enjoyed and drunk to the last drop. However, not all halo halo offerings in Filipino restau-rants are the same. Some lacked the yummy ingredients like the leche fl an and macapuno or langka and the milk used is not the usual canned thick evapo-rated milk. Why the name halo halo? We want to repeat words a lot, ergo halo, became halo halo or “mix mix” in English, as we say in our own lingo. It also meant a mixture of a variety of ingredients. Talking about rep-etition of words, in names we are also guilty of calling our chil-dren: Bong-Bong, Jun-Jun, Ging-Ging, Ric-Ric, Jo-Jo at marami pang iba.

Homemade halo halo: I have something to share with you about it preparing the easy way. I substitute vanilla ice cream for the evaporated milk and shaved ice when I am too lazy to get and set the ice shaver from the kitchen cabinet and shave the ice cubes. And I also don’t have canned evap milk sitting in the cupboard most of the time. Well, the result is almost the same with cold creamy shake, mixed with the store bought bottled halo halo ingredients. With this, I save time, money and energy, but importantly, I hear no com-plaint from my food critic family. Whether eaten in restaurant or homemade, enjoy your mix-mix!

Mother, mother I am sick ….Hearing this, the mom fl ew

to be with her daughter right away. Yes, my youngest daugh-ter had a torn ligament knee surgery in St. Petersburg, Flor-

ida. She lives alone in her own house with a pet named Buddy. Of course, she has friends who offered to help, but mom is the best person to take care of her. Arriving two days before, I accompanied her to the surgi-cal center and stayed during the procedure. Before her bed was wheeled to the surgery room, I softly said “take care of my baby.” I was just whisper-ing, but the nurse heard me and remarked “don’t you worry, we will.” She smiled because the baby I was referring to was an adult.

Waking up after the surgery I drove and took RocheIa home. It was a nice feeling to baby her again like when she was little. I propped her leg up on pillows every morning, prepared her breakfast , lunch and dinner; also applied ice bag on her knee and directed her foot and leg exer-cises. She had snacks of cut up fruits and cashew nuts by her side with a glass of iced water constantly fi lled up. I gave her a much needed back and neck massage which I always did when she was home in Virginia for Christmas. I cooked chicken Arroz Caldo and fried tokwa as the side dish for her merienda. (I remember my own mother used to cook the same hot merienda for me whenever I was sick). In the evening after watching the TV news or movies, her leg was again propped up over a pile of pillows as I tucked her in bed.

I fed Buddy with his dog food and a couple of capsules for his allergies every other day. He licked the medicine imbedded in a small ball of peanut butter with gusto. He came to me with a pair of pleading eyes when he wanted to pee and poo in their back yard. He either played with his favorite toy, a black spider, or slept most of the time. But the most amusing activity that he did was when he exercised on the tread mill. My daughter, Rochela, trained him to do it for 40 minutes, daily. He seemed to be enjoying it with his tail wag-ging and I have not seen a dog exercising like this. Buddy is a lovable disciplined black Lab-

rador. There’s a period in the morning when he brought me his spider wanting me to start his game of throw and catch. Funny but he communicated with me and I understood him.

When Rochela could now walk without her crutches, we went to the nearby Sunken Garden and just walked slowly and leisurely around the beau-tiful, lush trees, bushes, vines, variety of fl owering plants and ponds with “koi,” and a couple of pink fl amingoes nearby. It was an enjoyable walk in the serene setting. Then we also went to the marina, a tourist spot and savored the fresh soupy mussels with garlic bread and fried spicy calmari. We invited one of her friends, who offered to drive us to this place by the water. The restaurant was called “Forrest Gump” named after the inspir-ing movie played by Tom Hanks. Chela and I had a relaxing and stressed relieving massage.

The day before I left, I cooked Mechado, Menudo and small lumpia with ground turkey fi lling. She specifi cally requested me to cook these for her. When done, I put them in individual containers and prop-erly arranged them in the freezer. I hope this would last for a week. There was also some left over like ribs sinigang, chicken curry with basil leaves and chicken vegetable soup.

This was an opportunity to bond with my youngest daugh-ter. I only see her when she comes home a couple of times a year, but of course we talked on the phone for news and updates. Rochela is not a typical youngest child in the family. She is rather independent, organized, confi -dent, and manages her money very well. Her demeanor is like an oldest child, like my son. She is a business/systems analyst, owns her home and not married. But like my other three children, whatever her age and work posi-tion, she holds her permanent place in the family known as the “bunso.” So, when she calls “Mother, mother I am sick,” mother comes very quick.

Sugbu of My Youth

My mother is Ilocano and my father is Cebuano. I grew up in Batangas,

the accepted home of the Taga-log dialect. That makes me diffi -cult to categorize. Like a Yankee Doodle-Dixie who was raised in the mid-west.

If our visits to Dupax, my mother’s hometown, were infre-quent, our trips to Cebu were downright rare. One either took a plane or a boat to reach the island which is south of Manila. Because we were a military family, we could fl y to Cebu for free. But fl ight schedules were irregular and spaces were allot-ted on a fi rst come fi rst served basis.

The family of a non-com-missioned airman on vacation had the lowest priority. So we traveled by sea. In the 1950s boat trips took several days and were relatively expensive, but they were more affordable than air-line tickets.

Cebu City, which some prefer to call Sugbu, is the oldest city in the Philippines. Almost fi ve centuries after Ferdinand Magellan landed on its shores, evidence of Spanish infl uence remains. The dialect is sprinkled with Spanish words. It co-opted town and city names - Alcoy, Cordoba, Santander, and Valen-cia to name a few. Cebuanos count just as easily in Sugbuanon as well as in Spanish.

Our family lived in Lipa, Batangas. It sits on a plateau so the weather is cooler there. On the other hand, Cebu’s heat is oppressive and saps all energy. I came to dread the unbroken string of sunny blue skies which meant days of unrelenting heat.

We rode horse-drawn car-riages called ‘tartanillas’. I hated them. The choice between mod-esty and safety didn’t appeal to me. They were uncomfortable and were hard to board. We entered from the rear of the tiny coach which sloped upwards at an angle. I scraped my shin from slipping and sliding.

My Cebu grandfather, had several fruit trees in his property. I welcomed the shade and the breeze those trees provided but was startled to see a little creature hanging from a branch. He was dismayed to see me and started screaming his displeasure. “Eek, eek, eek.” He shrieked his high pitched indignation as he threw small branches at me.

My aunts and uncles tried to hide their amusement as I cowered behind them in panic. A small monkey lived among the trees. My aunties shushed the agitated creature and shooed him to the far trees, away from me. What a strange place, I thought, a monkey in the middle of a city? Wait till my classmates hear of this. Or maybe not. I wasn’t particularly liked at the moment. I just had fi sticuffs with a classmate and everyone gave me a wide berth.

The fresh avocados picked from those trees were sweet and creamy. My aunts cut them in small pieces, poured milk, added sugar, and ice cubes. It was refreshing and a welcome snack. I stuck my tongue at the offended monkey as I ate, but careful to stay well away from his aim. His anxiety was clear even from a distance.

His angry tantrum greeted me almost every day. Then one day he disappeared. My aunts and uncles shrugged their shoul-ders. They were unconcerned. But I felt shamed. I wished him gone and was feeling guilty. I looked for him each day but I never saw him again. The thought that he might have come to some harm troubled me.

My father is the oldest of eight children. Their reunions were full of laughter and singing. I learned rudimentary guitar as I watched my uncles take turns strumming and harmonizing with each other. I attributed my love of singing and voice to my mother. She was a good mezzo-soprano in her youth. It was a revelation to learn my father’s family was musical too, although it should not have surprised me. Cebuanos love to sing and gui-tars have become an appendage to most of them.

Papang spoke of his early years, of growing up with par-ents who were both industri-ous and frugal. They scrimped and saved to buy the piece of land that was the pride and joy of the Monteras. Our Ramos ancestors had land and were relatively comfortable. There is a street named after one of them. V. Ramos Street, I believe. But every piece of that land is gone.

The Ramos-Montera became a family divided.

The loss became the corner-stone of our family mythology. The story of one ‘lolo-sa-tuhod’

(great-grandfather) was a tragic though familiar one. Spanish friars coveted his land but he refused to either sell or cede. He was hauled before the friars and while there, he signed over the deed to his land. That created such hatred toward the Spanish that spilled over to extreme dis-like of the Catholics. My grand-

mother and her sisters remained Catholics but their only brother converted to Protestantism. Papang idolized his uncle and joined him. One other uncle became a Mormon.

Only Catholics went to heaven. That was seared in my brain. The fi rst two decades of my life were spent fearing for

my papang’s soul forever barred

from heaven.

The Cebu of my youth is

gone. Progress has turned it into

a mini-Manila. “God gave us

memory so that we might have

roses in December.” Thank you

for that quote, James M. Barrie.

July 15, 20132828

Mr. ‘intrigador’ speaksThe Filipino American community

in the greater Washington D.C. is again alive with rumor about which group held the biggest celebration to mark the 115th anniversary of Philippine independence last month.

A rumor-mongering Tsismoso intrigador No 1 is referring to the galas of the decades-old Philippine American Foundation for Charities (PAFC) and the fairly new Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC) which held separate balls to mark the anniversary.

This Tsismoso “inrigador” mailed his observation to “Mr. Tsismoso, C/0 Manila Mail”.

Here goes: “Dear Mr. Tsismoso, did you notice

that the PAFC held its gala ball at the Mar-riott Hotel in DOWNTOWN DC with the theme of “Our Families, Our Communi-ties: Helping Shape America” and MHC held its own at the UPTOWN Marriott Wardham Park Hotel with the theme of “America is Powered by Immigrants”? Sa hotel location lang, talo na ang PAFC!

“Based on reports, I have concluded that MHC had a bigger ball than PAFC even before Manila Mail columnist, Rodney Jaleco, mentioned it in his column (June 15.) that MHC holds bigger affairs. He says, and I agree, that the MHC ball was ‘easily one of the largest parties in the Metro-DC region’.

“Again, in terms of praise from Ambassador Jose Cuisia, who with his wife attended both occasions, PAFC lost again! The ambassador who has been trying to please all groups in DC had more praise for MHC than PAFC.

“I was present when the ambassador lauded MHC for ‘recognizing, honoring and celebrating the many achievements of Filipino immigrants’. At the PAFC gala, I heard the ambassador merely repeated his report about economic progress in the Philippines and praised the group for its work in the community.

“I hope you will publish this, just as you published Jaleco’s column.

“More power to you. Salamat. Yours truly, Intrigador.”

(Note: Letter was postmarked in Oxon Hill, Maryland and dated June 28).

Informed about this intriga of Mr. Intrigador, a PAFC supporter said:

“Aba, besides the gala, mayroon ba ang MHC ‘Brown Strokes’, book read-ings, raffl es, a very successful community Picnic at iba pa? Nagdodonate ba ang

MHC money for charity?” ***“Lutong Macao?” “Fixed?” are

among the comments of some Filipino Americans who have been following the case of Mylene de Leon Scott, a small Fili-pino woman who was shot fi ve times by a sheriff’s deputy at Costco store in Sterling, Virginia May 29. Up to now, there has been no offi cial report about the incident despite Ambassador Cuisia’s request for an exhaustive probe and the Washington Post’s editorial demand that police release the tape of in-store TV monitors.

There were earlier reports that the State Police or the County’s Attorney General would conduct the investigation. Now, the latest report is that the Sheriff’s offi ce, which earlier said the deputies acted according to their rules.

Some Pinoys say that if the incident involved a Black woman or a Latina, the activists in these groups would have already launched continuous protest demonstrations until higher authorities acted.

For Pinoys in Loudon, be careful.

***Why is it that the Philippine embassy

holds its annual vin d’honneur sometimes in trendy hotels and, at times, only at the embassy residence or the Romulo Hall of the embassy? The recent reception hosted by Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. was at the classy Hay Adams hotel in Washing-ton D.C. During the time of then Ambas-sador Albert del Rosario, receptions were held in hotels. But during the time of Ambassador Willy Gaa or Raul Rabe, receptions were held only in the embassy residece or at cheaper hotels.

The reason, according to Tsismosos, is that most career envoys don’t have money to spend while the political envoys have sources which they can tap.

***Know what most members of the

Philippine Senate do? Engage in inani-ties. Take for instance the socalled macho senators.. Greg Honasand and Tito Sotto. Instead of participating in serious delib-erations about certain legislation, they use Senate time to quibble about a proposed bill to protect battered husbands.

Because they believe themselves to be machos, they take the time to hold a dia-logue about the proposed legislation after someone proposed legislation to protect battered wives.

Editorial

Call the House Now!The U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform

bill by a 68-32 vote last month. This feat marks a huge fi rst step towards fi xing a broken immigration system. It’s now up to House members to act just as expeditiously as their Senate counterparts to move this legislation forward. They have about a month to get the job done before the summer recess.

But the House Judiciary Committee, the body charged with moving this process along, has so far approved bills that are not in tune with the Senate measure. One not only eliminates the sibling category in the family immigration system prospec-tively, but will deny many sibling visas for those currently in line with approved petitions. Moreover, none of their bills cre-ates a path to citizenship. In fact, all of their provisions would negatively impact communities with huge immigrant popula-tions.

A key member who needs to hear your voice is the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Robert W. Goodlatte, a Repub-lican congressman from the 6th District of Virginia. Although his constituents are from Roanoke, Staunton, Harrisonburg and Lynchburg, Filipino Americans not only across the state of Vir-ginia but from all over the country must let him know where they stand.

Public clamor for a fair and sensible immigration reform has been growing within the last few years. Most Americans today favor giving citizenship rights to the undocumented. To Fili-pino Americans, the important issues are fi xing the long back-logs and reuniting families.

House members would do well to heed what George Wash-ington said back in 1788 when this nation was trying its best to form a perfect union: “I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable Asylum to the virtuous and perse-cuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong ...”

Call your Representatives now and demand action. But don’t just call. Drop in and visit them at their offi ces. (J. Melegrito)

July 15, 2013 29

Champion

Boxer Manny Pacqiao may have lost his championship belt but he is still a cham-

pion. He just won a new title, the Congressman with the highest absentee record in the Philippine House of Representatives.

He represents the province of Sarangani in Mindanao. Pacq-iao explains that he was not gal-livanting because his time away from the halls of Congress was spent for constituent work. His constituents obviously believe him. He just won reelection handily this year. Nobody dared to run against him.

My barber who is not from Sarangani believes that Pacq-iao is serving his people well. Being a born again Christian, his pastoral work includes counsel-ing wayward husbands to exer-cise natural birth control by not making babies outside the mar-riage. His jobs plan includes praying to the heavens that somehow his compatriots will fi nd jobs from know not where. He promotes his social welfare program and does charity work through his TV program called Show Me Da Manny where he dispenses cash to star struck con-test participants.

His time away from Con-gress is actually a plus, my barber says. He doesn’t have

enough time to learn graft and corruption. And besides, Pac-quiao is not a great pretender. He does not know how to appear busy in the legislature when he is actually coming in only to see if his new Barong Tagalog fi ts him well.

***The Philippines has earned

another title with no bragging rights attached. It has the high-est teen pregnancy rate in Asia, according to a TV report.

A media commentator said that this calls for an urgent action to spread information to the youth. In America, it is called sex education.

Do you really believe that most of these young people who engage in sex do it without knowledge that if you put some-thing in there, something in your image could possibly come out from there sometime?

Was there sex education

when our grandparents were blooming with youth and teen pregnancy was an insignifi cant statistic?

Learning about the birds and the bees may not be enough to imbue responsible behavior among those whose passion-ate eruptions overwhelm social restrictions. Family and the church may be fi ghting a losing battle. But who else will plug the leaking dike?

***Are you ready for Obam-

acare? Many will have to wait a little longer. Pres. Obama is not ready, not quite. The admin-istration announced that it will postpone for another year the employer mandate part of Obamacare.

Under the Affordable Health Care Act, employers with more than 50 full time workers will have to provide manda-

‘Been there, done that’The turmoil in Egypt is a

by-product of a military-backed popular uprising that deposed a strongman two years ago, a situation that Filipinos should be familiar with.

In 1986, widespread pro-test against the Marcos dictator-ship, riddled with charges of graft and human rights abuses, boiled over until a faction of the military launched a mutiny that was eventually embraced by the people. That process would be repeated 14 years later when the military withdrew support for then President now Manila City Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada amid a popular clamor to remove him from offi ce after a failed impeachment trial.

The scenes in Cairo’s Tahrir Square were reminiscent of EDSA, a sea of humanity peace-fully fi ghting for change, both in 2011 (against Hosni Mubarak) and just the past few weeks. But the arrest of Mohamed Morsi, the country’s fi rst freely elected leader since the 1920s has threat-ened to derail efforts to restore democracy in the world’s biggest Arab nation. The latest events, especially the killing of hundreds of protesting Morsi supporters have left the United States and its principal ally in the region, Israel, nervous about where all

these will lead to.What happens to Egypt is

important to America, but it’s also signifi cant because perhaps the Philippines can offer some lessons to the Egyptian people as they strive to build a democracy that satisfi es their needs and con-forms to their long history and unique culture.

The Egyptian military is widely respected in the Middle East, imperative for maintaining peace and stability in this other-wise volatile region.

They are widely regarded as the true center of power in Egypt and it was impossible they would not be drawn in the politi-cal confl ict.

Politics usually operate under set rules, many of them shifting and unspoken. If what we know about what transpired in Manila in 1986 and 2000 are any indication, there would have been signifi cant pressure on the Egyptian military leadership to act.

Just like in the Philippines where military intervention was seen as key for victory for either side, Egypt has a much lengthier history of soldiers stepping into the role of both kingmakers as well as kings after a successful coup ended an experiment with British-style democracy in 1952.

However, the real chal-lenge is after, when people have to push the military back to their barracks. Then President Corazon Aquino stared down at least six mutinies includ-ing the August 1987 aborted putsch where her son, current Pres. Benigno Aquino III, was wounded in a rebel ambush while he tried to rush to his mother’s side in Malacanang.

Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, swept to power after Estrada’s generals abandoned him, quelled two uprisings in 2003 and 2006.

The lessons from EDSA are apparent. Firstly, we rarely get

Opinion

Continued on page 30

‘Old Soldiers Never Die’

My 85-year-old uncle, Arsenio Dizon, is the only surviving relative

in our family who was a guerilla during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines from 1940 to 1945. He was recruited by his older brother, uncle Gil Dizon, who formed a guerilla army under the American command-ing general of the resistance movement in Northern Luzon.

A prisoner who escaped the Death March, uncle Gil was more than ready and willing to fi ght the Japanese invaders. He rounded up 22 men, including Uncle Arsing, from his home-town in Guimba. Impressed, Col. Robert B. Lapham, overall commander of the Luzon Guer-rila Army Forces, prepared the papers of authority recognizing my uncle’s guerrilla unit, Squad-ron 206-A.

“I was very happy and jubilant for now I could oper-ate freely and independently in fi ghting the enemy,” he wrote in his journal. “Then I realized the enormous responsibilities I have to undertake, and the missions I have to accomplish: to continue the resistance until the war is won, to wipe out lawlessness and banditry in my given area of operation, and to give the nec-essary protection to the civilian populace wherever it needs be.”

True to his vows, he led his guerillas in attacking Japanese garrisons in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, raiding rice granaries and distributing them to barrio folks. Wily and cunning, he evaded Japanese soldiers whom he pissed off (to put it mildly), chasing him and his guerrillas through rice fi elds and moun-tainous terrain.

But uncle Gil’s weakness for wine, women and song got him ensnared in a trap set up by the enemy. He was captured and “tortured to the point of death.” He was eventually released, thanks to the intercession of high Philippine government offi cials.

When the fi rst wave of U.S. liberating forces arrived, uncle Gil joined the reconnaissance troops. He attached his guerrilla unit with the American forces that launched an attack on the retreating Imperial Army in Cagayan Valley. Throughout the campaign, all guerrilla units in Northern Luzon were attached to the 25th Division of the U.S. Army under one unifi ed com-mand.

With the war over, Uncle Gil’s guerrillas were all given an honorable discharge and recog-nized as accredited members of the of the U.S. Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE).

Fast Forward. I’m citing these accounts because my Uncle Arsing is among the 4,000 vet-erans who were denied benefi ts under the FVEC because his record of service couldn’t be authenticated. I have assisted him in his appeal and assured him not to give up hope.

Now there’s hope because the White House Interagency Working Group (IWG) has recently come up with changes in the verifi cation process. Com-posed of the Veterans Admin-istration, the U.S. Army and the National Personnel Records Center, these agencies recog-nize the urgency of authenti-cating claims and expediting certifi cation requests. I believe the Obama administration want to do the right thing by making sure all eligible veterans receive their rightful benefi ts.

As stated in its report to the IWG, the U.S. Army adminis-tered an accreditation program to extend “formal recognition to Philippine guerilla units and individuals who contributed materially to the defeat of Japa-nese occupying forces.” My dad, Gregorio Melegrito, and my two uncles, were among the over 260,000 “recognized with posi-tive service determinations.” US Army offi cials worked closely with Philippine authorities, gue-rilla unit commanders in devel-oping authenticated rosters. They consists of over 1,600 boxes of permanent historical value and are stored at the National Archives and Records Adminis-tration facility in College Park, MD. These rosters remain the basis for all claims presented and adjudicated by various U.S. gov-ernment agencies since 1948.

My dad and Uncle Gil died before 2009 so they didn’t get anything. But Uncle Arsing is still alive. For their sakes I plan to sort through those boxes soon, if only to confi rm that old sol-diers never die. Whether or not their names are listed in some roster somewhere, they served this country proudly and hon-orably and their legacy will live forever.

Send your comments to jdmelegrito@gmail.com Continued on page 30

July 15, 20133030

On Our Missing... from page 24

tory health insurance. Full time employees are those working more than 30 hours per week.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi once said- “Let’s pass this bill so that we will know what’s in it.”

She is right. Now more and more people know about it and a good number do not fi nd it desirable. According to a new Gallup poll, more than 40 per-cent of small-business owners say that Obamacare caused them to freeze hiring and twenty ,per-

cent say that they cut existing workers because of it. Only nine percent of 603 small-business owners surveyed believe that Obamacare will be good for busi-ness as compared to 48 percent who think otherwise.

According to the House Energy and Commerce based on documents submitted by 17 of the nation’s largest insurance companies insurance premiums will increase an average of 100 percent under Obamacare.

Just last week, the adminis-tration announced that it will not verify the income of applicants seeking insurance subsidy under Obamacare. That means the gov-ernment could dispense fi nancial assistance based on a lie. I smell insurance fraud, big time.

Sen. Max Baucus, a promi-nent Democrat from Montana who helped craft Obamacare warned a few months ago that Obamacare is facing a train wreck in its implementation. Does the good senator have a clairvoyant vision?

it right the fi rst time. After Presi-dent Marcos was forced to fl ee to Hawaii, his successor faced huge challenges “ foremost, disman-tling a dictatorship while manag-ing the people’s often impatient expectations. Events in Manila demonstrated that leaders are tempted to revert to dictator-like powers and subvert democratic institutions. Egyptians are only beginning

this process; they’re still trying to fi x the democratic revo-lution they’ve started amid the growing chaos of discarding a bad leader and searching for a better one. This is perhaps the most perilous stage of political transition.

Secondly, the military will not go back to barracks volun-tarily. They have to be enticed, pressured or cajoled to step back and let the civilians govern the nation. Some generals could feel invested in the political transi-tion or skeptical of the messy process of building a democracy but these can be overcome by a united, vigilant citizenry. In the Philippines, the military’s own fear of being thrown asunder by competing political forces and a deep desire to be embraced once more by the public proved pow-erful motivation for them to let go. The Egyptian people should fi nd their own levers to sway the generals.

Thirdly, there is no quicker way to derail democratic change than violence. After the peaceful revolution of 1986, a segment of the Philippine military reacted to the new political openness by assassinating leftist leaders, at times justifying them in the name of protecting People Power gains.

The government went after the erring soldiers even if some of them helped drive out the dictator, but perhaps more importantly, the public itself denounced the murders. In the initial vacuum of political tran-sition, excesses are likely to be committed by all sides. This is the time when people in the streets need to rise above parti-san loyalties and express clearly

their solidarity with the free-doms they’re fi ghting for.

Lastly, the world, especially the US and Egypt’s friends, should be unequivocal about their support for peaceful, demo-cratic change. Granted that could be tricky as well as risky, experi-ence in the Philippines showed that the rights words (or right action) at the right time to the right people could prove deci-sive especially when the situa-tion is so fl uid.

During the December 1989 coup, rebel pilots captured planes and used them to bomb targets in Manila. The US scram-bled F-4 Phantom jets from Clark Air Base to buzz rebel airbases, producing sonic booms as pro-government troops and muti-

neers battled below, that left no doubt the US was standing by Mrs. Aquino’s elected govern-ment and signaling the putsch was doomed.

We doubt the US can or would even want to do some-thing as dramatic in Cairo. It’s a different, more dangerous eighborhood. Still, the desire for freedom and the opportunity for people to shape their future are timeless and universal. As some Pinoys might say, “been there, done that”. We can only wish Egyptian democracy fi ghters a safe, fruitful journey as they travel that same road.

‘Been there, done that’... from page 29

Champion... from page 29

try where police failed to use calm and calibrated responses to armed standoffs, ambushes or shootouts, resulting in unnec-essary deaths (including of bystanders). Trigger-happy policemen simply rake suspects with excessive gunfi re, when simply disabling them would have been the appropriate action.

In our everyday lives, we encounter all-too familiar instances of improper training. Look at Filipino drivers. They constantly break the law because they’re unfamiliar with the rules. How many Filipino drivers went to driving school? How many professional drivers are really professional?

How many passed a real test at the Land Transportation Offi ce to get a license? Every-body (even the blind, in one instance I remember from the news) gets a license. A lot of times the examiner himself fi lls out the test answers for the appli-cant. For a fee, of course.

We get by through improvi-sation and shortcuts. We can all

recall incidents of cluelessness in our lives. If only the people we dealt with had been properly trained, everything would have gone smoothly. Imagine how much in wasted time and effort such encounters must have cost us and companies in terms of lost productivity. As the adage says, time is money. Wasted time is costly. And wasted lives are tragic.

Lack of training has been a bane of Philippine society and industry. “Kaya mo ‘yan,” we tell trainees and let them sink or swim in the real world. And many of them fail precisely because they’re unprepared for their jobs.

The consequences can be ruefully serious. Fortunately for the recent Cebu pacifi c runway overshoot, no one died or was injured. The delay (without a reassuring announcement from the crew) could have ended in more tragic circumstances, like a fi re or explosion.

But in other incidents about which many of us are aware, the

consequences had sadly been serious and/or fatal, as in the Luneta hostage-taking and a police encounter in Paranaque City, south of Manila, that resulted in the unnecessary kill-ing of an innocent father and his young daughter.

Similarly, many lives could have been saved from the many boat sinkings in the history of country had the ships’ crews been better-trained and familiar with life-savings techniques.

Inadequate training should never be tolerated by companies or institutions that deal with the public. Fortunately, sometimes it results in inconveniences only to the people involved. But often-times, it results in tragedy.

***Greetings. A shout-out to

friends Rommel Simon and Teresa Simbulan, who laid-out and printed my books when I was still living in the DC area. Hope you’re both well and thriv-ing. (Teresa, I have no news about your Dad, but best regards to all in your family.)

Bad training kills... from page 25

years, unsolved until the start of my college years at the Univer-sity of Santo Tomas in Manila. The founding of UST in 1611 had always fascinated me, especially when I learned a few weeks after my enrolment that it had been conferred the title of Pon-tifi cal University by the Vatican. My interest in the history of the founding of UST led me to a dis-covery of the Italian School of paintings, especially those mas-terpieces done by the Florentine artists of the 15th and 16th Cen-turies. Most of these artworks have depth of vision!

Looking at an encyclopedia of illustrated works of arts, “The Adoration of the Magi” by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lipi or “The Portrait of a Lady” by Nero-cio de Landi, exhibited to me the usual two dimensional views, but examining them further, they both gave me a vision of two parallel lines converging on a point that to my eyes seemed endless like an infi nity. Further readings led me to a discovery that these two lines converging to an endless point, was the van-ishing point, an optical illusion that appeared to an onlooker that the parallel lines seemed to meet at a point and objects appeared

smaller the farther they were from my vision. These lines van-ishing to a point gave the whole painting the perspective. Other works by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Bramantino, which I had examined, carried the same features.

The absence of gender-specifi c pronouns in Tagalog is a vanishing point, a linguistic trait that is part of the Filipinos’ cultural heritage. The absence gives the Tagalog language a perspective; this uniqueness is a point of honor. No race, no cul-ture, no language is better than the others. The Filipinos, their descendants, are the products of their own culture, shaped by customs and traditions, which, as distinct individuals, were acquired from their own fami-lies, nurtured and preserved since birth. The tone of voices, as expressed in Tagalog or in other native dialects, the infl ections, the stresses of emphasis, these are all acquired by the Filipinos and their descendants from the start of baby talks from the crib.

Knowing all these, do you, as Filipinos, or as their descen-dants, still miss the personal pro-nouns?

Pope Benedict was 78 when elected, recalls Eugene Cullen Kennedy professor of psychol-ogy at Loyola University, Chi-cago - Benedict XVI spent eight long -- and I mean long -- years as our Holy Father.

Francis entered our lives only a season ago. So, why does

Francis seem like someone we’ve known a long time? Of Benedict, we fall back on the Irish saying that “we hardly knew ye.”

John and Francis resemble each other most in their being anything but themselves. “By its very nature, that quality cannot be faked. As they did about John

XXIII, people sense there is no pretense that keeps them from easy relationship with Francis”.

Almost overnight, Francis began to restore credibility of his church just by being himself. He washed the feet of prisoners, including a Muslim woman, at the Holy Thursday liturgy. Thus, “he panicked far-right Catholics but spoke of true religion to the

world.”The act “spoke more of

Francis understanding of Islam than the learned ( but often mis-understood ) theologically dense addresses of Benedict XVI. “That,

alas, was not Benedict’s strong

suit,” Kenndy adds. He was

determined to diminish the infl u-

ence of a Vatican council that he

insisted had been misinterpreted.

No Other Way... from page 25

worked under the shadows for years and married a US citizen? Many of them do not risk depart-ing the US for a visa interview in their home country for fear that the waiver will not be granted. That would mean a long sepa-ration from their spouse and children in the US, unless their immediate family will choose to join them abroad.

With the procedural change, the alien will know in advance if his waiver application is

approved or denied before he makes a decision to appear for a visa interview abroad. Those who could not tolerate a long separation may just decide to forego with the visa interview abroad and continue to live in limbo status in the U.S. if the provisional waiver is denied. This is the main benefi t that the rule change brings in addition to the promised shorter processing time.

Provisional waiver... from page 25

July 15, 2013 31

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