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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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WHO KILLED HER? As Sharon Anne Santos' body was found in the trunk of her car,
investigators are still inconclusive of the cause of her death.
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Burbank, CALIFORNIA, September 9, 2004 --- Sharon Anne Santos left work at Warner Bros. Entertainment in the afternoon of Aug. 17. She went back to her apartment in West Covina that day, and had not heard anything from her since then. Last Thursday, after two weeks of her disappearance, her body was found in a car trunk in Chinatown of Los Angeles.
Although the cause of death has not been determined, the 30-year-old Filipino-American financial analyst apparently suffered physical attacks. He body had badly decomposed, authorities said. The LA County coroner’s office did an autopsy but still awaiting the results from texicology tests. Those could take a few weeks.
Nina Haynes, a longtime friend of Santos, said Santos’ mother, Edna, and sister, Sandra, were notified shortly after the investigators found her car, according to reports. The family was devastated.
“We hoped for something better,” Haynes told reporters. “We were actually more hopeful the past few days when we heard there were different leades. But we’re now at the point of refocusing and trying to find out who did this. That is a tremendous task right there.”
But investigation has been difficult, Burbank Police Sgt. Jay Jette said, as the authorities has so little information to go on.
“Our efforts will not end here anyway. We will remain devoted to Sharon until the person responsible is caught,” Jette said in several reports. “I believe that the vehicle will be the strongest point we can go from what happened to Sharon.”
He added that there is hope that evidence recovered from the car will result leads.
Investigators were also led to the 700 blocks of Chinatown after a search of a law enforcement database.
There was a ticket on the car, which police believe had been parked on the street for several days, Jette said.
Some neighbors said the Santos’ car was there for at least a week; others recounted seeing two, possibly even three tickets on the windshield.
Max Neschott, a manager at TC Apartments on the block where Santos’ car was found, said he and some residents detected a foul odor coming from the car.
“I couldn’t get to sleep because of the smell,” Neschott said in a report.
Ismael Serrano, a resident of TC Apartments, said that cars come and go from the neighborhood and he didn’t really pay much attention to the black Honda Accord.
His mother-in-law, whose apartment in the TC Apartments building faces the street, complained about the smell, which was dismissed as coming from a sewer or perhaps a dead animal, Serrano said.
Haynes said that when her husband went to the scene he, too, could smell an odor coming from the car while standing about 25 feet away.
The Warner Bros. Entertainment is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible for Santos’s death. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on offering a $10,000 reward.
Anyone with information on the case can call the Burbank Police hotline at 238-3270.
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MANILA, September 7, 2004 --- Filipinos applying for immigrant visas to the United States will be required to go through a fingerprint scan at the time of their interview, the US Embassy said.
The embassy said the stricter US immigrant visa procedures were adopted as additional security measures following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
“Beginning Sept. 7, all immigrant visa applicants between the ages of 14 and 79 are required to be fingerprint-scanned at the time of the visa interview,” the embassy said.
“Individuals with currently valid US visas do not have to come to the embassy to have their fingerprints scanned until the visa expires and they wish to apply for a new one,” the statement added.
Fingerprint scans will also be conducted on non-immigrant visa applicants starting Sept. 14 to monitor persons entering the US.
The fingerprint scan is also expected to avoid the use of stolen and counterfeit visas and prohibit the entry of terrorists to the US.
The embassy said the fingerprint scans of the applicantís two index fingers would be stored in a database that will be available at all US entry points.
Any applicant who refuses to be fingerprinted will be denied a U.S. visa, the embassy said. (MNS)
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Filipino-American Mario Cendana Panoringan (left) is shown introducing John Kerry (right) during a town hall meeting at Westmoor High School gymnasium in Daly City, California on Aug. 27, morning before some 400 Californians. (JGL)
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San Francisco, CALIFORNIA, September 9, 2004 --- An active Filipino-American civic leader in Daly City, Calif. was given an enviable opportunity to introduce Sen. John F. Kerry who spoke before some 400 Californians on Aug. 27 at Westmoor High School gymnasium in Daly City.
Mario Cendana Panoringan, chief executive officer of the Daly City-Colma Chamber of Commerce, was pleasantly surprised when he got a call from a communications official of the Kerry Presidential Campaign from Washington, DC, sizing him up if he wanted “to escort, welcome and introduce Mr. Kerry before a big crowd in Daly City.”
“At first, I thought, it was a joke. So, I said why not,” the 56-year-old semi-retired business consultant and native of Lingayen, Pangasinan, said. But suddenly it dawned on him that it was for real when he found himself playing the part.
“To tell you frankly,” he said in Tagalog, “hindi pa rin ako makapaniwala dahil marami namang ibang state, county o city officials na puedeng mag-introduce kay Senator Kerry.” (Until, now, I am still pinching myself because I did it over the heads of other state, county or city officials to introduce Senator Kerry.)
But Panoringan credited former Daly City Mayor Adrienne Tissier for the opportunity. He said Tissier earlier asked him if he wanted to introduce Kerry, and he told her: “I don’t know.”
Although Panoringan was given “60 seconds” to do the introduction, a lot of dignitaries, including Kerry, thanked him for his effort.
California State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi congratulated him for “excellent introduction.” And so did Lina Susbilla, member of the Commission on the Status of Women of the County of San Mateo. San Mateo county has jurisdiction over Daly City. An official of the Westmoor High School also congratulated him.
Despite focusing on the Consumer Protection (Credit Card Fraud), Panoringan said he was overjoyed when Kerry tackled the issue of the campaign for Filipino-American World War II veterans benefit cropped up.
Panoringan said Filipino-American war veteran Fred Gomez, who was given the chance to ask question during the open forum, asked Kerry if he would support the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill (HR 677) pending in Congress if he is elected president on Nov. 2.
Panoringan, also a son of a Filipino war veteran, said that “Mr. Kerry, answered ‘yes” and even executed a hand salute towards Mr. Gomez, who saluted in turn.”
Kerry also discussed the need to improve the economy and job creation.
Out of the 400 people in the meeting, Panoringan said there were approximately 10-15% Filipino Americans. Daly City is composed of from 40 percent to 45 percent Filipino Americans of the entire population, making the Filipino Americans the dominant group in the city.
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Mom of WTC victim still feels pain
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NEW JERSEY, September 9, 2004 --- Three years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Cora Fernandez still feels the pain as fresh and gripping as the day she lost her daughter, Judith, at the World Trade Center.
“I can’t let go. My daughter was full of life. Her memory is stil there,” said Fernandez. “I still shed tears each time I look at her photographs.”
Judith Fernandez worked as a human resources officer at Cantor Fitzgerald. She and her cousin, Maria Theresa Santillan, were trapped and died at the WTC after the two airplanes slammed into the twin towers.
Starting Sept. 3 until Sept. 11, Fernandez lights a candle for her daughter as she prays a novena in a Little Egg Harbor church for the repose of her soul.
She and her family also attend support group meetings with other families of the victims to heal theiremotional wounds.
On Saturday, the third year commemoration ceremony of the WTC tragedy, Fernandez and her family will wear T-shirts printed with Judith’s picture. They will also bring flowers, she said, and attend memorials at the Liberty Park and at the Ground Zero.
“Our anguish will always be there amid the dust and ash of the Ground Zero,” said Fernandez.
Cantor Fitzgerald awarded millions to the families, including the Fernandez family, affected by the Sept. 11 tragedy. The victims’ family also got compensation from the government and other agencies.
But Fernandez said money could not bring back the life of her daughter. “I don’t care about the money. I want my daughter back,” she said.
The Fernandez family was able to buy a modest house from their compensation. They also set up a foundation under Judith’s name to continue their daughter’s commitment to educating students.
Judith, who died at 27, supported a lot of school-based programs when she was alive. These days the foundation, which was established in her memory, has helped finance the education of three high school students.
Fernandez hopes to heal their emotional wounds as they support worthy projects their daughter would love to do. She said her daughter was very passionate about education and volunteered for school projects.
Fernandez said that coping with the loss of a daughter has been harder for her husband, Lito.
Every time there’s a family party and he sees the grown-up children of his relatives, Fernandez said, Lito would feel upset.
A family friend said that Lito always remembers his daughter whose life tragically ended.
“Masakit pa rin (It hurts),” said Adora Rivera, aunt of Judith and Maria Theresa. “We still remember everything.”
Rilvera will also attend the memorials in New Jersey with her relatives.
“I pray everyday. I always go to a Mass and lift everything to the Lord,” said Fernandez.
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