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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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Seattle, WASHINGTON, October 28, 2004 --- A 32-year-old Filipino lottery winner was shot to death by police outside a football stadium in Seattle, Washington nearly two Sundays ago.
Rick Camat, one of the 13 Starbucks employees in Los Angeles, California who split an $87 million jackpot in 2000, allegedly fired a gun in a crowded parking lot near Qwest Field and did not respond to officers’ to drop the weapon.
But the family of Camat disputed the allegation and did not believe the police version of shooting.
His brother, Brian Camat, 27, who was with him and witnessed the incident, said that Rick Camat was trying to break up a fight by firing a gun into the air and the police officers never issued a warning before shooting him.
Police, however, said that Officer Nicholaus Bauer, 42, a 12-year veteran, opened fire after Rick Camat shot a semiautomatic pistol at a car that was leaving area, crunched behind another car, refused to drop the weapon after being warned and instead pointed it at officers.
“It’s just something that I did not believe in my heart,” Rechelle Asperin, Camat’s cousin, said in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer report. “He’s not violent. He does not have a violent nature. He never broke temper in front of me and my family.”
Bauer also had not previously been involved in a police shooting, a report said. He remains on paid administrative leave.
Brian Camat said he and his brother drove to the stadium area that night, intending to visit another club, Tiki Bob’s Cantina, after they had come from a night spot area north of downtown Seattle. But when they arrived at the bar, along with five friends, the bar was closing, and there was a fight developing in front of them.
He and his brother tried to intercede but were attacked from behind, then chased someone who ran away, and Rick Camat pulled a gun and fired into the air to try to stop the melee, Brian Camat said.
“He shot once into the air to scare people away. He didn’t aim it at anyone,” the brother said. “At that point, police arrived and fired without a warning, ‘bam, bam, bam,’ as my brother ran to the car.”
Officers didn’t tell his brother to freeze, he said. “They shot a few rounds at my brother when his back was turned.”
Another Seattle officer said, according to the report, that the brother’s account “differs vastly from the statements of dozens of witnesses who were at the scene that evening.”
“We don’t think it was justified,” Armenio Camat, uncle of Rick Camat, said in the report. “We just want the truth.”
The uncle said the family wanted the police to conduct a thorough investigation.
An internal police review and King County court inquest are planned.
Rick Camat grew up in Southern California, the report said, and bought a house in Federal Way, a suburb between Seattle and Tacoma where he moved about six months ago. With his winnings, he bought a house for his mother and cars for his siblings.
The winnings, about $6.6 million per winner before taxes, are being paid over the next 26 years, Brian Camat said.
California lottery officials, the report said, the remaining installments would become part of Rick Camat’s estate.
Family members in California and Washington told the press that “police shot a man who did not have a criminal history.” — Anthony D. Advincula contributed to this report.
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Dallas, TEXAS, October 25, 2004 --- The U.S. federal authorities said they have uncovered a scheme to lure Filipino teachers to the United States with false promises of jobs in Texas school districts, charging five people with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and fraud.
Two former West Texas public school administrators and an elementary school principal also face charges that they sponsored work visas for dozens of the teachers in exchange for free trips to Asia.
The indictment accuses Florita and Noel Tolentino and their company Omni Consortium of persuading the Filipinos to pay them $10,000 each, promising there were well-paying teaching jobs waiting for them in the United States.
The teachers also were told they would receive permanent residency status and could bring their families with them, prosecutors said.
Omni took money from 273 Filipino teachers since 2002, but fewer than 100 ever received positions with school districts, Assistant US Attorney Brandy Gardes said.
The immigrant teachers were housed in groups of 10 to 15 in unfurnished properties, and most had to sleep on the floor or on mattresses, according to court documents. The Tolentinos told the teachers they would be deported if they complained about not having jobs or tried to seek employment on their own.
Florita Tolentino, Noel Tolentino, Angelica Tolentino, Cesar Librodo and Owen Cruz were charged with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and visa fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering. An answering service for Florita and Noel Tolentino’s Houston-based company said no one was available for comment.
Former Socorro Independent School District interim superintendent Mario Aguilar and his wife, Magdalena Aguilar, an elementary school principal in the district, are charged with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation in aid of racketeering.
Raye Lokey, the former associate superintendent for human resources for the Ysleta Independent School District, faces the same charge.
The Aguilars and Lokey were free on $25,000 bond each. Each faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
They made no comment during a court appearance, answering only basic questions from a judge. When contacted by telephone at their home in El Paso, the Aguilars said they had no comment.
According to the indictment, Omni paid for a November 2002 trip to the Philippines and China for Mario Aguilar and other Socorro administrators. In December 2002 and February 2003, the district applied for visas for 26 teachers.
Mario and Magdalena Aguilar visited Asia at Omni’s expense in March 2003, and Socorro applied for visas for 42 teachers, prosecutors said.
Ysleta employees took an all expense paid trip to the Philippines in November 2002, and Lokey applied for visas for 63 teachers a few months later, according to the indictment.
Twenty-nine of the Filipino teachers currently work in Ysleta, and 12 are working in Socorro. Both districts are located in El Paso.
A few others had jobs in other West Texas districts, Gardes said.
Magdalena Aguilar has been suspended with pay from her position, district officials said.
“I am shocked. I don’t know what to say,” Socorro school board president Brenda Castaneda said. “All I can say is that we will cooperate and see that the right thing is done here.”
Gardes said all the teachers are in the United States legally, and those who don’t have jobs are being protected by the federal government. (MNS)
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Jersey City, NEW JERSEY, October 28, 2004 --- If Acting Mayor Harvey Smith won the elections, a “rainbow coalition” of multicultural groups, including Filipinos, would have a voice in his administration.
That was what Smith assured the Filipino community on Wednesday as he shook hands with Filipino-Americans in a gathering on Newark Avenue. He said that Filipinos would have his backing so that they could get business contracts from the city government.
Smith, who spoke of a Filipino entrepreneur Oscar Fernando, said: “We help him to make his business grow. Filipinos, African Americans, Hispanic, Asians and other diverse businesses have stayed in Jersey City because we are supporting them,” Smith said.
Filipino-American leaders were mobilized to campaign for him in key areas of Jersey City where most Filipinos live, including the areas of Newark Avenue , Manila Avenue and West Side Avenue.
Deputy Mayor Ludy Corrales and civic leader Carmen Flores, as well as youth leader Rolando Lavarro and many others, were busy handing out campaign materials to assure the victory of Smith. Campaigners visited Filipino homes and businesses to vigorously campaign for Smith.
Filipinos represent eight to 10 percent of total voters in Jersey City.
“Mayor Smith is promoting different colors and group. If he will be elected, it’s a big plus for Filipinos considering our ethnicity and Mayor Smith supports all minorities,” said Corrales.
Smith had appointed Corrales as deputy mayor to serve as representative for Filipinos in Jersey City.
The acting mayor said he appointed deputy mayors from diverse groups and recruited more police officers from minorities.
In his four-month stint as an acting mayor after the untimely death of Mayor Glenn Cunningham, Smith recruited 80 new police officers to stop crimes in the city. In a city anxious of crimes and corruption, he vowed to get more funding to increase more the numbers of police officers and to make his administration more transparent.
Grasping the essence of his homestretch campaign, Smith’s posters show that he aimed to create more jobs in the private sector, by recruiting more companies to set up businesses in the city and offering them tax incentives and abatements.
He said he supports the rights of Jersey City residents to have priorities in new jobs created in the city. For instance, when he was the president of City Council, he said, he approved the granting of incentives to Goldman Sachs investment company to set up a big office in the city which recruited thousands of new jobs for Jersey City residents.
“Corporations will register with the City and jobs will be monitored and made available to our communities,” said Smith.
He vowed to transform the city by creating more job-training programs.
Smith also promised that there will no new tax increase in the city. “As far as I’m concerned, you and the people who live and work here are our most valuable assets, and that’s why I will continue to fight and do what’s right for our community. It’s important that we continue to provide jobs, build affordable housing and protect and safeguard our community.”
Although trailing in most surveys, Smith is admired by many Filipino-Americans.
“He knows how to run the city because he’s been in government for so long. A vote for him means the program of Mayor Cunningham will continue,” said Claire Basbacio, a manager of Filipino-owned electronics store on Westside Avenue.
“Mayor Smith is kind and honest and has a great knowledge of the city,” said City Assessor Ed Toloza.
Toloza recalled that when Mayor Cunningham died last June, Filipina Serapina Sengco submitted her courtesy resignation to Smith to end her term as Finance Chief of the city but Smith tore Sengco’s resignation letter and re-appointed her in the top cabinet post. “This shows that Mayor Smith is recognizing the contributions and works of Filipinos in the city,” said Toloza.
Dr. Danilo Mangunay, a physician on Newark Avenue, said Smith is hardworking, morally upright, supports minorities and very sincere.
“He clearly fits the qualifications I’m looking for a mayor,” said Mangunay, who vowed to ask his clients and friends to vote for Smith.
Smith has been serving the city government for more than 11 years. The mayor who will be elected on Nov. 2 will serve for six months until a general election is held in May next year.Eleven mayoral candidates are running this Nov. 2 elections.
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Leaders of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans (ACFV) appeal for presidential support for benefits for Filipino-American veterans in front of the White House on the anniversary of the 1944 Leyte Landing of General Douglas McArthur. (MNSwirephoto)
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Washington, D.C., October 22, 2004 --- A White House official has assured leaders of Filipino-American World War II veterans that the Bush administration is considering their request for disability pensions.
“The administration will still consider your request for pensions,” said Eddy Badrina, the Filipino-American executive director of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, who told two-dozen leaders of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans (ACFV).
The Washington-based advocacy organization held their action conference in a downtown Washington hotel to mark the 60th anniversary of the Leyte Landing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the start of the Philippine liberation campaign.
Patrick Ganio, 83, a decorated WWII defender in the battles in Bataan and Corregidor and the president of ACFV, introduced Badrina, 28, as “our grandson” to the veterans during their 45-minute conference.
Ganio said, “I know how close you are to the Bush family, if you could convey our message to George W. Bush that we have high hopes. Let us close this issue what his dad began in 1990 with the naturalization law. This will be historic. The Democrats cannot say anything more.”
In 1990, President George H. Bush Sr. invited Ganio to be the sole Filipino veteran to witness the naturalization bill signing ceremony.
Franco Arcebal, 81, the ACFV vice president for membership from Los Angeles, pleaded with Badrina to convince the President to issue within two weeks a statement supporting legislation providing $800 monthly VA Department pensions for poor Filipino veterans in US and $100 for those in the Philippines.
About 8,000 Filipino veterans live in the US and 20,000 in the Philippines. “With the little voice we can muster, we want our voice to reach the President. Is $100 per month too big for those who risked their lives for America and never received benefits for the past 60 years,” Arcebal asked.
He suggested Bush introduce an administration bill in the “lame duck” session of Congress that begins on Nov. 16.
Badrina confirmed that White House had began discussions on their request with Loida Nicolas-Lewis, chair of the National Federation of Filipino American Association (NaFFAA) who met with Alan Gilbert, the President’s special assistant for domestic policy. Susan Bonzon Ralston, the Filipina American executive assistant to Bush, and senior advisor Karl Rove, arranged the meeting.
Badrina said, “I will pass along your message to them (Gilbert and Ralston) and to appropriate members of the White House to ensure they do get the message. I’m not promising anything in terms of what will come out of that.”
“I do know the President cares deeply about all veterans including Filipino American veterans here in the States and back in the Philippines. I’m sure you are aware he passed Public Law 108-183 fixing a number of issues that was no small gesture of support for you. It was substantial. We will continue to look for ways to better improve your quality of life,” added Badrina, who grew up in Texas.
Badrina said his grandfather fought in the US Army Forces in Far East in WWII and later sacrificed his life defending his country at hands of communists in Santa Barbara, Iloilo shortly after the war. Japanese soldiers killed his two aunts.
“My family is filled by history that you lived. This touches me personally. I will continue to relay your message to the President and his staff.” (MNS)
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San Francisco, CALIFORNIA, October 28, 2004 --- Annoyed by loud music from his fellow Filipino neighbor in Vallejo, California, Cesar Baguio went to his neighbor’s apartment and blasted his leg with a shotgun last Sunday morning.
Few minutes later, police responded to reports of gunfire at an apartment complex. They found Baguio, 57, armed with a Winchester 12-gauge shotgun.
The officer ordered Baguio several times to drop his weapon, but the suspect instead turned his shotgun toward the officer, who then fatally fired at Baguio, according to police reports.
Witnesses reported that before police arrived, Baguio shot his neighbor, Anthony Camangian-Cassai, through a closed front door of a downstairs apartment.
Baguio, who lived with his elderly parents in the apartment complex, then allegedly jumped over a 4-foot fence into the enclosed patio and continued shooting through Casaai’s sliding glass door, the report said.
Cassai was sent to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, where he was recovering from shotgun wounds to his lower legs. —Anthony D. Advincula contributed to this report
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