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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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HEAD-TO-HEAD
Who do you think would be a better president?
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No doubt, this is turning out to be a very close presidential race. Polls indicate that John Kerry and George Bush have a head-to-head rating.
As the campaign trails ended, the LA Times showed 48/48; Washington Post 48/50 with Kerry having the slight lead; ABC 48/49 Kerry; Zogby 48/47 Bush, DCorps 47/49 Kerry, and TIPP 48/44 Bush.
But the most important is, despite the polls results in these elections, Filipino-Americans should not play blind and mute to the present dilemma.
The Filipino-American voters should not allow tax cuts for the wealthy, and should help protect the future of Social Security.
They should also contribute in the balance and integrity of the Supreme Court, and have a prime concern of the environment.
The reality is that Filipino-Americans will have an integral role in achieving those goals by voting wisely.
Whatever issues that every Filipino-American voter cares about, whichever concerns are closest to the heart, what matters most is to vote the presidential candidate that could help enhance America.
Let's not wake up on Nov. 3 realizing that you could have made all the difference in the world.
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‘The truth has to come out’
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NEW YORK --- While the campaign trail is heating up for the Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) in a fashion almost similar to that of President Bush and Senator John Kerry, it seems everyone else is awaiting a response from Nena Kaufman, the 2003 overall chair of Philippine Independence Celebration Committee (PICC).
That much is what I gathered from folks that attended the launching of Gawad Kalinga's GK777 project at the Philippine Center on Oct. 25. They were wondering if PIDCI president Roger Alama actually sent a letter to Kaufman to respond to the audit report of auditor Lolit Gillberg, who was also the 2004 PICC overall chair.
When I called Kaufman on Wednesday, she said she had sent her response to Alama on Oct. 25. “I answered Roger but not in detail because I don't consider her (Gillberg) audit as legal,” Kaufman said. To this day, she considers Gillberg resigned from her post by virtue of a letter that Gillberg submitted to Alama.
I asked Kaufman for a copy of her reply as well as Gillberg's supposedly letter of resignation. She said she could not send them to me and we both ventured on discussing topics other than the audit. To keep a long story short, I agreed to meet her and other people involved in the disbursements of PICC funds and listen to her explanation.
In the meantime, I called Board secretary Nelsie Parrado. Alama said that during the board meeting last week, Parrado was supposed to be receiving a copy of the letter. Parrado has not seen it yet saying that she just arrived from a trip and didn't know where Alama had sent it. “Usually, he sends it by e-mail,” she said.
When I asked Alama if he sent out the letter, he said that he did. I also asked him if he received Kaufman's reply, he has not read his e-mails yet, he said.
Wait a minute, something is wrong here. Who is withholding the truth? There are two questions that need clarification: First, did Alama send the letter to Kaufman with a copy to Parrado? Keep in mind that Alama was directed by the Board to send that letter immediately. Second, did Kaufman really send her reply to Alama?
People can draw their own conclusions but until someone really tells the real score, our perceptions remain, which would put Alama, Kaufman and Parrado in a much difficult situation to bear. Again, where is responsibility and accountability?
Even though Parrado is entitled to run for office again, her behavior during her term as director does not speak well of someone worthy to be re-elected. Contrary to her earlier pronouncements of being fair and transparent, she is the opposite. Does she deserve to be elected? If I were in the same slate as she is, I would dump her from the list.
But in as much as she likes to talk to get attention, let's give her the right to run for office. That's how democracy works. For all we know, she might have already talked to some candidates on the other side to vote for her since most come from the same area in New Jersey where she lives.
In fairness to Kaufman, let's wait to hear her side. As she intimated to me, she does not understand why some people are critical of her. If there were things that needed clarification, she would have preferred if her attention was called privately for her to respond. To her, that was much civil.
It looks like even if Kaufman wants to stay away from the public eye just like her 2003 Grand Marshal Fe Caliolio did at the height of her own controversy, this will not go away easily and quietly.
“The truth has to come out,” both Kaufman and her critics cry out. We'll see. Hopefully, next week we'll know.
By then, we'll have the results of the PIDCI elections as well as the next U.S. president who will lead the country in the next four years.
Indeed, the truth has to come out.
Send comments to rickyxpres@aol.com or visit Website at PinoyOnBoard.com.
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