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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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RP ‘Superstar’ to enter plea before LA
court after drugs found in her luggage
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Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, April 7, 2005 --- Movie star Nora Aunor is scheduled to enter a plea before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on April 21 after she was arrested last week at the Los Angeles International Airport for alleged possession of methamphetamine.
Aunor, whose real name is Nora Cabaltera Villamayor, has been arrested by airport authorities allegedly with eight grams of the drug in her carry-on bag and a glass pipe wrapped in a T-shirt.
Aunor was positively identified in a newspaper report but Jennifer Peppin, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, would only identify the woman as a “female suspect.”
Airport screeners reportedly stopped Aunor, who was flying to Oakland, and found the methamphetamine hydrochloride — known locally as “shabu” — in a film container, the report said.
Aunor, 51, was released after posting $10,000 bail, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffís Department. A court hearing was scheduled for April 21.
Lita Patayon, assistant to the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles, told media she was unaware of the incident but would attempt to confirm whether Aunor was arrested.
Known as “The Superstar” to her fans, Aunor has appeared in more than 170 films and recorded more than two dozen albums, including scores of hit singles.
On screen, she starred with the leading men of her time, including Joseph Estrada, who later became president.
She won the best actress award at the 2004 International Festival for Independent Films in Brussels, Belgium. In 1997, she won for best actress at the East Asia Film and Television Festival Awards in Penang, Malaysia.
Aunor now spends much of her time in the United States and has a home in Chula Vista, several miles north of San Diego.
Aunor left for the US last year after campaigning for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and completing the movie “Naglalayag,” directed by her good friend Maryo de los Reyes.
“I was shocked,” De los Reyes said. “I did hear rumors that she was taking drugs but there were no manifestations during our shooting. I’m not sure if she’s really into it, that’s why when somebody told me about the L.A. airport incident, I was shocked.”
Sources said Aunor bought a house in San Francisco under somebody else’s name. She was reported to be performing a series of concerts on the West Coast before coming home in August.
She is the third Filipino actress to have been caught with prohibited drugs in US territory. The first two were Anjanette Abayari and Alma Concepcion, both arrested in Guam.
Goria hands off
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has opted to distance herself from Nora Aunor’s case, pointing instead to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to handle the matter.
Aunor campaigned for Arroyo in last May's national elections.
The President, however, assured that efforts to help the actress were being done by the DFA.
“I think the DFA is already on top of the situation. The efforts will be done at its level,” Arroyo stressed, without elaborating.
This was the first time that the President spoke on Aunor's case as Malacañang was silent over the weekend on the controversy.
Some Palace officials have also refused to comment on the matter.
Reports have it that the DFA had posted $10,000 bail in her behalf and gave her legal counsel to defend her during the trial which will start next week.
Aunor’s manager, Nori Sayo, has appealed to the public not to speculate on the incident.
Sayo said Aunor was “surprisingly focused on her case and confident (about its turnout).”
“This is a legal process, I hope we can give respect to the due process of law,” she added.
Aunor is in the US for a series of concerts for the Filipino community here.
Aunor’s endorsement of Arroyo in the last elections had been criticized by various sectors, especially by some of her colleagues in the movie industry, who described her move as an act of betrayal since the Chief Executive’ main rival in the presidential race was the now late Fernando Poe Jr., the actress’ long-time friend.
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NEW YORK, April 7, 2005 --- The day Ramon Gadia left for Italy last week, he hoped to see the Pope in person. But three days later since he arrived in Rome, Pope John Paul II died. Gadia, a retiree, together with 48 other Filipinos from New York and New Jersey who were on tour to Italy and Portugal, paid his last respects to the late Pope.
“It was very sad that the Pope had passed away. On the one hand, I’m one of those lucky people to see his remains before he will be buried at St. Peter’s Basilica,” said Gadia, of Jersey City.
For Marina Tubungbanua, another Filipino pilgrim, she could not explain her feelings when she learned that the Pope was gone. “I cried, and I could hardly breath. I know that God has plans why these thing happened.”
At least two million pilgrims from around the world are expected to attend the Papal funeral on Friday. With the continuous influx of pilgrims, an AP report said, all hotels in Vatican City are fully booked. Even the Circus Maximus in central Rome, the report added, has been commandeered as a campsite.
Some public buildings are being converted into temporary dormitory accommodation, according to Lito Gajilan, owner of the RTA Travel, and who was with Gadia and leading the tour.
Security has been a nightmare for the Roman authorities, however, focusing mainly on the attendance of about 200 world leaders on Friday, including President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President George W. Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Reports said police are being brought in from other Italian cities, and the city would grind to a halt on Friday for a moment, which has not happened before.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger will preside over the funeral ceremonies in the open air in St Peter’s Square on Friday morning.
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WASHINGTON, April 7, 2005 --- Even you are a U.S. citizen and intend to travel to the neighboring countries, make sure to have a passport in order to return to the United States.
US officials on Tuesday announced a program called The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which will require travelers to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda to have a passport in order to return to the United States by 2007.
Under current regulation, a driver’s license or other identification is all that is required for travel to and from the United States to many North American neighbors.
“We want folks to think about their travel to and from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda as equivalent to taking a trip to Europe or Asia,” said Elaine Dezenski, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting assistant secretary for border and transportation security policy.
The initiative is part of a new terrorism prevention policy to be implemented by 2008 in three proposed stages, will also require nationals of those countries and territories to present passports when entering the United States, the officials said.
Beginning Dec. 31, 2007, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative will take into effect requiring passports or their equivalent to be the only documents accepted under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, according to US officials.
A proposed timetable, which will be formalized later this year after a public review period, the passport rule will be imposed on air and sea travel to and from the Caribbean, Bermuda and Central and South America on Dec. 31, 2005, and extended to Canada and Mexico on Dec. 31, 2006.
Concerns could raised or propose alternative travel documents during a 60-day review period, Dezenski said.
The US government is considering accepting other documents including the Border Crossing Card now used by citizens of Mexico and the Customs and Border Protection Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI), NEXUS and Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program cards, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting assistant secretary said. -- with reports from AP
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WASHINGTON, April 7, 2005 --- Waging a long battle to get benefits, leaders of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans (ACFV) saw a ray of hope when Democrats’ offered $22 million legislative budget to provide up to $200 in monthly pensions to elderly Filipino WWII veterans in US and in the Philippines.
Rep. Lane Evans (D-Illinois), the ranking member of the House Veterans” Affairs Committee and a Vietnam war veteran, offered on Feb. 23 the Democrats’ “realistic” alternative budget to the Bush Administration’s proposed FY 2006 submission to Congress.
The Democrats’ proposal includes a $22 Million line item that could finance the pending Filipino veterans legislation pending in congress.
The budget item in the Democrats’ committee Web site stated: “$22 (million) will allow World War II Filipino veterans to receive a pension of up $200 per month. This would permit aging World War II Filipino veterans to receive a monthly pension to recognize their service to the United States.”
“This is great news for the Bataan Day celebrations. Our comrades in the homeland will get a big boost in morale,” said Los Angeles-based Franco Arcebal, 81, the ACFV vice-president of membership and a survivor of Japanese torture in WWII.
The $200 amount is equivalent to more than 10,000 pesos in the Philippines. As a recipient of Supplemental Security Income, Arcebal said that the implementation of the $200 monthly VA pension may amount to little to US-based veterans since it may be deducted from their monthly SSI welfare cash benefit.
“We will assess the pension formula with VA committee staff. We will try to fix the implementation difficulties with legislative amendments in the bills’ hearings,” said Eric Lachica, executive director of the Washington DC-based advocacy group registered in congress.
The group is fighting for the rights of Filipino-American veterans who are mostly sick and dying without the appropriate veterans’ benefits from the U.S. government.
“We have a long way to go to overcome budgetary and political obstacles, but this is a great start. Rep. Evans and the Democrats should be commended,” Lachica emphasized. “We will work with our Republican sponsors and leaders to come to agreement this summer,” he added.
The coalition will launch their Spring campaign with four days of actions in Washington as well as in other cities.
On April 7, the ACFV vets will begin arriving for congressional visits and to preview the award-winning documentary, “Untold Triumph” at the Philippine Embassy. The documentary will later be broadcast nationwide on PBS on Memorial Day.
The Filipino-American WWII veterans will also join Philippine Ambassador Albert del Rosario and US Army Maj. General Antonio Taguba in a wreath laying ceremony on April 8, at the Bataan Death March celebration in the national World War II Memorial, located across the White House.
Taguba, the highest ranking Filipino-American officer in the US military, and Del Rosario will honor the 120,000 US and Filipino soldiers who fought in defense of the US territory of the Philippines in 1942.
The veterans’ leaders also plan to meet with new US VA Secretary Jim Nicholson and his staff. They later will visit the Senate and House to lobby for their bills HR 170, HR 302 and S. 146.
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