|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
To tell us what you think about Filipino Express Online or to comment on the stories published here, E-mail us at Filexpress@aol.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Car crash kills 4 from Bergen family
|
|
|
|
|
Modesto, CALIFORNIA --- A drunken driver speeding the wrong way on a California highway all but wiped out a vacationing Filipino family from New Jersey who had gone to Disneyland — claiming the lives of a couple, the man’s mother and the couple’s 6-year-old daughter and orphaning their two other children.
The Reyeses, from Bergenfield, NJ, were traveling on Interstate 5 near Modesto shortly after 3:00 a.m. Sunday when a wrong-way driver smashed head on into their minivan, according to a report in The New York Post.
“It was total carnage,” said California Highway Patrol spokesman Tom Killian.
The drunken driver, who was also killed, had open cans of cold beer in his vehicle, Killian said.
The New York Post identified the fatalities as Joseph Reyes, 43, his wife, Rosalina, 42, their daughter, Samantha, 6, and her grandmother, Consolacion Reyes, 68, were all killed instantly.
The couple’s son, Joshua, 10, was critically injured and flown to the University of California Davis Children’s Hospital in Sacramento, where he was in intensive care Sunday night.
His sister, Concepcion, 14, who was moderately injured, was flown to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, authorities said.
“She’s doing OK. We can’t really talk about this right now,” said a tearful family member at her bedside.
The family, which had left New Jersey a week ago, had visited Disneyland, then driven to Modesto to pick up the grandmother and bring her back to Bergenfield to live with them, relatives said.
Devastated relatives held a vigil at the two hospitals, 75 miles apart. In Bergenfield, other members of the large close-knit family gathered to mourn.
The newspaper The Modesto Bee identified the driver of the other car as Sergio Hernandez Cirilo, 22, of Stockton, California.
CHP Sgt. Ted Melden said had turned on to I-5 at the Westley exit and begun heading north in the southbound lane, . Westley is in western Stanislaus County.
Cirilo’s 1989 Plymouth Voyager minivan first narrowly missed a car being driven by an Oregon family, which swerved out of the way and rolled over. Two women, a 5-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy were injured in that accident.
Three miles later, Cirilo hit the Reyeses’ 2005 Ford Freestar, which also flipped over, authorities said.
Officers believe the Plymouth was going 65 to 75 mph when it hit the Ford, Hunt said. The Plymouth spun toward the center divider, and the Ford minivan overturned, Melden said.
“I can’t remember a crash where five people died,” Melden said. “Imagine the trauma for those kids. Their entire support system is gone now, and they’re in separate hospitals in different communities.”
Joseph Reyes, who works in construction and who’d moved from the Philippines 10 years ago, had been renovating the family’s home to accommodate relatives, neighbors said.
The Reyeses have been in Bergenfield for about 20 years, part of a Filipino community that comprises about one quarter of Bergenfield’s 30,000 citizens.
In a possibly fateful decision, Joseph Reyes had left his Hummer, a much heavier vehicle than the Freestar, in his driveway.
Joseph’s wife, Rosalina, was an accountant, said her brother-in-law, Edgardo Roque.
“It’s so very, very sad,” Roque said from his home in Bergenfield.
Roque and wife Teresita visited a lawyer in an attempt to gain legal guardianship in New Jersey before leaving for California — a move that could turn out to be important.
“We are adopting the orphan children,” Ed Roque said, his voice breaking under the grief and strain.
“If we are allowed by law, my wife, Teresita, will be the children’s second mother,” he said.
Joseph and Rosalina had the three youngest children together. But Concepcion’s natural mother from a previous relationship now lives in the Philippines, authorities said.
“She will make the decision for Jorielind (Concepcion),” said Roque.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MANILA --- The hunt for former Commission on Election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano has reached the United States, with Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. claiming that former Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano is in New Jersey.
Gilbert Asuque, Foreign Affairs spokesman, said the Philippine Consulate General in New York was already tasked to verify reports of Garcillano’s presence in New Jersey.
He said Consul General Cecilia Rebong was directed to immediately submit a report on the Consulate’s findings.
“We received an order from Manila instructing us to inquire on the whereabouts of Mr. Garcillano,” said Consul Edgar Badajos on Thursday, August 25.
Badajos said their marching order is “to inquire with US immigration, so that we can determine if he really entered the US, where and when he entered the US.”
On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. revealed that the embattled Garcillano was in New Jersey, and raised the possibility of having the former election commissioner extradited after leaving the Philippines as a fugitive.
Pimentel said he has asked the Department of Justice to make representation with the United States government in verifying his information that Garcillano is in the United States.
He said he has information that Garcillano proceeded to the US and is staying at the house of his daughter in New Jersey.
Garcillano, he said, could be brought home because the Philippines has a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the US.
Garcillano is widely believed to be the “Garci” President Arroyo was talking to in wiretapped cell phone conversations. He has been summoned to a House inquiry into election fraud. When he failed to appear, congressmen cited him for contempt and ordered his arrest.
Pimentel made the request to the justice department following confirmation by the Department of Foreign Affairs last week that Garcillano had flown to Singapore on July 14 and then on to the United Kingdom the next day.
Pimentel had said he has information that Garcillano proceeded to the US.
“Under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, the Philippines may seek the assistance of the US to secure identified witnesses for the needs of the country,” Pimentel said.
He said Garcillano is technically a fugitive from justice after the House of Representatives issued a warrant for his arrest. Pimentel had criticized the DFA for turning down his suggestion to have Garcillano’s passport cancelled to facilitate his repatriation.
“Once that is done, he will be treated as an illegal alien. And the authorities of the country where he is now hiding can apprehend him and send him back to the Philippines,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel also accused the DFA for being a part of a grand conspiracy to conceal the whereabouts of Garcillano, since their justification in not finding Garcillano was weak and unconvincing.
He said Garcillano could not have left the country without the help of the DFA and Immigration authorities and the full blessing of Malacanang.
“It is very obvious that the administration will do anything to prevent Garcillano from testifying in the congressional probe on the allegation he engineered the massive special operations to rig the 2004 presidential election in favor of President Arroyo as revealed in the ‘Garci’ tapes,” Pimentel said.
Here in New York, the militant group Bayan USA is demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) exert all effort to locate former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano Jr. and bring him back to the Philippines so he could testify on his and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo roles in rigging the 2004 presidential elections.
Berna Ellorin, regional coordinator for Bayan USA, said that “failure by the Philippine government to exhaust all efforts to find and arrest Garci on site, based on a mere technicality, is indicative of its agenda to keep the truth hidden from the Filipino people.” (MNS)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bergenfield, NEW JERSEY --- The news of the terrible car crash that killed four members of the Reyes family has left this quiet and small North Jersey borough sad and angry.
“It hurts so much,” Bergenfield Mayor Richard Bohan said. “You move over to the United States to make a better life. You go on a vacation, and it’s gone just like that. They finally got the American dream. They were building a beautiful new home in town. Who’s going to live in it now?”
On Sunday, four of the six members of the Reyes family were killed in a fatal collision in Califonia on Interstate 5, which runs from Canada to Mexico. The Reyes family was driving south on the freeway when the other driver, reportedly drunk, crashed head-on into the family’s rented minivan.
Killed on the spot were Joseph Reyes, 43; his wife Rosalina, 43; his mother, Concepcion, 68; and daughter Samantha, 6. Their son Joshua, 10, suffered major injuries while Reyes’ 14-year-old daughter, also named Concepcion (Jorielind), was also injured but less severely.
“The family is angry and sad,” said Ed Roque, Rosalina’s brother-in law, said. “Angry at those drunk drivers. ... They should put all drunk drivers in jail, lock them up.”
Family and friends of the Reyes family have been praying and holding vigils since hearing the news Sunday.
On Monday, at the Bergenfield home of Ed Roque, Rosalina’s brother-in-law, dozens of cars were parked around the house and block.
Inside, women sat together on the couch with blank expressions, cooling each other with fans. When the television news report came on, the family rushed to the set and shuddered at sights of the accident scene and the mangled minivan.
Mayor Bohan said the community — a city with 97 nationalities and 27 languages — is rallying behind the family, particularly the children.
“This is a wonderful community,” Bohan said. “The town will come out and respond to this.”
Buddy Deauna, secretary of Bergenfield’s zoning board and a leader of the Filipino community in the city, said some political and civic leaders are already considering to launch a fund-drive for the orphaned Reyes children.
“They want to help ensure the kids’ education,” Deauna told The Filipino Express.
A memorial service for the Reyeses is scheduled on Saturday, August 27 at 7:00 at Cooper’s Pond, a park in Bergenfield.
In the meantime, relatives and friends of the Reyeses in California have scheduled a closed casket viewing in Modesto before having the remains cremated.
But Roque said relatives and friends of the Reyeses in Bergenfield are hoping that Joseph’s family in California will allow the bodies to be transported to New Jersey.
”Since the family had been residing in New Jersey, the community would like to have a viewing and have the cremation done in Bergenfield,” Roque said.
A special mass will be held for the family at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church before the ashes are put in three separate urns. One urn will be sent to California, one to the Philippines and one will be with the family in New Jersey.
The Reyeses have been in Bergenfield for about 20 years, part of a Filipino community that comprises about one quarter of Bergenfield’s 30,000 citizens.
They were in the process of renovating their South Prospect Avenue home, Roque said.
They were expanding the house to make room for Joseph Reyes’ mother and daughter Concepcion, from a previous relationship, who were coming to live with them.
Both Joseph and Rosalina were naturalized US citizens.
Joseph, who worked in construction, and Rosalina, who worked as an accountant for a company on Wall Street, were both excited about the expansion. To family and friends, they were a couple known for warmth and generosity.
She used some of her income to support relatives in her native Philippines, Roque said.
“She was helping many people back home,” he said. “She was making good money.”
Rosalina “was here for a short time but she had success because she was a good, hard-working and a kind person -- not just to her family, but to everyone,” Roque said.
Choking back emotion, he said that they have run out of tears.
“We wish this was all a bad joke,” he said. “We wish someone would tell us that [they are] OK, that this is all a joke.” -- Jun Rose Montalla
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
