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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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WE TAKE the time off to clarify some major issues concerning newspapering, or journalism in general. This piece is an attempt to explain to the readers where The Filipino Express stands on issues.
This paper has been often asked whether we are for or against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Our short and sure answer to that is neither. We are neither pro- nor anti-Arroyo. As a newspaper, we are bound by our ethical standards to be independent from both political persuasions, or from any persuasion for that matter.
At the same time, we are also duty-bound to report events and developments regardless of political affiliations. We cover functions of government officials and write about government statements, and with the same zeal and zest, we also cover activities from people and groups who have legitimate concerns and grievances against the government.
We cannot be for or against any political interest group. Identifying with one would only serve to cloud our judgment, which would eventually lead to our losing our impartiality. Worse, the reading public would see through the bias, and begin doubting whether we can still be objective in our news coverage.
If we are to side with the government and publish only the official side, then we are depriving the public of their right to be heard and to express their sentiments and grievances.
If we are to side with the anti-government groups and publish only news from their camp, then we are depriving the public of their right to know, of their freedom to access government information.
Either way, we lose. We lose our credibility and the public start losing confidence in us and stop reading the paper.
A newspaper with no credibility has no business publishing news and information. A newspaper with no reader-confidence has no business, period.
The long history of newspapering in this country and in our country has taught us that newspapers and journalists do their jobs well if and when they are not beholden to any vested interests.
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Ludi Hughes isn’t a friend, indeed
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NEW YORK --- In a story which could be considered a test of real friendship and loyalty, Arnie Rosario, incumbent Region I Chairman of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations, Inc. (NaFFAA), was re-elected in an election held at the Foxwoods Resort and Spa in Connecticut, Sept. 11. He won against Ludi de Asis-Hughes whom he considers as one of his best friends.
Both Rosario and Hughes are members of Friends Indeed, an “elite” group which was organized in July 2004. It is the same group which supported Hughes in her losing bid for the presidency of the 2005 Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) and Rosario as board member. It is also the same group which is behind her second attempt to win the 2006 presidency.
What was puzzling to me was Hughes’ sudden interest in the NaFFAA’s regional post despite everyone knowing - friends, allies and foes alike -- her sight was aimed only at PIDCI.
Even Rosario, her supposedly friend, was confident at running unopposed when asked about the regional elections at a Knights of Rizal event in New Jersey. He said then that Hughes was first offered to take on the helm but declined to succeed him. Had she accepted, it would have been the end of his term. That was how much Rosario respected his friendship with Hughes.
What made Hughes do a flip-flop? Was it because she was told by a top NaFFAA national official she didn’t have a chance to win the PIDCI’s presidency? Or was it because Madame Auring’s prediction (which was widely circulated in e-mails previously) of Gani Puertollano winning PIDCI and she, succeeding the NaFFAA regional chairmanship, could be true? Or was it because she was egged on by her backers: Nena Kaufman, Angie Cruz and Roger Alama?
I think all of the above considerations added to her decision to run against her supposedly friend Rosario. And all of the above resulted to her loss - a big time drawback which may also end up in her losing the PIDCI presidency again.
This only shows that in politics, there is no such thing as friendship or loyalty among peers when an opportunity comes up. And in politics, a person’s position on issues can be changed anytime for convenience’s sake. As someone who is involved in the New Jersey Democratic Party politics like Hughes, she can probably relate to that a lot more.
Loyalty? As Brooklynites would say, fuhgeddaboutit! On election day, according to a NaFFAA insider, Hughes told Rosario she wasn’t seeking the post anymore. But as soon as she was nominated by New Jersey state chair JT Mallonga after Alama was overruled by the election chair, she did not wink an eye and allowed the nomination to go through. Whether or not her earlier assurance to Rosario was a ploy, it sure showed something about her and her brand of loyalty.
Was Rosario stabbed at the back by someone who he considers his friend? Indeed, that could be an immediate conclusion anyone could make out of but I think it goes more than that. To save face, Hughes and her backers must have been preparing for a fallback option and that is, Hughes has to win NaFFAA even if it meant breaking the ties of friendship with Rosario.
Come to think of it. What would have Hughes and her backers gained if they won over Rosario? If they considered Rosario one of them, a friend indeed, they wouldn’t second-guess Rosario’s vote for Hughes. But they had their own scheme just like Iago plotting the death of Hamlet or a Democrat Mike Bloomberg turning Republican to ensure a mayoral win.
With Hughes and her backers revealing their true colors, would they still expect Rosario and the organizations from Connecticut to vote in her favor? I don’t think so. They’d go for Puertollano. Hughes made a big blunder and it shows even if she claims she “gave way” for Rosario and not necessarily “withdrew” from the elections.
But if Hughes had really learned from her mentors in the Democratic Party, she would have applied her experience from it into “small-time” community organizations. One of which would have been preparedness, that is, ensuring that everyone casting a vote for her is present in the room and that all are registered delegates.
Also, she would have known how to accept defeat gracefully instead of grumbling that she did not withdraw from the elections but “gave way” to Rosario. Whatever she meant by that, if I am not mistaken there is a poetic privilege in politics called equity of the incumbent. It means that a person in office holds a certain lead over an opponent when push comes to shove.
The problem is no matter how Hughes presents herself as a seasoned politician, this episode shows her lack of understanding and experience in handling finer points in local politics. Her backers or advisers are pushing her in the wrong direction which only leads to her defeat, unfortunately.
Real friends are hard to come by; they come by one at a time. And when they come around, they’ll stand for you and support you in your needs; they will not stab you in the back.
As the Book of Proverbs says: “A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.” Another proverb says, “There are ‘friends’ who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.”
But as this story concludes, Hughes isn’t a friend, indeed.
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Bataan Day in the US is marked in September
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Chicago, ILLINOIS --- For the 26,987 blue-collar residents of Chicago’s western suburb of Maywood, Illinois, memories of their long lost loved ones die hard.
As in the past many years, during every second Sunday of September, residents regroup at the Veterans Memorial Park in the center of the town and never tire of hearing stories of what might have happened to their loved ones.
Almost half of the young recruits from Maywood who were shipped to the Philippines in November 1941 never made it back. They were among those rounded up after the Fall of Bataan by the victorious Japanese Imperial Forces. They were forced to take the deadly Bataan Death March on April 9, 1942 on their way to their concentration camps, which turned out to be the graves for many who did not make it.
By September of 1942, when nothing was confirmed of their situations, their relatives, including their mothers, wives, and sweethearts, banded together and raised funds and sold war bonds to help get supplies and medicine to the captives in Bataan and Corregidor. They would later seek the help of others to form the “American Bataan Clan.”
The Clan held their first parade on Sept. 13, 1942. More than 10,000 people came to show their support for the Maywood men whose fate was unknown.
At the end of the war in 1946, after the prisoners-of-war (POWs) were freed, the Clan still raised funds to perpetuate the Bataan Day parade. In fact, in September 1946, these POW’s, who returned, joined the march down Fifth Avenue.
For this year, the 63rd Annual Bataan Day Memorial Service will again be commemorated in simple ceremonies at the Veterans Memorial, Maywood Park at lst Avenue & Oak Street on Sunday, Sept. 11, which also falls on the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attack of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building in Washington, D.C.
An invitation sent to me by retired Col. Richard A. McMahon, Jr., president of the Maywood Bataan Day Organization, shows that the ceremonies are going to be highlighted by a keynote address of Maj. Steven E. Rouse, operation and training officer of the Illinois Army National Guard. A concert by a Brass Quintet from the Navy Band Great Lakes will kick-off the commemoration starting at 2:30 p.m. A reception and presentation will follow at Maywood Public Library at the west end of Maywood Park (corner of 5th & St. Charles Road).
Most of the young men from Maywood who joined the war belonged to the National Guard Units, which were later absorbed by the US Army. They were members of Company “B”, which formed part of the 192nd GHQ Light Tank Battalion.
Of the 598 soldiers of the Battalion who left the United States in late November 1941, 220 died, some in combat. But most died of diseases or malnutrition in Japanese POW camps. About 80 died in the holds of ships that were sunk by Allied submarines.
Of the nearly 10,000 Americans taken prisoners in Bataan, between 6,000 and 7,000 died in Japanese POW camps during three-and-a half years of captivity.
From 1942 up to 1987, except one, this parade was held in memory of those who did not return.
In last year’s celebration, the highlight of the event was the unveiling of the Dedication of WW II Memorial Stamp and Special Pictorial Cancellation Postmark presided over by Donald R. Nichols, Maywood Postmaster.
On Sept. 12, 1964, 138 former POW’s assembled at the O’Hare Inn in Maywood as guests of honor. At this testimonial dinner, Congressman Harold Collier, Maywood’s Congressional representative, was handed a resolution, seeking to institutionalize every “second Sunday of September” as Bataan Day.
On Jan. 11, 1965 at the 89th US Congress, Congressman Collier persuaded Congress to pass House Joint Resolution No. 165, authorizing the President of the United States to declare the “second Sunday of September of each year Bataan Day in memory of the gallant defenders of the Philippines in World War II, and calling upon the people of the United States to observe such day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.”
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