|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michael Ray Aquino’s wife slams GMA
|
|
|
|
WIFE'S WOES. Fatima Cenizo-Aquino, wife of detained ex-police official Michael Ray Aquino, blamed her family's problems on President Arroyo's vindictiveness.
|
|
|
|
NEW YORK --- The wife of former high ranking police officer Michael Ray Aquino accused President Arroyo of violating Philippine laws when she personally ordered the cancellation of Aquino’s passport.
In a press conference at the Aquino family lawyer’s office in Manhattan on September 28, Fatima Ceniza-Aquino also lashed at the President for destroying their family’s dream to restart a new and simple life in the United States.
Michael Ray Aquino was arrested by FBI agents allegedly for being an accessory to former FBI intelligence analyst Leandro Aragoncillo who was caught allegedly stealing classified information from the agency about the Philippines and several national personalities.
Mrs. Aquino said she and her husband, and their five-year-old son Neion, left the Philippines in 2001 to carve a quiet and secure future here in the United States.
Michael Ray even agreed to shift careers, taking up nursing at the Beth Israel School of Nursing where he completed in two years time. He likewise passed all the required state and licensure tests last year. A nursing home was also on hand to file a work petition that can lead to a change of status, from having a valid non-immigrant visa to being a green card holder.
Things were shaping up quite well that the couple decided to rent an apartment in Queens after a time of staying with relatives in New York and New Jersey, said Mrs. Aquino, a native of Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur, during the press conference.
A routine request, however, for an extension of their present status at the US immigration service last year unraveled a series of events. Unknown to them, the Philippine government had already cancelled Aquino’s passport in August 7, 2001.
As a result, the US immigration service denied his extension petition. This even prompted the immigration service to subject the family to deportation proceedings. As a result, Michael Ray was momentarily detained but was later released after posting bail.
The family’s immigration lawyer and spokesman, Felix Q. Vinluan, was at a loss as to how could Aquino’s passport be cancelled when it was yet to expire on September 14, 2005.
The situtaion got worse when Aquino sought clarification at the Philippine Consulate in New York. Mrs. Aquino said that one of the consuls grabbed the passport from Michael Ray’s hand instead, placed it inside a deposit box and issued a receipt which states “passport is being held pending clearance from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).”
Even Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales admitted on national TV there was really no basis for cancelling the passport, Vinluan said. Gonzales also admitted it was Malacanang which gave the order to cancel Aquino’s passport.
“Because of your vindictive and unlawful act of ordering the cancellation of my husband’s passport, my husband has not been able to adjust status, avail of job opportunities, and provide for our family,” laments the 38- year-old Fatima as she reads an open letter addressed to President Gloria Mapacagal Arroyo.
“I accuse you of violating the Philippine Passport Act of 1996, for ordering the cancellation of my husband’s passport without valid basis and due process,” Fatima said fighting away tears during the press conference.
“I accuse you of violating your oath to defend the Constitution and do justice to every man. I accuse you of bowing to the dictates of your inflated ego, and not the mandate of the law.
“You have been the bully that chased us around, even in this part of the world,” Fatima added.
Shifting to Cebuano dialect, Fatima appealed to President Arroyo by saying “isip usa ka inahan ug usa ka asawa, nagahangyo ako kanimo, tagai mi ug katarungan ug pasagdi na unta mi nga mamuyo ug malinawon bisan layo sa atong yutang natawhan (As a mother and a wife, I’m appealing to you to give us justice and allow us to live in peace even far away from our homeland).”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WE DID IT AGAIN. Miss Philippines Precious Lara Quigaman, 22, holds her trophies aloft on being chosen as 2005 Miss International in Tokyo on September 26.
|
|
|
|
|
Tokyo, JAPAN --- The Philippines’ Precious Lara Quigaman was crowned Miss International 2005 on Monday, September 26, coming out first among contestants from 52 countries and regions in the beauty pageant held in Tokyo.
Quigaman, a 22-year-old fashion model, cried for joy as her victory was announced at the audience at a concert hall in downtown Tokyo, where she beat 11 other finalists.
Contestants paraded in their national costumes, as well as bikinis and evening dresses to compete in the beauty contest, organized by Japan’s International Cultural Association.
Yadira Geara Cury, 19, of the Dominican Republic came in second, followed by Susanna Laine, 23, of Finland.
In Malacañang, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo extended her congratulations to Quigaman.
“She joins a long list of Filipinas who have brought our country honor and prestige, not only for their beauty, but also for their intelligence, charm and grace,” said Arroyo.
The day after she was crowned, Quigaman has buckled down to work.
Quigaman, accompanied by her mother Precy, did the rounds of guestings on Japanese TV stations, charming her audience as she did when she won the Philippines’ fourth Miss International crown.
“Sobrang hindi ko pa nararamdaman. Pero syempre sobrang masaya [ako] and sobrang thankful kay Lord (My victory still has not sunk in. But of course I’m very happy and grateful to the Lord),” Quigaman said.
Back home in Taguig, Manila, Quigaman’s relatives shed happy tears for the 22-year-old model and freelance webpage writer.
They descibed the 5-foot-6 London-based stunner as simple and a homebody.
“Before she flew to Japan, she just asked her cousins to take care of her turtles,” said one of her relatives.
They said Quigaman is very fond of children, which was why it was the subject she chose for her improptu speech in the pageant that earned the judges’ nod.
Quigaman is the fourth Filipina to win the prestigious international beauty title previously won for the country by Gemma Cruz, Aurora Pijuan and Melanie Marquez.
Quigaman is the eldest of four children of Princesita Quigaman, a registered nurse in Bristol, United Kingdom, and the late Nelson Quigaman, who died in May from a car accident.
She was born in Taguig and grew up in Laguna. She graduated with a degree in Media Production and Communications at Filton College in the United Kingdom. She also took up Bachelor of Arts in Childhood and Youth Studies at Bristol University.
Quigaman’s relatives in Ususan, Taguig, were still ecstatic over her victory.
Mike Ignacio, her uncle, said they did not expect her to win. “We were happy enough that she landed in the Top Five,” Ignacio said.
Ignacio said Lara grew up in an ordinary neighborhood in Taguig. Her mother and aunt, Maritess, had a carinderia in San Juan, whose income was used for everyday expenses.
Since her father worked in the Middle East, Lara finished grade school in Bahrain and later came home to finish high school at the La Consolacion College in Biñan, Laguna.
Ignacio said Lara took Mass Communication at the University of Santo Tomas, but that her studies were cut short when she migrated to the United Kingdom to be with her mother, who is a nurse, and siblings. (MNS)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
New York City, NEW YORK --- Filipina Arlene Aguirre burst into tears as joy and amazement engulfed her upon seeing one of her twins, formerly conjoined in the head, walk slowly to her waiting arms late August, a year after American doctors performed a historic successful surgery.
“I just started crying,” said Arlene, during a press conference at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) in The Bronx on Monday, September 26.
She said it was hard for her to believe that after only a year since the surgery, Clarence can already walk, with his neurosurgeon Dr. James T. Goodrich, describing his quick baby steps as “running like a samurai.”
Carl, on the other hand, Dr. Goodrich said, still needs a walker or a grasp by an adult when walking.
Until the series of surgery, Carl and Clarence had been unable to sit up, stand straight or see each other’s faces.
Arlene brought her conjoined twins to the US in 2003, hoping doctors can successfully separate them through surgery.
Montefiore agreed to take the boys’ case for free and Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, NY, agreed to donate housing and therapy.
Born in the Philippines in April 2002, Clarence and Carl underwent surgery in August 2004.
Since the operation, the two had been showing amazing signs of progress, from crawling to walking, explained Mara Abrams, physical therapist at Blythedale Children’s Hospital. She projects Carl can already walk on his own in a couple of months.
By July, Clarence was striding so energetically, while holding a therapist’s hand, that he once walked out of his pants and staffers had to find him a belt.
Carl slept most of the time during the press conference while Clarence, unmindful of reporters asking questions and flashing of cameras, played with a stack of rings while sitting on a low table with his mother.
Arlene said the two can already call each other’s name, count the numbers one, two, three and speak the letters a, b and c.
There is no definite date yet on performing additional surgeries, particularly the reconstruction of their skulls, said plastic surgeon Dr. David Staffenberg.
During the four surgeries that finally separated the two, much bone have been removed from their skulls. Blue helmets are temporarily protecting the boys’ heads.
Doctors said the Aug. 4, 2004, separation was like a rebirth for the boys, who were in mortal danger throughout their infancy in the Philippines. Because they were limited to lying on their backs, their development was stunted and they were subjected to chronic pneumonia caused by inhaling food into their lungs.
Dr. Robert Marion, pediatrician and director of CHAM’s Center for Congenital Disorders, said members of the medical team agreed to allow the boys to develop more naturally so they can catch up in many ways as growing kids rather than halting their progress for another surgery.
“The next steps will be running, engaging in playground activities on the slide and swings and using their skills to make friendships,” Abrams said.
Arlene admits it will take time for her two boys to live a normal life. And when that time will come, she said, she will then bring Clarence and Carl back home to the Philippines.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Washington, D.C. --- Thousands of Filipino-Americans were among the more than two million people ordered to leave the coasts of south Texas and Louisiana in a two-day mass evacuation before Hurricane “Rita” slammed into the Gulf coast, community leaders said.
But many Filipino doctors and nurses who lived in the oil city of Beaumont, Texas and knew they were in for a direct hit ignored evacuation orders and remained behind to help others who were more adversely affected by the hurricane.
“I don’t know exactly how many of the 500 Filipinos in Beaumont stayed back but many in the medical field did so they could be on hand to help,” the Philippine Star quoted Vice Consul Eduardo Yulo of the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, which handles Texas affairs, as saying.
“It is ironic that less than a month ago we were helping Filipino-Americans who had fled to Houston to escape the ravages of Hurricane “Katrina” in New Orleans. Now we are the ones in the eye of the storm,” said lawyer and community leader Arlene Machetta said from her flooded home in Houston.
Hurricane Rita pounded the Texas-Louisiana border on September 24 with 120 miles-per-hour winds, but then weakened into a storm. Authorities said damage did not appear to be as severe as expected.
However, vast scores of neighborhoods were under water and power supplies to many localities were down.
Rita was the second powerful hurricane to strike the Gulf Coast in less than a month, following Katrina, which devastated parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, killing more than 1,000 people.
Many Filipino permanent residents and Filipino-Americans who fled to Houston from New Orleans, Louisiana to escape Katrina’s wrath were again forced to flee inland to Dallas, Austin or San Antonio in Texas to escape Rita, said Machetta, chairman of the Southwest Region of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA).
Luckily, Houston — where a sizeable Filipino medical community lives — was spared a direct hit by Rita.
“It was a very stressful time for many of us. Thank God Rita did not turn out to be a monster we all thought it was going to be,” Machetta said.
She and Yulo said they have received no reports of any Filipino casualties.
Yulo said he said he did not know how many of the estimated 70,000 Filipinos or Filipino-Americans in Texas lived in areas placed under forcible evacuation orders but Machetta, who is with a disaster relief task force formed to help Filipino victims of Katrina, said it was in the tens of thousands.
She said the task force would now use all its resources to help victims of Rita.
Machetta said people who left Houston at the last moment had to turn back because the freeways were clogged shut.
“It was unbearable. It took 12 to 14 hours to move just a few miles,” she said.
Authorities have urged people who fled Rita in one of the largest relocations in US peacetime history not to return home yet to avoid another massive tie-up in the freeways.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
