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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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UNITED NATIONS. Members of several immigrant groups came together in front of the office of New York Senator Charles Schumer to express their opposition to HR 4437, which will make illegal immigrants criminals. (Merpu Roa)
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NEW YORK --- A coalition of Filipino organizations opposing the passage of House Resolution 4437 joined a bigger confederation of immigrant groups that trooped to the office of New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, February 14, to deliver their letters of appeal to US senators to junk the anti-immigrant bill.
Schumer was supposed to meet with representatives of the multi-national immigration coalition in his office but failed to do so. Schumer’s office later apologized to the leaders of the group, saying there was “ a misunderstanding”.
Carrying colorful streamers, placards and huge Valentine’s cards, more than 100 people from 20 immigrant organizations composing theImmigrant Communities in Action , gathered in front of the building housing Schumer’s office on Valentine’s Day, hoping to convince Senator Schumer to make public his stand on HR 4437 and to oppose any legislation that does not include a path to real legalization.
A female staffmember of Schumer’s office checked with members of the coaltion while they were having a press conference outside the building. But when several of them went up to deliver the letters, security personnel prevented them, contrary to an earlier promise by Schumer’s office that he would welcome any communications from the group.
The participants were mostly immigrants -- Chinese, Koreans, Indians, Pakistanis, Latinos and Filipinos. The Filipino community was represented by the Justice for Immigrants Coalition (J4I), with the Philippine Forum, Anakbayan NY/NJ and the New York Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP) as convenors.
Monami Maulik, director of the South Asian group Desis Rising Up & Moving (DRUM), however, told The Filipino Express that Schumer’s office apologized to them the following day and asked them to deliver the letters Thursday afternoon. “Schumer’s staff explained it as a misunderstanding,” she said.
“Schumer has yet to make public his stance on the immigration debate,” Maulik said. “It is our right to ask him to do just that.”
In a statement, the coalition is pressing for the legalization of individual workers and families who are actively contributing to the country’s economy; improvement and faster family reunification opportunities for all.
Enforcement of the protection of human and civil rights by reducing detention and deportation, ending collaboration between the DHS and public agencies that should not be enforcing immigration laws, and ending deaths and abuses of migrants at the borders.
No punishment of states that do not comply with the Real ID Act and guarantee equal access to driver’s licenses for immigrants and no marking of immigration status on licenses; and equal protection of labor rights of all workers, regardless of immigration status.
“There are about four million Filipinos in the US if you factor in the undocumented population. Here in New York, we number over 150,000. We are one of the largest immigrant groups and we stand to be the most oppressed if this bill becomes federal law,” stated Henry Soliveres, spokesperson of J4I and an executive board member of the Philippine Forum.
Soliveres added that the Filipino community has been devastated by the waves of anti-immigrant legislation being pushed by lawmakers since 9/11. “We, along with other immigrant groups, have been the targets of detentions, deportations, marginalization, profiling, and now increased criminalization. We see HR 4437 as part in parcel of the scheme to make immigrants the scapegoat and paint us as terrorist threats and bad for the country.”
HR 4437, also known as the Border Protection, Anti-Terror, and Illegal Immigration Control Act, or the Sensenbrenner-King Bill, was passed in the House of Representatives last December and is now being reviewed by the Senate judiciary committee before it is forwarded to the Senate for voting next month.
The Senate committee, which is responsible for making immigration bills, will discuss immigration reforms, and will not be limited to responding to HR 4437. Committee Chair Arlen Specter (R-PA) is expected to introduce a bill which combines immigration proposals made in 2005, including those of Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy, Chuck Hagle and Tom Dachle, and John Cornyn and Jon Kyl.
“The immigration bills currently pending are inhumane and immoral. They are like the laws that legalized segregation of African Americans before the civil rights movement. The soul of this nation is ill. Let’s heal the soul of this nation by opposing such inhumane and immoral bills and work for real comprehensive reform that treats immigrants as human beings with dignity, said Miguel Ramirez of Centro Hispano “Cuzcatlan.”
Maulik said the coalition will press Schumer and the other New York senator, Hillary Clinton (D), to support their advocacy. She said the group also expects them, or at the very least, send representatives to the upcoming town hall meeting on March 4 at the Hostos Community College.
The J4I was formed last month as a response to the passage of HR 4437 in the Lower House. It is composed of Filipino individuals and organizations in the New York-New Jersey area. It seeks to facilitate education and action in the Filipino community against HR 4437 and other anti-immigrant legislation and policies, a Philippine Forum statement said.
The coalition led a Filipino town hall meeting to discuss the bill last month in Elmhurst, Queens where immigration and civil rights attorney responded to pressing questions from Filipino community members. J4I has also participated in several letter-writing initiatives, including a special Valentine’s card-signing organized by the Philippine Forum-Youth. The youth group brought their giant Valentine’s card to the Valentine’s Day picket in front of Schumer’s office.
A J4I meeting is scheduled on March 3 at 6:00 pm at the Philippine Forum office at 54-05 Seabury St., Elmhurst, NY.
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Pia Clemente |
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Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA --- The morning the 2006 Academy Award nominations were announced, former New Jersey resident Pia Clemente was at home with her family on the East Coast.
Curious to see if the comedic movie she co-produced, “Our Time Is Up,” earned a nod in the live action short film category, she logged onto the internet — only to come up empty.
But her disappointment was short-lived. Clemente got a call from Rob Pearlstein, the movie’s director, writer, co-producer and a supporting actor.
“He said, ‘We’re in,’” she recalled in a telephone interview from Los Angeles last week, “and we were screaming into the phone with each other.”
Clemente, who emigrated from the Philippines at age 3 and grew up in Freehold, may also be the first Filipino American woman to be nominated for an Oscar; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which distributes the award, does not keep track of nominees by ethnicity.
“It’s very exciting,” she said of the acknowledgment, which will culminate when the awards are given out on March 5. “I feel so grateful to my family and friends. Their support has been tremendous.”
Clemente graduated in 1989 from the Peddie School, a rigorous boarding high school in Hightstown, N.J., where she took theater and speech.
“She always worked very hard in class,” said David Martin, her former high school Latin teacher. “Now to see where she’s at, it’s a success a lot of people don’t have the opportunity to attain.”
Clemente went on to attend Barnard College in New York, where she got her first hint of Oscar glory: she produced a short film called, “Christmas in New York,” which won a Student Academy Award in 1997. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles to attend the American Film Institute to get a master’s degree in fine arts. In 2000, she became an associate producer for the independent feature film, “The Debut,” a comedy about a young man trying to identify with his clashing Filipino and American cultures.
Through a friend, Clemente was introduced to Pearlstein, a screenwriter looking to produce his first short film with another friend, Loren Mendell.
“I showed Pia my script and she was interested,” Pearlstein said, adding that the entire project was a true labor of love: everyone worked for free.
Clemente said the story and its narrative was what drew her in. “Our Time Is Up” stars Kevin Pollak as a therapist, who with only six weeks to live opts to tell his patients what he really thinks about them.
The movie took only two days to film, but was intense, Pearlstein said.
“I thought she did a fantastic job,” he said of Clemente. “It was quite an endeavor for us to get all of these people to work together in such a short time.”
The film has been screened at several film festivals over the past two years, including the 2005 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, where it earned “official selection” status.
Despite Clemente’s sudden recognition, the representation by Filipinos in mainstream Hollywood in front and behind the camera remains limited.
Ariel Velasco-Shaw, a visual effects specialist, is reported to be the first and only other Filipino-American to earn an Oscar nod: in 1994 for “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” which lost to “Jurassic Park.” He was most recently a supervisor for the third installment of the “Final Destination” movie franchise.
“Of course, I would love to see more Fil-Am works,” said Clemente, whose next project is a movie out of the Philippines. “There’s a lot of great untold stories and great voices.”
“Our Time Is Up,” meanwhile, will vie against four other short films nominated for the Oscar, including one from Germany and another from Iceland.
Until the big show next month, Clemente said, she wants to savor the nomination: “Right now, I’m just trying to take it in and celebrate.”
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MANILA --- Speaking for the first time on the ULTRA stampede, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the tragedy that killed more than 70 people and hurt more than 600 showed negligence on the part of the organizers and vowed that those found responsible would face the law.
“The stampede was a tragedy that exposed the ineptness and negligence of the organizers that sponsored it,” the President said in Filipino when asked to comment on the February 4 incident in an interview over radio dzRH on Tuesday, February 14.
But the television network promptly shot back at Arroyo, saying her remarks “prejudged” the results of an ongoing government investigation into the tragedy.
“We are saddened that President Arroyo has prejudged the result of the government investigation into the ULTRA stampede,” ABS-CBN said.
“[ABS-CBN Chief Executive Officer] Gabby Lopez has already claimed moral responsibility, and ABS-CBN moved immediately to address the needs of the victims and their families. We continue to do so, focusing now on medium and long-term assistance,” the network added.
Some groups have used the stampede to condemn the government anew for its alleged slow action against poverty.
Arroyo said that it was the government’s responsibility to get to the bottom of things so that justice could be given to the victims and their families and to show that justice was fair and equal and did not recognize oneís wealth or standing in society in determining culpability.
“Whoever will be found guilty based on the investigation will have to be responsible,” Arroyo said without mentioning ABS-CBN, which had organized the first anniversary celebration of its noontime show “Wowowee” at the PhilSports Arena (formerly ULTRA) in Pasig City and whose offer of big prizes had drawn thousands of people to the stadium ahead of February 4 event.
“It is sad to note that instead of helping the victims and taking responsibility, the sponsors are even blaming the victims and their poverty,” Arroyo said.
The Department of Justice is looking into the incident to determine criminal or civil liabilities.
The head of the fact-finding committee from the Department of Interior Local Government said that the people who trooped to the PhilSports Arena were treated “like animals.”
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the integrity of the government panel investigating the ULTRA tragedy has been put under a cloud of doubt by Mrs. Arroyo’s statement.
A group of lawyers and judges said Mrs. Arroyo has put an enormous amount of pressure on members of the DOJ team conducting its own probe into the incident.
Neri Colmenares of the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL) told ANC that Mrs. Arroyo, as well as Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, should not be making statements on a case that is currently being investigated as it would prematurely affect the results of probe. (MNS)
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Philadelphia, PENNSYLVANIA --- Eager to fight for their right to work, hundreds of immigrant workers and supporters from New Jersey, Philadelphia and Delaware gathered Tuesday, February 14, in front of a symbol of freedom -- Independence Hall.
The protest and accompanying work stoppage for the day were done to show how illegal immigrant workers affect the economy, said organizers of the protest action, dubbed “A Day Without Immigrants”, the Cherry Hill (N.J.) Courier Post reported.
“This is a very important day for all immigrants and all Americans,” said Brad Baldia, a Filipino American, before he read a proclamation to be presented to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (Republican-Pennsylvania) by event organizers.
The protesters came from diverse backgrounds -- Filipinos, Mexicans, Chinese, Ecuadoreans, Colombians, West Africans, Indonesians, Salvadorans, Argentinians, and others.
The proclamation called for the government to help illegal immigrant workers “live a peaceful life” by enabling them to become citizens.
Many wore white T-shirts with slogans such as “Marcha por la dignidad,” which means “March for dignity.” Most protested against a House of Representatives bill awaiting revision and passage in Congress. The Sensenbrenner-King bill as it stands would allow police to arrest undocumented immigrants on felony charges, whereas before they were only subject to immigration penalties, such as deportation. It would also criminalize aiding undocumented immigrants.
“We come to this country with the dream to give better life to our children, and not to harm anybody,” said Catalina Hernandez, who traveled from Bridgeton to participate in the protest.
Jose Andon, a U.S. citizen whose relatives migrated many years ago, said the proposal shows that many Americans forget that the United States was founded by immigrants.
Community activist Angel Cordero, from Excellent Education for Everyone in Camden, N.J., said that the nation needs undocumented workers’ labor and immigrants should not be made to leave.
“You are not leaving,” he told the crowd.
Many businesses in Camden and Philadelphia were closed as a result of the rally -- but some because they sympathized with the cause, not because they were without workers.
Catalina Muniz, a business owner from Camden, attended the protest. She said she closed her business to support the rally.
Peter Cappelli, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said that if all illegal workers stopped work for the day, it would point out to people how big a segment of the work force they are, and that, at least in the short run, would hurt local businesses and the economy. (With a report from Rita Villadiego)
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