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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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Jersey City, NEW JERSEY --- A frantic fundraising effort from Filipino families that secured $73,000 in pledges will not be enough to save the St. Aedan’s Catholic School in Jersey City.
The Newark Archdiocese announced on Friday, March 4, that St. Aedan’s, where 80 percent of students are Filipinos, will indeed close in June as part of an evolving reorganization that includes closing and merging many archdiocesan schools, the Jersey Journal reported.
A month ago, the archdiocese said it planned to close the 93-year-old elementary school. But teachers and parents tried to save the school -- which has only 148 students this year -- by raising money and holding open houses designed to attract new students.
In the end, officials with the archdiocese -- which covers Essex, Hudson, Union and Bergen counties -- determined those efforts were not enough. School officials learned this at a meeting at archdiocese headquarters in Newark late Thursday.
“I’m devastated over it. I went to school here,” said Pat Cassaro, a secretary at St. Aedan’s who saw three of her own children graduate from the school in the 1990s.
“The closure of the school will have a great impact on the children,” said Joselito Balasa, who has two children at St. Aedan’s. “Our kids are crying.”
St. Aedan’s parish, originally attended mainly by Irish Catholics early last century, has recently served a more diverse population, mostly of Asian-Americans. Children of Filipino descent now make up about 80 percent of the school’s student body.
In a statement, James Goodness, a spokesman for Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, acknowledged that parents worked “tirelessly” to save the school, but said their proposal to keep the school open with the pledged money amounted to only a “short-term solution.”
“It does not address the ongoing realities of an education program in an era of declining enrollments and escalating general costs,” he said, adding that the pledges would not have covered costs to fix the school building’s physical problems.
“They could have gotten $75,000 this year, but you actually need more, on a continuing basis, for any successive year you go on,” Goodness said in an interview. “There wasn’t any assurance of that.”
The archdiocese is urging parents with children at St. Aedan’s to enroll them next year at Visitation School in Jersey City. Parents who are “active parishioners” at St. Aedan’s parish would be eligible for a preferred tuition rate at the Visitation School.
Visitation School itself was created by a merger three years ago of Sts. John and Ann School and Our Lady of Mount Carmel School. St. Aedan’s will join St. John the Baptist and Our Lady of Mount Carmel parishes in subsidizing Visitation School, Goodness said.
Catholic school enrollment has been declining for decades, across the archdiocese, the state, and the country.
In 1970, New Jersey had 609 Catholic schools with 275,000 students, according to the National Catholic Education Association. In 2005, there were 396 schools with 129,000 students.
Nationally, there were 11,352 Catholic schools with 4.4 million students in 1970. In 2005, there were 7,799 schools with 2.4 million students.
Within the Newark archdiocese, about 10 closures have been announced since 2004. The archdiocese is expected to announce another dozen or so in the next year, church officials have said. Some schools in Irvington, Elizabeth and Union City may be among those closed or merged with others.
“Closing St. Aedan’s is not justified,” said Balasa. ”We are also losing faith in the Church, “ he added.
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Jersey City, NEW JERSEY --- A municipal court judge dismissed the case against a Filipino-American who was arrested by policemen for distributing flyers about human rights situation in the Philippines at the PATH station complex in Journal Square, in this city.
It took only about five minutes for Judge Vincent A. Signorile to dismiss the complaint against Arsenia Reilly on Tuesday, March 7.
Assistant Municipal Prosecutor Jay B. Yacker himself recommended the dismissal of the complaint. Reilly, who is a member of the Network International in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines (NISPOP), said the court’s decision vindicated her actions and affirmed her rights to free expression.
She also said part of the reason the prosecution did not pursue the case was authorities’ reluctance “to rock the boat and awaken a sleeping giant”.
She said her case might draw sympathy and action from among a huge Filipino community in Jersey City as well as in the entire New Jersey.
Reilly’s counsel, William Volante, said the Port Authority, which manages the PATH train operations, may have found out that Reilly is being effectively covered by the first amendment of the US Constitution.
Amanda Vender of NISPOP regarded the dismissal as a result of a continuing vigilance in promoting people’s rights.
Reilly was cited for violating a provision of the New Jersey Statutes Anotated (NJSA),which specify that anyone engage in selling or offering services within the PATH station complex should be registed with the Port Authority.
Though distributing flyers was not specifically mentioned, police authorities interpreted it as a violation.
Reilly, together with other Filipinos, were distributing flyers at the PATH station last October 30, 2005 when police arrested her.
The leaflets contained NISPOP’s statement condemning the murder of of Nestle (Phils.) workers union president Diosdado Fortuna.
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MANILA --- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lifted her declaration of a state of national emergency on Friday, March 3, following assurances from security officials that the danger from a coup plot had receded. “By the powers vested in me by the Constitution, I declare that the state of emergency is no more,” Mrs. Arroyo said in a televised address exactly one week after she issued Presidential Proclamation No. 1017.
But she later warned that she would use emergency powers again to stop groups seeking to destroy democracy.
She thanked the police and armed forces for remaining loyal to the chain of command, adding that persons who plotted to overthrow her administration would face the full force of the law.
Mrs. Arroyo, who survived an impeachment attempt last year over allegations of vote-rigging and graft, invoked the emergency on February 24 to confront what she said was a conspiracy of opposition foes, communist groups and “military adventurists” to oust her.
She said she postponed the lifting of emergency rule following the arrests of several policemen, soldiers and civilians allegedly linked to the coup plot. She added that the justice system would deal with the destabilizers.
“I will never tolerate this kind of adventurism. No matter how many times, I will act with steadfastness and determination each time our enemies undermine our nation and the economy,” she said.
Despite the lifting, the volatile political brew that nearly boiled over in the Philippines a week ago has just moved to the backburner and could heat up again at any time, officials and analysts say.
Her declaration of a state of emergency was widely criticized as a step toward the martial law decrees that former dictator Ferdinand Marcos used to stay in power.
“She created a bigger problem and a bigger movement because of her latest moves,” said Renato Reyes, secretary general of Bayan, a prominent left-wing group seeking Arroyo’s ouster. “It has so far managed to galvanized the anti-Arroyo opposition.”
Arroyo loyalists claimed that the President had to act decisively in the face of moves to force her out, including support by restive elements in the military, while her opponents claimed she overreacted and would do anything to keep herself in power until her term ends in four years.
“The president was only too aware that the opposition and left-wing groups will take advantage of the situation to depict her as an authoritarian leader,” presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye wrote in a weekly newspaper column.
“Yet, she did what she had to do,” Bunye said. “You do not have to wait for the other guy to shoot you before you take defensive action. It is enough that the other guy reaches for his gun.
“Had the president not acted in the timely manner that she did, we would in all probability find ourselves now under the clutches of a civilian-rightist-leftist junta which would soon be fighting among themselves for supremacy.”
Opposition groups, meanwhile, vowed to continue protests. Reyes called the state of emergency decree “a lightning rod in the storm.”
“The storm it has created has not yet subsided as well as the storm or the crisis,” Reyes said. “We are still in the middle of one. There are occasional lulls, and it’s only natural as people try to consolidate and regroup and plan their next move until the next big action.” (MNS)
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MANILA --- Criminal charges were recommended yesterday by the National Bureau of Investigation against those it deemed responsible for the Feb. 4 stampede at the PhilSports Arena (formerly ULTRA) in Pasig City that killed 71 people and injured 957 others.
Facing charges of “reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and multiple injuries” in the Department of Justice (DoJ) are 12 officers and employees of the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., including Charo Santos-Concio, executive vice president; Maria Socorro Vidanes, senior vice president of the television production department; Cipriano “Rene” Luspo, assistant vice president and head of security; and Wilfredo “Willie” Revillame, host of the daily game show “Wowowee.”
Five other persons outside the network are also facing similar charges.
Each count of the offense is punishable by up to six years in prison.
The NBI recommended the filing of administrative charges against Pasig Mayor Vicente Eusebio in the Department of Interior and Local Government, for issuing a permit to the network without asking for a comprehensive security plan.
NBI officer in charge Nestor Mantaring said the investigators cleared the Pasig police and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority of liability. He said ABS-CBN personnel had not coordinated with the government agencies in the planning of the event.
In a statement, ABS-CBN expressed concern over what it said was the “selective manner” with which the NBI conducted the investigation, “particularly in not charging members of the [Philippine National Police]” and “overlooking and disregarding their negligence and culpabilities by not performing their duties under the law.”
“We ... deplore the manner by which the NBI has arrived at its conclusions and recommendations in seeking to charge ABS-CBN officials and employees perceived to be liable without factual or legal basis, as well as whitewashing the clear liabilities of others responsible,” it said.
The public information officer of the Pasig government apologized and said an official statement would be issued shortly. “Bukas na po, pasensya na po,” he said.
Thousands of fans, mostly elderly women from poor communities, had camped out at the PhilSports gates days before the event, hoping to get into the first-anniversary show of “Wowowee” and win prizes including P1 million in cash.
In the early morning of Feb. 4, the fans rushed to one of the gates after it became apparent that not everyone would get tickets to the show.
Security guards shut the gate, and those at the front were crushed to death.
The other officers and employees of ABS-CBN facing charges are Marilou Almaden, executive producer for Broadcast Center; Morly Stewart, executive producer and “Wowowee” manager; Harold James Nueva, “Wowowee” associate producer for sets; Norberto Vidanes, “Wowowee” director; Rey Cayabyab, assistant location manager and security coordinator; Francisco Rivera, location manager; Mel Feliciano, “Wowowee” assistant director; and Jean Owen Garcia, “Wowowee” floor director.
Also facing the same charges are Jess Velardo, PhilSports building administrator; Erlinda Reis, PhilSports booking and events coordinator; Rosenbar Viloria, staff director for operations of Goldlink Security and Allied Services Inc.; and Wilfron Onanad and Chito Payumo, Goldlink security in charge.(MNS)
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