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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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CARVED on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty is a poem by Jewish American poet Emma Lazarus. Part of the poem, titled “The New Colossus”, read:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
According to the US State Department, this poem “captured what the statue came to mean to the millions who migrated to the United States seeking freedom, and who have continued to come unto this day.”
Both Lady Liberty and this poem have come to symbolize the United States not only as a land of freedom but also a nation of immigrants.
It is then ironic that several legislators are pushing for measures that make it harder for immigrants, both legal and illegal, to stay and live in the US. At least three Republicans -- Congressmen James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin and Peter King of New York, and Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee -- have filed bills that seek to treat as criminals any undocumented immigrant and anyone who helps and comes into contact with them.
Many of these legislators, like hundreds of millions of Americans today, can trace their origins to several waves of immigrants who were able to come into America because of its open door immigration policy. Why are they now slamming the gates to the present crop of immigrants?
Perhaps these rabid anti-immigrants in Congress have forgotten that their forebears were once foreigners and settlers in this country. A review of basic American history tells us that the original inhabitants of this country are colored people we now call Native Americans.
Like these xenophobic legislators’ forefathers before, today’s immigrants are attracted by the opportunities the US offers and the freedom it proclaims to allow people living in it. And it this drive and dream that makes immigrants a potent economic force. It is the same drive and dream that motivated earlier immigrants into working hard and making the US into what it is now.
Perhaps those who wish to make life in the US harder for immigrants need to go to New York and visit Lady Liberty. They just might find her crying and squirming because of their antics.
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What’s the deal with PIDCI’s by-laws?
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NEW YORK --- If I remember correctly, in deciding a legal lawsuit brought before Justice Jane Solomon, one of her instructions to the Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) was that “the new board should review challenged memberships and make a plan for future public challenges well in advance of next election to avoid dispute like this one.”
Instead of focusing attention to the issue of membership, this year’s PIDCI decided to use a shotgun approach. It ventured to expand its scope and dealt with several other issues, leaving us with the impression that it is undertaking a major face-lift of its by-laws.
As a result of several proposals made by the by-laws committee, original clauses or articles have been re-numbered. None of the proposals, however, pertain to reviewing challenged memberships.
At whose behest was the by-laws committee’s scope of work made? Was it from the president or board members? What was the president’s or board members’ specific instruction to the committee? Is this reflected in the minutes of its meetings?
How was the composition of the by-laws committee arrived at? Was it by appointment of the president and with the concurrence of the board? Or was it by executive privilege of the president alone?
And perhaps, the question most people ask now in light of what they hear or read about these proposals is: Which one is necessary: is it to change the by-laws or enforce them? While some folks may say that change is good, others may consider it more prudent to enforce existing by-laws and that a plan for future public challenges concerning membership was in effect.
Moreover, instead of embracing transparency and accountability as a public benefit corporation, one of the proposals penalizes an incumbent board member with either censure or removal for certain reasons. Among which are found in Article V, Section 11 sub-paragraphs (B), (D) and (E).
Sub-paragraph (B) stipulates: “Publicly, orally or in writing, opposing an action that had been duly adopted by the Board.” In sub-paragraph (D), it states: “Any conduct that is injurious and deleterious to PIDCI.” And finally, sub-paragraph (E) provides: “Deliberate and malicious dissemination of any information about PIDCI.”
While it is incumbent upon a board member to exercise self-restraint in expressing his concerns about any decision taken by the board, he should not be prevented from publicly speaking his mind out. Muzzling that right is contrary to basic rights accorded to any individual by democratic institutions. What happens if someone opposes an action by the board concerning fiduciary responsibilities of board members and PIDCI?
This reminds me of the audited financial statements of PIDCI which remain unreported since 2003. Whatever happened to the findings of the external auditor, which apparently caused some heated deliberation and that minutes of meetings suddenly surfaced out of the blue? There should be a provision in the by-laws stipulating submission of audited financial statements as of a certain date.
What conduct by a board member is considered “injurious and deleterious to PIDCI”? Also, what are considered “deliberate and malicious dissemination of any information about PIDCI”? Will a board member who repeatedly complains publicly about the absence of minutes of meetings and financial reports liable to face censure or removal?
How does the minority force the majority to enforce the provisions of the by-laws or acts of the board that are inimical to its members and the general public interest? Will their going public be a ground for their censure or removal?
Specificity of the grounds for censure and removal is needed here. Unless these are clearly defined, it will be always be a cause for contentious debate for any board member accused of violating these provisions, which would lead to nowhere but frustration.
With regard to a proposal [Article V, Section 12] to resolve a tie by “toss coin”, I find that suggestion absurd and hilarious. Even if it is a remote possibility for a tie to happen, couldn’t the by-laws committee provide a better idea than a toss coin? And definitely not the juvenile “rock-a-paper-scissors-and-a-show” method or what we refer to as the “Jack-En-Poy” system.
A president-elect position is still in the proposal, which to my mind is not really necessary. Perhaps, as a compromise, the committee may want to consider instead, a chairman of the board position to be earmarked for the outgoing president. This way he can provide guidance and institutional memory to his successor and to the board.
For whatever it’s worth, the by-laws committee deserves credit for coming up with an overall package of proposals. The job’s done and the final product of its efforts will now be submitted for deliberation and approval by the board on April Fool’s Day or the day after.
Incidentally, I hear that there’s move spearheaded by former over-all chairs to dissolve PIDCI and return to its early days as an ad-hoc committee. Apparently, eight former over-all chairs have already signed-up for it. Whether this is true or not, as they say, if there’s smoke, there’s fire. Again, it would be an interesting debate to watch as the story evolves in the consciousness of the community.
I am not sure if this was the appropriate solution to the problems plaguing PIDCI. There will always be rift among its leaders in any case. Let’s face it. What’s been going is that what may be good for one faction may not be acceptable by the other. When will pride and envy among our leaders end?
What’s important for leaders is to have the attitude of servant-leadership, lay aside personal differences and think of what’s best for the community. Perhaps it is time for some that have been around since the time of Abraham to retire and develop their successors. The challenge remains.
And really, what’s the deal with the PIDCI’s proposed by-laws?
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Unity: Journalists of Color
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Chicago, ILLINOIS --- The Chicago chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association, in cooperation with the National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association hosted the launching of the Unity Convention in Chicago, Illinois in 2008 last Friday, March 17, at the Cultural Center in Downtown Chicago.
The same AAJA hosts will regroup this coming Saturday, March 25, at the Rizal Center in Chicago’s northside to host a luncheon for ethnic Asian American media practitioners in what is billed as a getting-to-know-you event.
On the other hand, a group of ethnic Asian journalists in Chicago met last Wednesday, March 22, at Chicago’s northside to form their own press organization tentatively called Chicago Asian Media Coalition. The basic difference between the AAJA and the CAMC is in their employers. Most of the members of the AAJA are Asian Americans working in mainstream media while most of the members of CAMC, like the NPC-Phil. U.S.A., which I head, are Asian Americans working in ethnic media.
I once was a student member of the AAJA but I dropped out from the roster when I stopped paying my annual dues. The AAJA, like the National Press Club of the Philippines, is like an “invitational” organization. While it welcomes new members, it is not aggressive in pursuing them.
Camaraderie
I must have missed the camaraderie I had with my fellow members in the NPC in the Philippines that I suggested to Bart and Yoly Tubalinal, then publishers and editors of the PhilippineTIME USA and now the Fil-Am Weekly Megascene, that we formed the NPC-Phil. U.S.A. in Chicago in 1999 so media practitioners can network among themselves and come up with some parameters, like ethics, to be observed among our ranks and to upgrade the profession. The club is still surviving and trying its best to be an ethnic industry watchdog to this day.
Because of the laid-back strategy of its recruiting activities, the AAJA appears to have overlooked a potent block of its prospective members – members of the ethnic media.
With an ambitious “five-year strategic plan,” the AAJA, the NABJ, the NAHJ and the NAJA formed the “Unity: Journalists of Color, Inc.,” to advocate for fair and accurate news coverage about people of color and to aggressively challenge the industry to staff its organizations at all levels to reflect the nation’s diversity. They now appear to be taking a second look on the long-invisible ethnic media members that have been serving their respective communities since the early part of the 19th century.
Wanted: Warm bodies
The AAJA may not be in hurry to relax the criteria for membership in its group but the thrust of their projects calls for “warm bodies” to show that their kinds are behind them. At the most, AAJA would like to see the numerous diverse faces of the ethnic population to show to the mainstream population that Unity: the Journalists of Color has forged ahead. To do this, the big four minority journalists groups would have to invite these once splintered ethnic journalists as group members to coalesce with them.
Ignoring them would disappoint the US presidential candidates who would be invited at the Unity Chicago convention in 2008. These candidates would be looking for the diversity of voters on hand to listen to them.
If they don’t take this initiative, the CAMC or the NPC-Phil. U.S.A. or other ethnic groups, would be the ones inviting them to join their cause.
For now, Newsday Regional Editor Mae M. Cheng, president of the Unity 2006, would like to make sure that the fourth staging of the Unity Convention but the first time in Chicago should be able to top the 10,000 journalists that turned up at the last Unity Convention in Washington, D.C. in 2004.
Numbers don’t count
But a remark by Atty. Calvin Manshio stood out in the inaugural meeting of the Chicago Asian Media Coalition that was emceed by reporter Leonard Kim of the Korean American Broadcasting Co.’s WOCH channel 28. Manshio said it’s not the number that counts. He said an organization may have 500 members, if only 100 are involved in the activities and only 10 are doing the dirty work, it is not a good organization.
Manshio’s message sure hit close to home in our NPC-Phil. U.S.A. and I hope, all our members will do the dirty work, too.
So, if you feel getting to know more about the AAJA, please show up at the luncheon meeting at the Rizal Center this coming Saturday, March 25.
Otherwise, you may call on the Chicago Asian Media Coalition. Take your pick.
lariosa_jos@sbcglobal
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ARE we discovering belatedy what scientists call “the most underappreciated challenge of our time”, namely: spreading water shortages?
The most crucial issue, in the years ahead, will not be coups or politicians, the mint-new Environment Secertary Angelo Reyes said. It will be “water – and the lack of it”. Are people finally waking up to what the UN Environmental Programme calls : “fall of the water”.
An alarmed Cebu Business Club is getting members together before faucets turn dry in a city that pumps out twice the water it’s aquifers can recharge. In Metro Manila, salt water seeps into aquifers where overdrawing drags down water tables.
Out of every 100 liters, 86 is used in farms. Parched irrigation systems, in critical food baskets, like Central Luzon, crimp harvests in a country where the average rainfall of 2.36 meters is unevenly distributed. The Southern Tagalog region has the most freshwater available; Western Visayas the least. .
We do not, however, have a monopoly of this problem.
“In the Middle East, China, India, and the US, groundwater is being pumped faster than their aquifers are recharged, Worldwatch Institute’s Lester Brown writes. In Colorado, the Nile in Egypt and the Yellow River in China, little water reaches the sea for part of the year.
“During the dry season, the Ganges River has little water left when it reaches the Bay of Bengal,” Brown notes. India’s more than a billion people take the lion’s share of the water. Little is left for Bangladesh farmers during the dry season. These cripple food production and set off bitter competition.
In central Asia, the Amu Darya was one of two rivers that fed the Aral Sea. Today, it is a stark salt desert, dotted with the rusting hulks that once were fishing boats. Farmers in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan drained it dry. As the Sea shrunk to half its original size, rising salt concentration destroyed all fish. This wiped out an industry that once landed 100 million pounds of fish yearly.
Rivers here – from Agno, Naguilian to Agus and Polangi -- are now flowing at reduced volumes with increasing pollution. “You can not wash filthy water,” an Arab proverb says. They’re warning signals of trouble upstream, in denuded watersheds and eroded soils.
There are also more buckets dipping into the same wells. There were 19 million Filipinos in 1940. Today, there are about 84 million of us. And by 2025, there could be 118.4 million. That’d be comparable to five Malaysias lumped together.
UN projections foresee that population, despite declining fertility in many countries, will still grow: from nearly 6.5 billion to 9 billion people by 2050. , “Food demand is expected to double”, the Food and Agriculture Organization notes.
Over the same period, the demand for water – in homes, farms as well as factories – will balloon. “Water use is expected to double over the next 30 years,” FAO’ points out.
“This puts huge pressure on fresh water systems, not only for agriculture, but other competing needs, including clean water for human use, timber, biodiversity. Already, 30 per cent of irrigated lands are degraded. “
Yet, that need must be meet. Or the country will simply shrivel for one reason : there is no substitute for water.
Many among our “leaders” never heard, or care, about the “Millennium Development Goals”. Yet, the Philippines and 180 countries, adopted the MDGs in 2000. Target 10 in Goal Number 7 reads : “To halve by 2015 the proportion of people with our sustainable access to safe drinking water.”
How are we faring by this yardstick?
Not too bad, if 2005 UN Human Development Report indicators are used. About 85 percent of Filipinos tap into improved water sources. That backslid from 87 percent in 1990. Still, that’s better than Indonesia’s 78 percent. But it falls short of what Malaysia achieved: 95 percent.
It’s when you go through provinces with a fine-tooth comb that the real – and worrisome – picture emerges.
Cebu prides itself as “the premier province.” Yet, 28 out of every 100 didn’t have “improved water sources”, Philippine Human Development Report 2005 reports That’s far better than Tawi-Tawi’s staggering 82 or Masbate’s 79.
Provinces where one out of five lacked safe water included : Bohol, Laguna, Ilocos Norte, Iloilo, Capiz, Negros Oriental and Occidental, Bukidnon, Davao del Norte and Sur, the two Zamboangas and Lanaos.
Lack of water translates into poor sanitation. Diarrhea is still a top killer, although it is preventable. “We pay more for our cholera,” says a Good Shepherd nun who ministers to the poor in a city slum.
On the flip side, are the achievers. In Pampanga, for example, only one out of 100, lack for safe water. Other top performers include, among others: Nueva Ecija, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Batangas, Tarlac, Bulacan and Laguna.
The task ahead is to ensure “more bang for every drop.” The task requires policy to move from the single track of locating more supplies. Conservation must get the priority it has been denied. That requires protection of watersheds to tax breaks for those who conserve water.
If our officials barrel along their business-as-usual way, a growing number of Filipinos may simply lack the water needed for a decent life. As we mark World Water Day , it is good to recall the Chinese proverb: “Dig the wells before you get thirsty.”
(E-mail: juan_mercado@paci-fic.net.ph )
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State Dep’t vows to be fair and respectful
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THE U.S. Department of State, which manages the visa process (issuing visas), recently published a “Customer Service Statement,” promising that visa applicants would be treated with “dignity and respect” when applying for visas. Among the “promises” made by the State Department (to people applying for visas at the Embassy) are:
“We promise to you, the visa applicant, that: “We will treat you with dignity and respect, even if we are unable to grant you a visa; “We will treat you as an individual and your case as unique; “We will remember that, to you, a visa interview may be a new or intimidating experience and that you may be nervous; “We will use the limited time available for the interview to get as full a picture as possible of your travel plans and intentions; “We will use our available resources to fairly assist all applicants to get appointments to allow travel in time for business, study, and other important obligations; “We will explain the reason for any visa denial to you. “Furthermore, if you are a: “Student, we will make every effort to ensure that you get an appointment and, if qualified, a visa in time to start classes; “Medical and humanitarian emergency traveler, we will expedite processing for those dealing with life threatening emergencies; “Business traveler, we will establish appropriate mechanisms to facilitate business travel and expedite cases of particular concern to American business. “At the same time, we expect you, the visa applicant, to: “Plan your travel and visa application as far in advance as possible; “Complete your application fully and accurately; “Be forthcoming [truthful] about your purpose and plans; “Prepare for your interview by being able to clearly and concisely describe your intentions.” (Emphasis Added)
I, myself, have had the opportunity to deal with the U.S. Embassy on many, many occasions, concerning my clients’ visas, whether applying for temporary (non-immigrant) visas, or immigrant visas (green cards). The Consuls and their staff really are fair and reasonable, and the Embassy is not in the “business of denying visas.” As the Consul General of the U.S. Embassy once said to me, “A good day would be when we are able to issue a visa to every applicant.”
However, it is really up to you, the visa applicant, to prove (or demonstrate) your eligibility or entitlement to the visa. If you’re not entitled to the visa, (because you do not meet the legal requirements, or have some other ineligibility or “problem” with your case), then, by law, Consuls cannot issue you a visa, as that would be “against the law.”
I would also suggest that people follow these additional points when applying for a visa (or adjustment of status): - Tell the truth to the Consul or Immigration Officer;
- Present only documents that are true, genuine, and authentic. No documents from Recto Avenue!
- Be brief and to the point in your answers to the Consul’s questions. Resist the temptation to tell your whole life story and family history to the Consul in response to every question he asks;
- Stick to the subject and get straight to the point in your answers.
- Listen to the question the Consul is asking before you start answering;
- Make sure you understand the question. If not, ask the Consul to reword or explain the question, rather than you answering a question that you do not understand;
- Don’t guess. If you don’t know an answer, tell the Consul the “truth,” that you don’t know or you don’t remember.
Of course, no one can “guarantee” that a person will be issued a visa. However, if you do apply for a visa, do so only if you are eligible, able to fully prove and document your eligibility, and you tell the truth. In so doing, you’ll greatly increase your chances for success!
Michael J. Gurfinkel has been an attorney for over 25 years, and is an active member of the State Bar of California and New York, as well as the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Immigration Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He has always excelled in school: Valedictorian in High School; Cum Laude at UCLA; and Law Degree Honors and academic scholar at Loyola Law School, which is one of the top law schools in California.
WEBSITE: www.gurfinkel.com
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Telephone: (818) 543-5800
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