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For the past 20 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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Filipinos proved their flair for the creative when they paraded higantes (giant paper mache) during the huge May Day pro-immigrant rally in Manhattan. The higantes became a crowd-drawer, and protesters and spectators alike took turns in having their pictures taken with the gian puppets. (Merpu Roa)
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Washington, D.C. --- Senate leaders reached a deal on Thursday, May 11, on reviving a broad immigration bill that could provide millions of illegal immigrants a chance to become American citizens and said they’ll try to pass it before Memorial Day.
The agreement brokered by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Minority Harry Reid, D-Nev., breaks a political stalemate that has lingered for weeks while immigrants and their supporters held rallies, boycotts and protests to push for action.
The deal does not mean that a bill will emerge from Congress soon. But it is significant that the Senate leaders agree to move forward, Frist and Reid said they hope to schedule a vote before Memorial Day.
Even if the Senate passes an immigration bill, it would have to be reconciled with a bill enacted in December by the House. That bill generally emphasizes border security rather than attainment of citizenship, so negotiations between Senate and House would probably be long and heated.
As a result of this development, The Justice 4 Immigrants Filipino Coalition (J4I) will hold an emergency information session and open house for all Filipinos to disuss the ramification of the Senate deal and of the other immigration bills pending before the Senate.
The open house will be on Friday, May 19, at 6:30 pm at 251 West 14th Street (between 7th and 8th Aves), 2nd floor in Manhattan.
The J4I has expressed concern over the sudden decision of senators to abruplty end the debate.
“This might lead to the non-compliance with the demands of immigrant communities and the striking of a compromise deal wherein repressive measures contained in HR-4437 will continue to live under the disguise of a compromise Senate Bill under a new name,” said J4I spokesperson Henry Soliveres of the Philippine Forum.
President Bush has said he favors legislation that would enable immigrants to become citizens, but only after they meet strict standards. He has said repeatedly that he does not favor “amnesty,” a word that is anathema to many conservatives. “We congratulate the Senate on reaching agreement, and we look forward to passage of a bill prior to Memorial Day,” Dana Perino, deputy White House press secretary, told The Associated Press.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, called the agreement announced today “a major step forward in our fight for tough but fair immigration reform.”
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Newark, NEW JERSEY --- Leandro Aragoncillo, a former US marine who worked at the White House, has admitted to a federal court that he passed US government secrets to the Philippines in an attempt to help overthrow President Arroyo and her administration.
Aragoncillo’s admission followed the denial made by former president Joseph Estrada last week on reported allegations by American prosecutors that the deposed leader was part of a conspiracy to steal classified US documents.
Media reports have said US authorities believe the case was part of a plot to unseat Mrs. Arroyo, who came to power in a military-backed, bloodless revolt in 2001 that abbreviated Estrada’s six-year term.
Aragoncillo, who was born in the Philippines, pleaded guilty to four counts in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey.
The first count charged him with conspiracy to transmit national defence information, the second with transmitting national defence information.
The third charge was unlawful retention of national defense information and the fourth, unlawful use of a government computer.
He faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment on the first two counts. He would face the death penalty if it was found the information he gave led to the death of an intelligence source. The department said that was “not present” in Aragoncillo’s case.
For the other two charges there is a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
A US justice department statement said Aragoncillo got the secrets while working in the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney and his predecessor, Al Gore.
He was an FBI intelligence analyst at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey when arrested on Sept. 10, 2005. He admitted that his espionage activity continued during his time as an FBI analyst, the statement said.
It said the information was handed on to “senior political and government officials” in the Philippines.
“Aragoncillo admitted that he regularly transferred to his Philippine contacts national security documents classified as ‘Secret’ and that the information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation,” the statement said.
The information, leaked between October 2000 and February 2002, included information marked “Top Secret” that related to terrorist threats to US interests in the Philippines, the statement said.
US Attorney Christopher Christie of New Jersey district said: “His betrayal is profound and a disservice to his country.”
Also arrested last September was Michael Ray Aquino, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) officer, who was among those Aragoncillo is alleged to have passed classified information on to. Aquino is in federal custody, having been charged in October.
The statement did not name the main conspirators in the Philippines, but said they were “a senior member of the executive branch” from June 1998 through January 2001; a senator who had served since June 2001 and was formerly the head of the PNP; a member of the Philippine House of Representatives between 1998 and 2001 and again in 2004; another representative who served in the chamber from 1992-2001 and again in 2004; and a mayor of a city near Manila. (MNS)
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Jersey City, NEW JERSEY --- Second Lt. Fran Remo, 30, a Filipinop American who heads a medical team in Tikrit, Iraq, was treating wounded soldiers when bombs from Iraqi rebels started raining down on their camp.
“We could hear the bombs exploding. There would be an alarm and we would take a fighting position,” Remo said, adding that the shelling from Iraqi rebels happen every week
Another Filipino American, specialist Hyacinthe Luna, 22, recalled how stressful it was to treat wounded soldiers in Iraq, especially those who were traumatized by the war. Part of Luna’s job was to treat sick Iraqi children.
Remo and Luna were among the approximately 200 Iraq war veterans who were honored in a “Welcome Home” and “Freedom Salute” ceremony at the Jersey City Armory on Saturday, May 6.
Many other Filipino Americans, who are from Hudson County, served in the medical teams that assisted both American troops and sick Iraqis, especially the children.
Before being sent to Iraq, Remo used to work in a big global advertising company in New York but gave up her well-paying job to serve in the military. She was in Iraq for seven months last year.
“I feel a little bit old now. But I’m glad that I did my obligation to my country. I love being in the military. If I have to do it again, I’ll go back to Iraq again,” said Remo.
Luna, for her part, served for 10 months.
“Serving in Iraq was an accomplishment. Now that I’m home, I have to go back to school to take up Engineering or Medicine at Rutgers University,” she said .
Many of the soldiers were misty-eyed as patriotic songs were played and a poignant video on NJ soldiers in Iraq was shown. The Armory was festooned with red, white and blue balloons.
“We are proud of you that you’ve come home safely. Thanks to you. We have much to do. We would love to have you continue serving,” said New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.
Corzine who stood before applauding troops and their families, said under the operation Iraqi freedom, 6,000 soldiers from NJ had been deployed in Iraq in active duty.
Senator Robert Menendez paid tribute to the troops and praised their commitment to serve the country. He recognized the sacrifices of the troops and their families.
“I believe that a grateful nation not only comes in this service, a grateful nation honors you by taking care of your health care. You have made sacrifices and we are committed to make sure that your service is honored,” said Menendez who voted against sending American troops in Iraq years ago.
Amid escalating violence in Iraq which claimed thousands of lives, Menendez said: “We need to change our course. We are not going to be in Iraq forever.”
Linda Rieth, co-chair of state family readiness council offered the soldiers and families special grants so that they could start a business.
So far, $90,000 in grants have been used by families of the troops. She also gave some military pins to soldiers’ families as a gratitude for their support.
“You’ve served your nation well despite of the risks. We all grieved lives on ground zero. We are doing this as a great legacy to our children and to preserve our democracy,” said NJ adjutant general Major General Glenn Rieth.
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Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA --- A Filipino-American computer hacker was setenced to nearly five years in jail for hijacking around 400,000 computers, including military servers, and infecting them with malicious software.
Sealing the first prosecution of its kind, US federal Judge Gary Klausner in Los Angeles on Monday, May 8, sentenced “botmaster” Jeanson Ancheta, 20, to 57 months in jail for taking control of an array of computers he had corralled into his “Botnet.”
Ancheta had pleaded guilty in January to infecting the computers with software that caused them to send spam, show ads and launch crippling attacks on Internet sites.
The crime was “extensive, serious and sophisticated,” the judge told the court as he handed down the longest-known sentence for someone accused of spreading computer viruses.
“Your worst enemy is your own intellectual arrogance that somehow the world cannot touch you on this,” the judge told Ancheta.
Ancheta admitted to conspiring to violate both the Computer Fraud Abuse Act and an anti-spam law, to causing damage to US defense computers and to hacking into computers to commit fraud.
The youth stood accused of infecting “armies” of computers and turning them into “bots” that are then used to launch destructive attacks on servers or send huge quantities of spam, or unwanted e-mails.
Ancheta then charged spammers for spreading their dubious wares over his hijacked network after agreeing with them how many bots would be needed to accomplish the task, prosecutors say.
He was accused of infecting computers at the Weapons Division of the sensitive US Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake in California and some used by the Defense Information Systems Agency.
He admitted he was paid a total of $3,000 by clients for access to networks of the computers he had infected by downloading damaging software.
In more than 30 separate transactions, he sold networks of up to 10,000 infected “bots” each, his plea agreement stated.
According to the court papers, advertising service companies would pay Ancheta for each computer he was able to infect with software that displays unsolicited ads to the user.
To continually grow his network of infected computers, Ancheta would have his “zombie” computers scan the Internet for vulnerable machines, documents stated.
Ancheta admitted generating more than $107,000 in advertising affiliate proceeds for downloading the adware onto more than 400,000 vulnerable computers that he had infected.
In pleading guilty, Ancheta agreed to pay about $15,000 in restitution to the Weapons Division of the US Naval Air Warfare Center and to the Defense Information Systems Agency.
In addition to paying restitution to the US government, Ancheta also agreed to forfeit his proceeds from the illegal hacking, including more than $60,000 dollars in cash, a 1993 BMW luxury car and computer equipment.
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