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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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MANILA -- Saying he wanted to return to the private sector, Albert del Rosario, the Philippines ambassador to Washington, has resigned, Malacañang announced on Tuesday, June 13.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said President Arroyo has accepted del Rosario’s resignation.
The President praised del Rosario for his crucial role in nurturing the country’s relations with its key ally. “He left a very successful career in the private sector to join the government. After five very fruitful and meaningful years as the Philippine ambassador to the United States, he has asked that he be allowed to return home and resume his life in the private sector,” the President said in a statement.
Del Rosario’s resignation takes effect on July 8.
The Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. will be headed temporarily by a consul general while Malacañang looks for a replacement for resigned Ambassador Albert del Rosario, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said on Thursday, june 15.
Sources said Consul General Wilfredo Gaa, now based in the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles, California, had been sounded out on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s plan to assign him as chargé d’affaires of the embassy.
Ermita said the President had not told him yet who would succeed Del Rosario.
Speculation was rife that Mrs. Arroyo was eyeing Ambassador to the United Nations Lauro Baja to go to Washington.
Baja would have to give up his UN assignment once the nomination of his successor, retired Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments.
During his stint as ambassador to Washington, del Rosario participated in the bilateral security and cooperation agreements with the US in terms of defense, counterterrorism and law enforcements, agricultural cooperation, labor cooperation, promotion of economic diplomacy and even in the peace process in Mindanao.
Reports had spread that Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo’s longtime interest in the Washington post forced del Rosario to quit.
But Bunye branded the reports as speculations. He also denied that the President already has a shortlist for del Rosario’s replacement, which supposedly includes former US Consul Willy Gaa, Ambassador Lauro Baja, Romulo and Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes.
Bunye said that until the President has appointed a new ambassador to Washington a chargé d’affaires will temporarily take over.
“We thank Ambassador del Rosario. He has been a good friend, true professional and he has served our country well,” Bunye said.
Calling del Rosario “an untiring worker and an exemplary diplomat,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo praised the ambassador for strengthening political and economic relations between the Philippines and the US.
“He had five solid and fruitful years as our representative in Washington and was instrumental in bringing our relations with the United States, a treaty ally and key partner, to new and greater heights,” Romulo said in a statement.
He added that he “knew how hard del Rosario worked on behalf of [Philippine-US relations] and of great sacrifices he has made in joining the government.”
Before holding a government post, del Rosario had held numerous corporate chairmanships in insurance, banking, real estate, shipping, telecommunications, consumer products, retail, pharmaceutical and food industries.
He joined the official delegations of former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel V. Ramos during their state visits to the US and Indonesia. In 2001 he received the EDSA II Heroes’ Award from Mrs. Arroyo.
Del Rosario took his Bachelor of Science in Economics at New York University and completed certificate courses at College of Insurance over three years under the sponsorship of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States.
He is married to Gretchen de Venecia and has five children. (MNS)
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JERSEY CITY – The Jersey City Council raised the Philippine flag last Saturday, June 10, to signal the start of the Filipino American Month.
The red, white and blue of the Philippines will fly togethe with the stars and stripes of the United States until July 4, which is celebrated here as US Independence Day but observed in the Philippines as Philippine-American Friendship Day.
The raising of the Filipino flag at the Jersey City Hall also marked the beginning of the celebration of the Philippine Independence Day, which in Jersey City will culminate in a parade and street fair on June 25.
“The Filipino community is a large , growing and important part of Jersey City,” said Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy after the flag-raising ceremony.
“The Filipinos came here with the same reasons my parents came from Ireland, to realize freedom and economic opportunity. Filipinos are important in our great city of 240,000 people,” he said.
Healy shook hands with Filipino American veterans of World War II. Healy paid tribute to their heroism. “ You fought side by side with American soldiers. Thank you very much for what you did to your country and to our country,” Healy said.
For his part, Deputy Mayor Ador Equipado, who was also in the flag-raising ceremony, said Filipinos should be proud of their contributions to Jersey City.
“The Filipinos are the fastest growing group in Jersey City. We are proud of our accomplishments,” said Equipado.
Cely Miralles, overall chair of the Philippine American Friendship Day (PAFCOM) announced that Filipinos in Jersey City will celebrate Independence Day on June 25.
Domingo Hornilla Jr., 2006 Grand Marshal of PAFCOM, urged Filipinos in the East Coast to attend the Philippine American Friendship Day on June 25 parade from Montgomery St. and the cultural festival festival at the Exchange Place.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and Senator Robert Menedez were invited to grace the affair.
The all-day event will feature a parade, a street fair and a cultural show highlighted by the much anticipated Filipino Idol Singing Competition Grand Finals.
Among the performers lined up are Julie Danao, the Filipino star of the Broadway musical “Lennon”; Annie Brazil; Rachel Anne Wolfe; Aida Gamboa; George Magno; Jerry Dadap; Leonora McClernan; and Dr. Bern dela Merced.
The cultural program will also feature the Philippine Chamber Rondalla of NJ Inc., the Sampaguita String Quartet, San Caterba Band, Warhol Soup Band, BIBAK, BREATHE, FR3SH, Dong Cuesta’s Karate & Escrima, Doris de Leon, the CDC Line & Aerobic Dancers and winners and finalists of the Filipino Idol Contest in the past years.
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MANILA -- Despite the ban on travel to Iraq, there are some 300 Filipinos working as armed personnel of a private military company (PMC) that secures US State department and military personnel, offices and facilities in that war-torn Middle East country.
PMC is the current euphemism for a mercenary outfit.
Documents showed that the Filipinos in Iraq were recruited by Triple Canopy, which counts among its services “ensuring the safety and protection of vital US personnel and facilities in some of the world’s most dangerous environments.”
The Manila-based newspaper Malaya reported that one of those who have just returned from Iraq, a retired Army bomb disposal expert, said the local representative of Triple Canopy is Mark Villacruzes, an American of Filipino descent.
The monthly salary is $1,000 a month, to be remitted to a designated beneficiary in the Philippines. The Filipino worker in Iraq gets $150 monthly allowance and free board and lodging.
“Appropriate weaponry and fighting equipment during the performance of duties” are supplied to the Filipino workers.
Twenty-one Filipinos who were in Iraq in 2004, before the government ban on deployment, tried to sue Triple Canopy and Villacruzes for breach of contract.
One of the complainants said they decided not to push through with the case. He declined to answer when asked if they were paid by Triple Canopy for the damages they asked.
In their complaint, they said, “Although we were essentially assigned to provide security to American embassy personnel in Basra, Iraq, who were stationed in a camp, the camp itself became the object of constant enemy fire, more specially mortar attacks and the risks to life and limb were real and imminent.”
They also said, “As we continued to stay in our station, we realized that we were actually engaged or were actually involved in the war in trying to repulse the attacks in the camp.”
“In the course of performing our duties, we realized that the equipment provided us were inadequate. For example: we were not provided with armor vest, steel helmet and night vision goggles which were essential in the performance of our duties,” they said.
“But despite the lack of equipment, we performed our duties with due diligence, vigilance and unwavering dedication such that all of us were given service citation by the US Embassy in Basra,” they said.
An Iraq veteran who left in March 2004, before a ban was imposed following the kidnapping of truck driver Angelo de la Cruz, said he was easily accepted because of his background as bomb disposal expert in the Philippine Army. He said military combat experience is required.
He said they did not have to pay anything and they left three days after their applications were received.
He said they did not pass though the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, the office that regulates deployment of Filipino workers overseas. They traveled as tourists and at every airport where they landed, they were taken care of by people they presumed were working for their recruiter.
At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, they were delayed for about an hour while somebody took care of their papers. They first went to Bangkok by Air France, then to Amman, Jordan, then to Baghdad. They were assigned to different places.
The source said at the end of their contract in September 2004, they asked for higher pay. When this was rejected, they decided to come home.
The complainants said when they were sent home, “after giving us our plane tickets, we were left to fend for ourselves with nobody looking out for our welfare, a situation which was very different from the one which we experienced on our trip from the Philippines to Iraq.”
The source said he wants to go back to Iraq if the ban is lifted.
Earlier, sources said another American PMC, Blackwater USA, was recruiting “security specialists” for Iraq.
Romy Redelicia (earlier mistakenly identified as Remy Redeliza), Blackwater’s local representative, said they have not deployed local hires to Iraq.
He said the recruits are now working in Afghanistan.
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NEW YORK CITY -- Four American anti-war protesters barged into the Philippine Consulate in Manhattan on Wednesday, June 14, to personally relay their protest to Consul General Cecilia Rebong and Permanent Philippine Representative to the United Nations Lauro Baja against the escalation of political killings in the Philippines.
At the same time, members and allies of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan [BAYAN]-USA staged a picket in front of the Consulate building denouncing the killing of political critics of the Arroyo government.
They likened the rise in political killings in the Philippines to the martial law regime of the deposed President Marcos.
The most recent victims of political killings include Manny De Los Santos, a BAYAN peasant leader from Nueva Ecija, last June 11, by two unidentified armed assailants riding a motorcycle. BAYAN MUNA representatives Noli Capulong and Sotero Llamas were also assassinated over the past 10 days. A recent report from BAYAN said there is more than 70 killings in 2006 alone.
Sara Flounders, Arturo Perez-Saad, Sharon Black, and Dr. Ed Lewinson, all members of the Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC), a national anti-war formation in the United States, went inside the Consulate with letters of protest to deliver to Consul Rebong.
The encounter stretched to a three-hour meeting with Rebong and Consul Ed Badajos.
The four protestors also put forth other demands such as the withdrawal of US troops in the Philippines, the withdrawal of the multi-million dollar US military aid package funding for the Arroyo regime, and the release of Philippine Congressman Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis, an outspoken Arroyo critic, from detention.
“BAYAN is a member of the Troops Out Now Coalition. We understand that over 680 of our allies in BAYAN in the Philippines have been targeted and assassinated under the Arroyo regime. We are here to express our anger, our protest, and to demand a concrete response from the Arroyo regime. Her continuing silence and inaction over the obvious bloodshed is unconscionable and equal to condonment,” said Flounders, national co-director of the International Action Center, a member of TONC.
Protestors also criticized the fierce remarks from Consul Badajos defending the Department of Justice’s issuance of rebellion charges against 51 BAYAN members and allies.
“We are working with the United States. We have the right to go after them [rebels],” Badajos reportedly said.
Flounders countered Badajos’ comments, stating the trumped-up rebellion charges are not only untrue, but concocted to set a pretext for government effort to go after the broad opposition movement.
“What a disappointment. What we demanded was a commitment from the Consulate to relay our messages and concerns to the Arroyo herself in Malacanag. What we got was three hours of lip service. Like Arroyo, the extent of the regime overseas is completely insincere in matters of basic human rights,” said Sharon Black also of the Million Worker March, a national labor rights formation and member of TONC.
The protestors also criticized UN representative Baja’s appointment in the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year.
“It remains glaringly revolting to us from the international community that a representative from a country whose government continues to commit the most heinous human rights violations against its people could hold such a position. Baja must resign. For as long as the killings ensue, the death squads act with complete impunity, and the silent Arroyo government clings to power, no Philippine diplomat deserves any seat in that council,” Flounders stated.
Pictures of slain BAYAN leaders and a miniature black coffin blocked the Consulate window display.
The protestors left with a pledge to Rebong to return in the coming weeks.
“This is not the end. We will continue to return and protest in front of the Consulate as long as the killings continue,” stated BAYAN representative Berna Ellorin.
BAYAN and TONC were joined by members of CAAAV - Organizing Asian Communities, Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST), and the Million Worker March in front of the Consulate in New York.
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