|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
To tell us what you think about Filipino Express Online or to comment on the stories published here, E-mail us at Filexpress@aol.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PRESIDENT Arroyo last week announced that she is pouring P1 billion into the “war against the Left”, saying that with the budget allotment, she hopes to end the communist insurgency once and for all.
As expected, her announcement was met with cynicism and concern. The cynics do not believe GMA’s call for war could amount to anything, much less the demise of the armed political rebellion going on in the Philippine countryside. Those who are concerned are alarmed that unleashing the dogs of war will only lead to more deaths from the ranks of civilians crossed in the crossfire.
Of course, Arroyo was not the first president to unsheathe the sword of war against political rebels. And she will not be the first to fail. All of the military campaigns in the past failed to eradicate rebellion. This is because all of the past campaigns merely aimed at physically eliminating the rebels, without an effort to address the root cause of rebellion.
Poverty, government abuses and official neglect are the three best recruiters of the armed rebellion. Fighting a rebellion is not and should not be a purely military undertaking. More than guns, what could effectively snuff out the fires of revolution is an honest-to-goodness economic program that will lift the people out of their miserable existence.
The P1 billion in new allocation for the military may only end up lining the fat pockets of generals and senior officials of the Philippine military. As it is, the military is not known to have an iron discipline especially when cash is involved. Quite too often, Philippine media reports corruption within the military committed by high-ranking officials.
Or worse, the infusion of new money might only lead to more cases of human rights abuses and a higher death toll among non-combatant civilians.
Pressed to justify the whopping cost of the war, the military has proven in the past that it would not take the extra effort to differentiate between a rebel and a non-combatant farmer, and between an armed guerilla and a political or human rights activist.
Until and unless the Arroyo government recognizes the futility of an all-out war, her campaign has the making of a bottomless pit into which lives, troops and money will be sucked.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PHNOM PENH -- My father was a lawyer; he was much different from the current crop you find these days that compromise their ethics and conduct in the practice of their profession. Before passing the bar examinations he was a practicing electrical engineer having passed the state examinations a couple of years before deciding to take up a law degree.
He was working with PEMCO, the largest manufacturer of electrical products during his time. PEMCO, if memory serves me right, was an acronym for Philippine Electrical Manufacturing Company. I was told that PEMCO was once a prestigious company, which I believe, was a subsidiary of General Electric USA or GE as it is now popularly known.
I remember my dad telling me that almost all his classmates at the Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) wanted to work there upon graduation. Only a few of them, however, made it to the ranks of young professionals of the company.
Perhaps because of his zest to further his knowledge in the arts and sciences, he took up law. I was in grade school when at nights I saw him poring over law books one after another as if there was no end. Just as was his aim during his engineering days, he was driven to make it to the dean’s list, not content with aiming for the top ten but the top spot.
As was the practice then, top honors of the class was always publicized in the university newspaper. Dad maintained a scrap book that contained clippings of news items about his involvement and performance in school activities or at work. He meticulously maintained that book, which served as my inspiration when I was growing up.
He was like that: he never told me his purpose of collecting memorabilia such as family photographs, school medals, class photographs and news clippings. It was for me to find out the reason why and for whom, which I finally understood later in life.
When I look at those oath-taking pictures – some taken inside and outside of the Supreme Court of the Philippines building -- I feel his accomplishment and it inspires me a lot. I never understood though why he decided to combine his engineering degree with law.
In his retirement days, we talked about it but he simply said that it was one of the very few combinations that were unique at that time and he was proud of it. The normal transition, he said, was becoming a certified public accountant (CPA) and a lawyer.
And he wasn’t kidding. I remember him discussing with my mom and myself his plans of taking up an accounting degree and earning a CPA accreditation. But the pressure of work took him out of pursuing his other dream in life.
He made sure I was enrolled in the best school in town and encouraged me to be competitive; to go for gold or some top honors. He collected all my photos from grade school to high school and wrote the names of my classmates at the back of each photograph and built my own scrap book just like his.
He also secured all school medals, certificates, report cards which I received including a scabbard and a uniform which I used in high school as a lieutenant colonel officer of the local Preparatory Military Training (PMT) course.
He constantly encouraged me to be the best that I can be, to set my goals and pursue them. I remember him saying that if I wasn’t equipped with the tools required to face the challenges in life and the practical application of my skills and talents, I will never understand the reality of life.
The foundation of success, he said, is how you prepare yourself in life. You pursue life, he added, with your ambition and drive to accomplish your goals. Without it, you’d be left behind and live in grief.
I always remember his words of wisdom in the same manner that I value my grandparents’ advice and stories of bravery and heroism, character, hard work, determination and being a man for others.
In college, I rarely saw him. It was only on weekends or family get-togethers on weekdays that we saw each other. Yet despite the physical absence from each other, the bond between us became more tender and stronger perhaps much greater than with my mom.
In his retirement, he was proud of my own accomplishments. He never felt old and was not a believer in taking medication whenever he was ill. He favored natural healing and treatment so much so that when he had a tooth ache when I visited him the last time I saw him alive, he disregarded my suggestion of going to the dentist.
Instead, he ignored the pain and went about with our planned activities; surprisingly, the pain went away for the rest of my stay. That was in 1999 when I attended the world conference of Junior Chamber International in Manila.
In May of the following year, three days short of his 70th birthday on the 26tth, Dad was called home to his final resting place in the company of saints and Christ Jesus, his Lord and Savior. His death was unexpected; he was yet young to die. I’m confident, however, that he was ready for it.
Today, in an event commercially celebrated as father’s day, I remember his legacy: how he had brought me up, inspired me and led me into believing that we are not saved by works but by faith in God through His Son, Jesus Christ. I feel his love and wisdom, which only he can give and share to a son.
I remember why he was giving me those old photographs when we went to the ancestral home in Baguio that November. I never understood it at that time but six months later, I knew why.
Samuel was my father’s name. Perhaps my grandparents chose the name after King Samuel, who was a priest, prophet, and judge who helped transform Israel from a nation led by charismatic figures called “judges” to one ruled by kings. They were to exercise their authority not as other kings did, but as men who belonged to God. He anointed Israel’s first two kings: Saul and David.
My dad was never a judge, a priest nor a prophet. He was a simple man who had plenty of wisdom to share to a son or to anybody who was willing to listen. As I look closely at a picture taken of him taking his oath as a lawyer, I am reminded of his firm belief in law and order, and in pursuing what you want to be.
As I lift through the pages of a Bible, which he left in a bookshelf back home, a book marker led me to the beginning passages of the Book of Proverbs. Neatly highlighted were verses 7, 8 and 9, which read:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching, they will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.”
May this tribute to a father serve notice to the youth and take heed of their parent’s wisdom and love.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
North Korea wants peace but ....
|
|
|
|
ON the 30-minute trip from the airport to the State Guest House in Pyongyang, North Korea, where they were staying, Sen. Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. saw “10 vehicles of all sizes and shapes.”
The State Guest House is a huge two-story building that has central air-conditioning. His room has an anteroom that has an office table, a telephone, a television set, and a refrigerator that has some juices and bottled water.
At 6 p.m. of their arrival on April 22, 2006, Choe Thae Bok, chair of the Supreme People’s Assembly, received them in a social call and gave them a banquet at the Mansudae Assembly Hall, their parliamentary building.
The following day, Sunday, April 23, they had formal conversation with Choe at the same place at 10 a.m. The next day, Monday, they called on Kim Yong Nam, the President of the SPA Presidium also at Mansudae.
Golas and impressions
The gist of their two meetings can be summed up to three things: the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea wants 1) Peace; 2) Unity: and 3) Denuclearization.
These goals, according to their hosts, can be accomplished through negotiations. But they see the US as “the biggest obstacle to the pursuit of peace and stability in the region.”
In their interactions, Sen. Pimentel said four other impressions stand out:
--Kim Il Sung is not only their “eternal” leader(nobody is allowed to use the title,“President,”), he is also now a virtual deity ofNorth Koreans;
--North Korea blames America for their isolation from the world;
--The North Koreans want the world to know that they have their own way of development “Juche” (self-reliance) and Songun (military-based policy of modernization); and
--They are ready to fight militarily foreign interference in their internal affairs.
The visiting Philippine senators composed of Senate President Franklin, Senators Pimentel and Richard Gordon and Philippine Commission for Culture and Arts Chairman Ambeth Ocampo noted that the face of Kim Il Sung is posted on major public buildings in Pyongyang. A massive monument of the “Great Leader” stands at 20 meters high at a central plaza.
Bowing waist down
They were brought to the shrine where Kim Il Sung’s remains is kept. But before they could get inside the shrine, they were asked to leave their cameras and their cell phones with the guards. The cell phones, however, are of no use in North Korea as there are no cell sites there.
When the massive door opened, they were treading in a darkened hall to dramatize the spotlight trained on a huge white statute of Kim Il Sung, seated like Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
They were asked to stay in line with Sen. Drilon in front with an official of the SPA and an interpreter, followed by Sen. Pimentel and Chairman Ocampo, and an interpreter; and Sen. Gordon with an interpreter at the third row and the rest of their entourage making up the rear.
Sen. Pimentel said he saw the North Korean guide bowing before the statute waist down, probably expecting him and other senators to follow suit. But when his turn came, Sen. Pimentel said he “simply nodded my head and walked away from the statute.”
They were then ushered in a hall, where the remains of Kim Il Sung is preserved encased in an elevated glass casket, where another round of bowing was observed. Sen. Pimentel whispered to Mr. Ocampo, “Ala Paoay,” referring to President Marcos’s preserved body in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.
US troops should withdraw
Outside, the hall, the Filipino visitors were asked to write down their impressions on the Kim Il Sung memorials. Sen. Pimentel said, he wrote that the “monuments were an amazing tribute of the great Korean people to their leader, Kim Il Sung.”
The two North Korean leaders made it clear they are ready to talk peace with the Americans provided there is a “simultaneous removal of the obstacles to peace in the Korean peninsula.”
Their hosts said the “presence of American troops in South Korea and their threatened use of nuclear weapon are unacceptable.”
If the Americans want the North Koreans to dismantle their (suspected) nuclear plants, the Americans should simultaneously leave South Korea.
Their hosts also want a definite blue print for the unification of their divided country.
Their hosts also resent the US as tagging them as “enemy state,” “terrorism sponsor nation,” “proliferator of weapons of mass destruction” and “human rights violator.”
They also detest the sanctions imposed on North Korea, banning the “export of commodities of military;” or of “dual character” of fund loans through international financial institutions; and the US designation of an envoy to monitor human rights violations.
Despite 4-star visa
They also despise the grant of “four-star” US visa that severely restricts visa holder’s right to travel only within so many miles from the place the holder is visiting; and the freezing of assets linked to North Korean authorities in Banco Delta Asia in Macau and three other banks allegedly for money laundering. They were vigorously denying that high government officials laundered money on those banks.
Despite the resentments, the two North Korean leaders told the Filipino legislators they are willing to “discuss” those issues, especially human rights issues, with the Americans.
From “off-the-cuff remarks,” it was disclosed that North Korea has “the technology” to develop nuclear device capable of hitting American cities or its allies. They were told that in 1998, North Korea propelled a missile over Japan with a scientific, not nuclear, device.
North Korea boasts a standing army of one million and an unspecified numbers of reserves ready at a moment’s notice.
An interpreter told the Filipino visitors that in their military training, soldiers use American features as their targets.
Senator Drilon’s entourage was assisted in the trip by Carmen Arceno of the Office of International Relations and Protocol, Sammy Santos of the Public Relations and Information of the Senate, Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Brady and DFA Executive Director, Asia-Pacific Affairs Charles Jose.
(lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
IN A recent TV interview, party-list congressman Teddy Casino found himself backed into a corner with a question that bothers many people : Do Filipino communists run on twin tracks of armed rebellion and above-ground legal struggle for one objective: to take over power?
Well, yes, Mr Casino reluctantly admitted. Guerilla forays and battles in legal fora are flip sides of one movement. The New People’s Army shares the “same world view” with party-list representatives like the “Batasan 5.”
Communist Party of the Philippines’ Jose Ma. Sison once said, the movement resembled a warrior with sword and shield, Columnist Antonio Abaya recalled. The NPA scimitar; the shield is cobbled from the National Democratic Front’s multiple fronts.
Homegrown communists, use democratic space, given by constitutional government, to destroy that same government, he added. “This would never have been allowed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan South Korea. Onli in da istupid Pilipins.”
Taking up arms against the government is a crime. But being a communist is not. Casino and Comrades nontheless shrink from the tag. Bayan Muna’s Satur Ocampo, Gabriela’s Liza Masa or Anakpawis’ Rafael Mariano prefer antiseptic names like : “militants”, “leftists”, “radicals”, etc.
Many in media oblige. That’s understandable. “The name of a man is a numbing blow from which he never recovers,” Marshall MacLuhan wrote in his 1964 landmark study: Understanding Media.
Ordinary Filipinos, however, are disquieted by this twin-headed hydra. That mistrust persists despite posturing by Batsan 5 and fronts like Kilusang Uno Mayo, as reformers of oppressive socio-economic structures, gripped by a corrupt elite.
But in a democracy, everyone is entitled to his wrong opinion. Even commissars can exercise the constitutionally-guaranteed right to speak freely. Of course, they’d promptly squelch this right if they wiggled into power.
Doubts also fester from what communists refuse to discuss. “The cruelest lies are often told in silence,” Robert Louis Stevenson once said.
Party-list congressmen zippered their lips when, in the last elections, they were bluntly asked by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines : “Do you support payment for ‘permits to campaign’ levied by the NPA?”
Neither will they question “revolutionary taxes” the NPA wrings at gun barrel point. Taxation is the sole function of a sovereign government. Thus, they’ll shuffle around questions on NDF claims to a “status of belligerency”, i.e. heading another state.
They’ve kept mum on the post-1992 CCP policy of assassinating former communists: Romulo Kintanar, Popoy Lagman, Arturo Tabara, among others.
And what will their program of government be if they “overthrow the bourgeois state and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat”?
Few talk. But former secretary Horacio Morales gave some hints when they tried hitchhike on Joseph Estrada’s “transition government” in street demos that fizzled.
First, they’d scrap the 1987 Constitution – a document ratified by 76 percent of voters in a referendum. Next, this unelected group ( or politburo? ) would suspend elections for 1,000 days.
And after that, what? Then, the defacto dictatorship would consider whether they could afford the luxury of elections? Any doubts what the answer will be?
How would communism, Pinoy style, differ from versions in Kim El Sung’s Korea, Maoist or today’s China, let alone the disintegrated Soviet Union?
Will it be a one-party police state? Media would, of course, be gagged. Will the state create its own church, as in China, and insist on appointing its own bishops? Will the state control all schools, businesses, farms, etc. Will the New People’s Army substitute for the undertrained, underpaid AFP?
Murky muteness erodes credibility. Thus, homegrown communists never mustered enough warm bodies to topple even an unpopular regime like the Arroyo administration.
Like Sisyphus, they’re forever locked into hijacking political groups, from Fernando Poe’s campaign to Erap’s bid to beat plunder charges, to wrest the power that has eluded them so far.
Nor can they not count on widespread citizen support, until transparency replaces their policy of selective silences.
(E-mail:juan_mercado@paci-fic.net.ph )
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bad times in the movie world
|
|
|
|
|
WITHOUT digging up numbers, we could conclude from our last few visits to Manila that one more business sector has fallen victim to the economic downturn that bedevils the country presently. This is the movie industry.
In addition to reading, we like to pass the time watching movies inside a movie house. Repeat, we said inside a movie theater. At home or in a hotel room, we rarely finish watching a film. We doze off.
In the past year, we noticed the crowds in Makati movie houses keep getting sparse. This is, by the way, nothing new to us. At the Hudson Mall in Jersey City where we go to the movie houses when in the States, we were witness to a similar decreasing patronage. Until it came to a point when we found ourselves as part of a crowd of two or three patrons occupying the theater. And until the complex of about half a dozen cinemas completely shut down. But then, what happened there and what is happening in the Philippines are two different things. At Hudson Mall, it’s bad location.
There are other things we noticed in the Makati movie houses. Earlier, we could enjoy at least a few Hollywood films a week. There were one or two Filipino movies. We could watch one new movie a day, if we wanted to.
Today, in two days we could finish watching the new films during the week. That seemed to be the only movies the movie houses could afford to rent: two. Hardly any Filipino films are shown, even the mushy ones, the “bakya” crowd types, the cheapy, cheapy types which, we believe, are shot and finished in 36 hours, sans any scripts.
So after two days, there’s nothing more to watch. Even if you go around visiting all the theater complexes in the whole Metro Manila.
What has brought this upon the industry? We could hazard a guess, we guess.
Two words starting with the same letter: Poverty and Piracy.
Producers still face the same production cost, which keeps on increasing in tandem with the prices of everything. But fewer patrons are lining up at the till to shell out the more than 100 pesos, the cost of a movie ticket. A mother, moderately well off, told me, “I’ve got a family of six, including myself. If we go to the movie, we spend 700 to 800 pesos, without counting the gas and the food.” How many people can afford that?
Then comes piracy. “You go and buy a pirated copy of a film from 100 to 300 pesos. You can all watch. As many times as you want.”
No wonder the actors and actresses now go to work at the television stations. There you can watch variety show extravaganzas galore and have your fill of legs and more legs. And game shows, too. Some copied from U.S. productions. In many segments, they use maybe fifty talents, many of them no doubt underpaid.
We asked a friend here in Jersey City about a nephew who directs in the Philippines. His total number of productions for the last 12 months was one. Yes, ONE. The nephew now is in Indonesia directing commercials.
The shortage of jobs for the beautiful actresses must be making some people happy, including moneyed businessman and politicos. Some of them learn to sing and join small bands in music lounges. Those with celebrity status are featured in concerts. We enjoy dropping in at these music clubs. Many Filipino entertainers are really great singers. And the comedians are sure to make you forget the poverty blues.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jury duty for illegal aliens?
|
|
|
|
DEAR Atty. Gurfinkel:
I just received a jury summon from the County Courthouse, but I am in illegal status (TNT). How did they get my name and address? Do I have to serve on a jury? Will Immigration be able to track me down? Will I be reported to Immigration? How can I get out of serving on a jury? Should I just ignore or throw away the jury summons?
I am really worried about this, and have not been able to sleep since I received the jury summons in the mail.
Very truly yours,
A.Z.
Dear A.Z.,
County Courthouses (or the County Office of Jury Commissioner) typically select potential jurors from voter registration lists or DMV records. Since you have not registered to vote (and cannot vote), it is likely that your name was selected from DMV records. Therefore, as long as a person has driver’s license, his name will be listed on DMV records and his name could come up for jury selection.
In order to be eligible to serve as a juror, a person must be at least 18 years of age or older, and a U.S. citizen. Non-citizens (including green card holders, non-immigrants, and TNTs) would therefore not be eligible to serve as a juror.
Typically, the jury summons has a number of questions about a person’s eligibility to serve as a juror. One of the questions is, “Are you a U.S. citizen?” Obviously, you would have to answer that question as “No.”
Once the Jury Commissioner’s office sees that response, they typically would not pursue the matter further.
Some of the questionnaires also ask that if the person is not a U.S. citizen, that the person provide his “alien number.” If the person is a non-immigrant or is in illegal status, that person may not have an alien number. So, you should probably write “not applicable” or “none”.
I have seen some situations where the Jury Commissioner’s Office wants even more “proof” that a person truly is not a citizen (i.e. they want to make sure that a citizen is not trying to get out of jury duty, by claiming that he is not a citizen). So even if the “No” box is checked (that the person is not a citizen), the clerk still wants more proof. In that situation, you may want to include the picture-page of your Philippine passport, which would indicate that you are still a Philippine citizen.
Furthermore, the Office of Jury Commissioner does not report anyone to the Department of Homeland Security. The Office of Jury Commissioner is a county office, not a “federal” agency, and all they’re interested in is getting enough U.S. citizens to sit on juries. They are not in the business of enforcing immigration laws.
Under no circumstance should you ignore a jury summons, because if you do so, you could face possible fines and penalties through the county court system.
But, the bottom line is if you are in illegal status, you should really think about doing something so that you could get in legal status, get a green card, eventually become a U.S. citizen, and then you could possibly serve on a jury.
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
Four offices to serve you:
LOS ANGELES: 219 North Brand Boulevard, Glendale, California 91203 Telephone: (818) 543-5800
SAN FRANCISCO: 966 Mission Street, San Francisco, California 94103 Telephone: (415) 538-7800
NEW YORK: 60 East 42nd Street, Suite 2101, New York, NY 10165 Telephone: (212) 808-0300
PHILIPPINES: Heart Tower, Unit 701, 108 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, Makati, Philippines 1227 Telephone: 894-0258 or 894-0239
(This is for informational purposes only, and reflects the firm’s opinions and views on general issues. Each case is different and results may depend on the facts of a particular case. All immigration services are provided by an active member of the State Bar of California and/or by a person under the supervision of an active member of the State Bar. No prediction, warranty or guarantee can be made about the results of any case.Should you need or want legal advice, you should consult with and retain counsel of your own choice.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
