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Founded in 1986
Founding Publisher/Editor:
Lito A. Gajilan
Columnists:
Atty. Michael J. Gurfinkel
Joseph G. Lariosa
Gani P. Tolentino
Ted L. Reyes
Atty. Reuben S. Seguritan
Photographers:
Butch Gata
Sheryl Garcia
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not reflect the opinion of the paper nor that of the publisher
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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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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
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OF ALL the Christmas songs wafting through the cold wintry air, there’s this one carol that never fails to warm our hearts. It is one of the very few that does not speak merely of personal loneliness, nor of longing for one’s loved ones. But rather, it expresses the hope that someday, at Christmas time, the world will be a better place to live in for everyone.
The song, “Someday at Christmas”, wishes for a world without weapons, a world without wars: “Someday at Christmas, men won’t be boys, playing with bombs like kids play with toys ... Someday at Christmas, there’ll be no wars, when we have learned what Christmas is for ... there’ll be peace on Earth.”
Unfortunately, the US’ war on terror rages on in many fronts. There’s war in Iraq, terrorist groups continue to sow fear and claim lives almost everywhere, and the Middle East remains as the world’s biggest stage of what was described as a clash of civilizations.
In the Philippines, a 39-year old communist revolution, a 31-year Muslim secessionist rebellion, plus new threats from terrorist groups like the Abu Sayyaf have stalked the lands, causing unnecessary deaths and drain on the already limited resources of the nation.
The song also touches on the greatest scourge plaguing the humankind: poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth. “Someday at Christmas, we’ll see a land, with no hungry children, no empty hand. One happy morning people will share a world where people care.”
Yet, more than three-quarters of the world’s population live in poverty. The world is divided between the rich North and the poor South; or into First, Second and Third Worlds; or into former colonial masters and colonies.
In the Philippines, 90 percent of the population own 10 percent of the nation’s wealth; while one 10 percent control 90 percent of the country’s resources.
But again, despite all these ugly realities, hope springs eternal. That’s what “Someday at Christmas” is all about: hope.
That’s what Christmas is all about.
Maligayang Pasko sa inyong lahat.
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MD shortage in rural areas calls for relief
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Editor’s Note: REUBEN S. SEGURITAN has been practicing law for over 30 years. For further information, you may call him at 212 695 5281 or log on to his website at www.seguritan.com
ONE of the bills that emerged in the lame duck session of the 109th Congress was H.R. 4997 which seeks to extend the Conrad 30 Program allowing states to bring 30 qualified foreign physicians yearly to work in their respective medically underserved areas for 3 years. After being approved by the Senate by a voice vote on December 9, 2006, H.R. 4997 now awaits enactment by the President.
The American Hospital Association, which represents 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other healthcare providers nationwide, describes the Conrad 30 as the “only source of healthcare” for more than 20 million Americans who live in such underserved areas.
The proposal to extend the Conrad 30 Program for another two years, through June 2008, is a welcome development for a healthcare industry sector in critical need of more physicians. Medically underserved areas rely on foreign medical graduates (FMGs) for their hospital staff. But most FMGs enter the US on J-1 visas which require them to go back to their home countries for 2 years after they finish their training.
Unless a waiver of this requirement is obtained, an FMG is not eligible to change his/ her status to H-1B or for permanent residence.
Background
Prior to 1976, a waiver of this requirement could be obtained on several grounds such as a “no objection” letter from the FMG’s home country; recommendation of an interested government agency (IGA) in the US; or on the basis of persecution or exceptional hardship.
When the Health Professionals Educational Assistance Act was passed in 1976, however, it removed the “no objection” letter as a basis for granting the 2-year residency waiver, thereby leaving J-1 holders with very few options for staying in the US.
State Waiver Recommendations
Initially, the IGA waiver recommendation could only be given by federal government agencies.
Beginning in 1994, the authority to recommend the 2-year residency waivers was expanded by law to include states, subject to certain numerical limitations under the so-called Conrad 20 Program.
The states have now overtaken federal government agencies in issuing recommendations for the 2-year residency waivers for FMGs.
During the first two years of the Conrad 20 Program (1994 to 1996), each state was granted the authority to issue 20 waiver recommendations annually based on the waiver requests of their respective petitioning facilities. The physician must agree to work within 90 days of receiving the waiver approval on a full-time basis in a medically underserved area for at least 3 years.
Changes in the Waiver Systems
In 1996, when Congress extended the program for 6 years, the states were granted the authority to recommend waivers not just for primary care physicians but also for medical specialists.
In 2002, the number of state waivers was increased from 20 to 30 (hence, the program is now called the “Conrad State 30 Program” or “Conrad 30 Program”).
Under the 2004 amendment of the Conrad 30 Program, federal IGAs were allowed to recommend waivers to medical specialists and exempted federal waiver beneficiaries from the annual H-1B cap.
Previously only beneficiaries of state waivers were exempted from the H-1B cap. Unfortunately, the program was allowed to expire on June 1, 2006, leaving medical facilities in underserved areas with practically no means to bring in much-needed foreign physicians.
Obviously, the 2-year extension of the Conrad 30 Program through June 2008 will not solve all the problems of medically underserved areas permanently, or even over the long-term.
The history of the program demonstrates how tentative Congress had been over the past 12 years about opening the healthcare system to FMGs, despite the general shortage of healthcare professionals in the US.
Hopefully, the next Congress will have the sense to include a rational and efficient system for allowing FMGs to enter the US in the comprehensive immigration reform plan.
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NPC-Phil. U.S.A. to hold biennial elections Jan. 6
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CHICAGO, Illinois -- The National Press Club of the Philippines in the United States will elect its new set of officers on Jan. 6, 2007 from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Community Room of the Budlong Woods branch of the Chicago Public Library at 5630 North Lincoln Avenue at Chicago ‘s northside.
This writer is the outgoing president of NPC-Phil. U.S.A. I am not running for re-election.
Positions up for grabs for the next two years are the president, vice president, secretary, membership secretary, treasurer and two directors. The third member of the board is automatically reserved for the immediate past president, who does not seek re-election.
Since aspirants for the available positions were just enough to fill up all the vacant positions, all the declared candidates will be declared the winners even if only one member will vote for them.
However, Mr. Lariosa is encouraging all the 29 regular members to come out and vote during the elections and turn the election day into a fellowship event, which is one of the two general membership meetings required by the club’s constitution and by-laws for the general membership to attend.
The Candidates
Those running for the uncontested positions are as follows:
Ms. Yoly Tubalinal, publisher-editor of the Fil-Am Weekly Megascene, for president; Ms. Lourdes M. Ceballos, of Easimedia, re-electionist for vice president; Mr. Marlon Pecson, NPC-Phil. U.S.A. director, for secretary; Ms. Thelma Fuentes, NPC-Phil. U.S.A. treasurer, for membership secretary; Ms. Ting Joven, of Fil-Am Weekly Megascene, for treasurer; Messrs. Arnold de Villa, Fil-Am Weekly Megascene, and NPC-Phil. U.S.A. Director Joe Balmadrid, both running for the post of club directors.
Club member Jerry B. Clarito, in-charge of club elections, released the platforms of various candidates. He quoted Mrs. Tubalinal as saying that she “would like to continue what Joseph (Lariosa) has begun and do more by fortifying the group and extending the membership beyond our state.” She would like to see the press group hold gathering of “global Filipino media practitioners in Chicago .”
For her part, incumbent vice president Lourdes M. Ceballos said she would like to be re-elected “to help the Fil-Am community show Filipino empowerment in mainstream America and the global village.”
Uphold Club Objectives
Marlon L. Pecson said he would like to “continue the many unfinished tasks and other challenging missions (of the club): uphold, protect and enhance the noble work of the NPC-Phil. U.S.A.”
For her part, Ms. Thelma Fuentes would like to “spread the word of (upholding the objectives of the organization) via the media” and adhere to the tenets of the “golden rule.”
Ting Joven said she would like to “see a more visible NPC in our community” and wants the NPC-Phil. U.S.A. “pioneer in honoring outstanding Filipino journalists all over the world.”
While Arnold de Villa wants the consolidation of “all media press clubs into a single group; study, research and implement effective ways to raise revenue for the media group; and “elevate the printed matter into ‘cyberspace.’”
At its last meeting, the board also approved the regular membership of the following: Ms. Ging Reyes, ABS-CBN International North American Bureau Chief; Mr. Don Tagala, ABS-CBN – TFC Correspondent; Atty. Mary Carmen Madrid-Crost – Asian American Community Builder; Ms. Norma Mananquil and Mr. Chito Bautista, both of The Fil-Am Weekly Megascene; and Ms. Edna Pavel, Freelance Photographer. The club has four out-of-town regular members, one associate member and at least two honorary members.
The club is also holding a Christmas party with NaFFAA-Illinois members on Friday, Dec. 29, starting at 7 p.m. at 2454 West Peterson in Chicago’s northside to raise funds for the typhoon victims in the Bicol region in the Philippines.
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IT FLAUNTS no banners and rarely makes page one. “Deprivation of access to water is a silent crisis,” says the United Nations Human Development Report 2006. But like shriveling away from chronic hunger, this muffled emergency savages the poor. And it is tolerated by the affluent powerful even as it kills more children through disease than war.
Today’s “crisis in water and sanitation is, above all, a crisis of the poor,” says the new UN Development Program study, “Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Water Crisis.” In Sweden or Japan, water-borne disease is a subject for history books. But in the Philippines, Indonesia or Laos, it involves hospital wards and morgues.
“People living in the slums of Jakarta, Manila, Mumbai and Nairobi face shortages of clean water. [But] their neighbors in high income suburbs … keep their lawns green and swimming pools topped up,” the study says. “[The poor] pay five to ten times more for water per unit than those in high-income areas of their own cities.” Patchy research indicates that the poorest “spend more than 10 percent of their household income on water.”
This clones the pattern of skewed wealth and political power. “Gated enclaves” have piped water in most homes. Only a quarter of piped water reaches the poorest 20 percent. And it trickles through vendors, standpipe operators or truck owners who add on to the cost.
“By means of water,” says the Koran, “we give life to everything.” Beyond physical survival, water underpins health, economic growth, fulfillment of human potential. “Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and basic human right,” former UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan wrote.
Scientists agree that the minimum needed for decent human life is about 20 liters a day.
Globally, about 1.1 billion -- roughly the population of India -- can get five liters a day. “That’s a tenth of the aver-age daily amount used in rich countries to flush toilets.”
National water statistics “mask a system of water apartheid based on wealth, location and other markers.” HDR 2006, for example, reveals that 85 out of every 100 Filipinos have access to improved water sources. That’s behind Korea’s 92 but far better than Cambodia’s 41.
Stark inequalities between provinces emerge in the Philippine Human Development Report 2005. Only three out of every 100 in Laguna lack for safe water sources. It is 72 for Masbateños. And in Cebu, 28 of every 100 lack potable water. Sogod town reported coliform contamination in the latest of treadmill outbreaks within Cebu. “Not having access to water and sanitation is a polite euphemism for people drinking from wells and ditches polluted with human and animal excrement.”
The Asian Development Bank’s “Key Indicators” reveals that most people deprived of clean water cluster in this region. Diarrhea is one of the top four killers of kids under five. Worldwide, sick kids lose 433 million school days. And the yearly death toll from diarrhea of an under-5 population equivalent to London and New York combined.
“Unclean water and the resulting poor sanitation [pose] a threat that starts at birth,” the report states. “The number of deaths associated with these twin threats is not widely appreciated. Globally, diarrhea kills more people than tuberculosis or malaria.”
And every peso, rupiah, baht or dollar spent on water and sanitation generates, on average, eight in productivity gains and costs averted.
“The sewer is the conscience of the country,” Victor Hugo wrote in “Les Miserables,” describing 19th-century Paris.
“And in Jakarta and Manila, old sewerage systems have been overwhelmed by rapid urbanization and chronic underinvestment… Less than 4 percent of Metro Manila’s population is connected to the sewer network.”
Richer homes and large housing complexes build their own septic tanks. There are over a million tanks in Manila. About 40 percent of households have latrines.
But sludge treatment and disposal facilities are rare. So, 10 million people dump untreated waste into the Pasig River. “The Pasig is one of the world’s most polluted rivers,” the study says. “Human waste accounts for 70 percent of the pollution load… And around one third of all illness in Manila is water related.”
“Ambitious blueprints were drawn up for cleaning the Pasig. But none moved beyond the planning board.” Government and water providers failed to “develop a coherent strategy for tackling Manila’s sanitation crisis.”
Most poor households are not connected to municipal water systems. And many homes cannot afford the cost of connection -- about three months’ income for the poorest 20 percent. “Research in Cebu found five patterns of water source among such homes: vendors -- 4 percent; public well -- 34 percent; private well -- 15 percent; public standpipe -- 8 percent; and neighbor connected to water system -- 38 percent.”
“Many publicly owned utilities are failing the poor, combining inefficiency and unaccountability in management, inequity in financing,” says the report. And there are “no ready-made solutions.”
Some broad lessons emerge from Brazil, Columbia, Senegal and South Africa: (1) “Political leadership matters”; and (2) “Progress depends on setting attainable targets in plans that are backed by financing provisions and strategies for overcoming inequality.”
Cebu has no plan, for example, that sets targets. “And it has a ‘black hole’ for its water policy,” Cebu Daily News has noted.
“Helping provide clean water and basic sanitation are more than just a passing fad,” British Chancellor Gordon Brown has aptly said. “They are a commitment for our generation.”
E-mail: juanlmercado@gmail.com
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Property market slump raging
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SOME two years ago, we wrote about the expected bursting of the real estate bubble, as the Fed started a series of moves to raise the interest rate. As the cost of mortgage became steeper and steeper, the affordability of homes began to inch out of the grasp of homebuyers. The supply and demand situation of properties turned in favor of the latter.
Investors began to swallow buildable vacant lots. Vacant lots with old homes entered the market. Those who bought such properties for example for $200 to $300 thousand demolished the improvements and built one and two-family houses to sell them at $500,000 or more. When such prices hit $600 thousand or more, sale started to slow down.
The market started to slump. Now it appears the depression of the market has started to rage.
Signs of the slump are everywhere. Fellow realtors have begun to think of taking off from the business. Some indeed have started to seek employment. The MLS directory is now twice as thick as before. The pages have multiplied because of the number of properties remaining unsold.
We recall the story told to us by a real estate school instructor before. Recalling a similar crisis some ten years ago, she said many small real estate brokerages ran out of capital and either shifted to another business or shut down totally. Likewise, many mom and pop mortgage banks stopped doing business.
Some of the really big players have not been spared. Realogy, the giants real estate franchisor that owns Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and Sotheby’s International Realty, announced this week the sale of the three companies to the Apollo Group, the private equity firm, for about $9 billion. During a period of depression, it makes sense to combine resources to reduce operating expenses and achieve a bigger revenue to weather a crisis.
But then there is the bad face of the same coin. The resulting redundancies will drive many staff to joblessness.
Just two weeks ago, the Blackstone Group led a $36 billion deal to acquire Equity Office Properties Trust, the nation’s largest office building owner and manager. It was reported to be the biggest buyout in history.
Realogy is reported to be among the biggest players in the industry, with some 300,000 agents, three times more than its closest rival, Re/Max International. Despite Realogy’s size, it has suffered a decline as the market slumped. The rise in home prices has slowed down at its worst since 1998, according to government reports. The National Association of Realtors said it expected home sales to continue going down next year. Mr. Henry Silverman of Realogy said “We’re probably not going to see a recovery until 2009.”
With a depressed market that long, many businesses in the industry, including real estate brokerages and mortgage banks, are expected to shut down or shift to other activities to meet their rents and other operating expenses.
In tandem with these trends, it is reported that the volume of late mortgage payments is on the rise. This especially true among those who were attracted to the creativity of mortgage lenders by grabbing “pay interest only” and variable interest rate deals. If such development persists, a rash of foreclosures can be foreseen in the near future.
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The January 2007 Priority Dates: Visa again available for nurses and PTs
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AS for nurses and physical therapists, whose priority date was “unavailable” for December 2006, are available again, with a priority date of June 15, 2004. Most Family-Based Priority dates moved forward (or advanced) in January 2007, while Employment-Based priority dates remained the same.
Petitions by Citizens:
The priority date for the First Preference Category, F-1 (unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, over 21 years of age) moved forward by 14 days, from December 01, 1991 to December 15, 1991.
The Third Preference Category, F-3 (married sons and daughters of United States citizens) remained the same at February 8, 1991.
The Fourth Preference, F-4 (brothers and sisters of United States citizens) moved forward by one month, from June 1, 1984 to July 1, 1984.
Petitions by Green Card Holders:
The Second Preference Category, F-2A (Spouse and minor children of green card holders) moved forward by 14 days, from March 1, 2002 to March 15, 2002.
The Second Preference, F-2B (unmarried sons and daughters, over 21 years of age, of green card holders) moved forward by 17 days, from August 22, 1996 to September 8, 1996.
Petitions by Employers:
The Third Preference (professionals and skilled workers) of Employment-Based Petitions (Labor Certification) remained the same at August 1, 2002.
The Third Preference Schedule A (nurses/physical therapists) of Employment-Based Petitions went from “unavailable” to June 15, 2004.
The Third Preference (non-skilled workers) remained the same at October 1, 2001.
Each month, the Visa Office of the State Department publishes the priority dates for that particular month. This means that visas would now be available for persons whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed below. If your priority date was “current”, but retrogressed before your immigrant visa was issued (or you adjusted status in the U.S.), you would have to wait until it becomes current again.
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