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For the past 21 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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JERSEY CITY -- A $1 million cash-only bail was set Monday, January 29, for the former Army soldier charged with beating his Filipino wife to death after they’d spent the night celebrating her birthday at a Jersey City bar, authorities said.
Edward ‘Eddy’ A. Casco, 28, of Sip Avenue in Jersey City, was discharged from the U.S. Army last year, but he was wearing a Hudson County jail uniform when he appeared in court via video link from the Kearny corrections facility, the Jersey Journal reported.
He is charged with savagely beating his wife, Filipina Teris Casco, 33, early Saturday morning, then waiting several hours before calling 911 to summon help. She died the next day at the Jersey City Medical Center, authorities said.
At 11 a.m., investigators said, Casco called 911 and firefighters arrived from the Sip Avenue Firehouse, located just across the street. When firefighters arrived, the victim appeared to be lifeless, sources said. They immediately called police because of her condition, and Edward Casco was arrested on aggravated assault charges, sources said.
In the apartment, police found blood-stained sheets on the bed and bloody clothes on the bedroom floor as well as in a kitchen garbage can, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said “I don’t know what was going on in his mind at the time of the beating, but it was a brutal, homicidal assault,” said DeFazio. “It appears to be a domestic violence incident that went to the extreme.”
A more complete autopsy report released Monday revealed that as a result of the beating, Teris Casco suffered blunt force trauma that caused brain hemorrhaging, multiple broken ribs and bruises to her face, body, arms and legs, DeFazio said.
Eddy Casco’s parents, Juan and Maria Casco, told The Jersey Journal that their son was born in Nicaragua and came to the United States in 1980.
“We are a family without any problems,” the father said in Spanish through a translator.
“We are immigrants who work very hard to educate our sons in private schools,” said Maria Casco in the family’s basement apartment on Jones Street. “We work day and night,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes.
The family’s lawyer then advised them not to speak further about the case.
It was a very brutal beating, based on what was determined by viewing the victim and the result of autopsy,” DeFazio said.
Eddy and Teris Casco’s two young sons were at their grandparents’ home Friday night to celebrate her birthday, authorities said. The parents were at LITM, a bar near the Grove Street PATH station, until early Saturday morning.
Shortly after returning to their Sip Avenue residence, they apparently argued over the “future of their relationship,” DeFazio said.
The argument turned violent and Eddy Casco allegedly attacked his wife with his bare hands, DeFazio said.
“They argued and then things apparently escalated to this level of violence,” DeFazio said. “It was a quite tragic incident, leaving the two children, ages 1 and 5. Fortunately, they were not witnesses to the event.”
Neighbors said Edward Casco worked in a hardware store below the house; local store owners said they’d never noticed anything out of the ordinary about him.
Adel Ghaly, 42, a manager of nearby Kings Liquors, said Teris Casco occasionally would stop in the store to buy gum, soda and chips for her kids.
He said Edward Casco sometimes came in to buy beer, but didn’t appear to be a heavy drinker.“He seemed a very nice guy,” Ghaly said.
DeFazio wouldn’t comment on whether alcohol was involved in the incident.
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JERSEY CITY -- In the aftermath of resignation of deputy mayor Ador Equipado, Filipino American organizations met with Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy on Monday, January 29, and endorsed two Filipinas to take over the post vacated by Equipado.
“We recommend Carmen Flores to be the next deputy mayor in recognition of her service to the community, “ said Francis Sison, chairman of the Philippine-American Friendship Committee.
Other Filipino organizations, notably the group of senior citizens, are pushing for Elma Santander, president of the Philippine Bread House in this city, as the next deputy mayor.
The names of Flores and Santander were forwarded to Healy after the Jersey City Hall asked community leaders to submit nominees for the appointibe position of deputy mayor.
Equipado resigned on January 15 after he was confronted by Healy ovver complaints that he asked couples whose marriages he was officiating for unauthorized fees or donations.
Healy told the Filipino groups that he was still assessing the qualifications of the candidates to the position. At least 25 people submitted resumes hoping to be appointed as deputy mayor.
Flores was appointed as overall chairman of PAFCOM in 2001. Currently, she is active in healthy aging program of PAFCOM.
Flores was a former officer of Garden State Filipino American Association.
In 2000, former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman appointed Carmen as member of the Ethnic Advisory Council. Her main functions included establishing a closer working relationship between the Office of the Governor and the Filipino community, creating awareness of the needs and concerns of the Filipino community in New Jersey and bringing them to the attention of the governor.
She served as a liaison in various ethnic functions where the governor was not available.
In 2001, Jersey City Mayor Glen Cunningham appointed Flores as Commissioner to the Rent Leveling Board. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the Far Eastern University in Manila.
Santander, meanwhile is known in the community as businesswoman.She is the president of the Philippine Bread House and the International Remittance Corp. (IRC) based on Newark Avenue.
She is also the executive vice president of the Worldwide Remittance Corp. -- a conduit of IRC formed in the Philippines to manage and handle the conversion of dollars to local currency through banks.
A graduate of the Philippine Women’s University, Santander bagged the AWIB “Entrepreneurial Achievement Award”, in 1999. A year later she received a citation from Mayor Schundler for her support for the “Sister City Agreement” between Jersey City and Manila City.
She attended the New York School of Interior Design, Culinary School of Basic Baking in New York, Dale Carnegie School for Public Speaking, and the Gemology Institute of America-Apprenticeship in General Merchandising, specializing in antique and estate jewelry.
PAFCOM, meanwhile, assured Healy of its support.
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NEW YORK -- The son of a Filipino New York City police officer who died from working at Ground Zero told U.S. President George Bush more affected people need federal aid.
Cesar Borja Jr., 21, his mother, brother and sister met with Bush in Manhattan Wednesday, January 31, after the president delivered his state of the economy address.
Borja had requested the meeting to discuss his father, who died last week at the age of 52 from lung disease associated with him working 16-hour shifts at the wreckage of the World Trade Center in 2001.
On Tuesday, the White House announced $25 million in aid for first responders who faced medical problems, but Wednesday, White House spokesman Tony Snow hinted that could just be a starting figure.
“First responders who need treatment will get the treatment they need,” Snow told reporters. “Many are already covered by insurance programs ... but if there are gaps in that, we’re going to do it.”
After meeting with Bush, Borja said he recommended “funding should be expanded not for just the heroes and heroines” who were first responders, but to anyone from anywhere who came to help and became sick after the terror attacks.
Borja Sr. was buried January 27, Saturday. He was remembered at a Queens funeral where family and friends said their final farewells.
But the Mass for Cesar Borja was also a reminder of the growing number of Sept. 11 first responders reporting health problems, an issue that has politicians from Sen. Hillary Clinton to Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggesting the rescue workers deserve compensation.
Borja, who was awaiting a lung transplant, died Tuesday just hours before his son Ceasar attended President Bush’s State of the Union address as a guest of Clinton.
The elder Borja’s body was brought into St. Josaphat’s Church in the Bayside area by a police honor guard on a brisk winter morning. The officers carried his flag-draped casket into the church as police bagpipers played and one family member collapsed in tears.
“It’s so sad, but we are proud for him,” said family friend Alicia Orca before the hour-long service began.
Cesar Borja, 52, worked double-shifts three times a week at ground zero, according to his son. The 20-year veteran developed the “World Trade Center cough” shortly after retiring in 2003, and his condition deteriorated until his death from pulmonary fibrosis, the son said.
Clinton and other New York lawmakers have asked Bush to include money in the national budget to treat and monitor thousands of people who say they developed respiratory and other illnesses after working at the World Trade Center site.
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LAS VEGAS -- Former Philippine Basketball Association star Rudy Distrito has entered a plea of guilty to manslaughter in the death of a 24-year-old Mexican Juan Amaya in an apartment complex several blocks east of the Las Vegas strip.
Distrito was accused of stabbing Amaya following a heated argument at Dekow Lane Apartments in Las Vegas on Nov. 24, 2004.
A native of Bacolod City, Distrito fled the scene, but gave himself up 10 days later to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Los Angeles.
Distrito was visiting his family in Las Vegas, when the stabbing took place. His wife Joceyln, from whom he has been separated for nearly five years, was reportedly living with her mother, Illuminada Villadolid in Long Beach, California along with their four children.
Prosecutors claimed the stabbing was a deliberate act of revenge while Distrito’s defense lawyers said it was an act of self-defense.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Bill Berrett told Clark County District Judge David Wall during Distrito’s first appearance in the state court, that the ex-pro basketball player started the fight, although defense lawyers argued that there was a considerable amount of contradictory evidence and said they believed it was self-defense. Unable to post bail of $500,000, Distrito was held at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas.
Distrito’s lawyer Dan Silverstein said that Distrito, who was charged with murder, pleaded guilty to “the lesser offense.” Silverstein said Distrito will be sentenced on March 16 and is “eligible for probation.”
Silverstein indicated that he wanted to present “a compelling argument to the judge as to why Distrito should be given a chance at probation,” and was looking for all the help he could get from those who played alongside or against him in the PBA, league officials and media personnel, who covered the pro league games or knew him well.
Distrito, who was nicknamed “The Destroyer,” during his playing days in the PBA for his physical play, was suspended for a flagrant foul against Jeffrey Cariaso in 1995, and his license revoked for that season by the Games and Amusements Board. He never applied for renewal the following season and migrated to the United States with his family.
The 5’10” Distrito is best remembered for an amazing, off-balanced, buzzer-beating shot that enabled Ginebra San Miguel, led by playing-coach Robert Jaworski to win the seventh game of a classic championship series in the 1991 First Conference, where Ginebra came back from a 1-3 deficit to beat Shell.
Distrito played for the University of the East Warriors in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). In his pro career, Distrito played for Crispa and later with Ginebra /Añejo.
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