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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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WHEN the likes of Claro M. Recto, Jose W. Diokno, Lorenzo M. Tańada and Benigno S. Aquino Jr. roamed the august halls of the Philippine Senate, the upper chamber was a much revered institution in our home country.
These intellectual giants are long gone and the Senate today is peopled by the likes of movie actors Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla and Lito Lapid. To say that the Senate does not command the same respect as it used to from the public is an undisputed understatement.
This is not to attack the personalities of these three heroes of the silver screen. Of course, our Constitution does not prohibit movie actors from running for elective offices. Estrada, Revilla and Lapid have as much constitutional right as anybody else to seek election.
The point, however, is this: Qualification.
Are they qualified? Do they have the training to discuss and debate issues and to come up with legislations designed to make the lives of the common people better? Did their years of performing stunts onscreen prepare them to dispense the duties and responsibilities required of honorable senators?
It’s hard to answer these questions, judging from the performances of these three gentlemen, and other movie idols who warmed seats at the Senate before them ( such as Jinggoy’s father, Joseph and Bong, father, Ramon Sr.). Sadly, there’s no performance to talk about.
If those from the movie industry are really serious and sincere about serving the public, the best option for them is for them to work their way up. They should start their career shifts by running for barangay chairman, city or municipal councilor, and perhaps even as mayor. In that way, they would have established a track record in public service, in passing laws and in running government affairs, albeit at a smaller scale. But what has been happening is that showbiz personalities have transformed the Senate as their on-the-job training centers, which should not be the case.
What is worse is the fact that these screen stars and the politicians who egg them to run are actually exploiting their popularity with the voting masses. When these politicians foist showbiz folk upon the people, they are reinforcing the public’s perception of them based on the roles these actors portray the movies: as heroes, pro-poor and defenders of truth and justice.
But politicians simply blame the voting masses, saying that is what the people want. But on a closer look, they are actually exploiting the voting public’s weakness. Rather than forever give the people junk, don’t they, as leaders, feel they have a responsibility to uplift the political awareness of the voters?
As if the presence of Jinggoy, Bong and Lito in the Senate is not enough, comes now the news that three more movie actors are planning to join them. Richard Gomez, Edu Manzano and Cesar Montano were reportedly casting moist eyes at Senate seats.
Senators Recto, Diokno, Tańada and Aquino may be squirming in their graves right now.
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Consulates no longer adjudicate I-130s
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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
US CONSULAR offices abroad no longer accept or process I-30 petitions for family-based immigration status, according to a recent memo from the Department of State. They may, however, provide guidance to the petitioner and the relatives being sponsored. Previously, relatives could be petitioned by a US citizen residing abroad.
Under this new rule, which takes effect immediately, the USCIS now has the exclusive responsibility for accepting and processing these relative petitions.
The I-130 petition must be filed with the USCIS office having jurisdiction over the US residence of the petitioner. If an I-130 petition had already been accepted, the consular office is required to forward the petition and supporting documents to the appropriate USCIS office on a “not clearly approvable” basis.
Some delay should be expected in the processing of I-130 cases as a consequence of this regulation.
Unlike the USCIS, consular offices do not have access to criminal history records of petitioners, which will determine eligibility to file an immigrant relative petition.
A thorough background check of the petitioner is mandated under the recently enacted Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. The law gives the Secretary of Homeland Security sole and unreviewable discretion to bar the filing of a petition if the petitioner had been convicted of any of the specified offenses against a minor.
These offenses include: (a) kidnapping (unless committed by a parent or guardian); (b) an offense involving false imprisonment (unless committed by a parent or guardian); (c) solicitation to engage in sexual conduct; (d) use in a sexual performance; (e) solicitation to practice prostitution;
(f) video voyeurism as described in the US Code; (g) possession, production or distribution of child pornography; (h) criminal sexual conduct involving a minor or the use of the Internet to attempt or facilitate such conduct; and (i) any conduct that by its nature is a sex offense against a minor.
Although many would balk at the ensuing delay brought about by the above regulation, the Department of State recognizes that immigrant petitions may be used as a devise for predatory conduct on minors, especially if these minors come from relatively poor countries. This regulation yields to the tried and tested advice concerning the welfare of children—better safe than sorry.
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Phone or internet confession not far behind?
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“Give unto Caesar What is Caesar’s and to God What is God’s.” -- Mark 12:17
CHICAGO, Illinois -- With a new federal law requiring income tax filers to show receipts of their church donations that will take effect this year, will phone calls, text messages or “chat” room confessions via the Internet be far behind?
These unheard off possibilities have cropped up following the effectivity this year of a federal law requiring church donors to show receipts of their donation when they declare their donations for tax deduction in their income taxes.
Although, the law does not require churches to pay taxes, by demanding receipts for their church donations for income tax filers, the Feds could be taking a subtle step to narrow the gap separating the church and state.
Or perhaps, the federal government would like to find out if it can use its new database as a weapon on its war on terrorism in like manner that it taps into phone conversations or bank records that are normally confidential in nature. Who knows?
It is also a great possibility that the US government can use this database of “professional” donors, who maybe laundering “dirty” money donated to the church by parishioners who want to curry favor from it although tax records are confidential in nature. Who knows?
No Piercing of Veil of Secrecy
Of course, it is going to be a challenge for the government to pierce the veil of the secrecy of the source of church donations. Unless the donor or the church declares it as such, the church has been a reliable repository of confidential information as shown by the popularity of confessions.
And this new requirement will prompt “anonymous” donors, who usually give away small amounts of donation, to give a little more since they don’t want to ask for a receipt if it will only reflect a small amount.
Asking for a receipt for church donation is akin to asking for receipt from a taxi driver by passengers, who are liquidating their official travel expenses. And this is usually in increments of big amounts. It will be a shame if you demand a receipt for a taxi fare under $5 when you have not even given the driver a tip.
The Roman Catholic Churches may indirectly benefit from this new tax requirement as far as increasing donations are concerned. They may not be able to collect donations as big as “tithes” as do small Protestant churches. But it sure gives attention to calls for increase donations. “Tithes,” which originated from Judaism, are now popular among Protestant churches, whose members donate to their churches the equivalent of 10% of the donors’ incomes. Some give less than 10% for religious, educational and other social welfare causes.
Zakat is like Tithe
Among Muslims, this practice is called zakat or alms-giving, which calls for a compulsory donation of 2.5 percent of Muslim’s wealth. It is one of the five pillars of Islam. On one hand, these Muslims usually take deduction but the amount they get as benefit will be given away to charity again. On the other hand, they also give away an optional of more.
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“HEALTH is the second blessing we mortals are capable of,” Izaak Walton once wrote. I can’t recall the first. But the fear of falling ill haunts all, especially the poor. That concern stems from their experience with government’s inadequate health systems. At local drugstores, some medicines are priced 5 to 18 times more than in other countries.
Those lusting for election exploit this anxiety. Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeńa, for example, gave PhilHealth cards, valid for a year, to 35,000 beneficiaries (a.k.a. voters). Could this be misconstrued as politicking? “It’s not misconstrued,” he scoffed. “It is what it is.”
It is, in fact, far more.
The health cards lapse after the votes are tallied. But many candidates ignore a more basic issue: The “epidemiological transition” that is sweeping through Asian countries. Harvard University and World Health Organization report that the patterns of illnesses and deaths are drastically changing in poor countries like the Philippines -- and straining health systems.
Where maladies of the poor once dominated, ailments of the affluent are emerging with a vengeance, Harvard and WHO note in their study: “The Global Burden of Disease.” Tuberculosis, diarrhea, pneumonia, measles, dengue, infant malnutrition are being rapidly overtaken by stroke, diabetes, obesity, etc.
Only the very poorest countries have not started this transition to Western-type diseases, University of Sydney’s Dr. Bruce Neal writes in Far Eastern Economic Review. Large-scale studies, for example, found that “[o]ne in eight of those aged over 30 had diabetes. And an equal number showed pre-diabetes.” Strokes were spiraling.
“Obsolete” diseases still ravage the slums and uplands of the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal or Sudan. But in affluent and urbanized Singapore, Germany, Korea or Hong Kong, as well as in the “gated enclaves” of the rich here, fat-saturated diets, sedentary lifestyles and obesity boost the incidence of chronic diseases.
Cheek by jowl, the overfed and ill-nourished suffer their differing ailments. “Potentates goodly in girth” has popularized the fat-reducing Xenical. But chronic hunger stunts 32 out of every 100 kids, “Philippine Human Development Report 2006” points out. And 20 percent of infants are puny underweights. In Cebu, 28 out of every 100 don’t have access to safe potable water.
Scientists have crafted new “burden-of-disease” indicators to track this transition’s effects. Used since the mid-1990s, this new gauge adds up “life years lost due to diseases” and early graves, meaning, years wasted by pre-mature deaths, University of Ulster’s S.R. Osmani and Houston’s A. Bhargaya explain.
The novel tape measure is known as “Dalys” -- shorthand for “disability adjusted life-years per thousand of population.” Among other things, “Dalys” found: The life years lost per 1,000 Filipinos -- like the 3.6 billion men, women and children who live in Asia today -- totaled 259 years.
Losses of such magnitude can beggar a nation. But the trapos do not factor such issues into their agendas. Hence, they are blind to the implications of a warning from the Asian Development Bank: The two phases of this “transition in this burden of disease” do not follow in sequence. In fact, they interlock.
As a result, richer and poorer countries “share a common predicament: that of an overlapping health transition,” ADB’s Review points out. Nations like the Philippines do not have the option of solving one crisis at a time. Instead, “they must tackle simultaneously problems the western world had the privilege of tackling sequentially.” Emerging Asia will not have this “luxury.”
But problems spill far beyond the casting of the ballot. Health will be costlier in the future, as populations age, ADB cautions. Articulate groups in cities will seek to skew limited budgets toward the treatment of their chronic diseases. “This will perpetuate the disadvantage to the poor.”
Indeed, needy countries should not “emulate Western style physician-driven programs,” adds Dr. Bryce Neal. “(They) provide a high-cost solution for the wealthy few.” Filipinos allocate the equivalent of $174 per capita for health, UNDP’s Human Development Report notes. The comparative figure for Malaysians is $374 and $1,074 for Koreans.
Over-worked, undersupplied and underpaid municipal health workers close the health gap for most Filipinos, in 79 provinces and 117 cities. They tap into the rich trove of traditional medicinal plants: from lagundi for coughs to ampalaya for diabetes.
It’s an uphill fight. As an Inquirer “Talk of the Town” feature asked: Were multinational drug lobbies, with a few susceptible doctors, behind the downgrading of “ampalaya” (momordica charantia), long listed as a scientifically validated medicinal plant? That move bankrupted thousands of small ampalaya farmers. And it stripped municipal health workers of a tool in their kits.
Now, Health Secretary Francisco Duque is reported to have dusted the scientific studies on ampalaya that were shoved under the rug. He could reinstate the plant -- and turn attention to the next 10 medicinal plants that health workers could use.
“San Carlos University studies, in Cebu’s mountains, found over 200 medicinal plants,” Dr. Franz Siedenchwarz reported. “But only one has been commercially exploited -- marijuana.”
(juanlmercado@gmail.com)
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Philippine elections: The emergent Third Farce
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IT HAS always been a source of wonder -- the transformation of the Filipino in terms of discripline when he is transported from his native surroundings to a foreign environment.
At home, he eschews regulations. Abroad, he becomes a stickler for rules. The typical example is easily seen in the way he drives a motor vehicle. Abroad, he becomes predictable. Even if the road intersection is totally clear of traffic, he dutifully stops at a red light. At home, even in the unholy hours of late night or early morning when no traffic is visible, he will speed against a red light. That’s how horrific accidents happen.
In the Philippines at this time when there is the onset of political campaigning for the coming elections four months hence, a very visible transformation has grasped the people.
Before the change, the political demarcation line is very clear. Over on the administration side, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is the only side to be on. Understandable. It’s the buttered side. On the opposition side, GMA can do nothing right. She is leading the country to nowhere but perdition.
But lo and behold. As the May political exercise approaches, everybody seems to have been bitten by a bug. The demarcation line separating the two sides blurs. The same single distinct line morphs into snaking rivulets running in all directions. They partition the arena into the administration, into several opposition of varying shades, into rainbow type of administration-opposition combinations, into a third, fourth, fifth (ad nauseam) forces. It becomes a farce. It’s a development dictated by opportunism, antagonism, familialism, balimbingism, spiced and driven by a good dose of plain greed for power and all that this represents.
The end result?
The opposition, whoever is the opposition of the moment, never learns. Past elections have clearly taught them that the present phenomenon will inevitably work against reforms that they aspire for. It appears they fail to discern this is the golden opportunity that those in power await. Nay, manipulate so it would happen.
At this stage of the game -- four months before the elections, many appears to be laughing at the “underdog” that is GMA. While the opposition enjoys a surplus of obviously winnables to form their senate ticket, the administration is staring and waiting at the fruit-laden tree for the opposition picks to fall into its basket. But just wait. They have the three famous G’s -- goons, guns an gold -- vital elements in any Philippine elections. They will work They do all the time. GMA will have the last laugh.
Too bad.
The May elections are anticipated by many Filipinos as their last legitimate hope for ending GMA’s reign. Although the presidency is not at stake, the May poll is expected to be a referendum on the record of GMA. And survey after survey have indicated her plunging popularity. In fact, some of her allies who are running for positions thought they are making a wise decision by putting some distance between her and themselves.
Gee, we hope we’re wrong.
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Michael J. Gurfinkel has been an attorney for over 26 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
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