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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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Showbiz and politics do mix
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OF COURSE, they are a common sight in campaign rallies, singing, dancing and cracking jokes on stage to campaign for politicians. Although movie stars continue to hug the limelight in campaign rallies, many of them are no longer campaigning for politicians, but are urging the crowd to vote for them.
Since former matinee idol Rogelio de la Rosa almost became the president of the republic in the mid-60s, there has been an increasing number of showbusiness personalities who have invaded politics.
A cursory look of recent history of Philippine electoral politics is like reading the end-credits of a badly made Filipino movie.
Leading the cast of those who crossed over from reel heroics to real-life leading roles, of course, was the deposed President, screen toughie Joseph “Erap Estrada”.
The ensemble list includes: Ramon Revilla Sr. of agimat fame who became a senator; Eat Bulaga’s Tito Sotto, who is running for election in the Senate anew; basketball balyador Robert Jaworski, senator; action star Ramon “Bong” Revilla, senator; action star-stuntman Lito Lapid, Pampanga governor and senator; junior action star Jinggoy Estrada, San Juan mayor and senator; comedian Herbert Bautista, Quezon City vice mayor; karate star Rey Malonzo, Caloocan City mayor; comedian Joey Marquez, Parañaque mayor; ; movie queen Vilma Santos for Lipa City mayor; Edu Manzano, Makati vice mayor; etc.
In this May’s election, several other celebrities have expressed their desire to run for elective positions, moist notable so far are actor Richard Gomez for senator, boxer Manny Pacquiao for congressman, and actress Lani Mercado for Cavite vice governor.
With many movie and TV stars casting their lots in politics, one can only draw the conclusion that the Philippine movie industry may have fallen on real hard times that actors and actresses are forced to shift to other careers.
There are at least two reasons to explain why there is a high acceptance of movie-stars-turned-politicos among the masses. First and perhaps the most easily comprehensible is the screen image. The average voter with a movie fan mentality think that what he sees on screen is what he gets in real life. People really think Erap was “para sa mahirap” because he used to portray on screen common folk characters defending the rights of his fellow downtrodden.
Moreover, the ordinary voter’s preference to elect movie stars into public office also reveals a growing disdain for traditional politicians, who promised them heaven and Earth during campaign periods, but gave them hell when they were already in power.
In voting for showbiz people, the lowly majority are actually voting for people who have already served them people who have entertained them, people who made them laugh and made them forget their worries even for a few hours.
It does not matter to the ordinary voter whether these actors-turned politicians are actually qualified for the job, or whether they can actually help the people while in power.
By opting to vote for movie stars instead of traditional politicians, it’s as if the public is making a statement: “if you can’t help us, at least make us laugh.”
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Manila should not have gone through the trouble to get NCLEX site
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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
WHEN the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) announced last week that Manila was finally selected as a new international NCLEX test site, one could just imagine the euphoria of those who worked so hard to pull this through.
That it came in the aftermath of the June 2006 nurse exam leakage would seem a better reason to celebrate. The NCSBN had always put in question the Philippines’s ability to protect the integrity of national tests. As our luck would have it, the RN test leakage happened.
Those who worked to convince the NCSBN that the Philippines is worthy of an NCLEX test site deserve all the credit. They had been up against an establishment that seemed to put one barrier after another in setting up a Manila test site.
PNAA President May Mayor, President-elect Leo Jurado and Task Force NCLEX Chair Filipinas Lowery, along with Philippine government officials led by CFO Chairman Dante Ang, no less, trooped to Chicago to make their case before the NCSBN. It was a burden of proof they didn’t have to take.
If integrity was really the issue, other international test sites where large scale cheating also occurred should not have been chosen by the NCSBN before the Philippines.
The Philippine government, PNAA and PNA should not have gone through all the trouble of campaigning for an NCLEX test site in the Philippines because it made absolutely no sense not to make Manila a test site.
It is an undisputed fact that close to half of first-time NCLEX takers are from the Philippines. According to more recent estimates 9,000 Filipino nurses take the NCLEX yearly. In the meantime, the number of NCLEX takers from Canada, Mexico, India, South Korea and China trail far behind ours.
So why did it take so long for the NCSBN to come to its senses? Why did it set up 17 other test sites everywhere else since it began international testing in January 2005?
Why did London, U.K.; Seoul, South Korea; Hong Kong; Sydney, Australia; Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver in Canada; Frankfurt; Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai in India; Mexico City; Taipei, Taiwan; Chiyoda-ku and Yokohama in Japan all have their NCLEX test sites before the Philippines if close to a majority of the takers were Filipino RNs?
Why wasn’t Manila selected as the first test site?
The deliberate delay in setting up an NCLEX test site in Manila would be best understood if the public were aware of the certification process for foreign RNs who enter the US.
First of all, the RN certification process is unnecessarily costly, time-consuming and worse, duplicative.
Foreign nurses have to undergo CGFNS certification in order to start the immigration process to the US. When their visa petitions are approved and they are eventually deployed to the US, foreign RNs still have to take the NCLEX and secure their state RN licenses to be able to practice their profession.
On the other hand, foreign RNs who can afford to come to the US can take the NCLEX and skip the CGFNS certification altogether. This is because the NCLEX fulfills both the requirement for immigration and for the practice of the profession.
Guess who would stand to lose if Filipino RNs took the NCLEX, instead of the CGFNS exam? Filipino RNs know only too well how costly it is to obtain a CGFNS certification.
These circumstances inevitably beg another question-- was NCSBN putting off the Manila test site as an accommodation to CGFNS?
It is ironic that even if the understaffing of medical facilities in the US has reached critical levels, the US nursing establishment has laid out a veritable obstacle course for foreign RNs, with the CGFNS offering the most hurdles.
Now that Filipino RNs would be able to take their NCLEX in Manila, CGFNS certification will most likely be rendered obsolete. But all is not lost for CGFNS.
As immigration laws would have it, foreign health professionals are required to obtain a Visa Screen Certificate, which is intended to prove that the health worker has the requisite knowledge, skill and English proficiency to work in the US.
The Visa Screen is issued by the CGFNS. It is a separate legal requirement under the Immigration and Nationality Act, even as it is essentially the same certification as the CGFNS and the NCLEX.
Weeks before the NCSBN Chicago meeting, the CGFNS floated the proposal to issue a blanket Visa Screen denial for all Filipino RNs who took the June 2006 nurse licensing exam. The timing was uncanny with doubts about “competence” being raised by both the NCSBN and the CGFNS.
Are we about to see another hurdle for foreign RNs? We certainly hope not. If the NCSBN is quite satisfied with the handling of the RN test leakage that it agreed to the Manila test site, then there is no reason for the CGFNS to take a tougher stand against Filipino RNs.
Filipino RNs are in demand worldwide, not just in the US. That wouldn’t be the case if their competence as health professionals are in question, as the CGFNS seems to suggest.
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Cancer survivor’s last wishes: Advertising for God
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CHICAGO – What used to be a voluble and snappy voice that was full of life eight years ago has now become choppy and guarded.
The owner of the voice is Mr. Fred Cercenia, a top Filipino American car salesman in the Bay Area during his prime. Thanks to the help of his friend and idol Fernando “Ronnie” M. Estrada, a Filipino American voice impersonator, who teamed up with him in peddling popular television commercials.
“I have since become a fan of Ronnie,” Fred would tell me. Fred, however, became more than just a fan of Ronnie. He supported the causes of Mr. Estrada, including forays in politics.
When his idol’s namesake, then Vice President Joseph Estrada, sought the help of Ronnie to form the JEEP (Joseph E. Estrada for President) movement in 1997 in the Bay Area, Fred was the first to volunteer.
That’s why, when Estrada won the presidency, Fred became the natural companion of Ronnie when they visited the new president in Malacanang, which was also the place, where I first met Fred. I haven’t met him since, we parted ways in 1998.
Phone and email connections
Our only connection has since been either the phone or email messages.
About a month ago, Ronnie alerted me to pray for the health of Fred, who was in near death condition.
“Baka madala sa dalagin (prayers might pull him through),” Ronnie told me, which I could only do so in silence.
Last week, while I was talking to Ronnie, Fred was able to join our three-way conversation. I could not believe Fred survived his cancer operation.
Fred asked me a favor if I can write something about his bout with an Apocalyptic rider on a pale horse.
“I wish people will learn something from my experience.” Fred said. “Because I quit smoking more than 30 years ago, I thought I am safe. But no, I was wrong. Since I never felt any pain, I never bother to visit a doctor.”
But when he felt pain in his lump, he was forced to see a doctor.
His doctor prescribed him many pain-killer medications. But the pain won’t go away.
Only after doctors performed a biopsy on his lump that it was revealed that he was on the fourth stage of cancer.
His doctors explained to Fred that his condition is hopeless. He can just wait for his time.
“I had since changed completely my lifestyle.” Fred said.
Knowing that medications can no longer cure him, Fred said he is now turning to God.
Transformation to God
“My transformation now is to be a strong believer of God’s love and mercy. Joseph, believe it or not, God has now given me a “second life” as you mentioned it.”
He wants to tell everybody to lead a simple life and forget about making a lot of money.
“I promised to God to be His living witness and direct beneficiary of the extended life I’m having now. Before I do a lot of advertising selling cars. But now I will advertise “God as my Savior”.
Since he survived cancer last July, he is now devoting the remaining days of his life to God.
Fred said that even if people are not feeling any pain, it’s about time they change their lifestyle.
“When I was healthy, I was making over 150k annual income through car sales and finance.” He said he became a popular TV personality in the San Francisco Bay Area Filipino community because of his constant TV ad exposures. “I practically abandoned my Sunday Mass obligations even the evening Saturday Mass because most businesses are conducted on weekends.”
“When I became terminally ill, I bargained with God to prolong my life. One Indian Catholic priest even told me to demand for it. I did and I prayed with a lot of intensity and I literally cried for my life. I had my confession for the first time since the late 70’s before I migrated to US in April 1980.”
His latest CAT scans showed continued improvements as the cancer cells are shrinking compared to the previous ones. He experienced the nasty side effects of chemotherapy. He also considered them as his way of sharing sacrifices for the cleansing of the many poor souls in the purgatory. “I am getting stronger and stronger and now more determined to tell the world as I promised to God that I am currently His living witness and beneficiary of His unconditional love and mercy. God is really great!”
I look forward to meeting Fred again.
(lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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Story keeps on bouncing. Only the names, places and time change. And it pivots around an old issue : Do expiration dates on medicines really mean anything?
The latest version happened in Talisay City. “Some medicines distributed to indigents during a medical-dental mission were already expired”, the papers reported. The 34-year old polio victim said medicine she received, in February 2007, had expiry dates for March 2006 The chair of the Talisay health committee was “disgusted”. And the Bureau of Food and Drugs threatened legal action.
Isn’t this old hat? Critics earlier raked fund-strapped V. Luna military hospital for accepting donations of drugs nearing expiry dates. Our soldiers deserve better than lapsing — and “ineffective” — medicine, the argument went. And political rivals flayed Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia was flayed for fielding medical missions that used “expired drugs.” So, do you trash expired medicine? Or don’t you?
Expiration dates, which started in 1979, “stand for something,” Harvard University’s Medical School says in it’s Family Health Guide. “But (it’s) probably not what you think it does.” The article is part of updating literature” for all US doctors, I wrote earlier. Excerpts:
Most of what is known today about drug expiration comes from a question that the Pentagon tossed to the US Food and Drug Administration: Should the armed forces junk it’s over $1-blllion stockpile of medicine every two or three years?
In response, FDA studied more than 100 drugs in military pharmacies, It found that 90 percent of both prescription and over-the-counter medicines, were perfectly good to use --- even 15 years after the expiration date.
“Expiration dates don’t indicate a point at which the medication is no longer effective or has become unsafe,” the Harvard note states. “This is the date at which the manufacturer can guarantee full potency and safety of the drug.”
“Many drugs, stored under reasonable conditions, retain 90% of their potency for at least 5 years after the expiration date on the label, and sometimes much longer”, notes Birgham Young University Health Center. A simple device, such as “placing a medication in a cool place, such as a refrigerator, will help a drug remain potent for many years”.
Some medicines that FDA tests found effective after their expiration dates include, among others: Bayer’s anti-biotic Cipro and aspirin; SmithKline Beecham PLC’s Thorazine, a tranquilizer. Wyeth-Ayert’s antidote to chemical poisoning was still effective 15 years beyond the expiration date.
FDA’s findings saved the US military $263.4 million on it’s initial grant of $78,000 for the study. We extended shelf lives instead of “destroying large quantities of still-useful medical products,” says Franics Flaherty who oversaw the FDA testing program.
This has implications for the Philippines and other poor nations. Here, government clinics are perennially drug-short, from simple aspirins to anti-tuberculosis drugs.
“TB or not TB is the congestion,” Woody Allen once wisecracked. But TB is no joking matter here. TB incidence in the Philippines is triple that of Thailand.
But many turn down drug-company donations, if they’re within a year of expiration dates. Is misinformation depriving sick people of medicine? “Is there no balm in Gilead?” cried the ancient writers.
“Unless you have nitroglycerin, insulin and liquid antibiotics, you can pretty much be assured that your medication expires years beyond the date it says it does,” notes Dr Joseph Mercola. “The major tragedy is many Third World countries needlessly discard the drugs that… could actually be saving lives due to lack of appreciation of this concept,” adds this author of Total Health Program.
So, are expiration dates just a marketing ploy?
“Look at it another way,” the Harvard note suggests. “Expiration dates are very conservative to ensure you get everything you paid for. If a manufacturer had to do expiration-date testing for longer periods, it’d slow their ability to bring you new and improved formulations”.
Drug-industry officials don’t dispute the results of the FDA’s testing, within what is called the Shelf Life Extension Program, reports Wall Street Journal’s Laurie Cohen. “They agree expiration dates have a commercial dimension. But they say relatively short shelf lives make sense from a public-safety standpoint, as well”.
“Two to three years is a very comfortable point of commercial convenience,” Cohen quotes Mark van Arandonk, senior director for pharmaceutical development at Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. “It gives us enough time to put the inventory in warehouses, ship it and ensure it will stay on shelves long enough to get used.” But companies uniformly deny any effort to spur sales through planned obsolescence.
U.S. Pharmacopeia is, a non-profit scientific group. It urges pharmacists to peg expiration dates at no more than one year, if drugs are dispensed in containers other than the original packaging.
“New containers may let in more moisture and heat than the container the manufacturer used for the stability study,” says the USP General Counsel Joseph Valentino. The one-year rule is “motivated by product integrity and not by profit.”
When faced by the drug expiration date dilemma, the Harvard note suggests a rule-of-thumb: If the expiration date passed a few years ago and it’s important that your drug is absolutely 100% effective (as for stroke, cancer, etc.) “you might want to consider buying a new bottle”. Or ask your ask your pharmacist.
Indeed, health is better than hard cash. “If you don’t have a cold,” the Chinese say, “you will not be afraid to eat watermelons.”
(juanlmercado@gmail.com)
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May elections: All over but the shouting
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ALL aspects of the coming national elections in the Philippines next May defy interpretation.
There’s total confusion. Anything goes. Earlier parameters normally used in analyzing political alignments, national issues, etc. no longer hold true. Even black and white have lost their distinction. It’s babel. It’s chaos.
There is a mathematical theory called the theory of chaos. According to a simple explanation of the theory, the chaos is deliberate. Hidden in the disorder is some order.
Everything is eventually sorted out and the preplanned order will emerge.
In Manila, the real game, we suspect, is being played out. Deliberately. Confusion is being sowed by some evil genius. Everybody is being led by the nose. Before they wake up to the real world, the participants, conscious or unconscious, will realize too late the parts they were led to play.
In the heat of the game, everybody was aware of the small dramas they are involved in.
To the deluded partakers, it was their whole world -- the entire world of their own individual power struggle that will lead them to their all-consuming political goals.
They become totally absorbed in their respective internecine struggle with rival parties and with factions within their own political groupings. They become blinded to the real issues and have caused their respective groups to fracture into so many opposing factions.Some have gone to the extent of sacrificing principles and switching sides.
In the midst of these games, the chaos have buried and hidden from their eyes one vital flaw in the political arena. It’s basic. This is a political exercise. And vital to the integrity of the exercise is the existence of the political machinery to execute the elections. We must remember that the machinery that caused the failure of the 2004 elections is still intact. Very much in place. Even strengthened and fortified.
The Commission on Elections has been probed and despite findings even by the Supreme Court, has never been touched. And the vital cogs in the cheating machinery have been replenished with new and more powerful officials. From the top down. The Defense Department and the military.. The Department of Local Government and the National Police. Before this powerful array, what chance have the groups of non governmental organizations who will mostly compose the poll watchers.
Then there is the propaganda machine which is constituted by the entire government bureaucracy. And it is said that the administration has been readying the financial resources needed to assure victory. Yes, money will flood. And as usual, the masses will benefit but only temporarily. After that, back to poverty.
But what is really worrisome is the prevalent hopelessness that is spreading in the entire country. For GMA, victory in the May elections is all over but the shouting.
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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
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219 North Brand Boulevard, Glendale, California 91203
Telephone: (818) 543-5800
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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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