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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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PHILIPPINE Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales was frothing in the mouth as he criticized the United States Senate for conducting a hearing on the unsolved extra-judicial killings in the Philippines.
In his own irascible way. Gonzales accused the US of meddling into the domestic affairs of the Philippines and lashed at a US Senate Subcommittee’s call for a possible cut in the US’ military aid to the Philippine government as blackmail. Expectedly, many Arroyo allies began parroting Gonzales’ line.
What got Gonzales and his ilk’s goat was the Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs’ hearing on political killings in the Philippines on March 14. Two human rights advocates testified before the hearing, and called on both House of the US Congress to review military and development aid to the Philippine government to make sure that US money are not being used by the Arroyo government and the military to commit human rights abuses in the Philippines.
On the outset, it seemed that indeed, the US has no right meddling in the domestic affairs of the Philippines. But sadly, this argument has been widely abused by bullies who rape their own daughters or beat up their own wives.
In a domestic setting, the bullies who have the upper hand are the ones who always want to confine the issue within the family. With no outside authority to contend with or with no higher power to be accountable to, they are the all-powerful, uncontested lords of their fiefdom. Why would they let in “outsiders” that would only serve to restrict their powers?
Fortunately, most civil societies no longer consider incestuous rape and spousal abuse as domestic matters. Victims have no chance of justice if the issue is confined within their homes. Countries like the US and the Philippines now have laws that deal with these hitherto considered domestic problems.
Which is exactly the case with the human rights situation the Philippines. The government of Gloria arroyo refused to lift a finger to try to solve and stop the political killings. This non-action by the government is widely considered as a contributing factor to the “culture of impunity” now pervading in the Philippines. With no one within the domicile willing to stop the abuses and the killings, human rights advocates have no recourse but to seek outside help, to cry out to a neighbor or anybody who cares to listen.
Moreover, the US Senate has all the right to demand from the US State and Defense Departments to make sure that US taxpayers’ money are not being used in any way to trample basic human rights.
“We do not want blood in our hands,” Senator Barbara Boxer, chair of the subcommittee said during the hearing. “We do not want to use US taxpayers’ money to train their (Philippine) military and police to kill their own people.”
The US as a donor has all the right to know how the money in the form of military aid is being spent. It has all the right to stop giving aid if it thinks the money is being misused. It is the so-called power of the purse -- and that is a reality in this world.
If you don’t want the US to meddle in your affairs and to blackmail you, then don’t ask for money, don’t accept money from it. Simple as that.
The problem with bullies like Gonzales is that they are scared of bigger bullies.
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Nursing Relief Act of 2007
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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
A BILL known as the Nursing Relief Act of 2007 (H.R. 1358) was introduced on March 6 by Representatives Shadegg, Pastor, Flake and Renzi, which seeks to create a new nonimmigrant visa category for “professional nurses” known as the W-1.
The bill proposes a numerical cap of 50,000 W-1 visas per year, but this limit can rise based on the demand for foreign nurses. The W-1 is good for three (3) years at a time, not more than six (6) years maximum. The nurses, however, may apply for a 7th year extension to protect them from lengthy green card processing times.
The sponsoring employer must attest that it will offer the foreign nurse the actual wage level paid to similarly situated employees or the prevailing wage for the occupational classification, whichever is greater; the foreigner’s employment will not adversely affect the working conditions of nurses employed at the worksite; there is no strike or lockout in the course of a labor dispute at the worksite; and notice of the filing of the attestation was given to the bargaining representative or by physical posting in conspicuous places at the worksite, among others.
Who is a “professional nurse”
Under the bill, a “professional nurse” is a person who applies the art and science of professional nursing in a manner that reflects comprehension of principles derived from the physical, biological and behavioral sciences.
The duties include making clinical judgments involving observation, care and counsel of persons requiring nursing care; administering medicines and treatments prescribed by the physician or dentist; and participation in the activities for the promotion of health and prevention of illness in others.
The foreign nurse should be qualified under the laws governing the place of intended employment. This includes temporary or interim licensing provisions or nurse licensure compact provisions which authorize the nurse to be employed.
If the foreign nurse has met all the licensing requirements, except for the submission of a social security number, the foreign nurse may provide a letter from the proper state board of nursing confirming that the alien is eligible for license issuance upon presenting the SS number.
Rationale of the bill
The proposal is intended to alleviate the nursing shortage. As the bill noted, there are more vacant nursing positions in the United States than there are qualified registered nurses and nursing school candidates to fill those positions. According to the Department of Labor, the current national nursing shortage exceeds 126,000.
The bill also noted that states in the West and Southwest have a disproportionate number of nursing vacancies because of rapid population growth, which exacerbates a widening gap in the number of facilities and staff compared to patients that need care. It further indicated that foreign countries such as the Philippines, India and China have an oversupply of nurses.
Moreover, the bill stated that current law, with certain limited exceptions, requires health care providers to sponsor desired nurses for permanent resident status while the nurses remain outside the United States, which can take up to 3 years.
According to the bill, the cost of sponsoring nurses are passed on to consumers and adds to the rising cost of health care because health care providers cannot efficiently and effectively recruit qualified foreign nurses through the existing immigration process.
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Money is all what this veterans advocate wants
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CHICAGO, Illinois — Contrary to Bradford Gordy’s hit song, “Money (That’s What I Want),” popularized by the Beatles, the best things in life are not really free.
Ask Rev. Fr. Prisco E. Entines about it. And he will tell you why.
Father Entines is a Catholic priest, who asked the permission of the Vatican to shed his vestment. Of course, he is not going to marry a woman, which is the most often-used excuse by ex-priests. He left the priesthood, perhaps temporarily, to devote full-time to a more mundane vocation – as an advocate for securing the benefits of Filipino World War II veterans.
As a son of a Filipino veteran who died during World War II, Entines filed a class-action suit in mid-nineties, seeking benefits on behalf of the war services of the Filipino soldiers and militias (guerillas) during World War II. But the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. dismissed his lawsuit, citing statute of limitations.
Unfazed, unbowed and undeterred by the dismissal, Father Entines faced the challenge head on and took a deeper investigation into the matter and discovered little known legal documents, gathering cobwebs in various law libraries, archives and US Congress that could help the cause of the veterans.
Attitude change
The only problem he is facing now is how to translate his research works into convincing legal briefs that will change the attitude of the U.S. Court of the District of Columbia in appreciating the case of the Filipino veterans.
He approached a legal team handling the case of Taiwan, who might yet beat the Philippines in proving before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, also in the District of Columbia that the Philippines’ neighboring island-nation is part of the U.S. territory. But that will be another column. But the Taiwan case lawyers asked him a prohibitive amount in acceptance fee.
In one of the six cases he filed along with five others before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and one case he filed before the U.S. District Court at the District of Columbia, the judge provided him with a lawyer, whose service is free of charge.
But Father Entines hesitated in accepting the pro-bono lawyer, saying that a paid lawyer is better than an unpaid lawyer, disagreeing in the introductory lyric of Beatles’ hit song, “Money.”
“I really need money to pay a lawyer, who will make the legal brief that the pro bono lawyer will present in court.” Father Entines told this columnist when the priest paid me a visit in Chicago.
“There are some veterans, who are chipping in but they are giving away small change. I need to raise a minimum of US$10,000 to assist in our legal battles.” according to the Los Angeles, California-based priest, who has been going back and forth to the Philippines and who has been criss-crossing the U.S. to find the Holy Grail – money- for his quest to obtain a court victory.
“If only one Filipino American will chip in $2 each, we should be able to meet our legal financial needs.” the priest in his 50s said.
“A dollar from 200 people will not be tough to reach from their pockets. It is easier to raise such amount from a group of people than from a tight-fisted billionaire. It takes hundreds of sticks to make a broom. And I am appealing to their Christian charity.” he explained.
Wire transfer
He said for those who would be willing to chip in, readers can send their legal assistance thru wire transfer from their nearest banks thru Wells Fargo Checking Account No. 5712784569 with Routing No. 511400393 or thru Bank of America Checking Account No. 03566-05640 with Routing No. 121-000-358 c/o Prisco E. Entines. His email address is frentines@hotmail.com.
Father Entines said a minimum of $5,000 for legal fees will be needed for the Citizenship Case No. 06-04477 in “Entines v. US” pending before the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia due for dismissal if not opposed. He said if he wins the case, it will benefit all Filipino veterans and families and even illegal aliens.
The resolution of his case will come amidst the promise of San Diego, California Rep. Bob Filner (Dem.-51st), chairman of the US Congress Veterans Committee, to bring the Filipino Equity Bill to a vote before the well of Congress around April 9 Bataan Memorial Day celebration.
If Father Entines raises the needed legal fees, and the Filipino Equity Bill is passed, the bill will certainly be an icing in the cake for our veterans, who have waited for so long. So, please chip in in the legal fund and call your area US Senators and Congressmen to support the Filipino Equity Bill!
(lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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GUIMARAS -- “Are you writing about the oil spill’s aftermath, or Guimaras mangoes?” a friend asked as our rickety pump boat, one of 123 that ply Iloilo waters, steered for this island (population: 141,450). “Neither,” I said, and we laughed.
For the weekend, the wife and I switched off our cell phones, laptop, deadlines, politicians, crooks, etc. “Come aside to a quiet place and rest a while” remains time-tested counsel. And Our Lady of the Philippines abbey in Guimaras fits the bill.
This is a Cistercian of the Strict Observance monastery. This is an 11th-century order of monks who devote their lives to work, prayer and study, mostly in silence. Reforms at La Trappe, France in the 16th century saw them dubbed as “Trappists.”
Pointing to rows of mangoes, guavas and pineapples along the road to San Miguel town, the driver said, “Planted by the Trappists who process the harvest.”
They also grow rice and vegetables for their use -- and guests. Their gatehouse store sells excellent jams and cookies. “You are really a monk if you live from the work of your hands,” the Rule of St. Benedict says.
In 1972, Sen. Oscar Ledesma gave a 70-plus hectare land to six Trappists from the United States. The low-key Ledesma served as city mayor, commerce secretary and ambassador to the US. Yet, he kept his multiple charities away from photo-ops. “The perfect gentleman,” said Lorenzo Tañada who was not given to idle praise.
But did an English literature class spark these visits here? I wondered as our car drove into the abbey. Tall trees planted by the monks now tower where once there was sterile scrubland.
“Put aside ‘Macbeth’ for now, gentlemen,” our Jesuit teacher said. Instead, he read descriptions of Kentucy’s Our Lady of Gethsemane monastery. They were excerpts from “Seven Storey Mountain,” written by Columbia University professor Thomas Merton. The book, at that time, led The New York Times’ top 10 list.
Merton showed you the little-seen insides of a Trappist monastery, including the chanting of the Divine Office by white-cowled monks at 2:30 a.m. (The monks retire at 7:15 p.m.) He writes of the same men working the land, scorched by the sun, in silence.
In Guimaras, anybody so minded can slip into the church in pre-dawn darkness and listen to “Lection Divina” in English plain chant: “This my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.”
Merton wrote first from the visitors’ pews. Years later as Father Louis, he walks the reader in his book “The Sign of Jonah” through the midnight “Fire Watch.” This is a nightly inspection against fires, from dank cellar to moonlit belfry.
“The (monastery) was lost in the all-absorbing silence and solitude of the fields,” Merton wrote. “I stepped into the moonlit court and listened to the silence that enfolded me and spoke louder...than any voice.”
“In the dark church,” he continued, Mass was beginning at many side altars, caves of dim candlelight... What a thing Mass becomes in hands hardened by grueling sacrificial labor in poverty.... Faint gold fire flashed from the shadowy flanks of upraised chalices.”
“Hidden in the anonymity of their cowls, these men burn themselves out for (others) who will never know them on earth,” Merton explained the contemplative vocation. “This holds the nation together.... They win for it the grace of God.”
What drives such men to solitude, grueling labor and prayer?
There are 28 monks in Guimaras -- from Bulacan, Bohol, Cebu and Leyte. Yet, the austere life attracts others. “This is the vocation of transforming union,” a monk explains.
This is abstract. Seven Trappists massacred in 1966 by the Armed Islamic Group in the now-abandoned Our Lady of Atlas Monastery in Algiers may give some light. “I do not desire this death,” explained the abbott, Fr. Christian de Cherge, in a letter opened after the killings. “But I should like, when the time comes, to have a space of lucidity ... to forgive with all my heart the one who will strike me down.”
Father de Cherge addressed his killer as “my last-minute friend.” He wrote: “[You] would not have known what you were doing. Yes, for you, too, I say this thank you and commend you to the God in whose face I see yours. May we find each other, happy ‘good thieves’ in Paradise, if it pleases God, the Father of us both.”
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyons, says four Trappists from France, Spain, Algeria and Poland are now learning the language. They plan to open Our Lady of Atlas monastery.
Sunday evening, a breeze whisks a handful of stray bougainvillea petals across the waxed Guimaras church floor. In their white cowls, the monks bow, and chant vespers. The lector reads an excerpt from “Seeds of Contemplation,” written by Merton before his death in Bangkok while studying Asian monasticism:
“Your solitude will bear immense fruit in the souls of men you will never see on earth. That they may learn to know the Christ of the burnt men” -- whether in Algeria, Japan, Kentucky or Guimaras.
(juanlmercado@gmail.com)
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THE militarization of the Philippine government has always led us to one conclusion. That since 2004 when Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was installed as president, she has always been a captive head of state. Captive by whom? Captive and under the control of the cabal of military and police generals who surround her and constitute her real inner circle.
What about the political trapos, the legislative and executive civilian officials that occupy the top positions in the bureaucracy? Oh, they help GMA to run the administration and operate the government machinery. But in matters sensitive to national security, meaning the political survival of the president, the uniformed elite has to give their blessing. They are the real “mga tunay na anak ng Diyos”.
Understandably, national security often interlaps with areas rich in the potential to be a source of financial rewards when the “pinagpalang mga anak” transit from their military and police to civilian posts.
This is a tried and tested practice of dictators the world over. The soldiery that put them in position must be rewarded. They are the ones who know where the “smoking guns” are buried.
Thus, it is the rule that when a general retires, there is high civilian post awaiting him to assure his continued loyalty. It is also the rule that generals who become involved in anomalies are untouchables. They are spared from investigation to spare them from the temptation to sing. Recall the generals involved with Garci in the 2004 presidential elections.
When it comes to promotions, the “revolving door” policy has practically been institutionalized. It enables the retirees to leave the service to receive in his retired status the pay of the next higher rank, even if they will occupy the higher rank for a very short period of time and in utter disregard of the seniority rule.
A recent event has demonstrated our point. It happened in the current hearings in the US Senate being conducted by California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer about the extra-judicial killings ongoing in the Philippines victimizing members of media and militant groups critical of GMA’s administration.
A group of Philippine military and police generals led by police General Avelino Razon traveled to Washington, apparently to attend the hearings and explain their side. Senator Boxer warned the group that they were not invited, they were not wanted, and she said the Filipino witnesses she invited to testify might be intimidated.
To save face, Gen. Razon told media they never intended to force themselves into the hearings, that they went to Washington to present their side to the Philippine Ambassador Willie Gaa. It would be cheaper for the Philippine government for Gaa to travel to Manila to hear them. For its part, the office of GMA explained that Razon’s trip was decided not by Malacanang but on a departmental level. Which is unbelievable.
This goes to show that the military and police group have started to feel the heat on the extra-judicial killings and decided on their own to undertake the lobbying trip to attend the US Senate hearings, bypassing GMA.
Up to this point, they have ignored the complaints being made in Manila. Criticisms were made by the United Nations, US and Canadian embassies, foreign chambers of commerce, not to mention the media and the militant groups.
But the US Senate is different. Especially, when stopping US aid to the Philippines is starting to be mentioned as an issue. Now that the extra-judicial killings have reached the UN, has the possibility of a world court trial a la Yugoslavia’s Milosevich Iraq’s Hussein entered the group’s and GMA’s mind?
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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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