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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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THERE is no mistaking about it; the election season is upon our nation anew.
Although politicians, elected officials and Cabinet officials seem to be always doing political campaigning, expect the political atmosphere to intensify in the coming weeks.
Perhaps no other political event in the country is as anticipated as the election and the accompanying campaign period. The Filipino public are suckers for elections, and they have quite valid reasons to be so. As one social scientist said, the Filipino voting public perceive election period as: 1) circus; 2) revenge; and 3) social welfare.
The campaign period in the Philippines is like a circus. The coming of politicians to a barrio is like the perennial karnabal that descends on the townsfolk, entertaining the public but in the end, fleecing them of their hard-earned pesos. Still, it is only during campaign periods that the people get to be entertained by politicians wooing their votes.
Candidates bring actors, actresses, singers and all sorts of entertainers to the stage to attract them and keep them interested in their political sorties. More importantly, the public wait for these ‘public servants-wannabes’ to make a fool of themselves. Politicians sing, dance, rap, even perform fire-eating acts in public, in the hope of making the voters remember them come judgment day.
The Filipino voting public are also thrilled by the fact that the campaign period is a great equalizer. Ignored for much of the time that a politician sits in his office, the campaign period forces the politician to recognize the importance of reaching out to the people. During campaign period, the voters are king. Politicians fall all over just to shake the ordinary masa’s hands, carry and kiss their babies, and share humble meals with them. For the millions of Filipinos, the campaign period is when they exact their revenge for being forgotten in between elections.
Elections in the Philippines have also evolved into a social welfare program. During campaign period, politicians dole out bags of goodies and shell out cash to their supposed supporters. On election day, money in the millions change hands -- from politicians awash with cash to the great unwashed.
But the social welfare nature of elections does not end there. For the voting public, the patronage system is just beginning. For many voters, supporting a candidate also means being able to curry favors. After the election, the public would then approach Mr.. Elected Public Official and ask for jobs. It’s now time for the politician to pay his “utang na loob”.
Who says we Filipino do not take our elections seriously? We actually do, but for the wrong reasons.
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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
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Is Vilma Santos a US Citizen?
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CHICAGO, Illinois – In every election in the Philippines, accusations are rampant that candidates for local and national offices are either Green Card holders or US Citizens.
This matter has taken a different turn after the Philippine Congress wrote it in the books that those who naturalized from foreign countries could no longer run for elective posts.
There were allegations in the past that some Philippine senatorial candidates like then Senators Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Alfredo Lim and Tito Sotto and Rep. Luis Asistio were either Green Card holders or US Citizens because they owned real estate properties in America. In the case of the late Fernando Poe, Jr. and Congressman Alan Peter Cayetano, and the Osmenas, they became US Citizens because their parent or parents or grandparents were US Citizens.
For lack of smoking gun, these candidates went on to win. In fact, Senator Arroyo even became president.
Challenge of obtaining Green Card
But because candidates would like to live in the best of both worlds, even if they are Green Card holders or US Citizens, they would still run for office for as long as they can conceal their status. Why? If they lose, they can still live and work in America, where they can perhaps recover faster from the trauma of their loss.
The daunting challenge and hardship of obtaining a Green Card are sufficient reason to conceal the fact.
There may be some candidates who are either Green Card holders or US citizens right now but nobody is going to volunteer it. For now, the spotlight is focused on leading senatorial candidate – Rep. Peter Alan Cayetano, an anti-Arroyo candidate, who fended off the allegation, by waving his Philippine passport, stamped with a US non-immigration visa.
But one candidate, who can no longer hide his American citizenship, is multi-awarded actor Christopher “Boyet” de Leon, who was reported to be running for vice governor of Batangas with retired Filipino police officer Nestor Sanares as his running mate.
Boyet is pitted against his sometimes film co-star, Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos, who is a prohibitive favorite to win the gubernatorial sweepstakes.
Riding in Vilma’s coattails is vice-gubernatorial running mate, a relative unknown, Edwin Ermita, but son of clout-heavy, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
Untainted by scandal
Of course, incumbent Gov. Armand Sanchez, whose patronage machinery in the province is still intact, will be giving the long-time, scandal-free Lipa City mayor, a run for her money. Sanchez running mate is believed to be Board Member Mark Leviste.
Boyet’s improbable and sensational acquisition of his American citizenship as a grandson of his maternal grandfather is laid out on the website of his lawyer, who needs the publicity to attract more clients. In fact, one those clients was Vilma Santos, herself. But unlike Boyet, the website did not say the kind of visa his lawyer obtained for Vilma. Only the picture of Vilma and their lawyer was posted.
I called up their lawyer and followed up with an email, inquiring if he knew that his famous client, Boyet de Leon, was running for vice governor in Batangas. I asked him if in the event that Boyet would ask his legal advice, would he encourage or discourage Boyet to run. I also asked him if Vilma Santos is a US Citizen. I never got any
reply.
If push comes to shove, however, and if Boyet and other US citizens run and lose and reclaim their American citizenship, they have ammunition to use -- a legal document provided me by Fr. Prisco E. Entines.
Father Entines shared with me one of his documents to support his nationality case filed before U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. that is still pending. In that case, Father Entines argues that Filipinos were really American citizens when the US government colonized the Philippines after the signing of the December 1898 Treaty of Paris, where Spain ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the US and US paid Spain US$20-Million to acquire the Philippines.
Aproyim vs. Rusk
The piece of information given to me by Father Entines was the “Aproyim vs. Rusk” (387 U.S. 253 (1967) case. According to this legal precedent -- a “United States citizen cannot have his or her citizenship taken away involuntarily.”
This case involves Beys Afroyim (1893-1984), a Jewish artist born as Ephraim Bernstein in Ryki, Poland. In 1912 he immigrated to the United States. In 1926 he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. In 1950, he moved to Israel. He voted in an Israeli election in 1951. In 1960, Afroyim tried to renew his U.S. passport.
But the State Department refused on the ground that he had lost his citizenship by voting in a foreign election. Afroyim sued Dean Rusk in his official capacity as Secretary of State and head of the State Department, which is responsible both for issuing passports and for dealing with loss of citizenship.
According to the US Supreme Court, Afroyim’s citizenship could not be taken away without his consent. The majority relied strongly on the history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which provides among others that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
(lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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“IMAGINE the entire world as a bucket of water”, urge Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union plugs, aired in the Philippines and 54 other countries. “The fresh water that we can use would equal only a spoonful”.
For 2007 “World Water Day”, those plugs hammer home an ignored fact:. You can not drink over 96 percent of this planet’s supply. They’re salt-laced oceans. “Water, water everywhere/ Nor any drop to drink ”, mutters Coleridge’s “Ancient Mariner”, through parched lips.
There’s no substitute for water. The body needs a minimum of three liters a day to get by. We drink or we die. But more people drink from the same well today. There were 36.6 million Filipinos in 1970. Population may now have passed the 85 million marker.
Waste and weather changes, spur competing demands for the limited unevenly-spread balance of this resource. Deep wells turning brackish, as in Cebu, or dry as in Paranaque, signal “the new politics of scarcity.” “The challenge of 21st century water governance may prove to be among the most daunting faced in human history,” says the UN’s new study: “Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis.”
Globally, diarrhea kills more people than TB or malaria, World Health Organization data shows. Here, diarrhea kills far more than salvaging by uniformed assassins, communist pogroms, vigilantes in Davao and Cebu lumped together. This disease also afflicts 1,997, per 100,000 population, clustered mostly in poor areas.
Governance systems “determine who gets what water, when and how”, the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City heard from the triennial report : “Water: A Shared Responsibility” But “mismanagement, corruption, lack of appropriate institutions, bureaucratic inertia and a shortage of new invest
ments in building human capacity as well as physical infrastructure” interlock in an emerging water crisis.
Ironically, this most lethal of threats is almost totally-ignored by today’s candidates who seek mandates to govern. There’s a disconnect between our daily lives, water’s life-sustaining role and the on-going election campaign.
For many of us, “water simply flows from a faucet. We think little of it beyond this immediate point of contact.” The “Genuine Opposition, trumpets it is less-corrupt than an administration that retorts: Sez who?. We’re titillated by marital scandals from Jose Miguel Arroyo to Kris Aquino. And Erap wants another pass from his luxury detention villa...
Yet, in 29 provinces, a quarter of people quaff from easily-contaminated wells, the UN’s Philippine Human Development Report notes. These include: Apayao, Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Capiz, Bukidnon, North Cotabato, Ilocos Norte, Kalinga, Guimaras, Zamboanga del Norte, Bohol, Quezon, Masbate, Occidental and Oriental Misamis, Camarines Norte, Agusan del Sur, Leyte, Negros Oriental and Occidental -- plus the entire Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
This is campaign blindness. It refuses to face up to consequences from water and sanitation deficits that spill across generations. “Repeated bouts of diahrrea…are associated with disadvantages that stretch from cradle to grave,” the UN report adds. Victims experience weight loss, stunting, vitamin deficiency., etc It also results in “cognitive infirmities”. As a teacher sadly notes: “Their elevators will never reach the top floor.”
Government agencies, research institutions and development banks unanimously agree that Philippine cities, Davao, Baguio, Angeles, Bacolod, Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro , are becoming “water-critical areas”. ( Water ) has become a critically constrained resource...particularly in areas around Manila and Cebu, threatening socio-economic development,” a World Bank study observes.
Cebu mayor Tomas Osmena’s reaction is “total denial”. The assessment is exaggerated, he sneers. But a sneer is not policy. Nor will it add a drop to demand that relentlessly doubles, from 68 million cubic meters today, to 137 million cubic meters, in 2030.
And his city overdraws twice the amount it’s limited aquifers can recharge. Aquifers are increasingly contaminated by salt. And deepwells are conking out. “Paraplegic governance guarantees that today’s scarcities in Cebu will be tomorrow’s shortages,” Inquirer has pointed out.
“Political leaders vastly underestimate the influence of water scarcity on food production, natural systems and stability,” the Worldwatch Institute’s Sandra Postel notes. “Some unpleasant surprises may lie in store for them.”
Industry and municipal use accounts for a liter and a half out of every 10 liters pumped up. Seven is funneled into irrigation, mostly for food production. Food production would be crippled if water supplies falter.
When El-Nino droughts affected the Angat Maasin river system, for example, irrigation lines to farms were shut. But those to industries remained open. Many farmers went into debt and lost their land because water rights were vested in the National Irrigation Agency, not in a water users association. “
The limited rights of farmers , coupled with the political power of industrial lobbies in Manila, produced an inequitable distribution of adjustment costs,” the UN report notes.
Citizens must demand that their candidates pay attention to who is not getting essential water and why. “Put poor people at the center of water service provision,” the UN recommends. And they should be empowered to discipline often insensitve water agencies. “Create at the same time incentives for water service providers to listen.”
Plans for water must be drawn up. And above all, “national policies and political leadership matter.” And, as candidates seek votes, their commitment to water policies must be secured.
After ballots are cast, we have learned to our sorrow, that Mr Jeykll can become Dr Hyde.
E-mail: juanlmercado@gmail.com
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Housing meltdown widening
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SINCE the last housing crisis occurred some ten years ago and has blurred from memory, the current subprime loan meltdown has become a shocker. As of last December, the Center for Reponsible Lending calculated that 1.7 million homeowners stood to fall victim to the crisis, according to the New York Times. It is estimated $164 billion in property values will be wiped out.
In macroeconomic terms, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan differed from current Chairman Bernanke when he predicts a more pessimistic aftermath. Greenspan has predicted the possibility of the start of a recession as early as the second half of this year.
In a previous column, we detailed the miseries that homeowners face as mortgage defaults spiral upward and foreclosures swamp communities where mortgage banks went to town with subprime loans. As this wave widens, it has begun to impact the economy. The difficulties is showing up in large mortgage industry players.
During the current tax season, the tax service giant H&R Block is assuming a higher profile than usual. In 1997, this company has added Option One to its stable of operations to engage in mortgage banking. It appears Option One has accumulated a large volume ot lending to home buyers with subprime credit, according to a New York Times account.
While H&R Block continued to be profitable with its tax preparation business, its losses with Option One almost offset its tax service earnings. H&R Block is trying now to get rid of its mortgage subsidiary. But after Option One recorded a loss of $60.3 million last year, it encountering a problem to sell the company for $1.3 billion.
Giant automaker General Motors, reports say, suffered a hit with its subsidiary GM Acceptance Corporation or GMAC. GMAC was set up to finance products of General Motors. But a division, Residential Capital, was organized by GMAC to enter the home lending market. Now, reports say GM will be forced to inject $l billion into GMAC because of subprime loan losses.
Analysts had expected GMAC to post a profit of $675 million, but this was affected by the performance of Residential Capital which incurred a loss of $651 million because of subprime loans.
Analysts are saying the volume of problematic loans is expected to increase this year. The main reasons are 1) Variable interest rates of mortgages in the past two years are now starting to be adjusted upward and 2) Home prices will continue to decline.
An analyst of J.P. Morgan Chase reported that 37 percent of subprime loans were made without income verification of borrowers in 2006, compared to only 15 percent in 2000. A third of borrowers took a second mortgage, because they did not have enough funds to make a downpayment. Lacking equity, sale and refinancing are ruled out for these homeowners.
Now, economists are fearfully eyeing the future, because should the economy slowdown and those with stronger credit are affected and contribute to the mounting defaults, then home-buying and consumer spending will slowdown. Remember, the recent economic boom was pushed by the release of equity due to a strong wave of refinancing. But the prospects for lower interest rate have dimmed.
So maybe Greenspan’s second semester recession may not really seem remote. The spike in oil price early this week because of the heating nuclear issue with Iran does not seem helpful either.
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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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