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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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THE kidnapping of Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi on June 10 in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay reportedly by a renegade leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front once again brought to the limelight the growing reputation of the Philippines as one of the kidnap capitals of the world.
According to international company providing kidnap and ransom insurance to the Lloyd’s of London, the Philippines is the fifth worst kidnapping country in the world. The Hiscox Kidnap Monitor showed that RP is behind Colombia, Mexico, the former Soveit Union and Brazil in terms of number of kidnappings from 1992 to 1999.
In 1996, however, the Philippines topped the list of countries with major kidnapping problem. In 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998, it ranked second. In 1999, the Philippines had the fifth highest incidence of kidnapping.
That kidnapping has become a major industry in the Philippines is already an accepted fact in our society. But that we are among the countries with the most number of kidnapping incidents is a very shocking piece of information. We know weâ’re bad, but we didn’t know we were that bad.
Kidnapping for ransom became a major concern in the late 80s, when then-President Corazon Aquino started to clean up the pro-Marcos military, then a very powerful institution that has a stranglehold on almost every aspect of the nation’s lifeline. It was widely believed that former military men, kicked out of service or deprived of their former illegal sources of income during the Marcos years, turned to kidnapping-for-ransom to maintain their lifestyles.
The situation grew worse in the early 90s when both the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front entered into peace talks with the government. The end of the war in Mindanao meant former rebels, still in possession of powerful guns, had nothing to do and no clear source of livelihood. Moreover, hardcore members became disgruntled and broke away and dedicated themselves to embarrassing both the MNLF and the MILF.
The result? The rise of powerful kidnap-for-ransom syndicates.
Not even President Ramos, a former Armed Forces chief, and President Estrada, a movie tough guy who has been talking tough against kidnappers, could arrest the rising menace posed by kidnap-for-ransom gangs. And with the government’s inability to stop them, these syndicates have become bolder and daring through the years. One glaring example was the daring kidnapping of American and European tourists in the neighboring Malaysian island resort of Sipadan in 2000.
Bossi is the third Italian priest kidnapped in Zamboanga Peninsula in the past ten years. Moro rebels kidnapped Fr. Luciano Benedetti, 52, in Zamboanga del Norte province in 1998 and held for nearly 10 weeks until he was freed in exchange for a huge ransom from the government. In 2001, renegade MILF rebels snatched Fr. Giuseppi Pierantoni, 44, from Bologna, in Zamboanga del Sur. He escaped from his abductors after six months in captivity.
With the resurging audacity of the local kidnap-for-ransom gangs, it is not hard to imagine that it won’t take long before we snatch from Colombia the infamous distinction of being the kidnap capital of the world.
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Lawsuit Planned As Visa Numbers Disappear
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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 Department of State announced last June 13 that immigrant visa numbers for all employment-based categories except that for low–skilled workers would be available in July 2007, intending immigrants rushed at great expense to gather their supporting documents, including their medical examination report.
A properly filed adjustment of status application would have entitled them to interim benefits such as work authorization and travel permit.
We immediately notified our clients about the urgency in submitting their applications. We believed that they had a short window, possibly one or two months, to prepare all their requirements.
On June 29, we sent their applications via express mail and felt confident that they would be accepted.
All Visa Numbers Used Up
On July 2, the first business day the applications were supposed to be accepted, the USCIS made the unprecedented announcement that the Department of State had revised the July 2007 visa bulletin.
The USCIS went on to say that all visa numbers had already been allocated and therefore it was rejecting all adjustment applications.
What Happened?
According to informed sources, when the June 13 announcement came out, there were still 40,000 employmentvisa numbers left for fiscal year 2007. But the USCIS instructed its offices to accelerate the adjudication of pending cases regardless of whether background checks were cleared. In June alone, 60,000 cases were reportedly approved.
The rejection of adjustment applications has elicited condemnation from lawyers and immigration advocates.
Even the Chair of the House Judiciary Sub-committee on Immigration, Rep. Zen Lofgren, express her serious concerns that the unprecedented action gravely “undermined the stability and predictability of US immigrations laws.”
Kathleen Campbell Walker, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association said that “this hoax perpetrated by these two government agencies is unconscionable.”
A few weeks ago the Department of State had made a similar action when it announced in the middle of May the availability of visa numbers for low skilled workers in June 2007. However, on June 6 the USCIS said that visa numbers for that category had been exhausted and was therefore rejecting applications filed on or after that date.
Class Action
Because of this bait and switch, the American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) is preparing to file a class action against the USCIS and the Department of State. The suit will be filed on behalf of those who have been harmed because of the rejection or expectation of rejection of their properly submitted adjustment of status applications.
The AILF believes that the Department of State and the USCIS violated the law, specifically 8 CFR 245.1(g) (1). The AILF will ask the court to order the USCIS to accept the rejected adjustment applications and treat them as having been filed as of the date they originally would have been filed had USCIS not rejected them.
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Blurring The Lines Of Editorial And Advertising
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CHICAGO, Illinois – It makes me happy and proud if an ethnic Filipino American newspaper turns a profit, like the Philippine News, based in South San Francisco, California.
As a former editorial and advertising assistant bureau chief of the Philippine News in its Chicago, Illinois bureau, I intermittently follow the ups and downs of this self-proclaimed “largest Filipino American newspaper.” I considered it down when one of its correspondents plagiarized my story that appeared in the front of the Manila Bulletin, a daily newspaper in the Philippines, as its correspondent replaced my byline with his own and caused its publication on the front page of the Philippine News.
I threatened its then editor-publisher Alex Esclamado to take his newspaper to federal court since a copyright violation is a federal offense. But Mr. Esclamado asked for forgiveness and fired his wayward correspondent and promised to send me a free subscription of his paper for life that I never received.
But I was happy when then Vice President Joseph Estrada informed me sometime in 1997 that one of his supporters, now Ambassador to UK Edgar Espiritu, was buying the Philippine News from Mr. Esclamado.
Happy because I thought, a change of leadership in the 47-year-old publication will also mean a change of culture that will take this newspaper to a higher level – professionalism and observer, if not stickler, of the ethics of journalism.
No journalism background
But it pained me when I learned recently that none of the Espiritu family, now managing the paper, has any background in journalism, press or public relations or advertising.
The weekly paper is being run by honest-to-goodness businesspeople, with nothing in mind but profitability, instead of credibility. The Espiritu would later call its advertisers “investors” and their competition “mosquito” newspapers.
If I were Mr. Esclamado, I would have imposed on the Espiritus that as buyers of Philippine News, the new owners should agree to run the broadsheet, giving premium on the promotion of the truth, and profitability second.
As professionalism goes, I hope, the Espiritus are also paying their editorial staff and contributors. But as to the promotion of truth, the Espiritus should attend journalism schools, if not press, public relations or advertising programs.
Firing their seasoned and journalism-trained editor just because the editor’s discretion does not sit well with their major advertisers should not be the first option. It should be the last.
The Espiritus should realize that if the readers were supporting their newspaper because they are publishing and promoting the truth, they would be able to generate a wider readership base that will be attractive to advertisers that will prop up their newspaper’s bottom line.
When the Espiritus fired Mr. Lito Gutierrez for running a story critical to their advertiser, the firing was Espiritus’ lack of knowledge or blatant disregard of one of the cornerstones of the principles in journalism – objectivity and fair play.
Damage control
If the Espiritus knew this principle, they would have appeased their advertiser by telling the advertiser to issue a press release that will run alongside the adverse story or be published in the following issue. Aside from being under the good graces of the advertiser, who should be told that the same story could appear in the competing “mosquito” newspapers that might even make the publicity worse, the Espiritus will not only be keeping the account of the major advertiser but also their editor.
“Mosquito” newspapers refer to the crude martial law newspapers in the Philippines, being harassed by Marcos, who cut their power supplies, prompting these newspapers to operate outside the comforts of their buildings and under the stings of the mosquitoes.
Of course, the Espiritus will only learn these principles had they attended journalism, press, public relations or advertising schools, seminars or joined some reputable press organizations, which promote these principles.
Now, the Espiritus have attracted unwanted attention to their advertiser – the case of Mr. Carlos Araneta, head of the San Francisco-based cargo and money remittance facility LBC, who had lost his appeal to have a court ruling reversed.
Araneta had been ordered to pay $25-M to his partners, who accused him of depleting the assets of their partnership in a bank.
In another story, Gutierrez said PN president Francis Espiritu asked him not to use any story on businessman Rene Medina who had been charged by the Internal Revenue Service with failing to pay taxes.
Medina is the owner of Lucky Chances, a gaming facility in Colma, Calif., which, like LBC, is major PN advertiser.
These incidents are no different from the business deal the Los Angeles Times had with Staples Center. The Times was roundly criticized for publishing a special issue of the paper’s Sunday magazine devoted to the arena.
The deal soon became a scandal when it was revealed that the two sides had agreed to split the profits on the sale of ads, a breach of the wall set up in news organizations between the news and business sides.
But Mr. Gutierrez is lucky; he is promoting press freedom in the United States.
But if he were still a journalist in the Philippines, where businessmen and politicians turn to assassins instead of hiring the services of a press or public relations practitioner to get fair play, he could now be a Dead Man Walking.
(lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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“MIGRANT money buoys the economy. Migrant departures split parents from children” Over lunch “lofty talk of opportunity abroad mixes with accounts of false travel documents and sham marriages” to bag a visa.
One out of every eight Filipinos today works abroad. Remittances from overseas workers last year topped $12 billion. And anecdotal evidence indicates family abandonment cases are surging. So, the paragraph above is about the Philippines, right?
Wrong. This is a New York Times quote on migration ripping West Africa’s Cape Verde. The article offers a glimpse into how over 200 million migrants worldwide recast societies in a planet “where borders are closing.” Cape Verde’s searing experience “makes this barren archipelago the Galapagos of migration”, writes Jason De Parle.
Isolas de Galapagos, ( “Islands of the Tortoises” ) are desolate Pacific islands, 600 miles west of Ecuador. Studying it’s plant and wildlife led the naturalist Charles Darwin, in 1835, to conclude that different species, over time, adapt to their environment. At certain times of year, fog blankets the Galapagos. Thus, 17th-century sailors claimed the “enchanted islands” were “mere shadows”.
“Is the Philippines the “Galapagos of migration” in Asia? One asked after reading De Parle’s earlier NY Times Magazine cover story on Filipino OFWs. “A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves” tracked three generations of a Pasay City swimming pool cleaner’s family who became an OFW. “In no other sizeable country do remittances loom as large as 14 percent of the national GDP…But no country ever broke free from penury just by remittances.”
Of $127 billion migrants sent home in 2004, Asians accounted for $53 billion. The total now exceeds $300 billion last year, World Bank estimates That’s almost triple the world’s foreign aid budgets combined.
The money renovates tattered houses, buy subdivision plots, pays for medicine and tuition, seed small businesses --- plus cell phones, fancy clothing and, in some instances, mistresses, karaokes and booze. Sapagkat kami ay tao lamang.
Cash shoved migration up policy agendas of “receiving nations”, like the US or Canada, and “sending” countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka -- and yes, even the Britain.
British Broadcasting Corporation reports that 3,200, out of 8,000 UK nurses flew to Australia, due to National Health Service budget cuts. Over 165,000 Malaysians cross the Johore bridge daily to jobs in Singapore.
Nearly half the migrants from poor nations move to other poor nations, De Parle observes. . Chinese shopkeepers chase markets on Cape Verde.
African peddlers fleeing homelands torn by war and worse poverty. As Zimbabawe crumbles from the Marcos-style governance of Robert Mugabe, thousands flee next door.
Migration is a universal phenomenon and that involves survival Thus, an unspoken global migrants creed has emerged: “If a place is no good, change it.” That is inevitable in what one academic calls : “The Age of Migration.”
But “this is also the age of migration alarm,” De Parle notes.
Even before September 11, hurdles were growing, like the “3-S Strategy,” Asian Development Bank noted.
Entry visas are go only for “skilled workers for short-term employment in specific sectors.” Language skills are tested and visa processing is longer, costlier.
“European ships patrol African coasts to intercept human smugglers and new fences are planned along the Rio Grande” between the US and Mexico,” he notes..
“Countries that want migrate muscle and brains also want more border control…and fear bonfires of religious and cultural conflict.”
Migration today is at record levels. More women are migrating. Marlou Schrover of Leiden University notes that in migration history, men, as well as the poor, the desperate, and the exceptional have attracted more attention than other migrants.
And the “death of distance” due to the jet, internet. telephone - have made cultural differences smaller.
As migration grows, the desire to experience its economic rewards grows even faster. Less obvious but more worrisome is the frustration of people desperate to migrate but who cannot.
“What characterizes the world today is also the feeling of involuntary immobility,” saysDr. R. Carling of Oslo’s International Peace Research Institute.
Migration supply rich economies with brawn and brains of migrants. Remittances feed and shelter the poor, underscoring family devotion.
But constant emphasis on departures. strains family bonds and erodes marriages.. It also increases inequalities between migrants and those who can’t leave.
A country that can not hold on to it best and brightest compromises it’s future. Such countries find they must reinvent themselves as nations beyond borders. \ Migration drains the Philippines of essential skills, ADB cautions.
Spoonfeeding individuals and governments puts off tough reforms. “Relying on remittances — and the prospect of going abroad one day — can alienate,” De Parle notes.
That alienation finds it’s expression in song. In Cape Verde, the song “Sodade” conveys “longing, longing, longing for my island.”
And De Parle remembers Filipino migrants in Dhubai belting out “It’s So Painful, Big Brother Eddie”, a 1980’s Tagalog classic “that immortalizes every Filipino migrant’s fears.” --- since we never got our act, at home, together.
(E-mail : juan_mercado@pacific.net.ph )
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Blueprint For Post-Election GMA Administration
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THE last May election exposed some serious weaknesses of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration. Now GMA is trying to focus on two glaring defects, namely, the high visibility of the military in her government and her ineffective political organization. The remedy her advisers must have recommended to her appears to be a case of a stone hitting two birds at the same time.
One proposal is commonly done by any new administration. Although there was some confusion among GMA’s spokespersons, the basic announcement made was the reorganization of the cabinet and the heads and boards of the government’s financial institutions and government-owned and controlled corporations. The move will not only indicate what policy changes GMA plans. It will also provide her with opportunities to make available goodies to distribute as rewards and recognitions to loyal followers who have proven themselves and to others whom she wish to recruit into her team.
One early move just announced was the appointment of Rep. Gilberto Teodoro of Tarlac as Secretary of Defense. Teodoro’s appointment achieves at the same time a number of objectives that could help solve her perceived weanesses. Teodoro is one of the top leaders of the Nationalist People’s Coalition or NPC. He is not only close to but is a kin of NPC’s headman, industrialist Danding Cojuangco, chairman of beer and food giant San Miguel Corporation.
Many know that Danding Cojuangco has used his personal resources for years in looking out especially for candidates running for the Senate and the House of Representatives, who are talented and have a good chance of getting elected. He would help to finance their campaign. After being elected, whether they openly join the NPC or not, it is presumed they would be part of the “friends of Danding” and be sympathetic to his political and business interests.
Thus, today NPC constitutes a powerful political party. New Defense Secretary Teodoro is a promising link between GMA’s Kampi and NPC. An important alliance, especially in view of the perceived weakening of ties between Kampi and De Venecia and Ramos’ Lakas.
Teodoro replaces. Gen. Hermogenes Ebdane, one of GMA’s military clique in government, belonging to the group of generals tainted with the “Hello Garci” election scandal, and reported responsible for keeping her in power. These generals have been appointed to sensitive high civilian positions. The replacement of Ebdane with a civilian should soften the military image of GMA’s administration.
Teodoro may be a suitable appointee. In addition to his political connection, he has exhibited some toughness in the past. During Pres. Marcos time, Teodoro was appointed Social Security administrator. We remember an anecdote told to us by some insurance examiners from the Department of Finance. Two of these examiners one morning presented themselves to Teodoro at his SSS office in Quezon City. They carried a letter asking Teodoro to allow them to audit the SSS, which although engaged in public pension, was perceived as an insurance institution. The GSIS had undergone such audit.
Reportedly, Teodoro refused the audit and threatened the examiners that if they did not leave, he would bodily throw them out the window from the 10th floor of the SSS edifice. The poor examiners meekly left and never returned. Teodoro was so tough he reportedly was able to resist attempts by the First Lady Imelda Marcos to touch the SSS funds for her socio economic projects. The GSIS was not so lucky and suffered financial difficulties.
Teodoro’s guts may be tested when he faces GMA’s generals.
Expect GMA to pursue her move to dangle congressional committee chairmanships to Opposition lawmakers to persuade them to form political alliances, temporary or permanent, with her Kampi. Already she may have succeeded in co-opting even members of the Genuine Opposition to form a coalition to elect Senator-elect Manny Villar as Senate President. Reports are that even Senators-elect Chiz Escudero and Alan Cayetano, both oppositionists, are already wavering.
The cheering for the Opposition victory last May has barely died down. Voters who delivered victory to the Opposition is already sensing frustration as the Politics of Expediency rears its head.
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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:
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219 North Brand Boulevard, Glendale, California 91203
Telephone: (818) 543-5800
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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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