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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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CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST EMPLOYERS
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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)
Tougher enforcement measures are being planned in the coming months against employers that hire undocumented workers, according to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE).
Julie L. Meyers, Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security at USICE warned that no employer regardless of industry or location is immune from complying with the nations laws.
The measures being planned include the filing of criminal charges, seizure of assets and administrative arrests.
As a civil counterpart to criminal investigations, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will raise the civil fines by 25% on those that knowingly hire undocumented workers. Currently, the fines are relatively low that employers treat them as little more than a cost of doing business according to the DHS.
Last August 15, the DHS issued a No Match regulation that requires employers to check the immigration status of their workers whose social security numbers do not match government records. If the discrepancy is not resolved within 93 days from the receipt of the no match letter, the employer is obligated to terminate the employee or face criminal or civil penalties.
Arrests of employers have increased from 24 in Fiscal Year 1999 to 716 in Fiscal Year 2006. Since the start of the Fiscal Year 2007, the number of criminal arrests have dramatically increased to 742.
In its recently released worksite enforcement fact sheet, the USICE described its recent worksite enforcement operations that indicated a strategy shift from civil fines to criminal prosecutions. Those targeted included temporary employment agencies, food processing plants , textile companies and cleaning contractors.
In one case, Trung Nguyen, a naturalized US citizen, operated a temporary employment agency in Ohio supplying 16 companies with temporary workers that he represented to be legally authorized to work. Upon investigation, the USICE found out that the workers were undocumented and the employer assisted them in obtaining fraudulent documents. Mr. Nguyen pleaded guilty to harboring certain aliens, mail fraud, conspiracy and money laundering and was forced to forfeit his equity in his company.
In another case, the president and 2 corporate officers of two temporary labor companies pleaded guilty to conspiracy to induce, aid and abet undocumented aliens to reside in the US. They faced up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.00 The president agreed to forfeit $12 million as part of his plea agreement.
The USICE worksite enforcement worksheet highlighted 15 operations that resulted in criminal charges against those involved in knowingly hiring undocumented workers. Those workers were charged with possession of fraudulent documents and were placed in deportation proceedings.
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Can Success Get Filipinos Interested in Baseball?
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CHICAGO, Illinois (JGL) -- Catherine “Kathy” Tanco-Ong. the low key and unassuming manager of the Philippines’ International Little League Association of Manila (ILLAM) that nearly snared the 27th Junior World Series title last Saturday, never dreamed of staking a claim to an honor dominated by men.
“I was just a chaperon of my children in the sports that they love. Suddenly, other parents nudged me into guiding the ILLAM team.” Ms. Tanco-Ong told this columnist on how she got involved in baseball. Although, she told Dave Gorgon, the public information officer of the organizers of the Junior World Series based in Taylor, Michigan that she was a multi-sport athlete in softball, basketball and cheerleading as a child while living with her American mother in
Maryland where she finished her grade school education, the Manila-born, former Manila newscaster said that she had never participated in these sports in her adult life.
Children are Mark, 14, who plays shortstop for ILLAM, and Alexandra, 17, a catcher for ILLAM’s softball team. Alexandra was chaperoned by her dad, Basil Ong, a businessman, in taking part in the Big League Softball World Series tournament in Kalamazoo, Michigan where they did not fare as well with the boys, who placed second for the Junior World Series title, also last week.
SOCCER MOM
As a human face for soccer moms, Kathy reluctantly accepted the challenge of managing the baseball team composed of 13- and 14-years olds.And if the success of the 2007 ILLAM team is any indication, it is a safe bet to say that Kathy’s management ability has been second to none.
When asked before the championship game if she will continue to manage the team, Kathy said, “I really don’t know.” She has been holding such position for the last three years. “I will keep this position at the pleasure of the other parents of the team. If they want me to hold on, I will. If not, I will be glad to give it up to somebody else.”
She is only the second female manager to ever reach the finals.
When asked if she was able to verify if the members of her team are really “13- and 14-years olds and are really all residents of Metro Manila,” she empathically answered “yes.”
To make sure that her answer was validated, she asked me to talk to another parent, Alberto “Abet” Catangui, who confirmed that other parents made sure that their children in the team really belong to the required age group and residency.
I told Ms. Tanco-Ong and Mr. Catangui that I needed to pose the questions because in case they won the Junior World Series title, the team members are going to be placed under a microscope.
I reminded them that in 1992, after the Philippine Little League, representing Zamboanga City, won the 11- and 12-year old Little League World Series championship in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, critics, who could not believe a team from far-away Zamboanga could win it all, cast doubts on the talents of the players by questioning their ages and residency qualifications.
NATIONAL EMBARASSMENT
Unfortunately, the criticisms checked out, causing a national embarrassment after investigation showed that some players in the Zamboanga team were overage and were non-residents of Zamboanga.
This caused the organizers of Little League to withdraw the World Series award from Zamboanga team and awarded it instead to runner-up Long Beach, California team.
A disturbing information from that international scandal was that leaders of the Zamboaga team allegedly conspired in altering the ages and the residencies of the players.
Learning a costly lesson from the Zamboanga debacle, which I believe is part of growing pains, the parents of this ILLAM team made every effort to follow the rules of the game by enlisting only players who meet the age and residency requirements.
By succeeding in the tournament without employing short cuts, the returning champs deserve the gratitude of a proud nation.
For those who missed the championship game, it is going to be replayed on ESPN 2 at 2 p.m., EST, Wednesday Aug. 29.
This phenomenal win should give an opportunity for this American pastime to have a natural place in the hearts of vertically-challenged Filipino fans who worship a strange game of basketball, which calls for extra tall players.
HAIL TO THE WINNERS
If the untrained daughter of the late Agriculture Secretary Arturo “Bong” Tanco teased us for nearly winning the Junior World Series title, just imagine what a former baseball player or a trained coach can do?
For now, let’s celebrate and give Ms. Tanco-Ong and her young players high fives for putting the Philippines on the baseball map.
(lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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Our paths crossed, for the last time, at San Francisco’s International Airport. The family and I were heading for our Bangkok flight gate. We bumped into former Senator Benigno Aquino, striding toward his Boston plane.
The years blur most of our chat that day. We laughed recalling my securing a “carrier pigeon” -- a sympathetic Air India manager -- to sneak his article, smuggled from a Fort Bonifacio prison cell, under martial law censor noses, to Bangkok Post editor Theh Chongkadikhij.
Ferbuary 1973, the Post ran “The Aquino Papers”. This three-part series proved the first direct challenge to the dictatorship. “I will not accept President Marcos’s offer of an amnesty because I do not believe I’ve committed any crime,” Aquino wrote. And I cannot support his New Society because I believe firmly that he violated our Constitution and broke our laws.” ( That may be relevant to a Joseph Estrada sweating out the anti-graft court’s decision on plunder accusations.. )
Press Information minister Francisco Tatad cabled a furious 8,000 word reply. Reprisals followed. Aquino and cell-mate Senator Jose Diokno were hustled into solitary confinement—and almost starved to death—in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija.
For 43 days, Corazon Aquino and family were turned away by prison guards. Carmen Diokno and children received the same harsh treatment. “It was only when Cory asked Deputy Defense Minister Carmelo Barbero why that she learned it was ‘punishment’ for the Post series, Miriam Grace Go reported.
The airport PA called for us to board, cutting our chat short. . As we parted , my then 13-year old son, Francis, groused: "Why didn't you introduce me? That's the next Philippine president."
That was not to be.
Twenty-four years ago, this Tuesday, the 52-year old Aquino returned to Manila on board a China Airlines flight from Taipei. While military agents "guarded" him, a single bullet tore into his jaw, on the service gangway.
“The Nation” reporter reached my United Nations office to ask for reaction. All I mumbled then was: “Marcos claims he heads a ‘command society’. Since he has all powers, he also has all the responsibility.” And as a numb afterthought, I added: “Manila will be renamed Aquino International Airport. Mark my words.”
Marcos' censored press suppressed the arrival statement that Aquino never got to read. The two-page speech is part of history in a country where over half of youngsters now barely know Aquino, surveys say.
"I have returned of my own free will to join the ranks of those struggling to recover our rights and freedoms through non-violence," Aquino planned to say. "I seek no confrontation... Aquino knew that the dictator suffered then from failing kidneys and lupus.. A direct appeal to the isolated Marcos could help usher in peaceful change -- and cap looming violence.
Return would provoke a brutal regime, many warned Ninoy. He saw the danger. "If they kill me, they're out in two years," he predicted. That forecast fell short of People Power Revolt by four years. Was Ninoy's adamance stupidity ? Or principled stubbornness?
The Duke of Norfolk also badgered the imprisoned Thomas More to heed Henry VIII's demand for consent to his divorce. "Think Master More," the Duke urged. Indignatio principis mors est. ( “The prince's anger is death.)” To which More calmly replied: "Is that all my Lord? In good faith then, there's no difference between your Grace and me --- but that I shall die today, and you tomorrow."
Under the dictatorship’s thumb, Military Commission No. 2 found Aquino “guilty” of subversion. They sentenced him to “death by musketry.”. Censorship ensured that few heard what Aquino said after the sentence.
Aquino said he could not be tried by a military tribunal when civilian courts functioned. Could the commission recall the names of military judges who tried Andres Bonifacio?. They could not. Aquino ticked off the names. “Today, nobody remembers the names of those judges. But we meet in a fort that is named in honor of the very man they sentenced to death.”
And so it came to pass in Aquino’s case.
Ninoy's funeral saw two million mourners line the streets. Thousands were glued to Radio Veritas, the only station that dared to cover the rites. It took 12 hours for Aquino's hearse to reach Manila Memorial Park, after a Santo Domingo requiem Mass. "No umbrellas," people chanted as rain fell. "Only Imelda uses an umbrella!"-- a jeer at cronies who'd hold a parasol over the First Lady.
Crowds forcibly lowered the giant Philippine flag to half-mast when Aquino's coffin passed Rizal Park. Who could foresee that was a forerunner of People Power four years on. The blood of martyrs is the seed of heroes.
The nation marks his death, as we will on Tuesday Places are named after him. So is the Manila International Airport. His features grace our currency. And his family never demanded a Libingan Ng Mga Bayani plot.. In contrast, the Marcoses have wheedled, unsuccessfully so far, for such a plot.
Now a 37-year old Northwest Airlines pilot, Francis never got to meet Ninoy.But the old questions fester : Who were the mastermind(s) in Aquino’s assassination? Why have they manage to escape accounting. Do people care? And who remembers the judges of Military Commission No. 2?
Indeed, the “struggle of man against power,” as Czech novelist Milan Kundera once said,” is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”###
(E-mail: juan_mercado@pacific.net.ph)
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Of the crises we mentioned last week facing the Philippines, the most time sensitive is the one involving national security. And this is the Muslim problem involving the Abu Sayyaf rebels of Southern Philippines.
Many Filipinos will probably be surprised to learn that their government de facto does not fully exercise governance in that region in Mindanao politically designated as the ARRM.
And that the situation is recognized and accepted by whoever sits in Malacanang and the Armed Forces of the Philppines and the National Police, of which he or she is the commander in chief.
In that Muslim area, Philippine laws are selectively enforced. Take the laws governing firearms, for example. In other parts of the country, the ownership of a gun is subject to licensing. And carrying a gun outside of one's home additionally requires a permit to carry.
In the ARMM territory, if the police were to enforce these laws, the jails will not be big enough to contain all the people who will volate said laws and be arrested. And worse, if an attempt is made to enforce said laws, there will surely be a rebellion by the Muslims who are said to value their guns more than their wives.
This quirk in law enforcement was put to test when early this month, Philippine marines entered the forbidden area to pursue the Abu Sayyaf and a group of MILF rebels, resulting in a firefight which caused the death of 15 soldiers and the beheading of some of them. The incident is one one of the series of battles which as of this writing have resulted in a total casualty of over 50 troopers, a bigger number of rebels, collateral deaths of more civilians, and the evacuation of l5,000 families. And still counting, as the violence escalates.
And this is happening as peace talks between the government and the MILF Muslim rebels started in Kuala Lumpur under the auspices of Malasia technically is going on but remains suspended. An important agenda in the talks is the issue of "ancestral domain'.
The issue is based on the Muslim rebels' claim that long before the Spanish and American colonizers arrived on Philippine shores, the Muslim ancestors of Filipinos were exercising power over the territory, and therefore, they retain certain rights over the land that the Republic of the Philippines must recognize.
In her recent comments on the present situation, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyohas offically acknowledged the issue of ancestral domain.
Alarmed at the worsening violence, the Catholic Bishop of Basilan has implored the government to put a stop to the fighting. The Church laments the mounting casualties as a waste of lives.
It has become a baptism of fire for former Congressman Gilberto Teodoro who has just assumed the position of Secretary of Defense. Secretary Teodoro, of course, has to echo the government's position and that of his military commanders, which is to pursue the fight against the rebels.
The mounting military casualties have drawn diverse comments from civilian and military officials. The comments express surprise that inspite of their numerical superiority, the Armed Forces of the Philippines appears to be having insurmountable problems in staving off their casualties. The criticisms range from poor use of intelligence, wrong tactical strategy, poor training of officers and soldiers, to defective equipment, firearms and ammunitions. There has been a demand for replacement of the generals commanding the troops in the field.
Navy Lt. Antonio Trillanes, who is being tried for mutiny, was elected Senator last May.
He created a stir when he recently accused military and civilian officials of working against the AFP by deliberately causing a situation where marines were deliberately deployed to be massacred by the rebels. A senior member of the Senate, former Marine general, and former AFP chief of staff Rodolfo Biazon called attention to ongoing corruption in the military brass that gave rise to defective equipment, firearms and ammunitions being supplied to the soldiers, as well as defective use of military intelligence.
As of recently, a total of almost 10,000 soldiers have been deployed to fight from 150 to 200 Muslim rebels. But soldiers continued to be slaughtered. Agusan Congressman Rodolfo Plaza from Mindanao said the AFP, it appears, is not ready to fight the Abu Sayyaf and allied Muslim rebels.
It will be recalled that the problem of the Abu Sayyaf has been around for years. Successive occupants of Malacanang keep saying that the bandit group is about to be wiped out, only to resurrect afterwards. Senator Biazon mentioned that maybe it's time to come up with a long-term solution like converting the government into a federal form, with Mindanao as one member of the federation.
We remember many years ago when Intramuros in Manila was overran by squatters. Mayor Tony Villegas tried to solve the problem by relocating the squatters to Sapang Palay in Bulacan. During the process of relocation, we chanced upon an officer of City Hall and asked him why in spite of periodic drives, the city government never seemed to be able to clear the walled city of squatters. His frank and simple reply floored us. He said he worked in the office charged with the squatter problem. "If we successfully achieved ridding the city of squatters, we'd be out of work," he said.
We hope we don't have a similar situation with the Abu Sayyaf rebels. The stake is much bigger.
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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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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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