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For the past 21 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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LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao may not have unleashed his patented knockout punch Saturday, Oct. 6, but he was aggressive and was in command throughout the 12 rounds en route to win a unanimous decision over Mexican champion Marco Antonio Barrera at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fighters would hurt each other as they exchanged vicious combinations.
In the sixth round, Manny Pacquiao assumed his dominance when he exploded with a powerful combination that caused Barrera to lean on the ropes. But Barrera delivered a right counter-punch that appeared to harm Pacquiao. The Filipino fought back with left-right combinations. When he returned to his corner, Pacquiao was told to keep the pace of his breathing.
In the seventh round, there was a slowdown of action but Manny Pacquiao dominated the round with combinations to the head and midsection of Barrera. Pacquiao was attacking the right side of Barrera.
In the eighth round, Barrera opened with a 1-2 combination after Manny Pacquiao dropped his guard off his face. Pacquiao tried to counter-attack with a right-left-right combination that landed in the head, the right and face of Barrera. But Barrera fought back.
In the ninth round, Manny Pacquiao managed to pin Barrera on the ropes twice. Barrera was able to avoid additional blows. Pacquiao followed up with combinations that wore down Barrera, who merely deflected the blows.
In the tenth round, Marco Antonio Barrera went into offensive but let Manny Pacquiao fight back. Pacquiao tried to put Barrera into a corner. But Barrera managed to veer away, avoiding Pacquiao’s attack.
In the 11th round, Manny Pacquiao opened an incision below the right eye of Marco Antonio Barrera that stunned and almost floored him. Pacquiao followed up with a series of right-left combinations that wore down the Mexican. This prompted Barrera to hit Pacquiao in the head while they were being separated by referee Tony Weeks, who docked a point off Barrera.
In the 12th and final round, both fighters continued to exchange solid combinations. Sensing that he is behind on points, Barrera tried to go for a knockout but Pacquiao’s jabs kept Barrera away.
Both fighters raised their arms at the end of the 12th round. Barrera’s celebration was short-lived as Judge Tom Schreck scored it 115-112 for Pacquiao while Jerry Roth and Glenn Trowbridge had identical scores of 118-109 for Pacquiao. This reporter scored it 118-112.
According to Compubox, Pacquiao threw 694 punches, connecting with 256, which is about 37% while Barrera threw 578 punches, connecting with 120, which is about 21%.
In the undercard, Steven Luevano of La Puente, California won a unanimous decision over Antonio Davis of Atlanta, Georgia for the WBO Featherweight title; Librado Andrade of Guanjuato, Mexico won by TKO at 2:34 of the 7th round over Yusaf Mack of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for USBA Super Middleweight title; Steve Forbes of Detroit, Michigan won by split decision over Francisco Bojado of Guadalajara, Mexico for the Junior Welterweight title; Vicente Escobedo of Woodland, California won by unanimous decision over Miguel Angel Munguia of Mexico City, Mexico for the Junior lightweights; Michael Farenas of Gubat, Sorsogon, Philippines won by TKO at 0:59 of the second round of the scheduled six rounds over Arturo Valenzuela of Tijuana, Mexico for the Featherweights; and Alejandro Perez of Salinas, California won by TKO at 0:27 of the 5th round over Jaime Villa of Ojinaga, Mexico for the Featherweights.
Pacquiao said, “I m satisfied with the win. I tried to give people a good show and I hope people liked this fight.
“My preparation and training for this fight allowed me to go the distance. I wasn’t worried about the fight going to the scorecards.
“He is still a good fighter so I was careful throughout the fight.”
For his part, Marco Antonio Barrera said, “He is a good boxer. We boxed him well. We thought we were doing a good job with the left hand until that head butt.
“The fight was very hard because he had a very strong defense. It was tough to break through that. “It doesn’t matter I am happy. He hit me with very strong punches, but I held up. I am happy with this closing fight.”
For his part, Freddie Roach, the chief trainer of Pacquiao, said “I was surprised Barrera went the full 12 rounds. He showed a lot of heart and guts. Manny boxed well and showed good footwork, which was what we worked on during training camp. Manny cut him off and moved him to the right, which was a beautiful thing.”
While Barrera was going to retire from boxing, Pacquiao is on quest to be the best super featherweight in the world.
He is due for a rematch with reigning world champion Juan Manuel Marquez, who fought Pacquiao to a controversial draw after getting knocked down thrice in the first round.
Pacquiao has previously beaten Erik Morales twice and beat Jorge Solis and Oscar Larios. Larios was the only one who avoided getting knocked out by the Pacman. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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JERSEY CITY – The continuing story of Meraly Mariano, the little Filipina girl from Mindoro, who was sponsored by Jude Tiner and the Rotary Gift of Life for a complicated heart procedure, reached its climax last Monday, October 1 when doctors from St. Joseph’s hospital in Paterson, NJ performed a very successful operation.
“She is doing well after the surgery”, said Jude Tiner, the Vietnam War veteran who first met Meraly in Mindoro during a mission, and the one who brought the her case to the Rotary Gift of Life.
The operation was performed to correct Meraly’s heart defect known as ‘Tetralogy of Fallot’ -a congenital heart defect which classically has four anatomical components. It is the most common cyanotic heart defect and the most common cause of blue baby syndrome.
A few days after her surgery, Meraly was up and running. She didn’t remain bed ridden, and was full of life and energy. She even had a free haircut.
Tiner said that Meraly and her guardian Criselda Malicdem will be spending the Holidays in Bayonne before flying back to Mindoro in January.
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JERSEY CITY–Disregarding calls for a recount, the Philippine Independence Day Committee Inc. declared Raul Estrellado as the new president of PIDC who garnered 78 votes over National Federation of Filipino Americans Association (Naffaa) eastern region chair Arnie Rosario with 77 votes.
It was a close fight in an elections held last Saturday. Estrellado was optimistic, his victory would mean a successful independence day celebrations for 2008 in New York.
“I want to consolidate many associations to support our parade and to raise more funds. We will work to get more corporate sponsors,” said Estrellado.
Estrellado has been active with PIDC since 1997 and was the general services director of PIDC for last June’s parade.
Rosario and his supporters initially planned to protest the elections, questioning the only one vote margin of Estrellado but the latter said both them had a prior “gentlemen’s agreement” that whoever lost in the elections would support the other. He said he expected his opponent to respect their agreement.
Estrellado said it was an honest elections and it’s time for Filipinos to unite and work for a joyous celebrations of independence day next summer.
The Philippine Independence Day celebration here is the biggest outside the Philippines. It covers Northeast U.S.A. It includes not only New York but also the twelve states under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Consulate General in New York, namely, Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. Depending on the theme each year, the overall chairperson may expand and invite other areas to participate in PIDC's many activities.
Traditionally held along Manhattan's Madison Avenue from 23rd to 40th Streets, the culmination of the preparation, the Grand Parade, Street Fair and fantastic Cultural Show, held in June each. The festivities include the Diwa ng Kalayaan (beauty and talent contest), Youth Festival, Independence Ball, Consul General Night, Grand Marshal Night, other fundraising activities, special cultural presentations and other events that may be initiated by the overall chairperson. “It may be difficult to have real unity among Filipinos, but I hope that PIDC will have a successful celebrations next June,” said Isagani Puertollano, PIDC president for 2007 who backed the candidacy of Estrellado.
Estrellado said that just like the Irish, Puerto Rican and Israeli people in America, the Filipinos should be proud of having its own parade to showcase its heritage. He said on June, Filipinos in the East Coast must join this major festivity and wave Philippines and American flags at the occasion.
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CHICAGO – When Roger L. “Rod” Strunk’s fourth and last wife filed for divorce against him only after less than three months of marriage, Mr. Strunk did not even know that the divorce decree was approved by the Superior Court of Shasta County in Redding, California.
By the time the dissolution of marriage of Mr. Strunk to the former Patricia Ann Dore of Redding became final on Aug. 3, 2007, Mr. Strunk had died 23 days earlier.
“Are you Mr. Strunk?,” a female clerk from the court asked this reporter, “I can send you a free copy of the divorce papers that was returned to sender.”
When this reporter informed the clerk that Mr. Strunk had died and this reporter needed a copy of the divorce papers, the clerk said, “you have to pay.”
Investigation conducted by this reporter showed that Mr. Strunk, the former husband of the late Filipino movie star Nida Blanca, was married to Ms. Dore, a retired senior assessment clerk at Shasta county government, in a civil wedding on Dec. 29, 2006 in Redding.
The marriage was officiated by Douglas E. Patten, deputy commissioner of civil marriage of Shasta county. The ceremony was witnessed by Strunk’s sister, Sharol E. Grove of La Selva Beach, California. It was his fourth marriage and her seventh.
NOTHING TO DIVIDE
For his part, Mr. Strunk indicated that the cause of termination of his last marriage as “death” of his wife on Nov. 7, 2001 while Patricia A. Strunk said the termination of her last marriage was caused by “dissolution” of her marriage earlier that month – Dec. 4, 2006.
On March 21, 2007, less than three months after their civil wedding, Mrs. Patricia A. Strunk filed a “default or uncontested” divorce, seeking to nullify the marriage and restoring her maiden name, Patricia Ann Dore.
The approved divorced court order said “there are no community property assets” nor “community debts” to divide.
Reached for comment, Patricia Dore emailed this reporter, saying, “Received your letter. I have no comment nor do I wish to be involved in this matter.”
Autopsy report on Mr. Strunk’s death obtained by this reporter from the Coroner’s office of the San Joaquin county in French Camp, California showed that Mr. Strunk checked in alone at Tracy Inn at 24 West Eleventh Street in Tracy, California.
LOCKED FROM INSIDE
Before jumping to his death 20 feet below from the second floor of the hotel at 11:36 a.m. on July 11, 2007, Mr. Strunk locked the door and placed the latch on top of the door. This prevented the responding homicide investigator, Det. Dean Hicks, to get into his room. Once the investigator gained entry in his room, there was no on else inside and he “found a duffel bag with the property belonging” to Strunk.
The two rooms adjoining Strunk’s occupied room were empty.
Probers learned that a woman earlier saw Strunk “on his balcony by himself, leaning over.”
When Strunk’s body was found, it was lying on his back and both of his hands were “bagged and taped at the wrist,” indicating that Strunk never planned to break his fall.
Mr. Strunk, who listed his profession as “television video editor” in his marriage certificate, “had many ailments.” His doctor, Dr. Lazdine, who last saw Mr. Strunk on March 27, 2007, according to Sgt. C. R. Angeli, supervising deputy coroner, described Strunk as “heavy” diabetic, had high blood pressure, anxiety attacks and suffered from depression and was on various medications. Strunk was on Klonopan and on diabetic and cholesterol medications.
FATAL INJURIES IN HEAD AND CHEST
Cause of death of Mr. Strunk was “blunt force injuries of the head” consistent with “a fall and impaction of the top of the head on the ground,” laceration, hemorrhages, abrasions on the scalp and lower portion of the brain; and blunt force injuries of the chest as a result of “fractures” in the chest. Strunk landed on his head and, from the impact hitting the ground, he flipped over and landed on his back.
It was reported that Strunk’s suicide “runs in the family.” Strunk’s father, Larry, was said to have shot himself many years ago.
Earlier, it was reported by Tracy Press that Sharolyn Grove had doubted that her brother committed suicide, saying it was “out of his character.” Ms. Grove did not elaborate.
Strunk’s next of kin did not return phone calls and letters sent to them by this reporter.
Strunk was linked to the death of his previous wife, Ms. Nida Blanca, who was found dead on Nov. 7, 2001 in Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila in the Philippines, by a man known as Philip Medel, who confessed that Strunk hired him to kill Ms. Blanca.
Since Strunk was not yet charged in the murder of Ms. Blanca, Philippine authorities allowed him to return to the United States to visit his ailing mother, Helene, in Tracy, who was dying of cancer. His mother died two days before Strunk arrived in Tracy.
When Strunk did not return to the Philippines, Philippine authorities filed murder charges against Strunk and initiated for his extradition.
In 2003, Strunk’s lawyer, Jeffrey Kravitz, told the court that Medel had recanted his testimony. This prompted Judge Gregory Hollows of the U.S. Court of Eastern California in Sacramento to deny Strunk’s extradition and ordered Strunk’s released from jail.
Preceded in death by a sister, Tammy Sedillo, Strunk is survived by a son, Derek Strunk of Los Angeles; a daughter, Christin Willitt of Georgia; three grandchildren, Jeremy and A.J. Willitt and Jaime Paige, all of Georgia; and a sister, Sharolym Grove of La Selva Beach. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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