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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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AS expected by many political analysts, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo granted Executive Clemency to convicted ex-president Joseph Estrada.
Although expected, pardoning Erap was seen as a dangerous move by some of Madame Arroyo’s closest allies, including her ‘padrino’, former president Ramos, who said that pardoning Erap might lead to Arroyo’s doom. Some question her motives in pardoning the convicted ex-president so soon.
It has been barely a month since the Sandiganbayan sentenced Erap to life for the crime of plunder. His soon-to-be fellow inmates did not even get the chance to see their idol in orange prison suit. They must be very disappointed.
Others see the pardon as an insult to the justice system that tried Erap for six years, and found him guilty. Some also think that Madame Arroyo wasted a lot of taxpayers’ money by detaining Erap for the whole duration of the trial and yet pardon him a month after being convicted. She should donate Erap’s Tanay detention residence to the poor to make amends.
The truth is, pardoning Erap resulted in more questions than answers.
First and foremost, is her motive.
What could be Madame Arroyo’s motive in granting clemency to Erap?
The timing could not have been perfect for the president, whose name is now beginning to be implicated in the ZTE scandal. Somehow, it could be Madame Arroyo’s way of asking pardon for her future indictment caused by the ZTE mess. Alternatively, it could also a way of preventing the indictment from happening at all.
In pardoning Erap, she gets the approval and the leniency of Erap’s friends in the senate, who are hell bent into bringing her down along with Abalos and company.
It could be her way out of all the scandals that she is into right now. If this is her real motive, then she qualifies as a master tactician in the same vein as Sun Tzu or the Godfather Don Vito Corleone.
Perhaps, she saw all along how she could use Erap in the future. And now’s the best time to play the Erap card and put it to good use.
On the other hand, it could be a genuine call for reconciliation. Perhaps she finally wants to end her feud with Erap and bring peace and harmony to the polarized country.
Her reign is indeed one of the most tumultuous in the nation’s history, due mainly to this feud. Perhaps she thought she has a few more years to reign and she wants to go out in peace, without any Erap loyalist spitting at her in her retirement years. Remember that she also made peace with Marcoses.
Perhaps her only move left is to make peace with Cory Aquino. Perhaps she is already laying the groundwork for that. If she pulls that one off, she can be sure that she’ll leave Malacañang swinging.
Whatever her intentions are in pardoning Erap, we should all think first that the act of forgiveness is a noble thing and that Madame Arroyo did a great thing in forgiving Erap.
However, Erap wronged the Filipino people and not Arroyo, personally. Hence Erap should be asking pardon from the Filipinos who believe that Arroyo does not in any way represent their interests– and that is more or less asking pardon from the whole nation. (TR)
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Lawsuits Against ABC Not Likely to Prosper
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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)
THERE have been news reports that multimillion dollar class action lawsuits are being filed in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California by Filipino doctors against ABC for the derogatory remarks against Filipinos made in the September 30, 2007 episode of the Desperate Housewives.
Another lawsuit to be filed by some Philippine medical schools is also reportedly being planned. It should be recalled that in that episode, Teri Hatcher said, “Okay before we go any further, can I check their diplomas? Because I would just like to make sure that they are not from some med schools in the Philippines.”
The Filipino American lawyers who will represent the plaintiffs have expressed confidence that the lawsuits will succeed. Both lawyers have already sent their letters of demand for correction or retraction to ABC as required by law. They have volunteered to take the cases on a contingency basis. The San Francisco lawsuit has, at this time, 75 plaintiffs while the Los Angeles lawsuit has 73.
While the remarks are unquestionably offensive to the Filipinos in general, and to the Filipino doctors and Philippine medical schools in particular, we believe that the defamation lawsuits will likely not prosper.
The remarks were made in a television entertainment program. Such program is protected under the first amendment (free speech clause) of the United States Constitution.
The courts have held that the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression extends to news reports and entertainment programs. Television broadcasting is considered speech.
For a defamation suit to succeed, the plaintiffs must show that the remarks made were statements of fact. Statements of opinion or of fiction are not actionable. Nor are statements meant as a joke.
It can be argued that the remarks uttered by Teri Hatcher (a fictional character) in a television show, were not statements of fact.
The plaintiffs must also show that they were harmed. They must show personal or monetary damage. Under the circumstances, this would be difficult to demonstrate in a court of law. In filing the lawsuits, the plaintiffs will run the risk of paying the attorney’s fees and costs incurred by ABC in defending the lawsuits under the anti SLAPP statute (an acronym for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.)
For ABC to invoke the anti SLAPP statute, it will need only to establish that the “plaintiffs’ claims arose from an act (by ABC) in furtherance of its right of petition or free speech under the U.S. or California Constitutions in connection with a public issue.”
Once ABC meets the requirement, the plaintiffs will have the burden to establish that their claim will have a probability of success, meaning that their complaints are “legally sufficient and supported by a sufficient prima facie showing of facts to sustain a favorable judgment if the evidence submitted by the plaintiffs is credited.”
This will be a difficult burden for the plaintiffs to meet.
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DESPITE thin demand, this country has an oversupply of cretins. One glimpses this in how Mayor Arturo Radaza’s handling of economic zones, on Mactan Island, chills 17 other ecozones nationwide.
This city is named after the chieftain who bushwhacked Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. The roots of Radaza’s “10 minutes of headlines” are more prosaic. His office snapped up shoddy street lamps, for the Asean Summit, at P95,000 a throw. The Ombudsman skewered His Honor with six months suspension.
But Mactan is more than just guitars, seafood – or Radaza. It’s also 142 factories, sprawled over 213 hectares. They produce watches, electronics to computers. They account for 9 percent of the country’s exports.
Mactan payrolls for 43,000 workers inject P300 million monthly, into the economy. Population density is 3,581 persons per square kilometer, notes San Carlos University’s Office of Population Studies. That’s almost five times that of Cebu province. One out of four workers, over age 20, has a college education.
Nitwits strangle geese that lay golden eggs, sages tell us. But then, they never met Radaza’s “buccaneers”. Lapu-Lapu income, last year, exceeded P652 million, the Commission on Audit reveals. Of this, P249 million came in “untied” Internal Revenue Allotments. So, why is the joint choked by garbage, traffic, squatters and short of water?
The city never built a sewerage system. Over a quarter ( 25.6 percent ) of homes lack toilets. Across the narrow Mactan Channel, is Mandaue. That city whittled down toiletless homes to only 4.0 percent.
`Almost 17 percent of Lapu-Lapu homes buy murky water from ambulant peddlers. That’s triple the buyers ( 4.9 percent ) in next-door Cebu City. And export zone firms pay tankers to top their cisterns.
Where did the cash go?
Overstaffed offices chewed up P203 million. And P23-million went for overpriced computer clones, bought at P49,500 each from a hole-in-the-wall firm, said Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( MCCI ) president: Efrain Pelaez, Jr. Those Pentium 4 clones are sold for half the cost in legit shops. Pelaez sued Radaza and 18 others for this re-run of the Asean streetlamp fiasco.
MCCI’s March survey of member-firms, on corruption, reported that of 28 respondents, 25 bumped into grafters. “Crime, like virtue, has degrees.” Thirteen respondents were dunned between P50,000 to P2-million. Five firm were squeezed for P5-million or more. At least, 18 had arms twisted for a ‘fixed amount”, i.e. a percentage of the project cost to grease processing of permits and clearances.
The mayor’s assistants demanded money to “facilitate’ release of a license, permit or clearance, said 15. . Another 12 claimed: “the mayor himself made the demand.” As the old jingle asked: “Would you buy a second hand car from this guy?”
In response, City Hall uncorked the thread-bare “Alzheimer’s Knee-Jerk.” Radaza hunkered down. But officials Teodulo Ybanez and Rolando Duero subbed as “bouncers”. Pelaez firms would be padlocked, they vowed, since over the last 10 – or was it 11?—years, they: ( a ) didn’t secure permits, licenses, etc; and ( b ) owed P5,409.833 in business and realty taxes.
That’s almost half of what COA says Lapu-Lapu earned, last year, from permits and licenses: P12.8 million. Radaza remembers hefty IOUs only when jabbed with graft raps? If so, Alzheimer’s is not the problem here. It is vindictive discrimination.
“If two wrongs don’t make a right, try for a third,” is an old adage. The third that Radaza’ opted for was : stomp on a court order to maintain the status quo until October 31. His musclemen padlocked Pelaez’s Marina Mall with 82 tenants. And for good measure, they demolished a stone-paved causeway built by Pelaez.
Losses exceeded P8-milllion in the nine hours it took Philippine Economic Zone Authority to rip City Hall seals off. Special Economic Zone Act of 1995 (RA 7916 ) gives PEZA jurisdiction over locators. Pelaez firms are locators and possess PEZA permits.
“The naked display of arrogance and power jeopardized the business climate and growing investments…”, Cebu Provincial Board said in a resolution. “Respect the rule of law” and act with “prudence”, it counseled.
“We never violated the court’s restraining order,” Dignos mumbled. “The TRO prevented us from enforcing notice of demolition. Closure was not covered by the TRO”. But people are not cretins. They see this is defense of the indefensible.
In economic zones, from Bataan, Laguna to Leyte, such ham-handed policies stir deep unease. Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Representative Nerissa Soon-Ruiz and businessmen made this point in calls to the President. Presidential Management Staff director Cerge Remonde says he’s been asked to mediate.
Pro-forma Palace intervention raises expectations. But they achieve little unless citizens are aroused. That’s the Cebu experience. A citizen complaint led courts to order Mayor Tomas Osmena : dismantle your arbitrary blockade of South Highway.
“Complaints from each side are serious”, Sun Star noted. And the public expects, not another political massage, but issues “be resolved to yield the truth.”
Lapu-Lapu officials chose to massage themselves by sweeping graft charges under the rug. The Council debated whether to dub Pelaez as “persona non grata.” With Department of Interior and Local Government support, City Hall ran a self-evaluation exercise. They graded themselves as “outstanding”. Surpised?
“ Lord! What fools these mortals be,” says Puck in “Midsummer’s Night Dream”. ###
( E-mail: juanlmercado@gmail.com)
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PRIVATE sources in the political and military have been confirmed by us that a two or possibly three-way split have developed among those pushing for a coup against the Arroyo government. Who will emerge as the winner in the push to overthrow the Arroyo administration?
A rightist coup is a distinct possibility. Military chief Hermogenes Esperon is reported to head the first group. Political and military analysts would call this the coup from within. Our private source of the information usually provide us with accurate forecasts most of the time. Political analysts would call such a coup from within. It is defined a coup launched by the government itself.
The plan has been drawn a few years ago and been dusted and redusted and reviewed and updated so many times. Reportedly, the last time it was taken out from the secret files and dusted and updated was yesterday. Yes, yesterday. This first group of military generals has been behind Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from the time the idea of governing the Philippines forever hatched in her mind.
The next group has as its core the Magdalo group of young officers known for their idealistic posture. This was the group which first attempted to withdraw public support from Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2004. After that event, GMA has been raiding its ranks by buying their loyalties with all sorts of inducements like money, promotions and lucrative posts in the civilian government.
But don't be misled. The group now has expanded having gained many adherents. Senator Panfilo Lacson, former military and PMA alumnus and now presidential aspirant list a known sympathizer of the Magdalo group, although he appears to be setting up a third group.
The last group should be eyed rightly viewed with suspicion. The last group is a basket of bad eggs. The basket should be identified as a purely political group. But in the Philippine setting, all groups have a military component. And when the bad political eggs get mixed with the good military eggs, all eggs in that basket turn bad.
In this last basket of the bad eggs, you find Speaker Jose de Venecia. In it, you also find trapos like Rep. Prospero Nograles, deputy Speaker Simeon Datumanong, Rep. Raul del Mar and Rep. Tomas Dumpit. The group gives off a rainbow of colors that tries to differ from the colors of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. But don’t be misled. Upon closer examination the two sets of colors blend very well. To appear different, they try to distance themselves from GMA. Except for the senators, they are elected by district and they have to keep away from the Malacanang tenant unless they sadistically want to lose in the coming elections.So watch their colors. Their true colors. Check their past leanings. Which side they took in past congressional votings. Subject them to a strong hose of water and watch what colors will emerge after the washable hue comes off. They may not be able to identify the color that will emerge. It is the true color of GMA. The color which every political animal tries to make it hard to identify. The the color of a trapo. Trapos never want to be identified as trapos.
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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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