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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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WORLD war II formally ended on September 2, 1947 when the Empire of Japan signed the surrender documents on board the US battleship Missouri in Tokyo bay.
However, the Filipino war veterans' struggle for recognition continues to this day.
Only 10 percent of the 260,143 veterans who survived the war remains to claim any benefits in store for them–if there will be any.
The majority of them have died in obscurity, others have died in poverty unable to reap the rewards promised by the United States.
Now, these veterans' hope that a comprehensive benefits/pension program for war veterans be passed by Congress and signed by the chief executive before they themselves succumb to the ravages of time.
Enter HR 760, the Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2007.
It was supposed to be a comprehensive pension program for World War II veterans. It was supposed to give every veteran living in or out of the US financial aid.
It was approved by the House committee on veterans affairs last summer and is slated to be tackled in the US Senate. However, the bill reached a stalemate and it has been languishing in Congress ever since.
According to sources, the bill is not a priority of the current regime.
Apparently, the Bush administration is busy with the current war.
These Filvets, more than 60 years ago, fought for the US the same way these new young soldiers are fighting in Iraq.
They risked their lives and limbs for defending the American way.
They have been romanticized in numerous books, films and songs. They have been showered with all the praises fit for worthy gladiators.
But these Filvets cannot eat books, films, songs and praises, can they?
The US government should know better and today's soldiers should take note.
These new breed of soldiers fighting in the Middle East will be lining up for benefits in the future in the very same way these Filvets are doing now.
Will the government also give them a hard time?
World War II may be a faint memory for the ones in power–images trapped in celluloid and accompanied by a cello playing in the minor key.
However, for these vets it is real. It is as real as their sagging flesh and their cooling blood. These vets lost friends, and family during that great war, and they deserve all the attention and financial gain.
Is it a money issue?
The amount of pension that these war vets ask for is nothing compared to the money being spent in Iraq and Afghanistan. Truly, a government's worth can be gauged in the way it treats its war veterans.
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Delay in Religious Visa Processing
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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 has been a substantial delay in the processing of religious visa applications because of a recent United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) initiative to carefully check the legitimacy of the petitioner and the job offer.
Religious visas may either be temporary or permanent. These visas were created by the Immigration Act of 1990. Many Filipino priests and religious workers have immigrated through this visa route.
The heightened scrutiny of these applications is due to a finding by the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security that as many as 33 percent are fraudulent and that there are patterns of potential fraud that created vulnerabilities for more fraud.
As part of its review, the USCIS visits all the churches and religious groups that file the applications or petitions. As of August 1, 2007, there were 4,625 applications and petitions that were awaiting visits. No later figure has been released but it is believed that the number has doubled.
The site visits are being conducted even as the proposed changes to the religious visa regulation released last April have not been finalized. The period to comment on the proposal was supposed to end last June 25. However, on November 1, the USCIS announced that it was reopening the public comment period until November 16, 2007.
The on-site inspections are included in the proposed changes. The proposal will require the submission of an attestation verifying the worker’s qualifications, the nature of the job offered and the legitimacy of the organization. It will also reduce the initial period of admission for temporary visas from three years to one year.
The proposed rule will also require petitioning organizations to submit a currently valid determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service showing that it is exempt from taxation as it relates to religious organizations. If the petitioner is not classified as a religious organization by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), it may show proof of affiliation with the religious denomination by completing the Religious Denomination Certification in the revised application forms.
The changes in the regulation have been proposed “to ensure the integrity of the religious worker program by eliminating opportunities for fraud” and at the same time, streamline the process for legitimate petitions.
There have been news reports of widespread fraud. Last year, 33 Pakistanis were arrested for obtaining religious worker visas although they had no religious training or background and were working in non-religious jobs.
An employee of a Brooklyn mosque was also convicted in 2004 for filing fraudulent religious visa applications on behalf of some 200 undocumented aliens who were not religious workers.
Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat member of the House’s Homeland Security Committee, warned against making it more difficult for legitimate religious workers to get visas. He said that some religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism rely on foreign religious workers for their religious practices in the US.
“I urge USCIS to encourage and thoroughly consider more feedback from religious organizations as it formulates changes to improve the R-1 visa rules,” he said.
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THOSE people running the sports activities in the Philippines should also show a modicum of courtesy to the host country.
If their players are already done playing, they should at least be on hand to watch the other games until after the closing ceremonies.
What was even worse was that at the 11-day 14th AIBA World Boxing Championship last week in Chicago, one of its Filipino players, light flyweight Harry Tanamor was about to climb the ring to fight for the gold medal when the Philippine team organizers allowed Tanamor’s teammates to leave for the airport – O’Hare International Airport.
I think Tanamor was already half-beaten even before the fight started. He was like a dog with his tails between his legs.
In sports, even if a player is injured and cannot play, if he is capable of watching the game, he should be around to boost the morale of his teammates who are playing.
Sammy Sosa, a right fielder of the Chicago Cubs and one of greatest baseball homerun leaders, drew heavy fire from the media for leaving Wrigley Field during Cub’s final game in 2004, after the Cubs had been eliminated from playoff contention. Sosa’s contract was never renewed.
SCHEDULING FOUL-UP
It’s amazing why the Philippine national team had to depart on the closing day when another day of waiting would have drawn phrases from the host organizers.
To make matters worse, the team was rushing to leave to attend an exhibition game in San Francisco, California. Isa-isa lang mga pare ko. (One a time, my friends.)
Winning the gold takes precedence over exhibition games.
The private sponsors of the Philippine team already saved bundles of money for booking the boxers at a five-star Palmer House Hilton. Yet, it makes one wonders why the boxers are to leave a day early.
According to Thai organizer, Mr. Manoch Bhudvanbhen, the Thai players paid only $40 a day for a 2-bed Hilton hotel room, which normally fetches $559 a day.
And another thing, why do the Philippine sports organizers allow the players to arrive in Chicago three days before the start of the tournament? Don’t they realize that the players need more time to overcome the jet lag and the cold weather, among others?
This means that if they were fighting in Chicago at about 2 p.m., the newly-arrived boxer from the Philippines will feel like fighting at 4 a.m. Philippine time. And if you are fighting like a zombie, what is your chance against a conditioned American boxer? Wala. Nada. Nothing!
MORE MONEY, PLEASE
Because of the dismal performance of the Philippine team, which merely picked up an Olympic slot, it’s about time the Philippine government and private sponsors pump more money into the team? Thailand, a neighboring country of the Philippines, won four Olympic slots. The Thais arrived in Chicago on Oct. 15, or eight days before the tournament. While the Philippine boxers arrived in Chicago on Oct. 20, or three days before the tournament.
Mr. Bhudvanbhen told me that despite the long period of stay of his players in Chicago, the players were still complaining of being “a bit too cold.” How much more the Filipinos, who barely had three days to acclimatize?
Why should the Philippine sports organizers be penny-pinching our players? Whatever happened to the 200-million pesos ($4-M) raised by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo after the Philippines performed well in the 2005 Asian Games? It was Mr. William “Butch” Ramirez, Philippine Sports Commission chair, who told me about the money raised by the husband of President Arroyo.
Filipino volunteer international and Olympic referee Arturo “Doy” Vidal told me when the players arrived in Chicago, they were craving for “kanin” (rice).
The Philippine sports organizers should have ordered Filipino food from some Chicago-area Filipino restaurants or contracted the services of Filipino restaurants to supply food to the boxers. The Philippine sports organizers should have ordered Filipino food from some Chicago-area Filipino restaurants or contracted the services of Filipino restaurants to supply food to the boxers.
SICK AND LOSER
Mr. Vidal also added that one of the players – flyweight Violito Payla – got sick on arrival (SOA?). “Meron siyang lagnat at sipon bago ang laban.” (He was running a fever and had a cold before the fight.) Payla, who was a win away from qualifying, lost eventually when he was hurt by a right cross from American Olympian Rau’shee Warren during the preliminary round. Payla, Asian Games gold medalist, was one of the best hopes of the Philippines to win a medal.
The PSC gave each boxer 24,000 pesos ($500) allowances for the 11-day tournament while Mr. Ramirez gave personally an additional $100 to each boxer. Vidal clarified as a volunteer to the team, he did not get any of these allowances. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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”THE human race has only one really effective weapon -- laughter,” Mark Twain once said. Is that why we Filipinos joke about everything, even pardoned plunderers? Twain’s comment also underscores what the Sunday Telegraph calls “arguably the bravest stand-up comics in the world today” : the "Moustache Brothers". Despite repeated jailing and fear, they take on paranoid Burmese dictators --- with jokes.
“Par Par Lay goes to India to have his toothache treated”, reports New York Times.. “Don’t you have dentists in Myanmar?” the Indian dentist wonders. “Oh, yes, we do, doctor,” the Burmese replies. “But in Myanmar, we’re not allowed to open our mouths.”
That echoes our gag about two dogs seeking US visas. “Martial law has been good to you,” the scrawny mutt tells the plump mongrel. “Why do you want to leave?” The reply: “I want to bark.” Like the Philippines under Marcos, government in Burma today is a joke. To laugh invites a beating or prison, so pervasive is the brutal tatmadaw or military. “Burma is not a country with an army”, observers say. “It’s an army with a country”.
Yet, the “Brothers” jabbed the sullen junta daily.. ”If the secret police come in the front, we’ll escape out the back,” Lu Maw begins their show. A general died and became a big fish, they continue. As a tsunami rolls toward Myanmar, the fish admonishes the wave: “Stop! I’ve already done that”
Reminds you of the 56 Filipino colonels who didn’t bag their star? All replied “four” To General Fabian Ver’s question “How much is two plus two?” all replied : “Four” They flunked. But a brash captain answered : “Two for me --and two for you, sir”. A beaming Ver said: “Correct. Please see the President, Colonel.” And when Marcos popped the same question, he answered: “Two plus two equals four --- and all for you, sir.” “Raise your right hand General.”, the dictator said.
Telling jokes against “Big Brother” are ‘tiny revolutions’, author George Orwell noted. Pogo and Togo poked fun, on the stage, at Japanese occupiers. The kempetai padlocked their show. And the guy, taken ill, while passing Imelda Marcos’ Film Center?. As he vomits, a passerby whispers into his ear: “Pare. I share your opinion.
For spinning wisecracks before detained Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and diplomats in 1996, the Brothers were banned from performing before Burmese audiences. That was the lighter of penalties. Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw served five years in a jungle prison camp.
Par and 45 other dissidents were released last week, Agence France Presse reported. Par cooked curry for Buddhist monks who demonstrated against the junta, when arrested for the third time September.
Releases will give the junta just as UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari arrived. He’ll be followed by UN human rights envoy Paolo Sergio Pinheiro, In November 2003, Pinheiro exposed bugs in his Yangon room where interviewed political prisoners. He documented the plight of over 1,100 political prisoners, forced labour, curbs on political and civil liberties.
“We are artists: we believe in ordinary people, not in the government,” Lu Maw explained. “We need light, but in Myanmar, light on and off. Not enough electricity. No water supply. School — money, money, money! Ordinary people no money. So we joke. People need a good joke. But the government don’t like us because we joke.”
“Among serious students of humor, it’s commonly known that the most piquant political jokes are found wherever totalitarian dictatorships flourish,” University of California ( Berkley ) professor Alan Dundes writes As the psychotic “Cultural Revolution” wound down, Chinese students would yell: “ Down with the Gang of Four” but waving five fingers. The fifth referred to Mao Zedong.
Political jokes wither when free speech returns. In Poland, gags dried up when the Solidarity revolt ushered in freedom. Democratic countries “can’t compete with jokes about Hitler, Stalin, or, say, ( Ferdinand ) Marcos,” Dundes adds.
Few wielded the joke more effectively against the Marcos dictatorship than the late Jaime Cardinal Sin. On his return from the Conclave that elected Pope John Paull II, Sin told Comelec’s Leonardo Perez : “Leonie – if you had overseen the Conclave, I would have been elected Pope.” But the recent crackdown on monks by tatmadaw was “no good for jokes”. Lu Maw noted “People are sad,” he said. “Man kill man, you go to hell. This Buddhist belief. Now they are killing monks! They go beyond hell.”
“Political humor is a response to conditions typical of dictatorial regimes”, says University of Massachusetts’ Oriol Pi-Sunyer who analyzed Spanish political humor under the Franco dictatorship. Jokes are acts of defiance the world over, add Steven Lukes of Baliol College at Oxford, and Hebrew University’s Itzhak Galnoor in their book: “No Laughing Matter.” “The time to worry is when the jokes stop.”.
“Yes, we’re afraid, “ admits Lu Maw. “But we keep going. We just joke. This is our job, our family tradition…Out there are spies, listening, watching. We are dead meat”, referring to continued repression.
The Brothers “are the ultimate example of the old theatrical maxim that ‘the show must go on’ notes Sunday Telegraph. “( They’re Burma’s ) only political satire show. And even as the generals stomp on all dissent, “arguably the world's bravest stand-up comics, were still making fun of them”.
We Filipinos owe these brave comedians support. “Man suffers so deeply that he has to invent laughter,” the philosopher Nietzche wrote. Jokes could even buttress the growing applications for “writs of amparo” here. ( E-mail: juanlmercado@gmail.com )
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SO far the prevailing theory on the recent Glorietta mall (Makati City) basement explosion is that it was not terrorist-related. That it was an industrial accident. It was caused by a methane gas explosion in the basement of the crowded shopping mall.
We are personally familiar with the site of the explosion. Having seen the daily throng of shoppers, what with the beginning of the holiday shopping season, the number of killed and injured did not amaze us. It's usually filled elbow to elbow with people.
We visit the Philippines about four times a year and the coffee shops in that portion of the mall are one of the watering holes of our business and media friends. It's there where we perk up with endless cups of excellent imported coffee in the sleepy hours after a business lunch. The endless parade of pretty office secretaries on their lunch break never fail to drive away drowsiness.
We recognize the news photo of the Le Coeur de France across the busy corridor from Figaro, both popular places for our favorite brew. It's our luck we were not visiting Manila at that time. Otherwise we could have been part of the casualty statistics. A friend called us from Manila and said as expected, the crowds at the Glorietta had thinned while those at the neighboring SM mall got bigger. But we're sure that's just temporary. People forget easily.
What struck us was that the thought that Metro Manila is so vulnerable to terrorism. It’s impossible to be perfectly safe from such disasters.
The Philippines is lucky because its terrorist problem is not as vicious and hateful as that found in other countries.
Sometimes we think we are fortunate that maybe our brand of terrorists is the caring type, if there is such a creature. Our Filipino terrorists appear to concentrate their attacks in Mindanao in southern Philippines.
They rarely stage their attacks in population centers like Metro Manila. Are they deliberately keeping cities like Manila and Cebu safe because that's where they conduct needed activities like their fund-raising and urban terror training?
One time we heard the observation that in our part of the US, most terrorists are arrested in Jersey City. It was explained that the reason why this place is safer from terrorist attacks is that the rebels' families make their homes in the city. They serve as insurance policies for the rest of the people.
Estrada Conundrum
Manila’s guessing game revolves around the pardon granted by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to former President Estrada. Everybody is trying to analyze how the pardon impacts the different sides of the equation. On the side of GMA, there are those that are cheering and there are those expressing disappointment. On the side of Estrada and the opposition, faces show differing emotions and confusion.
We read a piece written by a political analyst on the pardon, and we put down the article as confused as ever. If ever, we are just hoping for one possible outcome. That it will start a real move for national reconciliation. Maybe GMA thought of pardoning Estrada so that she also might be similarly treated and be granted a pardon for all her sins agains the country. That seems a very tall order. But if by some miracle it happens, then maybe the Philippines can really buckle down as a whole and begin moving forward.
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LAST week's premiere staging of The Romance of Magno Rubio at the Los Angeles Theater Center was a near-miss by this writer. Not realizing that there were four theaters in the Center, I eagerly entered the wrong one (Theater 1), Minutes after Dances from a Tribal Life, presented by the American Dance Theatre commenced, I realized my mistake but could not leave as the doors had been shut. It must've been about 20 minutes before I was able to leave my seat when the lights went dim on-stage and hastily hied off to Theater 2 where the hilarious play from the Ma-Yi Theater Company was drawing laughter from its audience. Magno Rubio with its five all-male-cast ensemble was so entertaining as it likewise sends a powerful message.
Set in 1930s California, the story centers on a group of migrant Filipino workers, particularly on diminutive Magno Rubio (effectively portrayed by Jojo Gonzalez) who is smitten by an Arkansas farm girl he connects with via a lonely hearts ad. Magno has never met Clarabelle but he wooes her with monetary gifts by mail, believing that he would soon meet and eventually marry her. All the while, his fellow workers try to open his eyes to the grim reality that the girl is not what he envisions her to be.
Arthur Acuna plays the wise and erudite Nick while Bernardo Bernardo plays the part of the compassionate Prudencio. Paolo Montalban fits his role to a "T" as the handsome and conceited Claro who tries to burst Magno's bubble.
Quite captivating was Ramon de Ocampo who played a dual role: that of co-worker Atoy and the imaginary Clarabelle which he mimicks in several scenes.
The off-Broadway production was written by Lonnie Carter, adapted from a short story by Carlos Bulosan. It is actually a metaphor of America in the 1920s, where immigrants are drawn to the promise land, by their illusions of high paying jobs and attractive women but who end up being exploited and discriminated upon. Director Loy Arcenas's stage production is vivid as it is powerful; Carter's script are verses that rhyme; James Vermeulen's lighting design, Kristin Jackson's original music and choreographed movements, sychronized with percussion and superb acting by the all-male ensemble, made up for a totally entertaining hour and a half. The Romance of Magno Rubio played for four nights (October 25 thru 28) at the LATC. The revival of the Obie-award winning play is a must-see if it were to be re-staged in L.A.
The new LATC which is owned by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, which has just launched its opening Fall season, celebrated the reopening of the historic Los Angeles Theater as a world class venue. Located at 514 South Spring Street in the heart of Downtown L.A. close to City Hall, it has an adjacent parking structure. Its ongoing inaugural performing arts festival will be focusing on underrepresented local, national and international artists, through unique stories and diverse audiences. Programming will also include an annual spring subscription series and a summer Conservatory for high school youth. Watch out for theater, dance and music performances as well as theatrical poetry events, lectures and art exhibitions. It will be home to the Latino Theater Company, Latino Museum of History Art and Culture, Playwrights Arena, the American Indian Dance Theatre and the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television. The theater series will showcase stories about people's traditions and important issues of our day.
The Latino Theater Company was awarded a 20-year lease of the LATC which has been refurbished through the funding of the California Cultural and Historical Endowment. A national historic landmark, the building houses four theaters with a capacities ranging from 90 seats to 498 seats. The renovated LATC will showcase multi-cultural performing arts. Coming soon is Teatro Avante's Yerma, written by Federico Garcia Lorca and adapted by Raquel Carrio. Performances in Spanish with English subtitles on November 15 thru 18 in Theater 2. On these playdates Miracle in Rwanda created by Leslie Lewis Sword, will be staged in Theater 4. In Miracle ..., Leslie transforms herself into a host of characters to tell the story of a Rwandan genocide survivor, who moves beyond intense fear and rage to find a connection to God. Leslie is part Filipina, she is the New York-based actress-daughter of the very prominent Fil-Am leader, Loida Nicolas Lewis.
Incidentally, a Filipino landmark in Historic Filipinotown is in dire need of restoration. This is the Gintong Kasaysayan Mural located on Beverly Boulevard close to Union Street. The work of art by Eliseo Art Silva was inaugurated in 1995, and has served to educate and inspire residents and visitors about the history of Filipino Americans. In the past 12 years, the mural has been vandalized by graffiti and is in need of funds to restore it to its original glory. Concerned and generous donors may contact the mural artist by visiting www.eliseoart.com or the Filipino American Library at www.filipinoamericanlibrary.org.
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