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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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IT is comforting to know that there is always a New Year, because a New Year means a new beginning– a fresh start.
We can bury all the blunders that we did the previous year and begin with a confident first step.
Yes, a New Year is a second chance.
It is another chance to quit vices and pay attention to our health–both physical and spiritual.
It is another chance to repair broken relationships and to look at the promises they bring.
It is also another chance to think of bigger things and turn our lives around.
If we have been overtly materialistic the previous year, perhaps we could start thinking about things that matter most: World peace, global poverty, the environment, family, friends and love.
A New Year is more than a flip of the calendar.
There is more to it than fireworks and dropping balls.
In fact it is a question. It is a question that asks how we should lead our lives in the next 365 days.
How should we?
For many of who have led well-balanced lives the past year, there is little to ponder.
However, for many of us who haven’t we are assured that we have another crack .
We should stop and smell the roses.
We should not work too hard to be able to enjoy every minute of the year.
We should lessen lining up for iPhones and think about the children from afar that line up for food and water.
What if we fail?
As the former Brooklyn fans of the Dodgers liked to put it, there is always next year.
This Brooklyn Doctrine is comforting, however we should also think that it will not be forever.
When the big sleep comes, there will be no next year.
Our chance is gone.
There will be no rewind and no replay.
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Removing Conditions on Resident Status
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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)
IF permanent resident status was obtained through marriage, the status is conditional unless the marriage occurred more than two years at the time the permanent resident status was granted.
To remove the condition, the conditional resident spouse, must file with his/her spouse a joint petition (Form I-751) within 90 days of the second anniversary of the conditional residence.
The petition should be accompanied by documents showing a legitimate marriage. These documents include joint tax returns, joint bank accounts, lease showing both husband and wife as tenants, birth certificates of children, joint ownership of car, real estate and other properties and other documents showing that they live together.
If the USCIS Service Center where the petition is submitted is satisfied that the marriage was in good faith, the petition will be approved without an interview.
If there is an indication that the marriage was contracted to evade immigration law, the Service Center will forward the case to the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security. If fraud is found, the conditional resident will be issued a notice of intent to deny and after examination of his/ her response, the director may deny the petition.
A dependent child who was granted conditional status on the same day or within 90 days thereafter of his/her parent, will be included in the petition. If the child’s status was granted after 90 days, the child must file a separate petition.
If a joint petition cannot be filed, the conditional resident must file a waiver of the requirement of joint signature.
A waiver may be obtained if the other spouse is deceased or it can be proved that extreme hardship during the two-year period will be suffered by the conditional resident.
Waiver may also be granted if the marriage was terminated by divorce or annulment prior to the filing of the joint petition and the conditional resident proves that the marriage was legitimate.
If the parties are separated or undergoing divorce proceedings at the time that the I-751 is required to be filed, both husband and wife may still file a joint petition, if both sign. If the petitioner is not willing to sign the joint petition, the conditional resident spouse is not eligible to file a waiver until the divorce is final, unless he/she is battered or subjected to extreme cruelty by the petitioner.
The conditional residence is terminated if the conditional resident spouse does not file the petition within the 90-day period of the second anniversary.
In one of our cases, the conditional resident husband failed to file the Form I-751 for five years after the required period to file because of marital troubles and separation from his wife.
The conditional resident received a notice from the USCIS terminating his conditional residence. He was threatened with deportation. Fortunately, he eventually got back his permanent resident status through our assistance.
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SHORTLY after my friend, former President Joseph “Erap” E. Estrada was released from detention following his pardon by his predecessor, President Arroyo, three months ago, he vowed to devote the remaining days of his life to help the poor.
I don’t know if Mr. Estrada is serious with his vow of helping the overwhelming majority of Filipinos. But whatever savings he earned during his lifetime may not be enough to give away. But before he ever starts embarking on this challenging pledge, he is better off coming to terms with the truth. Only by telling the truth can real healing begin.
If Gov. Chavit Singson’s accusations against him were mere fabrications as Mr. Estrada suggested in his email to me, why did he not question the Sandiganbayan ruling that convicted him? He could have challenged the decision all the way up to the Supreme Court.
I suggested to him in my previous column that if the accusations were true, he should not appeal the Sandiganbayan ruling to avoid further embarrassment just in case the matter is affirmed by the Supreme Court. But in that column I came short of suggesting that if the accusations against him were true, he would have to do the hard part of admitting the truth and asking forgiveness from the Filipino people for betraying their trust. After all, according to the church or even the movie, “Georgia Rule,” forgiveness should be considered as a sign of strength.
PUBLIC CONFESSION
Now that Mr. Estrada accepted the pardon, if it is really true that he pocketed millions in jueteng (illegal gambling) and commissions from stock purchases from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Social Security System, I would suggest that Mr. Estrada should make a public confession that he committed such mistakes and he was sorry for his acts.
Going on a state of denial will not only make him a hypocrite, it will also make him a bad role model for future presidents. But if Mr. Estrada really did not commit those accusations that caused his conviction, then, the judicial system should be reformed so that justice can be bestowed on the fallen president.
If the accusations are true, Mr. Estrada should explain the sources of his millions.
If the sources are political contributions, aside from jueteng and commissions, then, he can suggest to his son, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, to introduce political reforms in the system by filing or supporting such bill in the Senate.
For instance, in the proposed reform, contributions that a politician receives should go to the political party, not to the politician, who raised the amount.
POLITICAL REFORMS
The names of contributors, individual or corporation, and the amount of contributions should be publicly disclosed.
Unknown to many, political contribution is a form of free speech. By making a donation to a certain candidate, contributors are promoting the views of a candidate, whose plans and opinion match theirs.
Of course, there should be a limit to individual and corporate donations to a political party just as there is limit to free speech.
By accepting contributions, even a poor but qualified candidate can run for president if he can raise at certain deadline certain amount of money enough to wage a national campaign. If donations are not enough, the political party can donate this money to another poor but deserving candidate to help bankroll a national campaign. Only by being transparent can the political playing field be leveled.
Since jueteng (illegal numbers game), like any other vices such as smoking, drinking and drugs, cannot be stopped, a law should be passed regulating jueteng so that the government can generate tax that can be coursed thru a program for a continuing education to outlaw jueteng. If there is such program as “self-liquidating,” this it.
If Mr. Estrada is clean, and he will be able to convince his son to pass or support a political reform bill, it will be a baby step in the right direction.
Otherwise, if Mr. Estrada does not support the political reform, which will perpetuate the under-the-table donations to politicians, which I suspect, is the source of the reported millions supposedly owned by Mr. Estrada, then, only the moneyed politicians can be elected president of thePhilippines.
And if Mr. Estrada would insist that he was a victim of false accusations and he wants to leave it to his Maker to pass judgment on him, bless him. Otherwise, he should be ready to return the millions he took from the poor “four-fold” just as the biblical ‘Zacchaeus' offer of half his wealth to the poor is overly generous, as is his willingness to repay fourfold to those from whom he has "unlawfully exacted" taxes.”
If we do not draw any lesson from the Estrada tragedy, the Philippines will be pathetic since it would show that parang walang nangyari (as if nothing happened).
We cannot even turn a new leaf, nor a New Year!
(lariosa_jos@ sbcglobal.net)
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“We have two kinds of politicians. One is the incapable. And the other is capable of anything”.
That’s graffiti smeared on a Paraguayan slum wall. But it pretty well describes this country as 2008 wobbles to a start.
Underwhelming competence was one of Joseph Estrada’s ( a.k.a Jose Velarde ) signature traits. Over five years of detention, for admitted plunder, didn’t improve it any. His body language now screams a 2010 run for Malacanang. Panfilo Lacson, on the other hand, is capable of anything. Scan his credentials: from the tainted PMA class ’72 to Marcos’ torture chamber, otherwise known as the “Military Intelligence Security Group” and PNP chief for Estrada.. He too would be president.
“When I was a boy. I was told anybody could be president”, the great barrister Clarene Darrow once said. “I’m beginning to believe it.” But does Manny Villar. And Loren Legarda. And Dick Gordon --plus a score of knuckleheads. Count me in, insists Senator Mar Roxas.
“Amidst the revelations of incompetence and pettiness by many of his colleagues, (Roxas ) rose above the fray and was quoted numerous times by some of the best minds of the country as one ‘who had the firmest grasp of the issues and on finance and economics’ inherent in the ZTE contract.” This is a no-period no- comma- 51-word overkill.
Roxas should cashier his PR flacks if they wrote this pap. No, says “Philippine Journalism Review” (November issue): ABS-CBN broadcaster Korina Sanchez did. Oh? “It appeared in the Cebu-based paper: “The Freeman.”
“It is no secret that Sanchez has a romantic relationship with Roxas,” PJR Reports added. “When (Sanchez) took the position up of news anchor, in ABS-CBN 2’s late night newscast ‘Bandila’, she said would not handle any news report about Roxas… She ( was ) aware of…. conflict of interest.”
Print is not exempt from ethical strictures that bind broadcast Sauce for goose should also be sauce for the gander. This track record may partly explain why there are few closures here. And we’re always moving on the next scandal.
Thus, an examination of basics, specially at the start of a new year, is essential. “The unexamined life is not worth living,” Plato reminds us.
Has the probe, for example, into the Palm Sunday killing of 31-year old Indonesian priest Fr. Franciskus Madhu, SVD, as he prepared for Mass, petered out? He was sixth religious killed in Upper Kalinga.
Victims included a Catholic nun and an Iglesia Ni Kristo minister. The suspects, Nestor Wailan, Joel Awingan and Acmor Bonggawon, just sauntered away.
In Cebu City, vigilantes executed 182. Or is it 183? Mayor Tomas Osmena hasn’t nailed one killer.
The U.S. State Department singled Mayor Ronaldo Duterte’s Davao and Cebu places where “esquadrones de la muerte” enjoyed impunity. There were 147 murders in Davao in just one year.
Will President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in 2008, replace her tinny vows to protect human rights with at least one – ONE – conviction for rouge military responsible for “disappearances”?
Will Rep. Teddy Casino & Comrades prove respect for human rights by denouncing at least one – ONE – salvaging by NPA hit squads?
“The death sentences imposed by their ‘people’s courts’ provide only a veneer of legality for what is really vigilantism or murder,” UN Special Rapportuer Philip Alston wrote of NPA “justice”.
Remember the 12-year old unsolved killing of Philippine Navy Ensign Phillip Andrew Pestano?, asked the Manila Mail in Washington and the Philippine News in San Francisco Senate Report 800, submitted by the late Supreme Court chief justice Marcelo Fernan, debunked the Navy claim, issued within 24 hours of Pestano’s death, that this 23-year old officer committed suicide. Instead, if found Pestano had been murdered, aboard RPS Bacolod.
This graduate from Ateneo and PMA bucked attempts to load illegal logs and shabu on the navy vessel. And the Military Ombudsman took all of 12 years before it halfheartedly asked the suspected gunman to submit his affidavit.
“Kawawa ang Bayan”, the Mail said.
It’s been over five years now since Girl Scouts of the Philippines funds ended up in the personal bank account of then Representative Clavel Asas Martinez and others. But Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, who concentrated all powers in her office, hasn’t released findings of the completed investigation.
Has Gutierrez checked if Mega-Pacific heeded the Supreme Court ruling to return over P1.3 billion for vulnerable computers it sold to the Commission on Elections? Last we heard, Mega-Pacific sued the computer experts who quoted the Supreme Court decision on this scandal.
And what is she going to do about the long refrigerated former Justice Secretary “Nani” Perez case as well as the computer scandal probe in Lapu-Lapu city?
The Commission on Audit says 61 offices, under the President, accumulated P615.3 million in unliquidated advances.
That’s only part of an old picture of deadbeats. Back in 1996, unliquidated cash advances already ballooned to P1.06 billion. From barangay captains up, officials milk treasuries for cash advances at every turn.. If Manadue City is an indicator, only 7 percent bother to settle.
Some officials siphon so much of taxpayer’s money, they can afford to look poor. If government did nothing else but suspend salaries of those who IOUs stacked up, 2008 could well end as a banner year.
(E-mail : juan_mercado@pacific.net.ph )
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THE end of a time period has always obsessed us with thoughts of reckoning as it should. And the process ends with the concept of legacy.
What do we wish the world to remember us by? Or more humbly, what do we wish our family to recall about us?
At the outset, our thoughts settle ambitiously on the most significant things we had done. We think of scopes important in our minds. Everything weighed properly, considerations inevitably narrow down to the basic unit of our social existence -- family.
When our offspring recollects our existence, what memories cross his or her mind. How we wish it would be the fun and loving moment he savored as we laid breakfast on the green lawn in the cool shade at the park during the routine of a family outing, after Sunday morning at the church.
One of our indelible experiences involved the construction of a church in a part of Manila called Balic-Balic.
When we settled down to a married life, we wanted to live in Quezon City where some kin resided. It was an accident that we decided to live instead in Balic-Balic. Practically a stone's throw away was the Quezon City-Manila boundary. A new apartment was located over the boundary in Manila, so we made our choice to start our married life there.
The two areas were contrasting. An urban dweller would choose Quezon City. Balic-Balic was lower middle class. The apartment was very near the church and that was a plus for my wife. We inspected the community and met the new parish priest who was new. In a period of five years, he was the third one who was trying to raise funds to finish the construction of the church that was two-thirds finished.
We mentioned this detail not because we had grand ideas about our ability at fundraising. For us, it was nothing except something any Juan or Pedro or Jose could occupy his time to introduce himself to the community. And that was what we tried to do. And it helped us to establish our roots.
At one point, we thought we bit more than we could chew. We were able to gather a group. We were sponsoring a major fundraiser once every six months. In three years, we completed the church construction.
One evening, we asked our pastor what we should do to answer a critic who accused us of neglecting our family while spending every free time outside or our job on the construction project. Stick to it, he said. And he added, "You'll have no problem raising your family".
We have four children. They all grew up and raised their families. They all graduated the bachelor degrees they aspired for. They are all practising their respective professions. We never recalled ever having any serious problems, financial or otherwise, in supporting their studies. Of couse, we can not yet put a period to their lives at this time.
It's an endless period of supplication and thanksgiving.
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The Holidays Spell a Variety of Celebrations
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ITS been a monthlong holiday celebration of non-stop partying in the city of Angels.
The Southland-based Assumptionistas gathered at Simon's the first Sunday in San Pedro's Ports O'Call for a jubilant reunion of sisters and families. Starting with a mass celebrated by the Rev. John Cordero who flew in from Manila where he was the retreat master at the Velada of the Golden Jubiliarians of Assumption College in October.
Grateful attendees generously donated to the new parish of Fr. John in appreciation.
There was of course the usual sumptuous seafood luncheon buffet by the waterfront which keep alumnae coming back for more year after year. Thanks to the warmth and giving spirit of gourmet Noel Motus and family who own and operate the banquet center by the sea.
The week after, the PhilConGen/DOT hosted a holiday bash for the press at the Consulate's premises along Wilshire Boulevard. Consul General Mary Jo Bernardo Aragon along with other officers and staff members made the evening program memorable with their harmonious choral number.
On the second Sunday, viewers of TFC, the Filipino Channel, were given a video treat featuring the late FPJ, the King of Filipino movies himself. The presentation was put together by Mr. Poe himself shortly ( a month to be percise) before his death and contains memorable scenes from some of his movies. According to Charo Santos, who heads ABS-CBN's programming, FPJ meant it "as a gift to his peers and his leading ladies".
Titled "Alay ni Da King", the segments were hosted by his colleagues.
Aside from Charo, Who was his leading lady in five movies including Aguila, the segments were broken to "FPJ as The Artist" narrated by Vilma Santos with commentaries from Maricel Soriano, Dolphy and Eddie Garcia.
"FPJ, Ang Kaibigan was hosted by Christopher de Leon with comments from his closest pal, former President Erap Estrada, Phillip Salvador and GracePoe- Llamanzares.
"FPJ, Ang Idolo" had Boots Anson Roa as host with tributes from political figures Oscar Orbos, Randy David and National Artist Eddie Romero. The added bonus was his widow, Susan Roces, who shared the highlights of their wedded life, their movie careers and his brief political journey.
A point of interest was Ronnie's choice movie clips with leading ladies Charito Solis, Amalia Fuentes, Marianne de la Riva, Pilar Pilapil, Maricel Soriano, Vilma Santos, Nora Aunor, Sharon Cuneta and of course, Susan.
Proceeds of the Kapamilya Special will go to the Movie Welfare Foundation (MoWelFund) which benefits the workers of the movie industry back in the Homeland.
Speaking of giving, Martin Nievera, who's celebrating 25 years in the concert scene, has been performing for noteworthy causes for most part of the year. In October, the Concert King headlined the A3M (Asians for Miracle Matches) Benefit Concert at the Cerritos Centre for the Perform ing Arts. It successfully raised much needed funds for patients in need of bone marrow transplants. For that occasion, the singer-songwriter wrote "Miracle" a song which debuted during the show, is also in his new CD "Milestone".
Last Friday, the 21st, Martin once again performed at a fundraiser - billed Christmas with Martin. This time at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts with a handpicked mainstream band except for his musical director.
The proceeds will go to Sagip Kapamilya project of ABSCBN Foundation USA, Inc., which assists Filipinos who are victims of natural disasters here in the US - families in San Diego who were affected by the wildfires. A portion of the show's proceeds will be aportioned to the Filipino American Service Group, Inc. (FASGI), a Los Angeles based non-profit social service agency that operates programs for World War II veterans and their widows.
One of the event's sponsors, the Law Offices of David Zuckerman thoughtfully donated 18 bags of woolen blankets for the elderly in-need. Quite timely ... considering the freezing weather these days and nights.
Except for a few numbers from the "Three of a Kind" and the ravishing Geneva Cruz, it was Martin who had his audience in the palm of his hand.
On February 1st, the"King" will be having the big one at the Big Dome. He leaves for home right after the New Year to prepare for his 25th anniversary and birthday concert at the Araneta Coliseum.
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