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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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DANTE Madriaga, the latest witness in the NBNZTE scandal said it best: "I had to come out. It's the safest way.”
With the Arroyo government's ever-increasing reputation as executioner–as highlighted by the unsolved murders and disappearances of many journalists and political rivals, it is indeed best for people, who have any beef against the regime to come out and seek sanctuary within the Filipino people, as represented by the Church and the Senate.
Although the Senate could be the last institution that comes into mind when one thinks of sanctuary and protection, it will do for now, given the many opposition figures there who would do anything to shed light to anything that would remove GMA.
Perhaps Madriaga knew that if he stayed under with all the damaging information he has against the Arroyos, he would be gone in no time- gone as in dead. And based on the information that we now know, making people disappear is part of this regime's repertoire.
Lozada was about to be 'taken cared' of allegedly by the government upon his arrival at the NAIA. He was picked up from his plane by ‘guards’, took him to an unknown route, and bypassed immigration. Later on, when his passport was returned, it didn't have the stamp proving he arrived in the Philippines. It could have been the perfect plan, if not for the brave actions by Lozada's wife, who made her husband's 'disappearance' to the media.
This regime is not afraid of its people. In a democracy, the government should be afraid of its constituents – after all, people make their governments. However, once these servants get to their positions, they become so drunk with power, they bite the very hands of the ones who gave them the power.
As we commemorate the miracle that was EDSA, we are reminded that we can change our government– and we expect our government to be very afraid. That is why, when the Lozadas and the Madriagas out in the open to tell the truth and feel secured, we should all do the same, because in this kind of volatile political climate, the safest place to be is out there on the streets.
The government is threatening us– it’s time we threaten them back.
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Higher Fines for Immigration Violations
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Starting March 27, 2008, employers that violate immigration laws will face higher civil fines by as much as $5,000, according to U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Musakey and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, employers are penalized for knowingly employing undocumented aliens and failing to comply with employment eligibility verification requirements. They are also liable for wrongful discrimination and immigration-related document fraud.
Each of these violations carries a corresponding civil fine or penalty in addition to criminal sanctions. The penalties were last adjusted for inflation in 1999.
Under the current readjustment, the minimum penalty for knowingly employing an undocumented alien will increase from $275 to $375. The maximum civil penalty for a first violation will increase from $2,200 to $3,200. The maximum fine for multiple violations will increase from $11,000 to $16,000.
Each of these fines is imposed on a per alien basis. Thus, if the employer hires five unauthorized aliens, he/she could be held liable for five times the imposable fine. The employer’s recourse is to request for a hearing for each of the violation before an administrative law judge in the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR).
Worksite enforcement is a top priority of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE has stepped up inspections of employers resulting in 445 criminal charges against employers in the first ten months of fiscal year 2006.
In fiscal year 2007, ICE made 863 criminal arrests and 4,077 administrative arrests for a total of 4,940 arrests. DHS obtained more than $30 million in criminal fines, restitutions and civil judgments as a result of the heightened worksite enforcement.
ICE raids took place in over 26 states with a promise of being more vigorous in succeeding years.ICE conducted the largest worksite enforcement operation in 2006 that resulted in the apprehension of 1,187 unauthorized workers in a Houston-based company and criminal cases against the employers for criminal conspiracy to transport and harbor unlawful aliens for financial gain, as well as fraud and misuse of immigration documents in addition to the civil fines and penalties.
In the last several weeks, immigration raids have been conducted in New York, Texas, Arizona, California and Florida that resulted in charges of human trafficking and smuggling against employers and deportation against aliens.
In a recent case in Buffalo, New York, involving a landscape nursery, 34 illegal workers were apprehended, detained and voluntarily repatriated to Mexico within 24 hours. In Florida, ICE investigation discovered that local construction companies were utilizing an illegal money service business to pay illegal aliens for construction work.
Not only are civil monetary penalties being imposed but criminal cases against employers are meted for violating immigration laws, RICO, alien smuggling, harboring and money laundering statutes.
In view of these tougher penalties, the employers should review their internal hiring policies. They have to make sure that they comply with the I-9 employment eligibility verification requirements prior to hiring an individual. It is also timely to update the I-9 verifications of their current employees to make sure that they remain in compliance, especially if they hire employees who are on temporary working visas.
The employment eligibility verification process seeks to establish the identity and eligibility for employment of the prospective employee. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires the employers to collect information, fill out the I-9 verification forms, report and maintain the records of their employees subject to USCIS/DHS and Department of Labor audits. Employment eligibility verification must be completed within three (3) business days of the date the employment begins and should be regularly updated.
When the employee can present any of the acceptable documents listed on the I-9 verification form by the USCIS, the employer must accept these, otherwise he/she might be charged with document abuse. Moreover, refusing to hire an individual presenting documents with unexpired dates because of his/her immigration status, nationality or citizenship may make the employer liable for unlawful discrimination.
By conducting a proper timely I-9 self-audit, the employers can prevent these problems.
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OBAMACANS vs. HILLARYCANS
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CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – The rooting interests of Filipino Americans for the presidential candidates are evenly divided in Ohio as shown by a random survey conducted by this columnist among Filipino Americans over the weekend.
And this bode ill for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who needs to stop the bandwagon of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the Buckeye State if she needs to keep pace in the Democratic race for presidential nomination.
Because of the head start taken by Sen. John McCain as the presumptive Republican nominee, some Republicans, who refused to be identified, told me that those Republicans or Independents, who dislike either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama, took out Democratic ballots during the primaries in their states and voted against the candidate they dislike.
If the Republican voters vote for Obama, they re called “Obamacans,” if they vote for Mrs. Clinton, they are called “Hillaricans.”
But in the general elections, these “Obamacans” or “Hillarycans” can go back to vote for McCain or stick by the Democratic candidate of their choice if they so wish.
STEPPING OUT FROM THE SHADOWS
One such “Hillarican,” who stepped forward to be recognized, told me that she used to be non-partisan (Independent) but she is voting for Mrs. Clinton this time.
Pat Teston said that because President Bush has gotten the United States into a hole the past seven years, she does not favor another Republican in office.
An early backer of Gov. Bill Richardson who bowed out early from the race, Ms. Teston said she is left to choose between Obama and Clinton. She said she is choosing Clinton because she “has more exposure and experience in the political arena and how this country is run.” Ms. Teston said Clinton’s health care plan and her plan to bring troops home from a war “which I absolutely disagree” are among the main reasons she is supporting the New York senator.
A U.S. Navy veteran as a Surface War Officer, Ms. Teston believes that the U.S. should lean more on NATO instead of taking on the world all by itself if it wants to minimize its involvement in those countries and damages to the American Forces.
Hailing from Kalibo, Aklan in the Philippines, Ms. Teston has a BS in Geophysics and an MA in Business Management to her name.
For her part, Ms. Rosa Huff, an Obamacan, believes that an Obama presidency “will be run as impressively strategic as his current campaign is run.”
“NO MANDATE COVERAGE”
A believer in bottom-up governance that Obama is running, Ms. Huff says that the no “mandate coverage” health program Obama is advocating will encourage “people to take personal responsibility for their own coverage.”
A campaign contributor and a volunteer worker and a precinct judge, Ms. Huff would like to hear how the candidates would solve the country’s economy, immigration, education and healthcare.
A supporter of Sen. McCain in the Republican nomination, Ms. Huff switched political parties since the Democratic Party is in a better position to resolve the biggest issue – the U.S. involvement in Iraq – followed by the “robust economic stimulus plan,” she said.
A native of Taytay, Rizal in the Philippines, Ms. Huff’s mother is from Binangonan, Rizal and her father is from Baguio. A holder of Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Ms. Hufff is thinking of being a dual citizen.
McCAIN BACKER
Another survey respondent, Mr. Eduardo Casalmir, expressed preference to supporting Sen. McCain but did not elaborate why he is supporting the Republican presumptive nominee.
A Ms. Teresa Gonzalvo, a registered nurse, said she is a registered voter but did not have a chance to signify her political party preference.
An Alex Alvarez, a CPA, wanted to take part in the survey but the “tax season” kept him from responding to the survey.
A Charmaine Studebaker did not respond to the survey.
The respondents were among those, who answered to the appeal of Mr. Armin Sayson, chairman of the Ohio chapter of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations, to take part in this survey.
(lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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The Macapagal -Arroyo regime sowed the wind by squandering People Power goodwill thru sleaze and human rights’ infractions. It slammed shut a rare window of opportunity for greatness. Like the sped arrow, the spoken word or yesterday frittered opportunity never returns. Ask the first Philippine President convicted for plunder.
Marcos’ dictatorship and Estrada’s soused bacchanalia reaped the whirlwind. So will this administration. Can anybody saddle and ride this twister tomorrow?
Trapos, like Jinggoy, coup-for-rent soldiers, plus Jose Maria Sison’s comrades, failed to harness this cyclone. At State-of-the-Nation addresses, Makati rallies or Oakwood-Peninsula hotel lobbies, they yelled themselves hoarse urging people to mass. Few bothered to RSVP.
Their shoddy credentials, junta blueprints laced with Red jargon, pissed off groups that mustered People Power : middle classes and religious groups. “We’re not getting anywhere,” Rep. Ronaldo Zamora sourly admitted then.
“The evil that men do lives after them.” Long after Ferdinand Marcos uncorked the military genie, “the boys are still out”, a retired general told Inquirer. Lt (now senator) Antonio Trillanes IV and platoon-mates cling to the delusion their guns will rescue a people -- who spurn jackbooted “saviors”.
Marcos “Rolex 12” conned us. UP’s political scientist Jorge Tigno and Social Weather Stations’ Linda Luz Guerrero, in a 2006 study, found Filipinos attached to democratic values.
“They’re more scared of the military than of Arroyo”, writes Yvonne T. Chua. That hasn’t changed today. Who’d buy a Pinoy clone of Burma junta’s Gen. Tan Shwe? That’d consign us to international pariah status.
No one bought JoMa’s commissars demand for a politburo-style junta. It’d rule for 1,000 days, without elections. Now, Reps. Crispin Beltran and Rissa Hontiveros recycle the idea. It won’t fly.
With a plunder conviction garland, Estrada hints he may run, as opposition presidential candidate, in 2010. Will he sign the certificate of candidacy as “Jose Velarde”? Erap’s bid ratchets bickering by other aspirants: from Manuel Villar to Loren Legrada. All would mount the whirlwind saddle.
Between Erap, Joe de V, Ping or Alan Peter and Arroyo’s cabal is choosing between Barrabas or Barrabas. “A plague o’ both your houses” has been the reaction of people. Thus, Sen. Aquilino Pimental told aspirants itching to strut in oust-Gloria rallies: “Back off.”
This stand off persisted –- until idiots kidnapped the unknown Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada. When Lozada wept, “I saw tears in the crowd,’ ex- Bataan congressman Felicito Payumo noted in his “Blink and the Hinge Factor” essay. “Admitted imperfections made him more credible.”
“In Lozada, people saw a neighbor or friend violated by the State. Not just his physical body but his person (nilapastangan ang pagkatao). Not by thugs but by State goons.They, likewise, felt violated. They didn’t buy the line that Lozada was being protected when held captive in a long "joyride".
“The Tipping Point” author Malcolm Gladwell explains this credibility in his book :'Blink', Payumo adds. People can tell if one is telling the truth. Gladwell calls this “the power of thin slicing”. People can make “sense of situations based on the thinnest slice of experience."
(Thus) people knew whose voice was on "Hello Garci" tapes. No obfuscations from Ignacio Bunye or voice print analysis from Mike Defensor changed their mind. “That ‘I am sorry’ statement proved people right.. .
“Hinge factors” (like) chance or stupidity can change history’s course.. From Agincourt to Mactan and Vietnam, “the hinge factor was weather or human stupidity or a deadly combination of both”.
Henry V’s foot soldiers mowed down armored chevaliers because the French commander ignored "soggy ground (that) gripped horses' hooves like thick molasses." Magellan overlooked the distance from his boats to Mactan’s shore at low tide. Weighed down by armor, they were mowed down by Lapu-lapu’s spears.
Cameras caught South Vietnam's police chief firing point blank into a civilian. From that moment, American generals had to fight world opinion, instead of Vietcongs. “That stupid act was matched by shooting a man on the tarmac of our airport,” Payumo recalls. “It started the chain that unhinged the Marcos dictatorship”.
Will seizing a probinsyanong intsik and paranoid defenses uncork a whirlwind? “It depends on how stupid government’s response will be”, Payumo writes. (A hinge) act by Marine Gen Artemio Tadiar, refusing to shell Camp Aguinaldo, prevented bloodshed…and let ( Edsa 1) run its course…in favor of the people”.
The crisis, meanwhile, dismantles unnoticed one of our fondest illusions: that before midnight, someone on a white charger, will dash in to banish enemies. They’d rebuild plundered institutions while we slump back to business-as-usual.
This ZTE scam instead tells us: Look beyond discredited pretenders to ordinary people. Leadership is not an office It is life lived and, in the on-going process, brings change. Academics, parents, students and barangay officials, seeking truth will usher in tomorrow. They continue to do that with “Among Ed” Panlilio in Pampanga. People Power is a weapon of last resort. A stray "hinge factor" may yet see that unsheathed.
“Much of what is new and innovative is not initiated by governments,” Indonesian thinker Soedjatmoko wrote. “Their source is ‘movements from below’: expressions by ordinary people of their aspirations for a decent, secure and equitable way of life.” ###
(E-mail: juanlmercado@gmail.com)
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Palace Slows Church Participation In Rallies
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We arrived in Manila close to midnight yesterday. When we woke up this morning the print and broadcast media greeted us with comments for and against the recent pastoral statement of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines about the politics of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The political decibels in Manila are up. Today there is a "March and Mass for Truth" in Makati sponsored by the opposition. Thousands are expected to attend. Yet this is merely a preparation for the bigger interfaith rally also in Makati tomorrow. It was announced that the rallyists will sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" used as the rallying song during the People Power I revolution. A crowd of 50,000 or more is expected.
In keeping with the political heat, former Senate President Jovito Salonga has filed plunder and graft charges against GMA in connection with the ZTE-National Broadband anomaly. It is the same case which sparked the ongoing controversy allegedly involving President Arroyo.
Now the CBCP has gotten entangled in the growing ZTE-Broadband net. The Church group has issued a public statement about the scandal and in general commented the administration is soft on the problem of corruption. This drew an immediate reaction from opposition groups which criticized the religious group for going soft on the issue of graft.
From our Church sources, we learned that the pro-active groups of religious sisters and seminarians are undertaking preparations to join coming marches and rallies wearing their identifiable robes. In such public gatherings that they joined in the past, it was observed that they were a big factor in drawing bigger crowds belonging to various sectors in the community. Because of this, the same sources confirmed that Malacanang has deployed its men to contact and discourage the religious groups from participating.
It was learned that this is one of the reasons for the developing splits among members of the Church hierarchy on the issue of GMA politics. Malacanang has been discerned as showing support for the head of CBCP Archbishop Lagdameo. In fact, one bishop was quoted as favoring the ouster of the CBCP president.
Since the time of Marcos, the Church hierarchy was seen to be trying hard to remain politically neutral. When GMA became president, it was reported she tried to win as many of the bishops to her side by giving donations. During the time of Marcos, the problem of church-state relations became so visible that the Vatican was reported to have been forced to intervene.
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What’s Good And Bad About The Philippines
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THE turbulent political climate in the Homeland as reported and broadcast by the Filipino media seem to be that everything is going wrong or bad in the Philippines these days. But, ever the optimist, allow me to balance the scenario by focusing on the positive.
For starters let me cite a special report by Rene Q. Bas, Editor-in- Chief of the Manila Times indicating that the Philippine economy is doing alright -- according to Moody's Investors Service (among the world's top-rated agencies that assess countries), Filipino and foreign businessmen, international management and economic experts.
Ranking foreign businessmen think highly of the way President Gloria Arroyo and her economic team has been handling the country's economy and are confident that RP would not be adversely affected by the slowdown of the U.S. economy. Early this month, Moody's raised the Philippines' ratings from "stable" to "positive". And this was because the country is now less dependent on foreign loans. Spending less in 2007 and using the budget surplus to prepay some of its debts to local and foreign lenders.
The SWS poll results: though there is distrust in the present Administration and most politicians, majority of Filipinos are hopeful and optimistic in 2008.
The President has also been lauded for her efforts to support the development of solar power which is behind the success of the Sinag solar powered car, the Philippines' first entry to the World Solar Challenge held last October in Australia.
Former Energy Secretary Vince Perez who now heads the Philippine Solar Car Challenge Society, Inc., cited GMA's support in the development of indigenous and renewable sources of energy that the country would not be dependent on imported oil.
The solar panel used by the Sinag solar-powered car was manufacured by Sun Power, a US-based solar cell manufacturer which has invested $600 million at the Laguna Techno Park. The design and construction of the car was undertaken by faculty and students from the Mechanical Engineering and the Electronic Communications Engineering of De La Salle University, Manila in partnership with Ford Philippines, San Miguel Corp, Motolite, Shell, Sunpower, Philippine Air Lines and Ventus.
The Philippine team finished 20th in the international competition of solar powered cars from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia. Proof of the car's solid design and construction and the capability to successfully deploy solar power technology in the Philippines. And, at this crucial stage with the constant rise of fuel in the US, the Sinag solar-powered car could be the car of the future even better than the hybrid autos from Japan which only minimize the use of gasoline.
As for the embattled President, majority of the provincial governors have gone to Malacanang to show their continued support of her and her programs for their constituents. Heads of the military and police led thousands of police officers in a "unity march" last Monday to end coup rumours and to belie phone text messages of destabilization circulated in Manila, Philippine National Police Chief Avelino Razon issued a statement that "the police and the military are solid and united behind the government".
This was also reiterated by General Hermogenes Esperon, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The military and police expressed their support to Arroyo as thousands rallied across the country on the 22nd anniversary of people power, following allegations of corruption involving the First Gentleman and a political ally of the Administration.
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