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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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MAY DAY celebrations went as planned but not as huge as expected.
With the current crackdown by immigration officials on illegal immigrants, fear has engulfed the hearts of many undocumented aliens and opted to just stay home. Who could blame them? With news of some public transportation vehicles being subjected to random ICE searches and out of nowhere checkpoints and raids, these illegals must feel hounded like heinous criminals with nowhere else to go.
We understand that we are a nation of laws and that enforcement is imperative to restore order in our society. However, the ‘criminals’ that the law is chasing are special: They contribute billions of dollars to social security. They still pay taxes and Social Security even though they are not gong to see and use even a single penny. These contributions go straight to American citizens for their retirement funds.
They did not break the law by inflicting harm to their fellow men.
What they violated was not anybody’s dignity, right, body or spirit.
What they did was to enter the United States without proper documents.
Yes, it is a violation. Yes, it is against the law. However, most people think that the way these illegals are being treated and hounded is not at all humane.
There are many ways to bring these undocumented aliens out of the shadow: one of the most plausible is a comprehensive immigration reform law.
In 2007, the Senate could not muster enough strength to resolve this issue and fell short of passing anything. Now all we have is enforcement. The ICE has deported a record number of undocumented aliens in 2007 alone. Homeland Security was given extensive powers to construct border walls to prevent crossings and even local police are participating in the hunt for undocumented aliens in small towns and cities alike. It is a complete crackdown.
We are slowly becoming a Gestapo-State because of all these. It is very un-American. What we need is a humane way to deal with illegal immigration. We need to put more love into this endeavor. We need to accept these people as they are– simple, hardworking people who just want a better life and a secure future.
Let us show them that we are a nation of laws, compassion, and love.
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Family Relationships As Basis for U.S. Immigration
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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
Family-based petitions have long been popular routes to U.S. immigration. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) enumerates certain family relationships that can serve as basis to apply for lawful permanent resident status in the U.S.
The two main categories of qualifying relationships are 1) immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and 2) other close relatives of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.
Under the first category, U.S. citizens can petition for their immediate relatives to join them in the U.S. For purposes of immigration, their qualified immediate relatives are their spouses, minor unmarried children under 21, and parents (as long as the petitioning US citizen child is at least 21).
Spouses of deceased U.S. citizens who were married for at least two years at the time of the citizen spouses’ deaths may also qualify as immediate relatives. These immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are not subject to quota limitations.
On the other hand, other close family relationships are subject to quota limitations of available immigrant visas per country. These relatives fall under any of the four family-sponsored preferences.
Unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, 21 years of age or over, fall under the Family First Preference category. Children of U.S. citizens who were petitioned before they were 21 but aged-out while waiting for entry to the U.S. may benefit from the Child Status Protection Act and preserve their immediate relative status provided they meet the requirements of the law.
Spouses and unmarried children (under 21) of lawful permanent residents or greencard holders fall under Family Second Preference 2A.
Unmarried sons and daughters (21 years or older) of greencard holders would fall under Family Second Preference 2B. Once they get married, they no longer qualify under this category.
Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens are classified under the Third Preference category.
Brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens will qualify under the Fourth Preference category. This category has the longest wait. In the case of Filipinos, the waiting time to get a visa number is about 22 years.
Immigration laws have defined and clarified these familial relationships to be the basis of immigration benefits.
To be a “spouse”, there must be a valid and subsisting marriage between the petitioner and the beneficiary. U.S. immigration laws will not accept as valid homosexual, polygamous or incestuous marriages. Voidable marriages may, however, be recognized, unless there is a court order declaring its nullity.
Common law marriages (without marriage ceremony) may also be accepted if these are satisfactorily proven as recognized in the country where it occurred. Those who contracted marriage by proxy needs to consummate the marriage before this can be recognized for immigration purpose.
Sham marriages where the parties do not really intend to live together as husband and wife but solely contracted for immigration purpose have posed problematic consequences for the parties and will be denied.
The term “child” refers to: child born in wedlock (during valid marriage); or a stepchild who has not yet reached 18 years of age at the time of the marriage of the petitioning spouse and his/her parent; or a child legitimated (previously illegitimate but made legitimate upon subsequent marriage of his/her parents) before turning 18 and remains in legal custody of the legitimating parents.
The term also covers a child born out of wedlock if his/her natural mother seeks a benefit, status or privilege based on their parent-child relationship or the natural father proves a “bona fide” parent-child relationship.
An adopted child is also considered a child for immigration purposes if he/she was under the age of 16 and under the legal custody and resided with either or both of the adopting parents for at least two years.
In order to petition a parent under the immediate relative category, the U.S. citizen petitioner must be at least 21 years old.
To qualify as a brother or sister as a basis for an immigration petition, there must be at least one common parent.
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CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – Sen. Joker Arroyo became a friend of mine while I was covering him in his anti-Marcos cases in the fiscal’s office in Pasay city during martial law in the Philippines.
I would later meet Senator, then Local Government Secretary, Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel after the overthrow of Marcos when Mr. Pimentel held a press conference as he was busy replacing governors and mayors under the Cory Aquino Administration.
I was re-introduced to Sen. Pimentel by Los Angeles, California community activist Bobby M. Reyes when I interviewed him over the phone when Mr. Pimentel was campaigning in Los Angeles and in Las Vegas, Nevada before the Filipino communities in his unsuccessful presidential bid for the nomination in the opposition party in 2004.
I was reunited with Senator Pimentel in 2005 when I paid him a visit in the Philippine Senate office in Pasay City.
In my talks with Senator Pimentel, I noted that he has always been passionate in bringing economic development in Mindanao, which has always been historically backward if you compare it to Luzon and Visayas.
This economic neglect has prompted Muslim leaders like Nur Misuari to call for secession of Mindanao from the Philippines as they sought for self-rule.
I can tell that Mr. Pimentel, a senator from Mindanao, is proposing an amendment to the 1987 Philippine Constitution with no other thing in mind but to bring about economic reforms in Mindanao.
I don’t blame Senator Pimentel if he is an adherent of the self-serving popular idiom -- charity begins at home.
WRONG MOVE, TIME, REASON
Unfortunately, Senator Joker Arroyo thinks that Mr. Pimentel’s dream will only turn into nightmare, saying that the proposed Philippine political makeover from unitary to federal form of government is “a wrong move at the wrong time for the wrong reason.”
Arroyo asked aloud that, "Once Congress convenes as a constituent assembly to deliberate on the federalism amendments, "who can prevent that same Congress, this time switching back to its role as a legislature, to make amendatory resolution expanding the amendments that can be proposed to any other thing?"
My old friend, Joker Arroyo, has a point. But he should bear in mind that amendments to the constitution do not always take effect immediately so that they do not benefit the lawmakers, who approved the amendment/s.
I know Senator Arroyo’s drift – some people, who are already disqualified from running for president, like incumbent President Arroyo, who would be nine long years in office as president if she finishes her term in 2010, might be given an opportunity by these proposed amendments to extend her term longer.
Fortunately, Nene’s proposal is a mere amendment, not a total revision, of the Constitution, which will effectively shut out Mrs. Arroyo from staying in Malacanang beyond 2010.
And I suppose, Sen. Arroyo should let Nene’s proposal go. Unless, he has already forgotten such popular anti-Marcos slogans --“kung hindi tayo, sino? Kung hindi ngayon, kelan?” (If not us, who? If not now, when?)
GIVE CHANGE A CHANCE
We’ve been keeping the current unitary system for more than half a century – 67 years to be exact – it’s about time we give change a chance.
Among the proposals of Senator Pimentel is the adoption of bloc voting for electing the President and Vice President. A vote for the president is also a vote for vice president and vice versa. This will minimize public squabbles between the two highest government officials of the land.
Nene already gained the support of 15 other senators or two thirds of the 24-man Senate for calling for the convening of Congress into a Constituent Assembly that will amend the 1987 Constitution to establish a federal system of government. It will need three-fourth votes from both the Senate and the Lower House to pass an amendment to the Constitution.
Another feature of the Pimentel amendment is the political subdivision of the Philippines into 11 autonomous regions to be called “States.” These regions, which are the centers of finance and development, are the State of Northern Luzon, the State of Central Luzon, the State of Southern Tagalog, the State of Bicol, the State of Minparom (Mindoro, Palawan, and Romblon), the State of Eastern Visayas, the State of Central Visayas, the State of Western Visayas, the State of Northern Mindanao, the State of Southern Mindanao, and the State of BangsaMoro.
Metro Manila would become the Federal Administrative Region (FAR) as the country’s lone center of finance and development.
TURNING BACK THE CLOCK
"The Federalization of the Republic would speed up the development of the entire nation and help dissipate the causes of the insurgency throughout the land, particularly the centuries-old Moro rebellions," according to Joint Resolution No. 10 signed by the 16 senators.
Under a federal system, only certain functions, such as foreign affairs, national defense, taxation, currency, inter-state commerce and basic education, remain under the jurisdiction of the national or federal government. Each state becomes virtually a country unto itself, with its own set of police, political and economic powers subject to Federal authority.
Under the proposal, senators will no longer be elected nationwide. They will be elected by regions or states, including overseas Filipinos. It will, indeed, turn back the clock between 1916 to 1935 when the Philippines was electing senators by district. During that time, the Philippines was divided into 12 Senatorial districts, each district grouped several provinces and each elected 2 senators except for "non-Christian" provinces where the Governor-General of the Philippines appointed the senators for the district, but this was discontinued in 1941 when the Senate was reestablished, wherein all senators were elected on a national basis. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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Few of those squeezed in rice queues know – or care -- that in 400 AD Filipinos already planted this grain. Archeologists stumbled across palay ( oryza sativa ) in Ifugao Cagayan, Mauban, Majayjay, Lukban and Tayabas.
Centuries later, rice still packs the potential for prosperity or upheaval. Hungry demonstrators toppled Haiti’s prime minister. Bangladeshis protested against soaring rice prices. And 24 were killed in Cameroon riots. To tamp down shortages, 48 of 58 countries imposed price controls, consumer subsidies to export curbs, World Bank reports.
For most Asians, rice is the main staple. Eight out of every 10 Filipinos deemed a meal ‘proper’ only if it had rice, a recent Ogilvy and Mather study found . Thus, “seared deep in the psyche of Filipino politicians are global food crises….when we could not find rice even if we had the money to buy it”, National Scientist Gelia Castillo writes in her latest book : “Rice In Our Life,”
Since January, rice prices spurted by 141%. Thailand only partially filled Philippine export orders –- at triple 2007 prices. Vietnam capped exports. And the US partially closed the gap with emergency shipments. “Dependence on others brings a perpetual fast,” an Asian proverb says.
“From food are born all creatures that live on earth,” says the Upanishads of India. “Afterwards they live on food. And when they die, they return to food.”
The global spurt in prices is hitting even people, usually cushoioned from food crunches: middle-class families, notes World Food Programme’s Josette Sheeran. They’ve pulled belts a notch tighter: “But the poorest are selling their animals, tools, the tin roof over their heads—making recovery, when it comes, much harder.”
There’s no mystery why food is short. Farm lands shrank as urban areas expanded. Asphalt is the last crop in many places. Grain reserves dwindled. Shifting rainfall patterns, due to climate change, affect harvests, seen in Australia’s drought, Asian Development Bank notes.
New affluents in China and India tuck in more grain and meat. These stress depleted fishing grounds and eroded land. Biofuel programmes guzzle cereals into ethanol. And there are more mouths at dinner tables.
The overdue Philippine census claims there are now 88.5 million Filipinos, up from 76.5 million in 2000. This is an undercount, some scientists think. Some international groups and U.S. agencies, in fact, estimate there will be 92.6 million Filipinos come July. Politicians are scrambling to jerry-mander political borders. But few think of food security.
No crisis erupts full-blown over night. Food prices started to surge in 2001. FAO’s early warning system tracked the steady draw down of grain reserves. And agencies like World Food Program, among others, flagged the emerging shortages.
The Arroyo regime paid scant heed to what the FAO Director General Diouf calls a “predictable catastrophe.” Its energies are sucked by political survival drills. Fixated with wresting power, the opposition proved equally myopic. “He who sleeps with a blind man wakes up cross-eyed,” a Turkish proverb says.
Inattention does not exorcise a crisis. It spawns instead panicky make-do reactions. “Yes, we neglected agriculture,” Secretary Arthur Yap told Inquirer. “It was only recently that we started to fund irrigation, extension, seeds, post-harvest programs, etc. Hindi ka nag-iisa Sec. “We are paying for 15 years of neglect”, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Bob Zeigler commented:
Congress belatedly pledges to vet 17 food bills. The opposition feebly murmurs ‘amen’, as the administration ‘throws money” at the crisis with a P43.7 billion program. National Food Authority import bills would chew up all VAT earnings from fuel, ADB notes. Thus, Sen. Edgardo Angara lucidly argued this hemorrhage must be staunched by a curb on NFA rice trading.
The Palace hints the President may dip into the P120-billion coconut levy for this overdue bail out If government skims this trust fund, this theft would dwarf the Joc-Joc Bolante fertilizer scam.
Rice does not ripen upon signing of a check. Farmers must plow, sow, weed and reap. “Dreaming up a new seed and growing it commercially in the field takes 10 to 15 years,” IRRI notes. Politicians don’t produce food. Only farmers and fisherfolk do.
A permanent solution to hunger rests, ultimately, with impoverished farmers and fisherfolk Skewed social structures must be overhauled, so, they acquire land, seed, credit – and a fair share of the harvest or catch. “It is unfair that those who produce our food often go hungry first,” former Malayasian agriculture minister Datuk Hussien Ong wrote..
“The era of cheap food is over,” the Economist asserts. The transition from overflowing granaries to a time of short rations has been “prolonged and more painful than anyone expected”.
Will our grandchildren be able to afford tomorrow’s costlier food? Yes, if future policies are crafted now. But are the politically-distracted regime and opposition up to this task? Given the way they shuffled into today’s food quagmire, one wonders. Or will the President dump this task on whoever succeeds her in 2010, if ever?
Dogged inaction, however, guarantees disaster. “To a people idle and famished,” Mahatma Ghandi said, “the only form in which God dares to appear is food and the promise of work.”
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A common observation of visiting Filipino Americans in Manila is there seems to be no poverty in the Philippines. The shopping malls are always full of shoppers. So are the restaurants full of diners sometimes you have a long wait before a table becomes available. So it seems there's plenty of money going around.
Partly true. The shops are full, but are the people shopping? Or are they dining at the restaurants? A test is go inside a movie theatre. Almost all the time, one could easily count the people inside. We think the cinemas are poorly patronized they cannot afford to rent many good films.
In Makati's shopping areas, the life of new stores seems short. They keep opening up and after a short time, they shut down. In the big malls and the smaller strip malls, there are always vacancies.
The ones that last longer are the cheap fastfood places that serve 20-peso snacks and 10-peso sodas. Especially those stores frequented by common office workers during their lunch and snack breaks. On some occasions we saw some customers at these places ordering a drink and later unwrapping home-prepared lunch or snack to eat using the store facilities. In other words, many try to save money whenever they can.
On the other hand, in many cases we guess, what they save they spend trying to maintain their old habit of enjoying "one for the road" with the boys before they head for home in the evening. A little splurge on beer and "pulutan" to keep life interesting.
Some companies even in Makati provide their workers with facilities in the workplace where they can take out their home-prepared meals. In its absence, they take their lunch on their office desks. It's unheard of before. But it happens now most of the time.
Something new is also taking place during the lunch hour. Employees put out their boxes of assorted merchandise, lay out the items on their desks which functions as a mini-shop. Buy anything you want now. "If the item is not there, tell me I"ll have it next time." Easy terms. Settle in 3 or 6 paydays. "Hulugan". "Paiyakan". Drop drop.
In fact, go to any workplace and ask who is in the "banking" business. Cash available for tuition fees. To replace an old TV, refrigerator or any appliance you desire. In which case, what you'll get is not cash but the appliance, free delivery to your home if it's not too far.
Clothes? Go to this posh store, and select from the display. Give me your size. The cost may cost an arm which you cannot afford with a one-time payment. But with me, no problem. Drop drop.
Sometimes the workers have set up a credit union where you can a bigger loan even to buy a house. They'll probably discount it with a bank if it's large enough.
It's a booming business. Recession is not a problem to the creative Filipinos.
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Disney And Other Companies Take Time Out For Planet Earth
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Last Tuesday was Earth Day but we may as well dedicate the month of April to Earthcare -- meaning love and take care of the planet we live in. It is heartening to note that big as well as smaller companies have acted on this concern by e-Waste recycling. On April 26, Toyota Motor Sales USA is hosting the 8th Annual Earth Day Recycling Roundup for the public. The half-day event (9am to 3pm) is co-sponsored by SoCal Computer Recyclers, Inc. to increase awareness and educate the public about the benefits of recycling unwanted electronics equipment and are providing residents of Southern California and businesses free and convenient electronics disposal.
In last year's event, 1,000 vehicles dropped off some 101,000 lbs of electronics equipment. According to the latest data from the Ntional Security Council, more than 20 million computers became obsolete in the US last year. Of that number, only 2.3 millions of e-waste was recycled. Now- what is e-Waste. It’s that VCR you no longer use, stereos, TVs, printer, computers and monitors and other equipment with a plug and circuit board. For more info. on Earth Day Recycling Roundup, call 310.626.8180.
Even in entertainment fare, Walt Disney Co. has also joined the green bandwagon. It is launching a new film production unit called Disneynature which will be making features and documentaries about animals and the environment.
This development was inspired by the success of the 2005 Oscar winner, "March of the Penguins". It is also Disney's effort to come up with low-budget movies for family audiences. Disneynature is the company's return to its tradition of making films with of this theme which happened in 1948 through 1960. The Studio produced "True Life Adventures", a 13-film series which has won 8 Academy Awards.
The first U.S. release "Earth" will open on April 22, 2009 which is Earth Day. The movie is based on the award-winning BBC and Discovery Channel series "Planet Earth", chronicles a year in the life of the planet - narrated by James Earl Jones. Also scheduled for an earlier release is "The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos" which will open in the U.S. in December 2008.
The Disney Wildlife Conservatory Funds has given more than $11 million in support of projects in 110 countries since 1995.
Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, vision is that the nature films would inspire opportunities in publishing, merchandising and in their theme park attractions.
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