|
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
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ONE of the most respected journalists in the Philippines, Ces Drilon, along with her camera crew and a professor were reported missing last Monday.
According to local authorities, a band of Muslim extremists abducted Drilon and her crew while they were at a school event in Sulu. The extremists are believed to be members of a breakaway group of the MILF, which according to local Muslim leaders, merged with the dreaded Abu Sayyaf to solidify their resources.
ABS-CBN planned to embargo the story and notified other news media to do so as well. Apparently, negotiations were going on and a sudden burst of media attention might hamper the network’s plan to bring their people back to safety.
The direct involvement of ABS-CBN in the negotiations is a big blunder.It would encourage the bandits to ask for more money knowing the broadcasting giant is directly negotiating. However, in a surprising turn, the media giant made yet another blunder: It refused to pay the $20 million ransom that the bandits are asking.
Knowing how the Abu Sayyaf works, it is not impossible for them to execute Drilon and her crew for the apparent insubordination of the network. They have done it before, and they will not even blink to do it again.
Perhaps, ABS-CBN paid the ransom, but opted to publicly deny that it as to discourage other rogue elements to engage in kidnap-for-ransom activities.
If the network could only turn back the time, it shouldn’t have allowed Drilon to go to such a dangerous region. But it is their duty as a news media network to cover the truth, and there is truth in the situation in Mindanao.
In allowing Drilon’s team to cover and venture into the war-torn jungles of the region, they should also be willing to pay the price for any eventualities that might compromise their crew’s safety.
ABS-CBN should have paid the ransom, but not through their own means, but rather through some well-chosen local Mindanao leaders, who can still cast an influence over the renegades.
The price of truth is expensive. In this case, it is $20 million.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PHILIPPINE SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT CONCERNS CITED IN J-1 WAIVER
|
|
|
|
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
The J-1 Visa allows certain individuals to come to the U.S. to work or study on a temporary basis under an approved Exchange Visitor Program.
Most international medical graduates are allowed to come to the U.S. under an approved J-1 internship program to work as medical interns.
When the J-1 visa expires, the foreign physicians are required to return to their home county and reside there for at least two (2) years before they apply for U.S. permanent residence. They also cannot extend or change their status in the U.S. to other visa categories other than A or G.
But the foreign residence requirement may be waived if it is requested by an interested U.S. government agency or recommended by a state health department. It may also be waived if the physician proves that he/she would be subject to persecution or that his/her U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse or children would suffer exceptional hardship upon returning home.
Many have sought waivers on the basis of exceptional hardship but most of them failed to obtain it because of strict requirements. The courts have held that the hardship must be more than just the anxiety, loneliness and changed financial circumstances ordinarily experienced from a two-year stay in one’s home country.
In a recent case, a Filipina was able to prove the degree of hardship required by citing the environmental concerns and the dangers of living in the Philippines
The Filipina physician entered the U.S. in August 1991 under a J-1 visa to undergo graduate medical training. In connection with her application for permanent resident status, she sought a waiver of the foreign residence requirement. She claimed that her U.S. citizen spouse and three children born in 1993, 1996 and 1999 would suffer exceptional hardship if they relocated with her to the Philippines or remained in the U.S. while she went back home for two years.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) District Director denied her waiver application for failure to prove exceptional hardship. She then appealed to the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO).
The AAO agreed with the applicant that indeed her children would suffer exceptional hardship if she were to fulfill the two-year residence requirement.
In her appeal, she claimed that her eldest child suffered from bronchial asthma that would worsen if he lived with her in the Philippines on account of the severe air pollution there. She also claimed that her children would be dislocated from their established way of life in the U.S. and would be alienated since they did not speak or understand the native language.
She also raised safety and security concerns since there were news accounts and travel advisories about terrorism and kidnapping of U.S. citizens. She provided numerous documentary proofs and articles about these conditions and environmental issues to substantiate her claim.
On the other hand, if they were to remain in the U.S. while she temporarily stayed in the Philippines, her children would suffer exceptional hardship because her spouse would be unable to attend to his work and at the same time take care of their children by himself. Because she was the primary caregiver of her children, their well-being would be jeopardized if they were forced to be separated from their mother, especially since her eldest had a medical condition that required close care and her youngest was only five years old.
The AAO decided that based on the totality of circumstances as presented by the applicant, the children would encounter exceptional hardship if she were to go back to the Philippines to fulfill the residence requirement.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – During the last few weeks, I have many relatives and friends, who were rooting for Hillary Clinton. I just listened to their misgivings on Barack Obama. But I could not tell them that Senator Clinton was going to lose to Senator Obama.
Among their objections to an Obama presidency is that it will give the African American population bragging rights, at the expense of Asian Americans. “Blacks will take the jobs away from Asians,” one Filipino American community publisher told me.
But when I looked at Mr. Obama’s campaign staff, they are made up of Black, White, Asians,
Latinos and other nationalities in between. In fact, my press contact in the Obama campaign, Madhuri Kommareddi, appears to be an Asian Indian.
And I considered this rainbow staff of Mr. Obama as a harbinger of the Obama official make-up.
But we don’t know if Mr. Obama would give the African American the majority in his staff, if he takes power.
One other apprehension raised against the Senator from Illinois is that he might turn the United States from a Christian into an Islamic nation.
But the latest developments in the Obama campaign will give us a hint on how Mr. Obama will handle this issue. Mr. Obama declained the campaign support thrown behind him by Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan. He denounced the insulting remarks about Senator Clinton by his campaign supporter, Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church in Chicago. He left the Trinity United Church to distance himself from the vitriolic attack of its former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, for “God damning America.”
NOT PLAYING FAVORITES
These were broad hints that Mr. Obama was not playing favorites with any religious group, particularly the Muslim Faith. But as to what church, Mr. Obama, will likely end up worshipping remains to be seen and will likely be a very private decision. But my guess is, it will not be the Muslim Faith.
As to how Mr. Obama will perform his duties as the next president of the United States will be anybody’s guess. There is not much public record of his executive ability -- only legislative records.
But during the campaign, he indicated he will be relying heavily on his trusted staff, who will be answerable to him when something goes wrong.
He will need a lot of right intelligence to come to numerous informed decisions.
In my crystal ball, I foresee the drawdown of the troops in the Iraq War as he takes over just as the 52 U.S. diplomats held hostage by students at the U.S. Embassy in Iran were being released as Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency from Jimmy Carter.
As the Iraq War subsides, during the Obama Presidency, gasoline prices will also
come down.
I really don’t give Sen. John McCain a chance to beat Mr. Obama as the American people are convinced that the McCain Presidency will just be the third term of the Bush presidency. The American people would be hopping on Obama’s “Change” Bandwagon instead of McCain’s Straight Talk America Express.
DOG YEARS WILL HOUND McCAIN
As one columnist suggested the job of a United States president is so rigorous and physically taxing that the president advances in age in dog years – seven years equivalent to one year in humans. If Sen. McCain takes office in January (2009) at the age of 72, by the next January (2010), he will be aging like 80 years old in dog years, that is. So, he really needs a vice president, who is younger, for balance.
In the case of Mr. Obama, if he takes over as president in January, he will be 47 years old. If he ages in dog years, he will only be 54 by the following January (2010).
I don’t know but when I attended the launching of the presidency of Mr. Obama in Springfield, Illinois in February last year, the 15 to 17,000 people who turned up at a very cold morning was telling me that something special was in the air.
Some 523 news reporters and photographers documented how the future president charmed the crowd.
When I attended Sen. Hillary Clinton’s fund-raising campaign last December at Hyatt Regency Chicago, the crowd turnout was a far cry from Obama’s launching in Springfield.
It gave me the feeling that more than just charisma was working in favor of Mr. Obama’s destiny. But it is very hard to explain the Obama phenomenon. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Greetings from Vordingborg Denmark," a friend’s email read. "Will be here until end of the month. Attended mass yesterday. And guess what? About 90% of churchgoers were au pair girls ( domestics ) from the Philippines. Chatted with Fr. Patrick, an Irish priest,” she added. “He served at the Redemptorist church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Cebu for over 2O years . Also worked in Dumaguete. You know him?.”
Sorry. Never met the padre. But many appreciate the Redemptorists’ work here. The email, however, raises a festering issue : Are today’s “leaders” -- Gloria, Erap, Joe de V, Nograles, Manny, the lot -- relevant to Filipinos dashing for exits? .
About 1.1 million left last year. That rate can “fill six Boeing 747s a day.” Many won’t return. We were the heftiest group in 54.2 million migrant workers that Asia fielded, University of Sussex estimates.
Tracking migrants is now a fulltime cottage industry. National Statistical Coordination Board maintains a migration data base A commission on migrant workers has been crafted by Catholic Bishops Conference. OFW Consortium whips up media features.
OFW padalas account for 14% of GDP Yet, no country broke free of poverty just by remittances, York Times Jason De Parle cautions “Migration is to the Philippines what cars once were to Detroit: its civil religion..
Even before youngsters graduate, they already plan to scram, Scalabrini Migration Center studies reveal. “TV novellas plumb migrants’ loneliness. Politicians court their votes. Real estate salesmen bury them in condominium brochures,’ a summary blog notes.
“Across the archipelago, stories of rags-to-riches compete with stories of rags-to-rags. New malls define the landscape. So do left-behind kids. Gain and loss are so thoroughly joined that the logo of the migrant welfare agency shows the sun doing battle with the rain. Local idiom stresses the uncertainty of the migrant’s lot. An O.F.W. does not say he is off to make his fortune. He says: ‘I am going to try my luck’.”
Padalas “raise sharply chances of a Filipino household climbing out of poverty, ” UP School of Economics’ Ernesto Pernia documented. Cupboards are fuller. Kids get tuition and homes repaired..
Medicine also becomes available. This is crucial in a country with towns, like Pintuyan, Southern Leyte..It has a hospital without nurses, medical technicians, x-ray films, medicine, linens, etc. The only doctor is the director. And she heroically scrounges for funds to provide the barest service...
Padalas cushion the impact in OFW homes as food and fuel prices bolt. Today’s inflation slashes more deeply in homes without an OFW. This gap is new too. It also stokes the itch to migrate.
But does corrosive lack of confidence, in current leaders, spur the exodus? Do today’s “presidentiables” offer hope, would-be migrants ask Most won’t wait until 2010 to find out. They’re voting now with their feet. “Plenty sits still,” the old axiom goes. “But hunger is a wanderer.”
“The Filipino’s poor situation is of such magnitude that Ms. Arroyo’s doles ( rice, scholarships, power ,etc ) trivializes it, Sociologist Randy David writes. If shoddily crafted, “a social program soon runs out of money, or out of law”. Convicted for plunder, Erap insists the main issue is corruption. And he peddles his underwhelming sons to lead the opposition’s senatorial list. ..
Rep. Jose de Venecia can’t figure out why nobody RSVP’d t o his “moral revolution” call. Ping Lacson, plastered on .a billboard endorsing a facial center, “may have nothing to do with 2010 elections and everything to do with an oversize ego,” wrote Inquirer’s Pat Evangelista. Can they restore confidence – and ultimately hope? Would you “buy a second hand car from these guys”?
Demographics, meanwhile, is recasting labor demands. Birth rates, in industrial countries, are skidding below replacement levels. “For a civilization obsessed with sex, this is remarkable,” National Intelligence Council Herbert Meyer.told the Davos Forum.
In 30 years there’ll be 70 to 80 million fewer Europeans..Japan may lose up to 60 million people . You either import workers, many of who resist cultural integration, as Europe does. Or shut down schools, hospitals, as Japan prefers “Nobody has any idea about how to run an economy with such demographics.”
A renewed “geological lottery”, meanwhile, sent oil prices from $26 a barrel in 2003 to $139 this month. It could crest $150 by July. Wealth is being massively transferred.. ‘Perhaps half a trillion dollars will land in OPEC coffers -- more than at any time since the boom of the 1970s and 1980s.,” Businessweek notes.
Migrants in some Middle East nations can exceed 60% of the workforce. “The native-born want to enjoy profits and products that immigrant labor makes possible,” the Economist notes. “But they do not want to face the competition immigrants bring.”
Such wealth will overhaul migration patterns. Will this abort the emerging trend for migrants head for ports within the region, as Asian Development Bank found? Filipino migrants will find themselves caught, willy-nilly, in these turbulent changes, as clueless capos, grandstand.
When the first post-war migrants left, in early 1970s, few foresaw we’d become a country of nomads. But that’s what we are today. And that’s what we’ll be in the near future. The ultimate resource is the Filipino’s resilence humor and faith. More than ever, the old saying holds: “Bloom wherever you’re planted.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE WHY AND THE WHEREFORE OF THE
JUNE 12 CELEBRATIONS
|
|
|
|
|
|
Since 1964, Filipinos in the Homeland and abroad mark the anniversary of the Declaration of Philippine Independence from Spain with various celebrations in the month of June highlighting the 12th, the date in 1898 when the revolutionary forces of General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed sovereignty and independence (from Spanish rule which had endured for 333 years) in Kawit, Cavite. Let us go back 110 years for historical details - the time was estimated between 4:00 to 5:00 o'clock in the afternoon at the ancestral home of Aguinaldo, who became the first president. On that day, the Filipino flag (designed and made by Marcela Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo and Delfina Herboza in HongKong) was unfurled as the Marcha Filipino Magdalo, made its maiden performance. It was later renamed Marcha Nacional Filipina and eventually became the Philippines' National anthem now titled Lupang Hinirang. The composition of Julian Felipe, was played for the first time by the San Francisco de Malabon Marching Band. The Act of the Declaration of Independence which was worded in Spanish was read out loud by Senor Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista . The Declaration was was signed by 98 persons, including an American army officer who winessed the proclamation. This was promulgated on August 1st under the rules of the dictatorial government of General Aguinaldo. Later, the June 12 proclamation was modified by another proclamation done in Malolos, Bulacan, at the insistence of Apolinario Mabini, who had objected to the original proclamation which had placed the Philippines under the protection of the United States of America.
Ironically, the Declaration was not recognized by the United States and the monarchy of Spain as the latter ceded the Philippines to the United States in December 1898 through the Treaty of Paris, where the U.S. paid Spain the sum of $20 million dollars to indemnify its expenses and assets lost in the Spanish-American War. Philippine Independence was finally granted by the U.S. on July 4, 1946. The June 12 date was observed as flag day until 1962 when then- President Diosdado Macapagal upon the advice of historians, signed Presidential Proclamation No. 28. After its passage in Congress Republic Act No. 4166 was signed into law by Macapagal on August 4, 1964, changing the official celebration to June 12, the date in 1898 when Aguinaldo declared the nation's independence from Spain. Henceforth, June 12 became Araw ng Kalayaan and July 4 Republic Day and Philippine American Friendship Day.
On June 12, 1998, the Philippines marked its centennial year of Independence from Spain. Celebrations were held simultaneously nationwide and by Filipinos worldwide. This was during Fidel V. Ramos' administration. It was then when the National Centennial Commission was established with former Vice-President Salvador H. Laurel appointed as Chairman, presiding on all events throughout the country and abroad.
This year, the occasion in the Philippines started on June 10 at 32 locations.
In New York, the biggest celebration in the U.S. which include twelve states under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Consulate General in New York, namely, Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, Massachussetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont kicks off with the annual Philippine Independence Day Parade in Manhattan on the first Sunday of June. Aside from the grand parade, the commemorative festivities in that area include a youth festival, an Independence Ball, a beauty and talent contest, and special cultural presentations organized by an ad hoc committee. The Filipino American community in Northeast United States is home to more than half a million Filipinos. As a celebration in America, it is a cultural awareness campaign and used to raise funds for charity projects in the U.S. and the Homeland. Here in Los Angeles County, the commemorative activities began on June 7 with a full day outdoor program at the Veterans Park in the City of Carson. In Los Angeles, the Philippine Consulate General will host a reception on June 12 at the Almanzor Court with the Grand Kalayaan Ball at the Marriott Convention Center in Burbank, hosted by the Kalayaan 2008 Commitee under the leadership of Noel Omega. Distinguished officials expected to grace the occasion are RP's Consul General Mary Jo Bernardo Aragon, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, L.A. Councilman Richard Alarcon and Carson Councilmember Elito Santarina. To lead the invocation is Filipino Bishop Oscar Solis. From the Philippines, invitations were extended to Senate President Manuel Villar, Senators Manuel Mar Roxas, Ramon Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
