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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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PRESIDENT Arroyo did nothing but sugar coat the real state of the republic in her address before the nation. Is she describing a different country in her speech? She is nearing the end of her term and yet she remains in denial of what really is the state of the nation. The president is acting like a benevolent mother caressing her children and promising them a full season of Santa Claus, while the truth is right n front of her that her children are starving. She is like offering a mirage to a nation dying of thirst. Get real, Mrs. Arroyo.
We are in a state of disarray.
She admitted in her address that the nation is in survival mode. However, she was not humble enough to admit that the reason why the nation is in such dire situation is her own faulty administration. Instead, she blamed foreign factors.
She admits that the nation is in a deep hole with the surging oil and food prices, yet the solution she is offering involves her starving citizens to shell out more cash– VAT.
She said that the VAT program is the solution to the nation’s inherited problems. She added that it would reduce our national debt.
Who made her speech? Whoever did it must have been deliriously hungry.
The Filipino masses have nothing to eat yet the president expects them to pay for debts that the government inherited from past regimes. Put a little sense in your head, madam.
Perhaps if the president and her rich friends could pay for the national debt, then she could claim that the nation is well and fine. Other than that, she has no business lying to us all.
The president is at the twilight of her term, and all we have are empty plates and memories of failed mutinies. Throughout her tenure, that is all we will remember. Throughout her administration, all we experienced was chaos, not the rosy paradise that the president intended to sell in her SONA.
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H-2B VISAS NO LONGER AVAILABLE
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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
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on July 30 that the H-2B cap for the first half of the 2009 fiscal year has been reached.
This means that new petitions received on or after July 30 would be rejected.
As in the case of H1B petitions, there is an annual limit of 66,000. One half or 33,000 are allotted for the first half of the fiscal year and the remaining numbers are reserved for the second half. The fiscal year starts on October 1.
All new petitions received on July 29, 2008 will be subject to a computer-generated random selection process. Those not chosen will be rejected and their filing fees returned.
H-2B extensions or those petitions seeking to change the terms of employment or to change or add employers and extend their stay are not subject to the cap and the USCIS will continue to process them.
H-2B visas are reserved for non-agricultural workers who enter the U.S. to perform temporary services for an employer on a one-time, seasonal, peak load or intermittent basis. The temporariness of the job is determined by the nature of the need of the employer, not the nature of the duties.
The H-2B process starts with the filing of a temporary labor certification (ETA Form 750 Part A) with the local State Workforce Agency (SWA) not more than 120 days prior to the employer’s needs.
After review, the SWA will forward the ETA Form 750 A to the National Processing Center where a final determination will be made.
A labor certification is issued when the Department of Labor (DOL) finds that there are no U.S. qualified workers for the job and that similarly situated workers will not be adversely affected by the hiring of foreign workers.
The approved labor certification or the DOL statement of no certification is then attached to the I-129 petition that is submitted to the USCIS.
A labor certification does not guarantee the approval of the H-2B petition. On the other hand, a negative decision on the labor certification application does not automatically result in a denial of the petition.
Multiple beneficiaries may be included in a single H-2B petition if they will be performing the same work for the same period in the same location.
The H-2B worker is allowed a maximum of not more than a year. In extraordinary cases, two one-year extensions may be allowed.
Unlike in H-1B cases, the filing of an immigrant visa petition or permanent labor certification is not allowed for H-2B workers. The rule cannot be circumvented by the filing for permanent resident status on behalf of the alien in a different job.
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RICO CASE VS. U.S. CONGRESS?
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CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – On Saturday, July 26, it would be the 67th anniversary of the military order of President Roosevelt, conscripting the Commonwealth Army of the Philippines into the United States Armed Forces anticipating the defense and protection of the United States and its interests in the Pacific from the attack of the Japanese Imperial Army less than five months before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.
Researchers on Philippine-U.S. military relations believe that this order left no doubt that the Filipino soldiers who were conscripted or forced to join the war (instead of being asked to volunteer) against their will under pain of death penalty makes the United States liable for committing “U.S. War Crime of Involuntary Servitude and Massive War Fraud” when the U.S. Congress passed the Recession Act of 1946, denying the Filipino soldiers of their wartime services.
This crime, which could be filed under “federal statute at 18 U.S.C. 1961” under the “RICO predicate acts” such as “mail fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice, obstruction of criminal investigation, and witness tampering or retaliation” could be forgotten, if not forgiven, if the U.S. Congress would pass the Senate Bill 1315, which was passed by lopsided vote of 96-1 before U.S. Senate last April.
Civil RICO Under Study
As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Dem.-Cal.-8th) foot-drags in scheduling the Senate bill 1315 as is for a floor debate under “suspension of rules” on the House floor and lays to waste the energies and momentum that were built in the U.S. Senate to get the bill sail thru, supporters of Filipino veterans are planning to charge the U.S. Congress with violations of “Civil RICO (which) authorizes triple damages (3x) to be awarded to successful private plaintiffs. See 18 U.S.C. 1964(c).”
According to a study by Paul Andrew Mitchell, B.A., M.S., Private Attorney General, Federal Witness and Qualified Criminal Investigator, the ‘provision for triple damages is justified by the expected benefit of suppressing racketeering activity, an object pursued the sooner the better. Rotella v. Wood.”
If this RICO filing is tried in court for the claims of the Filipino veterans, it will circumvent the “oft-repeated” reason for the denial of the lawsuits filed by these veterans – violation of statutes of limitation or prescription.
RICO Easier to File
What makes the RICO (Racketeereer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) case easier to file is that the “private attorney general may appear in court without the license to practice law that is required of all State Bar Members” and the “private attorney general” concept holds that a successful private party plaintiff is also entitled to recovery of his legal expenses, including attorney fees, if he has advanced the policy inherent in public interest legislation on behalf of a significant class of persons. Dasher v. Housing Authority of City of Atlanta.”
What makes “Civil RICO statutes” all the more attractive to explore is that they are “supplemented by two Human Rights Treaties –- the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights –- both of which are rendered supreme law by virtue of the Supremacy Clause (just like the Bill of Rights).”
If the U.S. Congress will pass S. 1315, it will even save a bundle if the bill in its present form will be affirmed by it.
ESTIMATE UPGRADE
According to Peter R. Orszag, director of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, dated June 26, 2008, addressed to Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (Dem.-HI), Chairman, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, a few weeks after the S. 1315 (Veterans’ Benefits Enhancement Act of 2007) sailed thru the Senate, after “the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee staff brought to our attention that our previous estimate of S. 1315 might not reflect all eligible Filipino surviving spouses under section 401, (w)e reviewed the bill language and consulted with our counsel and with the Department of Veterans Affairs to try to ensure that the CBO estimate encompassed all potential beneficiaries. We determined that the committee staff was correct and we changed our estimate accordingly.
“As a result, our updated esti mate of section 401's provision for pensions for Filipino surviving spouses is an increase in expected direct spending of $160 million over the 2009-2018 period, covering approximately 11,200 surviving spouses. Our original (August 2007) estimate for this pension provision reflected a projection of 4,000 surviving spouses for an estimated cost of $59 million over the 2008-2017 period. (Last year’s estimate extended only through 2017, consistent with the 10-year projection period underlying the baseline in place at that time.) That earlier estimate did not include the surviving spouses of Filipino veterans who died before enactment of the bill.
“Your staff pointed out that the language as drafted would encompass that group. Thus, we updated the estimate to reflect the full cohort of potential beneficiaries.”
APOLOGY WILL SUFFICE
Unfortunately, I think if this “updated estimate” is inserted in the S. 1315, it could spark a long debate on the U.S. Congress floor that could prevent it from being passed. For me, an apology to the Filipino veterans will suffice for this devaluation.
As I said in my previous column, the S. 1315 in its present form is good enough to be passed. Otherwise, the bill could only die again if there will be further debate. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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EXORCISING "SEVEN CURSES"
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“The curse is come upon me,” wailed Tennyson’s “Lady of Shallot”. That didn’t come from today’s lady Ombudsman . Rather, this cry seems about the “fifth of seven curses” that plagues the Arroyo regime, namely: officials whose main bona-fide is “blind loyalty to the President.”
As impeachment prosecutor, Simeon Marcelo nailed “Jose Velarde”, in withering cross examination, without raising his voice. Here was a man who could “lead a charge without feeling funny astride a horse”, people felt. The Ombudsman, under Marcelo, grew into a lean graft-busting agency.
Today’s Ombudsman is “going up in flames,” bickering prosecutors claim. Why? Because a tenacious prosecutor, who secured the first conviction ever of a Philippine president for plunder, has a daughter with a temper. How’s that for a constitutional agency’s “vision”? Marcelo resigned, in November 2005, for “health reasons”. He never commented on persistent speculation that the First Gentleman leaned on him for special cases. The President named Merceditas Gutierrez as replacement. In “history’s lottery, Ms Gutierrez was the First Gentleman’s law school classmate.
"Even emperors have straw-sandaled relatives," noted Viewpoint in “No Other Tribute” ( PDI / Oct 20, 2005) “There’s only one accolade the President can give Simeon Marcelo…And that’s to appoint another Marcelo.” Today, Ms Guiterrez “has undone what her predecessor… worked hard to establish: public respectability for and credibility of the Ombudsman,” claims a special Newsbreak report.
She centralized decision-making and whittled down regional Ombudsmen into impotent mail clerks, wrote Aries C. Rufo. She blacks out information, specially those involving politicians. Marcelo’s efforts to build alliances with citizen and inter-faith groups, against graft, were left to wither.
Administrative Order 65 smudges line responsibilities. These pressurize independent officials like Pampanga Governor Eduardo Panlilio. Gutierrez goes ballistic over minor issues, like a hospital director’s P200 phone bill But she refrigerates political cases. These include: siphoning Girl Scout funds into personal accounts of politicians and overpriced Lapu-Lapu city computers..
“Weak cases are being filed”. Conviction rates slumped to 14 percent, from a high of 77 percent last year. “We’re back to the Dark Ages,” Newsbreak quotes an insider.
“Benighted times” refer to the corruption-studded tenure of Ombudsman Aniano Desierto, hand-picked by President Fidel Ramos.
A military prosecutor for Marcos' lawless regime, Desierto hounded those whose shoes he was never fit to wipe: Senators Benigno Aquino, Jose Diokno, among others. Until his death, Senator Lorenzo Tanada refused to even address Desierto directly.
“For the rest of his seven-year term, Ombudsman Desierto will devote a considerable amount of official time protecting his hide," constitutional scholar Joaquin Bernas S.J. predicted "His image is shattered...and it is impossible for him to function effectively”
And so it came to pass. The Ombudsman took repeated dives on cases, specially those involving the Marcoses. The Solicitor General flayed Desierto for ’ignoring "vital evidence" in dismissing a multi-billion graft case on the Bataan nuclear plant scandal. “Desierto is nothing but a valet for cronies”, Sun Star snapped..
Is Ms Gutierrez a recycled Aniano Desierto, only in skirts? Look at how this “graft-buster” handled the P1.6 billion scandal of Mega-Pacific election computers.
Comelec tailored specs to suit Mega Pacific Consortium, Senate Report 44 reveals. This firm whisked thru incorporation 11 days before bid deadlines. Requirements like “three year financial statements” were spiked.
Under Benjamin Abalos, Comelec approved the contract -- six days before it received the Bids & Awards committee recommendation on April 21,2003. Lutong makaw is the apt Filipino phrase for the pre-cooked.
“The illegal, imprudent and hasty actions of the Commission…cast serious doubts upon the poll body’s ability and capacity to conduct automated elections,” the Court said. “Truly, the pith and soul of democracy – credible, orderly and peaceful elections – has been put in jeopardy by the illegal and gravely abusive acts of Comelec.”
Guiterrez ruled no one was liable for the scandal, while bunkered in a conference abroad. Where in the world does a major crime occur without a criminal? Onli in da Pilipins.
Impunity, however, emboldens. Mega Pacific hasn’t paid back a centavo. It sued experts who testified before the Supreme Court -- for libel.. Comelec is billed P3.9 million yearly for storage of kaput computers.
“I won’t resign,” Abalos said. Did the Ombudsman’s “gift of impunity” embolden Abalos? Three years later, he was to tell Secretary Romulado Neri in the broadband scam: “May 200 ka diyan Sec” , the Senate heard. And did Ms Gutierrez’s classmate snort at Blue Ribbon witness Rodolfo Lozada: “Back off”?.
A no-frills “State of the Nation”, delivered in a P95-million refurbished session hall, won’t exorcise “seven curses”. These include mismanaged agriculture; deepening penury to abuse of presidential appointing powers, say Former Senior Government Officials.
That sordid track record stems from human decisions,. not from a vacuum as this Ombudsman is wont to say. This SONA will, at best, indicate whether “theft of a nation’s hope and future” will, as many fear, continue under the “fifth curse”: a regime of felonies without felons . ###
(E-mail:juanlmercado@gmail.com )
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Editorial staff The Filipino Express
July 25, 2008
Dear Editor:
As a staff member of Damayan Migrant Workers Association, I wish to respond to the editorial entitled "The Motive" about the case of Marichu Suarez Baoanan and charges of human trafficking and forced labor against former UN Ambassador Lauro Baja, Jr and his family. The editorial appeared in the July 7 - July 13, 2008 issue.
The editorial asks, what was Marichu's motive? The answer is simple: justice. It is also Damayan's motive in supporting Marichu in this case. I believe it's important for the readers to know Marichu's motives, but the Bajas's motives should also be scrutinized. According to the legal case, Baja and his family were paid P250,000 by Marichu in exchange for the so-called "package deal" that ultimately led to her trafficking and 3-month enslavement in the Baja household. This means that the Bajas profited from Marichu not just from her money, but also from her labor.
Is it so unbelievable that a Philippine government official is capable of greed, corruption and abuse? Or is so unbelievable that a women migrant worker would have the courage to stand up for her rights?
At the press conference organized by Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) on July 9, a reporter asked the same question about Marichu's motives and whether they were connected to her trafficking visa. Marichu answered very clearly. When she courageously escaped the Baja household, she knew she was out of status. She had been in the country just three months. She knew nothing of legal recourse or trafficking visas. Marichu's immediate concern, and the concern of any out-of-status immigrant mother, was for her family. This is her primary concern over and above her status, revenge or any other motive of which she is covertly accused by a few local media.
At the press conference, Attorney Ivy Suriyopas followed up with a logical and obvious, and yet completely neglected point. Marichu and her family already have the trafficking visa and visa derivatives. She does not need to pursue a legal case, except to win justice and affirm her human dignity.
The editorial's point about receiving a lead about this case many months ago was also addressed at the same July 9 press conference. Marichu could not go public until the case had been filed. Her concern was also for her family. Knowing that the Bajas are powerful people in the Philippines, she needed to ensure that her children were in the US safely before pursuing the case.
Damayan’s primary interest is to support Marichu and her family, and to empower other Filipina domestic workers to gain courage to confront abusive employers, including those who wield their power and position to abuse and profit from the vulnerability of women workers. With that said, Damayan could not go public with this case before Marichu and her family were ready. This would be a violation of the organization's principles of building the leadership of its members.
As sensational as this case has become, it is not only about Marichu and the Bajas but, more so, about the rampant graft and corruption in the Philippines. The inutile Philippine government is responsible for the widespread poverty that drives 1.24 million Filipinos like Marichu to go abroad yearly. Filipinos pay an estimated 13 billion in Philippine pesos to various government fees in order to go abroad. This year alone, Filipino im/migrant workers will send more than $16 billion in remittances to the Philippines through formal channels, and more than $20 billion including informal channels. Migrant workers support the Philippine economy and should demand their rights and protection from the Philippine government.
Once abroad, im/migrant workers are susceptible to abuses and violations of their human rights. According to the preliminary results of the Damayan survey of 210 Filipino domestic workers in New York City, 63 percent reported wage and hour violations, and 34 percent of survey respondents reported being abused.
For too long, our community has been silenced by the overwhelming odds against them. Marichu, along with the voices of other Filipina domestic workers, is now seeking justice, and her struggle is the same as millions of Filipina domestic workers in the US and around the world. Damayan stands with Marichu and all domestic workers fighting for justice, dignity and liberation from modern-day slavery.
Sincerely,
Leah Obias
Staff Member
DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association
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To: Filipino Express Editorial
From: Liza Ledesma
THIS a my personal reaction to your editorial last July 7-23 "The Motive". I read the Filipino Express since I was here in New York 8 years ago. And in my own personal view after I read your editorial regarding the issue of Marichu Baoanan I completely lost my admiration and respect to your jounalism credibility.
How come that a Philippine news paper like Filipino express will write such an idiotic editorial to the case of a Marichu Banaoan? A Filipina nurse who the Baja's promised a working permit in exchanged of 250 thousand pesos and enslaved her for 3 months. Badmouthed by Norma Baja, eat left over food and work 18 hrs. a day 7 days a week. Who has really the evil motive here?
I met Ms. Banaoan less than a year ago in a childrens park in Manhattan. I know what she went through. How she wanted to push the case right away to get justice, but she was very afraid of the welfare of her family in the Philippines sinced ex-UN Ambassador Baja is a very powerful public fugure.
She has 3 kids that she said she just wanted to have a good education. Marichu is a mother who dare the devil to go to US for a greener pasture. Sinced the Philippine government fail to provide a better job for every Filipinos, the only way to survive is to go out of the country.
I met Marichu she has a doubt that she cannot have her family for T Visa since she was still innocent in her rights in the US. She has no idea that this will came to reality. Those times she was very confused because she wants to push the case but one time worried about the safety of her children. she was also problematic about her house that she said "nakasanla" for 250 thousand. the money she paid to Baja's travel agency.
Damayan migrant workers Association helped a lot of abused Filipino domestic workers in New Jersey and New York. They are promoting the rights and dignity of our modern heroes who helped the economy afloat. But being forgotten and neglected by our own government.
Now I understand more what had Marichu Banaoan had told me. She is right that the Bajas are really powerful and capable to do or "pay" anything just to get what they want. Watched her interview and her statements are very clear regarding her silence until her family security. I just wonder why Filipino express wrote this editorial "The Motive."
Ano ba rin ang motibo ng diyaryo niyo?
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