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For the past 21 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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SPRINGFIELD – Some Filipino Americans, who were openly supporting Sen. Hillary Clinton during the Democratic presidential primary, are now warming up to the choice of Sen. Joe Biden as Sen. Barack Obama’s vice presidential Democratic nominee.
Attorney Loida Nicolas Lewis told this reporter in an interview that “Sen. Biden is the wrong choice. It should have been Hillary Clinton who already has 18 million votes. But Democrats should support the ticket of Senators Obama and Biden in the general elections.”
Ms. Lewis was interviewed by this reporter before delivering her keynote speech at the Gintong Pamana Awards Foundation, Inc. ceremonies, honoring 12 outstanding Filipinos held at Chicago’s suburbs of Oak Brook, Illinois last Aug. 23 (Saturday) night.
Ms. Lewis was a campaign leader among the Filipino Americans for Sen. Hillary Clinton for president during the primary.
Another pro-Clinton supporter, Ting Joven, another Filipino American community leader in Chicago, said, “I was so disappointed. I was still hoping that the choice would be Sen. Clinton. But since Joe Biden is the best next to Hillary, I still have my full support to them and I would like to appeal to Filipino American voters to please support Barack Obama and Joe Biden because he (Obama) is the change that we want and he is opening doors not only for you and me but for everybody. You don’t want another four years of Bush-McCain regime, do you?
“And for those Democrats, who are saying that they would turn Republicans if Mr. Obama did not pick Hillary Clinton, please think twice.”
On the other hand, Filipino American Skokie, Illinois Commissioner Jerry B. Clarito, an Obama supporter, was beaming, saying, ‘Obama's vision of the future and Biden’s wisdom and experience make them the winning team. The experience complementing the optimism of the future is really unbeatable. And besides, Biden is a simple person and very pro-people public servant. He has served the Senate for 30 years and a family man with that experience means big for the working class people and the middle class people. Mr. Biden has seen the ups and downs in the government, this will help Mr. Obama work within that framework," Clarito said.
Before an estimated 35,000 supporters, Senator Obama publicly announced Senator Biden as his vice presidential running mate last Aug. 23 (Saturday) with the Old Capitol building and a huge American flag as the back drop in Springfield, Illinois. To show that he has the physical capacity to run for office, the 65-yearold Mr. Biden jogged on stage.
“Today, I come back to Springfield to tell you that I found that man. A man with a distinguished record, a man with fundamental decency and that man is Joe Biden.” Mr. Obama said.
“Biden, for decades, has brought change to Washington but Washington has not changed him. He directs a foreign policy, with his heart and values rooted in middle class, stared down dictators and spoke up for the American cops and firefighters. He is uniquely suited to be my partner as we work to put our country back on track. Now, I could say he is one of the finest public servants of our time.”
Mr. Obama described Mr. Biden’s character for making “triumphs only after great trial,” Referring to Biden’s way of commuting home by Amtrak train every night from the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. to Wilmington, Delaware to be with his family, a choice he made after his first wife, Nelia, and an infant daughter, Naomi, died in a car accident just before he took office in the Senate in 1972.
He would raise his two sons as a single father, with the help of his sister, Valerie, until he met his second wife, Jill, a teacher he has been married for 30 years.
“Joe still rides the train back to Washington every night. Out of the heartbreak of that unspeakable accident, he did more than become a senator. He raised a family.
“That is the character of the man, who is going to be the vice president of the United States of America. He came back stronger than before. He has become more resilient by overcoming adversities for his work in the Senate. He raised his family with a strong commitment to work and with a Catholic Faith and with a belief that Americans can make it if they try.”
Biden was responsible for passing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 also known as the Biden Crime Law, which according to Mr. Obama, put “100,000 cops on the street, starting an eight-year drop in crime rate throughout the country.”
Biden also authored the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994, which according to Mr. Obama, saw “the rate of abuse among women dropped dramatically and countless women got a second chance at life."
Mr. Obama described Mr. Biden as “America's leading voice on right to liberties, college tuition, rising women, family leave, reflect his leading voice of national security, and he looked at (Serbian leader Slobodan) Milosevic in the eye and called him a war criminal and helped shape the policies that would end killings in the Balkans and brought Milosevic to justice.
Obama said Mr. Biden led in the lockdown of chemical weapons and let Bush bring Europe democracies in its trail. He has been a powerful critic against the Iraq War. He went to Georgia, called for aid and a tough message for Russia.
“Joe Biden is what many others pretend to be.” Mr. Obama said. “A statesman who wants to keep America strong. He will make a good president and a great vice president. Joe will give us the real straight talk. He is at home in a foreign scene like Iraq and corridor of Congress and the center of international crisis. He beat odds, a scrappy kid from Scranton, and a dedicated family man, who knows everyday the conductor of the Amtrak train to Wilmington. That’s the kind of fighter, whom I want to be by my side for years to come.”
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Pacquiao to battle Dela Hoya on December 6 in Las Vegas
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NEW YORK– Manny Pacquiao could still be shaking his head in disbelief. Back in the late 90's in General Santos City, the young Pacquiao must have seen and heard of the great Mexican–American boxer named Oscar Dela Hoya. After all, Dela Hoya was the most lucrative name in boxing then second only to Mike Tyson. Well, Dela Hoya, without the troubled Tyson has become the most lucrative figher of this age. He won't be called the 'golden boy' if he merely commands a purse full of silver coins like Judas. He is golden all the way.
Now, Manny will fight Oscar in probably the biggest money-making fight in recent boxing history. It could be a fight that could bring boxing out of cable TV and back into network TV, where it once ruled.
It is confirmed. On Thursday, after months of speculation and hustling, Oscar Dela Hoya's CEO for his promotions company, Richard Schaefer announced that Dela Hoya will indeed fight the Filipino ring icon on December 6 in Las Vegas.
Manny versus Oscar, how surreal is that? Physically, it is as surreal as any Salvador Dali painting.Manny Pacquiao is a lightweight at 135 lbs. He is in his heaviest since he put on his gloves. Probably he is in the 140s now due the abundant food on his table. Manny is also only 5 feet 6 inches in height. Oscar Dela Hoya, on the other hand towers at five feet eleven inches and held the 160 lbs weight class for years. Four feet difference in height, 20 pounds difference in weight. It's like a basketball game between the USA Redeem Team versus the local Barangay Bagong Ahit Basketball team in Novaliches. Quezon City.
A mismatch, however, it is interesting to see Manny try for the impossible. That kind of drama sells. And the two boxers agreed to split the sales 65/35 in favor of the golden boy. In a fight that is estimated to gross at $100 million, 35% is not bad at all. In fact, it's fantastic. It could be the largest pay check ever issued to a Filipino athlete.
This is the fight everybody wants. In recent months, the boxing world is abuzz with this fight. Everybody wants to see Oscar fight Manny despite the physical gap, because knowing Manny, these fans and boxing experts know that he will give it his all. He will throw hundreds of punches every round until the last one. It will be an unforgettable battle not because of Oscar, but because of Manny.
Can Manny win? The odds are against him, but it like anything else today, boxing has been about the spectacle and not the outcome. It's more about the fight than the winner. Blood sells better than the belt. There is no doubt that this fight will be full of drama and gore. Just like how boxing should be.
If Manny loses this Herculean task of beating Oscar and making him another Mexican statistic in his quest to wipe out all boxers from that country, It will be fine. It won't hurt as much, because it is expected that he will indeed lose the fight given his disadvantages.
However if he pulls an upset, it's a different story. He will be mentioned among the elite: Hagler, Hearns, Ali, Duran, Leonard, Robinson, Tyson to name a few. He will be on another level. Now he is Macy's, if he wins, he will be Saks 5th or Barney's. He will be god-like. Plus, he will be richer by many millions and might even save the Philippines from its nagging economic woes– $100 for each Filipino.
Hell, he might even be sent to Mindanao and eliminate the insurgency problem there. Perhaps he might even cure ailments.
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CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – Dr. Elnora M. Calimlim and her husband, Dr. Jefferson N. Calimlim are likely to get a longer jail term.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit based in Chicago, Illinois affirmed last Aug. 15 their “convictions, but vacate their sentences and remand for sentencing in accordance with this opinion.”
In a 27-page opinion delivered by Circuit Judge Diane Pamela Wood for the three-judge panel, the appellate court ruled that as the Filipino doctors’ “appeal (of) their convictions, and the Government has cross-appealed from the district court’s refusal to apply several enhancements in its calculation of the advisory Sentencing Guideline range(,) we find no error in the convictions, but we agree with the Government that resentencing is required, and so we reverse and remand for that purpose.” The other members of the panel are Circuit Judges Diane S. Sykes and John Daniel Tinder.
The Calimlims challenged their convictions of four years’ imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on several grounds: that the forced labor statue is vague and overbroad, that the jury instructions on the forced labor counts failed to exclude the possibility of a conviction for innocent actions, and that there was insufficient evidence of financial gain on the harboring counts.
The appellate court observed that the “forced labor statute” was violated by the Calimlims when they “knowingly obtained (the) labor or services” of Irma Martinez by issuing “threats of serious harm,” one of the three circumstances that should be present. It said that when they were telling “Martinez that if she did not do everything they asked, they would not send money back to her family (in the Philippines), the Calimlims also knew that not sending money back home was, for Martinez, a “serious harm.”
Martinez was 19 years old when she accompanied Dr. Jovito Mendoza, the father of defendant Elnora Calimlim, to the United States to become a domestic helper in the Calimlim residence in Brookfield, Wisconsin for 19 years.
In addition, the “Calimlims also warned Martinez about her precarious position under the immigration laws, conveniently omitting anything about their (Calimlims) own vulnerability.”
When the Calimlims “kept her passport, never admitted that they too were violating the law, and never offered to try to regularize her presence in the United States” that would compel her to remain, the Calimlims intentionally manipulated the situation.
“Their vague warnings that someone might report Martinez and their false statements that they were the only ones who lawfully could employ her could reasonably be viewed as a scheme to make her believe that she or her family would be harmed if she tried to leave. That is all the jury needed to convict.”
As to the jury instructions on the forced labor count that failed to exclude the possibility of a conviction for innocent actions, the court said “there was no error, plain or otherwise” since Congress amended the statute that “expanded the definition of involuntary servitude to include nonphysical forms of coercion.”
The court rejected the claims of the Calimlims that the value of Martinez’s labor was “offset by 1) the price of her wages, room, and board, and 2) the risk of harboring her, and that the values all balance out,” saying that the Calimlims “would still have a motive to spend some dollars on her; her labor came at a significantly lower price that a comparable American housekeeper. This is enough a pecuniary motive by itself to prove financial gain.”
The court also sided with the government which argued that “Calimlims’ offense level for purposes of the Sentencing Guidelines should be increased under three separate sections: commitment of another felony during the course of committing the crime of forced labor; vulnerable victim: and use of a minor to commit a crime. The district court rejected all three, and the Government has cross-appealed on the ground that this was error and that the overall sentences of 48 months each were unreasonable.”
While the district court and the Calimlims “took the position that all their convictions were covered by U.S.S.G § 2H4.1 and thus there was no ‘other’ felony offense that would support enhancement,” the court observed that the Calimlims were convicted of violation of “forced labor” and “harboring an alien for private financial gain.” This means there is “another felony offense” that has its own sentencing guidelines.
“The bar on double counting comes into play only if the offense itself necessarily includes the same conduct as the enhancement,” the court said. It added “forced labor” and “harboring” are two separate offenses that are based on different conducts.
The court also ruled that the “district court erred” when it denied a “two-level enhancement” after it pointed out that “Martinez was member of a group typically targeted by those desiring forced labor.”
The court also pointed out that the “district court erred in not applying the (two-level) enhancement, based on the ample evidence in the record that the Calimlims used their children to help conceal Martinez and to keep her in bondage all those (19) years.” The enhancement “focuses whether the defendant used a minor in the commission of a crime, not whether the minor knew that he was being used to commit a crime.”
Dr. Jefferson Calimlim, 63, and Dr. Elnora Calimlim, 62, are due to be released on Sept. 3, 2010.
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