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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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Source said priest had child with a girl while in a relationship
with her mother
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NEW YORK– The sex case against New York-based Filipino priest Elvis Elano took a more sinister turn when a source in the Philippines revealed to the Filipino Express that Fr. Elvis had left an ugly legacy in his home province. The source, a police officer in Albay, Philippines alleged that when Fr. Elvis was still serving as parish priest of an Albay town called Villahermosa, he was alleged to have sexual relations with a mother and daughter that were known only by their last names–Salas. The source further alleged that Fr. Elvis impregnated the young Salas while he was still with the older Salas. Fr. Elvis is a native of the Bicol region, where Albay is a major City. He attended seminary there and was ordained in the basilica of Our Lady Of Peñafrancia, the major church in the Bicol region.
“It was publicly known,” the source said in an email to the Filipino Express that bore the title “Further Abuses of Fr. Elvis Elano.”
Fr. Elvis is currently facing a $25 million lawsuit filed by his alleged lover, 55-year old Judith Rodrigues-Lytwyn, who claims that the priest seduced her and led her to engage in sexual liaisons with him while she was undergoing severe emotional stress caused by her divorce. Fr. Elvis left the Queens Church and was assigned to Kingston to serve as a chaplain at Benedictine Hospital. He was reported to have been suspended from the hospital.
The fresh allegations about Fr. Elvis’ past could bring him deeper into the hole. While he is known to be soft spoken and not of flirty character by his former parishioners in Queens, this kind of damaging allegations could tip the balance of public perception. Some parishioners at the Astoria church where Elano worked before being posted to Our Lady of the Snows are even fiercely defended him.
"I don't care whether he's a priest or not, when a woman opens her legs, a man is not going to say no," said one 80-year-old female churchgoer at the Immaculate Conception Church.
Meanwhile, in a related development, the NY Post reported that Fr., Elvis worked as a pizza delivery man in 2006 for Knapp Pizza II, a family-run eatery in Gravesend, Brooklyn. Frank Sciortino, part owner of the joint, revealed that Fr. Elvis worked the night shift for $6.00 an hour for extra income. Fr. Elvis’ worked at the pizza joint until 2007.
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NEW YORK– On November 20, 2008, the Filipino Express received a handwritten letter addressed to the paper’s publisher, Lito Gajilan. The letter, dated November 15, 2008 was sent from the Federal Correctional Institution in Texas. It was written by Mr. Leandro Aragoncillo, the Filipino- American former FBI intelligence analyst who was found guilty of spying against the United States Government in 2007 along with Michael Ray Aquino.
Aragoncillo, a former US Marine who worked for the FBI at the army’s Ft. Monmouth base in New Jersey in July 2004, began sending US classified documents to politicians in the Philippines who are against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, most notably, ousted President Joseph Estrada. The documents are said to be harmful to the image of the incumbent president and could be used to topple the Arroyo government. He was indicted and arrested in October 5, 2005 in New Jersey for espionage.
In his letter, Aragoncillo, expressed his grief over the plight of the Filipino people and the political conditions in the country: “I am deeply concerned, as most Filipinos are, that the political course the people are following is simply wrong,” he wrote. “From the Philippine viewpoint, the Filipino people were made to believe that the current Philippine administration could bring changes the country badly needed. But after seven years of seizing power from a democratically elected president in January 2001, her (President Arroyo) government lost what popularity it has after being discredited by corruption and inefficiency.”
He also wrote about the need for change in the Philippines by electing a leader in 2010 that “not only understands and cares deeply about the issues besetting the country and the interests of the people, but also have the necessary conviction and willingness to invest time and political capital needed to push much-needed reforms.”
Aragoncillo, being a former federal employee who served in the office of Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney, offered an advice on how the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama should deal with the Philippines: “Over the years, we believe that the great achievement of the US lay in providing the economic and political framework, and incentive for developing the Philippines’ rich resources. With the incoming US administration, Washington’s efforts must be aligned with the Philippines’ most pressing problems. As I believe that engagement is crucial to effect any changes in the Philippines, instead of focusing solely on large-scale grants to sustain the Philippine economic growth, Washington should focus on the root causes of the country’s continued instability. This imbalance must be redressed urgently.”
Little is known about how extensive Aragoncillo’s ties were with opposition politicians in the Philippines and why he committed the felony. The possibility of knowing vital information like the extent of his contacts in the opposition and his motive for committing the felony ended when he pleaded guilty. His court statement when he pleaded was he did it out of love for the Filipinos. He said he wanted to bring the Filipinos out of poverty.
Aragoncillo ended his letter by expressing his remorse for spying against the United States to satisfy his anti-Arroyo contacts in the Philippines. “I would like to let you know that I have accepted my culpability and continue to show great remorse for my offenses, actions, and mistakes,” he wrote.
“I still struggle to find peace in my heart, as the mistakes I have committed brought my family pain and undue sacrifices. My deep affection, compassion for the plight of the poor Filipinos, as well as my ideology, has robbed my family the opportunity to enjoy a normal family life.”
The letter was signed by Mr. Aragoncillo with a return address leading to the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring, Texas. Aragoncillo was sentenced in July of 2007 to 10 years in prison for his serious offense. His partner in the crime, Michael Ray Aquino was convicted for receiving the documents that Aragoncillo illegally obtained from the US government, and was sentenced to 87 months in prison and a $250,000 fine. Aquino is a known operative of Senator Panfilo Lacson, who is a close confidant of deposed President Joseph Estrada.
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CHICAGO – Former Philippine Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” I. Bolante may now be safely under the watchful eyes of the Senate in the Philippines but returning to the United States is still very much uppermost in his mind.
Before being deported to the Philippines last Oct. 27, Mr. Bolante instructed his lawyers to keep his option open for him return to the United States. A copy obtained by this reporter of Bolante’s response to the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss his case for mootness showed that Bolante asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, Illinois to deny its “motion to dismiss” or grant him “any such additional relief as this court deems fair and just.”
In their filings, Bolante’s lawyers argued that “(a) lthough Bolante has admittedly been removed from this country pursuant to a removal order, which is not subject of this habeas petition appeal, the case still presents a live controversy and therefore should not be dismissed for mootness.
“Removing an alien from the place where he is being held will generally render the issue moot when, during the pendency of litigation, events will occur that render the court unable to grant the requested relief.”
Linda M. Babich of the Azulay Horn & Seiden Law offices in Chicago invoked the Supreme Court ruling on Abdala v. INS which holds that if a petition, filed by a “petitioner, who files a habeas corpus while in custody and who is ultimately removed from detention, is not automatically moot, and the courts will generally moot the issue if there is no longer a live controversy.”
But if a case presents “a live controversy, there remains a collateral consequences that may be redressed by success of the petition. Collateral consequences have included bans from returning to the U.S. after the alien’s removal.” Additionally, Bolante’s lawyers insist that there has been a failure to review the revocation of Mr. Bolante’s visa, which made his detention “illegitimate.” Because there remains a “constitutional question” as there was a “failure to provide for an adequate remedy and due process,” there still remains a live controversy in the Bolante case, Bolante's lawyers argue.
Bolante’s lawyers said they are not objecting to the government’s lawyers filing briefs to their response. Earlier, the government filed Defendants-Appellee’s motion to dismiss the appeal of Mr. Bolante’s petition for writ of habeas corpus case for “mootness.” The government told the court that Mr. Bolante “was removed to the Philippines on Oct. 27, attaching the warrant of removal and executed warrant of removal. The government argued Bolante’s habeas petition does not present a live controversy as he asked the U.S. Attorney General to release him from its custody.
Assistant Attorney General Gregory G. Katsas said, “Because Bolante has been lawfully removed pursuant to final order of removal and is no longer in detention, his habeas petition challenging his immigration detention is moot and the petition is dismissed.”
Katsas added, “In the alternative, if this Court does not grant the motion, the foregoing Motion to Dismiss, Defendant (Bolante) respectfully requests that the Court reset the briefing schedule to allow Defendants 30 days from the date of this Court’s decision in which to file their opening brief.”
Mr. Bolante was escorted by U.S. Marshals during his deportation to the Philippines. They turned him over to Philippine authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last Oct. 28 after more than two years of detention at the neighboring Kenosha Detention Center in Wisconsin. Before he left, Mr. Bolante h as a pending appeal, asking the Court “to reverse the district court’s decision to deny his petition for writ of habeas corpus and to remand his case to the district court for adjudication of his claim that his visa was unlawfully revoked.”
When he was deported to the Philippines, it ended the saga of his more than two years of eluding the Philippine Senate, which invited him to shed light on reports that the 728-M pesos (US$15-M) “fertilizer fund” under his care was diverted to the political campaign of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during the 2004 presidential elections.
Mr. Bolante arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport on July 7, 2006 “on what appeared in every aspect to be a valid Philippine passport bearing a multiple entry B1/B2 visa.” Upon arrival, he was detained and taken into custody by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after he was told his B1/B2 visa was revoked by the Consulate of the U.S. Embassy in Manila based on the “arrest warrant issued to Bolante by the Philippine Senate.”
Although Bolante insists that “he did not have prior notice of the revocation of his U.S. visa, (t)he U.S. government maintains that the Manila (U.S. Embassy’s) consular office allegedly sent two letters to Bolante in February and March 2006 advising him that his visa was no longer valid.” (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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