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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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IN a time when lay-offs and foreclosures dominate conversations all over the country, there seems to be a scarcity of things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. How can we be thankful if we lost our jobs or left without a home?
Would it be hypocritical if we still celebrate Thanksgiving while we look at a future filled with uncertainty? Is it worth it to roast a turkey and serve pumpkin pie in the middle of the greatest economic downfall since the Great Depression?
It is not hypocritical, and yes, it is worth to roast the bird.
After all, despite the hardship, there are a million reasons to be thankful because if we put ourselves into perspective. Not to belittle our sufferings here, which are real and pressing, there are millions of people in the planet that are suffering the same conditions, not just now, but since they were born.
While we cry for our foreclosed two-family houses, these people live in shanties near polluted creeks or makeshift tents in arid desserts.
While we lament on the decline of our stock investments, these people die of hunger at a rate not even possible to imagine.
While we wail for skyrocketing prices, these people have yet to see real money in their hands.
While we drink our miseries away in pubs, these people wait for a ration of water to nourish their decaying bodies.
The weight of one’s suffering is proportionate to the value of one’s loss. The suffering caused by the loss of a jacket is far less than suffering caused by the loss of a loved one.
We are losing our money and property. Many people are losing their lives.
That alone is a big reason to be thankful. After all, we here in America can still afford to throw a feast this Thanksgiving, even if the feast is not like the grand banquet we had in years past. Yet still, there will be prime rib and roast turkey.
Sadly, for these millions of people suffering greatly in other parts of the world, prime rib and roast turkey are myths of a land flowing with milk and honey that they will never even get a chance to see nor taste.
Yes, we should be thankful. We should roast the bird and thank God like we have never thanked God before.
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STRICTER RULES FOR RELIGIOUS WORKERS
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For many years, the religious worker program under the Immigration and Nationality Act has provided an easy and fast way to enter the U.S. Under the program, an alien may apply for a religious visa either as a nonimmigrant or as a special immigrant.
A nonimmigrant religious worker visa is known as an R-1 and his/her dependents may be admitted under an R-2 visa. They may stay in the U.S. for a period of five (5) years.
A special immigrant visa is available to a religious worker and his/her dependents. They may apply for the visa at a U.S. consulate abroad or adjust their status in the U.S.
In the last several years, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been aware that fraud exists in the application process. In a March 1999 report, the Government Accountability Office cited incidents of fraud such as false statements of petitioners and false work experience of applicants.
In 2005, the USCIS Office of Fraud Detection and National Security reported that as many as one-third of all applications and petitions were fraudulent. Some of the petitioners were found to be non-existent.
In an effort to combat this massive fraud, the USCIS issued on November 26, 2008 its final rule affecting immigrant and non-immigrant religious workers in the U.S.
According to the USCIS Acting Director Jonathan Scharfe, the goal in implementing the new rule is to ensure the integrity of the religious worker program by eliminating fraud and other abuses while at the same time guaranteeing the continuity of valuable programs of genuine religious organizations.
The rule affects religious workers in both non-immigrant and special immigrant categories.
Some of the highlights of the new rule pertain to the petition requirement for both immigrant and non-immigrant categories; onsite inspections and audits; attestation requirement of the petitioner; and an initial 30-month period of authorized stay for R-1 religious workers.
For an R-1 non-immigrant religious worker, an I-129 petition by an employer on behalf of the religious worker is now required. The religious worker can no longer request the issuance of an R-1 visa directly from a consular post or port-of-entry without prior approval of the I-129 petition. This is similar to the required I-360 petition for special immigrant religious worker seeking green card.
The petitioner must be a bona fide non-profit religious organization or a non-profit organization with religious affiliation and tax-exempt status under the tax code.
The new rule provides that an onsite inspection may be conducted prior to the adjudication of the petition in order to verify the petitioner’s eligibility and the veracity of the petition. Verifiable evidence must be submitted to show how the beneficiary will be supported while in the U.S.
Petitioners will also be required to complete a new attestation regarding the beneficiary’s intent and qualifications, the nature of the job offered, and the ability to compensate or support the beneficiary.
While the allowable stay under the non-immigrant R-1 is still a maximum of five (5) years, the new rule imposes an initial period of admission of only up to thirty (30) months subject to extension, depending on the need, of up to five (5) years. After that, the applicant needs to live outside the U.S. for at least one year before being eligible again for a new R-1 visa.
The new rule defines minister to be “a person duly authorized by a religious denomination to conduct religious worship and other duties performed by the clergy.” It does not require uniform training for all denominations, and the petitioning organization may submit evidence of their requirements and training for the position and the qualifications of the beneficiary.
The rule amends the definition of “religious vocation” to be a “formal lifetime commitment to a religious way of life.” This is meant to distinguish members of a religious vocation from its secular members. The definition of “religious occupation” is also amended by requiring that the occupation must “relate primarily to traditional religious function that is recognized as a religious occupation within the denomination.”
On October 10, 2008, President George Bush signed a law extending the special immigrant category for non-ministers for six months from its original expiration date of October 1, 2008. However, the law was not put into effect until the implementation of this new rule. The publication of this new rule allows the resumption of acceptance and processing of petitions for this category. The petitions for this category will be adjudicated in accordance with this new rule.
(Editor’s Note: REUBEN S. SEGURITAN has been practicing law for over 30 years and is included in the Marquis Who’s Who in American Law. A former law editor and professor, he is also the author of a book on immigrant experiences. He has spoken in international and national conventions and has been interviewed on radio and television, including the ABC Nightly News. He has participated in meetings with White House staff and the Immigration Commissioner to discuss immigration reforms. For his community service and advocacy, he has received numerous awards in the U.S. and abroad. For more information, you may log on to his website at www.seguritan.com or call (212) 695-5281.)
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Few would normally use the above title as lead sentence for a column. But the mid-November Supreme Court decision whacked 16 new cities back to the status of towns. That would render this title appropriate.
The Court junked, as “unconstitutional”, piece-meal bills that saw officials tack new city shingles on 16 old town halls. .In a 7 to 5 vote, plus 2 abstentions, the tribunal ruled: laws that vested city status on 16 municipalities, in fact, fractured the Local Government Code.
Three of the 16 “to-be-reverted” municipalities are in Luzon. former President Ferdinand Marcos hometown of Batac in Ilocos Norte; Tabuk in Kalinga and Tayabas in Quezon.
The Visayas accounts for seven: Bogo, Carcar and Naga, all in Cebu; Catbalogan and Borongan in Samar; Baybay in Leyte, plus Guihulngan in Negros Oriental.
The rest are in Mindanao: Tandag in Surigao Del Sur; Lamitan in Basilan; Bayugan in Agusan Del Sur; Mati in Davao Oriental; Guihulngan in Negros Oriental; Cabadbaran in Agusan Del Norte; and El Salvador in Misamis Oriental;
These 16 new kids on the block didn’t meet basic criteria for city status, the Court found. Republic Act 9009, for example, stipulates : prospectivc cities must generate P100 million in local income.
These 16 shunned tough measures like taxing idle land or tapping revenue powers granted by the Local Government Code. They opted, instead, for a cushy shortcut, via exemptions. That way, they could also slice, without sweat, into Internal Revenue Allotments of other cities.
“Since 1998, Cotabato City suffered a loss of P63 million because of the unabated creation of even undeserving cities,” the mayor griped in a Mindanao Cross full-page ad. This led to bad roads and floods. Iligan laid off 500 workers/
Puerto Princesa’s IRA inched up by only P1.7 million instead of P146.7 million. Davao found income whittled down from P263.5 million to P69 million. Zamboanga took a P35.8 million cut.
These funds paid for the 16 new cities’ letterheads, additional hires, city hall seals, , purchase of vehicles, etc. This is, of course, picking of pockets. Thus, the League of Cities – the umbrella organization of 120 other cities -- furiously protested, to the Court.
The Supreme Court agreed. “The Constitution is clear,” Justice Antonio Carpio wrote. “The creation of local government units must follow the criteria established” But the 16 cityhood laws hide behind an exemption not found in the amended Local Government Code.
The Court dismissed the claim the 11th Congress planned to exempt certain municipalities. “That remained an intent. It was never written into Section 450 of the Local Government Code,”
“What do we do now?,” wail 16 mayors. Most spent IRAs they siphoned from other cities. This must be sorted out. But all 16 recoil from the word: “refund”.
Yet, warnings were repeatedly aired, over the years, by Asian Development Bank, United Nations, University of the Philippines and other agencies. Media hammered on this issue. “Didn’t we tell you so?
Few however listened. Congress ignored the criteria it set. Local officials itched for status. .President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo obliged by allowing the bills to lapse, one by one, into law --- without her signature. Thus, today’s mess became inevitable.
In 1991, we already had 60 cities, many of them of dubious viability,” noted our column “A Tale of Two Cities.” By 2003, that bolted to 117. Multiplication of ill-prepared cities ‘strained national government’s ability to finance units’ the World and Asian Development Banks noted ‘The small size of LGUs prevent them from generating their own revenues.”
The 12 ( later to become 16 ) candidates will become “shell cities,” this column predicted They won’t tax their idle land nor raise levies from local businesses. . Instead, they’ll help themselves from the common IRA larder. “This is a beggar-your-neighbor policy.”
And so it came to pass. Exemptions were granted. “Our earlier forecast of a glut of 129 cities by December bombed,” admitted our column: “The Mendicant Opinion” There were already 131 by end of June. Cebu had nine cities, trailing Negros Oriental’s 11 .Few performed as ‘engines of growth’.
“Do we meet demand for performance by lowering hurdles instead? In National Elementary Achievement Tests, we addressed failing grades, not by studying harder but by scaling down the passing grade,” we asked. “Whom are we kidding.”
By mid-2008, the number of cities topped 136. “On newly printed letterheads, officials now badger Malacanag for heftier IRAs”, we reported. How much they siphoned from other cities may be glimpsed in what Bogo, Carcar and Naga may have to refund: P120 million. “Didn’t we tell you so?
Beggar-mayors sketch grandiose visions of projects.. Few talk of basics like clean water, sanitation, nutrition, improved schools, etc, Each medicant, atop a shell city, postures like a Lee KwanYew, presiding over a post-industrial metropolis.
The Supreme Court decision will stop, for now, another 27 towns that politicians lined up to become cities via the now-illegal exemption expressway. Is that enough time for common sense to recover it’s grip? .
Mayors of the ‘to-be-reverted cities” gripe about impossible burdens of refunds. But “didn’t we tell you so?
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By Nestor Palugod Enriquez
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OVER a half century ago, I left the Philippines for America onboard an old WWIIUS Military troop’s transport. Those were the days when we travelled by boats and jet airliners were still prohibitive means of oversea transportation. I remember my first day well as it was Thanksgiving Day and I observed it two times. Our ships left the west side of the International Date Line on Thanksgiving Day and woke-up the following morning with another Thanksgiving Day. I was seasick to appreciate seeing simultaneously today and tomorrow with another turkey meal. We were approaching Guam; the place in America where every day begins was also my first day in the American zone.
To understand the meaning of Thanksgiving is almost as interesting as to define the International Dateline. This dateline is not always drawn exactly on the same vertical zigzag. The Philippines prior to 1844/45 was using the American date reckoning as it was rediscovered by Magellan from the east.
The first date-line problem was discovered by the surviving Magellan crew upon returning to Spain. The ship log was carefully kept daily yet it was off by one day. The movie “Around the world in 80 Days” also described the phenomenon. It was not until the end of 1844 when Narciso Claveria oriented the Philippines back west of the dateline. This was achieved in 1844 when Claveria, the governor-general of the Philippines, issued a proclamation announcing that Monday, 30 December 1844, was to be immediately followed by Wednesday, 1 January 1845. Hector Santos added that there were no Filipinos born on Dec 31, 1844. Yes, Claveria is the same Spanish Governor who also gave us the Spanish Christian names. On 21 November 1849, he issued ad decree compiling family names for the Filipinos to adopt to complete the hispanisation...
The first recorded Thanksgiving ceremony took place on September 8, 1565, when 600 Spanish settlers, under the leadership of Pedro Menendes de Aviles landed at what is now St Augustine, Florida and immediately held a Mass of Thanksgiving for their safe delivery to the New World; there followed a feast and celebration. It is controversial as where the first Christian mass was celebrated in the Philippines.I listened to Vicente De Jesus at the gathering of the Society of Discovery at the Library of Congress in Oct 2000. He wrote: Two events define the meaning of Mazaua for most Filipinos, the Easter mass and the planting of a large cross atop the tallest hill. The Philippines is an isolated rock of Christianity in a huge ocean lashed by the powerful waves of Islam, Buddhism, Hindu and other beliefs. Over 90 percent of the population is Christian. Mazaua, therefore, is an icon to a deeply religious people, an event of overarching importance. This aspect of a signal event in world geography and Renaissance navigation has unfortunately served to distort the way the event is viewed. There is a difference between the Columbus first landfall and that of Mazaua. St Augustine become the oldest city in North American but since Florida was not yet part of US at that time yet this might not be considered American Thanksgiving that we know. In the Philippines the only question is where is the site of the first mass? His answer is Mazaua. Definitely it is not Limasawa, the position that the Philippine National Historical Society is still clinging up even today. Ambeth Ocampo, the current president should now accept.
Thanksgiving is not a Christian holiday however but an American classic tradition as contemporary as the Dallas Cowboys. It was brought to the Philippines by the early Americans sent to the Philippines during the annexation. The Philippines tended to shy away from the American ties a few decades ago as the nationalist movement grew. The Independence Day moved from July 4 to June 12. It took another political twist when the Marcos era declared that Thanksgiving is on the observance of the Martial Law anniversary. The only shared meaning now is the reference to bountiful produce. It is the harvest time in the rice farmland of the Philippines as the pilgrims shared with the Native Americans what the land provided. The America tradition of a golden harvest festival cannot be denied. HappyThanksgiving Pilgrims!
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