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DECEMBER 27, 2018-JANUARY 2, 2019

T H E F I L I P I N O –A M E R I C A N C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R

Volume 29 - No. 49 • 2 Sections – 16 Pages

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Duterte urges Filipinos to be kind, compassionate

by ALEXIS AND

ROMERO EDITH REGALADO Philstar.com

MANILA — Kindness and compassion should reign in the hearts of every Filipino as the nation celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ yesterday, President Duterte declared in his Christmas message.

“As we take part in the festivities during this joyous occasion, may we also contemplate on the wealth of lessons we can learn from the narrative of the Savior’s birth to the calls of compassion, kindness and reconciliation being echoed throughout the globe,”

DATELINE

Duterte said.

“Let these ideals and aspirations guide us as we embrace our fellowmen in the spirit of our shared humanity and welcome the coming year with much hope and optimism,” he added.

He lamented that the Philippines has long been divided by “poisonous” and “murderous” politics that “festered decades of indifference, neglect and corruption.”

“Aside from commemorating the solemnity of Christ’s birth, Christmas is a wonderful time when we Filipinos gather with our

USA

FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

Manny Pacquiao back in LA, trains even on Christmas

MANNY Pacquiao showed no signs of slowing down even on Christmas as he continued his training camp in Los Angeles three weeks before his title fight against American challenger Adrien Broner.

Pacquiao went back to work upon his arrival in the U.S. and he brought his eldest son Jimuel with him apart from the usual members of his team during his morning workout.

Boxing’s only eight-division champion will make his keenly-awaited return on U.S. soil

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acquaintances, friends and loved ones. We celebrate this tradition by exchanging gifts, enjoying feasts and holding auspicious events to partake of and share life’s many blessings,” Duterte, who spent Christmas with his family in Davao City, said.

“Truly, it is a season of joy and happiness that is enjoyed by everyone, whether they are Christians, non-Christians or non-believers alike,” the President added.

Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo expressed hope that

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PH DOTr vows to make improvements after US deems NAIA security inadequate

by RAE

Jessica Arong O’Brien had made history for being first Filipina judge in Cook County, Illinois

A FORMER Filipina-American judge in Cook County, Illinois this week has been sentenced to jail for one year for her involvement in a $1.4 million mortgage fraud scam.

Jessica Arong O’Brien — who made history when she was

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Jessica Arong O’Brien

United States, does not maintain and carry out effective security consistent with the security standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),” the DHS said in its statement on Wednesday.

The DHS said that airlines issuing tickets for travel between the U.S. and NAIA were immediately directed to notify passengers in writing of the determination. All U.S. airports offering regularly scheduled flights to Manila were also directed to prominently display the advisory which was also to be published in the Federal Register.

The DHS’ determination was

based off assessments carried out

by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security experts.

The Philippine Department of Transportation (DOTr) said in a statement issued Wednesday, December 26, that the Philippine government — through the department, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), and the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) — are “giving the utmost priority and attention to the implementation of strict security measures at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.”

The installation of new security

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Yearender: 2018 ‘very challenging,’ Poll: Young Filipinos most likely to leave PH often ‘frustrating’ for PDEA CABRERA Philstar.com

Filipina-American judge sentenced to jail for $1.4-M mortgage fraud

ANN VARONA AJPress

THE Philippine transportation department said it was committed to improving airport security measures after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a travel advisory on Wednesday, December 26, because aviation security at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) was not up to par with international security standards.

“Aviation security at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL), Bomb sniffing dogs at Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. which serves as a last-point-ofInquirer.net photo by Niño Jesus Orbeta departure airport for flights to the

by ROMINA

“Good to be back in Los Angeles,” Sen. Manny Pacquiao wrote in his caption. Photo from Instagram/@mannypacquiao

MORAL SUPPORT. President Rodrigo Duterte plants a kiss on the forehead of a pediatric patient during his visit to the Southern Philippines Medical Center’s Cancer Institute Children’s Unit in Davao City.

Malacañang photo by Toto Lozano

FROM the more than P11-billion shabu shipment that eluded authorities and made its way to the streets, to a thumbed down proposal to subject children to drug testing, the head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) conceded that 2018 has been a “very challenging” and often frustrating year for the government’s

war on drugs.

PDEA director general Aaron Aquino said that while the year has seen an increase in operations and accomplishments, the lead anti-narcotics agency faced many challenges and issues.

There could be no bigger issue than the implication of its former No. 2 man, former deputy director general Ismael Fajardo, in the missing 1.6-ton shabu shipment.

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China’s 1st completed project in PH: Gensan Rehab Center

by RITCHEL

MENDIOLA AJPress

CHINA’S first infrastructure project here in the Philippines, a drug rehabilitation center, took less than a year to finish, according to Sarangani Governor Steve Solon.

The P350-million Chinesefunded Soccsksargen Dangerous Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DDATRC) had its groundbreaking on January 12. It was then turned over last week to the provincial government, which provided the three-hectare property in the village of Kawas overlooking Sarangani Bay and nearby General Santos City. A bird’s eye view of the Soccsksargen Dangerous Drug Abuse Treatment and

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Rehabilitation Center at Barangay Kawas in Alabel, Sarangani.

Inquirer.net photo

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by NATHALIE

ROBLES

AJPress

A NEW Gallup survey revealed that the young Filipino population will possibly decrease by about 9 percent due to migration as more job opportunities open abroad for the talented Filipino residents.

According to the data from the Potential Net Migration Index (PNMI), Gallup Inc. said that the Philippines has a PNMI score

of a contraction of 9 percent, with a brain drain of 16 percent and youth population loss of 13 percent.

This means that 16 percent of the Philippines’ highly educated people will possibly leave the country to work or live abroad.

Meanwhile, given the option to migrate wherever they wanted, 13 percent of the young population aged 15 to 29, chose to

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From The FronT Page

Yearender: 2018 ‘very challenging...

PAGE A1

Fajardo is one of three main personalities implicated in the shabu shipment, along with dismissed Supt. Eduardo Acierto and former Customs intelligence agent Jimmy Guban.

Aquino said he could not say that he did not see it coming, as he often had hunches about Fajardo that turned out to be

true even if the former PDEA official did not have a derogatory record.

Fajardo was deemed the “best choice” to become the PDEA chief’s right-hand man as he was the most senior officer in the agency.

He later went on leave after his alleged involvement in the shabu shipment and Aquino

said he could not be contacted since then.

Fajardo has since been charged, along with Guban, Acierto and at least 40 others for drug importation and conspiracy and other cases.

Despite official operations to run after the personalities implicated in the shipment, their efforts reached a dead end as the estimated 1.6 tons of shabu spirited through magnetic lifters found at a Cavite warehouse have yet to be recovered.

Aquino earlier claimed that the shabu shipment had already been distributed, making its way to the streets of Metro Manila and as far as Mindanao.

The apparent shabu glut caused drug prices to drop, from a high of P6,800 to around P1,200 in the months following discovery of the shabu shipment.

The PDEA lamented that if the drug smuggle happens again – and it was not the first time, following the discovery of P6.8billion shabu at a warehouse in Valenzuela — the drug war may never be finished.

The war on drugs is President Duterte’s centerpiece campaign, one that he promised to end in the first six months of his administration.

Duterte later extended his deadline for another six months.

Lately, the Chief Executive admitted the drug menace could extend beyond his term.

Aquino pointed to corrupt government officials, not only from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) from which the shipment slipped out, but also from his own backyard, as hindering the anti-illegal drug campaign.

“Even if it takes three terms of Duterte, even in 18 years, nothing will happen, for as long as there are employees who become corrupt,” he said in Filipino.

The shabu shipment, however, was not the only issue that the PDEA found itself embroiled in this year.

A proposal to conduct mandatory drug tests on children, starting with Grade 4 students, drew criticism from many sectors.

The Department of Education thumbed down the proposal, saying mandatory drug testing is not permitted under current drug laws. n

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CHRISTMAS MASS. Thousands of devotees attend the early Christmas Day Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo City, Rizal on Tuesday, December 25. It is a tradition for Filipinos to attend Mass on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

PNA photo by Joey O. Razon

Duterte urges Filipinos to be...

PAGE A1 Filipinos would set aside their differences to work for the good of the country.

“As the New Year ushers in, it is high time that we set aside practices that destroy the dignity of the country and collectively act as one people and one nation towards peace and progress,” Panelo said in a statement.

“Together, let us think and care for our fellowmen and usher in a new era of hope, peace and development. Let us remember that we are all parts of one whole, the injury to one limb affects the entire body. ‘Ang sakit ng kalingkingan ay dama ng buong katawan (Pain in the pinky finger is felt in the entire body),’” he added.

In Davao City on Saturday, the President spent more than three hours with young patients of the

pediatric section of the Cancer Institute of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC).

SPMC executive director Leopoldo Vega told The Star the president arrived at around 8 p.m. and left past 11 p.m. after entertaining and giving comfort to some 30 cancer-afflicted children. He shared dinner with the children and distributed gifts to their parents and guardians.

“He wanted the time to be private and personal. I was instructed to keep the number of people down because he wanted the time only for the children,” said Dr. Mae Dolendo, the lead pediatric oncologist at the SPMC. “The president talked to each of the children. He listened to their every story that they eagerly told him. And the President was a gracious listener as he communi-

cated with them by also showing them, doing something about their problems,” Vega said.

“Each child has a story to tell and the President listened to them with his ears full only to them,” Vega said.

During his visit, Duterte facilitated the extension of the leave of absence of the father of one of the children by calling the father’s immediate superior officer in the armed forces.

The father of another child who is working in Bukidnon was offered a job at the Department of Public Works and Highways here in Davao City so he could be near his cancer-stricken child.

At one point one of the child patients asked how the president was doing. “I should be the one asking you that question,” the President said in response. n

PH DOTr vows to make improvements...

PAGE A1 equipment such as X-ray machines, walk-through metal detectors, and alarm systems, were among the recommendations by the TSA, the DOTr said. It said that the equipment are expected to be installed and used by the second quarter of 2019.

The DOTr added that Transportation Secretary Art Tugade gave direct instructions to carry out manual interventions such as the hiring of additional 24/7 MIAA-contracted guards while waiting for the new security equipment.

New background check procedures for newly hired airport personnel, a change in “security culture” among longtime NAIA personnel in the area of consistent implementation and observance of strict security procedures, and the submission of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearances for all MIAA access pass holders, were also among other TSA recommendations.

“In this regard, re-trainings have been, and continue to be conducted to instill in every personnel he need to be consistent in every aspect of security,” the DOTr said.

The DHS said that the Department of State and the Department of Transportation have been coordinating with TSA representatives in working with the Philippine government to help airport and transportation authorities bring NAIA up to international security standards.

Security improvements Last week, MIAA General Manager Ed Monreal told the Philippine government’s official news agency that management had already started security system improvements such as replacing single view x-ray machines with double view x-ray machines to comply with current international aviation standards.

Monreal earlier this month warned airline passengers to be vigilant against thieves and pickpockets, given the business of the

airport during the holiday season.

Immigration Port Operations Division chief Grifton Medina also said last week that numerous electronic gates — meant to make the passenger entry process take only about eight to 15 seconds and reduce long queues at immigration counters — were installed in NAIA and other major Philippine airports in Cebu, Clark, and Davao this year.

Tightened security, technical system improvements, and leadership training for immigration officers were other things Medina said were of focus for Philippine airport improvements.

In the Wednesday statement following the U.S.’ determination, the Philippine DOTr said it was fully committed to improving NAIA. “Rest assured that the government, the DOTr, the MIAA and the OTS are fully committed in employing all measures available to ensure the security and safety of the traveling public,” said the DOTr.. n

Poll: Young Filipinos most likely to...

PAGE A1 live on countries other than the Philippines.

The poll measured the total potential net change to the adult population by subtracting those who would like to move out of a country from those who would like to move into a country.

“The higher the score, the larger the potential net population gain. Negative scores indicate net population loss. Developed countries such as Singapore would see an influx of highly educated people,” the poll stated as reported by BusinessMirror.

Educated residents constitute those who have completed four years of education beyond high school or have acquired that of a bachelor’s degree. In Southeast Asia, Singapore fared well as it attracted more population while Vietnam fared worst in the region.

“Gallup’s Potential Net Migration Index does not predict migration patterns, but it provides useful information about the people these countries are attracting from around the world and the areas where leaders need to work to ensure they retain the talent already at home,” Gallup stated as reported by The Philippine Star.

As per all the countries rated, New Zealand got the highest PNMI score at 231 percent and would likely see an influx of young, talented migrants. Sierra Leone performed worst as 70 percent of its total adult population wants to leave their home country if they had the opportunity.

Results were based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with 453,122 adults — aged 15 and older — in 152 countries from 2015 to 2017.

The UN General Assembly

last week formally ratified Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration that uses 23 objectives to cater legal migration and discourage illegal border crossings. It was agreed upon by 152 countries, including the Philippines, while 12 countries abstained and five voted against.

“While critics of the agreement fear it would open the doors to unchecked mass migration, Gallup’s latest Potential Net Migration Index actually shows that in most of the countries that are refusing to sign, more people want to leave them than come to them,” the survey emphasized.

“Hungary, for example, which became the second country after the U.S. to withdraw from the compact, could see its total adult population shrink by as much as 16 percent if everyone around the world moved where they wanted,” it added. n

Filipina-American judge sentenced to...

PAGE A1 elected as the first FilipinaAmerican judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County in 2012 — received her sentencing from U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin on Thursday, December 20.

A federal jury found the 51year-old Filipina guilty earlier in February for lying to lenders to receive $1.4 million in mortgages and pocketing $325,000 during the purchase of two properties in Chicago’s South Side over a decade ago, before she was a sitting judge.

“I am an embarrassment,” O’Brien said in her statement in court on Thursday.

She also tearfully spoke of bringing shame to her family and ruining her career. (She is married to Cook County Judge Brendan O’Brien.)

“Of course, I have remorse as to my stupidity,” she also said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The former judge was born in Cebu, Philippines and migrated to the United States, where she first enrolled in community college and went on to pursue a

bachelor’s of science in hotel and food management from Boston University, as mentioned in her Asian Journal feature in 2016.

“The best thing that ever happened to me was coming to the U.S. because before that, I never had any direction,” O’Brien said in that interview with the Asian Journal.

She then attended John Marshall Law School where she became the school’s first student to obtain a joint J.D./L.L.M joint degree in tax law. O’Brien became the first Asian elected president of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois and served on the Illinois State Bar Association’s board of directors.

In 2008, she co-founded a foundation that gives scholarships to law students from diverse backgrounds.

In his argument for probation on Thursday, O’Brien’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, said, “It is an inspirational story. She has fallen as far as she can fall. She has lost everything…There is absolutely no reason to send this poor lady to jail.”

While the alleged fraud was

taking place, O’Brien worked full-time as a special assistant attorney general for the state Department of Revenue. She also worked part-time for Amronbanc Mortgage Corporation as a loan officer, and owned her own real estate company under the name of O’Brien Realty LLC, according to feds.

The prosecutor back in February said O’Brien embellished her income when applying for loans — she once left out a $260,000 mortgage on her primary residence.

In 2012, she was elected to serve the court of Cook County, Illinois, the second-most populous county in the U.S. after Los Angeles County.

“I look at my position as an opportunity to be a part of the system that works,” O’Brien previously told the Asian Journal.

Following her indictment in 2017, O’Brien was reassigned to non-judicial activities before she was convicted in February of this year. O’Brien resigned in September, as Illinois law mandates that an elected official cannot remain in office following a felony conviction. (AJPress)

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Fil-Am high school student named final Gov. Brown appoints 2 Filipina judges to California Superior Court benches 2018 Seahawks Athlete of the Week

by RAE

ANN VARONA AJPress

A FIL-AM high school student in Seattle, Washington has been named the final recipient of the 2018 Seahawks Athlete of the Week award which is given to student-athletes that display leadership, passion, and dedication both on and off the field or court.

Joshua Villarino, a junior football kicker at Ballard High School, was selected for the award based on his leadership through athletics, academics and community action, according to a Seahawks announcement.

On Sunday, December 2, Villarino was recognized at the Seattle Seahawks home game against the San Francisco 49ers on the CenturyLink Field. The football team presented an in-school presentation to Villarino a couple days before on Friday, November 30.

Part of the award is a $1,000 grant for the Ballard High School athletic department.

“It took me and my parents by surprise,” Villarino told the Asian Journal. His father said the family noticed their son’s talents from as early as four years old and added that Villarino had been classified with a learning disability in 8th grade and was able to overcome the adversity through hard work.

On being recognized at the Seahawks vs. 49ers game, Villarino said it was the “most exciting experience to ever feel when you meet one of the most respected players in the NFL.” “During the leadership summit meeting, it was a great learning experience to listen to the Seattle Seahawks and CenturyLink Executives about their role in sports and the leadership role they play in their jobs in the Seahawks,” he added.

Aside from being a kicker on his high school football team — a position he stuck to after trying out his freshman year — the

Appellate attorney Audra Ibarra becomes the first Filipina to serve as a Bay Area superior court judge

by KLARIZE

MEDENILLA AJPress

AFTER the historic 2018 midterm election in which a record number of women and people of color were elected to office across the country, the California superior courts just got a little more diverse as well.

Before he hands the governorship to Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, long-time California Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday, Dec. 7 filed for 13 Superior Court judgeships, including two Filipinas: Audra Ibarra of the Bay Area and Rohanee Zapanta of San Diego.

Audra Ibarra, a Palo Alto attorney with more than eight years of appellate experience, became the first Filipino-American woman to be appointed a superior court judge in the Bay Area when Brown appointed her to the Superior Court of Santa Clara County. (She is also the first Filipino-American ever to serve in the county’s superior court.)

The 49-year-old former assistant U.S. attorney has also been Joshua Villarino was named Seahawks Athlete of the Week earlier this month. counsel at the California AppelPhoto courtesy of the Villarino family late Law Group since 2012 as “You should continue focus- well as a sole practitioner since young Villarino is also a dancer and has been dancing since he ing your efforts on hard work, was five years old. Among his and work ethics to achieve anybiggest inspirations is Michael thing you set your mind to. You should look for your passion and Jackson.

After high school, Villarino dedicate your time to give back PAGE A1 “We are not talking about a said he hopes to receive an ath- to your community. You should letic or academic scholarship have a fighting spirit by taking on rehabilitation center that looks and plans on majoring in either challenges of succeeding in your good on paper but one that will Business, Marketing, Aviation, or academics and excelling in ath- really reform the patient,” Solon Entrepreneurship. He said he’d letics and extracurricular activi- said.

A project briefer of the 150like to own his own business as ties,” said Villarino.

“My biggest challenge is that bed capacity rehabilitation cenwell.

On what he’s learned and on I was labeled with a learning ter said the main façade of the what he thinks other young Fil- disability in Math, English, and central administration building Ams also looking to succeed in Reading during my 8th-grade is like a “window of hope facing athletics and leadership could year,” added Villarino. “I turned the future.” It symbolizes the take away from his experiences my obstacles into personal drive opening of each patient’s heart so far, Villarino said time man- and passion and if you focus on “so that they can have a new and agement and being well orga- those goals you will be recog- bright future.”

A friend of the Philippines nized for your achievements.” ■ nized are top priorities.

Among those who graced the turnover rites are Chinese Commercial Counselor Jin Yuan, Chinese Consul General to Davao PAGE A1 a much younger Broner (33-3-1, Malaysia where he delivered his Li Lin and Health Secretary Franmore than two years since he 24 KOs), a former champion in first knockout win since stopping cisco Duque III. dominated Jessie Vargas in Las four different weight classes.

China’s commitment to help Puerto Rican legend Miguel Cotto Vegas. in the development of the PhilipPacquiao is coming off an in the 12th round in 2009.

The 40-year-old Pacquiao (60- impressive showing against ArThe fighting senator began his pines despite the two countries’ 7-2, 39 KOs) is defending his WBA gentine fighter Lucas Matthysse training exactly a month ago in Ma- dispute over the West Philippine (regular) welterweight belt against five months ago in Kuala Lumpur, nila. (Mark Giongco/Inquirer.net) Sea was also reaffirmed by Jin.

Manny Pacquiao back in LA, trains even...

Audra Ibarra

Rohanee Zapanta

2010. Previously Ibarra was the deputy chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California.

Ibarra is not officially affiliated with any political party.

Before Rohanee Zapanta was appointed to the San Diego County Superior Court, she was a deputy public defender at the county’s public defender’s office, where she had been serving since 2005. She was also an associate at the Law Offices of Ray Bulaon and Price Law Group.

Zapanta fills the vacant seat left by Judge Judith F. Haynes, who retired this year. Zapanta is a registered Democrat.

Ibarra and Zapanta are two of the 10 women (out of 13 in total) who were appointed earlier this month.

Brown also appointed the first Korean-American judge in Alameda County in Eumi K. Lee, who works as a clinical professor at UC Hastings’ College of Law. Also appointed was Joginder Dhillon who became the first Sikh judge ever appointed in Sacramento County. ■

China’s 1st completed project in PH...

In a statement, Jin said, “The completion of this cozy center fully demonstrates that the Chinese government will never let you down.”

“The Chinese people will always stand by your side and China will help within our capacity to boost the development of the Philippines,” Jin added.

According to the Chinese official, China is and will always be a good neighbor as well as a sincere friend and close partner of the Philippines.

The rehabilitation center project, Duque said, was launched to address the need for more rehabilitation centers for Filipino drug users.

He also said that the Duterte administration considered drug abuse and dependency as “a public health priority.”

The center will be managed by the Department of Health (DOH).

Data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency showed that as of November, the official death toll of the government’s all-out war against illegal drugs already reached at least 5,050 since President Duterte assumed power in July 2016.

Recipients The government’s gratitude to the Chinese government “for the assistance and support for this administration’s campaign against illegal drugs” was extended by Duque.

During the talks between Mr. Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in October 2016, one of the agreements reached was about Sarangani being one of the recipients of “China-aid Philippines” DDATRC projects.

Agusan del Sur is the other beneficiary, where construction of a rehab center is still ongoing. ■

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Filipino priest suspended over upsetting homily for teen who killed himself

by Rae

ann VaRona AJPress

A Filipino priest in Michigan has been suspended by the Archdiocese of Detroit from speaking at funerals after he upset the family of a teenager who killed himself by including in the homily, questions of whether those who die by suicide can be forgiven by God. Father Don laCuesta of our lady of Mount Carmel Church in Temperance, Michigan presided over the Saturday, December 8 funeral for Maison Hullibarger, 18, who passed away just days before on Tuesday, December 4.

Rather than celebrating the life of the teenager who was a criminal justice student at the University of Toledo, an athlete, son, and brother to five siblings, laCuesta focused more on the issue of suicide, according to the teenagerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father.

The word â&#x20AC;&#x153;suicideâ&#x20AC;? was mentioned by laCuesta a total of six times during the homily. This, despite the parents having met with laCuesta prior to the funeral to discuss what they wanted in the homily. laCuesta even took notes, they said. in a copy of the homily released by the archdiocese on Monday, December 17, laCuesta said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;if we Christians are right in believing that salvation belongs to Jesus Christ, that it does not come from us â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and that our hand cannot stop what God allows for us, then yes, there is hope in eternity even for those who take their own lives.â&#x20AC;? laCuesta then continued, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Having said that, i think that we must not call what is bad good, what is wrong right. Because we are Christians, we must say what we know is the truth â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that taking your own life is against God who made us and against everyone who loves us. our lives are not our own. They are not ours to do with as we please.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The finality of suicide makes this all the worse. You cannot make things right again,â&#x20AC;? laCuesta added.

He did later attempt to reassure the family by saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;nothing â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not even suicide â&#x20AC;&#x201D; can separate us from the unconditional love of God.â&#x20AC;?

But that did nothing to help the situation, said the family which later gave their own blessings at the teenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gravesite.

Jeff Hullibarger, the teenagerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Rev. Don LaCuesta of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Temperance, Michigan Photo courtesy of Archdiocese of Detroit

father, told the Detroit Free Press that he had at one point went up to the pulpit and whispered to laCuesta to stop, but laCuesta continued to make statements on suicide and salvation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There were actually a couple of younger boys who were Maisonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s age who left the church sobbing,â&#x20AC;? said the teenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father. in a statement, the Archdiocese of Detroit said that it regrets that laCuesta was â&#x20AC;&#x153;unable to bring comfortâ&#x20AC;? to the Hullibarger family. â&#x20AC;&#x153;our hope is always to bring comfort to situations of great pain, through funeral services centered on the love and healing power of Christ,â&#x20AC;? the statement read. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unfortunately, that did not happen in this case.â&#x20AC;? it added that laCuesta would not be preaching at funerals for the foreseeable future and would have all other homilies reviewed by a priest mentor. it said that laCuesta also agreed to â&#x20AC;&#x153;pursue the assistance he needs in order to become a more effective minister in these difficult situations.â&#x20AC;? laCuesta responded in a statement admitted that he â&#x20AC;&#x153;fell shortâ&#x20AC;? of providing the family with the comfort needed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;instead, i added to their pain,â&#x20AC;? said laCuesta. â&#x20AC;&#x153;i deeply regret that, and i am sorry.â&#x20AC;?

Addressing the fact that many â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including the Hullibarger family â&#x20AC;&#x201D; have called for his removal from the parish, laCuesta said that he preferred to stay and is

working with the archdiocese to â&#x20AC;&#x153;ensure that [he] can serve more effectively in the future.â&#x20AC;?

Adding to the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pain, the teenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high school football coach Jeff Wood â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who was accused of bullying players on the team and was asked not to attend the funeral â&#x20AC;&#x201D; showed up against the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wishes.

After being asked to leave, Wood lashed out on social media, and was later removed from his job. â&#x20AC;&#x153;if you need someone to blame, iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m your man. iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m your fall guy. This is how society is when things go not as planned, we blame others for our own shortcomings,â&#x20AC;? Wood wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC), suicide remains the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2016, suicide claimed the lives of nearly 45,000 people â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a number more than double that of homicides in the same year.

From years 1999 to 2016, the total suicide rate increased 28 percent according to the CDC. The rate remained nearly four times higher among males than among females.

If you or a loved one is experiencing thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). Additional resources can be accessed at www.SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources. n

CHRISTMAS TRADITION. A woman gives presents to children in Molino Homes II, Barangay Salitran III, DasmariĂąas City, Cavite on Christmas Day, Tuesday, December 25. It is a tradition for Filipino children to visit their ninongs and ninangs and other relatives on Christmas Day and get gifts from them.

PNA photo by Gil Calinga

Bills to protect youth, fight sexual harassment take effect Jan. 1, 2019 SACRAMEnTo â&#x20AC;&#x201D; After a busy year of legislative work, Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-los Angeles) will see several of her new laws take effect Jan. 1, 2019, including reforms in criminal justice that will protect youth and help shore up families and communities.

Much of Mitchellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agenda in 2018 grew out of a two-year effort with Sen. Ricardo lara to pass an #EquityAndJustice package. These bills focused on improving the way California treats youth and young adults caught up in the criminal justice system.

Mitchell also won the endorsement of Gov. Brown for new laws that will expand worker training to prevent sexual harassment and provide women potentially life-saving information about their health.

Below are the new laws that emerged from Mitchellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legislative efforts in 2018: (please note that while SB 1343, a plan to expand sexual harassment training for workers, goes into law soon it will take effect Jan. 1, 2020 to allow time to write and establish online-training procedures. )

â&#x20AC;˘ Senate Bill 439 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Minimum Age incarceration Excludes children ages 11 and younger from juvenile court jurisdiction and promotes the rights, health and well-being of the child by curbing premature exposure to incarceration. â&#x20AC;˘ SB 1034 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Dense Breast Tissue Extends to Jan. 1, 2025 the sunset on the current dense breast tissue notification, which was to expire at the end of this year. â&#x20AC;˘ SB 1050 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Services and Support for Exonorees provides services and support for exonerated people after prison, including healthcare, work training and updating records to reflect their wrongful convictions. â&#x20AC;˘ SB 1083 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Resource Family Approval Reduces barriers in the Resource Family Approval process to make it more child centered and family friendly. â&#x20AC;˘ SB 1343 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sexual Harassment Training Expands mandatory sexualharassment training to all employers with five or more employees.

â&#x20AC;˘ SB 1391 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Juvenile Justice for Children Under 16 Ensures that youth ages 14 and 15 who commit crimes get the services and help they need by prohibiting them from being tried as adults and keeping them in the juvenile justice system. â&#x20AC;˘ SB 1393 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Five-Year Judicial Discretion Allows for more judicial discretion on sentencing related to five-year enhancements for serious felony convictions.

Mitchell also had far-reaching impacts as chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. SB 951, the California Film and television production Jobs Act, was incorporated into the 2018-19 state budget. Also included in the budget was SB 982, which provided for the largest grant increase for CalWoRKS recipients in 30 years.

SBs 439, 1050, 1391 and 1393 are part of the #EquityAndJustice2018 package carried jointly by Sens. Mitchell and Ricardo lara as follow-up measures to six bills signed as part of their initial #EquityAndJustice bills last year. n

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Dateline PDehiliPPines Lima still has same Christmas wish: End EJKs

by Gabriel

Pabico Inquirer.net

lalu

MANILA — Two Christmases into detention, Senator Leila de Lima still has the same Christmas wish for the country — to end the spate of violence, including extrajudicial killings (EJKs).

“The best gift this government can give to the Filipinos is an end to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatments of its people,” De Lima said in a statement on Wednesday, December 26.

“The government should work on preventing more casualties and base its campaign against illegal drugs on human rights and the rule of law,” she added.

De Lima, one of the fiercest critics of President Rodrigo Duterte, is currently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame for drugrelated charges back when she was Justice secretary.

In 2017, she claimed that HOLIDAY TRADITION. A man and a woman get a free taste of Antipolo’s special suman and kasoy (cashew nuts) after attending the Christmas Day Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo City, Rizal on Tuesday, December 25. After hearing Mass at the Antipolo Duterte’s drug war brought sadCathedral, church-goers often buy suman, kasoy, and kalamay as pasalubong for their families.

PNA photo by Joey O. Razon ness into the Christmas celebrations of many households.

Senator Leila de Lima

Inquirer.net photo

As for her, De Lima said that she has no requests, after her Christmas gift came early in June with her designation as chair of Senate committee on social justice, welfare, and rural development.

“Aside from considering my chairmanship as an early Christmas present, I also see it as a blessing because it gave me a

sense of fulfillment considering that it pushed me to file very meaningful bills and resolutions aimed at improving the plight of the poor,” she explained.

“After all, how can helping the poor, the marginalized and the disadvantaged be meaningless?

It is actually good for the soul,” she added. n

is still not greater than our hope.

And if hate and apathy seem to be enduring, these can never be greater than love,” he said.

“I may be surrounded by darkness, but I am not afraid. I am with you,” he added.

Villarin said he has been afraid to go to the internet in recent days, noting how it can be a “dark and twisted place.”

Over the past week, the Ateneo administration has been at the receiving end of the public outcry over the bullying incident involving its junior high school students.

“There is a lot of dark out there for us to lose heart in our humanity. Are we so hopeless, so terribly forsaken, abandoned?” added the Jesuit priest.

But citing the Gospel, Villarin said any place can be a place of light insofar as we allow God to make it.

“We are the people to whom Jesus gave himself ‘to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good,’” he said. “This vesting of

God’s favor on us can be difficult to discern in times of darkness.

But it is also during such times when this alighting of God’s love and God’s favor on us is most luminous.”

Ateneo has dismissed the student involved in the bullying case, with Villarin saying he has offered the families of those concerned the continued support to help them overcome the incident.

He also formed a task force to conduct a comprehensive study and conduct an independent audit of the present measures to be able to recommend to the school administration how it can create a safer and bully-free environment.

“Such an environment shall prevent a culture of silence from harming our students and encourage everyone to speak up against bullying and other forms of misconduct without fear of retaliation or censure,” Villarin said on Sunday.

“Such an environment will empower students to become the Ateneans we all desire them to be for others,” he added. n

Drilon: No need to reconvene Bullying ‘darkness’ not over – Ateneo head bicam for Road Board abolition by consuelo

Marquez

Inquirer.net

MANILA — The bicameral conference committee need not reconvene for the the dissolution of the controversial Road Board, according to Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon.

Drilon made the statement on Wednesday, December 26, three days after House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. accepted the call of Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri to pursue the abolition of the Road Board, which oversees the road user’s tax, also known as the motor vehicle user’s charge (MVUC).

But Drilon pointed out: “With all due respect to Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the Senate has already taken the

by Janvic

position that the bill to abolish the Road Board is already approved by virtue of its adoption of House Bill 7436 on September 12,” Drilon said.

He said the Senate position was reflected in its Senate Resolution No. 134, urging the Office of the President not to release funds from the MVUC. The resolution was adopted by the Senate last Dec. 13.

“Convening a bicam has no basis when there is no inconsistent or disagreeing provisions,” Drilon said. “When we adopted the House bill on September 12, there are no more disagreeing provisions.”

“The Senate’s action made the bicam unnecessary, which means the bill to abolish the corruption-

Mateo Philstar.com

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon Inquirer.net photo

plagued agency is already considered passed by both chambers, and should have long been sent to the President’s desk for his signature,” he added. n

Palace: Sison ‘abominable violator of human rights’ by catherine

valente ManilaTimes.net

MALACAñANG has said it was exiled communist leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison who should be called an “abominable violator of human rights,” not President Rodrigo Duterte.

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo made the statement after Sison alleged that Duterte was the “number one perpetrator of state-sponsored terrorism” after the President issued an order to “destroy” the communist rebels and all their legal fronts.

“It is Jose Maria Sison, as founder of the CPP-NPA [Communist Party of the PhilippinesNew People’s Army], that aims to destroy the government that should rightfully get the dubious distinction of being the leading ‘abominable violator of human rights,’” Panelo said.

On Saturday, December 22, Duterte ordered the military to destroy communist rebels, saying he will “assume full responsibility” should cases of human rights violations be filed against him.

Panelo said the President’s order against communist rebels was “pursuant to his constitutional duty to protect the people.”

He noted that the CCP-NPA “was established for the purpose of seizing political power from the constituted government.”

“In a span of 50 years, the CPP-NPA has waged a continuing rebellion and engaged in the killing of soldiers, policemen and civilians; destroying properties’ extorting money from businessmen and landlords; kidnapping civilians and men in uniform; committing acts of terrorism; and even exterminating its own comrades without compunction in a cleansing purge of suspected traitors to their cause,” Panelo said.

“In doing these atrocities, the CPP-NPA aided by, and in conspiracy with its legal fronts, violated the human rights of their victims, disobeyed the laws of the land, and infringed the Constitution with such impunity in order to destroy the democratic way of life enshrined in the Constitution as crafted by its framers and ratified by the sovereign people,” he added.

The Palace official asserted that the state “has the inherent right to defend itself and the President is mandated to protect the government and the governed.”

“Jose Maria Sison, as an ideologue, should be the first one to know that the government that he wants to destroy will unleash its might and sends its forces to annihilate those who seek to dismantle the democratic society in order to protect its people, maintain peace and order as well

as assert its constitutional authority,” he said.

Panelo warned the rebels “will reap violence” from the government” for “sowing violence against the people.”

“That is the irreversible law of karma or the law of cause and effect,” the Palace official said.

Meanwhile, Panelo urged “our brother rebels that have chosen to tread the path of destruction and bloodshed” to just surrender, saying “it is not too late to return to the fold of the law.”

“Your families await the warmth and the joy of your return. Let us end the internecine [fighting] among Filipinos. Let the spirit of Christmas enlighten all of us that change that we seek in our society can only be realized if we begin to change ourselves,” he said.

“The road to peace and reconciliation is more desirable than the road to bloodshed and destruction. There is honor in returning to the rule of law,” Panelo added.

Duterte, in a speech before troops in Camp General Manuel Yan Sr. in Compostela Valley, said destroying all members of the NPA was the only way to achieve law and order in the country.

“Law and order, means you have to destroy, not really fight, but destroy the Communist Party of the Philippines, including its legal fronts and infrastructure,” he added. n

Lawyer: DOJ chief ‘misinformed’ about Trillanes’ trips by consuelo

Marquez

Inquirer.net

MANILA — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra was “misinformed” in saying that Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV did not request “leave of court” to travel abroad, the senator’s legal counsel, Reynaldo Robles, said on Wednesday, December 26.

“With all due respect, the Honorable Secretary has apparently been misinformed,” Robles said in a statement.

Earlier, Guevarra said Trillanes should request leave of court to travel abroad even without an hold departure order against him.

According to Guevarra, i’s standard legal practice for those with pending criminal charges to inform the court whenever they plan to leave the country.

But Robles said Trillanes, who has pending criminal cases, sought permission to travel abroad from Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 150 and Davao City RTC Branch 54.

Trillanes is facing a rebellion case at Makati RTC Branch 150 in connection with the 2007 Manila Peninsua siege and four libel cases filed by former Davao City Mayor Paolo Duterte and lawyer Manases

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV

Inquirer.net photo

Carpio at Davao City RTC Branch 154.

The former vice mayor is a son of President Rodrigo Duterte and Manases is his brother law, married to his sister, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

“For the record, Sen. Trillanes is aware and has properly complied with his obligation to inform all the courts where he has pending cases of his trips abroad, including RTC Makati – Branch 150 and even in the case of RTC Davao – Branch 54, by filing the appropriate motions and/or manifestations before said courts,” Robles said.

Makati RTC Branch 150, Robles said, granted the senator’s request to be allowed to to travel abroad “over the objection of the Department of Justice.”

Trillanes also informed the Davao City RTC Branch 54 about his trip on Dec. 10, a day before he left for The Netherlands.

According to Robles, Trillanes also submitted a comment that opposed the motion for reconsideration filed by the Department of Justice, asking the Makati RTC Branch 150 to prohibit the senator from traveling.

In an eight-page opposition filed last Dec. 6, Trillanes the DOJ motion for consideration lacked “basis and merit.”

“Needless to state, the Prosecution’s Motion for Reconsideration must be denied for lack of basis and utter lack of merit,” the comment read.

Trillanes sought permission to travel abroad to attend several activities he was invited to: from Dec. 11, 2018 to Jan. 11, 2019 to travel to Amsterdam in The Netherlands, Barcelona in Spain, and London in the United Kingdom from Jan. 27 to Feb. 10, 2019, to California, Washington D.C., and Maryland in the United States n

MANILA — Even after the decision on the bullying case was handed down, Ateneo de Manila University president Jose Ramon Villarin believes that the “darkness” caused by the incident is far from over.

Villarin acknowledged the incident during his homily at the Christmas Eve mass in the Church of the Gesù in Ateneo on Monday, December 24.

“The events of the past few days have been quite challenging,” he said. “This dark episode, this darkness is far from over. Like you, I have been battered with all sorts of emotions inside: anger, grief, fear, despair, confusion.”

But despite this darkness, the Ateneo president urged the community to recognize the hope, love and concern given by those who came forward to offer their support at the height of the incident.

“Yes, there is still fear, but the fear is not greater than our faith.

Yes, there is still pain, but the pain

A6

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DECEMBER 27, 2018-JANUARY 2, 2019 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

OPINION

Steep price for celebration

FEATURES

AFTER Christmas Day, people are preparing for the New Year revelry, and authorities can’t remind the public enough that it’s better to be safe than sorry. The reminder is aimed at those who still want to greet the New Year with a bang.

Adults in particular must be mindful of the need to keep children safe.

Last Saturday, the Department of Health reported that a three-year-old girl in Valenzuela was taken to the Philippine General Hospital after accidentally swallowing the contents of a flash bomb. The DOH said another child was injured after exploding a piccolo.

The small firecracker, a favorite among children possibly because of its size, is nevertheless banned like watusi because of the high risk of injuries from mishandling. Wounds from firecrackers can develop into potentially lethal tetanus if not treated promptly.

Piccolo and watusi, however, continue to be sold all over the country along with larger and more powerful firecrackers such as pla-pla. Since the DOH started its registry for firecracker injuries on Dec. 21 until Christmas Eve, 13 cases have been recorded. The DOH has warned that the number continues to rise.

While household use of fireworks has been on a

steady decline nationwide and some local government units have banned firecrackers, many Filipinos still keep the tradition alive. Fireworks are legal and the industry is regulated, but there are several types that are banned for causing serious injuries and even deaths in the past years.

As is usual in this country, however, enforcement of the ban has been spotty. Banned fireworks are openly displayed in the streets, with vendors playing hide-and-seek with police raiders. Manufacturers of banned items cheekily give the banned products new names, usually after the most controversial figures of the year.

The three-year-old girl at least is on the mend, but several others have died from firecracker injuries, either directly from explosions or because of tetanus.

The public must remember that losing a finger, an eye or a life is too steep a price to pay for ringing in the New Year. (Philstar.com)

Editorial

Commentary

MARLEN RONQUILLO IN our country, where the budget philosophy is a collection of trite and turgid words and not the definition of a great aspiration, the hard-numbers men and women who write our national budgets are just that — hard-numbers men and women. But a national budget vested with no great purpose is not the general rule.

After Jack Lew ended his second stint as Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director under United States President Barack Obama (Lew held that same post under Bill Clinton), he summed up his feeling about the budget process in these noble words: “Budgets aren’t a book of numbers. They are a tapestry, the fabric of what we believe. The numbers tell a story, a self-portrait of

National budgets are a self-portrait of a country what we are as a country.”

Take a long, hard look at the history of our contemporary budget process. Can you vest even just a sliver of loftiness, or nobility, or a sense of purpose into the Philippine budget process? No. That question is even laughable.

If the current budget process is, indeed, the self-portrait of our country, what do we have? The straight-up answer is this: The brazen attempt to corrupt it. A “corrupted budget” is the shorter version.

The P3.76-trillion General Appropriations Bill that has passed the House of Representatives and is currently with the Senate for deliberation is not a cornucopia of good intentions and good projects, but a collection of political fiefdoms currently grabbing what they could grab of the choice infrastructure component of the proposed budget. With the control will come the expected commissions, billions of pesos

greasing every power faction that manages to corner the juicy component of the funds.

Boy, Oh, boy. One gets the feeling that the Napoles scam, so far the most scandalous story of congressional corruption, a crass, unprecedented Saro-for-Cash Exchange that cost P10 billion in squandered public money, is just Little League in comparison to the grubbiness that is taking place today, budget process circa 2019, the P3.76-trillion version.

Let us visit the crime scene and itemize the fund grab. Or, let us start with the story of CT Leoncio Construction and Trading, a single proprietorship based in Sta, Maria, Bulacan, but with major public work projects mostly in Bicol, with Sorsogon as its base of operations.

Under the rules of bids and awards as specified under the Government Procurement Act, CT Leoncio is good for small projects, such as farm-to-market roads,

small flood control and drainage projects, one school buildings or two — minor projects that befit its lowly status. Projects P50 million and above are done by contractors with Triple A accreditations.

Yet, according to Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr,. himself a former budget secretary, CT Leoncio has already bagged 30 major infrastructure projects worth billions of pesos even while the Senate was still deliberating on the budget.

How did this happen? Andaya said the premature awards to CT Leoncio, single proprietorship, were courtesy of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). In 2018, CT Leoncio, single proprietorship, got P10 billion worth of projects, Andaya said.

How can the DBM embed projects and the specific contractor of these projects with the P3.76 trillion budget yet to pass the Senate? The answer to these miraculous awards may be a place

— Sorsogon.

According to a family tree drawn

by Andaya et al, the vice governor of Sorsogon, Ester Hamor, has a son from a previous marriage.

That son is married to a daughter of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno. The current husband of the vice governor is Edwin Hamor, the mayor of Casiguran town in Sorsogon province. Most of the big projects done by CT Leoncio were in Casiguran, Sorsogon.

Andaya said the Hamors have been the backers of CT Leoncio.

You can readily identify the axis of the connections: Diokno-Hamors-CT Leoncio.

Of course, Andaya himself does not come clean in the whole “pork barrel” mess.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, after his routine scrutiny of the national budget, claims that Andaya has pork barrel projects worth P1.9 billion, the 2nd biggest pork beneficiary in the House. My place in Pampanga, the 2nd congressional district represented by Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is on top with P2.4 billion of pork.

stitutional convention that crafted the 1935 Philippine Constitution, the core article of the MDT was much too weak, compared with the counterpart article of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Where the MDT merely provides for consultations according to its constitutional process after one of the parties is attacked, the NATO treaty provides for automatic retaliation by all its members.

Article V of the NATO treaty provides: “The Parties are agreed that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all; and consequently they agree that if, such an attack occurs, each of them, in the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually or in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

Recto vs Romulo The late Gen. Carlos P. Romulo, who headed the Philippine panel that negotiated the MDT, tried to assure Recto that the U.S. would not fail to respond if the Philippines were attacked.

Recto remained unconvinced. In 1954, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (Seato) was established in Manila, with the U.S., France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan as members. It was intended to prevent communism from gaining ground in Asia, but it did not add anything new to the Philippine-U.S. security alliance.

On its every anniversary, the Seato secretary general would say, because of Seato, not an inch of

territory had been lost to the communists. But France and Pakistan eventually started taking “independent” positions vis-a-vis the other members. They eventually withdrew, prompting the Philippines and Thailand to move for the dismantling of the alliance in1975.

By then the communists had won in Vietnam.

Dulles’ assurance The strongest assurance of an appropriate U.S. response to an armed attack under the MDT came from Dwight Eisenhower’s Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, when he said that because of the U.S. air and naval dispositions in the Philippines, “an armed attack on the Philippines could not but be also an attack upon the military forces of the United States. As between our nations, it is no legal fiction to say that an attack on one is an attack on both. It is a reality that an attack on the Philippines is an attack on the United States.”

Eisenhower reiterated this assurance in his joint communique with then President Carlos P. Garcia on the latter’s state visit to Washington, DC on June 20, 1958. It was later incorporated in the so-called Bohlen-Serrano Memorandum of Agreement of 1959, and reaffirmed by the Ramos-Rusk exchange of notes of 1966.

But in his monumental book, A Question of Sovereignty, Ambassador Eduardo Romualdez, who headed the Philippine panel during the 1976 renegotiations of the bases agreement with the US, points out that this assurance was not based on what the MDT provides, but rather on the fact that “the dispositions of U.S. air and naval forces in the Philippines were “such” that an armed attack on the Philippines “could not but be an armed attack upon the military forces of the United States” and therefore, would be repelled.”

Romualdez points out that in 1954, when Dulles issued his statement, U.S. forces were scattered

throughout the archipelago, from Aparri in the north to TawiTawi in the south, and from Palawan in the west to Samar in the east. Any attack on any part of the Philippines would certainly endanger some American units, writes Romualdez. But would Dulles’s reassurance still hold, if the US air and naval dispositions were altered, as in fact, they have been altered upon the end of the bases agreement in 1991? Would the U.S. feel obligated to respond if the Philippines were attacked, without inflicting damage on any U.S. public vessels or aircraft?

Cyrus Vance reiterates In a letter to Romulo on Jan. 6, 1979, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance stated: “Article V of the MDT states that for the purpose of Article IV, an armed attack on either of the parties is deemed to include an armed attack on the metropolitan territory of either of the parties, or on the island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific or on its armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific. All elements of this definition are of equal validity in terms of U.S. commitment under the treaty. Metropolitan territory is defined below. However, as provided in Article V, an attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific would not have to occur within the metropolitan of the Philippines or inland territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific in order to come within the definition of Pacific area in Article V.” Never has there been any doubt that the U.S. has no commitment to the defense of the Philippineclaimed territory in the Spratlys, even if attacked by the Chinese. In 1969, during the so-called Symington Senate hearings on “U.S. security agreements and commitments abroad,” Sen. William Fulbright, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, while questioning Rear Admiral Draper Kauffman, the commander of the U.S. naval forces

Time to reboot our US defense ties

Commentary

FRANCISCO TATAD DRIVEN by security concerns over the Philippines’ South China Sea dispute with China, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has proposed a review of our Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the United States. This has not been formally endorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which speaks for the government on such matters, but neither has the DFA nor Malacanang disowned it. It is the most significant statement on the subject to date. It cannot simply be disregarded.

Concluded in 1951, the MDT remains the basic defense instrument between the Philippines and the U.S., after the 1947 Military Bases Agreement (MBA) expired in 1991 and the Senate rejected its proposed extension by a further 10 years. The 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement and the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement are but the MDT’s implementing agreements.

MDT background The MDT came at a time of serious security challenges in Asia. In 1949, Mao Zedong’s communist forces took over China and drove Chiang Kaishek’s nationalist forces to Taiwan. In 1950, the Korean war broke out and left the Korean peninsula divided between North and South. As Japan rose from the nuclear ashes of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the communists threatened to engulf Indonesia, and the Vietnamese moved to defeat the French colonial forces at Dien-BienPhu, resulting in the partitioning

Philstar.com photo

of Indo-China. Under President Elpidio Quirino and later, Ramon Magsaysay, the Philippines faced an armed rebellion by the Hukbalahap — the Filipino fighters originally organized against the Japanese occupation army.

The threat of a communist hegemony emerging in the Pacific provided the glue to the Philippine-U.S. military alliance, first in the MBA, and then in the MDT. In the MDT, the two allies agreed to act together to repel any armed attack on the metropolitan territory of either of the parties, or on the island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific, or on its armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific. “Metropolitan territory of the Philippines” means all of the land areas and all adjacent waters subject to the sovereignty of the Republic of the Philippines, in accordance with international law, lying with the area delineated by Spain and the U.S. in the Treaty of Paris of Dec. 10, 1898, and in the Treaty of Washington concluded by the U.S. and Great Britain on Jan. 2, 1930.

In case of attack Under Article IV of the MDT, an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of the parties would be “recognized” as “dangerous” to the other’s peace and safety, and this party will have to “act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes.”

Any armed attack and any attempt to repel it should be immediately reported to the UN Security Council, which shall take the measures necessary to restore peace and international security. Thereafter, any counter-measures taken by the affected party shall cease. his provision was strongly repudiated by Filipino critics who found it vague and meaningless.

To the nationalist Sen. Claro M. Recto, who chaired the con-

The bloc of Andaya and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez has made a counter-claim. A P5 billion pork has been cornered by former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Farinas and a few others in the deposed House leadership.

Mr. Alvarez just broke his silence. He said that he was ousted from the House leadership because of an ulterior motive — control of the multi-billion road users fund.

At the Senate, the story of a senatorial staff promising major budgetary allocations to congressmen who will allow the senatorprincipal of the staff to identify the contractor is the big story. So far, no names. But still with the same brazen story of “pork parking.”

The rot of corruption is evidently widespread and across the two chambers. What the two chambers of Congress is about to pass is a P3.76-trillion national budget unblemished by integrity.

It is, truly, the story of our sad and corrupt country. (ManilaTimes.net) in the Philippines, expressed doubt that the U.S. had any real commitment to defend the Philippines.

Fulbright’s assertions “Maybe this is the point,” Fulbright said, “we are really not there to protect the Philippines. We are there to serve our own purpose, to maintain a base for what we believe to be our forward protection against China or anybody else. That is our purpose.” To which Kauffman replied, “Oh, yes, sir.” So it’s all window-dressing? Fulbright asked.

One thing is certain: The U.S. military bases are gone, and the MDT has not been put to the test.

The Chinese geopolitical and geostrategic threat, for which reason we entered into the MDT 67 years ago, has evolved. So has national response. We no longer have a unified response. While Lorenzana and the defense establishment may still consider China a continuing security concern, President Rodrigo Duterte looks to China as a source of economic aid and investments and of unquestioning support for his authoritarian policies.

Lorenzana apparently believes the MDT could be made to work if it were given NATO’s automatic retaliatory clause, and the U.S. commitment to defend its ally in case of attack were extended to the contested territories in the Spratlys.

But aside from DU30’s change of heart with respect to the Philippines’ rightful claim in the Spratlys, we must also now contend with the unpredictability of U.S. policies toward America’s allies.

President Donald Trump’s unvetted decision to withdraw all of the U.S.’ 2,000 fighting men from Syria, without consulting the U.S. defense establishment, the leaders of Congress and America’s allies, has created an enormous uncertainty in the area of military cooperation with the U.S. Lorenzana may have no one in Washington, DC left to listen to his MDT proposal after Secretary James Mattis left the Pentagon.

(ManilaTimes.net)

The views expressed by our Op-Ed contributors are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the predilection of the editorial board and staff of Asian Journal.

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Journal Why do so many of us fail Getting in shape in 2019 at our New Year’s resolutions? Fitness and health trends and tips for the New Year Fil-Am consultants weigh in by rae

Tips on how we can stay married to our New Year resolutions and the importance of being gentle with yourself and your goals by

Klarize Medenilla / AJPress

AS 2018 wraps up, the age-old adage “new year, new me” makes its yearly spike across social media. It’s a time of self-reflection and taking stock of what we’ve achieved and what we’d like to achieve. There’s always that hope that next year will be better than the last, and the thought of a fresh start feels liberating.

With the new year comes an opportunity to improve our lives in one or more ways by making New Year’s resolutions, or setting goals to reach throughout the year. Whether it’s losing weight, eating healthier, becoming more organized or giving up smoking, these goals seek to That being said, we’re terrible at keeping these resolutions.

According to U.S. News and Reports, 80 percent of New Years resolutions fall through by February. So, how can we ensure that

Filipina-American health, wellness and business coach Anna Marie Cruz

we stay committed to our New Year’s resolutions?

Filipina-American health, wellness and business coach Anna Marie Cruz — who works primarily with high-achieving women — takes an integrative

Personal and home organizer Katrina Green of Badass Home Life

approach to wellness coaching and says that we often approach these resolutions with negative rhetoric or “with an attitude of deprivation.”

Reframing the way we see our goals by using more positive language to describe them can make them feel less like chores and more like something to look forward to, Cruz says.

“For example, ‘I resolve to give up sweets or alcohol’ can feel like punishment. The guilt associated with giving into cravings could lead us to abandon our goals entirely,” Cruz told the Asian Journal. “How many times have we told ourselves “I can’t have chocolate” and somehow all we see around us are giant chocolate bars? Rather than deprivation, re-frame these resolutions in the positive. Instead of ‘I can’t eat sweets,’ we can ‘resolve to eat more vegetables to keep the skin even clearer and healthier.’ Who doesn’t want that?”

PAGE B2

ann Varona AJPress

“NEW Year, new me,” is a saying we’ll most likely be hearing or saying as 2019 comes around, and chances are we’ll also be searching for some new ways to get where we want to be.

Just like in all things, how we approach fitness and health has gone through many changes throughout the decades with some sticking around to be used in years after, and others not so much. For example, while hula hooping blew up in the 1950s as an exercise that was also a lot of fun, vibrating belts and other crazy workout machines meant to do all the work in the 1960s proved to be not so efficient.

But one thing remained constant in that people have been looking for ways to make working out and getting fit as fun and efficient as possible. The 1970s had jazzercise and rollerskating, while workout videos via VHS tapes featuring energetic instructors like Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons were becoming all the rage in the 1980s. By the 1990s, workout equipment like the Bowflex and the ThighMaster became fitness household names.

As the new year comes in full swing, below are some ways pros and trends are seeing health and fitness playing out in 2019.

Wearables Wearable technology like smartwatches have become valuable tools in integrating health consciousness into our everyday busy lives, but the trendy and useful accessories aren’t reserved for our wrists.

While Fitbits and Apple Watches are still the rage when it comes to health tracking accessories, other types of “smart jewelry” are coming out as demand and curiosity for the accessories go up.

In fact, an annual survey of health and fitness professionals published in the American Col-

lege of Sports Medicine’s (ACSM) November issue reported fitness trackers, smartwatches, and other wearable technology as being the number one fitness trend for 2019.

Aside from watches, bracelets, brooches, necklaces, rings, and even earrings are being equipped to track a variety of health measures like active minutes, calories burned, sleep duration, sleep quality, and distance traveled.

The stylish, sleek, and discreet Motiv ring, for example, sits comfortably on your finger, tracks the health measures, lasts three days from full charge, is water resistant up to 150 feet, syncs with your smartphone, and can even help you find your phone.

Fashion and jewelry brands like Tory Burch and Swarovski getting in on the tracking action by coming out or helping out with designs that match their brand.

“At home” gym experiences Working out at home is noth-

ing new, but again thanks to technology, working out at home is becoming way more efficient and fun through apps and even streaming services that provide more virtual options for working out from the comfort of your home.

Apps like Aaptiv, Nike Training Club, Sweat, and Sworkit have so far been proving that workouts through our smartphones are effective in giving instruction and encouragement.

Streaming services through booming Peloton which started off selling boutique level stationary bikes with accompanied live and on-demand indoor cycling classes have been becoming a hit after it quietly launched its app Peloton Digital in June, allowing videobased workouts and outdoor running classes without the big equipment.

ClassPass, which gained fame from allowing members to access PAGE B2

B december 27, 2018-January 2, 2019 • LaS VeGaS aSIan JOurnaL

Features

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Filipino traditions to welcome the New Year Filipino recipes to usher in the New Year

by Ritchel

Mendiola AJPress

THE New Year has always been a countrywide celebration that is nothing short of fun, dynamic, and loud. Filipinos love to welcome the new year with as much fanfare as they can, partaking in traditions they believe will help in making the new year better, happier, and more bountiful for them. Here are some of those traditions: 1. Eating media noche Filipinos love eating — but more than that, they love eating together with their families. New Year’s eve gives them that opportunity to celebrate, complete with an impressive spread to welcome the incoming year.

Roughly translated as “midnight,” Media Noche is a Filipino custom where family members, their relatives, and friends all

gather together to eat and drink.

The menu differs for every family but there will always be some food that remain a staple in every household such as pancit (long noodles), which represent good health and long life; and sticky rice, which represent tighter family bonds.

2. Having circles/round shapes everywhere Filipinos and Chinese alike believe the round shape is a symbol of prosperity, so it’s common to see circles during New Year’s Eve. More often than not, you’ll see 12 round fruits displayed on the dining table (one fruit per month for a prosperous year) or people wearing polka-dotted clothes.

3. Jumping when the clock strikes 12 The most popular tradition that Filipino adults and kids do as soon as the clock strikes January 1. Jumping as high as you can is

believed to be a way to help you grow taller in the new year — there’s no scientific explanation to support this belief, but it’s fun and exhilarating to do anyway.

4. Opening doors and keeping all the lights on When the new year arrives, Filipinos would open all the doors in their houses to allow good energy and good fortune to come in, and turn on all the lights to welcome a brighter year.

5. Making loud noises to drive off evil spirits Firework displays are a common sight in every country when they welcome the new year, but in the Philippines, fireworks light up the sky because it is believed loud sounds would scare off evil spirits that bring bad luck. Aside from this, Filipinos usually play loud music in the open, and use horns or toy instruments to produce ear-piercing noises.

Why do so many of us fail at our New Year’s...

PAGE B1 Cruz adds that it would benefit us to cut ourselves a little slack when it comes to working towards these goals, saying that we often adopt a “perfectionist mindset” that might convince that we’re failing when we don’t 100 percent adhere to our goals every day.

“It takes at least 21 days to develop a new habit, so instead of giving up once you leave the box unchecked for the day, use the next day to start fresh and approach your goals without the guilt of feeling of failure from the previous day,” Cruz recommends.

A popular New Year’s resolution that many adopt at the start of a new year is to be more organized: in home, in work and in mind. Moreover, the goal extends to be intentional with the possessions we keep and the purchases we make.

Filipina-American personal and home organizer Katrina Green — who runs Badass Homelife, a home organizing business in the greater Sacramento and Bay Area —follows a minimalist approach that transcends beyond just home organizing.

“When I purchase things, there is a purpose for it; I don’t just shop for funsies,” Green told the Asian Journal. “People have a misconception of minimalism.

They think that we live with no

decor in our homes or what, which isn’t true, at least for me.

I decorated my home with intent and for as long as it isn’t cluttered and everything has a home it works. I’ve adapted this concept as a lifestyle because I find beauty in simplifying things. When you live a simplified and organized life, you get to do more and enjoy more non tangible things.”

As Filipinos, we tend to put a lot of value on material things and oftentimes because of that, there’s a tendency to hoard items.

On that note, Green said that “a lot of our elders have ingrained in us” that keeping certain “antiques and heirlooms” is a way to keep the tradition or family spirit alive, but that can result in keeping items we don’t necessarily need.

“I would want Filipinos to see beyond the material aspect of [these things] and see that what truly matters are the memories and teachings you leave behind,” Green says, adding that Filipinos could benefit from regular decluttering.

Although the process of organizing your work or home space may feel overwhelming, starting off slow and working at your own pace could help you set off a routine, Green says, adding that treating your organizing goals like a workout routine could turn new practices into habits.

“Be kind to yourself. Don’t

get frustrated when something doesn’t work the first time,” Green says. “Take it slow, start with one area like your desk or a drawer. I do a 3-step method, Toss, Donate and Keep. Treat being organized as starting a workout routine. It’s something that’s difficult to start but once you get into the habit of doing it every day and week, it becomes a part of your routine. The key is to keep going, when it doesn’t work the first time, try something else, when that doesn’t work you can always count on us Organizers.”

Like Green, Cruz advises to approach your goals with kindness towards yourself and that if something doesn’t go as planned, try another method.

But the key is to keep on going and remembering making mistakes is a part of the process, and that there’s always going to be a tomorrow.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.

Be 100 percent committed at the beginning of the day, but also 100 percent forgiving and 100 percent curious at the end of the day,” Cruz recommends.

“We are on this planet for a finite amount of time. If you don’t get your 30-minute exercise in today, channel that attitude of gratitude and count the things that went right today, rather than what went wrong. This alone can keep us motivated to conquer the next AJPress illustration by Godwin Gasacao day!”

by Shobee

dayRit

IT has been 17 years since I came to the United States and now I am a mom of two. My eldest just left for college and the other is in 8th grade. I work full time in a neurosurgery center while balancing being a mom and wife and blogging while on my days off.

When I was growing up, my family had this tradition of cooking meals that symbolize prosperity for the coming year, and I am trying to inculcate that to my children. Although, they think it is just for fun.

My blog, www.theskinnypot. com, is about easy and simple Filipino recipes for busy moms.

During the holidays, especially the New Year, I have these three go-to recipes that I can rely on.

Bibingka Bisaya Giving a nod to bringing SWEETNESS to life ahead, I make this Bibingka Bisaya. This dessert is made of rice flour, cooked rice and coconut milk.

It is round which represents money, and sweetness to bring harmony.

Ingredients 2 1/4 cups rice flour 2 cans, 13. 5 fl oz coconut milk (2/3 cup to mix with the cooked rice, 1 cup mix with the rice flour, left over for latik) 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup cooked rice (put in a blender with 2/3 cup of coconut milk) 1 Tablespoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 tsp yeast 1/4 cup warm water 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (optional) 1 tsp coconut oil or any cooking oil Wilted banana leaf, cut in circles Instructions Prepare the banana leaves: Using a 5-inch round bowl as pattern, cut leaves into and line in a medium-sized muffin pan.

Set aside.

Prepare the yeast: Mix yeast with 1/4 cup of warm water, add a pinch of sugar

Bibingka Bisaya

Filipino Spaghetti

and let stand until bubble forms.

Bibingka batter: 1. Prepare the cooked rice and 2/3 cup coconut mixture by blending them on high. Set aside.

2. In a medium sized bowl, add the rice flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, baking powder and salt.

Whisk and stir to mix and add 1 can coconut milk. Stir until there are no lumps.

3. Add in the blended cooked rice with coconut milk to the bowl Add the fermented yeast and mix to incorporate. Cover bowl with cling warp and let sit for 30 minutes.

4. When ready, stir batter gently and pour1/3 cup batter into the lined pan and bake at pre heated oven 375 F for 30 minutes, or until Bibingka is cooked through ( insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake and see if there is no batter stick to it.) I usually start checking 20 minutes into baking.

For the latik: 1. Put the coconut milk leftover in medium-sized saucepan and mix with ½ cup sugar. Cook in a low heat until it will be thick in consistency.

2. Brush the latik on the cooked Bibingka, and broil on high for 5 minutes OR LOWER. Broil until the top is gently charred.

Note: While broiling, watch it.

OR YOU’LL BURN YOUR BIBINGKA.

Filipino-Style Spaghetti You can cook this spaghetti in less than 30 minutes. I make this for our New Year’s meal for a long and healthy life ahead.

Ingredients 1 1/2-2 lbs ground pork or beef 5-7 cloves garlic (minced) 1 medium onion (minced/ chopped) 20 pcs hotdog (sliced diagonally) 32 oz spaghetti sauce (I use Hunts brand- Four Cheese) 1 small can (6 oz) tomato paste 4 small bottles of banana ketchup (I use UFC tamis anghang banana ketchup) or Jufran 2 tbsp fish sauce 3 tbsp cooking oil 5 tbsp sugar salt & pepper to taste grated cheese Instructions 1. Heat the cooking oil and in the garlic and saute’ for a minute. Add in the onion and saute’ until transparent. Add the ground beef and cook through (you can tell if it is not pink any more.Add the fish sauce and hot dog. Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste, ketchup and sugar. Cook for a few minutes until sauce is thick.

2. Season with salt and pepper.

PAGE B3

Getting in shape in 2019

PAGE B1 a variety of workout classes and studios with one membership, also recently launched their own streaming service ClassPass Live which brings live-streamed classes right into the home in addition to on-demand sessions.

Our Body Electric (obé) has also been gaining popularity for not only bringing home the gym experience, but bringing in one you’d find at a boutique workout class complete with enthusiastic instructors, upbeat music, and bright neon lights. In addition to its live signature classes held every day of the week, obé has a library of over 500 on-demand classes.

Even more emphasis on healthy eating Healthy eating is also nothing new, but it’s definitely something that will continue to be at the forefront of ways to stay healthy.

Johanna Marie of the healthy cooking blog Momma Cuisine said she sees 2019 filled with more and more people normalizing the “healthy lifestyle” and integrating it into their daily lives “Fresh pressed juices, fasting once in a while, cooking more at home — it’s all those little things out together that add up and help everyday people to eat healthy,” said Marie told the Asian Journal.

She emphasized cooking for yourself as being one sure way to get more mindful of what we put in our body. Her blog, Momma Cuisine, is all about great everyday meals with simple ingredients and basic cooking techniques.

“Cooking for yourself doesn’t have to be stressful. And when you start cooking for yourself and your family, you naturally being to care about fresh ingredients, making things delicious and healthy,” she said.

Holistic approaches to workouts While workouts like Crossfit and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) among others have gained strong followings for their ability to really get people sweating, many are seeing recovery and other concepts of holistic exercise being just as important in staying healthy and fit.

After experiencing an accident in the past year, Julie Ann, a Body Arts and Science International (pilates) instructor atpilatesinlosangles.com, has made it her personal goal to working towards a more toned physique.

She predicts the next year to be filled with more holistic approaches to exercise with more people learning of how the body can heal itself given proper tools — how exercise is a tool not only for losing weight or looking good, but making sure bodies are doing the most they can.

“I believe we all need to work on our abdominal muscles, not for the looks, but to help alleviate dayto-day pains such as back pain, posture issues and imbalances in movement,” she said.

Looking at the wide field of recovery, more places are offering recovery tools and services from steam rooms and sports massages, to more extensive treatments like infrared saunas and NormaTec compression therapy.

Mindfulness or “spiritual fitness” While the focus on mental health is something we saw grow a lot in popularity during the past year, it’s looking like the focus on obtaining mindfulness is just getting started.

Anita Nacion, a life coach for nurses at nacionvita.com, sees meditation — or what she likes to call “spiritual fitness” — as continuing to play a big role in 2019.

From Nacion’s personal experience working with nurses who experience the regular stresses and demands of the job, she’s found that those who have attended her sessions found a 20 percent decrease in stress in just four weeks of meditation.

“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, affirming that healthcare workers need to learn to find pauses in their days, especially during their workdays,” said Nacion.

She hopes more people will be open to learning about mindfulness and relaxation tools to battle against exhaustion and burnout, and to relax, reboot, and find calm in stressful days.

Aside from meditation which she emphasizes can be done anywhere to reset our sympathetic nervous system, Nacion says mindful running or walking are also great ways to get in the right headspace.

“Going for a solo run has been one of my go-to movement meditations when I don’t feel like sitting still,” she said, adding yoga as another go-to.

Surrounding yourself with those who practice a healthy lifestyle is another thing she recommends.

“Find the mentors and experts

Unsplash.com photos

whom you admire and seek counsel or guidance from them,” said Nacion, giving credit to her own mentor Kamile Rose Soler.

Apps of course — think Headspace, Calm, Happify, and Booster Buddy — may be great tools in helping achieve a better sense of mindfulness.

Fitness for seniors As the population ages with baby boomers entering retirement, many health services like gyms are looking to cater to older adults and their fitness needs.

In the same ACSM survey that predicted Wearables to being the number one fitness trend for 2019, the survey showed that fitness programs for older adults jumped five spots on the list from ninth place to fourth this year.

“These individuals, in general, have more discretionary money than their younger counterparts, and fitness clubs may capitalize on this growing market,” reasoned the study.

“People are living longer, working longer, and remaining healthy and active much longer,” it added.

As the New Year approaches and we begin thinking of what steps we’ll be taking to getting healthier in the future, it’s good to keep in mind that while fitness trends have changed many times throughout the years, there are more than just a few ways to get healthy. Explore what works and enjoy the process.

EntErtainmEnt

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Richard on 2018: It was a good year Lea Salonga looks forward to already ‘filled up’ 2019

by Ricky lo Philstar.com

LIKE with others, the holiday season is a family affair for the Gutierrezes, with heads Eddie Gutierrez and Annabelle Rama presiding over six children and seven grandchildren (two from Ruffa: Lorin, 15, and Venice, 14; two from Elvis and wife Alexa Uichico: Aria, 4, and Ezra, one year and eight months; two from Richard and Sarah Lahbati: Zion, 5, and Kai, eight months; and one from Rocky: David, 14).

This was how they celebrated Christmas, according to matriarch Annabelle: “We celebrate Christmas on the night of Dec. 24. We have a party at home (White Plains, Quezon City) including the kasambahay from three households…Richard’s, Ruffa’s at sa amin nina Eddie with Richie Paul (Raymond has been spending Christmas Eve abroad due to his work). There’s a raffle of gifts consisting of cash and other goodies, pati na rin cash bonuses, and lots of games for everybody.

“At 11:30 p.m., tapos na ang party of the kasambahay, the drivers, off-staff and PA’s (Production Assistants). At 12 midnight, the family members open the gifts with the help of Lorin, Venice, David, Zion and Aria who read the names of the recipients. The gifts are those gathered under the Christmas Tree. The affair lasts until 2:30 a.m. of the next day, Christmas

Day. Super saya kasi palaki na nang palaki ang family.”

Said Richard, “I have a lot to thank God for.” And he tells why in the following Conversation.

How would you assess year 2018 as far as your career is concerned?

“I can say that 2018 was a good year for my career. We wrapped up our successful teleserye ‘La Luna Sangre’ during the first quarter of the year. Then I signed an exclusive contract with ABS-CBN and my new management Star Magic Philippines. Also, I signed an exclusive contract with Star Cinema for films. I also extended my contract with my Bench family.

In the middle of the year, I was able to do my first TFC (The Filipino Channel) shows, going to Canada and the U.S. In the last quarter of the year, I was offered the movie ‘Fantastica’ co-starring Vice Ganda and Dingdong Dantes. I can say that it was a blessed year for my career.”

What about your personal life?

“In terms of my personal life, I can’t ask for more. Sarah and I are blessed to have another happy and healthy baby boy in Kai. I was able to spend a lot of quality time with my family this year and was able to travel despite our busy schedules.”

How are you as a father?

“As a father, I can say that I am a loving and hands-on father to my two kids. They are my first priority and I always find time to

Richard Gutierrez and Sarah Lahbati with their sons Zion and Kai Photo from Instagram/@richardgutz

Sunshine Cruz with daughters Samantha Angeline, Angel Francheska and Angeline Isabelle

spend with them. I consider myself blessed to have my two boys.”

Are you and Sarah raising your children the way you were brought up by your respective parents? ”We try to have our own style of parenting but we also apply everything we learned from our parents. I can say that Sarah and I were raised well and we both had a happy childhood and we want our kids to have the same.”

How soon is your much-delayed wedding going to happen?

“Planning a wedding is not an easy task, but a very exciting one.

We are targeting early 2020.”

If and when, what kind of wedding would you have and where (here or abroad)?

“We are still finalizing the location that will match the date that we want. We also have to consider our families. Sarah and I want our families to attend the ceremony and both of us come from big clans, so the location is something that we are currently working on.”

Tell us about your funny experiences filming ‘Fantastica.’

“Filming ‘Fantastica’ was such a great experience for me. There’s a lot of bloopers and funny moments. One scene that is unforgettable for me is seen on the trailer where Vice asked me to call her ‘Mahal,’ and then I put out my tongue. I felt…I don’t know how to describe it, hehehe!!! Basta, I screamed after doing that scene.

I was relieved!”

Is your rivalry with Dingdong Dantes for real or just for show?

“Dingdong and I are actually good friends, the rivalry was created years ago during our time in GMA, but in reality there has never been any rivalry. We both worked hard to achieve where we are now in terms of our careers.”

What can we expect from you in year 2019?

“2019 is an exciting year for sure. I am currently preparing for a teleserye with Bea Alonzo and Ian Veneracion that will start filming by January. A movie with Star Cinema is also lined up.”

How is Richard today different from Richard when you were 15?

“The Richard today is a grown man…a family man that knows what he wants and what his priorities are, but also knows how to live life to the fullest.”

Photo from Instagram/@sunshinecruz718

Sunshine Cruz counts her blessings by kRissy

aGuilaR

Inquirer.net

AS the end of 2018 nears, actress Sunshine Cruz recounted the blessings she has received this year and said “freedom” was among her “best gifts.”

“I am really excited and looking forward to what 2019 has in store for me. This year was definitely truly colorful,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Monday, December 24.

“I have had my share of trials but was able to overcome them,” she admitted. “Yes! Because I am

tough!”

As the Kapuso actress shared the things she learned and realized this year, she noted: “I also got my freedom. One of the best gifts I got this year.”

Cruz said she always believed that as long as one does not hurt others, “life will reciprocate and the truth shall always prevail.”

She may have lost people she thought were true, the actress remained positive saying she “gained better friends who stuck by me while others believed in hearsay.”

Cruz ended her post by expressing thanks to her family and friends: “To my family (thank you Mama, Ates, my beautiful princesses, my Macky and his children for the love and support, all of you inspire me to be a better version of myself), friends and followers, Maligayang pasko po sa inyo and may God bless us all!”

Cruz’s petition to annul her marriage with Cesar Montano was granted by a court in September 2018. She filed the annulment petition in 2014.

Filipino recipes to usher in the New Year PAGE B2 3. Serve with spaghetti noodles topped with cheese.

Note: This recipe was adapted from Pinoy Cooking recipe 3-Ingredient (no bubbles) Filipino Leche Flan It’s super easy to make. Don’t be intimidated with this. It is a crowd pleaser. This dessert is made with egg yolks, condensed milk and evaporated milk. It is soft, fluffy and sweet. Nothing represents unity for family than this dessert.

Ingredients 1 12 fl oz can evaporated milk 1 14 fl oz can low fat condensed milk 10 egg yolks separated from the white For the caramel 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup water

Instructions Prepare your steamer by pouring about 6 to 8 cups of water and let the water boil before steaming the Leche Flan.

For the caramel Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Let it boil until the sugar has melted. Turn off heat and pour and divide the caramel into 2 6-inch round mold.

I used a 6-inch cake pan in this.

For the Leche Flan Mix the evaporated milk, condensed milk and egg in a medium sized bowl. When the mixture is mix thoroughly, divide and pour into the 2 prepared mold. Make sure that the caramel is cool, you do not want to cook your egg yolk. Cover the mold with tin foil and steam for 40 minutes to an hour.

For more recipes, visit www. theskinnypot.com.

Leche Flan

by BaBy

a. Gil

Philstar.com

HOW nice that Lea Salonga has recorded an album of traditional Filipino music. It is really about time. She has already had a blessed 40 years in show business that have seen her pave the way for the entry of Filipino artists on Broadway and London’s West End. So now is a right time for her to take a look at her true musical roots and the result is this noteworthy project.

The album is titled “Bahaghari,” which is Filipino for rainbow.

Released locally by Curve Entertainment, Inc., it was produced by National Artist Ryan Cayabyab for GLP Music. The label is not your usual hitmaking entertainment outfit. Its main goal is to introduce children of all races to world languages and culture through music.

GLP record releases are intended to encourage kids to dream and explore a world of music. Not just their own but from everywhere.

One excellent example of the kind of work that GLP does is “Coloreando” featuring Spanish artist Marta Gomez. It won the Latin Grammy for Best Children’s Album.

And now it is Lea’s turn with “Bahaghari.” This is where her celebrated voice is heard singing native tunes that we grew up with representing various regions and cultures of the Philippines. These songs are set against simple arrangements with just the basic instruments to encourage children to sing along. Hopefully, their parents, too.

Like it or not, it is a fact that Filipino kids nowadays are more familiar with foreign songs. I do not mean just the likes of Jack and Jill went up the hill but also of the latest by Post Malone or Cardi B. Maybe with “Bahaghari,” they can be enticed into also singing “Bahay Kubo” like Lea does. Her rendition, as always is in her famous perfect pitch.

Aside from “Bahay Kubo,” which unfortunately children have come to know as a “listahan ng gulay,” the album also includes the Visayan classics “Pobreng Alindahaw” and “Matud Nila”; folk songs like “Paruparong Bukid”; “Tinikling”, “Atin Cu Pung Singsing” from Pampanga; “Magtanim Ay Di Biro”; the Ilonggo lullaby “Ili Ili Tulog Anay”; “Sarung Banggi” from the Bicol Region; “Leron Leron Sinta”; “Pamulinawen” of the Ilocos; “Si Filemon, Si Filemon”; “Sitsiritsit Alibangbang”; “Sampa-

The album is titled “Bahaghari,” which is Filipino for rainbow. Released locally by Curve Entertainment, Inc., it was produced by National Artist Ryan Cayabyab for GLP Music.

Photos from leasalonga.com

guita”; and “Waray Waray”.

“Bahaghari” is now ready for downloading or streaming online.

But I hope that Curve makes the physical CD available soon. It is said to come with a booklet containing facts about the songs and would make a very good Christmas gift. It would be very good for our children to sing a “Paruparong Bukid” or “Sitsiritsit Alibangbang” once in a while instead of “Letting Go”.

Again, I say how nice of Lea to do “Bahaghari” and I hope that it becomes the start of her closer relationship with our native music.

Just think, there exists a massive catalogue of classic Filipino songs just waiting to be sung again. And wouldn’t it be great if Lea were the one to sing them again now.

Songs, unsung and unheard for a long time die, I hope it does not happen to ours.

By the way, the local release of “Bahaghari” caps what was truly another remarkable year in Lea’s career. Remember, she sold out the Plenary Hall of the PICC during her two-night concert celebrating her 40th year in show business. Before that she was in New York performing as Erzulie, the goddess of love in the Tony-winning musicaI and

now also Grammy-nominated for Best Theater Show Album, “Once On This Island”. She also went on a solo concert tour and was a judge in the talent show “The Voice”.

Lea’s 2019 is also pretty much filled up. Her last one was so successful that she is set to go on another long concert tour. Titled “The Human Heart Tour”, this time around she starts off in Hong Kong and Singapore in February and then continues on to around the UK in March. These shows will be followed by gigs in the U.S. and Canada.

Then there is “Sweeny Todd”.

The Stephen Sondheim musical will be part of Atlantis Theatrical’s 20th anniversary celebration and Lea is taking on the role of Mrs. Lovett. She is the one who makes the worst, the most shocking, the craziest pies in London and she is one totally unhinged woman.

It is an actress’ dream role and I am sure that Lea will give a truly fantastic performance. Playdate is in October.

Features

B december 27, 2018-January 2, 2019 • LaS VeGaS aSIan JOurnaL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

Coco Martin idolizes Vic Sotto for his ‘simplicity, kindness’

by Cody

Cepeda Inquirer.net

COCO Martin may be a big star in his own right, but having the chance to work with his idol “Bossing” Vic Sotto still saw him starstruck and humbled.

Martin took to Instagram recently to express his admiration for Sotto, who he was able to work with for the first time in “Jack Em Popoy: The PulisCredibles”, their movie entry to the 44th Metro Manila Film Festival.

Martin shared a photo of Sotto during the MMFF Parade of Stars on Sunday, Dec. 23, and showed the “Eat Bulaga” frontman smiling at the camera.

“Idol ko ito sa kasimplehan at kabaitan!” Martin wrote on Instagram on Dec. 24. “Dati pangarap Iza Calzado with husband Ben Wintle during their wedding on the island of Palawan.

Photos from Instagram/@missIzacalzado ko lang sya makatrabaho ngayon nag katotoo na!!! (This man is my idol for his simplicity and kindness. I used to just dream of working with him; it has come true now.)”Martin further stated that he has deep and utmost respect for Sotto, attesting to his Belo captioned it as a “very to cancer. Iza was 19 at that goodness of heart.

IZA Calzado teared up after time. Ussher entrusted the keepa surprise diamond bracelet gift touching moment.”

“Maraming maraming salamat “I know it is something that sake to Sunshine which was to Bossing sobra pagrespeto ko from her late mother.

A video posted on Instagram you will really treasure forever. be handed over to Iza on her sayo,” Martin said. “Napakabait by celebrity doctor Vicky Belo I love you very much,” Sunshine wedding day. mo pong tao!!!”

Iza married fiancé Ben Wintle showed Iza’s best friend and fel- said in the video before apMartin showed no hint of on Wednesday, December 19, on low “Encantadia” star Sunshine proaching a tearful Iza. Iza’s mom, Mary Ann Ussh- the island of Palawan. (Philstar.

Dizon giving her the present she er, passed away in 2001 due com) kept safe for years.

‘Touching moment’: Iza Calzado tears up after surprise wedding gift from late mom

‘Answered prayers’: Catriona thankful Miss Universe win gave Christmas joy to Pinoys

by Rosette

originally from Dasmariñas, Cavite, but now based in the Romanian capital Bucharest, sang a mash-up of songs from Beyoncé, specifically “Crazy in Love” and “Love on Top” before clinching the title in the final show on live television.

Coincidentally, she also sang “Crazy in Love” when she joined Showtime’s “Tawag ng Tanghalan” aired on Philippine television network ABS-CBN. Santiago, mentored by Romanian singer Delia Matache, defeated three other singers — Doinita Ionita, Cristian Moldovan and Ioana Bulgaru.

In a Facebook post, she thanked her fans and Photo from Instagram/@bellasantiagoresciebelle mentor for their

A FILIPINO has won the eighth season of the Romanian version of the international talent show “The X Factor” on Monday, December 24.

Resciebelle Santiago, or Bella,

adel

A WEEK after she was crowned 67th Miss Universe, Filipina beauty queen Catriona Gray is still expressing her gratitude to Filipinos.

In her Christmas message posted on holiday eve, Catriona reiterated that it was an honor for her to carry Philippines across her heart.

She once again expressed gratitude how she was able to bring happiness to Filipinos this Christmas with her pageant win.

“I am grateful for so, so much. This year all my prayers were answered,” Catriona said.

“More so, I am so thankful I get to be with my loving parents and through Ms Universe, be able to bring joy to 104 million Filipinos this Christmas. Maligayang Pasko Philippines! Mahal ko kayo,” she greeted.

Catriona, the fourth Filipina crowned Miss Universe, is currently in New York City to fulfill her titular duties. She will return to In this Dec. 17, 2018 photo, Catriona Gray was crowned the 67th Miss Universe at the country early next year for her grandBella Santiago the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

Photo from Facebook/Catriona Gray homecoming.

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“tampo” despite murmurings in the past that his name was not allowed to be mentioned on GMA-7 when it came to promoting “Jack Em Popoy”. It was observed then that GMA-7 did not mention his name in its official Twitter account early this December, which was pointed out by many of his fans.

He, however, has since clarified to columnist and talent manager Lolit Solis that he sees no issue with his name not being mentioned in the rival network. Fro him, it was more than enough

Photo from Instagram/@mr.cocomartin

that he got to work with Sotto in his lifetime.

“Okey lang po yon at naiintindihan ko po, sobrang taas ng respeto ko sa GMA,” Martin said then. “Sila unang nagbukas sakin ng pintuan… Masaya na ako na natupad ko ang pangarap ko na makatrabaho po si Bossing… (That’s OK with me and I understand. I highly respect GMA. They were the first to open doors for me. I am happy to just finally realize my dream of working with Bossing.)”

Filipino singer wins ‘X Factor Romania’

Philstar.com

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Coco Martin, Maine Mendoza and Vic Sotto

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support and making her “more Romanian” than ever.

“Thank you very much for your support and for adopting me,” Santiago wrote in Romanian, which she has learned to speak fluently.

“After everything that happened last night, I feel more Romanian than I’ve ever been, and that’s because of you, you’re wonderful,” she said.

Santiago participated in “Pinoy Pop Superstar” and Tawag ng Tanghalan and finished runner-up at a talent show in Taiwan before moving to Romania with her boyfriend.

She took part in “Romania’s Got Talent” and attempted to represent the country in this year’s Eurovision song festival, which was held in Portugal.

She got married to Romanian Nicolas Grig at a ceremony earlier this month.

Santiago follows in the footsteps of fellow female Filipino singers Rose Fostanes, who won “The X Factor Israel” in 2014, and Marlisa Punzalan, who topped “The X Factor Australia”, also in 2014.

(ManilaTimes.net)

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Your Immigration Solution

COMMUNITY JOURNAL

for adjudicators to consider when evaluating an applicant.

Good moral character can be either a discretionary or a prerequisite factor, depending on the application at issue. Either way, a person’s good moral character plays a role when applying for adjustment of status, United States citizenship, and cancellation of removal for non-legal permanent residents before the Immigration Court.

In many cases, a person’s recent or extended period of volunteer work with organizations and others in their community provides strong positive weight for an adjudicator when weighing and evaluating the factors present in the application before them.

AS the year draws to a close, the holiday season, also known as the season of giving, is upon us. The holidays are a good reminder that what we give to others - our time, money, compassion and understanding - can matter a great deal to those on the receiving end. Not only does assisting those around us provide tangible benefits to other people and to our community, it can bestow perks back onto us as individuals; giving is a cycle beneficial to everyone.

Immigrant Living: 101 and Beyond

Thank God for the chance to rewrite our own story

MONETTE ADEVA MAGLAYA THERE are countless things to be grateful for this year.

If we are blessed with a grateful heart, we will see beauty and light amid darkness. A grateful heart is one that is mindful of the abundant blessings of family, friends, and other people who orbit our lives. A grateful heart is well aware of all the infinite number of graces, seen and unseen, that abound and permeate our daily lives, from the rising of the sun to its setting.

The Christmas season becomes even more meaningful particularly for those whose lives are suddenly shattered by a life changing experience. To be given the chance to find one’s purpose in life and rewrite one’s story midstream is a rare and precious gift coming directly from above.

If you’ve been given the chance to restart a new life after you’ve gone through some life-changing, miraculous experience, you will know exactly what I mean.

If you survived a horrific accident when everyone else perished, or if you found yourself inexplicably healed from a deadly disease, then you’ll know what it feels to be given a reprieve.

It is a new lease on life — a fresh slate, a clean paper, what the Greeks call tabula rasa, on which you can start writing your new story. Or if you use a computer, click on a new blank document and chase the cursor until the rest of your life story unfolds.

How does one use this new lease on life?

Most people lucky enough to be given a second chance, will quickly realize that this new lease can just be an extra few months or years, and in the most blessed scenarios, a decade or two.

Each day beyond that critical turning point is a bonus, every single moment, a gift. Some-

Health@Heart PHILIP S. CHUA, MD, FACS, FPCS WHAT triggers hunger and satiety?

The urge to eat (hungry or not) is, to a large extent, controlled and regulated by hormones in our body. And these hormones fluctuate depending on how much sleep we get, what types of food we eat and how much calories we take in, and on how much physical activities we indulge in daily. Scientific researchers are focusing on four specific substances they call “fat hormones,” which our own endocrine glands in the body produce. There are hormones that make one eat and there are also hormones that signal the brain to tell the person to stop eating.

These substances control hunger and satiety.

Which is the “hunger hormone”?

The hunger hormone is Ghrelin, which is secreted by our guts (stomach and intestines). When its level goes up, we feel hungry and have the urge to eat. The level of Ghrelin goes up when we get less sleep or not enough sleep.

This is the reason why those who are trying to lose weight should get adequate amount (about 8 hours) of sleep. An imbalance meal and stress also elevate the Ghrelin level. Food deprivation obviously increases the Ghrelin level, hence it is better to keep the level of this hormone on an even keel and not fluctuate too much by eating regularly (or even more than 3 times a day) but at a controlled total calorie ceiling, to maintain health and body weight.

So, starving oneself is not a good way to lose weight, since this will lead to a Ghrelin “boomerang” in the latter part of the day.

Which is the “satiety hormone”?

The opposite or counter-hor-

B5

Consider volunteering over the holiday season to help others and yourself What you do for others and for the betterment of your community can matter a great deal in immigration cases. Many applications for immigration benefits in the U.S., including those asking for relief from deportation in Immigration Court, take stock of what the applicant has done to improve his or her life as well as the lives of those around them. In immigration law, this is generally referred to as “good moral character.” A person’s good moral character can show that not only are they invested in themselves and their future, but that they are also invested in their community and in America’s future as well.

Volunteering to help others provides a palpable measurement

ATTY. SARA CROSS

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • DECEMBER 27, 2018-JANUARY 2, 2019

“A useless life is an early death.”

—Goethe times, God mercifully knocks some sense into us through drastic means by throwing us a curve ball to bring us down on our knees so that we have no choice but to look above and beyond our own petty, selfish concerns and total self-involvement in order to grasp the concept of our own mortality and to know that we are here for a purpose.

We’re not here to merely consume resources or take up space. Consider the fearsome dinosaurs. Grazing the earth for millions of years, that is essentially what they did — consumed resources and took up space.

Not by intelligence but by sheer size and numbers, they had dominion over all other species for millions of years, until one day, as scientists try to explain their extinction, a rogue asteroid about 7 miles long, possibly got unhinged off its orbit in the asteroid belt, hit the earth with such impact, setting off a series of volcanic eruptions that covered the atmosphere with ash far above the stratosphere, so that sunlight could not penetrate through the haze for years, killing off the plant life, upsetting and destroying the food chain balance and effectively starving and wiping the dinosaurs off the face of the earth 65 million years ago.

Here is earth’s tabula rasa story — starting on a clean slate, a new lease on life. When the reptiles died, mammals, of which we are classified under, began their ascent. Human beings with purpose came to be.

Yet each man’s purpose is nebulous and not always obvious. Purpose does not come as clear as the light of day. We have to seek it out. Either by choice or circumstance, some excep-

tional ones find their purpose early enough and proceed to fulfill it. Sometimes, it is as simple as blooming where God planted us.

But the great majority of people on the bell curve don’t have the nose to sense their true north. Most of us of the garden variety meander about our lives trying different things until we finally stumble upon it by trial and error. The annals of history are rife with such stories.

St. Paul played a critical role in the beginnings of the early Christian church through his travels and forays into Gentile territories. But he didn’t start out that way. He was just as passionate about persecuting Christians before he was tapped from above to do what he did.

Edwin Hubble, the great astronomer who lived in the nineteen twenties and for whom the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is named for his outstanding achievements in expanding our view of the universe, tried different things before finding out what he was meant to do. In college, he played championship basketball and even tried boxing. After fighting in World War I, he studied law, tried lawyering for a year and obviously didn’t like it.

Something must have happened because he went back to college to study astronomy and finally found his footing and his purpose in life.

That’s what most of us do. We try different lives until we find the one that matches heaven’s purpose. Just don’t run out of time. No one wants to leave with unfinished business.

If our stations in life allow us the luxury of choice, then more PAGE B6

Appetite regulators mone, which is called Leptin, signals the brain when to stop eating.

It controls the appetite. This “satiety hormone” is produced by fat cells in the body. When a person loses weight, the leptin level in the blood stream also goes down.

As a result, there is a “rebound” weight gain. The best strategy in losing and maintaining a desired weight level is to lose in a slow and steady pace, about one to two pounds a week, and not more. In this manner, there will still be an effective level of leptin in the body to control the urge to eat.

What’s the effect of imbalance meals?

High carbohydrate diet (rice, bread, sugar, pop drinks, ice cream, and other sweets) leads to a faster metabolism of these food items that have high glycemic indices and floods the blood stream with high glucose level.

This is why those who eat a lot of these food items (rice is a great culprit!) are feared to have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Personally, much as I loved rice (a 3-meal rice addict), I had decided to give it up following all the convincing scientific evidence today of its link to diabetes.

Could this be the reason why the incidence of diabetes is very high among Asians, especially among Filipinos? The research on this is still in progress.

How about emotional stress?

When one is high on stress and low on energy, the body tries to compensate by producing more cortisol hormone. This substance mobilizes the blood sugar transformation (glycogen into glucose) and increases the blood sugar level to provide energy. But it makes the person hungry. And so the person eats more. The connection between cortisol level and obesity is not a settled question yet. Physical stress, like regimented physical exercises daily, is another story. This has a positive effect on our body in more ways

than one. While it also raises the cortisol level and increases blood sugar, exercise burns calories and also helps put our body hormones in good balance. As a matter of fact those who do daily exercises have lower risk of developing heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.

What is Obsetatin?

This is a hormone recently identified by researchers at Stanford. This substance has been shown to slow down the digestive process. While the studies on Obsetatin are still ongoing, it is postulated that this hormone, like the first three above, could be held in check by adequate sleep, balanced diet, physical exercise and minimizing stress.

Are appetite suppressants safe?

Most appetite control pills, juices, solutions and powders on the market are not physiological and unnatural way to suppress (by force) the appetite for weight control. While they are readily available and very popular, they have potential adverse side effects on the heart, liver, kidneys and brain in the long haul. Some serious complications, and even deaths, have been reported from the use of these diet substances.

Since greater calorie intake than output is the cause of increase in body weight, the safest, most natural, strategy is to eat less and burn more calories with physical exercises, making the output of calories (energy) greater than the intake of calories (food). The use of appetite suppressants could be dangerous. There are hundreds of items on the market shelves and so-called well-ness, health, stores that are untested, unregulated and unscreened for safety, sideeffects, and complications, that they are downright scary. Consult with your physician before using any of them.

What strategy helps?

For any of us, who have norPAGE B6

Sometimes, recent and voluntary community service can make the difference between an application which is approved and one which will be denied. It really can be the difference between a green card or U.S. citizenship and being deported.

In certain cases, prior criminal conduct or convictions within a specified period of time can make establishing good moral character particularly difficult.

Prior bad conduct, while not resulting in a criminal charge, can even have an effect on your good moral character; this includes acts such as making false statements during a previous immigration application or border entry, even if many years in the

past. Other acts, such as failing to pay your taxes or failing to pay child support can also weigh negatively on your good moral character as an applicant.

In evaluating an applicant, the adjudicator must weigh all the positive and negative factors in that person’s character and their application. Good moral character does not mean perfection, and a person’s character shouldn’t be destroyed by a single or isolated incident.

That is why it is important to hire a knowledgeable immigration attorney who can evaluate a person’s specific and unique circumstances and determine the best way to proceed when assisting them in obtaining legal

Calendar of Events across

permanent resident status and citizenship in the United States. *** REEVES IMMIGRATION LAW GROUP is one of the oldest, largest and most experienced immigration fi rms in the United States with offi ces in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Manila and China.

For more Information please call (800) 795- 8009 or visit www.rreeves.com.

Telephone: (800) 795-8009 E-mail: immigration@rreeves.com Website: www.rreeves.com. *** The analysis and suggestions offered in this column do not create a lawyer-client relationship and are not a substitute for the personalized representation that is essential to every case.

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UP Alumni Association Berkeley Chapter Celebrates 50th Anniversary The University of the Philippines (UP) Alumni Association (Berkeley Chapter) is celebrating its Golden Jubilee with a luncheon party from 11am to 4pm on December 29, 2018 at the Oakhurst Country Club in Clayton, California. All present and former members are invited, including alumni or graduates of the university’s high schools in Manila and Diliman, and the different institutes, colleges and campuses of the University. Interested parties are requested to get in touch with the following: Daisy Rodriguez (916) 768-9955, Henrietta Fajardo-Boyd (925) 433-3359, Diosy Rey (707) 315-2351 or Jay Castro (925) 899-8881.

D EC E M B E R 3 0

SIPA and #HashtagLunchbag host food drive in LA Give back to the Los Angeles community by volunteering with Search Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) and #HashtagLunchbag on Sunday, December 30 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. as we spread love by making sandwiches for those who need it the most! Join us as we assemble sandwiches, create notes of encouragement, decorate bags, and ensure that homeless people have a meal. The event will be happening at 3200 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026. Parking is available on Dillion/Temple and Robinson/Temple. Donations of $5+ are not required, but are highly suggested so that we can continue to have community service events like these. For any questions, contact Maria Carmel Valendez at mvalendez@esipa.org.

------------------------ 2019 -----------------------JA N UA RY 5

Fil-Am Chamber of Commerce of Greater LA hosts Gala in Burbank, CA Enjoy the glitz, glamour and allure of Hollywood at the Gala Night of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles (FACC-GLA) on Saturday, January 5. Come dressed to the nines inspired by your favorite Cinema icons for a fun evening in an evening of dancing, good food and camaraderie for only $65 at the renovated Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport (2500 N Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505). FACCGLA members bring your friends and family, non-members welcome! Doors open at 6 p.m. Prefer to be a VIP donor?

Sponsorship packages available at faccgla.org.

JA N UA RY 1 8

Santo Nino Celebration at St. Catherine Laboure Church in Torrance, CA Most Rev. Bishop Oscar A. Solis will celebrate the holy sacrifice of the Mass on Friday, January 18 at St. Catherine Laboure Church (3846 Redondo Beach Blvd. Torrance, CA 90504) at 7 p.m. The Novena prayers and Chaplet will follow after the Mass. The parish has an exact replica of the Infant of Prague (Santo Nino) clothed in a relic of the Holy Robe that adorns the original statue in the shrine at Prague. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own statues; the devotion of touching them to the Holy Robe will conclude the celebration. For more information, please contact Lorna Arceo at (310) 345-4637, Maria Quan (310) 714-6537 or Vicki & Romy Balliyut at (310) 406-6575.

JA N UA RY 1 9

Sto. Niño celebration at St. Finbar Church in Burbank, CA Please join us for Sinulog on January 19, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Finbar Church (2010 W Olive Ave, Burbank, CA 91506). Bring your statues of the Infant Jesus. Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m.

JA N UA RY 2 0

Feast of Sto. Niño at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in LA On Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 3:30 pm, the Santo Niño Cruzada USA will sponsor a mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to be presided by its Pastor, Fr. David Gallardo, and to commemorate its 32nd year anniversary of the solemn Feast of Santo Niño, the Divine Infant Jesus. Participating are the choir of St. Paul the Apostle Church from Chino Hills, The Southern California Sinulog Dance Co., The Saint Junipero Serra Province Knights of Columbus, and various religious organizations. We also offer the mass to the late Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu who gave the Santo Nino statue that we use for this event to Cardinal Roger Mahony and Monsignor Kevin Kostelnik. For more information of this celebration, please contact Romy & Tess Esturas at (213) 219-0590.

F E B R UA RY 9

St. Finbar Church in Burbank, CA celebrates its 9th Annual Valentine Dinner Dance Come and celebrate Hollywood glamour on February 9, 2019 from 6:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. For information contact Marian at (818) 562-6819 or send an email to minobleza@yahoo. com.

F E B R UA RY 1 5

Franchising Retail & Trade Conference in Cerritos, CA The Coalition of Filipino American Chambers of Commerce (COFACC) hosts this highly anticipated business event at the Cerritos Sheraton located at 12725 Center Court Drive South, Cerritos, CA 90703. Attendees will have access to opportunities in business match making & referrals, roundtable discussions, entrepreneurship training programs, and networking & business connections with participants representing both the United States and the Philippines. Business owners, entrepreneurs, corporations, and the general public are all invited to attend. The Philippine Retailer Association (PRA) and the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) will be present to network with the US business community. Also present will be local franchisor and franchisee business owners, the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA), the National Asian American Coalition (NAAC), the National Diversity Coalition (NDC), the Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program, the Philippine Consulate Los Angeles Office, Philippine Dept. of Trade & Industry (PTIC) Los Angeles, and the Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA).Basic entry is only $10 but can and will vary depending on the participation experience desired. Registration for the Conference is simple and is processed online at by going to https://cofacc.org.

If you have an upcoming event and would like us to post it, please email us the details at info@asianjournalinc.com or calendar@asianjournalinc.com

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Camille Prats welcoming a new baby next year Toni Gonzaga says Paul Soriano ‘very secure as a husband,’ not jealous of Sam Milby

THE Yambao family is welcoming a new member soon, as actress Camille Prats revealed her third pregnancy on Christmas day.

Prats-Yambao took it to Instagram to share the good news.

“Our family is getting merrier coz a little present is on the way!

God’s greatest gifts [come] in surprises and we are over the moon!” the actress said in her post.

Prats-Yambao is at the center of the family photo, wearing a white shirt that reads: “Tis the season to be pregnant.”

The actress also posted a video taken last month of how she found out she is carrying her third child.

Prats-Yambao said they did not plan on having a new baby but it would always be a blessing. She also showed how she broke the news to her son Nathan, who said that he wants a baby brother but would welcome a baby sister, too.

The actress said they would pray for a younger brother and encouraged her son to also pray for a healthy baby.

She said that the newest member of the Yambao family would

by MaRinel

The Yambao family poses for a photo as they announce a new member joining them next year.

Photo from Instagram/@camilleprats

arrive in July 2019.

The actress gave birth to her second child and first with husband Yambao, Nala Camilla, in September last year.

She has a child with her late husband, Anthony Linsangan,

and her current husband has a son from a previous relationship.

Prats-Yambao said that with a baby coming their way, it would be #YambaoFamof6. (Kristine Joy Patag/Philstar.com)

Pregnant Rochelle Pangilinan gets ‘surprise’ gifts from Nora Aunor Pangilinan said in her Instagram post last week in Filipino. “But she shocked me with surprise gifts, I FORMER Sexbomb dancer Ro- jokingly told her you gave me a surchelle Pangilinan shared on Insta- prise baby shower!” she added.

She announced her pregnancy gram how legendary actress Nora Aunor surprised her with gifts for last August 26 on Instagram.

Pangilinan married actor Arthur her expected baby.

“Having scenes with her is a Solinap in 2017.

Pangilinan and Aunor are part gift in itself for me this Christmas,”

of primetime teleserye “Onanay” on the GMA-7 network.

“She could’ve given simple Christmas gifts like food or girls things, but she thought of my baby,” Pangilinan said on her post.

“The feeling of being thought of by the only super star — how I thought of her since I was a child — [but] she thought of me,” Pangilinan added.

She said her encounter with the multi-awarded actress is a story she won’t get tired of telling until she has her own grandchildren.

She said, “I’m so happy! This is why so many still love her until now.”

Aunor is a multi-awarded actress and singer, recognized both locally and internationally, known for playing iconic leading roles such as Elsa in “Himala” (1982), Flor Contemplacion in “The Flor Contemplacion Story” (1995) and Shaleha in “Thy Womb” (2012).

She was called the “grand dame” of Philippine cinema by The HolActress and dancer Rochelle Pangilinan shares how her “Onanay” co-star Nora Aunor surprised lywood Reporter in 2015.

by Ryan

MacaseRo Philstar.com

her with baby gifts.

cRuz

Inquirer.net

Photo from Instagram/@rochellepangilinan

TV host-actress Toni Gonzaga said that her husband, film and TV commercial director Paul Soriano, never became jealous of actor Sam Milby, to whom she had been romantically linked in the early 2000s.

“He’s (Paul) at a stage in his life right now where he is already very secure as a person and as a husband,” said Toni, remembering their conversation about the Hollywood movie, “A Star is Born.”

“Paul said he got so involved in the film because he felt the connection between lead actors Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.

He said he wouldn’t judge the two actors if they actually slept together in real life. They had to really get into their characters,” Toni shared with reporters. “He wasn’t saying that I should sleep with my coactors. He was simply pointing out that he understands the process of most actors. On the big screen, you really can’t fake it.”

“Paul first saw Sam and I together in a music video,” she recalled. “He said our chemistry was so strong that he also felt our connection just by watching it.”

Toni disclosed that it was Paul who chose Sam to play her and sister Alex’s leading man in the movie, “Mary, Marry Me”— one of eight official entries in the 44th Metro Manila Film Festival that begins on Christmas Day. Toni, whose TinCan Productions bankrolled the romantic comedy film, said her husband’s participation in the movie went only as far as “being physically present in the look test. He (Paul) was quiet the whole time.”

TinCan is under the umbrella group TEN17P Productions, which her husband owns.

Asked to comment on the possibility of future creative dif-

Toni Gonzaga and Paul Soriano with their son Seve.

Photo from Instagram/@celestinegonzaga

ferences affecting their marriage, Toni replied: “Conflicts and arguments are part of any marriage, but if these will break our marriage then I guess its foundation isn’t strong to begin with.”

While she had been very involved as a producer, Toni said Paul was “hands-off.”

She explained: “He gave me complete creative freedom. He allowed me to explore how I could best express what I want in this movie. He would just visit the set to say ‘hello.’ As a filmmaker, he never imposed his views on our director RC delos Reyes.”

Toni added: “Paul once told me, ‘This is your market. You know this kind of audience really well, and I don’t. Paul’s mindset is more directed towards the global audience. This is more local, more

mainstream. He doesn’t think his views will be useful to this project.”

Regardless of how “Mary, Marry Me” would rank in the box office, Toni promised she would continue making more worthwhile film projects. “You can’t just quit when you fail on your first try. You learn from your mistakes,” she emphasized. “The winners in life are the ones who never quit. I’ve experienced that as an actress. If I’d quit because of all my failures in the past, then I don’t think I’d be experiencing the good life I have today.”

As for Sam, whom she last worked with 10 years ago in “You Got Me,” Toni said: “He has become a better actor. He is now… way more mature and professional.”

Fatherhood has turned JC de Vera’s life 180-degrees

by Ricky lo Philstar.com

DURING the mediacom for “One Great Love”, the Regal Entertainment 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entry (directed by Eric Quizon), JC de Vera and costars Dennis Trillo and Kim Chiu were asked if they have found their “one great love.”

“Yes, I have,” JC proudly admitted. “I am in a good position; I am very happy with my family. I would say that it’s my one great love…my family…because I am experiencing it now. I can feel it.”

His family consists of his wife, Rikka Cruz, and their eight-monthold daughter Lana.

At 32, JC has had his share of girlfriends and it turned it that Rikka is the one who would win his heart…for good.

Asked why he “hid” Rikka from the media, JC begged the reporters’ pardon.

“Although I never exposed her on TV,” explained JC, “I never tried to ‘hide’ her. Madalas kaming magkasama in public. But I did protect her from publicity because she comes from a simple and humble family just like me.

We were schoolmates at Colegio de San Agustin and we had been going steady for more than four years before we decided to have a baby.”

JC and Rikka were wed in civil rites just before Lana was born (the natural way). They plan to get married in church once they are done with their current projects. Rikka

JC and wife Rikka Cruz during a vacation with their eight-month-old daughter Lana in Korea.

Photo from Instagram/@akosijcdeberat

helps in the family business.

In “One Great Love”, JC plays a guy scarred by a turbulent past, who keeps hurting the woman (Kim) who loves him just the same.

Dennis plays a heart doctor who firmly believes in the sanctity of marriage. Kim has love scenes with both leading men, twice with JC (in the bathtub and in the bedroom).

Isn’t Rikka affected by JC’s on-screen (usually playboy) persona?

“Hindi niya kabisado ang mundong ginagalawan ko,” said JC. “In the beginning, medyo affected siya. But gradually, she got acquainted with showbiz and now komportable na siya. She

fully understands the nature of my work.”

Fatherhood has changed JC’s outlook in life.

“My life has turned 180-degrees around,” he confessed. “My family has become my priority.

I’m working even harder and I’ve cut down on my nightlife…halos wala na nga except if I’m invited by friends. I grew up in a simple and humble family. When I was in school, I wore the same shoes from first year to fourth year; ang uniform ko good for three years.

I would say that I grew up in a family na mayroon lang enough. I didn’t grow up spoiled at ganoon din ang gusto kong mangyari sa baby namin.”

Thank God for the chance to rewrite...

PAGE B5

than likely, we will be meandering too and trying different things before coming on board to the ship that will likely bring us to the port of our purpose.

We don’t really have to wait for something dramatic, traumatic or tragic to happen to get us on track to finding that purpose. But do go to the right source. Nix the harebrained ideas coming from most of the media about what

that purpose might be. When it comes to things that matter, most of the agenda-driven mainstream media has proven itself to be unworthy of trust. It pushes its own agenda of power that comes from profit. Media is now propaganda. Ditch it.

Tune out of the external world and go deep within. If you pray hard enough and long enough and live in the silence for a little while, chances are, you’ll find

it. You can then begin rewriting your own story on a new document page — your own life story which will probably get heaven’s stamp of approval.

HAPPY, BLESSED, PROSPEROUS, HEALTHY 2019 TO EVERYONE!!! *** Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@ asianjournalinc.com

Appetite regulators PAGE B5 mal weight (BMI) or overweight, exercise and calorie control are the healthiest way to maintain our weight and health. This, of course, needs sacrifice and discipline, but the dividend is tremendously worth it. Health and longevity are priceless commodities we must work hard for.

One technique my wife Farida and I learned from our late worldrenowned mentor in Pediatrics, Dra. Fe del Mundo (who was seeing patients up to age 94, and died on August 6, 2011, shortly before turning 100) was this wise counsel and simple brilliant common sense: “Pull yourself away from the table LESS THAN

full.” What a sage advice! My mother, who celebrated her 100th on November 17, 2018, in Raleigh, N. Carolina, had been “calorie-estimating” (self-controlled dieting) for decades as far as I can remember. She still does her own finger-stick glucose monitoring and measuring her own blood pressure every single day. But what is more remarkable about her is her beautiful mind, vivid memory, remembering all the birthdays of my five children and 10 grandchildren, to my envy and frustration. While the birthday of my wife and our wedding anniversary are indelibly etched on my mind (for my own personal safety and longevity), I

could hardly memorize all those other dates.

Seriously, in the final analysis, the best health manager and appetite regulator for you are none other than YOU. *** Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus in Northwest Indiana and chairman of cardiac surgery from 1997 to 2010 at Cebu Doctors University Hospital, where he holds the title of Physician Emeritus in Surgery, is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Philippine College of Surgeons, and the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society. He is the chairman of the Filipino United Network – USA, a 501(c)(3) humanitarian foundation in the United States. Email: scalpelpen@ gmail.com

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LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL â&#x20AC;˘ DECEMBER 27, 2018-JANUARY 2, 2019

Located in Montemaria, home to the ninth largest monument in the Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the shrine to Mother Mary,Tower of Peace.

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THE TOTAL LAND AREA OF THE MONTEMARIA DEVELOPMENT IS APPROXIMATELY 130 HECTARES WHICH INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING TOWNSHIP* PROJECTS: 01 Condominiums, hotels, and resorts 02 Commercial developments such as a shopping center which includes restaurants and cafes 03 Golf Course and Water Park 04 Spa and Wellness Centers 05 Marina and Fishermanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wharf 06 Housing, residential subdivision, and retirement village 6XEMHFW WR Ć&#x201C;QDO GHYHORSPHQW SODQ TOTAL LAND AREA 2.1 Hectares

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02 5HVRUW VHWWLQJ ZLWK PDJQLĆ&#x201C;FHQW YLHZ RI WKH ED\ 03 High-quality asset with world-class exterior and interior design.

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DATE OF COMPLETION Second Quarter of 2020 TOTAL NUMBER OF UNITS PHASE 1 866 Units BUILDING 1 164 units

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT SUSAN K. GROSS-NIEDERMEYER AT (480) 227-7782 SUSAN@SUSANGROSSREALTOR.COM I SUSAN.GROSS@PREMIERASIAPACIFIC.COM I LOMBARDBYTHEBAY.COM

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