LA Midweek Edition --November 30 - December 2 2016

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November 30-December 2, 2016

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 26 - No. 96 • 3 Sections - 20 Pages

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Duterte unveils ‘mega’ DATELINE USA Largest Fil-Am rehabilitation center in PH FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

mural in US vandalized

by DANA

SIOSON AJPress

LOS ANGELES — Vandals defaced a 21year-old mural in Historic Filipinotown celebrating historical and multicultural elements of Filipino heritage sometime before Tuesday, November 22.

Photos circulating on social media show black graffiti spray painted over a central portion of the massive outdoor acrylic painting titled “Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana (A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy)” located in the neighborhood’s Unidad Park.

The artwork stretches roughly 150 feet by 50 feet and depicts traditional motifs and significant moments of Filipino and FilipinoAmerican history. It was first completed in 1995 by muralist Eliseo Silva, 30 years after a multiethnic coalition of farm workers staged walkouts and demonstrations that ended the abuse of farm laborers in central California.

“It is even more thoughtless and hurtful that the tagger targeted the part that honors Latino-Filipino unity through the Delano Grape Strike,” Silva told the Asian Journal via email

THE first phase of the “mega” Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DATRC) in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija opened on Tuesday, November 29, with Philippine President

Rodrigo Duterte himself leading the facility’s inauguration.

The rehab facility, built on an 11-hectare compound, is expected to have the ability to accommodate about 10,000 patients once all four phases are completed. With 172 building units, it will be the largest

drug rehabilitation center in the country.

To prevent the Philippines from becoming a “narco-state,” Duterte campaigned on the promise of cracking down on il- Photo shows an aerial view of the Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation legal drugs nationwide, earning Center at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija. President Duterte will formally open him a landslide victory in the re- a portion of the mega rehab facility with a capacity for 10,000 patients, which

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addresses the health component of the government’s war on drugs.

De Lima admits ‘advising’ Dayan to skip hearings

by DANA

SIOSON AJPress

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US shifts aid from anti-drug operations to maritime security WASHINGTON — The United States has switched its police assistance program in the Philippines from drug control to maritime security in the light of human rights violations in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

The U.S. remains deeply concerned by reports of extrajudicial killings by or at the behest of government authorities in the Philippines, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

“Since the start of the drug campaign, our law enforcement assistance has been refocused away from narcotics control to supporting maritime security efforts and to providing human rights training to the Philippine National Police,” Kirby said.

“We decided the prudent thing to do was to refocus the way that assistance was being spent,” Kirby said.

More than 4,600 people are reported to have been killed in the war on drug dealers and users since Duterte took office five months ago.

Historically, State Department-funded training has aimed to transform the Philippine Na-

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TERROR ATTEMPT? A member of a police bomb disposal unit inspects the improvised explosive device. Policement defused an improvised bomb found by a street sweeper near the US embassy in Manila on Monday, Nov. 28. The bomb was similar to the improvised explosive device used in the Davao bombing, according to Manila Police District (MPD) Director Senior Supt. Joel Coronel.

ManilaTimes.net photo by Roger Rañada

Palace: Bomb found near US Embassy not cause for alarm

by DANA

SIOSON AJPress

AN improvised explosive device (IED) discovered near the U.S. embassy in Manila was safely detonated, Malacañang said on Monday, November 28.

“We assure the public that this incident should not be a cause for alarm. Business and work continue as normal,” Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a statement.

On Monday morning, an IED was found by a street sweeper named

Winniefreda Francisco in a trash bin reportedly around 25 meters from the embassy’s gate, according to the Associated Press.

The explosive device was later safely detonated. Although it caused heavy traffic around the area, no one was reportedly hurt in the incident.

Since bomb’s exploding range was only about a 100-meter radius, authorities downplayed the speculations that the IED was meant for the U.S. Embassy.

“It has nothing to do with the U.S. Embassy. As far as we know,

had the bomb exploded, it could not reach the Embassy building because it has only a 100-meter radius,” National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde said.

According to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, the IED was similar to the bomb used by Maute Group in the Davao Night Market blast last September.

The PNP chief said the incident could also be a possible diversionary tactic by the Maute, which is

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SENATOR Leila de Lima has admitted that she told her former driver and bodyguard, Ronnie Dayan, to hide and skip the House of Representatives’ inquiry on the alleged National Bilibid Prison (NBP) drug trade.

“I stand by my advice. It was an advice and I stand by it,” De Lima said on Monday, November 28.

She suggested that her guidance was not an ‘order’ when she replied to the text message sent by Dayan’s daughter, Hannah.

Dayan — whom De Lima confessed to having an intimate relationship with — has been accused by President Rodrigo Duterte of collecting National Bilibid Prison (NBP) drug trade money for De Lima’s 2016 senatorial bid.

Despite repeatedly being summoned to testify before the House and failing to appear, Dayan was served with an arrest warrant.

Last week, following his arrest in La Union, Dayan disclosed in his affidavit that he was willing to appear at the hearings. Upon receiving the subpoena, Dayan said he sought for De Lima’s advice by asking his daughter to text the senator.

“Ang reply niya sa anak ko, ‘Huwag mo si-

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Ronnie Dayan and Senator Leila de LIma

Duterte shrugs off ICC’s threats US House of Representatives to vote on Filipino veterans Congressional Gold Medal Bill

by KLARIZE

MEDENILLA AJPress

Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) announced on Monday, November 28.

THE U.S. House of RepresenThe award would collectively tatives will vote on legislation honor the more than 260,000 to award World War II Filipino Filipinos who lent their efforts veterans with the Congressional on behalf of the United States Gold Medal (CGM), the highest during the second world war. As civilian honor bestowed by the previously reported by the Asian U.S Congress.

Journal, less than 16,000 of those The bill unanimously passed soldiers are alive today. the Senate in July, and is sched“This week, Congress will take uled for a vote in the House on the next step to recognize the Wednesday, November 30. If brave and courageous service of passed in the House, it will be Filipino World War II veterans sent to President Barack Obama like Domingo Los Banos from to be signed in to law, Senator Kaua’i,” said Hirono. “This Vet-

by AJPRESS

PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte once again expressed fearlessness in the face of possible consequence for his controversial violent crackdown on illegal drugs in the country.

On Monday, November 28, the controversial president commented on the possible indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) -- the tribunal court in The Hague which prosecutes against crimes against humanity -- for the drug raids which has so far claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people, according to police data.

Last month, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda indicated that the tribunal may have jurisdiction to prosecute those respon-

erans Day, I joined Domingo aboard the USS Missouri to recount how these veterans were instrumental to our victory in the Pacific, but had to fight for decades to receive the benefits they earned. The unanimous support this bill earned in the Senate and the overwhelming backing it has in the House honors the sacrifice so many of these veterans made for our country.”

If passed, the Filipino WWII veterans join other ethnic military groups that have been

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A NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL

http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797

From the Front Page

Duterte unveils ‘mega’ rehabilitation…

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cent May 2016 elections.

Since the president took office on June 30, police records show that around 700,000 drug users and 53,000 drug pushers have surrendered to the authorities.

“Iyong mga tao na tumago at naghintay ng opportunity for a rehab or something good along the way, baka may makukuha sila, iyon ‘yung dadating dito.

(Those who hid and waited for an opportunity for a rehab or some-

thing good along the way, they might get something, those who come here),” Duterte said during the inauguration.

He added that the center will accommodate drug addicts who surrender to the government.

However, he reiterated his hardline stance to those who choose to fight back and refuse to surrender.

“Those who choose to fight it out, made a stand, they are there in the memorials and cemeteries.

I am sorry for them,” he added.

According to the Philippine National Police (PNP), around 4,000 people have been reportedly killed in the country in relation to the government’s war on narcotics — 1,800 of which were fatally shot during legitimate police operations and about 2,600 by unknown suspects.

In his speech, Duterte also thanked the Chinese tycoon, Huang Rulun, who helped in

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Duterte shrugs off ICC’s…

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sible for “ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing” to the killings, which have been critiqued as human rights abuses.

“You scare me that you will jail me? International Criminal Court? Bullsh*t,” Duterte said in a speech at Malacanang, adding that the prosecuting lawyers were “rotten”, “stupid” and have a “brain like a pea.”

Duterte also accused the United States of being hypocritical for also allegedly threatening him with indictment through the ICC; Washington is not a signatory to the ICC, and Duterte did not specify when the U.S. proposed to indict him.

“America itself is threatening to jail me in the International Criminal Court. It is not a signatory of that body. Why? Because at

that time, they were afraid Bush would face it,” he remarked, referencing former U.S. President George W. Bush’s role in starting the Iraq War, which killed more than 500,000 people according to U.K.-based group Iraq Body Count.

U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby responded to Duterte’s claims, saying in a

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NO. 1 CRITIC, SUPPORTER. President Rodrigo Duterte and former president Fidel Ramos bump their fists during the reunion of the San Beda College of Law in Taguig City on Saturday. Duterte described Ramos, who has criticized his anti-American stance, as ‘my No. 1 critic and No. 1 supporter.’

Malacañang photo

De Lima admits ‘advising’ Dayan…

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yang pa-attend... Huwag siyang umattend diyan, pagkakaguluhan lang siyan diyan. Sabi niyang ganun, ‘Pagtatawanan lang kaming dalawa, magiging kahiya-hiya lang kami diyan na dalawa (Her reply to my daughter, ‘Don’t let him attend. They’ll just make fun of us, we’ll just get ourselves embarrassed’),” Dayan said.

The text message was reportedly sent on October 1, 2016.

De Lima also admitted that she provided Dayan financial assistance in the construction of his house in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan. The senator, however, denied the allegations that her contributions reached P2 million.

“Noong nagpagawa sya nyan, nag contribute lang ako ng by tranches pero imposible pong total of P2M yan. By tranches po yan at tulong ko lang po yan.

Ganoon po ako (When he was building his house, I contributed by tranches but it’s impossible to reach P2M. It was by tranches and it was my way of helping him.

I’m like that),” De Lima said.

The senator also clarified that the money she gave Dayan was from her earnings as a private lawyer — before she was a pub-

lic official.

Dayan previously testified that the senator gave him over P2 million to build his house in Pangasinan.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that De Lima can be held liable for contempt and obstruction of justice since she reportedly advised Dayan to not attend the hearings.

“I believe the law violated by Secretary De Lima is the Rules of Court on contempt. It is an obstruction of justice on the part of the Senator,” Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said.

In response, De Lima argued instead of “obstructing justice,” she is “obstructing persecution.”

“Asan ang hustisya sa ginagawa nila sa akin (Where is justice)? Why call it obstruction of justice? Mas maganda ang itawag natin diyan (It’s better to call it) obstruction of persecution. I am trying to obstruct the acts of persecution being done to be by this administration,” De Lima said.

De Lima also reiterated that she will not honor the show-cause order issued by the House.

“I am just being consistent with my defiance vis-à-vis that so

called House inquiry na alam ko na naman from the start na panghihiya lang sa akin (which I knew from the very start has aimed to humiliate me). That is plain and simple kangaroo court,” De Lima said.

The show cause order asks De Lima to explain within the 72 hours upon receipt why she “should not be cited in contempt for unduly interfering with an on-going investigation, in aid of legislation, conducted by the committee.”

The senator said she will neither face the House inquiry nor honor the show cause.

On December 5, Dayan is scheduled to testify before the Senate inquiry into the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa in an alleged shootout incident, according to Senator Panfilo Lacson.

Kerwin Espinosa, the son of the late mayor, previously testified that when De Lima was still justice secretary, Dayan collected P8 million on her behalf.

The senator’s former driver confessed in a separate hearing that he indeed received the drug money from the younger Espinosa and delivered it to De Lima. n

The defaced portion of “Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana (A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy),” the largest Filipino mural in the US Photo courtesy of Eliseo Silva

Largest Fil-Am mural in US… PAGE A1 t

on Wednesday, November 23.

The vandalized section of the artwork specifically commemorates September 16, 1965, the day laborers from the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) joined forces to form what would eventually be known as the United Farm Workers (UFW) union.

Black lettering now mars the likenesses of Cesar Chavez and Filipino and Latino farmworkers depicted just beneath largerthan-life portraits of Fil-Am labor leaders Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz.

“Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana” is the largest mural dedicated to Filipino heritage in the United States. Its presence partly inspired city officials to designate the community surrounding the mural as Historic Filipinotown in 2002.

“Any tagging is undesirable,” Los Angeles Board of Public Works Commissioner Joel Jacin-

to told the Asian Journal on Monday, November 28. However, he went on to concede that “graffiti is a natural occurrence of its public life.”

Last week wasn’t the first time parts of “Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana” have been vandalized. In addition, the mural had never been treated with a protective coating that would help preserve it and make it easier to remove spray painted graffiti.

Shortly after Unidad Park opened in 2009, Silva had performed a partial restoration of the mural, but by then, other portions were showing signs of wear.

On Monday, Silva told the Asian Journal he would be willing to give his time to perform a comprehensive restoration and enhancement of the mural if enough funds could be pooled to pay for materials.

He said he had been in touch with the nonprofit which stewards Unidad Park, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, as

well as city representatives, and groups like the Social Public Art Resource Center regarding fundraising options. He estimated that it would cost roughly $10,000 to repair the damage done earlier this month and $50,000 to refresh the entire mural and apply a protective coating.

Procuring that money may require partnerships between public and private parties and efforts to bolster interest in supporting and preserving public art, according to Jacinto.

“Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana” is the last of seven murals painted in Los Angeles celebrating Filipino heritage, according to Silva.

Jacinto said that this mural and the many others that beautify the city’s public spaces serve an important role in celebrating and commemorating Angelenos’ rich and diverse identity.

“Murals in Los Angeles are lessons in the world that’s been and the world we want to see,” said the commissioner on Monday.

(Eric Anthony Licas / AJPress)

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From the Front Page

LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016

A

Duterte unveils ‘mega’ rehabilitation…

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building the rehab facility.

Huang, chairman of the board of directors of Century Golden Resources Group, has reportedly donated an estimated P1.4 billion for the construction of the drug rehabilitation center.

“Mr. Huang, please accept my gratitude and that of the Filipino people,” Duterte said in his speech, calling the businessman a ‘good samaritan.’

The president then added, “He (Huang) just came out of nowhere and went to my office and said that he would help me solve the drug problem.”

The Chinese businessman lauded the president for his

strong campaign against illegal drugs, describing it as “the common enemy of mankind.”

“Drug trafficking and drug abusing are the chief culprits in wrecking the society and destroying the people’s minds.

Drugs have long plagued governments and people all over the world, and the spread of drugs has brought great harm to the economic development and social stabilities of all countries in the world,” Huang said.

According to Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial, the first batch of patients in the new facility would be male patients from the “overcrowded” drug rehabilitation centers in Central Luzon, as well

as other nearby areas.

“We hope that it will really help the victims of the illegal drug trade. The patients are actually victims of the illegal drug trade so we want to ensure that they are provided adequate and compassionate services for rehabilitation,” Ubial said.

In a statement, Malacañang said the DATRC comprises the “health component” of the antidrug campaign.

“The government has responded to concerns about the availability and preparedness of facilities to accommodate those willing to submit to treatment by putting up the (DATRC),” it added. n

Duterte shrugs off ICC’s…

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news brief that he was unaware of any threat the U.S. made on the Duterte administration.

Duterte added that because of the West’s focus on the rising death toll in extrajudicial killings, they have not fully understood the severity of the Philippine drug problem, adding that he would “rot in jail” in order to eradicate the problem.

“I will never allow my country to be thrown to the dogs,” he stated. “I said when I was mayor [of Davao City], ‘If you destroy my city with drugs, I will kill you.

Simple as that.”

He added: “When was it a crime to say, ‘I will kill you,’ in protecting my country?”

Threats against activists In addition to brushing off threats from the international

court, Duterte also threatened human rights activists that have criticized and accused him for perpetuating the crackdown.

In the same speech, he indicated that his accusers should be blamed if the country’s illegal drug problem persisted and he may “include” them in the growing death toll.

“The human rights [activists] said I ordered the killings. I told them, ‘OK. Let’s stop. We’ll let [the drug users] multiply so that when it’s harvest time, more people will die,’” Duterte said.

Addressing the activists, he added: “I will include you because you are the reason why their numbers swell.”

Departure from ICC Earlier this month, Duterte hinted that he may withdraw the Philippines from the ICC, deem-

ing it “useless.” If he follows through with the withdrawal, the Philippines would be following in the footsteps of Russia, one of the countries with which Duterte wishes to establish an alliance.

In the same speech, he went on to say that the ICC disproportionately benefits larger countries, but does nothing to aid smaller countries undergoing constant violence and injustice.

“Why? Tayo lang ang maliit na binugbog ng walanghiya. Nagpatayan, it’s by the thousands, bombing children, women (We small countries get beaten up by the fools. All the killings, it’s by the thousands, bombing children, women),” he said.

He also added that if Russia and China -- another nation he seeks to cozy up to -- created “a new order” he would “be the first to join.” n

Palace: Bomb found near US…

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now facing military offensives from the Philippine army after the group attacked and occupied some areas of the town of Butig in the Lanao del Sur province last week.

“Unless we get hard evidence, by analysis we can theorize this can be linked to Maute because of what happened in Davao,” Dela Rosa said, describing the incident as an ‘attempted act of terrorism.’

He also denied the allegations that the bombing attempt would be used as a reason to declare martial law.

“We will not use -- the government will not use an incident that will cause panic, fear, and undue

harm, or even death to its own people to declare martial law,” the PNP chief told reporters.

The authorities are currently investigating the identity behind the bombing attempt.

According to Manila Police District Director (MPD) Senior Supt. Joel Napoleon Coronel, “an eyewitness said a taxi stopped several meters from the gate of the US Embassy around 2 a.m., a man got out and dumped something in the pile of garbage before speeding down the southbound lane of Roxas Boulevard.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy expressed its gratitude upon the discovery of the bomb.

“We are thankful that the mu-

nicipal employee and the Philippine National Police took quick and appropriate action to ensure the safety of all,” said Molly Koscina, press attaché and First Secretary of the U.S. Embassy.

Andanar said the PNP has tightened its security measures in different crowded public places across the country.

“To ensure public safety in airports, seaports, bus and mass transport terminals, concerned transport agencies are instructed to increase the visibility and presence of uniformed personnel and heighten the screening of persons and luggage as part of our security vigilance,” the communications secretary said. n

CONFISCATED. Policemen and soldiers found heavy military armaments in the lair of wanted drug trafficker Renz Tukuran, chairman of Barangay Lumupog in Midsayap town in North Cotabato. Tukuran, also known as Datu Puti, and his followers escaped to a marsh near the vast Liguasan Delta when they noticed combined teams of soldiers, policemen and guerillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) approach their hideout in Barangay Lumupog to arrest him. Superintendent Bernard Tayong, spokesman of the North Cotabato police, confirmed on Saturday the recovery of a .50 caliber machinegun, a .30 caliber machinegun, two 60 millimeter mortar launchers hidden in the abandoned hideout of Tukuran, an ethnic Maguindanaon.

Philstar.com photo by John Unson

US House of Representatives to vote on…

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awarded the CGM like the Tuskegee airmen, the Navajo Code Talkers, Women Air Service Pilots and more, according to Cecilia Gaerlan, executive director of Bataan Legacy Historical Society, an organization that seeks to preserve the historical significance of Filipinos’ role in WWII. Gabbard added that, “These loyal and courageous soldiers suffered, fought, and gave up their lives alongside their American counterparts throughout the

war, and have waited decades for their service to be recognized.

They cannot afford to wait any longer.”

She urged other members of the House to vote on the legislation.

The Filipino Veterans of WWII Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2015 was introduced on June 11, 2015, and has received support from Filipino-American organizations like the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) and the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education

Project (FilVetREP).

The California State Board of Education recently approved curriculum changes of the state’s high schools to incorporate more information about Filipinos’ roles in the war in Grade 11 U.S. History lesson plans.

Earlier this year, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) rolled out a new family-based immigration program for Filipino WWII veterans and their families called the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program. n

US shifts aid from anti-drug operations to…

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tional Police into a modern, sustainable, democratic police force capable of effectively providing internal security in difficult conditions while demonstrating respect for democratic principles and human rights, Kirby said.

“And just to remind, the United States vigorously vets all units and individuals before providing assistance to the security forces of the Philippines, as we do elsewhere around the world,” he said.

The U.S. is committed to providing $180 million in assistance to the Philippines from Oct. 1,

2016 to Sept. 30, 2017 and routinely vetting the military to ensure security units that violate human rights do not get any aid.

Of $5 million that had been intended for Philippine law enforcement efforts, the State Department in early September shifted $4.5 million into maritime law enforcement, specifically to the Philippines Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries, a State Department spokeswoman said.

Another half-million dollars is to go to human rights and internal reform efforts, she said.

The State Department expects it will continue to focus its fund-

ing on maritime security, human rights and rule of law programming, the spokeswoman said.

The U.S. has sent the Philippines hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid and military and development assistance in recent years, making it the third-largest Asian recipient of U.S. military aid after Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Leahy Law, named for its sponsor, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, bars the US from providing training or equipment to foreign troops who commit humanrights violations. (Jose Katigbak /Philstar.com)

A NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL

Dateline USa

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Cal State LA, UCLA work together to prepare young scientists for teaching WHEN it comes to bioscience, the state universities that flank downtown Los Angeles—Cal State LA to the east and UCLA in the west—are teaming up.

A new training program between the two schools will provide recently graduated UCLA doctoral students doing postdoctoral research with experience in integrating lab work with innovative teaching in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, commonly referred to as STEM, by having them teach at Cal State LA. “Our combined UCLA/Cal State LA program will train a new generation of diverse, postdoctoral fellows in innovative teaching methods enabling them to become professors and more effectively educate under-represented college students,” said Michael Carey, the program’s co-director and a professor of biological chemistry at UCLA. “In turn, we will empower those students to enter the California and national workforce, where they can apply state-of-the-art approaches to contemporary problems in biomedical science.”

The partnership, which unites UCLA’s research prowess with Cal State LA’s strength in teaching, is funded by a five-year, $2.8 million Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) from the National Institutes of Health. Tracy Johnson, UCLA professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology, is the program’s other co-director.

The UCLA component, UCLA Postdocs Longitudinal Investment in Faculty Training, goes by the acronym UPLIFT. These fellowships, as well as comparable IRACDA-funded programs, are unconventional in research-oriented environments, where postdocs are rarely required to teach. Nonetheless, many postdocs soon find themselves competing for faculty jobs that require teaching experience. In part to remedy the situation, the UPLIFT program will provide awardees three years of support in exchange for devoting 25 percent of their work time to teaching under experienced professors at Cal State LA. The rest will be spent in labs at UCLA. In year one, awardees will begin the first phase of teacher training through UCLA’s Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences, a resource for scientists interested in becoming teachers. “UPLIFT fellows will be trained to engage in validated teaching practices that promote student learning, create inclusive classrooms, and help retain diverse students in STEM majors,” said Erin Sanders, director of the center. By year two, postdocs will be assigned Cal State LA professors as mentors and a classroom teaching assignment.

Jamil Momand, Paul Narguizian and Katrina Go Yamazaki are the faculty mentors for the UCLA postdocs who will learn about teaching at Cal State LA. Robert Nissen, current chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, is the advisor for the program at Cal State LA. Nancy McQueen is a member of the program’s advisory board.

Other California institutions previously awarded IRACDA funding include UC San Diego, Stanford and UC San Francisco, all of which partnered with local colleges. UCSD’s partner is Cal State San Diego, where Yamazaki, a former UCSD postdoc engaged in cardiovascular research, gained firsthand teaching experience five years ago. Yamazaki is now an associate professor of biological sciences at Cal State LA.

Katrina Go Yamazaki is a Filipina-American professor who serves as coordinator of the Cal State LA part of the UCLA/Cal State LA partnership on an IRACDA grant project.

“There is a growing interest among postdoctoral students in moving toward academic settings like state colleges or city colleges with heavy emphasis on teaching,” said Yamazaki, who coordinates the Cal State LA part of the UCLA/Cal State LA partnership. “Getting this kind of experience helps set postdocs apart from their peers and makes them stronger candidates.”

It may also serve as a reality check. Many young researchers working at prestigious, research-centric institutions have had the luxury of devoting themselves full-time to lab work. In fact, some may not be able to fathom having to juggle research with employment.

“At Cal State LA, we have a diverse student population that includes a large [Latino] population,” Yamazaki said. “School is not their only occupation; many have full time jobs. Our goal is to train instructors in science how to reach that population.”

Reaching students who by default dismiss science as a career possibility is also a goal of policymakers focused on STEM fields. In 2012, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology called for a 33 percent increase in the number of STEM bachelor’s degrees yearly and, as a means to that end, recommended adoption of creative, less conventional teaching practices.

Those policies favored what are called “active learning strategies” over courses taught by traditional lecture formats, which are falling increasingly out of favor.

“A goal of the UPLIFT program is to create a new generation of college teachers with both postdoctoral experience in research and skill in innovative teaching methods that effectively educate a larger population of college students and retain underrepresented students, who in the past might have dropped out of the biosciences,” Carey said.

The UPLIFT program is now accepting applications from any UCLA postdoc keen to conduct research and teach, and individuals from groups traditionally underrepresented in biomedicine are particularly encouraged. By year two, awardees should prepare for a commute, as they divide time between teaching at Cal State LA and lab work across town. In addition to NIH IRACDA support, UPLIFT has received supplementary funding from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN. Vice President Leni Robredo with other women during the start of a campaign to end violence against women at the Philippine International Convetion Center in Pasay City.

Inquirer.net photo by Marianne Bermudez

Over 120 organizations call on California schools and colleges to be designated as sanctuary schools and campuses LOS ANGELES — Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles (Advancing Justice-LA), together with more than 120 community, education, health, faith, labor, student, and parent organizations in California, has released an open letter calling on California’s educational leaders to address the growing fear around deportation and the troubling spike in hate crimes, incidents, and bullying in K-12 schools and on college campuses since the election of Donald Trump.

Coordinated by the College for All Coalition, the open letter calls for safe, inclusive, and equitable learning environments for California students, especially those who are most vulnerable.

The President-elect campaigned on a promise to deport undocumented immigrants and, since Election Day, has stated that his administration will seek to deport up to 3 million individuals, generating significant fear across diverse immigrant communities. In addition, hate incidents have been on the rise in recent months.

Even before the November 8 presidential election, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) reported that more than twothirds of 2,000 K-12 teachers surveyed nationwide said that students - mainly immigrants, children of immigrants, and Muslims - expressed concerns or fears about what might happen to them or their families after the election. In the aftermath of the election, these fears have been exacerbated with widespread reports of a disturbing increase in the targeting of students of color and of immigrant, Muslim,

LGBTQ, differently abled, and female students in schools and on college campuses across the nation and in California.

“We in California have an obligation to counter bigotry and hate by protecting the safety and well-being of our diverse students and their families,” stated Stewart Kwoh, president and executive director of Advancing Justice-LA. “The spike in hate crimes and incidents in the wake of the presidential election and the President-elect’s threats to deport three million immigrants are extremely troubling and antithetical to our values as a nation and as a state. We call on California’s educational leaders to rise to the challenge and ‘go all in’ to put our values of diversity, inclusion, and equity into action for our state’s students, families, and communities.”

The open letter urges California’s K-12 and higher education leaders to protect vulnerable students who are being targeted in this current climate, particularly students of color and immigrant, Muslim, LGBTQ, differently abled, and female students, and to transform this into an opportunity to support educators, students, and their families in promoting diverse and welcoming learning environments by: • Designating all K-12 public schools and colleges and universities to be sanctuary schools and campuses; • Allocating adequate resources and support to promote diversity, inclusion, and positive intergroup relations; and • Protecting all California students from being bullied, intimidated, harassed, or discriminated against on the basis of protected

categories.

While some K-12 districts and higher education institutions have already indicated they plan to take steps to protect undocumented immigrant students, the open letter offers specific recommendations for sanctuary schools and campuses, including prohibiting access to federal immigration officials unless there is a judicial warrant and guaranteeing privacy and refusing to release information regarding the immigration status of students, staff, and community members.

The open letter also recognizes and expresses concern that other vulnerable student populations, such as students of color and Muslim, LGBTQ, differently abled, and female students, have experienced a rise in hateful bullying and intimidation. The letter makes a broader call to ensure the safety and well-being of all students, and for California’s educational leaders to invest resources to increase the capacity of educators, students, and their families to develop and implement strategies that reduce prejudice, address implicit bias and stereotyping, and promote positive intergroup relations.

The letter is being sent to State Superintendent Tom Torlakson, California State Board of Education President Michael Kirst, University of California President Janet Napolitano, California State University Chancellor Timothy White, and incoming California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley. Members of the College for All Coalition also will be delivering the open letter to their local school districts and colleges and universities. n

PH COA pushes for performance audit via its CPA program Chairperson Michael Aguinaldo urges citizen participation to enhance transparency, accountability

THE Commission on Audit’s (COA) mandate is quite expansive as the Philippine Constitution has given the agency the authority and duty to examine, audit and settle accounts owned or held in trust by the government. Overall, the COA is involved in financial, compliance and performance audit.

However, with its expansive mandate, the COA has focused more on financial and compliance audit, with little time and resources given to performance audit. Now with the new administration’s goal to eradicate corruption by promoting accountability, the COA is on a course to change this by working towards a more performance audit focused approach.

Performance audits examine the effectiveness, economy or efficiency of a government program. Auditors assess whether value has been delivered for the money spent and whether available resources deliver the best services.

COA Chairperson Michael Aguinaldo talked about the commission’s strategic plan and capacity building during his speech at the recent International Leadership Conference (ILC) in Washington, D.C. The ILC is one of many conference series presented and organized by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) to focus on the urgent need for new vision and moral leadership. This year’s theme is “Addressing the Critical Challenges of Our Time: The Role of Government, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations.”

Aguinaldo shared that in connection with performance audit, the COA has been working on an initiative called the Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA).

“The Citizen Participatory Audit began as a response to the pursuit by the previous Philippine administration of the key result area of institutionalizing open, transparent, accountable

Philippine Commission on Audit Chairperson Michael Aguinaldo

and participatory governance,” said Aguinaldo. “The reform sought to overturn the political culture of secrecy, impunity and collusion by introducing transparency, accountability and citizen engagement.”

The CPA is a mechanism for partnership and an audit technique that brings together citizens and government auditors to conduct a performance assessment of government projects and programs, Aguinaldo explained in his speech.

The initiative entails the participation of citizens in an audit team for a particular project or project. The citizens undergo training and then are sent to the field under the direct supervision and control of government auditors. At present, over 80 citizens have been trained and over 20 civil society organizations have been engaged.

According to Aguinaldo, the CPA also has completed the audit of farm-to-market roads in 12 provinces, disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction, solid waste management, the Department of Education Water Sanitation and Hygiene Program, tourism roads, and disaster relief fund utilization in a number of regions, cities and/or provinces.

The CPA was also utilized to check on compliance with the conditions of a conditional cash transfer program. Currently, the

CPA is involved in the audit of revenue assessment systems of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) together with the organization of certified public accountants.

“Don’t get me wrong; the citizens do not substitute the auditors,” said Aguinaldo. “They assist the auditors in the conduct of a performance audit.”

Now with the help of technology, the COA is able to go further and engage with individual citizens directly through geotagging, or Global Positioning System (GPS). Through this technology, it enables users of mobile phones or gadgets to capture real-time photos with metadata. The Philippines has a database of more than 10,000 roads mapped out and verified to date with the help of the World Bank. Geotagging also allows the COA to monitor infrastructure projects as they are being built by posting photos and information on social media sites such as Facebook.

“Transparency breeds accountability. With transparency, there is a better chance for corruption to be curbed, delivery of public services to be improved, and business and economic environment to be enhanced,” shared Aguinaldo and then added, “It is our hope that the CPA will create greater transparency and community involvement.”

Aguinaldo was appointed to head the COA in 2015. As head of the COA, he is currently the external auditor of the World Health Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization, and the International Labor Organization.

Prior to his appointment to the COA, he was the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs of the Office of the President from 2011 to 2015. He also headed the Investigation and Adjudication Office and oversaw the implementation of integrity consistent with the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). (AJPress)

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A

Dateline PhiliPPines

SC orders Marcos, military to explain ‘surprise’ burial

Department of National Defense were ordered to file their comments within 10 days from reTHE Supreme Court on Tues- ceipt of the order. day ordered the Executive departThe court’s November 8 ruling, ment and the Marcos family to ex- which saw a 9-5 vote in favor of plain the “surprise” burial of the the Marcos burial at the militarylate president Ferdinand Marcos run cemetery, was not yet final. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Lagman’s group argued that Following deliberations, the the controversial burial of Marmagistrates ordered the respon- cos’ remains at the Libingan last dents to file their respective November 18 did not render their comments on the motions for petition moot and academic. reconsideration filed by Albay The human rights victims Rep. Edcel Lagman on behalf of claimed to have legal standing martial law victims and militant on the matter as they were recgroups headed by former Bay- ognized by the state with the an Muna representatives Satur passage of Republic Act 10368 Ocampo and Neri Colmenares. that provided them compensaThe Marcos family and the tion. Reparation for human rights

by JoMAr

CAnlAs ManilaTimes.net

abuses under Marcos’ Martial Law, they argued, was not limited to monetary compensation.

The petitioners want Marcos’ remains exhumed and military authorities and the Marcos family cited in contempt as the ruling was not yet final.

Respondents to the case are Rear Admiral Ernesto Enriquez, deputy military chief of staff for reservist and retiree affairs, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Ricardo Visaya, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, and the heirs of the late strongman represented by his spouse, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos and children Imee, Ferdinand Jr. and Irene. n

OFWs exempted from airport terminal fee starting March No military alliance with PH – Russian envoy MIXING BOOKS ANDS MOVIES. Students of Mines Elementary School in Quezon City read during the showing of an animation film of the same title by the Biotech Coalition of the Philippines to celebrate national Biotech Week.

ManilaTimes.net photo by Ruy Martinez

by Jefferson

AntipordA And fernAn MArAsigAn ManilaTimes.net

RUSSIA has no intention of forging military alliances with countries in the Asia-Pacific region including the Philippines, but is ready to become a “new partner and friend.”

Speaking during the weekly Pandesal Forum at Kamuning Bakery in Quezon City, Russian Ambassador to Manila Igor Khovaev clarified that Moscow was not looking at having a military alliance with Manila, similar to what the Philippines has with the United States.

“Russia has no military alliance in the Asia-Pacific Region and we are not going to create any military alliance,” Khovaev said.

Russia has strategic relationships with China, Vietnam and India, Khovaev said.

“Any alliance needs a common enemy and if such enemy doesn’t exist it can be imagined,” he said.

“If some countries create a close military alliance it means that they want to ensure their security at least to some extent and to the extent of the security of other members of the international community. That is not our style, it is not a

Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Igor Khovaev Photo by Mike De Juan

way for us,” he added.

Khovaev said Russia wanted a “new architecture of equal security” in the Asia-Pacific region, but admitted it would take time for other nations to accept it.

Impressed President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly expressed a desire to establish new alliances for trade and commerce with China and Russia.

Duterte even ranted about the US’ supposed hypocrisy and bullying of small nations during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the recent AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation

forum in Lima, Peru.

Russia has “deep respect” for political leaders who are able to defend their nations’ interests, like Duterte, he said.

“I’m impressed by his (Duterte) outstanding personality and I strongly believe that our two countries have all the precondition to substantially enhance our cooperation and to become much closer to each other,” he said.

Opportunities Russia is open to all investors, businessmen, and skilled workers, Khovaev said. At the same time, Russia is also willing to provide assistance to the Philippines.

As for military equipment, Russia is capable of supplying the Philippines sophisticated arms and weapons, with no political strings attached.

“We have advanced technologies, we have highly skilled engineers and workers in the said field, and we have a highly developed defense industry,” he said.

Russia however is not interested in short-term arms supplies as it wants to transfer technologies and train staff and maintenance personnel.

“We are ready to provide our partners the necessary assis-

u PAGE A7

by rudy

sAntos Philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines — Starting March 2017, overseas Filipino workers no longer have to pay the P550 airport terminal fee.

Manila International Airport Authority general manager Ed Monreal announced this on Monday, Nov. 28 in a news forum at the Manila Hotel.

Monreal said his office is working on technical details and coordinating with international airlines to eliminate the airport terminal fee imposed by the previous management of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on OFWs in February 2015.

OFWs are required to pay the P550 airport terminal fee when they buy tickets online or in airline ticket offices. They can claim their refund upon departure at the airport terminals.

But since OFWs are busy individuals, many failed to claim their refund.

Total collections of the airport terminal fee has reached more than a billion pesos and half of this amount remains unclaimed

by OFWs. The unclaimed amount remains in the general fund of the NAIA. Monreal said his office is ready

Starting March 2017, overseas Filipino workers no longer have to pay the P550 airport terminal fee.

Philstar.com/File photo

to refund the fees to OFWs as Air traffic to improve long as they possess the E-ticket, Air congestion at NAIA is also boarding pass and passport they expected to be greatly reduced used even several years ago. u PAGE A7

A NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL

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OpiniOn

Features

Heretic AS soon as she took a stand against the rising cases of alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, Sen. Leila De Lima put a target on her back. When she criticized the government’s bloody war on drugs, she was chastised.

Some lawmakers are now hellbent on linking the senator to the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). The former justice secretary is accused of receiving money from drug lords who have been conducting drug trafficking at the national penitentiary. To implicate her further, some congressmen are willing to destroy her character and reputation.

When De Lima’s former driver and lover Ronnie Dayan faced the House Committee on Justice last week, lawmakers pried on their seven-year relationship. The objective of the House inquiry was to determine De Lima’s alleged involvement in the NBP drug trade, where Dayan is accused of serving as her bagman.

Intimate details of their love affair were divulged as lawmakers asked about the “intensity” and “climax” of the relationship and even asking whether an alleged sex video exists. De Lima earlier admitted that she had an affair with Dayan. Dayan also confirmed having a relationship with the former Justice secretary despite being married.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez defended that this line of questioning is relevant to the inquiry.

“If you look at the whole picture, there is a connection because here is a woman pretending to be clean, righteous, graft-buster, crime buster. But here also are the allegations against her. How can you demolish her credibility?” Alvarez asked.

For her part, De Lima cried foul over the probe she described as “spectacle that diverts from more

important issues” of the country.

“As a woman, it breaks my heart that my private life and personal relationship have become subject of the public and Congress’ ridicule.

No woman, whoever or whatever she may be, whether a sitting senator or a humble secretary, deserves to be betrayed, to be treated with so much disrespect and without dignity before the public eye, by any man she is with or had a relationship with,” De Lima said.

The senator said she is ready to prove her innocence when her accusers bring their cases to the courts.

“May justice and truth prevail today and the days to come, as we sort out the truth from the lies that are easily weaved into this tall-tale narrative of a human rights and justice advocate turned drug queen. Regardless of the Goebbel’s playbook they are following, a lie repeatedly told can never become the truth. Instead, the truth revealed will set us all free from this madness that we should stop from becoming our new normal,” De Lima said.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has been asked to disbar De Lima over her illicit affair with Dayan who is a married man. The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said that De Lima’s public admission and Dayan’s testimony were enough to prove that the senator committed gross immorality that should warrant the cancellation House hearing. of her license as a lawyer.

De Lima may be free from bars now, but not Furthermore, De Lima also faces a show-cause order to explain she should not be cited for con- from the stigma. They say the truth will set us tempt for preventing Dayan from attending the free. Will De Lima’s “truth” afford her the consti-

Editorial

ManilaTimes.net photo

tutional freedom she deserves or will it slap her with legal consequences?

Despite all the scathing accusations, the senator remains innocent until proven guilty. (AJPress)

What’s the truth about DU30’s state of health?

FIDEL Castro’s death and some cut- Opinion ting comments from some world leaders have shown that the ideological divide remains even after the Cold War had ended, the Soviet Union fallen Francisco TaTad apart, China turned mercantilist, and Cuba reconciled with the US (and the West) after a rupture of 54 years. The divide seems to come much more alive in our own country as President Rodrigo Duterte’s communist coalition partners try to fast-track a post-Cold War communist regime to supersede our ailing democratic and republican state. Some of them seem to see DU30 as a possible remake of Castro in our part of the world.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Francois Hollande, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Jacob Zuma, and Ecuador President Rafael Correa were all uniformly positive about Castro. Pope Francis was prayerful, and US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were conciliatory and statesmanlike. PDU30 was adulatory. But US President-elect Donald Trump was unforgiving and minced no words.

To him Castro was “a brutal dictator who oppressed his people for six decades. His legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights,” he said. He called Cuba a “totalitarian island,” although he wished its people well. In Canada, critics ridiculed Trudeau for calling Castro “a larger than life leader who served his people for nearly half a century.”

In Scandinavia, former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt dismissed Castro’s communist regime as “neither a political nor an economic model. RIP.” A historic gesture I have a gentler view of Castro. I met him at the 105th conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Havana on April 1-7, 2001, and he brought the house down when he said, “Today, I am going to make history. I am going to speak for ten minutes and no longer.” Castro was known for his long speeches; his 269-minute speech to the UN General Assembly in 1960 was exceeded only by Krishna Menon’s eight-hour filibuster at the Security Council in defense of India’s position on Kashmir in 1957.

Castro allowed for the possibility that

he could be a Christian, if by that term one meant someone with a social vision.

In 1996, he visited St. Pope John Paul II in Rome, and in 1998, he received the Holy Father in Havana. At the renewal of baptismal vows, the congregation’s response “Creemos”—-“(we believe”) rose to the skies. Apparently fearing the people could become more Catholic than Cubans, Castro had the city walls painted with signs, saying, “Creemos en Fidel, Creemos en socialismo, Creemos en la revolucio” –“We believe in Fidel, we believe in socialism, we believe in the Revolution.” But he reinstated Christmas as a national holiday for all Christians.

Cuba and the US normalized relations on July 20, 2015, brokered by the Vatican. Obama became the first US president to visit Havana since 1928.

Castro’s effect on DU30 and Trump Trump’s hostile view of Castro could influence his attitude towards DU30 who seems to idolize the Cuban dictator. While DU30 has expressed open admiration for Trump with the same intensity as his disdain for Obama, his eulogy of Castro as one who “asserted his nation’s dignity and self-worth” may not endear him to Trump, especially if it becomes very clear that he not only wants to “separate” economically and militarily from the US but would also like to replace his barely functioning democratic government with a communist revolutionary regime.

The problem would promptly disappear if Trump decides to turn his whole US global policy inward while DU30 pivots full steam ahead to Beijing and Moscow. They would then have nothing to do with each other.

But what if Trump sees, from a rereading of the literature, “the evident fitness of keeping the Philippines” as an American ally? Or if DU30 decides that with Obama gone, his reasons for “separating” from the US no longer exist, and that he could strike a better deal with Trump? What happens then to Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr’s proposed communist revolutionary government?

The Evasco project Aside from DU30’s current war on drugs where more than 700,000 “users” have surrendered to the police, and close to 5,000 suspects have been killed without due process or adequate documentation, Evasco’s project is the

only one into which the goverment seems to have poured all the necessary time, energy and resources. This appears to have at least four major steps.

First, the decision to appoint members of the CPP/NPA/NDF into the Cabinet and other agencies, ahead of any peace agreement, which is still being negotiated.

Second, the decision to hold peace talks no longer between the NDF and the government panel as such, but rather between NDF-1 and NDF-2, to negotiate the terms of surrender for the Philippine government.

Third, the massive use of government personnel and resources to organize the Kilusang Pagbabago (Movement for Change) as the communist-led political party that would help the “Supremo” run the revolutionary government. The KP’s first massive nationwide activity is scheduled to be held in Manila today by a red-shirted mob brandishing the slogan, “Save the Republic.”

Fourth, the conversion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which is the protector of the people and the state under the Constitution, and components of the CPP/NPA/NDF into a revolutionary army to enforce the mandate of the dictatorship. The first step is the formation of the Philippine Constabulary as the equivalent of the Presidential Guard in some authoritarian governments.

Since he came to power, DU30 has visited the various military camps, talking not just to the officers but to all the men, promising them salary raises and sharing with them ribald stories, in an apparent effort to gain their confidence and win their loyalty to the person of the President and Commanderin-Chief.

Whether this is succeeding remains to be seen.

Communist appointees The most powerful man in the Cabinet is not the Foreign Secretary who theoretically ranks first in the hierarchical order, nor the Executive Secretary who, although a mere staff officer rather than one with a Cabinet portfolio, is known as “the Little President,” in that everything that goes to or comes from the President is coursed through him. Rather it is the otherwise innocuous Cabinet Secretary in the person of Evasco, who supervises 12 strategic government agencies, including the one headed by Vice President Leni Robredo as member of the Cabinet.

Evasco is an ex-priest who joined the CPP and NPA. Captured by the government, he was prosecuted by then city

prosecutor Duterte. But instead of being turned by Duterte, he was the one who apparently turned Duterte, who made him his chief of staff when he became mayor of Davao City, and helped him become mayor of Maribojoc, Bohol later on. He ran DU30’s successful presidential campaign, and is the one calling the shots at the KP whose national officers and regional coordinators are all CPP members.

DU30 has announced a ceasefire with the CPP/NPA/NDF to get the peace talks going, but the latest statement from the communist cell in Utrecht is that there would be no ceasefire until all the political prisoners from the Left are released. This is but another way of NDF-1 trying to outmaneuver NDF-2.

More than the ceasefire, military experts are insisting that the CPP/NPA/ NDF agree to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate into the mainstream as the necessary preconditions for a successful peace agreement. This would be similar to the Nepalese model, where the Maoist forces agreed to the DDR formula as the basis for entering the political mainstream. So far the Nepalese model has worked.

How sincere are the communists?

In the case of the CPP/NPA/NDF model, however, it appears they have no desire to give up their armed struggle or their quest for a communist state. Since the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the thrust of their struggle has not changed despite the fact that many of their members had already entered the political mainstream upon the repeal of the Anti-Subversion Law. Under the DU30 administration, the terms of the engagement have changed in their favor. Whereas, they used to be outside the government wanting to break in, they are now inside waiting merely for the chance to gain control.

DU30, who describes himself as a socialist, seems to offer the key for them to take over. With his reputed personal popularity propelling the project, they have every reason to feel success is inevitable. But God in his mysterious ways may have something to say here.

What happened in Peru and in Malacanang In Lima, Peru, we have it on the best authority that PDU30 passed out or “collapsed” before his final APEC official dinner. This is why he failed to attend the dinner and the final commemorative shoot and had to be represented by Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Jr. Evasco and his undersecretary Delfin “Dale” Cabrera were meeting with a private group in Malacañang when they received the urgent bulletin

from Lima about what happened. I heard of this story on the same day but decided not to write about it then.

Then two days ago, on Monday, it happened again. I had not intended to write about it, but although there was no breaking news report about it, Malacañang issued a lengthy denial.

Communication Secretary Martin Andanar was quoted as saying “there’s nothing wrong with the President. We would like to assure our people that the President is in good physical and mental health. He is strong and agile and can stand the responsibilities and demands of the presidency.”

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella for his part explained that the President had to cancel previously approved meetings with some Bangladeshi officials, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, former Chief Justice Renato Puno, Moro National Liberation Front founding chairman Nur Misuari and officers of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines because of some “pressing matters,” which were not mentioned.

It was normal for Andanar and Abella to deny what happened. They did it with conviction——and I don’t blame them—- for they were not at the Borloloy building when it happened.

According to our best sources, it happened in the morning without any warning. The President was reportedly in a huddle with Evasco, Cabrera and Bong Go when he suddenly lost his balance. Cabrera caught him as he threatened to fall, and he was quickly assisted by the others. The President was then taken to infirmary where the doctors checked him.

He appeared on TV later, where he looked well. But it is not enough for the press secretary and spokesman to issue a statement. There should be an official medical bulletin to inform the nation about the exact state of health of the President.

With this incident known to those planning to impose a revolutionary government, they will now be working double time. If they believe the President could go anytime, they will want to be in place before anything happens.

They cannot possibly allow the constitutionally mandated successor to take over in case the President goes, for that would throw them out of power, unless they are able to forge a new arrangement with the successor or they wage a violent struggle against him or her. This is where the nation should be now. We should act as one, to prevent the hijacking of the presidency and the constitutional order. (fstatad@gmail.com)

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LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016

A

OFWs exempted from airport terminal…

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in the first quarter of 2017 as aviation agencies prepare projects for more efficient management of air traffic.

Antonio Manuel Tamayo, deputy director general of Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said the much-delayed Communication and Navigation System (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) would be operational soon as these have been installed

No military…

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REAL HEROES. The names of 19 people who fought the Marcos dictatorship have been engraved on the Wall of Remembrance at Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City. They were honored in solemn ceremonies on Wednesday, Nov. 30 in Bonifacio Day. The names include those of the late Inquirer editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc and former Sen. Jovito Salonga. Inquirer.net photo by Niño Jesus Orbeta

Rein in your Cabinet, watch your language, Ramos tells Duterte

by Tarra

Quismundo Inquirer.net

FORMER President Fidel Ramos, the “No. 1 critic and supporter” of President Duterte, on Tuesday called on the latter to rein in his Cabinet, noting they were still disorganized nearly six months into his presidency.

In a frank assessment of the administration he had helped elect, Ramos also called on Mr. Duterte to broaden his perspective, clean up his language and show up as the President Filipinos deserve as their representative on the international stage.

Very well qualified “The President comes into the presidency very well qualified, and he has a highly educated and highly professional composition of the Cabinet, as well as presidential assistants at the subcabinet level, all the way down the line,” said Ramos at the hourlong Meet the Inquirer Multimedia (MIM) forum on Tuesday.

“However, I am seeing that they are not yet organized as one Philippine team, which it should be,” he said, even as he called on every Filipino to also do their part.

First 100 days Ramos, who has lately criticized Mr. Duterte for a poor showing in his first 100 days in office and for missing important international engagements, said

Former President Fidel Ramos

the administration should have a broader approach to governance, noting the emphasis on the campaign against drugs.

“Let us not have a tunnel vision at the level of the leadership, which is the President, the Vice President, members of the cabinet, leaders of the Senate and the House,” said Ramos, whose counsel the President is known to take well.

Benefit of the doubt “We must have a comprehensive appreciation of the nation’s problems, and we must proceed on a broad front with everybody participating,” said Ramos, adding that every Filipino has something to contribute.

In the same breath, he called on the public to give the country’s new leaders “the benefit of the doubt.”

Asked about the President’s brash and usually foul language,

Ramos said Mr. Duterte should eventually learn to live up to his title.

Learning curve “This must not be seen as representative of our 102 million Filipinos. After all, Filipinos are among the best cultured in our part of the world in Asia-Pacific, in terms of being proficient in English, in terms of being Christians mainly,” said Ramos.

“Because the President must represent the whole nation, at a certain point, maybe after he has completed his learning curve, he must transform to being our Presidential leader,” he said.

Ramos reprised his dig at the President for missing the gala dinner and photo opportunity with leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) at the recently held Leaders’ Summit in Peru this month, saying the President should always show up.

“I want you to know, I do not feel sleepy, I do not have jetlag, I don’t have a bad back and I don’t have loose bowel movement,” Ramos said at the start of the forum, in apparent reference to the President’s alibis for missing the important Apec events.

He showed up for the Inquirer MIM forum despite nursing a cough.

Juggling balls “Anyway, for all of those lit-

tance in order for them to create their own defense,” he said.

“But the very important point is that the Russian approach has no political condition. We never use military supply as an instrument to put political pressure on other sovereign [countries]. We are very sensitive in our domestic affairs and we don’t intervene with the domestic affairs of other sovereign nations,” the Russian ambassador added.

Lorenzana to shop Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana is scheduled to visit Russia on December 3 to 5 to shop for arms and meet his Russian counterpart.

“We will go on shopping (for arms). We will check for war materiel that we might need. Maybe the first on our list is sniper rifles.

We heard Russia’s sniper weapons are good,” Lorenzana told reporters at the sidelines of the 77th anniversary celebration of the Department of National Defense. n tle emergencies, I would have people to help me out in order that I can be present at a Leaders’ summit and be also there for the important photo of the leaders, because I represent the Philippines,” said Ramos, who led the Philippines’ hosting of the Apec summit in Manila in 1996.

He said the President should learn how to delegate his tasks without missing one.

“You just juggle the balls as they come in, toss them out without dropping any, to your cabinet, to your lawmakers, to lead conveners of the private sector.

But whatever you do, pass it on to somebody else,” said the former President.

“You are still responsible and accountable because you are the team leader and the commanderin-chief,” said Ramos. n

near the NAIA runway.

The CNS/ATM system is comprised of a computer-based flight data processing system that will enable aircraft operators to meet their scheduled departure and arrival and stick to their preferred flight plans with minimum constraints and without compromising agreed levels of safety.

It will also extend surveillance of aircraft and improve navigational accuracy.

“The government had constructed 12 radar stations across the Philippines as adjunct to the

CNS/ATM to monitor each arriving and departing flight, and these would greatly speed up the landing and takeoff, contributing to the efficiency of the NAIA,” Tamayo said.

Air traffic controllers and other technical experts are being trained as part of the CNS/ATM system.

“Right now, they are doing shadow training, comparing the airplanes they see on the current radar system with this next generation system that is also linked to satellite in space,” Tamayo said. n

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BUSINESS& COMMUNITY Journal

The Philippines emerged as the fastest growing economy in the region after it recorded a 7.1-percent expansion in the third quarter.

Jun Acculador/CC BY-ND

by lawrence

aGcaoIlI Philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to upgrade anew the economic growth projection for the country after a strongerthan-expected expansion in the third quarter.

Shanaka Jayanath Peiris, IMF resident representative, said the 7.1 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth recorded in the third quarter was faster than the lender’s full-year growth forecast

of 6.4 percent.

“Therefore, we will mostly likely be revising up our growth forecast for 2016 in the next round of world economic outlook revisions, while the adjustments for 2017 and medium term will also depend on global developments and financial conditions that have become more uncertain lately,” Peiris said.

The Philippines emerged as the fastest growing economy in the region after it recorded a 7.1percent expansion in the third quarter.

The country’s growth was faster than China’s 6.7 percent, Vietnam’s 6.4 percent, Indonesia’s five percent and Malaysia’s 4.3 percent.

This brought the GDP expansion in the first nine months to seven percent, the higher end of the six to seven percent target penned by economic managers.

Peiris said the GDP outturn in the third quarter was led by a recovery in agriculture and continued strength of private consumption and gross investment.

u PAGE B3

Jollibee eyes Italy for European debut

by IrIs

Gonzales Philstar.com

Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) will make its debut in Europe, possibly by next year, riding on the growing population of overseas Filipinos and Filipino migrants in the continent, a ranking official said.

File photo

MANILA, Philippines — Jollibee Foods Corp.

(JFC) will make its debut in Europe, possibly by next year, riding on the growing population of overseas Filipinos and Filipino migrants in the continent, a ranking official said.

JFC Group president Jose Miñana Jr. said the company would start in Italy where there are many Filipinos to mark its foray in Europe.

“We’re looking at possibly Italy to be our (starting point) in Europe. We’re not in Europe yet. We will follow where the Pinoys are,” he said, adding that the company’s target Europe debut is between 2017 and 2018.

Miñana expressed optimism the JFC brand

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LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016

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B NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL

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Ayala bets on PH manufacturing renaissance New report: Top CA banks do little contracting with firms owned by minorities, women

by Doris

Dumlao-abaDilla Inquirer.net

THE Philippines must seize a “unique but fleeting” window amid emerging trends in global manufacturing to establish itself as a pioneer in high-value manufacturing in Southeast Asia, the head of conglomerate Ayala Corp. Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said on Tuesday, Nov. 29.

In a keynote speech during the Manufacturing Summit 2016, Zobel said he believed the Philippines was well-positioned to capture opportunities in manufacturing, given its sound underlying economic fundamentals, abundance of qualified workforce and the emerging trends in global manufacturing operations.

– Technological breakthroughs that enable extreme connectivity and extreme automation around trends such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the internet of things, and autonomous vehicles, among others are disrupting business models in an accelerated pace; – Disruptive technology-driven trends such as autonomous driving and electrification are redefining the global automotive sector. With a growing global vehicle production, the rise of hybrids and electric cars, as well as constant innovation in automotive systems, the current 40 percent share of electronics over

Banks lag far behind utilities in diverse contracting

Jaime Zobel de Ayala keynotes Manufacturing Summit 2016

the total cost of a car is estimated to increase to over 50 percent by 2025; and, – There is an emerging shift in supply chain strategy, where manufacturers like Lenovo and Inditex (owner of the Zara retail chain) are increasingly finding it more sensible to produce their goods closer to their core markets – a trend also known as “nearshoring” or “build where you consume”.

Ayala’s electronics manufacturing arm Integrated MicroElectronics Inc. had adopted a similar strategy, for instance, building an automotive electronics segment in Bulgaria for prox-

imity to the original equipment manufacturers based in Europe who are the end-users of its products.

“Reflecting on these emerging trends, I believe the Philippines can position itself as a viable destination for manufacturing investments,” Zobel said.

Ayala is particularly upbeat on the automotive industry, citing the strong growth in vehicle sales since the country passed the “motorization” threshold of $2,500 per capita gross domestic product in 2012. Since then, he noted that vehicle sales had been growing at an average rate

u PAGE B3

PH auto, motorcycle sales driving regional growth by richmonD

s. mercurio

Philstar.com

The peso is recovering.

Inquirer.net Photo

Peso recovers further

by Daxim

l, lucas

Inquirer.net

THE peso firmed up further on Monday, November 28, after flirting with the psychologically important P50:$1 level last week.

At the Philippine Dealing System (PDS), the local currency ended the trading session at P49.71 to the dollar, stronger than the P49.84 recorded on Friday.

The peso opened at P49.80 and weakened slightly to P49.83 before rising in the afternoon session to close at its strongest level for the day.

A total of $466.7 million we converted on the PDS, slightly less than last Friday’s $538.2 million. n

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines remained on the faster track compared to its regional neighbors in terms of automotive and motorcycle sales.

Latest data from the Asean Automotive Federation showed the Philippine automotive industry finished as the third fastest growing market in Southeast Asia as of end-October, while its motorcycle sector accelerated the fastest.

The growth of vehicle sales in the country was at 24.5 percent in the 10-month period, behind Vietnam’s 32.1 percent year-on-year progress and Singapore’s 50.3 percent.

Countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Brunei posted declines in their respective sales for the period.

Overall, vehicle sales in the seven Asean-member economies monitored by the regional automotive organization improved 3.3 percent as of end-October to 2.57 million units from 2.49 million units a year ago.

In terms of volume, Indonesia sold the most number of vehicles with 874,847 units, followed by Thailand with 617,159 units.

u PAGE B3

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA – The banks with the largest market share in California do little contracting with businesses owned by people of color and women, a new report from The Greenlining Institute finds. In Supplier Diversity Report: Banks Still Struggle to Contract with Diverse Businesses, Greenlining found that in 2014, these top banks did just 4.42 percent of their contracting with minority-owned businesses and just 2.83 percent with women-owned businesses.

In contrast, many of California’s leading utilities and telecommunications companies routinely do over one quarter of their contracting with minority business enterprises, as Greenlining reported in September.

“While we applaud these banks for being willing to share their contracting data with us, it’s clear they have a long way to go,” said Greenlining Institute Director of Diversity and Inclusion Danielle Beavers. “We know from the experience of

utility and telecom companies that qualified contractors are out there, but making use of them requires conscious effort by the companies and a push from regulators.”

Other key findings include: • Overall diverse contracting was low across all banks. East West Bank spent the most with minority and women business enterprises at 14.29 percent altogether, while Wells Fargo spent the least at just 5.71 percent.

• Compared to national figures, procurement with California’s minority businesses better mirrored the state’s demographics but was still low. African American business enterprises received 1.08 percent of California contract dollars; Asian American business enterprises got 1.92 percent; Latino business enterprises secured 2.16 percent, and Native American business enterprises 0.06 percent.

• Multi-year analysis revealed trends based on banks’ size and the ethnicity and gender of the

diverse business owner. Small banks tended to increase supplier diversity while larger banks struggled.

• Because of its size, Bank of America spent the most dollars with minority-owned businesses and accounted for nearly 40 percent of bank procurement with these firms. Still, this accounted for just 4.46 percent of the bank’s total procurement spending. This is similar to other large banks like Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and Citibank, whose national MBE spending ranged from 3.32 percent to 5.32 percent.

“Diverse businesses serve as the economic engines of their communities, and we know they can provide top-quality goods and services,” Beavers said.

“Banks should recognize the value they miss when they fail to seek out diverse contractors, and regulators should look to replicate California’s success at promoting supplier diversity in the telecommunications and energy industries.” n

PAL set to expand global network by iris

Gonzales Philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines — Lucio Tan-led Philippine Airlines is poised to significantly expand its network with the ASEAN Open Skies regime now in place, its top executive said during the BusinessWorld ASEAN regional forum last week.

Speaking during the panel on the regional experiences of top Philippine corporations, PAL president Jaime Bautista said with ASEAN as a hotspot for trade, PAL intends to connect the emerging region to its vast global network.

As such, Bautista said, PAL as a legacy airline would pursue its expansion to the rest of the world and showcase not just the Philippines but also the ASEAN region.

“Do we go regional instead of expanding elsewhere? For a legacy airline like PAL, however, the question is not whether we go regional. Rather, the question is how do we connect this emerging region to the rest our network? It makes more sense, therefore, for PAL to pursue its intended expansions to the rest

PAL president Jaime Bautista

File photo

of the world and showcase not only our beautiful places in the Philippines, but also in neighboring ASEAN countries. The geographic proximity of ASEAN and at the same time the diversity in language, politics and culture in the ASEAN region makes it a very good product to offer. Only ASEAN carriers like PAL can offer this,” Bautista said.

Under the ASEAN Open Skies framework which is the region’s aviation policy, PAL will be allowed to mount unlimited passenger and cargo flights between any Philippine airport to any ASEAN city, and vice versa.

The policy also allows PAL unlimited fifth freedom rights to fly from the Philippines to any ASEAN city, onward to a third city in the region.

“While the region’s Open Skies will intensify competition among airlines, including increased presence of low-cost carriers, PAL is ready to take advantage of the single market access policy which is the end goal of the ASEAN,” Bautista said.

For PAL to be able to compete, the airline is undertaking a major fleet expansion program.

“We are currently expanding our fleet. We expect 33 more airplanes until 2024. We are also taking delivery of two Boeing 777-300ERs, our flagship aircraft,” he said.

Early this year, PAL also placed an order for six new Airbus A350-900’s.

“The A350 is an ultra-modern aircraft with luxurious cabin features that will redefine passenger comfort,” Bautista said.

In addition, PAL will reconfigure its A330 aircraft cabin from mono-class to tri-class and reducing the number of seats to 309 from 414 to enhance passenger comfort. n

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Community Journal

LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016

Widow needs Chapter 13 alendar of Events C across to handle $40K credit cards

Debt Relief Atty. LAwrence yAng CLIENT is 53 and recently widowed. She works as a caregiver and met her now deceased husband through her job. At first, husband was her patient. She provided caregiving services to the man in his house. He was 70, divorced and lived by himself.

As part of caregiving, she drove him to eat a various restaurants that he wanted to go to. While they ate at those restaurants, he would talk to her about his life and eventually popped the question saying that if she would marry him and take care of him, he will be a good husband to her.

Client was previously divorced but felt an affection towards him so she said yes. Apparently, they were pretty happy living together as husband and wife until he slipped and fell in their house, hitting his head on the floor. He fell into a coma and never recovered. After a week, he died in the hospital.

Husband had placed her name as joint tenant on the house, which was almost fully paid. The current fair value of the house was $400K while the unpaid

Widower seeks Chapter 13 for $50K credit cards

balance of the mortgage was $150K, leaving $250K of equity.

Client automatically became the sole owner of the house because upon death of the joint tenant, the surviving joint tenant owns the other half that was owned by the deceased joint tenant. As a result, client now owns 100% of the $250K equity of the house.

The adult children of husband complained about being left out in the cold as far as the ownership of the house was concerned, but client’s claim of ownership is clear because husband who was of sound mind, quitclaimed the house to himself and client when they got married. It’s almost impossible for children to prove that it was not their father’s intent to give the house to client.

Client’s problem right now is that she has too much debt. She owes $40K of credit card debt.

The mortgage on the house is $1,500 a month. Her net income from her caregiving services is not a lot. She nets about $2,500 a month. After paying the mortgage there is $1,000 left before food and other monthly necessities. But minimum credit card

payments alone are $1,200 a month. Obviously, the $40K credit cards have to be wiped out. It’s becoming clear that the choice she has to make is to be able to make the mortgage payment or the credit card payment.

The house gives her shelter and has equity of quarter million dollars while credit card debt is just a heavy burden to carry forever.

Although client wants a Chapter 7 discharge of the $40K of credit cards, I cannot recommend a Chapter 7 for her. In Chapter 7, she would lose the house and keep only her exempt equity of $100K. A chapter 7 trustee has the power to sell debtor’s house if the net proceeds will yield an amount that will yield a distribution to unsecured creditors such as credit cards. In client’s case, trustee can sell her house at least for $400K, pay off the mortgage of $150K, give client $100K, leaving a surplus of $150K of cash.

Trustee will use the $150K to pay himself for his trustee services for administering the bankruptcy estate, pay his lawyers and other professional services incurred,

u PAGE B4

Ayala bets on PH manufacturing renaissance

PAGE B2 t

of 18 percent annually.But out of 320,000 new vehicles sold in the Philippines last year, Zobel noted that only 30 percent was locally manufactured.

“I believe this presents a compelling opportunity to take on a ‘build where you consume’ strategy for the Philippine automotive industry. Traditionally, our manufacturing industry has been focused on the lower end of the value chain. For many years, the semiconductors and electronics segments have been the most dominant contributor to the industry,” Zobel said.

While it’s “not a bad thing” that the Philippines is a major producer of automotive components, Zobel said the disruptive trends taking place in the global automotive space had opened up a host of untapped opportunities that the country could leverage to move up the value chain.

Zobel cited the evolution of IMI as a global provider of electronics manufacturing services for the automotive, industrial, medical, and telecommunications industries. Over a decade ago, he noted how IMI had made a deliberate move to reinvent itself in response to the challenges and volatility of the global economy, diversifying into fast-growing and high-margin segments.

At present, IMI is the 21st largest electronics manufacturing ser-

vice (EMS) provider and the sixth largest automotive EMS supplier in the world.

Ayala has also partnered with KTM, the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Europe, to distribute and manufacture motorcycle models in the Philippines under the KTM brand. Initial plans for the manufacturing facility would be to produce 20,000 units annually. Production for the domestic market is seen to start by the first quarter of 2017 and subsequently, export to China and other Southeast Asian countries is targeted later in the year. IMI is now building this manufacturing facility in IMI’s complex in Laguna.

But achieving a sustainable revival of the manufacturing industry will require collaborative efforts between the government and the private sector, Zobel said.

“First, I believe it is imperative that we develop an integrated country strategy for the manufacturing sector under a single and unified roadmap across the entire spectrum of the supply chain.

The country strategy should cover a wide range of areas like policies, incentives, as well as mechanisms to empower the micro, small, and medium enterprises, who are important participants in the manufacturing supply chain,” Zobel said.

Secondly, Zobel said the Phil-

ippines would need to accelerate investments in infrastructure development, particularly in transport. He noted that the current administration was already addressing this gap with a target to raise infrastructure spending to at least 5 percent of gross domestic product in 2017.

“Finally, the government and the private sector can collaborate in retooling and reskilling our existing workforce. While we have a qualified workforce that can be readily deployed to take on varying levels of manufacturing roles, the accelerated pace of technological disruptions can present potential skills gap. We need to develop a workforce who are agile and can be highly flexible to changes,” he said.

The Ayala group earlier partnered with UK-based Pearson Education to set up APEC Schools, a high school designed to train its students with the skills and values relevant to employers.

“With its enormous and inclusive job generating ability and boundless multiplier effect, a robust manufacturing industry can truly stimulate economic prosperity for a broader segment of Filipinos.

We are all ready to do our part, and I believe that with stronger collaboration, we will be able to take this engagement to the next level and bring this aspiration to fruition,” Zobel said. n

PH auto, motorcycle sales driving regional…

PAGE B2 t Meanwhile, sales of motorcycles and scooters remained robust in the country amid slower take-up in other countries in the region.

The report showed motorcycle sales in the Philippines rose 37.9 percent to 941,847 units in the 10-month period from last year’s 683,074 units.

The Philippines’ motorcycle industry growth was followed

by Singapore with 13.8 percent, Thailand with 5.8 percent, and Malaysia with 2.1 percent.

Total motorcycles sold in the region reached 7.91 million units, 1.2 percent lower from the previous year’s eight million units.

In terms of production, ve-

Just last September, the IMF raised the country’s 2016 growth forecast to 6.4 percent from the original target of six percent.

“The outlook for the Philippine economy remains favorable despite external headwinds,” IMF reported after the completion of the 2016 Article IV Consultation.

IMF sees inflation averaging two percent this year and 3.4 percent next year, well within the two to four percent target set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) between 2016 and 2018.

would be well received in Europe because of the Filipinos there.

He said in Rome, the capital, and in Milan, an equally famed city, there are many Filipino workers and migrants.

Italy is home to roughly 200,000 Filipinos, said to be the largest population of overseas Filipinos in Europe.

In the United States, JFC is set to open in Manhattan in the first half of next year.

The company is also opening a branch in Florida and its second store in Chicago next year.

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Historic Filipinotown Parol Parade in Los Angeles Now in its 9th year, the biggest Filipino-American cultural Christmas celebration of its kind in Southern California is slated for Friday, December 2. Over 35 participants will assemble at 4:00 p.m. at the Courtyard of the Our Lady of Loretto Church at 258 North Union Avenue, Los Angeles, CA. to line up up for the parade. The cultural event is produced

by Historic Filipinotown Neighborhood Council, a 301(3) non-profit volunteer-based organization headed by its longtime President Cecilia Ramos; vice-president & Treasurer, Dr. Leo Pandac and Secretary Dr. Ben Marte. The Council is in partnership with The Filipino Channel for the two Historic Filipinotown heritage events it coordinates every year, the Parol Parade and the August Historic Filipinotown Anniversary Cultural Festival held at the Silver Lake Medical Center (sponsor) held early August. Both events are free to the public. Other major sponsors include MoneyGram, Island Pacific Supermarket, Miss Philippines, USA, and Asian Journal Publications. The general public is invited to view the display of parols at the Loretto School playground, where over three hundred meal tickets will be given at the gate to claim meal boxes which will be distributed on a First Come, First Served basis, courtesy of Historic Filipinotown Neighborhood Council. Those winning in the cheer competition will be given meal tickets just before the end of the parade. Christmas carols will be sung at the general public celebration in the schoolyard. Participants in the parol parade, sponsors and special guests, including those with media credentials are invited to the event program with entertainment to be held at the Loretto School basement auditorium where they will be served dinner, at which time. Parol Contest winners will be announced. For more information, please call the Parol Parade office of Cecilia Ramos at (213) 300-4055.

Christmas Concert Benefit for the Wounded Warrior Project and Shade Tree in Las Vegas, NV Join the Filharmonic (from NBC’s “The Sing-Off” and “Pitch Perfect 2”) for a special one-night engagement benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project and Shade Tree on Friday, December 2 at 7 p.m. Special guests include “Dom the Bom’s Triple Threat” from America’s Got Talent, Dellys Future Stars, Trippy Muzik, Voices of Hope, and more! The concert will be held at Hope Church Concert Stage at 850 East Cactus Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89183.

For more information, please call (702) 263-9594. Get tickets at www.showtix4u.com; enter “FIL” in the search box.

D EC E M B E R 3

FASO’s Christmas Concert in Glendale, CA The Filipino American Symphony Orchestra (FASO), the only Filipino symphony orchestra outside of the Philippines, as it presents “A Christmas Concert” on Saturday, December 3, 6:00 p.m. at the John Wayne Performing Arts Center in Glendale, California. FASO will play Christmas carols, accompanied by the voices of various choir groups. John Wayne Performing Arts Center is located at 1440 E. Broadway, Glendale, California 91205. For tickets, call Andy Tecson (323) 467-5096; Bob Shroder (818) 395-8936; and Arlene Ferrolino (213) 248-9850. Tickets are also available athttp://fasochristmas.eventbrite.com/. Tickets are at $25, $45 and $75. More information at www.fasofoundation.org.

Pasko Na Naman in Glendale, CA The Channel of Charity, a 501(c)(3) non-profit tax exempt organization is sponsoring Pasko Na Naman on Saturday, December 3. It is a music and dance presentation that revolves around two siblings, Luz (Lyra Dominguez) and Gene (Peter Jeensalute), who are reminiscing their early childhood at Christmas time while growing up in the Philippines. The music part will be provided by Koro Filipino of Los Angeles under the direction of Ning and Joe Manahan while the dance part will be provided by the Malaya Filipino American Dance Arts. The presentation will prove to be one that is joyful — full of familiar sights and scents that will bring nostalgia especially among Filipinos living in America. The presentation will be held at 3:30 p.m. at Incarnation Community Center at 214 W. Fairview Ave, Glendale, CA. The funds from the show will benefit children in the Philippines who are unable to attend school due to poverty and lack of resources. For ticket information, please call Arnel Bailon at (818) 310-3663. For other inquiries, please call May Mallari at (323) 401-0886.

Lights on Miracle Hill “A Christmas Promise” in Walnut, CA Come to the third annual Lights on Miracle Hill “A Christmas Promise”, on December 3 at 7:00 p.m. at City Blessing Church of Walnut. Lights on Miracle Hill “A Christmas Promise” is an exquisite holiday event for the community to enjoy the beautiful light displays that have been designed for this Christmas Season. This event will span for 12 days of the weekends in December starting on Saturday, December 3 from 7:00 pm to 10:00 p.m. with the official opening ceremony. Our Lights on Miracle Hill “A Christmas Promise” will encompass not only a decorative lighting display, but also a fun narrative Christmas lighting show. Each night will bring a cheery atmosphere with many holiday refreshments to enjoy.

City Blessing Church of Walnut is located at 18901 Amar Rd., Walnut CA 91789.

Aurora Inter-organizational Alliance-USA celebrates 8th anniversary in Granada Hills, CA

hicles manufactured and assembled in the country improved 15.7 percent year-on-year to 97,009 units.

Motorcycles and scooters produced in the country, meanwhile, jumped 31.8 percent to 866,502 units. n

“The Philippine economy has performed well in recent years with rising potential growth and strong macro fundamentals. Economic growth is supported by robust domestic demand and is broadly in line with potential while the outlook for inflation is well within the target band,” IMF said.

Inflation averaged 1.6 percent in the first 10 months after remaining steady at 2.3 percent last October.

Earlier, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) upgraded the country’s 2016 GDP growth fore-

cast to 6.8 percent from of 6.4 percent.

ADB country economist Aekapol Chongvilaivan said the upgrade was due to the strong 7.1 percent GDP growth in the third quarter.

“The higher forecast is due to the third quarter, when growth was much higher than expectation. It is partly because export performance is actually better than expected, and this is supported by a weakening peso during the third quarter,” Chongvilaivan said. n

Jollibee eyes Italy for European…

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IMF to raise Philippine growth…

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In Canada, it is also opening in Winnipeg by next month and also in Ontario.

JFC is on the look out for new companies to acquire in the United States and China as the company grows even bigger, Miñana said.

In the Philippines, JFC operates 2,565 restaurants as of end-October. Of the total number, there are 954 Jollibee restaurants, 465 Chowking outlets, 241 Greenwich stores, 385 Red Ribbon branches, 453 Mang Inasal stores, and 67 Burger King outlets.

Abroad, it operates 671

stores: Yonghe King (China) 316; Hong Zhuang Yuan (China) 42; San Pin Wang (China) 68; Dunkin’ Donuts (China ) eight; Jollibee 157 (US 3, Vietnam 80, Brunei 14, Saudi Arabia 10, Qatar four, Kuwait four, Hong Kong two, Singapore four, Bahrain one and UAE four); Red Ribbon in the US 33, Chowking 44 (US 16, UAE 19, Qatar four, Oman two, Kuwait two and Saudi Arabia one), Jinja Bar (US) three.

In all, the JFC Group had a total of 3,236 stores worldwide. n

Aurora Inter-organizational Alliance-USA announces its 8th anniversary celebration on Saturday, December 10 in Granada Hills, CA. It is an annual gathering of immigrants from the Aurora province’s 8 towns, aiming to further strengthen the camaraderie and spirit of the members. This year’s celebration hopes to gather 100 members and guests, who will be treated with traditional Filipino dishes as well as entertainment amid the sounds of Christmas carols. The night will be capped by the election of new officers for the new year.

The event will be held at the Granada Hills Pavilion at 11128 Balboa Blvd., Granada Hills, CA 91344 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, please contact Atty Al Nabor at (951) 818-8172 or Luchie Cuento at (818) 300-3212.

D EC E M B E R 5

AAPA Graduation Gala

Asian American Professional Association (AAPA) cordially invites you to the Graduation Gala on Monday, December 5 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Celebrate with AAPA mentor and mentees and learn about the organization’s impact in the community. Mr. Anthony Hong, vice president of clinical research and development of Johnson & Johnson Cardiovascular & Specialty Solutions will be the keynote speaker of the night. It will be held at DoubleTree by Hilton - Rosemead at 888 Montebello Blvd., Rosemead, CA 91770. The event is business casual/cocktail attire and is open to everyone. Complimentary for mentors and mentees. Guests at $25. Please RSVP and purchase tickets by November 28 at www.aapa. abcptsa.org.

D EC E M B E R 7

Filipino American Chamber of Commerce - SouthBay Los Angeles Area (FACC-SLAA)’s Business & Professionals Networking Mixer Come celebrate the holidays with FACC-SLAA, and meet other driven Filipino/FilAm businesspersons and professionals in a relaxed and casual atmosphere. It will be at Wednesday, December 7 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the SOL Venue, 313 E Carson St., Carson, CA 90745. Tickets for FACC-SLAA members are free with pre-registration, $5 at the door. For non-members, $10 for pre-registration and $20 at the door. *Please bring presents ($20 minimum) for the gift exchange, and plenty of holiday cheer! For more information, please email facc.slaa@gmail.com.

D EC E M B E R 1 1

Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater LA (FACC-GLA)’s 15th year anniversary The Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater LA (FACC-GLA) is celebrating its 15th year anniversary by recognizing businesses and community partners and installing officers and board members on Sunday, December 11 from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. The event will be held at the Courtyard by Marriott Los Angeles Westside at 6333 Bristol Parkway, Culver City, CA 90230. The cost to attend is $50 and formal attire is required. Please make your check payable to FPACC Foundation, a 501(c)(3) corporation. A portion of the proceeds will go toward the educational scholarship funds and to help the underprivileged children in the Philippines. For any inquiries, please email info.faccgla@gmail.com.

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

B NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL

Community Journal

How bankruptcy can release you from the burden of debt

Minding Your Finances Atty. rAyMond BulAon SLEEPLESS nights… Stressed out… Worried about the future..

Always broke no matter how hard they work…Feeling hopeless about their situation.

This is what most people are going through when they are considering bankruptcy in order to get out of debt. The word “bankruptcy” often produces negative feelings because some people equate it with failure.

They think that filing bankruptcy means they have failed and that they are admitting defeat.

But nothing can be further from the truth. Listen to me! Bankruptcy is not about failing; it’s about starting again and putting the past behind you so that you can move on to bigger and better things.

A lot of creditors will lie to you when you’re in debt and tell you that bankruptcy is the ‘worst mistake’ you can ever make because your credit will be ‘ruined forever’ and that you will never be able to buy a car or house again.

Wrong again.

The truth is that bankruptcy is a fact of life. At one time or another, everyone experiences financial difficulties. When you’re in a situation where you have done everything you can to pay your creditors but nothing has worked, bankruptcy may be

your only option so you can start a new life. And this is exactly what Congress intended when they passed bankruptcy laws. So with bankruptcy, you get another chance. You wipe the slate clean and move on with your life, free from the burdens of debt.

Can you just imagine what would happen if we had no bankruptcy laws that can help people get out of debt when they can no longer help themselves? Filing for bankruptcy means that you are filing a petition for relief from the bankruptcy court.

The court reviews your application and determines whether on not you are entitled to the relief you are seeking. It is not for dishonest people who are trying to cheat the system. Contrary to what others think, most people who file for bankruptcy are honest, hard-working people who have gotten themselves in a big financial mess. In some cases it is caused by factors beyond their control. In other cases, it is a result of making bad financial decisions. But who hasn’t made a bad decision in their life at least once? Life is not perfect. Neither are you.

Filing bankruptcy can help you regain your footing if you have lost control of your finances. If you are living your life without a financial plan for the

future, you will never achieve financial security. So you can say that bankruptcy is a tool that allows you to reorganize your finances so you can plan a better future for yourself and your family. It is neither good nor bad in and of itself. You can use a tool for the wrong or right reasons. Using it for the wrong reasons is NOT the intent of our bankruptcy laws.

Is it for you? Maybe yes. Maybe no. It certainly is not for everyone. But when appropriate for your situation, it could be the best thing that ever happened to you- and it could be a big turning point in your life if you are drowning in debt. This is what you need, isn’t it?

If you need some straight talk about bankruptcy and get all your questions answered, I will give you a free initial consultation so we can talk about your situation. Just call 866-477-7772 and schedule an appointment. I have offices in Glendale, Cerritos and Valencia. ***

and will use the unused balance after these expenses are paid to pay the $40K of credit cards, in exchange for a discharge order for the client. Chapter 7 trustee can rack up trustee, legal and other professional fees in no time. Just to hire a broker to sell the house can cost $10K to $15K in legal fees for the trustee, separate from the selling commission of the broker. The right choice for widow is Chapter 13, which will allow her to pay $40K over 60 months without interest.

The plan payment will be about $700/month. After 60 payments, the court will enter a discharge order to wipe out all of her debts. No more minimum payments forever. And her house is protected from judgment liens by the bankruptcy court as long

What’s New Arlene Al-os, CPA, MBA

THERE are two types of income tax – Regular and AMT. Currently, regular tax rates are: 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35%, 39.6%, while AMT tax rates are: 26% with alternative taxable income (ATI) of not more than $186,300 in 2016, 28% with ATI greater than $186,300 from $185,400 in 2015. AMT limits the excessive use of deductions, credits, and exclusions to make sure individual and corporate with sizeable income do not get around with their tax liability. If the AMT is more that the regular tax liability, the excess is a tax liability in addition to the regular tax. If AMT is less than the regular tax, it may make sense to accelerate income and take advantage of the lower AMT rate.

How AMT Works AMT is figured separately that add back what you deduct for regular income tax. The most common adjustments and preferences or deductions not allowable for AMT that result None of the information herein is intended in add-back and higher taxes in to give legal advice for any specific situation. Form 6251are: Atty. Ray Bulaon has successfully helped • Regular personal and dethousands of clients in getting out of debt. pendent exemptions deducFor a free attorney evaluation of your situ- tions. ation, please call Ray Bulaon Law Offices at • Standard deduction for TOLL FREE 1 (866) 477-7772. those who do not itemize.

(Advertising Supplement) • Medical deductions for AMT threshold is 10% of adjusted gross income. The difference between 7.5% and 10% is added back for taxpayers who as she is current on the plan enters a discharge order saying are 65 years old and over. payments. that he doesn’t owe any credit • Deduction for local, state, Next client is 66 and a wid- card debts anymore. Compare and foreign income, sales, and ower. His house worth $400K that to $1500 a month for mini- property taxes. is almost fully paid, except for mum payments only such that • Home equity loan interest $25K of 2nd mortgage. He owes he would pay $90K in the next when loan proceeds are not $50K of credit cards. He has 60 months but still owe the same been paying $1500 a month on $50K. At 66, he sees very clearly these cards for the last 10 years. the advantage of Chapter 13 for He has paid more than $180K him now to get rid of his credit Immigrant to keep them current but still card debts.

Living: 101 owes the same principal of $50K “Seek the Lord and His today. At 66, he is just tired of strength; seek His face ever- and Beyond paying for these cards that never more!” — Psalm 105:4 diminish in principal. He cannot Monette *** file a Chapter 7 because he has Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in AdevA MAglAyA the same problem as the widow bankruptcy, business, real estate and civil EMMA looked down at the in the first paragraph. His equity litigation and has successfully represented in the house is over $175K, way more than five thousand clients in California. busy huddle in the operating over it. He sees no problem pay- Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) room. She was floating, hoving about $900 of plan payment 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S. ering above the doctors and for the next 60 months and looks Fremont Ave, Mailstop 58, Building A-1 Suite nurses in their blood spattered scrub suits while working on forward to the last payment on 1125, Alhambra, CA 91803. the 60th month when the court (Advertising Supplement) someone. They were desperately trying to bring a patient back to life. Emma took a closer look.

“Why that’s me,” she thought.

The doctors were trying to bring her back from the brink.

Her vital signs were weakening.

If the monitor flat lined, Emma knew she would be gone for good. There seems to be a thin silver thread that still anchors her to her body but the physical life force is ebbing away fast.

She remembered being in a car accident. Emma was only 42.

“Go back,” she seemed to hear someone tell her but there was no sound. Emma felt so light, so free. She hadn’t felt this wonderful in a long time. A feeling of wellbeing was engulfing her. She was in a tunnel and a white speck of light glowed at the end. There was a being of light in the distance. She began moving towards it.

Suddenly, she felt the grief of her husband and her two young children weighing down on her.

She caught a glimpse of them in the hospital waiting room.

Matt, the younger one, has his face pressed against the windowpane staring out through the glass at the pouring rain.

Her heart was filled with love for them. They still need her.

“Go back. It’s not yet time,” she seemed to hear the gentle voice once more although there was no one and there was no sound.

And Emma did. She heard one of the doctors say to her, “Welcome back.”

Emma knew her life, what remained of it, was never going to be the same again. Emma is only one of several millions the world over who have come back from the edge of death, having gone through what is called NDE or Near Death Experience.

Are you afraid of death? I am.

I suppose so do most of humankind through most of history.

In Greek mythology, the Fates represented by 3 women named, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos determined a person’s destiny upon birth. Clotho is the spinner who spins the thread of life and Lachesis is the measurer who chooses a man’s lot in life and how long it is to be. Atropos is the most dreaded one.

It is she who decided how and when a man is to die, using her large, sharp, unrelenting scissors to cut off the thread of life.

No one, not even the Gods at Olympus trifled with her.

Should we fear death? Stories abound that tell of those who have gone through NDE that strongly indicate that there is grace in dying. There is strong

Widow needs Chapter 13 to handle…

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WE ARE

HIRING Asian Journal Publications is now looking for:

Customer Sales and Service Representative Fax résumé to:

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Regular tax and Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) used for home improvements.

• Miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2% of AGI floor (such as tax professional fees, investment expenses, and employee business expenses).

• Interest income from private activity bonds exempt from regular tax.

• The difference between regular tax and AMT depreciation.

• The spread between exercise price and market value for incentive stock options.

Ways to Prevent or Minimize AMT Here a few tips to prevent or minimize your AMT: • Regular tax and AMT both starts with adjusted gross income before exemptions, deductions, and adjustments.

When regular tax rate is higher than that of AMT rate, consider accelerating income to take advantage of the lower AMT rate.

• Claim to dependent’s exemption under multiple support agreement together provided more than 50% of dependent’s support, agree to designate claim of exemption to taxpayer who is not taxed with AMT. • Release of claim to exemption for child of divorced parents, consider to release claim to parent not affected by AMT unless there are other prevalent reasons aside from taxes.

• You may elect to itemize even if deduction is lesser than the standard deduction if the increase in regular tax amount outweigh the decrease in AMT tax amount.

• It might be appropriate to accelerate paying medical expenses if not affected by AMT otherwise defer to year regular

tax is expected.

• Avoid losing the benefit of tax deduction to AMT. If not subject to AMT prepay last year’s taxes otherwise defer tax payments to following year if tax benefit exceeds the underpayment penalty. Be cautious of the Revenue Ruling 82-208 when there is no reasonable basis for estimated state tax payment a deduction will be denied.

• Do not use home equity loan proceeds to pay off debts that generate nondeductible personal interest such as personal credit card balances personal use.

• Generate deductible capital losses by selling investments and stocks whose value has gone down.

• Watch out for Tax Plan Tips That Works for Regular Income Tax but Does Not Work for AMT and State Tax Liabilities.

2016 AMT exemption amount are: $53,600 same amount in 2015 for single and head of household, $83,800 from $83,400 in 2015 for married filing jointly, $41,900 from $41,700 in 2015 for married filing separately. These amounts are expected to increase in 2017 to $54,300, $84,500, and $42,250, respectively.

In accordance with IRS Circular 230, this communication is not to be considered a “covered opinion” or other written tax advice and should not be relied upon for IRS audit, tax dispute, or any other purpose. *** Sy Al-os Accountancy Corporation provides accounting and tax services to individuals, corporations, LLCs and business entities.

The Firm has a niche in defending taxpayers audited by the IRS and other governmental agencies.

(Advertising Supplement)

Coming back from the brink NDE: The Near Death Experience “ Unless a grain of wheat shall fall upon the ground and die, It remains but a single grain with no life.”

— From a hymn composed by Bernadette Farrell

evidence of life beyond death and that the act of dying is transitioning into that life.

In almost all cases of NDE, people relate of feeling weightless, floating and hovering above looking down at their own bodies and even seeing how doctors, nurses and technicians struggle to bring them back from the brink. They are literally hanging on by a thread.

It is an out of body experience and that there exists a thin silver iridescent cord that still connects them to their own bodies.

If that cord is cut, it means that they are now truly physically dead and that they will continue on to the afterlife with no more chance of coming back to their previous physical life.

Many of those who have gone though NDE report that there is that feeling of being drawn into a tunnel. There is the presence of a strong, white, comforting light at the end of it. The light appears small and as they progress through the tunnel, it becomes a strong being of light filled with love and compassion.

Many report of meeting deceased relatives. Many go through a flashback of powerful memories like a review of their life, both good and bad. Above all, there seems to be an overwhelming feeling of release from all the constraints of their physical lives.

For some, the decision to return is theirs to make. For others, the decision has already been made that their time to die hasn’t come yet and that they must go back. An unfinished business or a strong emotional attachment can make some go back and resume living.

The impact of NDE is life changing. Documentation for those who have been declared clinically dead and have come back to resume living shows that those who have seen a glimpse of life beyond death undergo profound changes. Many have changed their view of life for the better. Some have a better appreciation of life becoming more kind, compassionate and considerate of others.

For others, there is a renewed sense of purpose and a reordering of life’s priorities. Some have even gone on to develop a sense of spirituality convinced that their new lease on life tells them that they were made for something more.

But not all stories of NDE are the same. It seems that for some on the dark side, the experience is totally different.

Some report of the presence of a dark void and all the chilling-

ly cold, negative, consuming energies of such emotions as seething anger, loathing and arrogance swirling about in a thick, dark, putrid cloud, the complete antithesis of the typical NDE experience of light.

This story is more like horror.

Just as there are good people and bad people, the nature of the near death experience seems to be a direct and proportionate result of the collective, aggregate choices each one makes through life.

Remember the movie Ghost?

The merciless murderer Willie, was on his way to commit another contract murder, when he is confronted by the invisible energy of the spooky, rampaging spirit of Sam whom he murdered earlier for money. He suddenly flees and in his haste, is run over by a car and dies on the spot. The murderer’s spirit rises from his body as he realizes he is dead. His soul, however, is instantly shackled and suctioned off screaming into the void by howling, hooded, dark, macabre, misshapen creatures rising like toxic fumes and disappearing just as suddenly from the sewers of New York City. That is, perhaps, a glimpse of what it must be like to truly die and go to hell.

When the other kind of NDE happens, some report that there is no concept of space or time at all. There is neither beginning nor end. Communication with beings of light or deceased relatives who may accompany the dying is telepathic. There is no sound and no need for words.

Many of those who have nearly died and allowed to come back to live out the rest of their lives express a reluctance to return to their previous physical lives. But there was a strong pull, a tug from their earthly life that made them do a U-turn, at least for the time being.

What is stunning is this.

Nearly all those who have had an encounter with death and did come back to resume their lives claim they no longer fear death. The fear of death is no more. Death for them has become a door one must pass to enter a more beautiful, enticing reality full of love and mercy.

What most have learned from their brush with death is startlingly simple. LOVE, they profess, is the most important thing in this earthly life — giving it, accepting it and learning from it. *** Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@ asianjournalinc.com

(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com

Barrister’s Corner Atty. Kenneth UrsUA reyes COUPLES get divorced for various reasons. California is a no fault state. The reasons why a couple is getting divorced are often irrelevant to the issues of the family law case. Divorce is often a difficult and negative experience for most families. However, getting divorce may have some unintended benefits in the immigration law arena. Four situations in which filing for divorce can be beneficial to your immigration case are as follows: Married Sons and Daughters of US Citizens If you were petitioned for legal permanent residence by your US Citizen parent as a married son or daughter 21 years old or over, you are classified in immigration law under family sponsored third preference (F3) which usually carries a long wait time. The wait time for Filipinos for example is currently 22 years. The priority date is normally the date the petition was initially filed by

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LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016

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4 ways filing for divorce can benefit your immigration case your US Citizen parents. If you get divorced, you revert back to single status and your category automatically becomes reclassified to first preference (F1) where the waiting time is substantially shorter. For example, for Filipinos the wait time under F1 category is 10 years shorter than F3 category. This means if your parents filed your immigration petition 12 years ago, then you can adjust to a green card now instead of waiting another 10 years.

Married Sons and Daughters of Legal Permanent Residents If your parents are legal permanent residents, getting divorced will convert you back single status making you eligible to be petitioned by your legal permanent resident parents under the family based second preference (F2b) category if you are 21 years old or older or under the family based second preference A (F2a) if you are under 21 years of age.

For those who married after they were petitioned by their LPR parents (F2A and F2B), the petition is automatically revoked under operation of law the moment you get married and cannot be reclaimed by a divorce. In theory, it can be argued that filing a sub-

sequent petition after your divorce under the same category inherits the previous petition’s priority date under 9 FAM 42.43 N10 and 8 CFR 204.2(h), Part 205. However, success of such argument is not clear since the old petition was automatically revoked the moment you married. The best thing that can be done in this situation is to have your LPR parent repetition you as an F2A or F2b even if you are unable to reclaim the previous petition’s priority date.

Conditional Legal Permanent Residents in failed Marriages For those who obtained their legal permanent residence status through marriage based petition by their US Citizen spouse of less than 2 years marriage, the legal permanent residence status conferred is usually a “conditional legal permanent residence” valid only for 2 years. The couple would need to sign and file a joint petition to remove this condition prior to the expiration of the 2 years or the conditional legal permanent resident spouse would fall out of status.

The problem arises when the marriage is in trouble. Often it becomes difficult to obtain the cooperation of the US Citizen

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spouse specially when the couple has separated. US Citizen spouse often refuse to sign the I-751 for or appear at the I-751 interview if one is set by the USCIS. Filing for divorce would terminate the marriage and allow you to file a “waiver” of the joint petition to remove the conditional LPR status based on entering into the marriage in good faith. Terminating the marriage by filing a divorce is a requirement in order to file the “waiver.” It is important to time this correctly as soon as the marriage starts falling apart because by terminating the marriage early on, you might be able to file the waiver before the expiration of your 2 year conditional LPR thus allowing you to extend your LPR status in 1 year increments until a final decision is made in your case.

Married Aliens in Non-Immigrant Visas and those without Status For those who enter the US as a non-immigrant and are separated from their spouse but still married, filing a divorce would open up opportunities in case they meet a new significant other who is a US Citizen and who can petition them as an immediate rela-

tive. This is usually the fastest of process in obtaining legal permanent residence. In countries such as the Philippines where there is no divorce, many people come to the US to start a new life after they have been separated from their old spouse (often still married to them). Even if the alien over stays their status as a visitor, the alien can still adjust to that of a legal permanent residence if petitioned by a US Citizen spouse.

If the alien was never inspected, the alien can still adjust to legal permanent residence if they are grandfathered under INA 245(i) and there are no special restrictions on their status. To be grandfathered under INA 245(i), the alien must have been a beneficiary of a legal permanent residence petition filed no later than April 30, 2001.

Finally, a common concern of divorcing immigrants is “What happens if my spouse refuses to sign the divorce papers?” The truth is you do not need your spouse’s signature to obtain a divorce in California. You only need to provide your spouse notice that you filed a divorce by personally serving your spouse the divorce petition and summons. In coun-

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tries that are members of the Hague Convention, special procedures need to be followed to effect service. So yes it is possible to divorce your spouse even if your spouse is in a country that does not recognize divorce among its citizens such as the Philippines.

For some immigrants, filing for divorce opens up opportunities in this land of milk and honey. *** Attorney Kenneth Ursua Reyes is a Certified Family Law Specialist. He was President of the Philippine American Bar Association. He is a member of both the Family law section and Immigration law section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He has extensive CPA experience prior to law practice. LAW OFFICES OF KENNETH REYES, P.C. is located at 3699 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 747, Los Angeles, CA, 90010. Tel. (213) 388-1611 or e-mail kureyeslaw@gmail.com or visit our website at Kenreyeslaw.com. *** Please note that this article is not legal advice and is not intended as legal advice. The article is intended to provide only general, non-specific legal information. This article is not intended to cover all the issues related to the topic discussed.

The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. This article does create any attorney client relationship between you and the Law Offices of Kenneth U. Reyes, P.C. This article is not a solicitation.

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B NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 2, 2016 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL

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The Asian Journal

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Wednesday, November 30, 2016

MAGAZINE

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cover story The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - November 30, 2016

ONE LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION EDUARD ’THE LANDSLIDE’ FOLAYANG:

Success comes from persevering and hard work

by ERIC ANTHONY LICAS / AJPRESS

SOME doubters thought Eduard Folayang’s career as a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter had ended years before he won two consecutive victories in 2016 to earn a shot at the ONE Lightweight World Championship.

Many believed the 32year-old Wushu practitioner’s comeback would come to a screeching halt against highlydecorated grappler and former lightweight champ, Shinya Aoki.

Aware of the adversity before him, Folayang — who bears the nickname, “The Landslide” — remained undaunted, trained hard, and came ready to their match on Friday, November 11.

“I didn’t panic when I was taken down,” said Folayang during an interview with the Asian Journal at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Hollywood, California on Sunday, November 20, just a few days after dethroning the Japanese fighter for the ONE lightweight title.

“I prepared in a way that I was always in a disadvantaged position.”

Winning the fight Folayang knew he would face one of the toughest matches of his career against Aoki.

Since claiming the lightweight belt in April 2013, Aoki — a world-class Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner — had won all six of his prior fights going into the championship fight in early November.

Meanwhile, Folayang, who traces his roots to the Igorot tribe, had spent an entire year training in the high-altitude environment of Baguio following a loss to Timofey Nastyukhin in December of 2014.

The fighter from Baguio made an impressive return to

the ring in 2016 by winning a series of unanimous decisions over Tetsuya Yamada in January and Adrian Pang in August. Those victories earned Folayang a fight against Aoki and a chance to claim the ONE lightweight championship.

As expected, Aoki brought the fight to the ground at the outset of the match, where it remained for the majority of the first two rounds. However, Folayang and his trainers had anticipated their opponent’s strategy. The challenger managed to maintain his composure while working in the groundfighting expert’s element. The Wushu striker thwarted several submission attempts while dealing damage with elbows and a variety of kicks.

Early in the following round, Folayang managed to secure double underhooks (positioning both of his arms to control each of his opponent’s shoulderblades) after stuffing a takedown attempt by Aoki. From there, a decisive knee to the head, followed by smothering ground and pound, led judges to stop the fight in Folayang’s favor roughly 40 seconds into the third round.

A little more than a year after many skeptics were ready to dismiss him, Folayang prevailed in one of the toughest matchups of his career and stunned the world by beating Aoki, who has been considered one of the best mixed martial artists to come

out of Asia.

Although Folayang’s victory might have shocked many fight fans, he has spent most of his life beating the odds.

Chasing the dream Folayang acknowledges, but speaks sparingly, of the poverty that haunted his childhood.

“I need to keep on moving,” said the recently hailed champion in his interview with the Asian Journal. “My future is bigger than my past.”

He worked hard to overcome his circumstances, eventually becoming a teacher while simultaneously continuing to develop his skills as a mixed martial artist.

At the age of 16, Folayang began training under the instruction of Wushu coach Tony Candelaria. He showed promise early on and eventually began competing with the Philippine National Wushu Team while attending Cordillera College.

It was there that Foayalng met Mark Sanguiao, the trainer who would eventually found Team Lakay. Over time, Sanguiao’s gym helped the Baguio region earn a reputation for incubating strong fighters and built a name for itself as one of the Philippines’ premiere training camps.

In 2002, Folayang began winning recognitions at international Wushu competitions, culminating in a gold medal at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, which was won via knockout with a spinning back kick.

Folayang also served as an instructor and cornerman at Team Lakay MMA events, an experience that led him to develop an interest in branching out from Wushu.

The current ONE lightweight champ had made a stunning MMA debut in 2007 by knocking out Allan Co — the undefeated welterweight champion of the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) — in one round. Folayang would go on to win nine out of 10 matches before he began fighting in the ONE Championship in 2011.

Braving life’s challenges Folayang and many of the other fighters who train with Team Lakay employ spinning backfists, flying knees, widelyarcked kicks and a host of other eye-catching strikes. TThe unconventional attacks have devastated some fighters and drawn gasps of excitement from ONE Championship spectators.

Folayang delivers an especially tremendous amount of power with his strikes, according to those who have worked with him.

“On some days, I would walk into the gym and hear this loud banging noise over the sounds of the weight room on the second floor,” said Tristan Rebuyaco, a Filipino-American member of Team Lakay and former student who used to train with Folayang in Baguio. “We all knew that was Eduard, training on the third.”

Despite the praises and wins, Folayang’s career has seen its share of frustration. Following his loss in 2014, he faced a lot of criticism, including claims that his career as a mixed martial artist was over.

He could have returned to the classroom to resume teaching then, rather than endure the extreme highs and lows of a fighter’s career. Instead, he entered a year-long period of introspection and self-improvement intent on becoming a role model.

“I want the [Philippines’] youth to be inspired,” said Folayang. “There is something in them...if they push, there are no obstacles they cannot conquer.”

In 2014, the flagship fighter of Team Lakay MMA redoubled his resolve in the face of doubt.

Throughout the following year, Folayang matured his strengths as a striker and fortified his takedown and submission defense.

He emerged from his training as a more confident fighter primed to make a statement to both fans and skeptics.

In this process, Folayang said he never doubted his decision to commit himself to MMA. The way the reigning ONE

ONE lightweight champion Eduard ʻThe Landslideʼ Folayang

lightweight champion sees it: it’s either now or never.

“I believe there is a time and a season for everything under heaven,” Folayang said.

“While I still have the energy to compete in this sport, I need to utilize it.”

A growing family outside the spotlight It’s been a big year for Folayang. Still, despite the commotion involved with celebrating and promoting his upset victory, his thoughts rarely stray from the well-being of his family back in Baguio.

After posing for selfies and getting to know fans who had invited him to a private baby shower in Chino Hills, California on Sunday, November 20, the mixed martial artist snapped pictures of decorations and dessert displays his wife, Genevieve, might consider using in her own upcoming baby shower.

She rarely complains about the dangers Folayang faces as he builds a name for himself in the world of MMA, but her husband knows she worries, especially now that the couple is expecting their first child. Their potential future drives Folayang to keep his health and safety at the forefront of his mind, even if his seemingly high-risk/highreward fighting style might suggest otherwise.

Although many of those who know the champ are quick to commend his work ethic, Folayang credits his faith as the inspiration and source of his strength.

Following tears of joy and a

AJPress photos by Eric Anthony Licas

surge of emotions, the very first words he shared with ONE Championship fans following his recent victory were praises for the “master of masters and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ.”

“A victory without God is no victory at all,” the devout Catholic added.

Now in his prime, Folayang says he won’t squander opportunities presented before him for fear of the challenges invited by his success. On a never-ending mission of self-improvement, Folayang is hoping to develop his time management skills so that he can maintain his rigorous training schedule while taking on new roles as the lightweight champion and a first-time father.

“I need to keep on improving,” he reflected. “In the coming days, I will check those areas where I am weak, where I am strong, and keep on improving … so I can be able to defend my belt well.”

The fighter said he could see himself settling into a quieter, though perhaps no less hectic, life educating children in Baguio sometime in the future.

However, right now, he believes he can make a more meaningful impact on the lives of young people in the Philippines as a fighter rather than a teacher.

“Someday I can be able to teach, perhaps when I am not able to compete,” said Folayang. “[But] you can teach even if you’re not in school...you can teach in the way they can see what you are doing and what you are accomplishing.”

Catriona Gray in US to compete for Miss World Vic Sotto to spend a ‘normal Christmas’ this year

by LAURA

GIONGCO ManilaTimes.net

WITH an advocacy closer to hear heart, a passion for the Philippines’ great outdoors, and the incomparable grace, warmth and hospitality of a Filipina, beauty queen Catriona Gray left for the United States on Thursday, Nov. 24 to represent the country at the upcoming Miss World 2016 pageant.

Before the biggest journey of her life, CQ Global Quest’s Cory Quirino—Miss World’s franchisee in the Philippines—hosted a send off party for the beautiful and talented young woman, who hopes to win the famed blue crown of Miss World, won only by Megan Young for the country in 2013.

“I am really excited to get into it,” gushed Gray as members of media crowded around her during her despedida at a San Juan City restaurant.

A self-confessed low-maintenance girl who loves nature, the comely Bicolana said she is excited to learn about the cultures of her fellow candidates, and is also eager to share with them the wonders Philippine tourism has to offer.

“We have so much to offer here in the Philippines. We are a 7,107-island nation, and as a traveler I really enjoy going around the Philippines,” she said.

“I think our tourism industry is something that should not be left out,” she added as she vowed to advocate the country’s beauty while in Washington, DC. In fact, Miss World-Philippines had already begun her tourism pitch as her opening

by BOT

GLORIOSO Philstar.com

VIC Sotto, also popularly known as Bossing, said he has mixed feelings over the noninclusion of “Enteng Kabisote 10 and the Abangers,” his supposed entry to this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).

A regular in local cinema’s biggest annual festival, Vic spoke to the press during last week’s presscon regarding his thoughts on the screening committee’s decision to select eight independent films as official entries and “booted out” mainstream productions. Other MMFF regulars which didn’t make it to the Magic 8 are Vice Ganda and Coco Martin’s starrers “The Super Parental Guardians” under Star Cinema and Regal Entertainment’s Miss World-Philippineswent to the US with nine suitcases of all-Filipino fashion. ing her fellow candidates native “Mano Po 7: Chinoy.” video for the pageant featured “I have mixed feelings abaca purses from Bicol to Albay’s Mayon Volcano. Upabout it. First of all, for the first further push Filipino craftsmanloaded online by the UK-based time, I will be having a normal ship as well as highlight Filipino Miss World organization, the Christmas. But more than that, hospitality. clip has garnered almost a milit’s more of… I cannot say hard With the country’s consislion views in a fortnight. tent success in beauty pageants feelings at kung meron man, “I am so overwhelmed! I it’s not for me but for the childidn’t expect that. I just wanted in the last five years, there are dren,” he said. very high hopes for Gray to to show people who I am and Vic added, “With all due rebring home the second Miss how beautiful the Philippines spect sa mga kasamahan natin World, and she is up for the is,” Gray enthused. sa pelikula for the first time in challenge. The 22-year-old She further said the pagso many years, panahon pa ni model-turned-beauty queen eant is also a great opportunity FPJ (Fernando Poe Jr.) at Doladded that her greatest adto showcase Filipino talent and phy hindi nawawalan ng pamvantage in the competition is craftsmanship as she brings bata basta ang pinag-usapan her dedication to her cause in with her an all-Filipino collecMetro Manila Film Festival.” pushing Philippine tourism, as tion of gowns to wear for the The comedian emphawell as advocating children’s pre-pageant activities and the sized that he believed in the right to education. coronation night.

More importantly, Gray has word respect. He has respect The statuesque beauty has taken with her the right attitude for what the people want or chosen a Francis Libiran gown in this once in a lifetime adven- what he referred to as “panfor the finals night on Decemlasa ng bawat tao.” He, too, ture: “I keep reminding myself ber 18 at the Gaylord Convenhas respect in the decision of to enjoy the ride and not to tion Center.

She also revealed she is giftContinued on Page 5 the screening committee but

Vic Sotto co-stars (from left) Bea Binene, Ryza Cenon and Alonzo Muhlach during the presscon.

hinted that it should have also taken into consideration what the moviegoers want in the kind of movies, especially during the Christmas season. “I don’t have anything personal against them; nirerespeto ko ang panlasa nila at pag ganitong dumarating ang Pasko may panlasa tayo na nagkakaisa ang buong pamilya. Ang masakit lang sa akin hindi nila nirespeto yung panlasang yun ng manunuod ng pelikulang Pilipino.”

Vic made it clear that he has nothing against movies included in the filmfest line-up “but they should have at least included movies that can be watched by children.”

Still, he considered what happened as a blessing in disguise. The movie’s earlier

than Christmas Day playdate — tomorrow, Nov. 30 — is synonymous to having a longer movie showing period. He said it might be shown until the New Year. “What’s good, we were notified that SM Cinemas will open at 8 a.m. (earlier than the normal screening schedule),” Vic revealed.

It is also known that provincial theaters have an option whether to screen or not those not in the MMFF list since they are not under the MMDA mandate of restricting Metro Manila theaters to screen only the official entries.

Asked who decided on the playdate of “Enteng Kabisote 10,” Vic said it was the producers’ decision for the movie to have an earlier opening date.

Continued on Page 4

features

With La Aunor in the race, MMFF 2016 is not starless

by RONNIE

CARRASCO III

ManilaTimes.net

IS there sour-graping among those who had ardently wished (or lobbied?) for their festival bets to make it to the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival, but whose prayers were in vain? Is this the same disgruntled group that labelled the forthcoming festival as “starless”?

With Nora Aunor in the race, Vignettes thinks otherwise. There may not be too many big stars in the festival but to her credit, Ate Guy (no offense meant to Ate Vi) has been hailed as the Queen of Metro Manila Film Festival since 1976.

This year, Nora is fielding “Kabisera,” which happens to be co-helmed by a young yet promising director Real Florido who also wrote the story.

Personally, I had worked with Real in a QTV 11-produced showbiz-oriented talk show some six years ago. I was one of several (minor) hosts, while he was one of the episode writers.

“Kabisera” is Real’s second directorial project, the first being “1st Ko Si 3rd” (starring Nova Villa and Dante Rivero) that gave him a Best Director Award from the London Film Awards, and a special citation award from Canada International Film Festival.

“Kabisera” was also chosen as an official entry to several other

Because the major stars were busy with their respective schedules, it took us 15 months to finish the film. With her, I thought Nora Aunor being the Superstar, she would be intimidating. But it turned out that she is way too simple and polite. Pero pag take na, nagta-transform. I was floored.”

What was Real’s most remarkable encounter with Nora on the set?

“Ate Guy always discussed scenes with me and Direk Boy San Agustin. She tracked the emotional journey of the Nora Aunor character and made sure that festivals abroad. her performance in this film was Intrigued by his latest work, different from those in the past.

“Vignettes” asked Real about ‘Direk, gusto ko iba ang atake this follow-through project.

“The film is a family drama on ko dito. Iniisip ko kung paano the life of a simple Filipino family ko iibahin.’ Kaya tuwang-tuwa and how its matriarch takes over kami sa kinalabasan ng finished the central seat or ‘kabisera’ after product.”

Magical is how Real dea tragic event,” Real said. scribed Nora after wrapping up To begin with, is Real a an important scene with her coNoranian?

“I am a fan of many seasoned actors, particularly taking note of what he believes is the highlight actors. It just so happened that my producers at Firestarters Pro- of Kabisera: a scene shot from the hallway to the kitchen to the ductions and I had her as top of exterior part of the house amid mind in this project,” the young the rain. director intoned.

Also cast in the film are Ricky Getting the chance to work Davao, JC de Vera, Jason Abawith Nora for the first time, did los, Victor Neri, Ces Quesada, he have any reservations that Menggie Cobarrubias, Karl Mefilming might not run smoothly dina, Ronwaldo Martin [brother for one reason or another? of Coco]and Perla Bautista.

“We started in June 2015.

Checking up on Maine Mendoza

Maine Mendoza

IT may no longer be the height of the AlDub phenomenon but Maine Mendoza continues to ignite showbizlandia with her bubbly personality and inimitable entertainment style.

Checking up on the Bulakenya lass who became an overnight sensation via Eat Bulaga’s “Kalyeserye” in July 2015, Mendoza told The Manila Times her “wedding” to Alden Richards in the noontime show has renewed the public’s excitement over the love team.

Meanwhile, the TV and movie darling, who is part of the upcoming Vic Sotto movie, Enteng Kabisote 10 and The Abangers, also continues to be a favorite endorser for a variety of brands.

During this interview, Men-

doza had just received news that her meat endorsement for CDO had pushed the product to the number one spot.

“I’m happy and flattered that I somehow helped in making CDO Funtastyk Young Pork become the top-selling tocino in the country,” she humbly acknowledged.

Asked about her love life, the actress only smiled as she chooses to keep the public guessing whether she and Richards are an item following their short vacation in Europe.

What more can we expect from her?

“We are currently working on something outside Eat Bulaga, at dapat abangan nila ito.” (ManilaTImes.net)

3

The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - November 30, 2016

Rehearsals in full swing for FASO’s Christmas concert THE Filipino American Symphony Orchestra (FASO), the only Filipino symphony orchestra outside of the Philippines, is deep into rehearsals for “A Christmas Concert” on Saturday, December 3, 6:00 p.m. at the John Wayne Performing Arts Center in Glendale, California.

Imagine rehearsals of heartwarming Christmas songs in English and Tagalog, including “O Holy Night,” “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “White Christmas, “Kumukutikutitap,” “Mano Po, Ninong” and “Simbang Gabi.”

Those beloved holiday tunes and more will be performed by talented soloists and over a hundred glorious voices from combined adult and children choirs, with a full symphonic orchestra under the baton of musical director and conductor Robert “Bob” Shroder.

The beautiful voices filling FASO’s rehearsal space come from members of Immaculate Heart of Mary Adult Choir, Philippine Chamber Singers-Los Angeles, Prime Note Ensemble, St. Brendan Choir, St. Jane Frances de Chantal Choir, Academy of Visual and Performing Arts Youth Chorus of La Sierra University, Holy Family Children’s Concert Chorus, Immaculate Heart of Mary Children’s Choir and Precious

Photos by Rick Gavino

Blood Children’s Choir.

Also impressing everyone at the rehearsals are guest performers with their distinct solo voices: Joan Cano, soprano; Gina Ibarrola, a soloist and member of the WIN (Waraynon Initiative Network) Chorale; and Nayah Damasen, an 11year-old singing sensation who is the “good luck charm” of the Golden State Warriors.

The Christmas concert promises to live up to the reputation of FASO as a presenter of topnotch, memorable

concerts, based on its previous shows which earned standing ovations and cheers.

John Wayne Performing Arts Center is located at 1440 E. Broadway, Glendale, California 91205. For tickets, call Andy Tecson (323) 467-5096; Bob Shroder (818) 395-8936; and Arlene Ferrolino (213) 248-9850. Tickets are also available athttp://fasochristmas.eventbrite.com/. Tickets are at $25, $45 and $75. More information at www.fasofoundation.org.

why ORGANIC? Organic products meet stringent standards Healthier for you & kids Organic food tastes better Organic farming respects natural resources Avoids pesticides & are artificial-fertilizer-free Non-GMO, no synthetic pesticides, no growth-promoting antibiotics There are many, many more reasons to go Organic. But in short: You’ll leave the world a better place than when you found it

4

features

The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - November 30, 2016

Mildred Smith of Seafood City (left) and Joanne Rivera, PNB Remittance Centers Inc. (right) got together to make this season truly special for many “kababayans.”

PNB Global Remit and Seafood City’s partnership makes Christmas very merry

PNB Global Remit and Seafood City are excited to announce a new partnership benefiting all Suki members and PNB Global Remit customers.

From Dec. 1 to Dec. 31, for every dollar spent inside your Seafood City neighborhood supermarket, you can earn points

and redeem for discounted fees from your remittances until the end of the year.

Even more exciting news, PNB Global Remit customers can rack up on their points when they choose to send their remittances at participating locations. For every $1

spent on fees, you can earn 10 points* for a maximum of 100 points each time you send money to your loved ones this holiday season. Check out this promo and make the season truly bright for you and your loved ones. *Advertising Supplement

Vic Sotto will spend a ‘normal Christmas...

From Page 2

He added, “In fact, Star Cinema also decided for its movie.

And I think it’s a good one since it’s a holiday (Nov. 30 is Bonifacio Day) and there are no classes at sakto din kasi kakasweldo lang o yung iba nagbigayan na ng bonus; kumbaga it’s on their list to be able to watch movies. Hopefully, they will be entertained by Enteng.”

How does he feel that Enteng will open in cinemas on the same day as “The Super Parental Guardians?”

“That’s okay, mas maganda may kasama. Si Vice at si Coco malulungkot ‘yun pag wala ako,” quipped Vic. Kidding-aside, he said that theaters these days can accommodate eight or more movies so it would not be impossible for them to have Enteng and Parental Guardians at the same

time “and the chances of being the box-office hit is very possible for two or even three movies. So there would really be no problem.”

What Vic can assure now is for the whole family to find Enteng an entertaining fare.

The trailer alone visibly reflects that “Enteng 10” has leveled up in all aspects — from the story to the actors and to the special effects.

In the latest installment, Enteng (portrayed by Vic) has evolved with the times, especially since in the story, he is now an iron works magnate.

His wife Faye is now staying permanently in Engkantasya so they seldom see each other and their children have all become independent. So Enteng has settled down as a businessman and a doting grandfather to Benok’s (Oyo

Sotto) son Benokis (Alonzo Muhlach). Soon, trouble will brew and Enteng will once again fight evil to save the world.

“The whole family will laugh and cry,” said Vic who also announced that the movie is Rated G (General Audiences — all ages admitted). “G as in gwapo at gondoh,” he added with a laugh.

Produced by OctoArts Films, APT Entertainment and M-Zet Production, Enteng Kabisote 10 and the Abangers also stars Epi Quizon, Aiza Seguerra, Ryzza Mae Dizon, Bea Binene, Ryza Cenon, Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, Paolo Ballesteros, Ken Chan, Cacai Bautista, Simon Loresca and Atak. Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards will have a special participation.

It is directed by Tony Reyes and Marlon Rivera.

MOONLIGHTING LEON

The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - November 30, 2016

by JACQUELINE

and beauty pageant producers that knew their business have a lot in common: endless fundraising for worthy causes, that nevertheless raises donor fatigue.

In the boxing arena Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s retirement after beating Bradley in April was never taken seriously.

Mayweather’s appearance at his fight, was taken as a sight of things to come — a call for a second fight with the world champion and senator.

Prof. Camilo Graza launched his book, “Passport to Heaven,” which took three and a half years in the making. It is about people of spiritual wisdom, divine teaching and compendium of information on suffering, struggling, rejoicing human nature. A common understanding of the way to heaven.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP-USA) on its seventh year of the Maguindanao Massacre, continues their fight for justice for the 32 journalists who were killed (with no resolution yet to the case). The Philippines remains then third most deadly country for journalists next only to war torn Iraq and Somalia.

Moments in November include when schadenfreude never felt so good: the corporate greed, left unmentioned about because its simply there, like writings in the wall or the elephant in the room, announcing itself.

The Movement of Help End Rape and other Child Abuse (MOTHER) imitably took the

centerstage and received the support of volunteers, who offered their service through workshop trainings conducted in communities, attended by the less fortunate youth and moms arranged through Bantay Bata staff and ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation.

The media continues to collectively believe that as long as the press remains more than a corporate vassal — advertisements masquerading as news — there is no hope. Because the reader is most injured when they have lost their freedom to read what they want, when they want.

It was perfect time for us once more, members of the Fourth Estate to reflect, measure up to our standards, to always be what we would like to be in our chosen field.

Thanksgiving, came and went…from recognizable goals to grand pipe dreams and everything in between. Toasts were made, dances danced, pictures posted, speeches delivered, oaths were sworn, the reporters scribbled, socializing and politics lived.

On that day of thanks and giving made me think of young soldiers who stood in frozen vigil at some lonely war shores, and I feel the deepest moments of gratitude for these young men and women, dripping with weapons — when they too could be home, sipping cider by the fire.. ***

E-mail Mylah at moonlightingmdl@ aol.com

ARIAS

“Does that happen a lot?”

Joshua asks the fishermen as they share a meal of canned “DAWSON’S Creek” and sardines. They answer, “Three “Fringe” actor Joshua Jackdays out of a week.” son recently visited the fisherIt’s difficult seeing these men at Apo Island here in the Philippines. What he found out locals living near the coast and how they can’t even provide from the locals is a huge eyeopener on the effects of climate food nowadays. Senan even admits that some of his kids change in our country.

A clip from National Geographic’s Years of Living Dangerously shows the local fishermen Senan and Jorie free-diving so they can spear fish for their livelihood. Unfortunately, no fish can be found and you can see that the corals are in bad condition as well. This results to not having anything to eat for the day.

Inquirer.net

IT was a month of passion, erudition and of past times, but mostly politics and government at every turn both here and across the country.

In a trove of bemused reflection, timeless 30 days of follies, tragedies and triumphs that intrigued us, filling our days and troubled our nights, these thoughts gave us pause, pleasure and wonder, that we are grateful for the gift of reflection, consciousness of those days that occupied our minds and commanded our pens.

Literature has been called an art that lasts. Arts, poetry, philosophy science and nature — while all bright and beautiful — promise purity and elegance that transcends all in the final analysis. All bow to the sovereignty of politics, dominating our lives with fear and distrust, maligning and making all around us wither, like a heap of rotting leaves. In its power to produce a circle of ruins, it doesn’t deserve even a grudging aspect for its capacity for grandeur and delight at its best ideology.

But politics rule and sadly we’re stuck with political tolerance. President-elect Donald Trump’s victory has no historical parallel, but he was credentialed by the American people on election day. This gave the Republican Party a shimmering new popular identity, while leaving the Democrats in shambles.

In the Fil-Am community stage, reporting is nothing you can plan, polish or perfect. Beyond gentle tributes in redundancy, they will forget in due time about the world of charity, music, fashion, cuisine and many splendid things. Polite and soft news are women and men who spoke eloquently about themselves.

With some luck you can be in good company of a swarm of gorgeous people, from one pocket of ostentatious merriment to another.

TV and fashion personalities

5

Joshua Jackson goes to Apo Island, visits Pinoy fishermen

by MYLAH DE

features

November to remember

Catriona Gray in US to...

From Page 2 get too wrapped up in worrying about my performance.”

Admitting to be a perfectionist, she said, “The majority of the pressure comes from myself. But if everyone has high hopes it really pushes me to do better and give my best.

I want them to be proud [of me]—I want to make my country proud,” Gray said.

With the pageant taking place just a week before Christmas, Gray hopes she can give Filipinos the best gift to end the year on a high note.

left the island to look for better opportunities because there are no more fish. But there’s still a glint of hope from Senan as he lists down what he wants in the future.

“For my family…to be able to eat three times a day, that [Jorie] gets to finish school.

That’s enough,” Senan says.

6

The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - November 30, 2016

VA L I D AT I S L A N D PAC I F I C W E S T C O V I N A , PA N O R A M A , C A N O G A PA R K , N . V E R M O N T L A , S . V E R M O N T L A , O X N A R D, C E R R I T O S , R A N C H O C U C A M O N G A , LO N G B E AC H .

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99¢ SAVINGS

$0.79 58%

UPO

3

lbs for WAS

99¢ SAVINGS

$0.79 58%

CANTALOUPE