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From the Front Page
NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY ASIAN JOURNAL • JUNE 24-30, 2016
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Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach takes…
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HOMAGE TO JOSE RIZAL. Rizalistas offer prayers and flowers to celebrate the 155th birthday of Dr. Jose Rizal at the Luneta Park in Manila on Sunday, June 19. ManilaTimes.net photo by Russell Palma
Roxas’ mom lost P110-M in his poll…
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tial candidate was submitting his Soce to the Comelec on the last day of a 14-day grace period given to him and the LP after they failed to meet the deadline on June 8. Roxas’ report showed that of the P487 million he poured on his failed run for Malacañang, P469.29 million were cash and in-kind donations and P18 million came from his own pocket. The report showed that Roxas was the second-biggest campaign spender, after Sen. Grace Poe, who reported spending P510.84 million. The winner, Duterte, reported spending P371 million. The bulk of the cash contributions to Roxas’ campaign came from the Araneta and Fores clan, with his mom as the top donor. Roxas’ uncle, Jorge Araneta, donated P70 million; aunt Maria Fores, P60 million; another aunt, Ruby Roxas, P10 million; cousin Jorge Fores, P10 million; sister Maria Lourdes Ojeda, P10 million; his restaurateur cousin Margarita Fores, P7 million, and uncle Manuel Roxas, P5 million. Mining magnate Francis Enrico Gutierrez donated P40 million to Roxas’ campaign, and real estate executive Melesa Dy Chua gave him P10 million. The other donors were former Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., who gave P5 million; former Trade
and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo, P5 million; and Karina David, who played a role in the campaign, P1 million. The LP’s Alfonso Umali Jr. contributed P72.39 million in television ads, according to Roxas’ report. In an interview with reporters on Wednesday, Gutierrez said the contributions made by Roxas’ relatives were “not surprising,” as they came from a well-established family, running multiple businesses for decades. A large part of Roxas’ expenditures, P407 million, or 87 percent, went to campaign ads, mostly on television, said Gutierrez, who filed the Soce on behalf of Roxas. 50 boxes of documents Gutierrez carried Roxas’ report, supported by voluminous documents placed in 50 boxes and transported in an Elf pickup, to the Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila. He said Roxas’ camp had tried to meet the June 8 deadline, but decided to ask for an extension to make sure his report would be “accurate and truthful.” “Every cent that was spent per [rally], per campaign event, every action made during the elections we submitted to the Comelec,” he said. “We have scanned and disclosed everything down to the last receipt in keeping with the spirit of the law for full transparency,” he said. “Based on our experience, if you
Mar Roxas is flanked by wife Korina Sanchez and mother Judy Araneta Roxas. Inquirer.net photo by Grig Montegrande
Supreme Court tied... PAGE A2 t law to provide them relief from the specter of deportation.” Filipino DACA recipient and policy advocate for Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles, Anthony Ng, said the program has allowed him and other talented immigrants make greater contributions to society. Ng, who graduated from the University of California, Irvine, said if it weren’t for DACA, the risk of deportation might have prevented him from entering the workforce. “This ruling sends a strong message to make our voices heard,” said Ng. “We need to make sure we have elected officials who will put forth policies that benefit our communities.” The Pew Research Center estimates that of the nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants facing deportation. This includes approximately 500,000 undocumented AAPIs and more than 40,000 Filipinos. There were 20,000 Filipinos eligible for the DACA program in 2013, according to the Philippine Embassy. Thursday’s ruling will not affect the existing DACA program enacted in 2012. People may still receive protection from deportation and work authorization if they came to the U.S. before they turned 16 years old, among other requirements. Had they been implemented, DAPA and the expanded DACA and would have allowed eligible participants to obtain driver’s licenses, health care, and bank accounts and keep resident students from having to pay out-ofstate tuition fees, according to a statement released by Advancing Justice-LA. “These programs would allow our families to stay together and not live in fear,” the organization said in the statement. According to a report from the Migration Policy Institute, of the 10 million people who live in a household with at least one DAPA eligible person, 4.3 million are children under the age of
18. Thirty-seven percent of undocumented immigrants in the country are parents of minors who are US citizens, according to data from the Pew Research Center. The Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) in Los Angeles was “saddened” upon learning about the decision because of the impact of DACA and DAPA on the lives of many undocumented Filipinos, according to Lolita Lledo, associate director and lead organizer of PWC. Lledo emphasized the importance of these policies because it promotes open conversation about immigration and the obstacles that undocumented immigrants face upon coming to the U.S. She said that many undocumented Filipinos are hesitant to reach out for research because of stigmas tied to being labeled an undocumented immigrant. “I think most of our kababayans don’t know the process and they’re still living in fear and [try to be] invisible and not catch any attention,” said Lledo, who mentioned instances where parents don’t want their children to apply for DACA in fear that they will be deported once they reveal their status. Lledo added that helping undocumented immigrants along the path to citizenship does not mean “immediately rewarding them with amnesty,” but rather giving them the chance to “fall in line” and go through regular protocol and procedure to become naturalized citizens. “It’s just like, ‘Why can’t we not help these undocumented immigrants that need our help?’” said Lledo. “They just want to be citizens. They’re not terrorists. They just want to work and contribute something to our society, so why don’t we help them?” For DACA qualifiers, Advancing Justice-LA offers free assistance for first-time applicants and renewals. For more information, call their toll free hotline: Tagalog at (800) 300-2552 and/ or English/Spanish at (213) 2410240.
break down all of our expenses, it was really going to take 50 boxes of documents.” Extension controversy Voting 4-3 last week, the Comelec granted Roxas’ and the LP request for a two-week extension of the deadline. Election Commissioner Christian Robert Lim voted to deny the request, as the law prohibits extending the deadline, and resigned as head of the Comelec’s campaign finance office. On Wednesday, incoming House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez urged the Comelec to release its resolution granting the extension so that interested parties could question its legality in the Supreme Court. The party of Alvarez, PDP-Laban, earlier indicated its intention to ask the Supreme Court to strike down the Comelec resolution. n
Testing Day on Monday, June 27 when special testing events will be held around the United States. “It is vital to get tested at least once in your lifetime. The risk is in not knowing,” the reigning Miss Universe added. Ending the stigma associated with testing that exists in many parts of the world is critical to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic as it is estimated that 17.1 million of the 36.9 million people living with HIV worldwide do not know they are infected. “The most important thing about getting an HIV test today is to destigmatize the whole idea of knowing your HIV status,” said Therese Rodriguez, Apicha’s
CEO. “She will hopefully inspire more people to have the courage to get themselves tested.” Rodriguez explained that knowing one’s status is crucial in the process of getting the necessary help one needs. In New York, HIV tests are provided for free by health care centers such as Apicha, which specializes in care for the LGBT community. In other states and centers, there is a sliding scale in terms of the cost of the test. “Every government should invest in it (HIV testing) because it is more expensive to cure people rather than to prevent it,” Rodriguez said. “We are going to continue our educational work and bring resources to the issue of HIV and
AIDS. The stigma has to be on the forefront of our struggle and those are the only ways for us to end the epidemic,” she added. HIV Awareness in the Philippines Upon her arrival, Miss Universe went to a pre-test counseling with a community health educator from the center. Shortly thereafter, she was given the latest form of test, which can detect a new infection within four weeks of transmission. And instead of waiting for weeks or days, the results were available a few minutes after the test was conducted. “I volunteered to be tested because I didn’t know my status. I’m curious about the statistics in
released on June 20. The bishops’ conference, headed by Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan Socrates B. Villegas, called for an “appeal to humanity” and said that outright filling “is not morally justified.” “We must fight criminality but the impunity with which offenders of the law carry on with their criminal activity also points out flaws in our criminal justice system,” the bishops said in the statement. “We beg our prosecutors and judges to remain firm in their consecration to justice, for there is no greater insult to the Creator than to use the gifts of intelligence, discernment and one’s success at legal studies for ends contrary to builds the Body of Christ and contributes the building of the King-
dom of God,” the statement read. On Tuesday, June 21 an anticrime and corruption advocacy group called Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption denounced the killings, noting that the number of killed suspects over the weekend was “alarming”, according to GMA News. Spokesman for the group Arsenio Evangelista told radio station dzBB that law enforcement should keep suspects that are lowerranked in the cartels alive to gain information about their leaders. “[Law enforcement officials] seem to want to cut off the [drug] trail...It’s saddening...What we want to really know is the head [of the networks]...from local government units to the law enforcers,” Evangelista said. n
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Duterte: ‘Zero tolerance’ on…
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said, according to Philstar. When asked about the possible human rights violations, Sueño asserted that the incoming president “follows the rule of law.” “He does not want to see many people being killed. He prefers dialogue,” he said. Duterte’s tough on crime approach was pivotal to his victory at the polls, but not everyone agrees with the incoming president’s staunch position on brute force against criminals. Catholic bishops “disturbed” The Philippine Catholic Bishops Conference responded to the killings and Duterte’s pledge on violence, noting they are “disturbed” by the recent killings as well as the rise of “vigilantism” in a statement