Philippine Canadian Inquirer Issue #98

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VOL. 1 NO. 98

JANUARY 17, 2014

7

8

12

25

46

Recto warns against use of emergency power

Rain triggers floods, landslides in southern PH

CBCP hails elevation of new PH cardinal

Lead and inspire

Fil-Canadian in Crisis

Israel’s Ariel Sharon buried as nation bids final farewell to ex prime minister and war hero

BY ARON HELLER The Associated Press

CHEERS! President Aquino shares a toast with Papal Nuncio Archibishop Guiseppe Pinto during the "vin d’honneur" at Malacanang Palace.

Gov’t lost P1.3T to smugglers in 9 years IMF, BOC import data ’disparities’ cited

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer FROM 2002 to 2011, the government lost more than P1.33 trillion in revenue due to smuggling through the country’s ports, according to the Federation of

Philippine Industries (FPI).

In a 20-page study, a copy of which was given to the Inquirer, the FPI, which groups about 800 companies, said that lost revenues from 2002 to 2008 came up to P889.5 billion, with further losses

PHOTO BY MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

PHOTO BY LYN RILLON

❱❱ PAGE 20 Israel’s Ariel

Makati to limit billboards on buildings, intersections; ad firms’ input sought ❱❱ PAGE 8

❱❱ PAGE 11 Gov’t lost

JERUSALEM—Ariel Sharon was laid to rest Monday at his ranch in southern Israel as the nation bid a final farewell to one of its most colorful and influential leaders—a man venerated by supporters as a warrior and statesman but reviled in the Arab world as a war criminal.

After Israeli politicians and international dignitaries honoured Sharon, the military funeral carried a more personal tone, with Sharon’s two sons eulogizing their father as an inspiration for the nation. On a day

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 2

ANG TUNAY NA KALAYAAN AY WALANG HANGGANAN.

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Philippine News

3 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Expert confirms shelters subpar Bunkhouses unliveable, says Palafox

BY TJ A. BURGONIO AND TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer THEY ARE cramped, have thin plywood walls and two-slope roofs that could be easily blown off by strong storms.

Architect and urban planner Felino Palafox Jr. shared his observations of the bunkhouses built for victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in Tacloban City, confirming an international assessment these were substandard.

“I’m reminded of the saying, ’We build monuments for the dead but we can’t even provide decent housing for the living,’” he said on the phone.

Palafox, who accompanied rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson during a visit last Dec. 13 to the typhoon-ravaged city, said the bunkhouses have 1/4-inch plywood walls, roofs with two slopes and are cramped.

It was clear the builders violated the building and fire codes of the country, he said.

“Would you want your family to live here?” he said, referring to yesterday’s INQUIRER frontpage photo of a row of bunkhouses made up of thin plywood and GI sheets. “It’s a fire hazard. There’s no privacy. The materials are so flimsy.”

Arjun Jain of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said yesterday: “I think the donors are fully committed and the UN is fully committed to helping the people of the Philippines. That support is going to be unwavering. That is for certain.”

“As far as the bunkhouses are concerned, we have received all assurances from the government that international specifications will be met, especially through the redesign of some of the bunkhouses. And we are very reassured by this commitment of the government, and we will continue to support all the relief efforts including the early recovery efforts,” Jain told the INQUIRER. He made the statement when reached by phone on his way back to Tacloban, where he supervises UNHCR operations in the typhoon-ravaged areas, particularly the provision of emergency shelter materials, cooking utensils and solar lanterns among others.

“We have discussed with the government the standards that should be met in redesigning the bunkhouses. The government has taken all our recommendations on board and they have assured us of the changes,” Jain added.

The Nov. 8 typhoon—theworst to ever hit the country—damaged or destroyed some 1.1 million houses, leaving some 4.1 million people homeless.

The bunkhouses are temporary shelters, the government has stressed. The

timetable for building permanent housing remains unclear and depends on a host of issues, including the availability of land for relocation sites.

No-build zones at least 40 meters from the coastline at high tide have been ordered. Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson told reporters on Monday he did not expect that rebuilding the ruined communities could be completed in two years.

Repeating same mistake

In the interview with the INQUIRER, Palafox said he was puzzled why bunkhouses were built with two slopes instead of four slopes, when homes with such a design were wrecked by the typhoon.

“Why repeat the same mistake? We’re supposed to build back better,” he said.

By this time, nearly a month after that visit, Palafox believes that the Department of Public Workls and Highways (DPWH) had fixed the temporary shelters in order to comply with international standards.

An international shelter group reported that the bunkhouses being developed by the DPWH did not comply with internationally recognized standards and best practices.

The Camp Coordination and Camp Management had raised concerns, including cramped spaces, lack of ventilation, risk of fires, and safety and security of the occupants.

Palafox said each bunkhouse should be at least 20 square meters (sq m), with three bedrooms, and if possible, a “kitchen garden.”

He stressed that young girls should not share a room with the men in the house “because in crisis, the biggest victims are the women, children, specifically young girls.”

By kitchen garden, the architect was referring to a small plot at the back of the kitchen where the family could grow vegetables.

If it’s a permanent shelter, it should be at least 40 sq m, he said. “There should be an incremental approach to housing.

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Collusion probed

On top of concerns on the substandard bunkhouses, Lacson said he had begun investigating the possible collusion between contractors and a local politician to profit from the construction of bunkhouses.

Lacson said he had tapped the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group to look into reports that the contractors and politician were pocketing 30 to 35 percent ❱❱ PAGE 7 Expert confirms

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Philippine News

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 4

Budget usec: Why me?

BY NANCY C. CARVAJAL Philippine Daily Inquirer BUDGET UNDERSECRETARY Mario Relampagos has questioned why he is being singled out for suspicion in the “fake Saro scam” even as he denied having submitted a statement to the National Bureau of Investigation in connection with the NBI investigation.

“I was the one who objected to its (the Saros’) release because of deficiency of documents and now I am the one allegedly being investigated,” Relampagos said in an interview.

He claimed to having expressed his objections even before the issue of fake Saros emerged in connection with farm-to-market road projects in Cagayan Valley.

Relampagos also said that contrary to the NBI claim, “I have not submitted any statement to them nor was I called in for questioning.”

“The NBI has not talked to me and I am willing to cooperate with the investigation and

I hope the investigation will be over soon so the guilty parties could be punished and the innocent will be spared from further vilification,” he said.

The budget undersecretary explained that all documents at the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) go through his office as he has been designated by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to sign on the latter’s behalf.

“I signed for everything but only after it had the approval of the secretary and these documents go through other offices also,” he said.

He added that the DBM documents go through a budget analyst, a budget officer in charge of the project, a legal officer and technical personnel, then to the office of the secretary and then his office.

Relampagos explained that unlike his previous bosses where he was only authorized to sign as a last resort, Abad had designated him as the signatory of all documents, including the issuance of the special allotment release order (Saro) and the no-

tice of cash allocation (NCA).

A Saro is a DBM approval that paves the way for the issuance of the NCA, which in turn triggers the release of funds from, say, the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or the congressional pork barrel, and other government fund releases.

Relampagos has been with the DBM since the time of President Cory Aquino.

“In previous administrations I was only an option, if the secretary was not available, but now I am the designated signatory after the secretary has stamped his approval,” he said.

He explained that this designation was made only to ensure an efficient flow of documents.

He said he had no knowledge of the fake Saro scam, which sources in the agency said had been there for a “long time.”

Relampagos said he had talked to his driver, a DBM regular employee who has been implicated in the scam and one of those questioned by the NBI. “I asked him about his involvement in the release of the fake Saro and he denied it. But

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Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos (shown in photo) said he had no knowledge of the fake Saro scam, which sources in the agency said had been there for a “long time.”

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

if the NBI finds him guilty, he should be penalized. I will not cover for him,” he said.

Relampagos’ name surfaced in the investigation after several of his office staff, including a janitor, were implicated in the scam.

The NBI opened an investigation into the alleged fake Saro scam following a request from Abad last October.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier said investigators were not ruling out the possible involvement of “a higher DBM official or officials” in the scam.

The alleged scam was discovered after an agriculture official alerted Abad to the release of a

Saro for P161 million, which was hand-carried by Enrico Arao, an aide of Cagayan Rep. Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso, to the Cagayan Valley office of the agriculture department last October.

Arao claimed he did not know that the document was fake and pointed to Joel Badong, an employee at the secretary general’s office in the House of Representatives, as the source of the document.

Another Saro covering Western Visayas for P77 million was also found to be spurious.

The originals of the documents have remained with the DBM office and have neither been signed nor released. ■

Philippine News

5 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

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Philippine News

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 6

Palace hands off SC-Congress tiff

BY MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer MALACAÑANG DOESN’T want to be caught in the crossfire of an electoral and jurisidictional dispute that is pitting the judiciary against the legislature.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda yesterday said that President Aquino would not “interfere” in the conflict over the results of last year’s congressional elections in Marinduque involving opposing candidates Lord Alan Velasco, a son of Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr.; and Regina Ongsiaco-Reyes, who has been recognized as the winning candidate by the House of Representatives.

“This is an issue over jurisdiction between two separate and independent branches of government—the legislature and the judiciary. It is not proper for the Executive to interfere,” Lacierda said in a text message, quoting Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, a senior leader of the ruling Liberal Party (LP).

The Commission on Elections, which initially proclaimed Reyes as the winner of the elections later reversed itself and disqualified her because of questions about her citizenship and residency.

’Despots’

Upholding Comelec

The Supreme Court upheld the Comelec decision. However, 169 House members led

by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte signed a resolution to defy the high court and stand by Reyes— who has since produced a passport ostensibly proving her Filipino citizenship—arguing that she had been proclaimed the winner before the high court intervened.

Many of the signatories of the resolution were LP members but Lacierda, again quoting Abad, said that this was “just incidental.”

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said it would not be proper for Malacañang to take sides in a conflict between two other branches of government.

“We would like to see this

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda.

PHOTO FROM SOLARNEWS.PH

matter resolved in accordance with law and the national interest,” said Coloma in a phone interview.

Some 58 percent of the 289 House members supported House Resolution 597 “reiterating adherence to the timehonored principle on the exclusivity of jurisdiction of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal over all contests relating to the election, returns and qualifications of its members to preserve the integrity, dignity and reputation of the

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House of Representatives and its members.”

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Rey Umali, the author of the resolution, said the “robust support” for it showed that the lawmakers were prepared to stand up to the “bullying” of the Supreme Court.

“I believe that our members have had enough of the Supreme Court’s bullying. This time, they have overstepped their jurisdiction. We will defy them and not honor their decision,” Umali said in a phone interview.

Umali went to the extent of calling the justices “despots” who should “get down from their high chair and respect their coequals in government.”

“This is a clear show of force on our part. Please, don’t force it,” said Umali, presumably addressing the high court justices.

It was Umali who gave a privilege speech last December attacking the high court’s “undue interference” in election-related issues. It was Reyes herself who brought the case to the high court after the Comelec disqualified her.

Reyes, the daughter of Marinduque Gov. Carmencita Reyes, defeated the younger Velasco in the May midterm elections by a margin of 3,800 votes, paving the way for her early proclamation as representative of the lone district of Marinduque.

After the Supreme Court rejected with finality Reyes’ appeal for the high court to reverse its ruling upholding the Comelec decision to disqualify her, Velasco formally requested Belmonte to expel her from the House. ■

Philippine News

7 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Recto warns against use of emergency power

BY TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, PHILIPPINES— Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto cautioned President Benigno Aquino on Monday against asking for emergency powers to avert an electricity crisis because he could get “electrocuted.”

What the executive department should rush instead are proposals to clear roadblocks to the construction of more power plants, the senator said.

“It is up to the President to demand them (emergency powers) but my view is that it should be the legislation of last resort,” he said in a statement.

Recto reminded the administration that emergency powers were “fraught with political risks.”

“Once he has it, the onus of solving the energy crisis falls on him. If electricity rates will go up, for example, the people will expect him to tame the increase on the mistaken belief that he has the power to moderate them,” he said.

“In other words, emergency powers are (so) politically highvoltage that they can electrocute him. People will see it as the magic wand that can make high power rates go away or power plants go up in an instance.”

Some senators and representatives thumbed down Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone’s proposal to grant the President emergency powers to fast-track the construction of more power plants.

More power plants could meet the growing demand for electricity and bring down costs, Evardone argued. Such powers would allow the President to shorten the bidding process and simplify the “Swiss challenge mode of inviting investors in the power and transport sectors ,” he said.

Commenting on the proposal, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said in a statement: “Does the government need emergency powers to fast-track new power plants? Probably not, but the issue is worth looking into.”

He said the public should not forget the consequences

Expert confirms... commissions.

He said charges would be filed against these personalities with the Office of the Ombudsman if evidence so warranted. ❰❰ 3

Identify contractors

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto cautioned the President against asking for emergency powers to avert an electricity crisis because he could get “electrocuted.”

PHOTO FROM UNTVWEB.COM

of the grant of such powers to President Fidel V. Ramos in the 1990s to deal with widespread blackouts.

“We ended up with muchcriticized take-or-pay provisions where government and the people ended up paying for unused power. At the time, we were thankful to have more albeit expensive power as alternative to no power and blackouts. But I think we should be smarter now,” he added.

The Manila Electric Co. has warned that further constraints on its ability to collect the P4.15 per kilowatt hour power adjustment could disrupt the entire power industry.

Recto urged Energy officials to begin crafting amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, Presidential Decree 910 on the use of the Malampaya gas proceeds, and other laws that supposedly stand in the way of the building of new power plants.

A key measure that Malacañang should craft is one that seeks to lift constraints in building new plants “in light of the universal consensus that massive blackouts loom beginning next year,” he said.

Quoting the Department of Energy, Recto said the Luzon grid would require 1,000 megawatts to meet the growing demand. From 2001 to 2013, Luzon peak demand of electricity surged from 5,646 mW to 8,300

mW, he noted.

Recto said Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla had proposed an amendment to the Epira law seeking to lift the prohibitions against the government operating power plants.

He said the inability of the Epira law to dispose of the National Power Corp.’s debts should also be revisited.

Recto said that unless PD 910 was rewritten, the government is barred from using proceeds from the Malampaya natural gas field for activities other than “energy resource development and exploitation.”

“We should also be open to the possibility of tapping it to mitigate steep power rate hikes during times when plants using more expensive fuel go in line to fill the void left by plants undergoing periodic maintenance,” he said.

In a landmark ruling in November, the Supreme Court struck down the provision allowing the President to use the special fund for non-energy related projects.

Recto said transparency provisions in both the Epira law and PD 910 should also be strengthened to avoid “a repeat of the recent fiasco when high power rates were negotiated in an electricity market marked by regulatory failure.”

“Any environment which encourages price collusion must be expunged,” he said. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Palafox declined comment on charges that the bunkhouses were overpriced, saying these were now being investigated by Lacson.

“At the least, the contractors and consultants should be identified,” he said.

Assistant Secretary Jesus Domingo of the Department of Foreign Affairs Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations said he had so far not encountered any query from foreign partners on the issue.

Domingo is coordinating foreign aid for Yolanda-related efforts.

The European Union’s delegation in Manila also said that its assistance for Philippine typhoon relief was not disbursed for the construction of bunkhouses.

Its humanitarian aid review this month will also not cover the issue and is part of its regular aid monitoring process.

Yolanda a ’new benchmark’

Sen. Loren Legarda said that

if the government aimed for a resilient recovery, the structural integrity of homes, buildings and other structures “should not be compromised.”

“We need to rebuild communities with the confidence that we are not rebuilding the risks again. We need to ensure that the construction of homes, even the temporary shelters, will be on safer ground following sound construction standards,” said Legarda, chair of the Senate climate change committee.

After all, Yolanda has become the new benchmark for disaster prevention, and the country should raise the standard for building structures, she said.

Inquiry

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito vowed to call for an inquiry into reports of overpricing of bunkhouses in Visayas as he appealed to officials and contractors not to take advantage of the typhoon victims.

“This is not the time to take advantage of the situation when Visayas is in shambles.

We should all be helping to get them back on their feet rather than take advantage of their predicament,” Ejercito said in a statement.

The typhoon victims “needed all the help they can get,” he added. ■

The bunkhouses have 1/4-inch plywood walls, roofs with two slopes and are cramped, clearly a violation of the building and fire codes of the country, according to Architect and urban planner Felino Palafox Jr. PHOTO FROM SOLARNEWS.PH

Philippine News

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 8

Estradas defend P200-M pork fund

Makati to limit billboards on buildings, intersections; ad firms’ input sought

BY TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer

BY MARICAR B. BRIZUELA Philippine Daily Inquirer

CAN THEY help it if the Estradas are simply “smarter”—or more “shameless”—than others?

An unrepentant Sen. Jinggoy Estrada—under fire for assigning P100 million of his pork barrel allotment in the 2014 budget to the city of Manila, of which his father is the mayor—yesterday said the vehicle that he used, Allocation to Local Government Units (ALGU), was in the budget for everyone to see.

The ALGU is a lump-sum item in the budget that can be tapped by the President to aid a province, city or municipality.

“It’s there in the budget.

That’s not my creation. Why didn’t they tap it?” he said in a phone interview.

The congressmen who are complaining over the double standard in the handling by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the now outlawed Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) could very well have realigned their own pork to their favored local government units (LGUs) also, he said.

“That’s not my fault. There was nothing unlawful in what I did. It was ratified by both houses. Why should it be seen as being unfair?” Estrada said.

Nothing wrong there

Estrada’s father, deposed president and convicted plunderer Joseph Estrada, who is now the mayor of Manila, sees nothing wrong with his senator son giving his city fully half of his PDAF allocation.

“What’s wrong with that? It wasn’t given to me. I will not benefit from it but the city of Manila,” the senior Estrada told reporters.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV called Jinggoy’s action “shameless” considering that his father was the mayor of Manila.

“He’s the one who’s shameless,” the Manila mayor said of Trillanes. “He’s narrow-minded.”

Smarting at Trillanes’ gibe, Jinggoy yesterday said in Filipino: “He should stop grandstanding.”

Defending his son, the elder

Estrada said Jinggoy knew that Manila was “bankrupt,” citing the P3.5-billion budget deficit and P613 million unpaid electricity bills.

“He could have given all of the P200 million but he divided it since he knows Caloocan and the town in Cagayan also need it,” he said.

Asked where the funds would go, the Manila mayor said: “Where it is most needed.”

He said there will be transparency in how the money will be handled as the city council will have to approve the budget allocation.

The only one

The younger Estrada was the only senator to have opted to realign his pork allotment to favored local governments. The P200 million was split between Manila (P100 million), Caloocan City (P50 million) and Lal-lo, Cagayan (P50 million).

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that the PDAF was unconstitutional and public calls for its abolition in the face of the P10-billion congressional pork barrel scandal, 15 senators—Juan Edgardo Angara, Bam Aquino, Nancy Binay, Franklin Drilon, Juan Ponce Enrile, Francis Escudero, Teofisto Guingona, Gregorio Honasan, Loren Legarda, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., SergioOsmeña III, Grace Poe-Llamanzares, Aquilino Pimentel III, Vicente Sotto III and Cynthia Villar—chose to have their PDAF totaling P3 billion deleted from the 2014 budget.

Five senators—Senators Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano, Ralph Recto, Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Joseph Victor Ejercito— to have their allocations earmarked for the calamity fund, while three others—Senators Bong Revilla, Lito Lapid and Antonio Trillanes III had theirs allotted to hospitals, universities, public works projects and in the case of Trillanes to the military and police organizations.

A ruse

House representatives said Estrada’s action was unfair as they would also havewanted to ❱❱ PAGE 14 Estradas defend

BILLBOARD OWNERS, contractors and advertisers in Makati City have been asked to comment on the draft 10-year master plan presented by City Hall last year to regulate outdoor advertising and prevent this industry from becoming a source of eyesores and safety hazards.

Among the provisions in the plan is a ban on billboard or electronic display within 50 meters from the outermost portion of all interchanges or right of way of all underpasses, bridges, transport stations, terminals or similar structures.

It also proposes a ban on billboards right on top buildings.

Natural formations like rocks, hills and tree-lined areas should also be free of those towering ads.

Only 6 per building

Ad displays will also not be allowed in places that could block emergency exits, fire escapes or other openings of all buildings in the city.

“Using them to wrap buildings shall also be prohibited, particularly on all types of residential and office buildings, and above-grade parking buildings where exhaust venting may be severely compromised,

There is a proposal in the City Hall master plan to regulate outdoor advertising and prevent eyesores and safety hazards.

PHOTO FROM SHUTTERSTOCK

and where occupants may be deprived of natural light, ventilation and view,” the city government said in a statement.

Only six signs or ad materials will be allowed per building under the proposed plan to prevent clutter.

Temporary signs like banners and posters mounted on existing posts, fences or buildings shall be required to show a date of expiry, with a maximum of 30 calendar days, although the display period may be renewable.

Charged to the owner

The plan also calls for the removal of temporary signages at the expense of the owner. If it is removed by the city government, the cost will be charged to the owner.

The city government said the restriction on roadside billboards, for example, was meant to keep intersections free of

visual distractions on the road that can cause accidents.

Around 180 industry representatives attended a public hearing on the plan on Dec. 16 last year.

Concerns

They aired concerns such as the maximum number of signs or billboards that can be allowed per building, the basis for the charges and fees, and the ban near intersections.

In a 2004 ordinance, the Makati City government imposed a moratorium on the construction of new billboards and signs to avoid accidents particularly during typhoons.

Last year, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority also created a Magna Carta on Outdoor Media that imposes limits on the size and height of billboards on major thoroughfares. ■

Rain triggers floods, landslides in southern Philippines; 20 dead, 13 missing The Associated Press MANILA, PHILIPPINES— TWO days of heavy rains set off floods and landslides in the southeastern Philippines, leaving at least 20 people dead, 13 missing and thousands displaced, officials said Monday.

Most of the dead and missing came from floods and landslides that hit Compostella Valley and Davao Oriental provinces, said Maj. Reynaldo Balido, spokesman for the disaster-response agency.

A landslide Monday damaged www.canadianinquirer.net

five houses in Cagdianao municipality in Dinagat Island, off the northeastern coast of the main southern island of Mindanao, killing six residents including two boys aged 2 and 14, said police officer Elbert Ompoc.

Another man drowned in Agusan del Sur province’s Prosperidad township, on Mindanao, and seven others were missing, according to the civil defence regional bureau.

The flooding, triggered by rains from a low pressure area, has affected 132,000 people from 10 provinces.

Liza Mazo, a regional disas-

ter-response official, said some 10,000 people fled to safer grounds in four provinces and an island.

The same area was hit by a typhoon in December 2012, leaving nearly 2,000 people dead and missing and causing massive destruction.

Government weather forecaster Gener Quitlong said rains may persist until Tuesday or Wednesday over central provinces, including those hit by Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,100 people and left nearly 1,800 others missing on Nov. 8. ■

Philippine News

9 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

9 senators realign P1.8-billion pork

BY TJ A. BURGONIO AND GIL CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer NINE SENATORS who had their pork barrel totaling P1.8 billion realigned to projects and the calamity fund in the 2014 national budget were well within their rights to do so, Sen. Francis Escudero said.

For instance, Escudero said, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada was doing his job when he introduced an amendment to allot his P200 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocation to three local government units [including Manila where his father is the mayor].

This came ahead of the implementation of the P2.265trillion national budget, and hence, did not violate the Supreme Court decision striking down the 2013 PDAF as unconstitutional, according to the chair of the finance committee.

Even so, the final decision to release or not to release the fund allotted to the three local government units (LGUs) lay with the executive department, he said.

“In accordance with the powers of Congress, all of us can introduce an amendment.

That’s our legislative power. If the President submits the budget, we can’t skirt our duty to amend it. What are we, a rubber stamp?” Escudero said by phone, chuckling. As the pork barrel scandal roiled Congress, 15 senators opted to have each of their P200-million annual PDAF allocation deleted from the 2014 budget, as did Vice President Jejomar Binay.

That was P3.2 billion less than the House of Representatives approved P2.268-trillion budget. In the end, both chambers approved a P2.265-trillion budget that President Aquino signed into law before Christmas.

The other nine senators decided to realign their respective allocations.

Cayetano et al.

Escudero said Senators Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano, Ralph Recto, Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Joseph Victor Ejercito manifested to have their PDAF allocation realigned to the calamity fund.

Escudero said, Senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Lito Lapid and Antonio Trillanes IV decided to allot their PDAF to schools, hospitals and public works projects, while Estrada opted to have his allocated to the LGUs. Breakdown

Based on data culled by the INQUIRER from the 2014 General Appropriations Act, four senators allocated the funds to the following: • Estrada—Manila, P100 million; Caloocan City, P50 million where Mayor Oscar Malapitan is a political ally; and Llalo, Cagayan province, P50 million, where an airport is being built to serve the Cagayan Special Economic Zone.

• Lapid—Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), P193 million; Department of Health (DOH), P5million; and Department of Social Welfare and Development, P2 million.

• Revilla—DPWH, P84.5 million; DOH, P75 million; and University of the Philippines, P35 million.

• Trillanes—DOH-Office of the Secretary, P102.45 million; Commission on Higher Education, P36.2 million; Philippine Army, P27.95 million; Philippine Navy, P22 million; Philippine National Police, P7.4 million; and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, P4 million.

Trillanes justification

Sought

for

comment,

Trillanes said he decided to realign his allocation to fund the scholarship programs of state universities and colleges, and support charity patients in public hospitals and the construction of barracks for soldiers affected by the abolition.

“Deleting it from the national budget will not allow me to do this unless I will realign funds from the budget of other government agencies,” he said in a text message.

In a text message, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the amount that Estrada realigned was approved by the Senate and adopted by the bicameral conference committee.

“They were introduced as amendments to the budget. As such, they will require a special budget request for their release,” said Abad.

While Abad could not verify the other realignments made

by Lapid, Revilla and Trillanes, he said these would also be subject to the same treatment as Estrada’s realignments.

“We still have to find out where said PDAF allocations were realigned. And if indeed they were realigned, they are also subject to special budget request,” the budget secretary said.

In the House, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said he was surprised about Abad’s claim that the realignments would still need clearance from the Department of Budget and Management.

Lump-sum items

“The Supreme Court was not clear on whether lawmakers could realign the funds or not because it is clear that Congress has the power of the purse and has the prerogative where government money should be spent. What it was clear on was that lump-sum items should be discontinued and that everything in the budget should be

www.canadianinquirer.net

itemized,” Colmenares said in a phone interview.

He said the House practically realigned P930 billion worth of items in the 2014 budget, including the pork barrel, because it wanted to ensure that all expenses were itemized and not carried as lump sums.

“So why does the President have to give his clearance before releasing the funds realigned by the senators? This is still patronage politics, the PDAF was just converted into presidential pork,” he said.

Approved caucus

in

Early on, all the senators agreed in a caucus “to respect what each senator wanted to do with the original PDAF allocation,” Escudero said by way of explaining the different modes taken by the senators in disposing of their pork barrel.

“The decision was not to put it to a vote, and to just let the senators decide, and be responsible for it,” he said.

The manifestations of the nine senators were carried out as amendments since the Senate did not follow the original House budget measure that realigned P25.2 billion in congressional PDAF, including the Senate’s portion, to five departments, Escudero said.

word ’insertion,’” he said. “We’ve been very transparent with everything.”

Escudero said Estrada’s identification of the LGUs did not violate the Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional all provisions of the law that allowed legislators “to wield any form of post-enactment authority” in the implementation of the budget.

“His identification of the LGUs does not violate the Supreme Court decision. That’s part of our function in Congress. It’s well within our right to review and approve the budget. This is preenactment intervention,” he said.

“With the 2014 budget, there was no post-enactment inter-

Not an insertion

“I will contest the use of the

❱❱ PAGE 13 9 senators

Philippine News

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 10

3M join one of world’s biggest processions

BY NIÑA P. CALLEJA, ERIKA SAULER AND JAYMEE T. GAMIL Philippine Daily Inquirer JAIME AQUINO, a 63-yearold stroke survivor, limped his way through the thick, jostling crowd to approach a replica of the statue of the Black Nazarene to touch it.

He did not have the strength to follow the main procession that carried the centuries-old, original statue of the Black Nazarene, but spending what strength he had left to touch a reproduction of it, he said, was his way of showing gratitude for the cure of his and his family’s illnesses in the past.

Aquino was accompanied by his wife, Marjorie, who said she had been cured of breast cancer and, like her husband, attributed the cure to the statue.

Like the Aquinos, an estimated 3million other barefoot Catholics yesterday defied physical infirmities and natural difficulties, including the heat of the sun, to fulfill their devotion to the ebony statue of Jesus Christ, crowned with thorns and bearing a cross, and carry it in the “Traslacion,” one of the world’s biggest religious processions.

Schools along the 6.4-kilometer route of the procession declared a holiday and hundreds of thousands of male and female devotees began to battle for position at dawn to get near

Miraculous powers

An estimated 3 million barefoot Catholics on January 9 defied physical infirmities and natural difficulties, including the heat of the sun, to fulfill their devotion to the ebony statue of Jesus Christ, crowned with thorns and bearing a cross, and carry it in the “Traslacion,” one of the world’s biggest religious processions.

PHOTO FROM PH.NEWS.YAHOO.COM

the Black Nazarene statue, which they believed had miraculous powers.

Security nightmare

The Philippine National Police deployed 6,000 policemen to secure the daylong procession, an annual security nightmare due to the presence of Muslim extremists and widespread crime in the country.

The security included police snipers who perched on rooftops of buildings along the route of the procession.

They never had to go into action, but organizers said about 1,686 devotees fell ill or were injured, and one person suffered a potentially fatal stroke as the procession moved step by painful step from the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park to the statue’s shrine in Quiapo Church in the heart of Manila, following a

longer route than last year.

This year, authorities closed McArthur Bridge over the Pasig River that had been found to have structural defects and feared might give way under the weight of thousands crossing it during the procession.

The procession had to take Jones Bridge down river to the west and go down to Sta. Cruz district through Escolta Street in Manila’s Chinatown before entering Quiapo district.

Nobody complained, although days before people were asking what the Department of PublicWorks and Highways had done about the defects of the bridge since they were found last year.

“This is my way of saying ’Thank you’ to the Lord and asking him for safe delivery of my second child,” said heavily pregnant housewife Kaye Morales, 32.

“My eldest, a 13-year-old boy,

met an accident last month and we believe it was the Nazarene’s help that he recovered quickly,” she said.

Seven months pregnant, Morales traveled to Manila from Bacoor town in Cavite province, just south of the capital, and queued for hours to kiss the feet of the Black Nazarene statue.

The life-size statue of Jesus was brought to Manila by Augustinian priests from Mexico in 1607, decades after the start of Spanish colonial rule.

It was believed to have acquired its black color after it was partially burned when the Spanish galleon carrying it caught fire.

The annual feast commemorates the first procession that transferred the Black Nazarene statue from a church in the walled city of Intramuros to Quiapo Church on Jan. 9, 1767.

Devotees swear by the statue’s miraculous powers, and believe that by joining the procession, barefoot to humble themselves, their prayers will be answered.

For Manila laborer Wilson Faculto, one such miracle happened just two months ago.

He and his wife, Marilyn, had been married for 15 years but could not have a child.

Five years ago the couple began joining the annual Black Nazarene procession, and in December, their prayers were answered.

“A woman we didn’t know gave us her baby for adoption, and walked away,” he said.

“This boy is our Nazarene miracle,” he said, as he cradled the 2-month-old baby in his arms.

Thousands of devotees had camped out in the park for two days to be among the first to touch the statue. They slept on the grass, unmindful of the foul smell from overflowing portable toilets nearby.

As dawn broke, the men prepared to brave the throng to wipe white handkerchiefs or towels on the statue. Many were teary eyed, and appeared in a trance.

“For a devotee, just touching the Nazarene makes all problems go away,” said Efren Delantar, a 42-yearold security guard.

Apart from asking for a bountiful year ahead for his family, Delantar also prayed for the souls of ❱❱ PAGE 13 3M join

No plan yet to rebuild schools

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE GOVERNMENT has yet to construct replacements for around 100 schools destroyed

by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” two months ago in Leyte and Samar provinces.

Rolando Asis, director of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Eastern Visayas, yesterday said he still had not heard from headquarters in Manila. “There are no plans yet received from the top management,” he told the INQUIRER. Asis, however, said that more than 830 damaged school build-

ings were being repaired. He said completion of work would depend on the “availability of construction materials, including good lumber and GI sheets.”

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson earlier said the repair and rehabilitation of public infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and rural health centers, could be completed in one year.

A DPWH report on its “Operation Yolanda” program, a copy of which was furnished this paper, said that in Tacloban City and Leyte I engineering districts alone, 47 and 46 school buildings, respectively, were either severely damaged or destroyed by the typhoon.

The DPWH regional office recommended their “replacement or reconstruction” but did not provide any time frame.

The damaged facilities include 15 units at Sto. Niño SPED Center, three units at Salvador Elementary School, three units at Anibong Elementary School, two units at Remedios Romualdez Elementary School, one unit at Cirilo Roy Montejo National High School, one unit at Panalaron Central School and one unit at Salvador Elementary School.

In another report, the agency said nearly 600 public schools in nine Eastern Visayas engineering districts were “waiting for construction materials” www.canadianinquirer.net

needed for the repairs.

These include 34 school buildings in Tacloban district, 30 in Leyte I, 135 in Leyte III, 127 in Leyte IV, 38 in Leyte V, 14 in Southern Leyte, 26 in Northern Samar II, 122 in Samar I and 70 in Samar II. In a related development, contractors hired by the DPWH have put up another four bunkhouses, bringing to 126 the total number of temporary shelters completed for the typhoon survivors.

Of the initial 222 bunkhouses the government had planned to build, only 122 were completed before the Christmas break.

Two of them—both in Barangay Candahug in Palo town, Leyte—

were turned over to occupants

by President Aquino during his visit to the area on Dec. 22.

The same contractors have resumed work on 96 temporary shelters, Asis said. “All bunkhouses are expected to be finished by the end of January,” weather conditions permitting, he said.

Additional bunkhouse projects in Eastern Visayas “would depend on available resettlement sites” to be provided by local governments, he said.

Singson announced that the agency would adjust the sizes of bunkhouses to “conform to acceptable international standards.” He said families with more than four members would be allowed to occupy two units. ■

Philippine News

11 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Gov’t lost... of P119.65 billion in 2009 and P326.76 billion in 2010 and 2011.

The FPI arrived at those figures by finding the “disparities in import data” from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

During the 2002-2008 period alone, the IMF reported more than $284 billion in total exports to the Philippines, while BOC records showed only $195.01 billion in the same period, a disparity of $88.9 billion.

“The huge discrepancy is most likely due to smuggling,” the FPI said.

In 2010 and 2011, “data from foreign exporters said goods shipped to the Philippines amounted to more than $70.5 billion and $78.4 billion, respectively,” the group said.

But government statistics showed imports of only $51.07 billion in 2010 and $54.3 billion in 2011, or disparities of $19.43 billion and $24.1 billion, respectively. ❰❰ 1

Same operations

According to the FPI, smugglers employed the “same old modus operandi,” or the undervaluation, misdeclaration, misclassification and diversion of shipments.

Those operations are technical smuggling, FPI chair Jesus Arranza said.

Lost revenue due to “outright smuggling,” or operations that take place in isolated parts of the country and do not involve import documents, were not covered by the FPI study.

Arranza said, however, that both technical and outright smuggling “have robbed the government of much-needed revenues.”

Unfair competition

He said the smugglers also “created unfair competition to local manufacturers, resulting in decreased capacity utilization, as well as the downsizing, if not closure, of many firms leading to unemployment and dislocation of laborers.”

Smuggling also “discourages foreign investors ” from setting up operations in the Philippines “once they realize their products are already sold freely in the domestic market,” Arranza said.

The FPI study cited, among other cases of undervaluation

of imported goods, the case of the consignee of a May 2006 shipment of steel bars.

“In its import declaration, the company declared 3,000 metric tons of ’round bars’ with a value of $230 per MT, or a tariff rate of 1 percent. After the FPI tipped off Customs that half of the items was able to skip the bureau premises, it was only then the BOC issued an alert order and the subsequent seizure of the imported goods. It turned out the shipment consisted of 3,009.3 MT of deformed steel bars, which were subject to checks under the Mandatory Product Standards,” the FPI said.

“Also, the prevailing price of the item was $425.7 per MT with a corresponding tariff rate of 7 percent, not 1 percent,” the group said.

For domestic sale

Another case involved the supposed consignee of two containers of used clothing that arrived at Subic Bay Freeport in Zambales province on April 23, 2006.

“The shipment was found to have not only undervalued but also misdeclared its weight because there was an excess of 31,270 kilograms over the declared 20,000 kg, or a discrepancy of 61.33 percent … On paper, the shipment’s ultimate consignee … would subsequently reexport the items when in reality, the unrecorded volume of goods would find its way to the local market. This would explain the various apprehensions of used clothing being whisked out in closed vans from the warehouses in Subic,” the FPI said.

One of the cases of misdeclaration of imports involved a trading company that on Aug. 19, 2007, declared a shipment of hand tools from China.

But the shipment turned out to be onions, one of the regulated agricultural products in the Philippines, the report said.

According to the FPI, the BOC’s X-ray machines failed to detect the smuggling attempt.

It was the FPI that tipped the bureau off to the irregularity.

“Those cited in the study are actual cases backed by official documents,” Arranza said.

Recommendations

In its report, the FPI made

Bureau of Customs OIC-Commissioner John P. Sevilla (center), shown here in his first executive meeting with his staff, stressed that the BOC’s game plan included use of technology and improvement of internal systems.

PHOTO FROM CUSTOMS.GOV.PH

several recommendations to the BOC to help stop smuggling.

The group recommended, among other remedies, classifying smuggling as an act of plunder with penalties based on the cumulative evaded duties and taxes; disallowing free ports and economic zones as ports of entry for imports; destruction of smuggled goods, except some items that can be donated to concerned government agencies (like the Department of Social Welfare and Development) and charity organizations; and the designation of special courts to handle smuggling cases.

The FPI had recommended the same measures to previous administrations. But “not a single recommendation has been adopted by the Bureau of Customs,” Arranza said.

Customs deal

On Nov. 19, 2010, the association entered into an agreement with the BOC for an “exchange of nonclassified information” and for the FPI to be allowed to “identify import transactions detrimental to domestic industries.”

The agreement also authorized the FPI to “assist the BOC in the physical and documentary inspection of all imported goods covered by the bureau’s Mandatory Product Standards Certification .”

It also required the BOC to “release only those shipments that are in compliance with the rules and regulations of the Philippine National Standards, and in the case of agricultural products, those that have been issued release orders by the corresponding government www.canadianinquirer.net

agencies.”

The FPI was also required to provide the customs bureau with “qualified industry technical experts to monitor the shipment of imported goods.”

New Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla calls the bureau’s antismuggling drive one of the agency’s “three principal mandates,” along with revenue collection and trade facilitation.

“These three are equally important. We want to move forward on all these three,” Sevilla told the Inquirer in a recent interview.

Game plan

Asked about the BOC’s game plan, Sevilla stressed the need to “maximize the use of technology , or the mechanization of everything that can be mechanized; improve the internal systems that will reduce the scope of graft and inefficiency, which I realize come hand in hand, and the more inefficient your processes are the more prone they will be to corruption.”

“Right now, I’m seeing little details and very clearly, I can see that we will succeed or fail based on these little details. It’s the sum of small things rather than the big thing,” he said.

On the reported undervaluation of imported goods, Sevilla said “the way to address the problem systematically is to have good quality valuation data.”

“Do I wish that I could snap my fingers and have that today? Yes. Do I have it? No. So we’ll build it and we’ll build it progressively, focusing on the most important commodities ,” he said.

On misdeclared goods, Sevilla said he had ordered assessors to be “very strict about imports declared as general goods.”

“We’ll make sure these directives are being strictly followed,” he said.

Asked about the operations of big-time smugglers, Sevilla observed, “Now you have three high-profile people with nicknames,” referring to the traders called “Ma’am Tina,” “Big Mama” and “Mr. T” by BOC insiders.

“But are they the only ones?

We’re talking of an entire ecosystem here… I’m trying to understand how it works, not from the point of view of three individuals but from how the system works,” he said.

Global problem

Earlier, Sevilla’s predecessor, Ruffy Biazon, said that “the problem of smuggling is not one that just cropped up” during his tenure “nor the Aquino administration.”

“It is a problem that hounds every customs administration not just in the Philippines but around the world. Even the most technologically advanced customs agencies face the same problem. The only difference is the magnitude of the problem and the dynamics of the system prevailing in each country,” Biazon said.

“Reform[s] will contribute greatly to the antismuggling efforts of the bureau,” Biazon said, adding “while the basics still remain the same, these institutional reforms will change the environment [at] Customs and make it difficult for the [culture of corruption] to continue.” ■

Philippine News

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 12

Solon to pursue SC impeachment

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer EVEN IF he has to do it alone, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali said he would file an impeachment complaint against several justices for supposedly betraying the public’s trust through inconsistent rulings that threaten the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET).

Umali said he may not wait for one-third of his colleagues to support his complaint before filing it as his signature would suffice for the complaint to be heard by the Committee on Justice.

But if he would be able to get the signature of 97 colleagues, the complaint could be fast tracked and go directly to the Senate for trial, he said.

“Just to douse speculations as to whether it will proceed or not, with or without the 97 signatures, I will pursue it,” Umali told reporters in the weekly breakfast forum at Serye restaurant in Quezon City.

“If nobody will join me, it will be a lonely battle, but I will not renege on it,” he added.

He said he was confident of getting more support once the complaint progresses.

Umali said his main reason in the complaint is the Supreme

Customs losing P5B a year to ’Ma’am T,’ et al.

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali.

PHOTO FROM RAPPLER.COM

Court ruling upholding the disqualification of Marinduque Rep. Regina Reyes. The decision, once implemented, would seat Reyes’ rival who happens to be the son of a Supreme Court justice.

According to Umali, this decision contradicts earlier rulings that the HRET, not the Comelec, has jurisdiction over cases against proclaimed candidates.

He said he also intends to mention in the complaint the Supreme Court’s decision declaring the Congress’ pork barrel as unconstitutional, but he said it would be mostly an aside, or a “by the way,” to illustrate the tribunal’s flip-flopping decisions. The high court declared the pork barrel constitutional in previous rulings.

Umali is hoping that the 169 lawmakers who signed his resolution asserting the HRET’s jurisdiction would also support

his impeachment complaint.

He said this resolution could be the House of Representatives’ ammunition against the Supreme Court ruling on Reyes’ case. Earlier, he said the fact that this many signed the measure showed that the House was willing to stand up to the court’s “bullying.”

He said his move was meant to curb the Supreme Court’s overstepping of its bounds.

“We have the power to balance these abuses through the power of impeachment,” he said.

“It’s either you give in to the bullying of the Supreme Court, to the emasculation of the HRET, or we fight it,” he added.

He plans to be ready with the complaint by the time the Congress’ session resumes. He said he was still determining which of the justices who ruled on Reyes’ case had deviated from established jurisprudence. ■

THE BUREAU of Customs (BOC) has been losing more than P5 billion a year due to the undervaluation of imported plastic manufacturing materials by a group led by “Ma’am T,” one of the big-time players in the Department of Finance attached agency.

This was revealed to the INQUIRER by a newly appointed BOC official who said that at the bureau “Ma’am T is also known as Ma’am Tina,” which is short for “a certain Tina Yu.” “Many customs old-timers know who she is. Her influence, as well as her generosity, are common knowledge at the bureau,” the official noted.

The source confirmed this paper’s earlier report that under-thetable deals between corrupt examiners, appraisers and other frontline bureau personnel and players like Ma’am T were among the main causes of the BOC’s failure to meet its revenue collection targets.

“Because of her, the importation of plastic resin products, mainly by front business firms or consignees being used by her group, has become centralized. That is why importers of these products deal only with her,” said the source.

Influence imports

Like other players, Ma’am T can influence the volume of imports handled by the bureau, “either by withholding or bringing in more shipments to help the customs meet its monthly collection targets.”

That is, if the mutually agreed on “tara” or dirty money to facilitate the release of the imports is met between them and their contacts at the agency, the official said.

But a second source, a former customs official, said that like other players, Ma’am T had “on many occasions fallen prey to the so-called ’alert me, release me’ scheme” practiced by some corrupt bureau personnel.

Under the scheme, players are allowed to bring in undervalued imports. Upon their filing, however, of import entries and payment of duties based on the undervalued declarations, alert orders are issued against the goods. An assessment of the shipment’s supposed real value is then made and the player makes additional payments to facilitate the lifting of the order and the release of the shipment.”

“The additional payments, of course, are shared among all those involved in the scheme, and not the bureau,” said the official. ■

CBCP hails elevation of new PH cardinal

BY NIÑA P. CALLEJA Philippine Daily Inquirer

Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo PHOTO FROM BICOLTODAY.COM

MANILA, PHILIPPINES— THE Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and other church leaders expressed elation Monday over the elevation of Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo to the College of Cardinals, saying it was proof of the growing strength of the Catholic faith in the southern Philippines.

“The CBCP is elated to receive the news. Cardinal-elect Quevedo… is known in the CBCP for his mental clarity and intellectual brilliance. He is an archbishop who is truly passionate for the formation of basic ecclesial communities,” www.canadianinquirer.net

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the CBCP, said in a statement on Monday.

A senior member of the Catholic hierarchy in the Philippines, Quevedo, a member of the order Oblates of Mary Immaculate, has been “a pastor from north in Ilocos Sur and down south in Cotabato.”

“He is an intellectual giant with a very simple lifestyle and very warm fraternal manners.

He is a blessing for the Church,” Villegas said.

According to the CBCP, Quevedo, as a member of the College of Cardinals, will be able to assist Pope Francis in reaching out to the marginalized in Mindanao, the only region in the Philippines with a significantly

large Muslim population.

“A cardinal from Mindanao is a papal tribute to the strength of the Catholic faith in that region of our country.

It is a proof that the Catholic faith in Mindanao is now bearing rich fruits. Cardinal Quevedo is its living testimony,” Villegas said.

In a statement, Manila Archibishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, also a member of the College of Cardinals, called the appointment a “blessing” to the whole Catholic Church.

“The Church in the Philippines and Asia has been greatly blessed these past decades by the service and leadership of Archbishop Quevedo. Now this blessing extends to the whole Church,” Tagle said. ■

Philippine News

13 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

3M join... his relatives who were among thousands who perished when Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) pounded central Philippines two months ago.

“They are no longer with us, but we are asking for special intercession for them,” he said. “I know that wish has been granted. They are all in heaven.”

In demonstrating their faith, overzealous devotees went out of control at the start of yesterday’s celebration, forcing the priests to cut short the early morning Mass at Quirino Grandstand.

Immediately after Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle ended his homily at 6:30 a.m., devotees clad in maroon and gold T-shirts, the colors of the Black Nazarene, rushed the stage, breaking through the police barricade.

Some took over the platform being used by TV crews in front of the stage, while others climbed the stage to seize the statue and put it on the carriage to begin the procession.

Fr. Anton Pascual, manager of Churchrun Radyo Veritas, grabbed the microphone and appealed to the devotees: “Please, be still. Let us finish the Mass.”

The devotees ignored him and proceeded to carry the statue to the carriage.

A priest said this was the first time he had seen devotees disrespect the Mass.

“They have lost respect,” the priest told reporters covering the Mass from the left end of the stage.

Tagle and other Church officials did not react as the devotees carried the statue away.

Church workers grabbed Mass articles to save them from the stampeding crowd, and Tagle and the other priests continued the Mass on the backstage, away from the raucous opening of the procession. ❰❰ 10

Corruption in gov’t

In his homily before the disruption of the Mass, Tagle spoke against corruption in the government and appealed for aid to the “forgotten” survivors of Yolanda in the Visayas, of Typhoon “Pablo” (international name: Bopha) in Tagum and Davao in December 2012, of the Moro insurgents’ attack on Zamboanga City last September and of the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Central Visayas last October.

“It seems they have been forgotten, our brothers and sisters in Zamboanga and Bohol. And for how long are we going to remember our brothers and sisters who have survived Yolanda?” Tagle said.

He urged Catholics to be ashamed of thievery and corruption.

“Don’t be embarrassed in showing your love of God. You should feel ashamed of stealing… You should feel ashamed of corruption,” he said.

Tagle spoke as the administration of President Aquino began to investigate allegations of corruption in the construction of bunkhouses for thousands of survivors of Yolanda who lost their homes

9 senators... when the powerful storm flattened entire communities in the Visayas last Nov. 8.

International aid agencies found the bunkhouses substandard, and reports were that they were overpriced, allegedly to facilitate kickbacks to politicians.

For a while, it was feared that the Black Nazarene, too, had become a victim of thievery, as the statue was seen without its crown as it was being transferred from the stage to the carriage.

Msgr. Clemente Ignacio, Quiapo Church rector, said he did not know whether the crown had been stolen or just fell during the frenzy.

But he said: “I’m sure it would be returned to the Nazarene. It happened in the past.”

True enough, about an hour into the procession, the crown was back on the statue’s head. It must have fallen as the statue tilted during the melee in the park, but was caught by someone and it had taken that long to put it back on the Nazarene’s head.

Intense emotion

Trying to explain the devotees’ behavior, Ignacio said: “Their emotion was intense, perhaps because of poverty and what our country went through in the past year.”

Ignacio acknowledged the need to review the security measures for the feast, but dismissed suggestions to confine the procession to areas immediately around Quiapo Church, which could lead to many deaths because of the increasing number of people joining the annual event.

“At least we have a bigger space here at Quirino Grandstand,” Ignacio said.

Senior Supt. Joel Coronel, deputy director for operations of the Manila police, said the devotees’ behavior at the grandstand had been expected and that explained the deployment of 6,000 policemen to handle security.

But there were too many devotees who rushed to the stage, and they overpowered the police lines, Coronel said.

“Never was there an orderly (Black Nazarene) procession. It has always been disorderly, especially now that we have a bigger crowd.” he said.

Radio and television estimated the crowd at 3 million, but the Metro Manila police could not confirm that figure. But it estimated that about 200,000 were marching with the Nazarene as of 5 p.m. as the procession approached Quiapo district. There, at Plaza Miranda, about 55,000 people awaited the arrival of the Black Nazarene, the police said.

Church authorities said they expected 12 million people to come during the nine days of the Black Nazarene feast, but such figures were difficult to confirm.

One thing was certain, though. The Black Nazarene procession was faster than last year’s 18 hours and the year before’s 22 hours. It was expected to reach Quiapo Church by midnight. ■

vention,” he added, referring to old practices by lawmakers in identifying projects and beneficiaries of pork barrel while the budget was being implemented.

Escudero said Estrada had “no say” at all in the implementation of the assistance to LGUs. “It’s completely in the hands of the executive department, including the decision to release or not to release the fund, or to ask for a program of work.

Completely, Jinggoy has no say in that,” he said. ❰❰ 9

Special provision

Assistance to LGUs used to be a lumpsum item in the national budget, Escudero said.

In the 2014 budget, the Senate introduced a special provision specifying amounts for specific LGUs and requesting the Department of Budget and Management to provide data in cases where the recipient LGUs were not identified.

As far as he could recall, the budget allotted for assistance to LGUs in 2014 was roughly P300 million, including the P200 million from Estrada’s PDAF. As for the rest of the nine senators, the projects funded out of their allocations were itemized in the 2014 budget, the senator said.

All the projects of the nine senators will be posted on the Senate website.

“Because of the controversies involving Senator Estrada, that’s why it’s raising some alarm bells. But what happened in the past has not been proven yet,” he said.

Plunder complaint

Estrada is facing a plunder complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman, together with Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile, businesswoman Janet LimNapoles and 34 others over the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Escudero said the Senate had been “very careful” not to violate the Supreme Court ruling and even quoted its decision on postenactment intervention in the budget, and incorporated “transparency and accountability” provisions that would hold liable any official caught misusing funds.

“We removed all post-enactment interventions. Now they can’t remove from us the function of amending any bill, including the budget,” he said. “That power can’t be taken away.”

He advised the public to closely monitor the disposition of the funds.

“The control mechanism is not to have it released, or monitor the release,” he said. ■

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Philippine News

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 14

Estradas defend... realign their pork to their favored LGUs but were barred from doing so by the House leadership out of respect for the high court decision.

Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, the House committee on appropriations chair, said the House and the budget department reached a “consensus” on how to redistribute the PDAF in the 2014 budget.

Ungab said the entire PDAF entitlements of the House went to five government departments— Department of Public Works and Highways, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority-Department of Labor and Employment.

Caloocan City Rep. Eric Erice said Estrada’s realignment of his P200-million pork to local government units, with P100 million going to the city run by his father, circumvented the Supreme Court decision.

“The problem with Senator Jinggoy’s realignment is besides being a lump sum, the beneficiary is his father’s LGU. So post-enactment intervention cannot be ruled out,” Erice said in a text message.

“It’s nothing but a palusot (ruse) so he can have control of the funds. The justices in their decision were very particular on the issue of post-enactment intervention by legislators,” he said.

The high court ruling de❰❰ 8

Despite the controversies that hounded the police last year, PNP Director General Alan Purisima said the PNP still received a +50 net satisfaction rating in a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations in the last quarter of 2013.

PHOTO FROM PNP.GOV.PH

Cops exhorted: Let’s put more criminals in jail

BY MARLON RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer THIS YEAR, the head of the Philippine National Police wants the 150,000strong force to score a higher conviction rate for criminal cases filed in the courts.

PNP Director General Alan Purisima reminded his field commanders to be truthful in the reporting of crimes in their respective jurisdictions to help the PNP determine the appropriate number of personnel to deploy in crime-prone areas.

“Let us vigorously pursue the investigation and solution of cases. I want to see higher conviction rates and more lawless elements behind bars,” Purisima told senior police officials during the traditional New Year’s Call at Camp Crame.

“With crime, insurgency and terrorism remaining serious threats to the peace and security of communities, let us constantly review our Police Operational Procedures and further strengthen our defenses against lawless elements,” he said.

He urged the police commanders to improve the PNP’s relationship with the community as a vital part of the government’s fight against criminality.

Work harder

He also thanked them for their successful operations in 2013, a year marked by the alleged involvement of several police officials in two separate “rubout” cases of suspected criminals in Atimonan, Que-

zon, and San Pedro, Laguna.

Said Purisima: “With our focus centered on continuing transformation, let us work harder towards developing competence among our ranks, achieving organizational reforms, firmly instilling discipline among all personnel, ensuring excellence in our endeavors, and promoting professionalism in the police service.”

Despite the controversies that hounded the police last year, Purisima said the PNP still received a +50 net satisfaction rating in a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations in the last quarter of 2013.

He said the accomplishments of the police force “in pursuit of the PNP’s mission (will) keep us inspired as we continue to give all we can to serve and protect the nation.”

clared unconstitutional all provisions of the law that allowed legislators “to wield any form of post-enactment authority” in the implementation of the budget.

The subsidies to LGUs were specifically excised from the list of eligible recipients because of fears that it would mean flouting the high court decision, Erice said.

But Sen. Francis Escudero, the chair of the Senate finance committee, said the senators and representatives could still realign their PDAF to the ALGU without violating the Supreme Court decision.

Escudero said realignment would not be a circumvention because the legislators “still can’t intervene.”

He explained that ALGU was a lump-sum item in the budget that had no specifications and guidelines.

“It’s a facility, it’s a procedure which gives the executive flexibility. If an LGU needs something, (the executive department) can augment the ALGU so they can give money to the LGU,” he said.

In the 2014 budget, the ALGU was classified into Metropolitan Manila Development Authority; special shares of LGUs in the proceeds of national taxes; barangay officials death benefit funds; local government support fund; and special shares of LGUs in the proceeds of fire code fees.

Estrada’s ALGU insertion fell under the local government support fund, which to-

taled P405 million, including the P200 million that Estrada allotted for the three LGUs. It wasn’t indicated where the balance of P205 million would go.

It will be used to fund the priority projects of the LGUs and will be released in accordance with the guidelines of the Department of Budget and Management. But it is subject to “conditional implementation.”

Power of the purse

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad maintained that lawmakers had the “power of the purse,” so there was nothing illegal in the last-minute realignment of the pork barrel of nine senators.

“We cannot dictate upon the legislature, especially in their exercise of their power of the purse. The underlying principle is separation of powers,” he said.

Abad, however, clarified that the PDAF allocation was not excised from the national budget.

He explained that the budget that the President had submitted to the House, long before the pork barrel scandal broke and the resulting public outcry, still provided for the PDAF. “So upon the submission of the [budget] to the House, the disposition of the PDAFwas beyond the reach of the executive and had come under the exclusive jurisdiction of the House,” said Abad.

He said this was the same situation faced by the Senate before passing the budget last month. ■

Reliable reports

The PNP chief underscored the importance of submitting accurate crime reports to the national headquarters in Camp Crame, which consolidates these into the Unit Crime Periodic Report.

In 2013, a number of senior PNP officers, including a regional police director, were relieved from their posts after they were found to have altered the reports on the crime incidence in their areas.

“I expect more reliable crime data from our police units so that we can better address criminality across the country because the success of our operations depends to a large extent on the information we have,” he said. ■

An unrepentant Sen. Jinggoy Estrada—under fire for assigning P100 million of his pork barrel allotment in the 2014 budget to the city of Manila, of which his father is the mayor—yesterday said the vehicle that he used, Allocation to Local Government Units (ALGU), was in the budget for everyone to see. The ALGU is a lump-sum item in the budget that can be tapped by the President to aid a province, city or municipality.

PHOTO FROM PH.NEWS.YAHOO.COM

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Philippine News

15 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Solon says agencies need guidelines on ’pork’ release

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE GOVERNMENT agencies that got the pork barrel funds after these were removed from Congress’ 2014 budget should come out with guidelines on how the public could avail themselves of assistance using the money, so that the social services people used to enjoy when the pork barrel was still in place could continue, according to Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga.

Barzaga in particular called on the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to draw up the mechanisms to ensure that lawmakers’ constituents would be able to get medical and burial assistance, scholarships and skills training.

Their constituents used to be able to enjoy these when lawmakers still had the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). Each member of the House was allotted P70 million in PDAF. The P25-billion PDAF was removed from the 2014 budget after allegations that billions of pesos in government

funds were pocketed by officials and their cohorts, via a scheme using bogus nongovernment organizations.

The Supreme Court subsequently declared the pork barrel system unconstitutional.

Aside from the DOH (P3.69 billion), DOLE (P3.69 billion), DSWD (P4.71 billion), and CHEd (P2.66 billion), the Department of Education (P1.02 billion) and Department of Public Works and Highways (P9.65 billion) also got a portion of the PDAF that was excised from the budget.

The 2014 budget contains the various infrastructure projects that the lawmakers identified, and these consist of local roads and bridges, school buildings, multipurpose buildings and water supply systems.

Each member of the House identified five infrastructure projects with a budget ceiling of P24.5 million. Each project should amount to no less than P2 million.

“Until now, there are no clear rules and regulations and our constituents are in-

quiring about it. Part of the SC ruling is for the Executive to find solutions to ensure that the services offered by the lawmakers’ PDAF will continue,” Barzaga said in a statement.

He hoped the agencies would not take long in coming up with the guidelines,

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

P-noy resolves to ignore critics

BY CHRISTIAN V. ESGUERRA Philippine Daily Inquirer LIKE MANY people, President Aquino makes New Year’s resolutions.

He revealed two of them to visiting female high school students from Miriam College in Quezon City. One of the resolutions had to do with a new tack he was planning to use in dealing with critics.

“Ignore hopeless people,” Mr. Aquino told the Grade 11 students who came to Malacañang.

The President said he was particularly peeved by the people who demanded that Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla make good on his promise to resign if he failed to fully restore electricity in areas ravaged by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” by Christmas Eve. Mr. Aquino noted that Petilla delivered on “over 99 percent of the task” in less than 24 days, yet “there were [still] peoplewho were calling on him to resign.”

Power has been restored to all but three of the 320 Eastern Visayas towns covered by the promise, although electricity may not actually be flowing to all households since many of them suffered

extensive damage.

“So the next time these people speak out, why should I bother when they’re really being unreasonable, and while I’m dealing with them, I’m not able to take care of the problems of the country,” the President said in Filipino.

Mr. Aquino did not name anyone, but among the most vocal critics of Petilla were left-leaning organizations with seats in Congress.

The Gabriela women’s group, however, was against Petilla resigning so he could be held accountable for the huge electricity rate adjustment being charged by theManila Electric Co. (Meralco). The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has issued a 60-day temporary restraining order on the rate increase.

“We have a cottage industry of people who make a living criticizing me. And it detracts [me] from solving the problems of this country if I have to attend to them,” the President said.

He heaped praise on his Cabinet, describing them as “very hardworking” and “very dedicated.”

“You can’t ask anything more of them and perhaps I should learn to give them a little bit more breathing room,” he said of his other New Year’s resolution. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

since many of the lawmakers’ constituents have urgent medical needs.

He also said there were about 248,000 scholars from 73 legislative districts that were adversely affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling which also halted the release of lawmakers’ P14.27 billion pork in the second half of 2013.

Barzaga said lawmakers themselves were at a loss on what to tell those seeking help from them, since there were no guidelines on how they could avail themselves of services.

The appropriations committee chair, Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, said earlier that pork barrel scholars still had a chance of receiving funding for their education under the 2014 budget because it had a provision stating that the CHEd should ensure that scholars whose funding came from other sources would continue to receive assistance. ■

Opinion

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 16

THERE’S THE RUB

‘Take Two’

By Conrado De Quiros Philippine Daily Inquirer JINGGOY ESTRADA has taken to the stand again—metaphorically speaking of course, though one hopes that will soon be literal—to say his piece.

The first time was when he delivered a privilege speech late last year to defend himself from the charge he plowed a good part of his pork into Janet Napoles’ fake NGOs in exchange for a kickback that reached almost half the amount. That was at least the idea, to defend himself, which he never did. Finding that offense is the better part of defense, he never claimed to be innocent of the charge, he just claimed others were guilty of it too, or a variation thereof. Including P-Noy, whom he accused of de facto bribing—though he refused to use, or acknowledge, the word—the senators into voting against Renato Corona.

And wonder of wonders, he managed at least for a while to make the world forget about him.

This time around, it is not a privilege speech, it is the filing of a counter-affidavit to the plunder charge against him by the Office of the Ombudsman. Emboldened by the results of his first appearance, which were to dent P-Noy’s credibility and

pull down government from its lofty moral perch, he has decided to take the bull by the horns. He now denies naming any beneficiaries of his pork other than legitimate ones. He now denies burying his pork in any of Napoles’ NGOs. He now denies having anything to do with Napoles.

For good measure since it worked the last time around, he has tacked in an offense tack to his defense: The case against him, he says, was just invented by his potential rivals in 2016. “This is nothing more than a high-level political ploy to undermine the opposition of which I am part [of] in light of the coming 2016 national elections.”

Will lightning strike twice? Will love, or his luck, be lovelier the second time around?

Well, stranger things have happened. But much has changed since the last time around to have greatly diminished the likelihood of it.

For one, government has wised up to his tricks. The amateurs or members of the high school debating club, as government’s detractors derisively and gleefully called the people that used to run its communications arm, have been replaced by fairly skillful ones who know their job. They’re not likely to make the same mistake of taking a defensive stance all over

again and giving credence to his views. They’re more likely to go to the heart of the matter, which is his innocence or guilt. And there is much to show for his guilt.

For another, the people themselves have wised up. Christmas last year offered a respite for us to recover our sense of perspective, our sense of proportion. The strident criticism of government, which plunged at some point to mindless rant in the social media, aided in no small way by professional spinners, has tapered

[G]overnment, whatever its failings, is not the enemy of the daang matuwid. People like Napoles are. People like Jinggoy, Bong and Johnny are. off. To be replaced by the re-recognition or rediscovery that government, whatever its failings, is not the enemy of the daang matuwid. People like Napoles are. People like Jinggoy, Bong and Johnny are.

Indeed, people like those Jinggoy calls the “opposition” are. Which makes you wonder what he was thinking when he tried to explain away his being pinned down as a regular customer in the House of Napoles as just a ploy to undermine the fortunes

of the opposition in 2016. What fortunes? The last elections would have shown in what esteem the voters hold them. And that was well before Napoles came along, before Jinggoy, Bong and Johnny got to be named her accomplices. Why bother undermining the already undermined? Or those who are already doing a great job undermining themselves? As Napoleon said, never interrupt your enemy when he is busy destroying himself.

That is the real issue against Jinggoy, the Napoles scam, and you can only hope government doesn’t drop the ball again this time. It is not his realigning his pork to give to his father, which, however insensitive or reckless, as some of his own colleagues charge, is perfectly legal. The law, as Chiz Escudero has pointed out, allows realignments of pork. And there is such a thing, as Jinggoy himself points out, as the “allocation to local government units” (Algu): If the other legislators have not discovered the Algu, that is their problem.

In fact, the whole problem there is pork itself. All it shows is that even at its most benign, which is the legislators’ role being limited only to identifying where their allocations should go, pork reeks of patronage. The legislators are not the first persons to see the

needs of their communities, they are the last. Their perception will always pass through the prism of how to win a reelection, or worse build a dynasty.

Harping on Jinggoy funneling his pork to his father’s turf will merely give him the excuse to say other legislators use their pork for patronage as well, which has the advantage of being true. It’s harping on Jinggoy funneling his pork into Napoles’ NGOs that will pin him down like an insect under a microscope.

He himself has simplified the equation by denying his involvement with Napoles, which reduces the case to just ascertaining the facts. All other considerations, most of all his effort to muddle things again by claiming political persecution, have just been thrown out the window. Government has a direct eyewitness in Benhur Luy who has shown himself to be an exceedingly credible one, knowing the ins and outs of Napoles’ operations.

And it has a hardworking and perfectly credible Commission on Audit under Grace Tan, and an equally hardworking and perfectly credible Department of Justice under Leila de Lima. The Furies have been known to catch up with those they hound. Who knows?

Maybe Take Two will yet turn up to be Take Down. ■

VIEWPOINT

Tomorrow arrived yesterday

By Juan L. Mercado Philippine Daily Inquirer “CARTOGRAPHIC”—what?

“Cartographic aggression” is shorthand for redrawing maps to gobble up territory, writes Australian Sinologist Geremie Barmé. And last week’s region-wide protests over Beijing’s clamping of new fishing access rules on disputed portions of the South China Sea is the latest edition.

The directive to secure permission from Hainan province swept chunks off the Philippines’ 327-kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and those of other countries.

Can the legislature of a Philippine province, say Batanes or Zambales, along the West Philippine Sea—pass an ordinance requiring that all foreign fishing boats wishing to enter its portion of Philippine waters first acquire a permit from the “relevant and responsible department” of the Philippine government?

Inquirer asked in an editorial titled “Provocative,” adding that this is part of “China’s increasingly naked attempts at unilateral control” over contested areas.

“All states can fish in the high seas,” Malacañang said Sunday. “When it comes to the EEZ, that is under our jurisdiction.” Vietnam and Taiwan slammed the Beijing directive as “illegal and groundless.” “Dangerous,”

the United States snapped.

Nonsense, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman retorted. The 2014 rules were “technical revisions” of existing laws.

The conflict opens a “window of opportunity,” said the Angara Center for Law and Economics. We should explore crafting joint fishery agreements with China. A tenth of fish catch worldwide comes from this region.

Coastal countries, with overlapping claims, will benefit through joint regulation of fishing management. All would be losers in an armed conflict, former senator Edgardo Angara said.

Coastal passages from Singapore, through Malaysia, to Japan, Russia and North America ferry over $1.2 trillion in goods annually. The region’s seabeds contain 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, US estimates say. That’s about 80 percent of Saudi Arabia’s reserves. Nothing firm about the reported oil fields in Aloguinsan, Cebu, the Department of Energy says.

A steep rise in shale oil reserves will make the United States a net exporter, instead of the world’s leading importer. The United States may overtake Russia, as the world’s biggest gas producer by 2015. It would become “all but self-sufficient” in energy needs

by 2035. Reliance on oil from Middle East exporters is ending, the International Energy Agency reports. This will change the global balance of power.

China is the world’s biggest energy consumer. It imports 60 percent of its crude. Bulk of the 10.5 million to 11 million barrels of oil that China burns daily comes from the Middle East.

Tankers sail through the Strait of Malacca “choke point” between Malaysia and Indonesia, en route to China.

China has the world’s largest wind power base. It invests in and imports via pipelines from Central Asia, Russia and

‘Power grows out of the barrel of a gun,’ Mao Zedong wrote. China’s claim is backed by its growing armed forces and navy. the new pipeline route from the Indian Ocean through Burma (Myanmar).

China National Offshore Oil Corp. has invited foreign oil companies to offer bids to explore potential blocks off the coast of Vietnam. And Beijing has increasingly used nonmilitary boats to make its points. Last month, it declared it would expand the fleet of fishing vessels it will be sending to disputed regions.

Overlapping territorial claims to sovereignty and maritime boundaries are

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normally resolved through (a) a combination of customary international law, (b) adjudication before the International Court of Justice or International Tribunal for Law of the Sea, (c) arbitration under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). The Philippines has chosen the arbitration option.

China has ratified Unclos, writes Mohan Malik, a professor in Asian security at Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, in Honolulu. The treaty, by and large, rejects “historically based” claims—precisely the type which Beijing periodically asserts.

The Unclos agreement rejects justification by historical right. “China has, historically speaking, about as much right to claim the South China Sea as Mexico has the right to claim the Gulf of Mexico for its exclusive use, or Iran the Persian Gulf, or India the Indian Ocean.”

Significantly, “in its territorial disputes with India, Burma, and Vietnam, Beijing took the position that its land boundaries were never defined, demarcated and delimited. But now, when it comes to islands, shoals and reefs in the South China Sea, Beijing claims otherwise.”

“Power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” Mao Zedong wrote. China’s claim is backed by its growing armed

forces and navy.

Freedom of navigation and control over South China Sea shipping lanes will be among the major global political issues of the 21st century, the New York Times points out in “A game of shark and minnow.” Thus, the US “pivot” to this region includes altering the roughly 50-50 balance of naval forces between the Pacific and the Atlantic.

That would become 60-40 by 2020.

“Europe is a landscape; East Asia, a seascape,” Robert Kaplan wrote in Foreign Policy. “Therein lies a crucial difference between the 20th and 21st centuries…. The spaces between major population centers are overwhelmingly maritime. The physical contours of East Asia augur a naval century.”

China’s land borders are more secure than at any time since the 18th-century Qing dynasty. China is psychologically bent to erase two centuries of foreign transgressions on its territory—forcing every country around it to react, Kaplan noted.

East Asia, or more precisely the Western Pacific, which is quickly becoming the world’s new center of naval activity, presages a fundamentally different dynamic. Kaplan adds: “South China Sea is the future of conflict.”

For Southeast Asian countries, tomorrow arrived yesterday. ■

Opinion

17 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

ANALYSIS

Aquino stokes adversarial role of media

By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer PRESIDENT AQUINO started the new year by picking a fight with the independent news media. Firing broadsides at his critics in the press, he pledged that as his New Year’s resolution, he would “just ignore” them.

He castigated his press critics, calling them “hopeless” and saying they belonged to a “cottage industry… of people who make a living out of criticizing” him.

“They see nothing good in whatever I say and [in my efforts] at solving the problems of this country,” he said.

In defining the media as a “cottage industry,” the President betrayed a gross misconception of the function of the press in a democratic society and trivialized the principle on which the relationship between the press and the government pivots.

The President’s speech refueled the antagonistic relationship between the press and his administration during the first half of his term.

It put the administration on a con-

frontational path with the media from which the government had little to gain.

Ignoring media criticism slams the shutters on a healthy debate over contentious issues involving the administration’s lackluster performance in revitalizing the economic growth and responding promptly to the emergency needs of thousands of victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in the Visayas.

The press is not craving to return the presidential snub and is also ignoring him.

Delusion The administration will be deluding itself if it expects the media to go easy on scrutinizing its performance.

On the contrary, the press is more likely to intensify criticism to counter the deluge of information produced by the government’s vast propaganda machine, presenting the administration’s point of view on contentious issues and defending its policies and programs using taxpayer money.

The press cannot disengage from

scrutinizing the administration’s performance without being remiss in its function and responsibility as the watchdog of public interest.

Journalists do not look at their coverage of the presidency the way the administration sees it. They take their jobs and public responsibility seriously, reporting public affairs accurately without fear or favor.

Journalists cover Malacañang and

The press is not craving to return the presidential snub and is also ignoring him. the presidential retinue not because they love to be seen with government officials. In covering public affairs, they are keenly aware of their role as the eyes and ears of the people, to whom they owe primary loyalty.

They cannot be the government’s

propaganda mouthpiece.

In covering the presidency and public affairs, the journalists abide by the creed that reporting the news from the seat of power is too important to be entrusted in the hands of government propagandists, much more so now that the President controls the legislature, the center for countervailing political power under our system of checks and balances among the three branches of government.

Balance The balance has been undermined by the weakness of the multiparty system in which there is no strong opposition party, thrusting on the independent press the burden of serving as the platform for the expression of ideas and perspectives contrary to that of the government.

The presidency is the most important source of news on public affairs that affects our lives. It sets the agenda of the public debate. What the President does or fails to do have an impact on our lives.

This is the reason an independent press is crucial to scrutinizing gov-

ernment policies, programs and decisions. This is the reason the media cannot disengage from focusing on government activities. They must keep government officials on their toes by making them aware that they are under constant watch for performance.

The press is called upon to dispel the administration’s claim that journalists are a class of people “who make a living out of criticizing” the President.

Mr. Aquino’s resolution to ignore his critics puts a stop to the dialogue between the government and the press on the validity of policies and programs. It blacks out the exchange, indicating intolerance of a review of its actions and errors.

The freedom of the press is defined by “Your Dictionary” as “a right guaranteed in the United States by the First Amendment for journalists to print whatever they want without government control.”

“The right of a journalist to write an article critical of the president is an example of freedom of the press.”■

AT LARGE

Gardens of hope and empowerment

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer WEEKS AFTER the worst of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” report the volunteer community organizers of Likhaan, a health NGO that works with urban poor communities in Manila, Caloocan and Eastern Samar, folks in the province still had a phobia of dark clouds and threatening rain.

Sent to create “women-friendly spaces” in three towns in Eastern Samar by organizing women into self-help organizations, the Likhaan volunteers found survivors still reeling from terrible memories of the typhoon’s onslaught. Writes Likhaan executive director Junice Demetrio Melgar in a report on the project (undertaken with Oxfam): “Some (of the survivors) sought shelter in their bathrooms and shivered there for hours as the wind tore the roofs and walls away. Many continued to be nervous and (were) unable to sleep.

They said they were not sure they would survive until days after the storm.”

At the start, the volunteers conducted interactive learning sessions on the impact of disasters and disaster risk-reduction, with focus on women; maternal health, family planning and violence against women; and the rationale and methods of organizing women.

After the formal learning sessions, the teams improvised group stress-reduction exercises, using the chapter on mental health in the book “Kung Walang Duktor para sa Kababaihan” (When There is No Doctor for Women) which provides primary health information to community healers. This was the first time, reports Junice, that “people’s deep fears and terror from their experiences were affirmed, shared and associated with moving on.”

Also part of the learning sessions were talks and sharing on maternal health, family planning, genderbased violence and primary health.

At the same time, the team members provided basic health check-ups, including for blood pressure, first aid, prenatal care, family planning counseling and provision of family planning supplies. In two instances, they even brought patients requiring emergency treatment to the nearest functioning hospitals.

In one municipality, the doctor at the rural health unit said she was down to her last three packets of contraceptive pills and was dividing the packets so that all those who needed pills could have a few pieces. The volunteers informed the Likhaan main office, and in a few days a whole year’s supply of pills arrived. *** But by far the most effective strategy to helping women “move on” and

provide “women-friendly spaces” was the decision to create a “women’s garden” in selected villages. To that end, the volunteers from Manila came armed with packets of seeds for various vegetables.

In time, the women were joined by men and children, who found working on the gardens a welcome diversion and a means to faster recovery from their trauma. Dr. Sylvia “Guy” Estrada Claudio, who chairs the Likhaan board, writing in the website Rappler, notes that by the end of the volunteers’ two-week deployment,

‘...People had been worried that when the relief ends, they would return to hunger. But they now tended these vegetable patches with renewed hope.’ - Dr. Sylvia Estrada Claudio

“the communal gardens were bright green spots amid the gray debris and blackened soil. People had been worried that when the relief ends, they would return to hunger. But they now tended these vegetable patches with renewed hope.”

Also helpful was the reopening of a local radio station, Radyo Bakdaw.

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The broadcasts provided the Eastern Samar women the first news since Yolanda hit. For some, it was also the first time they could know for sure what time of day it was; for many, writes Guy, “the first time to hear music again and, at the sound of music, to dance.” *** Junice says the local government executives in the towns of Guiuan, Mercedes and Salcedo were cooperative and supportive, “even making sure that town officials brought the team to the villages.” The barangay (village) chair of Salog in Guiuan even offered the barangay hall as a dorm for the volunteers.

Soon, adds Junice, Likhaan will be sending a team each to three other towns while following up the first three towns that had been served.

“The goal is to link the women’s organizations formed in these towns with the women organized in the three (other) towns (Maydolong, Llorente and Sulat) on the basis of reproductive health, including tracking pregnant women and maintaining maternal waiting homes (where women could stay while waiting to deliver in lying-in centers). That way they can help each other and have a bigger voice in the community. The women are expected to help their communities recover and develop.”

Indeed, there are many ways to help the thousands of survivors of

Yolanda. Daily relief items, shelter, healthcare, education, and livelihood are still needed. But just as important and urgent is the need to organize the women into resilient, self-reliant, optimistic communities, where after survival, there is also time for laughing, loving and dancing. *** It’s also time to pay homage to Tessie Azura, 47, a Likhaan community health worker in Maydolong, Eastern Samar, who died in the aftermath of Yolanda. Married with six children, Tessie has worked with Likhaan since 2006. The day after the typhoon, Tessie visited the members of the women’s health association of which she was president. But while visiting the home of one volunteer, she complained of a headache and then collapsed. Her family was advised to bring her to a hospital in Borongan, but it took them hours to arrange for the transfer. Upon arriving in Borongan, it was already dark and, without electricity, the family resorted to hand-pumping (by ambu bag) to keep her alive. Tessie died a day later.

In her memory, the mother’s waiting home in Maydolong will be named after her.

(Disclosure: I sit on the board of trustees of Likhaan, which accounts for my access to the reports generated by the Eastern Samar project.) ■

FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

18

Canada News

1st person to die of H5N1 flu in North America was registered nurse The Canadian Press RED DEER, ALTA.—The first person to die of avian flu in North America was a registered nurse in a central Alberta hospital.

The woman’s family said in a statement Friday that she grew up in China and moved to Alberta on her own to studying nursing.

She worked at the Red Deer Regional Hospital. “ T h i s was her dream and she studied and worked extremely hard to achieve this,” the statement said.

“She wanted to help people. She also wanted a career that would allow her to provide for her family and to support those she loved.”

The woman’s named has not been

released. The family said they are devastated and asked media to respect their privacy.

The World Health Organization has said she was in her late 20s.

“She was a uniquely independent and determined young woman,” said the statement.

“She was an energetic woman, who her co-workers have described as the bright light in the room. She was driven, passionate about her work and most of all her family.”

Relatives said she had been married for 1 1/2 years and had built a happy life with her husband in Red Deer.

She had saved for a vacation to her homeland and made the trip with her mother in December.

“Together they travelled on a trip, which would sadly turn out to be her last.”

Health officials believe the woman contracted the H5N1

virus while she was in China, where she had spent most of the month of December in Beijing.

They have said she became ill while flying home on Dec. 27. She went to hospital with a fever and headache the next day but was sent home after being examined. She returned to hospital on New Year’s Day, when the illness progressed, and died two days later.

News of the case has garnered international attention, but Canadian health officials have reassured the public that the strain of flu, highly infectious among birds, rarely infects humans.

The WHO is investigating the death because initial reports have suggested the woman’s symptoms were not entirely typical of H5N1 infections.

Alberta’s chief medical health office has said the woman had neurological symptoms that made doctors suspect she had encephalitis, or a brain infection.

It’s not a common symptom of flu but has been reported in some H5N1 cases.

It’s not known if an autopsy has been done. Family members said in the statement that they are co-operating with health authorities, but gave no further details. ■

No thanks: Petition to make Rob Ford a U.S. citizen not getting much support The Canadian Press WASHINGTON—A PETITION to make Rob Ford an honorary U.S. citizen hasn’t garnered much support so far.

The petition appears on the White House website under the headline: “Proclaim Robert Bruce ’Rob’ Ford, the 64th Mayor of Toronto, An Honorary Citizen of the Unites States of America.”

Fourteen people had signed it by

Sunday night.

The petition had been on the website since Jan. 3, and even though it had received a bit of media attention, that didn’t exactly appear to have spurred a great public stampede toward the cause.

The tongue-in-cheek petition says: “(Ford) has at once demonstrated an exceptional proclivity to act for the greater good and been the subject of horrifying political attacks. The evidence demonstrates the attacks are motivated by Mayor

Ford’s unwavering adherence to good governance over the interests of his political opponents.”

It goes on to say: “Mayor Ford is clearly a hero of humanity who deserves the very best. We therefore petition (President Barack) Obama to declare Mayor Ford an Honorary Citizen of the United States.”

Ford has become a bit of a celebrity in the U.S. amid his scandals, and is now a staple in the mate❱❱ PAGE 20 No thanks

NEWS BRIEFS

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

LOONIE LOWER FOLLOWING JOBS DISAPPOINTMENT TORONTO—The Canadian dollar continued to head lower Monday in the wake of a major employment disappointment at the end of last week. The loonie declined 0.09 of a cent to 91.64 cents US on top of a slide of almost 1/2 a cent on Friday after Statistics Canada reported the economy shed 46,000 jobs last month.

WYNNE EXPECTED TO CALL 2 BYELECTIONS FEB. 13 TORONTO—Voters in Niagara Falls and the suburban Toronto riding of Thornhill could go to the polls next month in byelections widely seen as precursors to a general Ontario election expected this year. One factor that kicked up the byelection talk is word the Liberals plan to announce later today that a new hospital will be built in Niagara Falls.

HUDAK SET TO OUTLINE ONE-MILLION JOBS PLAN TORONTO— Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak says he will lay out a plan today to create one million jobs in Ontario over eight years. He says if his proposed bill called the Million Jobs Act is passed, it will “begin its task of creating jobs and a prosperous province.”

NO PRESSING NEED TO KILL DEFICIT: EXPERTS OTTAWA—Despite the death-to-the-deficit mantra being chanted by Conservative devotees, some economists say there is no real pressing need to balance the books by 2015— just in time for the next election. Reducing spending and eliminating jobs could damage Canada’s fragile economic recovery, some argue, while others dismiss the effort as an incremental process that will have little to no immediate effect.

19 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Bank of Canada survey shows some Toronto council votes to positive signs, but uncertainty continues ask federal, provincial The Canadian Press OTTAWA—Growth in the U.S. is helping lift the economy, but corporate Canada remains concerned about weak demand and domestic uncertainty, the latest business outlook survey by the Bank of Canada suggests.

“The winter business outlook survey provides some positive signs for the economic outlook, notably for exports and investment, although responses do not yet appear to suggest a significant strengthening,” the bank said.

“For many businesses, weak demand and domestic uncertainty continue to temper sales expectations and expansion plans.”

The survey by the Bank of Canada, done between Nov. 18 and Dec. 12, found that 34 per cent of those surveyed saw sales growth over the last 12 months, while 37 per cent saw lower sales.

However, 51 per cent said they expected sales to improve

over the next 12 months compared with 22 per cent who expected sales to fall.

The balance of opinion also suggested more firms expected to increase investment in hard assets and to hire more workers.

The survey found 42 per cent of firms expected investment spending on machinery and equipment to rise, while 23 per cent expect to spend less.

Meanwhile, 53 per cent expect to hire more employees, while 11 expect to have fewer workers over the next 12 months.

The more optimistic outlook for the Canadian economy follows a weaker than expected jobs report last week that found 45,900 jobs were lost in December.

TD Bank economist Connor McDonald said the Bank of Canada survey results Monday were indicative of the cautious optimism that has been building in the economy.

“A stronger economic outlook for the U.S. will continue to support future sales and mod-

estly drive Canadian growth.

“For the Bank of Canada, the moderate growth profile and well-anchored inflation expectations imply little reason to move off the sidelines in the near term.”

The business outlook survey results came as the central bank’s senior loan officer survey suggested a slight easing in overall business-lending conditions, continuing a trend since late 2009.

“The balance of opinion regarding the demand for credit from financial institutions during the fourth quarter tilted slightly toward an increase in demand, mainly from corporate borrowers,” the Bank of Canada said.

“This follows a reported decrease in demand from all categories of borrowers in the third quarter of 2013.”

The Bank of Canada is expected to make its next interest rate announcement and release its updated monetary policy report Jan. 22. ■

governments for storm funds The Canadian Press TORONTO—Toronto’s city council has voted in favour of asking the federal and provincial governments for money to help cover the cost of the preChristmas ice storm.

During the second day of their special meeting today, council voted unanimously to ask both Ottawa and Queen’s Park to each pony up one-third of the cost of cleanup.

It also voted to ask the Ontario government to declare Canada’s largest city a “disaster area”—a move required to qualify for funding to deal with the havoc wreaked by two major storms in 2013.

The recommendation was made by city staff who advised Toronto to seek financial help from Ontario and the federal government for the storms’

$171-million damage bill.

That figure includes at least $106 million in damage from the ice storm and $65.2 million in costs related to a severe rainstorm on July 8 that flooded parts of the city.

Toronto did not declare a state of emergency during the ice storm which downed hydro lines, cut power to hundreds of thousands and stalled road and air travel for days.

Mayor Rob Ford—who late last year had many of his powers stripped from him by council—repeatedly said he did not see the need to declare an emergency.

Monday’s council meeting is scheduled to conclude by 4 p.m. due to a religious observance, with the group now working to vote on having a third party review into how the city dealt with the storm. ■

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World News

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 20

Bodies litter S. Sudan oil town, military pushes on rebel held town; talks resume in Ethiopia

BY ILYA GRIDNEFF The Associated Press DOZENS OF dead, mangled and bloated bodies line the roadside from the airport into this state capital of one of South Sudan’s oilproducing regions. Houses, buildings and shops have been looted, burned or destroyed, as blackened cars and buses smoulder.

The remnants of war in Bentiu show the damage being done across the world’s newest country, as the military continues to battle men who served in the

same ranks only a month ago but who are now labeled rebels. Bentiu was re-captured by the military over the weekend.

Next up for government troops is the rebel-held town of Bor. “What you see here is destruction,” said Gen. James Hoth Mai, the military’s chief of staff. “But the rebels are on the run and we are pursuing them.”

Mai immediately turned his thoughts to Bor: “This is a war and we have a large number of soldiers in Bor. We are putting them there for a final assault.”

Negotiators for the two sides

in South Sudan’s nearly monthold conflict met face-to-face in Addis Abba, Ethiopia on Monday following shuttle diplomacy between Addis Ababa and Juba, the capital of South Sudan. A Kenyan mediator, Lazarus Sumbeiywo, said the agenda will include talks on a cessation of hostilities.

In Juba, South Sudan President Salva Kiir cancelled a news conference because “there is a new situation emerging in Addis Ababa,” said press secretary Ateny Wek Ateny.

He spent most of his life battling Arab enemies and promoting Jewish settlement on war-won lands. But in a surprising about-face, he led a historic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, uprooting all soldiers and settlers from the territory after a 38-year presence in a move he said was necessary to ensure Israel’s security.

His backers called him a hero, remembering his daring exploits that helped turn the tide of the 1973 Mideast war in Israel’s favour and, after becoming prime minister, his harsh crackdown that helped end a violent Palestinian uprising.

His detractors held him responsible for years of bloodshed. They remember his role in a 1953 commando raid that killed 69 Arabs in the West Bank, and as the mastermind of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon—where he became complicit in a massacre in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps by an Israeli-allied militia that killed hundreds of Palestinians.

Even Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza is scorned as a unilateral act that left the beleaguered area doomed for failure.

“He has prepared the foundation for further conflict and undermined the chances of peace by adopting the policy and strategy of militarism, unilateralism and violence, by acting in a way that the end justifies the means and by having total dis-

regard for Palestinian lives and rights,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian official.

In Gaza, the territory’s Islamic Hamas rulers held a victory parade marking the five-year anniversary of a fierce battle against Israel. In speeches, they mentioned the funeral “of our enemy leader Sharon” and vowed to continue to battle Israel.

In a reminder of the everpresent conflict, Palestinian militants fired four rockets at Israel, including two that landed several miles from Sharon’s ranch shortly after his funeral.

Earlier Monday in the state ceremony, VIPs eulogized Sharon as a fearless warrior and bold leader who devoted his life to protecting Israel’s security.

“He was indomitable,” U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden said.

“But like all historic leaders, all real leaders, he had a north star that guided him. A north star from which he never, in my observation, never deviated. His north star was the survival of the state of Israel and the Jewish people wherever they resided.”

The speakers largely glossed over the controversies that accompanied Sharon’s life, and instead focused on the leadership and personality of the man affectionately known as “Arik.”

“Positions, parties, policies, he could leave considerable debris in his wake,” said former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “But he had the imagi-

❱❱ PAGE 39 Bodies litter

No thanks... rial of late-night comedians. A mediamonitoring firm has also declared that no other news story from Canada has gotten this much attention in the U.S., so far, in this young century.

As of Sunday evening, the petition was 99,986 signatures short of the 100,000 required to get a White House response.

The White House instituted ❰❰ 18

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.

that requirement after its site had been hit with other spoof petitions—including one demanding that America build a “$850,000,000,000,000,000, Star Wars-style Death Star.”

The White House had to answer to that one—politely, and jokingly, informing people that a Death Star would cost more than that projected amount and was not fiscally feasible in a time of budget constraints. ■

PHOTO BY VALESTOCK / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Israel’s Ariel... full of warm eulogies, speakers made only passing references to the exploits that made him such a divisive figure.

Sharon died on Saturday, eight years after a devastating stroke removed the prime minister from office and left him in a coma from which he never recovered. He was 85.

His younger son, Gilad, reenacted his final moments: in a hospital room, with music playing, family members chatting and his grandchildren running about.

“And only the hero of the play is lying motionless,” he said, pausing. “I hold your hand and stroke your face, the face of my dying father. Beloved father, you have come home.”

With hundreds of officials and everyday Israelis on hand, Sharon’s other son, Omri, addressed his father a final time.

“Look around, and see the nation gathering around this hilltop. Look and see how they thank you for guarding them.

How they appreciate you protecting them and leading them.

How they love you and miss you and bow a head. You were worthy of such praise,” he said.

One of Israel’s greatest and most divisive figures, Sharon rose through the ranks of the military, moving into politics and overcoming scandal and controversy to become prime minister. ❰❰ 1

www.canadianinquirer.net

Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon PHOTO BY MIKHAIL / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

nation to know that genuine peace, if attainable with honour and dignity both for Arabs and Israelis, is the anchor ultimately for Israel’s security.”

After the ceremony ended, the closed coffin, draped in a blue and white Israeli flag, was placed in a military vehicle and driven in a police-escorted convoy toward Sharon’s ranch in southern Israel.

Crowds stood along the roadside and on bridges, snapping pictures and getting a final glimpse of the coffin as the procession of vehicles left Jerusalem and snaked down the highway outside the city’s picturesque hills.

The convoy made a brief stop at Latrun, the site of a bloody

battle where Sharon was nearly killed during Israel’s war of independence in 1948, for a brief military ceremony before continuing south. His coffin was lowered into the ground in a military funeral at the family farm in southern Israel.

At Sharon’s graveside, his son Gilad remembered his father for overcoming the odds, whether it was battling a Palestinian uprising after becoming prime minister in 2001 or clinging to life in his final days even after his kidneys had stopped functioning.

“Again and again you turned the impossible to reality. That’s how legends are made. That’s how an ethos of a nation is created,” he said. ■

World News

21 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Thai anti government protesters block major roads in bid to shut down capital, unseat leader

BY THANYARAT DOKSONE AND TODD PITMAN The Associated Press BANGKOK, THAILAND— Anti-government protesters seized key intersections across Thailand’s capital on Monday, blockading major roads into the heart of Bangkok’s downtown districts at the start of a renewed push to derail elections next month and overthrow the prime minister.

The protesters vowed to “shut down” the city of 12 million people, but life continued normally in most places, with the majority of businesses and shops open.

The intensified protests were peaceful and even festive, as vast swarms of people blew whistles, waved Thai flags and spread out tents and picnic mats at seven key crossroads where demonstrators wearing bandanas and sunglasses turned cars back.

Still, the protests raise the

stakes in a long-running crisis that has killed at least eight people in the last two months and fueled fears of more bloodshed to come and a possible army coup. The army commander has said he doesn’t want to be drawn into the conflict, which broadly pits the urban middle and upper class opponents of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra against her supporters in the poorer northern countryside.

The demonstrators, who accuse the government of corruption, have vowed to stay in the streets for as long as it takes to achieve their goals. They are demanding that Yingluck’s administration be replaced by a non-elected “people’s council” which would implement reforms they say are needed to end corruption and money politics. The main opposition party is boycotting Feb. 2 elections that Yingluck has called in a bid to ease tension—and which she would almost certainly win.

Critics have lashed out at

PHOTO BY BLANSCAPE / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

the moves as a power struggle aimed at bringing the Southeast Asian nation’s fragile democracy to a halt. Candlelight vigils have been held to counter the shutdown and urge the election be held.

Yingluck said she has proposed to meet Wednesday with various groups—including her opponents—to discuss a proposal from the Election Commission to postpone the elections, according to Deputy Prime Minister Pongthep

www.canadianinquirer.net

Thepkanchana.

There was no immediate response from demonstrators, but protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said, “you cannot mediate with this undertaking, you cannot compromise with this undertaking. In this undertaking, there’s only win or lose ... today, we must cleanse Thailand.”

The International Crisis Group think-tank said the “scope for peaceful resolution is narrowing.”

“If the sides can agree on the need to avoid violence and for a national dialogue built on a shared agenda, a solution might just possibly be found,” the group said. “It is a slim reed on which to float hopes, but in Bangkok there is little else available.”

Since Yingluck assumed the premiership after 2011 elections, she has walked a careful tightrope with the army and her opponents that succeeded in maintaining political calm. The trigger for the latest protests was an ill-advised move late last year by ruling party lawmakers to push through a bill under the guise of a reconciliation measure offering a legal amnesty for political offenders. The lastminute inclusion of Thaksin led to public outrage and the bill was voted down.

Since then, demonstrators have steadily escalated pressure on Yingluck, attacking her office at Government House ❱❱ PAGE 39 Thai anti

Immigration

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 22

Excerpts from the Media Roundtable with Prime Minister Harper HERE ARE excerpts from the text of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s media roundtable with members of Vancouver’s ethnic media on January 6, 2014, as released by the Prime Minister’s Office.

RT. HONOURABLE STEPHEN HARPER: As we outlined in the speech from the throne in the fall, the government’s priorities remain the same. We want to do things that will promote a strong economy, jobs, growth, longterm prosperity, also strong families and a strong country in the world.

Our number-one focus will remain the economy. Canada has led the global recovery, but the global recovery remains challenging and we know that we have to keep focused on if we want to keep seeing results.

The results have been good. We have nearly 1,100,000 net new jobs created since the end of the recession, far more people working now than were working before the recession, which is not the case in very many developed countries.

We’re building on the safest and soundest financial system in the world. We’re making investments in skills, in infrastructure, in innovation. We’re continuing to push forward on expanding Canada’s trade networks and obviously the big thing we did this fall was complete the negotiations on the Canada-European Union Trade Agreement, the biggest single agreement the country’s ever signed and probably the biggest single stand-alone achievement this government’s had since it came to office.

I should just mention we are on track, remain on track, actually on track and ahead of schedule to create, to balance the budget by 2015, projecting a small surplus then. But as I say, we’re part of the global economy. The global economy remains fragile, so we have to keep focused on these things and we will keep focused on them. We will keep taxes down for families, individuals and business owners. That’s been part of our plan to balance the budget and not do it by raising taxes. Keep making our streets and communities safer for lawabiding citizens and victims of crime and families. And we’re

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE

going to keep on reforming our immigration system, particularly to deal, as you know, with the huge backlogs that we took over when we took office, and making it easier for those who can get and create jobs to enter this country.

So we will keep focusing on those results, on those priorities and those results and seizing opportunities. And look, I’m here mainly to answer your questions, so I’m not going to speak for too long. But thanks all of you for coming.

On Immigration

QUESTION: [A]s we all know, Canada is a multicultural society and country. Korea and China, India, Philippines and East Europe and Middle-East countries, all of the people want to be coming to Canada. But recently, you know, my people are also concerned about the federal government’s immigration policy. It’s not generous to immigrants. Somebody say it, yes.

Somebody say (inaudible). So my question is are federal policies appropriate of principles of Canada’s multicultural society and then let me know what policy does the federal government (inaudible) to strengthen a multicultural society?

RT. HONOURABLE STEPHEN HARPER: Anyone who suggests that this government’s immigration policies and multicultural policies are not strong is simply wrong. Let me take just the example of… Well, we have 20 per cent of our population today is born abroad.

That’s an extraordinary figure, by any standard in the world.

We have welcomed over 40,000 new permanent resi-

dents from Korea since this government came to office.

That in effect we have expanded, the Korean community has expanded by almost 50 per cent since this government came to office. We are not only today running in modern terms—100 years ago, you know, was different, we were populating the Prairies—but in modern terms, this government is not only running in relative terms the largest immigration program in Canadian history. This is the first government that did not when we faced a recession cut back on immigration. The first government that did that.

The Trudeau government in the 1980s, when they had a recession dramatically reduced immigration. I think they reduced it by about two thirds.

Chrétien government, the liberal government in the 1990s did the same thing in the recession. We did not cut immigration at all during the recession.

Why did we not do that?

Because we believed that in spite of the unemployment of the recession, the long-term, medium-term challenge, the challenge over the next few years is not unemployment, it is skills shortage and labour shortage and a lack of demographic growth and we believe that vigorous immigration remains particularly for immigrants who can get and create jobs, remains in the interests of the country.

And I think it was the right decision. You know, Canadian unemployment during the recession didn’t go anywhere near as high as in other countries, in spite of the fact we didn’t cut immigration like they did. So www.canadianinquirer.net

I think it was the right policy.

But as I say, anyone who’s saying that, I know sometimes our political opponents say that, and I’m not… I don’t spend a lot of time talking about them, but the Liberal Party says this, the Liberal Party’s record is nowhere near as strong as our record on immigration over the last 20 years, nowhere near as strong. And the numbers speak for themselves.

On the Temporary Worker Program

Foreign

QUESTION: Good evening, Prime Minister. My question is about the temporary worker program. You know, this program has changed so drastically in the last year when you (inaudible…) the right workers. (Inaudible) it’s the sixth year unrestricted inspection of the workplace. Our government looks like (inaudible) to encourage the investment. But on the other hand, restricting operations of these (inaudible), (inaudible) place.

RT. HONOURABLE STEPHEN HARPER: Yes. Well, look, I addressed this a little bit earlier, but let me be very blunt about this. Several years ago, before this government took office, we created, we’d always had some temporary foreign worker programs for the agricultural sector, but those programs were expanded. And before this government took office and since, those programs have grown in the last decade and a half, very dramatically. And largely because I think they existed and then the bureaucracy worked to really adapt to the needs of the companies. But what did we see?

We saw numerous examples of abuse of this program. Outright abuse.

Companies importing workers for the sole purpose of paying less than the prevailing wage. Companies importing workers for the purpose of permanently moving the jobs offshore to other countries.

Companies bringing in foreign workforces with the intention of never having them permanent and moving the whole workforce back to another country at the end of a job.

I’m not saying all companies did this. I’m not saying all examples, but we have seen very blatant examples of companies using this in ways that were not in the interests of Canadians, that were only in the interests —and I’m a big supporter of business, I’m a conservative, I’m a market oriented guy—but government was assisting these companies to work around the marketplace in a way that disadvantaged Canadian workers only for the sake of the bottom line profit. And that kind of abuse cannot go on. So we have brought in some restrictions to limit companies to do this.

They have to pay prevailing…

First of all, they have to make real efforts to recruit people in Canada. Some of these companies were never… weren’t really even advertising for Canadian workers. They have to make efforts to recruit in Canada, they’ve got to pay going Canadian wages. They are going to have to provide safe and healthy work environments. They’re going to have to advertise in languages, English and French, languages that Canadian workers can speak.

And so they have to do these things to prove there is a real need before they bring employees, before we help them bring employees from offshore. And if they want us to help them bring employees from offshore, then they have to be prepared to open their workplaces so that we can inspect and make sure that they are following the agreements they make with us when they bring these employees from offshore.

Now as you know, what I said earlier, what I said earlier to Ray I say to you. I think there’s a need certainly in some parts of Western Canada, I know Alberta where obviously I’m

Immigration

23 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

from, there really is a shortage, an absolute shortage of workers in many areas and we absolutely need to bring people in temporarily. But there must be plans for companies to transition to permanent workforces.

And what I say is if you really need temporary workers permanently, then that means we need permanent workers who become Canadian. And they have a right to stay here and they have a right to bargain with their employer and they have a right to be treated fairly and not just sent back to where they came from the first time they don’t like something.

And so I hope that… that while there will be a need for temporary foreign workers, I hope the need diminishes and I hope we address some of these concerns by having more permanent Canadians, permanent residents come here become Canadians. And I think that’s the solution.

But look, I know some companies are frustrated by this, but we have too many examples, too many examples of companies that were misleading the government or abusing the system and not fulfilling the agreements

they made with the government when they brought people here in the first place. And in some cases obviously not treating the workers properly.

And so if they want the help of the government then they’re going to have to work with us to make sure they’re respecting the obligations they take on.

Thanks.

On Family Reunification

QUESTION: There is a perception that the government’s changes to immigration policies over the years restrict the reunification of families. What will the government do to ensure family reunification in the future?

RT. HONOURABLE STEPHEN HARPER: ... I know once again this is an area where some of our opponents criticize us, but I think what we’ve done stacks up pretty well against what they’ve done. When we took office, the biggest problem this government has had in immigration, when we took office in every single stream of immigration we had backlogs and applications of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

And we were obligated through a bunch of crazy rules

PM Harper shown here with PCI Editor Melissa Briones and Senator Yonah Martin.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE

to process these in order. So it was taking literally years for anybody to find out what a decision was. This was obviously not a sustainable system and not one, you know, to the extent immigration is an important aspect of our economic policy, not one that’s appropriate because we need to be… act quickly and nimbly and respond to the needs of the economy.

So we have been spending a lot of the first few years of our government trying to clear

these backlogs, trying to change rules so we can clear backlogs and start programs in a way that is… that is far more rational.

I know in the family reunification area, one of the areas we do hear about is the issue of parents and grandparents.

Just say this. Notwithstanding the complaints and we have put some limits on, in the last two years we have admitted more than 50,000 parents and grandparents. That is the largest number over a two-year period

than just about any time. An additional 20,000 parents and grandparents will be admitted in 2014. And on top of that, we have put in place what we call the super visa for parents and grandparents so they can visit for up to two years at a time.

So look, while we have put some restrictions to try and… because the backlog we had before, I’m trying to… what was the… the wait time was 15 years.

That was the previous system we inherited. The wait time was 15 years. You know, this is meaningless. It becomes meaningless. So we couldn’t go on like that. So look, I think what we’ve done to try and cut the backlogs, cut some of the applications, admit some people in the short term is the right way to go to get this reoriented so people can get decisions and if they can’t come permanently, they can come temporarily.

But look, we will continue.

We will continue to wrestle with this going forward. ■ For the full transcript and photos, please visit http://www. canadianinquirer.net/portal. php?mod=view&aid=5700

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JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 24

FILIPINO IN FOCUS:

Maria Kathrina Lopez Yarza

BY KATHERINE MARFALTEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer IF YOU can’t walk, can’t move your left arm and hand, can’t smile and can’t hear—maybe you would think that there is nothing significant you can do.

But for Maria Kathrina Lopez Yarza (Kcat for short), who is afflicted with Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2) or tumor of the nerves, life presents several wonderful opportunities.

Yes, despite the fact that her particular rare disorder brought into her life numerous complications, such as partial paralysis on the left extremities, difficulty in swallowing, facial numbness, deafness and more.

Turning point

Kcat was living a normal life until the devastating news came in 2004—she has NF2.

In her article titled “An Examined Life” published in Manila Bulletin, she said, “My world turned upside down, and everything changed. The world seemed to be moving so fast just because I was moving slow.

I wanted time to stop and wait

for me, but it wouldn’t. I needed to move with the world. Just because I’m sick doesn’t mean I need to continue being sick and just lie on my bed and stay at home. Life must go on.”

I was moved instantaneously the first time I read these lines.

It is truly amazing how she managed to be so optimistic despite her plight.

A fountain of hope

Nothing can’t stop her.

Yeah, sure, she can’t hear, but she can talk. And she admits that she’s quite talkative.

She can’t walk, but she can still go out with her family and friends using her wheelchair.

She can’t smile, but she has the innate talent to paint smiles on others’ faces.

She can’t paint and draw, but she can still make graphic designs with her right hand.

Kcat said, “My condition was never a hindrance from doing the things I want to do. As long as I can, I would do it. Besides, life is never hopeless.”

Though there is still no cure for NF2, Kcat doesn’t lose hope that someday there will be.

But in the event that the cure won’t come in her lifetime, she said that she will live with this

disease contentedly and happily.

Her fight continues

Twice a year cranial MRI/CT scan to monitor her brain tumors, physical therapies, maintenance medicines for her eyes and anti-seizure; and possible surgeries—these could be quite costly.

But the good news is she is not alone in this fight. A lot of people, including her family are joining hands to raise funds to help her continue her treatment.

She said: “We are all given a life, but that doesn’t mean we live just by breathing. I am so grateful that I have my family and friends on this journey.

They are my blessings!”

Through her online store, Kcat is selling shirts and other items which she personally designed in order to fund her medical needs.

“Life goes on. I believe that every day is a miracle; every hour, every minute, every second and every breath. I have been given the chance to live, so I am choosing to live life to the fullest with all that I am and everything that I have. I always tell everyone that I CAN de-

PANGARAP: SO, OUR JOURNEY BEGINS

So, Where Have You Been?

BY BOLET AREVALO

DO NOT COMMIT THE MISTAKE OF BEING A STRANGER IN YOUR NEW COUNTRY. VISIT AS MANY NICE PLACES AS YOU CAN BEFORE THAT JOB HUNTING KEEPS YOU BUSY. Among newcomers, some may have psyched themselves up so much that they have already convinced themselves that no time can be wasted in beginning to look for a job. So, off they go on a 24-hour stint of planning their moves and assessing their chances of getting that job.

Let me not make judgment

of how immediate the need for that job is because I am pretty sure if any of us could truly afford to sit around for a while and savour the moment of new freedom and new environment, we would. Why not? We could have come from a place where hard work was our easy daily companion, by necessity.

And for sure, because you had worked hard, you gained this reward of being able to qualify to come as an immigrant.

If you honestly qualified to this immigrant program, chances are you were able to show enough proof that you could sustain yourself and your family for at least 6 months without a job. This is not to say, that you should stretch your luck, but simply to remind you that it would be nice if you got

to know the country that you have chosen to embrace for the rest of your life.

Upon arrival, whether you like it or not, you are a tourist in this new place. Tourist comes from the word “tour,” implying that you owe it to yourself to make a tour and get acquainted with the place. Not necessarily for the place’s sake, although that could come with the immigration program business plan, but more importantly for your own sake.

May I refer again to where I am based—British Columbia, Canada. If you can afford it, visit at least those places that your friends talk about as must-see places, or places that are classified as “you’ve-never-beento-Canada-if-you-have-neverseen-them.” Some of them may www.canadianinquirer.net

Maria Kathrina Lopez Yarza (or Kcat for short) with friends.

spite and in spite of everything that I’m going through. I did and I’m doing it now, and so can you? You can! Trust GOD.” After being featured in various T.V. programs, Kcat said she has been receiving help from people she doesn’t know personally and this is another source of strength that fuels her to keep going.

As one of the founders of

PWDPhil.com, the website of Persons with Disabilities, she wants to be an instrument in raising awareness for the plight of Pinoys with Disabilities.

After all, she is an ABLE DISABLE in every sense of the word. ■

require you travel a few hours or cross the waters, but I guarantee you that these places will make you fall in love with British Columbia. Talk of Whistler and Victoria alone. Some others, you get by simply riding a few minutes in a public bus or the skytrain.

Other would-be immigrants come as tourists before applying or getting accepted as permanent residents. Many of those who do that end up saying that yes, this is the country where I want my whole family to grow and make a life. Not only do they see how beautiful it is, but also how habitable the country is. For example, Vancouver, always voted as one of the top 5 liveable places in the world, has the best climate, especially for those who come from tropical countries. From where I live, nature is at my doorstep.

The other significance of doing this as soon as you arrive is the reality that you may never

be able to do it once you start looking for a job. The job hunt can be as consuming as it is frustrating at the beginning.

The feeling of frustration can weigh you down so that you do not feel like you will enjoy anything else you see. The passing days without a source of income can also weigh heavily on savings, making touring and enjoying the place will be the furthest thing from your mind at that point.

When I was doing my tourist thing even only by walking or commuting, the only thing that was always running through my mind was the fact that I was getting more and more convinced that I wanted to live here for the rest of my life. And that life would be complete if I found a job. With my own job, even if it was only a humble job in the beginning, I would be able to sail off and conquer better grounds in this new country that I would eventually

You can visit her online store at http://www.kcatyarza.com/ Store.html/

❱❱ PAGE 38 So, Where

FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

25

Lead and Inspire Bring Out the Leader in You!

TOP TEN TIPS TOWARDS BECOMING A BETTER LEADER, ACCORDING TO HTTP://PSYCHOLOGY.ABOUT.COM: 1. Learn More About Your Leadership Style. Understand your strengths and weaknesses in order to improve your leadership abilities.

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer “EVERYTHING RISES and falls on leadership,” says Dr. John C. Maxwell, motivational speaker and author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader; a quote which I first heard way back when I was teaching leadership classes at a local church bible school.

The value of leadership is undeniable and necessary in any orderly, productive society.

In the wild, we see an instinctive notion of the pecking order.

Animals—especially those that live in groups—have a primal understanding of and reliance upon the hierarchy of leadership. The stronger of the pack makes it crystal clear who is in charge; leaving the rest to follow in willful submission, or wait until the time comes to challenge this authority.

We humans likewise have a built-in understanding of the worth and dynamics of leadership in any organized system.

We see this world order in action from early on: Games like “Follow the leader” are both telling and indicative of the natural scheme of things. From playground to profession, we move in this structure. Some show leadership qualities from the get-go. Others grow into the role, filling shoes they once thought too big.

Recently, my 14-year-old daughter, Andie, was tasked to write an essay for her Social Studies class on the topic of her strengths as a student.

Touching on the issue of group projects—upon which a chunk of their grades are based—she wrote: “Regarding group projects, I believe that we should be able to pick our groups, because most time when we do not pick our group mates, one person would end up doing everything,

2. Encourage Creativity. Effective leaders stimulate the creativity of their followers and offer them challenges with ample support.

3. Serve As a Role Model. Exemplify the traits you want your followers to have. Walk the talk.

4. Be Passionate. Lead with genuine enthusiasm for the projects you work on.

5. Listen and Communicate Effectively. Express sincere care and concern for your members, both verbally and non-verbally. and I’ve been put in that situation almost every time. I would improve my participation by making sure everyone has an assigned task and does it, I’d also make sure that I do my assigned topic.”

Andie is a leader; and a strong one, that. Others see it, and inevitably end up looking to her, to the point of almost parasitic reliance. Group projects generally rise and fall upon her, and this brings a lot of pressure.

My role as her parent is to help her continually hone and develop her leadership potentials; such that she becomes more effective as a leader, and is better able to deal with the pressure brought on by this role.

That’s about the size, where you put your eyes

The first step was to get my daughter to see herself as a leader. This remains the first step for all of us towards developing our leadership potential.

I’m a self-confessed Sesame Street freak—I grew upon it, learned valuable life-lessons and skills from it, am still fascinated with it. One of my favourite songs from the syndicated kid’s series is all about perspective and focus; how you see things. A part of it goes: Ohh, everything comes in its own special size / I guess it can be measured, / by where you put

your eyes / It so big when you’re close, / it looks smaller back a bit ‘ / That’s about the size of it. / That’s about the size; / where you put your eyes / That’s about the size of it.”

The song lightheartedly illustrates the vital role that having the right perspective (and seeing things accordingly) plays in our lives. Problems deemed gargantuan may seem tiny when viewed from the vantage point of someone else’s challenges. Tasks that seem too huge to tackle seem more manageable when we back up from them a bit, for instance.

This applies to how we view ourselves, as well. How we see ourselves determines much of how we live our lives.

Perspective. Focus. Vision.

Three very important elements of leadership. See yourself as a leader, and you are one step closer to becoming one.

Small dogs, grasshoppers, giants, and a ruddy shepherd boy

How we see ourselves defines much of who we are, and affects the course we set for our lives.

To illustrate, small dogs do not see themselves as are small.

On the contrary, they are big in their own eyes. Ask any fierce, yippity, evil-eyed mini-Pinscher as it growls at you through bared teeth. Hence, small dogs often have the insane power to

6. Have a Positive Attitude. Have an upbeat, optimistic attitude that will inspire your followers.

7. Encourage People to Make Contributions. Let the members of your team know that you welcome their ideas and encourage their involvement.

8. Motivate Your Followers. Encourage your followers to get into action by being genuinely passionate about their ideas or goals, helping followers feel included in the process and offering recognition, praise and rewards for people’s accomplishments.

9. Offer Rewards and Recognition. Offering effective recognition and rewards is one of the best ways to help followers feel appreciated and happy, and happy people perform better.

10. Keep Trying New Things. Leaders are lifelong learners. Learn from your followers.

ward-off big criminals, as well as Girl Scouts selling cookies.

Let’s take a little trip to the Good Book; to the Old Testament books of Numbers and first Samuel. We find that the people of Israel saw themselves as grasshoppers, “and SO THEY WERE in the giants’ eyes.” Because of their misguided perspective, the Israelites missed out on a land flowing with milk and honey. They continued to live in lack until some years later, when one brave boy—tired of the prevalent grasshopper mentality—stood up for his entire people and took the giant down with a stone, a slingshot, and belief in his bigger-than-

the-giants God. David had the right perspective of himself and his identity in his God— the unlikely, ruddy teenaged shepherd boy saw himself as a leader, despite the odds stacked against him.

Born or made?

There is a saying that we have all heard, at one point or other: Leaders are born, not made. It is time-worn, yet still highly debated (and, more often than not, very much refuted), ranking right up there with Nature vs. Nurture, Chicken or Egg, and other such conundrums. ❱❱ PAGE 30 Bring out

Lead and Inspire

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 26

Political Dynasties: Are Leaders Born or Made?

Are These Three Words Ruining Your Life?

BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer

BY JONATHAN MEAD Zen Habits

ACCORDING TO Wikipedia, “Politics in the Philippines has been under the control of a few notable families. It is normal for a politician's son, wife, brother, or other kinsman, to run for the same or other government office. The term coined by Filipinos to describe this practice is "Political dynasty", the equivalent of an oligarchy in political science.”

Some two years ago, former senate president Senator Juan Ponce said in an interview that dynasties have existed since politics was invented. He even mentioned the Kennedys and Roosevelts, arguing that political dynasties also exist outside the Philippines.

On a paper written by Ernesto and Pedro Dal Bo and John Snyder for the National Bureau of Economic Research, they wrote, “Political dynasties are present in other democracies as well, such as India, where the Gandhi dynasty has spanned three generations and produced four national leaders. The main concern with political dynasties as voiced in the popular press is that they are somehow un-democratic.”

Is there really an issue if politicians’ children follow their footsteps? If my future kid wants to be a writer, would it be deemed unacceptable? Is there really any difference?

The thing that might be quite arguable here is that when someone has the authority to rule over a piece of land—whether it be the humble barangay chairman or the provincial governor—authority means economic or financial power.

One may also argue and use the 1987 Philippine constitution to plead their case, saying that political dynasties are unconstitutional.

According to Article II Section 26, "The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law."

Now, obviously, political dynasties exist despite the fact that it is grossly expressed in

HAVE YOU ever been annoyed by a successful person, because you thought you were more intelligent than them? Maybe it was a boss. Maybe it was a political figure or a leader.

It’s especially maddening when this person is creating rules that dictate your life. I can definitely relate. I’ve had my share of bosses that I thought were less than brilliant.

So what is it that makes them successful? That’s what I’ve always wondered and what has always bugged me. I mean, shouldn’t intelligence be a prerequisite to leadership? The answer… not really.

It turns out the biggest reason people are successful is: consistent action, not intelligence.

T h e n the question is, are these t h r e e words ruining your life…?

President Benigno Simeon Aquino III takes his oath before Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales as the Philippines 15th President during inaugural ceremony at the Quirino Grandstand, Rizal Park in Manila Wednesday (June 30). Looking on are (from left) former president Fidel Ramos, former president Joseph Estrada, Presidential Sister Kris Aquino-Yap, Father Catalino Arevalo SJ (holding the Holy Bible), and Presidential Sister Pinky Aquino-Abellada PHOTO BY REY MANIQUET, OFFICE OF THE PRESS SECRETARY

the constitution that it is prohibited. The Anti-Political Dynasty Law has been proposed several times but it never made it to the top.

In fact, according to political analyst Dante Simbulan (as cited by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism or PCIJ), “in a study of the elites of Philippine politics from 1946 to 1963 lists 169 prominent families. These families have produced 584 public officials, including seven Presidents, two Vice Presidents, 42 Senators, and 147 Representatives.”

According to the same source, back in the 12th Congress (1998-2001), 31% or 71 representatives have parents who are also holding political offices around the country. 25 reps have children elected into office, 22 reps have their spouses elected, 47 representatives have siblings who are also government officials, 60 reps have other relatives elected into government posts, 31 reps have in-laws who are in office, and 41 representatives have their “meemaw” (grandmother) and “pop-pop” (grandfather) in political offices as well.

This makes me wonder about the quality of leaders our country has today. If eye color and height can be passed on from parent to child as genes carried on to the next generation, can you also pass on your qualifications to become a leader? Is there such a thing as a ‘leadership gene?’

We have the Binays of Makati, the Ejercitos and Estradas of Metro Manila and Laguna, the

Cayetanos of Pasig, the Mangudadatus and even the infamous clan of the Ampatuans of Maguindanao, and the Ecleos of Dinagat Island. These are just a few of the political dynasties that have held office for decades in certain parts of the country. In an infographic designed by Jojo Malig for ABSCBN Online, the provinces with political dynasties are tagged with blue markers and I’m telling you, it’s teeming with blue markers in the way that divisoria is teeming with shoppers two days before Christmas day.

According to my research, there is no ‘leadership gene.’

Parents holding political office will not automatically have a politically-inclined son or daughter. It is not a trait genetically passed on from parents to offspring. So one cannot argue that leaders are born.

They can, however, be born to be made into a leader, which is the argument of nature versus nurture.

You may nurture your child to grow up in a way that instills political inclination in their minds, showing them the ropes, telling them how to lead the governed by righteousness, justice, and a genuine desire to serve.

But I’m guessing that’s not always the case. But—again—that issue perhaps need its own article. For now, I shall not digress.

For now, let it boil down to pure science—that leaders are not born, they are made. Then let the looming question stew— are parents making competent leaders? ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

do, but it’s really actually a very easy habit to create. And there are a multitude of possibilities that exist right now that you can practice it.

Easiest thing in the world

For example, how many time does your spouse or partner ask you “What do you want to have for dinner?” and you respond, “I don’t know.” (This happens to me all the time, and it’s maddening.) Next time, instead of using those three dirty words, just ask yourself, “What’s something I’d like to have for dinner?” and then respond.

Now do this when someone asks where you’d like to hang out, or what you’d like to spend the evening doing. Instead of re-actively saying “I don’t

T h e unmagical words

T h o s e words are: I don’t know.

It’s not drive, it’s not motivation, it’s not lack of passion that keeps people from doing what they want. It’s not knowing where to start, or how to get from A to B. That’s the single biggest reason people don’t take action to make their dreams a reality.

So how can we overcome this? How can we stop letting obscurity keep us from becoming successful? The answer is pretty simple: You have to develop the ability to stop caring about not knowing.

You have to cultivate the habit of doing before knowing. This seems like a daunting thing to

know,” take the time to come up with a response. Even if you’re not 100% completely stoked about the idea, just come up with something you’d be satisfied with doing. Anything other than I don’t know is an improvement.

Next, try asking yourself “How could I best use my time, right now?” or “What is the highest leverage use of my time, right now?” Take a min❱❱ PAGE 30 Are These

Lead and Inspire

27 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Philippine presidents: a look at the Philippines’ past and present

BY KATHERINE MARFALTEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer AS WE draw closer to the next Presidential elections, many of us should ponder anew, “What are the qualities that we should look for in a president?”

While there may no exact answer to this question, we can be guided by history.

• Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo was the first president of the Philippine Republic, having successfully steered the country to independence from the oppressive Spanish regime. On the side, however, he tried and executed Bonifacio, the other hero. And their Magdalo (Aguinaldo)Magdiwang (Bonifacio) factions still accurately depict Philippine politics, which is rife with bitter disputes, lust for power and betrayals.

• President Manuel Quezon had a temperamental type of leadership. He passionately de-

clared, “I prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos than a government run like heaven

by Americans,” and again freed the country from colonial subjugation. Almost 80 years later, some ask why we are still run like hell by Filipinos. (oh, right, we declared it to be so) • President Jose P. Laurel was the president during the Japanese occupation. He is seen by history, though, as a war collaborator and even a traitor; and it was during his presidency that Manila was crippled by hunger.

Under his watch, it is said that the Japanese committed rapes and other atrocities against the Filipino people.

• President Sergio Osmena was the gentleman president.

When his time came to assume presidency by automatic succession (as was the law at that time), he agreed to give way to Quezon when the latter issued a statement that “it would not be wise and prudent to effect any such change under the circum-

stances”. He became president upon the death of Quezon, however. When he ran for reelection, he did not campaign—saying that Filipinos were aware of his honest and faithful service.

He lost to President Roxas, who garnered 54% of the votes.

• President Manuel Roxas was the first elected head of state of the Philippines. He accomplished the transition that transformed the then-colony to an independent state.

• President Elpidio Quirino was viewed as a good president but his administration was tainted with graft and corruption. His years as president were marked with post-war reconstruction, general economic gains, and increased economic aid from the United States. During his time, the Philippines was second to Japan in Asia economically. The then-exchange rate was two pesos to a dollar.

• President Ramon Magsaysay, who was an automobile

www.canadianinquirer.net

mechanic and a guerilla leader in his early life, was sworn into office wearing the Barong Tagalog, a first by a Philippine president. His administration was considered one of the cleanest and most corruption-free; his presidency was cited as the Philippines’ Golden Years. His term, however, was cut short by a plane crash.

• President Carlos P. Garcia was a teacher, poet, orator,

lawyer, public official, political economist and guerrilla leader and during his presidency, was known for his “Filipino First Policy”, favouring Filipino businessmen over foreign investors, which was the antithesis of the then-policy, “What is good in America is also good in the Philippines.” He also initiated the “Austerity Program”. ❱❱ PAGE 31 Philippine presidents

Seen & Scenes

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 28

FOREIGN CREDENTIAL EVALUATION

MORTGAGE ARCHITEC

VANCOUVER—Several stakeholders, organizations and alumni associations met on January 9 at the Philippine Overseas Labour Office to discuss the current Foreign Credential Evaluation system in Canada. Leading the discussion were Labour Attache Bernardino Julve and Agnes Tecson, CHRP. Also in attendance were Consul General Neil Frank Ferrer and Deputy Consul General Anthony Mandap.

Albert Collu, President - Mortgage A - Mortgage Architect; Rose Ami; Be Thorogood, Real Estate Broker/Own Realty Brokerage.

SEN. TOBIAS ENVERGA, JR. MEETS WITH THE FILIPINO CANADIAN COMMUNITY IN IQALUIT Senator Tobias Enverga, Jr. (seated centre, 2nd row) joins Filipino-Canadians in Iqaluit, Nunavut in a gathering to celebrate Christmas. Accompanied by his wife, Rosemer, Senator Enverga took the opportunity also to listen to issues and concerns that matter to Filipino-Canadians in the Nunavut capital. Recently, Senator Enverga was in Calgary and held a similar consultation with Filipino Canadians in that city in a roundtable meet with the Council and Assembly of Filipino Foundations. The Conservative Senator for Ontario is the only Parliamentarian of Filipino descent, thus, becoming likewise the representative of the community in the legislature.

For photo submissions, please email info@canadianinquirer.net. www.canadianinquirer.net

Peaches Madarang, Office Manager Tina Francis, Lender - Radius Financ ler Williams; Rose Ami and Don Tho

Robert Celiz, Manager - Rose Celiz L lene Martirez, Immigration Consulta Mommy Rose Madarang and Darwin

Seen & Scenes

29 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

CTS

PHILIPPINE MILITARY ACADEMY - US AND CANADA TOP: Philippine Military Academy U.S. Northwest Group and Western Canada Group Get-Together at the Igama Residence, Kent, Washington, U.S.A. on November 9, 2013.

BOTTOM: Philippine Military Academy Western Canada Group Christmas Party at the Espadero Residence, Coquitlam, B.C. on December 7, 2013.

Architect; Harcharan Upal, VP ernie Tanz, Businessman; Don ner - Royal Le Page At Your Service

r; Al Amurao, Mortgage Agent; cial; Chad Crisostomo, Realtor - Kelorogood

Law Firm; Peaches Madarang; Arant, Cannex Immigration; Rose Ami; n Domingo

UPAABC 2014 BOARD MEETING

Rose Ami, Albert Collu and Aida Claustro of Sunlife Financial

www.canadianinquirer.net

Directors of the University Alumni Association in British Columbia held their first meeting for 2014 to plan the year’s activities such as seminars, scholarship initiatives, professional development, member enrichment programs and community involvement. Present were (standing, L-R) Carlos Brosas, Del Gachallan, Mary Tecson, Dits Pascual, (sitting, L-R) Liza de la Rosa, Melissa Briones, Charen Cusi, Agnes Tecson, Cynthia Tamundong, Eric Inigo and Rudy Pante (not shown in photo).

Visit upaabc.org for more information.

Lead and Inspire

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 30

Are These...

Bring Out...

ute to brainstorm and mentally prioritize. If you’re having trouble coming up with an answer, just pick whatever you think would be the most productive use of your time. Remember, anything is better than the three words we shall not speak of.

Just imagine all of the possibilities for you to practice actively making decisions based on your desires, rather than re-actively defaulting to unconsciousness. There are so many little ways you can practice this skill. I think you’ll be surprised at how often you’re able to rehearse it.

The difference between living and existing Okay, so you’ve mastered it with the little stuff. Now it’s time to use it on the things that really matter. Stuff like your passions and career.

If you’re not doing something you love or at least like for a living, you’re selling yourself short. And I bet the reason why you’re not pursuing something better is because you

❰❰ 25

❰❰ 26

don’t know what you’d rather do. Instead of allowing that not knowing to dwell in your psychic space, cast it out. Don’t tolerate it anymore. If you don’t know what you’re passionate about, move from not knowing to seeking a path that will allow you to explore what you might love to do. This might mean reading a book on different career pursuits. It might mean googling your hobbies for possible career intersections.

Whatever it is, practice that until you move into a state of

knowing.

The reason I’m so passionate about this is because I’ve seen so many lives unfulfilled because of not knowing. It saddens me to think that such a simple phrase can have such a devastating impact.

I urge you to practice moving in the direction of knowing, when you feel stuck in a state of indecision. All it takes is one little shift.

It could mean the difference between making a dying and making a living. ■

“The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born—that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born,” says American scholar and author, Warren G. Bennis.

On the same topic, American football coach and athlete, Vince Lombardi had this to say: “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”

Some believe it is a bit of both: Inborn potential plus hard work.

Just do it!

I am of the personal opinion that the sole belief in naturalborn leaders as a hard and fast fact of life is generally a cop-out people use in order to dodge the

hard work necessary in realizing their own leadership potential. Or an excuse people use to maintain their power and keep rulership within the family; ergo, political dynasties.

Each of us has it in us to lead, given the right vision of ourselves, proper perspective, and a whole lot of good-old hard work. Enough of the excuses and parasitic dependence of a slacking high-schooler.

Time to get a better view of yourself, and see yourself as the special, unique individual designed to kick some serious rear-end and leave your mark on this earth in your own special way.

Time to get off your own rearend and work towards achieving that which you’ve always wanted to achieve.

Time to step out on the path of your dreams, and to help others towards theirs, as well.

Go on and do it. The world awaits your leadership, in some capacity or other; but in a capacity that only you can best fill. ■

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Lead and Inspire

31 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Study shows top college leadership positions remain mostly white, male; suggests feeder system

BY KYLE HIGHTOWER The Associated Press ORLANDO, FLA.—A new study by the University of Central Florida's Diversity and Ethics in Sport released on Thursday shows that the top leadership positions at Football Bowl Subdivision schools and conferences remain mostly white and male.

The study examined the race and gender of conference commissioners and campus leaders, including college and university presidents, athletic directors and faculty athletic representatives for all 125 FBS institutions. It also included head football coaches, assistant coaches and student-athletes for the football teams.

Looking at numbers for the 2013-14 academic year, it found that 88.8 per cent of university presidents, 84.8 per cent of athletic directors and 100 per cent of conference commissioners are white. White males ac-

counted for 75.2 per cent, 78.4 per cent and 100 per cent of those positions, respectively, Study author Richard Lapchick called those numbers "unacceptable'' and said part of the problem with getting more diversity throughout the system falls on the lack of penalties or sanctions for institutions that aren't more diverse.

"There are individual schools that do it. The Division I athletics director organization has suggested it, but there is no policy or sanction for schools bringing in all white guys,'' he said. "I think that would make the difference as it did with academic progress and graduation rates. Once coaches knew they could lose their jobs because of it, those rates started to skyrocket.''

Lapchick said it's troubling there were only 15 head football coaches of colour in the 2013 season, down from 18 last year.

The all-time high of 19 was set during the 2011-12 academic year.

Lapchick said he continues the advocate for an "Eddie Robinson Rule,'' patterned after the NFL's Rooney Rule, which would mandate at least one minority candidate be in-

terviewed for all open coaching and key administration positions.

The study did show a slight increase in the percentage of women of colour in key lead-

ership jobs. The largest is at athletic director, which is increased from 12.5 per cent in 2012 to 15.2 per cent.

However, Lapchick said there isn't a true feeder system at most schools to put more women and racial minorities in a position to attain a top leadership role.

He said key feeder jobs to be targeted include senior woman administrator, faculty athletic representative and associate athletic director. Currently all three positions are more than 90 per cent white.

"I think that it goes back to same question, there's no sanctions for them not to do it, so they continue to do business the way they've always done it,'' Lapchick said. "I think it's more of the 'old boys' network' than it is a racial thing...So the pipeline isn't full with potential candidates. I think colleges have to be more creative with how they look for key jobs like these and make sure they have a diverse pool of candidates.'' ■

Philippine presidents...

• President Diosdado Macapagal worked to suppress graft and corruption and to stimulate the economy. He introduced the first land reform law to alleviate the plight of poor farmers.

However, his many reforms were thwarted by the Nacionalista Party, and he eventually lost to the charismatic Congressman Marcos during reelection time.

• President Ferdinand Marcos had intelligence, foresight and a phenomenal memory.

His plans were idealistic and futuristic; but he succumbed to greed for power and money and his administration was marred by massive authoritarian corruption, despotism, nepotism, political repression, and human rights violations. When he assumed the presidency, he said “This nation will be great again.” 20 years after, the Philippines was proclaimed as the “Sick Man of Asia.” He was ousted by a peaceful revolution.

• President Corazon Aquino was thrust into the role of lead❰❰ 27

er when her husband, Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, was assassinated allegedly by the powers-that-be. It was an uphill battle for Ninoy’s widow; she oversaw the promulgation of the 1987 Constitution and initiated reforms during her presidency. But more work needed to be done to unravel the culture of corruption that was the legacy of the Marcos dictatorship.

• President Fidel Ramos was a major player in the Marcos administration, being the thenVice Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. However, upon deflection of the then-Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, he followed suit and helped catapult President Aquino to presidency. His administration was allegedly one of compromised leadership, because he came to power through the help and support of divergent groups.

• President Joseph “Erap” Ejercito Estrada was an actor and the long-time mayor of the City of San Juan before he ran

for the presidency and won.

However, allegations of corruption hounded his administration. This started an impeachment trial in the Senate, and in 2001 Estrada was ousted by “People Power 2”. He was also tried for plunder in 2007, and was the first Philippine President who was impeached and then convicted. He was thereafter pardoned by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He is currently the Mayor of Manila.

• When President Gloria Arroyo succeeded to the presidency upon the impeachment of President Estrada, much was expected of her. She was an accomplished educator and had good political background.

However, her nearly-10 years term of office was tainted with election-rigging allegations and corruption. She is currently facing electoral sabotage charges but is on hospital arrest.

• President Noynoy Aquino was a congressman with a less than stellar record in the House of Representatives. He was the first bachelor president; does www.canadianinquirer.net

President Benigno Aquino

not drink but smokes; the first president who was a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University.

The public first took notice of him during the wake and funeral of his mother, the late President Cory Aquino. His election battle cry was “Daang Matuwid” but the road is proving to be crooked with expose upon expose of the misuse of public funds. However, he restored

investor confidence and only time will tell if he will adhere closely and passionately to his “Daang Matuwid”.

Let us learn from the past as we head on to the future. Overseas Filipinos, through the Absentee Voting Act, can have a hand in how the next leader of the Philippines will be selected.

Let us exercise this right and choose well. ■

FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

32

Entertainment Meryll, behind the camera

Photographed all her life, actress now sees things from a different perspective

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer

In the sizzle reel for “Dementia”

Aunor shares screen with Coco, Jasmine Superstar begins 2014 with two new movies

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer AWARD-WINNING ACTRESS Nora Aunor welcomes 2014 with not just one, but two new indie movies.

Aunor leads the star-studded cast of Adolfo Alix Jr.’s “Padre de Familia,” which also topbills Joel Torre, Rosanna Roces, Anita Linda, Joem Bascon, Baron Geisler, Julia Montes and Coco Martin.

The family drama, coproduced by Martin, will wrap up work soon—with most scenes shot in Manila, but Alix also ventured to Malaysia for some shots.

Alix had planned for a long time to direct Aunor. After several stalled attempts, he finally got to collaborate with the country’s Superstar in “Padre de Familia.”

Aunor will also share the screen with young star Jasmine Curtis-Smith in “Dementia,”

the directorial debut of former TV5 executive Perci Intalan.

Intalan told the INQUIRER that “Dementia” had its “sizzle reel” shoot last week. “That’s a test shoot. We did a trailer-like series of shots. It’s a production technique that helps everyone, including the actors, get into their roles. It also allows us to test the cameras and the look of the characters.”

Intalan said that he and his production team prepared a storyboard to guide them for the official shoot in Batanes in March.

“I can’twait to shoot in the actual location… which is breathtaking. We want this film to be worthwhile… After all, it’sAte Guy’s first major horror film in decades,” said Intalan.

“Dementia” is produced by Intalan’s partner, filmmaker Jun Robles Lana, under Octobertrain Films for Studio 5.

A third indie film is in the works for Aunor—a drama on human trafficking directed by Joel Lamangan. ■

IN THIS age of Instagram, actress Meryll Soriano, like a few other stars, has found yet another means to express herself.

As most netizens do, she regularly posts photos on Instagram. “[It’s] the best social networking platform for me,” she volunteered.

“With Instagram, I take photos of my feet, myself, my son, everyday mundane stuff,” the actress elaborated. “I love taking photographs of things on the table, workspaces, food, my travels; people and outdoor scenes, most especially when I am on the road.”

She discovered photography early on, when she was 14.

“My stepfather, Papa Guchi, saw my Instamatic prints and thought that I had an eye for composition,” she recalled.

“When he came back from Japan, he brought me a Canon EOS camera.”

As a kid, she took shots “mainly of scenes on the streets, nature shots, textures. As I grew older, I explored other photographers’ works. I was deeply inspired by Sebastiao Salgado and Alfred Eisenstadt.”

Hobbyist

Young and restless, she wanted to be a photojournalist.

“But I was scared and reluctant and photography just became a hobby for me,” conced-

Meryll Soriano

ed Soriano, who joined show biz even earlier, at age 8.

She has been working in front of the camera almost her entire life. Now she has found that photography gives a different kind of high.

“Personally, I look at photography as a way to capture moments that exude a certain feeling,” she explained. “To be able to communicate that is an achievement. Maybe because I’ve been an actor for so long … that is also what I would like to do as a photographer.”

She doesn’t consider herself a “serious” photographer. “Although I secretly want to… I did some exhibitions with friends when I was a lot younger. Maybe that can be considered seri-

ous photography, technically?”

She currently uses a Nikon D60, Lomo cameras, Panasonic Lumix and a trusty iPhone.

London course

She took a break from the biz for a few years to study product design at the Central St. Martins (College of Arts and Design) in London.

Before her stint abroad, she was able to convince some friends and costars to pose for her: Cherie Gil, Joel Torre, Eugene Domingo, Malou de Guzman, Andoy Ranay, Alessandra de Rossi, Baron Geisler and Bing Davao.

Most recently, she had a ❱❱ PAGE 34 Meryll, behind

Entertainment

33 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Anne Curtis is the new Dyesebel Philippine Canadian Inquirer IN A press conference recently, actress-host Anne Curtis confirmed the news that she will be the next Dyesebel in the upcoming TV remake, played first on TV by the likes of Vilma Santos, Alma Moreno, Alice Dixson, Charlene Gonzales and Marian Rivera.

Curtis said: "It's another dream come true. Sobra lang akong speechless kasi ang laking project nito. (I am so speechless because it's a big project) Sinasabi ko noon dream role ko Dyesebel. (I was saying before, Dyesebel is my dream role) So ito na (So, here it is), 2014, great way to start the year."

She received the good news after coming back from a vacation in the U.S., "Kababalik ko lang. Nalaman ko lang kahapon. It is overwhelming. 2013 is a tough year ay may maganda palang mangyayari." (I just came back. I just knew it yesterday. Didn't know that something good will happen).

PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK PAGE OF PAROKYA NI EDGAR

Chito Miranda quits smoking Philippine Canadian Inquirer

PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK PAGE OF ANNE CURTIS

The "It's Showtime" host assured her fans that she will do her best to portray her role well, "Gagawin ko ang lahat, mag-aaral ako ng fin swimming para maging ibang level na Dyesebel." (I will do everything, I

will learn fin swimming so I can portray Dyesebel on a different level).

Interestingly, one of her leading men is her ex-boyfriend Sam Milby. Her other leading man is Gerald Anderson. ■

MANILA, PHILIPPINES— Controversial rock band vocalist Chito Miranda has decided to give up smoking to ensure his longer tenure in the music industry.

Miranda posted a photo of his hand on the Facebook Page of his band Parokya Ni Edgar which bears a caption, "Goodbye cigarettes, it's been fun but health is wealth."

This, after undergoing an ex-

ecutive medical check-up in St. Luke’s Medical Center with his bandmate Darius Semaña.

The band vocalist cleared that he and Semaña were in “pretty good shape” but was given a medical advice to take care of his lungs and throat so he can perform with his band longer.

“I love smoking, but I love playing in a band more," he said.

Miranda became controversial in 2013 when his sex videos with his girlfriend Neri Naig were released online. ■

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Entertainment

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 34

‘Ms Tourism crown helps me do more good’

BY ARMIN P. ADINA Philippine Daily Inquirer WHEN ANGELI Dione Gomez set foot in Malaysia to represent the Philippines in the 2013/2014 Miss Tourism International pageant, she was aware that many people didn’t think she would win.

“The other girls said I couldn’t, because [the Philippines] won last year,” the 5’6”tall Cebuana told INQUIRER Entertainment recently at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 4, upon her arrival from Kuala Lumpur.

But Gomez bested 59 other aspirants in the Dec. 31 finals and scored a back-to-back victory for the Philippines, also making the country the most successful nation in the 17-year-old international pageant with three victories. Maria Esperanza Manzano was the first Filipino to bag the title in 2000.

Game plan

“Everybody’s eyes were on me because I was the representative from the Philippines. So I had a game plan. I used Rizzini’s (Alexis Gomez) winning last year to my advantage, instead of it scaring me. I kept their eyes on me. Every day I tried to stand out. Even when I was sick for five days, I gave my all,” said the 20- year- old filmmaking major.

“I kept thinking ‘ I’m a win-

Miss Tourism International 2013 Angeli Dione Gomez says the pageant’s contestants all want to help “Yolanda” survivors.

PHOTO BY RICHARD A. REYES

ner.’ That thought seemed to spread. Some girls started saying, ‘I think you’re gonna win.’

And it happened!” recalled Gomez, the fourth Filipino to bring home an international

beauty title in 2013, following Miss Supranational Mutya Johanna Datul, Miss World Megan Young and Miss International Bea Santiago.

Gomez said the Miss Tour-

with as well. It was such an honor to take his picture. I admire him as an artist.”

movies?

(On the big screen, she was last seen in Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s 2013 thriller “Sapi,” where she played a TV producer.)

“Yes, I am becoming more and more interested in moving images,” she quipped. “I would love to try any medium at this point.”

She recently chanced upon the work of photographer Colin Legg, who makes “time-lapse movies of celestial scenes [like] stars and the night sky.”

“I want to try that, too. I have an unending passion for images and that will always make me want to explore new things.” ■

ism International tilt was “the perfect pageant for us because we’re naturally friendly and welcoming.”

She elaborated: “When we get into anything, any industry, we have to understand what it’s all about. Filipinos are generally warm and welcoming. Tourism is our forte. I had fun inviting people to the Philippines. I love our country. I’m proud of our country.”

The Mutya ng Pilipinas Organization, which sent Gomez to the global tilt, had a different insight into the Philippines’ success in the Malaysia-based international pageant.

“We’ve been sending good public speakers, intelligent women—beautiful inside and out,” said Mutya ng Pilipinas president Jacqueline Tan, who assumed the post three years ago.

Tan also believed the organization scored a backto-back victory for the Philippines because “Mutya ng Pilipinas is breeding winners, Filipino beauties who can compete internationally. Our training is markedly more intense [than ever]. We require the titleholders to train almost every day for at least six months.”

Drive to win

Tan said Gomez’s “passion and determination” made her win. “With that kind of drive, you’d really win,” said the official.

But for Gomez, “luck and God’s blessing” secured her vic-

Meryll, behind... memorable session with Eddie Garcia.

“Thing is, I am always shy to ask people if I can do their portraits,” she owned up.

“Tito Eddie would always hang out with us in the standby area, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask him,” she said, recalling her third day on the set of the ABS-CBN soap opera “Honesto.”

Through costar Gio Alvarez, she got her request through to the veteran actor.

“When Tito Eddie agreed, I was so excited and nervous at the same time,” she admitted. “But he was cool about it.

He was funny and easy to work ❰❰ 32

Dream subjects

In choosing subjects, Soriano said, she was usually “drawn to their personalities and the stories they tell.”

Other artists on her wish list are actors Vilma Santos and Gloria Romero, singers Joey “Pepe” Smith and Ely Buendia and writer F. Sionil Jose.

She prefers to shoot in blackandwhite because “it’s just so beautiful and powerful.”

Now that she is back in show biz, will she ever consider working as a still photographer or a cinematographer for the

www.canadianinquirer.net

Joem Bascon

Cherry Gil

tory.

She said she helped other candidates during the competition by reminding them, “We’re tourism ambassadors, we should help each other and make the world a better place.”

Gomez recalled: “I even got into a little bit of trouble because I lent a girl a sponsored dress. I wasn’t allowed to do that. But she needed a dress.

There was another girl who did not know how to apply makeup, so I dolled her up.”

The Filipino beauty queen said she made fast friends with fellow candidates, who all vowed to help Haiyan (international name of Supertyphoon “Yolanda”) survivors.

“I’ll really going to try my best to bring them here. Malaysia really showed support for Haiyan survivors. People I met there said they were helping in their own way. When I visited the (Philippine) embassy, I saw many foundations helping, too,” she added.

Meanwhile, she was certain that her international title would “help extend my reach.

The crown would help me do more than I could do before. ” She is looking forward to a very busy year, hoping to make use of her filmmaking degree to produce a short video to support her campaign, in line with her new title.

She vowed to help provide housing and jobs to those affected by “Yolanda” and “help them get back on their feet.” ■

Entertainment

35 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

What’s on YouTube? Ask ‘Enemy,’ ‘Orphan Black’ top ‘YouTube Nation,’ a new Canadian Screen Award nominations daily online series from DreamWorks Animation

BY CASSANDRA SZKLARSKI The Canadian Press

BY FRAZIER MOORE The Associated Press NEW YORK—How do you cope with an exploding world of YouTube video? Starting Tuesday, you can get help by visiting “YouTube Nation.”

The video-sharing website has teamed with DreamWorks Animation to create this daily highlight reel of brand-new, trending and yet-to-be-discovered content.

It will serve as a handy sampler, says DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.

“In a sea of the infinite, this is a lighthouse.”

Every minute, some 100 hours of new video content is uploaded to YouTube. Now a task force of “YouTube Nation” curators will be plowing through this cache to identify not only what’s most popular, but also what’s poised to go viral with YouTube consumers.

“Our choices aren’t driven purely by algorithms and analytics,” says Katzenberg. “You don’t want to just know what’s the most seen. What you really want to know is: What’s GOING to be the most seen?”

The five-minute “YouTube Nation” program will post weekdays at 9 p.m. Eastern Time/6 p.m. Pacific Time starting Tuesday. It’s hosted by Jacob Soboroff (from HuffPost Live, the streaming network of The Huffington Post, and Pivot TV’s “TakePart Live”).

But each episode will be more than a digital tip sheet. It will come equipped with links and playlists that enable the user to delve fully into the video being recommended.

The five-minute “YouTube Nation’’ program is hosted by Jacob Soboroff (from HuffPost Live, the streaming network of The Huffington Post, and Pivot TV’s “TakePart Live’’).

PHOTO FROM TECHNOLOGY.INQUIRER.NET

“For every five minutes of our show,” says Katzenberg, “we’ll have an hour or more of content.”

“YouTube Nation” is geared chiefly to 18-to-30-year-olds and “casual viewers who would like to be heavier users,” he says.

But Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s head of content and business operations, says, “We look at ’YouTube Nation’ as a way to promote the great breadth of content on YouTube in an easily digestible way for anyone— and that’s the key word, ’anyone.”’

The advertiser-supported “YouTube Nation” is the first daily series produced by DreamWorks Animation and marks the first use of the YouTube brand for a daily series.

The project, an equal partnership of the two companies, has been in the works for a year, with a current staff totalling 50.

But that’s just the beginning, says Katzenberg. Within two months, a second daily edition of the show will be added to the mix, posting at 12 noon Eastern/9 a.m. Pacific.

Then, mid-year, specialization will be introduced with a dozen or so “vertical” guides such as “YTN Sports,” ”YTN News“ and ”YTN Music“—more than a dozen in all, says Katzenberg.

The mission is to bring to a waiting audience video that otherwise might never be found, discovered and presented by YouTube insiders.

“We’ll answer the question, ’Can you tell me what’s the most interesting, cool stuff?”’ says Katzenberg. “I don’t want to have to learn about it on ’Good Morning America.”’ ■

TORONTO —Doppelgangers abound at the Canadian Screen Awards—Denis Villeneuve’s surreal mind-bender “Enemy” leads the film nominations while Space’s sci-fi clone saga “Orphan Black” tops the television contenders.

“Enemy”—featuring Jake Gyllenhaal in dual roles as a paranoid teacher and as a cocky amateur actor who looks just like him—dominates the film categories with 10 nominations, ahead of Xavier Dolan’s “Tom at the Farm” with eight and Louise Archambault’s “Gabrielle” with six.

The three films will compete for best picture, against “The Dismantlement,” “Empire of Dirt,” “The F-Word,” “The Grand Seduction” and “Maina.”

Meanwhile, the TV race is dominated by “Orphan Black,” which has 14 nominations, including a best drama actress nod for star Tatiana Maslany.

She plays several different characters including an uptight soccer mom, a street-smart British orphan and a cornrowheaded science geek.

The Canadian Screen Awards honour achievement in homegrown television, film and digital projects, and replace the previously separate Gemini and Genie Awards. They’ll be handed out in Toronto on March 9 with Canuck comic Martin Short returning as host.

“Orphan Black” will compete for best drama against APTN’s “Blackstone,” Global’s “Bomb Girls” and CTV’s “Flashpoint” and “Motive.”

The best comedy race is between “Call Me Fitz,” CBC-TV’s “Gavin Crawford’s Wild West,” CBC-TV’s “Mr. D,” “Seed” and Super Channel’s “Tiny Plastic Men.” Other leading TV contenders include the TMN/Movie Central comedy “Less Than Kind” which snagged 12 nominations.

Global’s cop series “Rookie Blue” earned nine while TMN/ Movie Central’s raunchy comedy “Call Me Fitz,” CTV’s cop drama “Flashpoint” and City’s sitcom “Seed” each got eight nods. www.canadianinquirer.net

Sci-fi saga “Orphan Black” leads the TV race for the Canadian Screen Awards in March, with 14 nominations. Nominee Tatiana Maslany’s co-stars say they’re proud of the actor, who was also up for a Golden Globe on Sunday.

Enemy is a Canadian-Spanish erotic thriller film directed by Denis Villeneuve adapted by Javier Gullón based on José Saramago’s 2002 novel The Double.

The best actor race in film is dominated by international talent— Gyllenhaal is up for his intense turns in “Enemy,” while Daniel Radcliffe is nominated for “The F-Word” and Brendan Gleeson is up for his part in “The Grand Seduction.” They compete against Rajesh Tailang of “Siddarth” and Gabriel Arcand of “The Dismantlement.”

It-girl Maslany also scored a best film actress nomination for her turn in “Cas & Dylan,” pitting her against Cara Gee of “Empire of Dirt,” Gabrielle Marion-Rivard of “Gabrielle,” Kawennahere Devery Jacobs of “Rhymes for Young Ghouls” and Isabelle Guerard of “Rouge Sang.”

The competition for best na-

tional news anchor pits CBC’s Peter Mansbridge of “The National” against “Global National” anchor Dawna Friesen and Lisa LaFlamme of “CTV National News.”

Other notable nominees this year include Juno Awards host Michael Buble for best host in a variety, lifestyle, reality/competition, performing arts to talk program or series. The crooner is also named in the best writing in a variety or sketch comedy program or series category and best performance in a variety or sketch comedy program or series.

The awards are administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and will air on CBC-TV. ■

Entertainment

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 36

More than a year after he was supplanted, Peter Parker swings back into ‘Amazing Spider Man’

BY MATT MOORE The Associated Press P H I L A D E L P H I A— S p i d e rMan is set to be “amazing” again.

More than a year after Peter Parker had his body inhabited by the mind of the villainous and hyper-intelligent Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus, Marvel Entertainment’s web slinger is getting back inside his own skin.

Writer Dan Slott penned the swap that saw “The Amazing Spider-Man” end with issue

number 700 at the end of 2012.

With that in place, the longrunning book was replaced by Octavius’ adventures in the twice-monthly “Superior Spider-Man.” Now, said Slott, Parker is returning to a world that never knew he was gone, which, he said, is both a blessing and a curse.

“We’ve been watching Doc Ock knock over all the dominoes and that’s part of the fun, too, trying to imagine what kind of world Peter is going to Rip Van Winkle in to,” said Slott, whose tenure writing Spider-

Man has stretched for years, often to critical acclaim. The first issue of “Amazing SpiderMan,” illustrated by Humberto Ramos, is due out in February.

“When he comes back it’s going to be a whole new world for him.”

Not that everything is going to be bad, said Slott. After all, while Octavius was in his body, he took a doctorate and founded a company, among other things.

“Every one’s expecting that it’s going to be a nightmare, a landscape of broken friends and crushed dreams, but there’s

another side to it, too,” he said.

“When Peter went out, Doc Ock crashed course through college and got him a doctorate, got him a girlfriend and got him his own company,” said Slott.

“It’s going to be a strange new place for Peter Parker with both ups and downs,” for the character created by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee and who first appeared in “Amazing Fantasy” No. 15 more than five decades ago.

As for Octavius? Slott won’t say, but referenced the proverb about living in interesting times for the long-time villain

who discovered, if only briefly, a taste of what it means to be a hero.

“What is going to happen to Doc Ock? What is going to happen? That’s a source for much conjecture. There are so many other balls in the air,” said Slott.

Peter Parker’s planned return was first reported by the New York Daily News on Sunday. ■

Globes leader ‘American Hustle’ gets Oscar push; ‘12 Years’ and ‘Gravity’ right behind

BY JESSICA HERNDON The Associated Press BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.—The Golden Globes are typically Hollywood’s bawdiest awards show—“a wonderful mess,” said co-host Tina Fey of this year’s bash. But in the end, after all the boozy banter—some of it bleeped for broadcast—the 1970s corruption tale “American Hustle” got a very serious push toward Oscar glory, picking up three major awards.

Benefiting the most from Sunday night’s Globes as focus shifts to the Academy Awards, David O. Russell’s con caper locked in best comedy, best actress (Amy Adams) and best supporting actress (Jennifer Lawrence).

Not that early-season favourite “12 Years a Slave” isn’t still in the running. Though it earned only one award, Steve McQueen’s historical epic took home the night’s top honour: best film drama. But “American Hustle” seems to have emerged from the 71st annual Golden Globes as the film to beat.

Oscar doesn’t usually care much for comedies, but “American Hustle” offers a rich blend of scandal, style and superb acting that is bound to get Academy voters’ attention.

The Globes have flipped

awards season momentum before. Though Ben Affleck was denied an Oscar nomination last year for directing “Argo,” he did win best director at the Globes and his film went on to win best picture at the Oscars. In 2009, Katherine Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” lost in the best film category to James Cameron’s “Avatar” at the Globes. The defeat seemed to sway Oscar voters in Bigelow’s favour and she snagged the best picture award.

With the Oscar nominations coming Thursday, lost-in-space saga “Gravity,” which earned Alfonso Cuaron the best director Globe, could pick up some additional pull with likely nominations in the craft categories, which the Globes don’t recognize. There’s also a lot of builtin affection for its leading lady, Sandra Bullock, not to mention the film’s impressive worldwide box office performance.

Hosting Sunday night’s Globes for the second year in a row, Fey and Amy Poehler drew big laughs as they targeted such A-listers as Matt Damon, Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio.

One of the evening’s wellreceived jokes was delivered in the “SNL” alums’ opening bit in a reference Fey made to “Gravity”: “It’s a story of how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a

woman his own age.”

Last year, the duo led a sixyear ratings high with 19.7 million viewers. They’ll return as hosts next year.

Besides “American Hustle” and “12 Years a Slave,” the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the Globes, also favoured other fact-based films from America’s past: the ’80s-era AIDS drama “Dallas Buyers Club” and the high-finance extravaganza “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which both won top awards.

“Dallas Buyers Club” stars Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, who both lost noticeable weight for their roles— “or as actresses call it, ’being in a movie,”’ joked Fey—won their first Globes for best dramatic actor and best supporting actor.

DiCaprio, a nine-time nominee, picked up his second Globe for best comedy actor for his turn as a provocative stockbroker in Martin Scorsese’s nearly threehour “Wall Street.”

“I am thankful that Martin Scorsese is still this punk rock,” said DiCaprio backstage.

Famously absent from awards shows for years, Woody Allen received the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement honour, which was accepted by the director’s “Annie Hall” star Diane Keaton.

“Did you see Diane Keaton www.canadianinquirer.net

tonight?” best comedy actress winner Cate Blanchett asked reporters backstage. “She is my style icon, my acting icon—the works.”

Blanchett took home the award for her portrayal of a fallen socialite in Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.”

Elegant in an Armani gown, Blanchett joked, “A lot of effort goes into this effortlessness. It’s a wonderful mirage to be here tonight, but it’s not entirely who I am.” ■

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler PHOTO FROM RAPPLER.COM

FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

37

Lifestyle A fresh start to

Old Hollywood shimmer meets youthful colour and embellishment on the Golden Globes red carpet

BY LEANNE ITALIE The Associated Press

BY ANGEL JONES Special to Philippine Canadian Inquirer JANUARY IS such a symbol for fresh starts and The ever famous New Year's resolution! If you are like me and millions of other people in the world, my grandiose plan of making "hitting the gym" a commitment gets thrown out before January even ends!

Here are some tips to help keep those resolutions or any goals in life for that matter.

Write it down

Seeing is believing.

Out of sight out of mind.

These are quotes that we are all too familiar with, but holds very true. Seeing your list daily trains your mind to keep at it.

Create a master goals list in a journal you can carry around or put up a copy on your wall that you can see daily to inspire you.

Studies show that you are 42% more likely to attain your goal if you write them down.

Realistic and short term

Instant gratification is not a bad thing. We actually need it to motivate us. When making your goal do not make the end result so far off that it might seem so impossible or will take forever to get to.

Break it down into realistic attainable bite size pieces so you won't feel defeated and overwhelmed. Goals can look so expensive, huge, scary and far away at first but if you break it down to weekly, even daily goals, so you can feel and see your accomplishments daily.

It's all in the details

There's always steps to doing and becoming anything.

Everything has a cost and a procedure. Be honest and write down what steps each goal needs.

Step one might even be "make a call" and that is still a step to your goal and an important one at that! Each move counts.

Deadlines

I personally need to know where the finish line is. Some goals may need them to drive

you to stay motivated and some deadlines might be lifelong like a healthy eating lifestyle change.

Checklist

After you have made the list, make sure you check them off when you accomplish them.

Write a checklist daily if you have to. Nothing is too small to check off. If making a call or finding a number is a step to a goal, write it down and check it off! Each step matters. Seeing a list slowly being checked of gives you the visualization we need mentally to persevere towards our goals. Keep your lists, it is so fulfilling to see how much you have accomplished through time.

If you slack off, miss a step or jump ahead it's ok! Give yourselves some slack. You are only human after all.

Baby steps, crawling, jumping, rolling, no matter what your pace is it's ok! Be honest and real with what is comfortable for you to do at the moment. As long as you are on the path headed towards your goal, you are all good! ■

NEW YORK—Lupita Nyong’o wowed in a sexy, caped red silk strapless gown from Ralph Lauren and Lena Dunham showed up Sunday night in form-fitting canary yellow—tattoos out—for the Golden Globes, one of Hollywood’s biggest fashion fests.

Kerry Washington complemented her baby bump in a sleeveless white gown with a low neck and jacket-like top from Balenciaga.

“I also feel like I have the best date of the night, my little accessory here,” she told E! Entertainment dressed in a signature colour for her Olivia Pope on “Scandal.”

Also in white was Jennifer Lawrence. She chose Dior, with two tiers on a full skirt cinched at the waist and below by black trim. Julia Roberts wore a black gown topped by a white, buttondown collar shirtwaist look from Dolce & Gabbana.

“It’s a very interesting intersection of eveningwear and daywear, but one that you have to be her to wear,” stylist Robert Verdi said.

Hal Rubenstein, editor-at-large of InStyle magazine, gushed about Nyong’o’s column dress and overall look, especially for an actress virtually unknown until her appearance as Patsey in “12 Years a Slave.”

“The colour was extraordinary against her skin. There was something so regal about that dress. She didn’t muck it up with tons of jewelry,

and the boyish hair made it look even cooler,” he said.

Early arrivals included Zooey Deschanel in a gold balletskirted Oscar de la Renta with a youthful, boxy cropped top and vintage Neil Lane earrings.

Other stars and nominees went for older Hollywood shimmer in slinky gold, silver and Champagne. ❱❱ PAGE 39 Old Hollywood

Lifestyle

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 38

Ben Stiller’s triumphant ‘Secret’

BY RUEL S. DE VERA Philippine Daily Inquirer HAVE YOU ever wondered what Ben Stiller dreams about?

The actor-director is known for push-the-boundaries comedies like 2001’s “Zoolander” but Stiller has shown that he has a zeitgeist-aware dramatic side with 1994’s “Reality Bites.”

Put those together, and one can imagine that his fantasy is to make a drama with comedic elements.

It has become a reality in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” Stiller’s fifth feature film as a director.

No easy project

This is no easy project. A staple of American classrooms, “Mitty” is based on a classic 1939 short story by James Thurber that has previously been adapted into a 1947 motion picture featuring Danny Kaye. The story—which centers on a daydreaming everyman who loses himself in reverie instead of doing anything—has

given birth to the American expression “Mittyesque.”

Interestingly enough, this runs counter to what Stiller is trying to do with the movie.

Instead of adapting the story, “Mitty” screenwriter Steve Conrad takes out one element and expands on it with a completely new adventure. Stiller buys into it all the way, and the result is breathtakingly different from anything Stiller has done in the past.

Mitty (Stiller) works at Life magazine in New York as the photography section’s negative assets manager. He often finds himself zoning out into outlandish daydreams as he pines after winsome coworker Cheryl Melhoff (“Bridesmaids” star Kristen Wiig).

But when Life prepares for its final print issue prior to going online, Mitty and company find out their jobs are in danger. In an attempt to save his job, Mitty must travel to faraway locales in hopes of finding a missing negative from the famous, eccentric, reclusive photojournalist Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn). In the

process, Mitty’s life is changed forever. “Beautiful things don’t ask for attention,” O’Connell reminds Mitty.

Stunning visuals

Most noticeable is the film’s stunning visuals. Shot in the United States (Los Angeles, New York) and Iceland, “Mitty” is gorgeous, as Stiller and cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh turn its isolated sequences into the longest National Geographic or Discovery Channel commercial ever made. It gives “Mitty” a hyper-dreamlike quality that contrasts with the urban landscape of the city scenes.

Also noteworthy is the film’s haunting soundtrack, orchestrated by composer Theodore Shapiro and including tracks from Swedish singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez and Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men. This gives “Mitty” an achingly romantic tone.

Stiller portrays Mitty as a noble, lovable schlub, seemingly ordinary but capable of great things. It isn’t so much that

Mitty transforms from nobody to somebody; rather, he finds out he was that all along, with a restrained, invested performance by Stiller.

Wiig as Melhoff is strikingly bright as the unconventional female romantic lead.

“Mitty” is bolstered by a sterling supporting cast including Penn, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott and Patton Oswalt.

Unpredictable

Stiller and Conrad have loaded “Mitty” with many subplots, including making a statement about the lost charms of print and photography, and emphasizing the value of family. A virtual onscreen self-help book, “Mitty” is Stiller’s depiction the working man’s triumph in an age of ever-shifting expecta-

tions.

With its unusual rhythm, unpredictable turns and divergence from its original source material, “Mitty” is not for those seeking easy entertainment. It is not like 2008’s “Tropic Thunder.” It really isn’t anything that those who have followed Stiller’s movies have seen before.

It’s Stiller’s most personal, ambitious film—and thus his best. What he has set out here is to inspire, and that’s exactly what the earnest, unabashedly feel-good “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” does, making it the stuff Ben Stiller’s dreams are made of.

Twentieth Century Fox’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” opens in theaters on Jan. 22. ■

So, Where... call my own.

Touring and seeing your new country should be able to reinforce your decision to come. The same can also mean being able to learn and acquaint yourself with your new environment and feel more confident about yourself. Be a tourist as soon as you arrive. You may not have the time to do this once the job hunt or the new job starts to consume you.

How Hard Have You Explored?

ONLY WHEN YOU GO AND TRY OUT WHAT YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD NOT DO WILL YOU BE ABLE TO TRULY SAY YOU HAVE EXPLORED AND CONQUERED. For purposes of discussion, I will differentiate “exploring” from the just-concluded section of “touring” the place. If you had the chance to visit other countries as a tourist, it is easy to understand how one gets into the feeling of being able to love the country by appreciating the different places that you see.

Let me therefore limit our definition of “touring” as re❰❰ 24

ferring to your senses of sight and feeling. And the definition of “exploring” references your cognitive and creative senses, both of which have to do with the mind. They can easily overlap because, as always, what you see travel to your mind as well as to your heart. But let us not debate on it for now.

Exploring also implies an inner motive or hidden agenda, in the positive sense of the word, of course. You explore because you have something in mind that you want to accomplish or achieve and not simply to know or to see.

But I wish for you to learn the word “explore” to come to terms with wide-ranging possibilities of being able to put yourself in a match to a job you are looking for, or a job that is waiting out there for you.

When you go out and explore a mall, and wish to get a job, you look around for “Now Hiring” signs and enter the first shop that has one. Without a hiring sign, you can further explore and go in to ask at the cashier’s counter that you are exploring the possibility that they are hir-

Bowen Island

ing. That was what exactly happened to me in my very first job.

I had landed as an immigrant much, much earlier than one of my college chums, but she got a job as early as one week after she came in and had moved on to a second job after six weeks to get to something nearer what she wanted. At that point, all I had was a list of volunteer works. This is not to say I did not want my volunteer works, I enjoyed and learned from all of them, but my college friend had said it was time for me to be more pro-active in exploring my chances of getting a job.

I promised her that the very next day after our reunion dinner, I would visit one of the biggest malls near my place and enter every store that I fanwww.canadianinquirer.net

cied. This meant I also wanted to work for a company whose products I wanted or patronized. I anticipated that, as an employee, I would be entitled to a big discount on my own purchases. True enough, I had just entered a third store and as soon as I handed over my resume and described myself, I was HIRED! Was it luck? Maybe. But that luck would not have come if I did not explore.

Exploring also means shedding off your inhibitions. It is going for something and winning it. Although I was a marketing person for many years, I was never sure if I could sell myself at any instant. Or perhaps I was not sure whether selling myself boldly was something I wanted to do, as if a job meant the world

to me. But I did it!

You will never know what in the world is waiting there for you if you will not go out and explore.

To explore is to find out what is out there for you and whether what you wanted is existing there for you. Exploring can also mean being able to do what you thought you could not do and actually realizing that it can happen. Be proactive. That is the first rule of exploring. Walk the mile and bring home the bacon. ■ Bolet is a marketing communications practitioner and dabbles in writing as a personal passion.

She is author-publisher of the book: The Most Practical Immigrating and Job Hunting Survival Guide, proven simple steps to success without the fears and the doubts. The book is available in Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, the Reading Room and other online bookshops worldwide, and in National Book Store and Power Books in the Philippines. Please check out https://www.amazon. com/author/boletarevalo.

Lifestyle

39 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Old Hollywood...

Bodies litter...

Cate Blanchett provided a Katharine Hepburn moment in Armani with high lace at the neck and a how-low-can-yougo back, along with Chopard earrings.

Amy Poehler picked three custom gowns from Stella McCartney, including a slinky black halter look, while her co-host for the awards season opener, Tina Fey, went for a fuller, strapless red and black from Carolina Herrera as her first look.

Amy Adams wore two shades of red in a backless high-waisted halter dress with a plunging neckline to the waist by Valentino. It evoked her risque-dressing ’70s character in “American Hustle.”

Dunham, yanking at the top of her Zac Posen gown as she waited for her turn on the red carpet, joked about eating and the awards season as she practiced her diva poses. “I actually ate a thick patty of hamburger before I came, like a cave woman,” she joked to E! More subdued was Elisabeth Moss in an embellished Bordeaux and black, short-sleeve gown from J. Mendel, her

❰❰ 20

❰❰ 37

choice from about five she considered.

Tom Ford was Hayden Panettiere’s choice—a black-andwhite halter with a high side slit.

“I’d wear a plastic bag if it was designed by him,” she said on E! This year’s red carpet had some bold colour thanks to Reese Witherspoon in bluish turquoise from the Calvin Klein Collection and a pregnant Olivia Wilde in emerald Gucci. Helen Mirren wore a lighter shade of green, a bespoke jade tulle and chiffon gown with a draped waist and an orchid-flower design from Jenny Packham.

Diane Keaton, honouring Woody Allen during the broadcast, took to the podium in a Ralph Lauren custom black

wool tuxedo. And Paula Patton, a presenter, raised an eyebrow or two in a huge ruffled along one side of her white, very fitted gown.

The rep carpet had a few “Gone With the Wind” moments, Verdi said, with full princess skirts that could have easily worn their recipients rather than the other way around.

He counted Fey’s red carpet look and Sofia Vergara’s Zac Posen among them. Vergara, with huge statement blue Lorraine Schwartz jewels around her neck, might agree.

“I feel like I’m carrying a tent,” she told E! “I think I’m smuggling Colombians underneath this dress.” ■

him for the populist policies he implemented, including virtually free health care.

“I’m here to get rid of Thaksin and his cronies,” said Darunee Suredechakul, a 49-yearold Bangkok native and resort owner who is staying in a hotel so she and her daughter can join the protests. “The government has to go. Reforms must be carried out. This is mainly because we don’t want to see the same old corrupted politicians returning to power over and over again.”

While she acknowledged the street blockades must be creating some headaches for people, “Bangkok residents must be patient until we move past this point so that our children will not have to suffer like we do.

Trust me. It’s worth it,” she said.

Most Thai and international schools in Bangkok were closed Monday, as was at least one major shopping mall.

Enterprising residents set up makeshift booths to sell drinks, skewers of chicken and bowls of

noodles, while others hawked whistles, caps and T-shirts.

But van operator Wanida Jantawong complained that she was getting only a fourth of her normal business due to the shutdown.

“There’s one lane that remained open for our vans to run, but there are no customers,” she said.

Overnight, one demonstrator was shot in the neck at a protest site in unclear circumstances that appeared to have started with a brawl, according to the city’s emergency medical services, said police Col. Wittaya Khongthong.

In a separate incident early Monday, a gunman fired about 10 shots at the headquarters of the opposition Democrat Party, shattering several windows but causing no casualties, said Police Maj. Nartnarit Rattanaburi. ■

Thai anti... and the city’s police headquarters for several days in December with slingshots and homemade rocket launchers.

There are fears the protesters are trying to incite violence to prompt the military to intervene, and Yingluck has dealt softly with the demonstrators in a bid to keep the situation calm. There was no effort by police to stop Monday’s seizure of major traffic intersections.

The country’s powerful army commander has repeatedly said he wants to stay out of the conflict, but in a sign of apparent impatience late last month, he refused to rule out the possibility of a military takeover.

The real target of the protesters’ wrath is Yingluck’s brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives in selfimposed exile to avoid jail time for a corruption conviction but still wields considerable sway over Thai politics. They accuse Yingluck of being Thaksin’s puppet, but the rural poor like ❰❰ 21

Despite the appearance of diplomatic progress, more violence also looks possible. By boat and truck, South Sudan troops are moving in on Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, just north of Juba. Col. Philip Aguer, South Sudan’s military spokesman, would not say when an attack would begin.

The leader of rebel troops, former Vice-President Riek Machar, led a massacre in Bor in 1991 that saw his ethnic group, the Nuer, attack Kiir’s ethnic group, the Dinka.

If government troops can retake Bor—which has already changed hands multiple times over the last month—Machar will be without any major holdings at the negotiating table.

Violence broke out Dec. 15 and quickly radiated across the country, often in ethnic-based attacks. A precise death toll is not known but the International Crisis Group has estimated that nearly 10,000 people have died.

The U.N. says nearly 400,000 people have fled their homes.

In Addis Ababa, a spokesman on the Machar side, Lul Ruai Koang, a former brigadier general in the South Sudan military, said pro-Machar forces are again closing in on Malakal, the capital of the country’s other major oil state, Upper Nile. Koang said government forces have attacked rebel positions over the last 48 hours but were repulsed.

He said rebels captured trucks, machine-guns and a tank.

“It’s unfortunate that Kiir’s forces are on the offensive when priority is given to peace talks currently taking place in Addis Ababa,” Koang said.

During a tour of Bentiu on Sunday, Col. Ajang Mabior said the region has seen ongoing violence the last three weeks.

About 30 bodies could be seen rotting in the sun. The country’s information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, said Sunday that

rebels badly damaged petroleum facilities outside Bentiu.

“The rebels won’t come back.

They are not very organized and don’t have tanks,” Mabior said. “We recaptured the tanks and have Land Cruisers with mounted weapons.

This makes the difference.”

Spilling the secret on how his forces can distinguish themselves from their former colleagues, now rebel forces, Mabior said government troops roll up their left sleeves.

“If we see someone in uniform who does not have their sleeve rolled up we will kill them,” he said.

In the burned out city centre, shop keeper Adam Ishmael told of how his bookshop was robbed and destroyed. He is one of thousands of people seeking refuge in the U.N. compound in Bentiu.

“I have lost everything, I don’t know what I am going to do,” he said. “It is not safe here even though the fighting is finished.”

George Clooney, the American actor and activist, helps finance a satellite program that watches troop movements and records evidence of attacks in the South Sudan and Sudan region. Recent imagery shows the destruction of civilian homes and market areas in places like Mayom and Bor, the Satellite Sentinel Project said over the weekend.

“Evidence of atrocities against civilians should be collected and used for future prosecution for war crimes. There will be no peace if massive human rights abuses can be committed with no accountability,” Clooney said in a statement.

The Sudan and South Sudan region has suffered from decades of war, with most experts estimating that at least 2 million people died. The countries agreed to peace deal in 2005 that led to a 2011 vote that saw South Sudan become the world’s newest country. ■ Associated Press reporter Elias Meseret in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia contributed to this report.

Associated Press writers Grant Peck and Jinda Wedel contributed to this report.

Aerial shot of Juba, the capital of South Sudan, with river Nile on the right.

www.canadianinquirer.net

Business

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 40

About 30% of retired YAMANG PANGKINABUKASAN Canadians returned Registered Disability Savings to work to pay bills, Plan (RDSP) says ING survey The Canadian Press TORONTO—Nearly a third of retired Canadians, or 30 per cent, have returned to work and a major reason is that they misjudged how much their expected life of ease would cost.

Two new online surveys from ING Direct found that the divide between how much people saved, and how much they actually needed, was too wide to handle without a paycheque.

About 48 per cent of respondents in one survey who had returned to work cited financial concerns as the reason they took another job. And, of these, 31 per cent had returned to work full time.

Another online survey found that 33 per cent of respondents who went back to work said they hadn’t saved enough money for retirement, while 31 per cent said they faced higher living costs than expected.

The surveys portray a notable disconnect between Canadians’ expectations of life after the workforce and the reality of the cost.

ING Direct said that respondents wished they had found more ways to save for retirement, that they had started saving earlier and hadn’t “spent

money so mindlessly.”

“The reality of retirement for many Canadians is a sobering reminder that you can’t put your financial future on the back burner,” ING Direct president and CEO Peter Aceto said in a release.

“Among the many other financial priorities we face during our prime working years, we need to make sure that retirement planning doesn’t get overlooked.”

Both of the online surveys were conducted with about 1,000 Canadian adults who were at least 55 years old and Angus Reid Forum panellists.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population. ■

MANY CHILDREN are born with many different types of disabilities for a number of reasons, including genetic, environmental or unknown factors; and others become disabled unexpectedly. Having a challenged or disabled loving one in a family involve totally different dynamics and financial hardship than the typical family.

Fortunately, we are living in Canada, the first country in the world where the Federal Government implemented the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) in 2008. RDSP is the new tax-deferred savings plan designed especially for people with disability in Canada.

If you have an RDSP account, you may also be eligible for grants and bonds to help with your long-term savings for your future financial security. You should consider opening an RDSP when you have a longterm disability, have a Social Insurance Number (SIN), reside in Canada and are under age of 60. The Federal Government will contribute money for every $1 saved in the RDSP account, and the government will match it up to $3.

In other words, if you contribute $1,500 a year to your RDSP, your government will match up the Canada Disability Savings Grant (CDSG) of up to $3,500 each year. Your deposit can be more than tripled.

If your family income is lower than $85,000 per year, you qualify for Canada Disability Savings Bond (CDSB). You will see the CDSB deposit into your RDSP account.

The government of Canada will pay bonds of up to $1,000 a year to low-income Canadians for up to 20 years. No contributions have to be made to get the bond and if you cannot invest yourself, the federal government will still save for you. The lifetime bond limit is $ 20,000 and the amount of Disability Savings Grant you receive depends on your income tax return for the previous two years.

That’s free money that most people don’t know about.

You may contribute any amount to your RDSP each year, up to the lifetime contribution limit of $200,000. However, your disability won’t be affected by RDSP. The RDSP is exempt from most provincial disability and income assistant benefits. The government will not claw this money back.

Contributors to RDSP can be the plan holder, friends, family, neighbours, charities and foundations and so forth who has the written permission of plan holder. The plan holder can be the person with the disability, who have a valid Social Insurance Number (SIN) or business number but does not have to be Canadian citizen. It can be legal parent, guardian, tutor or cura-

tor o f the beneficiary if the beneficiary is a minor.

T h e r e are no restrictions on your contributions and the investment income gained are yours. You can spend the money on anything you choose, such as mortgage down payment, home renovations, cars and vacations when you close an RDSP. There is nothing wrong in becoming more powerful financially. It is an easy way to save big money for good occasions.

Open an RDSP account today and take advantages of generous government assistance for your future financial security. ■ For more information about this topic and other valuable financial information call 788 554 1114 or listen to our weekly radio program—“YAMANG PANGKINABUKASAN” every Saturday from 1:00pm to 2pm on JUAN RADIO 96.1 FM, hosted

by Surrinder Varpaul and Kuya Boy.

Damage to fisheries, farm sectors hit P31.1 B

BY RONNEL W. DOMINGO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE DAMAGE that the farming and fisheries sector sustained in the aftermath of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” has reached P31.1 billion and the Department of Agriculture plans to spend a third of that amount for recovery efforts.

Agriculture Undersecretary Dante S. Delima said in an interview that as of the latest assessment update, production losses totaled P27.07 billion while

damage to facilities and infrastructure rose to P5.06 billion.

Of the damage to crops, livestock and fisheries, coconut farms accounted for more than half or P17.82 billion. Rice farms recorded P3.23 billion, livestock P2.25 billion, and bananas and fisheries at P1.49 billion each.

The livestock sector sustained the greatest burden in terms of infrastructure with “Yolanda” ravaging P2.2 billion worth of facilities and equipment.

Delima said the indicative budget for recovery efforts was pegged at P9.18 billion, including

P6.9 billion for livelihood interventions, P770 million for production facilities and P1.46 billion to repair offices and facilities of various DA-attached agencies.

The National Food Authority, National Meat Inspection Service, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources as well as the DA’s regional offices in Eastern Visayas need to rehabilitate or rebuild warehouses, abattoirs, operation centers, patrol vessels and laboratory facilities and equipment.

“Our disaster response efforts are transitioning into the www.canadianinquirer.net

first phase of building longterm resiliency against future (calamities) from the rehabilitation stage,” Delima said.

He said 153,495 hectares of farm land needed to be cleaned and made available again for planting.

At the same time, 500,000 felled coconut trees must be cut and cleared away while 81.27 kilometers of irrigation canals needed de-silting.

Also, 98,427 farmers needed to be provided with seeds and fertilizer while 38,374 households needed farm tools.

The DA has also lined up the

deployment of 129 tractors to serve a total of 99,418 hectares of farm land.

Further, 146,745 fisherfolk needed to be provided with bancas and fishing gear.

Delima said international donors have committed help for farm sector rehabilitation, including the Food and Agriculture Organization as well as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (both of the United Nations), and the Korea International Cooperation Agency and the Asian Development Bank. ■

Sports/Horoscope

41 FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

Azkals ready to part Basketball’s real MVP is PSA’s Exec of Year ways with Weiss

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer NO FORMAL announcement has been made on the status of coach Michael Weiss but the Philippine Azkals are prepared to move on from the era of the German mentor with an important tournament months away.

Sources said Weiss’ contract will be terminated effective Jan. 15, marking the end of a three-year tenure that saw the German steer the Azkals to a third-place finish in the AFC Challenge Cup and a second straight semifinal stint in the AFF Suzuki Cup. Azkals manager Dan Palami said they have taken steps to ensure that the team stays on track with its preparations for

the AFC Challenge Cup without Weiss.

“I have to be prepared for the decision that’s coming,” said Palami at the launch of the Total Football Azkals-SM Mall of Asia tie-up that will pave the way for the holding of football clinics.

“I have actually shortlisted several candidates,” said Palami.

Weiss’ contract is due to expire in March, but with the AFC Challenge Cup slated in May, the PFF was left with an option to stay with him or take a different direction for the Azkals.

Palami paid tribute to Weiss, but hinted that the German may not be the right man to take the Azkals to the next level.

“He gave us concrete results,” Palami said. ■

THE MAN who made things happen for Philippine basketball will be honored by the Philippine Sportswriters Association during its Annual Awards Night on Jan. 25 at Centennial Hall of Manila Hotel.

Business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan will be extolled as Executive of the Year by the country’s oldest media organization, after spearheading the country’s return to the world basketball championship after a 35-year wait.

The man they simply call “MVP” was at the heart of the campaign to bring the Fiba Asia Championship to Manila and bankrolled Gilas Pilipinas, which gave the country its brightest sporting moment last year when it clinched a spot in the Fiba

World Championship in Spain.

It marked the first time that the Fiba Asia Championship was held in the country, spurring passionate support for Gilas, which will also be honored by the PSA as its Athlete of the Year during the ceremony backed by Milo and Air21.

“We can’t think of any other person worthy of the Executive of the Year award than Mr. Manny V. Pangilinan himself,” said PSA president Jun Lomibao, sports editor of Business Mirror.

Pangilinan, chair of the Philippine Long Distance Company/Smart and TV5, is also president of the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas. He is only the fourth sportsman to be given the award after Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) president Ricky Vargas, PBA commissioner Chito Salud and Philippine Az-

kals team manager Dan Palami.

A total of 123 personalities and entities will be conferred with Major Awards, NSA of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, Milo Junior Athlete Awards, Sixth Man Award, Mr. Football, Miss Volleyball, and Tony Siddayao Award for deserving youth athletes during the formal gathering held in partnership with Smart Sports, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Basketball Association, Accel at 3XVI, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., Globalport, Air21, Rain or Shine, ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour, and Sen. Chiz Escudero.

Also to be cited are gold medalists of the recent 27th Southeast Asian Games in Burma (Myanmar), while posthumous awards are to be bestowed on dearly departed friends of Philippine sports. ■

HOROSCOPE ARIES

CANCER

LIBRA

CAPRICORN

(MARCH 21 - APRIL 19)

(JUNE 22 - JULY 22)

(SEPT 23 - OCT 22)

(DEC 22 - JAN 19)

Aries, visitors in your home might include partners in business activities, members of a group with which you’re affiliated, or creative people with great ideas. Therefore, you’re likely to enjoy some intense discussions today and a lot of intriguing exchanges of information. Love and romance should also go well, particularly since you’re feeling so enthusiastic about life.

Your relationships with just about everyone - friends, lovers, children, colleagues, and even strangers should be smooth, warm, and supportive today, Cancer. Feelings are easily expressed, although more on a subtle than a verbal level. Social events and group activities should therefore contribute more to your personal growth and emotional well-being. Make the most of them!

An increase in money could bring a lot of happiness and good feeling into your home. You might be a bit concerned as to how to keep the energy going, but don’t worry about it, Libra. All signs are that your success and good fortune are going to be around for a while.

You could, however, explore the idea of making a few cautious investments. This way you’ll feel more financially secure than you have in the past.

Recent successes in your career might inspire you to throw a celebration of some kind with a few close friends, Capricorn. You’re feeling especially positive and particularly charming at this time, and your confidence is likely to contribute to a new sense of closeness to those around you. Love and romance should also go very well. You’ve worked hard and it’s time to reward yourself.

TAURUS

LEO

SCORPIO

AQUARIUS

(APRIL 20 - MAY 20)

(JULY 23 - AUGUST 22)

(OCT 23 - NOV 21)

(JAN 20 - FEB 18)

Get-togethers in your neighborhood should prove enjoyable right now, Taurus. Communication with others should bring a lot of positive information your way that you’re apt to put to work for you.

The level of respect that you get from those around you could be particularly gratifying. Your hard work has not only enriched your socioeconomic standing but your friendships as well.

Reflections on your recent success and good fortune with regard to career matters are likely to have you feeling strong, optimistic, and enthusiastic for the future, Leo. Creative projects are going very well, as are relationships with the opposite sex.

This should be a very gratifying day for you, full of warm and loving contact with those closest to you, and signs of continued progress.

The prospect of future business opportunities could have you spending a lot of time with friends or acquaintances who might have information you need, Scorpio.

Perhaps someone you know has been very successful at an activity he thinks might interest you.

All should go very well, but you’ll definitely want to be informed. You’re doing the right thing by securing the facts before plunging on ahead.

Relations with those closest to you should be warm and rewarding, Aquarius. Financial matters are going so well for you right now that you’re apt to be feeling that everything will be perfect from here on out. This optimism and enthusiasm, however, doesn’t mean you’re taking your good fortune for granted. Rather, it is likely to give you the impetus to continue as you have been.

GEMINI

VIRGO

SAGITTARIUS

PISCES

(MAY 21 - JUNE 21)

(AUG 23 - SEPT 22)

(NOV 22 - DEC 21)

(FEB 19 - MAR 20)

This is a good day for meditation or spiritual studies of some kind, Gemini. Your intuition should be operating at a very high level and thus it’s going to be easier for you to tune in to the thoughts, feelings, needs, and desires of others, particularly the opposite sex. You might even experience psychic insights or visions that shed light on some questions you’ve been asking yourself for a while.

Good news from a distant state or foreign country could make your day, Virgo. You could well spend the rest of the day basking in the glow of what you’ve heard. However, this isn’t going to affect your relations with others or your work on whatever projects you’re involved with right now.

This is a good day to get out in the sunshine.

Take a walk or drive in the country!

A rosy glow over your recent career successes could cause you to congratulate yourself over your growing bank account. This trend should continue for a while, Sagittarius, if you keep on working as you have and maintain a positive and optimistic attitude. Your relationships with others around you, particularly the opposite sex, should be especially warm and loving right now.

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You’ve been working very hard for a long time, Pisces, and now you might be thinking of ways to reward yourself. A trip that you might have dreamed of taking might suddenly seem to be more attainable. Today you might decide to actually make the arrangements. You could well decide to stay for a long time, for there is much that you can learn through this trip.

FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

42

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FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2014

43

Travel

THEIR 2013 TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

Hidden corners of the world

BY PAM PASTOR Philippine Daily Inquirer 2013 WAS a great year for travel, as what our Facebook feed indicated. The adventures of our travel-loving friends stood out in a sea of memes, rants about the pork barrel scam and BuzzFeed links. There were family trips, honeymoons and solo journeys; as well as old favorites and explorations off the beaten path.

They let us see hidden corners of the world through their eyes, allowing us to travel vicariously and inspiring us to add even more destinations to our already long holiday wish lists.

Here are some of our favorites:

Faith finished her first half marathon and her husband Patrick finished his first marathon in Malta.

BERBER Villages, where “Game of Thrones” was shot.

Faith Azul-Evia, Case Manager

Went to: “Malta, an island nation in the Mediterranean south of Sicily.”

Favorite spots: “Visiting the sites in Valleta, Mdina and Gozo where ‘Game of Thrones’ was filmed.”

Where she slept: “Radisson Blu Resort and Spa at Malta Golden Sands.”

Best meal: “Rabbit stew, Malta’s national dish, and the popcorn milkshake at our hotel.

The best!”

What she bought: “Olives stuffed with gbejna (Maltese cheese).”

Unforgettable moment: “Finishing my first half marathon.”

Tips for other travelers: “Learn how to drive on the left side in order to explore more, because public transportation is not reliable. Do a day trip to Sicily which is a two-hour ferry ride away.”

Xuchele Analyst

Dogma,

Systems

Went to: “Oahu, Hawaii.”

Favorite spots: “The island is a piece of paradise which makes it really hard to pick favorites.”

Where she slept: “Aulani Dis-

Waiting for the Hawaiian sunset

ney Resort” Best meal: “Try the local fare—kalua pig (pulled pork), lau lau (steamed fish and pork wrapped in taro leaves), ahi poke (preserved raw fish with kukui nut). For the sweet tooth, don’t miss Leonard’s truck of Malasadas (deep-fried donuts) and experiment with the different flavored shaved ice with milk.”

What she bought: “Souvenir items made locally. We were told that Hawaii relies mainly on the tourism industry and that it will help if we buy locally made items compared to the imported ones.”

Unforgettable moments: “1) We were driving on a busy freeway and realized that we were on the wrong lane. We knew it was too late to move to the next lane, but despite the inconvenience, the car behind us graciously gave way without even honking the horn. The locals are very patient and considerate. 2) On our third night in the resort, a fire alarm woke us up

at about 2 in the morning. For a few seconds, my husband and I thought it was a false alarm so no one moved. But when the evacuation alarm came on, I jumped out of bed, remembered to put shoes on the sleeping kids, wrapped them in jackets and blankets, and secured our passports and plane tickets. We went down 12 flights of stairs in our not-so-sleepy, agitated state. The evacuation went orderly with a very calm resort staff guiding us out of the resort. We stayed outside and were ushered back in after an hour or so. It was a scary experience to happen on a holiday with kids in tow, but the staff acting in control somehow kept the guests calm and in order.”

Tips for other travelers: “Do your homework. The Internet is the best and cheapest way to find information. Read reviews, get maps, learn the tipping customs and etiquette. Find out what interests you within the island and plan your day. Sunny weather, of course, is best spent

Xuchele’s daughters enjoying Oahu

outdoors, but it’s always good to have a backup plan for unexpected downpour—visit museums or go souvenir shopping!”

Ingrid Cudia, Editor in Chief, AsiaHopping.com

Went to: “My husband and I went on a month-long honeymoon trip to Morocco, exploring the imperial cities and the south. Our DIY adventure included Casablanca, Marrakech, the Atlas Mountains, Todra Gorge, the Sahara, Fez, Meknes, Volubilis, Moulay Idriss, Chefchaouen and Tangier.”

Favorite spots: “Fez’s World Heritage medina, the Berber village of Ait Benhadou, the snowy peaks of the Atlas, the bright blue buildings of Chefchaouen and, of course, the Sahara.”

Where she slept: “We stayed mostly in traditional riads (Moroccan bed-and-breakfasts), with a couple of nights in a

Western business hotel. We also camped in a traditional Berber tent on the Sahara.”

Best meals: “Handmade couscous, camel meat stuffed in khobz, herbed beets laced with kaffir lime, dried dates, lamb tajine, flaky pastries with nuts and orange flower water… I can go on forever.”

What she bought: “Two handpainted Moroccan tiles—one to frame and display in our current flat, and another to incorporate into our future flat’s bathroom.”

Unforgettable moments: “During a seven-hour train ride from Marrakech to Fez, we sat with a brilliant Moroccan professor and enjoyed a deeply insightful conversation about the Arab world. And we were driving down the Atlas when the first November snow fell. That was also unforgettable.”

Tips for other travelers: “Eat well, travel often.” ■

Motoring

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 44

How to Dog-Proof Your Vehicle GM global sales hit 9.7M last year, beats VW DOGS ARE great driving companions, but they can also be very messy, leaving hair and slobber all over your car. Nonetheless, if you love to take your dog around with you, don’t let its messiness stop you. In this article we will give you some tips on how to dog-proof your car and avoid the chaos.

First of all you should always keep a small cleaning kit in your car, just in case. The kit should contain a bottle of upholstery cleaner, glass cleaner, air freshener, paper tower, lint rollers and a few bottles of water. It will all come handy when you need to refresh and clean up your car. Before putting your dog in the car, you should first spray down the interior fabrics with a water-repellent solution.

This product adds a coat to the fabrics, which makes it easy to clean them. Make sure you use this spray every couple months.

In order to protect the seats from scratches, drool and dog hair, the best solution is to install waterproof seat covers and

The Associated Press

shake them out once a week. To be able to protect the floor of the car, a set of floor liners or weather/rubber mats will do nicely. To prevent drool residue on windows, cover the windows with plastic wrap. This way, you won’t have to clean them after each trip; just peel off the plastic wrap and your windows will be clean.

Occasionally the seat covers will have dog hair all over, and sometimes is hard to remove it with lint rollers. In this case,

a good vacuuming will work wonders. If you find yourself in this situation and need a great solution, come see our product advisors who can show you how innovative features of the all new 2014 Honda Odyssey and its built-in vacuum can help you along. We know you love your dog, and your dog loves you too. Give your dog all the benefits of riding with his or her loved ones by dog-proofing your car, and enjoying the ride together! ■

DETROIT (AP)—General Motors sold 9.71 million cars and trucks last year, probably not enough to beat out Toyota for the global sales crown, but about 200,000 better than Volkswagen.

Toyota, the sales champion in 2012, will report its sales next week. It only needs to show a little growth to beat GM again.

GM said Tuesday that sales of light vehicles worldwide grew 4 per cent in 2013, led by growth in China and the United Kingdom. The company’s sales in China rose 11 per cent to set a record. U.S. sales were up 7 per cent, slightly below the market’s growth of nearly 8 per cent.

Volkswagen said Monday that it sold 9.5 million light vehicles last year, setting a company record for overall sales.

Toyota sold roughly 9.7 million cars and trucks in 2012, recapturing the lead it ceded to GM in 2011.

GM was the top-selling carmaker for more than seven decades before losing the title to Toyota in 2008. But GM retook the sales crown in 2011 when Toyota’s factories were slowed by an earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The disaster left Toyota dealers with few cars to sell. The Japanese company has since recovered. ■

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Canada

JANUARY 17, 2014 FRIDAY 46

FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN CRISIS:

“Aida”

Publisher Philippine Canadian Inquirer

BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer

Editor Melissa Remulla-Briones editor@canadianinquirer.net

WE FILIPINOS are no stranger to heartbreaking stories of Overseas Filipino Workers’ (OFW) fate abroad. Stories our countrymen suffering physical, emotional, sexual, and even financial abuse from their foreign employers abound the news everyday and yet thousands of them still leave the country for a chance at earning more in a foreign land. And an even harsher reality is that some people never have to leave to country to experience this kind of nightmare.

Associate Editor Laarni de Paula Correspondents Gigi Astudillo Angie Duarte Maria Ramona Ledesma Katherine Marfal Frances Grace Quiddaoen Agnes Tecson Ching Dee Socorro Newland Lizette Lofranco-Aba

The Story of “Aida”

Aida was only 13 years old when she left her hometown in 1958 to find a job in Manila. She only attended school until the 2nd grade.

She was then hired by a dentist, “Dr. Cruz,” as their all-around helper: housemaid, cook, and nanny to his six children.

Like many Filipinos, Aida is long suffering and will take as much as she can without complaining about it. She is hospitable. According to her friends, she is kind, honest, and friendly.

Bad dreams are made of these

One of Aida’s concerned friends shared that Aida was treated like a slave in the Cruz household. Her innocence (because of her young age) and ignorance (for having only attended two to three years of school) were abused by her employers. She was tasked to do everything and anything they could think of, even errands beyond her years.

In 1980, after 21 years of service to the family, the Cruzes immigrated to Canada. They sponsored “Aida” to come with them to Canada as an employee.

Their treatment of Aida did not improve nor lighten in any way. It actually grew worse.

After a few years of living in Canada, perhaps after being declared a citizen, Dr. Cruz forced Aida into an arranged marriage so that a certain man can come and live in Canada. Sadly, Aida had no choice.

Her devotion to and fear of her employer kept her grounded in Canada with them. She worked for them for more than 31 years.

To the friends she made in Canada, Aida confided her problems and miseries. She shared that she was underpaid and overworked. She was constantly maltreated by members of the household that she works for. And as if taking care of two adults and raising their six children weren’t enough, Aida also looked after the grandchildren.

Graphic Designer Victoria Yong Photographers Solon Licas Angelo Siglos Danvic Briones

Beyond sound judgment

Her friends advised her to find a different employer. In a country teeming with the nicest people on earth, she will surely find a family that will appreciate her and pay her well. Despite sound judgment, Aida decided to stay with the Cruz family because she’s scared of that they’ll do to her if she left.

There was a time when she got really sick and the Cruzes did nothing to help her. Despite being employed by someone from the medical field, Aida was not given proper medical attention. She also doesn’t have medical or dental insurance so there’s no coverage for her ailment. She barely had money. One of her friends even noted that Aida couldn’t even afford to replace her old dentures, which she said were almost “rotten.”

It was “Leni,” one of her friends and a nurse, who brought her to the hospital in Surrey where she stayed for several days. However, for fear of being needed by her employers, Aida did not want to stay in the hospital any longer.

Just when you thought it’s all over

After over 50 years of service to the Cruzes, Aida decided she’s had enough.

She finally had the courage to quit her job and leave her employers. She lived with her friends for some time in Richmond.

“Cindy,” the adopted daughter of the Cruzes, allegedly invited Aida out to dinner at Aida’s expense, including a highroller trip once or twice to a casino.

Aida lived off her measly CPP (Canada Pension Plan) of only $37.00 a month.

This is the same money she uses to make

ends meet as she pays for rent, food, medication, and to support her family in the Philippines.

It continues to be a mystery to her friends why she only received $37.00 every month after working in Canada for over 30 years. Aida also reportedly received $1000 as her monthly salary.

Nobody knows where all those money went.

On a fateful Sunday morning, October 20th of 2013, Aida suffered a massive and fatal heart attack. One of her friends informed the Cruzes about Aida’s demise. Her former employers asked about Aida’s legal documents, but did not bother to ask what happened to her and what’s going to happen to her family in the Philippines.

As Aida’s friends held a nightly prayer vigil, none of the Cruzes ever came. The family simply referred her death to the Public Trustee and the Social Services.

They wanted to spend as little money as possible. Before she was cremated, the Cruzes agreed to a two-hour viewing time where Aida’s friends could see her for the last time and pay their respect.

Donations gathered during Aida’s wake were sent to her family in the Philippines.

Aida’s friends continue to seek information about the legalities of her alleged CPP and 10,000-dollar life insurance whose executor was a certain “Larry Cruz” and where “Cindy” is the beneficiary. ■ All names and some details have been changed to protect the identity of the people involved.

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Operations and Marketing Head Laarni de Paula (604) 551-3360 laarni.liwanag@canadianinquirer.net Advertising Sales Alice Yong (778) 889-3518 alice.yong@canadianinquirer.net Antonio Tampus (604) 460-9414 PHILIPPINE PUBLISHING GROUP Editorial Assistant Phoebe Casin Graphic Designer Shanice Garcia Associate Publisher Lurisa Villanueva In cooperation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer digital edition Philippine Canadian Inquirer is located at 400-13955 Bridgeport Rd., Richmond, BC V6V 1J6 Canada Tel. No.: 1-888-668-6059 or 778-8893518 | Email: info@canadianinquirer. net, inquirerinc@gmail.com, sales@ canadianinquirer.net Philippine Canadian Inquirer is published weekly every Friday.

Copies are distributed free throughout Metro Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto.

The views and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors named, and are not necessarily those of Philippine Canadian Inquirer Editorial Team.

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