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Connecting Global News & Views For The Community

UK & Europe Edition

October 2015

Volume 6 - Number 19

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HISTORY LESSONS

IN CONTRAST TO CHINA AND KOREA REACTIONS, WHY PH WELCOMES JAPAN REMILITARIZATION THE war left its mark not only on relations between Japan and its neighbors, but also on class politics within these countries. How each country handled its collaborator classes, in turn, has had a considerable impact on how they’ve responded to the current Japanese government’s push to revise the country’s “peace constitution” into irrelevance.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Philippines, where postwar US authorities helped rehabilitate erstwhile collaborators with the Japanese occupation in the name of fighting communism. Generations later, it’s led to the grandson of a despised Philippine collaborator endorsing the remilitarization of his country’s former occupiers—by the grandson of a war criminal, no less.

History certainly works in mysterious ways.

Horrors of the Occupation. One month before this year’s anniversary, one of my

Manila was devastated in the aftermath of World War II

favorite cousins passed away at 100 years of age. During the war, her husband left their house in Manila to serve as a medical doctor in the Filipino-American army, which retreated to the Bataan Peninsula as invading Japanese forces advanced. She never heard from him again.

It was only three years later, after Manila was liberated by General Douglas MacArthur’s troops and Filipino guerrillas, that she learned her husband had been summarily executed, along with three other doctors, while trying to escape from a prisoner-of-war camp. Many of his comrades suffered the same fate upon their surrender to the Japanese. During the weeklong Bataan Death March alone, the Japanese killed 18,000 of their 72,000 Filipino and American prisoners—a mortality rate of 25 percent in just seven days.

Continue to page 2

Sheryl Cruz nixes DNA test to help determine cousin Grace Poe’s parentage SHERYL Cruz’s stance against the presidential bid of her cousin, Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanzares, is getting curioser and curioser.

After making headlines last week with her opinion that Poe is not ready for the presidency in 2016, the actress told media on Tuesday that she would not undergo DNA testing to help determine Poe’s parentage.

The senator — a foundling who was adopted by her aunt, actress Susan Roces, and the late King of Philippine

Movies, Fernando Poe Jr. — has long been rumored to be the illegitimate daughter of Cruz’s mother, actress Rosemarie Sonora, from an alleged affair with the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

“Ayoko nang madamay ang nanay ko.

She wants to keep the peace in the family.

I don’t want it to appear that my mom had an affair with another man [who was] not my dad,” Cruz was quoted as saying in a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

She spoke to reporters at The Manila Hotel’s coffee shop after she was told not

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to attend the press conference, also at the hotel, of the Iglesia ni Cristo biopic “Felix Manalo”, where she is one of the numerous cast members.

Cruz, 40, had promised the media “a tell-all interview” about her opposition to Poe’s candidacy but only spoke briefly after she was told she was not welcome at the press conference. Viva Entertainment, which produced the movie for the Iglesia ni Cristo, had asked her to spare the event from controversy.

Continue to page 2

Sheryl Cruz and Sen. Grace Poe.

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October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Continuation from page 1

IN CONTRAST TO CHINA AND KOREA REACTIONS, WHY PH WELCOMES JAPAN REMILITARIZATION

My cousin was left with three young children to raise alone, a situation shared by many women during the Japanese occupation.

The Japanese military regime in the Philippines was unrelentingly brutal. Innocent people suspected of aiding the guerrillas were routinely tortured and executed. My uncle was bayoneted and left for dead when he refused a Japanese officer’s order to take down the American flag at his school. My father was beaten with a baseball bat in Fort Santiago, the Spanish-era fortress in Manila that the Japanese converted into a prison and torture center. He was lucky to survive.

Young women and girls, some as young as 11 or 12, were rounded up to serve as sex slaves for Japanese troops. Nobody knows for certain how many Filipinas were forced into sexual slavery, but historians estimate that up to 200,000 women from the Philippines, Korea, China, and other countries occupied by the Japanese suffered this fate. Some 400 of these “comfort women” have surfaced in the Philippines since the 1990s, but this figure is probably only a fraction of those who were actually forced into sexual service.

Many others preferred to keep silent.

Overshadowing even the Bataan Death March as a war crime was the indiscriminate killing spree that Japanese naval infantrymen unleashed in Manila as the war drew to a close. Filipino author Joan Orendain has rightfully asserted that the “Rape of Manila” rivaled the better known Rape of Nanking in its brutality, with “100,000 burned, bayoneted, bombed, shelled, and shrapneled dead in the span of 28 days.” Unborn babies “ripped from their mothers’ womb provided sport: thrown up in the air and caught, impaled on bayonet tips.” Rape was rampant, and “after the dirty deed was done, nipples were sliced off, and bodies bayoneted open from the neck down.”

Abe’s ‘apology’. With this record of atrocities, one would have expected that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent remarks on

the war—in which he admitted that Japan had caused “immeasurable damage and suffering” but asserted that “generations to come” must not be “predestined to apologize”—would elicit the same negative reaction in the Philippines that it did in China and Korea.

Abe, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement, should have “made a sincere apology to the people of victim countries, and made a clean break with the past of militarist aggression, rather than being evasive on this major issue of principle.” South Korea’s ruling party, for its part, criticized the Abe statement “because it did not directly mention remorse and apology for Japan’s past history of aggression, but only expressed them in a roundabout way in the past tense.”

In both China and South Korea, resentment and suspicion of Japan continue to boil just beneath the surface.

On the contrary, remarks by top Philippine officials were positive. “Japan has acted with compassion and in accordance with international law,” said a presidential spokesperson, “and has more actively and positively engaged with the region and the world after the war.”

Contrasting trajectories. The different responses stem from the unique political and economic trajectories of the three countries.

Three considerations are important: First, for China and Korea, the anti-Japanese struggle was a central element in the forging of their nationalist identities, or what Benedict Anderson famously termed their “imagined community.”

The Chinese Communist Party has projected itself as the central figure in the victorious “patriotic war” against Japan (though many historians are of the opinion that it was the Communists’ rivals—the Nationalists—who did most of the fighting and dying). Both Korean states see themselves as emerging from the anticolonial struggle against Japan, which annexed and colonized the peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

For the Philippines, in contrast, the official

Sheryl Cruz nixes DNA test to help determine cousin Grace Poe’s parentage Continuation from page 1 Nevertheless, the actress managed to tell media that her career is now in jeopardy following the recent “forced” resignation of her manager, Rams David. She used to be managed by Dolor Guevarra, who also handles the career of Poe’s mother, Susan Roces.

Poe, 47, declared her intention to run for president as an independent candidate last week. In June, she dismissed the rumor about her being a Marcos daughter as an urban legend. Fellow senator, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. even joined her in a categorical denial that they are biological siblings.

Poe faces disqualification as a presidential candidate if she cannot prove that she is a natural-born citizen, a constitutional requirement for the office she’s seeking. According to Senate Electoral Tribunal chairman Associate

Justice Antonio Carpio, being a foundling only makes her a naturalized citizen and not natural-born.

In earlier reports, Cruz was quoted as saying that having spent their growing up years together, she knew Poe well enough to come to the conclusion that she’s not ready to lead the country at this time.

However, she said she believes Poe “would make a fine president come 2022.” She endorsed Poe’s senatorial bid in 2013.

Poe has yet to respond Cruz’s statements while the latter has yet to reveal her choice between the two other presidential aspirants, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Aside from “Felix Manalo,” Cruz is currently in the cast of GMA Network’s afternoon soap, “Buena Familia.” n Edwin P. Sallan / InterAksyon.com / September 23, 2015 / 11:28 am

narrative puts the elite-led revolution against Spain in the late 19th century as its nationalist centerpiece—with the subsequent American annexation of the country painted in largely positive terms and the Second World War depicted as a violent but brief episode on the way to independence.

Second, the three countries have contrasting economic relationships with contemporary Japan. For China and Korea, Japan isn’t just a former military overlord but a contemporary economic rival. Trade and investment relations with the Japanese are seen as a necessary evil to acquire the needed resources and technology to beat them.

In the case of the Philippines, Japan was never seen as an economic competitor but a source of development aid, investment, and jobs. Japan’s image as a wartime enemy was transformed beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Japanese corporate investments starting producing local jobs in appreciable numbers.

Meanwhile, Philippine migrant workers in Japan’s entertainment and sex industries sent back remittances to their families that enabled not only their survival but their social mobility.

Elite collaboration, popular resistance.

But perhaps the main factor explaining the different attitudes toward Japan is the class factor.

In Korea, the politics of remembrance was boosted by the destruction of the prewar landed elite that collaborated with the Japanese—the Korean civil war of 1950-53 and the subsequent land reform all but wiped these elites away. In the Philippines, in contrast, the politics of forgetting was facilitated by a postwar whitewashing of the elite’s role during the occupation.

Once the pillars of US colonial rule, after the Japanese invasion most Philippine elites swiftly switched sides and collaborated with the Japanese. A complex kind of class war ensued, in which the national and local elites worked closely with the Japanese while the masses for the most part hated the invaders and waited for the Americans to return, as promised by MacArthur.

Scores of guerrilla groups formed, the best known and most effective being the communistled Hukbalahap, which chased away the hated landlords in Central Luzon even as it fought the Japanese. But aside from the “Huks,” there were other, less ideological outfits that were headed by lower-class or middle-class figures—like the charismatic Marcos Villa Agustin, or “Marking,” a former bus driver whose units operated from the Sierra Madre mountain range in Luzon to terrorize not only Japanese soldiers but also local elites.

The end of the war saw impassioned calls from the resistance to try the elite collaborators as traitors. Among the most hated servitors of Japan was Manuel Roxas, the director of the Rice Procurement Agency, who’s described in an authoritative study as having “organized the extraction of rice from peasant farmers to supply the Japanese military” and “was thus the collaborator most clearly identified in the minds of peasants with the betrayal and abuses suffered during the occupation.”

However, the returning General MacArthur intervened to save his pre-war friend Roxas from hanging, an act that anticipated Washington’s

rehabilitation of the reviled elite in order to contain the communist-led guerrilla forces.

Laundered and provided international respectability by Washington, Roxas bribed, intimidated, and terrorized his way to victory during the presidential elections of 1946. Shortly before his unexpected death in 1948, Roxas issued the infamous Proclamation No. 51, which granted amnesty to accused collaborators. Reflecting the acute class enmities triggered by the experience of the occupation, one of the reasons cited for the decree was the fact that “the question of collaboration has divided the people of the Philippines since liberation in a manner which threatens the unity of the nation at a time when the public welfare requires that said unity be safeguarded and preserved.”

The first decades of the postwar era were thus marked by a contradiction in the popular mind between the memory of legendary resistance to the Japanese and the reality of continuing domination of national politics by a largely collaborationist elite—one that had been whitewashed by Washington in the name of the anti-communist struggle with the dawning of the Cold War. So unlike the Chinese and South Korean governments, the Filipino political elite softpedaled war damage claims against Japan; extended a warm welcome in the 1950s to Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, a class A war criminal and the grandfather of Shinzo Abe; and did little to help Filipina comfort women in their struggles for an apology and restitution from Tokyo.

Japan rearms. This history informs the Philippine response to Abe’s drive to subvert Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution—the so-called “Peace Clause” that prohibits Japan from engaging in offensive warfare—in order to promote his strategy of “Collective Defense,” which would deploy Japanese troops in offensive operations outside Japan.

China and South Korea have sternly condemned Collective Defense, seeing it as part of a comprehensive right-wing program to deny Japanese war crimes, refuse restitution to Japan’s sex slaves, bring back old-style Japanese nationalism, and erode the Japanese people’s still dominant pacifism. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s reaction, on the other hand, could hardly be more different.

While acknowledging that “there’s been some debate on the Japanese government’s plan to revisit certain interpretations of its constitution,” Aquino asserted during his state visit to Japan in late June 2014 that “nations of good will can only benefit if the Japanese government is empowered to assist others, and is allowed to come to the aid of those in need, especially in the area of collective self-defense.”

He added that he did “not view with alarm any proposal to revisit the Japanese constitution.”

This was, at the very least, inappropriate meddling in Japanese domestic politics, one that some analysts say was calculated to influence Japanese public opinion at a time when the majority of Japanese had come out against the country’s remilitarization. A poll released at around the time of the Aquino visit found 56 percent against collective self-defense and only 28 percent in favor. Yet on July 1, 2014, fortified

by support from the visiting Aquino, Abe gutted Article 9, resorting to a cabinet decision to skirt parliamentary approval and the requirement for a referendum.

The drastic endorsement of a move opposed by the majority of Japanese as well as Japan’s neighbors is difficult to explain as stemming solely from the Philippine government’s desire to gain an ally in its territorial disputes with China in the West Philippine Sea. Other countries in East and Southeast Asia, even those directly threatened by China’s moves, have been careful not to endorse Tokyo’s new doctrine of power projection beyond Japan—Vietnam being a prime example. Most are worried that the Abe doctrine is intended not so much to assist allies against China’s moves but to support the Japanese leader’s strategic aim of developing a nuclear weapons capability, exercising a more aggressive posture, and rewriting history.

Grandfathers and grandsons.One element that hasn’t been adequately examined, but which is likely to have played a role in Aquino’s endorsement, is his class memory.

Aquino comes from a class whose experience of the Second World War was very different from that of ordinary Filipinos. Aquino is better known as the son of two icons in the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship, Cory and Ninoy Aquino. But he’s also the grandson of Benigno Simeon Aquino Sr.—who is chiefly remembered as the Japanesedesignated speaker of the National Assembly during the puppet regime, and earlier as the director general of the country’s only political party during the occupation.

Possibly the only reason Aquino Sr. escaped death at the hands of Philippine partisans was that he spent the closing months of the war in Japan. Brought back to the Philippines one year after the cessation of hostilities, he was arraigned on charges of treason at the People’s Court before being released on bail. However, he died before he could take advantage of his friend Manuel Roxas’ general amnesty for local quislings like him.

Did psycho-biographical factors play a role in Aquino’s unquestioning endorsement of Abe’s moves? It’s inconceivable that one whose parents or grandparents suffered under the Japanese occupation would have provided such enthusiastic support for Abe’s quest to project Japanese military power. True, Filipinos have generally become more positive towards Japan, but few would cross the line that Aquino did.

So one is left with the question: Was it more than coincidence that a dangerous new course for the region would be launched by the joining of hands of Aquino, the grandson of a despised collaborator, and Abe, the grandson of a war criminal? n Walden Bello / September 24, 2015 / 11:20 am / InterAksyon.com is reposting an article by former Akbayan representative Walden Bello analyzing the possible reason for

the Philippines’ positive reaction to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent remarks on World War II, and President Benigno Aquino III’s endorsement of Abe’s push to revise his country’s “peace constitution,” which many Japanese citizens are opposing. As Bello said in an email: “It is interesting how the film Heneral Luna has provoked debate. I think we should also be debating the actions of the elite during the Second World War, the 70th anniversary of the end which we are marking this year.” This article, a joint publication of TheNation.com and Foreign Policy In Focus, first came out in Telesur.

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October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

TO REDEEM PRODUCTIVITY AND SANITY

More Pinoys buying motorbikes to skirt traffic jams WITH the sorry state of public transport and crippling traffic jams on the streets of Metro Manila, commuters are turning to motorcycles to redeem their daily productivity.

Previous reports and personal experience show that it won’t take someone on a motorcycle more than 30 minutes to get to the Makati Business District from Quezon City.

A typical drive in a car along the same route takes at least an hour.

It takes a commuter on the Metro Rail Transit 15 to 20 minutes to get to the Ayala Station from Kamuning – that is if the train does not encounter glitches along the way and there is no kilometric queue of MRT commuters in Kamuning.

The Motorcycle Development Program Participant Association (MDPPA), an organization of Japanese and Taiwanese motorcycle manufacturers in the country, believes that people are buying the ride for convenience, perceived savings and overall efficiency of the motorcycle.

Motorcycle sales are brisk in the third quarter of 2015, says MDPPA President Rodel Pablo.

The 136,788 units sold in July and August represents a 15 percent increase from 118,983 units a year earlier. Nearly 100 percent of the motorcycles sold consist of smaller engines displacements of 250cc and below.

“There are so many schemes and incentives from dealers, it is easy to own and buy a motorcycle these days,” Pablo pointed out.

The numbers do not include the sales of motorcycles made in China, which may be significantly cheaper than the Japanese and Taiwanese brands, Pablo noted.

In the cities of Caloocan and Valenzuela, selling motorcycles and accessories is big business. I went to Valenzuela to better understand why more people are buying motorbikes these days.

Dennis Santos was filling up a loan application, when I chanced upon him in a motorcycle dealership.

The breadwinner from San Jose Del Monte Bulacan decided to buy his first motorbike to lessen the travel time to his office in Caloocan, saying he usually spends around 4 hours in a bus

during weekdays.

“Traffic is terrible these days,” Santos noted.

Not only was traffic wasting away precious time that could have been spent with his family, it was also robbing Dennis a much needed period of recovery from his daily grind.

“I sleep like a chicken,” he say in jest.

The new people’s car. Other buyers share the view that a motorcycle can get then to their respective destinations faster than public transportation.

Motorcycle advocates see the upswing in motorcycle sale as a positive development for the environment and personal productivity.

With government infrastructure projects still years away from completion, the motorcycle is emerging as a likely redeemer not only of personal productivity but perhaps even one’s sanity.

Edward Go, president of the Motorcycle Dealers Association of the Philippines, says that the motorcycle gives people freedom from the ill effects of traffic. With motorcycle dealers offering attractive ownership

schemes to lure buyers, more people are expected to ply the streets on two wheels.

“It is the new people’s car” says Go. While manufacturers see the upswing in motorcycle sales as a boon to the industry, Go warns of the potential problems that comes as more people use motorcycles – such as higher incidents of road accidents and respiratory diseases.

The Metro Manila Development Authority or MMDA says around 1,300 motorcycle accidents were recorded in the first two months of 2015 or half of the 3,000 last year.

From 2008 to 2014, MMMDA

statistics showed 35 percent of fatal road accidents involved motorcycles and tricycles.

Go says there is much to improve in terms of driver attitude towards motorcycles, as well as enforcing compliance regarding vehicle emissions.

If sales trends are anything to go by, more Filipinos, like Dennis Santos, will be buying motorcycles in the future.

In a metropolis where getting stuck in traffic for a few hours has become the norm, the risks involved in riding a motorcycle may be worth taking after all. n Chino Gaston / VS, GMA News / September 17, 2015 / 6:05 pm

EL Niño, global weakness prod Lawmakers seek probe of ‘rampant’ sugar smuggling MANILA – Lawmakers on Real Top Enterprises was linked to permits from the Sugar Regulatory ADB to cut PHL growth forecast Thursday called for an investigation the May 2015 shipment worth P13 Administration has freely made its THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) revised its growth forecast for the Philippine economy this year amid a slowdown in major industrial economies and China and the impact of El Niño.

The Manila-based multilateral lender expects the Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) to expand by 6.0 percent from a previous forecast of 6.4 percent.

Still, the economic outlook for the Philippines remains favorable despite the external pressures, ADB Country Director Richard Bolt told reporters on Tuesday.

Improved government spending, sustained private consumption and investment, higher employment, low inflation and remittance inflows are keeping the economy buoyant, Bolt added.

What poses a threat to the outlook are the slower-than-expected growth in the US, Euro zone, Japan and China as well as the possible impact of the El Niño on rural incomes and food, water and electricity prices.

“Progress on reforms is important in sustaining the growth momentum and to create more jobs,” Bolt said.

China slowdown. China’s economy is expected to moderate to 6.8 percent this year from 7.3 percent in 2014. ADB previously projected a 7.2 percent expansion for the Asian giant.

A slowdown in China, the world’s

second largest economy, would inevitably create a drag on global growth.

As such, the bank revised its growth forecast for Developing Asia to 5.8 percent from 6 percent. This represents the slowest pace since 2001, ADB Macroeconomic Research Director Joseph Zveglich Jr. said.

A weaker Chinese economy will particularly impact exports from trading partners in Southeast Asia. Philippines, for one, has seen its outward shipments contract for the eighth consecutive month in July.

Severe El Niño. The El Nino phenomenon could dampen domestic consumption, the Philippine economy’s main engine of growth.

The global weather pattern is expected to intensify starting October and persist until the first three months of 2016. This could bring prolonged droughts or less-than-normal rainfall to the Philippines.

The prolonged drought could negatively impact the livelihood of Filipinos in rural areas, inflate commodity prices and consequently suppress their spending, according to ADB. “Progress on reforms are important in sustaining the growth momentum and creating more jobs,” Bolt said. n Keith Richard D. Mariano / VS, GMA News /

September 22, 2015 / 10:50 am

into the “rampant” sugar smuggling amid the confiscation of the product illegally shipped in the country’s ports.

Bayan Muna partylist Representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate said that much as P140 million worth of smuggled sugar were confiscated in the second quarter of 2015, including shipments which had links to former Land Transportation Office chief Virginia Torres.

“What makes these series of smuggling more suspicious is not only the fact that these happened rampantly at such a short period of time, but also, certain entities like Real Top Enterprises has been involved in most of these incidents,” the lawmakers said in their House Resolution 2413.

According to the lawmakers,

million; June 2015 shipment of eight container vans of Thai sugar; and the importation of 13,200 sacks worth P34 million.

In August, 56 container vans of smuggled sugar worth P85 million from Thailand were also seized after it arrived at the Manila International Container Port in several batches and consigned to Global Classe Marketing and Comm. Corporation. The customs broker who tried to facilitate the shipment’s release from the bureau was identified as Rolando Crave.

“These entities involved in sugar smuggling are not even issued import permits from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA). It is thus highly questionable that a single entity which was not even issued import

way through the supposedly keen eyes of the Bureau of Customs,” Colmenares and Zarate said.

Torres, one of the shooting buddies of President Benigno Aquino III, reportedly showed up at the CustomsIntelligence Group (IG) office to allegedly negotiate the release of about 64 shipping containers of smuggled sugar worth P100 million from Thailand, which was so far the biggest apprehension in 2015 in terms of volume and value.

These were misdeclared as general merchandise and were likewise not covered by any import permits from the SRA. The shipments appealed by Torres were part of the more than 120 shipments that were issued alert orders by the IG during the second quarter of 2015, supposedly imported through dummy companies.

“Whether or not there are political insinuations involved in this incident, it is certain that there would be lost revenues brought about by rampant smuggling of agricultural products,” the resolution said.

“In the end, it is our local small sugar farmers who will ultimately be at the losing end as these smuggled imported sugar should surely depress local sugar prices which would effectively defeat our local sugar industry,” it added. n Lira Dalangin-Fernandez / InterAksyon.com / September 24, 2015 / 3:43 pm

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October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

PHL to adopt social welfare programs for ‘near-poor’ THE Philippine government is looking at implementing social protection programs that target families near the poverty line.

“We believe the ‘near poor’ category should be strengthened in their resilience to withstand shocks as well as keep them above the poverty line,” Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman told reporters on Wednesday.

Among the Philippines social welfare programs in place are the Aquino administration s agship poverty alleviation project Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) or conditional cash transfer program that facilities money transfers to the poorest of the poor.

15 hurt as Manila-bound PAL flight hits turbulence FIFTEEN passengers were injured after Philippine Airlines flight PR 101 was hit with turbulence while flying to Manila from Hawaii, radio dzBB reported Friday.

According to dzBB’s Twitter account, flight PR 101 already asked for permission for an emergency landing due to the incident.

But the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines clarified that it was a

priority landing and not an emergency landing that PR 101 asked for.

The CAAP’s initial report also said two passengers were injured while 10 others hurt their backs due to turbulence.

PAL has since issued a media statement, which was also posted on dzBB’s Twitter account.

“After Philippine Airlines flight PR101 departed Honolulu at 12:06 noon today, the Airbus 340 aircraft experienced clear-

air-turbulence enroute to Manila. The incident unfortunately resulted to minor injuries to 15 out of the 132 passengers aboard,” it said “A team of medical personnel, airport officials and PAL customer relations officers are being deployed to provide all available assistance when the aircraft arrives at approximately 4:20 this afternoon at Terminal 2 of the NAIA,” it added. n Andrei

Medina / JDS, GMA News / September 18, 2015 / 5:03 pm

“It is not just the amounts of conditional cash transfers we are looking at in terms of cash assistance, but we are looking at other programs that address the near poor,” Soliman said.

The government is still determining specific social protection programs for the population’s near poor segment that comprises 10 percent of families living just above the poverty threshold.

“We are actually just developing the program. But obviously the major vulnerability of any family, whatever class you belong to, is the issue of education, health, job security and housing,” Soliman said.

Almost 26 percent of Filipinos were considered poor in the first semester

of 2014, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. An individual belonging to this segment lives on less than P10,534 a year.

The latest survey conducted under the National Household Targeting System will group families into three categories – non-poor, poor and nearpoor – with the government to release the survey results early next month.

“Right now, the non-poor do not get any support by way of conditional cash transfer... except for those who are formally employed under the social insurance of the Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System,” noted Soliman. n

Keith Richard D. Mariano / VS, GMA News / September 23, 2015 / 2:23 pm

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

www.hello-philippines.com

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Palace: Aquino considering long-term impact of lowering taxes, not popularity DESPITE popular calls to lower income tax rates, the Aquino administration is wary of supporting moves for lower taxes because of the potential impact on government programs, a Malacañang spokesperson said.

At a press briefing on Saturday, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said that Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara and Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo—proponents of bills to lower taxes—have met with President Benigno Aquino III but that he has yet to share how the meeting went.

“Well, marami po talagang mga grupo na nagbigay na ng kanilang posisyon that they support some form of lowering the income tax. However, siyempre, bilang ehekutibo at bilang pamahalaan that has to be studied carefully, which nakikita naman natin na binibigyan din at pinaglalaanan ng oras ng Pangulong Aquino iyong pagdinig sa ganitong mga panukala,” she also said.

The president has said in the past, however, that lowering income tax rates will reduce revenues. That might force the government to raise the

value-added tax to 14 percent from the current 12 percent.

Earlier this week, 18 business groups called on Aquino “to reconsider his position and heed the voice of various sectors clamoring for income tax reform.”

“Contrary to the view that reducing personal and corporate income tax rates will increase the budgetary deficit due to a reduction of ta revenues, studies have shown that a reduction in tax rates, together with the simplification of the ta system, will help spur tax compliance,

and thus broaden the tax base and improve tax effort,” the groups said in a so-called unity statement.

Asked whether the Palace is concerned that taxes will become an election issue and could affect the popularity of administration candidates, Valte replied: “Tingin ko po si pangulo hindi po ganoon iyong konsiderasyon e. Ang konsiderasyon po talaga ng pangulo iyong magiging long-term impact po ng ganyang panukala doon naman po sa finances ng ating pamahalaan.” n

JDS, GMA News / September 26, 2015 / 2:51 pm

EPIRA failed to keep electricity prices down – ex-lawmaker THE liberalization of the power sector failed to make electricity more affordable for the masses, a former lawmaker pushing to have the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) operational said on Thursday.

“The main goal of private companies is to generate profits,” former Pangasinan Representative Mark Cojuangco told GMA News Online during a tour of the BNPP on Thursday.

The private sector will not “over-invest” in expanding the power generation capacity to keep prices stable amid an increasing demand in a growing population and economy, he added.

In 2001, the government passed the Electric Power Reform Act (EPIRA) to ensure a secure and affordable electricity supply.

This involved leaving power generation in private sector hands.

But power generation companies are deemed less concerned about ensuring a steady and affordable supply because their revenues are guaranteed by the inelastic demand for electricity.

“At the very minimum, the government should say there should be this much reserve, there should be this much spinning capacity, there should be this much growth at all time,” Cojuangco said.

High electricity prices discourage foreign direct investments and restrict economic activities in the Philippines.

“Electricity use is the leading indicator of quality of life and prosperity in the world,” Cojuangco noted, saying the Philippines lags in per capita electricity consumption

Bayan Muna reps seek House probe on sugar smuggling AN opposition lawmaker on Thursday asked the House of Representatives to investigate sugar smuggling in the country especially in ports under the supervision of the Bureau of Customs.

“Nag file kami ng resolution today to investigate yung sugar smuggling in line dito sa nangyaring report na pumunta si Ms. Virgie Torres sa Customs. Pero titignan natin yung smuggling overall narin, kasi napakalaki ng nawawala mula sa revenues ng gobyerno,” Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares said in weekly forum with the media.

Colmenares was referring to former and Transportation Office chief Virgie Torres visit to the office of the Customs Intelligence Group on Aug. 20 to allegedly request the release of more than 50 containers of smuggled sugar the bureau had confiscated.

Torres has earlier denied the allegation, saying that she only went to the BOC IG office to seek the advice of retired Gen. Willie Tolentino, a special assistant of the Customs Intelligence Group, on what can be done about the smuggled sugar.

Tolentino, however, maintained that during their conversation, Torres admitted that she, along with her business partner Philip Sy, owned the smuggled sugar.

Tolentino said Torres even sent him text messages on that day asking him not to confiscate the 34 containers of Global Classe, the consignee of a batch of smuggled sugar.

In his House Resolution 2413, Colmenares asked the House Committee on Agriculture and Food to conduct a probe in aid of legislation on the rampant sugar smuggling in ports,

citing the short period of intervals of the smuggling incidents.

Colmenares pointed out that in the second quarter of 2015 alone, a total of P140 million smuggled sugar were confiscated in the country, involving a single importer company.

“What makes this series of smuggling more suspicious is not only the fact that these happened rampantly at such a short period of time, but also, certain entities like Real Top Enterprises has been involved in most of these incidents,” Colmenares said in the resolution co-authored with Bayan

Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate.

“It should be emphasized that these entities involved in sugar smuggling are not even issued import permits from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA). It is thus highly questionable that a single entity which was not even issued import permits has freely made its way through the supposedly keen eyes of the Bureau of Customs,” the resolution added.

Colmenares said the probe should also look into the supposed “power play” involved in the recent series of sugar smuggling.

“Ano ba talaga ang naging papel ni Ms. Virgie Torres doon sa nangyaring smuggling at ano ang position ng Malacañang tungkol dito? Ito ay mahalaga din malaman sa gagawing pagdining,” Colmenares, a potential candidate for senator in 2016, said.

“In the end, it is our local small sugar farmers who will ultimately be at the losing end as these smuggled imported sugar should surely depress local sugar prices which would effectively defeat our local sugar industry,” Colmenares said. n Elizabeth Marcelo / JDS, GMA News / September 24, 2015 / 7:24 pm

compared with the US, South Korea and Malaysia.

In 2012, the Philippines’ per capita electricity consumption of 672 kilowatt hour (kWh) is only 5 percent of the US’ 12,954 kWh, 6 percent of South Korea’s 10,346 kWh and 15 percent of Vietnam’s 4345 kWh. “Our per capita consumption of electricity defines us as being poor and the reason for the low consumption is the extremely high price of electricity,” he added.

Shifting to nuclear energy from fossil fuels is supposed to bring down prices.

The BNPP is expected to produce power at P2.50 to 3.50 kWh or almost half the current wholesale price of electricity. n

Keith Richard D. Mariano / VS, GMA News /

September 25, 2015 / 5:04 pm

P20-M public market to help Quezon farmers sell produce THE Department of Agriculture has opened a P20-million public market and trading post in Macalelon as part of efforts to improve the economic conditions of the farmers and fisherfolk in the 3rd district of Quezon.

The project is the government’s response to the marketing needs of farmers and fisherfolk by eliminating the layers of middlemen both in buying and selling agriculture products, the department said on Friday.

The three-story public market and trading post is beside the existing wet market of Macalelon.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala is urging local government officials to tap the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP) for additional livelihood projects, farmto-market roads, and training for the farmers and fisherfolk.

Under the PRDP, the World Bank is providing up to 80 percent of the project cost while the DA and the local government unit will each cover 10 percent. n Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas / VS, GMA / September 25, 2015 / 1:12pm

HELLO PHILIPPINES IS PUBLISHED FORTNIGHTLY BY MSHARE LIMITED. THIS PUBLICATION IS COPYRIGHTED AND ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UK & EUROPE EDITION • NORDIC, IRELAND, ITALY, SPAIN, AND FRANCE • WWW.HELLO-PHILIPPINES.COM

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October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

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Philippines’ foreign debt declines in June on weaker yen, US rate hike THE Philippines’ external debt continued to decline in June, mainly because of the anticipated US interest rate hike and weaker Japanese currency.

The country owes foreign individuals, companies, institutions, and governments $75.0 billion as of end June, according to figures released by the Bangko Sentral ng

Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday.

The outstanding amount decreased by 0.4 percent from $75.3 billion in end-March and by 4.6 percent from $78.6 billion a year earlier.

The central bank attributed the quarter-on-quarter decline to the transfer of debt papers worth $1.0 billion from non-residents to residents amid growing concerns over the looming interest rate hike in the US. The country’s external debt — 63.8 percent are denominated in dollar and 12.2 percent in yen — also decreased by $162 billion after Japan allowed its currency to depreciate against the dollar to revive its economy.

But the decreases were partially

Peso ends week down on China woes THE peso extended its losing streak toward the end of a shortened week on Thursday, as an economic slowdown in China continues to weigh on investor sentiment.

The peso shed 3 centavos to 46.86:$1 from the previous close of 46.83. The local currency’s losses totaled 44.5 centavos during the trading week that was shortened for the Muslim

celebration of Eid’l Adha.

“Continued fears that the Chinese slowdown will weigh down the Philippine economy weakened the Philippine peso against the US dollar further,” MetisEtrade Inc. analyst Cherica Vicente said.

The weakness of the Chinese economy is expected to drag global growth. This partly accounted for the decision of credit watchers, multi-lateral lenders and other

institutions in slashing their respective growth forecasts for the Philippines. China is the world’s second largest economy next to the US. The depreciation of the peso, largely driven by market sentiment, poses inflationary risks, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo told reporters on Thursday. n Keith Richard D.

Mariano / VS, GMA News / September 24, 2015 / 6:53 pm

offset by the national government’s net availments totalling $875 million from April to June.

Revaluation adjustments arising from the strengthening of the dollar against the yen and other major currencies shaved $2.6 billion from the Philippines’ outstanding debt on a year-on-year basis.

The increase in residents’ investments in Philippine debt papers ($835 million) and previous adjustments ($134 million) also helped reduce the country’s external debt from year-ago levels.

“Key external debt indicators were observed to have remained at very prudent levels in the second quarter of 2015,” BSP Governor Amando

Tetangco Jr. noted in a statement.

The Philippines held $80.6 billion in gross international reserves — 6.1 times the short-term debt — when June ended. The ratio of the external debt to gross national income also improved year-on-year to 21.5 percent from 23.5 percent.

The country’s capacity to meet maturing obligations improved to 5.9 percent from 6.9 percent. This is indicated by the ratio of principal and interest payments to merchandise exports, receipts from services and primary income.

Loans with medium to long-term maturities comprised 82.4 percent of the total. The remaining 17.6 percent are short-term bank borrowings, inter company accounts of foreign bank branches, trade credits and deposit liabilities.

Of the total external debt, foreign holders of Philippine bonds and notes accounted for 31.7 percent, multilateral and bilateral creditors for 31.2 percent, foreign banks and other financial institutions for 30.5 percent and foreign suppliers/exporters for 6.6 percent. n Keith Richard D. Mariano / JST, GMA News / September 18, 2015 / 8:06 pm

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October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Pinoys join US efforts to address domestic violence AS an attorney and activist, I have seen how abuse hurts families and I also know how the community can help nurture healthier, safer homes.

One way to help is to attend the 11th annual Free from Violence, free presentation 5:30-7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1, at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, and learn from Philippine Consul General Henry S. Bensurto Jr., Colma Council Member Helen Fisicaro, Kaiser Permanente Physician-in-Chief Dr. John Skerry and survivor Marlene Caballero about the root causes and deterrent for abuse.

Another way is to get involved.

In early 2007, I had just recently graduated law school and was on the cusp of having my dream job. I was working at a non profit, API egal Outreach as a contract attorney and was on the verge of getting a full-time position as an attorney helping the Filipino community. Two of the Filipino attorneys had asked me to volunteer, and then contract, and as I would soon find out, had planned to leave, leaving me the only Tagalog speaking attorney in the office.

One of the attorneys, Laureen Laglaron, told me about an event that was being planned by a non profit group and by the Archdiocese of San Francisco. I remember her vaguely describing about how it was the first time that the Filipino community and the Church were going to come together and address domestic violence.

I went to the planning meeting and learned that the event was run

er

primarily by the Kumares, the Filipino American outreach volunteers of CORA Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse.

My main role at this first event, “Pamilya Natin” or “Our Family” however, was to speak and present about options for victims of domestic violence.

I didn’t expect my participation would blossom into anything more, but when I went to that first event. I was astonished. The hall at St. Augustine Church in South San Francisco was filled to the brim. I never imagined that so many Filipinos would show up to talk about domes tic violence.

When I was growing up, we all knew it was happening, we all had titos and titas, lolos or lolas, or even mothers who were survivors of

Pino Musli

JEDDAH—Over 8,000 Filipino Muslims on Thursday trooped to Saudi Arabia’s Mecca, considered as the 5th pillar of Islam and the holiest place in Saudi Arabia, to join the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Today, Muslims all over the world observe Eid-Al Adha or Feast of Sacrifice—an Islamic festival to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to follow Allah’s command to sacrifice his son Ishmael.

domestic violence. However, we never talked about. But there, in that hall at St. Augustine, we had the Archbishop of San Francisco, attorneys, nonprofit workers, Tagalog-speaking anti-domestic violence advocates, the Philippine consulate, and a survivor speak to over 150 members of the community. I was inspired by what I saw.

Soon after, the head of the Kumares, Cherie Querol Moreno, who later became my dear friend and mentor, contacted me and extended me an offer to join the team. Little did I know that for the next eight years, I would be working with an amazing group of women and men who would fight domestic violence in the Filipino community. For the next eight years we planned two annual events a year, addressing domestic violence throughout the Filipino community in coalition with different churches, different denominations, and with various Filipino communities throughout the Bay Area.

Our group included survivors, nonprofit workers, nurses, policemen, politicians, and attorneys amongst many others. Many of these men and women became my friends, colleagues, and mentors.

I helped as legal counsel, as tech support chair, and later, as Secretary and eventually President.

During those years, I witnessed the Kumpares reach over two to 300 members of the community every year.

The Kumares were a huge part of my

life and they helped to mold the way I think about the community. People like Jennifer Jimenez Wong and Paulita Malay, along with Dr. Jei Africa, helped to teach me about the psychological effects of abuse. Lieutenant Randy Caturay, helped show me the law enforcement part. Workers in the health care field, such as Malou Aclan, Jeanette Trajano, Edna Murray, and many others showed us how to provide for care to survivors of DV. People like Jose Antonio, a Vice President at Union Bank, taught us how to fundraise.

Others, such as Nellie Hizon and Susan Roxas taught us how to work with the faith community to cause social change. Sarah Jane Ilumin, was also instrumental in using her graphic design skills to push forward.

From the beginning, however, it was clear to me that there were five people who, took on the leadership of the Kumares. The heart and soul of the Kumares, was Cherie Querol Moreno. She was and still is our leader, our friend, our mentor, and our dear Executive Director. Cherie taught us how to network, how to work with the media, and how to take care for each other. Bettina Santos Yap also was instrumental as she in many ways kept us together, not only by working with Cherie on our scripts, but also by directing nearly every skit and hosting our annual gatherings.

Tita Erlinda Galeon, used her abilities as a fundraiser and as a beacon in the community to give us legitimacy.

Mayor Joanne del Rosario, who came

s floc to audi Arabia or annual

Some two million Muslims from all over the world are expected gather in Mecca on Thursday to begin their annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Consul General Imelda Panolong of the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah said that a total of 8,130 Filipino pilgrims are now in Mecca for the yearly event.

National Commission on Muslim Filipinos Secretary Yasmin BusranLao, who is also this year’s Amerul Hajj (leader of pilgrims) leads the Filipinos

in this years pilgrimage, Panolong said.

Also, she said that this year’s number of Filipino pilgrims to Mecca is the biggest ever.

So far, she said, the consulate has not received any report on any problems encountered by the pilgrims, and that a medical team from the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos is taking care of their health needs.

Moreover, Panolong said a

representative from the Saudi Ministry of Health had given seminars to Shayks (leader of each group of pilgrims) on what to do in times of accidents and and disease prevention.

Also included in the health seminars is the prevention of the spread of the dreaded Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and other health issues that might affect the pilgrims. n LBG, GMA News / September 24, 2015

/ 9:09 am

later, taught us how to use the political system to move ALLICE’s Legacy forward. Finally, Dr. Jei, helped to keep us grounded and understand that the movement against DV, was not the only movement that we should get involved in, and that we should also support other issues, such as LGBTQ rights.

I am grateful to donor allies San Mateo Behavioral Health & Recovery Services, Philippine Association of University Women, Pilipino Bayanihan Resource Center, Rappler.com, The Filipino Channel, Philippine News, Philippines Today, FilAm Star, Positively Filipino, Lucky Chances, Moonstar, Hapag Filipino, Chalet Ticino, Café Savini, Noah’s Bagels for supporting each event through their products and services.

I grew up with the Kumares and they have changed, as well, over the years.

Over time, the CORA Kumares became the independent ALLICE Alliance for Community Empowerment Kumares and Kumpares. This new organization was named for Tita Alice Bulos, the mother of Filipino American politics.

Last year, with a heavy heart, I stepped down as a Kumpare, because of a growing family and other professional obligations. But to this day, I am still dedicated to their mission and vision of addressing domestic violence in the Filipino Community.

I thank the Kumares and Kumpares for helping make me the father, husband, attorney, and community leader that I am today. n Roberto Uy / Esq.,

Philippine News / September 25, 2015 / 3:39 pm

a

ilgri

age

Pinoy pilgrims pray inside a Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. --Ronaldo Concha

OFWs in HK mark 43rd Martial Law anniversary with protest

OFWs in HK mark 43rd Martial Law anniversary with protest action.

HONG KONG – Filipino migrant workers in the territory held a rally at the Philippine Consulate General on Sept. 21 to commemorate the 43rd anniversary of the proclamation of Martial Law in the Philippines.

Members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Hong Kong and Macau, and the HK Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines belied social media posts claiming that the country was more prosperous under Martial Law than it was under succeeding democratic regimes.

A statement read by Eman Villanueva, Bayan-HKM chairperson, said there was no truth to claims there was no unemployment then, and that the pesodollar exchange rate was one to one.

“Sa panahon din pong iyon ang halaga ng piso ay bumagsak laban sa dolyar. Hindi totoo na one dollar is to one peso. Pagkaupo pa lamang ni Marcos ito ay higit tatlong piso kada isang dolyar. Sa kanyang panunungkulan, lumampas ang palitan sa anim na piso kada isang dolyar,” Villanueva said, adding that Philippine debt rose to $28 billion from $3 billion.

He also lamented that the Marcos family has regained political in uence with former First Lady Imelda Marcos elected as an Ilocos Norte representative, son Bongbong Marcos as a senator, and daughter Imee Marcos as Ilocos Norte governor.

Villanueva also urged the present administration to recognize the importance of teaching truthful, complete, and holistic history of the country to Filipino students, and not allow political interests distort historical truths. n LBG, GMA News / September 27, 2015 / 8:11 am

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www.hello-philippines.com

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Grapes of Wrath: The forgotten Filipinos who led a farmworker revolution THESE days, grapes in the grocery store don’t seem that controversial.

But 50 years ago, a historic workers’ strike in the vineyards of California’s Central Valley set in motion the most significant campaign in modern labor history: the Farmworker Movement.

The United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez are widely known: They first came to prominence as the face of a strike of grape pickers in the 1960s that prompted an international boycott of table grapes. But there’s a part of that movement’s history that’s rarely told — and it traces back to Delano, Calif., a pretty typical hot, dry farm community.

In this town’s unassuming corners, the true story of the Delano Grape Strike unfolded. There’s a white stucco building on the edge of town where

Chavez held his first hunger strike, and a high school auditorium where thenSen. Bobby Kennedy spoke in support of the farmworkers.

Long-time resident Roger Gadiano leads college students and others on tours of these places and to Filipino Hall. It’s a community center, but to Gadiano, “this is a shrine. I guess it’s our Selma. This is it!” he says.

Because it was here that, on the night of Sept. 7, 1965, farmworkers — almost all Filipino — voted to go on strike the next day.

“We’re a part of a big history, which is bold. We took a step that no one would take,” he says. The hall served as the hub of activity for the first years of the Farmworker Movement.

Gadiano drives to the cemetery, and gets out near the simple gravesite of

Farmworker Movement Documentation Project/University of California San Diego Library

the father of the Delano Grape Strike, Larry Itliong.

“He, gave our people some dignity.

He gave his guts,” Gadiano says.

During Philippine Weekend, a cultural celebration and kind of family reunion, a group of young women say they never learned about the farmworker movement in school.

Anhelica Perez says her Latina grandmother and other relatives actually participated in the strike and ensuing boycott. “So it was active family history, but it was not taught — or talked about — at all,” she says.

Even though she’s in her late 20s, Melanie Retuda says she learned about the Filipino origins of the strike only last year. “I’d known of Cesar Chavez and Hispanics being involved,” she says. “Being Filipino, it’s like, ‘Wow.’ Filipinos actually made an impact in the process. It makes me proud that they were involved.”

Perez is outraged that this history is not known, because the actions those Filipinos took improved her family’s lives. “I mean, I’m extremely proud that Cesar Chavez was the right face at the right time, but a lot of the dirty work was already done.”

For decades the migrant, bachelor, Filipino farmworkers – called Manongs, or elders — had fought for better working conditions. So in the summer of 1965, with pay cuts threatened around the state, these workers were prepared to act, says historian Dawn Mabalon.

“They’re led by this really charismatic, veteran, seasoned, militant labor leader Larry Itliong,” she says.

He urged local families in Delano to join Manongs in asking farmers for a raise. The growers balked. Workers gathered at Filipino Hall for a strike vote.

“The next morning they went out to the vineyard, and then they left the crop on the ground, and then they walked out,” Mabalon says.

Cesar Chavez and others had been organizing Mexican workers around Delano for a few years, but a strike wasn’t in their immediate plans. But Larry Itliong appealed to Chavez, and two weeks later, Mexican workers joined the strike.

Soon, the two unions came together to form what would become United Farm Workers, with Larry Itliong as the assistant director under Chavez.

Mabalon says, “These two groups coming together to do this? That is the power in the Delano Grape Strike.”

It took five years of striking, plus an international boycott of table grapes, before growers signed contracts with the United Farm Workers.

Those years weren’t easy: on strikers, families, or Delano.

As the son of the only Filipino grocer in the region, Gadiano knows that well. The store was popular with both townspeople and workers in the labor camps where – even during the strike his family delivered fish, meat and sticky rice.

For striking families, “we were giving them credit to pay us back when work started,” Gadiano recalls. “We carried hundreds of families. We were stuck in the middle because we had the store.”

US-based Pinoys pray for peaceful PHL polls buying their vote or groups telling them who to vote for.”

The Argentine-born pope, on his first visit to the US, is scheduled to make stops in Washington, New York City, and Philadelphia during his six-day stay there, and each public appearance is expected to draw in huge crowds.

For some US-based Filipino Catholics, who watched with awe on TV and internet livestreaming the warm welcome the Pope received in the Philippines in January, the excitement is palpable.

“I’m very excited about the Pope’s visit here in the US,” Perez said. “I can just imagine the excitement of the many Catholic Filipinos here in the US. I watched from here when he went to the Philippines and was so happy to see all the Filipinos welcoming him.”

For her part, Tan said, “Personally, I’ve always wanted to see the Pope in person since I was still a kid when Pope John Paul II visited Manila and I was already here [in the US] when Pope Francis came [to the Philippines].”

n Lisa Morehouse / September 25, 2015 / 2:11 pm /

Lisa Morehouse is an independent journalist based in California. This story was produced in collaboration with KQED’s The California Report and the Food & Environment Reporting

Network,

an

independent,

nonprofit,

investigative news organization.This article appeared on npr.org and is reposted here with permission from the author. Thumbnail courtesy of The FilAm, a content partner of GMA News Online in the US

13 Pinoy kids greet Pope Francis in Washington

POPE FRANCIS IN THE U.S.

FOR some Filipino devotees in the United States, Pope Francis’ visit there offers an opportunity for them to pray for the Philippines, especially with less than a year before their kababayans back home choose another set of leaders.

“My prayer offering will be for the good Lord to bless the Philippines and its devoted countrymen,” said Cathy Sison Perez, who is a volunteer for the Papal Mass in Philadelphia on Sunday (US time). “May He guide the way toward peacefuI and safe elections.”

Kimberly Jane Tan, who recently finished graduate studies at the Columbia University in New York, said Pope Francis could inspire Filipinos to pick the right leaders, noting how the pontiff “has always been a good moral compass for us.”

Miya David, a multimedia reporter for the American Metal Market, said Pope Francis’ stance against corruption may even convince Filipinos to “vote with their conscience and not the money given to them by politicians

“There was a strange division among us,” says Alex Edillor. He was just 11 years old when his parents walked off the fields. After a few weeks they felt they had to return to work. Edillor remembers the tension, even in church.

“Kinda split down the middle of the church: This is where the strikers went, this is where the people who went back to work went,” he recalls.

Edillor says it’s important for people today to learn about these efforts.

“Not only is it a point of pride, it’s a point of fact,” he says, then tears up.

“Just understand that we stand on the shoulders of people who struggled before us.”

“I feel the hurt of a generation,” says historian Dawn Mabalon. “But it’s also on us. It’s our story. It really demands our love and attention and respect, and we need to tell this story.”

That’s happening more and more.

Mabalon is writing a biography of Larry Itliong. Edillor and Gadiano organized a celebration in Delano over Labor Day weekend. And a documentary on the Manongs came out last year.

Recently, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed two pieces of legislation, one recognizing Larry Itliong Day on October 25, the other requiring public schools to teach this history.

OFWs in the US could also stand to benefit from Pope Francis’ visit, Tan said, “given the struggles they go through in order to live or work in a foreign country, especially since faith has always been a great source of strength for us.”

David, meanwhile, says Pope Francis— whom she lauds for his simplicity (“like an actual Shepherd tending to his flock”)— should take his visit to the US as an opportunity to address the alleged abuses of priests, an issue that has been hounding the Catholic Church for over a decade.

While sex abuse will not be a major focus of Pope Francis’ visit, Vatican officials have said he will address it at some point while in the US. Pope Francis’ visit to the US will include addresses to a joint session of Congress as well as to the UN General Assembly in New York and continue on through an open-air Mass in Philadelphia on Sept. 27 that could draw some 1.5 million people, according to Reuters. n Rie Takumi / KBK/KG, GMA News / September 24, 2015 / 9:03 pm

THIRTEEN Filipino-American children were among those who greeted Pope Francis during his visit to Washington, DC on September 24 (US time).

According to the Philippine Embassy in the US, the 13 were selected out of 137 through a lottery system. Beatrice Olivares, Zacharie Aguila Famoso, Angelo Magalong, Abram Elijah Moses Caasi, Joelle Marie T. Bustamante, Lorenz Alacbay, Priscilla Saldana, Precious Phan, Maurine Ysabel Suarez, Anton Jordan, Christian Gio Catu, Danica Regalario, and Alyssa Laluces.

“The names were drawn by Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., the embassy said.

The embassy said Pope Francis, who is on a six-day visit to the US, greeted the Filipino contingent outside the Vatican Embassy. n KBK, GMA News / September 25, 2015 / 6:42pm

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IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Pinoys in Jeddah join coastal clean-up JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Hundreds of Filipinos here participated in the 30th International Coastal Clean-up last Friday morning, an event that aimed to free the city’s northern coastline of garbage.

A total of 2,176 expatriates, along with their dependents, students from different communities, Philippine Consulate officials and staff, were provided with garbage bags to collect garbage left by picnickers on the

sandy areas of Salman open beach in Bouhairat North of Obhur as early as 7 a.m.

The Jeddah-based ocean conservancy group Alliance of Proactive Organizations Center for Environmental Advocacy (APOCEA) spearheaded the activity.

Peddie H. Holanda, the group’s founding chairman, said 75 percent of the participants are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from more than 60 organizations, and students from the four international Philippine schools.

Holanda said among the groups that joined the event, the International Indian School in Jeddah (IISJ) had the most number of participants, with 389 students and teachers.

Other nationalities such as Saudis, Pakistanis, Bangladeshi, Egyptians, Jordanians and Palestinians also participated.

Tons of garbage bags full of rubbish were collected and later loaded onto a garbage truck for proper disposal.

Holanda said the event was successful because of the participants who supported it and exhibited the spirit of volunteerism.

Philippine Consul General Imelda M. Panolong, meanwhile, urged everybody to be responsible in keeping the environment clean.

“What we make our presence here more meaningful is that we don’t just stop here,” she said. “When we leave this place, we continue doing, wherever we are, what we are going

to do here today, meaning in our homes, in our schools, in our offices, everywhere we go, in the malls.

Let us practice a responsible way of disposing our trash.”

“So again, let us make our presence here meaningful by practicing what we preach,” she added.

She also expressed her gratitude to all the participants of the clean-up drive.

Ayman A. Darandary, marketing general manager of Alhamrani-Fuchs Petroleum Saudi Arabia, said this year’s activity was one of the most successful event they have sponsored.

Darandary also expressed his gratitude to the Filipino community for organizing the clean-up. n Ronaldo Z. Concha / KBK, GMA News / September 22, 2015 / 12:54 pm

Pro-OFW group wants legal assistance fund raised from P100M to P1B PRO-MIGRANTS group Migrante on Wednesday asked Congress to increase the yearly legal assistance fund (LAF) for Filipino workers facing legal troubles abroad from P100 million to P1 billion, and give the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) full control of it.

“Kung ang mga nakakulong sa ibang bansa ay hindi bumababa sa 7,000, kukulangin ang P100 million,” Migrante chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado said during a press briefing in Quezon City. “Mas lalo nating itulak ‘yung ating panawagan na itaas itong P100 million to P1 billion per year.”

Migrante said based on DFA data, the number of OFWs facing legal troubles abroad increased from 6,002 in 2014 to 7,182 in 2015. Of these, 807 face drugrelated charges while 79 are on death row.

“Ang legal assistance fund dapat ay ito ang description—dapat merong legal expenses, air fare in the event na siya’y i-repatriate, retainer’s fee for hiring ng lawyer, translation services,

and then ‘yung filing fee,” Regalado said.

She also appealed that the LAF be put under the full control of the DFA, noting President Benigno Aquino III’s veto message on the General Appropriations Act of 2015 that put the P100-million LAF under “conditional implementation.”

“The law says na dapat may nakalaan na P100 million. Sa National Expenditure Program nila every year, naglalaan ang gobyerno, especially during President Aquino, ng P30 million. Nakastand-by yung P70 million just in case na kukulangin yung P30 million,” she said.

Regalado also said under the Aquino administration, the P100-million yearly LAF has always been underutilized despite the number of Filipinos needing legal assistance abroad.

“For the last five years ni President Aquino, laging underspent ‘yung legal assistance. Kaya doon mave-verify o mava-validate yung claims na hindi talaga sila (overseas Pinoys) nabibigyan ng legal assistance,” she said.

She added that of the P100 million LAF

this year, only P30 million has been spent so far.

DFA. DFA spokesperson Charles Jose, meanwhile, said they have already spent more than that amount.

“We were given a P100 million LAF in 2015, and we have already utilized around 50 percent of it,” he said in a text message to GMA News Online.

He added it is up to lawmakers to increase the LAF in 2016.

“It will be the decision of Congress whether or not they would like to increase our LAF,” Jose said.

Earlier this September, lawmakers protested the zero-peso allotment for LAF in the proposed 2016 national budget.

Opposition Senator Nancy Binay, for one, blamed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the “dwindling” LAF, saying the department proposed only P30 million LAF for 2015. The DBM has denied this.

“Criminally neglecting OFWs”. At the same press conference, Regalado also accused the government of “criminally

Parents and wives of imprisoned OFWs are calling on the government to increase the yearly Legal Assistance Fund from P100 million to P1 billion. Photo by Rie Takumi.

neglecting” OFWs by turning migration into a “business.”

“What is the labor export program?

It’s business. They’re only after how much revenues they can raise from selling Filipino labor in different countries,” she said, name-dropping the Overseas Worker’s Welfare Association (OWWA) as part of the “machinery of the labor export program.”

“They are focusing now on investments and bearing away their main responsibility, their mandate by the law on providing welfare services to migrants. They are not really sincere,” Regalado said of OWWA. OWWA had earlier denied neglecting OFWs. n Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / September 23, 2015 3:21pm

READY TO TAKE PUNISHMENT

Pinoy convicted of sedition in Singapore ‘truly remorseful and sorry’ –lawyer Ello Ed Mundsell Bello, the Filipino nurse sentenced to four months imprisonment in Singapore for sedition, is “truly remorseful and sorry” for what he did, which was posting disparaging comments against Singaporeans on Facebook, according to his lawyer.

“A long time ago before the trials, he said that he’s truly remorseful and sorry because of what he has done,” said Mark Goh in an interview after the court slapped Bello, 29, with the sentence Monday.

Goh noted that Bello, 29, pleaded guilty for the charges.

“My client has surrendered. In fact he has already decided on a personal level that it has caused him already a lot of anxiety and stress. And therefore he did not want to perpetuate the trial and decided to plead guilty,” he said.

Aside from posting seditious messages on Facebook, Bello was also convicted for lying to the police.

All in all, he faced one count of sedition and two counts of lying to the police before District Judge Siva Shanmugam. An additional count of sedition and another count for false reporting were considered by Shanmugam.

Deportation. Goh said after serving jail term, Bello will be deported back to Philippines and banned to come back to Singapore for a certain period of time.

“He will definitely be repatriated.

Under Singapore immigration law, he will not be able to come back to Singapore for a certain period of time and after that period of time, subject to good review, he may be able to go back to Singapore,” the lawyer said.

Bello’s disparaging comments against Singaporeans made rounds on social media in early January. In his post on The Real Singapore’s Facebook page, he said, “Now the Singaporeans are loosers (sic) in their own country, we take their jobs, their future, their women and soon, we will evict all SG loosers (sic) out of their own country hahaha. The best part, I will be praying that disators (disasters) strike Singapore and more Singaporeans will die than I will celebrate. Remember Pinoy better and stronger than Stinkaporeans.”

He further commented, “We will kick out all the Singaporeans and SG will be the new filipino state.”

Bello initially reported to the police that he did not post the comment, claiming his account was hacked. Goh said his client lied because he feared

for an online backlash.

The controversy cost Bello his job in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he worked as a radiographer.

Ready to take punishment. Goh said the decision to plead guilty means that the accused himself does not want to fight and does not want to contest the matter in trial. “It is a personal decision and not a legal decision,” he said.

He added that by pleading guilty, Bello has “mentally accepted his guilt and he is mentally prepared to take the punishment.”

“The reason why Ed was mentally prepared is because he felt that he has caused enough stress between the Filipino community working here and also the Singapore citizens,” Goh said.

“So he wants to move on.”

“After the course of these proceedings, there was a lot of

unhappiness on the ground. That’s not denied. He also felt that it was also very difficult for him to stay here in view of this situation. In a way he described to me, in his own words, like shooting himself on the foot. And he has already been punished with all the negative publicity and that he just wants to get on with his life,” Goh added.

The Philippine Embassy in Singapore, through Consul General Victorio Dimagiba, Jr., released a statement, sayin “Mr. Ello’s penalty which was metted out by the court was deemed appropriate to the charges he had been convicted.”

The embassy hopes that “since Bello has accepted the verdict of the court, this will close the issue for all parties concerned.” n Dazzelyn Baltazar Zapata / KBK,

GMA News / September 23, 2015 / 12:42 pm

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IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Mary Jane Veloso’s lawyer welcomes Pope’s stand vs. death penalty THE camp of Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino death row convict in Indonesia, on Friday welcomed Pope Francis’ statement calling for the global abolition of the death penalty that he made during his visit to the United States.

In a message to GMA News Online, lawyer Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), which is helping Veloso in her case in Indonesia, said they appreciate the pronouncement as it came from from a well respected world leader.

“It is consistent with our long

standing position that the death penalty is not a detterent and is contrary to rehabilitative opportunities for those convicted of crimes,” Olalia said. “In Mary Jane’s case, it will be even worse and irreparable of the charges against her as she is a victim.”

“In any event, we wholeheartedly agree and support the Pontiff’s strong clamor to abolish death penalty,” he added.

Veloso’s lawyers have insisted that she was a victim of human trafficking, and that she did not know her luggage contained drugs when she went to

Indonesia from Malaysia in April 2010.

Her alleged recruiters are currently facing trial in Nueva Ecija in the Philippines.

Veloso was spared from being e ecuted by firing squad last April 29 after the Indonesian government made a last-minute decision to allow her to testify against her recruiters in Manila.

The Philippine government for its part is supporting Veloso and providing legal assistance in a bid to have her removed from Indonesian death row. n

Andrei Medina / KBK, GMA News / September 25, 2015 / 6:22 pm

Palace assures assistance to family of Pinoy who died in hajj stampede MALACAÑANG on Saturday assured that the family of the Filipino who died in the hajj stampede will receive assistance from the government, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said Saturday.

“Rest assured that our Philippine Consulate in Jeddah is already in contact with the family, and the President has also been apprised of the situation, and ang instructions po ng Pangulo diyan is ibigay po natin ‘yung necessary assistance doon po sa pamilya ‘nung biktima,” Valte said over state-run dzRB. Valte, meanwhile, said that the Department of Foreign Affairs have not yet received any reports of other Filipino casualties in the hajj stampede, which left

more than 700 people dead and hundreds more hurt.

“We have no other reports of any other citizen that was involved in the tragic incident,” she said.

Saudi King Salman said he had ordered a review of haj plans after the disaster, in which two large groups of pilgrims arrived together at a crossroads in Mina, a few kilometres east of Mecca, on their way to performing the “stoning of the devil” ritual at Jamarat.

The disaster was the worst to occur at the pilgrimage since July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims suffocated in a tunnel near Mecca. Both incidents occurred on Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), Islam’s

most important feast and the day of the stoning ritual.

Dr. Abdulnasser P. Masorong Jr. of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), meanwhile, said that six other Filipinos died due to various various diseases during the hajj pilgrimage.

Masorong said one of the victims died after heart attack while on a plane bound for Saudi Arabia. The others died from heart problems, liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and severe pneumonia.

The DFA has yet to confirm the deaths of the other Filipino pilgrims. n Rie Takumi / ALG, GMA News / September 26, 2015

/ 3:15 pm

DFA confirms Pinoy fatality in Saudi hajj stampede A Filipino was among the over 700 who were killed in a stampede at the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday.

“The Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah has confirmed that one local Filipino pilgrim died in the stampede in Mecca,” DFA spokesman Charles Jose said in a message to media.

“The personal circumstances of the victim are being withheld on the request of the family.”

Over 8,000 Filipinos joined this year’s pilgrimage, according to Philippine officials in Saudi Arabia.

In an interview on radio dzBB, Consul General Imelda Panolong said some Filipino pilgrims have been hospitalized due to heat stroke.

“May pasyente tayo na naheatstroke, na-dehydrate pero walang kinalaman sa stampede,” she said.

Latest count on the fatalities stood at 717, with over 800 wounded, in what is now considered as the worst tragedy to strike the annual Muslim pilgrimage in a quarter of a century.

Thursday’s disaster was the second deadly accident to hit worshippers this month, after a crane collapse in the holy city of

Mecca killed more than 100.

Saudi Interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al Turki said the stampede was caused when “a large number of pilgrims were in motion at the same time” at an intersection of two streets in Mina.

The hajj is among the five pillars of Islam, and every capable Muslim must perform it at least once in a lifetime. Official figures released Thursday said 1,952,817 pilgrims had performed this year’s hajj, including almost 1.4 million foreigners.

For years the event was marred by stampedes and fires, but it had been largely incident-free for nearly a decade following safety improvements.

In the last major incident, in January 2006, 364 pilgrims were killed in a stampede during the stoning ritual, and in 1990, 1,426 mainly Asian pilgrims died in a tunnel stampede at Mina after a ventilation system failure. n Andrei Medina and Agence France-Presse / KBK, GMA News / September 25, 2015 / 7:24 pm

IBP team set to conduct free legal consultations for HK OFWs in November A team from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Luzon Chapter will conduct free legal consultations for Filipinos in Hong Kong in November this year.

According to the Philippine Consulate General in the territory, free legal consultations will be held on November 14, from 1 to 5 p.m. and November 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.—both events will be held in the PCG’s conference room.

A legal forum will follow shortly after the legal consultations on Nov. 15—also at the PCG. Vice Consul Fatima Guzman Quintin said that between 30 and 40 members

of the IBP are expected to arrive in Hong Kong for the two-day event.

Consultations are to be done on appointment basis, and that those who want to avail of the service may contact Ninni at 2823-8511 or Cholo at 2823-8537 of the Civil Registry and Legal Section.

In 2014, IBP members from Pampanga also conducted free legal consultations in HK. Among the top issues for which Filipinos had sought legal advice involved marriage, separation, annulment, child custody, and property. n LBG, GMA News / September 26, 2015 / 9:04 am

18

www.hello-philippines.com

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

FREE LISTING of events in HELLO PHILIPPINES newspaper.

Please email info@hello-philippines.com to include your event.

DISCLAIMER: The Events Diary listing does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favouring by HELLO PHILIPPINES newspaper. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of Hello Philippines newspaper and/or the Publisher. What’s On is a Filipino Events Diary listing for UK and Europe.

2015 CALENDAR OF EVENTS – UK & EUROPE Thursday, October 29 at 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm Present in Venice: Extensive Philippine Locality in the Contemporary SOAS, University of London Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, WC1H 0XG London, United Kingdom Organiser: Batubalani: Developing Philippine Modern Art in the UK 020 7637 2388 study@soas.ac.uk

Saturday 3rd October 2015 Philippines Cutural Show 2 Baden-Powell House, 65-67 Queen’s Gate, London, SW7 5JS Organiser: Lahing Kayumanggi Dance Company 020 7584 7031

Saturday 28th November, 2015 Miss Pearl of Asia UK 2015 n Hall Bernie Grant Arts Center, Tow en, Approach Road, Tottenham Gre London, N15 4R X Tickets available online now at s www.MissPearlofAsia.com/ticket

Friday 27th November D Intruders Karaoke D’Bans Karaoke and Disco Pub, 1st Floor Bradmore House, Broadway Shopping Centre, Hammersmith Broadway W6 9YE 07715 1702 49 or email stardom. arts@aol.co.uk

Saturday, December 5 Saturday 12th December 2015 at 6:00 pm - 11:30 pm 6:00 pm - 1:00 am UNITED KAPIZNON Christmas Party FIL-MO Give Love on Vibast Community Centre Christmas Day 2015 163 Old Street, EC1V 9NG London, United Mazenod Community Hall, Manod Ave., Kingdom Cor Quex Rd, Kilburn, NW6 4PS 0845 474 1137 Vannz Bio 07947160826 vibastbookings@redbrick.org.uk Dules Cabansag 0744597509

Saturday 19th December Philippine Centre Simbang Gabi SS Michael & Martins Church - 94 Bath Road Hounslow, UK Organiser: Philippine Centre

Every Sunday 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm Lahing Kayumanggi Rehearsals St. Andrew’s United Reformed Church Hall, Frognal (corner Finchley Road), London NW3 7DY. Nearest Lane tube: Finchley Road.

Organiser: LKDance Contact Laurence at 07840 602 944 or Avery at 07805 239 801 or email info@lkdance.org.uk

Saturday 12th December D Intruders Karaoke Finals r D’Bans Karaoke and Disco Pub, 1st Floo ng Bradmore House, Broadway Shoppi 9YE Centre, Hammersmith Broadway W6 07715 1702 49 or email stardom. arts@aol.co.uk

Every 2nd Sunday 2:00 pm Filipino Family Mass at English Martyrs Catholic Church English Martyrs Catholic Church Chalkhill Road, Wembley Park, HA9 9EW Hosted by: Alyssa Gonzales Becky at 07949857699 / Lina B at 07579418510

FREE LISTING of your events in HELLO PHILIPPINES newspaper. If you know of any events please contact us via info@hello-philippines.com to submit your event.

DISCLAIMER: The Events Diary Listing does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by Hello Philippines newspaper. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of Hello Philippines newspaper. This is merely an Events Diary Listing of what is happening within the Filipino Communities in Europe. This is for general information only.

2015 MONTHLY FILIPINO COMMUNITY MASSES IN GREATER LONDON 1st Saturday 5:00pm Devotion in Honour of Our Lady of Fatima (Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament / Rosary / Benediction / Mass) St Pius X Catholic Church, 108 Orme Road, Kingston Upon Thames KT1 3SB Oliver Abasolo – 07782 661 922

1st Sunday 2:00pm Five Precious Wounds Parish, Brentfield Road, Stonebridge Park, London NW10 8ER MervicMonocillo – 07894 636 140

1st Sunday 5:00pm Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, Friar y Road, Peckham, London SE15 1RH Allen Abeleda – 07713 625 888

2nd Saturday 4:00pm St Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, 103 Woolwich New Road, London SE18 6EF Moises Espanola – 07894 648 639

2nd Sunday 2:00pm English Martyrs Church, Chalkhill Road, Wembley Park, Wembley HA9 9EW Becky Sarinas – 07949 857 699 / 07425 761 519 Lina B – 07579 418 510

2nd Sunday 2:00pm St Dominic Catholic Church, 243 Violet Lane, Waddon, Croydon CR0 4HN Merlie Mirto – 07722 216 462

2nd Sunday 4:00pm St. Anselm and St. Cecilia, 70 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3JA Feliciano Ramirez – 07733 680 748

3rd Sunday 3:00pm Sacred Heart of Jesus, New Prior y, Quex Road, Kilburn, London NW6 4PS Sheidrick de Leon – 07738 210 202

3rd Sunday 3:00pm Blessed Sacrament Parish, 157 Copenhagen Street, Islington N1 0SR Christy Sangalang – 07709 119 969

Last Saturday 6:00pm Our Lady of Dolours, Servite Parish Church, 264 Fulham Road, London SW10 4EL Fr Allan Satur – 020 7352 6965 / fulhamroad@rcdow.org.uk Roland Adap – r_adap@hotmail.com

Last Sunday 12:00pm St Pius X Catholic Church, 108 Orme Road, Kingston Upon Thames KT1 3SB Oliver Abasolo – 07782 661 922

Last Sunday 2:00pm St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 218 Roehampton Lane, London SW15 4LE Rafael Santiago – 07795 254 451

Every Sunday 5:00pm Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 20 Brixton Road, Oval, London SW9 6BU Ben Ortiz – 07723 318 486

First Wednesdays 6:30pm Filipino Mass and Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Farm Street Church of the Immaculate Conception (Jesuit House Chapel), access on 114 Mount Street, London W1K 3AY Josie Ramos – 07723 024 591

NEWS

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

www.hello-philippines.com

19

APEC economies urged to integrate climate change issues in trade and investment plans ILOILO CITY – Delegates attending the Asia Pacific conomic Cooperation (APEC) disaster management forum on Tuesday called on the bloc’s 21 member economies to integrate its proposed framework for disaster risk reduction and climate change in their trade and investment plans and programs.

At the 9th Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum (SDMOF), Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the effects of disasters “cut across APEC concerns and priorities” because they cause “major disruptions” to trade relations, business, and investments in the Asia Pacific region.

Gazmin, who chairs the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC),

said the proposed framework seeks to address the effects and challenges posed by natural disasters and climate change in the region.

He noted that the forum’s primary goal is “to endorse to our economic leaders the proposed APEC framework on disaster risk as our new paradigm to mainstream disaster risk reduction in the APEC agenda.”

Gazmin said the framework will “promote APEC-wide collaboration on disaster risk by providing a common direction in order for economies to be more responsive to the new realities and serious threats and challenges posed by stronger and more frequent disasters.”

Addressing the effects of natural calamities and climate change will also stabilize APEC members’

economies, particularly the sector of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which comprises 65 percent of the Philippines’ labor force.

The aftermath of super typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) in 2013 saw the destruction of billions of pesos worth of properties and infrastructure, and some 6,000 lives lost.

It also highlighted the dangers posed by natural disasters to the SME industry, which was the hardest industry hit in terms of financial losses.

“Our goal is for our respective economies to effectively incorporate disaster risk reduction in our economic agenda,” Emmanuel de Guzman, commissioner of the Climate Change Commission, said on behalf of Senator Loren Legarda.

The senator was unable to attend the forum, and had de Guzman deliver her opening remarks. Legarda is a United Nations champion for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

Gazmin said APEC leaders have committed themselves to

strengthening disaster risk reduction mechanisms by “introducing innovations, developing policies, and organizing working bodies,” such as the Emergency Preparedness Working Group.

During the 8th Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum in Beijing last year, the APEC leaders also agreed to maximize the use of science and technology in crafting disaster risk reduction programs and climate change adaptation mechanisms, he added. n PNA / September

23, 2015 / 6:18 am

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HEALTH and Lifestyle

www.hello-philippines.com

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Healthy heart in women DID you know that women are three times more likely to die of heart disease than breast cancer?

In the years following the menopause, your risk of getting heart disease rises significantly. But you can take simple steps to protect yourself. u Get your cholesterol and blood pressure checked. If you’re over 40, ask

your GP about having a health check to assess your risk of developing heart disease. This would include checking your blood pressure and cholesterol level.

If your blood pressure or cholesterol level is higher than it should be, this increases your risk of heart disease.

Your GP can suggest lifestyle changes

Ten-minutefavourite workouts shows, and before you know ADULTS should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity every week. But you can reach this minimum target by doing three 10 minute sessions, five days a week.

Physical activity provides a wide range of health benefits, including a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke, maintenance of mobility, control of body weight and increased mental wellbeing.

But for many of us, finding the time to fit e ercise into a busy schedule isn t easy. If you find it difficult to spare time for physical activity, don’t give up. You can achieve your weekly minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity by splitting 30 minutes of activity each day into three sessions of 10 minutes.

Moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity means an activity that causes your heart rate to rise, and you to break a sweat: for example, fast walking or cycling.

Play with the kids. “Go bike riding, play football or use a trampoline,” says Professor Ken Fox from Bristol University’s Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences department. Finding time every weekend to do something active with your kids helps to keep the whole family fit.

Skip yourself fit. Skipping is good for the heart, bones, e ibility and co ordination. And it’s not expensive: all you need is a skipping rope, a pair of trainers and a safe space. Depending on the intensity of your workout, skipping will typically burn between 70 and 110 calories in a 10-minute session.

Swap the sofa for cycling. If you don’t fancy braving the gym or the traffic, why not set up a stationary bike in front of your TV? Pedal away in front of your

it you’ll have done 10 minutes. This works just as well if you prefer using a treadmill for fast walking or jogging. For a 60kg person, 10 minutes of moderateintensity cycling will burn around 60 calories, and 10 minutes of fast walking will burn around 50 calories.

Take the stairs. You’d be amazed how many staircases you can take in during the day, and choosing to use them rather than a lift can help you burn calories as well as toning up your legs and bottom.

Get walking. Fast walking is one of the easiest ways to fit a bit of e ercise into your day. Stride around the block in your lunch hour, walk the kids to school or take the dog for a walk. Try using a pedometer to keep track of how many steps you do.

Dance the night away. Energetic dancing, whether at a class or home alone with your headphones on, is great fun and good exercise. If you enjoy what you’re doing you’re more likely to stick with it and exceed your 10-minute target. If you do join a class, you ll find exercising with other people a great way to keep motivated. For a 60kg person, 10 minutes of energetic dancing burns around 65 calories.

Park and walk. If you have to drive to your appointment, you don’t have to miss out on exercise altogether. When you park, leave the car further away than usual from your destination and walk the rest of the way. If you’re shopping, leave your car in the space furthest from the shops, and you ll benefit from the added bonus of carrying your bags back to the car park.

All quoted rates of calorie burning will depend on your weight and gender. n NHS Choices

or, if necessary, prescribe medication to reduce your blood pressure or cholesterol. v Stop smoking to protect your heart. You’re twice as likely to have a heart attack if you smoke. Over the past few decades, men have increasingly quit smoking but women haven’t been stopping smoking as much. In fact, more young women now smoke than young men. Stopping smoking will lessen your chances of developing heart disease. w Do more exercise to prevent heart disease. Only about one woman in four in England does enough physical activity to protect her heart. Try to do more exercise, including regular aerobic exercise such as walking and swimming. To protect your heart, you need to do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (such as cycling or fast walking) every week. x Lose weight if you need to. About six in every ten women in England are either overweight or obese.

Carrying excess weight puts a strain on your heart, and you’re more likely

to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which also increase the risk of heart disease. y Change shape to reduce your risk of heart disease. Your shape matters as well as your weight. Like many women in the 40-60 age group, you may be apple shaped, where excess weight settles around your waist. Being apple shaped puts you at higher risk of heart disease than being pear shaped, where excess weight is concentrated on the hips. Aim for a waistline of less than 80cm (31.5 inches). z Drink moderately to help your heart. Drinking a little alcohol regularly may be good for your heart, but make sure you stay within the recommended limits. Drinking more will increase your risk of heart problems. Heart healthy drinking for women is one or two units of alcohol a day. If you drink more than this, you’ll increase your risk of heart disease. Too much alcohol, or bingedrinking, can damage the heart muscle leading to abnormal heart rhythms or heart failure. { Balance your diet. Eat healthily and be especially careful not to eat

more salt than is recommended (no more than 6g a day) and to cut down on the amount of saturated fat you eat. | Don’t rely on HRT to stave off heart disease. Doctors used to think that using hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopausal symptoms also protected women against heart disease.

Research now suggests that HRT isn’t heart protective and, as with all drug treatments, there are side effects. Take HRT if you need it to relieve menopausal hot ushes and night sweats, but don t expect it to help your heart. } Manage your stress. Some studies have suggested that stress can contribute to heart disease. If you feel under a lot of stress, it’s important to learn how to relax. There are some simple techniques you can learn to help you cope with stress. If you feel so stressed and anxious that it’s affecting your daily life, your GP can help you deal with it. n NHS Choices

Why body shape matters MANY doctors now believe that when it comes to your health, your waist measurement is important.

While body mass index (BMI) is a good way to tell if you’re a healthy weight, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

BMI is a measure of how healthy your weight is for your height.

If your BMI is over the healthy range, this means that you’re probably carrying extra fat. But did you know that your health could be at greater risk depending on where you store that fat?

We store spare body fat under the skin, and also around the vital organs in our abdomen. We now know that this fat around the abdomen causes more health problems than, say, fat carried around the bottom or on the thighs.

Having a large amount of tummy fat (when compared to having fat around the bottom or thighs) makes you more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and heart problems.

If you have a lot of fat around your abdomen, you can get advice on how to lose it from the video at the bottom of this page.

Measure your waist. To find your true waist, feel for your hip bone on one side.

Move upwards until you can feel the bones of your bottom rib. Halfway between is your waist. For most people this is where their tummy button is.

Use a mirror the first time to see what you’re doing, and to make it easier to measure.

For women: Ideal: less than 80cm (32”)

Anyone who is carrying excess weight, anywhere on the body, would get health benefits from losing that weight.”

High: 80cm to 88cm (32” to 35”) Very high: more than 88cm (35”) For men: Ideal: less than 94cm (37”) High: 94cm to 102cm (37” to 40”) Very high: more than 102cm (40”)

How to calculate waist-to-hip ratio. Working out the risk to your health is simple. Using a tape measure take the following steps: 1) Measure your hips.

2) Measure your waist.

3) Divide the waist number by the hip number.

A ratio of 1.0 or more in men or 0.85 or more in women indicates that you are carrying too much weight around your middle. This puts you at increased risk of diseases that are linked to obesity, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Your body shape. If you carry excess weight around your abdomen, that means you’re an “apple” shape.

Those who carry excess fat around the bottom and thighs are “pear” shaped.

Anyone who is carrying excess weight, anywhere on the body, would get health benefits from losing that weight.

But if you’re an apple shape, it’s particularly important that you take action to achieve a healthy weight.

You can do this by making lifestyle changes to improve your diet and increase your physical activity.

Remember, physical activity can improve the health of anyone who is overweight, and it’s not just a matter of burning calories: your heart, lungs and circulation will benefit too. n NHS Choices

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HEALTH and Lifestyle food

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

‘Social drinking’: The hidden risks IF you think only alcoholics and binge drinkers are putting their health at risk, think again.

Many people who see themselves as “social drinkers” are at risk of developing long-term health conditions because of the amount they regularly drink.

Most drinkers are unaware that regularly drinking more than the limits advised by the NHS can lead to a wide range of long-term health problems, including cancers, strokes and heart attacks.

More than 55% of people questioned in a YouGov poll thought that alcohol only damages your health if you regularly get drunk or binge drink.

The 2010 survey of 2,000 adults

also found that 83% believed that regularly drinking more than the recommended daily limits didn’t put their long-term health at risk.

The survey suggests that 7.5 million people might be unaware of the damage their drinking could be causing.

Read about the risks of drinking too much to find out how your

drinking habits may be affecting your health.

Over the limit. More than 9 million people in England drink more than the recommended daily limits. About 15,000 people in England die from alcohol-related causes each year. About 32% of these deaths are from liver disease, 21% from cancer and 17% from

More than 9 million people in England drink more than the recommended daily limits. About 15,000 people in England die from alcohol-related causes each year.”

cardiovascular illnesses, such as heart disease and strokes.

Typically, longer-term alcoholrelated illness or death affect older people who drink more than the recommended daily limits and consider themselves to be “social drinkers”.

Professor Nigel Heaton is a liver transplant consultant at King’s College Hospital, London. He says people who believe that drinking above the lower-risk guidelines is just normal social drinking may be raising their risk of developing alcohol-related illnesses.

“Some people think it’s natural to have a bottle of wine a night,” he says. “It seems respectable because you’re drinking with food and it’s not associated with any drunken behaviour or even feeling drunk.

“But if it happens regularly, you may have problems later on. Most of us believe that people with alcoholic liver disease are alcoholics. We often think, ‘I’m not an alcoholic so I can’t get liver disease.’

“You may not be an alcoholic, but

if the overall amount of alcohol you drink regularly exceeds the lowerrisk guidelines, it may still cause serious harm.”

Track your drinking. To find out if you need to cut down, take the drinking self-assessment. It’ll help you assess the effects of your drinking. If it suggests that you’re drinking too much, you’ll get advice on how to cut down.

Monitor your drinking with the alcohol tracker. This calculates the units of alcohol in your drinks, and it helps you work out whether you should cut down.

Because drinks come in all shapes and sizes, it can be hard to keep track of your units. Use the unit calculator to add them up and help you monitor the amount you drink.

Research suggests many people underestimate how much alcohol they drink. Download a drinks diary (PDF, 655Kb) to track your drinking over a week.

If you think you drink too much, there are many ways to cut back. n NHS Choices

About 32% of these deaths are from liver disease, 21% from cancer and 17% from cardiovascular illnesses, such as heart disease and strokes.”

Binge drinking BINGE drinking usually refers to drinking lots of alcohol in a short space of time or drinking to get drunk.

Researchers define binge drinking as consuming eight or more units in a single session for men and six or more for women.

However, this definition does not apply to everyone because the tolerance and the speed of drinking in a session varies from person to person.

When drinking, try to pace yourself, avoid drinking more than you are used to and avoid drinking so much that you get drunk.

This is even more important if you are out in risky or unfamiliar circumstances. You can be at risk from others, and may not be able to look after your friends.

You can easily lose control of what you do or say and may make risky decisions, thinking you’re invulnerable.

Binge drinking increases the risk of heart attack. It could cause you to vomit and if you’re sick when very

drunk you could breathe in your own vomit and suffocate.

Drink-by-drink guide. Below is a drink-by-drink guide, based on a standard (175ml) 12% volume glass of white wine and 4% strength pint of lager, showing how quickly alcohol can affect your mind and body.

One glass of white wine or a pint of lager (approximately two units): • ou re t ti e nd ou ee relaxed.

• our e con idence incre e .

• ri in bi it i re d i p ired which is why it is best to drink no alcohol if you’re driving.

Two glasses of white wine or two pints of lager (approximately four units): • our b ood o incre e .

• ou ee e in ibited nd our attention span is shorter.

• ou t rt de dr tin one o t e causes of a hangover.

Three glasses of white wine or three pints of lager (approximately six units): • our re ction ti e i o er.

• our i er to or rder.

Binge drinking increases the risk of heart attack. It could cause you to vomit and if you’re sick when very drunk you could breathe in your own vomit and suffocate.”

• our e dri e incre e ie your judgement may decrease.

Four glasses of white wine or three and a half pints of lager (approximately

eight units): • ou re e i con u ed.

• ou re notice b e otion .

• our e dri e cou d no decre e

and you may become less capable.

Bear in mind that some people (including young people, those with smaller builds and women) may experience the effects after drinking smaller amounts of alcohol.

If you have developed a tolerance to alcohol you may find that some of these effects do not apply to you.

In that case, consider whether it is time to cut back on your drinking or whether you need to seek help. n NHS Choices

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INTERNATIONA AD GLOBAL NEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

World leaders adopt UN goals to end poverty in 15 years UNITED Nations (United States) – World leaders on Friday pledged to end extreme poverty within 15 years, adopting an ambitious set of UN goals to be backed up by trillions of dollars in development spending.

Pope Francis welcomed the new global agenda as an “important sign of hope” in his speech to the UN General Assembly and urged leaders to deliver on their promise to transform the world by 2030.

Making his first address to the United Nations, the pontiff sounded a note of warning, saying pledges were worthless without the determination to follow through.

“Solemn commitments, however, are not enough, even though they are a necessary step toward solutions,” the pope said as he urged leaders to take “concrete steps and immediate measures” to protect the environment and end exclusion.

Billed as the most comprehensive anti-poverty plan ever, the 17

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets were adopted at the start of a summit that capped three years of tough negotiations.

They will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that expire this year and will apply to both developing and developed countries.

The new UN agenda aims to end poverty, ensure healthy lives, promote education and combat climate change, at a cost of between $3.5 and $5 trillion

per year until 2030.

UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon described the plan as a “todo list for people and planet” that laid out a “universal, integrated and transformative vision for a better world.”

“The true test of commitment to agenda 2030 will be implementation,” Ban told leaders. “We need action from everyone, everywhere.”

Teenage Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai urged leaders to zero in on promoting education, which she described as “the real investment the world needs and what world leaders must do.”

Taking time away from Europe’s refugee crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel applauded the new goals but stressed that peace was a “key prerequisite” for development.

Millions of refugees and migrants are eeing “raw terror and violence”, Merkel said, before adding, “We must tackle the causes of ight.”

Immediately after their three-day summit, world leaders open a General Assembly debate on Monday, with the war in Syria and Europe’s migration crisis set to take center stage.

Keeping promises. Much attention has focused on ending extreme poverty for an estimated 836 million people still struggling on the margins of survival, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Billions of dollars in development aid will be redirected to meet the targets, but the United Nations also wants to tap into local sources of financing through improved revenue collection.

In his first N address, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to “plug all loopholes” allowing corrupt capital ight and to “prevent oil theft” that is undermining Africa’s largest economy.

The global goals call for improved transparency in oil-producing countries to clamp down on corruption

and ensure that revenues from natural resources are used to improve the lives of citizens.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government has yet to announce its action plan for climate change, declared that helping his country’s poor will have “great consequences for the sustainable development of our beautiful planet.”

It is unlikely that all countries will achieve all of the goals, but aid groups say they will provide benchmarks for governments in every area of development.

Jamie Drummond, executive director for global strategy at the ONE Campaign, described the global goals as a “citizen’s scorecard, to hold governments accountable for delivery.”

“The key missing ingredient is political will,” said Drummond. “We have a great history of promise-making at the UN, but the question is whether the promise is ever kept.” n AFP / September

25, 2015

China imports threaten traditional Vietnam festival masks VU Thi Thoan’s family has been making papier mache masks, part of traditional Vietnamese celebrations for the mid-autumn festival, for over four decades. But cheap Chinese toys are threatening her business.

The mid-autumn festival, which falls on Sunday with the full moon, is Vietnam’s equivalent of a harvest festival.

It is typically marked by the gifting and consumption of mooncakes—dense, sweet delicacies—the performance of colourful lion dances, and the giving of presents, including traditional masks, to children.

Large papier mache lion head masks are used in the lion dances, and smaller

versions, depicting characters such as Ong Dia, a folk spirit, are given to children to play with around the time of the festivities.

“My family has made masks for over 40 years,” said Thoan, 55, who lives in a village in Hung Yen province, where once, nearly all local families used to make masks.

Now, just three mask-making families remain.

Each mask is sold wholesale for around 15,000 Vietnam Dong (80 US cents).

Thoan said she and her family earn a good income, and that new imported toys were not a problem at the moment.

“I don’t worry about Chinese imports,” she said.

Her masks are “a traditional toy, and sales increase every year”.

“Vietnamese children love them,” she told AFP. But in recent years, Hanoi’s Hang Ma street—the epicentre of the mid-autumn celebrations, where families go to buy all their mid-autumn paraphernalia—has been inundated with cheap Chinese toys.

And experts are concerned about the impact this is having on the festival—the most important holiday for children in the communist country.

Vo Quang Trong, the director of the Vietnamese Ethnology Museum in Hanoi, said it was important for people to appreciate the craftmanship and heritage of the original papier mache masks.

“Chinese plastic masks... are industrial production for commercial purposes,” he

said. “Masks should be made of papier mache—it’s cheap, popular, easy to make.”

Both the museum and Vietnam’s Fine Arts University have this year organised events to try and encourage local children to learn how to make papier mache masks to keep the traditions alive.

But on Hang Ma, traditional papier mache masks are now vastly outnumbered by modern imported masks—often of popular Disney characters.

Dang Thi Dung, who was out shopping Thursday, said she was concerned about buying Chinese imports—but her kids loved them.

“They just want the Superman mask!” the 52-year-old said. n AFP / September 27, 2015

Vu Thi Thoan handles papier mache masks at her family workshop in Yen My district, northern Vietnam’s province of Hung Yen

US, South Korea allies discuss N.Korea’s nuclear, missile threat SEOUL – Senior South Korean and S defence officials met in Seoul on Wednesday for talks focused on responding to the possibility of an imminent North Korean rocket launch and later nuclear test.

The two-day talks follow statements

earlier this month by the respective heads of the North’s space and atomic energy agencies that fuelled concerns over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

There has been widespread speculation that Pyongyang may carry

out a satellite rocket launch to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers Party on October 10.

The North insists its space programme is purely scientific, but the US, South Korea and their allies deem any such rocket launch to be a disguised ballistic missile test that violates UN resolutions.

Although there have been no physical signs of North Korea preparing a launch, the director of its space agency said the world would soon see “a series of satellites... soaring into the sky.”

A day later, the head of the national atomic agency said the North’s main nuclear weapons complex was fully operational—including a uranium enrichment plant and a five megawatt reactor seen as the country’s main source of weapons-grade plutonium.

Opening Wednesday’s talks in Seoul, Seoul’s deputy minister for policy at the defence ministry, Yoo Jeh-Seung, said the meeting would seek to “firm up the combined defence posture” of South Korea and the United States. “(This) carries special importance when North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats are growing,” he was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

The White House has already warned Pyongyang to refrain from any “irresponsible provocation” that might aggravate regional tensions.

The S officials at the talks included Abraham Denmark, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, and Elaine Bunn, deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy.

The chief US envoy to the six-party talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme arrived in South Korea Tuesday and was expected to join the discussions.

The North’s only successful satellite launch was of its Unha-3 rocket in December 2012—a move that resulted in UN sanctions and a surge in military tensions that culminated two months later in the North’s third nuclear test.

The Unha-3 is seen as a prototype intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), although the North has yet to conduct a test showing it has mastered the re-entry technology required for an effective ICBM capability.

Developing a working ICBM would be seen as a game-changer, bringing the mainland United States within range of a possible nuclear strike. n AFP / September 23, 2015

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ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITY

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

#AlDubEBforLOVE trounces #ShowbizKapamilyaDay in noontime showdown ALDEN Richards and Yaya Dub (Maine Mendoza) do the pabebe wave in their first ever official photo together as the AlDub love team. (Photo from the at Bulaga Twitter page) ven as ABS CBN s “It s Showtime” practically threw everything but the kitchen sink on its noontime competition, there was simply no sign of slowing down for the AlDub phenomenon of GMA Network s “ at Bulaga” on Saturday.

With the hashtag AlDub Bfor OV garnering over 24 million tweets as of 9PM Saturday and later surpassed the 25 million mark, the split screen love team of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza a.k.a. aya Dub continued to rule Twitter as it has done so on a daily basis since AlDub became a huge hit with viewers and netizens alike.

The amount of tweets that AlDub Bfor OV garnered was more than twice as much as the previous weekends AlDubMostAwaitedDate, which had yielded an already impressive

12 million tweets.

Although still far from closing their gap, “It s Showtime” actually fared a little better compared to last weekend where their ShowbizMagpastillas hashtag scored “only” over 570,000 tweets at around the same time.

This time, their si th anniversary kickoff show at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, which bore the hashtag Showbiz apamilyaDay, managed a respectable 6.66 million tweets.

Two weeks ago, at Bulagas AlDubTheAbduction scored over 6 million tweets, the highest for any AlDub hashtag at the time.

But the Showtime apamilyaDay tweets can largely be attributed to the fans of the show s special guest loveteams, namely Daniel Padilla and athryn Bernardo ( athniel), James Reid and Nadine ustre (JaDine), im Chiu and ian im ( im i), iza Soberano and nrique Gil ( iz uen) and Coco Martin and Julia Montes.

During the anniversary show, “It s

Showtime” further upped the “kilig” factor as it also played up its “in house” love teams of hosts Vhong Navarro and Anne Curtis (VhongAnne), Vice Ganda and arylle (ViceRylle) and Billy Crawford and Coleen Garcia (Bicol).

And although her name was not oated during the build up hype of the anniversary show, Pastillas Girl Angelica Jane ap also appeared during the latter part of the event as she was serenaded by Coco Martin to the delight of the Big Dome audience.

As for AlDub, Alden once again encountered some difficulty getting to the mansion of ola Nidora (Wally Bayola) as he and aya Dub had to contend to the watchful eyes of not only Nidora but her two sisters Tidora (Paolo Ballesteros) and Tinidora (Jose Manalo).

A new character, house mayordoma Rihanna (also played by Wally) was initially a cause for concern for the couple but she turned out to be a friend of aya Dub, who also proved

instrumental in bringing the two closer together.

And, yes, aya Dub once again spoke, uttering the most memorable line, “This must be love ” as AlDub fans went wild. But just when it looked like that all was well that ended well, ola Nidoras voice was heard yelling Aldens name, closing the “kalyeserye” saga and

the show with another cliffhanger.

If trending social media activity were a strong indication of what people are doing at any given time, then at least a quarter of the nations population were glued to either of the two noontime shows as they combined for over 30 million tweets on Saturday. n Edwin P. Sallan / InterAksyon.com / September 27, 2015 / 12:19 am

‘Heneral Luna’ still riding high on third week, hurdles P100-M mark

FOLLOWING a slow, almost discouraging first week, Jerrold Tarog s acclaimed historical biopic, “Heneral una” has since bounced back with a remarkable bo office run that continues to defy odds and buck trends. awyer and film producer Joji Alonso, whose uantum Films production outfit distributes “Heneral una” for its theatrical release, posted

to her Facebook page that the film grossed more than P20M in one day to bring its total bo office gross to P100 million as it continues to play to full house screenings on its third week.

Although the bo office returns quoted by Alonso now qualifies “Heneral una” as a certified blockbuster, the film still has a long way to go before recouping its budget of over P70 million. “Another 100M to

go na lang for the film to break even,” Alonso further posted.

In the Philippines, about a third of a movie s gross earnings goes to theater owners and another third goes to ta es.

In the case of “Heneral una,” however, it was given a grade of A by the Cinema valuations Board of the Philippines which entitles it to 100 percent of the usual amusement ta collected.

Regardless of how the film will ultimately fare in its initial commercial run which now looks likely to e tend to a fourth week, the producers are already very happy with the passionate response the film has received from critics and audiences alike.

Asked if they ever regret giving the unprecedented 50 percent student discount without which the film s bo office total would have been much higher now, producer and co screenwriter .A. Rocha told InterAksyon that he and e ecutive

Cyrus Villanueva performs a ballad version of ‘Dancing on My Own’ during the five-seat challenge on ‘X Factor Australia’ on Monday.

Pinoy singer dazzles on ‘X Factor Australia’

WHILE two female Filipino acts fared well on “ Factor ” over the weekend, another Filipino singer achieved similar success on “ Factor Australia” on Monday.

Cyrus Villanueva, an 18 year old student, made it through the tough five seat challenge of the Sydney based talent show, earning a place in the Top 25 with a ballad version of the dance hit “Dancing

on My Own”.

He accompanied himself on the piano in his soulful rendition of Robyn s gay anthem.

As a result, he impressed Chris Isaak, the one judge whose approval he needed the most, enough for him to grab one of five slots in the men under 25 category that Isaak will mentor. InterAksyon.com / September 23, 2015 / 2:01 pm

John Arcilla in a scene from ‘Heneral Luna’.

producer Fernando Ortigas were really proud of the film and wanted to make sure young audiences would see it.

“The film has a really important reminder to all Filipinos and the message just had to reach as many, as humanely possible,” Alonso also noted in her Facebook post.

On social media, many of those who have seen “Heneral una”, including students, have admitted to watching the movie more than once in their tweets and Facebook posts. Not bad at all for a film that many cinemas seemed to have given up on one week into its opening.

“With the bo office results for the 1st week, I really thought we would not make it through a 2nd week. I was being teased pang first day, last day lang ang mga ganyang pelikula. Sadly, historical films do not even break even in this part of the world. But then again, sige lang, push some more,”

Alonso recalled in her post.

And push Alonso and everyone involved in the film did. They were certainly not alone as they were soon joined by just about everyone who were impressed with “Heneral una” and happily added their own little voices to the relentless word of mouth that propelled the film to a second week with more theaters and screenings.

That same week, the Film Academy of the Philippines announced that its seven man special committee had selected “Heneral una” as the country s official entry to the Best Foreign anguage Film category for the 2016 Academy Awards, underscoring the huge impact of the film that not a few have regarded as a “game changer” for Philippine cinema.

As “Heneral una” shows no sign of slowing down, several organizations and individuals that have been inspired by the film are manifesting their support by sponsoring block screenings. Among them were and Transportation Regulatory Board Member Atty. Ariel Inton who hosted not just one but two block screenings of the film Friday at Robinsons Magnolia. ikewise, discussions on the film s merits, perceived shortcomings, historical depiction and its unlikely Cinderella bo office run, as well as dozens of fan art, have hogged Facebook groups and online message boards.

Meanwhile, the films Facebook page which now has more than 194,000 likes has appealed to the moviegoing public not to patronize pirated DVD copies of the movie. n Edwin P. Sallan / InterAksyon.com / September 26, 2015 / 11:58 am

ORIGINAL CREATION & COPYRIGHT RESERVED BY © HELLO PHILIPPINES 2015

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ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITY

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Spandau Ballet performs greatest hits in retro extravaganza TURNING back the hands of time like a well-oiled time machine, the fiftysomething musicians behind the hitmaking nglish band Spandau Ballet not only dug deeper into their back catalog but also performed some recent of their material with pitch perfect precision. ven without original drummer John eeble who according to lead singer Tony Hadley could not make the trip due to health reasons but sends his “love to Manila fans,” the well loved pioneers of the New Romantic movement of the New Wave genre during the 1980s regaled the packed Mall of Asia Arena crowd with a generous 25 song set list on Monday.

Hadley, brothers Martin (bass) and Gary emp (guitar) and Steve Norman (sa ophone and percussions) seemed to defy father time and performed like they were in their 20s again with a mostly high energy show of popular tunes that sounded very much like the original recordings.

Clearly pumped up by the equally well received appetizer served by Norwegian artist Per Sorensen of Fra ippo ippi who, like Hadley, is a frequent Manila visitor, the crowd cheered wildly when Spandau Ballet finally took the stage 32 years after their breakthrough single “True” became a worldwide hit.

The band opened their set with

Vocalist Tony Hadley sings his heart out during the Spandau Ballet concert at the Mall of Asia Arena on Monday.

a new song, “Soul Boy,” a laidback dance number that would not look out of place in their earlier albums. Then they quickly raised the roof with the 1 2 3 punch of the more recognizable “Highly Strung,” “Only When ou eave” and “Round and Round,” all from the album, “Parade.”

The group then settled down with another blue eyed soul inspired new song, “This Is The ove” before treating their more hardcore fans with older material from their pre “True” days, including “Reformation,” “Mandolin,” “The Freeze,” “Confused” and “To Cut a ong Story Short” from their 1981 debut release, “Journeys To Glory”.

Hadley and the boys also

Overview of the appreciative capacity crowd who came to watch Spandau Ballet’s first ever concert in the Philippines at the Mall of Asia Arena on Monday.

Original members Gary Kemp, Tony Hadley, Martin Kemp and Steve Norman gather on centerstage during their concert at the Mall of Asia Arena on Monday. Photos by Magic Liwanag for Ovation Productions

revisited their 1982 follow up album “Diamonds” with “Chant No. 1” and “Instinction”.

Clearly saving up the big hits for the second half of the show, Hadley and Gary emp left the stage to surface on a mini stage in the middle of the VIP seating section to perform acoustic versions of “ mpty Spaces” from their little known 1989 CD, “Heart ike A Sky” and brie y (at least for this segment) “Gold”, for which Hadley allowed the audience to do most of the singing.

This was the cue for the final salvo of hits that started with “I ll Fly For ou” and was followed by “Communication,” “ ifeline,” “True” and, during the mandatory encore, “Through The Barricades” and the full version of “Gold”.

Playing most of the hits a little more e tensively than originally recorded

underscored the importance of each musician s role in the band. Norman s underrated sa prowess and overall musicianship was highlighted as was the virtuosity of the emp brothers and the e tra tour musicians that joined the group onstage.

And even with the added pounds, the dapper looking Hadley in his trademark suit can still croon all these favorites in the same remarkably unchanged key. Although he has performed these tunes as a solo act with his own backing band here before, he is clearly more inspired to be on the same stage with the same mates he shared a lot of musical history with.

To cut a long story short, the Manila leg of Spandau Ballet s “Soul Boys of the Western World” was more than just a joyful stroll down memory lane. And yes, this much was true. n Edwin P. Sallan / InterAksyon.com / September 23, 2015 / 1:03 pm

‘Adventure Time’ voice actor looks forward to reprising role on big screen BEST known as the voice of Finn the Human in Cartoon Network’s acclaimed animated series, “Adventure Time,” American teen actor Jeremy Shada was only 7 when he first started his career in a guest role for the hit medical drama, “ER.” This led to more guest appearances in high profile TV shows like “Nip/Tuck,” “Lost,” “Ghost Whisperer,” “Cold Case” and “Parenthood”.

At right about the same time started in live action projects, the now 18-yearold Idaho native also began a parallel career as a voice actor for the satirical 3D animated comedy “Team America: World Police”, which in turn led to more voice roles for animated features that include “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “ParaNorman” and the TV series “Batman: The Brave and the Bold.”

But it wasn’t until 2010 that Jeremy finally landed the role which his older brother Zack originated in “Adventure Time.”

“He did the original voice of Finn in the original short for Nickelodeon. When it became a hit, the creators shopped for a network for the ‘Adventure Time’ series. But it took about three years until Cartoon Network finally picked it up,” Jeremy told InterAksyon in a recent interview.

By then, Zack was deemed too old and

too “mature sounding” to continue voicing Finn. So one day, Jeremy caught the video of the original short on YouTube and realized that he sounded exactly like his brother when Zack first did “Adventure Time.”

“So I auditioned and got the job and nobody knew I was Zack’s younger brother until the first day of taping. People thought the creators got lucky and found someone who sounds exactly like him,” Jeremy added.

And now Finn has become Jeremy’s alter ego of sorts for the last six years, something that he says he never had a problem with.

“I did a lot of live action stuff which I thought was going to be big but it wasn’t and then when I did ‘Adventure Time’, it turned out to be the biggest thing I’ve ever done and it has become this huge phenomenon.

I’m very happy that it has become this successful show,” Jeremy enthused.

“I love doing both on-camera and voice acting and I also have my own band now in Make Out Monday. Sure, I’d love to do more on-camera stuff and I do have some other stuff in the pipeline for that. But I love what I have with ‘Adventure Time’ because you’ll never know what’s going to be huge for you.”

And with the recent announcement that an “Adventure Time” feature film is already in the early stages of development, Jeremy said that he’s already looking forward to reprising Finn for his big screen debut.

“Nothing is final yet as it is still in the early stages of development but I do hope

I’ll get to play Finn again for the movie.

I’m pretty sure I will. It would be weird if I didn’t.”

Admittedly, Jeremy has become attached to the well-loved character of the series that enjoys a strong following among kids, teenagers and even adults. Although he has no creative input in the direction of his character and the series as a whole, Jeremy says he’s allowed to improvise a bit on his lines from time to time.

“But otherwise, I just trust the show’s writers with the material because they do know Finn and other characters as well as I do. My relationship with them and the show’s creators is symbiotic so we do see eye to eye on the series,” he conceded.

As for which among Finn’s two love interests, namely Princess Bubblegum and Flame Princess, will he ultimately end up with, Jeremy admits that he has been often asked about that but honestly has no idea what to say.

“I wish I knew but I personally think Finn should be in a relationship, at least with one of the princesses. I kinda like him and Flame Princess so I was kinda bummed out when they broke up. But maybe they’ll get back together again. I don’t know for sure but I hope,” he exclaimed.

“Adventure Time” airs daily on Cartoon Network at 12:45PM, 5:15PM, 10:15PM and 11:45PM. n Edwin P. Sallan / InterAksyon.com / September 25, 2015 / 9:31 am

Jeremy Shada poses beside a standee of Finn the Human, his character in Cartoon Network’s acclaimed animated series ‘Adventure Time’.

&

Scoop GMA Network inks partnership with Miss World Philippines October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

PROMOTING beauty with a purpose, GMA Network and Miss World Philippines continue their quest in finding the Filipina beauty that can encourage the world to make a difference as they signed a partnership deal yesterday, September 23, at the GMA Network Center.

Present at the contract signing are GMA First Vice President for

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ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITY

Program Management Jose Mari Abacan, GMA Senior Program ManagerMitzi Garcia, Miss World Philippines National Director Cory uirino, and talent manager producer Arnold Vegafria.

Cory uirino feels delighted to announce that the competition is bigger than ever. “This is year four with GMA, kaya itong taon na ito, napakalaki ng pageant namin

because this is the year that we have the most number of candidates.”

Meanwhile, Joey Abacan shares that he is extremely happy the Miss World Philippines will be aired on GMA Network. “Once again nag partner kami ng Miss World Philippines. Ipagdasal natin na ang mapipiling Miss World ay hindi lang dito mananalo kundi pati sa Miss World pageant internationally.” n

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From Left to Right: Arnold Vegafria, Miss World Philippines National Director Cory Quirino, GMA First Vice President for Program Management Jose Mari Abacan and GMA Senior Program Manager Mitzi Garcia

GMANetwork.com is number one Philippine website, according to Alexa GMA Network continues to prove its leadership online with latest metrics results showing that its news and entertainment portal, GMANetwork. com, is the number one local website in the Philippines.

According to the latest Alexa rankings, as of September 16, GMANetwork.com is the 6th most visited website in the country, just behind global online giants such as Facebook, Google, YouTube and Yahoo, and is the only Philippine website in the top 10.

This is consistent with results from another metrics provider, Effective Measure (EM). According to partial September (September 1 to 13) data from EM, GMA’s online portal (www. gmanetwork.com) remained the top website in the Philippines with pageviews reaching over 108 million. The portal was also the number one website in August with over 228 million pageviews, ahead of ABS-CBN.com, among others.

GMA News Online (www.gmanetwork. com/news) and the GMA Entertainment website (www.gmanetwork.com/ entertainment) carried on being the top choice for news and entertainment content online as both websites showed significant increase in pageviews during the covered period. Both sustained their leads over

competition, including ABS-CBNNews.com and ABS-CBN.com, and remained number one in their respective categories.

GMA News Online (www.gmanetwork. com/news) drove the increase in traffic for the portal and almost doubled its page views since the site launched its new, sleeker, more mobile-friendly interface in August.

GMANetwork.com - Entertainment also beat its counterpart ABSCBN Portal, as netizens consumed a continuous stream of engaging content about local celebrities and up-to-date showbiz news.

Eat Bulaga’s KalyeSerye featuring the AlDub love team of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza further propelled the surge in pageviews, becoming one of the most sought-after content in the portal.

There was also a high interest in issues related to traffic and the Bureau of Customs’ rules on balikbayan boxes.

GMA Network’s social media sites also registered positive growth with the Network’s Facebook fan base totalling 6.5 million, while amassing over 502 thousand followers on Twitter and 161 thousand followers on Instagram.

Meanwhile, GMA News is followed by 3.3 million users on Twitter by the end of August, remaining the most followed news organization in the country. Its Facebook page has reached 5.4 million likes and its Instagram page has gained over 51 thousand followers. It is also the most followed news organization on Viber’s Public Chat with more than 140 thousand followers. n

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PHILIPPINE EMBASSY AROUND THE WORLD

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Asian Architecture Conference Highlights Opportunities and Challenges of SMEs

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are becoming increasingly vital to the economy of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, with SMEs accounting for almost all of business in the Philippines. However, these SMEs continue to face challenges which can be addressed by the government and private sector.

This was the consensus among speakers on the Small Businesses: The Key to Growth panel at the Asian Architecture Conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on 22 September 2015. The Conference brought together key thought leaders, business executives, and policy makers from the United States and Asia for a discussion on important issues surrounding the East Asia Summit ( AS) and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Among the panelists were Mr. Kazumi Nishikawa, Special Advisor to the Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan and Executive Director of JETRO Singapore; Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Jose L. Cuisia, Jr.; Dr. James Morrison, Special Assistant for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs of the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation; an Mr. Bernard Bailey, Chairman and CEO of Authentix. The discussion was

moderated by Mr. Scott Miller, William M. Scholl Chair in International Business at CSIS. According to Ambassador Cuisia, there is a gap between the contribution of SMEs in the ASEAN economy and their share in international trade, which he said is indicative of challenges being faced by SMEs in their respective countries.

“In ASEAN, SMEs form the backbone of our economies, comprising more than 96 percent of all enterprises and contribute 30 to 35 percent of GDP. They constitute the largest source of domestic employment—from 50 to 95 percent of jobs in the region—across all economic sectors and in both rural and urban areas. However, they only account for 19 to 31 percent of the exports of this dynamic and productive region,” said Ambassador Cuisia.

There has been a steady increase in the number of SMEs in the Philippines, however, these businesses continue to face several challenges.

“In the Philippines, SMEs account for 99 percent of the business and contribute 65 percent of the jobs generated by all types of business establishments. They grew by 66 percent from 492,510 in 1995 to 816,759 in 2011. Similarly, the numbers of those employed by these firms have grown by 45.7 percent from 2.7 million in 1995 to 3.9 million in 2011,” said

Speakers on the Small Businesses: The Key to Growth panel were Mr. Kazumi Nishikawa, Special Advisor to the Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan and Executive Director of JETRO Singapore; Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Jose L. Cuisia, Jr.; Dr. James Morrison, Special Assistant for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs of the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation; an Mr. Bernard Bailey, Chairman and CEO of Authentix. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Scott Miller, William M. Scholl Chair in International Business at CSIS. Philippine Embassy USA

Ambassador Cuisia.

He added, “These growth figures mask challenges faced by SMEs. Many Philippine SMEs remain too small, only meagerly augment household incomes, and are unable to take advantage of opportunities brought about by globalization or ASEAN integration.”

Constraints to further growth and productivity SMEs face include limited access to finance, technology, and skills; persistence of information environments; difficulties with product quality and marketing; and other challenges related to an economic playing field that is not level between large and small firms.

“To go beyond survival and actually

Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. speaks on the opportunities and challenges of small and medium enterprises in the Philippines during the Asian Architecture Conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on 22 September 2015.

compete, SMEs will also need to undergo successful business transformation in various dimensions of their operations—spanning enhanced entrepreneurial skill, innovation in process and product development, more successful collaboration across SM s and with larger firms, and improved crisis resilience among other factors,” said Ambassador Cuisia.

According to Mr. Mishikawa, Asian governments are seeing the importance of SMEs and are collectively focusing on SME utilization, making them more competitive in the global market.

The Philippines is hosting APEC this year, and the country has consistently taken the position that there needs to be specific, concrete, and practical

interventions to provide SMEs wide opportunities to integrate into global or regional trade.

“In our hosting of APEC this year, we have placed SMEs front and center. We encouraged the other APEC economies to improve institutional support systems for SMEs. We have argued for promoting and harnessing synergistic linkages between SMEs and large firms, as well as enabling the SM s to benefit from regional economic integration. Simply put, we want APEC to look at global trade through the prism of SMEs,” said Ambassador Cuisia.

The Asian Architecture Conference was organized by CSIS with support from the Government of Japan and the National Center for APEC. September 22, 2015 n

PH Takes on Reforms to Address Illicit Financial Flows WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Philippines is clamping down on illicit financial flows (IFF), with the government undertaking reforms to strengthen legal and regulatory frameworks to prevent illegal movements of money or capital to and from the Philippines.

Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a non-profit research and advocacy

organization, defines illicit financial flows as illegal movements of money or capital from one country to another. GFI classifies this movement as illicit flow when the funds are illegally earned, transferred, and/or utilized, making them a threat to a country’s fiscal capacity.

In a recent report entitled “Illicit Financial Flows To and From the Philippines:

Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. speaks at the “A Conversation on Illicit Financial Flows from the Philippines” panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on 22 September 2015. Philippine Embassy USA

A Study in Dynamic Stimulation,” GFI concluded that illicit financial inflows and outflows may have a harmful effect on economic growth. However, the Philippine economy continues to experience an upward trajectory largely due to good governance initiatives of the Aquino administration and favorable policies brought about by the country’s prudent economic management.

During a panel discussion entitled “A Conversation on Illicit Financial Flows from the Philippines” at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. discussed two thrusts of the Philippine government in addressing illicit financial flows. These are (1) to ensure that the Philippines has a strong legal and regulatory framework to fight against IFF that is in line with international standards, and (2) developing collaborative partnerships among all stakeholders.

The Ambassador also outlined initiatives undertaken by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) to address the issue of illicit financial flows.

“The BSP continues to strengthen the anti-money laundering and counterfinancing of terrorism regime for financial institutions to maintain relevance and effectiveness through increased documentary requirements for activities registered outside of the Philippines. It also

oversees the implementation of risk-based customer acceptance policy processes for banks and financial institutions, among others,” said Ambassador Cuisia.

According to GFI, “illicit inflows significantly reduce the collection of total taxes.” To address this issue, the government has been implementing reforms to improve the performance of the BIR and the BoC, the Philippines’ two main revenue collecting agencies.

“Due to a more effective tax administration, collection of taxes under the Aquino administration has increased to 15.1 percent of GDP in 2014 versus 13.4 in 2010. This is expected to improve further to 17.5 percent of GDP in 2016 or 26.2 billion US dollars,” said Ambassador Cuisia.

A proposal to amend the 1987 Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines is also being reviewed by Philippine Congress. If passed, the bill will establish tax exemptions, strengthen the BIR’s risk management system, and promote appropriate behavior by establishing incentives such as deferments of duties and taxes to highly compliant exporters and importers, among others.

“As for the Bureau of Customs, the agency has instituted reforms to improve its processing and valuations processes to ensure proper invoicing, valuation, and reporting. This is important in a culture that consistently and deliberately miscalculates

or undervalues cargo. For example, a 2014 study reveals that only 18 percent of all Customs declarations are truthful,” Ambassador Cuisia said.

BoC is likewise clamping down on smuggling, particularly oil smuggling, which accounts for losses for oil companies approximating $430 to $644 million. The government is estimated to lose approximately $2 million in foregone revenue.

The Customs agency has also entered into an information sharing partnership with the US Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigation (DHS-HSI) through the development of corresponding Trade Transparency Units (TTU). Another conference panelist, DHS-HSI Trade Transparency Unit Chief Hector X. Colón expounded that TTUs are important mechanisms that aid in the prevention of trade-based money laundering and commercial fraud mainly through the comparison and analysis of trade data to identify anomalies in trade transactions.

GFI is a non-profit, Washington, DC-based research and advisory organization that researches illicit financial flows and aims to promote pragmatic transparency measures. Its most recent study on IFF can be accessed through its website on http://www. gfintegrity.org September 24, 2015 n

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

PHILIPPINE EMBASSY AROUND THE WORLD

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Full Circle for the DFA Chief: Receives Honorary Law Degree from the College of Mount Saint Vincent-New York FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario was conferred a Doctor of Laws degree (honoris causa) by the College of Mount Saint Vincent, the alma mater of the late President Corazon Aquino, in New York today.

Mount Saint Vincent College, based in New York City, conferred the honorary degree on Secretary Del Rosario in recognition of his “principled commitment to democracy, integrity, and the rule of law both at home and around the globe.”

“Albert del Rosario, as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, you are celebrated for fulfilling President Aquino s vision both within the Department of Foreign Affairs and in relations with other nations. You have reformed the organization and the culture of the Department, shifting it from seniority and patronage to merit, efficiency, and accomplishment. With your leadership, the Department tirelessly advocates for the protection of Filipino workers abroad, including the many victims of human trafficking. With your leadership, the Department effectively promotes economic cooperation and development. And with your leadership, the Department now seeks the peaceful, legal resolution of territorial disputes in the South China Sea one of the world s most perilous and potentially consequential international con icts,” read Charles L. Flynn, President of The Mount, who

conferred the degree upon Secretary Del Rosario.

“I am truly humbled to be honored by the Mount Saint Vincent after President Corazon Aquino, a Mount alumna, and President Benigno S. Aquino III who were both previously recognized by this outstanding institution,” Secretary Del Rosario said during the convocation ceremony attended by The Mount s Board of Trustees, faculty members, students, DFA officials, and the Secretary s immediate family.

“My visit today has a highly valued significance as I have just become the fourth Del Rosario graduate of Mount Saint Vincent,” the Secretary explained.

Fifty years ago, Secretary Del Rosario and his wife Mrs. Gretchen Del Rosario lived just a short walk from the Mount Saint Vincent Campus. Three of the Secretary s sisters were Mount graduates.

The Secretary said that the Department of Foreign Affairs shares The Mount s commitment to institutional integrity and commitment.

“I consider the honor bestowed on me today as recognition also for the hardworking men and women of the Philippine Foreign Service,” he said.

After the conferment of the Honorary Degree, Secretary Del Rosario discussed key Philippine Foreign Policy advocacies such as migration governance, the Philippines-

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario receives a Doctor of Laws degree (honoris causa) from the College of Mount Saint Vincent President Charles L. Flynn.

US alliance, the South China Sea, and the future of Philippine Foreign Policy.

On migration, the Secretary underscored that the Philippine policy focuses on two important considerations: that (1) migration must be a shared international responsibility; and (2) migrants human rights must be fully respected in all circumstances.

On the Philippines-US alliance, Secretary Del Rosario emphasized that because of our shared history democratic values and aspirations, our enduring partnership has contributed to peace and stability in the region and the world.

On the South China Sea issue, the

Secretary del Rosario in his remarks after being conferred a Doctor of Laws degree by the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York, said he considers the honors bestowed on him also as recognition for the hardworking men and women of the Philippine Foreign Service.

Secretary said that with the growing support from the international community in peacefully resolving disputes in the South China Sea, including through arbitration, “the Philippines believes that the final outcome of this arbitration process would pave the way for a settlement of the maritime disputes.”

Founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity as the first institution to offer higher learning for women in New York, the Academy of Mount Saint Vincent s Charter was amended in 1911 to become the College of Mount Saint Vincent, which, in 1974, became a co-ed institution.

President Corazon Aquino was conferred in 1984 an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, and in 1986, received The Mount s highest honor – The Elizabeth Seton Medal as Asia s icon of democracy and “embodiment of this Institution s highest ideals.”

Her son, President Benigno S. Aquino III received The Elizabeth Seton Medal in 2010.

“The Honorary Doctor of Laws that the Mount Saint Vincent has conferred upon me will always be my treasure as well as my inspiration,” the Secretary concluded. n Philippine Embassy Philippines / September 24, 2015

DFA Chief heads to 70th UN General Assembly and to President Cory Aquino’s Alma Mater to receive an Honorary Degree in New York City FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario will be heading the Philippine Delegation to the 70th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and is scheduled to receive an Honorary Law Degree from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, the alma mater of the late President Corazon Aquino.

Secretary Del Rosario will be addressing the 70th UNGA High Level General Debate on October 02, where he will focus on the Philippines’

contributions to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as key Philippine advocacies, ranging from climate change, peacekeeping and UN Reform; to migration, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), ASEAN and the rule of law.

Prior to this High Level Debate, the Secretary will be attending the Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and meetings with the UNGA President, the UN Secretary General and other official bilateral meetings

and engagements, including hosting the reception of the Philippine Gold Exhibition at the Asia Society Headquarters in New York.

On September 24, Secretary Del Rosario will be conferred an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws by the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York City for his contributions to a principled Philippine foreign policy under the Aquino administration.

In 1984, President Corazon Aquino

was conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, and in 1986, received The Mount’s highest honor – The Elizabeth Seton Medal – as Asia’s icon of democracy and “embodiment of this Institution’s highest ideals.” Her son, President Benigno S. Aquino III received The Elizabeth Seton Medal in 2010.

After the Convocation Ceremony, Secretary Del Rosario will discuss key Philippine Foreign Policy advocacies such as migration governance, the Philippines-

US Alliance, the South China Sea and the future of Philippine Foreign Policy before The Mount’s Board of Trustees, Faculty Members and Students.

Founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity as the first institution to offer higher learning for women in New York, the Academy of Mount Saint Vincent’s Charter was amended in 1911 to become the College of Mount Saint Vincent, which, in 1974, became a co-ed institution. n Philippine Embassy Philippines / September 21, 2015

PHL Labor and Employment Secretary meets with Filipino Community Leaders in New South Wales

PHILIPPINE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda-Dimapilis Baldoz, together with representatives from various Philippine government agencies, met with Filipino community leaders and the media in New South Wales (NSW), Australia on September 15.

Secretary Baldoz was accompanied

by Undersecretary Nicon Fameronag, Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Rebecca Calzado, International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) Director Saul T. De Vries, and Labor Attaché Rodolfo Sabulao.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz (seated, 3rd from left), Philippine Consul General Anne Jalando-on Louis (4th from left), Undersecretary Nicon Fameronag (5th from left), Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac (2nd from left), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Rebecca Calzado (2nd from right), Labor Attaché Rodolfo Sabulao (leftmost).

Secretary Baldoz and the Philippine delegation were in Sydney as part of an official visit to Australia, during which she met Australian government officials in Canberra to discuss

immigration and labor matters.

During the meeting organised by the Philippine Consulate General in Sydney in coordination with the Philippine Overseas abor Office

(POLO) and the Philippine Embassy in Canberra, Secretary Baldoz gave an overview of current Philippine economic developments and how these are linked to employment generation and poverty reduction.

She discussed the Philippine Government s projects and programs through DOLE to improve employment. Sec. Baldoz highlighted the role of overseas Filipinos in Philippine nation-building.

At the same meeting, Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac explained the BalikManggagawa web-based facility for the online processing of the Overseas

mployment Certificate (O C).

Philippine Consul General Anne Jalando-on Louis extended her thanks to Secretary Baldoz and the Philippine delegation for the opportunity given to the Filipino community leaders and media in New South Wales to meet and discuss employment and other related matters with the visiting officials. ikewise, Consul General Louis thanked the representatives from the Filipino community for their continued partnership with the Consulate in the implementation of various programs and activities that promote the welfare of Filipinos in NSW. n Philippine Embassy Philippines / September

24, 2015

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NEWS

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October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

23 human rights defenders killed in Asia from 2013 to 2014 WHO NEEDS PROTECTING?

MANILA - At least 23 people who have been working to protect and promote human rights have been killed from 2013 to 2014 in Asia, while 157 have been arrested and detained.

Those who defend women’s rights are particularly vulnerable.

This is according to Dr. Renato Mabunga of Human Rights Defenders Pilipinas at the forum “Entrenched Legacy of Martial Law… Continuing Impunity to Human Rights Defenders” held in Quezon City Wednesday.

The event was organized by the Medical Action Group, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, and Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates.

During martial law, human rights defenders (HRDs) fell victim to extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances. They were also imprisoned.

Unfortunately, such practices continued today in the Philippines (and in Asia), despite the restoration of democracy following the fall of then President Ferdinand Marcos through the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986.

Mabunga cited data from FORUMAsia which stated that 92 defenders were also criminalized for their legal work protecting and promoting human rights, 39 were imprisoned, and 58 experienced judicial harassment.

At country level, the Medical Action Group was able to document 34 cases of violations against HRDs in selected areas in the Philippines.

Other forms of human rights violations experienced by defenders in Asia from 2013 to 2014 were intimidation (77 cases); physical assault and use of excessive force (67 cases); threats, including death threats (46 cases); vilification (24 cases); and surveillance by the state, off- and online (27 cases).

He stressed that not all human rights violations against defenders were recorded, so there could be more.

Of the cases FORUM-Asia monitored, defenders who defend women’s rights had the biggest share at 47 percent. Land and environmental rights defenders, cultural and labor rights defenders, and defenders of protesters were equally vulnerable to human rights violations at 13 percent.

Journalists made up 11 percent, and family members of defenders, three percent.

Mabunga said FORUM-Asia observed some trends of human rights violations against defenders, including enforced disappearances and attempted abductions, legislation aimed at “restricting the space” for defenders, and reprisals against defenders for engaging with the United Nations.

In the Philippines, Free Legal Assistance Group lawyer Ricardo Sunga III observed that laws “somehow” nurtured defenders and fostered respect for their rights.

For example, the Constitution guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

The Philippines also had laws against torture and enforced disappearances.

‘Comparable

to

martial

law’.

However, Filipino human rights defenders continued to face dangers that Sunga said were comparable to those during martial law.

Criminal cases were being filed against farmer beneficiaries of agrarian reform, as well as studentactivists.

Criminal charges were also being filed against John Does, “with the expedient of just later amending this criminal information by adding the

names of HRDs in substitution of the John Does,” Sunga said.

Unfortunately, many defenders could not afford to get legal access against harassment suits.

“These harassment suits produce a chilling effect that sti es the e ercise by defenders of their constitutionally guaranteed free speech. These criminal and other cases filed against defenders become their lives. Their family’s lives are affected. Theirs have been transformed into lifetimes of fighting off their legal cases,” he added.

Private security forces were also being used as a tool of violence against defenders, especially in rural areas.

Other concerns included the rise of Islamophobia, putting Filipino Muslims at risk for criminal cases just because of their religion. Former members of the New People’s Army were also getting charged criminally on account of their former affiliation. As well, LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) suffered various forms of discrimination because of ignorance and intolerance, Sunga lamented.

He recommended that the government consider creating a law protecting rights of HRDs, guaranteeing their right to counsel, and providing them with financial and other kinds of support to ensure their access to justice especially against harassment suits. This could also include actions against those who filed harassment suits against HRDs in bad faith.

Sunga also suggested establishing a government office to monitor defenders’ rights.

Based on Asian Human Rights Defenders’ Philippine meeting last December, Mabunga had recommendations to government as well: Repeal all repressive laws that criminalize, restrict, or hamper the

Human rights defenders are in the forefront of the fight against impunity, 23 September 2015.

Photo by Tricia Aquino ©InterAksyon.com

legitimate work of HRDs; Stop and investigate extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, judicial harassment, and all other forms of threats and intimidations to; and

Muslims and lumads at risk.

Fully implement the resolutions and recommendations of UN human rights bodies to ensure that the recognition and protection of HRDs are part of the government’s National Human Rights Action Plan.

He added that national human rights institutions such as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) must have a protection program for defenders, especially those who are at imminent risk, such as those working with the lumad in Mindanao.

CHR Commissioner Karen GomezDumpit assured defenders that the previous commission was able to issue a resolution on defenders which would outline the agency’s actions for their protection.

The resolution assigned the CHR the role of overseeing the investigation and monitoring of existing cases involving defenders.

The CHR would bridge civil society groups with relevant government

agencies so that the three could discuss issues and seek solutions together.

The CHR would also gather data on defenders and regularly report on their situation. Its regional offices would also engage local stakeholders and government units because it was at this level that violations happened.

Dumpit assured the defenders that the CHR was in solidarity with them in ending impunity.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) Human Rights Office acting chief Dennis Siervo said in a statement that to protect defenders, the data gathering process with regard to human rights violations needed to be enhanced; human rights offices of the PNP, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and other agencies in the security sector needed to be strengthened; and human rights defenders must work more closely with police human rights officers to implement the Anti Torture Law and to monitor detainees’ conditions.

He added that the PNP was working to provide more human rights trainings for its personnel. Access to human rights education, he reasoned, led to greater access to justice. n Tricia Aquino / InterAksyon.com / September 24, 2015 / 11:59 am

After thousands rally urging him to run, Duterte asks supporters for more time to decide MANILA - Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte relayed a message to his supporters who had gathered at Rizal Park on Saturday afternoon, asking for

more time to make a definitive decision about whether or not to throw his hat into the presidential contest in the 2016 election.

Thousands went to Luneta on 26 September 2015 urging the Davao City mayor to run for president. From Facebook post of Maria Fema Duterte

In a text message read to the crowd at Rizal Park for him by former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon, Duterte said: “MARAMING SALAMAT SA LAHAT NG MGA TAO NA NAGBIBGAY NG SUPORTA. TINIIS DAW NINYO ANG INIT AT ULAN, AT AKO AY HUMIHINGI NG PAUMANHIN. ANDITO AKO SA ZAMBOANGA CITY DAHIL TUMULONG AKO SA PAGHANAP NG SOLUSYON SA KIDNAPPING NA NANGYARI SA SAMAL ISLAND NUNG LUNES. MARAMING MARAMING SALAMAT PO (Thank you for your support. I understand you braved the sun and the rain, waiting, and I offer my apology. I am stuck in Zamboanga City trying to help find a solution to the Samal Island kidnapping incident that happened earlier on Monday. Again, I thank you very much).

I HEAR YOUR CLAMOR LOUD AND CLEAR.

I KNOW YOU WANT AN ALTERNATIVE TO THOSE WHO NOW PRESENT THEMSELVES WITH THEIR AMBITION TO LEAD THE COUNTRY. I HAVE REPEATEDLY SAID THAT I DO NOT HAVE AMBITIONS TO BE YOUR PRESIDENT. LEADERS ANSWER NOT THEIR SELF-INTEREST OR THEIR PERSONAL GLORY. LEADERS RESPOND TO DUTY AND MORAL OBLIGATION. SA LAHAT SA KABABAYAN NATIN, HUMIHINGI AKO NG KONTING PANAHON (To all my countrymen, I am asking for a little more time), SO I CAN DO SOME FINAL SOUL-SEARCHING WITH MYSELF AND MY FAMILY. AT PAGKATAPOS, SA KONTING PANAHON NA LANG PO, HAHARAP AKO SA BANSA AT SA INYONG LAHAT. AT MAGDEDESISYON AKO NG BUONG KALOOBAN AT MULA SA PUSO. PANGAKO KO SA INYO - HINDING HINDI KO KAYO PABABAYAAN (And then, after only a short

time more, I will face the nation, face all of you, and make my decision with my whole heart. I promise. I will not abandon you).”

Thousands of people attended the rally. No police numbers were available.

Maricar Serrano, who was among those who went to the rally, said the numbers were “amazing” considering that Duterte did not show up.

Duterte is said to be in Zamboanga trying to convince the kidnappers of the tourists vacationing in a resort in Samal Island that they take him in place of the kidnapped foreigners and one Filipina.

Serrano said that aside from being peaceful, the rally was also disciplined.

She said she and fellow rally goers picked up their trash after. n InterAksyon. com / September 26, 2015 / 7:16 pm

NEWS

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

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33

NOT JUST THE LUMAD Rights groups say Cagayan

Valley IPs also suffering from military abuses MANILA – The killings, forced evacuations and other atrocities suffered by Mindanao’s lumad have been hogging the headlines for weeks but human rights groups say indigenous people in the Cagayan Valley have also been suffering from alleged abuses by the military since 2006.

A report prepared by the Cagayan chapter of the human rights group arapatan on a recent fact finding mission in the Zinundungan Valley showed the abuses endured by the Malaweg, Aggay and Kalinga communities in the area have worsened and intensified since January this year.

The report documented the harassment, torture and summary e ecutions of IP leaders as well as officers of the Timpuyog Dagiti Mannalon nga Aggay, or TDMA, allegedly by troops of the Army’s 17th Infantry Battalion, which is under the 5th Infantry Division.

The scale of the abuses, the report said, “approaches the bloody level of human rights abuses committed against the indigenous lumad of Mindanao.”

Residents said the military increased its presence in the Zinundungan Valley after the New People’s Army captured and punished military intelligence agents and a member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit.

“The civilians have become the targets for revenge by the 17th IB after the NPA-Danilo Ben Command imposed the death penalty on the two military intelligence operatives of the 17th IB and their CAFGU asset,” the report said.

Citing a statement from the NPA unit’s spokesman, it said the intelligence agents were found to have “linked farmers and their legitimate organizations with the NPA. The NPA secured the hit list prepared by the military agents. All of those listed

ended up in the ‘Order of Battle’ of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, with some of them killed or disappeared.”

Aside from Karapatan and TDMA, the mission was joined by other people’s organizations, religious and officials of Barangays Masi, San Juan and Bural in Rizal town.

Residents of the valley told the mission, held September 16 to 19, that they have been struggling for land, resources and their lives and demanding that government provide them basic services since the 1970s.

“Whenever we triumph in making our lives better, the military comes to suppress us and violate our human rights,” they said.

In 2006, they said, San Juan Sangguniang Kabataan chairman Nelson Azucena was murdered by the military. In July 2011, Vicente Agbayani, a member of the Aggay tribe, was tortured and then slapped with trumped-up charges. And in 2013, troops of the 21st Infantry Battalion killed farmer-leader Ronald Beran.

“Every year, the list of those murdered, arrested, kidnapped and tortured lengthens, along with other forms of human rights violations. Until now, justice has not been rendered to the victims,” the residents said.

The mission documented human rights violations allegedly committed by the 17th IB against know farmerleaders and residents in Barangays Masi, Bural and San Juan in Rizal, and in Barangay Lipatan, Sto. Nino.

Among the other human rights

violations blamed on the 17th IB that the mission documented were: Kidnapping, illegal arrest and torture of Aggay leader Mendo Bisiotan and fellow Aggay Marlon Baganay and the elderly Orlando Duruin in Sitio Daligan, Barangay San Juan in the early morning of July 20, 2015.

The three were tied with a rope and paraded before barangay residents before disappearing for three days and presented to the media after they were charged with illegal possession of firearms and e plosives and rebellion.

Harassment, intimidation and threats to the lives of farmer-leaders, among them Steward Garon of Barangay Masi, Eling Azucena of Barangay Bural, Rafael Guimay of Barangay Masi and MFA, Felipe Bisiotan of Barangay San Juan, Ambona Batolan of Barangay Masi and TDMA, as well as Aris Infante, Raul Ladino, Lina Ladino and Edward Callueng of Barangay Lipatan and LFO. Filing of trumped-charges like three counts of kidnapping with homicide against civilians Boy Garon, JunJun Bayaua, Re on Batulan, Rafael Guimay, Mario Gregorio, Elyong Balisi, Isot Simangan, Rowena Battad, Celso Manglallan, Titing Baloran, Eling Asucena and Rogel Asucena.

Violations of Aggay human rights like the illegal search and ransacking of five houses while the farmers were sleeping, threatening civilians with high powered firearms as they were being interrogated, accusing everyone with membership in the NPA, theft of

air guns used by residents for hunting game, pots, lighters and household items, and destroying crops, throwing away palay, monggo and corn after they forced the people to scamper away by firing their guns.

Abuse of the rights of women and children, with the wife of Mendo Bisiotan being kicked by soldiers after she came to help her husband who was being tortured and forced to admit that he was an NPA member and the son of Marlon Baganay being held by the collar and thrown out of a military vehicle as he tried to join his father, whom the troopers brought to a camp.

Establishment of camps by the 17th IB in barangay halls, health centers and private houses in Barangay Masi, San Juan and Bural.

Deployment of members of the Peace and Development Teams in the centers of Barangays Masi, Bural and San Juan to act as psywar (psychological warfare) units in the villages, with troops watching all the residents whom they also barred from congregating, with menfolk being subjected to intense surveillance.

Protection of Boog Bisiotan, known to the residents as a “criminal on the loose” who also poses as a “rebelreturnee” accused of raping and killing his own aunt, Toyang Bisiotan Cepedan, and acting as a spy and guide for the military in Zinundungan Valley.

Intensified military operations have spread terror, threats and peril to the people of the valley. n Diego Mora / InterAksyon. com / September 26, 2015 / 9:26 am

Sen. Grace must explain why she gave up Filipino citizenship—partylist congressman Ty MANILA - Presidential hopeful Sen. Grace Poe should fully explain to Filipinos why she previously decided to apply for and obtain US citizenship, when she could have easily lived, worked, and raised a family in America without giving up her Filipino citizenship, House Deputy Minority Leader and LPG-MA Rep. Arnel Ty said Sunday.

“Since Senator Poe is now running for president no less, she has to deal with the reality that she has put herself and her family under a microscope,” Ty said in a news release.

“Voters deserve a straightforward answer from the Senator, on the question as to the specific circumstances that compelled her to seek and acquire US citizenship, and surrender her Filipino citizenship.

This is a perfectly legitimate question that is of great public interest,” he said.

Ty made the statement shortly after published reports alleged that

Poe continued to use her US passport in her travels abroad, even after she had renounced her US citizenship.

There are many Filipinos who have lived and worked in America for years, but have been content on staying on as permanent US residents, or so-called green cardholders, according to Ty. Based on a cursory review of US immigration rules, Ty said that both US citizens and foreigners who are US green cardholders enjoy long-term rights to live, work, and even raise families in America.

“The significant difference, as far as many Filipino voters are concerned, is that when you acquire American citizenship, just like what Senator Poe did, you have to swear absolute loyalty to the US and its Constitution, and categorically reject your Filipino citizenship,” Ty said.

“Assuming Senator Poe wanted to work and live in America, and raise a family there, which she actually did, she could have accomplished all these as a US green cardholder, without necessarily

becoming an American citizen—without necessarily abandoning her Filipino citizenship,” he pointed out.

Ty said he personally knows of two Filipino sisters—a nurse and a pharmacist—who have both worked and lived in America for more than 30 years.

“The nurse applied for and became a US citizen a long time ago, while the pharmacist remains a US green cardholder, simply because she does not want to give up her Filipino citizenship,” he added.

By her own account, Poe spent much of her adult life in the US, and became an American citizen in 2001. She gave up her US citizenship only in 2010, shortly before she was named chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

While Poe has relinquished her US citizenship, her husband remains an American citizen. Their three children are natural-born American citizens.

Under US immigration rules, a US green cardholder has the right to live

Sen. Grace Poe when she announced her bid for the presidency, 16 September 2015. Interaksyon.com file photo

and work in the US on a permanent basis, as well as the right to travel overseas and return to the US. However, unlike US citizens, US green cardholders cannot vote in US elections; can be expelled from the US if they

commit criminal offenses in America; and do not enjoy the US government’s protection, such as when they get into trouble with the law outside America, or when they get kidnapped abroad. n InterAksyon.com / September 27, 2015 / 1:06 pm

34

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www.hello-philippines.com

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Endangered Species: Why press freedom matters IF an informal survey was conducted among 100 people asking them what they think are the ten most dangerous jobs in the world, most likely to make it would be the usual suspects: construction laborers, law enforcers, firefighters, soldiers the common denominator being that their jobs require them to put themselves in hairy situations.

Not likely to make it on the list are lawyers, which is a point Shakespeare might probably object to as he once said that all members of the bar should be shot. Safe, too, would be those practicing so-called white-collar professions.

But what about journalists? It used to be said that eventually, reporters get used to having libel threats for breakfast, but now, the threat has become less legal and more physical and even more dangerous.

The capture and deportation from Phuket, Thailand of Joel Reyes, the former governor of Palawan, and of his brother Mario, the former mayor of Coron, underscores just how dangerous journalism has become. The Reyes brothers stand accused for the 2011 assassination of Dr. Gerry Ortega, a passionate environmentalist and broadcast journalist who was a vocal critic of the two former politicians.

In 2012, the Reyes brothers ew out of the Philippines when a warrant of arrest was issued against them, leading the Department of Foreign Affairs to

revoke their passports while a bounty of P2 million was offered for their capture.

(Such was the brothers’ notoriety that they were considered two of the five most wanted men in the Philippines, a list which included Delfin ee, the infamous property developer involved in the Globe Asiatique scandal; Ruben Ecleo, a religious leader and former congressman convicted for murdering his wife; and Jovito Palparan, the retired Army general implicated in a number of political disappearances.)

Eventually, the Reyes brothers were placed on the “lookout” list of the Interpol until an anonymous source tipped local authorities that the two were in the resort town of Phuket, occupying a villa under assumed names.

The breakthrough in the Ortega case, of course, takes place in the context of the Maguindanao massacre, considered the most fiendish case of election-related violence in the Philippines and one which claimed the lives of 58 men and women, including 32 journalists. The mass murder took place in 2009, more than 100 stood as accused, and almost six years later, the case is still inching its way through the criminal justice system.

No doubt the same glacial pace will attend the Ortega trial; in the meantime, after their sojourn in Phuket, the Reyes brothers are asking that they be placed instead under hospital arrest in lieu of being detained

at the Puerto Princesa municipal jail.

The Ortega murder and the Maguindanao massacre number among the 168 instances of killings of journalists in the Philippines since 1986; of those, there have been only 13 convictions. These tend to confirm that in the Philippines, there is indeed a culture of impunity which emboldens powerful figures to intimidate and eliminate their opponents, a list which will necessarily include journalists who author revealing exposés and serve as the most conspicuous critics.

We can all agree that this is a culture that should not stand. It’s one thing to identify a problem, however, and quite another to offer a solution.

Journalists are an integral part of any democracy and as such deserve special protection. I can only speak of the legal, thus I offer the view that the State must take pains to ensure the freedom of the press in our democracy.

The words guaranteeing such freedom in the Bill of Rights are not intended to be empty rhetoric; the State should do something more.

First, the next administration must ensure the passage of an effective Freedom of Information law. I’ve read some of the versions making the rounds of both Houses and in my opinion, they are unsatisfactory, serving nothing more than compiling in one statute already existing laws on what are considered privileged information and offering a rather

CPJ Immunity Index. Screenshot

weak method of enforcement.

Second, Congress needs to criminalize the specific act of murdering journalists. Here I am not saying that a journalist’s life weighs more than that of the ordinary Filipino, but the killing of a journalist in the performance of his duty extinguishes the ame of democracy bit by precious bit. If this is not feasible, the lawmakers ought to contemplate legislating the killing of a journalist in the line of duty as a special aggravating circumstance.

Third, because it is the department that has charge of all the courts of the land and authority to issue rules on practice and pleadings, the Supreme Court must recognize that the judicial system, as it is, is woefully unable to handle criminal cases involving the murder of journalists. To this end, the

Court must formulate measures to expedite proceedings to avoid what is happening in the Ampatuan trial.

Fourth, a special fund should be set up for the benefit of the surviving relatives of murdered journalists.

Perhaps Congress should set aside a portion of public funds to serve this purpose.

The idea is to empower free and responsible journalism in this country.

Imagine if, for example, the Janet im Napoles scam went unreported.

The “Hello, Garci” scandal. The jueteng controversy that brought down Joseph Estrada. What is considered precious, after all, is worth protecting, as in the end, freedom of the press is not for the media it is for the benefit of us all. n Marie Yuvienco / InterAksyon.com / September 27, 2015 / 10:11 am

Measure protecting seafarers’ labor claims awaits Aquino’s signature—lawmaker MANILA – A bill protecting Filipino seafarers’ labor claims is awaiting the signature of President Benigno Aquino III and its principal author is

optimistic it will be enacted soon.

The Filipino Seafarers’ Protection Act, which seeks to protect seafarers’ labor claims arising from illness, accidents or

death against “unconscionable” legal fees, was approved by the House of Representatives approved last December and by the Senate on September 21.

Angkla party-list Representative Jesulito Manalo authored the House bill, while Senator Juan Edgardo Angara was the main proponent of the counterpart measure.

The bill’s enactment is vital because of the numerous alarming stories of lawyers and other unscrupulous individuals who charge seafarers “unconscionable” legal fees ranging from 30 to 60 percent of the benefits claimed.

“Seafarers working onboard international fleets are known to be

awarded hefty compensation and benefit packages by reason of the risk to their lives while working on the high seas,” Manalo said. “This situation then makes a seafarer an easy target for ambulance chasing, with legal practitioners having considerable interest in the monetary benefits that one may claim, and eventually be awarded.”

The proposed law makes it unlawful for individuals to engage in ambulance chasing and undue advantage of seafarers in their pursuit of their benefits, Manalo said.

“In order to seriously curb the unreasonable imposition of these fees, the bill imposes a cap on the total fees that lawyers or persons representing

the seafarer may collect, to an amount not exceeding 10 percent of the benefit awarded to the seafarer or his family,” he added.

While acknowledging that the code of Professional Responsibility of Lawyers prohibits ambulance chasing, there is no statutory provision that totally, directly, and expressly prohibits the “abominable practice.”

“There is a real sense of urgency to rectify the problem on ambulance chasing,” he said.

To give the law teeth, violators face fines of from P50,000 to P100,000, and one to two years’ imprisonment.

n Lira Dalangin-Fernandez / InterAksyon.com /

September 25, 2015 / 11:35 am

‘We’ll bring IPO Phil to court for intellectual property theft’ — artist group MANILA – The Baybayin advocacy group is planning to sue the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPH ) for intellectual property theft.

“We plan to file both a civil case and a complaint at the Ombudsman,” Jay Enage, Baybayin chairman, told InterAksyon.com To be included also in the possible suit is the Design Center of the Philippines (DCP), which is under the Department of Trade and Industry.

According to the Baybayin group, it was the DCP who commissioned

their help in designing a new logo for IPOPH in 2011, who then used it without informing or compensating them.

“If you stole something and sold it to someone, both of them should be held liable,” Enage said.

Enage said they confronted IPOPH this year after securing the services of an IP lawyer. But after a series of negotiations that also involved DCP, Enage said they were told they could only be compensated a maximum of P700 honoraria for their work.

John eyson, the Baybayin designer who did the logo concept, said they are pursuing damages after they were wronged and also to set a precedent that would protect other artists from such wrongdoing.

“Even the blind can see. This is outright and blatant plagiarism by who IPO Philippines,” eyson said.

“Hindi yan parang serendipity na si John eyson nag-design at si IPO nag-design pareho. Nagsimula yan sa design ko and inamin na nila yan during our meetings. Ewan ko kung bakit ngayon tinatanggi nila.”

In a statement yesterday, IPOPH denied the allegation and said the logo design came from DCP. “It must be stressed that IPOPH has never met nor transacted with any of the officers or members of the Baybayin Group from

conceptualization until finalization of the logo,” IPOPH said.

InterAksyon.com is still trying to get in touch with IPOPH and DCP to get their side of the story. n Jose Bimbo F. Santos / InterAksyon.com / September 25, 2015 / 5:32 pm

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MANNY PACQUIAO: ‘I THOUGHT I WON THE FIGHT’

AFTER 12-round war with undefeated American boxer Floyd Mayweather, Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao admitted that he was surprised at the outcome as he e pected to win the megafight between two of this generation’s greatest fighters.

“It s a good fight. I thought I won the fight. He didn t do nothing,” Pacquiao said as he was interviewed in the ring.

“He always moved outside. I got him many times with solid punches. I believe I won the fight.”

Pacquiao was pressed during the interview on why he wasn’t able to fight his usual way in the contest.

The official Compubo stats showed

him connecting on only 81 of his 429 punches (19%) while Mayweather landed 148 of his 435 (34 ).

“He s moving around. It s not easy to throw a lot of punches if he’s moving around. But if he stayed, I can throw a lot of punches.”

He added, though, that he was not bothered by Mayweather’s size and strength in this one.

“I can handle his power. He s not strong like (Antonio) Margarito or other opponents like (Miguel) Cotto, like that.”

“He s not bigger than me. It s not the size. Size doesn t matter. I ve been fighting bigger than him. No problem.”

MANILA - Manny Pacquiao’s life story, with its inspiring triumph over adversity after each fall, has been mirrored yet again in his fight with Floyd Mayweather, despite his loss by unanimous decision. Thus ran the common thread of officials reacting to the outcome of the fight.

Malacanang Palace, in a statement released by Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. on behalf of President

Aquino, said: “Filipinos can hold their heads up high: our national pride, Congressman Manny Pacquiao, did us all proud when he stood his ground against one of the best boxers of our time, Floyd Mayweather.

“President Aquino reiterates his thanks to Manny for serving as an inspiration to every Filipino in overcoming the daily challenges in the pursuit of a better life and future.”

n InterAksyon.com / May 3, 2015 / 1:31 PM

Pacquiao’s good fight inspires Filipinos, say Philippine officials

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And then, reiterating his pre fight unsolicited advice for the Filipino boxing icon to devote more time to his family while he is still healthy,, Mr. Aquino e pressed hope that “Manny may now be able to devote more time with his family and that he is able to maintain good health that

will serve him in good stead in all his future endeavors.”

Other officials reactions had similar themes of thanking Pacquiao for inspiring Filipinos “Sa araw na ito, ipinakita ni Manny na tayong mga Pilipino ay handang humarap at bumangon sa anumang pagsubok.

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Mabuhay ka Manny. agi kang ipagmamalaki ng bawat Pilipino [Today, Manny showed that we Filipinos are ready to face whatever challenge. Manny, every Filipino is proud of you ,” came the cheer on statement from Vice President Jejomar Binay.

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DINGDONG, MARIAN ‘WILL BE GRATEFUL’ WHETHER FIRST BABY IS A BOY OR A GIRL KAGAYA ng lahat ng soon-to-be parents, excited narin sina Marian Rivera at Dingdong Dantes na malaman ang kasarian ng kanilang unang baby.

Ayon sa ulat ni Nelson Canlas sa “24 Oras” nitong Martes, nagtungo na sa OB-gynecologist si Marian kasama ang kaniyang asawa nitong Lunes upang malaman kung boy o girl ba ang kanilang panganay.

Gayunpaman, tila binibitin pa ng kanilang coming baby ang kniyang mga magulang dahil hindi pa raw makumpirma ang kasarian nito.

Kuwento ng aktres, “Akala naming makikita

na namin. Kasi pag may nakikita, biglang magtatago siya. Ibubuka niya ulit, magtatago uli siya.”

Madalas naman binibiro si Marian na dahil tila lalo siyang gumaganda, baka babae ang kaniyang dinadala.

Natatawang sagot niya, “Iba ang pakiramdam ko! Pero baka mali ako. Tignan natin.”

Sa kabila nito, magpapasalamat raw sila sa Panginoon at magiging masayang mga magulang sina Dingdong at Marian anuman ang maging kasarian ng kanilang panganay.

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October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

6,363 incidents of bullying in school—Cebu congressman Gullas MANILA - At least 31 incidents of bullying are being reported every day in Philippine schools, Cebu Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. said in a news release Sunday.

“A total of 6,363 cases of bullying in public as well as private elementary and high schools were recorded in 2014, up nearly 21 percent versus the 5,236 documented in 2013,” Gullas, a member of the House committee on basic education, said.

“Based on a cycle of 201 school days, this translates to at least 31 incidents of bullying every day,” Gullas said.

The statistics cited by Gullas were based on a consolidated report presented to Congress in connection with the proposed 2016 budget of the Department of Education (DepEd).

The DepEd requires schools to prepare annual reports of bullying and child abuse cases, for submission not later than June 30 of the following year.

“We presume that out of fear of possible retaliation, many victims are

still reluctant to complain of bullying in school,” Gullas said.

To discourage bullying, he called on schools to reinforce their child protection committees (CPCs).

“We are not sure if all schools have already activated their CPCs, which are supposed to deal with cases of bullying as well as child abuse (in school),” Gullas said.

“The DepEd should also adequately train a greater number of school officials in child protection,” he added.

The Dep d first ordered the creation of CPCs in every school when it issued Department Order 42 on May 14, 2012 and adopted its Policy and Guidelines on Protecting Children in School from Abuse, Violence, Exploitation, Discrimination, Bullying and Other Forms of Abuse.

The six-member CPC is composed of the school head as chairperson; guidance counselor/teacher as vice chairperson; a representative of teachers designated by the faculty club; a representative of parents selected by

the Parents-Teachers Association; a representative of students named by the Supreme Student Council; and a community representative assigned by the barangay head, preferably a member of the barangay council for the protection of children.

The DepEd, in its report to Congress, also separately logged a total of 228 cases of “child abuse” in schools in 2014, down from the 999 incidents listed in 2013.

A total of 1,165 incidents of bullying plus 291 cases of child abuse were reported in 2012.

Under the Anti-Bullying Law of 2013, or Republic Act 10627, schools are duty-bound to: Notify law enforcement authorities if they believe that criminal charges under the Revised Penal Code may be pursued against the perpetrator; Take appropriate disciplinary administrative action; Notify the parents or guardians of the perpetrator; and Notify the parents or guardians of

Acting warden relieved over Reyes brothers’ ‘press conference’ in jail THE acting warden of the Puerto Princesa City Jail has been relieved pending the results of an investigation into a press conference held there by high profile murder suspects Joel and Mario Reyes.

According to a report on “24 Oras”, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology MIMAROPA regional office has relieved Jail S/Insp. Don Paredes while it investigates the incident.

The Reyes brothers are former Palawan officials and are suspects in the murder of environmentalist and broadcaster Gerry Ortega in 2011.

According to a GMA News source, Paredes has told the BJMP that he did not allow a press conference at the jail but that journalists managed to conduct an “ambush”, or chance, interview.

A spokesperson for former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes has said relieving Paredes was too harsh an action since the jail official only granted his request to hold a press conference.

Thai authorities deported the

Reyes brothers, who had been fugitives from the law since 2012, for violating Thailand’s immigration laws. They were own back to Manila and then to Puerto Princesa, where the charges against them were filed.

Supreme Court, file photo. InterAksyon.com

the victim regarding the action taken to prevent any further acts of bullying or retaliation.

Under the law, “bullying” refers to any severe or repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal, or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture, or any combination thereof, directed at another student that has the effect of actually causing or placing the latter in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm or damage to his property; creating a hostile environment at school for the other student; infringing on the rights of the other student at school; or materially and substantially disrupting the education process or the orderly operation of a school; such as, but not limited to, the following:

Any unwanted physical contact between the bully and the victim like punching, pushing, shoving, kicking, slapping, tickling, headlocks, in icting school pranks, teasing, fighting, and the use of available objects as weapons; Any act that causes damage to a victim’s psyche and/or emotional wellbeing; Any slanderous statement or accusation that causes the victim undue emotional distress like directing foul language or profanity at the target, name-calling, tormenting, and commenting negatively on victim’s looks, clothes, and body; and Cyber bullying or any bullying done through the use of technology or any electronic means. n InterAksyon.com / September 27, 2015 / 8:47 am

Fake cop falls in Quezon City drug bust A suspected drug pusher was arrested in Quezon City and now also faces charges for impersonating a police officer after he was found to be in possession of a police uniform and fake police IDs. According to a report on “24 Oras” aired Sunday, Lauro Garcia was arrested by personnel of the La Loma Police Station after weeks of surveillance.

He was caught in a buy-bust operation after selling a police officer P500 worth of shabu, or methamphetamine.

The suspect, who was found to also have pretended to be a police traffic enforcer to extort money, tried

to escape in a tricycle but was caught. “’Pulis din ako’, sabi niya. Sumakay ako sa tricycle tapos hinila ko na.

Dumarating na yung mga pulis na mga kasama ko,” the anti-drug operative who arrested the suspect said.

Aside from three sachets of what police suspect to be shabu, authorities also founf two fake police identification cards, a police patrol shirt, and police jacket.

Aside from being charged for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, Garcia also faces a charge of Usurpation of Authority for pretending to be a policeman.

He has denied both allegations. n

JDS, GMA News / September 27, 2015 / 8:52 pm

n JDS, GMA News / September 27, 2015 / 7:25 pm

NBI busts fake visa syndicate in Taguig GOVERNMENT agents have arrested two members of a syndicate allegedly involved in faking documents such as bank records and land titles for US visa applicants in exchange for

P100,000, an exclusive report on “24 Oras” said Wednesday.

“Pinalalabas nila na ‘yung applicant ay nag-travel na sa ibang bansa tulad sa Australia. Plus factor ‘yun siguro na mabibigyan siya ng visa, kasi nag-travel na siya sa ibang bansa,” said lawyer Daniel Dagazo, head of National Bureau of Investigation-INTERPOL. The syndicate members, Vanessa Ganarillos and Ernani Evangelista, were caught taking marked money from an undercover NBI agent who managed to capture the transaction with a hidden camera.

The two will face charges for violating the Passport Act and falsification of public documents, the report said.

Tips from the US Embassy and other informants enabled the NBI to track down the office of the suspects in Taguig. They are now tracking down the location where the passports and fake documents are produced.

“Intensified na ‘yung campaign nila laban sa mga namemeke ng visa nila, lalo na ‘yung involved sa human trafficking,” Dagazo said.

He advised Filipinos looking for an easy way to the US to go through legal channels only.

“Paalala lang sa mga kababayan natin na kung kukuha kayo ng visa, ‘wag na kayong padala dun sa mga sindikato,” Dagazo said. n Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / September 23, 2015 / 9:12 pm

Close to 400 dengue cases recorded in Bulacan in one week

CLOSE to 400 cases of dengue have been recorded in Bulacan province in the span of just one week.

GMA’s “24 Oras” reported Sunday that around 4,400 cases of dengue have been recorded by the provincial health office there.

The disease, which is spread

through mosquito bites, has killed 10 in Bulacan since January.

The provincial government has recommended putting Bulacan under a state of calamity. Provincial blood centers are also encouraging those who want to donate blood to do so. n JDS, GMA News / September 27, 2015 / 9:42 pm

NEWS

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

www.hello-philippines.com

37

OWWA denies rejecting benefit claim of handicapped OFW from UAE THE Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) on Tuesday belied Migrante’s claim that it has denied benefits to some 50 OFWs, including one who was paralyzed following an accident in the United Arab Emirates.

Interviewed by e mail, Albert Q. Valenciano of OWWA’s Policy & Program Development Office told GMA News Online on Tuesday that ugenia Bayer Perez, the paralyzed

former domestic helper in the A , was given financial assistance two years ago.

“Contrary to what was reported, OFW Perez received her disability benefit in the amount of P25,000.00.

It was released to her on January 2, 2013,” Valenciano said.

“Moreover, considering her medical condition at the time of the unfortunate incident, OWWA Central Office processed her claim instead of

OWWA Region 4 A, which has the jurisdiction of her case since OFW Perez is from Batangas,” he added.

He also said they already had a number of medical-related requests from OFWs endorsed to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) as part of their benefits.

“As a membership-based institution, we cater to the needs of OWWA members. However, we find ways to provide appropriate assistance

POEA: Many Filipino dairy farm workers in New Zealand used fake documents THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) warned Filipino workers against using falsified documents for their job applications in New Zealand.

Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac said that according to the Philippine

Embassy in Wellington, a substantial number of Filipino dairy farm workers entered the country using falsified employment certificates.

The report said unscrupulous individuals in the Philippines issued fake documents in exchange of NZ$15,000.

Cacdac added there were reports that Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is now implementing stricter measures on applications for dairy farm workers from the Philippines.

“The alleged irregularities may

have been the cause of delays in the issuance of work visas for Filipino dairy farm workers,” Cacdac said.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has ordered Cacdac to conduct an investigation on the alleged use of fraudulent documents.

Baldoz also said she is worried that this may may affect the implementation of the just concluded labor agreement between New Zealand and the Philippines. n ALG, GMA News / September 27, 2015 / 3:57 pm

to OFWs or their families through our partnerships with other agencies and entities,” Valenciano said.

At a press briefing in Cubao last week, Migrante said the claimants, including Perez, were told last September 10 that they could not receive any benefits from the agency because of the OWWA Omnibus Policies, a controversial policy that has been questioned before the Supreme Court.

Valenciano said a meeting was arranged between OWWA officials, including Administrator Rebecca Calzano, and 36 members of Migrante International last September 8 and 10 regarding the e act benefits OFWs can expect from the agency.

“Calzado explained to the group that the agency does not offer financial assistance to non-OWWA members e cept in certain emergency cases, for instance, requiring mandatory repatriation of OFWs due to fortuitous events such as war, epidemic or natural calamities in their country of employment,” he said.

He added: “The cash assistance given to affected OFWs necessitates

the approval of the OWWA Board of Trustees. This was the case in Syria and Libya. If the concerned workers are not entitled to the cash assistance, what OWWA offers the workers is livelihood assistance through the Balik Pinas, Balik Hanapbuhay Program.”

While only nine of the 36 OFWs were from the National Capital Region, all qualified applicants in the group were scheduled for Entrepreneurial Development Training (EDT) and skills training either on September 22 or September 23, Valenciano said. n Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / September 22, 2015 / 4:50 pm

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VOTING for overseas absentee voters will not be limited to Philippine posts abroad in 2016, as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it will adopt mobile voting in order to reach out to more Filipino voters.

“Presently, we have undertaken an improvement, which is we will be adopting mobile voting,” Commissioner Arthur Lim, head of the Comelec– Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV), said in a press conference at the DFA Aseana Office in Parañaque City on Wednesday.

He said they will bring the vote counting machines to areas abroad with a large Filipino population. This will be on top of the automated voting the poll body is planning to conduct in 29 overseas Philippine posts.

“Itong mga voting machines dadalhin natin sa agreed stations sa labas ng embassies para doon mas convenient sa ating mga OFWs pumunta at bumoto,” Lim said.

He said vote-counting machines will also be brought to “certain designated ports” so that registered Filipino seafarers will be able to vote.

“We will conduct akyat barko voting, which is for

the BEIs (Board of Election Inspectors) to bring the voting machines to certain designated ports, where the ships stay,” Lim said.

With the mobile voting, Lim is hopeful that voter turnout in the 2016 elections will reach 50 percent of the 1,197,756 registered overseas voters.

“Realistically, perhaps, I hope with fingers crossed, we will be able to reach the 40 percent and maybe 50 percent voter turnout,” he said, adding they expect a higher voter turnout since next year’s elections will be a presidential election.

“Hopefully, we will also have a good voter turnout dahil presidential elections ito,” he said.

Comelec data showed that in the previous two presidential elections, the voter turnouts were tallied at 65 percent (2004), and 26 percent (2010).

On the other hand, the midterm elections registered lower voter turnout, with 16 percent both in 2007 and 2013.

Meanwhile, Lim said the Comelec is already ruling out the use of internet voting in the 2016 elections, citing the absence of an explicit law allowing it. n KBK, GMA News / September 23, 2015 / 6:43 pm

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Comelec to adopt mobile voting for overseas absentee voters in 2016

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www.hello-philippines.com

SPECIAL FEATURE

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Continuation from page 40

The story of Mayumi Pacheco, a 17-year-old Pinay footballer playing for Liverpool Early starts. “I think I started playing football around the age of five. It was because my mum used to take me around watching my two brothers every Sunday while they would lay football, so I would always be on the sidelines watching, which then switched to kicking the ball about instead,” she shares, recalling the time she picked up the sport.

“My first club was called Skem nited (a boys team). It was only down the round from where we live, so it was fairly easy access,” she recounts, adding that her first ever coach realized that she was left footed.

As with any young football player, Pacheco also had to make a transition in the field from being an eager goal scorer to her current position as a left back. It was a plan laid out by iverpool s nder 17s then coach, Matty Campbell.

“He said he always had a plan for me, and he was going to help me become a great player at left back,” Pacheco says. “When he told me about being a defender, I was a bit on the downside (at first), because I do enjoy scoring who doesn t I trusted his decision, and now it has become my favored position.”

Growing up, Pacheco never

BASKETBALL

realized that she could carve out a path as a professional football player until she made her way through the ranks.

“I never really knew women could be professional footballers growing up, because the media coverage wasn t that great, and (women s football) wasn t as popular. Only about two years ago did I realize that maybe I could be something through football, but I knew I would have to work hard,” she says.

And put in the hard work, Pacheco did.

The climb to top flight. “My progress to the first team has been crazy ” she e claims. “I still remember the time when iverpool turned me down when I trialed for them back when I was 12. It took me another year to get into iverpool 15s, which I spent one year in. Then I progressed to iverpool 17s, where we were able to win the FA outh Cup. “ sually, I would have two years in, but I only spent one, because I signed for the Development Squad. I think I only really broke into the Development Squad around December, so four months into the starting season where I really made my mark on the left back position during those four

UEFA photo

months, (there) were constant games, not getting minutes, while traveling for away games. “(Those were) really frustrating times, but I kept reminding myself (that) this is something I will have to do in order for me to get the opportunity I want,” Pacheco e plains. “A couple of months later, the adies started their preseason, which is where I managed to get some game time with them back in February. The ne t thing I know, I m making my first team debut in the opening game of the WS 1 against Sunderland in March.

“From then on, getting minutes on the pitch from the substitutes bench turned into getting my name on the starting eleven. (It has been) one crazy journey.”

Pacheco recounts feeling the nerves and e citement, as she was about to come on to the pitch for her debut with the iverpool adies.

After all, in her debut, Pacheco played alongside the likes of Gemma Bonner, Fara Williams, and Natasha Dowie stalwarts of the iverpool adies first team.

“They are big names in women s football, and it s crazy to think I train with them day in day out ” she

UAAP: La Salle turns back UE, FEU escapes Adamson

THE De La Salle Green Archers turned back the UE Red Warriors, 71-64, in UAAP Season 78 action Sunday at SMARTAraneta Coliseum.

Jeron Teng scored 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists to lead La Salle to its win.

Josh Caracut and Larry Muyang had their own career games as they finished with 16 and 11 markers, respectively.

La Salle, which saw its 17-point lead trimmed by UE late in the game, improved to 3-2 for a share of third place with rival Ateneo.

Nick Abanto led the way for UE with 14 points and eight boards as the Red Warriors slid to 2-4 for seventh place.

In the second game, the FEU Tamaraws avoided the upset axe after escaping with a 64-60 win over the winless Adamson Falcons.

Down by one, the Tamaraws found a hero in Mike Tolomia who buried a crucial

triple with 41.8 seconds left to give FEU a 60-58 edge keep Adamson at bay.

After losing an 11-point game, FEU fought toe-to-toe with Adamson which got a huge boost from Pape Sarr’s monster performance of 26 points and 22 rebounds.

The Falcons even led by five, 55-50, before the Tamaraws made a run highlighted

by Tolomia’s triple that put FEU back on top.

©Tweeter

Photo by Ver Marquez ©InterAksyon.com

He finished with 10 points in the game.

The Tamaraws then went on to win the free throw shooting battle as time expired to snatch the win and avoid an upset.

FEU remained on top of the standings with a 5-1 slate while Adamson stayed at the cellar with a 0-6 card. n InterAksyon.com / September 27, 2015 / 7:17 pm

gushes. “They are the people I look up to, because they are where I want to be, so learning from and with them is crazy. I couldn t be more grateful. All of the women have helped me develop so much and have been so supportive of me. I couldn t have asked for a better team to be part of.”

She eventually became more rela ed and focused, Pacheco recalled.

But more than the big names she played alongside with, she considered the reception of the fans as the most unforgettable in her debut.

“One thing that stands out was the fans getting me to sign programs, even though it was the first game I played ” she said.

Striking a balance. Pacheco recognizes that her success comes with a lot of hard work and sacrifices all for doing what she loves to do.

“A lot of sacrifices have been made in order to get to where I am, not only by myself, but my family as well. The countless times they ve driven me back and forth from training or games has been relentless,” she shares.

“For me, social life school football, it s a vigorous triangle to balance, and something not all teenagers know the struggle of. What gets me through it all is that it s not sacrifice if you love what you re doing.

“I owe my success to everyone who has helped me along the way, from my coaches to anyone who has given me lifts to training or have watched my games, but most of all to my family my two brothers Miguel and Miko, and my mum. They are my rock, the people I truly play my sport for, the people I want to do proud,” she adds.

Outside of football, Pacheco is just like any other teenager.

“I am currently going into my second year of college, studying P , psychology, and law. In my free time, I mainly spend it with friends, either going out for something to eat or going to the cinema, and of course, going to Filipino parties ” So, just how much of a Filipina is Mayumi Pacheco

“I have been to the Philippines many times before, and I love it here ” she e claims. “Before I went to high school, I lived there for si months.

When we go, it s not like a holiday to me. It s almost as if we are going home. My all time favorite Filipino food has to be sinigang and rice with a bit of patis, as well as chicken adobo, pancit, spring rolls, bistek Tagalog there s so many, I could go on forever My friends love it in my house. They say it is like a 24 hour restaurant ” Looking forward and upward. She may have reached ngland s top ight football, but Mayumi Pacheco continues to dream big for herself.

“I hope one day to play in a World Cup and win it ” she shares. “I also want to win the Champions eague and to win the WS 1 eague with iverpool adies.”

Women s football may still have a long way to go before it gets the same level of attention and recognition as men s football, but Pacheco advises the need for doing what it takes to get the sport in the public s attention and getting people to attend the games from visiting schools to hosting training camps to getting international success to raising the quality within the game. She points out the need for relentlessness from every woman playing the game and not giving up.

“Work for it. Don t get distracted. If you really want to become something, the only thing that is stopping you is yourself. If someone says you can t do something, use that to motivate you,” she shares to all the girls who aspire to become professional football players.

Mayumi Pacheco knows she ll keep improving with every game she plays.

Her star is on the rise, and she ll have fans from the other side of the world cheering her on.

Mika Palileo is a proud football fangirl albeit one with intricate knowledge of the beautiful game.

Follow her thoughts on Twitter or on her blog. n Mika Palileo / Special to InterAksyon.com / September 27, 2015 / 3:31 pm

SPORTS

October 2015 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

www.hello-philippines.com

39

BASKETBALL

Gilas Pilipinas wards off gritty Japan to open FIBA Asia second round campaign THE Philippine national men’s basketball team hurdled an intense battle with a gritty Japan side to notch a 73-66 victory to start its second round campaign in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship Sunday at CSWC Dayun in Changsha, China.

Naturalized player Andray Blatche scored 18 points and 10 boards for Gilas Pilipinas despite hurting his ankle in the game.

Ranidel De Ocampo also finished with 13 points, including a crucial triple down the stretch that gave Gilas Pilipinas separation against the Japanese who, after losing a 10-point lead, fought hard in the end-game.

Gilas Pilipinas got off to a 6-0 start as Blatche got aggressive on the offensive end early, sinking pullup jumpers.

But as he sat out, Gilas Pilipinas’ offense became stagnant. Japan then launched a 7 0 run to end the first

BASKETBALL

period with an 18-14 lead.

The Filipinos suffered a huge blow when Blatche hurt his ankle after being hit by a Japanese player. He headed to the bench right after the play.

Japan then continued to push its lead against the Filipinos in the second quarter, even grabbing a 29-19 lead courtesy of the hot shooting of Ryumo Ono who scored nine points off the bench.

But Gilas Pilipinas made a 10-0 fightback capped by a Jayson Castro layup to tie the game at 29-all.

The Filipinos grabbed the lead at the break, 35-33, after Terrence Romeo converted a fearless layup to the basket in the dying seconds of the second quarter.

Blatche re-aggravated his ankle injury early in the third quarter and had to sit out the entire period.

Despite not having him, Gilas

©AFP

end but Blatche answered with a putback goaltended by the opposition for a 71-66 lead with 52.8 seconds left in a basket that sealed the win for the Filipinos.

Romeo and Castro poured in 12

©FIBA photo

points apiece while Abueva added 10 points and six boards.

Gilas Pilipinas now has a 2-1 record in Group E and will next face tormentor Iran on Monday. n InterAksyon.com / September 27, 2015 / 4:16 pm

Asi Taulava on Gilas’ crucial match against Hamed Haddadi, Iran: ‘We’ve been preparing for this since the Jones Cup’ CHANGSHA — The Philippine national men’s basketball team knows that the road to title in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship is likely going to have to go through defending champion Iran and their behemoth center Hamed Haddadi.

The two teams, considered the favorites in their respective preliminary round groups, will clash in a crucial second round clash on Monday at 11:45 a.m. with the No. 1 spot in Group E and a more favorable bracket – likely opposite China – at stake.

The importance of the contest is not lost on Gilas Pilipinas, particularly ageless veteran Asi Taulava.

“That’s the game we’ve been preparing for. It’s especially crucial for us, both

Photos by ©FIBA

BOXING

Pilipinas found a way as the squad unleashed a quick, small-ball lineup.

That allowed them to go on a tear, with Romeo sparking the squad as they grabbed a 54 46 lead entering the final frame.

Blatche entered the fourth period but was visibly in pain. Gilas Pilipinas then suffered free throw shooting woes that let Japan stay close in the game.

Japan started the fourth quarter with an 11-4 spurt that helped the East Asian side eventually tie the game at 64-all.

But De Ocampo buried a triple with 2:15 left to give the lead back to the Filipinos, 67-64.

Calvin Abueva then outhustled his taller opponents with a crucial offensive board moments later as he also sank two free throws to give Gilas Pilipinas a 69-64 edge.

Japan made a jumper on the other

hat as the rst ti e

PHILIPPINE boxing hero Manny Pacquiao expressed renewed anger on Wednesday over allegations that his American rival Floyd Mayweather had violated anti-doping rules in the build-up to their mega fight in May. Mayweather had accused him of illegal doping before their fight, only to have similar accusations surface against the American.

“We have rules in boxing. The penalty (for Mayweather) will also be based there. He must face that if allegations that came out against him are true,” Pacquiao said when press raised the subject as he made a public appearance in Manila.

The Filipino, who won world championships in eight weight divisions, decried the way he was treated by bo ing officials seeking to prevent doping before the fight in Las Vegas in May which Mayweather won by unanimous decision.

“I have more than 20 years of boxing experience but that was my

teams, cause whoever wins tomorrow will become number one and will have a lighter bracket to go into. It’s going to be tough,” Taulava told InterAksyon.com in an exclusive interview.

“We’ve been preparing for this game ever since we faced them in the Jones Cup. And it’s all about basketball now – who comes out there better prepared and smarter. Looking forward to the game.

Exciting.”

Taulava will likely see some time banging against Iran’s Haddadi, who has been a dominant force for the Iranians on the Asian level for the past several years.

Though Taulava and the rest of the Gilas players have been friendly with Haddadi

and Iran off the court, he said it will be a much different story when they suit up against each other on Monday.

“Aw hell no. When walk on the floor, we’re a different team. Right now, we walk around the hotel, you can’t be an ass to everybody. You have to keep your game face and hide your cards until game time comes around.”

But he said that he isn’t thinking about the matchup with Haddadi and really has only one thing in mind.

“It doesn’t matter as long as we win. You can have me match up with the referee. The most important thing is the victory tomorrow.” n Mikkel Bolante

/ InterAksyon.com / September 27, 2015 / 8:13 pm

as treated that a Pac uiao still angered o er Ma eathers alleged do ing

first time that I was treated that way.

Even my own mineral water, my Gatorade were not allowed inside my dressing room. How come?” he said.

After the fight, it emerged that Mayweather had received an infusion of vitamins and minerals the day before the match but both Mayweather and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) have insisted that this was legal.

But Pacquiao has questioned why USADA only informed the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) about the infusion three weeks after the bout, by which time Mayweather had already received a USADA exemption.

He had previously called for unspecified sanctions and a rematch with Mayweather.

Doping allegations have been at the heart of the fighters long running feud.

The richest fight in bo ing history took years to become reality, partly

because of Mayweather’s insistence that Pacquiao comply with a strict drug-testing regime. Mayweather later accused Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs, prompting a lawsuit which was settled out of court.

The 36 year old fighter showed little interest in a rematch Wednesday, saying of Mayweather: “Hasn’t he retired?”

He would not comment on his own possible retirement but said that details of his ne t fight would be released in December.

Pacquiao, who parlayed his boxing fame into election to Congress, also said that he was definitely running in the 2016 national elections in May but would not say for what position.

He is considering running for governor of his southern home province but also left the door open for a bid for a more in uential position in the Philippine Senate. n

Agence France-Presse / September 16, 2015 / 9:14 pm

sport UAAP: La Salle turns back UE, FEU escapes Adamson Story on page 38

Gilas Pilipinas wards off gritty Japan to open FIBA Asia second round campaign Story on page 39

Asi Taulava on Gilas’ crucial match against Hamed Haddadi, Iran: ‘We’ve been preparing for this since the Jones Cup’ Story on page 39

‘That was the first time I was treated that way’: Pacquiao still angered over Mayweather’s alleged doping Story on page 39

BOXING

FOOTBALL

SPECIAL FEATURE

The story of Mayumi Pacheco, a 17-year-old Pinay footballer playing for Liverpool THERE is a young Filipina making waves in the Football Association’s Women’s Super League, the highest league of women’s football in England, and she is 17-year-old Mayumi “Maz” Pacheco.

The young defender has already represented England in the Women’s Under-16s and Under-17s levels. She was also called up for the England nder 19s team, but due to her first team commitment, she has to miss the camps and was instead told by the coach to be physically and mentally prepared for next year’s Under 19s competition.

More recently, she has made her debut with the first team of iverpool Ladies, following her stint as part of Liverpool Ladies’ Under-17 FA Cup-

winning team.

Pacheco identifies herself as Liverpool-born and bred, supporting the club while growing up and going to as many of the club’s matches as she can. Of Liverpool’s past and present players, she counts Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Jordan Henderson, and Philippe Coutinho as her favorites.

She is also impressed with Joe Gomez who, at 18 years old, made his way into the men s first team at an early age a story that she can definitely relate to.

The young defender took time from her busy schedule to answer questions on life as a top ight football player in England and balancing this with normal teenager activities.

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‘That was the first time I was treated that way’: Pacquiao still angered over Mayweather’s alleged doping

PHILIPPINE boxing hero Manny Pacquiao expressed renewed anger on Wednesday over allegations that his American rival Floyd Mayweather had violated anti-doping rules in the build-up to their mega-fight in May. Mayweather had accused him of illegal doping before their fight, only to have similar accusations surface against the American.

“We have rules in boxing. The penalty (for Mayweather) will also be based there. He must face that if allegations that came out against him are true,” Pacquiao said when press raised the subject as he made a public appearance in Manila.

The Filipino, who won world championships in eight weight divisions, decried the way he was treated by boxing

officials seeking to prevent doping before the fight in Las Vegas in May which Mayweather won by unanimous decision.

“I have more than 20 years of boxing experience but that was my first time that I was treated that way. Even my own mineral water, my Gatorade were not allowed inside my dressing room.

How come?” he said.

After the fight, it emerged that Mayweather had received an infusion of vitamins and minerals the day before the match but both Mayweather and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) have insisted that this was legal.

But Pacquiao has questioned why USADA only informed the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) about the

infusion three weeks after the bout, by which time Mayweather had already received a USADA exemption.

He had previously called for unspecified sanctions and a rematch with Mayweather.

Doping allegations have been at the heart of the fighters’ longrunning feud.

The richest fight in boxing history took years to become reality, partly because of Mayweather’s insistence that Pacquiao comply with a strict drug-testing regime. Mayweather later accused Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs, prompting a lawsuit which was settled out of court.

The 36-year old fighter showed little interest in a rematch Wednesday, saying of Mayweather: “Hasn’t he retired?”

He would not comment on his own possible retirement but said that details of his next fight would be released in December.

Pacquiao, who parlayed his boxing fame into election to Congress, also said that he was definitely running in the 2016 national elections in May but would not say for what position.

He is considering running for governor of his southern home province but also left the door open for a bid for a more influential position in the Philippine Senate. n Agence France-Presse / September 16, 2015 / 9:14 pm