April 18-20, 2018 Volume 28 - No. 32 • 3 Sections - 20 Pages
DOJ on deportation of EU party official: ‘Partisan political activity illegal’ in PH by DANA
SIOSON AJPress
THE Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday, April 16, justified the detention and deportation of a European politician, explaining that it is illegal for a tourist to engage in any “partisan political activity.” Giacomo Filibeck, the deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialist (PES) and a native of Italy, was detained at the Cebu International Airport and immediately deported last Sunday, April 15. In a message to reporters, Justice Secre- Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary general of the Party of European
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DATELINE
USA
FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
In State of the City address, Garcetti calls for more shelters for homeless Angelenos
Homeless advocate organization thinks plan “falls short” in addressing the needs of LA’s growing homeless population ON the morning of Monday, April 16, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti delivered his fifth State of the City address. Like any other State of the City address, the mayor heralded the city’s progress and announced plans to build upon the achievements made during his administration so far. Garcetti, who is in his second term after his re-election in 2017, brought up job growth, public safety and transportation, public education and infrastructure. The crux of his speech included plans to once and for all dramatically reduce homelessness, an issue which continues to be a thorn in his resume amid considerations for a
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Trump quietly orders major crackdown on public assistance programs
Trump administration establishes stricter requirements for Medicaid, TANF, and food stamps
AMID the shocking news of airstrikes on Syria and President Donald Trump’s ongoing personal scandals, the president last week ordered for the major overhaul of the nation’s public assistance net. Though the news largely went under the radar, Trump on Tuesday, April 10 signed an executive order called Reducing Poverty in America By Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility which calls for departments across the government to review their safety net programs and propose new regulations. Some of the affected programs in this potentially significant move include Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid and housing assistance. The executive order directs agencies — including the departments of Commerce, Labor and Housing and Urban Development — to enforce current requirements as well as propose more stringent work requirements and give some flexibility to states to issue their own
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Socialist (PES), was detained at the Cebu International Airport and immediately deported last Sunday, April 15. Philstar.com photo
VP Robredo’s lead narrows in recount
FORMER Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has narrowed the lead of Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo in the ongoing recount of the 2016 vice-presidential election. Sources at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) told The Manila Times that after the recount of 210 clustered precincts in Camarines Sur province, Robre- President Rodrigo Roa Duterte chats with Education Secretary Leonor Briones and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) President and General Manager Jesus Clint Aranas following the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signing betweeen the GSIS and Department of do’s tally was reduced by some 5,000 votes. Malacañang photo by Simeon Celis Robredo won the vice presidency with a lead of Education (DepEd) at the Malacañang Palace on Monday, April 16. 263,473 votes over Marcos. In the official tally, Robredo obtained 14,418,817 votes while Marcos had
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Sen. Binay signs draft Dengvaxia report recommending charges against Aquino by AJPRESS
A Supreme Court officer walks past ballot boxes and desks during an inspection of the venue for the recount of votes in the 2016 vice presidential race. Philstar.com photo
SENATOR Nancy Binay has signed a draft committee report on the Dengvaxia controversy recommending the filing of charges against former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his officials. “I signed already,” Binay told reporters on Monday, April 16. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, chaired by Richard Gordon, is seeking the prosecution
of Aquino and his officials “for all the tragedy, damage and possible deaths” resulting from his administration’s scrapped P3.5 billion dengue vaccination program. Binay, however, said she “may amend” and interpellate once the draft report is tackled in the plenary. “‘Yung (The) committee report, it’s not yet the final report,” Binay noted. “Pagdedebatehan at pag-
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Former President Benigno Aquino III Inquirer.net photo
Emotional PNP chief Dela Rosa bids farewell to police by DANA
SIOSON AJPress
OUTGOING Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa bade goodbye to police service in tears on Monday, April 16. During his final flag-raising ceremony at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Dela Rosa thanked the police force for their hard work in implementing the anti-illegal drugs campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte. Dela Rosa also apologized to those who were disappointed at his performance as the PNP chief for a year and nine months. “I did my my best” he said. “That’s all I want to convey. Whether I’m a good or bad father of the organization, it’s up to you to judge.” He continued: “I don’t have to brag about it. You be the judge. If I had many mistakes, I’d like to say sorry.” Citing some of his accomplishments during term as the PNP chief, Dela Rosa took note of the 19,086 drug offenders who were arrested during the 12,032 anti-illegal drugs operations nationwide from December last year until April 13. He said these operations were “not at all a walk in the park because there were isolated life-threatening confrontations with armed drug suspects that necessi- Outgoing Philippine National Police (PNP)
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Chief General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa Inquirer.net photo
The Department of Tourism said Galaxy Entertainment Group has canceled its plan to build a casino in Boracay island. Philstar file photo
DOT: Galaxy now seeking other venues for casino project by ROSETTE
ADEL
Philstar.com
THE Department of Tourism on Tuesday, April 17, said a Macaubased casino giant is no longer its casino-resort project on Boracay island. Tourism Assistant Secretary Frederick Alegre, department spokesperson, made the confirma-
tion at a Palace press briefing on Boracay. “Galaxy has said they are now looking for another venue. That is very much welcome,” Alegre said, referring to Galaxy Entertainment Group. Galaxy Entertainment Group’s local partner Leisure and Resorts World Corp. earlier said its subsid-
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A April 18-20, 2018 • lA MiDWEEK ASiAN JOUrNAl
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From the Front Page
VP Robredo’s lead... PAGE A1
14,155,344. Sources said the recount of 210 clustered precincts narrowed the lead down to about 258,000. “It’s still a long way to go but the figures as they are coming out, may already be considered substantial recovery or change in the results of the elections. It is definitely favorable to former Senator Marcos,” a PET insider said. The high tribunal is set to revise more than 5,800 clustered precincts from Marcos’ pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.
It will be recalled that at the start of the recount early this month, the camp of Marcos claimed to have discovered irregularities in a number of ballot boxes, such as wet and distorted ballots. It was also discovered that some of the ballot boxes did not have an “audit log” or the logbook indicating the time of opening of precincts, the time of transmittal of results and the times the voting started and ended. Marcos, son and namesake the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, is contesting the election results in some 39,000 clustered
precincts from 30 provinces and cities all over the country. He paid for a recount in 36,465 clustered precincts, and wants the results annulled in 2,756 precincts. Based on Commission on Elections data, the total 39,221 clustered precincts being questioned by Marcos are composed of 132,446 precincts. Marcos accuses Robredo of benefiting from “massive electoral fraud, anomalies and irregularities” such as pre-shading of ballots, pre-loaded Secure Digital cards, misreading of ballots, malfunctioning vote-counting machines, and an “abnormally high” unaccounted votes or undervotes. (ManilaTimes.net)
Sen. Binay signs draft Dengvaxia... PAGE A1 uusapan pa ‘yan at ide-defend pa ‘yan sa floor so hintayin na lang natin ‘yung magiging deliberation na magaganap sa floor (There will be debate and discussions so let’s wait for the floor deliberation),” she added.
The committee is recommending Aquino to be charged with violation of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, as well as Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials
and Employees. Also tagged as “primary conspirators” in the procurement of the controversial vaccine were former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and former Health Secretary Janette Garin.
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‘ALAB NG PUSO’ UNVEILING. Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) president and chief executive Officer (CEO) Vivencio Dizon (right): Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Salvador Melchor Mison Jr. (left) and Taguig City Second District Representative Pilar Juliana Cayetano (2nd from left), lead the unveiling ceremony of the “Alab ng Puso” (Fire in the Heart) sculpture in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig on Monday, April 16. The sculpture aims to recognize the heroism and sacrifices made by Filipino soldiers in defending the nation. PNA photo by Joey Razon
DOJ on deportation of EU party official... PAGE A1 tary Menardo Guevarra explained that it is “unlawful for aliens staying in our country to engage in partisan political activities.” Guevarra also noted that the government “has the right to refuse entry to those who have committed these illegal acts in the past.” Filibeck was supposed to join the Akbayan Party-list Congress as a guest of honor on Monday. Akbayan is a sister party of PES. The Bureau of Immigration, however, ordered his deportation because he supposedly “violated the conditions of his stay when he came to the Philippines last year.” Filibeck was part of a human rights delegation that visited Manila in October 2017 and denounced the killings under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs. “He (Filibeck) was not supposed to do that because being a tourist he does not enjoy the rights and privileges of a Philippine citizen, particularly
the exercise of political rights which are exclusively reserved to Filipinos,” said BI Commissioner Jaime Morente. Morente also stressed that the Philippine government “cannot allow the entry of foreigners who have shown disrespect to our duly-constituted authorities by meddling and interfering in our internal affairs as a sovereign nation.” In a statement on Tuesday, April 17, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said foreigners who visit the Philippines should not feel “superior” and must abide by the country’s law. “When I visit other countries, I am very careful not to interfere with their domestic political issues because I know their law and I am a law-abiding citizen. These foreigners who come here should not feel that they are ‘superior’ to us and hence above our laws! All should follow the law!” Pimentel remarked. He went on to say, “If we want Filipinos to follow our laws then we should show our own people that foreigners are
not above our laws!” Akbayan, meanwhile, called Filibeck’s deportation a “deplorable act of silencing the strong voices for human rights.” The party also urged the House of Representatives to probe the PES official’s deportation, adding that the “unfortunate incident only shows how paranoid this government is in keeping the rest of the world blind from the damage President Duterte has done to our country.” PES president Sergei Stanishev, for its part, condemned how Filibeck was “treated as a criminal on the orders of the government and forcibly deported from the country.” “Clearly, the president intends to silence criticism of his deadly policies both at home and abroad,” Stanishev said. He continued: “As a united political family, we refuse to be silenced. We will continue to express our solidarity with the democratic opposition to Mr. Duterte’s increasingly authoritarian rule in the Philippines.” n
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LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • ApRIL 18-20, 2018
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A April 18-20, 2018 • lA MiDWEEK ASiAN JOUrNAl
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PAUNAWA NG PAMPUBLIKONG PAGDINIG Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Ang Independiyenteng Komite sa Pagbabantay ng mga Tagabayad ng Buwis na Kaugnay ng Panukala R ng Metro (Komite sa Pagbabantay) ay magsasagawa ng isang pampublikong pagdinig sa 11:00 a.m., ika-15 ng Mayo, 2018, sa Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Boardroom na matatagpuan sa One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles. Ang Komite sa Pagbabantay ay itinalaga sa ilalim ng Panukala R, kilala rin bilang Ordinansa sa Kaluwagan sa Trapiko at Pagpapalawak ng Riles, na nagpataw ng karagdagang 1/2 ng isang porsiyentong buwis sa mga transaksiyon at paggamit upang pondohan ang mga pagpapabuti sa transportasyon sa County, na inaprobahan ng mga botante noong 2008. Ang Komite sa Pagbabantay at proseso ng pagbabantay ay itinatag upang siguruhin na ang Metro at mga lokal na tumatanggap ay sumusunod sa mga tadhana ng Ordinansa. Ang proseso ng pagbabantay ay nag-aatas na ang isang taunang pagsusuri ay isagawa upang matiyak ang pagsunod sa mga tadhana ng Ordinansa na may kaugnayan sa pagtanggap at paggasta ng mga kita sa buwis sa pagbebenta sa taon ng pananalapi. Ang mga pagsusuri ay dapat ipagkaloob sa Komite sa Pagbabantay upang makagawa ito ng pagpapasiya tungkol sa kung ang Metro at mga lokal na tumatanggap ay nakasunod sa mga iniaatas ng Panukala R. Bilang pagsunod sa Ordinansa, kinontrata ng Metro ang BCA Watson Rice, LLP (BCA) upang gawin ang independiyenteng pagsusuri ng Espesyal na Pondo ng Panukala R at kinontrata ang Vasquez & Company, LLP at Simpson & Simpson upang suriin ang pagsunod ng 87 lungsod (mga Lungsod) at ng County ng Los Angeles (County). Ang layunin ng pagdinig na ito ay upang tumanggap ng mga komento ng publiko tungkol sa mga resulta ng mga independiyenteng pagsusuri na isinasagawa sa Iskedyul ng mga Kita at Paggasta para sa Espesyal na Pondo ng Kita ng Panukala R at Pagsunod sa mga Iniaatas na Angkop sa mga Patnubay sa Local Return ng Panukala R mula ika-1 ng Hulyo, 2016 hanggang ika-30 ng Hunyo, 2017, at sa taunang ulat ng Komite sa mga pagsusuring ito. MGA ULAT NG MGA INDEPENDIYENTENG TAGASURI Pagsusuri ng Espesyal na Pondo sa Kita ng Panukala R Isinagawa ng BCA ang pagsusuri ng pagsunod alinsunod sa mga pamantayan sa pagsusuri na pangkaraniwang tinatanggap sa Estados Unidos ng Amerika at sa mga pamantayang angkop sa mga pagsusuri ng pananalapi na nasa Mga Pamantayan sa Pagsusuri ng Pamahalaan, na inisyu ng Komptroler Heneral ng Estados Unidos. Ang mga pamantayang ito ay nag-aatas na ang BCA ay magplano at magsagawa ng pagsusuri upang kumuha ng makatwirang pagtiyak tungkol sa kung ang mga kita at paggasta ng mga Iskedyul ng Panukala R ay walang mahalagang maling pahayag. Napag-alaman sa pagsusuri na ang Metro ay sumunod, sa lahat ng mahahalagang bagay, sa mga iniaatas na angkop sa mga kita at paggasta ng Panukala R para sa taong natapos noong ika-30 ng Hunyo, 2017.
Mga Pagsusuri ng Pagsunod ng mga Lungsod at ng County sa Panukala R Isinagawa ng Vasquez & Company, LLP at Simpson & Simpson ang pagsusuri ng pagsunod sa Mga Patnubay sa Local Return alinsunod sa mga pamantayan sa pagsusuri na pangkaraniwang tinatanggap sa Estados Unidos ng Amerika at sa mga pamantayang angkop sa mga pagsusuri ng pananalapi na nasa Mga Pamantayan sa Pagsusuri ng Pamahalaan, na inisyu ng Komptroler Heneral ng Estados Unidos. Ang mga pamantayang iyon ay nagaatas na ang Vasquez & Company, LLP at Simpson & Simpson ay magplano at magsagawa ng mga pagsusuri upang makakuha ng makatwirang pagtiyak ng tungkol sa kung ang dipagsunod sa mga iniaatas na nasa Ordinansa ay nangyari na maaaring magkaroon ng tuwiran at mahalagang epekto sa programang Local Return ng Panukala R. Ang Vasquez & Company, LLP ay nagsagawa ng pagsusuri ng 49 na Lungsod, at ang Simpson & Simpson ay nagsagawa ng pagsusuri ng ibang 38 Lungsod at ng County. Napag-alaman sa ulat ng Independiyenteng Tagasuri tungkol sa Espesyal na Pondo ng Kita ng Panukala R na ang Metro ay sumunod, sa lahat ng mahahalagang bagay, sa mga iniaatas na angkop sa mga kita at paggasta ng Panukala R para sa taong natapos noong ika-30 ng Hunyo, 2017. Napag-alaman sa mga pagsusuri ng pagsunod sa Mga Patnubay sa Local Return ng 87 Lungsod at ng County na 28 lokal na hurisdiksiyon ang may mga isyu sa pagsunod. Lahat ng napag-alaman ay nalutas, o nasa proseso ng pagkalutas. Ang mga napag-alaman sa pagsusuri ay nasa apat na basikong kategorya gaya ng mga sumusunod: Nahuling Pagsumite ng mga Porma. Mga napag-alaman na ang mga lungsod na hindi nagsumite ng kanilang porma sa tamang oras ay umaabot sa 17. Ang porma, alinman sa isang Form One o Form Two ay iniaatas na isumite sa LACMTA para sa paglilista ng kanilang badyet at mga paggasta. Mga Gastos sa Pagpapalaganap: Isang lungsod ang may isyu sa mga gastos sa pagpapalaganap. Ang tuwing ikatlong buwan na magasin ng Lungsod ay inilathala sa pamamagitan ng 69% ng mga pondo ng Local Return. Batay sa mga sumusuportang dokumentong ipinagkaloob ng Lungsod, ang isang pagkakasundo sa 40% ay itinuring na isang mas makatwirang antas ng paglalaan. Ang mga gastos na ito ay binayaran. Tinanong ang mga Gastos (mga suweldo, pag-iingat ng rekord, di-suportadong dokumentasyon at pagkodigo ng proyekto): Tatlong lungsod ang may mga isyu sa mga suweldo, pag-iingat ng rekord, di-suportadong dokumentasyon o pagkodigo ng proyekto. Ang mga isyu ng dalawang lungsod ay may kinalaman sa mga singil sa papel ng oras na batay sa pinagtibay na mga porsiyento ng badyet o kawalan ng mga pirma sa awtorisasyon.. Ang mga lungsod ay dapat gumamit ng mga aktuwal na papel ng oras at mga iskedyul para sa kanilang mga singil sa Pangangagsiwa. Ang mga singil ay binayaran ng dalawang lungsod. Ang ibang lungsod ay magwawasto ng kodigo ng proyekto sa FY18. Kabiguang Kumuha ng Pag-aproba Bago Gumawa ng mga Paggasta: May 11 lungsod na nabigong kumuha ng pag-aproba bago gumawa ng mga paggasta. Ang mga lungsod ay inaatasang kumuha ng pag-aproba ng proyekto bago gumasta ng mga pondo sa pamamagitan ng pagsumite ng isang Form One na naglilista ng pangalan ng proyekto, halaga ng mga pondo ng Local Return ng Panukala R na ibabadyet para sa proyekto, paglalarawan ng proyekto, at pagbibigay-katwiran. Ito ay kailangan upang ang proyekto ay marepaso ng LACMTA para sa pagiging karapat-dapat ng Local Return ng Panukala R batay sa Mga Patnubay sa Local Return. Taunang Ulat ng Independiyenteng Komite sa Pagbabantay ng Tagabayad ng Buwis na Kaugnay ng Panukala R Nirepaso ang Komite ang tatlong independiyenteng ulat ng pagsusuri at batay sa pagrepasong ito, bumuo ng taunang ulat. Ang ulat ay nagpasiya na: 1) ang mga pagsusuri ay isinagawa alinsunod sa Ordinansa na inaprobahan ng mga botante noong 2008; 2) ang Metro ay sumunod, sa lahat ng mahahalagang bagay, sa mga iniaatas na angkop sa mga kita at paggasta ng Panukala R para sa taong natapos noong ika-30 ng Hunyo, 2017; at 3) ang lahat ng Lungsod at County ay sumunod, sa lahat ng bagay, sa Ordinansang Panukala R at mga patnubay na angkop sa programang Local Return ng Panukala R para sa taong natapos noong ika-30 ng Hunyo, 2017; gayunman, ang mga pagsusuri ay nakakita ng 32 pagkakataon ng hindi pagsunod sa 28 hurisdiksiyon kabilang ang limang kakulangan sa panloob na kontrol sa pagsunod, na ang isa ay itinuring na isang malaking kahinaan at ang apat ay itinuring na malaking kakulangan. Ang mga nakasulat na komento sa bagay na ito ay tatanggapin hanggang ika-15 ng Mayo, 2018. Lahat ng mga komento ay dapat ipadala sa Board Administration, LACMTA, One Gateway Plaza, Mail Stop 99-3-1, Los Angeles, CA 90012-2952. Ang mga kopya ng Mga Ulat ng mga Independiyenteng Tagasuri at ang Taunang Ulat ng Komite sa Pagbabantay ay makukuha sa Metro.net, at ang mga papel na kopya ay makukuha mula sa Records Management Center ng Metro sa LACMTA Plaza Level sa (213) 9222342. Ang mga dokumentong ito ay ihahanda rin para makuha sa bawat aklatang matatagpuan sa loob ng County ng Los Angeles para sa pagrepaso ng publiko. Ang mga miyembro ng publiko na nais magbigay ng pampublikong komento nang personal sa panahon ng pampublikong pagdinig sa ika-15 ng Mayo ay hinihimok na tawagan si Michele Jackson, Kalihim ng Lupon, sa (213) 922-4605. CNSB#3121146
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Long Beach approves $2-million settlement with family of mentally disabled Fil-Am shot and killed by police Settlement among largest in city history
by Rae
ann VaRona AJPress
THE city of Long Beach, California has reached a $2-million settlement with the family of a mentally disabled FilipinoAmerican man who was shot to death at an arcade by city police in 2015. The settlement is said to be among the largest approved by the city in a police brutality case. Mharloun Saycon, 39, was at the Looff’s Lite-A-Line gaming establishment he frequented, when staff aware of his mental illness called police to help escort him off the premises after customers grew nervous of his possession of a knife. A statement released by the Long Beach Police Department a day after the shooting said a preliminary investigation found that while officers were responding, they received an update that Saycon was waiving the knife inside the business, causing some customers to leave. The statement said that officers arrived to find Saycon seated and armed. Upon giving verbal commands to drop the knife, it said Saycon failed to comply with orders. Attorneys representing the family said Saycon was seated in the chair with a small pocket knife in his lap when police arrived, and stayed seated through-
The city of Long Beach, California reached a $2-million settlement with the family of a mentally disabled Filipino-American man who was shot to death inside Looff’s Lite-A-Line by city police in December 2015. File photo from Thursday, March 17, 2016 shows Filipino Attorney Joe Sayas, who represented the Saycon family, at a press conference in front of the Long Beach Police Department headquarters announcing legal action for the 39-year-old’s death. AJPress file photo by Ding Carreon
out the incident. Saycon did not make any threats, nor exhibit aggression or violence, according to a news release by the family’s attorneys. The release added that when calling police, staff made clear that Saycon was not threatening anyone and that they just needed help getting him out. “Despite that, rather than make any effort to assess Mharloun’s mental state or speak to any other patrons at Looff’s about the situation, Officers Cruz and Nguyen immediately responded with unreasonable force,” read the release. “Within seconds of their arrival, Cruz and Nguyen
both deployed their tasers without warning.” According to the release, Long Beach Police Officer Robert Cruz struck Saycon with his baton. Police officer Vuong Nguyen “fired eight shots in rapid succession, killing Mharloun at the scene.” “Through the tasing, beating, and shooting, Mharloun remain seated in his chair, where he died moments after being shot. Surveillance footage irrefutably establishes that Mharloun never threatened the officers, but sat defenselessly while Cruz and Nguyen attacked and shot him,” the release read. PAGE A4
In State of the City address, Garcetti calls... PAGE A1 reported 2020 presidential run. Garcetti announced that the City Council unanimously approved a minimum of 222 new units for homeless Angelenos in all 15 council districts in the city. He also pledged $430 million dollars in the city’s budget allocated for initiatives for the homeless; he mentioned that four years ago, the city’s homeless budget was less than $20 million. “What’s happening here is not unique to this city,” Garcetti declared Monday morning in the city council chambers at LA City Hall. “Los Angeles is coming together to confront the greatest moral and humanitarian crisis of our time. In this city, we are pushing past skepticism. I will accept nothing less than a home for every person who needs a roof over their head. Let me be clear: we are here to end homelessness.” Garcetti’s goal is to reduce the number of tents and encampments by allocating $1.3 million to each council district ($20 million in total) to put up temporary emergency shelters; and, each district that installs emergency shelters will be assigned a homeless encampment cleanup crew. The idea is that these temporary emergency shelters (with funding from county-wide Measure H) can be the precursor to getting homeless people into permanent housing, for which construction has already begun in downtown LA and Hollywood, as previously reported by the Asian Journal. “Some folks will only stay for a few weeks in our new shelters, where we can connect them to a job or a rapid-rehousing voucher,” the mayor explained. “Once they’ve gotten back on their feet, we’ll be able to turn that bed over to someone else.” Part of his plan also includes his No Wrong Door Executive Directive, which enlists the help of all city departments including the LA
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti delivers his State of the City address on Monday, April 16 in the city council chambers of City Hall. Photo courtesy of the Office of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti
Public Library and LA Fire Department to provide resources for the growing homeless population. Garcetti’s plans may be his most ambitious attempt to reduce the homeless population in a city that is known around the world for its ballooning homeless problem. Following his address, Garcetti and other city officials held a press conference for the signing of the homeless ordinance securing permanent supportive housing on Tuesday, April 17. The ordinance would also move forward plans for motel conversion, which would make it easier for motels to be converted into temporary housing while permanent housing is under construction. “This is a moment of great promise for Los Angeles,” said LA City Attorney Mike Feuer at the press conference, adding that “permanent supportive housing is our aspiration, but there is a meantime. The motel conversion ordinance focuses on right now.” LA is home to about a quarter of California’s homeless population, according to recent figures from the state. Though the homeless count varies among different studies, the 2017 report from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority puts LA’s homeless population at 34,000 homeless people living in LA proper who are without shelter or living in cars, tents and
Trump quietly orders major crackdown... PAGE A1 modifications. Specifically, the order is directed at all agencies with “any program that provides means-tested assistance or other assistance that provides benefits to people, households or families that have low-income.” “Since its inception, the welfare system has grown into a large bureaucracy that might be susceptible to measuring success by how many people are enrolled in a program rather than by how many have moved from poverty to financial independence,” reads the executive order. The executive order also encourages these agencies to make cuts to these programs in order to save money. The executive order has not put forth official policy, but experts say the notion of tougher requirements for these programs could have a drastic impact on low-income Americans. In the case of Medicaid — the nation’s public health insurance program for low earners — the executive order calls for all applicants to provide proof of employment, which could stunt many Americans.
By tightening up the requirements for Medicaid, which is the last health care resort for many low-income Americans who do not qualify for programs like the Affordable Care Act, the options for the nation’s most vulnerable could be severely limited, according to Executive Vice President of the Kaiser Family Foundation Diane Rowland. “What we’re talking about in Medicaid is saying that someone who doesn’t meet these requirements than can be locked out and not be able to get medical coverage for a certain number of months or maybe even up to a year,” Rowland told Michel Martin of NPR’s All Things Considered. “And they do say that there’ll be exceptions, but the president’s directive wants to narrow those exceptions. So really, some of the purposes of this is to get people off the rolls. And we know that for the people already working on Medicaid, the reason they need Medicaid is their job doesn’t come with health insurance that’s either available or affordable.” Other programs that could see a dramatic shift include various housing programs, the and Tem-
in the open. Despite the expressed excitement coming from the city for these new plans to eradicate homelessness, one of the largest national organizations dedicated to homeless advocacy Union Rescue Mission thinks that the plans fall short in its mission to provide long-term solutions for city’s homeless community. “I think it’s a good first step in addressing homelessness in LA but again it’s not what experts from around the country ask Los Angeles to do,” Union Rescue Mission CEO Rev. Andy Bales told the Asian Journal in a phone interview. “It falls short of the expectations of the tens of thousands of people who are suffering on the streets.” Bales explained that for the city to adequately house the homeless, the city would have to implement 60 housing structure in each district. About a hundred people would be able to stay in each structure for a few months while getting assistance. According to Bales, this would result in 13,000 people off the streets at the end of the year. Garcetti’s latest endeavor to tackle homelessness in the city comes after he — along with 10 other California mayors —proposed legislation that asks the state to allocate an additional $1.5 billion to expanding resources for the homeless. (Klarize Medenilla/ AJPress) porary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which provides poor families with financial aid. Experts and lawmakers alike have deemed the executive order as a reflection of the overall conservative agenda to slashing these programs and shrinking the federal safety net, programs which Democrats argue strengthen lowearning Americans. “Attacks on successful programs like Medicaid, nutrition and housing assistance are attacks on millions of vulnerable Americans. No one can argue our nation is made stronger by cutting these priorities,” Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said in a tweet on Tuesday, April 17. Moreover, the White House has been accused of attempting to expand the definition of “welfare” — a term that has garnered a negative connotation since the Reagan administration — to include public programs like Medicaid and SNAP (aka food stamps) as a way to vilify them. “This executive order perpetuates false and racist stereotypes about certain groups supposedly taking advantage of government assistance,” Reps. Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Barbara Lee of California said in a joint statement. (Klarize Medenilla/AJPress)
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Pacquiao on splitting with Roach: No final decision on trainer yet by Dana
SioSon AJPress
Filipino boxing champion Manny pacquiao clarified that he has not made any decisions on who will be his trainer for his upcoming fight against WBA welterweight champion lucas Matthysse yet. pacquiao made the clarification in a social media post on Monday, April 16, amid reports that he has cut ties with Freddie Roach, who’s been his trainer since 2001. “Contrary to statements which i personally did not make that are circulating in the media, i have not made my final decision who will be my head trainer for my July 14 (U.S. time) fight with (lucas) Matthysse,” pacquiao said. “My advisor Mike Koncz has been in contact with Freddie’s people to keep them informed. i will make a final decision within the week,” he added. in earlier interviews, Koncz told media that pacquiao has replaced Roach with Buboy Fernandez, the Filipino boxer’s lifelong friend and the career-long assistant trainer. According to Koncz, pacquiao
Coach Freddie Roach and Sen. Manny Pacquiao
“wasn’t very pleased” with some of Roach’s statements to the media during pacquiao’s fight against Jeff Horn in July last year in Brisbane, Australia. Roach, in response, said he did not hear personally from pacquiao about the split up, and was hurt by the news. “Manny and i had a great run for 16 years—longer than most marriages and certainly a rarity for boxing,” Roach said in a statement last week. “i wouldn’t trade any of it. inside the boxing ring and the po-
Philstar.com photo
litical ring, i wish Manny nothing but the best,” he added. “i would be lying if i didn’t say i wasn’t hurt that he didn’t contact me personally about his decision, but the great times we enjoyed together far outweigh that.” But pacquiao on Monday clarified that he has not made a final decision on who will be his trainer yet. “When that decision is made, Freddie will be the first one to be informed, and then i will advise the media,” the Filipino boxer added. n
Long Beach approves $2-million...
long Beach, asking the court to declare that they were immune Joe Sayas, co-counsel repre- from suit.” senting the family, said nguyen Saycon’s mother Ana luz Sayunloaded all eight bullets in his con, and father Khanly Saycon, .45 caliber within a period of filed a wrongful death suit after 7.28 seconds. the incident in 2016. The long “The gun had a total of eight Beach City Council voted to apbullets, and he unloaded every- prove the settlement on Decemthing — the entire clip,” Sayas ber 5, 2017. The settlement was told the Asian Journal. executed on March 6, 2018. The city does not admit any “All we want is our son, who wrongdoing in the settlement deserved to live,” said Saycon’s agreement. father. “While nothing can bring “it seemed to be a fair settle- him back to us, if this case saves ment for all parties and it en- even just one life by holding the abled us to resolve the matter police more accountable for how without… the need for trial and they treat people with mental illpotential greater financial expo- ness, that’s the most i can hope sure,” Deputy City Atty. How- for.” ard Russell told the Los Angeles Saycon came to the U.S. from Times. the philippines in 1985 and “The case was hard fought,” studied at Santa Monica High said Sayas. “This small bit of jus- school where he was an honor tice for the Saycon family came student and athlete, before atonly after a federal judge denied tending nearby Santa Monica a motion filed by the officers and College. He was diagnosed in PAGE A4
his early 20s with bipolar schizophrenia, his family said at a news conference back in 2016. Attorneys for the family also hope that the settlement will bring awareness to the need for better training of officers in dealing and interacting with individuals who are mentally disabled. “A settlement of this magnitude sends a message to the City and its officers that it must improve tactics and training for officers who detect and interact with persons affected by mental health disabilities, because mental illness is not a crime,” said Cindy pañuco, a counsel of the case. “This settlement will not bring back the life taken,” said Dan Stormer, an attorney who represented the family. “However, it testifies to the gravity of the case that the settlement is one of the largest in the City’s history for this type of suit.” n
BATTLING THE BLAZE. A fireman extinguishes flames that engulfed homes in Barangay Don Bosco, Parañaque City, on Monday, April 16. ManilaTimes.net photo by DJ Diosina
Emotional PNP chief Dela Rosa... PAGE A1 tated the use of reasonable force by our operatives, thus resulting in 207 deaths from these police operations.” “i am glad to take note of the responsiveness of the police Regional offices in heeding the call of the national leadership and the popular desire to rid our nation of the scourge of illegal drugs,” he added. Dela Rosa also remarked that the government’s anti-illegal
drugs campaign will not end with his retirement. “The commitment of the pnp in the illegal drugs campaign does not end with the retirement of Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa. Rather, we can expect more results-oriented operations under a new leadership that would infuse new blood into the campaign,” he said. Dela Rosa will formally turn over his post as the pnp chief to national Capital Region police office (nCRpo) Director oscar
Albayalde on April 18. Albayalde, meanwhile, vowed to do his best to “match, or even exceed” Dela Rosa’s performance. “The philippine national police chief that we will follow is very amiable and well-loved by the public. i may not be able to fill in his shoes but i will do my best to match, or even exceed the public’s expectation of him and his responsibility,” Albayalde said. n
DOT: Galaxy now seeking other venues... PAGE A1 iary bought a 23-hectare land in Barangay Manoc-Manoc, where the casino project is set to be constructed in 2019. The casino project is estimated to cost around $500 million or p25 billion. The plan to build a casino was met with opposition from government officials including, president Rordrigo Duterte, who had met with Galaxy executives in December 2017. last March, philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. granted Galaxy Entertainment Group a provisional license for the Boracay project despite ongoing talks of a temporary total closure of the top tourist destination over environmental concerns. Duterte: No casinos Duterte and presidential spokes-
person Harry Roque have both said that there will be no new casinos on the world-famous island. Duterte threatened to shut down Boracay two months after he met with Galaxy executives. They personally met the president in Malacañan last December to explain their plan to build an entertainment complex in Boracay. The Department of Environment and natural Resources also said the casino project might not get approval. on Tuesday, Sen. nancy Binay also called on the government gaming regulatory body to take back the provisional license it has granted to Galaxy. “Maybe it’s high time for pagcor to do their part para matapos to put an end to buzz about it… it’s creating that impression that
something [is] fishy with that contract,” Binay said in English and Filipino in an interview with Cnn’s “The Source”. The senator said pagcor should retract the license to spare the president from speculation. Binay, who also chairs the Senate committee on Tourism, said the casino project is questionable because it would not promote tourism. Binay clarified that she is not opposing the order to close Boracay for six months because she personally saw how the island needs “healing.” However, the senator said she is questioning the manner on how it was immediately decided. The senator said she hoped the government could have PAGE A7
A6 APRIL 18-20, 2018 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL
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OPINION
Humane treatment
FEATURES
THE situation has improved since the height of Oplan Tokhang. Back then the typical jail left no room even for a decent sleep. Inmates had to take turns to be able to sleep lying down in cells that were packed nearly all the way to the ceiling. The number of persons arrested or who surrendered in the drug war swelled the inmate population nationwide, overwhelming jails that were already filled to capacity even before the start of Tokhang. While being in jail is better than ending up in a ditch with your head wrapped in packing tape, with your wrists bound behind your back and a bullethole in your head, even crime suspects have a right to a modicum of humane treatment. And inmates can die a slow death in a congested jail. This week an inmate died at the crowded Pasay City Jail, reportedly from the heat. Jail custodians admitted that congestion worsened the poor ventilation in the facility. Video footage of the jail showed inmates half naked and still
looking like they needed air. The jail congestion can be horrific particularly for the innocent who are wrongly accused, whether in the drug war or other cases. But even the guilty and convicts deserve humane treatment. They are wards of the state, whose duty at the very least is to keep them alive and, as much as possible, away from abuse and harm in detention. Lawmakers must work with the executive to correct this sorry situation, by providing additional resources to the jail and corrections agencies. These are intrinsic elements of the criminal justice system. The public generally supports any campaign against criminality. The ongoing one must be backed by the needed detention facilities. (Philstar.com)
Editorial
Philstar.com photo
New US Supreme Court ruling saves Filipino immigrant from deportation DEPORTATION. This is perhaps The Fil-Am among the top stress- Perspective ors of kababayans in the United States, especially those who have already established new lives in GEL SANTOS-RELOS this adoptive country. The fear is real, not only among undocumented immigrants, but even among those who have already been granted green cards, also known as Permanent Resident Status. Green card holders are technically NOT citizens of the United States of America, and therefore do NOT enjoy the same protections from deportation as those who have already
naturalized. This is especially true under the Trump administration’s goal to deport undocumented immigrants and even limit legal immigration. Such policy is translated to how arrests are conducted and deportation cases are heard in immigration courts. We have heard heartbreaking stories of immigrants being deported, despite the fact that they have not committed any serious violent crimes, or do not pose any threat to the security of the United States of America. With the new ruling of the
Government of national unity AFTER most of our Godcentered thoughts during the Peacelast Holy Week, we felt there Maker is need today for new initiatives for peace, renewal, and development in our country, and what immediately comes FORMER SPEAKER to mind is to revive our old JOSE C. DE VENECIA, JR. proposal for a “Government of National Unity.” The other choice of other more extreme advisers is for President Duterte to declare a “Revolutionary Government.” A revolutionary government has its strategic uses but after a time, after goals are achieved at great cost, it is usually difficult for the Revolutionary Leader to disengage from authoritarian rule and return the nation to normalcy. Perhaps without seriously aiming to, in meandering thoughts, when he spoke on the eve of Holy Week, of re-establishing in effect diplomatic ties with the Liberal Party of Vice-President Leni Robredo, Mar Roxas, Frank Drilon, and Francis Pangilinan, former Vice-President Jojo Binay and his group, and other friends, the Villars, and other foes in the Nacionalista Party, etc., he was perhaps really thinking, why not be friends with everyone, with charity for all and malice towards none in the whole nation, which the Filipino people can only applaud and support. Anyway, the president has declared publicly he will stay only for one complete six-year Constitutional term. Under a largely conflict-free government of national unity, the president can then and should address the following: Finalize and implement a peace agreement in Mindanao with the MILF, while keeping the existing pact with the MNLF, start and complete the full-scale rebuilding of the devastated Marawi City, and finish off the diminished Abu Sayaf in Sulu and Basilan or to allow the least guilty to return to the fold of the law; Advance to the final stage the surrender of firearms and full demobilization by the New People’s Army and integrate some of their units into the Armed Forces and appointment of one or two of their leaders in the Cabinet; Complete the Constitutional process for the adoption of the Federal system of government nationwide; Negotiate and finalize an agreement with China and Vietnam for joint-exploration and development in the South China Sea to be followed by similar arrangements with Malaysia, and Brunei; Full-scale infrastructure building, mass-housing and agriculture development; and, Full-scale rehabilitation of the nation’s drug addicts. Obviously all these cannot be completed during President Duterte’s term. But full-scale development and industrialization with strategic economic dispersal in a decentralized system can begin and continued in earnest, accompanied by Constitutional reform as hopefully the various insurgencies come to an end and join the fold. We believe Items 1 to 6 are definitely achievable, not impossible and a Government of National Unity with everyone pitching in, is the key and we should all support it. ■
Supreme Court on one kababayan’s case, it may provide hope to many other immigrants fearing deportation. As we reported on The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” on Tuesday, April 17, the U.S. Supreme Court (SC) justices’ decision struck down a provision in federal immigration law that they consider “unconstitutionally vague,” and has spared Filipino James Garcia Dimaya from deportation. The surprising twist — the deciding vote was casted by Trump’s SC appointee Justice Neil Gorsuch. Dimaya legally immigrated from the Philippines to the United States and have lived in Northern Califor-
nia since 1992. He was set to be deported because he pleaded guilty twice to residential burglary, and an immigration judge decided this to be a crime of violence. The Supreme Court ruled on April 17 that home burglary was clearly NOT the kind of crime of violence that would justify deportation, effectively eliminating a federal immigration law that calls for mandatory deportation for non-citizens, including long-time permanent lawful residents, who are convicted of “aggravated felony.” Legal analysts say that this SC ruling could limit the Trump administration’s deportation enforcement efforts.
An attorney for Dimaya said in a statement to the media, “The Supreme Court delivered a resounding message today: You can’t banish a person from his home and family without clear lines, announcing up front.” The rule of law is still working in the United States. Kudos to Justice Gorsuch for his judicial independence in this ruling. *** Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective. com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos. Relos
It was Aquino, not Duterte, whom Cambridge Analytica ‘helped’ become president AN article published recently in the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) that claimed that a sister company of the controversial Cambridge Analytica helped President Duterte win the 2016 elections by advising him to adopt a tough crime-fighter branding turns out to be the perfect example of fake news, maliciously and deliberately contrived. Rappler.com delighted in the fake news, and echoed it by posting an article that claimed that for this task, Cambridge Analytica used “Facebook data of 1.1 million Filipinos.” The SCMP article had a sarcastic title: “How Cambridge Analytica’s parent company helped ‘man of action’ Rodrigo Duterte win the 2016 Philippine election.” The truth is the exact opposite: It was former President Benigno S. Aquino 3rd whom the Cambridge Analytica’s affiliate Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) advised to adopt a tough crime-fighter branding. SCMP should apologize for publishing the article contributed by one Raissa Robles, whom it should ban from ever writing for the newspaper for deliberately writing falsehoods to feed her Yellow, anti-Duterte obsession, not just in this case but in several articles there in the past. (Jack Ma of the online shopping behemoth Alibaba Group who bought SCMP two years ago should fire its editors, imbued for so long with outlooks servile to the West.) In her article, Robles, a unpaid blogger most of her working time, claimed that SCL “boasted in its website that it helped get Duterte elected in 2016 by rebranding him as a tough crime fighter.” The SCL didn’t even identify Duterte, and the blogger’s sole basis for this was a post in its website, with its image in her
article: “Facing national elections, the incumbent client was widely perceived as kind and honorable — qualities his campaign team thought were potentially election-winning. By contrast, SCL’s research showed that many groups within the electorate were more likely to be swayed by qualities such as ‘tough” and ‘decisive. Using the cross-cutting issue of crime, SCL rebranded the client as a strong, non-nonsense man of action.’ To hint that SCL even tried to hide its help for Duterte, the blogger claimed that SCL removed the “website content about the 2016 election, although archived versions are still visible in the internet.” Even as the “strong, non-sense man of action” would seem to be Duterte, the SCL wasn’t referring to the 2016 but to the 2010 elections, when he was still Davao mayor and not in his wildest dreams had he thought he’d be president. The indisputable proof that the SCL was referring to the 2010 elections is the brochure that was posted was dated 2013. The Wayback Machine where the blogger got the brochure also had a time-stamp that showed that it was posted on November 15, 2013. (The nonprofit Wayback Machine, since 2001, has been preserving and making available to the public web content, even if these are deleted by its producers.) That there is absolutely no doubt that SCL was referring to the 2010 elections is proven in another SCL web content posted September 26, 2010 that read: “SCL Elections [the name of the SCL unit]was asked to run the election campaign for a presidential candidate; this included managing all aspects of the campaign including research, strategy and output over a seven-month period. SCL Elections successfully
recommendawon the elections for Aquition for their Commentary candidate.” no’s campaign After 2013 strategy. and through The Aquinos 2016, SCL no have been big longer reported believers of the Philippines foreign politias a client. Only RIGOBERTO TIGLAO cal consulting Kenya, South groups, as it Africa, India, Thailand and In- was a pioneer in this field, the donesia were its international U.S.-based Sawyer Miller that clients. engineered Cory’s extremely Either Robles was stupen- successful PR in the fight against dously stupid, or deliberately Marcos that led to the EDSA reignored the time stamps on the volt. I was told that it was the SCL’s posts which showed that it firm’s close-in adviser to Cory for was impossible that Duterte was this, the British Malloch Brown its client. She even wove a web (also Smartmatic chairman) who of lies by claiming that former recommended SCL, owned by SCL executive Alexander Nix his countrymen, to Aquino. had met with now PCOO underDespite SCL’s boast that it secretary Joel Egco, whom she won the presidency for Aquino, hinted was Duterte’s link with the “branding” it recommended the firm. for him as a tough crime-fighter That is so totally absurd, but so wasn’t adopted by his campaign typical of this travesty of a jour- camp. Obviously, it was inane nalist. Egco was president of the advice, as it would have been National Press Club, and he met like rebranding a Forest Gump Nix when the latter gave a talk into a Dirty Harry. on the role of mobile phone texThe Yellow Cult adopted a ting in elections. more effective branding stratEgco, who was a senior re- egy: Ninoy as the son of Saint porter of this newspaper, got to Cory. The Yellows ridiculed join the government only in the SCL’s advice so that no party in course of the NPC’s lobbying for the 2016 elections thought of the government to include the contracting it. press organization’s representaIronically, it was Duterte who tives in its efforts to prevent more for decades had that Dirty Harry killings of journalists. I met Egco branding, which he exploited hen I was also Manila Times to the hilt in the 2016 elections. editorial consultant, and my im- For that blogger to claim that a pression then was he was even British, U.S.-based firm recomcritical of Duterte. How could he mended that kind of image is the be such an insider that he would height of colonial mentality. Or be the liaison with SCL? depths of inanity. My sources in the Aquino camp This episode though is as hialleged that it was his cousin larious as in a comedy where a Rapa Lopa, formerly president sycophantic servant strives to of polling firm Pulse Asia who please his master, only to end contracted the SCL’s services, up shooting him in the foot. With which cost P50 million, paid in this fake SCL article, Aquino dollars, shouldered allegedly by and the Yellow Cult are again another cousin, they tycoon An- revealed to have stupidly spent tonio Cojuangco, Jr. Lopa asked huge amounts of money to buy Yolanda Ong of Campaigns and vapid advice from foreigners. Grey, to implement the SCL’s (ManilaTimes.net)
The views expressed by our Op-Ed contributors are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the predilection of the editorial board and staff of Asian Journal.
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LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • ApRIL 18-20, 2018
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‘I take full responsibility’: Robredo sorry for Holocaust Memorial photo MANILA — Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday, April 17, apologized for the controversial photo of her and some opposition party mates at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany. Acknowledging the point of critics who found their photo inappropriate, Robredo said there was no excuse for it. She is also sorry if it has offended anyone. “While there was no malice in it, I take full responsibility, so I would like to apologize for whatever offense to the sensitivities of the people it caused,” she added. Robredo and a number of lawmakers of the Liberal Party were called out by netizens for being “insensitive,” “disrespectful” and “stupid” by posing and smiling in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe also known as the Holocaust Memorial. The vice president is the chairperson of the LP. Other Philippine officials seen in the photo were Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte (Quezon City, 6th District), Rep. Teddy Baguilat Jr. (Ifugao) Rep. Miro Quimbo (Marikina City), Rep. Jorge Banal (Quezon City, 3rd District), Rep. Kaka Bag-ao (Dinagat) and former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad. Baguilat, who posted the photo on social media and eventually deleted it had apologized for
Vice Pres. Leni Robredo
the slip-up. He said he and his companions did not intend to demean the memorial. “We, as human rights advocates, fully understand the plight experienced by Jews under the Nazis and we would be the last to disrespect their memory in the same way that we condemn injustice anywhere in the world, including our own country,” the solon said on Twitter. Despite the backlash, the memorial’s Rules of Conduct for the Field of Stelae do not prohibit taking pictures at the site. The memorial “[honors and remembers] the up to six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.” The LP legislators visited the memorial following a study tour for poverty alleviation in Berlin. Robredo last Sunday also de-
Philstar.com photo
nied the accusations that she spent taxpayers’ money for her trip to Germany last week. She clarified that the trip was “fully financed” by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. The vice president said the foundation hosts study visits for leaders in developing countries to give them the opportunity to dialogue with officials and key figures. In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte also drew flak when he compared his anti-drug campaign to the Holocaust. “[Adolf] Hitler massacred three million Jews... There’s three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” he said. The Nazi leader actually massacred around six million Jews, as well as other minorities. (Philstar.com)
Sen. Binay signs draft Dengvaxia... PAGE A2 “Aquino, Garin, Abad and other officials are primary conspirators and must be held criminally liable… and must be prosecuted for all the tragedy, damage and possible deaths resulting from the Dengvaxia mass vaccination program,” the draft report stated. Aside from Binay, Senate
Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Senators JV Ejercito, Gregorio Honasan II, and Juan Miguel Zubiri, also reportedly signed the draft report. Senators Leila de Lima and Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, expressed against the signing the draft committee report, describing it as Gordon’s attack against Aquino.
“The Gordon Report is as malicious as it is pre-ordained. It is made-to-order in accordance with Gordon’s political agenda,” De Lima said in a handwritten statement. Lacson, for his part, claimed Gordon was supposedly “directing the investigation to suit the outcome that he had desired from the very start.” n
DOT: Galaxy now seeking other venues... PAGE A5 waited a while before it announced the shutdown because there are tourists who booked a trip a year and the announcement of island closure made few weeks before their trips may hinder them from coming back to the country.
Inventory of islands pushed The Department of Tourism earlier said tourists may wish to explore other travel destinations in the country. However, Binay fears that this may just transfer environmental problems to other islands. Due to this, Binay is proposing
an inventory of the tourist destinations in the country to determine each island’s carrying capacity and capability. “This is to know if we’re really ready to absorb X number of tourists,” Binay said, citing that local government units should have master plans for tourism. n
NO ENDO IN SIGHT. Activists hold a protest in front of the Department of Labor and Employment office in Manila to press for the signing of an executive order banning the practice of ‘endo’ or end of contract, five-month renewable contracts issued to workers so that employers will not have to regularize them on the sixth month under the law. ManilaTimes.net photo by DJ Diosina
ConCom wants CHR elevated to a constitutional body by Bernadette
e. tamayo
ManilaTimes.net
VOTING 16-1-1, the Consultative Committee (ConCom) tasked to review the 1987 Constitution on Monday voted to elevate the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to a constitutional body. However, the ConCom clarified that it was not inclined to give it prosecutorial powers. The ConCom chairman, former chief justice Reynato Puno, said the elevation of the CHR to the level of constitutional body was “consistent with our desire to expand its coverage to include the socioeconomic and environmental rights which are to be enshrined in the Bill of Rights, and to include non-state (private) actors, as well in its jurisdiction.” “With the expansion of its coverage, there is also a need to expand its membership to include, among others, the suggestion of Senator Nene Pimentel to have a representative of the indigenous peoples, whose environmental and sociocultural rights are an issue in many cases,” he said. “The inclusion of a representative of the marginalized sector is also necessary because the socioeconomic rights are for the benefit of the poor and marginalized sector of society,” Puno said. In an earlier radio interview, Puno said the change in the mandate of the CHR was intended also to “correct the misconception that only State (government) actors
violate human rights.” “The mandate of the CHR will be changed. First, our fellowmen believe that the CHR only runs after government forces who violate human rights. But that is wrong—even civil and political rights should be covered,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English. It is indeed true that at first its objective is to run after the government because the intention is to protect the people against government interference,” Puno said. “But if you will see the evolution of rights, even political and civil rights, it is not only the government commits violations—even non-State actors.” When it comes to the protection of socioeconomic rights and environmental rights, it is clear that the violators are non-state actors, the former Supreme Court chief said. ConCom spokesman Ding Generoso said the body’s proposal to transform the CHR into a constitutional body was “intended to enhance the CHR’s fiscal autonomy.” “It does not, however, include the grant of prosecutorial powers. The elevation of the CHR to the level of a constitutional body would also involve strengthening its investigative powers and expanding membership to include representatives from, among others, the marginalized sector, indigenous peoples and environmental advocates,” he said.
During his presentation of CHR’s mandate before ConCom on April 3, CHR Chairman Jose Luis Martin Gascon said that “human rights institutions “are supposed to be either constitutional or legislatively mandated bodies with the goal of protecting and promoting human rights; they are part of the State apparatus and are necessarily funded by the State.” “They should be pluralist in composition. There should be diverse representation from all sectors of society as well as reflective of its staff,” Gascon said. Those who voted in favor of converting the CHR into a constitutional body were Puno, retired justices Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Bienvenido Reyes; lawyers Arthur Aguilar, Antonio Arellano, Ali Pangalian Balindong, Roan Libarios, Martin Loon, Susan Ubalde-Ordinario, Randolf Parcasio, Rodolfo Robles, Lawrence Wacnang; professors Eddie Alih and Edmund Tayao; Dr. Virglio Bautista; and former dean Julio Teehankee. Former Senate president Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. inhibited himself from voting because his daughter, Gwendolyn PimentelGana, is a CHR commissioner. Lawyer Ferdinand Bocobo was the only one who voted “no.” Absent during the voting were lawyers Victor de la Serna and Reuben Canoy as well as Fr. Ranhilio Aquino. n
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LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL • APRIL 18-20, 2018
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Remittance growth seen higher for February by Mayvelin
U. Caraballo ManilaTimes.net
MONEY sent home via banks by migrant Filipinos likely posted double-digit growth in February, banking giant HSBC said. “We expect a sequential uptick of remittances in February following a decline in the previous month due to the holidays. This should lead to sharp rise of 14.7 percent year-on-year,” HSBC said. The forecast us higher than the 3.4 percent seen a year earlier and the 9.7 percent recorded in January. Cash remittances hit a twomonth low of $2.379 billion in January. These make up the bulk of personal remittances, which also hit a two-month low of $2.655 billion. Official remittance data for
February is scheduled to be released today by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. “Remittances from most regions have expanded at a robust pace thus far, led by higher shipments from Asia and the Americas,” HSBC said. Money sent from the United States, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Japan, Qatar, Canada, Kuwait and Germany comprised more than 80 percent of total cash remittances in January. Overall, HSBC said that it expected remittances to grow at a faster rate this year after nothching a below-trend pace in 2017. Cash remittances reached $31.3 billion for full-year 2017, 5.3 percent higher compared to the prior year and also topping the Bangko Sentral’s 4.0-percent forecast. n
Finance chief touts dev’t strategy by Ma. lisbet
K. esMael
ManilaTimes.net
THE Philippine government’s development strategy for alternative growth is particularly suited for the central theme of this year’s Asian Development Bank (ADB) meeting this year, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III claimed on Friday, April 13. The ADB’s “Manila 2018” event, which will run from May 3 to 6 and is expected to bring about 4,500 delegates to the Philippines, carries the theme “Linking People and Economies for Inclusive Development.” “We are uniquely positioned to lead deliberations on this theme,” Dominguez said in a press conference. “The Duterte administration has embarked on a program of
Photo courtesy of dov.gov.ph
reform to shift our economic expansion from being consumption-led to one that is investments-led,” he added. Dominguez, who is this year’s chairperson of the ADB Board of Governors, said the Philippines was championing an inclusive growth agenda by investing in alternative growth areas outside Metro Manila. He said that for example, three flagship infrastructure
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Economic managers see PH’s sustained growth “The domestic economy has experienced sustained uninterrupted expansion for the past 76 consecutive quarters. This growth has been increasingly broad-based, thereby creating more opportunities across all segments of society,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said. Philstar file photo by lawrenCe
agCaoili Philstar.com
MONETARY and fiscal authorities are optimistic about the sustained growth and development of the Philippines in the next six years. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. told participants of the second leg of the Philippine Economic Briefing the country is seen booking strong
past 76 consecutive quarters. This growth has been increasingly broad-based, thereby creating more opportunities across all segments of society,” he said. The country’s GDP expanded at a slower pace of 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter from seven percent in the third quarter, bringing the full year growth at 6.7 percent in 2017. Economic managers penned a GDP growth of between seven and eight percent over the
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Brewing trade war may indirectly impact PH – Pernia by Mary
graCe Philstar.com
Padin
THE brewing trade war between China and the U.S. could indirectly impact the Philippines’ economy as it poses a threat to the country’s export sector, the government’s economic managers said last Friday, April 13. In an interview, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said a possible trade war between two economic powerhouses may dampen global economic
FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS Madaba, Mt. Nebo, Petra, Aqaba, Jordan
(Tiberias, Ceasarea, Haifa, Meggido,Magdala, Nazareth, Cana, Mt Carmel, Capernaum, Mt. Beatitude, Jericho, Bethany, Mt.Tabor, Mount Zion, Mt. of Olives, Old & New Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Qumran, Masada Dead Sea, Allen by Bridge, Madaba, Mt Nebo Petra, Aqaba Jordan)
OCTOBER 18 to NOVEMBER 1, 2018 SPIRITUAL CHAPLAIN: REV. ANTONIO FLORES Oct. 18, 2018( Thursday) Day 1 – MNL HKG, TEL AVIV, ISRAEL Oct. 25, 2018 (Thursday) Day 8 - Jerusalem Trans-Atlantic flight from LAX to Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv, Mass at the Holy Eucharist Church of St Peter in Gallicantu “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us...” (John 1:14) Israel. (Meals served in-flight) We will walk to view the Dome of the Rock from the outside, and visit the Oct. 18, 2018 (Friday) Day 1 – Arrive at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv/ Western Wall, ( Wailing Wall ) the only part of the Herodian Temple still Tiberias standing and the most sacred place in the world for Jews. Then, we will Arrival from Manila still Oct. 18,2018 late in the evening. After we clear drive to Mt. Zion, to visit the Upper Room, revered as the site of the Last Immigration and Customs, will be met by our driver for transfer to tiberias . Supper, then survey the Dormition Abbey, and the Church of St. Peter in enjoy the panoramic view of the Mediterranean. We will spend our first night Gallicantu, the site where Peter denied Jesus three times. After the day’s in Tiberias. Dinner and overnight (D). Gai Beach Hotel (Oct. 19, 2018) Holy tour, we will return to our hotel for dinner and overnight. Jerusalem (B, D) Eucharist Notre Dame Vatican Hotel Oct. 20, 2018 (Saturday) Day 3 - Tiberias/ Meggido/ Nazareth/ Cana / Oct. 26, 2018 (Friday) Day 9 - Mount of Olives/Gethsemane/Bethlehem/ Mt Tabor Jerusalem (New City)/Ein Karem We will have short stop in Meggido and the Plains of Armageddon, known in Mass at the Church of Nativity Hebrew as Meggido, a giant fortress and City built by King Solomon. In the New “O mountain of God, receive me, a mother, with my child.” (Protoevangelium Testament book of Revelation, it is referred as the sites of the “final battle”. of James 22:3) From there, we will continue our drive into Nazareth, where we will have Mass We will arrive at the Mount of Olives, to enjoy another view of Jerusalem, in the Church of the Annunciation, the Cave of the Annunciation and visit the Chapel of Ascension, Pater Noster Church and the Dominus visit Joseph’s Workshop and Then we will move on to Cana of Galilee, where Flevit (“God wept”) sanctuary. Next, we’ll walk the Palm Sunday Road to the Our Lord performed His first miracle: changing water into wine at the wedding Garden of Gethsemane, and visit the Rock of Agony and the Church of feast. We will invite couples to Bless their marriage vows, Continue to Mount all Nations. In the afternoon, we’ll drive to Bethlehem, a city whose name is Tabor, site of Jesus Transfiguration Afterward, we will head to Tiberias. Dinner recognized around the world. After celebrating Mass at the Church of Nativity, and overnight in Tiberias. (B/D).Gai Beach Hotel. we will see the Manger; visit the Church of St. Catherine, the Grotto of St. Oct. 21, 2018 (Sunday) Day 4 - Tiberias/Mount Beatitude/ Multiplication / Primacy/ Capernum/Boat Ride “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Early AM departures to Mt. Beatitude Drive up to Mount Beatitudes, visit the site of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus preached to the people. Eucharistic Celebration. Enjoy a scenic boat ride across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, home of Our Lord during his ministry. After visiting the Synagogue where he taught, proceed to Tabgha, the site of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Then to the Church Primacy of St Peters. Overnight Magdala ( BB, D)
Jerome and the Shepherds’ Fields. Then we will return to Jerusalem (New City), to view the Temple Model to see how it looked during the time of Jesus. Here, we will gain a better understanding between the old and new cities of Jerusalem. Up next is a trip to Ein Karem, birthplace of St. John the Baptist, to see the Visitation Church, where Mary proclaimed her famous “Magnificat”. We will end our day by returning to our Hotel. (B/D).
Oct. 23, 2018 (Tuesday) DAY 6 - Jordan Valley/Jericho/Bethany/ Jerusalem Mass at the Church of St. Lazarus MAGDALA, Israel – 2009 Discoveries from a new archaeological dig are creating excitement in the area where Jesus began his ministry. The village is called Magdala (Migdal in Hebrew), and it’s the home of Mary Magdalene.”She lived here and she met Jesus here and she continued with Him. Yes, it’s that place The most important discovery in Magdala has been a synagogue dating back to the time of Jesus. According to archaeologists, it’s the first one discovered in the Galilee.
famous mosaic map of the Holy Land. Then we will drive down to Aqaba. Overnight in Aqaba (B/D). Movenpick Resort & Residence.
Oct. 27, 2018 (Saturday) Day 10 - Jerusalem/ Dead Sea/ Qumran/ Masada Mass at the Church of all Nations After breakfast, we will celebrate mass at the Church of all Nations and then we will drive to Dead Sea, the lowest spot on earth. Visit Qumran; see the Oct. 22, 2018 (Monday) Day 5 - Magdala Full day retreat , Focus will Include programs based on the historical caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. Continue to Masada, visit Herod’s fortress and the Jew’s last stronghold against the Roman. Return to and Religious value of the Magdala sites Jerusalem for dinner and Overnight (B, D) More info coming up as we get closer to the dates MAGDALA, Israel – 2009 Discoveries from a new archaeological dig are Oct. 28, 2018 (Sunday) Day11 - Jerusalem/Allenby Bridge/Madaba/ creating excitement in the area where Jesus began his ministry. The village is Jordan/Mt. Nebo/ Aqaba called Magdala (Migdal in Hebrew), and it’s the home of Mary Magdalene.”She Mass at Mount Nebo lived here and she met Jesus here and she continued with Him. Yes, it’s On this day, we head to Allenby Bridge and cross into Jordan. We will go to that place The most important discovery in Magdala has been a synagogue the Baptismal Site at Bethany, which Pope John Paul II visited in 2000. dating back to the time of Jesus. According to archaeologists, it’s the first one Then, it’s on to Mount Nebo, where Moses viewed the Promised Land. Our discovered in the Galilee. next stop will be the Church of St. George in Madaba, which hosts the
Oct. 24, 2018 ( Wednesday) Day 7 - Jerusalem (Old City)/Via Dolorosa/ Mount Zion Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher “And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.” (John 19:17) We will enter the Old City of Jerusalem and will follow the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) and say the Station of the Cross to the holiest shrine in Christendom, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, visit Golgotha and the Tomb of Our Lord. After mass, we return to the hotel for breakfast. After breakfast, we will enter the Old City, sing a hymn in the Church of St. Anne and view the Pool of Bethesda. Then we will visit the Chapel of Flagellation, Lithostratos (where the soldiers played the Game of Kings) and the Arch of the “Ecce Homo”. Dinner/Overnight Notre Dame Vatican hotel
gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the next few years despite the challenges and risks in the horizon. Espenilla cited the country’s broadening growth drivers, higher potential growth of the economy, bullish investor and consumer sentiment, favorable inflation environment as well as ample liquidity and strong credit dynamics. “The domestic economy has experienced sustained uninterrupted expansion for the
Oct 29, 2018 (Monday) Day 12 - Aqaba/Petra Mass at Stella Maris Church – Aqaba After breakfast, we will journey through the Siq, until we get our first glimpse of the Khazneh (Treasury). Then will we walk down to visit the Temple and view the many caves all around the Theater. At the end of the tour, we will drive back to Aqaba for overnight and dinner (B/D). Movenpick Resort & Residence Oct. 30, 2018 (Tuesday) Day 13 - Aqaba/ Jerusalem We Cross the Jordanian Border to return to Jerusalem. Dinner/Overnight Oct. 31, 2018 (Wednesday) Day 14 - Jerusalem /Yad Vashem Museum/ TLV/ LAX After breakfast, we will visit the Yad Vashem Museum,is Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the dead; honoring Jews who fought against their Nazi oppressors and Gentiles who selflessly aided Jews in need; and researching the phenomenon of the Holocaust in particular and genocide in general, with the aim of avoiding such events in the future. After the Western Wall, Yad Vashem is the second-most-visited Israeli tourist site. Return to the hotel for lunch and relaxation in preparation for our return flight back to the USA after early dinner will be transferred to the airport for flight Oct 31, 2018 8:45 PM departure from TLV End of Our Memorable Pilgrimage to Jesus Home Land!!!
growth, therefore diminishing the import capacity of the Philippines’ trade partners. “In the Philippines, there’s no (direct) impact. We are not exporting aluminum or iron or steel. So the impact would be indirect,” Pernia said on the sidelines of the Philippine Economic Briefing in Clark, Pampanga. “If it’s a full blown trade war between two superpowers, it’s going to diminish the global economic growth, meaning our exports market will be less inclined to import our products. It will hurt their importing ca-
Philstar file photo
pacity,” he said. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez also expressed concern amid the developments in the U.S. and China. He warned there would be no winners in
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Marian Pilgrimage France, Spain & Portugal September 8 to September 21, 2018 Spiritual Director: rev. John Duy nguyen Still one of the great pilgrimages shrines in the world, visited by thousands of pilgrim’s. Arrive in Lourdes in the late afternoon, orientation to the shrines and spends some time in the sanctuary. Dinner & overnight. Sept. 9, 2018 - (Sunday) Day 2 - Paris (CDG) Arrived Paris CDG, Then after we clear immigration and collect our (BB, D) Luggage,. you will proceed to your hotel and have mass and dinner. Sept. 15, 2018 - (Saturday) Day 8 - Lourdes Overnight in Paris. (D) You will have early morning bath at the healing water of Lourdes. Then return to the hotel for breakfast. There after attend Holy Mass Sept. 10, 2018 - (Monday) Day 3 - Paris Paris is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, also at the Grotto. continue the day with a walking tour of the shrines and known as the City of Light. Full day touring with local guide, including places associated with the life of St. Bernadette. Spend some time visit of the Eiffel tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Basilica of Sacre meditating on the passion of our Lord through more than life size Coeur, The chapel of the Miraculous Medal in Rue de Bac is the site exotic way of the sacrament and prayers. Afternoon will be free time of Marian Apparitions and contain the reliquaries of St. Catherine for private devotion. Dinner/overnight (BB, D) Laboure and St. Louise De Marillac. The shrine of St. Vincent the Paul is within walking distance, a few blocks from Rue De Bac, visit Sept. 16, 2018 - (Sunday) Day 9 - Lourdes / Zaragoza the chapel which houses the relic of St. Vincent the Paul. Overnight After Breakfast, you’ll continue your drive towards Zaragoza, Spain. Visit the shrines of Our Lady of Pillar, the 2nd most popular in Paris (BB/D) pilgrimages sites in Spain. See the Magnificent altar in the Basilica, built on site where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the apostles Sept. 11, 2018 - (Tuesday) Day 4 - Paris/Lisieux After breakfast, Full day in Lisieux, home of St Therese, who at age St. James, before her assumption into heaven. Dinner/overnight 15, entered the convent and became Carmelite nun, she took the Zaragoza (BB, D) religious name of St Therese of the child Jesus and the Holy face. The spirituality of her little ways was not about extraordinary things, but Sept. 17, 2018 - (Monday) Day 10 - Zaragoza / Salamanca rather about doing simple things of life well and with extraordinary After breakfast you will embark on a trip to Salamanca. You will have love. She believed and taught that “Everything is Grace”, God’s face a short stop and panoramic tour of Avila. Upon arrival in Salamanca, and presence could be experienced in every person and situation of you will visit the Old Cathedral and tour the city. Dinner /overnight our lives, if we just attend with love and expectancy. She died at the Salamanca (BB, D) age of 24 believing that her life was really the beginning for God, promising to spend her heaven doing good on earth, her promised” Sept. 18, 2019 - (Tuesday) Day 11 - Salamanca / Fatima shower of Roses” began and have become a torrent in the church After Breakfast, you will spend the first half of the day touring ever since. Return to Paris, Dinner in a restaurant near the hotel. Salamanca. You will visit the new cathedral with a short stop at Plaza Mayor for lunch. After lunch you will continue to Fatima, the Overnight in Lisieux (BB, D) famous Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. Upon arrival you will have a Sept. 12, 2018 - (Wednesday) Day 5 - Lisieux / Nevers / Paray- short orientation tour of the Sanctuary. Attend the nightly Candlelight procession at the Shrine. Dinner and Overnight Fatima (BB, D) Le-Monial After Breakfast, Continue your drive to the picturesque Loire valley to Nevers, visit the convent of St. Gillard, where St. Bernadette’s Sept. 19, 2018 - (Wednesday) Day 12 - Fatima incorrupt body miraculously preserved since her death in 1879. Breakfast, then Visit the Museum dedicated to the Blessed Virgin At the conclusion of the eighteen apparitions of the Virgin Mary Mary followed by Mass at the Apparitions chapel, Full day Guided in Lourdes, St. Bernadette lived for 12 years as a member of the tours includes the Shrines ground, visit of the tombs of Francisco congregation of the sisters of charity of Nevers. St Gildard convent and Jacinta in the Basilica, In Aljustrel and Valinhos, you see the is her final resting place. After she was blessed with the apparitions two homes of the shepherds, site of Our Lady’s fourth apparitions. of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes, St. Bernadette retired in Nevers. She Stop at the Parish church where the seers were baptized, and the received her religious habit in 1866. Continue to Paray-Le-Monial for cemetery where Francisco and Jacinta were once buried. You will do the station of the Cross. We encourage everyone to spend some time Dinner & Overnight (BB, D) in the Blessed Sacrament, which is open every day. Dinner/overnight Fátima. (BB, D) Sept. 13, 2018 - (Thursday) Day 6 - Paray-Le-Monial After Breakfast, you will tour Paray-Le-Monial. Your first stop is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and here you will celebrate Holy Sept. 20, 2018 - (Thursday) Day 13 - Fatima / Lisbon Eucharist. Then you will tour and admire the Romanesque basilica After breakfast ,you will proceed to Lisbon with stops at Santarem and see the Chapel of Apparitions. After the Basilica, you will proceed to visit the church of the Holy Miracle containing the Glorious to the Monastere e la Visitation. Visit the reliquary of Saint Margaret 13th century Eucharistic Miracle of Santarem .Then you will do a Mary of Alocoque at the Chapel of Visitation. Still to see and visit after panoramic city tour of Lisbon, with a visit to the Basilica of St Anthony lunch is the Park of the Chaplain and the Chapel of St. Colombiere. de Padua, St Jeronimo’s Monastery and the famous Belem Tower. Dinner/Overnight Lisbon (BB, D) Dinner & Overnight (BB, D) Sept. 8, 2018 - (Saturday) Day 1 USA/PARIS Transatlantic flight from USA to Paris (CDG )Meals serve on board.
Sept. 14, 2018 - (Friday) Day 7 - Paray-Le-Monial / Lourdes Sept. 21, 2018 - (Friday) - Early AM transfer to Lisbon After breakfast you will continue your pilgrimage to Lourdes. Lourdes, Airport for flight home to USA celebrating 160 Years of apparitions of Blessed Virgin to Bernadette. Full of wonderful memories of Our Pilgrimage
B APRIL 18-20, 2018 • LA MIDWEEK ASIAN JOURNAL
Business news
Competition commission orders explanation on Uber’s shutdown despite order by Audrey
MorAllo Philstar.com
THE Philippines’ anti-trust agency on Monday ordered two ride-hailing service companies to explain why they failed to continue operating Uber’s platform as it reviewed the deal that would see its Southeast Asian business gobbled up by rival Grab. Uber on Sunday, April 15, announced that its app would not be available in the Philippines starting Monday, April 16, and advised its clients to download Grab’s app to book their rides. This announcement came despite the order of the Philippine Competition Commission for Uber to continue its operations while it reviewed Grab’s acquisition of its rival. Uber’s Philippine operations were supposed to shut down on April 8. “The parties are given until April 17 to explain why they have failed to continue operating the platform, as required in the Interim Measures Order,” the Philippine anti-trust office said in a statement. PCC said that it would continue its review of the potential effects on competition of the merger of Grab and Uber which was expected to lead to the former’s dominance of 93 percent of the ride-hailing market. “When a big player buys out its competitor, there will be many economic and legal factors
Immigrant Living: 101 and Beyond
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Garden lessons
nature in his own sphere of influence. In many ways, gardening is Monette like praying. It keeps fears and AdevA MAglAyA anxieties at bay and keeps one centered in the belief that all SPRING is here and the earth things in the cosmos work tobeckons. The rains came this gether for good. I was and still am a reluctant year, sometimes with the intensity of a freight train, sometimes gardener. I was thrust into it rain so fine and gentle, it feels by circumstances since I have like a caress on your face, a silent a thing about not wanting anybenediction from the heavens. Either way, we got a really good dousing. Thank God for this tender mercy. Spring is a time of favor. The gardener at heart tunes out all dire predictions of doom and gloom we get in spades from our immediate environment or from nasty thing dying on my shift. I had to agenda-driven mass media. So seek books and advice despite cut the cable. Turn off the re- the frenetic schedule of a workamote or SIMPLY UNPLUG. You day world as I multitasked my might be surprised at the posi- way through the day. Nothing I tive effects of reclaiming your did seemed right at the time. I tended to over water not knowlife back from social media. The realist in us thinks there ing about the dangers of root is reason to be anxious with just rot. My track record at growing about everything under the sun. But the true gardener at heart things was dismal, yet I have ofremains unfazed. Cool, calm and ten wondered what it would be collected, he chooses to live in like to watch something grow. I that rare state of grace called marveled at my mother’s green thumb. She can stick a seemequanimity. It must come from the zen-like ingly lifeless stump at a clump of peace one gets when one gar- earth and grow a new beautiful dens, even if it is simply tending plant nearly every time. I wasn’t one to give up easa single potted plant on an office desk. Doing what must be done ily though. Tenaciously, dogin the garden is his small way of gedly I hung on to an image of keeping the delicate balance of me as a confident gardener. My education on the art and science of growing things had begun. I took baby steps and stumbled countless times. I still do. I became quieter within as I began to observe and seek to understand the process of growth, the seasons and the cycle of life. I read voraciously volumes upon volumes about plants and watched public television that featured gardening. Nurseries and gardens have become my favorite haunts where I could ask those who knew better. I boned up on my rusty, halting Spanish quizzing the gardener as best I could. Finally, I slammed on the brakes fearing I had become boringly, compulsively obsessive. But I found that unless I got down on the ground myself, nothing happened. I have discovered gardening to be a quiet, solitary pursuit somewhat fit for hermits and loners — unglamorous, unexciting, backbreaking, time consuming, manual, icky, down in the dirt labor that was certainly not meant for immediate gratification. So, why do it at all? I don’t really know. Must be borderline idiocy. Of course, I speak only for myself. For one thing, it teaches you the patience of Job and the virtue of humility. I have failed more than succeeded and am still working on it. But as time passed, I have been encouraged by modest results. I became synchronized with the seasons and their gentle nuances. I took baby steps and was off and running at one point I could call most plants by name these days and seem to instinctively know what to do when a problem arises. If things don’t work on my own accord, I seek help. I still am a failure with azaleas. Azaleas have been dying on my shift so I am staying away from them. I suspect it has
something to do with the amount of light and too much water that has drenched the soil because of an unusually wetter, longer winter season. I said goodbye too to a beautiful sago palm that must have suffered root rot. Farewell too to a French lavender bush that gave me so much fragrance. The garden gets a lot of shade being in a Northwest orientation so I am quite alright with the fact that I will never have roses which I would love to have but can’t. Believe me, I tried. So I just admire them in my neighbors’ gardens with a southeast orientation. My journey to self-discovery has been made easier by understanding the process of nature, the seasons and the nature of things: of why a seed no matter how good cannot grow in a certain type of soil; or how a young tree cannot grow in the shadow of a mighty oak; or of how much light a plant needs to burst with flowers, of the impeccable timing and the cycle of the seasons that are in God’s perfect divine order like a well rehearsed dance or a Beethoven symphony; of why you must resist moving a plant from a place where it is growing so well to another place simply to satisfy a whim or a feng shui decorating principle; when and where to prune, of knowing when to water by sticking a finger in the soil or noting the droop of the leaves; or the merits of clay pots and plastic pots; of when to re-pot or top dress; even how to propagate. The most important lesson perhaps is learning when to leave well enough alone and letting go; of accepting death as part of life. I make it a point to take pictures when the flowers are in full bloom, knowing that no matter how pretty they are, their beauty is fleeting. I am left with images and memories. These days, I have no time to spare for the garden. My circumstances have become more demanding and certain mandated human activities just suck the life out of me like a giant vacuum cleaner. Sigh… The irony of it all is that the more I know, the more I realize how little I know. I guess that is the paradox of all lifelong learning. I now appreciate more clearly the delicate balance on which our planet depends for it to sustain life — of how vastly critical it is for everyone to do their part to ensure that life continues, specially that of human life. One can see life’s longing for itself in the perennial grass that grows. There is great wisdom in gardening. If you dig in the garden long enough, you will find an infinite variety of the parallel laws that govern all life with unsurpassed clarity. Gardening, if you stick with it long enough, is a metaphor for human life itself. Gardening has taught me a zen-like passive skill of enjoying quiet solitude, of observing what works and what won’t, of doing what needs to get done with very little struggle and ultimately, of accepting and of simply letting go when all I have done is all I can do. *** Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette. maglaya@asianjournalinc.com
“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.”
Philstar file photo
that need to be scrutinized. PCC intends to expedite the completion of the review ahead of the allowed timeframe given how it is imbued with public interest,” PCC said. PCC said that although the factors that led to Uber’s decision to leave the Philippine and the Southeast Asia markets rendered the review “less than ideal” this would not derail its oversight function. Although the entry of new players to the local market was welcome, PCC said that these new firms would have only seven percent of the market as established companies had the advantage of an existing user base. “This means that when you buy a firm, in effect, you also get its customer base. This is an ad-
vantage that a newcomer does not have. PCC’s review will take into consideration these factors to level the playing field in this market,” it said. Uber’s decision to leave the Southeast Asian market faced hurdles after several anti-trust agencies moved to delay the transaction pending their reviews. The Philippines has put a cap of 65,000 on the number of ridesharing vehicles, and this is periodically reviewed every three months. If the PCC raises a concern over the Grab-Uber acquisition deal, the two firms may propose changes. The commission may file a case to block the deal if they will not voluntarily modify the arrangement. n
–Claude Monet, speaking of his garden at Giverny in France
Finance chief touts...
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projects under the “Build Build Build” program were being undertaken to develop Central and Northern Luzon. These are P4.37-billion Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, which will provide water to 8,700 hectares of agricultural land, benefit 4,350 farmers and serve 21 barangays in the provinces of Cagayan and Kalinga; the P211.43-billion Philippine National Railways North 2 Project that will connect Malolos in Bulacan, Clark Airport and the Clark Green City; and the P12.55-billion Clark International Airport New Terminal Building, which will increase the airport’s capacity by 8 million per year. Dominguez said the Clark Freeport Zone would become the showcase of the Duterte administration’s economic strategy.
The freeport, for instance, will be developed as the country’s next big metropolis and transformed into the New Clark City that will house the 40-hectare National Government Administrative Center. “We expect this area to be the growth driver for Central and Northern Luzon,” he said. In the same press conference, ADB Secretary Woochong Um said the Philippines was on the right track with regard to development. “With the government’s ‘Build Build Build’ program, we see great things happening as it ushers in a new era of infrastructure in the country. With this, positive spillover effects will bring about jobs for people and new businesses, paving the way for sustainable and inclusive growth,” he said. n
Economic managers see... PAGE B1 t
higher global oil and food prices, but remained well within the BSP’s two to four percent target. In the first three months, inflation averaged 3.8 percent despite kicking up to 4.5 percent in March from 3.8 percent in February primarily due to the temporary impact of Republic Act 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law. “We see these inflation drivers as transitory. However, we are closely monitoring the situation.
Amid the pick-up in inflation, we stand ready to act, if needed, to firmly anchor inflation expectations so that inflation targets will continue to be met in 20182019,” Espenilla said. The BSP chief said the Monetary Board would carefully evaluate the appropriateness of a measured policy response to firmly anchor inflation expectations in line with the forecast that inflation targets would be met in 2018 and 2019. The next rate-setting meeting of the Monetary Board is scheduled on May 10. n
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Seven things you should not do when served with divorce papers by your spouse FOR most people, being served with divorce papers by your spouse is probably one of the biggest surprises in your life. The spouse in the receiving end of the divorce sometimes are not offered any explanation for the divorce petition by their spouse. You may start getting upset about how this can happen to you and start doing things that are going to be seriously detrimental to your divorce case later on in the proceeding. Here are seven things you should not do. Do not confront your spouse and commit domestic violence Many spouse feel very angry and upset upon receiving the divorce papers. You may start blaming your spouse and attacking your spouse. You may even yell, threaten, scream, or even physically assault your spouse. This type of confrontation is called “domestic violence.” You may be arrested criminally if your spouse calls law enforcement. Your spouse may also file a domestic violence restraining order against you. Either one would compromise your ability to seek custody of your children, child support, and spousal support. It would also affect your credibility as a witness for future proceedings. In addition if you do this in front of the children, this may be looked at as domestic violence and abuse against the children. The incident may be reported to Child Protective Services for investigation. Do not run to the bank and empty out all your bank accounts or sell assets except for funds necessary retain legal representation in the divorce. If you have assets, do not run and empty out your bank accounts with the goal of securing it from your spouse. The divorce petition and summons includes certain automatic temporary restraining orders (ATROS) which prohibits transferring and encumbering assets. You will be in violation of the ATROS if you do this. Your spouse may also make a claim for breach of fiduciary duty against you. However there are certain exceptions to withdrawing funds such as funds necessary for your living expenses and funds you need to retain an attorney. Do not cut off your spouse from any insurance policies One of the ATROS prohibits you from removing your spouse from health insurance coverage
Barrister’s Corner ATTY. KENNETH URSUA REYES and other insurance policy. It would be a violation of ATROS to do so. You need to maintain your spouse on all existing insurance until the divorce is finalized or the status of marriage is dissolved in a bifurcated trial. Do not take off with your child and move out of state or out of the country If the child has been living in this state, California Court has jurisdiction over your child even if you leave California after being served the divorce. Your spouse can get an order from the California court to return the child to California and get sole physical custody of your child. This can be enforced through law enforcement in other states. In addition, this would also be an ATROS violation. Such a move would seriously undermine your claim for custody of the children. Do not use your child as a messenger to communicate with your spouse Divorce process is a very difficult process for the children. Children often blame themselves for the divorce of their parents. Children sometimes manifest this through their academic performance during the divorce process. Do not involve the children in your divorce case. Using the children to communicate messages to your spouse puts them in a difficult and very stressful situation. This will also affect your claim for custody of your children if you regularly involve your children in your attempt to communicate with your spouse. In addition, you should not say disparaging remarks about the other parent to your children. Do not stalk your spouse in social medias such as facebook or tweeter. Your spouse probably stopped informing you as to what is going on in his/her life at this point. You may be curious if your spouse hooked up with a third party or an old flamer. You may be curious what your spouse are telling your friends and family. Do not stalk your spouse in social media such as facebook. Do not hack
into your spouse’s e-mail. This is a crime. Your spouse can also file a domestic violence restraining order against you for stalking. Most of the evidence obtained illegally is not admissible in court anyways. If you have been unfriended by your spouse, let it be. Do not quit your job voluntarily If you think you can dodge child support and spousal support by quitting your job voluntarily, it is not going to happen. Your spouse’s lawyer will argue that there was no legitimate reason for you to leave your employment and may seek the court to impute income on you. Your spouse may seek vocational evaluation for purposes of determining your earning capacity. In addition, the amount of income you will lose by quitting is substantially more than the money you will owe in child or spousal support. Even if you are successful in dodging the support orders by quitting your job, your spouse can modify them back up the moment you go back to the work force. If you have been served with divorce papers and are unsure how to react, seek professional help before you dig yourself deeper in the hole.
ATTY. LAWRENCE YANG
TWO clients with issues relating to known and unknown persons who used their names and social security information to borrow credit card in their names. The first client is 51 years old and married. She met this person who became her “friend.” Let’s just call the “friend” Ms. Crook. The client is a relatively new immigrant to America having arrived here eight years ago. Ms. Crook was introduced to her by a trusted person who said that Ms. Crook wanted to buy a piece of jewelry from JCPenney but couldn’t get credit. Ms. Crook convinces the client to go with her to JCPenney to open an account in the client’s name. Since the client speaks no English, Ms. Crook served as the interpreter giving the personal information of the client to the credit person on the phone who was checking out the creditworthiness of the client. So as Ms. Crook translated all of the personal information, she was able to get the client’s social security number, home address, and all the other good stuff about the client. After the account was opened, Ms. Crook pointed to a pair of earing costing $2,000 that she wanted to buy to be charged to the client’s account. The client didn’t speak English, so Ms. Crook was the one talking to the JCPenney jewelry sales rep. The rep rang up the purchase and the client signed for the purchase on her newly opened account. The package was given to Ms. Crook and they walked out of the store together. After a month, the client received a statement from JCPenney showing that she owed about $12,000 for the purchase of four separate pieces of jewelry. She told me that she will only pay for the piece of jewelry that she agreed to buy for Ms. Crook. That piece of jewelry was only $2,000. She wouldn’t pay for the other $6,000 of jewelry. I told her that’s not possible because she signed the purchase at the store. As long as she signed for it, she’s liable on the purchase. She can sue Ms. Crook for $8,000 if she
wants to because Ms. Crook defrauded her. Clearly, Ms. Crook took advantage of her inability to speak English and trust as her “friend” to buy $12,000 of jewelry but made it appear to her that she was only helping her buy $2,000 of jewelry. Sorry to say, client was a sucker for a con game. Three months after, the client received statements from 10 credit cards that she never applied for, with total purchases of $70,000! Looks like Ms. Crook went on a shopping spree, using client’s social security, name and
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*** Attorney Kenneth Ursua Reyes is a Certified Family Law Specialist. He was President of the Philippine American Bar Association. He is a member of both the Family law section and Immigration law section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He has extensive CPA experience prior to law practice. LAW OFFICES OF KENNETH REYES, P.C. is located at 3699 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 747, Los Angeles, CA, 90010. Tel. (213) 388-1611 or e-mail kureyeslaw@gmail.com or visit our website at Kenreyeslaw.com. (Advertising Supplement)
her children when she found out that there was a judgment lien for $16,000 on her fully paid residence. Apparently, it was made to appear that she was served with summons and complaint to collect the $16,000 owed to a Discover card in her name three years ago. A judgment lien subsequently ensued that attached to her residence. The client has never applied for any credit cards in her entire life. Now she wants to get rid of the lien. Is it possible to do so? Sure it is. Since the judgment arose from an identity theft claim, she will win this lawsuit on the merits after the judgment is vacated. She would have to vacate the judgment on the ground that she was never served with summons and complaint. The proof of service made it appear that she was served on a certain date at a specific place. The truth is on that date, the client was in the hospital and she had the medical records to prove it. Since she was never served with the summons and complaint, she can file a motion to set aside or vacate the judgment because the court never acquired personal jurisdiction over the client. There will be a hearing set for this motion. When the court grants the motion to vacate or set aside the judgment, the lien will also be ordered removed.
”I warned the client to never to give her social security number and personal information to anyone or the same thing is going to happen again.” good credit to open $70,000 of new credit card debt! She gets more than 30 calls a day from creditors that she has never contacted before, all collecting past due accounts from her. It certainly looks like a massive fraud perpetrated by Ms. Crook on the client. I told the client that I can contact each credit card company to inform them that this is a case of identity fraud, and she would be required to report this matter to the police. But for the JCPenny account for $12,000, she’s on the hook for that one. I also told her to sue Ms. Crook. However, the client told me that Ms. Crook has left the country and is nowhere to be found. I told the client that she can also get a fresh start by discharging the $82,000 with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The client agreed that this is the most effective and simplest way to solve the chaos caused by Ms. Crook. I warned the client to never to give her social security number and personal information to anyone, or the same thing is going to happen again. Creditor puts a lien on client’s house for $16K in credit card identity theft The second client is 85 years old. She’s been here for a long time but can’t speak English. She owns a house in Los Angeles. She was in the process of transferring ownership of the house to
the single member owner IRM 5.1.21.12.2(4). The liable taxpayer is the LLC for administrative collection actions and trust fund recovery penalty investigation IRM 5.1.21.5. • Only the name of the taxpayer liable to collection action will be included. It should not include both the name of the LLC and of the single member unless exception applies. • If the installment agreement is combined, both the name of the LLC and the name of the single member could be included on a single Form 433-D Installment Agreement. • At initial contact of the RO, LLC documents will be gathered to establish the right liable taxpayer. This may include: articles of organization, operating agreement, minutes of meetings, and affidavit from the members signed under penalties of perjury, etc. • Prior to issuance of Final Notice, Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing or Letter 1058, RO should have identified the liable taxpayer. • The collection due process (CDP) will be issued under the name of the LLC when the LLC is the taxpayer otherwise to single member. The LLC has the right to a CDP hearing. • It is important that RO issued Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of a Right to a CDP Hearing to the liable taxpayer and at the correct address.
ARLENE AL-OS, CPA, MBA
*** Disclaimer: The foregoing is an expression of opinion and is not meant to be legal advice to any reader. There is no attorney-client relationship established by this article with the reader. If you want to discuss your situation, you have to set an appointment to consult with the attorney. The first general consultation is free. *** Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in bankruptcy, business, real estate and civil litigation and has successfully represented more than five thousand clients in California. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S. Fremont Ave, Mailstop 58, Building A-1 Suite 1125, Alhambra, CA 91803 or at 20274 Carrey Road, Walnut, CA 91789. (Advertising Supplement)
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What to do when the IRS contacts you
WHAT you need to do when you received a call or notice from the IRS? Below are some tips that you should be aware of: • Revenue Officer (RO) observes fair tax collection practices and taxpayer rights. • You have Right to Representation under Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) 5.1.10.7.2. • You will be advised first if there are possible third party contacts. • Letter 3164 will be either mailed or hand delivered if the RO cannot verify if you have received Publication 1 Your Right as a Taxpayer, and Notice 1219 A or B: Notice of Potential Third Party Contact. • Letter 3164 in #4, may not need to be provided to you if other advance notice has already been provided, for Third Party Contact Letter. • Single Member LLC. Different procedures will apply if: 1) LLC is a single member LLC, a disregarded entity and not treated as an entity separate from its single member owner IRM 5.1.21.12.3; and 2) LLC is identified as the liable taxpayer IRM 5.1.21.12.2. • If paid after January 1, 2009, *** employment tax liabilities inPlease note that this article is not curred on wages must be relegal advice and is not intended as ported and paid using the name legal advice. The article is intended and EIN of the LLC and not to provide only general, non-specific legal information. This article is not intended to cover all the issues realendar of lated to the topic discussed. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. This article does create any attorney client relationship between you and the Law Offices of Kenneth U. Reyes, P.C. This article is not a solicitation.
Client’s “friend” uses her identity to borrow $80K in credit cards
Debt Relief
What’s New
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• A notice of intent to levy and notice of a right to a CDP hearing must be issued to the taxpayer prior to levy with correct name, address, and EIN or SSN of the liable taxpayer. • Invalid CDP Notices and Rescinding the CDP Notice. If the prior CDP notice was not properly issued to the liable taxpayer, the original notice will be reversed and a new CDP notice with correct name, address, and EIN or SSN of the liable taxpayer EIN IRM 5.12.6.3.16. • Notice of Federal Tax Lien Filing and Your Right to a Hearing under IRC 6320. Letter 3172 is issued to the taxpayer, to advise the taxpayer of their right to a CDP hearing, at the correct name, address, and EIN or SSN of the liable taxpayer to ensure proper issuance of the notice and protection of the taxpayer’s rights of appeal concerning the filing of the lien. *** Disclaimer: Any accounting, business or tax advice contained in this communication is neither intended as a thorough, indepth analysis of specific issues, nor a substitute for a formal opinion, nor is it sufficient to avoid tax-related penalties. *** Al-os & Associates Accountancy Corporation provides accounting and tax services to individuals, corporations, LLCs and business entities. The Firm has a niche in defending taxpayers audited by the IRS and other governmental agencies. (Advertising Supplement)
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APRIL 21
Family reunion in Las Vegas A surprise family reunion to coincide with the celebration of Rex & Nenita’s 60th wedding anniversary will be held at Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 21. The couple wed on the bride’s birthday on April 12, 1958 celebrating her 84th year, making this three reasons to celebrate. Rex first immigrated to the U.S. 51 years ago after serving with the U.S. Army Philippine Scouts and one year thereafter he was joined with his wife and their four young children. Joining the celebration are children Evelyn, Evangeline, Elizabeth, Enrico and their families, grandchildren, great grandchildren and close friends.
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Pilita Corrales concert in New York Pilita Corrales, “Asia’s Queen of Songs,” will headline a dinner and show entitled “A Million Thanks to You” on Sunday, April 29. The dinner will be buffet and comes with a ticket. Show begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel (135-20 39th Ave, Flushing, NY 11354). For tickets, please contact: Baby Lantin at (917) 916-6770 / (718) 608-7771, Ching (917) 294-6783, Nel (347) 738-3025, Joji (908) 783-2680, Tessa (732) 492-4170, or Bong (646) 289-0917.
APRIL 30
East West Players’ 52nd Visionary Awards & Silent Auction in Los Angeles East West Players celebrates its 52nd Anniversary at the Annual Visionary Awards Dinner & Silent Auction. The Visionary Awards laud the achievements of individuals who have raised the visibility of the Asian Pacific American (APA) community through their craft. Proceeds from the gala will benefit East West Players’ educational and artistic programs. It will be held at the Hilton Universal City (555 Universal Hollywood Drive, Universal City, CA 91608) on Monday, April 30. At 5:30 p.m., VIP Reception*, silent auction, and registration begin. Dinner and awards show begin at 7:00 p.m. For more information, please visit: http://www. eastwestplayers.org/news/east-west-players-52nd-anniversary-visionary-awards-dinner-andsilent-auction/.
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34th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival The 34th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival will be presented May 3 - May 12, 2018 at select cinemas in the Los Angeles area. A key highlight of the annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month activities, the Festival is produced by Visual Communications, the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts center, and enjoys broad support from cinema artists and audiences alike. Since 1983, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival has presented over 4,000 films, videos, and digital mediaworks by Asian international and Asian Pacific American artists, and additionally features seminars and panels, in-person guest appearances, and filmmaker awards. The Film Festival continues to be the largest festival of its kind in Southern California and is the premier showcase for the best and brightest of Asian Pacific American and international cinema. To learn about Visual Communications, visit www. vconline.org.
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The Asian American Group to celebrate first annual Asian Culture Day in Las Vegas On Friday, May 18, the Asian American Group (AAG) will celebrate the first annual Asian Culture Day. The event will be held at the Conference Center of Las Vegas (6590 Bermuda Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89119), and will start at 6 p.m. There will be a variety of Asian dishes and cultural performances at the celebration. The primary goal of the Asian Culture Day celebration is to invite and unite the Asian nations of the world, and to educate and share their respective cultures in order to achieve greater understanding and fellowship between nations. The annual Asian Culture Day was established by Senate Bill 175, which proclaims every 18th of May as Asian Culture Day in the state of Nevada. The bill was introduced and authored by State Senator Scott Hammond, and was signed into law by Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval last year. The bill gives recognition to the Asians and Asian-Americans who were instrumental in the settlement and early development of the State of Nevada; the culture and traditions shared by Asians and AsianAmericans; and the Asian and Asian-American communities that continue to make important contributions to the cultural, religious, political, and business environment. To purchase tickets visit https://www.asianamericangroup.org/saac-2/.
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People and Events
Monrovia Unified Elementary students compete in Annual District Olympic Games
Mayflower Elementary students celebrate as they receive a championship trophy during the 13th annual Monrovia Elementary Olympics on March 29 at Monrovia High.
MONROE Elementary fifthgrader Elisha Luckett rounded the last corner of a 400-meter race and launched himself in front of his competitors to take first place for the second consecutive year in the 13th annual Monrovia Elementary Olympic (MEO) Games. Luckett joined more than 100 Monrovia Unified elementary school students who competed in more than a dozen track and field events, with parents, teachers, and classmates cheering them on at the Monrovia High’s sports fields on March 29. “I am glad I made my family and school proud of me, I didn’t want to let them down,” Luckett said. “The games are exciting and my family really likes these games.” Student-athletes from all five MUSD elementary schools – Bradoaks, Mayflower, Monroe, Plymouth, and Wild Rose – competed in such events as the boys and girls 50- and 100-yard dash, 4 x 100 relay, 400 meters, and softball throw. Student audience members split into two groups and were able to participate in fitness activities in the school’s gym during the field events, including dancing and a brief tutorial on healthy foods, returning later to watch the final competitions. Students raced all over the field cheering on their classmates during the races, rushing them at the finish line to congratulate the champions, regardless of what school they represented.
“The Elementary Olympics is a District tradition that may be the most anticipated school event of the year,” said Dana Elliott, Wild Rose fourth-grade teacher and MEO coordinator. “The students love competing and the chance to meet their future classmates. The MEO is our way of celebrating sound minds and bodies.” Monrovia High’s band greeted participants and spectators, as students with school banners paraded down the track. The school dance team entertained the crowd after lunchtime, and the students saved their biggest cheers for the awards ceremony, in which Plymouth Elementary School was awarded the “Spirit Stick” and Mayflower Elementary School emerged as the overall champion and will display the MEO championship trophy for the next school year. “The Monrovia Elementary Olympics promote teamwork and provides the opportunity for our students to showcase their athletic talent at a young age,” Monrovia Unified Board President Terrence Williams said. “Our students were able to take pride in their schools and showed great sportsmanship to their competitors.” Monrovia Unified faculty, staff, and student volunteers staffed the event, who acted as technical officials, support staff and digital chroniclers. Monrovia High photography students took photographs and shot video for a souvenir DVD to be distributed
American Cancer Society hosts Relay For Life of Burbank
THE 15th Annual Relay For Life of Burbank is set to take place on May 5-6, 2018 (Saturday 9 a.m.-Sunday 9 a.m.) at Robert Gross Park (2814 W Empire Ave Burbank CA 91504). Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature event, held in more than 5,000 communities across the country. In California, more than 350 communities will host Relay For Life events. And, 700+ Burbank community members comprising 60+ teams are expected to participate in this year’s event.
Relay For Life celebrates those who have survived cancer, remembers those who have lost the battle and gives communities an opportunity to fight back against a disease. Funds raised go to the American Cancer Society’s lifesaving research, advocacy, education and free support services right here in Burbank and across the country. For more information about the Relay For Life of Burbank, please visit the event website at www.RelayForLife.Org/BurbankCA.
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President Donald Trump would still change its stance. “It’s likely that President Trump will come to his better senses because Republicans are for free trade so...they are telling him that it’s not a good policy and it’s going to hurt the American industries and consumers if there’s a trade war. And China, being the manufacturing machine of the world, will have more clout in trade,” Pernia said. Meanwhile, Dominguez said the government would consider entering the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) should the U.S. decide to join the trade pact. “We will certainly consider it. Let us see what would happen, but there is also RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership). I hope cooler heads will prevail in the end,” he said. The TPP is a free trade agreement aimed to liberalize trade and investment within the AsiaPacific region. However, Trump earlier backed out from the deal. The RCEP, meanwhile, centers on the member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its six trading partners. ■
Brewing trade war may...
any trade war, and that it could affect all countries in the world, including the Philippines. However, the finance chief said the country may be more cushioned against adverse impacts as the local economy is not as reliant to exports and imports. “We are growing our market locally so we are very robust. We don’t rely on exports or imports as much as other economies so we are sort of insulated,” he said. However, Dominguez is not downplaying the effects on the local economy, as the world has yet to see how the situation between the U.S. and China would unfold. “I’m not going to say (the impact is minimal). We don’t know what will happen. So far they are positioning themselves, so we don’t know exactly how it will (go),” he said. To help minimize a possible trade war’s effect on the Philippines, Dominguez said the government is investing domestically and focusing on its Southeast Asian neighbors. For his part, Pernia expressed optimism the administration of
to all the participating schools at the end of the year. “Congratulations to all of our elementary school athletes and an enormous thank you to the people behind the scenes who spend countless hours to continue this unique Monrovia tradition,” Superintendent Dr. Katherine Thorossian said. ■
WELCOME HOME. USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108) from Destroyer Squadron 1 and its crew of 320 returned home to San Diego, California on Thursday April 12 after a three-month long deployment, which included visits to Vietnam, Malaysia, Guam and Hawaii. Our very own Filipino-American sailor Mark Kristoffer Serrano was happily welcomed by his mother, Dr. Grace Serrano on Thursday. This was his second deployment in two years.
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Filipina social entrepreneur Clarissa Delgado joins first batch of 2018 Obama Foundation Fellowship by
eDUCATiON has also long been cited as a way out of poverty and a path towards new opportunities and a better future. Yet, inequity in education continues to be a problem as many young students around the world continue to lack access to quality instruction. This is true in the Philippines where approximately 3.8 million young Filipinos aged six to 24 were said to be out of school, according to a 2016 Annual Poverty indicators Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority. One Filipina philanthropist and social entrepreneur has become a champion of education reform in the Philippines, and is now one of the few selected individuals from around the world to enter the inaugural
Rae ann VaRona / AJPress
Clarissa Delgado, co-founder and CEO of Teach for the Philippines
2018 Obama Foundation Fellowship class. Clarissa isabelle Delgado of Makati, Philippines was chosen out of over 20,000 applicants from 191 countries for her nonprofit organization Teach for the Philippines, where she acts as co-founder and CeO. She
joins 19 other changemakers representing 11 countries around the world. “A truly amazing morning to wake up to here in Manila [sun emoji]. Deeply grateful to the Obama Foundation for the chance to represent the Philippines and honor her the way she deserves,” Delgado posted on Facebook, sharing the announcement of former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. An alumni of the U.S.’ William & Mary University and prestigious Phillips exeter Academy, Delgado co-founded Teach for the Philippines in 2012 with philanthropists elizabeth “lizzie” Zobel and Margarita Delgado, founders of the literacy advocacating Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation. learning from the non-profit Teach for All, which remains their network partner, the women made it their goal and vision to provide all Filipino children access to excellent and relevant education through the development of quality teachers. According to the organization, roughly 40,000 teachers are needed in the Philippines’
Kim Chiu ready to try something new by allan
PolicaRPio Inquirer.net
While Kim Chiu feels fortunate to have been part of high-profile screen partnerships, she believes that, at this point in her career, it’s also important for her to try acting vehicles beyond the love team concept. “When you’re starting out in the biz, it helps a lot to be in a love team. i’m so grateful i went through that stage. These days, i find myself thinking, ‘Why not explore?’ Do things you haven’t done yet, make the rounds—hanggang kaya ng powers mo,” she told reporters at a recent press conference for Star Cinema’s new horror-comedy flick, “Dotga: Da One that Ghost Away.” “i’m so lucky i have been given these opportunities,” added the ABS-CBN star, who starred in her first solo film in the 2017 horror flick, “The Ghost Bride.” That said, Kim’s not closing her doors to the prospect of being paired again with someone long-term, pointing out that many Filipino fans continue to crave the kilig a love team provides. Open to indies “But i don’t want to be overly choosy when it comes to projects. There are so many actors in the business, so i’m thankful and happy with the work i’m getting,” related Kim, who’s also open to doing indie movies in the future. “Perhaps something with a good message.” Kim is turning 28 on April 19. in the past, she used to celebrate and reward herself—a new bag or a trip overseas. But now, it’s all about doing charity work. She has made a personal vow to visit Aeta communities on her birthday and Christmas Day. And she does it on her own. “Now i think more about other people— saka na ’yung para sa sarili ko,” stressed Kim, who went to Bamban, Pampanga, last year to hand out gifts to Aetas living there. “i bring them school supplies. We play games, we sing,
public schools and the impact seems to be grave with only three out of 100 students who enter Grade 1 completing their education. Of Grade 6 graduates, less than one percent are academically ready for high school. Through the organization, young Filipino leaders — regardless of college degree or teaching experience — are recruited and trained to not only fill in the voids of public school teaching positions, but become advocates of education equity. “[The] qualities we look for are definitely leadership skills because we believe that the same qualities that make a good leader are the same qualities that make a good teacher. We look for bias for action — it’s not enough to recognize that certain changes need to be made. You have to act on it and make it happen,” Margarita Delgado told the Asian Journal in 2015. For two years, the young educators spend time teaching in public schools across the Philippines in hopes of
Photos from Facebook/@Clarissa Delgado
becoming positive influences to their students and changing their students’ life paths. The organization currently operates in 29 schools across 17 local governments. On why the new fellow chose to focus on education advocacy, Clarissa Delgado said it came down to the growing inequality and poverty in the Philippines. “i believe that to alleviate poverty, the first step is to change the way in which those entrenched in it perceive themselves,” Delgado told the Philippine Tatler in a 2014 interview. “To alleviate poverty, a society must have the sense that they can shape their own future. it is only through education that individuals are taught this,” she added.
Delgado recently received her master’s degree in education leadership and Administration from Ateneo de Manila University. The Obama Foundation Fellowship is a two-year, nonresidential program that will provide hands-on training, leadership development, and a network for the Fellows to “amplify the impact of their work and inspire a wave of civic innovation.” The first gathering for the Fellows will be in Chicago this May. Obama recently made a visit to Singapore last month for an Obama Foundation discussion where he met with young adults representing Southeast Asian countries including Delgado. “The 2018 Obama Foundation Fellows come from a variety of disciplines, including healthcare, community organizing, technology, and the arts,” read an Obama Foundation announcement release. “These leaders apply their talents to a range of missions, such as empowering parents and teachers to improve our schools, ensuring deaf children have equal access to literacy tools, and working across the healthcare system to treat addiction.” Other fellows include Afghanistan refugee Zarlasht halaimzai who started the Refugee Trauma initiative, U.S. based Sasha Fisher who started Spark MicroGrants, and Mali’s Moussa Kondo of the Accountability lab Mali.
Piolo Pascual defends Robin Padilla on ‘Marawi’ movie issue
“Mahirap s’ya pero kasi kung gumagawa ka ng isang Philstar.com adbokasiya, mas maganda na ACTOR Robin Padilla was isipin mo ‘yung nobility ng ginarecently criticized on social gawa mo kesa ‘yung pressure media for allegedly investing on na maka-come up with somea movie on the war in Marawi thing na pelikula lang. Alam instead of donating the money. natin na maraming experiences in a recent press conferna kakapulutan ng aral dito ence for new romantic comedy sa nangyari sa Marawi at ‘yon TV series “Since i Found You,” ‘yung gusto namin ipakita sa Piolo Pascual explained his and tao,” he explained in a round Robin’s decision to invest in the table interview, including Philfilm. star.com. “‘Yung ibibigay nating Piolo to cast real Maranaos kakarampot na pera, not even for ‘Marawi’ movie one family can appreciate that instead of giving a man a for a long time. Mas marami fish, Piolo believes more on tayong kailangang tulungan so teaching man how to fish. in naisip ko lang na kailangan nat- their movie’s case, it is giving ing gumawa ng pelikula hindi livelihood to Marawi war survilang para sa kanila, kundi para vors partly through employing mamulat din ‘yung mga mama- them to star in the movie. mayan na hindi porket okay ang The actor-turned-producer buhay mo, okay na ‘yan… Sa’tin shared that his company will be Kim Chiu Photo from Instagram/@chinitaprincess naman nag-originate ang Baya- holding auditions in Mindanao we dance.” nihan eh. ‘Di ba dapat matuto State University because they “i don’t have a personal wish…well, i hope tayong maging compassionate want to cast real Maranaos, people watch my film,” she quipped, laughing. “i at tumulong sa kapwa?” even for soldier roles. he will also try to attend all the block screenings my According to Piolo, filmmak- shared that the main character, fans will organize, because they spend money and er Joyce Bernal, his partner at an eight-year-old kid, is the put a lot of effort into those.” Spring Films that made their hit hardest one to find. They are in Tony Y. Reyes’ “Dotga,” Kim plays Carmel, romantic comedy “Kita Kita,” also finding difficulty casting a a paranormal expert who, together with her best originally wanted to donate female soldier’s role since it will friend, Jeje (Ryan Bang), assembles a squad of ghost part of her income from “Kita become a very physical one. busters, which is then commissioned to exorcise a Kita” to Padilla’s foundation he and Robin will have a haunted house. This is Ryan’s first time in a lead role, dedicated to Marawi’s rehacameo in the movie as well if Kim said, and she couldn’t be any happier for him. bilitation. Though he found it they will be allowed by ABS“he couldn’t believe it. But i have always felt that noble, he told Joyce that they CBN. it is Robin that convinced all actors will have a break at some point. And this is could help more if they are to him to invest in the flick. his time,” she said. “i’m always open to working with produce a film that could build “Siguro ‘yung pinaka-wake anyone. After all, it’s not really about who you’re more awareness on Marawi up call ko na ang ganda ng working with, but being able to deliver.” citizens’ plight. buhay ko pero ‘yung kababayby Deni
Rose beRnaRDo
Piolo Pascual
ABS-CBN photo
an ko hindi maganda ‘yung buhay… Wake up call ko na ‘yung sinabi ni Kuya Binoe na ‘Ito ‘yung nangyari sa Marawi, maraming taong walang matirhan.’ Ang sakit pala nun ‘no? ‘Pag alam mo na ‘yung mga kababayan mo hindi maganda ‘yung buhay. Hindi naman nila ginusto na them being displaced… Hindi naman nila ginusto na mawalan ng bahay pero para mawalan ka ng buhay, nakaka-konsensya,” Piolo enthused. “So sabi ko, kailangan natin ng bahay para sa kanila. Siguro mas mabibigyan natin sila ng mas malaking budget bukod Continued on Page 4
Fil-Am Carly Peeters: ‘Education is the key to everything’ nity and seeing these people who are grateful to have a ManilaTimes.net day of learning is just really humbling—it’s the best way to Filipino-AmericAn miss describe it,� peeters told The Teen international 2017 carly Manila Times in an interview peeters has been an advocate during a media event in makati of literacy among youth ever since. A dedicated volunteer of city. “it was a two-hour boat Jumpstart children First—which ride and half-an-hour hike is an early education organizajust to get to the village itself. tion that provides programThey just recently able to have ming for preschool children in filtered water and we also gave America from under resourced them solar-powered lamps that communities—and Build on, they were very excited about. an international organization it’s just really amazing to see that builds schools in developpeople that are so grateful ing countries, peeters’ lifelong even in smallest things. it really dream is for children to have puts things into perspective to access to quality education. me. people that have so little The 16-year-old beauty but are so grateful for everyqueen was in the country thing and open to receiving recently as an ambassador of everyone. They even cooked Yellow Boat of Hope Foundaamazing meal for us. They tion-philippines, a group that made grilled squid—which i primarily provides boats in hard-to-reach coastal communi- think it’s all they have in the ties so learners would not have village—and they give it to us with open hearts,� the young to swim to school. philanthropist recalled. As an ambassador, she had According to peeters, she the privilege to visit some of realized the importance of eduthe remote communities in cation when she got inspired caramoan, camarines Sur to connect with the children in the from the story of her mother who strived to study and be underserved areas which she took as a very humbling experi- able to immigrate to the United States to have a better life. ence. She brought with her “my mom is from manila Smart School-in-a-Bag containand she’s from a lower-middle ing a laptop, five tablets, TV, a class family. She told us that solar panel with batteries, and education is the only reason she educational content. was able to migrate from the “We take what we have for philippines and make a better granted a lot. i know i have life for herself and then later on days where i don’t want to do my homework and i don’t want for us. She told me that education is the key to everything. to go to school because i’m if you’re educated you can do tired. Going to that commuby Iza IglesIas
As an ambassador of Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, the 16-yearold beauty queen goes to underserved areas and promote the importance of education
entertainment 3
The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - April 18, 2018
Liza Soberano on the best decisions she’s ever made
lizA Soberano believes that while we cannot always anticipate what life throws our way, we can, however, be prepared to handle any hurdle. “never expect anything, but plan for everything,� the 20-year-old beauty shares with much wisdom. liza prides herself in carefully planning her life — from her career to her personal life — and it seems that she’s been making all the right decisions as both are taking off! Her vision for herself in the next five to 10 years is clear, and she’s already taking the necessary steps to ensure that all her dreams become attainMiss Teen International 2017 Carly Peeters able. But even beyond the next Photo from Twitter/@carlyonsugar decade, liza is already futurewhatever you want in life and you can be who you want to be,� she said. “in the U.S., we take by MJ MarforI education for granted because ManilaTimes.net it’s accessible to all of us but when i found out that there reGine Velasquez-Alcasid are adults who never had even and her little man nate are a kindergarten education and the cutest mother and son don’t know how to spell their tandem in showbiz today. The own name, it really hit me how Times got to bond with the two important it is because these during their launch as brand people were stuck in poverty ambassadors for fast food chain and absolutely no way out,� Jollibee’s popular Jolly Spapeeters continued. ghetti. prior to joining pageants, The event served their as she already had a platform their fifth endorsement to date, called “literally literacy� for even if nate doesn’t know he’s which she started a blog series actually saved enough money with the same name. And now to go to an ivy league school of that she is miss Teen internahis choice! tional, she has been pushing to regine shared she hasn’t reach more places to widen her explained money matters to her voice in giving importance to son just yet and is just happy education. that he’s comfortable in front “As miss Teen international, of the camera. She’s even more i have to advocate for my platthrilled that nate developed his form which is literacy and edulove for music like his opm icon cation, especially to focus on parents. the youth because i think the “Before he wanted to be youth is the hope of the future a pilot, but now he just wants and if we educate them today, to be a passenger,� Asia’s we will create a better future Songbird lovingly laughed. for tomorrow. Aside from visit“And because lagi niya kami [ni ing and helping out here in the ogie] nakikita na nag-pra-pracphilippines, i am actually going tice—ako pa naman hindi ako to build a school in nicaragua naglalagay ng earphones when in June,� she noted. i practice, kasi boom box pa rin Continued on Page 4 ako na very ‘80s—sumasabay
proofing her life. “All i want is to live a happy, healthy and contented life. Hopefully i will still be working, but not as much as now, especially at that age i hope to start a family of my own,� she says, hinting at her plans for the future. While she seeks the advice of friends and family when it comes to issues about love and relationships, she relies on experts for her other concerns like health, wealth management, and life insurance. “Some of the fears that bog my mind now is how fast life is; you never know when your time is up,� she says. “i’m afraid to miss out on the important events in my families’
Liza Soberano Photo from Instagram/@lizasoberano
lives or that something might happen to them or myself, and i won’t be there for them.� (Philstar.com)
Mommy Regine answers the parenting question
Regine Velasquez-Alcasid with son Nate
Photo from Instagram/@reginealcasid
siya. Two years old pa lang mahilig na siya kumanta.� personality-wise, regine is thankful that even though nate got ogie’s playful side, he is still an obedient boy. in answer to the age-long question in parenting “to spank or not to spank,� regine said she believes spanking is needed from time to time to discipline a child. “Iba rin pag ganon. it’s
been a year since i last did it but mas naiintindihan ni nate what to do and what not to do. Spanking even has references in the Bible verses. prov 13:24 says, ‘He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him often.� Then in prov 22:15 “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.�
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entertainment The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - April 18, 2018
Testing lover’s loyalty the Eula Valdez way by ronnie
CarraSCo ManilaTimes.net
iii
NoT every woman her age will certainly agree with the way eula valdez thinks about having a relationship with a younger man. Now in her late 40s, the in-
demand character actress has been a quiet partner to former model and part-time actor Rocky Salumbides for nine years now. eula is well aware of the fact that she and Rocky have a yawning age gap, and that—to
Eula Valdez
ABS-CBN photo
say the least—the latter has a more intense biological need to satisfy. But the villainess in ABSCBN’s “The Good Son” is the type of a partner who’d even be willing to literally drag Rocky to a younger woman he may wish to spend a night with. Says eula, “I always tell him that my love transcends the physical [aspect]. It’s even I who egg him on to date younger women as I very well know his needs.” But before women partners are quick to jump the gun on her, eula hastens to add that allowing Rocky to go look for dates is actually a measure of the latter’s loyalty to her. Nine years of living in together, don’t they have plans of getting hitched? FYI, eula’s marriage to Australia-based Richard Litonjua—who’s the father of her second child Julianna (now 15)—has yet to be annulled. Her firstborn Miguel’s dad is former actor Ronnie Quizon.
VICTORY AUTO OPENING. Shown in photo are Love of Country Ambassadors Lynette Siahaan, Jia Albaran, Camille Knowlton, Angel Faith Soliven, Ammilyn Daeta and Ralph Lauren Asuncion during the recent opening of Victory Auto in Loma Linda.
Nadine Lustre’s ‘pushing’ of James Reid’s fan sparks mixed reactions by Jan
Milo Severo Philstar.com
A vIdeo of Kapamilya actress Nadine Lustre is circulating in different social media platforms. The video shows her seemingly pushing the arm of a female fan, who was taking a selfie with her on-and-offscreen partner James Reid. In the three-second video clip, James can be seen in the middle of two female fans who want to take a photo with him, not far away from where Nadine is. After a few seconds, Nadine can be seen shrugging off the arm of one of the fan girls. The video, uploaded by Fashion Pulis Facebook page, now has over two million views. Jadine fans are quick to rescue their favorite love team through comments defending the couple. “Grabe naman kasi ‘yung dalawang babae. Ang clingy masyado. Kahit naman sinong gf magseselos don,” a netizen commented. Another netizen who claimed she was there that night in the club where the video was shot, said that the couple did not have a good night partying because of the people taking photos with them. “Nagtago na nga lang sila sa sulok pero talagang maraming makulit. Madami
Nadine Lustre
silang pinagbigyan magpapicture. ‘Yung iba naman kasi paulit ulit tapos talagang makulit na kay James,” she added. Meanwhile, another netizen posted the same video but from a different angle. She captioned the video: “Wag nyo galitin.” A netizen who was with the group that took selfies with James posted on her Facebook page a photo where she clarified that all was well on that night. “Kalma lang kayo. Wala naman issue kasi lahat masaya lang that night. Relax lang po,”
Photo from Instagram/@nadine
she wrote. Jadine’s latest movie, “Never Not Love You,” is still showing in different theaters nationwide, claiming to have earned millions on its first week. Recently, James was named as the new endorser of Mountain dew. As someone who is passionate to try different experiences and career paths that make his heart race, James believes that chasing that thrill does not have to complicated. It is about finding something exciting in the everyday things you do.
Piolo Pascual defends Robin Padilla on... From Page 2
dun sa telethon na ginawa ng ABS. Mas mabibigyan natin sila ng mas magandang livelihood ‘pag continuous ‘yung pagtulong natin.” Besides casting Maranaos, Piolo hopes to shoot the film Ground Zero, which he finds to be very hard as the city has began its rehabilitation. He admitted that he, Robin and Joyce
are not the only investors; they also tapped other investors, who are now pressuring them to start filming. “War movie na Philippine version kasi lahat ng napapanood natin Westernized, so this is something na maa-appreciate ng mga Pilipino na talagang nangyari dito sa Pilipinas,” he said on his vision for the movie.
Piolo, however, clarified that his efforts to help Marawi does not stop at giving people jobs for the film. “Starting with the film, ‘di naman natatapos dito,” he assured. “Siguro, one day at a time, one person at a time, gumawa ka ng magandang bagay para mapaganda ‘yung buhay ng ibang tao.”
Fil-Am Carly Peeters: ‘Education is the... From Page 3 Mixing school with acting It was not new to Peeters to encourage individuals and organizations to support her advocacy in improving learning among the youth but it is a different story when she entered beauty pageants. Prior to entering Miss Teen California, she tried her luck to join Binibini Teen in 2016. “Actually I did not dream of becoming a beauty queen. I only started competing in pageants two years ago and it was just something fun that I tried because my friend had won Miss Teen California and she was like, ‘You should try it I think you’ll be good at it and you love community service so it’s a good way to kind of blend the two.’ So I eventually just fell in love with it because being on stage for like 30 seconds and have something to work toward was really enjoyable to me and on top of that, getting to advocate for a cause was just absolutely amazing,” Peeters said. It is surprising that not
many people are aware that she is also active in acting. A rising senior at Granada Hills Charter High School in Los Angeles, she has appeared in movies and shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy” (2017) as Jamie, “Little Loopers” (2015) as Tiarre and “A Cowgirl’s Story” (2017) as Cinda, which is a show that is available on Netflix. “Being a beauty queen, an actress and a student is definitely not easy. Being an actress calls for last minute jobs especially on school days. But my school is very flexible because in Los Angeles, it has a lot of actors in it so they kind of understand and we have an agreement that as long as I keep good grades and they go to my teachers for recommendations when looking at excessive absences from class. So as long as I keep good grades and have a good relationship with my teacher, I’m okay to miss school for acting,” Peeters shared to The Manila Times. “My parents are extremely
helpful in all of this because they kind of put together my schedule and put together everything and they’re extremely supportive. I don’t think I can do it without my mom. She’s here today and she helps organize this entire trip. But between that and being a beauty queen, mainly pageants are on weekends and then every now and then during the week and school is everywhere in between,” she continued. “I also wanted to share that as much as she don’t want to admit it, my mother was a beauty queen when she was younger. She won a city pageant here in Manila so when I started beauty pageants, she was a little bit hesitant but when she realized it was more of the community service than it was about walking on stage for two minutes and how it made me a better speaker. I became more comfortable with myself. Suddenly when I said I wanted to go to the Philippines, she said okay and help me with it,” Peeters happily enthused.
The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - April 18, 2018
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The Asian Jour nal MDWK MAGAZINE - April 18, 2018