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juNe 10-16, 2016

by Alexis RomeRo Philstar.com

Panel urges victims to report scams and frauds to authorities

POLICE VISIBILITY. Two members of the Manila Police District keep watch on Thursday over shoppers buying school supplies at Divisoria Market in Manila a few days before the opening of classes on Monday, June 13. ManilaTimes.net photo by Rene Dilan

Duterte: I do not condone killing of journalists

Most common scams targeting immigrant communities bared

Drug lords raise bounty for Duterte to P50-M, says incoming PNP chief

Clinton makes history, clinchesDemocratic Party nomination

by momAR G. VisAyAAJPress

US may order Sison’s arrest while on his way to PH, NDFP negotiator says

by ARies Joseph heGinAInquirer.net

Senate Democrats announce implementation of program to reunite Filipino WWII vets with families

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IncomIng Philippine na-tional Police (PnP) director chief supt. ronald “Bato” Dela rosa remains unfazed by the reported assassination threats against him and President-elect rodrigo Duterte.

In an interview on Anc’s “headstart” on thursday, June 9, Dela rosa said that the boun-ties for him and for Duterte had been raised from P10 million to

P50 million because there were no takers.

“they increased the bounty to P50 million. P50 million for mayor Duterte, P50 million for me. In-increase nila dahil na-hirapan daw silang maghanap ng takers (they increased it because they could not find any takers). no takers sa P10 mil-lion, so in-increase nila (so they increased it) to P50 million,” Dela rosa said.

Dela rosa earlier claimed that Incoming PNP head Chief Supt. Ronald dela Rosa. Inquirer.net photo by Jaymee Gamil

BrooKLYn, nY—former state Department secretary hillary rod-ham clinton made history tuesday, June 7, when she clinched the Dem-ocratic presidential nomination after posting decisive victories in the cali-fornia, new Jersey and new mexico primaries, becoming the first wom-an to lead a major presidential party ticket in the United states.

“tonight caps an amazing journey – a long, long journey. We all owe so

much to those who came before, and tonight belongs to all of you,” she said, addressing her supporters who trooped to the Brooklyn navy Yard to witness history happen.

“thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone, the first time in our na-tion’s history that a woman will be a major party’s nominee,” clinton told the audience. “tonight’s victory is not about one person. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible.”

the jubilant audience, composed of thousands of clinton supporters waved American flags and chanted “hillary!” as the former first lady made her way to the podium.

In her victory speech, the pre-sumptive nominee talked about her mother, Dorothy rodham who had an auspicious date of birth almost a hundred years ago. that date was June 4, 1919, the exact day that the United states senate then passed the 19th constitutional amendment

by ChRistinA m. oRielAJPress

PhILIPPIne President-elect rodri-go Duterte — who has been under fire for the past week for seemingly justi-fying the killing of journalists — has since backtracked from his comments, according to a statement released on Wednesday, June 8.

since uttering the controversial remarks, the 71-year-old incoming president has been criticized by local and international groups, including United nations (Un) experts earlier this week.

Un special rapporteur on summa-ry executions cristof heyns called the remarks “irresponsible in the extreme, and unbecoming of any leader.”

“A message of this nature amounts to incitement to violence and killing, in a nation already ranked as the second-deadliest country for journalists,” he added.

estimates show that 174 journalists have been murdered in the Philip-pines since President ferdinand mar-cos stepped down three decades ago; seventy seven of those murders have been committed since 1992.

one of the deadliest incidents was in 2009 when 58 individuals, including 32 journalists, were killed in maguin-danao during a politically-motivated attack against esmael mangudadatu, who was a mayoral candidate for the town of Buluan. several members of the Ampatuan family have been ac-

DAVAo cItY—communist Party of the Philippines (cPP) founder Jose ma. sison’s homecoming remains a “tick-lish” issue as he may be arrested while on his way because he has been labeled as a terrorist by the United states (Us), a negotiator of the national Democratic front of the Philippines (nDfP) said.

nDfP negotiator and spokesman fi-del Agcaoili said sison’s arrest can spoil the peace talks between the incoming Duterte administration and the commu-nists.

“You know, Joma’s (sison’s nick-name) coming home is a very ticklish issue. the Us has again come up with statement putting the cPP and the nPA (new People’s Army) in the terrorist list,” Agcaoili said in a press conference at the Ateneo de Davao Wednesday night, June 8.

“the Us can become a spoiler through its control of the Interpol,” he added.

Agcaoili said there is no direct flight from the netherlands to the Philippines so sison would have a stopover in taiwan if he flies via the royal Dutch Airlines.

Bongbong Marcos camp alleges Comelec used of secret server

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr.

by AJpRess

the camp of senator ferdinand “Bong-bong” r. marcos, Jr. on tuesday, June 7 bared that it will file an election protest, alleging that the commission on elections (comelec) used a fourth server to manipu-late the national elections held last may.

Atty. Jose Amor Amorado, head of the BBm legal team and Abakada rep. Jona-than Dela cruz, political adviser of mar-cos, told reporters that there was a “fourth server,” kept secret from the public by smartmatic and comelec.

“this was never disclosed. this is the

scAmmers defraud members of the eth-nic communities across the United states ev-ery day by selling worthless products and fake services for everything from immigration, housing and health, debt collection, jobs and education.

During the recent tax season, scams involv-ing impostor Irs and Us Department of trea-sury officials experienced a spike. consumers and potential victims are told that they owe back taxes, and are then threatened with the prospect of being arrested or being charged with a felony unless they pay-up immediately.

DHS will finally allow certain veteran family

members to come to the US expeditiously, ahead of visasenAtors mazie K. hirono (D-hI), harry

reid (D-nV), and tim Kaine (D-VA) joined filipino World War II veterans and community advocates to announce the implementation of a long-awaited program to reunite the aging veterans with their children and families. U.s. citizenship and Immigration service (UscIs) chief of staff Juliet choi provided more details on how the veterans can apply for parole under the new policy. UscIs began to accept applica-

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Hillary Clinton with former Pres. Bill Clinton AJPress photo by Momar G. Visaya

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte Inquirer.net photo

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From the Front Page

Drug lords raise bounty for...PAGE A1 the bounties were offered by drug lords incarcerated in the New Bilibid Prison.

“Bring it on, really. Bring it on. O, mas Malaki (it has become bigger)—50 million. Okay, you come. Bring it on anytime—anytime of the day, any place,” he said.

The former Davao police chief, who served from Janu-ary 2012 to October 2013, has shrugged off the threats against him, even joking that he is “not that handsome” to fear death.

“Am I that handsome that I would be afraid to die? I am not afraid to die,” he told reporters

on Wednesday.Dela Rosa vowed that with or

without the P5 million bounty offered by Duterte for the death of drug lords, he would stamp out illegal drugs and criminal-ity.

“May P5-million reward o wala, ang mga drug lord na iyan mamamatay talaga iyan kapag lumaban sila kahit walang P5 million (Whether there is a P5-million reward or not, those drug lords will be killed if they fight),” he said in a separate Radyo Inquirer interview.

The President-elect first broached the idea of a P5 mil-lion bounty for the killing of a

drug lord during his thanks-giving party in Davao City last week.

“Ang bayad ko ngayon, ‘pag drug lord, mag-announce na ‘ko, P5 million ‘pag patay. Kung buhay, P4 million 999 thousand lang,” Duterte told a crowd of around 500,000 people during his victory party at the Croco-dile Park.

(If you kill a drug lord, you will receive P5 million. If a drug lord is arrested alive, the infor-mant receives just P4,999,000.)

He also said that he would offer millions of pesos worth of bounty to anyone who could kill or arrest drug traffickers.

US may order Sison’s arrest while on his...“They might present a warrant

against him in Taipei and every-thing’s kaput that is an issue that has to be discussed seriously,” Agcaoili said.

“There has to be some guaran-tees from the Dutch government and Norwegian government in-cluding the US government to respect the sovereignty of the Filipino people in their desire to pursue just and lasting peace and allow professor Sison to come home without interference,” he added.

Agcaoili said he is not sure whether US would agree to such request because “it has always been a bullying agent.”

Resumption of peace talksSison, a former social sci-

ence and English professor, founded the CPP on Dec. 26, 1968. He was jailed during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos but was freed by then President Corazon Aquino in 1986.

Sison, who has been on self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987, has said he is open to re-turning to the Philippines after President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, his former student, assumes of-fice.

“There is a far greater chance than ever before for producing the comprehensive agreements at a faster rate to the mutual satisfaction of both parties and most importantly to the satisfac-tion of the people who need and

demand the reforms,” he said in a video message played in an academic forum at the Ateneo de Davao last Wednesday.

Duterte has promised to pro-vide Sison a safe conduct pass once he assumes the presiden-cy.

Representatives of the incom-ing Duterte administration and NDFP will meet in Oslo, Norway to tackle the agenda for the re-sumption of the peace negotia-tions next month.

The Duterte administration would be represented by incom-ing peace adviser Jesus Dureza, incoming labor secretary Silves-tre Bello and former Pangasinan Rep. Hernani Braganza. The NDFP, meanwhile, will be repre-sented by Sison, Agcaoili, chief

negotiator Luis Jalandoni, Julie de Lima-Sison, Connie Ledesma and two lawyers.

Formal negotiations between the Philippine government and the NDFP collapsed in 2013 af-ter negotiators failed to reach an agreement on jailed rebel lead-ers.

NDFP said the rebels should be freed because the govern-ment is a signatory of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immu-nity Guarantees (JASIG), which prohibits the arrest and deten-tion of peace consultants.

Government negotiators, how-ever, rejected the demand, say-ing the identities of rebels who are supposedly performing du-ties for the NDFP peace panel cannot be validated. n

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Bongbong Marcos camp alleges Comelec...fourth server and therefore it should have been subjected to source code review also and ev-erything else. But this was not dis-closed to the public. This is in vio-lation of the law,” de la Cruz said.

Earlier on Tuesday, there was a preliminary investigation into the Marcos camp’s complaint alleging that Comelec and Smartmatic per-sonnel violated the Cyber Crime Law.

The Marcos camp now seeks to file the electoral protest just a few days before incoming President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice Presi-dent Leni Robredo officially take office.

“The target date for the filing of the electoral protest is June 28—a day before the June 29 deadline. Yes, definitely we will file an elec-tion protest. The truth has to come out—one way or another,” Amo-rado said.

Amorado explained that the protest will seek a recount of the votes in some areas including the setting aside of the election results in areas where there are clear in-dications of election fraud and ma-nipulation.

Dela Cruz asserted that they are filing the election protest because they owe it to those who voted for Marcos and to the entire Filipino people to find out what really hap-pened in the May 2016 elections.

“We believe that we have enough evidence to show that there was massive rigging and manipulation of votes,” he said.

Amorado and Dela Cruz cited that the results of their initial find-ings indicated that between 9pm to 10:10pm on May 9, the trans-mitted election results showed that Marcos lost in 1,689 pre-cincts, many of which are con-sidered bailiwicks of the senator, mostly in the provinces of Leyte, Samar, Pangasinan and other ar-eas in Region II.

Amorado pointed out that in-stead of being transmitted directly to the Municipal Board of Can-vassing servers, the Comelec serv-er and the Transparency server, the results were instead coursed through a “4th Server or the so-called “Queue Server.”

This “4th server” was not di-vulged to the public and was never subjected to a source code review as what transpired with the other servers used in the elections, ac-cording to Dela Cruz. Amorado

added that there were no watch-ers allowed in the so-called “4th Servers.”

Amorado said they have already asked the Comelec to preserve and secure any and all servers, as well as other related IT equipment used in the elections.

Meanwhile, during the prelimi-nary investigation, Smartmatic asked for ten more days to file their

answer to the complaint filed.Amorado explained that respon-

dents charged for the violation of the Cybercrime Law now pending before the Manila Prosecutors’ Of-fice face possible jail sentences of six to 12 years if found guilty.

Charged for the violation of Section 4(a) of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 or R.A.

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Jose Maria Sison

june 10-16, 2016 • OC/Ie ASIAn jOuRnAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797A� Dateline USa

Duterte: I do not condone killing...cused of the mass murder plot.

Meanwhile, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expres-sion David Kaye argued that the incoming president’s statement “can be understood as a permis-sive signal to potential killers that the murder of journalists is accept-able in certain circumstances and would not be punished.”

These statements come after a press conference on Tuesday, May 31, where a reporter asked Duterte how he would handle the problem of journalists being murdered in the country.

He responded by saying, “Just because you are a journalist, you are not exempted from assassi-nation if you are a son of a b*tch. Freedom of expression cannot help you if you have done some-thing wrong.”

He went on to say that freedom of expression does not protect a journalist if he or she criticizes a person’s character.

Responding to the special rap-porteurs on Wednesday, June 8, Duterte said “go home and get some sleep,” alleging that they were “anchored on the wrong premise.”

“I never said that killing journal-ists is justified because they are involved in corruption,” he said. “What I said is that you don’t have to be a journalist to be the subject of an assassination.”

As president, Duterte noted that it is his duty to “uphold and enforce the law” and be “protec-tive of the rights of journalists, and for that matter of any citizen, of the Republic.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also weighed in on the con-troversy.

In a statement released on the UN’s website on Wednesday, Ban reiterated his commitment to “de-fend the rights of journalists and to do everything possible, publicly and privately, to ensure that jour-nalists have the freedom to work.”

Ban said he was “extremely disturbed” by the former Davao mayor’s remarks.

“I unequivocally condemn his apparent endorsement of extraju-dicial killing, which is illegal and a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms. Such comments are of particular concern in light of on-going impunity for serious cases of violence against journalists in the Philippines,” the secretary-general said. “I will also continue to stand up for the rights of jour-nalists and their defenders to be represented here at the United Nations.”

Despite calls to apologize last week, Duterte instead dared the media to boycott him.

“Don’t threaten me, boycott, boycott!” he said, adding “I do not care if no one is covering me. Do not threaten me, I said I’m ready to

lose the presidency, my honor or my life. Just do not f— with me.”

He described three kinds of journalists — those who do not ac-cept bribes, those who serve as a “mouthpiece of vested interests” and those who accept “money from illegal sources…whose greed is unlimited.”

He also criticized the UN for not solving “the Middle East carnage” and its supposed inability to “lift a finger in Africa.”

‘No ambush interviews’ Known for his unfiltered speak,

Duterte said he would no longer grant interviews until his term ends to avoid criticism and “wrong statements.”

“If there are interviews, there will be many mistakes, there will be many criticisms. So no inter-view, no criticism, no wrong state-ments, no nothing,” he said when interviewed in Davao on Monday, June 6.

The incoming president later clarified his comments, saying he meant no more “ambush inter-views.

“It was not an interview. An am-bush to which I replied that I will not allow interviews anymore now or in the future. That will be the drill until the last day of my term of office,” he said.

Duterte, who led Davao as may-or for over two decades, will be sworn into the presidency on June 30.

Panel urges victims to report scams...Sandy Close (right), New America Media executive director, welcomes the panelists and guests who attended an ethnic media briefing on spotting and avoiding scams in our communities. AJPress Photo by Momar G. Visaya

LOS ANGELES — More low-income customers may now be eligible to receive a rate discount and no-cost energy-saving home improvements from SoCalGas due to new income guidelines that went into effect on June 1 for qualified customers who enroll in the state-sponsored California Alternate Rate for Energy (CARE) and Energy Savings Assistance Program.

The higher income limit means a family can earn more and still be eligible for assistance programs like CARE, which gives income-qualified customers 20 percent off their monthly natural gas bill.

The previous limit of $31,820 for a family of two expired on Tuesday. The current limit is $32,040 a year. Each additional person adds $8,320.

For example, a household of four can earn up to $48,600 to be eligible.

“We are pleased to inform our community about the new guide-lines and to encourage those who qualify and can benefit from our assistance programs to enroll,” said Lisa Alexander, vice president of Customer Solutions & Com-munications for SoCalGas. “The monthly rate discount and sav-ings from no-cost energy-efficient home improvements can make a real difference, especially for struggling families.”

Customer Anselma Hernandez said she appreciates the money she saves on her natural gas bill each month through her partici-pation in CARE.

“The program is very good and

it is easy to apply,” said Hernan-dez, who lives in Santa Ana, Cali-fornia “I like how I was treated and it has helped my family very much.”

Luis Barajas, also from Santa Ana, said he has been enrolled in CARE for a long time and always recommends it to his friends, fam-ily and neighbors. “I use the sav-ings I receive to pay other bills,” he said.

Under the CARE program, there is a 20 percent rate discount on the monthly natural gas bill for eligible households. Over 1.5 million customers throughout the SoCalGas service are have already been enrolled. Those who qualify and are approved within 90 days of starting new gas service will also receive a $15 discount on the Service Establishment Charge.

The Energy Savings Assis-tance program provides no-cost, energy-efficient home improve-ments to income-qualified renters and homeowners. Services may include: Door weather-stripping and caulking to keep unwanted drafts out of the home; attic insu-lation to help make homes cooler in summer and warmer in winter; low-flow showerheads that can save energy used to heat water; furnace replacement (owner oc-cupied residences only); and oth-er minor home repairs

There are two ways customers can qualify for the CARE and En-ergy Savings Assistance Program. Customers may automatically be eligible if their household income is below the new guidelines or a household member currently re-

ceives benefits from any of the following public assistance pro-grams: Medi-Cal/Medicaid, Medi-Cal for Families A&B, Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Cal-WORKs (TANF) or Tribal TANF, Head Start Income Eligible (Tribal Only), Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, CalFresh (Food Stamps), National School Lunch Program, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Pro-gram (LIHEAP), or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

As of June 1 of this year, the new CARE and Energy Savings Assis-tance Program income guidelines are as follows:

Income Guidelines based on pre-tax annual income:

Household SizeIncome Eligibility Upper Limit1-2: $32,0403: $40,3204- $48,6005 - $56,8806 - $65,1607 - $73,4608 - $81,780Each Additional Person$8,320* Effective June 1, 2016 to May

31, 2017 Customers can learn more and

apply for these and other pro-grams by visiting socalgas.com/assistance. To apply for CARE online, visit socalgas.com/care or call (800) 427-2200 or (800) 342-4545 for Spanish.

To apply for Energy Savings Assistance Program, visit so-calgas.com/improvements or call (800) 331-7593 English and Spanish.

More SoCalGas low-income customers may be eligible for assistance

A lot of these scams now hap-pen online and through mobile phones via calls from weird and unknown area codes to unsolic-ited text messages. From a legiti-mate looking but fake email from your primary bank asking you to change your password to yet an-other email sent by the company you use to send money to rela-tives back in the Philippines. A quick and cursory click later and you have given these con artists your bank account number and passwords.

New America Media (NAM) and The Federal Trade Commis-sion (FTC) arranged a briefing with members of the community media and invited law enforce-ment officials, community advo-

cates and consumers to discuss the types of fraud that are on the rise, what people can do to pro-tect themselves and the impor-tance of reporting these scams to the authorities.

“It is an epidemic and the per-petrators are targeting the most vulnerable in our communities,” said NAM executive director Sandy Close. “Information is the best defense for people not to be victimized. We’re all vulnerable to being scammed.”

Terrell McSweeny, FTC com-missioner, said that a lot of scams and fraudulent activities are un-derreported, sometimes unde-tected. These scams range from impostor scams, debt collection, debt relief, mortgage modifica-tions and student loans.

Due to a variety of reasons – ranging from fear or shame, or even their immigration status, people are reluctant to report these scams when they get vic-timized.

McSweeny encourages people who have been victimized by scammers to come out.

“You should tell your story, come out and report it. It is very challenging and very hard to talk about being defrauded but your story might help other people to avoid being defrauded and vic-timized as well,” she said.

Jane Azia, chief of the Bureau of Consumer Fraud and Protec-tion under the New York Attor-ney General’s office, echoed this sentiment.

“People should not be embar-rassed about being victimized as we’re all vulnerable. File a com-plaint if you believe you have been victimized,” she said.

She also warned people to be wary and always be on the look-out.

“Do not trust someone just be-cause they are part of your com-munity or they speak the same language,” Azia said. “Do not blindly trust, learn how to say no and don’t sign any contract eas-ily.”

And for people who owe the In-ternal Revenue Service?

“If you owe the government money, they will send you a let-ter but they will not call you or threaten you with deportation,” she said.

The US Department of Treasury and IRS have posted warnings on their websites about phone sams by operators using their agen-cies’ names. Neither of them will contact consumers by phone to

Clinton makes history, clinches...giving women the right to vote.

Call for unity“We all know this has been a

tough fight, but the Democratic Party is a family. And now, it’s time to restore the ties that bind us to-gether,” Clinton said.

Clinton’s win was also eight years to the day after she con-ceded the 2008 Democratic presi-dential primary to Barack Obama, with a speech in which Clinton fa-mously declared that her support-ers helped put “18 million cracks” in the “glass ceiling.” She recalled that concession speech Tuesday evening.

“It may be hard to see tonight, but we are all standing under a glass ceiling right now. But don’t worry, we’re not smashing this one,” she said.

Filipino-American supportFilipino-American leaders led

by Loida Nicolas Lewis were present that evening, along with Dr. Angie Cruz, Joe Ramos, Marilyn Abalos, Jerry Sibal and Edwin Josue. Filipino-American Democratic Club of New York president Aries de la Cruz also attended with his mother Tess

and Juliet Payabyab.“Hillary has been with us from

way back, since 1998. She is the only one who came to a Filipino gathering, a NaFFAA conference in New York. She knows us, she knows our problems. Anytime we need her endorsement, she’s there for us,” community leader Loida Lewis said.

“My mom told Hillary that her son helped start the Filipino-American Democratic Club and Hillary looked me into my eyes, shook my hand and thanked me,” said the younger Dela Cruz. They were near the front of the stage when Bill and Hillary went around to greet their supporters.

He also described the feeling as incredible and phenomenal, spe-cially for someone like him who moved to the United States when he was only seven years old.

For his mother, Tess, the mes-sage that resonated was exempli-fied by the short video that the Clinton campaign showed on the widescreen before the pre-sumptive nominee delivered her speech.

“This means that girls can run for president, and they can be-

come president of the United States in the future,” Dela Cruz said.

Sanders campaign“I would like to congratulate

Sen. Sanders for an extraordinary campaign,” Clinton said, acknowl-edging the Vermont senator’s career in public service fighting for progressive causes. “Let there be no mistake, Sen. Sanders, his campaign and the vigorous debate that we had about how to raise in-comes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility has been very good for the Democratic Party and America.”

Three hours later, Sanders him-self delivered a speech in Santa Monica, California.

He said that despite the strug-gles, he and his team will bring the fight to Washington, D.C. for the last primary next week and on to Philadelphia, where the Demo-cratic Party will be holding its con-vention.

“Sanders is a fighter. He has to say that. In a way, because his socialist stance has hit full national attention, for him, that is already a win. But he’s not going to win, it will be Hillary,” Lewis said. n

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Bongbong Marcos camp alleges Comelec...10175 were Smartmatic person-nel Marlon Garcia, a Venezuelan national and head of the technical support team; Elie Moreno, an Is-raeli national and project director; Neil Banigued and Mauricio Her-rera both members of the Techni-cal Support Team and Comelec IT experts led by Rouie Peñalba, Nelson Herrera and Frances Mae Gonzalez who are all assigned at the Information Technology De-partment (ITD).

“Our main allegation is that in the night of May 9, 2016 dur-

ing the time when the transmis-sion was already in progress, they opened the system and introduced the new script without permission from the owner of the system, which is Comelec,” said Amo-rado.

Earlier, the camp of Marcos said that shortly after the suspicious in-troduction of the new script the senator’s lead over his closest ri-val, Leni Robredo, in the vice pres-idential race began dropping until he was eventually overtaken.

The Church-based election watchdog Parish Pastoral Council

for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) also urged the Comelec to look into the allegations of poll fraud.

“For the credibility of the elec-tions, all protests and claims ac-companied by evidence should be looked into seriously,” PPCRV Chairperson Henrietta de Villa said in a statement. “So Comelec must investigate. Claimants of cheat-ing must have hard and strong evidence to back their claims. If proven guilty, cheaters must be punished heavily and swiftly. [The] PPCRV stands on the side of the truth and the law.”

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OC/IE ASIAN JOURNAL • JUNE 10-16, 2016(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com A�

No Senate resolution of $81-M Bangladesh bank heist

Dateline PhiliPPines

Pork barrel scam and SSS pension hike discussed on the last day of 16th Congress

by Ian JamotIlloAJPress

THE 16th Congress held its last session on Monday, June 6, focusing on the Priority Develop-ment Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam, also called the pork barrel scam, and its failed attempt to override Pres. Benigno Aquino III’s veto on the proposed Social Security System (SSS) pension increase.

Senate President Franklin Dril-on said that the Senate did more than enough in the past three years while declaring that the upper chamber had “triumphed over adversity,” especially over its probe on the pork barrel scam which involved three of its mem-bers.

“How would the nation and our people remember the 16th Con-gress? How would history judge us? I can say with conviction that this Senate did more than enough,” Drilon stated.

He went on to boast that 30 major laws — covering the econ-omy, justice, agriculture, work-ers’ welfare, health and education — were passed during the three-year term.

“Our collective efforts yielded a harvest of laws that will strength-en the economy, promote social justice and transform our coun-try into one of the strongest and fastest growing economies in the world,” he said in a speech.

Pork barrel scandal livesAmong the eight senators who

took their final bows during the end of the 16th Congress were Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile. The three sen-ators were charged with plunder by the Sandiganbayan over their alleged misuse of the pork barrel funds.

Enrile, who is out on bail, was previously detained along with Revilla and Estrada in 2014, be-

CLOSING MESSAGE. Senate President Franklin M. Drilon is congratulated by his fellow senators after delivering the Senate’s closing message for the 16th Congress, which adjourned sine die during Monday’s session, June 6. A four-time Senate President, it was Drilon’s ninth time to deliver the closing message of the Senate. Those greeting Drilon, are clockwise, Senators Bam Aquino, Sonny Angara, Senate Deputy Minority Leader Tito Sotto III, along with Senators Gringo Honasan II, Antonio Trillanes IV, Koko Pimentel III, Cynthia Villar and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano. Senate photo by Cesar Tomambo

fore being granted temporary freedom by the anti-graft court last year.

In his closing speech, Enrile ex-pressed gratitude for the senators and the people he had worked with for 27 years (four terms) in the Senate.

SSS pension hike override failsOver 290 lawmakers attempted

to override Aquino’s veto of a bill raising the pension for Social Se-curity System (SSS) retirees by P2,000; but efforts remained fu-tile.

Aquino rejected the measure back in January because adding the hike would cause bankruptcy of the SSS.

In a heated debate between Majority Leader Neptali Gon-zales II, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, Manila Represen-tatives Lito Atienza and Amado Bagatsing, and Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, Gonzales pointed out about the ineffective move of the veto override since the Senate had already adjourned.

The proposed law which would increase the monthly pension of 2.1 million pensioners by P2,000 would cost SSS roughly P56 bil-lion despite the agency only earn-ing an annual investment income of P30 billion.

Colmenares, advocate of the override was hoping for 193 votes needed for the House to overturn the presidential veto of the SSS bill. However, as of Sunday only 128 lawmakers had signed the override resolution.

“We could make history and make a strong legislative inter-vention to alleviate the plight of our senior citizens. We cannot ab-dicate on that role mainly because it would be useless,” Colmenares said.

Gonzales on the other hand replied “It’s not an override if it would just be a statement which is far from the override provided for in the Constitution.”

The debate ended with Deputy Speaker Giorgidi Aggabao ruling in Gonzales’ favor.

MANILA—The Senate failed to resolve the controversy sur-rounding the $81 million stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh Bank account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

Citing time constraints, Sen-ate President Franklin Drilon said the plenary failed to discuss the committee report made by Blue Ribbon chairman Sen. Teo-fisto Guingona III on the money laundering activity involving the amount stolen from the foreign banks.

Guingona filed a committee report but this was not presented during plenary session before Congress adjourned last Mon-day, June 6.

The report was accepted by the Senate Bills and Index sec-tion, which means it would likely end up at the Senate archives.

“The problem is these were filed after we adjourned and end-ed the 16th Congress. So that’s the technical problem. There is no more session to which these could be referred, but we re-ceived the reports,” Drilon said in a weekly media forum in Ma-nila.

by ChrIstIna mendez Philstar.com

Drilon said the incoming 17th Congress can choose to reopen the probe.

Drilon, however, explained the contents of the Senate Blue Ribbon report are not binding on the new batch of lawmakers who will comprise the 17th Congress which opens on July 25.

“No, they can not pull it out. It has to go through another hear-ing. In other words the 17th Con-gress cannot adopt that report. It has to be re-filed, a new resolu-tion would have to be filed, we have to go through hearings,” Drilon said.

“Of course, in the hearings, you can adopt the testimonies of the resource persons and call for additional resource persons if the committee wishes to do it. But the technical problem is that there was no more Senate when it was filed,” he added.

Drilon said the money-laun-dering issue is considered “unre-solved” at the Senate “because of lack of time.”

In the same forum, Drilon said the proposals to amend or review the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) are among the priorities he wants to push in the next Con-gress.

“We will also review and amend

the Anti-Money Laundering Act. There were bills on the last days of our session on the amendment of the AMLA, particularly on the inclusion of casinos. We will take that up when we come back. That is an item that will be on our front burner,” Drilon said.

Drilon added he is also open to look into the calls to reimpose the death penalty due to loop-holes in the justice system. But he maintained his stand against the death penalty.

“I am against the re-imposi-tion of the death penalty, but I am willing to listen. We are will-ing to listen to both sides of the spectrum,” he said.

“Personally I am against it be-cause basically, I see an imper-fect justice system where errors can be committed. When you send an innocent man into the death chamber that is a mistake that cannot be corrected. That is my position,” he added.

He also vowed to push for the amendments to the Juvenile De-linquency Act, the possible shift to federal form of government and the institutionalization of the Pantawid Pampamilya Pro-gram, as well as the adjustment of the income tax brackets for workers.

Senate Democrats announce implementation...tions on Wednesday, June 8.

Senator Charles E. Schumer said Thursday, June 9 that the Department of Homeland Secu-rity (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will allow certain Filipino World War II veteran family members who are beneficiaries of ap-proved family-based immigrant visa petitions an opportunity to seek a discretionary grant of pa-role, on a case-by-case basis.

According to DHS, this mea-sure would allow approved family members to come to the United States while they wait for their visa to become available.

“This effort to ease family re-unification is long overdue, but it is the right thing to do for the he-roic Filipino WWII veterans who aided America in our hour of need. Our Filipino WWII veterans fought selflessly and valiantly for America and for that, we owe them a debt of gratitude,” said Schumer. “This measure re-unites Filipino veterans and their family members with their loved ones abroad by expeditiously al-lowing them to come to the Unit-ed States.”

In 1941, Filipinos in the Unit-ed States began to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces, and formed the First and Second Filipino In-fantry Regiments. Today, nearly

18,000 of the 300,000 Filipino sol-diers who fought in World War II are living in the United States and the Philippines. Their coura-geous contribution attests to the Allied victory in the Pacific.

Filipino veterans were grant-ed citizenship in recognition of their service to the United States during World War II. Many of their children, however, were not. Due to backlogs in the U.S. immigration system, it can take more than 20 years for immigra-tion applications to be reviewed.

The brave Filipinos who sup-ported the U.S. during World War II consisted of soldiers, scouts and guerrillas whose per-sistence and commitment to the country made them invaluable members of the Armed Forces. Filipino soldiers participated in a myriad of military operations, including infantry combat, intel-ligence, sabotage, demolition, and reconnaissance.

“The Filipino American Demo-cratic Club of New York is proud to support our Senator, Charles E. Schumer as he announces this landmark and historic policy for Filipino WWII Veterans, finally allowing them to be reunited with their loved ones from abroad,” said Aries Dela Cruz, president of the Filipino American Demo-cratic Club of New York.

Under the USCIS Filipino

World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) Policy, Filipino veterans whose service has been recog-nized by the U.S. Department of Defense, or their surviving spouses, may apply to bring their children to the United States. The policy will allow families, some of whom have been wait-ing decades, to be together in the United States while their ap-plications are processed.

“This is an example of what happens when our community comes together to demand ac-tion for our Filipino WWII vet-erans,” Dela Cruz added. “Our club is proud to have endorsed Senator Schumer for the New York Congressional Primary on June 28 because he understands the needs and concerns of our community, and we call on all Filipino Americans to support our efforts to re-elect him to the United States Senate.”

The policy will go into effect for applications submitted begin-ning June 8th. Schumer says that prospective applicants should contact his office with any ques-tions or concerns throughout the application process. Eligible individuals are encouraged to re-quest parole under the program within the next five years. Details can be found at http://www.us-cis.gov/fwvp. (Momar G. Visaya/AJPress)

demand money or threaten legal action.

Next time you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from one of these agencies, de-manding money or threatening legal action, do not engage in a conversation with the caller and hang up the phone.

Top ScamsAccording to the FTC, 10.8%

of US adults are victimized by scams.

William Efron, FTC’s director for its Northeast Regional office, explained that FTC maintains a national database which includes all these fraud complaints.

In 2015, FTC received 1.2 mil-lion complaints about fraud and where victims lost an estimated $765 million.

For scams in New York region, top on the list is debt collection, with more than 25,000 New York-ers filing complaints, which has led to the cracking down on these unlawful debt collectors who use abusive tactics.

Among the other scams New

Panel urges victims to report scams...PAGE A4 Yorkers reported are impostor

scams, telephone and mobile ser-vices, banks and lenders, shop-at-home and catalog sales.

Camille Mackler, director of legal initiatives at New York Im-migration Coalition, cited numer-ous reasons why members of the immigrant communities do not report their cases.

“For some, there is shame and fear in coming forward and for others, even if they want to, they don’t know where to go and they don’t see a benefit in reporting,” Mackler said. “One’s immigra-tion status is not relevant in these cases, we just want to catch the perpetrators.”

For those who are harassed by debt collection agencies, Nancy Schindler, associate commission-er of Legal and Regulatory Com-pliance Division at the New York City Department of Consumer Af-fairs, offers the following tip.

“Check (through DCA) if they are licensed. Debt collection agencies should be licensed by the DCA, along with second-hand auto dealers, employment agen-

cies, immigration service provid-ers, tax preparers,” Schindler said.

If they are not listed as li-censed, you can report it directly to the DCA. And even if they are listed and you feel that they have gone out of bounds in harassing you, then report the case to the FTC.

Claire Rosenzweig, President and CEO, Better Business Bureau Serving Metropolitan New York, issued a warning to job-seekers to be wary of employment scams, where scam artist attempts to convince the victim that he must pay money as a requirement of employment.

“So far in 2016, nearly 10 per-cent of submissions to BBB’s on-line Scam Tracker tool filed by metro New Yorkers, claim t have been targeted by fake offers of employment,” said Rosenzweig. “Never pay money to an “employ-er” to get a job. Legitimate offers of employment do not require that you pay money for training classes, or anything else.” (Mo-mar G. Visaya/AJPress)

The Hall of Fish Paintings by Famous Artists will be opened to visitors

LOS ANGELES - After long planning and preparations, the Hall of Fish Paintings by Famous Artists which is located in Covi-na, Los Angeles will be formally opened to the public on June 15, 2016. This is the first permanent ink wash art exhibition that is focused on the subject of fish in the United States.

The Hall of Fish Paintings by Famous Artists collects the ex-quisite ink wash artworks by contemporary masters who are adept at painting fish. Every painting on display in the hall is painted by a famous master of art with the highest rank of art-ist in his or her country. That is, it is painted by a “National First Class Artist.” The high standards for selecting a painting include the following considerations. First, whether paintings by the artist have an international mar-ket price determined at interna-tional auctions. Second, what determinative official rank, what title, and what position in an art organization the artist has been given by his or her nation or the world. Third, whether the artist has received well-known major awards and whether the artist’s works have been collected by important museums or other im-portant establishments. Only a painting whose artist meet these criteria can be selected.

One example of the famous artists is Gao Jianfu, a world renowned master of ink wash paintings, whose works have real international auction prices. He was a famous painter of tradi-tional Chinese paintings and an art educator in modern China. He was one of the founders of the Lingnan school of painting. He, together with Gao Qifeng and Chen Shuren, were called the “Three Outstanding Painters in Lingnan.”

Another example is Guo Ruyu who has real international auc-tion prices for his works. He is a National First Class Artist of China and Dean of the Oriental Painting and Art Academy. He is worthy of being called a great master of art in this contempo-rary era. He has been called “Matchless in All Three: Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting,” “Mas-ter-Hand of Lotuses,” and “Carp King of the Orient.” In 2005, three organizations including the Calligraphy and Painting Artists Association of China jointly con-ferred upon him the “Outstand-ing Achievement Award in the Art of Contemporary Calligraphy and Painting in China.” In 2006, four organizations, including the China Association of Internation-al Artists and Litterateurs, jointly selected him to be the recipient of the first medal awarded in China for outstanding achieve-ment in art and literature, the Gold Medal in the Art of Callig-raphy and Painting.

Another example is Wu Qin-gxia. There are real international auction prices for her works. She was a National First Class Artist of China, a member of the China Artists Association, a Professor in the Art Department of Shang-hai Normal University, and a Fellow of Italy’s Academy of Eu-rope. She learned from fish and was able to capture both their outer form and inner spirit. She earned the laudatory nickname “Carp Wu.”

One more example is Wang Gengxin. There are real inter-national auction prices for his works. He is a prestigious mas-ter of traditional Chinese paint-ings, the Vice Chairperson of the China Artists Association, the Vice Chairperson of the World Artists Association, and

a lifetime Honorary President of the Calligraphy and Painting Institute of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. He earned the reputable title of “the double kings of tiger and fish” in international painting circles.

Yet another example is Chen Yongqiang. There are real in-ternational auction prices for his works. He is a National First Class Artist of China and a Di-rector of the China Artists As-sociation. He enjoys a special stipend from the State Council of China as a outstanding special-ist. Moreover, he was given the title “Outstanding Artist of the People” for the year 2005.

This hall is fortunate to also have on display Dragon Carp Frolic in a Lotus Pond painted by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. This painting is appraised as a world treasure of outstand-ing quality, a peerless and sub-lime work of art. It is extremely wonderful, for what looks like detailed fine brushwork in it is actually derived from free-hand brushwork. Even the small touches can be freehand brush-work depictions of lively charm.

All of the six major parts com-posing this painting - the carp, the lotus leaves, the lotus root, the floating grass, the quality of the water, and the flowers are the fruits of hard work. The paint-ing accomplishes a spellbound and miraculous state that is in-imitable. In fact, both the artistic conception of and the prices for paintings by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III have reached the top-most level in the world.

The Hall of Fish Paintings by Famous Artists will officially open at 10AM on June 15 and hold the exhibition for the long term. It not only gives the pub-lic a centralized place where the exquisite fish paintings by art-ists who have the highest status in their countries (i.e., National First Class Artist) are showcased, but also offers an opportunity for art lovers to concretely study and copy by hand these great masterpieces.

People of all walks are wel-come to take the wonderful op-portunity and visit this great ex-hibition. The admission is free.

Address: 170 E. School St., Covina, CA 91723 USA

Telephone: (626) 281-6378

PAGE A1

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Many emerging markets have already “emerged.” Now that it is no longer the “Sick Man of Asia,” it is high time for the Philippines to experience this and become an integral player in the world economy as well. The country is a good option for its low start-up costs for new businesses, desirable workforce, and geo-graphical proximity to other Asian markets. For-eign investments are more than welcome in the country.

The Philippines’ standing in the International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) for 2016 has seen a minor setback after falling to 42nd place from 41st last year. This drop comes de-spite being hailed as the one of the fastest-grow-ing economies in the world.

The annual report measures four broad factors in measuring competitiveness—economic per-formance, government efficiency, business effi-ciency and infrastructure. It uses economic data from various international and national sources, as well as an opinion survey in generating over 300 criteria to assess and rank the competitive-ness of nations.

The WCY also suggested that the incoming ad-ministration under President-elect Rodrigo Duterte address these challenges to improve the country’s competitiveness landscape: Secure businesses and communities from conflicts and calamities; Sustain governance reforms at all levels and across administrations; Enhance infra-structure, human capital, and cooperation to re-

duce transaction costs; Develop a competitive business environment to benefit from ASEAN integra-tion and Foster shared prosperity through entrepreneurship and de-

cent employment.Under a new management, with Pres.-elect

Duterte at the helm, the Philippine economy is poised to emerge as an economic prospect and at-tractive business destination. His economic team is set to meet this month to assess current govern-ment forecasts.

Incoming Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said that the incoming government is consider-ing lowering the economic growth targets for the country in the next three years.

“Public spending, especially for public infra-structure, does not affect economic growth in-stantaneously. There is usually a lag. “Second half growth rate will be slower...as the impact of election spending fades. Agricultural sector and exports would continue to be weak,” Diokno re-vealed.

To avoid an economic regression, the incoming government should address issues such as weak institutions, poverty and corruption continue to dissuade investors and make exporting in the country challenging.

Breaking through to the next level is all about meeting and exceeding expectations. As auspi-cious as it is. The Philippine economy should no longer settle for minor improvements and find ways to being consistently good rather than great just once in a while. (AJPress) Philstar.com photo

Minor hiccup

Editorial

SEVERAL emerging markets in the world have experienced excep-tional economic strides. These nations are mostly highly export-driv-en with strong inflows of capital and investment and well-capitalized banking institutions.

DONE mocking his opponents in the presi-dential race, The Digong is now using almost every forum to vent his ire on the Church. He has accused the Church of basically two things, hypocrisy and irrelevance, and, the Church, shocked by the audacity of The Digong, has come out with nothing but guarded, timid re-sponses. Never in the history of the Church, dating back to the early years of the Spanish reign, has the institution found itself bombard-ed and helpless.

The minor reason is this. For the first time in the country’s modern history, the elected Pres-ident is not someone the Church and its hier-archy knows. The populist choice in 1998 was Erap Estrada. But despite Erap’s acting back-ground and tough guy image, he was trained by the Jesuits, and the men he named to the Cabinet and important government posts were insiders webbed to the centers of political and economic power. And webbed to the power centers of the Church.

The Digong is a real tough guy whose rise to power was based on narratives he was un-apologetic about—killing criminals, the sum-mary execution of drug dealers and his zero tolerance (whatever means of containing them was OK) toward people involved in the business of crime. All Old Testament narratives of rage, death and fury. His favorite verb is “ kill.” His favorite expression is “galit ako.” The men he named to important posts, who will soon as-

sume frontline and Cabinet-rank positions, have very tan-gential if not zero links to the Church.

His campaign manager and longtime aide was a former priest-turned-rebel, who, dis-gusted by the irrelevance of the official Church in address-ing the plight of those iden-tified in The Sermon on the Mount, dropped his homilies, went underground and carried a gun.

There is nothing, virtually nothing, in the in-stitutional memory of The Digong in which he collaborated with the official Church to tame the excesses of Davao City and govern it ac-cording to his dictum. His colorful personal life and his openness with his many affairs were, in a sense, an open challenge on the basic teach-ings of the Church.

But, as I said, that is just the minor reason. There is a bigger one.

The Church and its intellectuals and theo-reticians cannot counter the message of The Digong. Which is to basically serve the con-stituencies specified in The Sermon on the Mount: the weak, the humble, the afraid and the persecuted, though through methods de-cried in the Ten Commandments. The people (like my neighbors and I) who have nowhere to go and turn to during times of trouble, perse-

cution and scarcity. The Church cannot even invoke that there is another way forward, a Chris-tian way, a civil one and a Godly one. Because there is none.

When, really, was the last time the Church stood for the downtrodden? Reviewing the Church’s high-profile involve-ment in the public affairs, the

most prominent image that comes to mind is this—Cardinal Tagle tearing up after reading the sordid affairs of the Napoles scam. The ac-companying article said that Cardinal Tagle was shocked to see a scandal of that magnitude, at least P10 billion in a SARO-for-cash exchange.

The pork scam was pure and unalloyed evil. It was also unprecedented in the history of a historically compromised Congress. From the part of the cardinal, condemning the pork scam was a moral imperative. After that, many hoped that Cardinal Tagle would use his great and awesome moral authority to indict and con-demn the greatest evil of our time—the control of 40 or so families of the nation’s wealth and our vastly unequal society.

Even Pope Francis has said that inequality “is the defining issue of our time.” In the Phil-ippine context, it skews everything to favor the economic elite. It sucks up GDP gains to further fatten the already immense wealth of these 40 or so families. It is at the root of all things that

cripple the mobility of the sectors below.By refusing to take on the greatest evil of our

time, Cardinal Tagle just collaborated with the efforts of the Aquino administration to paint “corruption” as the only and true evil, the root of the national malaise. With the Church and the so-called “civil society” behind Mr. Aquino, his administration used “corruption” as a wag-the-dog narrative to divert national attention from what Mr. Aquino was really doing—serv-ing the top 1 percent and leaving the 99 per-cent to fend for themselves.

Mr. Aquino raised GDP growth, got credit up-grades and created a class of dollar billionaires that are now classified as “those-who-can-buy-a-small-country-rich.” The understated poverty level of 20-plus percent never moved. In some dying areas of Mindanao, the poverty level was 84 percent, and the ARMM had worse literacy and poverty rates than Idi Amin-wrecked Ugan-da.

Through all these and the unapologetic ser-vice of Mr. Aquino to his true masters—the top 1 percent—the Church was a mute spectator, and, in a sense, an abettor.

So now, as The Digong mocks and taunts the Church for its hypocrisy and irrelevance, he finds no public rebuke and sanction. The Church failed to follow a timeless Church dic-tum—you reap what you sow—and its failings are now haunting the institution. (ManilaTimes.net)

The Church is now haunted by its many failings

Marlen ronquillo

Opinion

Jarius Bondoc

Gotcha Yasay must avoid mistakes of Aquino, Trillanes ‘treason’

CHINA reneged on leav-ing Scarborough Shoal. That’s Noynoy Aquino’s alibi for losing the traditional Filipino fishing ground to the militarist neigh-bor in June 2012. Supposedly the United States had brokered a simultaneous withdrawal of Chinese and Philippine armed vessels. But after the Philip-pines dutifully departed, China stayed, and that’s that.

Five accusers think otherwise. In a treason rap they implead PNoy for sending Sen. Anto-nio Trillanes as backchannel to Beijing. Evidence indicates that Trillanes gave vital information that emboldened China to grab the shoal. Too, that the sena-tor belittled the US-inspired deal, overruled knowledgeable Philippine diplomats, and did things on his own without tell-ing PNoy.

“What should we have done there?” P-Noy now says about the standoff between one Phil-ippine vessel accosting and six Chinese ships defending Hainanese poachers inside the horseshoe-shaped shoal. “If we engage in hostilities, can we win? Obviously not. But even in that aspect, are we endanger-ing lives unnecessarily?”

PNoy makes no mention of Trillanes’ backchanneling. Why? Answers may lie in the document.

Cited in the treason charge is “Brady Notes: Aug. 17, 2012,” named after then-Philippine Ambassador to Beijing, Sonia Brady. The document implies that P-Noy amateurishly had sidelined his own foreign sec-retary, thus letting a megaloma-niac with a sinister agenda give away Scarborough.

The “Brady Notes” state that Trillanes believed “there was never any negotiation between the Chinese and the Americans, just a meeting with Kurt Camp-

bell.” For him, Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific af-fairs, “was not a negotiator.”

Trillanes believed he was the sole negotiator. The document states: “The arrangement being looked at by the senator was one side would leave first then the other side then the next, etc. They were talking about the manner of evacuating the Scarborough. He then received a call from P-Noy, saying why are the Chinese still there when there was an agreement for si-multaneous withdrawal.”

It so happened that the Chi-nese ships stayed to claim Scar-borough as theirs. Occupation, as they say, is 90 percent of any territorial claim.

* * *In the aftermath of China’s in-

vasion, Manila filed an arbitra-tion case before the United Na-tions. The Philippines is seeking a ruling that the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea gives it rights over Scarborough. The

shoal is 123 miles from Luzon, within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone, but 900 miles from China’s south-ernmost Hainan island-prov-ince. China claims the shoal by “historic right,” which the UN-CLOS forbids. The arbitral tri-bunal in The Hague is expected to decide in a few weeks in fa-vor of the Philippines.

Incoming foreign secretary Perfecto Yasay expects China to ignore the ruling. He says there would be no other option but bilateral talks.

If that’s his view, then he had better beware. The Philippines has tried bilateral talks with China many times before, to no avail. Beijing’s communist leaders use bilateral talks only to divert attention from milita-rist designs.

Yasay humbly says he has yet to study the history of the South China Sea dispute. That is the best approach, instead of na-iveté or power trip.

He would find out that China

as far back as 1989 had planned to grab the entire South China Sea. The then-vice chief of the People’s Liberation Army-Navy unveiled a defense strategy of building a virtual Great Wall along the Pacific Ocean. That defense perimeter consists of two “island chains.” The first extends west of Japan in the East China Sea down to western Philippines in the South China Sea. The second is from the southern tip of Japan down to Papua New Guinea, east of the Philippines.

Based on that plan China in 1995 grabbed Mischief Reef, off Palawan, also within the Philippine EEZ and far away from Hainan. Manila tried bilat-eral talks to make Beijing stop building supposed “fishermen’s shelters against typhoons.” Bei-jing protracted the talks over the monsoon seasoan, when Philip-pine Navy ships couldn’t patrol the reef. When the weather cleared, what emerged on Mis-chief were concrete fortifica-

tions, artillery pieces, military communications facilities, a he-liport, and a naval base. From there China has since been at-tempting to grab Sabina Shoal, closer to Palawan.

Yasay also must understand the nuances of China’s system. The Communist Party is above the state. It first installs a sec-retary general, then makes him President of the People’s Repub-lic, and ultimately the chairman of the mighty Central Military Commission. That way the com-munists control the People’s Liberation Army directly as well as through the government.

The Minister of Foreign Af-fairs is a communist apparat-chik from the elite Politburo. But unlike high military com-missars, he is not a member of the Standing Committee, much more the seven-man Executive Committee. In effect, Chinese diplomacy is subordinate to the military. For China bilateral talks can serve as military tac-tics. (Philstar.com)

OC/IE ASIAN JOURNAL • JUNE 10-16, 2016(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com A�Dateline PhiliPPines

Poe, Robredo among top campaign spenders, Comelec says

Lawmaker says Arroyo can be an asset to Duterte admin

PROTEST. Mothers who have given birth at the world’s busiest maternity facility, the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, are joined by their daughters in a campaign to save the 65-year-old institution from being torn down. The Dept. of Health (DOH) is planning to transfer the hospital to the nearby DOH compound on Rizal Avenue. Inquirer.net photo by Jocelyn Uy

THE Commission on Elec-tions (Comelec) has extended the deadline for the submission of the campaign expenses and funding sources of local and na-tional candidates until Wednes-day, June 8.

Among the presidential can-didates, only Mar Roxas failed to submit his Statement of Contri-butions and Expenditure (SOCE), which could cost him a fine of P10,000 or P30,000. Liberal Par-ty (LP) Spokesperson Barry Guti-errez said that Roxas has asked the poll body for a 14-day exten-sion to file his SOCE.

Sen. Grace Poe, who placed third in the presidential race, was the biggest spender among the candidates with P510,845,262.56, with campaign contributions reaching at P511,950,000. Poe is followed by Jejomar Binay, Ro-drigo Duterte, and Miriam San-tiago, who spent the least with only P74,652,689.87.

For the vice presidential bets, Vice Pres.-elect Leni Ro-bredo has the most spend-ing with P418,664,130.60; with P423,163,737.34 in contributions. She was fol-

lowed by Chiz Escudero, with P321,014,827.64.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista pointed out that the ac-curacy and truthfulness of the in-formation is more important than declaring what the candidates spent for their campaigns.

“The mere filing of SOCE does not mean that the infor-mation is correct. It’s a formal requirement and if it’s already posted then we will give you that certificate of formal compliance.

But the numbers can still be al-tered.” Bautista said.

The SOCE not only includes the declaration of campaign spending, but mandates candi-dates to file sources of contri-butions involving the donor’s personal details and contributed amount as well. It also sets spending limits for candidates and political parties — with the President and Vice President al-lowed to spend P10 per regis-tered voter. (AJPress)

DAVAO CITY—With talks swirl-ing that the Supreme Court will soon decide on whether to free detained former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a lawmaker said she would be an “asset” to the Duterte administration if she decides to join the majority.

Arroyo, who served as presi-dent from 2001 to 2010, is fac-ing plunder case for the alleged misuse of a P366 million intel-ligence fund of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. She has been under hospital arrest at the Veterans’ Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City since 2011 due to a back ailment.

Despite the corruption alle-gations thrown at her, Arroyo remained popular in her home province, managing to win as representative of the second dis-trict of Pampanga in 2010. She is about to serve her third and final term.

Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, a friend of Arroyo, said the former president is capable of handling key committees if she decides to join the House of Representa-tives majority.

“The former president will be an asset to the administration if she heads the Committee on Trade and Industry. That’s where she’s good at, or (Committee on) Economic Affairs,” Suarez said.

On Tuesday, sources said the Supreme Court would act on Arroyo’s plunder case. The high court, however, did not issue a ruling on the case that day.

It remains unsure if Arroyo, a member of Lakas party, will align herself with the majority or the minority. If she chooses to side with the allies of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and if the high court absolves her from her case, there is a possibility that she would be named as chairperson of a House committee.

Suarez said he is scheduled to visit Arroyo in Manila today (June 9) to “ask her what she wants to do.”

Last month, Duterte revealed that Arroyo had refused his offer of pardon because it would re-quire her to admit an offense.

“I’m ready to grant pardon to Arroyo. Let me explain, Ar-royo to my mind should also be released because all the others who were charged in connec-

tion with the (Philippine Charity) Sweepstakes (Office) expendi-ture of intelligence funds have been released,” the incoming president said in a press confer-ence last May 23.

“I said when I become presi-dent I will pardon her. I said I want to grant her pardon not because she is my friend but be-cause I don’t think there’s a good case against her,” he added.

by Alexis RomeRo Philstar.com

Former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

Sen. Grace Poe and VP-elect Leni Robredo

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Nico Bolzico and Solenn Heussaff

Infographics by:

Philippine independence as history tells it

On June 12, 1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the Philippines’ independence from Spanish colonial rule and established a provincial government that he eventually headed. However, prior to his proclamation, Aguinaldo was in exile and only made arrangements with United States authorities to return to his country and assist them with their fight against Spain.

Spain colonized the Philippines in the 16th century and was opposed by Filipino priests, as Spaniards dominated the Roman Catholic churches in the islands. By the late 19th century, many Filipinos — not just the plain folk but middle-class citizens as well — began calling for independence.

The Katipunan and Aguinaldo’s exile

A secret revolutionary society was formed in Manila in 1892 called “Katipunan.” Many immediately joined in, and when the Spanish discovered the group’s plans for rebellion in 1896, the Katipunan was forced to fight them prematurely. In 1897, Aguinaldo became leader of the rebellion.

Many Filipinos see Aguinaldo

as an important figure in Philippine history. However, some see him as a sell out when he went into exile in Hong Kong. With the Katipunan rebels unprepared for its battle against the Spanish, Aguinaldo negotiated an agreement with the colonizers in exchange for financial compensation and a promise of reform in the Philippines. When

Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo led the fight against the Spanish.

Manuel L. Quezon became the Philippines’ first President in 1935.

Commodore George Dewey led the annihilation of the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay.

A painting depicting the Battle of Manila Bay. Photo from the Library of Congress

he and his generals departed, the Philippine Revolution temporarily ended.

The Spanish-American WarSpain was also trying to take

over Cuba that time and in April 1898, the Spanish-American War started. The US won a series of victories against Spain, including

when Commodore George Dewey led the annihilation of the Spanish Pacific fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898.

When Aguinaldo came out of exile, he rallied his revolutionaries

and began liberating towns. Thinking that the country has achieved its complete freedom from colonizers, he proclaimed Philippine independence on June 12.

Also, the Spanish commander who was surrounded in Manila by both the Filipino rebels and Dewey’s squadron, demanded two conditions for his surrender: First,

history of the philippine flag

Continued on Page 5

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PIDF to celebrate the 118th Anniversary of the Philippine Independence Dayat Carson’s Veterans Park on June 11

The Philippine Independence Day Foundation, Inc. (PIDF), in conjunction with the City of Carson, GMA Life TV, GMA Pinoy TV, and GMA News TV, will celebrate the 118th Anniversary of the Philippine Independence Day at the Carson Veterans Park (22400 Moneta Street, Carson, CA 90745) on Saturday, June 11, 2016. Thousands of people will enjoy the non-stop, day-long event jam-packed with entertainment and activities that feature the rich, beautiful, and spirited Filipino heritage. It truly is an opportunity to spend time with families and friends in the Filipino/Filipino-American Community of Carson, CA and across the South Bay, Los Angeles Area.

The eventful day kicks off with a Flag Raising ceremony at 7:45am, followed by an ecumenical Service and a Community Mass afterwards. The parade, to be headed by 118th Philippine Independence Grand Marshal - Kenneth Dami, Director of So CA Public & Government Affairs for Tesoro - and to be participated in by a multitude of Community Organizations and Associations from all across Southern California, will be at about 10:30am.

This will be followed by the day-long program featuring the wonderful talents of the following folks: Jazzmine Farol (Singer, Songwriter, and Philanthropist), US Veterans Chorale Group (led by Dra. Jenny Batongmalaque), Laica & Laiza Parchamento (Multi-Talented Sisters), Christine Mosquera (10 yr-old Singing Sensation), Musical Band (By Francis echave), Kyra De Castro (LA Rising Young Star), Carson Park Line Dancers (by Jewel Bumpas), Carson elite Dance Troupe (by Ahru Aquino), Macrea Decena (Singing Teen Artist), IMB-Academy (Filipino Martial Arts Demonstration), Carson Coeds & Carson Street Dance (Youth Street Dance exhibition), Mine

Band (by Malou Toler), Christine Love (Soul/RnB Singer, 2-time Aliw Awards Winner), Manny evaldez (Sensational Singer from United Pampanga Leaders Council), CSULB Pilipino American Coalition (Tinikling performance), Sampaguita Youth Dance Troupe, Michelle & Abraham (Dance exhibition Champion), Innerlude (R&B Singing Duo), Terence Trevor L. Panganiban (Sensational Soloist), and Zumba by Rose, Lance, Lai and Company.

The program will also feature very special guests Joseph Gelito and Company, and will be highlighted by GMA Network ‎actress, model, TV host and Miss World beauty queen Megan Young!

This event would not be possible without the leadership

of Councilmember elito M. Santarina and the generosity of our sponsors; Tesoro Refining and Marketing LLC, Waste Management, Watson Land, Carson Companies, Community Dynamics, east West Bank, Grace home health Care, KLF Trucking Company, Milestone hospice, Nationwide environmental Services, Brea Canon Oil Co., Leelin Bakery & Cafe, Kellogg Garden Products, and Thomas Safran & Associates.

We look forward to spending a fun-filled day with you, your families, and your friends on Saturday, June 11th during the 118th Anniversary of the Philippine Independence Day!

For questions or clarifications, please email pidf.info@gmail.com. (Advertising Supplement)

Celebrate PH Independece Day at Carson’s Veterans Park with Miss World 2013 Megan Young on Saturday, June 11.

Flags of the Philippine RevolutionPRIOR to the making of the

official Filipino flag in hong Kong by Mrs. Marcela de Agoncillo, there were other flags used by the Katipunan secret society and its various factions. After the Katipunan was dissolved, the Philippine army and its civil government also had their own flags to represent their groups -- some of which were for personal use.

During the Philippine Centennial celebration in 1998, a list of official flags was released. These should not be confused as the “evolution of the Philippine flag,” but instead are properly called as the “Flags of the Revolution.”

Lastly, though many of the flags have symbols and layouts that may seem to inspire the official Philippine flag today, history states that there is no direct relationship between them whatsoever.

Katipunan flagsAndres Bonifacio asked his

wife, Gregoria de Jesus, to create a flag for the Katipunan. What came out was a simple red flag bearing the society’s acronym, KKK, and became the group’s first flag. The “K” in the middle of the sun stood for “Kalayaan” or “Freedom.”

Member of the group also used other variations of the flag. As the revolution heated up, the Magdiwang faction of the Katipunan under Mariano Alvarez adopted a red flag with a white sun with the baybayin (the ancient Tagalog script) letter “ka” (for K) at the center.

Another faction, Magdalo, under Gen. emilio Aguinaldo,

Celebrating our freedom: PH Independence DayIN the United States,

Philippine Independence Day has acquired cultural awareness after the dawn of the 21st century. This holiday is celebrated among Filipinos in America and is now a huge event for many Filipino-Americans to rekindle their origin and heritage.

Filipinos around the world come together to celebrate Philippine Independence Day and to create awareness of the Philippine culture. Several main objectives are to raise funds for

charity projects in the Philippines and the United States.

In Los Angeles, hundreds of Fil-Ams paraded through the historic Filipinotown district last Saturday, June 4 to kick off Philippine Independence Day festivities happening throughout the entire month of June.

Last Sunday, June 5 was the Philippine Independence Council, Inc.’s (PIDCI) celebration in New York. In spite of the rain, thousands of people — both participants and spectators

— walked through Madison Ave. from 36th Street to Madison Park.

This New York event is the oldest and biggest community parade and celebration of the Philippine independence outside Manila, which is now in its 34th year. The Philippine American Communities of the east Coast initiated the parade in 1972 on Madison Avenue. Today, that community celebration has become a tradition with the growing generations of Filipinos in the east coast. (AJPress)

The first Katipunan flag used by Andres Bonifacio, done by his wife, Gregoria de Jesus. Other Katipunan members used other variations of this flag.

Andres Bonifacio’s personal flag. Gen. Mariano Llanera’s personal flag, which Bonifacio referred to as “Bungo ni Llanera” or “Llanera’s Skull.”

Gen. Gregorio del Pilar’s personal flag, which was patterned after that of Cuba’s, which was also in revolt against Spain.

The first official Philippine flag in 1897 but was only used less than year because of the truce between Filipino leaders and Spanish authorities.

used a similar flag to what the Magdiwang faction had. It featured a white sun with the same baybayin letter “ka.“ The final standard design was a sun with eight rays, representing the eight provinces place under martial law by the Spaniards

(Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan and Nueva ecija), which was later used in the national flag of the Philippines

Personal flagsAmong those who had

Continued on Page 4

june 10-16, 2016 4www.asianjournal.com

Check H Mart’s newest weekly specials your smartphones H Mart launches new mobile app

H Mart, NO.1 Asian super-market chain in US, launched new mobile app for its smart-card customers. H Mart App provides information such as weekly sales, flyers, and coupon items for local H Mart, store address, phone number, and hours of operation for its customers to access easily than by accessing the website (www.hmart.com).

Smartcard customers can look up instantly to their smartcard points and transac-tions for past 60 days. Also, they use the e-coupons, which were sent out through e-mails monthly, right from their smartphone. With launching the mobile app, H Mart also renewed their website. And through its website, H Mart is striving to reach better cus-tomer care with such providing service as delivery service to all of US and fresh & frozen items to Manhattan area.

H Mart mobile app can be

found on google playstore and other appstores. For additional information, contact H-Com-

merce dept. (tel. 201-229-1111) in H Mart.

(Advertising Supplement)

The first h Mart Taiwan Food Festival is coming to town! To tempt your taste buds this year, we have a selection of signature products from Taiwan. Come and enjoy special events such as on-site free samplings at h Mart stores.

h Mart will host its first “Taiwan Food Festival” from Saturday, June 10 to Thursday, June 16 which celebrates the visible beginning of h Mart annual Asian Food Festival. The festival will be hosted in four locations including edison, NJ, Burlington, MA, Plano, TX, and Diamond Bar, LA. The grand opening of the event will be held on 6/10 10:30am at h Mart’s edison, NJ location.

The specialty of this festival is that it would feature varieties of widely known Taiwanese products. The festival is in partnership with The Taipei economic and Cultural Center in New York. h Mart hopes that this festival can show the customers the uniqueness and variety of authentic Taiwanese food and to let the customers expose to Taiwanese culture and food without taking the plane.

Taiwan is a veritable paradise for food lovers. And for this festival, it would feature varieties of widely known superb Taiwanese products, ranging from frozen items like LONG FeNG buns/Yaa-Fang

Ice-Cream to well-known snack brands like Sheng Xian Jeng/ ABC Jelly. And also local boutique brand, Luyao Mushroom.

As the largest Asian chain markets in North America with 53 stores in 11 states, h Mart has been designed to be a part of the customers’ lifestyles by fulfilling their daily needs as well as enhancing the quality of their lives. everything is available under one roof in our one-of-a-kind stores. h Mart is always looking forward to providing the best products for the customers and to bring the excellent Asian products into North American market.

(Advertising Supplement)

H Mart taiwan Food Festival

Enjoy authentic Taiwanesefood from June 10 to June 16

Pal clears up incident with supermodel Karlie KlossINTeRNATIONAL supermodel

and former Victoria’s Secret angel Karlie Kloss lashed out at Philippine Airlines (PAL) through social media on Monday, June 6 after missing her flight.

The 23-year-old didn’t go into details about her complaint, but the incident did warrant a social media tirade that went viral.

Kloss posted on her snapchat saying, “No one flys Philippines Airlines… and now I know why.”

Posting the same photo on twitter with the caption, “@flyPAL has the WORST CUSTOMeR SeRVICe OF ALL TIMe. Most BUDGeT AIRLINe. Rude & disrespectful. Shame on You @flyPAL”

Kloss posted other several videos on Snapchat where in she talked about missing her flight and approaching PAL’s customer service – which is where the problem started.

The supermodel was not happy with the assistance given to her. “I travel international on a weekly basis and I have never had a worse customer experience than I have tonight. Thanks Philippine Airlines,” she said in a Snapchat video.

PAL took notice of her complaint and reached out to the supermodel through twitter saying, “@karliekloss hi, Karlie. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and the disappointment you felt. Please send us your ticket details.”

PAL then released a statement on Wednesday, June 8, saying the supermodel was actually late for her flight.

“Flight departure time was at 12:15 am and counters closed at 11:15 pm. Ms. Kloss arrived at 11:40 pm, We are sorry to hear that Ms. Karlie Kloss was unable to board our PAL flight from New York to Vancouver (PR127),” PAL shared on Tuesday, June 7.

“As a matter of policy, the PAL check-in counters at JFK (John F. Kennedy) International Airport close one hour before estimated time of departure,” it added.

PAL also stated that it has already explained their protocol to supermodel Karlie Kloss and is handling the situation accordingly.

“We are happy to note that Ms. Kloss has gracefully responded to PAL’s initial communication. The airline has likewise sent her a formal letter stating that there was no deliberate intention to cause her any disservice,” PAL said in a statement sent to GMA News Online.

“To show the heart of the Filipino, we are extending her assistance to facilitate the refund of her unused ticket or to facilitate the rebooking of her flight. PAL will be pleased to serve Ms. Kloss’ travel needs in the future,” PAL also stated. (AJPress)

Flags of the Philippine Revolutionpersonal flags during the revolution was Bonifacio, who was the Katipunan’s Supremo. Similar to the Katipunan’s, this flag was first unveiled on August 23, 1896 during the Cry of Pugadlawin. It was then later used during the Battle of San Juan del Monte on August 30, 1896, the first major battle of the Philippine Revolution.

General Mariano Llanera, who fought in the provinces of Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga and

From Page 3Nueva ecija; stepped away from the color red for his personal flag. he instead used a black flag with a white K and skull. Bonifacio called that flag as “Bungo ni Llanera” or “Llanera’s Skull.

General Pio del Pilar also has personal flag called “Bandila ng Matagumpay,” or “Flag of the Triumphants,” was also red with a white triangle. and mountain with a rising sun behind it. The flag was first used on July 11, 1895.

Another general who used a

flag was Gregorio del Pilar. his flag was patterned after Cuba, which was also in revolt against Spain.

The first official Filipino flag was adopted by Katipunan military leaders on March 17, 1897 at the Naic Assembly. It was a red banner, with an eighth-rayed sun and a face. It was only used for less than a year because there was truce signed between Filipino leaders and Spanish authorities on December 14-15, 1897. (AJPress)

Photo from Karlie Kloss’s Twitter account

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Jericho Rosales ‘wanders’ in style

Philippine independence as history...the US will advance into the capital and make it look like a battle, and second, under no conditions were the Filipino rebels be allowed into the city.

So, the mock Battle of Manila was stage, and the Americans kept their promise to keep the rebels out of the city.

From one colonizer to another

So while the Americans occupied Manila and discussed peace negotiations with Spain, Aguinaldo organized the Malolos revolutionary assembly in September. In January 1899, The first democratic constitution in Asia was drew up and a government was formed wherein Aguinaldo was President.

The Philippine Insurrection began in February 4, when Filipino rebels and US troops fought inside American lines in Manila.

by Christina alpadManilaTimes.net

AcTIng, endorsements, performing and modeling. Jericho Rosales has done all since having joined show business. These days though, Rosales—regarded as one of the best actors of his generation—has found new passions to embellish his celebrity status.

Enjoying married life with Filipina-British wife Kim Jones through traveling in and out of the Philippines, Rosales has learned to enjoy the waves and the winds. now, he is no simple traveler but one who also surfs and bikes.

“I got into these not too long ago. . . [and] I am just in my se-cond year now,” says the 39-year-old Rosales on his latest hobbies.

He caught the attention of American brand Wrangler, and was tapped to judge the denim label’s “True Wanderer Awards,” a recently concluded competition for Filipino bikers.

Makati-based consultant Dundee Adriatico, 32, took home the title. The winner happens to shares Jericho’s passion for biking.

Rosales in his stylish riding garb graced the awarding. noticing this, The Manila Times asked Rosales how to properly and stylishly pull off an ensemble whenever a biker sets off to an adventure.

“Riding shoes and Kevlar pants,” he says, revealing his choice of wear as well.

He explains: “Kevlar is for protection; it’s like your second skin. Yung Kevlar technology kasi pag hiniwa, kahit na kutsilyuhin mo siya hindi siya mahihiwa so it’s a good protection against abrasion and such stuff.”

Also on his list are waterproof jacket or raincoat, a multi-padded jacket—with elbow, shoulder back and chest protection—and pants with hip protection.

“You have to be protected from your toe to your head, you even have to be protected up to your fingertips, thus, the gloves,” he enthuses.

Protection, with glamour not to be left behind. Rosales

says he also considers how he would look in photos—especially because both his and his wife’s Instagram accounts are always updated with his biking shots.

“I like to ride stylishly; my go-to piece is a denim jacket from Wrangler. Of course, you have to look good for photos,” he winks.

As for his must-haves, Rosales likes to mix practical items with tech gadgets.

“Aside from the gear, you have to have a change of clothing, camera, chargers, power banks, and, of course, you have cash with you. It will be cool if you can bring a drone since it’s in nowadays. I’d bring a pen and a notebook and music and I’d bring a tent and a sleeping bag if I could. Finally, some food, trail mix will do. Yun, kompleto, ka na takbo, ka na,” Rosales shares.

Most memorable, dream ridesIn his two-year stint as a

biker, Rosales prides on having conquered the roads of Palawan, La Union and Batangas.

Of all the rides, though, he says his trip in Palawan is

definitely one for the books. He recounts, “We did a ural adventure in Palawan. We rode from Puerto Princesa to San Vicente for four hours and did another two-hour ride to somewhere, some beautiful beach! My wife was with me, she rode the ural; it’s like the sidecar of the motorbike. Para siyang tricycle.”

Finally, Rosales notes that he still has a lot of destination to tick off on his checklist, “I want to go as far as I could go! cagayan or northern loop, I want to go down south. Gusto ko ikutin ang Pilipinas.”

But on top of these, the actor adds that he also dreams of doing his around-the-Philippines ride with the original biker in the family, his dad.

“My father was able to ride his way around the Philippines because he used to sell insurance policies to teachers, on a motor bike,” he reveals to The Manila Times.

“Yun yung pangarap ko, makasama ko siya mag-ikot,” Rosales lastly says.

Jericho Rosales is no simple traveler but one who also surfs and bikes.

Two days later, after 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, the Philippines became a US territory — in exchange for $20 million as compensation to the Spanish.

The war against the USThere was a new war

afoot — this time with the US. Aguinaldo formally launched a new revolt, but Americans proved to be a strong opponent that the rebels were consistently defeated. Many of the rebels turned into guerillas, and in spite of many anti-imperialists in US like William Jennings, who was opposed to the annexation of the Philippines, the war continued.

In 1901, Aguinaldo was captured by gen. Frederick Funston and his group. The Filipino rebel leader took an oath of allegiance to the US and called for an end to the rebellion, but many still fought on.

In 1902, the Philippines was

taken over by an American civil government, ending the Philippine Insurrection. At the end, there were more Americans who died trying to suppress the Philippines, more than that the number killed in the Spanish-American War. This is incomparable of course to the Filipinos who died in both wars — over 20,000 rebels and an unknown number of civilians.

The most striking fact about the Philippines’ fight for complete independence was it was never fully achieved until 1946.

In 1935, Manuel L. Quezon was elected the country’s first president and the commonwealth of the Philippines was established (with US approval, of course). Full independence was granted to the Republic of the Philippines by the US on July 4, 1946 — which is also known in the country as Philippine-American Friendship Day. (AJPress)

From Page 2

Aiza Seguerra: Don’t be a blind follower, respect each other’s opinions

AIzA Seguerra asks the public to stop the mudslinging between the supporters and non-supporters of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.

“I would encourage na sana wag naman tayo maging blind followers. It will help our president kung hindi tayo one sided at marunong tayong magbigay ng respeto sa opinion ng iba,” she said on her Instagram post on Tuesday, June 7.

Aiza pointed out that it was okay to defend Duterte from his detractors. However, she reminded his supporters like her that “maging responsable naman tayo dahil dala-dala natin ang pangalan niya. Read the whole article, not just headlines. ‘Wag puro memes. Siguraduhin ninyo kung tama ang information ninyo. Intindihin ninyo kung talagang ganon nga ang ang gustong sabihin ng taong involved.”

She also called the attention of those who are claiming that the media is “biased,” but doesn’t look after their actions towards the

by JoyCe Jimenez Philstar.com

non-Duterte supporters.“Nagrereklamo tayo na

biased ang media. Eh kayo? Kaya niyo bang hindi maging biased?” she said. “Yung iba nga sa inyo, ang tindi ninyong mangutya agad-agad dahil lang hindi ninyo nagustuhan ang sinabi. Galit na galit tayo sa binabato kay Tay Digong eh minsan nauuna pa ang iba sa atin na mambato sa iba ng mas masasama pang salita dahil lamang iba sila ng

pananaw.”“Yan ba yung pinagmamalaki

ninyong pagbabago?” she added.In the end, Aiza asked

everyone to be united as a nation, despite the differences in “opinion, relihiyon, ideology at paniniwala.”

“Digong needs our help. We all want our cOUnTRY to succeed. If we want cHAngE; WE HAVE TO WORK TOgETHER,” she concluded.

Aiza Seguerra asks everyone to stop the mudslinging, and instead respect each other’s opinions on President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.

june 10-16, 2016 6www.asianjournal.com

Monette

AdevA MAglAyA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond

(Part 2 of 2)HALF a lifetime later and half

a world away, I have forgotten much about the murdered American soldier. Buried in the mists of time, his story would have remained shelved, tucked away in my memory banks and promptly forgotten until I came across an account of that incident long ago on the internet.

Written by Virgilio Lacaba, I read a long, detailed article, perhaps a reprint, on “Strange Occurrences at the UP” and like a flood, everything came rushing back as though it happened yesterday. Weeks after the session, I remember being interviewed for an article in a then popular weekly magazine, Mr. & Ms., by Neni Santa Romana Cruz, a well-known Filipino writer who also happened to be the elder sister of a good friend from St. Scholastica’s College, the kind and gentle Chona Santa Romana, who incidentally and sadly, I learned much later, was herself a tragic victim of murder and domestic foul play, sometime in the late eighties. I had left the country for America by then and lost touch.

I do remember that during the interview for the article I have had to be careful in how the story is presented because I was living, working and studying in an academic environment, which by default should place reason and scientific explanation on everything that happens in the world. Paranormal phenomenon is an entirely different ball of wax that supposedly rational beings do not normally subscribe to, something that would raise skeptical brows.

Yet I have found that life is not entirely rational, a lot of things don’t make sense and we have only begun to chip away at the great mysteries of life that lay before us. I am thus convinced that quite possibly, I am just one of the multitudes the world over who believe that there are things in the universe that are far beyond the scope of reason and known science to explain and things that are far beyond human intelligence to comprehend fully.

Quite plainly, there are things in this world that cannot be defined, completely understood and pegged in a nice, neat

The curious case of Stephen C. Davis: A ghost story

“…he was no more than a lonely soul whose young life was cut down so suddenly and so tragically one dark moonless night. …”

box. The curious case of this murdered American soldier reaching out from the grave is probably one of them.

As a postcript decades later, Lacaba updated the account by verifying the information about Stephen Davies with the American Battle Monuments Commission (http: //www.abmc.gov/search/detailwwnew.php). Something may have been lost in the spelling and translation during the sessions, for there were two entries for Stephen Davis (there was no e though in the Davis) — one was Stephen E. Davis, a US Air Force officer who was killed in Hawaii and whose remains were never recovered and a Stephen C. Davis. The latter was listed as Seaman, First Class, U.S. Navy, with Service # 3759920 and that he had entered the service in California. The approximate date of death was December 15, 1945 in Manila, Philippines.

Davis earned a Purple Heart Award posthumously. Just like the other Davis in Hawaii, there were no remains recovered. The name of Stephen C. Davis is inscribed in one of the hemicycles on the west side in the American Cemetery near Forbes Park and what used to be Fort Bonifacio, a military camp sold to private real estate developers during the nineteen nineties and now known as The Fort in Global City.

There is absolutely no way to verify every minute detail of this cold murder case unless one is a tenacious private investigator with the mixed pedigree of a bloodhound and a bulldog. One thing that comes across clearly, at least to me, is that the ghost of Stephen C. Davis, whether real or conjured by hypnotic suggestion, didn’t seem to be obsessed with vengeance or justice although he did seem knowledgeable about his killer’s whereabouts. Underneath the bone-chilling poltergeist tactics his restless soul employed to reach out from beyond the grave, he was no more than a lonely soul whose young life was cut down so suddenly and so tragically one dark moonless

night. Stuck in a nebulous, nether world between the living and the world beyond, nothing seemed to be as important to this murdered American soldier as being remembered. It didn’t matter even if the remembrance is by a motley crew of curious, total strangers.

With a sigh of relief over the realization that the spirit was neither malevolent nor malicious, Stephen C. Davis would probably have to deal with an incensed group of total strangers who would gladly take turns putting their hands around his poltergeist neck and choking him, if they could, for scaring them half to death while using the rest rooms.

The ghost simply wanted to call attention to his plight, to being stuck in limbo or trapped in a dimension that defies time and space. Scaring mortals was one heck of a way to do it.

If you remember the movie “Ghost” there was one such paranormal being who was practically forced into mentoring Patrick Swayze’s character in the ways of poltergeists. The movie character is a disembodied soul trapped in one dimension. He inhabited a New York subway because he was pushed on the path of a train and died. He was stuck and could not cross over to the other side because his time had not yet come. So he spends his time morosely bent on mischief scaring the living daylights out of subway commuters.

Because his approximate death anniversary is supposedly December 15, Stephen C. Davis is again reaching out from the grave one more time from another century, so that he may be remembered and included in prayers just once more until he reaches final closure and eternal rest. Do pray for him if you can.

If Stephen Davis’s story holds up, it is clear that to be forgotten as though one’s life didn’t matter is indeed tragic.

* * *Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@asianjournalinc.com

ernie d. delfin

The Metamorphosis

PH Independence Day should also mean freedom from fear and hunger

“There is no peace without (social) justice.” - Pope John Paul II

WHEN this issue comes out, it will be another June 12, the “Independence Day” holiday of the Philippines, which changed from July 4 (coinciding with that of the United States granted the country her independence in 1946) during the Macapagal administration in 1964. Happy Independence holiday to all Filipinos, especially those in the homeland!

With the forthcoming inauguration of President Rody Duterte and his Vice President Leni Robredo, and many other elected officials in the Philippines on June 30, I feel it is quite timely and appropriate to count our blessings as free people living in a democratic society — despite the many problems that the country still has to overcome. The Independence Day holiday is not just being off from work, but to celebrate our freedom and give honor to those who made the supreme sacrifice that resulted into our independence as a nation.

As we celebrate, it is an ideal goal for the Filipino people to be also free from fear and hunger, caused by criminal elements and poverty. Yes, we are now an “independent” nation, but this state of independence demands eternal vigilance and continuous hard work from all Filipinos to maintain it, and to make it even better, hopefully. In my almost two months in the Philippines recently, I have seen that there is still a lot

of room to improve everywhere, especially in urban areas where there are thousands — if not millions — who are very poor.

Amidst the thousands of high-rise condominiums and office buildings in big cities, the poor exist within a few blocks. Young children beg for some money in streets to have some money for their basic necessities of life, especially food. The very wide chasm between the very rich and the very poor is quite prevalent and obvious along congested streets.

For these millions of our poor kababayans, they are still not free or independent, as they remain shackled by the pangs of poverty. For many of these families, their poverty has been inherited from several generations before them. Many do not have this so-called “independence” or freedom and access to basic things like food shelter, clothing and education, due to economic and financial constraints.

It has been documented that many poor people salvage thrown food in garbage cans, re-cook them and then eat this kind of recycled food called “pagkaing pagpag.” In a country where fertile soil and rich natural resources are quite abundant, this situation seems insane and criminal! Many still live under bridges and even in cemeteries where the wealthy dead even have better “shelters!”

There are news stories that due to poverty, many young girls and boys are lured into prostitution, or “sold” to human traffickers. I even heard sad stories that some poor people even sell their body parts like kidneys or lungs to the “highest” bidder underground to feed their families!

With the incoming Duterte

administration, change is expected to occur as he promised. I pray and hope those changes are for the better, not only to eliminate those heinous crimes committed by drug lords, kidnappers, corrupt politicians and police without blatant disregard to basic human rights. I believe it is equally important to do more in the areas of social justice, where the mighty and powerful stop exploiting the powerless and voiceless in our society. His dream of creating more livelihood programs especially in the provinces to ease unemployment and reduce poverty is long overdue.

There will be no real peace when there is no social justice. Poverty is exacerbated when there is human exploitation and social injustice. When wealthy landowners continue to keep most of the produce of the land and just give enough food to their tenants or hired help just for them to survive, poverty will increase as even poor people multiply. When employers continue to keep most of their profits by not sharing justly with their employees, poverty worsens.

When the primary reason for most businesses is just to make more profits at all costs, ignoring the principles of social justice and the common good, society is doomed. When unemployment rises to unmanageable proportions, when people go hungrier and restless, there could eventually be an “Arab Spring,” a civil uprising to turn the economic pyramid in the Philippines upside down.

(To be continued next week)* * *

Email: ernie.delfin@gmail.comWebsite: www.gkerc.org www.gk1world.com

LEGACY AWARDEE. Mrs. Lydia S. Espiritu was awarded the first FASGI “Legacy Awards” for being an outstanding mother in the Filipino-American community. From Left to right: Hernan Espiritu,Henrietta Gaviola, Lakambini ng Kalayaan 2015 ms. Rosemarie Mejia, Ms. Yey Coronel-Alcid, Executive Director of FASGI, Lydia Espiritu (in red Filipiniana dress) Teresita Mercado, Arturo P.Garcia and Elvira Espiritu. Taken at the Los Angeles City Hall, Office of the Mayor.

Anne Curtis, Dennis Trillo, Paolo Ballesteros star in a comedy film

ANNE Curtis, Dennis Trillo and Paolo Ballesteros will work together in the comedy film “Bakit Lahat ng Guwapo May Boyfriend?”

On Tuesday, June 7, the three attended a story conference together with their director Jun Lana at the Viva Office in Mandaluyong City.

“Excited to work with these two cuties,” said Anne on the caption of her photo with Dennis and Paolo, posted on Instagram.

She also related that they’ll start shooting the film next month.

“I have a feeling this will be a happy set!,” she added.

This is the first appearance of Paolo after being gone in the GMA noontime variety show “Eat Bulaga!” which makes this project something to look forward to for

by Joyce Jimenez Philstar.com

Kapamilya actress Anne Curtis will star with Kapuso actors Dennis Trillo and Paolo Ballesteros in the film “Bakit Lahat ng Guwapo May Boyfriend?”

his fans.While for Dennis, this is in

jive with his romantic-comedy TV series “Juan Happy Love Story,”

and another film project for Anne aside from the one she’s about to do with Director Erik Matti.

If you have an upcoming event and would like us to post it, please email us the details at info@asianjournalinc.com or calendar@asianjournalinc.com

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Philippine Independence Day celebrationThe Philippine Independence Day Foundation in conjunction with the City of Carson

and GMA Pinoy TV will hold the 118th Philippine Independence Day celebration at Vet-erans Park and Sports Complex, 22400 Moneta Avenue, Carson, CA 90745. The event is celebrated yearly in the City of Carson and is attended by thousands of Carson residents, as well as people from different parts of Southern California. The celebration will take place from 8am to 6pm. For more information, call (310) 549-3111.

JUNE 1 1

Kalayaan Incorporated celebrates the 118th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence

On June 11, from 6 p.m. to midnight, at the Concourse Hotel, a Hyatt Affiliated Hotel, Los Angeles International Airport, Kalayaan Incorporated will stage its annual gala dinner ball with Consul General Leo Herrera-Lim as the guest speaker. Attendees will hear his farewell words of wisdom as he ends his term in Los Angeles on June 30. At the helm of the freedom day commemoration are President Josie E. de Jesus, event chair, and Vice President Jose Relson Banas, co-chair. Emcees are Lydia V. Solis and Noel S.V. Omega. Program Director Ted Benito and Program Committee Chair Zeny Sabocor will have a high-spirited presentation from endearing singers Manny Evaldez, Sam Santiago, and Christine Love. PASACAT Philippine Performing Arts Company, the Filipino-American Musical En-semble, a rondalla group, and the Fil-Am Choir of St. Pius V of Buena Park, Calif., promise an enchanting evening for attendees. And be carried away with the music from Bits N’ Pieces Band. For more information, contact Gil Mislang (562) 417-6772 or Lydia V. Solis lvsolis@aol.com.

LACFAEA to celebrate 118th Philippine Independence DayThe Los Angeles County Filipino-American Employees Association is all set to celebrate

the 118th Philippine Independence Day on June 11 at the Pasadena Hilton, 168 S. Los Rob-les Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101. Music will be provided by The Midnight Motion Band. For more information, please call Rosalinda Vangie Cruz (661) 406-5136; Edwin Martinez (818) 438-6517 or Tony Millonado at (818) 515-2147.

7K Fun RunLife Steps Foundation presents its first annual Social Dynamics 7K Fun Run to be held in

San Francisco on June 11. The starting line will be located between Lake Merced Boul-evard. and Sunset Boulevard. Parking will be available. Registration fee is $40; there is an optional pledge of $10 per mile. The registration fee includes snacks, water, a medal and a fun run t-shirt. Proceeds from the fun run will benefit adults with development disabilities and behavioral challenges who require assistance and supervision. Interested participants may to sign up by visiting the website: http://www.lifestepsfoundation.org. Donations and pledges are also accepted via their website. For more information, contact Stephen Victori-ano at (650) 259-1808.

Cabiao USA annual picnicJoin Cabiao USA for its annual picnic on Sunday, June 26 at Wilderness Park in Downey,

California from 11 am to 5 pm. There will be food, games, prizes and karoke! Meet kaba-bayans, relatives and new friends and help plan for our 25th anniversary next year. For more information, call Allan Ocampo (323) 684-1820, Irma Ocampo Alcaraz (323) 861-6101, Gardy Parungao (562) 754-7511 or Andy Tecson (323) 467-5096.

JUNE 26

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