NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

The Fil ip ino AmericAn communiTy newspAper

w w w. a s i a n . c o mVolume 15 - No. 18 3 Sections 22 Pages APRIL 29-MAY 5, 2016

1001 Bayhill Drive, Suite 200, San Bruno, CA 94066 Tel: (650) 616-4150 Fax: (650) 616-4152 www.asianjournal.com Also published in LOS ANGELES, ORANGE COUNTY/INLAND EMPIRE, LAS VEGAS, NEw YORk/NEw JERSEY

DATELINEUSAfrom the AJPress NEWS TEAM AcroSS AMEricA

FLASH MOB FOR FOOD SECURITY. Members of the #IAmHampasLupa Movement for Ecological Agriculture on Wednesday, April 27, staged dance mob in front of the Commission on Elections office in Manila. Philstar photo by Rosette Adel

PresIDeNt Aquino on Wednesday, April 27, disclosed alleged Abu sayyaf plots to kidnap world boxing champion manny Pac-quiao and the Presidents sister, Kris, a popu-lar television personality.

mr. Aquino disclosed the plots in an 800-word statement released by malacaang two days after the bandits beheaded a Canadian hostage, John ridsdel, whom they seized to-gether with two other Westerners and a fili-pino woman from a beach resort in Davao del Norte province seven months ago.

ridsdel was beheaded on monday, April 25, after a ransom deadline passed. his sev-ered head was found in a yellow sack near a police station at Barangay Walled City in Jolo on the same day.

this murder was meant to terrorize our whole population. the Abu sayyaf thought they could instill fear in us. Instead, they have galvanized us even further to ensure justice is meted out, mr. Aquino said.

he vowed to use the full might of the state to smash the Abu sayyaf, which he said had committed atrocity after atrocity since its inception in the 1990s as an affiliate of the al-Qaida terrorist organization.

Other hostagesthe Abu sayyaf, whose leaders have

pledged allegiance to the Islamic state (Is) group in syria and Iraq, is holding more than 20 other foreigners.

the hostages include Canadian robert hall, Norwegian Kjartan sekkingstad and fil-ipino maritess flor, whom the bandits seized along with ridsdel on the resort island of sa-mal in september last year.

mr. Aquino divulged the extent of the na-tional security threat posed by the Abu sayy-af, including bombings in metro manila and assassinating him to attract the attention of

Aquino: Abus plotted to kidnap Pacquiao, Kris

Manny Pacquiao Kris Aquino

for the longest time, the Philippines has been losing by default filipinos in search of greener pastures abroad, senatorial candidate susan toots ople said on tuesday, April 26.

And the least the government can do is create a separate department for them, ople added.

I guess all of usif youre a self-respecting gov-ernmentdont want to see our countrymen leave their families behind to work as domestic workers abroad. Wed rather that they stay here, and improve their lot in their own backyard, ople said in an IN-QLive interview at the Inquirer office on tuesday night.

By default were losing our countrymen because we dont have a clear jobs road map, she added.

Philippines losing Filipinos abroad by default, says Ople

by Yuji Vincent GonzalesInquirer.net

foLLoWING the Us supreme Courts hear-ing on President Barack obamas executive orders on immigration, Us rep. Dina titus on friday, April 22, held a press conference that highlighted the nations need for comprehen-sive immigration reform.

titus specifically touched on how the poli-cies would benefit undocumented immigrants and the state of Nevada.

Its been years since the senate passed a bipartisan bill, said titus, who represents Nevadas first district, at her Las Vegas Dis-trict office. the house refuses to take it up, we have protested, we have fasted, we have signed discharge petitions, all in hopes of get-ting that legislation passed because it would bring families ... out of the shadows [and] into the mainstream, keep families from be-

Rep. Titus, immigrants call for immigration reform after SC hearing

sACrAmeNto Californians forced to resolve a dispute through private, binding arbitration would no longer be additionally forced by a corporation to travel out of state to represent themselves, under a bill by state senator Bob Wieckowski (D-fremont) that was approved tuesday, April 26, by the sen-ate Judiciary Committee.

Consumers and employees are increasing-ly forced to sign arbitration agreements that

mANILA the Commission on elections (Comelec) is more concerned with overseas absen-tee voters (oAV) taking selfies with their ballots than reports of discrepancies in actual votes and voting receipts.

Comelec Commissioner Arthur Lim disclosed on Wednesday, April 27, that they have received numerous reports of voters tak-ing selfies holding their ballots

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Comelec frets over OAVs selfies with ballots

BALANGA City, Bataan senator Grace Poe on Wednesday, April 27, dared Davao City mayor rodrigo Duterte to prove that allegations regarding his undeclared P211 million bank account are false.

Well, siguro nasa kamay niya na pa-tunayan na hindi totoo yon. Ang pinaka-madali ay kung papayagan niyang buk-san kung lehitimo yung account na yon [I guess it is in the hands of the mayor to prove that the allegations are not true. And the best way to do it is for him to open his bank account), Poe said in an interview here.

It was senator Antonio trillanes 4th who revealed about the P211 million bank ac-count of Duterte at the BPI Julia Vargas Branch in Pasig City (metro manila).

Duterte dismissed the allegations and also dared trillanes to prove his claims al-though the mayor said he will not issue a waiver on his bank account.

the mayors spokesman, Peter Lavia, said trillanes claim is a product of the sen-ators fertile and malicious mind.

trillanes is a desperate man. A man who has not discarded his putschist past

and who has not shown any remorse for his reckless acts, Lavia added.

Poe said Duterte should show to the peo-ple that he is a man of his word by issuing a waiver on his bank account.

he has been claiming that he is willing to die for the country. this [bank waiver] is one of the ways to show his sincerity. Now if he cant do this simple thing, how can you expect him to fulfil more difficult tasks? she asked.

UNA darethe camp of Vice President Jejomar

Binay on Wednesday also dared Duterte to honor the bank waiver he previously signed and allow the Anti-money Launder-ing Council (AmLC) to pry into his assets

Poe to Duterte: Open your bank accountsby jefferson antiporda

and joel M. sY eGcoManilaTimes.net

by MaYen jaYMalinPhilstar.com

from the board of election in-spectors (BeIs).

he said a majority of the in-cidents reported by the BeIs in Dubai, hong Kong, Vientiane in Laos, madrid in spain and singa-pore involved voters taking self-ies, which is strictly prohibited.

We will have it investigated by our law department to deter-mine whether there is probable cause, and to determine wheth-er we have jurisdiction over it, said Lim.

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Grace Poe and Rodrigo Duterte

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mANILA the human rights Victims Claims Board, created to process the reparation claims of victims of rights abuse dur-ing the marcos dictatorship, has been given until may 12, 2018 to resolve those claims.

According to the Philippine Information Agency, President

Board gets 2-year extension to process Martial Law victims claims

Benigno Aquino III has signed republic Act 10766 to extend the lifespan of the board so it can deliberate on and process 75,730 claims. Without the extension, the board would have ceased to exist by may 12, 2016.

Board chairperson Lina uPAGE A3

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by nikko dizonInquirer.net

Bills to make arbitration fairer for consumers advance in California Senate

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APRIL 29-MAY 5, 2016 NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com (650) 616-4150A

From the Front Page

MERIENDA WITH THE PHILIPPINE EMBASSY AND YOUTH ROUNDTABLE. Ambassador Cuisia poses for a group photo with the students and members of FIND District VI after a very successful Merienda at the Catholic University of America (CUA) on Thursday, April 24. Ambassador Cuisia thanked the Filipino-American youth for their support to the Embassys advocacies and initiatives, especially to the Merienda that served as an avenue for youth engagement in the past 5 years.

the IS group and gain access to the funds and resources of the jihadi group that has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq.

The plots, Mr. Aquino said, included kidnapping Pacquiao and Kris Aquino, and behind the plots are Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon and subcom-mander Furuji Indama.

Mr. Aquino said Hapilon, through his cohorts in prison, planned to recruit inmates of New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City to their cause and establish ties with remnants of the Rajah Su-layman Movement and launch bombings in Metro Manila.

The President said the Abu Sayyaf had been trying to estab-lish an IS cell in the Philippines, but the bandits efforts had been thwarted by government forces.

Put to bedThe President said the threat

to his life had been investigated, and he assured the public that key leaders involved in the plots had been arrested and those

threats had been put to bed.But he said Hapilon was on

Basilan Island, the other key Abu Sayyaf stronghold neighboring Jolo, and that military assaults against him were continuing.

Indama is believed to be also on Basilan, where 18 govern-ment soldiers were killed in a clash with the Abu Sayyaf on April 9.

Mr. Aquino has yet to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but he has sent a letter of condolences to the fam-ily of Ridsdel.

Foreign Secretary Jose Al-mendras said President Aquino learned about the killing of Rids-del ahead of Trudeau, but the government did not announce it to honor the familys request to be informed first before breaking the news to newspapers.

Friends, family members and relatives raised P20 million for Ridsdels release, but the Abu Sayyaf refused, insisting on their ransom demand of P300 million.

The bandits are demanding

the same ransom for Hall, Sek-kingstad and Flor.

Body foundMeanwhile, the headless body

of a male Caucasian was found in a dry creek in Talipao, Sulu, on Wednesday, and authorities were trying to determine if it was Ridsdel.

The Army commander in Sulu was replaced after the killing of Ridsdel.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines announced the appointment of Col. Jose Fausti-no Jr. as the replacement of Brig. Gen. Allan Arrojado.

Arrojado resigned on Tuesday night. In his letter to Maj. Gen. Lysander Suerte, commander of the 5th Infantry Division, Arroja-do said he was resigning because of conflict of approach in deal-ing with the Abu Sayyaf threat in Sulu. (With reports from Jaymee T. Gamil and Estrella Torres in Manila; Julie S. Alipala, Jeoffrey Maitem and Nash Maulana, In-quirer Mindanao; and AFP)

Aquino: Abus plotted to kidnap PacquiaoPAGE A1 t

In a growing diaspora, at least 10 million Filipinos are work-ing in more than 200 countries abroad as nurses, caregivers, domestic helpers, welders, car-penters, plumbers, electricians, engineers and factory workers, among others.

Separate deptSince it could not stem the tide

of Filipinos leaving the country

Philippines losing Filipinos abroad bydue to lack of job opportunities, the least thing the government could do was to address the needs, and protect the rights and welfare of the modern-day he-roes, Ople said.

One way of doing so, she said, would be to create a separate department for overseas Fili-pino workers (OFWs), which she would propose should she win a seat in the Senate.

I personally believe that its time to create a separate depart-ment catering to the needs of OFWs, just like in India and In-donesia. It should be headed by someone with a Cabinet rank; there should be a Cabinet secre-tary for OFWs, said the daugh-ter of the late senator and foreign secretary, Blas Ople.

Through such a department,

and those of his closest of kin.At the same time, United Na-

tionalist Alliance (UNA) cam-paign communications director Joey Salgado challenged other presidential bets to do the same to allay suspicions that they have hidden wealth.

The Vice President has said this last Sunday and we will say it again: Kung talagang wala kay-ong itinatago, ang aming hamon: Magpa-AMLC din kayo. At ilabas ninyo ang inyong SALN at In-come Tax Returns [If youre not hiding anything, we dare you to allow the AMLC to check your assets. Bring out your SALN], Salgado said.

SALN refers to Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth

and AMLC, to the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

The UNA statement was is-sued after Trillanes claimed that Duterte did not declare in his SALN his P211 million bank de-posit.

Salgado bewailed that when Binay first issued the challenge, none of the presidential candi-dates responded.

On March 14, Duterte and his running mate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano signed a manifesto that stated that they pledge to open all our bank accounts in local and foreign currencies both here and abroad in the interest of trans-parency and accountability.

Ipinagmalaki ng kampo ni Mister Duterte na siya raw ay pumirma ng waiver para buksan

ang kaniyang bank accounts. Kanina ay naibalita sa isang pahayagan na mayroon siyang P211 million sa bangko na hindi niya nadeklara sa kanyang SALN. Nang tanungin si Mr. Duterte kung pipirma sya ng waiver, ang sagot niya ay hindi [They bragged that Duterte signed a waiver that will allow the opening of his bank accounts. When he was asked if he will sign a waiver, he an-swered no], Salgado said.

Mukhang press release lang ang bank waiver na yon [That bank waiver was just a press re-lease], he added.

The Vice President earlier signed a bank waiver, giving the AMLC access to his bank ac-counts as well as those owned by his spouse and children. n

Poe to Duterte: Open your bankPAGE A1 t

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(650) 616-4150 http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL APRIL 29-MAY 5, 2016 ADateline USa

Contrary to reports in social media, there were only two and not many incidents of alleged dis-crepancies in the voting receipts.

There were only two incidents of the voter receipts not reflect-ing the votes out of the 191,427 ballots cast in Seoul and Dubai, Lim noted.

Numerous reports on voting receipts not reflecting the actual vote of overseas absentee voters have been circulating in social media.

The Comelec had asked those making claims of discrepancies to substantiate their claims by fil-ing formal petitions.

For overseas voters who are yet to vote, Lim reminded them to take the election seriously and follow the existing rules and regulations in voting centers

abroad.It is important for everyone

to take seriously our election and dont toy around with it. Taking pictures of your vote is strictly prohibited, he said.

He also urged those who have experienced discrepancies in their votes to report them to the BEIs.

We would like to encourage Filipinos to report to us here at Comelec and I can assure you that we will act on it, Lim said.

So far, Lim said, there are 191,427 votes cast in the ongo-ing OAV. The figure represents a 13.91 percent voter turnout from the 1,376,067 total number of registered OAV voters.

Lim said they expect the num-ber to double and reach about 400,000 by the end of the month-long voting period on May 9. n

Comelec frets over OAVsPAGE A1 t

Sarmiento said in the PIA re-port that the HRVCB has already deliberated on 15 percent of the claims. In many cases, the board asks claimants to submit additional documents to support their claims.

We need to identify spurious, fictitious and fraudulent claims, she said.

Under the Human Rights Vic-tims Reparation and Recognition Act, which RA 10766 amends to extend the boards life, the board must circulate a preliminary list of claimants weekly for three con-secutive weeks once all claims have been processed. Opposition to someones inclusion on the list, or appeals for inclusion, can

be filed before the board releases its final list.

Claimants in the final list will be paid from ill-gotten wealth that the government has recov-ered from the Marcoses and their cronies.

It should be emphasized that the distribution of monetary repa-rations will be made simultane-ously, at a given period, after all 75,730 applications are resolved, Sarmiento said in the PIA report.

We have no authority to make partial payments because the law requires that the computation of the value of reparations be based on the total number of points giv-en, which we cannot determine prior to resolving all claims, she also said. n

Board gets 2-year extensionPAGE A1 t

limit or deny their day in court or prohibit their ability to file class-action lawsuits, just to get a job, or receive basic services or products, such as a credit card or cell phone. But they can also be compelled to travel across the country at their own expense to represent themselves in arbitra-tion cases.

In this private, for-profit jus-tice system the deck is stacked against consumers and employ-ees who simply cannot afford to dig into their pockets to fly across the country to New York or whatever jurisdiction the corporation picks, said Wieck-owski, a member of the Judicia-ry Committee. My bill makes clear if you are a California con-sumer and you purchase goods and services from a California company, or you are a Califor-nian working for a company

doing business in our state, the arbitration must take place in California. Forcing someone to travel out of state has a chilling effect on their ability to receive justice.

Tara Zoumer testified in sup-port of Wieckowskis bill. She filed a wrongful termination suit against her California employer. She was let go by the company after refusing to sign an arbitra-tion agreement. She filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court, but is now being forced to go through arbitration in New York.

The committee also approved another Wieckowski bill, SB 1007, affirming a person has the right to a certified court reporter in private arbitration.

Without a court reporter cre-ating a record of the proceed-ings, a consumer often lacks the documentation to support claims of misconduct, or fraud in

the arbitration process, Wieck-owski said.

The Consumer Financial Pro-tection Bureau (CFPB) complet-ed the most exhaustive study done on arbitration in the United States. The CFPB found 92 per-cent of prepaid card agreements and 88 percent of mobile wire-less providers who authorize third parties to charge consum-ers for services include arbitra-tion clauses. Similarly high arbi-tration percentages were found in other industries reviewed by the federal CFPB. n

Los Angeles County pushes for early

TASK FORCE OPLAN BAKLAS. The Task Force Oplan Baklas of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) started to remove illegally posted election campaign materials on Feb. 18, 2016. The MMDA on Tuesday, April 26, said it expects to remove more illegally posted campaign materials as election day nears. Philstar file photo

PAGE A1 t

ing separated and take away that fear that any minute you could be deported.

Central to the discussion were the programs Obama announced in late 2014, which would have deferred deportation for more than four million undocumented immigrants in the United States. One of the programs, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), would provide tem-porary relief from deportation and legal work authorization for three years with the possibility of renewal. The other would have expanded a 2012 program aimed at immigrant youth brought to the country as children, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Twenty-six Republican states in the nation filed a lawsuit led by Texas that led to a temporary injunction on the programs. Also in support of it is Nevada Attor-ney General Adam Laxalt.

Titus said that the Supreme Court, which currently has eight members after the death of Jus-tice Antonin Scalia in February, is likely to issue a 4-4 decision on the case and will probably make the ruling in late June. Such a split would keep the programs blocked, but would not set a legal precedent, she said.

Titus said these programs would be beneficial to Nevada, where 8 percent of the population and 10 percent of the workforce is undocumented, according to a 2015 analysis from the Pew Research Center. Additionally, the programs would result in an

anticipated gain of $1.3 billion in wages and a $2.5 billion increase in the states GDP.

During the conference, some immigrants, including Filipina Maria Perez, shared their stories about how Americas immigra-tion policies affects them.

Perezs daughter, Jessica May, is currently protected under DACA and was able to work as a field organizer on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clintons campaign trail.

Thankfully, we got her pa-pers, Perez said. She got de-nied first. All of my children in-cluding me are denied. We went here [legally].

Perezs family has been in the United States for 13 years, two of whom are unable to pursue col-lege due to their legal status.

I was born basically and then I moved here, and then I learned how to speak English. I dont even know my Tagalog that well and I consider myself more of

an American than Filipino. said Perezs 19-year-old son Christian Perez, who graduated from high school in 2014.

Also affected by the nations immigration policies is Aida Lopez, who has resided in the United States for more than 15 years. Her husband was deport-ed in 2014, kidnapped and never found. She has four US citizen children, one of whom is protect-ed under DACA.

Lopez is also currently under a stay that expires next month, after which time Immigration and Customs Enforcement can choose to deport her. But with no criminal background, Lopez is not an enforcement priority.

If she were to be deported, here are her four children who are US citizens. What would hap-pen to them? Would they go back with her? Would they stay here without their mother? Its just an untenable situation, Titus said.

Should the Supreme Court not decide in favor of DAPA and ex-panded DACA, Titus said she is still calling for immigration re-form.

I mentioned that its eco-nomically wise as well as being personally humane and socially important if we pass this and we brought these folks out of the shadows and into the work-force, Titus said.

Strong families build strong communities and when we threaten those families or di-vide those families or keep them from reaching their potential, we are only hurting ourselves, she added. (Agnes Constante/AJPress)

Rep. Titus, immigrants call for immigrationPAGE A1 t

Rep. Dina Titus

the government could assist Fili-pinos while theyre still being re-cruited, instead of being merely reactive, said Ople, a former la-bor undersecretary, without go-ing into details.

If a Cabinet secretary is fo-cused on the challenges of la-bor migration, the government can anticipate problems to be encountered by the OFWs and facilitate the deployment, she said.

Job generationTo stop Filipinos from leav-

ing, Ople said the government should also focus on improving the economy, and address issues such as transportation and infra-structure.

If she lands in the Senate, Ople vowed to prioritize job gen-eration in her legislative agenda, saying the best ally of poverty is unemployment.

If I make it to the Senate, I have only one question for de-partment heads and project pro-ponents: How many jobs will that project generate? How many Filipinos will benefit from your budget? Given our huge fund, we need to be laser-focused, she said.

Ople, president of Blas F. Ople

Philippines losing FilipinosPAGE A2 t

Susan Toots Ople

Policy Center, also vowed to in-stitute reforms in the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and fight age discrimination in the workplace.

All my life, every breath and every skill that I have, I feel like I have reserved them for every modern-day hero. I consider them part of our family because my father loved them so much. I will fight for them. We will fix the system to protect their rights and we will not keep silent when they are being abused. I am already doing these things now. What more if I will be in the Senate?

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APRIL 29-MAY 5, 2016 NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com (650) 616-4150A Dateline USa

LOS ANGELES, CA The Cali-fornia Immigrant Policy recently announced that Cynthia Buiza has been appointed as the orga-nizations new Executive Direc-tor.

Buiza brings 25 years of ex-perience fighting to defend the human rights of immigrants and refugees in California and across the globe. She has served as a trusted consultant to CIPC and other immigrant and civil rights partners since 2013, lead-ing a CIPC project to strengthen the capacity of nine regional co-alitions on the front lines of the fight for immigrant rights.

Prior to her consulting work, Buiza served as Policy Director at the ACLU of San Diego and Impe-rial Counties and Policy and Ad-vocacy Director at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. She played a key role in several immigrant rights campaigns, challenging check-points and car impoundments, fighting for drivers licenses, defending worker rights, and advocating against abuses at the border.

At a time when refugees flee-ing violence have generated intense attention around the world, Buiza has deeply personal insight into the experiences of displaced people. An immigrant from the Philippines, her com-mitment to human rights and so-cial justice was forged under the

Filipina appointed as CIPC Executive DirectorCynthia Buiza will welcome hundreds to

20th Annual Immigrant Day next month in Sacramento

Marcos dictatorship. She created community-based programs to empower children and families displaced by war, and her pas-sion for justice later took her to positions at several internation-al organizations in Southeast Asia, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Buiza said in a statement:I am deeply honored to join

the CIPC team. I greatly admire the organizations values of in-clusivity, collaboration, and ac-countability to community, and Im excited about the opportu-nities and possibilities ahead. Immigrant communities have helped transform California into a state that holds great promise

for the sustenance of social jus-tice ideals. But despite the prog-ress weve made, we still face profound challenges, including an ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor and the harsh and inhumane conse-quences of a broken immigration system.

So much has changed since CIPC began twenty years ago and Im deeply moved to imagine what we can achieve together in the next twenty years!

Buiza is slated to welcome hundreds of immigrant rights leaders from across California at the 20th annual Immigrant Day on Monday, May 23 in Sacra-mento.

CIPCs previous Executive Di-rector, Reshma Shamasunder, stepped down in December after a successful 12-year tenure. Pol-icy Manager Gabriela Villareal had assumed the role of interim Executive Director.

The California Immigrant Pol-icy Center advances inclusive policies that build a prosperous future for all Californians. CIPC was founded in 1996, as Cali-fornia reeled from the ugly af-termath of Proposition 187 and harsh federal copycats. A multi-ethnic hub for statewide advo-cacy, CIPC has worked hand-in-hand with community partners across the state for two decades to create a national blueprint for pro-immigrant policy. n

Cynthia Buiza

What drives me to do this is I can already imagine the reforms that I am capable of doing, she said.

Passing gradeIn terms of championing

OFWs, the Aquino administration got a passing grade from Ople, who said the country needed a President who has the political will to implement reforms ben-efiting OFWs.

Whoever wins the presiden-cy, Im very optimistic about our country. Even if the campaign period has been very toxic, I have

high hopes that we will come to-gether as a nation after the elec-tions. Nothing is impossible. We just need a President who will inspire us to be the best that we can be, Ople said.

Ople is a common candidate of presidential aspirants Sen. Grace Poe, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Miriam Defensor-San-tiago. She was also endorsed by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who is also running for President but has no senatorial lineup.

Ople said her own father, who served as labor minister of then

President Ferdinand Marcos, inspired her to advocate for the rights of overseas workers.

And by doing what she does, she said she was merely honor-ing the legacy and memory of her late father.

I have to be relevant. I cant hug my father anymore and I cant bring him back to this world. But with every OFW that I get to help, I feel like being able to hug my father again. It feels like planting a flower in his gar-den. And as a daughter, thats all I really want, she said. n

Philippines losing Filipinos abroad byPAGE A3 t

(Ed. Note: California State Sen-ator Kevin DeLeon has just intro-duced a bill to expand college enrollment for low-income and minority students on community, state and University of Califor-nia campuses. The bill, SB1050, calls for increasing academic rigor and counseling services at

Q&A: UC President says class of 2020 Most Diverse Ever

by Peter SchurmannNewAmericaMedia

schools that serve high numbers of low-income students. In an interview with New America Me-dia, UC President Janet Napolita-no says the bill means Sacramen-to and the UC are now working in partnership to meet the goal of expanded enrollment and di-versity. Her responses have been trimmed for length.)

After years of cutbacks and the standoff with the governor

over UCs budget, with SB1050 do you now see Sacramento as an ally in the drive to expand enrollment?

I am very encouraged by SB1050, because its a sign that we are now working in partner-ship with Sacramento and really thinking about how we educate the next generation of California, and what it costs to do so. We are already increasing our enroll-ment this year by 5,000 (in-state students) and 5,000 over the fol-lowing two years, so a total of 10,000 over three years. Thats a big lift. SB1050 recognizes that if we are going to do these things additional resources are required.

Do you expect to be working more closely with K-12 schools in California as a result of the bill?

Were working closely with K-12 and with the community col-leges. We probably have direct work underway in at least 600 high schools in California. We are also providing online courses for schools where AP classes are not offered.

Admissions data for the Class of 2020 is out. Whats the news there?

The good news is admissions are up for Californians, and ad-missions for underrepresented minority groups are up. I think this will be our most diverse class ever, or certainly since Prop. 209 [which banned consideration of race as a factor in college admis-sions in California] by the time students enroll. And the academic qualifications of the students are excellent. Its a very strong class.

The data show admissions of African American students is up by 32 percent. What do you at-tribute that to and how do you continue to build on that?

We are now in what we call the yield period, meaning of the students we admitted, how many actually enroll in the UC. We re-ally are focused with laser beam intensity on the yield for under-represented groups because we know there are students in that pool who would be great addi-tions to the Class of 2020, and we want them there. Were talk-ing with them about the UCs, putting them in touch with re-cent grads (the black alumni as-sociations, for example), offering them visits to campuses all kinds of things designed to say, Our doors are open and we want

you to attend. One of the concerns heard

from African American stu-dents is around campus climate, which some have described as unwelcoming or even hostile. How does the UC deal with this?

We did an overall climate survey a couple of years ago. It did not show major differences across groups. Overall, people thought the climate was very good. But for African American students, there have been some issues on some of our campus-es, so we need to address those [to] make sure those students are getting appropriate support and mentoring, recognizing that when they step on campus, be-cause the numbers have been low in the past, finding other people who are African American can be a challenge.

What about at the faculty level?

There has been a lot of effort at the campuses to hire minority faculty, and not just in a few de-partments but throughout the ac-ademic disciplines. Plus, we have something called the Presidents Post-Doctoral Fellows Program that I fund, and it reaches out to minority graduate students who can do their post doc work, and we hire faculty out of that. Its been very successful.

How affordable is the UC compared to other universities in California or nationally?

Very. And this is something we cant say enough. Families that have incomes of $80,000 or less pay no tuition at the University through our Blue and Gold Op-portunity Program. Were work-ing on financial assistance for families who make over $80,000. But by the time they graduate, half our students have no debt, and the students who graduate

with debt, that tends to be around $20,000 for the entire four or five years. Which is like a medium-priced car. And as I constantly remind people, when you drive a car off the lot it depreciates in value, but when you take your degree it appreciates in value over the course of your life.

Still, there is widespread public perception that college is unaffordable.

Right, so we have to reach out and give people confidence that this is something they can afford and that we will work with them on finding the aid neces-sary. Its not to say they wont have to put in something. We be-lieve that every student or their family ought to put in the total cost of going to school, which is tuition, fees, room and board. You should be responsible for $9,500 of that, which is roughly a fourth. But beyond that, there is a lot of financial assistance available.

What do you make of Bernie Sanders proposal to make col-lege free?

I dont like it. Number one, I dont know why taxpayers should subsidize college for some-one from a family that makes $250,000 a year. Second, who is going to pay for it? If you are pro-viding free college to everyone in America, its a great idea but its a huge amount of money. Is that something that Washington DC is going to provide?

How hard is it for community college students to transfer to the UC?

A third of our students are [community college] transfer students. [The transfer process] was very confusing what to take, does it count, where does it count, etc. So the [UC] faculty has designed 21 Transfer Pathways. Whats a Transfer Pathway? Its a designed set of courses that if

you take in community college, you will transfer to that ma-jor with full credit to any of the nine undergraduate campuses. You pick you major, you find the pathway and take those classes, and you transfer as a full junior.

Gov. Brown has spoken of a dichotomy in education between achieving an egalitarian society and sustaining our system of meritocracy. Does that same di-chotomy apply to the UC?

Were doing both in a way. Un-der the Master Plan that governs higher education in California, we are designed to take the top 12 and a half percent of students, which we have done through the recession, through the cuts so thats the meritocracy part. The egalitarian part is making sure that students went to a poor high school but get admitted to UC have the opportunity to succeed. That may mean extra work in the summer before they start, extra support for tutoring and the like. We know there are classes (math-ematics and chemistry) that can be hurdles. All right, lets focus to the extent we have resources and I think SB1050 will help with that.

How do you compare your tenure as head of UC with your previous role as governor and cabinet secretary?

Higher education has a very positive, proactive mission. When I was at Department of Homeland Security, youre play-ing defense. Youre trying to prevent something from happen-ing. A good day in the news is when there is no news, because it means something that could have happened didnt happen. With the UC, youre playing of-fense, not defense. You have this opportunity to help educate the next generation. Its a very ener-gizing mission. n

HOME FOR NOW. Farmers blockading a stretch of a national highway in Koronadal City since Friday voluntarily dispersed Tuesday after receiving rice rations from the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Philstar photo by John Unson

(650) 616-4150 http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL APRIL 29-mAy 5, 2016 A

Dateline PhiliPPines

Bangladesh Ambassador John Gomes (third from left) and his colleagues watch the proceedings during the Senate hearing on the $81-million money laundering scam last April 5. Philstar.com photo by Geremy Pintolo

MANILAThe process for the return to Bangladesh of the $81 million stolen by hackers from its central bank is underway.

Acting Justice Secretary Em-manuel Caparas bared this on Wednesday, April 27 after meet-ing with Bangladeshi Ambassa-dor John Gomes, who visited the department to request for the im-mediate return of the money to their government.

We did assure them that its being done. We have a process for that, but we have to make sure it goes through the legal process as quickly as possible, he told reporters in a press con-ference.

SARANGANI Rep. Manny Pac-quiao, fresh from his demolition of American Timothy Bradley, has slugged his way up in the senatorial race.

The 37-year-old Pacquiao has moved up to third behind front-runners, Senators Frank-lin Drilon and Vicente Sotto III, according to the results of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

Of the 1,800 registered voters interviewed for the survey, 37 percent indicated preference for the Filipino boxing icon.

The survey was conducted from April 18 to 20, more than a week after Pacquiao scored a decisive unanimous decision over Bradley after dropping him twice in their April 9 fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. After the fight, he indicated retirement to serve the people.

The survey had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2 per-centage points.

In the previous March 30-April 2 SWS survey, Pacquiao ranked fifth to seventh with 31 percent, along with two other candidates.

In the latest survey, first pub-lished in BusinessWorld, Drilon held on to the top spot with 45

percent, followed by Sotto with 42 percent. In fourth place be-hind Pacquiao was former Sen. Francis Pangilinan, with 36 per-cent.

Ranked between fifth and 12th were former Sen. Panfilo Lacson (34 percent), Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri (34 percent), for-mer Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontive-ros (33 percent), former Justice Secretary Leila M. de Lima (33 percent), former Technical Edu-cation and Skills Development Authority Director General Joel Villanueva (33 percent) Sen. Sergio Osmea III (32 percent), former Sen. Richard Gordon (31 percent), Sen. Ralph Recto (30 percent), Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian (30 per-cent), and Sen. Teofisto Guin-gona III (27 percent).

Trailing them were former Metropolitan Manila Develop-ment Authority Chair Francis Tolentino (22 percent), former Tourism Infrastructure and En-terprise Zone Authority COO Mark Lapid (20 percent), Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez (17 percent), Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso (16 percent), former Optical Media Board Chair Edu Manzano (14 percent), Bayan Muna Rep. Neri

Colmenares (12 percent) and former Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla (10 percent).

Those who obtained single-digit scores were Roman Ro-mulo (8 percent), Alma Moreno Lacsamana (7 percent), Allan Montano (7 percent), Susan Ople (6 percent), Mel Chavez (6 percent), Larry Gadon (6 per-cent), Atty. Lorna Kapunan (6 percent), Dionisio Santiago (6 percent), Rey Langit (5 percent), Ina Ambolodto (4 percent), Ro-meo Maganto (4 percent), Raffy Alunan (4 percent), Getulio Napeas (4 percent), Princess Jacel Kiram (3 percent), Shariff Albani (3 percent), Samuel Pag-dilao (3 percent), Aldin Ali (3 percent), Jovito Palparan Jr. (3 percent), Mon Montao (3 per-cent), Greco Belgica (3 percent), Godofredo Arquiza (3 percent), Walden Bello (2 percent), Ray Dorona (2 percent), Dante Liban (2 percent), Levito Baligod (2 percent), Sandra Cam (2 per-cent), Mr. Coop Paez (2 percent), Diosdado Valeroso (1 percent), and Eid Kabalu (1 percent).

Results of the survey also showed that 34 percent of the voters have a complete senato-rial slate. (Almi Ilagan-Atienza/Inquirer Research)

PH DELEGATION. The Philippines is one of 175 countries that formally signed the Paris Climate Agreement on Earth Day last Friday, April 22 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Philippine Delegation was led by Environment Secretary Ramon Paje with Senator Loren Legarda, UNISDR Global Champion for Resilience, as Co-Head of Delegation. Photo from the office of Sen. Loren Legarda

Return of laundered money to Bangladesh underwayby Edu Punay

Philstar.com

Palace confident Comelec can still hold credible pollsby dElon Porcalla

Philstar.com

Pacquiao slugs his way to No. 3 in senatorial poll

MANILAAmid the breach by hackers of the poll bodys 55-mil-lion voter database, Malacaang expressed its full trust and con-fidence in the Commission on Elections (Comelec)s ability to supervise the May 9 synchro-nized presidential, senatorial and local elections.

The government is confident that the Comelec will do the nec-

essary moves to strengthen the integrity of the automated polls on May 9, Press Secretary Her-minio Coloma Jr. said.

He told state-run radio dzRB that the poll body conducted mock polls over the weekend to test and find out whether there would be glitches in the system, so that problems can be ad-dressed soonest.

Coloma, who heads the Presi-dential Communications Opera-tions Office, urged Filipinos to

remain vigilant and help the gov-ernment ensure clean, orderly and credible national elections.

With just a couple of weeks before the May 9 elections, some local candidates are allegedly resorting to different tactics to cheat and ensure their victory.

There were reports that sup-porters of local candidates in some cities and municipalities conduct bogus biometrics and threaten voters who will not vote for their candidates.

Santiago says she received P300-Moffer to back out from presidential race

LOS BANOS, LagunaPresi-dential aspirant Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said she has received feelers to back out from the presidential race and was of-

fered up to P300 million to reim-burse her campaign expenses.

The feisty senator, who had been appearing in public more frequently after taking a short break from her anticancer treat-ment, lamented her consistent bottom ranking in commercial surveys.

Because of her poor standing in surveys, Santiago said this could have prevented her contributors for her campaign.

Ang hirap ng kalagayan ko, pinapababa nila ang standing ko sa surveys para mawalan ng gana ang contributors. Pag walang contributors, walang funding. Pag walang funding, pipilitin mag-withdraw at bibigyan daw nila ako ng up to P300 million ang expenses ko. Taga-UP ata

ako. Aanhin ko ang perang iyon? Tatanda na ako bago matapos bi-langin yun, she said.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey conducted from April 16 to 20, Santiagos rating dropped from three percent to two percent.

Every time mag survey sila dahil bayaran tong mga to lagi akong nasa ilalim. Di bale dahil late ako nag kampanya o dahil may sakit ako. Pero bakit sa lahat ng pamantasan sa ating bansa, saan man mapunta lalo na sa UP campuses bakit palagi akong number one? she said.

During the final leg of presi-dential debate in Pangasinan last Sunday, April 24, the senator said she will never quit the presiden-tial race. (Frances Mangosing/In-quirer.net)Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago

APRIL 29-MAy 5, 2016 NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com (650) 616-4150A

For the manipulators of the SWS data, only 5 percent re-jected votes were needed to bring Binays ratings to 14 in the most recent poll.

In contrast, a survey from April 21 to 23 by a major pollster commissioned privately (which is expected to be released pub-licly soon), but which did not use SWSs method of polling through ballots but by the standard way of the interviewer writing down the respondents replies.

It also does not seem coin-cidental that when SWS used this new method of polling, Ro-bredos rating jumped from 19 percent in March to 26 percent in April. The 5 percent rejected votes in the April poll were likely those for Marcos and Francis Escudero, which explains why the two candidates steady rat-ings Marcos even surged from

19 percent in December to 26 percent in March were broken only when the SWS used its new method of polling, and rejected 4 to 5 percent of the ballots.

Roxas and Robredo obviously have made manipulated polls as a major part of their electoral strategies, since without these to project that surveys from reputable pollsters show their political support, massive cheat-ing on May 9 elections would be so obvious far from the polling results as to provoke public outrage.

The use of ballots and SWS power to reject certain ballots is not the only new way it employs for its polls, which is obviously intended to pull down Binays ratings. In a previous column (The SWS mobile survey and an Indonesian tycoons poten-tial, crucial role in our elections,

April 10, 2016), I exposed that the SWSs new type of polling it calls the SWS-Bilang Pilipino Mobile Survey isnt at all a le-gitimate poll since it involves a permanent panel of about 750 respondents, whose views the SWS collects through their SMS messages via cellphones pro-vided by the Indonesian-owned PLDT.

Only the SWS and PLDT know the cellphone numbers of these respondents and one easy way of manipulating this panels re-sponses would be to send them messages favorable to a certain candidate, before they even re-ceive the question which candi-date they prefer.

SWSs partners in these two very questionable polling meth-ods are entities both controlled by the Indonesian tycoon An-thoni Salim: Smart Communi-

cations in the Bilang Pilipino Mobile Survey and the newspa-per BusinessWorld in the ballot-based polling, in which the SWS rejects certain ballots.

It is certainly not coincidental that in both of these two ques-tionable polls, Binays ratings were pulled below Roxas at 15 percent in the Mobile Surveys on April 13, and 14 percent in the ballot-based April 18 pur-ported poll.

In contrast, the other major firm PulseAsia, which uses the standard method of getting re-sponses in its April 12 -17 poll, reported Binay as staying in third place in the contest, with a 19 percent rating.

Roxas and Robredos rivals should demand that the Come-lec investigate what could be the biggest propaganda scheme of this election. (ManilaTimes.net)

Today is a historic day, Secre-tary-General Ban Ki-moon Ban told reporters following the opening cer-emony of the signing event. This is by far the largest number of coun-tries ever to sign an international agreement on a single day.

The Paris Climate Agreement will give way to a global economy that will be powered by low-car-bon, climate-smart growth. It has already begun to impact private sector operations and investments, demonstrating that climate action can improve per-formance, leverage new market opportunities, and be a gateway to growth and innovation.

In Paris, there were also four initiatives that were launched: the International Solar Energy Al-liance, the development plan for renewable ener-gy, the innovation mission with President Obama, and finally the high-level coalition to set a price for fossil fuels and coal, French President Francois Hollande said as he vowed to make France a role model in implementing the contents of the Agree-ment.

The Paris Climate Agreement will come into force once 55 countries responsible for 55 percent of the worlds greenhouse gases have ratified it, including the worlds top polluters, the US and China. Alto-gether, the 175 signatories account for 93 percent of global greenhouse gases, according to the World Resource Institute.

It took years of negotiations be-fore countries agreed to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing ef-forts to keep temperature rise to 1.5

degrees. The Paris Agreement mandates regular meetings every five years, starting in 2018, to re-view progress, and to consider whether it is neces-sary to increase ambition.

Regarded as a poster child for climate change, the Philippines along with under-developed nations were also present during the signing to encourage governments to keep the promises they gave in Paris.

Sen. Loren Legarda, Champion for Resilience of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), led the Philippine delegation in calling on nations to immediately ratify the Agreement and stressed the need to target the more ambitious but safer 1.5 de-grees Celsius warming limit.

The 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit should not just be an aspiration; we must do everything not to go beyond that, because the 1.5 degrees Cel-sius goal is a matter of survival. We have already breached the 1 degree Celsius mark and look at what has happened to vulnerable nations like the Philippines, Legarda said.

Legarda explained how the Philippines, one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, has been affected by extreme weather events caused by

Philstar.com photo

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BALITANG AMERICA: Duterte, Roxas top Fil-Am online poll after last debate

Gel SantoS-ReloS

The Fil-Am Perspective

FOLLOWING the last presidential debate hosted by ABS-CBN, The Fili-pino Channels daily newscast Bali-tang America asked its viewers: If the elections were held today, would you vote for to be the next president of the Philippines? The result of the April 25 online poll revealed Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte still top-ping the field of candidates, with 54 percent vote among the viewers who participated.

Former DILG Sec. Mar Roxas placed second, getting 32 percent, followed

by Sen. Miriam Defen-sor Santiago with 8 percent.

It seems Sen. Grace Poe has lost much enthusiasm among kababayans, getting only 5 percent. Vice President Jejomar Binay remains at the bottom of the pack with only 1 percent of the vote.

Dutertes dominance in the Fil-Am poll -- despite his controversial rape statement that the mayor [Duterte]

should have been the first to rape the beautiful Austra-lian woman killed in Mindanao -- is also echoed in the most recent Pulse Asia survey conducted in the Philippines dur-

ing the period April 16-20, before the last debate.

The Pulse Asia Pulso ng Bayan na-tionwide survey shows Duterte is still leading the race to Malacanang with

35 percent vote, followed by Sen. Grace Poe with 23 percent a 12 point margin.

Former DILG Sec. Mar Roxas came in third with 17 percent, followed by VP Jejomar Binay with 16 percent vote. Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago garnered 2 percent.

With less than two weeks before the Philippine national election, will Duterte keep his lead? Will the de-bate prove to be a game changer and put Poe back to the top position, or will Roxas surge to be number

one after his debate performance? ABANGAN!

Meantime, watch The Filipino Chan-nels Balitang America town hall, to be participated in by community lead-ers supporting each candidate. This will air on Sunday, May 1, at 5pm.

* * *Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFCs Balitang America. Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos

RiGobeRto D. tiGlao

Commentary

IN honor of Earth Day last Friday, April 22, international political, business and civil society leaders from 175 countries gathered at the United National Headquarters in New York for the historic signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, a global initiative to ensure a sustainable future for billions of people around the world through climate action.

the warming climate. Typhoon Ketsana in 2009 ate up 2.7 percent of the countrys GDP; while the coun-try has yet to fully recover from the damage and ef-fects of the November 2013 Supertyphoon Haiyan. At present, farmers and farming communities have been suffering from the drought caused by the ex-tended El Nio affecting the Philippines.

Following the historic signing, the world must now embrace this broader challenge and step up

efforts to combat climate change. This problem is multi-faceted and its mitigation will require action from multiple fronts.

We are not oblivious to the advent of climate change. While we cannot undo the damages done, we are still capable of decelerating the rate of the effects of climate change and produce a desirable future for the planet altogether. Every one is simply responsible. (AJPress)

Has SWS been rigging its surveys to boost Roxas and Robredos ratings?

IT seems so, or the Social Weather Stations collation of data has fallen under the con-trol of Manuel Roxas and Leni Robredos operatives, so that in the past two surveys their voter-preference ratings have inexplicably surged, while those of Vice President Jejomar Binay and Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. have fallen.

This could be done because of SWSs new polling method, which would allow votes for presidential candidate Binay and vice presidential contender Marcos, Jr. whose ratings have dropped for a reason to be re-jected on grounds, as the SWS itself describes it, of invalid markings.

Only in its last two surveys did the SWS adopt this new method, which it had never used before (not in its 2010 polls), for deter-mining how many of its respon-dents choose particular candi-dates.

Instead of the standard pro-cedure of the pollster writing down the name of the candidate the respondents say they will vote for (and therefore, accept-ing these at face value), the new method asks the respondents to mark their choice in a ballot, pri-vately, and put it in a container.

On the surface, this appears to be an appropriate method. But in reality, it merely mimics how election cheating has been undertaken for decades in this

SWS suddenly changed its polling method, and Binays ratings plunged.

country. This is done during the counting of the ballots, with the votes for the candidate who is being cheated declared invalid or are rejected. At least, in the low-tech way of counting ballots in the past, candidates were al-lowed to put in place their own poll-watchers who could raise a protest every time a certain vote for their candidates was reject-ed.

The counting of the ballots by the SWS, though, takes place in hidden rooms, with no third-party observing the process.

In its new method of polling, ballots with invalid marks, SWS itself explains, are rejected. It has not explained what quali-fies as an invalid mark, how-ever. It has neither reported its process for counting the ballots nor disclosed which candidates were chosen in such rejected ballots.

The number of such rejected ballots is not insignificant: 7 per-cent in its March 30 to April 2 survey and 5 percent in the April 18 to 20 polling. (This excludes the 3 percent of respondents in the two surveys who replied that they had not decided whom to vote for.)

It does not seem coincidental then that when SWS used this new method of polling, and 7 percent and 5 percent of bal-lots were rejected, Binays rat-ings plunged from 24 percent in early March to 20 percent in late March, and to just 14 percent in the last poll conducted in early April.

If the 7 percentage points of rejected ballots in the March 30 April 2 poll were for Binay, his ratings would not be at 20 percent but at 27 percent, at par with Dutertes.

(650) 616-4150 http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL APRIL 29-mAy 5, 2016 ADateline PhiliPPines

All of the countrys presidential candidates, except for former secretary Manuel Roxas II who no longer holds a government position, will have to file their 2015 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN). Philstar.com photo

MANILADays before the May 9 national elections, all of the countrys presidential candi-dates, except for former secretary Manuel Roxas II who no longer holds a government position, will have to file their 2015 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

Vice President Jejomar Binay will be filing his SALN before the Office of the Ombudsman while Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will submit his before the Depart-ment of the Interior and Local Gov-

4 presidential bets must file SALNs by April 30by Michael Punongbayan

Philstar.comernment (DILG).

Sens. Miriam Defensor-San-tiago and Grace Poe, on the other hand, will file their 2015 SALNs before the Office of the Senate Secretariat.

According to law, the SALNs of government officials and em-ployees are filed before official repositories depending on rank or position.

Only presidents and vice presi-dents as well as the heads of con-stitutional commissions file SALNs directly at the Office of the Om-budsman.

In 2014, Binay declared a net

worth of P60.118 million which shows a steady but minimal in-crease in his wealth since 2011 which was at P57.879 million, P59.804 million in 2012 and P58.762 million in 2013.

As early as two months ago, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) reminded all government officials and employees to file their SALNs for 2015 on or before April 30, 2016.

The reminder was issued pursu-ant to the requirements of Repub-lic Act 6713 or the code of conduct and ethical standards for public of-ficials and employees.

MANILAA witness has sur-faced to support the elderly couple who allegedly fell prey to the bullet-planting scam at the Ninoy Aquino International Air-port (NAIA).

Couple Esteban and Salvacion Cortabista are planning to charge wheelchair attendant Nio Nam-ba of extortion after the latter reportedly asked for P50,000 from them in exchange for being released from detention to board their Korean Airlines flight to the US.

The Cortabistas wanted go to San Diego, California to seek treatment for severe arthritis, but were prevented from leaving af-ter a bullet was found in one of their carry-on bags at the final security check area.

They denied owning the bullet

Witness backs tanim-bala extortion claimby edu Punay

Philstar.comand pointed out that their bags went through the x-ray machine at the first security check area without any hitchs.

Chief Public Attorney Persida Rueda-Acosta confirmed that the witness, another US-bound pas-senger, had seen or heard the incident.

They are ready to sue. We are waiting for the affidavit of the witness who was with them at the airport, Acosta revealed to The Star.

She did not identify the witness or provide more details pending the completion and receipt of the full statement.

Acosta vowed to prove the in-nocence of the couple when they face preliminary investigation on the charge of violating the Com-prehensive Firearms and Ammu-nition Regulation Act or Republic Act 10591 before the Department

of Justice.They were bound for San Di-

ego in the US to seek treatment for severe arthritis. Theyre not only senior citizens, they are also persons with disability since they could hardly walk, Acosta said.

Airport authorities earlier said they would also look into the al-legation against Namba, who aided the septuagenarian couple at the airport.

Some airport personnel were investigated in the past for their involvement in the scam where a bullet is planted in the bags of unsuspecting passengers before the final security check area, and they are asked to come up with an amount to settle the case.

The Cortabista couple insisted that they are aware of the ban on bullet possession at the airport and would not have brought one.

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(650) 616-4150 http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL APRIL 29-MAY 5, 2016 CJ

COMMUNITYJ ourna l

IN most countries, including the United States, citizenship is the ultimate immigration status. A citizen of the United States cannot be deported or removed from the country, and only a citi-zen can vote in federal and state elections. Citizenship can be described as a social contractrights and protections provided by the nation, in exchange for allegiance to the nation. This concept can get rather murky when a person is a citizen of more than one country, or when a person wants to stop being a citizen.

Grace Poe is the current front-runner in the race for President of the Philippines. She contin-ues to hold a lead in the polls for the election this May, but her candidacy is under attack because of her citizenship. Poe, who is rumored to be an illegiti-mate child of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was born in the Philippines but abandoned as a child. She was then ad-opted and raised by a Filipino movie star. She immigrated to the United States in the 1980s and naturalized as a US citizen in October 2001. In 2005, af-ter her adopted father died, she moved back to the Philippines and applied for dual citizenship under Philippine law, which was granted in 2006.

In 2010, President Benigno Aquino appointed Poe to chair the Movie and Television Re-view and Classification Board (MTRCB), but Philippine law required her to renounce her American citizenship before taking the appointment. She signed an affidavit before a no-tary in October 2010, renounc-ing her American citizenship. She later filed an Affirmation of Renunciation at the US Embassy in Manila, and the Embassy for-mally recognized her renuncia-

Eric WElshand nancy MillEr

Your ImmigrationSolution

Grace Poe and the idea of citizenshiption in February 2012.

Now, Poe is facing challeng-ers who claim she is not eligible to hold the office of President because of Philippine law re-garding citizenship. Her chal-lengers claim that because Poe was found as an abandoned child and cannot prove the iden-tity of her birth parents, she is not a natural born citizen of the Philippines. They also allege that she did not meet residency requirements. Her opponents also argue that she did not timely renounce her US citizenship before accepting her position with the MTRCB. Some even argue that legality aside, she should not be allowed to run for president because she previ-ously naturalized as an Ameri-can, and in doing so turned her back on the Philippines.

Poes candidacy has raised interesting questions regarding the citizenship of a parentless child, and the idea of dual citi-zenship. Regarding her birth, Poes challengers argue that since Poes actual biological parents are not known, she can-not prove she was born to Phil-ippine parents. This would not be an issue in a country like the United States that recognizes citizenship jus soli (right of the soil), but unlike the United States, birth in the Philippines does not in itself confer citizen-ship. For her part, Poe (and her supporters) have strongly ar-gued that she is entitled to citi-zenship as a parentless found-ling, who should be presumed by law to be born of natives of the country where born.

Regarding her American citi-zenship, Poes case raises more thorny issues. The United States does not expressly forbid dual citizenship, but it is discour-aged. The position of the United States is that citizenship confers special privileges both inside and outside of the United States, including diplomatic protection

abroad, and the protections and rights of American citizens can become unclear when a person claims citizenship to more than one sovereign. For Grace Poe, the issue is even more clearly restricted: under Philippine law, only Philippine citizens with no allegiance to any other country can seek election to public of-fice.

In order to renounce her US citizenship, Grace Poe had to engage in a formal process be-fore the US Consulate and sign an oath of renunciation. Ameri-can citizenship cannot be easily lost or forfeited; the formalities of the renunciation process are specifically designed to make certain that the person renounc-ing does so with clear intent and informed understanding of what they are giving up.

Whether Grace Poe is elected next month remains to be seen. If she is elected, she is likely to hear continuing challenges from her detractors. The special sta-tus that citizenship confersand the rights and benefits that come with citizenshipoften inflame passions of national identity and the abstract notion of belong-ing. Poes candidacy provides an opportunity for constructive dialogue about the idea of citi-zenship, and about the costs of giving that status away.

***Reeves Miller Zhang & Diza is one of the oldest, largest and most experienced immigration firms in the United States with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Manila. For more Information please call (800) 795-8009 or visit www.rreeves.com.Telephone: (800) 795-8009 E-mail: immigration@rreeves.com Website: www.rreeves.com.

***The analysis and suggestions offered in this column do not create a lawyer-client relationship and are not a substitute for the personalized representation that is essential to every case. (Advertising Supplement)

WITH a little over two weeks to go before the na-tional and local elections, property analysts have weighed in on how each of the Presidential candi-dates will affect the real estate sector.

I was very disappointed with the candidates as they neglected the housing sector in their policy platforms. Not one of the presidential candidates highlighted the importance of the housing sector in their platforms. Most of the rhetoric focused on public infrastructure, technology, peace and order and employment but there were no specific men-tion of an integrated, compelling and institutional housing plan that can change the industry for the better, lamented Enrique M. Soriano III, Ateneo program director for real estate and senior adviser

for Wong+Bernstein Business Advisory.Monique Cornelio-Pronove, CEO of Pronove

Tai International Property Consultants, asserted: Regardless who among them wins, the real es-tate market will continue its upward trajectory as the economic fundamentals of the country remain strong. The current administration leaves behind a healthy fiscal reserve that the new administra-tion must now spend to build more roads, rail and improve as well as add more airports and ports around the country. We have a robust young popu-lation with a median age of 25 years that has the capacity to spend, and this drives the retail market. The services sector continues to expand, thus pro-viding employment to our graduates. We have the confidence of the international community and the challenges we face on infrastructure provides a lot

by Tessa R. salazaRInquirer.net

SM Prime president Hans Sy Philstar photo by Mike Amoroso

MANILA The Sy familys SM Group will build the countrys first national sports academy in Laguna with an initial investment commitment of P1 billion.

We are looking at another kind of business in Calamba which will be be the first in the Philippines. It has already been approved by the board. Were planning to put up a sports academy, SM Prime

SM Group earmarks P1B for national sports academyby Richmond s. meRcuRio

Philstar.comHoldings Inc. president Hans Sy said in an interview.

We felt that we should go into this because we want to help in sports development but at the same time were also consider-ing the welfare of athletes, what happens to them after their prime years. We want to give them cer-tain education that will also help them later on, he added

Sy said the project would be undertaken by National Univer-

uPAGE CJ3

uPAGE CJ3

APRIL 29-MAY 5, 2016 NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com (650) 616-4150CJ Community Journal

MonetteAdevA MAglAyA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond

DEPENDING on your persua-sion, God or the devil is in the details.

Much of the big things in our lives are bound up by documents your marriage contract, your divorce papers, your real estate holdings, your lease and anything else that requires the agreement between two or more parties.

Take credit cards for example. A business writer once com-pared a credit card to that wick-ed witchs house made of cook-ies and candy in the old story of Hansel and Gretel. As the story goes, these children who were abandoned in the woods by a cruel stepmother and a feck-less father, were snared by the witch who found them to be too scrawny for her tastes and de-cided they should be fattened up first with carbs before she would bake them as the main entree.

The credit card company pitch is sugary sweet as the witchs house and all too famil-iar by now: zero or low interest rate, nada annual fees, cashback points, and rewards galore. But take a moment to read the disclo-sures. No credit card company is in business for your sole pleasure and fiscal health.

As prescribed by law, the dis-closures are all there. It may tell you that the zero or low interest rate is simply introductory for a short period of time, or that the advertised rate applies to you only if you do a balance transfer from another credit card, or that if you get a cash advance, the rate is higher and the stiff pen-alties that may apply if you slip up with your payments. You will get the real picture of the credit card offer.

Get a magnifying glass and read and comprehend the dis-closures, usually written in fine print at the bottom or back of all legally binding documents before you sign or commit to a responsi-bility. If youre not up to the task of getting through all the tedious legalese and mounds of gobble-

The big print, the small print

dygook thrown in for good mea-sure by legal eagles who crafted the contract probably to con-found you, by all means ask for help from those who know and can be trusted, even if you have to pay to get that advice before making a decision particularly when it involves big ticket items and your fiscal health.

We all need to have just a smidgen of cynicism every time we come across a message that sounds just a tad too good to be true. We must remember that in advertising messages, contracts, binding agreements as well as in anything else that promises something in exchange for some-thing, The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.

For big ticket items, hold off making a purchase decision un-til you have shopped the market and done the research and have asked yourself the question and answered truthfully that what you are buying is what you re-ally need. The incessant barrage on television, the print media, on radio, the internet and the bill-boards along the roadways for you to buy can boggle the sanest of minds. The sales events, even during recessionary times, are unending and alas, you will fi-nally come to the conclusion that you will run out of money long before the malls and the discount stores run out of merchandise and sales events.

The point is that with all the available information at our fin-gertips, being resourceful and persistent in researching values, prices and reviews among peers in the internet can help us in negotiating a price that we are comfortable paying for and can live with.

A savvy car buyer must come armed with information, prepared to respectfully yet persistently dicker his way at the negotiating table specially if his credit score is excellent, has some down pay-ment ready and has some other

bargaining chips in his arsenal. If not, walk away.

The art of the deal is all about negotiating from strength, us-ing leverage, toughening it out and having the chutzpah to walk away.

There is too much noise and confusion in the American cul-tural mainstream media that blurs what in the beginning may have been a sharp and clear distinction of your own personal needs and wants. Like everybody else, expect to be confused. Mercifully, anything electronic can be zapped and you have the option to tune out whenever you choose.

Infomercials are unpreten-tiously straightforward in going for the jugular. These are full-blown shows, from a half hour to an hour, that have been proven to be effective mass marketing tools. The sophistication with which a specific type of con-sumer is reached by precisely targeted direct mail pieces and e-mail pieces have reached un-precedented levels as giant data bases track information swirl-ing about in cyberspace about you and the likelihood that you fit the profile of a prospect for a certain product.

The technological age we live in has made it possible to find out about anything under the sun with just a few keystrokes. The media and the internet pro-vide rivers of information that often overwhelm. These have become the most effective tools to gain a share of the mind and heart of consumers to ultimate-ly affect thought and behavior patterns.

How we use just a few pieces of critical genuine information to arrive at a wise decision is what matters in the long run.

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

The big print giveth and the small print taketh away. Unknown

MANILA Banks tightened their standards for commercial real estate and housing loans in the first quarter amid the deteri-oration in borrowers profile and stricter financial system regula-tions.

Jeny Tabin, bank officer at the BSPs Department of Economic Research, said the central banks 1st Quarter 2016 Senior Loan Of-ficers Survey showed a net tight-ening of overall credit standards for commercial real estate and housing loans in the first three months.

Tabin explained the tighter overall credit standards for com-mercial real estate loans reflect-ed respondent banks reduced tolerance for risk, deterioration in the profile of borrowers, and perception of stricter financial system regulations.

In terms of specific credit standards for commercial real estate loans, banks responses showed wider loan margins, re-

Banks tighten loan rules for real estate, housing

by Lawrence agcaoiLiPhilstar.com

duced credit line sizes, stricter collateral requirements, and increased use of interest rate floors, Tabin said.

Tabin said demand for com-mercial real estate loans was also unchanged in the first quarter.

However, Tabin revealed a number of banks indicated in-creased demand for the said type of loan on the back of clients improved economic outlook and

increased working capital and inventory financing needs of cus-tomers, among others.

Over the next quarter, al-though most of the respondent banks anticipate generally steady loan demand, a number of banks expect demand for commercial real estate loans to increase fur-ther, she said.

Data showed lending to real uPAGE CJ3

Payments for imports in February rose to $5.41 billion, up from $5.35 billion in the same period last year. Photo by NC/Sodaro K

MANILA Philippine imports rose 1.2 percent in February from a year ago on higher purchase of capital goods, the government reported Monday, April 25.

Payments for imports in Febru-ary rose to $5.41 billion, up from $5.35 billion in the same period last year.

This annual growth rate, how-ever, was slower than the 10.2 percent in February 2015 and 30.8 percent in January.

Increased imports of the fol-lowing commodities were seen in February 2016: telecommuni-cation equipment and electrical machinery, industrial machinery and equipment, medicinal and pharmaceutical products, trans-port equipment, miscellaneous manufactured articles, other food and live animals, as well as plastics in primary and non-pri-mary forms.

Decreased inbound shipments, on the other hand, were seen in the following commodity groups: mineral fuels, lubricants and re-lated materials; electronic prod-ucts; iron and steel.

Purchases of capital goods made up 39 percent of total im-ports for February, payments for which rose by 57.5 percent year-on-year to $2.16 billion from $1.37 billion last year.

Imports of consumer goods increased 26.3 percent to $934.2 million in February 2016 as high-er spending was observed for both durable goods and non-du-rable goods during the period.

Imports grow 1.2% in FebruaryPhilippines lone gainer among 11 Asian countries

by czeriza VaLenciaPhilstar.com

Cumulative imports from Janu-ary to February 2016 were val-ued at $12.24 billion, up by 15.8 percent from $10.56 billion in the same period last year.

In terms of destination, China remained as the countrys top source of imports accounting for 16.7 percent of total payments during the period. Japan came second with 12.6 percent share, followed by the United States with 9.5 percent.

The growth in February im-ports is an indication of sustained strong domestic demand, accord-ing to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

This growth indicates that amid a global economic slow-down, domestic demand, es-pecially investments, remains strong. This will likely continue to drive imports growth within the short term, said Socioeco-

nomic Planning and NEDA direc-tor general Secretary Emmanuel Esguerra.

NEDA notes that among se-lected Asian economies, only the Philippines registered posi-tive imports growth in February. Thailand, South Korea and China registered the steepest declines.

NEDA said the continued mo-mentum in the importation of capital goods reflects the coun-trys attractiveness as an invest-ment location, particularly in the manufacturing sector.

This also indicates a robust economic activity that is primar-ily supported by the countrys strong macroeconomic per-formance. The robustness of growth is reflected in the con-tinuous upgrade and affirma-tion of the countrys investment grade rating since 2013,