SIMI VALLEY, November 16, 2013 (AFP) – Budget cuts could threaten the US military’s ability to respond to future Philippines typhoon-style aid crises, the head of America’s Marine Corps said Saturday. General James Amos touted the role the United States is playing in response to the latest disaster, with another 1,000 US Marines being deployed to support emergency relief operations in the Philippines following Super Ty-phoon Haiyan.

But he said America was not doing enough training and prepa-rations for such natural disasters,

and said budget restrictions and the automatic budget cuts known as the sequester could jeopardize future aid missions.

“We’re not doing much of that right now, because it costs money. It’s training and exercise money,” he said at a defense conference in California, talking about practic-ing and preparing for natural di-sasters. “Where I think the prob-lem will come in will be the ability to have the money to deploy the ships,” he told a small group of reporters. “We may, although it’s hard for me to imagine, get to a

MANILA, Nov 18 (Mabuhay) – The Aquino government has launched a web-based initiative called Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAiTH), which will allow the public to monitor the status of foreign assistance coming in for the victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

“There’s an urgent call now for us to monitor the movement of for-eign aid funds for Yolanda so they will go exactly where they’re sup-posed to: to the survivors of the typhoon for whom recovery will be a long and arduous process, and to the communities that need to be rehabilitated as quickly and ef-fi ciently as possible,” Department of Budget and Management Un-dersecretary and Chief Informa-tion Offi cer Richard “Bon” Moya

said.“FAiTH is the Aquino admin-

istration’s pioneering response to this growing need for transpar-ency and accountability in the management of humanitarian do-nations,” he added.

Some sectors earlier called for transparency in the distribution of the aid. The Commission on Audit already promised these will be audited.

The portal, which can be ac-cessed via www.gov.ph/faith, will show to the public how the funds were spent.

Moya said the portal will con-tain information on calamity aid and assistance – both in cash and in kind – received by the Philip-pines from other countries, mul-

See MONITOR STATUS, page 6 See OFW BANK, page 6 See UNCONSTITUTIONAL, page 6

TACLOBAN, November 18, 2013 (AFP) – Philippine Presi-dent Benigno Aquino on Monday blamed the slow response to the ravages of Typhoon Haiyan on the total collapse of local government in the face of the storm’s unprec-edented destructive power.

“The systems failed,” Aquino acknowledged as he toured areas devastated by the super typhoon that smashed through the central Philippines on November 8, kill-ing thousands and laying waste to entire towns and villages.

“We had a breakdown in power, a breakdown in communications... a breakdown in practically every-thing,” Aquino told reporters.

The president, who was criti-cized for the initial delay in get-ting relief to the worst-hit areas, argued that the local authorities

GUIUAN, Samar: President Benigno S. Aquino III inspects affected areas in eastern Samar, after meeting with local government offi cials at the municipal grounds Sunday (November 17). (MNS photo)

DISASTER SYSTEMS FAILED: AQUINO

A survivor carries water cans as he searches for fresh water in an area devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban November 18, 2013. The Philippines is facing up to an enormous rebuilding task from Typhoon Haiyan, which killed at least 3,681 people and left 1,186 missing, with many isolated communities yet to receive signifi cant aid despite a massive international relief effort. (MNS photo)

BY AMÉLIE BOTTELIER-DEPOISHOMONHON, November 18,

2013 (AFP) – The message spelt out in giant letters on the ground outside the remote, typhoon-shattered Philippine village was clear enough: “Help Us. We Need Food”.

Easily visible as the US heli-copter carrying emergency food supplies made its approach Mon-day, it refl ected the desperation of the villagers 10 days after Ty-phoon Haiyan slammed into the central Philippines.

As soon as the chopper touched down and the doors opened, around 100 villagers rushed to the aircraft and began pulling at the bags of rice inside before they could be properly unloaded.

“It’s the fi rst food we’ve had,” a woman shouted as the crew

tried to persuade the residents of the tiny inland village in eastern Leyte island to move back.

The rice was fi nally offl oaded and, as the helicopter took off again, one of the villagers ges-tured wildly with his hands to his mouth, pleading for the crew to return with more supplies.

“Those in the remote areas are the most desperate,” said Chief Petty Offi cer Matthew Gensler. “The further out you go, the hard-er it is.”

The helicopter was one of many that have been fl ying continual sorties off the USS George Wash-ington aircraft carrier since it ar-rived to spearhead a growing in-ternational relief operation.

Haiyan made landfall on No-vember 8, triggering a storm surge that laid waste to large ar-

eas of coastline and pummeling inland towns and villages with some of the strongest winds ever recorded.

The offi cial death toll stands at 3,976 with 1,602 people missing. The United Nations estimates up to four million people have been displaced, of whom only 350,000 have found shelter in evacuation centres.

On the tiny island of Homon-hon, which suffered a direct hit from the super typhoon, the mood was calmer, with villagers wait-ing patiently as the helicopter crew unloaded water supplies.

The approach to the village offered an aerial view of the de-struction infl icted on the island, where thick coconut groves had been torn up and fl attened.

MANILA, Nov. 18 (Mabuhay) – The National Disaster Risk Re-duction and Management Coun-cil (NDRRMC) said on Monday morning the offi cial death toll from supertyphoon “Yolanda” has reached 3,976, while the num-ber of families affected also rose slightly as relief efforts from the government and other sectors continue for the victims.

The death toll is broken down by regions as follows: CALABAR-ZON, 2; MIMAROPA, 7; Bicol, 5; Western Visayas, 161; Central Vi-sayas, 74; Eastern Visayas, 3,725; Zamboanga Peninsula, 1; and CARAGA, 1.

NDRRMC said that 18,175 per-sons were injured, broken down as: 2 for CALABARZON, 21 for Bicol, 228, Western Visayas; 102, Central Visayas; 17,821, Eastern

A resident uses a wheelbarrow to recover the body of a victim after Typhoon Haiyan hit the municipality of Coron, Palawan province in central Philippines November 9, 2013. Typhoon Haiyan, possibly the strongest storm ever to hit land, has devastated the central Philippine city of Tacloban, killing at least 3,000 people and destroying most houses in a surge of fl ood water and high winds, offi cials said.(MNS Photo)

President Benigno S. Aquino III welcomes Asian Development Bank (ADB) offi cials, headed by ADB president Takehiko Nakao, during the courtesy call at the Music Room of the Malacañan Palace on Friday (November 15). (MNS photo)

MANILA, Nov. 18 (Mabuhay) – A neophyte lawmaker has fi led a measure seeking to establish a bank for overseas Filipino work-ers (OFWs) to provide adequate care, benefi t and other forms of assistance to OFWs and their de-pendents.

Rep. Juan “Johnny” Revilla (Party-list, OFW Family Club) said under House Bill 2942, the OFW Bank, to be owned by OFWs and their families, shall foster, improve and develop the fi nancial interest and welfare of OFWs by providing them easy access to its

MANILA, Nov 19 (Mabuhay) – The Supreme Court has found the Priority Development As-sistance Fund - more commonly referred to as congressional pork barrel funds - unconstitutional, the high court’s spokesman Atty. Theodore Te said Tuesday

The decision was announced just as the Supreme Court was preparing to hear oral argu-ments on the Aquino administra-tion’s equally controversial Dis-bursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which is the subject of a separate complaint, but which critics assail as essentially cut from the same fabric as PDAF.

On Tuesday it was announced that the SC justices voted 14-0-1 (with Associate Justice Presbi-terio Velasco accounting for the one abstention) to fi nd the PDAF inconsistent with the constitu-tional mandates of the executive and legislative branches of gov-ernment.

Legal challenges to the PDAF had argued that legislators had built into the legal frameworks for pork barrel funds mecha-nisms to infl uence the ultimate spending of the funds, thus creat-ing confl ict with Congress’ power of the purse, and breeding cor-

‘Help Us’: Isolated typhoon victims clamor for food

‘Yolanda’ death toll nears 4,000-mark

Philippine Supreme Court declares PDAF unconstitutional

See SYSTEM FAILED, page 6

See BUDGET CUT, page 6

Budget cuts could harm future US crisis response: Marine general

Public can now monitor status of foreign aid for typhoon victims

Solon proposes establishment of Philippine OFW bank

See DEATH TOLL, page 6

See HELP US, page 6

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NEW YORK CITY, November 19, 2013 (AFP) – A one-time secre-tary to Imelda Marcos was found guilty by a US court on Monday for plotting to sell a Monet paint-ing which vanished after the 1986 revolution that saw the former fi rst lady of the Philippines oust-ed.

Sentencing for Vilma Bautista, 75, will be held at a date that has not yet been announced, offi cials said.

“Bautista was found guilty of attempting to sell art she had pos-sessed secretly for decades and knew to be stolen, and for selling a looted museum-quality paint-ing for her personal enrichment,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said.

She was one of three people accused of illegally conspiring

to possess and sell works of art acquired by Marcos, and keep-ing proceeds for themselves, the Manhattan district attorney’s of-fi ce said.

They also sought to hide the gains from the US tax authorities.

The Monet was part of Imelda Marcos’ hoard of artworks and other luxuries accumulated dur-ing the corrupt rule of her hus-band, President Ferdinand Mar-cos.

The Philippines government moved to recover the property in the aftermath of the 1986revolu-tion, but much of it vanished.

“A signifi cant amount of art-work and other valuables disap-peared from Philippine govern-ment property, including from the Philippine Consulate townhouse in Manhattan,” the DA’s offi ce

had said earlier.Vance said that after waiting

20 years beginning in 2009, Bau-tista and her two nephews alleg-edly began trying to sell.

Among the works they sought to cash in on were the Monet water lily, “Le Bassin aux Nym-pheas,” and three other valuable works that the Philippines gov-ernment was trying to repossess.

They succeeded with the Mon-et, selling it to a London gallery and dividing the $32 million, with Bautista “keeping the largest share of the money herself,” pros-ecutors said.

Philippine authorities say 146 works of art the Marcos’ acquired with public money have not yet been recovered, including works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir, Rembrandt and Cezanne.

MANILA, Nov 17 (Mabuhay) – Taiwan has sought the help of Philippine authorities in locating a woman abducted by armed men believed to be “terrorists from the Southern Philippines.”

A report by Taiwan’s Central News Agency said Taiwan’s Min-istry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) made the request to the Philip-pine government to help look for Chang An-wei.

Chang had been abducted from a Malaysian resort island Fri-day by armed men. The men had shot dead her husband Hsu Li-min, 57, during the abduction at the Malaysian resort island of Pom Pom.

The CNA report quoted the MOFA as saying Taiwan’s repre-sentative offi ces in Malaysia and the Philippines are asking their respective host countries to investigate.

A separate report on Malaysia’s The Star Online said Malay-sian police believe the gunmen may have links to the Philippine-based Abu Sayyaf.

It quoted police Inspector General Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar as saying the Abu Sayyaf had been known for kidnapping-for-ransom cases.

“The initial information we have is that there were eight of them. They were a band of opportunists that took advantage of the security void left by Filipino border authorities that had been moved to concentrate on the Haiyan (Yolanda) disaster up north,” he said.

“I hope that she (Chang) is not in Filipino waters. We have con-tacted the Filipino border authorities to search on their side. We are also sweeping our side as well, to ensure they are not using our territory to hide the victim,” he added.

But as of Saturday, the report said no ransom demand had been made for Chang.

Khalid said they are not ruling out for now the involvement of locals in the planning of the raid.

KUALA LUMPUR, November 16, 2013 (AFP) – Malaysian po-lice said on Saturday an Al-Qaeda linked terror group from the Phil-ippines was believed to be behind the killing of a Taiwanese tourist and the kidnapping of his wife.

Unidentifi ed gunmen shot dead Li-Min Hsu, 57, and kid-napped his wife An-Wei Chang, 56, early Friday on Pom Pom Is-land, a popular scuba diving loca-tion in the eastern state of Sabah on Borneo island.

The incident – in a remote part that was rocked earlier this year by a bloody Philippine militant incursion—has underlined con-tinued threats in the region de-spite a Malaysian security clamp-down.

Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said the Islamist extremist group Abu Sayyaf was suspected to be behind the attack.

“We believe the terrorists were

able to slip in because there has been a big mobilisation of resourc-es of the Philippine armed forces from the country’s south to the north to help out in relief work for victims of Super Typhoon Hai-yan,” he was quoted by national news agency Bernama as saying.

The record-breaking typhoon, which hit the Philippines eight days ago has left thousands dead and affected millions.

Khalid added the attackers were believed to have come in a group of eight in a speedboat.

Authorities are still trying to fi nd the kidnapped woman with help from their Philippines coun-terparts, he said.

Another police offi cial con-fi rmed his remarks to AFP but declined to comment further.

Funded by the late Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, Abu Sayyaf has target-ed foreigners with kidnappings

for ransom and has been accused of most of the Philippines’ deadli-est insurgent attacks.

They have also been blamed for a 2000 cross-border raid on Malaysia’s Sipadan island, near Pom Pom, when 21 mostly West-ern holidaymakers were seized and taken to the Philippines. They were later ransomed.

The southern Philippines is just a short boat ride away from Sabah’s east coast.

More than 200 heavily-armed fi ghters landed by boat along the same stretch in February in a bizarre bid to support a self-pro-claimed Philippine sultan who had staked a claim to the area.

After a nearly month-long stand-off, Malaysian armed forc-es moved in to clear out the guer-rillas, leaving dozens dead. Their leader died last month of organ failure in a Manila hospital at the age of 75.

Marcos secretary found guilty in looted Monet sale

Malaysia blames Filipino group for tourist kidnapping

Taiwan seeks PHL help to look for abducted woman

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OPINIONMANILA, November 16, 2013 (AFP) – Spearheaded by a US aircraft carrier group, foreign relief efforts have stepped up a gear in the storm-devastated Philippines eight days after Super Typhoon Haiyan left thousands dead and mil-lions homeless.

Ships and planes from Asia-Pacifi c nations and Europe have converged on the belt of Philippine islands hardest hit by the typhoon, one of strongest storms to ever make landfall.

The air and sea-lift has also brought in emergency medi-cal and shelter supplies from global humanitarian groups who have warned of the dangers facing remote, hard-to-access communities.

The United States, which used to rule the Philippines, is by far the greatest contributor to the effort, spearheaded by the giant USS George Washington.

Below is a breakdown of the international aid being of-fered:

In addition to the delivery of relief supplies, US military aircraft have logged nearly 480 fl ight hours in 186 aircraft sorties, moved nearly 1,200 relief workers into hard-hit Ta-cloban city and airlifted nearly 2,900 displaced people from the affected areas to date.

Over the last 24 hours, more than 118 tons of food, wa-ter and shelter items have been delivered to Tacloban, Bo-rongan and Guiuan, the US military said.

More than 600 US military personnel are currently on the ground in the Philippines, with 6,200 sailors support-ing air operations from the USS George Washington strike group. An additional 1,000 Marines and Sailors with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit are expected to arrive in approximately fi ve days.

Eight American MV-22 Ospreys—rotor planes that can take off and land like helicopters –

are currently in operation, and eight more are being de-ployed.

In other contributions, Britain is sending its largest na-val ship, the helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious. Also from Britain, heavy transport planes carrying equipment such as 4X4 vehicles and forklift trucks have already arrived.

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Sat-urday that Britain was providing a further $48 million to help the relief effort, on top of $37 million already pledged.

The United Nations, which had launched an appeal for $301 million dollars in relief funding, said Friday it had so far received $72 million.

Japan has tripled its emergency aid package to more than $30 million and is preparing to send up to 1,000 troops, in what would be the country’s biggest foreign deployment since World War II.

The European Union upped its contribution by $7.0 mil-lion on Saturday to $20 million.

Australia has provided three C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, and the amphibious landing vessel HMAS Tobruk.

Other C-130s—a warhorse of relief operations the world over—are being deployed by countries including India, In-donesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan and Thailand, as well as by UN agencies and private charities.

Other military transporters and aid fl ights have arrived or are en route from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain among others.

China, which is locked in a territorial dispute with the Philippines, has promised $1.6 million of aid, mainly in tents and blankets, after widespread criticism of its initial modest response of a $100,000 government donation.

Global aid converges on PHL

MANILA, Nov 18 (Mabuhay) – The magnitude of the disaster caused by super typhoon Yolanda has caused a kind of trauma on a national scale, an ex-pert said.

Social scientist and trauma expert Honey Caran-dang said: “I can say we have national trauma be-cause the magnitude is more than we could ever think of. It’s unimaginable. Because of that, every-body’s affected: those whose family members have died as well as the relief workers. Reporters are also vicariously traumatized. It’s what we call secondary trauma.”

Even people watching the scenes on television are traumatized, she said.

“Trauma is a phenomenon we have to deal with…The reaction to trauma is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation,” she said. This is why the psy-chological factor is understandable after the physi-cal needs of the survivors have been answered.

Trauma also cuts through classes, she said. “Any-body, no matter how well off, with this magnitude, you will be traumatized. It’s too much for the human system to contain.”

Understanding the trauma“In such incidents, the body gets into hyper alert

stage. It’s a normal reaction to an emergency, such as when you are able to lift a [heavy object] in times of danger. After the emergency, the body should al-ready go back to normal,” she said.

With the magnitude of the disaster, however, she said the entire Filipino people is on red alert situa-tion.

She said that for those in the disaster areas, “the images will go through your head whether you like it or not. They have their own life. You can’t go to sleep.”

She said these are “intrusions” that come in the form of “nightmares.”

Sometimes, trauma is stored in the body, she said. It will show its ugly head with just the slightest of reinforcement, she added.

“The other aspect is you become numb, paralyzed, immobile. You are just staring into space,” she said.

HealingCarandang said the understanding of trauma

leads to healing. She said it is only right to assure the survivors that “they will be safe.”

It is also important that “they tell their story in their own words.”

“There’s also the survivor’s guilt…which is why it’s important to listen, support and not to judge.”

A certain “connection” is also paramount, she said. “The mother accompanies the child, the social workers [are there], the connection with other peo-ple.”

SupportThis connection is why the nation is standing on

its feet, anchored on the support of other nations.In the aftermath of Yolanda, international aid

started to pour in. One after the other, groups and individuals lent their time and resources to help feed, assist and heal the survivors.

“Any kind of mobilization may not be enough for this kind of magnitude. As a nation, we’re supported and healed by at least 40 countries helping. It’s a big consolation for us,” she said.

She noted the healing is a long process. A year af-ter, when the country commemorates incidents like this, people need to go back to support others and tell them they are not alone.

The feelings are triggered when the anniversary comes around, she said. (MNS)

PH suff ering from national trauma – expert

BY MARIETTE LE ROUXWARSAW, November 18, 2013 (AFP) – The bill

from natural and weather disasters is nearly $200 billion (150 billion euros) a year, four times higher than in the 1980s, the World Bank said on Mon-day.

“As the global climate continues to change, the costs and damages from more extreme weather re-lated to a warming planet are growing,” it reported on the sidelines of UN climate talks in Warsaw.

Disasters cost nearly $4 trillion (2.96 trillion euros) over the last 30 years, about two-thirds of which was due to extreme storms, fl oods and drought, and killed more than 2.5 million people, it said in a cost analysis.

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said that Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful typhoon ever to hit the Philippines, had “brought into sharp fo-cus how climate change is intensifying the severity of extreme weather events.”

He said in the report: “Such tragic events show that the world can no longer afford to put off action to slow greenhouse emissions, and help countries prepare for a world of greater climate and disaster risks.”

The document included estimates of the cost from lives and jobs lost as well as damage to prop-erty and infrastructure.

In the 1980s, it said, the annual cost was about $50 billion, quadrupling to $200 billion per year in the last decade.

“Weather-related economic impacts are espe-cially high in fast-growing, middle-income coun-tries due to increasingly exposed, valuable assets,” said the report.

In these economies, “the average impact of di-sasters equaled one percent of GDP (gross domes-tic product) over the six years from 2001 to 2006, 10 times higher than the average for high-income countries.”

Those further down the ladder of development experienced a correspondingly greater loss of GDP.

Hurricane Tomas wiped out the equivalent of 43 percent of the GDP of St Lucia in 2010.

The 2008-11 drought in the Horn of Africa, which at its peak saw 13.3 million people without enough food, caused estimated losses of $12.1 bil-lion in Kenya alone.

The World Bank said more must be done to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change and prepare for weather disasters.

Building disaster-resilient infrastructure and early warning systems may be costly but saves countless lives and typically yield benefi ts four to 36 times higher than the initial outlay.

“Cyclone Phailin which hit Odisha and Andrah Pradesh in 2013 resulted in 40 deaths after years of disaster risk prevention and preparedness, com-pared to the 10,000 who perished during a similar event in 1999,” said the report.

While no single weather event can be blamed with certainty on climate change, scientists have long been warning of ever more extreme fl oods, heat-waves, cyclones and other effects of a warm-ing planet.There is also damage from slower onset changes – sea level rise drowning small islands, sa-linization of freshwater sources and longer, harsh-er droughts.

The bill is complex, deriving also from a coun-try’s preparedness to cope with disasters.

Cost from disasters quadrupled in 30 years: World Bank 

BY FELICIA SONMEZBEIJING, November 16, 2013 (AFP) – China’s

clumsy response to the typhoon in the neighboring Philippines shows that the Asian giant is still strug-gling to fi nd its role on the world stage, analysts say, burdened by history and its own self-image.

Initially the Chinese government offered only $100,000, and while later donations have swelled Beijing’s aid to $1.8 million that falls far short of Japan’s $30 million, $20 million from the US, and even Swedish furniture group Ikea, which gave $2.7 million through its charitable foundation to the UN children’s agency Unicef for relief efforts in the storm-hit area.

Beijing is embroiled in a diplomatic row with Ma-nila over disputed islands in the South China Sea, and the weight of history bears heavy on the region.

A tiny piece of the havoc wreaked by the typhoon was a fallen statue at the Leyte Landing Memorial close to Tacloban, where American general Douglas MacArthur strode ashore in 1944 on his mission to liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation.

The island was one of the biggest battlegrounds of World War II and the naval battle of Leyte Gulf one of the largest sea engagements in history, with doz-ens of ships lost and Japan using kamikaze suicide pilots for the fi rst time. US forces suffered 15,584 killed and wounded, with Japanese casualties esti-mated at 49,000. A plaque at the tribute site dis-plays MacArthur’s proclamation urging Filipinos to “rise and strike” against the Japanese.

But almost seven decades later, Tokyo is prepar-ing to send as many as 1,000 members of its Self-Defense Forces, Japan’s de facto military, to the di-saster zone, their fi rst active return to Leyte, where they will work hand-in-hand with the US military presence.

In contrast, China refers constantly to its past as a victim of Japanese aggression in its row with To-kyo over another set of disputed islands.

At the same time the 19th-century colonisation of parts of China by foreign powers looms large in its history, despite its rise to become the world’s second-largest economy.

Jim Schoff, senior associate at the Carnegie En-dowment for International Peace and an expert on disaster relief in Asia, explained there was some-times still a mindset in China that “’We’re a devel-oping country, too, and we have natural disasters, too.’”

“There’s a little bit of tight-fi stedness that re-mains from that,” he said. “It’s the nexus of humani-tarian relief and self-interest, and I think it’s taking China a while to fi gure out where that point is.”

Nonetheless, he pointed out: “The Chinese like to complain about US Cold War thinking when we reach out to allies to build these alliances.

“If they want to talk about a new great power relationship or a new great nation relationship, it assumes they’re a great nation and they have this relationship with the US as a peer,” he said.

“They are defi nitely not demonstrating that, to be a pillar of support in the region. So, that’s a failure on their part.”

Beijing’s foreign ministry has said that its offer could change, and will depend on “the development of the situation”.

But the missed opportunity could have broader diplomatic repercussions, experts say.

“I think this is a real test of their humanitarian principles, and also of the foreign-policy-making es-tablishment in China,” said Mark Beeson, professor of international politics at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.

Beijing’s meager typhoon aid is diplomatic misstep: experts

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had primary responsibility as fi rst responders.

“But the destructive force of this typhoon was of such a magni-tude that even those personnel... were themselves victims,” he said, noting that only 20 police offi cers in Tacloban – the affected region’s largest city – were able to report to work the day after the storm. “So we have to admit, there was a breakdown in terms of govern-ment and there was a cascading

effect,” said Aquino.The lion’s share of the aid bur-

den has been taken up by a mas-sive global relief effort spearhead-ed by the United States, which deployed an aircraft carrier strike force to help distribute emergency supplies.

As of Monday the offi cial death toll stood at 3,976 with 1,602 peo-ple missing. The United Nations estimates up to four million peo-ple have been displaced.

Rear Admiral Mark Montgom-ery, commander of USS George Washington strike group, said that as well as bringing supplies in, its helicopter crews had “air-lifted around 5,000 displaced peo-ple to safety”.

Although the relief operation took time to get up and running, aid agencies and humanitarian groups have fi rmly established operational posts in the fl attened region’s largest city Tacloban.

The city remains without regu-lar power, but distribution cen-ters have been set up, ensuring a steady fl ow of food and water to still-traumatized residents, while mobile surgical units pro-vide emergency care for the sick and injured. Some petrol stations have opened and enterprising

individuals were selling fuel in Coke bottles Monday by the side of the roads as cars and motor-bikes made a tentative return to the streets. But the overall situ-ation remains critical, and teams were still recovering bloated bod-ies on Monday from areas in and around Tacloban. he UN said an estimated 2.5 million people need food assistance, and stressed the importance of ensuring supplies of rice seed for the crucial Decem-ber-January planting season.

President Benigno Aquino, who was criticised over the speed of the initial response to the di-saster, toured the worst-hit areas on Sunday and Monday and ac-knowledged that the power of the typhoon had simply overwhelmed the local authorities.

point where we say ‘We can’t do that, we can’t help, because we don’t have the... operation and maintenance money to be able to deploy those ships.’”Amos noted that budget offi cials will call from doing “less with less” as they face the sequester. But “I’ve got 43 years in this busi-ness, we’re going to do the same with less,” the Marine comman-dant said. “We’re a benevolent nation... (But) we could reach a point where quite frankly we don’t have enough money to de-ploy or move.” The sequester was devised as a poison-pill austerity program in 2012, with manda-tory cuts spread over 10 years aiming to force battling Repub-licans and Democrats to compro-mise on a long-term program to reduce the country’s defi cit.

tilateral organizations, and also those sent through Philippine em-bassies abroad.

The FAiTH monitoring team will represented by the Depart-ment of Foreign Affairs, DBM, Department of Finance , Commis-sion on Audit, DSWD, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Presi-dential Management Staff and the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Plan-ning Offi ce under the Offi ce of the President.

“Counter to what most people

think, foreign aid isn’t given to the Philippine government in hard cash. Instead, these arrive in the form of pledges, which are released to aid groups or their corresponding organizations in the Philippines, such as USAID and Red Cross. In cases like this, FAiTH doesn’t monitor these funds; instead, it tracks foreign aid that is coursed through Phil-ippine government agencies,” Moya said.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad added: “We believe that other humanitarian organiza-

tions and civil society groups want the very same things that this Administration is working for: greater transparency and ac-countability in the use of funds, especially those that are meant to bring relief and urgent assistance to the victims of calamities.”

“Working together, the Philip-pine government and the global community can accomplish much toward rebuilding the commu-nities damaged by Yolanda and restoring normalcy to the lives of those who were affected by the ty-phoon,” he said. (MNS)

DEATH TOLLFrom page 1

OFW BANKFrom page 1

Visayas; and 1, Zamboanga Pen-insula.

Still missing are 1,598 indi-viduals and these can be broken down into 19 for Western Visayas, 5 for Central Visayas, and 1,574 for Eastern Visayas.

NDRRMC said a total of 2,212,955 families (10,306,318 persons) were affected in 44 prov-inces, 574 municipalities, and 57 cities.

Of the total number of affect-ed residents, 850,058 families or 4,008,894 persons were left home-less, NDRRMC said, prompting over 74,000 to stay inside evacu-ation centers.

Number of damaged houses also rose to 571,806.

The cost of damages breached the P10-billion mark at P10,384,690,061, with P1,295,508,600 for infrastructure facilities and P9,089,181,461 for agriculture.

products and services.“Such services are effi cient

remittance, loan and credit as-sistance services and protection and maximized benefi ts for their savings and investment,” Revilla said.

Revilla said as money sent home by OFWs continues to in-crease, there is a pressing need for more bank remittance service providers to give more support for the growth of remittances of these modern-day heroes.

He added that some OFWs are now allotting a major part of their monthly income to their savings. This means more savings, which would translate to bigger invest-ment in a bank they own, he said.

“The OFW bank would also

ruption. In a briefi ng, Atty. Te said the

ruling declared illegal the entire 2013 PDAF, all legal provisions of the past and present Congres-sional Pork Barrel Laws, such as the previous PDAF and Country-wide Development Fund articles and the various Congressional Insertions.

This decision was a partial granting of the three consolidated petitions challenging the legality oof the pork barrel system fi led by Grego Belgica, Samson Alcan-tara of the Social Justice Society

LOS ANGELES

and Pedrito Nepomuceno.The high tribunal found that

the intervention, assumption and participation of lawmakers in any of the post-enactment stages in execution of the budget—such as identifi cation of projects, fund release and/or fund realignment, to be unrelated to Congress’ pow-er of oversight.

It also deemed that personal lump-sum allocations to law-makers, that allow them to fund specifi c projects that they deter-mine, and all similar acts, to be acts of grave abuse of discretion “amounting to lack or excess of discretion.”

Moreover, the SC said the phrases in Section 8 of Presiden-tial Decree 910 on the Malam-paya Funds “and for such other purposes as may be heareafter directed by the President,” and

the “to fi nance the priority infra-structure development projects” under Sec. 12 of PD 1869 (under the President’s Social Fund), as amended by PD 1993, had violat-ed the principle of non-delegabil-ity of legislative power.

As such, the court ruled to impose a permanent injunction against the PDAF. It fi rst issued a TRO in September.

“Thus the disbursement /re-lease of the remaining PDAF Funds allocated for the year 2013 as well as for the all previous years and the Malampaya Funds under the aforementioned phrase in PD 910 to be not covered by the Notice of Cash Allocations but only by Special Allotment Re-lease Orders, whether obligated or not, are hereby enjoined,” said the decision, penned by Justice Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe.

encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of the OFWs by addressing and enhancing their investment potentials as they assure a better future for their families,” Revilla said.

Revilla said OFWs would also earn benefi ts derived from the earnings of the bank’s net income being shareholders of the bank.

Under the measure to be known as the Philippine OFW Bank, the bank shall accept remittances from the foreign earnings of OFWs and grant short-term or long-term loans and advances preferably by OFWs and their dependents against security and real estate and/or other acceptable assets for the establishment, rehabilitation or expansion of small-scale and medium-scale enterprises as well as agriculture, commercial, in-dustrial enterprises.

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, November 20 - 26, 2013 Visit www.usasianpost.com 7

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Media and community groups will hold a memo-rial honoring the journalists who died while report-ing news about Typhoon Yolanda (International name Haiyan) on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2-5 p.m. at Carson Library, 151 E. Carson St. in Carson.

The event also commemorates the 4th anniver-sary of the Ampatuan massacre on Nov. 23, 2009, which left 57 dead – 32 of them journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists described the massacre as the single deadliest event for journal-ists in history.

In the wake of Typhoon Yolanda, four journal-ists died while reporting news about the typhoon and seven are still missing, according to the Na-tional Union of Journalists (NUJP). The four who died were broadcast journalists Archia Globio and Malou Realino of DyBR-Tacloban and Allan Me-dina and Ronald Vinas of dyVL Aksyon Radyo Ta-cloban. Several others lost their homes and belong-

ings.The event will include photo and art exhibits,

poetry reading and musical performances by mem-bers of the Filipino-American media, as well as a candle-lighting ceremony in honor of the journal-ists who died in the line of duty. Award-winning journalist and author Benjamin “Boying” Pimentel will also talk about his latest book, “How My Chil-dren Lost Their Tagalog.” Proceeds of book sales will go to a scholarship program for the children of the fallen journalists.

The event is sponsored by the NUJP-US Chap-ter, Fil-Am Press Club of California, Frontliners, F7, Friends of the (Carson) Library, Filipino Amer-ican Community of Los Angeles (FACLA), Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) and Philip-pine Expressions Book Shop.

For more information, email NUJPevents@gmail.com.

Community to honor memory of journalists who died during Typhoon Yolanda

Last November 14, the UCLA Pilipino Alumni Network hosted a Comedy Night in Downtown L.A.’s Los Angeles Athletic Club to support the efforts to raise aware-ness and funds for the disaster caused by Typhoon Yolanda.

The event featured Justin Rivera (Come-dian/Magician who performed at The Laugh Factory, The Improv, & Ice House) and Clarinda Morales (UCLA Alumnus & Film-maker who produced independent fi lms and documentaries for MTV, VH1, & SHOW-TIME).

UCLA Pilipino Alumni Chairs Ted John Mendoza (2013-2014), Steffi Yutan (2012-

2013), Bobby Rimas (2010-2012), Walter Morales (2009-2010), and Aris Tagle (2007-2009) were in attendance to support the very worthy cause for this event. Proceeds donated will go to the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns.

The UCLA Pilipino Alumni Network’s mission is to create an environment for current students, alumni, and community members to network, both socially and pro-fessionally, as well as raise monies to sup-port UCLA Pilipino Alumni’s initiatives, which include scholarships for incoming high school, undergraduate, and graduate students at UCLA.

UCLA Pilipino Alumni host comedy night to benefi t typhoon Yolanda victims

UCLA Pilipino Alumni Chairs (from left) Ted John Mendoza (2013-2014), Steffi Yutan (2012-2013), Bobby Rimas (2010-2012), Walter Morales (2009-2010), and Aris Tagle (2007-2009) were in attendance to support the very worthy cause for this event.

ExpressSend Remittance Transfer Fees to the Philippines waived; Wells Fargo ATMs to accept donations for American Red Cross

Wells Fargo donates $250,000 for relief eff orts

Taguig, Philippines, November 13 – Wells Far-go & Company (NYSE: WFC) is supporting the Philippines typhoon and fl ood relief effort with a grant of $250,000 – more than Php 10 million – with $125,000 going to the American Red Cross and $125,000 to the International Medical Corps. These funds will help with the ongoing relief ef-forts and rehabilitation in the affected areas of the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

“This typhoon has brought unprecedented dev-astation and loss of life to the Philippines,” said Tim Hanlon, head of Strategic Philanthropy and Partnerships for Wells Fargo. “While we are grate-ful that all of our team members there are safe and accounted for, our hearts go out to all those who were impacted by this storm. Our contribution will help get aid quickly to those who need it.”

Wells Fargo is also temporarily waiving all re-mittance transfer fees for ExpressSend transfers from an eligible checking or savings account to re-duce the cost of sending money to the Philippines to support friends and family.

Customers can send funds to their family or friends in the Philippines at a number of remit-tance network members – including Bank of the Philippine Islands, BDO Unibank, Metrobank, M.Lhuillier and Cebuana Lhuillier – by calling Wells Fargo Global Remittance Services at 1-800-556-0605, going online at wellsfargo.com, or visit-ing a Wells Fargo banking store.

The fi rst remittance for a service agreement must be completed in person at a store. The fee waiver is effective November 13 through Novem-ber 30, 2013.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and communities that have been devastated by this storm,” said Daniel Ayala, head of Wells Far-go’s Global Remittance Services Group. “As these communities begin the long, diffi cult process of re-covery, we’re working closely with our remittance network members in the Philippines to make sure our customers and team members are able to sup-port their families and friends.”

From now through December 11, 2013, Wells Fargo customers can donate to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund at more than 12,000 Wells Fargo ATMs across the U.S. (with the excep-tion of Kansas, Missouri, and Washington, D.C., due to local restrictions).

Customers will not be charged a fee for using this service and 100 percent of the donations will be sent to the American Red Cross.

“Wells Fargo is committed to helping the com-munity recover.” said Aveek Mukherjee, head of Enterprise Global Services Delivery. “We look forward to working together with the community and our partners to aid in the relief and rehabili-tation.”

Wells Fargo is committed to community service and runs regular programs in its international locations. Wells Fargo in the Philippines has a volunteer taskforce comprised of team members, with initiatives focused on disaster relief efforts, supporting learning programs for socially disad-vantaged schools, improving the levels of educa-tion and infrastructure, among others.

About Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a

nationwide, diversifi ed, community-based fi nan-cial services company with $1.5 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Fran-cisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and com-mercial fi nance through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, and the Internet (wellsfargo.com), and has offi ces in more than 35 countries to support the bank’s customers who conduct business in the global economy.

With more than 270,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 25 on Fortune’s 2013 rankings of America’s larg-est corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all our custom-ers’ fi nancial needs and help them succeed fi nancially. Wells Fargo perspectives are also available at blog.wellsfargo.com. In 2012, the Company invested $315.8 million in grants to 19,500 nonprofi ts, and team members contributed more than 1.5 million volunteer hours around the country. For more in-formation, please visit: www.wells-fargo.com/about/csr.

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, November 20 - 26, 2013 THE US ASIAN POST8

BY CECIL MORELLATACLOBAN, November 18, 2013 (AFP)

– Since her mother, father and three sib-lings were swept away by a tsunami-like wave that engulfed Tacloban, Nica Cabu-tin has been learning to live as an orphan, one of many created by the Philippines ty-phoon.

She was found clutching wreckage af-ter one of the most powerful storms ever recorded whipped up a huge surge that brought the ocean ashore, leaving the city in ruins and thousands of people dead.

Nica’s house and entire family were, in

her own words, “brought away by the sea”, said Carmela Bastes, director of the Shel-ter for Abused Women and Children, a ref-uge for rape victims and those affl icted by violence, where the orphan now lives.

The young girl is shy about her lopsided hair, which was cut short so the two large gashes on the side of her head could be treated.

“She tells us she’s in fi rst grade and we also estimate she’s eight,” said Bastes, whose staff tracked the girl’s family to what had been the Alimasag neighbourhod of the devastated city.

Typhoon orphans fi nd stop-gap home in Tacloban

By Pia CabanelaCerritos, Ca – RAIN has

stopped, the wind has soften and the cries began. Ty-phoon Haiyan (Yolanda) has left a devastating blow to the Philippines, with her monstrous power sweeping Tacloban and the rest of the Visayan land in ruins. Still photos of desperation and fear of our countrymen have captured the hearts of the world, with aids coming from Australia to Russia, and last Thursday night from Cali-

Typhoon Haiyan devastates; Fil-Am’s camaraderie emerges

Survivors there told offi cials that noth-ing has been seen of her parents or siblings since Super Typhoon Haiyan struck on No-vember 8.

They are presumed to be fi ve of the more than 4,400 people the United Nations says have died, while Philippine authorities put the toll at just under 4,000.

Nica was one of the fi rst children from Tacloban to be placed in government care after losing parents to the typhoon, said Liliosa Baltazar, director of the city’s social welfare department. But, she adds, she is not expected to be the last.

“We can’t say at this point how many there will be. We expect the local offi cials of the (Tacloban) districts will turn over or-phaned children to us. Right now they are attending to the needs of their own fami-lies.”

April Sumaylo from Save the Children in the Philippines says the charity believes around three million children have been affected in some way by the typhoon.

“We have talked to children who have lost their parents,” she said.

“We have seen some children who said they are the ones scavenging for food and water. It’s obviously very distressing for them.”

Nica lives on the ground fl oor of the wom-en’s shelter. Its roof was blown off in the storm and, as is the case in much of Tacloban on Leyte island, there is no power or water.

Under normal circumstances, she might have been placed in one of the city’s two main orphanages, one run by Catholic nuns and the other by non-governmental group SOS.

But they too were badly damaged by the storm surges and ferocious winds that tore through the Philippines’ central islands. Both had to be evacuated, offi cials from the two shelters told AFP.

When Nica fi rst arrived at the shelter she would cry all the time, said Bastes, but now she is more used to being there and plays with the other children.

Despite all she has gone through, Nica is bearing up well, said Bastes, perhaps too young to understand the magnitude of the horror that has befallen her.

“We do not know if this will remain the case,” she added.

Once the city’s welfare services get up and running again, Nica and other children like her who emerge over the days and weeks ahead will be handed over to offi cials and eventually put up for adoption. “We have to place them with a family,” said Bastes. “They can’t be in this institution forever.”

fornia, USA. Gerry’s Grill in Cerritos, CA with the participation of

local Filipina singer/host Antoinette Taus have organized a night of music to join in helping Filipinos back home. Philippine T-Shirts were sold from which 100% of the pro-ceeds will go the Typhoon victims and a donation bowl was placed on stage. The room was packed with eager fl ips, and a few foreigners coming together for a common cause. Armed with bags of clothes, canned goods, medicine and blankets, patrons storm the venue in good spirits.

Social media also played a good role in spreading the word. Friends and families encouraging each other to travel from Los Angeles for this one night.

Rhonabel Ladines got out of work at 8:30 pm from L.A and head straight to Cerritos. “I wanted to help, I just didn’t know how or where I could be of service, and I saw a post on Facebook, and I knew I wanted to go and donate, my exhaustion is miniscule compared to what they’re go-ing through.”

An enormous amount of solidarity was felt through the room as host Ms. Taus entertain the crowd with live mu-sic with her band.

“Our hands may be here in Cali, but through this, we hope our support will be felt.” quips another Filipino, Thomas.

These events have been emerging everywhere in the US, cementing the bond we Filipinos have despite sepa-rated by seas and continents. If there’s one trait I believe is truly Filipino, its resilience.

T-Shirts are still available for purchase for $15, please contact Gerry’s Grill Manager Joanne Pangan at 562-403-1000. If you wish to help, you may inquire at local Fili-pino venues/restaurants near you for similar benefi t gigs or concerts. Little helping hands are still helping hands.

From left, LA resident Rhonabel Ladines, host Antoinette Taus, writer Pia Cabanela and Balikbayan Mariz.

Suggested donation: cold and fl u medicine; easy to open canned goods

Author dons Philippine TShirt which 100% of the proceeds goes to the victims for $15. Available at Gerry’s Grill Cerritos.

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, November 20 - 26, 2013 Visit www.usasianpost.com 9

MANILA, Nov 16 (Mabuhay) -– Richard Gutierrez denied rumors that he and his girlfriend, actress Sarah Lahbati, are planning to tie the knot in the near future.

This comes after Lahbati was rumored to have given birth to their child in Switzerland months back.

Gutierrez said he gets sur-prised whenever people ask him things – which mostly are rumors – about his relationship with La-hbati.

“Bago iyan ah. Every time nai-interview ako may bagong rumor.

Ngayon ko lang narinig iyan. Ngayon naman kasal ah? Every week bago ang rumor. Wala pang plans. Ewan ko saan niyo nakuha iyan,” he said.

According to Gutierrez, it is too early for them to settle down be-cause they still have a lot of ambi-tions in life.

“We’ll see. Siyempre masyado naman yatang nakakabigla yun. We’ll take it day by day, marami pa kaming mga gustong gawin for the next couple of years. We’ll focus on our work and we’ll see what happens,” he said. (MNS)

Angelica Panganiban admitted she has yet to talk to Jason Francisco after the latter’s supposed rift with Pooh, her co-star on “Banana Split.”

Francisco reportedly got upset after Pooh alleg-edly questioned his capacity to support his future wife, Melai Cantiveros, and their child.

Cantiveros is also part of “Banana Split.”Panganiban said Francisco probably misinter-

preted Pooh’s intention when he said such state-ments.

“Hindi ko nakakausap si Jason. Hindi ko rin alam ang number niya. Kung siguro minasama niya ‘yung sinabi ng kaibigan ko, si Pooh, opinion iyon eh. Hindi kasi masama ‘yung intention ni Pooh. Ang gustong sabihin ni Pooh and ‘yung iba pang nagsabi noon, sobrang mahal namin si Melai,” she said.

Known as one of Cantiveros’ close friends in showbiz, Panganiban defended Pooh saying the lat-ter only wants the best for the comedienne.

“Hindi naman siguro niya kinukuwestiyon. Buhay naman nila iyan. Labas na kami diyan,” she said.

Asked if she will be attending Cantiveros and Francisco’s wedding in December, Panganiban brief-ly said: “Hindi. Hindi rin naman ako invited.”

But she quickly added: “Wedding nila iyon. I-enjoy nila. Kapag wedding ko, ayaw ko rin ng may maririnig na masama ang loob sa akin.”

The actress then wished the couple all the best as they tie the knot.

“Gusto kong maging matagumpay sila sa laran-gan ng pag-ibig, ng pagbuo ng pamilya… Dapat magpaganda [si Melai], magpabongga siya. Once in a lifetime iyan so dapat siya ang pinakamagandang bride,” she said.

Earlier this month, Francisco lashed back at his bashers who cast doubts on his supposed capacity to support his own family now that Cantiveros is preg-nant with their baby.

Francisco said he is a hardworking person and he will do everything to make his family feel comfort-able.

“Kahit noong wala pa akong asawa, ako na talaga nagtratrabaho sa amin. Saan ba ako pinulot ng ‘Big Brother’? Sa lansangan.

Nag-iisip ka na lang na kung bibigyan ka ng chance [sa showbiz], go. Pero kung hindi, hindi ka naman tutunganga at kakain na lang ng kangkong,” he said. (MNS)

Angel Locsin and Kris Aquino joined forces in personally distrib-uting relief goods to the survivors of super typhoon “Yolanda” in the province of Iloilo. The two Kapamilya stars went to the town of Concepcion on Sunday where 10,000 families or around 40,000 indi-viduals have been affected. Locsin said the situation in the typhoon-ravaged town is truly devastating but they are glad to be of service to them. “Nung papunta kami dito, maraming mga batang humi-hingi ng pagkain. Tinitigil nila ‘yung mga sasakyang dumadaan para humingi ng pagkain. Nakakadurog ng puso nung makita mo pero yung simpleng biscuit, yung ngiti nila nakakadurog din ng puso,” Locsin said. Aquino, for her part, said relief efforts should not end there as the Yolanda victims need more than just a pack of goods that would not last long.

“Siyempre puwede kong sabihin na nakagaan ng loob namin pero sa totoo lang talaga, alam ko na ang tulong should not start here and end here. Mayroon talagang beyond this na kailangan,” she said. “Sana itong tulong namin, kahit ginawa namin ang lahat ng makakaya namin, alam naming kulang pa. Sana may sumunod pa. Tama si Ate Kris, hindi dapat dito magtapos. Sa mga susunod sa amin na pupunta dito, sana paghandaan din kung ilang dami ng pamilya ang nandito. Makapagbigay din sana ng gamut,” Locsin added.

No wedding plans yet for Richard, Sarah Lahbati

Angelica not invited to Melai-Jason wedding? Sarah Lahbati

Kris, Angel distribute relief goods in Iloilo town

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, November 20 - 26, 2013 THE US ASIAN POST10

MEMORIESTHAT WILL LAST FOREVER.

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOJOURNALISMSTYLE PHOTO COVERAGE.

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Researchers have found that diluted bleach may fi ght wrinkles and sun damage. Photo: stefanolunar-di/shutterstock.com

(Relaxnews) – While people spend bil-lions on anti-aging creams, a new study reveals a surprising secret weapon: heav-ily diluted bleach. But don’t try this at home.

According to new research from Stanford University in the US, a .0005 percent solution – much weaker than what is available on your grocery store shelves – could be effective in treating skin damage caused by excessive sun exposure, aging, and radiation therapy. In a trial on mice, a diluted bleach mix-ture reversed infl ammation and aging of the skin, and low doses of bleach blocked a chemical that triggers the infl ammatory response.

“Originally it was thought that bleach may serve an antimicrobial function, kill-ing bacteria and viruses on the skin,”

said Dr. Thomas Leung from Stanford University. “But the concentrations used in clinic are not high enough for this to be the sole reason. So we wondered if there could be something else going on.”Leung and his colleagues tested the effect of daily, 30-minute baths in bleach solution on laboratory mice with radiation dermati-tis. They found that the animals bathed in the bleach solution experienced less severe skin damage and better healing and hair regrowth than animals bathed in water.The study was published on Friday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The team is now considering testing the formula on humans and looking into what other skin conditions it could be used to help treat. “It’s possible that, in addition to being benefi cial to radiation dermatitis, it could also aid in healing wounds like

diabetic ulcers,” Leung said.“This is exciting because there are

so few side effects to dilute bleach. We may have identifi ed other ways to use hypochlorite to really help patients. It could be easy, safe and inexpensive.” Still, researchers are warning people to not try applying bleach to their skin at home.

Dr. Graham Johnston of the British As-sociation of Dermatologists told the BBC: “I cannot emphasize enough that it is very important that individuals with infl am-matory conditions do not apply bleach di-rectly to their skin.

“We often see patients with severe re-actions to even milk bleaches, and I would recommend that people with infl amed or broken skin avoid contact with bleach in those areas.”

Household bleach: The newest anti-aging remedy?

(Relaxnews) – While the high calorie counts of artery-clogging fast foods are often printed right in front of our eyes, most people ignore them and go ahead and or-der their burgers and fries anyway, a new study fi nds.

New York University School of Medicine polled 2,000 Philadelphia fast food customers, aged 18 to 64, fi nding that few paid at-tention to calorie counts on menus, HeathDay reports.

Study author Brian El-bel, an assistant professor of population health and health policy, presented his fi ndings Friday at the Obesity Society’s annual meeting in Atlanta.

The research is published in the No-vember issue of the journal Obesity. The research team collected customer receipts at McDonald’s and Burger King restaurants and sur-veyed customers about how often they ate at fast food restaurants and whether or not they glanced at calorie information. Researchers surveyed cus-

tomers both before and after February 2010, when the Philadelphia calorie-count la-bel mandate went into effect.

The researchers also con-ducted a telephone survey of the city’s residents, to gauge how much people paid atten-tion to calorie counts on res-taurant menus.

Findings showed no differ-ence in how often people ate at fast food restaurants or the amount of calories they con-sumed before and after the policy went into effect in Phil-adelphia, HealthDay reports. Elbel led a separate 2011

study with similar fi ndings, but this study exam-ined 427 parents and teenagers in low income ar-eas of New York City and Newark, New Jersey, before mandatory menu labeling began in 2008 and after.

While people noticed the labels, those labels didn’t have much effect on their orders at the coun-ter, the fi ndings showed. That study was published in the International Journal of Obesity.

A new US study fi nds that most people are un-swayed by calorie counts on fast food restaurant menus. Photo: krechet/shutterstock.com

People unswayed by calorie counts in fast food restaurants: study

(Relaxnews) - While medita-tion has been associated with decreased stress and enhanced well-being, its immediate effect on the heart remains unclear, scientists say. To help demys-tify matters, researchers at the Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) in California have teamed up with medita-tion guru Dr. Deepak Chopra in a new study.

“Little is known about the im-mediate effects of meditation on the heart and vascular system, partly because of the diffi culty collecting research quality data through conventional means,” said Dr. Steve Steinhubl, Scripps heath director of digital medicine. But now research-ers have a new tool: “Wire-less devices offer new ways to track blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs in a more dis-creet and nondisruptive way.” The research team has already conducted the study, but the results won’t be ready until next year.

Forty participants, aged 20 to 72, were in-volved in the study, with half being experienced meditators and half never having meditated be-fore. Chopra, a bestselling author, led them in a weeklong meditation retreat at his center in Carlsbad, California. During meditation sessions, subjects wore wireless health devices that tracked heart rate, skin temperature, and respiration. The STSI study might for the fi rst time demon-

strate the immediate infl u-ence of meditation on blood pressure and markers of stress, and eventually guide better and more individual-ized treatments of high blood pressure, chronic pain or other health conditions, said STSI director Dr. Eric Topol. The team says that their work is in response to fl aws in previous studies, as re-ported in a 2007 report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which found problems in most of the 813 meditation studies that were reviewed, with the authors unable to draw “fi rm conclusions” about the role of meditation in health care.

“For thousands of years people have practiced medita-tion to experience inner calm, relieve stress and cultivate balance or what is known in modern medicine as homeo-stasis, which is the body’s abil-

ity to regulate its internal conditions and create a healthy, stable environment,” said Chopra. “We’re excited about the opportunity to use wireless tech-nology to gain more scientifi c data about medita-tion’s tangible benefi ts for health and well-being.”To help spread the good word about meditation, this month Chopra has teamed up with media powerhouse Oprah Winfrey for a three-week medi-tation training dubbed “Desire and Destiny,” of-fering free daily guided audio meditations via an interactive online program.

Can meditation improve heart health?

Scientists are hoping to understand medita-tion’s impact on heart health. Photo: bikerider-london / shutterstock.com

(Relaxnews) – A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fi nds that more US teens are em-bracing electronic alternatives to smoking tobacco-based ciga-rettes.

According to the CDC’s Mor-bidity and Mortality Weekly Report, released Thursday, hookahs and electronic or e-cigarettes, are gaining popu-larity among US young people. In 2012, 1.1 percent of middle school students (around ages 11-14) reported puffi ng on e-ciga-rettes, up from 0.6 percent in 2011.

For high school students (around ages 14-18), e-cigarette use rose from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent, and hookah use increased from 4.1 percent to 5.4 percent over the same period. Still, the fi ndings showed no signifi cant decline in

students’ cigarette smoking or overall tobacco use.

“A large portion of kids who use tobacco are smok-ing products other than cigarettes, including ci-gars and hookahs, which are similarly dangerous,” Dr. Tim McAfee, director of the CDC’s Offi ce on Smok-ing and Health, said in a statement. “We need to ap-ply the same strategies that

work to prevent and reduce cigarette use among our youth to these new and emerging products.”About 3.5 percent of middle school students said that they smoked cigarettes, while 24 percent of high school students said that they had smoked over the past 30 days.The study is based on an annual survey of more than 24,000 US students.

E-cigarettes on the rise among US teens: report

E-cigarettes are growing in popularity among US teens, according to the CDC. Photo: Dawid Za-gorski/shutterstock.com

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staying away again, as are South Korean pro-ducers, with the excep-tion of Hyundai.

Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, will be among the ma-jor fi rms at the show, after recovering from a series of crises in recent years includ-ing the global melt-down, Japan’s quake-tsunami disaster and the recall of millions of vehicles. The recalls badly dented Toyota’s reputation for safety and quality.

A policy blitz under Japanese Prime Min-ister Shinzo Abe has helped stoke optimism over the economy as the yen slumped, boosting the profi ts of major exporters in-cluding Toyota.

However, Japan’s number-two automak-er Nissan, part-owned by France’s Renault, has chopped its earn-ings outlook with its bid to tap emerging markets yet to reap big rewards.

A recent manage-ment shuffl e also stoked questions about confi dence in the lead-ership of long-time Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn.

The big European fi rms will have a close eye on boosting their presence in the world’s third-largest car mar-ket after China and the

LOS ANGELES

Tokyo Motor Show: Japanese fi rms showcase green vehicles(TOKYO-AFP) – The Tokyo Mo-

tor Show kicks off Wednesday with Japanese automakers show-casing their latest electronic tech-nology and green cars aimed at the growing low-emissions sector.

The biennial event, held from November 20 to December 1, fea-tures domestic makers of passen-ger cars, commercial vehicles and trucks alongside most of their Eu-ropean competitors.

A total of 177 exhibitors, in-cluding parts suppliers, from a dozen countries will be part of the event’s 43rd edition.

But US-based automakers, which have not attended since be-fore the global fi nancial crisis, are

United States.However, foreign brands hold a

miniscule share – just 4.5 percent – of a market that saw more than 5.0 million vehicles sold in Japan last year.

That puny presence has long stoked anger among US and some European automakers, which say they have been effectively shut out of Japan through tariffs and other barriers. The simmering is-sue is a key obstacle in ongoing free-trade negotiations.

Luxury German brands includ-ing Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche, which have seen sig-nifi cant success in Japan, will be among this year’s attendees along

with Audi, Volkswagen, Renault, Peugeot-Citroen, Britain’s Land Rover and Sweden’s Volvo.

The show will focus heavily on high-tech offerings and envi-ronmental technologies as fi rms look to tap the burgeoning green-vehicle sector, seen as the next evolution of the global automotive industry.

“Cars without a driver, elec-tronic driving assistance, radar, fuel consumption controls—the link between cars and electron-ics is coming together more and more,” said auto expert Tatsuya Mizuno, head of Tokyo’s Mizuno Credit Advisory.

“The competition among elec-

tronics fi rms in the automobile market is increasing, just like their infl uence on the industry it-self. This is going to mean chang-es in the way cars are built and even their design.”

A pioneer of hybrid vehicles, Toyota is set unveil its latest fuel-cell concept car with an expected commercial rollout two years away.

The four-seater sedan has a range of 500 kilometers (310 miles) – longer than previous ver-sions – and can be recharged in just three minutes through hy-drogen gas tanks stored inside the vehicle.

Fuel cell vehicles are consid-

ered the holy grail of green cars because they emit nothing but water vapour from the tailpipe and can operate on renewable hy-drogen gas.

Toyota’s concept vehicle seeks to jump two key hurdles that ana-lysts say have hindered consumer buying of so-called green cars, in-cluding electric vehicles – range and re-fuelling infrastructure.

Relatively high prices have also dented demand.

However, purchases of low-emission vehicles are forecast to grow, with further technological advances in the fi eld seen as cru-cial due to toughening emissions standards.

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FAMILY FEATURES

This holiday season, Vons is making it easier to fi nd the value and assortment you need — whether you’re a bake-it-

from-scratch baker or love decorating ready-to-bake treats. Because we all know the holidays are always full of gatherings, entertain ing, and lots and lots of baking.

Executive chef Jeff Anderson of Safeway shares tips to help keep you prepared for all the holiday festivities, even with a full calendar of events.

“We’ve all been there — you’re halfway through a recipe when you suddenly realize you’ve run out of a key ingredient,” said Chef Anderson. “Th e best advice I can give is to always keep a well-stocked pantry. Th at and a few simple yet impres sive recipes will have you ready to wow family and guests all season long.”

Chef Anderson recommends his Amazingly Good Eggnog and Easy Apple Brown Sugar Tart because they are easy to make and use simple ingredients. With treats like these there’s no need to spend time preparing complicated dishes this holiday season.

Your local Vons off ers great value and everything you need to make entertaining easy for the holidays. And that means more time to enjoy with family and friends. For more holiday baking ideas, visit www.vons.com.

Executive Chef Jeff Anderson of Safeway

Top 10 Holiday Must-HavesTh e secret to a stress-free holiday is a well-stocked pantry. Having these ten simple ingredients on hand will help add variety to your favorite holiday dishes and keep you ready to bake just about anything.

1. Lucerne Cream Cheese for easy-to-make frost-ing for cakes and cupcakes.

2. Agave syrup to use in recipes as a sweetener alternative.

3. Heavy cream for baking or making homemade whipped cream to complement desserts.

4. Open Nature Greek Yogurt to use to create healthy dessert parfaits.

5. Sweet (unsalted) butter for just about every holiday recipe.

6. Brown sugar for topping cookies and baked goods.

7. Primo Taglio Parmigiano Reggiano for easy-to-make puff pastry cheese straws, a delicious party snack.

8. Sour cream makes a great frosting or addition to cakes for extra richness.

9. Fruit jams for making thumbprint cookies like apricot, orange marmalade, raspberry or blackberry.

10. Cinnamon sticks to use as garnish or add a dash of seasonal fl avor to holiday beverages.

Ready in: 28 MinutesServings: 12 4 cups milk 5 cloves, whole 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon cinnamon 12 egg yolks 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 1/2 cups light rum 4 cups cream 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Amazingly Good EggnogCreated by executive chef Jeff Anderson of Safeway

Easy Apple Brown Sugar TartCreated by executive chef Jeff Anderson of SafewayReady in: 1 hour 15 minutes Servings: 8 3 large apples, Gala or Pink Lady 1/3 cup light brown sugar, fi rmly packed 2 tablespoons orange juice 1 tablespoon instant tapioca 3 tablespoons orange marmaladeFor tart shell 1/2 cup slivered almonds 1 1/4 cups all-purpose fl our 1/4 cup light brown sugar 1/2 cup sweet cream butter 1 large eggTo serve Vanilla ice cream (optional)In cake or pie pan, toast slivered almonds in 350°F oven until golden, shaking oft en (about 10 minutes).

In food processor or bowl, combine almonds, all-purpose fl our, and 1/4 cup fi rmly packed light brown sugar.

Add butter, cut into pieces. Whirl or rub with

your fi ngers until fi ne crumbs form. Add 1 egg yolk, whirl or mix with

fork until dough sticks together. Pat into ball.

In a 9- or 10-inch fl uted tart pan with removable rim, press dough over bottom and up sides, fl ush with rim.To assemble tart: Rinse apples and peel (or leave skin on as desired). Core apples and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

In bowl, gently mix apple slices with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, orange juice, and tapioca. Let rest 10 minutes to soft en tapioca, then overlap slices neatly in unbaked tart shell.

In glass-measuring cup, com-bine remaining brown sugar and marmalade. Heat in micro wave at full power in 30-second intervals, stirring each time, until marma lade is melted.

Combine milk, cloves, vanilla extract and cinnamon in sauce-pan. Heat over low fl ame for 5 minutes, slowly bringing mixture to a boil.

In large bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar. Whisk until fl uff y. Whisk hot milk mixture slowly into egg yolks and pour into saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 3 minutes or until thick. Do not allow mixture to boil. Strain to remove cloves. Let cool for about an hour.

Stir in rum, cream, vanilla extract and nutmeg. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Evenly spread over apple slices. Bake in 350°F oven until

crust is well browned and apples are tender when pierced, about 45 minutes.

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