Wednesday - Tuesday, October 28 - Nov. 3, 2015

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Vol. 5 No. 5 LOS ANGELES A BALITA MEDIA PUBLICATION

MANILA, Oct. 20 (Mabuhay) – The Department of Social Wel-fare and Development (DSWD) reiterated on Tuesday its call for typhoon “Lando” evacuees wish-ing to return home to heed the ad-visories of concerned government authorities to ensure their safety.

According to DSWD Secretary Corazon J. Soliman, it is impor-tant that the evacuees wait for the go-signal of national and lo-cal government offi cials before returning to their places of origin.

“This is to ensure their safety against possible landslides and

fl ood waters coming down from high places,” Soliman said.

Based on the records of DSWD, “Lando” has affected 37,455 fami-lies equivalent to 182,946 persons from Regions I, II, III, IV-A, V, and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

Of this number, 12,125 families or 55,554 persons are in 255 evac-uation centers managed by the Local Government Units (LGUs).

A total of PhP1,322,040 worth of humanitarian assistance was provided by the LGUs of Regions I, II, III, and V.

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabuhay) – Six official candidates led by Sarangani boxing icon and Saran-gani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, and six guest bets are set to run for senator under the United Nation-alist Alliance (UNA) in the 2016 elections.

UNA president and Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco officially announced the candidates com-prising the UNA’s senatorial slate in a statement Monday.

Aside from Pacquiao, those running for senator as UNA’s of-ficial candidates are: actress and Paranaque City Councilor Alma Moreno; Sulu princess Jacel Ki-ram; labor lawyer Allan Montano; former Special Action Force chief Getulio Napenas, and broadcast journalist Rey Langit.

Meanwhile, UNA’s guest can-didates are: re-electionist Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III; former senator Panfilo Lacson; former senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri; former senator Richard

Gordon; Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, and migrant workers’ advocate Susan “Toots” Ople.

Sotto is a stalwart of the Na-tionalist People’s Coalition while Lacson has been included in the Liberal Party-led senatorial slate.

Gordon, chairman of the Phil-ippine Red Cross, will run under the Bagumbayan party while Ro-mualdez belongs to Lakas-CMD. Ople is a member of the Naciona-lista Party.

Tiangco said UNA’s senatorial candidates share Vice President Jejomar Binay’s vision of uplift-ing the lives of poor Filipinos, and promoting a “competent, compas-sionate and healing government.”

“We are proud to say all UNA senatoriables are committed to pursue worthy priorities in the legislature.

They share the same vision with Vice President Binay of a pro-poor and reform-oriented leg-islative agenda,” he said. (MNS)Congressman Pacquiao has “Bigger dreams for our people” while in ALABEL, Sarangani (October 7, 2015) - “In the coming days,

I will be embracing new levels of responsibility,” says Manny Pacquiao, “I will be confronting tougher challenges. Yes, I will be dreaming bigger dreams for our people and for our nation.” This statement stirs the crowd to applaud lone district Congressman Manny Pacquiao in his State of the District Address at the Capitol gym Monday, October 5. (Jake Narte/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

MANILA, Oct 24 (Mabuhay) – Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares on Saturday insisted that the agency gave boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and wife, Jinkee, enough time to show proof that they do not owe the government P3.2 billion in un-paid taxes. “I believe we have giv-en Mr and Mrs Pacquiao enough time to provide evidence (3 years to be exact) to dispute our findings but they were not able to do so,” Henares said.

Henares added that the Pac-

quiao couple even “executed an af-fidavit that they do not have any documents to submit.”

The BIR chief was reacting to the Pacquiaos’ petition asking the Supreme Court to direct the Court of Tax Appeals to lift the P3.29-billion cash bond requirement as a condition for keeping the BIR from collecting their tax deficiency while the tax case is being heard.

The couple said they will nei-ther deposit the P3.29-billion cash bond nor file the P4.94-billion surety bond required by CTA.

The Pacquiaos said they can-not deposit or post such a bond amount since their undisputed net worth is supposedly only P1,185,984,697.00.

The Pacquiaos added that the CTA’s condition was “effectively impossible.” Henares said that the issues raised by Pacquiao in his petition will be addressed by the CTA. “All of these can be resolved in the CTA case, which he him-self filed. All the issues he raised can properly be addressed in the CTA,” she said. (MNS)

Pacquiao leads UNA senate slate

Presidential candidate Grace Poe, her running mate Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero, and veteran lawyer Lorna Kapunan (extreme left), acknowledge crowd after the tandem endorse Kapunan’s senatorial bid on Friday (Oct. 23) at the Balay Kalinaw in UP-Diliman, Quezon City. (MNS photo)

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabuhay) – The tandem of Senators Grace Poe and Francis Escudero will announce its senatorial ticket on Thursday, Escudero told reporters on Monday.

Vice presidential candidate Es-cudero said standard-bearer Poe would make the announcement.

Escudero refused to give the names of those included in the slate but confirmed that aspirants Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares, Atty. Lorna Kapu-nan, and Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno would be part of it.

“Syempre pinuntahan namin yung proclamation nila kaya sigu-radong kasama na sila sa line up,” Escudero said.

Most of those included in the slate are expected to be present during the announcement, Escu-

dero said.“Sa Huwebes nakaset ang pag-

anunsyo dahil yung ang pinaka-convenient at available ang lahat, karamihan naman ay nag-commit na aattend. Iaannunsyo din doon kung sino ang maghahandle ng Senate slate,” Escudero said.

He said Poe was directly in-volved in choosing their team’s senatorial line-up.

Escudero said Poe asked him to have preliminary discussions with at least three hopefuls but added that it was the presiden-tial candidate who had final talks with them. “Si Senator Grace ang nagpasya at namili. Sa kanyang talumpati sa Huwebes doon niya ilalahad ang rason at dahilan kung bakit naging kabilang ang bawat isa at kinakatawan ng bawat isa,” Escudero said. (MNS)

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabuhay) – The Office of the Ombudsman has indicted former Camarines Norte Governor Jesus Typoco for graft in connection with the fertilizer fund scam.

The Office of the Ombudsman said Typoco should be held liable for the provincial government’s procurement of 7,142 bottles of liquid fertilizer, worth P700 each, from Hexaphil Agriventures, Inc. in 2004 without public bidding.

Also facing charges for viola-tion of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 and violation of 65.3 (1) of R.A. No. 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Act) are Pro-vincial Accountant Maribeth Ma-laluan; Bids and Awards Commit-tee (BAC) members Jose Atienza, Lorna Coreses, Cesar Paita, Ro-

BIR chief: Pacquiao given enough time to show evidence in tax case

Poe-Chiz senatorial slate known Thursday

Ex-Camarines Norte gov indicted for graft over fertilizer scam

See FERTILIZER SCAM, page 2

Aiko Melendez wins Best Actress award in

Manhattan fi lm fest

MANILA, Oct 24 (Mabuhay) -- “Threatened, tortured and co-erced.” This is how a lawyer described the experience of former Igle-sia ni Cristo (INC) minister Lowell Menorca II when he was illegally detained at the religious sect’s central compound in Quezon City.

Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles, who represents Menorca, said Satur-day that the former INC minister was subjected to interrogation, threats and torture by the influential church as it held his family captive from July 25 to October 21, 2015.

“Very traumatizing daw po. Sa briefing namin, very short, hindi pa po kami nakakakuha ng detalye, but may mga continuous at con-sistent na interrogations, torture at paghihigpit. At, of course, ‘yung detention,” Angeles said.

Menorca only left the INC compound when the religious sect needed him to release a statement ensuring the faithful of his safe-ty, Angeles claimed.

“Umabot din po sa point na hindi sila nakakalabas doon sa tira-han nila at kung nakakalabas man, is under heavy guard. Ilalabas siya on certain occasions katulad nga ng pagpahayag niya, alleged pahayag niya niya doon sa Net 25 or other occasions para ilabas, ipamukha na supposedly, nasa mabuti siyang kalagayan,” she said.

“But always, always po, mayroon siyang katabi, mayroon siyang heavy guard na tao na kasama. At may taong nagpapaalala na an-doon pa sa kanilang custody ‘yung asawa niya at anak so hindi po siya malaya ever since kinuha siya noong July 16.”

Menorca said in a video posted online Friday that he was illegally

Ex-INC minister tortured, threatened before rescue: lawyer

See EX-INC MINISTER, page 2

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, October 28 - Nov. 3, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST 2

FERTILIZER SCAMFrom page 1dolfo Salamero, Jose Rene Ruidera; and Alex Rivera of Hexaphil Agriventures, Inc. (Hexaphil).

The Office of the Om-budsman said that in 2004, the province of Camarines Norte received P4 million to finance the acquisition of agricultural supplies and P1 million for vegetable seeds.

In March of that year, Rivera offered Typoco the Hexaplus liquid fertilizer, claiming that his firm was an exclusive distributor of the product. On April 1, 2004, a memorandum of agreement was executed be-

tween the regional office of the Department of Agricul-ture and Typoco. This even-tually led to the procure-ment of the 7,142 bottles of fertilizer on April 16, 2004.

“Typoco cannot simply be exempted because he was then busy campaigning for the upcoming elections,” the Ombudsman resolution stated.

“As governor and public official, he is accountable for his actions relative to the contract he entered into.” The Office of the Ombuds-man said Hexaphil was not a legitimate company, and

that the respondents did not exercise due diligence in its market probe prior to the award of contract.

In indicting Typoco and other individuals, the Om-budsman said, “the acts of public respondents may ap-pear independent but the same were in fact concerted and cooperative, indicating closeness of personal associ-ation, concerted action and concurrence of sentiments which would not have been consummated if not for the participation and concerted efforts of all public respon-dents.” (MNS)

detained by the INC.He also claimed that the

interview aired on Net 25, where he denied that he was held captive, was scripted.

“Kaya po nila ginawa ‘yun sapagka’t ginamit nila ang pagkakataon na ‘yun, na alisin ako sa kulungan, il-agay ako sa isang controlled environment na kung saan maaari nila akong pun-tahan anytime, kausapin, i-interrogate, at makuha nila ‘yung mga impormasyon na gusto nilang makuha mula sa akin patungkol sa mga panulat ni Antonio Ebang-helista,” Menorca said in the online video.

‘Policemen were part of abduction’

Angeles also revealed that the rescue operations for Menorca had been deli-cate as there were members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on the side of the INC.

Menorca and his wife, infant child and household helper were rescued by another law enforcement agency. No one was arrested in the operation.

“Sa personal knowledge ko po, walang inaresto. Ga-yunpaman, it doesn’t mean na hindi siya ni-rescue kasi the circumstances were scarier than normal,” Ange-les said.

The lawyer also alleged that several policemen were present when the INC seized Menorca after church service in Sorsogon in July.

“Hinandcuff (handcuff) po siya, nilagyan po ng sako sa ulo, tinutukan ng baril ‘tas kinaladkad po doon sa sasakyan. And this was af-ter service,” she said.

“Mayroong mga miyem-bro ng PNP -- hindi naman po namin inilalahat -- may mga miyembro po ng PNP na nandoon sa pagkuha ni Mr. Menorca. At saka may-

roong mga false accusations, false charges sa kanya. So we have to be very careful with dealing with the po-lice,” she added, noting that some witnesses were able to identify the policemen in-volved in the abduction.

Menorca’s rescue came hours before the Supreme Court granted on Friday the writs of habeas corpus and amparo filed by his kin.

(READ: Kin of ‘missing’ Iglesia minister file writs of amparo, habeas corpus)

In an order promulgated Friday, the SC directed re-spondents INC Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo and members of the Sang-gunian, Radel Cortez, Bi-envenido Santiago and Ro-lando Esguerra, to produce the warm bodies of Lowell Menorca; his wife, Jinky Otsuka; the couple’s child, Yurie; and their house help Abegail Yanson.

The order remanded the case to the Court of Appeals for hearing, and a verified return of the writs was or-dered within 10 working days.

Fighting onAngeles stressed that

their camp will not back down from exposing anom-alies within the INC and pressing charges against some of its officials, saying that they are searching for other missing members of the religious sect to bolster their case.

“Tinitingnan po namin kung nasaan sila, anong ka-lagayan nila dahil siyempre ‘pag nag-file kami ng peti-tion, kailangan alam namin kung saan sila hahanapin. Mayroong mga naka-disap-pear pa. So hanggang sa ma-ascertain namin with what little information we have kung nasaan sila, hindi po kami makagalaw,” she said.

“Gayunpaman, kahit

‘yung mga tao na hindi nasa custody ng simbahan ay marami pong napapagban-taan. Mayroong mga sina-sabihan na ngayon na su-sundan siya, papatayin siya, pahihirapan siya o kaya pa-hihirapan ang pamilya. So nakaumang kami ng ibang kaso also for, possibly, the writ of amparo dahil duma-rami rin po ang mga taong tinatakot nila.”

Angeles said the deten-tion has not weakened Menorca’s resolve.

“Mahirap pong magla-bas ng ganitong klaseng akusasyon sa insitutsyon na ganito katatag at nakakata-kot po for the people inside it ‘yung matiwalag kayo, ‘yung matanggal kayo. It means you’re not going to be saved e. It also means na mahihiwalay kayo sa pami-lya ninyo, ‘yung entire sup-port group ninyo mawawala so hindi po biro yung ginaga-wa nila. They are aware of what they are losing by the time they make their accu-sation,” she said.

The lawyer went on to say that they are ready for pos-sible threats or a repeat of the EDSA rally, which INC members held following the illegal detention case filed by former INC minister Isa-ias Samson Jr. against the sect.

“Paalala ko lang, noong nag-file kami ng illegal de-tention ni Mr. Samson ay nagka-rally. Kaya hindi biro po ito kapag nag-file kami ng kaso. Alam po namin ‘yung consequences, alam po namin na lahat kami pag-babantaan. Pero necessary e, may malaking kasalanan ang mga taong ito,” Angeles said.

Menorca’s camp will hold a press briefing in Quezon City on Sunday morning regarding his alleged deten-tion. (MNS)

EX-INC MINISTERFrom page 1

LOS ANGELES – Two Filipino-American video journalists took part in the spectacular global musical performance that has re-cently broken the Guinness World Record for the largest gospel choir.

“I was amazed and had goosebumps,” said Christy Rosacia, Los Angeles corre-spondent for UNTV. “I was teary-eyed. They were tears of joy.”

Rosacia and Joy Macain-an, who is part of the UNTV camera crew, sang gospel songs at the Church of God International (MCGI) cen-ter in Los Angeles – in uni-son with their fellow mem-bers in 1,360 centers around the world.

The main gathering, with 8,688 “Ang Dating Daan” (ADD) choir members, was at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Guinness World Records adjudicator Fortuna Burke Melhem confirmed on Oct. 12 that MCGI now officially holds the Guinness World Record title, “Largest Gos-pel Choir.”

The auditing firm Punon-

gbayan & Araullo validated the record number of choir members at the Araneta Coliseum.

The MCGI bagged its Guinness World Records ti-tle on its 35th anniversary. During the program, the choir members performed 15 songs in five languages.

“We’re so blessed to be part of the ADD Chorale,” said Macainan. “Though we’re not with them physi-cally, we were in one chorale group spiritually.”

Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path) is the longest run-ning radio-television pro-gram of its kind. The show is hosted by Bro. Eli Soriano and Kuya Daniel Razon.

“Like what we always say, if we are able to do something, and if there is any glory attained, it is al-ways for God; to God be the glory,” said Soriano, the show host.

MCGI beat the former title holder, the Iglesia ni Cristo, which had 4,745 choir participants.

The choir performed gospel songs composed by Norman Caraballo Rueda.

They included “Stand Up,” “Praise the Name,” “Hal-leluja, Amen” and “Enrich the Spirit.”

Rosacia and Macainan – who are also members of the Disciples Band and the Fil-Am Media Band – are scheduled to perform with the bands at the “Abakada: Children Helping Chil-dren” concert at the Celeb-rity Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.

The concert will be head-lined by Original Pilipino Music (OPM) icon Florante and the international youth band Back2Jupiter. Other top-caliber performers in-clude Jo Awayan, Malou Toler, Mon Concepcion and Matthew Parry-Jones.

The event, which will help support a scholarship program for the children of slain journalists, is pro-duced by Balita Photo Edi-tor Benny Uy and the Na-tional Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)-US Chapter.

For more information, call Nikki Arriola at (310) 503-9310 or Abner Galino at (661) 644-4953.

Fil-Am video journalists Christy Gaela Rosacia (leftmost) and Joy Marivic S. Macainan (second from right), both seen here with Senator and vice presidential candidate Chiz Escudero and fellow journalist Ana Mendoza (rightmost), were among those who took part in the huge choir that broke the Guinness World Record. Photo from Christy Gaela Rosacia’s Facebook Page.

Fil-Am video journalists part of choir that broke Guinness World Record

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabuhay) – The Office of the Ombudsman on Monday filed graft charges against Bohol Rep. Rene Re-lampagos and Governor Edgar Chatto in connection with the alleged disadvantageous priva-tization of the electric and wa-ter utilities in the province in 2000.

In a complaint filed before the Sandiganbayan, the Om-budsman, through its Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), charged Relampagos, Chatto and 14 others with violation of Section 3 (g) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Cor-rupt Practices Act for selling the capitol-owned Provincial Electric System (PES) and Pro-vincial Water System (PWS) to a private company at very low prices. Section 3(g) of RA 3019 prohibits the act of entering, on behalf of the government, into any contract or transac-tion “manifestly and grossly disadvantageous” to the gov-ernment, “whether or not the public officer profited or will profit thereby.”

Also charged with the same offense were Provincial Plan-ning and Development Officer Juanito Cambangay, Provincial

Attorney Inocentes Lopez and Provincial Council members Arnold Lungay, Isabelito Tong-co, Eufrasio Mascarias, Con-cepcion Lim, Exequiel Madri-nas, Severino Caberte, Tomas Abapo Jr., Francisco Alena Sr. Felix Uy, Renato Lim and Le-muel Digal. Dennis Villareal of the Consortium of Salcon International Inc. (Salcon) was also charged with the same of-fense.

The Ombudsman said that sometime between May to December 2000, the public re-spondents under the leadership of then Bohol governor Relam-pagos and then vice-governor Chatto entered into a joint venture agreement (JVA) with Villareal’s Salcon Consortium for the privatization of Bohol’s electric and water systems.

The Ombudsman said that under the JVA, the assets and franchise of the Provincial Electric System (PES) was transferred to the Salcon Pow-er Consortium for only P75 mil-lion while assets and franchise of the Provincial Water System (PWS) was transferred to the Salcon Water Consortium for only P80 million, for a total sale of only P155 million.

The Ombudsman said the sale of the PES and PWS to Salcon was “manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the government” as the two utili-ties has a combined value of P782 million.

“This is to certify that based on record, a preliminary inves-tigation was conducted in this case and that there is sufficient ground to engender a well-founded belief that the crime charged was committed and that the accused are probably guilty thereof,” the OSP said in a certification attached in the case information.

The case against Relampa-gos and his co-accused stemmed from a complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman in 2001 by lawyers belonging to the Association of Concerned Tagbilaranons (ACT), includ-ing former acting Bohol gover-nor Victor de la Serna.

The Office of the Ombuds-man had earlier dismissed the complaint, but Morales ordered a reinvestigation in August 2014.

In June of this year, the Om-budsman found probable cause to pursue charges against the respondents.(MNS)

Ombudsman fi les graft raps vs. Bohol solon, governor

MANILA, Oct 24 (Mabu-hay) – Two Chinese diplo-mats have been flown to China to stand trial for a gun attack in the Philip-pines that killed two of their colleagues and wounded an-other, Philippine authori-ties said Saturday.

China’s consul general in the central city of Cebu survived after being shot in the neck, but two of his staff members died during the lunchtime attack at a res-taurant on Wednesday.

“They (the suspects) al-ready left last night, direct flight from Cebu to Xia-

men,” Department of For-eign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said, referring to the southeastern Chinese city.

“Yes, they will be pros-ecuted in China,” he added.

The motive of the gun attack was not known, and the positions held by the two suspects at the consul-ate remained unclear.

China has the death pen-alty, while the Philippines does not. The Chinese for-eign ministry has given little information about the attack.

Chinese embassy spokes-

woman Li Lingxiao said she had no comment to make on the Filipino government’s announcement over the transfer of custody.

Staff at the upmarket Cebu restaurant earlier said the victims and suspects were among nine Chinese diners who had gathered to celebrate the birthday of the consul general, Song Rong-hua.

The Chinese embassy in Manila later described the couple as accredited Chi-nese diplomats and invoked diplomatic immunity, Jose has said.

Diplomats in deadly Cebu shooting fl own to China

President Benigno S. Aquino III along with former DILG Secretary Manuel Roxas, Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo and DILG Secretary Senen Sarmiento are prayed over by Bishop Francisco Santos and Bishop Jonel MIlan during the Thanksgiving Celebration and National Transformation Assembly of the Tarlac First Baptist Church. (MNS photo)

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GRAND OPENINGCELEBRATION

MANILA, Oct 24 (Mabu-hay) – The official death toll from typhoon “Lando” has climbed to 46, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Saturday.

In its latest report, the NDRRMC said 82 others were reported injured in regions of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, central and southern Luzon, Metro Manila and the Cordillera Administra-tive Region (CAR)

Five individuals from Re-gions I, III and CAR are still missing.

A total of 26,124 houses were damaged in Regions I, II, III, and CAR.

The NDRRMC said 92 road sections and 11 bridg-es remain impassable due to flooding and landslides caused by Lando.

The estimated cost of damages to agriculture and

infrastructure, meanwhile, has amounted to over P9.51 million.

Lando, which made land-fall in Casiguran, Aurora Sunday, wreaked havoc in northern Luzon, flattening houses and toppling trees as it dumped heavy rains and caused strong winds in the provinces. The tropi-cal cyclone weakened into a low pressure area (LPA) on Wednesday afternoon as it left the land mass of Luzon, state weather bureau PA-GASA said.

The weather disturbance left the Philippine area of responsibility Saturday morning. It was seen 1,030 kilometers east-northeast of Itbayat, Batanes at 10 a.m.

The LPA will no longer affect any part of the coun-try, PAGASA added.

NDRRMC Executive Di-rector Alexander Pama, meanwhile, said that relief

operations are ongoing for families affected by Lando.

The official also urged volunteers to coordinate with the NDRRMC office for the accounting of relief aid distribution.

“Ibigay-alam lang po sa ating mga relief teams doon, ‘yung ating tinatawag na convergence points sa probinsya o sa region, mas-abi lang po sa atin kung ano ipamimigay nila, saan sila mamimigay at kailan—para po ‘yung ating accounting, malaman natin kung sino nabigyan na, sinong hindi pa para hindi magdoble-doble, at para mabawasan po natin mga lugar na hindi naseserbisyuhan,” Pama said. “Accounting lang na-man po ito; hindi makikial-aam sa kanilang mga pagka-kawanggawa,” he added.

The NDRRMC may be reached through their hot-lines and website.(MNS)

Members of the Philippine Air Force load relief goods from the Department of Social Welfare and Development to a C-130 airplane on Wednesday at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City. The relief goods consist of food packs, blankets, and other necessities, for aff ected families in Baler and Casiguran, Aurora. (MNS photo)

‘Lando’ death toll up to 46: NDRRMC

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabu-hay) – Philippine National Police chief Director Gener-al Ricardo Marquez has or-dered the Criminal Investi-gation and Detection Group to open an investigation into the claims of former Iglesia ni Cristo minister Lowell Menorca that leaders of the religious group are involved in his alleged abduction.

Marquez said he has di-rected the CIDG to reach out to Menorca for his offi-cial statement. Menorca has recanted an earlier state-ment denying that he and his wife and daughter were

being held against his will by Iglesia ni Cristo officials.

In a press conference on Sunday, Menorca also claimed that three members of the Quezon City Police District were involved in his alleged abduction.

Marquez cited that the involvement of policemen in Menorca’s alleged abduction did not came up in the prior investigations conducted by the CIDG and the Anti-Kid-napping Group.

Menorca was detained by the Dasmarinas police for a week last July for ille-gal possession of explosives.

He was released after the charges were dropped by the complainants.

The former Iglesia ni Cristo minister said he was forcibly taken from Sor-sogon last July prior to his detention at the Dasmari-nas Police Station.

After his release from the police station, Menorca surfaced with his wife and daughter and denied that he was abducted and being ille-gally detained at the Iglesia ni Cristo compound in Que-zon City. Last week, the for-mer minister came forward and released a video where

he said he was indeed ab-ducted and detained.

In a statement, lawyer Patricia-Ann Prodigalidad of the ACCRA law office said officials of the Iglesia ni Cristo were surprised and saddened by the statements issued by Menorca.

“They will address the allegations of Mr. Menorca in the proper venue, and are confident that if treated fairly by authorities, they will be given due process and the opportunity to es-tablish their innocence and to clear their names,” Prodi-galidad said.

PNP chief orders probe into ex-Iglesia ni Cristo minister’s abduction claims

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabu-hay) – The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division on Monday seized the USB flash drive of pork barrel scam primary state witness Benhuy Luy, which supposedly contains files that detail the involve-ment of several lawmakers in the multi-billion peso scam.

“For the meantime, let this USB be in the posses-sion of the court,” Fifth Di-vision chairman Associate

Justice Roland Jurado de-clared at the continuation of the hearing of former congressman Edgar Val-dez’s petition to post bail for a plunder case.

Jurado made the decision after Luy admitted in open court that he has a back-up copy of the files contained in his external hard disk drive saved in his USB.

Composed of over a thou-sand pages, Luy’s external hard drive allegedly con-

tained spreadsheet files, soft copies of vouchers, re-ceipts, photos and other documents that supposedly detail the transactions of al-leged scam mastermind Ja-net Lim-Napoles with sev-eral lawmakers.

Records of the amounts of kickbacks the lawmak-ers, including Valdez, alleg-edly received from Napoles in exchange for allocating their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF)

or pork barrel to her al-leged fake foundations were also supposedly in the hard drive.

Luy said the files in his 16-gigabyte USB were the same as those contained in his 500 gigabyte external hard drive, which he had turned over to the Nation-al Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and which has been used by the prosecution as evidence against several of-ficials charged in the scam.

Sandiganbayan seizes Luy’s USB

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabu-hay) --

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has chosen 37 aspirants in the short-list for the six new posts at the Sandiganbayan.

Those who made the shortlist were:

Philip AguinaldoReynaldo AlhambraDanilo CruzBenjamin PozonDanilo SandovalSalvador Timbang Jr.Mary Ann Corpus-Man-

walac (6 votes)Maria Theresa Mendo-

za-Arcega (6)Rodolfo Noel Quimbo (6)Ma. Antonia Edita Clari-

dades (5) Andres Bartolome (5)Celso BaguioMa. Teresa De Guzman-

AlvarezBernelito FernandezElvira de Castro Pan-

ganibanFernando Sagun Jr.Zaldy TrespesesFrances GuanzonMarissa Macaraig-Guil-

len

Reynaldo CruzVilma PauigRenan RamosRuben Reynaldo RoxasKarl Miranda (6 votes)Perpetua Atal-Pano (5)Thelma Bunyi-Medina

(5)Luisito Cortez (5)Geraldine Fiel-Macaraig

(5)Angelene Mary Quimpo-

Sale (5)Bayani Jacinto (4)Wilhelmina Jorge-Wa-

gan (6 votes)Geraldin Faith Econg

(5)Rosanna Fe Romero-

Maglaya (5)Merianthe Pacita

Zuraek (5)Elmo Alameda (4)Victoria Fernandez-Ber-

nanrdo (4)Michael Frederick

Musngi (4) Failing to make the cut

was Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 in Que-zon City, who handles the high-profile six-year-old Maguindanao murder trial.

JBC shortlists 37 aspirants for 6 new Sandiganbayan posts

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, October 28 - Nov. 3, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST 4

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The U.S Asian Post is a publication of Balita Media, Inc., the leading source of news and information for the Filipino American community, which also publishes Weekend Balita. Views and opinions expressed by contributing writers and syndication partners are solely theirs and do not necessarily reflect that of the publishers. All advertising materials are subject to the paper’s editorial standards and discretion. All rights reserved.Reprints of materials published in the newspaper should have the explicit permission of The U.S Asian Post.

OPINIONMANILA, Oct 24 (Mabuhay) – Malacanang on Sat-

urday said the government will start the “build back better” phase as its agencies continue relief efforts for those affected by tropical cyclone Lando in Luzon.

“Moving forward, we will remain in close collabora-tion with other sectors as we build back better the af-fected areas,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abi-gail Valte told state-run Radyo ng Bayan.

Valte also cited that the government’s response ef-forts for Lando has been credited by the United Na-tions Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

“The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduc-tion credited this improvement to preemptive evacua-tions and the early communication of warnings,” she said.

Valte said that the key to the government’s success-ful response to Lando “lies in partnership.”

“As a result, we were able to minimize the number of casualties, compared to previous typhoons,” she said.

She added that close coordination from the national down to the local levels and other sectors was the main factor for the successful evacuation of people living in high-risk areas.

Valte reported that 5,426 families or 23,993 people in Regions I, II, III, IV-A, and Cordillera Administrative Region were preemptively evacuated.

The government has counted a total of 46 deaths from Lando’s wrath as of 6 p.m. Friday.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Manage-ment Council said at least 1.6 million people were af-fected by the cyclone in seven regions in Luzon.

The government has pegged Lando’s damage to agri-culture and infrastructure at P9.5 billion. (MNS)

Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero said the massive destruction caused by typhoon “Lando” on agricul-ture underscores the need to increase the coverage of crop insurance in the country.

As of Friday, the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported that the cost of the damage has already reached P6.4 billion, covering thousands of hectares of farmlands in the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Cordil-lera and Central Luzon regions.

Escudero said the impact of the typhoon suggests a big loss not just for the agriculture sector, but more so to farmers who rely heavily on farming for their livelihoods.

While he urged the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to hasten the release of a sup-plemental budget, Escudero wanted to see a long-term program that will address crop losses by getting farmers insurance coverage from the state-owned Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC).

“Helping our farmers get an insurance coverage for their crops will not only save government funds, but more importantly, give farmers a sense of secu-rity amid the threat of climate change,” Escudero said.

As an attached agency of the Department of Ag-riculture (DA), PCIC’s principal mandate is “to pro-vide insurance protection to farmers against losses arising from natural calamities, plant diseases and pest infestations of their palay and corn crops, as well as other crops.”

In 2014, PCIC reported a 24.3-percent increase in the number of enrollees in the government’s crop insurance program, registering 924,343 enrollees in 2014, from 743,589 in 2013.

The PCIC said that rice, corn and high-value crop farmers covered by its insurance program expanded in size to 778,375 hectares, or 53.82 percent higher compared to the 2013 data. On the other hand, in-

sured livestock rose six-fold to 500,568 last year.“Seventy percent of farmers and fishermen who

were given insurance protection last year were granted free coverage under various government programs such as the provision of insurance to those listed in the Department of Budget and Manage-ment’s Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agricul-ture,” PCIC said.

However, a study released by government think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in January this year found the lack of aware-ness on PCIC’s programs in some parts of the coun-try particularly in Cagayan, Negros Occidental, and Davao del Norte.

For 2016, P1.6 billion has been appropriated for the full insurance premiums of subsistence farmers and fisherfolk to cover crop, livestock, fisheries or non-crop agricultural asset.

Thus, Escudero called on the DA to intensify the information campaign on PCIC’s program to edu-cate farmers on the importance of investing on crop insurance. “The DA should collaborate with local government units not only in educating farmers on the packages offered by the PCIC but also in explor-ing schemes where a portion of the insurance premi-um could be shouldered by the local government,” Escudero said.

Through a partial field validation, the agriculture department said the cost of damage to agriculture in areas affected by Lando has risen to P6.4 billion with the rice subsector sustaining the most damage.

It estimated that the country has already incurred a combined production loss of more than 411,000 metric tons (MT), majority of which came from rice, corn and high value crops.

Of the total, palay accounts for the largest pro-duction loss at about 384,000 MT, equivalent to P5.7 billion.

MANILA, Oct 24 (Mabuhay) – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Saturday said that it continues to send relief supplies to those af-fected by tropical cyclone Lando in Luzon.

The DSWD said that as of 1 a.m. Saturday, a total of 159,473 family food packs have been made available for those affected by Lando in National Capital Region, Cordillera Administrative Region , Ilocos, Cagayan Val-ley, Central Luzon and CALABARZON.

It added that a total of P947,024,596.95 standy funds has been distributed to its field offices in the affected regions.

Tweets by DSWD-Central Luzon showed volunteers and its workers packing and loading relief supplies.

The relief supplies will be distributed to residents dis-placed by Lando in the region, including those in the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Pampanga.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Manage-ment Council (NDRRMC) said in its update on Friday night that at least 1.6 million people were affected by the cyclone in seven regions in Luzon including Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, CALABARZON, Bicol, National Capital Region and Cordilllera Administrative Region.

The NDRRMC also said that a total of 46 people have been confirmed killed and five more have been report-ing missing as of 6 p.m. Friday.

The government has pegged Lando’s damage to agri-culture and infrastracture at P9.5 billion. (MNS)

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabuhay) -- President Benigno Aquino III on Monday signed into law amendments to the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) Act.

The law was signed during the 15th National PESO Congress held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. It was witnessed by lawmaker-authors both from the House of Represen-tatives and the Senate, among others.

Vissia Marie Aldon, president of the PESO Man-agers Association of the Philippines, Inc., said the amendatory provisions will institutionalize the PESO in all local government units across the country, “thereby expanding and transforming its function into a multi-dimensional facility for employment, livelihood, and training.”

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that under the new law, all PESOs will have their own budget and office space. Permanent plantilla positions will also be created for PESO personnel.

The amendments will also improve labor market information and employment facilitation service through computerized systems of monitoring, coordi-nation, and reporting, said Baldoz.

The amended PESO Act will also allow local gov-ernment officials to fund PESOs and its initiatives through their internal revenue allotment.

President Aquino said amendments to the PESO Act will modernize PESO offices to help address the problem of job-skills mismatch.

“Mas alam ng lokal na pamahalaan ang mga pag-kakataon sa kanilang lugar, at mas madali nilang mailalapit ang ating mga Boss sa trabaho,” he said.

Aquino said he hopes that more Filipinos will be given job opportunities through the new law.

“Ang paglilingkod na ginagawa n’yo sa PESO, pati na ang inyong kontribusyon sa sektor ng paggawa, ay hindi lang tungkol sa pagbibigay ng trabaho sa ating mga kababayan. Pinagkakalooban ninyo sila ng pagkakataong tuparin ang kanilang mga panga-rap. Walang katapat na halaga ang ganoong klase ng pakiramdam,” he said. Aquino noted that the unem-ployment rate fell from 7.4 percent in 2010 when he assumed office to 6.6 percent in 2014.

Senator Sonny Angara, one of the authors of the law, earlier said that strengthening the polices of the PESO will help new graduates, especially in rural ar-eas, to secure employment.

Angara noted that in many instances, successful PESOs function as one-stop shops for employees and serve as a conduit to government offices for essential services such as processing of passports and helping repatriated overseas Filipino workers. (MNS)

MANILA, Oct 24 (Mabuhay) – The Armed Forces of the Philippines announced that its Civil Distur-bance Management (CDM) Company is now prepar-ing for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Coopera-tion (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Manila this November.

The event will take place Nov. 18 to 19, AFP public affairs office chief Col. Noel Detoyato said Saturday.

The training is to ensure better response in situa-tions requiring CDM service.

The AFP CDM Company will be on standby for the duration of the APEC Meeting as support unit to Philippine National Police personnel who will be on

the frontline of keeping the safety and security of the event. They will be immediately deployed if necessary or when when the peaceful conduct of the event is threatened.

The CDM Company is composed of soldiers under the Security and Escort Group of AFP General Head-quarters based in Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo.

They will also be accompanied by AFP K-9 units.They regularly undergo training on crowd man-

agement.These soldiers were also properly briefed in human

rights as part of their training, Detoyato stressed. (MNS)

Gov’t to start ‘build back better’ eff orts in Lando-hit areas

DSWD continues to pack, deliver food packs to Lando victims

‘Koppu’ agri damage highlights need for wider crop insurance coverage, says Chiz

Aquino OKs law modernizing employment offi ces in LGUs

Military crowd disturbance unit getting ready for APEC duties

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabuhay) – Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Andres Bautista confirmed Monday that the poll body’s law depart-ment has asked 125 of the 130 who filed certificates of candidacy for president to prove they are not nui-sance.

Bautista said the Comelec found prima facie (at first look) pieces of evidence to declare the 125 as nui-sance. “Nagpadala po ang Comelec ng liham sa iba’t ibang kandidato. Ito po yung sa pasya ng aming Law Department na prima facie nuisance,” he said.

“Binbigyan sila ng pagkakataon na ipakita na hin-di sila nuisance candidate.”

Bautista said the Comelec looks at a candidate’s personal capacity and track record in campaigning to determine if he is a nuisance.

“Kakayahan - praktikal na kakayahan - saan ku-kunin panggastos, sino sumusporta. Ito ay sang ayon

sa decision ng Supreme Court sa kaso ni Atty. Elly Pamatong in 2004,” he said.

He did not name the 5 who were not asked to prove they are a nuisance, but he said these five were found to have the capacity to mount a national campaign.

Of those who filed their COC for president, 121 are independents. Among the independents, only Senators Grace Poe and Miriam Defensor Santiago are elected incumbent officials. The other 9 presiden-tial aspirants are backed by political parties includ-ing administration standard bearer Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party, Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance and the candidates of the Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka/Workers and Peasants’ Party, incumbent OFW Family Club party-list Rep. Roy Seneres.

Seneres said he has not been asked by Comelec to prove he is not a nuisance.

125 presidential aspirants asked to prove they are not nuisance

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabuhay) – The petitions for amparo and habeas corpus against Iglesia ni Cristo leader Eduardo Manalo and other officials of the reli-gious group has been raffled to the Seventh Division of the Court of Appeals.

CA clerk of court Teresita Marigomen on Monday told reporters that the CA division is chaired by As-sociate Justices Magdangal de Leon, with members Elihu Ybanez and Associate Justices Victoria Isabel Paredes, who is the ponente.

The petition, filed by Anthony Menorca and Jung-ko Otsuka with the Supreme Court last week, was transferred to the appeals court for hearing and reso-lution. The hearing will be held at the CA main office in Manila on November 3 at 10 a.m.

Manalo was ordered to bring to the CA hearing Anthony’s brother alleged victim Lowell Menorca and his wife, Jungko’s twin sister Jinky Otsuka.

The SC had directed the CA to decide on the case within 10 days after its submission for decision.

Menorca and his family have since been ‘rescued’ from the alleged detention, a lawyer said on Friday.

In their petition, Jungko and Anthony asked the SC to issue writs of amparo and habeas corpus against Manalo, Radel Cortez, Bienvenido Santiago, and Rolando Esguerra.

A writ of amparo is a remedy available to any per-son whose right to life, liberty, and security is vio-lated or threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission.

CA to hear amparo, habeas corpus pleas vs. Manalo, other Iglesia ni Cristo leaders

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SCE employee’s late-night heroics earn praise as he helps fi rst responders after Visalia car accidentBy Paul Netter, Southern California Edison

Matt Duma wasn’t dressed to impress, but he left quite the impression anyway.

Pajamas, slippers and all.

The Southern Califor-nia Edison transmission line foreman’s quick think-ing played a pivotal role in a car-hit-utility-pole acci-dent late Monday in Visalia. Duma’s actions may have saved a man’s life, and the first responders couldn’t have been more apprecia-tive. “The action of the off-duty Edison employee were instrumental to the out-come of the incident,” Visa-lia Fire Department bat-talion chief Danny Wristen told the Fresno Bee.

Duma, however, believes he was just doing his job.

“I don’t think I did any-thing heroic. I did my job,” said Duma, an 11-year vet-eran of SCE. “It’s no dif-ferent than a firefighter going to rescue someone in a burning house or a cop doing his job. I respond to a wire down and I know how to take care of it.”

Another member of the fire department who was there, engineer Shane Yo-der, begs to differ.

“He made an appearance at some point real quick after we were there,” said Yoder. “Definitely appre-ciate his help and it sped the process up quite a bit

rather than having to wait for the [SCE truck] to get on the scene. It was great that someone was there to assist us.”

The whole episode began for Duma, who had gone to bed about 10, when he was awakened by a loud crash about10:50 p.m. accompa-nied by a power outage. He had no doubts about what had happened.

So, in his pajamas and slippers, he rushed to his car and drove to the scene on Riggins Avenue.

There were power lines hovering and a 12-ki-lovolt transformer a foot away from the wrecked car with a man trapped inside. Duma knew he could help, but a Visalia police officer thought differently of the sleepwear-clad foreman, who in his haste had left his ID at home.

After briefly trying to convince the officer he was an electrical professional, Duma “remembered I’ve got my work phone on me, so I showed the officer pic-tures of me working with my crew” and was waved in. Once there, he called Rector substation operators Bryan Cheney and Brandt Chavez again — he had al-ready called them on the way there — and had them de-energize the 12- and 66-kilovolt power lines.

The fire department then, much quicker than usual, safely rescued the trapped driver, who Duma said began moving right about the time the scene was de-energized.

“As much as we want to assist the victim, we’re con-cerned about everyone else

being electrocuted,” said Yoder. “But [Duma] talked with authority, kept us up-dated and notified us they had shut the power off and we were able to extricate the victim.

“We highly respect you guys working with electric-ity. We can handle getting them out of the car and ev-erything else, but I must say the fire department is very respectful of electric-ity and the guys that work with it.”

Not to mention ecstatic with Duma’s quick assis-tance. However, he was gone as soon as he arrived.

But if the first respond-ers had returned to the scene a short time later, they’d have found Duma – who had returned home to don his lineman’s uni-form – back on his regular job,repairing the pole and restoring power.

And, also wondering what all the fuss is about.

“I’ve got text messages, I’ve got stuff about being a hero. I’m not a hero, I’m just a lineman, man. This is what I do,” said Duma. “I’m just trying to help [the victim], the firemen, the police, the substation, the troubleman. That’s our job, that’s what we do for a liv-ing.” His supervisor, Stan Hack, SCE manager of the San Joaquin Grid, echoed Duma but delivered some praise too.

“Matt does the right things for the right rea-sons,” he said. “It was pretty amazing the quick actions he took. He reached hero status that night. But, if you ask him, he’ll say he was just doing his job.”

Off-duty lineman answers the (wake up) call

SCE lineman Matt Duma discusses how he got downed live wires deactivated after a car hit a utility pole in Visalia. Photo: Courtesy of Lewis Griswold/The Fresno Bee

The Greater Los Ange-les County Vector Control District (GLACVCD) con-tinues to identify West Nile virus activity in Los Ange-les County. Sixteen mos-quito samples, four Ameri-can crow, and 12 chickens tested positive this week. One mosquito sample col-lected from the city of Nor-walk represents the first confirmation of WNV in that city this year. WNV is still actively transmitting throughout the southland and residents are strongly encouraged to take precau-tions to avoid mosquito bites.

Year to-date, GLACVCD has confirmed West Nile vi-rus activity in:

• 64 cities/communities• 200 mosquito samples• 17 dead birds• 31 sentinel chickensPlease visit our West Nile

virus statistics page for the latest information.

Government officials and

educators: GLACVCD offers a variety of digital content on our website’s Resources page. Please assist us in providing this information to residents.

GLACVCD encourages residents to take the fol-lowing safety precautions to protect against mosquito-borne diseases:

• Eliminate or manage all sources of standing wa-ter to discourage mosquito breeding every week. The work residents do now will make a big difference.

• If you are outdoors when mosquitoes are bit-ing, wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts and use an insect repellent contain-ing EPA-registered active ingredients such as DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, and Oil of lemon eucalyptus (PMD). Always apply according to label instructions.

• Make sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace

screens that have tears or holes.

• Contact GLVCD at 562-944-9656 or visit gla-cvcd.org if there is a signifi-cant problem or potential mosquito breeding source where you live or work.

West Nile virus is trans-mitted to people and ani-mals through the bite of an infected mosquito. There is no cure for West Nile virus. One in five persons infected with West Nile virus will exhibit symptoms. Symp-toms usually occur between five and 15 days, and can include fever, headache, body aches, nausea, or a skin rash. These symptoms can last for several weeks to months. One in 150 people infected with the virus will become extremely ill. Se-vere symptoms include high fever, muscle weakness, neck stiffness, coma, paral-ysis, and possibly death.

Deadly West Nile Virus spreading in SoCal?

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, October 28 - Nov. 3, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST 6

Aiko Melendez happily announced that she won the Best Actress award at the International Film Festi-val Manhattan 2015 for her performance in the movie, “Asintado”.

On Instagram, Melendez said she got the good news from director Louie Ignacio.

She thanked all the peo-ple who are part of “Asinta-do” as well as her fans and

members of the press who helped promote her film.

“God is really good, he knows the perfect timing for everything,” she wrote.

The actress also congrat-ulated Ignacio for winning the Best Director award.

Early this year, Melen-dez won Best Actress at the London International Film-maker Festival of World Cinemas. (MNS)

Actress Maja Salvador could not help but get teary-eyed as she opened up about her former best friend, ac-tress Kim Chiu.

While Salvador refused to provide details of what exactly happened to them in the past, she stressed that what’s more important is that she and Chiu are start-ing to rebuild their friend-ship.

“May mga bagay na kami lang ni Kim ang naka-kaalam at ayaw ko na pong idetalye ‘yon at ayaw ko na ding balikan. Kasi ngayon sobrang happy ako na okay kami ni Kim na minsan parang pabalik na ‘yung friendship,” Salvador said.

“Kasi minsan iba kaming mag-usap sa ‘ASAP.’ So-brang masaya ako kung ano ang estado, kung ano ang mayroon kami ni Kim, pa-puntang friendship po. Kasi kung nawasak ‘yung dati, sobrang nadurog ito, paun-ti-unti binubuo,” she added.

The two Kapamilya ac-

tresses were estranged for a year because of Salvador’s relationship with actor Ger-ald Anderson, who became Chiu’s boyfriend after their stint on the reality TV se-ries “Pinoy Big Brother.”

Chiu and Salvador only patched things up in April 2014.

A year later, Anderson confirmed his breakup with Salvador.

Salvador said that she is still open to become friends with Anderson.

“He’s a nice person,” she said.

to the love story of Clark (Reid) and Leah (Lustre).

“Hindi namin ito in-ex-pect,” Lustre said. “We are really grateful for that po kasi this is our first teles-erye ever, so nakakatuwa. We are really thankful kasi maraming tumatangkilik, maraming nanonood, sinu-subaybayan. We are also thankful to Dreamscape, ABS-CBN, Viva for giving us this project.”

Although this is their first full-length TV proj-ect together, Reid said they don’t feel pressured on the set.

“It’s just fun and light. We are just having fun on the set. I think that’s why it’s so fun to watch. People go home after a long day at work to a light romantic-comedy,” he said.

Meanwhile, the two Ka-pamilya stars also shared how they pull off their “kilig” moments for the show.

“Siyempre kapag nasa eksena kami, love is what we feel. The characters are deeply in love, that’s what we feel,” Reid said.

As for Lustre, she said: “I guess medyo matagal na din po kasi kaming magka-work, more than a year. We are used to each other na rin. Of course, the character helps a lot.”

Reid and Lustre are al-ready comfortable with each other that they no longer feel awkward every time they do kissing scenes. In fact, Reid shared that he and Lustre had to kiss seven times when they shot their wedding scene.

“Hindi na kami naiilang. We are kind of used to it na kasi marami na rin pong nagawa before,” Lustre said.

The two said their friend-ship in real life also helped them become at ease with each other. (MNS)

TV host Bianca Gon-zalez has given birth to a healthy baby girl, husband JC Intal announced on his Instagram page Friday af-ternoon.

“This is the BEST feel-ing in the world!” the bas-ketball player wrote as the accompanying caption as he posted a photo of him and Gonzalez carrying the baby, whom they named Lucia.

“So proud of you for be-

ing so brave and strong for our little princess,” Intal added, addressing his wife. “Thank you Lord for the healthy, happy, safe, and normal delivery. It’s been only a couple of hours, Lu-cia, but you already filled our hearts with so much love and joy. We love you!”

Intal and Gonzalez, a host of “Pinoy Big Broth-er,” got married in Decem-ber 2014. (MNS)

story by Rory B. Quintos. I liked the movie and loved the story. I had my nostal-gia moment while watch-ing it, and wondered how I could get a regular fix. The answer is, teleserye.

If you’re a Filipino, you will know what a teleserye is. For a Filipino living out-side of the Philippines, it serves as a bridge that con-nects our two worlds, and how these shows complete us even for a moment, like food craving.

Good Filipino food is not available everywhere here in the U.S. I’ve lived in Flag-staff, Arizona for 25 years and if I want a taste of my favorite Filipino dishes, I have to drive almost 150 miles to the Phoenix area just to satisfy my craving. However, the craving to watch Philippine enter-

tainment, like teleseryes, can be satisfied anytime, anywhere, thanks to the worldwide web. Touching the lives of Filipinos every-where on demand makes a big difference.

During my recent Manila trip. I had the opportunity to sit down with award-winning director, Rory B. Quintos, whose successful projects have become my favorites. Teleseryes like “Princess & I” and “The Le-gal Wife,” satisfy my yearn-ing for Filipino entertain-ment every night. Watching unforgettable movies like “Anak,” “Kailangan Kita,” and “Dubai,” some of Rory’s classic masterpieces, I con-sider my guiltless indul-gence.

We started our discus-sion with this explanation, “Teleserye is television se-

My nostalgia fi x: Filipino director Rory B. QuintosIt’s delightful

to have a slice of home from a good story told well in a movie. Early this year, I got the chance to watch the block-buster hit, “Crazy Beautiful You,”

ries that’s produced like film.” Then she continues, “We shoot on location, cast film actors, and is the prod-uct of a creative team.”

Knowing that a project like this involves a team, I learned to appreciate the talents behind the creative process to produce a show. I find it fascinating that they are able to reach a broad au-dience, and yet touch the lives personally of everyone that watch these shows. It’s not just entertainment. It’s a reflection of our way of life, from our homes in the Philippines to where we are today.

These shows come and go. The stories can be dra-matic or shallow. I am con-stantly looking for some-thing “meaty,” a story that can touch the heart. Then, I came across the hit series “Pangako Sa ‘Yo.” Origi-nally produced 15 years ago, this re-boot has a fresh take and a great team. Rory is one of the directors just like in the original series. Seeing her signature cinematic ex-pression when she uses the grandeur of nature as a sce-

nic back drop, and watching the characters come to life affect my emotions.

“This is a heart indus-try,” states Rory. “The field of art comes from the heart, whether you’re a painter, musician, actor, director, you express emotions. I feel blessed in this lifetime to be able to do what I want and have fun every day in my job. I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and I am very grateful.”

Nakakahawa ang kan-yang excitement, and I ap-preciate her adding color in my world. Yes, it is definite-ly contagious and knowing her is a refreshing taste of home.

Life abroad brings us many rewards but it’s heart-warming when you get even just a small taste of that slice of home. I’ve learned to embrace my guilty plea-sures and let the warm feel-ing comfort me.

Thanks to technology. I will be able to satisfy my Fil-ipino entertainment crav-ing, and have my nostalgic moments fixed anytime. Now, that’s entertainment.

A nostalgic moment with Teleserye Director Rory Quinto.

M o n t h s since the pilot episode of “On the Wings of Love” aired on ABS-CBN, James Reid and Nadine Lustre still could not be-lieve the suc-cess of their first television series has become.

Aside from their core of young fans, the primetime se-ries is also attracting older viewers who are just as hooked

James, Nadine overwhelmed by success of ‘On the Wings’

James Reid and Nadine Lustre

Aiko Melendez

Aiko Melendez wins Best Actress award in Manhattan fi lm fest

Maja, Kim start to rebuild friendship

Maja Salvador

Bianca Gonzalez gives birth to baby girl

Bianca Gonzalez, JC Intal with their fi rst born.

Mag Tayo!p

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, October 28 - Nov. 3, 2015 Visit www.usasianpost.com 7

Sunday October 25 2015 (Relaxnews) – Most scien-tific studies agree that an-tioxidant-rich cacao powder and dark chocolate help to protect the heart. One rea-son to stock up on the dark stuff at the Paris Salon du Chocolat (Chocolate Fair), which begins on October 28.

Phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, iron, copper and man-ganese: dark chocolate is packed with nutrients, min-erals and trace elements that assist our immune system, facilitate metabolic processes and help with tis-sue growth and regenera-tion.

Cacao beans are also rich in flavonoids, compounds that are found in plants and act as antioxidants, meaning they combat free radicals in the body. There has been renewed interest in studying flavonoids now that they are thought to act against cancer and cardio-vascular disease.

In July 2012, the Euro-pean Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said daily consump-tion of 200mg of cocoa fla-vanols (contained in 10g of dark chocolate with a high percentage of cacao) was good for blood vessel elastic-ity, thereby improving blood circulation.

Flavonoids also lower “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and improve blood clotting, thereby diminishing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

And vitamin B3 helps to reduce artery-clogging, ac-cording to the French Fed-eration of Cardiology.

According to a study fea-tured in the European Heart Journal and presented at the Chocolate and Health Symposium in Paris on June 22, 2010, daily choco-late consumption provides a reduction of 37% in cardio-vascular diseases, 48% in the risk of a stroke and 27% in the risk of a heart attack. Its protective effects are

thought to be achieved es-sentially by lowering blood pressure, the main risk fac-tor in cardiovascular dis-eases.

Nevertheless, it is bet-ter to opt for traditional chocolate manufacturing methods, rather than those that reduce the contribu-tion from flavonoids by adding artificial flavorings, preservatives, dyes, textur-ing agents and other fatty and/or sugary ingredients. Premium dark chocolate contains at least 30% cacao powder, is less sweet and has superior nutritional qualities.

Milk chocolate only has 20% and white chocolate does not have any.

It is worth bearing in mind that chocolate should be eaten in moderation as it is high in calories. One hun-dred grams of dark choco-late is equivalent to 500 calories, which is a quarter of our daily requirements.

Two squares of dark chocolate per day are good for the health of your heart and arteries. ©Sofi photo/shutterstock.com.

Dark chocolate is good for your heart and arteries

Saturday October 24 2015 (Relaxnews) – A new study indicates that lifting weights twice a week helps to combat a decline in brain health, particularly in wom-en.

A lot of past studies have explored the beneficial im-pact of physical activity such as running, walking, and aerobics on the body, but few have looked at lift-ing weights.

This was noticed by Te-resa Liu-Ambrose, director of the Aging, Mobility and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the Univer-sity of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She and

her team sought to find out what sport would be benefi-cial for white matter (a type of central nervous system tissue which makes up the

inner part of the brain).As we age, this part of

the brain is particularly sus-ceptible to lesions (meaning holes), which initially are

asymptomatic, but can be seen in brain scans, and can cause problems with memo-ry and thinking skills.

Previous neurological studies have demonstrated a link between a large num-ber of white matter lesions and the emergence of cogni-tive problems.

According to the New York Times, Dr Liu-Am-brose and her team stud-ied the impact of lifting weights, which strengthens and builds muscles. As in the brain, muscles tend to weaken and shrink with age, affecting movement, particularly walking. The researchers sought to ver-

ify if lifting weights could change this process and play a positive role in the decline of the brain’s capabilities.

Around 155 women aged between 65 and 75 were fol-lowed for 52 weeks. They were already enrolled in a neuroscientific study and had had at least one brain scan.

The volunteers were randomly assigned to three groups after having been tested on their walk-ing speed and stability. A first group followed a once-weekly light program of up-per and lower body weight training. The second group did the same, but twice a

week. The last group, acting as a control, did stretching and balance exercises. All the participants did this for a year.

The findings, which were published in October edition of The Journal of The Amer-ican Geriatrics Society, in-dicated that the women in the control group showed a significant increase in the number of white matter le-sions. The same was true of the women who trained once a week.

In contrast, the scans of the participants who lifted weights twice a week showed less shrinkage of their white matter.

Lifting weights is the ideal sport for keeping your brain in good health

The study showed that women who lifted weights twice a week had a healthier brain than those who did not. ©wavebreakmedia ltd/shutterstock.com

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Campaign will include a new AARP caregiving book, Random Acts of Kindness contest,

virtual caregiving fair, and a special AARP The Magazine report featuring an intimate look into ‘24 hours in the life of caregiv-ers’

WASHINGTON, DC—November is National Fam-ily Caregivers Month and AARP is launching a na-tional campaign to bring awareness to the important role that family caregiv-ers play in the lives of their loved ones. AARP’s Random Acts of Kindness for Care-givers contest will begin on-October 15 with the goal of encouraging people to rec-ognize and reward caregiv-ers – many of whom spend 18 hours per week providing care like bathing, dressing, preparing meals, adminis-tering medications, driving to doctor visits or paying bills – in small but meaning-ful ways.

“Caregiving may be one of the greatest expres-sions of love and it’s woven into the lives of one in six adults,” says AARP Family and Caregiving Expert Amy Goyer, author of the new book Juggling Life, Work and Caregiving. “A stagger-ing 40 million family care-givers provide support for loved ones and, as a caregiv-er myself, I know that the smallest acts of kindness – like holding a door for some-one pushing a wheelchair, surprising them with flow-ers, or even taking a care-giver’s dog for a walk – can be memorable moments in the life of a caregiver.”

Kindness Contest to Help Family Caregivers

More than half of care-givers say they feel over-whelmed by the amount of care their family member needs. Through the Ran-dom Acts of Kindness for Caregivers contest, AARP hopes that by encouraging

people to show family care-givers small signs of sup-port, it might encourage overwhelmed caregivers, free them up to have more time with loved ones they care for, or even give them personal time to relax and rejuvenate. Those shar-ing simple acts of kindness are encouraged to submit stories and a photo of their random acts to the contest website found at www.aarp.org/caregiverkindness. In March, AARP will select 12 winners who have made a meaningful difference in the lives of family caregiv-ers. The winners will share a $10,000 prize.

24 Hours Inside a Care-giver’s World

The October issue of AARP The Magazine is tak-ing readers inside the hearts and homes of caregivers across the country. Through pictures, videos and com-pelling stories, readers will learn about ordinary people caring for spouses, friends, children, and parents. Some of the families featured live with the people they care for and one caregiver has to board a plane frequently to care for her mom.

Overall, the face of care-giving is changing. While most caregivers are women, 40 percent of caregivers are men. Surprisingly, 1 in 4 caregivers is a Millennial (between the ages of 18 and 34) and 60 percent of care-givers provide care for an adult while working outside of the home, requiring them to balance caregiving and work responsibilities.

Virtual Family Caregiv-ing Fair To help caregiv-ers like the ones featured in AARP The Magazine, AARP is hosting a Virtual Family Caregiving Fair that will take place on Thursday, November 19, 2015 from 12pm – 4pm EST. From the comfort of a home or office, a caregiver can reg-ister and join the free fair

online at aarp.org/family-carefair. During the virtual fair, a caregiver can tour the exhibit hall with over 15 booths showcasing various caregiving resources and programs, enter a “mix and mingle” lounge to connect with experts and other care-givers through online chats, visit a virtual auditorium to view scheduled and on-demand presentations and videos, and explore a library with additional resources for caregivers. For more in-formation about how AARP is supporting National Fam-ily Caregivers Month and for more caregiving resources, visit the AARP Caregiving Resource Center athttp://www.aarp.org/caregiving.

About AARPAARP is a nonprofit,

nonpartisan organization, with a membership of near-ly 38 million, that helps people turn their goals and dreams into real possibili-ties, strengthens communi-ties and fights for the issues that matter most to families such as healthcare, employ-ment and income security, retirement planning, afford-able utilities and protection from financial abuse. We advocate for individuals in the marketplace by select-ing products and services of high quality and value to carry the AARP name as well as help our members obtain discounts on a wide range of products, travel, and services. A trusted source for lifestyle tips, news and educational in-formation, AARP produces AARP The Magazine, the world’s largest circulation magazine; AARP Bulletin; www.aarp.org; AARP TV & Radio; AARP Books; and AARP en Espa�ol, a Span-ish-language website ad-dressing the interests and needs of Hispanics. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to political campaigns or candidates.

Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr speaks to some 200 high school students who are participating in the three-day Global Youth Institute hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines, Iowa where participants present and discuss their fi ndings with international experts and peers, connect with other students from around the world,

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 20 – With continued economic growth and un-precedented levels of in-ternational business con-fidence, the Philippines is ready to tap into the full potential of its economic re-lationship with the United States.

This was the message of the private sector delegation from Manila as it kicked off the 4th Philippine Pri-vate Sector-led Investment Roadshow in Pittsburgh, PA on 19 October 2019.

The topnotch business delegation led by Dr. Ber-nardo Villegas, Visiting Professor at IESE Business School in Barcelona, and Professor at the University of Asia and the Pacific, in-cludes Mr. Engelbert Cama-sura, Partner at Ward How-ell International Consulting Firm; Mr. Ronaldo Elepa�o, 1st Vice President for Busi-ness Development Interna-tional at DM Consunji, Inc.; Mr. Jose Mari Mercado, President and CEO of the Information Technology & Business Process Associa-tion of the Philippines; and Mr. Juan Olondriz Pe�a, President of RAJI INC. The delegation was accompa-nied by Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr.; Atty. Jose Vic-tor Chan-Gonzaga, the Em-bassy’s Economic Minister; Philippine Consul General Mario L. De Leon, Jr.; and Mr. JP I�igo, representative of the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in New York.

According to Ambassa-dor Cuisia, the Philippines and the US have economic ties based on shared val-ues, which can be further strengthened by more American investments in the Philippines.

“The Philippines and the US are natural busi-ness partners because of our shared values. We are host to some 600 American companies and their affili-ates and I continue to invite more US businesses to set up operations in the Philip-pines in the priority sectors of Information Technology and Business Process Man-agement, Infrastructure, Tourism, and Manufactur-ing,” said Ambassador Cui-sia.

Record level macroeco-nomic and stock market performances, credit ratings upgrades, improvements in competitiveness rankings, record-high levels of foreign direct investment, a grow-ing demand of world class Filipino talent, and an un-precedented level of interna-tional business confidence stemming from good gover-nance are more reasons for the US to do business in the Philippines.

In his presentation, Dr. Villegas, one of the Phil-ippines’ most prominent economists, identified “a stable democracy, improved governance, strong macro-economic fundamentals, an educated, young and Eng-lish-speaking labor force, and OFW remittances as positive trends contribut-ing to the Philippines be-

coming one of the emerging markets.” He also added that “the Philippines is in a demographic sweet spot with the young and growing population being the main source of our competitive advantage.”

The international com-munity is paying attention to these improvements, as shown by various global re-ports and indexes.

“The World Economic Forum Global Competitive-ness Index for 2015-2016 just ranked the Philippines 47 out of 140 economies. Up five notches from the pre-vious year’s ranking, this assessment highlights the Philippines’ favorable mac-roeconomic environment, capacity for innovation, and business sophistication,” said Ambassador Cuisia.

He added, “The American Chamber of Commerce also released its 2016 ASEAN Business Outlook Survey, which indicated 81 percent [of businesses surveyed] be-lieved that their profit out-look in the Philippines is going to increase, while 14 percent said that it would stay the same and 5 percent said that it would decrease. Moreover, 71 percent of re-spondents plan to expand in the Philippines and 67 percent indicated that they expect their workforce to in-crease in 2015.”

The Manila delegation was resolute in their pre-sentations that the Philip-pines is prepared to unlock its full economic potential. They were unanimous in saying that the Philippine economy not only has a lot to offer today but also has a lot to look forward to in the near future and in the com-ing decades.

The ASEAN Economic Community, with the Eco-nomic Integration meeting happening this year, pres-ents many opportunities for business and investment in the near future.

“ASEAN has a combined nominal GDP of US$2.4 tril-lion, and would collectively rank as the world’s sev-enth largest economy. GDP growth for 2015 is forecast by the Asian Development Bank at 5.1 percent. US in-

vestment alone in ASEAN was almost $190 billion in 2012, and growing at an av-erage annual rate of 9 per-cent. And with a combined population of some 625 mil-lion people, its transforma-tion into a single market will unlock a massive amount of economic opportunities,” said Ambassador Cuisia.

According to estimates of Dr. Villegas, the Philip-pines will experience growth rates of 7 to 10 percent in the next decade, which the professor says is a positive result of over 25 years of slow and painful reforms. Citing an HSBC Global Re-search Report predicting that the country will be the 16th largest economy in the world by 2050, Dr. Villegas also stated that “it is even possible for the Philippines to become a developed coun-try in 20-30 years.”

“Since our geographic location also puts us at the center of the most dynamic region for the next 50-100 years, we can be the gateway of the Pacific to South East Asia, and to greater Asia,” said Ambassador Cuisia.

The conference in Pitts-burgh is the first leg in a three-city Private Sector-led Investment Roadshow and was made possible with the cooperation of the Philip-pine Consulate General in New York, Philippine Trade and Investment Center in New York, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development led by Execu-tive Vice President Mr. Bill Flanagan, and the Filipino American Association of Pittsburgh.

Ambassador Cuisia like-wise had a meeting with Pittsburgh City Mayor Wil-liam Peduto and attended a dinner hosted by the Fili-pino American Association of Pittsburgh.

The delegation will visit Dallas/Fort Worth on 21 October before they head to Seattle for the final leg of the roadshow on 23 October. Ambassador Cuisia will also address the Greater Dallas American Chamber of Com-merce and the Dallas/Fort Worth World Affairs Coun-cil on 20 and 21 October, re-spectively. ###

LOS ANGELES – The owners and operators of 10 Southern California busi-nesses were charged today in federal court with ille-gally selling cosmetic con-tact lenses without prescrip-tions.

Some of the products that were purchased in connec-tion with this investigation were contaminated with dangerous pathogens that can cause eye injury, blind-ness and loss of the eye.

The 10 criminal informa-tions filed late this afternoon charge the store operators with selling “misbranded” contact lenses because they were sold without prescrip-tions.

The products that were allegedly illegally sold were marketed as Halloween and beauty accessories un-der names such as Wonder Look, Red Rose, Black & White, Beauty World and Crazy Eagle.

“Contact lenses that fit the eye poorly could cause eye damage, including scratches on the cornea, corneal infection, conjunc-tivitis, decreased vision and blindness,” according to the charging documents.

“Under California law, a California resident retailer could only sell and/or dis-pense contact lenses if the retailer was a licensed phy-sician or surgeon, licensed optometrist, registered dis-pensing optician, or a phar-macist.”

“These products pose a serious danger to unsuspect-ing Halloween shoppers,

and those who have already purchased these products should not use them,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “As re-quired by the law, contact lenses should be used only when they are prescribed by a knowledgeable medical professional.”

The cases filed this week are the result of Operation “Fright Night,” which tar-geted retail stores – some of which were selling Hallow-een costumes and accesso-ries – that sold cosmetic and decorative contact lenses without a prescription to unsuspecting consumers in Southern California.

The investigation was conducted by the United States Food and Drug Ad-ministration’s (FDA’s) Im-port Operations Branch of the Los Angeles District Office; the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations; the California Department of Public Health; and the Cali-fornia Department of Con-sumer Affairs’ Division of Investigation, Health Qual-ity Investigation Unit.

“Consumers rely on FDA oversight to ensure the safe-ty of their contact lenses. Buying decorative or ‘fash-ion’ contact lenses without a valid prescription puts consumers’ health – and their vision – at risk,” said George M. Karavetsos, di-rector, FDA Office of Crimi-nal Investigations.

“The FDA is committed to working with our law en-forcement partners to keep such products out of the

U.S. marketplace.”Contact lenses – whether

corrective, cosmetic or deco-rative – are considered to be prescription medical devices subject to FDA regulations. Due to the risk of injury, blindness and possible eye infection, all contact lenses require prescriptions from medical professionals who can provide guidance on the proper care and mainte-nance of the contact lenses.

“This joint operation is important because wear-ing these decorative lenses is dangerous and can cause serious injury, which poten-tially can result in blindness or the loss of an eye if they are not properly prescribed by a licensed eye care pro-fessional,” said Dr. Karen Smith, the director of the California Department of Public Health and the state public health officer.

“Those who sell these lenses without obtaining a prescription put people at risk. Operation Fright Night is a great example of our joint commitment to protect public health from the risk of eye-related illness and in-jury from these prescription medical devices.”

Cassandra Hockenson, the spokesperson for the Medical Board of California, stated: “The Medical Board of California’s primary mis-sion is consumer protection, and it is imperative to get the word out to the public on the dangers of selling con-tact lenses without a proper prescription from a licensed medical professional.”

Facing charges are store operators selling “misbranded” contact lenses because they were sold without prescriptions. The products that were allegedly illegally sold were marketed as Halloween and beauty accessories under names such as Wonder Look, Red Rose, Black & White, Beauty World and Crazy Eagle.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oc-tober 16, 2015 – Exceptional high school students from across the United States and other countries learned about positive developments in the Philippines and its efforts to become climate-resilient, climate-smart, and food-secure.

Some 200 high school stu-dents are participating in the three-day Global Youth In-stitute hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines, Iowa from 15 to 17 October 2015. Through-out the event, participants present and discuss their findings with international experts and peers, connect with other students from around the world, tour lead-ing industrial and research facilities, and t ake part in symposium discussions with experts in science and indus-try.

Students are also given

the opportunity to meet glob-al leaders. This year, Ambas-sador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. ad-dressed the participants on behalf of President Benigno S. Aquino III on the first day of the event.

“I would like to commend the World Food Prize Foun-dation for having a program such as the Global Youth Institute to inspire the next generation to study and work in fields related to global ag-riculture. By improving ag-ricultural productivity and incomes, promoting fair trade and better nutritional practices at all levels, imme-diate access to food by those who are most in need can be enhanced,” said Ambassador Cuisia.

According to the envoy, food security is an urgent and important goal of the Philippines, a country with a population density great-er than that of the United

States, facing increasing cli-mate change threats.

“The total population of the United States is more than three times that of the Philippines but the popula-tion density in the Philip-pines is at 332 people for ev-ery square kilometer of land, almost 10 times that of the United States at 35 people per square kilometer (or per 250 acres).

“You can therefore imag-ine the challenge faced by the Philippines in feeding more people given limited amount of land, while our island na-tion faces threats from more intense tropical cyclones, drastic changes in rainfall patterns, sea level rise and increasing temperatures.

“It is in this vein that our country strives to be climate-resilient and climate-smart in order to be food-secure and to develop sustainably,” said Ambassador Cuisia.

PHL set to unlock full economic potential with US

PHL’S eff orts towards sustainable food security highlighted at global youth institute address

AARP launches National Caregiving Awareness Campaign: Show Kindness to 40 Million Caregivers

Operation ‘Fright Night’ targets cosmetic contact lenses

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PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRITHoly Spirit Thou who make me see everything and show me the way to reach

my ideal, You who give me the divine gift to forgive and forget the wrong that

is done to me and who are in all instances of my life with me. I, in this short

dialogue, want to thank You for everything and confi rm once more that I never

want to be separated from You no matter how great the material desires may

be. I want to be with You and my loved ones in Your perpetual glory. Amen. A

person must pray this for three consecutive days without stating his wish. After

the 3rd day the wish will be granted, no matter how diffi cult it may be. Promise

to publish this as soon as your favor has been granted. Gigi

PRAYERS

CAREGIVERS CAREGIVERS CAREGIVERSCAREGIVERS CAREGIVERS CAREGIVERS

PRAYER to the BLESSED VIRGIN

(Never known to fail)

Oh most beautiful fl ower of Mt. Carmel, fruit wine splendor of Heaven.Blessed

Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. Oh

Star of the Sea. Help me and show me here you are my Mother. Oh Holy Mary,

Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the

bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. (make request). There are

none that can withstand your power. Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for

us who have recourse to Thee (3 times). Holy Mary, I place this prayer in your

hands (3 times). Say this prayer for three consecutive days and then you must

publish and it will be granted to you.Grateful Thanks.-MARIE BEL

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PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Holy Spirit Thou who make me see everything and show me the way to reach

my ideal, You who give me the divine gift to forgive and forget the wrong that

is done to me and who are in all instances of my life with me. I, in this short

dialogue, want to thank You for everything and confi rm once more that I never

want to be separated from You no matter how great the material desires may

be. I want to be with You and my loved ones in Your perpetual glory. Amen. A

person must pray this for three consecutive days without stating his wish. After

the 3rd day the wish will be granted, no matter how diffi cult it may be. Promise

to publish this as soon as your favor has been granted. JOANNA

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Thursday October 22 2015 (Relaxnews) – Re-spected futurologist Dr Ian Pearson has forecast 2026 as the year in which the electric car will overtake its gasoline-powered counter-parts in terms of sales.

His prediction is based on new research, published this week by Go Ultra Low, a UK government-funded organization for promoting greener motoring. It fi nds that today’s 14-to-17-year-olds are already fantasizing about owning their fi rst car, and that it is going to be of the electric, rather than the gas-powered variety.

When asked, 81% of British 14-year-olds said that their fi rst car would be electric. What’s more, 88% of all respondents said they believed more people should already be driving a hybrid or plug-in electric car in order to protect the environment.

“Young people are very

aware of environmental issues and it is great that they also notice that electric cars will be cheaper to run, so it is a clear win-win,” said Dr Pearson. “Battery technology continues to im-prove, and the amount of resources needed to make an electric car will continue to fall. These technology developments will all add up, greatly reducing the en-vironmental impact of cars while making them safer and cheaper. If current trends towards electric cars continue this means that, by 2026, demand for elec-tric cars will almost cer-tainly outweigh demand for ‘traditionally fuelled’ cars.”

Presenting a ‘future technology’ as a concrete reality Although the envi-ronmental and fi nancial benefi ts of an electric car are clear, presenting that message to the current gen-eration of drivers is chal-lenging, meaning that car

companies need to go to great lengths to promote their greener offerings.

For example, on Wednes-day, British luxury marque Aston Martin used a Chi-nese presidential visit to the UK in order to draw attention to its fi rst plug-in electric car, the RapidE.

Across the Atlantic, Toyota went even bigger. As part of Back to the Fu-ture Day -- October 21, 2015 -- it hosted a special event where it unveiled an equally special version of its Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. It had been heavily customized to resemble the time-traveling DeLorean, made famous by the fi lm, complete with gullwing doors. “A piece of the future is now a reality with the Toyota Mirai,” said Chris-topher Lloyd, the actor who played Doc Brown in the trilogy and who attended the event in California. “Compared to some other

Back to the Future Mirai Concept. Toyota used Back to the Future day to promote its hydrogen fuel cell car. ©Toyota

Electric cars will be the norm by 2026

technologies predicted in the fi lm, like rehydrated pizza or self-tying shoes, this technology has the

real potential to change the world.” But if Dr Pearson’s forecast is accurate, such events will soon be con-

signed to the history books, and maybe with them, the internal combustion engine itself.

Monday October 26 2015 (Relaxnews) – The Renault Nissan Alliances seems to have perpetual en-ergy when it comes to pro-moting electric cars. Fresh from providing electric car transport for the Champi-ons League Final, the com-pany is teasing a new elec-tric concept car for Tokyo and has announced it will be providing 200 plug-in cars for delegates attending the United Nations COP21 conference in Paris.

Nissan has been sending out teaser images for an as yet unnamed concept car

that will be seen in the fl esh for the fi rst time as the To-kyo motor show greets the world’s press on Wednes-day. Described simply as the company’s “future vi-sion of car intelligence and electrifi cation,” it is widely expected to offer the stron-gest clues yet as to what the next generation Leaf elec-tric car will look like. And, potentially any autonomous or semi-autonomous fea-tures it might pack.

The Nissan Leaf and its sister car, the Renault Zoe (both the same once the badges are removed) is the

world’s most popular plug-in electric car. It may fall behind more exotic fare such as the Tesla Model S in terms of performance, range, comfort and cool, but it does win out on price and accessibility – it’s on sale all around the world.

Nissan has spent most of the last 12 months actively marketing the benefi ts of going electric. It partnered with UEFA for the Cham-pions League, installing charging points and offer-ing a fl eet of plug-in cars for the tournament’s fi nal in Berlin in May and is fol-

lowing it up by providing the world’s largest electric-vehicle fl eet – 200 cars both Renault and Nissan – for the United Nations COP21 conference in Paris, France on November 30.

The fl eet will be used for transporting delegates to and from the event as a zero-emissions complement to public transport. And as well as cars, the company will be working with utili-ties companies to install 30 charging points.

“Electric vehicles are a practical and affordable mode of transportation. At

the same time, they offer a solution for drastically re-ducing tailpipe CO2 emis-sions. They also reduce regulated exhaust pollut-ants, helping us to improve the air quality in our cities. Together, the public and private sectors can acceler-ate the transition to a zero-emission society,” said Car-los Ghosn.

The company has also re-cruited 200 volunteer driv-ers from within its ranks to shuttle guests and to artic-ulate to passengers the ben-efi ts of opting for a plug-in electric car.

“Renault and Nissan employees are at the fore-front of the electric-vehicle revolution. Many of them already drive an electric ve-hicle. They are the best am-bassadors to demonstrate the benefi ts of these cars and what zero-emission mobility is all about,” said Ghosn.

Nissan touts electric cars with fl eet for COP21

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Tokyo, Japan (AFP) Fri-day 7/31/2015 – Honda said Friday that net profi t in April-June jumped nearly 20 percent as strong sales in North America and a weak yen helped offset the impact of an exploding air-bag crisis.

The Civic maker’s bot-tom-line profi t came to 186 billion yen ($1.5 billion) for the three months, up from 155.6 billion yen a year earlier, while sales jumped 15.5 percent to 3.7 trillion yen.

Operating profi t rose 16.4 percent, as a sharp drop in Japan’s currency benefi ts exporters such as Honda by making them more competitive overseas and infl ating repatriated earnings.

“In general, the Japa-nese auto sector has con-tinued to enjoy the positive impact of a weak yen,” said Yasuo Imanaka, analyst at Rakuten Securities in To-kyo.

Honda’s sales in North

America and Asia rose from a year ago, but weak consumer demand at home saw Japanese vehicle sales fall.

Japan’s number three automaker left its fi scal-year forecast unchanged at a net profi t of 525 billion yen on sales of 14.5 trillion yen.

In June, Honda revised down its annual earnings for the previous fi scal year, blaming the expanding re-calls of faulty airbags made by embattled supplier Takata, which have been linked to eight deaths and scores of injuries.

This month Honda, the hardest hit global auto-maker, said it was recalling another 4.5 million vehicles as the scare over a deadly defect in Takata-made air-bags widened.

The move took to 24.5 million the total number of vehicles that it had called back over the airbag affair.

The defect – thought to be associated with a chemi-

cal propellant that helps infl ate the airbags – can cause them to deploy with explosive force, sending metal shrapnel hurtling toward drivers and passen-gers.

One of the most recent confi rmed victims was a woman in Los Angeles who died last year after the de-fective infl ator in a 2001 Honda Civic ruptured, fi r-ing metal shards at her.

Honda’s biggest domes-tic rivals Toyota and Nis-san have also expanded their huge global recalls, with worldwide totals now well into the tens of mil-lions.

Tokyo-based Takata has been under fi re over the crisis, as it faces lawsuits and regulatory probes into accusations that it knew about the problem and con-cealed the dangers.

“Concerns over recalls related to Takata’s airbags has cast a shadow over the sector especially Honda,” Rakuten’s Imanaka said.

The 2016 Honda Accord: The car was unveiled at the new R&D center.©Honda

Honda three-month profi t jumps nearly 20% to $1.5-B

“Due to the current trend of fi rms using common auto parts, unexpected massive recalls are potential, size-

able risks for any carmak-er,” he added.

Nissan on Wednesday said its three-month net

profi t jumped 36.3 percent to $1.3 billion on strong sales in North America, Europe and China.

Friday July 24 2015 (Re-laxnews) – To mark the of-fi cial opening of a new facil-ity aimed at harnessing the latest technological break-throughs for automotive use, Honda took the wraps off its new Accord and of-fered a preview of some of the high-tech functions and features that could be stan-dard fare in mass-market cars

Honda, like a number of leading car companies from Mercedes-Benz to Nissan, already has a presence in Silicon Valley, but the new R&D facility will see things move into high gear.

“As an industry, we are on the verge of some major transformational changes brought on by the conver-gence of what have been, to this point, largely disparate technology disciplines,” said Honda R&D Americas President, Frank Paluch. “Honda will embrace and help lead this convergence. Our operations in Silicon Valley are a testimony to our focus on this new di-rection in our product and technology development ef-forts.”

Honda used the occasion to showcase the 2016 model year Accord, a car the com-pany claims is the most technologically advanced Accord in history.

As well as looking sharp-er, sportier and boasting a number of features such as front and rear parking sen-sors as standard kit, it is the fi rst mass-market car to hit the road with support for both Google’s Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay smartphone connectivity and infotainment systems.

“Where else to introduce the most technologically advanced midsize sedan, the 2016 Accord, than in Silicon Valley,” said John Mendel, executive vice president of the Automobile Division, American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “Customers want their vehicles to be more intelligently integrat-ed with their smartphone-powered lives, and we are committed to delivering that experience starting with Accord.”

The Accord will also be offered with Honda Sens-ing, a bundled package of active safety and driver assistance features includ-ing lane keeping assist and lane departure warning, collision mitigation braking and adaptive cruise control.

Alongside the new car, Honda outlined its plans for Honda Xcelerator – an initiative at the center that will be charged with turn-ing tech advancements into real-world automotive features and services and one that will have loose ties with the tech compa-nies that call Silicon Valley home.

Honda drives into the future with new Accord, Silicon Valley R&D center

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, October 28 - Nov. 3, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST 12

MANILA, Oct 24 (Mabuhay) -- “Threatened, tortured and co-erced.” This is how a lawyer de-scribed the experience of former Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) minister Lowell Menorca II when he was illegally detained at the religious sect’s central compound in Que-zon City.

Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles, who represents Menorca, said Satur-day that the former INC minister was subjected to interrogation, threats and torture by the infl u-ential church as it held his family captive from July 25 to October 21, 2015.

“Very traumatizing daw po. Sa briefi ng namin, very short, hindi pa po kami nakakakuha ng det-alye, but may mga continuous at consistent na interrogations, tor-ture at paghihigpit. At, of course, ‘yung detention,” Angeles said.

Menorca only left the INC com-pound when the religious sect needed him to release a statement ensuring the faithful of his safety, Angeles claimed.

“Umabot din po sa point na hindi sila nakakalabas doon sa tirahan nila at kung nakakala-bas man, is under heavy guard.

Ilalabas siya on certain occasions katulad nga ng pagpahayag niya, alleged pahayag niya niya doon sa Net 25 or other occasions para ilabas, ipamukha na supposedly, nasa mabuti siyang kalagayan,” she said.

“But always, always po, may-roon siyang katabi, mayroon si-yang heavy guard na tao na kasa-ma. At may taong nagpapaalala na andoon pa sa kanilang custody ‘yung asawa niya at anak so hindi po siya malaya ever since kinuha siya noong July 16.”

Menorca said in a video posted online Friday that he was illegal-ly detained by the INC.

He also claimed that the inter-view aired on Net 25, where he denied that he was held captive, was scripted.

“Kaya po nila ginawa ‘yun sapagka’t ginamit nila ang pag-kakataon na ‘yun, na alisin ako sa kulungan, ilagay ako sa isang controlled environment na kung saan maaari nila akong puntahan anytime, kausapin, i-interrogate, at makuha nila ‘yung mga impor-masyon na gusto nilang makuha mula sa akin patungkol sa mga panulat ni Antonio Ebanghelista,”

Menorca said in the online video.‘Policemen were part of abduc-

tion’Angeles also revealed that the

rescue operations for Menorca had been delicate as there were members of the Philippine Na-tional Police (PNP) on the side of the INC.

Menorca and his wife, infant child and household helper were rescued by another law enforce-ment agency.

No one was arrested in the op-eration.

“Sa personal knowledge ko po, walang inaresto. Gayunpaman, it doesn’t mean na hindi siya ni-rescue kasi the circumstances were scarier than normal,” Ange-les said.

The lawyer also alleged that several policemen were present when the INC seized Menorca af-ter church service in Sorsogon in July.

“Hinandcuff (handcuff) po siya, nilagyan po ng sako sa ulo, tinu-tukan ng baril ‘tas kinaladkad po doon sa sasakyan. And this was after service,” she said.

“Mayroong mga miyembro ng PNP -- hindi naman po namin ini-

lalahat -- may mga miyembro po ng PNP na nandoon sa pagkuha ni Mr. Menorca. At saka may-roong mga false accusations, false charges sa kanya. So we have to be very careful with dealing with the police,” she added, noting that some witnesses were able to iden-tify the policemen involved in the abduction.

Menorca’s rescue came hours before the Supreme Court grant-ed on Friday the writs of habeas corpus and amparo fi led by his kin.

(READ: Kin of ‘missing’ Iglesia minister fi le writs of amparo, ha-beas corpus)

In an order promulgated Fri-day, the SC directed respondents INC Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo and members of the Sang-gunian, Radel Cortez, Bienvenido Santiago and Rolando Esguerra, to produce the warm bodies of Lowell Menorca; his wife, Jinky Otsuka; the couple’s child, Yurie; and their house help Abegail Yan-son.

The order remanded the case to the Court of Appeals for hearing, and a verifi ed return of the writs was ordered within 10 working

days.Fighting onAngeles stressed that their

camp will not back down from exposing anomalies within the INC and pressing charges against some of its offi cials, saying that they are searching for other miss-ing members of the religious sect to bolster their case.

“Tinitingnan po namin kung nasaan sila, anong kalagayan nila dahil siyempre ‘pag nag-fi le kami ng petition, kailangan alam namin kung saan sila hahanapin. Mayroong mga naka-disappear pa. So hanggang sa ma-ascertain namin with what little informa-tion we have kung nasaan sila, hindi po kami makagalaw,” she said.

“Gayunpaman, kahit ‘yung mga tao na hindi nasa custody ng simbahan ay marami pong napa-pagbantaan. Mayroong mga sina-sabihan na ngayon na susundan siya, papatayin siya, pahihira-pan siya o kaya pahihirapan ang pamilya. So nakaumang kami ng ibang kaso also for, possibly, the writ of amparo dahil dumarami rin po ang mga taong tinatakot nila.”

Ex-INC minister tortured, threatened before rescue -- lawyer

MANILA, Oct 26 (Mabuhay) – A lawmaker from Davao City has urged the national government to conduct cloud seeding operations to fi ght the haze from Indonesia that is currently affecting portions of Visayas and Mindanao.

Congressman Isidro Ungab, chair of the House committee on appropriations, said inducing rains would help in preventing the haze from spreading further and blanketing Davao City.

“The government could help by inducing rains through cloud seeding. Perhaps the rains could stop the further spread of the haze,” he told reporters Monday.

Cloud seeding modifi es the weather by introducing silver iodide or calcium chloride to the atmosphere to induce condensation and, eventually, rain.

Although Ungab said it’s still “business as usual” in Davao City, he noted that the haze has considerably blurred the skyline.

“We’re covered by the haze. There’s like a thin white smoke [overhead]—the kind we see in bonfi res,” he said.

The lawmaker said he is wary of the possible health complica-tions that might affect the residents if the haze is not stopped.

“It might lead to respiratory problems. The health of our chil-dren should be protected,” he said.

State weather bureau PAGASA said the smoke and haze from forest fi res in Indonesia reached the Philippines because of Ty-phoon Lando.

The typhoon’s southwest winds were strong enough to enable the smaze (smoke and haze) to reach the Philippines, affecting more areas than before.

Davao solon urges cloud seeding ops to fi ght haze

President Benigno S. Aquino III answers questions directed to him during the open forum in the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines (SEIPI) Foundation Inc. 14th CEO’s Forum at the Grand Ballroom of The Bellevue Hotel in North Bridgeway, Filinvest City, Alabang, Muntinlupa City on Friday (Oct. 23, 2015) with the theme: “Bayanihan: Building a Sustainable Future for the Philippine Electronics Industry.” The SEIPI CEO’s Forum is an annual gathering of chief executive offi cers, presidents, general managers, managing directors and executives of the Philippine electronics industry with base of operations in the country. It is the only venue where the organization invites the Philippine President to address and express the administration’s support to the biggest export industry, 42% total exports and driver of the Philippine economy. Also in photo are Philippine Economic Zone Authority Director-General Lilia de Lima, Presidential Communications Operations Offi ce Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma Jr., SEIPI president Dr. Danilo “Dan” Lachica and Interior and Local Government Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento. (MNS photo)