Weekend balita january 24, 2015

LOS ANGELES

VOL. XXII, NO. 51 THE LEADING SOURCE OF NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR FILIPINO-AMERICANSJANUARY 24 - 30, 2015

See VINA MORALES page 26

See FROZEN AID, page 12

$15-M military assistance withheld earlier due to human rights abuses

Manila, Philippines | AFP | Thursday 1/22/2015 – The United States has lifted restrictions on a small portion of its mili-tary assistance to the Philippines that was withheld over human rights concerns, the foreign minister said Thursday.

The gesture affects about $15 million dollars that have been withheld over the last five years, a fraction of Washington’s total military assistance to the South East Asian island.

Albert del Rosario told reporters that the aid restriction had been lifted “sometime last year”, but did not explain why it had been lifted.

A day earlier, US assistant defense

secretary David Shear said that the Wash-ington had provided $300 million in military-related assistance since 2001 and would provide another $40 million in 2015 as part of America’s support to modernize the poorly-equipped Philippine military, which is one of the weakest in the region.

Philippine-US defense relations have been complicated by leftist and nationalist groups who oppose the longstanding alli-ance and who have protested against any US military presence or assistance to the Southeast Asian nation.

Previously, human rights groups have successfully lobbied US legislators to cut military aid over the Philippine military’s alleged failure to improve its human rights record.Firefi ghters try to extinguish the fi re on a burning bus at the northbound lane of the Ayala

fl yover Wednesday. No one was reported hurt in the incident that caused massive traffi c and suspension of the Metro Rail Transit operation. (MNS photo)

MANILA, Jan 22 (Mabuhay) – Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday revealed that he has filed a resolution expanding the scope of the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee probe on the corruption allega-tions against Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Trillanes said he filed last Tuesday, January 20, proposed Senate Resolution 1114 which seeks to look into the alleged anomalies at the Home Development Mu-tual Fund (Pag-IBIG) and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP), where Binay serves as Board of Trustees chairman and president, respectively.

He said Senator TG Guingona, chair of the mother Blue Ribbon Committee,

referred the resolution to sub-committee, chaired by Senator Koko Pimentel.

“He (Guingona) believes that it is con-sistent as far as the personalities involved dito sa ongoing investigation natin. Para doon sa mga nagtatanong kung anong koneksyon nito doon sa first resolution, ito po, meron na pong bagong resolution kaya konektado na siya directly,” Trillanes said.

The ongoing sub-committee probe was launched by virtue of Senate Resolution 826, which deals with the alleged overpric-ing of the Makati City Hall Building II and “other related anomalies committed by past and present Makati City Hall officials.” PAG-IBIG Chair Atty. Darlene Berberabe attends the Blue Ribbon Subcommittee hearing for

the fi rst time. (MNS photo)

US thaws frozen aid to PHL

Senate expands Binay probe

Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Tuesday 1/20/2015 - Manny Pacquiao thinks fans deserve to see him fight Floyd Mayweather and wants the unbeaten American to confirm a May date by the end of this month, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

“We have to know soon because if they will not fight, we can move on and choose another opponent,” the Filipino fight king told the newspaper on a visit to its offices to promote his new documentary film, “Manny.”

“We have a deadline... this month,” Pacquiao said, although he added that he didn’t know if Mayweath-er would sign off on a May 2 fight in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao says he and promoters Top Rank have agreed to terms that in-clude giving Mayweather a 60 percent cut of the proceeds in a megafight widely expected to shatter all box-office and televi-sion revenue records.

ESPN reported this month that Pacquiao has also agreed on issues such as the gloves to be used

and a drug testing protocol.Drug testing was one of the issues that

caused a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown to fall through when it was being negoti-ated in 2009 and early 2010.

The eyes of the boxing world have long been on a showdown between the unbeaten Mayweather (47-0, 26 knockouts) and eight-division world champion Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 knockouts), two of the greatest boxers of their generation.

Talk of the superfight gained steam in December, when Mayweather proposed the May 2 date and Pacquiao vowed to chase him into submission.

Pacquiao wants Mayweather decision this month

See BINAY PROBE, page 12

See BEGGARS, page 12

Manila, Philippines | AFP | Friday 1/23/2015 – The Philippines government came under fire Friday after admitting that hundreds of homeless people were taken off Manila’s streets and put into luxury accommodation during Pope Francis’s recent visit, when he preached compassion for the poor.

Members of parliament demanded an explanation after Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman revealed 490 beggars and homeless people were taken to air-conditioned log cabins at a resort near Manila for the January 15-19 visit.

“The pope would have wanted to see the Philippines, warts and all. Let us not pretend that we are a first-world country,” House of Representatives member Terry Ridon, who is initiating a congressional inquiry, told AFP.

Soliman said the street people, many of whom live in shanties and hammocks tied to palm trees along the Manila Bay seafront, were removed from the capital’s Roxas Boulevard before the visit.

A record crowd of six million flooded the bayside road on Sunday to hear Pope Francis celebrate mass in a nearby park, the highlight of his tour of the Catholic outpost where he preached “mercy and

Gov’t admits beggars taken off streets for papal visit

Manny Pacquiao

Vina Morales ready to give love another chance

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can we do?A: That depends on how long you think

it will take for your wife to find a job, how much you owe, and whether your creditors sue you and garnish your wages. Gener-ally speaking, if payments to your credit card debts are more than 30% of your take home pay, you are in trouble. In this case, you may want to consider bankruptcy as an option.

Q: Will filing for bankruptcy ruin my credit forever?

A: No, in fact it might even make an instant improvement, particularly if you cannot pay your bills. If you cannot make ends meet, your debt to income ratio is too high. At that point your prospects of getting more credit is zero. A bankruptcy cures the debt to income problem, discharging debt and leaving income. This gives you access to a number of credit card and other lenders who literally target people with bankruptcy discharges. See next question!

Q: Will anyone issue me with a credit card, when I have a bankruptcy on my report?

A: Yes, there are many creditors who specialize in doing business with bank-ruptcy debtors. They are usually secured creditors that offer auto financing, mort-gages and secured credit cards. Their main motivation is money - they want to charge you a little extra, and there is no real risk involved. After bankruptcy, you cannot file again for eight years. You have no other debts, a good debt to income ratio, and can afford to service the new loan.

Q: How long does it take to get unse-cured credit at the same cost as before my bankruptcy?

A: Anywhere between 30 days and six months. We checked out several programs available. Some offer secured visa cards. That is where the line of credit is secured by a savings deposit. Another program we looked in to, offers an unsecured line of credit of up to $5,000 to shop at their cata-logue store. Generally, most department stores will reestablish your credit after six months to a year of good payment his-tory with another bank. Mortgage lenders consider applicants based on fico scores. There are programs available, starting at about 560 fico. Building your fico score is not difficult, if planned methodically, and a secured credit card is a good way to start.

BANKRUPTCY OPTIONSAdmittedly, most people filing bank-

ruptcy, file under Chapter 7, (The real bankruptcy) that discharges all unsecured debt. However, there are people with problems that are best resolved through Chapter 13, the debt consolidation pro-gram. Chapter 13 is used primarily by those who either have problems with secured debt, and want to keep the collateral, or perhaps, have plenty of assets, but no liquid cash, and want to avoid a creditor imposed liquidation.

Most Chapter 13’s are filed by people who are late on their mortgage, and want to avoid losing their home through fore-closure and trust deed sale. Since the mort-gage is a secured debt, you have only two choices, pay the debt or give up the house, but there is help - since Chapter 13 lets you amortize the mortgage arrearages, and in most cases, discharge unsecured debt at the same time. By discharging unsecured debt, your ability to service the mortgage is improved, and hopefully, you can stay

in your home.Sample questions on Chapter 13.Q: Can I make lower house payments if

I file a Chapter 13 repayment plan? A: If you have a second mortgage, we

might be able to strip that off the property. As far as the first mortgage is concerned, you may also be eligible for one of several loan modification plans that we work with. If you are not eligible for a loan modifica-tion, you must make the regular scheduled payments. However, the delinquent portion can be spread out over three years at a nominal interest rate.

Q: What does a Chapter 13 do to my credit card debts?

A: That depends on your income level. For most people, their unsecured debt, like credit card debts would be wiped out. This in turn helps to pay the mortgage arrears.

Q: Can a Chapter 13 stop lenders repos-sessing my automobile?

A: Yes, it will stop the repossession, and your monthly payments can be low-ered, based on the depreciated value of the automobile.

Q: Can a Chapter 13 help me with debts to the IRS or student loans?

A: A Chapter 13 can be very helpful with debts that are not dischargeable in a regular Chapter 7. These types of debts can only be discharged if they are past their respective statute of limitations. A chapter 13 will allow you to pay these debts over a period of time, and limit future interest accruing on the debt.

Q: What’s the main difference between Chapter 13 and Chapter 7?

A: Chapter 7 will discharge all unse-cured debts, but does not resolve problems associated with arrears on secured debts. (Such as late payments on the mortgage)

Q: I filed Chapter 7 last year, can I file Chapter 13 now?

A: Yes. Although Chapter 7 bars you from re-filing again for eight years, a Chapter 13 can be filed every three years.

Q: I own a house together with my brother. We want to file a Chapter 13 to stop a foreclosure, do we both have to file?

A: No, only one of you need file, preferable the party that owes the most in unsecured debt, and thereby has the most to gain.

Q: I have no equity in my home. I just want to stay here as long as possible. What can be done to stop a trust deed sale and prolong my occupancy?

A: Contact your lawyer to discuss all options available to you.

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Discharge debt – reestablish creditBanks and credit card companies have told us how impor-

tant it is to maintain our credit, honor our obligations, pay on time, but what if we suddenly can’t pay on time, then what? What if I lose my job, and can’t pay anyone right now, where does that put me? The answers may surprise you:

Q: My wife recently lost her job. My income goes to food and rent. We haven’t paid our credit cards for two months, and have been sent to collection, and or get letters from attorneys who threaten to sue us. What


MANILA, Jan 22 (Mabuhay) – Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) president Darlene Marie Berberabe was unaware that the agency providing her security was allegedly connected with Vice President Jejomar Binay, who recom-mended it to her, and Pag-IBIG director Tomas Lopez.

Berberabe admitted that it was only now that she heard the connection between Omni Security Investigation Inc., Binay, and Lopez.

“Ngayon ko lang din tinignan yung GIS (general information sheet ng Omni) andun nga yung Hirene Lopez, hindi ko sya kilala nang personal. Hindi naging apparent yung connection dahil it (security contract) did not reach the board,” she said during the resumption of the hearing of the blue ribbon subcommittee on the alleged over-priced Makati City Hall Building II and other corruption allegations against Binay.

Hirene Lopez, treasurer of Omni, is the wife of Tomas Lopez who is a member of the Pag-IBIG board of directors and presi-dent of University of Makati.

Berberabe’s close-in security personnel

are employees of Omni.Former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto

Mercado earlier claimed the Lopezes are dummies of Binay.

During the hearing, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said Berber-abe should scold her office’s legal depart-ment for not pointing out the conflict of interest in getting the contract.

He also asked Berberabe if Lopez is at-tending their board meetings, to which the latter replied in the affirmative.

“Bakit sa inyo naga-attend tapos dito nawawala siya? Kelan ang susunod ninyong meeting, baka kami kelangan pu-munta doon para sumagot siya dito. Can you inform us when is your next meeting?” Cayetano asked.

Berberabe said it would be on the last week of January.

She earlier admitted that she asked Binay’s advice on which security agency to get and the latter recommended the services of Omni. The contract for the security services was worth P420,000 and renewable every four months to allow them to assess her security needs.

Binay is the chairman of Pag-IBIG Fund.

“I turned [to VP] Binay. I asked for his advice and the Vice President recommend-ed Omni, that was the only participation of VP Binay. Because of the smallness of the amount, the department head was the one who signed the contract, it did not need to go through the board,” Berberabe said.

She added that a public bidding of the security service was inappropriate because of the urgency of the matter. Pag-IBIG got the services of Omni in 2011.

Berberabe earlier denied allegations that Pag-IBIG has multi-million peso contracts with Omni.

Cayetano believed that someone should be held accountable for the conflict of interest.

“May makakasuhan diyan. It was in-cumbent upon Mr. Tomas Lopez to bring up the board the matter because his wife is there (in Omni). We will look into this. Ito ang dahilan kung kaya lumalabas na kay VP (Binay) ang Omni,” he said.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, subcom-mittee chairman, asked Berberabe if the

senior officials of Pag-IBIG have already discovered the conflict of interest, to which she replied: “Di din siguro kasi ngayon ko lang narealize and only because naririnig sa Senate investigation.”

“Pag over P5 million ang amount sa Senior Vice President namin aabot. Aabot sa board kapag over P40 million ang in-volved,” she said.

Berberabe also admitted during the hearing that she knew and have talked with Gerry Limlingan, Binay’s alleged finance officer.

“Last year (ko siya huling nakausap). Mukhang nag-coincide na di ko na siya nakausap nung nagsimula ang hearings. He is consultant of HUDCC that’s why there are meetings with Pag-IBIG Fund that he would join,” she said when asked if she knew Limlingan.

The Pag-IBIG president also admitted that her brother-in-law is the chief of staff of Binay and that it was the Vice President who recommended her appointment to the post. Berberabe, a lawyer, was a professor at the University of the Philippines prior to her appointment. (MNS)

Pag-IBIG president unaware that Omni Security is connected with Binay, Lopez

MANILA, Jan 22 (Mabuhay) – De-spite the threat of being cited in contempt, Makati officials led by Mayor Junjun Binay on Thursday defied again the order of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee to attend its hearing on the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building II and other anomalies.

Binay and other Makati officials had attended the first hearings late last year, but

stopped doing so as they started questiono-ing the jurisdiction of the subcommittee to look into the alleged anomaly that is also being pinned on Binay’s father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, a former Makati mayor.

The younger Binay had earlier asked the subcommittee to provide them advance copy of the questions to be asked during the hearing – a request thumbed down by

panel head Senator Aquilino Pimentel III.The subcommittee has issued subpoenas

and show cause orders against the Makati officials. Their continued refusal to attend had prompted Pimentel to recommend to the main committee to cite them in contempt.

Pimentel said he would withdraw his recommendation if the Makati officials will attend the succeeding hearings.

In his opening statement at the resump-tion of the hearing on Thursday, Pimentel reiterated that the purpose of the hearing was “principally legislative” and aimed at minimizing if not totally eradicating cor-ruption at the local level.

He mentioned the legislative actions that have been floated as a result of the investigation, which started in August.

“I am hoping and I am hopeful that this investigation will enable us to propose measures to improve good governance at the local level. This Senate investigation is necessary for the ascertainment of the truth, and truth is certainly necessary for the enlightenment of our nation,” he said.

Aside from Makati officials, also invit-ed to the hearing were Pag-IBIG president Darlene Berberabe, officials of the Com-mission on Audit, Department of Public Works and Highways, Philippine National Police, among others. (MNS)

Zamboanga, Philippines | AFP | Friday 1/23/2015 – One person was killed and 48 others injured Friday as a parked car exploded in the southern Philippines, with the local authorities blaming the blast on al-Qaeda-linked Islamic militants.

Witnesses told police a parked car went up in flames and was torn to pieces in a powerful mid-afternoon blast that shattered glass panels in a commercial section on Zamboanga city’s outskirts.

“There was a suspected bomb in the car,” Senior Superintendent Angelito Ca-simiro, the city police chief, told reporters.

The explosion occurred in front of a pub and across the street from a bus terminal, he said. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast and the lone fatality was not immediately identified, he said.

Most of the other casualties were cut from flying glass shards and are being treated at nearby hospitals, Casimiro added.

Zamboanga city Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco alleged the blast was linked to a plan by the Abu Sayyaf armed group to spring 57 comrades detained at the city jail.

She demanded that the national govern-ment remove the prisoners from the city and transfer them to a detention facility elsewhere so the city would not be targeted by bombings.

“This is an SOS call for the 57 inmates to be removed and transferred for the safety and protection of the city,” Climaco told reporters.

The Abu Sayyaf, a loose band of a

few hundred militants founded with seed money from Al Qaeda, has been blamed for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history.

These have included the bombing of a ferry in Manila in 2004 in which more than 100 people died, and repeated kidnappings of foreigners in the southern Philippines who are usually ransomed off for huge amounts.

Many foreign governments warn their citizens against travelling to the southern Philippine areas, including Zamboanga, which are regarded as strongholds for the Abu Sayyaf and other Islamic militants.

The Abu Sayyaf claims it is fighting to establish an independent Islamic home-land in the Muslim populated south of the mainly Catholic Philippines.

The Zamboanga city jail warden, Julius Arro, told reporters that prison authorities foiled an attempt by unknown supporters to slip at least one gun and 100 bullets to Abu Sayyaf detainees on Monday.

No arrests were made, he added.Since 2002, US troops have been help-

ing train and advise Filipino troops fighting Abu Sayyaf militants, and the group has been mostly contained in recent years.

In September 2013, Zamboanga was attacked by another Muslim armed group loyal to former Muslim rebel leader Nur Misuari.

The attack triggered three weeks of street battles that left more than 240 people dead and large parts of the city of nearly one million in smoldering ruins.

Junjun Binay, Makati execs defy order to attend Senate hearing anew

One dead, 48 hurt in Zamboanga blast


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spent actual time investigating suspicious activity on the premises. The guards spent 16 hours on weekdays at the jobsite, 8 hours were paid and the other 8 were on-call. They spent 24 hours at the jobsite on weekends, 8 were paid, 8 on-call and 8 for

unpaid sleep time. The guards sued CPS, claiming they should have been paid for all on-call hours, and for their sleep hours.

The California Supreme Court ruled early this month that the security guards’ on-call hours should be paid as hours

worked. The Court pointed out that Wage Order 4, the law that governs security guards, defines hours worked as “the time during which an employee is subject to the control of an employer, and includes all the time the employee is suffered or permitted to work, whether or not required to do so.” An employee who is under the employer’s control does not have to be “working” dur-ing that time to be compensated.

When an employer directs, commands or restrains an employee from leaving the work place and thus prevents the employee from using the time effectively for his or her own purposes, that employee remains subject to the employer’s control. Accord-ing to the definition of hours worked, that employee must be paid.

Even though on-call periods were designated as “free time,” the CPS guards cannot leave the premises unless relieved. They were required to take a pager or ra-dio telephone, and are required to remain within 30 minutes of the site in case they are called back.

They were forbidden to have children, pets or alcohol in the trailers and cannot entertain or receive friends or family with-out permission. Because of the degree of control exercised by the employer during the trailer guards’ on-call time, such time is considered “hours worked,” per California

law, and must be paid.The Supreme Court also ruled that the

employer must not exclude “sleep time” from the calculation of hours worked for employees with 24-hours shifts. The court noted that some wage orders do provide sleep exemption (such as those that govern ambulance drivers and attendants). How-ever, Wage Order 4, which governs security guards, does not have this sleep exemption. Hence, sleep time is compensable for 24-hour shift employees.

Different wage orders apply to different employees, depending on their industries. Consult with an experience employment attorney to know whether you are entitled to additional wages under a wage order that governs your industry.

[C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is trial attorney who has obtained several million dollar recoveries for his clients against insurance companies and employers. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer by the Los Angeles Magazine, featured in the cover of Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Verdicts and Settlements, and is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center Washington, D.C. and the Univer-sity of the Philippines. Visit his website at www.joesayaslaw.com or contact his office at (818) 291-0088 for a no-cost inquiry.]

Should employees be paid for on-call or sleep time if not free to leave work premises?

CPS Security Solutions, Inc. (CPS) provides “trailer guards” for construction sites in California. The guards spend the night at their jobsites in residential-type trailers. They are instructed to investigate alarms and to prevent vandalism and theft.

The guards were asked to sign an On-Call Agreement stat-ing that the time between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. are on-call hours and non-compensable unless they

MANILA, Jan 22 (Mabuhay) – The Bu-reau of Internal Revenue on Thursday filed a tax evasion case against businessman Antonio Tiu, who was tagged as “dummy” of Vice President Jejomar Binay in the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee probe on the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building II controversy.

“The BIR established that Mr. Tiu substantially underdeclared his income by 6,395 percent in 2008 and by 100 percent in 2013,” a statement of the tax body said.

Also, the BIR said Tiu has a tax liability amounting to P73.34 million.

The businessman has been dragged into the controversy surrounding the Vice President’s supposed ill-gotten wealth, including a 350-hectare estate in Rosario, Batangas worth P1.2 billion.

Former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado accused Tiu as Binay’s dummy.

The sprawling property in Rosario town was said to be owned by Greenergy Hold-ings Inc. whose CEO is Mr. Tiu.

According to the BIR, Tiu failed to supply accurate information in his annual income tax return in 2008. Tax investiga-tors discovered that Tiu only declared P824,244 as his taxable income that year.

In 2013, he did not file an ITR, it added.Securities and Exchange Commission

records also showed Tiu acquired shares of stocks amounting to P53.50 million in 2008 and P71.42 million in 2013 from Agrinur-ture Inc. and Tiu Peck and Sons Holdings, Inc. The Senate blue ribbon subcommittee is currently investigating several corrup-tion allegations against the Vice President, stemming from the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall Building II.

But, Vice President has repeatedly de-nied all the allegations thrown against him, saying that the allegations are aimed at diminishing his chances of getting elected in the 2016 presidential polls.

At the Senate hearings last year, Mr. Tiu had denied allegations being Binay’s dummy. (MNS)

‘Binay dummy’ Antonio Tiu faces tax evasion

MANILA, Jan 21 (Mabuhay) – Former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada will re-main mayor of Manila.

This was after the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the petitions seeking his disqualification.

In a tweet, SC spokesman Theodore Te said the justices voted 11-3 in favor of junking the petition filed by Alicia Vidal, counsel of Alfredo Lim, Estrada’s strongest rival in the 2013 mayoral race in Manila.

In her petition, Vidal argued that Es-trada, who was ousted as President in 2001 amid allegations of corruption, should not have been allowed to run for mayor because he had been convicted of plunder during the Arroyo administration.

On Tuesday, a group held a demonstra-

tion in front of the Supreme Court urging it to come out with its decision.

Estrada’s camp has asked the high court to dismiss the petition, saying he was qualified to run for an elective post since he was pardoned in 2007 by then-President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Estrada’s son, Senator Joseph Vic-tor Ejercito, meanwhile lauded the SC’s decision.

“I am happy that the SC gave the im-portance to the voice of the people. They respected the mandate that was given as duly elected Mayor of Manila,” he said in a text message to GMA News Online.

For its part, Malacañang said it will respect the high court’s decision. (MNS)

SC junks disqualifi cation case vs. Joseph Estrada

MANILA, Jan 23 (Mabuhay) – Local government officials told the Sandi-ganbayan on Friday that they did not receive the agricultural and livelihood kits promised to them by the foundations linked to accused pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

During Napoles’ bail hearing from plunder in connection with the scam, three mayors and three agriculturists from Pangasinan and Bulacan provinces said they did not receive the supposed proceeds intended for marginal sectors in their mu-nicipalities.

Appearing before the court are former Rosales Mayor Ricardo Revita, incumbent Umingan Mayor Eldred Tumbokon and his agriculturist Francisco Collado, all from Pangasinan; incumbent Sta. Maria Mayor Bartolome Ramos and his agriculturist Imelda Eugenio, and San Miguel agriculturist Rodolfo Mendoza, all from Bulacan.

Their statements affirmed the prosecution’s claim that nongovernment organiza-tions linked to Napoles received lawmakers’ public funds only to be spent to ghost deliveries for kickbacks.

The local officials said they did not receive the proceeds from the P5-million Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) supposedly allotted to each mu-nicipality by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, who is under hospital arrest for plunder.

They also said they had no participation in the alleged scam of channeling pork barrel funds to ghost projects.

The alleged beneficiaries are “not aware that their municipality was chosen or was made to appear as one of the recipients for the livelihood projects of marginal farmers amounting to P5 million more or less funded by the PDAF of Senator Enrile or from any implementing agency,” the prosecution said in its proposed stipulations on direct examination.

Enrile pork barrel did not reach recipients, town tell court


By Hannah De Castro-AbinumanNarrated by Academy Award Nominee

Liam Neeson and directed by Ryan Moore and Academy Award winner, Leon Gast (When We Were Kings), “Manny” – a feature length documentary film about the “People’s Champ,” will be released in theaters and On Demand starting Jan. 23, 2015. Highlighting Pacquiao’s journey from a struggling and starving teenager who engaged in the world of boxing to provide for his family, to becoming the world-renowned boxing icon that he is today, the film takes its viewers behind the scenes into the life of Manny Pacquiao.

The film includes interviews featuring Hollywood celebrities like Mark Wahlberg, Jeremy Piven and Jimmy Kimmel, boxer Oscar De La Hoya and other notable per-sonalities.

It also features original music by com-poser and music producer Lauren Balfe, who is known for his work in Inception, The Dark Knight, Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes.

Producer and Director, Ryan Moore said that he has always wanted to capture something real on camera. And with 5 years in the making of “Manny”, he was able to obtain footages that show the dif-ferent facets of Manny Pacquiao’s life. In fact, the film even includes never-before-seen home footages.

Ryan Moore, who is Filipino-American, hopes that after watching his film, Fili-pinos will be reminded of their roots, as Pacquiao’s life is depicted not only in the aspect of being a fighter in the ring, but in essence, it’s more about him being a true fighter in life. “My purpose is to give the opportunity for people to see the very important moments of his life. We all know what happens in his fights, but it’s the stories in between that really shaped his character and made him unique as a fighter. “ said Moore.

Moore also aspires to provide a medium for Filipino stories to be heard globally. And with the release of this film, he hopes that even non-Filipinos will take pleasure in learning about Manny Pacqiuao’s life and even be inspired by him.

Bigger than boxing, Manny Pacquiao’s role now transcends from sports to politics, to his role as a public figure. The Filipino rely on him in ways beyond what is ex-pected of an athlete. Pacquiao fights not only for himself or for his family, but for the Filipino people as a whole.

To find out where you can watch the documentary film, “Manny,” visit www.mannypacquiaomovie.com/theaters for a list of cinemas in your area or to buy tickets online. Or you may also visit www.manny-pacquiaomovie.com for more details about the film.

Manila, Philippines | AFP | Thursday 1/22/2015 – The Philippines’ foreign minister on Thursday slammed China’s attempts to build islands in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Beijing to accuse Manila of making “trouble out of nothing”.

Albert del Rosario repeated a warning that Beijing was reclaiming land around isolated reefs in the South China Sea to turn them into islands which could hold fortified positions or even airstrips.

The Philippine foreign secretary said the Chinese actions in the Spratly islands would impact freedom to navigate the stra-tegic mineral-rich waters, through which large volumes of the world’s trade pass.

“I will re-emphasize this and invite the concern of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) states because it is a threat to all of us,” del Rosario told reporters. Beijing dismissed Manila’s concerns Thursday, saying that “small countries” should not play up disputes.

China’s retort came after US assistant secretary of state Daniel Russel com-mented on the dispute that “bigger nations

can’t bully the small”.Asked about the remarks, Chinese for-

eign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing: “China always maintains that countries, big or small, are equal in international relations.

“We are opposed to big countries bully-ing small ones, and meanwhile, we believe that small countries cannot make trouble out of nothing,” she added.

Manila accused Beijing last year of reclamation work in the Cuarteron, John-son, Johnson South and Gaven reefs in the Spratly group, which the Chinese call Nansha.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, a claim which conflicts with those of ASEAN members Brunei, Malay-sia, the Philippines and Vietnam as well as non-member Taiwan.

Beijing has previously rejected Philip-pine protests, saying that the land recla-mation was being conducted in Chinese sovereign territory.

A People’s Liberation Army Major Gen-eral Luo Yuan defended China’s actions as “justifiable” in state media.

‘Manny’ in US theaters and On Demand Jan 23

PHL slams China island building as Beijing hits back

Filipino-American Ryan Moore (as he walks with Manny Pacquiao to his right) hopes the movie will remind Filipinos of their roots, as Pacquiao’s life is depicted not only in the aspect of being a fi ghter in the ring, but in essence, it’s more about him being a true fi ghter in life.

Manila, Philippines | AFP | Friday 1/23/2015 – French President Francois Hollande will visit the typhoon-ravaged Philippines in February to build momen-tum for crucial climate change talks that France is hosting this year, his environment envoy said Friday.

Hollande hopes his visit would give a human face to climate change, as the Phil-ippines bears the brunt of dozens of deadly storms every year, including the strongest on record, Super Typhoon Haiyan in No-vember 2013, Nicolas Hulot told reporters.

France and the Philippines “can send a common message to the international community, can be symbol, can be spark to mobilise and bring us back to our senses and reason,” said Hulot, who was in Manila for meetings with Philippine officials and visits to typhoon zones.

Details of Hollande’s February 26-27 visit, which includes a meeting with President Benigno Aquino, were still being worked out, he said.

Haiyan left 7,350 people dead or miss-ing after its 230-kilometre (145-mile) per hour winds whipped tsunami-like waves that wiped out entire communities in im-poverished central Philippine islands.

During the bitterly fought Lima round of climate talks last December, negotiators adopted a format for national pledges to cut Earth-warming greenhouse gases.

In Paris, negotiators hope to cut a deal to limit global warming to no more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels, averting what could be potentially catastrophic damage to the Earth’s climate system by the turn of the century.

French President to visit typhoon-ravaged Leyte


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done in my life. I think God has a purpose in raising me like this. I believe it is to serve as an example and inspiration to others and bring them closer to God.”

Even as a devout Catholic, Pacquiao’s dedication to the traditions of the church was inspiring to many, regularly attending church on Sundays and praying the rosary religiously. His pre and post-fight Catholic masses were well-attended by supporters and fans. So were his rosary novenas that started on the ninth night before each fight. Entering the ring, he’s been seen wearing the beaded article around his neck; and making the sign of the cross at the start of each fight. But all that changed when he started reading the Bible more.

e must read the bible because that’s the manual to life, so that we will be care-ful to do everything that is written in the Bible,” he said.

As a journalist who has covered Pac-quiao since his first fight at the Araneta Coliseum in 1999, I was pleasantly sur-prised the first time I heard him quote and explain a bible passage to me, in one of our interviews: “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything writ-ten in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do,” he quoted from the Book of the Prophet Joshua 1:8.

This was only the start of many more interjections of Bible verses during inter-views. In a press conference for his June 9th 2012 bout against Timothy Bradley, Pacquiao quoted the Gospel of Matthew when asked for his message to nemesis Floyd Mayweather: “But everyone will have to give account on the day of judg-ment, for every empty word that they have spoken; For by your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-27)

Since then, Pacquiao has released messages for Mayweather, on the issue of whether the two boxing greats will fight each other in the ring, giving the fans what Pacquiao believes “they deserve to see.” Three years later, the highly-anticipated Pacquiao-Mayweather match-up is still much talked-about. A few days ago, Top Rank honcho Bob Arum has announced that Pacquiao has agreed to a 60-40 split, in favor of the American fighter, along with other concessions the Mayweather camp has demanded.

In his interactions with the media, Pacquiao has confirmed that and has been adding that he is now just waiting for Mayweather to sign the contract.

But the two-term Filipino Congress-man is not waiting idly. He is in the States to promote a documentary about his life, directed by Ryan Moore, opening in select theaters this weekend. Pacquiao believes that through this film that traces his humble beginnings, to his current stature as an esteemed personality, he can leave a legacy that goes beyond his boxing world titles and memorable outings in the ring: “After this boxing career and when I’m gone into [sic] this world, I want them to remember me as a true role model to all of them, into real Christianity,” he said.

While many laud him as their hero and inspiration, Pacquiao has his own hero: Jesus is my hero in life. I want to

feel what the heart of Jesus is. I believe the Bible says ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.’ So, that’s my inspiration, the word and thinking about Jesus Christ,” he said.

And while he is thinking about his Sav-ior, what he isn’t thinking about these days, according to him, is whether he would be or would want to be the next Philippine president:

Dinala rin ako ng Panginoon diyan siguro to show the real … yung totoong pagseserbisyo sa gobyerno, na may takot sa Panginoon. Importante na may takot ka sa Panginoon, to serve the people. Hindi ‘yung parusahan mo lang ‘yung mga tao. Hindi ‘yan ang number one sa solusyon, although we have the law. May batas tayo, pero importante na maintindihan nila kung ano ang ibig sabihin ng real Christianity. (I think God brought me into politics to show the real meaning of service in government, with fear of the Lord. It’s important that one has fear of the Lord when serving the people. It’s not enough to punish people. That’s not the number one solution, although we have the law. We have laws but it is important that we understand the meaning of real Christianity.)

“Jesus said unless you are born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. Meaning to say, we are required to be born again. We have to understand that, what it means to become “born again.” When we become born again, our mind, our thinking is not to take advantage of other people; but our hearts and minds will be how to give them advantage,” he said. “But I’m not thinking about it right now, whatever God’s plan is, will be done.”

It seems God’s will is to shower Pac-quiao with lots of blessings. And in the lan-guage of observers, Pacquiao has been “fa-vored by God.” He has succeeded is almost everything that he entered into – boxing, singing, acting, public service, and any-thing and everything in between.

Pag ako kasi nag-isip, hindi ko nilil-imitahan ang sarili ko sa kung hanggang saan lang ang kaya ko,” he said, adding that he believes the secret to success, aside from faith in God, are the Filipino values of sipag at tiyaga.” (When I think, I don’t limit my thinking to only the things I can do.)

In the end, despite his successes, achievements and “favors from the Cre-ator,” Pacquiao says he can only boast of one thing: “being still humble and always feet on the ground. Yan lang ang kaya kong maipagmalaki. Isa lang akong normal na tao, na katulad ninyo.” That’s the only thing I can be proud of. I am just a normal person like you.)

And like most normal people, despite seeming to have everything he could ever wish for, Pacquiao says he prays at night to ask for blessings: “peace, unity and also protection, guidance, wisdom, knowledge because without God in our lives we can do nothing.” [END]

Jannelle So is taking a break from 20-years of print and broadcast journalism career that began in the Philippines and continued in the United States. She is cred-ited for creating, hosting and producing America’s first and only locally-produced

Manny Pacquiao: So faithfullAll he aspired for when he was starting his boxing career

was to be the champion of the Philippines. But after 20 decades in the sport, Manny Pacquiao has become not only his beloved nation’s champ; but also a well-respected world boxing record-holder – the first and only eight-division world champion, with an impressive ten world titles.

Of course I never think [sic] that I’m going to be like this. My dream is [sic] to help my mother and to be the champion in the Philippines,” he said in a recent interview. “I’m really thankful to God for what he has

daily talk show for Filipinos, that ran for 8 ½ years under her leadership, making it the longest-running Filipino talk show out-

side of the Philippines. Connect to her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; or email her at [email protected].

Manny Pacquiao during one of my interviews with him (left photo) and while on his way to the ring with trainer Freddie Roach (other photo).


paying until 3 years ago when she lost a 2nd job from which she derived $30K of additional income. Obsessed with protect-ing her credit score, she raided her $200K retirement account to make the $1900 minimum credit card payments. Thus, in the last 3 years, she liquidated $68K of her retirement account to keep her credit cards happy. But then, last month, she audited her credit card debt and was surprised that she still owed $60K of principal, after having paid $68K from her retirement account! It was a double whammy, so to speak. She used retirement account money, which is for what? For her retirement, that’s why it’s called a retirement account. She used retirement money to pay interest on credit card debt. That’s a big mistake.

It’s a big mistake because retirement accounts are exempt under bankruptcy law up to $1.0 M, and credit card debts can be wiped out in bankruptcy. If client did not liquidate $68K of her retirement account, she would still have that cash in her 401K, growing at a healthy rate. If she had not used the $68K, if it grew at 8% a year, it would have grown to $85K in 3 years, and she would still be able to get rid of the $60K credit card debt now with a Chapter 7. Her retirement account will have a larger amount, she would not have paid taxes to the IRS for $68K of 401K liquidation of income in the last 3 years, and she will wipe out all of her credit card debts now with a Chapter 7 discharge.

She only realized that she made a big mistake by raiding her retirement account

to pay for credit card debt, when she saw that her $70K salary would be reduced by half, when she stopped working next year, and starts receiving social security. If she had not raided her retirement account the last 3 years, her 401K now would be close to $280K. Instead, her 401K is now only at $175K. As a senior about to retire, she should be able to depend on her 401K giving her income in addition to social security. Her mistake in raiding her retire-ment account means she has $85K less in her retirement. Even at 5% annual growth, that $85K she used up to pay interest on credit cards would generate another $300 of monthly income. She can certainly use $300 of monthly income in retirement. To add insult to injury, she still owes the same $60K of credit card when she divorced, after paying $68K of minimum payments in the last 3 years! Fortunately, she can rely on a Chapter 7 discharge to get rid of those credit cards and retire in peace, although with $300 less money in her pocket every month during her golden years. Besides, af-ter 10 years when she is 75, her credit score would be perfect again because after 10 years, bankruptcy is removed completely from credit report. Even after 3 years, her credit score will be about 650 which is not that bad. On the 4th year, it will be 680, which is ok. On the 7th year, it will be 730, which is very good.

UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS QUALIFY FOR OBAMA AMNESTY

The OBAMA AMNESTY which allows people who are here without legal status

provided they have a qualifying child who is an American citizen or legal permanent resident, to get a work permit valid for 3 years and renewable for periods of 3 years per renewal is getting into higher gear because the USCIS was directed to start accepting applications by February 19, 2015. A typical circumstance that is often asked is does an undocumented immigrant qualify under this executive order? Most people enter the United States with their foreign passports. Once they enter, whether by plane, boat or car, they present their passport to immigration at the port of entry whereupon a record of their entry is made. If this is how you entered the United States, you have official documents to show how you entered. You have your stamped pass-port or your I-94. But what if you crossed the border illegally from Mexico, after having flown there from your country of origin? Or, what if the passport you used to enter the United States used a name that was not yours because that passport already had a visa stamped on it? In other words, you assumed another identity when

you entered the United States. Under these circumstances, can you still qualify for amnesty and get your work permit?

Assuming you meet all the other cir-cumstances required by the executive order to qualify, you should be able to get your work permit. However, applications are decided on a case-to-case basis. Thus, I suggest you see a lawyer you are comfort-able with to prosecute your case.

“YOU ARE MY LAMP, OR LORD; THE LORD TURNS MY DARKNEWSS INTO LIGHT.” - 2 SAMUEL 22:29.

Lawrence Bautista Yang is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and has been in law practice for thirty years. He specializes in bankruptcy, business and civil litigation and has handled more than five thousand successful bankruptcy cases in California. He speaks Tagalog and looks forward to discussing your case with you personally. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S Fremont Ave, Mailstop 58, Build-ing A-1 Suite 1125, Alhambra, CA 91803.

Senior raids retirement account then seeks Chapter 7 dischargeUndocumented immigrants qualify for Obama AmnestySENIOR RAIDS RETIREMENT ACCOUNTClient is 65 and still works as a registered nurse with $70K

annual gross. She divorced 5 years ago. At that time, there was community property credit card debt of $60K. By divorce judg-ment ex-husband was to pay half, but never did. Client made monthly payments of $1900 for the last 5 years to keep the cards current to protect her credit score. She had no problem

express sympathy and compassion actions are reflected in their urgency to connect with their fellow human beings and is perceived as something extraordinary by people around them. And rightfully they are called “heroes.”

A widely circulated newspaper in Orange County had all the reasons to highlight the uncommonness of 2014 “Ev-eryday Heroes” awardees who champion various advocacies and causes that make them standout in spite of the many over-whelming odds that accompany the pursuit of their goals.

One awardee, Jim Carson of Orange-wood Children’s Foundation, is a strong advocate for providing home for aged out foster children and has championed the effort against human trafficking.

Another awardee traumatized by the death of his dad because of lung cancer has spurred effort to send strong message on the disease..Fourteen year old Gibson Wagner was awarded the inaugural Youth Hero of the Year for his awareness ef-fort that enabled him to raise more than $10,000 for lung cancer research.

The awards rites at the Montage Laguna Beach brought together the 58 heroes under one roof who are actually ordinary people with strong passion and desire to help their fellowmen and thus make a dif-ference. The awardees’ ordinariness had become sources of inspiration to others “in making this world a better place to livein.”

All the heroes wear common badges carrying a message of extraordinary self-lessness which they herald around as they enjoy their moments of fame. But to those whose lives these modern heroes have touched , a lasting memory shall forever be etched in their hearts because of their deeds.

The awarding event brings to mind the Philippines’ very own hero from Cavite, Efren Penaflorida, the middle child of a poor couple who had the fortune being helped by World Vision during his early childhood. He was one of CNN’s 28 heroes in 2009. He was one of the 9.000 nominees in his batch which came from over 1000 countries. The award carried with it a cash prize of $10,000 which enabled him to continue his advocacy for marginalized schoolchildren in his hometown through the Dynamic Teen Company which started as a friendship club of around 20 members which provided “youth awareness projects, talent and self-development activities and community services.

His group eventually pioneered the idea of using pushcarts loaded with school ma-terials “to recreate on weekends a school setting in unconventional settings such as near garbage sites and cemeteries.”

Upon his return to the Philippines he was conferred the Order of Lakandula at the Malacanang Palace by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo proving that a person can “make a difference in someone else’s life if one follows a calling to help. ”

Orange County’s everyday heroes honored for making a difference

Some people are simply endowed with certain sterling inner qualities that make them react differently to certain situations either spontaneously or deliberately. And their reactions and perceptions are extraordinary because they make a “difference in some people’s lives in the way they conduct their business-es.” Their spontaneous reactions save lives sometimes and make life for other people easier.

Their attitude towards life and their sense of urgency to

MANNY, THE MOVIE PREMIERE: It’s red carpet for Manny Pacquiao and wife Jinkee, Nick Enciso, Ryan Moore and Dolly Varon Lura at the star-studded premiere of Manny, The Movie at TLC Chinese Theater in Los Angeles Tuesday.


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all other DACA guidelines. The required continued residence in the US is from January 1, 2010 instead of June 15, 2007 under the old rules. The executive action also extends the period of employment authorization from two years to three years.

Deferred Action for Parents of US Citizen and Permanent Residents

An undocumented person living in the US on November 20, 2014 who is the par-ent of a US Citizen or lawful permanent

resident is eligible to apply for deferred action and employment authorization if 1) they have continuous residence in the US since January 1, 2010 2) are the parents of US Citizen or lawful permanent resident born on or before November 20, 2014 3) Are not an enforcement priority for removal from the United States.

Provisional Waivers of Unlawful Presence

Undocumented aliens who accumulated

at least 180 days of unlawful presence in the US are barred from being admitted back in the US as legal permanent resi-dents for a period of 3 years to 10 years once they leave the US. On January 2, 2013, a new procedure was implemented allowing aliens to apply for a provisional waiver of 3/10 year bar while inside the United States.

The waiver only applied to spouses and minor children of US Citizens if a visa is available. The executive action expands this benefit to spouses, sons or daughters of lawful permanent residents and sons and daughters of US citizens.

Please note that this article is not legal advice and is not intended as legal advice. The article is intended to provide only general, non-specific legal information. This article is not intended to cover all the issues related to the topic discussed. The specific facts that apply to your matter may

make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. This article does create any attorney client relationship between you and the Law Offices of Kenneth U. Reyes, P.C. This article is not a solicitation.

Attorney Kenneth Ursua Reyes was President of the Philippine American Bar Association for 2005. He is a member of both the Family law section and Immigra-tion law section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Mr. Reyes is a Certified Family Law Specialist. He is a graduate of Southwestern University Law School in Los Angeles and California State Univer-sity, San Bernardino School of Business Administration. He has extensive CPA experience prior to law practice. LAW OFFICES OF KENNETH REYES, P.C. is located at 3699 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA, 90010. Tel. (213) 388-1611 or e-mail [email protected]; visit at www.kenreyeslaw.com.

Executive Action expanding immigration benefi tsOn November 20, 2014, President Obama announced a

series of executive actions that would benefit certain classes of aliens. In the coming months, USCIS will come up with guidance in implementing these policies.

DACA ExpandedDeferred Acton for Child-

hood Arrivals (DACA) has been expanded to include in-dividuals born prior to June 15, 1981 provided they meet

By Laurent ThometHavana, Cuba | AFP | Wednesday

1/21/2015 – US and Cuban officials launched historic talks to shed their Cold War-era hostility Wednesday, compliment-ing each other on the first day’s progress despite persistent differences over migra-tion policy.

Each side described the first of two days of talks as productive and construc-tive even though they remained deeply at odds over the exodus of Cubans to the United States.

The meetings in Havana follow the historic decision by US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro in December to seek normal ties.

Roberta Jacobson, the US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, landed in Havana around midday to participate in Thursday’s talks on reopen-ing embassies and returning ambassadors for the first time since 1961.

She is the highest-ranking US official to set foot in Cuba since 1980.

Her deputy, Alex Lee, represented the US side on the first day in Havana’s Con-vention Center, sitting across from the head of the Cuban foreign ministry’s US affairs department, Josefina Vidal.

“The productive and collaborative nature of today’s discussion proves that despite the clear differences that remain be-tween our countries, the United States and Cuba can find opportunities to advance our mutually shared interests,” Lee said after the talks.

For her part, Vidal said: “Cuba aspires to have a normal relationship with the United States, in the broader sense but also in the area of migration.”

But Vidal criticized US migration poli-cies which she said encourage a brain drain, saying that they “don’t correspond with the current bilateral context of relations between Cuba and the United States.”

Cuba, US see good fi rst day of historic talks


was made aware of the Pontiff’s special devotion to her.

At his Mall of Asia speech, Pope Francis stressed the importance of family. Families from various communities in the country spoke on their struggles in “keeping the family together.” The Pope’s family en-

counter included prominent families such as the family of former Senator Francisco “Soc” Rodrigo, the family of Sixto Dizon of Quezon, who fought during the Japanese time, the family of Renato Cruz who are both deaf and whose mission is to have a ministry to empower and help those who

are deaf, mute and hard-of hearing.Pope Francis lauded all of the families

that spoke and recounted the memories of his family while growing up in Argen-tina. His father and mother dreamt of a happy family, and on that note, he said “never lose the ability to dream, or you lose the capacity to love. It is important “to dream with your family and find solutions to family problems.”

As he recalled his youth, the pontiff interjected humor by saying that “when he had a problem, he would write it out in a stationery, so “I can dream about it.” That sense of humor sparked laughter, which the pontiff has plenty of. During his speech at UST, Pope Francis emphasized the three languages for the youth: the language of heart, of mind, and of the hands which in short meant: THINK, FEEL and DO.

When Pope Francis visited Tacloban to see the Yolanda typhoon victims, one of this writer’s college classmates, Antonio “Tony” Chavez, said: This Pope is un-earthly. He seemed to have access to our secret selves. I’m a doubter by perception. I don’t impress easily. But when this Pope started speaking outside of his prepared

scripts, I could feel his honest effect reach out. Just amazing; this Pope is for real!”

Furthermore, Tony said he cried “watch-ing the Pope bareheaded at the altar, his gray hair being mussed by the storm winds in plastic raincoat. The Leyte crowd of millions had water dripping on their noses, hands clasped in unbelievable belief that this Pope was there for them. And finally, when the Pope’s motorcade reached the town of Palo, he said: “I’m out of words...tears, yes.”

At the Luneta Park grandstand, Pope Francis repeated his demands to our coun-try’s leaders to “end scandalous inequities, hinting on corruption where “tens of mil-lions of people endure brutal poverty.”

Finally he also said “It is now more than ever necessary that political leaders be outstanding for honesty, integrity and the commitment to the common good.”

Thus ended the successful four-day visit of beloved Pope Francis where most of our kababayans felt that we “were all blessed, honoured and enthralled by his visit” and so, with utmost gratitude to him, we have in turn shown him that our country is worth going back to.

Pinoys all over the country hailed “ Pope Francis, mahal na mahal namin kayo!” We all felt that we were blessed, honored and enthralled by the Pontiff’s visit.

From day one of his four-day visit, Pope Francis graciously accepted true Pinoy hospitality, which we are known for. He smiled and acknowledged initially receiving the lovely, fra-grant sampaguita leis from TV personality, Boots Anson-Roa to President Benigno Aquino’s gift of the wood sculpture of Our Lady, the Undoer of Knots, for which Pres.Aquino

Wearing a raincoat, Pope Francis waves to the crowd after celebrating Mass in Tacloban Airport on Saturday, January 17. Pope Francis will spend a few hours with survivors of super typhoon Yolanda that claimed thousands of lives on November 8, 2013. The meeting will highlight his concern over climate change. (MNS photo)

We were all blessed, honored and enthralled by the Pope’s visit

Davos, Switzerland | AFP | Thursday 1/22/2015 – Imagine a world where mosquito-sized robots fly around stealing samples of your DNA. Or where a de-partment store knows from your buying habits that you’re pregnant even before your family does.

That is the terrifying dystopian world portrayed by a group of Harvard professors at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, where the assembled elite heard that the notion of individual privacy is effectively dead.

“Welcome to today. We’re already in that world,” said Margo Seltzer, a professor in computer science at Harvard University.

“Privacy as we knew it in the past is no longer feasible... How we conventionally think of privacy is dead,” she added.

Another Harvard researcher into genetics said it was “inevitable” that one’s personal genetic information would enter more and more into the public sphere.

Sophia Roosth said intelligence agents were already asked to collect genetic information on foreign leaders to determine things like susceptibility to disease and life expectancy.

“We are at the dawn of the age of genetic McCarthyism,” she said, referring to witch-hunts against Communists in 1950s America.

What’s more, Seltzer imagined a world in which tiny robot drones flew around, the size of mosquitoes, extracting a sample of your DNA for analysis by, say, the government or an insurance firm.

Invasions of privacy are “going to become more pervasive,” she predicted. “It’s not whether this is going to happen, it’s already happening... We live in a

surveillance state today.”Political scientist Joseph Nye tackled the controversial subject of encrypted

communications and the idea of regulating to ensure governments can always see even encrypted messages in the interests of national security.

“Governments are talking about putting in back doors for communication so that terrorists can’t communicate without being spied on. The problem is that if governments can do that, so can the bad guys,” Nye told the forum.

“Are you more worried about big brother or your nasty little cousin?”However, despite the pessimistic Orwellian vision, the academics were at pains

to stress that the positive aspects of technology still far outweigh the restrictions on privacy they entail.

Privacy is dead, Davos hears


including behavioral health treatment;Prescription Drugs;Rehabilitative and habilitative services

and devices;Laboratory services;Preventive and Wellness services and

Chronic Disease Management;Pediatric services, including dental and

vision care.The following 15 preventive services

for adults must be performed with no co-pay, no coinsurance and not part of deduct-ible in any health plan, including Medicare health plans: (in short, FREE)

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm;Alcohol Misuse;Aspirin Use;Blood Pressure screening;Cholesterol screening;Colorectal Cancer screening;Depression screening;Type 2 Diabetes screening;Diet counseling;

HIV screening;Immunization vaccines;Obesity screening;Sexually Transmitted Infections;Tobacco Use screening;Syphilis screening.If you have questions, you may reach

me at: 323-535-7373 or e-mail at: .. .

Leo Monsalud hails from Sta. Cruz, Zambales. He studied for MBA and Law at the University of the Philippines. He worked for U nited Laboratories, Inc. where his last position held was vice-president assigned as general manager of a division. He was a joint-venture partner of the San Miguel Corporation in an agri-business project. He holds CA license #0G55218 and a Non-Resident license for Nevada. He is a Certified Insurance Agent for Covered California. Visit his website at: . .

. (HeRO)

Obamacare and Medicare health benefi ts coverage

Under Obamacare, the following 10 essential health benefits must be included in a health plan, including Medicare health plans:

Ambulatory patient services;Emergency services;Hospitalization;Maternity and Newborn

Care;Mental Health and Sub-

stance Use Disorder services,

By Nina LarsonGeneva, Switzerland | AFP | Monday

1/19/2015 – Diseases linked to lifestyle choices, including diabetes and some cancers, kill 16 million people prematurely each year, the World Health Organization said Monday, urging action to stop the “slow-moving public health disaster”.

Unhealthy habits like smoking, alcohol abuse and consuming too much fat, salt and sugar have sparked an epidemic of diseases which together constitute the leading cause of death globally, WHO said.

This “lifestyle disease” epidemic “causes a much greater public health threat than any other epidemic known to man,” said Shanthi Mendis, the lead author of WHO’s Chronic Diseases Prevention and Management report.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), like cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, lung disease and a range of cancers, killed a full 38 million people around the globe in 2012 – 16 million of them under the age of 70.

“Not thousands are dying, but millions are dying ... every year in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, not in their 80s and 90s,” said Mendis.

“It’s beyond belief that it is seemingly invisible,” she told reporters ahead of the launch.

Most of the world’s 16 million prema-ture NCD deaths each year – 82 percent – occur in poor and middle income countries, and most of them could be averted with just small investments, the report found.

“The global community has the chance to change the course of the NCD epi-demic,” WHO chief Margaret Chan said in a statement.

Millions of lives could be saved if the world over the next decade invests just $11.2 billion each year, or $1-3 per person, on promoting healthier habits, the report found.

Devastating consequences Today, some six million people die pre-

maturely each year due to tobacco use, 3.3

million deaths are linked to alcohol abuse, 3.2 million to lacking physical activity and 1.7 million to eating too much salt, accord-ing to WHO findings.

A full 42 million children under the age of five are considered to be obese, and an estimated 84 percent of adolescents do not get enough exercise, Mendis said, describing the situations as “extremely frightening.”

The international community has staked out nine global targets for shifting unhealthy habits with the aim of slash-ing premature NCD deaths by a quarter between 2011 and 2025.

Simple and inexpensive steps like ban-ning advertising of tobacco and alcohol products and taxing foods and drinks that contain high levels of salt and caffeine has already proven successful in a range of countries, WHO said.

In Turkey, for instance, an advertising ban on tobacco products combined with significant price hikes and health warnings has pushed smoking rates down 13.4-per-cent since 2008.

A move in Hungary to heavily tax unhealthy food and drink components has meanwhile led to a 27-percent drop in junk food sales, the report said.

But while some countries have made progress, most will fall short of the 2025 target, WHO said, warning that inaction would have far-reaching consequences.

“When people fall sick and die in the prime of their lives, productivity suffers, and the cost of treating diseases can be devastating,” the UN health agency said.

It has estimated that if nothing is done to improve the situation, premature NCD deaths will suck $7.0 trillion out of the global economy over the next decade.

‘Lifestyle’ diseases kill 16-M prematurely: WHO

BalitaThe leading source of News and Information for the

Filipino American Community


Studies show a high percentage of default even after modification. From what I’ve seen personally, these defaults could have been for a number of reasons: (a) the homeowner’s changed financial circumstances after modification (b) the

homeowner decided that he or she still couldn’t afford the modified payments after all although income has remained the same and (c) the homeowner was never interested in keeping the home on a long term basis to begin with and simply wanted

a loan modification “to buy more time” to stay in their home. Again, these have been my personal observations only- there could be other reasons.

But for those who have remained cur-rent since their modification, they are now facing a new challenge as they approach the fifth year of their modification. Unless their income has increased in the last 5 years, there’s a good chance that they will not be able to afford the higher payments after the 5-year period under HAMP. So unless they can keep their payments the same, they may be back in the same posi-tion as they were before they obtained a loan modification 5 years ago and be at risk for foreclosure again. NOT GOOD. This is the reason why a lot of people are looking into doing a loan modification again. As a matter of fact, a recent article I read warned that there may be a spike in

foreclosures next year in 2015 as a result of all of the above.

Whether or not you should apply for loan modification again will, of course, depend on your intentions and long-term plans with regard to your home. The HAMP Program ends this year 2015 and unless the government extends it again (which I highly doubt), you may miss out on this opportunity. If you need help in figuring out your options regarding your mortgage, my office can help. Call us at 866-477-7772 for more information.

(None of the information herein is intended to give legal advice for any specific situation. Atty. Ray Bulaon has successfully helped over 5,000 clients in getting out of debt. For a free attorney evaluation of your situation, please call Ray Bulaon Law Offices at TOLL FREE 1-866-477-7772).

Who else needs to apply for loan modifi cation again?If you’re one of the many people who got approved for

loan modification many years ago under the HAMP Program, chances are that you obtained a low interest rate of 2% for 5 years and then your interest rate is set to increase after that time period. Other homeowners either did not qualify under HAMP and so were given by their lender an in-house modi-fication with less favorable terms or the interest rate given by their lender under HAMP was much higher than 2% from the start.

BINAY PROBE

BEGGARS

From page 1

From page 1

Pimentel confirmed the move, saying “we will simultaneously… have hearings on Senate Resolution 826 and Senate Resolution 1114.”

Trillanes and Senator Alan Peter Cay-etano earlier alleged that Vice President Binay, as concurrent chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Pag-IBIG Fund, struck anomalous deals with favored hous-ing project contractors in order to pocket public funds.

Pag-IBIG president and CEO Darlene Berberabe has denied the allegation, say-ing her agency does not award contracts to property developers.

Ernesto Mercado, a former ally of Bi-nay in Makati, also alleged that Binay, as BSP president, got almost P200 million in kickbacks from a deal between the BSP and Alphaland Corp. for the development of a one-hectare prime property in Makati City.

Binay’s camp has repeatedly criticized the Senate sub-committee for going beyond what the first Senate resolution has set. The vice-president also believes the Sen-ate probe’s primary purpose is to hurt his chances in the 2016 presidential elections.

Binay got P200-M kickback for Alphaland-BSP deal?

Meanwhile, Senator Antonio Trillanes is accusing Vice President Jejomar Binay of accepting P200 million in kickbacks from a joint venture between Alphaland

compassion” for the poor.But the homeless were instead taken to

plush accommodation at a hilltop resort south of Manila during the trip, before being deposited back on the streets hours after the pontiff’s departure on Monday.

Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the left-wing group Bayan, criticized the decision, saying the government was “whitewashing poverty”.

But Soliman said the homeless would have been “vulnerable to syndicates and discriminated (against) a lot” had they stayed in the area.

“You cannot hide poverty. When the pope landed, the first thing he saw was the shanties by the river,” she told AFP.

She also said they had received training as part of a government scheme launched last year to provide 11,000 homeless fami-lies with rent-free accommodation for up to a year a year. So far the programme has helped 2,000.

“Part of the orientation is to familiarise themselves with a room with a door and toilets,” Soliman said.

The Chateau Royale resort where the homeless people stayed offers swimming pools and rock-climbing facilities, and usu-ally charges up to 24,000 pesos ($544) for a room per night, according to its website.

Soliman said the government did not pay the full price, without providing de-tails.

FROZEN AIDFrom page 1

Human rights groups have accused Philippine security agencies of committing abuses in is counter-insurgency program against both communist and Muslim ex-tremist insurgencies.

The Philippines and the United States signed an agreement in April to allow a bigger US military presence on Filipino territory, a deal which would see more US troops rotate through the Philippines for joint military training exercises.

and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines for the development of a prime property in Makati City.

Trillanes said the P200 million was an initial “commission” or advance given to the Vice President for approving the Alphaland-BSP deal.

The senator said the Boy Scouts orga-nization owns several properties including a property on Malugay Street and Ayala Avenue Extension.

“Kaya pala interesadong-interesado itong si Binay na manatili bilang presi-dente ng Boy Scouts of the Philippines,” he said, noting that Binay forced the BSP board to retain him as Boy Scouts president.

Trillanes said that under the Alphaland-BSP deal, the Boy Scouts would provide the land and Alphaland would develop the property.

“Supposed to be joint venture yun. Boy Scouts sa kanya yung lupa tapos yung developer sa kanya yung capital paggawa ng building. Pero ang nangyari yung lupa ng Boy Scouts yun din ang ginawang col-lateral for loan. So walang capital itong developer. Talagang pinagkakitaan, gina-hasa ang mga Boy Scouts,” he said.

“Ni piso po wala pang binibigay sa Boy Scouts...Si Binay magnanakay at magnanakaw ito.”

Alphaland Corp. President Mario Oreta earlier warned former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado against dragging his company into the alleged anomaly.


from the recent Mortgage Meltdown, banks now know too not to be too aggressive with giving you your equity.

Cash-out refinancing explainedWith cash-out refinancing, you refi-

nance your mortgage for more than you currently owe, then pocket the difference.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you still owe $180,000 on a $350,000 house, and you want a lower interest rate. You also want $80,000 cash, maybe to spend on your child’s first semester at Harvard or to invest in a rental property somewhere. You can refinance the mortgage for $260,000. Ideally, you get a better rate with a 75% loan to value cash out refinancing , it might also only be about .125% different from a no-cash out loan. Therefore with rates now a days at all time lows, making it very attractive to borrow more money, I call it “Cheap Money”.

Cash-out refinancing differs from a home equity loan in several ways:

A home equity loan is a separate loan on top of your first mortgage.

A cash-out refinance is a replacement of your first mortgage.

The interest rates on a cash-out refi-nancing are usually, but not always, lower than the interest rate on a home equity loan. Recently very close but home equity loans are usually adjustable rates.

Generally, you don’t pay closing costs for a home equity loan, but have to keep it open for three years.

It doesn’t make sense to refinance a higher amount at a higher rate. If your current mortgage is at a lower interest rate than you could get now by refinancing, it’s probably better to get a home equity loan. Or, if you’re 20 years into a 30-year mortgage, you’re paying more principal than interest with each mortgage payment, but key is the specify what use you have

for the money. I always suggest if its long term use, then refinance and cash out and get a fixed rate mortgage. If you can be sure you are paying off the line of credit in a very short period not risking rates to go up, then use a line of credit.

Is cash-out refinancing right for me?So, if you want to extract a chunk o’

change from your three-bedroom piggy bank, how do you decide whether a cash-out refinancing is right for you?

Cashing out for these purposes might make sense :

Paying off large debts like credit card or student loans that have high rates.

Cashing out to do home improvement to increase value of your property.

Looking to invest in more Real Estate for its rental income.

Paying for Children’s College Tuition instead of getting Student loans that have much higher rates now.

Now banks are more conservative for our own good, these will keep you in check to make sure we are not over bor-rowing. It’s up to you to use that money wisely. Please call me for some advise if you have any questions pertaining to a cash our refinancing.

Mortgage Recasting is a term that not very many people are aware of, it’s actually paying down your mortgage loan to lower your monthly payments without refinanc-ing or start over again. These is a option that all servicers has for their borrowers. For someone with extra cash that is not re-ally working for them, putting that money into your mortgage to reduce your monthly payment might be a smart move, specially for someone retiring.

Thanks for your inquiries and com-ments, please call Ken Go of 1st Innovative Finance Group at 562-508-7048 or write to [email protected].

Is it smart to borrow money from my house equity to buy another property?

Homeowners today should treat their houses like piggy banks carefully, readily transforming their equity into cash and credit. Making sure the money taken out of the home equity is used to make more money or invest in something secured. You have a few options on how to take your equity out, the most common is to refinance and cash out up to about 80% loan to value then there is the home equity lines of credit and reverse mortgages. We all know not to get too carried away with cashing out funds

Washington, United States | AFP | Wednesday 1/21/2015 – New construction of US homes rose sharply in December, led by a surge in the key single-family house sector, government data released Wednesday showed.

Private housing starts leaped 4.4 percent from November to an annual rate of 1.089 million, the Commerce Department said. That was well above the 1.040 million pace expected by analysts.

For all of 2014, housing starts were up a solid 8.8 percent from 2013, at a rate of almost 1.006 million, the best level since 2007. November starts were revised up to 1.043 million from the prior estimate of 1.028 million.

Single-family homes, which account for the majority of home building, were up 7.2 percent in December. Starts on multi-family units fell 4.2 percent.

For the year, single-family starts rose 4.9 percent and multi-family starts ad-vanced 17.1 percent from 2013.

Building permits, an indicator of future construction, fell 1.9 percent in December to an annual rate of 1.032 million. They rose 4.2 percent year-over-year in 2014.

The housing market’s recovery from a crash in 2006-2007 slowed last year, with home prices registering smaller gains and tight credit conditions on mortgages blamed for limiting sales, despite histori-cally low interest rates.

New York, United States | AFP | Wednesday 1/21/2015 – Standard & Poor’s will pay $77 million and accept a one-year ban on grading some mortgage securities to settle allegations that it made fraudulent ratings in 2011, US authorities announced Wednesday.

S& P agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $58 million in the case, and another $19 million to resolve parallel cases with state justice authorities in New York and Massachusetts.

The leading debt ratings company also agreed to accept what was called a “one-

year timeout” from rating “conduit fusion commercial mortgage-backed securities”.

The authorities said S&P had adjusted its ratings criteria to get a piece of the rat-ings market for those bonds after having been “frozen out” in 2011.

The authorities said it also issued skewed research to back up the easier ratings.

“Investors rely on credit rating agen-cies like Standard & Poor’s to play it straight when rating complex securities like CMBS,” said SEC enforcement director Andrew Ceresney.

US housing starts jump in December

S&P banned from rating certain US housing bonds

New York, United States | AFP | Friday 1/23/2015 - Expedia said Friday it is buy-ing rival Travelocity in a $280 million deal merging two of the largest online travel operators.

The all-cash deal calls for Expedia to acquire its rival from travel software firm Sabre Corp and follows a 2013 agreement in which Expedia powered the tech plat-form for Travelocity’s US and Canadian websites.

“Travelocity is one of the most rec-ognized travel brands in North America, offering thousands of travel destinations to more than 20 million travelers per month,” said Expedia president and chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi.

“The strategic marketing agreement we’ve had in place has been a marriage of

Travelocity’s strong brand with our best-in-class booking platform, supply base, and customer service,” he said.

“Evolving this relationship strengthens the Expedia family’s ability to continue to innovate and deliver the very best travel experiences to the widest set of travelers, all over the world,” Khosrowshahi added.

The move comes amid increased com-petition in the travel sector from websites such as Priceline-owned Kayak and others which scan the Internet for the best deals.

Expedia operators other travel sites including Hotels.com and Carrentals.com.

Sabre, which manages online reser-vations for airlines and hotels. last year decided to focus on software and services, and sold another travel website lastminute.com.

Expedia buys Travelocity for $280 million

Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Friday 1/23/2015 – Dreamworks Animation announced plans Thursday to cut 500 jobs and reduce the number of films it produces over the next three years as part of a “strategic” plan to cut costs and boost profits.

A statement from the studio responsible for blockbuster animated hits such as “Shrek” said the restructuring would see the company make two films per year instead of three up until 2017.

“The number one priority for DreamWorks Animation’s core film business is to deliver consistent creative and financial success,” DreamWorks Animation chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said in the statement.

“I am confident that this strategic plan will deliver great films, better box office results, and growing profitability across our complementary businesses.”

The move comes after a string of costly box-office flops for the studio in recent years, which included a $57 million writedown for last year’s “Mr Peabody & Sherman” and a disappointing hit on summer movie “Turbo”.

The 2012 holiday film “Rise of the Guardians” also floundered at the box office, hurting the studio’s bottom line. The Los Angeles Times said the movie had seen Dreamworks take an $87 million writedown.

Dreamworks said the restructuring would see the studio incur a pre-tax charge of $290 million.

The studio said it would now focus on producing six films over the next three years—half of them original, half of them sequels.

“Kung Fu Panda 3” was being lined up for March 2016 followed by “Trolls” in November that year.

That would be followed by “Boss Baby” in January 2017 and “The Croods 2” in December.

Dreamworks Animation to slash 500 jobs, cut fi lms

14 Visit www.Balita.com Weekend, Sat. - Fri., January 24 - 30, 2015 Balita LOS ANGELES

OPINIONABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT, Jan 20 (Mabu-

hay) – At the end of his five-day apostolic voyage to the Philippines, Pope Francis described Filipinos as having joy that is genuine, enthusiasm that is not fake, actions that are from the heart – despite all their suffering.

“A people that knows how to suffer, and a people capable of rising up,” said the Pope, speaking to jour-nalists on Philippine Airlines flight 8010 from Manila to Rome.

Francis said the most moving moment of his trip came during the Tacloban airport mass, where hun-dreds of thousands affirmed their faith even after the tragedy that was Yolanda.

The Pope reiterated his sadness at having to cut short his trip to Leyte – forcing the cancellation of some events in Palo – on account of tropical cyclone Amang.

“Memorable,” on the other hand, was a word he used to describe scenes of parents with their children to papal events – fathers lifting their children and raising them to be blessed by the pope; mothers bringing their sick or disabled kids for the holy father’s benediction.

He said these were “actions from the heart” that showed how much these parents treasured their chil-dren.

Pope Francis on the other hand marveled at the Filipinos’ capacity to hear mass or celebrate a feast even during a heavy downpour.

Heavy rain and gusty winds forced organizers to modify the mass at Tacloban airport but all throughout, the Pope observed, the people never lost their smiles.

In Luneta where the Pope celebrated mass on Sun-day, coinciding with the Feast of the Santo Nino, it rained for hours, but the millions who attended did not budge.

During the mass and the two motorcade sessions in Luneta, the Pope said he was among the “people of God” and that he was their servant.(MNS)

MANILA, Jan 21 (Mabuhay) – A pro-life law-maker on Wednesday said he does not believe that the Pope’s statement that good Catholics should “not breed like rabbits” means that the pontiff backs the use of artificial contraceptives.

Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said he will not believe the Pope said he backs contraceptives unless he hears it from the Pope himself.

He also blamed media for trying to twist the Pope’s statement, saying the pontiff was only talking about the need for responsible parenthood.

“That has been the long-standing position of the Church, for couples to exercise responsible parenthood but not in the context of the use of harmful contraceptives,” Atienza said.

“Take care of your family and make sure that you can truly provide for them but be open to life,” he said.

Atienza said he was present during the Pope’s encounter with families at the SM Mall of Asia where the pontiff talked about the need to protect the family from ideological colonization.

Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing said the Aquino administration should heed the Pope’s call in that it should stick to the ruling of the Supreme Court, which had struck down certain unconstitutional provisions in the Reproductive Health Law.

“The law was passed simply because of the lobby of huge pharmaceutical companies. The implementation must not skirt the law,” he said.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Emmerenciana de Jesus, one of the principal RH advocates in the House, said Pope Francis’ statement should be taken in the context of the state’s having the pri-mary obligation of ensuring the best quality of life for families.

“My appreciation of the pope’s statement is that he meant the overall quality of life that the state has the obligation to take care of, like ensuring quality jobs so that families can be productive members of society,” De Jesus said.

She said the pope’s statement should be taken by Malacañang as a wake-up call to improve the economy for the sake of families. (MNS)

MANILA, Jan 21 (Mabuhay) – Senator Jinggoy Estrada said the Supreme Court’s (SC) dismissal of the disqualification case against his father, Manila Mayor and former President Joseph Estrada, is a triumph of the will of the Filipinos masses.

“The decision of the Supreme Court is a triumph of the will of the Filipino masses especially the elec-torate of the City of Manila to choose their rightful leader,” the younger Estrada said in a statement.

He said the petition was filed against his father by a losing opponent “to derail his plans of trans-forming Manila into a dynamic and progressive metropolis, which my father is now doing.”

He said the high court’s decision should now put to rest all questions and uncertainties over the pardon given to his father by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as well as his eligibility to run for public office.

“And now that this issue has been settled, let us focus on helping the local government of Manila led by President Mayor Estrada to succeed in the next 18 months in restoring the glory and grandeur of our beloved capital city which were lost due to

years of mismanagement and negligence,” he said.Voting 11-3, the SC dismissed Wednesday the

disqualification case against Estrada.The high court upheld the decision of the Com-

mission on Elections (Comelec) that junked the peti-tion of lawyer Alicia Risos-Vidal, who said Estrada’s conviction for plunder effectively disqualified him to run for and hold a public office.

Estrada has maintained that the pardon he received from Arroyo fully restored his civil and political rights.

Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, meanwhile, said the court’s ruling is a vindication for Estrada.

“Kami po, sampu ng mga kasama ko sa konseho ay lubos na nagagalak sa naging desisyon ng ating korte suprema. Muli pong nanaig at pinakinggan ang mandato ng mga Manilenyo at hindi ginawang usaping teknikal o legal lamang,” he said.

“Ito ay bindikasyon kay Pangulong-Mayor Erap na inihalal sa isang malinis at parehas na halalalan,” he added. Moreno said they are now ready to move on and “look forward for a better tomorrow for the greatest number of Manilenyos.” (MNS)

MANILA, Jan 23 (Mabuhay) – Vice President Jejomar Binay joined the Saudi Arabian nation in mourning the passing of King Abdullah, whom he described as a “great friend of Filipinos.”

“I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of King Abdullah and send my most sincere condo-lences to the King’s family .We share in the grief of the entire nation of Saudi Arabia and mourn the loss of a great friend of Filipinos,” Binay said in a statement on Friday.

Binay said King Abdullah’s kindness and com-passion was “extraordinary.”

“He was the first Saudi King who contributed blood money to save the life of an overseas Filipino worker,” the Vice President said.

In 2013, King Abdullah gave 2.3 million Saudi Riyals to spare Rodelio Celestino “Dondon” Lanuza from the death penalty, Binay said.

“He also generously extended more than once the deadline for foreign workers to correct their residency or work status to legalize their stay in the Kingdom,” he said.

“As Presidential Adviser on OFW Concerns, I will always be grateful for King Abdullah’s merciful heart,” Binay added. (MNS)

Meanwhile in Doha, Qatar, a leading Islamic

organization has called on the United Nations to make “contempt of religions” illegal and urged the West to protect Muslim communities following the attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars, headed by influential preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi, appealed to Muslims to continue peaceful protests against images of the Prophet Mohammed but “not to resort to any violence”.

The latest cartoon of the prophet in Charlie Hebdo has angered many Muslims and triggered protests in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

In a statement released Tuesday, the union said there should be protection for “prophets” and urged Islamic countries to submit a draft law to the UN calling for defamation of religions to be outlawed.

The union said the UN should then issue a “law criminalizing contempt of religions and the prophets and all the holy sites.” It also called for the West “to protect Muslim communities from attacks, whether they are citizens or residents or visitors”.

The union has condemned the publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed holding a “Je suis Charlie” sign under the headline “All is forgiven” in the first Charlie Hebdo edition since Islamist gunmen killed 12 people in an attack on its offices.

Pope Francis on his visit: Filipinos’ joy is genuine Jinggoy on SC ruling: A

triumph of the masses

Party-list Rep. Atienza defends Pope’s ‘rabbits’ statement

Binay: Saudi King ‘great friend of Filipinos


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ily and the Filipino people. It seems that the love between him and

the Catholic hierarcy is not lost. From time to time, local church leaders have been calling out the attention of the pro-contraceptive President Noynoy to put more emphasis on how to uplift the lives of the poor. The church also wants the Aquino administration to put a stop to the unabated operation of “jueteng” in the country, that is causing some friction between the church and the President.

The tension between the church and President Noynoy even got worse particu-larly during the deliberations on the then proposed Reproductive Health Bill (RH) in Congress.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CDCP) has openly op-posed President Noynoy’s RH bill and stood firm against him. Although the bill ultimately passed in Congress, courtesy of the President, the Supreme Court struck down the provisions that would’ve denied parental rights and the right to conscience of pro-life health care providers.

So it did not surprise me when President Noynoy, in his welcome speech on Pope Francis’ courtesy call in Malacañang, castigated local church leaders for turning a “blind eye” during the incumbency of former President Gloria Arroyo. He saw an opportunity on how to get back at the bishops and he took advantage of it. All

he probably was thinking about was his revenge against the bishops that stood against his RH bill.

President Noynoy’s snide remarks against local church leaders did not go unnoticed. It prompted a Bishop from Northern Luzon to remind the Chief Ex-ecutive that “a mature leader welcomes criticism and grows because of admonition and counsel.”

Bishop Ramon Villena of the Diocese of Bayongbong, Nueva Vizcaya, chided President Noynoy for his reckless accusa-tions against the church. Bishop Villena told the media he was prompted to issue a public statement because President Noynoy’s accusations cannot be made to pass without rebuttal.

Bishop Villena said “what was sup-posed to have been an occassion filled with grace and truth turned out to be an embarrassing and distressing affair, because President Aquino imprudently seized the opportunity to vent his disap-pointment that the catholic hierarchyhas not always sided with him.”

The Bishop also said in his statement that the President “complains that the

An arrogant, vindictive and immature leaderPresident Noynoy is known to be vindictive and unforgiving

not only to his political enemies but to people or organizations that criticize his policies and procedures in running the affairs of the government. And this was manifested when the president spoke in front of visiting Pope Francis when he admonished not just the dictatorship that “killed” his father, Sen. Benigno Aquino, and other past kleptoratic administrations, but also the local clergy, whom he partially blamed for letting the Marcoses ruled for decades at the expense of his fam-

By Michael MathesWashington, United States | AFP |

Wednesday 1/21/2015 – The economic suc-cesses US President Barack Obama touted in his speech to Congress Tuesday were not just taunts to Republicans; he was helping Democrats build an early strategy for keep-ing the White House in 2016.

With the clock winding down on his two-term presidency, Obama proclaimed America’s economy to be back on steady footing after years of post-recession mal-aise, and he unveiled a plan to help the middle class that he clearly hopes will carry on into another Democratic administration.

The policy dreams Obama pushed in his State of the Union address—higher taxes on

the super-wealthy, free community college for many students, paid sick days—have little chance of seeing the light of day with Congress now under full Republican control.

But by highlighting the nation’s eco-nomic bounce-back, including steady job growth and shrinking deficits, Obama as-sured that any Democrat seeking to succeed him would be more inclined to run toward his policies than away from them.

Obama “pointed (the) way to an econ-omy that works for all. Now we need to step up and deliver for the middle class,” Hillary Clinton, the prospective Democratic frontrunner, said on Twitter after the speech.

Until that tweet, Clinton, who is expect-

ed to announce a presidential run in coming months, had provided few signs of how she would boost the middle class, although last week she warned against the “risky and wrong” Wall Street financial reforms being pushed by Republicans.

The battle over the middle class will be fertile ground in the run-up to 2016.

“It’s not a new issue for us,” number two Senate Democrat Dick Durbin told AFP, referring to the debate over inequality and Democrats’ calls for spreading the benefits of the economic recovery more evenly across society.

“If you’re in elected position today you have to be talking about the squeeze on the middle class, and the inequality of wealth

distribution,” added Senate Democrat Chris Murphy.

“It’s nothing new, right? This is always something Democrats have talked about.”

But Obama’s new tax proposal, one that closes capital gains loopholes to raise hun-dreds of billions of dollars for middle class taxes cuts, “is helping to change this debate so the majority in Congress are forced to look at everybody, not just the top one or two or five percent,” said Senate Democrat Sherrod Brown. “Republicans argue that when profits are up ... the main function of this government should be to cut taxes for corporations, at the same time do nothing for wage stagnation... and wage growth and working class voters.”

Obama launches Democrats’ middle class push in 2016

clergy has been silent in the face of what he characterizes as the misdeeds, malfeasance and misfeasance during the reign of former President Arroyo.

Bishop Villena also stated in his state-ment that the problem with President Noynoy is his lack of regard for judicial processes and blatant disregard of the judicial system.

He added in his statement that the CBCP was not at all silent during Arroyo’s term. He said that in the wake of different allega-tions against the Arroyos, “the CBCP was not remiss in its exhortations and released different statements to the media and the people,” the statement said.

Bishop Villena also reminded the Aqui-no that “CBCP does not serve presidents.” The statement also said that the CBCP will address themselves to moral issues and doctrinal concerns. On political, social and economic matters that raise moral ques-tions, he said the church will not be silent and it will matter little to them whether they are on the side of the government or not.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the President will issue a statement sooner or later in response to the public statement made by Bishop Villena because that’s how vindic-tive he is.


Look and feel great this holiday season...

Pinagpipitagang mang-awit sa buong mundo, si Gary Valenciano, higit na kilala bilang ‘ Gary V’ ang yayanig sa teatro ng Pechanga Resort & Casino sa Temecula, California sa pamamagitan ng konsyertong nakatakda sa Marso a-8, alas-7 ng gabi.

Ang Pechanga Resort & Casino ay kilala sa pagtangkilik ng magagaling at mahuhusay na mga Pilipinong artista at mang-aawit kagaya ng Mega Star na si Sharon Cuneta, ang singer/aktres at Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, pupolar na komedyante at aktor Vice Ganda, winner ng ‘Star Power Search 2011’ Angeline Quintos, international actress at top endors-er Anne Curtis, at Pop Star Princess Sarah Geronimo—na bigay todong umaaliw sa kagalakan ng mga manonood.

Bukod sa maayos na mga kainan, pa-hingahan at kasayahan, nais ng Pechanga Resort & Casino na mag-alay ng natatang-ing kaganapan lalo na sa Pilipinong mga patron. Kung kaya’t si Gary V, na may ma-tibay na 31 taon sa larangang internasyonal na pag-awit at pag-sayaw ay ‘bubulaga’ sa publiko sa taong mag-uumpisa ng ka-siyahan.

Si Gary V, mang-aawit/manunulat ng awit/musikero, ay ipinanganak mula sa inang Puerto-Rican at amang Pilipino.Siya’y regular na makikita sa publiko mula ng ito’y mag-umpisa ng kanyang career taong 1983. Sa edad na 18, siya’y bumu-lusok sa industriya ng musika sa Pilipinas taglay ang mga kilos ni Michael Jackson at pyro-techniques ni Al Jarreau.

Sa kasalukuyan, si Gary V ay may 32 albums na nai-release sa Estados Unidos at Rehiyong Asyano. Ang Pop idol ay may kakaibang track record sa laranga ng Philippine recording kung saan sa kabuuan

ay nagkamit ito ng 12 Awit Awards sa kat-egoryang Best Male Recording lamang. Palaging nagtatamo ng Gold, Platinum at multi-Platinum awards sa benta ng kan-yang mga produkto. Ang kanyang mga kanta ay nagpapasasa ng milyong ‘hits’ online. Ang malawakang pagtanggap sa kanyang recordings ay nagbunsod sa mga film producers sa kanyang mga awitin upang maging soundtrack ng kanilang mga pelikula. Gayundin, si Gary ay bumida sa 14 na full-length na pelikula sa kabuuan ng kanyang career.

Isang ‘Ambassador of Goodwill’ sa UNICEF, si Gary ay isang international en-dorser ng kilalang Sennheiser microphone, kahalintulad ng mga pamosong mang-aawit na sina Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Julio Iglesias, the Backstreet Boys and Sting. Dahil dito’y nagtanghal siya sa Musik Messe sa Frankfurt, Germany— ang higante sa mundo ng exhibit at convention ng mga musical instrument at dealers nito.

Sa gitna ng tagumpay at kasaganaan, si Gary ay aktibo rin upang ibahagi ang kanyang mga natatanggap na biyaya sa mga mahihirap at nangangailan at bilang beteranong artista siya’y may regular na Sunday show- ASAP 20 - na mapapanood sa Manila at sa buong mundo, sa pama-magitan ng Filipino cable network.

Kaunti na lamang ang nalalabing pana-hon. Bumili na kayo ng tickets – mula $85, $75, $65 at $50. Ang tickets ay mabibili sa Pechanga Box Office o kaya’y sa www. Pechanga.com/tickets. Ang room at show packages ay pwede ring bilhin. Upang makabili ng wheelchair na upuan, tumawag lamang sa Box Office 1-877-711-2946.

Service Fees at Ticket Exceptions:

Lahat ng tickets ay may $5 na Service Fee.

WALANG REFUND. WALANG PALITAN. WALANG EXCEPTIONS

Ang ticket ay limitado sa 6 na tickets kada Performer, kada tao, kada credit card, kada kasambahay.

Ang mga palabas sa Pechanga Theater ay naghahandog ng komportable at mati-wasay na pakiramdam habang nanood ng mga konsierto. May 1,200 na upuan sa teatro, nakapaloob kada palabas ang pinagmamalaki at perpektong tunog sa kabuuan. Ang paghahatid ng kagalakan sa panonood ng mga paboritong artista sa Pechanga maliban sa ibang lugar ay walang katumbas gayundin ng libreng pagparada ng sasakyan at sariling pagpaparada sa mga bisita, libreng casino/shuttles, gourmet at kaswal na kainang pamimilian sa lugar, gayundin ang komportableng upuan at kaaya-ayang tanaw mula sa kani-kanyang upuan sa teatro.

Patungkol sa Pechanga Resort & Casino

Inaalok ng Pechanga Resort & Casino ang isa sa mga pinakamalaki at malaganap

na kasiyahan na pang resort/casino kahit saan sa buong bansa. Hinirang na “Four Diamond property” ng AAA mula pa noong 2002, ang Pechanga Resort & Casino ay nagbibigay ng walang katumbas na paraan para sa isang araw o pang-matagalang marangyang bakasyon. Naghahandog ng mahigit sa 3,000 sa pinaka mainit na slot machines, table games at world-class en-tertainment, 517 na kuwarto sa hotel nito, mga kainan, spa at championship golf sa “Journey at Pechanga,” ang Pechanga Re-sort & Casino ay tampok na destinasyon na tumutugon at humihigit sa kagustuhan ng mga panauhin nito at ng komunidad. Ang Pechanga Resort & Casino ay pag-aari at palakad ng Pechanga Band ng mga Luiseño Indians.

Para sa karagdagang impormasyon, tumawag sa 1-877-711-2946 o pumunta sa www.Pechanga.com. Sundan ang Pechanga Resort & Casino sa Facebook.com/Pechanga at Twitter @PechangaCa-sino. Ang Pechanga Resort & Casino ay bukas ng 24 oras. Ang mga panauhin ay dapat na may edad 21 anyos at pataas para makapasok sa casino.

‘Gary V’ Yayanig sa Pechanga Resort & Casino sa March 8

The Sta. Maria Bulacan Association will celebrate the fiesta of La Puri-sima Concepcion on February 7, 2015 at the John Simm’s Park in Bellflower from 9:00 am - 5:30 pm. There will be mass,

games, singing & dancing, according to President, Emma Flores-Padilla (626) 512-629.

Music will be provided by The Mid-night Motion Band.

SMBA to celebrate fi esta of La Purisima Concepcion

Washington, United States | AFP | Fri-day 1/23/2015 – Inspectors at US airports found a record 2,212 guns, most of them loaded, in travellers’ carry-on baggage in 2014, the Transportation Security Admin-istration said Friday.

That’s a 22 percent increase from the year before, and represents an average of more than six firearms intercepted every day.

More than 80 percent of the guns were loaded, the federal agency said in a state-ment. Last year the agency screened 653.5 million passengers and 1.7 billion carry-on bags.

Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Houston and Denver led the list of 224 airports – 19 more than 2013 – where TSA inspectors stopped passengers from taking guns onto their flights.

Among the weapons seized was an as-

sault rifle with three loaded magazines in Dallas and a loaded .38 caliber pistol on the hip of a 94-year-old man at New York’s La Guardia airport.

Besides guns, TSA inspectors in 2014 also came across a hand grenade in Los Angeles – a discovery that delayed five flights – and six blocks of plastic explo-sives in Tampa, Florida.

They also uncovered an 8.5-inch (20 centimeter) knife inside an enchilada in Santa Rosa, California and razor blades hidden in a Scooby Doo greeting card in Newport News, Virginia.

Under federal law, anyone who tries to take a gun onto an airline flight as a carry-on item – loaded or not – can face criminal prosecution and a $10,000 fine.

Firearms can travel as checked baggage, so long as they are unloaded and safely packed in a locked container.

Record number of guns intercepted at US airports


HEALTH & BEAUTY (Paris-AFP) – Joining a walking group

is one of the easiest ways to boost health and morale, according to an investigation published Monday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Researchers at Britain’s University of East Anglia analyzed 42 published studies of people who took up organised walking – regular outings that typically lasted less than an hour.

Walkers enjoyed “statistically sig-nificant improvements” in wellbeing compared to their formerly sedentary state, the probe found.

Small but measurable gains were seen in general fitness, blood pressure, resting heart rate, lung power, cholesterol levels, body fat and in a standard test to measure depression.

The picture was less clear for waist

circumference and blood glucose.Of those who joined a walking group,

three-quarters tended to stick to it – and apart from the odd stumble over roots or wet ground, it is a risk-free activity.

These are benefits that doctors should point out to sedentary patients, the paper said. “Walking groups are effective and safe with good adherence and wide-ranging health benefits.”

The published studies, accessed through online databases, involved almost 2,000 people in 14 countries.

The volunteers were assessed before and after joining a walking group, and many had a wide-range of long-term health conditions, ranging from diabetes, arthritis and depression to obesity and Parkinson’s disease.

Other sports were not evaluated.

Life in the slow lane: Walking groups boost health

(Relaxnews) – Drinking coffee can lower your risk for malignant mela-noma, according to a new study from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in the US.

Spring-boarding on evidence that suggests coffee could protect against non-melanoma skin cancers, the researchers set out to learn whether it has this effect against melanoma.

They worked with a database of 447,357 non-Hispanic white subjects who in 1995 and 1996 responded to a question-naire about their diet and provided follow-up information 10 years later, on average.

At the start, all subjects were cancer-free and the research team determined their frequency of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays based on where they lived and adjusted the data accordingly.

Subjects were also assessed for body

mass index (BMI), age, sex, alcohol in-take, smoking history and the amount of exercise they got and the study data was, again, adjusted.

High coffee consumption -- at least four cups per day of caffeinated coffee, not decaf -- was associated with a 20 percent reduction in risk of malignant melanoma.

The more coffee subjects drank -- start-ing at one cup a day until four or more -- the less at risk they appeared to be for malignant melanoma.

It should be noted that the protective effect was observed only against malig-nant melanoma and not against melanoma in-situ and the researchers say their results are preliminary and may not apply to all populations.

The study, which researchers say mer-its further research, was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Good friends lead to good health, according to a recent study. © Monkey Business Images/shutterstock.com

Is coffee the new sunblock?

Paris, France | AFP | Wednesday 1/21/2015 – Better techniques and poli-cies have given children born from artifi-cial fertilization a much better chance of survival and good health, a Scandinavian study said Wednesday.

Doctors looked at data from 1988 to 2007 from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden for more than 92,000 chil-dren born through assisted reproduction technology (ART), the term for in-vitro and other methods.

Of them, more than 62,000 were single births, also called singletons, and more than 29,000 were twins.

The health of the babies at birth and in their first year of life was compared to that of children conceived without ART.

“We observed a remarkable decline in the risk of being born pre-term or very preterm,” said Anna-Karina Aaris Hen-ningsen at the University of Copenhagen.

“The proportion of single ART babies born with a low or very low birth weight – less than 2,500 grams (5.5 pounds) or 1,500g respectively – also decreased.

“The rates for stillbirths and death during the first year declined among both singletons and twins, and fewer ART twins were stillborn or died during the first year compared with spontaneously conceived twins,” Henningsen said.

In the period 1988-1992, the rate of pre-term singletons born from ART was 13 percent, compared to five percent among babies that had been spontane-ously conceived.

IVF babies healthier than before: study

Walkers enjoyed “statistically signifi cant improvements” in wellbeing compared to their formerly sedentary state, the probe found.

But by 2007, this had fallen to eight percent in the ART group, while the non-ART group stayed at five percent.

Henningsen said several factors con-tributed to the improvement.

Laboratories became more skilled at culturing fertilized eggs before returning them to the uterus, and hormonal drugs to stimulate ovaries for egg harvesting were milder than before.

The biggest gain, though, was in a policy change to encourage a single em-bryo implant at a time, not several.

Multiple embryos boost the chance of a live birth, but also raise the odds of having twins or triplets, which can result in lower birthweight and health complications.

From 1989 to 2002, the proportion of ART twins in the four Scandinavian countries was stable at about 23 percent of births, but then began to decline. By 2007, it had halved to 11.6 percent.

The study appears in the journal Hu-man Reproduction.

A study shows that better techniques and policies have given children born from artifi cial fertilization a much better chance of survival and good health





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COMMUNITYmunities.

Previous FYLPro delegates were able to undertake political advocacy initiatives, cultural and tourism promotion programs, social entrepreneurship activities, educa-tion innovations, Filipino-American heri-tage projects, voter awareness and educa-tion, and even political campaigns upon their return to the US.

The previous delegates are now focused on mentoring the incoming batch and undertaking concrete projects that would ensure the batch’s legacy.

“FYLPro offers an entry point - the beginning or continuation of a journey towards finding a meaningful connection to the Philippines,” said FYLPro alumnae Bea Querido, who works for Boeing in Seattle.

“It’s about building empathy and learn-ing between Fil-Ams and Filipinos in the Philippines in hope of creating impactful collaborations that will push forward our global and local Filipino communities forward,” Querido said.

The Embassy said the program is open to individuals who meet the following criteria:

No younger than 25 years old and no older than 40 years old by 02 July 2015;

Ready and capable of travelling to the Philippines to participate in the 4th FYL-

Pro and the 10th Ambassadors, Consuls General and Tourism Directors Tour (ACGTDT) on 02-04 July and 06-09 July, respectively;

Have potential or demonstrated leader-ship skills within their school, community, workplace or other area of involvement, and

Have potential or demonstrated involve-ment in the Filipino-American Community, or in issues and/or activities that align with the interest of the Filipino American com-munity or the Philippines.

Interested individuals may download the application form from http://philip-pinessanfrancisco.org/news/4366/591/Search-for-the-4th-batch-of-Filipino-American-Youth-Leadership-Program-FYLPro-Delegates/d,phildet/starting 15 January 2015.

Applications and documentary require-ments should be submitted to the foreign service post nearest the applicant’s place of residence – the Embassy in Washing-ton, D.C. and the Consulates General in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and Agana – on or before 30 March 2015.

The 4th FYLPro is organized by Consul Generals and the Ayala Foundation.

The names of the 10 chosen delgates will be announced on 30 April 2015.

Washington, D.C. “We are grateful to Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, Sen. Dean Heller and U.S. Rep. Grace Meng for introducing a bill that would ensure that Filipino veterans who fought in World War II receive their rightful benefits,” says NaFFAA National Chairman JT Mallonga. “While more than 18,000 veterans have already received them, there are thousands more whose claims have been denied and are still waiting. That’s mainly because their names were not listed in official rosters maintained by the United States Army.”

Called “The Filipino Veterans Promise Amendment,”the proposed measure would direct the Department of Defense (DOD), in consultation with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to “establish a process for de-termining whether certain individuals meet the necessary service requirements to receive veterans’ benefits and subsequently be veri-fied as a Veteran by the United States Army.”

Following passage of the Filipino Veter-ans Equity Compensation (FVEC) Fund in 2009, Filipino veterans residing in the U.S. have each received a lump sum payment of $15,000 while those who live in the Philip-pines received $9,000.

Of the thousands whose claims have been rejected, about 4,200 have appealed. They assert that their rejection was based on unfair procedures established by the U.S. Army in determining service eligibility. These veterans are demanding that the Veterans Administration review their appeals and al-low them to present other forms of proof to back up their claims.

According to Sen. Hirono (D-HI), “This bill will provide Filipino World War II vet-erans a process to prove that they indeed served and are eligible for the benefits they’ve been promised. We must now work to ensure every surviving veteran who served shoulder-to-shoulder with American forces receives this well-earned benefit.”

Mallonga is calling on the Filipino

American community to urge their senators and representatives to vote for the bill. “It is a matter of honor and dignity, for both the U.S. and for our brave soldiers who fought for this country,” Mallonga said.

Hirono, Heller, Meng fight to ensure Filipino veterans receive earned benefits

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Dean Heller (R-NV) joined with Congresswoman Grace Meng in introducing the Filipino Veterans Promise Act, a bipartisan bill that would help all Filipino World War II veterans receive benefits that they earned for their service to the United States. These veterans fought alongside Americans, but were denied veter-ans’ benefits because they weren’t included on rosters that the United States later used to establish service.

“We have heard the stories of how numer-ous Filipino soldiers were afraid to record their names during World War II for fear the enemy would obtain roster lists and retaliate against them,” said Senator Mazie K. Hi-rono. “This bill will provide Filipino World War II veterans a process to prove that they indeed served and are eligible for the benefits they’ve been promised. We must now work to ensure every surviving veteran who served shoulder-to-shoulder with American forces receives this well-earned benefit.”

“Many Filipino veterans who served during World War II call Nevada home. Unfortunately, they have yet to receive the benefits they earned and deserve. The Filipino Veterans Promise Act helps fulfill America’s promise and ensures these veter-ans are treated fairly and with respect,” said Senator Heller. “Since my first days in the Senate, I have fought for this legislation because of its importance to the Filipino community.

That’s why I take great pride in this bill. I am pleased Senator Hirono and Congress-woman Meng joined in introducing this piece of bipartisan legislation.”

Los Angeles, January 19, 2015 – Come one, come all. The Filipino Ministry of the Wilshire United Methodist Church and The HIFI Cali Expo with the Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) will hold its first feeding program and food distribution for the year 2015 on Saturday, January 31 at 11 a.m. at the Filipino American Community of Los Angeles (FACLA).

The feeding program and food distribution was brought back to FACLA by the collaboration of this three organizations with FACLA after a long absence.

It has been a success ever since and has distributed food and have fed a modest number of seniors since it started in the middle of 2014

At the same time, Sid Balatan, FACLA Director for Information and Technology will again hold his free workshop on email, Iphone and tablet literacy and technology.

This technology literacy seminar for people who want to learn about this gadgets. This workshop is free. Especially for senior adults, using their phones and tablets should not be troublesome.

Age does not matter when it comes to technology. It is not to late or we are not to old to learn. Please come to this free high tech seminar.

For more information please contact Sid at (213)3995042 or Al Garcia at (323)253-1818 or email us [email protected].

WASHINGTON, D.C. January 14 , 2015 – The Philippine Embassy today an-nounced the search for the fourth batch of delegates for the annual Filipino American Youth Leadership Program (FYLPro).

The brainchild of Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., FYLPro was launched in 2012 as part of his advocacy to reach out to the youth and encourage them to actively engage in their own communities and, at the same time, promote Philippines development.

“We are giving young Filipino-Ameri-

can leaders the opportunity to have a bet-ter appreciation and understanding of the land where their parents came from, and in doing so, we hope to inspire them to be stronger advocates for the Philippines and the Filipino-American community in the United States,” Ambassador Cuisia, Jr. said.

Thirty promising Filipino-American youth leaders have participated in the im-mersion program that includes meetings with top government, business and civil society leaders and visits to local com-

PHL Embassy launches 4th annual Fil-Am youth leaders program

Food distribution and feeding program at FACLA, Jan. 31

NAFFAA commends bipartisan effort on behalf of Filipino World War II veterans


ROSEMEAD, Calif., Jan. 20, 2015 – Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison (SCE), reminds high school seniors that there’s still time to apply for the 2014-15 Edison Scholars Program, which offers $1.2 mil-lion in scholarships to high school seniors planning to pursue college studies in sci-ence, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields. The application deadline is Feb. 1.

Thirty scholarships valued at $40,000

each and paid over four years will be awarded to high school seniors who either live in or attend public or private high schools in SCE’s service area.

Applicants must have a 2.8 GPA or bet-ter. Students from low-income families and underserved communities are especially encouraged to apply.

Since 2006, Edison International has awarded nearly $4 million in scholarships to 460 Edison Scholars.

To apply and to get additional eligibility

information, students are encouraged to go to:www.scholarsapply.org/edisonscholars. Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. PST, Feb. 1.

Click here to view a video about the Edison Scholars Program and last year’s scholarship recipients.

Scholarship recipients will be an-nounced in April and they may also be eligible for summer internships at SCE after completing their second year of col-lege. Dependents of Edison International

employees are not eligible for the Edison Scholars Program.

For more information about SCE, fol-low us on Twitter and Facebook.

Edison International, through its sub-sidiaries, is a generator and distributor of electric power and an investor in energy services and technologies, including re-newable energy. Headquartered in Rose-mead, Edison International is the parent company of Southern California Edison, one of the nation’s largest electric utilities.

Feb. 1 is deadline to apply for $1.2-M Edison Scholars Program

CARSON, CA – After receiving a full refund check from a past phone settlement, the Bautista family was able to put that money towards purchasing their day-to-day basic needs. This is money that this family would not have received otherwise if it was not for the help of consumer ad-vocacy organizations like Campaign for Social Justice (CSJ).

CSJ, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping consumers of any type of phone company, had previously assisted this fam-ily in filling out the necessary paperwork for AT&T’s previous third-party billing settlement. The mother of the household shared that they recently received their long-awaited check of $306.47 from the phone settlement. The mother of the household expressed her gratitude for the free assistance in retrieving this money from previous bills in which she was over-charged. Mrs. Bautista expressed, “Kung wala kayo, hindi ko alam kung paano kong gagawin. Noong natanggap namin ang tseke, ibinili namin ng bigas, pagkain, at groceries.”

Ivy Daulo, a CSJ community educator who helped the Bautista family com-plete the paperwork for the settlement, had helped several other individuals and families throughout the Los Angeles area retrieve money owed to them. Daulo explains the importance of this free assistance:“Hindi napansin ng pamilya na nagbabayad sila nang sobra sa kanily-ang mga bill. Ganyan talaga kapag busy ang tao, kaya palagi kong ipinaalaala

sa mga kababayan natin na mas maiggi kung tumawag na lang sila sa amin da-hil marunong kami sa ganitong proseso at libre pa ang tulong namin. Tulad sa pamilyang tinulungan namin sa Carson, wala naman kaming hinihingi ng kapalit sa pamilya. Masaya kami at nagpupunta ang perang karapat-dapat sa pamilya at hindi sa kompanya.”

Currently, there are two settlements for which consumers can file claims. One ap-plies to any current and former AT&T cell phone customer since January 2009. The other settlement applies to any current or former T-Mobile customer since July 2010. More information can be found on the following websites: http://www.ftc.gov/ATT and http://www.t-mobilerefund.com/. Since the paperwork process can be over-whelming and some may not have access to a computer or internet, CSJ is offering free help in submitting refund claims on behalf of the consumer.

For over 10 years, CSJ has helped con-sumers with their concerns with different phone companies through a confidential and fast process. Thousands of commu-nity members have been helped through this consumer assistance program called Telecommunications Education and As-sistance in Multiple-languages. Trained staff is available to help in the following languages: Tagalog, Ilokano, Spanish, and English. Consumers of any phone com-pany can contact Ivy at (323) 987-8238 or email [email protected] with any ques-tions or concerns regarding phone bills.

Strong Santa Ana winds forecast throughout SoCal this weekend

Non-profi t helps recover 100s of dollars for family overcharged by phone company

Los Angeles, 05 January 2015 – The Philippine Consulate General is pleased to announced that it will move to a new location at 3435 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA beginning the 1st week of March 2015.

The change of location that is four blocks from its present location is part of a wider effort of the Consulate towards delivering better client experience and enhanced image and representation of the Philippines in Southern California.

“At these times when the respect for our people and our country has increased considerably,” said Consul General Leo Herrera-Lim, “it is timely that we establish a presence in Los Angeles that matches up with that achievement.”

The Filipino community is one of the fastest growing communities in the Midwest region. Based on the 2010 US Census, there is about one million Filipinos within the jurisdiction of the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles.

PHL Consulate will transfer to new location in March

By Caroline Aoyagi-Stom @SCE_CarolineJanuary 23, 2015 – With strong Santa

Ana winds, sometimes up to 70 mph, forecast throughout the Southland this weekend, Southern California Edison (SCE) reminds its customers to be on alert for downed power lines and possible power outages.

The National Weather Service has is-sued a wind advisory for Los Angeles and Ventura counties starting tonight through Sunday. Wind gusts could reach between 65 and 70 mph during the event’s peak on Saturday. “We will be closely monitoring the wind conditions this weekend and SCE has crews ready to respond in case of any additional outages or possible downed wires,” said Jim Cherrie, SCE director of Grid Operations. “Currently, our system is performing well.”

SCE reminds its customers to never approach of touch a downed power line or dangling wire – even if it appears not to be live – and call 911 immediately. Traf-fic signals may be out so approach those intersections as four-way stops.

Customers may report or inquire about outages at 1-800-611-1911 and get the lat-est information using the SCE outages app at www.sce.com/outages. Customers can also get the latest information by visiting on.sce.com/staysafe or at twitter.com/sce

and facebook.com/sce.SCE also offers these tips: • If you’re in a vehicle with a fallen

power line on it, stay in the vehicle and remain calm until help arrives. It is OK to use your cellphone to call 911. If you must leave the vehicle, remember to exit away from downed power lines and exit by jumping from the vehicle. You must not touch the vehicle and the ground at the same time. Then proceed away from the vehicle by shuffling your feet until you are several yards away.

• Water and electricity don’t mix. Water is an excellent conductor of electricity. Do not step in or enter any water that a downed power line may be touching.

• If you use a generator, place it out-doors and plug individual appliances directly into it, using a heavy-duty exten-sion cord. Connecting generators directly to household circuits creates “backfeed,” which is dangerous to repair crews. Please consult the manufacturer’s manual for operating the generator.

• Do not use any equipment inside that is designed for outdoor heating or cooking. Such equipment can emit carbon monoxide and other toxic gases.

• Remember to check emergency sup-plies to be sure you have a battery-operated radio, a flashlight and fresh batteries.

California alert after Disneyland measles outbreak

(From left) Miss Philippines USA-Ambassador 2014 Samantha Antonio, Miss Philippines USA 2014, Hannah Angelica Marte, Producer / Fashion designer Lou Razon, and Miss Young Philippines USA 2014 , Aislinn Anne Sebastian.

Glendale, CA – The most prestigious Fil-Am pageant Miss Philippines USA is looking for candidates who will vie for the titles of Miss Philippines USA and Miss Young Philippines USA. Screening and orientation is scheduled on February 8th in Glendale , CA.

We are looking for female , 14-25 years old, of Filipino descent , at least 5’2” and must be a US resident.

For more inquiries , please call 818 242-2088 or email [email protected] or visit our website at www.missphilusa.com.

Search is on for Miss Philippines USA and Miss Young Philippines USA 2015

Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Thursday 1/22/2015 – California is bat-tling a surge of measles cases clustered around the famous Disneyland theme park, despite the virus being all but eliminated in the United States, health authorities said Thursday.

The California Department of Public Health reported on its website that 59 cases of measles had been recorded since the end of December.

“Of the confirmed cases, 42 have been linked to Disneyland or Disney Califor-nia Adventure Park in Anaheim, Califor-nia,” the health department said. Five of the cases involved Disney employees.

“Initial exposures occurred in Decem-ber, but additional confirmed cases visited Disney parks while infectious in January,” the department added on its website.

Measles is highly contagious and can be spread through the air without physi-cal contact. Infection usually begins with a fever followed by a cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis and a rash.

The health department said the spate of cases underscored the need for vacci-nations against the illness. Twenty-eight cases from 34 for which data was available involved individuals who had not been

vaccinated.Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and state health officer, an-nounced today that local public health officials have confirmed a total of 59 cases of measles in California residents since the end of December 2014.

“If you have symptoms, and believe you may have been exposed, please contact your health care provider. Unless you have an emergency, it is best to contact your health care provider by phone to prevent spread in doctor’s offices.” said Chapman. “The best way to prevent measles and its spread is to get vaccinated.”

Of the confirmed cases, 42 have been linked to an initial exposure in Decem-ber at Disneyland or Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California.The confirmed cases include five Disney employees.

In addition, other cases have visited Disney parks while infectious in January. CDPH recommends that any patient with a measles compatible illness who has re-cently visited venues where international travelers congregate, such as theme parks, airports, etc., be considered to have a plau-sible exposure to measles.

Crews on standby; Customers warned never to approach or touch downed power lines


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PRAYER of ST. JUDEMost Holy Apostle, St. Jude faithful servant and friend of Jesus.The church honors and invokes you universally as the Patron of hopeless cases, of things almost despaired of. Pray for me. Make use, I implore you, of that particular privilege given to you. To bring visible help, where help is almost despaired of. Come to our assistance in this great needs that we may receive the help of heaven in all our necessities, tribulations and sufferings particularly [please mention intention]...that I may praise God with you and with all the elect, forever. I promise, blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor.To honor you as my most powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you, AMEN. -SANDRA

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Following reports that Inigo Pascual is pursuing both Julia Barretto and Sofia Andres, the son of Piolo Pascual set the record straight, saying he is not courting either of the two actresses.

“Hindi po totoo na nililigawan ko si Julia, and hindo po totoo na pinagsasabay ko silang dalawa,” he said.

However, the actor admitted that despite not having established an official relation-ship with Andres, his “Relaks, It’s Just Pag-ibig” co-star, Andres, they had “something special” and remain good friends.

“We’re good friends. Not officially together, but we were talking and I can say we had something special. No label to it,” he said.

Having been assigned to different proj-ects – Andres is now in “Forevermore,”

while Pascual will appear in an upcoming season of “Wanspanataym” with Barretto, the actor said they talked about how things can’t always go their way in the industry.

“We didn’t give up on each other, I mean I had to tell her that it’s our job... We have different love teams, we can’t control things,” he explained.

“We were never officially together. I mean, we had a good talk, we just hugged... It wasn’t a goodbye,” he added.

When asked if the idea of courting Bar-retto crossed his mind, the actor noted that they are both still young and that having a relationship is not a priority at the moment.

“Parehas kaming 17 and hindi naman po sa takot... [but] we’re both young and it’s not something that we’re really focus-ing on right now,” Pascual said.(MNS)

Inigo Pascual speaks up on Julia Barretto, Sofi a Andres

Inigo Pascual

One of the things that Vina Morales said she should start doing this year is to open her heart again and give love another chance.

Morales said it has been six years since she her last relationship and she thinks it is high time that she begins dating again.

“I should start dating. This is my year. I should claim it. This year, medyo tameme ako kapag merong nag-a-ask sa akin for a date. I guess I should stop worrying,” she said.

Morales said one of the reasons why she has not gone out on a date in the past years is because she is scared to be hurt again.

“I’m kind of scared in a way. I should stop being scared na masaktan ulit ako kasi medyo naka-close masyado ang aking puso. I should start believing in people, in guys who have good intentions. I should start giving them a chance,” she said.

Morales was previously in a relation-ship with businessman Cedric Lee. They

have a 5-year-old daughter. (MNS)

Vina Morales says she’s ready to give love another chance

Vina Morales

If Julia Barretto had to choose with whom to be in a relationship, would it be a person whom she loves or someone who loves her?

This was one of the questions she had to answer in a video uploaded by Star Cinema on its YouTube account early this week.

Initially undecided on which to pick, Barretto then quipped that it’s more impor-tant that her future boyfriend would love her family, too.

“Pipiliin ko ‘yung mahal ‘yung pamilya ko,” she said.

But without thinking twice, the actress immediately added:”Pero siyempre [gusto ko din] ‘yung mahal ako.”

While she is already allowed to have suitors, Barretto has repeatedly said in her past interviews that she wants to focus on her career first.

Even her mother, former actress Marjo-rie Barretto, has constantly reminded her that now is not the time for her to enter a relationship.

“Sa pag-ibig, ang parati kong sinasabi sa kanya, talagang bawal pa siyang mag-boyfriend. I stop there,” Marjorie earlier said.

Admitting that she is at times concerned about Julia’s future, Marjorie said: “I tell her na maraming responsibility na kasama ‘yung mga nangyayari sa kanya ngayon.

Pagtuunan niya muna ‘yung career.”Despite this, young actor Julian Es-

trada, the son of Senator Jinggoy Estrada, revealed in November that he and Barretto were once a couple.

Estrada said their relationship only lasted for six months but stressed that they did not have a bad breakup. Barretto never spoke publicly about the matter. Both of them are members of the Star Magic batch 2013. (MNS)

Julia Barretto asked: ‘Mahal mo o mahal ka?’

Julia Barretto


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FAMILY FEATURES

Sharing family recipes is a treasured holiday tradition for many, but every holiday table needs a mix of cherished family dishes and new culinary creations.

Th is year, honor those special memories and reminisce over platters of family favorites while introducing new and delicious items to your holiday spread. From juicy pork tenderloin to nutty and tart pound cake, these delightful dishes are sure to bring joy to your dinner table this season.

Whether your kitchen contribution is a family recipe or a new dish to introduce to your relatives, it all begins with a kitchen that is well-stocked with essentials such as salt, pepper and other pantry staples. With a wide variety of products, including olive oils, vinegars, cooking wines and cooking sprays, Pompeian has all of the basics you need for any holiday dish. Pompeian is also the fi rst and only extra virgin olive oil to carry the new USDA Quality Monitored seal — ensuring you’re using only the best quality ingredients to feed your family and friends.

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Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Roasted VegetablesServings: 4 1/2 cup Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1/2 cup Pompeian Balsamic Vinegar 2 cloves garlic, fi nely chopped 2 teaspoons mixed dried herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, oregano or marjoram Salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 pork tenderloins (10–12 ounces each) 2 red, yellow or green bell peppers, cored and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces 2 medium yellow onions, cut into 3/4-inch wedges 1 small eggplant, cut into 1-inch pieces Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for drizzlingTo prepare marinade, combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and herbs in bowl. Whisk until blended; add salt and pepper to taste.

Place 2 pork tenderloins in large sealable plastic bag. Pour in half marinade and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight, turning bag occasionally.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Pour remaining marinade over peppers, onions and eggplant and toss. Arrange

vegetables in large oiled roasting pan. Roast in preheated oven 15 minutes. In meantime, heat large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Remove pork from

marinade. Add to skillet and brown on all sides. Transfer pork to pan of roasted vegetables. Return to oven for 20–25 minutes or until

pork registers 155°F on meat thermometer. Slice pork and serve with roasted vegetables. Drizzle olive oil over fi nished dish.

Cranberry Walnut Pound CakeServings: 12–16 1 cup all-purpose fl our 1 cup whole wheat pastry fl our or 2 cups all-purpose fl our 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 4 large eggs 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup Pompeian Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream 1/2 cup fi nely chopped walnuts 3/4 cup fresh cranberries, fi nely choppedPreheat oven to 350°F. Generously coat Bundt pan with olive oil.

In small bowl, combine fl ours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

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toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Th en invert pan onto rack to remove and cool completely.

Broccoli Gratin with Crunchy Herb ToppingServings: 4 1 bunch broccoli, cut into fl orets Sea or kosher salt, to taste 1/4 cup Pompeian Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil 1 small onion, chopped 2 tablespoons all-purpose fl our 1 1/2 cups low-fat milk 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 tablespoon fl at-leaf parsley, chopped Freshly ground black pepper, to taste 3 tablespoons Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 clove garlic, fi nely chopped 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, fi nely chopped 6 tablespoons breadcrumbsBring large pot of water to rapid boil. Add broccoli and salt to taste. Blanch for 3 minutes. Drain and refresh under cold water and drain again. Pat dry with paper towels and transfer to bowl.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Oil small gratin pan.

For sauce, heat extra light tasting olive oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender. Add fl our and stir until foamy. Pour in milk and cook, stirring continuously until mixture comes to boil and thickens. Stir in Parmesan cheese and parsley and cook until cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Coat broccoli evenly with sauce. Transfer broccoli to gratin pan.

For topping, heat extra virgin olive oil in nonstick skillet. Add garlic and thyme and cook until garlic is golden. Add breadcrumbs and toss until lightly browned. Sprinkle topping over baking

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MOTORINGBy Kyoko Hasegawa

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Wednesday 1/21/2015 – Toyota kept its title as the world’s biggest automaker on Wednesday as it announced record sales of 10.23 mil-lion vehicles last year, outpacing General Motors and Volkswagen, but a shaky out-look for 2015 could see it lose the crown to its German rival.

The worldwide annual sales figure beat Volkswagen, which logged sales of 10.14 million vehicles, and US-based GM, which said it sold 9.92 million cars last year.

But Toyota also said sales would decline this year to an expected 10.15 million ve-hicles, as demand falls off in its home mar-ket. That will likely mean Volkswagen will be in pole position this year as the German automaker rides momentum in emerging economies that could see it take the lead in global auto sales for the first time.

“Their focus is not No. 1,” Peggy Fu-rusaka, an auto-credit analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, told Bloomberg News, referring to the Japanese firm.

“Toyota is more concerned about keep-ing profitability than chasing numbers. So for coming years, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Toyota selling fewer cars than VW.”

Toyota broke GM’s decades-long reign as the world’s top automaker in 2008 but lost the crown three years later as Japan’s earthquake-tsunami disaster hammered production and disrupted the supply chains of the country’s automakers.

However, in 2012 it once again over-took its Detroit rival, which sells the Chev-rolet and luxury Cadillac brands.

Toyota boosted its fiscal year through March profit forecast to 2.0 trillion yen

($16.97 billion), and said revenue would come in at 26.5 trillion yen, as it saw strong results in North America while a sharply weaker yen inflated its bottom line.

But it earlier warned over a downturn in some other key Asian markets including Indonesia and Thailand, which has been hammered by political unrest.

There are also growing fears about the entire industry’s prospects in China owing to concerns about the health of the world’s number-two economy.

Fuel-cell cars Toyota’s upbeat announcement on

Wednesday comes despite the firm strug-gling to recover its reputation for safety af-ter the recall of millions of cars around the world for various problems, including an exploding air bag crisis at supplier Takata.

The maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid has frozen the building of new plants for the three years until early 2016, and a Toyota executive at the Detroit auto show told AFP last week that the giant automaker is emphasizing quality of sales rather than volume.

Among the moves, Toyota is pushing further into the fast-growing market for environmentally-friendly cars, especially in China where officials are struggling to contain an air pollution crisis.

Toyota said this month it had been swamped by domestic orders for its first mass market hydrogen fuel-cell car, with demand in the first month nearly four times higher than expected for the whole year.

The company received more than 1,500 orders for its “Mirai” sedan since its launch in mid-December. It had planned to sell 400 in Japan over 12 months.

Toyota sells 10.23-M vehicles in 2014, still world’s top automaker

It has also announced plans to develop components for hybrid vehicles with two Chinese automakers in an unprecedented technology-sharing deal aimed at increas-ing green car sales in the world’s biggest vehicle market.

The deal marked a shift away from Japanese carmakers’ traditional reluctance over such deals for fear of losing their competitive edge.

Previously, Toyota would make key components such as batteries and motors in high-cost Japan and then ship them to joint ventures overseas. But that drove up the price of models such as its Prius, which

has seen sluggish sales in China.Toyota shares slipped 0.93 percent

to close at 7,588.0 yen in Tokyo, as the broader market fell into negative territory.

If you want to check out the new Toyota models or buy one now, come and visit our friends and kababayans at Toyota of Glendale. Toyota of Glendale has Edwin Yu and Liza Avizado, both of whom can help you get into a new Prius or any other Toyota vehicle of your choice.

Toyota of Glendale is located at 1260 S. Brand Blvd. Glendale CA 91204.

You can reach them toll free at 1- 866-522-5154.

Toyota of Glendale Filipinos sales professionals Edwin Yu and Liza Avizado



US annual sales Top 500,000 for the fi rst time

Tokyo, January 16, 2015 – Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the manufacturer of Subaru automobiles, today announced that Subaru’s 2014 annual sales have post all-time records in its key markets including the US, Canada, and Australia.

Subaru’s US sales in 2014 rose 21.0% to 513,693 units, marking another year of significant growth following the in-creases of 26.0% in 2012 and 26.2% in 2013. Subaru has reached a 500,000 sales milestone for the first time in its history, achieved six consecutive years of record sales, and become the only manufacturer in the US to post seven consecutive years of sales growth. All of the key models have contributed to the sales success; the Outback and Legacy, driven by the all-new 2015 models launched in July, sold 138,790 units (+17.6%) and 52,270 units (+23.6%), respectively. The WRX series achieved 25,492 units (+41.9%) with the all-new 2015 version debuted in March. The Forester and the Subaru XV Cross-trek also enjoyed strong growth, selling

Subaru posts record sales in US, Canada and Australia in 2014

Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Wednesday 1/21/2015 – Swedish car manufacturer Volvo Cars announced the appointment Wednesday of a new chief executive for North America tasked with reviving the company’s flagging US sales.

Despite generally booming car sales in the United States – helped by falling fuel prices – sales of Volvo cars in the country dropped by 8 percent to 58,000 in 2014.

Lex Kerssemakers, a Dutch national

with 16 years experience in the company, currently responsible for product strategy, will oversee the company’s “US Revival Plan” which targets annual sales of “over 100,000 cars in the medium term,” the company said in a statement.

To do so, Volvo plans “a renewal of the entire product range by the end of 2017,” it said.

“The US is a key market for the devel-opment of the group and today we get back

onto the front foot. Volvo is not only in the US to stay, it is in the US to prosper,” Kerssemakers added.

He will also be responsible for opening up “the full potential of the Canadian and Latin American markets”.

Volvo increased its sales by 9 percent last year to 465,866 cars worldwide on the back of soaring sales in China and strong European sales.

The iconic Swedish brand was sold by

the US car maker Ford to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2010.

It has no manufacturing in the Americas and exports cars from its factories in Swe-den, Belgium, and soon from China where it has three plants.

Kerssemakers replaces Volvo’s interim US chief executive Tony Nicolosi, ap-pointed in 2013 to replace another Ameri-can national who held the post for just over two years.

Berlin, Germany | AFP | Monday 1/19/2015 – The car-sharing start-up Uber can create as many as 50,000 jobs in Eu-rope this year as part of a “new partnership” with European cities, its chief executive told a conference in Munich.

“If we can make this partnership hap-pen, we create 50,000 new EU jobs for 2015,” Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told the DLD conference, which is being held until Tuesday.

Uber could “become huge job genera-tor,” he said, without providing any con-crete details.

He said the service had already created 7,500 full-time-equivalent jobs in San Francisco, 13,750 in New York, 10,000 in London and 3,750 in Paris.

The fast-growing firm, which helps users summon taxi-like services via their smartphones, has drawn criticism across the world from regulators and established taxi operators.

Set up four years ago, it now operates in 250 cities worldwide.

But critics have accused Uber of flout-ing competition rules and of not carrying out sufficient safety checks on drivers and their vehicles.

Uber has been hit with court injunctions in Belgium, France, Germany, the Neth-erlands and Spain, and has faced protests from taxi firms in major cities, including London.

“We want to make 2015 a year where we establish a new partnership with EU cities, where we push for progressive regulation and ensure innovation ..., where we provide massive economic benefits to cities and their economies,” Kalanick said.

Volvo Cars appoints new US chief to turn sales around

Uber says it can create 50,000 jobs in Europe

Subaru of Glendale Filipino sales team: (From left) Christian Marilla, Chris Garchitorena and Glenn Bergado. The Impreza sold 6,636 units (+32.3%) while the WRX series, propelled by the all-new version launched in April, achieved 3,554 units (+91.6%).

Become a new member of the Subaru club. Come on down to Subaru Glendale and our kababayans Christian Marilla, Chris Garchitorena and Glenn Bergado

will be more than happy to inform you why Subaru is becoming a favorite of Filipinos and the whole American market.

Subaru of Glendale is located at 1308 S Brand Blvd, Glendale, CA 91204. You can reach them at 1-855-230-1547 or you can visit their website at www.subaruof-glendale. net.

159,953 units (+29.4%) and 70,956 units (32.0%), respectively.

In Canada, Subaru sales rose 14.3% to 42,035 units, achieving an all-time record for the 3rd consecutive year as well as a 40,000 sales milestone for the first time. All of the key models have contributed to the strong sales; the Outback, Legacy, and WRX series each posted sales growth of over 40%, driven by the introduction of the all-new 2015 models. The Outback and Legacy, with the 2015 models launched in July, sold 8,688 units (+42.0%) and 2,924 units (+44.6%), respectively. The WRX series, with the all-new version debuted in March, posted sales of 2,642 units (+42.1%).The Forester and the Subaru XV Crosstrek also contributed to the growth with sales of 12,302 units (+9.5%) and 6,922 units (+13.2%), respectively.

In Australia, Subaru sales were up 0.8% to 40,502 units, setting an all-time record for the 3rd consecutive year. The Forester and Subaru XV maintained the strong momentum with sales of 11,539 units (+7.2%) and 13,670 units (+0.2%), respectively. The Impreza and the WRX series also contributed to the strong sales.




NASHVILLE – Nissan announced pricing for the 2015 Sentra, which is on sale now at Nissan dealers nationwide. The highly successful seventh-generation Sentra, introduced in fall 2012, continues to be refined for the 2015 model year with a number of interior comfort and conve-nience enhancements – all which add value to an already outstanding array of standard and available features and equipment.

“For 2015, the Sentra lineup has been simplified and we’ve added value to all grades,” said Derrick Hatami, vice presi-dent, Sales - U.S., Nissan North America, Inc.

“The Sentra’s most popular trim, the SV, now comes standard with great features such as RearView Monitor, Bluetooth, USB port that we are certain Sentra buyers will enjoy. SV also includes Nissan Intelli-gent Key®, which our primary competitors do not offer at this price point.”

The entry-level Sentra S grade adds standard USB connection port, Bluetooth® Hands-free Phone System, illuminated steering wheel audio controls, Smart Auto Headlights and cruise control.

The popular SV grade now includes Nissan Intelligent Key, RearView Moni-tor, NissanConnectSM with Mobile Apps, 5.0-inch color display, SiriusXM® Satellite Radio (SiriusXM subscription required, sold separately), sliding front armrest, Streaming Audio via Bluetooth®, Hands-free Text Messaging Assistant, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, Smart Auto Headlights and Easy-Fill Tire Alert.

The enhancements for 2015 continue with the sporty Sentra SR, which adds standard heated front seats and heated outside mirrors with LED turn-signal indicators – plus added features from the previous Driver’s Package, including rear disc brakes, Nissan Intelligent Key®, 6-speaker AM/FM/CD audio system with 5.0-inch color display, SiriusXM Satellite Radio (SiriusXM subscription required, sold separately), leather-wrapped steer-ing wheel and shift knob and more. The top-of-the-line Sentra SL adds standard leather-appointed seats, heated front seats and auto-dimming mirror with HomeLink Universal Transceiver.

More comfort and convenience enhancements in new 2015 Sentra

In addition, four new exterior colors are offered for 2015 (11 colors total): Titanium, Red Alert (SR only), Cayenne Red and Fresh Powder.

If you want to be the next Nissan brand-new or pre-certified vehicle owner, all you

have to do is get in touch with our friends at Ross Nissan located at 3428 North Peck Road, El Monte, CA 91731. Or call them to make an appointment at 1-866-481-1050. For more information, please visit their website at www.rossnissan.com.

ERLANGER, Ky. (January 9, 2015) – After roughly three decades of delivering products with the highest safety, quality, design and value, Toyota North America marks a historic record with 1,985,501 vehicles produced in 2014, a 7 percent increase.

In addition, Toyota built a record 1,909,848 engines, an 11 percent increase from 2013. Stronger demand was driven in part by the redesigned Camry, Corolla, Highlander and RAV4 models.

If you are wondering why this is impor-tant to us Filipino-Americans, the obvious answer is because we of Filipino descent, whether we immigrated from the Philip-pines or born here, are considered among the top buyers of Toyota in the U.S.

And this newspaper alone is a testament of this huge car consumer market as can be shown by the number of Toyota dealer advertisers in Weekend Balita. Speaking of which, one of the better known kababayan sales professionals – Mark Mercado – and his gang of two more car sales associ-ates have just joined Hooman Toyota in Long Beach, promising the same or even

better kababayan service that Mark and his friends are known for. Mark is Hooman’s new Filipino Fleet Di-rector.

For those who are still unfamil-iar with Hooman To y o t a ’s V I P Customer Privi-leges, anyone can

be entitled to the pampering and luxury service by just buying a Toyota vehicle (or Scion) at the Southbay-based Toyota dealership. And it doesn’t have to a brand-new car!

With VIP Customer Privileges, you get to have free oil change service for as long as you own your car, which can save you as much as $657 for three oil changes in just five years. And there’s more. Check out these other VIP Privileges:

We will replace your tires based on normal wear and tear. Based on average of 4 new tires every 18 months for 5 years,

you Save $1650.COMPLIMENTARY CAR WASH100% hand wash, anytime, with or

without service. Includes vacuuming and tire dressing. Based on an average of 1 wash per week for 5 years, you Save $3750

COMPLIMENTARY FLAT TIRE REPAIR

For your convenience you will receive complimentary tire repair for the lifetime of your vehicle.

COMPLIMENTARY ROAD HAZARD REPLACEMENT

For your first year, you are entitled to a complimentary tire replacement caused by a road hazard on any new vehicle. (Original factory equipment tires only).

COURTESY LOANER VEHICLEA complimentary loaner vehicle is

available to you for up to 2 days while your vehicle is visiting our award winning service department. Based on an average of twice per year for 5 years, you save $390 (Excludes body repairs & oil changes).

We will provide complimentary pick-up and delivery of you and your vehicle to your desired destination. Based on twice

per year for 5 years, you save $300 (Valid within 15 miles of Hooman Automotive Group)

PRE-REGISTERED REPAIR SERVICE

Call your service advisor for an ap-pointment and your service order will be prepared and waiting for you upon your arrival. Based on an average service charge for all of these for five years, you save a whopping $6,747! So, what are you wait-ing for? The new 2015 Toyota and Scion models are already available at Hooman Toyota. And as mentioned, you don’t need a brand-new car to enjoy these privileges.

For details, call our kababayans at Toyota Hooman. Call them toll free at 1-800-519-2446. Hooman Toyota is lo-cated at 4401 Pacific Coast Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90804.

As for the Toyota brand, “Market growth, strong demand and customers’ loyalty allows us to focus on building cars and trucks that are relevant today and in the future,” said Osamu “Simon” Nagata, president and CEO of Toyota Motor Engi-neering & Manufacturing No America, Inc.

Delivering the Goods: Toyota North America built nearly two million vehicles in 2014

Hooman Toyota’s new Filipino Fleet Director Mark Mercado




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Weekend balita january 24, 2015