H O W F -A N FILIPINOS BUILD NEW WORLD- CLASS …thefilipinochronicle.com/HFCNE_08272011 web.pdf ·...

inside lookAUG. 27, 2011

HAWAII FILIPINO CHRONICLE94-356 WAIPAHU DEPOT RD., 2ND FLR.WAIPAHU, HI 96797

PHILIPPINE NEWS

DFA OrdersMandatory Evacuation of Pinoys from Libya

LEGAL NOTES

HumanitarianReinstatement of aRevoked Family Petition

HAWAII-FILIPINO NEWS

Phil. CulturalFoundation NamesParents of the Year

H A W A I I ’ S O N L Y W E E K L Y F I L I P I N O - A M E R I C A N N E W S P A P E R

The President Elpidio R.Quirino Award: History,History-Making and Salute toOur Leaders

God said, “Let there be light.” And therewas light. Martin Luther King said, “Ihave a dream.” And his dream came

true. This reality of light and the memory of

the heroic act of dreaming are the ingredi-

MANILA, Philippines- The West Philip-pine Sea issue will

likely be discussed duringPresident Aquino’s statevisit to China next week,but officials said the Philip-pines and China had“agreed to disagree” on thematter and would not allowit to affect bilateral rela-tions.

Foreign Affairs Assis-tant Secretary for Asia and the PacificCristina Ortega, in a press briefing atMalacañang yesterday, said Aquino andChinese President Hu Jintao would dis-cuss the matter but not extensively.

“This will be a meeting between the

The Mind Museum boasts a space-agearchitectural design, a brainchild of architectsfrom the prominent Filipino architectural firm,Lor Calma & Partners. The team of architectsis led by Ed Calma, one of the country’s mostrenowned architects.

The design team aimed to create “a fu-turistic, yet organic look” and took inspirationfrom cellular and molecular structures found

by Amado I. YORO

Metro Manila residents are eagerly waiting for the moment whentheir city’s newest world-class science museum opens itsdoors to the public. The Mind Museum, a project initiated by

the Bonifacio Art Foundation, Inc., is quickly rising on J.Y. CamposPark, a site located at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. The facil-ity is being built on a space just right across the location of another fu-ture Manila landmark, the “6-star” Shangri-La at the Fort Hotel. Themuseum is now 80 percent complete and is scheduled to open in De-cember this year.

by Aurea CALICA

FILIPINOS BUILD NEW WORLD-CLASS SCIENCE MUSEUM

Spratlys Row: China, PhlAgree to Disagree

The Mind Museum is the Philippines’s newest world-class science museum.

by Gregory Bren GARCIA

two heads of state... Being a state visit, Idon’t think that we will be there discussingthe West Philippine Sea, saying to theother president this is ours and then, theother president would also say, no, this is

(continued on page 4)

6 1312

in nature. The building design is innovativeand sustainable, incorporating a curved rooffor more efficient rain collection, slanted ex-terior walls to minimize the entry of sunlight,and strategic orientation to utilize the shad-ows of adjacent buildings—elements thatcontribute to greater energy efficiency. Theedifice also creates an interesting contrast


Philippine President Benigno Simeon“Noynoy” Aquino and(inset) Chinese President Hu Jintao

The 2011 Pres. Elpidio R. Quirino Awardees, CharlieY. Sonido, M.D. and Felipe “Jun” Abinsay(continued on page 5)

AUGUST 27, 20112HAWAII FILIPINO CHRONICLE - NEWS EDITION

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ColumnistsCarlota Ader

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HAWAII-PHILIPPINE NEWS EDITION

EDITORIALS

The old saying “Lucky you live Hawaii”still holds true for many local resi-dents. In the latest Gallup-Health-

ways Well-Being Index, Hawaii rankednumber one in the nation with an indexscore of 70.2. Hawaii ranked at the top inlife evaluation, emotional health and phys-ical health.

Life evaluation measured how resi-dents assessed their “present” life situa-tion and “anticipated” life situation fiveyears from now. The emotional health cat-egory considered frequency of smiling,laughing, learning something interesting,being treated with respect, as well as en-joyment, happiness, sadness, anger,stress and depression. The physicalhealth section measured sick days in thepast month, disease burden, health prob-lems that get in the way of normal activi-ties, obesity, feeling well-rested, dailyenergy, colds, flu and headaches. Othercategories included how residents feel about their work environment;the kinds of healthy behaviors they do including exercise and diet,and the activities they don’t do such as smoking and drinking; andlastly, the accessibility of basic necessities such as healthcare, healthinsurance, shelter and safety.

The latest scores are based on daily polls conducted from Janu-ary through June 2011, in which more than 177,000 American adultswere surveyed. For the entire year of 2010, the survey sampled352,840 adults ages 18 and older living in all 50 states and the Dis-trict of Columbia. Hawaii also came in at number one in that survey.

To some people this happiness survey may appear insignificantand more “pop” science than social science, but it actually is verytelling about a community, its values and where its people areheaded. The fact that Hawaii annually finishes at or near the top ofthis survey measuring serious life factors confirms that our state isas special as the world sees us. Central to our sense of happiness is

the concept of aloha. Aloha is not just a commercial word for ourtourist industry. Aloha, and all it stands for—kindness, respect, gen-

erosity—has genuine meaning in the waywe live, conduct business, make laws,even maintain health. There are numer-ous areas that our state can make im-provements, namely business and theoverall economy, but what aloha can alsomean is balance, the kind of balance thatdoesn’t skew money-generating opportu-nities over people and fairness, the kindof balance that fosters real communities,the kind of balance that influences exactlywhat the survey purports to measure,happiness.

A great deal of why many Hawaii res-idents are relatively happier than othercommunities in the U.S. may stem fromour unique immigrant heritage and will-ingness to keep alive those old values.The rest of the country also began withimmigrant populations, but immigrant val-ues of very strong family and communitybonds have been replaced in many com-

munities. For Filipinos, the bayanihan spirit, or the idea that we canrely on each other during life’s most difficult moments, translates to agreater sense of general well-being and security. This is a strongvalue not only for Filipinos but among other Asian and Pacific-Islandercommunities, that ultimately promotes less stress and increased hap-piness.

For many Hawaii residents, the survey can also be a reminderthat we should pat ourselves on the back. We’ve been continuing tomake right decisions in caring for our community, environment, eachother and ourselves. Often times, locals talk extensively about what’swrong with Hawaii. But those who’ve lived abroad for extended peri-ods always remind us of how lucky we are to live in the aloha state.Let’s not just focus on the negative news we hear all around us. Wecan take pride in our state, protect our ways of life and forge aheadcultivating what’s really important at the end of the day—our sense ofcommunity and happiness.

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Hawaii the Happy, Aloha State…Let's Keep It That Way

AUGUST 27, 2011 3HAWAII FILIPINO CHRONICLE - NEWS EDITION

GOTCHA by Jarius BONDOC

OPINIONBookkeeper's Admission Unmasked Mike Arroyo

Ex-journalist Alan Davis beganthe Philippine Public Trans-parency Reporting Project 18

months ago partly as a reaction topolitical signage. Married to a Fil-ipino, the Brit was irked that every-where they traveled in the islandsthey’d see billboards proclaimingthis bridge, park or city hall to havebeen built from the generosity of thatgovernor or mayor. “Pera natin ‘to(It’s our money),” he kept hearingthe politically aware remark againstthe politicos’ empty boasts. So heused it as slogan for the project ofthe US Agency for International De-velopment.

The PPTRP trained communityleaders and journalists in public fi-nance and budget, set up localtransparency watchdog groups andblogs, and conducted surveys onlocal government accountability.

Yesterday the project came toa close with four allies sharing theirviews. Senator Teofisto Guingona IIIsaid that as head of the Blue RibbonCommittee he sees more than everthe need for a Freedom of Informa-tion Act. Such law would force state

offices to divulge what they are upto, like the Ombudsman’s secretplea-bargaining in 2010 with plun-derer Gen. Carlos Garcia. InteriorSecretary Jesse Robredo cited theimportance of websites of local andnational agency purchases and proj-ects. Upon putting up one last year,a firearms dealer immediately no-ticed that the police was buying M-16 rifles at P140,000 apiece, whenanother agency had bought thesame from him for only P93,000.

ZTE scam whistleblower JunLozada recounted the difficultiesand dangers that truth-tellers face:lost income, disrupted family life,death threats. If as they say inAfrica it takes a village to raise achild, it also needs a community tocare for citizens who dare to ex-pose sleaze. Gracia Pulido-Tan,Commission on Audit chairwoman,told of a Citizens Participatory Auditin partnership with civil society. Noonly COA auditors but also ordinarycitizens can report financialshenanigans through e-mail [email protected] or mobile(0915) 5391957.

* * *As with Al Capone’s mob, the

weakest link was the bookkeeper.Rowena del Rosario, former firstgentleman Mike Arroyo’s personalaccountant, wanted to exculpatehim in the Senate hearing Monday.But in the end she admitted havingwired $500,000 to Robinson Heli-copter Company in December 2003,in behalf of Mike’s LTA Inc.

That settled it. The $500,000,as two witnesses earlier swore, wasdown payment for five helicoptersfrom the California factory. There’sno more doubt that Mike secretlybought the aircraft. They arrived in

the Philippines in three batches in2004. Two of them fraudulently weresold to the Philippine National Policeas brand new in 2009. No PNP gen-eral would have accepted the unitsand paid more than the price forbrand-new had they not been so or-dered from on high.

The Senate Blue Ribbon Com-mittee will now decide what chargeto recommend against Mike: simplegraft or non-bailable plunder. Byevading the hearing, he defaultedon his chance to refute incriminatingtestimonies and evidence. Numer-ous scams had marred the nine-and-a-half-year reign of PresidentGloria Arroyo. For the first time Mikewould be charged in court for one ofthem.

Rowena had put up a bravefront. She claimed from the start towork not for Mike but congressman-brother Iggy Arroyo. Allegedly it wasIggy who gave her cash everymonth from 2004 to 2011 to pay thechopper lease from, not mainte-nance and hangarage by, LionAirInc. She didn’t flinch when askedwhat her beloved decade-long boss’birthday is and she couldn’t say. Un-mindful was she of stating on na-tional television that, contrary toaccepted accounting principles, shenever scrutinized the billings from Li-onAir nor booked the payments ofIggy. It didn’t matter that the monthlybillings mostly were for a few tens ofthousands of pesos that at timesballooned to several hundreds ofthousands. Iggy’s order was simplyto be told of the amount, which hewould turn over to her for remittanceto LionAir.

But when confronted with abank document — the $500,000-wire transfer by LTA Inc. to Robin-

son in December 2003 — the ac-countant in Rowena had to give.Yes, it was authentic, she said —but quickly added that it was an ad-vance payment for the lease. Shestuck to her story, although Robin-son only manufactures and neverleases helicopters. The senatorsknew she was lying, and cited anddetained her for contempt. Asidefrom conspiracy with Mike, shewould be charged with perjury.

In detention Rowena might beable to reflect on her future. Wouldshe take the rap and be imprisonedfor Mike? Or would she break free,stand state witness, tell all sheknows, and come home to hergrowing children? Her relatives andfriends would do well to advise her,perhaps even help raise funds tohire an attorney all her own.

The PNP generals and auditorsare in the same boat. Their lips aresealed about having been forced toimplement the chopper switcheroo.But their own ex-superior, former in-terior secretary Ronaldo Puno, iswashing his hands of the scam. InMonday’s hearing Puno swore thathe would have indicted them had heknown in 2009 that they were buy-ing second-hand for more than theprice of brand-new. Compared tothe generals he was probably closerto Mike. But he denied any partici-pation in the scam at his level, al-though his office had approved therevision of specs tailor-fit for Robin-son, the negotiated contract, andswift payments. In effect, he furtherincriminated the generals and audi-tors for misleading him about the na-ture of the aircraft. Their families hadbetter warn them of the dire conse-quences of Mafia-style omerta.(www.philstar.com)

Rowena del Rosario

The country’s economic fundamentalsmay be strong amid the US recessionand Europe’s debt woes. But that

strength is heavily dependent on the billionsof dollars remitted annually by millions ofoverseas Filipino workers. Global economicproblems could reduce those remittancesand render many OFWs unemployed.Worse, economic problems are fueling re-sentment directed at migrant workers andopening them to harassment and discrimi-nation. Governments, trying to calm publicunrest, are more open to policies that areunfavorable to migrant workers.

OFW organizations have raised concernover such trends in the Middle East andHong Kong, and even in Britain. Com-pounding the problem is continuing unrestin the Middle East and North Africa. Thou-sands of OFWs have been urged to returnhome from Syria, where the path to regimechange could trigger more violence beforeorder is restored. So far the majority ofOFWs in Syria have refused to leave,mainly for fear of losing their jobs and facingunemployment back home.

Erasing that fear must be one of the pri-ority goals of President Aquino. In HongKong, OFWs said foreign maids have beenthe targets of hate messages online, callingthem cockroaches and parasites that cause

social chaos and should return home. OFWleaders urged the Aquino administration tocreate decent jobs in the Philippines sothere will be no need for Filipinos to seekemployment overseas.

The booming business process out-sourcing sector is starting to meet this need,but most returning OFWs will need retrain-ing to qualify for BPO jobs. Thousands ofBPO job openings cannot be filled for lackof qualified workers. Returning workers canalso be retrained for jobs in the tourism in-dustry, which the government should pro-mote as a major livelihood and revenuesource.

The government must also fast-trackmeasures that will improve the environmentfor the types of investments that can createthe decent jobs that OFWs want. The coun-try has a unique resource that its neighborscannot offer: the quality of the Filipino work-force. But more incentives are needed anda better business environment created tomake the Philippines more competitive.Through better education and training, thegovernment must also prevent the deterio-ration of the quality of the workforce.

There is no place like home. Filipinosshould not have to choose discriminationand security risks abroad over life in theirown land. (www.philstar.com)

EDITORIALSNo Place Like Home


(cont. from page 1; FILIPINOS... )

HEADLINES (CONT.)

ours. I don’t see them doing this be-cause this is confrontational. Wedon’t want them to argue becausethey are heads of state,” Ortegasaid.

She said Foreign Secretary Al-bert del Rosario already had a de-tailed discussion of the issue withhis counterpart, Foreign MinisterYang Jiechi, during his recent visit toChina.

(cont. from page 1; SPRATLYS ... ) that a settlement of territorial or mar-itime disputes is not very easy toget.

“And because this is a problemof the Asia Pacific region, then theanswer would be multilateral or a re-gional answer, “ she said.

But she said the dispute will bepart of the joint statement betweenthe Philippines and China, whichwould be released after the statevisit.

“That will be crafted during andright after the state visit to China sowe don’t know yet. I don’t think wecan preempt the joint statement butI would assume that there would bea line or two on the West PhilippineSea,” Ortega said.

The joint statement would beone of the six agreements to besigned during the President’s Chinavisit. The other five agreements arethe Philippines-China Five-Year De-velopment Program for Trade andEconomic Cooperation, a memo-randum of understanding (MOU)between the Presidential Communi-cations Operation Office and State

Council Information Office onFriendly Exchanges, MOU onSports Cooperation, and Imple-menting Program on the MOU onTourism and Exchange of Letters onthe Executive Program of the Philip-pines-China Cultural Agreement.

Chinese Ambassador to thePhilippines Liu Jianchao confirmedthat the dispute will be taken up inan “appropriate way” and “in goodfaith” during the President’s visit.

“South China Sea is an issuethat concerns both of our two coun-tries but it’s only just one issue thatconcerns us, so I think this issue willbe discussed but it will be positionedin an appropriate way,” Liu said in apress conference.

He said the two sides will pro-ceed in the spirit of trying to avoidthe issue affecting the general de-velopment of the overall relationship

against the sea of box buildings thatsurround it.

As the country’s first interna-tional standard science museum,The Mind Museum will house fivemodern galleries and over 250 inter-active hands-on and “minds-on” ac-tivities that will present science asfun, entertaining, and engaging.

PASSION AND SCIENCE

The Philippines has never hada publicly-funded science museumas big as The Mind Museum. Thus,Filipinos can only be grateful that theprivate sector, composed of a num-ber of companies and individuals,has taken it upon itself to initiate thebuilding of the facility.

But according to the museum’scurator Maribel Garcia, even thougha number of other prominent sci-ence museums in the world havebeen around for decades, even cen-turies, there is actually an advantageto building a science museum atpresent.

“We can learn from their mis-takes and take advantage of the [on-going] golden age of breakthroughs,especially in neuroscience. We canincorporate what we have learnedwhen we make our own exhibits,”Garcia says. “Also, many museumsare housed in heritage buildings thatwere built for an earlier purpose andwere just converted later into sci-ence museums. At this time, there isenough reason and evidence [tosupport the idea] that having a pur-pose-built science museum buildingis an integral part of taking the wholeenterprise of the public understand-ing of science seriously.

It was in 2006 when the boardof trustees of the Bonifacio Art Foun-dation, Inc. decided to build a sci-

ence museum in Bonifacio GlobalCity as evidence of their commit-ment to developing a home for pas-sionate minds in the country.

“A team was built first thing in2007, and the work has neverstopped until it reached this point,”shares Garcia.

FROM THE VERY SMALL TO

THE VERY BIG

But how does one begin to un-derstand the essence of The MindMuseum? It begins with appreciatingits concept. The core idea behind themuseum is “nature in scale”–from thelittlest to the largest, from the begin-ning to the infinite beyond. Thus, theorganizers have conceptualized fourmain science galleries: The Story ofthe Atom, The Story of Life, TheStory of the Earth, and The Story ofthe Universe. On top of these sci-ence galleries is a fifth one calledThe Story of Technology.

“The science galleries—Atom,Life, Earth and Universe galleries—are on the ground floor, while theTechnology gallery is a loop like adonut on top of these galleries. Thisis our architectural translation that itis the sciences that support technol-ogy,” Garcia says.

Furthermore, she says that The

Mind Museum is different frommany other museums in that itstems from a core narrative strewnacross the exhibits that science isnot a cold discipline, but a wondrousway of knowing where understand-ing is realized as a source of pro-found human pleasure.

It is also special in that the or-ganizers commissioned local artiststo translate scientific principles intoaesthetically pleasing forms withoutsacrificing the science. This conver-sation between scientists andartists, Garcia says, has allowedthem to create exhibits that make upa well of stories to be told.

The organizers are also veryclear on their mission to inspire andto understand.

“We will not give you a compre-hensive treatise on each scientificprinciple but bring you at the cusp ofunderstanding so that you would beinspired to explore more on yourown in school and in your other per-sonal explorations,” Garcia says.

STAR ATTRACTIONS

The museum will house awealth of spectacular state-of-the-art exhibits. The Story of the Uni-verse gallery, for instance, willhouse the Spaceshell, a planetar-

“We have agreed to disagreebecause both countries are claimingareas, especially the KalayaanGroup in the South China Sea andthe Recto Bank,” she said.

Ortega added that both parties“agreed to open the lines of com-munication and that we will go ontalking to each other.”

She said it is unlikely that therewill be a special agreement on theWest Philippine Sea, considering

between China and the Philippines.“I’m not too sure how the two

presidents will be discussing thisissue, but I’m sure that they will dis-cuss this issue in good faith and thatthe issue will not affect the generalrelationship,” he added.

He said the dispute over theWest Philippine Sea is just a part ofthe wide-ranging relationship be-tween the two countries and shouldnot impair the development of ties.

He said efforts to further ex-pand cooperation and strengthenpeople-to-people exchanges are the“major part of the trip.”

The ambassador earlier saidChina had conveyed to the Philip-pines that it would like to have apositive response from the Philip-pine side on the issue of joint coop-eration in the disputed area.

ium where people can lounge onmemory foam and stare at the sim-ulated night sky. It will also featurefilms that talk about other planets,the stars, and scientific debates,such as the existence of extrater-restrial life.

The Story of the Universe willalso have the What is on Mars ex-hibit, where visitors can maneuver aNASA rover on simulated Martianlandscape. People will also be ableto visit the Giant Orrery, a beautifulsculptural heliocentric model of thesolar system showing the eight plan-ets revolving around the Sun.

The Story of the Earth gallery,on the other hand, will house the T-Rex exhibit, the first permanentTyrannosaurus Rex display in thePhilippines, as well as the FloatingGlobe exhibit, a giant model of theEarth where visitors can watch a livefeed that displays the current stateof the planet Earth—from active vol-canoes to typhoons, from wind cur-rents to earthquakes. The FloatingGlobe will also inform people aboutthe effects that climate change hason the planet.

The Story of the Earth gallerywill also house the Nature’s Hour-glass amphitheatre, a virtual timemachine that will feature moviesproduced by Filipino filmmakers,which will walk audiences throughthe Earth’s 4.5 billion years of natu-ral history.

For The Story of Technologygallery, the organizers will set up acenterpiece attraction called TheHuman Face of Technology exhibit.It is a 360-degree screen that willfeature uploaded videos that pres-ent technology not as a mere tool,gadget, or industrial advancement,but as a means to flesh out humanvalues and to help people becomebetter humans. The surround modeof the screen will enable visitors toview it from virtually all angles.

The museum’s galleries arealso built in such a way that they areinterconnected and build on one an-

other’s narratives. According to Gar-cia, the museum’s galleries are con-nected by corridors that are filledwith exhibits designed to help visi-tors bridge their understanding ofthe story of the gallery they are leav-ing and the one they are entering.

“For example, the two outer-most galleries, Atom and Universe,are connected by a bridge spanningthe breadth of the museum. Thisbridge is filled with exhibits on lightbecause light is a concept that is keyin the understanding of atoms andstars. Thus, the bridge is called TheLight Bridge,” she explains.

Aside from the five main gal-leries, visitors can expect to seemore attractions within the museum.For instance, according to Garcia,they are also building the following:The Hall of Philippine Science in themiddle of the building, The Ten MostBeautiful Experiments in Scienceexhibit, and the Changing ExhibitsGallery, which is for traveling exhibi-tions that will visit the museum in thefuture.

BUILDING A LEGACY

Garcia says officials of TheMind Museum want the facility to beaccessible to Filipinos from all walksof life.

“The pricing will be different for[visitors from] public schools, andcorporate sponsorship for publicschools will be vigorously pursued,”she says.

In addition, they also aim to bethe center for the public under-standing of science in Metro Manilaand in the Philippines.

“[The Mind Museum] will inspireto understand. It will not only en-courage kids to pursue the sciencesbut also encourage society in gen-eral to appreciate and support thesciences because it is the one dis-cipline that has reliably moved soci-eties forward. So we aspire to makeour audience realize that whateverit is they do, there is science in it,”she says.


The Story of the Atom gallery will present the counterintuitive quantum world,which is invisible in our ordinary, everyday experience, yet serves as the basisof most of our current technology: computers, mobile phones, lasers, and manymedical technologies.


HEADLINES (CONT.)

“I’m sure that this issue will be discussed. I knowit has been there for decades but the visit will furtherenhance the understanding of the leaders of the twogovernments,” Liu said.

He said the joint development of the South ChinaSea was put forward by the Chinese government since1985, and proposed by the late Chinese leader DengXiaoping to the late Vice President and Foreign AffairsSecretary Salvador Laurel.

“And since then we’ve been working with otherclaiming parties about the possibility of such a joint ex-ploration and development, so we do hope this will ma-terialize as soon as possible because we do believethis is the best way for the claiming parties to have op-portunities of cooperation rather than engaging in anykind of conflict,” Liu said.

Liu said Aquino’s visit will be significant becauseit will be his first state visit to mainland China and anon-ASEAN country. The state visit is scheduled onAug. 30 to Sept. 3.

He said the President will be in Beijing for threenights to meet top Chinese leaders and the businesscommunity, and have a tour of the city. The Presidentwill then proceed to Shanghai to meet local officials,business community leaders and leading Philippinecompanies there, and proceed to Xiamen, where he isexpected to interact with the villagers where his an-cestors came from.

Noy to promote Phl as tourist, business hubOrtega said the President is also expected to pro-

mote the Philippines as a business destination, as thegovernment aims to raise up to $60 billion in invest-ments from China until 2016.

The government is also eyeing at least two milliontourists from China by 2016.

Ortega said $1.5 billion to $2 billion in investmentshad already been firmed up under the five-year tradeand economic development plan between the Philip-pines and China until 2016.

“That would be included in the five-year plan. Justlike we are hoping that there will be ($60 billion in in-vestments) by 2016. So that is the target. We alwayshave targets and we won’t have this target if it wouldnot be possible. We will work hard but I think it could bedone,” Ortega said.

She said 200 to 250 business people from thePhilippines would be joining the President to explore

opportunities in Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen.“We have a luncheon with the Chinese economic

policy makers, policy banks and regulators with thePresident. Following that, we will have one-on-onemeetings with individual Chinese businessmen.These businessmen are those that are really inter-ested in doing business in the Philippines and hope-fully most of them would beengaged in the PPP (Public PrivatePartnership) projects that we areoffering,” Ortega said.

She said the President wouldlikewise meet with the Filipino com-munities in China but would not likelymake a pitch for Filipinos in detention,although an agreement on the trans-fer of sentenced persons was beingworked out as well as stronger coop-eration against human trafficking anddrug smuggling.

The President said he wouldalso bring up the shelved NorthRailproject with Beijing.

“We’re hoping that we willmove forward on the NorthRail andother issues,” Aquino told reportersin an ambush interview after wel-coming the BRP Gregorio del Pilarat Pier 15, South Harbor in Manilaon Tuesday.

The 80-kilometer railroad, aflagship program of the Arroyo ad-ministration, will link the northernflank of Metro Manila with the Dios-dado Macapagal International Air-port at the Clark free port inPampanga.

From an original budget of$421 million, the NorthRail projectcost has now gone up to $621 mil-lion.

The DOTC earlier suspendedthe contract for the NorthRail projectwith Sinomach (formerly China Na-tional Machinery and EquipmentCorp.) due to its slow progress andcost overruns.

ents of the President Elpidio R.Quirino Award.

It is history at its best.It is history-making at its finest.And it is our salute to our com-

munity leaders who, time and again,have made us remember that lightmust be there and that a livingdream must orient our lives even ifwe have traversed distances fromhome to find a new home here in theU.S.

Ilocos Surian Association ofHawaii President Danny Villaruz, inputting together the rationale of theaward, the first for the association,said: “An award of distinction, pres-tigious and eminent, ought to bethought of to recognize the extraor-dinary work of those who come fromIlocos Sur and who have calledHawaii their home.”

For this first award, ISAH choseFelipe P. Abinsay, a former memberof the State House of Representa-tives, and Dr. Charlie Y. Sonido, amedical doctor and champion of

medical missions to the Philippines.Both will be recognized at a banquetin their honor at the Hilton HawaiianVillage on August 27, 2011.

Guests will include ConsulGeneral Leoncio Cardenas, Jr., con-sul Paul Cortes, Cabugao MayorEdgardo Cobangbang, Jr., MissOahu Filipina 2011 Leonevi Mabiogand Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz. Emceesfor the evening will be Larry andJennifer Ordonez.

The President Elpidio R.Quirino Award was conceived tosubstitute the Mrs. ISAH Pageant2010 and to raise funds for the ISAHHomecoming and Medical Mission2011. The award will be given annu-ally.

Dr. Sonido has chaired ISAH’smedical missions, along with co-chair Dr. Elizabeth L. Abinsay. ISAHorganized three medical missions in2005, 2007 and 2009 to IlocosNorte, Ilocos Sur and Quezon.

Proceeds of the three Mrs.ISAH Pageants (2005, 2007 and2009) were used to purchase medi-

cine and equipment for the medicalmissions.

The pageants had the followingqueens: Nancy Clemente fromCabugao and now Mrs. Luat,reigned in 2005; Helena Puestafrom Santa in 2007; and DavelynAncheta Quijano from Sinait in2009.

The fund-raising efforts of ISAHshifted to “Dance With the Mission”and to the holding of “DistinguishedAward and Fund-raising.”

At an ISAH board meeting inMarch 1, 2011, Villaruz’s idea wasapproved after a presentation wasmade from names of other promi-nent leaders and heroes.

The board also decided toname the award after the 6th presi-dent of the Republic of the Philip-pines, Elpidio Quirino, a native ofVigan.

Quirino, a graduate of law fromthe University of the Philippines,was raised in La Union, but alwayslooked to Vigan for part of hisIlokano roots and heritage, also in

Caoayan. Among many accomplish-

ments, Quirino was a barrio school-teacher, orator, debater, painter,constitutionalist, statesman and law-maker.

In 1934, he joined the Philip-pine Independence Mission toWashington, D. C. The mission,headed by Manuel Luis Quezon, se-cured the passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Act that set the date forPhilippine independence in 1945.The independence of the Philip-pines from the U.S. was declared onJuly 4, 1946.

Both Abinsay and Sonido werechosen for their selfless acts anddedication for the success of themedical missions under the leadsponsorship of ISAH.

Sonido, from Sinait andCabugao, is also being recognizedfor his outstanding work as a med-ical doctor. For a time, he served aspresident of the Philippine MedicalAssociation of Hawaii and publisherof the Hawaii Filipino Chronicle.

Abinsay, of State House District29, served for 10 years and heldleadership roles as majority whipand chair of the Agriculture Commit-tee.

He introduced the creation ofthe Filipino Centennial CelebrationCommission [Act 159] that became

a law. The law, signed by Gov. Ben-jamin J. Cayetano, appointed 15commissioners who were tasked toplan and implement the centennialcelebration of the coming of the first15 recruits of the Hawaii SugarcanePlanters Association. Many of thefirst recruits were from Candon.They boarded the SS Doric andlanded in Honolulu on December20, 1906. The recruits were thensent to the Ola’a Sugar Plantationon the Big Island.

Abinsay, who served as OFCCpresident and vice president of theUnited Filipino Council of Hawaii, isfrom Cabaroan East, Vigan City.

Many ISAH members comefrom various municipalities andcities such as Alilem, Banayoyo,Bantay, Burgos, Cabugao, CandonCity, Caoayan, Cervantes, Gal-imuyod, Gregorio del Pilar, Lidlidda,Magsingal, Nagbukel, Narvacan,Quirino, Salcedo, San Emilio, SanEsteban, San Ildefonso, San Juan,San Vicente, Santa, Santiago, Sta.Catalina, Sta. Cruz, Sta. Lucia, Sta.Maria, Sto. Domingo, Sigay, Sinait,Sugpon, Suyo, Tagudin, and ViganCity.

Former State Rep. Abinsay andDr. Sonido, certainly, have sharedtheir light with us. In that light istheir life as well, a life filled withdreams for our people.

(cont. from page 4; SPRATLYS... )

(cont. from page 1; THE PRESIDENT... )

Philippines and hope to one dayestablish a computer school and li-brary in Pasuquin.

ADEODATO AND PRISCILLA

VILLALOBOS

Adeodato and Priscilla met in

Manila. He served in the U.S. Navy

during the Cuban missile crisis and

Vietnam War, then worked as a

civilian employee for the U.S. gov-

ernment. After being married for 44

years, both are now retired and en-

joying life.

The couple worked hard to

make ends meet and diligently

saved for their children’s college

education. They instilled in their

children—Leilani Villalobos-

Arakaki, Aladin Villalobos and

Amber Villalobos—the value of

higher education, which ultimately

leads better opportunities in life.

Adeodato and Priscilla are

also active officers and members of

several community organizations,

including the Zambalenean Club of

Hawaii, the Bulacan Circle and As-

sociates of Hawaii. They also par-

ticipate in the Fil-Com Center’s

annual Filipino Fiesta and

Kapisanan Ng Tagalog sa Hawaii

Annual Reading of the Christ’s Pas-

sion during Lent. Adeodato serves

as an usher, while Priscilla sings in

the choir at the Resurrection of the

Lord Catholic Church.



FOUR OTHER PARENTS

WERE NOMINATED for Parentsof the Year. They also deserverecognition for inspiring their chil-dren to be all that they can be in lifeand encouraging them to pursuehigher education.

FEDERICO AND FLORIDA

BADUA

Federico and Florida wereboth employed by Del Monte Cor-poration. Federico worked as aplanter, then as tractor operatoruntil he retired. Florida pickedpineapples and worked her way to

for the association which raisesscholarship funds for students at-tending Divine Word College. Theyalso both serve as eucharistic min-isters at St. Anthony’s Church inKalihi and are members of the Sa-cred Heart of Jesus and Mary.

Their children are Zonia Fi-esta, Laureen Ann Fiesta andLawrence Fiesta.

ROMULO AND ELENA

ONNAGAN

Romulo and Elena met whilehe was helping his father, a con-tractor, build the home of Elena’sparents. The couple credits theirparents as their greatest inspira-tion and for instilling in them astrong desire to succeed in life.

Their children are SeanOrville Onnagan, Samantha LoveOnnagan and Shaina Lucky On-nagan.

Romulo owns All the WayBuilders. Elena retired from Mc-Donalds where she started as acrewmember in 1978, became atrainer, swing assistant and firstassistant manager at various Mc-Donalds restaurants on Oahu.They are also members of the Pa-suquino Association of Hawaii.During his term as first vice presi-dent, they contributed to the im-provement of their hometown ofPasuquin in Ilocos Norte. Theysponsored four students who grad-uated from college, helped pre-pare medical provisions for theAloha Medical Mission’s trip to the

a supervisor until she retired.Although they did not finish

high school, they encouraged theirchildren—Nancy Burnett, Vilma At-iburcio and Froilan Badua—tostudy hard, work hard and ac-knowledge God’s blessings. Theyare very proud of their children’saccomplishments.

Now in their late 70s, bothFederico and Florida lead simplelives. They are actively involvedwith the San Nicolas Organizationof Hawaii. Federico also belongsto a gardening organization inWahiawa, while Florida is a mem-ber of the St. John the Apostle andEvangelist Church choir, cleaningcommittee, women’s guild and Fil-ipino Catholic Club.

LORENZO (LARRY) AND

ESTEFANIA (FANNY) FIESTA

Larry and Fanny met in his-tory class at Divine Word Collegein Laoag, Ilocos Norte. After grad-uating, Fanny left for Hawaii to bewith her parents but returned two

years later to marry him.Larry worked at the Haleku-

lani Hotel, Royal Hawaiian Hoteland as an agent at New York LifeInsurance. He is currently a familyservice counselor at Valley of theTemples Memorial Park and theowner of El Fiesta Tax Service,LLC. Fanny worked as claims ex-aminer at HMSA for many yearsand is now a claims examiner forAloha Care.

Larry and Fanny are activemembers of the Divine Word Col-lege Alumni Association of Hawaii.Larry served as a board of director

RENATO AND MARIA ETRATA

HAVE BEEN NAMED the 2011Hawaii Parents of the Year by thePhilippine Cultural Foundation ofHawaii.

The award recognizes excep-tional Filipino couples who ensurethe college education of their chil-dren and foster in them values thatmake them achievers and role mod-els in their respective communities.The minimum requirements for con-sideration include having not lessthan three children graduate from aU.S. university with a bachelor’s de-gree—which is no small feat con-sidering today’s high costs for acollege degree.

The couple has raised four chil-dren—Arlene, Renato Jr., Ann Marieand Rosemary. All of them are col-

lege graduates and working as pro-fessionals in their respective fields.

Arlene attended Cannon’s Busi-ness College and Texas A&M Uni-versity, where she majored inbusiness administration and account-ing. She is currently working in Texas.

Renato Jr., is a medical in-ternist and doctor of pharmacy. Heattended the University of the Pa-cific and the University of Hawaii-Manoa John A. Burns School ofMedicine. He works for Kaiser Per-manente on the mainland as ananesthesiologist.

Ann Marie graduated from UHwith a degree in education and fromthe University of California-LongBeach with a master’s in special ed-ucation. She is a special educationteacher at an elementary school in

Long Beach, California. Last, but not least, Rosemary

graduated from Hawaii Pacific Uni-versity with a bachelor’s in nursing.She works as an administrator for

Preferred Home and CommunityBased Services—the family ownedbusiness.

Renato and Maria emphasizedearly on to their children the impor-tance of a good education.

“We encouraged them to pur-sue higher education to attain a bet-ter life,” Maria says. “We disciplinedthem but also gave them freedom tochoose whatever field they wantedto pursue.”

Raising four children, alongwith making ends meet, was not aneasy task but the Etratas managedto do just fine. They emphasizedlove, discipline and guidance, alongwith regular family discussion duringdinnertime.

“We are a very close-knit fam-ily,” Maria says. “The dinner table

was very important. It was where wewould discuss family matters at theend of the day.”

In addition to successfully rais-ing their four children, the Etratashave also had fulfilling careers. Re-nato worked at Amfac for 28 yearsand Safeway for nearly 8 years untilhe retired a few years ago.

Maria is currently the presidentand founder of Preferred Home &Community Based Services andHome & Community Services ofHawaii, both of which are day carecenters for the elderly. Maria wasnamed the 2007 Filipino BusinessWoman of the Year by the FilipinoBusiness Women’s Association forher excellent track record of caringfor the elderly and medically-fragileof our community.

Philippine Cultural Foundation Names Parents of Year

2011 Parents of the Year, Renato andMaria Etrata

Nominees for 2011 Parents of the Year

the U.S. Marine Corps and was de-ployed to Okinawa. Heilman’s outfittook over Chimu Field, an airstripvital to sustaining the bombing ofJapan. He later served on occupa-tion duty in Japan, flying as a radiooperator on staff of the Commanderof the Fifth Fleet, taking intelligencepersonnel to Hiroshima, Nagasakiand other sites in the Pacific, andeven surviving an airplane crash onIwo Jima.

Today, Dr. Heilman is chancellorof the University of Richmond andserves as spokesman for The Great-est Generations Foundation, a Den-ver-based, non-profit organizationsponsoring the return of 20 WWIIveterans to Pearl Harbor this month.

Rear Adm. Girrier assumed hisduties in February 2011. A graduateof the U.S. Naval Academy and aSurface Warfare Officer, Girrier mostrecently served as Commander, Car-rier Strike Group Eleven, USS NimitzStrike Group, from March 2010 toFebruary 2011. From 2008 to 2010,


by Atty. Emmanuel Samonte TIPON

IMMIGRATION GUIDE

The Obama administration an-nounced via a blog, yes, blog,not a television address or

press conference, on August 18,that was posted by Cecilia Munoz,Director of Intergovernmental Af-fairs, not Barack Obama, that theDepartment of Homeland Security(DHS) and the Department of Jus-tice (DOJ) will be reviewing the cur-rent deportation caseload to clearout low-priority cases on a case-by-case basis and make room to deportpeople who have been convicted ofcrimes or pose a security risk.

BENEFICIARIES OF AMNESTY

The low priority people includesindividuals such as (1) young peo-ple who were brought to this countryas small children, and who know noother home, (2) military veterans,and (3) the spouses of active mili-tary personnel.

On the same day, SecretaryJanet Napolitano of the Departmentof Homeland Security wrote to Sen-ator Dick Durbin of Illinois, author ofthe Development, Relief, and Edu-cation for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act

that was rejected by the last Con-gress, that the DHS has establishedpriorities governing how DHS usesits immigration enforcement re-sources. We were able to obtain acopy of the letter. She indicated thatDHS will focus on border securityand identifying and removing crimi-nal aliens, those who pose a threatto public safety and national secu-rity, repeat immigration violators andother individuals prioritized for re-moval. She recalled that the Presi-dent had said that it made no senseto expend enforcement resourceson low priority cases, such as thoseindividuals who were brought to thiscountry as young children and knowno other home. She said that “pros-ecutorial discretion” will be imple-mented to ensure that resources areuniformly focused on the highest pri-orities, and together with the DOJ toexecute a case-by-case review of allindividuals currently in removal pro-ceedings to ensure that they consti-tute the highest priorities, and toensure that new cases placed in re-moval proceedings similarly meetsuch priorities.

BACKDOOR AMNESTY

DENOUNCED

This is “backdoor amnesty” forillegal aliens, charged Arizona Gov-ernor Jan Brewer, who succeededNapolitano as governor. Appearingon CNN on August 19, she accused

Obama of acting “like a king” by de-claring an amnesty “by executivefiat” after Congress had rejected theso-called DREAM Act. She said thatthe President “has no authority tooverride Congress” but that heshould “work with Congress” and“enforce the rule of law.” Brewersaid that the President was “playingpolitics” and that his action will“boomerang” saying that she did“not believe the American peoplewill support it.”

House Judiciary CommitteeChairman Rep. Lamar Smith, (R-Texas) similarly denounced the newpolicy saying that “the Obama ad-ministration has again made clearits plan to grant back-door amnestyto illegal immigrants.”

The Immigration Law Daily, apro-immigrant on line publicationsaid in a commentary titled “Prose-cutorial Indiscretion” that “This DHSannouncement is intended to curryfavor with the DREAMers who werebrought to the USA as minors bytheir parents and being the Ameri-can in spirit (albeit not in law) thatthey are, are pains in the neck to thepowers-that-be. . . This action byDHS is consistent with the cowardlyapproach that this administrationhas consistently had from inceptionon immigration matters. While it maycurry favor in the Red States, theObama re-election team can write-off New Mexico, Nevada, and Col-

orado if this announcement is thebest they can do. Elections haveconsequences, once Republicansare firmly in charge of all levers ofpower post-November 2012, thedoor will be open for an about-faceon immigration policy, thus cement-ing a split in the Latino vote for ageneration, effectively locking theDemocratic Party out of power.Such is the hope and change thatwill likely be Mr. Obama’s legacy.”

Immigration attorney MatthewKolken in a blog published by theImmigration Law Daily ridiculed thenew policy, saying “I’m confidentthat this is little more than lip serv-ice, and that it will remain businessas usual for the Obama administra-tion’s deportation machine.” Lastyear, the Obama administration re-portedly deported about 400,000aliens, the highest of any President.

Other critics of the policy be-lieve that this will add to the prob-lems of our country by hiring newemployees to process the papers ofthe illegal aliens, increasing thenumber of unemployed by addingan estimated two million aliens tothe labor pool, making it more diffi-cult for students to get into collegebecause there will be more peoplecompeting for admission, reducingthe chances of students in gettingscholarship grants since there willbe thousands of others competingfor these grants.

FILIPINO BENEFICIARIES

There are only a few potentialFilipino beneficiaries of this new pol-icy. We know of no military veteransor the spouses of active military per-sonnel who are in deportation. Howmany minor Filipino children werebrought by their parents illegally? I

know of only 13 in Hawaii, 10 ofwhom we represented. Their par-ents committed fraud by claimingthat their petitioning father was stillalive, although dead. The childrenwere derivatives. We won 8 of the10 cases using existing waivers andother immigration relief. We did notneed an amnesty.

TESTING OBAMA

ADMINISTRATION’S

SINCERITY

We are going to test the sincer-ity of the Obama administration byfiling a petition to remand to theDHS for review and/or to adminis-tratively close the two remainingpending cases. We will point out theprosecutorial indiscretion committedby DHS when they placed thesechildren in removal proceedings,since DHS had already issued amemorandum in June 2010, beforethe children were placed in pro-ceedings, to prioritize resources toremove aliens posing a danger tonational security or public safety. Wewill challenge the administration toshow that they are not merely doing“lip service” to immigration reform inorder to win votes for the big boss.Abangan.

(ATTY. TIPONhas a Master of Laws de-gree from Yale Law School and a Bachelorof Laws degree from the University of thePhilippines. Office: 800 Bethel St., Suite402, Honolulu, HI 96813. Tel. (808) 225-2645. E-Mail: [email protected]: www.MilitaryandCrimi-nalLaw.com, and www.ImmigrationSer-vicesUSA.com. Listen to the most witty,interesting, and informative radio programin Hawaii on KNDI at 1270, AM dial everyThursday at 7:30 a.m., rebroadcast atwww.iluko.com.)

“Backdoor Amnesty” for CertainIllegal Aliens


THE BATTLESHIP MISSOURI

MEMORIAL will commemoratethe 66th anniversary of the end ofWorld War II with a ceremony onSeptember 3, 2011, from 8 am to 9am aboard the Mighty Mo.

Rear Adm. Girrier, Com-mander, Carrier Strike GroupSeven, USS Ronald Reagan StrikeGroup, will join keynote speaker Dr.E. Bruce Heilman, WWII veteranand national spokesman for TheGreatest Generations Foundation,in offering remarks.

The program will feature patri-otic music, a rifle salute, Echo Tapsand a special Old Glory Detail bythe Navy Region Hawaii chief pettyofficers. Guests will have the oppor-tunity to tour the ship’s decks, in-cluding the site where SupremeAllied Commander Gen. DouglasMacArthur and representatives from10 nations assembled on Septem-ber 2, 1945, to accept Japan’s for-mal surrender.

During WWII, Heilman joined

he served as vice commander, NavalMine and Anti-Submarine WarfareCommand, with operational com-mander duties in 2nd, 3rd, 5th and7th Fleets. In both these tours, hiscommands pioneered innovative tac-tics, improving naval force warfight-ing effectiveness.

In additional sea tours, Girriercommanded Destroyer Squadron15, from 2005 to 2007, forward de-ployed in Yokosuka, Japan. Thesquadron developed new tactics,techniques and procedures for anti-submarine warfare and maritimeballistic missile defense while exer-cising extensively with naviesthroughout the 7th Fleet area. Gir-rier is co-author of professionalnaval books “Command at Sea,”“Watch Officers Guide” and “Divi-sion Officer’s Guide.”

The ceremony is free but reser-vations are encouraged, as space islimited. RSVPs are being acceptedonline at USSMissouri.org. Compli-mentary roundtrip shuttle bus servicefrom the Pearl Harbor Visitor Centerwill be available beginning at 7 am.

Mighty Mo to Host WWII 66thAnniversary Ceremony


WHAT’S COOKING?

MILLIE: Karla and I are ha-bitual lamb eaters. Thesame goes for the rest of

my family. We adore it in any cutor form, whether as leg, rack orchop and cooked in any manner:grilled, roasted, braised or evenhotpot style. My Dad enjoyed it somuch with a bit of mint sauce ormint jelly that when we would fre-quent restaurants that served aparticular lamb dish he liked butdid not serve mint jelly, he wouldalways make sure we brought abottle along. Every time we eatfancy, I’d choose a lamb dish oversea bass or Angus beef anytime. Ijust love it! My favorite lamb dishesare grilled lamb chops, braisedlamb shank with an exquisite redwine sauce, and lamb curry — oohla la! I still remember the very firsttime I tasted lamb was when I was18 years old, at the Chateaud’Ouchy in Lausanne, Switzerland.It had a very distinct flavor; so dif-ferent from the regular red meat Iwas used to.

In cooking class, I took a spe-cial interest inlamb dishes andgot hooked. Thesimplest recipe Ilearned that onemay even try athome is a piece ofboneless lamb leg,rubbed andcooked with lots offresh garlic, simplyseasoned withground pepperand salt and oven-r o a s t e d . T h e

sauce would be made from drip-pings cooked with fresh mintleaves in garlic and olive oil.

Another favorite and easyrecipe is braised lamb cooked withsprigs of rosemary and thyme, bayleaf and whole cloves of peeledgarlic. Add this to amirepoix of dicedonions, carrots andcelery cooked inabout half a cup ofvegetable or oliveoil. To braise, add atablespoon oftomato paste, acup of dry whitewine, two to threecups of chickenstock and a hand-ful of choppedparsley. Squeezein the zest of half alemon for that extrazing! Braise the meat until tenderand the sauce is thick enough topour over a rich risotto, butterednoodles or some boiled potatoes.

Lamb is actually meat fromyoung sheep, isconsidered leanand said to behealthy.

Last week,Karla and I metItalian chef DannyRusso, who wasin Manila for theWorld Food Expoupon the invitationof Meat and Live-stock Australia topromote lambcooking with Aus-

we were using low heat to cookthe adobo. This probably hap-pened three times without menoticing immediately. So I had nochoice but to crank up the knob tocatch up, and naturally, we proba-bly got deductions for usingmedium heat on our adobo. Fi-nally, when we were all done, wewere just about to garnish ourplate when our veggies for garnishfell on the ground! Panic! After fiveseconds of shock, Rea and I real-ized there was no way we weregoing to be able to make anotherbatch of our creamed kangkong ina tomato cup as sidings for theadobo breaded lamb. Thankfully,we had extra grilled vegetableskewers and used it as sidings forboth the chicken and the lamb.

Facing the judges was thescariest feeling ever. It was obviousthat they were interested in just thefood because no matter how muchI smiled at them while I was pre-senting, they were all just looking atour plates, taking a bite or jottingdown stuff. Haha! Well, althoughwe didn’t win a formal prize, weplaced third out of 12 teams, whichis pretty great considering every-thing that happened that morning,and that it was my first competition.(www.philstar.com)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT by Millie & Karla REYES

Kitchen Lamb-adatralian lamb. Chef Russo demon-strated ways to prepare lambdishes and even shared practicaltips and recipes for professionals,students and cooking enthusiasts.MLA gave us some lamb samplesand we cooked it osso buco-style

for our regularSunday dinner athome and it wasgreat!

K A R L A :

Last June 12, Iwas given the op-portunity to joinmy first evercooking competi-tion. It was held atthe Legazpi Sun-day Market ande n t i t l e d“Adobolympics2011.” Our mainobjectives were to

prepare two dishes: one using a se-cret ingredient, which they later di-vulged to be lamb, and the other,any specialty of choice. My uncle,Raymund Reyes, who religiouslywakes up early in the morningevery Sunday to sell his Beer CanChicken at the Legazpi Market,signed up for the competition notrealizing that he would be out of thecountry with his family. His persist-ence on the matter convinced mehelp him out and be his representa-tive, or I’d never hear the end of it.Haha! Our team consisted of Ed-mund, Tito Raymund’s helper at hisSky RayBBQ and Grill at theLegazpi Market every Sunday, andRea Ferrer, my chef from Go Gour-met by The Plaza on the fourth floorof Rustan’s Makati. Tito Ray as-signed us to make a side dish to gowith his Beer Can Chicken plus anoriginal creation. Since it was myfirst competition, I honestly did notknow where to begin. Rea and I hadseveral brainstorming sessions butended up chatting and waiting untilthe last minute. We did two trials forour dishes. First was when we ex-perimented with different dishes tofinalize one product, and the secondto time-trial everything to make it fitwithin the given time frame. We set-tled on Ski Ray’s Beer Can Chickenwith adobo risotto with garlic flakesand adobo breaded lamb with

adobo mayo sauce and a simplegarlic mashed potato.

On the competition day, wewere provided with sponsored DatuPuti items to use for our adobo andLamb from Meat and LivestockAustralia. Despite the outdoor con-ditions and space constraints,everything was going perfectly wellin terms of our preparations andtiming. Yes, I had a schedule pre-pared, with approximate durationson how much time we shouldspend preparing a certain item. Butat around the last hour of the com-petition, everything started to gowrong. I’m not sure if it also had todo with the constant rounds of thejudges and their intense questionsthat were so nerve-wracking, or if itwas pure bad luck. Our stove wasacting up and would take forever toturn on, plus the fact that suddengusts of wind would knock out thefire on the stove, especially since

Karla’s entry to the Adobolympics: Adobo breaded Australian lamb with adobomayo sauce on chicken adobo risotto

INGREDIENTS:1 pc. chicken breast1 cup soy sauce1 cup vinegar3 cups water3 pcs. minced garlic6 pcs. peppercorn2 pcs. bay leaves2 cups mayonnaise2 tbsps. oil

PROCEDURE:

In a medium saucepan heat 2 tbsps. of oil then sauté garlic.

Add the chicken to the pan. Then add the water, soy sauce,vinegar, peppercorns and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Coverand simmer for 30 minutes or when meat is tender. Removethe chicken from the sauce.

In a medium bowl, combine 1cup adobo sauce and 2 cupsmayonnaise, mix until well-blended.

Our Sunday dinner: BraisedAustralian lamb osso buco-style

F O R L E A S E - O F F I C E S P A C E SLOCATED IN THE HEART OF WAIPAHU.

NEAR BUS STOP. EASY ACCESS TO THE FREEWAY.VARIOUS SIZES AVAILABLE (IN SQ. FT.):

110, 230, 285, 1100 and over 5100FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL

RENTAL MASTERS @ 678-8930 OR 284-4185

Genie of the lamb: Chef DannyRusso was in Manila to promotehome cooking with lamb underthe sponsorship of Meat andLivestock of Australia

ADOBOMAYO


TRAVEL & TOURISM

MANILA, Philippines -

Tourism Secretary Alberto

Lim is urging the entire na-

tion to help regain the Philippines’

prominence in the 1970s up to the

early 1980s as an international

meetings, incentive travel, conven-

tions, exhibitions/events (MICE)

destination.

Lim said the attainment of that

goal by 2016 would leapfrog the

growth of the country’s foreign visi-

tor arrivals, as the Philippines,

since recent memory, has barely

scratched the surface of this high-

value MICE market.

“In the meantime, though, we

have to focus on meetings that we

have the capacity for, while taking

advantage of our inherent superior-

ity in terms of natural attractions

and the hospitality of our English-

speaking people,” Lim said at a

press briefing shortly after he and

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia

spearheaded the world’s industry

leaders in opening the Philippine

MICE Conference (MICECON)

2011 at the Cebu International Con-

vention Center recently.

This new priority goal of turn-

ing the country into a MICE hub

would make the Philippines com-

pete directly with fellow Southeast

Asian countries Singapore, Thai-

land and Malaysia.

Based on the 2008 statistics of

the International Congress and

Convention Association (ICCA), the

Philippines as a convention desti-

nation ranked 44th in the world and

12th in Asia Pacific after Japan,

China, Australia, South Korea, Sin-

gapore, Thailand, India, Malaysia,

Taiwan, Hong Kong, and New

Zealand.

Singapore, according to the

2008 ICCA figures, ranks fifth in the

world’s top 10 countries and fourth

in the world’s top 10 cities for meet-

ings and conventions.

“But according to industry ana-

lysts recently, MICE buyers are no

longer looking at well-established

cities, but at new and upcoming

MICE destinations in Asia. Rising

countries like Vietnam, Laos and

Cambodia, which are currently

being marketed aggressively, are

scrambling for a slice of this mar-

ket,” Lim said in his opening mes-

sage to MICECON’s

unprecedented number of more

than 450 participants.

international meetings and events

organizers to put back the Philip-

pines in their shopping cart,” Lim

told the conference participants,

which included a powerhouse of

MICE experts and guests from the

United States, France, Ireland,

Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Tai-

wan, China, and Vietnam.

Lim’s call appeared to have

gained political emphasis later in

the day at the MICECON’s Gover-

nor’s Night when Garcia presented

her special guest, Ilocos Norte Gov.

Imee Marcos, who described her-

self as a “MICE baby” and vowed

to pursue tourism cooperation be-

tween her province and Cebu.

Marcos recalled having grown

up with the rise of MICE infrastruc-

ture and facilities all over Metro

Manila that made the Philippines

the center for international meet-

ings and conventions in all of Asia.

(www.philstar.com)

from www.philstar.com

'Help Regain Phl Glory as Int'l MICE Hub'

He cited these developments

as the reason for the DOT’s thrust

to reposition the Philippines as a

preferred MICE destination as it

used to be.

For this year, however, Lim is

eyeing a modest volume of only

187,500 MICE visitors, or five per-

cent of the country’s total inbound

target of 3.75 million by end-2011.

Nevertheless, this MICE target

is equivalent to $525 million or

P23.63 billion in tourism receipts

based on a foreign convention par-

ticipant’s average daily spending of

$700 on an average stay of four

days.

“And with the private sector

supporting a MICE infrastructure

boom, the Philippines is again

poised to elevate its position as a

destination for international

events,” Lim said.

Lim was referring to the 57

new accommodation facilities and

integrated resort developments that

have begun operations in Metro

Manila, Cebu, Boracay and other

local destinations this year, gener-

ating some 3,000 additional room

capacity.

These developments augur

well for a global MICE market that

ICCA statistics show as preferring

hotels to convention centers as

venues for meetings and confer-

ences.

Nonetheless, the SM Group is

building more convention and event

venues in Baguio, Cebu, Bacolod,

and Davao while other real estate

conglomerates like Robinson’s

Land and Sta. Lucia are further in-

vesting in tourism-related projects.

Similarly expanding is the avi-

ation industry, with major airlines in-

creasing their fleet and flight

frequencies as the country’s inter-

national airports are building addi-

tional facilities.

“With these developments,

there is no better time than now for

Recently resigned Philippine Tourism Secretary Alberto A. Lim (center) tours theOne Cebu exhibition at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) onAugust 11, 2011 together with Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia (left) and Central VisayasTourism Regional Director Rowena Montecillo (right). MICECON FB page

PHILIPPINE NEWSLay Catholic Group Raises P2.7Million to Buy Vehicles forBishops

MANILA, Philippines - A LAY

CATHOLIC GROUP LED BY

FORMER MANILA mayor LitoAtienza and election lawyer RomuloMacalintal yesterday said they havealready raised P2.7 million andhave donated utility vehicles to atleast three Catholic bishops.

CBCPNews, the official newsservice provider of the CatholicBishops’ Conference of the Philip-pines (CBCP), said Macalintal re-vealed that the money was used topurchase four Foton pickup trucks.

Television host Willie Revillamehas also donated P100,000 with avan and another pickup truck.

“The drive was a success andwe thank everyone for their help.Catholics from all walks of life, fromthe rich to the poor, responded toour call,” Macalintal said.

A pickup truck was already do-nated to the Diocese of Bontoc-La-gawe headed by Bishop Rodolfo

Beltran.The Diocese of

Butuan under BishopJuan de Dios Pueblos,who was highly criti-cized for asking formerPresident Gloria Maca-pagal-Arroyo for a carfor his birthday, re-ceived the van fromRevillame.

Tabuk Bishop Prudencio An-daya also received a pickup truck forhis diocese’s social action programsalthough he was not implicated inthe so-called “PCSO fund mess.”

“The Foton pickup trucks wereworth P800,000 but we were able toget a big discount. We also askedToyota and Mitsubishi but theirpickup trucks were worth P1.6 mil-lion,” Macalintal added.

Cotabato Archbishop OrlandoQuevedo, meanwhile, declined thedonation, saying that it should begiven to poor dioceses in need ofvehicles instead.

Other prelates implicated in thecontroversy were archbishops Ro-mulo Valles of Zamboanga and

by Evelyn MACAIRAN/Thursday, August 25, 2011

Ernesto Salgado ofNueva Segovia and bish-ops Martin Jumoad ofBasilan and LeopoldoJaucian of Bangued.

Valles, Salgado andJumoad, however, arestill waiting for word fromCebu Archbishop JosePalma, the incoming

CBCP president, if they should re-ceive the vehicles.

Jaucian earlier received a cardonated by his Filipino-Chineseparishioners to reach the remoteareas under his pastoral jurisdiction.

Other personalities who gavemoney to the fund drive were Sena-tors Vicente Sotto III (P200,000),Francis Escudero (P100,000), andBong Revilla and his wife, CaviteRep. Lani Mercado-Revilla,(P200,000).

The fund drive was launchedlast July to provide utility vehicles forseven prelates who were criticizedfor receiving cars from the PhilippineCharity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO)during the Arroyo administration.(www.philstar.com)


PHILIPPINE NEWS

'U.S. Says Mindanao has $1-TUntapped Mineral Resources'

MANILA, Philippines - A PEACE PACT

WITH THE MORO ISLAMIC LIBERA-

TION FRONT (MILF) could be the Philip-pines' way out of poverty, a congressman saidtoday citing a US intelligence assessment.

Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treñas, chairman of theHouse committee on good government andpublic accountability, said that the success ofthe ongoing peace talks between the govern-ment and the MILF plays a vital role in solvingpoverty.

Treñas said that based on the US intelli-gence assessment, "the Philippines may haveuntapped minerals worth between US$840 bil-lion to US$1 trillion" in Mindanao.

The congressman said that the US intelli-gence assessment was included in the 2006"unclassified/for official use only" cable from theUS embassy in Manila released online by Sin-gapore-based journalist Andrew MacgregorMarshall.

He said that the assessment can only be-come a reality of peace and security in Min-danao is secured through the success of thegovernment-initiated peace talks with theMILF.

Treñas said that the intelligence assess-ment "basically assures that peace in Mindanaocould catapult the entire nation from being athird world nation into a major economic powerin Asia."

"We've always known that Mindanao is fer-tile and rich in natural and mineral resourcesbut I didn't realize that Mindanao's mineralwealth can single-handedly reverse our pres-ent economic situation. With this report, I'mconvinced more than ever that our key to finally

become a first world nation is to bring peaceand development to Mindanao," he said.

The lawmaker said that the US intelligenceassessment should raise the urgency for theforging of peace talks between the governmentand the MILF. He urged opposition congress-men to support the Aquino administration's bidto secure the peace deal.

President Benigno Aquino III had recentlymet with MILF leader Al Haj Murad in Tokyo.Both agreed to speed up the talks and work forthe forging of a peace pact before Aquino'sterm expires in 2016.

Treñas said the US report should now con-vince skeptics that President Aquino is on theright direction in his decision to do anythingpossible that is within the bounds of law toguarantee the success of the peace talks be-tween the government and the MILF.

He also dismissed claims that a peacedeal between the government and the MILF isa "sell out" of the nation's patrimony becauseon the contrary, the full integration of the MILFand their decision to give up their quest of an in-dependent state is a big leap forward in pro-moting national patrimony.

"We should stop talking about national pat-rimony in a manner that treats the MILF as non-Filipinos. The fact that they have given upsecessionism should be considered as some-thing that strengthens our nation and not some-thing that weakens it," Treñas said.

Talks between the government and theMILF bogged down Tuesday after the MILFpanel led by Mohagher Iqbal rejected the pro-posals presented by the government peacepanel enumerating economic and political so-lutions that can end the armed conflict in Min-danao. (www.philstar.com)

by Angelo GUTIERREZ/Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Pinay Chosen for Q&Awith Pope

MANILA, Philippines - TWENTY-SIX-YEAR-

OLD KRITZIA SANTOS of the Philippinesrepresented Asia in a special question and an-swer session with Pope Benedict XVI at theWorld Youth Day in Madrid, Spain.

Santos was one of five young Catholicsgiven the opportunity to ask the Pope directlyon youth issues just before the Saturday(Madrid time) vigil at the World Youth Day(WYD) festival in Madrid, the CBCPNews re-ported. Santos, according to CBCPNews, is theonly Filipino WYD volunteer and a member ofRegnum Christi, an apostolic lay movement.The report did not mention further details re-garding her identity.

Before 1.5 million pilgrims, she asked thePontiff how should modern young people bal-ance their desire for success with the call to beChristian.

“It is my desire to reach high goals, butsuccess and big dreams are always linked toamassing wealth and high positions. How can I

be faithful to my faith without distancing myselffrom society?” she asked the Holy Father. PopeBenedict XVI replied, “In the Gospel, Jesusgives us an answer. Deep in our hearts, weyearn for what is grand and beautiful in life, butground them in Jesus.”

In an interview with YouthPinoy! Santossaid that at first she was hesitant to accept theinvitation to take part in the Q&A “because I’ma very shy person, I didn’t want to.”

After almost three months in Madrid coor-dinating the WYD volunteers for Asia, Santoswas nervous but ecstatic when she receivedthe offer.

“It’s such a blessing... I don’t deservemany things I receive in my life,” she said re-ferring to her experience. (www.philstar.com)

by Evelyn MACAIRAN/Monday, August 22, 2011

Kritzia Santos asking Pope Benedict XVI a question


PHILIPPINE NEWS

MANILA, Philippines - PRESI-

DENT AQUINO CLARIFIED

YESTERDAY that while the Philip-pine government regrets the deathof eight Hong Kong tourists in theAugust 2010 hostage-taking inci-dent, its citizens should try to be fairbecause nobody wanted it to hap-pen in the first place.

“Giving an apology connotesthat the state did them grievousharm. I don’t think that is correct.This was the act of one man. In thesame token that some of our citi-zens have been affected elsewherein the world, we do not blame theentire population,” he said.

Yesterday marked the first an-niversary of the hostage-taking inci-dent in Manila perpetrated by adismissed policeman and disas-trously managed by authorities, re-sulting in a bungled rescueoperation that resulted in the deathof eight tourists and the hostage-taker.

The President cited the mas-sacre last month in Norway, wheresome 80 people were killed by a“deranged gunman,” who baresclose resemblance to the lonehostage-taker in Luneta, a be-medalled policeman who was ex-pelled due to alleged extortion.

“We know that there are crimi-nal elements, there are mentally de-ranged individuals that pose a threatto anybody regardless of race orcountry of origin,” he told reportersat Pier 13, where he was guest ofhonor at the arrival rites of BRP Gre-gorio del Pilar (PF-15).

“In the same token that in Nor-way there was this tragedy thatcould have been prevented be-cause of a solitary, deranged gun-man,” Aquino pointed out, implyingthat it was something beyond theircontrol.

“So can we really be faulted?There was such a rapid turn ofevents that I don’t think any forceanywhere in the world (could haveprevented it),” he added.

those who perished.“If you ask me, an apology

coming from us is mere words. Themore important dimension of the in-cident is that we are taking actions,”Robredo said.

De Lima, on the other hand,said President Aquino did not an-swer the demands for criminal suitsand damages made by survivorsand families of the victims.

In an ambush interview, theDOJ chief said she immediately re-layed to the President what shecalled requests – not demands – ina meeting at the Palace on Mondayafternoon following her closed-doormeeting with the survivors and fam-ilies.

She said she believes thePresident is carefully consideringthe matter before making a deci-sion since the requests were “seri-ous” and would “need carefulconsideration.”

“No comments yet from thePresident so I think he will also waitfor my recommendation and writtenreport (on the meeting),” she ex-plained.

De Lima said she would submither recommendation to the Presi-dent next week.

On Monday, a delegation com-posed of a survivor, a lawyer for twosurvivors, relatives of a victim and aHong Kong legislator publicly ex-pressed their disappointment overwhat they perceive to be insufficientactions taken by the government inresponse to the incident.

They demanded financial com-pensation without the usual tediousand expensive process and askedthe government to criminally prose-cute officials and authorities in-volved in the bungled rescue

Hong Kong authorities havebeen also aware that “all of the vic-tims had been shot even before ourforces moved against them.”

But he said this is not to saythat the Philippine government is notsorry for the tragedy.

“We sympathize and we con-tinue to sympathize with them. Wereally wish it did not happen. Wehope we had performed better atthat point in time,” Aquino said.

The President expressed hopethat the families of the victims couldmove on, since it has been a yearsince the tragedy occurred.

“We understand they’re hurt,but hopefully they understand alsothat we could have improved andwe have been improving from thento now.”

He said the families of the vic-tims are aware of the fact that bothpublic and private concerns from“this country have really tried to as-sist them in their moving on.”

“Even at our levels right now, ifyou have a deranged individual whosuddenly changes disposition prac-tically knowing there are very seri-ous limitations as to what oneperson or any country can do. But,again, we deeply regret what hastranspired,” Aquino repeated.

SOLIDARITY MASS

The President did not attend amass commemorating the first an-niversary of the bungled hostage cri-sis held yesterday, but Departmentof Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila deLima and Department of the Interiorand Local Government (DILG) Sec-retary Jesse Robredo were present.

Robredo and Philippine Na-tional Police (PNP) chief DirectorGeneral Raul Bacalzo led policepersonnel in the Mass that was heldat the St. Joseph Chapel insideCamp Crame that was officiated byBishop Leopoldo Tumulak.

The DILG secretary said thegovernment has done a lot, includ-ing putting up solidarity funds for thevictims, although he pointed out thatthere was no price tag for the lives of

Noy on Hostage Tragedy: Unfair to Blame 95M Pinoys by Delon PORCALLA/Wednesday, August 24, 2011

operation.The relatives of the victims also

sought a formal apology from thegovernment and visited the site ofthe incident in the Luneta.

Tse Chi Hang, brother of TseTing-Chun Masa, who was the tourguide of the ill-fated tourist bus, saidthe government officials who metthem expressed sorrow for the inci-dent, but what they wanted is a for-mal apology from the Philippinegovernment.

“What we are asking for is toask the Philippine government to beaccountable for the whole incidentbecause they have made many sillymistakes and many decisions dur-ing the whole incident. Someonehas to come out to take responsibil-ity on this, and someone has tocompensate all those injured and allthose hurt by the whole incident,” hestressed.

JUSTICE CRAWLS

IRRITATINGLY SLOW

But while the one-year anniver-sary brings back bitter memories,the National Police Commission(Napolcom) has yet to rule on theadministrative cases slappedagainst four of five accused policeofficers.

Napolcom vice chairman andexecutive officer Eduardo Escuetasaid 13 separate hearings have sofar been conducted for the casesfiled against Chief Superintendent

Rodolfo Magtibay, then director ofthe Manila Police District (MPD);Superintendent Orlando Yebra, thehostage negotiator; Chief InspectorSantiago Pascual, MPD SpecialWeapons and Tactics (SWAT) unitcommander; and Senior Police Of-ficer 2 Gregorio Mendoza, brotherof hostage-taker Rolando Men-doza.

Magtibay has been chargedwith serious neglect of duty andgross incompetence; Yebra with se-rious neglect of duty, serious irregu-larity in the performance of duty andgross incompetence; Pascual withgross incompetence; and Mendozawith grave misconduct and seriousneglect of duty.

The case of another accusedofficer, Director Leocadio Santiago,then chief of the National CapitalRegion Police Office during thehostage taking, has already beenresolved after he served an 11-daysuspension from March 4 to 14.Santiago was slapped with lessgrave neglect of duty.

Escueta said that in the case ofMagtibay, the prosecution will stillmake a formal offer of evidence thatwill be followed by the respondent’spresentation of his evidence.

He said the speed by whichNapolcom will resolve all the casesfiled against the respondents will de-pend on their respective lawyersand on the number of witnessesthey will present.

Escueta admits that theprocess could have been faster ifthe parties in the cases – the re-spondents and the prosecution –had agreed to undergo a summarydismissal proceeding which only in-volves the submission of swornstatements and position papers.(www.philstar.com)

Relatives of thevictims of the Aug. 23,2010 hostage tragedyand some of thesurvivors offerprayers at the QuirinoGrandstand in Manilayesterday. │JONJON VICENCIO


PHILIPPINE NEWS

MANILA, Philippines - THE DE-

PARTMENT OF FOREIGN AF-

FAIRS (DFA) ORDERED

yesterday the forced repatriation ofsome 1,600 Filipinos in Libya whererebels were making a final push tocrush forces loyal to embattledstrongman Moammar Gadhafi.

“It’s now Alert Level 4 whichcalls for mandatory evacuation,”said DFA spokesman Raul Hernan-dez.

Earlier yesterday, the DFA tolda press conference that the Philip-pine embassy in Tripoli would firstmonitor the situation before decidingif there would be a need to raise thealert status from level 3.

Hernandez said there were stillclashes in the streets of Tripoli, al-though the rebels in many placesaround the capital were already cel-ebrating the defeat of Gadhafi’sforces.

“Many of them are medicalworkers and they are helping out inthe hospitals taking care of the sickand injured Libyan nationals,” Her-nandez said, referring to Filipinoworkers in Libya.

At Malacañang, officials saidthe government is prepared for anyeventuality in Libya and Syria,where thousands of Filipinos are indanger of getting caught in worsen-ing violence.

“The President is having the sit-uation in Libya validated so we cansee what else can be done to helpFilipinos who are there,” deputypresidential spokesperson AbigailValte told reporters in an informalbriefing.

In Libya, the rebels were al-ready in the heart of the capitalTripoli on Monday and were ex-pected to swarm into Gadhafi’spalace anytime.

Syrian security forces, mean-while, continue their operations tocrush protesters.

Valte said majority of the Fil-ipinos in Libya are “nurses and med-ical workers, who are still safe withinthe hospitals that they work for.”

“On the situation in Libya, thePresident has given additional in-structions... We have been advisedby the IOM (International Organiza-tion for Migration) that our people inthe embassy must remain in the em-bassy due to violence in the streets,”Valte said.

“We have been advised that itis highly, it is extremely unsafe forour people in the embassy to go outnow to check the situation of our fel-low Filipinos,” she said.

Valte said the government’swarning to Filipinos in Libya to avoidventuring outside their homes or of-fices was first issued weeks agowhen it became apparent that Gad-hafi was not prepared to step down.

“We have made that call I thinkas early as the end of last week. Theembassy is there, our officials arethere and they are ready to assistyou (OFWs).”

Out of around 1,000 OFWs inLibya, 86 have so far manifestedtheir desire to be repatriated, ac-cording to the DFA.

The Overseas Workers Wel-fare Administration (OWWA), for itspart, said it has a list of 258 Filipinos– mostly domestic workers – whonow want to leave Syria.

The OWWA said 61 otherOFWs in Libya who ran away fromtheir employers are also awaitingrepatriation.

“The embassy is there and theDFA’s quick response team arrived

over the weekend,” Valte said, re-ferring to Syria.

“They were deployed as quicklyas possible and for those who needhelp, you can contact the embassyso they may extend the assistancethat you require,” she added, notingthat some 100 OFWs in Syria havealready expressed willingness tocome home.

“I will have to check what ourembassy’s advice is to our country-men in Syria, because the situationwill be different depending on wherethey are,” she said.

Most of the OFWs in Syria aredomestic helpers.

“It’s alert level 3 so there has tobe repatriation. But it will depend onthe Filipinos themselves if they wantto return home.”

ASSESSING THE SITUATION

The DFA said it is checking if itis safe to designate areas in Libyawhere Filipinos willing to be repatri-ated can converge in preparation fortheir journey home.

“As of date, 86 Filipinos signi-fied their intentions to leave Libya.The embassy is continuously as-sessing the security situation,

whether it would be safe for Filipinosto proceed to agreed meeting pointsfor repatriation,” the DFA said in astatement.

DFA Undersecretary RafaelSeguis reported that the Philippineembassy in Tripoli has received in-formation that five more OFWs fromBenghazi are willing to leave Libya.

Acting Foreign Affairs Secre-tary Antonio Rodriguez said thatwith most of the Libyan capital nowunder rebel control, the Philippineembassy is trying to find out if forcedevacuation may no longer be nec-essary.

“The embassy said they willwait and see for 24 hours if the situ-ation will stabilize,” Rodriguez told apress breifing.

On Aug. 12, DFA Secretary Al-bert del Rosario instructed Seguis toproceed to Tripoli to convince the re-maining Filipinos in the embattledcapital to leave.

Seguis visited neighboringtowns and hospitals to arrange forthe repatriation of some Filipinoswilling to return.

Philippine Ambassador to LibyaAlejandrino Vicente and Seguis arecoordinating with the IOM for therepatriation of the Filipinos by sea.

The IOM has made available400 passenger seats on a charteredship for Filipinos.

The DFA hotlines for families ofFilipinos still in Libya are 834-3240,834-3245, and 834-3333.

UNCOOPERATIVE

EMPLOYERS

OWWA chief Carmelita Dimzonsaid Philippine authorities are nego-tiating with Syrian employers toallow their Filipino helpers to leavethe strife-torn country.

“We now have the list of 258Filipinos, mostly domestic helpers,who have registered for repatriation

from Syria and our embassy officialsthere are now negotiating with theiremployers for the release of theirexit visas,” Dimzon said.

She said some Syrian employ-ers would only issue exit clearancein exchange for $3,000 purportedlyfor the unserved portion of the Fil-ipinos’ employment contract.

“The Syrian employers are re-luctant to allow the OFWs to leavebecause they believe there is reallyno peace and order problem in thecountry and thus there is no reasonfor the Philippine government totake away their domestic helpers,”Dimzon said.

Dimzon said she believes thereis no need to charter large vesselsor planes for the repatriation sinceonly a few are expected to leaveSyria anyway.

“Some of those who have al-ready registered may change theirmind at the last minute so we don’texpect massive repatriation and wemay just be using commercialplanes. We will be buying the ticketsas soon as exit clearances of ourworkers are released,” Dimzonpointed out.

Since negotiations between thePhilippine embassy officials andemployers are still ongoing, Dimzonsaid there is still no schedule for thefirst batch of repatriation.

Dimzon also noted that OWWAhas yet to get hold of DFA’s list of 86OFWs wanting to be repatriated.

The OWWA chief said theOFWs from Libya would be evacu-ated by sea to Alexandria, Egypt,where they would be flown home oncommercial flights.

“We have sufficient budget tobuy the plane tickets so there is re-ally no problem in repatriating ourworkers from Libya and Syria,” shesaid.

The DFA has allocated$550,000 or roughly P23 million forthe forced evacuation of 17,000 Fil-ipinos from Syria.

Meanwhile, National Reinte-gration Center for OFWs (NRCO)Director Vivian Tornea yesterdaysaid returnees from Libya and Syriacould avail of the government’s P2-billion reintegration program.

Under the program, OWWAmembers wanting to expand exist-ing businesses, or put up a newone, may avail of business loansfrom a minimum of P300,000 to amaximum of P2 million.

Since January this year, Torneasaid, about 10,000 OFWs and de-pendents from the country’s 17 re-gions have already attendedNRCO’s entrepreneurial develop-ment training, which is a require-ment for those wishing to avail of theloan. (www.philstar.com)

DFA Orders Mandatory Evacuation of Pinoys fromLibya by Pia LEE-BRAGO/Tuesday, August 23, 2011

People celebrate the capture in Tripoli of Moammar Gadhafi’s son and one-timeheir apparent, Seif al-Islam, at the rebel-held town of Benghazi on Monday.Libyan rebels raced into Tripoli in a lightning advance on Sunday that met littleresistance as the strongman’s fighters melted away and his 41-year rule appearedto rapidly crumble. The euphoric fighters celebrated with residents of the capitalin the city’s main square, the symbolic heart of the regime. AP

Libya’s strongman Moammar Gadhafi


by Reuben S.SEGURITAN

Beneficiaries of family-basedimmigrant petitions facelengthy backlogs for visa

availability. For example, with theexception of spouses and childrenof permanent residents (F2A), thewaiting period for family sponsoredpreferences for the Philippines runsfrom 10 to 23 years.

Given these long waiting times,it is quite possible for the petitionerto pass away between the time ofthe I-130 approval and the availabil-ity of a visa number. The petitioner’sdeath results in the automatic revo-cation of the I-130 approval. As a

rule, the death of the petitioner re-sults in the death of the petition. Formany foreign nationals, this couldmean the end of their dream of everliving in the United States.

However, the law gives theUSCIS director the discretion not torevoke the approval in instanceswhere revocation would not be ap-propriate for humanitarian reasons.The I-130 beneficiary may ask forthe reinstatement of the revokedpetition by submitting a written re-quest for humanitarian reinstate-ment to the USCIS office where theI-130 petition was filed. Only ap-proved petitions may be reinstatedand not petitions where the peti-tioner died before the approval.

The following factors are con-sidered in evaluating a humanitar-ian request: disruption of anestablished family unit; hardship toU.S. citizens or lawful permanentresidents; if the beneficiary is eld-

erly or in poor health; if the benefi-ciary has had lengthy residence inthe United States; if the beneficiaryhas no home to go to; undue delayby the DHS or consular officer inprocessing the petition and visa;and if the beneficiary has strongfamily ties in the United States.

The beneficiary must have asubstitute sponsor who will executethe affidavit of support (I-864) in theplace of the deceased petitioner. Alaw enacted in 2002 allowed the fol-lowing relatives to become substi-tute sponsors of the beneficiary:spouse, parent, mother-in-law, fa-ther-in-law, sibling, child (if at least18 years old), son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law,brother-in-law, grandparent orgrandchild or legal guardian of thebeneficiary.

The substitute sponsor mustmeet the minimum income require-ments and be a U.S. citizen or legal

permanent resident, at least 18years old, and domiciled in the U.S.

In 2009, Congress passed alaw that provides great relief to I-130 beneficiaries already present inthe United States at the time of thepetitioner’s death. These benefici-aries may have their pending visapetition and adjustment of statusapplication approved if they aresurviving relatives under the lawand they meet the residence re-quirement. In these cases, the peti-tion does not die with the petitioner,so to speak.

The deceased qualifying rela-tive may be the petitioner or theprincipal beneficiary in a family-based immigrant visa petition, theprincipal beneficiary in an employ-ment-based visa petition, the peti-tioner in a refugee/asylee relativepetition, the principal alien admit-ted as a T or U nonimmigrant, orthe principal asylee who was

granted asylum.Furthermore, the surviving rel-

atives must have resided in theUnited States at the time of the pe-titioner’s death, and continue to re-side in the United States. Forpurposes of this law, “residence”need not be lawful U.S. residence.

Beneficiaries who were out-side the United States when the pe-titioner died have humanitarianreinstatement as their only re-course. A claim of humanitarian fac-tors must be supported bydocumentary evidence in order toincrease the chances of the peti-tion’s reinstatement.

The laws on substitute spon-sorship and surviving relativeswere passed to ameliorate theharsh and unjust consequences tothe beneficiary resulting from thepetitioner’s death.

REUBEN S. SEGURITAN has been prac-ticing law for over 30 years. For further in-formation, you may call him at (212) 6955281 or log on to his website at www.seguri-tan.com

LEGAL NOTESHumanitarian Reinstatement of aRevoked Family Petition

MAINLAND NEWS

LOS ANGELES – FILIPINO

WORLD WAR II VETERANS

are one step closer to being recog-nized for their contributions in his-tory textbooks across California.

California bill, AB 199, the Fil-

ipinos in WWII Social Studies Cur-

riculum Act, passed the Senate

Floor on Thursday with a 37 – 2 vote

and will head to Governor Jerry

Brown’s desk next week.

The bill, AB 199, was re-intro-

duced by Assemblymember Fiona

Ma (D-San Francisco) earlier this

year and if passed into law, would

recognize the contributions of Fil-

ipino soldiers and civilians in World

War II. The bill passed the Assem-

bly in March with an overwhelming

72-0 vote.

“[This bill] encourages social

science instruction for grades 7-12

to include instruction on World War

II and the role of Filipinos in that

war, consisting of an accurate his-

tory of the contributions of the Fil-

ipino American veterans who

fought courageously in the United

States Army,” said Ma, the bill’s au-

thor.

“[And] to include a component

drawn from personal testimony, es-

pecially in the form of oral or video

histories of Filipinos who were in-

volved in World War II and those

men and women who contributed

to the war effort on the home front.”

This is the second time the bill

passed the Assembly and Senate

in California.

The last time then Governor

Arnold Schwarzenegger declined

to sign the bill saying, Filipinos con-

tribution in WWII in textbooks

should be taken up by the state’s

education board and not made into

law, according to WWII Veteran

Franco Arcebal.

“We lobbied Governor

Schwarzenegger and tried to im-

press him but he said it should be

taken up by the educational board

rather than by legislation,” said

Arcebal. “It’s important to include

the services of the Filipinos during

World War II in the history books

because the American people do

not understand or have any idea

how the Filipino soldiers served

during those days.

“When Bataan fell, the US was

in its lowest [state] but with the help

of the Filipinos and nurses and

civilian combatants the Americans

were able to recuperate and gain

strength within five months,” he

added.

During World War II, the Philip-

pines was a Commonwealth of the

United States.

There were more than

250,000 Filipino soldiers that aided

in defending against invading

Japanese forces. The Filipino sol-

diers in the US Armed Forces were

in effect US nationals, and the US

government promised them the

same health and pension benefits

as US soldiers, according to Ma.

However, after World War II

ended, President Truman signed

the Rescission Act of 1946. The

Rescission Act states that the

service of Filipinos “shall not be

deemed to be or to have been

service in the military or national

forces of the United States or any

component thereof or any law of

the United States conferring rights,

privileges or benefits.”

In 2009, President Barack

Obama signed the American Re-

covery and Reinvestment Act that

included a provision that called for

$198 million for Filipino World War

II veterans. According to the provi-

sion, Filipino World War II veterans

who received their US citizenship

would receive $15,000 each; non-

citizens get $9,000.

There is an estimated 15,000

Filipino World War II veterans still

living today. (www.asianjournal.com)

Pinoy WWII Veterans’ Contribution Bill Passes in Senateby Joseph PIMENTEL/Saturday, August 20, 2011

Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-SanFrancisco)


by Pacita C. SALUDESDAYASADAS

PHILIPPINE LANGUAGE

Saan a malipatan ti Agusto18 a pannakatay daydiSenador Benigno Aquino

Jr. nga inlagip dagiti Filipinositi Hawaii babaen ti panangi-daulo ti Philippine ConsulateGeneral iti Hawaii. Dagiti man-gibagi kadagiti nadumadumanga organisasion ti nang-parungbo a danggay dagitinadumaduma nga agtuturay(sangsangaili) a nagbitla tipammadayaw iti naselebraran.

Ti Presidente ti OFCC niMaria A.F. Etrata ti nangidauloti panagkararag sakbay a naru-gian ti programa ken nakanta tiNational Anthem nga indaulo tiPhilippine Choral. Ni ConsulGeneral Leoncio Cardenas tinag- welcone remarks. Sim-maruno ti film showing ti biag niNinoy Aquino.

Natukay ti rikna dagiti aminnga timmabuno iti panagkantani Deputy Consul General PaulReymond Cortes. Nangnge-gan met ti panagsarita ni ApoMayor ti Honolulu, ni Maday-

dayaw Peter Carlisle kasta metGobernador ti Estado itiHawaii, Neil Abercrombie.

Inyam-ammo ni Col. Resti-tuto Padilla Jr. nga AFP Liasonti US PACOM Speaker tiGuest of Honor a ni Major Gen-eral Eduardo Oban Jr. a Chiefof Staff of the Armed Forces ofthe Philippines.

Naragsak ken naurnos tiprograma a naaramid iti daytoya rabii babaen ti panangiwan-wan ti nalatak nga agur-urnoskadagiti paspasken iti Oahu - niMs. Amelia Casamina-Cabatu.

Kalpasan ti programa isunti naragsak a pananglak-amdagiti amin a timmabuno tinaisagana a pagsasanguan itidayta a rabii. Nagyaman tiPilippine Consulate Generalkadagiti adu a nakitinnulong anagserbi iti daytoy a rabii. Daagassawa a Renato ken MariaEtrata, Buddy and Melga Gen-drano, Maggie Domingo, Ben-nette E. Misalucha, EdithGudoy, Edna Alikpala, Henryand Lina Calderon, ReynaldoEdralin, Mr. ken Mrs Angel Di-choco, Gladys Menor, LynnGutierrez, Biculture Club ofHawaii, UFCH, OFCC, Phil.Cultural Foundation of Hawaii,Bulacan Circle & Associate,

GUMIL Oahu, North Star Deliand Jesse’s Restaurant.Naragsak a pannakaselebrarket KODOS to the PhilippineConsulate General iti Honolulu.

ILOCOSURIAN OF HAWAII

Ti ILOCOS SURIAN AS-SOCIATION OF HAWAIIidasarna met ti Elpidio QuirinoAward & Gala inton Sabado,August 27th at 6:00 pm to 11pm idiay Hilton Hawaiian Vil-lage Hotel & Spa Coral Ball-room, 2055 Kalia Road,Honolulu. Attire isFormal/Barong Tagalog. Con-tact Maria Etrata at 392-2962or Davelyn Quijano at 489-8782. Dagiti makaawat tiAward:Felipe (Jun) Abinsay Jr.ken Dr. Charlie Sonido.Maawis amin a Taga Ilokos Surken Ilokano Organizasion.Maaramid daytoy “To RebuildCommunities Here and in OurHomeland”. Ti ILOCOS SurianAssociation, naorganisar idi1358 Wanaka Street, Honolulu,Hi. Danny Villarus ti agdama itaa President ken nabayagen apresidente a nagpadur-as ti Ilo-cos Sur kadagiti adun apagsayaatan a naaramid day-toy nga ASSOCIATION.

Public-Private Partnership (PPP)program.

Highlighting the resiliency ofthe Philippine economy and the im-proving investment climate in thecountry, Cuisia called on U.S. in-vestors to continue investing in thePhilippines or to scale-up invest-ments in growth sectors such asbusiness process outsourcing,agribusiness, health and wellness,renewable energy and tourism.

Cuisia also discussed thePhilippines’ campaign to seek thepassage of the Save Our IndustriesAct, a bill to be re-filed in the U.S.Congress that will allow duty-freeentry into the U.S. of apparel prod-ucts made in the Philippines usingU.S.-made fabrics. He also dis-closed the Philippines’ interest tojoin the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Part-nership (TPP) at some point in thefuture.

The Philippines was selectedin January as one of four pilot pro-

Naselebraran Ti Ninoy Aquino DayKen Ilocos Surian of Hawaii

PHILIPPINE AMBASSADOR

TO THE U.S., JOSE CUISIA,

JR. recently met with a group ofCEOs of U.S. companies in NewYork and encouraged them to in-vest in the Philippines.

The meeting took place duringa luncheon hosted by the Philip-pine American Chamber of Com-merce in New York, one of theoldest bilateral Chambers of Com-merce in the U.S., at the PhilippineCenter.

The 12 CEOs in attendance in-cluded Ms. Loida Lewis-Nicolas ofTLC Beatrice and Catherine Smith,Connecticut State Commissionerfor Economic and Community De-velopment.

In his remarks, Cuisia talkedabout the positive news from thePhilippines and the many opportu-nities for investments. He encour-aged U.S. companies to partnerwith Filipino investors in undertak-ing major infrastructure projectsunder the Philippine government’s

KABABALINNaisangsangayan a talugading

A kawes ti tao manipud kinaubing

Nasin-aw a ladawan natarnaw a sarming

Mangipamatmat ti kinadayag adda naitaklin

Uray maysaka laeng a napanglaw

No dayta pusom nagpunupunan ti kinadayaw

Naraem, naragsak a pannakisarsarita natarnaw

Agbalin a tampok di pulos mapukaw

Kadagiti ummong nga inka makisarsarita

Amin a tignaymo nalinis napakumbaba

Kinasingpet, nadayaw, ragsak adda kenka

Saguday a naindaklan, pagwadan a naiduduma

Aglalo no ti aramid idasarna ti kinadalus

Kinamanagparbeng ken napasensia a pampanunot

Ket ti panagbiag awanan panagpungpungtot

Pamilia ken kagimongan, aramid bin-ig a naurnos

Kababalin katatan-okan a kinabaknang

Gameng ditoy lubong di magatadan

Kadagiti amin a tao isut umok pagwadan

Naindaklan a saguday sarming ti kagimongan

Nasayaat a kababalin, naindaklan a saguday

Sino man a tao nabaknang ken nakurapay

Kawes a napateg a di pulos pamansaan

Agpapanto ken patay, lagipto kenka sirarayray

MAINLAND NEWSAmbassador Cuisia Callson U.S. Companies toInvest in the Philippines



BUSINESSDIRECTORY

RENTAL

MANILA, Philippines - BE WARY OF

JOB offers in Macau.Philippine Overseas Employment

Administration (POEA) chief Carlos CaoJr. yesterday said about a hundred Fil-ipinos are now stranded in Macau afterfailing to find employment.

Cao warned against accepting joboffers of employment in hotels and casi-nos in Macau, saying many unscrupulouspersons are recruiting workers for non-ex-

istent jobs there.He stressed the need for prospective

overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) toapply only with licensed recruitmentagencies and make sure that they havelegitimate job orders from foreign em-ployers.

Cao also warned OFWs to be vigilantto avoid being victimized by unscrupulousindividuals who are collecting money asprocessing fee in exchnage for securingloans with the POEA.

He said a certain Ronnie Sonera

was caught on video surveillance cam-era, while collecting money from OFWsapplying for a P30,000 loan from theOverseas Workers Welfare Administra-tion (OWWA).

It was found out that Sonera aliasRonnie Montillano, has been luring OFWsto just apply for loan at the POEA insteadof paying a processing fee of P8,799.

But Cao said the POEA does nothave lending services and only theOWWA is offering low-interest loans forOFWs. (www.philstar.com)

Phl Schools Included in Tony BlairFoundation

GLOBAL NEWS100 Filipinos Stranded in Macau

MANILA, Philippines - SCHOOLS AND

UNIVERSITIES IN THE PHILIP-

PINES have been included in the list ofbeneficiaries of the foundation of formerBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair for reli-gious and cultural awareness as well aseducation programs.

Education Secretary Armin Luistroand Commission on Higher Educationchair Patricia Licuanan signed a memo-randum of agreement with the Tony BlairFaith Foundation during a press confer-ence held yesterday at The Peninsula

Hotel in Makati City.Blair said he was happy

that the Philippines has be-come a beneficiary of thepeace-building program.

“This is a very importantmoment in the development ofmy foundation,” Blair told re-porters.

Blair said that Filipinochildren, especially Muslimsand Christians in Mindanao, would bene-fit from the program.

The program aims to teach basic ed-ucation to schoolchildren in elementaryand high schools, while tertiary studentswould be taught religion and culture.

Blair noted that peace can beachieved by “eradicating ignoranceamong individuals living in the commu-nity.”

Under the MOU signed by Blair withLuistro, the Face to Faith program will ini-tially identify six public schools in differentareas of the country for school year 2012-2013. The program will be expanded to anadditional 18 schools in the succeedingschool year.

Under the Faith & Globalization Ini-tiative with CHED, four universities – Ate-

neo de Zamboanga Uni-versity, Mindanao StateUniversity, Xavier Univer-sity and Ateneo de ManilaUniversity – were identifiedas beneficiaries.

“We thank the TonyBlair Faith Foundation forthe opportunity for peaceto take root in the heartsand minds of Filipino

teachers and students by developing theirskills at peace-building and engagementacross different faiths. Many social, eth-nic and cultural conflicts are born out ofmistrust which is fueled by wrong or in-complete information or outright false-hood against a certain race, faith orethnicity,” Luistro said.

Licuanan echoed Luistro’s senti-ments.

“The Philippines can immensely ben-efit from the help of our friends at thisstage of our quest for lasting peace in thecountry,” Licuanan said.

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation wasfounded in 2008 with the goals of promot-ing respect for and understanding be-tween peoples of different faiths.(www.philstar.com)

by Rainier Allan RONDA/Thursday, August 25, 2011

COMMUNITY CALENDARILOCOS SURIAN ASSOCIATION OF HAWAII,DINNER AWARDS AND FUNDRAISING/SATURDAYAugust 27, 2011 ● Coral Ballroom, HiltonHawaiian Village ● Contact: Danny Vil-laruz @ 778-0233 or Maria Etrata @ 392-2962

60TH ANNIVERSARY AND 40TH ANNUALMARIA CLARA BALL / SATURDAYSeptember 10, 2011, 6pm ● Ala MoanaHotel ● For details call Cecilia Villafuerte

@ 780-4985

ANNAK TI BATAC INTERNATIONAL QUEENOF QUEENS CORONATION BALL / SUNDAYSeptember 18, 2011, 6pm ● PacificBeach Hotel ● Contact: Dolores Ortal -422-1667

VINTAR NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNIGLOBAL NETWORK, REUNION & REAFFIR-MATION OF OFFICERS / SATURDAYSeptember 24, 2011, 6pm ● Hibiscus

Room, Ala Moana Hotel ● Call GliceriaAgraan @ 676-1567 or 671-7774

PMAH OHANA MEDICAL MISSION TODAVAO, PHILIPPINESDecember 12-16, 2011 ● For more info,contact Arnold Villafuerte @ 220-2988

ILOCOS SURIAN HOMECOMING MISSIONDecember 18-22, 2011 ● For details,contact Danny Villaruz @ 778-0233

by Mayen JAYMALIN/Thursday, August 11, 2011

gram partner countries under the U.S.Partnership for Growth (PFG) initiative.The PFG is President Obama’s signa-ture development initiative that focuseson the Philippines’ potential for sus-tained economic growth and recognizesthe country’s potential to be part of thenext generation of emerging markets.

“The program will help us in ourfight against corruption and support ourefforts to prioritize infrastructure projectsunder the PPP program,” Cuisia says.

Cuisia also briefed the group aboutthe developments in the US$434-millionPhilippine Compact grant from the U.S.Millennium Challenge Corporation. Thegrant, signed in September 2010 in NewYork, is now being implemented by theMillennium Challenge Account-Philip-pines and will cover three innovativeprojects on infrastructure, socio-com-munity development and revenue ad-ministration reform. (DFA)

MAINLANDNEWS (CONT.)(cont. from page 14, AMBASSADOR .... )

Japan Protests China Boats' Entry in DisputedArea

TOKYO (AP) — JAPAN SAYS IT HAS

PROTESTED TO CHINA after two Chi-nese patrol boats entered waters near is-lands in the East China Sea claimed byboth countries.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano

says two Chinese vessels entered Japan-ese waters off the islands known asSenkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China

early Wednesday. He says the boats left the areaabout 30 minutes later after warnings by JapaneseCoast Guard patrol boats and aircraft.

Edano says Japan's government "strongly"protested to China and reiterated its claim to the is-lands.

Last year, a collision between a Chinese fishingtrawler and Japanese patrol boats sparked a diplo-matic spat. Japan says Wednesday's incident is thefirst time China has entered Japanese waters sincethen. (www.philstar.com)

from www.philstar.comWednesday, August 24, 2011

Chinese boats patrol the disputed but Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands

Tony Blair

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