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Decemb er 10-16

Celebrate the Holidays the Filipino way...

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

The Fil ip ino AmericAn communiTy newspAper

w w w. a s i a n . c o mVolume 14 - No. 50 • 3 Sections – 22 Pages december 11-17, 2015

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

DATELINEUSAfrom the AJPress NEWS TEAM AcroSS AMEricA

GLOBAL WARMING. As negotiators work on the draft of a new climate treaty, blocks of ice from the Arctic, which had broken off from the Greenland ice sheet and were brought to Paris, continue their steady melting. Inquirer.net photo by Kristine Angeli Sabillo

mALACAÑANG on monday, Dec. 7 said the 2016 elections must be held as scheduled, as it is mandated by the Constitution.

the Palace was commenting on the statement on sunday, Dec. 6 of Commission on elec-tions (Comelec) Chair Andres Bautista that the elections might be postponed because a su-preme Court order temporarily stopping the Comelec’s “no bio, no boto” (no biometrics, no vote) policy had upset preparations for the balloting.

Malacañang: No delayin 2016 PH elections

by Gil C. CabaCunGan, Jerry e. esplanadaInquirer.net

PArIs — the Philippine dele-gation has been making strides, catching the attention of other nations and different groups at the climate change negotiations held in this city.

Known for advocating the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal and the inclusion of human rights pro-

PH at Climate Change Summit inParis: ‘We are the face of vulnerability’

by Kristine anGeli sabilloInquirer.net

visions in the draft agreement of the 21st Conference of Par-ties (CoP21), Philippine officials have given strongly-worded speeches on behalf of countries vulnerable to climate change.

secretary manny de Guzman’s intervention during the ministe-rial meeting on tuesday was no exception.

De Guzman, who heads the

Philippine delegation and the Climate Change Commission, talked on behalf of the Philip-pines and the Climate Vulner-able forum (CVf), which is cur-rently chaired by the country.

“for vulnerable countries, there is a single thing that will measure the ambition of the Paris agreement and it is a num-

PresIDeNt Barack obama somber ly ad-dressed the na-t ion from the oval office on sunday, Dec . 6, outlining his administration’s strategy for fight-ing the war on terror, namely, terrorist groups like the Islamic state.

“ton igh t , I w a n t t o t a l k with you about this tragedy, the broader threat o f t e r ro r i sm, and how we can keep our coun-try safe,” obama

said in primetime address. “our nation has been at war with terrorists since al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11. In the process, we’ve hardened our defenses.”

Obama: ‘Threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it’

House passes bill torestrict visa-free travel

by allyson esCobarAJPress

Pres. Barack Obama addresses the nation on Sunday, Dec. 6 the threat of terrorism and the steps the governments is taking to keep its citizens safe. White House photo by Pete Souza

The survey, conducted from Nov. 26 to 28, found 46 percent expect their quality of life to get better against five percent who expect it to get worse, yielding a net score of +41.

mANILA—Almost half of fili-pinos expect their lives to im-prove in the next 12 months, the social Weather stations (sWs) said in its latest survey.

the survey, conducted from Nov. 26 to 28, found 46 percent expect their quality of life to get better against five percent who expect it to get worse, yielding a net score of +41.

the survey, commissioned by Davao-based businessman Wil-liam Lima, used face-to-face in-terviews with 1,200 registered voters nationwide.

Net personal optimism was highest in Luzon (+47), followed by the National Capital region (+42), mindanao (+36) and the Visayas (+32).

the latest net personal opti-mism was higher than the +33 recorded in the sWs sept. 2-5 poll.

In terms of economic class, net optimism was +40 among the ABC, +43 among class D and +31 among class e.

In terms of age groups, re-spondents 18-24 yielded a net +55, followed by 25-34 (+50); 35-44 (+40); 45-54 (+35) and 55 and

Half of Pinoys see better lives in 2016by Helen Flores

Philstar.com

VICe President Jejomar C. Binay wants the ceiling on tax-able value for balikbayan boxes brought in or sent by overseas filipino workers (ofWs) in-creased to P150,000.

Binay said the current P10,000 tax limit is no longer realistic be-cause it was set in 1978 when the exchange rate was only P7.37 to $1.

“Kunwari may umuwing ofW at may dalang bagong laptop para sa anak niya. Wala naman sigurong de-kalidad at brand new na laptop o computer na P10,000 lang ang presyo. Kaya doon pa lang sa laptop, ubos na ‘yong exemption niya (Let’s say that an ofW brought a laptop that costs P10,000 for his son, his exemption would only cover that laptop),” he said.

Binay seeks higher OFW tax-free ceiling

Binay said raising the tax ceil-ing would be a small token of gratitude for the millions of dol-lars ofWs pour into the country.

“Latest figures show that re-mittances from January to August of this year have already reached $17.9 billion,” he pointed out. “In

August alone, remittances from ofWs totaled $2.3 billion.”

the expressed hope that the the proposed Customs modern-ization and tariff Act, which in-cludes provisions of raising the tax ceilings for balikbayan box-

PAGE A2

Los ANGeLes—mayor eric Garcetti an-nounced on friday, Dec. 4 that, as part of the Cities United for Immigration Action coalition he has led with New York mayor Bill de Blasio, 84 cities and counties filed an amicus brief asking the supreme Court to lift an injunction blocking President Barack obama’s executive actions on immigration.

Garcetti leads coalition for Supreme Court review on Obama’s immigration plan

CALIforNIA Governor Jerry Brown is call-ing for action on the part of the federal govern-ment, pushing for stronger gun laws and vigi-lance against potential terrorist threats.

speaking from the convention center in Paris on monday, Dec. 7, where he is attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Brown told CNN, “People are concerned. And I myself want to make sure that the federal gov-ernment is vetting these individuals, and not just refugees, but we have to be able to take measures to protect the people of this coun-try.”

the governor’s comments came in the wake of last week’s shooting rampage in san Ber-

Gov. Brown calls forcomprehensive gun reform

PAGE A2

PAGE A3 PAGE A2

PAGE A2

PAGE A2

Under the rule, only registered voters with biometrics data with the Comelec will be allowed to vote.

the Comelec, following its schedule, must complete the polling precinct assignments by Dec. 15.

But the supreme Court order means the Comelec has to al-low 2.4 million registered voters without biometrics data to vote.

It also means the Comelec has to revise the precinct assign-

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda

above (+33).the survey has sampling error

margins of plus or minus three percentage points nationwide

and plus or minus six percentage points each for metro manila, balance Luzon, the Visayas and mindanao.

Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay

december 11-17, 2015 • NOrcAL ASIAN JOUrNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150A�

From the Front Page

ments to make room for the 2.4 million voters without biometrics data—a revamp too big it cannot be finished by Dec. 15.

Bautista said the snag would have a domino effect on the rest of the Comelec’s preparations, making the May 9 vote likely to be pushed down to a later date.

The Constitution requires na-tional elections to be held on the second Monday of May.

Filipinos are looking forward

Malacañang: No delay in 2016...PAGE A1

to that date, presidential spokes-person Edwin Lacierda told re-porters in Malacañang Monday, Dec. 7.

“So we … certainly [want the elections to be held as sched-uled],” Lacierda said.

Defer to SCHe added, however, that the

Palace would “defer” to the Su-preme Court’s decision on the matter.

“Our … position is … the elec-tions [must] push through as

mandated by the Constitution. [All parties—the Comelec, the Supreme Court, all of them—must have that in mind],” Laci-erda said.

Lacierda also brushed aside fears of an extension of Presi-dent Aquino’s term in the event the elections were postponed.

“We are counting the number of days left. We have 206 days left and we cannot wait to leave, for the President to take his long-delayed break,” he said.

ber: 1.5,” he said in the speech shared on Facebook by delega-tion spokesperson Dean Tony La Viña.

“We are the face of vulnerabil-ity. We’ve been absorbing the punches and we will continue to receive these punches as the planet continue to warm,” De Guzman said. “We all know the vulnerable countries suffer the life-claiming brunt of climate di-sasters already today.”

The CVF and the Philippines have been pushing for more am-bitious goals for COP21, including the 1.5 goal or limiting global tem-perature rise to 1.5 degrees Cel-sius (instead of two degrees Cel-sius) below pre-industrial levels.

De Guzman pointed out that temperature increase has breached the 1 degree Celsius mark “and we only have 0.5 de-gree left to control it. “

PH at Climate Change Summit in Paris...PAGE A1 “Paris is our chance, our hope.

And we know it can be done as the science informs us 1.5C of warming will be close to cata-strophic for our countries, but we know it’s the best we can do if we all act decisively,” he said of this year’s negotiations, which aims to come up with a legally binding agreement on climate change.

He said the current two de-grees Celsius goal “has no valid-ity anymore as a guardrail.”

“Limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius would avoid or reduce risks, for ex-ample, to food production or to unique and threatened systems such as coral reefs, and to risks of sea-level rise,” he explained.

His speech coincided with the Philippine government’s submis-sion of a report by the Special Procedures of the United Na-tions. The report confirms that

climate change has a negative impact on fundamental human rights and that “a 2-degrees goal would result in a major adverse impact on human rights globally, including on the right to life, to health and to food, some of the most basic human rights.”

“We have an opportunity here to make an historic contribution to upholding human rights and affirm our faith in an interna-tional system that functions,” De Guzman said. “We are deciding on the fate of the planet here. The parties need to know that on the basis of their decision rests that fate of billions of people alive and unborn.”

The Secretary said the Phil-ippines “cannot in good con-science be party to a decision that constrains our survival and implies mass violations of human rights when there was an option to do otherwise.”

PAGE A3

The President first acknowl-edged the hard work and pro-fessionalism of the military and armed forces, law enforcement, and airport security. “Our mili-tary and counterterrorism profes-sionals have relentlessly pursued terrorist networks overseas—dis-rupting safe havens in several different countries, killing Osama bin Laden, and decimating al Qaeda’s leadership.”

Obama’s address to the coun-try came just days after the shoot-ing rampage on Wednesday, Dec. 2 in San Bernardino, California, which left 14 people at the Inland Regional Center dead, and 21 injured. The terrorists—a Mus-lim husband and wife, who were killed in a shootout with police hours after the attack—were “radicalized, embracing a per-verted interpretation of Islam that calls for war against America and the West.”

“We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be de-fined as a war between America and Islam. ISIL does not speak for Islam. They are…part of a cult of death, and they account for a tiny fraction of more than a billion Muslims around the world,” Obama said, emphasizing that the US is not involved in a

Obama: ‘Threat from terrorism...PAGE A1 that any potential suspects who

are on the nation’s no-fly list are not able to buy a gun.

“What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon? This is a matter of na-tional security,” he stated. “We need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons like the ones that were used in San Bernardino.”

A day after the President’s speech, the FBI also announced that the attackers were radical-ized, and “had been for quite some time,” according to ABC News. Officials had found a stockpile of assault weapons, ammunition, and pipe bombs in their Redlands home. The FBI has not determined whether the attack was directed by a terror-ist organization overseas, but are investigating it as an act of terrorism.

“We do not see any evidence so far of a plot outside the continen-tal US,” said David Bowdich, the assistant director of the Los An-geles bureau of the FBI. “We may find it someday, we may not, we don’t know. But right now we’re looking at these two individuals and beginning to focus on build-ing it out from there. We will get to the bottom of this. We don’t know everything yet, but we will leave no stone unturned.”

Congress votes on restric-tions for visa-free travel

In his remarks, Obama also promised for stronger security screenings.

Separately, some lawmakers have discussed looking at the K-1 fiancée visa program, through which the female shooter Tash-feen Malik, came through US borders from Saudi Arabia after her marriage to Syed Rizwan

war on religion. “We must enlist Muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspi-cion and hate.”

In his speech, the President also laid out his administration’s strategy for combating terror: deploying Special Operations Forces, sending proper training and equipment to freedom fight-ers in Iraq and Syria, launching heavy airstrikes on oil tankers (which provide extremist groups with much of their revenue), high intelligence-sharing with Euro-pean allies, and Secretary of State John Kerry’s “Vienna process” plan to halt the civil war in Syria, so that all parties can focus on a common enemy, according to the New York Times.

“The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us. Our success won’t depend on tough talk, or abandoning our values, or giving into fear. That’s what groups like ISIL are hoping for. Instead, we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless, and by drawing upon every aspect of American power,” Obama said.

In an impassioned plea, he urged Congress’ action to ensure

es, will be passed into law before the 16th Congress ends.

If not, he said he would make the passage of the CMTA a prior-ity if he becomes president.

The Senate and House ver-sions of the CMTA aims to raise to P150,000 the taxable value of balikbayan boxes brought in or sent by OFWs. This privilege can also be enjoyed up to three times a year.

However, these boxes must contain personal and household effects only. (ManilaTimes.net)

Binay seeks higher OFW...PAGE A1

Drafted by the Los Angeles City Attorney and the Corpora-tion Counsel of the City of New York, the amicus brief makes a strong case for support of lifting the injunction on public safety, economic, and humanitarian grounds.

“National, state, and local lead-ers across the country are asking the Supreme Court to review the decision in Texas v. United States because we have a special under-standing of how generations of immigrants have contributed to the foundation of our cities and the strength of our nation,” said Garcetti in a statement. “Parti-san politics should not stand in the way of doing what is right for families who simply want to stay together. These are true Ameri-can values, and it is our obligation to do all we can to preserve and protect family bonds.”

In November, the Obama ad-ministration announced that it would seek the Supreme Court’s review of the President’s execu-tive actions on immigration, fol-

Garcetti leads coalition for Supreme Court...PAGE A1 lowing a federal appeals court’s

ruling that the plans must remain blocked.

Obama, in November 2014, an-nounced a series of actions that would shield up to 5 million un-documented immigrants from de-portation. Texas v. United States -- a lawsuit brought on by of 26 states -- seeks to ban two key provisions of the plan: Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) and an expanded version of the Deferred Action on Child-hood Arrivals (DACA).

Under DAPA, parents of US citizens or lawful permanent resi-dents could be spared from depor-tation if they meet certain criteria, including continuous residency in the US since Jan. 1, 2010 and a clean record free of any criminal offenses.

Meanwhile, the amended ver-sion of DACA was slated to in-clude children brought to the United States before Jan. 1, 2010, notwithstanding their current age, and would have provided three years of relief.

The original version of DACA,

which was introduced in 2012, remains intact and untouched by the lawsuit. The program is re-served for those who were born after 1981.

Texas and 25 other states filed a lawsuit back in February, stat-ing that the creation of DAPA and expansion of DACA go against the President’s executive power and would have negative effects on each state’s economy. Texas as-serted that the “lawful presence” of the immigrants would require the state to issue “state-subsi-dized driver’s licenses” and other aid programs.

Garcetti’s coalition continues on his administration’s commit-ment to immigration issues.

Similarly on Friday, over 210 congressional Democrats -- in-cluding Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) -- announced that they filed an amicus brief supporting the Department of Justice’s ap-peal for the high court’s review of the federal appeals court’s de-cision.

“We are confident that the Su-preme Court will support Presi-dent Obama’s decision to use the authority granted by Congress to set enforcement priorities and focus our limited resources on threats to national security and public safety, not hard-working families,” Reid and Pelosi said in a statement. “President Obama took executive action after exten-sive legal analysis by the Depart-ment of Justice and only after Re-publicans refused to address our broken immigration system.”

If the Supreme Court decides to hear the immigration case, a deci-sion could come by June, before the term ends. (AJPress)

(650) 616-4150 • http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL • deCembeR 11-17, 2015 A�Dateline USa

nardino, California, where 14 people were killed by a pair of radicalized attackers at the In-land Regional Center. The mas-sacre is being called the deadli-est in the US since 2012, when 20 children and six adults were gunned down at an elementary school in Connecticut.

“My reaction is that the Leg-islature has been responsive on this whole matter of regulating and controlling the use of guns,” Brown said. “Now, when you do an initiative it tends to get more rigid.”

He criticized lenient gun laws in neighboring states Nevada and Arizona, saying, “Califor-nia has some of the toughest gun control laws of any state,” reported the Sacramento Bee. “It’s time for other states and for the federal government to catch up with California.”

“We have among the strict-est gun control regulations in the country, and it doesn’t do us that much good if other states and the federal government is basically passive in this effort to keep guns out of the wrong hands.”

The governor also accused several politicians of “demon-izing” and “exploiting” the terrorism issue, calling out Re-publican presidential candidate Donald Trump for going “to a rather extreme level,” for his inflammatory comments about tracking Muslim Americans and restricting incoming Muslim im-migrants entering the country.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t have to be pretty intensive in our effort to ferret out these people

Gov. Brown calls for comprehensive...PAGE A1

who are developing these atti-tudes that then turn into mass slaughter. I don’t have the full answer, but I wouldn’t be too complacent that we’ve got it right yet,” Brown said, accord-ing to the Los Angeles Times.

“It’s a very different circum-stance because we’ve never seen anything like it. It’s unprec-edented and we’re going to have to take some…unprecedented steps to deal with it.”

The governor expressed his desire for more collaboration at both the state and national gov-ernment levels.

He also said that the US gov-ernment should ban gun pur-chases by people on the no-fly list, siding with President Obama’s push for stronger na-tional gun laws.

Brown promised to look at tightening gun control policies, such as Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed measure in October to ban the possession of large-ca-pacity magazines, which New-som said would set “the gold standard for meaningful reforms to stop gun violence,” according to Fox News.

“When it comes to this kind of terrorist threat, I understand that the federal government has to keep control of what it’s do-ing, but I think the state, with our greater manpower, could be a real help,” Brown said.

“Congress should get off their partisan seat and do something to protect the American people,” he added. “It’s about what can America do to combat some-thing that’s not just bullets, but its ideas.” (Allyson Escobar / AJ-Press)

Farook, the other shooter in the San Bernardino attacks.

In a rare agreement, Congress and the White House are ready to combat terrorism with legislation that would slap on new, more secure travel restrictions on for-eign visitors to the US who have recently been to Syria, Iraq, Iran or the Sudan.

On Tuesday night, Dec. 5, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation to overhaul the fed-eral visa waiver program, barring those from or those who have visited those countries in the last five years, from traveling to the US without a visa.

The 407 to 19 vote had wide bipartisan support and White House backing, said The Associ-ated Press.

The House measure, which was hammered out in private talks between the administra-tion and leaders of Congress following the attacks in Paris last month, would ban visa-free entry of citizens from 38 countries, including most of Europe and several US allies in Asia, if they report on a travel application that they have visited any of the four targeted countries since 2011.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would also gather more detailed information from travelers about their past visits to countries like Syria and Iraq.

“This will help neutralize the threat from foreign terror-ists entering our country,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, also emphasizing that there was no “religious test” in the House’s final vote. “Freedom of religion is a fundamental constitutional principle. It’s a founding prin-ciple of this country.”

The program, endorsed by top House Democrats, allowed eli-gible citizens of the 38 approved countries--including Great Brit-ain, Belgium and France--to travel into the States without first obtaining a visa. Instead, this new measure would require people from those countries to apply for entry to the US through the traditional visa process.

The measure would also re-quire all 38 countries that partici-pate in the visa-waiver program to share traveler information with the US. In the past, some countries had been slow to pro-vide such vital information, some officials complained. Under the bill, those countries could face elimination from the program if they fail to comply.

Though the polls have shown a majority of Americans who also oppose the plan, the fund-ing measure is tangled in other battles, said the LA Times. Re-publican contender Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a main rival of front-runner Donald Trump, has called for blocking all refugees from Syria and other countries where terrorists operate from entering the US for the next three years. Cruz vowed to try to attach is refugee ban to the broader House measure.

Officials such as CIA Director John Brennan to Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee and California Democrat Sen. Diane Feinstein, the committee’s ranking member, are more wor-ried that the visa waiver program is a greater concern in that it makes it much harder to keep

Obama: ‘Threat from terrorism...PAGE A2 track of potential terrorists and

prevent attacks in the US. One potentially huge roadblock

to passage of the visa-waiver bill remains in the Senate, where Sen. Feinstein has pushed for even tougher restrictions added to the program.

Under Feinstein’s proposal, which was drafted with Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), first-time visitors who apply through the visa-waiver program must undergo biometric fingerprint and pho-tograph screening at US embas-sies or consulates in their home countries, rather than after they arrive to the US.

A major difference between the House and Senate versions of the bill concerns which countries are affected. While the House bill also blocks visa-free travel for those who admit to visiting Iran and Sudan, with several exceptions for citizens involved with government or the military, Feinstein’s bill in the Senate restricts those who have gone to Syria and Iraq, and gives the DHS the ability to add countries to the restricted list, with no exceptions for any travelers.

“Sen. Feinstein is encouraged by the consensus on strengthen-ing the security of the visa-waiver program and will work with her colleagues to get something signed into law,” said a Feinstein aide.

Critics of the Senate proposal say that overseas facilities are not staffed up to handle the ex-pected onslaught of a potential thousands of visitors who would need extra prescreening. Some also argue that the new restric-tions might create problems for innocent citizens, such as Iranian or Iraqi immigrants who have settled in Europe and visited their home countries in recent years.

The American Civil Liberties Union, arguing that the measure passed Tuesday was too arbitrary and does not make exceptions for aid workers and dual citizens, said in a letter to lawmakers: “We urge Congress to exercise cau-tion and to avoid passing legisla-tion that would broadly scapegoat groups based on nationality, and would fan the flames of discrimi-natory exclusion, both here and abroad.”

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee also raised concerns, pointing to another feature of the bill that it found troubling: the exclusion from the visa waiver program of people who have traveled to Iraq or Syria since March 2011, when the conflict in Syria began. That provision could target people who do humanitarian work in those countries, the group said, according to Politico.

“There are other avenues to strengthen security other than placing blanket exclusion on all countries designated under this bill and groups of people based on their national origin,” the group stated.

As the Obama administration works to address such concerns, the DHS will also look at pilot programs for collecting biometric information, such as travelers’ fingerprints, the White House said in a statement.

The visa-waiver changes are among the most substantial ever made to the 30-year-old program.

REPUBLICANS in Congress announced on Thursday, Dec. 3 that they would not take im-mediate action to bring up new gun control legislation, in the wake of the recent shooting at-tacks in San Bernardino, Cali-fornia.

Newly-elected House Speak-er Paul Ryan said that there are “still too many unknowns” about the San Bernardino shootings, but “one common theme among many mass shootings is mental illness,” an issue which Congress has reportedly been working on through bills and legislation.

“People with mental illness are getting guns and committing these mass shootings,” Ryan said on CBS This Morning. He also made the same point ear-lier this week, in reaction to the Nov. 27 shooting at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado.

GOP leaders said they would “prefer to focus on overhauling the country’s mental-health system,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Part of the discussion sur-rounding mental health legisla-tion is who should and should not have access to guns, Ryan said, adding that banning gun purchases by people on no-fly terrorist watch lists (as urged by President Barack Obama) is not an option.

“Some may be aware of the fact that we have a no-fly list where people can’t get on planes, but those same people who we don’t allow to fly could

go into a store right now in the United States and buy a firearm and there’s nothing we can do to stop them. That’s a law that needs to be changed,” Obama said on Wednesday, Dec. 2, the day of the San Bernardino at-tacks.

“Government officials put people on such lists without any due legal process, and so denying those listed the right to bear arms would violate their rights,” Ryan argued, ac-cording to USA Today. “People have due process rights in this country.”

“There will be multiple is-sues Congress can address, whether it means finding gaps in law enforcement, or passing crucial legislation,” the Repub-lican from Wisconsin also sug-gested. But “there shouldn’t be a rush to do either at the risk of infringing upon the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

House Republicans have al-ready rejected several Demo-cratic attempts to use a proce-dural motion to bring gun reform legislation to the House floor.

Authorities have not indi-cated that the San Bernardino shooters, Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, were on any no-fly lists. The guns they used to kill 14 people at the In-land Regional Center for people with developmental disabilities were purchased legally.

“Part of the challenge here…and I think the frustration that people feel is everybody kind of feels like we should do some-

thing, but doing something versus doing something which will actually make a difference are two different things,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD). “Sometimes we focus on the gun itself when we probably should be focusing on the per-son that’s using that gun.”

In the wake of last month’s terror attacks in Paris, Repub-lican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) cre-ated a Republican task force on homeland security, which is in-tended to consider “any gaps or vulnerabilities in US security.” He has also said the no-fly list gun ban would be something the task force “will look at.”

A day after the attacks, Democratic leaders attempted to force votes on several gun control measures, including expanded background checks of suspected individuals.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca-lif.) offered an amendment to allow the attorney general to prevent someone from buying a gun if that person is a known or suspected terrorist. A per-son could also be barred from buying a firearm if the attorney general has a “reasonable be-lief” that the individual would use it in connection with a ter-rorist act.

“If somebody is too danger-ous to board an airplane (be-cause they are on a terrorist watch list), they are too dan-gerous to buy a gun,” Feinstein said at a press conference with Democratic senators. “This

shouldn’t be a partisan issue.”Senate Republicans have

blocked Democrats’ gun-relat-ed amendments to a healthcare bill, including a measure that would have expanded back-ground checks to all gun sales online and at gun shows, aim-ing to flag people with criminal or mental-health histories that would disqualify them from gun ownership.

Current law states that checks are needed only for sales by federally-licensed dealers.

Democrats also tried to attach the background check provi-sions to a Republican measure that intends to repeal portions of Obamacare, and ban federal funding for Planned Parent-hood (which Obama has said he will veto). However, Repub-licans swiftly blocked the mea-sures in a series of floor votes, instead offering alternative ver-sions of the amendments.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said Democrats would “continue to push the legisla-tion, and may try to attach it to an omnibus spending bill to fund the government through the 2016 fiscal year.”

“The worst thing we can do is do nothing,” Schumer said.

“For far too long we’ve done nothing, even as gun violence shakes our nation to its core,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Senate floor. “The American people are desperately looking for help, some help, any help.” (Allyson Escobar/AJPress)

GOP says no to new gun control legislationAfter San Bernardino attacks, lack of action in Congress

PAGE A4

december 11-17, 2015 • NOrcAL ASIAN JOUrNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150A� Dateline USa

SAN FRANCISCO—Having exhausted all attempts to reach a settlement, the US Department of Labor on Friday, Dec. 4, sued a Filipino-owned Silicon Valley residential care provider charg-ing the owners with gross viola-tions of federal wage and hour regulations.

The department’s Solicitor’s Office filed the lawsuit in US Dis-

trict Court in Northern California against the owners of San Miguel Homes for the Elderly, LLC, who operate three residential care facilities for the elderly in Union City.

Listed as defendants in the lawsuit are Precilla San Miguel and her two sons, Teofilo Cris Sanque and Ryan San Miguel. Precilla San Miguel resides in

Labor Dep’t sues Filipino care home owners for wage theft

Union City, California, and is president and 60-percent owner and a manager of San Miguel Homes for the Elderly, LLC.

Before approximately June 2014, she owned the facilities and Quality In Home Care as a sole proprietorship and operated them with her two sons, co-de-fendants Teofilo Cris Sanque and Ryan San Miguel.

The Department of Labor is seeking to recover the back wag-es and damages owed to 22 em-ployees for the substantial hours worked at substandard pay. All the employees are Filipino.

The department accuses the defendants of having either paid the workers for only eight hours of work per day, or paid them a flat daily rate that did not ac-count for all hours worked. As a result, the workers’ hourly rate has been less than the federal minimum wage.

Specifically, the workers em-ployed in the facilities routinely work and have worked more than 40 hours per week, but de-fendants have not compensated them at time and one-half the regular rate at which they were employed for all hours worked in excess of 40.

In many work weeks, defen-dants failed to keep any records at all of the hours worked by the workers employed in the facili-ties. In other work weeks, defen-dants failed to keep accurate and complete records of the hours worked by those employees.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division continues to see problems in the residential care field, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Earlier this year, the depart-ment announced that it had re-turned more than $6.8 million in overtime and minimum wage back wages and damages to Bay Area residential care workers from 2011 through 2014. (In-quirer.net)

and in any event God’s judgment will always be in the light of His mercy.”

Thousands of police, Roman soldiers, and extra heightened security were also present in the square. A no-fly zone had been imposed on Rome’s skies, to pro-tect pilgrims flocking to witness the celebration.

Francis launched the 12-month Jubilee Year to emphasize the im-portance of mercy, healing and forgiveness to a church with a bad-rep for moralizing and judg-ment.

A Jubilee Year is defined by Dynamic Catholic as “when the Catholic Church across the world takes approximately a year to fo-cus on forgiveness and healing in a special way…to help people grow spiritually, strengthen their faith, and encourage works of ser-vice, and to promote unity within the Catholic Church and society” as a whole.

The last Jubilee Year was in 2000, called for by St. John Paul II as the church’s third millennium.

In his official announcement, Pope Francis asked individuals and the entire Church to “be a witness of mercy,” reflecting on the love of God, practicing spiri-tual and corporal works of service to others, and simply reflecting on mercy, receiving it, and being merciful to all.

The Year of Mercy will include a host of special Masses cele-brated in Vatican City, with extra added security to accommodate the throngs of pilgrims expected to visit in the next 12 months. The Vatican Office also opened onto the main road in St. Peter’s Square, to welcome pilgrims and centralize services such as tickets to walk through the Holy Doors at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Francis has also said he would set aside one Friday each month to perform a private act of mercy himself.

Francis announced his Holy Year on the second anniversary of his papacy, during a chaotic time of ongoing war, terrorist attacks, and inbred violence--a time when the Church and its people most

need peace, healing and encour-agement.

The Pope has made it a prior-ity for the Catholic Church to be a “field hospital after battle,” with the ability to “heal wounds and warm the hearts of the faithful,” he told America Magazine in 2013.

Holy Years are generally cel-ebrated every 25-50 years, and have been used over time to encourage the faithful to make pilgrimages to Rome to obtain blessings and a “plenary indul-gence,” defined by the Vatican as “having the interior disposition of complete detachment from sin, even venial sin.” It removes all temporal punishments from sins that have already been forgiven by God, through the sacrament of reconciliation in the Catholic Church.

The Pope also made clear that this Holy Year would be a more “sober” occasion. Francis will also open the Holy Door at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, his cathedral church, on Dec. 13, when US Car-dinal James Harvey will also open the holy door at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.

For the first time, the Pope in-structed all cathedrals worldwide to open their Holy Doors to pil-grims to encourage them to mark the jubilee at home, rather than traveling to Rome.

During his visit to the Central African Republic last week, Fran-cis also opened the Holy Door of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Bangui.

Francis asked churchgoers and followers, “When we are called to share joys and sorrows, do we sincerely weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice? When we express our faith, we do it with courage and simplicity, without being ashamed of the Gospel?”

“Wherever there is a person, the Church is called to reach out to them to bring the joy of the Gospel. After these decades, we again take up this missionary push with the same power and enthusiasm,” he continued. “Be merciful as your father is merci-ful.” n

Pope Francis opens door to the Jubilee Year of Mercyby Allyson EscobAr

AJPress

TUESDAY, Dec. 8 marked the beginning of an important year in the Catholic Church--the begin-ning of the Year of Mercy, a spe-cial holy year for Catholics.

Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday morning, officially launching the yearlong celebra-tion of mercy, compassion and forgiveness for Catholics around the world.

Francis stood in prayer before the great bronze doors leading into the Basilica, the largest Cath-olic Church in the world, before pushing them open and walking through its entrance. He is the first of an estimated 10 million faithful who will pass through the doors over the course of the next year, in a rite of holy pilgrimage that dates back centuries, report-ed The Associated Press.

Francis’ aging predecessor, Benedict XVI, followed the Pope through the giant doors into the Basilica.

In a solemn, gloomy day Mass attended by thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, the pontiff celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Conception, celebrating the birth of Mary, the mother of Jesus. He also praised the work of the Second Vatican Council, saying that the newly-begun Jubilee Year “compels us not to neglect the spirit which emerged.”

The Eucharistic celebration Tuesday was opened with read-ings of excerpts from the Vati-can II’s four constitutions and its documents on ecumenism and religious liberty. In his homily, Francis said the Council docu-ments “verify the great advance in faith” made at the event, said National Catholic Reporter.

“How much wrong we do to God and His grace when we speak of sins being punished by his judg-ment before we speak of their be-ing forgiven by His mercy,” Pope Francis told an estimated 50,000 people in attendance. “We have to put mercy before judgment,

A task force in the House of Representatives is meeting to discuss details of the program, and hopes to craft legislation to pass “by the end of the year,” said House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

Obama: ‘Threat from terrorism...PAGE A3 last week.

“The House bill’s more limited approach [would bring] thought-ful solutions that will enhance America’s security,” said US Travel Assn. President Roger Dow in a statement, also warning against “knee-jerk restrictions

that could harm tourism to the US.”

Around 20 million visitors a year—roughly 59 percent of all overseas visitors—have traveled on the current waiver program, which grants 90-day stays in the US, and is vital to America’s tourism economy, says the travel association.

The visa-waiver program mea-sure will now move to the Senate, and is likely to be attached to a must-pass spending bill to fund federal operations in Congress. Despite unresolved bipartisan differences, the Senate is ex-pected to have approved the bill by the end of the week to avoid a government shutdown.

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Dateline PhiliPPines

Voters have been given enough time by the Commis-sion on elections (Comelec) to file their applications for regis-tration, the supreme Court said as it dismissed the petition filed by Kabataan party-list group seeking an extension of voters’ registration of up to January 8, 2016.

“Comelec had given voters sufficient time to file their ap-plications for registration (from May 6, 2014 to oct. 31, 2015), but these voters failed to do so for causes not attributable to the Comelec,” the high court, through Information Chief theo-dore te, said at a press confer-ence on tuesday, Dec. 8.

“Petitioners had not given any justifiable reason for failing to register within the prescribed period and also for waiting until the last minute to file their ap-plication,” te added.

Kabataan Party-list group in their petition said section 8 of the Voter’s registration Act pro-vides that “the personal filing of application of registration of

SC turns down bid to extend voters’ registrationby TeTch Torres-Tupas

Inquirer.netvoters shall be conducted daily in the office of the election of-ficer during regular office hours. No registration shall, however, be conducted during the period starting one hundred twenty days before a regular election and ninety days before a special election.”

“Despite this provision, Com-elec has illegally set the dead-line of the voter’s registration on october 31, 2015, pursuant to resolution No. 9853 and reso-lution No. 9981,” petitioners led by Kabataan party-list repre-sentative terry ridon said.

the oct. 31 deadline, accord-ing to petitioners, is 69 days less than what is prescribed under the law.

But the high court, in its reso-lution, agreed with the Comelec that the 120 days is not the reck-oning point of determining the last day for filing of applications for registration.

“the law providing for the 120/90 day periods only deter-mines when registration is no longer allowed. It does not man-date that the period for registra-tion should be up to that time.”

te explained that the high court also agreed with Comelec that it is allowed to lengthen the 120 and 90 day period of “no registration” on account of administrative necessities and other exigencies.

“the Court noted that there are certain pre-election acts that are dependent upon the comple-tion of registration and that re-quiring the Comelec to extend the period for filing applications for registration will gravely af-fect its rigid and strict timeline. Major changers to the Come-lec’s timeline, like an extension for filing applications, can no longer be permitted at this point without jeopardizing the entire preparation for the 2016 elec-tions,” te added.

earlier, the poll body said more than 52 million have already registered for the 2016 polls. It is eyeing some 56 million voters for the 2016 elections, up from the 52 million voters in the 2013 mid-term elections.

there were 9.6 million voters without biometrics data when the poll body opened the voter’s registration in May last year.

the supreme Court has al-lowed former President and now Pampanga rep. Gloria Ma-capagal-Arroyo to spend Christ-mas and New Year’s Day at her house in Quezon City.

high Court’s Information Chief theodore te said Arroyo’s furlough starts at 8 in the morn-ing of Dec. 23, 2015 until 5 in the afternoon of Dec. 26, 2015; and 8 in the morning of Dec. 30, 2015 to 5 in the afternoon of Jan. 2, 2016.

te said the furlough will be “spent exclusively at her resi-dence at La Vista subdivision in Quezon City.”

“the petitioner shall remain under preventive custody of the law,” te said.

the high court ordered san-

Supreme Court allows Arroyo Christmas, New Year furlough

by TeTch Torres-TupasInquirer.net

diganbayan acting Chief of security and sheriffs services Alberto Dela Cruz to implement the resolution and coordinate with the Philippine National Po-lice (PNP).

the high court required Dela Cruz to submit a report of his full compliance to the supreme Court on Jan. 11, 2016.

the high court gave the fur-lough pending resolution of her urgent motion for house arrest.

te said the high court ordered government lawyer to comment on Arroyo’s urgent motion.

Arroyo is currently detained at the Veterans Memorial Medi-cal Center (VMMC) while her lone plunder case in connec-tion with the Philippine Char-ity sweepstakes office (PCso) scam.

AMNestY International on Monday, Dec. 7 raised red flags about the human rights record of Davao City Mayor rodrigo Duterte and expressed alarm at the public’s fascination with his notoriety for using trigger-happy solutions to crime.

the London-based nongovern-ment organization, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977, said that of the five presidential aspirants, it had been monitoring “for the longest time” the activi-ties of Duterte, who has emerged as a front-runner in opinion polls, particularly on persistent rumors of his links to the vigilante “Davao Death squad.”

one of the mayor’s recent pro-nouncements that has particularly distressed the human rights group was when he said he intended to revive the death penalty and “to execute it on a weekly basis,” said

Amnesty Int’l raises red flags on DuterteDavao summary killings alarm rights group

by DJ YapInquirer.net

Amnesty International Philippines (AIP) chair ritz Lee santos III.

“there are no formal charges in court, but based on the records of the Commission on human rights, which we also monitor, there are allegations of human rights violations against him,” he

said.the militant Karapatan, one of

the most vocal rights groups in the Philippines, has been unusu-ally silent on alleged vigilante kill-ings in Davao City.

“It’s general knowledge, and we don’t agree with it. But it’s hard when there’s no documen-tation. We should be able to sub-stantiate any allegations,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan sec-retary general. “No one is coming forward,” she told the Inquirer.

Under Duterte’s helm as may-or, congressman and vice mayor, Davao City has risen in the past two decades to become one of the world’s safest cities, but at the cost of human rights violations purportedly with the mayor’s blessing.

“It’s alarming,” said AIP cam-paigner Wilnor Papa.

“I understand why there’s a feeling of insecurity and feeling of desperation because of the state of crime. But there are other solu-

tions besides ‘kill the criminal,’” he said.

santos clarified that the group would not campaign against Duterte, and that it had no inten-tion of supporting any of the other candidates.

“this is not specific to the person, but we want to call the people’s attention to the need for education and respect for human rights,” he said.

“they have to understand that the right to life is inviolable and should not be abused at any op-portunity. People ought to be ed-ucated that human rights is non-negotiable,” santos said.

Beyond the group’s alarm at Duterte’s “shotgun policies,” he said, “we are more alarmed about how the public has responded, and how the public believes a firm hand is needed in addressing crime.”

“Killing should not be made part of a bigger problem,” he said.

Papa said Duterte’s alarming PAGE A6

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte

EU to provide P275-M peace process aid despite Bangsamoro Law passage woes

by YuJi VincenT GonzalesInquirer.net

AMID woes in passing the pro-posed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the european Union (eU) has vowed to continue its support to the peace process in Mindanao.

In a press conference in Makati on Wednesday, Dec. 9, eU ambas-sador Franz Jessen announced that the union will provide the Philip-pines €5.5 million (P275 million) worth of grants over the next 18 months in support of the peace process for a “smooth transition period.”

“eU is impressed by the fact that the Philippine government’s and the MILF’s (Moro Islamic Lib-eration Front) commitment to the peace process, despite the delay of the adoption of the BBL, has not changed,” Jessen said, noting that the country’s “firm resolve” to peace has made eU still eager and ready to support political settle-ment and long-term development in Mindanao.

Jessen is set to visit Mindanao, particularly Cotabato from Dec. 11 to 12, to meet with various stake-holders.

Asked if the grant was the eU’s

EU ambassador Franz Jessen Inquirer photo by Yuji Gonzales

way of pressuring the government to hasten BBL’s passage, Jessen said it was only the union’s way of encouraging development in the region.

the house of representatives on tuesday, Dec. 8 failed to muster a quorum to tackle the BBL, just after President Benigno Aquino III made his personal appeal to lawmakers to pass the measure. But house speaker Feliciano Bel-monte remained confident that the BBL will be passed by January next year, downplaying speculation that it will be as good as dead, as solons will focus on the upcoming elections.

the ambassador noted that the disbursement of funds would not

depend on or “non-conditional” to the passage of the BBL in Congress, adding that such grants was part of eU’s economic interest in increas-ing its presence in the Philippines.

the aid will benefit a program aimed to create conditions for the creation of the Bangsamoro region, conflict mitigation, implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, and strength-ening of local institutions and politi-cal processes, among other areas.

As per eU’s development strat-egy for the Philippines from 2014 to 2020, Mindanao will also gain access to sustainable energy, job creation, and benefit from the strengthening of the rule of law.

december 11-17, 2015 • NOrcAL ASIAN JOUrNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150A� Dateline PhiliPPines

ELECTION strategists of the ruling Liberal Party (LP), take note.

Former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, the LP standard-bearer, may not benefit at all from Presi-dent Aquino’s endorsement if re-sults of a recent survey are any guide.

Worse, Mr. Aquino’s endorse-ment may cost Roxas crucial votes not just across the country but also in Metro Manila in the May 2016 elections.

Voters will not probably favor a candidate endorsed by Mr. Aquino, results of the latest So-cial Weather Stations (SWS) sur-vey showed.

Mr. Aquino got a -6 net effect of endorsement (percentage of those who will probably vote for the candidate minus those who will probably vote against him/her) in the privately commis-sioned SWS survey conducted from Nov. 26 to 28.

In Metro Manila, the impact of

the President’s endorsement was a huge -26 percent.

The net effect of endorsement by past Presidents was also nega-tive. It was -6 for Joseph Estrada, -16 for Fidel Ramos and -34 for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The survey showed that a rec-ommendation from the voters’ local officials, church leader or relatives would likely have a pos-itive effect.

Respondents said they would most probably vote for a candi-date endorsed by their mayor, who has a +15 net effect of en-dorsement.

The net effect of endorsement of one’s church leader is +14. Both the barangay captain and relatives have a +13 net effect of endorsement, while it is +12 for one’s governor and +11 for one’s congressman. Given the margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 per-centage points, the effect of their endorsement will more or less be the same.

Aquino endorsement power -26 in MetroSWS asked respondents of the

question, “If the following will recommend a candidate, what would you probably do? Would you probably vote for, probably vote against the candidate rec-ommended or the recommenda-tion would not have an effect on your vote, or you don’t know this person?”

The question is part of a spe-cial survey on voter preferences commissioned by a Davao busi-nessman.

SWS interviewed 1,200 re-spondents nationwide and used a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points for national percentages and plus-or-minus 6 percentage points for area per-centages.

By geographical area, candi-dates endorsed by one’s mayor will most probably be favored by voters in Metro Manila (+14) and in Mindanao (+27), while voters in Luzon outside Metro Manila will most probably pick a candi-date approved by one’s church leader (+10) and one’s governor (+10), Voters in the Visayas will most probably choose a candi-date recommended by their ba-rangay captain (+25).

Respondents from Classes ABC will most probably vote for a candidate endorsed by their mayor (+25) and barangay cap-tain (+25).

Voters from Class D will most probably pick a candidate ap-proved by their mayor (+13) and church leader (+13) while voters from Class E will most probably choose a candidate endorsed by their barangay captain (+24). (In-quirer.net)

Amnesty Int’l raises red flags...PAGE A5

stance on human rights was not new to Amnesty International, which had released reports on the activities of the Davao Death Squad, a notorious group of vigilantes targeting criminals or crime suspects.

“In the course of Amnesty In-ternational’s work, we have had the opportunity to call his atten-tion on some allegations on his pronouncements that are some-how human rights violations,” Santos said.

Challenge to candidatesThe organization issued a five-

point challenge to compel the five presidential aspirants to make public commitments on human rights if elected in May 2016.

But none of the candidates sent any response to the organization’s letters, Santos said.

Amnesty International is ask-ing the candidates to pledge the following in their first 100 days in office:

End extrajudicial executions, unlawful arrests, secret detention, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill treatment, and pre-vent the use of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism to justify human rights violations.

Establish control and account-ability over the military, the po-lice and other state-sponsored forces, and ensure witness pro-tection.

Ensure the safe and voluntary return of the displaced, and em-

bed human rights protection in the peace process.

Make human rights a prior-ity integrated across government bodies.

Ratify key treaties on human rights and international humani-tarian law.

In 2010, Amnesty International issued a similar challenge to the incoming administration of Presi-dent Aquino.

But since then, the group has given a “dismal” rating to the ad-ministration’s approach to such issues as extrajudicial executions, unlawful arrests, secret detention, enforced disappearances and tor-ture.

He said there was little prog-ress in exacting accountability from state forces like the military and the police committing human rights transgressions.

cent said it is still too early to tell whether he will be successful or unsuccessful (from 50 percent).

Aquino’s latest scores yielded a 9 net expectation of success score compared to 8 in June 2014.

SWS attributed the marginal improvement in net expectation of success score to increases across most geographical areas and so-cial classes.

His net expectation of success score increased to 23 in Septem-ber from 12 in June 2014, to 26 from 22 in Mindanao, and to -3 from -7 in Metro Manila, offsetting

a four-point drop in balance Luzon to a new record-low -1 from 3.

His ratings also rose by six points to 14 from 8 among respon-dents belonging to class ABC and by five points to 22 from 17 among those in class E, but hardly chang-ing to 6 from 5 among class D re-spondents.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nation-wide with sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages and plus or minus six percentage points for area percentages.

BLINDED. Licensed ramp controllers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminals are having difficulty monitoring movements of aircraft on the ground due to an obsolete closed-circuit television (CCTV) system. Ramp controllers, who asked not to be identified, said they are having a hard time assigning parking berths and preparing schedules for planes to be towed to aerobridges. They said they have been reporting the defective CCTV monitors for the past five years, but nothing has been done about them. Philstar.com photo by Rudy Santos

More people see Aquino as successful presidentby Helen Flores

Philstar.com

MANILA—More Filipinos ex-pect President Aquino to be a suc-cessful president, a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

Those who said Aquino will be a successful president rose from 29 percent in June 2014 to 35 percent in September 2015, according to the SWS Sept. 2 to 5 poll.

Almost three in 10 or 26 percent believe Aquino will be unsuccess-ful (from 21 percent), while 39 per-

bid for the 2016 presidency.“At the outset, we have already

said we will not take part in any-one being subjected to demolition by perception,” he said in an inter-view with the media in Dumaguete City, a transcript of which was released by his office to Manila-based reporters.

Binay also decried the bid of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to freeze his lone bank ac-count, saying this was a violation of the law.

He said the law was clear that one year before an election, the AMLC cannot file for forfeiture.

“I am a candidate for President. But as usual, even if it’s wrong, this is being done for media purposes and for demolition,” Binay said.

Asked about whether he be-lieved in the presidential surveys where he has lost the top spot, Bi-nay said: “The only correct and be-lievable survey is the result of the election. That is our basis.”

Asked about his stand on extra-judicial killings, he said no one can just take lives. Binay said people in government had no right to en-gage in extra-judicial killings.

Asked how he will address the illegal drug problem in the coun-try, Binay said that if he becomes President, he intended to desig-nate his vice presidential running mate Sen. Gregorio Honasan as crime czar.

“He will be the one on top of it and be responsible,” he said of Honasan.

Binay to Poe: I’m also victim of demolition jobby CHristine o. AvendAño

Inquirer.net

VICE President Jejomar Binay distanced himself from his presi-dential rival Sen. Grace Poe’s al-legations that he was among those behind the disqualification cases filed against her.

In Dumaguete City where he was visiting, Binay shrugged off Poe’s allegations, saying that he was actually a “victim” of demoli-tion job by his political enemies.

“For more than a year, I was a subject of demolition by percep-tion,” he said, referring to the controversies that have hounded him, particularly allegations of cor-ruption, which he had denied and dismissed as politically-motivated because he declared early on his

Pres. Benigno Aquino III and Liberal Party presidential candidate Mar Roxas

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show his resilience and staying power? It appears that in the last few weeks, the pendulum had swung—the more Malacañang and the LP camp unleashed their fury against Binay, the more he seemed to recover from the in-jury he had sustained earlier.

Nobody understood why PNoy had to perform this number on the presidential contenders. He had gone to Paris to attend the summit on climate change, and later to Rome to pay a call on the Holy Father, whom he had tried to offend with an ill-man-nered statement during his pas-toral visit to the Philippines. No one expected PNoy to say any-thing substantial or memorable in Paris or in Rome, but neither did they expect him to make an ass of himself by his completely unpresidential behavior there.

Even though everyone knew he was on an official junket, which was not expected to achieve anything meaningful, they had hoped he would at least pretend to be a statesman trying to sow and win goodwill among his countrymen abroad, rather than act as an unreconstructed demagogue trying to divide his audience along partisan lines. Not only was it not proper; it was also completely out of season. A total of 130 presidential candi-dates had filed their certificates of candidacy, and one of them—Mrs. Grace Poe Llamanzares—is facing four disqualification suits for lack of the required citizen-ship and residency status, while another—Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte—has yet to perfect his CoC as a substitute for an earlier candidate who has since with-

drawn. But we have not quite entered the official campaign period, which begins in Febru-ary next year.

It was, therefore, much too early for PNoy to make that campaign speech, assuming he has decided to shed off his presidential dignity to become Mar Roxas’s foot soldier. Proper decorum should have prompted Aquino to speak of other things more useful to his countrymen abroad. One such issue has to do with the Filipinos’ use of their “middle name” in all their personal documents. This is an important issue to them. Just because the Italians do not use their maternal surname when writing their full name, the Phil-ippine embassy at the Quirinale had agreed that Filipinos in Italy would follow the Italian prac-tice.

This was vehemently opposed by some Filipinos, who pointed out that they use their maternal surname to honor their mother, and should not be prohibited from doing so. It was also one way of avoiding confusion be-tween two persons having the first and family names. A Fili-pino tour operator in Rome has almost single-handedly kept this issue alive, even after the Italian government and the Philippine embassy had virtu-ally declared it a closed case. Those who persist in this cause would certainly have appreci-ated hearing PNoy say some-thing about it. But he had lesser things in mind.

He could have campaigned for greater OFW participation in the next elections by assuring

the Filipino expatriates about efforts to ensure the holding of clean, honest and credible elec-tions. But there are no such ef-forts, so he could not lie about it, and he didn’t. That’s one admi-rable thing in his favor. But his premature campaigning merely underlined the massive prema-ture campaigning taking place all over the country right now, to which the election law has turned a blind eye.

My young daughter com-plains that the last thing she sees on TV before going to bed is a paid TV ad by a presidential candidate, who is not supposed to be campaigning yet, and the first thing she sees on TV when she wakes up is the same TV ad by the same or some other can-didate who is not supposed to be campaigning yet.

The Court has ruled that there is no distinction between the pre-campaign period and the official campaign period, so candidates are free to campaign without the legal restrictions governing the official campaign period. The ruling allows a candidate to spend hundreds of millions of pesos on TV advertising and on propaganda surveys without having to report the same as part of his authorized expenses.

In the eyes of the Court, so long as a particular ad or cam-paign material does not ask anyone to “vote for” a particular candidate, it cannot be part of the campaign whose cost should be charged against the candi-date’s authorized expenses. The ruling is based on a fat presump-tion that we are a nation of mut-tonheads who cannot see that

someone with tons and tons of TV ads about himself in the run-up to an election is not running for the papacy or for sainthood, but for a more lucrative earthly position.

Whatever reason the Court had for doing it, it must now rec-ognize the ruling as a grave and ruinous error and should revoke it forthwith. This is the only way to help compel candidates not to spend beyond what they will earn from the position they seek. The principle is absolutely indis-pensable to ensure an incorrupt and dedicated public service.

How do we deal then with the hundreds of millions of pesos certain candidates have incurred in the last few months on self-promotional expenses? We can-not pretend they don’t exist, nor can we simply write them off. I propose something more prac-tical than a write-off. I propose that all the expenses incurred during the pre-campaign period should now be charged against the candidate’s authorized ex-penses should he remain in the race; otherwise, they should be written off if he eventually with-draws from the race.

This reform is long overdue, and Aquino should think about it. Without it, our elections will remain a farce–the winning candidate will have been totally corrupted even before he en-ters public office. The oligarchy that owns the government and its leaders will continue to own them, without any hope for the ninety-nine percent. But, there may be far worse things than an electoral farce. And they now constitute the deadliest threat to

our Republic.At this writing, there are

strong indications from the Commission on Elections that the holding of the May 2016 elections may be indefinitely im-perilled for a variety of technical reasons. The intervention of the Supreme Court to make sure the Constitution is followed is be-ing cited as one of the reasons for a possible postponement of the elections. On the other hand, our usually highly reliable Malacañang sources inform us that PNoy’s innermost political circle is inclined to reconsider its support for the May 2016 election in favor of an option that would allow Aquino to hold on to power “until a worthy suc-cessor is found.”

I am not prepared to discuss this now, but I am not prepared to dismiss it either. Since August of last year, the National Trans-formation Council has been say-ing that we need system change, not just regime change; that we must temporarily do away with our corrupt elections, and allow a nonpartisan transition council to fix the broken constitutional order before we conduct legiti-mate and honest-to-goodness national elections under normal political conditions.

This, however, was premised on Aquino stepping down. It now appears that some paral-lel thinking has been going on inside Malacañang, except that the basic premise there was not national transformation, but Aquino’s perpetual hold on power.

We shall return to this later. (ManilaTimes.net)

OpiniOn Features

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Gel SantoS-ReloS

The Fil-Am Perspective

Do you agree with Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the US?

Global commitment

DONALD Trump once again shook the nation with yet another plan to purport-edly keep America safe following the San Bernardino massacre that killed 14 people and injured 21 others. The Re-publican presidential frontrunner wants a total shutdown of all Muslims enter-ing America — whether they are immi-grants or tourists.

While Trump’s fans cheered when he made the announcement on Mon-day, Dec. 7, many were outraged, even among members of the Republican Party.

Recent investigations revealed that the perpetrators of the San Bernardino shooting were radicalized, drawing in-spiration from the ideology of extremist

group ISIS. As he himself an-

nounced on television, “Donald Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s repre-sentatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”

This proposal excludes Muslims who are already living in the US and those who serve in the US military.

The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” reported on the re-actions from individuals on either side of the political spectrum, who are against

Trump’s proposal. White House Press

Secretary Josh Earnest challenged the Re-publican Party to de-nounce Donald Trump, and said this proposal disqualifies him from serving the country as president.

“What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for,” Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said, contend-ing that Trump’s statement is in viola-tion of the Constitution.

Presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called Trump “unhinged.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, an-other presidential candidate, criticized Trump, saying his comments clearly show the frontrunner does not have the experience to be president.

Meanwhile, Senator Lindsey Graham said it is time for all Republicans to unite against Trump.

On “Balitang America,” I interviewed Abu Qadir Al-Amin to get his reaction to Trump’s plan. Located in the Excelsior District of San Francisco, which has the highest concentration of Filipinos in the city, the Center is where many Filipino Muslims go to pray.

While the Imam categorically stated that America is not and should not be at war with ALL Muslims, he said they

choose not to respond to Trump, and just live by the very essence of the Mus-lim faith: to live in peace.

This is also the message kababay-ans in the Philippines want to spread through an art exhibit that they staged, in order to shine a positive light on the stories and contributions of Filipino Muslims.

Do you agree with Donald Trump’s proposal?

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

In his trip to Paris, France last week, Pres. Benigno Aquino III called for significant actions to address the challenge of climate change. He urged world leaders to arrive at a “fair consensus” that would help devel-oping countries like the Philippines squarely con-front the ruinous impact of climate change.

During the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21), Aquino called for global security among heads of state and government, leaders from the private sec-tor and civil society representatives, in addressing climate change saying every country must commit to reduce green house gas emissions and build re-silient communities.

“It is imperative that all countries do everything, and maximize what can be done to address climate change. Either we all strive and sacrifice, or we all lose to the cycle of destruction and reconstruc-tion,” Aquino said.

Aquino added that the economic costs of cli-mate change amount to $44.9 billion annually for the Vulnerable 20 (V20) countries alone, which includes the Philippines. Inaction to this problem will cost all affected nations even more, Aquino warned, as this number is set to grow almost 10-fold by 2030, bringing the total estimated amount up to $400 billion.

Rising water levels brought by climate change threatens the exis-tence of other island-nations such as Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Mal-dives. Aquino said that the extinc-

tion of these islands would be certain, “unless we pursue realizable goals that acknowledge that, for some nations, the fight against climate change is a matter of survival.”

People must understand how the world’s cur-rent practices exhaust many of the planet’s lim-its—leading to risks of damaging the ecosystem that is beyond repair. About 75 percent of di-sasters are caused by or related to weather. The world has reached a critical stage in its efforts to exercise responsible environmental steward-ship. Despite intentions and some admirable ac-tions done by notable organizations, unsustain-able use of the world’s natural resources has left the degradation of the global environment unabated.

Environmental degradation, urban development and population growth, combined with the impacts of natural calamities have increased the risks. En-vironmental problems caused by impacts of human activities on resources is a phenomenon commonly known as climate change.

As time goes by, the planet becomes more vul-

RECENT climatic and environmental events warn that the world is doomed for disastrous consequences. The Philippines—who is among the countries that bear the brunt of this phenomenon—seeks adaptive measures that would strengthen livelihoods, food security and ecosystems.

Editorial

nerable. Its ability to ward off wastes and destruc-tive effluent is growing thin. The planet has be-come fragile, recent catastrophic events should be enough emphasis for nations to change their ways to make this planet a safer place.

While we cannot undo the damages done, we are still capable of learning from recent climate change incidents and decelerating the rate of change to produce a desirable future for the planet altogether. (AJPress)

The ‘no-election’ option

FRanciSco S. tatad

Commentary

PRESIDENT B. S. Aquino III appears to have become the first casualty in the brouhaha about the participation of Sen. Grace Poe Llamanzares and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the 2016 presidential election. For-mer National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales observes that PNoy has rarely made the news since the two presidential wannabes started hitting the headlines. It appears that not even his fiercest critics would like to talk about him anymore. To them, he has become sim-ply irrelevant. For anyone who thinks the solar system revolves around him, this is cruel and unusual punishment. So PNoy has tried to insert himself into the ongoing conversation by highlighting the unknown qual-ities of LP presidential candi-date Mar Roxas and throwing brickbats at his rivals during his meeting with Filipinos in Rome.

No doubt Roxas could use a little bit of selling, given the negative reaction he has been getting from almost everyone everywhere. But was PNoy say-ing the right things about him, or was he the right person to do the selling? By downgrad-ing Vice President Jejomar Bi-nay, after Malacanang’s attack dogs in Makati and the Senate had failed to destroy him, did he think he was helping Roxas, or was he not simply helping Binay

(650) 616-4150 • http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL • deCembeR 11-17, 2015 A�Dateline PhiliPPines

TACLOBAN CITY—The road to recovery was not easy for farmers and fisherfolk who lost almost ev-erything they had when Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda) struck on 8 November 2013. Many of them were already hard-pressed to make ends meet even before the disaster and the will to rebuild their lives had almost faded.

“When the typhoon hit, our rice was almost ready and we were ex-pecting a good harvest,” narrated Susan Gaspay of Burauen, Leyte. “We lost everything – our ready-to-harvest rice, our stored seeds, and our rented tractor, not to men-tion our house.”

Fast-forward to two years later, Susan, along with hundreds of thousands of other farmers and fishers are now role models of recovery in their communities. Through the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collab-oration with the Government of the Philippines, the concept “building back better” has become a reality for the agriculture and fisheries sector of the four severely affected regions of Western Visayas (Re-gion VI), Central Visayas (Region VII), Eastern Visayas (Region VIII) and MIMAROPA (Region IV-B), including far-flung remote islands and upland indigenous communi-ties. This was made possible by the financial contributions of 14 in-ternational donor agencies, which reached nearly USD 40 million.

“This has been a unique emer-gency and rehabilitation response for FAO. It was the first Level 3 cri-sis declared within the Organiza-tion, the highest category of emer-gency response. This involved fast-tracked operational proce-dures and the deployment of mas-sive support from the FAO head-quarters in Rome and the regional

office in Bangkok. It was also one of the largest programs directly implemented by FAO in collabo-ration with the Government,” said José Luis Fernández, FAO Repre-sentative in the Philippines.

Through its two-year Typhoon Haiyan emergency, recovery and rehabilitation programme, FAO’s 22 projects covered interven-tions in rice and corn farming, coconut-based farming systems, fisheries and coastal communities and coastal/mangrove forest reha-bilitation.

Stories of recovery“A notable aspect of FAO’s Hai-

yan response is the mainstream-ing of Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) principles into all the elements of the pro-gramme. This is a core tenet of FAO operations, which ensures the highest levels of program ac-countability in terms of participa-tion, governance, transparency and addressing complaints by programme beneficiaries. AAP principles were integrated into the design, implementation and evalu-ation of projects, and communities were engaged since the beginning to ensure that both the process and what was being delivered ad-dressed their needs, especially for the most vulnerable,” explained Cristina Graziani, FAO’s Emer-gency Operations Manager for the Typhoon Haiyan programme.

Marife Jalbay, a member of the Abejao Farmers Association in Salcedo, Eastern Samar, recalls how their group was selected to undertake value-addition train-ing through an assessment con-ducted by FAO. This has led them to expand their farm business by producing cassava chips. With a larger role in the value chain, they are able to earn significantly high-er returns compared to selling

Farmers and fisherfolk are portraits of resilience after Haiyan

raw cassava to nearby markets, which fetched an average of Php 120 (USD 2.50) per barrel. For that equivalent weight of cassava turned into chips, they now make Php 3 250 pesos (USD 69.60).

For Marcelina Calvez of Palom-pon, Leyte who lost her coconut trees to the typhoon, growing veg-etables and other cash crops, as well as learning how to integrate these in land that would other-wise be idle, has helped her gain a stable source of alternative live-lihood. As newly-planted coconut trees take six to eight years to bear fruit, FAO helped farmers establish diversified coconut-based farming systems that would address both immediate and long-term food and income needs. This also included the introduction of climate-smart farming technologies, specifically sloping agricultural land technol-ogy (SALT) or contour farming, which would help them maximize the use of their limited farm area by utilizing land under coconut plantations or on hilly terrains.

“It’s hard work but it’s much

better than our traditional way of farming. I’m now planting pine-apples and I’m using the method I learnt from the training to plant madre de cacao as hedgerows because these plants are good for maintaining the fertility of the soil,” says Marcelina.

In many of the beneficiary com-munities, recovery was achieved by equipping farmers to estab-lish and manage nurseries that will provide them with seeds and seedlings to rehabilitate their ty-phoon-damaged and disease-af-fected farms more efficiently.

“We usually buy seeds from the agricultural supply office here, but now we have the means to do it ourselves. This brings immense pride to our community,” said Laurence Palmes Barotac of Viejo, Iloilo.

Marife, Marcelina and Laurence are among the 230 000 farming and fishing households or over 1 million individuals who are now well on their way to recovery through the support of FAO and its partners.

Strong partnership“The cooperation we had with

FAO has been there since the be-ginning. We were collaborating every step of the way especially in identifying the beneficiaries. The presence of FAO was very crucial in demonstrating to these people that help is there when it is needed,” said Leo Cañeda, Re-gional Executive Director of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

At the 35th World Food Day Celebration, Agriculture Secre-tary Proceso Alcala also high-lighted the DA’s partnership with FAO in delivering support to farmers in the immediate after-math of Haiyan and in ensuring the recovery and rehabilitation of the agriculture sector in affected areas.

From emergency to recovery, FAO in close collaboration with the DA and its attached agencies took every opportunity to not only replace what the typhoon had tak-en. More importantly, the consen-sus and strong partnership placed affected communities and local

governments in a good position to ensure longer-term food secu-rity, better agricultural livelihood opportunities, sustainable income streams that will lift them out of poverty and improved capacities to adapt to and mitigate future di-sasters.

“In commemoration of the sec-ond anniversary of Typhoon Hai-yan, we pay tribute to all who made this effort a success - our donors and partners, the Government and the communities who welcomed this opportunity to build back better in spite of the challenges,” added FAO Representative José Luis Fernández.

FAO’s Typhoon Haiyan re-sponse programme was imple-mented with financial support from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Pro-tection, United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund and the governments of Belgium, Bra-zil, Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the Unit-ed Kingdom.

With a larger role in the value chain, Marife Jalbay and other members of the Abejao Farmers Association in Salcedo, Eastern Samar, now enjoy improved incomes from producing cassava chips. ©FAO/R. Cabrera

Aerial view of a Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) site near Palompon, Leyte, which FAO helped establish to introduce climate-resilient agriculture to coconut farmers affected by Typhoon Haiyan. ©FAO/R. Cabrera

Rizandra Amang of Culion Island, Palawan, is the sole bread winner of her family of six. She, along with more than 17 000 fisher households in three regions, received assistance such as fishing gear, post-harvest kits and safety at sea educational material through FAO, which enabled them to restore their fisheries-related livelihoods and improve their resilience after Typhoon Haiyan. ©FAO/J. Lebante

Datu Uldarico Padecio, a chieftain of the Manobo tribe, plants Madre de Cacao, applying the techniques he learned from an FAO-supported training programme. FAO’s asistance to indigenous communities affected by Typhoon Haiyan included immediate recovery as well as longer-term capacity and resilience building activities that were responsive to the local context. ©FAO/R. Cabrera

The island of Tubabao, off the coast of Guiuan in Eastern Samar, was one of the first areas in the Philippines to be hit by Typhoon Haiyan. Many farming families living here received minimal assistance owing to the difficulty of transporting materials to this remote location. FAO delivered livelihood recovery and rehabilitation support, including more than 7 000 heads of livestock, to affected farmers in regions IV-B, VI, VII and VIII, reaching far-flung islands and remote upland communities. ©FAO/R. Cabrera

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COMMUNITYJ o u r n a l

Atty. RobeRt Reeves GReGoRy J. boult

And nAncy MilleR

Your ImmigrationSolution

MANY individuals seeking an immigration benefit in the United States encounter inexpli-cably long delays in receiving a final decision on a pending ap-plication or petition. Too often, individuals who find themselves experiencing such a delay are frustrated and uncertain as to what, if anything, can be done to pry loose their case and get a decision. Many simply resign themselves to waiting for the government to act. However, there are options beyond simply waiting indefinitely. One such option is to sue the government in the United States District Court (USDC) aka federal court.

Not all petitions and applica-tions for immigration benefits in the United States are processed in the same fashion. Some pe-titions or applications require interviews. And no decision is made until all the applicant’s files are located and given to the adju-dicating officer. As a result, some cases will naturally take longer than others. However, that does not mean that United States Citi-zenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has carte blanche to take as long as it sees fit to process a request for a benefit. Ultimately, there comes a point in time when a petition or application has sim-ply been pending too long. And while administrative means ex-ist to follow-up a pending matter with USCIS, often such action yields little or no results. It is at this point in time when an indi-vidual should consider exercising his or her rights in federal court.

When an individual files a pe-tition or an application for an immigration benefit, there is an expectation and a requirement that the government will timely process the submission. In ef-fect, the government cannot sim-ply let an application or petition languish – the government must make a decision within a reason-able period of time. USCIS posts

its normal processing time on its official website. These process-ing times typically state how many months it is currently tak-ing to process various petitions and applications at its numerous offices. When a petition or an application is pending beyond its posted processing time, it is ap-propriate to consider additional action, including a lawsuit in fed-eral court.

Unreasonable delays and erro-neous actions by the U.S govern-ment are nothing new. In fact, Congress passed the Administra-tive Procedure Act (APA) in 1946 to deal with these same problems. This act was specially designed as a “bill of rights” for individuals who have been aggrieved by cer-tain conduct by the government. Specifically, the APA entitles in-dividuals to sue the government when it unlawfully withholds ac-tion or when it unreasonably de-lays action. As an agency of the government, USCIS can be sued by an individual when it unlaw-fully withholds action, or unrea-sonably delays action, in render-ing a decision on an individual’s pending petition or application.

In addition to suing the gov-ernment under the APA, an in-dividual can also seek to compel the government to act upon an unreasonably delayed petition or application through a lawsuit for a Writ of Mandamus. When filing a Writ of Mandamus in fed-eral court, an individual must es-tablish a clear and certain claim, an administrative duty which is plainly prescribed, and estab-lish that no other administrative remedy through governmental process is available. In most in-stances this legal standard is met by showing the unreasonable delay by USCIS. While a Writ of Mandamus is a separate and dis-tinct legal action from one under-taken under the APA, the result sought in both of these types of actions is identical - to compel

the government to act when it has failed to do so in a reason-able period of time.

Unfortunately, too many in-dividuals who are victims of un-reasonable delays by the gov-ernment are unaware of their rights or afraid to exercise them. However, prompt action can save months or even years of unnec-essary waiting. Filing a U.S. Dis-trict Court action for relief under the APA or a complaint for a Writ of Mandamus are both very ef-fective in compelling USCIS to act on an unreasonably delayed petition or application.

It is important to note that neither an action under the Ad-ministrative Procedures Act nor a Writ of Mandamus orders US-CIS to make a specific decision. The U.S. District Court Judge orders the USCIS to make a deci-sion. That in itself is beneficial because, even if the decision is not positive, the applicant may be able to appeal it or renew it in another venue. An action seek-ing that the federal court Judge order USCIS to make a specific decision is called a complaint for declaratory relief.

Some delay is a normal part of the process when dealing with the federal government but inor-dinate delays are not. An expe-rienced and knowledgeable im-migration attorney can help get your case “unstuck”.

***Atty. Reeves has represented clients in numerous landmark immigration cases that have set new policies regarding INS action and immigrants’ rights. His offices are located in Pasadena, Irvine, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Makati City. Telephone: (800) 795-8009 E-mail: immigration@rreeves.com Website: www.rreeves.com.

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

Ending the long wait: Suing the government when it fails to timely act

A REPORT released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last December 1 showed that thanks in part to provisions of the Affordable Care Act, an estimated 87,000 fewer patients died in hospitals and nearly $20 billion in health care costs were saved as a result of a reduc-tion in hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2014. Preliminary estimates show that, in total, hospital patients experienced 2.1 million fewer hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2014, a 17 percent decline over that period. This aligns with HHS’ aim to encourage better care, smarter spending, and healthier people.

The announcement builds on results previously achieved and reported in December 2014, which showed 50,000 fewer patients died in hospitals and $12 billion in health care costs saved between 2010 and 2013. This progress toward a safer health care system occurred during a period of concerted attention by hospitals throughout the country to reduce adverse events as part of the ACA, includ-ing Medicare payment incentives to improve the quality of care and the HHS Partnership for Pa-tients initiative.

“Patients in America’s hospitals are safer today

as a result of this partnership with hospitals and health care providers,” said HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell. “The Affordable Care Act has given us tools to build a better health care system that protects patients, improves quality, and makes the most of our health care dollars.”

Today’s data represent demonstrable progress over a four-year period to improve patient safety in the hospital setting. As these improvements hold steady, their impact is accumulating over time as evidenced by reported four-year totals.

Hospital-acquired conditions include adverse drug events, catheter-associated urinary tract in-fections, central line associated bloodstream infec-tions, pressure ulcers, and surgical site infections, among others. HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Re-search and Quality (AHRQ) analyzed the incidence of a number of avoidable hospital-acquired condi-tions compared to 2010 rates, using as a baseline estimates of deaths and excess health care costs that were developed when the Partnership for Pa-tients was launched.

“Hospitals work diligently every day to provide the best possible care for the patients they serve.

National patient safety efforts save 87,000 lives and nearly $20 billion in costs

Report shows hospital-acquired conditions decline by 17 percent over a four-year period

SACRAMENTO – With the holiday season upon us, Cali-fornia Department of Public Health (CDPH) Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith reminded consum-ers about the importance of safe food handling to prevent food-borne illness.

“Bacterial pathogens like Sal-monella, E. coli and Campylo-bacter can be present in foods, such as meat and poultry, and can cause illness due to insuffi-cient cooking, inadequate cool-ing and improper food handling practices,” Smith said. “Properly prepared and handled foods can assure us all a safe meal every day of the year.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hos-pitalizations and 3,000 deaths annually in the United States are related to foodborne diseases.

CDPH offers food safety tips for the holidaysFoodborne diseases can be

prevented by simple safety steps in the kitchen. Wash hands with soap and warm water before and after food preparation, and especially after handling raw foods. Clean all work surfaces, utensils and dishes with hot soapy water and rinse with hot water after each use. Be sure to cook foods thoroughly and to refrigerate adequately between meals. Consumers can find more information about Food Safety Tips for Holiday Feasts on the CDPH website.

Bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 are re-sponsible for many foodborne illnesses, caused by eating con-taminated foods. Contamination can occur at the farm level, dur-ing processing and handling, and as a result of poor food han-dling practices at home.

Symptoms of foodborne dis-

ease can include diarrhea, which may be bloody, vomiting, abdominal cramps and fever. Most infected people recover from foodborne illnesses within a week. Some, however, may de-velop complications that require hospitalization. Young children, the elderly, pregnant women and persons with a weakened immune system are at highest risk for potentially life-threaten-ing complications.

Additional resources for infor-mation on food safety include the federal Food and Drug Adminis-tration Food Information line at 1-888-SAFEFOOD (1-888-723-3366) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854). Consumers can also access the national Partner-ship for Food Safety Education’s “Fight BAC” (bacteria) Web page. n

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REVISED_AARP_15_Lacuesta Testimonial_HP_FIL_AJ_final.indd 1 10/23/15 11:17 AM

DECEMBER 11-17, 2015 • NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150CJ� Community Journal

The CTVFiles

Atty. LiLLi B. BAcuLiMonetteAdevA MAglAyA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond

“REMEMBER the Wonder” was a catchy TV ad slogan from Wonder Bread before it aban-doned California for another state. But the phrase can very well be used to refer to the true season of wonder — CHRIST-MAS.

December days and nights seem to slip from our grasp like fine grains of sand. The hours seem to hurtle through the day as we complete a year’s cycle and move on to the next.

Many of us, particularly the women, try in earnest to mesh the unusually heavy demands of the roles we play in our lives specially this season. If we get completely sidetracked by the minutiae and the methodology, the expenses and the endless ac-tivities of what constitutes Christ-mas, we are more than likely to morph into the likes of Ebenezer Scrooge and be tempted to say “Bah, humbug!”

But unlike the tightwad Scrooge, the cost of doing Christ-mas has little to do with it. More than likely, the heaviness and drudgery that we seem to asso-ciate with this season have a lot to do with the failure to find that somewhat elusive sense of real joy that this season can bring in abundance to those who are open to it.

Sure, we can go through the motions of Christmas activities, shopping, baking, decorating, partying, drinking and binging. And yet, very often even if we diligently check off all the things in our list, something remains amiss. We just don’t have that Christmas feeling.

At the risk of sounding redun-dant, the spirit of the season is like a butterfly. If you keep mind-lessly trashing about in endless activities, it will elude you but if you sit very still, that Christmas feeling might simply alight on you. Be still and soak in the sight, sounds and smells of the season.

One trick I have learned is to simplify and not try to take on

Once more with feeling … Remembering the Wonder“Love your life but without conceit. It is simply on loan to you.”

too much of anything, and that includes refraining to max out my credit cards, no matter how infinitely tempting it is to rush out and join the shopping mad-ness. Each day of the season, count at least one blessing that you may have taken for granted — like your family, dysfunctional or imperfect the members may be, including yourself, we are all we’ve got.

To borrow from a song, “Love the one you’re with.” That means stop looking elsewhere. The inter-net has proven to be a minefield of dashed hopes and dreams. For the most part, it is definitely not the place to find what you think is missing in your life.

If you still have relatively good health and do not have to depend on a cocktail of drugs to get you through the day, REJOICE AND BE GLAD! Many wealthy yet ail-ing people longing to live a bit longer, will trade places with you in a heartbeat. TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED.

Love your life but without con-ceit. It is simply on loan to you. Treasure the hours. Forcibly yank out just an hour each day to sit in the silence during this sea-son to take the time to smell the coffee, steep the tea or quaff the cocoa in a quiet spot, free of the interruptions of all those annoy-ing electronic beeps.

Unless your job entails spell-ing the difference between life and death, cut off your electronic leash, at least for just an hour. Who said you have to be on call all the time? That hour you gift yourself with is yours to savor and JUST BE. That hour might very well help you to remember the wonder — to get back that gift of amazement we once had when we were children, before we became jaded, cynical souls.

Lest we forget, CHRIST IS STILL THE REASON FOR THE SEASON. Pay no attention to the

godless fools who would like to delete Christ from the season. The strongest evidence of Christ living in our hearts during this season is an inner glow and out-ward manifestation of joy that wells within, overflows and like a heaven-sent viral infection af-fects those we work and live with within the orbit of our existence.

Sorrow, pain and disappoint-ment, heartache and heartbreak in spades — we will always have. They have a place in the general scheme of things. They work like a sculptor’s tool kit that shapes and molds the structure of re-silient souls that can weather all seasons.

But just for this season, BE-LIEVE that you are allowed to get a moratorium from all that.

This season is filled with awe-some wonders and all it takes is to open our eyes, sharpen our senses and soak them all in. We have become inured to the pos-sibilities of joy each moment brings. Conditioned by years of mundane repetition, we have lost the magic and instinctive sense of wonder we were born with. We went through the mo-tions of getting an education, raising a family, earning a liv-ing, running a business, working ceaselessly, it seems till we drop down dead or until Social Secu-rity says we can stop, (whichever comes first), sleeping and doing the same things all over again at daybreak.

Routine and predictability though calming and reassuring, can numb the soul over time. Don’t let that happen.

Take heart. This season, as God intended it to be, will always be a joyful reminder of what truly matters in life.

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

These new numbers are impressive and show the great progress hospitals continue to make,” said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. “While there is always more work to be done to improve patient safety, the col-laborative efforts of hospitals and HHS have de-livered great results that will continue to help the field on the quality improvement journey.”

These major strides in patient safety are a result of strong, diverse public-private partnerships and active engagement by patients and families. These efforts include the federal Partnership for Patients initiative, Hospital Engagement Networks, Quality Improvement Organizations, and many other pub-lic and private partners. In 2011, HHS launched the Partnership for Patients, which targets a spe-cific set of hospital-acquired conditions for reduc-tions via systematic quality improvement work. Public and private partners – including hospitals and other health care providers – are working col-laboratively to identify and spread best practices and apply these solutions to reduce hospital-ac-quired conditions and readmissions.

Patrick Conway, M.D., deputy administrator for innovation and quality and chief medical officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said, “These results demonstrate that it’s possible to improve national patient safety performance resulting in millions of people avoiding infections and adverse events. As a practicing physician, I know the importance of safety culture and care teams focused on keeping every patient as safe as possible.”

AHRQ developed the measurement strategy, the evidence base, and many of the tools that hospitals are using to achieve these results. “AHRQ’s role in delivery system reform is providing the data to make the health care system a safer place for pa-tients and we are working to put these resources to use on the front lines of care,” said AHRQ Director Richard Kronick, Ph.D.

AHRQ has produced a variety of tools and re-sources to help hospitals and other providers prevent hospital-acquired conditions, such as reducing infections, pressure ulcers, and falls. Recently the agency released the Toolkit for Re-ducing CAUTI in Hospitals, which is based on the experiences of more than 1,200 hospitals nation-wide that participated in an AHRQ-funded project to apply the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program to reducing catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). Preliminary data indicate that hospitals using these tools reduced CAUTIs by approximately 15 percent overall. AHRQ works with its HHS colleagues and researchers across the country to create new knowledge about how to improve care, particularly in understudied areas such as diagnostic error and antibiotic resistance.

HHS will continue working with partners to capitalize on these promising results – improv-ing patient safety and reducing health care costs while providing the best, safest possible care to patients.

The report Saving Lives & Saving Money: Hospi-tal-Acquired Conditions Update is available here: http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-pa-tient-safety/pfp/interimhacrate2014.html. n

National patient safety efforts save 87,000…PAGE CJ1 t

IT’S almost impossible to feel confident when you smile if you’re missing teeth. Cosmetic dental implants can change that. With cosmetic dental implants, you get the best in function and aesthetics. Cosmetic dental im-plants are securely anchored in the jaw bone for maximum com-fort and durability. The replace-ment tooth, or dental crown, is made of tooth-colored porcelain so that your cosmetic dental im-plants look, feel and function just like your real teeth!

Why are dental implants often the first choice and a standard of care compared to other options to restore missing or damaged teeth?

Next best thing to healthy, natural teeth. Strong and stable, a dental implant restores a lost tooth so that it looks, feels, fits and functions like a natural tooth. Other options can lead to bone deterioration, and may interfere with eating, smiling, speaking and other activities of everyday life.

Built to last. Dental implants are a long-term solution. Traditional, tooth-supported dental bridges only last five to seven years, and with proper care often more than 10 years, but at some point they

Dr. LoveLy teoDoro

Digital Dentistry

Cosmetic dental implantsmay need to be replaced. While dental implants may need peri-odic adjustments, they can last a lifetime when properly placed and cared for over time.

Enjoy life without worrying about your teeth! No need to stay home or feel uncomfortable in public, embarrassed because your smile looks different, or worrying that missing teeth will limit your ability to join in the fun or that removable dentures or tooth-supported replacement teeth will loosen or fall out when you talk, eat or laugh. Teeth re-stored with dental implants are teeth that let you, not your teeth, lead your life.

Retain your natural face shape, and smile. A face without teeth can sag and appear sunken and sad. Dental implants allow you to maintain the natural shape of your face and smile.

Protect healthy bone. Leaving empty spaces in your mouth after losing one or more teeth can lead to additional health issues, such as the loss and deterioration of some of your jawbone. When it is not being used to support a natural tooth, the jawbone dete-riorates, losing its strength and firmness. Dental implants are the only dental restoration option that preserves and stimulates natural bone, actually helping to stimulate bone growth and pre-vent bone loss.

Keep your teeth in your mouth – not in a cup. Dental implants al-low you to keep your teeth where

they belong – in your mouth. And no more worrying that your den-tures might slip or fall out. Brush, floss and care for teeth that have been replaced using dental im-plants exactly the way you would natural teeth – in your mouth.

Speak easy. Adjusting to re-movable dentures can mean struggling to pronounce every-day words. Not so with dental implants, which function like natural teeth.

Eat your favorite foods! Taste and enjoy the foods you love without hesitation. You can bite naturally, eat virtually anything you want and, unlike removable dentures that can feel uncom-fortable, you can experience the full taste of the food you eat with dental implants, too.

Look Mom, no cavities! Cavi-ties can’t occur in an implant-restored crown, or replacement tooth; however, you will need to visit your dentist as scheduled and clean and care for it and your gums and mouth every day, the same as you would if it were a natural tooth.

Keep teeth in place – silently. Dentures may slip when you eat, talk, smile, laugh, kiss, yawn or cough, so that you have to “re-position” them back into place in the mouth. Dental implants are fixed in place and fuse naturally with your jawbone, meaning your replacement teeth won’t move, click or shift.

Protect your healthy teeth. uPAGE CJ3

THE power to give, take away, and deport. The United States does not welcome you with open arms. It allows non-citizens en-try into the United States, under certain conditions. When these conditions are broken, you can expect nothing but the full force of the United States govern-ment through the Department of Homeland Security to bear down on you. Until you are a full-fledged U.S. citizen, you may be deportable.

It all starts with the Notice to Appear (NTA). The NTA is the charging document issued by an authorized agent of the U.S. De-partment of Homeland Security (DHS), to noncitizens who the government believes are inad-missible or removable. The NTA is issued to place a noncitizen in a full removal proceeding before an immigration judge, who will determine whether the nonciti-zen is to be removed or allowed to remain in the United States.

What makes you deportableWho Can Issue an NTA?

Various officials within DHS are empowered to issue NTAs in different circumstances. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is an arm of DHS that conducts inves-tigations and enforcement and removal operations, may issue NTAs.

The U.S. Citizenship and Im-migration Services (USCIS) may also issue an NTA when it finds a noncitizen has not complied with regulations governing admission or maintaining lawful status after admission.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may also issue NTAs. CBP operates primarily at designated ports of entry and manages customs, immigration, security, and agricultural inspec-tion duties. CBP makes thou-sands of determinations daily, concerning the admissibility of arriving noncitizens.

Below is a discussion on ex-amples of what might trigger the USCIS, ICE or CBP to issue an NTA putting you in removal pro-ceedings.

Inadmissible: When you are not allowed to enter. Nikolai is

a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) who was admitted to the U.S. in 1970. In 2000, he was convicted for 2 DUI convictions and petty theft. Recently, he took a vacation outside of the U.S. for a few weeks. Upon his return, CBP took him aside and issued him an NTA for being an “inad-missible alien.”

Deportable: When you are get-ting thrown out of the country. Jennifer (also an LPR) was con-victed of 2 counts of possession of marijuana, 2 counts of being under the influence of mari-juana. She is currently out on bail for her 4th case in a span of 12 months, for resisting arrest, public indecency, and being un-der the influence of a controlled substance. She has just recently been issued an NTA alleging that she is “deportable.”

The Filing of an Application May be Trigger an NTA. In a third scenario, Marco has been living under the radar for 20 years and finally decided on filing for citi-zenship, without first consulting with an experienced immigration attorney. At the interview, he is shown a record of conviction for

uPAGE CJ3

(650) 616-4150 • http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL • DECEMBER 11-17, 2015 CJ�Community Journal

Atty. MichAelGurfinkel, eSQ

ImmigrationCorner

If you have an upcoming event and would like us to post it, please email us the details at info@asianjournalinc.com or calendar@asianjournalinc.com

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ADVERTISE YOUR EVENTS!PRE-EVENT AND POST-EVENT

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Blessed Hope Christian Church Night of PraiseCome celebrate the birth of Christ and praise God with the congregation at our upcom-

ing Christmas Praise Night, on Friday, December 18 at 7:30pm. Our church can be found at 474 North Summit Ave. Pasadena, CA 91103. Please contact Jun Recio (818) 472-5244 for more details.

DECEMBER 18

LA Archdiocesan SIMBANG GABI 2015WHAT: LA Archdiocesan SIMBANG GABI 2015WHEN: Tuesday, December 15, at 6:30pmWHERE: Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (555 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012)Principal Celebrant: Most Rev. Jose H. Gomez, D.D., Archbishop of Los AngelesThe Filipino Ministry of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, San Fernando Pastoral Region,

will sponsor the first day of the Archdiocesan Simbang Gabi. Pre-liturgy/Parol Procession will begin at 6:30 pm, followed by the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Rev. Jose H. Gomez. Fil-ipiniana attire is requested to be worn by organizers and participants. This year’s theme is “Jesus Our Savior, Empower Our Families to be Better Stewards of Your Creation.” For the Parol Procession Guidelines and other information, contact any Chairperson: Patty Santiago – email: piesan@hotmail.com; Phone: (818) 472-4288 or Raymond de Guzman- email: rdeguz-man1317@verizon.net; Phone: (818) 634-8664.

DECEMBER 15

Feast of Santo Niño de CebuAll are cordially invited to the Feast of Santo Niño de Cebu on Saturday, January 9,

2016, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Bellflower, California, organized and sponsored by the Santo Niño de Cebu Association of Southern California, Inc., a non-profit religious organization. The Eucharistic Celebration will be presided by the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, His Excellency Bishop Oscar A. Solis at 10:00 am followed by the traditional procession of the image of Santo Niño de Cebu, fiesta lunch and Sinulog pres-entations. Food and financial donations are welcome, and all donations are tax deductible. For further information, you may contact the association President, Danny C. Diluvio at (323) 252-4991 or email at: dannydiluvio1@gmail.com.

JANUARY 9

JASHS (Binondo) Alumni Christmas PartyJose Abad Santos High School (Binondo) USA Alumni Association will hold its 2015

Christmas Party at 6:00pm on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015, at the Mayflower Seafood Restaurant (679 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012). Please contact Val Abelgas val.abelgas@aol.com for more information.

DECEMBER 20

Placing a tooth-supported bridge requires grinding away the teeth on one or both sides of the missing tooth or teeth – thereby damaging healthy teeth to restore those that are miss-ing. The modified healthy teeth are attached to, and support, the bridge. Dental implants go in the jawbone, in the spot where your missing tooth root was, without impacting healthy teeth. They also help prevent healthy, adjacent teeth from shifting as they would if an empty space were left for an extended period

of time.More predictable than other

repair and restoration methods. Dental implant treatment has a track record of reliable, long-term successful outcomes and is often considered “more predict-able” than other treatments to repair or replace missing teeth, including bridgework, remov-able appliances and retreatment of failing root canal (endodontic) therapy.

* * *Dr. Lovely Teodoro earned her degree with honors in Dental Medicine from National University, Philippines in 1995. She started

her private practice upon graduating while simultaneously held a teaching position in the College of Dentistry, NU. For the past 20 years, her extensive dental training and experience continued from Philippines to California. Member of ADA, CDA, CCDA, Hercules Chamber of Commerce and Walnut Creek Chanmber of Commerce. For more details, please visit our website at www.lovelymanlapazteodorodds.com or call our office at The Dental Center of Hercules: 844 Willow Ave. Ste. A6, Hercules, CA 94547 / T: (510) 245-3004 or Ygnacio Valley Cosmetic Dentistry: 1479 Ygnacio Valley Rd. Ste 105, Walnut Creek, CA 94798 / T: (925) 979-9803. (Advertising Supplement)

Cosmetic dental…PAGE CJ2 t

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Thousands of home-bound se-niors in San Francisco depend on Meals On Wheels San Francisco (MOWSF) for food, home safety and a friendly face, which is why Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) volunteers joined forces with the organization on Decem-ber 1, delivering emergency pre-paredness kits to those in need as part of Giving Tuesday.

With the help of the Gigwalk—a mobile platform for managing large distributed workforces, connecting the right people with the right work, anytime, any-where—teams delivered kits to 150 MOWSF clients throughout San Francisco in PG&E’s hybrid electric fleet vehicles.

“Every day in our great city, thousands of home-bound se-niors depend upon Meals On Wheels for food, home safety and a friendly face. I believe whole-heartedly in Meals On Wheels, and the power of its mission of nourishing the whole person. I’m exceedingly proud to sup-port the work that this organiza-tion provides and today’s event is an important reminder of the ongoing needs of the seniors who live in our community,” said Helen Burt, senior vice presi-dent, External Affairs and Public Policy, PG&E and member of the MOWSF Board of Directors.

The emergency kits include a two-day supply of non-perishable food and water, a blanket, a flash-light and a whistle. Teams will also provide clients with informa-tion about money saving energy programs with PG&E and ways to stay safe in case of emergencies.

“PG&E has been an important partner in our efforts to provide seniors with what they need to live independently and in a dig-nified manner here in San Fran-cisco. We are thrilled that PG&E, Gigwalk and so many other cor-porate partners have supported events like today’s and helped raise awareness of this critical safety issue for seniors in our city,” said Ashley C. McCum-ber CEO & Executive Director, MOWSF.

Meals On Wheels San Fran-cisco provides 1.5 million meals annually, representing the only source of food for 24 percent of its clients. In San Francisco alone, there are over 80,000 Asian Pacific American seniors. Over 16 percent of MOWSF’s meals recipients are of Asian or Pacific Islander descent.

Seniors depending upon

PG&E joins forces with Meals On Wheels San Francisco delivering emergency preparedness kits and smiles on Giving Tuesday

Meals On Wheels are frail, have limited ability to purchase or prepare meals, and have little or no support from family or care-givers. Seventy-one percent of its clients live under the federal poverty line.

“Every company in this great city has a responsibility to help the communities where we work and live. Gigwalk is honored to continue to support the work of Meals On Wheels, enabling the organization to efficiently engage with its volunteers and seam-lessly collect vital data about its clients’ needs,” said David Hale, CEO, Gigwalk.

Each year, PG&E, its employ-ees and retirees support a wide range of local nonprofits and schools, including Meals On Wheels San Francisco. In 2015, PG&E provided more than $32 million in financial support, of which, its employees and retirees contributed a record-breaking $7.3 million through the utility’s annual Campaign for the Com-munity giving initiative.

About Meals On Wheels of San Francisco (MOWSF)

Meals On Wheels of San Fran-cisco and its volunteers provide seniors what they need to live independent and dignified lives – nutritious meals, professional social work and friendly hu-

man contact. This year we will deliver more than 1.5 million nutritious meals to homebound seniors living in every neigh-borhood of the city. Learn more at www.mowsf.org.

About GigwalkGigwalk is a mobile platform

for managing large distributed workforces, connecting the right people with the right work, any-time, anywhere. Gigwalk maxi-mizes business efficiency and gives workers greater control and flexibility to make work bet-ter. Based in San Francisco, California, Gigwalk is backed by August Capital, Harrison Metal, Nokia Growth Partners, Rands-tad Innovation Fund, SoftTech, and Greylock. For more informa-tion, visit Gigwalk.com.

About PG&EPacific Gas and Electric Com-

pany, a subsidiary of PG&E Cor-poration (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employ-ees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page. (Advertising Supplement)

DUI that he had forgotten. Worse, there were several misdemeanor theft convictions from 10 years ago that he had also forgotten. Marco is scheduled for a second interview, and he is panicking as to what might happen.

In either of these scenarios, Nikolai, Jennifer, and Marco run the risk of being removed (de-ported) from the United States because of their convictions, not-withstanding their LPR status, and their long-term residence in the United States.

A Criminal Conviction’s Nega-tive Impact on Immigration Status. The Record of Convic-tion (ROC) details an individual’s criminal history – his/her arrest, what s/he plead to, and the final judgment/sentence. The relief(s)

available to an individual facing removal/deportation proceed-ings will depend largely on the record of conviction.

Not every criminal convic-tion will result in deportation and not every deportation pro-ceeding will lead to an order of deportation. Nevertheless, cer-tain commission of crimes will render a non-citizen inadmissible or deportable, and will run the risk of being placed in deporta-tion proceedings. An individual should act quickly and consult both with a criminal attorney and with an experienced criminal im-migration attorney who handles deportation defense, to mitigate the negative consequences of a criminal conviction to his/her im-migration status.

It is important to be informed

and know your options. An ex-perienced immigration firm or attorney will be able to help you understand the options available to you under the evolving immi-gration laws.

* * *Atty. Lilli Berbano Baculi is an associate attorney with Chua Tinsay & Vega, A Professional Legal Corporation (CTV) - a full service law firm with offices in San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento and Philippines. The information presented in this article is for general information only and is not, nor intended to be, formal legal advice nor the formation of an attorney-client relationship. Call or e-mail CTV for an in-person or phone consultation to discuss your particular situation and/or how their services may be retained at (619) 955-6277; (415) 495-8088; (916) 449-3923; lbaculi@ctvattys.com. For general information visit www.chuatinsayvega.com.

What makes you…PAGE CJ2 t

PROVISIONAL WAIVER dispels the fear in going back to Manila for visa processing – on a Special Episode of CITIZEN PINOY! Cindy (2nd from left) was a crewman who jumped ship and had been a TNT for more than 10 years. After seeing a CITIZEN PINOY episode about a crewman who also jumped ship, Cindy and US citizen husband, Tom (left) decided to consult with leading US immigration attorney Michael J. Gurfinkel (right). Through Atty. Gurfinkel’s help, Cindy’s PROVISIONAL WAIVER was approved. She went back to the Philippines and was processed for her immigrant visa at the American Embassy in Manila and returned to the US as a legal permanent resident. Watch a brand-new episode on Provisional Waivers, which could benefit crewmen, those who entered the US without inspection, or K-1 who did not marry their US petitioner, on CITIZEN PINOY – this Sunday, December 13 at 6:15 pm (PST) on TFC.

CINDY was a crewman who jumped ship without the benefit of Section 245(i). She had been TNT for over 10 years. She met and married US citizen Tom, and together they approached a law-yer who advised them to file for a “Parole-In-Place,” for which she was not even eligible.

After watching an earlier epi-sode on CITIZEN PINOY about a crewman who also jumped ship, the couple decided to consult

EACH month, the Visa Of-fice of the State Department publishes, in the Visa Bulletin, the priority dates for that par-ticular month, for the various family and employment based categories. A priority date is a person’s “place in line” for a visa, meaning immigrant visas (or green cards) would be avail-able for persons whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed below. If your prior-ity date was “current,” but later retrogressed (or “moved back-wards” and became unavail-able) before your immigrant visa was issued (or before you adjusted status in the U.S.), you would have to wait until it be-comes current again.

Beginning last October 2015, the format of the Visa Bulletin changed, in that a new column was added, called the “Applica-tion Filing Date.” If a person’s priority date is earlier than the Application Filing Date, they can already file for adjustment of status and work authorization (provided they are otherwise eli-gible and USCIS indicates on its website it will use the Applica-tion Filing Date for that month). This could allow people to obtain work authorization much sooner than before, where they had to wait for the priority date to be current (in the Visa Issuance Date column) in order to both file for adjustment and be eligible for

The January 2016 priority dates

a green card.* * *

Michael J. Gurfinkel is licensed, and an active member of the State Bar of California and New York. All immigration services are provided by, or under the supervision of, an active member of the State Bar of California. Each case is different. The information contained herein including testimonials, “Success Stories,” endorsements and re-enactments) is of a general nature, and is not intended to apply to any particular case, and

does not constitute a prediction, warranty, guarantee or legal advice regarding the outcome of your legal matter. No attorney-client relationship is, or shall be, established with any reader.

WEBSITE: www.gurfinkel.comCall Toll free to schedule a consultation

for anywhere in the US: (866)—GURFINKELFour offices to serve you: LOS ANGELES

· SAN FRANCISCO · NEW YORK · PHILIPPINES (Advertising Supplement)

Citizen Pinoy shows you how provisional waivers work for those eligible

with leading US immigration attorney MICHAEL J. GURFIN-KEL. Being a legal permanent resident is the only way that Cin-dy could be at peace and pursue her American dream.

The Law Offices of Michael Gurfinkel worked diligently and thoroughly to present all re-quired documents to obtain an approval of a PROVISIONAL WAIVER for Cindy, allowing her to go the US Embassy in Manila

for her immigrant visa, without fear of being barred under the 3/10 year bar.

Watch how Atty. Gurfinkel comforted Cindy’s fear of go-ing to Manila, and enabled her to return to the US with a green card, on a brand-new episode of CITIZEN PINOY–on Sunday, De-cember 13 at 6:15 pm PST/EST (9:15 pm EST thru select Cable/Satellite providers).

(Advertising Supplement)

The Priority dates for the Philippines are as follows:

FAMILY CATEGORY:

First Preference

Second Preference

Third Preference

Fourth Preference

LABOR CERTIFICATION:

Third Preference

Other Workers

Unmarried sons and daughters of US citizens (over 21 years of age)

(2A) Spouse and minor children (below 21 years old) of green card holder

(2B) Unmarried sons and daughters (21 years old or older) of green card holder

Married sons and daughters of US Citizens.

Brothers and sisters of US Citizens.

Professional/Skilled Workers

Non-Skilled Workers

ApplicationFiling Date

Visa IssuanceDate

September1, 2005

June 1, 2003

June 15, 2015 August 1, 2014

May 1, 2005 January 1, 2005

August 1, 1995 November 1, 1993

January 1, 1993

July 22, 1992

Visa Issuance Date

January 1, 2010

January 1, 2010

November 1, 2007

November 1, 2007

Application Filing Date

DECEMBER 11-17, 2015 • NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150CJ� PeoPle & events

SHARE the holiday spirit and take part in the Be a Santa to a Senior (BASTAS) service pro-gram. This program provides holiday cheer and gifts to the senior citizens in the community who are least likely to receive a present this holiday season, and who are often lonely and finan-cially in need.

The local Home Instead Se-nior Care office, the Concord Commission on Aging and the Concord Senior Center are part-nering with residents, non-profit organizations and businesses in the community to provide gifts for the 2015 BASTAS program.

“We served over 250 seniors

Play Santa for local senior citizens in needlast year. Local Boy Scout troops delivered gifts and visited with seniors in the community,” said Melvin Lee, Concord Commission on Aging chair. “We encourage the community to visit our local businesses and help support the program this year.”

To participate, look for the BASTAS tree at a participating location. Select a gift tag from the tree. The tag includes the first name of a local senior and his or her gift wish. Return the unwrapped gift along with the gift tag by Sunday, Dec. 13.

Participating locations in-clude: Mins Kitchen, 3505 Clay-ton Road, Minamoto Japanese

Restaurant, 4305 Clayton Road, Suite A, The Old Spaghetti Fac-tory, 1955 Mt. Diablo St. (Nov. 27 to Dec. 13), Concord Civic Center, 1950 Parkside Drive, Wing A, Concord Police Depart-ment, 1350 Galindo Street, and the Concord Senior Center, 2727 Parkside Circle.

Residents are invited to join the gift-wrapping party on Dec. 19 from 10am to noon. Call the Senior Center at (925) 671-3320 to register for the party. For more information, contact Senior Center Director Avis Connolly at (925) 671-3419 or email avis.connolly@cityofconcord.org or Tess Locsin, (925) 280-9688. n

CONTRA Costa County invites you to attend a free educational workshop to learn about Commu-nity Choice Energy (CCE) in the Bay Area and its potential in Con-tra Costa County. CCE is a hybrid approach between private inves-tor-owned utilities and public municipal utilities. CCE enables local agencies to procure elec-tricity on behalf of their public fa-cilities, residents, and businesses and can help increase the use of

Community Choice Energy workshoprenewable energy. Come learn from CCE experts about how the program works, its potential for local economic and environ-mental benefits, and the various program options the County is exploring. These workshops are open to members of the public, local government representa-tives, community organizations and other stakeholder groups. View the meeting agenda.

Choose one of three dates/

locations. All meeting times are 7pm - 9pm. Please RSVP early as space will fill up.

Thursday, December 103rd floor conference room,

Walnut Creek City Hall, 1666 N. Main Street, Walnut Creek

Monday, December 14Hercules Public Library, 109

Civic Drive, HerculesWednesday, December 16Brentwood Community Center,

35 Oak Street, Brentwood n

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif – The holiday season is quickly approaching, which means it’s time to find out who’s been naughty or nice. The City of South San Francisco and the South San Francisco Police De-partment want you to have a safe and enjoyable holiday season this December so we’ve put to-gether the below tips to help you prepare.

“The holiday season is always a special time of year,” says Po-lice Chief Jeff Azzopardi. “It is also a time when busy people become careless and vulnerable to theft and other holiday crime.” Azzopardi says we can never be too careful, too prepared or too aware.

Here are some tips for the holi-day season. More tips—including driving, shopping, using ATMs, hosting and attending parties - can be found online at www.ssf.net/2242/Holiday-Safety-Tips.

1. Keep holiday travel plans hush-hush. It’s tempting to tell your social circle about your jolly holiday plans, but a silent night approach is much safer. The few-

Don’t let the Grinch steal your holiday cheerStay safe this holiday season by taking

steps to protect you and your familyer people who know your plans, the less word will travel to others that your home is empty and un-guarded for a few days.

2. Choose only flame-resistant decorations. Fire can be warm and comforting during cold win-ter months, but only when it’s contained in a fireplace. Avoid unwanted flames by checking your holiday lights, trees, and plants for important labels such as, “certified for outdoor use” and “fire resistant.”

3. Double-check your doors are locked. Holiday shopping trips can leave you stressed and scatterbrained-and the Grin-ches out there know it. Avoid vehicle break-ins by reminding yourself to physically check that your doors are locked, park near well-lit areas and keep expensive items out of view.

4. Keep a careful eye on the little ones. Curious children or pets can be hard to watch dur-ing festivities, but it’s important you ensure they’re staying safe. Hang tinsel and decorations at least six inches above their reach, and avoid decorating with

poinsettias, which are poisonous. Also, be sure to store sharp ob-jects and anything with strings (a choking hazard) far out of their reach.

“Please share this information with family, friends and neigh-bors,” says Mayor Rich Garbar-ino. “The entire City Council and City Staff wish you a safe, happy and peaceful holiday season.”

About South San FranciscoThe City of South San Fran-

cisco proudly remains The In-dustrial City, a reflection of its steel mill and ship building past, redefined to reflect the innova-tive, entrepreneurial and indus-trious spirit which has made South San Francisco the Biotech Capital of the World, with 209 active biotech companies and growing. A vibrant community of 65,700 residents, South San Francisco enjoys a high quality of life with an extensive public parks system, active library and learning programming and a dynamic, engaged community making South San Francisco a great place to live, learn, work and play. n

EMPLOYMENT FOSTER HOMECAREEMPLOYMENT

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(650) 616-4150 • http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL • DECEMBER 11-17, 2015 CJ�

DECEMBER 11-17, 2015 • NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150CJ�

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Friday, December 11, 2015

Noel ‘Toti’ Cariño

by Agnes ConstAnte/AJPress

In the 1990s, there were many doubts about the future success of

Boracay.“nobody believed me at

that time that we would [de-velop] the island of Boracay,” said realtor noel “Toti” Cariño, who eventually went on to es-tablish Fairways & Bluewater, the single largest stakeholder and landowner on the popular island. “People were saying, ‘Boracay is a tiny island. Why would you develop a world class resort, much more put a golf course development there?’”

Today, Boracay is a tourist hotspot that attracts travelers across the globe. The island has topped lists of the World’s Best Islands, while its white, sandy beaches have received international praise.

Despite the lack of electric-ity on the island, water and ports to receive construction materials, by 1995, Fairways & Bluewater was completed. The resort encompasses an area of more than 120 hect-ares – nearly 10 percent of the island’s land mass – and offers a wealth of water activi-ties, a full 18-hole world-class championship golf course and spacious rooms with generous amenities.

Cariño’s role in the devel-opment of Boracay is only one in an extensive list of achieve-ments. He is the current na-tional president of the Cham-ber of Real Estate Builders Associations (CREBA), where he has been involved since 1976 and previously served as executive vice president. In november, the association received the Global Outreach Award for its contribution to promoting global awareness among cooperating partners of the national Association of Realtors in Asia.

In 1981, Cariño co-founded Fil-Estate Realty Corporation, which oversaw the acquisition, development and selling of more than 5,000 hectares of property worth approximately P80 billion in its 35-year his-tory; today, he is working on a project in Puerto Princesa, Palawan through his current real estate company, Cariño Development and Manage-ment Corporation.

But even with all his suc-cess, he says his top accom-plishment isn’t one explicitly outlined in his resume. What he’s most proud of is his rela-tionship with the real estate industry, where he has contrib-uted to the development of a number of people involved in it through seminars.

“Some of them have gone into developing on their own, have established their own realty company, some are now pillars in the industry as well. So as far as accomplishments are concerned, I’d say I’m very happy I was able to contribute to their development some-

how in the industry as well,” he said.

Advocacy for the poorApart from private devel-

opments, as national president of CREBA, Cariño has been advocating for the creation of the Philippine Department of Housing and Urban Develop-ment.

He says his involvement in real estate is not simply for profit, but to provide homes for as many Filipinos as pos-sible.

“It really pains everybody when you see a lot of the dis-parity between incomes. The haves have it and they have what, five, six homes? Whereas the guy who’s an ordinary em-ployee is just renting a small space for so many years,” he said, adding that the average person in the Philippines has no way of having his or her own home.

The real estate association is pushing to alter an exist-ing rule in the country that requires developers to allocate 20 percent of their project to socialized housing. Develop-ers, however, have the option to purchase bonds and invest in the socialized housing effort if they don’t have the means to build the housing infrastruc-ture. Simply investing results in no actual housing production, CREBA argues.

The association has suggested lowering the 20 percent requirement to somewhere around 10 to 15 percent, and asking develop-ers to actually put up houses for the poor.

“We are proposing this because we’ve seen the dete-rioration of Metro Manila as an urban center,” Cariño said.

Buildings in Metro Manila have continued to grow up-ward, a trend paralleled by its population density. It’s a prob-lem for the region, given that roads and transportation have not followed suit. As a result, CREBA is advocating for mid-rise social housing in Metro Manila to promote a better quality of life and encourage the development of industries outside the area. That way, expansion occurs horizontally instead of vertically.

An estimated 1.5 million informal settler families (also called “squatters”) reside in the Philippines, according to the national Housing Author-ity. Of that number, Motoo Konishi, World Bank country director for the Philippines, said 600,000 – or about three million people – are in Metro Manila.

Yet despite the density, Cariño the problem is not im-possible to fix: each hectare of land, he says, can accommo-date up to 750 housing units.

“In Metro Manila alone, the problem can be solved in less than 10 years, provided that we’re really able to sustain the regulatory aspect that

developers will have to comply with,” Cariño said.

Cariño’s advocacy extends beyond his real estate involve-ment and carries over to the political realm. In 2001, he ran for the position of congress-man in Pasig City.

“I wanted to serve primarily because of these advocacies in housing. I thought that I could help out by being a legislator and introducing things through legislation. To be able to do that, you had to be a member of Congress so that’s why I wanted to serve,” he said.

However, he lost.He went on to file a case

with the House of Representa-tives Electoral Tribunal, ada-mantly believing he won the votes. Over two years later, the Tribunal ruled in his favor and swore him in one week before the end of the 12th Congress in 2004, and his first day was the last day of that session.

While his case was pend-ing, Cariño served the people of Pasig by leading youth lead-ership training, setting up liveli-hood programs, organizing co-operatives and implementing livelihood projects through the War Against Poverty Founda-tion he established in 1995.

Despite the substantial de-lay in being sworn in, Cariño is acknowledged as the congress-man of Pasig for the entire term.

“That was fun,” he said of his experience in public service.

Non-profit, energy, disaster prevention, and agricultural projects

In addition to his experi-ence in real estate and politics, Cariño has invested time into founding Kilusan at Ugnayan ng Maralitang Pasigueno Inc., which aims to boost the quality of life of the urban poor and out-of-school youths of Pasig City, and Lakas Pilipino, which has led social projects, such as feeding programs and volun-tary cleaning of barangays in Pasig City.

The former congressman is also focused on solar energy, through a company he co-founded, SunAsia Energy Inc., where he is chairman of the board.

“It’s one of the things a

country needs,” he said of renewable energy.

“In Asia, the Philippines has one of the highest cost in terms of energy, so getting into [solar energy] serves a purpose,” he added.

SunAsia Energy Inc.’s most significant ongoing project is a 60-megawatt toledo solar proj-ect in Cebu’s Toledo City. Ener-gy generated from the project will be sold under Feed-in-Tar-iff, a policy mechanism geared to accelerate investment in renewable energy. Such a program normally guarantees that owners of facilities that qualify to generate renewable Feed-in-Tariff electricity will receive an established price for the energy they generate and provide to the grid.

SunAsia is working on four additional projects, including the 30 Megawatt Victoria Solar Project in negros Occidental.

Under another company, Shelter Dome Technology Corporation, Cariño brought US-patented state-of-the-art Monolithic Dome Technol-ogy, which has proven most effective in withstanding typhoons, earthquakes and tornadoes. The technology was found to be ideal for Philippine coastal villages, as well as regions hit by seasonal monsoon rains, typhoons and earthquakes. Among projects completed by the company include a library/classroom in Leyte for Pawing Elementary School students, for which it partnered with Habitat for Humanity.

Another project completed in September by Shelter Dome was a cluster of dome-shaped multipurpose centers in East-ern Samar, which will become home to a medical clinic, daycare center, and toy library, among other establishments. Shelter Dome and Cariño Development and Manage-ment Corporation are currently working on library projects in Tacloban Leyte.

Also among Cariño’s businesses is LeonPhilippe Industries, Inc., which is in the agricultural and livestock indus-try. The company is focused on producing goat milk, which has been called super milk, as a means of promoting nutritional

Noel ‘Toti’ Cariño

AJPress photos by Ding Carreon

Doing business for thegood of the Philippines

SF2 cover storyThe Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE - December 11, 2015

wellness in the Philippines. The milk is also used to pro-duce hair and skin products. Furthermore, LeonPhilippe -- which, Cariño shares, is a combination of his first name, noel, backward and the Philip-pines -- produces cacao seed-lings for cacao and growers, entrepreneurs and interested farmers wishing to establish a cacao planting business.

Key to successWith Cariño established

across a diverse spectrum of industries, he says one attri-bute to his achievements is his openness to new ideas.

“I wouldn’t close my mind on things that are new just be-cause they are new...I ‘d like to explore things and see where the creativity leads me. And I think that’s a good guide for progress to happen. When your mind is open, as they say, like a parachute, when it’s open, it’s good. When its closed you’re dead. Your mind is like a parachute, you know. It’s got to be open all the time,” he said.

When it came to Boracay, for instance, Cariño took the risk amid existing doubts because he was inspired by his travels abroad.

“I saw how countries develop, how tourism devel-ops. It’s really from what you experience when you travel and see what other countries did. You just simply have to do it,” he said.

As Cariño continues to

contribute to the Philippines through his establishments, he says his businesses are those with a social conscience. Might as well make money and still help out, he says.

“The Philippines is grow-ing. We might as well grow properly, which means that wealth should be for every-body, not just a few,” Cariño said.

“America is so great because...everybody has a chance here to live the way that they’re living. But in the Philippines, we need to un-tangle some of the things that have pushed down people,” he added.

Through his involvement in CREBA, Cariño is working to do some untangling with Congressman Albee Benitez, chairman of the housing com-mittee in Congress, to get local governments to submit idle lands they own in Metro Manila. These could be used for socialized housing, Cariño said, adding that there are a number of those lands.

But ultimately, in the end, with everything he strives to do and all his feats, Cariño says his goal is to be proud as a Filipino.

“I want to say that the Phil-ippines can excel, can com-pete and it’s a country that we can all be proud of. But we have to do our part. Whatever it is, our contribution to nation building is paramount,” he said.

MAnILA—BBC news has fi-nally aired its special on AlDub, the onscreen love team of Eat Bulaga mainstays Alden Rich-ards and Maine “Yaya Dub” Mendoza, on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

The feature was done by BBC World news anchor Rico Hizon, a Filipino journalist who is formerly with GMA-7.

The report focused on the financial aspect of AlDub and how the love team has helped the 36-year-old noontime variety show penetrate social media and a younger audi-ence.

With AlDub, Eat Bulaga was able to captivate the audience using “Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and draw them back to television,” the report said.

But the report also tackled

Rico Hizon of BBC News interviews Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards for a feature on their AlDub love team.

BBC asks Alden, Maine: Are you both in love?by ChuCk sMith

Philstar.com

Maine further said they’re open to having a relationship.

“We’re not closing out doors to what’s going to hap-pen next between the two of us,” she said.

This isn’t the first time AlDub has been featured on international media. BBC news via its website had previously described AlDub as a “social media phenomenon.”

Alden and Maine’s relationship with each other. Alden and Maine play lovers who were initially unable to meet person-ally and only interacted via split screen and Dubsmash on Eat Bulaga, and fans have been hoping that the two young stars have taken their on-screen relationship somewhere deeper.

“Are you both in love?” Hizon asked Alden and Maine.

“Well, that’s for the people to find out very soon,” Alden quipped.

Hizon further asked if it is “just an act for your sponsors and endorsers?”

“Whatever we have now, we’re just making the most out of it and we’re just having fun,” Alden said.

“no pressure,” Alden and Maine added.

FILIPInO independent film Heneral Luna is gunning for a win in the foreign language film category in the 73rd Golden Globe Awards.

Directed by Jerrold Tarog,

‘Heneral Luna’ chargingfor Golden Globes win

by Aries JosePh heginAInquirer.net

Heneral Luna is one of the 71 entries from 46 countries vying for the award.

Five nominees selected and the winner will be announced during the awards ceremony on January 10, 2016.

Continued on Page SF4

John Arcilla as Heneral Luna

SF3entertainmentThe Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE – December 11, 2015

By MoNET Lu

San FranciSco

End your holiday partiesin style with fireworks

‘TIS the season to be jolly! Christmas songs are heard

everywhere, holiday parties held everyday, homes decorated with lovely and colorful accents, snow-men, Santa Claus and mistletoes. People decorate their Christmas trees, deciding whether they should go with white or green. And how can I forget the holiday parties? They are basically what I look forward to this season! The most creative Christmas parties are being thrown at this time of the year. And I am just so thrilled to go to the best ones.

If you are working on the theme for your next Christmas party, you may take heed of my tips below.

As holiday party season comes in full swing, think: what better way to host a party but with an amazingly grand finale. Not to spoil your party mood but the point is, that the end of the party should be as spectacular, if not even grander, than as its start. As prose writer Baltazar Gracian once said, “What mat-ters isn’t being applauded when you arrive - for that is common - but being missed when you leave.” Contrary to popular be-lief, “exits” are as important, and sometimes even more memo-rable than entrances. Which is why, and as party enthusiasts say, “the end of the party (or leaving) should be a defining moment.”

There are a number of ways to end a party. Some people conclude it with a prayer or a speech; some officially announce it while others just let people leave any time during the party – which practically tells us how the party went and why it should come to an end. Great parties do not end when the last person calls it a night. In fact it is quite the opposite because contrary to what our not-so-awesome selves may have been used to, the end should be announced while ev-erybody is still at the party. Now this doesn’t mean you have the

right to be rude and drive them away. What it means is that while the ball is rolling, you seize the moment to capture their atten-tion, and stage your prestigious grand finale (and get ready to be famous for hosting the most amazing party ever) by ending it with a bang – and I mean that literally – and yes, you guessed it: Fireworks!

Fireworks are definitely the best way to end a party and make a lasting impression (and not a bad one at that). You can choose among a variety of mo-mentum-grabbing pyro-magic. The most commonly used and a real crowd pleaser are foun-tains. Fountains are those usually cone-shaped ones that sit on the ground and release show-ers of colorful sparks upwards. Its incredibly luminous spark will surely brighten both your party and your guests’ faces.

Another crowd favorite and one of the most popular types are the multi-cakes. They are ba-sically everything you love about a firework show, all stacked up in one place. Multi-cakes produce a variety of effects in long dura-tions, which make them a total crowd favorite. So if you are into that laidback and savor-the-mo-ment type of endings, go ahead, light that fuse and enjoy the show. Prepare to be mesmerized by your own party ending, as this will definitely be one of your most memorable ones. And as soon as those beautiful sparks shoot up high in the air, you

can kiss “boring party endings” goodbye because this one will definitely be the talk of the town.

There is a plethora of differ-ent fireworks to choose from. You can go from Roman candles and sparklers to sound shells and barrages. You may also choose to light them up individually or orchestrate a mixture of different fireworks for an “all-spark” cast.

Now, don’t be intimidated thinking this might cost a fortune, because it doesn’t. Besides, pulling up a kind of show like this is definitely worth it. My advice is, first, know where to get it, and find the best ones—quality and cost considered. Some offer discounts and packages, as well as fireworks that are on sale.

So to my readers and my party-loving friends, I suggest you start planning your parties and not worry about ending with blah… Fireworks are here to save the day! In fact, after this party, you may have to be ready to host next year’s party again. Just be sure to invite me. Happy Holidays!

***Monet Lu is a Marikina-born, award-winning

celebrity beauty stylist with his own chain of Monet Salon salons across Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. Ultimately, Monet is known as an all-around artiste who produces sold-out fashion and awards shows as well as unforgettable marketing campaigns. Monet is also the founder of the revolutionary all-natural beauty products such as Enlighten, your solution to discoloration. To contact Monet, please visit www.monetsalon.com or email him at monetsalon@aol.com

MANILA—Angel Locsin underwent a “back proce-dure” a month after she revealed having a disc bulge in her spine.

It was in October when the Kapamilya actress announced that she’s giving up the movie Darna due to the disc bulge in her spinal cord.

On Friday, Dec. 4, Angel posted photos of her lying in hospital bed before undergoing the procedure.

The first photo shows the Kapamilya actress doing the peace sign. This is where she announced the success of the first stage of her back proce-dure.

Angel Locsin has undergone a back procedure after disclosing in October that she has a disc bulge in her spine.

Angel Locsin undergoes ‘back procedure’

“Photo taken earlier before the procedure :) I’m still a little bit groggy and sore but happy & thankful tapos na ang first

stage of the procedure :) thank you all for the prayers!” she said.

On the second photo, she was posing with the nurses who assisted her during the opera-tion.

“Another photo before heading to lab with the Filipino nurses who took really good care of me :) thank you so much! Mabuhay kayo!” she said in the caption.

Recently, her boyfriend Luis Manzano revealed that she’s considering different operations for her disc bulge, and ex-pressed his hope of Angel still portraying the role of Darna. (Philstar.com)

THE ultimate fight for love and family begins as And I Love You So, starring Julia Barretto and Miles Ocampo, premiered on Monday, Dec. 7 at ABS-CBN.

The latest offering from the network and Dreamscape En-tertainment Television revolves around the lives of Trixie (Julia) and Joanna (Miles), who will find themselves pitted against each other in everything they want. They become bitter rivals in school and even in love when they fall for the same guy, Internet sensation Justin (Iñigo Pascual).

At the show’s press confer-

ence this week, Julia talked about her role and said, “I love my role kasi gusto ko ‘yong may pinanggagalingan siya. Ang pagiging kontrabida ko dito hindi lang dahil gusto ni-yang maging masama, mayro’n siyang pinanggagalingan.”

“Si Trixie at si Julia, they’re both misunderstood. Hindi nila maintindihan bakit siya ganon, hindi nila maintindihan bakit ganon si Trixie,” she added.

The characters’ rivalry intensifies and becomes more complicated when they are forced to live under one roof as stepsisters.

Joanna’s mother Michelle

Julia and Miles battle for love and family in new series

(Dimples Romana) and Trixie’s father Alfonso (Tonton Gutier-rez)—unexpectedly meet again. After years of being separated from each other, Alfonso takes his chance to ask Michelle—his true love—to marry him amidst the disapproval of Trixie.

But as they start to live their lives anew as one family, Katrina (Angel Aquino), Trixie’s mother and Alfonso’s first wife, returns after having abandoned both of them years ago without explanation.

Now that she’s back, Katrina is determined to win back everything Michelle took away from her: her husband, her daughter, and her wealth.

For her part, Miles is thank-ful that she has finally been given her first major role in a TV series. She said, “Sobrang thankful ako sa Dreamscape, kay sir Deo Endrinal, sa trust na binigay nila sa malaking proyek-tong ito.”

Will Trixie and Joanna learn to accept their new family and treat each as sisters, or will their rivalry destroy their only chance at having a complete and loving family? (ManilaTimes.net)

Miles Ocampo and Julia Barretto

SF4 celebrityworldThe Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE - December 11, 2015

celebrity worldBy Ferdie Villar

Actress Cristine Reyes to wed fiance next year

From Page SF2

The Golden Globe awards lauds the best in American television and film. This year’s awards ceremony will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and will be hosted by Ricky Gervais.

‘Heneral Luna’ charging...Heneral Luna is also the

country’s entry to the 88th Academy Awards for Best For-eign Language film category.

The biopic holds the record of being the “highest gross-ing Filipino historical film of all

time” after it reached P240 mil-lion last October. It also holds the distinction of being the highest grossing independent Filipino film.

Heneral Luna is part of a trilogy, with its sequel focus-ing on the life of Gregorio del Pilar.

ALTHOUGH her wedding to fiance Ali Khatibi was supposed to take place this month, sexy actress Cristine Reyes said that they had to move the date to January next year. The reason for the postponement was to be able to have more time to prepare.

“Kasi ganito yan, super excited ako na ikakasal na kami and then nangyari ‘yung wedding planning na-stress ako sa planning,” she said in an interview with Kris TV. “Work sabay ‘yung teleserye kasabay ko yung construction ng bahay tapos eto pa.”

The actress added that when planning for a wedding they needed to go meet her planner at times and go to sup-pliers. Both with busy sched-ules, they would be unable to do so. She then realized that she needed more time to prepare.

Their wedding will be an in-timate one that will take place in Balesin on January 27. They chose that date because it’s around the same time they first discovered their feelings for each other back in 2013.

Originally, the couple was planning to have a “backyard wedding” theme, but their house in Paranaque is still being finished. Since Balesin was the venue for their pre-nup shoot, Cristine decided that it’d be best to have the wed-ding there.

“Kaysa naman somewhere here in Paranaque, very normal. At least, gusto naman talaga niya (Ali), beach wedding,” she said.

Cristine shared that she wants her wedding to be sim-ple and “laidback.” Because of that, only a few are invited to the Christian ceremony. Ali’s mom and sibling would also be present at the wedding while her sisters Kat and Harvey will be representing her family.

The actress revealed that she and Ali officially became a couple March of last year. Cristine got pregnant and gave birth to their first-born Amarah February 8 of this year, and they got engaged on Septem-ber 9.

***More wedding bells are

ringing, and one of the most anticipated events next year

Cdr. Randy Cruz (2nd from left), the first Filipino to command a Carrier in the US Navy is shown with his family (L-R) Judge Cruz, Dana Cruz, Antonia Cruz, Master Cruz and Ian Cruz. The Cruz family lives in Pittsburg, Calif.

Sexy actress Cristine Reyes and fiance Ali Khatibi have moved their wedding date to January 27, 2016. The couple will have an intimate ceremony in Balesin with a few invited family and friends.

Pastor Jun Serrano of Life Giver Baptist Church in San Leandro will officiate the Christmas holiday services of their church community.

San Jose socialite Susan Pacifico will design a variety of Christmas decorations for the induction of a newly organized Silicon Valley of San Jose group headed by Ted Ramirez on Wednesday, December 16 at Grange Hall in Avan Drive, San Jose at 6pm.

Antique collector from Oakland Hills Sylvia Tongco Ford is one of the Her-mana Mayors for the nine-day fiesta of the Jesus of the Black Nazarene from January 1–9 at the residence of beauty impresario Ferdie Villar.

One of the most awaited events next year is the wedding of Eat Bulaga! hosts Vic Sotto and Pauleen Luna. What supposed to be a quiet and private wedding at their home in Laguna, is now a full ceremony in January in an undisclosed venue.

Retired Navy Sergeant Jaime Velasco and his wife, the former Mattie Roldan, are members of the Executive Committee who will oversee the 37th Annual Fiesta of the Nuestro Senior Padre Jesus Nazareno from January 1–9.

is when Pauleen Luna and Vic Sotto tie the knot. Just like Cristine and Ali, the couple was originally scheduled to marry in their private home in Laguna this month, according to Pauleen’s manager, Lolit Solis.

However, the young Eat

Bulaga! co-host revealed that they are in fact, getting hitched January next year.

Although she didn’t share the exact date, Pauleen said that they have been busy with the preparations.

“Well, every week nagmi-meet na kami with the (wed-

ding) coordinator. Ngayon medyo final na yung caterer, and then the one who will make my dress and Vic’s suit,” she said in an interview with PEP.

Congratulations in advance to Cristine and Ali, Vic and Pauleen!

ABS-CBN hosts and actors Luiz Manzano and Billy Craw-ford have denied the allega-tions of an Instagram user who has accused them of demand-ing his dismissal as a restaurant waiter.

In the comments section of actress Angel Locsin’s Dec. 6 post, a certain Cris Silao (@cris0224) claimed that Manzano and Crawford urged the owner of the establishment to fire him for serving them steak that was cooked differently from what they ordered.

“Aminado naman ako na nagkamali ako sa order nyo eh. Pero tama ba na ipa-sisanti mo ako? Kailangan ba na mawa-lan ako ng trabaho dahil lang hindi well done ‘yung steak na naibigay ko? Inayus naman namin eh. Hindi mo lang alam kung gaano ka-importante yung trabaho na yun sa akin. Ako lang ang inaasahan ng mga kapatid ko dahil iniwan na kami ng mga magulang namin,” the

user said.“Masama lang yung loob ko

kasi ginamit nyo yung pagkaar-tista nyo para lang mang-api ng kapwa. Sinabi pa ni Billy na ipapasara nya yung restaurant pag hindi ako mawawala sa trabaho. Sympre aalisin nga ako. Pati yung amo ko ayaw nya akong tanggalin. Naiiyak pa nga ya nung sinabi nya sa akin kasi alam nya yung situation ko at alam nya na maayos ako magtrabaho,” he added.

Locsin replied in her boyfriend’s defense, saying what she liked about Manzano was that he never disrespected anyone. The actress dismissed the accusations as “made up.”

“Ano namang kinalaman ni Luis dyan at bakit mo naman sya dinadamay? Never nang-bastos si Luis ng kahit sino. Isa yun sa mga nagustuhan ko sa kanya. Kaya sana wag kang mag-imbento ng kwento dahil sabi mo nga may karma,” she said.

Luis Manzano, Billy Crawford deny getting waiter fired over steak

Manzano also took time to defend himself, noting it had been a while since he and Craw-ford went out together.

“Medyo mali facts mo, dahil never kami lumabas ni Billyboy at kumain ng steak! HANG TAAAAAAGALLLLL ko ng di nakakasama si Billyboy, kung gusto gumawa ng kwento, magulang mo na lang kausapin mo, tanungin mo sila bakit ka nila binuo, isama mo na rin yung mga basta-basta naniniwala sa comment online,” Manzano said.

“Gumawa pa yan si @criss0224 ng hate account na parang ihateluisandbilly hahaha-haha baka nahuling nagnanakaw sa restaurant kaya natanggal kaya naghanap ng idadamay, di ko na nga maalala kelan kami huling nagkasama ni Billyboy outside of work, lalo pa’t kumain ng steak,” he added.

Supporting his fellow Kapamilya actor, Crawford said Manzano “isn’t capable of hurt-ing a fly,” adding he wished the Instagram user well if invent-ing stories was what made him happy.

“First of all si Luis at ako siguro dalawang beses na magkasamang kumain una sa birthday nya pangalawa pag nagdive. And Luis isn’t capable of hurting a fly. But if this is what makes you happy to stir things up, wala kaming magagawa. Good luck na lang sa buhay mo. At sana mapansin ka dito para makapasok ka sa PBB,” Craw-ford said. (Inquirer.net)

MANILA—Ian Veneracion is happy with the public’s positive response to his team up with Jodi Sta. Maria.

“Siguro aside from komport-able kami katrabaho ang isa’t isa, alam ng fans na we’re just being professional,” he said in an interview on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

The Kapamilya actor is happily married with two kids, while Jodi is in a relationship with Cavite vice governor Jolo Revilla.

Ian and Jodi’s love team started in the ABS-CBN prime-time series Pangako Sa ‘Yo, where they portray the roles of Eduardo and Amor.

Now, they’re part of the Star Cinema 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival entry All You Need is Pag-ibig.

Aside from his successful team up with Jodi, what amazes him more is when girls still get affected by his “charm.”

“Natatawa ako,” he said about having girls having a “crush” on him. “I’m just enjoy-

Ian Veneracion ‘enjoying the ride’ of love team success

by Joyce Jimenez Philstar.com

ing the ride. Kasi you have projects that everyone notice and some projects that no one knows about.”

“Pero I’ve been in the show business long enough to know I shouldn’t take things person-ally,” he added.

He’s just thankful that his wife Pam is very supportive of his career and doesn’t get af-

fected by his roles.“She knows how profes-

sional I am when it comes to work,” he said. “So alam ng wife ko ‘yon and kilala niya rin si Jodi, she knows how profes-sional she is.”

All You Need is Pag-ibig also stars Kris Aquino, Kim Chiu, Xian Lim, Pokwang, Nova Villa and Bimby Aquino-Yap.

Jodi Sta. Maria and Ian Veneracion during the press conference for the movie “All You Need is Pag-ibig,” an entry in the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festiva, on Tuesday, Dec. 8. Philstar.com photo by Joyce Jimenez

Luiz Manzano and Billy Crawford

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The Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE - December 11, 2015SF6

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