Us asian post march 11, 2015

Vol. 4. No. 24 LOS ANGELES Wednesday - Tuesday, March 11 -17, 2015

Gabby: My wife doesn’t get jealous

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See US TERROR SUSPECT, page 6

US role in disastrous Mamasapano bloodbath under scrutiny

By Joel GUINTOManila, Philippines |AFP|

Sunday 3/8/2015 - A disastrous raid on alleged Islamic militants has ignited the worst political cri-sis yet for Philippine President Benigno Aquino – and questions about the extent of any US role in the operation are deepening his discomfort.

Some Philippine lawmak-ers are asking whether the US military played a leading role in the operation in January, which ended with 44 police commandos dead in a fi eld in the country’s Muslim-majority south.

They point to reports that a US drone was overfl ying the area at the time, and said to be beaming back real-time images to US com-manders as the fi asco unfolded.

Senate president Franklin Drilon, a powerful member of Aquino’s ruling Liberal Party, is one of at least fi ve senators to have raised questions about what the United States knew.

“Did the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) know before-hand about this operation?” Dril-on asked the head of the police commando unit Getulio Napeñas , who lost his job over the affair, in one hearing.

“Or any US armed forces per-sonnel, did they know about this operation beforehand?”

Under the terms of an anti-ter-rorism training deployment, the US is not permitted to engage in combat in the Philippines.

A US government offi cial told AFP that its troops helped evacu-ate casualties, but that the opera-tion was “planned and executed by Philippine authorities”, and declined to comment further.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Sec-retary Albert del Rosario, mean-while, declined to give a direct answer when asked about any US role, speaking only in generalities about American help to Manila in suppressing militancy.

“With the United States, we have very close counter-terrorism cooperation,” del Rosario, who has

Protesters from different youth groups troop to the front of the US Embassy in Manila to condemn alleged involvement of the US government in the Mamasapano operation. The groups are demanding truth and accountability from the Aquino government regarding the bloody encounter in Mamasapano, which killed 44 PNP-SAF offi cers, 18 Moro rebels and 5 civilians.(MNS photo)

Was US involved in raid?

Manila, Philippines |AFP| Monday 3/9/2015 - Philippine troops have killed 56 Islamic militants including one described as “foreign-looking” who may be among terror suspects sought by the United States, the military said Monday.

The military launched the op-eration against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) last month in a marshy, farming region on Mindanao island, where Muslim rebels have for decades fought for independence.

“One of the cadavers is a for-eign-looking guy,” said military spokesman Brigadier-General Joselito Kakilala, outlining the operation in an interview aired on ABS-CBN television.

The corpse’s features bear “similarities” to one of the Unit-ed States’ “most wanted” Islamic militants, he said, refusing to identify the suspect.

Four soldiers were killed and 21 wounded in the raid, Kakilala said.

The raid followed a bloody anti-terror operation in January that the Philippines says killed Malay-sian militant Zulkifl i bin Hir, one of Asia’s most wanted men, but also claimed the lives of 44 police commandos.

The BIFF and other rebels killed the commandos as the oper-ation backfi red, triggering a wave of outrage in the Philippines that has shaken the administration of President Benigno Aquino.

The fi ghting centres on the Liguasan marshlands of the south, where Filipino militant Ab-del Basit Usman, one of the terror suspects sought by the US, sur-vived the January 25 police raid.

The military said last week that aside from Usman, it was hunting four Indonesians and one

Relic found underwater by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen

Manila, Philippines |AFP| Saturday 3/7/2015 – The pre-sumed wreck of one of Japan’s most famous World War II battle-ships whose discovery in the Phil-ippines was announced by Micro-soft co-founder Paul Allen this week is unlikely to be salvaged, an offi cial suggested Saturday.

The American billionaire said Wednesday his exploration team

Makabayan members march to Mendiola in Manila on Friday to call for President Aquino’s resignation in connection with the Mamasapano encounter. Thousands of students from state-run universities also walked out of their classes to join the protest to condemn the government’s alleged failure to address various issues like tuition fee and fuel price increases.(MNS photo)

MANILA, Mar 9 (Mabuhay) – President Benigno Aquino III on Monday received support from evangelical church leaders amid calls for him to resigned over the bloody Mamasapano operation last January 25.

During the prayer meeting at the Malacañan Palace grounds, Jesus is Lord (JIL) Church lead-er Bro. Eddie Villanueva urged Aquino on behalf of other evan-gelical church leaders not to quit his post.

“We are beseeching you to ful-fi ll your duty, your constitutional duty to fi nish your term,” Vil-lanueva told Aquino during the prayer gathering.

Villanueva also assured the President of “all-out support to protect the Constitution.”

Before this, the JIL leader read Bible verses on submitting to gov-ernment authorities and warning against rebellion.

Villanueva’s son, Joel, its the

President Benigno S. Aquino III congratulates the newly installed PNP-SAF Director Chief Superintendent Moro Virgilio Lazo as PNP-SAF OIC P/CSupt. Noli Taliño (left) and PNP Deputy Chief for Operation, OIC Chief PDDG Leonardo Espina and DILG Sec. Mar Roxas look on during the Assumption of Command Ceremony of Philippine National Police-Special Action Force at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City on Wednesday (March 04). Lazo is a member of the Philippine Military Academy “Mahar-lika” Class of 1984. (MNS photo)

MANILA, Mar 9 (Mabuhay) – “The truth is, I was given the wrong information.”

President Benigno Aquino III made this statement on Monday as he enumerated errors suppos-edly committed by former Special Action Force (SAF) chief Director Getulio Napeñas Jr. that resulted in the high number of police fatal-ities in the January 25 Mamasa-pano clash with Moro rebels.

During a prayer gathering in Malacañang, Aquino said he was “fooled” by Napeñas during the operation.

“Maraming wishful thinking si Napeñas compared to reality. Ma-linaw na binola ako,” he said.

He also refused to take re-sponsibility for the infamous op-eration, which left over 60 people killed including 44 police com-mandos.

“Kung ako ang may kasalanan dito, bakit di ko aakuin lahat?” Aquino said.

The President also did not mention anything about the role of resigned Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima, his close friend, in the Mamasapano mission.

Forty-four SAF members were killed when the operation result-ed in a clash with the Moro Islam-ic Liberation Front (MILF) and its

Sultan Kudarat, Philippines |AFP| Saturday 3/7/2015 – Hun-dreds of Muslim rebels lined up in the Philippines Saturday to register as voters, keeping faith with a 2014 peace pact that was thrown into doubt after 44 police-men were killed in a botched ter-ror raid.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, unarmed and wearing civilian clothes, had their photographs and fi n-gerprints taken at a government building in the southern town of Sultan Kudarat to qualify for vot-er identifi cation cards.

“They are all very eager to take part,” Von al Haq, spokesman for the 10,000-member MILF’s mili-tary wing told AFP.

Some would be voting for the

Actor Dingdong Dantes (center) marches with male representatives from different government agencies wearing stilettos during a solidarity walk for gender equality in Quezon City on Friday. The event aims to promote gender equality and women em-powerment to mark International Women’s Month of March. (MNS photo)

New York, United States |AFP| Monday 3/9/2015 – Two women with global clout – Hill-ary Clinton and Melinda Gates – released a sweeping report on Monday showing that women are still far from winning equal-ity in leadership positions.

The “No Ceilings” report is a review of progress made by wom-en since the 1995 Beijing confer-ence laid out a platform of action for achieving gender equality.

It was at that gathering that then fi rst lady Hillary Clinton declared: “Let it be that hu-man rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.”

But 20 years on, women are still “very much a minority” when it comes to holding po-litical offi ce, representing fewer than 30 percent of the world’s lawmakers, the report said.

US terror suspect thought killed in Mamasapano clash: army

Amid resignation calls, Aquino gets support from evangelical church leaders

Hillary Clinton says ‘not there yet’ on women’s equality

WWII Japan shipwreck salvage unlikely: Palace spokesman

Rebels sign up to vote as PHL moves to save peace pact

Aquino: Napeñas fooled me on Mamasapano mission

See US INVOLVED, page 6

See CHURCH SUPPORT page 6

See SHIPWRECK, page 6

See WOMEN’S EQUALITY, page 6 See REBELS, page 6 See AQUINO FOOLED page 6

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, March 11 -17, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST2

Manila, Philippines |AFP| Mon-day 3/9/2015 – Four Filipinos, an Austrian and four other foreigners were abducted in an attack on a Lib-yan oilfi eld last week, offi cial sources said Monday, after an assault blamed on Islamic State jihadists.

Eight guards were killed in the surprise attack on the southern oil-fi eld of Al-Ghani on Friday, the Lib-yan unit tasked with protecting oil installations has said.

The Libyan National Oil Company also said at the time that two foreign-ers – an Austrian and a Filipino who worked for a services company – were missing after the attack.

Austria’s foreign ministry, which had confi rmed that one of its nation-als was missing, said Monday that there were “reliable information” that they were “in the hands of IS terrorists”.

The ministry said in a statement that there were “no signs to indicate whether they are dead or alive”.

The missing Austrian, who is 39 years old, was named in unconfi rmed Austrian media reports as Dalibor S., a father-of-two oil manager and for-mer soldier from the northern city of Linz.

Philippines foreign department spokesman Charles Jose said Ma-nila’s embassy in Tripoli had reported that four Filipinos and fi ve foreign-ers had been snatched, including the Austrian, two Bangladeshis, a Czech national and a Ghanian.Still no sign of

abducted OFWs in LibyaMeanwhile in Manila, the Depart-

ment of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said that there are still no leads on the whereabouts of four Filipinos ab-ducted by militants in Libya.

“Hindi pa po natin malaman kung sino ang responsible at kung saan po ang apat nating kababayan,” said DFA Assistant Secretary Charles Jose.

Jose said the embassy in Tripoli is in contact with the OFW’s employer, the Value Added Oilfi eld Services (VAOS), to get information on the workers condition. However, the em-ployer said it has not received any ransom demand.

The latest incident brings to seven the number of Filipino oilfi eld work-ers abducted in Libya. The fi rst one involved the abduction of three Pinoy workers from Mabrouk oilfi eld, while the second incident happened in Al-Ghani where militants snatched a group including four OFWs.

“Hindi po natin alam kung saan ang kanilang whereabouts. Wala po tayong leads kaya po talagang ini-exert po ng embassy natin lahat ng effort para matunton ang kanilang kinalalagyan,” Jose said.

On Monday, a spokesman for the Austrian foreign ministry said Islam-ic State militants in Libya seized the group of foreigners at the al-Ghani oilfi eld, citing “secure information”.

“We know that they were not in-jured when they were transported

away from the al-Ghani oilfi eld,” the spokesman said, adding Austria had information the group was taken by Islamic State militants.

The DFA has renewed its call to remaining Filipino workers in Libya to avail of the government’s repatria-tion program.

“Kagaya po sa Al-Ghani, mayroon pa pong 52 other Filipinos na gusto po natin lahat sila ay mapabalik na,” he said.

So far, only 36 out of the 52 remain-ing OFWs in Al-Ghani availed of the government’s repatriation program.

“Inaasahan po namin na madada-gdagan pa po ang numero. Tentative-ly, mayroon po tayong naka-schedule na repatriation bukas para sa nag-sign up,” he said.

Alert Level 4, which means a total deployment ban and mandatory re-patriation, is still in place in Libya.

Jose earlier said around 4,000 Filipinos still remain in Libya, mainly due to eco-nomic reasons.

The attack “underscore[s] the esca-lating threat to the safety and secu-rity of Filipino oil workers in Libyan oil fi elds which have been targeted by armed groups in recent weeks,” Jose told a news conference, adding that no demands had been issued.

A total of seven Filipinos have now been abducted in the North African state this year and the fate of another three seized in the Al-Mabruk oilfi eld early last month remains unknown.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |AFP| Monday 3/9/2015 – Saudi Arabia on Monday vowed “zero tolerance” against the illegal employment of migrants, more than a year af-ter tens of thousands of foreigners were deported in an earlier crack-down.

The labour and interior minis-tries “confi rm that the inspection campaigns aim to track violators of labour and residency”, the offi cial Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

“Violations will be met with zero tolerance,” it said, targeting those who allow the illegal employment of foreigners.

Companies whose staff are not properly registered, or who work for others, can be fi ned up to 100,000 riyals ($27,000) and face

other penalties including jail and deportation of the manager.

Individual violators, including religious pilgrims who overstay, will also be tracked down, SPA said. “They will be caught at their residences. Procedures will be im-plemented to penalize and deport them,” it said.

In 2013, Saudi Arabia said it de-ported more than 60,000 illegal for-eign workers after a months-long amnesty to formalize their status or leave the kingdom.

Nearly a million migrants from various countries took advantage of the amnesty to leave voluntarily.

Another four million were able to fi nd employers to sponsor them, a legal requirement in Saudi Arabia as in several other Gulf states.

Ethiopia said it repatriated more than 100,000 of its citizens follow-ing the crackdown, while offi cial media in Sudan said in excess of 11,000 workers had returned vol-untarily when the amnesty ended.

Millions of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia do everything from manual labor to management, but the government has been trying to boost employment of Saudi nation-als.

At the end of 2012, offi cial data said there were about 20 million Saudis out of a total population of around 29 million in the kingdom, the world’s biggest oil exporter.

Saudi unemployment was around 12 percent in the fi rst half of last year, according to offi cial data cited by Jadwa Investment.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | | Monday 3/9/2015 – Saudi Arabia on Monday beheaded a Filipino convicted of mur-dering his boss, bringing to 40 the number of executions this year.

In just over two months, Saudi Arabia has beheaded almost half the number of foreigners and Saudis ex-ecuted during all of 2014, according to AFP tallies.

Joven Esteva was found guilty of stabbing the Saudi in the chest in 2007.

“The perpetrator had worked as a driver for him,” an interior ministry statement carried by the offi cial Sau-di Press Agency said.

Authorities carried out the sen-tence against Esteva in Riyadh, add-ing to what Amnesty International calls an unprecedented pace of execu-tions in the kingdom this year.

“It is with sadness that we confi rm the execution of Joven Esteva at 9:00 am today, Saudi time, (0600 GMT) in

Riyadh,” foreign department spokes-man Charles Jose said in a state-ment.

“Regrettably, despite efforts of the Philippine government, (the) family of the victim refused to grant forgive-ness,” he said, without giving other details.

London-based Amnesty says the number of death sentences carried out so far this year in Saudi Arabia has been almost four times that for the same period in 2014.

The death penalty for murderers aims “to maintain security, serve jus-tice, and implement the provisions of God,” the interior ministry says.

But human rights groups have ex-pressed concern about the dangers of the innocent being sentenced to death.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug traffi cking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s version of Islamic sharia

law.There have been around 80 execu-

tions annually in the kingdom since 2011, with 87 last year by AFP’s tally.

Saudi Arabia is among the world’s top executioners, according to Am-nesty.

The kingdom beheaded another Filipino worker, Carlito Lana, on De-cember 12 for shooting a Saudi man and then running him over with a car.

About 10 percent of Filipinos work overseas, attracted by the promise of salaries higher than they can earn at home. Their remittances are a vital support for the Philippines economy.

A Filipina accused of smuggling heroin into Indonesia in 2010 has also been sentenced to die.

Manila is seeking to have the im-pending execution by fi ring squad stopped by lodging an appeal to have her case reviewed by the judiciary there.

MANILA, Mar 7 (Mabuhay) – Poor but deserving students can get to earn some money this dry season with an employ-ment program of the Metropolitan Manila Development Au-thority and Department of Labor and Employment.

The MMDA said the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) seeks to encourage employment for “fi nan-cially challenged but deserving” students this year.

Applications will be accepted from March 23 to April 10, at the MMDA administrative service offi ce.

Students wanting to avail of the SPES should be 17 to 25 years old and must present a certifi ed photocopy of their birth and baptismal certifi cate.

High school graduates may also submit their certifi ed pho-tocopies of their Form 138 where they have at least a passing grade of 75.

Those in college must show their school registration class cards, with at least passing grades.

Out of school youths must have certifi cations of good mor-al character issued by the authorized barangay offi cials.

Also, they must show a certifi ed photocopy of their latest income tax return for 2013, duly fi led with the Bureau of In-ternal Revenue, if parents are employed and earning below P138,247 a year.

If parents are minimum wage earners, they must show a certifi cate of tax exemption issued by the BIR including af-fi davit of non-fi ling of income tax return. (MNS)

TAGAYTAY CITY, Mar 7 (Mabuhay) – Asia-Pacifi c busi-ness leaders are pushing for alternative ways of fi nancing long-term infrastructure investments in the region, includ-ing tapping the capital markets.

Dr. Julius Caesar Parrenas, a member of the APEC Busi-ness Advisory Council (ABAC), said APEC member econo-mies do not have enough fi nancing particularly for long-term infrastructure projects.

“Most regions really depend on the banking sector; banks get very short term, medium term funds...They need insur-ance companies, the pension funds to really develop and to invest in infrastructures,” he said in a press briefi ng on the sidelines of APEC meetings here.

Parrenas thus underscored the importance of the develop-ment of the capital markets.

He noted that the region is still very much dependent on the banking sector as a source of fi nancing, while more ad-vanced markets have more diversity.

“You have the bond market, the debt market and then you have the equity market. So that if there is a crisis in one of them, then the others can step in to provide the fi nancing and keep the economy going,” he added.

Parrenas said that institutional investors like insurance companies and pension funds park their money in the capi-tal markets in order to invest in the long-term projects like infrastructure.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said the bond market in the Philippines has started to grow.

Guinigundo said that while loans provided by the banks are still huge, the funding from the bond and securities mar-kets is also growing.

“It is up for the proponent to securitize their exposure in the infrastructure projects. There is nothing that will pre-vent them from going into the bond market and source their funds,” he added.

Manila, Philippines |AFP| Friday 3/6/2015 - 12:47 GMT | 304 words

Super typhoon Haiyan and surging rice prices pushed the number of Filipinos living in poverty to 25.8 percent in the fi rst half of last year despite strong economic growth, offi cial data released Friday showed.

The 1.2 percent rise was compared to the 24.6 percent of people in the Philippines who were considered poor a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority said in a state-ment.

The increase followed Haiyan which struck in November 2013, killing more than 7,350 people and ravaging an area as big as Portugal in the nation of around 100 million people.

The government agency deemed a family of fi ve who lived off 8,778 pesos ($199.3) a month -- roughly $1.33 per person a day – to be poor.

Nevertheless the Philippines, one of Asia’s fastest-grow-ing economies, saw the average income of Filipinos rise by 6.4 percent in the fi rst six months of 2014, Economic Plan-ning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in the statement.

“The very high prices of food wiped out the gains in per capita income,” he added.

The areas ravaged by Haiyan saw the most substantial jumps in poverty levels, he said.

Notwithstanding the ravages of Haiyan, the Philippine economy expanded by 6.1 percent last year, second only to China among Asian economies according to the government.

The biggest rises in per capita income, percentage-wise, occurred amongst the poorest sections of the Philippines dur-ing this period, Balisacan said.

MANILA, Mar 9 (Mabuhay) – After posting a surety bond of P11.6 million, Andal Ampatuan Sr’s son Sajid has been ordered temporarily released by a Quezon City court - a fi rst in the fi ve-year trial.

In an order issued on Monday, Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the QC RTC Branch 221 said Sajid’s bail request was “in order” and ordered the Quezon City Jail Annex in Taguig City to free the murder suspect.

“Accused Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan, having posted the recommended bail of P200,000 each or in total of 11.6 million in the 58 cases undertaken by Travelers Insurance and Sure-ty Corp... which the court fi nds in order, the same is hereby approved and he is allowed to be on temporary liberty upon the same bond,” said Solis-Reyes. Solis-Reyes issued the re-lease order after denying the partial motion for resolution (MR) earlier fi led by the prosecution to contest an order by the court granting Sajid’s bail request.

Sajid fi led his surety bond last January 30, but the judge “held in abeyance” acting on it pending the resolution of the prosecution’s partial MR. The judge said the QC Jail Annex “is hereby directed to immediately release accused Datu Sa-jid Islam Ampatuan from detention unless he is being held for some other lawful cause/s.”

In a separate order, Solis-Reyes also granted the prose-cution’s request for the issuance of a hold departure order against Sajid.

4 Filipinos abducted in Libya

‘Zero tolerance’ in new Saudi blitz on illegal labor

Filipino beheaded in Saudi for killing boss

MMDA, DOLE holding summer job program for youths

APEC business leaders pushing for infrastructure fi nancing alternatives

More Filipinos pushed into poverty by Haiyan, high rice prices

Massacre suspect Sajid Ampatuan released on P11.6-M bond

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, March 11 -17, 2015 Visit www.usasianpost.com 3

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OPINIONBy Jérôme Cartillier / Andrew Beatty

Selma, United States |AFP| Saturday 3/7/2015 – US President Barack Obama rallied a new generation of Americans to the spirit of the civil rights struggle on Saturday, warning their march for freedom “is not yet fi nished.”

In a forceful speech in Selma, Alabama on the 50th anniversary of the brutal repression of a peaceful protest, America’s fi rst black presi-dent denounced new attempts to restrict voting rights.

And he paid stirring tribute to the sacrifi ce of a generation of activ-ists who marched so that black Americans could enjoy civil rights and opened the road that eventually led him to the White House.

“We gather here to celebrate them,” he declared, standing on the spot where Alabama state troopers launched an assault on the march-ers in scenes that shocked America.

“We gather here to honor the courage of ordinary Americans willing to endure billy clubs and the chastening rod, tear gas and the tram-pling hoof, men and women who despite the gush of blood and splin-tered bone would stay true to their North Star and keep marching to-ward justice.”

After the Selma march and others like it, then President Lyndon Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act that sought to prevent racist of-fi cials from excluding African Americans from the ballot.

That law, Obama said, is again under threat from state govern-ments seeking to tighten voter registration rules in a bit to restrict the size of the franchise.

“How can that be?” he asked, noting that previous Republican presi-dents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush – who was present for the speech – had renewed it.

“One hundred members of Congress have come here today to honor people who were willing to die for the right to protect it,” he declared.

“If we want to honor this day, let those hundred go back to Washing-ton and gather four hundred more and together pledge to make it their mission to restore the law this year.

“That is how we honor this bridge,” he said, in front of a crowd esti-mated at 40,000, more than twice the population of what is still a very poor and mainly black town.

After the speech, Obama greeted civil rights veterans and he and Bush joined a 50-strong to group singing “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize” to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge—named after a Confederate general and Klu Klux Klan leader.

“What an extraordinary honor this has been, especially to have Sa-sha and Malia here,” Obama told the group, referring to his daughters, whom he has cited a members of the generation that must take the struggle forward.

The president and his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, paused halfway across the road bridge to hear Georgia lawmaker and Selma marcher Congressman John Lewis describe the events of the day.

By Robert MacphersonWashington, United States |AFP| Monday

3/9/2015 – The University of Oklahoma banned a major fraternity from its campus Monday over a YouTube video that shows some of its members sing-ing a racist chant.

The video came to light over the weekend, just as Americans were marking the 50th anniversary of the Selma, Alabama civil rights marches.

The chant – sung to the tune of a nursery rhyme – used the racially charged N-word and refers to lynching in affi rming that blacks shall never be members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the biggest fraternity networks in the United States.

The fraternity’s national headquarters suspended its University of Oklahoma chapter and apologized for the “unacceptable” incident.

But offi cials at the university in the city of Nor-man went further, shutting down the Sigma Alpha Epsilon frat house and ordering its members to im-mediately go fi nd other places to live.

“As far as I’m concerned, the house will not be back, not as long as I’m president,” university presi-dent David Boren told a press conference.

It also kicked off an investigation to confi rm who among the 30,000 students who attend the univer-sity participated in the video.

Boren conceded, however, that the campus’s Sig-ma Alpha Epsilon chapter has not been forthcoming with details.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s national headquarters in Illinois apologized for “the unacceptable and racist behavior of the individuals in the video.”

‘Won’t be tolerated’“This type of racist behavior will not be tolerated

and is not consistent with the values and morals of our fraternity,” it said in a statement.

The video went viral on social media after it was posted on YouTube on Sunday by Unheard Move-ment, an African American student group at the university.

Nine seconds long, it was apparently shot in a bus, with young men in tuxedos punching the air with their fi sts and a blonde woman hoisting a glass of wine.

It’s unknown when the video was taken.Oklahoma City television station KOCO reported

that some Sigma Alpha Epsilon members left the fraternity house overnight Sunday under police pro-tection.

Vandals meanwhile turned spray paint onto the brick building. On the side, graffi ti saying “Tear it down” was seen.

Several hundred students turned out early Mon-day for a protest, attended by Boren and members of the university’s beloved American football team.

Online, a crowdfunding appeal went out on Indi-egogo for Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s longtime chef at the University of Oklahoma, who is African American.

“He is about to lose his job because of a bus full of racist kids,” said Blake Burkhart, a graduate of the university that is situated in the city of Norman.

With 15,000 members, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is one of the biggest fraternity networks in the United States, with more than 200 chapters on campuses nationwide.

Its history goes back to the mid-19th century when it was founded in the Deep South, before the Civil War, when slavery was commonplace.

Under scrutiny already In recent years it has come under scrutiny over al-

cohol-fueled initiation ceremonies, which it banned in 2014 under the glare of negative publicity.

News of the University of Oklahoma video came as President Barack Obama reminded Americans how the dark shadow of racism still hangs over the nation.

“We know the march is not yet over, the race is not yet won,” he said on Saturday by the Selma bridge where African Americans and police clashed in 1965.

Oklahoma as a state has a dark history of racism, adopting segregation within weeks of statehood in 1907 – and not repealing race laws before 1965.

Some contend it still has a ways to go.“We need to face the fact that racial and religious

bigotry continues to be every bit as much a part of this state as its nationally recognized football team,” wrote one white Oklahoman, Lyle Hamilton, on Facebook.

Singapore, Singapore |AFP| Monday 3/9/2015 – Singapore on Monday defended a court order for two German men to be caned for spray-painting a metro train and trespassing into a high-security depot, re-jecting claims the punishment amounts to torture.

A court in the city-state, which takes a hardline stance against vandalism, last week sentenced An-dreas Von Knorre, 22, and Elton Hinz, 21, to nine months in prison and three strokes of the cane over the incident in November last year.

US-based Human Rights Watch has slammed Singapore’s continued use of caning – a punishment dating back to British colonial rule – as a “shameful recourse to using torture”.

But Singapore’s state prosecution arm said Mon-day the court’s decision showed that the Southeast Asian island nation was holding the two Germans to “the same standards as all others”.

“Singapore’s laws against vandalism are well known. Caning is a prescribed punishment for the offence of vandalism, and the law applies to any per-son who chooses to break it,” a spokeswoman for the Attorney-General’s Chambers told AFP.

“Caning is not torture. It is carried out in Singa-pore under strict standards, monitored at all times by a doctor,” she added.

Von Knorre and Hinz were “vandals who broke the law for their own self-aggrandizement, without

consideration of the social costs, and the disruptions that their acts would cause to others,” she said.

In their fi nal hearing, both men called their acts a “stupid mistake” and pleaded for mercy.

Court documents said they had broken into a sub-urban depot of state-linked metro operator SMRT on November 7 and 8.

On the second occasion, they spray-painted graf-fi ti on a train carriage.

Under the law, those convicted of vandalism us-ing an indelible substance face a minimum manda-tory three strokes of the cane.

The punishment, which entails being whipped on the back of the thigh below the buttocks, is also im-posed for serious crimes such as rape, gang robbery and rioting.

Singapore’s tough stance on vandalism became global news in 1994 when an American teenager, Michael Fay, was caned for damaging cars and pub-lic property.

In 2010 Swiss expatriate Oliver Fricker was sen-tenced to seven months in jail and three strokes of the cane after he used spray paint to vandalize a train at a depot.

Human Rights Watch said after the Germans were sentenced that “every day that Singapore keeps caning on its books is a dark day for the coun-try’s international reputation.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |AFP| Sunday 3/8/2015 – Malaysia’s prime minister said Sunday his nation remains committed to the so-far fruitless hunt for fl ight MH370 exactly one year after it went missing, and is hopeful the plane will be found.

Najib Razak’s comments came as Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the search in the southern Indian Ocean, which is being led by his country, could be widened if the current probe is un-successful.

“Together with our international partners, we have followed the little evidence that exists. Malay-sia remains committed to the search, and hopeful that MH370 will be found,” Najib Razak said in a statement to mark the anniversary of the plane’s disappearance. The year-long hunt in the deep ocean at least 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) off Australia’s west coast where the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 is believed to have crashed has so far yielded no sign of the plane.

An independent team of investigators tasked with probing the mystery is to release an interim report on its fi ndings on Sunday at 3.00 pm (0700 GMT) in Kuala Lumpur, the government said.

It remains unclear whether it will contain any new information on what might have caused the aircraft to disappear after veering from its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route on March 8 of last year with 239 passengers and crew aboard.

“No words can describe the pain the families of those on board are going through,” Najib said, call-ing the plane’s disappearance “without precedent”.

“The lack of answers and defi nitive proof – such as aircraft wreckage – has made this more diffi cult to bear.”

Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told relatives of the crew on the fl ight that the carrier’s management shares their ongoing grief.

“We remain hopeful that the search will help us

fi nd the answers that we all seek,” Ahmad Jauhari told staff at a remembrance ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.

“Until then, as a family, we will continue to sup-port to each other.”

Further search: Australian PM Investigators still lack any trace of the jet, includ-

ing the “black box” data recorders considered most likely to yield clues.

More than 40 percent of a designated 60,000-square-kilometre (23,000-square-mile) zone believed to be the most likely location of the crash site has been scanned for wreckage using sophisti-cated sonar, but nothing related to MH370 has been found. The priority search is due to conclude in May, but Abbott said Sunday it could be extended further “as long as there are reasonable leads” as the next of kin needed answers.

“If we don’t succeed in this search, there is anoth-er search that we intend to make,” the Australian leader said in Sydney.

“We’ve got 60,000 square kilometers (23,000-square-mile) that is the subject of this search. If that’s unsuccessful, there’s another 60,000 square kilometers that we intend to search and, as I said, we are reasonably confi dent of fi nding the plane.”

Abbott did not give further details about where the proposed new probe would take place.

The independent investigative team was set up in the weeks after the plane’s disappearance under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requirements.

Its report is considered only an “interim” one due to the lack of hard evidence.

Malaysia’s Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told AFP in an interview on Saturday that the hunt for MH370 would be sent “back to the drawing board” if the current search zone comes up empty.

MANILA, Mar 10 (Mabuhay) – Critics are challenging President Aquino to accept responsibility for the Mamasapano carnage instead of pinning the blame solely on relieved Special Action Force commander Getulio Napenas.

Senator JV Ejercito said he sees nothing wrong with the President taking responsibility for the anti-terror raid, which saw 44 SAF com-mandos killed by Moro fi ghters.

“I think fi rst of all, as commander-in-chief, I don’t think [the Presi-dent] should deny whatever happened. The mission had very good in-tentions to neutralize and capture the two terrorists. The President knew from the start about the mission. His people are trying to dis-tance the President and the President as well is trying to point at Nap-enas solely,” he said.

The senator likened President Aquino’s situation to the one faced by US President Ronald Reagan during the Iran Contra affair.

Ejercito said Reagan accepted blame for the scandal even though he did not fully know all the details about the move to sell arms to Iran.

“Dito baligtad dahil alam naman natin from the start na alam ng Pangulo ang misyon. Ito ay may blessing. Yung chain of command na-sira na sa simula pa lamang,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes described as “self-serving” the President’s speech that pinned the blame on Nap-enas.

He said the President “conveniently failed to explain” why suspend-ed Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima was involved in the Mamasapano operation. He said Aquino also failed to explain why he himself did not inform his other offi cials of the sensitive operation.

The President on Monday refused to accept sole responsibility for the Mamasapano mission and blamed Napenas for disobeying his or-der to coordinate the operation properly with the Armed Forces.

He said Napenas could have aborted the mission after deviating from the operational plan but failed to do so, leading to the loss of lives.

He also blamed Napenas for his lack of professionalism and for send-ing wrong information about the progress of the mission, pointing out that SAF troopers were coming under heavy fi re even as Napenas’ text messages showed lack of urgency to send more troops.

“Sinolo ni Napenas. Siya ang nag desisyon at may times na yung de-sisyon niya palpak. Pag alis niya sa akin nung January 9, lumalabas ngayon na wala siyang intensyon na tuparin yung utos ko sa kanyang mag-coordinate,” he said.

“Kung ako ang may kasalanan dito, bakit di ko aakuin lahat?” he added.

For his part, Ejercito said it is impossible for the President to say that he did not know what was happening when he was surrounded by top security offi cials, including the Armed Forces chief of staff and PNP offi cer-in-charge Leonardo Espina, on the day of the mission.

Critics: Why pin blame on Napeñas

Obama in Selma: ‘Our march is not over’

US university expels fraternity over race chant video

Singapore rejects criticism that caning is ‘torture’

Malaysia PM ‘hopeful’ MH370 will be found, committed to search


By Hannah De Castro-AbinumanWinston Quitasol may not be a

name familiar to many. But a lot of people have seen his work. If you watched a Hollywood movie any time between 1992 to now, chances are, you’ve already seen at least one of the fi lms he worked on. As a vi-sual effects and lighting artist, Win-ston Quitasol has worked on vari-ous live action and animated fi lms such as The Matrix Reloaded, Iron-man 3, I Am Legend, Spiderman 2, The Aviator, Ghostrider, Tangled, Frozen, and most recently, in the academy award winner for best ani-mated feature fi lm - “Big Hero 6.”

In the fi elds of visual effects and digital animation, lighting is a sig-nifi cant element. It sets the mood

and creates depth and realism in a scene, both in live action and in digital animation. The lighting art-ist adds emotion to the scene by adding light to certain elements in the images. It is his duty to ensure that the visual effects and live-ac-tion elements blend seamlessly; as though they both exist in the same environment. Whether it is for a fully animated fi lm or for enhancing a live action scene with the use of computer-generated-imagery (CGI), it is the lighting artist role to add the fi nishing touches to a project. And this is the role of Winston Qui-tasol as a lighting and compositing artist. Indeed, an essential part of any movie.

”After watching Star Wars, I

Filipino-American artist, Winston Quitasol with his most recent project, Baymax and Hiro in the background

Big Hero 6 before and after photos showing lighting and animation effects done by Quitasol

knew I wanted to have a career in fi lm,” said Quitasol when asked how he decided to go into his line of work. Years later, he studied Television, Radio and Film at the California State University of Long Beach. And he landed his fi rst gig in fi lm as a produc-tion assistant in the movie Ghost in 1990. He later on switched to visual effects and animation as a lighting and compositing art-ist. And now has more than 50 fi lm and television credits to his resume.

Although he is now living his dream, it was not an easy road for Quitasol. His parents ini-tially did not support his deci-sion to try his luck in Hollywood. He was born in the Philippines

but moved to the United States when he was 4 years old. And even though he was raised in the US, his parents still maintained their traditional Filipino values and principles. Just like most Filipinos, his parents wanted him to have a more traditional and stable job, like a doctor, law-yer or engineer. Luckily, Quita-sol proved that he had what it takes to make it in the fi lm in-dustry.

“I had to work very hard to get to where I am today,” said Qui-tasol. In his journey to pursue his dream, he experienced a lot of road blocks. But Filipinos are very resilient. And this was very evident in Quitasol’s character. He actually saved all his rejec-

tion letters to keep him moti-vated. Once in a while, he would read them in order to push him-self to do better. Truly, he is an inspiration to anyone. “My ad-vice to the Filipinos, and anyone who has a dream is to just go for it. But you also have to put in the work and get the right school-ing,” said Quitasol.

Quitasol has been part of a multitude of praise-worthy proj-ects. But from his long list of accolades, his favorites are “Spi-derman 2” for live action, which, won an academy award for spe-cial effects. For animated short fi lm, the Oscar winner, “Paper-man.” And for animated full fea-ture fi lms, his favorites are “Fro-zen” and “Big Hero 6.”

Filipino artist goes big in Hollywood

By Nimfa RuedaLOS ANGELES – Two Fili-

pino-Americans were re-elected to serve a four-year term on the city councils of Cerritos and Carson in Los Angeles County, according to semi-offi cial results released Wednesday

Mark Pulido, currently may-or of Cerritos, topped the city council elections for the second time. He drew the most votes ever recorded in the city’s elec-tion history when he was fi rst elected to the council in 2011. Pulido is also the fi rst Fil-Am on the city council.

Elito Santarina, mayor pro tem of Carson, was re-elected to his fourth term on the city coun-cil.

Pulido is one of three Fil-Ams currently serving as city mayor in LA County, the most popu-

lous county in the US and home to an estimated half a million Fil-Ams. The two others are Du-arte Mayor Tzeitel Paras-Carac-ci and Bellfl ower Mayor Sonny Santa Ines.

Other Fil-Ams on city coun-cils in LA County include Ar-tesia Mayor Pro Tem Victor Manalo, Walnut Councilmem-ber Antonio Cartagena and Sierra Madre Councilmember Rachelle Arizmendi.

“I am humbled and honored for this opportunity to continue serving the residents of our be-loved hometown community,” said Pulido after the semi-offi -cial results of the March 3 elec-tions showed him leading the race. “We have accomplished a lot during my fi rst term on the city council, but there is much work still to be done – especially

as we continue torecover from the recession.”

Santarina, a retired teacher who hails from Nueva Ecija, campaigned on his work advo-cating for seniors and youth groups and supporting anti-al-cohol and anti-drug initiatives in the city.

“Let’s continue to work to-gether in improving the safety, wellness, education , economic development, and civic engage-ment for Carson’s youth, fami-lies, neighborhoods, and future generations,” Santarina said.

Pulido, who is also the dis-trict director for Congress-man Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), said his reelection cam-paign gave him the opportunity to engage the community in a conversation on how to keep the city moving forward.

2 Fil-Ams win in municipal elections in LA county

Rhody E. Laigo, 88, of Pleasanton, California, a mother of six, deacon-ess and a former school teacher back in the Phil-ippines where she was born, has joined her Mak-er last Saturday, March 7, 2015.

Mrs. Laigo was an active member of the United Church of Christ in the Sunset District in San Francisco before she moved to Pleasan-ton, where she retired and lived with her son. A former real estate agent who ran her own real es-tate fi rm for years, Mrs. Laigo was also a land developer, a sales profes-sional, a resource speak-er and someone who knew English words you thought didn’t exist that you could hardly beat her in the game of Scrabble.

Mrs. Laigo immigrat-ed to the U.S. and settled in Daly City, where she made new friends.

Married to the former Atty. Solomon P. Laigo, Mrs. Laigo is survived by her three sons, Solomon Jr., Reuben James and Rhony; daughters Avery and Jennifer (a sibling – Hildegarde – passed away in 2004); grand-sons Aristotle, Ernesto Jr., VJ, Andrew and Neil Joseph; granddaughters Johanne, Shirley, Althea, Angelle and Karina; oth-er great grandsons and granddaughters both here and in the Philip-pines.

Rhody Laigo, mother of Weekend Balita editor, 88


LOS ANGELES, March 6, 2015 – The LA Galaxy Foundation and the Ameri-can Heart Association (AHA) have joined forces through a yearlong col-laboration to fi ght cardiovascular disease.The LA Galaxy Foundation’s support of $125,000 will help fund cardiovascular health initiatives aimed at engaging young people in healthy physical activity, providing blood pressure screenings to women, and helping congenital heart defect support groups.

Heart disease, stroke and other cardiovas-cular diseases are the leading causes of death among Americans, claiming the lives of ap-proximately 787,000 men, women and chil-dren every year. The LA Galaxy family was personally affected by heart disease last year when Galaxy defender A. J. DeLaGarza lost his son Luca to a congenital heart defect only six days after he was born.

“We’re extremely proud and hon-ored to help contribute to the life-saving work of the American Heart Association,” said LA Galaxy Chris Klein. “This is an organization whose cause is very near to our club and we look forward to the work-ing alongside AHA this year to help fi ght heart disease in our communi-ties.”

The Galaxy’s sponsorship will also benefi t the AHA’s lifesaving work, including funding innovative scientifi c research, bringing health education programs to children and adults in the community, setting science-based best practices for treating heart disease and stroke and advocating for policies that positively im-pact cardiovascular health.

“We are thrilled to work with the LA Galaxy Foundation and look for-ward to seeing the impact this col-laboration will have on the heart health of our community,” said Tammy Rocker, American Heart Association Senior Vice President of Southern California. “Eighty per-cent of heart disease and stroke can be prevented, and strong, synergis-tic collaborations such as this are important as we work to empower Los Angeles to live healthier lives.”

Tomorrow, March 7, from 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m., the LA Galaxy Foundation will host the American Heart Association’s HeartChase at StubHub Center, with DeLaGarza and his wife scheduled to attend. The event will in-volve several teams competing in interactive games and challenges that will take them around StubHub Center for the chance to be named HeartChase champions. Top teams

will have the opportunity to meet DeLaGarza in a private meet and greet during the event.

Visit your local American Heart Associa-tion at www.heart.org/losangeles.

AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION-Founded in 1924, the American Heart Asso-ciation today is the nation’s oldest and larg-est voluntary health organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. By 2020, the American Heart Association strives to improve the car-diovascular health of all Americans by 20%, while reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease and stroke by 20%. To learn more, call 1-800-AHA-USA1 or visit www.heart.org.

LA GALAXY FOUNDATION-The LA Galaxy Foundation, the non-profi t arm of the LA Galaxy, is dedicated to assisting the com-munity in which the team lives, works, and plays. LA Galaxy players, coaches, alumni and staff spend countless hours giving back to the community at local schools, hospitals, fi elds, and events. The Foundation continu-ally strives to aid organizations that meet its mission of supporting and creating education, health, and soccer-related activities and pro-grams for youth in the greater Los Angeles area. For more information, please visit www.lagalaxy.com/community/foundation.

Macau, Macau | | Friday 3/6/2015 – Fred-die Roach denied media reports published Friday that he had ordered armed guards to protect Manny Pacquiao at his Hollywood gym.

The UK’s Daily Mail newspaper reported that Roach had personally ordered security guards at his Wildcard gym in Los Angeles to carry guns “so people respect them” as Pacquiao trains in the build-up to his May 2 megafi ght with Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas.

But Roach, in Macau to supervise the cor-ner of China’s Zou Shiming as he challenges for the IBF fl yweight world title against Am-nat Ruenroeng of Thailand on Saturday, told AFP: “Yeah I heard something about that. It’s not true.

“We have our normal security. To say they are armed and are patrolling outside the gym is bull _ _ _t.”

Roach’s gym, where he has trained 34 world champions in an illustrious career that has seen him inducted into boxing’s Hall of Fame, is renowned for being open to all so fans can catch glimpses of their favorite fi ghters.

But Roach said that the doors will be closed to media and fans during most of Pacquiao’s training sessions, so his opponents don’t get any clues to their preparations.

“Yes we will work with Manny in private to pre-pare for Floyd – that’s normal. But to say I’ve ordered armed security is absolute bull _ _ _t,” Roach said.

Philippines eight-weight world champions and undefeated welter-weight Floyd Mayweath-er will fi nally go glove-to-glove in May to decide who is the best fi ghter of their generation in a con-test expected to break all records and generate in the region of $300 million dollars.

By Daniel HickMacau, Macau |AFP|

Friday 3/6/2015 – The May 2 superfi ght between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will be great for the sport of box-ing, no matter what the outcome, Pacquiao’s train-er Freddie Roach said on Friday.

Speaking ahead of the weigh-in for his charge Zou Shiming’s world title fi ght against IBF fl y-weight champion Amnat Ruenroeng on Saturday in Macau, Roach said he ex-pected the boxing’s popu-larity to surge on the back of the huge interest in the fi ght.

Hall of Fame trainer Roach owns the famous Wildcard gym in Los An-geles where Philippines idol and eight-division world champion Pacquiao is currently in training for the Mayweather encoun-ter. And Roach reckons it will be a very busy place after the two best fi ghters of a generation fi nally lock horns in Las Vegas in the richest fi ght of all time, expected to be worth more than $200 million.

“It’s going to generate a lot of interest in boxing,” Roach told AFP.

“I can see a lot of people are going to be coming in after that fi ght,” added Roach. Not that Roach is short of work. Despite battling the debilitat-ing effects of Parkinson’s disease, he will be in the corner for two other fi ght-ers on the Amnat-Zou un-dercard Saturday, junior middleweight Glen Tapia from the US and China’s junior welterweight Ik Yang. “I still have a lot of young boxers coming through,” said Roach, de-spite the rising popular-ity of competing sports such as mixed martial arts (MMA). “There’s a to-tal of 22 kids on the team and six who have a chance of winning titles. And there’s also a little girl called Christy, 16 years old and (she has) won the nationals something like fi ve times now. She might be the best fi ghter in the gym,” added the man who was last week voted US trainer of the year for the seventh time.

LA Galaxy Foundation joins forces with American Heart Association to fi ght cardiovascular disease

Roach slams reports of ‘armed guards’ at Pacquiao gym

Mayweather-Pacquiao will be ‘great for the sport’


US TERROR SUSPECTFrom page 1

REBELSFrom page 1

CHURCH SUPPORTFrom page 1

WOMEN’S EQUALITYFrom page 1

SHIPWRECKFrom page 1

AQUINO FOOLEDFrom page 1

US INVOLVEDFrom page 1

Arab who had bomb-making ex-pertise.

In addition to the suspected militants killed in the operation, which is expected to end this week, four were arrested and some 33 wounded, Kakilala said.

“We also got their bomb facto-ries,” he added.

The fi ghting has forced about 45,000 civilians to fl ee their homes, according to local offi cials.

The BIFF is now believed to number less than 300, but their leader, Ameril Umrakato, “re-mains very infl uential” in the area, he added.

director-general of the Technical Education and Skills Develop-

ment Authority and is Aquino’s close pal. (MNS)

About a fi fth of ministers in Latin America and Africa are women, but they tend to run portfolios such as health, educa-tion or welfare and are left out of defense and fi nancial ministries.

Women hold fi nance or budget cabinet posts in just 24 of 189 countries studied for the report.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has noted that fi ve countries still have all-male par-liaments, and eight countries do not have a single woman in cabi-net.

The report was released at the start of a 12-day UN confer-ence on women that will focus on women’s political power and their infl uence in economic de-cision-making. “Today, two de-cades later, it’s clear: We are not there yet. We still have a lot of work to do,” the former US sec-retary of state told an event to launch the report in New York.

Clinton, seen as the likely Democratic presidential front-runner, also highlighted gains in health, education and legal reform that have in many coun-tries allowed women to no longer be considered second-class citi-zens.

“There has never been a bet-ter time in history to be born fe-male,” she said.

Blueprint for action

On the business front, women CEOs in the top Fortune 500 companies were nowhere to be seen in 1995, and now represent fi ve percent, according to the study. Women are increasingly taking their place on boards, with their share of seats ranging from eight percent in Portugal to 36 percent in Norway, far short of parity.

Describing herself as a “data geek”, Melinda Gates said the year-long project provided knowl-edge and power to identify gaps and learn from the areas where advancement was achieved.

“We have essentially what amounts to a blueprint for ac-tion,” she said. “Now is the time to act.” Clinton will attend the UN conference on Tuesday to ad-dress the “unfi nished business” of the Beijing gathering amid some controversy over donations that the Clinton Foundation re-ceives from countries with poor rights records.

The United Nations has set a goal of achieving gender equality by 2030.

The “No Ceilings Full Partici-pation” report was compiled by the Clinton and Gates founda-tions, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the World Policy Cen-ter of the University of Califor-nia in Los Angeles.

repeatedly said elsewhere that the operation was led by the Phil-ippines, told AFP via text mes-sage. The pre-dawn raid by police commandos on a secluded farm-ing village controlled by Muslim rebels in the south was meant to be a surprise attack to capture or kill two men on the US govern-ment’s global list of “most want-ed terrorists”. Even though one of the alleged militants was re-ported killed, hundreds of rebels quickly outnumbered the police, trapping a big group in a cornfi eld and slaughtering the 44 comman-dos during a day-long battle.

National security silenceThe botched operation has seri-

ously damaged Aquino, and also forced his national police chief to resign.

But many politicians, tradi-tional media and netizens are broadening the net to encompass

possible US involvement as they probe the affair. Both houses of parliament have launched inqui-ries into the raid, and those in-vestigations have unsuccessfully sought to get specifi cs on US in-volvement.

In the hearings, broadcast live on television, authorities have de-clined to give a full explanation on the extent of any US role, citing security issues.

In one instance, Napeñas be-gan detailing some of the US in-volvement, stating that American “counterparts” provided intelli-gence, training and maps.

But before he could elaborate, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who was at the hearing, quickly intervened to silence him.

“May I interject? May I just re-mind the offi cer that he is already dwelling on matters of diplomatic relations and military intelli-

gence,” she said.In another hearing, Napeñas

confi rmed a US helicopter was brought in to evacuate the casu-alties, although authorities have refused to disclose where it came from. Philippine and US authori-ties have also said the severed fi nger from a corpse believed to be from the killed militant, Malay-sian national Zulkifl i bin Hir, was given to the FBI.

The FBI said it did a DNA test on the fi nger, which showed it was likely from Zulkifl i.

US military involvement in the Philippines is not unusual, as the two nations are longtime allies.

Until last month, the United States had a unit of about 500-600 special forces in the south-ern Philippines that trained local troops to fi ght Islamic militants but was itself not allowed to be engaged in combat.

had found the Musashi on the bed of the Sibuyan Sea in the central Philippines some 70 years after it was sunk by US forces in World War II.

Excited historians have lik-ened the discovery, if verifi ed, to fi nding the wreck of the Titanic, the famed British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean after colliding with an ice-berg in 1912.

President Benigno Aquino’s spokeswoman Abigail Valte said offi cials of the Philippines’ Na-tional Museum are contacting Al-len and his team to “coordinate” on what to do with the wreck,

which Allen says lies a kilometre (0.6 miles) under water.

However, the Musashi will likely remain where it was found, she told government radio.

“There have been groups in the past that have also been looking for the Musashi and, in fact, a dozen sunken Japanese warships have already been found in vari-ous places in the Philippines,” she said.

“As to queries on whether it will be salvaged, the answer is no, these are not normally refl oated.”

A 2009 act for the protection and conservation of national cul-tural heritage will apply to the

wreck, she said, describing the wreck as an “underwater archaeo-logical site”.

Under the law all cultural properties belong to the state, and may not be sold nor exported ex-cept temporarily for exhibition or research.

Explorations are also banned without National Museum au-thorization and supervision. Vio-lators can be jailed for up to 10 years if found guilty.

“We do have the relevant law that will apply to this particular case and, of course, we do intend to make sure that law is followed,” Valte said.

fi rst time, he added.“This is part of our prepara-

tions to lead our own govern-ment,” he said, referring to a March 2014 agreement in which the MILF committed to end an armed rebellion that has claimed 120,000 lives.

As part of the deal, the MILF is to disarm and President Benigno Aquino is set to legislate an area of Muslim self-rule.

Rey Sumalipao, regional head of the government’s Commission on Elections, told AFP he expects about 1,500 members to register within the day to allow them to

vote in national and local elec-tions.

Other MILF members are ex-pected to apply later, he added.

Muslim rebels have been bat-tling for independence or auton-omy in the southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines since the 1970s. The peace pro-cess was thrown into doubt on January 25 when MILF forces and other armed groups am-bushed police commandos going after Malaysian Zulkifl i bin Hir, one of the world’s most wanted Is-lamic militants. The fi ghting left 44 policemen dead and sparked a

public backlash, causing parlia-ment to suspend debates on the proposed self-rule law. The MILF returned some of the dead com-mandos’ weapons and pledged to go after other militants sought by the Philippine courts, but re-jected Aquino’s demand that it surrender those who took part in killings. Rebel leaders said they would impose their own sanctions on those found at fault.

The Senate and the House of Representatives have since said they will resume discussions on the bill that they said would likely pass by mid-June.

breakaway group, the Bangsam-oro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). Napeñas was ordered re-lieved following the incident.

The clash occurred despite the peace agreement signed by the government with the MILF in

March last year.The MILF, which said it was

acting on self-defense, claimed it lost 18 of its men in the encoun-ter. Five civilians were also re-portedly killed in the incident. (MNS)


MOTORING As the Geneva Motor Show con-

tinues, the International Organiza-tion of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA) announced that vehicle sales to consumers and businesses combined climbed 3% in 2014 to over 88 million units.

In 2014, the number of motor ve-hicles sold worldwide hit an all-time record high of 88.2 million, showing a 3.1% increase over the previous year. With close to 24 million cars sold, representing a 7% year-on-year up-tick, China strengthened its lead as the world’s leading car market. A similar boom was seen in the US, where car sales increased 6% from the previous year.

Certain European countries saw an even more impressive year-on-year spike: vehicle sales were up 20% in both Spain and the UK. The French market was less dynamic, though there was a 0.5% rise in new vehicle sales, which totaled just over 2 million in the country during 2014.

On the other hand, vehicle sales plummeted in Brazil (-7%), Turkey (-10%), Russia (-15%) and Argentina (-36%).

According to the organization, there are now 174 cars in circulation per 1,000 people (compared to 170 in 2013), or a total of 1.2 billion cars. The US is still the territory with the highest car ownership rate, with 790 vehicles

per 1,000 people. The same fi gure is 565 in Europe, 544 in Japan and just 91 in China, where sales are expected to rise exponentially over the coming years.

Global automotive production also hit a new record level in 2014, as the world’s manufacturers produced 89.5 million units (+3%), all vehicle types combined. China was the source of one out of four cars produced worldwide (26%).

For 2015, the OICA expects vehicle sales will rise to a new record of 91 million units, propelled by another rise in China (+7%) and steady growth in Europe and the US (+2%), despite a strong decline in Russia (-11%).

In China, there are now 91 vehicles for every 1,000 people. Though a record for the country, this car ownership rate is far behind those of Europe and North America.

Global car sales rose to record level in 2014At this year’s Geneva Motor Show,

there is clearly a bigger buzz among mainstream manufacturers about elec-tric vehicles.

According to Mercedes-Benz ex-ecutive Harald Kroger, who oversees the company’s e-drive vehicles, this growing interest could be because a battery-power breakthrough is on the horizon. The driving range of current electric vehicles is already improv-ing but within 10 years, the distance a plug-in vehicle will be able to travel on a single charge will have doubled, he told Auto Express.

Mercedes demonstrated its latest plug-in hybrid concept at this year’s show, the V-ision-e. It’s a big seven-seat MPV that can travel 50km just on the batteries before its gas engine kicks in. If interest is there, it will go into produc-tion.

The company chose its luxury MPV for the hybrid treatment because the popu-larity of Tesla proves that there is serious interest in the premium sector for some-thing with better environ-mental credentials.

Audi has taken this logic one step further, unveiling its fi rst ever plug-in electric car, the R8 e-tron, a battery-powered version of its new fl agship supercar. It delivers 456bhp to the rear wheels, can go from 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds and although top speed is capped at 350km/h, it can travel for up to 444km between charges.

The R8 e-tron will also serve as a research and de-velopment vehicle, gathering data for the creation of an EV SUV. Audi is aiming for a spacious, high riding car for four with a 500km range.

Audi also believes sig-nifi cant battery technology improvements are near and that very soon electric will be a viable alternative to fossil fuel.

The current world lead-er in battery-powered cars based on sales is Renault-Nissan, with 222,000 cars sold over the last four years: its CEO, Carlos Ghosn wel-comed news that the market is about to heat up. “We don’t consider that other people making electric cars are com-petitors; we consider them allies,” said Ghosn. “Because today, the battle is not who is going to have the biggest share of the electric car busi-ness. It’s about how many companies are going to join in promoting zero-emission transportation.”

Geneva Motor Show: Embracing the battery

(Geneva-AFP) – It could be the battle of the titans.

Auto giants at the Geneva Motor Show say they wel-come the potential move of Silicon Valley players into their sector but experts warn of major disruptions.

Google has long made headlines with its plans for a self-driving car, but Apple is now also reportedly ready-ing for a plunge into the in-dustry to begin developing an electric car.

“This could surprise you, but I welcome with open arms the interest of Apple, Google and others in the auto industry,” Volkswagen head Martin Winterkorn said, adding he thought it would help garner interest for cars among new gen-erations who grow up con-nected.

Fiat-Chrysler chief Ser-gio Marchionne agreed, say-ing the Californian giants’ arrival would be “exactly what this industry needed.”

Ditto for Renault-Nis-san chief executive Carlos Ghosn.

“I’m absolutely not fear-ful or hostile” towards a possible arrival of Apple, he said at the motor show. “I consider that all the people who join the electric car are some kind of allies.”

Car industry welcomes Google, Apple but battles loom


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Actor Gabby Concepcion de-nied reports that his wife, Gen-evieve Gonzales, is jealous of his onscreen partners.

Concepcion explained that his wife is used to him being paired with several women, as they met when he is already an actor.

“Hindi naman siguro. Palagay ko inimbento lang. Hindi siya sel-osa talaga. Wala ngang selos ‘yun eh. Sana nga nagseselos eh kasi minsan hinahanap nating mga

lalaki ‘yung ganun,” he said.“Saka ‘yung wife ko nakilala ko

noong nasa showbiz na ako. We were friends. In fact, kilala niya ‘yung mga past girlfriends ko na nasa showbiz din,” Concepcion added. Concepcion is paired with Lorna Tolentino in the movie, “Crazy Beautiful You,” which also stars Kathryn Bernardo and Dan-iel Padilla.

According to Concepcion, he is surprised that his tandem with

Tolentino, dubbed as “GaLor,” still has followers.

“Nagugulat nga kami ni L.T. kasi nangyari ‘yun nung teleserye namin, ‘yung “Dahil May Isang Ikaw”, and nagulat kami kasi noong nagsama-sama ‘yung ilan lang (na fans), ang pinakabata, 16 years old, and pinakamatan-da, at that time ha, was 29 years old. Nagugulat kami pero meron pala sila. They’re out there,” he added. (MNS)

Megastar Sharon Cuneta will be making her showbiz comeback “sooner than expected.”

In a Facebook post, the 49-year-old actress, without going into de-tails, promised her fans that they will be seeing her “in just a few days.”

“To my dearest Sharonians, you will be seeing me in just a few days. In fact, much sooner than you ever expected. I love you all and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your unwavering support and yes, this is a surprise countdown!” she wrote.

The veteran actress is current-ly on a break after announcing her departure from TV5.

Last January, Cuneta vehe-mently denied that her comeback fi lm will be based around the life of alleged pork barrel scam mas-termind, Janet Lim Napoles.

“No one has spoken to me about this, and so it is totally untrue. I already have a comeback project waiting, and with a company that has my full trust and respect,” she said at the time.

A report from Pep.ph published Saturday said that Cuneta will be returning to ABS-CBN, her home

Although he continues to be visible on television with teles-eryes like GMA Network’s “Indio” and “Innamorata” as well as in acclaimed fi lms like Erik Matti’s “On The Job” and Joyce Bernal’s “10,000 Hours”, not too many are aware that Michael de Mesa has been shuttling back and forth to the country from the U.S., where he and wife Julie Reyes have been based for the last six years.

Despite remaining active in the business, the 54-year-old tried to live what he describes as “a quiet normal life”. However, he could not stay away from acting for long.

“I really missed the work. I re-alized who I really was, where I really belong and I love what I’m doing. I love being an actor,” he said during the recent launch of 9 Works Theatrical’s production of the popular Broadway musical, “La Cage aux Folles”.

Based on the 1973 French play by Jean Poiret that was also the basis for Mike Nichols’ 1996 com-edy, “The Birdcage”, “La Cage aux Folles” literally means “the cage of mad women,” with folles being a slang term for effeminate homo-sexuals.

In this Tony award-winning musical by Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman, Michael plays the role of Georges, the owner of a popular nightclub in Saint-Tro-pez. The story focuses on his re-lationship with life partner Albin (Audie Gemora) who is the same club’s star attraction.

“I’m excited because it’s my fi rst time to work with Audie who I’ve known for the longest time. It has been my dream to work with him, which is why I grabbed this project right away when it was fi rst offered to me,” Michael en-thused.

Although the musical was fi rst staged back in 1983, Michael said “La Cage aux Folles” is more rel-evant than ever.

“The story is very now, what with same sex marriages, gay relationships happening a lot. The whole musical is still a joy to watch with engaging songs and dazzling dance numbers so I think audiences will have a grand time watching this,” he enthused.

“La Cage” is sort of a theater comeback for Michael, who is best remembered onstage for playing Edna Turnblad in Atlan-tis Production’s 2008 staging of “Hairspray”and last performed in De La Salle University’s restag-ing of “A Fire in The Soul: A Can-tata” in 2012.

That same year, Michael was actually cast in Repertory Phil-ippines’ “Boeing Boeing” but sur-prisingly dropped out along with sister Cherie Gil, who was origi-

nally scheduled to play Mrs. Rob-inson in “The Graduate” also that season.

This year, Michael and Cherie are both back in theater. While he is given top billing in “La Cage aux Folles”, she is headlining PETA’s production of Anton Chekov’s “Ar-bol de Fuego”.

“There was actually a role in that play that was also offered to me but I was already committed to doing this by then so I couldn’t do it. But Cherie and I have al-ways been discussing theater as of late and maybe next year, we just might be able to do a project together, our fi rst since we did ‘The Guys’ way back in 2004,” he revealed.

Asked why theater work is so appealing to him even though he’s already a sought-after performer in fi lm and TV, Michael said there’s a certain fulfi llment to be-ing on stage.

“For me, theater is an actor’s medium, fi lm is a director’s me-dium while television is more of a corporate medium nowadays,” he pointed out.

Directed by Robbie Guevarra, “La Cage aux Folles” also stars Steven Silva, Missy Macuja Elizalde, Joni Galeste, JP Basco, Mara Celine Javier, Randi de Guzman, Carlos Deriada, Chesko Rodriguez, Dindo Divinagracia, Cheeno Macaraig, James Stacey and Rafa Siguion-Reyna.

The musical will be staged at the RCBC Plaza in Makati on March 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 2015, with Friday and Saturday galas at 8PM, selected Saturday mati-nees at 3:30PM, and Sunday mat-inees at 4PM. (MNS)

network for 23 years.The Kapamilya network has

yet to release an offi cial state-ment. (MNS)

More than a year after their wed-ding, celebrity couple Maricar Reyes and Richard Poon have decided to put up their own website where they share tips about marriage.

Reyes said she and Poon created the website www.realtionshipmat-ters.ph to share how they handle their differences and how couples should invest on the things which they agree on.

“Natuwa lang kami kasi maram-ing curious sa relationship namin and kung ano ‘yung mga natutu-

nan namin as a couple. Doon na-min shine-share ang mga mistakes namin, doon namin sinusulat,” she said.

Just like other couples, Reyes said she and Poon also fi ght but they make sure to patch things up immediately.

“Ang nakaka-amaze, lagi kaming nag-aaway pero after each away, masaya ‘yung pagkakabati,” she said.

Asked if she is the jealous type, Reyes said: “Siyempre kasama sa

trabaho [na maraming nagka-kagusto sa kanya kasi singer siya]. Pati kami as actors, like ‘yung last show ko, may asawa ako sa show. Dapat alam na-min ‘yung work at ‘yung per-sonal. Dapat magkahiwalay.”

Poon and Reyes tied the knot on June 9, 2013. (MNS)

Julia Barretto revealed that she continued to keep in touch with her aunt Claudine despite the Barretto family feud that continue to make headlines.

Julia said she and Claudine communicate with each other regularly.

“The last time we talked, she called me yesterday or the oth-er day. We talk. Never naman kami nag-away,” she said.

“The public, they are making these stuff na ‘Julia making up with like this, like this or like

this.’ The truth is I never re-ally got involved in any of the drama. Wala akong nakaaway. That’s how they are putting it kasi out there,” she added.

According to Julia, her aunt Claudine will attend her debut on March 10. “She’s going to be there,” she said, smiling.

Meanwhile, if there’s one project of Claudine that she would like to remake, Julia would like to do “Anak,” which starred Vilma Santos as an OFW.

“If movie, defi nitely it’s ‘Anak’ and that’s my answer all the time kapag tinatanong sa akin,” she said.

Julia said it would be even better if she and Claudine could be part of that project if given the chance. (MNS)

Gabby: My wife doesn’t get jealous

Sharon to mark comeback ‘sooner than expected’

Gabby Concepcion

Sharon Cuneta

Richard, Maricar share relationship tips in website

Maricar Reyes

Michael de Mesa makes theater comeback

Michael de Mesa

Julia confi rms: Claudine will attend her debut

Julia Barretto


(Washington-AFP) – A study conducted over 20 years in the Los Angeles area showed that the region’s improving air quali-ty has led to children having bet-ter functioning lungs, research-ers said Wednesday.

The fi ndings, which tracked 2,000 young people from age 11 to 15, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The scientists studied three cohorts of different children over two decades, who were asked to blow into a spirometer, which measures lung size and strength.

Lung growth was 10 percent greater in the cohort observed between 2007-2011 compared with those in the 1994-1998 group who were breathing a higher level of the harmful pol-lutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

“We saw pretty substantial improvements in lung function development in our most recent cohort of children,” said lead au-thor James Gauderman, profes-sor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern Califor-nia.

Meanwhile, the percent of children with abnormally low lung function at age 15 fell from eight percent in the 1994-1998 group to 6.3 percent for the 1997-2001 group to 3.6 percent for the latest cohort.

Exposure to NO2 and another harmful pollutant, PM2.5 (par-ticulate matter of diameter un-der 2.5 microns), decreased 40 percent for the third cohort com-pared with the fi rst.

Lung development improved

despite varying factors, includ-ing tobacco exposure, different ethnicities and the presence of pets, the study said.

And lung development for children with asthma improved around twice as much as for oth-er children. However even those without asthma had signifi cant improvement in lung capacity, the researchers said.

“We expect that our results are relevant for areas outside southern California, since the pollutants we found most strong-ly linked to improved health – nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter – are elevated in any ur-ban environment,” Gauderman said.

The benefi ts of breathing clean air when young last a life-time, the study said. Los Angeles air quality has been improving over the last two decades. © Andrew Zarivny/

shutterstock.com

(Relaxnews) – A ten-year study says that adults who abide by the Med diet could be 47 percent less likely to de-velop heart disease compared to those who don’t.

In fact, the Med diet was more pro-tective against cardiac problems than exercise, which is known to have an excellent protective effect.

The study is the fi rst to track the risk of heart disease during a 10-year span in the general population instead of just the middle aged.

“Our study shows that the Mediter-ranean diet is a benefi cial intervention for all types of people – in both gen-ders, in all age groups, and in both healthy people and those with health conditions,” says Ekavi Georgouso-poulou, a Ph.D. candidate at Harokopio University in Athens, Greece.

A representative sample of over 2,500 Greek adults between the ages of 18 and 89 shared health information with the research team from 2001 to 2012.

They self-reported their medical re-cords, lifestyle and dietary habits in the beginning, middle and end of the study.

Diets were scored as a way of mark-ing adherence to the Med diet, and those who scored in the top third relative to the entire sample were 47 percent less likely to develop heart disease.

Each one-point increase on the scale that ranged from 1 to 55 represented a three percent drop in risk for heart dis-ease, independent of other risk factors which include age, gender, family his-tory, body mass index (BMI), smoking, hypertension, diabetes and high cho-lesterol.

Of the entire participant group, nearly 20 percent of the men and 12 percent of the women developed or died from heart disease.

This supports prior studies indicat-ing that being male, old age, diabetes and infl ammation are associated with heart disease.

Fresh fruits and vegetables, fi sh and olive oil are part of the Mediterranean diet. ©Anna Hoychuk/shutterstock.com. “A Mediterranean menu” on Kitchenomics next page.

The Mediterranean diet emphasiz-es fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, fi sh, olive oil and allows a glass of red wine.

“Because the Mediterranean diet is based on food groups that are quite common or easy to fi nd, people around the world could easily adopt

this dietary pattern and help protect themselves against heart disease with very little cost,” says Georgousopou-lou. The study will be presented on March 15 at the American College of Cardiology’s 64th Annual Scien-tifi c Session in San Diego, Califor-nia in the US.

(Relaxnews) - High intensity inter-val training has hit the dinner table.

Fasting has been demonstrated to have health benefi ts, yet since it’s not possible to fast indefi nitely, research-ers suggest doing so intermittently for a long and healthy life.

“We found that intermittent fasting caused a slight increase to SIRT 3, a well-known gene that promotes lon-gevity and is involved in protective cell responses,” says Michael Guo, a MD-PhD candidate at the Univer-sity of Florida and Harvard Medical School.

The research team worked with 24 participants who alternated between eating just 25 percent of their daily caloric intake and 175 percent of it on a daily basis.

An average male participant would have eaten 650 calories on fasting days and 4,550 calories on feasting days in the double-blind clinical trial that took three weeks to complete.

Researchers measured changes in weight, blood pressure, heart rate, glu-cose levels, cholesterol, infl ammation markers and genes involved in protec-tive cell responses throughout the course of 10 weeks in totality.

Measuring these parameters again after the trial yielded an increase in benefi cial sirtuin proteins activated by the gene SIRT 3-and also called SIRT 3, as well as SIRT 1.

An increase in these proteins in mice has been associated with a longer lifespan, according to Guo, who says they could become activated by an ex-cess of free radicals in the body that results in a condition called oxidative stress.

In other words, the body’s response to stress is to create protective path-ways, say the researchers, whose study was published in the journal Reju-venation Research.

“The hypothesis is that if the body is intermittently exposed to low levels of oxidative stress, it can build a better response to it,” says Martin Wegman an MD-PhD candidate at the UF College of Medicine.

Next in order was to test this hypothesis by repeating the feast-then-fam-ine diet with antioxidant supplements, which they did using vitamin C and vitamin E.

Sure enough, some of the increases in sirtuin proteins disappeared, which supports other research indicating that antioxidants can counter the effects of exercise.

Sleeping 30 minutes less than nec-essary can have long-term consequenc-es for body weight and metabolism, according to a new study – even if you sleep in on weekends.

Previous research has indicated that not getting enough sleep leads to obesi-ty and diabetes, but this marks the fi rst time that as little as 30 minutes a day of sleep debt could contribute to weight gain and adversely affect blood sugar control.

“This reinforces earlier observations that sleep loss is additive and can have metabolic consequences,” says lead study author Professor Shahrad Taheri, a professor of medicine at Weill Cor-nell Medical College in Qatar, in Doha.

In the study, Professor Taheri and his research team worked with 522 pa-tients with newly diagnosed type 2 dia-betes mellitus and recorded their height and weight at baseline to determine their Body Mass Index (BMI).

They measured participants’ waist circumference and assessed blood sam-ples for insulin sensitivity on an empty stomach.

Participants were randomly placed into one of three groups, which includ-ed typical care, an exercise interven-tion or an intervention for both diet and exercise.

The participants kept sleep diaries for a week and calculated their week-day sleep debt.

At baseline, obesity was 72 percent

That sleep debt could be doing more than just making you tired, according to a new study, it could be causing you to put on weight.©Photographee.eu/shutterstock.com

more likely to be a condition among those who had a weekday sleep debt than amongst those who didn’t.

Six months later, a signifi cant as-sociation between sleep debt and obesity and insulin resistance was present.

By the one-year mark, every 30

minutes of weekday sleep debt at baseline signifi ed an increased risk of obesity and insulin resistance of 17 percent and 39 percent, respectively.

The research team presented their work on Thursday, March 5 at ENDO 2015, the annual meeting of the En-docrine Society in San Diego.

Less California pollution spells big gains for children’s lungs

Mediterranean diet dramatically reduces risk for heart disease: study

Losing just 30 minutes of sleep could promote weight gain: study

Feast-and-famine diet shows promise for longevity: study


FAMILY FEATURES

When al fresco entertaining calls for some flavorfulinspiration, look to the fresh and abundant offeringsof Mediterranean cuisine.

Inspired by its coastal origins, traditional Greek dishesfeature a colorful collection of fruits, vegetables, grains,legumes and grilled fare. Whether you’re serving friends witha themed event or simply enjoying a homemade meal with thefamily, delicious Greek cuisine is perfect for sharing withthose you love.

From raw to roasted, pickled to caramelized, the onion isone of the most versatile vegetables, and is commonly foundamong the many fresh flavors of this fare. Plus, when youcook with the mighty onion, you’re serving up a good sourceof vitamin C.

The growers and shippers of the Idaho-Eastern OregonOnion Committee and the National Onion Association offerthe following tips about onions:

� One large onion, diced equals about 1 cup fresh and 1/4 cup cooked.

� Grill and saute onions over low to medium heat. This will bring out a savory, sweet, mellow flavor. High heatcan cause the onion to taste bitter.

� Store onions in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place withminimal exposure to light.

� Keep peeled and cut onions in a sealed container in therefrigerator for seven to 10 days.

For more tips and ideas to add flavor to your outdoorcelebrations, visit www.onions-usa.org and www.usaonions.com.

Lentil Salad with Marinated Onions, Roasted Tomatoes and OlivesServings: 6–8

2–3 medium tomatoes cut into eight wedges1 (9.5-ounce) jar whole, pitted Greek olives, drained4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar8 thyme sprigs, leaves removed

Sea salt1 1/3 cups lentils

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 garlic cloves, pressed1 medium cucumber, chopped1 (12-ounce) jar artichoke hearts, sliced

1/4 cup parsley, chopped3 tablespoons chives, chopped

2/3 cup crumbled feta1 tablespoon lemon juice

Fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. On medium-sized baking sheet linedwith parchment paper, arrange tomatoes skin side down. Adddrained olives to pan; drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil andbalsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with thyme leaves and sea salt.Roast for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Cook lentils according to package directions, approximately20 minutes.

While lentils are cooking, place red onion in small bowl.Pour red wine vinegar over onions and sprinkle with sea salt.Stir and let stand at room temperature while lentils are cooking.

When lentils finish cooking, drain if needed. In large bowlcombine lentils, marinated red onion, garlic and remainingolive oil. Mix well and cool completely. When cool, combinerest of ingredients with lentils. Serve cold.

Turkey and Onion Meatball Kebabswith Yogurt Dipping SauceServings: 6 large or 9 small kebabs

1 tablespoon cumin seed1 cup plain yogurt1 tablespoon chopped cilantro1 tablespoon chopped chives

3/4 teaspoon honey1/4 teaspoon salt

1 pound ground turkey3 cloves garlic, chopped2 teaspoons lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut in thin wedges

1 green pepper, cut into 1-inch dices12 cherry tomatoes

Heat small pan over medium heat. Add cumin seedsto toast. Stir frequently, for about 3 minutes or untilseeds are fragrant and slightly browned. Removeseeds to spice grinder or mortar and pestle; grind tomoderately fine powder.

In medium bowl, combine yogurt, cilantro,chives, honey, salt and 1 teaspoon ground toastedcumin. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

In second medium bowl, combine turkey, garlic,lemon zest, salt, cayenne and 1 teaspoon groundtoasted cumin; mix gently but thoroughly. Shapeinto eighteen 1 1/2-inch meatballs.

Preheat grill. On metal skewers (or bambooskewers soaked in water 30 minutes), thread meat -ball, onion wedge, pepper square and cherry tomato.Repeat. Finish skewer with another meat ball andonion wedge.

Grill until meatballs reach internal temperature of160°F, turning as needed. Serve immediately withdipping sauce.

For mini-skewers, use 2 meatballs, 2 onionwedges, 1 cherry tomato and 1 pepper square oneach skewer.

Orange, Mint and Onion SaladServings: 6

3 navel oranges1/2 sweet yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, torn1/4 cup black olives, oil cured, pitted

Vinaigrette:1/3 cup cider vinegar

2 tablespoons honey2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/2 teaspoon salt1/4 cup canola oil

For salad, cut top and bottom off each orange so itsits flat on cutting surface. Remove peel and pith(white part) by taking sharp knife and running itdown sides of orange from top to bottom, followingshape of each orange. Slice oranges into rounds.

Arrange slices, overlapping each other slightly, on large platter. Scatter onion, mint and olives over oranges.

For vinaigrette, whisk vinegar with honey,mustard, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add oil whilewhisking constantly, until well combined.

Drizzle vinaigrette over salad and serveimmediately.

Note: Any leftover dressing can be stored, tightlycovered, in refrigerator for up to 5 days.


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PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

to publish this as soon as your favor has been granted. Grateful Thanks -RICHIE

PRAYERS

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

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

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

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does one do?We arrived at the Belmond El

Encanto resort at around 4 p.m. I had long wanted to visit this hide-away that has been an icon since the 1920s; and has recently been refurbished and renovated. The location, for one, is excellent. Nes-tled on top of a hill, the El Encan-to offers its visitors a grand view of Santa Barbara and the Pacifi c Ocean beyond. But even without looking too far, within the proper-ty are sights to behold – 7 acres of beautifully-landscaped gardens – camelias, rose bushes, tulip trees – one could wonder if the exact lo-cation of each bloom was planned. The fl ora doesn’t give the aura of manicured perfection. Highlight-ed by the canopy of wisteria vine, the whole look perfectly gives off the relaxed feel.

Relaxation was what my hus-band and I had in mind when we planned this 24 hour mini-getaway. We had just fi nished fi lming a national television ad. And he had been dealing with the stress of putting things together and in order before the March 9th launch; while I was dealing with the stress of (I really don’t know what.) We thought we needed a break and a treat. That’s what we hoped the El Encanto would be.

I booked the reservation with the help of the accommodating Visa Signature concierge. We knew it wasn’t the cheapest spot. But we also know that in life, you usually get what you pay for, so we had high expectations.

After checking in, and getting acquainted with our surround-ings, we were escorted by a young staff named Lake “We have just completed our renovation two years ago, and now the 92 suites and bungalows can be divided into two kinds. The fi rst kind looks more Spanish in design,

more mission style; and the sec-ond batch of bungalows look more craftsman.

Our bungalow was defi nitely the latter, with lots of whites and clean lines. Elegant linen and wicker furnishings are featured in the 800 – 1,100 square feet of space, highlighted by the wooden headboard hand-painted with cherry blossoms. In the bathroom, I loved the extra deep tub and the heated tile fl oor.

We were welcomed by a bot-tle of champagne and a plate of sweets, with a “Happy Birthday” message. That’s when I realized I mentioned to the concierge that it was my husband’s birthday two weeks ago. By the second hour, I was already loving the great, attentive service the Belmond brand is known for.

By 5 p.m., my husband and I were on a couch in the lounge area, admiring the low sun glis-tening over the blue waters of the Pacifi c, while sipping glasses of prosecco and feasting on Ital-ian charcuterie and sweet fresh oysters dipped in heavenly Hog island sauce.

When it comes to dining, there are four places to explore in the property – the Lounge which of-fers light dining and afternoon tea, the Dining Room and Ter-race which offers innovative con-temporary California-coastal cui-sine, the Bar, and the Wine Room which is mostly reserved for pri-vate functions.

After an hour, we went back to the room to get Juno, my 7 year old Yorkie. That’s another thing about the El Encanto, they allow pets. I thought that since we were treating ourselves, my loyal com-panion deserved a piece of the ac-tion, too.

We walked her around the grounds for about another hour,

exploring the spa and fi tness ar-eas. It was also an excuse for us to enjoy the balmy California early evening and to walk off the lounge nibbles in preparation for dinner.

By 7 p.m., the three of us walked back to our bungalow where we spent the next hour do-ing absolutely nothing. Okay... maybe checking social media while sipping more bubbles.

Dinner reservation was for 8 p.m. I ordered the Leo’s Signa-ture Halibut Ceviche. Chef Leo Andres Ayala is the restaurant’s executive chef. Honestly, I found the dish a bit too sour. But I ap-preciated the large serving. That appetizer was enough for me. Paired with their housemaid tor-tilla chips, I did not need to order a main course.

Lester, on the other hand, had an amazing cajun-spiced calamari with spicy aioli dip, for starter; and the local black cod with steamed mussels and clams, for his main course. It was to die for. The sauce was oozing with fl a-vor. I could have dipped bread in

it and would have been happily-satisfi ed with that. I had wanted to order dessert; and that was my plan when I stopped eating after my appetizer; but sadly, I realized there was really no more room in my very contented tummy.

After two hours spent on din-ner, while witnessing the moon slowly rising, it was time to go back to the room. I had just enough time to dip in the tub be-fore I passed out and spent nine hours sinking in the plush king-sized bed. Even Juno would agree that the sleeping experience was

blissful. She always sleeps with me; and to be more specifi c, on top of me, usually on top of my back. But because she too, in her simple canine brain, might have appreci-ated the sleeping-on-the-clouds-feeling that the luxurious bedding offered us, that night she comfort-ably slept on one of the four cor-ners of the bed.

I woke up at 8 a.m. Excited to face the day, refreshed and reju-venated and looking forward to doing absolutely nothing. I could

have stayed on that bed for another few days. But since my stomach was also re-minding me of the de-lightful gastronomic adventure I experi-enced a few hours be-fore, suggesting that I should try more, I woke my husband up, to join me for break-fast. Juno had to set-tle for the dog food I packed, if you were wondering.

But on the terrace, where the glorious sun was peaking, I was very proud of my-

self for ordering the French Toast stuffed with fresh bananas and Nutella. Thanks to another won-derful staff member, Nathan, who highly recommended it. I salivate now, when I think about it. If you ever go, this is one dish you should not miss. And can you take some home for me?

After breakfast, it was time to walk the calories off. We went back to the room to fetch Juno so we could explore more. I actu-ally saw 4 turtles perched on top of a rock, in the pond. But when

I went back to take a picture, I could only see one left stand-ing, seemingly soak-ing up the sun in the 73-degree weather. A bit cold, especially for someone like me who grew up in the tropical islands of the Philippines, but the sight was enough to inspire me to try a dip in the infi nity-edge swimming pool that runs from 3 ½ – 7 ft. deep.

Lester and I played Scrabble while lounging by the pool, occasionally taking a dip in the heated water, that’s infused with saline, to mimic that of saltwater. The effect is water that’s softer and smoother on the skin than harsh chlorine. And be-cause we were so comfortable, we must have spent about 3 hours in the pool area, only realizing at 2:30 p.m. that it was time to check out. Really appreciated the 3 p.m. late checkout afforded to Visa Sig-nature card holders.

The world-famous and historic Santa Barbara Mission compound is just 5 minutes away from San-ta Barbara’s only Forbes Travel-Guide 5-star resort. And so it was a natural thing to stop and take photos. We couldn’t stay long and even explore inside because of Juno. But the pleasant experience capped off our 24 hours in Santa Barbara.

Driving back to Los Angeles, Lester and I agreed that it was the perfect way to spend 24 hours in paradise. The El Elcanto has everything you need for a relax-ing and memorable short week-end trip in California. [END]

Jannelle So is credited for cre-ating, hosting and producing America’s fi rst and only locally-produced daily talk show for Filipinos, that ran for 8 ½ years under her leadership, making it the longest-running Filipino talk show outside of the Philippines. On her spare time, she loves to travel. This new column will doc-ument her sojourns as she shares what she learns an discovers on her trips. Connect to her on Face-book, Twitter and Instagram; or email her at [email protected].

24 hours in Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, CA – I have been to this

coastline county seat of Santa Barbara County many times before and always enjoy going back. There’s lots to explore – the beaches on the coast, the streets fi lled with curious shops and unique boutiques, history in one of the oldest missions in the country, and the inviting wineries that dot its borders. But when one has only 24 hours to explore such a rich destination, what does one prioritize? Where does one go? What

View from the Terrace, at the Belmond El Encanto in San-ta Barbara.

Juno, the Yorkie, relaxes on the plush king-sized bed with hand-painted cherry blossoms on the wooden headboard.

Us asian post march 11, 2015

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