Asian Journal May 1 2009

Musical Gas Stations

(Continued on page 12)

Warning: The California Department of Real Estate has not examined this offering, including but not limited to the condition of title, the status of blanket liens of the project (if any), arrangements to assure project completion, escrow practices, control over project management, racially discriminatory practice (if any), terms, conditions, and price of the offer, control over annual assessments (if any), or the availability of water services, utilities, or improvements. It may be advisable for you to consult an attorney or other knowledgeable professional who is familiar with real estate and development law in the country where this subdivision is situated.

Attend the free presentations of the affordable but luxurious housing developments in the Philippines! Presented in San Diego, Hemet and Temecula June 2009. Call 619-474-0588 for reservations.

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Single family homes in Antipolo; Bacoor, Imus and Dasmarinas, Cavite; Sta. Rosa

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(Continued on page 19) (Continued on page 12)

By Conrad I. Reloj, Jr.

If you want to taste your way to the Philippines while in Oceanside, California visit Tess’ Cuisine and include a complete grocery shopping while arranging for your next vacation tour to the islands at Gudez Travel. This could be your one stop destination in North San Di-ego County. No reservation is needed.

Driving by Oceans-ide’s Mission Avenue, you might pass Oriental Mis-

L to R: Kenneth, Rosie, Maria, Chanita, and Tess.

Around TownFilipino Business Gem Sparkles in Oceanside

sion Kabayan Mart without so much as a second glance. It looks a bit just like an-other store placed in Mission Camino Business Complex, but venture inside and you will discover one of the truly delightful Filipino fast food restaurants in town. Tess’ Cuisine offers a delight-fully authentic taste and features fresh and original home-cooking creations. At this charming, cozy spot in a near-rural corner of the Oceanside, Chef-owner Tess

As life goes, an adolescent gains a great deal of

experience through his own doings

and those of others around him. With

each new situation, this adolescent is

able to better carry his way through life.

By Riz A. OadesSee page 6

IN SEARH OF THE GOOD LIFE:Maturing Experience of a Pasay City Youth

Sample PMA drill

The Presidio at Brittany Bay

Nikki, the owner of Lai Thai Restaurant, and her daughter invite you to celebrate Mother’s Day.

In addition to the fact that the property I was buying was being developed by Manny Villar who had the resources and track record to steer it to completion, my confidence

was also bolstered by the fact that the project was be-ing done in partnership with Land and Houses Ltd., the largest real estate developer in Thailand. Villar’s real

estate company, on the other hand, is the largest housing developer in the Philippines.

By Simeon G. Silverio, Jr. Publisher & Editor The San Diego Asian Journal

See page 5

Getting ready for retirement

Buying a condo unit in the Philippines

By: Elizabeth Venecia

Celebrate Moth-er’s Day at Lai Thai Restaurant on May 10, 2009, Sunday. The restaurant of-fers a special such as Seafood Panang, Spicy Seafood, and Thai Fried Rice with Shrimp, Pad Thai Noodles, and Pine-apple Curry. For a treat, you will they offer fried banana topped with coconut ice cream a special-ty dessert. For the gourmet lover, Thai cuisine is an enjoy-ment. Lai Thai has a variety of selections from appetizers, soup, main entrée and great dessert.

Celebrate Mother’s Day at Lai Thai Restaurant South Bay’s Pride

Nikki Bubpha is the own-er of Lai Thai Restaurant who has a Master’s Degree in finance. She has a lot of preferences but she chose to open her own restaurant in South Bay. It’s been almost six years and Lai Thai Res-

taurant is preferably doing well. The restaurant offers food that fits for royal-ties. Reasonable prices and specialties. Lai Thai has great ambience and excellent entrées. , cooked

May 1 - 7, 2009

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Miles BeauchampMariel confident Zanjoe

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PHILIPPINE NEWS SER-VICE -- THE Sandiganbayan Special Division has decided with finality the confiscation in favor of the government of P 189.7-million Jose Velarde deposit which the court de-clared was owned allegedly by ousted President Joseph Estrada.

The 10-page court ruling ordered the Sandiganbayan sheriffs to implement the rul-ing after it junked the appeals of contesting parties.

“As pointed out by the prosecution, the long si-lence of Wellex during the pendency of the trial of the plunder case casts validity on (its) claim. The claim of the CIR (Commissioner of Internal Revenue) of a pref-erential right over the subject Trust Account by virtue of the constructive distraint issued in January 2001 is misplaced. We deny the motions for reconsideration,” the court declared.

The order was signed by

Gov’t confiscates P189.7-M Jose Velarde deposit

RICE HARVESTER. A harvester carries a load full of newly cut rice stacks to his bamboo mat where they can prepare it for thresh-ing in Sigma, Capiz. Rice farmers in Capiz rely on their 3rd crop of the planting season where they could gain more income from the usual 2 crop planting season. PINOY GONZALES/ PNS

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PHILIPPINE NEWS SER-VICE -- “KONTING tiis na lang.”

Thus were the assuring words of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile as he pushed for the release of the 10 remaining convicted soldiers in the Aquino-Galman double murder case.

Sources disclosed that Enrile discussed the matter of granting executive clemency to the 10 convicted soldiers with Execu-tive Secretary Eduardo Ermita during the 23rd anniversary of the EDSA 1 people power peace-ful revolution.

Enrile noted that the convicted Aquino-Galman soldiers are only small fries and they are only sacrificial lambs

“Maliliit na tao lamang sila na puwedeng gamitin ng mga taong may masamang kalooban,” Enrile said.

Enrile advised the convicted soldiers to keep the faith, and the hope, and to be patient with the processing of their papers at Malacañang in the wake of the latter’s persistent appeal for their clemency.

“Konting tiis na lang,” Enrile told the convicted soldiers in talks with one of them over the phone.

Ermita said that the processing of the papers are already in place and awaiting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s appropriate action.

The other day, Chief Public At-torney Persida V. Rueda Acosta visited the 10 convicted soldiers at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City in connection with the Public Attorney s Office (PAO) jail decongestion and free legal medical dental and optical mission.

Bureau of Corrections (Buc-cor) director Oscar Calderon welcomed Acosta at the national penitentiary, and immediately met with her along with the 10 convicted soldiers.

These include Claro Lat, Er-nesto Mateo, Felomino Miranda, Arnulfo Artates, Jesus Castro, Arnulfo de Mesa, Rodolfo Deso-long, Romeo Bautista, Ruben

Enrile: Free 10 Ninoy slay convicts

Aquino and Rogelio Moreno.The PAO chief noted that the

10 have been consistent for more than 25 years of incarceration about their innocence, stress-ing that only Pablo Martinez whom the President previously granted clemency has admitted involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate the former opposition leader.

Acosta stressed that clemency is a sacred, noble and exclusive power of the President, and hence could not be blocked by any opposition.

For his part, Calderon said that the 10 are “more than eligible to be released” after completing their sentence of more than 26 years, plus good conduct time allowance (GCTA) and penal colony status for total of 34 years.

Among those who have endorsed the release of the 10 include Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Bishop Efraim Ten-dero, national directo r of the Philippine Ecumenical Churches of the Philipines (PCEC), Bro. Mike Velarde of the influential El Shaddai congregation, Catho-lic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Iglesia ni Kristo, Reps. Ed Joson of Nueva Ecija and Bienvenido Abante Jr. of Manila, among others.

Gonzalez have noted in his recommendation to the President that the 10 have been sickly and suffering from “life threatening diseases.”

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile

PHILIPPINE NEWS SER-VICE -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s stimulus package, aimed at cushioning 20 the country from the effects of the global financial crisis, has kicked off in Zambales as the Department of Agriculture (DA) led the groundbreaking of the four-kilometer Nagbaldian-Rabanes-WLAC farm-to-market road (FMR) in Sitio Nagbaidian, San Marcelino, Zambales, last Wednesday.

The P5-million improvement and re-graveling of the farm-to-market road was implemented by the Municipality of San Mar-celino and funded by DA-Region III through a memorandum of agreement with DA Central Of-fice.

DA-Region III OIC-Regional Executive Director Redentor S. Gatus said that construction of the Nagbaldian FMR is first in a series of similar labor-intensive farm development activities in two identified super regions in Luzon and a part of some 2,000 kilometers of FMR estimated to benefit some 200 thousand farm-ers in the transport of their prod-ucts to trade centers in identified priority areas nationwide.

The North Luzon Agribusi-ness Quadrangle (NLAQ) has lined up around 500 kilometers of FMR and expected to benefit some 60 thousand farmers and generate more than 14 thousand jobs while the Metro Luzon Urban Beltway (MLUB) has programmed around 400 kilome-ters FMR, helping more than 36 t housand farmers and create some 10 thousand jobs. The northern part of Zambales, Nueva Ecija and Aurora are part of the NLAQ and the rest of Central Luzon is within the MLUB.

In a short message, San Mar-celino Mayor Jose F. Rodriguez expressed gratitude to the Arroyo administration and the DA for the project and said that the road system will not only serve as an FMR for the people of his town but will be utilized as an alter-nate route to decongest traffic along the main road especially

PGMA’s economic stimulus package debuts in Zambales

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

in front of the public market and serve as an alternative road leading to the San Marcelino General Hospital and to the rest of Southern Zambales.

“Hindi lamang FMR ito kundi magagamit din ito bilang “al-ternate road” kung matrapik sa bayan puwede din itong mad-

aanan at maraming motorista ang makikinabang dito,” said Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, Governor Amor Deloso welcomed the develop-ment and said that such united endeavor by the national gov-ernment and local leaders in the province to help the Zambale-ños weather the financial storm deserve salutation and should be treated with utmost respect.

He instructed DA Provincial Director Rene Mendoza to coordinate closely with all the municipal agriculturists in the province to fast-track the identi-fication of other farm-to-market roads in the area for budget al-location and implementation.

President Arroyo ordered the DA and other line agencies last January to frontload labor-intensive projects in line with her P330-billion economic resiliency program that is meant to stimu-late the domestic economy and generate about 1.5 million jobs by midyear.

DA Secretary Arthur Yap, who is Cabinet coordinator for President Arroyo’s Comprehen-sive Livelihood and Emergency

Employment Program (CLEEP) in Northern Luzon and Bohol, announced that more than half of the total FMR would be built in Central Philippines and the Mindanao Super Region where major food production sites are located.

Yap also said that in compli-ance with the provisions of Agri-culture and Fisheries Moderniza-tion Act (AFMA) Program, these FMR projects worth a collective total of P5.3 billion will be located within key production areas (KPA), marginal lands or new sites under convergence initiatives which link these areas to higher road class systems and major markets or trading posts.

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PHILIPPINE NEWS SER-VICE -- PRESIDENT Macapa-gal-Arroyo blew her top at yes-terday’s lunch meeting with drug offi cials when no one could tell her the whereabouts of suspected

big-time drug smuggler Anthony Ang, said to be behind the smug-gling of the biggest shipment of shabu at the Subic Bay Metro-

Where’s Ang? – angry GMA

PHILIPPINE NEWS SERVICE -- THE Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is now at par with world-class airports in terms of quality service being extended to the traveling public.

Yester-day, the Manila In-ternational Airport Authority (MIAA) under its general manager Alfonso Cusi received the ISO certifi cation for NAIA, which services most foreign airline companies fl ying routes to various destinations worldwide.

With the said certifi cation, Cusi said the traveling public could defi -nitely expect more positive changes in terms of quality service and improved operations at the NAIA, even as he vowed that such will be replicated in NAIA Terminals 2 and 3.

“To endeavor into the ISO certi-fi cation process signifi es the desire for continuing commitment to qual-ity. It is a vehicle to identify less quality performance and correct it as fast as possible. It is a process-based standard that measures how time and again, organizations meet the needs of their customers,” Cusi said.

He added:”Facing up to the needs of passengers everyday is already a challenge in itself; standardizing

WHERE IS OUR 50 PESOS! Local tourist in the famous White Beach of Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan can’t seem to understand why after paying 50 pesos each for “environmental fees upon entering the premier tourist destination of the Philippines, still see the green algae along the coastline neglected by the Boracay local offi cials and not ordered cleaned up. 1 mil-lion tourist visit Boracay island each year. PINOY GONZALES/ PNS

politan Authority. Dangerous Drugs Board chair-

man Vicente Sotto III revealed the President’s outburst adding the President reiterated her di-rective to all concerned agen-

cies to beef up their campaign against suspect-ed drug lords.

“Nagalit siya sapagkat di pa nahuhuli ito (Ang). Nung humingi sya ng update kung anong latest, walang mali-wanag na sagot ang kahit anong ahensya. Yung binabanggit na lugar kung san

s’ya nandun, hindi rin, hindi pa alam,” Sotto said.

“Isa sa mga punto ng Pangulo kaya hindi nakakatakang magalit

siya, secondary lang yung di pa nahanap, primera na nag-trigger ng galit ay hindi kaagad ki-noor-dinate nung nagkahulihan nung araw na yun,” he said.

Sotto admitted that it was not easy to fi nd Ang, but said it is also diffi cult to pinpoint respon-sibility at this point.

On March 6, the President ordered the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Philippine National Police and National Bu-reau of Investigation to investig ate and submit a report within one week on the escape of Ang. Intelligence reports reaching the President then showed that Ang was able to slip out of the country allegedly due to at least a P50-million bribe to those who facilitated his escape.

Ang is one of the owners of the Hua Long International Inc., whose shipment of supposed laptops and computer parts in 2006 yielded packs of over 700 kilos of shabu.

Sotto said Ang could have been immediately arrested had there been closer coordination with concerned agencies. “Hindi malawak yung coordination.. kaya hindi talaga agad nasun-dan,” he said.

He said the President ordered the creation of a task force to get to the bottom of Ang’s escape and fi nd him along with other suspected big-time drug smug-glers.

The President did not set a deadline within which to fi nish the probe, he said.

NAIA now world classprocedures and processes for a facility with an annual passenger traffi c of 7.43 million a year is even a greater challenge. But as one family, we braved it and now we are reaping the fruit of our harvest. I

feel very proud of this achieve-ment.”

Tirso Serrano, assistant general manager for airport develop-ment, said

the ISO certifi cation was achieved through the Quality Management System (QMS) put in place to ensure quality compliance to the established mandatory procedures in the manual.

“It aims for passenger confi -dence with the predictability of the processes in the procedures geared toward passenger convenience”, he said, adding that the certifi ca-tion was awarded after the Phase 1 audit of the passenger facilitation processes,” Serrano added.

This effort, he said, was under-taken with thirteen (13) airport agencies whose functions directly involve passenger handling.

Phase 2 of the certifi cation process involved the audit of MIAA sup-port services to the Phase 1 process namely engineering, operations, safety and security and fi nance and administration.

Last year, the MIAA spearhe aded the collaboration towards ISO certi-fi cation with the following agencies in support: Bureau of Immigration (BI), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), Offi ce for Trans-portation Security (OTS), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), Depart-

ment of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR), Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).

“Based on the Service Level Agreement (SLA) signed by the different agencies operating at the NAIA, we have the commitment of our NAIA family to maintain and continue the quality service at ISO levels. As a customer-oriented or-ganization, we will continue to fi nd ways to understand their current and anticipate their future needs as well as respect and attempt to exceed their expectations,” Cusi said.


by G. Tagudin - Silverio

In Perspective

Read Genny Silverio’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

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The swine fl u outbreak looks like a page out a thriller. Reports

about the origin of the out-break did not come about until Mexico itself has pronounced its casualties that now amount to over a hundred and rising. The image of ground zero pre-sented by CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta of a sleepy, isolated town takes us by surprise. A smiling but robust-look-ing child with eyes wide open looks out innocently unaware of the scale of the pandemonium caused by a virus which continue to takes its toll as the microbes leapfrog through the portals of our interconnected world and incubated in bodies that constantly traverse cultures and shores.

The child is among one hun-dred villagers who were stricken but whom we know little about. We wonder where the next out-break might appear. The action has moved on along with the threat to more densely populated areas that have little resistance to the newly mutated organism. Although the disease has spared these survivors, the idea that it has yet to come to us fi lls many with anxiety.

Closing the borders to the south seems to be a logical move for the government. However, we are told that the borders have been already breached. The proof is found among the cases that have tested positive for the virus within our own shores.

No bordersThe new strain and the lack of

a clear mandate leave us with few options. In hindsight, we see that quarantines on the scale of households and individuals should hospitals be unable to cope become the more realistic alternative.

The act becomes the last resort in an array of public health strategies during the late stages of containment if that is possible at all. The idea of the isolation of households where cases may arise is credible as we sense the seeming inability of government to announce a viable solution to a public health threat. The inde-cision would eventually force the issue and leave the decision of taking drastic measures at the lo-cal level as federal cutbacks take a toll on the health of the nation.

For instance, the Mayor of Mexico City has asked local resi-dents to make their own masks because local stores have run out of masks. In the States, special hospital-grade N95 masks that fi lter ninety fi ve percent of con-taminants and microbes as small as .03 microns are hard to come by. A friend who made a late run to the pharmacy reports that her local drugstore has run out of all types of masks. The crisis re-minds us to prepare. Every home should have a disaster prepared-ness plan that should include a survival kit with these provisions and food rations.

The Japanese who constantly drill for disaster-preparedness are an exception to the rule. Even without their government to prompt them, they are always ready. The few that I saw who boarded the plane at Narita Airport early this week were all wearing masks.

Although the conformity of the

Japanese is often at odds with our own culture, we stand to gain from it. Many should learn from the discipline of these people who take the collective role of the individual in society seri-ously. For us, this means that instead of waiting for politicians to lead the way, the responsi-bility of taking charge of the situation therefore falls upon the individual. In the best case scenario, we should be able to go about our business based on a few precautions.

How to protect yourselfHow can you protect yourself

against the swine fl u? Margot Lee Shetterly of InsideMexico, has these common sense tips:

But what can an individual do to protect against this dangerous disease? A little research turns up some advice:

(1) Wash your hands. Wash hands frequently, throroughly and completely with soap and hot water and make sure to scrub under your nails.

(2) Keep your home and work area clean. Don’t forget those computer keyboards!

(3) Avoid hospitals unless it’s an absolute medical emergency. Hospitals are rife with infections.

(4) Limit physical con-tact. Forego the usual kiss on the cheek for a hearty hello. If you are feeling sick, be a good citizen and limit your exposure to other people. Cover your face and use tissues when coughing or sneezing, then repeat (1).

(5) If you have fl u-like symptoms, get help early. There is no vaccine to protect against this strain of the fl u, so even if you have had a fl u shot, you are not protected. However, according to the US Center for Disease Control (CDC), two medicines, Tamifl u and Relenza, are effective against the swine fl u, but are best if given as soon as possible after the onset of symptoms. Symptoms of the fl u include: fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

(6) Stay tuned. The situation is evolving rapidly and news out-lets are giving constant updates. Check in regularly to make sure you’re aware of the latest infor-mation and advisories.

San Manuel Indian Nation, Calif. – April 30, 2009 – Thursday, May 14, San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino will bring twice the divas as Divas 4 Divas take the showroom stage. Tickets are available now at Ticket-master.com and the San Manuel Box Offi ce for $45, $55, and $65. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and show begins at 7:30 p.m.

Kuh Ledesma

Celebrating 25 years in the music business, Kuh Ledesma, also known as the Pop Diva, started out in the late 70s as the vocalist of Music and Magic Band. That helped her create a solo career, which produced the hit song “Dito Ba”. In 1981, Philippine Movie Press Club named her “Singer of the Year” and the Aliw Awards Foundation quickly followed suit by awarding her “Entertainer of the Year”.

In between performing and receiving vari-ous accolades, Ledesma spanned her talents towards acting, appearing in fi lms like, “Oro, Plata, Mata” and “The Year of Living Daner-ously.”

Together with Zsa Zsa Padilla, she formed the original Divas 2 Divas.

Zsa Zsa Padilla

Zsa Zsa Padilla is an actress, TV host, recording artist and concert performer, and, like Ledesma, she started her career as part of a band named Hotdog. Later becoming a solo artist, Padilla produced hits like “Ikaw Lamang,” “Hiram,” “Kahit Na,” and “Point of No Return.”

Her acting credits include “Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin”, for which she was awarded “Best Supporting Actress”. She received Best Actress trophies from the Gawad Urian, Film Academy of the Philippines and the STAR Awards for Movies for her role in “Batang.”

Padilla was named in a list of the 100 Most Beautiful Filipinas, and is known by her Divas 4 Divas name, Divine Diva.

Pops Fernandez

Performing by the age of 16, Pops Fer-nandez grew up in the public eye becoming a confi dent concert performer and recording star. In 1999, she was chosen as “Best Female Musical Variety Show Host” at the KBP Golden Dove Awards.

Dubbed the Philippines Concert Queen, Fernandez has completed 15 albums, which have received Gold and Platinum recogni-tions, launched a clothing line called PIPAY and has dabbled in acting.

Regine Velasquez

Divas 4 divas bring twice the entertainment to San MIguel

Four of the Philippine’s Greatest Performers Celebrate Friendship and Music

Asia’s Songbird, Regine Velasquez was the fi rst Filipino to stage a solo concert at the Main Hall of Carnegie Hall, as part of its centennial year concert series. Her album “Listen Without Prejudice” achieved platinum certifi cation in several countries. Velasquez has collaborated with international artists including Paul Anka, Mandy Moore, and Bryan McKnight.

Proving her talents as an actress, she received a “Best Actress” award for her role in an episode of “Maalaala Mo Kaya.” She also formed a record label named IndiMusic (iMusic).

Note: A 21-and-older age requirement to enter the casino and/or see the show is strictly

enforced.About San Manuel Indian Bingo &

Casino San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino is

Southern California’s one-stop destination for entertainment and fun. The casino is just 70 minutes from downtown Los Angeles and a short drive from LA-Ontario International Airport. Guests enjoy 3,000 of the latest slots, live poker and Vegas-style blackjack, high-limit gaming, high-stakes bingo, incredible entertainment, sumptuous dining and gener-ous player’s reward program. Owned and operated by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, the casino has been providing fun and excitement since 1986. Since that time, players have received over $2 billion in cash, prizes and giveaways, making any visit to San Manuel an exciting and memorable expe-rience. For additional press releases, media kits and photos, please access our online press room at http://www.sanmanuel.com/page.htm?pageId=9126. For more informa-tion on San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino, please visit their Web site at www.sanmanuel.com or call 800-359-2464.


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Our life and times

Read Sim Silverio’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Simeon G. Silverio Jr.

The guard house.

First in a series of articles

My wife Genny and I just arrived from a two-week stay

in the Philippines to take possession of a penthouse condominium unit we pur-chased at the Michelangelo Tower at the Presidio in Brittany Bay, Muntinlupa, Metro Manila. The area is also bounded by the cities of Paranaque and Taguig just a few meters away from

Presidio at the Brittany Bay buildings.

Getting ready for retirement

Buying a condo unit in the PhilippinesWhat makes me smile with glee is the fact that the

homeowner’s fee in my unit only costs $60 a month enabling me to enjoy such amenities like a club house, gym, swimming pool, jogging paths, 24-hour security,

beautiful landscaping and others. In contrast, the typical cost for homeowner’s fees in other places in Manila is

about $350 and more.

the corner of Sucat and South Superhighway.

The unit is now fi nished and ready for occupancy two years after. We needed to go home, sign the papers, pay the remain-ing balance and other fees and take possession of the place. I must say that I am more than happy and satisfi ed. I remem-ber when I was fi rst brought to the place about four years ago. All I saw were two bulldozers leveling the ground. I could not imagine about nine mid-rise condominium units, the high-est of which would have twelve fl oors, rising in that raw piece

of land, much more the beauty and the amenities it promised. I helped promote the units in San Diego, staking my reputation not only among friends but also among the readers of the San Diego Asian Journal who knew and trusted me as its publisher and editor.

“Drawing lamang ang binebenta ninyo, (you are just selling a drawing),” I told Jerry Navarrete, the president of Crown Asia, which was develop-ing the place. Crown Asia is part of the conglomerate of real estate companies owned by then sen-ate president, now senator and presidentiable, Manny B. Villar. Villar was a rags-to-riches story who grew up helping his market vendor mother. He went to the University of the Philippines and saw his fortunes grow through “sipag at tiyaga (industry and patience)” as his campaign slo-gan would like to boast.

“Ako ang talagang batang palengke (I am the real ‘market boy’),” he claims, belying the boast of another presidentiable who is a scion of a rich business and political family which owns a supermarket in Quezon City.

Of course, it also helped that Villar is married to his college sweetheart, Cynthia, daughter of Dr. Filemon Aguilar who served as mayor of Las Pinas from 1963 until he was replaced as a result of the EDSA Revolution in 1986. During that time, incumbent of-fi cials, whether they were good or not, were replaced. However, since 1995 to the present, his children have reclaimed the post. Cynthia is now a congresswom-an in its district, and now that the maximum three terms she could serve would expire, her son

Mark is being groomed to take her place. His father held that post for several terms before he became a senator and later sen-ate president. It is clear that it is a continuation of a long political dynasty, from Cynthia’s mayor father, to her stint as a congress-woman, and her husband Man-ny’s service as a congressman, senator and now presidentiable. And now comes their son, Mark taking over one of the family’s businesses.

A friend of mine, however, pointed out that while political dynasties may concentrate and perpetuate power to one family, in some cases, it is for the better.

“Now we are seeing the next generation taking over,” he noted. “But since their parents already had the money, their children, the new generation, are younger, much more idealistic and dedicated to serve. More es-pecially, they are better educated and therefore better equipped unlike their parents who won their seats for the fi rst time through sheer popularity alone.”

Mark Villar, for one, is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business, one of the most prestigious graduate schools in the world.

Land and Houses Ltd.

In addition to the fact that the property I was buying was be-ing developed by Manny Villar who had the resources and track record to steer it to completion, my confi dence was also bol-stered by the fact that the project was being done in partnership with Land and Houses Ltd., the largest real estate developer in Thailand. Villar’s real estate

company, on the other hand, is the largest housing developer in the Philippines.

“There is no way it could fail,” I told myself, my friends and those who attended the informa-tional presentations. To prove my belief in the project’s integ-rity, I went home to the Philip-pines at my own expense to meet the developers and executives including then Senate President Manny Villar himself. I toured the place several times and asked around. In short, I exercised “due diligence” in getting more infor-mation. To top it off, I bought a unit myself, a two-bedroom penthouse, one of the largest and most expensive available. The cost, only $68,000, is just one fi fth of the cost of a unit with similar size in more expensive locations like in Makati, Fort Bonifacio, and Libis, Quezon City. What makes me smile with glee is the fact that the home-owner’s fee in my unit only costs $60 a month enabling me to enjoy such amenities like a club house, gym, swimming pool, jogging paths, 24-hour security, beautiful landscaping and others. In contrast, the typical cost for homeowner’s fees in other places

in Manila is about $350 and more.

“Can you imagine yourself paying $350 the rest of your life, whether you stay in our unit or not?” I often asked the guests attending the presentations.

After just a year, the value of my unit had appreciated by one million pesos, about $21,000. While property values in the United States have depreciated by fi fty percent, Philippine prop-erties have appreciated because mortgage loans are extended only to those who had the money or collateral to offer. In contrast, during the recent real estate bubble in the U.S., loans were given to almost everyone, even to those with fabricated income reports.

In fact, a condo unit I reserved at Crosswinds in Tagaytay City, a resort town south of Luzon which boasts of a Grand Canyon-like view of Taal Lake and Volcano plus continuous cool weather throughout the year had increased in value from $145,000 to $185,000. I could not believe it at fi rst, but two of my relatives confi rmed it after I asked them to check it out for



Perspectives

ASIAN JOURNALThe first Asian-Filipino weekly in Southern California

An award-winning newspaper, it is San Diego’s most widely circulated Asian-Filipino newpaper!

In Pursuit of Excellence

Ashley SilverioAssistant Editor

Eugenio “Ego” Osin, (1946 - 1994)Joe Cabrera, (1924 - 1996)

The Asian Journal is published weekly and distributed in all Asian communties in San Diego County. Publication date is every Friday of the month. Advertising deadline is Thursday prior to publication date at 5 p.m. For advertising rates, rate cards, or information, call (619) 474-0588. Subscription by mail is available for $50 per year (56 issues). The Asian Journal is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and photographs but welcomes submissions. Entire content is © 2008 copyrighted material by Asian Journal. Materials in this publication may not be reproduced without specific permission from the publisher.

Genevieve SilverioManaging Editor

Simeon G. Silverio, Jr.Publisher & Editor

Miles BeauchampAssociate Editor

Santi SilverioAssociate Publisher

At Large...

Read Miles Beauchamp’s previous articles by visiting our web-site at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Miles Beauchamp

by Riz A. Oades

Voices & Images

Read Dr. Oades’ s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

GuidanceThey laugh at the wisdom of the old

They think they are wiser a hundred foldBut young lives greatly unfold

Because of the care and the wisdom of the old.The experience and guidance of the old

Are tested, tempered, like pure goldFor the young to use and upholdTo take heed and do what is told

If the promised Eden they

©2008 copyright by Soledad O. Bautista. All rights reserved.

(Continued on page 11)Things are getting weird lately. Well, okay, they’re get-

ting weirder. And weirder for me is well, you can just imagine.

I’ll give you an example. Have you noticed that there seems to be a large number of companies playing musical gas stations? Now businesses change brands often. That’s not weird. But these stations have been doing it a lot. A station down the street from me has changed brands three

Musical Gas StationsWhat’s up with gas stations changing brands all the time?

times in the past couple of years. A Shell station I occasionally stop at has gone from Shell to Texaco to Shell to Chevron. I get dizzy from watching the signs change

I’ll bet the sign companies love it. In fact, if this goes on much longer they won’t have to make any more new signs at all. Just switch them around.

Musical gas stations – my latest annoyance. I’ll give you a few more.

Annoyances

1. Large bags of anything that are hard to reseal. You open it, take how much of whatever and then you have to close it. It can’t be zip-closed. So then you look for a clamp, clothes pin, a some-thing or other to seal it closed. Well if Zip-loc figured it out decades ago so can potato chip companies; just make the things re-sealable.

2. Cell phones that need to be reprogrammed every few weeks or months. Mine has had to be reprogrammed three times since I got it – yesterday it quit as I was sitting in a car waiting to pick up my son. I was wait-ing, had time on my hands, and planned to get caught up on mail and surfing; I slid it open, went to the web site, and noth-ing. I called tech support who, of course, told me that I needed to call them from another phone. I told tech support that I was in a school parking lot. They said sorry, call back. Great, now I’m sitting there with nothing except the owner’s manual to my car to read. Sadly enough, it did get interesting after awhile. I’d tell you some of those interesting things except you’ll want to read your own car’s manual yourself someday when you’re stuck with nothing to do.

Annoying people

3. This is a slightly long list of annoying people so rather than put it in paragraph form, I’ve complied it into a list. Aren’t I nice…?

Complainers who complainWhiners who whineGripers who gripeFussers who fussMoaners who moanBellyachers who bellyacheProtesters who protest

4. Planned obsolescence. If my washing machine becomes obsolete then so be it. But don’t plan in obsolescence.

5. Banks. Do I really need to explain this one? Thought not.

6. General Motors. Hey, GM, you really, truly messed up big time. You people had it all. You were the biggest manufacturing company on the planet. You were

the largest car manufacturer, the largest employer, the whole thing. You screwed up. It wasn’t the Japanese car companies, it wasn’t the oil problem, it wasn’t anything but you. Sure, those things existed, but you could have compensated for anything had you not been so arrogant and sure of yourself. You messed up and it’s sad. A lot of people have lost jobs and will continue to lose jobs. A lot of people will lose money who can’t afford to lose it; people who believed in your strength. You weren’t strong, you were arrogant and stupid.

7. Chrysler for many of the same reasons as GM. Excuse me Chrysler but didn’t you get the memo about huge SUV’s or minivans? What about large box-like cars? What happened to you? How could you be that dumb?

8. Republicans. You need to see number three and then pay attention. Just be really, really quiet for awhile. You blew it; you blew the election, you blew economy, you blew it. So let someone else try to fix things because you sure can’t, or won’t, or don’t want to. Whichever one it is, it doesn’t really matter. You gave us Ronald Reagan, George Bush I and George Bush II. Enough already or the next one may be a duck.

9. Let’s see, I’ve mentioned whiners, repubs, banks, car com-panies, cell phones, what else? Oh yeah, gated communities. Get over yourselves.

10. Roads under construction. Yes, I know money is a bit tight right now. Yes, I know there are a lot of roads in need of repair right now. That being said, it’s still annoying when it takes month after month after month to build something. I drive the same route to and from work and it’s been under construction for years. One off ramp in particu-lar has been rebuilt three times (well, the third rebuild isn’t finished yet). Just do what needs to be done the first time. Or how about build the bridge at the same time you’re building the road? We have lanes that come and go as the finished or nearly road winds between bridges that

haven’t begun construction. It’s a years-long mess in many, many places around the state.

I may have mentioned in this space on other occasions that one of my father’s favorite expres-sions is, “There is no constant but change.” Think about that “There is no constant but change” and you can see the truth in it. Change is the only constant in our lives; it is the only thing of which we can be

absolutely certain. Property can be stolen or lost, burned or sold. Cars get old and have to be sold. Furniture, art, jewelry gets old and worn; pets leave the building before we do – as do many fam-ily members and friends.

Sometimes we want, need change. Other times we’d be perfectly happy with a bit less of it. It’s up to you – just make sure you’re heard.

High school for Rosel Aquino Zo-bel proved to be a

maturing experience and also a challenge. There are many lessons learned. He learned more about himself, who his close friends were, what kind of help was of-fered to him, and what his developing strengths and weaknesses were. In many ways, those four years pre-pared him for college.

World War II disrupted Rosel’s grade schooling, which was true to many other Filipino kids. They missed at least two or three grades. Older kids returned to elementary, intermediate, and/or high schools. Some of them jumped to higher grades with no valid credentials, inasmuch as a lot of school records had either been destroyed or burned during the wartime period.

“I subscribed to the idea that high school is just an exten-

Reflections 8th of a Series

IN SEARH OF THE GOOD LIFE:Maturing Experience of

a Pasay City YouthAs life goes, an adolescent gains a great deal of

experience through his own doings and those of others around him. With each new situation, this adolescent is able to better carry his way through life.

sion of one’s life in general,” affirms Rosel, “and all experi-ences, loves and dislikes should continue throughout these years. Although it may be hard at times, being true to your heart builds strength, determination, self-confidence and self-respect that will be with you throughout your life.”

Attending Jose Abad Santos High (JAS) helped build his confidence and introduced him

Rosel Aquino Zobel

to middle and upper-middle-class families of Pasay City. This included those in nearby Cavite towns of Paranaque, Bacoor and Rosario having been a campus filled with bright students.

Freshman & Friendship

His freshman year in JAS was a mixture of older and younger students. He considered himself as a younger one in a virtually all-men section D class, which he found a bit intimidating, yet interesting.

A bunch of his class mates were aggressive, which was partly because they were already mama – i.e., full-grown men. The top student in this class was Lucas, a 5’6” tough young teen, 17, while Rosel was a skinny 14 year-old, but obviously a gifted student.

Class mates considered Rosel as the second-ranked student in the group; and they knew that “Mayabang” Lucas hated him very badly. He also looked down on other small students who were frequently bullied by bigger and older students in the class. Rosel suspected that Lucas and his barkada (in-group peers) were responsible for the outbreak of the Dewey Blvd school brawl that headlined JAS nationwide. (This incident will be told later).

Academic competition, bul-lying and fights over girls were important issues or problems

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during my high school days, ac-cording to Rosel.

“I was a cool, unassuming teen, who minded my own business,” Rosel confessed. “School work came easily to me. When I went to college, I met a lot of stu-dents who had come from some good private schools, as well as Manila’s public schools, and I never felt like my education was inferior to theirs.”

“I suppose I can only speak for JAS, as it was many years ago, but at the time, good educational resources were available to the students. For one, the school had some very good, dedicated teachers that include the likes of Mrs. Magbanua, Ms. Eleuterio, Mr. Ureta, and Ms .Madarang.”

“By being hardworking indi-viduals, these teachers acted as inspiring role models at a time I needed them most. While their influences means much to me and have greatly contributed to my development, they came eas-ily to mind.”

These people were all elders, and perhaps Rosel’s relationships with them were not as close as he wanted. Somehow, there is some distance between students and teachers. The person who had been close to Rosel and who deeply influenced him was Joe Kanleon.

Joe was a neighbor, who lived close to Mariquita Street. He was his best friend for quite a number of years. The friendship began at

one of the most crucial times in their lives: the freshman year.

“We developed our personali-ties, our senses of humor, and our love for girls at the same time and almost in the same manner,” recounts Rosel.

“We enjoyed each other’s company almost every opportu-nity we had. I never had anyone slightly older than me to identify with completely. I was at home with Joe, so with his brothers and sisters.

“His mother, a beautiful mesti-za, was nice to me. I never inter-acted with his old man, who was seldom home. His work was in a nearby province. He only came

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home every so often. Joe and I were normal and good-natured teens, who made choices we believe are true to our personal convictions.”

The family had a few passenger jeepneys that ran between Pasay City and Quiapo. At young age, Joe fixed mechanical troubles with their vehicles. Sometimes, I watched and assisted him in his work so we could play together. When finished, we then go to the adjacent, vacant lot, where we would engage in one or two rounds of boxing.

Between rounds, Joe would give Rosel pieces of advice on how to “attract and get girls.” Together, the duo would tour cheap brothel house (“Red light”) at the foot of H. Domingo Street out of curi-osity. “We were, of course, driven away as minors by the establishment’s pimp or bouncer,” he amusingly recalled.

Joe and his family moved to Bangkal, around Makati area. “We tried to maintain

the friendship,” he said, “and one might think we would have been able to since we had been so close, but we drifted apart.”

“Our friendship was based on being near each constantly, of growing up in the same neigh-borhood, under the same condi-tions, with the same hopes, fears, and dreams. Our friendship in

high school was great, but it unfortunately ended.”

PrejudiceJAS was a big school. Rosel

graduated in a class of about 250 as salutatorian. There were about 1500 students spread over four years. He did not doubt that it’s pretty easy for a student to get lost in the shuffle there. But everyone seemed to know him as a popular campus student.

But Rosel felt shortchanged when he graduated as Num-ber Two despite his excellent academic standing and higher grades than those three who graduated as Valedictorians – all of them are Pasay natives. He

felt it was a case of discrimination.

Rosel must have car-ried such feeling, for in his professional life; he has written a number of newspaper articles that deal with a range of issues regarding preju-dice, discrimination, tradition, and social class.

The character of Rosel already represents an issue in the Filipino

communities. He has crafted his “critical” and “advocate” per-sonality with a “macho” label, to break the barriers of tradi-tion and to imply that Filipinos have to adapt to the values and practices of their host American society.

He later wrote on a theme of discrimination entitled,” Are Filipinos Colorblind?” for which he won an “Outstanding Award in Print Journalism” in the early 1990s. Other themes that he has written about include moral and physical courage, growing up

Filipino, good and bad parenting, affirmative action, and under-standing.

It has been some decades since he graduated from JAS. When he was there, he felt like he had the opportunity to get one of the better educations anywhere. His parents supported him and im-

Sol Poetry

Read Soledad Bautista’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Soledad O. Bautista(1917 - 2009)


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By: Father Shay Cullen The outpouring of public concern

and outrage over the acquittal and overturning of a rape conviction and a life sentence by the Philip-pine Court of Appeals against US Navy Marine Lance Corporal Dan-iel Smith, was less than expected. The public had been conditioned by the affidavit of desistance of the victim made last 8 March 2009. Soon after that the young woman, Nicole (not her real name), departed to the United States with a special immigrant visa, if not a green card and a generous financial gratuity by way of compensation. A deal had been done. The complain-ant was neutralized and the court could proceed with the expected acquittal.

The Court of Appeals division 11 is composed of three female judges. They ruled that they had ignored the affidavit of Nicole, but that she was not an innocent provincial girl but a woman of “indecorous behavior”. More or less saying that the victim had asked for it and was to blame. The ruling said in effect that the lower court had been wrong in convicting Smith of rape because the evidence showed that it was a “spontane-ous unplanned romantic episode”. Indeed!

It ruled that semi-intoxicated Ni-cole, even though she was carried on the back of the marine to a van where the “spontaneous romantic episode” happened, gave her con-sent. Many have taken issue with this decision. But it was the only “political” decision possible.

For many Americans and Filipino officials and business leaders, it is unimaginable for a US marine to be imprisoned for life in a filthy, disease-ridden Philippine jail with criminals, rapists, rats and cock-roaches. It would lead to unending protest rallies in the United States, and an end to all US investment and aid to the Philippines.

That was the reason the US gov-ernment insisted on keeping Smith in the US Embassy and not in a Filipino jail. They were right, those jails are unfit for human habitation. They are still the abode of Filipino children and we wish many Filipi-nos would consider it unimaginable that children would be incarcerated with adult criminals and rats and

The Inconvenient Contradictions

rally to have them released. But what a campaign it was

for the activist groups during the past three years that saw rallies, marches and denunciations of US military rapists and women abusers. There were even calls by some opposition politicians for the Philippines to rescind the Visit-ing Forces Agreement(VFA) that allows US ships and planes to use the Philippines ports and airports and conduct military exercises. It was the widespread sexual exploi-tation of women and children by US servicemen and sex tourists in the honky-tonk bars of Olongapo and Angeles City and elsewhere that led to the campaign to close the bases and convert them to eco-nomic zones.

That was a ten year campaign that succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. It started the day in 1983, when I discovered 12 children, the youngest was 9 years-old, infected with venereal diseases and hidden away from the public and media in the Olongapo city general hospital by the mayor and US admiral. Not even the Red Cross came to save them. Exposing that nearly cost me my life.

The bases are closed since 1992 and hundreds of manufacturing en-terprises, hotels, and family tourist resorts employ as many as 80,000 Filipinos with dignified work. While the bases went away, the sex industry did not completely die. It reemerged in 1996 run by the inter-national sex mafia with thousands of European and Australian sex tourists and retired US servicemen enjoying the sexual exploitation of young women and children they once enjoyed.

Today, sex slavery is grow-ing and thousands of women and children are trafficked into the sex clubs that proliferate across the land from the cities to the seaside resorts. Child rape, prostitution of children, forced abortions and every kind of sexual exploitation is rampant. There are no campaigns, rallies nor marches for them. Why not? Thousands of foreigners are doing this every day and night in sex bars, clubs and hotels across the land and it is just as evil and wrong and outrageous as what the marchers and protesters said Daniel Smith did to Nicole and there is not a placard of protest to be seen.


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San Diego News

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA – Volunteers of all ages showed their love for a clean San Diego today by taking part in the 7th Annual Creek to Bay Cleanup. These dedicated community members volunteered their time at 63 cleanup sites spread out countywide, proving that “green” starts in San Diego.

With cleanup site totals still trickling in, coordinators at I Love A Clean San Diego (ILAC-SD) expect to surpass last year’s volunteer totals with over 4,000 participants countywide. Tem-

porary dumpsters were filled to the brim countywide, with many inland sites reporting thousands of pounds of debris. The most common items collected in-cluded cigarette butts, plastic grocery bags and plastic bever-ages bottles proving that single use disposable items continue to plague our region. Hundreds of discarded tires and abandoned hazardous waste were identified at many inland cleanup sites. On the other hand, most unusual items this year included a trophy from 1911, a disco ball, and a wallet full of money!

ILACSD’s army of volunteers make a tremendous impact by donating just a few hours of their time, while setting a positive example each year to an expand-ing cross-section of community members. With more and more

ILACSD Cleanup Makes Clean Sweep from Creek to Bay

volunteers joining in at this event each year, San Diegans embody an infectious spread of environ-mental stewardship and commu-nity pride.

I Love A Clean San Diego hosted the Creek to Bay kickoff event at Southcrest Community Park in an effort to shed some light on an often overlooked problem facing San Diego’s watersheds. Urban runoff and debris not only cause health concerns for affected neighbor-hoods, but this debris eventu-ally travels to the coast through

rivers, creeks, and storm drains where it contami-nates the ocean. Approximately 80% of marine debris originates at such inland ar-eas and ILACSD is proud of all volunteers today; especially those who helped stop this harmful pol-lution upstream.

Over 350 volunteers at South-crest Community Park were greeted by KFMB Channel 8’s Natasha Stenbock and Carlo Cecchetto to kick off the event, before heading out to cleanup the park, the nearby portion of Chollas Creek, and surrounding neighborhood. In addition to the cleanup, volunteers beautified the community through planting activities and storm drain stencil-ing. By stenciling a warning message, “No Dumping, Goes to Ocean” on storm drain inlets, volunteers will prevent future incidences of littering and illegal dumping in order to preserve all of their hard work cleaning up at this event. I Love A Clean San Diego coordinates the stenciling program year round for volun-teers through a partnership with City of San Diego Think Blue.

Beautification activities like these cleanups, planting, and storm drain stenciling projects took place here in San Diego today, and across the country through Keep America Beauti-ful’s Great American Cleanup. I Love A Clean San Diego is proud to represent San Diego County through the inclusion of the Creek to Bay Cleanup in this nationwide event that instills and spreads activism to over 30,000 communities.

These accomplishments would not have been possible without our dedicated sponsors’ support. Thanks are due to the 2009 event sponsors, including title spon-sors San Diego County Board of Supervisors Greg Cox and Pam Slater Price and City of San Diego Think Blue, with addi-tional support from Time War-ner Cable, KFMB Channel 8’s Earth 8 Campaign, Allied Waste Services, San Diego Bay Water-shed Group, the Barona Band of Mission Indians, Sony, Kashi., SeaWorld, Sea Life Aquarium, Ellen Browning Scripps Founda-tion, Birch Aquarium at Scripps, AMC Theaters, Ocean Minded, RBF Consulting, Kohl’s, Cubic Transportation Systems, Wil-son Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation, City of Poway, City of Escondido, General Dynam-ics NASSCO, Dog Beach Dog Wash, KPRI, and Keep America Beautiful.

A diversified environmental education organization operating throughout San Diego County, I love A Clean San Diego offers a broad range of expertise in public education and outreach, event coordination, and commu-nity relations. ILACSD promotes awareness of environmental issues including resource con-servation, waster reduction and recycling, community enhance-ment, and pollution prevention. For more information about I Love A Clean San Diego, visit www.cleansd.org or call 1-800-237-BLUE.

The Sweetwater Union High School District rescinded layoff no-tices to 55 teachers and counselors today—half the total number issued last month.

The district was able to pull back the layoff notices because of a suf-ficient number of teachers and coun-selors who have filed for retirement under the district’s Early Retirement Incentive.

A total of 109 notices had been

Sweetwater District Rescinds Half Its Teacher Layoff Notices

Expectation is to rescind more within the week

The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion (CDC) has confirmed an additional case of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) in a San Diego County resident. The new case is a 7-year-old boy.

That brings to four the num-ber of San Diego residents with swine flu. The previous cases are a 10-year-old male and a 54-year-old male and his 16-year-old daughter. All four San Diego cases have recovered. Nationwide, the total number of cases of hu-man infection stands at eight.

“It is anticipated that we will see additional cases of human infection with swine influenza be-cause we have heightened our sur-veillance and put area healthcare providers on alert,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., San Diego County Public Health Officer. “We continue to work closely with the CDC, the California Department of Public Health and the Imperial County Public Health Department to investigate the source of these cases.”

While sporadic cases of swine flu have previously been seen in humans in the U.S., this strain of the swine flu has not been previ-ously detected. The symptoms in these cases have been mild and are similar to regular influenza. Swine flu is a cause of respiratory disease in pigs. Most commonly, human cases of swine influenza happen when people are in close proxim-ity to infected pigs, such as in pig production barns and livestock exhibits at fairs. Typically, the symptoms of swine influenza in people are similar to the symptoms of regular seasonal influenza in-fection and include fever, lethargy, coughing and lack of appetite.

“While there is concern about this new virus, I would like to stress that this is not a pandemic

Services agency reports one new case of swine fluTotal Cases Now Stand at Four in San Diego County; Eight Nationwide

situation,” said Wooten. “There is always a possibility that any new virus could lead to a pandemic, but at this time the World Health Organization has not determined that we have a pandemic.”

San Diego County residents can call the County of San Diego Swine Influenza Information Line at (858) 715-2250.

issued to teachers and counselors at a special board meeting on March 2. State Education Code requires that school districts notify certificated employees by March 15 if there is a potential for them to lose their jobs at the end of the school year. The notices had been sent out to coun-selors and teachers in the following subject areas: art, English, physical education, social science and Span-ish.

“We have been committed all along to preserving jobs,” said Board President Jim Cartmill. “Although we were required to issue layoff notices, it has always been our intention to find savings in our budget to maintain jobs.”

The 55 notices that are being rescinded have been distributed

among all the counselors and teach-ing subjects notified last month. School principals were to receive the names of those who notices are being pulled back so that they could inform the employees at their sites, said Superintendent Dr. Jesus M. Gandara.

The district continues looking for more potential savings and expects to pull back additional layoff notices tomorrow, Gandara said.

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Read previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjo-urnalusa.com

by Atty. Rogelio Karagdag, Jr.Member, State Bar of California & Integrated Bar of the Philippines

Phil - Am Law 101

TIPID REGULAR JUMBO$40$45N/AN/A

$50$55$65$70

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02/15/09-03/15/09 21 days 535.0002/15/09-03/15/09 30 days 619.0002/15/09-03/15/09 45 days 694.0002/15/09-03/15/09 2 mos. 767.0002/15/09-03/15/09 6 mos. 879.0002/15/09-03/15/09 1 year 1,140.00

02/15/09-03/15/09 6 mos. 685.00

02/15/09-03/15/09 3 mos. 555.00

02/15/09-03/15/09 60 days 555.00

02/15/09-03/15/09 45 days 509.00

02/15/09-03/15/09 3 mos. 631.00

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02/15/09-03/15/09 2 mos. 485.00

Food for ThoughtRead previous articles by visiting our website at www.asian-

journalusa.com

1. Never, under any circum-stances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. Don’t worry about what people think, they don’t do it very often.

3. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.

4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

5. If you must choose be-tween two evils, pick the one

Words of wisdom, part 1

Perhaps more than any other nationalities, Filipinos are most affected by long-distance relation-ships. Many of us – even those already doing well in the Philip-pines – try our luck abroad usu-ally because we want to give our children a better opportunity in life. Good if we all go together, but sometimes our families get left be-hind. The romantic in us hopes that absence will make the heart grow fonder but, unfortunately, distance oftentimes makes it wander. Lone-liness takes its toll, and the migrant spouse finds happiness in someone else’s arms. The expediency of divorce in the foreign land formal-izes the break-up of the Philippine marriage. Meanwhile, the Filipino spouse remains shackled to the defunct union.

It is for this reason that on July 17, 1987, shortly after the sign-ing of the original Family Code, President Corazon Aquino issued Executive Order No. 227, which added a second paragraph to Article 26. As so amended, it now provides:

ART. 26. All marriages solem-nized outside the Philippines in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were sol-emnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this country, except those prohibited under Articles 35(1), (4), (5) and (6), 36, 37 and 38.

Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Fili-pino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law.

Divorced Filipino Spouse Can RemarryPhilippine Supreme Court Levels the Playing Field

As worded, Article 26 now allows the Filipino spouse to remarry in the Philippines in case the alien spouse obtains a divorce. This seems to mean that the other spouse must be a foreigner at the time of the marriage. But what if the alien spouse was still a Filipino at the time of the marriage and was naturalized only before the divorce proceedings?

The Philippine Supreme Court answered this question in a 2005 decision. Husband and wife got married in the Philippines. In 1986, the wife left for the United States and became a US citizen. A few years later, the wife divorced the husband. He petitioned the Philip-pine trial court for authority to remarry. The trial court granted the petition over the objection from the Office of the Solicitor General who appealed the case up to the Supreme Court. The OSG contends that Paragraph 2 of Article 26 of the Family Code is not applicable to the case because it only applies to a valid mixed marriage; that is, a marriage celebrated between a Filipino citizen and an alien. The proper remedy, according to the OSG, is for the husband to file a petition for annulment or for legal separation.

In rejecting the OSG’s position, the Supreme Court said that on its face, the law seems to apply only to cases where at the time of the celebration of the marriage the parties are a Filipino citizen and a foreigner. However, it said, the legislative intent clearly covers the situation where the spouses were still both Filipinos at the time of the celebration of the marriage, but later on, one of them becomes naturalized as a foreign citizen and obtains a divorce decree. “The

Filipino spouse should likewise be allowed to remarry as if the other party were a foreigner at the time of the solemnization of the mar-riage. To rule otherwise would be to sanction absurdity and injustice. Where the interpretation of a stat-ute according to its exact and literal import would lead to mischievous results or contravene the clear purpose of the legislature, it should be construed according to its spirit and reason, disregarding as far as necessary the letter of the law. A statute may therefore be extended to cases not within the literal mean-ing of its terms, so long as they come within its spirit or intent.”

As regards the OSG’s suggestion that the husband should just file either a petition for annulment or a petition for legal separation, the Supreme Court noted that “annul-ment would be a long and tedious process, and in this particular case, not even feasible, considering that the marriage of the parties appears to have all the badges of validity. On the other hand, legal separation would not be a sufficient remedy for it would not sever the marriage tie; hence, the legally separated Filipino spouse would still remain married to the naturalized alien spouse.”

The Supreme Court thus sum-marized that “the reckoning point is not the citizenship of the parties at the time of the celebration of the marriage, but their citizenship at the time a valid divorce is obtained abroad by the alien spouse capaci-tating the latter to remarry.”

However, the Supreme Court still granted the OSG’s appeal, not because it agreed with its argu-ments, but because the husband failed to submit competent evi-dence of the divorce decree and the wife’s naturalization. The husband merely testified in the trial court, without presenting the court and immigration documents. Thus, he has to re-file his petition in the trial court; this time making sure that it he submits all necessary evidence. Once again, this shows the impor-tance of a well-presented case.

The Supreme Court decision is a very welcome development many divorced Filipino spouses who are similarly-situated. Otherwise, the only relief would be to file a nullity or annulment of marriage case in court, but the grounds are limited, and the process long, tedious and expensive. Under Article 26, all that needs to be presented in evi-dence are the naturalization records of the alien spouse, to prove that he or she is already an alien at the time divorce was obtain, and proof of divorce. These documents

you’ve never tried before. 6. My idea of housework

is to sweep the room with a glance.

7. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

8. It is easier to get forgive-ness than permission.

9. For every action, there is an equal and opposite govern-ment program.

10. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.

should not be hard to obtain, even from the alien spouse, who should only be too happy to see his/her former spouse enjoying the same freedom he/she now enjoys.

Atty. Rogelio Karagdag, Jr. is licensed to practice law in both California and the Philippines. He practices immigration law in San Diego and has continuously been a trial and appellate attorney in the Philippines since 1989. He travels between San Diego and Manila. His office address is located at 16486 Bernardo Center Drive, Suite 228, San Diego, CA 92128. He also holds office in National City inside the S&S Travel Agency at 2409 E. Plaza Blvd. Please call (858)348-7475 & (619) 475-3262 for your free consultation. We also encourage readers to write us questions about both U.S. immi-gration and Philippine laws to be future topics in this column. Our email is [email protected]. Articles written in this column are not legal advice but are intended as general, non-specific legal information.


By Elga D. Reyes

Antipolo local Cora Atayde brings Gloria Caoile and the rest of the Feed the Hungry organization to Brgy. Sta Cruz, where they educate roughly 200 indigents on the thrust of the group to help the “poorest of the poor,” giving plastic bags of food essentials, seem-ingly insufficient but “you should see the expressions…very grateful.”

The Philippines is a country rich in resources and one has to wonder why it is mired in poverty. There are many reasons. Ask a kid on the street and there will be a ready answer. Check with others and be pointed to the brain drain Filipino professionals and intelligentsia migrating to already developed countries and contributing to their further development, while the rest of the population left behind sinks lower into degradation or stag-

Antipolo local Cora Atayde brings Gloria Caoile and the rest of the Feed the Hungry organization to Brgy. Sta Cruz, where they educate roughly 200 indigents on the thrust of the group to help the “poorest of the poor,” giving plastic bags of food essentials, seemingly in-sufficient but “you should see the expressions…very grateful.”

Caoile, feeding the hungry, filling the soul

nation.What is forgotten, though, is that

there are people who do come back – even if not permanently; the crux of the matter is that they do and they share the personal rewards they have reaped with those less fortunate here.

Gloria Caoile, a Philippine-Amer-ican with Samoan roots, is one such person. At first she is intimidating, a force of will and authority emanat-ing from her, but once done with the initial handshake, it is an empowering feeling to meet a great mind, and not just that, but someone doing great things with a passion.

Caoile has to her name credentials spanning the labor issues of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States for more than 30 years, yet the pinnacle of her achievements may be the one that is least focused on. Retired but still serving as consultant to multiple organizations, she is now deeply involved with the Washington, DC-based organization Feed the Hun-gry, whose primary thrust is to help the poorest in welfare and in spirit.

Fifteen years ago, Filipino couple Tess and Pablito Alarcon who were residing in the US capital visited Manila. Stepping out of the Aristocrat restaurant in Intramuros, they noticed children begging outside. Unlike locals oftentimes immune to pleas of desperation, they were moved to help, feeding them. And unlike others who may have sympathized, they extended a bigger call of action. The dire need became a seed of inspiration, prompt-ing them to establish a group to ad-dress this cause.

The gathering of like-minded indi-viduals has grown into a full-fledged non-governmental organization of volunteers. This translates to efforts backed by their own wallets, coupled with fundraisers, providing resources for outreach projects. With its trans-parency and zero monetary return, the group has earned a credible status in the US.

Its members have served more than 947,000 program beneficiaries in 72 provinces out of the 79 in the Philip-pines and Metro Manila. Yet they still have to attain name recall. Until now, their concentration has always been on the actual activities like gift giving, feeding the malnourished or school building, where they rely on word of mouth for recipient referrals, volunteer recruitment and funds. But now they have realized a little popu-larity would be beneficial for more of the aforementioned.

Over the course of the last weeks, about 40 member volunteers (includ-ing some recently tapped from the Las Vegas community) have arrived in the Philippines for their yearly humanitarian visit. They have differ-ent durations and schedules, heading off to varied locales for a wider reach. One of the stops was in Antipolo, through a recommendation of a friend who had already seen their work.

Caoile, chairperson of the feeding program, recalls how they reached out to Cora Atayde, the friend and local, to mediate with Barangay Santa Cruz and “identify the poorest of the poor.” Roughly 200 indigents were present that morning, all anticipating the plastic bag of food essentials they would be receiving.

At first thought, a single package looks insufficient and short-lived. It doesn’t seem to fit with the popular Confucian adage of teaching man to fish rather than giving him fish. However in a matter of minutes, the experience proved to be something else.

Lottie Buhain, chairperson of the board, said it best: “It’s different

when you’re actually there. Even if they say it’s just a mere handout, you should see the expressions. They are really, really, very grateful.”

Caoile also recounted another trip, this time to a home for abused children in Davao, where all the youngsters wanted was their own face towel and “for some of the adult girls, please, if they can just buy their napkins… That’s all they cared about. It makes them feel better.”

Caoile, despite an evident idealism (serving the needy and admitting that workers’ rights will always be close to her heart because of their univer-sality), is at the same time a realist.

“We are not here to change the world,” she said. “We just want to be able to make a difference in some little girl’s life. You never know, he or she may be the next president of

this country and take it to a different [path].”

Improvements do not have to be drastic – for her, details add up. “If you don’t cure the cut, it can get big-ger and bigger and you can lose your hand. But if you put on a band-aid, you’ll get well.”

Another reality is that money is hard to come by. Buhain mentioned donation fatigue. It is their hope to at-tain a grant in the future which would sustain the organization and, more importantly, to maintain an “army of believers” as Caoile describes it. So far, there are positive signs. During the Antipolo venture, daughters of two volunteers lent their time and tal-ent. There could be more though, and still more generations after. For Carl Abella, the father of one of the pair, it only took one program and he’s been hooked for 10 years.

The participants and board mem-bers of the organization lead separate lives. They are not in the same circle of friends back in the US and the only time they usually get to meet is dur-ing these trips.

Caoile, aside from this philanthrop-ic pursuit, has been the busy queen bee at the start of the year during the preparations for the Obama inaugu-ration hoopla. Being “a Democrat through and through” and having worked extensively for the concerns of the Asian Pacific American com-munity (being the first national vice president and later executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance or APALA, and serving under the White House Commission of the Clinton administration for the same population segment), she and Francey Lim Youngberg organized the Pearl Presidential Inaugural Gala in mid-January.

It sold out in three days and was attended by prominent and high-ranking individuals including senators Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka, CEOs like Loida Nicolas Lewis, and President Obama’s sister Maya Soetero Ng. Filipino child-wonder Charice Pempengco performed there, impressing the crowd as always with her singing prowess.

But the core of the gala, and her self-confessed zeal, was the sig-nificance of the unprecedented voter participation, especially by the Fili-pino-Americans during the electoral cycle. Caoile maintains adamantly: “I believe that if you participate in the electoral process and if you vote, you will be counted. To be counted, then your issues will be heard by the politicians. If you do not become a constituency, nobody would care about our issues.”

For her the perfect example and a major accomplishment was the veterans’ equity included in the recently signed economic stimulus package, a calvary prolonged for over 50 years. Asked about her thoughts on the widely-expressed belief that this was too little too late, she replied, “Personally, I am not happy with the money. But if you would have just seen the struggle of these veterans, it’s really more of what it symbol-izes… the affirmation of the United States that these people, these veter-ans, were part of the US military, that they served the country.” She adds that this should serve as a reminder for the future, that disrespect to Filipi-no Americans should not be tolerated, thus underscoring the importance of having a voice.

Caoile knows there is more to be done. Fil-Ams continue to contend with immigration, education and health benefits concerns, but she is proud to say that the drive is now

sustained by more Filipinos, taking up positions in and out of the Capitol (citing the just elected congressman in Ohio), to be heard.

It is a similar path to the one she took in her years of working as an as-sistant to the president of the Ameri-can Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a 1.3 million member labor union. She was also one of the founders of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations and held other leader-ship posts on the boards of several Filipino-American organizations like the Association of Philippine Ameri-can Women and Tanghalang Pilipino.

Her dedication has paid off, and not simply through the 2001 Achievement Award for Community Service given by Filipinas magazine, nor the 1998 Filipina First Award by the Philip-pine American Foundation, but in the sheer triumph of everything that has come to be at this point.

It is amazing how laboring for labor has grown to be a labor of love in her participation for Feed the Hungry, mirroring the principles of giving recognition to the minority, and in the process dissolving the word labor in itself. It is love, it is her life.

(Published in Expat Newspaper, March 8-21, 2009 issue)

From Goodnews Balita

PHILIPPINE NEWS SERVICE -- WANT it back? Fight for it.

This was the challenge House Speaker Prospero Nograles gave former Speaker Jose de Venecia who has said some solons have offered him the speakership if he can assure the approval of Charter Change.

In a press briefing, Nograles expressed confidence that Pam-panga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo is his ally.

Nograles said that there is no truth to the report that Arroyo has assured De Venecia of getting back the top House post since the

JDV dared: Fight to get back speakershipyounger Arroyo respects the deci-sion of the majority to unseat De Venecia as House leader.

“Let me say again for the record

Former Speaker Jose de VeneciaPresident Gloria Macapagal arroyo and

House Speaker Prospero Nograles.

that the speakership is not for Mikey to offer. We are elect-ed by our peers. The Speakership is an open elec-tion and we won it overwhelmingly with the help of the majority allies,” Nograles said.

“I’ve known Cong. Mikey Ar-royo for a long time, ever since he was a boy. I don’t think, in all honesty, that Mikey will do that to me, sa tagal ng aming pinagsamahan, ng father niya who is my classmate, and he, when he was still a little boy,” he added.

Nograles said that De Venecia may have an agenda but he is confident he has the support of the majority of the solons.


Work Visas/Green Cards thru Employment• Family Visas• Student, Trainee, Tourist, Investors, Visas • Reinstatement of Petition • Deportation Defense• International Adoption• Appeals, Motions to Reopen/Reconsider• Battered/Abused Spouse• I-601 Waivers (Hardship)• Consular Support in Manila• Experienced Criminal Defense Attorneys are also avail• able in our office.

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*Susan Perez is a licensed attorney both in the State of California and the Philippines. She has eighteen (18) years of combined experience in both jurisdictions in the areas of Immigration, Family, Appellate, Juvenile Dependency, Civil, Criminal, Labor, Contracts, Tax, and Business Law. She is also admitted to practice before the Ninth Circuit of the Court of Appeals, and the District Courts of Southern California and Central District of California. She is a Certifi ed Public Accountant and pursuing Master’s of Law at the University of San Diego.

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San Diego Office: Manila Office:625 Broadway, Suite 1015 Suite 2502-A East TowerSan Diego CA 92101 Philippine Stock Exchange CentreTel. No. (619) 819-8648 Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig CityFax No. (619) 923-9555 Tel. Nos.: (632) 687-2565 / 687-9851 Email: [email protected] Fax No.: (632) 687-2565

Atty. Susan V. Perez

Visit our website: www.law-usimmigration.com

by Atty. Susan V. Perez

Legal BriefRead Atty. Susan Perez’s previous articles by

visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

Two days after Easter, I got a call from a client that her I-601

waiver has been approved. We were both ecstatic. I was pleased to tell her that all my I-601 waiver cases were successful. She was very thankful to me. I said, “I was just doing my job.” Now, she’s back in the U.S. with her U.S. citizen hus-band and two daughters, 16 and 7 years old.

An application for I-601 or hardship waiver is necessary when a visa applicant has been determined to be “inadmissi-ble” based on one or more visa ineligibilities. The most com-mon visa ineligibility is illegal presence. An alien with prior a visa but overstayed for more than 180 days will be subject to a 3 year ban if he returns to his home country. More than 365 days of illegal presence results in a 10 year ban. Please take note that illegal presence under 180 days does not hold a ban and does not require a waiver. Also note that illegal presence under the age of 18 does not “count”. Other grounds of ineligibility are: communicable disease such as HIV, fraud or other illegal means in entering the U.S., dangerous physi-cal or mental disorder, drug or alcohol abuse, and serious criminal acts. In the latter two cases, the consulate generally has other requirements such as proof of rehabilitation and/or submission of regular drug tests results. When the I-601 waiver

The I-601 “Hardship” Waiver is approved, the ban is waived and the visa is issued to the alien applicant. Be aware that some ineligibilities cannot be waived such as falsely claiming US Citizenship.

In proving your I-601 waiver, you must prove that: 1) the qualifying relative would suf-fer extreme hardship if he or she move to the applicant’s country; AND 2) the qualifying relative can’t simply remain in the U.S. without the applicant. The term “extreme hardship” means over and above the normal hardship the qualifying relative would experience if the applicant’s visa is denied.

A good example is: Joe, a U.S. citizen is married to Maria, a Filipina. Maria can-not adjust in the U.S. because she entered the U.S. with-out inspection. She needs a waiver in order to get a green card. Joe may say he does not want to move to the Phil-ippines because he does not speak Tagalog, economy is bad, unemployment and crime rates are high, he won’t have medical insurance, he won’t be able to pay his educational loans, and the future of their children would not be as good. Joe will also say that he can-not remain in the U.S. without Maria because he would feel depressed and suffer separation anxiety. All of this is “normal hardship”. A husband similarly situated would suffer the same hardship. What the adjudica-tor wants to see is extreme or unusual hardship on the part of the U.S. citizen relative.

The following are examples

of good argument to support an extreme hardship case: seri-ous medical problem of the U.S. citizen qualifying rela-tive, minor child from a prior relationship and the noncus-todial parent does not consent to the child being taken to the alien’s home country, domes-tic violence concerns, racism or security risk abroad, and unavailable career. I suggest that you get a good attorney to present your I-601 “extreme hardship” case.

We welcome your feedback. If you have any immigration questions, please feel welcome to email me at [email protected] or call 619 819 -8648 to arrange for a tele-phone consultation.

mensely had taught him to value education, and that his friends and their families viewed educa-tion in much the same way. These helped him a lot in boosting his self-confidence. As life goes, an adolescent gains a great deal of experience through his own doings and those of others around him. With each new situation, this kid is able to better carry his way through life.

“As a high school student,” recalls Rosel, “I was frequently asked what career or major I would take in college.”

“How would I know?” Rosel

blurted out. “I wish I knew what the options out there were, but I don’t. And because of my expe-rience selling flowers, I would just say ‘Commerce!’, although the truth was I never worry about what I would take when I finish high school. I just want to be happy.”

“I treated high school as work. And so I let my need to be good at what I did to be satisfied by merely doing well in school. I was never bored all those years. There were so many things to do, hanging out with friends, dating girls, picnics, and playing games with other kids.” he said.

“I knew I have to do more than get good grades,” he continued saying. “We have to have extra-curricular activities, especially if one wants to graduate with honors or at the head of the graduation ceremony. So I got

IN SEARH OF THE GOOD LIFE: Maturing

Experience of a Pasay City Youth

(Continued from page 6)


involved in dance group, student publication, and PMT.”

My traditional dancing activ-ity was cut short when my ankle was accidentally caught by two colliding bamboo poles in a Ti-nikling dance number, for which I suffered for two to three weeks limping because of excruciating pains.

“I became the leader of a PMT platoon model. At 5’3” I com-manded a platoon of at least 5’6” well-selected 40 cadets,” relates Rosel

“We’re the “elite” group of the whole PMT school program, a standout in the annual drill meet in personal inspection, drill ex-hibitions with and without rifles. We displayed precision marches, along with various hand move-ments.”

Exhibition drill is a modified



with the freshest ingredients, herbs and spices. Lai Thai is a lovely and charm-ing Thai restaurant in South Bay owned by Nikki Summawadee Bubpha. Summawadee who has a Master’s degree in finance, but she has opted for a more reward-ing and satisfying career as a chef and restaurant manager. She invites you to enjoy the authentic foods and ambiance of her native land.

Lai Thai Restaurant is great place to celebrate any occasion.

You will have the greatest time and the best food at Lai Thai Restaurant. WE have been back there for the past 8 years with a bunch of people from work who always raved about it.

Hours Of Operation Fri - 11:00 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. Open for private parties on Sundays and Mondays Call to make your plans 619) 474-5546 Lai Thai Restaurant 1430 E. Plaza Blvd # E10 Na-tional City, CA 91950 Tel: (619) 474-554. ajecv

Celebrate Mother’s Day at Lai

Thai Restaurant South Bay’s Pride


NURSES FOR THE MASSES. Mrs Heidi Celisio, (L) Chief Nurse of the Sara District Hospital in Iloilo endorses to 8 newly hired nurses an elderly patient of the hospital’s ward section. The project under the Department of Labor and Employment has hired thou-sands across the Philippines inexperience nurses for 6 months at 8,000 per month under the employment program of President Glo-ria Macapagal Arroyo. PINOY GONZALES/ PNS

The Philippines’ growing economy and robust stock market, assisted by a strong peso and a declining dollar, have boosted the fortunes of its richest citizens.For the first time in years Forbes magazine has included a Filipino among the world’s top billionaires. It also listed 39 others as Philip-pines’ richest, with a total worth of $17 billion.The complete list of the Philip-pines’ 40 richest:

1. Jaime Zobel de Ayala and family ($2 billion)

RP’s 40 richest revealed by Forbes

Jaime Zobel de Ayala

2. Henry Sy and family ($1.7 bil-lion)3. Lucio Tan and family ($1.6 bil-lion)4. Andrew Tan ($1.1 billion)5. Manuel Villar ($940 million)6. George Ty ($870 million)7. Andrew Gotianun ($860 million)8. Enrique Razon Jr. ($820 million)9. Tony Tan Caktiong and family ($790 million)10. Oscar Lopez and family ($775

Henry Sy

million)11. Vivian Que Azcona and family ($670 mil-lion)12. Inigo and Mercedes Zobel ($660 million)13. Eduardo Cojuang-co Jr. ($540 million)14. Emilio Yap and family ($445 million)15. John Gokongwei Jr. and family ($430 million)16. Enrique Aboitiz and family ($375 mil-lion)17. Alfonso Yuchengco

and family ($365 million)18. Beatrice Campos ($220 mil-lion)19. David Consunji and family ($210 million)20. Luis Virata ($200 million)21. Gilberto Duavit Jr. and family ($191 million)22. Menardo Jimenez and family ($190 million)23. Felipe Gozon and family ($165 million)24. Mariano Tan and family ($140 million)25. Ramon del Rosario Jr. ($137

million)26. Ronaldo and Rosalinda Hortaleza ($110 million)27. Manuel Zamora ($105 million)28. Betty Ang ($100 million)29. Tomas Alcantara and family ($90 mil-lion)30. Frederick Dy ($70 million)31. Wilfred Steven Uytengsu Sr. ($60 million)32. Salvador Zamora ($55 million)33. Oscar Hilado and

family ($51 million)34. Philip T. Ang ($50 million)35. Magdaleno Albarracin Jr. ($49 million)36. Jesus Tambunting ($47 million)37. Antonio Roxas ($36 million)38. Manuel Pangilinan ($35 mil-lion) 39. Marixi Rufino-Prieto and fam-ily ($33 million) 40. Lourdes Montinola ($30 mil-lion)

PHILIPPINE NEWS SER-VICE -- THE Armed Forces is winning in the campaign against communist insurgency but the challenge is how to sustain the momentum and eventually defeat the country’s oldest problem by 2010, according to Defense Sec-retary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.

“The military is winning the war against insurgency. There is no danger of a c ommunist in-surgency taking over the country today.” Teodoro told military officials attending the 6th Senior Leaders’ Conference held at the headquarters of the Philippine Army in Fort Bonifacio, Makati City.

Teodoro observed that all ef-forts of the Philippine Army are geared towards achieving the 2010 strategic goal of defeating communist insurgency.

He said many strategies and approaches were undertaken in the past but insurgency continues to exist, noting the need to re-examine mechanisms to be able to come up with best solution for the accomplishment of the goal.

Teodoro specifically stressed that the previous approach of fighting an ideological war is wrong.

“What the military needs to do is to concentrate on the armed group such as the New People’s Army, not the front organiza-tions,” he said.

The Defense chief reiterated his guidance for the military to go against the NPAs and to never allow them to perpetuate any criminal act such as kidnapping, arson, and murder.

Teodoro also contended that despite the presence of a peace agreement between the com-munists and the government, military presence should be increased to serve as a deterrent for armed groups to resurface. He said,

“We should never let our guards down and never assume that peace will continue without

Teodoro sees defeat of NPA in 2010

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.

our presence,” he said. Peace, according to him, is not

just a mutual understanding be-tween two people, but a result of an enforc ement mechanism by the government and the ability to enforce the law at any point at any time.

Teodoro also emphasized three important points to address the country’s military concerns: 1) Refocus on the armed group; 2) Develop target specific capabil-ity; and 3) Increase military pres-ence in areas where there is an existence of armed movements.

A total of 190 officers are pres-ent for the three-day conference headed by the Army Chief Lt. Gen. Victor S. Ibrado. Attend-ees include HPA General Staff Officers, Infantry Division and Brigade Commanders.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo S. Brawner Jr. said the Senior Leaders’ Conference is a venue to discuss emerging issues and challenges that affect the Army’s ability to accomplish the 2010 ISO goal, and obtain grounded, rational and informed ideas that will enable the Army to address these key challenges to ensure that the 2010 goal is achieved and sustained.

The seminar will end today, Brawner said.

Associate Justices Rodolfo A. Ponferrada, Ma. Cristina G. Cortez-Estrada and Francisco H. Villaruz Jr., special division chairman.

The P189.7-million Jose Ve-larde deposit is being maintained in Investment Management Trust Account No. 101-78056-1 at Banco de Oro Unibank Inc.

The decision came after the dismissal of adverse claims by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and The Wellex Group Inc. (TWGI) of businessman William Gatchalian.

The Sandiganbayan Special Division cited its September 12, 2007 ruling on the conviction of Estrada in plunder charges and forfeiture of the disputed bank deposit which made the confisca-tion final and executory.

Gov’t confiscates P189.7-M Jose

Velarde deposit



EntertainmentMovies to Watch

(Following are movies now showing or soon to be shown in San Diego.)

by Simeon G. Silverio Jr.

33070 IW Group03/24/09

01 100 240 Con BR FE

X 7 CS3 CS3

Rudo Y Cursi - An oily sports agent’s promise to make one of them a soccer star leads to an intense rivalry between two Mexican step-brothers.

This film is Rated R by the MPAA. Running time 102 minutes.Exclusive Engagement Opens Friday, May 15th

Landmark’s La Jolla Village Cinemas8879 Villa La Jolla Drive – (619) 819-0236

Moon - It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live commu-nications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive.

Thankfully, his time on the moon is nearly over, and Sam will be reunited with his wife, Tess, and their three-year-old daughter, Eve, in only a few short weeks. Finally, he will leave the isolation of “Sa-rang,” the moon base that has been his home for so long, and he will finally have someone to talk to be-

yond “Gerty,” the base’s well-intentioned, but rather uncomplicated computer.

Suddenly, Sam’s health starts to deteriorate. Painful headaches, hallucinations and a lack of focus lead to an almost fatal accident on a routine drive on the moon in a lunar rover. While recuperating back at the base (with no memory of how he got there), Sam meets a younger, angrier version of himself, who claims to be there to fulfill the same three year contract Sam started all those years ago.

Confined with what appears to be a clone of his earlier self, and with a “support crew” on its way to help put the base back into pro-ductive order, Sam is fighting the clock to discover what’s going on and where he fits into company plans.

97 minutes. Rated R for language.

Filmmaker Duncan Jones will available for Phone Interviews.MOON will open an Exclusive San Diego Engagement Friday, June

19th at Landmark’s Hillcrest Cinemas!

PNS -- MARIEL Rodriguez admits she feels sad that boy-friend Zanjoe Marudo recently left for Paris. He’s part of ABS-CBN 2’s remake of the hit Koreanovela Lovers in Paris which topbills KC Concepcion and Piolo Pascual. He’ll be gone for three weeks to shoot some key scenes in what is considered as the world’s most

Mariel confident Zanjoe would not cheat

Zanjoe Marudo

romantic city.“I really cried because it’s the

first time that he’d be away that long. I’m not used to it. But al-though I terribly miss him, I’m also happy for him on the other hand. His inclusion in the said ambitious program is a clear proof that his career is really doing well. And I’m proud of him,” she says.

Paris is one of Mariel’s dream destination.

“That’s true,” she exclaims. “I haven’t been there and ever since, I’m so vocal about my desire to visit the place one day. And what’s ironic is that Zan-joe never dreamt of going to Paris . The chance just landed onto his lap because he plays one of the key characters in

Mariel Rodriguez

Lovers in Paris . It’s simply one great opportunity for him.”

Upon arriving in Paris, Zan-joe sent a touching message to Mariel.

“And the more I cried be-cause of that,” Mariel explains. “He texted me saying his stay in Paris would’ve been more exciting, memorable and mean-ingful had I been with him.”

Interestingly, before Zanjoe flew to Paris , the charming TV host tendered a surprise despe-dida party for her current flame.

“Actually, he felt uncomfort-able at first when he learned that I prepared a small get-together for him. He said there was no special occasion so there was no need to invite guests. But in the end, he sin-cerely thanked me and appreci-ated all my efforts. Funny, he even ate ahead of the rest,” she laugh.

Asked if she’s bothered with the thought that Zanjoe might meet another girl in the lovely place while he’s there, Mariel confidently muses:

“No, I trust him a lot so there should be no cause for alarm or insecurity. It’s just three weeks. Anyway, we’re constantly communicating with each other through text and calls,” she said.

PNS -- JAKE Cuenca is happy and proud that his “Tayong Da-lawa” along with Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson is doing very well in the ratings chart.

“I’m really thankful to all who watch the program religiously. Without their support, our show will not be successful. This is the reason why all of us in the cast are always doing our best to make each scene a must-see. We consider it our responsibility to the viewers to give them quality entertainment every night,” he says.

Of late, many cite his good act-ing as David Garcia in the drama series.

“It’s nice to hear that,” says Jake. “The appreciation for my ef-fort is already enough. But I don’t want it to enter my head. I know I still have a long way to go.”

Many are curious what hap-pened to his reported courtship with Bea Alonzo.

“Our work is our priority,” ex-plains Jake.”We just realized that. But I remain as one of her loyal fans. Her career has really gone a long way. I will just be supportive

Jake torn between Bea and Melissa

Jake Cuenca

of all her endeavors.” Regarding his being linked to

young actress Melissa Ricks, Jake explains:

“I wouldn’t deny that my friendship with her inspires me. I admire her but I’m in no hurry to jump into another serious rela-tionship, especially now that ev-erything in my life is falling into its proper place: family, money and career.”

PNS -- Iwa Moto finally can-celled her Face Book account due to “stress.” The GMA Artist Center girl admits she’s not a se-rious Face Book user. But being playful, she sometimes shocks her friends because of some blog entries resulting in a lot of concerned emails, text and calls.

One time, due to a painful period (we’re too shy to write menstruation), she commented she wanted to die. Not explain-ing anything about her period, friends started calling her to ask if there’s anything wrong. She’s sometimes too playful for com-fort that she declared her status one time as ‘married’ which resulted in a lot of inquiries and

Shocking statements from Iwa

Iwa Moto

a series of blind items. She de-cided once and for all to cancel her Face Book account.

Now Iwa is at peace although she still misses her ‘pet’ in the Pet Society of the networking portal.


Spiritual Life

Read Monsignor’s previous articles by visit-ing our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Msgr. Fernando G. Gutierrez

Lower Your Nets

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Ikaw kaibigan (Part 2)Sa mga pagkakataon na ako’y ‘di mapalagay‘di ba ikaw kaibigan sa akin ay dumaramayat hindi ka nga sumusuko hanggang sa huling labanhanga akong talaga sa’yo wala kang kasingtapang.

Marami na ring beses na sa aking mga pagluhasa maraming pangyayari na aking nagugunitaang aking kalungkutan pinapalitan mo ng tuwangiti sa aking mga labi ang nais mong ipunla

At sa lahat ng hiyas ikaw ang pinakamakinangsa kalinisan ng loob sadyang walang alinlanganmaging sa labas man busilak ang angking kagandahan maligaya ako na ikaw ang aking kaibigan.

Joke of the Week: Refl ections on the biblical word “shepherd” gave birth to the word “pastor” as one who is entrusted with the task of nurturing Christians by the Sacred Word and sacraments. An elderly Irish priest had retired from a parish and was replaced by another immigrant priest who came from Germany. At his fi rst Mass in the parish, the new pas-tor was introduced as the new “German shepherd.”

Scriptures: First Reading: Acts 4: 8-12. The author of the Book of Acts used an occasion, such as miracles, to further instruct his readers on the theological meaning and signifi cance of an event. In today’s passage, the healing of the crippled man becomes the sign to reveal the thin signifi ed the proclamation of Jesus Christ, crucifi ed and resurrected. Second Reading: 1 John 3: 1-2. Those who con-demned and put Jesus to death signifi ed the unbelieving world that refuses to accept God’s revelation in Jesus. The author sees a cosmic c0nfl ct between light (Jesus and his followers) and darkness (the world). The followers of Jesus had acquired the privilege of calling Jesus’ Father, “Abba.” The principle of likeness follows that as the world hates Jesus, the Son of God, so it will hate the adopted sons of God. Gospel: John 10: 11-18. In identifying Jesus as a “good shepherd,” St. John presents him not as a victim, but as one who freely lays down his life for his sheep and whose wound becomes our healing and death is our life. During his passion, no one, not even Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate, the chief priests,

Baa, Baa, Black Sheephas power over him. The Gospel of John makes it also clear that God’s vow, “I myself will look after and tend my sheep” (Ezek. 34: 11), is fulfi lled in Jesus. The OT prophets, such as Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, spoke of God’s condemnation of those leaders who failed to act as good shepherds and claimed the sheep as their own. “I will appoint one shepherd over them to pasture them” (Ezek. 34: 23). The false shepherds pastured themselves instead of the fl ock. God vowed to go after these shepherds.

Refl ections: The message of the total Paschal Mystery is to make us realize what God has done in Jesus to prove how much all of us are loved. This love of God, according to The Cat-echism of the Catholic Church, is realized fi nally and totally in “Christ, the Son of God made man, the Father’s one, perfect, and unsurpassable Word.”

St. John of the Cross stated “... what he spoke before the proph-ets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him, by not fi xing his eyes upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.” There is no salvation outside of Christ. Christ is the only answer to the quest of man’s heart for eternal happiness. All salvation comes from Christ the Head and the trough the Church, which is his Body. Nobody else, except Christ, can lead us to heaven.

What about God’s promises in the OT regarding the other sheep? What about the other

sheep that do not belong to the fold, who are “scattered in foreign lands”? (Ezekiel 34: 12-13) Jesus promises in today’s Gospel that he will seek out the lost sheep and lead them back, and “there will be one fl ock, one shepherd.” Those who have not accepted Jesus Christ, the only Shepherd, must keep their hearts and minds open with hope that an Answer has been given as God had promised to bring back the strayed and seek the lost. That Answer is Jesus Christ. “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation” (Catechism of the Catholic Church). Whether the nonbelievers are aware or not of God’s answer, as long as they consciously accept the possibil-ity of its existence that Christians believe to have been accom-plished in Christ, then salvation is also theirs! At the same time, those who accept Christ as their Good Shepherd have the respon-sibility of listening to him and remaining in his fold.

A man had been wandering about in a forest for several days, unable t fi nd his way out. Finally, he saw a man approach-ing him in the distance. His heart was fi lled with joy. “Now I shall surely fi nd out which is the right way out of this forest,” he thought to himself. When they neared each other, he asked the man, “Brother, will you please tell me the way out of this for-est? I have been wandering about in here for several days and I can’t fi nd the way out.” The other man said to him, “Brother, I do not know the way out either, for I too am lost. But this much I can tell you. Do not go the way I have gone, for I know it is not the way. Now come, let us search for the way out together.”

Quotation of the week: “If you have insomnia, don’t count the sheep. Talk to the Shepherd.” Anonymous.

BalintatawRead Virginia Ferrer’s previous articles by visiting our website

at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Virginia H. Ferrer

PNS – The Republic of the Philippines takes a shot a break-ing world records when the 180 x 160 ft photo mosaic is rolled out on April 5, 11 a.m. at the Quirino Grandstand, in Roxas Boulevard.

The photo mosaic printed on tarpaulin is made of more than

1000 photographs of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in ac-tion taken by award-winning

photojournalist and mosaic artist Revoli Cortez. The mosaic will also carry with it a birth-day greeting for The President on the celebration of her 62nd birthday,0also on April 5.

Press Sec. Remonde will lead the roll out of the mosaic with

selected employees of the Offi ce of the Press Secretary (OPS) also present to assist him.

Entered to the World Records, the 28,000 sq. ft. mosaic will be printed by Golden Touch printers, which also holds the record for the largest printed photo sticker in the world.

Sponsoring the event are the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Offi ce (PCSO)Philippine Amuse-ment and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), , Offi ce of the Press Secretary (OPS), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Embrace foundation and Luneta Park.

RP Target World Record

for Largest Photo Mosaic



LifestyleRead J’Son’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.

asianjournalusa.com

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Post Offi ce

San Diego (4/26/09)- When the word “retirement” starts to be mentioned, men and women both imagine the change it will bring. Did you know that being a woman makes it easier for her to accept change? It has to do with all the changes that she has experienced both physically and emotionally. This could be the reason why most elder women didn’t buy Presi-dent Obama’s campaign slogan, “CHANGE.” Change is not new for women and really don’t mean something special to them.

It was a beautiful and sunny San Diego weather, last Saturday morning on April 18, 2009, where a big and memorable retirement celebration was held at Mc Don-ald, Palm Avenue, San Diego, the headquarter of Mc Buddies. This party was hosted by Mc Buddy Jinky Yuson, a retired Navy Master Chief, serving a solid thirty color-ful years in the Navy and another

By Marissa Acierto

SAN DIEGO-A glimmer of “HOPE” in the GOP side as Re-publicans and the Filipino Ameri-can Republican Club of San Diego County sponsored a table #26 sat to hear what Meg Whitman (R), Candidate, for California Gov-ernor, 2010. Ms. Whitman was an invited guest for the Lincoln Reagan Club Dinner Gala Event in the evening on April 23, 2009 at the Town and Country in Mission Valley area.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenneg-

After retirement… what’s next?

worthwhile fifteen years, from the Border Patrol/Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) now under the supervision of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In an interview, Jinky, as he is fondly called, has this to say: “My happy days are here at last, the days of 9 to 5 are things of the past. Thanks God, for all the blessings, I’m still strong, live and kicking and what else will I ask for, my wife and I will live happily with my retirement benefits, more so, I will devote my time to her till the end of time.”

While other retirees, has this to say: Titong Vinluan; “Retire-ment is a time when you never get around to doing all those things you intended to do when you were still working.” Val Palaci; “I’ve worked all my life and paid my dues, now I’ll do just what I want to do or where I go.” Fer-

Jinky Yuson, (Standing, back row, 4th from left) posed with his Mc Buddies in a recent breakfast party he hosted for his retirement in McDonald’s at Palm Avenue, San Diego.

min Caparas; “After retirement, I promised to my wife that I have to devote my remaining years to her and my boredom is gone with the wind after associating with the superb camaraderie of my retired comrade, the Mc Buddies.”

One of the good things about retirement is the freedom to travel and explore new parts of the world. Should you decide to take the trips that you dreamed of when you were working? In retirement, however, you’re free to sit in your living room by yourself every day to read novels, sing karaoke, listen to radio or maybe watch TV. Nobody is going to disturb you. Why go to the trouble of getting on an airplane, unless you really love to go.

An ideal retirement trip might be one in which you learn some new skills and have built-in interac-tion with people. The organized tour that appalled you during your working life, might be just right, now that you’re retired. You might enjoy sightseeing but would be best in getting to know some potentially interesting people. Remember that travel can be hard work, especially if you’re doing the planning yourself. Most cases experienced travelers plan a day or two each week, in which they take a day off from travelling. They don’t sightsee. They might do laundry or other errands.

Many retirees claimed that the most difficult part of retiring as a couple is learning how to spend time together. Wives have repeat-edly, almost word for word, said, “I couldn’t wait for my husband to retire; now I could kill him.” The feeling of a lack of purpose by most men and unstated needs of both partners may create an overwhelming frustration.

Take your relationship beyond its present level and find new excite-ment and passion. This is how you should view retirement, a time of continued growth and expansion. Discover again the reasons for your attraction to each other or uncover new ones. Start with writ-ing down three things you admire about your partner. Notice how warm you feel towards her. Find three more things and write them down. Your love and attraction will become deeper and your willing-ness to explore more will heighten, creating a fuller level of intimacy. Use it like a powerful aphrodisiac.

Filipino American Republican Club hears Whitman

The Fil-Am Republican Club Table at the Lincoln Club Gala Dinner Event. (From left to right sitting: Delia Cabildo, R.N.; Vice-Chair, South-bay, Manny Cabildo; Honorable Mitz Lee (Former and First Filipina Ameri-can San Diego Unified School Board Member), Presiden Oscar Garcia; Ve-ronica Garcia; Winnie Varney Maneclag, M.D., Ret. Captain United States Navy. Standing from left to right: President Tony Kravaric (SD Republican County); Eddie Enriquez; Mark Maneclag, Ret. USN).

er will be termed out in 2010 and will not be able to run. Therefore, the Republican Party are lean-ing and gearing their support to a female who was former Chief Executive Officer that ran E-Bay, a popular buy and sell online world’s marketplace where buy-ers and sellers come together and traded almost anything.

According to Meg Whitman, she had a four-get-it-together method platforms encouraging small businesses and turning around economic downturn, she said if she fails in those needs everything else will not be successful and fall into place. Secondly, she address that we had no money issue but a spending problem. Her passion as she spoke was to inform Sacra-mento to stop spending and have a more managed control. Thirdly, tax increase should stop. Fourthly, she informed the audience that education is not all together there in California, and if it continues

where science and mathematics continue to score poorly in Cali-fornia, we will not have children who will be prepared to have a better future. She said, “Their is no excuse for this type of problem when in Florida they have the same ratio of population of La-tino’s approximately 50%, and the Latino children are much better off because of the system that works.” In California, our system is not working. So, she wants to use the layout of how it is in other states and is working for them.

Her emphasis throughout was

more of that the Republicans must develop a different method to reach out to everyone because that is what she will do. Meg Whitman final message was that “Everyone is Important.”

Afterwards, the room was streamlined with many Republi-cans and awards were given. John McCann received Politician of the Year Award. April Boling was an awardee recipient and many others.

Mary Kuper received a pres-tigious Volunteer Award who’s awardee named after a Filipina American, Trini Bowling, she volunteered tirelessly for many years as a voter registrar until she was diagnosed with Cancer as of last year and passed away. That tribute was for the Trini Bowling Award which is the first time that the Republican Party gave great accolades to the Filipina’s contri-bution. The award was handed to Ms. Kuper by two of Ms. Bowl-ing’s daughter as a special guest from Escondido.

Meanwhile, active Filipino’s in progress that attended were President Oscar Garcia, Vice-Chair (Southbay) Manny Cabildo, Vice-Chair (North County) Julio de Guzman, Eddie Enriquez, Delia Cabildo R.N., Veronica Garcia, Marissa Acierto, Honorable Mitz Lee (Previous and first Filipina American San Diego Unified Schoolboard Member), Mark Maneclag, Ret. USN and Win-nie Varney Maneclag, M.D., Ret. Captain, United States Navy.


The Law that Matters

Read Atty Bautista’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Atty. A. Erwin Bautista

CHAP Certified

What period of residence in the Philippines is counted to transmit US Citizenship to children?

Question: I was born on

February 1, 1957 in the Phil-ippines, am I a U.S. Citizen at birth because my father is a U.S. Citizen even if I was born in the Philippines and my father never lived in the U.S. mainland?

Answer: Depending on the period of residency in the Phil-ippines of your U.S. Citizen fa-ther you may be a U.S. Citizen at birth. The Philippines was considered an outlying posses-sion of the U.S., for purposes of transmission of U.S. Citizen-ship, from April 11, 1899 to July 4, 1946.

How does one become a U.S. Citizen at birth?

Section 301(g) of the Im-migration and Nationality Act refers to persons born outside of the U.S. mainland and its outlying possession with one U.S. Citizen (USC) parent and one alien parent. There is a residency requirement for the USC parent in order to transmit US Citizenship to the child.

The above provision requires the USC parent to have been physically present in the U.S. or outlying possession for a period of at least 5 years, two of which must be after the age of 14.

What period of residence in

Immigration: Transmission of U.S. Citizenship

the Philippines is counted for transmission purposes?

In a letter from the U.S. State Department regarding a client who we applied a U.S. Pass-port, because we believe she

has a rightful claim to U.S. Citizenship, stated that the Department for purposes of transmission of U.S. Citizen-ship views the Philippines as an outlying possession of the United States from April 1, 1899 to July 4, 1946.

How U.S. Citizenship at birth is determined?

A previous client who we were able to prove her citizen-ship at birth referred her friend to us and her situation is the following. Her father having born on January 7, 1922 had never left the Philippines. Her parents are legally married to each other. However her fa-ther’s physical presence in the Philippines from 1922 to 1946

was sufficient to satisfy the re-quirements of Section 301 (g). So that our client’s proof of her parents’ marriage at the time of her birth is the only require-ment needed after submitting other documents to prove her citizenship at birth.

There are different residen-cy requirements for different date of births of claimants.

There are different require-ments of residency of the USC parent depending on the date of birth of the claimant. There are also different requirements depending on whether the child was born in or out of wedlock.

This is an evidence driven claim and some documents are no longer available due to the

passage of time. Some govern-ment offices and private offices like hospitals which are the repositories of such documents as proof of birth or marriage do either no longer exist or the documents themselves are lost.

It will be wise to consult an attorney particularly in this type of important claim to U.S. Citizenship to assist you in cal-culating the physical presence requirement and in developing, organizing and searching the needed documents to prove your citizenship at birth.

[We invite readers to call Atty. A.Erwin Bautista to set up their initial consultation. Atty. Bautista obtained his law degree from Western State University College of Law,

Fullerton, CA and his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Uni-versity of the Philippines. Atty. Bautista practices Immigra-tion, Bankruptcy, Family, and Personal Injury Law and Tax Audit Representation/Income Tax Preparation. He can be reached at (619) 474 7755 in San Diego at 550 E. 8th St., #11, National City, Ca 91950 and at (213) 365 7690 in Los Angeles at 3435 Wilshire Bl., Ste. 2700, Los Angeles, CA 90010.]



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In collaboration with the Council of Philippine American Organizations of San Diego County (COPAO), a team from the Philippine Consul-ate General in Los Angeles will be conducting its monthly Consular Outreach Program on Saturday, May 2, 2009, from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm at the COMFORT INN & SUITES, 632 E Street, Chula Vista, CA 91910 (near the corner of E Street and Broadway). This venue will bring these consular services closer to residents of Chula Vista and the South Bay. The following services will be rendered:

1. Applications for Machine Readable Passport (Cost: $50) and returned to the applicant by mail at an additional cost of $6.

2. Applications for the re-tention and re-acquisition of Philippine citizenship pursuant to Republic Act 9225 or Dual Citizenship Law (Cost: $50). Oath-taking will be scheduled on the same day for qualified applicants.

3. Notarization of documents (Cost: $25) will be accepted but this will be processed in Los Angeles and returned to the ap-plicant by mail at an additional cost of $6.

4. Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) Registration. (Gratis)

The Consulate will only accept payments in cash, postal money order or cashier’s check. Person-al checks will not be accepted.

Application forms and require-ments can be downloaded from the Consulate’s website at www.philippineconsulatela.org

In view of the anticipated high volume of applicants and in order to ensure an orderly flow of operations, the following guidelines will be followed:

By Marissa Acierto

SAN DIEGO--In a gloomy day where the past days has been full of scorching heat, many new im-migrants spirited, confused and nonchalantly walking around the Golden Hall area in Downtown as if they were already American Citizens will officially be Nau-

FAR Voter Registrar: New U.S. Citizens

President Oscar Garcia, Veronica Garcia and Eddie Enriquez and Volunteers with Mary Kuper preparing to sign up Voter’s.

turalized Citizens of the United States of America on April 22, 2009.

The preparation of the mid-morning around 10:30 a.m., the Democratic Party had their blue tent to the right-side and the Re-publican Party had their red tent to the left-side. As to the left and to the right, an analogy of a complete switch of location just by where the tents ironically was oddly positioned.

The Republican Party, as always are more uniformed with a classic case of the red color t-shirts attire specifying that they are Republicans. The Voter Registrar Chair for the Republi-can Party was Mary Kuper who was busy making sure that the volunteers had support system. She oriented the Republican volunteers as to what methods to get them interested in signing the register voters form. Meanwhile, the Filipino American volunteers were making the attempts to sign new voters. Standing by the tent,

the Democrats had President Obama’s still like photo-stand promising them “HOPE”.

An interesting observation is that the Democrats had maximize support system from the United States Citizenship & Immigra-tion Services (USCIS) who is the sponsor of these events who

gave the opportunity for guest speakers like the League of Women Voters (a supposedly non-partisan group which leans towards Democratic values and philosophy and most members are Democrats). USCIS allowed the Voters Registrar Coordinator from the County of San Diego to set-up a booth and help inside. These employees on staff usually lean towards pro-Democratic val-ues, although a non-partisan base (the voters outreach mission is to assist individuals with language barriers such as Filipino’s, Cam-bodian’s, Vietnamese, Latino’s, etc.) to register and to help fill-out-application forms inside the Golden Hall entrance.

The other two partisan organi-zations were outside and by the time the volunteers got to the new Citizens, they already had a Voter Registrar employee which handed a Voter Registration form to fill out and was informed by the employee, to go ahead and do it at home.

Little did the New Citizen realize, that they had local aides from both sides of the Democrat and Republican Party in which they could of heard their mission statements as to why Democrats and why vote Republicans?

The Filipino American Repub-lican Club of San Diego County, Inc. under the leadership of President Oscar Garcia and Vice-Chair (Southbay area) Manny Cabildo, Vice-Chair (North County area) Julio de Guzman, Treasurer Ernie Liwag, Honor-able Secretary Purita Gamos, Secretary Fe Rivero, PRO Vince Bumanglag, Honorable PRO Joe Son are heading this mission for more voter registration within the San Diego County. A series of Voter Registration itinerary events will continue to follow up till December 2009.

Participants who were involved in the Filipino American Re-publican Voter’s Registration in Golden Hall was President Oscar Garcia, Eddie Enriquez, Veronica Garcia and Marissa Acierto.

President Oscar Garcia dress in an eloquent blue Barong Tagalog captivated a Maria Clara Filipina to register to vote. Although to his prevail, the look-a-like senior Filipina was then assisted by Veronica Garcia who fol-lowed through but was confused when the Cambodian American preferred to speak her language. The Cambodian American woman stated, “I do not know English, and do not understand.” For awhile there, the volunteers wondered whether she actually passed the test?

Meanwhile, Eddie Enriquez who volunteered to register voters was mistaken twice by a Senior Republican Caucasian volunteer who asked him twice, “Are you a registered voter?” He just shooked his head, “I do not understand why the volunteers cannot distinguish who the other volunteers are?”

Meanwhile, another North Korean American Citizen did not know the party lines but said she is for Obama for political affilia-tion which in turn is a Democrat. One Vietnamese American young adult just pointed at the elephant symbol and indicated that is his affiliated choice which is a Republican.

Another young male Latino American who Eddie Enriquez pulled out-of-the-crowd really was interested to register. He was born in Mexico and was very enthusiatic in being affiliated as part of the “Republican Party”.

The voter registration was put to a halt when all the voters either filled out their forms at the outside tent area, inside the tables of the Voter’s Registrar or at home.

At the end of the signing, the most important memory was the big smile on most of the new Cit-izens face was an elated glee of tension release but the absolute “Freedom to be part of America and the process that they will continue the future of America’s Dream in the year 2009 whether under President Barak Obama’s administration is that the stimu-lus is the solution versus a Tea Tax Revolt that wants the stimu-lus to stop.” Overall, the future is in the hands that vote.

Philippine Consular Outreach in Chula Vista on May 2

1. All applicants for any of the above consular services are requested to set up an appoint-ment with the Consulate, not later than April 30, 2009, either through fax (213) 639-0990 or through email at [email protected].

2. Passport Applicants should send an advance copy of their passport application forms and data page (bearing the name and photo) of their passports to the Consulate either by fax or by email. Incomplete forms will not be processed.

3. Dual Citizenship Appli-cants should send an advance copy of their application forms and supporting documents. Incomplete forms will not be processed.

4. OAV Registrants should also send an advance copy of their application forms and sup-porting documents. Incomplete forms will not be processed.

5. Confirmed appointments of all applicants will be posted at the Consulate’s website (www.philippineconsulatela.org). Per-sonal appearance is required for all applicants.

6. While walk-in applicants may also be entertained, prior-ity will be given to those with confirmed appointments with the Consulate, as posted in the website. All walk-in applicants are advised to transact their business directly with Consul-ate officials and not through travel agencies. Walk-in ap-plicants are by definition those who did not pass through travel agencies.

For general information, interested parties may wish to call the Consulate - Tels: 1-213-639-0980 to 85. E-mail: [email protected] or Merly Ferrer of COPAO – Tel:

619-606-6475.For the information of the pub-

lic, the Philippine Embassy and Consulates General in the U.S. started to accept and to process applications for Machine Read-able Passports (MRP) on June 2, 2008. This is a requirement of the International Civil Avia-tion Organization (ICAO) for its member states, including the Philippines, to issue MRPs not later than 1 April 2010.

Since applications received by the Philippine Foreign Service Posts in the U.S. will be sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila via diplomatic pouch, it will take six weeks for a passport to be released to the applicants, from the time the application is accepted. Per-sonal appearance for all will be required for data verification, finger-printing and signature capture. Applications by mail will no longer be accepted.

Although private commercial photo services may be available at the Outreach site, applicants may have their photos taken elsewhere, provided that the photos comply with the new photos requirements for the MRP. Applicants should visit the Consulate’s website at www.philippineconsulatela.org for the guidelines to be followed for their passport photos.

While some countries may still honor valid green Philip-pine passports beyond 1 April 2010 as bona fide travel docu-ments until they expire, most countries will require travelers to hold either MRP or e-Pass-port for their sojourn by 2010. Thus, all Filipinos, including those with valid green passports, are encouraged to apply for their machine readable passports as early as possible.

COPAO Public RelationsTel # 619-477-4090


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San Diego (April 27, 2009)- The Filipino American conser-vatives of San Diego County held its first series of workshop seminar on Voter Registration for First Time Voters and Voter Education for the Future Young Voters at the FAVA Hall, located at 2926 Market Street, San Diego.

Registration of workshop participants started at 12:00

Fil-Am Conservatives of San Diego County conducted

its first Voter Education and Registration Workshop

noon, followed by social gather-ing with an array of various sumptuous dishes brought in by member of the conservative group. The seminar officially commenced at 1:00 p.m., with a silent prayer led by Manny Cabildo. Acting Vice Chair South, who presided the semi-nar in place of Chairman Oscar Garcia. He also led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Julio De Guzman, Vice Chair North, introduced the two guest speak-ers, Carl DeMaio, City of San Diego Councilman and Mary Kuper, organization adviser on Voter Registration. Julio De Guzman also recognized other guests. Marissa Acierto acknowledged all others who attended the workshop.

Councilman Carl DeMaio emphasized the importance of Voter Registration drives, City

Attendees Voters Workshop in San Diego County

of San Diego financial respon-sibilities, outcome of good and honest government, jobs and healthy economy. Mary Ku-per spoke on major strategies on voter registration includ-ing recruitment and the proper training of volunteers.

The workshop began at 3:00 P.M. Manny Cabildo, high-lighted the process of voter education: 1) Before Election Day for the First Time Voters, making sure that they are regis-

tered, providing information as to where they would vote, etc; sending out reminder on voting day as well as encouragement to go and vote with friends; 2) Educating the Future Voters. Manny emphasized the need to talk to the young generation about the importance of vot-ing, bringing them to the voting places to be familiar with the process and explaining how vot-ing g works, etc. Other strate-gies were discussed in connec-tion with voter education, such as, the importance of commu-nication and fund-raising. The workshop was concluded at 4:30 P.M.

For more information on the incoming workshops, please call Chairman Oscar Garcia, (619) 482-9680, Manny Cabildo (619) 318-9938 or Marissa Aci-erto, (619) 459-0014.

Around TownRead Conrad Reloj’s previous articles by visiting our website at

www.asianjournalusa.com. Email: [email protected]

by Conrad I. Reloj, Jr.

Gudez-Murphy, along with her brothers and sisters serve rustic but sophisticated farm-fresh cuisine. The food here is much more than an ordinary Filipino fanfare. Her cooking is light, precise, refined, drawing the best from fine local and seasonal ingredients combined with an authentic Filipino sensibility.

In the morning an enticing aroma of freshly baked pan de sal and newly brewed coffee greet you as you enter its door. For lunch pick among specialties like delicious adobo or a nice mess of tinola with pechay or papaya. This store has always prided itself on its various Filipino specialties and dessert galore.

The Gudez family members: Tess, Linda, Chanita, Andres,

Filipino business gem sparkles in Oceanside

(Continued from page 1) Antonio, Dang, Bonifacio and Larry migrated to the U.S.in the early 70’s from Quinapundan, Samar in the Philippines. They came late to the Filipino-Amer-ican food craze, but they cer-tainly upgraded it in an elegant way. Their choice location is at 3753 Mission Avenue in Ocean-side. Parking is adequate. It’s dining in or take-out and service is excellent either way.

Find this gem at the Mission Camino Business Complex. For Tess’ Cuisine, Gudez Travel, and Oriental Mission Kabayan Mart, call: Tess Murphy at: (858) 243-5798. Her (Cell) Phone is: ((760) 722-7963. Located at: 3753 Mission Ave., #1228, Oceanside, CA 92058. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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Laughing MatterRead previous articles by visiting our website at www.asian-

journalusa.com

You are the...Apple of my eyeMango of my PiePalaman of my tinapayNiyog on my kalamay.

You are the...Ipin of my suklayRing on my kamayBlood of my atayBubbles of my laway.

You are the ...Roof of my bahayStrength of my tulayJoy of my tagumpayDream of my Nanay.

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Respected, revered, and famous leaders share a common trait – effective communication. And effective communication is what David Brooks, the “1990 World Champion of Public Speaking,” is a master of.

Brooks will be the keynote speaker for two separate events sponsored by Toastmasters Inter-national, an educational organi-zation, and

Altrusa International, a service organization, a week from today. The champion speaker will be speaking on “The Language of Leadership” and will persuade, inspire, and entertain everyone as he talks about the five simple principles of leadership.

Brooks, who has more than 30 years of experience in public speaking, is an award-winning professional speaker and trainer who taught nearly 100,000 busi-ness professionals in 24 coun-tries to speak and write clearly, concisely and confidently.

His array of communication programs and services includes seminars, keynotes, speech writing, coaching, and voice-overs. He also offers a growing resources of leadership materi-als, as well as audio and video learning programs. Brooks is the co-author of the “Seven Strate-gies of Master Presenters” and the “Speaking Secrets of the Champions.”

The first event, which is spon-sored by Altrusa International, will be held on Thursday, May 7, 2009, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at the AMN Healthcare, 12400 High Bluff Drive in Del Mar. Admis-

Light &Shadows

Read Zena Babao’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Zena Sultana Babao

An Evening with DAVID BROOKS: 1990 World Champion of

Public Speakingsion is $20.00 per person or two for $30.00. The proceeds from this event will benefit the community services of Altrusa’s San Diego North County Coastal Club and Project Linus North County Coastal-SW Riverside

Chapter.The next event will be the two-

day Toastmasters International’s District 5 Spring Conference on Friday, May 8th, and Saturday, May 9th, which will be held at Northrop Grumman, 9326 Spectrum Center Boulevard here in San Diego. Cost for the conference is $65.00 per person pre-paid, or $95.00 at the door.

The theme of the TI D5 Spring Conference is “Embrac-ing Change: Building a Better Tomorrow.” True success can be defined by the ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

A stellar line-up of top-notch speakers led by David Brooks will inspire everyone to new heights. The other featured speakers will be the following:

Jeff Carle, this year’s “Com-munication & Leadership Award” recipient. Carle has held numerous positions with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department

since 1980, including Fire Engi-neer on the Metro Arson Strike Team, Bomb Squad Commander, Deputy Chief and Assistant Fire Chief for Operations. The FBI certified him as a hazardous de-vice technician. Carle has four children, two grandchildren, and lives in La Jolla, California, with his wife Joi.

Mary Russell, International Director of Toastmasters. Mary is the founder and president of The Grady Group, a human resources company. As a human resources consultant, she pro-vides human resources generalist support to organizations. She received a certificate of special Congressional recognition for her contribution to the com-munity by assisting individuals with disabilities. Mary lives in Temple City, California, with her adult son and two cats.

Peter Stark has motivated and inspired thousands of individuals

worldwide for the past 15 years. He holds the prestigious designa-tion of Accredited Speaker from Toastmasters, an award bestowed on only 48 individuals. He earned the coveted CSP designa-tion from the National Speaker’s Association and was chosen as the “Outstanding Faculty Mem-ber” for the College of Extended Studies at San Diego State University.

The Spring Conference is a time for excitement in District 5 as Toastmasters’ members compete for the title of District Champion in the “International Speech and Evaluation Con-tests.”

The program for first night of the conference will be: 5:30 p.m., socials and dinner; 6:30 p.m., club recognition; 7:00 p.m., special presentation by David Brooks, and 7:30 p.m., Evalua-tion Contest.

The second day will be a full

day event, with the following program of activities: 8:00 a.m., credential desk will open; 9:00 a.m., welcome; 9:20 a.m., busi-ness meeting; 11:00 a.m., Mary Russell, International Direc-tor; 12 noon, lunch and DTM recognition plus the presenta-tion of the “Communication and Leadership Award” to Jeff Carle and his speech after accept-ing the award; 1:45 p.m., Peter Stark on “Surviving and Thriv-ing Change”; 2:30 p.m., keynote speech by David Brooks, 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking.

Then it’s on to the main event – the International Speech Contest, featuring the best talent District 5 has to offer. Toastmasters International’s District 5 serves clubs in the San Diego and Impe-rial Counties, Yuma Arizona and Baja California/Mexico.


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To:

From: Eugene De Leon

Herewith is proof of your classified ad for publication in the Asian Journal. Please proofread i t and fax back the correction if any or call us for your approval. The ad is tentatively scheduled to be published in the

issue of the Asian Journal if we receive your approval on time. At $4 per line

lines, it costs

$______.00 to be paid upon your receipt of the invoice and tear sheet. Thank you.

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(619) 474-0373

__________________

Asian JournalFirst Asian Weekly Newspaper in Southern California & San Diego’s Most Widely Circulated Asian-Filipino Newspaper

550 East 8th Street, Suite 6, National City CA 91950 • Tel. (619) 474-0588 • Fax (619) 474-0373

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Request for Qualifications (RFQ) #5001203Regional Management Coordinator and a

Regional Monitoring Coordinator

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is seeking two full-time contractors to lead the coordina-tion of land management and biological monitoring in San Diego County, California. These positions would be a key member of a three person team developing and coordinating the implementation of the San Diego Manage-ment and Monitoring Program (SDMMP); a science based program seeking to provide a coordinated approach to management and biological monitoring of lands in San Diego County that have been conserved through various conservation and mitigation efforts. The SDMMP will help initiate the regional effort to coordinate the adaptive management and monitoring of a regional open space preserve system. Funding of up to $125,000/annually for each Coordinator position has been approved for up to two years.

A copy of the RFQ can be accessed from the SANDAG Web site at http://www.sandag.org/index.asp?fuseaction=rfps.home or by contacting Alexia Spivey at SANDAG, 401 B Street, Suite 800, San Diego, CA 92101, (619) 699-1984, or e-mail at [email protected]. SOQs are due by noon on June 10, 2009.

routine that involves complex marching sequences that usu-ally deviate from standard drill. Rosel’s group creatively devised their own fancy marches to instill platoon’s pride and iden-tity, performing in city parades, drill meets, half-timed shows in basketball game, and school’s anniversary celebration.

The crowd that witnessed our sharp, brisk marching exhibition drills in numerous parades in Pasay City’s main streets never failed to elicit praise, cheers and applauses. The cadets demon-strated their individual and team skills in intense competitive environment.”

“The odd thing about all this is that I never had any love for any-thing military,” says Rosel. “But I would not say I didn’t enjoy the accolades. Each drill meet had been a challenge for me!”

“Why was I selected? It’s prob-ably because of my reputation as magaling and “no-nonsense youth.” with a loud, deep, and booming voice.

“In retrospect, I think part of the reason for my selection was my reputation as a “school hero,” apart from a somewhat misplaced perception that I was a mild-mannered, intelligent individual.”

This is how it began, when I was a sophomore our class went to Jale Beach in Las Pinas for group picnic and boating. As we were out of the bay, one of our skilled swimmers, Claudio, 16, 155-lbs. teen followed our boat by swimming behind us until he suffered terrible cramp in his two legs, and insistently asked somebody to save him from drowning.

IN SEARH OF THE GOOD LIFE: Maturing

Experience of a Pasay City Youth


Instinctively, Rosel jumped into the water, stopped at a dis-tance of 5 feet from him, calmed him down, and instructed him to listen to what he would say. He told him not to panic and to do what he said so. He then grabbed him by the neck and swam back to the boat.

“It was only a few minutes later that I realized that what I did endangered to my own life,” Rosel nervously said.

Such happening became the talk of the campus the follow-ing Monday. It lasted for over a week; and the biggest news-caster or gossiper was the victim himself, propelling Rosel as the “hero of the week”.

The incident made Rosel popu-lar among the school’s teach-ers, staff, and students. . “My heroic feat must have helped in the selection of a model platoon leader,” says Rosel with a smirk in his face.

Claudio was actually a nice man, who eventually became a practicing dentist in Baclaran, Pasay City. “But since high school, I never met him any-more,” he said.

Nasty School Brawl

JAS had its students’ military drill training at Dewey Blvd near San Juan De Dios Hospital every Saturday. At break time, Mario approached Rosel, looked at him, and, without any warning, punched him to the chest that dropped him to the ground. The bully then shouted, “Stay away from my girl Linda!” much to the amazement of the Rosel, who was shook up for the fi rst time in his life.

Linda was a class mate of Rosel, whom he tutored in one of their class subjects. She was a friend to him, nothing more. “I never had any interest in her,” he confessed. “She was too much a fully-grown woman for me. Beside, I had already a girlfriend

at the time.”That was the fi rst time I got

an unexpected blow from anyone; and I felt helpless and humiliated. The sad thing was I couldn’t even lift my arms. I had no strength. I lost my nerve. I couldn’t even retaliate against this “son of the bitch”. My mind was virtually blank; although I was conscious other cadets ap-proached me asking, “What hap-pened?” to which I only replied, “I don’t know.”

Jerry, a member of my platoon, approached me and inquired what really happened. By then, I was able to gather my nerve and suddenly felt aggrieved, re-ally pissed off. I told him Mario and Lucas barkada, pointing the group some distance away from us, are behind of such attack.

Jerry met up with some friends; and in a few minutes, fi ghts broke out on the fi eld with swinging rifl es all over the place. Two cadets jumped at me punch-ing me all over.

“I managed to release myself from these bullies, and grabbed a rifl e. I closed my back against the wall, and swung the rifl e butt at anyone who attacked me. In the process, I hit several of them on the arms, legs, bodies, and heads.

“They swarmed around me like pests,” utters Rosel.

Suddenly, a dozen Pasay po-licemen came and contained the melee. A little later, Two ambu-lances arrived at the scene and picked up two or three dozens of

bleeding students; and brought to Manila Sanitarium Hospital for treatment. Nine of those brought to the hospital were either friends of mine or mem-bers of my model platoon. A few

of them are sons of city offi cials, including a chief of police.

Such mayhem was headlined in the Manila Times newspaper in the Sunday edition. All the names of those involved were mentioned, including those in-jured. Much to my surprise, my name was not to be found, al-though the newspaper mentioned that the fi ght was over a girl.

Nothing came out of this

school brawl. Gossips circulated that suits were fi led – charges and counter charges – in the City fi scal offi ce. In the end, all I heard was that the case was ami-cably settled, involving parents, and school and city offi cials.

“Privately, that was not the end for me. I hated to be bullied!” – Riz

(To be continued)

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me. Much to my regret, I gave up my reservation to that condo, thinking that the two I have in Manila would be enough. I would have netted $40,000 in two year’s time. This was one time I regretted not betting on the Philippines, as I, just like mil-lions of Americans who didn’t know any better, saw the value of my properties in the U.S. sank. Crosswind is one of the many developments in the the Philip-pines bult by Vista Land, the holding company owned by the Villar family.

11 in the evening

We arrived at the Ninoy Aquino Airport in Manila at 11 in the evening. A friend of mine picked us up and brought us to the condo unit he owns in the same building where our prop-erty is located. Our unit had not yet officially been turned over to us; hence we could not stay there without completing the necessary forms and requirements.

In times past, whenever we were in Manila, we usually stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel, Dusit Hotel, and, at one time, the Renaissance Hotel in the Ayala Center in Makati. The hotels are conveniently located in the Makati business district. All we had to do was get out of the hotel and walk to the vari-ous malls in the area. However, we wanted to experience staying in Presidio, hence, we accepted the offer of my friend to rent his studio during our two-week stay. He usually rents out his unit for $75-a-day, much less than the daily rate of at least $120 at five-star hotels in the area. My friend, however, only charged us $35-a-day, plus the use of his extra car.

“You can rent out your unit to tourists for at least $100 a day,” he told me. “Yours has two bed-rooms, a huge living room and a nice view of the Laguna Bay.”

Indeed, that was one reason why we were happy with the unit we purchased. We specifically chose the penthouse unit on the tenth floor, the top-most floor, located on the southeast-facing side of the building. That side provides a view of the beautiful Laguna Bay.

Renting out our unit either on a daily, monthly, or yearly basis is also one option for us. It could be an income-generating property before we decide to completely settle and retire in the Philippines. A friend of mine who lives in Los Angeles, rents out his condos in Makati to expatriates, foreign executives of multinationals in the Philippines. One of his units was rented out for $3,000 a month. He was paid one year in advance.

Sucat Road

Our unit is only about fifteen minutes drive from the airport without traffic. With traffic, it would entail an additional ten minutes. This is why the units are attractive to Balikbayans (Filipino returnees). From the airport, we travelled east along Sucat Road, crossed the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), turned left on the service road, and right on the first street. It was a wide, four-lane street that would eventually lead towards Laguna Bay, where a tourist area is being developed by the Laguna Bay Lakeshore Author-ity. The government entity would build a board walk along the bay, floating restaurants, and other tourists attractions. It would be

walking distance to our condo unit. On the corner of the service road,and visible from the SLEX, a beautiful, San Francisco-themed building houses, among others, a branch of the Bank of Philippine Islands, Figaro’s Cof-feehouse, Dencio’s Restaurant, an Italian Restaurant, a Japanese restaurant and others. Crown Asia, one of Villar’s real estate companies also holds office there.

We again turned left on the four-lane street at the back of the restaurants, leading to the gates of two subdivisions, the Brittany and the Marina. The land used to be owned by the Posadas Family, who partnered with the Villars to have the area developed into one of the most beautiful areas in Metro Manila. A guard house at the gate, manned twenty-four hours a day marked the entrance to the subdivision. After a few meters we turned right, passing through a tunnel under the rail-road. The new route was recently constructed to shorten the way. A tunnel was built so that vehicles can avoid crossing the tracks. From there, we were greeted by the sight of the nine beauti-ful buildings of the Presidio at Brittany Bay, silhoutted in the dark of the night by the brightly lit stars in the open sky. Indeed, the open spaces of Presidio stood in stark contrast to the sights of Metro Manila amidst the crowd-ed neighborhood of Muntinlupa and the neighboring cities of Taguig and Paranaque.

It was nice to be home. – AJ

(Next issue: The cost of retir-ing in the Philippines)

Buying a condo

unit in the Philippines


CACAO FARMERS GRADUATION. Cacao farmers in Walang, Lambunao, Iloilo mill around for a photo op after graduating from their 12 month training and seminar with CocaoPhil. The cacao tree is a new source of livehood for farmers who want to earn at least P300,000.00 per hectare per year. PINOY GONZALES/ PNS

The editorial director of global book publisher Penguin Classics is Filipino-American Elda Rotor.

Based in New York, the 37 year old was hired to be executive edi-tor for the Penguin Classics line in 2006, as she oversaw the publica-tion of Penguin Classics’ first two literary masterpieces going global Jose Rizal’s ”Noli Me Tangere” and Jose Garcia Villa’s “Doveg-lion: Collected Poems.”

She is also responsible for books written by American and European writers in the Penguin Classics line.

According to Elda: Penguin Classics is already waiting for the translation of Rizal’s “El Fili-busterismo” from Harold Augen-braum, who also translated and introduced “Noli Me Tangere” for Penguin Classics. She also reveals that Penguin is reviewing recent Man Asia Literary Prize winner Miguel Syjuco’s novel, “Ilustra-do”, for publication!

After graduating cum laude with special honors from the George Washington University with a B. A. in English literature, Elda would then go on to co-found and publish New Digressions, an art and literary magazine that encour-aged emerging writers and artists under 30.

Her first publishing job came as an editor at the Oxford Univer-sity Press. With OUP, she would oversee three well-received series of books: the Seven Deadly Sins, Lives and Legacies, and Very Short Introductions series.

Sir Roger Alama, Mr. Harold Augenbraum, Consul General Rebong, Consulate Assistant Car-issa Villacorta, Penguin Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Penguin Books Ms. Elda Rotor, Deputy Consul General Melita S. Thomeczek, Mr. Joe Ramos and Consul Ed Badajos attend the Consulate’s celebration of the pub-lication of Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangereby Penguin Classics.

The Seven Deadly Sins was a series that Elda herself originated. Composed of seven short trade

Filipina shines in top book publisher Penguin

Penguin Classics’ Executive Editor Elda Rotor presents the “Noli Me Tangere” book to Consul General Cecilia Rebong

books OUP published in collabo-ration with the New York Public Library (NYPL), the series was written by seven different authors who first presented a lecture about a deadly sin at the NYPL. Some of the authors included in the series are award-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein, Tibetan Bud-dhist scholar and father of Uma, Robert Thurman, and even novel-ist Francine Prose.

“Lives and Legacies was a series I helped develop of short biogra-phies of literary figures, of which I published books on Twain, Faulkner, Eliot and Whitman. The Very Short Introduction is a great OUP series of compact and acces-sible introductions on a wide vari-ety of topics for the general reader. Among those volumes, I acquired Documentary Film, Mormonism and Kabbalah,” she says.

Even if she grew up in the States, Elda says that she has never lost sight of her Filipino roots. She has made several visits to the Philippines over the years, and has several Filipino authors whose work she admires. Among them are Jose Garcia Villa, F. Sionil Jose and Arturo Rotor.

Her position also provides her with insight as to what the Fili-pino author needs to break into the international market. Elda also believes that a lot can be done by both the media and the publishing

world alike to increase awareness of Philippine literature.

“More exposure is certainly key. Award-winning titles help raise the awareness of Philippine litera-ture in general. Critics, bloggers, journalists, scholars and writers should spread the word, include Philippine works and writers in public discussions, cover them in the media more, especially if they have favorite works to support,” she says. “Publishers should sup-port a more global bookshelf - this rings true with Penguin Classics, as we continue to support world literature, identifying the classics from around the world.”

As for young Filipinos who are not interested in reading the clas-sics, Filipino or otherwise, Elda says that they should give it a try because they might be surprised by what they find.

Probe Lacson – Crusade

PHILIPPINE NEWS SERVICE --

“INCLUDE Senator Lacson in the BW stock probe.” An alliance of non-gov-ernment organizations made this appeal yesterday following the Supreme Court order to revive the case against BW owner Dan te Tan for the stock price manipulation he allegedly committed several years ago.

The Crusade for a Better Philippines said since Sen. Panfilo Lacson had

Senator Panfilo Lacson

admitted acquiring BW shares at the time of the alleged manipulation, then it must be determined if the solon had something to do with the supposed fraud or not. Crusade chair Michael Say noted that, then and now, Lacson remains a public official who is duty-bound to be “clean of any unlawful act.”

“Mr. Lacson was the Philippine National Police chief when he acquired the shares. He claims to have proof that he had bought the stocks legally but would not show this evidence publicly.

“So what is the assurance that he did not use PNP funds, which is taxpayers’ money, when he supposedly bought the shares?” Say said. As a senator who has been very vocal against alleged wrongdoings by public figures, Lacson must prove that he is not guilty of any illegal deeds.

“The problem is, Senator Lacson keeps on saying that he is innocent of anything illegal but he would not show proof or witnesses to support his innocence..“So, there should not be any problem for the senator to be investi-gated if he really is clean,” Say added.

Asian Journal May 1 2009

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