Manila Media Monitor --JANUARY 2010

January 2010 Toronto, Canada

By Ace Alvarez

Guests and members of the Philippine Press Club-Ontario, led by its president Tenny Soriano (2nd from left) pray for those killed in the Magu-indanao massacre -- including 37 journalists, during a gathering at the Cusina Lounge and Restaurant on Wilson Avenue in Toronto. [Photo: Mike Caducio]

FAMILIES continued on p. 13

PHOTOGRAPHERcontinued on p. 5

Manila Media Monitor columnist Mario Dimain’s photos cited by City govt

Elusive retirement for a photographer

The Philippine Press Club-Ontario (PPCO) has donated some $750 to help out the families of 35 journalists slain at the Maguinanao massacre. The donation was person-ally handed by PPCO mem-

ber and Manila Media Moni-tor columnist Ricky Caluen to Rommel Rebollido, Phil-ippine News Agency head in Mindanao, when he flew to Mindanao last November 29.

Various Philippine news

sources reported that the massa-cre was 2010 election-related.

The journalists were with the group to cover the fil-ing of the certificate of gu-bernatorial candidacy for the province of Maguindanao by Buluan town vice-mayor Ish-mael “Toto” Mangudadatu.

The bodies were found hours after the Buluan town vice mayor received a text message from his wife, Gena-lyn, at 10 a.m. on November 23 that their convoy was blocked by some 50 armed men while they were on their way to file his certificate of

Toronto press group acts to help families of slain journalists

He has retired in late 2008 from his professional prac-tice, but seems could not stay away from photography.

Manila Media Monitor columnist Mario Dimain did it again! This time, his pho-tography was recognized in two categories in the City of Toronto’s “Building a great city – together” photo contest.

Dimain said, “I am now retired from professionally shooting weddings, but pho-tography has not retired from me. The passion is still burn-ing and is very much alive.”

His entries, “The Street Art-

ist” and “The Rain Man” were chosen in the “City Peo-ple” and “City Events” catego-ries, respective-ly, by the panel of judges, com-posed of Jocelyn Richards, City of Toronto pho-tographer; Steve Mackinnon, City archivist; and, Kate Schneider, an artist and educator who

teaches photography at Guelph-Humber University in Toronto.

Judging thirteen categories in the contest, the judges were looking for powerful images that evoked Toronto’s spirit, energy and unique character.

Entries were evaluated by the judges based on con-tent, image quality, creativity, uniqueness, relevance to the

contest theme and category, and overall visual appeal.

The themes covered were City programs and services; parks and playgrounds; land-scapes and gardens; urban wildlife and pets; the water-front; local events and festivals; people at work, play and on the move; architecture/buildings; culture and entertainment; and Toronto’s neighbourhoods and history - all tied to the theme of building a great city together.

The images selected were features of many of Toron-to’s neighbourhoods, such as the Distillery District and

the Beach, beautiful scenes of Toronto’s waterfront and landscapes, people who make up the multicultural city, bold architecture, and cultural events such as Caribana, Nuit Blanche and music festivals.

Toronto Mayor David Mill-

Manila Media Monitor columnist Mario Dimain.

Mario Dimain’s “The Street Artist” and “The Rain Man” were chosen in the “City People” and “City Events” categories respectively, of the City of Toronto’s “Building a greatcity – together” photo contest where some 700 photogra-phers competed among one another with their 4,100 entries.

3January 2010 Manila Media Monitor

Under the new Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Rec-ognition of Foreign Qual-ifications, foreign-trained workers who submit an application to be licensed or registered to work in certain fields will be ad-vised within one year whether their qualifica-tions will be recognized.

Minister of Human

Resources and Skills Development Diane Fin-ley and Co-Chair of the Forum of Labour Mar-ket Ministers, and Ja-son Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, have endorsed a new framework to enhance foreign qualification recognition for interna-tionally-trained workers.

Gov’t speeds up foreign credential recognition for newcomers

The Pan-Canadian Framework for the As-sessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications is part of the Government of Canada’s strategy to have the best educated, most skilled and most flexible workforce in the world. Recognizing for-eign credentials is part of the strategy, and foreign qualification recognition

is the process of veri-fying that knowledge, skills, work experience and education obtained in another country are comparable to the stan-dards established for Canadian profession-als and tradespersons.

“Attracting and retain-ing the best international talent to address existing and future labour mar-

ket challenges is critical to Canada’s long-term economic success,” said Minister Finley.

“Ensuring that for-eign credentials and qualifications are as-sessed and recognized in a timely manner will enable newcomers to maximize their talents.”

The Framework fol-lows the Government of Canada’s commitment in the 2008 Speech from the Throne to “work with the provinces to make the rec-ognition of foreign cre-dentials a priority, attract

top international students to Canada and increase the uptake of immigrant settlement programs.”

The Framework states that governments across Canada will work to-wards better pre-arrival services, assessments that are fair, transparent, con-sistent and timely across Canada, and improved workforce participation services for newcom-ers. These services will help internationally-trained workers put their training and knowl-edge to work sooner.

International Press Freedom Awards GalaEvent focuses on unsolved murders of journalists around the world

The Canadian Jour-nalists for Free Expres-sion (CJFE) has honored two journalists and the staff of a newspaper for their immense courage and commitment to free-dom of expression at the

12th annual International Press Freedom Awards gala held on Decem-ber 9 at the Royal Fair-mont Hotel in Toronto.

So far this year 93 journalists have died in connection to

their reporting work. On November 23,

2009, 35 journalists were killed in Maguindanao in southern Philippines, in the worst massacre of journalists in history. In Canada, four prominent

NEWS

Canadian journalists’ murders remain unsolved.

Proceeds from the gala would be for support to legal defense work in Canada, advocacy and promotion of free ex-pression rights in Canada and around the globe and CJFE’s Journalists in Distress Fund, which has disbursed more than $170,000 in grants to persecuted journalists in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

Recipients of the Inter-national Press Freedom Award Winners were:

• Jila Baniyaghoub, Iranian writer for Gazeta Kanoon Zanan Irani (Fo-cus on Iranian Women) and contributor to Iranian newspaper Sarmayeh, Baniyaghoub has been-beaten, arrested and im-prisoned several times over the span of her career.

• Novaya Gazeta, one of the only independent news outlets in Rus-

sia. It has gained inter-national attention due to the murders of four of its journalists and its fearless and influential reporting on critical is-sues. Novaya Gazeta’s journalists frequently in-vestigate and publish ar-ticles that are critical of the state, unearth corrup-tion and expose human rights abuses. Dmitry Muratov, the Editor-in-

GALA continued on p.13

4 Manila Media Monitor January 2010 NEWS

Custom Rehab proprietor Devin Govindasamy (sitted) as he prepares to conduct a raffle draw among employees related to his company’s fund-raising efforts for Philippine typhoon victims. (Photos by Rico De Las Alas and Anagaile Soriano)

A top Canadian medi-cal rehab house was among non-Filipino busi-nesses to respond for as-sistance to victims of the recent typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng

Devin Govindasamy did not lose time to mo-bilize his co-workers to give financial assistance to a beleagured people some 10,000 miles away in the Philippines.

Employees of Custom Rehab and Assessment Cabnada Ltd. finally raised $2,500 which busi-ness owner Govindasamy equalled with the same contribution of $2,500 for a total of $5,000.

A self-made man who transformed his small basement business into one of Ontario’stop ten medical assessment com-panies, Govindasamy

said, “as an immigrant coming to Canada with his parents in 1967, “I feel a deep empathy for Filipino-Canadians and concern for people and their country of origin.”

The donation was presented to Philippine Consul General Ale-jandro Mosquera who advised them to turn over the funds to an organiza-tion of their choice -- the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC).

In acknowledging the donation, ConGen Mos-quera said it was heart-warming to note that even non-Filipinos like Govindasamy and his co-employees volunteered their time and effort to help people in the Philip-pines.

As one of the top med-ical rehab companies,

Canadian medical rehab house gives to Ondoy victims

Custom Rehab’s affiliate company, the Leaside-based Physiotherapy and Massage Institute pro-vides services ofphysiotherapists,acupuncture,massage, chiropractic and exercise training.

Custom Rehab had a humble beginning at

the basement of Devin’s in 1995 and af-ter 15 years it has grown to become a top notch medical rehab conm-pany. (AS)

5January 2010 Manila Media MonitorNEWS

Cristeta Pasia-Comerford has teamed-up with the “Early Show” resident chef Bobby Flay defeating the renowned chefs Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali in the Iron Chef America on Sunday, January 3, in the Food Network. In the Iron Chef challenge, Flay and Pasia-Comerford used Japanese egg-plant and sweet potatoes — personally recommended by U.S. First Lady, Michelle Obama, who joined Cristeta in the photo — for their winning dish. Flay and Pasia-Comerford defeated Lagasse and Batali by five points. Cristeta was born in Sampaloc, Manila. She has been the White House ex-ecutive chef since 2005. Further, she is the first female to occupy the position and the first person of ethnic minority origin to hold the same.

Filipino White House chef wins in Iron Chef America

PHOTOGRAPHER from p. 1

er said that there was a tremendous response to the photo contest, which is “… a great way to showcase the wealth of talent we have in Toron-to and for the public to

engage with their city.”More than 4,100 en-

tries were received by the city from 700 photog-raphers for this contest.

In addition to having their photos displayed online at www.flickr.com/photos/cityoftoronto/gal-leries, photographers with

a winning submission re-ceive prizes including the recent book, “Toronto’s Visual Legacy: Official City Photography from 1865 to the Present”.

In December 2008, Dimain’s two most trea-sured photos, “The Rain-bow and The Shadow” and “Laughing Peppers”

earned the recognition of Christian Photographers Community when both photos won in its Mini Challenge photo contest theme: That Is Not So Natural. The photo of an airplane’s shadow, mysti-cally encircled by a cir-cular rainbow won first place while the image of

the two halves of a sliced pepper that appeared to be laughing, placed second.

City Manager Joe Pennachetti said the City of Toronto hosted a din-ner reception on Janu-ary 18 to celebrate the talent and passion for the city found in those talented photographers.

Dimain’s monthly column in this publi-cation, “The 3rd Eye” merges words and pho-tographs to effectively express his non-political views that promote posi-tive self-awareness and community harmony. (Also with files from the City of Toronto)

Mayor David Miller at the reception celebrating the talent and passion of photographers, point-ing out that the event is “a great way to show-case the wealth of talent we have in Toronto and for the public to engage with their city.”

6 Manila Media Monitor January 2010

In photo are some of the Filipino priests and deacons assigned at various Ontario par-ish communities who gathered together on December 9 at the “Our Lady of Assumption” church on Bathurst Street in North York to treat the community to a rare contemporary musical extravaganza in celebration of the Year for Priests. (Manila Media Monitor)

VIEWS

“Hindi kapamilya! Kapuso sila!”A C E A L V A R E Z

Whenever my wife, Gie Al-varez, is unable to hear mass on Sundays for reasons attrib-utable to me, she wouldn’t talk to me for days.

After the “Alay Concert”, she wouldn’t go to church,

UNLESS, I assure her that the officiating priest in the mass would sing, too, patterned after the music genre of our Filipino priests and deacons in Ontar-io who grouped together and staged the concert at the “Our

Lady of Assumption Church” on Bathurst Street in Toronto on Sunday, December 6.

Ang galing naman talaga ng concert! A rare one in the Filipino Canadian community, which gave everybody a re-

spite from the usual fare we see around.

***Recently,

OMNI 2 Televi-sion (Cable 14 in Toronto) moved the schedule for the alternative viewing sched-ule of Front Page Philippines – the TV program I produce for the Filipino Canadian community from Thursdays, 3 PM to the same day at 4 PM.

“Wow,” ex-claimed my wife, Gie – who hosts the TV program, “OMNI 2 TV has put us head-on against Oprah on CTV Cable 8!”

I responded, “Let’s look at it this way. Oprah produces her TV show; and so do we.”

“Oprah has her own pub-lication; and so do we.”

“Oprah is a multi-million-aire; and … ah … ahh …we have our own publication!”

***During the recent “PIDC

Dancing To Be A Star” event

chaired by my good friend, Le-onie Manzanares, one woman asked me:

“Ace, do you have a fam-ily here in Canada? I mean, I know you’re married and have children, but what I was asking really was … do you have sib-lings here; relatives?”

I took the printed photo that you see on this page and marked as “Photo 1”, and

OOOPS continued on p. 7

Photo1


Bawat patak ng pawis at pagod mo........buong pusong ihahatid ng Forex sa

pamilya mo.....kahit saan....... kahit kailan

VIEWS

showed it to the woman. Her response: “Hindi naman ka-pamilya ang mga iyan, a! Mga kapuso sila, ‘di ba?”

***I wonder whatever hap-

pened to fellow Philippine Press Club-Ontario (PPCO) member Nestor Arellano when he and wife, Faye, got home that night from the PPCO Christmas Party and where the photo was taken by PPCO member Miguel Caducio.

In photo number 2, do you wonder what PPCO member Faye Arellano was thinking while her husband was read-ing something during the PPCO Christmas Party held at Cusina Lounge and Res-taurant on Wilson Avenue in Toronto?

Well, kayo na po ang hu-matol.

***On October 28, I got this

message, together with other recipients, in my “Inbox”:

“Due to some unavoidable circumstances beyond our con-trol, the get together scheduled on Saturday, 31 October 2009, is hereby postponed to Novem-ber 7, 2009, Saturday, at 6pm at … North York, Ontario.

”Hope this notice will serve its purpose. Thank you.”

The notice was signed, “Amor and Maribel”.

It wasn’t true that I filed a petition before the Ontario Court of Justice to order the signatories to lift the postpone-ment.

Ang bigat ng dating ng memorandum ng signatories; “get together” pa la’ng ang pinag-uusapan sa e-mail na na-sabi.

I almost had a nervous breakdown when I got the no-tice. Whewww!

***One recent morning ….Answering the phone at

home, a telemarketer on the other line said, “I’m from USC Educational Savings Plan. Congratulations on the

new baby!”Hearing the statement, I

decided to play along.“Thank you,” I said.“Are you the father of the

baby?” she asked.I said, “Yes”.“How’s the baby?” she ex-

citedly inquired further.I responded, “The baby

has graduated recently from university and looking for a job?”

I didn’t hear anything, ex-

cept “click”. ***Some people asked me why

Butch Galicia moved to “Li-breto”.

My response was better pay, extended medical benefits and eight weeks of vacation with pay.

***Message forwarded by

Karl Haab of the New Con-servatory of Music on Shep-pard Avenue in Scarborough,

Ontario, under the subject “Stella Awards”:

“It’s time again for the annual ‘Stella Awards’! For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on her-self and successfully sued the McDonald’s in New Mexico, where she purchased coffee. You remember, she took the

OOOPS continued on p. 10

OOOPS from p. 6

Photo 2


From the Monitor’s Desk

A C E A L V A R E Z

I’m back in the saddle

The video Pied Piperof Thailand

RoundaboutM A G C R U Z - H A T O L

13 years of dedicatedcommunity service

Managing EditorACE ALVAREZ

Associate EditorGIE ALVAREZ

Contributing EditorsRICKY CALUENMARIO DIMAIN

MAG CRUZ HATOLGRACE P. FREIRESMANNY FREIRES

BEN VICCARI

Editorial AssistantLEN ALVAREZ-MAHONEY

ContributorsEVA AGPAOA

NOEL PERADALARRY TORRES

Account ExecutivesMYRNA SORIANO

JOHN TAN

GraphicsRUSSELL INTERNATIONALrussell.international@rogers.

com

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An apology. Oh what a way to start a New Year!

In the art of communica-tion, I was trained never to start something with a nega-tive statement. At this in-stance, however, I must, hence, this heartfelt apology.

I apologize to my – and Manila Media Monitor’s, read-ers for our failure to come out with the November 2009 is-sue due to the sudden depar-ture of our editor/layout artist Butch Galicia. Not that it was Butch’s fault that we failed to come out with the Novem-ber 2009 issue. Certainly, Butch has all the right to seek greener pastures elsewhere.

Following this, we opted to make the November and De-cember 2009 issues as one, but several factors affecting news-paper production stood along the way, among others, the incom-patibility of programs installed on the various computers we use for Manila Media Monitor.

On behalf of Manila Media Monitor and of myself, I do apologize, too, to our advertisers for any inconvenience our fail-ures we might have caused all of them – especially advertisers who were catching up to meet their sales goals during the last months of calendar year 2009.

After having remedied the situation, however, over the past holidays, we are now back in circulation.

During the last 13 years that Manila Media Moni-tor has been publishing and serving the needs of the Fili-pino Canadian community, we believe that we have truly served the needs of everybody who has a stake in Manila

Media Monitor’s operation. Year 2009 presented the

media industry with unprec-edented challenges. Your Ma-nila Media Monitor was not spared from such, but the prob-lems presented to us during the last two months were spe-cific to us, but did – and con-tinued to, pray for everybody’s very kind understanding of the situation which faced us.

On behalf of everybody at this publication, I thank you so much for your in-dulgences on this matter.

I mustered my energy back into the task I used to do for the benefit of all Manila Media Mon-itor’s readers and advertisers.

I thank Manila Media Moni-tor readers and advertisers who came back to me with their kind and encouraging words after I sent them a notice of our failure to come out with the November and December 2009 issues. To all of you, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

I take this opportunity, too, to congratulate Butch Galicia, who assumed the position of publisher/editor of “Libreto” – the publication being oper-ated by Mentor Productions Inc. – a corporation run by Teresa and Mon Torralba, the couple, who during the last three years staged the “Mak-ing Waves Festival”at various locations in Toronto. Mentor, I

believe, is a contraction of the first syllables of the owners’ last names: “Men” for Men-doza and “tor” for Torralba”.

I wish Butch the best at his new home.

In the meantime, I guess “I’m back in the saddle again”, so to speak, as Manila Me-dia Monitor’s editor – a po-sition I held during the first ten of the thirteen-year his-tory of this publication and for which, since 2000, I was recognized for my contribu-tion to Canadian journalism by “Canadian Who’s Who” -- the only reference book contain-ing names of what the book’s publisher, the University of Toronto (U of T), calls distin-guished Canadians,listing in which is by invitation only and based on merit. The reference book is compiled and pub-lished annually by the U of T.

***On behalf of everybody

at Manila Media Monitor, I welcome Jun Enverga as a resident in this publication.

Jun is the immediate past president of the Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) – that organization which “grew from a cocoon to a butterfly” at the helm of the MBA graduate from York University that Jun is.

Jun offered to write a column in this paper and so, I dared him.

Welcome, Jun, and enjoy your executive room on page 10.

***I was amused by a story I

was told by fellow members of the Philippine Press Club-Ontario (PPCO), Tenny So-riano and Mon Datol, which occurred during the blessing of the newly-renovated office of the Philippine Labor At-tache on Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, saying that Toronto Star reporter Dale Brazao was cited by Philippine Labor Representative Frank Luna.

I did not exactly know what the citation was about, but I presume that it was on the Star reporter’s stories exposing abuses committed by employ-ers and recruitment agencies on overseas Filipino workers, including live-in caregivers.

I, nor the community me-dia, have no problem with Dale having been cited by the Phil-ippine Labor Representative for his exposés. What amused me personally was that, while Dale was given a citation for his newspaper reports, people who brought those abuses against OFWs and brought them to the attention of Mr. Luna and his office were not likewise cited for their brave stance against their employers.

The same people who brought the problems before Mr. Luna’s office even led groups of OFWs in staging rallies to get the attention of both the Philippine and Canadian gov-ernments on the plight of what the RP government embraces as “Mga Bagong Bayani”.

Amusing me further was

SADDLE continued on p. 9

One of the most respected young men in Thailand today is in the business of chang-ing young people’s lives.

The shy and unassuming man is fondly called Weera and he claims that his call-ing to serve the country came when he was still at the uni-versity not too long ago.

Weera Sandee, fresh out of college and starting a future in entertainment, noticed that in just barely a year of his career, many actor and singer-friends of his passed away, sending him thinking about the fleet-ing nature of fame and the transience of life. The conflu-ence of circumstances and the realization that one can never bring to his grave all the wealth and fame led Weera to venture to a more meaningful job.

“I quit my job in 1998 and decided to use my experi-ence to teach young people

around Thailand to use media as a tool to make their lives better. I have not regretted it a minute since,” Weera nar-rates when we met him dur-ing a recent trip to Bangkok.

UNICEF jumpstarted him, seeing in him perhaps a young idealistic partner. Weera’s passion and sincer-ity have since brought vari-ous government ministries to his doorstep with promises of funding support: Even the Thai Army, and Plan Interna-tional have partnered with him.

He has since trained thou-sands of people under 18 in the rudiments of video pro-duction, media work and ev-erything else in between but with a novel twist: Weera links the lessons and media train-ing with life skills preparation.

Today, one finds the youth-ful Weera shuttling between his Bangkok base and any of the 40 Thai provinces, and producing the daily children’s news. This is aired in the morning on the

country’s most popular chan-nel, and in the evening on the country’s government station.

The Thai Youth Network (TYN) is a buzzword in the lo-cal industry because of its 10-year headway in youth engage-ment in media. Slowly, the Thai Ministry of Education is rec-ognizing what TYN has start-ed and will likely soon adopt the process in every school. When that happens, Weera’s dream of seeing every Thai school use his model to em-ploy media to teach life skills to the young will be realized.

“After that, my next wish is that the Thai-based TYN evolves into an ASEAN Youth News department,” he says.

Not a bad plan for some-one not even in his 40s and who has young boys and girls trailing him, guru fash-ion, wherever Weera goes.

Thai Youth Network

PIED PIPER continued on p. 9

VIEWS


Justin Trudeau:Immigrants shortchanged

on H1N1 info

CommentaryB E N V I C C A R I

The Gift of New Year

The 3rd EyeM A R I O D I M A I N

the fact that while Dale Brazao was cited for whatever he was cited for, my good friend, Ed-die Lee – publisher of the old-est newspaper in Toronto “Atin Ito”, was not given a similar citation, regardless of the fact that in several instances, Eddie came up with stories on OFWs – and, at times, even ahead of Brazao’s Toronto Star stories, considering that it is not a secret

SADDLE from p. 8 that Eddie is a frequent visitor and a close friend of the Phil-ippine Labor Officer, hence, has access on these stories.

Well, not that the Filipino Canadian media care about those citations or awards. I even saw some of those cita-tions/awards hang on refrigera-tor doors of some PPCO recip-ients. What the members of the PPCO were wondering about was the apparent preference of Philippine Labor Officer Frank

Luna for the Toronto Star over Filipino Canadian media – and with good apparent reasons! On the other hand of scale, however, Frank should have at least given the Filipino Ca-nadian media equal access to the news stories in progress.

In several situations before, what could have been a top story for the Filipino-Canadian media were leaked to us, but even after attempts had been made to contact Mr. Luna at

his office to seek details, or even lead on the stories, such did not yield responses from the Labor officer, since he re-fused to be quoted on anything

I share the thought of the community media – including officers of the PPCO that Mr. Luna’s attitude to the Filipino Canadian media in Toronto is of multiple slaps on us, and of the greatest insult coming from no less than an officer of the Philippine government.

Frank, I believe that my col-leagues in the Filipino Canadi-an media have a point here. You may want to rethink your posi-tion on the media in general.

Happy and prosperous New Year to all!

The actualization of his dreams will be a grand gift to Thai monarch Bhumibol who is Weera’s source of inspira-tion.

“I see our king doing every-thing for everyone in Thailand including those in the hinter-lands, the abject poor and the disabled. In my own little way, I hope to be able to contrib-ute to children and the youth,” Weera explains with pride.

Weera is leading the way in this part of Asia and his indel-ible mark is seen in former stu-dents who, reaching 25 or even 30, still come back to their roost to help out in TYN. They edit or help teach new children. Others have started making their own mark in the local me-dia business, as producers or scriptwriters.

Still others have resolved to embrace the Weera mis-sion as their own, teaching in schools and pushing the dream. ([email protected])

Royal InspirationPIED PIPER from p. 8

The Harper Conservative government has left Cana-dians with language barriers to fend for themselves with-out sufficient information about the current H1N1 flu pandemic, Liberal Critic for Multiculturalism and Youth Justin Trudeau said recently.

“The Harper government has failed in its duty to pro-tect all Canadians from H1N1 by neglecting to provide clear information, responsible plan-ning or adequate funding sup-port, but this failure is magni-fied for many Canadians who have difficulty understand-ing English or French,” said Trudeau, MP for Papineau.

Reports from across the country show that Canadians who are not proficient in either of Canada’s official languages were unable to get H1N1 in-formation from official sources and confused about what to do about the current pandemic.

“These concerns are being raised at the same time that the government is being criticized for failing to allocate $400 mil-lion promised in 2006 for pan-demic response, said Trudeau.

The Conservatives are spending $100 million of

public money to try to convince Canadians that they are doing a good job, but less than ten per cent of that amount on a public in-formation cam-paign about the H1N1 pandemic.

“This government should divert what is left of the es-timated $100 million of public money being spent on partisan advertising to a new H1N1 public awareness campaign,” said Trudeau.

***Two of my greatest friends

(one unhappily no longer with us) have had deep philo-sophical views of Canada as a constitutional monarchy.

The reigning monarch, they believed, had ultimate authority as ruler of a nation — a system shared by other countries such as The Netherlands and Norway.

True this power was only ex-ercised ceremonially, but it re-mained in the case of urgent need to settle more profound issues.

Now, a recent survey by Angus Reid Strategies in-dicated that 53 percent of

Canadians wanted Cana-da to drop the monarchy.

Support for severing ties was highest among men, and among French speakers, while women, and those earning more than C$50,000 a year, were most likely to support the current system, the sur-vey of 1,032 adults found.

To my mind, there’s no doubt that in the not so far off future we’re going to see a showdown on the continuance of Canada as a constitutional monarchy. What, I ask, is the alternative for a head of state?

Certainly not a president -- which could lead ultimate-ly to a complete usurpation of power. A governor? Yes.

The current office of a gov-ernor general with a dedicated residence and other trappings of authority, could readily be

transformed into an elected office without a general and costly up-heaval. Or is this too simple a so-lution for bureau-crats to grasp?

The com-bined cost to Ca-nadian taxpay-

ers of the Camilla-Charles tour in 2009 and the Queen’s forthcoming visit is estimat-ed to be close to $6 million.

***A great stir has been

caused by a government fi-nanced flyer mailed to resi-dents in ridings that contain large Jewish populations.

This document is absurd in its implications that the Lib-eral opposition is engaged in anti-Semitic activities

One accusation, that Canada sent a delegation to the first Durban conference in 2001 in the knowledge that it supported anti-Sem-itism is totally inaccurate.

It was at the conference itself that the predominance of anti-Semitism came to the fore. To have expected Canadian dele-gates to have walked out would

have been to have condoned an act of cowardice under fire.

Previous to the conference, there was a session in Toronto at which various ethnocultural groups were asked to discuss the forthcoming event. At the invitation of the Hon. Hedy Fry, then minister responsible for multiculturalism, I at-tended -- and although some anti-semitic sentiments were raised, I detected no sign that the conference would erupt into the fracas it did in Durban.

The big stir at the Toronto session was raised when a del-egate of Afro Canadian origin heard the “n” word spoken out loud by a Palestinian delegate. Taking the statement entirely out of context, she ranted and raved for half an hour, declar-ing the conference was anti-Black, and resigned from the proceedings despite all efforts to placate her. (Ben Viccari is past president of the Cana-dian Ethnic Media Associa-tion and frequently appeared on OMNI TV Commentary, until his retirement in Septem-ber 2009 from the commentary series. For more of his work, please visit Ben’s website at

http://canscene.ripple.ca)

The much celebrated Christ-mas has just passed. All the presents have been unwrapped except for one more _ the gift of New Year. . . . It is yet to unfold.

As the remaining days of December keep shrinking clos-er to the end of 2009, the antici-pation of what 2010 has in store for us brings a tingling excite-ment _ mixed with anxiety. We are about to face a new chap-ter, and like all chapters in a novel, 2010 is interwoven with the previous years in our lives.

What we started or what we learned in the past con-tinues on to next year. Would it be the end of our misfor-tunes and bad habits? Would it be a continuation of chas-ing an old dream? Would it be another promising year? Another chance perhaps? Or would it be the same as 2009?

While most peo-ple are so absorbed by the unknown, I choose to look back and reflect on what I already know _ the things that I missed out and the wisdom I gained. Knowing my weakness and strength would certainly prepare me for the challenges ahead. There are no guarantees, but understand-ing my priorities and inner self builds me a road map to where I want to go. Would I get there? Again, there are no guarantees, but one thing is certain, I will try my hardest to make the most of what the New Year has to offer, one sunrise at a time.

Each day is a new aspira-tion. January 1st is no different. It comes to start the year with a sunrise of new beginning, new

hope and new chance for rec-onciliation. Let us not live from year to year but live as if today is the last day, for we may never see tomorrow’s morning light.

At midnight when the clock signals the arrival of 2010, I will be with my family. It is a strict family tradition that was passed on to me by my parents. I grew up feeling as if it was a sin to break it, sort of like the eleventh commandment. Now, my grown-up daughters, all living on their own, observe the tradition the same way as I did. Wherever they are, they will

find their way home before midnight, on time to be with the family in welcom-ing the New Year.

Why is it that the beginning of the year is celebrated

and not the end of the year? Well, would you rather cel-ebrate a funeral than a birth of a child? Like New Year, a newborn baby brings the gift of joy, dreams and hopes.

Come 2010, we have an-other 12 months before the next New Year arrives. Let us all try to make it a better year for you and for me. Don’t for-get to say a prayer; live a sim-ple life and give thanks for all the blessings received in 2009.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

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Talk the walk and walk the talk

You’re Entitledto My Opinion

J U N E N V E R G A

Is Destiny to blame?

Our JourneyE V A A G P A O A

... It started with a joke, a dare and now a story.

Yes it is me, Tobias “Jun” Enverga, the past president of PIDC... I am here to continue my community service which is quite challenging because I am considered more as a man of action, rather than a man of words. Of course, you are entitled to my opinion!

But before I tell you about my opinion and views, let me tell you how I got started to all of this. It all started with a joke, a dare... and a personal history.

I started my community involvement in the marketing and promotions committee during the 100th anniversary of Philippine Independence or the Centennial Skydome event that everyone fondly remem-bers. It was a worthy and proud effort by everyone because for the first time we were able to gather 35,000 people, mostly Filipinos under one roof. A historical accomplishment for our generation! As one lasting legacy of the gargantuan effort, we now have the Kalayaan Cultural Community Centre in Mississauga, which was started by the over $100,000 profit from that celebration.

The passion was instilled and nurtured during that short period of 1998; hence we founded the Lucena City As-sociation of Ontario, where we coined the slogan “The Mis-

sion is the Reason!” The Lucena City As-

sociation of Ontario is a small group but very pas-sionate for the mission.

After less than four years in operation then, we were able to send $500,000 worth of medical equipment, medicines and supplies to the Philippines. Todate, the associ-ation was able to deliver medi-cal and dental missions, helped build schools, convents and churches, which we call edu-cational and spiritual missions.

Also, the association helped fund scholarships, sponsored livelihood programs, built deep water wells, and distrib-uted relief goods. The accom-plishment of the organization is endless, One well wisher tried to sum up the material and service delivered to our kababayan to almost $700,000. An incomparable accomplish-ment for a small organization!

The Lucena Association has to take the back burner when I was elected President of the Philippine Indepen-dence Day Council (PIDC) in 2005. PIDC is an umbrella organization with a great his-tory and promise, but at the same time on the way to obliv-ion due to financial problems and community challenges.

PIDC did not have to vanish; PIDC did not deserve the fate of

oblivion. Hence, I accepted the challenge -- with the support of my wife Rosemer and other dedicated community leaders. We incorporated the passion that we learned and nurtured with our work in the Lucena City Association. We built-in compassion and Charity into the foundation of PIDC. We changed the focus of the organi-zation, making its new mantra: “PIDC not only promotes the best of Philippine Arts, Culture and Sports, but also Charity”.

With the new foundation of PIDC in place, we strength-ened it further by incorporating spirituality, with a Holy Mass in every major event; after all we could not separate our faith from our culture and charity!

PIDC is the community and we promised to support our own, so we incorporated social consciousness, like support for the caregivers. Caregivers are the most vulnerable sector of the Filipino community in Canada.

Incorporating the changes was not exactly without ob-stacles, we had to navigate

great hurdles, different cultural and personal views, and community distrust. We added key leaders, and most of all, more exciting events to the PIDC portfolio, at the same time, up-lifted existing events to much higher levels.

We built the Mabuhay Festi-val, Independence Day Picnic and Gala, Mabuhay Parade, the Pageants and Mabuhay Cup into the best, the biggest and much awaited events of Philip-pine Arts Culture and Charity.

In just a few years, PIDC lead so many initiatives that other organizations could only follow. PIDC became the standard for all the big-ger Filipino Organizations.

Following the experiences of PIDC, other cultural or-ganizations laterformed their own basketball tournament, pageants and special events, but with marked flaws be-cause they missed key ingre-dients, like charity and the passion of the volunteers.

We encouraged innovation and collaboration by organiz-ing trend-setting events like “Dancing to be a Star” and “Seniors Karaoke”. Mabuhay Festival had the most number of ideas that we successfully implemented by engaging the best talents in the community. Who could ever plan and exe-

cute an event like releasing 110 white doves to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Phil-ippine independence? Who had been closing the Toronto downtown streets yearly with a huge parade to celebrate our culture? Who had been giving the community the biggest local and international talents under one roof for such a measly sum of $15 and a whole day use of an110-thousand foot building complex full of fun and activi-ties? Who had attracted the at-tention and gained the respect of big sponsors and the differ-ent levels of the government the most? Who completed a GK village and built 20 more houses on another, and build-ing more for the poor families in the Philippines? All of this was not accomplished over-night. All the events and activi-ties were planned and executed carefully with passion and with one thought in mind: “Our Ka-babayan deserves the best!”

Why am I saying all of this, you might ask? It is to let you know that I just do not write the words, I talk and walk and walk the talk. Anyway, those are just my opinions… and you are entitled to them!

Special thanks to Ace Al-varez for challenging me to write this column, my ap-preciation for his opinion!

Destiny. Fate. Kis-met. It is written. Choice. Freedom. Free Will.

Every day I bounce be-tween these two poles: Did I end up where I am be-cause it is my destiny, or be-cause of the choices I made.

For me, they are important questions, because in the an-swer lies the roots of hope , ac-countability and responsibility.

My friend Leanne was tell-ing me about losing her job. At these times, it is not unusual. But for Leanne it was the final straw. This was the fourth job for her in the past two years.

She broke down in tears and between sobs, sputtered that this was her destiny. She would be going from one dead

job to another, never amounting too much. I cringed. I wanted to shake her and knock some sense into her. I’m not cold hearted. I sympathize with her plight and would do almost anything to help her (and I might just do that). What bothered me was her denial of reality. Leanne chose to use Destiny as her excuse. Losing her job (make that jobs) was somehow ordained. There was nothing she could do about it. She was not crying because of the economic hardship she might face. Leanne was up-set -- I mean truly and really upset that Destiny had chosen this particular path for her.

I fumed and mentally banged my head against a very hard wall. Leanne lost her job because she is a sloppy worker. Destiny had nothing to do with it. Her attitude and lack of care had everything to do with it. There is no destiny, no fate. It is never written that such and such would happen. If that were true, then what is the point of any-thing? Let’s just fast forward to the future since nothing we could do can possibly affect it.

Destiny is what people use as an excuse for the prob-lems in their lives (or the good for-tune). But here is the real problem: Desti-ny robs you of hope.

Hope that things will change. Hope that life will be better. Without hope, how can one dream? How can one possibly create one’s future through hard work and commitment?

When I pointed this out to Leanne, she stopped crying and gave me a look. A look reserved for the lowest of the low: Those out there who would kick the crutch away from a cripple, or steal toys from an orphanage.

I have always written about

VIEWS

personal responsibility. On my core, I believe that one is able for one’s acts. There is no one to blame. And there should be no one to blame. Especially Destiny. If you can’t take re-sponsibility for your mistakes, then you have no right to credit for your achievements.

In Leanne’s case, her be-lief in Destiny will actu-ally make it come true. She will never get the chance to learn the real reason why she can’t hold a job and will nev-er have a chance to change.

So the next time something happens, resist the temptation to blame someone or some-thing else. Do yourself a favor: Pack Destiny away with the rest of your childhood beliefs.

([email protected])

OOOPS from p. 7 make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.

”Here are the Stellas for the past year:

*SEVENTH PLACE* “Kathleen Robertson of

Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle trip-

ping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were under-standably surprised by the ver-dict, considering the running toddler was her own son. Start scratching!”

* SIXTH PLACE * “Carl Truman, 19, of Los

Angeles , California won

$74,000 plus medical ex-penses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman ap-parently didn’t notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor’s hubcaps. Scratch some more.....

* FIFTH PLACE *

“Terrence Dickson of Bris-tol, Pennsylvania was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfor-tunately for Dickson, the auto-matic garage door opener mal-functioned and he could not get the garage door to open..

“Worse, he couldn’t re-en-

OOOPS continued on p.14

lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that, right? That’s right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that


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I recently returned from a short trip to the Philippines. I stayed mainly in Cagayan de Oro City where my brother re-sides (home is actually nearby Iligan City). Even with only around 10 days to spend in Mindanao, I managed to see a few old friends, like my lady Maranao friend who is genu-inely descended from Lanao royalty (and not some contrived sultanate or datuship). She treated me to a good spread of Maranao dishes she knew were my favorites. Spicy though the dishes were, insights into the propensities of the Ampatuans that my friend supplied were, in a way, even more piquant.

The Ampatuans are, of course, the family that figured in the infamous Maguindanao Massacre of November 23, barely a week prior to my ar-rival in Mindanao. Until the massacre, I have never heard of Shariff Aguak (capital town of Maguindanao), nor of the Ampatuan family. My friend tells me, barely concealing her contempt, how notorious the family is for their obscene dis-play of power and wealth (and equal amount of pretension) . For instance, it is widely-known that whenever ARMM

Gov. Zaldy Am-patuan travels to Manila, he descends upon the capital like some visiting head of state accorded the trappings of the position: portions of the airport sealed off to the public, a contingent of security staff with high-powered guns as es-cort, a fleet of uniformly black and tinted SUVs to convey the politico and his private army. I am surprised I managed to finish my meal hearing a host of stories about the Am-patuans without throwing up.

I once knew and met a Min-danao warlord. But, compared to the patriarch of the Ampat-uan clan, he was Santa Claus. Some even affectionately called him bapa, or grandfather.

***Still on the Maguindanao

Massacre: Just before I left Toronto on November 28th, members of the Philippine Press Club-Ontario held a brief memorial service to honor the memory of the 30 jour-nalists slain in the massacre.

This took place during the Christmas party of the group held at Cusina Restaurant on

Wilson/Bathurst. Members of the organization wore black armbands to the occasion. In the course of the evening, PPCO president Tenny Soriano announced that a collection was being made to raise some funds for the families of the slain journalists. A total of $750 was eventually raised, an amount which I turned over to Rommel Rebollido, Philippine News Agency head for Mindanao.

Award-winning journal-ist Inday Varona of the NUJP (whom PPCO once had as guest) had recommended for the donation to be turned over to Mr. Rebollido. I have known Rommel from since our Iligan-Lanao Press-Club days back in the 1980s.

I know thousands around the world have raised their voices over the death of the 30 Filipino journalists in the Maguindanao Massacre. But

not too many groups have been known to have made contribu-tions to a fund for the familiesof the slain journalists. I congrat-ulate Tenny Soriano and the members of his fundraising com-mittee—Mon Datol,

Ace Alvarez, Mogi Mogado, and Faye Arellano (and oth-ers I may have missed---since I arrived late at the party), for initiating the fundraising drive.

***Speaking of Mindanao

journalists, they are perhaps the most endangered species among the lot in the Philip-pines. Whether they are in the print or broadcast media, Min-danaoan media practitioners have earned their spurs in the jungles of Mindanao covering MILF-military battles or while reporting abuses of the military or corrupt government officials and politicians. I am proud to have once worked with them newsrooms or enjoyed their camaraderie in favorite water-ing holes or press conferences.

I personally knew some ofthose who died with their boots on, so to speak. There was the newspaperman Demy

Dingcong, perhaps among the first to die back in the 1970s for courageously exposing the abuses of a politician. Joel Ma-glunob, a smart student inmy Political Science class at the Mindanao State University in Iligan, former member of the Presidential Management Staff—he was shot while step-ping out of his house. He was about to take up a high position in the Philippine Information-Agency. He dared comment on nepotism, etc., in Cotabato. He was too smart for his own good.

Journalism had never been my bread and butter. But, to many in Philippine media, par-ticularly in the provinces, it is. That is why I was particularly moved by what I saw on You-Tube; an interview with one daughter of a slain journalist.

She was in tears while re-calling the moments just be-fore her father left their home to cover the Mangudadatu family’s trip to the COMELEC office in Shariff Aguak to register their candidate for governor for Maguindanao.

She pleaded her father not to go, aware of the dangers that lurked in the corner. But

MINDANAO continued on p.13

VIEWS


MANILA — The spokesman of the new-ly-formed November 23 Movement, Carlos Conde, has urged the court hearing the Man-guindnao Murder trial and the Philippine Na-tional Police to remove restrictions on journalists and that live coverage be allowed.

Conde cited the pub-lic’s right to know and be informed.

The November 23 Movement is a loose co-alition of media organi-zations calling for justice to the victims of the mas-sacre last November 23. The group, along with the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Na-

tionalist Alliance), led the protest action outside Camp Crame, the police headquarters in Manila.

Conde said these court-imposed restrictions on the media covering the Ampatuan massacre trial are, for all practical pur-poses, a form of “special treatment” being accord-ed the main suspect, An-dal Ampatuan Jr.

Bulatlat News report-ed that the court, presid-ed by Judge Jocelyn So-lis-Reyes, has disallowed live coverage of the Am-patuan trial. The Philip-pine National Police has also prohibited “ambush” interviews outside the court.

Andal Jr. has been ac-

cused of masterminding what is now known as the worst single case of election-related violence in the country’s recent history, where 57 people, at least 30 of them jour-nalists, were killed.

Journalists reported that no cameras, laptops, mobile phones and even audio recorders were al-lowed inside the court room. The number of journalists allowed in-side the the court room was also limited. Conde said these restrictions hampered how journal-ists perform their tasks.

Conde said in a state-ment, “While we respect the view that a trial by publicity can be be detri-

mental to the accused, we fail to see how that can happen in this case. The Ampatuan case is ex-tremely important for the public, the media and the relatives of the victims. The media and the pub-lic — particularly those who live outside Metro Manila and who can only follow the proceed-ings through the media — need to know exactly what is going on inside the courtroom.”

Ilang-ilang Quijano, a director of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said at a rally, “As jour-nalists, we need to get accurate information for the public. The role of the media is important in ensuring that there would be no whitewash.”

Journalists Question Media Restrictions by RP of Maguindanao Massacre Trial

“Special Treatment being accorded to Accused” Conde said restrictions

in the Ampatuan trial are, “at best, unreasonable and, at worst, a violation of press freedom and the public’s right to know.”

“At a time when the Philippine press is under assault like never before, these restrictions are the last thing we need,” Conde added.

The group said the ban on live coverage “de-prives the family of the victims – who are mostly based in Mindanao, an opportunity to follow the proceedings.”

Snail-pacedVijae Alquisola, na-

tional president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), criticized the “snail-paced” resolution of the case.

“It has been two months since the mas-sacre happened and the children of the victims still cry for justice. They spent their Christmas and New Year without getting justice for their loved ones,” Alquisola said.

“We, campus journal-ists, join our colleagues in the mainstream me-dia in calling for justice. Forgetting the Ampatuan massacre is allowing extrajudicial killings to continue. Forgetting is embracing the culture of impunity and the absence of justice,” Alquisola said during the protest. (Bulatlat.com)

Manila Media MonitorTel. (416) 285-8583

13January 2010 Manila Media MonitorNEWS

MINDANAO from p. 11

GALA from p. 3

the father insisted he had to go—for it was his vocation; his bread and butter. “Dito tayo nabubuhay. Dito ako ku-mukuha ng pang-tuition ninyo…..” were among the journalist’s last words to his daughter.

Now you know why

my heart goes out to them. This Christmas, most of our families will celebrate noche buena with all members pres-ent. Some in Mindanao will be missing a father or mother or some other family member. Remem-ber the 30 slain journal-ists of the Maguindanao Massacre and their fami-lies in your prayers. Pray

for those who are still around to tell the news---with conviction and courage. Pray that they will not buckle down to pressure and fear; that the Philippine government will really do something to address the issue of violence against journal-ists and forcefully pros-ecute those criminals, so that justice is served.

FAMILIES from p. 1

candidacy at the Com-mission on Elections office in Shariff Aguak town, Maguindanao.

The victims were tak-en hostage, then killed by armed men believed to be followers of the Ampatuan political clan.

Immediately after the news broke out, the PPCO joined Philippine-based journalists in calling for justice and strongly con-demning the massacre of at least 57 people on November 23 in the vil-lage of Masalay in Datu Abdullah Sangki town Maguindanao, including the 35 journalists. The letter to this effect was sent by PPCO president Tenny Soriano to Inday Espina-Varona of the National Union of Jour-nalists of the Philippines (NUJP) immediately af-ter the incident happened.

In expressing their anger over the incident, members of the PPCO wore black bands on their left arm during the group’s Christmas party and offered a moment

of silence in prayer for their fallen fellow jour-nalists at the Cusina Lounge and Restau-rant on Wilson Avenue.

Few days later, Datu Unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan was arrested by authorities and detained at the National Bureau of detention cell in Ma-nila, where 25 counts of murder were filed against him and a dozen “John Does” by State Prosecu-tors Leo Diocera, Al Cal-ica and Edilberto Jamora before the Regional Trial Court Branch 15 of Co-tabato City in connec-tion with the massacre.

Police also named 161 suspects in the mas-sacre. The suspects in-cluded government mili-tiamen and members of the powerful Ampatuan clan, now facing charges of murder and rebellion.

The prosecutors pre-sented two boxes of documentary evidence in filing initial charges.

The Philippines: A Culture of Impunity

Outside war zones, the Philippines is regarded by many as the most dan-

gerous environment in the world for journalists.

The Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF: Report-ers Without Borders) – an international non-governmental organiza-tion aiming to champion journalists’ and media rights against govern-ment censorship and op-pression of freedom of expression reported that since the return of de-mocracy in the Philip-pines in 1986, more than 60 journalists in the coun-try have been murdered.

The number is one of the highest death tolls for media workers anywhere in the world. Only four of the cases resulted in convictions, placing the triggermen in jail and leaving those who ordered the killings free to walk the streets.

Although the number of journalists killed per year has fallen from thir-teen in 2004 to four in 2007, the Philippines still ranks 128th out of 169 countries in RSF’s world press freedom index.

PPCO president Ten-ny Soriano told Con-

sul General Alejandro Mosquera during a con-versation, “Right now, I’m so angry. This is the work of the devil.”

In Manila, hundreds

of Filipino journalists and human rights acti-vitists staged a protest near the presidential palace shortly after the massacre and demanded

justice for colleagues.“We call for justice,”

Benny Antiporda, head of

Chief of Novaya Gazeta will accept the award.

The Tara Singh Hay-er Award Winner was

• Terry Gould, award-winning freelance inves-tigative journalist and author of “Murder with-out Borders: Dying for the Story in the World’s Most Dangerous Places”.

Gould travelled to some of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists in order to interview the family and colleagues of journalists who had died in their at-tempts to report the truth.

In 2004, Front Page Philippines TV host Gie Alvarez interviewed Gould in the program shortly after the release of his book, “Paper Fan”,

which was about a man whom Gould trailed for eleven years through the organized crime circles in six countries -- including the Philippines, where Steven Wong (known as the Paper Fan) “died” in a traffic accident in 1992 before he could be sent to jail for heroin traf-ficking just after he had taken out a million-dollar insurance policy. (RI)

FAMILIES continued on p. 18


OOOPS from p. 10 neighbor’s beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner’s fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been pro-voked at the time of the butt bite because Wil-liams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.

“Pick a new spot to scratch, you’re getting a bald spot..

* THIRD PLACE * “Amber Carson of

Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tail bone. The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own

actions? “Only two more so

ease up on the scratch-ing....

*SECOND PLACE* “Kara Walton, of

Claymont , Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom win-dow to the floor, knock-ing out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the la-dies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000 … oh, yeah, plus dental ex-penses. Go figure.

”Ok. Here we go!! * FIRST PLACE * “This year’s runaway

First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma , who purchased a new 32-

Lower rents for 128,000 Toronto households

A record num-ber of Toronto tenant households have re-ceived notices of an

automatic rent reduc-tion. Tenants should act on this valuable information.

Addressed to the “Current Tenant,” clearly marked “Rent Reduc-tion Notice Enclosed,” and in an envelope with the City of To-ronto logo, these letters

contain all the custom-ized information a tenant requires to start pay-ing a lower rent as early as December 31, 2009.

More than 128,500 households are eligible for a rent reduction un-der provincial legisla-tion because the property tax on their buildings has been lowered by at least 2.49 per cent during 2009. This compares to about 330 units that were eligible for an automatic rent reduction in 2008.

Although most rent reductions may be small ($144 a year, for exam-ple, on a $1,200 monthly rent in a building where property taxes declined 5 per cent), residents were encouraged to reduce their rents according to

the information enclosed in the customized pack-age and to inform their landlords of their inten-tion to do so. Municipali-ties were required to send notices about the tax de-crease and rent reduction to landlords of affected buildings by September 15 and to tenants by De-cember 15. All informa-tion on the notices was based on assessment information provided by Municipal Property Assessment Corp., an independent organiza-tion established by the provincial government.

A key reason for the record number of house-holds eligible for rent reductions in 2009 was City Council’s 2005 deci-sion to gradually reduce the proportion of over-all property taxes paid by businesses, including multi-residential dwell-ings, compared to those paid by residential prop-erty tax payers, as part of the Enhancing Toronto’s Business Climate Strategy.

Last was also an as-sessment year and mar-ket values have changed.

Tenants of buildings with more than six units

generally pay about 20 per cent of their rent to-ward property taxes, so if taxes go down, they are entitled to reduce their rent by 20 per cent of the reduction. For build-ings with six or fewer units, the percentage is 15. All rules are estab-lished by the province.

The rent reduction provisions in the Resi-dential Tenancies Act ap-ply only to private rental buildings occupied as residences before No-vember 1, 1991. Newer apartment buildings are not covered. A number of other restrictions apply.

If a household does not receive the rent reduction notice from the City, it is not entitled to automati-cally reduce the rents. Tenants in buildings with property tax reductions of less than 2.49 per cent may be eligible for a rent reduction if they make an application to the Land-lord and Tenant Board.

The website http://www.toronto.ca/housing has more information, as well as a link to a newly developed web-database that provides informa-tion about property taxes

for all rental residential buildings in Toronto.

Tenants are urged to contact the City-funded Tenant Hotline if they have remaining ques-tions. Service is avail-able in a number of lan-guages at 416-921-9494.

Amounts paid by landlords for solid waste management are not con-sidered in the calculation of the rent reduction no-tice, as this is not permit-ted under the legislation. Indeed, landlords may apply to the Landlord

and Tenant Board for an above-guideline rent increase to recover any extraordinary operat-ing cost that may result from municipal charges such as garbage fees.

LOWER continued on p.17

The officers, board of directors, and advisers composing the Pangasinan Association of Canada (PACA), led by Dr. Ernie Quinit and Quintin Palisoc (1st and 2nd from left, first row), founder and president, respectively, of the organization during the group’s fund-raising activity at St. Ambrose Church Hall in Etobicoke on November 7, 2009. (Manila Media Monitor photo)

The Pangasinan As-sociation of Canada (PACA) headed by its president, Quintin U. Palisoc, has responded to help out victims of the re-cent flood in Pangasinan by holding a fundraising dinner-dance.

The event on Novem-ber 7, chaired by PACA executive vice president Cesar Ramirez, gener-ated $2,500 and $5,000 from the association.

The officers of PACA composed of presidents, vice-presidents and of-ficers of their respective provincial municipali-ties have agreed that the $7,500 be distributed to

the 17 most devastated Towns in Pangasinan and be given top priorty.

The towns and the PACA presidents of each town are: Alcala- Con-drado Mayo, Binalonan- Julio Sison, Mapandan - Terry Burquillos, San Carlos- Felix Tulagan, San Jacinto- Merle Al-dana, San Manuel- Tony Ramos, Sison - Suzie de Vera, Tayug- Norma P Cruz, Urbiztondo-Robert Cacapit, Villasis- Cristy FeBenito.

Together with the town representatives, the presidents of each town association have been tasked to oversee and

accountability for the proper distribution of the proceeds.

The town representa-tives are: Alaminos-Noel Lalicon; Asingan-Pascual Ramos; Bugallion-Genny

PACA reaches out to Pangasinan flood victims

Garcia; Manaoag-Johnny Buguillos; Nativi-dad- Lili Victorino; Rosales- David Domingo; Mala-sique-Amado Tira.

Lombard Canada Ltd., through Arnel Cruz,

pledged to help the ty-phoon victims in Pan-gasinan through their annual charitable fund-raising campaign.

Palisoc, together with PACA Founder -- Dr.

Ernesto Quinit, have ap-pealed to everyone to continue to do more to alleviate the sufferings of their fellow kabaleyans. (RI)

ter the house because the door connecting the ga-rage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut... Forced to sit for eight, count ‘em, EIGHT days and survive on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner’s insur-ance company claiming undue mental anguish.

“Amazingly, the jury said the insurance com-pany must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish. Keep scratching. There are more....

“Double hand scratch-ing after this one..

*FOURTH PLACE* “Jerry Williams of

Little Rock, Arkansas garnered 4th Place in the Stella’s when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door

OOOPScontinued on p. 15


INDUCTION OF 2009-2010 EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF PHILIPPINE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA: Inducted to office are (L-R) Rosette Santiago -- Asst. Treasurer; Ramon Morales - Director; Sam Posadas - PRO; Noemi Andaya -- Bus. Mgr.;Bernadette Gapuz -Secretary; Rose Cruz -- V. P. Social Relations; Tony A. San Juan - President; Boni Curutan --V.P.-Programs; Joan Ang - Director; Marlene Mogado -- Induct-ing Officer; Mila Curutan - Auditor; Venus Geraneo-Director; Pet Collantes -Treasurer; Amparo Rosario - Director; and, Mercy Santos - Director. (PR)

PEOPLE & EVENTS

OOOPS from p. 14

foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from a football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver’s seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sand-wich. Not surprisingly,

the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not sur-prisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner’s manual that she couldn’t actually leave the driver’s seat while the cruise con-trol was set. The Okla-homa jury awarded her.

Are you sitting down? $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any rela-tives who might also buy a motor home.

”Are we, as a society, getting more stupid?”


Consul General Alejandro Mosquera assists Philippine Ambassador to Canada (1st and 2nd from left) swear into office the new directors and officers of the Bicol Canada Community Association, led by Action Honda general manager Rafael Nebres (3rd from left), during ceremonies at the Toronto Don Valley Hotel and Suites.(BCCA photo)The Bicol Canada

Community Associa-tion (BCCA) inducted its 2010-2011 elected offi-cers and directors last De-cember at the Toronto Don Valley Hotel and Suites.

The new officers and directors were inducted into office by Philippine Ambassador to Canada, and assisted by Ale-jandro Mosquera, Philip-pine Consul General in Toronto. Ontario Min-ister of Citizenship and Immigration Michael Chan was also present.

The BCCA is again headed by Paeng Nebres, who was re-elected for another two-year term. Other elected officers

for 2010-2011 were Ig-nacio Manlangit-Vice-President for Govern-ment Affairs; Manolito Aquino-Vice-President

for Internal Manage-ment; Leon J. Aureus- Vice-President for Public Relations; Lorna Acha-con-Secretary; Arlene Martirez-Asst. Secretary; Jose Gutierrez-Treasur-er re-elected on his 4th term; Eusebio Ortega-Asst. Treasurer; Floro Dabu, Jr.-Auditor; Jess Cabrias and Willie Na-bus- for Special Projects.

Elected Board of Di-rectors were Bobby Acha-con, Edison Bantayan, Juliet Casaya, Antonio Cecilio, Jr., Alex Guerina,

Ely Olayon, Edgar Recon, Felix Reyes, Monina Ser-rano and Ely Torrenueva.

The re-elected BCCA president’s challenge and message for the new term is “Tanganing kita gabos na Bicolanos mag-kasararo”, which means, “so that all Bicolanos can be united, to set an example to our com-munity and to be able to help the Bicol Region.”

Meanwhile, the BCCA announced that its novena schedule in honor of the Patroness of the Bicola-nos, “Our Nuestra Senora de Penafrancia”, for 2010 is every 2nd Sunday of

the month at 2 p.m., Assumption Church, 2565 Bathurst Street on Bathurst and Eglinton, Toronto.

Bicol Canada Community Association inducts new officers and directors

The novena is followed by a Sunday Mass. It started on January 10. The rest of the schedule is as follows:February 14 - Rinconada Assn c/o Ely Olayon (416) 783-6654 & Noli Aquino (416) 226-5286March 14 - Bato, Camarines Sur Assn c/o Edison Bantayan & Noli Aquino April 11 - Nabua Assn c/o Lourdes Bautista (416) 264-1849May 11 - Albay Group c/o Ching & Tony Reyes (416) 498-8804 and Annie and Julio Buiza (416) 699-0708June 13 - Sorsogon and Masbate Groups c/o Toti/Naty Gutierrez (416) 751-9437July 11 - Catanduanes Assn c/o Emma Tarin (416) 781-4673 and Drs. E. Felaire and Z. SanchezAugust 8 - Iriguenos Sa’di Canada c/o Thess Filio (905) 542-2601 and Esther Carpenter (416) 795-5785For more information, please contact Bobby & Lorna Achacon (416) 265-2085 and Rafael Nebres at (416) 618-1362. (PR)

MuniCipal ElECtion 2010

Information sessions for T.O. candidates

The City of To-ronto will be hold-ing candidate infor-mation sessions for nominated candidates and those interested in running for office in the 2010 Toronto municipal election.

The sessions begin in January and will be offered in three seg-ments: Getting Started;

Midway through the Campaign; and, Clos-ing the Campaign.

There will be six Getting Started information ses-sions at City Hall and the civic centres.

This session ex-plains legislative changes, the nomina-tion process, man-aging campaign fi-

nances, the Electronic Financial Filling Sys-tem (EFFS) and more.

The sessions are as follows: January 21 Toronto City Hall 100 Queen St. W. Commit-tee Room # 2; Febru-ary 25 Toronto City Hall 100 Queen St. W. Committee Room # 2; April 22 Etobi-coke Civic Centre 399 The West Mall Coun-cil Chamber; June 24 North York Civic Centre 5100 Yonge St. Committee Room # 3; August 30 Scar-

borough Civic Centre 150 Borough Dr. Com-mittee Room # 1; Sep-tember 2 Toronto City Hall 100 Queen St. W. Committee Room # 2.

All sessions start promptly at 7 p.m. and will last approxi-mately two hours.

Space is limited at each session. To regis-ter for an information session, call the Toron-to Elections at 416-395-0025 or e-mail [email protected].

Requirements for special accommoda-

tions during a candidate information session must be addressed to the Toronto Elections Office at least 72 hours before the session.

Information for potential candidates is available at http://www.toronto.ca/elections.

Toronto is Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government, and home to a diverse population of about 2.6 million people. It is the economic engine of Canada and one of the greenest and most

creative cities in North America. Toronto has won numerous awards for quality, innovation and efficiency in deliv-ering public services. Toronto’s government is dedicated to pros-perity, opportunity and liveability for all its residents. For infor-mation on non-emer-gency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can dial 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (PR)

PEOPLE & EVENTS

KCCC has presented a cheque amounting to $7,000 to Arthur Peters, Executive Director of ShareLife, for Typhoon Ondoy Victims.

The contribution was collected from compas-sionate groups and indi-viduals from the commu-nity.

The monetary contri-bution was in addition to hundreds of boxes of clothing, blankets, and

non-perishable food items that KCCC has already turned over to relief efforts, as well as the amount realized from its partnership with the University of the Philip-pines Alumni Associa-tion (UPAA) of Toronto, College of the Holy Spirit North America Foundation (CHSNAF) Toronto Chapter, and the Philippine Artists’ Group (PAG) of Canada.

The turnover of the fi-nal $7,000 ends KCCC’s Typhoon Ondoy Fund and Donation Drive.

The KCCC board of directors as well as do-nors were present to wit-ness the event.

The donations includ-ed: $3,370 donated by executives and employ-ees of KPMG, solicited by Linda Carin, KPMG partner and member of the KCCC board; $1,625

donated by Ellen’s Place Restaurant and Karaoke Bar in Mississauga (El-len Ho).

The donation from El-len’s Place was realized from a lunch fundrais-ing event and $375 from friends and customers pledges, including $220 solicited by Ajanette Rastrullo from co-work-ers at the Villa Forum; $345 donated by Vhic Rastrullo, Wilf Albur-

noz, and co-workers at Tencorr; $180 collected by Archie Ayala, KCCC Director, from family and friends; $30 donated by Charity Lim, KCCC Director; $100 donated by Minerva Studio (Deo Moreno); $500 donated by Nestor Perez, KCCC Director, and his family; and, $630 collected by KCCC from the audience of a Zarzuela it presented at Meadowvale Theatre

on November 14, 2009All individual donors

have been issued tax re-ceipts. (KCCC)

KCCC has conveyed its gratitude to all the donors for their efforts, generosity and compas-sion to the victims of the disaster.

KCCC and the Community ‘Give Big for Ondoy Relief’



Madeline Ziniak

Canadian Women in Communications honors Madeline Ziniak at awards gala

PEOPLE & EVENTS

FV Foods: Ambassador of great Filipino breads, cakes and pastries!With its recent par-

ticipation in the famous “Ethnic and Specialty Food Expo” and the “Grocery Innovations Canada 2009”, FV Foods – with its divi-sion Mhel’s, specializing in delicious breads and pastries, is leading the way towards mainstream.

Once again, this fa-mous store of humble be-ginnings is promoting Fil-ipino traditional food with passion, highlighting the Philippines on the map.

Flor Vendiola and Melchor Galeon of FV Foods and Mhel’s pointed out: “We now partake in the fame that our neighboring Asian countries have been en-joying for a while now.

“Our audience com-posed of vendors, man-agers, owners, CEOs and the general public was wowed and gave us two thumbs up for the great taste of our Empanada, Ensaymada (Brioche), Monay (Egg Bun) and even by our breakfast staple-the mighty Pan-desal (Dinner Roll)!

“They surely cannot resist the surprisingly de-licious taste of our prod-ucts which made them in-quire of our four different locations around the Gen-eral Toronto Area (Scar-borough, North York and Mississauga). We now supply to more than 80 other retail locations in-cluding T & T groceries.”

FV Foods is a member

FV Foods’ Flor Vendiola and Melchor Galeon at the Food Expo 2009

of the Baking Association of Canada, Philippine Chamber of Commerce in Toronto and HACCP Compliance which is a golden standard in food safety Management.

Vendiola and Galen said that another recent achievement of their companies was the new colorful and informa-tive packaging of their products, to the de-light of their customers.

At the same time, Vendiola and Galeon expressed their appre-ciation to their custom-ers for their continuing patronage of hundreds of the companies’ heritage products that are avail-able from an ever increas-ing number of retailers.

For more info, visit FV Foods at its website

at www.fvfoods.com or visit its locations in Scar-

borough, North York, oronto and Mississauga.

For a long time, alum-ni of the University of the Philippines were content-ed to attend Christmas parties with other groups, but this year, they decid-ed to hold one for them-selves. They marked the occasion at the Ottawa Hall of the Filipino Cen-tre Toronto with a rous-ing merriment filled by singing Christmas carols and dancing, and warm reunion with many “old-er” as well as newcomer alumni who attended. As expected, there was a lot of ribbing and laughter, even as the group was cognizant of the recent devastation of a series of typhoons, “Ondoy,” among others, that hit the home country recently.

In his brief speech, UPAA president Joe Za-gala reported that the association’s quick re-sponse in fundraising for victims of the ty-phoons resulted to about $15,000, which was re-mitted to the Philippines.

He reported that the association’s membership roster has grown signifi-cantly, as a result of the indefatigable drive of the membership retention and recruitment committee.

Zagala spoke about the series of career plan-

ning and job network-ing events for members, and the expansion of the mentoring program aimed at newly arrived UP alumni immigrants.

He also reported that a UPAA Golf Tourna-ment would be held in May 2010, which is ex-pected to garner enough monies to donate one million pesos to the En-dowment and the Pro-fessorial Chair funds.

Zagala gave credit to the membership for their leadership in initiating community events like the annual Summerfest, where UPAA takes active leadership among vari-ous alumni associations. It was noted that UPAA co-hosted a seminar on Live-in Caregivers with the Philippine Press Club-Ontario, where the speak-er was lawyer Rafael Fa-bregas, a UPAA member. UP alumni in Greater Toronto and elsewhere often take active partici-pation in the community.

Early on, Zagala and members of UPAA wel-comed a visiting UP alumnus and athlete, Cesar Guarin, who just completed the milestone global run of TransU-SA-Canada in his last leg of North Ameri-

can Marathon. Guarin was warmly welcomed at the Christmas party.

In smaller groups at the event, Zagala in-formed new members that UPAA holds a monthly social – “Kapihan” - for members, family and friends, that include fel-lowship breakfasts, and activities like “Sketching from Life” where artists-members and other fel-low artists sketched a nude professional model; “Battle of Barbecue Iron Chefs” where members competed in barbecu-ing; networking, and others. The events are held in various Filipino gathering places like the Filipino Centre Toronto, Kalayaan Cultural Com-munity Centre, Fiesta Filipina Cultural Centre, restaurants, banquet halls and picnic ground. Over the years, “Kapihan” has evolved into popular so-cial networking events

Zagala concluded his report with an assurance that the New Year will see more and bigger activities for the association. He ex-horted all members to re-view the newly improved and expanded website

www.upaatoronto.org, and advise new alumni to visit the site as well.

UPAA Prez reports year’s achievements

Tenants receiving no-tices are entitled to the full rent reduction set out in the notice sent out by the City, but this reduc-tion could be affected should a decision of the Landlord and Tenant Board later order a vari-ance in the reduction.

The Landlord and Tenant Board has a tele-phone information line

(416-645-8080) for inquiries, including those about the rules for calcu-lating rent reductions and for above-guideline rent increase applications, as well as exemptions and

rent reduction proce-dures for people living in buildings with tax reduc-tions of less than 2.49 per cent. The Board’s web-site is http://www.ltb.gov.on.ca/. (City of To-ronto Information Office)

LOWER from p. 14

The Canadian Wom-en in Communications (CWC) will honor Mad-eline Ziniak, national vice president of OMI Television, with its prestigious Leadership Excellence Award dur-ing the organization’s Annual Awards Gala in Ottawa on March 29.

This was announced by Leslie Sole, chief ex-ecutive officer for televi-sion of Rogers Media City TV/OMNI Television.

In his announcement, Sole said, “For those of us who have worked with Madeline, we are very aware of her com-mitment and dedication to the growth of OMNI Television and of her tireless efforts to en-sure a fair and balanced reflection of Canadian ethnocultural audiences within the broadcast landscape for 30 years.

“Madeline has grown the OMNI brand from

one station in On-tario to two. More recently Mad-eline launched the OMNI brand in the west, with stations in Van-couver, Calgary and Edmonton.”

Outside of the broadcast industry, Mad-eline has been recognized for her achievements and dedication to evolving ethnic media with pres-tigious awards such as the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario and the Queens Jubilee, among others.

Sole said that this award is particularly meaningful since it is an acknowledgement by the broadcast indus-try and it is given by a well known, long stand-ing organization such as Canadian Women

in Communications. OMNI Television,

with its OMNI 2 Chan-nel, is the airing station of Front Page Philip-pines – a program geared for the Filipino Canadian communities in Ontario, Alberta and the rest of Canada. (with files from Rogers OMNI Television)


The third generation of the Antonio Alvarez-Pilar Soriano family gather together in southern California. Clockwise from top: Jun Alvarez, Rowen Alvarez, Charlene Alvarez-Cahapay, Ruthie and Rafi Alvarez.

A rare Christmas celebration

Bong Capitin shows the Marvin Sonsona pause as his wife, Dr. Sally Capi-tin, laughs during a reception for the “Marvelous”boxer at Cusina Lounge and Restaurant on Wilson Avenue in North York hosted by Rolly and Nieves Mangante’s “Coffee King Plus”. Bong and Sally Capitin’s customer rela-tions are perhaps one of the best that karaoke habitueshave seen around Toronto. (Manila Media Monitor Photo)

PEOPLE & EVENTS

FILLER

Significantly meet-ing the life-long learn-ing needs of several internationally-educat-ed professionals, espe-cially teachers trained in the Philippines, the 4-year old Philippine Teachers Association of Canada

(PTAC), conducted its 3rd annual teach-ers seminar on January 9th at the Toronto Pub-lic Library, Parkdale Branch Auditorium, Toronto, Ontario.

The Kababayan Community Centre Multicultural Services, a 32 - year provider of settlement and integra-tion programs in the GTA, jointly sponsored with PTAC the profes-sional development event.

FilCan educator Tony A. San Juan said the seminar was aimed at providing the semi-nar participants with appropriate tools, skills

and insights on the On-tario teacher certifica-tion procedures, school system policies and practices, education career building and networking strategies as well as enhancing “soft skills” for teach-ers.

With its theme “Bridging and Con-tinuing Your Teaching Career in Ontario”, a total of 87

FilCan teachers and educators attended the lectures presented by four noted educa-tion resource profes-sionals in Ontario.

Among the speak-ers were Michael Sal-vatori, registrar and CEO of the Ontario College of Teachers; Lolita Bruneau, con-sultant to the York Catholic District School Board; Fermer Santos, vice principal of Malvern Collegiate Institute -TDSB; and

Albert Quirante, pro-gram director of Max-well Meighen Centre-The Salvation Army.

The successful one-day seminar was organized and coordi-nated by Tony A. San Juan, PTAC president and Flor Dandal, exec-utive director of KCC Muticultural Services, who both served as co- project directors.They were assisted by Amy Basingan, Loida Gatchalian,Bernadette Gapuz, Rose Cruz, Joan Ang, Cielito Dra-peza, Maricon Berna-sor, Imelda Axibal, Rusela Lising, Tess Tajanlangit, Pet Collan-tes, Jocelyn San Juan, Sam Posadas, Boni and Mila Curutan, Sonia Pascual and other KCC and PTAC officers and members.

The 105 members of Philippine Teachers Association of Cana-da include 35 Ontario Certified Teachers, seven doctorate and 25 master’s holders.

FILCAN teachers in Ontario holds 3rd annual professional seminarBy Jennifer S.J. MacLean

YOUR GATEWAY TO THE FILIPINO CANADIAN MARKET

IN TORONTO IS A MANILA MEDIA MONITOR ADVERTISING.

CALL (416) 285-8583 to book yours today. e-mail: [email protected]

‘‘We all have ability. The difference is how we use it.

the National Press Club of the Philippines said in a statement. “The whole world has shown its dis-

gust over what happened. The media workers killed in the massacre were not armed.” (With files from Philippine-based news

organizations and Ca-nadian Journalists for Free Expression) AA

FAMILIES from p. 13

-Stevie Wonder



6013 Yonge St. Unit # 211, Toronto, Ontario. M2M 3W2



g gHelen Soriano Alvarez

March 30, 1912 - November 23, 2009

God’s greatest gift returned to God - our mother

Beloved Mama, sweet, kind and gentle Mama, you filled our lives with so much love and happiness.

You will always be in our hearts and minds forever.

“Remember that I love you ... and still you’re in my heart”Alfredo, Alexandra Samson, Michael, Marilen Iliscupides and Mila Magno

Q

Live-in Caregiver advocate Terry Olayta delivers an emotional appreciation for Minister Jason Kenney’s leadership on the changes sought in the legis-lation affecting the Live-in Caregiver Program. At left is Jun Enverga, who, as president of the Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) exerted efforts, among other groups, to bring to the Minister’s attention Juana Tejada’s plight. (PIDC photo)

PEOPLE & EVENTS

Citizenship, Immi-gration and Multicul-turalism Minister Jason Kenney announced re-cently proposed regula-tions to better protect the rights of live in caregiv-

Kenney announces changes in the Live-in Caregiver Program

ers and to make it easier for them and their fami-lies to obtain permanent residence in Canada.

The announcement was made at an audi-ence with Filipino com-

munity leaders at the Kababayan Community Centre in Toronto afterr extensive consultations with caregiver groups from across the country, as well as heartfelt testi-

mony before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizen-ship and Immigration.

The first proposed change to the Live-in Caregiver Program elim-inates the requirement for live-in caregivers to undergo a second medi-cal examination when applying to become

permanent residents, a change advocated by the late Juana Tejada.

Tejada developed cancer while working as a live-in caregiver. She was initially denied per-manent resident status when she did not pass her second medical ex-amination. It was only through special ministe-rial intervention that she gained status in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Kenney said the gov-ernment fully supports

the “Juana Tejada Law” and propose to implement the change in Tejada’s honor to ensure that no one else has to endure the same painful experience.

Another proposed change will allow live-in caregivers who work overtime to apply for per-manent residence sooner.

Currently, live-in caregivers must work for two years within the first three years of entry into

CAREGIVERcontinued on p.23


A REASON TO CELEBRATE: Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) volunteers joins Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Ja-son Kenney at the Kababayan Community Centre in Toronto after the an-nouncement of proposed legislation in the Live-in Caregive Program, which the government of Canada will name in honor of Juana Tejada -- the live-in caregiver who advocated the changes. From left, Bing Marasigan, Rosemer Enverga, Minister Kenney, Jun Enverga and Bobby de la Cruz. It would be recalled that it was PIDC who brought Tejada to the attention of the federal government. (PIDC)

PEOPLE & EVENTS

The Philippine Con-sulate General’s office in Toronto has called on Fil-ipinos to keep their pass-ports updated and apply for a Machine Readable Passport (maroon color).

Consul General Ale-jandro Mosquera urged citizens to renew their passports six months before their expiration,

pointing out that all Ma-chine Readable Passs-ports (maroon color) are processed in Manila and that the usual turn-around time is four weeks.

The International Civil Aviation Organiza-tion (ICAO) -- of which the Philippines is a mem-ber, has set March 31, 2010 as the last day when

ICAO member coun-tries are allowed to issue the old green passports.

Effective April of this year, the Department of Foreign Affairs will only issue Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) in the Office of Consular Af-fairs in Manila, Regional Consular Offices and Foreign Service Posts.

PhilConGen:Keep passports updated

A Filipino has been appointed judge has been appointed judge to the Ontario Court of Justice in the Central West Region.

Steve Anthony Ban-ate Coroza is the first Filipino Canadian to be called to the bench.

Coroza was called to the Bar in 1997. He worked with the On-tario Legal Aid Plan as a staff duty counsel in criminal matters and as a federal Crown coun-sel since July 1998.

Filipino Judge appointed to St. Catharines court

As senior counsel to the Public Prosecu-tion Service of Canada, he prosecuted offences and appeared at all lev-els of court in Ontario.

He also super-vised over 100 federal Crown agents through-out southern Ontario.

He taught at Seneca College, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Ad-vocates’ Society and has been a panellist and presenter at various law associations’ sessions.

Coroza served on the board of directors of the Alzheimer Society of Peel and as treasurer of the Mississauga Commu-nity Legal Services clinic.

Ontario Chief Jus-tice Annemarie E. Bonkalo has assigned Justice Coroza to pre-side in St. Catharines.

Coroza’s appoint-ment took effect last December 2, together with four other judicial appointments. (Minis-try of Attorney General)

the program before they could apply for permanent residence in Canada. Un-fortunately, events – such as pregnancies or loss of employment – have resulted in some live-in caregivers not meeting the two-year requirement.

Under the new mea-sure, live-in caregivers would be eligible to apply for permanent residence after 3,900 work hours – the equivalent of working a standard work week for two years. Also, a portion of their overtime hours could count toward the work requirement and en-able caregivers to apply for permanent residence sooner. Equally impor-tant, these changes would also increase the time that live-in caregivers are allowed to complete the work requirement from three to four years.

“These important changes help fulfil Can-ada’s duty to those who care for our young, our

disabled and our el-derly,” Minister Kenney said. “The Government of Canada is taking ac-tion to protect foreign workers from potential abuse and exploitation.”

The proposed regula-tions will also require employers of live-in caregivers to pay for:

• travel costs for live-in caregivers to come to Canada;

• medical insurance until live-in caregivers be-come eligible for provin-cial health coverage; and

• workplace safety in-surance and any recruiting fees owed to third parties.

Under additional ad-ministrative changes to the program, employment contracts will have to spell out these employer-paid benefits. They will also have to include clauses clearly outlining job du-ties, hours of work, over-time and holidays, sick leave, and termination and resignation terms.

Citizenship and Im-migration Canada (CIC) will work closely with

caregiver groups to im-prove information pack-ages that live-in caregiv-ers receive before they leave for Canada. CIC will also set up a dedi-cated live-in caregiver hotline. Emergency pro-cessing of work permits and new authorization requests from employers to hire a live-in caregiver will help caregivers when they need to change em-ployers urgently. Live-in caregivers will continue to be able to apply for study permits when they want to take courses lon-ger than six months; they do not need study per-mits for shorter courses.

The announcement builds on recently pro-posed regulatory changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Em-ployers found to have provided significantly different wages, work-ing conditions or occupa-tions than they promised may be put on a blacklist making them ineligible to hire a live-in caregiv-er for two years under

the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Em-ployers on this blacklist could be identified on the Citizenship and Immi-gration Canada website in order to inform pro-spective and current tem-porary foreign workers of ineligible employers.

The Live-in Caregiver Program helps Canadians

recruit caregivers to live and work in the homes of those they care for in or-der to provide child care or support for seniors or people with disabilities.

The program facili-tates the entry of quali-fied caregivers into Canada when there is a shortage of Canadians or permanent residents

CAREGIVERfrom p. 22

to fill available live-in caregiver positions. Because of Canada’s aging population, the program is expected to grow in the years ahead.

In 2008, Cana-da admitted 12,878 live-in caregivers.

The proposed changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program were published

in the Canada Ga-zette on December 19 for a 30-day comment period open to all Cana-dians. Final regu-latory changes would be published after this period. (MMM News with files from the CIC)


Ian Tuason

These children perform a recent special youth rally organized by the Toronto Christian Worship Cen-tre International Ministries. Billed as “Rise Up”, hundreds jampacked the concert venue where rising faith-based youth bands exhibited their tal-ents.proceeds of the concert would be used for the church’s evangelical missions in Canada and the Philippines. (F. Magno)

Marie Asuncion

The next Canadian Idols?

PEOPLE & EVENTS

One Filipino -- Marie Asuncion, a CAMH cli-ent and spokesperson, participated in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Torch Relay on Wednes-day, December 16th.

She run at 5:30 pm in Oshawa.

Bell Canada was asked by the Olympic Commit-tee to select five repre-sentatives to carry the Olympic torch through the Toronto area on its way to Vancouver. Bell sought to honor youth who have made signifi-cant contributions to their communities through public service and volun-

teer work. “I am

very hon-ored to have been selected to be a part of the torch relay and am especially proud to represent both Canada and those living with mental illness,” said Marie.

“The fact that I have been chosen shows that the veil surrounding mental illness is being lifted and that organiza-tions like CAMH that strive to end that stigma are making progress—

like this relay-- one step at a time.”

Though Marie run the torch relay to raise aware-ness for mental illness, the strides she has made to get to this point were truly courageous.

Just before her six-teenth birthday, when most teenage girls are hanging out with friends, going out on dates and

One Filipino participates in 2010 torch relay

dreaming of going away to school, Marie was experiencing paranoia, feeling anxious and hear-ing voices. After several weeks of ongoing and increasing symptoms, Marie had a full-blown episode of psychosis and was rushed to the hospi-tal for assessment.

Shortly after, Marie was referred to CAMH where she was diagnosed with first episode psycho-sis and learned she had an imbalance of dopamine, an essential chemical transmitter in the brain.

Marie was constantly prayed that this ‘thing’ would just go away and hid her illness from teach-ers and friends for fear of being stigmatized.

Once an “A” student,

Marie remembered be-coming disorganized at school, losing her friends and feeling afraid and isolated.

“I was clinging to the hope that I would get bet-ter soon – but it never happened until I started visiting CAMH regularly and taking my medica-tion daily.”

Over the years, Marie has learned to recognize her symptoms of psycho-sis and act quickly to get help when they begin to reemerge. Regular visits to her health care provid-ers at CAMH help Marie manage her illness and maintain a positive bal-ance in all areas of her life.

Now 24 and a uni-versity graduate, Marie

works full-time as a lan-guage teacher to new Ca-nadians and is a concert level harpist. She is a fre-quent public speaker on behalf of CAMH, rais-ing awareness of mental health issues.

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay began in Victoria, Brit-ish Columbia, on Oc-tober 30, 2009 and will end at the Opening Cer-emony in Vancouver on February 12, 2010. The lighting of the Olympic Cauldron at the opening ceremony signals the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. (Michael Torres)

A Filipino talent has introduced his first short film at the recent Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.

Ian Tuason’s “Con-tinuity Problems” is the story of a young man’s fear of commitment lead-ing him through a series of mixed up situations.

Tuason uses the in-consistencies in the film metaphorically for the problems that the lead character experiences in his own life.

The central idea for Tuason’s film came from his own experience in the

Ian Tuason debuts “Continuity Problems”By Rico de las Alas

past, working on set as the “Continuity” special-ist.

As a continuity specialist, Tuason’s

job was to maintain the consistency of the char-acteristics

of persons, plot, ob-jects, places and events seen by the viewing au-dience.

He recalled having to

use Polaroids (pre-digital age) to capture and pre-vent such discrepancies

from scene to scene.

at the toronto Reel asian international Film Back in 2008, the young filmmker won the Festival’s “So You Think Can Pitch” competition in the “Emerging” category. He received a $10,000 grand prize from festi-val sponsors “Charles Street Video” as well as a “Bravo!FACT “ grant to go towards production of his film.

Tuason holds an hon-ours BA in communica-tion studies and creative writing from York Uni-versity.

He disclosed his future projects to include an-other short film, entitled “Extreme Close Up”, and a full feature film that he planned to focuse on Asian youth gangs.

“Continuity Prob-lems” was presented No-vember 15 at Innis Town Hall. Future presentations include on Bravo!FACT.



The next Canadian Idols?

HEALTH

Between 1981 and 2009, fitness levels of Canadian children and youth, as well as those of adults, declined signifi-cantly, according to the first findings from the Ca-nadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS). This is the most comprehensive national survey ever con-ducted in Canada to de-termine fitness levels.

The CHMS captured key information relevant to the health of Canadi-ans by means of direct physical measurements, such as body measure-ments, cardio-respiratory fitness, musculoskeletal fitness and blood pres-sure.

Data from the CHMS show that fitness levels of children and youth have declined significantly since 1981, regardless of age or sex. Fitness lev-els of adults have also declined, particularly among younger adults.

Among youth aged 15 to 19, the percentage

whose waist circumfer-ence put them at an in-creased or high risk of health problems more than tripled.

Among adults, de-creases in fitness levels over the same period were particularly pro-nounced for young adults aged 20 to 39.

Within this group, the percentage with a waist circumference that placed them at a high risk for health problems more than quadrupled. The pro-portions went from 5% to 21% among men, and from 6% to 31% among women.

Roughly 3% of the adult population had high blood pressure that was undiagnosed in 2009.

Body composition and fitness of chil-dren and youth

The BMI is calculated by dividing weight in ki-lograms by height in me-tres squared.

During the survey period of 2007 to 2009,

the majority of Cana-dian children and youth (74%) had a BMI that was neither overweight nor obese, based on physical measurement of their height and weight. Slightly more than 17% were overweight and 9% were obese.

Among both teen boys and girls, the proportion in the waist circumfer-ence category who were at high or increased risk of health problems more than tripled.

Also, the strength and flexibility of boys and girls has declined signifi-cantly since 1981.

Body composition and fitness of adults

During the 2007-to-2009 period, just under 38% of adults were at a healthy weight. About 1% were underweight, 37% were overweight and 24% were obese.

Proportionally, many more adult men than adult women were overweight. However, roughly equal

proportions of both sexes were rated as obese.

On average, the BMI of Canadians was lower than that of Americans, especially in two age groups: 20 to 39 and 40 to 59. Differences were not significant in the age group 60 to 79.

Blood pressure

In 2009, more than 90% of the adult Cana-dian population aged 18 to 79 had an acceptable blood pressure, defined as less than 140/90, that is, 140 millimetres of mercury (systolic) over 90 millimetres of mer-cury (diastolic).

Of this adult popula-

Canadian Health Measures Surveytion, 6.4%, or just fewer than 1.6 million people, were measured with high blood pressure, that is 140/90 or higher. Half of them, an estimated 762,000 or about 3% of the adult population, were unaware of their condi-tion. (Statistics Canada)

For Immigration advice and assistance call:

Mila V. EchevarriaCertified Canadian Immigration ConsultantMember, Canadian Society of ImmigrationConsultants

Tel.: (416) 590-7465 Ext.127Email: [email protected]

Canada has ranked the 4th best country in the world. Every year 250,000 new immigrants arrive in Canada.

Are you a live in caregiverin Canada and needs assistance with your application for permanent residence?

Do you have relativeswho want to immigrate to Canada under the Federal Skilled Worker Program or Business Immigrant Program?

Address: 5343 Dundas St. West, Unit 106, Toronto,Ontario M9B 6K5 (inside Primus Building, close to Kipling subway station) Visit us at: www.canada-world.com

CWO-Immigration


Minister Day visits flood victims in Muntinlupa City, Philippines. Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway Stockwell Day talks to children who are victims of recent flooding brought by typhoons Ketsana and Parma at the Alabang Elementary School in Muntinlupa City, Philippines.

MORE DONATION FOR ONDOY: Alekos Soriano (center) represents Custom Medical Rehab and Assessment Ltd. in presenting a cheque amounting to $5,000 to Con-Gen Alejandro Mosquera in the presence of consulate staff for the victims of typhoon Ondoy. The assistance to the victims will be coursed through the Philippine National Red Cross. (Photo: Anagaile Soriano/Rico de las Alas)

Noel Lalicon, Commander of the Toronto Knights of Rizal (KoR) confirms that his group raised and do-nated $1,200 and PhP2,000 cash for the typhoon vic-tims of Ondoy and Pepeng, which the KoR commander said was handcarried by Sir Knight Felix Tulagan, Sr. (Jojo Taduran)

CAMARINES NORTE ASSOCIATION CANADA – ONTARIO (CNAC-O): Consul General Alejandro B. Mosquera (left) inducts into office recently the officers of the three-year old province-based organization. Installed in their respec-tive posts were Willie Nabus, President; Susan S.J. Llanera, 1st Vice-presi-dent; Pong Ostonal, Jr., 2nd Vice-president; Lydia Madrona-Yanto, Secretary, Lida Espanol-Muguerza, Treasurer; Merle Canlas, Asst. Treasurer; Rommel Yanto, Auditor; Faye Silvio, PRO, and Directors: Maricris S. Agoston, Andrea A. San Juan, and Shey Silvio. Also inducted, as Town Representatives, were: Salve Aquino, Manuel M. Ching, Sonia S.J. de la Cruz, Randy Fermo, Liwa-nag Nabus, Shirley S.J. Rosales, Eva S.J. San Andres, Virgie G. San Juan, Minda Sayoc, Minda Alban and Milvin Servidad. CNAC-O advisers are Jojo Taduran and Tony A. San Juan.

PEOPLE & EVENTS




Agent dinner with key agents in the Philippines on Nov 5: Kwartagram, BDO, M.Lhuillier and PeraGram. MG representatives: Dan O’Malley, Nick Cunnew, Remas Ho, Peter Ohser, Tony Samour, Nelly Chang and Cherie Chau

PCCT President Paeng Nebres (center ) signs a MOU with Devry Smith and Frank LLP Partner Larry Keown (right) and associate, Florendo LLameg (left) to provide PCCT members with immediate legal advice , as need arises, on business and other matters. The signing was witnessed by PCCT directors (standing from left): Steve Pagao, Agnes Lushusan, Cori Naron, Lino Sabe-lano, Ted Dayno, Oswald Tugadi, Liz Leggett, Flor Vendiola, Ed Joaquin and Egay Gonzales. Details of the MOU on file at the PCCT office. ‘‘‘We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

-Aristotle

MoneyGram International Sets Priorities for Philippines During Agent Meetings with Americas President Dan O’Malley

MoneyGram Interna-tional Sets Priorities for Philippines During Agent Meetings with Americas President Dan O’Malley

Company awards grant to GMA Kapuso Foundation as part of visit

MINNEAPOLIS – MoneyGram Internation-al (NYSE:MGI), a lead-ing global money transfer company, has met with its agents in the Philippines as MoneyGram’s Presi-dent of the Americas Dan O’Malley and Senior Re-gional Director of Asia Pacific Nick Cunnew vis-ited the country recently.

Both executives were in the country to discuss new prod-ucts and plan for 2010.

MoneyGram intro-duced a number of initia-tives in 2009 to provide more choices for money transfers sent to the Phil-ippines. Dollar-to-dollar payout was introduced in April followed by a cash to card program offered in conjunction with Cebuana Lhuillier.

As part of the visit likewise, MoneyGram continued its focus on helping the Philippines recover from the many storms that hit the nation recently. MoneyGram, awarded one million pesos (US$ 21,000.00) grant to GMA Network’s Kapuso Foundation for its ongoing disaster re-lief operations following

MONEY

the series of typhoons that ravaged Luzon.

Prior to this grant, MoneyGram provided US$20,000 to the Ameri-can Red Cross to be used for similar purposes. Following these grants, home repair kits will be distributed through Habitat for Humanity to help families in rebuild-ing their damaged homes.

The grants were part of the MoneyGram Glob-al Giving Program which issues financial support to organizations around the globe, including those responding in times of di-saster. More information is available at www.mon-eygram.com/giving. (PR)


Financial Planning is a general term used by most professional advisors – but not all financial plans are created equal … and they shouldn’t be. Your financial plan should be a perfect fit for your life as it is today, easily and quickly adaptable to the constant changes life throws at you, and al-ways focused on achiev-ing your longer term life goals. That’s a big – and important – deal.

So, the first question you must ask yourself is, Do I need a finan-cial plan? The simple answer is yes – if you have an income, a fam-ily (or the hopes of one), dreams of a comfortable retirement, and any of the dozens of other fi-nancially-rooted reasons that are unique to you.

The next question is, What are the elements of a sound financial plan? There are two answers to that question: the gen-eral and the specific.

In general, every fi-nancial plan should in-clude: investment plan-ning, cash flow planning, education planning, estate planning, insurance plan-ning, retirement planning,

and income tax planning. The key to a success-

ful financial plan is mak-ing sure that each of those elements is made specific to you and your needs – and to do that, a compe-tent professional advisor will take you through this six step planning process:

1. Goal setting – to determine and prioritize your goals and concerns.

2. Data gathering – assembling the relevant financial information to understand your cur-rent financial situation.

3. Financial analy-sis – using your current and projected financial situation to identify and answer questions like: “How much tax must I pay?” How can my taxes be reduced?” Will I have enough income to cover my expenses during retire-ment?” “How can I better meet my income needs?” “How can I protect my family and income if I should become disabled or die unexpectedly?”

4. Plan formulation and recommendations – discussing, reviewing

and deciding on various alternatives and solutions for achieving your finan-cial goals and improving your overall financial life.

5. Plan implemen-tation – providing you with a written report summarizing the steps you need to take to make your plan work.

6. Monitoring and plan review – financial planning is not a one-time event. You should review your plan at least annually or when ma-jor life events occur.

Comprehensive finan-cial planning is complex and necessary. To be sure you get exactly the right one for your situation, it’s a good idea to put a professional advisor on your financial team – an advisor with the qualifi-cations, tools and track record you can count on to develop a personal-ized financial plan that will the job for you – today and tomorrow.

This column, written and published by Inves-tors Group Financial Services Inc. (in Québec – a Financial Services

Firm), presents general information only and is not a solicitation to buy or sell any investments. Contact a financial advi-sor for specific advice

What is a financial plan and how do I get one?

about yourcircumstances. For more informa-

tion on this topic please contact your Inves-tors Group Consul-tant, Rhowena Adolfo

at (416) 558-3078, or [email protected].

MANILA – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that the global economic slowdown and the Dubai debt crisis will likely cause remittances of overseas Filipino work-ers (OFWs) to stagnate.

In a recent study, the Manila-based lender said, “For the Philippines, we do not see evidence of a dramatic plunge in

ADB forecasts remittances to stagnate

workers’ remittances as a result of the current recession. The evidence suggests more of a stag-nation of these flows.

The study said re-mittances to Asia have stopped growing but are not decreasing steadily.

The lender said month-ly remittances to the Phil-ippines tend to fluctuate up and down, but the general trend seems to

be positive “although not much of the recent growth in these flows is evident.”

The ADB said that while for the whole of 2008 the average month-ly growth rate was 14 percent, for the first eight months of 2009, the av-erage growth rate re-mains at just 4 percent.

Earlier, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said remittances had

grown by 4.5 percent to $14.3 billion in the first 10 months of 2009.

The ADB also said that the severe eco-nomic downturn in Dubai would affect mi-grants’ flows to Asia for the next few years.

Saudi Arabia is a key player in the flow of re-mittances to several Asian countries like the Phil-ippines, the ADB said.

The Middle East pro-vides about 15 percent of the remittance flows to the Philippines, with

MONEY

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) accounting for a substantial amount.

UAE is also the sixth top source of remit-tances at about 7 percent of the total amount, af-ter the US, Saudi Ara-bia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Italy.

The ADB said it is important for receiving countries not to impose restrictions that may hinder remittances such as taxes on these flows, mandatory remittance

schemes, or fixed ex-change rate policies.

”The best policy is not to interfere as these flows normalize. The fact that we have not seen a dra-matic drop in these flows suggests that remittances are resilient and should recover in a few years. Receiving countries just have to make sure that they do not obstruct the adjustment process,” the lender said.

MANILA -- The coun-try’s agriculture sector ex-panded at its slowest pace in 11 years in 2009, with farm production hobbled mainly by bad weather, the Department of Ag-

riculture said recently.This has heightened ex-

pectations that the broad-er economy will be hard pressed to achieve even the low end of the gov-ernment’s growth target.

The Department of Agriculture said farm output, which accounts for a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product, fell 2.43% on year in the fourth quarter, bring-

ing 2009 growth to just 0.37% after substantial typhoon damage to crops.

The sector’s perfor-mance was lower than the government’s down-graded growth forecast

of 0.5%-1.5% for 2009 after two major typhoons in late September and early October hurt crops and farm infrastructure.

Philippine farm output in 1998 contracted 8.85% following a severe and prolonged El Nino-in-duced dry spell that dam-

aged crops across Asia.“A contraction from a

big contributor (such as agriculture) may be an indication of potential disappointment in terms of meeting GDP projec-tions,” said Jose Vistan, AB Capital Securities re-search director.

RP agriculture grows at slowest pace in 11 years

30 Manila Media Monitor January 2010 MONEY

OTTAWA – New reg-ulations on credit cards and other financial prod-ucts, such as fixed- and variable-rate loans and lines of credit, will come into force on January 1, 2010. This means a num-ber of important changes — particularly better communication of infor-mation — for consumers of financial products and services offered by feder-ally regulated financial institutions.

“These new regula-tions tie in with one of our major objectives: helping consumers gain a better understanding of financial products and services,” explained Ur-sula Menke, Commis-sioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC).

The new regulations will come into force in two phases: January 1, 2010, and September 1, 2010.

Entering into force on January 1, 2010:üSummary box con-

taining all prescribed in-formation

Federally regulated

financial institutions will have to include a sum-mary box at the top of their credit card appli-cation forms and agree-ments. The information should clearly indicate key features, such as in-terest rates, grace periods and fees.

üConsent for credit limit increases

Federally regulated financial institutions will have to obtain your con-sent before increasing your credit card limit. üNo over-the-limit

fees due to holdsFederally regulated fi-

nancial institutions may not charge over-the-limit fees due to a temporary hold of funds on your credit card. However, this restriction does not apply when you make a pur-chase that would bring you over your limit in any case during the time the hold is in effect. üDebt collection prac-

ticesNew federal regula-

tions will apply to debt collection practices of federally regulated finan-cial institutions.

üJoint borrowersIf you, together with

another person (s), apply for a loan from a feder-ally regulated financial institution, all borrowers must receive the informa-tion documents, except in the two following cases:

1. when all the bor-rowers agree, orally or in writing (on paper or elec-tronically), that only one borrower will receive the information documents

2. when at least two borrowers agree, orally or in writing (on paper or electronically), that one borrower will receive the information documents on the other’s behalf; in this case, the borrowers who did not give their consent must also receive the information docu-ments.

Entering into force on September 1, 2010:üMinimum 21-day

grace period on credit card purchases

You will not pay inter-est on new purchases for 21 days after the state-ment date if you pay your balance in full by

the current month’s due date. This provision will apply even if you have an outstanding balance from the month before. üAllocation of credit

card paymentsIf you pay more than

the required minimum on your credit card, federally regulated financial insti-tutions have to apply any payments made in excess of the required minimum using one of the two fol-lowing methods: to the balance with the highest

New credit card regulations take effect Jan 1, 2010

interest rate and to other balances in decreasing order of interest rate; or on the relative proportion of each.

*Credit card state-ments

Credit card statements issued by federally regu-lated financial institutions must indicate how much time it will take you to pay the current balance in full if you pay only the required minimum each month.

If you have a fixed-rate

credit card and the inter-est rate might increase over the next period, the financial institution must notify you in advance about the increase on the statement it sends you, and it must specify the new rate.

FCAC encourages you to learn more about the new regulations by visiting its website: fcac-acfc.gc.ca. (FinancialConsumer Agency of Canada)


(Standing from left) Renan Lacida, Marketing Director of Western Union Philippines; Lorenzo Ocampo, President of PetNet; Gabby Paredes, Presi-dent and CEO of USSC (formally RCPI); Virgilio Cerrer, Account Executive of Western Union Canada; Chito Gonzalez, Country Development Manager of Western Union Canada and Joycelyn David, Senior Marketing Manager, Western Union Canada; (foreground) Patricia Riingen, Western Union Senior Vice President Pacific and Indochina flanked by Western Union Agent, BM Oriental’s owner Madelaine (owner) and Luz.

MONEY

Western Union Phil-ippines’ top two agents, Lorenzo Ocampo, Presi-dent of PetNet and Gab-by Paredes, President & Chief Executive Officer of USSC (formally RCPI) visited Toronto as part of their 2009 North Ameri-can tour that included cities of New York , New Jersey and Chicago.

They have been do-ing these trips for more than ten years and can never imagine not do-ing it for the next ten.

“We have made it our commitment to visit places with large Filipi-no communities all over the world and see what we can do to help our kababayans overseas” says Gabby Paredes.

Paredes, who heads Universal Storefront Ser-vices Corp (USSC) for-merly RCPI, has made the company one of Western Unions’ lead-ing Agents in the Philip-pines. Aside from remit-tances, the company has branched out to everyday needs of Filipinos such as Super Ferry and airline

ticketing, cellphone top up loading as well as pro-viding the convenience of a one-stop shop for monthly bill payments for Meralco, insurance and cellular companies.

“It is very fulfilling and inspiring to meet our kababayans abroad and hear their stories. The sacrifices they make in order to provide for their families back home is truly admirable. These trips allow us to open our minds and hearts to the needs of fellow Filipinos abroad when it comes to remittances” says Larry Ocampo.

Being the top man of PetNet, the lead-ing Agent of Western Union in the Philippines,

Ocampo prides him-self as the owner of the largest private network in the Philippines and Asia with over 2000 strategic locations nationwide.

Remittances to the Philippines did not slow down even with the global recession. On the contrary,business has been surging ahead.

Paredes and Ocampo at-tributed this to the en-dearing Filipino qual-

ity of “magpapadala kahit wala na” – it’s last thing to give up even when money is scarce.

This true Filipino spirit of “bayanihan” or helping out, manifested even more during the

recent calamity, causing great malady to the Phil-ippines. Typhoon Ondoy

has made Filipinos rally even closer to each other.

Just how did Pet-Net and USSC keep up with the increased demand of loved ones abroad tosend money to their families back

Western Union’s biggest agents in the Philippines visit Torontohome during these times?

“First we were really glad that Western Union

lowered their fees by 50% during these times. This was really a great help and magnanimous of Western Union. It re-ally showed how a global company cares for their customers” Paredes

points out. “From our end, we made sure that remittance locations are all up and running and kept them open for as long as we can” continues Paredes. “We also made sure that money was de-livered by truck, car or bus – whatever means as long as money gets to the recipients. We texted our customers to inform them that money was available for pick up. We resorted to all possible means, just to make sure that money was in our customers’ hands at the quickest time possible”, adds Ocampo.

Aside from being there for their customers during times of natural calamities, both PetNet and USSC are also in-volved with charitable causes involving chil-dren of less fortunate Overseas Filipino Work-ers (OFW’s). Larry Oca-mpo is passionate about Gift of Life. Their mis-sion is to give free heart surgery to children. It started with 60 heart sur-gery procedures – now, the mission has helped over 150 children. (PR)


Rafael Nebres, general manager, Action Honda

Carroll Shelby

MOTORING

This month, the Filipino-managed dealership has is-sued its first electronic newsletter.

In his message to the first batch of recipients of the e-newsletter, Action Honda General Manager – the Filipino community’s very own active community leader, Rafael Ne-bres, said the newsletter is not just about cars and trucks, rather, content is more of a lifestyle; the Action Honda life-style!

Nebres said the e-newsletter contains articles about sub-jects that customers wanted to see in their Action Honda reg-ular e-newsletters, among others, travel tips, family activities and … definitely, helpful information relating to customers Honda cars and trucks.

Nebres stressed that the e-newsletter is just one example of the dealership’s commitment to continuously add value to customer experi-ence at Action Honda.

T h e monthly cir-culation of e - n e w s -l e t t e r , Nebres s a i d , aims to

deliver what “we be-lieve will not only ‘make your car ownership easy’, but also allow you to choose the subjects that are relevant to you and your lifestyle.”

At the same time, the Action Honda General Manager – who is likewise an active community leader, pointed out that anybody may suggest and re-quest for topics that are of interest to one’s particular lifestyle. Request may be sent to [email protected].

In agreement with every car or truck owner’s statement, Nebres reiter-ated that one’s Honda is more than just a way of getting from point Y to point Z, and emphasized that Honda car or truck ownership is an integral part of its owner’s lifestyle. “It is how we get to our jobs, to our friends and family and how we access many other elements of our lives,” Nebres said.

Whether looking for a new or pre-owned Honda car or truck, Action Honda may be reached by phone at (416) 281-1234, or better still, please visit Action Honda showroom at 4334 Kingston Road in Scarborough. (RI)

If you must have a Honda lifestyle,make it an Action Honda lifestyle!

ActionHondagoes

digital.

2010 Canadian International Auto Show

Carroll Shelby: revered person in auto industry to be honored

Avery familiar figure in the world of automobile racing and production will be honored at a gala

reception, February 10, at the Metro Toronto Conven-tion Centre amidst a multi-million dollar collection of historic vehicles at the 2010 edition of the Canadian In-ternational Auto Show.

Carroll Shelby’s lifetime achievements in the indus-try will be celebrated, including his philanthropic ef-forts to help out children and youth in need of heart or kidney transplants.

At the same time, Shelby will be inducted into the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame. The event is host-ed by the Canadian International Auto Show and sup-ported by the Toronto Automobile Dealers Foundation.

Net proceeds for the Gala Reception will go to sup-port the Carroll Shelby Foundation and the Canadian Motorsports Heritage Foundation. The Carroll Shelby Foundation, created by Shelby in 1991 following his own successful heart transplant operation, is dedicated to providing financial support for children and medical professionals to help overcome life-threatening health issues worldwide and to promoting continuing educational development.

Among auto enthusiasts, few names are more familiar or revered than Shelby’s.

Once a professional racer at the international level, Texas-born Shelby raced in Formula 1 and won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans sports-car race in 1959.

Shortly after that triumph, he gave up driving because of an ongoing heart problem and turned his hand to building what would become some of the most sought-after and valuable cars in the world - the legendary Shelby Cobras.

Not only were they the scourge of the world’s racing circuits, they were immortalized in pop culture by Bill Cosby in his 23-minute recorded mono-logue, 200 M.P.H.

The subsequent list of Shelby’s automotive ac-complishments would fill books - and it has. He was at the very core of almost every facet of auto racing dur-ing that sport’s golden age in the 1960s. Among other achievements that are unlikely ever to be equaled, he is the only person ever to have won at Le Mans as a driver, a manufacturer and an entrant.

Shelby has also worked with all three major Ameri-

can automakers in the design and development of such iconic production cars as the Ford Mustang and GT and the Dodge Viper. Most recently, he collaborated with Ford on the 2011 Ford Shelby GT 500 - a super-high-performance variant of the Mustang.

A 2011 Ford Shelby GT 500, with Shelby’s autograph prominent on the hood, will be auctioned live at the Carroll Shelby Gala Reception, along with several other exclusive items.

The GT 500 will be one of approximately 40 of the most historic cars associated with Shelby’s long career that will be on display. Shelby himself, now 87, is expected to attend, along with several other industry and motor-sports personalities who have played a role in his story.

Tickets for the Carroll Shelby Gala Reception, which Shelby is expect-ed to attend, are available to the public for $150 each. Further information is available at www.autoshow.ca/shelby. (PR

turned his hand to building what would become some of the most sought-after and valuable cars

in the world - the legendary Shelby Cobras.


A Studio Six Productions mini concert at M Stu-dio in Mississauga, Ontario. (L-R) Princes, Josie de Leon, Jules Tinsay, Jennifer Fermo, Harold Gutierrez, Chat de Leon Bautista. (Jojo Taduran)

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT

Philippine Legend,Malakas at Maganda at Living Arts Centre

Celebration of its 25th year in 2010, CPO is pre-senting Malakas at Maganda (The Philippine Legend) on February 6, 2010 at 7:00 pm at the prestigious and award winning Hammerson Hall of the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga.

The show will include traditional Philippine dances, popular and hip hop dances and songs,conceptualized by CPO’s Artistic Director and Choreographer, Ms. Eno Kalash.

Eno was the lead dancer of the famous Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company in the Philip-pines and rose to become its dance researcher, trainer and director before migrating to Canada. She joined

CPO in 2002. Because of CPO’s non-profit

nature and because of sponsor-ships, tickets for the show will be very affordable.

CPO’s annual sponsors in-clude PNB Remittance Com-pany; Dr. Loida Coronel and As-

sociates, Dr. Solon C. Guzman and Associates, and Dr. Victoria R. Santiago and Associates. Other tradi-tional sponsors include Dr. Irene Almazan-Mabutol; Dr. Francis Rementilla of Bodybliss and Orthopedic System, and Dr. Benilda Castillo.

CPO is requesting all Filipino groups to help pro-mote the show and stand proud to be a Filipino. Com-munity associations that buy admission tickets as a group will be included on the souvenir programs as patrons. For further details, please call the event chair Ms. Luz del Rosario at 905-542-8747.

Alex Coronel is heading CPO as president this year.

Like his predecessors, Alex believes that the Filipi-no community has to know more about their country and its culture, and to develop an appreciation of their people’s exeriences, creativity and aspirations.

CPO teaches Filipino folkdances and music to young Filipino Canadian, participates in community events, gives performances and organizes shows en-gaging the Filipino communities.

Membership with CPO is either on a family or an individual basis.

The organization has programs for children, young adults and even parents.

Those who are interested to learn Philippine songs, dances and play ethnic musical instruments are always welcome. To join, visit the CPO website at http://www.culturephilippines.ca , or by dropping at the CPO weekly practice every Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Kalayaan Cultural and Com-munity Centre (KCCC) at 5225 Orbitor Drive in Mis-sissauga.(CPO-PR)

E!’s “Third Sexiest Man in the World” has conquered Filipino homes across the globe! Dingdong Dantes tosses his hat into hosting GMA’s Philippine version of top-rating game show for the whole family, FAMILY FEUD!

Dingdong steps in as the game master of FAMILY FEUD – re-placing Richard Gomez who went on leave to pursue a ca-reer in politics – to bring a brand-new level of excite-ment and thrill on the game show that has cap-tured the hearts of fami-lies time and again.

One of the hottest stars in the Philippines,

Dingdong Dantes replaces Richard Gomez in GMA Pinoy TV’s FAMILY FEUD!

Dingdong has played leading man in phenomenally successful GMA Pinoy TV series such as MARI-MAR, DYESEBEL, and current-ly, STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN.

And now, Dingdong is all set to share his winning ways and his natural charisma in a high-energy,

top-rating game show like FAM-ILY FEUD. Marking a new

milestone in his career, host-ing FAMILY FEUD allows Dingdong to display his versatility and flex his host-ing muscle for the first time in a daily game show.

Viewers – and the con-testants, of course! – would definitely look forward to

Dingdong interacting and joking around with the con-

testants and the studio audi-ence. After all, he is one of the

Philippines’ most desired and prized leading men. Catch red-hot Dingdong Dantes

in FAMILY FEUD only on GMA Pinoy TV! Call your preferred pay TV operator now to subscribe. (GMA)

Max Out on Your Promotional and

Marketing Efforts.

Get Combo Ad Rates for Television, Newspaper &

Radio.

Call (416) 285-8583


Officers and directors of the Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) cited by the body corporate of the organization for their dedication in bringing various events of the PIDC to successful conclusion at the end of the 2009 season. (Leonie Manzanares)

Larry Baguisa of UMAC and Forex Cargo (left) joins the performers on stage to thank the audience for their time and the warm reception accorded the UMAC and Forex Cargo sponsored concert at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Exhibition Place. (Photo: Noel Perada)

Cargo firm brings AEGIS concert to T.O.

For Spring 2010, Mixed Company Theatre’s 20th Educational Tour will re-mount “DISS” – an acclaimed production.

Created in collaboration with youth who have experienced gang violence, DISS examines snitching, family relationships, friendship, theft, gun violence and many other issues that affect young people living with gang presence in their communi-ties.

Auditions for the roles of Jesse and Tyrone, two urban youth who become en-tangled in a neighbourhood youth gang and the demise of a close friend, are cur-rently in progress. Actors with talents including rap performance, spoken word and beat boxing are encouraged to contact Mixed Company Theatre to book an audition appointment.

AUDITIONSWHERE: Mixed Company Theatre, 157 Carlton Street (at Sherbourne), To-

ronto, ONWHEN: Wednesday, January 27 - Appointment required.ADDITIONAL DETAILS: Interested actors are encouraged to book an audi-

tion appointment at [email protected] or 416 515 8080 x 25 for more information.

Mixed Company Theatre: DISS in Auditions for ‘Jesse’ and ‘Tyrone’

ARTS /ENTERTAINMENT


Filipino priests, deacons and lay ministers assign at various parishes in Ontario perform at the “Alay Concert” at the “Our Lady of Assumption Church” on Bathurst Street, North York, Ontario in celebration of the Year for Priests (June 2009-June 2010) to promote fellowship, presence and mutual supportive relationsip between the laity, on the one hand, and priests and deacons, on the other.(Photo:Manila Media Monitor)

ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT

It was a knock out performance! It was the stunning performances of Valentina (Chiqui Pineda-Azimi), Kiko (Kelly Topacio), Mrs. Mendoza (Alma Torre-no), and the entire cast of Kalayaan Cultural Com-munity Centre’s Zarzu-ela at Meadowvale The-atre last November 14.

Mrs. Gibson said af-ter the show, “Tremen-dous! I thoroughly en-

joyed it! There should be a repeat performance!”

The KCCC Zarzuela consisted of two one-Act plays, each in a differ-ent genre and language.

Both plays were guid-ed to success through the talents of Imelda Espiritu-Papa, Mu-sic Director, and Rey Tamayo, PhD, Stage Di-rector & Choreographer.

The first play, “Val-entina”, told a tragic

KCCC Zarzuela is a Knockout!

tale about the triumph of Valentina’s love for Celso, played by Randy Fabico, over her secret life as a vampire and was performed in Tagalog.

Chiqui Pineda, a well-known musical perform-er with the hit song “How Did You Know”, and star of the musical play “Rama’t Sita” played the lead role in “Valentina”.

The characters Kiko (Kelly Topacio) and

Pepang (Vangie Alcasid), Valentina’s domestic help-ers, provided the lighter moments of the show.

Joy Almojuela, Ed-win Dumlao, Elly Rosa-lin, Del Palileo, Marilyn Palileo, and Alex Rosa-lin, with the special par-ticipation of the KCCC Senior Choir, rounded out this impressive cast.

The second play, “New Yorker in Tondo”, was performed in English and was a hilarious play about

Kikay (Audrey Fabico), a Tondo girl who went to New York and came back changed with her ‘New York’ ways which were not necessarily to the lik-ing of her Tondo friends.

Kikay’s mother, Mrs. Mendoza (Alma Torre-no), was a show-stopper with her over the top mannerisms and outfits!

New Yorker in Tondo also included the tal-ented Bernice Fabico, Jason Nepomuceno, and

Francis Pendon. Both plays showcased the tal-ents of seniors and youth from the community.

To see over 900 pictures from the KCCC Zarzu-ela please visit www.ka-layaancentre.ca and click on the ‘photo gallery’.

This performance was made possible by a grant from Service Canada thru the New Horizons for Seniors Program. (PR)

KCCC Zarzuela Finale at Meadowvale Theatre on Saturday, November 14, 2009.

The cast of ‘Valentina’ performing at Kalayaan Centre’s Zarzuela on November 14, 2009.

By Bob Rosales

In June 19, 2009, Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, His Holi-ness, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the Year for Priests on the 150th An-niversary of the “deis natalis” (birthday) of St.

John Mary Vianney, pa-tron of all parish priests worldwide. “This year meant to deepen the com-mitment of all priests to interior renewal for the sake of a stronger and more incisive witness to

the Gospel in today’s world.”(Pope Benedict XVI)

The Filipino Clergy of the Archdiocese of Toronto in cooperation with the Filipino Catho-lic Mission’s ministries

and some organiza-tions held a mean-ingful and joy-filled Alay Con-cert to cel-ebrate this Year for Priests.

“Alay” is a Fili-pino word for offer-ing.

The concert

was of-fered by the Clergy and some

Lay performers to pro-mote more awareness, support for priests in the Archdiocese and every-where.

The Filipino Clergy collectively decided to present the human side of the clergy in the form of musical entertainment.

Fr. Recana captured succinctly in his pre solo introduction, “… we are in this world but not of this world.”

“Although we are not professional singers, nor entertainers, we tried to reach out and connect in another forum to our pa-rishioners and visitors by singing musical pieces from varied genre.”

The emphasis on the concert, held at the “Our Lady of Assump-tion Church” on Bathurst Street in North York, On-tario last December 6, was not so much on the intricacies and challenges of the presentation but on the fellowship, presence, and mutually supportive relationship between the Laity and their priests and deacons. This was our collective mission.

We believed. We per-formed. We reached out. We further discovered that we can effect a won-derful collaboration if we are united for a common goal.

“Panginoon, narito ako… Siya ay Si Hesus,.. sandigan sa buhay ko”. These lyrics encapsulat-ed the offering intent of the musical event to Je-sus, the Good Shepherd. We also offered the con-cert to all caregivers and temporary workers.

The concert was hatched only in August this year. We only had two or more months to prepare and rehearse. For the clergy, it was difficult because we were only available Sunday eve-nings after all our Sunday pastoral responsibilities. We felt that Jesus was re-ally helping and guiding us along the way. It was for Him, so we believed he accompanied and en-lightened us.

In September, Ty-phoon Ondoy struck and devastated many parts of Central Luzon. So, we made a commitment to

“ALAY” Concert - a Labor of Lovea pERSonal REFlECtion

(Year for Priests- June 2009-June 2010)

“alay” (offer) the concert for the all the victims and their families.

We take this opportu-nity to thank all who have supported us, Archbishop Thomas Collins, Bishop John Boissonneau, Bish-op Peter Hundt, Clergy of the Archdiocese of To-ronto, AFCM Ministries and Laity, government officials, performers, sponsors, benefactors, donors, volunteers, OLA parishioners, our care-takers and maintenance guys, musicians, electri-cians, the youth, all com-mittees. We had close to 1500 persons that attend-ed! Our special thanks goes to our production staff for doing an amaz-ing job considering time and resource constraints. Congratulations Rev-erend Fathers and Dea-cons! More years in the ministry!

Our world needs a lot of healing. We begin with our families, our circle of friends, our communi-ties, organizations, pub-lic and private sectors. As

Deacon, St. Barnabas Church Scarborough, Ontario

ALAY continued on p.38

36 Manila Media Monitor January 2010 ARTS /ENTERTAINMENT

GMA Network opens 2010 with another ground-breaking master-piece called THE LAST PRINCE. The newest primetime offering fea-tures one of the hottest love teams in Philippine showbiz today - Aljur Abrenica (as Prinsipe Almiro) and Kris Bernal (as Lara).

The series is made even grander with the participation of Geoff Eigenmann (as Prinsipe Javino) and Carla Abel-lana (as Sonia), and the return of one of Philip-pine television’s most fa-mous contravidas, Prin-cess Punzalan.

Joining them are Eula Valdez as Adela, Carmi-na Villaroel as Reyna La-mara, Angelu de Leon as Mayang, Chanda Romero as Rosata, Emilio Garcia as Adorno, Benjie Paras as Rizayo, Bianca King as Bawana, Chynna Ortale-za as Lourdez, Paolo Bal-

lesteros as Anexi, Karen delos Reyes as Minnie, Elvis Gutierrez as Gu-warko, Bubbles Paraiso as Prinsesa Saraya, Joey Paras as Salim Salamin, Steff Prescott as Naveya, Francis Magundayao as Onuro, Rita Iringan as Gigi, and Angeli Nicole Sanoy as Bambi.

Airing starting Janu-ary 13 on GMA Pinoy TV, THE LAST PRINCE takes viewers to the kingdom of Paladino -- a world where magic is real, where supernatural creatures exist and where the enthralling saga of love, friendship and sac-rifice abound. This magi-cal realm is headed by the noble King Adorno and his beautiful wife Queen Lamara with their three children Prinsesa Saraya, Prinsipe Javino, and Prinsipe Almiro.

The peaceful and perfect life in Paladino is suddenly threatened

when Prince Javino goes missing. His disappear-ance is orchestrated by the most powerful and wicked black diwani in Paladino, Alwana, in or-der for her to claim the throne and take over Pal-adino. This changes the life of the mischievous Prince Almiro as King Adorno imme-diately declares him successor to the throne and the next King

of Paladino.Prince Almiro, in turn,

is cursed by Alwana‘s daughter, Bawana, whom he rejected as his bride. His face becomes distort-ed and only true love can break the curse. Given only three chances to find true love, Prince Alm-iro sets off to the mortal world to fulfil his mis-sion.

On his third and final attempt,

Prince Almiro meets the simple and kind-hearted Lara who falls in love with him despite his dis-torted face. Can their love finally break Bawana’s curse?

Aside from its top-notch roster and storyline, THE LAST PRINCE also boasts of a supreme pro-duction team headed by A-list director Mac Ale-jandre, seasoned head-

writer RJ Nuevas, set

designer Richard Somes (2009 MMFF Best Festi-val Production Designer), and production designer Roy Red.

Enter the magical Kingdom of Paladino through THE LAST PRINCE. THE LAST PRINCE airs exclusively on GMA Pinoy TV, the flagship international channel of GMA Net-work. Call your preferred Pay TV operator now to subscribe.

GMA Network welcomes 2010 with THE LAST PRINCE


In this day and age of the so-called high tech so-ciety, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is the way to get con-nected. Cables and wires that have restricted us are slowly getting discarded to their demise by more advanced and newer gad-gets. But wait! Is wireless technology really a new thing that man invented out of the desire to im-prove life? Hmmnn…. That is a good question.

From the first day of man on earth, God has communicated to us without wires. Through our hearts, He speaks and calls us; sometimes we hear, sometimes we don’t. To those who stay connected, the spiritual message is upon them; others who are preoccu-

pied listening to the digi-tal sound of i-pods and cell phones are naturally tuned out of Heaven’s radio station. Silly as it may sound, but it is the high-tech illustration of how we can easily iso-late our hearts from God.

On the 14th day of February, hearts of many sizes will cover our city. For the sake of celebrat-ing Valentine’s Day, sweethearts will ex-change special love notes and specially sweetened words. Special calls from near and far will con-nect people _ with love, but only for one day. Yes, just one special day.

Every day on ordi-nary days, God calls us. Either we tune in or we tune out, the choice is

ours. Those who tuned in have inspired me. I have so much admiration for people who have chosen to listen and pursue their callings. Some, with their unselfish work like Moth-er Teresa have achieved world recognition for her dedication serving the sick and the poor. Others, who in their own small way and seemingly in-significant have touched

Wireless Connectionto the Heart

and inspired others. Last summer, I also

heard God’s calling. It was different. It was more of a knock on my heart, or should I say a wake-up call? During a routine physical check-up, my stress test led me to a further cardiac examina-tion and a meeting with a cardiologist. Although it was not as bad as earlier suspected, he expressed

some concern for my well being. He pointed out that there was 40 percent block-age in one of the major arteries connected to the heart; a minor concern that did not require any form of surgery but preventative measures must be taken seriously to eliminate the risks of heart attack.

Medications,proper diet and regular exercise were prescribed. I enrolled in the six-month Cardiac Rehab Program at Rouge Valley Health Centre in Scarbor-ough, and its well-trained staff whose God’s call-ings are to boost healthy heart awareness, have kept me on the right track.

Now, five months later, I feel healthier. I have been following the

advice of my doctor; and in the process, I lost 15 pounds of excess weight, enabling me to run after my playful granddaugh-ter. In retrospect, I am glad I was paying atten-tion when God knocked. What happened to me was God’s way of say-ing, “Look after your-self and stay alive. I am not done with you yet.”

Big or small, we all have our own individual-ity with different talents to discover and share. Out of passion we dis-cover our talents, and out of love for others, we hear our Christian callings in fulfilling the pure pur-pose of our special gifts.

On Valentine’s Day, let us remind ourselves that the Day of the Hearts is not limited to February 14th. Keep the flames of passion and love burning every day; it is the best way to get our hearts con-nected to God’s calling.

By Mario Dimain

By Ace Alvarez

If I had any hangover from the past Christmas holidays, it’s the fact that some of my beloved nephews and nieces re-membered to phone me on Saturday, December 26, as they all gathered at the residence of my niece, Charlene Alvarez-Cahapay, in southern California for an un-planned family reunion.

I loved every min-ute of some 45 minutes talking to each and ev-ery one of them as one by one, each waited for his, or her turn, to speak to me -- some of them I haven’t seen for ages.

My niece, Ruthie, said that she and her cous-ins just decided over the phone on Christmas Day to have a reunion the fol-lowing day, since some of them have not seen one another for quite some-time, although they all live in southern Califor-nia, except her. Ruthie and family live in Arizona.

It was a good oppor-tunity, too, for all their children to know one an-other, Ruthie further said.

Beautiful words from my niece, Ruthie! A good reminder for all of us, too, that in this present world of conveniences in tech-

nology, we continue to “conveniently” take for granted people who have been, and are dear to us.

I remember the words of a very close friend from way back the mid 90s when her dad passed away: “Knowing that my dad was just there within driving distance, I had taken him for grant-ed. Now, he is gone.”

Just before the Christ-mas holidays, after re-ceiving a birthday greet-ing card on the mail from me, one person close to me phoned saying, “Please know that your warm gesture is very much appreciated. While

you remembered me, my own children did not even remember calling me.”

In another instance, one father told me that one of his children only comes and see him and his wife once a year, re-gardless of the fact that he and his wife live in the same city that his son, his wife and family live.

Fast-pace North America has probably left almost everyone with concern only for himself, or herself. Most of us wait until something hap-pens before we lift a fin-ger. As one character in the movie “Green Mile” said, everyday, a lot of

My Christmas holidays hangover these things happen in the world; that people are so mean to one another.

The situation above not only happens among

members of the same family. They happen even among friends, too.

As the saying goes, life is short; and, indeed,

it is! Act today and make amends with your family, or friends, with whom you have animosities.

Ruthie Alvarez-Jimenez (standing, 3rd from left): “We decided to hold this gathering, so that my cousins and I continue to be in contact, our respective spouses get to know one another closely, and so with our respective children.”

REFLECTIONS


Fr. Ben Ebcas, Pastor of “Our Lady of the Assumption Parish” on Bathurst Street, North York, Ontario accompanies himself with his rendition of “Hiram sa Diyos”.

Deacon Bob Rosales sings “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.Deacon Ramon Villardo of St. Maria Goretti Parish on Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue East with his rendition of Willy Nel-son’s “You Are Always On My Mind”.

Photo speaks louder than words may describe how the audience received the perfornances of Filipino priests and deacons at the “Alay Concert”.

Louroz Mercader: “I am running to improve the lives of every person in Ward 7 Mississauga. We need realistic solutions to fight crime, improve transit and create accessible programs for our young people so that our streets will be safer and our neighbourhoods can prosper.”

REFLECTIONS

ALAY from p. 35

the song goes, “… make a little space, to make a better place.”

For true healing to hap-pen, we need to forgive and ask forgiveness. We don’t need to look as far as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Korea or Mindanao. We can begin the inner heal-ing and interior renewal ourselves as we open and pray to the Lord for the grace to forgive and the deepening of our love for the poor, deprived and underprivileged. True joy and peace this Christmas can only be experienced in the spirit of forgive-ness, sharing and most especially uniting our-selves with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

I close with words from St. John Vianney: “The soul hungers for God, and nothing but God can satiate it. There-fore, He came to dwell on earth and assumed a Body in order that this Body might become the Food of our souls.”

Louroz M. Mercader has officially filed his candidacy for Ward 7 City Councillor at Mis-sissauga City Hall.

In 2003 and 2006, Mercader previously run for the Catholic School Board Trustee’s position.

Mercader said, “I am running to improve the lives of every per-

son in Ward 7 Missis-sauga. We need realistic solutions to fight crime, improve transit and cre-ate accessible programs for our young people so that our streets will be safer and our neigh-bourhoods can prosper.

“After the election in 2006, many long-time residents of Ward

7 saw what I was about and decided to join me in my pursuit to make our community bet-ter for everybody,” the young candidate said.

“As with a lot of peo-ple in Ward 7, my sup-porters understand that it’s time to put an end to the excuses and lack of action on pressing com-

Filipino youth leader running for Mississauga Council

munity matters. They believe that my vision for the future is real and that it offers hope for all citizens of Ward 7, from our youth to our seniors.”

The 27 Filipino Cana-dian grew up and contin-ues to live in the historic four corners of Cooksville.

Mercader was the founding president of the Mississauga Youth Games (MY Games), a grassroots non-profit that provides free sport-

ing programs to young people in Mississauga.

He serves in the Board of Directors of the United Way of Peel Region, Safe City Mis-sissauga and as member of the GO Transit Cus-tomer Service Advisory Committee represent-ing the Milton Corridor and GO Bus Services.

Further, he served as chairperson of Mayor Ha-zel McCallion’s – May-or’s Youth Advisory Com-

mittee from 1998 – 2001.Last year, Mercader

was named by the May-tree Foundation and the Toronto City Summit Al-liance as a DiverseCity Fellow, one of the emerg-ing new leaders for the Greater Toronto Region.

He was previous-ly recognized by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario with the 2001 Ontario Medal for Young Volunteers. (PR)


Quintin Palisoc, president of the Kiwanis Filipino Metro Club, leads the welcome for guests from the Kiwanis District of Eastern Canada and Caribbean.

Pleasantries to one another ...

To give primacy to human and spiritual ...

Introduction of Guest Speaker...

Guest, Gov. Gary Levine speaks ... Welcome to guest speaker ...

And now, time for some fun ...

In appreciation to Kinwanis Club Filipino of Metro Toronto ...

Munting ala-ala para sa mga bisita. A photo to remember one very special visit.

A song from a child in appreciation for Kiwanis projects for children ...

... and dancing, too.

Reading of the objects of Kiwanis International ...

Invocation ... Formalities ... Toast!

While the temperature outside was several degrees below zero, the atmosphere inside the hall in Toronto was comfortably warm and friendly with Quintin Palisoc, president of the Kiwanis Filipino Metro Club leading his mem-bers in receiving their visitors from Kiwanis – Eastern and Caribbean District.

The visiting party was led by Gary Levine – governor of Kiwanis Eastern Canada and Caribbean District, who came to celebrate, in particular, the Filipino Metro Club, which is the newest club in the district, and in general, Kiwanis.

In his remarks, Levine recalled that when he was a boy, his favorite superhero was Su-perman, and that from experience from his childhood -- and being a father and a family man, each child has a superhero whom one ad-mires.

“Today,” he said, “each of us in this room is a superman or a superhero, raising money to help a young person; changing a young per-son’s life.

“Each time we do it, we become a super-hero to someone.”

Levine reminded members that doing good

to someone always starts at the home level, and that home

where the family resides is the Kiwanis family.

Kiwanis International is a thriving orga-nization of service-minded men and women who respond to the unique needs of their communities and address worldwide issues by “Serving the Children of the World”.

The name “Kiwanis” was coined from an expression in an American Indian lan-guage of the Detroit area, “Nunc Kee-wanis,” which means, “we trade” or “we share our talents.”

The first Kiwanis club was founded in Detroit in 1915 by a group of businessmen. A year later the Kiwanis Club of Hamilton was chartered and today, the entire Kiwan-is family has more than 600,000 members in more than 13,000 clubs. Kiwanis clubs serve in 89 countries around the world and achieve what individuals cannot do alone.

Terry Buquillos, secretary of the Fili-pino Metro Club read the objects of Kiwan-is International by way of reminder to the members:

* To give primacy to the human and spiritual rather than to the material values

of life;* To encourage the daily living of the

Golden Rule in all human relationships;* To promogte the adoption and the appli-

cation of higher social, business and profes-sional standards;

* To develop, by precept and example, a more intelligent, aggressive and serviceable citizenship.

* To provide, through Kiwanis Clubs, a practical means to form enduring friendships, to render altruistic service, and to build better communities; and,

* To cooperate in creating and maintain-ing that sound public opinion and high ideal-ism which make possible the increase of righ-teousness, justice, patriotism and goodwill.

In one year, Kiwanis clubs sponsored 147,000 service projects. To do so, Kiwanians raised and spent nearly $70 million and con-tributed 6.2 million hours of volunteer time.

Meanwhile, Filipino Metro Club president Palisoc said that for those who feel that they can make a big difference at building better communities in Eastern Canada, the Caribbe-an and the Philippines by being a member, the Filipino Metro Club may be reached at (905) 820-6318. (Ace Alvarez)

KIWANIS Club Filipino of Metro Toronto hosts District Governor’s visit


Manila Media Monitor --JANUARY 2010

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