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OCTOBER 22-28, 2015

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Volume 26 - No. 42 • 2 Sections – 16 Pages

DATELINEUSAFROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

by ALLYSON ESCOBARAJPress

Asian Americans worried about retirement, stressed out by una�ordabilityand lack of savings Pacquiao: Don’t be too judgmental on Binay

Grace Poe’s camp asks for 2-week extension to submit DNA test results

Rising number of deaths, over 100,000 families affected

TYPHOON Koppu is sweeping slowly across the northern part of the Philippines, destroying provinces and forcing thousands to flee from their homes. At least 100,000 families have been af-fected.

The tropical cyclone, known as typhoon Lando in the Philip-pines, is over 500-kilometers in diameter. As of Wednesday eve-ning, Oct. 21, it was crawling

by TETCH TORRES-TUPAS Inquirer.net

THE camp of Sen. Grace Poe asked for more time to submit the results of the DNA test to trace her family and put an end to questions about her citizenship.

SET spokesperson and sec-retary Irene Guevarra said on Wednesday, Oct. 21 that Poe’s camp sought for a two-week extension of the deadline that was supposed to be today, Wednesday.

Guevarra said Poe’s camp

sought an extension up to Nov. 5.

Guevarra, in a text message said SET is expected to rule on the motion for extension next week.

During last month’s oral

DFA exec: 1.3 M overseas voters a ‘game-changer’ in 2016 polls

by ARIES JOSEPH HEGINAInquirer.net

THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has announced on Monday, Oct. 19 that it has reached the 1.3 million mark of registered overseas voters for the

2016 elections.In a statement, Office of Civil-

ian Security and Consular Con-cerns Undersecretary Rafael E. Seguis said that a total 1, 301, 598 overseas Filipino workers

by PAOLO ROMEROPhilstar.com

MANILA—World boxing champion and Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao has appealed to the public not to be “too judg-mental” on Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is running for president in the 2016 elections amid various corruption charges filed against him.

Pacquiao, who filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator under Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) on Fri-day, Oct. 16, told reporters that the Vice President as well as others facing charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a fair trial.

“I hope we Filipinos will not be too judgmental. Our Constitution is explicit about this, Vice President Binay and even those already facing charges are innocent until proven guilty by a competent court,” Pacquiao said in Filipino.

Obama to leave US troops in Afghanistan past his term

FACING increasing pressure both at home and abroad, President Barack Obama has made his decision regarding the state of American troops in Afghani-stan.

Obama on Thursday, Oct. 15, pledged to keep US troops in the region through-out the end of his presidential term, halt-

NEW YORK—Nearly two-thirds of New York City’s Asian American Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers say they are worried about having enough money to live comfortably when they retire, saying the high cost of living, paying for children’s education, and healthcare are hampering their ability

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northeast towards the Calayan and Babuyan islands, Taiwan and lower Japan.

The state weather bureau PAGASA issued an adviso-ry at 11pm, saying that the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kilome-ters per hour (kph) and heavy gusts of up to 80 kph, accord-ing to ABS-CBN News.

A severe weather bulletin (No. 23) issued by the Philip-pine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Tues-day, Oct. 20 reported that Koppu has only “weakened slightly.” On Wednesday, the NDRRMC reported the storm has weakened into a “Low Pressure Area” (LPA).

The storm’s center point is about 90 kilometers, West of Calayan, Cagayan (north of mainland Luzon), with maxi-mum sustained winds of 75 kph near the center and gusts up to 90 kph. It has been la-beled from a category 5 to cat-egory 1 storm, reports said.

The NDRRMC placed Ilo-cos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Apayao, Abra, Batanes, and Northern Cagayan (including Calayan and the Babuyan islands) un-der public storm signal num-ber 2 (winds of 61-120 kph). La Union, Pangasinan, Ben-guet, Nueva Vizcaya, Ifugao, Mt. Province, Isabela, Kalinga, and the rest of Cagayan re-gions were placed under pub-lic storm signal 1 (winds of 30-60 kph).

The estimated rainfall amount ranges from “moder-ate to heavy, to at times in-tense” within the diameter of the storm. “Moderate to strong winds” blowing from north to southwest will prevail over Lu-zon, with “moderate to rough” coastal waters,” the NDRRMC said in its situational report Wednesday.

Baguio City reported 1,059 millimeters rainfall earlier this

week, according to the UK Met Office. NASA’s Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) analysis data showed that most of the island of Luzon was covered by very heavy rainfall from Koppu. The analysis indicates that most of the island of Luzon received over 300 mm (11.8 inches), and some areas near the cy-clone’s path were shown to be saturated with over 760 mm (about 30 inches) of rainfall.

Several towns in Aurora province have been cut off from civilization due to major floods and landslides. The entire town of San Antonio in central Luzon has been “engulfed by flood waters,” town Mayor An-tonio Lustre told ABS-CBN on Monday. Flooding incidents were also reported in Panga-sinan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pampanga, Zambales, Cagayan, and Benguet.

“There’s no other weather features to move it along so it’s just kind of drifting about,” Weather Channel meteorolo-gist Kevin Roth told NBC News. “The storm will have been pro-ducing rain in some areas for five-and-a-half days before it moves on--that’s a long time to build up a large rainfall total.”

As of press time, the num-ber of deaths has risen to 35 on Wednesday, according to the NDRRMC in Quezon City. 24 have been injured during the onslaught of the typhoon, and NDRRMC spokesperson Romina Marasigan confirmed 194,387 families (907,267 per-sons) that have been affected, evacuated, or displaced from their homes.

The Weather Channel re-ported a number of deaths from drowning, damages, and landslides in provinces like Pa-layan and Tinoc.

“There were people who got trapped by the flood on their roofs, some were rescued al-ready,” said Vice Mayor Hen-ry Velarde of Jaen, a farming

town in badly-hit Nueva Ecija, where about 80 percent of the villages were flooded, accord-ing to the Associated Press.

While landslides and river floods swamped and inun-dated towns and provinces, residents have scrambled to safety, tragically losing their homes, animals, and farmlands in the process. “Our rice farms looked like it was [run] over by a giant flat iron. All the rice stalks were flattened in one di-rection,” Velarde said.

The cost of damage to ag-riculture is estimated at 6.3 billion pesos, while city in-frastructure damages are es-timated to be 520,000 pesos, and is still expected to rise.

“Out of the 272,006 hectares planted to rice, 269,694 have a chance of recovery,” said Phil-ippine Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.

Due to the flooding and landslides, 128 road sections were left impassable, while 24 bridges were closed, reported Philippine Star.Typhoon Lan-do’s aftermath also included 6,947 damaged houses, 540 of which are totally damaged and 6,407 are partially damaged in Regions 1, 2, 3 and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

Hundreds of volunteers, both civilians and police officials, have converged on affected areas--such as in landlocked Nueva Ecija--to help stranded farmers and villagers.

Philippine President Benig-no Aquino III flew to Nueva Ecija to check the flooding situation and distribute food and care packages in an emer-gency shelter. Aquino said that Koppu’s unusually slow speed allowed it to batter the north for about three days, instead of just a few hours.

He also urged villagers not to return to their homes. “They think it is safe already to go back to their communities, but we are preventing them right

DFA exec: 1.3 M overseas voters a ‘game...(OFWs) became registered voters as of October 15, 2015.

Seguis said that if 1.3 million overseas voters could influence at least three family members, their sector could bring about 5.2 mil-lion votes to their preferred can-didates.

“Since overseas Filipinos are considered to be their family’s bread winners, it is not a stretch to surmise that each overseas Fili-pino can influence the vote of at least three family members. Thus, the 1.3 million active registered overseas voters are roughly equiv-

alent to 5.2 million votes. This is a definite game changer for Philip-pine politics,” Seguis said.

Majority of overseas Filipino voters are based in the Middle East and Africa, where 550,000 active registered voters reside. It is followed by 250,000 voters in the Americas, about 150,000 in Europe; and, 320,000 in Asia and the Pacific.

Seafarers amount to 30,000 registered overseas voters.

On its part, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) commended the embassies for including over-seas voting registration in their

services.“I hope we can further look into

the possibility of holding these registrations in public areas like malls, public squares and parks, community centers and other suitable places where the host government allows the conduct of election-related activities,” Com-elec Chairman Andres D. Bautista said.

Last June, the DFA completed the rollout of online voters’ regis-tration program which is acces-sible to OFWs worldwide.

Voters’ registration will end on October 31, 2015.

Pacquiao: Don’t be too...The lawmaker filed his COC a

day after his arrival from New York where he was conferred the Asian Game Changer of the Year award for 2015.

He said Binay, who is accused of receiving kickbacks from vari-ous projects when he was mayor of Makati City, should be accorded due process by the government and his right to defend himself must be respected.

He said he believes the accusa-tions against the Vice President are false unless the courts rule otherwise.

Pacquiao, who was being wooed by presidential candidates to join their senatorial ticket, said he de-cided to support UNA and Binay because of his humble origins.

“We both come from poor fami-

lies. We both underwent hardships and hunger –but we also worked hard to get to where we are now. We both believe we can serve inspi-ration to the poor,” Pacquiao said.

He said he turned to soul-search-ing, prayers and long consultations with his family as well as with his religious and political advisers before reaching his decision to run for senator.

“I prayed for guidance from God, my family and close associ-ates provided me good advice that would help me decide. We also contemplated on not running in any position but we thought of our country,” he said.

He said he had also thought of running with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who was being egged to run for president, as they both come from Mindanao.

Grace Poe’s camp asks...argument, Poe, through her counsel Alex Poblador revealed before the nine-member SET that Poe had undergone DNA testing.

Poe is facing a disqualification case before the SET for failure to meet the citizenship requirement.

Rizalito David who filed the disqualification case said that being a foundling, a child with no known parent, she cannot be considered natural born Filipino.

Poe was abandoned at a church in Jaro, Iloilo before she was adopted by movie stars Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces.

Obama to leave US troops in Afghanistan...ing initial plans for withdrawal and abandoning his often-stated promise to end the US’s longest war before he leaves office.

Under the new plan, the Unit-ed States will keep 9,800 service members in Afghanistan through most of 2016. The number of troops would be reduced to 5,500 beginning in 2017, assuming the next president stays on the same course, said the Los Angeles Times.

White House aides said Obama was confronted daily with prob-lems caused by the collapse of US-trained security forces in Iraq, where he has been forced to send additional troops and warplanes to combat the growing militants in the Islamic State, and did not want to risk a similar scenario in Afghanistan.

“As your commander in chief, I believe this mission is vital to our national security interests in pre-venting terrorist attacks against our citizens and our nation,” Obama said in a White House ap-pearance last Thursday, insisting that he was “not disappointed” in the decision, but “absolutely confident” that this was the right move for the country.

He emphasized that US’s com-bat mission in Afghanistan is over, and the remaining troops will stick to pursuing potential terror-ist threats, and helping Afghans.

In May 2014, Obama said it was “time to turn the page on a decade in which so much of our foreign policy was focused on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” He also promised to withdraw the last American troops from the former country by 2016.

Obama said that he continues to oppose the idea of “endless war.” But he also said that a lon-ger-term American presence in Afghanistan was “vital to the secu-rity of the US, and a country that

is beset by the Taliban their allies from Al Qaeda, and militants from the Islamic State,” according to the New York Times.

“Our commitment to Afghani-stan and its people endures,” said Obama, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and other top military leaders. “I will not allow Afghani-stan to be used as safe haven for terrorists to attack our nation again.”

However, he also acknowl-edged that security remains frag-ile, and the risk of death of Ameri-can troops being in the country is still very likely, though far fewer than during the height of the war. So far this year, 25 Americans have been killed overseas.

The decision – which was reached after what White House officials called an “extensive, lengthy review” – ensures that Obama will leave office next year going back on his seminal prom-ise to responsibly end the military involvements started by his prede-cessor, George W. Bush, by keep-ing troops in the Middle East.

Critics have said that the presi-dent is conveying a message of “weakness” to potential danger-ous adversaries, such as terrorist groups and militants.

The Taliban are now spread through more parts of the coun-try than at any point since 2001, according to the United Nations. Last month, they seized the north-ern key city of Kunduz and held it for more than two weeks before withdrawing.

Noting these dangers, Obama said, “In key areas of the coun-try, the security situation is still very fragile, and in some areas, there is risk of deterioration…af-ter 2017, American forces will remain on several bases [in Af-ghanistan] to give us the presence and the reach our forces require to achieve their mission.”

“In part, it’s the actual day-to-

day interactions [between US advisers and Afghan troops] that matter,” said Melissa Dalton, a former Pentagon official, adding that the presence of US troops would help fortify training efforts for Afghan soldiers, and provide political and psychological ben-efits to the nation.

It “demonstrates the US is not walking away” from a situation that remains “very rocky terrain and uncertain,” Dalton said.

Critics said Obama’s actions did not go far enough to confront Al Qaeda and other threats in Af-ghanistan.

Soon-to-retire House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement that he was “glad the adminis-tration finally admits President Obama’s arbitrary political dead-lines are ‘self-defeating.’”

It’s what we were dreading…I do think I retain hope somewhere inside of me [that the war will end] because I think I have to,” Mary Hladky, whose son is in the National Guard after serving in the Army for several years and in Afghanistan, told the International Business Times. “But it’s just ter-rible what we’re doing to our men and women who serve. It’s really sad--very, very sad.”

“What it’s actually doing is helping [the Islamic State group],” Hladky continued. “Everything we do just helps them and it hurts us. We’re not making progress, so why do we do the same thing? To us, it’s very, very frustrating.”

“As in Iraq, the situation in Af-ghanistan had deteriorated by the time Obama inherited it, making the conflict difficult to end,” said Gordon Adams, professor emeri-tus of International Relations at American University. “And there’s no evidence that keeping a large US military presence in ei-ther country would have brought stability.” (Allyson Escobar /AJ-Press)

now,” Aquino told reporters.The Philippine government,

which is conducting an aerial survey and a comprehensive report on the cyclone’s total damage, promised to provide about 6.1 billion pesos to re-store any destroyed agriculture in farming regions, and almost 5.5 million pesos to provide in-frastructure.

With the heavy rains and

slow speeds, Typhoon Koppu is expected to hit the north-ern Philippines for several more days before continuing towards Taiwan and the south-ernmost islands of Japan.

“Koppu has moved into an area of increasing vertical wind shear [through Luzon Strait] which is expected to dissipate the storm by October 22,” re-ported NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Though causing widespread damage, the rainfall has also provided needed water to sev-eral dams that have suffered from the effects of another Pa-cific tropical storm, El Niño, according to a situation report from the United Nations. The Angat Dam, which supplies a majority of Metro Manila’s wa-ter needs, saw an increase of 7.2 meters in its water level, said The Weather Channel.

PAGASA weather forecast-er Aldczar Aurelio urged the public and those living in af-fected villages and provinces to remain calm, evacuate the region, and not be complacent in times of typhoons. He also warned against possible land-slides and flash-floods in low, mountainous provinces under the public storm signal.

Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, told NBC News that water was rising steadily in Pangasinan province, pushed by heavy rains and dam water being

released. Several low-lying towns in the region were asked to evacuate, warning possible floods from Agno River.

“We are sending rescue teams there now. We will be busy rescuing people from the tops of roofs--they have no place to go,” Gordon said. “A lot of people can drown or be displaced from their homes. This is a developing tragedy.”

Koppu, which is Japanese for “cup,” is the 12th storm this year to hit the Philippines. The country averages 20 storms and typhoons each year. In

November 2013, over 7,300 people were left dead and thousands missing after Ty-phoon Haiyan (Yolanda), one of the most powerful storms on record, battered the central Philippines.

“[In the Western Pacific,] they’re located in the belt basically between the equa-tor and the subtropics,” Bob Henson, from Weather Un-derground forecast services, told CNN. “It’s considered to be the most vulnerable large nation on earth for tropical cy-clones.”

Asian Americans worried about retirement...to save, according to a new sur-vey of Asian American city voters commissioned by AARP.

The survey also found that Asian Americans will be a large part of a looming “Gen-Xodus,” with 58 percent of Asian Ameri-can Gen-X voters saying they’re at least somewhat likely to move out of New York in retirement along with 43 percent of Asian American Baby Boomers – that is, if they even have enough money to retire.

As Gen-Xers started turn-ing 50 this year, AARP con-ducted its first city survey of the generation, High Anxiety: NYC Gen-X and Boomers Struggle with Stress, Savings and Secu-rity. AARP then created a sup-plemental report, High Anxiety: NYC Asian American Gen-X and Boomers Struggle with Stress, Savings and Security, to take a deeper look at what is driving the financial stress of Asian Ameri-cans in the city.

“I think the biggest takeaway here is that the younger people should start looking at this issue now, especially those that are just coming out of college. Filipi-nos can check out AARP online to check the resources provided there. They just need to get more involved,” said Steven Raga, a thirty-something Fil-Am commu-nity leader who belongs to the ‘Millennials’ generation (those

born between the early 1980s to early 2000s).

The survey of Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers (ages 35 to 69), found that while financial anxi-ety is high among Gen Xers and Boomers of all races and ethnici-ties, Asian Americans in those age cohorts are more likely to experience obstacles to saving due to family caregiving (46% Asian American vs. 36% of total Gen Xers and Boomers); or due to a lost job or pay cut (53% vs. 46%).

“There’s such a scarcity of Asian Pacific Islander data so any data out there really helps fulfill the picture of who really are APIs. Unfortunately, people see us as the model minority, that we’re all educated and well to do that we don’t need any ser-vices,” said Daphne Kwok, Vice President, Multicultural Leader-ship, Asian American and Pacific Islander Audience at AARP.

Among other key findings of the report: 65% of Asian Ameri-can Gen-Xers and Boomers worry about not saving enough; 68% of Asian American Gen-Xers and 43% of Boomers are either current or expected fu-ture borrowers of student debt; 67% of these borrowers say these loans make it even harder to save for retirement; 57% of Asian American Gen-Xers and Boomers worry about being able to afford the rent or mortgage in

DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate Hillary Clinton urged US regulators from the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission to examine the high costs of certain generic drugs, combat-ing anticompetitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry.

Clinton’s requests to the FDA and the FTC on Monday, Oct. 19, were prompted by what she called the “egregious actions of Turing Pharmaceuticals,” ac-cording to Reuters.

Turing Pharmaceuticals drew fire from Clinton last month after news reports that it had raised the price of Daraprim, a 62-year-old treatment for a dangerous parasitic infection, from $13.50 to $750 a tablet af-ter acquiring it.

The criticism sent drug in-dustry stock prices plummet-ing. Turing CEO Martin Shkreli promised to lower Daraprim’s cost to an “unspecified price,” Reuters reported, and Turing is in the midst of a major rebrand-ing effort after being mocked on comedy show “Saturday Night Live.”

In her letter to the FDA, Clin-ton said that Turing has still not “meaningfully lowered the price.” The company’s deci-sion to “artificially increase the price” exploited vulnerable patients who are dependent on the drug, which is often used

Clinton urges FDA to lower cost of medical drugby ALLYSON ESCOBAR

AJPress

by those with compromised im-mune systems, Clinton said.

“The FDA should expedite any pending reviews, and en-courage applications for review, of other generic alternatives to Daraprim,” she wrote.

The FDA said it would review the letter and respond directly to the sender, but noted that the agency’s review of medicines is “a matter of public record.”

In her letter to the FTC, Clin-ton acknowledged it has only “limited authority to address price gouging when it is the result of unilateral action in a market with no competition,” but also urged the agency to examine both Turing and the pharmaceutical industry over-all.

“I believe it would be a great service to the Congress and the Administration if the FTC would

study and make recommenda-tions on whether and how our laws might be amended to ad-dress this problem,” Clinton wrote, hinting at how she might attempt to overhaul pharma-ceutical practices if elected president next year.

Clinton also asked the FTC to investigate whether Turing’s decision to increase Daraprim’s price amounts to the type of anticompetitive behavior the agency can regulate. A Turing spokesman on Monday did not respond to requests to com-ment on Clinton’s letters to the FDA and FTC.

Drug prices are also being scrutinized by Democrats in Congress and federal prosecu-tors. Most pharmaceutical com-panies regularly raise prices, saying it reflects the drugs’ value in the market.

The head of Valeant Phar-maceuticals International Inc, which has also come under fire for raising drug prices and is be-ing investigated by the govern-ment, also said that he predicts upcoming lower price increases for the whole industry.

“The pharmaceutical industry is being aggressively sort of at-tacked for past pricing actions,” CEO J. Michael Pearson said Monday. “I do think, given that environment, the pricing that pharmaceutical companies will take in the future will be more modest.”

The Daraprim price increase was unusual because it was so large, reports said. In inter-views, Shkreli has defended the steep price hike. Last week, Tur-ing announced it was making “improvements to Daraprim’s affordability and accessibility, to clarify any misunderstand-ings about Turing’s pricing and distribution,” according to a re-lease.

Last month, the former Secre-tary of State unveiled a plan for a $250 monthly cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs and other measures to stop what she calls “price gouging” by pharmaceutical companies.

Turing’s Daraprim and Shkre-li were both featured in a TV commercial ad run by Clinton’s campaign about how she plans to take on “skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs.”

“Nobody in America should have to choose between buy-ing the medicine they need and paying their rent,” Clinton says in the ad.

the coming years and 41% Asian American voters worry about not being able to keep or find a job because of age.

“We encourage people to pay themselves first, put away money for retirement. It’s a hard thing to do, but people have to be aware,” said Beth Finkel, State Director of AARP in New York State.

Gen-Xers are the first genera-tion to approach retirement age with a new playbook, having lived the entirety of their work-ing years during the rise of 401k plans and a shift away from tradi-tional pension plans.

“These survey results should serve as an alarm that we to need find solutions that can help ease the financial pressures that Asian American New Yorkers are fac-ing, while also helping them to access savings vehicles through their employers that can help them build retirement savings,” added Finkel.

The survey, and independent research, show coming retire-ment savings troubles among both Gen-Xers and Boomers citywide. The average 401(k) ac-count balance in New York was only $30,811 as of last year, ac-cording to the National Institute on Retirement Security – which found that in 2013 the average American household had just $3,000 in total assets in savings, and just $12,000 for those near-ing retirement.

Twenty-eight percent of Asian American Gen X and Boomer workers surveyed have no ac-cess to any type of workplace retirement savings plan. Among private sector Asian American workers age 18 to 64 in the state of New York, 61% are not cov-ered by a workplace retirement plan.

“One in four Asians we inter-viewed told us that they abso-lutely will never be able to retire. That can’t be. Twenty five per cent of Asian New Yorkers say-ing that they’re gonna have to work till they drop? That is not retirement planning,” Finkel ex-claimed.

Yet the survey found 56% of city Asian American Gen-Xers and Boomers who are in the la-bor force and confident they’ll be able to retire say they plan to stop working by age 65, revealing a retirement “reality gap,” since they also said they are not saving or planning enough to retire.

“I think about the future only because my job now makes me think about the future. I know my friends do not. It’s more of ‘where am I going to on vacation this year?’ or ‘Am I gonna go to the Philippines this year’ and the events they’re going to attend. Savings is a big part of owning up to your responsibility espe-cially for millennials like me but it is totally, unfortunately outside the priority now,” Raga said.

The survey was released at a panel discussion last week in Manhattan, featuring Ms. Kwok; Angela Houghton, AARP senior research advisor; Howard Shih, Director of Research and Pol-icy at the Asian American Fed-eration; and Sandy Poon-Wing, Vice President and Financial Planning Specialist at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. The panel was moderated by Arthur Chi’en, Newscaster at WNYW-TV Fox 5 NY. (Momar G. Visaya/AJPress)

‘US challenging excessive maritime claims on regular basis’WASHINGTON—The United

States is preparing to conduct freedom of navigation opera-tions to “challenge excessive maritime claims on a regular basis around the world,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

He said these operations were not targeted at any individual country but were to be made in accordance with international law and applied evenhandedly with a wide range of nations.

Toner declined to say if Wash-ington had informed Southeast Asian countries about its plan to let its ships sail within 12 nau-tical miles of artificial islands created by Beijing in the South China Sea.

He said the US was in constant touch with China and shared its concerns and intentions regard-ing the South China Sea.

Asked at a news briefing if this meant telling the Chinese “we are sending a boat in here,

don’t shoot at it,” he said, “I don’t know” and referred the questioner to the Pentagon.

The US has been considering for weeks deploying warships within 12 miles of China’s artifi-cial islands to show its non-rec-ognition of Beijing’s territorial claims.

Pentagon officials said they are ready to conduct the mis-sion and are just awaiting orders from the Obama administration. (Jose Katigbak /Philstar.com)

DATELINE PHILIPPINESLiberal Party: Roxas must step out of Aquino’s shadow

by DJ YAPInquirer.net

LEADERS of the Liberal Party (LP) acknowledged that the par-ty’s presidential candidate, Mar Roxas, must step out of President Benigno Aquino III’s shadow once the campaign begins.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., an LP vice chair, said Roxas would need to stand on his own merits by playing to his own strengths as a candidate.

“He will have to do that at some point,” said Belmonte, the party’s general campaign manager for the 2016 elections.

Aquino’s popularityThe LP-led administration co-

alition, however, will continue to bank on President Aquino’s popu-larity on the campaign trail, said Team Daang Matuwid spokesper-son Barry Gutierrez, an Akbayan representative.

“He will be our No. 1 cam-paigner,” he said.

Mr. Aquino joined Roxas and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robre-do, the party’s candidate for Vice President, in filing their candidacy papers at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) headquarters in Intramuros, Manila.

ContinuityHis presence nearly overshad-

owed the two candidates, as he was mobbed by reporters and LP supporters, some of whom took

Malacañang bent on pushing BBL passageMANILA—Malacañang is de-

termined to push the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law and has thanked ambassadors who ex-pressed support for the peace pro-cess amid issues hampering the BBL, a Palace official said.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Her-minio Coloma gave assurance that the government would continue to work with Congress for the timely passage of the BBL.

“The government’s determina-tion to continue the peace pro-cess through the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law is unyield-ing,” Coloma said over state-run radio dzRB.

A priority measure of Malaca-ñang, the BBL seeks to implement the peace accord signed by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) last year.

The measure will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a new Bangsam-oro entity with greater economic and political powers.

Last week, diplomats urged the government and the MILF to re-main engaged in the peace pro-cess.

They expressed concern over the delay in the passage of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) because Con-

gress has yet to pass the proposed BBL.

Congress adjourned session last week without approving the BBL but lawmakers claimed they still have time to discuss and pass the measure before the Christmas break.

Misuari denies MNLF sup-ports BBL

Meanwhile, the Nur Misuari

faction of the Moro National Lib-eration Front (MNLF) denied that it was supporting the BBL in its present form, slamming such re-ports as propaganda.

Habib Mujahab Hashim, MNLF Islamic Command Council (ICC) chairman, was furious over a re-leased statement, which said that both the MNLF and the MILF are

by ALEXIS ROMEROPhilstar.com

BI orders Pemberton deportedby EVELYN MACAIRAN

Philstar.com

MANILA—The Bureau of Im-migration (BI) has issued a de-portation order against US Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton even as he is still on trial for the killing of a Filipino transgender last year.

But the BI clarified the deporta-tion order could not be immedi-ately enforced pending clearance from the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74, which is hearing Pemberton’s case.

The Marine is being tried for the murder of Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude in October last year inside a motel room in Olongapo.

BI spokesperson Elaine Tan said the bureau wanted Pem-berton deported on the ground of “undesirability.” She said the order was contained in a five-page resolution issued last Sept. 16.

“Pemberton would not be de-ported until we get clearance from the court… We would have to wait for the court’s decision before we could physically deport him,” Tan said.

The murder case is set for promulgation on Dec. 14.

If the court finds Pemberton guilty, he must serve his sen-tence first before he can be sent back to the United States. But if he is acquitted, then he would be immediately deported, Tan explained.

Tan added that despite the de-portation order, the Marine would remain in detention at Camp Agui-naldo and would not be placed under the custody of the BI.

She said immigration officials have informed the Olongapo court about the deportation order.

The deportation order for an “undesirable” alien was based mainly on a statement from Laude’s friend Mark Clarence “Barbie” Gelviro who, during an October 2014 Senate hearing, pointed to Pemberton as the per-son who most likely killed the 24-year-old transgender by drowning him in a toilet inside a room at Celzone Lodge in Olongapo City. Gelviro was with Laude and Pem-berton before the pair checked into Celzone Lodge.

On Oct. 26 last year, the BI’s Le-gal Division charged Pemberton with “undesirability” and included his name in its watchlist.

The case was then forwarded to the bureau’s Board of Special Inquiry (BSI) composed of BI Commissioner Siegfred Mison and Associate Commissioners Gilberto Repizo and Abdullah Mangotara.

On Nov. 24 last year, the US Marine filed a motion for self-deportation.

The BSI said there was no doubt Pemberton poses risk to public interest and should be deported.

The BSI said that as stipulated in “Acts or Omissions that Con-stitute Undesirability of Foreign Nationals, Section 1,” there is a “presumption” that a foreign national is undesirable “if he com-mits an act constituting a criminal offense punishable by imprison-ment of one year or more.”

In Pemberton’s case, he was charged with murder, which is a serious criminal offense pun-ishable with more than a year’s imprisonment.

The BI-BSI explained that since a deportation proceeding is ad-ministrative in character, it only requires “substantial evidence” to establish that an alien poses a risk to national security, public safety or national interest.

“Substantial evidence” refers to relevant information that is enough to support a position.

The immigration bureau be-lieves the evidence gathered during the Senate hearing, such

as Gelviro’s statement as well as corroborative statement from Celzon Lodge’s cashier Elias Galamos, were enough to justify Pemberton’s deportation.

Galamos testified having seen Pemberton walk out of the room less than an hour after he and Laude checked in.

Immigration officials also cited as basis for the deportation order the finding of probable cause to charge Pemberton with murder and the subsequent issuance of a warrant of arrest against the Marine by Branch 74 of the Olon-gapo court.

“We find respondent Pember-ton, an American national, to be an undesirable alien and order his deportation, subject to the issuance of a clearance from the Regional Trial Court, Branch 74, Olongapo City and other appro-priate government agencies,” the BSI said.

Likewise, Pemberton’s offer for self-deportation was denied for lack of merit.

Pemberton was one of the US soldiers conducting a joint drill with Filipino forces under the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The killing of Laude triggered public outrage and rekindled calls for the scrapping of the VFA.

selfies with him.Gutierrez said the focus on

Mr. Aquino was understandable because the central theme of the entire campaign was the continu-ity of his administration’s reform program.

“But there are no fears in the party that [Roxas] will not be able to establish his own identity,” he said.

During the campaign, Roxas will emphasize his “unblemished track record” during his stints in Congress and in the Cabinet, Gutierrez said.

He said Roxas would also resur-rect his “Mr. Palengke” persona, and remind voters about his role in the growth of the business pro-cess outsourcing industry.

Another coalition spokesper-son, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, said that Roxas’ underdog image would benefit him in the cam-paign against Sen. Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Poll ratingAfter trailing the two candidates

for the better part of the year, Roxas moved up in the latest voter preference polls conducted by Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia, although still behind Poe, the front-runner.

The strong message of the co-alition, Quimbo said, will resonate well with voters, especially those who are satisfied with how Presi-dent Aquino has been running the government.

OPINION FEATURES

Editorial

ON my recent visit to the Phil-ippines, I found myself sharing a case of beer with the vice-mayor of a small provincial town, along with some of his ward leaders. The insights that they provided on grassroots politics could be of interest to social media pundits who may be of the impression that their postings on Facebook and Twitter will influence the results of the coming presidential elections.

If you recall the “million peo-ple” anti-pork barrel gathering at the Luneta many months ago, fueled mainly by a social media activist, you are probably one of those who believe that your daily online commentaries on the po-litical scene are helping “educate” the bobotantes out there in the provinces and your clever insults and memes are helping erode the SWS and Pulse Asia rankings of the candidates you dislike.

Well, okay, mass action was enough to make Noynoy Aquino budge on the PDAP issue, but it fell way short of gathering a million and way short of the im-pact that social media had on the Arab Spring.

On the other hand, who can argue against the power of Face-book and Twitter, considering the 25 million tweets generated by

Insights from a small town politician

GREG B. MACABENTA

Street Talk

AFTER the five-day filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs), from October 12-16, the Commission on Election (Comelec) reportedly re-ceived 130 applications from Filipino presidential aspirants.

Chosen one

As granted by the law, these ap-plications were accepted. Howev-er, not all these aspirants will make it to the ballot as the Comelec win-now the grain from the chaff.

When asked about the high turnout of people wanting to be the next Philippine president, Com-mission on Elections (Comelec) reiterated its pro-visions on “nuisance candidates.”

Citing the Omnibus Election Code, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez told the media that the poll body has the authority to reject the COCs of individuals who make a mockery of the election system; those who seek to confuse voters through similarity of names between candidates; and those who have no bona fide or good faith in running for office.

While the filing of COCs appeared to be a circus, Malacañang said that the high turnout of presi-dential hopefuls “attests to the dynamism of our democracy and reflects the desire of well-mean-ing Filipinos to actively participate in the electoral process.”

“Come election time, we expect our bosses to exercise sound judgment in their selection of fu-ture leaders of the country,” Communications Sec-retary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.

A presidential wannabe only needs to meet five requirements: a natural born Filipino; a registered

voter; must be able to read and write; 40 years of age at the day of the elec-tion; and must have resided in the Philippines 10 years before the elec-tion is held.

From the 130 names tossed in the ring, only few will make it to the next cut. And when election time is over, one will be named the 16th President of the Republic of the Philippines.

Four are expected to make it through to the de-liberation process, those who have the machinery, resources and potential to launch a nationwide campaign. They are Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II, Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), independent candidate Sen. Grace Poe and Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who will be running under her People’s Reform Party.

Meeting the requirements is easy, winning the Filipinos’ approval is the hard part. Instead of working double time on increasing popularity and gaining plaudits, current leaders and those aspir-ing for a public post should do more groundwork and to do more for the people.

Whether wanting to be a president is wise or not, this ambition will adhere to the requirements of due process. Eventually, it is the Filipino voters who will decide if this dream can turn into reality.

Getting the job done is no cakewalk either. As

defined by the Constitution, the president is the Head of State and Head of Government, and func-tions as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. As chief executive, the president exercises control over all the executive departments, bureaus and offices.

It is every Filipino’s undertaking to identify these duties and responsibilities. When the winner is declared, they are expected to transcend from the latest poll results and staunch existing political mentality, and aid the next leader in utilizing them for the next six years. (AJPress)

IT is very heartwarming to see and hear how very engaged kababayans in America have in-creasingly been when it comes to what is going on in the Philippines. Despite the distance away from the Motherland, most of us -- especially those who still have family living there -- still care about what is going on in the country.

There are Fil-Ams who may have challenges paying their own bills, yet they feel obligated and compelled to send money to their families because they know if they are remiss in helping out, their loved ones would not be able to survive. Many of these Fil-Ams lament that if only there are more and better employment opportunities back home, then their families would not be very dependent on them financially. If only…

That is why news about corruption and incom-petence of those in public office infuriate a lot of kababayans in America. The Internet, social me-dia and ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” have provided these kababayans the platform to help them voice out their concerns and opinions about the political situation in the Philippines. However, we can do more to effect change in the Philippines. This is through exercising the right to suffrage.

Filipino citizens residing abroad, or those who

may have already naturalized cit-izens of other countries but have come dual citizens, can vote -- and these votes will count. There may have been very low turnout in the past election cycles, but again, because of the power of the Internet, social media, and global broadcast organizations like ABS-CBN, more and more kababayans are now compelled to register as Overseas Absentee Voters (OAV).

There have been some flaws and loopholes in Philippine election laws that discourage more kababayans outside of the country from participat-ing in Philippine elections, but with the advocacy of Filipino community leaders abroad, especially from the United States, these laws have been chal-lenged and amended so more of global Filipinos can cast their sacred and consequential votes.

One of these advocates is Atty. Ted Laguatan, an active Fil-Am leader based in San Francisco, California.

Laguatan filed a petition before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) -- on behalf of US Pinoys for Good Governance (USPGG), Global Filipino Diaspora Council (GFDC), European Network of

Filipinos in the Diaspora (ENFID) and thousands of overseas reg-istered voters — requesting the Comelec not to disenfranchise about 167,000 registered vot-ers who failed to consecutively vote twice. As a result, Laguatan sent “Balitang America” the good news: the Comelec had a meeting en banc to consider such petition

and came out with a very positive resolution.The resolution stipulates that on May 27, 2013,

Congress amended RA 9189 of the Overseas Ab-sentee Voting Act of 2003, replacing it with RA 10590 and making it mandatory and not discre-tionary for the Comelec to deactivate overseas registered voters who fail to vote twice consecu-tively.

Affirming the arguments presented by Lagua-tan in the petition, the resolution recognized the clamor of overseas voters not to disenfranchise them for failing to vote twice. This resolution also affirms the importance of the right of suffrage of every Filipino, wherever they may be.

Laguatan reported that the final policy decision, which was approved unanimously, extends the date for reactivation from Oct. 31, 2015 to Dec. 9,

2015. It also made reactivation a very easy pro-cess. Just mail, fax or email the Comelec before this date and the deactivated overseas voter can still participate in the May 2016 elections.

Laguatan enthused: “Registered overseas voters now have exceed-

ed the one million mark and with time continue to grow in numbers. They can be a real force for good. In general ORVs [Overseas Registered Vot-ers] cannot be bought nor coerced by goons. They are also better informed. As such, they tend to vote for the best candidates in terms of integrity and competence. They can change the quality of our national leadership with their votes and the votes of their relatives in the Philippines whom they help and who will follow their directions on which candidates to vote for. This is one way in which we can change the political culture in the Philip-pines, have good honest non-corrupt leaders and create a better life for Filipinos everywhere in the world.”

* * *

Fil-Ams can help decide who will be the next Philippine president

GEL SANTOS-RELOS

The Fil-Am Perspective

the AlDub phenomenon of GMA Network’s Eat Bulaga? That has certainly brought home the point that the Internet can have a tre-mendous impact on average folks.

But does that power extend to politics? Not quite.

According to my drinking bud-dy, the small town vice-mayor, down at the grassroots the magic word is “mobilization.” That’s a euphemism for vote-buying.

The cost of running for pub-lic office, at least in my friend’s hometown, can drive the likes of Grace Poe, with her supposed halo of honesty and integrity, to steal from the public coffers upon being sworn into office (or allow her big business funders to do it). I’m afraid the situation isn’t very much different anywhere else in the Philippines.

There’s one more fallacy that the “electoral reformists” need to swallow. A presidential campaign is a Big Money Game and the King of Kurakot or Potentate of Plunder is not necessarily the one being relentlessly investigated by the Senate and crucified on TV and the dailies.

In a recent story in Philippine Star, Paolo Romero wrote: “Some P45 billion in lump sums under the so-called Bottom-Up Budget-ing (BUB) provisions in the budget program for this year and for 2016 will be used to boost the presiden-tial bid of Manuel Roxas II, an op-position lawmaker said yesterday.

“Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon raised the issue during plenary debates on the proposed budget of the Department of the

Interior and Local Government (DILG), which Roxas headed until last month. ‘There is a reason why Roxas has been going around the country in the past months to pro-mote BUB and even inaugurate BUB projects in the past months,’ Ridon said.”

That, according to my drinking buddy, is just one part of “mobili-zation.” Manny Villar’s fabled war chest in the 2010 campaign (said to be at P3.5 billion) is chicken feed compared to that of Roxas. If you think that spending the people’s money for a presidential campaign isn’t kurakotand plunder, then you must be like the monkey who sees, speaks and hears no evil.

Several decades ago, on a trip to Leyte, I happened to have a ca-sual conversation with someone who had just run for congressman and had lost. He was furious at the way his opponent – who had won – had bribed voters to the tune of P100 per head. I was about to shower him with sympathy but did a double-take when he added that he could only afford to give P50.

Well, these days, P100 won’t win you a congressional seat any-more, said my drinking buddy. He recalled how he had to spend one million pesos when he ran for vice-mayor the last time. And he just barely won. How a vice-mayor of a third class municipality can justify spending a million for a po-sition that officially pays peanuts may be explained by the fact that the potential unofficial earnings are more than peanuts.

I asked him what the going rate

Being Filipino American in the GOP

RON FALCONI, MAYOR OF BRUNSWICK,OHIO

Commentary

DR. Jose Rizal, a national hero of the Philippines, placed a high value on civic involvement wher-ever he was, whether it be the Philippines or travelling around the world. He wanted the Phil-ippines to be more involved in shaping its destiny and wanted the people to have more control of their government – ideals similar to those of the Republi-can Party. As we celebrate Fili-pino American History Month, I reflect on my Filipino heritage and the values I share with the Republican Party and Rizal’s words from the 17th century, which still ring true today.

I was born and raised in north-eastern Ohio as the son of two Filipino immigrants who came to America in the 1960’s in search of the American dream. My par-ents taught me the importance of God, family, hard work, and self-reliance. Growing up during the Reagan Revolution, I found a home in the Republican Party because I realized that the values my parents taught me were also the bedrock principles of the party. Ever since I attended my first political gathering, this Par-ty has always made me feel wel-comed, accepted, and included. Over my lifetime, I have worked

with three different Republican Party County organizations in two different states, but no mat-ter where I go, my friends from the Party are more like my fam-ily. The Grand Old Party (GOP) has always encouraged me to be involved in the political process because we share the same common principles. The GOP continues to stand for a strong national defense, lower taxes, religious values, and of course, smaller government.

As the mayor of Brunswick, Ohio, a town of approximately 35,000 people, I am proud of my heritage. My wife was born and raised in the Philippines. We raise our two teenage kids with the same values that have been taught to us. We work hard, go to church, and contribute back to our community. These val-ues are not only Filipino values or Republican values, but more importantly they are also Ameri-can values. Even though we speak Tagalog at home and eat Filipino food, we are Americans first, and we celebrate these core principles that are shared across cultures, across traditions and in my Party.

Recently, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus spoke on the importance of the role that Filipino Americans play in our society as well as the great con-tributions they have made to our country. The RNC continues to engage and build meaningful relationships with Filipino com-munities across the country,

and encourage them to get involved in our political process as we continue to build upon the American dream.

I believe that Dr. Rizal’s words and actions of greater civic en-gagement have a direct impact on how our communities move forward and thrive. Recently, I addressed the National Fed-eration of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA Region 3 East) and talked about further-ing our community’s political involvement. At the Knights of Rizal International Conference last year in Greater Cleveland, I spoke about leadership and how it affects our Filipino communi-ties here in America. There is a need for greater participation of the Filipino American com-munity in the political life of our cities, townships, states, and even our federal government in Washington. The GOP can help us get there.

As we celebrate Filipino Amer-ican History Month this October, I ask all of you to be open to the message of the GOP. As Ameri-cans of Filipino descent, we share similar beliefs and values, and we want a better tomorrow for our children. The GOP is an inclusive party made up of many different kinds of people with diverse backgrounds and is the best vehicle for turning our country in the right direction. It is my home – and it can be yours too. I ask all of you to join our Party and help us to restore the American dream.

Being Filipino American in the GOP

Insights from a small town politicianwas these days in his hometown. According to him, it’s P50 per vot-er if you’re running for councilor, P100 to P150 if you’re a candidate for mayor or vice-mayor, P500 if you want to become a congress-man and as much as a thousand if you are aiming for the presi-dency.

“A ward leader usually ac-counts for about a dozen voters,” my friend continued. “When he attends a meeting called by the provincial coordinator of a candi-date, he is expected to bring home the ‘mobilization.’ Otherwise, he will lose face as well as his cred-ibility.”

Now, that’s just for buying votes. The cost of maintaining the campaign machinery is an-other thing altogether. In an ar-ticle for Bulatlat, Karl G. Ombion and Max Cordero, related how an independent activist group in Ba-colod computed the expenditures of a trapo or traditional politician running for congress or for mayor in the province.

“Payroll accounts for the high-est expenditure of politicians,” the article stated. “As many as 6,000 ward leaders are maintained by trapos. Ward leaders consti-tute the backbone of election

campaign organizations. They are the campaigners in the puroks or barangays (villages) where they live. They receive a minimum of P2,000 per month for three months prior to the election. This alone costs P12 million per month or P36,000,000 for three months.” The article broke down the “mini-mum expenses” of a candidate in Bacolod, on top of the budget for ward leaders, and that added up to more than P73 million.

What happens if you don’t have enough funds for “mobilization”?

“Don’t bother to run,“ was the reply. “Or run to lose.”

That last statement reminded me of a certain senator who has insisted on running for vice-presi-dent even while his survey ratings have been pitifully low. “He’s sure to lose,” said one commentator. “But he will win.”

What the commentator meant, of course, was that the senator-cum-VP aspirant is expected to make a neat sum from contribu-tions from businessmen and the usual election bettors, namely, gambling lords and assorted rack-eteers. So, even if he loses, he still wins. Besides, he won’t have to give up his Senate seat.

I asked my drinking buddy if the improved political awareness

of the provincial voters, due to the extensive reach of network TV and the Internet, will have any influ-ence on their voting preferences.

“Of course that will influence their votes, TV particularly,” he replied. “But the mobilization will have a greater influence.”

“Does it mean that whoever has billions in his campaign chest is a sure winner?” I pressed.

My drinking buddy hastened to clarify the point. “The big spend-ers have a major advantage,” he said. “But the voters could also accept the money from one candi-date but vote for somebody else.”

“And why would they do that?”“There’s one thing that works

as well as mobilization,” he ex-plained. “And that is the personal touch. When a candidate actually goes out of his way to personally talk to the voters, that could neu-tralize the influence of money. ”

And then he added: “People also don’t forget being told ‘Baha-la kayo sa buhay niyo!’ and ‘Buhay ka pa naman, hindi ba?’”

“But an opposition candidate will still have to provide mobiliza-tion,” I clarified.

“Siyempre,” was his reply. “But, at least, it will cost him less.” (gregmacabenta@hotmail.com)

Malacañang bent on pushing BBL passagesupporting the BBL.

“(To say that the) MNLF, MILF agreed to support BBL in its pres-ent form is misleading. The MNLF does not agree to support the BBL. It’s misleading the people and it’s misleading the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) itself,” Hashim said over the weekend.

It appeared that the Muslimin Sema faction of the MNLF and MILF chairman Ebrahim Murad issued a joint statement that called for the passage of an “undiluted”

BBL after a meeting on Oct. 3 in Camp Darapanan, Maguindanao. Both declared that a diluted BBL will not conform with the imple-mentation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) forged last year and 1996 MNLF final peace agreement (FPA).

“Please be informed that Mu (Muslimin) Sema and his group do not represent the whole of the MNLF. It is a faction or a fraction of MNLF. I would say a majority, 90 to 95 percent of the MNLF, are

against BBL in its present form,” Hashim declared.

Hashim maintained the main-stream MNLF strongly objected to the BBL for two reasons: “it is unconstitutional and illegal.”

He said the BBL is illegal be-cause of the existing peace agree-ment between the Philippine gov-ernment and the MNLF, which is supposed to be in its last stage of implementation but would be cut short after the Aquino adminis-tration enters into another agree-ment.

THE Philippines is not the easi-est country to pay taxes in, ac-cording to a study conducted by international audit firm Pricewa-terhouseCoopers (PwC).

Out of 189 economies reviewed in the report called “Paying Taxes 2015” for ease of paying business taxes, the Philippines ranked 127.

In the country, it takes 193 hours for a business to comply with 36 required payments, ac-cording to the PwC study. On av-erage, a Philippine employer pays 42.5 percent in taxes and contri-butions, 6 percent above the av-erage tax rate in the Asia Pacific region.

Sen. Francis Escudero, citing the study, said the Philippines has one of the most tedious processes for paying taxes in the world and holds the highest income tax rate in Asia.

“Where else will you find a country that taxes its people se-verely and then makes it hard for them to pay?” he said

Escudero further pointed out that the Philippines is three ranks above Sierra Leone and 12 ranks ahead of Sudan.

by AGNES CONSTANTEAJPress

“In fact, it’s even easier to pay taxes in Iraq, Iran and Afghani-stan. What does that say about us?” he said.

The PwC study is completed annually and is included in the World Bank Group’s “Doing Busi-ness” project. It attains its find-ings by assessing the length of time it takes mid-sized companies to prepare, file, and pay its taxes; the number of taxes a business must pay; the method of payment; and the total tax liability as a per-centage of its commercial profits.

On Monday, Oct. 19, the Mala-canang said it would continue working to simplify the tax paying process.

The government, through the Bureau of Internal Revenue, is taking measures to make paying taxes more efficient to boost the economy, Presidential Commu-nications Operations Office Sec-retary Herminio Coloma Jr. said, according to CNN.

Simplifying taxes in the Philip-pines is key to sustaining the sta-bility and growth it has attained in the last five years, said Steve Forbes, chair and editor-in-chief of Forbes Manila, according to InterAksyon.

Neighboring Asian nations

ranked significantly higher than the Philippines, including Hong Kong and Singapore, which ranked fourth and fifth with three and five tax payments, respec-tively.

“How can we encourage inves-tors to come and put their money here when a third of that will go to taxes that will be difficult to pay?” Escudero said.

The senator urged Filipinos to make tax reforms an election is-sue so more leaders would back legislative efforts to amend the Tax Reform of 1997, according to InterAksyon.

“Everyone is now singing the same tune, even those who were hesitant to support us in the past. And that’s fine. The important thing is to let this campaign for tax reforms gather steam because it is a legitimate issue that begs to be addressed if we want to sustain economic growth,” he said.

United Arab Emirates and Qa-tar tied for the top spot on the list, requiring four payments that could be completed in 12 hours and 41 hours, respectively.

Bolivia ranked last among the 189 countries, with its tax proce-dure requiring 42 payments that take 1,025 hours to complete.

Study: PH ranks 127 out of 189 countries in ease of paying business taxes

Bongbong Marcos: Surname not an issueby MARVIN SY

Philstar.com

MANILA—The Marcos name and all its baggage would not be an issue when he runs for the vice presidency next year, Sen. Ferdi-nand Marcos Jr. said on Monday, Oct. 19.

However, he is “not inclined to back out from discussions regard-ing the non-issue topic,” but would rather talk about more pressing matters in the country, Marcos said in a statement.

“We should prioritize the issues that the common people are think-ing about every day,” he said.

Marcos cited examples like the proliferation of illegal drugs, the high price of basic goods and ser-vices, graft and corruption and un-employment.

Issues regarding his family background are something that matters only to politicians and cer-tain groups and not the masses, he said.

“Here in Manila, it is the traf-fic, MRT, telecommunications and even the slow Internet… that

should be addressed first because these are what the people are wait-ing for and expect the government to solve,” he said.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who has chosen Marcos as her running mate, said it is still impor-tant to go over the details of mar-tial law “so we will know what path we shall take for the millennials.”

“Many people did not mind the imposition of martial law at first,” she said.

“In the first few years, there was much more order in the streets, but eventually I think that martial law did not proceed as intended.”

Discussions on martial law would persist because it continues to provide an insight about how the period shaped the future of the nation, she added.

Santiago does not believe the Marcoses, as a family, owe the country an apology for martial law.

“In the first place, it was not the case that President Marcos, the father, pooled all the Marcoses in one table and they all decided

jointly to do certain activities that were later viewed with disinterest or distaste or even outright criti-cism by other Filipinos,” she said.

“That was not the case, they did not agree as a family to sit down and say: ‘Okay, let us do this. Let us set up curfews. Let us regulate the issuance of firearms and so on.’ That was not the case. This was all a result, not of a familial discussion, but a result of policy decisions of the executive depart-ment of the government—Presi-dent Marcos and his advisers.”

Meanwhile, Marcos believes he is taking a huge political risk in running for vice president next year.

He will face four strong candi-dates, including three of his col-leagues in the Senate.

Sen. Francis Escudero is the running mate of Sen. Grace Poe, while Sens. Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano are run-ning as independent candidates.

Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robre-do is the running mate of Roxas of the Liberal Party.

VEGAS&STYLEJOURNAL

Model from Nueva Vizcaya crowned Miss World Philippines 2015By AGNES CONSTANTE

AJPRESS

A Filipino-Chinese model and children’s health advocate from Nueva Vizcaya was crowned Miss World Philippines 2015 during a pageant held at the Solaire Resort Casino in Paranaque City on Sun-day, Oct. 18.

Hillarie Danielle Ang Parungao, 24, beat 25 other candidates to represent the Philippines in the Miss World 2015 competition to be held on Dec. 19 in Sanya, China. In addition to winning the crown, she took home several special awards, including: best in swimsuit, best in sports challenge, best in fashion runway and best in long gown.

Parungao also excelled in the question and answer portion of the competition during the Top 13 semifinals and Top 5 finals.

“My philosophy always relies on compassion which can open doors to challenges in life. In compassion, we get to understand people, and in understanding people, we become a better society,” she said, accord-

New martial arts drama series starring Asian Americans to premiere in November

by AGNES CONSTANTE AJPress

A NEW AMC martial arts drama series starring Asian American actors Daniel Wu (“Tai Chi Zero,” 2012) and Aramis Knight (“The Dark Knight Rises,” 2012) is set to hit screens this November.

“Into the Badlands” is a six-part series set centuries into the future in a feudal society called the Badlands. Seven rival Barons have control of the resources necessary to daily life and are able to do so with the help of armies composed of Clippers.

Among these Clippers is a well-trained warrior named Sunny, portrayed by Wu, who encoun-ters a young boy named M.K., portrayed by Knight, in an at-tack against the Badland’s most powerful Baron, Quinn, to who Sunny’s loyalty is dedicated. The

series follows the spiritual jour-ney of Sunny and M.K. across a dangerous land.

Based loosely on the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West, the action-packed series has already been touted for ‘ground-breaking’ casting, NBC News reported.

Wu, who was original ly brought in to produce the show, wound be being cast as the lead of the series.

“It’s awesome AMC was ada-mant,” he told an auditorium of fans at New York Comic Con, according to NBC. “They were adamant that the lead was an Asian [that] there was an Asian American to play this role.”

During the panel discussion in New York, Wu was asked about how he felt being one among a handful of Asian leads cast in a

television show in recent times.“I didn’t think about it until

after we were done...because I had a career for 18 years in Hong Kong where I didn’t have to think about race at all,” Wu said, ac-cording to NBC. “And to come back here and be that, to think about when has it been since we’ve seen an Asian American lead in a show – almost never.”

In the series, Wu interacts closely with 16-year-old Knight, who is of German, Eastern Indian and Pakistani descent. At a media roundtable on Tuesday, Oct. 13, Knight admitted to not knowing of Wu’s popularity prior to the show. However, he described working with the actor as “amazing.” With no prior martial arts training, Knight went through a seven-week boot camp and received advice from Wu to prevent injury

and increase flexibility.“We developed sort of an

apprentice-master relationship throughout fight camp because he did help me so much,” Knight said, adding that the pair formed a relationship off the set that played into the series.

“That’ll definitely be obvious

when people start watching it, that the relationship between M.K. and Sunny is very similar to that of me and Daniel’s,” he said.

Fight scenes in the show were choreographed under the direc-tion of Stephen Fung, who served as both executive producer and

fight director. At the roundtable, he expressed pride in the actors on the series who never had a day of martial arts training but managed to execute moves on screen.

“Into the Badlands” is set to premiere on Nov. 15 at 10 pm ET/PT.

Fil-Am actor Marc Dela Cruz joins Menzel in nat’l tour of ‘If/Then’NEW YORK CITY—Filipino

American actor Marc Dela Cruz joins Broadway super-star Idina Menzel and Antho-ny Rapp in the national tour of the musical “If/Then.”

Dela Cruz made his Broad-way debut last year as an un-derstudy for the role of David, which he will now play in the tour. Menzel also starred in “Wicked,” “Glee,” “Frozen” and Rapp in “Rent,” and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

The show is from the same team that created the Pulitzer prize-winning musical “Next to Normal” and follows two distinct storylines in the life of Elizabeth (Menzel), a city planner who moves back to New York to restart her life and career.

The musical will play in 23 cities, kicking off in Denver and moving on to Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles this year. Next year, it tours

San Diego, Tempe and Costa Mesa.

Born to a Filipino father and a Japanese mother, Dela Cruz was born in Hawaii and raised in Seattle, where he got his start in the industry. He was part of the world premier cast of “Allegiance” at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre alongside George Takei and Lea Salonga.

Other credits include Thuy in “Miss Saigon,” Chip Tolen-tino in The 25th Annual Put-nam County Spelling Bee and the national tour of Disney’s “High School Musical. “He originated a role in the long running stage serial “Sex in Seattle” and has appeared in in Pulitzer Prize winner Brian Yorkey’s Asian American rock musical “Making Tracks.” He made his off-Broadway debut as one of seven actors portray-ing Helen Keller in Transport Group’s “Three Days to See.” (Inquirer.net)

ing to Manila Bulletin.“Let us not forget why I will be

on stage, and that is so I can get a bigger platform (the crown) to speak and do more for the chil-dren.”

In an interview with Philstar, Parungao, who placed third run-ner-up when she represented the Philippines in the Miss Asia Pacific World pageant last year, said she entered the pageant because she believed it would open more op-portunities for her and allow her voice to be heard.

“[I] have an advocacy and I really want to focus on that. And I was looking for a better venue for that. A better venue for me to have a voice and what would be [better] than Miss World Philippines,” she said.

The 5’7’’ beauty queen recently started a program, “Katuwang: A Fight Against Child Mortal-ity,” which aims to eliminate child mortality by spreading awareness on health needs and issues facing children. She has so far organized volunteers in informing families

about proper nutrition intake and carrying out regular physical tests of children, Manila Bulletin re-ported.

Additionally, in September, she put together a fun run to raise funds for health programs for children.

The first, second, third and fourth princesses of the pageant were Marita Cassandra Naidas, Mia Allyson Howell, Maria Vanessa Wright and Emma Mary Tiglao, respectively.

Fil-Am advances to ‘The Voice’ Knockout RoundsFILIPINO-AMERICAN sing-

er Amy Vachal advanced to the Knockout Rounds of “The Voice” USA after winning during the Battle Rounds of the competition on Tuesday, Oct. 20.

Singing the Bee Gees hit “To Love Somebody,” Vachal was picked by her coach Pharrell Williams over rivals Jubal and Amanda.

He praised Vachal for her “deli-cate approach to songs.”

“I can only imagine people lis-tening to your voice after having a really tough day, you just make everything feel like it’s gonna be all right. You are amazing,” Wil-liams said.

Judge Gwen Stefani said their performance was “so beautiful,” but described Amy as a star, once again comparing her to Pocahontas.

“On my mind, her on her own, she is a star,” Stefani said, refer-

ring to Vachal.Adam Levine said Vachal was

“shining up there on (her) own.”When it’s Blake Shelton’s turn

to give his comments, he said it still hurts that Vachal didn’t pick him during the blind auditions.

“Amy, the most hurtful rejec-tion I have ever had on this show is when you didn’t pick me in the blind auditions. It still huvrts right now,” Shelton said.

During her blind auditions, Vachal got a standing ovation from the three judges.

The only coach who did not turn his chair for Vachal was Levine, who was apologetic for not turning around because his team was already full.

In the end, Vachal made the decision and picked Williams as her coach.

During “The Voice’s” previous season, another Filipino, Nathan Hermida, made it to the live

Betcha by Wally, wow!COMEDY is a tricky thing. I re-

ally think that it’s harder to make people laugh than cry. A good comedian must be able to gauge the sensibilities of his audience and have perfect timing.

Wally Bayola has mastered the art of comedy. His wacky portray-al of Lola Nidora in “Eat Bulaga’s” phenomenal kalyeserye is one for the books. Kudos to Wally, AlDub (the Alden Richards-Maine “Yaya Dub” Mendoza pairing) and the rest of the hit noontime show’s cast for reinventing Pinoys’ sim-ple yet pure joys.

Here’s my one-on-one with Wally:

How has your Lola Nidora role changed you as a person and a performer?

I have played many characters in the show but Lola became popular thanks to AlDub. And of course, as a performer, I feel like I leveled up.

How similar is the character to your real grandmothers?

To be honest, Lola Nidora is

based on my maternal grand-mother. So Lola Nidora is often strict. You have to know household chores. My advice to Yaya Dub on wearing proper clothing is inspired by her. You couldn’t slouch and be inattentive in church or she’d pinch you.

What is the magic behind the AlDub tandem?

It still puzzles people. Young or old, they’re fans of AlDub. Even men are thrilled by it. It moves people.

Do you think that Maine and Alden will end up together for real?

Maybe! This is just acting, but they’re still people with feelings. If they get together in real life, why not? That would be great. AlDub is already inspiring, and it would even be more so if they get together for real.

What’s your advice to aspir-ing comedians?

What I learned in comedy is nonstop education, research, and figuring out the tastes of people. So you need to adjust.

Do you feel pressured to keep outdoing yourself?

Not really. What I learned from Joey de Leon was, you should love your job, whatever it is. Love it so that you won’t feel pressured, so that you will always feel inspired and energetic. But I’m not really pressured because of the writers of “Eat Bulaga.”

How do you and Jose Manalo handle artistic differences?

When we perform, we comple-ment each other. We support each other like a duo in comedy bars.

What does your family think of Lola Nidora?

They’re surprised when I come home as Wally, like they’re not used to me anymore. After the show, they watch again online. Sometimes, they get mad at me for being strict with AlDub! They’re affected.

How do you manage to put on a brave face while your daughter Marianne is battling the Big C?

The show is only a few hours. After work, that’s when I feel sad. Her college batchmates are graduating.

Which of Lola Nidora’s words of wisdom is your fave?

Huwag kang matakot magma-hal basta totoo. (Don’t be afraid to love if it’s true.)

Are those words your own or from the script?

It’s from the script but I added a sermon—“make sure your in-tentions are pure.”

What’s your fave candid mo-ment with Alden and Maine?

With Yaya, I have many. I asked her once, how does she keep herself from feeling nervous? She said, “Happy thoughts—think of your crush!”

If your life story were a movie, what would the title be?

“Sa Tamang Panahon”!

by DOLLY ANNE CARVAJALInquirer.net

Iza Calzado: I salute housewivesMANILA—Iza Calzado has expressed her admira-

tion to housewives.In her recent movie “Etiquette for Mistresses,”

she portrayed the role of a career-driven woman.“Women who chose to become housewives, they

are not less of a woman who decide to be career-driven,” she said in an interview on Tuesday.

“I admire women who choose to become house-wives and who are selfless enough to give up their careers to start a family or put their careers on hold if not give it up,” she added.

The Kapamilya actress admits that as of the mo-ment, she cannot see herself giving up her career.

“I’m not selfless enough yet,” she explained. “I’m too selfish and career-driven. But one day I would love to be a wife, a housewife.”

After the success of her movie with Kris Aquino, Claudine Barretto, Kim Chiu and Cheena Crab, Iza will be seen on two more movies this year.

“I’ll do an indie film with Paolo Herras as director for ‘Buhay Habangbuhay,’” she said. “I just finished doing a cameo for ‘Hunted Mansion’ which is part

of the film festival, and I might be doing something with Quark Henares.”

As for TV series, she’s still to meet with ABS-CBN executives to discuss an upcoming project on the first quarter of 2016.

by JOYCE JIMENEZ Philstar.com

rounds as part of Team Adam. (Inquirer.net)

‘On the Wings of Love’ soars high; James, Nadine thank fans for show’s success

by RISSA M. CAMONGOLInquirer.net

THE primetime drama “On the Wings of Love” soars high as it finishes its second month with consistently high ratings and a strong showing on social media, according to its home network ABS-CBN.

In a media event on Monday, Oct. 19 at ELJ Communications Center, ABS-CBN thanked the show’s fans for watching the show and making each episode trend by at least a million tweets.

The Kapamilya drama regis-tered an all-time high rating of 47 percent last week, said ABS-CBN advertising and promotions head Eric John Salut.

The stars of the top-rating dra-ma, James Reid, Nadine Lustre, and Albie Casiño, have expressed their elation over the “overwhelm-ing” response of the viewing public to their show.

“It’s a new feeling,” says James. “I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

Nadine, for her part, was “su-per happy” despite feeling giddy. “Until now, kinakabahan pa rin ako,” she said, adding she’s striving to work hard for their program.

She also promised more “kilig” (mush) in future episodes.

The onscreen couple thanked their fans, most especially the overseas Filipino workers, for supporting the show.

‘Fake’ couple“On the Wings of Love” tells

the story of a woman who agrees to a fixed marriage with a US resident so she can have a green card. The “fake” couple later on fall in love despite opposition from people around them.

“We didn’t expect it would be this big,” said James.

Nadine said she was glad that the series made people happy. “Happy kasi ang dam-ing nanonood, like mga lola na nagsasabing feeling bata daw ulit sila.”

“It made people believe in love again,” added James.

James also promised more laughs in future episodes. “This

time the joke’s on Clark,” he said. “Clark’s trying to win Leah, but Mang Sol is messing with him.”

James plays the role of Clark Medina, while Nadine plays his wife Leah Olivar. Joel Torre por-trays Leah’s dad Mang Sol.

Meanwhile, Albie Casiño aka Jigs, the show’s resident “villain,” relishes his newfound “notori-ety.”

“It means I’m doing my job well,” Albie said as he thanked his bashers. “Salamat sa lahat ng galit sa ‘kin,” he added.

Albie said playing Jigs was not difficult for him because he understood his character.

“Hindi mahirap yung role. Naiintindihan ko si Jigs,” he said, noting that his character was left by everyone he loved, hence the mean streak.

Better actorIn real life, however, Albie was

quick to point out that he had a good working relationship with his coactors. “Everyone is having fun,” he said.

He also added that working in the series inspired him to become a better actor, that he always brought his “A-game” especially when working with his mother in the series, Cherry Pie Picache or Jack.

He also said he was thankful for this “second lease” in his act-

ing career.The actor had been involved in

several issues in the past, the most notable of which involved his for-mer girlfriend, Andi Eigenmann.

In a recent interview, Albie also revealed that he had attention def-icit hyperactivity disorder, which made him leave the network.

In November, the show will come out in DVD featuring the first six weeks’ episodes, accord-ing to Deo Endrinal, head of the Dreamscape Entertainment unit of ABS-CBN.

He also said the show would run until next year so the fans would see their favorite characters celebrating the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Arnel Nacario, the show’s executive producer, also said he didn’t expect the show would be such a hit, especially among OFWs.

The OFW storyline, he said, was backed by research from ABS-CBN’s The Filipino Channel, which ensured the authenticity of the issues tackled in the show.

The producer said the drama, which was initially intended to be just a love story, touched hearts because it also dealt with family issues.

“(The response) was very spon-taneous,” he said. “It inspires and motivates us to do our best.”

Jim Paredes: Embrace OPMMANILA—Jim Paredes be-

lieves that Original Pilipino Mu-sic artists and Filipinos should embrace OPM before the world recognizes it.

“I’ve always said before that for us to become international, we have to come in as Filipinos,” he said in a recent interview.

He took for example the Korean pop music, which he said gained popularity after Koreans have supported their own music.

“So I really think, we really have to do OPM for Filipinos and gano’n tayo mapapansin sa mun-do. We cannot come in sounding like LA, we have to come in as who we are,” he said.

Paredes also reminded OPM artists that “kung gusto natin mapansin sa mundo, dapat content-provided tayo. Right now hardware provided tayo. Magagaling ang singers natin, but they don’t sing OPM to the world.”

“So what we need is we have the hardware, and that hardware will sing OPM to the world, the world will listen,” he added.

In the end, Paredes empha-sized that for the OPM industry to continuously evolve and be known to the world, the artists and the Filipinos should work hand-in-hand in making the world listen to OPM.

by JOYCE JIMENEZ/Philstar.com

Former ‘kasambahay’ hopes to be ‘Cinderella of the world’ at Miss International 2015

by CHUCK SMITH Philstar.com

MANILA—Janicel Lubina is confident she is prepared to compete in this year’s Miss In-ternational pageant, to be held in Japan on November 5.

“I know all of us (in the com-petition) are beautiful. But then, I know in myself that I am ready enough to conquer the stage. And I know God will guide me,” the 20-year-old beauty queen told members of the press during her a media gathering on Wednesday.

She also said: “I know I am ready enough to compete.”

Janicel won the Bb.Pilipinas-International title earlier this year, but she has been on the radar of beauty pageant enthusiasts since a few years ago. Janicel was among the candidates of 2013 Miss World Philippines, where she placed second to Megan Young (who later on won the Miss World crown in London).

She also competed in the Miss Scuba International 2012 and Slimmers World Miss Bikini Philippines 2013 pageants.

The story of her humble begin-nings as a former househelper and farmer from the province also captivated the attention of the press and the public, making her a favorite during the Bb. Pilipinas 2015 pageant earlier this year.

She was even tagged by the media as “Philippines’ Cinder-ella.”

For the 55th Miss International pageant, Janicel hopes to bring home the crown and prove her moniker true.

“I pray nga na, God, sana ibi-gay mo na ito sa akin. Ang ganda

rin namang pakinggan from hum-ble beginnings (to beauty pageant titleholder),” she said.

Janicel further quipped: “A lot of media call me naman as the Cinderella of the Philippines. Then let’s make it internationally, di ba? Cinderella of the world!”

She admits feeling pressured, with just a few weeks before the pageant. Janicel will compete for the crown after fellow Bb. Pilipinas beauty queen Ann Colis won the Miss Globe 2015 title in Canada earlier this month.

“N’ung nalaman ko na nanalo [si Ann], I didn’t know what to do. Naalarma ako... Yung determina-tion ko is kailangan ko palang doblehin,” she said. “Namotivate talaga ako n’ung nanalo si Ann. I have to win.”

The beauty queen said she did “a lot of trainings”—from makeup training to personality develop-ment. Now, Janicel said she’s working on her “mindset.”

“Sometimes, I cry because I saw the pictures of the other candidates and they (social media bashers) told me I’m not gonna win and ‘they’re more beautiful than you’,” she said. “But I don’t believe in that because I know myself and I know my capacity.”

“Kahit gaano pa kaganda yung kalaban, ang dami ko ng sinali-hang pageant and I know kaya ko silang lahat.”

The Philippines won the Miss International title five times in the past, Bea Rose Santiago being the latest Filipina winner to bring home the crown.

Last year, Philippine bet Bi-anca Guidotti failed to make it in the Miss International top 10.

The last quarter of the year will

Solenn, ‘Flotsam,’ and the La Union magicby CHRISTINA ALPAD

ManilaTimes.net

WHEREAS Star Cinema’s When Love Begins has Boracay, and That Thing Called Tadhna, Baguio and Sagada, Flotsam, the latest maindie (an independent production that casts actors from mainstream films) seeks to cap-ture La Union’s “magic.”

The movie, named after a quaint artist’s beach hotel in San Juan, La Union, is a love anthology with eight interweaving stories. The story starts when a work-ob-sessed overachiever named Kai (Solenn Heussaff) arrives in the Elysian Surf Town to run away from a volatile relationship. Kai takes refuge at Flotsam where she meets Tisoy (Rocco Nacino), a very mysterious local bartender who becomes her summer fling.

Rounding up the cast of this romantic flick is Carla Humphries, Marc Abaya, Mara Lopez, Franco Daza, Zack Varkaris, Jun King Austria, Barbara Miguel, Adrian Cabido, Gerard Garcia, Anja Pe-ter, and Julia Quisimbing in an introductory role, along with lo-cal actors Jeff Ortega and Lemon Superstar Dines.

Magical and musicalSolenn, who said that the cast

and crew shot the entire film in La Union for two straight weeks, de-scribed to The Manila Times their “magical” location as “a humble community where everyone lives within the same standards.”

“They had no quirks, no noth-ing,” she began. “Like while working there, whenever I had free time, I’d go to the coffee shop nearby. I’d walk on the road and walang papansin sa akin. Then I’d go to the bartender and have an hour-long conversation. It was a normal scene and there would be no expectations [like in Manila]. You can just talk to anyone.”

Elaborating, the actress contin-ued, “La Union is less visited. You have to drive four to five hours, but when you get there, kayo lang sa beach and ang laki ng beach. During the shoot, I’d run in the morning along the beach. It’s super, super safe.”

Besides the scenic views of La Union, Flotsam also boasts of its live musical scoring, originally written for the film by Eraserheads guitarist Surfernando Marcus Adoro, and Flotsam Folk Yeah! Family Band’s Mia Sebastian and Kiddo Cosio.

The songs were not only sung live, but also recorded real-time in

true jamming sessions to reflect the true musicality of Flotsam.

“They’re beautifully written and we all get emotional when we sing the songs on set,” Solenn added.

Defining ‘Flotsam’Solenn, whose past films in-

clude Status: It’s Complicated, Temptation Island (2011), Sosy Problems, to name a few, is clearly very excited for her newest big screen offering for its unique sell-

ing points.Even the title, she related is

meaningful as it is unusual.“The meaning of flotsam is the

debris from a shipwreck that float on the ocean and end up some-where. So it’s like different people, different love stories that end up somewhere. Flotsam also portrays the surfers that are just floating and waiting for a wave to come along—waiting for something new in their life to come.”

see the country’s beauty queens representing the country in inter-national pageants.

Parul Shah, a Bb. Pilipinas titleholder from 2014, will com-pete in the Miss Grand Interna-tional 2015 pageant in Thailand later this month. Pia Wurtzbach is also expected to compete in the Miss Universe pageant before the year ends.

The country’s representative to this year’s Miss World pageant is expected to compete in China and Angelia Ong will compete in the Miss Earth pageant in Austria this December.

DAVAO CITY—“I am Apl.de.ap and I am blind,” said the Filipino-American rapper of the Grammy Award-winning Black-Eyed Peas, as he turned over a retinal camera to the Southern Philippines Medi-cal Center (SPMC) here.

A retinal camera is a medical equipment that is seen to boost the hospital’s capacity to diag-nose Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). ROP is an eye condition which, if untreated within 48 hours, can cause blindness among newborn infants.

“I am legally blind that’s why this campaign is very close to my heart,” said Apl.de.ap, spelled out Allan Pineda Lindo from Angeles, Pampanga, who in recent years had set up the “Apl.de.ap Founda-tion” to embark upon giving edu-cation aid and addressing health care needs of Filipino children who could not afford the services.

Stricken by an eye condition called nystagmus, Pineda who grew up impoverished under the care of his single mother, recalled the hard life of being visually impaired.

“I had difficulties going to school,” said Pineda.

“I couldn’t excel as much as I wanted to because I couldn’t read the blackboard. I had to copy the notes from my classmates, and I al-ways had to play catch up, “Anong nakasulat sa blackboard (what is being written on the board)?” he recalled.

He said he once dreamt of be-ing a nurse, but wondered, “How am I gonna administer the shots?” He said he also dreamt of being an architect but had to set that dream aside because he “can’t see very well.”

Nystagmus is an eye condition, which causes involuntary move-ment of the eye that at times result in reduced or limited vision.

The Pampanga-born rapper recalled his life in the Philippines when he had to accompany his grandfather to harvest sugarcane or to plant camote in the farm, be-fore he was sponsored to go to the US at age 14, and later gained fame as part of the Black-Eyed Peas.

“It was already hard enough growing up in the Philippines but imagine being blind, that’s 10 times harder,” he said. “That’s why, this is important for me because I want all the children in the Philip-pines to have equal opportunity in life, to pursue their dreams.”

The retinal camera, which is the first of its kind in Mindanao, is the first of the five cameras that the Apl.de.ap Foundation plans to turn over to five regional hospital partners for the early detection of ROP, noted as one of the leading causes of blindness among pre-mature children.

Launched two years ago, Apl.de.ap’s Campaign for Filipino Chil-dren seeks to generate support not only for medical care but also for the education needs of children, building at least 30 schools in the different parts of the country, including ones in Zamboanga City, and the Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda)-ravaged Tacloban. It has also built music labs in the north.

“I was one of those children, I came from a humble beginning, and was given enough opportu-nity,” Pineda said.

“I was sponsored to go to the US and became a Black Eyed Peas, and now I’m paying it forward and helping other children like me,” he said.

At risk for ROP are newborn in-fants with birth weight of less than 1,500 grams, and a gestation age of 32 weeks, according to Dr. Nicolo Paderna, a pediatric ophthalmolo-gist at SPMC.

The Philippine Academy of Oph-thalmologists (PAO) has chosen to turn over the equipment to the SPMC because of its capability to reach out to indigent patients in Mindanao.

“We looked at the data from all the prospective hospital partners, and realized the SPMC has a good residency training program for ophthalmology,” said Dr. Pearl Villalon, chair of the PAO.

“The assessment of your pro-gram is tops and good,” she said, “We also have several faculty on the ground to help the residents

through the process of screen-ing, so, that is the reason why we chose.”

The PAO is also eyeing regional hospitals in Western Visayas, Pampanga, and one in the Ilocos region for expansion outside of the National Capital Region.

According to Dr. Josephine Cadayona, head of the SPMC Oph-thalmology Department, SPMC and its extension hospital in Tagum, currently has 13 resident doctors who will all be training for ROP screening.

“It will surely go a long way for our indigent pediatric patients,” Cadayona said.

Physicians say caring for a blind child is emotionally taxing and financially draining. Indigent families can hardly cope with the requirements and it is advisable to prevent the onset of ROP.

They laud Pineda for helping raise the awareness of people about ROP.

“It is very important for me to give forward in helping out every Filipino,” said Pineda. (Inquirer.net)

Apl.de.ap donates retinal camera to Davao City hospitalLegally blind Fil-Am rapper has been advocating

for medical aid for the blind

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Seafood City Las Vegas celebrates grand re-opening

SEAFOOD City Supermarket held a grand re-opening of its Las Vegas store on Thursday, Oct. 15, with a celebration that included TFC entertainers, community lead-ers and hundreds of Filipinos from across Southern Nevada.

In celebrating “True Filipino Goodness,” Seafood City has be-come a one-stop shop for Filipinos to stock up on quality and authen-tic Filipinos specialties at the most affordable prices. The new interior of the Las Vegas store is much more than a typical supermarket -- it’s a townhall where Filipinos can gather and truly feel at home.

Inside, customers can find fresh produce, seafood and products from the Philippines and other Asian countries. No time to cook, yet want to enjoy a freshly-cooked Pinoy style meal? Customers can enjoy offerings from newly opened eateries: Grill City, where they can savor in a selection of grilled and barbecued chicken, pork and seafood entrées, along with other Filipino specialties, and Crispy Town, which boasts the Filipino delights of chicaron, crispy pata and more fried and crispy goodness. Other vendors in-clude Jollibee, Chowking and Red

Ribbon. The store also features a hair salon, travel agency Mango Tours and remittance services PNB and Western Union -- indeed, Seafood City is a one-stop shop where customers can conveniently frequent.

The supermarket’s Suki Fre-quency Rewards Card was also launched in Las Vegas, as a way to thank shoppers for their loyal patronage. Being a Suki Rewards Card member means discounts, free gifts and bonus rewards! Shoppers who use their card can get a chance to be one of Seafood City’s weekly LUCKY SUKI winners; some prizes include $1,000, a year supply of rice, a trip to the Philippines and more. Shop-pers can sign up now for FREE and earn points as they shop.

Seafood City has 22 locations in California, Las Vegas, Washington and Hawaii, and plans to expand to other states soon.

Seafood City Supermarket is located at 3890 S. Maryland Park-way, Las Vegas, Nevada 89119; Tel: (702) 851-0021. Extended autumn hours are 7am to 12 mid-night daily. For more information, please visit http://www.seafoodc-ity.com/. (AJPress)

AJPress photos by Robert Macabagdal

ATTY. ROBERT REEVESAMANDA C. KWONGNANCY E. MILLER

Your ImmigrationSolution

Seeking safety in the United States

PHILIP S. CHUA,MD, FACS, FPCS

Health@Heart Rice, obesity, and diabetes

PEOPLE seek to enter the United States for many different reasons. Some come to join fam-ily. Others come for economic opportunity. Still others come because they are fleeing persecu-tion in their home country. Those who have a well-founded fear of persecution as a result of their race, religion, national origin, membership in a particular social group or political opinion may be eligible to apply for asylum. If it is granted, the asylee will be eligible to apply for a green card after one year. In addition, family members (spouses and under 21-year-old children) may also be able to obtain asylee status. The Child Status Protection Act may protect children who turn 21 during the adjudication process.

The asylum application is filed with United States Citizenship &

Immigration Services (USCIS). If the applicant is not given an interview within 150 days from filing, s/he will be eligible to ap-ply for work authorization which is officially called an Employment Authorization Document EAD). The applicant is not technically eligible for EAD until 180 days have passed from the date of the filing of the asylum application so once filed, the EAD applica-tion will be held until the full 180 days have passed. If the applicant seeks an extension of an interview or does anything else that causes a delay in the procedure, the EAD clock will stop for the period of the delay caused by the applicant. This will, of course, delay the abil-ity to obtain the EAD.

Those seeking asylum must file the application within one-year of entering the United States. If they fail to do so, they may be ineligible for asylum but may be able to pursue relief called withholding of removal or relief under Article 3 of the Convention

Against Torture. Withholding has a higher standard of proof (a clear probability of persecu-tion on account of one of the five enumerated grounds listed above) and does not lead to a green card. Relief under Article 3 of the Con-vention Against Torture requires that the applicant show that it is more likely than not that he or she will suffer torture at the hands of or with the acquiescence of the home country government.

Two categories of exceptions to the one-year filing deadline exist - extraordinary circumstances or changed circumstances.

The extraordinary circum-stances exception refers to events or factors directly related to the failure to meet the one-year deadline. The applicant must show that the circumstances were not intentionally created through action or inaction; that the circumstances were directly related to the person’s failure to timely file; and the delay was rea-sonable under the circumstances.

They include severe illness to the applicant or a close family mem-ber (and include injury or illness resulting from the persecution), legal disability (being a minor or mental incapacity); ineffective assistance of counsel, maintaining lawful or TPS status or refiling after a timely filed application is rejected by USCIS.

The changed circumstances exception refers to circumstances that materially affect the appli-cant’s eligibility for asylum. This include a change in conditions in the home country, changes in the US law, activities of the applicant (such as converting to a different religion or becoming politically vocal in criticizing one’s home country), and aging-out or di-vorcing the primary applicant for asylum. Here also, the application must be filed within a reasonable time under the circumstances.

In both extraordinary circum-stances and changed circum-stances, the courts have held that filing more than 6 months

after one is able to do so is not reasonable.

Various factors may render one ineligible for asylum even upon a showing of a well-founded fear of future persecution or a history of past persecution. One who has firmly resettled in a third country is not eligible for asylum. Nor is someone who has ordered or assisted in the persecution of oth-ers. One who has been convicted of a particularly serious crime or who the government reasonably believes has a committed a seri-ous non-political crime is also ineligible for asylum. Aggravated felonies are particularly serious crimes for purposes of asylum ineligibility but not necessarily for withholding of removal. That test is more complex. And, one who the government believes is a danger to the security of the United States is also ineligible for asylum.

An asylee may lose that status under certain circumstances. Conviction of a crime of moral

turpitude or an aggravated felony may result in the loss of asylee status. Returning to the country from which one sought and ob-tained asylum may also result in the loss of asylum.

One who fears returning to their home country should seek the advice of a knowledgeable and experienced immigration attorney to determine if they are eligible for asylum.

IS water from refilling sta-tions safe?

It all depends on the station that you choose. A recent report shows that seven out of ten (441 out of 630) refilling stations in two key cities in Metro Manila are in violation of the guidelines of the Department of Health for safety and water quality. Majority of these violators did not use proper attire, mask, caps, gloves, and did not follow proper procedures in their filtration system for clean and safe water. This could be symptomatic of a national scope of this malpractice because of laxity in the implementation of the law by governmental agencies.

So, choose your refilling sta-tion very well because the quality of water you drink greatly impacts your health. You can also check on the quality of water from your refilling station with the fantastic device we described below.

A few years back, we have writ-ten about the bottled water scam, where vendors on the street were selling faucet water in re-used (resealed) water bottles.

Now, to protect ourselves, we can get a gadget called TDS meter.

To test the water ourselves in our home, at work, or even at a restaurant, we can purchase a TDS water meter, which is around $15, which tests for Total Dis-solved Solids (chemical, minerals, metals, and other contaminants, not microorganisms). This meth-od of instant water testing, using this pen-like portable devise is very accurate in quantifying the amount of TDS in the water. TDS level that is lower than 500 ppm is deemed safe by the US Food and Drug Administration, but the lower the better, even down to 50 or to zero.

The multi-stage reverse osmo-sis (RO) water filtration systems with membranes and UV filters used by refilling stations that remove Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), both organic and inorganic solids such as salts, minerals and metals, and also other contami-nants like bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoan, also improve the softness, clarity, taste, odor, be-sides providing clean water. This is, of course, predicated upon the proper handling and proper use of this system.

Recently, ZeroWater filters for city faucet water at homes and of-

fices became available. They are sold in many department stores ($15 for the personal tumbler, $35 for 10-cup pitcher, and $39 for 23-cup dispenser). The last 2 come with a “free” TDS meter. This wonderful filter could bring the total dissolved solids in city faucet water to zero, yes, zero, like in distilled water or in Abso-lute brand of bottled water in the Philippines. City water filtered by ZeroWater could also be used for irons, clothes steamer, humidifi-ers, CPAP machines, or any other sensitive devices that use distilled water only.

This zero water removes all minerals, but as long as one eats nourishing food well everyday which contains a lot of minerals, this water is safe.

If in doubt, or for curiosity, use a TDS meter to test for the water quality at home, at a restaurant or anywhere. The ZeroWater filter and the TDS meter are truly amazing.

Do we have an obesity epi-demic?

No, not an epidemic but a pan-demic. Since 1980, obesity has doubled globally. Worldwide, to-day, there are more than 1.9 billion adults, ages 18 and older, who are overweight, 600 million of them

MONETTEADEVA MAGLAYA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond

FESS up J. K. Rowling. That scene in one of the Harry Potter books where eerie sounds and strange occurrences caused by a ghost in residence were com-ing from — of all places— the toilet stalls, in Hogwarts is not all that original. Because it hap-pened years ago, not as fiction but as part of reality — my real-ity, that is.

Just for kicks during my hal-cyon days as a full-time work-ing /full-time grad student at the University of the Philippines long ago, I had agreed to act as me-dium for a séance or a hypnotic session to conjure or call the spirit or spirits that were causing a disturbance. I took over from another medium in a previous session weeks earlier conducted by a Jesuit priest from the Ateneo, Fr. Bulatao. There were repeated paranormal disturbances at the old building where I worked, a stone’s throw from the Institute of Mass Communication (now called by another name) where I was a grad student at night while

The curious case of Stephen C. Davis: A ghost story

“…Quite plainly, there are things in this world that cannot be de�ned, completely understood and pegged in a nice, neat box …”

working during the day as a full time research associate of what was then the Institute of Envi-ronmental Planning, now called the School of Urban & Regional Planning. That haunted building has been razed and there stands a newer multi-story building.

At night, the custodian claimed that when all the rooms were locked up and no one was in-side, there were eerie noises that would make the hair on the back of one’s neck stand on end. The occurrences were so frequent and so disruptive, ignoring them and pretending life was normal was no longer an option. Some-one finally did something about it and called on Fr. Bulatao to help shed light on the mysterious goings-on at the institute. I sim-ply avoided the rest rooms and

steered away from isolated areas of the building and never stayed in the building past sundown.

Professor Cynthia Turingan was the first medium. Under hypnosis, she revealed that an American soldier, an enlisted man, by the name of Stephen Da-vies (his name was spelled with an e in the surname) was mur-dered at the location right smack dab where the building stood. Details of a murder story flowed out of her like a gusher. But then it came to an abrupt halt when the door to the room where the session was being held, for no apparent reason, suddenly burst open. The medium snapped out of the hypnotic trance feeling ex-tremely limp and exhausted as though she had traveled many

GOLDEN PEARL AWARDEES 2015:

- Youth Achievement: Mikayla Grace Fabito Kelly: Miss Jr Teen Nevada 2014;

- Heritage (Art & Culture): Bikolnon Association of Las Vegas for its annual Penafrancia Festival (Marilyn Ante & Marlon Multo);

- FAHF Presidential: Minerva Honkala, president of FASFOS, 501(c)(3);

- Comm. Service & Advocacy: Bella “Amie” Belmonte, promi-nent local Fil-Am leader, and previous recipient of Filipina

Women’s Network;- Professional Achievement:

Tedd Florendo, the only Filipino-American Chief Meteorologist in the country today who is currently the weather man of 8 News Now.

Photos by Bobet Torres

WITH its mission to promote awareness, understanding, enlighten-ment and appreciation of Philippine heritage through an annual cel-ebration in Nevada, the Filipino American Heritage Foundation (FAHF) held its 8th annual Philippine Heritage Night on Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Treasure Island Hotel Ballroom. The night also held its 3rd Golden Pearl Awards, which recognizes the achievements, contributions, history and culture of Filipino Americans. The event featured “Kultura Filipinas,” a Dinner & Fusion Fashion Show featuring David Tupaz (Las Vegas), Jun Escario (Cebu) and Dexter Alazas (Cebu).

For more information on FAHF, please visit www.fahfnv.org. AJPress photos by Robert Macabagdal

8th Annual Philippine Heritage Night

BY MONET LU

IF your afternoon conversations do not contain quotes like, “Give ‘til it hurts”, “Beautiful life equates to a Blessed Life”, and “There’s no such thing as ‘baduy’”, you might want to reassess the kind of people you hang out – or spend less time with. Fortunately for me, I have had the most meaningful and stylishly stirring conversa-tion in years. And it’s no other than with (2015) Beautiful Life Celebration Man of Style himself: Mr. John S. Mina.

“I do not have to have an award for doing something good, a simple ‘thank you’ is enough.” The words echoed in my ear as John thankfully addressed the title recognition we gave him. This is coming from a man who has served his community for the past 18 years. Despite his humble objection, I insisted that the Fil-Am community could learn a thing or two from brilliant minds like his; to which he agreed saying, “I would accept public recognition so that I can be an inspiration to many. I want people to see that if I can do it, so can they.”

There you have it. Spoken by the humble public servant who immigrated to the Philippines in the late 80s. John and his family lived fairly simple yet fruitful life. John speaks highly of his parents and tells me how grateful he and his sister are for having such self-sacrificing and supportive parents. He recalls his parents telling him: “You don’t have to work while you go to school. You finish school, then work after.” John holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism with an emphasis in public relations and a minor in political science from Califor-nia State University, Northridge where he was chapter president of the Public Relations Student Society of America.

John tells me how his parents were accepting and supportive of his lifestyle choice. He says, “No parent would want his or her children to be gay. They know the rejection and humiliation that people like me get from the society. But my parents chose to accept, respect and love me for

John Mina: Up close and personal with the Mr. Man of Style

who I am. And for that I am truly blessed.”

He said while his mom possess such great strength, it is through his dad’s insurmountable kindness that made him see things in a dif-ferent light. He tearfully revealed how much he misses his dad who passed away from cancer a few years ago. While I listen intently to his stories about how kind and unconditional his father is – even and especially during the last years of his life, I cannot help but be filled with admiration as well. People say, “Behind every great man is a great woman.” In light of what John told me, I say: Behind every great man, is an even greater fa-ther. I am certain that John’s father is very proud that his son turned out to be just like him.

His father’s legacy lives on in John’s civil involvement and hu-manitarian efforts. He began his career as a public servant in 1997. He is both a member of the Los Angeles County Asian American and Filipino American Employ-ees Association. John is also an active member of the Los Ange-les creative and philanthropic community. His passion for civic involvement is a driving force in his life. It is for him the extension of his identity. His board service includes the Filipino American Symphony Orchestra, the Rotary Club of Historic Filipino town, among others.

He continuously supports orga-nizations that are rooted in educa-tion, preservation of heritage, cul-ture and the livelihood of children, youth and seniors. He made it his monthly ritual to deliver food to

the homebound for St. Vincent’s Meals on Wheels. He has travelled to Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico and next year Panama for the same goal.

John currently works as a Hu-man Resources Analyst with the Talent Solutions Division in the Department of Human Resources for the County of Los Angeles. He and his partner of 13 years reside in Hollywood, together with their son Archie, a one-year-old minia-ture dachshund.

As I conclude this article, I want to leave my readers with some words of wisdom from my good friend John Mina, whom I am so blessed to have known and learned a lot from:

“If you want to make the world a better place, you have to give ‘til it hurts. Treat people the way you want yourself to be treated. And also – there is no such thing as ‘baduy’. Style is a form of self-expression. Lastly, from the words of Pope Francis, ‘Do unto others, what you want them to do unto you.”

Rice, obesity, and diabetesare obese. In 2013, 42 million chil-dren under 5 were overweight or obese. BMI (Body Mass Index) is the person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of his/her height in meters (kg/m2). The WHO defines normal weight as a BMI of less than 25, overweight as a BMI greater than 25, and obesity as a BMI greater than or equal to 30. This is a rough guide since the degree of fatness differs in every individual.

Does rice contribute to obe-sity and illnesses?

Yes, rice is the major culprit in causing obesity in Asia and countries where it is the staple food. This is why there are more than 4 million Filipinos with type 2 diabetes, ranking 15th in prevalence, among the 387 million diabetics worldwide. Carbohydrates in general, like rice, bread, cake, ice cream, desserts and other sweets and starches, are the leading causes of obesity. Carb are responsible for high blood triglyceride level and they, especially rice, increase the risk for type 2 diabetes, heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s, and even cancer. Carb with high glycemic index (GI), like rice, rapidly elevate the blood glucose (sugar) level, which is unhealthy. Most pastas have medium (more than 55) GI. Foods with very low glycemic index (GI 20 or less) or low GI (55 or less) are healthier, causing slower absorption and

The curious case of Stephen...miles across a desert without water. I stood up and with a non-chalant shrug of my shoulders calmly closed the door.

Dissatisfied with the aborted session, the group decided to hold another. Professor Turingan was unavailable for the next ses-sion and I was drafted to act as medium, a role which I accepted on a lark and a dare.

There was a thunderstorm rag-ing outside but I don’t remember much of what I said when I went on a trance. I do remember feeling very light, as though weightless, while someone gently whispered things to my ear. Later, I learned that under hypnotic suggestion, I was instructed to go back to 1945, the year that the medium revealed when the alleged murder of the American soldier occurred.

I described the place as I saw it — an open field, a moonless

gradual even rise in glucose level. Consuming food with low glycemic index has been shown to decrease the risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular illnesses, metabolic syndrome, kidney disease, stroke, depression, gall stone and uterine fibroid forma-tion, and cancers of the colon, breast, prostate, and pancreas. High GI foods increase the risk for those diseases.

For those trying to lose weight, cutting down on rice intake, or eliminating it altogether, amaz-ingly speeds up weight reduction. Minimizing other carb with high glycemic index is also healthy.

Most vegetables and spices, salmon, cod, sardines, tuna, shrimp, oats, quinoa, yogart, tofu, olives, berries, nuts, grass-fed beef, pasture-raised chicken and turkey, have low glycemic index. For a list of other foods and their glycemic index, go to www.wh-foods.com or Google it.

Does my doctor know which drug is best for me?

No. The truth is we, physi-cians heretofore, actually did not know precisely how effec-tive (to what degree) or exactly how each patient would react to drugs we prescribed. And I am talking about precision and specificity here. We had been prescribing medications on the basis of our training, experience, and information we learn from continuing medical education meetings.

We now have a precise way to obtain the information through genetic coding. With each indi-vidual’s genetic code, physicians today can predict which drugs would work best for each patient, which ones would be ineffective, and which drugs would result in adverse side effects for the person. (It is not uncommon to hear persons taking a prescribed drug and having allergic reaction to it. This could now be a thing of the past.)

On the website of the US Food and Drug Administration there are “more than 150 drugs for which DNA screening could be performed to prevent the use of medications not best for the patient, which could lead to treat-ment failure, and which drugs would provide optimal result, at what dose….this genetic testing is a life-saver for countless medi-cations, including antidepres-sants, blood thinners, high blood pressure pills, etc.”

Nathan Adelson Hospice welcomes Dr. CatrishaCabanilla-Del Mundo as Medical Director

LAS VEGAS—Nathan Adelson Hospice, Southern Nevada’s larg-est non-profit hospice, announced today that Dr. Catrisha Cabanilla-Del Mundo has joined the hospice as a Medical Director following the completion of her Fellowship in the Nathan Adelson Hospice Osteopathic Hospice and Pallia-tive Medicine Program in 2015.

She completed her Family Med-icine Residency at Valley Hospital Medical Center after obtaining her Doctor of Osteopathy at Touro University – Nevada. Dr. Cabanilla Del-Mundo earned a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry at Uni-versity of California-Riverside.

She is a member of the Nevada Osteopathic Medical Association, American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, and American Osteopathic Association.

Nathan Adelson Hospice, the trusted partner in providing hos-pice care and palliative medicine

for more than 35 years, is the larg-est non-profit hospice in Southern Nevada, caring for an average of 400 hospice and palliative patients daily. In 1978, Nathan Adelson Hospice began providing home care hospice service in Southern Nevada with the mission to offer patients and their loved ones with comprehensive end-of-life care and influence better care for all in the community. In 1983, Nathan Adelson Hospice opened an in-patient hospice in Las Vegas, and today the hospice is recognized as a national model for superior hospice care.

The mission of the hospice is to be the Hospice of Choice, the Employer of Preference and a Training Center of Excellence. Its vision is simple: no one should end the journey of life alone, afraid or in pain. The hospice also is home to The Center for Compassionate Care, a non-profit

counseling agency providing indi-vidual, group and family counsel-ing services to address grief, loss and issues related to surviving life-threatening illnesses. For more information, visit www.nah.org.

night, quonset huts and a heavy sense of foreboding in the air. During the session, the same Stephen Davies revealed the name of his murderer. He said he was hit on the head by a piece of wood while he was out on patrol one night and was robbed of his money. The ghost revealed de-tails about his murderer: his as-sailant’s name, the exact address where he lived, describing him as an old man by that time, lan-guishing in jail for other crimes he committed and that the house where the murderer used to live on J.P. Rizal Street in Makati was eventually destroyed by fire.

He was asked about the name of his wife and where she lived, questions upon questions which the ghost said were “not impor-tant” but pressed further, he said that his wife had remarried and pleaded not to bother his wife anymore. He said that he was

not the only spirit hovering in the area and that there were many others. Asked about how he felt, he said that he was lonely and that he just wants to be remembered. Over and over again, he said he wanted to be remembered. He ignored questions about his past brushing them aside for the one thing he wanted — that he be re-membered. His bones, he said, lay scattered and mixed with the soil in the same area which was leveled years earlier by a bulldoz-er. The ghost of the dead soldier requested that a mass be said on a sunny day in his remembrance — a request the group readily granted him. Shortly after, the eerie occurrences seemed to stop. (To be continued)

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FOR NON-PROFIT GROUPS

sa Amerika” at the Gold Coast Casino & Hotel (4000 Flamingo Rd. Las Vegas, NV 89103) in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 25-27, 2015. Reminisce with your schoolmates from 50+ years ago and re-live memorable high school days! Reconnect with your old friends and make some new ones! This is the first reunion gathering in the US since our 50th grand reunion. For more information, please contact: Dan Hidalgo - danielh616@hotmail.com; tel. (914) 310-0864 / (914) 740-7028. Ester Tadeo Celestino - cesarucelestino@yahoo.com; tel. (201) 433-0727/ (551) 574-8511. Minda Cuario Cameron - meandatwo@aol.com; tel. (813) 633-5642. Ed Bondoc - bondoced@yahoo.com; tel. (415) 342-9877. Gertrudes “Nette” Descallar Collyer - mycolly@roadrunner.com; tel. (818) 767-8175.

MANDACAL (Mandaluyong Civic Group of Southern California) would like to invite you to attend its 26th Anniversary Dinner Dance on Saturday, October 24, 2015 at the Embassy Suites Glendale (800 North Central Ave. Glendale, CA 91203). The event is a sit down dinner with live music by the Hill Tops Band #1, providing your favorite dance music from 5pm until midnight. There will be raffle prizes and many fabulous door prizes to be given away. Come enjoy a night of great food, excellent music, and pure fun with your family and friends! Tickets are $55 each. For tickets and information, please call: Becky 818-572-3261, Espee 626-383-3621, or Julie 858-337-9224.

Presented by Bible Christian Fellowship Church, the one-of-a-kind Bohol Children Bam-boo Ensemble, hailing from Alicia, in Bohol province, will perform at various locations during their first-ever tour in the US. 23 young performers from Katipunan Elementary School and the Bohol community will perform using traditional bamboo instruments, including a ukulele, drums, flutes, and bass. There will also be special guests, inspiring music, and traditional dances of the Philippines. For many of these young performers, it is their first time to visit the US, and they are eager to share their talents with the community. The show on Saturday, Oct. 24 will take place at Rosemont Elementary School Auditorium (421 Rosemont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026) at 6:30pm; on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Bible Christian Fellowship Church (456 Rosemont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026) at 6:30pm; and on Saturday, Nov. 14 at Search to In-volve Pilipino Americans (SIPA - 3200 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90026) at 6:30pm. Light refreshments will be served. Ticket prices vary from $10, $25, and $50. For tickets and more information, please call 213-249-6672.

Couples, please join for the Marriage Enrichment Seminar on Saturday, October 24 from 9am to 5pm at Helping Hands Adult Day Health Care (9051 Woodman Ave, Arleta, CA 91331). Featuring fun games and prizes, biblical teachings, and engaging interactions rel-evant to couples’ everyday life. Price for couples is $50, and $20 for single participants. Call Henjie Pimenta at 818-486-7481 for more information.

All are invited to attend the Rosary Rally for the Blessed Virgin Mary (Sponsored by the Federation of Filipino Rosary Groups. Inc). This is an annual celebration which calls everyone to prayer for world peace. A reception follows immediately after the liturgy at Potthoff Hall.

When: Sunday, October 25, 1:30 pm Mass; Pre-liturgy at 1:15 pmWhere: St. Denis Parish (2151 S. Diamond Bar Blvd., Diamond Bar, CA 91765)Celebrant: Monsignor James Loughnane, P.A.

Please save the date for the 60th anniversary year of Calapan Central School in Oriental Mindoro.

Where: Oakland, CA When: November 1-3, 2015. Contact: Luz Yu (luz_yu@yahoo.com)

The Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) brings the best of a broad selection of Asian World cinema to Los Angeles from Oct. 26 - Nov. 2, 2015 in order to draw greater recognition to the region’s wealth of filmmakers, strengthening ties between the Asian and Hollywood film industries. With films from 50 countries across Asia, from Turkey to Japan to India and the Philippines, the AWFF focuses on cinema-lovers, especially fans of foreign and independent films. Screenings will be held at the ArcLight Cinemas and iPic Theater in Culver City, and VIP festival passes (including access to filmmakers lounge, professional panels, cocktail recep-tions, and screenings) are available. A special showing of Paul Soriano’s “Kid Kulafu,” the story of a young Manny Pacquiao, will also premiere on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 8pm at ArcLight. For more information and ticketing prices, please visit http://www.asianworldfilmfest.org/.

This coming Halloween, come to the newest ultra-lounge located near Glendale’s Ameri-cana, the chic 103 LOUNGE (103 E. Broadway Ave., Glendale, CA, 91025, across Marshalls and Bloomingdale’s)! Brought to you by EMEX Events, ToneDef Music, Bounce Electronic Mu-sic & DJ School, with support from MISS PHILIPPINES USA, HALLOWBACK is a one-of-a-kind Halloween dance music/clubbing event. Featuring dance tunes from the mid 90’s until the year 2000 by DJs Mon Maramba and Josh Evangelista, and curated by Louie Ysmael together with Arnel Castillo, as well as local retro hero Ricky Fabre of ClubManila. Doors for this popu-lar Halloween event will open at 9pm, so make sure you secure a spot on the dancefloor! 21+ only, with $10 entry fee. Reserved seating with bottle service and birthday specials/VIP areas available. Please email tonedefmusicph@gmail.com for more info.