asian journal august 20-26, 2010

(Continued on page 16)

Taking Back America ... p. 10

Insider vs. Outsider. Are you in or out? ... p. 14

Afraid that the property you may buy in the

Philippines may not be built?

Check out The Ridge at Canyon Woods

Risk-free condo units that are already built, no need to wait to occupy the place. A 10% down payable in easy monthly install-ment moves you in and enables you to use and enjoy your place. Ownership automati-cally makes you a member of its golf course club, no initial fee to pay!

See pages 23 and 24 for more information.

The San Diego Executive Lions Club held the intalla-tion of their Officers recently at the Officers Club, MCAS, Miramar. Some members posed with Cabinet District Offi-cers: front l - r: Rick Powell, Col. (USA Ret) 78th Assembly Candidate; Pacita West, Club President; Mary Manning, Cabinet Secretary; Susan Hatch, District Governor and Jan Gustavel, 1st Vice District Governor.

Standing l- r: Helen Quintanilla, Club Treasurer; Vina Phelps, Board of Director, Majestic Lions; and Josie Rob-les, Zone Chair, Paradise Zone, Majestic Lions.

Promised LandGhost from the Past

He kept calling in the next few days but Isabel would not answer his calls. Once she heard his voice at the other end of the line, she would hang up. One time, she disconnected

the phone for one whole day, prompting Albert to ask if there was anything wrong with it when he

tried to call from his office. When she reconnected the phone, he started calling her in the evening while Albert

was at home. He would hang up whenever Albert would answer his call.“Somebody is calling here but would not talk to me,” Albert

told Isabel.

By Simeon G. Silverio, Jr.Publisher & Editor

Asian Journal San DiegoThe Original and First Asian Journal in America

See page 5


Nagising sa katotohanan ang magkapatid na sina Felix, 20, at Miri-am, 23, na pati pala ang mga matatanda ay maaari ring makagawa ng mga kagulat-gulat at walang pakun-dangang bagay sa kanilang buhay.

Malimit na ang mga ka-bataan lamang ang itinutur-ing na gumagawa ng mga kabaliwan at nagpapakita ng masasamang asal dala ng ka-nilang pagiging mapagsubok

Tatay ko ang nanay koSa panulat ni Percival Campoamor Cruz

sa hindi pa nasusubukan at sa hindi mapigil na bugso ng

August 20 - 26, 2010

Zena Sultana BabaoMsgr. Gutierrez ShowBiz WatcherSi Willie Pa Rin Ang

Gusto ng Tao, at Hindi Si Kris Aquino !!! p19

Signs in the Philippines


The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has chosen the Philippines as one of the sites for its pilot project on small wind systems.

ADB specialist on regional and sustainable development department Jiwan Acharya re-vealed the plan at the recent-ly-concluded Clean Energy Forum that these small wind projects are intended to help provide reliable and afford-able emission-free electricity to remote areas.

“Small wind is a sustain-able solution for rural, remote and dispersed markets, re-

ducing energy import depen-dence, and entailing no fuel price risk or constraints,” he said.

Acharya said they expect to start the project by identify-ing the 5,000 villages where small wind systems will be installed. A small wind farm has a rated capacity of less than 100 kilowatts.

“It will explore innovative and practical approaches to reduce costs of wind power equipment by transferring appropriate technologies and optimizing manufacturing processes,” he said.

The ADB official added they would try to look for ways to reshape financing modalities and instruments, and mobilize carbon credits in a pragmatic way.

This project, he said, would also encourage public–private partnerships to stimu-lateinvestment and research and development activities for clean and renewable energy as well as displace combustion of biomass and fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emis-sions.

“Moreso, it will also improve national and village-level capacities for planning, implementing, and maintain-ing decentralized systems for

ADB chooses RP as pilot area for wind power projects

An artist, singer-compos-er, writer, activist, husband and father…these are but some of the many roles played by Heber Bartolome through the years.

Born Heber Gonzalez Bartolome on November 4, 1948 in Cabanatuan City, Philippines, he possibly got his musical gifts from parents Deogracias Barto-lome, a pastor, string instru-ment maker and rondalla band leader, and Angelina Gonzalez, a zarzuela singer. With a natural inclination to music, his talent was further honed in college, when he became a member of the ROTC Band and the Uni-versity of the Philippines Concert Chorus.

Heber graduated with a

Filipino Folk Singer Heber Bartolome to Hold Concert in San Diego

degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines, which led to both local and international exhibits. His paintings also became the in-spiration for several poetries written by friends and poets around the globe.

Bartolome also delved in

theatre acting and musical direction, with a most no-table contribution in the play IBONG ADARNA, staging over a hundred performances at the MET, the Cultural Center of the Philippines and

COnGRATulATIOnS TO FnA SCHOlARS. The Filipino National Association USA, Inc., a non-profit orga-nization, celebrated its 17th Anniversary and induction of officers on August 7, 2010 at the Anchors Catering & Con-ference Center in San Diego, California. Outgoing president Santi Silverio presented the FNA scholarship awards to the three outstanding high school graduates. Atty. Arlene Milo delivered the inspirational speech and inducted the newly elected officers. Photo above shows Joanna Tanguileg with mom Rowena, Sharon, Aaron Brown and Melvin, Aaron Ar-iel De Peralta Cruz, Jr., with mom Sharon De Peralta, FNA President-elect.

“We laugh at other people for their bad English. Take a look at the signs in the Philippines. These are only a few ex-amples.”

Gay wedding in the TV show “The Simpsons”

Filipino National Association Scholars

August 20 - 26, 2010Asian Journal - (619) 474-0588 Visit our website at http://www.asianjournalusa.com

According to the fi gures provided by the Immigra-tion Policy Center, there are about 65,000 undocumented students who graduate from high school each year. Due to their immigration status, these students are not able to go to college, join the military or work legally. Many of these students are honor students and achievers who aspire to become engineers, doctors and lawyers in the future and to become productive citizens of the country. These students have been brought into the United States by their parents and are trapped in a system which provides no relief for their immigration status. Most of these children come in a very early age and practically grew up here in the United States, assimilat-ing the country’s culture and way of life. They are unaware of their status until they learn that they cannot go to college or have a valid social security number to work legally in the country.

Acknowledging the plight of these students, a bill enti-tled the Development, Relief, Education for Alien Minors Act otherwise known as the DREAM Act has been intro-duced in Congress on March 26, 2009 by both Republican and Democrat legislators. The highlights of the bill are

The Impossible Dreamas follows:

I. To be eligible under the proposed DREAM Act, the student must:

Have entered the • United States before the age of 16;Have been present in • the United States for at least fi ve(5) consecu-tive years prior to the enactment of the bill;Have graduated from • a United States high school, or have ob-tained a GED, or have been accepted into a college or university;Be between the ages of • 12 and 35 at the time of application;Have good moral char-• acter.

II. Should the DREAM Act pass in Congress and the undocumented student is qualifi ed under the Act, he would have to apply under the guidelines to be provided by the Act. The Act proposed that the student be granted conditional resident status and would have to either pursue his or her college degree or enlist in the military.

III. Within 6 years of ap-proval for conditional perma-nent residency, the individual must have completed at least two years of college or mili-tary enlistment.

IV. Once 5 ½ years of

the 6 years have passed, the individual will then be able to apply for Legal permanent Residency and consequently apply for US citizenship.

V. Students who do not complete the requirements will be disqualifi ed.

The DREAM Act is cur-rently pending in Congress. Similar legislations have been introduced in the past but, Congress failed to pass any law that would benefi t these students. Each year, undocumented and deserv-ing students are hopeful that legislation would pass that would allow them to realize their dream of going to col-lege. Would this year still be an impossible dream for these students? If you support this measure, you may either log on to www.dreamact.com and sign a petition signifying your support or contact your respective congressman and senator to let them know that you want to help these stu-dents fulfi ll their dream.

Atty. Dennis E. Chua is a partner in The Law Firm of Chua Tinsay and Vega (CTV) - a full service law fi rm with offi ces in San Francisco, San Diego and Manila. The infor-mation presented in this ar-ticle is for general information only and is not, nor intended to be, formal legal advice nor the formation of an attorney-client relationship. The CTV attorneys will be holding its regular free legal clinic at the Max’s Restaurant in Vallejo, California on August 30, 2010. Call or e-mail CTV for an in-person or phone consul-tation to discuss your particu-lar situation and/or how their services may be retained at (415) 495-8088; (619) 955-6277; [email protected]

By: Father Shay Cullen

Fair-trade has been an important part of my work in life since I fi rst came to the Philippines 40 years ago and today it is more important than ever. It all began when I started a small handicraft basket and rattan chair mak-ing project in Olongapo City to help street youth and drug dependents fi nd a self-reliant livelihood and restore their self-esteem. I went to buy raw materials from the indigenous people of Subic and Botolan in the Provence of Zambales. This was the fi rst Fair-trade project of the Preda Founda-tion.

The Aeta people of Zam-bales are the original inhab-itants of the Islands but as usual, the colonialists and later the ruling elite exploited them and took their lands, destroyed the rain forest and only left them the mountain peaks where the bulldozers and logging trucks could not reach.

I discovered that the trad-ers of rattan and wicket were not paying the Indigenous People in money instead they had set up barter trade. In return for their cut rattan poles they gave a sack of rice and some canned foods. The rattan was worth ten times more than that. I set up a trad-ing post with the Aeta people, made friends with them and agreed on the just and fair payment that was their right and due. It was our fi rst Fair-trade project. Later we taught them to use their own materi-als to make baskets and fi nd them a market.

It became a life long relationship and through the Preda foundation we were able to help the Aeta people organize and empower them-selves and share development benefi ts because of Fair-trade.

Fair-Trade Can Change an Unjust Trading System

Fair Trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries obtain better trading conditions and promote sus-tainability. The movement ad-vocates the payment of a high-er price to producers as well as social and environmental standards.

That community was later assisted by Preda to become self-organized, educated and empowered, and in January they won back their rights to their ancestral Domain.

That’s what Fair-trade is all about. It is doing justice for exploited people, creat-ing jobs, providing markets, protecting the environment, building sustainable liveli-hoods where poor people can enjoy prosperity and end hunger and malnutrition by their own efforts and enter-prise. Helping people to help themselves is our motto.

Preda expanded it develop-ment assistance to producer groups like scavengers, sew-ers, craft makers, small farm-ers, weavers, stone carvers and many more. The project gives interest free production loans and training and access to markets. Fair-trade means giving the producers just wag-es and dignifi ed and healthy working conditions-this is at the center of fair-trade. It helps protect and improve the environment, promotes organic and chemical free pro-duction and is the road to sus-tainable living. Most products use renewal raw materials and

the producers are encouraged to plant the raw materials and harvest them as needed.

Fair-trade brings benefi ts for the producers but also for the buyers of the products. They join in the struggle to change the unjust trading system. They are making an ethical and moral statement by buying fair-trade products and are in solidarity with the exploited by using their consumer power to help them. The people in Fair-trade and World shops in the developed and developing world do a fantastic work, most are vol-unteers and they are dedicated to helping educate the public about the causes of exploi-tation, the injustices of the world trading system and they promote Fair-trade.

Fair-trade is fi ghting against not only the exploita-tion of farmers, workers and producers but also against the unjust system that al-lows the evil to destroy lives of so many. At Preda (www.preda.net) we implement what we call developmental Fair-trade. We campaign to protect the environment, we plant thousands of trees with the farmers, work to stop the traffi cking and sale of women and children, provide protec-tion for victims, combat sex slavery and sex tourism and child labor. Developmental fair-trade is putting faith, prin-ciples and words into action. It is more that just buying and selling products. It is empow-ering the people through edu-cation and economic develop-ment at the village level.

Acting justly and with compassion is at the heart of fair-trade, it is directed to lift the poor out of poverty and give them a decent life based on our respect for human dignity

10717 Camino Ruiz, Ste. 122 San Diego, CA 92126Cosmetic and Restorative Dentistry• State-of-the-Art Technology and Sterilization• Digital X-rays and Massage Dental Chairs• Caring and Friendly Staff• Affordable Fees• Military Dependents Welcome• Evening and Weekend Appointments Available• New, Walk-in and Emergency Patients Welcome• Most PPO Plans Accepted•

Email: [email protected] Phone: (858) 566-6099

Open: Monday – Friday 9am – 6pmSaturday 8am – 2pm

Credit Cards AcceptedZOOM!

Exam, Digital X-rays & Cleaning *

*Over $200 in savings, in the absence of gum disease, new

patients only.Limited time offer.

$3499Reg. $238 Towards Any

Dental Service$550 or more

Cannot be combined with insurance.

Limited time offer.

$10000

In Offi ce Teeth WhiteningIn Just an Hour!

Limited time offer.

$29899Reg. $600

Law Offi ces of Chua Tinsay & Vegawww.ctvattys.com

by Atty. Dennis ChuaLegal Buzz

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

Asian Journal - (619) 474-0588 Visit our website at http://www.asianjournalusa.comAugust 20 - 26, 2010

SALE PRICES IN EFFECT 8/20 & 8/21/10. For store locations, log on to macys.comMacy’s credit card is available subject to credit approval; new account savings valid the day your account is opened and the next day; excludes services, select licensed departments, gift cards, restaurants, gourmet food and wine. On furniture, mattresses and rugs/fl oor coverings, the new account savings is limited to $100; application must qualify for immediate approval to receive extra savings; employees not eligible.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 21OPEN 9AM-11PMPREVIEW DAY FRIDAY OPEN 9AM-1OPM MORNING SPECIALS 9AM-1PM BOTH DAYS!

EXTRA 5O% OFFFASHION CLEARANCES!

EXTRA 4O% OFFHOME CLEARANCES!PLUS, HURRY IN FOR BACK-TO-SCHOOL SAVINGS!

Follow us on twitterExperience Macy’s any way you like! Become our fan on facebook Download our free iPhone App from iTunes

Open a Macy’s Account for extra 20% savings the fi rst 2 days with more rewards to come. Exclusions and limitations apply; see left.

ONEDAY SALE

SHOP 9AM-1OPM FRIDAY & 9AM-11PM SATURDAY HOURS MAY VARY BY STORE VISIT MACYS.COM AND CLICK ON STORES FOR LOCAL INFORMATION.

6070063A.indd 1 8/5/10 5:14:50 PM


Bill’s Corner

Read Bill Labestre’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Bill Labestre, MBA

From experience, I found out that the best way to learn about a system is to join that system. If you keep an open mind, you may even like that system. In some cases, it maybe the only option left to you. Still remember the phrase “If you can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em”?

For the younger gen-eration, absorbing the current trend in technology is just like eating junk food. It’s fast and easy. Those of us over 50, it could be a challenge. Some are resisting the changes. There are still a number of older folks who do not want to learn how to use a computer or a smart phone. They can af-ford to buy one but, they just do not want any. Instead of making a phone call or send-ing an e-mail, they might still drive to deliver the message personally.

If you have younger children, you have no choice but to keep up. Young kids can learn quickly because they’re willing to embrace the changes and they’re not afraid to make mistakes. Computers don’t make us smarter but, they get our jobs done faster. The internet is a tool that can connect us to anybody al-most anywhere and provide answers to most of our ques-tions. There is no shame in asking your kids to teach you how to better use the system. You’re the one paying for their gadgets and the services anyway.

Social NetworkWe are not going back to

the Stone Age, so we might as well accept the new changes. Keep an open mind and learn the basics. Embrace the way of the future and avoid being phased-out like dinosaurs. You can learn at your own pace. Old dogs can still learn new tricks.

Some people don’t real-ize how convenient it is to have an e-mail address. In most cases, it’s a free service provided by Internet service providers. It’s like having a mobile mailing address without paying for stamps. It’s fast and you save money on printing papers.

When it comes to mobile phones, it should be a per-sonal choice. Some household don’t have landlines anymore since everybody has a cell phone. What is your excuse to own one? Most young people now seemed to be lost without one and their phones are on, 24/7. They must be very important people who can’t afford to miss any text message. I bet they’re texting even in their dreams.

Texting is in, so voice calls are for older people. In my case, it doesn’t really matter. I can’t even memorize my own iphone number. It is just a gadget and not an appendage.

Now that many people have access to the internet, social networking is popular. You feel like an outcast if you’re not a member of the Facebook crowd. It’s a fast

growing fad. Some members don’t realize that their private files can be compromised. They’re just too excited to reconnect with others then post photos and video clips. For some, it’s like a contest of how many friends they can acquire or how many would invite them as friends.

How many friends do you

need? Do you have enough time to communicate with all of them? With Internet, the world is getting smaller and with Facebook, you’ll find out that your former boyfriend or girlfriend looks so much older. I would rather have those cute pictures in my memory bank.

By: Father Shay Cullen

It’s when the frightening desperate gasping for breath fills the house and the fifty-five year Pedro Galmanan, fa-ther of five, struggles to suck oxygen into his lungs to stay alive and his children realize the terrible effects cigarette smoking has on their father.

His addiction to cigarettes cost him his job, drove the family into poverty and his withdrawal symptoms were an agony to witness. They now watch their father slowly die wheezing as the emphysema consumes his life.

Tobacco is a killer, a poison of mind and body, its addicting and destructive of families. Besides causing cancer, especially lung can-cer, and other diseases such as cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic diseases, the smoke causes heath problems to by-standers too.

In the Philippines, it is es-timated that cigarette smoking kills as many as 250 people a day, 90,000 a year. The great-est evil is that tobacco com-panies are targeting the youth and succeeding in addicting them in their thousands every year.

The tobacco industry must recruit new young smokers and addict them for life to continue its profit making

Cigarette Smoking can cause cancer in the neck. Tobacco smoke causes impotence.

Youth Are Prime Target of Killer Cigarettes

business since it is aggres-sively killing off its customer base with its poison product. The dead have to be replaced with the living. In Indonesia alone cigarette smoking kills as many as 400,000 people a year and costs the nation bil-lions of dollars in health costs.

The Philippine tobacco industry, whose interests are represented by the Philip-pine Tobacco Institute (PTI) are a powerful and influential lobbying body. Members and supporters include the Philip-pines’ biggest tobacco firm, Lucio Tan’s Philip Morris-Fortune Tobacco Corporation, and other corporations like the Anglo-American Tobacco Corporation, La Suerte Cigar and Cigarette Manufactur-ing Inc., and Mighty Tobacco Corporation.

As the name suggests they have mighty influence in the Philippine congress and al-legedly donate to politicians. Influential lobbyists allegedly manipulated the congress to water down the stronger pro-visions of the proposed anti-smoking law (RA 9211 passed in 2003), with words that they can now use to their advan-tage to prevent stronger health warnings on cigarette packs such as graphic pictures.

The newly appointed Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique T. Ona has vowed to implement the de-partments order (AO 2010-13) issued by the previous health secretary Esperanza Cabral

to have the tobacco compa-nies print graphic images on their cigarette packs as health warnings as they do on there export packs as required by Singapore and Thai law.

The DOH order was im-mediately and aggressively opposed by the tobacco lobby led by the president of the Philippine Tobacco Institute Rodolfo Salanga. He warned Secretary Cabral that such images would be illegal under RA 9211. But he has been shown to be incorrect since the present law only forbids additional text, not pictures, to be added to the pack.

The graphic images have the most powerful deterrent effect on youth. It is one of the recommendations of the World Health Organization’s framework Convention on To-bacco Control (FCTC) which demands the 168 signatories, like the Philippines, to “im-plement large, rotating health warnings on all tobacco pack-aging and labeling”. Already 38 countries have implement-ed the picture-based warnings and the 27 member European Union has recommended each member to implement it.

Fortune Tobacco Com-pany headed by the tycoon Lucio Tan won a preliminary injunction against the health

department to stop the imple-mentation of the order that was issued May 24, 2010 to place the picture-warnings on the packs. Judge Reyes of Marikina ruled last July 1, in favor of the company.

The power and influ-ence for the tobacco industry worldwide is well known and actively opposes every restric-tion that will save people from smoking related ill-health. These tactics are so well known that the WHO conven-tion against smoking had this to say to nations who are party to the convention: “In setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law.” WHO Frame-work Convention on Tobacco Control Article 5.3

There is a battle out there in the world, in every country where cigarettes are sold and millions of victims are facing the possibility of a very pain-ful and agonizing death from smoking related diseases. We have to do all we can to stop the promotion and sale of killer cigarettes. email: preda @ info . com . ph , www.preda.org

PNS -- MALACAÑANG defended the appointment of former Arroyo officials saying their credentials speak for themselves.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa said the politi-cal affiliation of people is not an issue with the Aquino administration for as long as they are com-petent.

“Wala na-man silang ginagawa...Hindi naman lahat, komo Arroyo, Estra-da, o si Mar-cos. di naman kami ganun,” he said.

President Benigno Aquino III has appointed retired Brig. Gen. Cesar Garcia as National Security Adviser. Garcia was former National Intelligence Coordinating Agency chief under the Arroyo administra-tion.

Aquino also appointed re-

Arroyo men defendedtired Army Maj. Gen Trifonio Salazar as general of NICA. Salazar was former program manager of support services and environmental manage-ment at the Subic-Clark- Tarlac Expressway-Project

Management Office. Some of Aquino’s Cabinet

members also served under the Arroyo and Ramos admin-istrations.

Ochoa said the President has the “luxury of appoint-ment” in the same way that he has the same “luxury of disap-pointing them by firing them.”


LAW OFFICES OF

E.B. ALEJO“20+ Years Experience”Been living in San Diego since 1977

Attorney is available daily on regular business days at the San Diego Office

*Member, California State BarLicensed to practice before the US Federal District CourtSouthern California and California Supreme Court

*Author,”How to Apply for the US Tourist Visa” as listed by worldwide bookseller Amazon.com Bookstores

*Former San Diego Regional Coordinator for U.S. Immigra-tion Amnesty for Catholic Community Services, Catholic Diocese of San Diego

*Legal Advisor, Los Chabacanos of Cavite CityAssociation, Inc., San Diego, California

*Juris Doctor law degree, University of San Diego (1985),Diploma; Oxford Institute on International and Comparative Law (USD), Oxford, England (1984);Bachelor Degree, University of Southern California (1983);Montgomery High School, San Diego (1979)

*Born in the Philippines (Cavite)

For your convenience, walk-ins acceptedespecially between 2:00pm – 8:00pm

Business days Monday to Friday

IMMIGRATION LAW • DIVORCE • WILLS & TRUSTS • CRIMINAL DEFENSE • BUSINESS LAW • CREDIT/DEBT DISPUTES and PROBLEMS • WAGE & HOUR VIOLATIONS •

UNEMPLOYMENT APPEALS • WORK CONTRACTS • LANDLORD – TENANT DISPUTES • BANKRUPTCY ASSISTANCE • FORECLOSURES • TAX PREPARATION

FAIR PRICES/COuRTEOuS AnD FRIEnDlY SERVICE

We can accept the following on a Contingency Basis (CASE BY CASE BASIS):

AUTO ACCIDENT or PERSONAL INJURY • WRONGFUL TERMINATION • SEXUAL HARASSMENT/HOSTILE WORK

PLACE • WORK DISCRIMINATION (Racial, Age, Gender, Disability)

240 Woodlawn Avenue, Suite 11, Chula Vista, CA 91910Convenient location and plenty of free parking;

Near Chula Vista trolley station. Nagsasalita kami ng Tagalog

For free consultation call (619) 203-5782

We can help you stop worrying about your legal problems.

Also Featuring:Debt Negotiation

Bankruptcy AssistanceLoan Consolidation

Chapter 20

Isabel stood frozen. Before her was a person she thought

she would never see again the rest of her life: Lando, her ex-boyfriend in Manila whom she dumped for her U.S. Navy suitor and later husband Albert.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” she was shaking in fear.

Lando was flashing a mischievous grin. He was like a lion that had cornered his prey.

“I came here to see you,” he said smiling. He had a naughty look.

Isabel could not utter a word.

“Won’t you let me in?” Lando broke the momentary silence.

“I can’t,” she managed to say. “My husband is not here.”

“What’s wrong with that?” he asked. “I am just an old friend.”

“He might arrive anytime and he might get the wrong idea.”

“But I just want to talk to you,” he said.

“No, I can’t,” she replied as she closed the door in fear.

“But Isabel, we need to talk,” she heard the voice from outside.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Isabel!” he called and banged the door.

She remained quiet.“Isabel!” Lando called and

banged the door again. This time, they were louder.

“Just leave or I’ll call the police.”

The door banging stopped.

Promised LandGhost from the Past

ISABEL ALREADY WAITED FOR AN HOUR but her husband Albert still had not arrived. She was about to call her cousin Ditas to keep her company as she was afraid Lando might be lurking outside when she heard the key to the door being turned. It was Albert.

“Where have you been?” she asked him angrily. Her pent-up fear was suddenly unleashed.

“I was with my friends,” he answered. “They gave me a surprise birthday party at the officers’ club.”

Isabel felt guilty as she for-got his birthday the day before and was unable to greet and do something for him during the special occasion.

“How come you didn’t answer my calls?”

“We were in a closed-door meeting the whole day and my cell phone was turned off. I thought you would be at work,” he explained.

Isabel’s emotions over-came her. She rushed towards Albert and hugged him.

“I waited for you the whole day. I wanted us to celebrate your birthday today. My boss asked me to work overtime yesterday and you were asleep when I arrived,” she lied.

“That’s alright,” he said as he caressed her back.

She felt a sharp object scratching her back and when she pulled away she noticed a bracelet Albert was wearing.

“What’s that?” she asked him.

“Don’t you recognize it? It’s the gold bracelet you gave me,” he answered. “Ditas handed it to me yesterday. She said you asked her to give it to me as you would be busy at work.”

Isabel was momentarily confused. Then she recovered.

“Ah, yes, I forgot,” she

said.When she queried Ditas

about the gift the next day, her cousin said that it was origi-nally her own (Ditas’) birth-day gift to Albert. But when Ditas realized that Isabel might have forgotten about the birthday as she was at the casino the whole day, Ditas told Albert that the gift was from his wife.

“I am sorry, Ate,” Ditas apologized to Isabel. “I forgot to tell you about it the next day.”

“That’s alright,” Isabel curtly said. “Apology ac-cepted.”

She conveniently forgot to refund the cost of the gift to Ditas as she had already lost most of her money at the ca-sino. She didn’t even thank Ditas for covering up for her, as if it was Ditas who owed her a favor.

LANDO KEPT CALL-ING IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS but Isabel would not answer his calls. Once she heard his voice at the other end of the line, she would hang up. One time, she dis-connected the phone for one whole day, prompting Albert to ask if there was anything wrong with it when he tried to call from his office. When she reconnected the phone, Lando started calling her in the evening while Albert was at home. Lando would hang up whenever Albert would answer his call.

“Somebody is calling here but would not talk to me,” Albert told Isabel.

Isabel got worried. She didn’t want Albert to know that Lando was in the area. He might be jealous and think that she was reconnecting with her ex-boyfriend.

“Must be a wrong num-ber,” Isabel suggested.

When Lando called again while Albert was in the bath-room, Isabel picked up the phone and told him to call in the morning. She wanted to end the calls and thought it would be prudent to talk to Lando and know exactly what he was up to. The next morn-ing while Albert was at work, Lando called and Isabel asked him what he wanted.

“Nothing, I just want to talk to you and see how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine. You should stop

calling me. I’m now married and I don’t want my husband to get jealous.”

“What would he be jealous about? He already won you. I can’t change that.”

“Then why are you calling me?”

“We’ve been childhood friends and classmates, what’s wrong with saying ‘hello’ when we’re both in this far-away land?”

Isabel calmed down. She realized she might be over-reacting and Lando might actually

be merely calling as an old friend, not a jealous ex-boyfriend. She thought she should be diplomatic to him so that he would not cause any trouble.

“How were you able to come here?” she asked, her voice now calm. She had wondered about it since it was very difficult for everyone, especially with Lando’s back-ground and economic status to get a U.S. visa even as a tour-ist. And in such a short time.

“I applied as a seaman,” Lando said. “When our shipped docked in Seattle, Washington, I jumped ship and took a Greyhound bus to my friend in Los Angeles.”

“Then you have no legal visa?”

“I have now,” Lando answered. “My employer had

petitioned me.”Isabel wondered how

Lando could easily get a job and convince his employer to petition him considering his lack of job experience and high educational attainment.

“What do you do?” she asked him.

“I am an administrator in a law firm.”

“How can you become one when you are not a lawyer?”

Isabel thought that it would be improbable since she, one who finished second year in college, could not get a simple office job while Lando, only a high school graduate, got

an administrator job in the short time of his arrival in the U.S.

Lando laughed. “I work for a personal

injury lawyer and all I do is refer car accident cases to him. I get a big commis-sion every time. When I found out that you are here in San Diego, I asked to be assigned here.”

“Why?”“You are the only

person I know from the Philippines, and I thought you might be able to refer people involved in car accidents to me so that you too can earn big referral fees. By starting

with you, I plan to build a wide referral network so that I can make more money.”

“How did you find me?”“You’re husband is listed

in the phone book.”“Now that you have talked

to me, please do not call me anymore. I am living a quiet life and I don’t want any in-volvement with you and your business. My husband gives me enough money that I don’t need your referral fees.”

“Enough that you are able to settle your gambling debts?”

“I don’t have any gambling debts,” Isabel vehemently denied.

“You will,” Lando assured her. “And once you are forced to pay them, you will need me. I have plenty of money.”

Then Isabel realized that she already lost her allow-ance money for the month at the casino. She had even used the rent money Albert asked her to give to their landlord. In two days, their landlord would knock at their door and ask for their past due rent pay-ment. – AJ

(To be continued)

(To read previous chapters of this story, visit www.asian-jounalusa.com

In LovIng MeMory

Agosto Esteban Leyva Sr.Died August 13, 2010Born August 28, 1935

Survived by wife, Connie LeyvaChildren: Carrol & Jun

Viewing at Miller John Mortuary26770 Murietta Rd., Sun City, CA

(951) 672-0777

Interment: Saturday, August. 21, [email protected] AM

12:00 noon (Service & Cremation)

For info: (951) 461-0154

PhilippineStories

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

by Simeon G. Silverio Jr.


by Dr. Ofelia Dirige Founder, President & CEO Kalusugan Community Services

Contemporary Asian American Issues

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

On August 17, 2010, Ka-lusugan Community Services (KCS) sponsored a workshop on two related topics, “Build-ing Healthy Family Relation-ships: Domestic Violence in the FilAm Community”. The speaker on “Building Healthy Family Relationships” was Carolyn Gerard, MA, MFT and Jeannie Martinelli, Pro-motora, SBCS, on “Domestic Violence in the FilAm Com-munity.” Last week’s article focused on “Domestic Vio-lence” and this article is on “Building Healthy Family Relationships” as a prevention for domestic violence.

It was held at the FilAm Wellness Center in National City and was co-sponsored by the South Bay Community Services (SBCS) and Filipino American Women’s Club of San Diego. More than 35 indi-viduals were present including Ron Morrison, Mayor of Na-tional City. There were plenty of handouts, raffle prizes and

Carolyn Gerard

Second of a series

BUILDING HEALTHY FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS:

Creating Family HarmonyGuest Writer: Carolyn Gerard, MA, MFT

Honesty, respect and truth are the elements of family harmony. This is developed from a basic understand-ing and acceptance of the individual as a loved and

worthy person within the family.

delicious food of Adobo and Pancit from Point Point Res-taurant, courtesy of SBCS.

Filipino Culture of Re-

spect for Elders & Authority

Traditional Philippine cul-ture has two cornerstones; one is unquestioning respect for

one’s elders and the second, is respect for authority - whether it is governmental or religious in nature. Although on the surface an attitude of “re-spect” appears to be an ele-ment of good character, these cultural traits can often dis-courage open and honest com-munications within the family. A “disrespectful” individual who undermines these tradi-tional values is often viewed as a bad person. With these absolute rules for right and wrong -- there is little oppor-tunity for individuals to begin to solve problems and make things better.

As an American born Filipina who graduated from Sweetwater High School in 1974, the values taught within my family were to respect and obey elders, don’t question authority, and never answer back. These rules are normal-ly challenged when children reach the adolescent stage. During adolescence, teens naturally move toward inde-pendence. They try to make sense of unexplained rules while they test and challenge the opinions of others that they may disagree with. Psy-chiatrist, Erik Erikson states that the psychosocial crisis for adolescents (age from 13 or 14 to about 20) is learning how to answer satisfactorily, the question of “Who am I?” He goes on to say, “Even the best – adjusted of adolescents experiences some role iden-tity, minor delinquency, rebel-lion, self-doubts, and so on.”

A unique cultural bind exists during this stage for the traditional Filipino fam-ily. “How can a person obey his or her elders when they question their instructions?” An internal conflict arises for the teen, “Am I a bad person for being honest with how I feel?” This is a significant

Carolyln Gerard doing a presentation at KCS.

dilemma within the traditional Filipino families that causes a cultural generation gap that gives rise to many normal questions such as: How can families embrace the values of their culture while being open to the differences inherent in all individuals? Are differenc-es okay? How do you respond when wrongly accused? Are you able to discuss sensitive topics without making judg-ments or criticizing another – even if it’s for their own good?

What is conflict really about?

Conflict is defined as actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests. Conflict is inevitable. Every-body experiences it. It can escalate into battles or can be used as opportunities to learn, grow and cooperate.

“Most fights are really pro-tests over emotional discon-nect. We are never more emo-tional than when our primary

love relationship is threat-ened. When our loved one is unavailable or unresponsive, we are assailed by emotions of anger, sadness, hurt, and above all, fear”. (“Hold Me Tight – Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love”, Dr. Sue Johnson).

Misunderstanding, misper-ception, and miscommunica-tion are the enemies to having a secure and loving bond. Missed opportunities become the fourth enemy – when we allow hurt, resentment and fear to build up, without ad-dressing our hurt feelings with our loved one.

What do I need to do to create family harmony?

“We are born with an intrinsic basic need to love and to be loved. It is a sur-vival imperative much like the need for water and oxygen. It provides one with a sense of secure connection. Find-ing a loving relationship is the main goal in life for most

Americans, placing it ahead of career or financial success.” (Dr. Sue Johnson)

If you desire harmony in your family, consider treat-ing this as you would like any other event, (i.e. planning for a child’s college) the plan for creating a safe, loving and nurturing home.

1. Take time to assess your family goals for creating family harmony. What does a loving home look like? i.e. we take turns to listen to what another says, we ask questions to understand other’s point of view, we treat each member with the respect due (respect doesn’t change your status within the family), etc.

2. Assess what the com-plaints are really about (par-ticularly between you and your spouse). What are the main issues? i.e. I don’t feel important, it seems no one really cares, I need to be able to share my negative thoughts – and for you to just listen, I feel unappreciated, etc. Can you put yourself in the other person’s shoes to get a better understanding of the deeper hurt he or she might be expe-riencing?

While assessing, don’t take the complaints person-ally. Assessment is not about assigning blame or criticism. Assessment helps to keep your focus on the goal.

3. Talk with your spouse. Listen with an open and accepting mind. Listening doesn’t mean that you’ll agree with each other’s perspective. It conveys that you value your mate, who he or she is.

4. Have a family meet-ing and talk with the children about your family goals. Again, listen to what they have to say, even if at times their questions appear to be “disrespectful” in tone. This isn’t about debating right and wrong, but respecting one another.

Honesty, respect and truth are the elements of family harmony. This is developed from a basic understanding and acceptance of the indi-vidual as a loved and worthy person within the family.

LISTEN!

When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving me advice,

You have not done what I asked

When I ask you to listen to me and begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way

You’re trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem,

You have failed me, strange as that may seem

LISTEN! All that I ask is that you listen, not talk or do; just hear me.


Perspectives

ASIAN JOURNALThe first Asian-Filipino weekly in Southern CaliforniaAn award-winning newspaper, it is San Diego’s most

widely circulated Asian-Filipino newspaper!

Ashley SilverioAssistant Editor

In Pursuit of ExcellenceEugenio “Ego” Osin, (1946 - 1994)

Joe Cabrera, (1924 - 1996)Soledad Bautista, (1917-2009)

Dr. Rizalino “Riz” Oades, (1935-2009)

The Asian Journal is published weekly and distributed in all Asian communties in San Diego County. Publication date is ev-ery Friday of the month. Advertising deadline is Thursday prior to publication date at 5 p.m. For advertising rates, rate cards, or information, call (619) 474-0588. Subscription by mail is available for $50 per year (56 issues). The Asian Journal is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and photographs but welcomes sub-missions. Entire content is © 2009 copyrighted material by Asian Journal. Materials in this publication may not be reproduced without specific permission from the publisher.

Genevieve SilverioManaging Editor

Simeon G. Silverio, Jr.Publisher & Editor

Miles BeauchampAssociate Editor

Santi SilverioAssociate Publisher

At Large...

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

by Miles Beauchamp

Being green is not just for eco-lodges anymore. Trav-elocity announced it will add hundreds of properties to its Green Hotel Directory that have been validated by Hil-ton Worldwide’s innovative sustainability measurement system, LightStay™. Trav-elocity is awarding its coveted “eco-friendly hotel” leaf tag to more than 300 elite proper-ties among the Hilton World-wide portfolio, each of which has made significant strides

News from the world of travelTravelocity adds hundreds of sustainable hotels

toward sustainability. Travelocity is the only ma-

jor online travel company that tags eco-friendly hotels site-wide. “Our eco-friendly leaf is a symbol consumers can trust and it makes shopping a snap,” says Alison Presley, manager of Travelocity’s Travel for Good® program. “We’re excited to award it to over 300 of Hilton World-wide’s green properties.”

Eco-friendly hotels con-

tinue to grow To date, Travelocity has

flagged more than 2,200 hotels across the globe with the eco-friendly leaf and the company works with an elite group of certification programs. To be listed in the Green Hotel Directory, a hotel must be certified by a sec-ond- or third-party program that aligns with the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria and have an on-site audit. The criteria, which offers a com-prehensive picture of what it means to be sustainable, was developed by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, a global coalition of U.N. bodies, research and academic institutions, social and envi-ronmental NGOs, and certifi-cation programs.

Travelocity doesn’t just promote eco-friendly prod-ucts--the company is also working hard to reduce its own footprint and to promote sustainability within the travel industry.

The company’s sustain-ability efforts start at home with its Silver LEED-certified headquarters. And to date, Travelocity and its customers have helped The Conservation Fund plant more than 24,000 trees across five national wild-life refuges that will trap an estimated 25,400 metric tons of CO2 over the life of those forests.

The company is also a founding member of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, which is working toward a more sustainable future for the industry.

LightStay

Hilton Worldwide and its portfolio of 10 hotel brands recently became the first major multi-brand company in the hospitality industry to make sustainability measure-ment a brand standard with

the implementation of Light-Stay. The proprietary system measures energy and water use and waste and carbon output at hotels globally. Ad-ditionally, LightStay ana-lyzes performance across 200 operational practices, such as housekeeping, paper-product usage, food waste, chemical storage, air quality and trans-portation.

“The Travelocity eco-friendly leaf tag is something our hotels will showcase proudly,” said Paul Brown, President of Global Brands & Commercial Services, Hilton Worldwide. “Operating in a responsible and sustainable manner is a Hilton Worldwide priority and a central part of how the company does busi-ness, and by Dec. 31, 2011, all of our 3,600-plus properties will use LightStay.”

About Travelocity Global

Travelocity® is committed to being the traveler’s cham-pion -- before, during and after the trip – and provides the most comprehensive and proactive guarantee in the industry (http://www.traveloc-ity.com/guarantee). This cus-tomer-driven focus, backed by 24/7 live phone support, competitive prices and power-ful shopping technology has made Travelocity one of the largest travel companies in the world.

Travelocity owns and oper-ates: Travelocity Business® for corporate travel; igougo.com, a leading online travel community; lastminute.com, a leader in European online travel; and ZUJI, a leader in Asia-Pacific online travel. Travelocity is owned by Sabre Holdings Corporation, a world leader in travel marketing and distribution.

In addition, Travelocity Global has acquired India’s leading hotel distribution network, Travelguru. This

ositions Travelocity Global as leading provider of hotel op-tions in India.

Travelguru

The addition of Travelguru builds on Travelocity’s exist-ing businesses, teams and relationships in India , which include Travelocity India , its online travel agency site, vari-ous supplier and redistribution relationships, as well as global support teams in the country. It also complements Sabre Holdings’ highly successful Airline Solutions business in India and its global technol-ogy center in Bangalore .

Travelocity Global is one of the world’s largest on-line travel companies, with its Travelocity, lastminute.com and ZUJI businesses worldwide generating more than USD$10 billion in gross travel sales annually.

Travelguru distributes a portfolio of more than 4,000 hotels in India , most of which are independent properties, and it has a strong domestic customer-base. This focus and product breadth comple-ments Travelocity’s exist-ing distribution of branded, chain and luxury properties in India , which are available to travelers domestically on Travelocity India , as well to international inbound travel-ers booking on Travelocity’s global network of online travel sites.

Mr Roshan Mendis, re-gional vice president of Travelocity Asia Pacific confirmed: “Travelguru will continue to operate as a standalone business and brand in India , focused on growing Indian hotel demand, Indian hotel supply and a wide dis-tribution network. Traveloc-ity India will continue its full service online travel agent (OTA) focus, which includes international and domestic air, hotel and package travel.

We will look to leverage the benefits of increased access to hotel content across our sites and our distribution partners, and to leverage synergies in product, technology, partner-ships and innovation across both businesses over time.”

About Travelocity Global Travelocity® is one of the

largest online travel compa-nies in the world with annual gross bookings of more than U.S. $10 billion. Travelocity also owns and operates: Trav-elocity Business® for cor-porate travel; igougo.com, a leading online travel commu-nity; lastminute.com, a leader in European online travel; and ZUJI, a leader in Asia-Pacific online travel. Travelocity is owned by Sabre Holdings, a world leader in travel market-ing and distribution.



Romeo is a native and citizen of the Philippines. He married Juliet, a U.S. citizen, in the Philippines in Janu-ary 1994. In February 1995, Romeo was admitted to the U.S. as a conditional perma-nent resident as the husband of a U.S. citizen. We refer to Romeo as a conditional resi-dent because he obtained his legal permanent residence as a spouse of a U.S. citizen and they have been married for less than two years when Ro-meo was admitted to the U.S. To remove this condition, Romeo and his spouse must submit a joint petition within 90 days before the second an-niversary of Romeo’s admis-sion in the U.S. As required, Romeo and Juliet fi led a joint petition within the 90-day period. In May 1998, they appeared for interview with the USCIS. At the interview, Juliet signed an affi davit stat-ing that Romeo’s grandmother paid her $3,000 to marry Romeo for immigration pur-poses. For this reason, USCIS issued a decision terminating Romeo’s conditional status stating the marriage was en-tered into for the sole purpose of obtaining immigration benefi ts. Shortly thereafter, Romeo received a Notice to Appear from the Immigration Court. He was considered in-admissible at the time of entry because he obtained his visa by fraud. While the case was pending with the Immigration

Waiver for inadmissibility based on marriage fraud

Court, Romeo divorced Juliet and remarried, Jessica, a U.S. citizen. Romeo and Jessica had a son together, Eric. Eric has “mild persistent asthma” which required his hospital-ization twice. Jessica fi led an immediate relative petition on behalf of Romeo. To facili-tate this petition, Romeo fi led a second request for waiver of the joint petition requirement, this time on the basis that his marriage to Juliet was termi-nated, but that it was entered into in good faith. Romeo supplemented his application for an extreme hardship with documentation of hardship to his U.S. citizen wife and child.

Romeo’s case dragged on for several years and went all the way up to the 9th Circuit of the Court of Appeal. The main issue is whether Ro-meo is eligible for waiver for fraud under section 237(a)(1)(H) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). INA § 237(a)(1)(H) provides a discretionary waiver in removal proceedings for cer-tain misrepresentations and fraud at admission that would otherwise render deportable a lawful permanent resident. The Immigration Court stated that Romeo was not entitled to waiver under 237(a)(1)(H). Rome appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which ruled against Romeo. The BIA said that Romeo was

Tuloy PoKayo

Tel: (619) 477-5643 • Suite # 5

V i e t n a m e s eNoodle House

Permanent Make-up and Skin Care

TESS R. REYESREALTOR

(619) 477-4173 • FAX: (619) 477-4819CELL: (619) 252-8377

MEDICAL CENTEREDNA M. BAY, R.P.T.(619) 474-3294 • Suite 14

Nesty and Elvie Arbulante(619) 477-1666 • Fax (619) 477-1690Specializing in Women’s Clothing and Gift Items

SUITE 10

ELVIE’SBOUTIQUE

Bernardita N. Lizan, D.M.D.

550 E. 8th St., Ste. #12National City, CA 91950

Tel. (619) 477-7570

San Diego

Asian JournalLJ Printing

(619) 474-0588 - Asian Journal(619) 474-1878 LJ Printing

Fax: (619) 474-0373Suite # 6

Quality Custom Framing

Manny I. MiclatOwner

(619) 477-2010Suite # 7

NOBLE PREMIUMS, INC.GENERAL SUPPLIES/INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS

“Excellence through Quality and Service”Phone: (619) 477-4387

550 E. 8th Street, Suite #1

(619) 336-1880 Of fice(619) 575-2598 Home(619) 336-1891 Fa x

600 E. 8th St., Suite #1

ED PASIMIORealtor - Broker

ROSE PASIMIORealtor - Owner

OLD SCHOOLHOUSE SQUARE

Gra

phic

sby

The

Filip

ino

Pre

ss

“Your Little Manila Shopping Center”

550 East 8th Street Suite 3

AMY’SHAIR SALON

550 East 8th St. #16 (619) 477-1795

MabuhayTailoring & Cleaners

DYNAMICProperties & Investments

(619) 336-0761 • Ste. 15FULL SERVICE SALON • OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

Hair design • ColoringNail service • Perms

General Dentistry

Law Offices ofA. Erwin Bautista

Attorney at Law

550 E. 8th St. #11National City, CA 91950

(619) 474-7755 • Fax (619) 474-0051

24 HOUR REMITTANCETel: (619) 336-1112

Hours: 9-6 M to F • 9-1 Sat.

LUCKYMONEY

Specializing in: Military Uniforms,Embroidery Name Plates and Patches

and Mounting Medals

– Produce, Seafood, Meat –Open 7 Days a Week • 8:30 am - 7:30 pm

(619) 477-7954

WORLD-CLASS REALTY, INC.Ellen Nobles-Sexsion

Tel: (619) 336-4885

��

�

� �

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

ACCEPTING RESERVATIONS FORBANQUETS UP TO 100 PERSONS, CALL (619) 477-8512

• C L O S E D O N M O N D AY S •

Fried Chicken and Filipino Cuisine None Can Compare.

Comevisit us!

Tuesdays & WednesdaysBUY ONE & GET ONE

50% OFF ONFRIED CHICKEN

from 11:00am to 2:00pm ONLY**Some Restrictions apply. Void on holidays and special days like Valentines Day, Christmas Day, Father’s Day etc.

MELINDA S. CASASOwner

(619)474-9640 • 550 E. 8th St. #17

MSC Physician Billing Services, Inc.

500-600 E. 8th St. National City, CA 91950 (7-Blocks East of I-5)

(619) 474-2300

MANANSALAINSURANCE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES

• BOOKKEEPING • TAX PREPARATION •• NOTARY PUBLIC •

LOURDES B. MANANSALAAGENT/ BROKER/REALTOR

TEL: (619) 477-9709RES: (619) 428-4191

SUITE # 2

COIN LAUNDRYFluff & Fold

(619) 477-8613

Filipino Desserts & Turo-TuroSuite #9 (619) 434-6255

Pan-de-sal Bakery& Barbeque

Coming soon!Expansion &Frozen Yogurt

Coming soon!Expansion &Frozen Yogurt

600 E. 8th St., Suite # 3

Of fice: (619) 477-0940Fa x: (619) 477-1024email: [email protected]

Your Key to the Filipino Community

NEW!

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

IMMIGRATION (619) 819-8648Speak directly with an Attorney

The Law Offi ces of SUSAN V. PEREZ offer the following services:

We also handle ALL PHILIPPINE cases and have an offi ce in Manila to service your needs there.

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

Nagsasalita ng Tagalog asin Bicol.

By Appointment only from 9:00 to 5:30, Monday thru Friday.

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

Atty. Susan V. Perez

Visit our website: www.law-usimmigration.com

by Atty. Susan V. Perez

Immigration 911

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

“MURA NA. MABILIS PA”

A.C.E.associated consolidators express

balikbayan boxes directNVOCC#17753NF

Sub-agents and co-loaders are welcome - We accept credit cards. Subject to Terms & ConditionsPrices are subject to change withoout notice * Subject to peace & order in some parts of the Philippines.

*Subject to weather conditions, typhoon, fl oods & other calamities. * Palawan, Puerto Princesa & Mindoro. Calapan Only.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HEADQUARTERS PHILIPPINE VILLAGE CENTER

4515 Eagle Rock Blvd. Ste. 133 Los Angeles, CA 90041(323) 258-0087 (323) 258-0089

For box pick-up and inquiries, please call:

Billy Spring Valley

(619) 384-6438 (619) 784-1006

Carol (RP Engineer, Inc.)National City

(619) 245-1539 1-877-490-1004NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HEADQUARTERS

1273 Industrial Parkway Unit #290 Hayward, CA 94544Satellite Offi ces: Las Vegas and Phoenix, Arizona

SUPER SALEDROP-OFF ONLY

NO REPLACEMENT BOX

REGULAR BOX (23” x 20” x 17”)(Kalookan City, Quezon City, Malabon, Pasig, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Muntinlupa, Makati, Marikina, Pasay, Paranaque, Las Pinas, Navotas, Pateros, Valenzuela, San Jose Del Monte)

METRO MANILA

$35Regular Box

$40 $45 $50LUZON

VISAYAS

MINDANAO

PICK - UP (EVERYDAY) + FREE STRAPPING PROMO VALID UNTIL September 30, 2008

METRO MANILA$40 PICK-UP ONLYNO REPLACEMENT BOX

REGULAR BOX (23” x 20” x 17”Regular Box

$45 $50 $55LUZON

VISAYAS

MINDANAO

Carol RP Engineer, Inc.

833 E. 8th St., National City, CA 91950

Billy

Spring Valley552 Felicita Ave., Spring

Valley, CA 91977

DROP-OFF LOCATIONS:

“MURA NA. MABILIS PA”

A.C.E.associated consolidators express

balikbayan boxes directNVOCC#17753NF

Sub-agents and co-loaders are welcome - We accept credit cards. Subject to Terms & ConditionsPrices are subject to change withoout notice * Subject to peace & order in some parts of the Philippines.

*Subject to weather conditions, typhoon, fl oods & other calamities. * Palawan, Puerto Princesa & Mindoro. Calapan Only.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HEADQUARTERS PHILIPPINE VILLAGE CENTER

3420 Verdugo Road Los Angeles, CA 90065(323) 258-0087 (323) 258-0089

For box pick-up and inquiries, please call:

Billy Spring Valley

(619) 384-6438 (619) 784-1006 1-877-327-8900NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HEADQUARTERS

1273 Industrial Parkway Unit #290 Hayward, CA 94544Satellite Offi ces: Las Vegas and Phoenix, Arizona

SUPER SALEREGULAR BOX(23” x 20” x 17”)

(Kalookan City, Quezon City, Malabon, Pasig, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Muntinlupa, Makati, Marikina, Pasay, Paranaque, Las Pinas, Navotas, Pateros, Valenzuela, San Jose Del Monte)

METRO MANILA

$45Regular Box

FREE REPLACEMENT BOX + PICK - UP (EVERYDAY) + FREE STRAPPING PROMO VALID UNTIL August 31, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - LOS ANGELES - SAN DIEGO - LAS VEGAS- PHOENIX

$50 (Rizal Province, Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon Province, Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan, San Mateo, Antipolo, Angono, Cainta)

4550 (Rizal Province, Bulacan, Batangas,

Cavite, Laguna, Quezon Province, Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija,

luzon 1(Baguio, La Union, Benguet, Abra, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Cgayan Valley, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Bicol, Camarinez Sur, Camarinez Norte, Sorsogon, Albay, Marinduque, Catanduanes)

San Juan, Muntinlupa, Makati, Marikina, Pasay, Paranaque, Las Pinas, Navotas, Pateros, Valenzuela, San Jose Del Monte)

San Juan, Muntinlupa, Makati, Marikina, Pasay, Paranaque, Las Pinas, Navotas, Pateros, Valenzuela, San Jose Del Monte)

(Rizal Province, Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon Province,

(Baguio, La Union, Benguet, Abra, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Cgayan Valley, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Bicol, Camarinez

luzon 2

anywhere in visayas

$55 anywhere in mindanao

$60$60

FREE REPLACEMENT BOX + PICK - UP (EVERYDAY) + FREE STRAPPING PROMO VALID UNTIL August 31, 2010

50 Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan, San Mateo, Antipolo, Angono, Cainta)San Mateo, Antipolo, Angono, Cainta)

Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Bicol, Camarinez Sur, Camarinez Norte, Sorsogon, Albay, Marinduque, Catanduanes)

anywhere in visayasvisayas

$5555 anywhere in anywhere in anywhere in mindanaomindanaomindanaomindanao

$6060

60metro manilaJUMBO BOX (24” X 18” X 24”)Outside Metro Manila, Visayas & Mindanao, please call for pricing.


Unholy Allied Mountains

American General Life and Ac-cident Insurance Company

(AGLA) offers custom-designedinsurance and annuity programsfor your life, your business,

your family:• Universal Life

• Whole Life Insurance• Term Insurance

• Annuities• Critical Illness Coverage

• Disability Income Insurance

AGLA, your choicefor peace of mind.

YourInsurance

YourCHOICEThat’s Our Promise.

The underwriting risks, financial and contractualobligations and support functions associated withproducts issued by American General Life andAccident Insurance Company (AGLA) are itsresponsibility. AGLA does not solicit business

in the states of New York and Wyoming.

© 2009 All rights reserved.

Gen Silverio

CA License # OG86915

Agent

San Diego, CA 92018Phone: 619.851.9547

2650 Camino del Rio N

The book “Unholy Allied Mountains” by R.D. Liporada is available from Amazon.com.

By RDliporada

Publisher’s note: The complete novel serialized here is on Unholy Allied Mountains by RDLipora-da. For those who would want to procure a copy

of the book online, go to unholyalliedmountains.com. In the first series,

NPAs have just ambushed Philippine Government soldiers with the help of

Pakistanis.

Prologue II (Second of a series)

He had realized to distinguish between opiates and the Supreme Opiate later in life.

Opiates lull one’s self, diverting one’s attention from the Supreme Opiate. The Su-preme Opiate lulls one’s self, diverting one’s attention from the realities of the harshness of life.

Those with plunging necklines and with puberty swelling inducements to his loins above the hemlines of their miniskirts to which his eye darted down the pews were opiates. Opiates they were, above the Supreme Opi-ate, lulling him to salacious momentary heavenly bliss for which his soul was being riddled with venial sins, left unclean, would plunge him to the deepest sanctuary of hell; but benefit those who benefit from the Supreme Opiate that lulled him, them, from the mortal sins of those who plunder at their rights to have even a semblance of heaven on earth.

He was not aware then of the Supreme Opiate and did not call them opiates, those opiates. Those opiates then were venial sins which when added to his other venial sins like the nights he made love, alone, with his hand would

aggregate to gargantuan mor-tal sins for which, if his heart abruptly refuses to pump, would be his unwilling pas-sage to his unwilling journey into the pyres of hell; for those opiates where opiates, destructions, diversions from the Supreme Opiate which benefitted those who commit the most humungous mortal sins who must be in hell but wallow in the bliss of their heaven here on earth.

He must confess those opi-ates. “Bless me, father, for I have sinned.” He must con-fess those opiates to a latest tail end of those who brought the Supreme Opiate to his Islands three centuries and over ago. “My last confes-sion was yesterday.” He must confess his sins to the tail of those who considered their sins in the past as not sins but as duties commanded upon them by the Supreme Being. “I committed sins as follows: I thought bad things and com-mitted bad things.” He must confess his sins to the tail end of those who did not have to confess as sins their annihila-tion of his ancestors in the name of the Supreme Being or so they say for they were actually for the plunder of the Supreme Being’s creations bestowed upon his ancestors who they have annihilated.

The tail end behind the confessional box sighed. He must have understood what he meant by “thought bad things and committed bad things” for he just sighed signifying that he must have also thought of bad things and committed bad things. “Do you prom-ise not to commit those sins again?” He asked but actually commanded. After he agreed, the tail end commanded “for your penance, pray three Hail Maries and three Our Fa-thers.”

The tail end has absolved him of his sins, has erased his venial sins from his soul, has cast off the opiates that drove him away from the Supreme Opiate in his moments of weaknesses like making love, alone, with his hand. He felt cleansed, buoyant like be-ing drugged off opiates. He prayed, with close eyes, his three Hail Maries and three Our Fathers in the most rever-ent silence he could. Finish-ing, he felt, even imagined his soul to be supremely brightly clean, wiped off those ugly black venial sins. Should his heart abruptly now refuse to pump, he would have a welcome passage straight to a

willing journey to heaven.Heaven is the place to

be. One’s ultimate journey on earth should be towards heaven. Up there in the celes-tial heavens, one would like to ultimately be and there is only one way. Do not die with a mortal sin in your heart. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not covet. Do not commit venial sins that would aggregate to become mortal sins.

You should also love your enemies.

When he opened his eyes after praying his pen-ance, down the pew, those with plunging necklines and puberty swelling inducements to his loins above hemlines of their miniskirts were still there as they, too, continued to partake of the rite that was gloriously unfolding as the leading tale end gestured his holy calisthenics, entwined with “Dominus vobiscum” to which he, they, responded “Et cum spiritu tuo” but did they all understand “The Lord be with you and with thy spirit?” Whether they did or did not, they were conditioned to respond “Et cum spiritu tuo” to “Dominus vobiscum” as his ancestors of three centuries and over ago to his present generation were conditioned to respond “Et cum spiritu tuo” to “Dominus vobiscum” during the rite which was initially plunged at the throats of his ancestors by the power of the sword. Eventually the swords were withdrawn from their throats and hidden in their scabbards when the darts and arrows and shackles of venial and mortal fears were plunged at their souls whenev-er they commit sins especially when they could not love their enemies who have merely, in their scabbards, hidden their swords.

It all started with another Supreme Opiate, or so he learned, at least at a point in time when it all started with another Supreme Opiate. It was a Supreme Opiate that did not lull one, that did not divert one’s attention from the reali-ties of the harshness of life. It was a Supreme Opiate that drugged one to be induced to fearlessly deal death blows to those who use a Supreme Opi-ate to lull one to the realities of the harshness of life and who benefit from the lull; it was a Supreme opiate that drugged one to be induced to fearlessly deal death to the infidels. It was a clash of

Supreme Opiates that changed the configurations of the Supreme Being’s creation on earth, how they would be bestowed upon those who were lulled and induced to fearless-ness, whether or not it was the Supreme Being’s idea of be-ing bestowed.

The Supreme Opiates clashed at the neck of the West and East terrestrial kingdoms on earth. Constantinople. It was the bridge of those who believed in heaven for the heavenly silks of the East, the spices that spiced their lives to have semblance of heaven on earth, of gold and trinkets that would adorn their lives while heaven wait for their souls. That bridge would be prevailed over by those who were guided by the light of the Crescent Moon in the clash of Supreme Opiates where those guided by the light of the Crescent Moon prevailed for the Supreme Be-ing of those who believed in heaven seemed to have aban-doned them for their crusades after crusades were crushed by the scimitars of those who were guided by the Crescent Moon.

The Supreme Being, how-ever, did not fully abandon them, or so they believed, for in their continued quest for the heavenly silks of the East, the spices that spiced their lives to have semblance of heaven on earth, of gold and trinkets that would adorn their lives while heaven wait for their souls, the Supreme Being gave them the knowl-edge that the world could be round with no monsters at the edge of the horizons, and the magic elongated glass that would bring far objects close to the very pupil of the eye with which they could navi-gate the gargantuan seas with the twinkling stars as guides to where the Supreme Being would guide them in their search for the heavenly silks of the East, the spices that spiced their lives to have sem-blance of heaven on earth, of gold and trinkets that would adorn their lives while heaven wait for their souls.

They plunged unto the gar-gantuan seas, struggled with their tempestuous drowning madness, celebrated their placidness, believing, hav-ing faith that as the Supreme Being’s Son walked the seas, they would behold islands in their horizons, a terrestrial heaven especially when they began to lose hope driven to conquer the fangs of hunger with the rodents that could have devoured their ships if the waves of the seas have not risen and lapped at them and

devoured to the very bowels at the bottom of the seas.

Then, when at the throes of losing hope and belief on the Supreme Being, there appeared, in the horizon, an Island, at last. Homonhon. March 16, 1521. And they brought forth the Supreme Being into the Islands when they held the first rite in the Islands like the rite he is par-taking of now in spite of those with plunging necklines and with puberty swelling induce-ments to his loins above the hemlines of their miniskirts to which his eye darted down the pews which serve as opi-ates from the Supreme Opiate which the conquerors have brought to the Islands three centuries and over ago so they could annihilate his ancestors and plunder the heavenly silks of the East, the spices that spiced their lives to have sem-blance of heaven on earth, of gold and trinkets that would adorn their lives while heaven wait for their souls.

The Supreme Opiate lulled the senses of his ancestors for which they cannot com-mit mortal sins like kill their enemies.

They cannot kill their enemies for they are supposed to be loved even when they are being oppressed till now while he is partaking of the rite with those with plunging necklines and with puberty swelling inducements to his loins above the hemlines of their miniskirts to which his eye darted down the pews and all the thousand others who are responding “Et cum spiritu tuo” to the lead tail end’s “Dominus vobiscum” in the massive house of worship, home also to the thousands of saints and angels, some of them depicted on the rainbow tinted panes adorning the massive house, where now the lead tail end was gesturing his holy calisthenics underneath the symbol of their faith upon which the Son of the Supreme Being dangled with sanguined pierced hands and feet.

They have said the rite in “Dominus vo-biscum” tongue when outside of the massive house the tongue most spoken was already in the tongue of those who have supplanted the conquerors of old who have annihilated his ancestors, who have added textures and quilts of other rites of the same Supreme Being. The Supplant-ers also annihilated his ancestors before impart-ing on them that ‘a’ is for apple and ‘b’ is for boy to bring him, them, to Hollywood that he, they, may be blind and not see that the Sup-planters were there, too, to plunder their gold, more than their silk, more than their souls.

Eventually “Domi-nus vobiscum” answered

by “Et cum spiritu tuo” are said in the tongue of the Sup-planters but the same Supreme Opiate still lulls him, them…

(To be continued)


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

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

Phil - Am Law 101

A lot of children born since the late 80’s share one thing in common – they have two or more fancy names as their first name. It has become fashion-able to give kids cute names – usually a combination of the parents or grandparents’ mod-ernized names. I even have a friend who gave his youngest and eldest children consecu-tive letters for their third first names to signify which came first and which came last; thus, the eldest has ABC for her third first name, while the youngest has XYZ as his third first name. How creative!

But seriously, this may cause some headaches for the kids, not only because it takes them a long time to write their names in their school papers, but also because it can cause confusion in filling out forms. For instance, here in the USA, if you have two first names like William Charles Fran-cisco, William is your first name, Charles is your middle name, and Francisco is your last name. But wait a minute, what happened to my maiden surname, asked his mom? Well, sorry Mom, it got buried under the pile of numerous first names.

Indeed, in the Philippines, William Charles’ middle name would be his mother’s maiden surname. Under the rules of the Civil Registrar General, the full name of an individual consists of a first or given name, a middle name which is the mother’s maiden surname and the last name which is generally the father’s surname. Entries of names in the birth certificate should, as much as possible and legally permissible, follow the above convention (Civil Registry Manual). William, my nephew, used to write “Karagdag” as his middle name when he was still studying in the Philip-pines. But here, he is told to write “Charles” as his middle name. Confusing, isn’t it? To settle the issue and to calm down his mom, Charles has decided to write both “William Charles” as his first name, so he can write his mom’s maiden surname in the forms.

But what if the child is ille-gitimate and the father refuses to acknowledge the child and to lend him his name? Un-

Of Two First Names and No Middle Name

der Philippine law, the child should use the surname of the mother. For example, Maria Reyes Cruz gave birth to Juan out of wedlock, and the father refused to acknowledge Juan as his child. Juan’s birth cer-tificate should indicate Maria’s surname Cruz as Juan’s last name, so he now becomes Juan Cruz. But how about his middle name?

This is where the confusion comes in. Previously, the civil registrar required the middle name to be filled out in the birth certificate. As a result, an unwed mother was forced to indicate her own middle name as her child’s middle name, simply because there is no other name she could use. Thus, in the past, Maria would have to put in Juan’s full name as “Juan Reyes Cruz”. How-ever, the NSO realized that this created the impression that the mother and the child are siblings since they share the same middle and last names. Indeed, people will mistake Maria Reyes Cruz as the elder sister of Juan Reyes Cruz. To avoid the confusion, the NSO has now removed the require-ment for middle names in the birth certificate. Thus, the child’s full name can simply be “Juan Cruz” without any middle name.

Atty. Rogelio Karagdag , Jr. is licensed to practice law in both California and the Philippines. He practices im-migration law in San Diego and has continuously been a trial and appellate attorney in the Philippines since 1989. He travels between San Diego and Manila. His office address is located at 10717 Camino Ruiz, Suite 131, San Diego, CA 92126. He also has an of-fice in the Philippines at 1240 Apacible Street, Paco, Manila, Philippines 1007, with tele-phone numbers (632)522-1199 and (632)526-0326. Please call (858)348-7475/(858)536-4292 or email him at [email protected]. He speaks Tagalog fluently. Articles written in this column are not legal advice but are hypo-theticals intended as general, non-specific legal informa-tion. Readers must seek legal consultation before taking any legal steps.

CALEXICO, Calif. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in collaboration with Immigra-tion and Customs Enforce-ment agents and Border Patrol agents at the Calexico port of entry stopped more than $400,000 in undeclared cur-rency from leaving the United States Thursday night during an outbound enforcement operation.

The incident occurred at about 10 p.m., when an ICE agent conducting enforce-ment outbound operations with CBP officers and Border Patrol agents referred a white 1995 Ford F-150 pick-up truck for an intensive inspec-tion.

The driver, a 58-year-old male Mexican national and legal resident of Phoenix, Ariz., gave officers a negative declaration to transporting more than $10,000.

A CBP K-9 team per-formed an examination and the currency detector dog alerted to the rear of the vehicle. CBP officers noticed anomalies with the vehicle’s tailgate and removed its ac-cess plate.

CBP officers discovered

Joint Agency Southbound Operations at Calexico Port Stops Large Stash of

Cash from Entering MexicoSecond large cash seizure this week

several vacuum sealed clear packages containing U.S. currency hidden within the tailgate. The total cash seized was $434,720.

CBP officers arrested the driver and turned him over to ICE agents for further investi-gation. CBP seized the money and vehicle.

Pete Flores, San Diego CBP assistant director for trade said, “Keeping this money out of the hands of criminal organizations helps to diminish their operations which will keep our commu-nities safe.”

This is the second large cash seizure at the Calexico port of entry this week. On Sunday, during outbound enforcement operations, CBP officers seized more than $2.1 million of undeclared cur-rency from leaving the United States.

It is a federal offense not to declare currency or monetary instruments totaling more than $10,000 to a CBP of-ficer upon entry or exit from the U.S. or to conceal it with intent to evade reporting re-quirements. Failure to declare may result in seizure of the currency and/or arrest.

SACRAMENTO - At-torney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today unveiled an innovative, web-based com-puter program for all of Cali-fornia’s licensed cardrooms that is intended to help ad-dicted gamblers break “their spiral of debt and addiction” by allowing them to voluntari-ly exclude themselves from gambling establishments.

“This system serves as a safety net for gam-bling addicts fight-ing to end their spiral of debt and addic-tion,” Brown said. “These are people who have chosen to help themselves, and we’ll assist them in keeping their pledges not to gamble.”

An estimated one million Californians suffer from prob-lem or pathological gambling, and more than 1,000 of them have signed up for the Attor-ney General’s Self Exclusion Program, which allows prob-lem gamblers to voluntarily exclude themselves from li-censed cardrooms. So far, the program applies only to card rooms and not to the Califor-nia lottery, tribal casinos or horse racing, but if the card-room program is successful, it can be expanded.

To join the Self Exclusion Program, a problem gambler fills out a form, has it nota-rized, attaches a photograph and chooses to be excluded for one year, five years or his or her lifetime. The Self Exclusion form can be found at http://ag.ca.gov/gambling/exclusion_self.php

Of the 1,009 gamblers vol-untarily on the list, 285 are for one-year terms, 196 are on for five- years, and 528 signed up for lifetime terms. Options are offered because some patrons are trying to learn to gamble responsibly while others are pathological or compulsive gamblers.

The program started in 2007 with a paper list of ex-cluded gamblers mailed from the Attorney General’s office to cardrooms throughout the state. Starting this summer,

Brown Introduces State-of-the-Art Technology to Help

California Gambling Addicts Help Themselves

the profiles and photographs of banned patrons are going live onto a database accessible to the 90 licensed cardrooms in the state.

Cardroom security, ca-shiers and surveillance per-sonnel can run a patron’s name, driver’s license number or zip code in the database to see if he or she is banned from gambling.

If the profile and picture

match, the banned patron is escorted out of the building, and any winnings are confis-cated. All of the confiscated winnings are used for Problem Gambling Prevention training and treatment services includ-ing the production of self-help workbooks for problem gam-blers (available in 18 languag-es); free gambling toolkits; a book that includes warning signs, causes and stages of problem gambling; and finan-cial management tips.

The exclusion database also includes patrons who have been convicted of a felony or have violated gam-bling laws in any state.

The California Council on Problem Gambling has pro-

vided data on the 5,009 calls received on its crisis hotline (1-800-GAMBLER) in 2009:

- 78.5% of callers were gamblers, 7.5% were their spouses and 14% were others including family members, therapists or employers.

- The callers’ average per-sonal debt was $29, 972.

- The average amount of money the callers spent gam-bling was $28,647.

- 53% of the callers said they financed their gambling with credit cards.

- 38% said their credit cards were maxed out.

The Attorney General’s website lists inpatient and out-patient treatment centers and accredited counselors special-izing in addiction treatment. See http://ag.ca.gov/gambling/responsible.php


Light &Shadows

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

by Zena Sultana Babao

705,418 Readson www.scribd.com /asianjournal

As the mid-term election draws near, the Conservative Camp is gearing for a comeback even as they are drumming up support - nationally and locally - for their cause of “taking back America.”

POTUS is making it easier for them – what with his failed stimulus bill, his unpopular health care takeover, and now his endorsement/non-endorse-ment of the Cordoba Project Mosque being built on Ground Zero.

Regarding the Cordoba Project Mosque, the President seems to be in a quandary on what he really wants. First, the New York Times ran the headline “Obama Strongly Backs Islam Center Near 9/11 Site.” Sudden-ly, Obama backtracked and ran for cover and told the New York Times “that he wasn’t endorsing the specific project but making a

Team Powell at the Republican Party meeting.

Col. Rick Powell, candidate for California’s 78th Assembly District.

Nick Popaditch, candidate for California’s 51st Congres-sional District, delivering his speech at the National Doctors Tea Party.

The fired-up Popaditch’ supporters at the Republic Party meeting.

Nick Popaditch speaking at the Republican Party meeting.

Nevada senatorial candi-date Sharon Angle speaking at the Tea Party.

The attendees at the Na-tional Doctors Tea Party.

Taking Back Americageneral plea for religious toler-ance towards all.”

To make it clear to everyone who were confused and scratch-ing their heads in bewilder-ment, the White House press office quickly explained, “Just to be clear, the president is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night.” Obama’s indecision is alienating most people, even his own.

Even the ultra-liberal Harry Reid is kind-of breaking with Obama on this issue. Of course, Reid wants his job back as Sen-ate Majority Floor Leader, and he doesn’t want to be unpopular with, and alienate, the voters. Conservative Sharron Angle who is running for senator in Nevada has a real chance of ousting Reid.

Angle has been crisscross-ing the country, and was here in San Diego last Saturday, August

7, as one of the speakers at the National Doctors Tea Party (Doctors United against Obama-Care) at the Spanish Landing along Harbor Drive. Despite criticism from the Washington establishment and a blitz of TV ads against her, Angle (who calls herself “the Right Angle”) seems on track of winning this difficult race.

The nation’s top conser-vatives are getting into position

to win important Senate seats over entrenched Liberal politi-cians. The mainstream media and the elites in Washington say conservative candidates aren’t as electable as the moderates. These media and elites have tried to marginalize the conser-vatives by calling their support to the constitution “extreme” and

constantly portraying them as different from the usual politi-cian.

But compared to the political class in Washington today, these conservative candidates are re-ally different – and that’s exactly what this country needs!

Combat veteran Nick Popa-ditch, who is running for Con-gress in California’s 51st District against incumbent Bob Filner (D), has the fiery spirit and the commitment for freedom and country. His courage has been tested in combat unlike those who show courage only when it’s politically convenient.

This retired Marine has seen the devastation of the economic politics of the Pelosi Congress and the current administration as progressive politics and anti-cap-italist programs destroy family businesses across the district.

He doesn’t mince words in call-ing the Obama administration and his Democratic opponent to task for their failed bailouts and high-tax policies.

At the Republican Party of San Diego County monthly rally/meeting here last Monday, August 9, at the Town and Coun-try Convention Center, Nick “Gunny Pop” Popaditch was one of the several candidates who spoke at the well-attended rally/meeting.

Clearly, he was the star of the evening as he outlined his issues

and his plans when, like the other conservative candidates, he is successful at “taking back America.” He said he is ready to stand up and fight for our borders and the men and women who put their lives on line every-day to protect our country.

He also said he stands up “for the traditional American family that has been bashed by progressives on the left who want to take away our freedoms and replace them with govern-ment bureaucrats.” When he gets to Washington, he promises to make sure that he represents the people and the will of the people.

Another speaker during the Republican Party meeting was Col. Rick Powell, who is running for the 78th Assembly District against incumbent Marty Block (D). Powell also served in the United States military, both in the Marines and in the Army. In his speech, he outlined the issues he believes in and is running for.

He explained that he is will-ing to serve his country again during this time of great need, and even quoted the late General Douglas MacArthur but added his own twist, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away. I’m not ready to fade away.” Like “Gunny Pop”, he knows that the battle for freedom still rages at home in the hearts and minds of people.

Among the candidates’ sup-porters who were present during the Republican meeting were a handful of Filipino-Americans:

Julio de Guzman, Katrina Ben-fer, James Udan, Narrie Babao and this columnist.

The Conservative Camp is confident that their candidates can win this November. Af-ter all, conservative principles transcend political labels and are attractive to a majority of Ameri-cans. It’s not about liberals versus concservatives, it’s about America surviving as a nation and not losing its identity and its greatness.


858

By Dr. Cesar D. Candari18th in a series of

articles

“Liberty: One of imagination’s most precious

Possessions.”

- AMBROSE BIERCE Since this story is being

written and reckoned in units of time and covers a diversity of subjects, the 1980s his-tory of the Philippines is of extreme interest to all Filipi-nos wherever they are in the world.

The historical events that could never be forgotten were the conditions in the Philip-pines during those years. In fact, all Filipinos in the entire world could not forget the People Power Revolution of 1986.

The following is a summa-ry of a very interesting history of the Philippines for your amusement. These are extracts taken from glimpses of Philip-pine conditions from Spain’s colonization to the present time. I cannot help but share them with you. Although it may appear to be deviating from my personal life story, at one time or another I have to partake in the political history that I cannot forget and worth to be a lasting legacy to pass on.

It is my opinion that a cur-sory review of the earlier his-tory of the Philippines is prop-er and apropos for the reader to know. The overwhelming events in the Philippines to-day…the civic, social, politi-cal and economic pictures…convey a sad story. From the beginning of the Spanish rule up to the present time, the dispatiry between the rich and the poor is estimated at 30 percent middle-class and rich and 70 percent low-class and poor of the poorest In all hon-esty, the country nowadays is being subjected to serendipity of events that it becomes a less attractive place to live in permanently. It may be a fa-vorite place of retirement for Filipinos working abroad, but it is politically beleaguered that a few are having second thoughts about it.

In 1521, when Ferdinand Magellan used fire in burning the homes of our forefathers in Mactan, a tribal leader Lapu-Lapu rose and took up arms and killed Magellan and his men along the shores of Mactan Island. We admit-ted that a Filipino nation was not born despite the defeat of Magellan. We were under the Spanish rule for more than three centuries (1565-1898). A young doctor-writer, Jose Rizal, used his pen to expose the brutalizing, depressive and anti-human treatment of the Spanish colonizers. Dr. Rizal was arrested and then executed by a firing squad at Bagumbayan on December 30, 1896. Rizal, who was just 30 years old when he was ex-ecuted, aroused the Filipinos to rebellion, spurred by the Katipunan that was organized by our heroes Andres Boni-facio and later led by Emilio Aguinaldo. Between 1897 and 1899, Bonifacio and Agui-naldo’s factions in the midst of political intrigue resulted in the execution of Bonifa-cio. They failed to coalesce their forces and fight side by side against the enemy and the leaders lost their souls to greed and thirst for power.

American and Spanish War ensued. The Spaniards eventu-ally surrendered. The Katipu-nan (KKK) patriots of Agui-naldo declared the Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898 in Cavite El Viejo (now Kawit), Cavite, Philippines.

From Antique to America:Memoirs of a Filipino American Doctor

Philippines, People and PoliticsWith the public reading of the Act of the Declaration of Independence, Filipino revo-lutionary forces under General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the sovereignty and independence of the Philippine Islands from the colonial rule of Spain, which had been recently defeated at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War. However, on De-cember 10, 1898, the Americans annexed the Philippines from Spain in the Treaty of Paris. This brought about the Filipino-American War that led to the capture of Aguinaldo. The Phil-ippines then remained an American colony for nearly 50 years. It became a Com-monwealth from 1901-1941. A lot of learning took place on democratic principles, struc-ture and governance..

In 1935, a semiautonomous Philippine Commonwealth was inaugurated in Manila with Manuel L. Quezon as President and Sergio Os-mena as Vice-President. This became the Philippine gov-ernment in exile during the Japanese war.

From 1941 - 1945, the Philippines came under the Japanese empire that pro-duced disaster, devastation and annihilation of the Fili-pino people from the Japanese imperialist. The Filipino/American soldiers (USAFFE) faced a death march in Bata-an. General Douglas McAr-thur fled to Australia with a promise, “I SHALL RE-TURN.” The American forces returned in 1945 to liberate the country. Manila City was one of the most devastated cities.

We celebrated the inde-pendence of the Philippines from the Americans on July 4, 1946. During the two decades that followed as a democratic country, six presidents were elected. The country was populated then by 17 million Filipinos. Since then, there has been was no change in the gap between the rich and the poor…30% rich and 70 % poor.

In 1967, the Philippines became a founding member of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN). Ferdinand Marcos became the first president to be reelected in 1969, but early in his sec-ond term economic growth slowed, optimism faded, and the crime rate increased. In addition, a new communist insurgency sprouted in 1968 led by the new Communist Party of the Philippines, Marxist-Leninist. Its military arm, the New People’s Army, was on the rise. In 1969 the Moro National Front was founded and it conducted an insurgency in the Muslim areas. The political violence was blamed on the leftists but it was probably initiated by government agents’ provoca-teurs. The situation led Mar-cos to suspend habeas corpus as a prelude to martial law.

Martial Law was declared in 1972 and Marcos became a dictator. Freedom of assembly and expression went out of the window.

What followed were years of dictatorial abuse, crony capitalism, shackled free enterprise, near economic col-lapse and a demoralized mid-dle class. The gap between the rich (30%) and poor (70%) remained in a quagmire. Dur-ing this time, Marcos called for self-sacrifice and an end to the old society. However, in the “New Society” Marcos’

cronies and his wife, former movie actress Imelda Romual-dez-Marcos, willfully engaged in rampant corruption. With her husband’s support, Imelda

Marcos built her own power base. She became the gover-nor of Metropolitan Manila and the minister of Human Settlements. The previously nonpolitical armed forces be-came highly politicized with

high-ranking positions being given to Marcos loyalists. In 1979 the United States reaf-firmed Philippine sovereignty over the U.S. military bases in the Philippines and contin-ued to provide military and economic aid to the Marcos regime. When martial law was lifted in 1981 and a “New Re-public” was proclaimed, very little had actually changed and

Marcos easily won reelection.The beginning of the end

of the Marcos era occurred when his chief political rival, Liberal Party leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, who had been jailed by Marcos for

eight years, was assassinated as he disembarked from an airplane at the Manila Inter-national Airport on August 21, 1983 after his medical treatment in the United States. Marcos’ cronies were charged with the crime but were ac-quitted. Aquino, however, be-came a martyr and his murder became the focus of popular indignation against a corrupt

regime.The Catholic Church,

a coalition of old politi-cal opposition groups, the business elite, the left wing, and even factions of the armed forces, began to exert pressure on the regime. There was also foreign pressure, and feeling confident with the sup-port given by the Rea-gan White House, Mar-cos called for a “snap” presidential election on February 7, 1986.

When the Marcos-dominated National Assembly proclaimed

Marcos the winner, Cardinal Jaime Sin and key military leaders (including Minister of Defense Juan Ponce Enrile and acting Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Lieuten-ant General Fidel V. Ramos)

rallied around the apparent majority vote winner, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, Ninoy Aquino’s widow.

(Continued next issue)

(About the author: Dr. Cesar D. Candari, a native of Pandan, Antique in the Philip-pines was a long time resident and medical practitioner of San Diego County where he was an active community leader, having been one of the three Filipino American doctors who founded Opera-tion Samahan and its medi-cal clinic. He had served in various capacities as officer of different professional, civic and community organiza-tions. He is now retired and living in Henderson, Nevada. This book, “From Antique to America: Memoirs of a Filipi-no American Doctor” is being published by Green Mango Books, a division of Asian Journal San Diego and will be released in September 2010. To order copies of the book with a 20% pre-publication discount off the $12.95 selling price, call (619) 474-0588.)

(Read previous install-ments of this memoir in www.asianjournalusa.com)


Renina Hortinela, 70, sells balut and farm-fresh eggs at the Bonita-Sunnyside Farmers Market on a Wednes-day afternoon. The stall gets its supply from Ramona Duck Farm, which is owned and operated by Roland Horti-nela, a Certified Farmer Producer of Balut Pateros, Ma Alat and Penoy. Call (760) 788-1831 for more information.

Small Business: Balut Vendor

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Transaction Wire-less™ (TW), a leading provider of virtual and mobile gift cards, announced today it has signed two new retailers for its virtual, mobile and gift card services: low price department store Gordmans and convenience-store chain Thorntons. TW will utilize its proprietary technol-ogy for gift card services to create turnkey stores on both the retailers’ corporate websites and Facebook® Pages. These new agreements mark the first customers launched through TW’s relationship with Cincin-nati, Ohio based Fifth Third Processing Solutions, a pioneer in providing secure electronic payments and credit, debit and gift card processing services.

When available, consumers can log on to either www.gord-mans.com or www.thornton-sinc.com, or visit the retailers’ pages on Facebook Platform, they’ll be able to select either virtual (email) or mobile gift cards, powered by Transaction Wireless. TW will also be man-aging the sale of Gordmans’ traditional plastic cards and both retailers will be offering a mobile short code balance inquiry option for gift cards, saving precious time for con-sumers and administration costs for retailers. In addition, retail-ers can utilize TW’s campaign management system to deliver targeted marketing messages to consumers such as upcoming sales, promotions and coupons.

Transaction Wireless Signs Two Leading Midwest-Based Retailers for

Virtual and Mobile Gift Cards- Gordmans and Thorntons Expand Gift Card Offerings with TW, Deals Mark

First Customers launching with Fifth Third Processing Solutions -

TW’s patented digital gift-ing and marketing technology offers a turnkey solution for retailers and other merchants to offer a variety of gift card ser-vices from traditional (plastic) to mobile. TW also launched its gift card store for Facebook Platform to enable social gifting earlier this year, providing both virtual and traditional plastic cards through clients’ Facebook Pages, giving access to Face-book’s more than 400 million active users with virtually no ramp up time or dedicated re-sources. Both the digital gifting and social gifting services allow consumers to purchase the gift cards, create customizable mes-sages and send them instantly both via mobile phone as well as to the giver and recipient’s Facebook Pages. A link for a secure virtual card is sent to an email address for printing op-tions as well. Facebook gifting also increases brand exposure in social mediums and, for so many who rely on Facebook birthday and calendar remind-ers, it helps ensure important occasions are never forgotten.

Both Gordmans and Thorn-tons are leading retailers in the Midwest, with 68 low-priced department stores and over 160 convenience stores respectively.

“Digital gifting has seen tremendous growth in the past few years with the adoption of virtual gift cards, and now mobile devices provide a ubiq-uitous platform for consumer gifting due to the ease of use,

cost savings and security fea-tures which are ideally suited for stored value programs,” said Bruce Springer, president and CEO, Transaction Wireless. “We’re thrilled to be working with Gordmans, Thorntons and Fifth Third Processing Solu-tions to bring these exciting new gift card options to their customers.”

“Our commitment to our processing partners is to deliver the most innovative and most effective technology available,” said Donald Boeding, president, merchant services, Fifth Third Processing Solutions. “This technology helps to provide our clients a new, more cost-effective way of handling their multi-billion dollar gift card business.”

The new gift cards can be found at www.gordmans.com or www.facebook.com/gordmans and at www.thorntonsinc.com or www.facebook.com/thorn-tonsinc, when available.

About Gordmans Stores, Inc.

Gordmans is an everyday low price department store con-cept featuring a large selection of the latest brands, fashions and styles at up to 60% off department and specialty store regular prices every day in a fun, easy-to-shop environment. Our merchandise assortment includes apparel for all ages, accessories, footwear and home décor. The origins of Gordmans

date back to 1915, and as of August 4, 2010, we operated 68 stores in 16 primarily Midwest-ern states situated in a variety of shopping center develop-ments, including regional en-closed shopping malls, lifestyle centers and power centers. For more information, please visit www.gordmans.com.

About Thorntons

Thorntons Inc is a leading independent gasoline/conve-nience store chain retailer--marketing throughout the Midwest under the brand name of Thorntons. Thorntons ranks among Forbes magazine’s 500 largest privately held compa-nies, and is one of Kentucky’s largest privately held com-panies with over $1.7 billion in annual revenue. James H. Thornton founded Thorntons in 1971 and they are headquar-tered in Louisville, Kentucky. They operate over 160 conve-nience stores, one travel plaza, and eight car washes.

About Fifth Third Process-ing Solutions

Fifth Third Processing Solu-tions, LLC delivers innovative payment transaction processing and acceptance solutions to cre-ate and support complex pay-ment strategies for merchants, businesses, and financial institutions around the world. A pioneer in card payment accep-tance in the early 1970s, Fifth Third Processing Solutions is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio and is a joint venture with Advent International and Fifth Third Bank, a subsidiary of Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB).

As a premier full service payment solutions provider, the Company provides servicing solutions and product engineer-ing for financial institutions’ and retailers’ credit card, debit

card, merchant and private label programs processing over 33.3 billion ATM and point of sale transactions and over $315.5 billion in debit and credit card sales volume annually. The Company supports over 180,000 merchant and finan-cial institution locations and 11,000 ATMs in 44 states and 11 countries. According to the Nilson Report (March 2010), the Company is the third larg-est U.S. merchant transaction acquirer. Learn more at www.FTPSLLC.com.

About Transaction Wire-less

Transaction Wireless (TW) is a mobile commerce, payment and one-to-one relationship marketing company enabling a unique link between consum-

ers, retailers and brands via any PC or mobile device leveraging TW’s proprietary technologies. With unparalleled solutions, Transaction Wireless’ product portfolio includes a patented digital gifting and market-ing solution; a multimedia mobile messaging service to extend any marketing program to the mobile phone or PC; a merchant mobile POS credit card terminal; and a turnkey Facebook Platform solution for B2B or direct-to-consumer social gifting. The Company is headquartered in San Diego, California and counts AMC Entertainment, SpaFinder, Bass Pro Shops and Hallmark Busi-ness Connections, among others as current clients. More infor-mation can be found at www.transactionwireless.com.

Business and Finance


Balik-Tanaw: The Filipino Stars

of Yesteryears

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

by Dr. Romy R. Protacio

(619) 474-0588

If Hollywood has Marilyn Monroe as the sex symbol of the American movie industry, Divina Valencia was once tagged as the “Sex Goddess of the Philippine Cinema”. That was the title she earned during her early years in the movie industry. It was strange then, even to Divina to have earned that moniker, when the word “bomba stars” did not exist until the early 70s. Divina started in 1964, and although she had sexy roles, she never even had a bed scene which seemed to be the norm with the other sex symbols of the time. “Wala akong pelikula na hubo’t, hubad, which was the selling point to draw the crowd to see the movie,” Divina said.

When the word “bomba stars” became like a com-mon word to describe the sex sirens that time, the likes of Merle Fernandez, Stella Suarez and Rosanna Ortiz be-came popular with the male movie goers. It was the time “bomba” movies made box office records, one after an-other. They were the original sex sirens of Philippine mov-ies, the first group of bomba stars who must have driven the conservative Catholic “manangs” to their rosaries

Divina Valencia: Sex Goddess of

Philippine Cinema

Divina Valencia today

and crucifixes with their torrid kissing scenes and their bar-ing more skin than was ever thought possible in full view of an easily titillated movie audience. The most controver-sial “bomba” film then that I read was the movie made by Merle Fernandez where she was supposed to have walked naked in Escolta.

Divina Valencia and Stella

Suarez were two of the most popular sex symbols in Philip-pine cinema, so popular in-deed that when we were kids, we used to sing in chorus, “Divina Valencia, Stella Su-arez, nagbuburles.” Rosanna and Stella reached the peaks of their careers in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s during the so-called bold wave. Eventu-ally, Divina would prove to her audience that she was not a “bomba” star but a high caliber dramatic actress. As her acting career progressed, Divina turned into a fine ac-tress, indeed.

Her Movie Career

Josephine Connie Fuller, better known in the movie world as Divina Valencia, is the daughter to a fine genetic amalgamation of a Filipino mother (Patrocinia Valencia) and a German-American fa-ther (Waldo Fuller). She was born on September 1, 1946 in Bataan but grew up in Cav-

ite City. She comes from a family of five, where she was the youngest. Her father died when she was barely three months old.

Her cousin Ana Ledesma gave her picture to Bert Laforteza, a talent manager. Atty. Laxa of the Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions liked her and immediately signed her up for a movie. She was only 17 when she was intro-duced in 1964 in “Tiagong Kidlat,” starring Jess Lapid. At 17, she was described to have a face that exuded youthful innocence, yet with a daring spirit (as she ooze with sexy mysteriousness, every time she dons her hairdo, where part of her face is hid-den). She was often described as having a “coca-cola” body that seared the imagination of moviegoers.

It was very timely for Divi-na when she started her movie career. She joined the movie industry at a time when the country was ready for its first sex symbol. It was a period

when people started getting rid of their sexual inhibitions, and the movies of the time reflected this. After “Kar-dong Kidlat,” there was no stopping for Divina. She was embraced by the Filipino audience as the embodiment of feline grace, guile, and ferocity.

Through the years until mid-70s, she reigned as film-dom’s most desir-able femme fatale. She was the “Kwa-tang,” and “Psycho Maniac” (1968), the Pussycat” (1960), and the “Queen of the Wild Bunch” (1970), When Divina

accepted roles as a freelancer, she made movies for differ-ent movie productions. She was the leading lady in “Venga-dora,” an Esmeralda Productions starring Vice Vargas, Lauro Del-gado, Marissa Delgado, and Rita Gomez. For Kamagong Films, she made “Ang Nasasakdal” with Romeo Vasquez, Van De Leon, Rod Navarro, June Bergman and Tony Cayado. She made “Bato sa Bato” for Larry Santiago Produc-tions with Van de Leon, Anita Linda, Bert Silva, Aruray, Leni Trinidad, and Lito Garcia. She did a movie with the king of the comedy films, Dolphy, in “Daki-lang Tanga” with Teroy de Guzman, Georgie Quizon, Maritess, Rod Navarro, Katy de la Cruz, Ike Fernando, and Rico Roman.

At the height of her popularity, she decided to quit showbiz when she married the popular action star Bernard Belleza. Despite the flagrant roles that she portrayed in the movies, deep in her heart, she was still the traditional

Filipino woman who believed that a wife’s place is at home, showering her husband and children with love and affec-tion. For some years after she was married, she shied away from the limelight, only to be seduced back into a comeback in the early 70s. She appeared as Banak in “Dyesebel” (1973) starring Vilma San-tos and as a giant in 1974’s “Darna” sequel.

Acting will always be in Divina’s blood. When she returned to the Philippines to attend the funeral of Fer-nando Poe, Jr., she developed a passion to do another movie. She tried to network with her friends in the movie industry. Boy Abunda was willing to



Spiritual life

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

by Msgr. Fernando G. Gutierrez

Lower Your Nets Balintataw

Read Virginia Ferrer’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Virginia H. Ferrer

Now Available:

Tawa’t Tula ng mga Piling Katatawanan

By Joe Cabrera

A Collecton of Jokes Written in Pilipino Verse

$10.00 a copy

Call Asian Journal San Diego619-474-0588

©2010 Virginia H. Ferrer. All rights reserved.

About the Author: Virginia H. Ferrer is a Filipino Language Teacher at Otay Ranch High School in Chula Vista.

Nang Dahil Sa IyoNang dahil sa iyo nagkakulay ang aking daigdignagliwanag na rin ang dating makulimlim na langithalaman ay nabuhay at naging rosas ang paligidsana naman sa aking tabi’y juwag ka nang umalis.

Nang dahil sa iyo nakausap ko ang mga bituinat kawangis mo rin sila na may kakaibang ningningmasigla kung nakikipaglaro sa hihip ng hanginwalang pakialam anumang hialahil na darating.

Nang dahi sa iyo naging malambing ang musikananunuot sa kaibuturan bawa’t isang notasabay kumpas ng sanga na siyang tiklado ng alpaat sa ating pag-awit sana’y huwag nang matapos pa.

Nang dahil sa iyo ngayo’y masdan mo’t nakangitisa bawat araw na dumarating maganda ang batisana ay wala nang katapusan ang bawa’t sandaliliwanag at ligaya lang ang sa atin ay maghari.

Nang dahil sa iyo hayan muli akong nagkabuhaywalang sawang nananabik sa bagong bukang-liwaywaysana’y wala nang katapusan ganitong pakiramdamnang dahil sa iyo naparam at pumanw ang lumbay.

Joke of the week: This story is about heaven and how St. Peter keeps a pretty close watch on who knocks at the door. One day a fellow shows up and says his name is Picasso and St. Peter makes him prove it by drawing a picture. Next day, Leopold Stokowski arrives and St. Peter requires him to conduct a symphony. Then Harry Truman arrives and St. Peter explains, “You’ve got to prove who you are. Even Picasso and Stokowski had to do

that.” “Who the hell is Picasso and Stokowski?” says Tru-man. “Okay,” says St. Peter, “you’re Harry Truman.”

Scripture: First Reading: Isaiah 66: 18-21. The prophet Isaiah laments the divisive distinction among the mem-bers of the Jerusalem com-munity, between the insiders and the outsiders. Many of those who had just returned from exile are excluded from full participation in leader-ship and cultic practices at the Temple. The prophet promises a brighter future when all, including these “outsiders, will be gathered as one nation. Second Reading: Hebrews 12: 5-7, 11-13. Christians suffer from criticisms and ridicules

Insider vs. Outsider:Are You In or Out?

of their non-Christian neigh-bors. Theirs is a situation of “outsider vs. insider”. The author of this Letter encour-ages the faithful not to give in to discouragement. First, the Christians have the ex-amples of many witnesses of the past who had endured much pain and suffering, but remained steadfast in their faith. Secondly, because they are considered as “outsid-ers,” the pain that they endure will merit for them eternal reward as “insiders” in God’s

kingdom. Gospel: luke 13: 22-30.The question that is asked of Jesus reveals the symbolic cen-ter of Hebrew religious prac-tice: inclusion and exclusion. Jesus did not answer the question about how many will be saved, because he wants to con-centrate on a more important theme: who will be saved according to one’s respon-sibility before

God. Exclusion or inclusion in God’s kingdom depends on how one assumes his respon-sibility as God’s creature.

Reflections: In ancient times, every important city had a wall to protect it. For example, there is Manila as a walled city, Intramuros, with-in the walls; the Great Wall of China; and in our time, the Brandenburg Gate of the Ber-lin Wall. The city gate served as the passageway between the safety of the inside life and the dangers that lurked outside. Since not too many dwellers inside the Jerusalem walls would risk venturing into the outside world out of fear for their own lives, much of the social, commercial,

and legal activities occurred at the city gate. At the city gate, it was not uncommon to see a gathering of people from all walks of life, such as the crippled, disabled, elders, traders, widows, and social climbers. See Genesis 23: 10; Proverbs 31: 23; Amos 5: 12; Deuteronomy 25: 7.

Though the city gate divides people between those who are inside looking out and those who are outside looking in, it is used as a symbolic challenge in Jesus’ message to enter a new and transformed world. Jesus presents himself as the door that mediates between the inside and the outside world. Through him all are called to a transformed life in God’s kingdom.

How many insiders are saved and outsiders damned, or vice versa? It is not a ques-tion of how many will be saved, but who will be saved. What is more important than the first question is how and where we stand with the Lord. This means that we have to steadfastly continue striv-ing to practice what is true, good, and just. It means that all the Masses and religious services that we attend, all the sacraments that we receive,

LAS VEGAS, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cord Blood America, Inc. (http://www.cordblood-ameri-ca.com) (OTC Bulletin Board: CBAI), the umbilical cord blood stem cell preserva-tion company focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells, a biological in-surance policy, to families na-tionwide and internationally, today said that clinical trials ongoing in the U.S. using umbilical cord blood in the treatment of cerebral palsy, high-risk hematologic cancer, injured spinal cords and Type 1 diabetes provide significant further evidence of the impor-tance of storing umbilical cord blood at the time of birth.

“We are asked with some frequency why store these stem cells available only at birth. On our web site at www.corcell.com is a list of more than 70 diseases that are already treated by these stem cells, including acute and chronic leukemia’s, severe aplastic anemia, Hodgkin’s

the doctrines that we profess and teach, and the Scriptural and theological wisdom that we learn do not warrant us a place in God’s kingdom. Instead, all of these strengthen our resolve to follow Christ so that in the end we would be among the “insiders” in his Father’s realm. When reli-gious attendance, such as at Masses and religious services, is made visible in the way one lives, it leads him to God’s kingdom.

Two buckets met at the well. One of them looked morose. “What’s the trouble?” asked the second bucket sympathetically. “Oh,” replied the first, gloomy bucket, “I get so weary of being dragged to this well. No matter how full I am, I always come back here empty.” The second bucket laughed, “How curious! Why, I always come here empty and go away full. I’m sure if you started to think that way, you would feel much more cheer-ful.”

Quotation of the week: “It seems to me that catholicity is not only one of the notes of the Church, but according to the divine purposes, one of its securities.” John Henry Cardi-nal Newman.

Cord Blood America Says U.S., Worldwide Research Shows

Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells Could Be Crucial in Combating

Difficult to Cure DiseasesDisease, a number of inherited metabolic diseases and im-mune system disorders and malignancies including Ewing Sarcoma and Sickle Cell Dis-

ease,” said Matthew Schissler, co-founder and CEO. “Once in a while, it is my duty and obligation to step away from the day-to-day and reflect on the larger scope of work in the umbilical cord blood stem cell arena. In doing so, I recog-nize that our loyal sharehold-ers may not be privy to all of the data we receive, involving the outstanding studies with these cells. It is my hope that a simple statement such as this, can direct our sharehold-ers to the resources publicly available.”

“What is truly exciting is

that the National Institutes of Health at www.clinicaltrials.gov now lists clinical trials ongoing at such prestigious research institutions as Duke University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Cen-ter to understand the possible usage of stem cell infusions for the treatment of intractable diseases, including Type I diabetes in children, cerebral palsy in children, chronic

spinal cord injuries, lymphoma and other blood borne cancers,” Mr. Schissler said.

“Also, there is research on-going else-where in the world to use umbilical cord blood stem cells to combat Alzheim-

er’s, cardiac disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, muscular

dystrophy, Parkinson’s Dis-ease, rheumatoid arthritis and stroke. This truly is an excel-lent time to be involved in this sector as we work toward our goal of becoming the most significant stem cell com-pany in the world,” said Mr. Schissler.

About Cord Blood Amer-ica

Cord Blood America is the parent company of CorCell, which facilitates umbilical cord blood stem cell preserva-tion for expectant parents and their children. Its mission is to be the most respected stem cell preservation company in the industry. Collected through a safe and non-inva-sive process, cord blood stem cells offer a powerful and po-tentially life-saving resource for treating a growing number of ailments, including cancer, leukemia, blood, and immune disorders. To find out more about Cord Blood America, Inc., visit our website at http://www.corcell.com/. For inves-tor information, visit http://www.cordblood-america.com/.


Showbiz Watcher

Read Ogie Cruz’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Ogie Cruz

The Asian Journal San Diego welcomes Ogie Cruz, veteran entertainment writer, who is writing his column “Showbiz Watcher” from Louisiana, USA. Ogie, who writes in Filipino, joins our wonderful staff of feature writers.

The multi-talented Ojie is a highschool math teacher from the Philippines who has a fl air for entertainment news. Ojie is also open to the oppor-tunity of continuing a teach-ing career in math and science in the States.

Please contact Ogie at [email protected]

About the writer……..1. More than 10 yrs in

showbiz writing in different tab-loids in the Philippines.

2. I was a showbiz reporter of DZRH for 5 yrs, under the radio show of Morly Alinio, aired

Anu itong nababalitaan naming,na malapit na raw matsugi ang bagong show ni Kris Aquino na “Pilipi-nas Win na Win”, na si-yang ipinalit sa timeslot ng “Wowowee” ni Willie Revil-lame?

Mahina daw ito sa rating, at talagang nilalamon ng buo ng “Eat Bulaga” kalaban nil-ang show sa GMA 7. Single digit na lang daw ito sa rating at 9% pa daw ito,samantatalang ang show ni Wil-lie noon 19% ang pinakamababa. Kaya ang pamu-nuan ng ABS-CBN ay nagdisi-syon na ilipat ito ng ibang oras. In-stead yung show ni Kris na pan-tanghali, ginawa itong pang 1:30 pm, at ang makakatapat ngayon ng show nina Tito, Vic & Joey ay ang top rating show ng nasabing istasyon na “ Showtime”,after ng show nina Vice Ganda saka pa lang mapapanood ang “Win na Win…”.

Isa pang nakakarating sa aming balita ,na halos kala-hati daw ng staff ng naturang show ay nag-resign magmula 10 dancers, 3 writers ,AP at iba pang posisyon,itoy mga dating staff ng show ni Mr. Villame noon sa “Wowowee”.Isang patunay na hindi bagay kay Kris Aquino ang naturang show , at si Willie pa rin ang hinahanap ng tao sa nasabing timeslot ng Kapamilya Net-work.

Wala na rin mahabang pila sa labas ng ABS-CBN compound,mga taong gusto manood noon ng ‘Wowowee’,humatak pa daw ng maraming tao ang kasalu-kuyang show para magkaroon lang sila ng maraming audi-ence.

Pero ayon naman kay Wil-lie ,kukunin daw niya yung mga staff nag-resign sa show ng ‘Win na Win’, at dadagan pa nga niya ito ng 20% ang sweldo nila dahil may plano naman siya na bumalik sa ere, at take note pang-araw na araw na show pa rin.May mga plano daw siya ,basta itong

Si Willie Pa Rin Ang Gusto ng Tao, at Hindi Si Kris Aquino !!!

taon na ito ay babalik siya muli sa pantanghaling show.May mga offers sa ibat-ibang istasyon, pumasok pa ang Viva Films at Solar produc-tion, at possible rin daw na magbukas siya ng isang Tv network.Eto pa ang posibleng bilin din niya ang RPN 9 o IBC 13 na ibinebenta ngayon .

Habang wala pa ang daw ang show ,handa raw niyang

swelduhan ang mga Staff na nag-resign habang wala pang trabaho dahil nakita raw niya ang mga pagma-mahal nito sa kanya.Risky daw itong ginawa ng mga staff,dahil may mga

pamilya ito kaya eto lang ang pangako niya sa kanila.

But for the meantime,wala pang malinaw kung saan talaga lilipat si Willie Revil-lame.Pero alam nyo ba na may offer din ang kapuso network para kunin siya kaya lang nagbanta si Joey De Leon na magre-resign ito sa channel 7 , sa oras na kinuha nito ang Willie Revillame, kaya imposible na mapunta si Papi sa GMA.

Pero hanggang ngayon habang sinusulat namin ito, e handa si Mr. Revillame sa anumang dimanda ang na ihahain ng ABS-CBN sa kanya, tungkol eto sa kanyang contract na tinapos na niya.Na ayon sa nasabing kapamilya station na matatapos lang ang kontrata ni Willie sa next year, Sept.11,2011.Kaya abangan natin ang malaking legal battle sa pagitan ng dalawa.

Samantalang dito sa Amerika at iba pang panig ng mundo,marami kaming nakakausap ng mga pinoy na nagbanta na tatangga-lin na daw nila ang kanilang TFC, dahil wala na nga ang Wowowee na madalas nil-ang panoodin.Tatlong beses ito pinalalabas sa TFC noon, eto lang ang show na ganon 3times a day.Kaya lang ang napupuna namin sa “Balitang Amerika” ng TFC puro nega-

tive ang balita about kay Wil-lie, halatang hindi nila nila-labas ang tunay na pulso ng mga pinoy dito sa Amerika.

Ang gusto pa nga ng mga pinoy dito sa Amerika,na dito na lang gawin ang Wowowee para matulungan naman ang mga pinoy dito na nawalan ng trabaho, para matulungan na-man sila, pero imposible ang bagay na ito.Dahil sa Pilipinas pa rin ang sentro ng nasabing show ni Mr. Revillame, at hindi na siya babalik sa ABS-CBN.

Pero kung kaming ang tatanungin ngayon sa mga nangyayari,bumalik na lang si Kris Aquino sa kanyang “D Buzz”,hindi siya bagay sa show na yun.Iba ang karisma ni Willie sa pantanghaling show ,na hindi niya kayang tapatan.Pang –showbiz people

Ojie Cruz “Showbiz Watcher” Adds E! Quotient to Entertainment News!

every Sunday 12pm.3. I was the PRO of Madam

Auring in her showbiz career for 5 yrs.Sa akin nanggaling yung salitang “May Asim Pa”,ako nag-turo kay Madam yung litanyang yun.

4. I was one of the writers of Mariposa Publication, owned by Ms. Cristy Fermin , and also one of the showbiz reporters of Giovanni Calvo radio show in DXXL.

5. I was a one of the hosts of Destiny Cable’s Tv show “Showbiz Watchers” in the Phil-ippines.

6. One of the offi cers before of PASADO (Pampelikulang Samahan ng mga Dalubguro).Nagbibigay ng taunang award sa mga movies na may kabuluhan at dapat panoodin ng mga students.

7. One of the showbiz writers of Ms. Vilma Santos in her show “Vilma”on GMA 7.

Julius Obregon, in tie, talks to Kristin Lasay-Malig, Ramon Malig and Marites Lasay-Malig (L-R) about Megaworld at the Golden Chopsticks Restaurant in National City, CA. The family was visiting from San Marcos, CA.

Julius Obregon’s Catchy Jingle for Megaworld Gets

Andrew Tan’s Approval Call it inspired. It only took Julius Obregon

a few minutes to create a song spun from the magic of his new passion -- Megaworld.

Last July, the pastor surprised guests and wowed fellow real-tors during the Megaworld Road Tour and Open House in San Diego, California by composing and singing a brand new song to mark his latest undertaking as the purveyor of homes and live work play communities to balikbayans in California. The San Diego resident was named Regional Director of Megaworld International for California.

Megaworld has become a mission for the pastor who sees his life’s new direction unfolding according to a grand plan.

The thought for the songcame to Julius in a fl ash. Hooked by the idea, he then began to weave the lyrics to the music, a few hours to rehearse it, a minute or

so to sing it, and a few intense moments to record the music and present it as a gift to Mega-world CEO Andrew Tan.

According to reports from Manila, Andrew Tan liked it so much that he picked it as the offi cial theme for future Mega-world commercials.

Obregon, who was famous in the 1980s for his ballads, will be performing the original composition during the upcom-ing Megaworld holiday party in December 2010 at the Marriott Hotel in Newport City, Pasay, which is one of the many up-scale Megaworld communities in Metro Manila.

Obregon, the multi-talented singer, was once an economics professior at Ateneo and adver-tising executive for Saatchi Ad-vertising Agency. Before joining Megaworld, Obregon was also a successful broker. -- AJ

lang si Ms Aquino at hindi siya para sa mga masang tao.Minsan nga kapag ini-inter-view niya ang mga ito parang artista turing niya sa mga kausap niya,parang may ilala-bas na initriga.Hindi kagaya ni Mr Wowowee,may puso kapag nag-iinterbyu ng mga contestants,talagang naiiyak ang mga viewers.Hindi pa naman huli ang lahat ABS-CBN, sana magawan pa ito ng paraan at maayos ang gusot total may isang grupo sa inyo na ayaw ng pabalikin ang nasabing host, at nagbanta pa ang grupong ito na ma-resign.Pwes pabayaan nyo na mag-resign ang grupo ni Ms. Cory, palagay namin mas malaking kawalan ang isang Revillame kaysa sa grupo nila kahit sa fi nancial side.

When you do something for me that I can and need to do myself,

You contribute to my fear and inadequacy.

But when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel,

No matter how irrational my feelings,

Then I can quit trying to convince you and get about this business of

understanding what is behind them

So please, listen and just

ARE YOUR MORTGAGE PAYMENTS TOO HIGH? Foreclosure is not your only opti on

FORECLOSURE NIGHTMARES? A short sale at no cost to you may end your sleepless nights.

Call me today for a free evaluati on. I’ll be happy to explain all your opti ons so you can make an informed decision on what is right for you and your family.

Ligaya Cruz,

Broker Associate/Realtor

DRE#01486032

Weichert Realtor Elite

E-mail: ligaya.cruz@yahoo.

com

Cell: 858-829-5452

hear me. And if you want to talk,

Wait a minute for your turn and I will listen to you

Author Unknown**********************

*********************************************************

Carolyn Gerard is in pri-vate practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist special-izing in relationship therapy, working with couples in confl ict, parenting adolescents and individual therapy. She can be reached at (858) 756-8171 or e-mail at [email protected]

South Bay Community Services is conducting “Build-ing Healthy Relationship Classes “on Tuesdays at 304 West 18th ST, National City 91950 from 4-5:30 PM and Thursdays at 540 G Street, Chula Vista, 91910 also from 4:00-5:30 PM. Call (619) 336-8363 for National City and (619) 422-9208 ext 5464 in Chula Vista.

ANNOUNCEMENT: UP-COMING KCS WORKSHOP

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: STRIDE TO A HEALTHY LIFE

Do you want to incorporate physical activity in your daily life?

Do you want to learn how many steps you should take every day?

And, do you want to learn the proper walking stride, use a pedometer

and create walking routes in your community?

THEN JOIN USSeptember 11, 2010, Satur-

day, 8:30 AM to 12 noonFilAm Wellness Center

1419 East 8th St., National City CA 91950

For more information and reserve your space, call (619) 477-3392

or e-mail [email protected]

(619) 702-3051

BUILDING HEALTHY FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS:

Creating Family Harmony(Continued from page 6)


Read Romeo Nicolas’s previous poems by vis-iting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

Ni Romeo Nicolas

Mga Tulang Tagalog

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

journalusa.com

Bilib Tayo, Bilib Ako!!!!Marami ang humahanga sa halalan natin ngayon,May konti man na aberya tuloy pa rin ito’t sulong.Ang reklamo sa pilahan, ang maraming tumututol,Ang resulta’y pagkamangha, numero unong “automation”.

Matapos ang limang oras magsara na ang presinto,Ang bilangan, nagsimula, namangha ang mga tao.Ang resulta’y lumilinaw kung sino ang matatalo,Walang oras na mandaya ang sino mang kandidato.

Ito’y isang pagbabago na ngayon ay ating tanggap,Marami pang natutuhan na dagdag sa hinaharap.Mahal nating mga guro, uliran sa pagsisikap,Magampanan ang tungkulin sa halalang “computerized”.

“Eighty thousand” kabataan, boluntaryong nagmamatyag,Na ang hangad ay hanapin ang masamang nagaganap.Katulad din ng “vote buying” na talagang nangagkalat,Nakukunan ng larawan at “media” ang nagbubunyag.

Bilib tayo, bilib ako, sa natapos na halalan,Walang puwang na masabing nagkaroon ng dayaan.Sa halalang susunod pa, sisikat ang ating bayan,Sa dagdag pang pagbabago sa mabuting nasimulan.

Tula ni:Romeo S. NicolasBocaue, Bulacan5/13/2010

GamesGames of what everAlways in my mindEverything variable

Nothing constantWith you in mind

WhateverAlways what everGames of chaos...

Chaos reigns consistentlyYou...

Being youI...

Being meLiving within

Within these confinesConfines of chaos

With youWith you in mind

Living...living...within consistencyConsistency of chaosGames of what ever

Being playedPlayed...played without reruns

With youWith you in mind!

Jack decided to go skiing with his buddy, Bob. So they loaded up Jack’s minivan and headed north. After driv-ing for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard. So they pulled into a nearby farm and asked the attractive lady who answered the door if they could spend the night.

‘I realize it’s terrible weather out there and I have this huge house all to myself, but I’m recently widowed,’ she explained. ‘I’m afraid the neighbours will talk if I let you stay in my house.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Jack said. ‘We’ll be happy to sleep in the barn. And if the weather breaks, we’ll be gone at first light.’ The lady agreed, and the two men found their way to the barn and settled in for the night. Come morning, the weather had cleared, and they got on their way. They enjoyed a great weekend of skiing.

But about nine months later, Jack got an unexpected letter from an attorney. It took him a few minutes to figure it

9 Months Later...out, but he finally determined that it was from the attorney of that attractive widow he had met on the ski weekend.

He dropped in on his friend Bob and asked, ‘Bob, do you remember that good-looking widow from the farm we stayed at on our ski holiday up north about 9 months ago?’

‘Yes, I do.’ said Bob‘Did you, er, happen to get

up in the middle of the night, go up to the house and pay her a visit?’

‘Well, um, yes !,’ Bob said, a little embarrassed about be-ing found out, ‘I have to admit that I did.’

‘And did you happen to give her my name instead of telling her your name?’

Bob’s face turned beet red and he said, ‘Yeah, look, I’m sorry, buddy. I’m afraid I did.’ ‘Why do you ask?’

‘She just died and left me everything.’

(And you thought the ending would be different, didn’t you?... you know you smiled...now keep that smile for the rest of the day!

WASHINGTON – Today, President Obama nominated Maria Elizabeth (Maribeth) Raffinan to serve as an As-sociate Justice of the Superior Court of the District of Co-lumbia.

“Throughout her career Maribeth Raffinan has shown a commitment to justice and public service,” said Presi-dent Obama. “I am proud to nominate her to serve on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia,”

Maria Elizabeth (Maribeth) Raffinan: Nominee for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Maribeth Raffinan is a su-pervising attorney in the Trial Division of the Public De-fender Service for the District of Columbia where she has represented indigent defen-dants charged with criminal

President Obama Names Maribeth Raffinan to Superior Court of the

District of Columbiaoffenses since 1999. Prior to joining the Public De-fender Service, Ms. Raffinan worked in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Columbia. Ms. Raffinan co-chaired the 2007 Deborah T. Creek Criminal Practice Institute, an annual training program for criminal defense practitioners in the District of Columbia, and she has served as a member of the Superior Court’s Drug Court Committee. She has also served as an adjunct profes-sor at the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic Univer-sity of America. Ms. Raffinan has a bachelor’s degree in political science and phi-losophy from Boston College and earned her law degree from Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law.

Los Angeles – The Asian Pacific American Bar Associa-tion (APABA) of Los Ange-les County enthusiastically celebrates the appointment of Richard Y. Lee, current APABA Board member, to the Superior Court of California in Orange County. APABA thanks Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for the well-deserved appointment.

“APABA is very proud that one of our own board members has been appointed to the bench,” stated Karin Wang, APABA President. “Richard has devoted much of his legal career to public service and his appointment to the state judiciary is a fitting and deserved progression that benefits our state and the legal profession.”

Mr. Lee currently serves as Assistant United States Attor-ney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Cal-ifornia, where he prosecutes federal crimes in the areas of counter-terrorism, counter-espionage, national security, and export controls. Previ-ously, Mr. Lee prosecuted the full range of federal criminal violations including child exploitation, immigration, narcotics, public corruption, identity theft, and organized crime in the Santa Ana branch office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prior to becoming an attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he was an associate at the international firm – Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP – where he specialized in employment matters. Mr. Lee also served as a research attorney for the Los Angeles

APABA celebrates board member Richard Lee’s

appointment to the California Superior Court

Superior Court. He graduated college from Stanford Univer-sity and received his J.D. from the University of Southern California Law School.

“APABA endorsed Rich-ard Lee’s judicial applica-tion not simply because of his qualifications, which are extensive, but also because he has worked tirelessly for our members and the larger Asian Pacific American community as an APABA Board mem-ber,” stated Ritu Mahajan, co-Chair of APABA’s Public Appointments and Judicial Endorsement Committee. “He has been a leader on mentoring programs for law students and young lawyers, and we are confident that he will continue to inspire and mentor as a member of the state judiciary.”

removal because his con-ditional resident status was terminated and that he was not inadmissible at the time of admission because of fraud. The 9th Circuit disagreed. It said that termination of status and finding of inadmissibility result from the single determi-nation of the Attorney General that the qualifying marriage was entered into for the pur-pose of obtaining an admis-sion as an immigrant. The 9th Circuit said Romeo is statu-

torily eligible to 237(a)(1)(H) waiver because qualifying relatives such his U.S. citizen wife and son. The 9th Circuit remanded the case to the Im-migration Court to determine if Romeo is entitled to discre-tionary relief which is granted upon showing that the alien’s favorable factors outweigh the underlying offense of fraud.

We welcome your feed-back. If you have any im-migration questions, please feel welcome to email me at [email protected] or call 619 819 -8648 to arrange for a telephone con-sultation.

Waiver for inadmissibility

based on marriange fraud

Street Poetry

Read about Michael’s upcoming book of poems “Crushed Violets” by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Michael R. Tagudin

©2010 Michael R. Tagudin. All rights reserved.

About the Author: Michael R. TagudinEducated as an engineer in the Philippines, the City of Los Angeles employee hopes his legacy of poems will provoke a dialogue about the human condition. He is donating the proceeds from the book “Crushed Violets” to anti-human trafficking efforts in the City of Angels. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Reach the lucrative Asian Pacific Islander

Market by advertising in the

Asian Journal!Call (619) 474-0588

(Continued from page 7)

power generation and distri-bution,” he said.

ADB has earmarked $3.87 million for the project, which also includes Nepal and Mon-golia.

Earlier, ADB announced a range of initiatives to bring down barriers-such as price and policy issues-that prevent the wide-scale adoption of low-carbon and clean-energy technologies in the Asia and

Pacific region.These include ADB’s

Asia Solar Energy Initiative (ASEI) that aims to identify and develop large -capacity solar projects that will gener-ate 3,000 megawatt (MW) of solar power by 2012.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing pov-erty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sus-tainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 mem-bers- 48 from the region.

In 2009, it approved a total of $1.6 billion in financ-ing operations through loans, grants, guarantee, atrade finance facilitation program, equity investments, and tech-nical assistance projects. ADB also mobilized co-financing amounting to $3.2 billion.

Based on its studies, the wind power generating poten-tial of the Philippines stands at 76,600 mw but most of these potential areas have yet to be developed.

ADB chooses RP as pilot

area for wind power

projects(Continued from page 1)

American General Life and Ac-cident Insurance Company

(AGLA) offers custom-designedinsurance and annuity programsfor your life, your business,

your family:• Universal Life

• Whole Life Insurance• Term Insurance

• Annuities• Critical Illness Coverage

• Disability Income Insurance

AGLA, your choicefor peace of mind.

YourInsurance

YourCHOICEThat’s Our Promise.

The underwriting risks, financial and contractualobligations and support functions associated withproducts issued by American General Life andAccident Insurance Company (AGLA) are itsresponsibility. AGLA does not solicit business

in the states of New York and Wyoming.

© 2009 All rights reserved.

Gen Silverio

CA License # OG86915

Agent

San Diego, CA 92018Phone: 619.851.9547

2650 Camino del Rio N


1341 East 8th St. Suite D National City, CA 91950

Dr. Art PalaganasDr. Aleli Amos Palaganas

Lumineers

Please call for appointment

(619) 474-8441

Restorative Dentistry

COUPON $32.00

INCLUDES:Oral Exam• Cleaning/Polishing• (In the absence of gum disease. • Necessary X-rays• New patient and wtihout insurance•

FREE CONSULTATION

COUPON: $10.00 OFFTowards complete upper

or lower denture

1 HOUR ZOOM TEETH WHITENING

$225.00

EXTRACTION (BUNOT)$60.00

Regular extration only.

COMPLETE DENTURES UPPER OR LOWER$700.00 Regular complete

dentures only

Western union (nYSE: Wu), a leader in global payment services, pres-ents check amounting to $3,000 dollars to Search to Involve Pilipino

Americans (SIPA). From left to right: Jorge L. Prado, Member, SIPA Board of Directors, Mem-

ber, Historic Filipinotown Chamber of Commerce; Michelle O’Callaghan, Marketing Director, West Region, The Western Union Company; Clarence De Leon, Account Executive, The Western Union Company; Randall Acocel-li, Regional Vice President, West Region, The Western Union Company; Di-ana Zuniga, Country Development Manager, The Western Union Company; Joel F. Jacinto, Executive Director, SIPA Board of Directors; Greg Santiago, Esq, President, SIPA Board of Directors, Partner, Drasin, Yee, Klipfel, and Santiago.

ENGLEWOOD, CO, August 19, 2010 – The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in the money transfer segment of global payments, and the Western Union Foundation, through the Western Union Our World, Our Family program, awarded $10,000 worth of support funds to the Search to Involve Pilipino Ameri-cans (SIPA), the largest Filipino community-based organization in Los Angeles, during the latter’s 38th Anniversary Awards Benefit Dinner.

Dubbed “Bagong Kabuhayan, Bagong Pamamahayag, Bagong Daigdig (New Economy, New Media, New World),” the SIPA annual gala honored outstanding individuals and organizations for their contributions to the multi-ethnic Historic Filipinotown and the greater Los Angeles Filipino American community.

During the event, the Western Union Foundation presented SIPA with a $7,000 grant to benefit its Small Business Development Program, and the Western Union Company gave $3,000 for its After School Enrichment Program.

“We honor SIPA and all its dis-tinguished members for their valu-able contribution to the Filipino community in the United States and worldwide,” said Randall Acocelli, Regional Vice Presi-dent of the West Region, the West-ern Union Company. “We believe that support for small businesses is vital in promoting economic opportunity and fostering cultural inclusion. These small businesses have strengthened the fabric of our communities across the U.S.” Acocelli then added, “We value our relationship with SIPA and are proud to be a contributor to this important organization.”

Recent statistics show that one in five children in the U.S. lives in an immigrant-headed household. Immigrants also play a critical role in boosting the economy via small business ownership. The U.S. Small Business Administration reported that in 2008 immigrant-owned businesses in the U.S. gen-erated 67 billion dollars, or nearly 12 percent of all small business income in the country.

In response, Joel F. Jacinto, Ex-ecutive Director of the SIPA Board of Directors, stated, “SIPA and the youth and families we serve appre-ciate the strategic investment made by Western Union to reach out and serve the Filipino community. As the largest community-based organization targeting Filipino Americans with a variety of health and human services and economic development projects, we are pleased to partner with Western Union in its support of our After School Enrichment Program, our Small Business Development Program, and of course, our recent 38th Annual Fundraiser.”

In 2009, the Western Union Foundation began the Family Scholarship Program for migrant

Western Union Honors Community Group’s Legacy of Service to Filipinos in Los Angeles

workers and their families. Martin Del Secco, Country Development Manager for Western Union, held a special workshop about the scholarship program.

Family Scholarships are aimed at families in the United States who have overcome barriers to pursue their educational goal as well as those with demonstrated financial need, involvement in their communities, personal educa-tion goals and clear plans to attain their goals.

Those who qualify will be eligible to receive scholarships in amounts of $1,000-$5,000 per family. For example, one scholar-

ship recipient may receive $1,500 for an ESL course and the other recipient $3,500 for tuition at a university. Fall 2010 applica-tions started July 21, 2010 with the deadline on September 15, 2010. To apply and to obtain more information, visit http://corporate.westernunion.com/scholarship.html .

About Western UnionThe Western Union Company

(NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Custom House branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and busi-nesses with fast, reliable and con-venient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. The Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services are offered through a combined network of approxi-mately 430,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2009, The Western Union Compa-ny completed 196 million con-sumer-to-consumer transactions

worldwide, moving $71 billion of principal between consumers, and 415 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

About the Western Union Foundation

Through Western Union’s Our World, Our Family® signa-ture program, the Western Union Foundation supports initiatives to empower individuals, families and communities through access to better education and economic opportunity. Recognized by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy in 2009, the program is a five year, $50 million commit-

ment announced in 2007 reflecting the efforts made by Western Union employees, Agents, and partners around the world. Since its incep-tion in 2001, the Western Union Foundation has awarded more than $67 million in grants and disaster relief to more than 1,900 nongov-ernmental organizations (NGOs) in 100 countries. For more infor-mation, visit http://foundation.westernunion.com.

About SIPA

Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) was founded in 1972 and provides health and human services as well as com-munity economic development and arts/cultural programs for low to moderate-income youth and families in multi-ethnic Historic Filipinotown and other residents in the greater Los Angeles met-ropolitan area. SIPA is the larg-est community-based, charitable nonprofit organization primarily serving the Pilipino American community in the United States. For more information, visit www.esipa.org.

The Law that Matters

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

by Atty. A. Erwin Bautista

Is the debtor liable to pay the administrative claim in Bankruptcy?

Question: I operate an oriental store and when I file a Chapter 7 petition since my business is operating at a loss for sometime now what are the expenses do I have to pay?

Answer: You only need to pay the filing fee of $299 and any administrative claim will be paid out of the Bankruptcy Estate if any.

What is an administrative claim?

An Administrative Claim is an unsecured claim for “the actual, necessary costs and expenses of preserving the es-tate” under 11 U.S.C. § 503(b) of the Bankruptcy Code.

Only claims against a Debt-or that arise or accrue after the date of that particular Debtor’s bankruptcy filing (the “Petition Date”) may potentially qualify as Administrative Claims.

What are examples of administrative claims?

There are several obliga-tions or expenses that are considered as administrative claim in the administration of the Bankruptcy Estate. A bank-ruptcy estate is created when a bankruptcy petition is filed. It is like an imaginary basket where all your debts and assets are placed and the trustee looks over and finds out if there as-sets that can be sold to pay the creditors or in this article the administrative claims first.

Administrative claims in a Chapter 7 petition may be any of the following or none at all:

(1) Administrative Claims of professional persons re-tained pursuant to an order of the Bankruptcy Court for compensation of fees and reimbursement of expenses, as “Professional Fee Claims”, i.e. accountants, lawyers, apprais-ers, auctioneer, auction fees, escrow fees;

A good example of this is when a car is to be surrendered to the Trustee because the debtor cannot exempt such as-set then the trustee will hire an

Bankruptcy: Administrative Claim

appraiser to establish the value of the car. Then the trustee will hire an auctioneer to auction off the car to the highest bidder so it could maximize what it can get for distribution to the creditors.

(2) Administrative Claims for post-bankruptcy goods or services due and payable in the ordinary course of the Debtors’ business; i.e., “Ordinary Course of Business Claims”;

A good example would be the reclamation of goods by vendors where the goods are al-ready disposed of by the debtor to a purchaser in good faith or secured creditor has priority then the vendor can be paid when it files an administrative claim.

Or the goods were delivered after the bankruptcy filing then it will be treated as administra-tive claim so the business can proceed without disruption. Normally a business will start filing under Chapter 11 or 13 so that goods are continually delivered even after a peti-tion has been filed. Unlike in a Chapter 7 petition the assets are liquidated or the business itself is liquidated so no more goods will be delivered because the business will already close or cease its operation.

(3) Administrative Claims of current or former employees, or labor unions representing such individuals or benefit plans to whom contributions or premi-ums are made under a collec-tive bargaining agreement, for post-bankruptcy wages, compensation, expenses, grievances, medical benefits, retirement benefits or any other post-bankruptcy benefits under an employee benefit plan of a Debtor or court-approved post-bankruptcy retention, severance or recruiting plan, including but not limited to any amounts authorized to be paid by the debtors under the order autho-rizing payment of prepetition wages and benefits, i.e., “Post-Bankruptcy Employee Wage and Benefit Claims”;

(4) Administrative Claims previously allowed by order(s) of the Court;

(5) Administrative Claims on account of which a motion requesting allowance and pay-ment already has been filed in the Bankruptcy Court, against

the Debtor(s);(6) Administrative Claims

held by the United States Trustee which arise under sec-tion 1930(a)(6) of title 28 of the United States Code (from the Bankruptcy filing fees);

The trustee is also entitled to compensation for distributing assets of the estate and depend-ing on the jurisdiction it could run anywhere from 8% to 10% of the amount to be distributed.

(7) Administrative Claims of professionals, including the Examiner, and Administrative Claims of current officers and directors of a Debtor and their counsel;

(8) Administrative Claims relating to claims of federal and state governmental agencies under state or federal envi-ronmental laws that relate to property owned by the Debtors; and

Taxes need to be paid as well when a trustee makes a distribution out of auctioned of assets or assets that cannot be exempted by debtor.

(9) Administrative Claims for payments required under settlement agreements ap-proved by the Court.

Most Chapter 7 petition filings have no assets that the trustee can distribute to creditors. There may not be any administrative claims to be paid in a no asset bankruptcy. So that means most Chapter 7 filings have no administrative claims to be paid.

In a business bankruptcy a reclamation claim could be the most probable administra-tive claim that needs to be paid if the goods are no longer available to be returned to the vendor or creditor.

Should you or anyone you know suffers losses in your business be it a store, a restau-rant, bake shop, dry clean or a professional service business or a real estate office or cell phone service provider and can no longer maintain your business and creditors are hounding and harassing you consult a bankruptcy attorney. Bankruptcy might be the legal solution to your financial hard-ships. It may not be a problem you thought you cannot get out from.

(We invite readers to set up their initial consultation with The Law Offices of A. Erwin Bautista. Atty. Bautista prac-tices Immigration, Bankruptcy, Personal Injury, Family Law and Income Tax Preparation/Audit Representation. Atty. Bautista obtained his law degree from Western State Uni-versity, Fullerton, CA and his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of the Philip-pines. You can reach him in Los Angeles at (213) 365 7690 at 3435 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 2700, LA, CA 90010 or in San Diego at (619) 474 7755 at 550 E. 8th St., Ste. 11, National City, CA 91950)


Balagtasan sa pistahanwritten & moderated by Greg B. Macabenta

for the San Franciso Pistahan, Aug. 14-15, 2010With Rodel Rodis & Rudy Asercion

MODERATOR:MAGANDANG ARAW PO, MGA KAIBIGAN -WELCOME TO PISTAHAN AND THIS BALAGTASAN.ANG PAGTUTUNGGALI ATING SISIMULAN,NANG MADAGDAGAN ATING KARUNUNGAN

ANG INYONG LINGKOD AY MAKATANG PULPOL -TAGALOG BALI, ENGLISH AY BULOL

ANG MAGKATUNGGALI, SI RODEL AT SI RUDY,PAREHONG MAGITING, MAGANDANG LALAKI.DILA’Y MADULAS, ANG ULO’Y MATALAS SA ARGUMENTATION HINDI PALALAMPAS.

THE TOPIC TODAY AY NAPAKAINIT -SO HOT, IT IS BURNING, WE ALL WANT TO HEAR IT.IT’S ALL ABOUT MARRIAGE, TUNGKOL SA KASALAN.IT’S ALSO ‘BOUT LOVE, ANG PAGMAMAHALAN WHEN TWO ARE IN LOVE, ANO ANG HANTUNGAN?HINDI BA SA MARRIAGE, SO THEY CAN BE ONE?ANG LOVE AT KASALAN AY NATURAL LAMANG.DAPAT BANG PIGILAN, DAPAT HADLANGAN?

RUDY:PROBLEMA NITO, KUNG ANG MAGKASUYOAY KAPWA BABAE O LALAKING PAREHO.SABI NG BATAS, IYAN AY HINDI OKAY -KINAKASAL LAMANG, LALAKI’T BABAE.

RODEL:SAGOT KO NAMAN, KAHIT NA PAREHO -THE SEX DOES NOT MATTER - KUNG NOBYA AT NOBYO.AY NAGMAMAHALAN, DAPAT IKASAL.NO ONE SHOULD PREVENT IT, DI DAPAT IBAWAL;

MODERATOR:IYAN NGA ANG PAKSA NG ATING DEBAH-TESANDATA’Y TULA AT HINDI KARATE.THEIR LOGIC THEY’LL USE, TO SUPPORT THEIR POSITIONSA PANGANGATUWIRAN, FOR JUSTIFICATION.

ATIN NANG SIMULAN ITONG BALAGTASANSA HARAP NG BAYAN, DITO SA PISTAHAN. WE WILL NOW BEGIN THIS BATTLE OF WITS -OF POETIC MISSES AND VERSIFIED HITS.

DAPAT BANG PAYAGANG SA KASAL ITALI -BABAE SA BABAE, LALAKI SA LALAKI?WE’LL SAY IT IN ENGLISH, SO YOU’LL UNDERSTAND -SHOULD SAME SEX MARRIAGE BE ALLOWED OR BE BANNED?

RUDY: AKING PANIWALA’Y DI DAPAT PAYAGAN.I BELIEVE THAT MARRIAGE IS FOR WOMAN AND MAN.IT IS AGAINST NATURE, SABI NG BIBLIYA,DI GUSTO NG DIYOS SA KANYANG NILIKHA.

RODEL:SALUNGAT PO NAMAN ANG AKING OPINYONWHEN FOLKS LOVE EACH OTHER, JUST LEAVE THEM ALONEBABAE-BABAE, LALAKI-LALAKIIF THEY ARE IN LOVE, TO MARRY IS OKAY

MODERATOR:SO LET US BEGIN, SIMULAN ANG DEBAH-TE GIVE YOUR ARGUMENTS AND MAKE TALUMPATIKUNG SINO ANG TAMA AT SINO’NG MALIBAYAN HUHUSGA, SA DULO’T SA HULI

KUNG OKAY ANG PUNTOS, DAPAT PALAKPAKANKUNG BALUKTOT NAMAN, PUEDENG KANTIYAWANHUWAG LANG BABATUHIN NG BULOK NA KAMATISPLEASE DON’T THROW TOMATOES, SABI NGA SA INGLIS

UNANG RARATSADA SI RUDY ASERCIONAYAW SA KASALAN, SALUNGAT ANG POSISYON

RUDY:NUONG UNANG PANAHON NILIKHA SI ADANGOD CREATED ADAM AND MADE HIM A MANBUT HE WAS ALONE AND COULD NOT REPLICATEAND SO GOD MADE EVA SO THEY COULD PROCREATE

ANG SABI NG DIYOS GO OUT, MULTIPLYTHEY WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER; SILA’Y BAGAY NA BAGAY

KUNG BAGA SA SUSI, ANONG PAG-GAGAMITAN?HINDI BA ANG BUTAS NA SINUSUSIAN?SO WHAT IS A KEYHOLE IF NOT FOR A KEY?YAN DIN ANG BABAE PARA SA LALAKI.

WHEN TWO PEOPLE HAVE SEX AS WOMAN AND MANANG RESULTA’Y SANGGOL, IN LINE WITH GOD’S PLAN

KUNG PAREHONG LALAKI O KAPWA BABAEMAKAGAGAWA BA NG TUNAY NA BABY?

IF THEY’RE THE SAME GENDER THEY CAN’T MULTIPLYPAG IYAN ANG MANGYARI ALL MANKIND WILL DIE

THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE WILL BECOME EXTINCTTHE IMPACT ON MANKIND IS WORSE THAN YOU THINK

RODEL:ITO’NG SI ASERCION IS THINKING THE WORSTTHE LOGIC YOU’ARE USING I WILL EASILY BURSTPASASABUGIN KO ANG ‘YONG KATUWIRANPAGKA’T LOGIC MO’Y, WALANG KATUTURAN

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN HINDI APEKTADO SA ATING USAPAN. TULOY DIN ANG MARRIAGE NI MARIA’T JUAN -THAT WILL NOT BE AFFECTED BY LIFTING THE BAN

EVEN IF YOU DISMANTLE PROPOSITION EIGHTTHE WOMEN AND MEN WILL CONTINUE TO MATE.THAT WILL NOT ARREST POPULATION EXPLOSIONWITH WOMEN AND MEN IN SEXUAL FUSION

BUT THE RIGHT TO GET MARRIED AND EXCHANGE SOL-EMN VOWSKAHIT ANONG GENDER, WE MUST SIMPLY ALLOWWE SHOULD NOT DEPRIVE THEM OF THEIR HUMAN RIGHTTHE LOGIC IS CLEAR AS DAY FOLLOWS NIGHT

RUDY:THE LOVE OF TWO PEOPLE, WHATEVER THEIR SEXWE DO NOT OBJECT TO, THAT MUCH WE RESPECT.MAG DOMESTIC PARTNERS, MAGSAMA SA BAHAYMAGSIPIN SA KAMA, MAG-BOND HABANG BUHAY

PERO ANG KASALAN, ATING IBAHIN;

IYAN AY INSTITUTION NA DAPAT GALANGIN.SA HARAP NG DIYOS, SA HARAP NG BATAS HINDI MAGKABAGAY ANG BUTAS SA BUTAS.SA JUDGE O SA PARI, ANG PAREHO ANG ARI DI DAPAT IKASAL, DI DAPAT MANGYARI

RODEL:ANG NGALAN NG DIYOS LABAS SA USAPANBATAS NA SIBIL IBA SA SIMBAHAN.THERE IS SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND OF STATEAND THIS HAS A BEARING ON THIS GREAT DEBATE

EXAMPLE NA LAMANG, SI BARACK AT HASSANKUNG DI MAN KRISTIYANO AY NAGMAMAHALANPIPILITIN MO BA, GINOONG ASERCIONNA SUMUNOD SA UTOS NG IYONG RELIHIYON?

ACCORDING TO LAWS OF THIS SOVEREIGN NATIONWE HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS IN OUR CONSTITUTION.KRISTIYANO, HUDEO, MUSLIM O PAGANOTHEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED NG ATING NINUNO.DI MAN NATIN GUSTO, LIFESTYLE NG IBA,DAPAT NATING IGALANG ANG BUHAY NILA

RUDY:THERE ARE LAWS OF NATURE THAT YOU CAN’T DEFYBATAS KALIKASAN YOU CANNOT DENY -HUMAN BEINGS OR BEASTS, HAYUP MAN O TAOAY DAPAT SUNDIN ANG BATAS NG MUNDO

MANIWALA KA’T DILI SA DIYOS O SIMBAHANDI MAIKAKAILA ANG KATOTOHANAN -THE FEMALE AND MALE ARE FACTS YOU CAN’T HIDE;THE OPPOSITE SEXES CANNOT BE DENIED

THEY’RE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER, LIKE ARROW AND BOWWILL YOU TRY TO CHANGE THIS? I JUST DON’T KNOW HOW.HAYUP MAN O TAO DAPAT MAGKABAGAYWHY YOU SHOULD DENY THAT, I’LL NEVER KNOW WHY

IKAW MISMO RODEL, ANO ANG KABIYAK?HINDI BA SI EDNA AT KAYO’Y MAY ANAK?HUWAG MONG IPAGLABAN ANG DI MO GAWA -HINDI BA BABAE ANG IYONG ASAWA?

RODEL:LIHIS SA USAPAN, TINUTUKOY MOHUWAG NATING ISALI, ITONG MISSES KOKUNDI MGA TAO NA NAGMAMAHALANPINAGKAKAITAN NG KALIGAYAHAN.

LET’S NOT TALK OF OURSELVES AND THE THINGS WE ENJOY;OF THINGS WE ARE USED TO BETWEEN GIRL AND BOY,BUT DIFFERENT FOLKS ANG SIYANG PAGUSAPANNA TULAD DIN NATING MAY KARAPATAN.

HINDI KOMO’T TAYO GANITO’NG PANIWALAPAG NAIIBA, MALI BA’’T MAY SALA?DAPAT NATING IGALANG ANG LIFESTYLE NILAHUWAG MONG PAIRALIN ANG MALING AKALA

RUDY:GINAGALANG KO KANILANG PAMUMUHAYDAPAT DING GALANGIN AT HUWAG SUSUWAYTRADITION OF MARRIAGE DI DAPAT BALIINITO’Y TRADISYONG DAPAT RESPETUHIN

OKAY LANG SA AKIN, KANILANG PAGSASAMAAT SA HABANG BUHAY MAGMAHALAN SILAANO MAN ANG GAWIN SA SILID AT SA KAMADI KO HUHUSGAHAN KUNG MALI O KUNG TAMA.

KUNG PAYAG ANG BATAS NA MAGPARTNER SILAOKAY DIN SA AKIN, HINDI KO PROBLEMA.NGUNI’T ANG KASALAN AY DAPAT IGALANGDI DAPAT BALIIN KAHIT BALAGTASAN

AT DIYAN TATAPUSIN AKING KATUWIRANDI MO MABABAGO ANG PANININDIGANTHE TRADITION OF MARRIAGE WILL ALWAYS BE ONEWHERE TWO PERSONS ARE JOINED AS WOMAN AND MAN

RODEL:IKAW NAMAN RUDY, KAPUS KATUWIRANMALING PANIWALA PINAGPIPILITANKAHIT SINAUNA ANG LOGIC AT REASONWHICH HAS NO MORE PLACE IN THIS TIME AND THIS SEA-SON

OLD-FASHIONED KA NGA, LIPAS NA SA MODAAYAW MONG UMAMIN KAHIT NA MAY DUDA

RUDY:KAHIT SINAUNA, AKING PANIWALAIKAW MISMO RODEL DI NAIIBAANG MAYBAHAY MO’Y SI EDNANG GANDABINIBINING TUNAY, WALANG DUDA-DUDA

AT ANG IYONG MAGULANG AY WOMAN AND MANSA KANILANG PAGSASAMA KAYO’Y NAGLITAWANKUNG SILA KAYA , ANG SEX AY PAREHOMAGKAKAROON BA NG RODEL NA GUWAPITO?

RODEL:IKAW NAMAN RUDY, KAHIT TUTUOHUWAG IPAGSIGAWAN NA AKO AY GUWAPO.HUWAG MONG IDAAN ITONG BALAGTASANSA PURI’T KANTIYAW KUNG KAPUS SA KAT’WIRAN

MODERATOR:SINO ANG PANALO SA PAGTATAGISANNG DUNONG AT DILA SA ‘TING BALAGTASAN?MGA TAONG BAYAN ATING PAKINGGANSA PAGPAPALAKPAK INYONG HUSGAHAN

UNANG ITUTURO SI RUDY ASERCIONBILIB BA KAYO SA KANYANG POSISYON?

(AUDIENCE RESPONDS)

MODERATOR:RODEL RODIS NAMAN, INYONG HUSGAHANIDAAN SA SIGAW AT SA PALAKPAKAN

(AUDIENCE RESPONDS)

MODERATOR:KAYO ANG HUMUSGA, HINDI PO AKOI DON’T WANT TO JUDGE IT, KUNG TALO’T PANALODITO TATAPUSIN, ATING BALAGTASANLABANAN NG MAKATA SA ATING PISTAHAN.

ANG INYONG LINGKOD MAKATANG PULPOLENGLISH AY BALI, TAGALOG BULOLHANGGANG DITO NA LAMANG ANG ATING USAPANKAHIT WALANG BAYAD ENJOY PO NAMAN

MARAMING SALAMAT MGA KABABAYANTAPOS BALAGTASAN, TULOY ANG PISTAHAN

kabataan. Mabibilang ba natin ang mga kabataan na kagyat ay nakararanas ng unwanted pregnancy samantalang si-nusubukan ang paanyaya ng laman? Ilan ang kabataang nakikilala ninyo na nabulid sa pag-inom ng alak at pagsubok sa droga? Ang nagmamaneho ng awto na walang pagpapa-halaga sa disgrasya? Ang nagpapatato? Ang nagsasabit ng kung anu-anong hikaw sa taenga, ilong at dila? Ang nakukulong dahil sa shoplift-ing? Ang naglalayas upang maghimagsik sa di malaman na kung anong dahilan? Hindi pala ganoon kagimbal-gimbal ang kawalang isip ng mga kabataan.

Kung kailan pa tumuntong sa kalagitnaan ng kanilang

buhay ay saka pa nagpakita ng kabuktutan ang ina at ama nina Felix at Miriam.

Ang nanay nila, si Josefina, ay naging mabuting ina sa ka-nila. Maganda siya, katamta-man ang taas, kayumanggi ang balat at itim na itim ang mga mata. Hugis coca-cola ang kanyang pangangatawan, lalo na noong siya’y bata-bata pa. Larawan siya ng isang uliran, mabait, kagalang-galang na pagkababae. Mataas ang kanyang naabot sa pag-aaral; mayroon siyang Mas-ter’s Degree sa Chemistry. Sa kasalukuyan ay naghahawak siya ng isang mahalagang katungkulan at tumatanggap ng magandang sahod sa isang food processing company.

Ang tatay naman nila, si Florentino, ay naging mab-uting ama sa kanila, naging tunay na haligi ng tahanan, na laging handa na tumangkilik sa lahat ng kanilang pangan-gailangan. Matipuno ang pan-gangatawan ni Tino. Mataas siya, may kaitiman ang balat, buo at mapuputi ang mga ngipin, may pagkakulot ang buhok at mahusay magbihis. Masasabing magandang lalaki si Tino. Sa kasalukuyan ay courier siya ng isang UPS truck at maganda rin ang kita.

Masaya ang pamilya at pangkaraniwan ang takbo ng kanilang buhay. Malimit ay nagsasaya sa kanilang bahay ang pamilya kasama ang mga piling-piling mga kamag-anak at kaibigan. Mahilig magluto si Tino at mahusay namang mag-aliw ng mga panauhin si Josefina. Mahusay siyang tu-mugtog ng piano at pasimuno siya palagi sa kantahan.

Ang bawa’t isa ay may kani-kaniyang mga hilig at aliwan. May pinagkakaabala-han silang pampamilya at mayroon ding pangsarili. Si Felix ay malimit na kasama ang mga kabarkada sa pag-bibisekleta. Si Miriam ay pala-aral, mahilig magbasa at mag-computer. Nasa bahay lamang siya sa malimit.

May ilang pagkakataon na si Josefina ay lumalabas upang mag-shopping o ma-


(Continued from page 1) nood ng sine kasama ang kumare na si Eva, ninang sa binyag ni Miriam. Fishing na-man ang hobby ni Tino. May mga weekends na hindi siya natutulog sa bahay sapagka’t kasama ang mga kaibigan sa pangingisda. Matalik niyang kaibigan at kasama sa mga lakad si Derek, malayong pin-san niya sa ama, samakatuwid ay tiyohin siya nina Felix at Miriam.

Taong 2010 na, malaki na ang pinag-iba ng mga pag-iisip, pag-uugali at pagpapahalaga ng mga tao. Noong araw ay kinikipkip ang lihim at nang hindi mag-ing kahiya-hiya sa lipunan. Magugunita ang maikling kuwento ni Amado V. Hernan-dez (Pamagat: “Magpinsan”). Nagkaibigan ang magpinsan at naging mabigat na pasanin

ang sas-abihin ng mga tao kung sila’y padadala sa udyok ng kanilang mga puso. Ayon kay A.V.H.:

“Sa pagsinta ay walang magpinsan, “ ang putol ni Nestor. “Lalong mabuti sapagka’t iisa ang dugong nananal-aytay sa ating mga ugat, iisa ang ating damdamin,

iisa ang ating puso. At bakit natin pakikinggan ang sas-abihin ng tao? Ang dila ng tao’y talagang makasalanan at hindi marunong humatol. Alalahanin mo ang ating kabataan, ang pagmama-halan natin noong tayo’y mga batang musmos. Hindi ka ba nanghihinayang sa lahat ng yaon kung ikaw o ako, ngay-ong kita’y may gulang nang ganap, ay mapasaibang kamay at mapasaibang dibdib?”

Isang pangyayari ang yu-manig sa tahimik at pangka-raniwang buhay ng pamilya. Nagkasundo sina Josefina at Florentino na magkahiwalay. Matagal na nilang iniisip na gawin ang ganito; subali’t naghintay sila sa pagpapatu-pad ng iniisip hanggang sa ang mga anak ay lumaki na muna at magkaisip. Dumating ang tamang panahon.

Mainit na usapin sa buong Amerika ang pagbibigay ng karapatan sa mga bakla at tomboy na sila ay makapag-asawa sa isa’t isa (same-sex marriage). Kung sa bagay ay magkasama na sa bahay (at sa buhay) ang mga partners, bakit di pa sila bigyan ng karapatan na mapakasal at nang maging legal ang pag-sasama, ito ang hinihingi ng mga mungkahi. Aywan natin kung kailan magpapasiya ang Korte Suprema at kung ano ang magiging pasiya.

Kung may batas man o wala, ang katotohanan ay laganap na ang lantaran na pagpapakita ng tunay na pag-katao. Nagladlad na ng kapa ang mga bakla. At “nagsuot na ng bigote” ang mga tom-boy. Wala nang natatakot, wala nang nahihiya. At ang balana ay naging mapagbigay at maunawain. May bakla at tomboy sa army, may bakla at tomboy sa matataas na katungkulan sa simbahan; bu-kas-palad na ang pagtanggap sa kanila kahi’t na saan. Ang tanging lugar na nananatiling mahigpit sa pagpapakita ng pagkabakla o pagka-tomboy ay ang mga bansang Muslim na kung saan pinupugutan ng



NEW PATIENT CLEANING

$40WITH THIS COUPON (Regular $115)

Includes full mouth exam, necessary x-ray & cleaning

This offer is for new patients without insurance.

FilAmFest BEAUTIFYING THE COMMUNITY!!!

The Filipino American Arts & Culture Festival will

host its 3rd Annual Community Clean up!

ulo ang mga nahuhuling luma-labag sa Batas ni Mohamed.

Ang mag-asawang Jose-fina at Florentino ay kapuwa may itinatagong lihim na buhay. Si Josefina ay balaki o babaeng lalaki. Si Florentino ay binabae o lalaking babae. Kapuwa sila kaluluwang nakabilanggo sa katawan na hindi nila gusto. Sinubukan nilang magkaroon ng buhay na normal. Pinatigasan ang pagganap sa kasarian na kanilang kinagisnan. Nag-suyuan. Nagligawan. Nagpak-asal. Nagka-anak. Nguni’t ang lahat na ginampanan nilang papel sa tanghalan ng buhay ay labag pala sa kagustuhan ng kanilang kalooban. Dinaya nila ang kanilang mga sarili. Pilit nilang ikinubli ang kanil-ang tunay na pagkatao. Sila’y nagbalatkayo sa mata ng tao.

Matagal na palang nagla-laro ng apoy si Josefina. Ang kanyang naging kalaguyo ay si Kumareng Eva na may hilig din pala sa kapuwa babae. Kapuwa nila tinikman ang pinagbabawal na mansanas. At sa panig naman ni Tino, siya’y maluwat na ring na-mamangka sa dalawang ilog; nakikipagtalik siya kay Derek. Ang kanilang pagpunta-punta sa dagat o di kaya’y sa lawa ay hindi pala sa layong maka-pangisda kundi upang maid-aos ang kanilang nag-aapoy na pagnanasa sa isa’t isa.

May isip na sina Felix at Miriam. Masakit ang kanil-ang kalooban sa harap ng mga pangyayari nguni’t wala naman silang magagawa o masisisi. Wala silang hinan-gad kundi ang lumigaya sana ang mga kinauukulan at silang magkapatid ay makalagpas sana sa panahon ng pagkab-igla at kalungkutan.

Nagpaputol ng buhok si Jo-

sefina at ipinamigay ang lahat ng mga damit na pangbabae. Pantalon at t-shirt ang kan-yang naging paboritong ka-suotan. Kapag nagsasalita ay pinalalaki niya ang kanyang boses at sinasadyang kumilos na tila lalaki. Ayaw na niyang matawag na Josefina kung kaya’t Joe na ang tawag sa kanya ng lahat.

Si Florentino naman ay nagpahaba ng buhok, pinaku-layan ito ng kulay-mais. Nagpabutas ng taenga at nagsabit ng hikaw sa mga ito. Bagama’t panglalaki pa rin ang kanyang damit na kasuotan ay mapupuna na ang kanyang sandalyas ay pambabae. Mayroon na rin siyang palaging dalang hand-bag ngayon na naglalaman ng pulbos, pabango, eyeliner at lipstick. Tuwang-tuwa siya kapag tinatawag siya na Tina sa halip na Tino.

Dati rati’y buo ang mag-anak sa pakikinig ng misa tuwing Linggo. Nang huli, ang magkapatid na Felix at Miriam na lamang ang nag-sisimba bagama’t nakikitang umuupo sila sa isang sulok ng simbahan na hindi pansinin ng mga tao. Sa isang sermon ni Father Ben, tila baga ang mga salita ay patungkol sa naguhong pagkakaisa ng isang pamilya. Sabi niya -- Paano na ang mga bata? Paano na ang lipunan? Mula pa sa noong unang panahon ay babae at lalaki na ang ugat at puno ng lipunan. Ang kanilang pag-sasama ay itinalaga ng Diyos at ng Katalagahan upang mag-ing daan sa paglikha ng mga supling, sa pagpapalaganap ng mag-anak, sa pagpapatibay ng lipunan. Mag-anak ang haligi at kinabukasan ng lipunan. Dumating na ba ang katapu-san ng mag-anak?

-- Babae, lalaki at mga

supling ang kaayusan ng sansinukob, nguni’t ang ka-ayusang iyan ay tila masisira sanhi sa pagpapahalaga ng iilan sa pangsariling kabuti-han sa halip na panglahatang kabutihan. Baka ang tao’y mauwi sa pamamaraan ng mga hayop na may katuwiran ang alin mang ninanasang gawin kung ito’y naaayon sa pagpapalawig ng sariling buhay o kaligayahan man. --

Nagkaroon ng referen-dum sa California tungkol sa same-sex marriage. Ang lumilitaw na damdamin ng publiko: Magsama na kung ibig magsama ang mga alan-ganin ang kasarian; hindi nila kasalanan ang magkagayon, at idagdag pa diyan na ibigay sa kanila ang mga karapatan ng mag-asawa. Nguni’t hindi makatuwiran na ang lipunan ay pumayag na ang kasal ay maging sa pagitan ng lalaki at lalaki o ng babae at babae. Ang kasal ay nauukol lamang sa pagitan ng lalaki at babae.

Matatalino at matitibay na mga bata sina Felix at Miriam. Mabilis nilang nasakyan ang naganap sa buhay ng kanilang pamilya na bagama’t biglang-biglang dumating na katulad ng di inaasahang pagbagyo na may kasamang kidlat at kulog ay natutuhan nilang sumakay sa agos. Bagama’t naging tila problema sa matematika ang kanilang family tree ay kagyat naunawaan ng magka-patid ang bagong equation: Si Joe na nanay nila dati ay nag-ing tatay na ngayon, si Eva na ninang ni Miriam noon ay ninang at nanay na ngayon. Si Tino na dati ay tatay ay nanay na ngayon at si Derek na kanilang tiyohin ay tiyohin na at tatay pa ngayon.

Nguni’t di maiwasan na paminsan-minsan, sa gabi, ay nagigising sa kalagitnaan ng isang masamang panaginip si Miriam at napapatili: Ano?! Tatay ko ang nanay ko?!


(Continued from page 18)The Philippines mathtletes won 12 medals, four silver and eight bronze medals in the 2010 Hau Lo Geng Golden Cub International Mathemat-ics Competition in Taiwan.

The haul landed the Phil-ippines in fifth place in the seven-nation contest, ac-cording to Dr. Simon Chua, president of the Mathematics Trainers’ Guild-Philippines, a non-governmen-tal organization that promotes excellence in math training and education and has been training the RP team mem-bers.

The Chinese and Taiwanese teams, both 96-strong, topped the contest with 35-56-50 and 13-10-13 gold-silver-bronze medal tallies, respectively.

Chua said he was happy the team rose to the challenge.

“They may not have toppled China and Taiwan, but at least all 12 of them took home a medal,” he said

The 32-man Hong Kong team was third with two golds, six silvers and 11 bronzes, followed by Singa-pore with one gold and nine bronzes.

Macau and Malaysia took the sixth and seventh places in the competition, held on Fri-day in Chang Hua county, a three-hour drive from Taipei.

The Philippines’ silver medals came courtesy of Ma. Czarina Lao and Austin Eldrich Chua, both from St. Jude Catholic School; Jason Fernandez from San Beda College-Alabang; and Mario Antonio Ongkiko from Xavier School.

The bronze medals were won by Jonn Angel Aranas from Makati Science High School; Ethan Riley Chan from Zamboanga Chong Hua High School; Kaye Yao from Grace Christian College; John Alexander Co from Xavier School; Jason Tan and Benson Tan, both from Jubilee Chris-tian Academy; Philip Lizarda from San Beda College-Alabang; and Aljan Balbuena from Sen. Renato Cayetano Memorial School of Science and Technology.

Meanwhile, the 32-member Philippine team to the 2010 China Junior High School Math Olympiad bagged a total of two silver and 55 bronze medals in the seven-nation competition in Tianjin City, located in northeastern China.

The Chinese team, com-posed of young math wizards from Shanghai, Guangzhou

Pinoy mathematicians are victorious in Taiwan

and Shenzhen, ruled the contest, held on Aug. 8 at the Tianjin Bin Hai Yao Hua International School.

The RP team’s silver medalists were Julie Anne Co from Philippine Science High School-Eastern Visayas and Justin Bryan Chong from

Grace Christian College.Co and Chong also won

one bronze medal each.The following students

each won two bronze medals in the contest: Trisha Ni-cole Aman from Naga Hope Christian School; Keith Brian Yu, Charles Kenneth Lui and Gari Lincoln Chua, all from St. Jude Catholic School; Matt Levin Tan, Rachel Rojo and Charina Raisa Tan, all from Zamboanga Chong Hua High School; Katrina Andrea Serrano from PSHS-Southern Mindanao; Luigi Serafico and Niccolo Roland Luna, both from La Salle Green Hills; Braunwald Ramiro from Bohol International Learning

Center; Katrina Mae Pala-ganas from Negros Occidental Science High School; Jessica Mae Orense from Colegio San Agustin-Makati; Celina Ysabel Gacias from PAREF Woodrose School-Manila; Mark John Dy, John Paul Calicdan and Eula Daphne Chua, all from Pangasinan Universal Institute; Kimberly Louise Co from Immaculate Conception Academy; Chris-tian Johanne Co from Center

for International Education-Cebu; Brandon Chan from Philippine Cultural College; Janine Caryl Bisnar from Integrated Mon-tessori Center-Taguig; Christian Bermejo from Trinity Christian School-Bacolod; and Apol Krist-offer Barnuevo from Iloilo Cen-tral Commercial

High School.Those who won one bronze

medal each were Rommel Al-cantara from Manresa School; Mikhail Sergei Bumanglag from Marist School-Marikina; Marvin Joshua Chan from St. Paul College of Ilocos Sur; John Rolie Escobia and Mark Louie Magallanes, both from Negros Occidental Science High School; Diane Marie Molina from Iloilo Central Commercial High School; and Olsen John Ong from Trin-ity Christian School-Bacolod City.

Last year, the Philippines won nine silver and 34 bronze medals in the same competi-tion.

On Saturday, August 21, the Filipino American Arts and Culture Festival (FilAm-Fest) will host its 3rd Annual Community Clean Up from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at Potomac Park on Paradise Valley Road and Potomac.

The FilAmFest is an all day event from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. and will take place on October 2nd on Paradise Val-ley Road between Woodman St. and Gilmartin Ave. The organizing committee is plan-ning and preparing for 20,000 festival attendees.

J.R. Melchor, FilAmFest Director, said that the clean-up gets the community ex-cited, prepares the park for the upcoming festival, and shows the community that the FilAmFest takes its part in beautifying the community.

Festival Chair, Dennis-Michael Broussard, shared

his thoughts on the commu-nity clean up. “It engages the youth to have a sense of pride in the community.”

This year’s festival theme is “Celebrating the Bayanihan Spirit.” Bayanihan Spirit is a Filipino term that refers to a spirit of communal unity or effort to achieve a particular goal.

Liz Dela Cruz, Logistics Director, said that the FilAm-Fest Community Clean Up ties into this year’s festival theme because it is a true sense of collaboration by al-lowing people to get together for a common purpose which is to clean up the festival grounds.

For more information regarding the FilAmFest Community Clean Up, please contact Ryan Liban at [email protected].


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

journalusa.com

by Michael Snyder

From The Business InsiderEditor’s note: Michael

Snyder is editor of theeconomiccollapseblog.com

The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.

So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and “free trade” that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn’t tell us that the “global economy” would mean that middle class American work-ers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.

Here are the statistics to prove it:

• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.

• 61 percent of Ameri-cans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.

• 66 percent of the in-

The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are

the Stats to Prove itcome growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.

• 36 percent of Ameri-cans say that they don’t con-tribute anything to retirement savings.

• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retire-ment.

• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.

• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which rep-resented a 32 percent increase over 2008.

• Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.

• For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the Unit-ed States than all individual Americans put together.

• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive’s pay-check to the average worker’s paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.

• As of 2007, the bot-tom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.

• The bottom 50 per-cent of income earners in the United States now collectively

own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.

• Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.

• In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.

• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America’s corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.

• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.

• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.

• or the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 mil-

lion Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.

• This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.

• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.

• Despite the financial crisis, the number of million-aires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.

• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national

income.Giant Sucking SoundThe reality is that no mat-

ter how smart, how strong, how educated or how hard working American workers are, they just cannot compete with people who are desperate to put in 10 to 12 hour days at less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the world. After all, what corporation in their right mind is going to pay an American worker 10 times more (plus benefits) to do the same job? The world is fundamentally changing. Wealth and power are rapidly becoming concentrated at the top and the big global corpo-rations are making massive amounts of money. Mean-while, the American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence as U.S. workers are slowly being merged into the new “global”

labor pool.What do

most Americans have to offer in the marketplace other than their labor? Not much. The truth is that most Americans are absolutely dependent on someone else giving them a job. But today, U.S. workers are “less attrac-tive” than ever. Compared to the rest of the

world, American workers are extremely expensive, and the government keeps passing more rules and regulations seemingly on a monthly basis that makes it even more dif-ficult to conduct business in the United States.

So corporations are mov-ing operations out of the U.S. at breathtaking speed. Since the U.S. government does not penalize them for doing so, there really is no incentive for them to stay.

What has developed is a situation where the people at the top are doing quite well, while most Americans are finding it increasingly dif-ficult to make it. There are now about six unemployed Americans for every new job opening in the United States, and the number of “chroni-cally unemployed” is abso-lutely soaring. There simply are not nearly enough jobs for everyone.

Many of those who are able to get jobs are finding that they are making less money than they used to. In fact, an increasingly large percentage of Americans are working at low wage retail and service jobs.

But you can’t raise a fam-ily on what you make flipping burgers at McDonald’s or on what you bring in from greet-ing customers down at the local Wal-Mart.

The truth is that the middle class in America is dying -- and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.

In the late 1990s, I was fortunate to have attended a series of annual technology conferences sponsored by the National Institute of Stan-dards and Technology (NIST). The theme and focus of the conferences was the eBook technology.

Among the attendees were executives of Micro-soft, Palm, Sony, Gemstar which owned the Rocket-book, Franklin Electronic Publishers, the Mobipocket Company, and many others in the publishing and electronic business, and of course, se-lected U.S. Government

offi-cials.

I had the oppor-tunity to listen, discuss and meet the pioneers of what is now called the “eBook” industry. Among them were the Presi-dents of Franklin Electronic Publishers (FEB) and the Mobipocket Company. The former produced and distrib-uted the eBookMan which was a combination of eBook Reader, Audio Player, MP3 Player, Organizer, Voice Recorder and other features. The latter developed the Mobipocket reader which eventually became the standard for most if not all handheld devices. Franklin partly owned Mobipocket. Predicting that the technol-ogy would play a significant role in the future, I negotiated with both executives and got my company to become a licensed manufacturer of the eBookMan and the exclusive distributor of the device in the Philippines. We also got to create and develop con-tents for the Franklin devices. Among our noted contents were the electronic medical libraries and law libraries. We promoted them as “libraries in your pocket, knowledge at your finger tips.” In the case of the electronic law librar-ies, we put into the handheld devices which also included Palm, and Pocket PCs, all the Philippine laws, and Supreme

Court decisions since 1901. We promoted it as, “Take the Law into your hands”. We also bundled the libraries with an encyclopedia, diction-ary, thesaurus, a Holy Bible or Koran and some selected novels.

The attached video link http://www.motionbox.com/videos/a09ed8b31b28 was a TV commercial featuring Tanya Maynigo Loucks as model and was produced in a garage with the assistance of Homer Maynigo Rabara and Traci Manglapus Maynigo.

A few years later, Ama-zon.com which earlier

started selling printed books online, bought the Mobipocket

company together with its eBook tech-

nol-

ogy. This al-lowed them to pro-duce and

distrib-ute what

is now called Kindle. This also meant that all the eBooks that we created are now read-able and downloadable into the Kindle as well as all the handheld devices including the iPhone, iPod, Nokia, and others.

As these new devices are being manufactured with eBook readers built in to them, hundreds of thousands of eBooks are being made available for download. A few months ago, Apple launched the IPAD tablet which features its own eBook reader with the goal of competing against Amazon’s Kindle. There are now plans by Google to have its own equivalent tablet to go with the eBook reading capacity of its Android. The Sony eReader and the Barnes and Noble eReader are not far behind.

Meanwhile, publishers and authors now rely on their eBook formats as a major revenue center for purposes of their sales and marketing strategies. As proof of suc-cess, the experience of Best-Selling author Stephen King is always mentioned. The first eBook that King put online sold over 400,000 copies worldwide in 48 hours.

Indeed, eBooks have ar-rived!

eBOOKS have arrived


Francisco “Django” Busta-mante finally pocketed the one that mattered most in billiards – the World 9-Ball crown.

The Filipino cuemaster beat former champion Kuo Po-cheng, 13-7, in the fi-nals of the 2010 World Pool Championship at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federa-tion hall in Doha, Qatar.

He also took perhaps the richest prize staked in world pool – $36,000 or P1.65 million, putting the power-breaking Filipino in the elite circle of world 9-ball champi-ons that included compatriots Efren “Bata” Reyes and Ron-nie Alcano.

“By finally winning the world 9-ball, which is every pool player’s dream, I can now say that I am a complete billiards player,” said Busta-mante in Filipino.

Bustamante, the former world No. 1, trounced com-patriot Antonio Lining, 11-5, in their semifinal clash to arrange a showdown for the crown with Kuo, who nipped Johnny Archer of the US,

Francisco “Django” Bustamante

Django finally rules 9-Ball World Title in Qatar

11-10, in their own side of the duel.

Kuo settled $18,000 while Lining and Archer took home $10,000 each for reaching the Final Four.

The world 9-ball feat was Bustamante’s fifth champi-onship this year. He was a member of Team Asia that routed Team Europe last Janu-ary 17 in Brunei in the Asia vs Europe Challenge Match.

Then he captured the Japan Open title in Tokyo then bagged the inaugural World Professional Billiard League (WPBL) championship in Winnipeg, Canada and Mc Phillips Station Casino tour-nament.

PNS -- PRESIDENT Beni-gno Aquino III has appointed former Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo as Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Executive Secretary Paqui-to Ochoa yesterday announced Robredo’s appointment ending speculations on whether the President would consider the sentiment of Vice President Jejomar Binay who had ex-pressed his preference to head the department if he would be given any Cabinet post.

The President during his first press conference with Palace reporters on Wednes-day promised to come up with a decision this week. He said he was choosing among three prospective bets and was sup-posed to meet with one of the candidates on Thursday.

“We want synchronicity of vision, expertise with LGUs, working knowledge of police and abilities to protect the peo-ple,” he said.

Robredo is DILG chiefThe President had assumed

the DILG post in a concurrent capacity since he assumed of-fice on June 30.

Binay earlier said the Presi-dent offered him the DILG post, but Aquino said it was not among the positions he mentioned to the vice presi-dent.

Presidential spokesman Ed-win Lacierda said the Presi-dent wanted to be able to fill up the DILG post because “it’s really difficult to be both President and concurrently the DILG Secretary.”

Robredo was first elected mayor of Naga City in 1988 making him the youngest city mayor of the Philippines at age 29. Under his leadership Naga was named one of the “Most Improved Cities in Asia” by Asiaweek Magazine in 1999.

In 1995, he was elected President of the League of Cities of the Philippines. In recognition of his im-pressive performance in public service,

Robre-do received 14 major individual awards which in-cludes the 2000 Ramon Mag-saysay Award for Government Service, 1998 Konrad Ad-enauer Medal of Excellence as Most Outstanding City Mayor of the Philippines, 1996 Out-standing Young Persons of the World (TOYP) Award, 1990 The Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM), and the first ever “Dangal ng Bayan” Award of the Civil Service Commission.

Robredo obtained his un-dergraduate degrees in Indus-trial Management Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at the De La Salle University. He was an Edward Mason Fel-low and a graduate of Masters in Public Administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Univer-sity in Cambridge, Massachu-setts, in 1999. He finished his Masters in Business Admin-istration at the University of the Philippines in Diliman as a scholar and was named Gradu-ate School and Faculty Orga-nization awardee for scholarly excellence.

PNS -- Bawal ungkatin o tanu-ngin si Rayver Cruz sa presscon ng horror movie under Star Cinema na Cinco ang kay Sarah Geronimo dahil hindi naman kasama sa movie ang singer-actress.

Pero tsika ng source, totoo raw nagkaroon ng relas-yon sina Sarah at Rayver for al-most two years.

Dagdag pa ng source, na-ging magdyowa ang dalawa na walang nangyaring pa-ma-masyal o date. Basta naging mag-on lang ang dalawa thru text at tawagan sa phone.

Naputol lang umano ang relasyon nila nu’ng kom-prontahin ng father ni Sarah si Rayver at pagsabihan na tigilan na ang anak.

Going back sa Cinco, sa “Mata” episode ay leading lady ni Rayver si Maja Salva-dor.

Say ni Rayver, wala si-yang pinopormahan sa nga-yon at happy sa pagiging single. Kahit nga raw si Maja, hindi niya maligaw-ligawan kahit sobra silang close.

Sarah, Rayver naging magdyowa kahit hindi

nagde-date

San Sebastian, among others.Bartolome was also a pro-

fessor of Filipino Literature at the De La Salle University from 1981 to 1984, and an ac-tive lobbyist for the rights of

Heber Bartolome: A Filipino Language Hero

(Continued from page 1)

Filipino composers. He was a member and trustee of the Fil-ipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Inc. (FILSCAP), an organization responsible for the collection of royalties for its members for public performances songs used in movies, radio broad-cast, television and the like.

Still, it was through his music that he was able to reach more audiences and influence more beliefs. Com-

Advertise in the Asian Journal!

Call (619) 474-0588

bining the stylistic tradition of Philippine folk and reli-gious melodies, he founded Banyuhay, a “protest band” he shared with brothers Jesse and Levi Bartolome. The band’s music was dis-

tinguished by the trademark sound of the Philippine native musical instrument kubing. With compositions known for their unique synthesis of rock and blues and Philip-pine ethnic rhythms, Heber’s songs “Nena” and “Tayo’y Mga Pinoy” became musi-cal hits in 1977 and 1978, respectively, with the latter becoming a finalist at the first Metro Manila Popular Music

Festival. Staging performanc-es throughout the Philippines and abroad, such as Australia and Europe, he later launched “Mga Awit ni Heber” (He-ber’s Songs) in 1993, a col-lection of his most reknowed compositions.

In August 1 of this year, Heber Bartolome was award-ed The Gawad Sagisag Que-zon. This award is bestowed on distinguished men and women whose lives and work have promoted the effective use of the Philippine national language as they fight for justice focused on equalizing opportunities for the poor. Bartolome’s efforts in promul-gating the national language and culture through honest lyrics and unique Filipino sounds, is recognized and honored, making him part of the nation’s heroes of Filipino language.

On September 12, 2010, Heber Bartolome and Banyuhay will be staging a much-awaited art exhibit and concert entitled “Tayo’y Mga Pinoy” Ang Mga Awit ng Ating Panahon. Featur-ing his distinguished paint-ings depicting the Filipino life and realities, and songs which have been part of our lives, such as Nena, Tayo’y Mra Pinoy, Ayoko na Kay Santa Claus, Karaniwang Tao, Paaralan, Bahala Na, Almusal, Ako’y Mang-aawit ng Aking Panahon and Inutil na Gising. The big event will be held at the EPICENTRE, 8459 Mira Mesa Blvd., San Diego, CA 92126. Tel. 858 -271-4000


Rooms for RentNo Smoking, No Drugs . In a quiet National City residential neigh-

borhood. Call 619.656.0409

To:

From: Eugene De Leon

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

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

lines, it costs

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

Fax #

If approved please sign and fax back to

(619) 474-0373

__________________

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

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

08/20/10

Phyllis Griffith

4x10x10400

CITY OF SAN DIEGOEngineering & Capital Projects Department

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALFOR

As-Needed Transportation Design Services (H115217)

The City of San Diego (City) is requesting proposals from highly qualified transportation engineering firms for consultant services for As-Needed Transportation Design Services (H115217).

It is the policy of the City to provide equal opportunity in its transportation engineering professional services contracts. Toward this end, proposals from small local businesses, disadvantaged businesses and disabled veteran, women and minority owned businesses are strongly encouraged. Prime consultants are encouraged to provide subconsultant opportunities or joint venture with these firms. The City endeavors to do business with firms sharing the City’s commitment to equal opportunity and will not do business with any firm that discriminates on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, medical condition or place of birth.

This project has a voluntary Small Local Business Enterprises (SLBE)/ Emerging Local Business Enterprises (ELBE) Participation Level (SLBE/ELBE) goal of 20%. SLBE/ELBE goals are achieved by contracting with SLBE and ELBE firms as defined in the following website, http://www.sandiego.gov/eoc/boc/slbe.shtml. Attain-ment of the SLBE/ELBE goal is strongly encouraged, but strictly voluntary.

The City of San Diego will ensure that full access to programs, services, meetings and activities comply with Section 504, Title V, of the Rehabilitation Act and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 1990, Public Law 101-336.

In-depth knowledge and a strong understanding of the local environment, and a local presence for interfacing with the City’s project management staff are essential to the successful completion of this project. The proposal must address the consultant’s knowledge and understanding of: the City and other local agencies regulations and policies; local environment; and local building codes and other criteria. The proposal must also address how the consultant plans to interface with the City’s project management staff and the consultant’s workforce in San Diego County.

All proposals submitted must be in full accord with the Request for Proposal (RFP) which can be obtained by requesting the RFP via email from John Mendivil, Consultant Services Coordinator, at:

[email protected] of San Diego, Purchasing & Contracting Department

1200 Third Avenue, Suite 200San Diego, CA 92101.

When requesting the RFP, please refer to the specific project title and number, As-Needed Transportation Design Services (H115217). For questions about RFP procedures please call John Mendivil at (619) 235-5855.

A pre-proposal meeting will be held on Thursday, September 2, 2010, 10:00:00 AM, at Comerica Bank Build-ing, Wada - Large Conference Room 8A, 600 B Street, San Diego, CA 92101. It is strongly recommended that all interested parties attend. For more information, assistance, to request an agenda in alternative format, or to request a sign language or oral interpreter for the meeting, please contact Steve Frick, at 619-533-3409 at least five working days prior to the meeting to ensure availability.

Proposals are due no later than 5:00 p.m. Friday, September 24, 2010, at the location stated in the RFP. This RFP does not commit the City to award a contract or to defray any costs incurred in the preparation of a proposal pursuant to this RFP. The City reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals received as a result of this RFP. The City also reserves the right to revise this RFP, including but not limited to the pre-proposal conference date and the proposal due date. If the City revises the RFP, all RFP holders of record will be notified in writing by the City.

Summary Scope of ServicesConsultant shall provide as-needed annual professional Transportation Engineering services by Task Orders on an hourly basis. The contract has a term of not to exceed three calendar years from the award and shall not exceed three million dollars. Transportation Engineering Services include vehicular and traffic safety improvements. These services include, but are not necessarily limited to, the design of curbs and gutters, guardrails, landscap-ing, minor underground utility (wet and dry) relocation/upgrades, pavement sections, pavement widening and/or replacement, pedestrian ramps, sidewalks, signage and striping, storm drainage improvement, street lighting, traffic signals, and turn pockets. Work may also include preparation of drainage studies and traffic control plans, and ADA upgrades or other services necessary to complete the Tasks. The remainder of the Scope of Services is contained in the Request for Proposal for As-Needed Transportation Design Services (H115217), as Exhibit A to the Draft Agreement.

WantedOFFICE ASSISTANT

Call (619) 746-6416

Classified AdsChief Cook

Functions include Recipe Development, Menu Planning, Kitchen Management,

Raw Material Purchasing, Quality Control, Experience in Commercial Kitchen and

knowledge in FilipinoCuisine; Locations in National City or

TemeculaFull-time position with benefits are

available. No weekends off.Please fax your resume to 888-841-1662 or

contact Nora at 619-477-7071

Improve you CREDIT SCORE

Debt ConsolidationBusiness ConsultingFarmers Financing

and Free Bankruptcy AdviceNo Hassles

Call Linda Bryer Today1-800-977-2149

License # 01113433

help Divina realize her movie come back plans. Her best friend, Wyngard Tracy, as well as “Angge” and Jobert Sucaldito were all willing to help Divina. But all of them warned her that making movies is more tedious now, compared with how it was during her time. She was told that shooting days could be as long as two straight days. She could no longer dictate to the movie directors her work schedules like she did dur-ing the time when she was very famous. Those condi-tions made Divina think twice about returning back to the

Divina Valencia: The Sex Goddess of the Philippine Cinema

(Continued from page 13) world of acting and simply shelved her plans to do a come back movie.

Her Love Life

Bernard Belleza was still an unknown “extra” in the movies when she first met him. At first, Divina did not pay that much attention to him, despite his charming flirtations with her. Bernard was not known then until the two had the chance to work together in the filming of the movie, “Sa Manlulupig, Di Ka Pasisiil,” where Bernard was her leading man. It was after the filming of “Sa

Manlulupig, Di Ka Pasisiil” that Bernard started to make a name. They started dating and soon a love developed between the two. They got married in a civil ceremony in Cardona, Rizal. They were blessed with two children, Maricris and Dranreb.

“I am a very simple woman,” Divina said. “Hindi ako maarte. Pambahay lamang ako. Maayos ako sa bahay, mapagmahal ako. Ang buhay ko, una sa lahat, ay para sa mga anak ko. Hindi ko sinasabing mabuti akong ina, pero I tried my best,” she continued.

Just like most showbiz couple marriages, Divina and Bernard’s marriage was quite turbulent. After she gave birth, Divina discovered that Bernard was already married and had five children (Linda was her first name). Linda was Bernard’s wife and she

found it out two years after --- it was painful. “Parang ako pa ang nang-agaw,” Divisna said.

When she learned about Bernard’s first wife, she was devastated. “Nawalan na ng katahimikan ang buhay namin,” Divina said. “Si Ber-nard para na ring naging bola – itatapon ni Linda papunta sa akin, itatapon ko naman papunta kay Linda. Wala ng katahimikan,” she continued. Divina became so unhappy and all her dreams about a happy married life just crum-bled down. No woman would have lasted in that kind of ar-rangement, where she would have to share her husband with another woman. Divina described the love triangle beautifully when she said, “Para ka bang nakikisilong, nanghihiram ka ng payong dahil ayaw mong mabasa.”

At this point, Divina de-cided to end her relationship with Bernard. She wanted to escape without Bernard know-ing her plans, so that she will not be hurting his feelings. With the help of a movie star friend, Marissa Delgado, she started moving her clothes and some of her belongings from their house every time Bernard was not at home. Marissa helped her move the things of her two children un-til she and her children were ready to leave for the United States. When she was ready to leave Bernard, her friend Ana Gonzales helped her with her travel papers and airline tickets.

Bernard was not aware of Divina’s plans to leave him. The night before Divina left for the United States, she had an unusual conversation with Bernard before they went to bed. Bernard said, “Alam mo hindi ko alam ang gagawin ko pag nawala ka sa buhay ko. Siguro mamatay ako o maku-kulong ako at magpapaka-matay ako o masisira ang ulo at mapupunta ako sa mental hospital.” Divina did not re-spond. The following morn-ing when Bernard was about to leave the house, he said, “O sige mamaya na lamang tayo magkita – marami pa akong lalakarin.” When Bernard was at the door, Divina called him. Bernard went back to the room and said, “Bakit?” Divina responded, “Wala,” and embraced Bernard. The way Divina described the incident, I felt like I was watching a movie film clip. A heartbreaking scene.

When Divina was in the airplane on her way to Ho-nolulu, her port of entry, she told me that she dreamed that Bernard died. Bernard told her in her dream, “Alagaan mo ang mga bata.” And Bernard started to move away.

“Palayo siya ng palayo, pa-layo siya ng palayo sa akin.,” Divina said.

On her way to San Francisco where her family will reside, she received a call advising her about a telegram from Ana Gonzales. The urgent telegram advised her to call Ana. When she reached home, she called Ana to re-ceive the shocking news that Bernard was shot and passed away. Habang nagkukwento si Divina, kinikilabutan ako. Parang eksena sa pelikula. “But it’s true,” Divina said. “I won’t be sharing what I just told you if it was not true. I did not invent the story,” she added.

Today

Divina is a survivor. After Bernard’s death, Divina moved on. She continued with her life rearing her children. She did not know anything about office work. She simply tried her best in doing what she knew would make her survive with her children. She said she has excellent financial skills. She had her house rented and used the money for business. She did merchandising - selling

WANTED IMMEDIATELYCaregivers/driver, live-in, residential care facility in

Escondido Area. Experience not require. Some

benefits & incentives. Contact: Liz (858) 748-8018

U.S. products until finally she found a job as a Peer Educa-tor with the Department of Health.

Divina was only 23 when Bernard passed away. Too young to be a widow. But Bernard’s death was not the end of her love life. The late Helen Vela invited Divina to a Christian fellowship where she met the man that would lead her to a new life. She met Pastor Delfin Quesada of Jesus Christ Global Outreach Church. She eloped with Delfin Quesada on March 19, 1993 and later had a church wedding on June 26, 1993. They were blessed with three children: Patrice, Virgil and Pocholo.

Divina is confident that if her life would end now, she knows where she is going because she has accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. She lives a quiet life with her family in San Diego, Califor-nia. Divina is still as willful as ever at age 61. She looks back at her lustrous life in the movies before with fondness. She is no longer a sex goddess but instead has transformed her life to that of an apostolate of the Divine.

.


Why the Ridge at Canyon Woods is the best buy for you

It is already built and therefore no risk involved. With only 10% down 1. payment, you can already move in, use and enjoy your place.It has a beautiful view of Taal Volcano and the Lake.2. It is an ideal retirement as well as vacation place3. Its elevation is almost 3,000 feet, providing a cool climate and an environ-4. mentally-friendly surrounding.There are only a few units left, only 38 residential condos well-equipped 5. with appliances and are ready for occupancy. The units come in 1, 2, & 3 bedrooms, all with condominium amenities like being cable ready, modu-lar cabinets, standby generators, elevators, indoor swimming pool, func-tion rooms, fitness center, gym and a club house. As owner, you automatically become a member of the Country Club and 6. the Golf Course We’re able to arrange a Down Payment Scheme of 10% Payable in Six 7. (6) Months and upon completion of the Down Payment, you can already move in.

To reserve a space in the presentation, call (619) 746-3416.

The Schedule of Presentations in San Diego and Temecula:

September 2 – 6: San Diego:September 7: Temecula

September 8 – 9: San DiegoSeptember 10: Temecula

September 11 to 12: San Diego

Call (619) 746-3416 for more information and reservation for presentation.(See ad on page 24)

JPMorgan Chase & Co., a leading global financial ser-vices firm, formally dedicated its new Global Service Center in Taguig City on Wednesday.

The 23-storey facility, the Net Plaza Building, is located in the eSquare Zone, Bonifa-cio Global City.

The occasion also served as a social event for key cli-ents of the firm’s Investment Bank.

Roberto Panlilio, JPMor-gan Chase & Co. Senior Country Officer, was pleased to announce the expansion of

the Philippine operations. “We continue to be committed to leveraging the talent, creativ-ity and passion of the Filipino people and to building a sus-tainable culture of innovation and value creation for the firm and its customers around the world,” Panlilio said.

The Net Plaza site has 6,100 seats, making it the firm’s largest facility in the country.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has over 9,000 employees in the Philippines and close to 240,000 globally, serving over 90 million customers around the world, including the most prominent corporate, institu-tional, and government cli-ents under its JP Morgan and Chase brands.

In 2005, the firm first established its Global Service

Top US investment bank expands RP facility

Center in the Philippines, providing a wide variety of support such as analytics, finance, credit analysis, re-search, voice-based services, IT support, training, and other functions to its investment banking, treasury and securi-ties services, retail financial services, and card services lines of business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. also maintains facilities in Net Quad, Taguig City; Philamlife Tower, Makati City; and eBloc Tower, Cebu City.

Senior Country Operations Officer Barry Marshall attrib-uted a lot of the firm’s success to employees reporting di-rectly into the lines of business that they sup-port, ensuring their greater understanding of the total end-to-end process and

greatly impacting the com-pany’s mission of providing quality financial services to the firm’s global clients. “We have had a strong 50-year history in the country, and we are committed to developing and ensuring an ideal work-place for all our employees both through our facilities and the corporate culture which we champion,” Marshall said.

According to Marshall, the production area was designed to be as comfortable and spa-cious as JPMorgan Chase & Co. offices worldwide. “We have installed ergonomic fur-niture in honeycomb-shaped work areas, and outfitted the entire Net Plaza building based on global specifica-tions, down to the type of ceiling tiles used,” Marshall explained.

The Global Service Center in Net Plaza also houses a world-class Career Hub that manages a rigorous screening process, “enabling us to re-cruit the right kind of people, with the goal of transforming high potential individuals into high achieving, professional experts,” Marshall said.

To support its talent pool in the Philippines, JPMor-gan Chase & Co. encourages employees to actively engage in a variety of lifestyle-en-hancing activities, wellness programs, and corporate so-cial responsibility initiatives. Recently, the world-renowned firm became one of the princi-pal sponsors of the Mind Mu-seum, an ongoing world class science museum project of the Bonifacio Art Foundation.

This continued focus on improving the employee experience resulted in the firm being recognized by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as an Out-standing Employer in 2009.

Filipinos shine in

Koran reading

contest in Malaysia

Two Filipino Koran read-

ers won 3rd place in the men’s and women’s categories of the 52nd International Al-Quran Recital Assembly in Malaysia.

The two, Abdul Wadoud Esmail and Monaifah Boga-bong Alawi, each took home 13,300 Malaysian ringgit, equivalent to $4,150.

The contestant from Egypt topped the men’s division, fol-

Abdul Wadoud Esmail and Monaifah Boga-bong Alawi (with blue token souvenirs) [DFA]

lowed by the one from Ma-laysia. The readers from Iran and Brunei came in fourth and fifth, respectively.

In the women’s category, Pakistan placed first, followed

by Brunei. Host Malaysia and Indonesia took fourth and fifth places.

A total of 49 read-ers took part in the men’s category while 23 competed in the women’s division.

Malaysian King Mizan Zainal Abidin

presented the cash awards to the six winners.

The contest was held at the Dewan Merdeka, Putra World Trade Center, in Kuala Lum-pur.

Singapore’s budget car-rier Tiger Airways will soon be flying and landing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from October 3.

The Manila flights are in addition to the existing flights to Clark’s Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).

While both airports serve the metropolis of Manila, NAIA also serves as a major gateway to the rest of the Philippines.

Tiger Airways will now be competing directly with fellow Singapore low-cost based carrier Jetstar and Philippine airlines Cebu Pacific and PAL.

Tiger Airways to start flying from S’pore to

Manila’s NAIA


(619) 746-3416See page 23 for schedule of presentations

in San Diego and Temecula

asian journal august 20-26, 2010

Documents